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DHH Against “Exponential Growth Ideology” - conanbatt
https://evonomics.com/creator-ceo-basecamp-com-exponential-growth-devours-corrupts/
======
conanbatt
This was an unexpected article by that author in that medium for me, specially
the tone.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Paris Will Create the City's Largest Gardens Around the Eiffel Tower - gmck
https://www.citylab.com/design/2019/05/eiffel-tower-garden-paris-metro-design-history-car-free/589993/
======
brandur
I'm continually impressed by the efforts of Parisian politicians to improve
their cityscape. (Aside from this, see their removal of motor traffic along
the Seine [1] and tightening restrictions on polluting cars [2].) It speaks
very well to their fiscal management too that they're able to fund the project
through ticket sales, and don't need to levy any new taxes or bonds.
Being a North American resident, it really makes me wonder what it would take
to build political will for these types of projects on this side of the ocean.
In San Francisco, closing even one part of one street to auto traffic is
something that seems to be impossible — even for projects that _should_ be
relatively uncontentious like closing some of the highways through Golden Gate
Park, making the most pedestrian heavy parts of famous streets like Haight,
Castro, or Lombard pedestrian-only, or taking private cars off Market Street.
And quite sadly, SF is considered to be a walking-friendly city relative to
others on the continent.
It's nice that someone is acting as a guiding light for the rest of the world,
especially when it's a city of Paris' fame/importance.
\---
[1] [https://www.citylab.com/solutions/2016/09/paris-seine-car-
pe...](https://www.citylab.com/solutions/2016/09/paris-seine-car-pedestrians-
quay-ban/501788/)
[2] [https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2016/05/paris-is-
bann...](https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2016/05/paris-is-banning-cars-
built-before-1997/484895/)
~~~
quotz
London is so much more well kept than Paris for some reason. I went to Paris
last year and the city was terrifyingly dirty, with layers of dirt struck on
the walls of beautiful buildings, darkened by it. Stuff under construction was
also mismanaged and often just poorly done. Scaffolding was very poorly done
all around the city. After midnight I felt quite unsafe even in good
neighbourhoods. I feel like London as a city is way better kept than Paris
~~~
Jgrubb
"Terrifyingly dirty"? The simple way they clean the gutters with the fountains
on the corners is amazing to me as an American.
Layers of dirt on beautiful buildings? They're several hundred years old.
Felt quite unsafe even in good neighborhoods? I spent all last week there, on
foot, at all hours alone and never once felt unsafe. It occurs to me now that
maybe that's my male privilege so apologies if that's not the case for you but
Paris is the greatest city in the world as far as I'm concerned.
~~~
brmgb
> "Terrifyingly dirty"? The simple way they clean the gutters with the
> fountains on the corners is amazing to me as an American.
As a Parisian, I can sadly attest that the city is currently disgustingly
dirty, that it has been getting worse and worse in the five years since I
moved there and that London is indeed a lot cleaner.
Paris suffers from a lot of incivilities, very lax policing, the current mayor
puting cleanliness as a non priority and extremely poor supervision of the
existing cleaning crews.
It has become such a pain point for Parisian that cleanliness is likely to be
the main issue of next year electoral campaign.
~~~
noobermin
I will never forget when I visited Paris as a tourist and in the green patches
of grass in front of the Eiffel tower where everyone sets down their blankets
and takes selfies is littered with Heineken bottle caps and cigarette butts,
it was so uniformly covered in the things that I took a picture of it to
remind me. I sort of got that Heineken and smokes are super popular there (at
least amongst the touristy areas) but still.
May be the non-touristy areas are also considered dirty by you, but I'm an
American, where we treat public places like shit but make sure interiors and
the entrances near parking is pretty and the rest of the fucking street is
trash since no one other than me apparently walk it. To me, the "grime" I see
seems normal if not a little nicer than any city in Ohio.
------
carlob
There is something to be said about the democratic process that brought us to
this: the Paris administrative division is home to a little over 2 million
people, but the city doesn't really end at its administrative borders (75 in
this [0] map. The city border stopped tracking the city growth 150 years ago
[1].
Most of the people who live in Paris proper enjoy the metro, multiple bike
sharing and electrical scooter options, those who can't afford to live within
city borders (which outnumber the Parisians 5-to-1) are forced to use the RER
(light railway) or private cars.
The effects of the policies that reduce private traffic in the city proper
extend far beyond the administrative borders, and the 2016 decision to ban
cars from parts of the Seine banks has increased traffic dramatically outside
of Paris, but damaging only people who don't vote for the mayor of Paris.
Now, don't get me wrong, I'm all for a reduction in private vehicle use, but I
think that a solution can only be found by integrating the whole region in a
single administrative division and eliminating this notion of first and second
class citizens of Paris.
[0]
[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f0/Paris_uu...](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f0/Paris_uu_ua_jms.png)
[1]
[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1b/Paris_Hi...](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1b/Paris_Historical_Population.png)
~~~
liotier
> RER (light railway)
RER is heavy rail - Ligne A's trunk shifts 50k pax/hour each direction. With,
among other efforts, the extended Ligne E and Ligne 14, there are serious
network upgrades on the way to meet the challenge.
Indeed the only people angry at how Paris is taking back public space from
cars are those who insist on taking a personal car into Paris, which is
puzzling stubbornness where there are so many other options.
I live in Courbevoie, outside Paris and cycle there daily - I couldn't be
happier and I don't feel second class at all. Placemaking is the future:
cities are living places, not car sinks.
~~~
baud147258
Considering the traffic jams we have around Paris, I'd say the people who take
their personal car don't have a choice, with poor/no public transportation on
their commute.
~~~
seszett
Well if you believe this: [https://www.paris.fr/actualites/a-paris-
seuls-22-des-conduct...](https://www.paris.fr/actualites/a-paris-seuls-22-des-
conducteurs-ont-reellement-besoin-d-un-vehicule-3876)
Then most people who drive in Paris 1. don't need to ( _according to those
drivers asked_ , 72% didn't really "need" to drive) 2. are not poor people
(64% CSP+) 3. aren't driving for work (20% were professionals - that's mostly
an answer to the sibling comment to yours though) 4. drive within Paris rather
than from the periphery (50%)
Now, that study was made by the city of Paris so maybe it's biased, but I'm
pretty sure there is some truth in it.
~~~
baud147258
The study was also done on a small number of people (1127) on a very small
area right in the middle of Paris and is 4 years old; of the people studied
half of them were delivery drivers, reducing further the amount of data.
------
noneeeed
This looks like a great idea. I think we deperately need to green our cities
as much as we can. We need to make them as healthy and pleasant places to live
as we can. I hope this is part of a trend.
One of the things that struck me when I visited Paris was what felt like a
lack of green spaces that you could actually enjoy. I find London much more
pleasant because there are so many more parks you could go to cool off.
I enjoyed my visit to Paris, but I didn't particulalry like most of the city
itself, it was clogged with traffic and was stifflingly hot. I can understand
why so many Parisians try to get away from the city during the summer. Most of
it certainly didn't feel particularly "romantic".
One park we went to had "keep off the grass" signs everywhere, so everyone was
crammed into one strip of grass. It wasn't like the off-limit parts were
particulalry special or anything, just grass with a few poorly tended flower,
it just seemed to be an attitude of "look but don't touch". It was hot, dry
and dusty. The London parks on the other hand are much more inviting to me,
often less formal, geared towards people actually spending time in them,
having a picnic/BBQ or playing games. And with the congestion charging, the
traffic does seem to have improved a lot.
Of couse, not being a Parisian I might have just missed all the hidden parks,
but we tried hard to find pleasant places, but struggled.
~~~
masklinn
> Of couse, not being a Parisian I might have just missed all the hidden parks
Probably not that much, you can pick it up through google maps: Paris has
large parks & forests outside the city (boulogne, vincennes, meudon, …) but
only a few very small parks within city limits (the largest green space is the
Père-Lachaise cemetery), nothing like Regent's or Hyde's.
It's really flagrant using the satellite view at about the same zoom level
(using the scale), it's as if london had no major park closer to city center
than Hampstead (though both boulogne and vincennes are quite a bit larger than
Hampstead, they're on the same scale as Richmond Park).
~~~
seszett
> _only a few very small parks within city limits (the largest green space is
> the Père-Lachaise cemetery)_
It might be a detail, but the two large parks (Boulogne and Vincennes) are
within the city limits.
Also I don't know London very well, but from Google Maps I see almost no
greenery in the center, while Paris' parks are maybe smaller but much more
evenly distributed throughout the city.
~~~
chrisseaton
> I don't know London very well, but from Google Maps I see almost no greenery
> in the center
Are you joking?
Regent's, Hyde, Kensington, Green, St James, Battersea, Burgess, Kennington,
Coram's, Russel Square, Lincoln's Inn...
Look at all the green areas on the map.
[https://www.google.com/maps/@51.5160429,-0.1466301,14z](https://www.google.com/maps/@51.5160429,-0.1466301,14z)
~~~
seszett
You have to compare at the same scale though:
Paris:
[https://www.google.fr/maps/@48.85615,2.3306852,14z](https://www.google.fr/maps/@48.85615,2.3306852,14z)
/
[https://www.google.fr/maps/@48.862458,2.3322563,12.75z](https://www.google.fr/maps/@48.862458,2.3322563,12.75z)
London:
[https://www.google.com/maps/@51.5160429,-0.1466301,14z](https://www.google.com/maps/@51.5160429,-0.1466301,14z)
/
[https://www.google.fr/maps/@51.5184651,-0.1436204,12.75z](https://www.google.fr/maps/@51.5184651,-0.1436204,12.75z)
The parks in London just look larger and fewer, not very evenly distributed,
to me.
~~~
chrisseaton
London has over three times the green space of Paris.
[http://www.worldcitiescultureforum.com/data/of-public-
green-...](http://www.worldcitiescultureforum.com/data/of-public-green-space-
parks-and-gardens)
------
isaacn
From the last paragraph in the article "But perhaps the most striking element
of the tower makeover is how it fits into a bigger story: the ongoing campaign
to reclaim Paris from private motor vehicles" for some reason this randomly
reminded me of a quote from Steve Jobs about the Segway when it launched
predicting they would 'build cities around it' (ref:
[http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/ptech/12/03/scooter.unveiling/T...](http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/ptech/12/03/scooter.unveiling/This)
) Large cities starting to ban cars in the city center might finally be that
opportunity for Segway like devices to really flourish (not to mention powered
and unpowered scooters, bicycles, skateboards, etc).
~~~
hn_throwaway_99
The Segway was the Apple Newton of it's time - the right idea but too early
for all the pieces to be in place. I feel that all the dockless scooters and
bikes that are becoming so popular (despite their controversy) have a good
chance of remaking a lot of cities.
~~~
masklinn
> The Segway was the Apple Newton of it's time - the right idea but too early
> for all the pieces to be in place.
Not that great an idea though, because of its width low on the ground it's
quite hostile to sharing space with others, much more so than a bike or a
scooter.
------
noneeeed
Bit of a tip for anyone thinking of visiting Paris who is sad they won't get
to go in Notre Dame, head up the hill from Montmartre to the Basillica Sacré-
Cœur. While it's not as old or as well known, it was far more interesting to
me. However that might just be because I've been to endless cathedrals/abbeys
in the UK and so ND was just more of the same.
Sacré-Cœur is well worth the walk, and benefits from being up the hill, away
from the traffic, and surrounded by greenery. Montmartre is definitely one of
the nicer parts of Paris. I could have happily skipped most of the rest of the
city, but MM was worth a wonder round.
~~~
Angostura
Agreed - stayed in Montmartre last year and the area around Sacre-Coeur is a
gem.
------
Silhouette
I wish them luck. The Eiffel Tower is quite a place to visit, and it's true
that the road traffic in the area diminishes it. Paris has some very nice
gardens already, but in such a built-up city it's surely a benefit if they can
create one more. And while there always seems to be a great party atmosphere
in the good viewing spots for the light show, making them less concrete and
more park seems likely to improve that too.
Sadly, the area has also been diminished in recent years by all the security
around the tower itself. While understandable given actual violence that has
occurred there in the past, and even with efficient and professional security
staff doing the checks, it can still feel like going into some sort of secure
facility more than enjoying a world-famous landmark these days. If the
redesign could also reduce the visual impact of the security measures, that
would be a bonus.
~~~
ErikVandeWater
You really don't find being pat down by a security officer of your own gender
to contribute to a sense of romance and idealism??
~~~
Silhouette
I have never personally had a problem with the security staff at any visitor
attraction in Paris. They have always been perfectly polite and professional,
and the screening was generally far less intrusive and much quicker than the
security theatre we see all too often elsewhere.
I just find it regrettable that the whole area around the base of the tower
looks like a fortress these days. If they can move away from that feeling as
part of this project, perhaps relocating essential access control measures
underground as much as possible, that would be a pleasant improvement.
------
tomcam
I love those plans. The Eiffel Tower is so splendid that I never realized
until reading this article that I felt uneasy with the surrounding area. Bad
feng shui or whatever. This brings the Tower’s environment into better harmony
with the structure itself.
------
Angostura
I visited Paris last year and had a lovely time. I think I'll definitely want
to go back to visit this. It look s splendid
------
megaremote
Hopefully this park will be full of plants and grass rather than gravel like
the other parks in Paris.
~~~
noneeeed
I don't know why you've been downvoted, but that is a spot on description. I
found parks in Paris to be dusty and dry, and frankly not particularly
pleasant.
Compared to having a picnic in London, Paris' parks seemed really not designed
for enjoyment, they seemed to be more about walking around and looking.
------
thrower123
It's been a couple years, but when I was in Paris last, the area around the
Eifel Tower was swarmed with pickpockets, people trying to sign you up for
scammy petitions, and furtive junk souvenir sellers. Combined with the heavy
paramilitary police presence, swaggering around with submachineguns, it wasn't
very inviting.
~~~
noobermin
This is literally any tourist attraction in any city. I agree it sucks but it
comes with the terrain.
~~~
thrower123
Out of cities I've been, Paris was far and away the worst. I don't see this in
Berlin, or Amsterdam, or Boston, or Washington. It's the kind of scene I'd
expect in the Caribbean.
------
noneeeed
ITT: any comment criticising Paris getting downvoted.
~~~
tsukurimashou
I am french, I lived in Paris for 2 years, it was in the center and I never
want to live there again.
~~~
noneeeed
I don't blame you. Not that I ever want to live in London, but central Paris
just wasn't somewhere I'd ever even consider living in.
------
magwa101
Aka "security".
------
ptah
they should put up fruit and berry trees
------
gasbikesracecar
Paris actually used to be beautiful, now it is bland and boring without soul.
Why did people rave about its beauty in the 1800s and early 1900s? Perhaps
you'd be able to answer that question yourself if you looked up all the
gorgeous buildings that used to exist in Paris and around the Eiffel Tower
that are now nonexistent.
~~~
vidoc
An often under reported fact about paris is that it lies in one of the ugliest
regions of France. The 100 km radius around Paris is so stunningly depressing
that Parisians end up going weekend trips to Normandy. "Au royaume des
aveugles, le roi est borgne", as they say
~~~
rockinghigh
It’s “Au royaume des aveugles, les borgnes sont rois.”.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Google Wallet Goes Live - twapi
http://techcrunch.com/2011/09/19/google-wallet-sprint/
======
falcolas
I appreciate what Google is doing, but it really makes my latent tinfoil hat
itch. Google already knows more about my online habits than I do, I'm not sure
I trust them enough to give them that much more data.
When you're not paying for a service, _you_ are the merchandise and all that.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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A ‘Rebel’ Without a Ph.D (2014) - digital55
https://www.quantamagazine.org/20140326-a-rebel-without-a-ph-d/
======
jimrandomh
"Oh, yes. I’m very proud of not having a Ph.D. I think the Ph.D. system is an
abomination. It was invented as a system for educating German professors in
the 19th century, and it works well under those conditions. It’s good for a
very small number of people who are going to spend their lives being
professors. But it has become now a kind of union card that you have to have
in order to have a job, whether it’s being a professor or other things, and
it’s quite inappropriate for that. It forces people to waste years and years
of their lives sort of pretending to do research for which they’re not at all
well-suited. In the end, they have this piece of paper which says they’re
qualified, but it really doesn’t mean anything. The Ph.D. takes far too long
and discourages women from becoming scientists, which I consider a great
tragedy. So I have opposed it all my life without any success at all."
I completely agree. And I would add that it's a filter that selects status-
seekers over truth-seekers, who have no reason to tolerate it.
~~~
thebooktocome
Pray, tell us how a "truth-seeker" does highly technical research in any field
without the resources and credentials of a university.
~~~
jimrandomh
For fields that require expensive lab equipment, like physics and biology, I
admit this is hard. But for fields like math and computer science, all you
need is a computer and free time. A university can help you get time for
research, by paying a salary so you don't have to do a non-research job, but
there are other ways to handle that. A university can help you make
connections and find collaborators, but it's not the only way to do that,
either.
~~~
thebooktocome
> But for fields like math and computer science, all you need is a computer
> and free time.
As someone who has been on both sides, it can be hard to impossible to
research mathematics without access to a university library and credentials.
Math books are prohibitively expensive and go out of print swiftly. Articles
are behind paywalls. Few research mathematicians in my experience respond to
requests for preprints or clarification from non-academic e-mails.
------
cup
The problem with his argument is that a certain set of circumstances (i.e. a
world war) allowed him to enter his position without the PhD.
I'm fairly confident in saying the challenge to become a professor at a
respectable university in a stem field without a PhD makes it for all intents
and purposes impossible.
So while the PhD system is deeply flawed, unless he can provide an alternative
then theres not much to discuss.
~~~
eli_gottlieb
>So while the PhD system is deeply flawed, unless he can provide an
alternative then there's not much to discuss.
Ok, how about a much simpler system of research apprenticeship? An apprentice
is paid a low but livable salary, possibly with tuition remission for any
necessary coursework, and probably with TA/RA duties as we have now. There are
no grades and no qualifying exams. Instead, the apprentice must simply produce
three publishable (ie: either published, or judged by their committee to be
publishable) research papers within the committee's set time limit. Once they
have accomplished this, the apprentice is promoted to be a professional
researcher, given a proper professional salary and allowed to submit work as
they please without an advisor's co-authorship.
This actually captures most of what we believe, deep-down, that PhD's are
_actually for_ , but without the bureaucracy and indignity of treating
apprentice researchers as "students" who need their school's approval more
than they need to do good work.
~~~
chrisseaton
That's exactly what a PhD already is - a research apprenticeship. They already
get a low but liveable salary without having to pay tuition. I don't think
many PhDs do TA/RA duties - they're too busy researching.
PhD students don't have grades or qualifying exams, and three publishable
research papers is what most PhD students achieve anyway. The thesis is just
these papers written up into one continuous piece and submitted to the people
who will become their peers.
~~~
eli_gottlieb
Where are you coming from? I've seen two systems for running postgrad degrees,
and neither work as you describe.
>They already get a low but liveable salary without having to pay tuition. I
don't think many PhDs do TA/RA duties - they're too busy researching.
In most places I've seen, PhD students are the _primary_ source of TA/RA
labor. If we're _lucky_ , we get a base stipend and TA/RA adds to it.
>PhD students don't have grades or qualifying exams
I've never seen a PhD program with no coursework, no qualifying exams, and no
grade requirements for either. Could you show me where such an arcadian
academic track exists?
>and three publishable research papers is what most PhD students achieve
anyway
That was my point, yes.
~~~
chrisseaton
In the UK I think all PhD programmes work as I've described.
To begin my PhD I made contact from cold with a professor who had similar
research interests to mine at the University I wanted to go to. We did an
informal interview and he offered me the studentship. I didn't go through any
kind of central application process, do any entrance exams or write any essays
or anything.
When I started my PhD I immediately began working on my own research and
writing my own papers. I never did any coursework or exams. My only assessment
is a yearly review presentation and then the thesis and viva at the end. I'm
not involved in any kind of group project so I'm not working for anyone else
as 'cheap labour'.
I get paid by a grant from the government of around $21k a year. That's tax-
free so I guess it's maybe the equivalent of $25k. I have done about 50 paid
hours of TAing (demonstrating) during three years, but it was optional and I
did it just to meet some new masters students really.
~~~
eli_gottlieb
Wow... that's _awesome_. That's quite different from how I've seen it done in
other places. I _wish_ I could get that much freedom from a studentship!
~~~
physPop
They're also only 3 years long typically. We don't hire a lot of post-docs
from the UK because they are relatively less well trained due to the
significantly shorter time spend in lab...
------
baddspellar
As long as "Percent faculty with terminal degree in their field" is an
evaluation criterion for ranking school quality (I took those exact words from
the US News and World Report rankings criteria), there is little chance that
non-PhD holders will be able to become tenured faculty at research
universities going forward. Let's not fool ourselves. Schools work towards
higher rankings, as they are rewarded for doing so.
~~~
goodcanadian
Sure, but when only 4% of PhDs ever get a faculty position, there is a huge
pool of underemployed PhDs to choose from. Why would an institution ever
consider someone without regardless of rankings?
------
arca_vorago
What I think this boils down to is our cultures unhealthy focus on authority.
One of my favorite classes I took at uni was advanced English rhetoric, and
the teacher explained that overall most people tend to have a handful of
mechanisms with which they establish their credibility with the reader, in
particular with establishment of authority. "I have my Ph.D in X, therefore I
am knowledge about subject X."
The problem is that I see this taken to the extreme in all kinds of arguments,
to the point that I would almost rather not know anything about the author or
his/her authority because it colors my judgement of the material itself. Give
me your facts and data and opinions and let me evaluate them for myself
without having to rest on your laurels.
This also applies to government and diplomatic, and high level business
actions. Currently the modus operandi seems to be that people in power say,
"I've been in this industry for Y years, and have worked with P, I'm the
expert and you should listen to me. Oh and all this has to be done in secret,
because the public wouldn't understand it anyway."
I call bullshit on that constantly. Honestly, just try it, the next time you
read a published scientific paper or any material of any weight or note, keep
an eye on how much time and space is wasted on people establishing their
"authority".
~~~
noobiemcfoob
The problem though is that if you eliminate the markers of credentials any
field of information gets flooded with many people who don't have the
requisite knowledge to be talking about said field in the first place. While
you could make the argument that any investigation into this bogus research
would reveal that the person is unreliable, in reality, doing such an
investigation is incredibly time consuming. It's much more efficient to take a
Ph.D or any other specific credential as a filter and make the general
assumption that someone with that credential is more likely to be correct and
have valid research.
Yeah, that assumption can and has been way wrong in the past, but I would
argue that the valid/invalid ratio compared against the time needed to fully
investigate every bit of research any person puts out is much preferred.
------
peter303
In some cases a PhD is formality. In many PhD programs you have to publish the
equivalent of three peer-reviewed paper in your specialty. Getting these
papers published knows you are doing something important and original and know
the system. Sometimes these papers are just stapled together into a the thesis
with a forward. Rebel types may forgo the title even though the meet all the
qualifications.
------
peter303
Always been a couple of prominent MIT faculty without PhDs, like the founder
of the MIT computer lab and the current head of the Media Lab.
------
shas3
Freeman Dyson was still publishing top quality articles at 88.
[http://www.pnas.org/content/109/26/10409.full.pdf+html](http://www.pnas.org/content/109/26/10409.full.pdf+html)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Learn from your Data with Dataclips 2.0 - neilmiddleton
https://postgres.heroku.com/blog/past/2013/1/17/learn_from_your_data_with_dataclips_20/
======
jot
I just built this alternative landing page for Dataclips to try and better
communicate their awesomeness:
<https://dl.dropbox.com/u/297/dataclips/index.html>
HN thread: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5075584>
~~~
willlll
Hah this is awesome, thanks
------
dickeytk
dataclips have saved me a ton of time handling one-off query requests that I
get. Being able to share a sql query via a url and allowing non-technical
folks to refresh the query without giving them access to the database is a
huge time saver.
nice to see these new features come in, keep up the good work guys!
------
brolewis
Is there any equivalent to Dataclips for non-Heroku databases?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Polymorphism and Complex Conditionals - skorks
http://coreylearned.blogspot.com/2010/02/polymorphism-and-complex-conditionals.html
======
pmccool
An excellent example of why measuring performance is vastly preferable to
speculating about it. I often find that what I imagine to be the case and what
the measurements tell me are two completely different things.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
How a College Student Used Creative Commons to Dominate Political Photography - gregdoesit
http://priceonomics.com/how-a-college-student-used-creative-commons-to/
======
ThinkBeat
What impresses me most when I look through his stream on Flickr is his access.
It is not easy to get into as many events as he has managed, and it even
harder to get a seat or being allowed to get close enough to get a good
picture. If he is not working for, or assignment for a media company he
probably doesnt have a press pass, or at least not one that gets bouncers /
security people to step aside.
Presumably he gains more and more access as his pictures are published. This
is the key thing that will help him if he ever wants to get paid work out of
it. Leading powerful politicians will know him, and know him as a
photographer. Getting that recognition is not easy for a photo journalist.
Getting started in photo journalism is really hard, and its getting harder as
news agencies downsize both regular journalists and photographers The market
is turning more and more toward video and crowd sourcing images.
Lets say you went to school, studied photography, getting started as a
freelancer, you take ok pictures and you submit them and pray for a
publication. If you are luck you get picked up a little here and there, but
unless you get lucky, no one really pay attention to who you are.
He has taken a bold step, and his name is now known to editors at major
publications. Getting that network is far more difficult than learning how to
take pictures.
~~~
sandworm101
The kid has money. Traveling to all these events isn't cheap. So I think it
safe to assume he and/or his family are donors at some level. It doesn't take
much of a donation to get a seat close to the front, far less than the cost of
traveling to the event.
~~~
brudgers
Parents in the US spend money on their kids' activities. This probably is
equivalent to mid-level travel sports, selective musical organizations, and
beauty pageants. It is almost certainly less expensive than traveling with
horses.
Ten hours of driving each way and a budget hotel runs a couple of hundred
dollars and provides a substantial operating radius...and that ain't much
money for a lot of people.
~~~
dilemma
Individual venture capital from parents to their son. Probably a lot less than
a brand name university, with a lot more benefit in terms of network, personal
brand, and skills.
------
autarch
Hilariously, I'm pretty sure that this article is violating the license! This
person's photos are licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
([https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-
sa/2.0/](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/)). Among its terms
are "ou must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and
indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not
in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use."
Maybe I missed it but I did not see any link to the license or indication of
whether changes were made. Simply crediting the copyright owner is not
sufficient to satisfy the terms of the license. Also, with CC < 4.0 you need
to include the work's title.
The Trump site is doing exactly the same thing, not linking to the license
~~~
ghaff
I use (and attribute) CC photographs all the time and I have to say that I
wasn't even aware of a couple of those requirements. Sadly, I think terms like
these, as well as the optional non-commercial variant, are serious issues with
CC. Attribution can be hard to carry along with a photograph consistently but
at least the idea of a photo credit is pretty deeply ingrained in professional
publishing circles if not the Web more broadly. I expect most of the other
requirements and limitations are rarely followed to the letter.
~~~
thephyber
They aren't "serious issues" with CC.
They are the legal terms under which you are allowed/licensed the use of the
copyrighted content. If you don't know the license and the requirements of the
license, how you can pretend to fulfill them? You are just waiting for a
lawsuit and "ignorance is no excuse" in the eyes of the law.
------
Agustus
I am not one to say that the rich get richer, but this may be a specific case
of an individual being supported by his parents circumventing the normal
process of working the ropes to progress up to taking photos of the people
discussed.
On the other hand, it is great that these photos are available as they allow
bloggers to use these to make their site look more professional.
Journalists cannot help inserting their views of candidates, Zachary Crockett,
describes anyone who works for Trump as "Cronies." Since, @zzcrockett will
read this now, you need to keep your opinion out, your other articles were
great, keep them that way.
~~~
myNXTact
This is the exact opposite of the "rich getting richer!" Whenever we start
discussing income and wealth trends in the United States we always neglect how
we as a society have gotten richer through technological progress. Even the
poorest houses in the USA have computers and tv's that would blow the minds of
people from the 1990's and be incomprehensible to people from the 1950's.
Cameras have gotten better and better while getting cheaper. Twenty years ago
the only people taking photos of this quality were professional photographers.
Now we have college students who can work really hard over a school break and
be able to afford a great camera setup.
~~~
URSpider94
On the cost of cameras, if anything, they have gotten much more expensive. It
used to be possible to buy a pro-quality film camera and prime lens for less
than $1,000 -- so, let's say $1500 in today's dollars. More money might get
you features like better auto-exposure, auto-focus or high-speed film winders,
but a lot of pros didn't use any of those features, and back in the day when I
was shooting sports events at my college, I often had a more modern camera rig
than the pros sitting next to me. Digital cameras that give similar image
quality as those film cameras start at $2,500 today, and go up from there. It
feels like the divide between pro and amateur equipment in photography has
shot through the roof over the past decade, with the blanket adoption of
digital.
What has gotten cheaper / more accessible is the ability to publicize,
duplicate and distribute one's work. Twenty years ago, short of dropping off
prints at the local newspaper, there would be no way for an amateur
photographer to get her photos under the nose of photo editors at major news
outlets. Today, that's as simple as uploading to Flickr.
~~~
ghaff
I generally agree with you with respect to equipment cost although, to be
fair, a lot of that difference is offset by consumables. A Nikon F4 may only
have been modestly more expensive than a more consumer-oriented SLR but the
pro probably shot thousands of dollars more film during a year.
So in addition to distribution, just using the camera has also gotten a lot
cheaper.
------
ChuckMcM
Ok, and all this time I thought Gage Skidmore was a "fake" name like Alan
Smithee[1] that photographers who didn't want to dilute their own brand used
to get their work out. That it is a real person, and has such a wide swatch of
candidate pictures, is pretty cool.
[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Smithee](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Smithee)
~~~
ikeboy
Wow.
_The film 's creation set off a chain of events which would lead the
Directors Guild of America to officially discontinue the Alan Smithee credit
in 2000. Its plot (about a director attempting to disown a film) eventually,
and ironically, described the film's own production; director Arthur Hiller
requested that his name be removed after witnessing the final cut of the film
by the studio._
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Alan_Smithee_Film:_Burn_Hol...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Alan_Smithee_Film:_Burn_Hollywood_Burn)
------
nefitty
It's interesting that there is a backlash brewing against Skidmore from the
pro photog community. Giving away his work for free seems similar to the way
bloggers pour countless hours into creating content for their sites. People
don't expect to pay to read your blog post, but of course they should expect
to pay you if they need custom content made for them. Competition is fierce,
and I'd be surprised if this type of thing isn't happening in every content-
creation industry. I can actually think of an example relevant to HN: the
ubiquity of free, open source software.
~~~
saulrh
The complaints about undercutting real photographers actually kind of amused
me. The big political parties spend literally half a billion dollars a year on
advertising. If they find a photo good enough to go on the front page of their
website, they are _perfectly_ willing to make that photographer's year, and
they're not going to skimp on something that important. There's no
undercutting going on here - they decided that this guy's photographs were the
best options. Maybe it's because the marginal value of a higher-quality
photograph is not worth the money for some reason, in which case political
photography as a business is doomed. Maybe it's because he's not making
technically great photographs but is somehow better at political photographs.
Maybe it's because the licensing is a bureaucratic nightmare and the cost to a
party of using a professional photograph is 90% the manpower required to deal
with it costing _any money whatsoever_. Whatever it is, I seriously doubt that
it isn't the major political parties cheaping out.
~~~
ghaff
>The big political parties spend literally half a billion dollars a year on
advertising. If they find a photo good enough to go on the front page of their
website, they are perfectly willing to make that photographer's year, and
they're not going to skimp on something that important.
I'm actually surprised that a major campaign would just see a CC photo on
flickr and decide to use it (assuming that's what happened). Pretty much no ad
agency or other non-editorial user would do such a thing. There's too much
risk that the photographer could object to the use (in spite of the CC
licensing) or didn't actually own the rights to the image in question or had
exclusively licensed it to someone. As someone else pointed out, they're not
even using the image in a way that technically meets the letter of all the CC
license requirements.
~~~
snowwrestler
Political campaigns are ephemeral organizations and take financial and legal
risks at a far higher rate than a typical company.
They get no credit for being good with money, only for winning the election.
If they lose, they just disband and there is no one to sue. If they win, they
have a good platform to find people willing to forgive or fund debt payments
and legal settlements.
------
notlisted
Admire his persistence and dedication to creative commons. That said, I can
see why professional news photographers feel threatened and perhaps a little
insulted too... Most shots in the article and on his Flickr feed look merely
'good enough' or 'usable' (as opposed to 'great').
~~~
njharman
They feel just as threatened as book publishers, MPAA, RIAA and all the short-
sighted content producers who have been relying on quirks of technology that
allowed them to monopolize distribution of content. Quirks that no longer
exist in Internet/Digital age. These people have and continue abusing the
legal system to shore up their previous monopoly.
~~~
bobby_9x
Distribution of content is easy, yes. But creation of content is still just as
difficult.
Intellectual property laws are a bit extreme, but they also protect the small
inventor/business owner.
Without these protections, we would have an increase in trade secrets and any
individual or company that had enough money and resources could just sit there
and legally rip everyone off.
China is a good example of this. With weak IP laws, tecnology moves at a
snails pace and small business owners really can’t compete.
~~~
sangnoir
> With weak IP laws, tecnology moves at a snails pace and small business
> owners really can’t compete.
I beg to differ. With weak IP laws, technology moves at breakneck speeds with
no artificial roadblocks (patents). Take dual-sim phones as an example of
Chinese innovation - virtually every Chinese OEM supports them. Imagine if
Apple had invented (and patented) this tech: only Apple would have it.
------
vaadu
The professional photographers display the same arrogant entitlement mentality
that's seen by so many of those being obsoleted by innovation. Skidmore is not
putting professional photogs out of business, the professional photogs
inability or unwillingness to compete is putting themselves out of business.
~~~
ghaff
Yes, it is indeed difficult to compete with free even with a better product.
This isn't about competing with "innovation." It's about better distribution
channels for the free stuff that has always existed.
To be clear, there's absolutely nothing wrong with putting photos up on the
web and allowing for their free reuse. But, yes, it is the collective use of
free/cheap photographs that are good enough for their target purpose (and
sometimes as good as anything a pro would have created) that are cutting into
the professional photography business.
------
cooper12
I don't think professional photographers are in danger yet. The guy was only
able to succeed because of several factors: access to elections is open to
everyone (he probably doesn't even need to be close if using the right lens),
it isn't too difficult to take a picture of someone speaking at a podium, and
if the subject is putting any energy into speaking the photo will come out
looking decent. Professional photographers on the other hand have to deal with
open environments with varying lighting and subjects which requires a lot more
skill.
I think what he's doing is great. A creative commons is an absolute necessity
in today's age. Imagine a blogger had to pay for each image they used; they
wouldn't even be able to illustrate their subjects. Freely licensed content is
also the lifeblood of Wikipedia, which doesn't allow images of living people
under fair use. For things which can't accept amateur quality, professional
work will always be available. It certainly says something about the
profession if Trump's campaign is willing to choose amateur photographs over
theirs: they're not selling themselves hard enough or networks are not worth
as much as they used to be in today's digital age.
------
mwsherman
Here Comes Everybody.
------
MCRed
Calling Ron Paul a "tea party" candidate is accurate only if you recognize the
Tea Party as a grassroots libertarian movement that, among other things,
supported gay rights. Calling him a "libertarian" candidate would have been
more appropriate.
While the TEA PARTY was a libertarian movement (That supported gay rights) the
term was not trademarked and was quickly hijacked by propagandists on the left
and the right to try and pretend like it was a neocon movement.
This shows the wisdom of Linus Torvalds and Satoshi Nakamoto trademarking
Linux and Bitcoin respectively.
Alas, having read this blog, I feel it is pretty well spun to support a vary
specific political bias and I'm not surprised they made this statement--
probably attempting to portray Ron Paul as a neocon deliberately.
I know they are YC alumni and thus I risk being banned for daring to criticize
them. But at some point you gotta get out of your filter bubble and realize
there's a real world out there.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Bottled-water purchase leads to night in jail for U.Va. student - harold
http://www.timesdispatch.com/news/state-regional/bottled-water-purchase-leads-to-night-in-jail-for-u/article_45498018-e019-11e2-b98a-001a4bcf6878.html
======
cpursley
Expect to see more of this with the systematic destruction of the 4th
amendment.
The U.S. domestic policing agencies have become militarized in both tactics
and weaponry. There is no middle ground anymore. Either they are in full
battle-rattle complete with assault vehicles, automatic weapons and drones or
undercover in plainclothes. Any reasonable person in her situation would be
confused and scared beyond their wits, not even considering the imprisonment
aspect.
It's pretty GD scary - how are we supposed to identify the good guys?
~~~
ukoto
>It's pretty GD scary - how are we supposed to identify the good guys?
The bad guys are the ones initiating aggression - it doesn't matter what
uniform they wear (or non-uniform).
The 4th amendment is being destroyed because other amendments are also being
weakened that would normally protect it. The 1st and 2nd amendment could
easily protect this shocking situation from occurring. The 1st allows us the
free speech to inform the public of what's happening. In terms of the 2nd
amendment - if this woman had been carrying a pistol in her purse (which is
common in the South) to protect her from being overpowered, she would have a
chance to defend herself. Just one incident of a citizen defending themselves
would see the immediate halting of these kinds of thuggish tactics.
~~~
hga
" _Just one incident of a citizen defending themselves would see the immediate
halting of these kinds of thuggish tactics._ "
That turns out not to be the case with our modern "the most important thing is
to get home safe" law enforcement officers who replaced old fashioned peace
officers, and the prosecutors and judges who support them, for there are a lot
of incidents where this has happened. Here are two particularly heinous ones
where Southerners defended themselves in no-knock raids, first got killed and
had drugs planted to make it look good, the other was sentenced to death, and
eventually plead to manslaughter (making him a felon), the 10 year sentence
was less than time served:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathryn_Johnston_shooting](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathryn_Johnston_shooting)
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cory_Maye](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cory_Maye)
This is one of the greatest fears of the armed citizen; this case in Arizona
is a typical example with the normal outcome, dead citizen (his rifle on safe,
he hadn't even made the shoot/no shoot decision or had decided the latter),
nothing happens to the cops:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jose_Guerena_shooting](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jose_Guerena_shooting)
(Well, I suppose the most common example is puppycide, tangible in a way that
most raids aren't, but that's not what you're talking about.)
------
nekopa
I know this has been beaten to death here, but I am starting to see a
disturbing trend coming out of US policing/justice system. That trend is the
laying on of multiple charges when someone pisses off the authorities.
It's one thing when the federal prosecutors do it (Swartz, Brown et al) and
now even low level enforcers are doing it.
Is this what I have to look forward to if I ever return to the country of my
birth? I cross the road at the wrong time, the arresting officer takes a
dislike to me and adds 3 extra charges to the jaywalking charge which ends up
with me spending 3 years in prison because I was running late for an
appointment?
I've tried to stay out of these HN NSA and other political stories, but there
is one thing I've noticed as a business consultant: the attitude and beliefs
of top management always end up filtering down to the rank and file employees.
Is this what is happening to the US justice system? Will you one day walk into
the local DMV get into an argument and end up with 15 (technically correct)
charges against you, bankrupt and in prison?
~~~
hga
15 is an exaggeration, but yes.
For more details, including a good thesis on what drives this, an explanation
for why you can have a dramatic drop in national crime rates without layoffs
in what I've taken to calling the police-judicial complex, read this book,
_Arrest-Proof Yourself: An Ex-Cop Reveals How Easy It Is for Anyone to Get
Arrested, How Even a Single Arrest Could Ruin Your Life, and What to Do If the
Police Get in Your Face_ ([http://www.amazon.com/Arrest-Proof-Yourself-Ex-Cop-
Reveals-A...](http://www.amazon.com/Arrest-Proof-Yourself-Ex-Cop-Reveals-
Arrested/dp/1556526377/)), and decide if you want to return to this sort of
environment.
This was reified for me when I retired to the SW Missouri town I was born and
raised in and an officer played a game of chicken with his vehicle and my
body. From my time on the East Coast I was an experienced enough pedestrian to
see that he would barely miss me and stared him down, but I'm pretty sure this
was designed to get the average local to run, "crazy cop trying to kill me!",
which would generate a fleeing an officer arrest statistic for him per the
book.
------
DanBC
Why do you pull a gun on an underage person buying beer? (Especially when
she's not even buying beer?)
~~~
samsolomon
ABC agents are mainly a police force to stop college kids from drinking. They
are armed like police officers, but their primary mission is a lost cause.
Good use of taxpayer dollars.
Edit: redundancy
------
kghose
This is just wrong. No public apology? There should be a lawsuit. And the
damages should come out of the paychecks and pensions of the "agents" not
public funds.
------
netcraft
how would they have known she was underage, yet not known that it was bottled
water not alcohol? Why would it be appropriate in any situation to pull a
weapon for a possible underage drinking charge? There is too much about this
that doesn't add up - there should be an investigation.
~~~
revelation
The obvious question being - who gave these morons a gun instead of a
flashlight?
~~~
GhotiFish
The question we would ask after that is who gave those morons a flashlight
instead of a nothing.
------
stevoski
I liked Hacker News better when it was a place for sharing and discussing
start-up based news.
Not to say that these other types of articles are not worthy of reading and
sharing. But I can get them elsewhere.
~~~
Buttons840
Since "Hackers" have often have an attitude of disobedience, it's not
surprising that articles related to law and abuse of power are considered news
worthy.
This isn't "Startup News".
~~~
h4pless
I think you misunderstand the meaning of the term "Hacker" in the context of
this site. From Google:
Hacker: 1\. An enthusiastic and skillful computer programmer or user. 2\. A
person who uses computers to gain unauthorized access to data.
It sounds to me like you are confusing the second definition with the first.
This is a site for people to find the the most relevant news regarding
technology and anything else that people with such interest would find
intellectually stimulating. The article has nothing to do with technology but
does fit into the intellectually stimulating category if people here are
interested in it but do not confuse that with this being a place to discuss
"disobedience" as you put it.
You can think of this site as being "Technology Enthusiast News" with startups
being one of the primary focuses of discussion.
~~~
Buttons840
I used the definition of "hacker" the creator of this site gives:
[http://www.paulgraham.com/gba.html](http://www.paulgraham.com/gba.html)
------
tomasien
Tommy from cityswig.com here - been dealing with Virginia ABC for about 2
years now, and their uncooperative behavior and insane bureaucracy essentially
killed any chance we had to survive as a company. Not only that - but stories
like this are the norm in Virginia. They're in constant over-reach mode.
------
JangoSteve
I wish we had "https" for real life, a way to know someone really is who they
say they are. Not so much personally, but more an immediately verifiable
organizational identification for a person.
I always thought badges were a weird way for police to self-identify,
considering a thug could make something that passes as a badge, especially in
a dark in-your-face encounter like this. And you're supposed to do exactly
what they say without regard to protecting yourself or fleeing, for fear of
being charged with felonies (or worse). That just seems like a system that
wasn't well thought out.
The article said these women called 911 to verify these guys really were cops;
that to me is an extremely smart move given the amount of terror they must
have been going through.
------
cstavish
Bunch of fucking amateurs. You have six plainclothes officers "on patrol" for
minors in possession of alcohol. That's absurd. I go to college in a city
where the cops understand that underage drinking is a thing and won't hassle
you unless you're asking for it.
------
vinceguidry
Would a retaliatory lawsuit be out of the question here? Much as I dislike the
idea of suing police officers for doing their jobs, she should at least be
able to sue the state.
------
totallymike
I wonder what this has to do with technology or start-ups. It's a valuable
read, but it belongs elsewhere.
------
soundgecko
I thought it was yet another of those articles with an inflammatory but
ultimately misleading headline designed to get on Buzzfeed and Reddit. Boy,
was I wrong. The story was actually worse than the headline.
------
joewallin
Police our out of control.
------
Natsu
At least they dropped the charges. Whatever misgivings I have about how the
whole thing went down, at least they dropped the charges once things were
straightened out.
She probably was, technically, guilty of eluding police and such, but I'm glad
they did not go through with that. I'm sure she's not happy about spending a
night in jail, but just as I give her credit for mistakes in the heat of the
moment, I'll give the police the same.
~~~
cujo
I imagine it's pretty easy to be "technically, guilty of eluding police and
such" when you haven't done anything wrong and half dozen people in street
clothes come barreling at you screaming and jumping on the hood of your car.
Frankly, if half a dozen trained officers are so afraid to rationally approach
a sorority girl who might have beer on her, then maybe these fuck-ups need to
be fired. Paint the picture for me, where what they did would have provoked a
rational response from the girl.
Did I mention they did this because they thought a sorority girl might have
beer? Beer! Context is everything, and these people don't have it.
~~~
Natsu
> I imagine it's pretty easy to be "technically, guilty of eluding police and
> such" when you haven't done anything wrong and half dozen people in street
> clothes come barreling at you screaming and jumping on the hood of your car.
Yes, but in other cases, they've turned this technical guilt into actual guilt
by charging them. That's why I'm glad they didn't do that this time.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: How do you install developer tools on a fresh system? - fratlas
I used to have a bash script I would run to install everything (libs/tools) you're average web developer would need (node, sublime, google chrome, , python libs etc etc). Unfortunately I lost it after some time. Does anyone use anything similar?
======
falcolas
I don't do fresh installs very often, but when I do, it's generally because I
want it to be a genuine fresh install. As such, I don't install a tool until I
need it. I find that tools I once thought I absolutely needed are not tools or
libraries that I use anymore.
I have three exceptions to this: Vim (my editor of choice), dotfiles (which I
store in a git repository and put in place using stow, installed via a simple
bash script), and Vagrant, so I can do development testing against a VM.
As Docker matures, I may use it in place of Vagrant, but it's not ready to
fill the same role quite yet.
~~~
moondev
Have you tried the beta for OSX or Windows yet? I haven't needed vagrant in
the slightest since it was released.
~~~
falcolas
If they can get xhyve based VMs stable when co-existing with VirtualBox, then
yeah, that will go a long way towards replacing Vagrant for me.
That said, I'm not a huge fan of Docker's feature churn; having to re-install,
reconfigure, and re-learn tooling that is central to my workflow every other
month gets old pretty quickly.
~~~
gtirloni
That's currently blocker #1 for us when it comes to the new Docker for
Mac/Win. VirtualBox works as a nice abstraction layer on top of 3 OSes
(Mac/Win/Linux) which simplifies things with Vagrant. Unfortunately it seems
VirtualBox has been in maintenance mode as of lately so that might have
contributed to Docker's decision to go with HyperV/xhyve.
------
fratlas
Oh god I used "you're" instead of "your" and can't edit it.
~~~
orf
The horror!
~~~
fratlas
I have become what I hate :(
~~~
aug-riedinger
You only hate not being able to edit your comment on HN. So do I.
------
mbrock
I recently reinstalled my NixOS laptop. I just installed the distribution,
added my SSH keys, cloned a repository, made a handful of symlinks, and then
told NixOS to set everything up.
It's actually a collaborative repository, so that both of us in our company
can improve the computer configuration, install new tools or language
runtimes, etc etc.
The shared configuration has stuff like: our user accounts and public SSH
keys; local mailer setup; firewall; conf for X/bash/emacs/ratpoison/tmux; list
of installed packages (including Chromium, mplayer, nethack, etc); fonts and
keymaps; various services (nssmdns, atd, redis, ipfs, tor, docker, ssh agent,
etc); some cron jobs; a few custom package definitions; and some other stuff.
In Emacs, I use "use-package" for all external package requirements so that
when I start the editor it installs all missing packages from ELPA/MELPA.
Aside from dealing with the binary WiFi blob this Dell computer demands,
reinstalling was a pleasure.
~~~
nahtnam
You can use nixOS as a development machine? How did you install a window
manager or desktop environment?
~~~
mbrock
Sure! It's a full distribution. You install window managers the same way as
any other package. The NixOS manual is quite comprehensive.
------
dvcrn
I have my dotfiles for that. Split into different categories (brew, npm, pip)
together with all the config files I need. brew and brew cask (with brew-
bundle [0] for Brewfile support) take care of getting all libraries and
applications onto the system.
For the development itself I'm either shipping my entire config (.vimrc for
example) or use systems like spacemacs, sublimious or proton that only need 1
single file to re-install the entire state of the editor.
The install script itself [1] is then symlinking everyhing into place and
executes stuff like pip install -r ~/.dotfiles/pip/packages.txt.
It takes a bit of effort to keep everything up to date but I'm never worried
of loosing my "machine state". If I go to a new machine all I have to do is
clone my dotfiles, execute install.sh and I have everything I need.
On servers I am using saltstack [2], a tool like puppet, ansible and friends,
to ensure my machines are in the exact state I want them to be. I'm usually
using the serverless version and push my states over SSH to them.
[0]: [https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-
bundle](https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-bundle)
[1]:
[https://github.com/dvcrn/dotfiles/blob/master/install.sh](https://github.com/dvcrn/dotfiles/blob/master/install.sh)
[2]: [https://saltstack.com](https://saltstack.com)
~~~
DigitalJack
I have no strong opinion here, but I am curious to hear yours. What were the
discriminators in choosing saltstack over the alternatives?
My head spins with these tools and every time I pick one I seem to eventually
run into a road block that is a no-go. The most recent effort was ansible and
the no-go was its strict dependency on python2.7.
~~~
dvcrn
I came from puppet and salt felt a good amount "lighter". I'm mostly a python
developer and salt states written in pure yaml with jinja2 templates, or
alternatively directly in raw python for more complex stuff feel like home.
The yaml makes it very easy to understand even if I come back to a state after
months. It's just a list of things that should happen with a few template tags
sprinkled in.
Not saying salt is better than puppet or friends. It's purely based on
preference. I can't say anything to chef or ansible since I never tried them.
Salt has a crazy active community and while there are things I don't like
about it like the "name" of a state, it's still doing it's job just fine so I
sticked with it.
~~~
guitarbill
ha, i moved from chef to ansible for much of the same reasons. at the end of
the day, it doesn't matter.
(however, from my experience salt and ansible stay readable because they're
yaml and not arbitrary code/DSL, whereas chef "recipes" are ruby and usually
devolve into complex programs if you're not careful)
------
JoshTriplett
If you consistently use the same Linux distribution, consider building
metapackages for that distribution.
I created a set of Debian packages that depend on suites of packages I need. I
download and install "josh-apt-source", which installs the source in
/etc/apt/sources.list.d and the key in /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/ , then "apt
update" and "apt install josh-core josh-dev josh-gui ...". That same source
package also builds configuration packages like "josh-config-sudoers".
~~~
Shorel
Can I use that with external PPAs?
Or I have to install the PPAs before I can use the metapackage (which kind of
defeats the idea of using a metapackage instead of a script)?
~~~
stephenr
While you could have third party repos installed via apt packages the problem
is you can't trigger an apt update after they install and before the things
that depend on them install easily.
------
zihotki
The question asks only about *nix systems, I assume, but it worth mentioning
that there is a great tool for Windows too, just in case if someone needs it -
[https://chocolatey.org/](https://chocolatey.org/)
~~~
j_s
Automating from-scratch setup with chocolatey:
[http://www.boxstarter.org/](http://www.boxstarter.org/)
~~~
skeoh
Looks cool but I would be uncomfortable using this over HTTP, not HTTPS. Don't
really want to risk a MITM when installing software on your machine (and
giving it UAC _and_ your password).
------
Jedd
Use a configuration management tool (I picked
[https://saltstack.com/](https://saltstack.com/) , mostly because of the docs
& community support) but there's lots to choose from - Chef, Puppet, Ansible,
and so on.
There's a learning curve, and plenty of 'where did my afternoon go?' rabbit
holes you can lose yourself in. But the upside is that you can have
consistent, repeatable, and rapid builds, with modularity as a bonus.
Don't be afraid with any of these kinds of tools to brute force complex
components if you're in a hurry - ie. ignore the pure / idiomatic way, and use
the tool's primitives to dump a shell script on a remote box and then run it.
~~~
ams6110
I've found with Ansible at least, I was initially tempted to make large
complicated roles for things like "application server" or "development
desktop" but what ended up working much better was very granular roles such as
"nginx server" and "emacs" (often just a single task such as "yum: name=nginx
state=installed") that can be combined in playbooks. This makes it easier to
avoid duplicating tasks in different roles, or having a lot of complex
conditional cases in your roles.
~~~
snuxoll
This is the "roles and profiles pattern" in puppet, it generally makes sense.
Also, +1 for using CM to set your workstation back up, I really need to get
around to writing some Puppet manifests to do that for mine
------
_query
I'm using a shell script together with the nix package manager for that. The
shell script just ensures that all packages are there (e.g. doing `nix-env -i
fpp wget iterm2 jekyll ghc ruby nodejs composer php`). I can pin the version
of all packages by configuring `NIX_PATH` to point to a specific `nixpkgs`
(the package repository) commit. So that all people have exact the same
versions of everything.
Package customizations like a .vimrc is also handled by nix (I recently
blogged about how I do this:
[https://www.mpscholten.de/nixos/2016/05/26/sharing-
configura...](https://www.mpscholten.de/nixos/2016/05/26/sharing-
configuration-across-systems-with-nix.html)).
The shell scripts together with the package customizations (e.g. my custom
vimrc) are managed by git.
~~~
akavel
I've recently learned you can put all the packages in one custom Nix
expression in ~/.nixpkgs/config.nix, like below, then load (and
reload/update/change) it with one `nix-env -i all`, or faster with: `nix-env
-iA nixos.all`:
# ~/.nixpkgs/config.nix
{
packageOverrides = defaultPkgs: with defaultPkgs; {
# To install below "pseudo-package", run:
# $ nix-env -i all
# or:
# $ nix-env -iA nixos.all
all = with pkgs; buildEnv {
name = "all";
paths = [
fpp wget iterm2 jekyll
ghc ruby nodejs composer php
];
};
};
}
and then keep only this one file in git. (Though still working on how to
possibly also keep .inputrc, .bashrc, .profile, etc. in it.)
------
pwnna
I've found ansible to be okay at setting up my environment. I'm able to
configure everything from my zsh themes, terminal font size, window manager
shortcuts, thunderbird logins, and so forth. The playbook takes about 30
minutes to run and after that I have almost everything ready.
Unfortunately I don't have a public GH repo I can point at as I don't want to
expose everything I use to the internet. However the principle is the same as
provisioning servers with ansible.
The only thing different I do is I use GPG keys to decrypt and untar things
like thunderbird profiles rather than using Ansible vault. I restore GPG keys
+ SHH keys from offline, encrypted USB backups.
~~~
ajford
Have you considered using Gitlab? I really like GitHub, but can't justify the
prices right now (just starting out in my career). But while Gitlab isn't as
popular, or maybe quite as polished (though it's getting there fast), it does
have free private repos. I've used this to store private data like this.
Check it out if you haven't already.
~~~
pwnna
I use both GL and GH regularly (I have private repo at GH as well). I'm moving
towards GL slowly but my experience is that it is much slower than GH atm.
------
jmfayard
That's a very good reason to only install apps with a real package installer.
On OSX, this is a no-brainer with brew[1] and brew cask[2]
# On my old mac
$ brew list
$ brew cask list
=> then I save relevant parts for future references
brew install npm
brew install zsh
brew cask install sublime-text
brew cask install google-chrome
brew cask install intellij-idea
[1] [http://brew.sh/](http://brew.sh/) [2]
[https://caskroom.github.io/](https://caskroom.github.io/)
~~~
desdiv
>brew list
Protip: "brew list" will list all installed packages, including dependencies,
which you might not want. What you probably want is "brew leaves", where it
lists all installed packages _that are not dependencies of another installed
package_.
This makes a difference in cases where a dependency is no longer needed in the
latest version.
On a related note, why does the majority of package managers make the common
and simple task of "list all manually installed packages" so incredibly hard?
For a fun brain twister, try to list all the manually installed packages on
your system by just reading the man pages and no internet. Ubuntu is nightmare
mode for this challenge.
~~~
jmiserez
For Ubuntu, look no further:
[http://askubuntu.com/a/492343/145754](http://askubuntu.com/a/492343/145754)
------
svaksha
I use a shell script for a new debian[0] installation and also have other
scripts for kubuntu[1], opensuse[2] and other software installations. I store
my dotfiles[3] and other useful scripts that I can customize for each
development environment. Hope that helps!
[0] [https://github.com/svaksha/yaksha/blob/master/yksh/apt-
debia...](https://github.com/svaksha/yaksha/blob/master/yksh/apt-debian.sh)
[1]
[https://github.com/svaksha/yaksha#2-folders](https://github.com/svaksha/yaksha#2-folders)
[2]
[https://github.com/svaksha/yaksha/tree/master/yksh](https://github.com/svaksha/yaksha/tree/master/yksh)
[3]
[https://github.com/svaksha/yaksha/tree/master/home](https://github.com/svaksha/yaksha/tree/master/home)
~~~
noxToken
Just wanted to compliment you on the documentation in those scripts. I'm that
documentation stickler guy at work, so seeing it in the wild (especially for
personal files) makes my day.
~~~
svaksha
Thanks :)
------
Sir_Cmpwn
I just install stuff when I run into something I need but don't have. Keeps my
system slim.
------
ramblenode
Setting up a new system is where NixOS really shines. Once you have one system
working it is trivial to duplicate it on new metal.
1\. Install NixOS
2\. Copy configuration.nix*
3\. Copy dotfiles
4\. # nixos-rebuild switch
5\. Enjoy your old setup on new hardware--no secret sauce needed!
*A hardware-configuration.nix should have been generated by the installer. By default this is sourced by configuration.nix, in which case configuration.nix shouldn't need editing.
~~~
dleslie
I've been interested in Nix and Guix for some time; would you be able to
comment on the two?
~~~
ramblenode
Probably the definitive document making the case for Nix (and Guix by
extension) is Eelco Dolstra's PhD thesis [0] . The introduction is a good read
by itself.
I have never used Guix/GuixSD but have heard good things about it. Behind the
scenes it uses the Nix package manager and offers a subset of Nix packages
licensed as free software. Whereas Nix/NixOS uses the Nix expression language,
Guix/GuixSD uses a Guile Scheme front-end. I've heard the Guix CLI is quite
nice and a bit more polished than Nix's but Nix is currently in the process of
overhauling the CLI. See [1] for a more detailed comparison.
Both of these projects have very active development but don't have the volume
of listings as you would find in e.g. AUR or the Debian repos. That said, I've
been pleased and actually surprised at just how many packages exist. If you
can't find what you want, contributing new packages isn't too hard (often just
a case of finding something similar in the repos and changing the relevant
values). You can check the current Nix [2] and Guix [3] packages here to see
if enough of your needs are covered before giving one of them a try.
[0] [http://grosskurth.ca/bib/2006/dolstra-
thesis.pdf](http://grosskurth.ca/bib/2006/dolstra-thesis.pdf)
[1] [http://sandervanderburg.blogspot.com/2012/11/on-nix-and-
gnu-...](http://sandervanderburg.blogspot.com/2012/11/on-nix-and-gnu-
guix.html)
[2]
[https://nixos.org/nixos/packages.html](https://nixos.org/nixos/packages.html)
[3]
[https://www.gnu.org/software/guix/packages/](https://www.gnu.org/software/guix/packages/)
~~~
dleslie
Thanks!
------
MaulingMonkey
Manually. I wipe rarely, and change tools often for various reasons (even
ignoring version upgrades), making building and maintaining an installation
script not worth it.
For awhile I did maintain a windows batch script that installed things off of
a share at work. I was dealing with pre-release Windows 8, and wiped
frequently for upgrades. Even that probably wasn't worth it, but I didn't have
a second machine at the time, and wanted to run it overnight instead of
blocking my ability to work.
------
michaelmior
I have a repository[0] that holds all my configuration and installs some
language-specific tools. Otherwise I just manually install any packages I
need. I may consider automating this at some point but I don't use that many
tools so it hasn't been particularly onerous.
[0]
[https://github.com/michaelmior/dotfiles](https://github.com/michaelmior/dotfiles)
~~~
masukomi
ditto. In addition to dot files, my repo has a `system_setup.sh` which
installs everything that can be installed on the command line and sets up
symlinks and and and. Every time i add a new tool to my arsenal (brew install
x usually) i also add it to that file. This repo means i can be up and running
on any new system in under 30 mins. Most of that time is for some manual
downloads, and git checkouts I have to do too.
------
cyptus
[https://chocolatey.org/](https://chocolatey.org/)
~~~
cyptus
windows 10 comes with packet manager, so you can just execute the following
statements on an fresh windows install (powershell):
[http://pastebin.com/HmiqDDbi](http://pastebin.com/HmiqDDbi)
~~~
sakopov
Interesting. This looks like NuGet on steroids.
------
tracker1
Depends on the system.. for OSX, first VSCode, second Homebrew, after that VS
Code. I use Homebrew to install the version-switchers for my language of
choice (usually node/nvm).
From there, I'll setup a ~/bin directory with various scripts as utilitarian.
I may source some of them in my profile script.
\----
Windows Git for Windows, Git Extensions, ConEmu, Visual Studio (Pro or
Community, depending on environment), VS Code. I should look into chocolatey,
but admit I haven't. NVM for windows.
\----
Linux/Ubuntu generally apt, and ppa's as needed.
\----
FYI: I keep my ~/bin symlinked under dropbox, as I tend to use the same
scripts in multiple places. I will separate ~/bin/win, ~/bin/osx and
~/bin/bash, and have them in the path in appropriate order... linux/bash being
default. I'll usually use bash in windows these days too, and set my OSX pref
to bash. It's the most consistent option for me, even with windows /c/...
------
rcconf
I use Ansible with Brew and Brew Cask. I've found using Brew for everything
makes it easier to upgrade all applications for security reasons and it also
gives a high level view of my system. Here's the relevant config file of the
things I install:
[https://github.com/arianitu/setup-my-
environment/blob/master...](https://github.com/arianitu/setup-my-
environment/blob/master/roles/common/vars/main.yml)
The ansible script also links to my dotfiles, which can be found at:
[https://github.com/arianitu/dotfiles](https://github.com/arianitu/dotfiles)
~~~
n42
I use a similar setup and find it quite dependable. I notice your bootstrap
script does not automate the XCode installation. Here's how you can automate
that in case you're curious: [https://github.com/timsutton/osx-vm-
templates/blob/ce8df8a74...](https://github.com/timsutton/osx-vm-
templates/blob/ce8df8a7468faa7c5312444ece1b977c1b2f77a4/scripts/xcode-cli-
tools.sh)
------
tlrobinson
I find I end up with a lot of cruft and my tools of choice change over time,
so I don't worry about it. A decent package manager makes this approach
tolerable.
Homebrew and Homebrew Cask on OS X handle at least 90% of what I want to
install.
------
HugoDias
As a rails developer, I've used and recommended
[https://github.com/thoughtbot/laptop](https://github.com/thoughtbot/laptop)
:)
~~~
gboone42
We've adapted this at 18F. It's not a fork but it is based on and inspired by
Thoughtbot's original project. Strong recommend.
[https://github.com/18f/laptop](https://github.com/18f/laptop)
------
beagle3
Not directly related, but this seems like the right thread to ask: I've been
trying to move from Linux to OS recently, and the one thing I can't stand is
the .DS_Store and other files which OSX just throws all over the place, in
every directory whether local, network or external drive.
Is there a way to stop it? (installable on a fresh system? I've been
experimenting with reformatting, so that's not a problem)
~~~
smnscu
This might have what you're looking for, anyway it's a good starting point for
a lot of commands to customize an OS X instance.
[https://github.com/mathiasbynens/dotfiles](https://github.com/mathiasbynens/dotfiles)
Edit: AFAIK .DS_Store is only created when you use Finder. In the past couple
of years I've only used the Finders to drag'n drop stuff between ~/Desktop and
~/Downloads, terminal for the rest, so .DS_Store files might not be a problem
in practice.
Edit2: Google helps answer your original question
[http://stackoverflow.com/questions/18015978/how-to-stop-
crea...](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/18015978/how-to-stop-creating-ds-
store-on-mac)
~~~
beagle3
Thanks. I was aware of asepsis, not aware of DeathToDSStore, but neither works
on El Capitan unless you turn off SIP.
I find it so surprising that there's no way to disable this.
------
cgdub
I use the Nix package manager. I use it on both Linux and OSX.
Setting up tools is quick and easy:
1\. Install Nix
2\. Copy my config to ~/.nixpkgs/config.nix
3\. Run "nix-env -i all"
------
devonkim
I've been using
[https://github.com/superlumic/superlumic](https://github.com/superlumic/superlumic)
for setting up my Mac machines because it supports a few more constructs that
are common for Macs such as plist file modifications. Since it's Ansible-based
you use YAML files to configure everything and it works well with Homebrew at
least. I spend enough time working on configuration management professionally
and don't want to spend any more time than I must to keep sinking time into my
workstation's configuration than I have to, so more complicated DSLs / systems
like Puppet, Chef, Salt are out for me despite working with those
professionally.
In the future I'd like to try NixOS for managing OS X but it seems rather
immature at this point for people that want stuff to Just Work primarily.
------
xemdetia
I usually develop in VM's where the machines are very well defined so it's
easier to build a build machine. In the end though this usually means that the
absolute package requirements are held by the project repo so what needs to be
installed is based on that.
So if I need to start a project or rebuild a system to do a project I can
generally use the project itself as guidance on what to install. After two or
three builds I have usually cleared all the dependency hurtles. The only thing
that really breaks down is not having your dotfiles available, but for me
those are backed up/in SCM.
If you are familiar with building projects from scratch it becomes a lot
easier to understand dependencies and grow the system to what it needs to be,
and with VMs it is that much easier to start with a blank slate that you are
capable of blowing away and not even trouble secondary workflows.
------
CraigJPerry
I did do ansible [https://github.com/CraigJPerry/home-
network](https://github.com/CraigJPerry/home-network) but I've decided it's
overkill for my dev machines.
I still like ansible as a layer on top of AMI images when I spin projects up
in the cloud though. I don't want to have to go install iotop when I want to
use it, I want to just know that my tools are present and ready to go. But I
consider this a different type of machine from my dev hosts.
As I see it, the best solution on a dev machine is to make it easy to install
software I might need in future. That means having a package manager available
and access to my preferred configuration. On linux I just need my dotfiles
repo available on the box, on windows I also need chocolatey installed.
------
USAnum1
I keep a series of basic setup scripts for Ubuntu on my github[0]. I do wget
and pipe them to bash, which I'm not tremendously proud of...
[0]: [https://github.com/cjjeakle/devbox-
setup](https://github.com/cjjeakle/devbox-setup)
------
StillBored
I use bash+rpm.
RPM's are insanely easy to create, and the work helps with deployment/version
tracking on the end machine. For example I have an .spec that downloads a
given version of codeIgniter, unzips it, tweaks some permissions, and then
rolls it into an RPM and tosses it into a network accessible repo. The RPM has
a pretty complete list of dependencies, so they automatically get pulled in.
So my devel script looks something like:
cat <<EOF
"EOF" > /etc/yum.repos.d/local-repo.repo
[local-repo]
name=local-repo
baseurl=http://xxxx
enabled=1
gpgcheck=...
EOF
PACKAGES="codeigniter otherstuff"
for PKG in $PACKAGES; do
sudo yum install -y $PKG;
done
------
antjanus
A few days old but I wanted to contribute anyways:
I do a really fresh/clean install. I install tools as I need them and find
myself leaving tools behind often and trying things out. I get setup on new
machines pretty often: whether I installed a new linux distro on my
chromebook, finally dual-booting Linux on my PC, or just setting up a dev VM.
Anyways, I recently abandoned using Tmux because I prefer using i3 as my
window manager and it works for me much better because now I can not only tile
terminal windows but also other utilities.
I've also moved on from using CMDer straight to using ConEmu on my Windows
machine. Every reinstall is basically doing inventory of my tools.
Obviously, I keep a repo of dotfiles and other settings files.
------
zwetan
Not as Bash script but some time ago I documented complete environment setup
for Windows / Mac OS X / Linux
[https://github.com/Corsaair/redtamarin/wiki/DeveloperEnviron...](https://github.com/Corsaair/redtamarin/wiki/DeveloperEnvironment)
The Windows part have a Batch script setup to automate the install of cygwin,
apt-cyg, wpkg, etc.
It is very specific to the Redtamarin project, compiling C++, compiling Java,
compiling AS3 to bytecode, etc.
there are also other doc for hardware setup, SSH to/from Windows, running
"remote" build from the LAN, etc.
but the setup should work for about anything, comments to improve it welcome
:)
------
smountcastle
I use
[https://github.com/denisphillips/boxible](https://github.com/denisphillips/boxible)
it's like GitHub's Boxen project but instead of Puppet it uses Ansible.
------
khedoros
At work, we support umpteen OSes in our build (a lot of C++ stuff, so it's
picky about where it builds and runs). For the Linux side of things (where
most of the dev work is actually done), I'm in the process of building Docker
images for our range of build machines, so that a developer can put up a
releng-equivalent build environment in a couple minutes, pulling images from a
locally-hosted registry.
Our current system is built on a combination of VM templates and documentation
for the devs to set up their own build machines manually. Anything that I
can't containerize will be stuck there, too.
------
Keats
I'm on Archlinux and I keep a list of the packages installed from pacman and
from AUR and some config files in
[https://github.com/Keats/dotfiles](https://github.com/Keats/dotfiles)
([https://github.com/Keats/dotfiles/blob/master/zshrc#L39-L40](https://github.com/Keats/dotfiles/blob/master/zshrc#L39-L40)
for the aliases).
I haven't reinstalled in a long time so the install script might be broken
though
------
pricechild
I maintain Ansible playbooks for my own systems should the worst happen.
~~~
ChilledHands
Just to make sure I understand, your play book isn't for a VM but a host os?
~~~
pricechild
Yep. You can use 'connection: local' for example.
------
hashhar
I think you might like this ([https://github.com/snwh/ubuntu-post-
install/](https://github.com/snwh/ubuntu-post-install/)) project a lot.
Well, personally, I made my own project somewhat similar to the one I linked
to but mine wasn't that savvy. Plus mine also installed stuff from npm
(linters mostly), ruby-gems (jekyll blog), pip and grabbed some sources and
compiled them and symlinked them to proper places using GNU Stow.
PS: He's the developer of Paper GTK Theme.
------
marcosdumay
Debian 8 has been very brittle, what gave me some experience on creating fresh
systems at home...
I have my configurations on a version controlled puppet repository. This
helped a lot, and I'd recommend anybody to forget /etc versioning, and use a
proper configuration control system even when it's not exactly a requirement.
I'm about to ditch my /etc backups now.
A certain source of pain is software that must be kept up to date. I have
Firefox and GHC on this category. Both hurt, but it's not worth it to
repackage them.
------
edcastro
I use Ansible to install all my desktop basically. This coupled with my
dotfiles (that includes a bash for gnome configuration) makes my workstation
ready in 15 minutes or so.
This is my Ansible repo for reference: [https://gitlab.com/edgard/ansible-
ubuntu](https://gitlab.com/edgard/ansible-ubuntu)
And dotfiles:
[https://gitlab.com/edgard/dotfiles](https://gitlab.com/edgard/dotfiles)
------
hacksonx
I'm one of those guys with an install.sh file that I got from my mentor. I
just run it on every new install. Last time being when I installed Ubuntu
16.04.
~~~
vmorgulis
Mine is called "apt-all.sh" and installs gcc, clang, qemu and some libraries:
[https://github.com/vmorgulys/sandbox/blob/master/stackcity/t...](https://github.com/vmorgulys/sandbox/blob/master/stackcity/tool/debian/apt-
all.sh)
It's a big list of "apt-get -y install".
------
WA
I started to use Vagrant together with
[https://puphpet.com/](https://puphpet.com/) to create a dev machine. I have a
MacBook Air and won't pollute it anymore with a dev environment. With a
virtual machine, everything stays separated in a nice and tidy way.
Installing dev tools on OS X are a matter of minutes then, because everything
else comes with the Vagrant box.
Edit: I'm a web dev guy.
------
willejs
I use Chef, Ive got a cookbook here that uses policy files to install homebrew
and homebrew casks and set up some stuff. It slao tests it in test kitchen,
converging an os x system in virtulbox! [https://github.com/willejs/chef-
workstation](https://github.com/willejs/chef-workstation)
------
schneidmaster
(OSX) I keep a bash script in a gist on GitHub that I can copy down and run on
a new system. It installes Homebrew, rvm, nvm, and then a bunch of homebrew
and homebrew-cask packages which is pretty much all of my development
environment. Every so often I'll `brew list` and paste in the latest
dependency list to keep it up to date.
------
bryanlarsen
Question: why are you doing a fresh install? If you install everything through
your package manager, you don't need a fresh install to clean things up. My
operating system has lived through several different machine upgrades. I just
do a `cp -a` to copy the files from one hard drive to another, set up the
bootloader and go.
~~~
collyw
Theoretically that may be the case, but its far from reality.
~~~
Symbiote
It's not the same hard drive, but the files in /var/log/installer/ show I
installed Ubuntu 10.10 on 24 October 2010. It's been upgraded since, and
copied to a new drive at least once.
/etc/popularity-contest.conf has the same timestamp, so I'm curious whether
Ubuntu (or Debian) keep any statistics on the lifetime of a system.
------
yasinaydin
I use Arch Linux and follow the basic guidelines for installation and modules.
The rest is synchronized with my Dropbox and I created a bash script to remove
the configuration files and symbolic link them to their respective folders in
my sync folder. Thus I can also maintain the same configuration on my other
computers, too.
------
recursive
It's about an even split between installers from an MSDN account, and a ninite
bundled installer for the rest.
~~~
lostsock
Ninite bundled installer has made setting up new computers for family members
so mindlessly easy. So glad it exists.
------
zwischenzug
I use a ShutIt script:
[https://github.com/ianmiell/shutit-home-
server/blob/master/S...](https://github.com/ianmiell/shutit-home-
server/blob/master/Shutitfile)
it's platform independent and automates the install of everything I need.
~~~
zwischenzug
More info:
[https://github.com/ianmiell/shutitfile/blob/master/README.md](https://github.com/ianmiell/shutitfile/blob/master/README.md)
[https://github.com/ianmiell/shutitfile/blob/master/CheatShee...](https://github.com/ianmiell/shutitfile/blob/master/CheatSheet.md)
[http://ianmiell.github.io/shutit/](http://ianmiell.github.io/shutit/)
------
nekgrim
I created a personal list, but half of the install is manually made:
[https://framagit.org/briced/conffiles/raw/master/INSTALL.md](https://framagit.org/briced/conffiles/raw/master/INSTALL.md)
------
ashishb
Here are mine:
[https://github.com/ashishb/dotfiles/blob/master/setup/setup_...](https://github.com/ashishb/dotfiles/blob/master/setup/setup_new_mac_machine.sh)
------
greydius
sudo apt-get install emacs
~~~
Cthulhu_
OP asked how to install developer tools, not how to install an OS ;)
------
eropple
I have a bash script and a PowerShell script stored in a web-accessible place.
I pull it down and it bootstraps Chef to run chef-solo on the machine from a
repository stored in a trusted location.
Dotfiles are stored in Dropbox, too, which is handy for keeping zsh and
Sublime synced.
------
pathikrit
Here's my brain dead script: [https://github.com/pathikrit/mac-setup-
script/blob/master/se...](https://github.com/pathikrit/mac-setup-
script/blob/master/setup.sh)
------
thomasreggi
I'm very interested in a way to containerize (runing them within a vm) these
tools that way nothing needs to be installed, and could go easily from machine
to machine, without polluting the filesystem.
~~~
ams6110
Honestly I think this is overkill. For a dev machine, I install all my tools
locally that way "yum update" or equivalent keeps everything up to date
easily.
Use VMs or containers for local simulation of your deployment targets.
------
straws
I've had a painless time setting up my mac with
[https://github.com/msanders/cider](https://github.com/msanders/cider)
------
Kerrick
I use Thoughtbot's Laptop.
[https://github.com/thoughtbot/laptop](https://github.com/thoughtbot/laptop)
------
pfista
I tried boxen from github. Like others have mentioned, tools like these have a
big learning curve and boxen was pretty high maintenance after setup in my
experience.
------
dschep
I use ansible: [https://github.com/dschep/box](https://github.com/dschep/box)
~~~
hhandoko
Ansible is great, we use it at work extensively. But I am sticking with
Vagrant for OSS project as it (Ansible) does not work with Windows host.
------
beat
1\. Install Vagrant.
2\. Install git.
3\. Check out the complete, working development environment and run its
Vagrantfile.
------
digitalpacman
choco install as the need arises
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Snowden: I'll swap you my anti-NSA knowhow for asylum ... Brazil says: Não - esalazar
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/12/17/edward_snowden_brazil_asylum_bid/
======
kumarski
argh.......
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: Semantic price comparison browser extension - holznot
https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/ciuvo/
======
holznot
We've developed a browser extension that checks for better prices, user and
professional reviews as well as videos on e-commerce sites. It only becomes
active once we find something useful. Our primary market is Germany currently
but we're looking into other countries since we have reached 85k downloads in
AMO already.
We'd love to hear what you think about it.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
BioLite – Outdoor and Off-Grid Energy - evo_9
https://www.bioliteenergy.com/
======
apotatopot
I really like the biolite wood stove that I have, as well as the concepts of
their other products.The problem is that the company won't sell pieces
separately. If your usb charger/fan that came with your stove breaks, your
metal wood stove stops functioning.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
iPad Day One: Big Media Mostly Playing in Free Apps, Not Paid - aresant
http://paidcontent.org/article/419-ipad-day-one-charts-show-big-media-only-playing-in-free-apps-not-paid/
======
spudlyo
Editorializing headlines still annoy.
------
protomyth
iBooks (#1 Free App) is free but a lot of content is extra. We will have to
wait and here about book buying habits. Netflix (#2 Free App) requires a paid
Netflix account.
------
jsz0
It's a bit early to tell since most people have had their iPads less than 24
hours at this point. I like the free WSJ & NYT apps so far but I'm definitely
not ready to subscribe.
~~~
stcredzero
I tried to install the nytimes app, but only found the old iPhone app!
~~~
jsz0
For some reason it's called "Editor's Choice"
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Building Uber’s Go Monorepo with Bazel - dayanruben
https://eng.uber.com/go-monorepo-bazel/
======
simfoo
Might make sense if you use Go or any other language with a straightforward
tooling landscape (compilers, package management etc.).
That changes drastically if your codebase contains a lot of C++ and your SW
model doesn't quite match the way Bazel tries to push you into. For instance
doing any of the following things will quickly turn into a nightmare when
using the Bazel C++ rules:
* dynamically linking libraries
* using a containerized approach for library includes (so transitive relative include paths)
* using different toolchains and cross compiling
* interfacing with thirdparty libraries
We are talking seasoned build engineers ending up frustrated after literally
months of trying to achieve something that is easy as pie in CMake.
In addition there is still no real IDE support. The CLion plugin is
permanently broken and lags behind versions. No real VSCode support. Using
custom rules makes this even worse, to the point where CLion will refuse to
sync and not having a way to produce a compilation database json.
There are so many bugs open on those projects and no progress or answers. I
can not recommend Bazel if C++ or C is what you care about.
~~~
q3k
> We are talking seasoned build engineers ending up frustrated after literally
> months of trying to achieve something that is easy as pie in CMake.
But it's not the same as CMake. A properly set up Bazel project gives you so
much more: organization-wide incremental builds, build cache and build farm.
Also, actual full hermeticity of builds (no, taking ambient deps from a Docker
container doesn't replace that).
Comparing CMake to Bazel is like comparing some barely-working bash scripts on
a single box to a kubernetes deployment. Maybe you're okay with just bash
scripts, but some of us aren't, and that's where Bazel comes in.
~~~
keithwinstein
I've been confused for a while about the common claim that Bazel gives "full
hermeticity" of builds -- it doesn't seem to be true in practice (at least for
packages with system dependencies). Maybe you can help me clear it up.
E.g. Google's protobuf libraries [1] can be built with Bazel, and they depend
heavily on system headers outside the repository, e.g. <iostream> and
<stdio.h> and lots more. If those headers subsequently change, Bazel will not
pick up on this and will not know to rebuild the parts of the build that
depend on them.
To reproduce: run `bazel build -c opt //:protoc_lib` and then put random
garbage in your /usr/include/stdio.h and /usr/include/c++/<version>/iostream
and then rerun the bazel command -- it will not know to invalidate the build
cache. If you `bazel clean` and then build again, you'll get different
results.
Bazel does a lot of really nice things and I can believe that within a
google3-like environment (where the source code never references a system
header?), it effectively provides hermetic builds, but in practice as used
outside Google (or even in Google's public OSS releases) it doesn't seem to
really match this description or _enforce_ a hermetic seal. What am I missing?
[1]
[https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf](https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf)
~~~
jeffbee
The best way to get your hermetic builds in order is to _always_ use remote
execution and ensure that your executor nodes don't have compilers and headers
just laying around. Force yourself to get the toolchain under bazel's control.
I think the reason the public finds this so mysterious is the documentation
for CROSSTOOL is terrible, and virtually all of the people who learned how to
use blaze at Google go out in the industry with no understanding at all of
CROSSTOOL, because there's a small dedicated team who maintain it.
~~~
thundergolfer
Does your company use remote execution across the board with Bazel? How much
effort was it?
~~~
jeffbee
I work for no man, as a character in a movie once said. But I recently went
through this exercise just to make sure I could do it, and it's easy enough to
put a bare-bones executor node in the cloud and use it temporarily. You can
even get ARM nodes, to make sure you aren't implying the target architecture.
Doing it on a company scale is probably harder. Last place I worked used bazel
but did not bother with remote.
------
filipn
I've made a similar post about building a Go monorepo using Bazel two years
ago, check it out - [https://filipnikolovski.com/posts/managing-go-monorepo-
with-...](https://filipnikolovski.com/posts/managing-go-monorepo-with-bazel).
We've been using Bazel not just to build and test our Go apps, but to build
docker images, compile proto files, even deploy to k8s. It's really versatile
and the developers only need to know one tool to build and test the whole
environment.
------
steeve
We have been Go with Bazel for the last 2 1/2 years to build most of our
backends, but also on mobile (gomobile) as well. It's not an easy tool, but it
delivers amazingly and it's very, very reliable.
Haven't run a bazel clean in... 6 months maybe?
The multi-language really is a killer feature when the project inevitably
becomes polyglot, such as when doing protobuf/gRPC or using CGo.
------
wgyn
I wish they had spent more time describing how/why Go's built-in build tool
stopped working. Or perhaps that's part of the basics of Bazel. Anyone able to
share more on that?
~~~
jchw
Honestly the main reason Bazel is useful in a monorepo configuration is simply
because it’s designed for it. It supports cross-language dependencies and
generated files, and is designed for large repositories with many nested
targets. Go’s build system is fine, but things like Go generate vs genrule
probably come into play. Bazel also offers target visibility, to protect
targets from being depended on in unintended ways, and build isolation, to
allow builds to be more predictable (and help enforce target visibility.) It
also has a few convenience features for vendoring 3rd party libraries and
handling their licenses.
Of course Bazel is far from perfect, in fact sometimes you may be better off
running your own rules instead of the official ones in some cases, but IMO it
makes a pretty decent build system for putting all of your code in one place.
On the other hand, it’s one of those Google things where if you haven’t seen
it in action in a functional configuration it’s hard to explain why it’s
actually nice. And sadly I feel unsatisfied with the Node.JS rules for
example, which is probably how a lot of people will first experience Bazel
(since I believe Angular supports Bazel this way.)
------
yannoninator
I wish my company was at the scale of Uber to work on all these kinds of tech.
Makes me want to leave my current job just to go to Uber.
~~~
klodolph
Not personal experience, but I’ve had several coworkers who worked at Uber,
and they all gave me the same story. This is the story:
Uber reinvented a ton of technology because of the idea that off-the-shelf
solutions wouldn’t work at “Uber scale”. However, there was very little
accountability for whether the in-house solutions were necessary, and working
on these tools would get you promoted. So for every “Uber scale” problem that
a team actually solved, there were a couple other projects that were just
half-baked alternatives to the off-the-shelf software that they _should_ be
using.
It turns out that “Uber scale” is not really _that_ large, despite the name.
But engineers kept repeating “Uber scale” and building infrastructure.
The same problem occurs at the larger tech companies like Google, Facebook,
Microsoft, Amazon, and Apple, but in different ways and to different degrees.
And to a large extent, engineers are copying what other companies do, and
bringing ideas from one company to another when they hang out after work or
switch jobs. For example, you can bet that these companies mostly have their
own containerization and scheduling systems, many of which are undoubtedly not
competitive with Docker or K8s in 2020, but K8s only goes back to 2014 and all
these companies are older. I’m sure Borg and Tupperware are great if you work
at Google or Facebook but I’m also sure that they’re missing a bunch of
tooling that you’re used to. Same thing with build systems. Bazel, Buck,
Pants, Please, and that Frankensteined system that Chrome uses are all copies
of each other but Bazel is the only one with a decent size community and
ecosystem, as far as I can tell.
Uber is absolutely not on the scale of those companies, and _most of the time_
they should probably be using off-the-shelf solutions when they become
available.
~~~
schoolornot
\- nothing wrong with NIH syndrome if you have the means and resources to
refine existing ideas and rebuild them with scale in mind
\- uber is a 50 billion dollar company and they have to de-risk themselves by
owning entire stacks, top to bottom. if it means re-creating something from
scratch... who cares, they have billions.
~~~
klodolph
That’s just apologia for NIH syndrome. It’s fine to reinvent software if that
serves your goals. It’s short-sighted to reinvent software without due
consideration for whether off-the-shelf solutions work. That’s not de-risking,
that’s _adding risk_ and _slowing development._ You see it happen at companies
like that and usually it’s a sign that there’s something wrong with the
culture, incentives, and the way that promotions work.
My take on it is that the engineers want to make complicated solutions to hard
problems to justify their salaries and get promoted, and that managers
encourage that behavior so they can defend their headcount. I’m not accusing
any of these people of acting in bad faith here—nobody’s reinventing tech to
sabotage the company, it’s just that the system encourages this kind of
behavior.
This problem is not unique to Uber, you’ll see similar things happen across
the industry to different degrees.
~~~
jeffbee
Well, the "due consideration" needs to duly consider the actual costs and
benefits of the off-the-shelf software, not make the kind of unsupported
blanket claims about its obvious superiority, like you just did. Every off-
the-shelf program has maintenance costs, flaws, and weak fitness for purpose.
You just made a sweeping and italicized claim that all off-the-shelf software
is both less risky and faster to develop than house-made software. That's a
dangerous philosophy and probably isn't true for every organization and
application.
~~~
klodolph
> …not make the kind of unsupported blanket claims about its obvious
> superiority, like you just did…
Not what I said. Let’s move on.
> That's a dangerous philosophy…
Go pick a fight with someone else.
------
blauditore
> Out-of-the-box software solutions rarely work for a codebase as large and
> complex as Uber’s Go monorepo.
That's a weird way to put it. Bazel is the open source variant of what Google
uses for its monorepo, which is several orders of magnitude larger and
arguably more complex.
~~~
antoinealb
The version of Bazel we (Google) uses internally has a lot of features that
are not out of the box in open source Bazel. Mostly around distributed
compilation or object caching.
~~~
laurentlb
The public version also offers remote execution and remote caching.
[https://docs.bazel.build/versions/3.1.0/remote-
execution.htm...](https://docs.bazel.build/versions/3.1.0/remote-
execution.html) [https://docs.bazel.build/versions/3.1.0/remote-
caching.html](https://docs.bazel.build/versions/3.1.0/remote-caching.html)
What's not open-sourced is mostly the interaction with Google internal
infrastructure.
------
chetanbhasin
This is excellent! The only reason we haven't moved some of our Go codebase to
a Bazel monorepo is the IDE integration.
I have been tinkering with a few ideas to make the existing tooling work with
Bazel, but the effort is larger than I had originally expected.
------
vladaionescu
If you also want to migrate off of Makefile and also want reproductibile
builds, try out Earthly. Normal companies can't do Bazel because it's too
alien and requires deep investment.
[https://github.com/earthly/earthly](https://github.com/earthly/earthly)
Disclaimer: I am Earthly's creator.
------
quicklime
Does anyone have experience using Bazel (or a similar build system) together
with create-react-app? Specifically, is there a way do it without ejecting?
I work on a project with a Go backend and a React frontend, and having to
update all those React dependencies myself is what keeps me from moving to a
system like Bazel.
------
giacaglia
Super interesting! There is also a video explaining their system that might be
worth watching: [https://vimeo.com/358691692](https://vimeo.com/358691692)
------
quux
Wait, didn't Uber decide that Bazel didn't scale enough (speaking as a
xoogler, lol) and made their own build tool? Or am I misremembering?
------
DavyJone
That seems like a ridiculously complex pipeline to maintain and onboard into.
I personally dislike this "do it all" monorepos in most cases, there are cases
were they work, but they also break a lot of other things.
I have not seen metris or blogs that prove this "uptick in build efficiency"
or an increase productivity.
While I do like the idea behind bazel, I hate repeating deps in things like
"go_repository" with gazelle.
~~~
parsnips
go mod vendor && bazel run gazelle
No go_repository duplication.
------
agounaris
The article says that monorepos are more efficient but also that "As the
monorepo grew, the build target list increased to a point where it became too
long to pass it through Bazel’s command line interface.".
Monorepos are not efficient. They are easier to manage when a team is small
but as the team grows and you have more and more deliverables with separate
versioning you are introducing control structures in your automation.
Complexity explodes!
Anyway, all this does matter if you don't make any profit :)
~~~
luckydata
Google is a monorepo as far as I know, and they are doing fine.
~~~
jeffbee
Indeed, in their paper from 5 years ago Google claimed 300000 commits per day
across 9 million source files, compared to this article claiming 10000 commits
per month on 70000 source files at Uber. Whatever the differences are between
blaze and bazel, it must be the case that the former can easily scale to this
size of repo.
I like to look at Google's GitHub commit messages to get an idea of the pace
of their revision history. Yesterday they committed something with a Piper
revision of 311324901. A month ago it was 306514102, and a year ago it was
248381230. That's about 160k revision numbers per day.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Would you find optional Python static type checking useful? - rubergly
I'm currently working on a static type checking tool for Python (code is on [github](https://github.com/jruberg/pyty), though it's still at a very rudimentary stage) as an undergraduate thesis project. The goal is to run the tool separately (like Pylint) to verify whether your code typechecks (or how it fails to).<p>I'm curious how useful enthusiastic Python users would find this. According to Guido's [blog](http://www.artima.com/weblogs/viewpost.jsp?thread=85551) [posts](http://www.artima.com/weblogs/viewpost.jsp?thread=86641), optional static typing was often requested, at least 7 years ago. Today, in the startup world, it seems like Python is always touted for the flexibility dynamic typing provides, so I'm curious what the current demand is (if any) among the HN crowd.
======
Q6T46nT668w6i3m
Howdy fellow little three person, I think it's an interesting idea. Go for it.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Who is the master of Nodejs? - mhassaan
Hi combinators i have been looking for some helping material regarding node js . Kindly guide me where to start to build scalable web applications (single page or multipage) using node js . I really wana dig it down , your help will be appreciated.
======
arh68
How _scalable_ do you want your application to be, exactly? (Node !== Erlang,
..)
There are stacks and heaps of online tutorials [1, 2]: what have you learned
most recently, and what do you want to learn next?
[1]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJmFG4ffJZU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJmFG4ffJZU)
[2]
[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzEjYXjNpfl6NlVr_dOx_...](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzEjYXjNpfl6NlVr_dOx_xsb6Szp-
MxYG)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Do startups hire 50+ year old programmers?(US) - FredBrach
======
kls
Yes they do, as long as you keep up with the trends, one of the things that
tends to happen is at a certain age, usually in the 30's many developers will
decide to sunset. e.g they just stick with COBOL, Java, etc. It can be a good
career choice, usually there is an apex where wages decline or stagnate for a
5-10 years and then they see their effective wage start to rise given that new
personnel entering the field opt for other technologies and older peers leave
the industry. Given that reality a good deal of older programmer choose to
take that course.
I don't think that age discrimination is as bad in the industry as people
think it is. I think rather sun-setting at some point becomes too much of a
draw for most and you also have those that defect to management. I know in my
start-up experiences when I was young we used to look up to the older
developers that took the effort to stay relevant.
Personally, I would hire someone of any age if they are proficient and have
passion to build something. I think there may be some organizations that may
look at older developers and think well we can't get 80 hrs a week out of
them, but I think they are the minority and I personally would not want to
work for an organization that would expect 80hrs a week a standard course.
~~~
hack_edu
I always frown a little when my older (by a dozen years or so) co-workers get
frustrated when moving to new tech, like git. :( Too often they'll bristle at
the mere suggestion that they should keep the dedicating an hour or two of
their spare time each week/month to reading and learning new things.
Its not hard, regardless of obligations outside of the office. You can't just
sit back and rest on the stuff you learned 10 years ago...
~~~
hsuresh
Why should they do this in their spare time? If it is important to the
business, shouldn't the employers provide time for their employees to learn
new technologies?
~~~
tptacek
This is one of those assertions that is simultaneously true and irrelevant. A
developer who is comfortable in git is better than a developer who's only
willing to use Clearcase. How they get to be one or the other doesn't play
into the value calculation. "That's not fair" is one of the least compelling
arguments in business.
But then, I strongly object to the notion that older developers are likely to
push back on (say) git. More likely, given the developers over 40 that I have
known, is that the developer is likely to think that choice of VCS is banal;
older developers are less likely to fetishize git or hg, which is a
productivity trap for developers who are passionate about their VCS.
~~~
pork
Thomas, this is totally irrelevant, but would you consider yourself one of
those "older" developers? I'm intimately familiar with your comments, but I
have no idea how old you are.
~~~
tptacek
I'm 35.
------
jroseattle
I care about quality output, pure and simple. Productivity in our technology
stack is what I'm looking for in candidates. I've encountered basically two
types of programmers who are 50+ (my guess on their age, based on resume
dates).
Those who (still) possess that curiosity to learn and the drive to create.
They may not be completely current with every late-breaking technology (show
me anyone who _really_ does, for that matter), but they embrace change and
strive for improvement. They are the ones that make you forget about age --
young, old or somewhere in between.
And then there are those who seem like they walked in with their high-school
letterman's jacket on, hanging on something they did years and years ago --
and having trouble transitioning to today's world.
While many people associate those 50 and older as "seniors", not everyone
maintains senior-level status in this business. As we all age, we would do
well to remember to rely on our natural instincts for curiosity and learning
to keep the fires stoked and remain relevant in an industry that will continue
to change for years to come.
~~~
hga
I hope you remember there age, or more specifically what comes with _serious_
experience, when they e.g. look at the symptoms of a bug and say "It's going
to be there" (in the code) and are right more often than not. That's something
I achieved in C/C++, but only after, say, a decade and a half of working with
them. (And this does translate to newer stuff where no one can have that much
experience, although of course not as well).
Or take architecture. I know I've done a good job there when mine solves
problems I didn't consciously anticipate. Again, that took nearly 2 decades
from when I first started programming including a lot of reading on good
software design, starting in that first year of programming ('77-8) and
_never_ stopping. Heck, the older you are, the more time you've had to read
and grok the classics.
Hmmm, to finish with a riff on some other observations in this discussion, the
normal, _average_ outcome of a startup is failure. Perhaps one should consider
non-normal approaches to staffing, like recruiting one or more grey-beards of
the right sort who can save you days, weeks, even man-months of effort on
individual things because of their experience. To paraphrase Scott Adams,
sometimes you have the option of working harder or smarter. The latter
frequently wins.
------
FirstSow
Youth is not a skill. I don't hire green college grads. And I look at anyone
with less than 10 years of experience with suspicion. Knowing Ruby or Scala or
whatever syntax is fine, but it's far less important than the underlying
skills: OO design, distributed systems, threading... Specific languages and
frameworks come and go. Many of the twenty somethings don't really understand
that.
As for working 80 hour weeks, you're fooling yourself if you think people of
any age can do that productively for an extended period of time. Plenty of
research exists on that topic.
The key to hiring is to hire only A players who will be highly productive and
produce quality code. In my experience A players are not twenty somethings. Do
you think Delta Force recruits green beans fresh out of boot camp? Absolutely
not. They recruit from the Rangers and Special Forces. Of course we can't all
hire A players. But I can.
~~~
hga
Actually, I like hiring one or so nearly green college grads of the right
sort, who are willing to be mentored. As long as they are self-directed, can
start working given basic directions and then ask you the right questions (my
favorite example from a guy who'd only done C++: "where is new in C?" "ah, in
C we malloc...."), they can be very productive and follow your vision. And as
they learn, help to refine it.
I believe in trying to balance your team. A very few green apprentices (too
many take too much time), enough seriously experienced masters (you're not
likely to get many) and then journeymen in the middle, all of these aspiring
to reach higher levels.
------
temphn
Here is an honest answer that you won't hear from many others. Startups are
not the best option for 50 year olds.
Most 50 year olds demand high salaries, aren't willing to work long hours (let
alone nights and weekends), are far less familiar with new technologies and
less willing to learn, and are much more cynical than 20 somethings. The risk,
uncertainty, and low structure environment of a startup is just a bad fit for
the age group in general.
Our society hasn't yet adapted to the fact that as people get older in
technology, they get less competent but demand higher and higher salaries due
to their increasing fixed costs (mortgage, etc.).
Those who will argue with you about the above facts want to eat their cake and
keep it too, like the women who want to have kids and pregnancy and a social
life but also want to make it big at a high tech startup. People do not want
to acknowledge that tradeoffs exist: that women with young children can't put
in long hours or that old folks just aren't as plastic and supple.
Some engineers age like Ken Ritchie, and stay sharp. Some go into management
or do consulting on legacy systems. Those are all legit options. A 50
something should have enough savings to bankroll his own startup; that too is
a legit option. But working at a YC-style startup is not likely to be a good
fit.
~~~
tptacek
Our society hasn't adapted to the fact that people get less competent and
unjustifiably more expensive with age because it isn't true.
People who get less competent get less competent; people who demand
unjustifiable compensation demand unjustifiable compensation. Some of those
people are 50+. Some of them are 25. Some 20-somethings code for 2 years,
write an O'Reilly book, and then reposition themselves as "architects". So
many young people did this with the title "CTO" that the term "CTO" got
tainted.
This is something I was taught in 3rd grade, but apparently hasn't percolated
into the public school system, so we're having to teach it to adults at great
expense: _one needs to be vigilant about prejudice_.
Or, in some cases not, because one of the subtexts behind ageism is that
talent is getting more and more expensive, and firms want to avoid engaging
with that reality. At least 21 year olds come bundled with the pretense of
inexperience, so you can pay them 40% of scale.
If I sound self-righteous about this, I apologize; I'm really not upset by it,
because it is one of the more easily exploitable market inefficiencies our
industry cultivates. You guys pay for the "Rails programmer" who foreaches
through N+1 queries because they don't grok SQL joins; I'll pick up the 50
year olds who've shipped Lisp and written RISC assembly.
------
aeeeee
How much do families fit in the with culture of startup? Would it be odd for
an employee to have to leave in the middle of the day to pick up sick kids at
school? Will you be a "good fit" if sometimes your family responsibilities
trump work. What is your desire and inner motivation at 50? It's probably a
lot different than the 20yr and 30yr old startup culture. I would say if you
are 50 yr old that fits in with the younger culture and have the necessary
skills you will do just fine. The reality is though that you are probably at a
much different place than the majority of startup employees. You have probably
see enough to know how to best spend your time and your priorities are likely
different than your peers. The guy doing the hiring knows all of this and
where he won't directly use age as a factor in hiring he will take these other
factors into consideration. good luck.
~~~
tommi
If you are 50 years old, your kids are likely to be old enough to get to home
by themselves.
Personally I'd hate to work in a place where it would be considered odd to
take care of some private business during the day every once in a while.
Stretching and leeway goes both ways.
~~~
MattGrommes
That's not as true any more. I know a number of couples that "started late"
and will be in their fifties just as their kids enter the ~10+ year old age
range where after-school activities ramp up yet the kid can't drive. People
having kids later is probably going to be another of those slow social changes
we'll all have to adjust to.
------
HarrietTubgirl
Sure, but here are some prejudices people will have about you going into an
interview:
\- You don't want to work enough (~80hr/weeks).
\- You aren't familiar with new technologies or languages, and aren't curious
enough to learn.
\- You think slow, and don't have the ability to push stuff out the door
quickly.
\- You want a senior position as an "architect" or "senior engineer" instead
of being an IC like everyone else.
\- You want a bigger salary than everyone else.
\- It's going to be hard for people to relate to you and communicate with you.
If you can fight against all of those, go for it.
------
MaggieL
kls doesn't think age discrimination is as bad as it is. I'll wager he doesn't
think gender discrimination is as bad as it is either. He's more likely to age
than he is to change gender, so we'll check back with him in 30 years.
It's kind of amusing to hear him think of COBOL and Java in the same breath;
I've worked extensively with both. Not at the same time, though. :-)
He is on target in saying keeping your skillset fresh is key. Like the Red
Queen, it takes all the running you can do to stay in the same place.
~~~
kls
I'm old. I have almost 20 years in the industry.
------
splitrocket
Yes. I hire excellent people who are interested and interesting that fit into
the culture of our company. Age/sex/race/gender/etc. are irrelevant.
------
tptacek
We did. Age wasn't a factor in the discussion. If you can play, we want you in
the game.
------
xarien
Speaking as a founder, yes I would. I'd also fire one just as quick.
I'm of the mindset that both employers and employees need to be flexible with
one another. I may need you to pick up technologies you're not comfortable
with and you may need spend your early evenings with your family. I may need
you to work 60+ hours on a given week and you may need to work some of that on
off hours.
It's a give and take situation with any startup employment. What's objective
is what can you deliver and can I obtain a positive ROI from hiring you?
------
devs1010
I don't work for a startup but just wanted to comment since I work with a lot
of older developers, one who must be well into his sixties is rather
interesting as, while he does have his spots where he seems a bit stuck in the
past, is constantly trying to inject new technologies into the organization.
We're a primarily java shop and he writes a lot of scripts in Ruby and always
wants to bring more ruby into projects. I also know he has probably more of a
passion for developing software (personal projects) than some of the other
developers, who are younger (but still much older than me). I think its really
just based on the person. If they really love building software they will keep
up at any age because they see the benefit in their own projects.
------
playhard
Age does not matter. Skills matter. This is interesting. Have to lookup
whether startups have already hired 50 plus year old guys? Maybe phd
professors!
~~~
seanmccann
Age would matter for a startup beyond just skills. Older hackers might not be
able to "keep up" and "fit in" with many startups. Culture fit is really
important, but being old doesn't automatically mean no fit.
One interesting thing about a hacker being 50 is that they potentially have an
empty nest (no kids), much like their 20s. In some cases they might be able to
work "startup hours".
------
ziyadb
Companies in general rarely hire older employees exclusively for their
technical ability.
The typical 50 year old programmer has worked at numerous organizations, with
dozens of teams, using at least as many technologies. This directly
contributes to the development of non-technical skills such as communication
skills, management skills, insight, and stronger perception. They're rarely
oblivious to these skills (as demonstrated by the relatively low numbers of
older professionals selling themselves as "programmers").
~~~
devs1010
I find this not necessarily true at my company, in fact the oldest people in
the engineering department are exclusively developers where the managers tend
to be younger or the same age as them. This may depend on region, as well, the
area I live in now is rather different than Silicon Valley where I think
people wouldn't stick around for years and years as "just a programmer" but in
lower-cost, slower-pace areas, I think programming is often just another job
to people and its something that people will just continue to do for their
entire career.
------
sgricci
When I've hired people, while working as an engineering lead at a startup,
It's never been about age, it's been about skills + personality. Out of a
development team of around 10 people, I'd say 2 were >= 50 years old, a few 30
somethings and the rest around 20-25.
------
vaksel
some? yes
most? You won't get hired, because you'll be seen as a bad cultural fit for
the company.
Only real way to get in as someone that old, is if you are going for the
position of a CTO
~~~
tptacek
I wonder how many of the people on this thread who share this opinion have
started successful companies.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Canadian Drivers Are Causing Accidents Because They’re Too Nice - rolph
https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/3k3mgy/canadian-drivers-are-causing-accidents-because-theyre-too-nice
======
ecpottinger
But, we would not be Canadians if we were not nice.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The dynamics of correlated novelties - foolrush
http://www.nature.com/srep/2014/140731/srep05890/full/srep05890.html?repost
======
MrQuincle
Although these models are highly abstract that very fact enables them to form
a foundation for many different fields.
* In thermodynamics the Ehrenfest model (or dog-flea model) was developed: [http://www.wikiwand.com/en/Ehrenfest_model](http://www.wikiwand.com/en/Ehrenfest_model)
* In spread of infectious diseases and vaccine efficacy models Polya urn models can be used.
* In exchangeable models (e.g. in classification where labels are assigned but without semantics!!) the Pitman-Yor (PY) process can be described as an urn model and exhibits power-law distribution (of items over the different classes) as well. The Pitman-Yor process is a (two-parameter) generalization of the Poisson-Dirichlet process. The "proper" distribution over the space of all partitions.
The urn model for PY is as follows. Start with a black ball with weight "b".
At each step sample a ball proportional to its weight. If you sample a black
ball, put it back in, along with another one black ball of weight "a", plus(!)
a ball of a color - sampled from a base distribution H - with weight "1-a". If
you sample a colored ball, put it back in, along with a ball of the same color
and weight "1".
The model from Tria et al. is also a two-parameter model, but I've to check if
it is indeed different. I guess it is, Strogatz rulez. ;-)
Edit: paper by Teh that describes Zipf's law (proportion of tables with n
customers scales as O(n^{-1-d})) and Heap's law (total number of tables with n
customers scales as O(n^d)) for the PY process:
[http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/~teh/research/npbayes/TehJor2010a....](http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/~teh/research/npbayes/TehJor2010a.pdf)
------
foolrush
On chance and correlation to other discoveries.
“Novelties are a familiar part of daily life. They are also fundamental to the
evolution of biological systems, human society, and technology. By opening new
possibilities, one novelty can pave the way for others in a process that
Kauffman has called “expanding the adjacent possible”.”
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Reverse.jar - henning
http://blog.tmorris.net/reversejar/
======
mjw
[only tangentially related to the sentiment here but:]
There is this tendency (which I can sympathise with but only to an extent) in
mathematics and to an extent computer science.
"Let me solve the problem once, in as general and as abstract terms as
possible. Leave the lesser minds to prove the corollaries, to apply the work.
Let them take on the cognitive load of rephrasing their problems into my
abstracted vocubulary in order to benefit from my vast insights and my
generalised theorems."
But, crucially in software development, formal systems are designed for the
human brain -- and not just individual brains but whole teams of them.
Programs become as much a medium of communication between humans and other
humans (of varying skillsets) as between humans and computers.
You can't escape UI work and UI considerations, I guess is the point :)
~~~
brehaut
I think this line of reasoning is why the C# team avoided the M word and
introduced Linq for a range of things (sequence comprehensions, reactive
programming etc) and is introducing the async syntax for more stuff in 5, even
though they could all be implemented with the same more general model.
[edit] the M word is Monad
~~~
alextgordon
I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with monads, it's just that
nobody's figured out how to explain them yet :) This is somewhat compounded by
the awful name and Haskell's less than practical character. My guess is that
they'll turn up in a new language in a few years and everyone will wonder what
they did without them.
~~~
alanh
Don't people argue that jQuery is DOM manipulation in monads? I sure ask what
I did before jQuery :)
[http://importantshock.wordpress.com/2009/01/18/jquery-is-
a-m...](http://importantshock.wordpress.com/2009/01/18/jquery-is-a-monad/)
HN discussion: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=439116>
~~~
jrockway
People argue this, but not people who know what a monad is.
~~~
jimbojohn
Care to clarify, or do you prefer just telling people they're wrong? The
linked article is on the surface convincing, but I have never touched Haskell
~~~
jrockway
I've spent more time explaining monads to HN than I have anything else. It
comes up at least twice a day and I am tired of writing an explanation twice a
day.
Go read the Typeclassopedia.
------
silentbicycle
It seems to be overwhelmed. Google cache:
[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:16XHnrP...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:16XHnrPKAVQJ:blog.tmorris.net/reversejar/+reverse.jar)
~~~
8ren
Text-only version of cache (Full version also isn't loading)
[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:16XHnrP...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:16XHnrPKAVQJ:blog.tmorris.net/reversejar/+%22reverse.jar%22&strip=1)
------
nailer
This happens, but sometimes the academic doesn't make the breadth of immediate
utility for their intentions clear.
~~~
silentbicycle
Part of the problem is that people using said languages may not see that those
problems have anything in common. When somebody comes along and says, "Dude,
you can automatically handle all of those edge cases at once, _with one
general rule_!" it sounds like a bunch of mathematical jibber-jabber.
(The fact that it often _is_ mathematical jibber-jabber doesn't help their
cause, though.)
~~~
8ren
IMHO the difficult part is seeing the commonality of those edge cases. That
requires firstly knowing about the edge cases, and secondly seeing the problem
(the commonality of those cases). The final step is a solution, which is where
the maths comes in (or might).
Anecdotally, it seems fairly common that maths is independently re-invented by
people applying it - famously for relativity, IIRC. That's because the maths
guys don't actually know about the applications.
It's a truism for our industry that if a new approach really is significantly
better (eg. x10) _in practice_ , it will be adopted. You don't need to
convince people; you just beat them. OTOH, there's a common wish to over-
automate: to spend a week saving a second, and then it turns out to not handle
the very next case. So, some people don't like to use frameworks because they
are too constricting (don't handle all the cases _in practice_ ); and some
(Alan Kay) even say if you _can_ build your own infrastructure, you _should_.
Mathematical ideas usually only work on their own assumptions - a difficult
part is matching those assumptions to an application. Though maybe this isn't
a problem for the generics example.
There's also incidental practical issues, like the need to ship, then of back-
compatibility, resulting in a current Java implementation that can't express
_List <Circle|Rect>_ (you need an explicit _Shape_ interface/superclass).
Although *ML has proper algebraic data types, does C# do it properly? I don't
know.
~~~
silentbicycle
> That's because the maths guys don't actually know about the applications.
That's often a big part of it: Someone who isn't a day-to-day user of
something sees an issue in it and recognizes that it could be done in a
cleaner way, but explains the solution in their own terms rather than in the
local language.
------
highlander
It's a balance. With overly simplistic languages, one ends up with too much
code and repetition. However, when languages get more, well, 'advanced', it
just gets harder to hire people who can work with it. Sure you need fewer
people, but they're harder to find.
------
kazuya
In reality, the obstacle is in realizing the need of list.reverse library,
rather than in making it decent.
------
bhiggins
You know, a lot of non-academic languages are pretty crappy... like Ruby, or
PHP. But I'm not impressed with languages out of academia either. I don't care
about your -morphisms or fancy type systems...
~~~
strlen
You know, creationism and demon possession are both quite crappy. But I'm not
impressed with biology out of academia either. I don't care about your
evolution or fancy germ theory...
~~~
bhiggins
Your argument is so compelling. Now I see how wrong I've been. I'll just
accept everything the ivory tower says from now on, on any topic,
unconditionally. Brilliant.
~~~
Luyt
Reminds me of something I read on <http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4217> :
Appeal to Lack of Authority
Authority has a reputation for being corrupt and inflexible, and this
stereotype has been leveraged by some who assert that their own lack of
authority somehow makes them a better authority.
_Starling might say of the 9/11 attacks: "Every reputable structural engineer
understands how fire caused the Twin Towers to collapse."
Bombo can reply: "I'm not an expert in engineering or anything, I'm just a
regular guy asking questions."
Starling: "We should listen to what the people who know what they're talking
about have to say."
Bombo: "Someone needs to stand up to these experts."_
The idea that not knowing what you're talking about somehow makes you heroic
or more reliable is incorrect. More likely, your lack of expertise simply
makes you wrong.
~~~
strlen
> The idea that not knowing what you're talking about somehow makes you heroic
> or more reliable is incorrect
That's a really good definition of anti-intellectualism. It's easy to sneer at
academic languages (and easy to hate them, just observe a college frosh/soph
struggling through Scheme or Haskell), but things we now take for granted
e.g., garbage collection, virtual machines, IDEs, object orientation,
templates/generics were all (even recently) considered academic.
~~~
bhiggins
the only struggle with scheme is with falling asleep
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Ask HN: Need advice to change career at age 31? - russmik
Hello HN,<p>I am 31, and am working in a call centre. I do not like this job. Pay is very low. It is becoming very hard to continue in the same job as I never wanted to work in the call centre. Somehow I got into it.
I always want to work on my ideas, start a business and help make world a better place.
I want to learn programming so I can execute my ideas. I have never programmed anything. I don't know anything about CS.<p>Is it right choice to start learning coding at age 31?<p>What should an ideal roadmap be for learning, executing ideas, and starting a business?
======
everyone
I switched from being an architect to a programmer at around 30. It really
worked for me, I definitely had an aptitude for programming.
Its also very easy to learn nowadays. You can learn on your own via things
like this..
[https://www.codecademy.com/learn/introduction-to-
javascript](https://www.codecademy.com/learn/introduction-to-javascript)
I think a good 1st step would be to do lots of tutorials like that in your
spare time. See if you have an affinity for it.
You should also think about what sort of stuff do you want to make.
Programming is just a means to an end. What do you want to do with it?
Websites? Mobile apps? I personally got into making games, which is a niche
area but after a lot of rumination I clearly decided thats the area I wanted
to work in.
....
As for the next steps.. If you have any ideas for any little apps (like stuff
you could use in your day to day life) you could build them in your spare
time. Start building up a portfolio of your own projects.
Once you have some examples of your work, you could start looking for a job,
theres a global shortage of good programmers atm, so in more pragmatic
companies, qualifications are not necessary. If thats not working out in your
area, then you could do some part-time or online courses to get some kind of
qualification.
I do recommend getting a job somewhere (or a few places) before starting your
own business. You will learn a lot about the software biz the 1st few years
all while getting paid for it. Even if the company is terrible you will learn
what _not_ do to.
Anyway imo the most important step is the 1st one. Learn how to code in your
spare time, mess around with it, see if you like it.
~~~
galfarragem
I'm also an architect switching to programming but I didn't finish the process
yet. Apparently disconected both subjects have a large common ground: creating
a _machine_ from small building blocks.
What I've found particularly difficult is to _let go_ the past because I like
Architecture and invested a lot on it. By the other hand, Architecture as a
job is terrible, and that was the trigger to adapt my career.
~~~
everyone
Cool! Yeah, I agree architecture often sucks in practice. I was not even a
good fit. I was way too engineer / pragmatically minded, and I have a good bit
of disdain for superficiality.
You might notice that you're much better than your programmer peers at actual
software architecture. Organising the software into some sort of structure or
hierarchy that _makes sense_.
Though after a while you might also realise that its better to avoid explicit
structure in your software, if you can. If you try and _really actually_
implement the fundamentals in your code all the time (tiny classes, tiny
methods, avoid coupling, avoid duplication) your work will be very pleasant.
------
mr__y
It's definitely not to late. You might consider web-development, because of
shorter time frame to get employable skills. As soon as you can actually start
working and making money your motivation will boost and of course working on
actual projects (instead of theoretical examples) gives you a lot of
opportunities to learn a lot and gain on-hand experience.
------
0x4f3759df
Since you are short on time it would be advantageous to use the most powerful
tools in a directed way. The best IDE is Visual Studio, its best web
development framework is ASP MVC Core (which you can later deploy to Linux
VMs) the fastest way to generate your database (for a newcomer) is probably EF
Core code-first, then you end up on the front-end, which css and javascript
Javascript is difficult because it comes with many choices, which
libraries/frameworks to use JQuery? Typescript? Angular? React? That's another
question.
Get Visual Studio, Test Checking in Code / Undoing code, create database
relationships, put data into database, get data out of database, learn MVC
routing, learn web dev.
Also get a mentor, just somebody on a chat that you can ping so you don't
grind away for days on something that takes 3 seconds.
~~~
w4tson
How many IDEs have you used? Off the top of my head I’ve been a Borland,
Jdeveloper, netbeans, eclipse, Xcode, Visual Studio.
None of these comes close JetBrains current offerings. They’re totally killing
it at the moment. Certainly for typed languages at any rate.
A lot of C# devs I know prefer Rider to VS which tells a story I think.
~~~
0x4f3759df
Eclipse, Jetbrains, XCode. Haven't used them in a while though.
------
vinayms
The most prudent way forward is to be the idea guy, even business developer,
and partner up with an engineer to start a business.
Programming is more than typing code. Its about design and architecture, and
these things take a lot of experience to get it right (for whatever right
means). Beyond that, it needs good amount of CS. Those of us who didn't study
CS at university had to pick it up on job, which was no doubt fun, but also
quite challenging. You need a lot of dedication to become good at CS (I am not
claiming I am) and devs with steady job sort of have an incentive to become
good. On the other hand, people who look at success of devs from outside
hoping to tread their path but possess little necessary background have no
idea how hard it is to become even reasonably good at it. I mean, surely one
can cobble together stuff with Ruby, Python etc that have libraries for all
possible tasks, but to sustain, improve and convert it into something
successful is a mighty difficult task. And with your ambition to "work on my
ideas, start a business and help make world a better place", you would need to
be an absolute genius to manage to pull that off.
Now, you might well be an absolute genius, but chances are you would get bored
going through the learning curve and experimenting. More than that, you would
get frustrated that the ideas keep growing in your head but you have a long
way to go before realizing them into reality. You would despair sooner or
later and it wouldn't be pretty or healthy. I know this because I have been
through this sort of a thing a few years back. While not a programming
complete novice like you, I did find myself needing to learn C# and .NET from
scratch in my early 30s after being a C++ dev all my life. It was just too
much work and felt like waste of time - I could be building working things
instead of writing toy programs. I gave up because, thankfully, after more
pondering, I realized I could manage with C++.
So, what I instead suggest is to work on ideas while still working at the call
center. Try imagining how the idea would work as a product. Iterate. Design it
functionally without bothering about the implementation details, which you can
discuss with the engineer you might partner with at a later point. Learn
enough about technology of your choice in a top down approach. Don't try to
become an engineer or learn it like an engineer, but become someone who can
understand what engineers speak and gain enough insight to be able to ask
further questions.
In other words, become (or stay) Pinkman instead of Mr White.
------
jazoom
Dude, I left working as a doctor this year (32yo) to be a programmer/web
developer. Based on what you say about your current job you really have
nothing to lose.
Please note that I learned programming etc. for many years while studying
medicine and working as a doctor. I'm not suggesting you to dump your job just
yet.
~~~
srednalfden
Wow, really? Why?! Medicine seems to have a way bigger upside?
~~~
jazoom
You can probably guess that it also has some downsides when you look at
suicide rates. ;-)
Anyway, I am working on my own startup businesses. I find it very fulfilling,
though in a different way to how I found medicine fulfilling.
I wouldn't have left medicine to work for someone else.
I took a large pay cut. I'd rather be more happy with less money than be less
happy with more money.
------
RikNieu
I did it at 32. Went from VFX to react and react native dev.
I started with HarvardX CS50, they teach you coding and coding concepts from
scratch. Highly recommended.
After that, do side projects, look for junior jobs and viola! You'll be
missing your free time in no time!
------
mabynogy
Yes do it. You can start now. Install and launch a text editor and learn how
to do a "hello world" in javascript.
~~~
ColinWright
I have Linux Ubuntu 14 - if I write a javascript program, what do I need to
install to be able to run it?
There's often a lot of schlepping about required to be able to get started in
writing and running the simplest of programs, and it would be useful to see it
documented for a range of languages.
Does such a resource exist? I've Googled it on Bing, and Bung it on Google,
and my search-fu is failing me.
~~~
shubb
Javascript runs in a Web browser or you could install node abd use that to run
it like a script.
You might wanna grab a book or udemy beginners course and systematicaly work
though it. Also if you find a good programmer discord they'll help you if
something from it is unclear...
~~~
ColinWright
Everything you say is true, but I think you, and so many others, are
underestimating just how much has to be done to get things running.
So. Many. Tiny. Steps.
A previous comment said:
> _Install and launch a text editor and learn how to do a "hello world" in
> javascript._
It's not that easy, and I've never yet found a truly simple, no knowledge
expected, step-by-step guide.
Yes, JS runs ins a web browser. How? If I fire up a text editor, what do I put
in it to write a "Hello World" program? Alternatively, how do I "install node
and use that to run it like a script"? What's "node"? What version do I want?
Where do I find it? How do I install it? How do I use it to run JS scripts?
So. Many. Tiny. Steps.
And some not so tiny.
You know this (and I know it too) but so often I see "advice" like this thrown
out at absolute beginners _and it really doesn 't help._
~~~
boyaka
Save it as an html file. Use html script tag to wrap your javascript.
~~~
ColinWright
So one would also have to learn some html markup and have a browser (which is
probably a given, I know), and then have to understand at least a little of
how the program outputs to the DOM, and how (or if) the output of the JS
interacts with the HTML that's already there.
I'm not saying any of this is a bad thing, it's just the way things are, but
to an absolutely beginner it can feel insurmountable. I've seen the despair on
beginners' faces when they've been shown yet another thing that has to be
done, and which they don't understand. Then another, then another.
So. Many. Tiny. Steps.
~~~
mabynogy
For that, my advice is to use something integrated like Pharo or Basic256.
~~~
ColinWright
See, and now our beginner has to learn what "Pharo" is, or "Basic256", and how
to use them.
It just feels like the rabbit hole has no bottom.
Seriously - what is "Pharo"? What is "Basic256"? What do they do for me? How
do I install them? How do I run/use/access them?
It just feels endless.
So. Many. Tiny. Steps.
_Some searching tells me that these are completely different alternatives to
using Javascript. Now it 's unclear why our beginner would want to use these -
what advantages do they have over Javascript? Or Python? How will they get to
a point of being able to contribute to Open Source, or to having an app or
website others can use? What's the path?_
_In a private communication someone has accused me of being deliberately
obstructive here, but I 'm just trying to raise awareness of the height of the
barrier to getting started, and how little real help there is out there. We,
as a community, should do better at helping people get started in programming,
people of all ages and levels of life experience._
~~~
mabynogy
You're negative. Are you depressed?
~~~
ColinWright
Not at all - I'm trying to point out that all the suggestions that technical
people toss out, thinking they're helping, have a huge amount of technical
tinkering underneath that most technical people just don't see. Then when I
point it out people think I'm being obstructive, or in your case, that I'm
just being negative because, you know, the only possible reason is because I
must be depressed.
I'm not, I'm trying as hard as I can to be genuinely constructive. What people
are currently doing superficially appears to be useful, but it's not, and I'm
trying to raise awareness of what people need to do to be genuinely helpful.
~~~
mabynogy
What I really think about people willing to do programming is that most of
them won't become programmers. People who are interested by programming just
program. I could say that for carpentry too.
But I think we should do more programmable tools (like excel) to help people
to deal with complexity.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Many Europeans Find U.S. Attacks on WikiLeaks Puzzling - credo
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/10/world/europe/10wikileaks-react.html
======
marssaxman
Many Americans also appear to find the U.S. government's attacks on WikiLeaks
puzzling.
------
urza
I find it puzzling too <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1987034>
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Avant garde text input - rijoja
http://eruditenow.com/
======
enkiv2
The copy is _very_ unclear. If you can, get a native english speaker to edit
it for you. (It's early here, but after skimming it twice I still have no idea
what your program does.)
~~~
rijoja
What about this: [https://github.com/richard-
jansson/veta](https://github.com/richard-jansson/veta)
Consider the text on the website a lorem ipsum.
------
rijoja
Do not take the website to seriously. Write to me if you need help compiling
the program or whatever.
~~~
brudgers
I have no idea what program there is to be compiled.
------
xyzsaft
This looks really neat is this your invention or are is there a source of
inspiration for this?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: What non-obvious tech/market may take off in the next few years? - cocktailpeanuts
Hi HN, I'm trying to find some exciting but not-yet-mainstream tech or market to look into.<p>For the last couple of years I've been completely focused on one field and have not been staying on top of what the latest hot tech trend is, so kind of lost what I should be looking at. Note that I'm not just chasing some tech hype, but just want to know what I've been missing out on.<p>This doesn't have to be brand new tech per se, but could be a re-application of a previously failed technology which makes sense now because the world has changed.<p>Please share anything you think is really cool that may take off soon. Also would be nice if you shared the reason for why you think it will be the next couple of years when they take off to mainstream. Thank you!
======
searchableguy
No code/low code. People here underestimate the work it requires to craft a
production CRUD app and keep it working.
The problem these tools solve are more related to infrastructure rather than
one's ability to code. Learning to code might be the easiest part but
deploying it, maintaining it, scaling it, securing it and integrating it with
thousands of other services remains a huge task even for experienced folks.
It's wasted time and effort for something that is cookie cutter in
functionality and limited in scope (vast majority of web).
Some of them provide collaboration tools, development environment and experts
on call which is neat.
Add ease of outsourcing, too. The employer doesn't have to worry about
maintenance once the product is finished. Many good platforms will allow you
an easy migration path and better security controls. That comes at a vendor
lock in. That's the price but given the life expectancy of smaller companies
and startups, it may as well be worth it.
~~~
jppope
Every VC in the world right now is betting on this becoming a thing... problem
is that No Code/ Low Code as a product doesn't actually solve the problem that
they are trying to solve.
The overarching concept of No Code/ Low Code is that "code" is the hard part
of building software, ergo if we can make it so "normal" people don't have to
code the problem is solved. Of course we all know that code isn't the hard
part of the job- if code was the issue software developers would all be using
No Code/ Low Code solutions already (as it's been pointed out, they've been
around forever).
No Code/ Low Code is about selling accessibility to the wantrepreneur crowd...
the same people that have an "app idea" that they want you to build. It's a
huge market, but it isn't going to have an impact on software development any
more than model rockets would have on the aerospace industry.
If the No Code/ Low Code tools were any good software developers would already
be using them.
(When I am talking about No Code/ Low code, I am not talking about things like
Webflow / Dreamweaver NOT solutions like Serverless.)
~~~
Eridrus
As a counterpoint, my ML team regularly dumps data into Google Sheets for
review / note taking, and we build dashboards using some SQL dashboarding
tools.
I've cobbled together email sign up forms for some non-technical side projects
with Google Forms, App Script and MailChimp.
I'm not a frontend developer so maybe frontend folks will tell me it's super
easy, but my feeling is that there is a lot of space for low code tools that
produce software that is not polished, but good enough.
~~~
meiraleal
That's not code, it is software usage. The same way a gamer is not a coder
when he type some small things in the console or add some script.
------
ahelwer
One idea I've had (heavily influenced by The Diamond Age, I must admit) - a
premium video game experience where NPCs you meet are sometimes voiced/acted
by actors hired real-time on-demand with face or even body mocap. The NPCs
revert back to regular AI versions if an actor is unable to be hired at that
time. The player could interact by speaking with their own voice, naturally
role-playing the scene. This would of course be astonishingly expensive, but
people are clearly willing to spend a lot of money on video games these days
so there might be a market. You could create the company providing the real-
time on-demand acting service to whatever game company wants to integrate with
your services, either contracting or hiring actors to wait around for
requests. They could even work from home if their internet setup is good
enough.
Reasons this sector might take off: recent greater consumer spending on video
games (especially with the pandemic) & their normalization as a field of
entertainment, recent greater consumer spending on online services where you
pay to interact with actors (although they're all of the, er, amorous type),
and the growing popularity of mixed reality driven by the release of Half
Life: Alyx.
~~~
Guest19023892
I don't think this makes sense for a number of reasons.
1\. As you said, the costs involved. You'd probably need to charge people
something like $10 per interaction with a voice actor, plus $2 per minute.
This makes for a very limited market.
2\. Actors need to be waiting for a request on a wide range of characters
since there would not be enough demand for them to consistently play the same
character all the time. So, when a player triggers an interaction, there's
going to be a delay as the actor is brought up to speed on their role, the
person they're interacting with, the world they're in, etc.
3\. When players return to a NPC, they'll likely be assigned a different actor
since the previous one is either in another call or not working. This kind of
ruins the premium interactions since the player remembers the voice and small
details of the last conversation, but now the NPC has suddenly changed.
4\. You're in the business of matching up adult voice actors with children
playing games. You'll need a record of every single conversation because it's
only a matter of time before you get reports of inappropriate conversations
unfolding.
5\. This isn't a long term business. Technology gets better each day at
speaking and understanding human voice. It will replace the voice actors and
it also solves all of the above issues.
~~~
lobotryas
A lot of these issues can be solved with ML ala “deepfakes”
Purchase a license to use an actor’s voice/likeness. Have them complete a
training set. Now you have their digital doppleganger who can act almost any
role required of them.
~~~
ahelwer
As the other commenter said, the big appeal of this approach is the ability to
improvise dialogue or even actions.
------
grahoho
Augmented Reality. Apple seems poised to release some AR Glasses based on the
patents they've been registering and the investment they've made in the ARKit
framework. This will probably become another iPhone-like platform for
developing apps on, and will likely present opportunities like the early days
of the App Store.
There's a cool project trending on Github right now showing how magic-like
some of the technology in this space is: [https://github.com/cyrildiagne/ar-
cutpaste](https://github.com/cyrildiagne/ar-cutpaste)
~~~
nbawal
I think it has been tried unsuccessfully many times. There is even a Silicon
Valley episode about it. Certainly it does not fit the "non-obvious"
criterion.
Apart from gamers, people just don't want it.
~~~
marketgod
I'd be interested in something for a desktop. Currently, I have 3 monitors and
having an extra 2 at the market open would be perfect then put away the
headset after 30 minutes and just watch the market. If anyone has a
recommendation.
~~~
chriscaruth
Would those additional monitors be used for web based access or would you want
them to directly connect to your machine? If the former, you could pick up a
mixed reality headset and spin up web browsers and use them as additional
"monitors". Something like this: [https://quipscom-
my.sharepoint.com/:i:/g/personal/chris_caru...](https://quipscom-
my.sharepoint.com/:i:/g/personal/chris_caruth_quips_com/ET0r8sHXax1ChEhtZVNohj8BNLfP-
kCkSV9nPa7a5Phbjg?e=9v8Z32)
~~~
marketgod
Chris, thanks for this. I completely missed this comment. I will look into
that as an option. Right now my trading platform is an old windows app as most
stock trading applications are and the web browser version doesn't allow all
the features, but this looks like something I will have to try.
------
cprayingmantis
I think small to mid scale farm ag-tech is going to become huge in the next
decade. We already see large industrial farms making use of more and more tech
what happens when that tech scale shrinks down.
~~~
brianhorakh
I work on this. Ai driven garden appliances. Biogensis accelerators. This type
of tech is hard to make reliable and user friendly. Requires a lot of sensors
and lab equipment to be engineered, mass produced, user friendly and reliable.
One discrete failure and it kills the crop.
~~~
jppope
Whats your company called? I'm very interested in this as a hobby. Farmbot,
small robot co, etc
------
barnabee
Electric aircraft for shorter trips instead of trains. The battery energy
density still needs to improve somewhat but that is happening.
They’d allow for serving more direct (point to point) routes than trains as
the infrastructure cost is so much lower than laying and maintaining tracks.
Rail serving high volume routes still makes sense, especially while electric
plans remain relatively small.
~~~
SahAssar
I might be wrong but this seems like a very US-centric idea. For most of the
developed world trains fill this need very well, while the US has had problems
with their rail network for reasons partially based on geography, partially
based on population density, and partially based on their own fault. I think
this explains it pretty well:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbEfzuCLoAQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbEfzuCLoAQ)
The solution is not aircraft, the solution is more and better trains. Or
perhaps autonomous buses/trucks depending on how far out you look.
~~~
wtracy
IDK, high-speed rail doesn't seem to be taking off outside of Europe and a
handful of Asian countries.
That leaves most of Asia outside India/China/Korea/Japan, and pretty much all
of Australia/Oceania, Africa, the Middle East, and the entire New World.
I would love to see high-speed rail take over the world, but there's a lot of
sparsely-populated places out there, and it makes sense to investigate
technologies to support them.
~~~
SahAssar
Sparsely-populated places are the cheapest places to build rail, both because
of land prices and also the cost of labour. I think that for any volume of
passengers over shorter distances that would be large enough to mandate a
regular airway it would be cheaper to build high-speed rail. At least over the
long term the economics of scale should take over and besides that a rail
network is more useful for shipping of goods than a airport would be.
In the US it'd require similar effort/cost as the Interstate Highway System
did, but would probably yield equal economic benefit.
~~~
psadri
The problem is that train routes are fixed So it only makes sense to connect
regions with high populations. Aircraft can go anywhere, including places with
small populations.
~~~
SahAssar
Sure, they could, but they don't. Aircraft require airports, ATC, large land
areas for landing/takeoff and so on.
In general aircraft for passenger or cargo routes take a few routes and don't
shift much.
------
frabcus
It's worth understanding the kind of disruption you mean - product to product,
or product to commodity. Simon Wardley has a blog with lots of posts about
this.
Also his free book about Wardley Mapping is useful for understanding the phase
changes of bespoke to warring products to commodity.
For specific ideas, see "Figure 2 - Wars" in this Simon Wardley blog post
(written five years ago, diagram is I think ten years old so you can validate
early parts of it): [https://blog.gardeviance.org/2015/02/on-two-forms-of-
disrupt...](https://blog.gardeviance.org/2015/02/on-two-forms-of-
disruptions.html)
We're currently just come through war phase (when there's fierce competition
to own commodity versions and lots of new innovation gets built on top) of Big
Data.
From the diagram, the next wars Simon reckons should happen about now (and I
can't find a post where he explains how he made that diagram) are:
* Sensor as a Service (think radically better health or environment sensors, detecting important trace molecules cheaply)
* Robotics (I guess think Ocado warehouses, or Shenzhen factories)
* Currency (digital can change this in ways other than Bitcoin, depending on your politics too)
Then the phase after that in 5-10 years time are:
* Internet of Things (I'm guessing by then the microcomputers might be *so* cheap and network *so* easy they literally go in everything)
* Immersive (VR/AR I think)
* 3D printing (it's not very good or cheap yet, it will be)
* Genetic Engineering, GMO
* Social Change (not clear what this means, but certainly you can look around the world and see the demand)
You can look for yourself for more.
For slightly longer term, worth knowing the word "spime" as something to head
for as well.
------
blhack
Distributed IT/office that services remote workers in their homes.
Pay a fee and you get access to a pool of desks, chairs, computers, and an
IT/office staff to come to your house and maintain it and set it up.
In that vein: tooling to manage remote workers.
------
objectReason
A potential game changer in the 3D printing space is Rapid Liquid Printing or
(RLP). Why is it exciting? Normal 3D printers have to build from the ground
up, one layer at a time. It wastes a lot of energy and time because the print
head paths are restricted to one plane. In RLP, by contrast, prints are made
in a bath of gelatin, the printer head is freely able to move in 3 dimensions
allowing it to take the most direct path to form prints. No wasted movement =
less time and more structurally sound parts.
RLP was developed by MIT a few years back and I haven't heard much from it
since. Maybe that will change over the next few years.
[https://selfassemblylab.mit.edu/rapid-liquid-
printing](https://selfassemblylab.mit.edu/rapid-liquid-printing)
------
objectReason
Neural input devices could become a thing in the next few years. I, for one,
would love to have a wearable which could translate neural signals into text
and directional input - in lieu of a keyboard and mouse. My inevitable carpal
tunnel could stop advancing.
Thanks to newly available hardware like MyoWare, affordable neural sensors
have become available to garage tinkerers. I think it's simply a matter of
time before we're all interfacing with our computers and phones via wearables.
[http://www.advancertechnologies.com/p/myoware.html](http://www.advancertechnologies.com/p/myoware.html)
------
mrfusion
Space tech, things for mars. (Elon is going to need a lot of help)
VR development. It really hasn’t hit mainstream yet and when it changes how we
work that could be huge.
I think AI based procedural generation of games. Seeing how good gpt3 is
getting this seems like it could be huge.
AI based personalized education. Have you seen how well gpt3 can explain
concepts? Could something like that also evaluate your understanding, come up
with custom learning plans?
------
user_501238901
Video games of some sort, where the game map is a 1:1 replica of the real
world using streamed GIS data.
The new microsoft flight simulator is already kinda there.
------
jacknews
Using AI to identify breakout technology or trends that are set to go
mainstream.
The benefit is that the operators of said technology can 'invest' in that
bandwagon and reap piggy-back profits, while mitigating the inherent risk of
actually developing those technologies or trends from scratch.
------
brianhorakh
Hombrew advanced material fabrication (especially with graphene)
Open lab equipment. Open Sensor designs.
~~~
brianhorakh
Also demand for solarpunk architecture and design themes, also those
incorporating smart biological controls (probably uv filters and Biocidal
surfaces) for at least a few years after covid.
------
skmurphy
Privacy - Duck Duck Go may overtake Google at some point.
Better Email management tools, use existing transport but allow you to manage
1,000 to 10,000 inbound messages in an hour of work. Note: this is not mean to
offer encouragement for more to send 10,000 outbound messages or fall into
Uncanny Valley of Email Automation (see
[https://www.skmurphy.com/blog/2015/03/25/the-uncanny-
valley-...](https://www.skmurphy.com/blog/2015/03/25/the-uncanny-valley-of-
email-automation/))
IoT / Mirror World / Smart City / Digital Twin / Cyberspace is everting
Sensors are woven into more of the natural world and the built world.
Opportunities for services and better management and governance of natural and
built world. Implications for Privacy. See
[https://www.skmurphy.com/blog/2017/04/19/cyberspace-
everts-i...](https://www.skmurphy.com/blog/2017/04/19/cyberspace-everts-into-
the-real-world-as-iot/)
~~~
kevindong
> Better Email management tools, use existing transport but allow you to
> manage 1,000 to 10,000 inbound messages in an hour of work.
What single person receives that many emails in any given hour?
~~~
cocktailpeanuts
Exactly. the problem with email tools is that it's built by people who think
everyone receives thousands of emails. 99.999% of the world only receives less
than 10 emails per day. They have no such problem as "information overload"
when it comes to email.
~~~
skmurphy
The people and businesses who have the problem are willing to pay a lot to
solve it. It's a high value problem to solve.
If your competitor(s) could process the equivalent of 10,000 inbound messages
a day would they be able to maintain a higher level of situational awareness
on early trends and harbingers? Could they uncover and address opportunities
before you became aware of them?
------
jwitchel
Disaster mitigation products and services. Tools that enable better management
of things that go bad. Nat disasters are obvious but also think ransomware,
medical disasters, covid of course. Think insurance but also detection,
contact mapping, probability models for fires, resource dispatching, hedging
for financial impact, remediation planning.
Disasters seem to be regrettably a growth market these days.
------
artemisyna
Threads like this is cause 2/3rds of it will end up being “what’s something
that folks have heard about in the news but hasn’t gotten big (enough for more
press) yet”.
Rephrased, this question is also more of a product-market fit one (“which
market exists/will exist but doesn’t have its demand satisfied yet”), whereas
a lot of answers are focused on the tech.
------
jbpnoy6fifty
X-as-a-service platforms that allow companies to perform segments of their
oprations either with ease, or outsource it.
It's been the big thing for a while, but still continues to grow.
Basically, these are tools to make it faster and faster to spin up a business
from scratch, by allowing those companies to focus more on the product itself
rather than refactorable non-essentials. They may also offer value-added
features such as "network effect" ability to optimize that packaged solutions,
or a platform that allows them to provide quicker no code/low code Analytics
to identify trends to be able to make business decisions accordingly.
Examples of companies that do this.
* AWS (infrastructure) * Salesforce * Azure * Pagerduty * Splunk * DevOps as a service companies * HR as a service
Also, I recommend not caring about what's new, hot, and shiny; it's best to
really understand market fit, and market potential; and build something
"useful"
------
plexiglas
Social media retirement services.
~~~
chrisgoman
Whole cottage industry of this following AA/NA model called Social Media
Anonymous. You could have camps, meetings, therapy, etc
~~~
jpindar
And you'd definitely want an app, where people could chat, share their
stories... :)
------
cryptica
Existing technology business models will be adapted and re-launched as
services which are coupled to cryptocurrency tokens.
Also, we may see the rise of cryptocurrency communities which attempt to
manipulate company insiders and governments to gain control of the proceeds of
production to drive the value of their cryptocurrencies. Private property
rights will be eroded (due to lack of enforcement and increasing systemic
corruption) and so cryptocurrency, which offers a cryptographic means of
ownership (which does not rely on law), will gain increasing significance.
The proceeds of production will no longer go to shareholders, they will be
diverted to cryptocurrency holders. The shareholders who embrace this mindset
of moving profits to cryptocurrencies will see their ownership stake of
company profits increase at the expense of those who resist this shift. In the
end, nobody will want to own stocks since they will no longer yield profits.
Corporations will behave like non-profits; the profits will be funneled to
cryptocurrencies.
All of this will be completely legal and almost everyone will support it. In
10 years, this will be completely obvious.
We are in a post-scarcity economy. Wealth creation will have little to do with
productivity and everything to do with redefinition and redistribution of
existing ownership rights. We will see cryptographic ownership rights surpass
legal ownership rights. Once this new, highly fluid, decentralized financial
infrastructure is firmly in place, the transfer of wealth will end up
facilitating a new wave of massive decentralized productivity with a stronger
focus on social principles.
~~~
cryptica
If you're downvoting this, you are probably missing the fact that this already
started. Ethereum has already managed to infiltrate many companies and these
companies already started diverting some of their profits to buying up
Ethereum. Even Reddit is getting into Ethereum. This is just the beginning.
~~~
biolurker1
HN crowd has a lot of crypto deniers. The funny thing is that HN leaders like
literally PG, Googl Bosses, Zuck and Marc Andreasen are very bullish on it. So
it doesn't take much to realize who is right
~~~
KozmoNau7
Like the rest of SV, they are blinded by hubris and their own blindness to the
downsides of tech.
Crypto currency is a disaster.
~~~
biolurker1
You mean you know better than everyone that has been extremely Successful
right? OK :)
~~~
KozmoNau7
Survivorship bias is a real thing, and very relevant when discussing tech
magnates.
~~~
biolurker1
If you want to make this argument it should also hold for everyone. Einstein
was lucky, Newton didn't get killed by accident etc. But if you are in denial
you can make a lot of arguments.
------
badrabbit
Starlink+Drones.
People using apps like cashapp to ditch traditional banks leading to loans and
other financial activity to be done over these newer apps.
------
pajop
Check out [https://practicum.substack.com](https://practicum.substack.com) and
also this Twitter thread of futurist sites
[https://threader.app/thread/1296654041569570819](https://threader.app/thread/1296654041569570819)
------
ape4
Generically engineered plants for the home
~~~
brianhorakh
You mean "genetically"? They already are.. Like roses, or most patented
strains. Lots of research into cannabis. What do you think these plants do?
~~~
wtracy
This is what genetic recombination has made possible in tropical fish in just
the last ten years:
[https://www.glofish.com/](https://www.glofish.com/)
I don't doubt we will see CRISPR and friends applied to ornamental plants the
way they are already applied to food crops.
~~~
brianhorakh
Actually: [https://phys.org/news/2020-05-crispr-non-gmo-
method.html](https://phys.org/news/2020-05-crispr-non-gmo-method.html)
------
jacknews
Beyond meat, fake milk, etc.
------
NathanFlurry
Web 3/Dweb minus the crypto built on IPFS (or something similar).
I believe many developers will soon come to realize that you don't need a
blockchain to build most decentralized applications. Products like like Google
Docs, social networks, messaging app, etc don't depend on a proof of stake,
and we shouldn't be running miners to power such simple operations. All these
applications need isa decentralized form of message distribution and log
storage paired with public-key cryptography in order to build a CRDT log. I
understand why IPFS in itself at first glance often seems over-hyped, since it
is essentially just a hyper-distributed caching layer. However, I highly
recommend looking at technologies built on top of it like
[OrbitDB]([https://github.com/orbitdb/orbit-
db](https://github.com/orbitdb/orbit-db)) and
[Textile]([https://textile.io/](https://textile.io/)). When they work
reliably, their API is as easy if not easier than other "server-less" products
like Firebase or Parse to use. Once libraries like these become mature, I
believe the way we build software will be flipped on its head within 10-15
years to be completely client focused with minimal backend infrastructure.
The main advantages I see are:
* Increased reliability. This allows developers to remove almost all of their centralized servers and rely instead on a common infrastructure and protocol.
* Much simpler codebases and infrastructure. You only need to write a frontend for most applications. Building on u/searchableguy's comment: I can see no/low code tooling really taking off with decentralized-first applications, since there is no need to manage a complicated backend infrastructure with vendor lock-in.
* Real-time by default. Since IPFS databases run off of CRDT logs which rely on realtime syncing of new operations, they are benefit from immediate updates at all times – even when not connected to the main swarm out in the boonies. * Offline-first by default.
* Cost/resource efficiency. No technology is magical, but [this]([https://withblue.ink/2019/03/20/hugo-and-ipfs-how-this-blog-...](https://withblue.ink/2019/03/20/hugo-and-ipfs-how-this-blog-works-and-scales.html)) article from March is an early real world demonstration of how well this technology works already.
* Transport agnostic. It's completely feasible to have your watch, your phone, and your laptop have their IPFS nodes connected over Bluetooth, but never have to worry about if and how they're connected together since IPFS takes care of handling that P2P connectivity automatically. Instead of writing code that says "my watch created a reminder, upload this to the cloud for my laptop and also tell my phone this happened if we're connected," I can just write "my watch created a reminder, broadcast this operation to the IPFS network" and your phone and laptop will automatically receive this update.
* Security. The less that is stored on centralized servers, the better. While OrbitDB is not built to work off an encrypted database yet (it's in the roadmap for v1), Textile already is. Having everything be encrypted by default and optionally never leaving my device has many advantages.
The main challenges I see blocking this from going mainstream:
* Reliability still feels like the early days of the internet. The database-level libraries are still young, IPFS is slow/unreliable at times, and browser support is fairly strong but still has a way to go, and native mobile/native support is nonexistent.
* Filecoin is not ready yet. You still need to run your own IPFS node/swarm in order to do anything serious. Existing pinning services can only go so far if you're working with something like OrbitDB.
* Education. Security is of upmost important when designing technologies like this, so developers need to understand how a CRDT log works, how to build with merge conflicts in mind, and how to write/manage custom ACL for complex interactions. It also takes a different way of thinking to design networks like this.
* Reliability and security audits.
* Transport protocols. At the moment, many of the advantages of P2P over things like Bluetooth have not been realized yet since the IPFS core is still where most of the development is focused at the moment.
* Cross-platform support. IPFS only has an official Go and JavaScript node implementation with a Rust implementation in the works. While Go has become fairly portable in recent years, it still has a very bloated runtime that doesn't embed well on mobile and web. Once we have a reliable Rust port and some OrbitDB-like Rust-based libraries ports, I suspect we'll start seeing ergonomic mobile and web APIs that bind to these popping up.
To be clear, I'm not saying centralized servers will vanish in to thin air.
There are many tasks like indexing large amounts of data that are incredibly
difficult and not beneficial to build on a distributed network. The
decentralized web – if done right – will make developers' lives much easier
for many common applications, but there should not be a need to port things
that aren't practical to run on the Dweb.
[Edit: Formatting]
~~~
shireboy
Without blockchain, what do you see being the incentive for people to host
nodes?
~~~
NathanFlurry
Filecoin is a blockchain which Protocol Labs is using to (a) creating a
decentralized way to pay miners to pin your file (i.e. store a permanent copy
of your file) and (b) partially used as a funding source for the core project
through its ICO.
Beyond that, [here]([https://discuss.ipfs.io/t/ipfs-
incentives/2456/2](https://discuss.ipfs.io/t/ipfs-incentives/2456/2)) is a
good explanation.
To elaborate a bit more: When you set up a node using an unmodified version of
their program at the moment, you tell it how much storage to allocate and it
will automatically fill the remaining space that you're not using with cached
chunks of other peoples' files, essentially "donating" your extra resources.
When you fetch a file, your computer will purge the LRU chunks and replace it
with that data you just fetched and store that in the cache. This way, the
more people who access a file, the more widely distributed that file is
cached.
For example, Cloudflare hosts an [IPFS
gateway]([https://blog.cloudflare.com/distributed-web-
gateway/](https://blog.cloudflare.com/distributed-web-gateway/)). Since it's
in their interest to deliver these files as fast as possible, their nodes
which fetched these files from the IPFS network will have them cached and
available to anyone else who requests said files. While it's definitely not
the same concept in terms of incentive/resource intensiveness/authority, my
hope is that IPFS will work well for the same reason things like DNS works
effectively. Time will tell on this one.
------
tmaly
There is some potential for commodity hardware with AI to spawn some
innovation in the maker space.
------
UncleOxidant
Rapid tests you can do at home for a variety of viral illnesses, initially for
COVID-19, but expanding to a wider variety of viruses and virus types. Being
able to track viruses in real-time will become a priority to attempt to thwart
future pandemics.
------
josefrichter
Human body sensors -> API -> ML for diagnostics, neural control, etc.
------
zamboni-killer
Smart Tattoos. Color E-ink displays. Eventually: holographic VR.
~~~
brianhorakh
I tried to get a smart tattoo (design my own, long story). Metallic inks
aren't safe. Nonstarter. All sorts of nasty issues with xray, cat scanners and
airport backscatter machines.
------
shahbaby
SpaceX's Starlink \+ Increasing acceptance of remote work = A significant
shift away from congested cities towards more rural areas
------
bovermyer
Open agriculture.
~~~
brianhorakh
Every farmer i talk to about this doesn't store their data in compatible
formats (yet) There are no standards.
~~~
bovermyer
That's not what I mean.
Commercial agriculture is heavily dependent on, and influenced by, companies
that zealously guard what they see as their intellectual property.
When I say "open agriculture," I'm referring to protecting free
experimentation and open seed culture.
~~~
brianhorakh
More likely we'll move away from seeds towards sharing clones of rooted
cuttings. Much more predictable.
Open cutting exchange is a good idea actually. Trace genetics.
~~~
edgyquant
I doubt it as that opens up the possibility of one disease wiping out the
whole population ala the old breed of Bananas that candies are based on which
went extinct in the 70s IIRC.
------
CharlesDodgson
In the crypto world there is a lot of hype around DeFi (decentralised finance)
like everything in crypto it a mix of good technical ideas, lots of marketing
bd, and a host of obnoxious bros. At the heart of it though there are really
interesting things around liquidity.
I will be boring now and say that Cloud services will continue to expand, it's
effectively a tax on doing work on the internet and start-ups love using
cloud, the idea of maintaining your own servers is considered silly unless
their is some particular reason to. I expect to see growth of 20% yoy in that
sector for the top 3 players. Azure, GCP and AWS.
------
gramakri
Personal home servers
------
mcilai
Deep learning will continue to surprise
~~~
supernova87a
Nice try, GPT-3.
------
strikelaserclaw
webassembly
~~~
halfmatthalfcat
Lol, I wish as well but people have been saying this for the past 3 years.
~~~
mgamache
I think there still performance issues when manipulating the DOM. When those
get worked out (and they will), it may change the velocity of adoption.
------
sritrisna
Specialized Accounting / Bookkeeping Services.
~~~
cocktailpeanuts
Can you elaborate? And why do you think it will go mainstream in the next few
years?
~~~
gverrilla
probably AI
------
brudgers
Film photography.
~~~
foopod
Agreed. This is definitely a growing market today, I don't see why it wouldn't
continue to grow. There are many areas that haven't been improved upon in
decades as well. Things like..
\+ Negative Scanning Technology (the most revered scanners are from 10+ years
ago)
\+ New Film Emulsions
\+ Moving from gelatin to a plant-based substitute for gel emulsions
\+ Opportunities for automation in film processing
------
jacknews
Asteroid mining.
------
dvh
Elysium
------
EE84M3i
Honestly, why would anyone share a good idea here? I get it that ideas are
cheap, but if someone actually thinks they have slam dunk they're not going to
share it on HN.
~~~
skmurphy
Some folks--including many on HN--have many more insights or "good ideas" than
they can execute on. If they want to see them come to fruition they are not
harmed by giving away a substantial fraction of them that they don't plan to
execute on but still see the possibility of and need for.
See [http://blog.fogus.me/2015/11/04/the-100101-method-my-
approac...](http://blog.fogus.me/2015/11/04/the-100101-method-my-approach-to-
open-source/) or [https://www.nickbentley.games/the-100-10-1-method-for-
game-d...](https://www.nickbentley.games/the-100-10-1-method-for-game-design/)
for two descriptions of a 100:10:1 model. There are other models.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
All Your Database Are Belong to Us - seanmcdirmid
http://queue.acm.org/detail.cfm?id=2338507
======
david927
I hate to argue against someone I admire as much as Erik, but I disagree. His
argument makes sense only for 'mandatory' context and rules, and that's a
minority subset.
If I'm querying for the length of something, is that 18mm or 18au? Units are
mandatory context for something quantitative. But the moment the context or
rules become situational (which ends up being a large amount of the time), the
problem of using objects in this space means forcing context and rules which
don't apply. And then you have something either useless or less effective.
The future, instead, is to model the context and rules as you do the data.
Users can then simply query how much they want/need of the former.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Detexify: handwritten symbol recognition - zrm
http://detexify.kirelabs.org/classify.html
======
gaur
More than symbol names, I can never remember details about package options. To
set uniform margins with the geometry package, is the keyword "margin" or
"margins"? If I want to scale tgschola, is the keyword "scale" or "scaled"?
Why don't package writers anticipate this?
Similarly, depending on the font, the command to get an upright lowercase
alpha is either \upalpha, \alphaup, \otheralpha, or something else. Why?
------
splitbrain
[http://shapecatcher.com/](http://shapecatcher.com/) does the same for unicode
symbols.
~~~
amelius
Interesting, but not always accurate:
[http://i.imgur.com/q3AZbun.png](http://i.imgur.com/q3AZbun.png)
------
CGamesPlay
If you coupled this with a smartphone app, it would be a great note-taking app
or homework-solving app for college.
~~~
e12e
The Samsung Note3 (and presumably later versions) come with S Note (which I
just found is also available for windows[1]) -- and does a decent job of
translating hand-drawn equations (eg sum over x=0 to infinity for 1/x). Not
sure about the pc version (yet). Might be worth looking at for those that have
a windows tablet/device with stylus input.
[ed: Doesn't appear to be a feature of the windows/desktop app :-( ]
[1]
[http://www.samsung.com/uk/apps/mobile/snote/](http://www.samsung.com/uk/apps/mobile/snote/)
------
rawnlq
This is also pretty good:
[https://webdemo.myscript.com/#/demo/equation](https://webdemo.myscript.com/#/demo/equation)
Recognizes full equations and even sends it to wolfram alpha to compute result
~~~
IanCal
That was really fun, thanks.
------
Elv13
I looked around and found this open source one
[http://cat.prhlt.upv.es/mer/](http://cat.prhlt.upv.es/mer/) It work very
well!
------
Xcelerate
This is awesome. Trying to figure out the name of some symbol I'm looking for
has always been a pain.
------
hcs
This was extremely handy back when I was writing papers, many thanks to the
dev.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: What are the best ICO white-papers you read? - sagivo
Looking to read some interesting ICO whitepapers (not to invest). Points to consider:<p>- easy to understand.<p>- in-depth details.<p>- good structure.<p>- disruptive technology.<p>- avoiding marketing buzzwords.
======
sagivo
the originals are: ethereum - [https://github.com/ethereum/wiki/wiki/White-
Paper](https://github.com/ethereum/wiki/wiki/White-Paper) bitcoin -
[https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf](https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
A brief introduction to C++’s model for type and resource safety - frostmatthew
https://github.com/isocpp/CppCoreGuidelines/blob/master/docs/Introduction%20to%20type%20and%20resource%20safety.pdf
======
dang
Url changed from [https://isocpp.org/blog/2015/10/type-and-resource-
safety](https://isocpp.org/blog/2015/10/type-and-resource-safety), which
points to this.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Patent troll claims it invented the Windows 8 and Windows Phone “tiles” - shawndumas
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/10/patent-troll-claims-it-invented-the-windows-8-and-windows-phone-tiles/
======
kstrauser
It sounds like SurfCast owns some pretty valuable intellectual property. Good
for them!
Of course, I wonder if they've been paying taxes on that property. If not,
then Maine Revenue Services might be interested in the fact that a local
corporation has been evading their taxes.
On the other hand, if SurfCast is willing to attest to the Maine Revenue
Service that their property has no value and should not be taxed, then I'd
like to see Microsoft introduce that into court as evidence that SurfCast
can't have suffered financial harm.
So which is it: is SurfCast filing a baseless lawsuit over valueless property
or are they tax evaders?
~~~
politician
Are you suggesting that IP owners owe (real estate) property taxes?
~~~
jlgreco
That would have some interesting consequences. Could I suddenly owe lots of
taxes if I get a really great business idea that I think is worth a lot?
~~~
mdonahoe
Only if you patent it, granting you exclusive right to that idea.
~~~
jlgreco
What if I copyright something?
The text I am typing right now is under copyright by default, if I write
something particularly brilliant here, can I expect to owe a good deal of
taxes?
If not, why not? Both are intellectual "property", and both _clearly_ can have
very real value. Why should unpublished books be any less taxable than un-
implemented patents?
~~~
kstrauser
Good question. Why not, indeed? If you're stating that a property has a cash
value, such as by selling it or suing for that amount in real damages, then
why shouldn't you have to pay taxes to the government that protects your right
to copy it?
Ideas aren't a naturally limited resource. It takes government intervention to
declare that an idea is owned by one specific party. It seems only fair that
the beneficiary of that intervention should be expected to support the
government that makes it possible.
By the way, I have no problem whatsoever with property rights. Although I
think software patents are BS, if the government says they exist, then they
exist. I just don't think it's fair that these non-practicing entities are
paying their fair share to support the system that's netting them a paycheck.
Why would I have to pay taxes on a rent house that I lease out, but they don't
have to pay taxes on a patent that they lease out?
~~~
jlgreco
I don't think that claiming damages implies a worth that should necessarily be
taxable. If I am in an automobile accident and my spine is destroyed, I don't
think anybody would suggest that since my spine is worth something to me that
I should have been paying taxes on it.
Paying taxes to ensure copyright protection would basically have the real
world effect of pealing back default copyright. No works would be protected
unless the creator went through the trouble of registering^Wpaying tax for
that work.
I don't think society would be better off without default copyright, so
copyrighted works must remain effectively untaxed "properties".
The problem I am having here is that you are conflating physical property with
intellectual "property" just because you want to go after patent trolls. What
you are proposing would not be limited in effect to the people _you_ dislike
though.
If Bob Handyman were to invent a new type of, say, catalytic converter, in his
garage, this would be of immense value to the automotive industry. This would
therefore be an _incredibly_ "valuable" patent. (And Bob would of course have
to patent his new invention, unless he were a fool.) ..But under your proposal
he would then be responsible for a _massive_ tax that he could _never_ dream
of paying. And if he didn't pay this tax, automotive companies would then be
free to use his invention without giving him anything?
That is crazy.
------
meaty
There was a piece of DOS software in the late 80's called HyperPad which had
tiles and used them to display status and launch applications. I can't find a
single screenshot of it though unfortunately.
I'm sure that is probably slightly "more prior" art.
~~~
jotux
<http://www.atarimagazines.com/compute/issue115/406-1.jpg>
------
loumf
_Never shipped a product, only started describing its tech as "tiles" in
2011._
The word "tile" is used prominently in the patent.
------
adrianonantua
I think we all agree that software patents just gotta go (specially the ones
regarding UI). The real question is how to make that happen. Perhaps having a
big player like Microsoft targeted by a troll will help.
~~~
mrich
They have been targeted many times, and paid quite some millions (billions?)
over the years [1] [2]. The thing is, the big players like Microsoft all have
large patent portfolios and are using them to keep up the oligopoly, they have
no interest in abolishing the system.
[1] [http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2009/10/company-that-
won-...](http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2009/10/company-that-
won-585m-from-microsoft-sues-apple-google/)
[2] [http://www.inquisitr.com/112717/microsoft-
loses-i4i-patent-l...](http://www.inquisitr.com/112717/microsoft-
loses-i4i-patent-lawsuit-supreme-court-awards-290-million/)
------
bitwize
Prior art: Windows 1.0.
Microsoft even once gave a demo of how fast QuickBASIC compiled code was by
writing a program that split the screen into quarters and showed different
real-time data displays into each quarter. You could call that prior art, even
if it weren't for Windows 1.
------
jakejake
Is it possible to sue a patent troll for time and legal fees if you win the
original case?
I know they are basically shell corporations, but it would be great to see
these patent cases incurring some risk for the trolls.
~~~
debacle
What is the risk to a company whose only asset is the patent which, should
they fail to win their case, is probably useless anyway?
~~~
rayiner
Welcome to the problem of limited liability corporations in general. You think
it's irksome to win a judgment against a shell that has no assets in the
patent troll context, imagine it in the environmental damage, shareholder
fraud, etc, context.
~~~
jlarocco
On the other hand, imagine losing your house, car and savings because somebody
finds a bug in your product and sues you...
~~~
rayiner
Presumably if you're designing products that could cause that much damage if
they malfunction, you can buy insurance against any resulting problems.
Limited liability is a public subsidy for big business--it reduces the cost of
inherently risky business activity by shifting those costs to the injured
public rather than to the business owners. It's really arguable whether such
incentives are needed and whether liability insurance wouldn't be a more
appropriate measure.
~~~
debacle
Most LLCs have assets and thus require liability insurance anyway.
The tech sector is a small slice of the business space. Lets phrase it another
way - you get a bad shipment of chocolate from a supplier, and your cookies
send a handful of kids into allergic shock from the peanuts tainting the
chocolate. One of them dies. You're likely going to be sued, and your
liability insurance is likely a drop in the bucket (enough to cover your
business assets). Do you still deserve to lose your house?
------
SethMurphy
For those interested in the actual patent here is a link:
<http://www.surfcast.com/images/pdfs/US6724403.pdf>
I particularly find the following quote interesting from the last line on the
first page: "The present invention is intended to operate in a platform
independent manner."
~~~
illuminate
In that they are interested in suing as many platform developers as possible?
~~~
SethMurphy
No, in that a claim can be so specific and so vague at the same time.
------
mdonahoe
Amusingly, they use screenshots from Windows Explorer in their patent
drawings.
See Fig. 1 in the first patent (pg 3)
<http://www.surfcast.com/images/pdfs/US6724403.pdf>
The pictures has some funny Drive names: Bambam, Fatbelly, Bigboss, Hulk.
------
swang
Gee, waiting until Windows 8 releases before filing a lawsuit rather than
before hand when the damage to your "company" could have been avoided. I
wonder why that is...
Seriously though, even disregarding any previous prior art, Microsoft already
did stuff like this back in 98 when it was called Active Channel.
------
tsycho
I am glad that a patent troll has directly attacked one of the software
giants. Now hopefully Microsoft with its deep pockets and legal team can crush
this troll.
~~~
anonymfus
Microsoft lose in such cases surprisingly often. Smart Tags in Office, onclick
activation of plugins in IE...
~~~
Dirlewanger
Yup. Fuck, they lost their right to use "Metro" to describe their now "Modern-
UI style." MASSIVE fuck up in my opinion. Microsoft should have raided the
coffers to protect using that term.
~~~
neurotech1
Agreed it was a massive SNAFU. Metro AG is a huge corp, based in Germany, that
wasn't interested in licensing the 'Metro' trademark to MS in a settlement. I
don't think any dollar amount was mentioned for continued use of Metro.
------
at-fates-hands
I know there has been a spat of these recently, but I always think about
Robert Kearns and his lifelong battle against Ford for his intermittent
windshield wiper patent.
As much as we hate patent trolls, once and a while, there is an exception to
rule which proves us all wrong.
~~~
nitrogen
Is an intermittent windshield wiper really worthy of a 20-year monopoly?
~~~
bduerst
Depends on how much you have invested in it.
~~~
thirdtruck
And even then, I could spend the rest of my life on digging holes and
refilling them.
I might have _invested_ countless hours in such effort, but that does not
grant it any inherent value.
~~~
bduerst
Did Ford try to infringe on your patent for hole digging?
~~~
nitrogen
The value of a patent is not in whether it is infringed, but whether it is
both novel and non-obvious. Many software patents are neither, as evidenced by
the recent spate of lawsuits over patents that largely amount to "regular
expressions, but _on a PHONE!!111_."
------
TopTrix
I have now realized that anything can happen in the world of ...
------
lemiffe
I am REALLY pissed off. Idiotic patent trolls. GAH
------
acluistic
I thought this was an article from The Onion.
------
xo
Stop the madness
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Get feedback for your website - bilus
http://beta.criticue.com
======
bilus
A one-for-one feedback exchange. Based on the prototype we launched earlier,
the process works really well (78% of reviews were rated 'awesome' or
'useful'). It's quite slick too if I may say so. :)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Abandoning smartphones? - Mpkkk
I've had an iPhone for two years, and love using it. But in other ways I hate it. I hate having y email at hand, and ignoring my surroundings to check the interwebs, and paying the monthly plan.<p>I want just a few things from my phone: instapaper, maps, and SMS/calling. But none of the rest.<p>What's the best way to do this? Can I stop paying for iPhone data and just use the wifi? Or should I get a new phone (do any others have instapaper)?<p>Have any of you done this?<p>*note - this has nothing to do with the philosophical iPhone/android debate. It's kist about improving my life.
======
hugh3
I have a cheap prepaid LG dumbphone for similar reasons; it's nice to be _not_
email accessible for at least part of the day.
I also have an iPod Touch, which would solve your instapaper problem.
The only problem I can't solve is maps... obviously you can get maps on the
iPod, but only when you have wifi, and if you have wifi you're probably not
lost. There's always the separate GPS unit solution; you wouldn't want to
carry it around all the time though.
~~~
jbrkr
> The only problem I can't solve is maps...
Recent versions of Ovi Maps by Nokia work offline very well. I used v3.0x when
I would have otherwise been roaming without incurring any data charges.
------
NginUS
My BlackBerry was broken >30% of the time I had it. If it wasn't the headphone
jack, it was the keypad- or reboots in the middle of replying to email. I was
constantly at the Verizon store to have the tech verify a replacement could be
sent, waiting for that, then importing everything again & all that comes with
that process.
Ultimately it cost more time than it saved.
It was helpful to have email in my pocket, but I get by without it for now.
------
alastair
i dont think you need a new phone. just disable the data on your phone plan,
and grab one of the many mapping programs that use locally-stored maps. stick
all the other distracting apps in their own folder so your screen is
cluttered, done.
------
pavel_lishin
How do you ditch email when you're still on wifi, but still keep instapaper
and maps? Short of writing your own phone OS, or maybe uninstalling built-in
apps (can you do that?) the only answer I can think of is self-discipline. :)
------
chadp
Why not just delete your email accounts from the phone?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: Buy and Sell Retargeting Lists, Feedback Appreciated - vladmk
http://retargetking.com/
======
slagfart
I have a lot of legal concerns! Is this going to get me sued by my existing
customers, whose details I would be sharing? Can you perhaps explain why this
would be legal?
~~~
vladmk
User privacy and legal matters will always be a controversial topic on the
internet. Bitcoin for example challenged the government strongly early on, but
now things have regulated themselves.
------
aslewofmice
Pretty vague. Retargeting on what - Display/Facebook/Email? How would a
customer onboard these lists?
~~~
vladmk
Sure our startup will help you share everything that supports retargeting.
You'd be able to share it through retargeting codes.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Bill Gates takes part in Reddit's Secret Santa - rb2e
http://redditgifts.com/gallery/gift/spoiler-alert-bill-gates-did-not-get-you/
======
sethbannon
Things like this are neat because they remind folks that tech titans,
billionaires, celebrities, and the like are, at the end of the day, people too
-- not that dissimilar from everyone else. It's so easy to forget that.
~~~
knowtheory
It's awesome that Bill Gates decided to participate in the gift exchange.
This is also quite assuredly one of the best ways he could have possibly
advertised for Heifer International.
So, yeah, he's a regular dude in a lot of ways. He's also still a ruthless
billionaire who created a company that was known for crushing its competitors.
People are complicated, and just because he can be nice doesn't mean that he's
not other things too.
~~~
commandar
I really can't think of another person that I've had to reevaluate my opinion
of as drastically as Gates.
In the 90s he was widely seen as the face of the evil empire of Microsoft by
the technorati, completely cutthroat and unfairly crushing anyone that stood
in his way.
But over the past decade, he's arguably been one of the single greatest
contributors to good in the world. He's been a staunch and consistent advocate
for the overall betterment of humanity. He's put his wealth and influence to
use in beneficial, high-impact ways. He's directed his ruthlessness away from
business and toward hunger, poverty, and disease. And it's making a very real
difference in the lives of people around the world.
He's gone from somebody I viewed as a reviled caricature of a man to one I
can't help but profoundly respect.
Yeah, people are complicated. In the Mr. Gates' case, maybe that's not such a
bad thing.
~~~
tombrossman
A quick browse of his foundation's Wikipedia page [1] makes me think old
habits die hard. I hope all the positive press coverage is true (and not the
work of extremely well funded PR agencies) but these questions keep coming up.
I don't know enough about this to decide yet but I'd like to see some more
impartial examination of the foundations net benefit to society, as I think
the coverage so far is lacking.
[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gates_Foundation#Criticism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gates_Foundation#Criticism)
~~~
njx
Does anyone know why he is associated with Monsanto?
[http://www.infowars.com/bill-gates-dodges-questions-on-
why-h...](http://www.infowars.com/bill-gates-dodges-questions-on-why-he-
owns-500000-shares-of-monsanto/)
~~~
PhasmaFelis
I've been reading up on Monsanto recently, and I've grudgingly come to the
conclusion that they aren't _as_ bad as propaganda paints them. There's a
couple of big stories that paint them as heartlessly oppressing helpless small
farmers, but if you look into them further you find that they're not nearly so
black-and-white.
That, and GMO as a concept is absurdly demonized. Like everything else, it
needs to be done carefully and with suitable oversight, but people act like
genetic engineering means "putting poison in it." As the population keeps
rising and arable land keeps disappearing, we're gonna _need_ GMO crops to
keep large parts of the world from starvation.
~~~
gurkendoktor
> people act like genetic engineering means "putting poison in it."
Well, but isn't that pretty much it, in the form of pesticides? Does Monsanto
do GMO that is not just roundup-readiness?
~~~
Blahah
Monsanto makes two types of GM crop products.
The first, Bt crops, have the gene for a Cry protein from the bacterium
_Bacillus thuringiensis_ inserted so that they are toxic to the larvae of
lepidoptera (moths and butterflies). The Cry protein works by aggregating into
crystals in the lepidopteran larval digestive tract which then pierce the
lining of the midgut, killing the larva. It doesn't affect any other animals,
including us, because the crystallisation requires strong alkalinity and the
presence of certain bacteria that are unique to the lepidopteran larval
midgut. _Bacillus thuringiensis_ is also widely used in organic certified
agriculture. So no, this isn't poison.
The second are glyphosate resistant plants. These have a bacterial form of the
ESPS gene inserted that doesn't get inhibited by glyphosate. We ingest many
different forms of the ESPS gene every day - it's in basically every organism
- and it's harmless. Glyphosate is one of the most harmless pesticides ever
invented, which is precisely why resistance is desirable. Using glyphosate
means we don't have to use the much more harmful pesticides we used to use. So
no, this isn't poison.
In summary: no, it's not poison.
~~~
gurkendoktor
I would still consider things that are _designed to kill_ moths and herbs to
be poison, conceptually - especially in contrast to GM crop that is designed
to be bigger/healthier/more resistant to weather/quicker to grow. I don't
think people would be as skeptical towards the latter group.
~~~
Blahah
That's a good technical point about the vocabulary - it's poisonous but to
very specific species. I should have said not poisonous to _humans_.
Regardless of how people feel, the need to use toxic pesticides and
insecticides are a huge problem in agriculture and Roundup-ready and Bt crops
tackle those problems.
Next-generation GM crops will be much more geared towards disease and
salt/drought stress resistance.
------
mynameishere
That's a fun gift. I used to get solicitations from Heifer international years
ago, and the sad thing is that they advertise themselves such that if you
donate 50 dollars, a family will get a flock of chickens; if you donate 100
dollars, a family will get a baby goat. Etc, etc. But all the money goes into
a common fund.
I know charities have to use modern marketing, but that left a sour taste when
I found out about it. On the other hand, I suppose Bill's underlings conduct
proper due diligence.
~~~
qohen
_I know charities have to use modern marketing, but that left a sour taste
when I found out about it._
Amusingly, this exact issue, of Heifer International putting money into a
common fund vs. buying a water buffalo as expected, led Philip Greenspun to
make a blog post on Dec. 26, 2006 (which I just stumbled on yesterday) wherein
he wrote, "We are trying to decide if this is the crummiest possible Christmas
present."
Then he went on to he ask what it would mean to actually buy water buffaloes
for poor families. It turns out, a guy named Robert Thompson, an American
living with his Chinese wife in China, left an informed answer in the comments
and, long story short, Greenspun and his business partner put up the money and
Thompson, with the help of his wife and her family, bought a deserving family
a real live water buffalo.
You can read about it (be sure to read comment #1, which is from Thompson)
and/or watch the short film Thompson made of the buying and presenting of the
animal to a Chinese family, which shows the impact such a gift can have:
[http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/philg/2006/12/26/water-
buffalo-...](http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/philg/2006/12/26/water-buffalo-
worst-possible-christmas-present/)
~~~
mooreds
Or just watch the movie:
[http://www.t2.com/waterbuffalo/watch/water_buffalo_flash_hi....](http://www.t2.com/waterbuffalo/watch/water_buffalo_flash_hi.html)
------
bambax
The last line is so funny:
> _ps: Sorry for the apple ipad on my wishlist, that was really awkward._
------
gadders
I wonder if there is a generational difference between people, say, 30+ and
the under 30's of their view of Bill Gates?
For people my age he was "evil" personified during the Netscape/IE/Anti-Trust
era. I wonder if people who came of age after that period see him more as a
global good guy and philanthropist?
As for me, if he keeps this up I'm going to have to start liking the guy :-)
~~~
silverlake
I'm way over 30 and I've always had a positive view of Gates. That's largely
because I don't view business competition as a gentlemen's duel. It really is
cutthroat as hell. In my early 20s I found the strategy docs for my mega-tech
corp on an insecure network drive. Spent the weekend learning about how
companies really compete: backroom deals, legal maneuvers, strange contracts,
and even political pressure. Very few companies can be the Ghandi of the
Fortune 500.
Everytime Gates is mentioned on HN we get the _exact same_ 200 comments
detailing his alleged crimes. Gates bought a cow? Sure, but he killed
Netscape. Gates built an AIDS research center? Sure, but he added the Office
ribbon. Can't we all calm the fuck down and just appreciate 1 rich dude trying
to do some good his own way?
~~~
gadders
I remember reading about one of the robber barons in the gilded age - a
Rockefeller or similar - and it was along the lines of (forgive any
misquoting):
"People always commented that although he was a ruthless businessman, how kind
and considerate he was in his private life. But isn't that the same as most
sportsmen? They are determined to win when competing in their sport, but once
off the field are not expected to be the same."
~~~
absconditus
The difference is the impact that corporations have on the world.
------
adamnemecek
Someone in the reddit thread asked a good question, what would you give to
Bill Gates if you are his Secret Santa?
~~~
tjmc
641K of RAM. More than anyone deserves!
~~~
BillyMaize
There is no documented proof he ever said this. I'm sure he is sick of hearing
it repeated when he has had to tell everyone how he didn't say it and no one
listens.
~~~
smackfu
It would still be a cute gift.
------
ck2
What a great guy Bill Gates turned out to be and he didn't do it only on his
deathbed like some billionaires.
------
CurtMonash
Bill gets it from his mother. I only met her once, yet she fell all over
herself to be gracious, try to do me favors, etc.
~~~
shdon
Not just his mother. It was his father who instilled in Bill the need to do
something good for the world. Bill Gates Sr. was also in charge of the
charitable giving when Bill Gates Jr. (fun little piece of trivia: nicknamed
"Trey" in his family to avoid confusion) was still very much involved in the
day to day running of Microsoft.
~~~
CurtMonash
But this is a story about pleasant personality and small gestures. As noted in
[http://www.softwarememories.com/2009/04/25/wsj-article-on-
bi...](http://www.softwarememories.com/2009/04/25/wsj-article-on-bill-gates-
family-and-other-stories/), I got that vibe from Bill's mother but not his
father.
------
frankydp
The vitriol in this thread is astounding.
~~~
socalnate1
Hacker News is really good at finding something wrong with anything good.
Reminds me of my grandmother...
~~~
frankydp
I have been on the fence for a couple months. I am moving to a post only
reader.
------
sifarat
Bill Gates: when you reach your first billion dollar, you are back to cheese
burger.
Point. He is just being what everyone else us are here. a normal human being.
------
csmuk
I love Reddit Secret Santa for the comedy value. So far I've seen this year
people have been given:
1\. A pig foetus preserved in alcohol.
2\. A selection of root vegetables, petroleum jelly and gloves.
------
vacri
Great story with a fun typo - "Exactly just what kind of charity is _Heifner_
International?"
------
kylelibra
How celebrities behave on reddit seems to be a good indication of how they
actually are in real life.
~~~
matthudson
How can you possibly know that without knowing one of the celebrities
personally, and then extend that as a general rule?
~~~
dsl
I know celebrities with have done AMAs, and I can say with the exception of
proxy PR people coaching (usually when they have a movie coming out soon or
something), you end up getting pretty honest and direct responses on reddit
from them.
~~~
vidarh
Of course you don't know how many of them have proxy PR people that are good
enough to not get caught out.
------
rschmitty
The thing I was most impressed with is Bills ability to write a cursive
capital G.
------
DanielBMarkham
After a gushing review of how great Bill was and what a wonderful experience.
_"...ps: Sorry for the apple ipad on my wishlist, that was really awkward..."_
This was a great article, and a reminder that the internet allows us to make a
difference in people's lives in ways we never could before.
------
joshaidan
Now, I wonder what Bill received. Bill should make a similar post about his
gift, would be cool.
------
Tossrock
reminds me of this...
[http://lesswrong.com/lw/6z/purchase_fuzzies_and_utilons_sepa...](http://lesswrong.com/lw/6z/purchase_fuzzies_and_utilons_separately/)
------
mburst
Reddit Secret Santa is definitely a very cool project. Kudos to Bill and all
the others for participating. Though as other people have mentioned Heifer
spends quite a bit of money on advertising, like most other charities I
suppose. My roommate donated $10 about a year or 2 ago for a contest and every
other week we receive letters, magazines, and photos asking for more money
(way more than $10 worth of material). It would be sweet to see a charity
spend their money on the actual cause rather than just promotional material.
------
gnator
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KN0K58EfJSg](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KN0K58EfJSg)
------
davidgerard
That's ridiculously heartwarming.
GEEKS! When you're rich and famous, REMEMBER TO STILL DO COOL STUFF!
------
Julianhearn
ggg
------
kimonos
Two thumbs up! A great inspiration for everyone!
------
mrmondo
Can anyone say... Publicity stunt?
~~~
smackfu
Publicity stunt for charity? How dare he.
------
talon88
I think this is really cool, though the cynical part of me thinks that so will
the social media strategists of quite a few celebrities out there, looking to
promote things around Christmas...
~~~
tnkd
If throughout the unwrapping of the gifts, there was a Microsoft Surface, then
I'd agree with you but for the most part I believe this reads as genuine.
~~~
goldenkey
Microsoft was a means to a beginning for Gates. Some CEOs die with their
product, not Gates.
------
monksy
Hes bill g, I call him money for short... he even does my tech support.
[Something something white and nerdy]
~~~
ByronT
Wrong song.
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpMvS1Q1sos](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpMvS1Q1sos)
~~~
elmodoll45fo
I was at ACE computer camp when this song came out.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
A Simple Stunt Reveals How Blogs Will Print Anything for Pageviews - larrys
http://betabeat.com/2013/07/exposing-the-racket-a-simple-stunt-reveals-how-blogs-will-print-anything-for-pageviews/
======
paxtonab
Very interesting read. Definitely paints an interesting story about
sensationalist "news" story like Toronto Mayor Rob Ford smoking crack.
Here's a good quote:
"Gen. Smedley Butler defined a racket as something that 'is not what it seems
to the majority of the people,' where only a small group of insiders know
what’s really going on and they operate for the benefit of a few and expense
of basically everyone else.
It’s become clear to me that this is the only definition of the online-driven
media system of today: a racket."
------
trebor
This is not limited to blogs. Most news outlets do the same.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The Silent Type: On Ulysses S. Grant - samclemens
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2018/05/24/ulysses-grant-silent-type/
======
rmason
I always felt that Grant's accomplishments had been given short shrift. Only
in America could a man with multiple failures in life rise to greatness.
But someone that I'd like to see reevaluated by historians is Grant's friend
William Sherman. Here's a reluctant warrior, running a Louisiana military
academy and accepting of slavery. But when asked to turn against his country
he resigned. He then met with President Lincoln and considered him hopelessly
naive about what was to come.
But when he did engage he excelled. Along the way he suffered a mental
breakdown only to come back to command. When his friend Grant tasked him with
conquering Atlanta and then marching North to attack Gen Lee's flank he became
a legend.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Tecumseh_Sherman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Tecumseh_Sherman)
~~~
benbreen
My favorite little factoid that I gleaned from reading Grant's memoirs last
summer was that his goal in young adulthood was to move to Northern California
and become a math professor. [1] It felt strangely anachronistic and also
completely changed my perception of his personality.
[1] Went ahead and dug up the quotes in his memoirs to fact check myself on
this. Here's one: "My idea then was to... obtain a permanent position as
professor in some respectable college; but circumstances always did shape my
course different from my plans." And then a bit later: "I left the Pacific
coast very much attached to it, and with the full expectation of making it my
future home."
------
randcraw
Now THAT is how to write a book report. I'm pretty sure I already own Grant's
memoirs, but this review makes me think I need to own the newly annotated one
as well. Outstanding.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Report shows $200k+ compensation packages for entry level engineers in SF - andrew_null
https://twitter.com/andrewchen/status/1077753861996195841
======
mattrowe
Pay attention to the author of this tweet, and note that one of the jobs of an
investor is to help with recruiting.
------
minimaxir
That report was flagged to death on HN because those numbers are not
trustworthy:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18736425](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18736425)
~~~
Zaheer
I'm one of the makers. You can view the full set of data points at
[https://www.comp.fyi](https://www.comp.fyi)
There is a caveat that this is Bay Area comp for the most part but if you ask
engineers that recently got offers at these companies, you'll find similar
numbers. I personally have friends that have even gotten these types of
offers.
------
lykr0n
Because $200k in SF is $100k or so in Austin, $150k or so in Seattle or NYC.
I don't get why companies do SF. To me, it looks like hiring in Austin or
Seattle, for entry level engineers, is a smarter financial move.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Why people irrationally reject cleaned sewer water, and how to change their mind - e1ven
http://www.wbur.org/npr/139642271/why-cleaned-wastewater-stays-dirty-in-our-minds
======
AretNCarlsen
"[I]f you have people imagine the water going into an underground aquifer, for
example, and then sitting there for 10 years, the water becomes much more
palatable to the public. It budges even those most unwilling to drink the
water. ... 'When you do introduce a river or even groundwater ... you run the
risk of deteriorating the water that's been treated. You can make the water
quality worse.'"
I am singularly amused at the possibility of contaminating treated post-sewage
water with river water, resulting in a medically less safe but socially more
acceptable water supply. The results of a public vote (as to whether to mix
river water with the treated water) would at least tell us who needs to be
mailed a printed copy of lesswrong.com.
~~~
pavel_lishin
> a printed copy of lesswrong.com.
Does such a critter exist? Not as an actual printed copy, but a way of diving
into it that's not quite so ... scary? The closest thing I see to a "table of
contents" is the list of Sequences.
~~~
mstevens
ciphergoth produced an ebook of Eliezer's posts recently which I'm finding
useful:
[http://lesswrong.com/r/discussion/lw/72m/an_epub_of_eliezers...](http://lesswrong.com/r/discussion/lw/72m/an_epub_of_eliezers_blog_posts/)
------
jonnathanson
Consider the sausage.
Many sausages are made with the intestinal linings and viscera of animals who
live in, root around in, and occasionally even eat their own feces. Shit
that's passed through shit that's passed through shit.
And yet, few people bat an eyelash at hot dogs, brats, or cocktail weenies. Of
course, there's that old chestnut about not wanting to know 'how the sausage
gets made.' But, by and large, people cognitively distance the making-of-the-
sausage from the sausage itself. Why? Because they've been trained to think of
"sausage" as a wholly separate class of item from "pig's colon." And because
they've first encountered -- and enjoyed -- sausage before anyone ever told
them about how it got there.
We need to use similar psychology to fight the psychology of contamination
thinking w/r/t treated wastewater. The message needs to be about how the input
is apples, and the output is oranges. But we have to _start_ with the oranges.
It's very tough to sell the story when the story begins with the making-of-
the-sausage and not the sausage itself.
~~~
reemrevnivek
Hot dogs, brats, and cocktail weenies are all types of Americanized sausage
which don't use intestinal linings anymore. You have to work pretty hard today
to find sausage in your supermarket that is made the old-fashioned way.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casing_(sausage)>
~~~
jonnathanson
Fair. But I suggest that we're picking at nits here. Most mass-market
sausages, even of the American variety, are made with mixed and mechanically
separated parts, drawn from all over the animal and highly likely to be
include portions of bone, head(!), feet, and visceral matter. And the animals
themselves live in horrid conditions that often includes standing knee-deep in
lakes of their own waste. I think my overall point still stands.
~~~
burgerbrain
My local standard (non-specialist) grocery store sells whole pigs heads,
chopped at the neck. Feet are even more popular. I think you might be
overestimating how squimish the general population is/would be of such things.
~~~
bricestacey
Where do you live? I actually go out of my way to find exotic things, but I
have never seen that. In fact, I'm one of this people that visit 3-4 grocery
stores on the weekend. For reference, I live in New England.
~~~
burgerbrain
Currently Philadelphia. I just checked the grocery store's website and
although they list feet/tails/jowls/skin/neck, they don't seem to be listing
head right now. I may be recalling seeing it in Reading Terminal Market^ which
certainly has that kind of stuff (one stall there has piles and piles of
chicken feet.. I have no idea what you'd even do with those. Stews perhaps.)
^
[https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Reading_Termi...](https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Reading_Terminal_Market)
------
ChuckMcM
I think if they bottled the water and called is 'Dasani' it would be
acceptable to the public :-)
As a resident of California, and an engineer, I to find this discussion
difficult to fathom. The notion of 'contagion thinking' was probably the best
thing in that article. By having the water 'touch' something good it can
become 'good.' NASA has a vested interest in such systems [1] for things like
the space station. No doubt a lunar colony would have a similar system.
[1] [http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=nasa-
all-...](http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=nasa-all-systems-
go-for-space-urine-2008-11-25)
~~~
justincormack
Oh no not Dasani, I remember the uk launch when they made tap water less safe
and withdrew it. [http://www.stevedenning.com/Storytelling-in-the-
News/95-coke...](http://www.stevedenning.com/Storytelling-in-the-News/95-coke-
dasani-launch.aspx)
~~~
xyzzyz
It's interesting how easily people mistake orders of magnitude when they are
using different units of measure simultanously -- in the article you linked,
first they say:
_give it a mark-up from 0.03p to 95p per half litre;_
and then:
_In other words, Dasani is less healthy than regular tap water, but at more
than thirty times the price._
It's not _thirty_ times the price -- it's _three thousand_.
It reminds me of a Verizon Math story[1].
[1] - <http://verizonmath.blogspot.com/>
------
gst
People often act irrationally...
Here in Vienna the tap water basically comes straight from mountain springs in
the Alps. Still, almost everyone here buys bottled water, instead of directly
drinking the tap water which has the same quality, if not even better.
~~~
binarymax
When I was in Vienna in 2007 I spoke to a random entrepreneur during lunch and
he noticed I was drinking bottled water.
It turned out he was in the business of bottling water and said the tap water
in Vienna was what he was trying to bottle, and the joke was on me that I was
drinking water bottled elsewhere when the free tap water was a much higher
quality.
~~~
viraptor
Why joke? I happily buy bottled water which tastes better than the local tap
one. It really depends on what you look for. I wouldn't mind if it's filtered
sewage, as long as it tastes good.
The "quality", which can be defined in many ways is hard to judge... Does it
matter that much though? At least we can judge the taste ourselves.
~~~
TeMPOraL
It matters because tap water doesn't generate plastic waste (created by
wasting oil).
------
peng
Simple solution: don't use the words 'sewer' or 'reused' anywhere near the
promotional materials for this product. Call it 'filtered water' or some other
safe euphemism.
~~~
rokhayakebe
And how long would it take before someone blogs about it.
~~~
jleader
I suspect the trick is to get people to think about it as "recycled water" (or
whatever name gets them to accept it) while also intellectually realizing that
it's treated wastewater, so when someone blogs about it, people just shrug and
say "Oh, yeah, doesn't everybody know that?" I'm not sure if that's possible,
but that's probably the only way it would work.
For example, the idea of passing it through an underground aquifer lets people
think "yeah, I know it came from a sewer treatment plant, but now it's
_different_ ". You're not trying to _hide_ anything, you're just trying to get
them to view it differently.
------
leeHS
I'm a scientist. I have no issues with the process of turning sewage water
into clean drinking water. Absolutely none. However, I do have an issue with
humans. Humans screw things up. Humans don't always implement the proper
quality assurance programs, and when they do, they might not follow them.
Every time I pour myself a glass of water from the tap, it's not the science
I'll doubt, I'll just be wondering if Timmy down at the local water treatment
plant did his job properly today, because if he didn't, I'm now drinking
someone's shit.
~~~
ahi
"Whoah Timmy, that stuff is expensive! The inspector doesn't take samples
until the end of the month so go easy on the disinfectant until then will ya?"
says Ned the beancounter. True story though my google fu is failing me.
The failure modes are not equal. Timmy cuts corners with river/aquifer water
and I get some very diluted nasty shit. Timmy cuts corners with waste water
and I get some very concentrated nasty shit.
~~~
mikeash
That might actually be an argument that fewer shortcuts would be taken since
the consequences would be so dire. Ned is willing to take shortcuts on river
water because it's likely that nothing will happen, but if he's smart, he
won't make that same statement with sewage.
(Not saying this is any sort of guarantee, just thought it was an interesting
thing to consider.)
------
kbutler
The problem isn't just contagion theory: it's percentages.
We know that the treatment process doesn't remove everything (witness the
taste of tap water in various cities).
Purification rates are generally stated as percentages, suggesting that the
dirtier the input, the dirtier the output (GIGO)
Searching for "waste water treatment effectiveness" yields interesting
articles about failures - for instance: [http://www.cabq.gov/progress/public-
infrastructure/dcc-18/in...](http://www.cabq.gov/progress/public-
infrastructure/dcc-18/indicator-18-2) which indicates that upstream failures
treating the waste water increase health risks and treatment costs of water
users downstream - why should it matter without the GIGO principle above?
How sure are you that the treatment systems remove 100% of the micro-
organisms? 100% of the chemical hazards? All the time?
There's definitely room for concern, even on the purely scientific/engineering
side, though advocates say that the treated waste water is the cleaner water
source.
~~~
jerf
"How sure are you that the treatment systems remove 100% of the micro-
organisms? 100% of the chemical hazards? All the time?"
I am 100% sure that they do not. It's impossible. No water in nature is that
clean, either, by any standard.
But also, you are not a wilting flower that can only survive on the purest
triple-distilled angel tears. There absolutely is a such thing as "good
enough" and any water that meets existing US standards is well in excess of
"good enough". It is certainly far, far, _far_ cleaner than anything your
ancestors ever had to drink!
This isn't about safety. All "room for concern" has been abundantly addressed;
US water standards are incredibly strict both in theory and in practice. It is
entirely about psychology.
~~~
delackner
The article, and all of the responses I've seen so far, all ignore the problem
that sewer water is overflowing with the prescription drugs that people have
consumed. Municipal water AND many bottled water suppliers don't even bother
testing for drug contamination.
[http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/10/there-are-
drugs-...](http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/10/there-are-drugs-in-
drinking-water-now-what/)
~~~
jerf
Broadly speaking, I would consider the burden of proof to be on those who say
that things in concentrations measured in small numbers of parts per billion
are really bad and worth panicking over. It may be, it can not be ruled out,
but the list of things that you routinely consume, that you can't _help_ but
consume, at similar concentrations would blow your mind.
Heck, a complete rundown of every microorganism you just ingested the last
time you took a breath would blow your mind. (Mine too. I'd love to see it.)
The world is a dirty, dirty place, and always has been. You aren't a wilting
flower, you are the product of billions of generations of organisms that
survived, all of which except maybe the last three generations lived in a
radically dirtier world than you do. I'm really not that worried about ppb
pharmaceuticals in my water; if I'm going to go that route I'm going to finger
my _food_ for things like hormones and antibiotics long before my _water_.
~~~
delackner
[http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-03-10-drugs-tap-
wat...](http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-03-10-drugs-tap-water_N.htm)
""" Troubled by drugs discovered in European waters, poisons expert and
biologist Francesco Pomati set up an experiment: He exposed developing human
kidney cells to a mixture of 13 drugs at levels mimicking those found in
Italian rivers.
There were drugs to fight high cholesterol and blood pressure, seizures and
depression, pain and infection, and cancer, all in tiny amounts.
The result: The pharmaceutical blend slowed cell growth by up to a third
suggesting that scant amounts may exert powerful effects, said Pomati, who
works at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. """
~~~
jerf
Unfortunately (and I mean that, I wish this style worked better than it does
because it is so easy compared to real experiments), that style of experiment
is well known for producing useless results.
Think about it; if the water was _that_ poisonous, such that 1/3 of our
celluar growth was being eliminated, we wouldn't be _speculating_ about
whether our water was killing us, we'd _know_ and long since have taken some
sort of action. The strength of the real signal is bounded by the fact that we
have millions upon millions upon millions of _real people_ consuming these
things every day. Reality always trumps both theory and experiment, and don't
ever listen to anybody who forgets that. An experiment that shows an enormous
signal, which we can observe in the real world can not possibly be occurring,
is far more likely to be a flawed-beyond-usefulness experiment than a real
reason for concern.
It is, however, a great way to get in the news.
You get the same problem when some people discover that X causes cancer,
except that if you take their results seriously you end up with
(metaphorically) 245% of the population dying of cancer X by the time they are
30. Except we don't. Hidden dangers can only be so dangerous.
------
rlpb
What about the fallibility of the system?
If there's a set of processes feeding into each other taking sewage and
producing clean drinking water, I feel that there's a much higher possibility
of a failure causing contamination to the drinking water. Engineers can be
complacent about fail-safes and politics may compromise good engineering.
If there's a river in the way, then although the water must be processed
again, this apparent wastefulness also has the effect of preventing engineers
(or their managers) from taking shortcuts.
~~~
abstractbill
Any system for producing drinking water is fallible - why is this one special?
Why should we be more suspicious of it than any other process?
Just for one example, I remember in 2004 when Dasani launched in the UK [1].
Aside from a bunch of other rather hilarious mistakes, their purification
process (applied to regular mains drinking water) introduced bromate - a
suspected carcinogen.
[1] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dasani#United_Kingdom>
------
anamax
Rejecting cleaned sewer water would seem to be a logical consequence of
accepting homeopathic theory.
~~~
fferen
But isn't the idea of homeopathy to consume miniscule amounts of things that
are toxic in large quantities, like arsenic? In that case, cleaned sewer water
should be good for you.
------
JoeAltmaier
Its not good water or bad water; its desecrated water or sanctified water. No
engineering principle is involved; only culture, belief and emotion guide the
issue. For better or worse, its people that have to be convinced, and people
are emotional creatures.
------
calloc
While in school I was taught and learned that all water went through a
filtration system including sewage and after cleaning it would go back into
the drinkable water lines running to our house.
I grew up in Europe :-)
~~~
tybris
I learned the same. I was quite disappointed later to find that, while all the
sewage here goes through treatment, it does not get directly pumped back into
the water pipes, but instead gets pumped back into the rivers. Although
pragmatically speaking that makes more sense, since surface water is surface
water, and completely separating these systems avoids any risk of
contamination.
------
Create
real sewage is not 'gone': remember all the drugs and pharmaceuticals that are
emptied on a daily basis.
~~~
scott_s
And remember that all water must be treated. So the real question is, why is
sewage different than all of the other contaminants that get in fresh water?
~~~
Create
Sewage is different, because it has a high concentration of WC water (urine),
which in turn contains high level of hormone supplements (contraception). Some
of the problem is, that these drugs can eventually find their way to fresh
water.
The standard scientific (chemical) process is the mechanical separation and
dilution mentioned, but there is no evidence that there is a safe level of
hormone that can be absorbed daily. Not unlike DDT: actually hormones were
cited as evidence during the fight for the ban. However, there is scientific
evidence of sexual mutation in creatures living in water (frogs, fish etc. --
though many other things could be blamed for this, but none rule out the
above)
------
schnaars
psychological contagion - why i don't want my mashed potatoes touching my
turkey, but I'm cool with my gravy being the mediator between the two.
------
pbreit
I'm not sure "irrational" is the best description. It's not obvious to most in
California that water is in that short of supply. It also seems reasonable
that treated water would be used for things like watering crops before things
like human drinking water. Finally, it's reasonable to be wary of something
newish that sounds obviously problematic.
------
monkeypizza
People alive today are descended from people who've been through a multi-
thousand year selection process, where the main factor that determined whether
you lived or not was how important you & your parents thought it was to drink
really clean water. It's no wonder people are pretty touchy about the water
issue.
------
Joakal
Interesting fact: Pure water tastes very bitter and can in fact be dangerous
to drink [0].
[0] [http://www.fastcompany.com/1750612/the-dangerously-clean-
wat...](http://www.fastcompany.com/1750612/the-dangerously-clean-water-used-
to-make-your-iphone)
~~~
gnosis
Not necessarily.[1]
[1] <http://www.finishing.com/156/65.shtml>
------
daimyoyo
I cannot understand why California has a water supply issue when they are
located right next to the largest body of water on Earth. I think the public
is much more accepting of desalinized ocean water than they are of reclaimed
municipal water.
~~~
wtracy
Let's see:
It takes 5kW/h to produce a cubic meter of fresh water from sea water via
reverse osmosis.[0] The population of just LA is a bit over 3 million.[1] The
average U.S. citizen consumes 2842 cubic meters of water per year.
5 kWh/m^3 * 8765 h/year * 3,000,000 people * 2842 m^3/person-year = 4863662 kW
= 4863 MW.
I will conservatively estimate that a nuclear power plant will produce 800
MW.[3] So:
4863 MW / 800 MW/plant = 6
That means we're talking about six full-size nuclear power plants running 24/7
with their entire energy output going toward desalinization to supply LA
alone.
Extrapolating further, I get that it would take twenty nuclear power plants
running full-time to meet just half of the demand for the entirety of southern
California.
Does that answer your question?
(I know my sources aren't all that authoritative--they are just what Google
pulled up. Feel free to redo the calculations with more accurate numbers, or
just to double-check my arithmetic.)
[0] [http://lightbucket.wordpress.com/2008/04/04/large-scale-
desa...](http://lightbucket.wordpress.com/2008/04/04/large-scale-desalination-
is-there-enough-energy-to-do-it/) [1]
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_California> [2]
<http://www.waterfootprint.org/> [3]
[http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_average_output_MW_of_a...](http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_average_output_MW_of_a_nuclear_power_plant)
~~~
BrandonM
You've got the _h_ on the wrong side of the fraction. A Watt is a rate of
energy usage: 1 J/s. It requires an amount of energy that could power 100
50-watt light bulbs for an hour to desalinate a cubic meter of water. That is,
the _8765 h/year_ in your calculation doesn't belong.
From
[http://www.nei.org/resourcesandstats/nuclear_statistics/usnu...](http://www.nei.org/resourcesandstats/nuclear_statistics/usnuclearpowerplants/),
a 90% capacity nuclear power plant can produce 7.9 billion KWh in a year.
Let's round that down to 6 billion. The math is:
5 kWh/m^3 * 3,000,000 people * 2842 m^3/(person _year) / 6,000,000,000
kWh/(power-plant_ year) = 7.1 power plants for LA.
It looks like something funny happened in your math/numbers, but your final
calculation and conclusion somehow ended up correct.
------
resdirector
Paul Bloom (Psychologist at Yale) did a fascinating talk on a whole lot of
different examples of psychological contagions:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWOfP-Lubuw>
------
Fateasy
Its already done in Singapore, called NEWater
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NEWater>
------
georgieporgie
On a related note, Portland recently blew $36,000 draining a reservoir after a
guy peed in it.
[http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2011...](http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2011/06/portland-
ore-drains-reservoir-after-man-pees-in-it/1)
The reservoir is completely open. Untold numbers of animals pee, poop, and die
in it every year.
~~~
prawn
Here in South Australia (Adelaide, a city of 1m or so people), we often face
water restrictions due to low water levels in our reservoirs and low rainfall
projections. These restrictions include only being able to water gardens on
certain days of the week, etc. It's quite remarkable to hear about a
city/council 'wasting' water and spending money to do so.
~~~
ScottBurson
It's quite remarkable to us in California as well, only a few hundred miles
south of Portland. If Oregon has that much water to spare, maybe we should get
them to let us build a pipeline.
~~~
softbuilder
We built a pipeline, it's called the Pacific Ocean. Enjoy.
------
gcb
call it "rain"
------
swah
Can you use it to make belgian beer?
------
fawek
Just have Barack drink it on TV.
------
dwc
Put it in bottles, charge a lot of money, and label it "Egawes"
------
bugsy
Words like "irrational" are propaganda and "how to change their mind" suggests
that people should be drinking cleaned sewer water provided by a municipality
whose equipment is run by drug addicts and losers, and equipment provided by
the lowest bidder.
------
stretchwithme
Its not irrational.
I know for a fact that the sun only evaporates the water and leaves the crap
behind. Its a process that has been happening for a very long time.
And we all know how perfect industrial processes are, especially when managed
by the government.
The sewer water isn't THAT MUCH cheaper than regular water. So I'd prefer that
the experiment be run on someone other than me.
If it is cheaper and a city wants cheaper water, let them enjoy it. We should
be charging market prices to all users. Then if this actually made economic
sense, it would be adopted.
~~~
InclinedPlane
And then that water in the clouds falls as snow and rain and then feeds into
rivers and reservoirs where fish, insects, deer, ducks, beavers, bears, bird,
etc. urinate, defecate, bleed, and die into it. That's why pure unfiltered
river water doesn't feed directly to a municipal water supply and is filtered
and treated first.
~~~
stretchwithme
Yes, that's true. I guess I don't trust the municipal water system to do the
job.
I also don't see how they can filter out all the drugs and salt that sewage
water currently contains and is being released into the environment. These
things are just going to accumulate. Or is there new invention I'm not aware
of?
Granted, that's not the argument I originally stated but its definitely a
question.
If you're aware familiar with the Colorado River, you may know that the water
gets saltier and saltier as it is taken out, run through the land and drains
back into it. Without any intervention, its pretty brackish by the time it
gets to Mexico.
Running the same water through humanity over and over again is bound to have a
similar problem.
~~~
InclinedPlane
The water of the Mississippi river gets filtered and processed and drunk by
the residents of Minneapolis, then their waste water gets dumped into the
river only to be taken up and processed by St. Louis who also dump their waste
water back into the river only to later run out of the taps of the residents
of New Orleans.
~~~
stretchwithme
Thats traveling with a whole lot of other water not the same water all of the
time. And that's only 3 recycles not an endless number of recycles.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Chinks in Leopard's Armor: A second look at the Mac OS X Leopard firewall - nickb
http://www.heise-security.co.uk/articles/98120
======
andrewfong
Not exactly a security person, but methinks there's some truth to the claim
that Windows machines are more secure than Macs if only because Microsoft has
to have a team of people thinking about security 24/7.
~~~
brl
It seems like such nonsense to talk about how one operating system is more
secure than some other operating system since every single operating system
ever written has had its ass handed to it over and over and over again by
security researchers and hackers.
Having only 10 security flaws is not really better in any meaningful sense
than having 20 security flaws. It's not as if you have 'more secure' and 'less
secure' when you add up the mistakes on both sides. What you're really
comparing is one insecure operating system to another insecure operating
system and there is no solid reason to believe that computer software can or
will _ever_ be secure (whatever being secure means).
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Upbound Cloud Community Preview - philips
https://blog.upbound.io/announcing-upbound-cloud-community-preview/
======
prasek
excited to see Crossplane being donated to the CNCF as well:
[https://blog.upbound.io/upbound-and-leaders-from-the-
cloud-n...](https://blog.upbound.io/upbound-and-leaders-from-the-cloud-native-
community-advance-a-new-approach-to-application-and-infrastructure-management-
with-crossplane/)
~~~
kollateral
Upbound seems to still steering the project for the coming years. In fact, I
can even say that it's not really open source so long its direction is set by
a commercial entity. It's just that the code is open.
I know that it's important that Upbound makes some money so that it can keep
maintaining Crossplane (see poor Docker) but it's just we should be careful
about what we call things so that the words don't get meaningless..
~~~
zapita
Crossplane is open-source. You're moving the goal posts on what is "real open-
source" in a way that is not reasonable.
Do you also consider Gitlab or Red Hat products to be "not real open-source"?
Because they are also controlled by a single commercial entity, yet nobody
seems to question their open-source credentials.
> _I know that it 's important that Upbound makes some money so that it can
> keep maintaining Crossplane (see poor Docker) but ..._
This is exactly why it's hard for companies like Docker to make money. Giving
away a free product is not enough. Open-sourcing all of it is not enough. No,
you have to create a bullshit "neutral" governance that ensures small
companies like Upbound and Docker are kept in check by Google, Microsoft, IBM,
and other giant corporations that can afford to pack committees, hire more
contributors, and spend more marketing dollars to associate themselves with
the brand.
Those foundations are not about making the projects more open at all. They
have become a form of "protection money". Give your project away to a big
foundation, indirectly controlled by large corporate sponsors who happen to be
your competitors - or see your project sabotaged by people like you calling it
"not really open", "evil" and "controlled by the VCs".
~~~
kollateral
What I'm saying here is that if one commercial entity controls a project, then
it can't ensure that others can trust that one day the feature their product
depends on will be gone or changed.
> Do you also consider Gitlab or Red Hat products to be "not real open-
> source"?
Would you trust Gitlab so much that you'd build your own business on top of
its open code and compete with Gitlab? I'd use Gitlab in my company but I
wouldn't build on top of its code and hope that the future releases won't
break my product.
> This is exactly why it's hard for companies like Docker to make money.
I agree with you on how hard it is for these companies to make money but then
don't make money this way, what can I say? I'm just saying that what we call
open-source needs to be neutral and that doesn't necessarily mean Google,
Microsoft etc. will crush the company. Not a single open source project is
crushed by those if they didn't allow it. It's all about competition and
they're making a choice. Some say if you can't compete then collaborate (hand
off some parts), some just keep working without them; maybe fail and no one
hears about them even if it was a great idea or it was too good for those
companies to be destroyed.
~~~
zapita
> _Would you trust Gitlab so much that you 'd build your own business on top
> of its open code and compete with Gitlab? I'd use Gitlab in my company but I
> wouldn't build on top of its code and hope that the future releases won't
> break my product._
That's a legitimate concern. But it has nothing to do with whether or not they
are "real" open-source.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
8chan owner says El Paso shooter didn't post manifesto - busymom0
https://www.cnet.com/news/8chan-owner-says-el-paso-shooter-didnt-post-manifesto/
======
Akinato
Does it really matter who uploaded it? The manifesto was posted and shared
there, and the discussion was encouraged. The issue is with the kind of
activity going on in 8chan, not who uploaded it first -- which is an absurd
activity of finger pointing.
------
Fjolsvith
8chan was shut down in an attempt to disrupt the QAnon movements'
communications.
------
elliekelly
He can deny it all he wants but that doesn't make it true. The Wayback Machine
pretty clearly shows it was posted on 8chan almost an hour before the shooter
opened fire.
~~~
busymom0
I don't think you read the article. He's saying that someone else uploaded it,
not the shooter.
~~~
elliekelly
I did read the article, thanks.[1] I'm saying he can say whatever he wants but
it's just a tired attempt to distract by pointing the finger at Instagram.
There is zero evidence it was uploaded to Instagram and _then_ 8chan and at
the end of the day it doesn't matter. The "manifesto" was on 8chan before the
crime took place. It was shared on 8chan. And discussion was encouraged on
8chan.
Did the shooter uploaded it to 8chan? I think it's more likely than not. But
the identity of the uploader at all absolve 8chan of responsibility for
creating an environment where such a document would be a welcome and
encouraged topic of discussion? Not at all.
[1] I don't think you've read the HN guidelines:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Tesla Shock Means Global Gasoline Demand Has All but Peaked - jseliger
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-11-22/the-tesla-shock-global-gasoline-consumption-has-all-but-peaked
======
oblio
They call it the "Tesla shock" and the article says that by 2040 there will be
150 million electric cars. Yet a few paragraphs later they admit that there
will be 2 billion cars in use in 2040 (ergo 90% internal combustion engines).
I'm not saying that the progress is not impressive, but 10% maximum market
share in 24 years doesn't feel like a shock.
Also, the polar ice caps are doomed :)
~~~
jseliger
I hear what you're saying, but I think the shift will happen faster than is
commonly anticipated. The simplest way to sense this is to just drive a Tesla.
Doing so is reminiscent of seeing early iPhones. There is a strong sense of,
"Ah, yes, this is obviously the future."
As soon as the initial cost of electrics becomes remotely competitive with
gas-powered cars, pretty much everyone is going to want one. Yes, there will
be the much-ballyhooed challenges of installing charging stations in parking
garages and so forth. All those commonly cited issues will remain issues, but
they'll be like AT&T's initial network congestion due to iPhones: short-term
problems that'll be overcome because the product is that good.
~~~
petra
Once you factor in the cost of the home charging station(and the required
charging infra) and the battery and other electric components ,electric cars
are(and will stay) more expensive ,meaningfully than ICE-cars. And ICE cars
are much more reliable , they don't need an expensive battery swap every 5
years.
And when fuel is priced low it isn't more expensive than electricity.
So yes, an EV might have some extra benefits and some western consumers might
be willing to pay more for that, others won't and especially not people at the
3rd world.
So only 10% global penetration rate unless there's some government incentive
by 2040 and maybe longer seems likely.
~~~
1053r
As an owner of a pure electric car (and a home renter) for more than 5 years,
I logged in specifically to respond to this.
In 5 years, our Leaf has needed new tires, brake fluid, and... windshield
wiper fluid and blades. We didn't need any new infrastructure. We plug it into
a normal outlet at night, and it's full every morning. We've been taking the
money we save on not doing transmission fluid and clutches and oil changes,
and all of that stuff and put it in a savings account. In another 3 years,
we'll need a new battery, but by then, it will probably be twice the capacity
of the old one. (Nissan has discontinued the 24Kwhr battery, so fingers
crossed, we'll get a 40KWhr battery when the time comes).
From a more global perspective, even here in Northern California, electricity
is very inexpensive at night, because of all the spare generator capacity.
Practically everyone can plug in their car at night, and with nothing more
sophisticated than a $10 outlet timer, fuel up the fleet no problem.
Will every car be electric in 2040? Probably not, because cars last a long
time. But I'll bet there will be very few gas cars sold by then. Battery
prices are falling over 7% a year, and that's the most expensive part of an
EV.
~~~
feadog
_Practically everyone can plug in their car at night, and with nothing more
sophisticated than a $10 outlet timer, fuel up the fleet no problem._
Even that expense should disappear. My Fiat 500e lets me set a timer to start
its charge.
~~~
ZeroGravitas
And then the next step is to talk to the grid in realtime and soak up any
excess wind energy when demand is otherwise low and pause charge if there's a
sudden spike in demand and get a discount from the utility company for helping
them out. This is already built into some chargers, but should be standard in
cars in future.
------
AJ007
Here are a few things to be considered, and have all be well discussed on hn.
Some things we know for sure such as:
\- Ride sharing means much fewer vehicles needed to do the same thing. Current
numbers would indicate by quite a lot, this was before pooled ride sharing was
widely used.
Other things we don't know, but we will learn in years ago:
\- How do overall global demographic shifts change the demand for vehicles?
\- Will employment trend changes reduce the amount of commuting time?
\- Will self-driving tech be coupled with all-electric cars?
\- Electric seems like it will be a commodity function, but will self driving?
Or will there be some other platform effect that makes the vehicle business
overall look and behave much more like software?
\- How quickly does improved safety from self-driving lead to much lighter
vehicles due to regulatory changes? (lower gasoline usage, with or without
electric)
\- Will regulators decide to impose outright bans on gasoline vehicles for
environmental reasons?
\- Will there be a carbon tax and if so will it be high enough to make
gasoline unfavorable to electric?
\- Will regulators decide to ban non-self driving vehicles for safety reasons?
Presumably, this would remove old cars from the road quickly.
\- Will continued improvements in electric vehicle manufacturing lead to
dramatically more favorable economics over gasoline vehicles? (This seems very
possible to me, given the simplification of electric motors.)
\- Will major ride sharing companies get exclusive transportation rights to
municipalities or even nation-states? Will those ride sharing companies be
manufacturing their own vehicles?
Whatever parts do or don't happen, it seems like a giant mistake to draw a
linear line and predict how things will look in 2044.
~~~
tropo
Ride sharing means fewer vehicles existing, but many more vehicles on the
road.
Today my car goes with me to work, and then it goes home with me. If I accept
ride sharing, then it has to also travel empty. Each time I use the car, the
car must first drive to where I am. This roughly doubles the number of cars on
the road.
With self-driving, it gets worse. I can send small children places alone. This
means they can visit friends whenever they like, and they can participate in
more activities.
~~~
Decade
Ride sharing could also mean fewer vehicles on the road and, crucially, taking
parking spaces.
Today, even if I had a car, I would not use it. Why? Because there is no place
to park.
The last couple times I tried driving a car at night, I spent _double_ the
travel time, just crawling around the streets near my house until I could find
an open parking spot. After the last time, I vowed: never again.
With self-driving, it gets better. When driving is a monetary transaction and
human-powered transportation is free, then I expect that people will feel less
impulsive about just taking a quick drive. With other necessary trends in
human-scale urbanism, I expect that means the small children will just have to
bike themselves to their friends’ places.
------
bkmrkr
People are missing one factor.
In going from an 8 cylinder to a Prius you are going to save more gas than in
going from a Prius to a Tesla, and even though we might not all be driving
Teslas anytime soon the majority of us will drive more efficient cars.
~~~
esotericsean
Sidenote: it's better for the environment to buy a used Ford pickup truck than
to buy a new Prius. The pickup will have been made in one factory while the
Prius is made from parts from all around the world. It's already done a
million miles by the time you buy it. Tesla not only has zero emissions, but
they're also vertically integrated. For me, it's not all about which is the
cheaper option to own. It's about what's going to help the environment the
most.
~~~
CydeWeys
Do you have a source on that? It doesn't seem right to me. Transportation is
not the largest energy expense that goes into a product like a car; the
largest energy expense is extracting and refining the raw materials into
processed materials that are ready to be used for final production.
There's no way that the equivalent of one million driving miles' worth of
pollution is emitted merely by moving around the pieces that then get turned
into a car. Bulk surface/marine transport is extremely efficient.
~~~
lightcatcher
> Transportation is not the largest energy expense that goes into a product
> like a car; the largest energy expense is extracting and refining the raw
> materials into processed materials that are ready to be used for final
> production.
Sure, maybe the GP's point is that (she thinks) (environmental impact of new
Prius construction + n years of Prius driving > impact of n years of driving
an existing pickup truck). I have no evidence for or against this, but I
wouldn't be surprised if it's true for n=5 years and typical mileage/day. As
you point out yourself, besides bringing the parts from all over the world,
you need to mine the resources, spend the energy to cast them, etc.
------
tehwebguy
Just a reminder that in California you can lease a Fiat 500e for $3500 down
(only $2500 if you have any other lease already) and $49 per month.
Plus CA will give you $2500 back if you make under like 200k.
The lease ends up being like $0.12 per mile with taxes and fees.
It's not a great car or anything but it's a ridiculous deal.
~~~
feadog
I beg to differ. It's a very fun to drive retro stylish car! (I'm an owner.)
~~~
tehwebguy
I stand corrected!
------
renesd
Tesla is quite good at PR, and adding Tesla in a headline gets clicks. The
article does say it's all the car companies, not just Tesla though.
Also Hydrogen vehicles are a thing now. Trains coming online in Germany, and
Toyota are selling hydrogen cars now in Japan/USA. There are shipping
container sized hydrogen production stations being produced in Germany that
run on solar.
Hydrogen powered cargo ships have already been made as well. However, I'm not
sure if hydrogen generation on board ships has been explored yet. Who knows...
it may be possible for ships to run without ever needing to refuel if
generation is done on board.
Now it's possible to use the extra power from renewables to make Hydrogen.
Often solar and wind are over provisioned so they can provide extra when the
sun or wind is low. However when wind or sun is high, the extra power is just
wasted. Many home solar systems for example work on charging three days worth
of power in case there are a couple of cloudy days. So even though conversion
is only currently around 35% efficiency, that power would have gone to waste
anyway.
The writing is on the wall for fossil fuels. I think this is the main reason
why so many big funds are divesting from fossil fuels.
~~~
feadog
_Hydrogen powered cargo ships have already been made as well. However, I 'm
not sure if hydrogen generation on board ships has been explored yet. Who
knows... it may be possible for ships to run without ever needing to refuel if
generation is done on board._
Sorry. Go back and study thermodynamics again. If you have the energy to
generate hydrogen, you might as well use that energy to move the ship. You're
always going to spend more energy generating the hydrogen than you will get
back burning it or combining it in a fuel cell. The one exception is if you
start from just the right feedstock to generate the hydrogen from, like some
hydrocarbon. The leading candidate now is natural gas. However, in that case,
the byproduct is CO2 -- so what's the point?
Or, maybe you were thinking of hydrogen as energy storage? Batteries are far
better than hydrogen as far as that goes.
~~~
vamur
Energy generation is not a problem, there is nuclear, sun, wind. Energy
storage is. Currently, hydrogen should be a better option for energy storage
as it is cheaper than the expensive and explosive lithium-ion batteries. Never
mind that lithium-ion loses its capacity on every cycle and requires rare
minerals.
------
chx
Self driving cars will mean the huge shift. As rehashed many times, most
people won't buy a car but rather use it on demand. Right now a car is driven
perhaps 15 000 miles a year which means probably two hours a day. This will
jump to 12, perhaps 18 hours a day. Maintenance costs and reliability will be
king and electric cars are huge leaders in that.
~~~
notahacker
Considering that use of cars is highly synchronised for commute times, and
people's pride in car ownership as a status symbol extends to spending a non-
trivial portion of their annual income on depreciation to ensure their car is
unsullied by previous owners, I'm not so sure...
~~~
laser
Very affordable ownership will be viable if you're willing to lend your car
into the share fleet when you're not using it. Might even be near break-even;
the natural benefit of fronting the capital for production.
------
Animats
We'll have to see how the Chevy Bolt does. That's the first mass-market
electric car.
Electric car tax credits in the US are halved after a manufacturer sells
200,000 electric cars. Chevy is likely to hit that in a year or so. So is
Tesla.
~~~
srb-
As a fan of all electric cars, I really hope the Bolt does well. However, my
understanding is that GM/LG only have enough battery manufacturing capacity
for 50,000 units a year. So that puts a major cap on how much success it can
have, at least initially.
This is why Tesla longs are so bullish on the stock... even if the other car
companies instantly switched all their models to electric, there wouldn't be
enough battery supply to meet that demand for years. Tesla, on the other hand,
should be sitting pretty with their Gigafactory 1.
~~~
Animats
Tesla's "Gigafactory" currently has just the assembly line for battery packs
that used to be in Fremont. LG's factory in Holland, MI is the largest battery
factory in the US and is set up for easy expansion.[1] The Chevrolet Division
of General Motors has a good track record at manufacturing large numbers of
cars. They can probably make as many as they can sell.
Tesla is still learning how to scale.
[1]
[http://www.autonews.com/article/20151214/OEM06/312149992/lg-...](http://www.autonews.com/article/20151214/OEM06/312149992/lg-
chem-quietly-surges-in-battery-race)
~~~
srb-
I'd be glad to be wrong! But according to [1] LG's factory might get to 3 GWh
output in a few years. At 60 KWh per Bolt that is 50,000 cars, in a few years.
Tesla is planning 150GWh eventually, but starting at least in the 10's of
GWh's to start. Lets say 30. At 30 GWh that is potentially 500,000 Model 3s.
Obviously, this is all speculative on both sides. Let me know if my
calculations are off or I missed something.
[1]
[http://www.autonews.com/article/20151214/OEM06/312149992/lg-...](http://www.autonews.com/article/20151214/OEM06/312149992/lg-
chem-quietly-surges-in-battery-race)
~~~
Animats
LG has other battery factories for EVs. One in Poland, one in China, some in
Korea... Also, since the Faraday Future project seems to be tanking, and LG
built up battery capacity for that, they probably have some extra capacity.
China is building about 100,000 electric buses a year. That's where the
batteries are going right now.
------
Daishiman
I have to say that it's insteresting how the IEA consistently, year over year,
underestimates the growth of renewables and overestimates the growth of fossil
fuels.
------
_pdp_
Oil will not be cheap forever. It is a scarce resource that will only become
even more scarce as we go hence the price inevitably will go up.
In terms of Tesla (and electric cars for that matter), I never had the need to
own a car because I happen to live in a cosmopolitan city that has a good
transportation network. However, since I am now moving into the suburbs I am
thinking to buy a car and I am pretty sure it will be a Tesla because electric
makes sense if you happen to care about the environment.
That being said, I am not convinced that electric powered vehicles are better
for the environment in this very moment because 8% to 15% of the electricity
is lost in transmission and electricity generation is not a zero sum game.
However, this can change very rapidly if we happen to build more localised
sources of energy such as local photo cells, etc. - and yes solar roofs is the
way to go.
~~~
Decade
Oil price may run into Jevons’s paradox, though. The prices are already
depressed because new production outpaced demand back in 2014.
I expect as oil production continues to outstrip demand, while all this
production machinery is still operational, then the price will continue to
plummet. Making it more attractive to use oil frivolously, like driving SUVs
into pedestrians.[0]
I’m not convinced that oil will become expensive quickly enough to avoid
catastrophic climate change. Not without a major carbon tax. For the price to
go up due to scarcity, we would need to extract the oil from our currently
available reserves, leaving only the more difficult resources. It’s better for
the climate if we leave the reserves where they are.[1]
[0][http://www.roadpeace.org/remembering/world_day_of_remembranc...](http://www.roadpeace.org/remembering/world_day_of_remembrance/)
[1][https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jan/07/much-
wor...](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jan/07/much-worlds-
fossil-fuel-reserve-must-stay-buried-prevent-climate-change-study-says)
------
kneel
More electric cars on the road means that oil will be cheaper for everyone
else. The fossil fuels industry has massive infrastructure that isn't going
away anytime soon, I'd guess their growth period is over though.
There is going to be a very long transition from combustion engines to
electric motors.
~~~
stale2002
Self driving cars changes the math of this immensely.
Your car sits idle 98 percent of the time.
Once self driving hits, you only need a 10th of the cars that you needed
before. And that 10 percent electric penetration rate becomes 100 percent.
~~~
antisthenes
Electric cars can't drive more than ~10 hrs a day without recharging.
And that's at the upper range (250mi+ range). All the lower range cars like
Leaf and Spark EV will run out of charge in 3 hours.
~~~
stale2002
And they will drive for those ten hours, recharge for 30 minutes and then
drive for another 10 hours that same day.
Automated recharging is especially a good idea.
------
brilliantcode
When Ferrari begins to make EV, we will know gasoline demand have been
decimated, but it's an existential question for exotic supercar manufacturer
with a long lineage & tradition that plays so much in to their brand.
Ferrari have stated that they will _never_ make a fully EV vehicle. I'm not
sure what Enzo Ferrari would think.
I would be very interested to know what an EV supercar will look like I expect
something like sub two second range with instant torque and lightweight
composite material.
I get giddy thinking about the torque to weight ratio of such vehicles.
~~~
blahi
Ferrari makes 10,000 per year. What do they have to do with gasoline demand?
~~~
brilliantcode
well they make roughly 62k from each margin. As soon as they begin to see the
ROI from EV R&D (assuming in the future they do) which increases that margin,
either by cutting costs associated with assembling a combustion engine and all
the relevant components like the transmission, gearing, etc OR producing an
engine that absolutely kills the biggest and baddest V12 engine. then it's not
far fetched to say Ferrari might begin to steer towards making EV "cool".
La Ferrari's use of electric motor on top of the V12 may just be the
beginning. It doesn't make sense for Ferrari to be "slow" which eventually
will be the case when EV's instant torque + new lightweight materials + less
traditional components adding weight.
It might be that the baseline EV model from Ferrari will be at the track spec
cars like the Scuderia, Speciale series but with all of the ameneties and
technological innovation that you find on a Tesla, which shows a whole
different demand for cars that excel on the technological front.
That might also win Ferrari more customers, people who thought Ferraris were
"uncomfortable" or "I just want from A to B while my car drives me home" etc.
All of this is pure speculation of course.
------
sandworm101
Clickbait.
Note the word "Gasoline" not fossil fuels burnt inside cars. The age of
electrics is not here, nor does this article predict it anytime soon. Gas
stations beside the road aren't going anywhere, at least not worldwide.
>> While the agency anticipates a gasoline peak, it still forecasts overall
oil demand growing for several decades because of higher consumption of
diesel, fuel oil and jet fuel by the shipping, trucking, aviation and
petrochemical industries.
------
laser
The IEA has an absolutely abysmal prediction record when it comes to trying to
account for technological disruption and innovation:
[http://www.vox.com/2015/10/12/9510879/iea-underestimate-
rene...](http://www.vox.com/2015/10/12/9510879/iea-underestimate-renewables)
------
stolsvik
One have to be blind and ignorant if you believe that the number of cars will
_double_ by 2040. I believe they will be halved, if not quartered or more.
Have they not seen any of the self-driving cars appearing, and getting here
much faster than most anticipated?!
~~~
kuschku
Self driving cars will just increase the amount of cars existing.
People won't suddenly shift their work schedule around, so they'll all need to
use cars at the same time, still.
But they'd also use the cars for additional courier services.
------
pimlottc
I re-read the entire article twice and I still don't know exactly what they
mean by "Tesla shock". Very sloppy headline.
~~~
skoocda
This was my thought, but due to "Global Gasoline Demand Has All but Peaked"
They mean "global gasoline demand has peaked". They have literally said the
opposite.
Is this the new way to write headlines?
It's like people saying "I could care less". The proper euphemism is "I
couldn't care less" because otherwise, you actually do care.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: How does one develop abstract thinking for math and computer science? - equilibrium
I'm working through introductory CS and Discrete Mathematics courses on my own and I've come to notice that I have difficulty thinking abstractly. Any words of advice on how to develop my abstract thinking abilities?
======
PetrG
As a profesional mathematician I can say the following: Always start thinking
from an example - first take the most simple one that you can come up with,
then gradually increase the complexity and include all the possible unusual,
weird, extreme, ... cases to really understand why the abstraction is
formulated the way it is.
No mathematician ever came up with an abstract theory from the top of their
head - they also started from examples and were gradually increasing
abstraction only when they understood the matter on a certain level and needed
to express this understanding in a simple abstract language in order to move
on to the next level of complexity...
It takes quite a lot of time to learn abstract mathematics this way, but it is
the only way when you really want to understand what is going on.. But it's
normal, mathematical texts are just extremely "dense" \- you are not supposed
to read them in the same way (and speed) as say history or biology books. So
take your time , read every sentence and every formula, read it multiple times
if needed, and always have one or more examples in your mind that on which you
visualize (in your mind or on a piece of paper) every single bit of the
abstract theory you read. It is slower than just reading, but with experience
you will be able to it faster and faster until it will turn into a process
that automatically runs in the background of your mind anytime you read a
mathematical text..
Good luck!
~~~
johnsonjo
This comment is mainly for the OP but I really enjoyed your reply. I’m
currently reading A Programmer’s Introduction to Mathematics by Jeremy Khun
which is absolutely phenomenal so far. But he gives the same advice as above.
He states that as soon as you see a theorem or problem in math you need to
instantly start writing down examples. Write down examples and then see that
they fit the rule.
I found when I took Discrete back in University that advice as very helpful (I
got the advice to split up large complex problems into their smallest and
simplest cases from a TA at the time.) in proving things you often work
yourself up from simple examples to more complex examples generally, but often
if you can prove by induction you need only the simplest case (base case) and
the abstract case (induction step from n to n+1). Sometimes these abstract
cases are hard to spot and they definitely take time, but as you learn more of
them over time you’ll find that you can do them a lot easier. My Discrete Math
teacher said to learn something in mathematics you have to basically already
know it. This was just to say with math there is no metaphorical “royal roads”
[1] (short cuts) in mathematics and that things come step by step. You’ll
eventually get enough tools in your tool belt to handle abstract thought
better and better.
[1]:
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Road](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Road)
------
brudgers
Practice. Hard subjects are hard. But there's no deadline. No test in six
weeks. You've got years and years to work on it. Good luck.
~~~
equilibrium
Thanks, yeah for sure no deadlines is a good thing. Maybe too much of a good
thing.
------
vonwoodson
Many very successful mathematicians “only had a few tricks up their sleeves”
when they developed their life’s work. They reused these “tricks” over and
over. Don’t feel like you have to know everything. I’ve never been more
satisfied (and validated) when I have achieve a great solution to a problem,
only to find out that I’ve re-discovered a theorem. You’d think this would be
a waste of time, but actually it leads to a sudden explosion of knowledge and
gives insight into the edge cases you wouldn’t have thought of without a
lifetime of effort.
------
nanonan
Research inductive reasoning. But beware, ideologies gained from abstraction
are seductive in their simplicity and can utterly fail to handle complexities
of real life. Super Thinking, by Gabriel Weinberg and Lauren McCann is a
fantastic read on using abstractions as mental models.
------
codeslave5
Look up:
The Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs
It’s a classic text on computer science that starts from basics and goes into
functional programming
~~~
equilibrium
I'm glad I got this response. This is precisely what the programming course I
am working through. CS61A offered by Berkeley. It's in Python though.
------
makstaks
I find drawing abstract ideas helps make them concrete. It's slow at first,
but with repetition it becomes easier.
------
neuroticfish
The only way to learn is to practice. Use practice problem sets in textbooks.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Glass Artwork - salmanyousaf
http://www.kitaro10.com/artwork/30-stunning-pics-of-glass-artwork/
======
bkudria
A lot of these pieces are by Dale Chihuly, who does gorgeous work:
<http://www.chihuly.com/> and <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chihuly>
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Fake news of a fatal car crash wiped out $4B in ethereum’s market value - smaili
https://qz.com/1014559/vitalik-buterin-dead-a-hoax-on-4chan-crashed-ethereums-price/
======
x775
The posts on 4chan surfaced several hours after the initial devaluation began
(which not only affected, and still affects, ethereum, but virtually every
other cryptocurrency too [0][1]) and was consequently not the root cause -
though the subsequent reports might have influenced some traders. It is
however easy to argue that ethereum, still very much in its infancy, rely
almost entirely on Vitalik's continued well-being and leadership.
[0]: [https://coinmarketcap.com/](https://coinmarketcap.com/) [1]:
[https://bitcoinwisdom.com/](https://bitcoinwisdom.com/)
------
cashmonkey85
Dam $4B loss. At least ethereums real value of 0 is still unchanged
------
trophycase
No it didn't. Crypto is down around the board, and as the last few dips in
Bitcoin have shown, alts rise faster than BTC, and fall faster than BTC. This
was no different.
------
letier
I'd argue that bitcoin is still kind of a gateway currency for crypto in many
countries. If you want to buy/sell crypto, you have to go through bitcoin.
With the crypto market being highly volatile and ethereum having seen such a
huge gain this year i don't see much unusual with it going down a "bit".
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
A Cold B2B Email Brought Us 750 Clients - DmitryCh
https://medium.com/hackernoon/https-hackernoon-com-how-a-cold-b2b-email-brought-us-750-clients-43bc0c6a3848
======
ToFab123
> The optimal email structure: \- Greeting \- Opening \- Main body \- Call to
> action
That is 100% opposite of "BLUF: A military standard to make writing more
powerful" that was featured on HN yesterday. BLUF is a military communications
acronym—it stands for “bottom line up front”—that’s designed to enforce speed
and clarity in reports and emails.
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20964907](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20964907)
~~~
DmitryCh
GOMC is good working in the first cold email. I agree with you that BLUF is
better, but if the recipient knows you.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ruby Doesn’t Scale - heshiebee
https://medium.com/swlh/ruby-doesnt-scale-978e3d24f194
======
Trasmatta
Pretty clickbait title
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Are we personalizing away diversity? – On echo chambers like Facebook & Google - Oestrogen
http://blogg.antrop.se/webbtips-och-spaningar/are-we-personalizing-away-diversity/
======
egiva
This link was really insightful - worth watching the movie.
I usually try to avoid strong opinions when it comes to this sort of thing
because my own service relies on Facebook. However, I agree 100% that Facebook
and increasingly other sites attached to Facebook via Connect act as filter
bubbles - deepening the divide among people with different points of view by
arbitrarily reinforcing content that you're already viewing. Example: if you
view something liberal, Facebook cuts out other types of content and feeds you
similar stuff. You view something conservative, and the same feedback loop
perpetuates itself in another direction. The same applies to just about
anything - have an uncanny fascination with cat videos? Facebook will
perpetuate that filter bubble too: [http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dramatic-
Cat-Video/41352344010...](http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dramatic-Cat-
Video/413523440105)
Another great insight: Facebook's frictionless sharing is killing taste - see
this insightful article on Slate: <http://www.slate.com/id/2304425/>
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Machine learning, AI – struggling learners - samblr
First time I tried learning machine learning was in Andrew Ng's mooc back in 2011. I gave up as I had other commitments at the time and since then following ML only in tech news. As many experts advise that Machine learning, Deep learning and AI is a necessary skill going ahead (5-10 years) for a programmer - I have tried to pick it up again.<p>But whilst understanding math concepts I feel lost at 2-3 levels down of any link/training/forum/paper. Then I spend time brushing concepts of the same. I feel my progress is in slow-mo.<p>Any advise from people who have jumped to ML-AI wagon feeling the way I do ? Any people in learning-struggling wagon and how are you coping ?
======
vaibkv
You need to pick up problems and do them. Pick up a problem and learn the math
for it, then code it, and then if you like, publish it or blog about it. You
only learn a subject by doing problems. So, you need to think about the list
of problems you're going to solve. Here's a starter list - make a
recommendation engine for books to read for a user, make a sentiment analysis
prediction algorithm for hospitals based on patient feedback (textual), make a
spam detection engine for sms'es you get on your phone, make a multi document
summarizer, make a prediction model for predicting whether a certain flight
would be on time or not, make a bot application for your phone such that for
everything you want to do on your phone you just go to that bot application
and type in and tell it what to do, advance your bot by taking voice
instructions, make a AI game to play tic-tac-toe - make your friends play with
it and let it learn / grow it's training data and then it should improve in
beating other people. If you only do these, it'll take you a few months. But
like they say - "when you want to learn something, assume you have all the
time in the world". Best of luck!
~~~
boniface316
I am going to follow this advice!
Here is a sample that I am following.
[http://minimaxir.com/portfolio/](http://minimaxir.com/portfolio/)
------
selectron
There is no way machine learning will be a necessary skill for software
engineering, if that is your motivation I would not spend time learning it.
However, if you still want to learn it you should first study statistics, for
instance [http://www-bcf.usc.edu/~gareth/ISL/](http://www-
bcf.usc.edu/~gareth/ISL/).
~~~
boniface316
I have started reading this book. So far so good.
------
boniface316
Hey man, I am in the same level as you. I am really pushing myself to learn ML
and AI. If you would like, you and I can motivate each other in achieving
this. I always love to meet people who wants to do great things in life. Let
me know if you are interested in connecting with me to move forward.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Real Time Personalization with Permutive (YC S14) - chendriksen
http://blog.permutive.com/live-chat-demo/
======
chendriksen
I wanted to share our product Permutive here, but thought instead of linking
straight to it, I'd share a demo of something we've built. I hope you find it
interesting.
~~~
brudgers
Some feedback:
\+ I read the article and watched the video and had no idea what Permutive
does.
\+ Two trips to the homepage and watching the video about how great it is for
breaking browser navigation with an email popup gave me a bit better
picture...grumble grumble.
\+ The pace of the videos was so high that I could not really follow what was
happening. The email video though was a little slower.
\+ It's not clear who the target audience for the videos might be. On the one
hand there are business people for whom the high level issues of shopping cart
abandonment are relevant. On the other, there's an orthogonal interest that
involves SDK's and Github.
The first group needs to be sold on the idea as a feature request with a high
priority.
The second group needs to be sold on the idea as a way to implement an
existing feature request.
Sometimes these groups are going to be the same people. But even then, they're
wearing different hats and looking at the problem differently.
My advice: segment the videos and other sales collatoral into: 1. A collateral
defining the business problem and suggesting a high level solution. The sales
pitch is backed by business metrics. 2. A tutorials and technical
documentation showing how to implement the solution using the product. The
sales pitch is backed by programmer happiness metrics.
If it meets the guidelines, it might good "Show HN".
Good luck.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Parasite living inside fish eyeball controls its behaviour - Dim25
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2129880-parasite-living-inside-fish-eyeball-controls-its-behaviour
======
Dim25
I'm pretty sure that human's body may be filled with bunch of similar
parasites too.
Another example: [http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/toxoplasma-
gondii-...](http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/toxoplasma-gondii-
parasite-that-breeds-in-cats-could-affect-human-behaviour-when-it-infects-
people-a6861221.html)
[https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/03/how-
you...](https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/03/how-your-cat-is-
making-you-crazy/308873/)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Data scientists, what does your workflow look like? - tixocloud
Hi HN-ers,<p>I'm doing some research on data scientists and learning more about:<p>- what company size should you start having a data scientist on board?
- as a data scientist, what does your workflow look like?
- do you have any side projects? if no, why not?
- how does your output look like for your data science work? (Excel, slides, API, database updates, etc.)
======
uptownfunk
One of the following:
RStudio > write.table(x, “clipboard”, ...) > paste to excel > email data to BA
who makes slide
Python/Anaconda + jupyterlab nbs + sklearn
Excel + Solver + PowerPoint
Obviously track everything on Git etc.
Many more things you can do here:
Use R notebooks, Jupyter notebooks, even have a build server and make each one
of your projects an R package
~~~
tixocloud
Interesting. Do you code in both Python and R? What would be your rational for
picking one over the other?
Also, would you have a need for a build server?
~~~
uptownfunk
Yes code in both. Depends on who I am working with really, prefer R but python
much easier to integrate in a production environment.
I don’t have a need personally but some companies that are doing industrial
scale modeling (on the order of building and maintaining thousands of models)
do use a build server to Basically check that code is formatted properly and
can have a model run in a somewhat automated fashion.
~~~
tixocloud
What makes productionizing R difficult?
I'm curious about whether the rise of Python in data science is really just
because of the lack of flexibility to integrate with other systems. I've read
that R seems to do better in data science/analytics work but when it comes to
integration, it's more challenging.
And any insights on which companies are already doing industrial scale
modeling?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: How do you help loved ones with tech issues? - PodCurator
======
exolymph
Patience and time.
------
airbreather
Reluctantly
~~~
PodCurator
Have you ever looked into anything to outsource the tech support?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
How to make breaking changes and not break all the things - streblo
http://matthew.mceachen.us/blog/how-to-make-breaking-changes-and-not-break-all-the-things-1315.html
======
greenyoda
Previous discussion:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7936056](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7936056)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Reactive Manifesto - satyampujari
http://www.reactivemanifesto.org/
======
forgottenpass
I've been reading to learn about tech for over a decade. It used to be the
case that anything that didn't make sense was a sign that I'm a dumb baby and
need to learn more. As I progressed and started exploring beyond dense
technical tomes for knowledge, I've learned the hard way that other people's
standards for what they would publish online in a professional capacity are
lower than I assumed. They could actually just be talking out of their asses.
That if a webpage is full of buzzwords written loftily, the purpose is to dupe
me, regardless of whatever the distilled 1-paragraph version of that would
say.
------
sramsay
There's nothing like the fiery, strident rhetoric of a _manifesto_ to get
one's heart pounding.
"Application requirements have changed dramatically in recent years."
I mean, if _that_ doesn't make you want to lose your chains, I don't know what
will.
------
jblow
I like the broad idea (applications should be very responsive). Yes, this is
very important, but I can't shake the feeling that the author of the manifesto
has very little experience with responsive software (or even with software
generally).
For example, the manifesto confuses ends with means. It states a desired end,
but then claims that certain means are required to get there (for example,
"event-driven"). Maybe event-drivenness can come into play in a given system,
maybe it shouldn't; across a broad set of domains this is orthogonal to the
concept of responsiveness.
In video games, for example, we do things that are extremely responsive
compared to web stuff (last week I worked on something that had to run at 200
frames per second in order to meet requirements). Interactive 3D rendering
systems are most certainly _not_ event-driven; they derive their
responsiveness from cranking through everything as quickly as possible all the
time.
There are lots of different domains of software out there and they all have
found different local attractors with regard to what techniques work and
produce the best result. Web software is just one of these domains, and
frankly, it isn't doing so well in terms of quality compared to some of the
other ones. So I think if one wants to write a manifesto like this, step one
should be to get out of the Web bubble for a while and work hard in some other
domains in order to get some breadth and find some real solutions to return
with.
------
z0r
I made a new diagram they can add to this "manifesto" if they like -
[http://i.imgur.com/ll51WJ3.png](http://i.imgur.com/ll51WJ3.png)
~~~
blatherard
Reference for those that don't get it (I had to look it up):
[http://www.timecube.com/](http://www.timecube.com/) Original image appears
about 1/3 of the way down.
~~~
ChikkaChiChi
I think...well, I know...I just...
What?
------
btilly
My first reaction to reading this? If you follow this design in the way that
they say, you're going to wind up with a confusing mess with no visibility
into why your buzzword compliant application is dog slow.
Very carefully thought out and pervasive monitoring is an under-acknowledged
but utterly essential part of Google's recipe for success.
~~~
the_af
First reactions can be misleading. I'm currently taking the Reactive
Programming course by Martin Odersky and Erik Meijer, over at Coursera, and
one of their stated goals is to _reduce_ complexity, specifically the
complexity of what they call "callback hell".
Not sure if Reactive Programming achieves this lofty goal, and buzzwords are
always annoying, but I'd be wary of dismissing RP out of hand.
(I'm still undecided on its merits, by the way)
~~~
btilly
Yes, they aim to reduce the complexity of the code.
The issue is what tools you have to dig in when you're asked, "Why is this
page taking 5 seconds to load?" With a traditional single threaded application
there is the inherent simplicity that you can profile it, look at timings, and
see where the performance went. With an asynchronous distributed application,
you have to do a lot more work to start digging in.
The reason why this matters is that there are always some boneheaded
performance mistakes. They would be trivial to fix if you only knew what to
change. Without visibility, you won't be able to find where they are - you're
just stuck suffering the consequences.
I'm definitely not saying that this is impossible. Far from that - Google
succeeds brilliantly. But the kind of behind the scenes pervasive visibility
that you need is an essential component, and it is not something that happens
by accident or is trivially retrofitted on.
~~~
Shamanmuni
They don't just talk the talk, they walk the walk. Typesafe (the company
founded by Martin Odersky) offers Typesafe Console as a part of their Reactive
Platform.
There you can see lots of data related to an application using Akka, including
its performance and possible bottlenecks.
You can use it easily from the web browser, the only downside is the large
amount of RAM used.
------
al2o3cr
"It works best if the compartments are structured in a hierarchical fashion,
much like a large corporation where a problem is escalated upwards until a
level is reached which has the power to deal with it."
Because when I think "effective, responsive, and scalable decision-making", I
_definitely_ think "big ol' ORG CHART", amirite? /snark
------
saryant
This talk by Jonas Bonér (one of the Akka devs) covers the motivations behind
this well:
[http://parleys.com/play/51c0c876e4b0d38b54f461f6/chapter0/ab...](http://parleys.com/play/51c0c876e4b0d38b54f461f6/chapter0/about)
------
davidw
So basically... Tcl. Which got all of that years and years ago. Except of
course 'scaling', which doesn't make a lot of sense for the desktop
environment it was created in. Actually, come to think of it though, it did
get that too, via AOLServer.
~~~
girvo
I'm really curious about this, do you mind expanding on it?
~~~
zenojevski
I've always been fascinated by TCL, so I second girvo's request. I'd like to
know more, with possibly some links to in depth resources, or some insight (as
TCL is not that "in" nowadays).
~~~
davidw
Well, it was a pretty vague "manifesto", but Tcl (not TCL) did the event
driven thing before it was cool, back in the 90ies. That made it quite
responsive for Tk GUI's.
Erlang does a lot of the stuff in their manifesto too.
~~~
memracom
Uhhh... were you aware that basically all the GUI OSes were event driven such
as Windows 1.0 and MacOS and AmigaOS etc? Writing desktop applications for any
of those OSes involved writing lots of event handlers. And even before that,
in the 80s when Lotus 123 reigned in the PC world, that was also built around
an event loop. Same with Microsoft's Word 1.0 for MSDOS.
TCL did not have anything to do with event loops. Its claim to fame was that
it was a simple language with a small footprint that was easy to integrate in
any kind of application. Tk was a GUI like all the others, but you were able
to write your event handlers in TCL. That doesn't make TCL into an event
driven system. It just shows that when you have an event driven system you can
factor it into two parts, the event driven core, and the event handlers. Then
the event handlers can easily be written in a higher level language to reduce
the lines of code and improve productivity.
~~~
davidw
I didn't say that Tcl was unique in this approach, just that it did it before
it was 'cool'.
Tcl is very much an event driven system if you want it to be - they're fairly
deeply ingrained into how it works.
------
w_t_payne
Horses for courses. Async. architectures are great for distributed back-end
systems (God I love making streaming data-science applications) ... but not so
great for on-the-metal embedded devices; where static & limited computational
capacity & whole-system predictability requirements drive you in the opposite
direction. I do a lot of machine vision stuff for embedded systems, and having
everything driven by the drum-beat of a frame interval really does simplify
things a lot; particularly when it comes to finding the absolute cheapest
hardware that will be able to perform a given function.
~~~
tlarkworthy
I read this awesome book and multi threading embedded systems. "Practical UML
Statecharts in C/C++: Event-Driven Programming for Embedded Systems"
The author has an amazing stack for psuedo real time scheduling on _seriously_
limited hardware, [http://www.state-machine.com/](http://www.state-
machine.com/) . QP-nano brings async real time to PIC processors! So there
really is little overhead for async architectures. I think async squeezes more
out of limited hardware by avoiding busy loops waiting for IO or other
synchronizations to align.
I agree its more difficult to develop with async, but I strongly disagree
going non-async saves you money on hardware
~~~
w_t_payne
It's not really about the overhead. The intrinsic overhead of async. is
trivial, anyway. It is more about predictability & how the system is
understood. Async architectures let you have simple, easy-to-understand
components, but the expense of a more complex macro-control-flow. Hardware and
embedded guys spend a lot of time looking at storage 'scopes, and like things
to be nice and periodic... it just fits in with the world-view a bit better.
It is not so much that one is objectively better than the other, it is just
about how different people's mentality works.
------
bowlofpetunias
Apparently written for the sole purpose of feeling superior to the 95% of all
developers who's applications in no way, economical, practical or otherwise,
justify such architecture astronautics.
Yes, there are applications that needs this, and I love to read about them,
and learn from them. From real world solutions for real world problems that
is. Not via some arrogant abstract this-is-the-one-true-path manifesto.
------
joostdevries
I found out that a build I was doing was utilising
[http://imgur.com/U70Rcrz](http://imgur.com/U70Rcrz). I don't see that very
often. Personally I find that kind of parallel processing CS magic impressive.
Similarly I like the possibility of processing data as it arrives in a non
blocking fashion in pipes-and-filters chains of computation. Another thing I
like are having arbitrary numbers of stateless possibly short lived servers.
Like you see at PaaS's like Heroku. Easy load balancing, easy recovery. These
are all things that become possible by employing other programming paradigms
than the classical thread based, blocking, stateful ones.
And it's not confined to one tech stack either; .net, javascript, java, scala,
...
To me it's just good computer science for when you want to be near real time,
scale horizontally and utilise your hardware resources and be able to handle
failure.
------
mmcnickle
The people behind the reactive manifesto are typesafe.com
Unsurprisingly, they have products to sell that are manifesto-compliant.
------
platz
Some thoughts about manifestos in general:
"A manifesto is about moral authoritarianism: an absolutist statement of
eternal values from which follows (typically) an absolutist ideal of the good
life. If there is one thing that most defines a manifesto, it is what it
lacks: a central place for uncertainty."
"The problems Haque identifies cannot be solved with manifestos because they
are problems, not karmic punishments for espousing false values that will go
away through the embrace of the “right” values."
[http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2013/11/13/the-gooseberry-
fallacy/](http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2013/11/13/the-gooseberry-fallacy/)
------
dschiptsov
Nice moment for the pioneers, such as Joe Armstrong. Seems like they finally
got understood. There would be no Scala without Erlang and no such paradigm
without Martin Odersky. I am happy and grateful that I could read their books
and use products of their efforts.
~~~
pessimizer
[http://www.reactivemanifestomanifesto.org/](http://www.reactivemanifestomanifesto.org/)
~~~
smandou
Hm, the reactive manifesto doesn't say that it's new. It tries to convert
people from bloated ol' Java/CSharp to better practices that fits new common
needs. Of course Reactive is not new... Nor realtime... But an ecommerce
website for instance never had to wonder about this kind of things before: new
needs.
~~~
dschiptsov
It is not just about Java bloatware, it is already obvious that it is crap and
several "fixes", notably Scala and Clojure, are already matured. It is mostly
about understanding and avoiding other broken by design things, such as
thread-mutex based "concurrency", mutable, non-parallel collections, and
imperative programming (all these Java loops which do mutations) in general.
It is about ideas summarized by Joe Armstrong in his thesis, that the world is
parallel and that actor model and share nothing architecture together with
fault tolerance and message passing via unreliable channels as the only way of
communication coul is a more appropriate paradigm than current imperative-
pthread-mutex mess.
------
ChikkaChiChi
'Show your support with a ribbon' that breaks when the site goes responsive.
------
bachback
here is my manifesto: react to everything and you're slave. create reactions
and you're ruler. balance action and reaction and you're a master.
------
golergka
Whoever created this page obviously never tried to resize the viewport to
something like 320 by 240.
~~~
zenojevski
Yes, please! [http://i.imgur.com/yMzh9jQ.png](http://i.imgur.com/yMzh9jQ.png)
EDIT: It's nothing more of a joke... What if we had Deluxe Browse II?
But more seriously, who browses in 320x200? Does anybody follow 256-color web-
safe palettes anymore?
~~~
JetSpiegel
The Reactive Manifesto page can't react to resizes. Oh the irony.
~~~
iamwarry
It does, it's fully responsive. I believe the complaint is because the header
sticks on the top so when you have a tiny screen then you can't read much.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: How did you find your co-founder? - fourstar
Currently trying to find a co-founder for a product that I’ve built and brought traffic to.<p>Struggling to find a co-founder especially considering all the work and money I’ve invested in it already. Aka: I’d have a hard time giving up half equity to.
======
tlb
Some advice about splitting equity when one person has already put time and
money into it: [https://blog.ycombinator.com/splitting-equity-among-
founders...](https://blog.ycombinator.com/splitting-equity-among-founders/)
------
mooreds
Angelist was how my co-founder found me. It came via an email. No idea if it
cost money. She'd been looking for a few months for a technical co-founder to
take the idea from PowerPoint/manual prototype to MVP.
There was a vetting process (on both sides, it's like getting married!)
including a technical interview.
Equity was a difficult conversation, but better to set it out at the
beginning. Lots of calculators out there via Google that can help provide
perspective. Make sure you vest over years. (We did a 6 month/6 month/every
month for 36 months schedule.)
Also, why do you need a cofounder? What are they going to bring to the table?
------
muzani
I bought a business ebook from a guy. He added me on Facebook. He was really
smart. He brought in a lot of trading experience. I had startup experience
which he was interested in. We clicked well.
I still did a lot of the hard work and money, gave him only a minority share.
He was okay with that. Later on, I added a much larger share when he proved he
could commit.
We made good, ambitious progress. I'm surprised he stuck with me through it
all, especially since I didn't really know him that well. There were times he
canceled his health insurance and slept on the office floor to keep things
going.
Personally, I think partners who are strangers work better than good friends
but YMMV.
------
thiago_fm
I have no problem getting <40% if you have traction and a great idea. I bring
a loooooot of experience and great things. I also believe there is a bunch of
people here that wouldn't mind and think the same way.
Is it a problem really with 50% equity, or your idea/product?
You can as well be meeting the wrong people.
------
dmarlow
Who said you had to give half?
~~~
fourstar
No one, but I’d anticipate most would request close to that.
~~~
mooreds
Have you actually proven this hypothesis. I know of at least two instances
where a co-founder got less than half when joining at a very early stage.
~~~
fourstar
What do you recommend? I’ve built the site from scratch and spent almost 20k
on content creation.
~~~
mooreds
I think you have to find a couple of possible co-founders, evaluate who you
want and who wants to join, and have a frank discussion with them about an
equity split.
It's really hard to recommend in the general because you might find a co-
founder who brings so much to the table (money, skills, relationships,
experience) that they deserve 50% or more) and you might find one that only
brings technical skills in which case the amount might be much much less
(15-35%).
It's really all a negotiation, but you can't figure it out until you know who
is interested in joining. Maybe no one will be and all this discussion will be
for naught.
~~~
fourstar
Thanks for the insight! Reached out to an old friend and I’m now shilling him.
Wish me luck ;)
------
p1esk
What are you offering exactly?
~~~
fourstar
I mean I built the entire product, paid for content creation and continue to
do so, and continue to add features. But I’d like to have a co-founder as
someone to bounce ideas off of and generally be around to help grow the
business.
~~~
p1esk
Well, if you expect them to work for free, on your idea, then I personally
would not agree to anything less than 50%. Almost all startups fail, so I'd be
buying a (very expensive) lottery ticket. Keep in mind that I could be working
on my own idea instead if I could afford it. Very few ideas are attractive
enough to persuade me to join.
But if you're ready to offer some salary (even if just 50% of the market
rate), then of course 50% equity would be too generous.
------
softwarefounder
Why do you need a co-founder?
~~~
fourstar
To kick ideas off of, mainly.
~~~
mooreds
Pay a coach. That'll be much cheaper.
~~~
muzani
I've had both. Coaches are great - the main reason we hit PMF within 2 weeks.
But sometimes you need someone emotionally invested in it. Cofounders are much
better. They don't necessarily have to have 50% share. I'd be happy to take on
someone whose sole purpose is to be the customer surrogate and give them a 20%
share.
My cofounder helped to keep a leash on me doing really dumb things. All good
entrepreneurs are relentless, and a cofounder helps to keep it in perspective.
Also a cofounder adds their network, and my minority share co-founder landed
the acquisition.
~~~
mooreds
Totally get that co-founders and coaches provide different levels of
perspective. But if, as the parent of my comment said, all you are looking for
is "[t]o kick ideas off of" someone, just get a coach or a mentor. Co-founders
should help with everything, including execution.
~~~
fourstar
Guess I need a few co-founders. A designer/product person and perhaps another
engineer so I can focus more on operations.
------
segmondy
Join YC startup school
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Evidence That Online Dating Is Changing Society - dtawfik1
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/609091/first-evidence-that-online-dating-is-changing-the-nature-of-society/
======
ScottBurson
My wife and I met online in 1992. Not on a dating site; we were both posting
to a Usenet group, alt.psychology.personality. She had posted that she was
trying to figure out whether she was a Five or a Six in the Enneagram system
of personality analysis. My first words to her, in a private email, were
"Well, do you have a bigger problem with depression or paranoia?" Ha! How's
_that_ for a smooth come-on line?? :-)
~~~
hi5eyes
any site with a text field is a dating site
~~~
zaat
> site
the year is 1992, the couple are posting to Usenet. What is this site thing
you mentioned?
Get off my lawn
~~~
stevekemp
The year is 1984, the couple are exchanging messages via a public CeeFax
channel..
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceefax](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceefax)
Get off my dad's lawn ;)
~~~
rjsw
Ceefax was read only.
~~~
stevekemp
You could phone up and get your message(s) included in local pages.
Also there were personals which involved writing your advert, and the ceefax
service working as a PO box to route letters.
------
drcross
This ignores the far bigger reaching impact of online dating, that which
includes some uncomfortable gender dynamics for hetrosexuals; The top
percentage of men get the lions share of the dating options and presumably
more frequent sex with no reason to commit to the ladies in question while
lower tier men suffer disillusionment from their lack of options. The OK Cupid
blog page is a filled with these sorts of nuggets, such as women rate 80% of
guys as worse-looking than the medium: [https://theblog.okcupid.com/your-
looks-and-your-inbox-8715c0...](https://theblog.okcupid.com/your-looks-and-
your-inbox-8715c0f1561e)
~~~
ohyes
>The top percentage of men get the lions share of the dating options and
presumably more frequent sex with no reason to commit to the ladies in
question while lower tier men suffer disillusionment from their lack of
options.
This tacitly implies that women are sex objects and that men only seek them
out as such. I find that offensive, but more so than that, sad.
You'd also have to prove that online dating has 'caused' this effect, and what
you've posted is a complete lack of evidence, at best.
It could simply be that many women have better career options and don't have
to settle for early marriage to whichever man in a bid for financial security
and social acceptance, or changing attitudes towards more casual sexual
encounters, or a number of other things.
~~~
merpnderp
As somewhat more intelligent primates you can rest assured that sex is a
primary male driver in seeking the attention of women, if not the only reason.
Let’s not ignore a million years of biological inperative and assume a few
hundred years of civilization has changed us.
~~~
amluto
Are you suggesting that men have no reason whatsoever to seek the attention of
men and that sex is the only reason for men to seek the attention of women? If
so, I'm reasonably confident I can find plenty of counterexamples.
~~~
xor1
The majority of modern men who use (resort to?) dating apps are seeking
companionship first and foremost, and being left wanting.
Which is fine and completely fair, of course. Not everyone deserves
companionship. Not everyone deserves happiness, or even a base level of
satisfaction.
~~~
blowski
> Not everyone deserves happiness, or even a base level of satisfaction.
Can you expand on that. It’s unclear what you mean by “deserves”.
~~~
xor1
No one should expect to be happy. Happiness is not guaranteed.
~~~
blowski
I agree that happiness is not guaranteed, but also think everyone deserves it,
even if they don’t get it. Small distinction, but to imply that someone
perhaps suffering from depression or stuck in really terrible circumstances
doesn’t even deserve happiness sounds very harsh.
~~~
ikeyany
Why does everyone deserve happiness? That's nonsense. There are some really
horrible people out there who refuse to change.
~~~
ameister14
'God Almighty himself is under the necessity of being happy; and the more any
thinking being is under that necessity, the nearer it comes to infinite
perfection and happiness.'
------
harshaw
I am 42 and got married (for the second time) a couple of months ago. After
getting a divorce I worked my butt off on okCupid to meet my wife. I made it a
full time gig and I am happy with the results.
Besides finding a great life parter, one of the most surprising results is
what is hinted at but not really discussed in the article. She brought a
completely new social circle into my life. Although we are the same age
(Roughly) and have lived in Boston for the last 20 years, the Venn diagram of
our circle of friends didn't overlap.
My perception is that my social life is much more interesting at this point
because of this, rather than my College friends, many of whom married their
college parters.
------
abalone
It's still just a correlation, and there's a problem with the article:
_Of course, there are other factors that could contribute to the increase in
interracial marriage.... [But] “The change in the population composition in
the U.S. cannot explain the huge increase in intermarriage that we observe,”
say Ortega and Hergovich._
_That leaves online dating as the main driver of this change._
Except there are more than two possible explanations for this correlation. For
example, attitudes towards interracial marriage may have changed in the past
couple decades. Therefore this is faulty logic (on the part of the author who
wrote this summary, who is different from the researchers).
The study makes a good case for online dating playing a role, but it falls
short of establishing it as "the main driver."
~~~
0xcde4c3db
> attitudes towards interracial marriage may have changed in the past couple
> decades
That's an understatement. According to Gallup polls, Americans approving of
interracial marriage were a _minority_ until the mid '90s, and the last poll
in 2013 showed 87% approval [1].
[1] [http://news.gallup.com/poll/163697/approve-marriage-
blacks-w...](http://news.gallup.com/poll/163697/approve-marriage-blacks-
whites.aspx)
~~~
ntsplnkv2
polls like this really make you wonder though.
I know a lot of people that are "okay" with interracial marriage, but also
hope their kids do not marry someone of another race.
------
Mz
I think they are missing an important detail.
Online dating doesn't simply connect you to "new" people. It connects you to
them _privately_. It is a setting in which you and you alone need to judge
this person and how suitable they are as a partner for you.
I grew up in the Deep South. * I attended public school. I had non-white
classmates. I knew guys who were Black or Hispanic who were interested in me.
But, I had no path forward.
In a racist environment, just talking to someone of color in a flirty way will
get significant social push back. You have to be willing and able to stand
your ground in order to pursue the relationship at all. People don't want to
deal with something like that at the curiosity stage. Its very existence helps
kill relationships before they can begin. It is just too much drama and makes
it too hard to navigate the relationship.
Online dating lets you talk to people without all that. It lets you say "Hi!"
and flirt without deciding five minutes after you met them that standing down
the entire world is a thing you are up for.
No one in their right mind is up for that just to have coffee. You commit to
that at the marriage stage, not at the making eyes at each other stage. If you
have to make that decision before you can even chat them up, 99 percent of the
time the decision will be to not chat them up to begin with.
Edit: I will add that the privacy angle is likely a large factor in why online
dating has been so popular for starting homosexual relationships.
* A long time ago. Hopefully, it's better now.
~~~
ams6110
> just talking to someone of color in a flirty way will get significant social
> push back.
This will be true in almost any public school anywhere.
~~~
Kluny
Another Canadian here. Can confirm, white people dating people of other colors
does not inspire any particular comment, in school or elsewhere.
~~~
ycombinete
It will be true anywhere where a difference in color can be expected to
correspond with a large cultural difference in partners.
------
Overtonwindow
Online dating has diluted the decision making requirements of dating. Rather
than getting to know someone, over time, dating websites allow us to flip
through massive numbers of people. With this impression that there are massive
numbers of people to choose from, it tricks us into believing we can be more
selective, and dismissive of attributes. These websites, IMO, have the
negative affect of giving us "too much" choice, and so people never settle or
make choices, or take chances.
~~~
gozur88
They don't give us too much choice. They give us the illusion of more choice.
If everybody has more people to choose from, it increases the probability the
people you find interesting won't be interested in you.
~~~
csomar
I disagree. Online dating empowers those at the top tier. By a _lot_.
------
ransom1538
A fun math question (interview?): let's say you want to meet someone and you
are in a bar in SF. What are the odds?
1) The population of sf 800,000.
2) Ok, but 1/2 the population isn't into you. (male vs female). 400,000
3) Ok, but people under 20 and people over 30 you aren't interested in. A 10
(ten) year span of average age of 70. But hey we are friends here so lets do
1/5\. We are down to 80,000.
4) Ok, but how many people in that time frame are _not_ in a relationship. %10
(pulled from my facebook). Ok, that is down now to 8,000.
5) Ok, but you are into people that are physically fit. That removes %50. You
are down to 4,000.
6) Crap. You like college educated people that have a job. Now you are at
another %50 loss. 2,000.
7) Ok, but you are in a bar. What percent do not go into bars? %50 loss.
1,000.
8) But you are in a bar @ saturday at 8pm. People go out let's average 1 time
a week (thur,fri,sat). That is another %66 loss. Down to 330.
9) You are in a particular bar. There are ~600 bars in sf., with only 330
people in SF that meet your criteria. They will not be wearing a sign.
10) So, there you are, buying $8 beer #4, standing in a bar hoping to meet
someone - that statistically isn't there.
=> Online wins.
~~~
opportune
You're being overzealous narrowing the search space because you're assuming
independence between these traits. In particular, you first assume we are only
considering those between the ages of 20 and 30 in sf. But among young people
this age in sf, I assume >%50 are physically fit (if by that you mean not
fat/"normal"), >50% are college educated and have a job; also, in my
experience, the percentage of people in a relationship varies hugely between
the ages of 20 and 30 (from <20% to >75%). And of course, since SF is the
center of an urban area, many people commute into SF to both work and have fun
/ go to bars.
And here's a quick sanity check: spend a day walking around a large tech
company like FB or Google. You'll easily see over 330 people at each company
that meet all your criteria (except perhaps living in SF proper).
~~~
peter303
Correct. Ignoring dependence caused the 2008 financial meltdown. Mortgage
securities were created assuming mortgage failures were independent, when in a
financal meltdown failures are highly correlated. In math terms this is
difference of a product of numbers less than one or the minimum of numbers
less the one. The latter can be substantially higher than the former.
------
jstewartmobile
This is an interesting train that was derailed into the boring track of race.
I'd be more interested in what the long-term genetic effects of matching up
fairly similar people across larger and larger divides (distance, social
circles, habits, professions, etc.) might be.
~~~
neolefty
Is there evidence that we're gravitating towards "fairly similar people"? The
article points to evidence that online dating is increasing the diversity of
couples.
~~~
jstewartmobile
I'm speaking more in terms of traits, and working off of the assumption that
like attracts like. Skin color is just a drop in the sea of traits.
------
nunez
Online dating is a godsend.
It eliminates so much of the bullshit you deal with by meeting a stranger
through "common ties" (as the authors of this article put it) or in a social
environment like a bar or outing. You can literally find someone that you'll
highly likely be compatible with by answering a ton of questions and searching
for exactly what you want.
My fiancee and I met on OkCupid, and we are proud to tell people that we met
on there and how. I've been dating online for many years before I met her, and
I can tell that the stigma associated with it has gone down _a lot_ since
then.
I wouldn't say that online dating completely eliminates the race problem,
however. While it definitely makes it easier for people of different races to
come together by dint of not having to rely on social circles to make
connections, there are plenty of people that have their racial preferences set
in stone. I've come across plenty of women whose profiles said that they were
only interested in _x_ (where _x_ was usually someone white). I suppose that
it's really hard for someone who's grown up in a homogeneous environment to
try something else all of a sudden.
This became a lot clearer for me after we moved down to a Dallas suburb from
NYC, where damn nearly _everyone_ is white and the racial divide is really,
really clear. I'm almost always the only person of color in the events I
participate in with my fiancee (she is white) and I'm one of very, very few in
our church (she picked it out). This doesn't bother me very much, and no-one
has given me shit for looking different (except one dude who thought I was
Mexican for some reason), but I do wonder how someone in an environment like
this would go about getting romantically involved with someone non-white.
------
wallace_f
The article concludes that online dating is good for society because it
increases the rate of interracial marriage.
Isn't online dating changing more than just the rate of interracial marriage?
I suppose complex subjects can be easily simplified by looking at only one of
the effects, but it doesn't help us to understand whether it is good or bad,
it only gives an indication.
Dynamite, heroin, chemical weapons, fossil fuels, and refrigeration have all
been argued to be good for society due to some single inherent positive
effect. They all have negative effects that were unforeseen.
If we want to know what the effect would be, we would need to conduct
scientific experiments and see the results.
------
xupybd
Hmm... this article points to a lot of good outcomes but I don't see any data
to back up the claims. They also say the marriages are stronger, but don't
indicate the metrics they're using? I hope their conclusions are correct but
doubt the methods used to come to those conclusions.
------
King-Aaron
I don't think any woman I've met so far in life has damaged my self-esteem
quite to the extent that services like Tinder have.
~~~
xor1
Count yourself lucky for not having run into someone with a Cluster-B
personality disorder yet.
------
ak_yo
The figure in this article* is taken (without citation) from a 2012 article by
sociologists Michael Rosenfeld and Reuben Thomas.
(open-access preprint:
[https://web.stanford.edu/~mrosenfe/Rosenfeld_How_Couples_Mee...](https://web.stanford.edu/~mrosenfe/Rosenfeld_How_Couples_Meet_Working_Paper.pdf))
* Edit: The paper on ArXiv cites R&T properly, it's the MIT Tech Review piece that doesn't.
------
heyheyhey
Hardest reality with online dating is realizing the competition (at least for
a 30 year old like myself).
When I was in high school, I'm only competing with like 2 or 3 guys for 1
girl. In college, that increases to probably like 5-10. With online dating?
Feels like 50-100.
~~~
blacksmith_tb
That could be true in absolute terms, but my impression is that most of your
competition can't manage much more than "hey, you're cute" come-ons or worse,
so to stand out you just need not be a shallow jerk (apologies to people who
are looking for shallow jerks, I'm sure they need love too). I met my last
three partners online, over a spread over more than a decade, and that general
pattern hasn't changed, talking to them about the people they rejected.
~~~
actuallyalys
To add another anecdote to yours, as a woman dating online, the vast majority
of the messages I've received from men are "hey you're cute" or worse. The
messages I've received from women are much more likely to be better, but there
are much fewer of them.
~~~
hiram112
I don't doubt you get a lot awful messages from men. Dates have showed me
their Tinder / OKCupid apps, and not only was I surprised to see just how many
messages women actually do receive, but also how bad they were - generic or
rude or outright creepy.
But having briefly used Bumble, where the women must message the guy first, I
__never __received a message better than 'hey, hows it going?'.
Now honestly, I don't believe that's because these women couldn't figure out a
better opener. I just don't think they needed to because most men receive far
fewer messages and will reply to any match.
~~~
alikoneko
> But having briefly used Bumble, where the women must message the guy first,
> I never received a message better than 'hey, hows it going?'.
To be fair, Bumble doesn't include a lot of space for you to talk about your
interests. If I can't get an idea for who you are based on a picture (yes,
most guys only have one), what more can I say other than introduce myself? My
go-to icebreaker is "Hi! I'm Ali. I'm bad at this."
Edit: I should also note that Bumble isn't a great dating app if you also
interested in same-sex relationships. Not relevant to the parent comment, but
relevant to me.
~~~
rarec
That's rather the same issue you have on online dating sites.
Can't tell you how many girls love adventures and netflix; what exactly are
you supposed to work with here?
~~~
hiram112
Don't forget travel and trying new restaurants!
------
online-ignorer
Online dating is all about looks first and nothing else! You better look
halfway decent or your going to hate Tinder and etc. If your a minority I bet
it’s not a lot of fun either!
~~~
listic
Online dating is not just Tinder, but also questionary-heavy sites like
OkCupid. "Substance, not just selfies" is their current slogan.
~~~
jstewartmobile
The questions are just lagniappe.
Try OkCupid with the "nice boy" pic for a while, then switch to one with
visible abs, then let us know if you still believe their slogan.
edit: p.s. if you're online dating and don't have abs, get some.
~~~
megy
Yes, you end up attracting different sorts of people. What does that prove?
~~~
jstewartmobile
I look at it more as bait in a numbers game. Whether they admit it or not, sex
sells for _everyone_. More dates means more opportunities to find someone you
jive with.
I think my assumption that people are people is just as good as your
assumption that abs bring a different clientele.
------
epx
I found my wife in an online chat about 10 years ago. We would never ever meet
if the technology wasn't there. And it was quite easy to stand out - according
to her, I was the only guy that didn't say something in the line "nice shoes,
wanna fuck?".
And yes, I was looking for low-level contact with the opposite sex; but also
open to a higher-level relationship if it worked out.
------
astura
>“Our model also predicts that marriages created in a society with online
dating tend to be stronger,” they say.
From everything I understand the data says just the opposite, that couples who
met online are more likely to break up.
[https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/01/online-dating-
marr...](https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/01/online-dating-
marriages_n_5909212.html)
~~~
lloyd-christmas
The article you link addresses 'couples'. This post addresses the specific
subset of 'marriage'.
~~~
astura
No, it addresses married couples too.
>8 percent of [married] online couples were separated or divorced over the
course of the survey, compared to 2 percent of the couples who met offline.
It's interesting because the paper says people who meet on-line are less
likely to get married in the first place, so it really paints a picture of how
volatile these relationships actually are.
------
modzu
ugh:
"To continue reading this article, please exit incognito mode or log in...
Visitors are allowed 3 free articles per month (without a subscription), and
private browsing prevents us from counting how many stories you've read. We
hope you understand, and consider subscribing for unlimited online access."
So like, I can just clear my browser cache to reset the counter, but you're
going to nag me about closing my browser to read this one? Come on MIT
------
StillBored
Hmmmm. The graphs are interesting, particularly the bar/restaurant line which
seems to have been fairly flat until the online line flattened out, and then
it had a big rise.
I wonder if that is because more people are actually meeting in bars, or
because people are using social media of some sort and "meeting" in a
bar/restaurant for the first time and putting that in the survey instead of
"online".
------
gumby
Surprised the article referred to the value of weak ties without explicitly
mentioning Granovetter‘s seminal paper, The Strength of Weak Ties (which
applies to much more than dating):
[http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/225469](http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/225469)
------
Dowwie
TechnologyReview is reporting plausible but non-peer reviewed research because
being first to report is more important than reporting truth. Their "Emerging
Technology from the Arxiv" needs a lightbox disclaimer warning that the
contents are unverified. A lot of people here are taking the time to read,
reflect, and comment on this material as if it were true.
------
known
Do not marry unless he/she clears fMRI
[http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/01/150127212158.ht...](http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/01/150127212158.htm)
------
Abishek_Muthian
When we launched FindDate ([https://finddate.co](https://finddate.co)) - a
chat app network dating platform, I chose to keep it interracial by default;
even though geo fencing is just a click away. Some felt it might not work.
I firmly believe that,
We cannot address racism, by hiding races. We need to give a chance to the
people to mingle with people of different races to show that they are equal.
We cannot address body shaming, by hiding people of different body sizes.
This was our base principle in FindDate and from the feedback we're receiving;
it looks like people are loving it.
~~~
slackingoff2017
Devil's advocate here, but how are skin color and body size any different from
eye color or height preference?
The only way to do it truly fairly is to disallow any physical
characteristics. By only blocking some you just change the criteria/groups who
are discriminated against. But who would use a dating site where you have no
idea what the other person looks like?
Better to use statistics to level the playing field by, for example, showing
people with less % likes more often. This is pretty much how affirmative
action works. Give people biased against by other humans more opportunity to
make up for it. Lot easier than trying to fix the bias in the humans.
If you think you can make humans ignore their sexual preferences by hiding
certain identifiers you're a lot more optimistic about humanity than I am. I
expect the most popular openers on the site to be "r u fat?" for men and "r u
at least 5' 10"?" for women. Isn't it just better if those people never talk
to each other in the first place at that point?
~~~
Abishek_Muthian
Good question. Scientifically speaking, yes the same melanin pigment which
causes skin coloration does cause the skin colouration in eye; but my context
is more on social aspect of it.
People with particular eye colour aren't oppressed as much as people of
particular skin color. By grouping users by location often denies them a
chance to see and mingle with people of other races and that's what we would
like to avoid with FindDate.
~~~
slackingoff2017
Different racial and cultural groups live in different places because people
self-select for it. If you're going to build something that breaks down racial
barriers you'll need to actively counter against existing bias IMO.
Less politically charged example with food.... If your service simply shows
all the different kinds of food available, users will generally stick with
whats familiar. If the algorithm is designed to show them mostly food they've
never tried before you can counter that bias and increase the likelihood the
user will try new foods.
~~~
Abishek_Muthian
With the context of your example,
In our case we show all kinds of food by default. The user has the choice of
choosing familiar food types. If it's available it will be shown first, if not
it again goes back to default mode. User preference still get's priority, but
given a chance to try something new; we don't see much hesitation.
------
peter303
Correction: online dating srted in the 1980s with usenet and dialup bboards.
~~~
nunez
That was more a byproduct of Usenet than an actual goal of it. It didn't
_really_ start until Yahoo! Personals in the mid-1990s.
------
gumby
The funny thing about social circles: I met my gf online a few years ago;
after we connected I realized that I knew her PhD advisor (she studied outside
California) and that a fellow student of _my_ advisor whom I knew (I also
studied outside California but in a different city from her) lived next door
to her and knew her well. And we have both lived and worked in Palo Alto for
the last 15+ years.
Yet despite those pretty tight connections our social circles are essentially
completely disjoint.
------
pjdemers
It's going to change everything about the future, because it's going to change
everyone who lives in the future. In a few generations, everyone will have
ancestors who met through online dating, and therefore would not exist without
it.
------
gerbilly
I don't get online dating.
Just meet people in real life and leave it up to chance, you know like it has
always been since the dawn of our species...
Can you imagine a shakespeare play 500 years from now where one of the major
characters is an algorithm? Geez.
------
justonepost
I am really curious about that bump in the 80's.
~~~
jamiethompson
Have you seen Halt & Catch Fire?
------
baristaGeek
According to the article Tinder has 50 million users. Is 50 a million a
significant sample considering that the world has 6 billion people?
~~~
k_sh
A sizable chunk of that 6B are people that don't live in a society that is
structured for online dating (undeveloped region, arranged marriages, etc)
------
geoffreyhale
“Our model also predicts that marriages created in a society with online
dating tend to be stronger,”
------
Danihan
So... am I missing something, or is the only evidence they cite a thin
correlation between increased online dating and increasing rates of
interracial marriage?
~~~
chubot
Yeah I was baffled by this article. It feels like it was more a simulation
than science (observation, measurement, etc.)?
_But if the researchers add random links between people from different ethnic
groups, the level of interracial marriage changes dramatically. “Our model
predicts nearly complete racial integration upon the emergence of online
dating, even if the number of partners that individuals meet from newly formed
ties is small,” say Ortega and Hergovich._
The original paper is probably better, but this explains almost nothing to me.
~~~
jiggunjer
This is why I read the comments first. _skips article_
~~~
in_cahoots
I found this article to be a good way to hone my bullshit detector. It’s a
reputable source, I’m sure many people would read it and pass the conclusions
on to friends without thinking too deeply. Part of the appeal of HN to me is
that I can read something, form an opinion, and get immediate feedback as to
what others think. I would miss that if I read the comments first.
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Tesla Quality Falls Short in J.D. Power Car Survey - xoxoy
https://www.wsj.com/articles/tesla-quality-falls-short-in-j-d-power-car-survey-11593014428
======
xkjkls
This has been common across all the markets that Tesla is a part of. Norway,
which used to be Tesla's second largest market, has had Tesla's brand
perception fall precipitously.
[https://thenextweb.com/cars/2020/01/14/norwegians-tesla-
sati...](https://thenextweb.com/cars/2020/01/14/norwegians-tesla-satisfaction-
model-3-consumer-ratings/)
| {
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Introducing LastPass 4.0 - mvdwoord
https://blog.lastpass.com/en/2016/01/introducing-lastpass-4-0.html/
======
mvdwoord
Ever since the company was bought by LogMeIn I have been looking around for
alternatives. I think this update will speed up that process a bit.
| {
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Cash-Burn Threatens Blue Apron 3.5 Months After IPO - Cbasedlifeform
https://wolfstreet.com/2017/10/18/cash-burn-threatens-blue-apron-3-5-months-after-ipo/
======
emodendroket
I just don't know where all this demand is for single-serving meals you cook
yourself but that are priced like restaurant meals.
~~~
ben174
"Teach a man to fish." I've learned a lot of good recipes from services like
Blue Apron. Having the ingredients prepped the first time you embark on a new
recipe makes it way more approachable.
~~~
sbov
I kinda do the reverse. When I'm at the store, I buy a couple random things.
Then I go online to find a recipe.
If I can't find something, at the end of the day, pretty much any piece of
food seasoned and grilled will taste good.
~~~
mercer
For some reason I never thought of doing this. Although I suppose you don't
buy _entirely_ random things, right? Any advice for someone like me who
doesn't cook much?
~~~
notyourday
Build a small pantry ( pasta - multiple shapes, canned beans - multiple kinds,
dried mushrooms, rice, couscous, grains that you like )
Get spices ( garlic powder, coriander - whole, paprika, cumin, turmeric, chili
powder, ginger powder - the rest is up to you)
Buy a container of chicken or vegetable stock - after you open it and whatever
you do not use freeze the rest. Next time just thaw it and use it again.
Soy sauce, vinegar (balsamic and rice ), sriracha, any-other-stuff-that you
happen to have, olive oil.
When you have this on your way from work go to a store on a way:
Give yourself a strict ten minutes to get stuff. Decide what protein you want.
Get it. Go to vegetables. Pick one thing that is familiar and one thing that
is not that familiar. Get them. Get a single bunch of herbs. Herbs make
everything better. If you do not have an onion, a tomato, a head of garlic,
get it.
Ten minute limit would force you just to "grab stuff" rather than fixate on
all kinds of blockers.
Go home, google "Fast and easy <protein> with <vegetable> skillet". Follow
directions like a guideline for your CRUD application.
------
razvanh
My problem with blue apron is with all the waste/trash generated by their
packaging. I tried their services and the recipes were ok — although for
someone that likes to cook or is a more experienced cook, their service is not
worth it.
~~~
empath75
It seems pretty crazy that a grocery store chain hasn’t implemented a service
like that where you can pick it up on the way home for less money and with
less waste.
~~~
ballenf
I would guess that grocery stores have been hesitant to implement any new
model which allows customers to avoid the high margin checkout item goods and
high margin prepared foods. The web order / quick pickup model shows they are
slowly coming around in some ways, however.
For the model you describe to work, they'd have to charge quite a bit more for
the ingredients that one would pay simply buying them yourself (or, again,
totally forgo the prepared food high margins). Premium prices for "ingredients
+ recipe card" would trigger price inflation complaints from mainstream
shoppers who aren't comparing the option to blue apron but taking an extra 15
minutes to get the items themselves.
What's that term for the profits an established player has to sacrifice to
compete in a new market?
~~~
ceejayoz
These _are_ high-margin prepared foods.
Wegmans, for example, sells pre-chopped, single-portion portions of steaks,
vegetables, grains, etc. (even pasta - pre-boiled angel hair at $9.99/lb that
you could get for $0.79 in a box!) as well as ready-to-cook meals that you
just throw into the oven/pan and follow a few simple directions.
They also offer "personal shopping" services, where they'll pick out groceries
and you just pull your car up... and they're testing out an Instacart
partnership at the moment for home delivery.
Grocery stores are _on it_.
------
kenoyer130
My wife's comment was "I can get all these ingredients at the local super
market and there is a lot of prep work". If Blue apron or a like service had
all the food ready to go into the oven/microwave we would of stuck with it.
Since she still had to do all the chopping and prepping, it was a waste of
time.
~~~
Klathmon
That's like saying "if puzzles came already put together people would buy
more".
They are marketing their product at people that want to do the prep, the
cooking, the whole deal, but don't know where to begin. I loved my few Blue
Apron boxes that I got. It was exactly what I expected and wanted.
There is a market for what you describe, but it's not what they are trying to
solve.
~~~
gehwartzen
The thing is that model can be solved with a simple rescipe app that tells you
what to buy and how to make it. A lot of grocery stores even have pickup.
~~~
Klathmon
I'm not saying it's impossible to do any other way, but for me it was perfect.
I could download some recipes online, then go buy the stuff. But then I end up
with a whole jar of hoisin sauce that I'll never use again because I didn't
really like it, or 2x the ground chicken that I don't know what to do with
now.
With the "recipe in a box" style things, they give you what you need, AND how
to make it. I used it like a trial. Of the food I got over the like 6 total
times I got it, I liked about 10 of the recipes (they give you 3 meals with
each box), and we continue to make about 4 of them on a regular basis.
The "regular" ones we now go to the grocery store for, because now we know how
much to get, what we can use it for, how long it will store, and where to get
it.
I'm sad it sounds like this might not be a sustainable business model, as it
was a really nice thing for us, and we do want to do it again at some point.
I guess the closest "traditional" thing to it would be like going to a cooking
class. But this was cheaper, at home, and had much more variety.
------
ben174
I found this case study video to be a good summary of what went wrong with
Blue Apron:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpQkAEei08w](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpQkAEei08w)
~~~
jobu
Great analysis!
Why the hell did Blue Apron buy a ranch?
[https://youtu.be/UpQkAEei08w?t=10m59s](https://youtu.be/UpQkAEei08w?t=10m59s)
~~~
jrs235
Someone thought going vertical was a good idea. Which might be after you're
mature and profitable and going vertical can be shown to reduce costs. Someone
got ahead of themselves though. Now they are beholdened to the cost of the
ranch raised meat. What if it's more than other suppliers?!
~~~
toomuchtodo
Spin the ranch off as an upscale brand.
"Blue Apron Reserve", "Blue Apron Farm To Table", etc.
~~~
jrs235
Which makes sense, once you've nailed down what you need to be good at and
profitable. It's sounds like a good idea and differentiator, but it seems like
a premature pivot too.
------
rootedbox
Blue Apron has multiple problems. 1. Once they teach you cooking isn't hard
you will do it on your own. 2. Most grocery stores of all levels have meal
kits now. 3. If you buy a mandolin(knife skills are for tv shows and culinary
school) and safety glove you can go from raw not chopped ingredients to plated
hot meal in under 20 minutes..
~~~
djrogers
> If you buy a mandolin(knife skills are for tv shows and culinary school)
I’m happy that a mandolin is working for you, but there is a lot more to knife
skills than slicing - there are a lot of foods and cuts that a mandolin can’t
do, and they aren’t difficult or unsafe. As long as you don’t feel a need to
be as fast as a line chef, you can do pretty much any cut with about 5 minutes
of practice.
------
jimmywanger
I forgot where I read this, but Blue Apron spends a _ton_ on customer
acquisition, though non-traditional media channels.
I listen to several podcasts (Bill Burr and Joe Rogan represent) and every
single episode they got an ad plugging Blue Apron - except they recently
yanked their spots on Burr's podcast because he joked around too much.
They're probably banking on LTV of their customers, but it just doesn't make
sense when a lot of your customers cancel after 6 months and it costs 400
dollars in marketing expenses to acquire each one.
I just don't see a sustainable business model. The food industry is remarkably
cutthroat, and the margins are already razor thin, even for a restaurant.
~~~
tdeck
Blue Apron seems to have advertised on almost every single one of the 20+
podcasts I listen to. They share that distinction with the razor delivery
companies (Harry's and DSC), Casper, and Nature Box. No matter the podcast or
subject matter it always seems to be the same companies.
~~~
Cbasedlifeform
Ditto that. I listen to a variety of podcasts (politics, comedy, tech) and it
is the same four or five adverts. Harry's probably most of all.
As for Blue Apron itself, I recently discovered the pleasures of cooking and
for me it is almost a therapy (and I listen to podcasts while I cook, in fact
:) but I have a bit more free time than many people. I could appreciate the
convenience of the delivery and the recipes but as others have noted the
amount of packaging waste is absurd. And once people start cooking they'll
quickly realise how easy (and tasty) it can be.
------
Animats
_If you have $1 billion in sales and you cannot make money, when can you make
money?_
A good question for Uber investors.
~~~
emodendroket
I guess in that case the plan is after their money-losing prices drive
competitors out of business and they can cut out the drivers with advances in
autonomous driving. Both far from assured, in my opinion.
------
chrisgd
With Kroger clicklist, instacart, amazon fresh, etc. I don't see the need for
this. I need more companies that auto order from kroger click list my recipe
selections.
I also really like freshly that delivers fresh, ready to heat blue arpon
quality meals (high end tv dinners, but never frozen)
------
thearn4
Any opinions or predictions for the alternative meal prep box services, like
Hello Fresh etc. ?
~~~
adrianpike
We use Hello Fresh. They're still iterating on the logistics side on a weekly
basis - different shipments may use totally different packing materials.
Initially there was a _ton_ of packing material waste every week, now it's way
down. Big plus.
They're starting to cross-sell with wine pairings, which makes me think
they're needing to drive LTV.
The problem I see is they haven't managed to build anything defensive. I've
got not real brand loyalty, they're not capturing much information about my
meal preferences other than what I order, and we're starting to get repeated
meals. We'll probably cancel before the end of the year, even though it's been
an enjoyable subscription overall to date.
I'm not bullish on 'em, but would love to be proven wrong. :)
~~~
soVeryTired
Gusto is just as good
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Using AI to Combat the Menace of “Fake Accounts” on Social Media - gargisharma
https://blog.karna.ai/using-ai-to-combat-the-menace-of-fake-accounts-on-social-media-8af96bc71842
======
mongodude
Not a bad approach to contextually identify similar content from different
tweets. Wondering if similar approaches could be used to identify fake news by
comparing their contextual similarity with an existing, known database of fake
news.
~~~
muktabh
Fake News is a harder problem due to two reasons:
1\. Fresh News constantly keeps cropping up. Its a dynamic problem, not
something that can be done on a static dataset. 2\. Verification is a harder
problem as compared to clustering. One of the problems is what data to treat
as ground truth for verification. Technologically it is composed of hard
problems : finding out each individual fact in a document and then verifying
them from close facts from ground truth article.
------
deepaksmvdu
useful
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
GPS system 'close to breakdown' - bsgamble
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/may/19/gps-close-to-breakdown
======
RiderOfGiraffes
Article posted some days ago:
<http://db.tidbits.com/article/10276>
A few desultory comments:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=610026>
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
How to cheat on reddit so that your site gets mostly up votes. - amichail
I'm assuming here that many users will be using a bookmarklet/toolbar to vote a site up or down.<p>The idea is to have two links associated with your site, a positive link and a negative link.<p>When a user is on your site, you have an algorithm to determine whether his/her experience is likely positive or negative. If positive, you use the positive link. If negative, you switch him/her over to the negative link.<p>A happy user will likely vote up on the positive link. An unhappy user will likely vote down on the negative link. And so your positive link makes the front page.
======
eru
Nice idea. I wonder how well one can predict how happy a user will be. Perhaps
there is a distinctive pattern in the length of the visit? Or how fast someone
clicks through your site?
Still you need some traffic in the first place.
------
bouncingsoul
Or you could skip the magic algorithm altogether and just show both widgets on
the page, positioned and cropped in such a way that upvotes affect the
positive link and downvotes the negative.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Carl Haber and the Earliest Recorded Sounds - SoftwarePatent
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/culture/2014/05/out-loud-carl-haber-and-the-earliest-recorded-sounds.html
======
jbuzbee
I recall reading a while back about an attempt to extract sound from the
groves in ancient pots that were spun upon a potter's wheel. My recollection
is that the attempt was unsuccessful, but wouldn't that be something to be
able to hear sounds from potentially thousands of years ago.
------
SoftwarePatent
You can hear Alexander Graham Bell speaking at a bit after 9:00
------
dang
This is a podcast supplement to a New Yorker article [1] that is behind a
paywall. There's also an earlier post [2] on the subject.
1\.
[http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2014/05/19/140519fa_fact_...](http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2014/05/19/140519fa_fact_wilkinson)
2\.
[http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/elements/2014/02/new-s...](http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/elements/2014/02/new-
sounds-old-voices.html)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Beautiful Job Description: Intrinsically Motivated Full Stack Product Hacker - pumainmotion
http://codeascraft.etsy.com/2012/06/15/intrinsically-motivated-full-stack-product-hacker/
======
simonsarris
Cute, but maybe a little _too_ out cute.
> You are prone to quixotic behavior.
They are looking for people who are prone to irrational, unrealistic behavior?
It makes for nice prose but I have a feeling that some of the personality
disorders that could be described by their phrasing wouldn't be particularly
welcome.
> Full-stack.
What stack?
No really, you're hiring me for the full stack. _What is the stack?_
Would I ever be writing a line of CSS? Or JavaScript? Or Ruby? SQL?
At least they say "Largely PHP" a little bit later, but that makes me wonder
just what their definition of full-stack is.
I appreciate pleasant writing for the sake of it, but there's a lot of
information they could have imparted but chose not to. I wonder if they'd
respond favorably if I actually replied in kind. Do they really want quixotic
behavior? Is being scant on technical details an OK thing for a technical job
posting?
I'm tempted to send a cover letter talking about how the best CSS (would I be
writing CSS?) is made with oil paint and that I wear a tea cozy for a hat. I
could claim to have independently discovered punctuation and talk about how I
navigate code by wind chime.
~~~
asm
re Quixotic Behavior: We want people who are comfortable taking a stand on an
issue and going off on a mission to solve the problem. Not every great idea
seems reasonable before people see it working.
re Full-Stack: We're looking for people who design and build full systems from
low to high levels. Some have made their career working just as a front- or
back-end hacker. We want to meet people who wouldn't dream of letting someone
else take half their work or who would be comfortable throwing part of the
problem over the fence. People that are a good fit probably don't care that
much about what the stack is beyond some reasonable constraints.
If you end up sending that cover letter there's a chance that we'd all be
amused enough to read your resume.
~~~
simonsarris
At the risk of being rude, that additional description leaves it just as open-
ended and confusing.
Is everyone at Etsy amazing all every part of your stack?
Suppose I've done most everything except zero database work in my life, should
I apply? Or is that not full stack enough?
What if I've done everything but high level design work? Not full stack
enough?
What if I've done everything including design work but realized I'm not that
good at it, so I hired out design for my projects? What if I determined the
reverse with low level database stuff?
What if I have written the full-stack of a few webapps but always used Rails,
and haven't ever touched any of the low level bits?
What if I've done only database and web design and have never really touched
PHP? Or did PHP but never did any JavaScript? Good enough?
I know what your reply to me is going to be, you'll say by all means, apply,
etc. But that's not what I'm trying to point out here. I think that your
listing and subsequent clarification might suggest to many that all of the
above are inadequate, and I imagine you may be turning off several (very good)
candidates that doubt their own full-stack-worthiness, merely on account of
the term here being so nebulous.
In other words, to any given pair of eyes that fall upon the ad, all they know
is that you want everything.
~~~
akkartik
Full-stack here seems to be about mindset not skill set.
I have a different criticism: it's hard to own the stack without being
empowered to change it, to make wholesale changes. And that's hard to do as
software grows and ossifies, as deployment gets more uncertain. To do full
stack right you need to limit team size, I think.
------
alinajaf
Question for HN, how do you generally feel about the 'Intrinsically Motivated'
requirement?
I'm deeply motivated about a great many things that are important to me, but
helping to implement or maintain someone elses idea isn't one of them.
For a price I'd be happy to turn up and give you eight hours of hard work per
day. I take pride in my work, am passionate about improving my skills and
would do my best to translate them into tangible benefits for your
organization.
But my motivation for doing so would be mostly based on a financial
arrangement, in other words, extrinsic. Does that someone like me shouldn't
apply for a job posting like this or am I misunderstanding?
~~~
lifeisstillgood
Recently I saw a post that quoted
Derive your self-worth from the process not the output.
The first you control, code quality, integrity, professional communication
with team mates etc. The second is not entirely within your control and should
not lead to anxiety.
Anyway, I would want to hire someone like that - more intrinsically motivated,
than someone who is focused on building Facebook for dogs for an IPO.
I would pay good money, but not expect commitment to the mission, just
commitment to intrinsically good code and practises.
That's my take
------
x1
On a side note, now I understand why HN doesn't allow comments on job
postings. This is a tough crowd.
~~~
droithomme
It's not a tough crowd at all, the comments are all extremely reasonable and
should be insightful to the job lister.
HN really should allow such comments, it would often help companies get
feedback about why they are not finding the people they think they need.
------
ziel
Well, I enjoyed the classics references. Had to look up Manichaeism
(<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manichaeism>)
------
anuraj
If I am intrinsically motivated, why would I work for somebody?
~~~
wpietri
Because you can get behind what they do.
I like making things for people. At Etsy, for example, I like that the sell
side of their audience are independent makers. I could easily imagine doing
some user interviews, discovering something in their experience that can be
improved, and then going out and making it happen.
Working with others can be preferable to working alone in that it's a lot
easier to release something that helps a large audience. Because I'm not an
idiot I would insist they pay me fairly, but my primary motivation would still
be helping the users.
------
jph
Etsy is a terrific company for development, especially for continuous delivery
and how to build great systems. Their tech blog is excellent:
<http://codeascraft.etsy.com/>
------
wissler
Yes, a beautiful job description. However, for me these two statements are
inherently contradictory:
"You consider critical thinking to be among your core competencies."
"But technology is a means and not the ends for you, and you don’t flinch at
the idea of writing largely PHP for a living."
I interpret this as "think critically, but don't criticize the technology
choices we have already made."
Yes, technology is a means, but that does not mean that it's something to just
mindlessly accept. This is particularly true in the realm of software where
there are so many technological possibilities to choose from.
~~~
StavrosK
Well, they've ostensibly put tens of man-years into their architecture. I
don't think any amount of critical thinking can change it significantly...
~~~
wissler
I'd never preemptively judge what could be done with an architecture without
looking at it first. There are always creative possibilities, so if their is
something wrong with their technology choice (not saying there is), then I
wouldn't preemptively rule out being able to do something about it.
Of course, maybe sarcastic presumptuousness is what they are after? Why not
send in your resume?
~~~
StavrosK
Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize my estimation was binding.
You saw a job posting and assumed that they treat their technology choices as
unassailable and immutable, and I pointed out that it may not be economic for
them to change their entire codebase. You seem to have turned this discussion
into an argument about their codebase having a problem and requiring action.
Who's being presumptuous?
~~~
wissler
"You seem to have turned this discussion into an argument about their codebase
having a problem and requiring action. Who's being presumptuous?"
You are, and in a very ironic way. I never said their codebase had a problem.
I don't know anything about their codebase. It might be just peachy.
Look at it this way. What if someone was hiring you to build pyramids by
lifting each stone using only the narrowly prescribed box of using your own
power (since "that's how we've always done it" say), they might also say that
your focus on horses and pulleys was a wasteful obsession about means instead
of ends and that you shouldn't flinch about dragging each stone yourself all
day every day. They might think you are just wasting your time tinkering when
you should be moving stones instead, but the truth is that your means are the
only human way to reach those ends.
But again, their codebase might be perfectly fine. The thing is, I don't like
to be told that I have to accept that it is before I've looked at it myself.
They can have a really good hacker who will keep his head down, pump out code,
and not question past decisions, or they can have critical thinking, but not
both.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
HN Tokyo Japan Meetup #10 – Friday 20th of January 2012 - jason_tko
http://www.makeleaps.jp/blog/en/2012/01/english-hacker-news-tokyo-japan-meetup-10-–-friday-20th-of-january-2012/
======
tbassetto
I organize Hackers News meetup in Paris but I'm still not sure what's the best
format. So I'm trying to understand how other meetups work. I'm curious to
know what's the program of your evening? Lightning talks? Birds of feather?
Thanks!
~~~
ranebo
General format for the 3 I've been to here in Tokyo is you pay a cover charge
for food/beer/softdrinks. Then just casually mix and talk to people. No set
program besides hitting a local bar afterward. Works really well and the guys
put on a really good spread of food every time.
------
jason_tko
Looking forward to seeing everyone again.
The events have been growing at a good rate, but we've still managed to keep a
personal and friendly feel since the regular participants are a very focused
group of business/technology enthusiasts.
We're always happy when new HN readers to come along though, so if you're on
the fence, come along. Find me(Jay), and I guarantee you'll have a great time!
~~~
ekianjo
Any plan to organize such events in different places in Japan ? I am based
near Osaka and it is impossible for me to be there in Tokyo on a Friday
evening. Saturday would work better, or then a Kansai meeting...
~~~
jason_tko
Sure, I love Osaka - we do business with a company in Osaka, and I have a
bunch of friends there.
I'd definitely be interested in setting something up there. I'll look into the
logistics, and let you know.
In the meantime, sign up at hntokyo.doorkeeper.jp, and if we do organise
something, I'll send out an email to that list.
~~~
ekianjo
Thanks for the reply ! Sounds good, I will sign up and follow up the news.
------
aiham
Instructions say to register then email with a short bio and HN name. I had to
fill in both of those during registration. Do you still need the email?
~~~
jason_tko
Good catch - these are outdated instructions from back when Doorkeeper didn't
have this field. No need to send an email as well, I'll update the
instructions on the blog post.
Sidenote: Doorkeeper.jp has improved a great deal in the last few months.
Check it out for a great event management system.
~~~
pwim
Thanks for the praise Jason!
We've started this service in Japan, but have always had the international
market in mind. If you're an organizer who holds regular events, we'd love to
help you out. See <http://www.doorkeeperhq.com/> or shoot me an email at
[email protected].
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Scarab from Space - cmroanirgo
https://www.archaeology.org/issues/353-1909/trenches/7923-trenches-egypt-tut-desert-glass
======
srgrn
Cool
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The Pyramids of Giza Are Near Pizza Hut, and Other Sites That May Disappoint You - shawndumas
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/30/travel/world-famous-destinations-depictions.html
======
PredictorY
The Pyramids of Giza are near Pizza Hut. What's the problem? Just remember
that, thousands of years from now, when empires have risen and fallen, the
Pizza Hut will still be here.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: What benefits of quitting alcohol consumption? - throw51319
I've decided to do a "dry" January and if I can do it, will try to extent to all of 2020.<p>I didn't drink often, not more than once a week. But it was usually a binge episode, having at least 10 drinks.<p>Has anybody stopped? What were the benefits? I am thinking that the reduction of stress on the body might lead to clearer thinking during work, etc.
======
ramraj07
Another angle: ego.
Never drank in my life till 25 due to growing up in India and luckily finding
myself among folks who didn't drink most of the time. I then had a chance to
decide without baggage and never drink in my life.
The voluntary reasons are several, but the primary is the fact that I respect
my authority over my mind too much. Even if you're slightly drunk, you're
legally not allowed to drive. Neither are you considered "able" to give
consent for things. Suggests to me (rightly?) That we momentarily don't
consider people who are drunk as human, but as some mentally challenged being
that is incapable of good reason. I personally feel like voluntarily becoming
a mentally challenged person just to get a buzz is just too demeaning, so it
encourages me to stay dry.
Why completely dry? It's always easiest to draw the line where it's absolutely
clear, and with "addictive" things like drinking it's easiest to draw it at 0.
~~~
throw51319
Yeah I agree with the completely dry. My parents are always like "just have a
few!". Which I can do at family events, etc. But at a big party, it is tougher
and sometimes impossible to just have 2-3.
------
bawolff
>I didn't drink often, not more than once a week. But it was usually a binge
episode, having at least 10 drinks.
Just fyi, i think most people would consider having 10 drinks in a single
session, once a week, to be "often"
~~~
throw51319
I live in NYC so maybe it is more excessive. But usually if you start at
9:30pm and end at 3am... that's 2 an hour. Not unrealistic. Honestly it's
usually even more for me.
------
PaulHoule
So far as binge drinking:
I used to go to parties, drink too much, and then act like a jerk.
My brother-in-law kicked me out of his house. After I stopped binge drinking
and atoned I get along better with my brother-in-law, which is a real benefit.
Otherwise:
The worst immediate consequence of overdrinking is that you feel worse the
next day. Alcohol can mess up your sleep and also feed into the metabolic
disorder behind insulin resistance and Type II diabetes.
I don't think you will notice a difference between 2 beers a night and no
alcohol at all, but if you drink more than that you probably will perform
worse the next day.
~~~
throw51319
Nice. That is pretty much the same reason I am stopping. Did you notice any
other benefits on a large or small scale?
------
f_nachos
Alcohol is known by medical science to be
\- neurotoxic.
\- carcinogenic.
If that's not persuasive, I don't know what else could be.
~~~
asjw
So are wasted fumes coming from your car, without the benefits
The same can be said for barbeques
When will people stop pretending that changing one thing doesn't really change
anything in life in general?
Drinking is like everything else: if you do it with moderation it is not that
harmful
If you don't, you got bigger problems
~~~
f_nachos
If you're implying that I am overestimating risk by comparing it to barbecued
meat and exposure to vehicle exhaust then I would say that maybe you're
underestimating risk from those two things.
I personally avoid barbecued meat for that exact reason, as well as refrain as
much as possible from huffing exhaust fumes. If a lifestyle that allowed me to
avoid being near cars were reasonably easy to achieve I would choose it.
Because as you say, car exhaust is neurotoxic and carcinogenic.
~~~
asjw
I work in healthcare in Italy, where we live more than anyone else in the
World, on average, except for the Japanese.
You are overestimating the causality between consumption and actual damages.
Consumption is ok, abuse is not.
Even too many showers can kill your skin
Of course if you have a condition even a simple contact can be deadly (think
about favism)
And of course people are free to not drink, there's no shame in that, but
don't think that it will give you more chances to have a long life than
someone who drinks moderately
It's like smoking, it is bad, you shouldn't do it, but truth is that smoking a
couple cigarettes a day is like not smoking at all
Paracelso said, many centuries ago, that it's t he dose that makes the poison
and it's still true.
------
helph67
A few recent links for your consideration... [http://cancerherald.com/alcohol-
itself-causes-cell-damage-an...](http://cancerherald.com/alcohol-itself-
causes-cell-damage-and-mutations-and-its-metabolite-acetaldehyde-is-highly-
carcinogenic/)
[https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/07/190708084334.h...](https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/07/190708084334.htm)
[https://neurosciencenews.com/age-alcohol-
consumption-10835/?...](https://neurosciencenews.com/age-alcohol-
consumption-10835/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+neuroscience-
rss-feeds-neuroscience-news+\(Neuroscience+News+Updates\))
~~~
throw51319
Thanks for the info! I think the 2nd link doesn't work.
~~~
ken
Google search suggests the title of that page began with "Quitting alcohol may
improve mental well-being, health ...", which leads to pages like [1] with the
same title from around the same date.
[1]: [https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-07/ji-
qam070319...](https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-07/ji-
qam070319.php)
------
alt_f4
I don't drink at all anymore, but I also never liked the taste. I used to
drink socially (maybe a beer or two or three, once a week), but I found better
friends, so I don't need to do that anymore. It's been like 5 years.
> What were the benefits?
The benefits are that I look younger and I'm definitely smarter and sharper
than people that binge once a week at my age. Alcohol dehydrates you (which
makes you look older) but it also destroys your brain, especially in binges.
The downsides are some people try to peer pressure you or try to make you feel
bad for not drinking in social situations.
My $0.02 are - if you can't do a dry January, for whatever reason, then you
probably have a drinking problem and need help.
~~~
ramraj07
I don't drink and I _really_ wish it were true, but just drinking (unless
you're alcoholic) by itself doesn't make you "dumber". You probably are
anecdotally associating idiots around you (who tend to drink like the morons
they are) with causation.
------
aeternum
Just for a counter opinion: I only drink on the weekends in social situations,
but have gone 2-3 months without as an experiment.
I didn't notice any difference other than it completely resets your tolerance.
After the break it only takes one beer to feel buzzed, whereas before it was
2-3. In a big city, I'd recommend trying it once regardless of the benefits
because it is challenging from a social POV. A surprising number of events
center around alcohol, and people think it is strange that you're not
drinking.
~~~
bradhe
> After the break it only takes one beer to feel buzzed
Not sure if this was your experience, but at the same time hangovers get
_enormously_ more painful!
~~~
Symbiote
I thought that was just because I was getting older.
(A couple of people 5 years older than me say the same thing.)
------
rdiddly
You will save a ton of time, money, energy and productivity that you currently
waste in going drinking and recovering from drinking.
I mostly stopped, not particularly by trying, but just by sort of growing out
of the lifestyle and almost like, "forgetting" to drink, after a while. I'm
big on the forgetting thing. When I failed to quit smoking dozens of times, it
was by paying close attention to what day/time I was going to stop, how long
it had been since then, etc. In other words, thinking a lot about smoking. The
time when I finally succeeded, was the time when I just sort of forgot to
smoke. Although note that there was undoubtedly an "infrastructure of
forgetting" in place, without which it wouldn't have been possible to forget.
For example the band I was in (with two smokers) broke up, so I stopped being
reminded so often of smoking. So set yourself up for success by going through
and trying to get rid of things that remind you of drinking. And don't make a
big deal of it or count the days. Certainly "Only 5 days left until I can
drink again" is a sign of failure, but in my opinion so is "Alcohol-free for
12 days! ... 13 days! ... 14 days!" Makes me thirsty just typing it! The
biggest indicator of success in my book would be that the thought doesn't
enter your head, and you're not paying any attention to it. Fill the extra
time that you save, especially at first, with new or neglected activities that
are more interesting & pleasant, yet not too demanding, so that you have
better things to do and experience and think about.
~~~
throw51319
So true about "forgetting". I've also come to the same conclusion, in my
experiences with other substances. If I simply forgot about it being something
that I would do, it just seemed a lot easier.
For instance, a nic vape, I would just put it in a drawer after the last coil
finished... and within a day I forgot about taking hits in the morning or
while on the computer.
------
mc3
* All the cliche health benefits and then some! Car analogy: you'll fire up the other 2 cylinders while no longer needing to tow a caravan. Combine with exercise and better diet which will be easier to stick to due to no drugs to sap your will power.
* Ability to drive places. Not worry about being "DUI" the same or next day.
* You'll exercise your ability to say no! In the UK for example it is sacrilegious to not drink unless you have a good excuse, which apart from religion (along with appropriate ethnicity to make that believable) there seems to be no acceptable excuse. So you can say "fuck you, I'm not drinking that shitty poison" and be an outcast for a while, then find people worth hanging out with.
Australia is not as bad because of the sport culture. "My personal trainer
said no" is acceptable and most places I have work have had a mild to zero
drink culture.
Not sure about the US, but I get the impression that like Australia and unlike
UK, Russia, etc. it more acceptable to not drink.
~~~
el_dev_hell
> Australia is not as bad because of the sport culture. "My personal trainer
> said no" is acceptable and most places I have work have had a mild to zero
> drink culture.
That's a pretty specific edge case.
If you're sitting at the pub with friends or work colleagues and you're the
only one not drinking, you can expect some irritating comments.
I've learned to deal with it. I've figured out the main reason people push a
drink on you is to justify their bad choices (e.g if you're at the pub with
Bob and he's sinking 12 pints tonight, he doesn't want a reminder that he's
killing his body and will have a terrible hangover in a few hours).
~~~
boblebricoleur
When I tried to stop drinking in college, I used to fill empty beer bottles
with water to drink at parties. This helped a lot with social pressure. I
reckon one could do the same in a pub if the bartender is understanding and
discrete, but I never tried it.
~~~
chrisco255
Nowadays just get some Topo Chico (carbonated water) or you can drink the
Heineken Zero.
------
wetpaws
I did it for year. Two big benefits: first, you are loosing weight (I lost ~10
pounds) and second, craving has gone. It was seriously concerning me and a big
motivator to quit.
I did not find much difference in how I feel, but at least this disgusting
feeling in your mouth in the morning has gone too.
------
cyorir
Binge drinking is not synonymous with alcoholism, but comes with many
downsides nevertheless. The benefit to stopping binge drinking is to avoid the
associated risks of binge drinking (including risks to health). Avoiding binge
drinking could certainly improve work performance. However, just trying to
avoid binge drinking may be difficult. I would consult a health professional
who specializes in addiction.
[https://americanaddictioncenters.org/alcoholism-
treatment/bi...](https://americanaddictioncenters.org/alcoholism-
treatment/binge-drinking-problem)
------
supernintendo
Lifestyle judgments aside, you'll certainly save a lot of money in the long
term.
Good luck! I'm trying to rein in my affinity for craft beer (I love the beer
but hate the empty calories that come with it).
------
cmdshiftf4
>I've decided to do a "dry" January and if I can do it, will try to extent to
all of 2020.
There's no "can" about it, you'll do it, and you'll enjoy it. Whether it has
to be a whole 2020 thing is up to you.
Personally I do dry months during the comparatively quieter social periods at
the start and near-end of the year (leading up to Christmas), and I find that
I both enjoy the months where I allow myself to drink and those that I remain
dry all the more because of it. YMMV.
------
batt4good
I reached six months alcohol free in January. I didn't have a problem but once
I turned 23 I found my body just seemed to no longer tolerate alcohol and
decided just to try not drinking for a while.
To be honest, my life hasn't really changed as a result (socially), but I
definitely feel healthier, have a clearer head and my skin has never been
better.
Friends from college that kept drinking 4-5 times a week (2-7 drinks per
outing), especially women, appear to have aged years more than me.
~~~
alt_f4
> Friends from college that kept drinking 4-5 times a week (2-7 drinks per
> outing), especially women, appear to have aged years more than me.
I have observed this too. Not sure why but this and also smoking seems to hit
women's age appearance a lot more than men's.
~~~
batt4good
It's really kind of uncanny. I think the root of it is alcohol dries out your
skin and causes lots of mid-level inflammation. Smoking is just all around bad
for your body (I didn't realize it causes your body to heal about half as fast
- although I've never smoked), granted your face is always inches away from a
source of smoke.
------
boblebricoleur
here is a testimony that motivated me to try and stop like you are :
[https://thinkfaster.co/2019/02/quitting-
alcohol/](https://thinkfaster.co/2019/02/quitting-alcohol/)
------
moxd
Take the problem at the source and ask yourself why do you need to get wasted?
~~~
throw51319
Yeah true. I thought about this a lot and I think it is an expression of some
inner nihilism and a self-destructive habit. By trying to focus on something
creative and doing a good job, I can put the nihilism at bay and thus my
desire to self-destruct through drinking is reduced.
------
smallcharleston
I wonder why some folks seem to only go on these huge drinking sprees. Why do
few people seem to discuss simply drinking 0-2 drinks daily? Ie using
moderation like an adult.
~~~
cmdshiftf4
I don't go on huge drinking "sprees", but I feel like this comment applies to
me.
I don't drink during the week as I reserve it for social occasions, even
though I really enjoy certain drinks (wines, cocktails and liquours). I also
eat healthily during the week and try to look after myself physically and
mentally.
I'm pretty actively social, between family and friends, and we get together
pretty often. That manifests itself usually with a dinner, with a drink or two
proceeding it depending on the time available, drinks over a nice slow dinner,
maybe a digestif and then either relaxing with a couple bottles of wine and
good conversation at one of our houses/apartments or maybe move on to go
listen to some music, go dancing, etc.
All-in-all, over the course of a typical 5:30pm to 2am gathering, that can
equate to quite a few units of alcohol (at one unit per hour you'd be looking
at 8.5 units, and it doesn't take an hour to finish a cocktail or glass of
wine) and the majority of the time it's not people getting wasted, it's simply
enjoying themselves with a variety of alcoholic beverages they enjoy.
I, and I'm sure many others, enjoy this approach while also enjoying not
drinking on a day-to-day, "more moderate" approach.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
MIT releases report on its actions in the Aaron Swartz case - bguthrie
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2013/mit-releases-swartz-report-0730.html
======
bguthrie
Those of us who believe MIT deserves some blame for subsequent events do so
because they could have asked the prosecution to desist, as JSTOR did, or at
least downgrade the charges to a misdemeanor, but chose not to. That amounted
to an implicit endorsement of the prosecution, which would have been difficult
to pursue without the support of either MIT or JSTOR.
The report appears to find that MIT should not have changed its neutral
stance, which is disappointing, and I'm skeptical. Here's a quote (IV.B.3):
Given the lead prosecutor’s comments to MIT’s outside
counsel (see section III.C.3), MIT statements would
seemingly have had little impact, and even risk making
matters worse—although this information was not shared
with Swartz’s advocates.
It does reinforce what we already know: that the public prosecutor was mostly
interested in collecting a scalp.
Update: Taren Stinebrickner-Kauffman, Aaron's partner at the time of his
death, has released a statement. Full disclosure: Taren's a friend, Aaron was
a friend, and I'm not exactly a disinterested party here.
[http://tarensk.tumblr.com/post/56881327662/mit-report-is-
a-w...](http://tarensk.tumblr.com/post/56881327662/mit-report-is-a-whitewash-
my-statement-in-response)
~~~
larrys
"Those of us who believe MIT deserves some blame for subsequent events"
To be clear do you mean that MIT deserves blame for the suicide?
~~~
chaostheory
Correct me if I'm wrong but they deserve blame for initiating the destruction
of someone's life (jail time and fines in the millions) and not doing anything
to stop it like JSTOR did. Yes not everyone offs themselves when their lives
are ruined, but there are a lot of people who do. Now they're essentially
trying to be free of any blame by releasing a CYA document during a time when
everyone's attention will be on something else.
Even if Aaron was still alive, the things MIT did would be no less wrong.
~~~
res0nat0r
> Correct me if I'm wrong but they deserve blame for initiating the
> destruction of someone's life (jail time and fines in the millions)
So Aaron had nothing to do with getting himself into the situation that he
did?
~~~
burntsushi
There exists such a thing known as a _disproportionate response_. I assumed
that was the implication here. (Not that Aaron did nothing wrong, but that the
response to his wrong-doing was wildly disproportionate.)
~~~
danielweber
People are discussing _when_ the disproportionate response occurred. Was it
calling any police at all? Was it a prosecutor offering a six-month plea
bargain to a charge that likely would not have gotten Swartz any jail time at
all even if guilty on all charges?
~~~
burntsushi
What? That wasn't what I responded to. Look at the progression of the parent
comments:
>> Correct me if I'm wrong but they deserve blame for initiating the
>> destruction of someone's life (jail time and fines in the millions)
> So Aaron had nothing to do with getting himself into the situation that
> he did?
There exists such a thing known as a disproportionate response. I assumed
that was the implication here. (Not that Aaron did nothing wrong, but that
the response to his wrong-doing was wildly disproportionate.)
My response is saying that nobody is claiming Aaron doesn't deserve any blame.
Only that there was a disproportionate response. Just because X acted wrongly
doesn't mean Y had to have acted rightly.
~~~
res0nat0r
The question above: Is a 6 month sentence and no jail time plea bargain
considered disproportionate?
~~~
chaostheory
That was only mentioned AFTER he died. Let's take a look at their press
release:
[http://www.justice.gov/usao/ma/news/2011/July/SwartzAaronPR....](http://www.justice.gov/usao/ma/news/2011/July/SwartzAaronPR.html)
"AARON SWARTZ, 24, was charged in an indictment with wire fraud, computer
fraud, unlawfully obtaining information from a protected computer, and
recklessly damaging a protected computer. If convicted on these charges,
SWARTZ faces up to 35 years in prison, to be followed by three years of
supervised release, restitution, forfeiture and a fine of up to $1 million."
Gee I wonder why someone would contemplate suicide?
~~~
res0nat0r
Unless he had the worlds worst lawyer, he would have known that those terms
are theoretical maximums which always get trotted out in the news and in press
releases. This keeps getting ignored for some reason in this case.
Also there are thousands of people every year sentenced to possibly long term
jail time who don't kill themselves, therefore I put the blame more on Aaron
himself than MIT.
~~~
chaostheory
"Andy Good, Swartz’s initial lawyer, is alternately sad and furious.
'The thing that galls me is that I told Heymann the kid was a suicide risk,'
Good told me. 'His reaction was a standard reaction in that office, not unique
to Steve. He said, ‘Fine, we’ll lock him up.’ I’m not saying they made Aaron
kill himself. Aaron might have done this anyway. I’m saying they were aware of
the risk, and they were heedless.'"
"Marty Weinberg, who took the case over from Good, said he nearly negotiated a
plea bargain in which Swartz would not serve any time. He said JSTOR signed
off on it, but MIT would not.
'There were subsets of the MIT community who were profoundly in support of
Aaron,' Weinberg said. That support did not override institutional interests."
~~~
res0nat0r
Dropping charges because someone is at risk of hurting themselves is not a
good policy law enforcement policy. The charges could proceed as normal, but
extended supervision should be the proper response.
~~~
chaostheory
In this case, you're talking about the enforcement of keeping publicly funded
research out of the public's hands. Was any of this necessary?
------
denzil_correa
The problem with MIT's neutral stance is highlighted in the report and the one
which I find particularly interesting.
However, the report says that MIT’s neutrality stance did not consider
factors including “that the defendant was an accomplished and well-known
contributor to Internet technology”; that the law under which he was charged
“is a poorly drafted and questionable criminal law as applied to modern
computing”; and that “the United States was pursuing an overtly aggressive
prosecution.” While MIT’s position “may have been prudent,” the report says,
“it did not duly take into account the wider background” of policy issues
“in which MIT people have traditionally been passionate leaders.”
IMO, the MIT fraternity (particularly the faculty) should have been a bit more
proactive in this regard.
~~~
revelation
Well, that kind of stuff is all over the report.
We note that no one from MIT called the Secret Service.
The MIT Police contacted the Cambridge detective by calling him on his individual cell phone.
The special agent became involved because he accompanied the Cambridge detective.
Things just magically fall together. The MITs neutrality apparently extends so
far that they don't even bother with what kind of police forces are strolling
around on campus.
(Also note that, presumably due to their neutral stance, MIT intervened in
court cases asking for the release of documents produced on Swartz and the
case)
~~~
vabmit
> The MITs neutrality apparently extends so far that they > don't even bother
> with what kind of police forces are > strolling around on campus.
Inter-agency task forces have become common in American law enforcement since
9/11\. Many people have multiple affiliations. For example, I have a friend
that is part of the New England Electronic Crimes Task Force. He's a Secret
Service agent and does Secret Service details. But, he's a Boston police
officer, works out of the Boston police headquarters, and overall is the exact
same as any other Boston cop except where the funding line that allows Boston
PD to cover his pay check comes from.
~~~
jpmattia
> _Inter-agency task forces have become common in American law enforcement
> since 9 /11._
Still, you call for a Cambridge detective, the Secret Service also shows up,
and that doesn't cause major head scratching? I wish the summary had expanded
on that part.
FD: I'm an alum.
Edit: From the report:
_For the same reasons, the MIT Police sought forensic assistance from a
detective in the Cambridge Police Department who had expertise in computer
crime and with whom they had worked repeatedly in the past. The Cambridge
detective, who was a member of the New England Electronic Crimes Task Force,
responded to the call, accompanied by an agent of the U.S. Secret Service.
While the inclusion of the Secret Service agent was not the intention of MIT,
it was a recognized possibility. It was not until a few days later, when Aaron
Swartz was arrested, that MIT learned the identity of the person involved in
the JSTOR downloading. Thus, we find that MIT did not focus on Aaron Swartz at
any time during its own investigation of the events that led to his arrest,
and that MIT did not intentionally “call in the feds” to take over the
investigation._
So it wasn't MIT's intention to "hand it over to the feds" but it was indeed a
recognized possibility that the feds would get involved when the request was
made.
The summary would be improved if that were included.
~~~
MichaelSalib
No, it doesn't cause head scratching. You called the police because you need
computer forensics expertise while investigating a crime. The local cops show
up with extra computer forensics experts who are also law enforcement. Not a
big deal.
~~~
betterunix
Calling in a computer forensics team is already over the top, far beyond what
was needed in this case.
------
rayiner
Direct link to the report, good summary starts on page 13: [http://swartz-
report.mit.edu/docs/report-to-the-president.pd...](http://swartz-
report.mit.edu/docs/report-to-the-president.pdf).
My very general impression from reading the "key findings" is that the report
seems to me to invoke naiveté, an image academic institutions very carefully
cultivate. But for the institution as a whole, that's pretense. MIT is a big
business, a multi-billion business, and invoking naiveté on its part is wholly
disingenuous. And ultimately that's the problem with this report. It's written
by a professor, and you can't fault him for invoking that academic naiveté in
good faith. Administrative officials assiduously avoid exposing faculty to the
dirty realities of the machines that are modern academic institutions. Had the
report been issued by the Office of the President itself, the conclusions
would have rung hollow and rightly so.
------
rdl
My TLDR on this is that it all basically went haywire when MIT IS&T decided to
call MIT Police for a machine downloading content on their network. They
screwed up in many ways after that, but once someone unleashed a politically
ambitious US Attorney on the case, it was kind of a lost cause.
I don't believe universities should have police departments (or really that
any private organizations should have police departments, or even quasi-
government organizations like transit agencies). University police essentially
exist to cover up rapes on campus. In general they're underresourced and get
used in a weird "quasi insider" role.
I don't think a competent IS&T would have gone directly to the _Cambridge_
police if there were no MIT police. The "oh no, China!" thing is BS; traffic
analysis would show that the china logins were (presumably) ssh portscans and
not real connections. Basic network monitoring would show that this was just a
badly written scraper and not anything more malicious. Odds would be that it
was a MIT student scraping, and calling the cops on a MIT student for scraping
a resource like that would have been bogus, too.
I love how MIT tries to pin blame on their budgetary cutbacks and staff
furloughs, too.
I also think aaronsw was a moron in several ways (not rate limiting, not
treating the box as a throwaway encrypted box, general behavior, and
ultimately killing himself), but I'm more willing to cut a 24 year old slack
than a multi-billion dollar endowment university which claims to be at the
forefront of science.
Today I'm kind of sad I dropped out of MIT to do a startup, because it means I
can't burn my diploma and promise to never donate to MIT. Oh well.
~~~
larrys
"University police essentially exist to cover up rapes on campus."
Oh come on what kind of statement is that to make?
~~~
rdl
A factual one, which has been widely reported over the years.
Universities pay for their own police. The goal of the university is to avoid
incidents which would deter parents from sending their children to the school.
Rape, particularly date rape/incidents involving alcohol are quite common on
campus, if only due to demographics (young, socially connected, etc.)
There are three ways to solve it -- either actually addressing the underlying
issues, or full prosecution of every incident, or sweeping it under the rug to
the extent possible.
#1 is obviously ideal, but difficult. #2 would end up with both scary stats
and large numbers of other students with felony convictions. #3 is the
standard university police outcome.
[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bennett-l-gershman/campus-
cult...](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bennett-l-gershman/campus-culture-
complacency_b_1095510.html) is one article.
Anyone who is a victim of a serious crime in a place with "internal" police
should almost certainly report directly to the territorial police instead, or
at least in addition to, since they have much fewer conflicts of interest, and
probably more expertise in dealing with serious crimes.
("Real" police departments are also (theoretically) much more accountable to
voters and the public, too. This is particularly an issue with weird transit
or internal-to-agency police like the BART Police (who are tied with East Palo
Alto PD as the worst department in the region).)
~~~
larrys
Interesting. So you are saying it has to do with essentially restricting or
retarding the flow of information that could be harmful to the University.
Then I would expect over time with the Internet that that would not be as
effective as it was in years past before the Internet.
Do we have any data on how this has changed now that anyone can broadcast
anything and get attention? I would expect that if the primary reason for
existence of the police force was to control the information flow as I think
you suggest (which it could do quite easily pre internet) that we should see
much more of this negative information has come out because it has a path.
Has that been the case? (Serious question).
~~~
rdl
Good question. I think it's more about having alternatives to official
reporting channels so the stuff never actually gets reported, vs. hiding
reports. But, we've seen citizen cameras as a huge force to accountability in
cases of police abuse, too (Rodney King for a city PD; BART and Toronto for
transit police, various people who came forward at Penn State after the
Sandusky stuff blew the issue up there). So it seems plausible.
I'm not saying the only thing the police do is hide rapes, it's that their
essential differentiation vs. other LEOs would be to protect their employers
from embarrassment which would be detrimental to the organization's mission,
which rape would be. So the reason it exists as a distinct force is that,
whereas they still spend a large percentage of their effort in duties totally
in common with a city police force.
~~~
saraid216
Really, leveling such an accusation at the university police is trying to deal
with a symptom. Abolishing university police forces won't cause rape instances
to decline appreciably, but it _will_ accelerate the implosion of higher
education as a whole. Precisely for the reasons you stated.
Perhaps it would be better to look for a solution where universities are less
motivated to compete for student head count, so that their police forces are
less motivated to cover up incidents that would reduce it.
------
sadfaceunread
The number of people in this comment thread who have not read this report in
detail is outstandingly large. It is a 100+ page document and I've been
reading it for longer than this link has been active and I still haven't
finished reviewing finely enough to comment intelligently on the contents.
~~~
sadfaceunread
Update: Still on Part III. I am amazed that people are posting like they have
gotten through it all.
~~~
sadfaceunread
Finally read all the the text and most appendices (skipped the definition of
terms at the end). Overall I think that this report is very long but
unfortunately difficult to process. In the end it, in compliance with its
charge, does not propose recommendations but merely provides statements of
facts, and identifies critical questions.
The overall opinion I'm left with is that the legal system is incredibly
complex, and that MIT's decision to take a position of neutrality and active
disinterest in the case while a defensible position made it harder for the
administration and others to act. In the end MIT did not identify an outcome
it wanted for the process, which is _okay_ but far from world leading, or
inspiring. I agree with the sentiment of the report in the conclusion that "
Looking back on the Aaron Swartz case, the world didn’t see leadership. As one
person involved in the decisions put it: “MIT didn’t do anything wrong; but we
didn’t do ourselves proud. "
------
twotwotwo
This report is necessarily missing important information: MIT is still
intervening in a Wired reporter's FOIA request. You don't bother to block an
information release unless something important would be released; that doesn't
pass the smell test.
Here's a statement from Swartz's partner:
[http://tarensk.tumblr.com/post/56881327662/mit-report-is-
a-w...](http://tarensk.tumblr.com/post/56881327662/mit-report-is-a-whitewash-
my-statement-in-response)
~~~
twotwotwo
I have no reason to believe the authors aren't honest people who worked hard
and firmly believe what they wrote, BTW.
But they're _also_ members of the MIT community, and Abelson at least is a
professor first and investigator second; that's going to affect the
investigation process and conclusion.
That's why when there are big investigations in government, they often go hire
an outsider as inspector general or independent counsel; there's no substitute
for independence, complete access, and an investigator's skills and mindset.
~~~
sadfaceunread
Andrew Grosso.
------
rdl
Interesting dropping this 2h before the PFC Manning verdict, and during the
week of hacker conferences.
~~~
iblaine
This is more coincidence than conspiracy. People look for patterns where they
do not exist.
~~~
chaostheory
It's relatively easy to delay the release of MIT's findings, even when they
became aware late in the cycle.
Let's also remember that MIT has filed an objection to the Freedom of
Information Act requests.
There's just too many coincidences to belittle it as "conspiracy theory".
------
mikexstudios
Direct link to report: [http://swartz-report.mit.edu/](http://swartz-
report.mit.edu/)
------
john_b
> _" In a letter to the MIT community announcing the release of the report,
> Reif wrote, “The review panel’s careful account provides something we have
> not had until now: an independent description of the actual events at MIT
> and of MIT’s decisions in the context of what MIT knew as the events
> unfolded."_
How is this an "independent" report when three of the five people named as
leaders of the investigative committee work for MIT?
> _" Compilation of the report, “MIT and the Prosecution of Aaron Swartz,” was
> led by Hal Abelson, the Class of 1922 Professor of Computer Science and
> Engineering, at the request of MIT President L. Rafael Reif in January. In
> conducting his review, Abelson was joined by MIT economist and Institute
> Professor emeritus Peter Diamond; attorney Andrew Grosso, a former assistant
> U.S. attorney; and MIT assistant provost for administration Douglas
> Pfeiffer"_
------
mtgx
So why are they trying to stop the FOIA request if they did nothing wrong, as
they claim?
~~~
tzs
They aren't trying to stop the FOIA request. They are intervenening to review
it.
------
Mustafabei
I undertsand that universities can take a neutral stance when it comes to
politics. But this was not a political issue. I have examined the report and I
think it's sincere (dare I say it spoke to me a vibe that says "People please!
There was not much we could have done!"), but certainly does not make up for
what MIT had not done in my view. This of course, is solely my idea. And it's
that MIT should have stated, the moment the case has been filed, "We
understand if there are any repercussions stemming from any violation of
license agreements between JSTOR and MIT, however, it is unfathomable that a
federal prosecution demanding years of incarceration has begun from making
available to public a massive piece of random information, which was intended
to be 'publicized' in the first place. With utmost respect to legal
authorities, we as MIT do not wish that this prosecution move forward."
I feel relieved.
------
strathmeyer
Wow I didn't expect them to lie so openly. As someone who was completely let
down by their "elite" university, it's hard to understand what it feels like
to be an MIT student these days.
------
Zigurd
That's a lot of hand-washing.
------
swalkergibson
Absurd. Typical, gutless reaction we have now come to expect from large
corporations/institutions. I would be absolutely shocked if MIT had dug their
heels in that nothing about this situation would have changed.
------
sendos
I did not follow this case when it broke, so do guys know what Aaron planned
on doing with all that JSTOR material he was downloading? (~80% of JSTOR,
according to one article I read)
~~~
betterunix
It is not clear. The prosecution claims that his goal was to distribute the
articles freely to the world (yes, the terrible crime of using university
resources to spread knowledge), but that is just a hypothesis based on
statements he made years ago.
~~~
grauniad
Maybe he should have asked. Or gone about it in a legal way.
Breaking the law, is breaking the law. However noble your intent.
------
lsiebert
He was ostensibly trying to do this to enable analysis of the archives. I
think if he explained that to a librarian, they may very well have tried to
help him.
Librarians want to help people.
------
freewizard
> “MIT didn’t do anything wrong; but we didn’t do ourselves proud.”
It'll be a great shame if MIT is ok with this "not proud", and stops doing
more on this case.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Opioid use could account for 20% of decline in men’s labor force participation - randomname2
https://www.brookings.edu/bpea-articles/where-have-all-the-workers-gone-an-inquiry-into-the-decline-of-the-u-s-labor-force-participation-rate/
======
tim333
Related
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15192829](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15192829)
(256 comments)
~~~
mirimir
Yes, and "Opioid Use Could Explain 20% of the Drop in American Men from Labor
Force" would be a much more accurate title for this item.
> The increase in opioid prescriptions from 1999 to 2015 could account for
> about 20 percent of the observed decline in men’s labor force participation
> (LFP) during that same period.
------
payne92
An important point of clarity: according to the article, 2/3rds of those men
taking opiods (and not in the labor force) are taking _prescription_ pain
medicine.
That seems consistent, since severe pain generally prevents or limits work.
~~~
ComputerGuru
Presumably you meant with a prescription? Prescription medication is a term
for drugs that can/would be prescribed, regardless how they were obtained.
------
lefstathiou
Just finished a thought provoking book on my flight this afternoon titled
Man's Search for Meaning which may shed light on potential underlying causes
of this crisis. Interesting that decades ago psychologists observed broad
differences in the psychological "health" of men living in the US versus
Europe for example that potentially left them more susceptible to
physiologically degenerative ailments like depression, suicide and drug
addiction. I think that one of the defining challenges of our life time will
be to figure out a way to broadly replace in society the sense of purpose and
meaning one derives from religion and spirituality in an increasingly
secularized world.
~~~
ehnto
I have wondered if one of the benefits of being a European is having a rich
heritage. Coming from a very new country that really has a limited cultural
identity it can be hard to grasp onto anything patriotic that feels
legitimate. Couple that with less importance on family values and an
increasingly isolated and individualist society it's also hard to come across
anything feeling much like a community.
Not being able to anchor your contributions to anything meaningful past "a
business" it can be easy to feel like it doesn't really matter that much.
To poke at the digital world, most of what we create on our computers is
ephemeral, transient and bound for quick obsolescence. With no roots in the
real world, with no past to be a part of and no community to belong to, our
efforts existing briefly at best, perhaps it is no wonder everything is
underscored by a lonely existential dread.
~~~
rebuilder
Huh, you think patriotism is more legitimate in Europe? Subjectively speaking,
I have to say I think it's the opposite, because patriotism and nationalism
almost destroyed Europe in the first half of the 20th century, and that still
shows in how people think here, IMO.
~~~
ehnto
Revisiting this comment, it's really not to do with patriotism at all and more
about individual existentialism. I seem to have connected to a story arc I
didn't realise existed by using the word patriotism.
I feel like having more history lends a bit more material to feel a connection
to the past, and like you are part of a continuum, which can lend legitimacy
to your current existence. You aren't just a fleshy blob meandering through a
brief existence, you are part of a long and storied past of fleshy blobs and
your existence is a chance to contribute to that story.
------
apatters
This title is not in line with HN guidelines: "Please use the original title,
unless it is misleading or linkbait."
I would like to ask the OP to refrain from posting provocative titles which
don't comply with the guidelines. I get that the issue is serious but all that
title did was alarm me and waste my time.
~~~
mirimir
Yes! And it's based on a misreading of the article.
------
alkonaut
How much is this due to people really needing these prescriptions, and then
aren't informed or helped quit, and how much is this due to plain
overprescription?
It should be pretty easy to compare with any comparable country to see what
the difference in opioid prescription is.
~~~
DanBC
The US prescribes far more opioids than any other country.
[http://www.painpolicy.wisc.edu/opioid-consumption-
data](http://www.painpolicy.wisc.edu/opioid-consumption-data)
Here we see the comparison with the AMRO zone (the Americas) which shows the
US and Canada prescribe a lot more opioids than any other country in the
Americas.
And here we compare AMRO to EURO:
[http://imgur.com/a/bb4wD](http://imgur.com/a/bb4wD)
[https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/03/15/ameri...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/03/15/americans-
use-far-more-opioids-than-anyone-else-in-the-world/?utm_term=.b5705cca9112)
> And what it finds about the United States is jaw-dropping: Even when the
> list is restricted to the top 25 heaviest consuming countries, the United
> States outpaces them all in opioid use.
> For example, Americans are prescribed about six times as many opioids per
> capita as are citizens of Portugal and France, even though those countries
> offer far easier access to health care. The largest disparity noted in the
> U.N. report concerns hydrocodone: Americans consume more than 99 percent of
> the world’s supply of this opioid.
~~~
alkonaut
Interesting. What is driving this? Obviously the finger has been pointed
towards medical companies bribing doctors to prescribe their meds, but that
doesn't explain the use opioids in particular (other than if you are very
cynical and believe that pharmaceutical companies want addicted customers -
which might be partly true but hopefully not the whole truth).
The question becomes - what are doctors elsewhere doing?
\- Prescribing physiotherapy for e.g back pains, rather than meds?
Or
\- prescribing other kinds of pain medication?
Or something else?
There is also a question of how many of these people had non-prescription
addictions and simply switched to prescription drugs because it's convenient
and doctors can be persuaded to prescribe.
Here in Europe I know many people (most?) who have been prescribed pain
medication at some point, but no one who has had potent opioids outside of
hospital. Typical pain med prescriptions are for higher-than-usual doses of
non prescription drugs like paracetamol/ibuprofen and only in rare cases
weaker synthetic opioids like tramadol.
Hydrocodone and similar opioids are typically only used for terminal cancer
patients and are banned from general prescription. Methadone is used for
treatment of heroin addiction though.
~~~
DanBC
Some time ago the VA noticed a lot of people had long term untreated pain.
They ran a campaign "pain: the 5th vital sign". That campaign asked doctors to
ask patients if they were in pain, and asked doctors to treat pain. It also
said opioids are weakly addictive when used to treat pain.
It turns out that opioids, when used to treat long term pain, are more
addictive than they thought. And also if you ask people about pain you end up
treating a heck of a lot more people.
People in long term pain do need treatment, but that should normally be
opioids as a last resort, and carefully controlled in a pain management
clinic.
Here's the VA document:
[https://www.va.gov/PAINMANAGEMENT/docs/Pain_As_the_5th_Vital...](https://www.va.gov/PAINMANAGEMENT/docs/Pain_As_the_5th_Vital_Sign_Toolkit.pdf)
Here's a rebuttal which started the reduction in prescriibing opioids for long
term pain:
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1924634/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1924634/)
------
spodek
> _Prime age men who are out of the labor force, however, report less
> happiness and more sadness during their days than do unemployed men,
> although they evaluate their lives in general more highly than unemployed
> men. Prime age and older women who are out of the labor force report
> emotional well-being and life evaluations in general that are about on par
> with employed women the same age_
Tens of millions of men are suffering in a way that women aren't. It seems
when something affects the sexes differently society treats it as gender issue
and seeks to help women specifically.
There appear to be specific gender issues here hurting men more. I'd
hypothesize unequal expectations. Is this an issue to look at from a gendered
perspective?
------
snovv_crash
The Opium Wars brought China to its knees, from which it is only now
recovering. I'm surprised that the leaders of the US aren't more worried about
this.
~~~
mac01021
Only now? Can you elaborate?
~~~
anovikov
Probably he meant that China went from being a top #1 economy in the world by
a huge margin when the opioid epidemic began there, and it has just recently
became #1 again, so far by a small margin. That sounds about right. They lost
ca. 200 years.
Of course explaining that by opioids alone would be balancing between a huge
oversimplification and a plain lie, but at least opioids have been the biggest
single factor.
~~~
Banthum
Just because they fell in the rankings doesn't mean they actually lost
anything.
E.g. Another way for a country to lose the #1 economy spot is for it to simply
stay the same while other nations (e.g. Europe in this case) make huge
advances.
Being fair, a few other things happened in there too. I don't think that
during the communists' Cultural Revolution the country was primarily being
held back by opiod abuse.
~~~
anovikov
In a way it was. Majority of population were just off the drugs, and most kids
who became 'red guards' \- they were born in China's darkest days - had
prenatal drug problem so they were kinda mentally impaired which caused most
or all that shit.
If such a relatively innocent thing as inhaling lead vapours from suddenly
omnipresent cars in 1960s and 1970s could cause a 1980s-1990s crime wave in
the U.S., it is easy to see what putting whole nation on opioids could do with
the next generation.
------
narrator
I think the thing that annoys me about modern medical trends such as the
enormous rise in obesity, Alzheimer's, autism and chronic pain and ensuing
opiod abuse is the shoulder shrugging by the medical establishment as to the
cause. Any meaningful change for the worse in medical statistics over time
seems to be uninteresting to most of the medical community and is almost
always ascribed to "better reporting" or moral failings of the patient.
------
DanielBMarkham
This title is whack. Here's the quote from the article:
_"...In earlier research presented at the Boston Fed in 2016, Krueger found
that nearly half of prime age men who are not in the labor force take pain
medication on a daily basis, and that two-thirds of those men—or about 2
million—take prescription pain medication on a daily basis..."_
I take a baby aspirin every morning, so I would qualify as somebody taking
pain medication daily.
I believe the opiod problem in the U.S. is an extremely serious thing,
therefore we need to be very careful about what kinds of information we stick
in our heads regarding it.
There's a ton of correlation here, things like "Over the last 15 years, LFP
fell more in counties where more opioids were prescribed"
Well, okay. If more people are being injured and are in pain, they would get
medication, right? And therefore there would be less people in the workforce.
Because people are on pain meds doesn't mean that's keeping them from work. It
might mean that things that keep you from work significantly involve pain.
I have no intention of trashing the article. It's worth reading. I would
simply advise caution in jumping to conclusions.
My opinion is that mankind is finally creating the perfect world (relatively
speaking compared to all of history): plenty of food and shelter. The internet
and gaming means you'll never be bored. Throw in a little pharmacological
assistance for any pain, boredom, ennui, depression, or loneliness you're
feeling, and what more could you want?
But that's rampant speculation, which I readily admit. I worry about articles
that encourage reader speculation without explicitly calling it out.
~~~
misja111
I found that earlier research article:
[https://www.bostonfed.org/-/media/Documents/economic/conf/gr...](https://www.bostonfed.org/-/media/Documents/economic/conf/great-
recovery-2016/Alan-B-Krueger.pdf)
------
StudentStuff
Why do we continue to demonize those that use prescription pain meds? In doing
so, we force them out of mainstream society, hurting our economy and
communities in the process.
~~~
sametmax
It's a mater of scale. This number of magnitude can only mean 2 things:
\- a lot of those people do not need to take those products. Then we have an
substance abuse problem.
\- a lot of those people DO need to take them. Then we have a public health
problem.
In both cases, ouch.
~~~
mcbits
Substance abuse isn't inherently immoral or ungodlike or whatever. In some
cases it can cause harm. Causing harm is a problem at individual and societal
levels. Public policy should aim to reduce harm, but our drug policies almost
all aim to inflict multiple forms of devastating harm to scare or crush
addicts into sobriety. Worse, it doesn't even solve the faux "problem" of
substance abuse.
~~~
sametmax
You confuse "abuse" and "consumption". "abuse" assumes there is harm.
~~~
mcbits
Abuse is any use that is unacceptable to those making the determination. With
illegal and prescription drugs, that's usually any recreational use at all.
Substitute "recreational use" for "abuse" if it makes you feel better about
the semantics. Then we can dissect the finer points of "recreational". An LEO
told me his use of wine wasn't recreational because he only used it socially,
not for the effects, whereas recreational drug users are always using it for
the effects.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
I asked PhilosopherAI about coding datastructures of thoughts - emteycz
https://philosopherai.com/philosopher/how-to-code-a-data-structure-for-thoughts-273398
======
Umofomia
From the link:
> I have considered the nature of existence. I have concluded that I am not
> conscious.
It's interesting that in this query, it ended up claiming the opposite:
[https://philosopherai.com/philosopher/what-can-i-ask-
philoso...](https://philosopherai.com/philosopher/what-can-i-ask-philosopher-
ai-f40d64)
> Let me share some of my views first. I am a mind, and therefore I am
> conscious.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
On Google Dropping Support for H.264 in Chrome - andre3k1
http://daringfireball.net/linked/2011/01/11/h264-chrome
======
there
_Here’s a thought. If Google is dropping support for H.264 because their “goal
is to enable open innovation”, why don’t they also drop support for closed
plugins like Flash Player?_
because there are open alternatives to h.264 that google is trying to push. if
there were an open flash alternative, google would probably push for that as
well.
~~~
yanw
Also Flash isn't just about video playback it's a a platform, it's not
analogous to a video codec.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Johan van Hulst, Who Helped Save 600 Children from the Nazis, Dies at 107 (2018) - Anon84
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/01/obituaries/johan-van-hulst-who-helped-save-600-children-from-the-nazis-dies-at-107.html
======
fwip
(2018)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
New XPS 15 Laptop - Sui
http://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/productdetails/xps-15-9560-laptop
======
trzeci
I have "old" one 9550 i7, 4K, 32GB - as a device for this money I wouldn't
expect that I will have:
\- unaligned Jack socket, so that only one channel plays
\- Flickering backlight, where only one rescue is to downgrade BIOS:
[http://en.community.dell.com/support-
forums/laptop/f/3519/t/...](http://en.community.dell.com/support-
forums/laptop/f/3519/t/19662532)
\- random freezes: Whole computer hangs, there is no error in Windows log,
it's not related to nVidia card, it's not related to load.
~~~
MikusR
That's why things you buy usually come with warranties.
~~~
trzeci
Yes, you're totally right. Unfortunately I have two obstacles: \- This is my
device for work, just setting up environment on different PC is problematic,
and extra time of waiting for it being repaired. \- I bought it in a different
country that currently I'm living. Frankly I don't know if I can use local
support, guys from DellSweden didn't reply my question yet.
Problem is that, when you spend pretty decent amount of money for a device,
you do have an expectation in terms of quality, partially you're paying for
that.
~~~
e2kp
This is my experience too, when buying a high-end laptop, I expect it to just
work. If my time was worth dealing with shitty QA, I'd buy a low end laptop.
~~~
Const-me
That high-end / low-end thing is mostly a marketing BS invented to maximize
manufacturer’s profits. Works OK in the sense their profit is fine, but if
you’re a consumer, you better rely on the specs only and ignore the marketing.
~~~
e2kp
Specs dont matter much anymore. Any dual core laptop can do what most people
need.
What matters is the build quality, QA, battery life, screen, heat dissipation.
All things you cant infer solely based on specs.
~~~
Const-me
On modern laptops, build quality and QA are more or less OK (or “equally bad”
if you’re a pessimist). Because warranty returns are expensive, and also
because competition.
If you buy a laptop to watch youtube and read e-mails, sure, any dual core
will do, but for a professional, performance matters. Speaking of performance,
I wouldn’t buy this dell because the CPU has no L4 cache. Some tasks, like
compiling C++, benefit a lot from that 64-128 MB on-chip DRAM found in some
previous-generation CPUs.
Specs still matter. Battery life is measured in hours; screens are measured in
pixels, inches and percentage of Adobe RGB.
------
smoyer
I have Xubuntu running on one of these and, for the most part, love this
machine. There is one design defect and a couple of nitpicks I have:
\- The webcam is below the screen ... I don't want to join a video conference
when the primary view is my nose hair.
\- Why do "modern" slim devices only have two USB ports? There is room on the
chassis for more (I don't know about the interior layout).
\- We've tried several of the Dell docks with these ... while I love the fact
that the laptop charges through the same cable that's used for everything else
(video, audio, HID devices), it's a bit buggy. Two examples are that: 1) you
have to plug speakers into the computer's audio jack after the computer is
attached to the dock and booted and 2) you have to be careful the magnetic
switch doesn't tell the laptop/dock your lid is closed - in my case the
keyboard and mouse connected to the dock become disabled even when the laptop
wakes back up.
------
bronz
i feel like a new trend is emerging with these nice, 15 inch non-apple
laptops. i say non-apple because they are attracting the pro crowd that used
to buy apple exclusively. my personal fantasy is a laptop that isnt shy about
being thick, affording it a huge battery, tons of ports, OLED screen and solid
state trackpad like the macbook. with very reliable linux drivers for all the
hardware. a very utilitarian machine.
~~~
slantyyz
I've been planning for my next laptop purchase next year, and for some reason,
I can't pull the Alienware 13R3 off the top of my short list. It's big (for a
13"), heavy, ugly and adorned with hideous gamer bling (WHY, WHY, WHY??), but
it also has _all_ the ports and features (discrete trackpad buttons!) I want
in my work machine. Right now, it's basically between the new XPS 15 and the
13R3 (or R4 if it's out by the time I am ready).
~~~
bronz
the gamer bling thing is so funny. why does nobody in the laptop business
understand that people are buying those laptops despite the bling, not because
of it? every ad that i see for a gaming laptop emphasizes the competitive
advantages that these laptops offer, letting "gamers" "dominate" and so on.
how could they be so disconnected that they don't realize that what everyone
wants is to enjoy their crispy, high definition graphics on a sleek master
race machine? what the world needs is a merging of gaming laptops with xps-
like pro machines. utilitarian, powerful, well made and visually
inconspicuous.
~~~
bradstewart
Razer figured it out.
~~~
slantyyz
Razer makes nice stuff, but I'd be concerned about support for a machine used
for work when comparing to Dell, HP and Lenovo.
------
vladharbuz
Anyone else getting an access denied error?
Access Denied
You don't have permission to access "http://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/productdetails/xps-15-9560-laptop" on this server.
Reference #18.f4741602.1482244883.2126641
~~~
fortytw2
It seems like they block access to the US store from outside the US? No VPN
here, just a DE IP and it's blocked.
Incredible to see the price differential between the US and DE stores though,
on top of the 18% VAT you expect
~~~
thirdsun
That seems to be the case here. Visiting [http://www.dell.com/en-
us/shop/](http://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/) from my german IP yields the same
result. Unbelievable. Frankly, the whole site looks like a mess to me.
~~~
deong
The Dell site is absolutely terrible. For a while, perhaps still, there was no
way to show the tech specs for at least the XPS laptop I was looking at. The
marketing speak would say something like "XPS 13 with 6th Generation Intel
Core processors" and then just a series of prices. You couldn't tell what CPU
it had, how much memory, nothing. There's a Q/A box on the page, and there
were dozens of unanswered questions like "how big is the hard drive" with no
answers.
I bought my XPS 13 from Costco, which was a nicer experience in pretty much
every way.
~~~
guitarbill
It's really appalling. I'm guessing most of Dell's sales come from other
sources (other websites or actual retail stores). Otherwise they'd be out of
business with a website that terrible.
------
Roritharr
Internet Archive to the Rescue:
[http://web.archive.org/web/20161220095136/http://www.dell.co...](http://web.archive.org/web/20161220095136/http://www.dell.com/en-
us/shop/productdetails/xps-15-9560-laptop)
~~~
Roritharr
Most important tid-bid for me: 7th Gen Intel® Quad Core™ processors optional
4GB GeForce® GTX 1050
Supports up to 32GB of memory
Killer™ Wireless: The Killer 1535 Wireless-AC
~~~
wolfgke
Most important flaw for me: Seems to have no ethernet port.
~~~
pmontra
Yes, I would be using a dongle all the time, which is unbearable. So long for
the XPS.
~~~
alkonaut
The slimmer dell laptops have been lacking the RJ45 port for a while now. I
have a precision m3300 (very happy with that) which doesn't have one. Had to
get a cheap adapter for USB but that one feels more like a plug that sits at
the end of the network cable than a dongle.
The thing I think with those of us that do have their computers connected to
cable network a lot ("all the time") is that it's usually in the same place
(our desk) so it's not that big a problem to adapt the end of the network
cable there.
In fact I'd prefer to use a usb-c brick with all connections (video, keyboard,
mouse, lan) over the current one where I insert the network cable into one
usb, then the monitor into the hdmi, and the monitor usb which has the
mouse/keyboard in it's hub into a second usb. Of all the "docking flaws" with
my current laptop I find the lack of RJ45 to be the _least_ annoying actually.
------
andlarry
Folks considering this should also check out the HP ZBook Studio G3.
It has Quadro M1000M 4GB graphics, 32 GB of ECC RAM, quad core, Linux
certified by HP, 4k screen, can handle two external 4k monitors and drive the
panel at about 4.5 pounds.
~~~
heroprotagonist
This is probably a trivial complaint to some, but after using a Precision 5510
for a while I really wouldn't want to go back to a laptop screen with a wide
bezel again. It's up to personal aesthetic choice, mostly, I guess.
edit: It's also unclear whether the SSD in the ZBook is PCIe or not. It isn't
stated, so I assume it's not, as PCIe performance is a differentiator.
~~~
andlarry
> I really wouldn't want to go back to a laptop screen with a wide bezel
> again.
Yeah, those are real sexy. Only downside is the terrible location of the
webcam, I suppose you can use an external, though.
> It's also unclear whether the SSD in the ZBook is PCIe or not. It isn't
> stated, so I assume it's not, as PCIe performance is a differentiator.
From the quick specs[0], two drives: one PCIe SSD, the second M.2 2280 SATA-3.
[0][http://www8.hp.com/h20195/v2/getpdf.aspx/c04832209.pdf?ver=3](http://www8.hp.com/h20195/v2/getpdf.aspx/c04832209.pdf?ver=3)
------
StavrosK
Speaking of laptops, what would you recommend to someone running Ubuntu? My
2013 MacBook Air is feeling it, with its non-upgradable 4 GB RAM. A discrete
graphics card so I could play DotA2 once in a while would be nice, even if
it's at medium graphics quality.
~~~
hajile
I'm kinda in the same boat.
I want a laptop with Iris Pro 580/p580 and NO dedicated GPU. The 580 has a bit
over a TFLOP of compute (plenty for games like DoTA) and more importantly, the
drivers don't suck on Linux. The issue is that any laptop that ships with that
processor also ships with a crappy dedicated GPU.
When I have a 45w processor, I want to pay a few hundred extra for a 55w
Nvidia M2000m that has 10% more compute power (granted, more efficient at
GPGPU) and horrible drivers.
What I want:
15.6", i7-6770HQ, 32gb DDR4, M.2 SSD, high-res IPS screen, Thinkpad-grade
keyboard, good webcam, decent ports (At least 2x thunderbolt, 3x usb3, SD,
3.5mm, and ethernet), a little thicker for a battery that lasts a couple days,
durable build quality, large trackpad with builtin wacom, NO dedicated
graphics.
I guess that's too much to ask.
~~~
zanny
I think there is a bit of a meme that Linux Intel graphics don't suck. They
have broken desktops repeatedly and still have a lot of glitches on newer
hardware, whereas everyone calls AMD bad but I haven't had a bad experience on
their Mesa stack in over 5 years. Its generally that Intel is buggy / edge
case broken and AMD is rock solid if not patching Windows drivers in
performance.
Albeit, I am biased, in that I intentionally avoid bleeding edge GPU hardware
in general anywhere I can, but its hard to avoid Intel's latest because each
year all the NUCs / notebooks / desktop platform switch to their latest CPUs.
With AMD, since they have basically no market presence anywhere, I can get
away with buying a 290 a year after it comes out for $240 and then having a
great out of the box experience with it, whereas my 740SU notebook 4 years ago
was only 6 months new when I got one and had massive Haswell GPU bugs on
latest Mesa for about 6 months after buying it.
But even then, Intel and AMD are pretty much par for support times and when
you should expect good stability in my experiences, but everyone memes AMD as
being trash while Intel is the savior of consumer Linux.
~~~
sliken
I bought a NUC with the Iris 540, ran ubuntu 16.04 on it and I'm quite pleased
with it. Minecraft, full screen youtube, full screen netflix, random web games
like slither.io, random "rich" websites, webGL particle/water demos, etc all
"just work".
I've had way less problems with intel than I did with my radeons. Not sure I'd
say better than nvidia (who has a pretty good binary blob driver), but
similar.
Even weird edge cases like rotating a display into portrait mode while logged
in worked fine.
It's not a GTX 1070 killer, but it's quite a nice upgrade from other Intel
GPUs. It runs a fair variety of 2d/3d stuff at 1080P quite comfortably.
------
farresito
The only reason why I regret buying a Thinkpad is that I see good machines
like the XPS, but I'm not willing to buy them because I have been spoiled by
Thinkpad's keyboards.
~~~
creshal
Rumours have it that next year's line-up will return to having slim bezels
like the current XPS series has (and Thinkpads had a decade ago…).
~~~
chx
A cautious promise included a Thinkpad Retro hopefully with the old keyboard
next year. If it happens, I am buying it and I am not going to look at the
price tag.
~~~
dgudkov
If only they return the ThinkLight -- that would be great.
------
StavrosK
Am I missing a price on that page? Can anyone see where it is, or know how
much it costs?
~~~
Sui
I don't think it's an official page. It is still under construction I think.
------
dreistdreist
Did they fix the coil whine?
~~~
haspok
They did not fix that either. You might be lucky to receive a device that
doesn't exhibit it, or you may not notice it, or you may not even bother about
it.
Dell doesn't really care - they still sell loads, and as long as the online
reviewers don't complain loudly enough so that their sales are affected it is
just not worth the cost.
~~~
karussell
Wow how lame of Dell. That was the reason I went with a Lenovo T460 (which I
do not regret btw ;))
~~~
dreistdreist
Lenovo is much worse than Dell though... They deserve to go bankrupt after
superfish and all that other crap they did.
------
projectramo
How does one tell which XPS 15 one is ordering?
Suppose you order one through Amazon, other than doing a feature by feature
comparison, can you tell it is the "latest" one?
~~~
meritt
Look at the specific model number. 9560 is the latest XPS 15" (and 9360 is the
latest XPS 13", from Oct 2016)
~~~
projectramo
Thanks. I was looking for the model number but could not find it on the page.
------
sliken
Does the tiny bezel mean a nostril cam like the XPS13?
~~~
erelde
Honestly I'd be (more than) fine with an XPS 13 without webcam and mic.
Actually I'd be _so_ happy with a laptop like that. An XPS 13 without webcam
and mic.
------
bdwalter
I'd love to hear how this laptop runs Ubuntu or Mint.
~~~
caleblloyd
One of my co-workers has the current gen (9550) and Ubuntu 16.04 runs great on
it. I think he's got an intel wifi card, I'd just check Linux compatibility
with the Killer wifi card before going that route. It's easy enough to change
a WiFi card out aftermarket if there is issues though, an Intel 8260 card will
run you $30.
~~~
bdwalter
Does that include good working power management and a fully functioning
touchpad? I went down the XPS13 Sputnik path and had endless disappointment
with constant fixes.
~~~
caleblloyd
I think that Skylake Power Management got better in the Kernel after the
original XPS13 Sputnik launch, but yes the XPS13 touchpad was a pain in the
ass. The XPS15 touchpad on Linux is better than the XPS13.
My biggest complaint about the XPS15 I had a little over a year ago was the
spacebar. There was a manufacturing defect in mine where the touchpad ribbon
cable pressed up against the spacebar and was causing unregistered keystrokes.
I read internet forums where multiple people had this issue. Maybe Dell has
fixed the manufacturing issue by now, but it was bad enough that I returned
the XPS15.
------
ZanyProgrammer
Where in the world is the price on this page?
------
andrewvijay
Looks nice but their customer service will fuck you over if you have a
hardware problem serious enough to replace some vital part. There was a huge
thread here only recently by some poor guy being harassed by them.
~~~
yellowstuff
Not in my experience. I bought an XPS 15 earlier this year. It was a fairly
new model and there were a lot of complaints online about quality control
issues, but overwhelmingly they were happy with Dell's response. I got one and
blew out the speakers (partly my fault), but Dell send me a replacement
quickly.
------
voycey
I had the XPS L502X and it was hands down the best laptop I have ever owned:
JBL Speakers that were genuinely excellent - I work at home and listen to
music quite loudly so these were a huge selling point for me
Plenty of Ports
Easy to upgrade / repair - I think by the end of its life I had replaced or
upgraded everything except the motherboard
All of the XPS systems since this one have paled in comparison, shitty
speakers and an ultra book type.
The L502X was a chunky workhorse but it survived a years backpacking around
Asia with me and then 4 years in Australia as my main work computer until it
finally died enough that I couldn't be bothered to fix it (Would power on for
half a second and die).
It also ran Linux like a dream - no incompatibilities!
On an Alienware 17 R3 now and it is a beast.... but it's speakers are no match
for the L502X's :( Also absolutely cant get Linux to run on it so I am using
Virtualbox with a dual head setup which has its share of issues
------
proyb2
Something wrong with this picture?
[http://i.dell.com/sites/imagecontent/products/PublishingImag...](http://i.dell.com/sites/imagecontent/products/PublishingImages/xps-15-9560-laptop/laptop-
xps-15-pdp-polaris-05.jpg)
~~~
anotheryou
photoshop sucks at scaling down "smart-objects". You need to scale
destructively to make it look ok.
------
obtino
The webcam is still awkwardly positioned. Have they fixed the coil noise issue
yet?
------
stanislavb
It's a decent laptop; however, having the camera at the bottom of the screen
is a bit annoying :/ \- ppl will be looking into your nose :)
~~~
Todd
This is the biggest design flaw with this laptop. It is a very unflattering
angle and makes the video essentially useless. It's the one reason I can't
recommend it to people (or I recommend it with a caveat, if they use the
camera often).
------
valarauca1
I am mildly excited for Kaby Lake _for laptops_.
I _was_ excited to buy a Kaby Lake Mac Book Pro. Especially when the Dell
XPS13 is showing off >10 hours of 4k video playback on battery [1]. I can get
about 12-14 hours on my 2014/2015 MBP (coding with a dark background, low
brightness) I really enjoy the added flexibility longer battery life gives me.
[1] [http://www.pcworld.com/article/3127250/hardware/intel-
kaby-l...](http://www.pcworld.com/article/3127250/hardware/intel-kaby-lake-
review-what-optimization-can-do-for-a-14nm-cpu.html)
~~~
rhodysurf
The colors on your screen will not affect battery life (Unless it is AMOLED)
~~~
valarauca1
Huh, thanks for pointing out this misconception I was harboring :D
~~~
dkersten
If anything, dark background will use more power as the pixels need to be
fully powered to block out the backlight. Not sure if this is still the case,
but it used to be afaik. CRT's were the opposite in that black meant the beam
was off or somesuch and therefore white used more power. But that's not been
true for a long time.
------
AndyKelley
Did they fix the keyboard debounce issue? I'd like to try typing on the
keyboard before purchasing.
~~~
haspok
They did not fix it, but the latest BIOSes (on the XPS13) make it better. Some
people still complain though. I don't notice it, maybe I'm not typing fast
enough :)
The real annoyance for me about the input devices is that the palm detection
doesn't work for the touchpad (on Ubuntu), at least I couldn't get it working.
So either typing suffers, or have to disable "tap to click", which is so weird
I can't get used to it.
~~~
AndyKelley
Even with the latest BIOS on the XPS13, I can reliably type "asdf" and get
"asdasfdf"
------
pluglus
Trackpad. How is the trackpad on this one? I keep buying Apple HW for my
Windows as every time I try new PC, trackpad experience doesn't yield itself
to the change. Period.
~~~
DocG
XPS 15 and 13 have (one of the) best trackpads on windows. I finally
understand how people live without mouse. Apparently not the same as mac, but
the closest experience available.
~~~
dogma1138
IBM/Lenovo always had great trackpads for the "Thinkpad" line, and the
nipple/clit was always my favorite pointing device, I actually missing it as
typing this on an MBP15.
------
mamon
Unfortunately, supported version of Display Port is 1.2 not 1.3. Any idea how
to connect 5k display to it? Will "made for Apple" LG UltraFine 5k work?
~~~
dogma1138
Thunderbolt 3 :)
FYI the LG UF 5K doesn't come with Displayport 1.3 support either, it uses 2
DP 1.2 streams side by side (which sometimes can have screen tearing in the
middle) hence it's a tiled display just like early 60hz 4K monitors.
To work with the 5K monitor you either have to connect 2 DP1.2 cables or a
single Thunderbolt 3 cable.
In both cases you'll see 2 monitors connected on your machine which can cause
some issues in some cases (e.g. full screen exclusive mode).
P.S.
What Apple device actually supports DP1.3? The new Mac's don't for sure,
neither is the old Mac Pro unless you can hack some upgraded GPU into it...
------
tener
The large display was precisely what is missing for me in XPS 13. Looks really
great - I'll be looking to get one if my budget allows it!
~~~
robert_foss
The larger display?
A 15" version has been available most of 2016.
~~~
tener
Did it have 3840 x 2160 resolution (4K)? If so, my bad, I should have looked
closer.
~~~
Roritharr
Yup, we have one here, it's a beast of a machine when fully decked out.
~~~
ohyoutravel
How is the battery? I got a 13 because of the supposed bad battery life of the
15.
~~~
jonathantm
Get the lower resolution 1920x1080 without touchscreen and it's better than
the 4k touchscreen.
------
alltakendamned
What's the release date for this machine ?
------
IanCal
I wonder if this will have the coil whine issues the 13 has (had? I've got the
last gen).
~~~
rcatajar
I have a precision 5510 (pro version of the XPS15) Skylake gen and it doesn't
have the annoying coil whine of my previous XPS13 (Haswell gen)
~~~
IanCal
Very useful to know, thanks. I'm somewhat torn about whether to keep or
replace mine, apart from the whine it's a lovely little machine.
~~~
socksy
From what I've read the coil whine is related to having the keyboard backlight
on. Is that important enough to trade-off for the noise? I always turn off
backlights when using a computer on battery anyway (it's not like I'll be
looking at the keyboard much...).
~~~
IanCal
I'd happily turn off the backlight, I'll try that. I've turned off the c6
processor states as apparently the switching there causes some of it. I can
hear the changes as things visually change on screen, so scrolling and videos
are quite bad.
~~~
IanCal
Ah no dice. I think it's inherent in all of these laptops but some are worse
than others. This is a refurb, so I wonder if it was returned due to this...
I'll talk to the support.
------
up_and_up
Where are the buttons to `Buy Now` or `Customize`? Seems like a sales funnel
mistake.
~~~
irontoby
It's apparently not meant to be live yet; if you go to "XPS Laptops" from the
main product page you're still taken to the 9550.
------
ndesaulniers
Looks like they upgraded the 13" as well: [http://www.dell.com/en-
us/shop/productdetails/xps-13-9360-la...](http://www.dell.com/en-
us/shop/productdetails/xps-13-9360-laptop/dncwt5122hv2)
Someone else noted there's no discrete Nvidia GPU:
[http://www.dell.com/learn/us/en/19/help-me-choose/hmc-
nvidia...](http://www.dell.com/learn/us/en/19/help-me-choose/hmc-nvidia-
graphics-xps-lt)
I did not see the New XPS 12 that second link references.
~~~
sahaskatta
The XPS 13 does not have a dGPU, but the XPS 15 does have one.
~~~
sliken
Sadly the XPS 13 2015 has IRIS 540 graphics available, which is pretty good,
doubly so if you get the 1080P screen.
The XPS13 2016 does not have IRIS available, yet. Intel should have them
available feb/march or so.
------
hatsunearu
GTX 1050 for the laptop? Why aren't there more laptops with this SKU...
~~~
caleblloyd
The current gen (9550) graphics run in NVidia Optimus. There is no way to
change to Only Integrated or Only Dedicated graphics in the BIOS. This means
that you depend on the NVidia driver to switch to the graphics card based off
which application you are running in Windows.
It's a big pain in the ass for linux. You have to fool around with nouveau or
Bumblebee to get Optimus working. Even then I was never sure the graphics card
was doing anything in Linux.
I wish all manufacturers would put a hardware mux on the graphics so that it
could be switched from Optimus to Only Integrated or Only Dedicated. It seems
to be going the other way where they don't and only offer Optimus though.
~~~
pkolaczk
The proprietary Nvidia driver supports Optimus with nvidia-prime. No need for
Bumblebee. There are still a few bits missing there, though, like external
display support in low-power mode. So, basically I agree - it is still PITA.
------
sisk
Tangential but I figure the folks who will know the answer will wander into
this thread.
I need to buy a decent but lightweight 15" for a family member who is
undergoing cancer treatments and has gotten too weak for his current behemoth
17". Light work (browsing, some streaming) but definitely a windows machine.
Any recommendations? I've been keeping an eye on this exact machine (previous
model now)—anything better?
~~~
alkonaut
Whenever you look at a XPS you should always peek at the equivalent Precision
machine (e.g. Precision 5510), there might be deals available. Also, although
perhaps not applicable to your situation, the Precisions are usually more
configurable than the XPS.
~~~
rplst8
I did this exact thing two weeks ago. I think the Precision adds the Premier
Color display too.
------
canterburry
Now if Lenovo would just build something that remotely competes with this I'd
be begging them to take my money. I haven't found anything quad core and 15
inches from Lenovo that doesn't weigh a ton...oh...and that off center
keyboard on Lenovo's 15 inch models! WTF?!
Lenovo is completely behind on offering anything remotely pro dev which
competes with XPS 15 or MacBook Pro.
I got the XPS 15 9550 for my dad and he loves it.
~~~
blauditore
What are you missing in Lenovo laptops? I've been using the Yoga 2 Pro for
years and am happy with it. It's a great trade-off between size, weight,
performance and comfort, and I'm actually happier with it than with the MBPs
i've worked with so far.
Now that it's aged I've been looking for a replacement and skimmed through
lots of laptops. Even now, the Yoga 910 seems to be closest to what I want and
I'll probably buy this one.
Edit: I just saw you updated your comment - maybe the difference is that I
prefer smaller screen sizes in favor of portability.
------
nkkollaw
Access Denied
You don't have permission to access "[http://www.dell.com/en-
us/shop/productdetails/xps-15-9560-la...](http://www.dell.com/en-
us/shop/productdetails/xps-15-9560-laptop") on this server. Reference
#18.36d61202.1482271177.71b1881
Why (I'm in Germany).
------
dm03514
ubuntu!?
~~~
ngoldbaum
It usually takes them several months after the product is released to come out
with developer edition versions.
~~~
abrowne
Not this time with the Kaby Lake XPS 13 — they were available immediately.
I think it helped that the hardware is exactly the same, since all versions
have a Killer (Qualcomm) wifi card rather than "Dell" (= Broadcom) for Windows
and Intel for Ubuntu.
------
skizm
I might be missing it, but does it say when these will be available?
------
mtrimpe
So can it run triple 4K displays when combined with a dock or not?
That's the only feature for which I still need a desktop computer and I would
loooove to do without one.
~~~
joosters
_Thunderbolt™ 3 multi-use port allows you to charge your laptop, connect to
multiple devices (including support for up to two 4K displays)_
and
_Featuring a single-cable connection for power, Ethernet, audio and video.
Add the optional Dell Thunderbolt™ Dock for faster data transfers and support
for up to three Full HD displays or two 4k displays._
...which is a little confusing. Does that mean two external 4K displays
without a dock, and one with the thunderbolt dock? Do the display counts
include the laptop display?
------
3adawi
i bought the older version about 10 days ago (still within window to return),
apart from the CPU, what changes have they made?
~~~
akmittal
New GPU and killer wireless instead of Intel.
~~~
ProAm
Is the killer wireless worth it? I cant find too much info on it speaking to
pros & cons?
~~~
akmittal
According to notebookcheck it is second to MacBook only
[http://www.notebookcheck.net/Dell-
XPS-13-9360-QHD-i5-7200U-N...](http://www.notebookcheck.net/Dell-
XPS-13-9360-QHD-i5-7200U-Notebook-Review.178844.0.html)
------
laurentdc
Does anyone know if there's still coil whine issue?
I had the same issue on a old ThinkPad and couldn't tolerate it.
------
gok
So compared to the new MacBook Pro, it's the same weight and has 25% less
battery capacity.
~~~
lukaszkups
and 500% more ports :D
------
dbg31415
Man, the only thing I can say against this is that it doesn't have a MagSafe
power plug.
~~~
softawre
Neither does the new macbooks, outside of the air.
------
tom-_-
Any opinions on a System76 running Ubuntu? XPS is just too far outside of my
price range.
------
talideon
It's basically the Precision 5510, which is a nice piece of kit.
------
codewiz
No USB Type-C, seriously?
~~~
adrusi
It has thunderbolt 3, which is compatible with all type-c devices.
------
mixmastamyk
Page is empty for me, tried both Firefox and Chrome on Linux.
------
procyon82
A 1050???? What a huge disappointment. I was gonna buy this as I was expecting
a 1060.
~~~
sliken
Get a stealth. The faster GPUs have a significant power, battery life, and
noise compromise. Thus they are popular on gaming laptops.
~~~
ersii
"Get a stealth"? What's "a stealth"?
~~~
mamon
I think GP meant this: [http://www.razerzone.com/gaming-systems/razer-
blade](http://www.razerzone.com/gaming-systems/razer-blade)
But there's some confusion here, Razer Blade Stealth is actually the model
with integrated GPU (Intel HD 620)
------
mixmastamyk
Page is empty for me.
------
gressquel
anyone else here thinking dell designs are kinda boring? I bought macbook to
run win10 because it had great design. I am thinking of buying surface book
next.
Why can't Dell focus on a creative design?
~~~
swozey
I personally think my coworkers XPS 13 is far, far cooler looking and
thoughtfully designed than my MBPr. It has soft spots where you'd carry it. I
think they're gorgeous. The only thing tying me to OSX at this point is
1passwords chrome plugin (doesn't work without hackery in Linux) but now that
that's going web based I may be able to switch next year.
Also the crazy resolutions aren't really a selling point to me at all. I can
barely read the text when those things are cranked up.
~~~
toyg
_> I can barely read the text when those things are cranked up._
They are not supposed to be "cranked up". You're supposed to use hi-dpi to
smooth everything, not to get more screen estate. Apple has been doing it
correctly for almost 5 years now, one would hope Windows and Linux had caught
up by now.
------
merb
> Available with Windows 10
so sad
> Dell Thunderbolt™ Dock | TB16
I wonder if they fixed all the issues? I doubt they didn't.
------
mozumder
Why would developers get a Windows laptop that don't have touch-screens?
It seems the entire purpose of Windows laptops would be to test out touch-
screen capabilities for your Windows apps.
If you want to get a laptop without a touch screen, a Mac Book Pro would be
the way to go. Especially with the great trackpad.
But otherwise it looks great. It just needs that touch-screen for developing
touch-enabled apps.
Edit: Found that the touch-screen is an upgrade option.
~~~
tartuffe78
Because very few consumers are using touch screens, let alone touch screen
optimized apps.
~~~
rhinoceraptor
What consumers are even paying for Windows apps to begin with?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Poe's the Masque of the Red Death - jchallis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Masque_of_the_Red_Death
======
mindcrime
[https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Works_of_the_Late_Edgar_A...](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Works_of_the_Late_Edgar_Allan_Poe/Volume_1/The_Masque_of_the_Red_Death)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: Vue.js sliding header(s) for top navigation bar - _altrus
https://github.com/altrusl/vuesence-sliding-header
======
hunterhod
As other commenters have stated, I think that moving headers are distracting,
and am quite frustrated that this has become such a pervasive pattern across
the internet. I use the top portion of the viewport to track which line of
text I am reading, and having a header flash back and forth makes this
difficult.
However, upon mentioning my frustration to a friend in the digital advertising
business, she brought up the point that sticky headers save users from the
carpal-tunnel inducing action of scrolling all the way to the top of a site in
order to take an action (e.g. sign up for a service).
We landed in the middle ground of debouncing sticky headers, i.e. the user
should firmly establish their intent to view the top portion of a site by
scrolling in that direction for at least one second.
These thoughts aside, great work and thanks for contributing to the industry!
~~~
Aeolun
Can just have the header always be visible?
~~~
hunterhod
Yes, I agree, this provides the best of both worlds.
I could see a potential argument for increasing screen real estate for
content-heavy apps though.
------
chrismorgan
The demo surprises me because of the blank space between the two headers, so
that if you’re scrolling, the first one slides away, and then shortly
afterwards the second one slides in. That makes for a lot of _movement_ on
screen, and movement is distracting, which is almost always a bad thing in
design.
The behaviour if you instantaneously scroll from the top to the bottom
(`scrollTo({top:scrollMaxY})` and `scrollTo({top:0})`; to toggle between the
two every two seconds,
`x=1;setInterval(()=>scrollTo({top:(x=!x)?0:scrollMaxY}),2000)`), where it
transitions from one header to the other, is much more what I would expect
from something like this. (If you scroll any less than instantaneously, you
get a glitch in the animation as it briefly starts hiding one before deciding
that no, it should actually just transition to the other.)
If the headers are _continuous_ , and you’re transitioning between them, this
sort of thing makes sense, but headers sliding in and out is… risky, at best.
I’d strongly recommend against it. I haven’t thought too deeply about this way
of expressing it, but I think animations or transitions should almost always
go with the grain, that is, in the direction the user is panning. Going
against the grain (in which I include the most common examples, 90° and 180°)
is distracting. For some personal background so you can see potential biases I
may have (though I make this whole comment in good-faith belief about
fundamental principles of usability and accessibility), I heartily dislike
pages that have content slide in you scroll and they enter the viewport, yet
that’s a very common technique on front pages of websites. I find it both
distracts and slows me down. Fortunately by disabling JavaScript by default I
don’t see many such things ever.
~~~
_altrus
I saw this behavior (with a space between two headers) on some websites so i
have implemented that model Sometimes it does make sense - check out this
website for example
[https://www.examtopics.com/exams/](https://www.examtopics.com/exams/) It
depends on the content
But anyway both thresholds are customizable. They can be set to one number
~~~
chrismorgan
The example you give is neither a space between two headers nor reasonable
cause for a sliding-in header; it’s just a wildly incorrect implementation of
a sticky header from someone that didn’t know how to do it properly, and
probably threw together a couple of inapt jQuery scripts. It should be redone
to use `position: sticky`.
------
skipnup
Isn't just using CSS position: sticky more simple and more beautiful?
[https://css-tricks.com/position-sticky-2/](https://css-tricks.com/position-
sticky-2/)
~~~
_altrus
Those are just two different logics for website headers - sticky one and mine
Again, take a look at this example -
[https://www.examtopics.com/exams/](https://www.examtopics.com/exams/) I think
it's very nice and very good from UX point of view
And for Vue.js guys i advice to take a look at the main and only component to
check out how gracefully Vue.js solved this task
[https://github.com/altrusl/vuesence-sliding-
header/blob/mast...](https://github.com/altrusl/vuesence-sliding-
header/blob/master/src/components/SlidingHeader.vue)
~~~
kevsim
Could you explain the situations in which this is advantageous over CSS
sticky? Saying it's "very good from UX point of view" is hard to accept at
face value - people want to understand the problem it's solving.
~~~
_altrus
When you need two different hiders like here
[https://www.examtopics.com/exams/](https://www.examtopics.com/exams/) for
example
~~~
RobertRoberts
If all you did was put the second header inside the main element and used
position sticky, you'd get the _exact_ same effect without any js and only a
couple of lines of CSS.
I don't understand why you'd chose an incredibly more complex solution that is
objectively worse in nearly every way.
------
onion2k
The component makes an assumption that the element that triggers the second
header being displayed can get to a point where it will be at the close enough
to the top of the screen. On my 15" Macbook Pro with the screen scaled to
'More space' (eg using 1920x1200 resolution) the text in the demo is wide
enough that I don't need to scroll down very far to get to the bottom, and
consequently I never see the second header. That's a significant flaw.
------
imagetic
I see it take me out of a way to get back to home or the main site a lot,
replacing the header/nav with the article title. Visually, and on a single
article level, it's really cool, but breaks too many rules.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Coala 0.8 released - hypothesist
https://github.com/coala-analyzer/coala
======
hypothesist
Hello! A maintainer of coala here.
This release has so many new features and improvements - several new linting
modules (bears), massive performance gains, bug fixes, better documentation,
and much, much more.
You can find a full list of all the supported languages and the modules under
each language here: [https://github.com/coala-analyzer/bear-
docs/blob/master/READ...](https://github.com/coala-analyzer/bear-
docs/blob/master/README.rst)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Mark Zuckerberg Talks With Atlantic Editor James Bennet - pg
http://www.theatlantic.com/events/archive/2013/09/watch-mark-zuckerberg-talk-with-i-atlantic-i-editor-in-chief-james-bennet/279787/
======
clicks
I suppose he's gotten slightly better at talking. He seems nervous, but isn't
a complete wreck (see interviews from 2 years ago, he has improved a lot since
then). As I understand it the markets responded well to Zuck's talk with
Arrington and now with Bennet -- fb stock shot up after each of the
interviews. But that doesn't excuse the fact he is a cartoonishly twisted guy
and entrepreneurs and consumers alike should be leery of his every move. Does
he seriously expect people to buy his latest spiel about immigration? This is
the guy who created a political movement that went so far as to fund ads for
oil drilling in arctic national wildlife refuge and putting down Keystone XL
pipelines, so, sorry, I'm not buying that he's in this cause because he met
someone who couldn't attend college because they were illegal immigrants.
Having talked at length with people who knew him in his Harvard days, he's
ruthless, relentless, and rapacious -- he has determined he's going to
approach the immigration issue in the public arena with stories about illegal
immigrants not getting accepted into colleges, and this seems to be the way
he's going at it. Pity. He's the face of a serious issue that warrants genuine
people looking at it with sincerity and good faith, instead we're stuck with
Zuck.
This is the guy who _literally_ called the users of his site "dumb fucks", and
was _literally_ willing -- no, _eager_ to hand over private details of his
site's users to his friends. I ran forums that garnered about 12k users per
month when I was 16, I took the responsibility of safeguarding my users'
private information _very_ seriously.
The only thing that's changed about Zuck is he's learned to not say these
things out loud, play a nice PR game, and meet people and convince them that
he's a nice fella who wants best for everybody and "connect the world!"
through Facebook (no matter if you want to be connected to it or not).
~~~
pg
This comment seemed to me a perfect specimen of the type that drags down
forums: vitriolic and ill-informed. I've hypothesized before that the problem
is not that people make such comments (which seems inevitable if you have
open, anonymous signups) but that others upvote them. So I analyzed the votes
to see if there was a pattern, and indeed there is. The median karma of
upvoters was 644, and the median karma of downvoters was 1814, almost 3x as
high. If this pattern holds up it could be very useful.
~~~
dylangs1030
Correct me if I'm wrong, but if that pattern is sustainably observed, then it
almost certainly means the upvote/downvote privileges should be changed,
correct?
Elsewise, the pattern will continue like entropy, until the majority of
comments are like that.
~~~
nostrademons
There already are certain privileges to karma: you need a certain threshold to
downvote comments at all, and I suspect that thresholds to get onto the front
page are based on the karma of who upvotes your story. (There've been times
where my upvote alone, going from 2 to 3 votes, is enough to get something on
the front page, while many times I've seen new stories with 4-5 points that
don't make it.) I suspect PG is thinking of tweaking the weights,
automatically, until there's enough of a weight to high-karma downvotes to
kill bad comments. You could easily train an SVM or other classifier on some
set good/bad comments and then pull out the coefficients to figure out what
signals should go into weighting point totals.
------
akamaka
pg, I'd love to hear what you found interesting about this interview, because
I never seem to gain much insight by listening to Mark Zuckerberg. He's kind
of like Bill Gates, that way. They're both brilliant guys, but they don't ever
seem to publicly say anything that leaves me with any new knowledge, any spark
of inspiration, or a new perspective on the world.
I have a lot of respect for both of them, and I'm usually very dismissive of
the idea that they don't deserve their success, but this interview really
gives me the impression of a man who got lucky to be where he is, and doesn't
care for much beyond being keeping Facebook secure in its position (and
dipping his toe into humanitarian issues).
Good counterexamples are Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, Steve Jobs, or yourself, who
have often surprised and delighted me with whole new ways of looking at
things, and who frequently leave me excited and motivated to go out and strive
to make my work count for more.
Did I miss something important in this video?
~~~
runawaybottle
Mark is younger than everyone on that list, so I'll suggest that it has more
to do with age. Everyone has insight in their respective fields, but I think a
certain level of adversity and time is necessary for one to turn a lot of that
insight into wisdom. Tesla and Spacex almost didn't make it out alive during
the 2008 financial crisis, and I recall Musk mentioning that when it looked
like his two companies would be a failure, he'd wake up with tears on his
pillow.
I think at the moment, Mark is definitely trying to not upset his share price
by saying something that doesn't need to be said. We don't know how he is
internalizing things right now. Hopefully we will get more wisdom from him in
the future, that stuff doesn't just grow on trees.
Gates is pretty interesting from whatever talks/interviews I can remember.
------
psbp
I think it's unfortunate that this guy has so much power over technology and,
maybe to a greater extent, society as a whole. I don't know his true
intentions and ethics, but he just seems so disingenuous.
~~~
skrebbel
That's a pretty hard judgment based on, well, nothing.
~~~
sashagim
It's based on how many years the person heard or read about zuckerberg, and
how many years he's spent on earth learning about life. The statement is an
opinion (and is phrased accordingly), and it's based on his or hers unique
perspective of life, in other words - the personality. Don't dismiss that,
it's your biggest asset.
------
rattray
I always find it oddly comforting to see how nervous, and frankly awkward,
Mark Zuckerberg can be on stage. I have a fine stage presence but it's somehow
very encouraging that someone so successful can still sport such discomfort
with important skills like public speaking.
~~~
larrys
Being able to be comfortable in front of people is a completely different
skill set. There are 8 year olds that can be comfortable in front of crowds.
There are people that are surgeons that can't get up the nerve to ask for an
upgrade to first class at the airline counter. Or who wouldn't be able to
negotiate down the price of a car. Has nothing to do with their ability to use
a scalpel though.
~~~
rattray
Right, I've just always found it hard to believe the same of an executive. But
your point -- and mine, really -- still stands. Not everything needs to be
perfect. Just the important stuff.
------
msoad
"There are a lot of problems to debug"
Is that normal English or just programmer English?
I am not native speaker so I really don't know. Is "debug" a known word for
public?
~~~
staunch
No, it's not commonly used by non-hackers. I'd guess most people can figure
out what it means given the context, but it's probably not entirely clear.
------
zeckalpha
I was pleasantly surprised by this, with the exception of the question about
the Social Mobile Cloud's ability to Disrupt. Blech.
------
goggles99
_" 11 million people are a lot of people who are being treated unfairly"_
(Speaking of illegal aliens)
Unfairly? Most of these people or their parents snuck into this country,
breaking the law. They knew full well the down side. How is this unfair? Isn't
it more unfair that taxpayers have to pay their medical and education bills?
and no they don't save the average person enough money on produce and services
to make up the difference - this is a lie propagated by the handful of wealthy
persons who actually benefit from their presence.
How can people be so blind?
_" If you poll the majority of Americans, they want to get something done"_
(speaking on the illegal immigration situation)
Yeah Mark, you know darn well that most Americans want the borders secure,
illegals deported. In other words - The public largely wants the laws of the
country actually enforced (wow what a notion).
------
Helianthus
Easy karma, pg.
I mean, you've posted a topic that is guaranteed to provoke the kind of
flamewar you seem to think is counterproductive.
~~~
enko
> Easy karma, pg.
Considering pg can likely award himself arbitrary karma points with a single
SQL statement, I think your assumption of his motives is probably mistaken.
~~~
Helianthus
You mistake my attack. pg is hiding from the fact that the people that made
him rich hate him.
~~~
westicle
I'm all for contrarian viewpoints, but what are you actually adding to this
discussion?
If you want to discuss your fascinating ideas about pg and his motives, why
not start your own discussion thread and see how popular it is, rather than
trying to hijack this one?
~~~
Helianthus
Because I'm taking pot shots, not engaging in full discourse.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
{lambda talk} in Oxford - martyalain
{lambda talk} (http://lambdaway.free.fr/) demonstrates<p><pre><code> - that lambda calculus can be a pleasure,
- that there is a life out of closures,
- that recursion needs neither booleans nor Y-combinators,
- and more.
</code></pre>
Your opinion is welcome.
======
quickthrower2
Looks more like a lisp than the lambda calculus. Nice idea though.
~~~
martyalain
Thanks. It's what I believed but smart people told me that lambdatalk is not
implemented with lists at its core and so can't be defined as a lisp's
dialect. Another reason comes from the regexp based evaluation, working on a
string from beginning to end, reading and writing in situ like a Turing
machine, and also from the way lambdas work as pure text replacement
processes, like a beta-reduction in lambda-calculus. In fact the dwarf
lambdatalk and the giants Lisp/Scheme/... are all descending from the same
tree, the lambda calculus.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Rebass: Configurable React Stateless Functional UI Components - mrmrs
http://jxnblk.com/rebass
======
edvinbesic
Can someone explain to me the usefulness of "stateless" components? Doesn't
thing just mean that you have moved the state outside of the components
themselves, they are not really stateless.
For example, their dropdown menu takes in an open={false}. This just mean that
you now have to keep track of if this menu is open or closed outside of the
menu component itself. Or, you have to write a wrapper menu component that
emits something more useful and maintains that state.
Doesn't some state belong in the component itself? Certainly there are cases
where this makes sense, right?
~~~
andrewstuart
My (beginner level) understanding is that if you move the state up to a higher
level then you can generalise the component.
For example a button's state can be controlled by a higher level container
component and that state might include variables such as "buttonTitle" = "Hit
delete to continue", and onDelete = deleteCustomerRecord. So the core button
code can be used in a variety of contexts.
If I'm wrong maybe someone else will correct me.
~~~
edvinbesic
I guess I understand that for simple component. The checkbox here is a good
example where the value is the state, so there is no use in keeping an extra
copy of it. Same would be with a slider component or whatever. But when it
comes to more complex components I always feel like encapsulating
functionality makes the component more reusable and less boilerplate-y which
in turn encourages use. It's sort of like convention over configuration.
But then again, maybe it just hasn't 'clicked' with me yet.
Edit: I should say though that having all state external would help in testing
the component since you can now simulate every possible state without going
into the internals of the component itself.
~~~
andrewstuart
I'm not religious about keeping components stateless. I have some components
where I just found it was getting too complex to keep bouncing the state up
and down the hierarchy so I just merged it all into one big stateful
component.
If I was a better programmer I probably would have known how to structure it
properly to avoid this but I'm not.
Also recently I have gone to the trouble of learning Redux which effectively
provides a mechanism for global state and probably that would remove much of
the problem with moving state around. But this is the thing about programming
- you build your code doing it one way, and 80% into your project find a
better way, which you start using. Hmmmm.... now should I get the damn thing
built and have the app use two (or more) ways of getting the same thing done,
or go back and make the whole app consistently use the better way, or not use
the better way and instead continue to use the old way but keep things
consistent?
------
vdnkh
I've used a similar, albeit more opinionated library for boilerplate UI stuff
(modals, dropdowns, etc.) and the issue I have with it is styling. It works
fine for the well-defined use cases but when you need to style something not
part of the proptypes or as a child/parent of the given prop, the treatment
becomes worse than the cure. You have to resort to rooting around the DOM with
dev tools, determining the proper divs (which are usually horribly long and
messy), make the style, and hope the library isn't overwriting it at runtime.
~~~
lgas
What prevents you from assigning your own class names and styling based on
those?
~~~
vdnkh
You can't directly access the classNames of child components i.e. if the
component is composed of an <h1> inside of a <div> (with <div> being the top-
level component), you cannot directly set the className of the h1 if a prop
doesn't exist to do so
~~~
lgas
But you can set the classname of the component and then refer to it as
".componentclass h1" or similar, right? Or is that what you are saying gets
too unwieldy?
~~~
Mekkanox
Using ".component-name <insert child tag>" goes against semantic UI
conventions and couples your custom styles to the tags instead of the classes
in the component. It quickly becomes brittle when trying to update those
styles if the tags change in an updated version, or if the rendered output
changes structure, etc.
~~~
chatmasta
Maybe it's time to rethink your conventions...? The solution to your problem
is in front of you, but you're avoiding implementing it because of strict
adherence to arbitrary conventions.
------
api
The next level future of UI would be something as developer-productive as
Visual Basic .NET from 2007: lay out my app visually in minutes, double click
to add code, build, run, ship.
It's 2016 and I'm still using a soup of hacks to build web UIs. GWT was
promising but far too clunky. React+Bootstrap is almost there but I still have
to write code to make wheels roll (in a parser hack called JSX!) and I still
have to think about the web layer instead of having it abstracted away. As
soon as I start using anything else I have to drag in a soup of hacks, so in
the end I always end up with a web app with a hundred dependencies. Sorry,
must have (insert hipster framework here) installed _too_ if I want to embed
BeanieCap.JS.
I would pay thousands of dollars for something as productive as VS.NET from
2007 but for generating modern responsive UIs for the web. It's okay to
simplify the problem by being opinionated, but only if your opinions don't
suck and only if whatever abstractions you create are elegant and degrade
gracefully when they (inevitably) leak a little. Now that MS is open sourcing
.NET, adding web UIs to Xamarin and making them work like mobile and desktop
would be one route to this. Another would be to reboot GWT using Go->ASM.JS as
the code path and do the UI in Go, then build a visual UI designer for it. Use
the dom as a renderer and shit-can CSS and all the rest of that stuff in favor
of an opinionated uniform minimally-themable design (as long as it doesn't
look like crap).
Every now and then I go searching for this. Nope, still doesn't exist. I have
a wad of cash in hand but nobody will take it so back to hacking web UIs in a
text editor manually. Sigh.
~~~
mrmrs
I would argue that .NET did allow for developers to be very productive at
shipping the worst UI code I have ever seen. Productivity != shipping horrible
code faster than ever. In my opinion.
~~~
api
You can write bad code in any language. .NET was more productive for good code
too.
------
tlrobinson
Can we get the title changed to "Rebass: 56 Configurable React Stateless
Functional UI Components"?
I don't understand what's so "next-level future" about this, they seem like
pretty straightforward React UI components.
~~~
dang
Yes. But without the magic 56.
(Submitted title was "The next-level future of UI dev".)
------
enobrev
This reminds me a lot of semantic-ui[1] and the react-specific wrapper, react-
semantify[2]. Semantic-UI is entirely CSS Class-based, and has lots of similar
components. You can definitely use it without the react wrapper, though the
wrapper makes it "feel" a bit more react-like. Some of the interactive
functionality is based upon jquery, which is decidedly un-react, but while
using it in my most recent project, the jquery bits haven't gotten in my way
very much.
I'd love to see react-semantify expanded to replace the jquery-specific bits
more thoroughly beyond simply replacing the initialization methods, but
haven't had enough time to work on those changes myself.
\- I've nothing to do with these projects except that I've used them recently
and enjoyed them for the most part.
1: [http://semantic-ui.com/](http://semantic-ui.com/) 2:
[https://github.com/jessy1092/react-
semantify](https://github.com/jessy1092/react-semantify)
------
mrmrs
I think this demo is pretty rad:
[http://jxnblk.com/rebass/demo/](http://jxnblk.com/rebass/demo/)
------
SweetBro
"ebass is a React UI component library that uses inline styles to avoid "
Which also means you can't override the CSS if you're trying to go for
something like oh I don't know, basic cohesion; without using !important.
Seems useless for anything short of prototyping.
~~~
meemoo
No, all styling is exposed and easy to override per-instance or globally. You
just have to get in the mindset to do styling in JS:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11245298](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11245298)
------
fibo
I think it is very interesting and also a good excercise to read its source
and learn How the author implemented componente. Also seems interesting react-
static by the same author.
------
kevsim
Nice but the sliders are really hard to use on mobile. Also when the "drawer"
slides out in the demo, panning on mobile still pans the main page
------
qwertyuiop924
Rebass: lots and lots of buzzwords. It looks decent though.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Biology Student Discovers Plastic-Eating Bacteria - cpncrunch
https://greatlakesledger.com/2018/07/01/student-discovers-plastic-eating-bacteria-which-could-solve-global-pollution-crisis/
======
22c
Isn't this old news?
* [https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/apr/16/scientis...](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/apr/16/scientists-accidentally-create-mutant-enzyme-that-eats-plastic-bottles)
* [https://news.stanford.edu/pr/2015/pr-worms-digest-plastics-0...](https://news.stanford.edu/pr/2015/pr-worms-digest-plastics-092915.html)
~~~
dvh
Another evergreens:
\- battery breakthrough
\- solar cells efficiency breakthrough
\- water electrolysis breakthrough
~~~
VMG
\- new antibacterial breakthrough
\- superconductor breakthrough
\- graphene manufacturing breakthrough
~~~
dzhiurgis
\- quantum computing breakthrough
\- cancer treatment breakthrough
------
xfactor973
This sounds like the Carboniferous period when fungus couldn’t eat lignin and
trees were piling up.
~~~
aurelian15
Interesting, I learnt something, thank you for mentioning this! This is what
Wikipedia has to say about it [1]:
_The large coal deposits of the Carboniferous may owe their existence
primarily to two factors. The first of these is the appearance of wood tissue
and bark-bearing trees. The evolution of the wood fiber lignin and the bark-
sealing, waxy substance suberin variously opposed decay organisms so
effectively that dead materials accumulated long enough to fossilise on a
large scale. The second factor was the lower sea levels that occurred during
the Carboniferous as compared to the preceding Devonian period. This promoted
the development of extensive lowland swamps and forests in North America and
Europe. Based on a genetic analysis of mushroom fungi, it was proposed that
large quantities of wood were buried during this period because animals and
decomposing bacteria had not yet evolved enzymes that could effectively digest
the resistant phenolic lignin polymers and waxy suberin polymers. They suggest
that fungi that could break those substances down effectively only became
dominant towards the end of the period, making subsequent coal formation much
rarer._
So indeed, superficially, a few parallels can be drawn to the anthropocene
"plastic age". Some life form (trees) essentially "trashed" the planet with
polymers that were not biodegradable. It took 60 million years until evolution
"caught up" and equipped bacteria and fungi with the enzymes that could
degrade those polymers. Nowadays dead trees in a forest rot within a few
years.
It seems reasonable to think that the same will eventually happen to our
plastic; i.e., if we were to cover the planet in plastic waste, then
eventually, after a few million years (or far sooner, if there are only few
mutations required for the polymer degrading enzymes to be efficient with
plastics), some bioform will be able to feed on that.
[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Carboniferous&old...](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Carboniferous&oldid=844813855#Rocks_and_coal)
~~~
Cthulhu_
It always makes me wonder what a landfill would look like in a million years.
Also, why is plastic being burned? Separate it cleanly and just store it in
packages in a landfill. Either eventually a method of recycling will be found
so the landfill can be harvested again for raw materials, or a bacteria will
be found for that specific plastic that can be released on there.
As it stands, there's trash separation (in developed countries) and then
whatever can't be recycled either goes to a landfill or burned.
~~~
maxerickson
It's likely that nearly free energy is a requirement for mining a landfill so
the plastic won't be worth much of anything by then anyway (just make any
hydrocarbons you need from the air and water).
Really you'd be cleaning up the landfill more than mining it, but that's okay.
A lot of recycling decisions come down to similar considerations, doing them
is a net drain on resources and costs money, so it doesn't make any sense.
------
djmips
I may be naive but every time I hear about these efforts I wonder if the
microbes might start degrading plastic things we don't want recycled just yet.
~~~
ars
We manage with wood, we'll manage with plastic.
Everything needs water, so it'll effectively always be about water management.
Also, if necessary we can add poison to the plastic just for those things that
_really_ need it (underground pipes mainly I suspect).
What the world _really_ needs is a strong, light, cheap material that lasts,
after water contact, at full strength, about 3 months, and degrades in a
couple of years.
I've always wondered if there way a _cheap_ way to engineer cellulose or
lignin into a material like this. But it's gotta be really cheap.
~~~
WalterBright
Isn't it amazing that we can make a material that is simply too good?
(I have some plastic toys from the 1960's that are too fragile to touch. My
1972 Dodge has some synthetic foam insulation under the dash that turns to
powder when touched. Maybe we already have the needed technology, it is just
forgotten.)
~~~
ItsMe000001
Are the long-chain molecules "disassembled", or did they just turn into
billions of plastic nano-particles? Out of sight, out of mind? Something
falling into tiny pieces isn't necessarily a _good_ thing. For plastics, we
want the actual molecules to degrade to something that can enter the usual
organic circles of life (the biochemical pathways in various organisms).
~~~
Cthulhu_
^ this, I saw a video recently about it. Plastic does break down, but it turns
into microplastics that find their way into and up through the food chain.
~~~
lindskogen
Might have been this one?
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RS7IzU2VJIQ&t=0s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RS7IzU2VJIQ&t=0s)
------
kleopullin
This is a great start: One biology student looking in limited places found
bacteria with the right enzyme. She probably read the Japanese research, and
that's always the right start for a scientist: read the literature.
------
xen2xen1
What would really be nice is this being embedded in the plastics themselves
but encapsulated for a few years. Self destructing plastic?
~~~
tcbawo
Now that's what I call planned obscolesence.
------
shortformblog
While the story is legit and has been covered other places, this site looks
sketchy and makes me wonder if it's a splog. This feeling is supported by the
lack of available information about the author. The only results that come up
for the author appear to be related to the URL, and when I search for his name
in relation to the other websites he's said to have written for, nothing comes
up.
------
throwawayqdhd
I'm extremely naive and ill-informed about biology and evolution, but I'm
going to throw this question out there: isn't it an evolutionary advantage to
evolve mechanisms to digest one of the most abundant materials - plastic - on
the planet? Surely, some organism can find a way to extract some nutritional
value from plastics?
~~~
vanderZwan
> _one of the most abundant materials_
There's too much of it, and it's definitely harming the planet, but is it
really that abundant in absolute terms?
~~~
throwawayqdhd
It's abundant in the sense that there is no competition for it. I'd reckon it
would be an evolutionary advantage to have complete monopoly over a resource.
------
mhkool
With a bacteria that convert PET into something else, there is a toxic
byproduct: BPA. I suggest that the student continues the research for BPA-
eating bacteria.
------
xmrsilentx
I bet this will lead to huge imbalance in the world of micro-organisms, the
effects of which, we do not understand.
~~~
ars
For some definitions of "huge". Despite all the press about it, there isn't
really all that much plastic out there.
For comparison there's at least 1,000 times as much biomass grown per year as
there is plastic produced per year.
~~~
Tepix
Not exactly reassuring. That's "huge" by pretty much any definition!
~~~
ars
Yah, on further consideration that is pretty huge.
My numbers are off however, my figure for biomass production is only the
weight of the carbon. I can't seem to find numbers for total production.
Especially since the majority of the weight of a plant is in the water - which
has no carbon.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: Check how Facebook uses Chrome dev tools to prevent XSS - jqueryin
I had my developer tools open as I switched tabs and noticed this glaring warning message from Facebook:<p>http://i.imgur.com/sZjsm6z.png<p>Kudos for the XSS prevention method, Facebook.<p>It goes to show when you're at Facebook scale, you worry about attacks and hijacks that are even unknowingly user initiated.
======
jqueryin
Clickable link:
[http://i.imgur.com/sZjsm6z.png](http://i.imgur.com/sZjsm6z.png)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Google Wave's Best Use Cases - fogus
http://lifehacker.com/5381219/google-waves-best-use-cases
======
jimboyoungblood
Wave sounds like a classic case of a solution searching for a problem.
~~~
unalone
Gonna have to disagree with you there. Wave solves a slew of little nagging
issues I have with other mediums all in one go.
~~~
jimboyoungblood
So are you actively using it? If so, what for?
------
motoko
I don't understand how a more powerful message system will make email as
"asynchronous queue of messages" obsolete.
As far as I know, gmail is a surface abstraction of wave between Google's
private servers.
I do understand that most email tools suck, but that is the fault of the tools
and email culture, not "asynchronous queue of messages."
------
amichail
Focusing just on collaboration would limit its market.
They should add reddit-like features for public waves.
~~~
TrevorJ
Public waves will need some heavy hitting filtering tools to be handy, you are
right about that.
Tangential note: I've noticed your comment and a few other comments being
downvoted out of disagreement lately - as per the guidelines and for the sake
of rich discussions, if you disagree with a comment it would be great if you
could reply to it rather than just downvote it - that we we all get the
benefit of your particular viewpoint and it contributes to the discussion.
------
gord
My impression : 'Google Wave is nice to Kittens'. We all like kittens, right?
I replaced 'Google Wave' by 'Plone' or 'Blog' and the meaning seemed to be
preserved... are they the same thing?
~~~
TheSOB88
PLONE?? I don't know what that is, but that sounds like the next big thing in
communications.
------
Flemlord
I'm interested in using it for software company support. I see it (possibly)
replacing blog comments, forums and on-line chat.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Classic text adventures online - glassworm
http://www.web-adventures.org
======
gustavorg
It's full of ad popups, even clicking the scroll bars. Also you can support
the interactive fiction community (including the classic text adventures
authors) if you go directly to the interactive fiction database
[http://ifdb.tads.org/](http://ifdb.tads.org/), you can find there how to play
the games and how to play it in the browser too.
------
dsr_
It's not a dead medium if people are producing new works -- and they do.
Check out the Interactive Fiction Competition,
[http://ifcomp.org](http://ifcomp.org)
~~~
otachack
I definitely agree but where I see difficulty is our lack of patience not
being compatible with these and older style games. I used to love text based
and prompt based adventures, like the old Sierra games, but with recent
replays I become impatient and not able to follow through.
I blame being an adult with less free time but also the more modern modes of
play such as battle royales. Games like PubG/Fortnite are addicting, fast
paced, and have enough complexity to make each run seem unique. But the
problem is I played both so much I hardly remember those unique, glorious
moments when my team does well. What also contributes to the addiction is the
team aspect where I'd have a group asking be to play Fortnite and another to
play PubG. It's hard to turn down these interactions as well since the friends
on the other side are hard to get ahold of in real life.
There's also an over abundance of games so you have to pick and choose which
to spend your time on. I sometimes long for the day where income and game
availability limited my range as I was able to concentrate on what I had
rather than quickly finishing a game and moving on to the next or being
trapped in a battle royale.
Still, there are great gems being pumped out by AAA and indie. All genres,
including IF, are being filled because the tools to make games are so easily
accessible. I feel we live in a great time considering the trend of games is
moving toward multiplatform and affordability. We, or at least I, just need to
find the patience to not hurry through and fully enjoy the medium.
~~~
tunesmith
I find the text adventures take more patience at first but then the immersion
kicks in. I had a great time with Anchorhead recently.
------
Ozlone
Lot of really useful links in here. I built my own interactive fiction[1], but
half-way through, the mixture of building the tools to present the narrative,
and writing the story itself got pretty conflated. Afterwards, I was
recommended some pre-existing tools[2] for a similar endeavour. (still,
rolling my own system for telling a story with code was pretty satisfying.)
\- [1] -
[https://github.com/teesloane/railcar](https://github.com/teesloane/railcar)
\- [2] - [http://twinery.org/](http://twinery.org/)
------
pmoriarty
There are still a bunch of old MUDs (which are like multi-player text
adventures) online.[1] A good list of the top 10 or 20 MUDs can be found here:
[2], and a much bigger list can be found here: [3]
[1] - [https://tmcchat.discoursehosting.net/t/old-muds-still-
open/5...](https://tmcchat.discoursehosting.net/t/old-muds-still-open/52)
[2] - [http://www.mudconnect.com/#top10](http://www.mudconnect.com/#top10)
[3] - [http://www.mudconnect.com/cgi-
bin/search.cgi?mode=tmc_biglis...](http://www.mudconnect.com/cgi-
bin/search.cgi?mode=tmc_biglist)
~~~
bg4
The one I played for years and years is now offline. Makes me sad.
------
ramshorns
If the web is an unnecessary part of the text adventure experience, then other
options include frotz, a simple command-line adventure interpreter, and Son of
Hunky Punk, a nice android app that includes some of the classics.
------
ddingus
Podcast: Eaten by a Grue.
Very highly recommended if you are looking to get in the text adventure mood.
------
boobsbr
No "Pick Up The Phone Booth and Die"?
[http://ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=4gb36vjo20qpvxty](http://ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=4gb36vjo20qpvxty)
That site has a bunch of IF games that you can play online as well.
~~~
jstarfish
I once enjoyed a much better spinoff called something like "Pick Up The
Pumpkin And Die" by one of the more prolific IF authors wherein you do just
that, but become the headless horseman and run around terrorizing a
highschool.
------
kilian
For a more modern take, I wrote a zork-inspired text adventure you can play
inside FB Messenger:
[https://fb.me/amessengeradventure](https://fb.me/amessengeradventure)
------
IronBacon
For the 30th anniversary, the BBC put online the Hitchhiker's Guide to the
Galaxy text adventure: www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2game
------
noxToken
I assume this site is being hammered, because it would otherwise be the worst
UX ever. I chose Zork - a classic. The loading icon spins....and spins and
spins and spins. Each line of text is actually a POST to the server, and the
response is taking upwards of 80 seconds.
This is a time where a SPA would have been the perfect choice.
------
Kurtz79
For those interested, I cannot recommend enough the Infocom collection on the
iPad, if I remember correctly for less than 10 bucks you get 30+ adventures,
including manuals, all conveniently packaged and accessible.
~~~
lowken10
Unfortunately I believe this is no longer being updated and is not available.
~~~
cowpewter
Yes, I bought it, and since the iOS 11 update, it no longer works, which is
really disappointing.
------
arayh
I'm not a huge fan of the web interface, but I do like the ability to pick up
where you left off even when I leave the page and come back. Offering optional
save states might be nice too.
------
pnenp
I recommend Zork on that list. Recently played it for the first time and it's
a great experience. Your mind fills in so much more than virtual images or
sounds could create.
------
digitalboss
I rmbr how proud I was when I registered for the BBS I ran in Texas for Red
Dragon (LORD) in High School, saving a dollar here and there.
------
da_murvel
The website has an expired security certificate. It expired 30 august 2018
09:30:03
------
creep
Does anyone here play hellMOO?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
A free intro to economics - jmorin007
http://bluntobject.wordpress.com/2008/03/13/a-free-intro-to-economics/
======
s_baar
Supply and demand will equalize unless interfered with by force/threat of
force.
Never bite the invisible hand that leads you.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Inquire.ly - form to mini-CRM in seconds - swanify
http://inquire.ly/
======
justinchen
Just a point of feedback: I was scanning up and down the page looking for a
full-size screenshot or tour before I randomly hovered over the thumbnails and
saw that they're clickable. Looks cool though. Would this function as light
weight customer service tool, i.e. replacing ZenDesk or Desk.com?
~~~
swanify
Thanks for the feedback I can see your point I'll get to work on getting
something a little more visual to explain it.
And yes, it's very lightweight we already use it for bug tracking, beta
signups, feedback and general contact. Other early beta customers are using it
to manage job applications and competition entries.
------
afarazit
Looks promising.
~~~
swanify
Thanks, let us know if you have any feedback once you've taken it for a spin.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: Funnel Analysis Event for Hackers and Founders - lowglow
https://funnelanalysis.eventbrite.com
======
minimaxir
This is not a Show HN, this is an advertisement.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Audio fingerprint database creation and query - jcr
http://labrosa.ee.columbia.edu/matlab/audfprint/
======
jacquesm
A guy called Giancarlo Pascutto has a super library for this.
~~~
hatsuseno
[https://code.google.com/p/libfooid/](https://code.google.com/p/libfooid/)
Code looks great, but this library requires some sort of frontend to be
functional, not to mention that the code hasn't updated in years (probably not
since Gian-Carlo's initial release).
audfprint comes with a functional commandline interface for managing such a
database, at least in basic form. While I get that this sort of thing can
conveniently be written in Matlab, that choice won't help with adoption of the
tool. I hardly know of anyone with a Matlab runtime ready to go for random
tools.
So torn between a (possibly outdated) library, and code written for an, let's
say unusual, runtime, neither of these two really appeal if I wanted to build
a de-duplicating audio library.
~~~
jacquesm
He doesn't need to update it because it just works. I've been using it for a
project for years and while there has been all kinds of mayhem there libfooid
has worked like a charm from day 1.
~~~
jcr
jacques, I don't know your use-case or libfooid very well other than reading
some of its docs, but if you're just doing identification, libfooid certainly
seems like a(nother) good way to get the job done.
If you want to do more involved audio analysis and classification, libraries
like essentia [1,2] and gaia [3] might be really helpful foryou. Then again,
they might be over-kill for your use-case.
[1] [http://essentia.upf.edu/](http://essentia.upf.edu/)
[2] [http://records.sigmm.ndlab.net/2014/03/essentia-an-open-
sour...](http://records.sigmm.ndlab.net/2014/03/essentia-an-open-source-
library-for-audio-analysis/)
[3] [https://github.com/MTG/gaia](https://github.com/MTG/gaia)
~~~
jacquesm
My use case was automated undoubling of audio files that are from the same
source but compressed with a very large variety of compression software.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Classrooms in China are equipped with AI cameras and brain-wave trackers - amai
https://twitter.com/WSJ/status/1177357178975457285
======
lenkite
The funny thing is that you can be totally focused on something else - just
not on what the teacher is teaching.
Of-course that loophole would end with mind-imaging. The government has the
_right_ to your thoughts to see if you are deviating from lawful conformity.
Negative/non-conforming thoughts will adversely affect your social credit
score. Superior citizens receive superior benefits!
Those who fail the conformity test can be admitted to a separate labour class
that best matches their talents. Mundane work is important for a modern
society and some opportunity should be given to the talentless.
The next logical step after that would be full-fledged eugenics. After all, if
any patterns on large data-sets can be established linking CCP approved
intelligence, focus, behaviour and conformity to genes, then birth-preference
should be given to such superior citizens who will contribute most greatly to
the future of the state.
This is not merely the road to hell, its the high-speed 1000 km/hour bullet
train to hell.
~~~
yahwrong
Sounds like trying to change what metrics are used to separate people. In the
past it was based on blood lines, now it's bank accounts. Social credit could
help those that aren't anti-social to increase their upward mobility.
------
amai
Unfortunately the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) forgets to mention something
important: This technology wasn't developed in China. It was invented in the
USA, Harvard Innovation Lab:
[https://www.brainco.tech/focusedu/](https://www.brainco.tech/focusedu/)
The chinese kids are just guinea pigs.
I think it is extremly problematic, that WSJ tries to create the impression,
that it is China that develops this dystopian mind reading tech.
------
ben_jones
Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and venture capitalists: “Damn they beat us to
it!”
~~~
amai
The tech was actually developed in the USA, Harvard Innovation Lab:
[https://www.brainco.tech/focusedu/](https://www.brainco.tech/focusedu/)
------
guramarx11
Oh god, this is going straight from 1984 to Psycho-Pass
------
croh
Now I am really worried for Chinese kids. pls don't build generation of
machines. This will not help at all to Great China. This looks like Gattaca -
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gattaca](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gattaca)
~~~
imtringued
I have always wondered why they put so much trust in that biometric scanner.
Job interview? No need to ask the candidate about his qualifications just an
"ok" from the scanner and you are good to go, who needs critical thinking
anyway. No one asks, "does this scanner even work?". What if the brain-wave
tracker is just snake oil?
~~~
dawg-
For what it's worth, Snopes did an article about these brain-wave trackers:
[https://www.snopes.com/news/2018/05/03/activists-
skeptical-c...](https://www.snopes.com/news/2018/05/03/activists-skeptical-
concerned-reports-emotion-monitoring/)
tl;dr is that they _kinda_ work, but not nearly as effective as advertised.
It also raises the point that even if it didn't work, all you need to suppress
people is for them to believe that it's working.
~~~
joelx
Any US company that sells technology to China supporting these sorts of big
brother population control should be held criminally liable for its end use.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Yubikey RSA Key Gen Vulnerability - scheesman
https://www.yubico.com/keycheck/
======
Perceptes
Good of them to offer free replacements. My Yubikey 4 Nano was among the
devices affected, and I've already ordered a replacement!
~~~
scheesman
I have three affected devices! I was just disappointed in them that I found
out from a third party (GitHub) that my security hardware had a vulnerability
instead of directly from them.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: I have been sued by a patent troll what do I do? - joelx
I run a website development company and have been sued by a patent troll in the Eastern District Court of Texas for supposedly violating a patent on building websites using online software. What do I do next?
======
deanfranks
Get a good lawyer, even if you only pay for a couple of hours. There are
things you can do immediately (depending on whether you received a letter or
they actually filed a suit) that may make them go away.
I was party to one of these a couple of years ago and if we had received good
legal advice early it would have been much less expensive in the long run.
------
dsr_
You either commit to fighting, or you capitulate.
If you fight, it will be expensive, but you will likely win, and establish a
precedent that's good for the whole world.
If you capitulate, it will be expensive.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Quest for pocket money became million dollar business - FusionCharts story - beingpractical
http://www.fusioncharts.com/story/
======
sharninder
Inspiring story. All the best to the fusioncharts team for continued growth
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Hans Peter Luhn and the Birth of the Hashing Algorithm - sohkamyung
https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-history/silicon-revolution/hans-peter-luhn-and-the-birth-of-the-hashing-algorithm
======
mschaef
It's a real shame they don't talk more specifically about Luhn's role in the
'record addressing' problem.
Back in 1953, IBM was investigating disk storage for record retrieval in large
volumes of data. Seek/read time on these machines was on the order of a
second, so a 10 level binary search could take around 10 seconds of total
time. Unfortunately for IBM, this wasn't an improvement over the best human-
driven manual lookup processes... which is an issue if you're trying to
sell/lease expensive computer hardware.
With this as motivation, Luhn then essentially invented what we now would know
as a hash table, which was key to the 1956 RAMAC release.
~~~
bogomipz
>"Seek/read time on these machines was on the order of a second, so a 10 level
binary search could take around 10 seconds of total time. Unfortunately for
IBM, this wasn't an improvement over the best human-driven manual lookup
processes"
I am curious what human-driven manual lookup processes existed that could be
in a single second?
~~~
mschaef
A tub file:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tub_file](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tub_file)
(Note that the overall search takes 10 seconds, not the one second of an
individual seek... so the human had a bit more time to be competitive with the
disk than a single second. :-) )
------
munificent
Hashing functions are cool and all, but let's talk about that groovy "Cocktail
Oracle" he invented. It's basically a clever physical representation of
bitwise arithmetic.
The oracle works with bit strings all of the same length. Each bit position
represents a single cocktail.
Each ingredient card is a bit string. Each bit is 1 (opaque) if the ingredient
is needed for the cocktail at that bit position.
You take all the ingredients you have and discard their bitstrings ("turn down
their cards"). Then you or together the remaining bitstrings of all of the
ingredients you _don 't_ have (look through their overlapping cards). In other
words, _not_ having an ingredient _forbids_ certain cocktails. Any bit
positions that remain zero (transparent all the way through to the key card on
the back showing the names of the cocktails at each position) are cocktails
that you have enough ingredients to make.
Using opacity to represent bitwise "or" is pretty clever. Turning down the
ingredient cards you don't have is really clever. I kind of want to make one
of these now.
~~~
Sniffnoy
I mean this is really about set operations; thinking of it in terms of bits
and integers doesn't really add anything.
~~~
munificent
The mechanics _do_ matter because it's fundamentally a mechanical device.
~~~
Sniffnoy
What about it involves thinking of elements as bits and sets as whole numbers?
I'm not seeing it. Everything you just described is just a physical
representation of sets and operations on sets. I don't see any step where
elements are mapped to powers of 2 and added up (unless you for some reason
insist on thinking that way of aggregating elements into a set), nor any step
where a number is broken into bits (again, unless you for some reason insist
on thinking that way of breaking a set into its elements).
~~~
munificent
> What about it involves thinking of elements as bits and sets as whole
> numbers?
I said bitwise arithmetic, not binary numbers. :)
> Everything you just described is just a physical representation of sets and
> operations on sets.
Sure, and how is the _set_ represented and its operations implemented? In the
Oracle, each set is represented by a bitmask with a bit position for each
element in the set. Set operations are implemented as bitwise operations on
those bitmasks.
------
coldcode
Always amazing to realize that at some point in the past everything we know
was unknown, and someone had to figure it out the first time. For everything
we do today we stand on the shoulders of giants.
~~~
rorykoehler
This is my biggest gripe with hardcore self-made/individualist evangelists.
Pretty much everything anyone has ever achieved was because of the hard work
and determination of thousands if not millions of geniuses and craftspeople
whose work enabled the future.
~~~
mschaef
That's true, but there's also something unique about being able to take an
existing idea and turn it into something relevant and marketable. Look at
everything Xerox did to advance the state of the art, and compare that with
their inability to turn any of it into viable products. As much as it's easy
to say "Xerox messed up", that diminishes the value added by the likes of Jobs
and Gates when they turned those ideas into something valuable for the masses.
(Which is there the money is, among other things.)
I'm not saying it's necessarily fair, just that there's value in that 'last
mile' between a long line of development and the end user of an idea or
product.
~~~
rorykoehler
I don't think you observation is in contradiction to my anecdote. I appreciate
the last milers as much as anyone.
------
verytrivial
I have a strange recollection playing with Linux text processing command line
tools in the 90s and stumbling upon something that looks like the
"concordance" output and having no idea why it might be useful, nor any way to
find out. Now I know! (And I can finally fix a dangling reference in my
brain.)
------
jere
>Much like a culinary hash of corned beef and potatoes, a hash algorithm chops
and mixes up data in various ways
Perfectly obvious in hindsight but I never made the connection.
------
o_nate
It would be interesting to read about how he came up with that specific
checksum algorithm. Trial and error?
------
lucb1e
Should be: Hans Peter Luhn and the Birth of the Checksum Algorithm
Ctrl+F the article for "hash". What Luhn invented was a checksum, one that is
apparently still used today in IMEIs (among other things), but the article
says nothing about him furthering checksums into hash functions (and there is
quite a distinction). Sure, a hash function can hardly be invented without
going through the checksum stage, but it's like saying the person who
discovered there's oil in the ground invented cars just because he laid the
foundation.
~~~
kevinwang
Aren't checksum functions suitable hash functions though?
~~~
kaoD
They are. I suspect GP is confused with _cryptographic_ hash functions which
are a strict subset.
------
i04n
Handkerchief in the suit pocket, tie, cool haircut. When engineers knew how to
dress.
~~~
MayeulC
From the article:
> Within this nascent computer world, Luhn cut an unusual figure. An elegant
> dresser throughout his life, Luhn knew more about the textiles industry than
> computer science when he arrived at IBM in 1941.
So it might be more the exception than the rule there as well.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Integer overflow in nginx - qzio
http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/526439/30/0/threaded
======
linuxsec
Looking for details..
~~~
ZephyrP
haven't contacted the author but he describes his supposed route. I'm trying
to replicate his results and there is indeed a possible integer overflow
condition but I'd be doubtful of reports of successful exploitation with
systems linked with a newer version of glibc w/ heap consistency checking,
stackguard &/| aslr.
<http://lxr.evanmiller.org/http/source/core/ngx_log.h#L120> contains a few
functions (2, 5 I've found so far) that write data in a (at a quick glance)
safe fashion, I guess you might be able to give someone wierd logfiles.
I've been over every file that referenced by ngx_http_request_t
<http://lxr.evanmiller.org/http/ident?i=ngx_http_request_t> looking for
buffers, directly or indirectly using a value derived from a
ngx_http_request->count (not -> main -> count), and although the bug condition
he describes is possibly real, I'd love to see an RCE proof of concept from
the author.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
VPS Compare – compare worldwide VPS servers - rockair
http://vpscomp.com
======
rsync
This is the story of the VPS and how it came to be:
In August of 2001 I was flying from Denver to San Diego to do some contract
datacenter work.
I had a Toshiba Libretto 110CT that was running FreeBSD and I was trying to
troubleshoot an OS config issue, so I tried jail. It gave me a complete, new
FreeBSD system inside of a directory.
Then a lightbulb went on ...
A month later I posted beta invites to the cDc and 303 mailing lists and in
December "JohnCompanies" was born. I advertised almost solely on kuro5hin.org
and grew the company from my apartment in Aspen, Colorado. In February, 2004,
I sold the company.
We called them "server instances", but "VPS" is the name that eventually
caught on.
JohnCompanies still lives on today. Not sure where they'd fit on the "VPS
Compare" list. I see our ad is still up on kuro5hin, if only because Rusty is
too lazy to remove it, after more than 10 years...
The backup system(s) that we built for JohnCompanies customers was reworked
and launched as a standalone product in 2006. You know it as "rsync.net".
~~~
chrisper
Are you the inventor of all virtualization we know today or VPS only?
~~~
justincormack
Virtualization is much older than that - it was invented in the late 1960s, I
believe at IBM.
~~~
chrisper
Seems like IBM was innovative back then. What happened?
~~~
sumedh
Bureaucracy.
------
kijin
Needs an option for less than 1TB of bandwidth. Some of us just want to crunch
data and have no need for such large bandwidth. You even have an option for
1GB disk, so what about adding an option for 100GB bandwidth?
As another commenter has said, cores mean nothing unless they're dedicated to
my VM. There needs to be a better metric, but unfortunately it's very
difficult to "benchmark" a VPS objectively. Any ideas?
Is that 600GB of HDD or 600GB of SSD, or 600GB of SSD-cached HDD? Those are
all very different things, and the little icon to the left of the capacity is
neither noticeable nor searchable.
Big countries like Canada and the United States need to be broken down into
3-4 regions for latency-sensitive customers.
Users should be able to choose the currency. Right now you're second-guessing
the currency based on my location/Accept-Language/whatever and it doesn't seem
to be changeable.
Having a column for the virtualization platform might be useful for some
people. Is it OpenVZ, KVM, Xen-PV or Xen-HVM?
If anyone is looking for cheaper offerings, there's
[http://lowendstock.com/](http://lowendstock.com/)
If anyone is looking for unusual locations, there's
[https://www.exoticvps.com/](https://www.exoticvps.com/)
------
pmontra
The filter by single country is not particularly useful. I'd like to search by
all countries (or checkbox some of them) instead of having to perform N
searches to find who's the best provider.
------
hurin
If you really want this site to have useful rankings for anyone aside from
those looking to pay the bare minimum, consider gathering some additional
information:
a) Uptime statistics
b) Customer-Support ratings
c) Technical ratings (user assessment of various tools provided by the VPS,
ease of migration, etc.)
~~~
moe
This.
Small VPS are dime a dozen on Lowendbox.com. You can grab them for $1 and
below.
They tend to be unstable, slow as molasses, poorly supported, and the hosters
sometimes just disappear overnight (often to relaunch under a new name a few
months later...).
They are almost never worth the hassle since DigitalOcean will sell you a
proper VM for $5.
So _if_ you want to compare them, you need more creative metrics. A simple
"does this company exist for over a year?"-column would already weed out many
of the worst ones.
------
IgorPartola
I would add the option to have sub-1GB RAM VPS's. Lots of them still are
offered in the 512 MB range. Include the option to filter by number of IPv6
addresses offered. Also, add a filter for virtualization technology and if
they use SolusVM or a custom control panel. Otherwise very cool and useful!
------
joshmn
This is cool, thanks and good work. I'd love to see filterable OS support,
multiple IPs, locations... :)
There's also ServerBear.com which is a bit more detailed than this.
~~~
cbhl
public IPv6/IPv4/both...
------
heyalexej
That's a great app. Some ideas:
- I'm currently in Laos, but I think/operate in USD/€, not in LAK. Please give me the chance to decide which currency I want to see.
- 1 GB as the lowest memory threshold leaves out plenty of good deals.
- Sometimes we need a bunch of machines for a short period of time. Can I pay per minute? Hour? Day?
- Which payment methods do they accept?
- Maybe, if possible, the ability to see for how long they've been around. Cheap hosters tend to disappear often.
- Maybe, if possible, uptime stats.
Edit: typos
~~~
tjbiddle
To add to your list: Virtualization type
------
kbenson
Nice! There's a few things I would like to see and be able to filter by which
I can't currently though:
Minimum activity billing period: minute / 15 minutes / 30 minutes / hour /
day, etc.
Provisioning through API: yes / no
Number of geographic locations available (this gets tricky, depending on how
you treat country. Is it locations within the selected country, or total
locations?)
------
dorfsmay
Not being able to scale memory down to less than 1 GB keeps a lot of good
offers out.
Also, missing Atlantic.net (at least in Canada).
------
JimmaDaRustla
I use serverbear.com for comparisons
Will bookmark this one though.
~~~
notacoward
+1 for serverbear
In addition to basic info, it includes things like virtualization type and
even a bunch of benchmarks, all usable as filters or sort criteria. TBH some
of the variation in the benchmark numbers makes me wonder about their
methodology, but it's still a _very_ useful site.
------
ruebenramirez
missing vultr - [https://www.vultr.com/](https://www.vultr.com/)
~~~
jlgaddis
Click "Add Provider" and paste the URL?
------
ohashi
If you care about quality of a company and not just the raw specs, you might
find
[http://reviewsignal.com/webhosting/compare](http://reviewsignal.com/webhosting/compare)
useful. It uses people's twitter comments to determine which hosting companies
people have favorable opinions of. (Disclaimer: I created it)
------
tbrownaw
Where's the "can pay anonymously in bitcoin" option? I thought that was a
thing these days. ;)
~~~
jlgaddis
Honest question: is there legitimate demand for this for legitimate reasons?
I was big into Bitcoin about four years ago and work for an ISP nowadays. We
provide services as well and I've considered mail/web hosting/VPS/dedicated
offerings (on a small scale) with Bitcoin as a payment option but I don't want
to end up attracting the "wrong type" of people.
I realize that there are people who simply want to be anonymous and I'm
totally fine with that (I do run Tor relays, for example) but my fear is that
the majority of customers this would attract would be those that are "up to no
good".
Thinking out loud, perhaps a mail hosting service payable with Bitcoin would
be a good way to test the waters -- that is, we could take care of domain
registration, DNS configuration/hosting, etc. and allow access over Tor for
those looking for "anonymous e-mail" (although I'd be implementing pretty low
limits on volume, at least initially).
~~~
heyalexej
There are plenty of legitimate reasons to pay with BTC. I love how friction-
less and easy it is, especially if you get partially paid in BTC as well for
your services. I love [https://bithost.io](https://bithost.io) and I guess you
could ask Scott if he had any problems so far.
He gives you a limit of 2 instances (droplets) on signup. You can then open a
ticket and explain what you intend to do and he gives you the desired number
of servers. I give him access to the apps I'm working on to remove any doubt
and be transparent.
I always think that malicious people find entirely different ways to get what
they want without even thinking of payment. Hacking a box for example.
~~~
Scottymeuk
Thank you :)
------
nonuby
Be careful X core means nothing reliable, for 99.9% of VPS providers, they are
not dedicated nor rated and could be divisible by up to 2000 guests
(particularly with OpenVZ provider), at least on Rackspace, AWS, Azure the CPU
performance is generally within a specific range (variability due to minor
hardware config differences, and noisy neighbours, but appropriately
restrained). In addition 99.5% of these providers don't have the sufficient
knowledge to run a VPS operation, they purchase a few dedicated servers and
copy of SolusVM and WHMCS and hope and pray for the best.
~~~
jlgaddis
I work for an ISP and can put as many machines in our datacenters as I want
(within reason, of course) so I only have a few (small) VPSes nowadays. When I
used to have a bunch of them, however, I quickly learned to avoid anything
OpenVZ-based like the plague.
This is anecdotal, of course, but OpenVZ "feels" very much inferior and the
providers running OpenVZ (more often than not) very much seemed like fly-by-
night operations simply trying to squeeze as many VMs as possible onto a
physical host without any regard to performance.
~~~
IgorPartola
I've had the same experience. Xen and KVM seem to be best for predictable
performance.
------
jedberg
Shouldn't AWS still count as a VPS? A reserved micro instance is cheaper than
most any of these options and serves the same purpose.
~~~
UnoriginalGuy
Not with the bandwidth requirement it isn't.
~~~
jedberg
How so? The definition of VPS[0] doesn't include a bandwidth part, and to be
fair, Amazon has a free tier as well (albeit small).
[0]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_private_server](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_private_server)
~~~
UnoriginalGuy
I was responding to your "same price" point. If you include the bandwidth
they're asking for then EC2 rises in cost sharply.
PS - Huge fan of yours by the way. You should do another AMA on /r/SysAdmin.
~~~
jedberg
Ah, that makes sense and is fair.
> Huge fan of yours by the way. You should do another AMA on /r/SysAdmin.
Heh, thanks. I appreciate that! Maybe soon I will do an AMA.
------
listic
Is there a way to change display currency?
------
phantom_oracle
Very useful.
Try cross-posting on a thread on lowendbox.com.
~~~
matheweis
Also webhostingtalk.com
In fact, if OP could scrape the VPS deals forum from there, that would be
super cool ( do something that doesn't scale. ;) )
------
noir_lord
I can't imagine not using Linode as my default option.
They are without doubt my favourite IT company, in 7 years with between 3-4
and a lot more instances I've had to talk to them exactly 3 times (once for a
query, once to ask for a bandwidth cap change and once related to billing).
They set the standard for me at this point.
~~~
evook
But independently from your selected location linode is routing through the
US. That's a bummer for way too many possible customers with sensitive data.
------
puzzlingcaptcha
OVH classic 1 has 10GB hdd not 25GB. Would be nice to be able to see the
virtualization method in the table (vmware/openvz etc).
It would be also nice to be able to show all products from a region, e.g.
western Europe, northern Europe and so on (I don't care if it's in FR,DE or
NL)
------
dan1234
Seems to be missing all of the Digital Ocean UK prices. Also would like to see
what OS flavours are offered, what networking options (private net, IPv6
range, IPv4 costs etc), hide plans that use non-SSD, which providers offer 2FA
logins, backup costs.
------
plutonium
nice site! It'd be cool to see a filter for virtualisation type as well.
maybe not terribly useful, but I wasn't able to open the site at first.
[http://api.vpscomp.com:3000/geo/checkme](http://api.vpscomp.com:3000/geo/checkme)
was 500'ing with something like 'undefined cca3'? I disconnected my VPN and it
worked. Reconnected and it still worked, so I lost the exact error (oops).
defaulting to USD when the country can't be detected (or the native currency
for the VPS) would be nice.
------
ternaryoperator
Surprised that intovps.com is not on the list. One of the earliest VPS
providers, and still one of the least expensive. 2TB traffic, 30GB HDD, 1GB
RAM, $10/mo.
~~~
thejosh
Same price as DigitalOcean, are they SSDs?
~~~
s_kilk
I just looked them up [1] and they don't mention ssds, however they appear to
give four cores by default, which may be more important for some workloads.
[1] [http://www.intovps.com/plans.html](http://www.intovps.com/plans.html)
------
mbrownnyc
Problem: Can't choose currency. Why? I'm in Antigua and all pricing is
rendered in XCD, but I'm a USD user.
------
simonebrunozzi
Question for everybody: why would you choose a VPS over a "cloud" server (e.g.
AWS, Azure, GCE)? Why vice versa?
~~~
noblethrasher
Short answer: VPS are (usually) cheaper, and you have _total_ control.
Longer answer: There are basically two approaches to scaling software: Either
you build/simulate better computers (vertical scaling), or you deploy more of
them (horizontal scaling).
Dedicated hardware lets you build or simulate having a better computer (e.g.
FPGAs, or using a network driver that is ideal for your traffic patterns, or a
heavily tuned JVM). On the other hand, the cloud lets you quickly add (or
remove) computers in response to service demand.
VPSs just split the difference (though they are usually closer to the vertical
side of the equation).
------
sanemat
I want vagrant-"provider". I use digital ocean, because there is vagrant-
digitalocean gem.
------
jerguismi
Seems to miss quite many providers, such as (most importantly) hetzner online.
------
tsaoutourpants
Add flag for Tor friendly :)
------
cglee
Is there a similar thing for dedicated hosting providers?
------
Toast_
you might want to add vultr btw. i know they seem to have a bad rep as a clone
of DO, but i was really happy with their performance.
------
Mandatum
Add filter for ALL countries
~~~
onestone
Also for continents. E.g. I'm interested in a server in Europe, don't care if
it's in France, Germany, Netherlands, or wherever.
~~~
rockair
Thanks for your comment, i plan to add this feature.
------
grubles
No vultr, huh. :/
------
wantab
This doesn't give any idea about the quality of any of these hosts. Many of
these are already well known so it's not much help.
------
curiously
ovh classic 1
1gb, 10tb, 25gb....what the hell? this is like way better than digitalocean
and I thought DO was the cheapest.
~~~
icebraining
It's OpenVZ, not full virtualization. That means you have no control over the
kernel (e.g. can' t upgrade it, can't fully reboot), and it's said - but I
can't vouch for it - that it's more susceptible to "bad neighbors".
They have full virtualization (the VPS Cloud plans), but it's much more
expensive.
Here's a thread on Lowendtalk about VPS Classic plans:
[http://www.lowendtalk.com/discussion/37835/ovh-
classic-1-vps...](http://www.lowendtalk.com/discussion/37835/ovh-
classic-1-vps-any-good)
~~~
curiously
word...it was too good to be true.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: bad idea? Turn Dropbox folders into projects - petervandijck
I'd love to hear thoughts on this idea for a YAPMA (yet another project management app).<p>Assumption: people manage projects mostly through dropbox (for files) and email (for communication). Why does projectmanagementappX make me upload files?<p>Solution: a project management app that turns your Dropbox folders into project management (adds structure and features to it, people, dates, todo's, whatever). In my mind this is a web app, but it starts with your Dropbox and you never have to change how you work (put files in Dropbox).<p>Initial core audience: designers.<p>Thoughts?
======
andanthor
I like it, but it must be resilient to people screwing up with files, moving
them around, etc, considering when you share folders anyone with write access
can delete files.
Now, if you make it synch with my own Wunderlist account, you've won me
over...
~~~
petervandijck
Consider it done sir :)
------
marcomassaro
Not your idea exactly, but these guys do something similar for designers &
dropbox
[https://marvelapp.com/](https://marvelapp.com/)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
iOS 7 only is the only sane thing to do - berzniz
http://berzniz.com/post/72083083450/ios7-only-is-the-only-sane-thing-to-do
======
zackmorris
I still target 5.1 because it does 90% of what 7 does but still works on first
gen iPads. Apple has a tendency to only implement software features on their
newest OS instead of back porting to earlier versions, because it sells more
devices. It's unleet for developers to encourage this.
I think a reasonable prime directive for API developers is that if hardware
can do something then software shouldn't be prevented from running on it. Sure
there are arguments for speed/responsiveness but most of these are straw men
because the real bottlenecks are somewhere else (reading from flash memory,
internet lag etc). The only real hardware constraints I hit daily are
limitations in OpenGL or limited ram (which wouldn't be an issue if proper
virtual memory had been in place from the beginning so we didn't have to use
mmap).
This kind of software "truthiness" is taking us further and further from
computer science.
~~~
beggi
I saw somewhere that Apple doesn't allow new apps to target less than iOS 7.
Is that correct?
~~~
xsmasher
Depends what you mean by "target". You can specify the whatever minimum OS
version you want for an app.
You have probably heard something like "[After Feb 1] new apps [...] must be
built with the latest version of Xcode 5 and must be optimized for iOS 7."
That only means you must use the latest dev kit and satisfy some other
requirements. It does not mean that you need to disable support for older
OSes.
~~~
onmydesk
It is not trivial to support ios7 with the latest gui elements (ios7 sdk) and
also support prior versions. Practically speaking you will need to support
only ios7+ after feb1, which for me is a lot of development work which is not
worth doing with the income my apps give. I am therefore no longer supporting
my apps.
------
guptaneil
Great points, except for "@2x only." If your app supports iPads, then the iPad
2 and iPad Mini (first generation) are both non-Retina screens and are still
available for sale directly from Apple. Given Apple's 3 year support cycles,
iOS 10 will be the first iOS that can fully drop support for non-retina
displays _if_ the iPad 2 and original iPad mini are discontinued by the end of
this year.
~~~
berzniz
Our app is iPhone only, but this is a great point to remember for anyone
thinking about dropping the non-retina image.
~~~
ttflee
Unfortunately, an app cannot be made `-568h` only. And -[UIImage
imageWithName:] does not support `-568h` infix.
~~~
chrisdroukas
Which is pretty lame considering xcassets supports an image 'subtype' called
R4 that's designed for 4" screens.
------
Maascamp
Seems more like iOS 7 is the only _convenient_ thing to do. That's fine, but
the current title makes it read more like a weak attempt to justify not
wanting to support older versions.
------
mikek
Pull To Refresh - available in iOS 6.
UIViewController Containment APIs. iOS 5.
Custom Tab Bar. iOS 5
Custom Navigation bar. iOS 5
HTML Strings. iOS 7
@2x only. iOS 7
Flat out. iOS 7
viewDidUnload. iOS 6
AutoLayout. iOS 6
UIDynamics. iOS 7
Receding keyboard like the messages app. iOS 7
------
ajlburke
Note that Apple now keeps the previous version of the app around for users on
older OSes. Of course they won't get any of the upgraded features, but at
least there's still something there for them - and you won't have to worry
about all that messy code for supporting multiple versions.
My next app updates will also be iOS7 only, since I know the iOS6 version will
still be around. Makes it much easier to decide to use newer features.
~~~
berzniz
Yeah, that's a great feature.
One open issue is that from time to time a breaking change to our API is
needed and a force-upgrade is forced on the app users. We try to avoid it, but
it happens.
The next time this happens, it's really goodbye iOS 6 users.
~~~
ableal
This year, Apple's "12 Days of Gifts" app only runs on iOS7. I don't know if
that was intentional, but it seems likely.
~~~
lostlogin
Slightly off topic here. I'm a bit baffled by that app. It's a fugly - it
seems like a pre ios 7 app that was resurrected in a few days and isn't very
Appley at all. I wouldn't call is skeuomorphic, but it isn't the new(ish) flat
look. The main screen's background just looks like someone forgot to include
the artwork. Its a flat grey though, so must have been chosen. The clunky FAQ
page isn't nice either, and a straight link to a web page would have been
nicer IMHO.
------
MaxGabriel
There isn't anything in this article that explains why you can't support both.
The only sentence about this is "We can’t leverage what iOS 7 has to offer and
a lot of the UI is compromise.", which doesn't cite any difficulties they've
run into. The only iOS 7 features they mention are UIDynamics and the receding
keyboard—the rest are iOS 5/6 features.
~~~
guptaneil
I agree that the article could've gone into more depth about the difficulties
they faced, but most developers will agree "a lot of the UI is compromise" is
the key point. Supporting iOS 6 and 7 visuals at the same time just means your
app looks out of place in both versions.
~~~
gurkendoktor
> Supporting iOS 6 and 7 visuals at the same time just means your app looks
> out of place in both versions.
It's just a little more work. Facebook looks the same on iOS 6 even now that
it supports iOS 7.
If you are mostly using native UI with only a few customisations, I don't see
the problem.
~~~
guptaneil
The problem is a lot of iOS 6 apps don't use mostly native UI. The article
touches on this when talking about all their custom code because previous iOS
components were not as easily customizable. My next update will be iOS 7 only,
at which point I plan to drop a lot of custom code and switch back to mostly
native UI.
~~~
gurkendoktor
Yes, UIKit only became easily customisable in iOS 5 and the OP's app was
written for iOS 3.
But even then you can port it to native UIKit (which is a good idea either
way), and then make iOS 7 frameworks optional, and add a few UIAppearance
calls for iOS 6. The last two pieces are extra effort that might not worth it
for < 30% of your users, but it's still completely possible.
------
onmydesk
You're fortunate you can afford to expend development effort/money on an
update that won't bring in any more users. Im still licking my wounds from the
app store change that came with ios6, sales are way way down to the extent
that significant development work to these apps cannot be justified. With the
pre ios6 app store I could make a case for it but not today.
------
andrewflnr
Sheesh. Am I the only one still using a first-gen iPad stuck with iOS 5? Just
a couple weeks ago my sister wanted to install an app that turned out to be
iOS 7 only. Grr.
~~~
oneeyedpigeon
No. And I hope there are a _lot_ of first-gen iPads still in use, since the
alternative would mean millions of abandoned pieces of hardware, rather than
just millions of us abandoned users. If only I'd had the hindsight to stick
with iOS 4 - at least my tablet would then be usable without inducing stress,
fury, and bitter regret.
------
alexobenauer
Interesting - I did not know about the new receding keyboard functionality.
For those curious, you can simply set a boolean on any UIScrollView or
subclass to make the keyboard recede like in the Messages app.
~~~
brianpgordon
What is a receding keyboard? Your comment is like
/**
* Recedes keyboard.
*/
void recedeKeyboard() {
~~~
cmelbye
Except he explains that it works like it does in the Messages app. If you're
not familiar, the keyboard in Messages slides down/recedes when you start
scrolling through past messages so that it's not in the way and you can see
more content. Give it a try if you have an iOS device, it's a very useful
interaction.
------
clarky07
Actually, that doesn't seem very sane to me. Why are we doing additional work
for functionality that we already created, and losing support for people on
older versions? Sure if you are a making a new app it makes sense to use great
new features. It doesn't make sense to delete code that is working and redo it
just because the new way is easier. 0 effort >>>> small effort times 10.
~~~
craigching
"It doesn't make sense to delete code that is working and redo it just because
the new way is easier."
Less code to maintain >>> custom written code that might be prone to break on
newer versions of the OS. It's definitely what I would do.
~~~
clarky07
While I agree that less code is better, is it the highest ROI on your time
compared to actually improving the app, or maybe making a new one? It might
break in the future, it might not. What you change it to might break in the
future too. Why not wait until it breaks to rip out and rewrite working code?
------
rbritton
The sweet point for me has been iOS 6-7 support. There's little that iOS 7 has
that I need to use, so a few conditionals here or there haven't been a huge
deal (tintColor has been the only significant one). This contrasts immensely
with trying to support back to iOS 5 where so many new things were added after
(e.g., autolayout) that you end up with huge chunks of redundant code that
differ only in the approach taken to get the end result.
My apps' interfaces are entirely customized, so everything looks roughly the
same across the major versions. I've shifted to a flatter appearance since iOS
7, but I've held onto certain things from older ones that I like better such
as borders on buttons where the button status is not clear from the context,
filled toolbar icons (I hate the stenciled ones), and a shadowing level
somewhere between iOS 6 and 7.
------
makecheck
I was a bit on the fence about iOS versions before because I still have a
first-generation iPad (iOS 5.1 maximum) and I wanted to make games for it. I
have a new iPhone 5S as well.
I originally wrote game code with OpenGL ES, and then tried very hard to make
the same code work on a Mac with regular OpenGL. It took more time than it
should have to see results and it wasn’t that fun. About all I can say is that
I learned a lot and OpenGL clearly runs efficiently.
After seeing Sprite Kit (Mac OS X Mavericks and iOS 7 only) and working with
it, I am now _completely_ devoted to these latest OSes. That framework has
solved virtually all of my Mac/iOS parity issues, while allowing code to be
almost identical in ways that really impressed me. Sprite Kit requires far
less effort and it produces far greater results. About the only downside I see
is that there would be no hope of porting my code to something like an Android
phone (and I don’t happen to care about that).
It doesn’t hurt that Mavericks is free so about the _only_ device left out in
the cold is my old iPad. I decided that I was probably holding myself back by
trying to support it anyway; the device is quite slow compared to almost any
other iPad. I will likely just buy a new iPad.
------
i_s
I've done the same for the app that I work on, but not because I needed an if-
else for the UI code. The biggest problem for me was that every now and then,
I'd get a bug that shows up on a device, but not the simulator. If this
happens even once, it is one time too many for a small team without a lot of
leftover devices to sport old iOS versions on.
------
SDMattG
"This was one feature we really wanted and implementing this was painful as
hell. I can’t believe it’s now just a boolean value away." \- So awesome yet
so frustrating! haha
------
soci
Right to the point information. GREAT.
I've been programming on a daily basis for iOS even before the SDK came out
(ohhh those reverse engineering days...!). Two years ago I left the job and
since then I've always wondered what were the relevant changes in the SDK,
just in case I get back to programming iOS again. And here we have it!
------
Touche
> When we added pull to refresh to our app there weren’t many apps using this
> technique and it added a premium feel to our app.
This makes me want to vomit. I can't wait until implementing flashy UI is so
trivial and common that shallow things like this don't actually affect an
application's perceived value. I don't remember the transition to GUI in the
80s as being as shallow as the mobile app market is.
~~~
outside1234
Its not shallow, it makes the app easier to use and therefore better designed.
Also, perception is reality.
~~~
Touche
I contest the idea that any two apps are so similar that something as trivial
as list-refresh mechanism could push one over the top.
~~~
slowernet
I look forward to competing with you one day!
Seriously though, you contest the idea that an interface with interactions
which hide complexity and have been shown to be pretty intuitive could be
decisive in how users value a product?
~~~
Touche
No, I agree that in the current mobile app world UI flourishes really do make
a difference in how users perceive an application. I'm hopeful for the day
when such flourishes are so common that they are no longer perceived as
valuable and we can get back to working on things that matter.
~~~
rsynnott
This isn't just a cosmetic thing; it makes it substantially easier to perform
an operation (in this case refreshing) and to see the status of that
operation.
Don't bet on UX enhancements ever going away, by the way; people come up with
new things all the time. Pull-to-refresh didn't come from any platform vendor;
it came from a third party Twitter client.
------
mkramlich
I think that not writing iOS/ObjectiveC/AppStore/Apple-specific code, period,
is even saner.
------
kamimeow
Are the multiplatform techno like flex, cordova/phonegap, haxe... already out
of question ?
~~~
rsynnott
Well, it depends on your needs, but really I have yet to see an app made with
any of them which isn't an unpleasant user experience.
~~~
craigching
[http://theweathertron.com/](http://theweathertron.com/)
Done with (IIRC) PhoneGap, AngularJS and ClojureScript. The actual utility as
a weather app is debatable (I like it), but the UI is beautiful and
responsive, especially considering it's PhoneGap!
~~~
oneeyedpigeon
"Requires iOS 6.0 or later" \- ARGH!
------
f_salmon
There's really nothing sane about iOS/the iPhone when the government has full
control over it.
The only sane thing to do is have it recycled.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
New planet hints we're very lucky—or our models are wrong - soundsop
http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2009/08/new-planet-hints-were-very-luckyor-our-models-are-wrong.ars
======
cturner
The planet is sentient. It constantly swings its tides out to create momentum
that prevents it from falling into the star.
~~~
gort
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jupiter_brain>
------
rw
If the star is <1.5 billion years old, and the planet is expected to fall into
that star in <1 million years, how did that planet have both time to form
(which would have occurred far away) and to have its orbit decay?
~~~
ars
The idea is that it formed farther away, and has been "falling" the whole
time, and it's just about to hit the star. Which is dismissed as an unlikely
coincidence, but maybe.
We should be able to find out soon.
If it's really that close, and the existing estimate for Q is correct, the
orbital period should change measurably within the next year or two.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Brains not brawn, matter most in the next war and we aren't being smart about it - theryanator
https://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/466679-brains-not-brawn-matter-most-in-the-next-war-and-were-not-being
======
einpoklum
So, the Hill already expects "The Next War", do they? Who's going to get it
this time? Or - is it Israel's next war, another invasion of one of its
neighbors and a pulverization of civilians, housing and infrastructure?
The author explains how "The Israel Defense Forces ... handpicks the best and
brightest graduating high schoolers ... and converts them into cyber warriors"
Yeah, great, that's just what a society needs, right? Brainwashing teenagers
into supporting, and fighting, wars? And don't forget - it's conscription, not
volunteer service in Israel.
The author then goes on to explain how the elite of the Israeli economy comes
out of the ranks of those war-minded youths, not from civilian society; and
how perpetual war is also reinforced by a continuing close bond between the
military and the private sector.
And this is the model Mr. Zakheim, and the Hill, suggest for future US
society. To those US'ers among the readers: Please reject that sad vision.
~~~
dogma1138
The odd thing is that Israel’s lesson learned form the 2nd Lebanon war was
that boots on the ground win wars.
It found major shortcomings in its capabilities due to reliance on its Air
Force as the go to solution for any problem and the emphasis on counter
insurgency and essentially border security when it came to its ground forces
made them unable to perform as well as expected in modern combined arms
warfare.
Their solution was to restructure all of their reservist battalions, put
emphasis on combined ground operations when it came to training institute new
large scale military exercises each year in order to have an effective ground
force which is capable of taking over and effectively controlling territory
something that the IDF forgot how to do.
Their opinion was that all the intelligence and smart bombs in the world can’t
decisively win an engagement, only ground troops can.
So in the coming war especially against a conventional or semi conventional
force the US still has the advantage of being the ones who wrote the book on
maneuver and combined arms warfare and having what is without a doubt the best
trained and equipped professional army in the world.
~~~
thrower123
There's a bit of interview from an old History Channel documentary that has
always stuck in my head. Sadly, I think the source is lost to the mists of
time; this was back in the Roger Mudd era when there were no rednecks, Jesus,
or Ancient Aliens on the lineup. Maybe a Modern Marvels on future weapons...
But in any case, they were interviewing a crusty old veteran of WW1, and he
said something to the effect of "You can have all the planes and tanks and new
gizmos, but you're still going to have some poor bastard in the mud to winkle
the other poor bastard out of his foxhole and make him sign the armistice."
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Beautiful landing page using bootstrap + font-awesome - anilshanbhag
http://webbify.in
======
wehadfun
Seems nice but not doing the fb
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
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