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CIA bought an encryption company and used it to spy on clients and countries - edu
https://www.businessinsider.com/cia-secretly-bought-encryption-company-crypto-ag-spy-countries-report-2020-2
======
ekimekim
Original Washington Post article discussed here:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22297963](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22297963)
------
cryptos
The same could happen with Threema. As much as I like and want to trust
Threema, but the story could be repeated, even if I think, that it is not used
by governments or military large-scale.
Essentially every closed source crypto application isn't trustworthy. Same is
true for operating systems.
~~~
bangboombang
Exactly my first thought. I like Threema and one of the reasons I was an early
adopter is that the founder worked on m0n0wall before, an OSS firewall that I
used for a long time, in contrast to it being just some guy I never heard of.
It made me accept the closed source nature. Another big factor was that I
indeed consider Switzerland to be a more trustworthy/neutral party in general
when it comes to global politics, but this obviously doesn't have to apply to
every single individual in that country.
~~~
_-___________-_
Why use Threema when there are alternatives that are not closed-source? You
had to begin to use Threema, which presumably carries the same difficulty as
beginning to use something which isn't as questionable.
~~~
mmPzf
A big plus for me was the option of using it without mapping the user account
to a phone number, something that e.g. Signal doesn't allow.
------
fit2rule
The free world needs to realise that no matter what systems of enormous value
to the world we build, others will attempt to usurp that power for their own
needs.
It happens with all technology. The reason is, all technology can be
weaponised.
Some simple facts .. The institutions covered by Crypto AG's technology
products, were attempting to maintain their own secrecy. They were, thus,
usurped by their own technology - and the CIA merely exploited this fact.
This case with the CIA directly addresses the lynchpin in the military-
industrial-surveillance states' armour - the ability to keep secrets.
From a certain perspective, one might say that .. the Vaticans .. inability to
keep secrets is a blessing and a curse. This is also true of many of the other
clients. Would that we had access to all the things the CIA knows, as a world
people, mmm..
These groups weaponised their own technology, against themselves, by using it
to keep secrets. It also happens to be the spooks' biggest weakness too: the
light of truth melts any and all justification for these peoples existence,
and it whither them.
Let us try a thought experiment: If the Vatican applied its vast resources to
providing a "Peoples Internet" a la Starlink, instead of using its billions to
hide heinous secrets, would the technology of communication have been so
easily weaponised?
All secrets are weapons, because you cannot have a secret without technology -
and all technology can be weaponised.
So this is a foot-bullet on the part of Crypto AG, the Vatican et al., and a
big win for the CIA - because it means these institutions will now be making
_more_ commitment, alas not less - to the keeping of secrets.
------
jo-m
A lot of this has been known for 25 years:
[https://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-9088423.html](https://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-9088423.html)
------
lallysingh
Is this why US export encryption had to be 40 bits? To push countries to a
vendor that was compromised?
------
jokoon
Is the leak coming from wikileaks? I've heard Assange will soon go to trial. I
was still wondering about that "dead's man switch", although I'm not sure it
will activate if he get convicted.
~~~
_-___________-_
I read about this quite a while ago, and while it's a revelation, it doesn't
seem big enough to be Assange's dead man's switch. Most people are just going
to shrug at this.
~~~
fit2rule
I have heard it from the crypto cognoscenti circles I know, that this is the
calm before the storm and that there will be many, many more leaks to come
during the actual trial period.
The idea is to point out to the world that Julian isn't the only leaker.
This terrifies the spook establishment, and they are therefore preparing for
their own campaign of controlled releases, designed to dull the general
publics' appetite for the subject.
I mean, this is all conjecture and hearsay, but it sure is an interesting time
to be watching the show. I do believe we are seeing a cyberwar, like
legitimately, underneath all the battle reports ..
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
ZURB Tavern - jacobwg
http://zurb.com/tavern
======
pepsi
By the name, I thought that this was going to be a MUD.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Passive solar glass home: watching the sun move - kirstendirksen
http://faircompanies.com/videos/view/passive-solar-glass-home-watching-sun-move/
======
jbrun
If you are keen on this, see Amory Lovins talk on buildings: Short version:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvmHJNeif24> Long Version:
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5txQlEI7bc&feature=chann...](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5txQlEI7bc&feature=channel)
------
electromagnetic
Rather impressive, but genuinely simple. He maximized sunlight in the winter
while minimising it in the summer and increased the buildings connection to
the earth below frost level where the ground stays a constant 14C/57F year
round.
------
timmaah
My dad built the house I grew up in like this in the mid 70's. Big south
facing windows with large overhang. Brick wall sucks up the heat for the
night. Our greenhouse had huge 20ft high cylinders filled with dyed black
water. Worked great.
What happened in the 80s and 90s to make this not as popular?
~~~
kirstendirksen
Passive solar used to be the way everyone built... at least before way back
with the Ancient Greeks and Chinese. But when we stopped relying on sun for
energy, most of us stopped building this way.
I would guess passive solar gained popularity in the seventies due to more
attention to energy conservation (oil crisis and all) and then when oil got
cheap again, it wasn't so trendy. Hope that's not that case now.
Though cheap oil and global warming aside, I'd still prefer to live in a home
heated by the sun and cooled by the earth. AC gives me a headache and I much
prefer the feel of sun through a window than the blast of central heating.
------
kjell
Earthships are worth a look for anyone who wonders why the average modern
house is so wasteful.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Google SSL Search - jamesbkel
http://www.google.com/support/websearch/bin/answer.py?answer=173733&hl=en
======
wladimir
This was available for quite a while already, though in beta/labs. I'm not
sure what is new.
~~~
JonnieCache
Yeah, it doesn't seem any different to how its been in the past year. The
_beta_ sigil is still under the logo.
I wish theyd put the links to maps and images back in, maybe with some visual
warning that theyre not encrypted. I have SSL search as the default search in
chrome, and I hate having to manually jump back to normal google to do image
searches.
While we're here, don't forget SSL wikipedia!
<https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Main_Page>
~~~
mike-cardwell
If you're using the HTTPS-Everywhere Firefox addon (1), or the HTTPS-
Everywhere Squid redirector (2), you don't need to know/remember about the SSL
versions of Wikipedia or Google. You're just sent there by default.
1.) <https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere>
2.) <https://github.com/mikecardwell/perl-HTTPSEverywhere>
------
mahrain
Been using this for a year now, there's also a hack to use it in the Chrome
bar by entering a custom search engine. Very handy and works nice.
Only miss is that I can't immediately click through to image searches, they're
only available over unsecured HTTP.
~~~
lobster_johnson
Unfortunately, you lose autocompletion (other than history autocompletion)
when you use something other than the built-in Google search.
------
nodata
Good, but to make this truly useful we need a really simple way to specify
which country-specific google search engine we would like results from.
------
jamaicahest
DuckDuckGo has been using this for many months, when you use the !g bang
~~~
rlpb
Really? It doesn't seem to do it for me. Do you have some setting set
somewhere?
------
lini
Anyone that has the HTTPS everywhere extension (Firefox) is already using the
SSL search in Google. As others noted it has been in beta for quite a long
time and is missing some features like the image search or the doodles on the
homepage.
------
buster
Also, if you want to browse on SSL whereever possible:
[https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/flcpelgcagfhfoegek...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/flcpelgcagfhfoegekianiofphddckof)
Love this Extension!
------
RyanKearney
The only thing I dislike about this is it hides the refer, screwing up my
analytics. I'd have to completely convert all of my sites to HTTPS only to be
able to make use of the additional headers for analytical purposes. Not really
a big deal I guess, but kind of unnecessary to have to purchase wildcard certs
if you have many sub domains.
~~~
dspillett
The free certs from <http://www.startssl.com/> are apparently accepted by most
browsers these days (the exception being IE6/7 users on XP who have not
downloaded the optional CA cert updates):
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Startssl#StartSSL>
I've not used their cert for anything yet (I plan to test them on some
personal sites when I get chance, before using them elsewhere), and wildcard
certs are not free (but they do seem relatively cheap), but it might be worth
looking into for someone in your position.
~~~
thepsi
I've used them for a few personal sites and projects with no complaints.
The fee for wildcard certs (~60USD) is a one-off to verify your identity -
usually via a quick phone call to confirm details from your official
documents.
Once that's complete, you can generate as many certs as you need (incl.
wildcards and Subject Alternative Name) from their control panel, subject to
jumping through the usual hoops to prove that you have control of each domain.
~~~
RyanKearney
I do use StartSSL but the problem just comes from having multiple sub domains.
I get IPv4 addresses for $0.50/mo/each but I'd rather not setup each subdomain
on its own dedicated IP for the sakes of using free SSL certs.
~~~
dspillett
You don't need multiple IPv4 addresses to make use of a wild-card (or other
multi-name) certificate. A wildcard certificate will verify any matching
domain so you could have many sub-domains of the same domain (using a single
certificate for *.domain.tld) on one address and browsers would not complain.
Also you could run the distinct (sub)domains on different ports on the same
address, though this is perhaps less useful.
Also, with SNI you can use many single-name certificates on one address (and
all on the same port) using SNI. Unfortunately there are a number of
significant client combinations that won't play nice with this (most notably,
if you can't guess, IE on Windows XP):
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Server_Name_Indication#Support>
~~~
RyanKearney
I know that. I'm saying I don't want to have to pay for a wildcard certificate
since you can get free certs for individual domains. The alternative for me
purchasing a wildcard domain would be to get many different single domain
certs for free and assign each one to a different IP address.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Copper - Data analysis toolkit for python - dfrodriguez143
http://pypi.python.org/pypi?:action=display&name=copper&version=0.0.2
======
johncoogan
Looks awesome, always love seeing my favorite tools wrapped up in new ways.
Thanks a lot for posting.
Quick note, since PyPi doesn't seem to parse markdown, the more information
link to GitHub is malformed. I believe the plain link will hyperlink
automatically. (See <http://scrible.com/s/2acQ2> for details).
Thanks again for the package.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
We are starting WebKit modularization - robin_reala
http://markmail.org/thread/fkiibwrwv3xporxx
======
dhx
_> We hope this will make it much easier to develop vendor-specific features._
DRM[1]? Flash/"ActiveX 2012"[2]?
We've seen a great deal of recent discussion about the harm vendor-specific
CSS properties[3] and X- prefixed application protocol header fields[4] are
causing. No two parties can agree on proposals for the HTML specification.
Microsoft, Google, Apple and Mozilla all tend to disagree and we're stuck with
vendor-specific browser features.
These are not good signs for the health of the Web.
[1] <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3620432>
[2] <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3620537>
[3] [http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-
style/2012Feb/0998.h...](http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-
style/2012Feb/0998.html)
[4] <http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-ietf-appsawg-xdash-03>
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Communication blackout is forcing young entrepreneurs out of Kashmir - amrrs
https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/in-a-land-without-internet-how-the-communication-blackout-is-forcing-young-entrepreneurs-out-of-kashmir-valley/article30219792.ece
======
amrrs
For some context on Internet Shutdown:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20701204](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20701204)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Namecoin - rfreytag
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Namecoin
======
JacobAldridge
At the risk of hijacking yet another cryptocurrency thread, this is an
opportunity to note how valuable I believe HN to be when it highlights primary
sources.
Secondary sources - whether it's lazy journalism, blog-jacking, or Wikipedia,
engages us here in a discussion already framed through another person's or
group of people's editorial eyes. Is there no better overview of Namecoin than
its Wikipedia page?
~~~
bachback
[http://namecoin.info](http://namecoin.info)
This is where it started:
[https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1790.0](https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1790.0)
satoshi's comment on the matter, posted 4 days before he left the forum.
"I think it would be possible for BitDNS to be a completely separate network
and separate block chain, yet share CPU power with Bitcoin. The only overlap
is to make it so miners can search for proof-of-work for both networks
simultaneously.
The networks wouldn't need any coordination. Miners would subscribe to both
networks in parallel. They would scan SHA such that if they get a hit, they
potentially solve both at once. A solution may be for just one of the networks
if one network has a lower difficulty.
I think an external miner could call getwork on both programs and combine the
work. Maybe call Bitcoin, get work from it, hand it to BitDNS getwork to
combine into a combined work.
Instead of fragmentation, networks share and augment each other's total CPU
power. This would solve the problem that if there are multiple networks, they
are a danger to each other if the available CPU power gangs up on one.
Instead, all networks in the world would share combined CPU power, increasing
the total strength. It would make it easier for small networks to get started
by tapping into a ready base of miners."
"@dtvan: all 3 excellent points. 1) IP records don't need to be in the chain,
just do registrar function not DNS. And CA problem solved, neat. 2) Pick one
TLD, .web +1. 3) Expiration and significant renewal costs, very important."
~~~
baddox
JacobAldridge asked whether there is a better overview of Namecoin than it's
Wikipedia page. Having read the Wikipedia page and the Namecoin homepage you
linked, I can confidently say that the former is a much more detailed and
informative overview.
~~~
bachback
strangely enough there are a million people who know about this project and
1-2 actually participate. it's a wiki and opensource project, so everyone in
the world is free to contribute. same with bitcoin. roughly 5 active
developers at the moment, working mostly in their spare time.
~~~
wcoenen
Look at the list of contributors at the end of the release notes of the
upcoming 0.9.0 release of the bitcoin reference client[1]. Or look at the
activity of other projects, e.g. the bitcoinj google group[2]. There's a lot
more than 5 people working on bitcoin.
[1]
[https://bitcoin.org/bin/0.9.0/test/README.txt](https://bitcoin.org/bin/0.9.0/test/README.txt)
[2]
[https://groups.google.com/forum/m/#!forum/bitcoinj](https://groups.google.com/forum/m/#!forum/bitcoinj)
~~~
bachback
the number of people contributing is extremely small compared to the people
who know about it/make money of it/are enthusiastic about it/could contribute.
There is not a deep bench of developers. Many open issues which don't get
solved because the 3-4 main devs (laanjw, sipa, gavin) are to busy. look at
coinbase: they get rich of it, take 1% fees and add nothing back whatsoever.
------
Sanddancer
I like the idea of namecoin -- uncensorability is pretty cool from a
technological standpoint -- however the other flaws of bitcoin make me wary of
basing any sort of serious DNS replacement on it. Given that there's no plans
to increase the number of namecoins in circulation, and that creating a domain
by its very definition destroys namecoins, that 50nmc cost to buy a domain
becomes increasingly expensive over time as people buy namecoins, peoples'
wallets get lost, fraud occurs, etc. I'd be more interested if they did
something like dogecoin and reated some sort of inflationary method to
counteract this, so that we don't end up with the same mess DNS is in, only
with slightly different bad actors.
~~~
walden42
Namecoin is not controlled by anyone in particular. If it grows in demand and
people want the inflationary feature (or anything else), it will be
implemented by the network.
~~~
bachback
no, money supply is fixed. changing money supply like doge did is possible,
but risks destroying the network.
~~~
kushti
Money supply is fixed but prices for database record insertion/update could be
changed painlessly.
~~~
sillysaurus3
If the money supply is fixed, then people will have a harder time acquiring
namecoin after all the namecoin is generated. People will have to buy it, and
since it's a scarce resource, it may become extremely expensive. Especially if
namecoin exploded in popularity.
I suppose if it becomes expensive then the namecoin admins could lower the
cost of database inserts/updates. But it seems like that would prompt the
price per namecoin to rise accordingly, because the value of namecoin is a
single database insert or update.
------
thefreeman
I'm confused as to why this is suddenly at the top of HN? Were people not
aware of one of the original "alt" cryptocurrencies?
~~~
bachback
silicon valley found out about it. several tweets of major figures last week.
~~~
based2
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7401999](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7401999)
------
al2o3cr
"On October 15, 2013, a major flaw in the namecoin protocol was revealed by
the Kraken exchange COO, Michael Grønager. The exploit allowed any user to
freely steal any domain from any other user.[34] A temporary fix was deployed
which prevents fraudulent name transactions from affecting the name database
without requiring miner intervention, and a long-term fix which rejects blocks
containing such transactions is scheduled for block 150,000 if a majority of
miners upgrade.[35]"
Well, I'm sure stoked that we're building the future infrastructure of the Net
on something that we're pretty sure doesn't have a ginormous security hole
_anymore_...
------
FredericJ
If you don't know about Namecoin here are too additional ressources you might
want to check out: "OkTurtles + DNSChain" (working Namecoin + DNS
implementation): [http://okturtles.com/](http://okturtles.com/) and "Providing
better confidentiality and authentication on the Internet using Namecoin and
MinimaLT" :
[https://github.com/FredericJacobs/safeweb/blob/master/paper....](https://github.com/FredericJacobs/safeweb/blob/master/paper.pdf?raw=true)
------
bachback
There are currently 1-2 developers working on Namecoin (mostly Khan, another
core developer died recently). Namecoin itself has quite a few issues. The
design is only the beginning.
~~~
appleflaxen
Can you elaborate on the issues you allude to? The "criticism" section on
wikipedia is pretty thin.
~~~
bachback
well, at the moment there is not much reason to use the system. if you
register a ".bit" then you have to get your users to install complicated
software and in the end what you are getting is very similar to ".com". There
are major benefits, which are not explored yet. rolling out a world wide
nameservice is not trivial. at the moment it's not even used by the
underground. onename.io is the first application I have seen.
------
teach
This article has more citations per sentence than anything I have ever seen on
Wikipedia.
~~~
jebus989
Citation spam is usually an attempt to prevent article deletion, especially
pertinent as it's been deleted [0] and merged into bitcoin [1] in the past.
[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletio...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Namecoin)
[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletio...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Namecoin_\(2nd_nomination\))
------
jabgrabdthrow
I'm working on an alternative to namecoin with the following features:
* Profitable (what? profitable cryptocurrency? what?) * Powerful disincentives for squatting * Lots of funding for the project, which means we can actually push towards critical-mass adoption
More will be available at domains.bitshares.org within ~2 weeks.
~~~
rictic
Count me as interested. I've been trying to think of a distributed solution to
squatting and fraud but I've had very little luck coming up with anything
workable.
------
rumcajz
I don't get why it doesn't use bitcoin's block chain. That would give it a
strong existing infrastructure of users, miners etc. This way it is on its
own.
~~~
aaron-lebo
The Bitcoin devs don't really want the blockchain used for non-financial
transactions.
If makes sense if you think about it. The current BTC blockchain is gigabytes
of data. Add text information to every transaction and you are adding even
more bloat.
~~~
baddox
Do you have a source for that claim? The official Bitcoin wiki certainly talks
about non-financial uses of Bitcoin, and Script obviously makes such uses
possible.
~~~
aaron-lebo
Well, I remember reading something like that once, so it must be true. ;)
In all seriousness, I did some Googling and the closest I can find is this:
"One final reason is that Satoshi was opposed to putting non-Bitcoin related
data into the main chain. As creator of the system, his opinion should carry a
lot of weight with anyone serious about extending it."
[https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Alternative_chain](https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Alternative_chain)
I realize that is close to being useless, but I can't find the direct post in
question by Satoshi that it is referencing. I seem to recall it not being
Satoshi, however, but one of the current devs that I read a similar sentiment
from.
But again, I don't have any direct links. I apologize.
------
kushti
I'm interesting in developing services on top of Namecoin / other p2p more-
than-currencies (MasterCoin/Ethereum?). Please mail me (kushtech [at] yahoo
(dot) com) if you want to discuss related things or join me. I'm
Scala/Java/etc developer myself / entrepreneur also in past and future.
~~~
iterationx
You might be interested in learning about Twister, decentralized microblogging
(twitter) [http://twister.net.co/](http://twister.net.co/)
~~~
thisiswrong
I can't believe how potentially disruptive Twister is! Haha and I love its
system of mining for promoted tweets.
As I have always said, bitcoin (the invention) means the end of FB, Twitter,
and all similar centralized corporate entities.
------
mm0
keep pumping it op
------
RexRollman
"Namecoin is a cryptocurrency which also acts as an alternative, decentralized
DNS"
So, finally, a cryptocurrency which serves a purpose aside from filling up
HN's article listing. Cool.
~~~
atmosx
The bitcoin protocol is an extremely important advancement as it solved the
double spending[1] problem and can be used for all sorts of interesting
community and business applications. Especially for systems used by
organizations (e.g. DNS) that need to be public, uncensored and accessible
from everyone (institutions, countries and individuals).
Here are just a few ideas:
[http://www.convalesco.org/#31](http://www.convalesco.org/#31)
[1] [https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Double-
spending](https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Double-spending)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Last of the Neanderthals - robg
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/print/2008/10/neanderthals/hall-text
======
biohacker42
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=306927>
~~~
robg
Cool man, thanks. Usually I'd delete the dupe, but in this case I'd rather
have the unpaginated version in my personal archive.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Four Reasons Taxpayers Should Never Subsidize Stadiums - SQL2219
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2018-07-16/four-reasons-taxpayers-should-never-subsidize-stadiums
======
masonic
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18832975](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18832975)
600+ points
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Sustainable Feedback - sklivvz1971
https://sklivvz.com/posts/sustainable-feedback
======
lrkwz
Non vedo l'ora di leggere la prossima puntata :-)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Easiest method for multiplying numbers - mquaes
http://mathema-tricks.blogspot.com/2011/12/method-for-multiplying-numbers-where.html
======
thomc
These kind of tricks are pretty handy, and I don't know why I wasn't taught
them back in school, growing up in the calculator generation. My father could
do all kinds of math in his head, which was just as well since he was a
mathematician, but couldn't explain how he did it, he just "knew" the answer.
I taught myself some tricks after the fact, the rest is just practice I think.
Some examples:
Multiply any two digit number by 11 easily:
Using 62 as an example. Separate the two digits (6__2). Notice the gap between
them Add 6 and 2 together (6+2=8) Put the resulting 8 in the gap to get the
answer: 682, 62x11=682.
If the result of the addition > 9, put the least significant digit in the gap
and carry the most significant digit.
This can be expanded to multiply any number by 11 in your head.
Even really easy/obvious tricks are useful, e.g:
To quickly multiply any number by 5, divide the number in two and then
multiply it by 10. Very quick to do in your head.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
A $277 million navigational error - uvdiv
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/01/world/asia/us-navy-to-scrap-vessel-stuck-on-philippine-reef.html
======
uvdiv
_[US Navy Rear Adm. Jonathan] White's message states, "initial review of
navigation data indicates an error in the location of Tubbataha Reef" on the
digital map._
<http://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=71553>
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Wikipedia - Thank You for stopping SOPA - justhw
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:CongressLookup?new=yes
======
carlsednaoui
Yesterday's blackout was simply incredible. When I woke up and saw all of the
sites that were protesting I got chills down my spine.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
CSS Tools – Mega Collection - ayushunibrain
https://github.com/abhiprojectz/CSS-Generator
======
ayushunibrain
Css generator is a mega collection of awesome css tools!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
SpaceX Launch: Starlink 12 [video] - cjnicholls
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_j4xR7LMCGY
======
codeulike
Everyone is commenting saying how mundane it has become to see the landings.
Hence you might enjoy this official SpaceX Blooper reel from 2017 that shows
the numerous spectacular failures that they worked through.
Innovation is a type of gamble. People forget that.
"SpaceX: How Not to Land an Orbital Rocket Booster"
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvim4rsNHkQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvim4rsNHkQ)
(and regular reminder that these things are 12-storey high explosive tubes)
~~~
skvark
If the Falcon 9 landings feel mundane, I would recommend to follow Starship
development. Starship SN6 might do a 150 meter hop later today:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ky5l9ZxsG9M](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ky5l9ZxsG9M)
------
mabbo
The true beauty of SpaceX is that they've made landing their boosters boring
(almost). This makes their competitors throwing them away seem stupid.
It also shows how clever it was to livestream so much of what they do. So many
people have seen a rocket booster land. Children today will hear that ULA
doesn't land their boosters and ask "why not?".
~~~
imglorp
Let's talk about the "why not" for a second.
The incumbents have 200 years of collective head start over SpaceX, which
started from scratch in 2002. They had 18 years to use that advantage to beat
everyone else to reusable space access while remaining in the cherry
procurement positions. Instead, they mismanaged, wrecked their quality
culture, and lobbied for more handouts.
Unable to compete on merit, schedule,or price, ULA is reduced to buying
another congressman, who's implying SpaceX is a security threat via the China
card.
[https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense-
national-s...](https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense-national-
security/elon-musks-spacex-nasa-contracts-threatened-over-tesla-china-ties)
~~~
tenpies
> Unable to compete on merit, schedule,or price, ULA is reduced to buying
> another congressman, who's implying SpaceX is a security threat via the
> China card.
That's quite the leap, although I can see your logic.
Ultimately Musk should have seen this coming because it's obvious. He's tied a
huge amount of his net worth to the favour of the CCP and involved himself
with a program of national importance to a country that is at odds with the
CCP.
What's worst, Musk has zero respect for any sort of arms length separation
between his companies, so it's almost guaranteed that the CCP has some level
of access to SpaceX IP as they expand their grasp on Tesla through Shanghai.
This was all easily avoidable if Musk didn't insist on thinking that if he
didn't personally come up with the idea, the idea must be idiotic.
~~~
asfasfasf12
So if I fall your logic correctly then Boeing, which is part of ULA, is also
in CCP's pockets. They produce planes there, a lot. Just one example.
~~~
nickik
This. Embracing level of argument. Lets ignore the fact also that the US had a
50+ year standing relationship with China and it encouraged its companies to
work there, including China in the WTO and so on.
------
bronco21016
It really is quite incredible how _boring_ this has become. I was chatting
with a friend who used to follow all of this stuff closely with me at the
beginning of the landing attempts. He wasn’t tuning in this morning (US east
coast) because he didn’t find it exciting without the almost 50/50 chance the
Stage 1 booster would RUD on landing.
Starhopper 150M hop window opened today. Hoping to see some action there as
that seems to be the new hotbed of SpaceX excitement. Not that I wish for a
RUD but it’s far more likely to see something crazy on these early experiments
making it more fun to watch.
~~~
waynenilsen
Last hop there was no RUD but the raptor did quite a job to the launch mount
it was definitely entertaining if not unexpected.
~~~
danw1979
The “small fire” around the raptor engine pipework also added to the tension,
even though we knew it was a success by the time we had that footage.
It definitely had that prototype feel to it.
------
shantara
An interesting detail mentioned during the webcast was that SpaceX have
already performed initial testing of inter-satellite links on a pair of
Starlink satellites.
~~~
dzhiurgis
Was that laser or radio links?
~~~
shantara
The commentator called them "space lasers" on stream
------
ttul
I love that the presenter is a female engineer. How inspiring this must be for
millions of girls around the world. Hopefully it encourages more girls to take
on engineering to help provide a better balance of gender in the field.
~~~
vardump
So is SpaceX President & COO Gwynne Shotwell.
You might be interested in her TEDx talk:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THQPNDNulVc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THQPNDNulVc)
------
erwinh
Thats becoming one massive constellation [https://space-
search.io/?search=starlink](https://space-search.io/?search=starlink)
~~~
krick
Is it even possible to take them down without scattering debris all over the
orbit later on?
Also, is orbit considered to be a free real estate? Does the first one to call
dibs just take it or what? It's sure slowly getting a bit crowded over there.
~~~
jccooper
They already deorbit Starlink sats regularly. The "prototype" birds from the
first launch are being decommissioned. SpaceX could hit a button (well, run a
script, probably) and Starlink would disappear within 2-4 weeks.
Earth orbit is kinda first-come, first-served, though there is some
coordination for GEO and large constellations via FCC and the ITU. It's really
not particularly crowded. Starlink in particular basically occupies only one
orbital shell at the moment, and not a particularly popular one, though it'll
eventually have three or so.
~~~
moralestapia
>SpaceX could hit a button (well, run a script, probably) and Starlink would
disappear within 2-4 weeks.
Make me wonder what kind of security is in place to prevent a bad actor from
doing that.
Is there some 'field' of CS that deals with this? I would love to read about
it.
------
stemc43
I've had so many outages this month with Cox. Can't wait for this project to
start rolling out to consumers.
~~~
chasd00
my wife and i are looking at property in the mountains of SE Oklahoma. I'm
hoping starlink comes online in the next 2-3 years.
------
cowmix
They nailed the landing of the booster and I yawned.
Amazing.
------
ape4
At 9:33 she says "100 Megabytes/second". Probably megabits/second. Still cool.
~~~
bryanlarsen
Eric Berger confirmed with SpaceX that it is 100 megabits.
[https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/09/spacex-
launches-12th...](https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/09/spacex-
launches-12th-starlink-mission-says-users-getting-100-mbps-downloads)
------
jguimont
What will be the speed of the internet down and up link when fully
operational? The video said 100Mbps at low latency. Do they expect more
afterward?
------
perilunar
The satellite deployment seemed a bit wonky at the end of the video. Like they
were tangled. Hope it went ok.
~~~
_Microft
SpaceX hosts said during earlier launches that these satellites are built to
be able to bump into each other after payload separation. SpaceX chose to
stack the satellites on top of each other to save mass and volume that a
larger payload adapter would have required. The stacked satellites are held
together by 'tension rods' which are released to let them separate. In today's
launch, you can actually see a rod being released [0]. Normally they lose the
video feed around that time. They separate relatively easily because the
second stage spins up to 'throw' them out. It didn't look worse than during
other launches.
[https://www.starlink.com/](https://www.starlink.com/) has an image carousel
with renders of the satellites and the stack if someone wants to have a closer
look.
[0] [https://youtu.be/_j4xR7LMCGY?t=1780](https://youtu.be/_j4xR7LMCGY?t=1780)
------
manuelabeledo
So, what about upload speeds?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: IMDB for YouTubers - smhtyazdi
http://www.rshiv.org/
======
anigbrowl
This is a badly needed thing but there is no way I am signing up when you
don't even have a screenshot. Put something together first.
~~~
smhtyazdi
Thanks, for your comment. I started to add some titles. Here you can find a
simple one.
[http://www.rshiv.org/profile.php?u=vitalyzdtv](http://www.rshiv.org/profile.php?u=vitalyzdtv)
~~~
anigbrowl
That's good. I really think you need to build it up a bit before launching,
though. As someone who works in media, nobody likes the job of entering all
the credits into IMDB, but someone has to do it because it's a good marketing
tool. Right now this looks like an idea more than a product, but there is
definitely a need.
------
padho
I like the idea but you have to work on your site and put content on it
~~~
smhtyazdi
Thanks for your comment. This not like IMDB where everything has to be
reviewed first. Here, Video owner (channel owner) is responsible for giving
credit to other youtubers for his/her video. Here is a sample:
[http://www.rshiv.org/title.php?v=oFMsqrG9RWg](http://www.rshiv.org/title.php?v=oFMsqrG9RWg)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
MicroServices as a service - mohameddev
http://stackhut.com/
======
mohameddev
Looks promising to have the ability to access your code as an API, I cannot
wait to test it. Check it up
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Microsoft's little-screen, big-screen interactive future - clbrook
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-57572163-75/microsofts-little-screen-big-screen-interactive-future/
======
clbrook
Reminds me of Corning's day of glass videos:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Cf7IL_eZ38>
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Kubernetes 1.13 – What's New? - vthallam
https://k8s.co.in/blog/kubernetes-1-13-whats-new/
======
ggm
IPv6 inside would be nice.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The Coders Programming Themselves Out of a Job - xcubic
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/10/agents-of-automation/568795?single_page=true
======
eindiran
Duplicate of:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18120322](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18120322)
------
IronWolve
Go away or I will replace you with a very small shell script
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Secrets of BackType's (YC S08) Data Engineers - omakase
http://www.readwriteweb.com/hack/2011/01/secrets-of-backtypes-data-engineers.php
======
blantonl
This illustrates that a staff of _three_ highly skilled innovative engineers
can bring to market an innovative solution.
Jeeze, these guys developed their own _database_ and _language_ to accomplish
their objectives. Others might take 10 million in funding, already be focused
on the 2nd round, all the while not focused on delivering first.
You have to get there, before you can get there.
Congrats to the BackType team.
------
fookyong
I would be more interested in hearing the results/reasoning of their recent
introduction of a paywall.
Seems the business model pivoted slightly.
e.g. [http://backtweets.com/search?q=yongfook.com%2Fall-about-
litt...](http://backtweets.com/search?q=yongfook.com%2Fall-about-
littlecosm&ref=p1)
anything beyond the last few weeks, you need to pay $100/month.
~~~
konsl
The results in BackTweets haven't actually changed, we're just showing an
upgrade button above them. What was free continues to be free.
------
mrchess
I'm surprised they are still 3 engineers. They have been posting jobs for
almost a year now and still haven't hired anyone, yet they keep saying in
blogs and the job section they want to hire. I understanding waiting for the
"best" yet at the same time you're growing a custom stack that requires
specific skill sets and I imagine as time goes on it only gets harder. I mean,
slow hiring is good too but at some point you need to give in and grow so that
your employees can join in on your projects and grow with the company!
~~~
nathanmarz
We've recently added two very talented interns to our team:
<http://tech.backtype.com/welcome-jason-christopher>
~~~
chanri
Are you looking for full-time engineers?
~~~
nathanmarz
Yes, we are.
<http://www.backtype.com/jobs>
------
ehsanul
This reminds me of that post by the ex-Facebook manager, who said that tools
are top priority. This article really brings it home for me.
However, despite their purported effectiveness as engineers, I'm not sure what
Backtype is really doing. I generally see them just below an article, in place
of comments, with a long list of useless tweets referring to the article
(usually of the form "article title - bit.ly/shortened". That's probably not
doing them too much good for marketing, unless you think any publicity is good
publicity.
~~~
konsl
What you're seeing is Disqus' Reactions feature, which we help power. Part of
our business is data services, which companies like Disqus, Bitly, The New
York Times, SlideShare, etc use.
Our own product is a marketing intelligence platform; essentially, it provides
analytics for social media marketing programs so brands understand what's
working, what isn't and how to improve.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
These genetically modified cyborg dragonflies could perform ‘guided pollination’ - preetish
https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/25/these-genetically-modified-cyborg-dragonflies-could-perform-guided-pollination/
======
LordWinstanley
>>we can make enough of them fast enough to counter the disappearance of
honeybees
Black Mirror Series 03 "Hated in the Nation"
[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5709236/?ref_=ttep_ep6](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5709236/?ref_=ttep_ep6)
------
whatnotests
This is amazing, even if it's a bit far-off.
My question is whether this can be streamlined and the little bots can be re-
used enough to cover their expense, and we can make enough of them fast enough
to counter the disappearance of honeybees.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Wssdl – WireShark-Specific Dissector Language - Snaipe
https://github.com/diacritic/wssdl
======
rwmj
Interesting, but surprising they didn't look at how Erlang bit syntax works.
[http://erlang.org/doc/programming_examples/bit_syntax.html](http://erlang.org/doc/programming_examples/bit_syntax.html)
It's considerably more flexible, much more elegant, and (in Erlang) battle-
tested.
I wrote an Erlang-inspired version of bitstrings for OCaml:
[https://people.redhat.com/~rjones/bitstring/html/Bitstring.h...](https://people.redhat.com/~rjones/bitstring/html/Bitstring.html)
~~~
Snaipe
This is because wssdl is still within the boundaries of the lua grammar: the
file you provide is still lua, so you have to abide by its rule.
I experimented with a key/value approach on the syntax itself (something like
`{ src_port = u16 }` or `{ src_port = 16 }`), which was nicer, but the problem
was that, in lua, table literals are unordered. The current approach uses the
method syntax (`a:b()`) as a nice workaround, but this mandates the use of
parenthesis after the type and other specifiers. This is fine though since a
lot of the provided types are parameterized (e.g. `bytes(n)` which takes a
number of octets)
------
sigill
Great idea! I have always felt that the Wireshark Lua bindings are not ready-
to-use enough. They feel like the ugly stepchild of Wireshark.
In the last dissector I wrote, which was about 1000 lines of Lua, I built a
very limited structure definition parser, not completely unlike wssdl. I did
it to cut down on the repetitive code needed parse the structures: Typically I
parse every field twice: Once to add it to the dissection tree and once to get
its value as a Lua-held variable.
I'll definitely be using wssdl in my next dissector!
------
dexwiz
Naming consideration, WSDL is already a very common name for XML API
description files.
------
problems
Interesting alternative if you're looking for something for your own tools:
[http://kaitai.io/](http://kaitai.io/)
------
ris
Hooray does this mean the end of embarrassing Wireshark vulnerabilities?
------
ythl
What does GPL3 license mean in the context of Wssdl? That if I write a
dissector with it then it has to be open sourced?
~~~
Snaipe
This means that if you distribute your dissector, you have to make your
sources available.
This is nothing new though: all wireshark plugins must be GPL, since the API
itself they rely on is GPL.
~~~
bch
_v3_ means that if it's used (even over a network) by somebody, they can
request the code, versus GPLv2 (Wireshark license), which says if you
distribute binaries of Wireshark or software based on it, you must provide the
source. The difference is that you could theoretically provide a web interface
to a GPLv2 project and not need to supply the source, but if you provide such
an interface to GPLv3 software, you could receive a request for the code.
EDIT: _I 'm not entirely correct_ There are _provisions_ for the network
situation ("ASP (application service provider) loophole") I described, but I
looks like it's not necessarily the default mode. See [0][1].
[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_General_Public_License](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_General_Public_License)
[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affero_General_Public_License](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affero_General_Public_License)
~~~
Manozco
Nop The 'over the network' stuff is AGPL
| {
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} |
Uber Picks Expedia CEO Dara Khosrowshahi as New CEO - nbmh
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/28/technology/dara-khosrowshahi-uber-ceo.html?mcubz=0
======
mwnivek
Previous discussion:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15113613](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15113613)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Is Your Webapp in an App Store? - sabat
======
stephenou
It is not 100% related but I have a premium whiteboard application on Chrome
Web Store for $3.99. The volume is relatively small in comparison to folks at
Apple App Store, I assume it's because many people barely know about Chrome
Web Store yet. My sales figures: <http://ohboard.com/blog/10-sales-
in-2-weeks/>
Though, I suggest you adding your web app to Chrome Web Store since it will
not take you more than few hours and it will bring you users straight.
------
jeffepp
Shopify = Well worth it. A significant amount of new signups come from
Shopify. Great support & communication.
Google Enterprise = Not worth it, whatsoever. The process is horrible (it took
quite a while to understand the issues for denial because of the template
answers). Definitely a - ROI for us.
Feel free to email me for more details..
------
sabat
Are you marketing your webapp in an app store (Google Chrome, Mozilla)? What
are your results, lessons learned, and how has your experience been? Is it
worth it, and should the rest of us consider doing this?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Toki Pona - ColinWright
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toki_Pona
======
anonymfus
Conlang Critic is a fan of this language:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLn6LC1RpAo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLn6LC1RpAo)
I highly recommend watching all episodes of their show if you like an idea of
short text based video essays about constructed languages:
[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLuYLhuXt4HrQqnfSceITm...](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLuYLhuXt4HrQqnfSceITmv6T_drx1hN84)
~~~
lifthrasiir
I second this. If you are new to the series, the recent Lingwa de Planeta
episode [1] contains a good introduction to conlangs and especially
international auxiliary languages in general.
[1]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gi1-ZWiqjD8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gi1-ZWiqjD8)
------
schoen
Maybe dang or some other public-spirited person could find some of the earlier
toki pona threads from HN so people could see some of the earlier discussions?
I know I've participated in quite a few of them because I know toki pona well
and had various random things to comment on each time it was brought up here.
:-)
Edit: I guess the majority of these threads can be found with
[https://hn.algolia.com/?q=toki+pona](https://hn.algolia.com/?q=toki+pona)
(including the recent one on a custom homemade computer with a native toki
pona input and display, a project which was then described by its inventor
exclusively in toki pona).
~~~
6510
thanks
------
bovermyer
The really interesting thing about Toki Pona is that it's meant to force you
to think about the meaning of your words in a positive light.
~~~
9nGQluzmnq3M
Claiming that language limits what you can imagine is the strong version of
the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, and it's been pretty thoroughly debunked:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_relativity](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_relativity)
~~~
quotemstr
Not everyone agrees that it's been "debunked". There's a lot of motivated
reasoning in linguistics.
~~~
canjobear
You can read about the experiments yourself. Strong Sapir-Whorf (the idea that
language determines thought) is DOA. Weak Sapir-Whorf (language has some
influence on thought) has ok evidence.
------
stanislavb
An idea: If one learns to express himself in Toki Pona, would it be possible
to communicate "freely" with natives by simply learning the equivalent
vocabulary (120 words) of any other language?
------
codezero
Learning the vocabulary is easy, but because the vocabulary is so small, it
does become quite difficult to construct meaningful sentences following rules
that are very local to a few words, which ultimately spans many words. Most
often, it seems, like any language, a ton of the context becomes implied, so
it’s super tricky.
It’s still a fun weekend or multi weekend exercise in exploring languages
though.
------
senorsmile
A couple of years ago Memrise had a 48 hour challenge to learn it with a bunch
of other people, and to try to speak at the end. I did quite terribly (as
usual). Nevertheless, it was a fun challenge.
------
dang
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22689959](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22689959)
See also
[https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...](https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&query=Toki%20Pona%20comments%3E3&sort=byDate&type=story)
------
strogonoff
Invented languages are overwhelmingly boring in their likeness to English,
Spanish and other Western languages.
What if we tried to create, say, a language with a logographic written system
that is pure WYSIWYM (as opposed to “what you see is how you pronounce”) _and_
synthetic to boot?
Make it use vocal cords differently.
Instead of borrowing around, use a random seed in generating a minimum set of
unique basic “native” words according to language rules and build on top of
that (borrowing for meanings outside of that set).
This could be so much more fun!
~~~
justinpombrio
> Invented languages are overwhelmingly boring in their likeness to English,
> Spanish and other Western languages.
Toki Pona is not like English, Spanish, or other Western languages.
It has no singular/plural distinction. It has no past/present/future tense.
Its pronouns have no gender. All of its phonemes are present in almost all
languages (this is on purpose). The way it forms questions is not like Enlgish
(I don't know of any language that it's similar to). Its word order is
subject-verb-object, like most languages. [EDIT: not most, only 42%]
The only thing its taken from English, as far as I've seen, is a bunch of
vocabulary. Though honestly its sounds are so limited that sometimes you can't
recognize which English word a Toki Pona word came from.
> What if we tried to create, say, a language with a logographic written
> system that is pure WYSIWYM (as opposed to “what you see is how you
> pronounce”) and synthetic to boot?
I'm not sure exactly what you mean, but I'll just leave this link here...
[https://omniglot.com/conscripts/conlangs.htm](https://omniglot.com/conscripts/conlangs.htm)
> Instead of borrowing around, use a random seed in generating a minimum set
> of unique basic “native” words according to language rules and build on top
> of that
Lojban does this.
~~~
schoen
> The way it forms questions is not like Enlgish (I don't know of any language
> that it's similar to).
The "x ala x" pattern is directly modeled on the Chinese "x不x" (and "有没有")
pattern, including the answer ("x" / "x ala" in toki pona, "x" / "不x" in
Chinese). I think Sonja has mentioned this explicitly somewhere.
For example, in Chinese I think you can ask "你可不可" 'you can not can?' with the
possible answers "可" 'can' and "不可" 'cannot'. This corresponds directly to
toki pona's "sina ken ala ken?" 'you can not can?' with the answers "ken"
'can' and "ken ala" 'cannot'.
There's also the "anu seme?" pattern which is similar to the
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tag_question](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tag_question)
phenomenon in a number of languages; the one that I find it most similar to is
German, with the "oder?" tags.
[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/oder#Particle](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/oder#Particle)
I understand the "oder?" to have a connotation of 'or _what_?' (like "are you
coming or what?"), in which case "kommst du, oder?" should correspond
literally to toki pona's "sina kama anu seme?" 'you come or what?'.
------
stewbrew
Does the title comply with HN rules?
BTW to use an artificial language to understand real life is like asking a
Catholic priest for marriage advice.
~~~
ColinWright
The original title was carefully chosen, extracted from the pages themselves,
to ensure that HN readers would have an idea of what it was supposed to be
about, and not just a pair of random words. As such, I thought it did comply,
and was helpful.
Clearly the mods disagreed.
------
HeavenBanned
I really love how body parts are consolidated so smartly. "noka" meaning
thigh, shin and foot is just brilliant.
~~~
gliese1337
You might like Russian, then.
~~~
therein
Care to elaborate? Genuinely curious.
~~~
gliese1337
Russian also has a single word for the entire lower limb, leg and foot
included: "noga". Also a single word for the combined arm and hand: "ruka".
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
HumanPredictions – Bootstrapping a SaaS app to $18k/mo in under a year - csallen
https://www.indiehackers.com/businesses/humanpredictions?utm_source=hacker-news&utm_campaign=interview-promotion&utm_medium=social
======
hiou
He basically gets a spot in the family business which he uses as a launchpad
to creating a SaaS product. Come on, this title is so far off from reality. No
problem with what he did and it sounds like he does a great job, but let's at
least keep the titles from indiehackers somewhat accurate. It gives a lot of
people thinking about starting their own company really unrealistic
expectations.
~~~
gregorymichael
As someone who has known Elliot from the Chicago scene for the last ~10 years,
I have to push back on this.
Elliot hustled his ass off doing his own thing, working recruiting for
Groupon, working as one of the founding employees of DevBootcamp Chicago to
get graduates gigs (and doing so with great success), and then back to his own
recruiting before launching Human Predictions based on feedback from his
clients and experiences.
He became, at least in my circles, the most trusted recruiter amongst
developers. Many thought of him as more of an "agent" than a recruiter.
Someone you could grab coffee with every six months who'd keep you in mind if
the perfect gig came up. I referred friends to him all the time without
concern that he'd spam them, hard-sell them, put them in whatever spot that
was open just to reap the commission. He's always had the developer's interest
in mind first and foremost.
I understand the sentiment that these stories can sometimes over-simplify the
journey. Yes, he had the privilege of learning the family business at a young
age. But it's not as if "having a dad that does X" makes it a trivial effort
to launch a SaaS that does X. In Elliot's case, there was at least ten years
of self-motivated hustle in-between.
~~~
hiou
Absolutely agree with you and my apologies if my comment made it out to sound
like I felt like he did not work for what he has accomplished.
_> No problem with what he did and it sounds like he does a great job_
My comment was about the indiehackers title and link. It seems to be a pretty
common occurrence for that site to greatly exaggerate the 0 to $X and this
article is unfortunately no exception. Much respect to Elliot for all he has
accomplished.
~~~
csallen
IH founder here. Why do you think the title is exaggerated? He did start his
business less than one year ago.
Of course, any business depends on the skillset and knowledge that its
founders started to build previous to its founding, but how do you put a start
date on that? To build a company, you need business skills, a network, money,
programming knowledge... for that you probably need professional experience...
for that you need the ability to read and write... etc. Where do you draw the
line? Everything always depends on what came before it. People get this. They
aren't naive enough to believe that founders are born on day 1 of their
companies with no previous life experience or knowledge of the world.
I agree it's dishonest to refer to a 5-year-old business as "an overnight
success" as often happens, but how exactly is it misleading to call a 1-year
old-business a 1-year-old business?
------
kpwagner
Wow! Maybe just me, hearing about a company bootstrapping to success instead
of raising large rounds of financing is all the more inspiring.
~~~
dave_sullivan
80% of the inc 500, the fastest growing private companies, haven't raised
outside capital.
~~~
thenaturalist
Do you have a source for that?
~~~
dave_sullivan
Some inc article I saw on HN with Sam Altman talking about how important
startups are to the economy, couldn't find exact one.
~~~
gexla
Here is a link to the HN discussion to the article I assume you are thinking
about. The wording was a bit different, which may have been why you didn't
find it.
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12625642](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12625642)
~~~
dave_sullivan
That's the one. The exact quote:
> Only twenty per cent of the Inc. 500, the five hundred fastest-growing
> private companies, raised outside funding.
------
0xmohit
The underlying assumption seems to be that everyone uses
LinkedIn/Facebook/Twitter. While it would be largely true, not _everyone_ uses
those. What would your tool say about them?
~~~
dpick
Unfortunately because we are just looking at public data online (including
Github, StackOverflow, and Meetup) if people don't use those services (or
contribute to open source) we won't discover them or be able to a make a
prediction about their likeliness to leave.
~~~
0xmohit
Maybe you should start looking at Keybase [0] too. It might help you link
personal websites, github, twitter, ...
[0] [https://keybase.io/](https://keybase.io/)
~~~
dpick
Thanks! We do actually use Keybase for discovering social accounts as well.
------
shostack
I noticed the UTM tags you had on this link.
How is Hacker News performing as part of your interview promotion?
~~~
csallen
Just started using UTM query params a few days ago, so I'll have more data
when I write my monthly review for November! But in October, direct links from
HN accounted for around half of my total traffic. More details here:
[https://goo.gl/FMxdpc](https://goo.gl/FMxdpc).
------
dpick
Hey everyone, I'm the CTO and Co-Founder of HumanPredictions happy to answer
any questions anyone has about the article or the company in general!
~~~
garysieling
I'm curious if you've received feedback from software developers on what the
experience is like being recruiting with your tool.
The agency spam approach you mention is irritating, but I would imagine that
if you're correctly predicting when someone is looking to jump that would be
less of a problem.
~~~
dpick
We actually do have a significantly better response from developers both
because they're being reached out to at the right time, but also because a lot
of our users are CTO's and Engineering managers who by the fact that they are
technical can have a much better conversation with prospects.
~~~
garysieling
Cool, that makes sense. I think a big part of the spam problem is mass
template emails, so if your customers are emailing people directly it would be
much better.
~~~
dpick
Completely agree, one of our core goals from the beginning of HumanPredictions
has been to kill mass template emails.
------
hueving
Would it be possible for a dev to see their own prediction (to prove ownership
maybe leverage oauth of one of the sites: github, linkedin, etc)?
~~~
dpick
We don't currently support that through the application, but it is on our
roadmap and something we very much want to build.
For now though if you reach out to me at [email protected] I'd be
happy to let you know what our current prediction for you is.
------
vsloo
Great story and many great lessons. Being "intentional about the people you
work with" is a great piece of advice and one that we usually like to stress
too when talking to aspiring entrepreneurs. We wrote about some of this too in
a previous HN thread [https://betterthansure.com/answer-hn-growing-a-side-
project-...](https://betterthansure.com/answer-hn-growing-a-side-
project-30f17f6a10da#.ntvqg0q7z).
------
desireco42
This is really cool idea, I like how it uses data to predict behavior.
I have few recruiters that always hit me around the time when I get a little
more free. They don't have this tool, just their spidey sense, but I bet they
would like something like this.
~~~
0xmohit
I heard of such tools a couple of years back. So I'm sure those exist.
How well do those work if an entirely different issue.
~~~
desireco42
Well, if people use twitter, github etc, they will be findable and their trace
can be used to predict if they are 'jumping ship'. It is common to start
blogging around the time you are looking to change work for example.
------
soheil
Sounds like very similar to my start up NetIn[1] We also look at public
profile updates and other signals to tell if a candidate is on the move. We
also got to HN frontpage last night for our candidate job portal[2]. If there
are people who would like to talk about what we've accomplished so far feel
free to reach me at [email protected]
[1] [https://netin.co](https://netin.co) [2]
[https://netin.co/candidates](https://netin.co/candidates)
------
philip1209
It's great to hear about your success!
For discussion's purposes, it's worth pointing out that there is a venture-
funded company that is doing the same thing (but with a big data science
team):
[https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/entelo](https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/entelo)
------
iamleppert
Now just let me come up with a product I can sell to developers that
camouflages them to this product by simulating activity on these sites...
I wonder what their next line of business is at this company...selling this
data to current employers to see when their employee is about to jump ship?
------
gizmo
This type of data mining of personal information feels kind of icky to me.
------
k2xl
I wrote a similar tool for recruiters (only analyzes LinkedIn profiles that
you are viewing). Mine is significantly cheaper at $9 per month:
[https://recap.work](https://recap.work)
~~~
0xmohit
Your site redirects (301) from HTTPS to HTTP!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Famed mathematician claims proof of 160-year-old Riemann hypothesis - thomasahle
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2180406
======
ColinWright
There is significant scepticism[0][1] surrounding this, and many, many
submissions:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18044050](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18044050)
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18042687](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18042687)
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18042513](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18042513)
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18042116](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18042116)
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18041616](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18041616)
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18038790](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18038790)
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18036367](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18036367)
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18032207](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18032207)
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18029551](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18029551)
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18029459](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18029459)
=============================================
[0]
[https://old.reddit.com/r/math/comments/9hl35w/sir_michael_at...](https://old.reddit.com/r/math/comments/9hl35w/sir_michael_atiyah_announced_a_proof_of_the/e6cxbin/)
[1] [https://mathoverflow.net/questions/311062/sir-michael-
atiyah...](https://mathoverflow.net/questions/311062/sir-michael-atiyahs-
conference-on-the-riemann-hypothesis)
| {
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Linear Algebra and Applications: An Inquiry-Based Approach - henning
https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1021&context=books
======
jcranmer
Pedagogically, the challenge to teaching linear algebra is that you start with
"here's systems of linear equations, we can put them into matrices and now
here's row operations to solve them," and you end up with "now matrices are
actually representations of linear operators on vector spaces, let's analyze
the properties of this specific operator." Usually, this is also coupled with
a reluctance to actually discuss vector spaces, since the meat of it involves
abstract algebra, which usually comes after linear algebra.
Failing to tackle this challenge appropriately can leave students confused
about properties that seem apparently random (trace and determinant are big
offenders here), or textbooks bringing something up only to never mention it
again (null space is often an example here). On top of this, there is also the
multiple notation problem (admittedly, not as bad as calculus, where there are
too many notations for derivative) and the minor issue that many of the
algorithms taught in the book aren't used in practice because of numerical
stability issues.
It has been so long since I've taken linear algebra, and I've taken abstract
algebra courses since then, that I can't really compare this book to the
approach that I learned. Skimming the book, the thing that jumps out the most
to me is that LU factorization and determinants are shoved surprisingly late
in the book [1], and eigenvalues are "previewed" quite early. I'm not sure
that's a good approach: LU factorization is important because backsolving the
L and U matrices is more numerically stable (and sparser, when you're dealing
with sparse matrices) than the inverse matrix, and it works even if your
matrix isn't square. Furthermore, determinants tie in better to row
operations, and their weird application with Cramer's rule is another way to
solve a set of linear equations: you don't want to introduce Cramer's rule
months after you finished treating matrices as stepping stones to solving
linear equations.
The book does cover vector spaces, although in a bit of a dance around not
covering abstract algebra. I'm not sure it's an effective introduction of
vector spaces, although it could well suffice to ease the pedagogical trap
mentioned earlier. On the other hand, if it's going to dive that far into
vector spaces, it would probably be helpful to have some more sections on
matrices over fields that aren't real numbers (i.e., complex numbers (make
sure to mention conjugate transpose and Hermitian matrices!), rational
numbers, and finite fields).
[1] Strassen's algorithm for matrix multiplication is described before LU
factorization, to give you an idea of how weird the ordering ends up being.
~~~
tonyarkles
I went through EE and CS. EE we started using matrices exactly how you
describe it: here’s a system of linear equations, here’s how you write them in
matrix form, here’s how you invert them to solve the original system. Turn the
crank, answer pops out. I had my trusty HP49G, and I could solve linear
systems all day.
Then in CS I took a computer graphics course and it was rotation and
translation matrices all day every day.
Then there was a digital communications course where we touched on orthogonal
basis functions, and some matrix voodoo related to that and how to get
orthogonal vectors out of the mess.
And then finally I took the required CS linear algebra course offered by the
math department, where we started from scratch. Here’s a vector (psh, I know
vectors!), here’s a vector space (hmmm this is new), and building the rest of
it up from there. I _really_ wish that had come earlier on, but I was very
very happy to finally have a bit of a theoretical understanding of how these
tools I’d been using actually worked.
~~~
jammygit
I feel like my university only taught calculation, not theory, when it came to
linear algebra. It’s like the equivalent of a “12 hacks to rotate a matrix”
article. The theoretical books I find however give no explanation for the
definitions etc, ie, WHY are the dot/cross products defined the way they are.
It’s as though they feel matrixes are natural phenomenon that you should just
memorize the properties of, which is also nonsense.
The entire field is defined by such terrible books. I’d love to be wrong
though if somebody has a recommendation
------
faizshah
Along these lines, my stats professor recommended a really nice book that
offers a case studies based approach for grad level stats:
[http://www.statisticalsleuth.com/](http://www.statisticalsleuth.com/)
I've been going through it by implementing the solutions in jupyter notebooks.
They have the datasets and code in R so it's easy to work with and work out
the solutions.
~~~
dmitryminkovsky
Thank you for the recommendation.
------
Vaslo
The fact that it doesn’t start with some unreadable mathematical notation that
is just the author trying to show how smart they are give me hope.
Looks like a really good introductory source just skimming the first few
chapters.
------
anjc
I haven't gone through this yet but I really like the idea of each new concept
being described in the context of a useful application. Thanks OP
------
ch
Cool. I want to try and work through this text, just to assess how useful it
is.
The approach is an interesting one.
Looks like this will have to become a weekly goal. Maybe one chapter a week?
Seems possible.
------
zhamisen
Hopefully this topology book will be in the same style:
[https://bookstore.ams.org/text-58](https://bookstore.ams.org/text-58)
------
melvinroest
I have no clue how this is having 52 votes and no comments on it. How am I
supposed to know this is a good book? I'll highlight the goals of this book as
it explains more about the title.
> We place an emphasis on active learning and on developing students’
> intuition through their investigation of examples. For us, active learning
> involves students – they are DOING something instead of being passive
> learners.
I found this goal the most interesting.
> To help students understand that mathematics is not done as it is often
> presented. We expect students to experiment through examples, make
> conjectures, and then refine their conjectures. We believe it is important
> for students to learn that definitions and theorems don’t pop up completely
> formed in the minds of most mathematicians, but are the result of much
> thought and work
~~~
marktangotango
The reason I upvoted was with intent to review later. I personally found that
after two semesters of linear and a BS Mathematics I didn’t know jack about
linear algebra. I came to the conclusion that I should’ve studied physics or
engineering if I’d wanted to actually learn how to use it!
~~~
josinalvo
for this use case, I use favorite rather than the upvote
| {
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Whatever happened to Gallium-Arsenide? - rbanffy
https://www.quora.com/Whatever-happened-to-Gallium-Arsenide-Why-did-the-need-for-GaAs-go-away-What-technology-solved-the-problem-it-was-supposed-to-address?share=1
======
gaspoweredcat
Thank you for this, i remember reading about it back when single core chips
were hitting absurd temps (if memory serves the headlines were something like
"top end p4 produces more heat per mm2 than a thermo nuclear power plant")
before they managed to find another way there was much talk of GaAs
just for fun id love to see what a GaAs Bitcoin mining ASIC could do but i
seriously doubt anyone will be producing one of them
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Worse Than China? U.S. Government Wants To Censor Search Engines And Browsers - sdizdar
http://act.demandprogress.org/act/protectip_docs/?source=fb
======
jgershen
This article, like the headline, is light on facts and high on sensationalism.
However, the bill (full text available at [1]) does look pretty ugly.
[1] [http://leahy.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/BillText-
PROTECTIPAct....](http://leahy.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/BillText-
PROTECTIPAct.pdf)
------
bluedanieru
We need a new constitution.
~~~
HedgeMage
The Constitution is fine; the government's habit of ignoring it is the
problem.
EDIT: The Constitution is fine; our habit of letting the government ignore it
is the problem.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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HN Being Fair - unimpressive
https://www.hnsearch.com/search#request/comments&q=%22to+be+fair%22
======
niggler
To be fair, "to be fair" is a common phrase that many of us use in face-to-
face conversation
~~~
unimpressive
It is, I just find these little quirks in language fascinating.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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8 Steps Two CS majors Took to Becoming Powerful Speakers - ciscoriordan
http://bases.stanford.edu/2010/04/07/8-steps-two-cs-majors-took-to-becoming-powerful-speakers/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+stanfordbases+%28StanfordBASES%29&utm_content=Google+Reader
======
ciscoriordan
Copy and paste job since it's down:
from Business Association of Stanford Entrepreneurial Students (BASES) by
wesleyleung
As two guys who love to code, we have noticed a not-too-exciting stereotype
floating around our fields of study: CS majors are poor speakers who have
traded their interpersonal relationship and communication skills for technical
expertise. This label is unfortunate because on the whole, CS majors truly do
indeed publicly speak worse than those in other fuzzier fields. To break out
of this stereotype and reach our full potentials, we decided yesterday to
participate in some Speaker Training 101 to improve our public speaking
skills, because, to be blunt, CS Majors who speak well do better than CS
majors who don’t speak well.
Here are some useful tips we took away from the training:
1\. Silence is powerful.
It might sound ironic, but the most powerful speakers are those who can employ
pauses in their words. During short bouts of mental hiccups, everyone will
want to fill gaps in their speech with the two most spoken words in the
English language. Yeah, that’s right: “Umm…” or “err…” Avoid these. Be
conscious of your umms and errs. See if you can catch yourself in the act and
replace them with some thoughtful, contemplative silence. You’ll be surprised.
2\. Use your hands.
Using your hands to emphasize key points or to articulate what you need to say
is extremely effective. Don’t let them hang limp at your sides, hiding
uselessly in your pockets, or tucked away behind the podium. You have them for
a reason. Be lively and energetic!
3\. Don’t touch the podium!
People may not think about this at all, but their natural instinct is to grab
whatever is in front of them while they are speaking. On-stage, people will
psychologically want to seek some sort of security. Remember that stand-up
comedian who kept fiddling with his microphone? Or maybe that nervous speaker
who appeared to be humping the podium. Neither took tip #3 into account. Be
confident, poised, and keep your hands off the podium!
4\. Listen to your introducer.
As the main event, everyone will naturally have their attention on you. Show
some courtesy and give your introducer your undivided attention. The audience
will naturally follow you. When the introducer gives you the stage, don’t just
start speaking and talk over him. Ease your way into your speech and set the
pace for your audience. It can be as simple as “Thank you [name] for
introducing me tonight…”
5\. Interact with the audience.
Reality check: who are you speaking to? Your audience. They are here to learn
from you, so it’s best to know your audience and involve them in your speech.
For example, this can be accomplished by doing simple tasks such as asking
questions — “raise your hand if…” Follow tip #5, and you’ll keep the audience
refreshed and engaged.
6\. Pull yourself out of a tailspin.
During the speaker training, I choked up during my improv and forgot the name
of an organization I was supposed to describe. After five seconds of misery,
the name came back to me and I made my recovery by graciously and humorously
accepting the fact I made my mistake. Surprisingly, the audience felt that
this contributed to the power of the speech. Apparently some speakers even
plan out things to fail during their speech so they could similarly pull
themselves out of a tailspin. This tactic is supposed to connect the audience
to the speaker and create this bond because the speaker becomes more human,
down-to-earth, and on the same plane as the audience.
7\. Don’t hold back your energy.
For unknown reasons, many equate speaking with less energy to increased
technical expertise. That actually doesn’t make you look more sophisticated,
that just makes you look like a poor speaker. Release that energy and don’t
hold back! Capture your audience’s attention with all the power you have to
make your speech more effective.
8\. Critique yourself and have others critique you.
This may seem self-explanatory, but when you are practicing your speech, take
turns with others to point out positives and negatives in your speech. When
addressing your own negatives, see if your audience agrees with you.
Surprisingly, audiences may not notice a lot of your mistakes. What feels like
hours of mess-ups on your part are actually unnoticeable seconds for your
audience. Keep running drills immediately afterward to incorporate the
constructive criticism.
Our public speaking is nowhere near perfect, but we recognize it as a valuable
skill to have and hope to improve in it quickly. Try out these small tips, and
you’ll be surprised at the difference it’ll make. Most of the world fears
public speaking more than death. Master these tips and you will absolutely
amaze. It’s the first step to being able to throw an event that will make a
2nd year Stanford GSB student jealous. Ambitious? No problem.
~~~
sjf
That's all good advice, but I don't think it gets to the heart of most
speakers' problem, which is simply fear. Clutching the podium, speaking too
quickly, blanking - these are all side effects of nervousness. I don't think
the solution is as simple as 'stop doing that', controlling unconscious
behaviour under pressure is difficult.
Unfortunately I don't know the secret to great public speaking, but I suspect
no. 8, practice and critique, should actually be top of the list. It is the
only thing I've found which helps.
------
mmorris
If you're interested in becoming a better speaker you should check out a local
chapter of Toast Masters. Despite the name, it's more about speeches than
about toasts.
<http://www.toastmasters.org/>
~~~
dpritchett
I just joined the local chapter at my office in hopes of hedging my technical
skills with a better set of social / presentation skills.
The cost to join was about $60 up front and another $30-40 for each six months
thereafter.
I have enjoyed all three meetings I've attended thus far. Speaking makes me
nervous, so I figure working through it will be good for me.
------
cpg
HN'd?
"Error establishing a database connection"
How do you say slashdotted for HN? :)
~~~
strooltz
yeah - it's down for me as well. anyone have a mirror??
------
swombat
Powerful speakers? Like, 200W each?
Recognised speakers, perhaps? Famous? Effective? I know it's just a quibble,
but it really seems to me that "Powerful" is not the adjective you want here.
That said, I can't read the article, since the site is down, so who knows,
maybe Powerful is a really clever pun that I'm not getting.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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90% of software developers work outside Silicon Valley - douche
http://qz.com/729293/90-of-software-developers-work-outside-silicon-valley/?imm_mid=0e5d09&cmp=em-prog-na-na-newsltr_20160716
======
ratfacemcgee
>90% of the world lives outside the United States
~~~
brudgers
I agree the submission could use a title change.
------
sunstone
Gotta be true. I imagine quite a few of them work in China, not to mention
India.
| {
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Pikini just launched – App to find your friends' bikini pictures automatically - mosselman
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pikinis/id715969584?utm_source=Launch+%28wave+13%29&utm_campaign=b3a794a37b-Launch+email&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_aa9fcb934b-b3a794a37b-79962533
======
jaegerpicker
Jesus, and people in this industry STILL fight the idea that it's an
incredibly gross and sexist environment. This is what we can achieve with some
of the greatest technologies that humanity has created, really!?
~~~
mosselman
As it says on the app page "Pikinis is for everyone – men or women, straight,
gay, or bi-sexual, human or vampire!". You are making it about sexism; surely
shows in what types of categories you think about people.
Also, phones are not the greatest technology. Medicine is the greatest and
even that is debatable. All other technology is just aimed at killing each
other and shallow fun.
~~~
jaegerpicker
Right, that's why all of the pictures as of women in the Apple store, it's
sold as a bikini search app (which is very much mostly a women's swimsuit),
and there is no overbearing culture of sexism in tech? None of those things
matter, is that really what you are trying to say?
And yes internet equipped devices and the sum total of most human knowledge at
your finger tips is CLEARLY one of the greatest if not the greatest
advancement(s) for human kind. It enhances and makes possible nearly every
other branch of human discovery possible. Because you are shallow in your use
of it does not mean the tech is aimed at shallow fun.
------
FroshKiller
I like how the link you submitted appears to have come from a "please please
please let me know when this app launches" mailing list. That's not a good
look.
~~~
mosselman
I see. Posting it here to begin with was a classy move, but using the link is
what makes it a bad look?
~~~
FroshKiller
Well, understand that the context matters. It's definitely something worth
discussing! But whether it's a good look or a bad look depends on the
discovery. If you'd found it from, say, Jezebel's critical preview versus a
heck-yeah-sign-me-up announcement list, your audience could take it
differently. :)
------
geophile
The TV series Silicon Valley has proven eerily prescient. First Weissman
scores turn out to be real, and now Nip Alert comes to life.
~~~
jaegerpicker
I know it's one of the things that makes that show pretty awesome, and makes
me pretty sure that it can be a long running show. A SHIT-TON of spoof worthy
material.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: Page of HN links - kgermino
http://hnlists.pen.io/
======
kgermino
I wrote this up after the earlier discussion at
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2496527> It's nothing fancy, but I figure
it might be a nice reference.
Let me know if there is any pages/links you want added.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Science for the very young? - timwiseman
My son is just about to turn 5 and I am looking for "science experiments" or projects we can do together to help get him interested (and give me an excuse to do some of them).<p>Any suggestions, especially on a budget?
======
zoba
I think anything that "looks cool" will be good for getting a kid interested
in science. Once you've got him/her hooked, then you can start on the actual
scientific method. To that end, science things that look cool:
Cymatics: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iXY2BE1S8Q>
Ferrofluid: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpBxCnHU8Ao>
<http://www.gaussboys.com/ndfeb-magnets/FerroFluid25>
Non Newtonian Liquids: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5SGiwS5L6I>
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2XQ97XHjVw>
Microcontrollers:
[http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=211799...](http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2117994)
(maybe not the best for a 5 year old, but in a couple years)
Make a Speaker for cheap (haven't done this one myself):
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8m8fbnShPcw>
Electromagnets: <http://education.jlab.org/qa/electromagnet.html>
Finally, one project I did with my little brother that I thought was cool. I
got a frequency analyzer for my computer (
<http://www.relisoft.com/Freeware/freq.html>) and then filled glass cups with
varying amounts of liquid. Then we ran our fingers around the lip of the glass
to get it to "sing" and measured the frequency. We were able to come up with a
function for X amount of liquid gives you X frequency. I thought this was
great because: it was really appealing to my brother (he was 10 or so at the
time) because all kids like making cups make noise, we got to do scientific
method (hypothesis being more water in the glass) will make a lower frequency,
I got to teach him about graphing, how to get a forumla for a line on a graph,
and finally we could use that line to predict things to see if we were right.
------
sga
You could have a lot of fun with an inexpensive microscope (look at a number
of different materials, bugs, etc..) or even a set of magnifying glasses. Get
your hands on some polarizers, play with the affect of one and your ability to
look into bodies of water (pool, lake, etc) show him that if you cross the
polarizers you can't see through. Couple the polarizers to the microscope and
do some polarization microscopy. You could also play with prisms and look at
the dispersion of light. Lots of good optics stuff out there. I would highly
recommend staying away from lasers until he's older.
You might also consider doing some crystallization experiments (google
"crystal projects for kids").
------
Aron
Throw some pepper on a bowl of water, and touch it with a soaped finger.
------
blender
Also Baking Soda + Vinegar, add some red food coloring for lava effect
~~~
timwiseman
Great suggestion. First one we did. He loves it. If you add a drop of dish
soap it gets more bubbly and looks more like lava.
------
zck
Show him videos on youtube of various science experiments or lectures. When he
seems interested in an idea, work with him to create an experiment, find the
items, and perform it.
------
aheilbut
That photosensitive paper that lets you make 'photographs' of objects (like
leaves and rocks) was pretty fun.
------
aheilbut
Get him one of those one-volume kids' science encyclopedias to carry around.
------
aheilbut
You'd have to build it, but how about model rockets?
------
blender
Diet Coke + Mentos
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
New Clients for Recruiting - poornimaemani
i am a looking for new US clients where me and my team can work with
======
Colegno
We need more information about you and your team
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Evercookie used by NSA to track TOR users across browsers - grhmc
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evercookie
======
sp332
That edit was made a year ago. It's not news.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Evercookie&diff=5...](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Evercookie&diff=577190307&oldid=568209885)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Unplanned Freefall? Some Survival Tips - Tomte
http://www.greenharbor.com/fffolder/carkeet.html
======
sfeng
> 120 divided by 5 = 24. Not bad! 24 mph is only a bit faster than the speed
> at which experienced parachutists land.
This is of course being a little silly, but it does get the physics wrong.
Your energy is proportional to the square of your speed, so you have 25x more
energy to dissipate at 120 mph, not 5x. Even if your five point landing was
perfect, each of the five 'hits' is the equivalent of a landing at just under
60 mph, not 24.
~~~
andrewla
My intuition rings false on this -- I don't think this is right. In a vacuum,
ignoring the rocket equation (that is, assuming ejected reaction mass is
negligible compared to projectile mass), the energy required to produce the
120 -> 96 mph change is the same as that required to go from 24 -> 0\. This
works out in conservation of energy because the ejected mass has kinetic
energy of its own.
In the case of you landing, I don't think energy balance is the way to look at
it; each of the collisions that slows you down will transfer some energy to
the ground. In terms of force, the force is dependent only on the
acceleration, so it comes down to how long each impact lasts. If each "bounce"
or "thud" lasts the same amount of time (I don't know if this is realistic)
then each one will transfer 1/5th of the force, as the article says.
~~~
Retric
Your intuition is wrong.
Potential energy is linear with height. AKA it takes the same energy to climb
from floor 1 to 2 as 2 to 3.
Gravity is 32 feet per second per second aka you gain speed over time. In a
vacuum 0 to 32 feet per second takes 1 second, 32 to 64 feet per second takes
1 seconds, 64 to 96 takes 1 second etc.
However, in the first second you fall 16 feet. in the next second you fall 38
feet because you where falling at the start of that second. Thus, it takes
more energy to increase your speed.
PS: What's confusing about rockets, is your fuel has momentum. So, when use it
your consuming the energy it took to get that fuel up to speed with you.
Further, at low speed most of the energy goes into the exhaust not the rocket.
~~~
babyrainbow
>However, in the first second you fall 16 feet. in the next second you fall 38
feet because you where falling at the start of that second. Thus, it takes
more energy to increase your speed...
Doesn't make sense. Care to explain? Are you saying it takes less energy to
take an object from 0 to 10m/s than it requires to take it from 10m/s to
20m/s?
~~~
hughes
That's exactly correct. Consider the equation for kinetic energy:
E = 1/2 m*v^2
The energy to go from 0-10 m/s is the difference in this value (for 1kg e.g.):
dE = E1 - E0 = 1/2(10^2) - 1/2(0^2) = 50J
To go from 10m/s to 20m/s:
dE = E2 - E1 = 1/2(20^2) - 1/2(10^2) = 200 - 50 = 150J
In fact by solving for velocity you can figure out what happens if you put
another 50J into your object that's already going 10m/s:
v = sqrt(2*E) = sqrt(200) = 14.1m/s
When you double the energy, you only get 1.4 times the speed.
------
wyldfire
I recall the advice of Jack Handey [1] [2]:
> “If you ever fall off the Sears Tower, just go real limp, because maybe
> you'll look like a dummy and people will try to catch you because, hey, free
> dummy.”
[1]
[http://www.deepthoughtsbyjackhandey.com/](http://www.deepthoughtsbyjackhandey.com/)
[2]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Handey](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Handey)
~~~
khazhou
SENATOR Jack Handey
~~~
dandelany
..? Jack Handey != Al Franken
~~~
ChillyWater
Without checking the interweb, isn't Stuart Smalley == Al Franken?
~~~
maxerickson
Al Franken - Real person, writer and cast member on SNL, Senator.
Stuart Smalley - Character played by Al Franken.
Jack Handey - Real person, writer on SNL, did Deep Thoughts voiceovers.
------
johngalt
> 120 divided by 5 = 24. Not bad! 24 mph is only a bit faster than the speed
> at which experienced parachutists land.
Better yet, just put your hands in front of you and land on all ten fingers.
Then it's only 12mph. /s
In reality your entire body is moving at 120mph, so you can't divide the
forces in this manner. This a PSI problem. Total inertia distributed over a
given area. And the results are much less favorable.
~~~
tempestn
As sfeng describes in another comment, the math isn't right, but the concept
does make sense. It doesn't negate what you're saying either though; the 5
point landing is basically a way of distributing the force over as much area
as possible. (You can't accomplish the same thing by just landing on your
side, because the mass of your body isn't evenly distributed across the
surface that would contact the ground.) It does manage to distribute the force
over time a bit too, which is also beneficial, but a less significant effect.
------
nolanpro
Excellent read. Just a few more pointers from personal experience. When over
water, "pencil" your body, feet first, at the very last second. Molecules of
atmosphere, which are your friend at 120mph, are not so much when they are of
water.
Also the author didn't mention my favorite survivor Juliane Koepcke.
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juliane_Koepcke](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juliane_Koepcke)
~~~
ParrotyError
I've never been on the offshore survival course where they teach you how to
jump off an oil platform into the sea and survive, but allegedly they tell you
to cover your mouth firmly with the palm of your hand and pinch your nostrils
closed tight between your thumb and fingers. Apparently when you hit the cold
water your natural reaction is to breath in. Also, you must prevent water
being forced up your nostrils and damaging your brain etc.
~~~
siphor
I tried this on a ~60ft cliff jump and punched myself in the eye. Also got the
wind knocked out of me
~~~
scythe
Maybe use your elbow? It's not a perfect cover, but it's impossible to hit
yourself.
~~~
MaxfordAndSons
I can't help but think this would get your shoulder dislocated or lats torn.
------
justifier
> The perfectly tiered Norfolk Island pine is a natural safety net
When I was child I used have fun by climbing to the top of conifers behind our
house to sit on the highest branch and just slide down
Each successive tiered limb would catch the bend on the ones above and I would
slide down perfectly fine
~~~
komali2
Children genuinely are constantly trying to find unique ways to kill
themselves.
------
kolbe
Speed skiers go over 150mph, versus 120 for a flat-oriented free falling
person. It's conceivable that orienting yourself to slide down a groomed black
diamond ski run could be a winning strategy, too.
~~~
bitL
Maybe you should target a steep avalanche terrain with fresh snow. Not only
you have a hell of a ride while falling down, you get to enjoy a ride in a
snowy feather all the way down the valley! Don't forget to mount your GoPro
while boarding!
~~~
iamatworknow
>Don't forget to mount your GoPro while boarding!
Man, I wonder if we're going to end up seeing someone's free fall smartphone
video someday. Not everyone is going to read this article and be prepared to
survive like we now are, so what if they decide to use those couple of minutes
falling to try to record a message to their loved ones? The audio would be
blown out but I don't see why the camera wouldn't continue working. That would
be quite disturbing to watch.
~~~
komali2
Potentially NSFW / terrifying videos:
Multiple gopros record an in-air collision of skydiving planes:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7p6hqMnsLFY&list=FLR2K9vyQEB...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7p6hqMnsLFY&list=FLR2K9vyQEBb4qUyunijtBHg&index=3&t=2s)
Tangled chute:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciIjdvNo65s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciIjdvNo65s)
I can't find it but I've seen two more videos of people who have survived near
freefall after parachuting accidents. One became a paraplegic IIRC.
------
joegosse
Interesting that the overall advice here is "Don't Panic"
Also interesting that having a towel could be incredibly useful in this
situation.
~~~
geophile
Since we're quoting Doug Adams: “The Guide says there is an art to flying",
said Ford, "or rather a knack. The knack lies in learning how to throw
yourself at the ground and miss.”
------
cromulent
Somewhat relevant:
[http://topgunbase.ws/i-flew-my-wingsuit-into-trees-and-
woke-...](http://topgunbase.ws/i-flew-my-wingsuit-into-trees-and-woke-up-in-a-
hospital/)
~~~
jacquesm
Ouch. Nice move for Americans to fly in France where healthcare is affordable.
If you did this in the US as a tourist you'd likely be broke for the rest of
your life.
~~~
Arizhel
Make sure to go back to your home country as fast as possible, and then just
ignore the bills. They'll have a very difficult time collecting on a debt in a
foreign country. Don't come back to the US as a tourist after that.
This reminds me of college, where sometimes the police would come looking for
students who were foreign nationals, because they had gotten credit cards and
then racked up huge balances buying stuff, but didn't bother paying the bill.
When the creditors tried to have them served, it turned out they had already
graduated and left the country. Good luck getting some guy in Indonesia to pay
off his US credit card balance. What were these creditors thinking?
~~~
camus2
> Make sure to go back to your home country as fast as possible, and then just
> ignore the bills. They'll have a very difficult time collecting on a debt in
> a foreign country. Don't come back to the US as a tourist after that.
Actually if you have a credit card, you might have a travel insurance as well.
So no need to ignore the bills. And in France it's not like in US where the
first thing they ask you is the name of your insurance company, even if you're
bleeding to death.
~~~
Arizhel
>And in France it's not like in US where the first thing they ask you is the
name of your insurance company, even if you're bleeding to death.
I was talking about a scenario where a tourist to the US goes to a US hospital
and racks up a lot of medical bills.
~~~
camus2
Sure, but it goes both ways, a tourists NEEDS an health insurance to travel to
US. I'm pretty sure it's necessary even for those who benefit from the VISA
waver program.
------
delegate
My personal philosophy admits the fact that this life might just be a training
camp for another life.
Hence, all the information learned in this one will be useful at some point in
this or another life.
Now I don't know what to do with this information .. I don't want to need it..
And then if fate really leads me to fall from a plane, I will definetely
remember this article which will seem infinitely funnier in mid flight.
Heck if I don't hit the ground laughing my ass off !
~~~
0xdeadbeefbabe
> My personal philosophy admits the fact that this life might just be a
> training camp for another life.
Makes me wonder if annihilation is possible in the future life, but not this
one.
~~~
simonh
If you live N lives then the chance that this is the first is 1/N. I don't
know about you, but I don't remember anything from any previous lives, so it
seems to me there's a (N-1)/N chance you don't get to remember anything from
previous lives anyway.
~~~
leggomylibro
It could be a question of soul distribution, though; if you can only have one
ghost in each machine, and there's the potential for a spacefaring
civilization to expand to many, many planets in the future, then it's possible
that the 50 or so billion people who have lived since humanity's birth
represent only a sliver of a fraction of the total number of souls needed to
staff a well-stocked universe. So we could potentially be heavily weighted
towards most people being on their first go-around if we have the potential to
make it that far and souls or selves or whatever are actually scarce enough to
be re-used.
~~~
iamatworknow
No. All of the reality as we know it is just a software bug, with the fix
request sitting in some junior developer's project management system. They
just haven't gotten around to submitting a pull request yet.
------
sizzzzlerz
A man jumps off a 20 story building. As he passes an open window on the 6th
floor, people on the floor hear him exclaim "so far, so good!".
~~~
komali2
I don't get it
~~~
_cereal
I suppose it's a quote from La Haine (1995)
[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113247/](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113247/)
> Heard about the guy who fell off a skyscraper? On his way down past each
> floor, he kept saying to reassure himself: So far so good... so far so
> good... so far so good. How you fall doesn't matter. It's how you land!
~~~
_raul
I remember hearing it from Steve McQueen in The Magnificent Seven when I was a
kid
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7GP3l5znc8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7GP3l5znc8)
------
JoeDaDude
Ages ago (early 1980s) I read a magazine article about the minds' adaptation
when falling. The article posited that the brain kicks into high gear and time
subjectively slows down for the faller, enabling them to take action to save
themselves.
The article had several first-hand accounts of people who had fallen off
cliffs, wagons, and the like, and one skydiver who survived impact by landing
in a muddy ditch. The article was especially interesting since I was a
skydiver at the time and all of us jumpers could relate to the feelings
described. Not only that, but the one skydiver interviewed had jumped at our
drop zone and was known by most of us.
Sadly, I can't remember where the article appeared. I think it was Smithsonian
Magazine but I have been unable to locate a reference online. If anyone else
locates it, please post.
~~~
jimmaswell
I remember reading about some experiments done on this where the result was
that the subjects just remembered the experience in more detail, and didn't
actually experience time slower. Something about looking at something that
changed just slightly faster than the maximum speed someone can normally see
changes in something, while freefalling.
~~~
komali2
That makes sense - high adrenaline causing extremely high resolution for
memory write, but later the playback speed on a read is the same, so it seems
slower when really it's just more detailed / takes up more tape.
------
owenversteeg
I've written a longer, more detailed comment in this thread, but long things
are hard to remember so I decided to condense my advice into a paragraph:
Falling from a plane, you have a minute to land after waking up. You can move
laterally 2 miles by controlling your body. That gives you 13 sq miles to
land. In this order, aim for: snow, swamp, glass skylights, large bushy trees
(but not redwoods.) Water is almost guaranteed death. Stay "flat" until right
before impact, and move to a standing position. Relax and go completely limp.
If you follow this advice your odds are good.
My more detailed comment, with sources/numbers, is here:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13840660](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13840660)
~~~
JoshTriplett
Glass skylights, really? Not disputing it, but what's your reasoning? Slowing
you down while still breaking before you do?
Also, regarding water: while I've heard the standard comment that hitting
water can be as bad as hitting concrete, that seems like it would apply more
if you have a larger surface area. Divers can dive from 35+ meters, and hit at
60+ mph, without any injury at all. If you are capable of aiming and landing
feet-first and remaining as streamlined as possible, would water still be a
fatal option?
~~~
owenversteeg
Yeah, glass is actually one of your better bets. Two of the 5-15 survivors of
free fall incidents fell through glass roofs. You can read more here:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Magee](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Magee)
The problem is that you're hitting water at 120mph. A 60mph impact of a 50kg
person is 35kJ; a 120mph impact of a 50kg person is 150kJ. That's 4.5 times
the energy. I'd almost certainly choose water (with a streamlined, pencil dive
profile) over concrete, but that doesn't mean it's not going to be far more
fatal than any other options.
~~~
marvy
Nitpick: doubling the speed should merely quadruple the energy, 4.5x is too
much.
------
tobtoh
Reading this article brought back memories when I was getting training to go
solo skydiving. The first day was all theory and drills in the classroom.
In all my years at school, university lectures, and work-related training
workshops, that one day of skydiving class remains the only time in my life
when I was 100% completely focussed, awake and attentive for every subject.
------
dahart
Having jumped out of many airplanes, I've thought about this and how to
survive on occasion. But temperatures at 35k are often like -50 degrees. At
500mph decelerating down to 100mph, it seems like there's a good chance you
could become a human snowflake long before you hit the ground. :P
~~~
amorphid
A friend of mine once said that if you keep your lips puckered up, and force
yourself to breathe through a tiny hole, you increase the air pressure in your
mouth and lungs, which is useful at a high altitude. I don't have a thought at
this moment how to test this as I sit hear at sea level. Any idea if this is
true, or partially true? I didn't see anything about this in a quick Google
search.
~~~
avian
Seems doubtful this would have any significant effect. You can only create
about 0.1 bar of overpressure with your lungs on exhale.
------
okreallywtf
I had always heard that being unconscious was the key to surviving an
extremely long fall (relaxed body doesn't tear itself apart on impact). I
can't find the story of a boy who was picked up by a tornado who was tossed
out from hundreds of feet and survived without any injuries, it was attributed
(in the show I was watching) to his having passed out and that his body was
relaxed.
~~~
bbcbasic
I've seen someone fall off a cliff (30m I guess?) and survive. He was drunk.
~~~
justinclift
Injuries?
------
ChuckMcM
I wonder if you could grab the center aisle life raft on the way out. If you
could keep it under you after inflating it, not only would it provide more
surface area and so a slower terminal velocity but it would also absorb energy
when you hit by popping and create a wider deceleration profile so limiting
the g-force of the impact.
~~~
knodi123
If you're supernaturally calm and skilled, it will also give you more
steerability. You might even be so lucky as to be able to aim for a stand of
pine!
~~~
justinclift
Or an angled snowbank. :D
------
achikin
As a skydiver I would admit that the content of this article is a time-wasting
bullshit. Here is a real world scenario:
1) you'll knock out either because of lack of oxygen or because of a violent
spin
2) you'll freeze to death
3) you won't be able to position yourself properly or fly in a particular
direction because of lack of training, so you'll hit the ground at a random
place so hard that you'll die.
What I would do is flip to my back not to shock myself with the view of the
earth coming at 120mph, relax and wait.
Towel huh. The speed difference is so big, that you'll never see a towel, that
happened to fall off the same airplane as you.
There was a case in Russia not so long ago when a cameraman, who happened to
be a very experienced skydiver, fell off a helicopter. He managed to drive
himself towards a pond but died immediately because of water impact. The hit
was so hard that his jumping suit was almost stripped off his body.
------
leot
One thing I've been curious about for a while: would it be possible to survive
free fall into water if equipped with a sufficiently long spike-shaped "base"?
The sharp part of the spike, which would probably have to be 100+ ft long,
would be oriented so that as it entered the water it would displace more and
more water, reducing the g-forces experienced by the spike, and you atop it.
A few improbable things would need to also hold: 1) Spike would need to stay
straight as it entered the water. 2) Spike should not significantly increase
terminal velocity, at least not for most of the descent
I think (?) it's doable, but would be fun to see the physics worked out. E.g.,
how long should the spike be? What should be its shape? How could it be kept
maneuvered into the right orientation for entering the water without
significantly increasing terminal velocity?
~~~
rdruxn
I always been curious about surfactants and whether you could throw some
underneath yourself in a free fall to break up the surface tension in a splash
landing.
~~~
avar
Then today's your lucky day. Mythbusters did a bit on exactly this, i.e. if
you're holding a hammer and about to fall into water, whether throwing it
ahead of you will break the surface tension and save your life:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCSQExxWulU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCSQExxWulU)
------
khazhou
This is very useful information. They should have this guidesheet in every
airline seat back.
~~~
tempestn
I'm sure that would go over really well.
------
Cofike
I kind of want to free fall to test this out now. I feel kind of prepared.
------
kabdib
I worked on a hardware product that shipped for the Xbox 360, and it had an
accelerometer.
I wanted to add a game achievement for "30 seconds of free fall". Achievable
on something like the Vomit Comet. Going for 5 minutes of free-fall would have
required something like a rocket. Nobody liked either of my ideas :-)
------
gweinberg
I'm sorry to be the voice of gloom and doom, but this was the money quote for
me: "Thirty feet is the cutoff for fatality in a fall. That is, most who fall
from thirty feet or higher die" Holy crap, only thirty feet? We are all going
to die.
------
owenversteeg
Well-written but a bit light on information. I thought about this a while back
when I had the chance to try free-falling in an indoor wind tunnel.
You can control four variables: your speed, your landing position, your
landing orientation, and your muscles.
\- Increase your surface area as much as you can, that's your only way to slow
down. Best case scenario you'll find a parachute, put it on, and slow down to
25mph or so; worst case, you'll manage to point yourself in a bullet shape and
hit 200 mph. Realistically you'll go into a "flat" position and sail along
around 120mph.
\- Make yourself "flat" until you're about to land, then position yourself
such that you land feet first.
\- You can move, as the site said, about 2 miles horizontally falling from
15,000 feet: aim for trees, a heap of soil, or snow if possible. If you know
the area, aim for any buildings with a large glass skylight - that's saved two
known freefallers [0].
\- Relax your muscles as much as you can. This can greatly improve your odds.
By "greatly improve your odds" I am not kidding: this is almost definitely the
single best thing you can do, and being fully relaxed can make you half as
likely to die. [1]
There's also a very good possibility you're not at 35,000 feet. For example:
\- You fall off the Burj Khalifa, 830 meters high. You'll fall for about 20
seconds, the last 5 or so near terminal velocity. Use your body to move and
aim for the trees near the base of the tower - you've got enough time to make
it, easily.
\- You fall off a very tall building, ~500 meters or so. Same as the Burj
Khalifa but you have less time, so think fast.
\- You fall off a shorter building. There's no time to maneuver or slow down.
With the few seconds you have, point your feet down and relax.
If you're over water, your odds are very low. The best option is to go in
feet-first like a pencil dive.
Remember, you _do_ have an OK chance at survival. Between 5 and 15 people have
survived free fall, most of which did not know what to do. From 15,000 feet
up, you can land wherever you want inside a 13 square mile area - 2 miles in
any direction. That's probably enough to get you to some trees at the very
least. You can draw that on a map with this tool [2].
You can seriously improve your odds of survival by following these steps.
Landing on snow, or a swamp, or a glass skylight makes your odds quite good.
Landing in trees makes your odds OK. Making yourself flat gives you more time,
and grabbing onto debris - if you can - can increase your chances of survival
by 5 times [3]. Then, simply relaxing can double your chances of survival.
Finally, once you've hit the ground - regardless of what you did - there's a
decent chance you're still alive, even if you'll die soon. Spend a short
amount of time to stop external bleeding, keep your wounds clean and contact
emergency services as soon as you can - ultimately, they will know far better
than you what to do.
[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Magee](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Magee)
[1]
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.alcohol.2012.08.006](http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.alcohol.2012.08.006)
[2] [http://obeattie.github.io/gmaps-radius/](http://obeattie.github.io/gmaps-
radius/)
[3]
[http://www.popularmechanics.com/adventure/outdoors/a5045/434...](http://www.popularmechanics.com/adventure/outdoors/a5045/4344036/)
~~~
prodmerc
Doesn't surviving any landing guarantee you'll be disabled for life?
~~~
pavel_lishin
Vesna suffered a lot of injuries, but recovered completely:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vesna_Vulovi%C4%87](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vesna_Vulovi%C4%87)
> _Vulović continued working for Jat Airways at a desk job following a full
> recovery from her injuries._
------
zw123456
Great read! I must admit, I have thought about this a few times in the past
when I was on an airplane and thought what would I do if the plane split in
two and thought about some of the things the author mentioned.
One more tip, always wear the largest rain coat you can find onto the plane
and keep some nylon rope in one of the pockets so you could fashion a
parachute on the way down :)
------
nerdponx
Fun read.
Has anyone actually survived an unplanned free fall like this?
~~~
paulpauper
5 have
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Fall_survivors](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Fall_survivors)
~~~
sulam
More than 5.
[http://www.greenharbor.com/fffolder/wreckage.html](http://www.greenharbor.com/fffolder/wreckage.html)
[http://www.greenharbor.com/fffolder/ffallers.html](http://www.greenharbor.com/fffolder/ffallers.html)
------
intrasight
That was a very excellent distraction
------
rodrigocoelho
How easy is it to control your body's attitude during a free fall?
~~~
manarth
Belly-down is the easiest and most stable attitude, which is why that's the
first attitude taught in skydiving.
The other common attitudes are head-down vertical, feet-first vertical,
"sitting", and back-flying. The first three have a much faster fall-rate than
belly-down, and are less stable. Backflying isn't quite such a difference in
fall-rate, but is still harder to learn, and less stable.
How easy is it to learn? Well, unless you've skydived before, then you get
around a minute to learn from scratch. Good luck to that!
------
xenihn
Great article, reminds me of the same writing style used by the author of the
Rotten Library (which, by the way, is still a great read).
------
mrkgnao
> If you have ever tried to keep your head when all about you are losing
> theirs
because there aren't any around to blame it on you? :)
------
mbostleman
[https://youtu.be/IVqqnc6x9pA](https://youtu.be/IVqqnc6x9pA)
------
d33
Just curious, could clothing help you create something like a paradise? For
example, a hoodie held by sleeves?
~~~
scythe
You need to hold it by at least three points, otherwise it will simply flop
upwards like a flag. Your toes can't curl hard enough to hold onto a piece of
fabric being pulled by a 120 mph wind, so the only way to make a sail is with
your hands and your _teeth_. If you have a button-down, you can hold the
corners at your sides to make a shitty wingsuit. I suppose there is a small
advantage if you get to put your legs below you ("crumple zone") while still
maximizing your cross-sectional area.
Most clothing fabrics are worse at stopping airflow than the tight nylon of a
parachute, so the drag will be less than a chute of equal size. If you can
somehow get it soaking wet it'll be more effective, as the fibers swell and
make it less permeable to air; consequently, you might want to stick your
shirt in your jeans before you piss yourself.
~~~
d33
That's way beyond insightful, thank you :D Any other ideas on how to get three
points? Tying a knot to a belt maybe? I mean we're talking about just a few
dozens of second there, right?
------
mediaserf
Wow! Glad that I am not the only one that constantly thinks about this when I
am on an airplane.
~~~
mirimir
I always opt for the last row.
------
hyperliner
I have always wondered about this. While this is welcome, I am reading and can
feel my blood pressure, stress level, and focus increasing as I read.
------
agentgt
I had hard time reading with the formatting of the site even with various
"reader" extensions turned on (maybe I'm the only one?). So I looked at the
HTML source to figure out why my extensions still couldn't format well... it
is 1999 HTML. Tables for paragraphs.
Even copy and pasting to a text editor yields pretty terrible results.
td { padding: 1em; }
Made it somewhat readable for me. Not a criticism but just in case someone has
the same problem as me.
~~~
vwcx
I remember reading this in 1999 when it first circulated!
------
radressss
I am very very sorry to break it to you, but this very poorly thought-out and
the writer has no understanding of physics or drag. Look around for items
after 20000 feet of freefall? There could be a parachute? Sorry are we all in
vacuum or something? Do you think they all fall at the same rate? Yes one can
survive a fall at terminal speeds but this is just insane to hope there are
any items around you after all that fall.
~~~
nothrabannosir
My dear child, 't was in jest. A peculiar one, granted.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ethical OS and Silicon Valley’s Guilty Conscience - craftsman
https://librarianshipwreck.wordpress.com/2018/08/24/striving-to-minimize-technical-and-reputational-risks-ethical-os-and-silicon-valleys-guilty-conscience/
======
shawn
This is an excellent time to ask for a counterargument to CGP Grey's stance
that immortality should be invented:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZYNADOHhVY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZYNADOHhVY)
Suppose there were a technology X which was going to be invented eventually.
Suppose also that it's a highly unethical technology, for some definition of
unethical.
Is it therefore unethical to create X?
Note: The constraint is that X _is inevitable_. The only question is who
creates it first. And in that context, isn't it at least possible to argue
from multiple axes that you should help to create it? The limit case of this
argument would be "It's your duty to the society you live in to ensure it has
the competitive advantage, not some other society."
A less-hostile way to phrase that would be "The first company to invent a
technology can then try to _enforce ethics_ onto that technology."
That is, if you invent something, it's easier to dictate how it's used than if
you didn't.
Hence, paradoxically as it may seem, the logical conclusion would _seem_ to be
that you should work as hard as you can to invent whatever unethical
technology you're worried about -- in the hopes that you can minimize the
damage later.
If it seems like a technology can't really be controlled (e.g. nuclear
weapons), I counter with this: Bitcoin was the implementation of a set of
ideas. The exact implementation could have been very different. It could have
been inflationary rather than deflationary, for example. The precise choices
were very important, because Bitcoin has huge first-mover advantages. And that
is often true of the first X to be invented.
So, what's the answer? Do we work as hard as we can to invent unethical
technologies in order to mitigate their effects, or do we try to suppress or
discourage the invention of new technology knowing that some less-"ethical"
society will get there first?
Or is that a false dichotomy? I'm fascinated by the possible answers.
~~~
jonathanstrange
Whoever invents it is responsible for it. You could argue that extremely
deadly nerve gas would have been invented _inevitably_ , for instance, but it
is still unethical for you to help in its development. Claiming that "someone
else would have invented it anyway" is the oldest excuse in the book.
_Do we work as hard as we can to invent unethical technologies in order to
mitigate their effects, or do we try to suppress or discourage the invention
of new technology knowing that some less- "ethical" society will get there
first?
Or is that a false dichotomy?_
This looks like a false dichotomy to me. If your argument was sound, then e.g.
attempting to limit nuclear proliferation would be pointless, since every
nation on earth would eventually develop nuclear weapons anyway. I don't think
that's true, though, national and international laws with suitable enforcement
can prevent unethical technologies.
~~~
shawn
Think of a war that shaped the world, and whose outcome is generally agreed to
be a positive one: "Good guys vs bad guys, and the good guys won."
Suppose nerve gas had been the only way for the "good guys" to win that war.
(This isn't a realistic assumption; the point is to examine ethics.)
Is it more ethical to employ the nerve gas, or to lose the war? Those being
the only two outcomes.
~~~
JohnStrangeII
Same guy as before but from different account. Disclaimer: I am an ethicist,
although my original AoS was philosophy of language.
First of all, there is a whole bunch of contemporary ethicists who would deny
that unrealistic scenarios can give us any ethical insight, but let's not
enter this debate.
There are good and convincing arguments against this view, but let's assume
for the sake of the argument that using the nerve gas in your scenario would
be the right thing to do. That means that you have shown that there is one
hypothetical scenario in which the use of that technology could be considered
better than not using it, although its use would still be very bad and
horrific.
That's not enough to show that the technology is ethical or that its
development should be encouraged. I'd argue for the opposite. Your scenario
also does not provide any argument against my claim that the person who
develops the technology is at least indirectly responsible for its later use.
Some technologies should and maybe even need to be suppressed world-wide.
This is an important topic if you take into account the pace of technological
development. It's entirely thinkable that in the near future - let's say, in a
100 years or so - just about anyone could in theory genetically modify
bacteria and viruses to his likings in a basement and for example develop an
extremely powerful biological weapon capable of wiping out 90% of mankind. It
is obvious that such a technology has to be suppressed and should probably not
be developed in this easy-to-use form.
I believe what you really want to say is that nation states should develop all
those nefarious technologies in order to control their spreading, because
someone ("the opponent") will invent and spread them anyway. That's indeed the
traditional rationale for MAD and the development of nerve gas, biological
weapons, and hydrogen bombs. The problem with this argument is that anybody
can use it, the argument appears just as sound to North Korea than to the US,
and is leading to a world-wide stockpiling of dangerous technologies. So there
must be something wrong with that argument, don't you think so?
~~~
eiieirurjdndjd
> That's indeed the traditional rationale for MAD and the development of nerve
> gas, biological weapons, and hydrogen bombs. The problem with this argument
> is that anybody can use it, the argument appears just as sound to North
> Korea than to the US, and is leading to a world-wide stockpiling of
> dangerous technologies.
But that’s not what happened, right? I mean, it is if you stop reading history
just before the first non-proliferation treaties began being implemented. This
was almost half a century ago, though, so IMO it doesn’t make sense to stop
reading at that point.
~~~
JohnStrangeII
I agree. The solution to massive technological threats is mutual entanglement
by treaties and international laws that limit or prohibit the development of
dangerous technologies. That's my point.
------
lifeisstillgood
Many (many) years ago, I was leading business planning for Demon / Thus and as
part of our template introduced "Conscience Breakers" \- a section (much like
the health and safety planning for school trips i guess) that asked what could
go wrong with our products we were about to launch. It seemed a good idea then
and still does.
it got dropped pretty quick by the higher ups
------
dmead
This is great, but can this really be followed by companies that have
shareholders and investors?
~~~
forapurpose
Could you go into some detail on why it couldn't be followed by them? I know
of some different arguments about why it could or couldn't, but I don't know
what you are referring to.
~~~
Nasrudith
The answer is that publically traded companies face heavy pressure to keep
sustained quarterly growth indefinitely and various "activist" investors will
insist upon ousting any who stand in the way even if it is better for longterm
health not to say lay off experienced engineering staff in a stable industry
to inflate quarterly profits (Boeing) when it comes to bite them with
electrical fires in their next big plane.
------
jl2718
Most change is bad. Some change is necessary.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ski Resorts Exaggeration of Snowfall Reduced Sharply Because of iPhone App - dean
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122084539&ps=cprs
======
s3graham
My Dad used to work for IDRC (www.idrc.ca) and he told me a story about one of
his earliest (and happiest) development projects. It's very simple: broadcast
actual market price information over radio to farmers in remote rural African
areas. In this way, the farmers had enough information to tell the middle man
to stuff it when they were offered extremely low (< 1%) of market value for
their food. Their wages increased ~10x over the next season.
tl;dr: information symmetry is good for the end of the chains (initial
producers, end consumers)
~~~
cwan
That's a pretty cool program that's evolved with other NGO's using SMS
messages to cell phones. The proliferation of mobiles and utility of cheap
cell phones has been a massive boost to productivity in rural areas. One of
the key market barriers continues to be consistent logistics given the shelf
life of agricultural products which means some of these middlemen still have a
significant upper hand.
------
anotherpaulg
Gentlemen,
Let me introduce you to the power of online snowfall telemetry stations. They
usually report air temperature, wind speed & direction, precipitation, snow
depth and water content in real time on an hour-by-hour basis. Find one or two
nearby your local ski hill and study them for a season, comparing them to your
in-the-field perceptions of ski conditions.
You'll soon be telling your friends about the "8 inches of cold dry powder
that's just fallen on soft layer that was laid down last week" and
distinguishing that from the "8 inches of heavy wet snow that just fell and
then refroze onto the ice layer from last week".
For bonus points, take an avalanche safety course in your area. They will
introduce you to a wealth of unbiased data sources. Mountain guides use these
sources to maintain a deep understanding of the snow pack as it evolves
throughout the winter season.
In the Seattle area, see <http://www.nwac.us/weatherdata/map/>
In the Bay Area, see:
[http://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/snotel/California/california.ht...](http://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/snotel/California/california.html)
------
jpwagner
while the measurement may read "inches" it's actually on an arbitrary scale.
in other words, to a skier, "14 inches" means _compare-the-conditions-to-the-
last-time-you-went-and-we-said-14-inches_.
not to mention the obvious fact that measurements done in different places
with different methods will differ.
------
fohlin
I can't decide if I like it or not, but one commenter really takes the
opportunity to promote his website:
> I believe "crowdsourcing" is the future of how we'll tap into and retrieve
> much of the information we desire, in real-time. We designed our entire web
> site/application (liveskiconditions.com) around the fact that people want to
> know the current snow conditions [...].
Spam or not?
~~~
hallmark
Not spam.
His comment and website appear very relevant to the radio program, which talks
about real-time information from iPhone users suppressing the ski resorts'
false reports (say that five times fast).
I would consider it spam if he copied his comment text and pasted it in every
NPR summary page that mentioned skiing or snowboarding.
------
elbac
What do people consider a fair ski conditions report site?
~~~
blhack
twitter seems like it could be useful for this:
"At purgatory, snow is AWESOME!"
"park city snow is SHIT today!"
"ahhh #snowbowl, when are you going to get freaking snow machines already!"
etc. etc.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Cicada 3301 challenge: partial solutions [video] - vinchuco
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svJF_FoSI9o&t=25s
======
vinchuco
Extensive previous discussion
[https://hn.algolia.com/?query=cicada%203301&sort=byPopularit...](https://hn.algolia.com/?query=cicada%203301&sort=byPopularity&prefix&page=0&dateRange=all&type=story)
and wiki page
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cicada_3301](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cicada_3301)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Optimizing Dynamically-Typed Object-Oriented Languages With Polymorphic Inline Caches - qwph
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.36.6379&rep=rep1&type=pdf
======
Hexstream
This provides good insight into some of the techniques used to make
intuitively slow dynamic operations very fast in practice!
------
markplusplus
Good paper, but I wonder how relevant these optimizations are now that modern
processors include indirect branch predictors.
------
fuzzy-waffle
Sounds similar to <http://psyco.sourceforge.net/>
------
hugh
It'd be nice to have a [pdf] warning in the title of this one.
~~~
qwph
I don't think I can edit it now. I'd guess it's because it's not a direct
link, so it bypassed the pdf logic. Apologies.
~~~
Hexstream
Perhaps the submission page could have a PDF checkbox with the default state
taken from the PDF autodetection function? This way we could correct the
autodetection when it fails. Also it would ensure a uniform title "tagging"
style.
Now that I think about it we could have radio buttons: Regular, PDF, Movie,
Picture.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Evaluating potential co-founders? Try going camping. - jesselamb
http://notmylawyer.com/post/745869535/evaluating-potential-co-founders-try-going-camping
======
hnote
Vladimir Vysotsky, Song about a friend
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xN0YzyUEhbo>
Original version, without subtitles
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2xO_FWR1z8>
Lyrics at <http://bit.ly/cxpOJd>
~~~
jesselamb
Oh wow, I'd never seen that before. I thought about hiking too but I've never
been so I don't know what it's like.
I also thought about suggesting sailing for a couple weeks, but I was worried
about what liability there'd be if some startup team got lost at sea. :)
------
tzs
Make sure _all_ the co-founders are on the trip. Anyone remember a Unix
workstation company from the early '80s named Callan Data Systems? David
Callan was one of three equal founders, so one might wonder how it came the
bear just his name.
The three founders were all ready to incorporate. All that was holding them up
was the name for the company. They were just unable to come to a consensus.
After much discussion with no progress, two of the founders went away for a
weekend hunting trip. David did not go with them.
When they got back, he told them he'd went ahead and filed the papers, and the
company was named Callan Data Systems. I believe he told them this was just
meant to be temporary so they could move ahead, and it could be changed later
once they agreed on the "real" name--but of course they were never able to
agree on a "real" name, so it stayed "Callan Data Systems".
~~~
jesselamb
Haha. Great point.
------
aarghh
I met my wife while on camping trip to the Himalayas. Of the 4 women in the
group, 3 married people they met for the first time on that trip. Anecdote,
rather than hard data, of course. You could always claim that high-altitude
made my wife's decision making suspect - hence she's saddled with me.
~~~
jesselamb
Haha. You may have uncovered a whole new industry: extreme dating.
------
smokey_the_bear
I've found this also works well for evaluating boyfriends
~~~
jesselamb
I bet. I'm glad my wife didn't test me on my camping abilities. She'd probably
have left me in the woods.
~~~
pjscott
I think the point is more to test your ability to deal with having sucky
camping abilities, without turning unpleasant under stress.
~~~
jesselamb
Exactly. :)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
EU dropped plans for safer pesticides because of TTIP and pressure from US - de_Selby
http://arstechnica.co.uk/tech-policy/2015/05/eu-dropped-plans-for-safer-pesticides-because-of-ttip-and-pressure-from-us/
======
tzs
See also extensive discussion from 2 days ago:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9587772](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9587772)
That was a submission from a different publication, though.
~~~
de_Selby
Apologies, I completely missed that discussion.
~~~
po
No need to apologize, frankly this needs a lot more discussion than it's
probably going to get.
------
Maarten88
To me this whole TTIP feels like the US trying to bundle and export their most
profitable corporate lobbying results through the corrupt and payed-for US
politicians to the EU. Secret negotiations, state-investor dispute, all of
this seems organized to help big corporations screw consumers further.
I simply hope the whole thing fails, I really don't see the benefit to me.
~~~
mercurial
I'm sure the EU corporations are doing their share of lobbying, but I agree
that all these trade agreements seem to be tailored for Big Business at the
expense of consumers.
~~~
Brakenshire
Yes, there's no need to make the US the bad guy.
The key point is the way in which a treaty like this puts a whole class of
what would once have been domestic legislation beyond the reach of democratic
decision-making. Both in the treaties themselves, and their transnational
private courts.
~~~
_yosefk
Can't a democratic decision be made to get out of the treaty? Also -
international obligations in general, by their nature, restrict democratic or
any other kind of sovereign decision-making. Decisions such as waging war,
defaulting on debt, etc. which are often made by sovereigns illustrate that
restrictions on sovereigns aren't necessarily bad.
(Not saying that TTIP is a good thing, just that I'm a bit baffled by the
framing of the problems with it as a conflict between democracy and
corporations or such. I'm even more baffled by the framing of defaulting on
sovereign debt as a "democratic right" \- again, regardless of the fact that a
country's citizens might have gotten a raw deal because a corrupt government
issued debt it shouldn't have, say, because it was bribed and needed liquidity
to buy something useless/overpriced from whoever bribed it, etc.)
~~~
pjc50
The lack of a sensible bankruptcy procedure for countries is a serious
problem. Individuals can discharge debts in bankruptcy in order to get back on
their feet. Companies have at least two different kinds of bankruptcy
depending on whether they can be run as a going concern or not. But a FX-
denominated debt is potentially an anchor on your country forever. Look at the
Argentine "pari passu" fiasco for example.
Imposing an unpayable debt on a country that forces poverty on its citizens
has a real and serious cost in human life. Wars have been fought over this;
it's often argued that the reparations debt imposed on Germany after WW1 was a
contributing factor to WW2.
~~~
_yosefk
I'm not saying I know what to do about unpayable sovereign debt, just that
defaulting on such debt is not a sensible example of a democratic right. "We
had a referendum and decided that you can all wipe your asses with our bonds"
is probably not the "sensible bankruptcy procedure" that you mention. I did
not claim anything beyond that.
Why do I think my point was worth making? Because there's a huge amount of
issues boiling down to poor coordination between different states today, the
nature of today's economy ensures this will become increasingly common, and I
think it's worth pointing out that simply insisting on "democratic rights"
interpreted as "doing whatever the citizens want, the rest of the world be
damned" doesn't really cut it. And this "interference with democracy" theme is
really really common these days, I bump into this sort of phrasing every other
week.
------
motbob
The article uses numbers pretty dishonestly.
"[T]the health costs of EDCs to Europe are between £113 billion and £195
billion (between €160 and €277 billion) every year."
There is no mention that pesticides/herbicides are a very small percentage of
that number. It doesn't matter whether it's "still bad" that it's a small
percentage. Arstechnica willingly led me to believe that the impact of
pesticides/herbicides was in the hundreds of billions of Euros.
These numbers also, notably, came out long after the 2013 negotiations
mentioned. What was the scientific consensus on EDCs in 2013?
~~~
Tosh108
Further down the article there's an indirect reference:
“I would recommend that pregnant women and children eat organic fruits and
vegetables and avoid using plastic containers and canned food, especially in
the microwave, because containers are usually treated on the inside with
substances and compounds that can leak into the tomato soup and may act as
endocrine disruptors,” he said.
------
based2
Chemicals Legislation
[http://ec.europa.eu/growth/sectors/chemicals/legislation/ind...](http://ec.europa.eu/growth/sectors/chemicals/legislation/index_en.htm)
[http://ec.europa.eu/growth/single-market/european-
standards/...](http://ec.europa.eu/growth/single-market/european-
standards/harmonised-standards/pesticide-application-equipment/index_en.htm)
Measuring REACH and CLP Enforcement - new study Published on: 19/05/2015, Last
update: 20/05/2015 [http://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-
databases/newsroom/cf/itemd...](http://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-
databases/newsroom/cf/itemdetail.cfm?item_id=8280&lang=en&title=Measuring-
REACH-and-CLP-Enforcement---new-study)
src: [https://www.theparliamentmagazine.eu/articles/eu-
monitoring/...](https://www.theparliamentmagazine.eu/articles/eu-
monitoring/dg-environment-explains-delegated-acts-biocides)
[http://newsletter.echa.europa.eu/home/-/newsletter/entry/4_1...](http://newsletter.echa.europa.eu/home/-/newsletter/entry/4_12-bjorn-
interview;jsessionid=FA3521FA977B29C9D750FBFC67D0605E.live2)
------
tim333
While I'm against the TTIP, the "the health costs of EDCs to Europe are
between £113 billion and £195 billion" mentioned in the Ars article seems to
be from the Guaridan article "(£113bn-£195bn)"
[http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/mar/06/health-
co...](http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/mar/06/health-costs-
hormone-disrupting-chemicals-150bn-a-year-europe-says-study)
that says "Endocrine disruptors are chemicals that interfere with the human
hormone system, and can be found in food containers, plastics, furniture,
toys, carpeting and cosmetics."
no mention of pesticides in their opening bit. I'm guessing the percentage
exposure coming from pesticides is very small so the financial figures in the
Ars article are misleading.
------
realusername
How can you seriously defend the EU to the average European when you see
things like this ? This kind of stories are not going to help to reduce the
current distrust of everything related to the European union. All this
corruption really does a disservice to the EU.
~~~
peteretep
Honestly? Because my first thought was "there's no way the EU signed off on
this". I challenge anyone to find a stauncher protector of consumer rights in
history than the EU...
~~~
andy_ppp
This is the strange thing about the EU, it is almost as barmy as the BBC but
like them somehow largely manages to do the right thing. It's amazing that
most of our politicians believe with a kind of religious faith that big
business and the free market is the solution when it seems fairly clear the
psychopathic behaviour and the free market has bankrupted government and
ruined the economy. Instead of saying let's put in further more stringent
regulations the neocons have got more of their policies through. I think this
is largely due to an obedient and corporate controlled media.
------
reimertz
Do people want TTIP? Nope.([http://goo.gl/FD145h](http://goo.gl/FD145h)) Do
people want pesticides? Nope. ([https://goo.gl/AQNdZv](https://goo.gl/AQNdZv))
So what is the problem?
~~~
danbruc
_Do people want TTIP? Nope._
That's (sadly) (possibly) not true. I thought it would be scandalous if
Europeans didn't want TTIP and they just ignored the people and continued
negotiating. But then I found this chart [1] and in almost every country the
majority is for a trade agreement. I don't know if the numbers are wrong, if
people are uninformed or if they just don't care, but if the numbers are
correct then it all is just democratic, the majority wins, whether I or you
like it or not.
[1] [http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/01/29/is-europe-
on...](http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/01/29/is-europe-on-board-for-
a-new-trade-deal-with-the-u-s/)
~~~
taejo
Those survey results show people who are "for a free trade and investment
agreement between the EU and the USA" \-- not those who are for _this_ trade
agreement; the objections to TTIP are arguably _not about the freedom of trade
and investment_.
~~~
minot
Exactly. How am I supposed to say whether I like it or not when I don't know
what "it" is? Lets leave surprises for company pot luck lunches.
Would any elected official dare ask the same about the legislative process?
Isn't a trade agreement that sets precedent as legislation the opposite of a
participatory democracy? It just makes no sense. How can they have things like
TPP and TTIP and still complain about the lack of involvement in politics by
ordinary folks?
------
benaston
Parliamentary democracies are often deeply flawed and in need of reform. That
much is obvious (in the UK at any rate).
The problem with the EU is that is is _even less_ democratic and hence less
accountable than the pre-existing system of national governments.
Furthermore, as this article shows, the EU makes it easier for large companies
and trading blocks to pull-off greater subversions and abuses of power via
lobbying and corruption, since power is concentrated in a much smaller number
of people.
The founders and implementors of the EU "project" used the term "ever tighter
integration" in their founding documents, where they laid out their vision for
a United States of Europe.
They even describe how they intended to implement this via a technique called
"gradualism". The idea being that big sweeping reforms would be rejected by
the individual polities, but that more gradual, subtle changes spread over
time could achieve the same effect without the same resitance. And we have
seen this in action over the past forty years.
A bit like the apochryphal boiling of a frog.
The problem is that this is in some sense subversive and in another,
presumptious that the EU project is desired and/or sensible. At some point the
frog metaphor breaks down and people begin to realize what is happening and
what has happened.
And in the UK at least, finally, we are beginning to see a debate being held
on the desirability of the EU being a _political_ union (rather than the more
prosaic free-trade area).
~~~
higherpurpose
All democratic republics are in dire need of an overhaul for the 21st century.
However, US and UK tend to be worse than many because of the first past the
post voting system.
~~~
minot
I feel bad for the voters in the UK. LD got trounced in this election but in
the previous two elections they had 22 and 23 percentage of votes.
In 2010, Conservatives had 47% of the seats with 36 percent of votes. Labor
had almost 40% with 29% of the votes. LD had 8% with 23% of votes. Even in
2015, they had 1.2% of seats with 7.9% of votes.
If you have almost a quarter of the population voting for you, you'd think you
can make things happen. What went wrong with the referendum? What could the
YES proponents have done differently? More importantly, has the damage been
done? How long do UK nationals have to be quiet about alternative voting now?
~~~
petercooper
We already had a referendum about it four years ago -
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_Alternative_Vote...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_Alternative_Vote_referendum,_2011)
\- and it was overwhelmingly in favour of the status quo.
~~~
minot
I am very convinced that a full proportional representation would be very much
better than the status quo. Can we have a referendum again? When would be an
optimal time?
------
matternew
``EU plans to regulate hormone-damaging chemicals found in pesticides have
been dropped because of threats from the US that this would adversely affect
negotiations for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP)''
They shouldn't drop them, we should regulate freely and be removed from TTIP.
Being involved in TTIP isn't a privilege or in any way desirable, it's an
undemocratic exercise in futility. So, to me, being ejected is a win-win
scenario.
------
ck2
The do-nothing-congress better crash and burn that thing in the House.
It's going to be crazy if this is one of the few things they pass this year.
------
PythonicAlpha
The problem about "TTIP" and "free trade treaties" is, that they are
continuously used to support the interests of big corporations -- and thus,
lowering health, environmental and other standards is one of the big targets
of those treaties.
I lately saw a documentation about the trade treaty of the US with Mexico.
They said, that standards where lowered in both countries.
Take two or more countries and make today a "free trade treaty" between them,
you get the lowest common denominator, since the big corporations are at the
head of the table.
TTIP starts to reduce standards even _before_ it is signed.
------
cyphunk
Collectively the EU bloc represents the larges global economy (18tr GDP). It
should be the US forced to accept EU regulations to participate in the EU
economy, not the other way around.
~~~
adventured
The US economy is about $1.8 trillion larger than the EU economy presently.
The EU economy is roughly $15.7 trillion (€14.3 trillion), and hasn't grown in
seven years. During that time, the US retook the lead in size and added around
~$2.5 trillion to its GDP. The dollar run in the prior year has also lifted
the value of the US economy at the expense of the EU economy, by about ~13%.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_the_European_Union](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_the_European_Union)
~~~
cyphunk
thanks for updating my outdated data :)
------
parennoob
> EU regulations would have banned 31 pesticides containing endocrine
> disrupting chemicals (EDCs) that have been linked to testicular cancer and
> male infertility.
Obvious criticism of sweeping trade treaties aside, this is another blatant
case where the health and well-being of males takes a back seat to political
considerations.
I'll bet my bottom dollar that if these chemicals caused, say, ovarian cancer,
Governments on both sides of the Atlantic would be racing to ban them and get
political brownie points.
------
joering2
_Just after the official launch of the TTIP negotiations on 13 June 2013, a US
business delegation visited EU officials to demand that the proposed
regulations governing EDCs should be thrown out in favour of a further "impact
study."_
May I please know the names of those scumbags, or at least how can I find out?
I want to know more about those brainacs, perhaps place a few phonecalls,
express my disgust.
------
ddon
And what can be done now?
~~~
higherpurpose
Write to your MEPs.
[http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/map.html](http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/map.html)
------
fleitz
Is the EC in charge of the EU? Couldn't they just say no?
~~~
SagelyGuru
and they are unelected
~~~
matt4077
Neither are Merkel, Cameron, Tsipras and probably about 50% of the heads of
government. I doubt there is a country where the Secretary of Defense is
elected.
There's nothing wrong with an elected parliament choosing the executive, and
the EU actually moved to a more direct election with the 'Spitzenkandidat'
system. People still didn't care to vote for the EU parliament.
~~~
benaston
Your comment re Merkel, Cameron et al is a strawman: just because the existing
system of parliamentary democracy is deeply flawed, it does not follow that
another even less democratic system is acceptable.
You point out that Cameron (for example) is not directly elected as PM. He
does however have to be elected to parliament via a democratic vote. Unlike
the European Commission, where commissioners have no democratic mandate to
speak of and yet they hold immense power.
34% of those eligible voted in the UK European elections (i.e. for the
European Parliament). Your comment re people not caring is overly simplistic.
People will not vote for a wide variety of reasons. Only one of which is that
they "don't care".
Edit: please explain your downvote, so that I may improve my comment or
respond.
~~~
babatong
>He does however have to be elected to parliament via a democratic vote.
Unlike the European Commission, where commissioners have no democratic mandate
to speak of and yet they hold immense power.
You are incorrect. Since the Lisbon treaty at least, the commission is
proposed by the council and then has to be voted on by the parliament.
If anything that gives it even more democratic legitimacy than Cameron, as in
his case only he himself, not his cabinet is voted on by parliament.
You are of course within your right to criticize the parliamentary democratic
system within it self. However a claim that the processes by which the
commission is put in place are less democratic than the processes by which
Cameron or Merkel came to power are just outright false.
~~~
benaston
@germanier and @babatong No, you are both wrong.
The democratic mandate for EU commissioners is less strong than for directly
elected officials.
@matt4077 called out that even Cameron is not elected directly as PM, and that
is correct. The problems with the existing parliamentary democracy in the UK
are well understood.
So having a "somewhat undemocratically elected official" Cameron, nominate a
person for the commission who has not been directly elected _at all_ by the
populous, is less democratic because it is one step further removed from
direct election.
This is how we have all these "unknown faces" wielding immense power in
Brussels - like Herman Van Rompuy, President of the European Council.
The democratically elected European Parliament then vote for the nominees, but
at this point the nominees already have less mandate (for reasons given above)
than the members of national parliaments (and the EU parliament). And, I might
add, more power.
This is one of the main problems with the EU as a political union. It is a
move away from grass-roots democracy towards a centralized monolith that
disenfranchises millions and millions of people.
~~~
germanier
You seem to miss that the vote in parliament adds and doesn't remove mandate
from the candidates. The MEPs have a very strong opinion on who is a suitable
candidate and who isn't. They used their power to refuse candidates and demand
others in the past and will do so in the future.
By your standards the European Commission has a mandate that is at least as
strong as the one of any European country's government.
~~~
benaston
Not at all.
The question at hand is: do the EU commissioners have a stronger or weaker
democratic mandate than national MPs?
When considering this question, the vote in the EU parliament is neither here
nor there, because the person being voted for by them has not been directly
elected by a single member of the public, possibly ever.
If a person is directly elected by the people he represents, then he has a
stronger mandate than another who has not been directly elected. Mandate gets
weaker the farther you are from direct election by the people.
~~~
germanier
Comparing commissioners to national members of parliament isn't fair, they are
doing completely different jobs.
A member of the European parliament is one degree removed from public vote,
just as a member of a national parliament. A European commissioner is two
degree removed from the public, just like a European head of government. A
minister in most member states is three degrees removed.
If you don't consider the vote in the EP for commissioners as a real vote
because they can't pick their own candidate then it's three degrees removed as
the candidates are picked by the heads of governments.
In any case I can't see how it's less democratic than the election system of
any member state. The commissioners are as far away from the public vote as
almost any member of government in the member states.
~~~
benaston
Both national MPs and EU commissioners are public officials who form public
policy that affects citizens' lives. In that much they are comparable. Both
procedurally and in scope of effect there will be differences of course
(commissioners are much more powerful, and therfore should be held to a higher
level of scrutiny).
In any case, similarity of jobs is orthogonal to the narrow question - who has
the stronger mandate?
Take Person A who via an elected representative would like to effect
legislative change in their nation. Who has the stronger mandate to take
action?
In other words, which representative would be closer to the truth in saying
that "they were acting in Person A's name"?
1\. For the sake of argument, let's take the UK Prime Minister. He is voted
for by a party consisting of members of the public via an open process to
represent a specific platform; is elected directly by a constituency numbering
in the low tens of thousands of people who happen to live in a geographical
area of the nation under representation.
Furthermore, the representative is a widely known public figurehead with a
well-known platform meaning that although members of the public in other
constituencies cannot affect his election to parliament directly, they can
affect the amount of power he wields. The election covers 70 million people.
2\. For an EU Commissioner a shortlist of representatives are chosen _in
secret_ by a team of people, each of whom is a proxy, elected via a process
similar to (1). One of the shortlist is chosen by a vote from members of a
directly elected parliament. The election takes into consideration the views
of 3/4 billion people.
The EU commissioner shortlist process is secret (and thus open to nefarious
influence - go on: tell me this will not happen), the final vote is diluted by
the views of an order of magnitude more people, spread over a much greater
geographic area (meaning a much wider range of concerns need be taken into
consideration), and the commissioner need not have been elected directly by
anyone from the population he represents (other than via proxy).
Based on this, it is clear that the representative in scenario (1) has a
stronger claim to be said to be acting in the name of Person A than the person
elected via process (2).
The EU is hence less democratic than the institutions is is replacing, and is
in some sense democratically regressive.
(And this is before any discussion about the differences in the legislative
path between Westminster and the EU).
~~~
SagelyGuru
I agree. Thank you for the expanded explanation of the reasons behind my above
brief comment. I just note in passing with wry bemusement, that my comment
that sparked such illuminating discussion apparently deserves only 0 points.
------
sillygoose
You know, if EU countries were genuinely concerned about their beloved
citizens coming into contact with damaging chemicals, they could warn them on
the evening news or something.
Hey there Dear Citizens, these products have been found
to cause cancer. Please avoid using them, and tell your
friends to avoid them too!
Best Regards,
Your Benevolent, Caring Overlords
Do you think that just _might_ have an effect on the companies producing the
toxic crap they force on us?
"Those naughty companies haven't stopped putting cancer-causing
chemicals in their products. You should still boycott them."
If they really cared, they could just keep informing the citizenry until they
were safe.
~~~
imron
Uh-huh, right, because EU governments have editorial control of the evening
news, and also have bigger marketing budgets than the companies producing such
chemicals.
Sure.
_If they really cared, they could just keep informing the citizenry until
they were safe._
No, if they really cared they would ban or strictly regulate the use of such
chemicals.
~~~
sillygoose
> _Uh-huh, right, because EU governments have editorial control of the evening
> news_
Well yeah, they largely do:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuC_4mGTs98](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuC_4mGTs98)
But even if they didn't, surely news organizations would co-operate for a
noble cause, yes?
> _No, if they really cared they would ban or strictly regulate the use of
> such chemicals._
Sure, and if they _really cared_ , they could do that even despite the TTIP,
or they could reject or re-negotiate the TTIP. There's no way around that,
regardless of whether you trust that governments are operating with _our_ best
interests at heart.
~~~
imron
> But even if they didn't, surely news organizations would co-operate for a
> noble cause, yes?
As privately run corporations, news organizations go where the money is and I
trust them even less than I trust the government. The number of _ignoble_
causes they have cooperated on in the recent past leaves them with a very
large credibility gap in my mind.
And while the government is not perfect, at least I live in a country where
lobbying (aka bribery) is no where near as institutionalised and prevalent as
you see in the U.S.
So while my government might not always have _my_ best interests at heart,
they are definitely more concerned and more trustworthy than a news
organisation.
~~~
DanBC
Didn't the 911 conspiracy theory video link make you think that maybe it's not
worth speaking to silly goose?
~~~
imron
To be honest, I didn't even click through to the video.
Your point has been noted.
~~~
sillygoose
He didn't have a point. He just signaled that he can't think independently.
The video is a summary of _what we were told happened_ , through the
mainstream media. The story is _absurd_ , which means _it 's not actually
true_! That, in turn, means that there was, in fact, a conspiracy!
Here's a few videos of an invisible plane hitting a building, which then
collapses seemingly on its own:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWorDrTC0Qg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWorDrTC0Qg)
.. but it wasn't on its own, of course, because an invisible plane hit it!
Feel free to start thinking for yourself any time now.
------
jokoon
I hate to say this, and I don't think it's justified, but that's the kind of
stuff al-qaeda would fight against.
Someday having anti-american opinions might equate with being a terrorist.
~~~
andy_ppp
Someday! Funny that you should say this but David Cameron wants us to never be
left alone by the state and anti terror laws are regularly used against people
who are not terrorists. The police are being militarised and the human rights
act is being removed from law here in the UK. Someday looks like tomorrow to
me.
------
kokey
Opening up trade is bad by default... to those that benefit from the barriers
that are in place. I am always suspicious of a lot of emotive campaigning in
response to trade agreements that opens up trade.
~~~
msvalkon
Did you by chance read the article? This has little to do with opening up
trade and much to do with providing ridiculous amount of power to any major
corporation.
EDIT:
Suppose I'm a producer of bottled water from Germany. I bottle a lot of water
in California. The Californians vote to move to heavy water rationing and
regulation due to the threat of continuous draught. This hurts my business, so
should I be allowed, as a corporation, to sue the state of California, have
any possible trials and hearings within a closed courtroom and possibly
overrule the vote?
~~~
RobertoG
Agree, the motivation of all this is, at least, worrisome.
You should be allowed, as a corporation, to sue the state of California... in
California. But this is not what we are talking about here.
We are talking about the creation of new special courtrooms above the laws of
California, staffed by people that worked for corporations and when they left
the job are going to work for corporations again.
If this is not worrisome, you tell me what it is.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Alum Charged With Hacking Into Texas A&M - terpua
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/technology/AP-College-Hacking.html?ex=1346817600&en=2b7a3ceda0264fcf&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
======
jsjenkins168
I actually know a few people who go to A&M who discovered similar
vulnerabilities. A friend gained access to the Windows LAN Manager passwords
and cracked them, getting access to login and passwords of the entire freshman
Engineering class. On a separate occasion, he noticed a windows folder share
on a server which contained the logs for the Engineering departments student
portal. The logs contained every login attempt with the login and password
stored in plain text! Not kidding.
So he told the department system admins and they basically shrugged him off..
Maybe now they've learned their lesson?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Your Startup’s First Hire: Leading and Learning at the Same Time - ttunguz
http://tomtunguz.com/management-and-teaching
======
applecore
_Anna Karenina_ is a novel by Tolstoy, not Dostoevsky :)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: How did you get over your fear of shipping? - fratlas
Currently building a web app and feature creep and an intense feeling that the product is worthless (I enjoy using it, but it's niche so hard to user-test) is a daily occurrence. is this normal?
======
rgbrgb
Here's an open secret that might make you feel more comfortable: you can
launch as many times as you want until people notice. Here's an awful public
launch:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13343276](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13343276).
There's no signup, buttons seem not to work. Nobody's going to care/remember
if they try again when the app is more baked in a couple weeks.
If you're not sure if your thing is usable, find someone who you can watch use
it in person.
~~~
screensquid
> If you're not sure if your thing is usable, find someone who you can watch
> use it in person.
If you can't find someone to use it in person, you can get user experience
feedback with a session recording tool. I am the author of such software,
which you can find at [http://screensquid.com](http://screensquid.com).
------
CodeWriter23
This may or may not apply to you. Try it on and if it fits, then work to break
the chains of bondage. My experience with this syndrome is fueled by a
character flaw known as "perfectionism".
Being detail-oriented as most good software developers are, it is easy for me
to just keep adding more details to the list and crunch them. It's going to
make the product better, right?
WRONG! This is where I confront my issue. Perfectionism is merely a tool of
the ego, engaging various games of self-righteousness, to only one end: giving
me that charge that "I'm right".
But what works for me, though often right, isn't the point. It's what works
for the user. The user is who gives my work life. They use the bits to
accomplish tasks, rather than those bits sitting on a DVD on some shelf in my
office, dead.
So how do I serve my need to be right and have a product that is living and
breathing? Only one way. Get it into the hands of users. And be open to their
input of the what sucks and what they'd rather have. They don't get to dictate
the final form of the product, but they do inform my future decisions. See,
the key to being right is learning, and all I learn from the bits resting on
my shelf are lessons in organization and expense. To really learn, other
people have to be involved. And I need to be open to not just their input, but
to experiencing a range of uncomfortable feelings.
Let me apologize up front for this brutally honest comment. Since you have
problems finding users for your product, chances are it won't be a huge
success. Sorry for my brutality. Your project is still valuable. First, it has
some value to you, so finish it and use it. But don't be afraid of being wrong
in the process. Just tell that bitchy little part of your ego to shut the fuck
up, and get your code into the hands of others. As developers we are often way
too close to our work and benefit greatly from external feedback. Learning the
process will make you a better developer.
So like I said at the start, this is my experience. If it might work for you,
great. If not, scroll on by, there's a lot of other help here too. I admit
what I've said here might be worth less than a nickel.
------
sheraz
Include a public URL in your build process from day one.
I use dokku for this and simply git push dokku master right after I got push
origin master.
At any given time those who have the URL can see what I'm doing and ping back
with feedback.
That, and Show HN her is great. Reddit has /r/startups which I also think is
supportive and helpful.
~~~
augustflanagan
I completely agree with this. My co-founder had a post[0] on HN yesterday in
which he mentioned that our MVP made him cringe.
What he didn't mention is that that cringeworthy MVP was public for almost two
months before we started showing it to people. It was out there with broken
features, placeholder text, etc.
That made shippin easy. It was done on day 1 and then we were very motivated
to make it actually do something useful since it was already public.
[0]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13347307](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13347307)
------
soneca
Normal yes, not much beneficial. I dont have this problem at all (take a look
at my long list of Show HN of all kinds, including several very poor half-
baked things that I'm not that proud of), so I dont think I can give any
empathically useful advice. But I would love to know, what are you building?
(Who knows, maybe it does indeed requires a longer gestation period).
~~~
fratlas
ML-based social platform where the algorithms learn a user's tastes. Limited
to images, it's somewhere between Tumblr/VSCO/Pinterest/IG. It works for me,
and my girlfriend loves using it, but the problem is she always wants to
export her chosen images back to another platform for posting. I sense it will
be a chicken and the egg problem. Was mostly so I could learn how to handle
big data (~1B edges)
~~~
NumberCruncher
No product survives the first contact with the customer. This already happened
to you despite of having only one customer - your girlfriend.
If I were you I would be really happy about her wanting to post the chosen
images back to an other platform. This means your product would go viral on
its own without any help. Think of a fair annual price, triple it and go live.
There are many bored people out there with to much money in their pockets.
~~~
fratlas
I suppose you are right. At the very least it's an item for the resume.
------
aarondf
By shipping.
That's not sarcastic or dismissive, it's just the best way I've found to get
over the fear of shipping. By simply shipping it. The next time will be
easier. And the next, and... etc.
------
Mz
You need to find some way to connect with people and get feedback.
I wish I knew a better word than _feedback_ because I do not mean that people
are necessarily going to engage you in good conversation and say "X is good
and Y is bad." That almost never happens, and when it does, the feedback can
be terrible and counterproductive.
But you need to find some way to get it out there in the wild such that you
see how people respond and what they do with it, what gets used and what
doesn't. If it isn't resulting in a lynch mob reaction, you need to not view
the negative responses in a bad light. You want critique, and that means
hearing both what works and what doesn't. You do not want nothing but fan
boys, massaging your ego, saying nice things and not mentioning problems at
all.
So, I don't know what path will work for you in specific. But you need to get
some kind of engagement that puts useful information in your hands to inform
the development. How people get that varies. But your fear of shipping is
because it involves tossing it out there into a giant unknown void with zero
idea of how that will go. The antidote to that is getting some engagement so
you aren't just flying blind.
How people do that is very individual.
------
rsoto
That's me for the better part of 2015, having a product that gives me value,
that I use every day and yet no one was interested in it (also, it was
bleeding a couple hundred a month).
What I can tell you is that if your product is too innovative, you'll walk
into walls, and that's fine. Most of the people I spoke to didn't get the
service, and others seemed interested, but they were just polite. What you
have to do is to launch and get out your product to the world, and then find
the first customer, even if it's at 10% its price point—it will give you
confidence and will validate that your product is valuable.
As for the feature creep, I think it will happen always, as each customer has
its own view on your product, and since you're the one making it, they will
tell you things, some are good ideas, but most of them are not very good,
since most don't know what they want. You'll have to find balance.
The thing that helped me a lot is being in a big city. I'm from a way smaller
place and I've been building stuff for 15+ years, and the big city mindset is
way more open than the small city's, as they will use anything, but only once
it has been proved.
I hope those pieces of advice help you in your journey. If you want to talk a
little bit more, my email is in my bio.
------
genbit
If you now someone who can/want also use your product, ship early versions to
them. Even screenshots. If not, try to find these users, and ship to them :)
I think, early fear of shipping is a symptom of uncertainty "will someone need
this product?" You should try to find this someone as soon as possible, and
get feedback from them.
------
mcmatterson
I'm facing the same dilemma with a hardware project of mine ([http://tooner-
test.moshozen.com](http://tooner-test.moshozen.com)). In the past month alone,
I've been stuck on several things (public name, dealing with constant ID
creep, finding a mill that can resaw, among others). Though they're
contradictory, it seems that half of the roadblocks get solved through putting
them off (and usually thinking of a better solution, or a workaround), and
half get solved by #JFDI.
'Shipping' means something much different for hardware projects of course, but
nonetheless I think the advice to ship on day one is really foundational. I've
always been fond of the idea that 'if something hurts, you need to do it more
often'. Make the game about iterating and not shipping.
------
eecks
Agile sprints are a good way to get shipping done.
Make a backlog of tasks.
Set a time for your sprint (2 or 3 weeks).
Estimate how long you think the tasks in your backlog will take (don't focus
on being 100% correct in your estimates).
Include what you can given the sprint time and the estimates.
Release at the end of every sprint.
Rinse and repeat.
~~~
fratlas
That is a good idea. Forces you to really nail down tasks between you and your
goal.
------
Huhty
Keep getting constant feedback as you build. Understand that there will be a
lot of people that your product/service isn't for, which is just fine. Build
your audience (with a landing page) now, not after you ship.
------
sh87
This isn't fear of shipping, but fear of failure. Only way I know to overcome
this is
fail fast -> fail more -> learn -> fail less -> maybe succeed -> repeat.
Somehow, you need to get comfortable with not knowing how it will all work and
make sure you have given your best. Now best, would not mean the best product
but something with the best fit. So it's not a step by step process here. The
more and better you try, the more and better you understand the goal and how
you may get there.
Learn to be just ok with failing and have someone to get you back up on your
feet.
------
appleiigs
Ship alpha, beta versions. Even the general public knows what a beta version
is and know that it's a work in progress. Then add a roadmap where users can
see where it's going and look forward to it.
~~~
adventured
Interestingly, the beta label that was so common 10 or 12 years ago on new web
services, seems to have mostly disappeared. I very rarely see it any longer.
One of those cycles where it got very popular, then the backlash about putting
it on everything and a negative connotation develops, then people become
afraid to use it.
------
kayman
I haven't gotten over my fear of shipping. My first product I posted on
Hackernews, I got ripped to pieces. (password emailed to user in plain text,
no terms and conditions).
It was harsh. But it wasn't the end of the world. Manage your expectations.
See it as a process.
How do you create good stuff? By creating lots of stuff, enjoying the process
and some of it will turn out ok, some good, some bad. Like a musician. Just
focus on getting better. Your workflows for launching etc. See it as feedback
not a definition or critique of you.
------
tom5
I think it is more about paradox instead of fear.
a)you want to add enough features to attract/impress potential users. b)you
want to ship it, so you can get feedback asap.
a) and b) are pulling to opposite directions, hence the paradox. There is no
easy solution for this.
However, if you change the question to "what do I need to build to test my
assumptions (about the market and user)", the answer will be more obvious.
------
iisbum
Never really had a problem with shipping things, guess I'm pretty thick
skinned, but I try and remember that feedback, good or bad is better than
building in a vacuum.
------
bostand
By shipping.
The are tons of issues that show up only after you have shipped so striving
for perfection before shipping is pointless.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Cumulus: A free, open-source replacement for CloudApp that uses your own S3 - nrj
https://github.com/nrj/Cumulus
======
mykel242
Sweet!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Booking system for makeup artists and hair stylists - xxxxtj
https://www.appearancer.com/start
======
xxxxtj
Welcome!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Manchin Demands Federal Regulators Ban Bitcoin - imd23
http://www.manchin.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=237cbd66-6a26-4870-9bcb-20177ae902b0
======
ColinWright
Extensive discussion:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7307299](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7307299)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The Accident That Changed My Priorities: One Entrepreneurs Story - johnjlocke
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/229735
======
jacalata
Didn't read, too many popovers.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
An Illusion with a Future [pdf] (2004) - dredmorbius
https://www.jstor.org/stable/20027925?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
======
dredmorbius
SciHub or LibGen deliver, for those interested.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
URL query parameters and how laxness creates de facto requirements on the web - todsacerdoti
https://utcc.utoronto.ca/~cks/space/blog/web/DeFactoQueryParameters
======
drewcsillag
Accepting random stuff like this is in the spirit of the protocols of the
internet.
Postel’s Law: > Be conservative in what you do, be liberal in what you accept
from others (often reworded as "Be conservative in what you send, be liberal
in what you accept").
Also known as the robustness principle
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robustness_principle](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robustness_principle)
------
Tagbert
The article doesn’t seem to identify a problem caused by these unexpected
parameters. I would think any system that accepts input like this would need
to validate the input and reject or ignore invalid input. Where is the
problem?
I have been known to add a parameter like &x=1 to a page that fails to load
properly the first time. It can invalidate an incorrect cache and let the page
reload.
------
jbverschoor
It’s not laziness. It’s the stupid flexibility of certain protocols, APIs,
languages
Make things as strict as possible
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
An Instagram star with 2M followers couldn't sell 36 T-shirts - paulpauper
https://www.businessinsider.com/instagrammer-arii-2-million-followers-cannot-sell-36-t-shirts-2019-5
======
emsy
Previous discussion:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20063667](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20063667)
------
derefr
Just because you have followers doesn't mean you have fans.
I follow people that post e.g. cat pictures, but I wouldn't buy their merch. I
don't even know who these people are, really; their posts are a commodity to
me. They're "oh, more cat pictures", not "a new post from [X]!" I found them
through the app's recommendations, hit follow, and then never looked into them
further. Why would I want to buy anything from them?
The edges connecting vertices on social networks have _weights_ , despite the
social networks themselves not modelling this. Some people, despite being very
"connected" in theory, have a very low aggregate weight of connection; all
their connections are barely there.
It's like having a million acquaintances and no friends.
(And, of course, some percentage of the vertices you're connected to might be
deactivated/purchased/bots/etc. But even when that's _not_ true, you still
won't make sales on your "personal brand" to mere acquaintances.)
~~~
askafriend
This is missing the point entirely.
The reason she couldn't sell T-Shirts is because she didn't build a real
audience around her. She likely used bots to boost her followers and raise the
status of her profile without actually building engagement.
People who have built real audiences around themselves using social media are
superstars. Casey Neistat and MKBHD can sell tens of thousands of T-Shirts if
they wanted to.
The only point this makes is that Social Media is a tool. It can be used well
or it can be used poorly.
~~~
derefr
I saw the point you made in your top-level sibling subthread and acknowledged
it in a parenthetical to my post. I was trying to talk about a different
situation, which doesn't necessarily apply _to this specific case_ , but
rather is interesting to consider _in general_ as a response to the question
"why couldn't someone with a million followers on Instagram monetize those
followers?"
Let me reiterate: there are people with a million social-media subscribers of
"real audience", who _still_ could not sell a single T-shirt.
[https://chubbycattumbling.tumblr.com/](https://chubbycattumbling.tumblr.com/)
and whatever the equivalents of such blogs are on Instagram likely have a
million+ subscribers—real people—but also have built _no_ "personal brand",
and therefore would generate no interest in products marketed under said
personal brand.
Casey Neistat and MKBHD aren't superstars because they have millions of
followers. They're superstars because they've been marketing their personal
brands from the beginning, and so every (real) follower they've gained is
_also_ a fan. But this does not apply in every situation.
(It _especially_ doesn't apply to corporate social-media outreach, something
of interest to the HN crowd: just posting cool stuff your startup made might
attract a "real audience" of people who _want that stuff_... but unless you're
branding that stuff as _yours_ when you do that, you won't be able to later
convert that audience _at all_. That should be obvious to someone who's job is
"social-media brand manager"—but it's _not_ obvious to someone who wants to
get rich selling merch to Insta followers.)
~~~
askafriend
Ah, got it. I think we're actually on the same page then!
------
superasn
I think the problem with this is the same problem with email marketing. It
doesn't mean that marketing on Instagram doesn't work.
I know people who have thousands of subscribers and can't sell $1000 of stuff
and then there are people with 1000 subscribers that can sell $50k worth with
a single email.
It all comes down to the relationship with your list (I guess in this case
your followers). If your list trusts you and trust is easy to gain by giving a
lot of value + authority, they will buy from you. Think if your best friend
tell you to get "X" and he is an expert too then chances are you will try "X"
even if doesn't make sense at the moment. On the other hand if a random
stranger tells you to do it, you will need a lot of convincing and still
you'll be looking for ulterior motives before making that purchase.
~~~
giancarlostoro
This makes sense. Back in 2010 I had a strong following on Tumblr and I
realized years later I could have easily sold products and made decent cash so
many of my followers had a personal connection with me due to chatting on
different platforms and getting to know me. But I didnt want to "sell out" so
I never shoved ads on my blog or spammed products. That seems to be a thing I
see moreso on YouTube and IG anyway.
Sure some artists would advertise swag they were selling on Tumblr from time
to time but they make awesome art why shouldnt they be allowed to sell swag?
Artists got to eat too.
~~~
superasn
Yes also selling word has aquired a really bad connotation mainly because of
these influencers pushing unnecessary stuff on to their list.
But selling can also be giving your list what they signed up for at a price
that they will not get anywhere else. Which is also very important to keep
niches and not to try and sell dog training videos to a person who signed up
for piano lessons (yes poeple can do that)
------
bufferoverflow
Fake followers?
Looking at her account, I don't get why she'd have so many followers. She
isn't good looking, not interesting, her videography and photography is very
average.
~~~
wildrhythms
Or the audience is simply not invested.
Twitch streamers sell merch to a much smaller audience, and probably to the
same group of audience who is also subscribed at $5/month. The audience is
already invested and want to support the content; do Instagram followers feel
like they're supporting the content in the same way? Is a follower count even
a good metric to judge audience captivation?
Maybe this is a wake up call to marketing agencies that influencers aren't
nearly as captive as their follower count suggests.
~~~
orev
But that’s the concept of “influencers” — not to sell things directly, but to
influence an audience for when they actually do buy something. That is what
most advertising aims to do — not to make people get up and go buy the thing
immediately.
------
jpmattia
When everyone is an influencer, nobody is.
------
rdiddly
A lot of ink spilled over this. I expected schadenfreude but really this is
just a high schooler making her first tentative baby steps into selling stuff
and unsurprisingly failing. My story would've been the same back in the day. A
Telemarketing Powerhouse Who Called 2,000 Homes Couldn't Sell 4 Magazine
Subscriptions. Difference was, I just quietly went back to college, while she
has professional marketers analyzing her every move in Business Insider. I
think maybe fuck the internet? Just not for the same reason I thought.
------
cosmodisk
I looked at her account on Instagram.First of all I'm surprised she's got so
many followers,as there's nothing even remotely interesting in her posts.
There's no story I'd follow-in fact there's nothing at all. So no surprise
T-Shirt business was a flop.
------
arkitaip
Even at a terrible 0.01% conversion rate she would have sold 200 t-shirts.
0.0018% is a rounding error, the quantity you purchase for QA or for handing
out at a pr event. Small Twitch streamers with a tenth of her audience sell
more t-shirts.
~~~
Mirioron
I think it has to do with the fact that twitch streamers tend to be very
engaged with their fans. Especially small twitch streamers. They're kind of
like "rent-a-friend" except they live based on donations.
~~~
arkitaip
Very true. Twitch streamers have really discovered a profound truth about what
it means to be in entertainment.
------
floatingatoll
I’d love to see someone run a perfectly great influencer Instagram where if
you can’t verify a purchase within 28 days you are permanently banned from
following them.
Not because I think this is healthy, but because I think people will complain
loudly and campaign to have them boycotted for demanding proof of their
“influencer” status resulting in money spend.
I think such a thing would shred the influencer concept to bits, and so all
the other influencers would react out of fear for losing access to the
“exposure economy” they leveraged their status to create.
~~~
cududa
They already do this for access to a “private” account.
------
octosphere
Looks like the store is temporarily down:
[https://www.erashop.us/](https://www.erashop.us/)
My guess is that not enough build-up, or buzz was created, and the initial
attempt to sell was forced and random. It's an old tactic you see various
startups doing: creating a countdown landing page where the 'mystery' of the
product gets people talking.
------
alkibiades
this has been happening a long time in hip hop. there’s people with millions
of real followers on instagram because of their antics. but when their album
comes out they don’t even get 10k sales.
------
takanori
What do you think an acceptable conversion rate should be?
~~~
groestl
2000000 × 0.1 (post viewed) × 0.1 (post engaged) × 0.1 (clicked link to shop)
× 0.1 (put shirt in shopping cart) × 0.1 (finished payment process) = 20
shirts sold
math checks out
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
An open source re-implementation of RollerCoaster Tycoon 2 - j_s
https://github.com/OpenRCT2/OpenRCT2
======
bbx
For all RCT2 fans here: check out RCT Classic on iOS [1] and Android [2]. It's
_fantastic_.
I thought the size of the device would be an issue, but I've been playing on
an iPhone SE with surprisingly great ease! The tap zones are small but very
well defined, so you almost never mis-tap. And the game is I believe bug-free
because it has never crashed!
The only real tricky part is designing underground paths and building rides
with an excitement rating above 6.0! But that's always been tricky…
[1] [https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/rollercoaster-tycoon-
classic...](https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/rollercoaster-tycoon-
classic/id1113736426?mt=8)
[2]
[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.atari.mobi...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.atari.mobile.rctc&hl=en_GB)
~~~
beefsack
Whenever I see IAP on paid apps I'm almost instantly turned off.
Do you know what sort of nature they are? Is the game complete without them?
Do they nag about the IAP in game?
~~~
mikepurvis
Looks like expansion packs. From the Google Play page: "PLEASE NOTE:
Additional content for RollerCoaster Tycoon Classic is available via In-App
Purchase, specifically the three expansion packs: Wacky Worlds, Time Twister
and Toolkit. The expansion packs are the ONLY content that require an In-App
Purchase and In-App Purchases are not used anywhere else in the game."
~~~
jwdunne
Actually, the toolkit as an IAP really pissed me off. That's the best way to
design coasters.
------
swang
Haha. I like this bug fix fixing an issue with people always vomiting.
[https://github.com/OpenRCT2/OpenRCT2/pull/6434/files](https://github.com/OpenRCT2/OpenRCT2/pull/6434/files)
~~~
wontoncc
I have encountered this bug the other day. Literally unplayable but fun
watching the guests vomiting all over the park.
~~~
stefco_
This might be excessively prurient, but I would love to see some gameplay
video or screenshots of what an unplayably vomit-filled park looks like.
~~~
sleepychu
> This might be excessively prurient
Wait what? What do you want those screenshots for?![0]
[0] -
[https://duckduckgo.com/?q=prurient&atb=v71-6__&ia=definition](https://duckduckgo.com/?q=prurient&atb=v71-6__&ia=definition)
~~~
stefco_
Ha! Conflated "prurient" with "vulgar", though I'm guessing that mistake was
(hopefully?) obvious from context.
Thanks for the correction, made me chuckle :)
------
mathnode
For more open source game engines or re-implimentations check out:
[http://osgameclones.com](http://osgameclones.com)
~~~
corobo
If you're just there to browse working games do a ctrl+f for
<space>Playable
<space>Playable<space>Active
if you're after active playable repos
~~~
tete
There is a filter at the top and you can click on the tag.
However it seems that the tags are not all there. For example Freeciv is in
there ant not tagged as playable. So don't rely on it.
~~~
corobo
Hah that's my bad, I didn't even look for a search/filter function once I
noticed everything was on one page
------
maddyboo
I'm always amazed when I'm reminded that RCT2 was originally written in
assembly.
How would that much assembly code be organized? I've never seen a large
assembly project, but I would imagine something as complex as RCT2 would
easily clock in over 100k lines of assembly. That just sounds light a
nightmare to me!
~~~
ameliaquining
How much of the game was actually in assembly? I always heard that it was
mostly stuff like the guest AI that was in assembly (which is why you could
have hundreds of them running at once), and the graphical stuff was in a
higher-level language.
~~~
TylerE
ALL of it. Even the DirectX stuff was hand-written assembly. It's the same
core engine going back to the Transport Tycoon days.
~~~
duncanspumpkin
There is actually no DirectX at all in RCT2 source code. The game has its own
software renderer that outputs direct to the screen buffer.
------
Animats
_OpenRCT2 requires original files of RollerCoaster Tycoon 2 to play._
It's the engine without the assets. Kind of like Open Rails, which is an open
source engine for Microsoft Train Simulator content. That's been out for a
while, and now others are writing content for it.
~~~
KGIII
I believe there is a Doom variant with the same requirements. It requires the
image and sound files.
I am not a gamer so I can't opine on the quality.
~~~
claudiulodro
GZDoom! It's amazing. By far my favorite game. You just need the original Doom
.wad files.
[https://zdoom.org/downloads](https://zdoom.org/downloads)
------
jonbaer
0AD still remains one of the best open source games, Blender files and all ...
[https://play0ad.com](https://play0ad.com)
------
glorkk
I recently stumbled upon
[https://github.com/citybound/citybound](https://github.com/citybound/citybound)
which draws inspiration from SimCity and RTC among others. The project is
still in very early stages, but I thought it was very interesting.
~~~
ChickeNES
If only it wasn't under a restrictive license....
~~~
Liru
How is the AGPL restrictive in this case?
~~~
vortico
Seconded. I can't think of any practical reason AGPL would be more restrictive
than GPL to the player of a video games.
------
loufe
Man what a great project, I've been only lightly following it for the last
year or so, but it gets me excited. I think I could see myself choosing this
as a first open source project to commit to.
Thinking now, I would love to see Dolphin style progress reports every now and
then from the project. I'm sure they'd catch a lot of buzz.
~~~
WhitneyLand
what are Dolphin status reports, and what about them is effective?
~~~
j_s
You can verify for yourself if you have time; the reports themselves are an
excellent resource both for their content itself and as an example to learn
from:
[https://hn.algolia.com/?query=dolphin-
emu%20comments>0&sort=...](https://hn.algolia.com/?query=dolphin-
emu%20comments>0&sort=byDate)
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15381844](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15381844)
>kanwisher: _Always interesting to read the release notes on this product.
They go into such technical detail, its a joy to read_
>overcast: _This comment is becoming the HN equivalent of "First!" on Dolphin
Progress Reports._
[https://dolphin-emu.org/blog/2017/10/02/dolphin-progress-
rep...](https://dolphin-emu.org/blog/2017/10/02/dolphin-progress-report-
september-2017/)
------
satuim
An amazing project, My only criticism is the scaling, playing in 1080p makes
the UI really small, it does have scaling in the options but 1.5 uses
antialiasing and kinda ruins the pixel graphics.
Otherwise the best way to play this. I'm pretty sure you can also import
certain elements from RCT1 if you have it.
------
Sintendo
I continue to wonder whether this can be legal at all. It's pretty clear
they've been looking at the disassembled code, so it's not clean-room reverse-
engineered.
------
cmpb
Anyone interested in this may also be interested to know that there is a
pretty thriving subreddit for RollerCoaster Tycoon:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/rct/](https://www.reddit.com/r/rct/)
------
PLenz
As a lover of the original I wish this project has the same success OpenTTD
has had.
------
squeaky-clean
I've never played this but have been aware of it for a while. Judging from the
Readme it sounds fairly complete? Like I could play out a full scenario in
this without missing features or crashing?
~~~
lucb1e
I also head of it for a while before I gave it a spin. I finally got around to
it about 6 months ago.
The game works really well. I don't remember noticing that anything was still
missing in singleplayer. Multiplayer... there was something, but I don't
remember what. Desyncs for sure, but I think those were always solveable by
just reconnecting. I'm not sure what, but there was a reason why my girlfriend
and I didn't play it. We played RCT2 a bunch, with one person watching and the
other playing, and OpenRCT2 with multiplayer seemed epic, but there was
something annoying in multiplayer, I just don't remember what.
By now, it might have improved again. I remember the development going really
fast before. And in singleplayer, I don't think there were any bugs that
prevented me from playing.
Give it a spin if you were (or still are) into the original Rollercoaster
Tycoon!
~~~
squeaky-clean
Thanks for the info, I definitely will. RCT and RCT2 are among my favorite
games ever made. I still load them up at least once every 6 months. Leafy Lake
/ Lucky Lake will always have a place in my heart.
~~~
lucb1e
That's one of my favorite levels too! Whenever I'm unsure which one to load
up, that's almost inevitably going to be it :)
------
antimatter
I wish someone did something similar for Populous: The Beginning.
------
hippich
I wonder if there is some universal way to increase DPI for SDL-based apps. I
am on linux and I can't read anything =(
~~~
sclangdon
SDL2 has SDL_WINDOW_ALLOW_HIGHDPI, which creates the window in high-DPI mode.
~~~
janisozaur
I have added poor man's scaling in
[https://github.com/OpenRCT2/OpenRCT2/pull/2280](https://github.com/OpenRCT2/OpenRCT2/pull/2280)
you can also look into the investigation lead in
[https://github.com/OpenRCT2/OpenRCT2/pull/2328](https://github.com/OpenRCT2/OpenRCT2/pull/2328)
~~~
VMG
Isn't there a way to preprocess the sprites and create 2x and 4x scaled
versions?
~~~
janisozaur
No, not yet, because of the way data is stored. When we move on to our own
save format it will be possible, I'm sure.
------
LusoTycoon
there's also a pretty nice Knights and Merchants remake
[http://www.kamremake.com/](http://www.kamremake.com/)
[https://github.com/Kromster80/kam_remake](https://github.com/Kromster80/kam_remake)
~~~
toomanybeersies
I remember playing multiplayer KAM a few years back. I don't know how they
wrote the netcode, but the game ended up terribly out of sync pretty fast.
It's a shame the remake has decided to go 3d and lose the original art style.
The original really has timeless graphics.
------
kartD
Nice, does this get rid of the shitty AI for the janitor? I can't tell you how
annoying it is to watch them do everything except clean the damn puke and
trash of the path.
~~~
jandrese
You can turn off mowing the lawn which will keep them on barf duty unless you
have a giant flower garden in their work zone. It's pretty much necessary if
you have a coaster with a moderate or higher puke value in the park.
Also don't forget that you can put bathrooms near the exit of an upchuck
inducing ride to keep the paths a little cleaner.
------
sitepodmatt
chris sawyer a hero on carmack's level. (sawyer is behind transport tycoon and
rollercoaster tycoon)
------
cr0sh
What I'd like to see is an open-source version of Disney's Coaster
game/simulation.
Or for that matter, any kind of roller coaster simulator. There's an excellent
Windows roller coaster simulator out there ("No Limits"), but nothing like it
exists on other platforms.
------
Avshalom
Well time to go dig out my CD case.
~~~
tylerjd
If you can't find it or it is too scratched, they also sell the full edition
of RCT2 on GoG for cheap
[https://www.gog.com/game/rollercoaster_tycoon_2](https://www.gog.com/game/rollercoaster_tycoon_2)
------
rusbus
"RollerCoaster Tycoon 2 was originally written by Chris Sawyer in x86 assembly
and is the sequel to RollerCoaster Tycoon."
Back when things used to be more hardcore.
------
jtl999
/me wishes there was an equivalent open source project for Chris Sawyer's game
Locomotion.
Spent so many hours playing it when I was younger. RCT too :)
------
joering2
Anyone know what Chris Sawyer is up to these days?
~~~
jle17
He gave a pretty interesting interview early 2016, apparently he was focused
on the rerelease of RCT on mobile and enjoying life :
[http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-03-03-a-big-
interview...](http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-03-03-a-big-interview-
with-chris-sawyer-the-creator-of-rollercoaster-tycoon).
Seems like a humble person with a good life ethos. I like his philosophy with
the RCT license of letting others have a go at it since he already made what
he wanted.
I wish he would come back to make another game. RCT is so consistently fun so
well put together it always impresses me so many years later. That guy is a
hero of game design.
------
nebabyte
Anyone know what engine civ 6 uses? guessing it's some in-house one but am
curious if it has an internal name or something.
------
j7ake
I only have OS X does this mean I can buy the rtc2 (which is windows ) and
still be able to play it on OS X?
~~~
satuim
If you buy it from GOG you should be able to get the Windows exe, you can then
try and install it with WINE. That should give you the game files to import
into OpenRCT2.
~~~
janisozaur
There's innoextract for gog executables
------
kevinburke
I gave a talk about this project recently:
ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUBYTcVjp7I
~~~
gnyman
Thanks for sharing, I enjoyed it. Especially the later parts. Looking at your
GH it looks like it lost some steam? Did you continue on it and if so did it
produce anything "surprising"? As in, this should not really be a good coaster
but it has great score :-)
------
milkers
Which part is open source if I still need to buy the original game first?
~~~
sclangdon
I haven't look at this game in particular, but usually you need to buy the
original game to get the assests (art, models, audio, etc).
Even official open-source releases like the Quake series still require you to
buy the original game in order to run them.
------
Jdam
Please add a donate button, I would so do it! Loved the original game.
------
unixhero
Ooooh that's such a fun game.
------
kyberias
C compiled with a C++ compiler.
~~~
janisozaur
Hi, OpenRCT2 dev here.
We're gradually moving towards C++, compiling our current C sources as C++ is
the first step. Quite surprisingly too, we discovered how shitty a C compiler
MSVC is, because just changing the C code of ride drawing to C++ made a huge
performance impact there.
Reportedly, GCC also benefited from the switch, but the effect was less
pronounced there.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Posix Abstractions in Modern Operating Systems: Old, New, and Missing [pdf] - bshanks
https://roxanageambasu.github.io/publications/eurosys2016posix.pdf
======
bshanks
By way of
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11791636](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11791636)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Betaworks Launches iPhone App Promotion Ring - moses1400
http://www.readwriteweb.com/mobile/2011/02/betaworks-launches-iphone-app.php?sms_ss=hackernews&at_xt=4d65bcc54a243fb3%2C0
======
gyardley
This looks a bit like AdBrite's now-defunct Spottt, but brought to iPhone
applications.
I'm a little skeptical, because over the past couple of years tons of
advertising networks have tried to make in-app ads for other applications
work, and they've all failed. Conversion rates have always been abysmally
poor, to the point where it's not worth crapping up the user experience with
an advertising banner. There's been tons of blog posts on this from a variety
of sources.
Because conversion rates for most applications ads are so poor, companies like
Flurry and Tapjoy focus on incentivized installs, where the user gets a bit of
virtual currency in exchange for downloading the advertised app. (Disclaimer:
I own a chunk of Flurry.) Those actually work really well, but that's because
the user's been bribed.
Betaworks is full of sharp people, so I'm wondering what I'm missing - it's
not like them to release a product that flies in the face of a couple years of
market data.
Perhaps they'll move towards very small, hand-curated sets of thematically-
linked applications, and distinctive ad units that don't look like anything
else on the market - something like The Deck (<http://decknetwork.net/>).
That's the only online model I can currently think of that hasn't been tried
in the mobile app space.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Exceptional: Exception-Handling in C99 Using (Black?) Preprocessor Magic - qqwy
https://github.com/Qqwy/c_exceptional
======
hasahmed
Black magic to indeed
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Amulet's New Type Checker - hydraz
https://hydraz.semi.works/posts/2018-02-18.html
======
skybrian
I wonder if this approach results in good error messages?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Living in Switzerland ruined me for America and its lousy work culture (2016) - DiabloD3
http://www.vox.com/2015/7/21/8974435/switzerland-work-life-balance
======
manarth
Deja-vu.
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13303544](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13303544)
~~~
manarth
And in 2015 (although that source article has since disappeared):
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9987816](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9987816)
------
csomar
In my opinion this is missing an important thing: Does the Swiss model scale?
For example, the Singapore model can't scale. It's based on rich people and
corporations arbitraging the international fiscal system. You can't have
another Singapore without having another East Asia and West with it.
Swiss is definitively a privileged place that is benefiting from the overall
wealth of Europe and many other countries. We can't have the niceties they are
having unless we have huge leaps in overall productivity around the world.
Edit: To explain my point further. Let's say you have a Swiss watch factory
that is relaying on export for 90% of its production. With this money it can
afford hiring top researchers and paying very high wages even for low-skill
positions. This wouldn't be possible if there wasn't a huge market to product
this luxury good for (Europe, US and Asia).
~~~
sleavey
There's no reason why it can't scale, but one problem in implementing this
kind of system is convincing the population to accept higher taxes (and Swiss
taxes are, overall, still significantly higher than the US despite what the
article seems to make out). It is, ultimately a case of the government taking
more of your personal wealth to provide services to society as a whole, which
flies in stark contrast to the traditional US approach.
~~~
JumpCrisscross
> _There 's no reason why it can't scale_
I grew up in Switzerland. Nobody checked if we bought metro tickets. Everyone
bought them. The only people I remember being little shits about it were
tourists. Cultural norms do not informally enforce themselves at scale--you
need institutions, and those institutions cost money and freedom.
~~~
mkaziz
Disagree. As an immigrant to the US, I see many cultural norms that the US has
(at scale, despite heterogeneous population) that were bizarrely foreign to
me, but that I (and other immigrants like me) quickly picked up on and
developed.
Examples: (good) giving pedestrians right of way when driving, stopping at
stop signs, holding the door open for people (bad) empty small talk
conversations used to fill silences with casual acquaintances.
------
johanbrook
The U.S. is very behind many European countries in the work-life balance
department. It's kinda surprising that America – with its liberal policies for
private companies – is so backwards when it comes to caring about their
employees.
The points in the article could apply to policies/norms in Sweden as well.
Here, we get _at least_ 4 weeks of paid vacation per year, as well as some
insurances and a very generous parental leave (1 year for each parent).
~~~
robert_foss
> The points in the article could apply to policies/norms in Sweden as well.
> Here, we get at least 4 weeks of paid vacation per year
No, mandatory EU minimums enforce at least 5 weeks of vacation.
~~~
bosie
do you happen to know how 'vacation' is defined? would it include national
holidays?
~~~
hedwall
It does not.
~~~
bosie
Fair. Seems like it isn't 5 but 4 weeks that is mandatory in the EU.
~~~
robert_foss
It's 5 + national holidays.
~~~
bosie
I am not doubting you though when i tried to look it up I found the EU
requirement to be 20 days + national holidays (e.g. ireland, italy, Czech
Republic,...). How would this be allowed if the EU requires 25 days?
------
deedubaya
I used to work for the US HQ for a Swiss owned company. I worked in both
offices on occasion with close interaction with both Swiss and American
employees (I'm American).
This article is very spot on. What it doesn't mention much of, however, is the
difference in what happens during working time. In a typical US office
setting, water cooler talk, filing meaningless reports, etc is common. You'll
probably have a guy who you're not really sure what he does. You simply don't
see much of that in Swiss offices (at in my limited experiences, I'm sure
there are exceptions). When it was time to work it was time to Fucking Work.
If you're not adding value it is looked down upon. In the US, you kinda just
shrug and go back to filing your TPS report.
~~~
dennisnedry
This is true for large corporations, but smaller startups that is not the
case. Smaller companies have everybody wearing multiple hats. Nobody sits
around, and if they do, it's time to ask them to leave.
~~~
st3v3r
Not really. Startups can have people coasting along as well.
------
quotemstr
I don't want a work-life balance.
Sure, the Swiss model is very attractive for a person in a certain phase of
life with a certain attitude toward work --- one for whom work is something
_distinct_ from life.
Me? I want the freedom to pour myself into something I love. I'd rather spend
60 hours per week using all of my faculties to produce something worthwhile
than to spend 35 or 40 hours just trading my time for money, doing something I
have to force myself to do, even if I can go swim with the swans on my break.
I've seen people use the concept of "work-life balance" as an excuse to
propose caps on the impact a single developer can have. These people want to
live in a Harrison Bergeron world where _my_ work beyond 40 hours wouldn't
count so that _they_ don't feel pressed to work more than 40 hours a week. I
couldn't be more opposed.
When I'm doing something I love, I always think about ways I can do it better.
When I'm doing something I hate, no amount of work-life balance will
compensate.
~~~
_nalply
Nothing prevents you to pour yourself into something in Switzerland.
~~~
liveoneggs
I think having bones prevents this.
------
cven714
Slightly off topic, but the beauty of Switzerland was such a stark contrast to
where I grew up in New Jersey that it almost made me angry. All these people,
going about their daily lives in Switzerland seemingly oblivious to the fairy-
tale landscape around them!
~~~
chrisper
Remember that people get used to the environment. People who live in the Bay
Area don't care about the Golden Gate Bridge for example.
~~~
throwaway91111
For someone out of the area, what's the big deal? I much prefer the mackinac
bridge for the sights AND the bridge itself.
------
petercooper
_But in Switzerland, my husband 's company gave employees six weeks of
vacation a year._
And yet, I find people get used to it and consider it normal rather than a
great thing. I give my employees 36 days of paid vacation per year (7.2 weeks)
and, yep, got complaints the other day when I suggested making December 22nd a
mandatory holiday day(!) :-)
~~~
nwomack
I think the complaint here (if I understand you correctly) is that you are
giving a vacation day and then making a certain day mandatory to use it. This
practice is common among companies and extremely infuriating and in my opinion
should be illegal. Better to have 35 days paid and make december 22nd a
company holiday.
~~~
mrweasel
It's not that uncommon to include "company holidays" in "paid days off".
Denmark has that as well, I get 5 weeks of vacation, and 5 days of
vacation/days-off. My employer is free to "spend" the 5 days for me.
~~~
myhrvold
Seems like in this case, how the company originally presents what you're
getting matters. So, as you point out here, qualifying the # of days off w/
days that are set [that count as part of that allotment] would set
expectations accordingly. Otherwise, still a good deal, but employees would
feel misled if they want to use it other parts of the year.
------
germinalphrase
While this sounds lovely, can anyone with experience speak to the difficulty
of finding sponsored work in Switzerland?
For instance, my wife is a social worker in the U.S. and speaks conversational
German - but this is not likely to be considered a "high need" type of job for
which a company would hire a foreign worker.
~~~
louisswiss
As a non-EU/Swiss citizen you can only be employed in Switzerland if the
company can demonstrate that no suitable EU/Swiss candidates could be found
for the job role.
Exactly how this works I am not too sure, but anecdotally it is very difficult
unless you are in top-management or a highly specialised field.
~~~
marktucker
That's just to get the work visa. If you are married to a Swiss, for example,
and get a visa via family reunion, companies can employ you without having to
make this argument.
------
hueving
"Being rich ruined me for being poor and its lousy perks."
~~~
st3v3r
You say that as if the US is a poor country. It's not. There's no reason
whatsoever that we couldn't have what Switzerland has, other than some
assholes at the top see it as an impediment to their having all of the money.
~~~
hueving
>There's no reason whatsoever that we couldn't have what Switzerland has,
other than some assholes at the top see it as an impediment to their having
all of the money.
There are lots of reasons the countries are nothing alike.
For one, Swiss immigration is very picky so they just choose highly skilled
immigrants to avoid having to deal with unskilled poor people.
Second, the population density is about 5 times that of the US so it's very
easy to focus on public transportation because so many more people get value
out of each dollar spent.
Third, Switzerland gets the benefit of paying very little for the military by
taking a very nationalistic stance and avoiding involvement in conflicts
regardless of the atrocities . Criticizing the US for its imperialism is
definitely fair game, but you can't pretend it doesn't cost money when it
comes time to compare what a country can offer its citizens.
------
jeffdavis
Comparisons between the US and European countries are often useless. Either
they pick a rich European country that has restricted immigration for a long
time, or they say "Western Europe" while ignoring many of the countries in
Western Europe that have some real challenges (like unemployment).
Germany or the UK might be reasonable comparison points. Not perfect, of
course (still huge differences), but it's much more likely that there is a
real lesson somewhere.
~~~
hedwall
Swedens is quite similar and has (until recently) had a very liberal
immigraiton policy.
~~~
jeffdavis
Sweden population 9.5M, less than 3% the size of US polulation.
I'm glad they are so happy with their country, but not sure if it scales 30X.
And regardless of policy, I suspect the actual immigration numbers (and
affluence of immigrants) is much different than the US.
------
bsn54
Very nice article.I wish every country followed the swiss way of work life
balance!
~~~
geodel
I would especially exhort India and Bangladesh to work on this with highest
priority.
------
musha68k
Somewhat expected in the more conservative midwest (the author is comparing
her Zürich experience with living in Chicago) but apparently "unlimited
vacation" seems to become increasingly common in the Bay Area at least.
~~~
PaulRobinson
I have a former colleague that on looking for a new role was offered
"unlimited vacation".
He asked what the limit was. "Unlimited", they replied. "Honestly?", he
ventured. "Yes, unlimited".
"OK, then", he said, "I'd like to book the entire year off".
"Oh no, you can't do that!", they replied.
"I thought so. So what's the limit?", he asked again. "There is no limit",
they replied. "But you just said I couldn't have a year off", he pointed out.
"It has to be reasonable", they said.
This went back and forth. In the end "unlimited holiday" in the UK for this
firm was 28 days. That is the statutory legal minimum in the UK. If he went
over this, it would likely be accepted at the time, but "noticed" in
performance/salary reviews, etc.
So, in short, unlimited vacation is a con, and you should try the above
yourself. It'll lead to an interesting conversation, although it may harm your
chances of getting an offer if you time it wrong.
~~~
geodel
I agree. I think of it more of flexible working arrangement. I work for 60-80
hrs/week for urgent releases and then disappeared for a month, maybe repeat
this multiple time in an year. In traditional company it would be 40 hr / week
and no month long vacations. In worse companies 60 hr/ week still no month
long vacations.
------
camperman
There's another factor here that hasn't been mentioned: Switzerland is only a
couple of hundred kilometres across. That makes a difference when it comes to
public transport and other infrastructure like broadband. I laugh when I see
case studies about high-speed broadband in Europe. Europe is small. If you put
my country on top of Europe, the south-westernmost city would be in Portugal
and the northernmost in Estonia. And the US is even bigger.
------
Arizhel
Any time I meet or hear about someone like this, who comes back to the US
after living in western Europe, I really have to wonder about them. Especially
this one: she's just complaining a lot about life in America not being as
great as in Switzerland. Well, that's no surprise. What did she expect? Even
worse, she's just in time for Trumpism. She couldn't have picked a worse time
to come back.
~~~
Symbiote
When she wrote the article, presumably some time before 1 February when it was
published, Trump seemed a lot less likely.
~~~
manarth
The article's date says 1 February 2016, but the slug is even earlier, dated
July 2015.
It popped up on HN back then, too.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Underscores are stupid? Get a Japanese keyboard - recurser
http://recursive-design.com/blog/2012/05/16/underscores-are-stupid-get-a-japanese-keyboard/
======
vorg
If youre going to use a Japanese keyboard, why not go all the way and use
Kanji in your code also? Instead of (courtesy of Wikipedia)...
def create_set_and_get(initial_value=0) # Note the default value of 0
closure_value = initial_value
return Proc.new {|x| closure_value = x}, Proc.new { closure_value }
end
...we could write (excuse my Chinese)...
做 创_去_和_来(先_值=0)
闭_值 = 先_值
回 程.新 {|x| 闭_值 = x}, 程.新 { 闭_值 }
终
Oh look: all the "words" are a single character each! Why not get rid of all
those silly grammar symbols in between them (just like in Chinese and Japanese
writing)...
做创去和来(先值=0)
闭值=先值
回程新{|x|闭值=x},程新{闭值}
终
Now there's tons of whitespace on the righthand side, so why not make it all a
single line, with spaces instead of newlines...
做创去和来(先值=0) 闭值=先值 回程新{|x|闭值=x},程新{闭值} 终
A lot terser! Makes all the talk about semicolons and underscores sound a
little silly to some people, doesn't it?
~~~
m_for_monkey
Already exists: <http://www.chinesepython.org/>. (Scroll down for a short
translated code snippet.)
English info: <http://www.chinesepython.org/english/english.html>.
~~~
vorg
Chinese Python is a Chinese version of Python, but doesnt utilize the inherent
tersity of CJK characters. For example it translates "import sys" as "載入 系統".
The example I gave would eliminate spaces, semicolons, underscores between
words by using one and only one CJK character per English word, so in the
example "import sys" would become, say, "入統".
------
ars
Or just reprogram your keyboard (xmodmap) to make any button do anything you
want.
~~~
recurser
I'm curious - do you physically take the keys off and swap them when you do
major mapping changes like this to make using it easier? Or just use touch
typing/muscle memory and ignore what's written on the keys?
~~~
mistercow
I use Colemak and occasionally one-handed Dvorak (when I'm having RSI issues
in one hand or the other), but my keys are laid out QWERTY. Move the keys, and
touch typing becomes much more difficult because you lose your "homing bumps"
at the f and j positions. Also, learning a new layout is easiest with a
diagram floating on the screen, not by trying to look through your fingers at
the keyboard.
~~~
reeses
I am another Colemak user. I use a Truly Ergonomic keyboard on my desktop, and
having to look at the keyboard because of the odd placement of enter, tab,
quotes, etc. absolutely kills my throughput compared to my laptop.
~~~
mistercow
Interesting. I had not seen that kind of keyboard before. Seems like having
"b" on the left hand would also be distracting, but maybe that's how other
people type.
------
brokentone
I don't like his statistics so much:
Ruby - Saving 34% (6,613 keystrokes) PHP - Saving 52% (105,250 keystrokes)
Those percentages are not the most helpful. They represent a relationship
between the positive delta and the negative delta, rather than a savings for
the project (which I feel is the first implication in a percentage saved).
~~~
recurser
Yeah I don't really like them either, and I wrote them. I thought twice about
including the percentages, and I did try to highlight that fact:
Note that the percentages below are only relative to
these 2 sets of 3 characters, and don’t represent the
total percentage of keystrokes saved.
The percentages are only really there to provide an easier way to compare the
(relatively small) Ruby sample, and the (relatively large) PHP sample. Simply
saying that one project saved 6000 strokes vs. the other with 100,000 strokes
seemed a bit meaningless given the relative sizes of the projects, and doing a
full-on frequency analysis of modifier key usage seemed like more trouble that
it was worth... perhaps in hindsight I should have done it anyway.
zokier provided an interesting link to a previous discussion below
(<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2973776>, specifically
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2977303>) which does a much more thorough
analysis of Finnish/Swedish vs. US layouts - I'd like to run his code using
the Japanese layout when I get a chance.
------
zokier
see this previous discussion for keyboard/programming stats:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2973776>
Especially the methodology I used then to compare Finnish/Swedish and US
layouts seems similar to his.
------
yuchi
Actually Yukihiro "Matz" Matsumoto, designer of Ruby is Japanese. It's pretty
ironic, isn't it?
~~~
bradleyland
It's not ironic at all. One would expect that authors using a particular
keyboard layout would tend to favor characters that are easy to type. In that
way, it's the opposite of irony. The outcome is exactly what we'd expect.
~~~
blahedo
See also the keyboard used to develop the original vi:
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:KB_Terminal_ADM3A.svg>
~~~
yuchi
That explains also the tilde=home :)
A recent article I've read somewhere explains it very well!
------
quarterto
I have the number keys mapped to their symbols (i.e. pressing 1 gives !,
pressing Shift+1 gives 1 etc.) using a custom XKB map. Feels so much more
efficient, although I don't have any hard stats.
~~~
lloeki
Sounds almost like a FR layout.
~~~
draven
FR layout is great for this (and writing lisp is easier when the parenthesis
are easily typed) but the []{} characters are horrible to type!
------
ksec
Interesting, according to the stats, if you have = sign done with out the
shift it would have saved another 20% of the keystrokes.
------
rshm
This is my current .Xmodmap file
keycode 48 = quotedbl apostrophe quotedbl apostrophe
keycode 66 = Tab Caps_Lock NoSymbol Caps_Lock
keycode 20 = underscore minus underscore minus
------
jhuni
Use dashes for separators like in Lisp.
~~~
LeonidasXIV
Just it doesn't work in most languages, as the - sign is usually the minus
operator. In Java and Python 3 for example you can use Unicode in identifiers,
maybe you can use mdash there (unless they forbid punctuation characters).
~~~
NateEag
For Emacs users, there is the wonderful package Smart Dash Mode:
<http://malsyned.net/smart-dash.html>
It takes a pretty good stab at whether you want a dash or an underscore, based
on context.
It's a whole lot easier on the wrists.
(The only problem is you start to wish you had it everywhere, not just in
Emacs.)
~~~
LeonidasXIV
Wow, as an Vim user, I think this is seriously cool. Now it'd need to support
camelCode as well, so when I write camel-code in JavaScript, I get the right
thing. That'd be awesome.
------
nknight
> _The Control key is in a far more comfortable position below the Tab key,
> where caps lock would be on a traditional keyboard_
Well, there's tradition and there's tradition... Traditional Unix systems
usually had ctrl there, and the old Symbolics/"MIT space cadet" keyboard
actually had what I believe is the equivalent of backspace ("rub out") in that
location. The modern location of caps lock seems to be a PCism.
Edit: Forgot to mention, notably even the Apple II and III had ctrl there, I
don't think Apple switched to the "modern" layout until the Mac:
<http://www.flickr.com/photos/suburbia_org_uk/4820757193/>
[http://www.old-
computers.com/museum/photos/Apple_III_Keyboar...](http://www.old-
computers.com/museum/photos/Apple_III_Keyboard_s1.jpg)
------
cheatercheater
Don't get a Japanese keyboard... just get a better layout!
<http://bitbucket.org/cheater/us_split/overview>
It's just like qwerty, but better, because it inflicts less pain.
I didn't even know, but Apple started using it with iPads!
[http://www.gottabemobile.com/2012/02/03/ipads-split-
keyboard...](http://www.gottabemobile.com/2012/02/03/ipads-split-keyboard-has-
hidden-buttons/)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Monodraw – Powerful ASCII art editor designed for the Mac - robin_reala
https://monodraw.helftone.com/
======
tedmiston
The support for ER diagrams etc looks pretty cool.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The Five Biggest Threats To Human Existence - ghosh
http://www.popsci.com/article/science/five-biggest-threats-human-existence?src=SOC&dom=tw
======
lutusp
Let me guess -- they'll list five issues, each to a greater or lesser degree
derived from the world overpopulation problem, but won't mention
overpopulation as a problem in and of itself.
(pause to read the article) ....
Yep. As expected. "We have met the enemy and he is us." \-- Pogo.
~~~
ionised
I didn't draw that conclusion from the article.
~~~
lutusp
You mean, that population is the real problem? I didn't either, which is why I
mentioned it. There's a tendency to treat the population problem as an
elephant in a room that no one can see, on the ground that it makes so many
people uncomfortable.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Anyone got YC invite for summer batch,2017? - jayanthsugavasi
======
GlennJoe
[https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=krishnanvs](https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=krishnanvs)
got an invitation
------
GlennJoe
it is now 4:48 am 18 April in Silicon Valley
------
acurti
Not yet
------
ys1715
Not yet
------
bummed
Not yet
------
thepraveen0207
No
~~~
thepraveen0207
Yes
------
alqhtani001
not yet :/
------
dddobney
nope
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Pugmarks: A Smart Browser for Android - bharath_mohan
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=me.pugmarks
======
bharath_mohan
Browsing on a mobile or tablet can be painful. Its hard to type, and simple
things like copy-paste are hard. On the other hand, mobiles - with their touch
interfaces are extremely amenable to discovery and exploration.
Pugmarks aims to solve exactly this - reduce the pain of searching inside a
browser, by anticipating information needs - and bring them to them, all in
real time, inside of the comfort of the browser.
Pugmarks is like having Google Now inside the browser.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
IBM builds 15nm model of Matterhorn - dreemteem
http://news.techworld.com/sme/3221422/ibm-builds-15nm-model-of-matterhorn/?cmpid=TD1N3&no1x1
======
AdrianMiller
If anyone's interested in more information on the science behind this story,
we've set one of the original research articles that it's based on free to
access for the next few weeks; you can find it here:
[http://www.materialsviews.com/details/news/687441/Nanocartog...](http://www.materialsviews.com/details/news/687441/Nanocartography__in_3D.html)
Adrian Miller Advanced Materials
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Khan Academy Computer Science - wave
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=36E7A2B75028A3D6
======
jgrahamc
I've really enjoyed watching the MIT 6.00 course (Introduction to Computer
Science and Programming):
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6U-i4gXkLM&feature=relat...](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6U-i4gXkLM&feature=related)
The Khan videos seem to be about programming instead of computer science.
~~~
spicyj
I'm pretty sure that Khan will add some pure comp-sci videos later; there's no
problem starting with plain programming and describing how programs run, is
there?
Edit: Already (on his second day of making videos) he is starting to branch
into algorithms: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCzQvQr8Utw>
------
Brewer
I'm glad Khan finally got around to adding some CS videos! I knew that Khan
was a programmer himself, so the lack of videos on the subject always escaped
me.
------
pjscott
CS was probably the first field where anybody with an internet connection and
a lot of time could get an education on par with a decent college degree. I
did exactly that around 2001-2005, thanks to high school being boring, and the
resources available now make the internet of that time look horribly
impoverished by comparison.
Someone who wants to learn CS can find no shortage of introductory material on
programming (along with communities of people to do it with), stuff on
algorithms and data structures and the relevant math, more advanced topics --
it's like being offered a free education at a really good college, for people
who are willing to do the work.
I would really like for other subjects to become similarly open to interested
people over the internet. CS has definitely been leading the way here.
Wouldn't it be amazing if people in (say) archaeology, or botany, had a
fraction of the free resources and helpful communities that hackers have had
online for years?
~~~
sayemm
Adding to that is MIT's OCW (<http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm>), an amazing step
in the right direction for learning.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Can a New Website End Tech Meetup Sexism in DC? - chippy
http://dcinno.streetwise.co/2016/11/09/can-a-new-website-end-tech-meetup-sexism-in-dc/
======
chippy
The moratorium on political submissions on HN has been lifted. see:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13131251](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13131251)
So please don't flag this based on that reason.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Cambridge Analytica scrambles to halt Channel 4 exposé - foxh0und
https://www.ft.com/content/7ed1572c-2aa4-11e8-a34a-7e7563b0b0f4
======
neonate
[http://archive.is/VfEuT](http://archive.is/VfEuT)
[https://outline.com/gdN45D](https://outline.com/gdN45D)
~~~
chillidoor
Thank you for this.
------
sabertoothed
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXdYSQ6nu-M](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXdYSQ6nu-M)
["Christopher Wylie, who worked for data firm Cambridge Analytica, reveals how
personal information was taken without authorisation in early 2014 to build a
system that could profile individual US voters in order to target them with
personalised political advertisements. At the time the company was owned by
the hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer, and headed at the time by Donald
Trump’s key adviser, Steve Bannon. Its CEO is Alexander Nix"]
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Pop-up Fabrication of the Harvard Monolithic Bee - nealabq
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxSs1kGZQqc
======
nealabq
Related links:
<https://micro.seas.harvard.edu/media.html>
[http://trvideo.technologyreview.com/services/player/bcpid263...](http://trvideo.technologyreview.com/services/player/bcpid263777539?bctid=1118118784)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: get location from tweets - abava
http://tl.linkstore.ru
======
vbm
The background color of the page is irritating my eyes. May be it is happening
only to me
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Microsoft shipped Python code in 1996 - znpy
http://python-history.blogspot.com/2009/01/microsoft-ships-python-code-in-1996.html
======
teh_klev
Repost here with discussion:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12141311](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12141311)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: ShelfLife, a social commerce platform for collectors - nickh
http://www.shelflife.net/?utm_source=hackernews&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=showcase_shelflife
======
eterm
"Blocked, category games"
I think perhaps it's matching on *lflife and making some assumptions?
~~~
nickh
What's blocking you? A corporate firewall?
------
nickh
ShelfLife co-founder here. We're aiming to document to every collectible ever
made, and provide collectors with the best tools for buying, selling, and
tracking their collections.
~~~
ToastyMallows
Awesome site, I've had this idea many times I hope it takes off.
Question: How general will catalogs be? I collect keychains, will something
this general be supported?
~~~
nickh
Thanks! Nearly anything can be catalogued, provided there's information
available for it (E.g. manufacturer, release date, etc), and it's not
something like the sweater that your grandmother knitted you.
~~~
ToastyMallows
Ehh that might be hard for keychains. Thanks for the info!
------
hoopism
Have to check out the Canadian version of DD. Site looks promising but lacked
the few things I am interested in. Hope it takes off and I encounter it again.
~~~
nickh
What do you collect that isn't on ShelfLife yet? There might be a curator
working on it right now.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Software pricing criteria for startups/freelancers? - asyazwan
Can anyone share how do you price your software? As startup/freelancer the software will not be as popular compared to the big players out there, so high price may hurt. Likewise too low will starve you.<p>Is there an effective mechanism to price based on customer? ie. if customer is individual, low price, otherwise, high. But it seems to be easily exploitable.<p>Any insights? It would be great to know <i>exact</i> methods you use to measure LOCs, intangible costs such as time spent, and anything else.
======
aditya
Pricing is mostly a dark art / finger in the air analysis, here's what I think
you should do:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=677396>
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Using “and” and “or” in Ruby - fogus
http://avdi.org/devblog/2010/08/02/using-and-and-or-in-ruby/
======
raganwald
I use this a lot. I dislike side effects in the subject clause of an if
statement, so I used to rewrite:
if user = User.find(...)
...
end
as:
user = User.find(...)
if user
...
end
I then got into the habit of using and:
user = User.find(...) and begin
...
end
It just seems to resemble something I'd say to a colleague: "user becomes blah
blah blah and then we do this with it..." Likewise:
user = User.find(...) or begin
user = User.create(...)
SecurityTheatre.starring(user)
end
This looks to me like it says "find the user or create the user." The
precedence of the words "or" and "and" seems obvious when you think of them as
words rather than as operators, while the precedence of operators naturally
seems higher/tighter.
JM2C...
~~~
KirinDave
I like your find-or-begin pattern, and I've used the or operator to pun that
way before as well.
But just a note, the if x = ... is not a side effect unless the variable "x"
already exists. There's not problem using that as a pun to get rid of lots of
if nesting. Similarly if x &&= ... is very good for avoiding an if-cascade,
albeit more obscure and perhaps less performant.
It's too bad there isn't a beautiful way to do monads or the thrush operator
in Ruby.
------
tomstuart
As per Tim Bray ([http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/201x/2010/06/29/No-
Default...](http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/201x/2010/06/29/No-Defaults)),
remembering this kind of nonsense is a waste of a perfectly good brain. Just
don't bother.
~~~
msie
I agree with you, but I always wonder if we discount memorization too much
that it impedes learning a language. We can't expect all of a language to be
"logical". There will be always quirks that have to be remembered. If we
discount those parts that have to be remembered then have we shortchanged
ourselves in mastery of a language? Warts and all?
------
draegtun
Also see this blog post: _Logical operators in Perl and Ruby_
[http://eli.thegreenplace.net/2007/06/02/logical-operators-
in...](http://eli.thegreenplace.net/2007/06/02/logical-operators-in-perl-and-
ruby/)
------
gmac
I knew this, but I always find it a rather disappointing choice in the
language design, as I think its capacity for inspiring bugs rather outweighs
its usefulness (which extends as far as making some parentheses unnecessary).
In a nutshell: there are two forms of the AND and OR operators, with different
precedences; in many contexts, you can use them interchangeably; but in some,
they'll behave differently, and could bite you.
------
jim_h
I'm slow this morning. That took me a couple of minutes to get the example.
'foo = 42 and foo / 2'
I was expecting an undefined variable since foo was never set because I was
thinking of it as foo = (42 and foo / 2)
Basically I would write the example as this in 2 lines to avoid confusion and
not use 'and':
foo = 42
foo / 2
Maybe another example in the article would have been better to show the power
of 'and'.
~~~
avdi
Writing it in two lines would defeat the purpose of demonstrating the
difference between && and 'and'.
~~~
CodeMage
Yep, that's an important point: you should probably have chosen a different
example. The one you used will either make people say "it's a lot better to
write it in two lines" or "oh, cool, I can write one liners like that".
Your post is explaining and demonstrating the use of "and" and "or", whose
purpose is to allow idioms which rely on short-circuiting logic to control
side effects, but that particular example didn't involve side effects _after_
the operator (which is the whole point).
Perhaps it would be a good idea to replace that example with one that shows
what would happen if you used "and" in an "if". It would serve the same
purpose as the one you have currently -- show the unintended effects of using
the wrong flavor of operator -- without confusing people or unintentionally
teaching bad practices.
~~~
stevejohnson
I agree that the numeric example in the blog post was a bad one. The use of
'and' just looks confusing in that situation. You might try something like
"foo = open_connection() and send_data()" instead.
------
jewbacca
This seems like a kind of hack-y laziness, specifically in the form of a poor
man's exception. It's no more "magic" than an if statement or any other kind
of block. I would probably use this plenty if I were to use Ruby (Haskell has
spoiled me for strict evaluation forever), but it definitely smells like
language bloat -- you wouldn't need to tell me it's Perl-inspired for me to
strongly suspect it.
------
sunkencity
Yeah I've looked briefly at and before and not gotten it's use, this is
awesome.
In a similar vein it's possible to just hang on a rescue at the end, very
practical and easy to read, like in a view:
<% percent = (count /total.to_f * 100 ).round_with_precision(2) rescue 0 %>
------
bryanlarsen
There's just too much semantic overload on those two operators. I myself have
misread these before. When I use these operators, I always follow with "raise"
or "begin". This customary usage is not going to cause confusion and covers
99% of their usage anyways.
------
code_duck
It works exactly the same in PHP, another twisted offspring of Perl.
------
aneth
If you're relying on obscure not well known operator precedence rules, you are
writing less maintainable code. It's as bad or worse than using meaningless
variable or function names. Use parentheses so your code communicates your
intention.
~~~
KirinDave
Except that it's not obscure at all. "and" and "or" exist specifically to
facilitate this kind of code. That's their primary purpose.
And it's not like that's exactly unusual in the ruby language. Post-
conditionals have a similar low precedence.
~~~
acgourley
Is "this kind of code" worth it? It certainly is aesthetically pleasing and
somewhat terse compared to a parenthesis jungle. But that does outweigh the
fact non-experts don't know exactly what the statement is doing?
~~~
sketerpot
To anyone who learns the idiom, this code is fine, and perfectly readable. I
don't even know Ruby yet, and it took me less than a minute to become fully
comfortable with this kind of code. This isn't a huge barrier to "non-
experts".
~~~
acgourley
Of course it took under a minute, you were reading a nice blog post on the
topic. The problem is not every instance of 'and' will include that
information. And so I worry that if I drop 'and' into some minor glue script I
write - it becomes less self documenting to my coworkers. It's a minor point,
but it can become a slippery slope (see: perl)
~~~
KirinDave
This entire argument is moot. No one cares how obscure a language looks to
someone who is not familiar with it. Do you regularly sit down and decide, “I
am going to use a language I don't know to accomplish something essential and
immediate?” And even if the answer is yes, then do you still not know the
language at the end of that exercise?
This is a very simple, easily understandable and easily readable feature of
Ruby. It's not obscure, complex, or even that unusual. Precedence is something
every competent programmer needs to understand, and it should be part of every
programmer's research to learn a new language. After all, this is a
conversation about the existence of "and" & "or", not their abuse.
~~~
Roboprog
I used to be competent, but now I guess I avoid writing stuff that relies on
_any_ knowledge of operator precedence.
I try to learn what I can of such precedence in the language of the day, since
I will have to maintain other people's "code" (cypher?), but I try to write
obvious "programs" (who is in this play, what are the acts?).
I've been at this over 2 decades, and it's much easier to read something that
uses a few parentheses, a well named intermediate variable or two, or even a
few functions, than it is to read bunch of multiple operators on the same line
gobble-de-gook. Watching somebody else generate a hundred thousand dollars of
wasted product in a manufacturing preparation process a few years back, due to
such a run-on if-statement being fouled up, was also a good confirmation of
this bias. I'm sure my current job in finance offers similar opportunities for
expensive blunders.
------
GrandMasterBirt
Wow, honestly this article helped :), I really did think it was a synonym and
did not realize the precedence implications.
------
sabat
The logic for and/or vs. &&/|| is borrowed directly from Perl. It makes sense
once you use them for a bit.
~~~
_delirium
Maybe I'm not good at the context-switching between parsing things as
operators versus as English, but I find them confusing in Perl except in some
very simple idiomatic cases, where they're fine because I read them as
boilerplate. The common _do_thing or die "error"_ idiom is perfectly readable,
but anything more complex and I start explicitly reasoning about short-circuit
semantics.
It's possible I have that reaction due to the strong negative consensus about
using short-circuiting as control flow in C being hammered into my head at an
early age, though.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
India court blocks Bayer generic drug appeal - hemantv
http://www.thehindu.com/business/Industry/generic-drug-makers-get-a-boost-from-sc-ruling/article6689370.ece
======
hemantv
just to give some perspective
Rs 8880 = 141.751 US Dollar
Rs 284000 = 4533.486 US Dollar
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Chief Executive of Social Finance to Step Down - coloneltcb
https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/09/11/technology/sofi-mike-cagney-sexual-harassment.html?_r=1&referer=
======
throwaway6497
Interesting that branding is not important/creatively skirted when negative
news is involved. Doesn't come as a surprise. Wondering, if this is
intentional. Difficult to imagine that the company is spoon feeding an NY
times reporter the headlines. Always saw SoFi everywhere in ads and branding.
Social Finance on Google doesn't rank SoFi in the top two organic search
results. Wonder why the headline is Social Finance instead of SoFi though
there is mention of SoFi in the article.
~~~
CPLX
Maybe they put that in the headline because that's the name of the company.
Doesn't seem particularly confusing to me.
~~~
greglindahl
The NYT frequently uses full company names, for example they used to refer to
SpaceX as "Space Exploration Technologies", and they still put periods in
places where other journalists won't (I.B.M.).
I wouldn't read anything into it other than the NYT marches to the beat of a
different drummer.
------
djchung23
Yikes. Culture starts from the person at the top and flows down.
Curious to see how and if the cultural narrative within Silicon Valley
companies will change one year from now after all that's happened. Will there
actually be meaningful change? I don't know, but I'm hoping so.
~~~
lefstathiou
I was chatting in bed with my lady about this last night and we hit on a few
negative potential outcomes and concerns:
Companies and their investors are going to look for ways to prevent these
issues from happening. Part of the solution will rest on coaching, monitoring
and policing (perhaps through employee empowerment etc) the "aggressive"
people (mostly men) in the workplace.
A concern my girlfriend highlighted is that this may increase unconscious bias
in the hiring process, for example:
Will men consider beautiful girls a risk to the workplace? If you have 90%
male employees working in your office and a beautiful girl who is definitely
qualified for the job but for the sake of argument not someone you "have to
have" for this role, are you introducing risk into the workplace by hiring her
knowing that people react stronger to attractive people? Said differently, is
there a possibility that her presence becomes a potential "distraction" in the
office.
Will progressive personalities be considered a risk to the workplace? Beyond
looks to personality types, if you are interviewing a candidate and through
rounds of interviews you discover they actively contribute their spare time
and energy toward socially progressive movements, rallies, campaigns etc, will
they be deemed higher risks as potential work-place agitators?
I never really thought about these things until my gf mentioned them but
apparently she and her girlfriends consider these factors when strategizing
about interviews ("don't look too good, etc").
Another anecdote: we have a handful of couples we're close to whose
girlfriends/wives insist that their CEO boyfriends/husbands never conduct
challenging performance based conversations with female employees without a
witness present. This was consistent with my girlfriend's experience in
banking where she found that her senior managers were comfortable having
performance reviews 1-1 (which in theory facilitates more candid dialogue and
deeper relationships) whereas all the girls had multiple managers present
reviews. On the margin, does this disadvantage women? I don't know but my gf
seemed to think so.
~~~
neo4sure
"Companies and their investors are going to look for ways to prevent these
issues from happening. Part of the solution will rest on coaching, monitoring
and policing (perhaps through employee empowerment etc) the "aggressive"
people (mostly men) in the workplace."
Just be a good person... It's really easy. I don't know why a guy would need
coaching on basic decency.
~~~
cflewis
Yeah, this is classic victim blaming. "Oh, she looked too pretty, I couldn't
help myself from touching her ass."
How about not hiring assholes in the first place? If they have to be coached
to not have issues with women, then they aren't worth your time.
------
mgkimsal
Maybe he was busy having "inappropriate relations" with the people who should
have been "reviewing" my paperwork?
Tried to use them years ago and... turnaround time took _weeks_. Their web
interface just kept telling me they were "reviewing" then "need more info"
without any concrete info as to what was needed. Emails took days to get a
reply to.
Tried to use them again last year - same horrible turnaround/response time
(days/weeks).
I was able to use another institution and have my financial stuff handled and
done in less time than it took them to even clarify why the exact same info
other financial agents were fine with wasn't good enough (and, they never
did).
They followed up about 4 months later to ask if I still needed service.
------
SoFiThrowaway
The internal messaging is the same as external: "buisness is strong, we
continue to execute as we did, looking for a new ceo".
However, if you read between the lines, it sounds like the board might have
been looking for an excuse to oust Mike, who preferred high risk ventures and
expansions, and replace him with someone experienced in bringing companies to
an IPO. It seems like this is an attempt to kill two birds with one stone, in
terms of bad press.
------
blizkreeg
“I believe now is the right time for SoFi to start the search for a new
leader,” Mr. Cagney said in a statement.
What's with these cowardly statements? Admit your mistakes, say you're no
longer the right leader, and that's why you're stepping down.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Audio: Robby Russell on zsh and the bash vs. zsh debate - adamstac
http://thechangelog.com/episode-0-6-1-oh-my-zsh-with-robby-russell/?t=0h12m58s
======
adamstac
This is an old podcast, but the content is not stale one bit.
This is also one of our top podcasts (<http://thechangelog.com/podcast/>), so
I thought I'd share this here to get the Hacker community back into this topic
and hear the details from the maker of Oh my zsh.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Bottled-water purchase leads to night in jail for UVa student - anaptdemise
http://www.dailyprogress.com/news/bottled-water-purchase-leads-to-night-in-jail-for-uva/article_b5ab5f62-df9b-11e2-81c4-0019bb30f31a.html
======
dsl
The ABC agents are obviously not correctly trained law enforcement officers.
Even in "undercover" operations, police will have a mix of plain clothes and
uniformed officers to avoid situations like this.
------
mjn
earlier discussion:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5962494](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5962494)
------
SurfScore
They need to have better procedures in situations like this. A woman at night
being approached by a bunch of men? The cons of staying are far greater than
anything that could justify it. Sadly these situations happen so late that
once the arrest is made, there is nothing that can be done until morning. That
needs to change somehow.
------
stephengillie
Protect yourself from police abuse. There was a similar situation from an ABC
agent for a different state(NC):
(NSFW - language)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ug8rT1oxlRc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ug8rT1oxlRc)
------
chrisabrams
This sounds like a college prank...so confused how agents could ever act like
this?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
It looks to me that Nintendo tried turning the SNES into a full blown 'computer' - easton
https://www.reddit.com/r/retrogaming/comments/hxy4je/gigaleak_it_looks_to_me_that_nintendo_tried/
======
mr-ron
Great video that summarizes whats going on here. Seems like a big deal to a
lot of people interested in this era of games:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwDPwLE7DBw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwDPwLE7DBw)
------
xenadu02
After the video game crash several companies, including Nintendo, rebranded
their next-gen systems as "home computers" to avoid the stigma of being a
"video game" system. In that light I don't think it's terribly surprising.
~~~
contextfree
Video game crash was 1983 and affected the US marketing and positioning of NES
(8-bit), this is 1991 and SNES (16-bit).
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
70,000 Blogs Shut Down by U.S. Law Enforcement - dwynings
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/70000_blogs_shut_down_by_us_law_enforcement.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+readwriteweb+%28ReadWriteWeb%29&utm_content=Google+Reader
======
joshwa
If the hosting company says that they can't name the agency and can't say
anything about the nature of the claim, that immediately makes me think of a
National Security Letter:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_security_letter>
"[A National Security Letter] is a demand letter issued to a particular entity
or organization to turn over various record and data pertaining to
individuals. They require no probable cause or judicial oversight. They also
contain a gag order, preventing the recipient of the letter from disclosing
that the letter was ever issued."
~~~
DavidSJ
derwiki replied to this comment by saying:
_"The gag order was ruled unconstitutional as an infringement of free speech,
in the Doe v. Ashcroft case." (same article)_
For some reason, his reply is dead, but it seems like a valuable comment so
I'm reproducing it.
~~~
fmora
Thank god for the separation of powers. It is incredible how many rights the
Bush presidency attempted to take away from its citizens all in the name of
national security. The more I read stuff like this the more it seems that we
were heading to a totalitarian government.
Edit: In case anybody wonders why I threw in Bush's name in there is because
the Patriot Act, created during his presidency, greatly extended the NSL
powers. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Security_Letter>
~~~
fmora
If you are going to down vote me at least explain why.
~~~
Yzupnick
Maybe it is because you pick on a single president what every president has
done. (From all parties.) Did Bush do things that where a violation of rights?
Probably, but so did every president including but not limited to Obama,
Clinton, Bush (senior), and Reagan. I would venture to guess it is impossible
to name a president that did not infringe on the rights of citizens. Second,
it was the current government that did this, not Bush.
~~~
jeromec
_I would venture to guess it is impossible to name a president that did not
infringe on the rights of citizens._
The degree to which any perceived infringement occurs is what is significant.
Bush pushed for and succeeded in suspending habeas corpus, a Constitutional
protection by which people can challenge their imprisonment. This was only
done twice in history, once by Bush and once by Lincoln at the start of the
Civil War. By contrast, President Obama opposed the suspension of habeas
corpus since he was a senator.
~~~
Yzupnick
And yet is continued by the current administration:
[http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/21/us/politics/21obama.text.h...](http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/21/us/politics/21obama.text.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all)
And Obama authorized the assassination of a US citizen; something even Bush
never did:
[http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/07/world/middleeast/07yemen.h...](http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/07/world/middleeast/07yemen.html)
~~~
GiraffeNecktie
The speech you point to does not support your point. My reading is that he is
trying to cleaning up the toxic legal spill that the previous administration
left behind (while trying not to give his Republic critics ammunition).
Re. the assassination of a US citizen, that hardly seems notable given that
the guy is very actively involved in putting together terrorist attacks.
Surely any president would make the same decision.
~~~
Yzupnick
It seems the origigonal post was deleted I guess... Now it seems I'm like I'm
talking to myself.
1) Among all his rhetoric about not continuing the policy he slips in
"there may be a number of people who cannot be prosecuted for past crimes, in
some cases because evidence may be tainted, but who nonetheless pose a threat
to the security of the United States...must be prevented from attacking us
again "
His policy stays the same, he is just better at hiding it from the public.
2) Thats the same rhetoric people used to defend Bush. Innocent till proven
guilty in a court of Law I say.
~~~
jeromec
You should have listed more of that quote. Directly above that President Obama
said:
_Now, finally, there remains the question of detainees at Guantanamo who
cannot be prosecuted yet who pose a clear danger to the American people. And I
have to be honest here -- this is the toughest single issue that we will face.
We're going to exhaust every avenue that we have to prosecute those at
Guantanamo who pose a danger to our country. But even when this process is
complete, there may be a number of people who cannot be prosecuted for past
crimes, in some cases because evidence may be tainted, but who nonetheless
pose a threat to the security of the United States. Examples of that threat
include people who've received extensive explosives training at al Qaeda
training camps, or commanded Taliban troops in battle, or expressed their
allegiance to Osama bin Laden, or otherwise made it clear that they want to
kill Americans. These are people who, in effect, remain at war with the United
States._
The ease/danger of a transition from a democracy to a totalitarian regime was
something of which the Founders were aware. Our freedoms are protected
precisely by a Constitutional framework which provides safeguards, like habeas
corpus. President Obama is a Constitutional scholar, and acknowledges our
bindings to it. Compare that with Bush who was rumored to say it's "just a
piece of paper". There may be case by case issues which are difficult as well
as debatable for any president to decide, but altering the legal framework in
ways which diminish civil liberties and protections is dangerous, and can too
easily lead a public that is not paying attention to a place they realize too
late they don't want to be.
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wmc60JmaLbE>
~~~
anamax
> Directly above that President Obama said:
It doesn't matter what he says in a speech. What matters is what he says via
executive orders, policy, and executive branch action.
> President Obama is a Constitutional scholar, and acknowledges our bindings
> to it.
Oh really? Feel free to cite any of his scholarly writings.
> Compare that with Bush who was rumored to say it's "just a piece of paper".
By someone who had an axe to grind. What has that person said about Obama's
continuation and expansion of the same policies? (To be fair, some folks who
criticized Bush for doing certain things have criticized Obama for continuing
and expanding, but they're a marginalized minority. The "good people" have
largely fallen into line.)
Of course, if you want to play "was rumored to say", there are some doozies
attributed to Obama.
Double-standard much?
~~~
jeromec
_It doesn't matter what he says in a speech._
I disagree. Words have both immediate and historical significance and impact,
whether by a dictator like Hitler or a president like John F. Kennedy.
_What matters is what he says via executive orders, policy, and executive
branch action._
I agree.
_Oh really? Feel free to cite any of his scholarly writings._
"Mar 28, 2008 ... Barack Obama is correct in saying he is a constitutional law
professor." source: FactCheck.org
([http://www.factcheck.org/askfactcheck/was_barack_obama_reall...](http://www.factcheck.org/askfactcheck/was_barack_obama_really_a_constitutional_law.html))
_Of course, if you want to play "was rumored to say", there are some doozies
attributed to Obama._
I will retract the rumor text. I almost didn't put it in, but I wanted to give
some context for G. W. Bush's apparent disregard for Constitutional law. But I
don't need to. Just watch the 6 minute YouTube video with a noted
Constitutional law professor I included. Here it is again:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wmc60JmaLbE>
~~~
anamax
>> Oh really? Feel free to cite any of his scholarly writings.
> "Mar 28, 2008 ... Barack Obama is correct in saying he is a constitutional
> law professor." source: FactCheck.org
> (<http://www.factcheck.org/askfactcheck/was_barack_obama_reall...>)
The claim was that he was a constitutional law scholar, not that he was a
professor. While there are overlaps between the two groups, neither one is a
subset of the other.
I'll ask again - if Obama is a constitutional law scholar, where is his
scholarly output?
~~~
jeromec
_The claim was that he was a constitutional law scholar, not that he was a
professor. While there are overlaps between the two groups, neither one is a
subset of the other._
You're kidding, right? Him being a scholar is an even easier proof than him
being a questionable professor -- which the link I listed at FactCheck.org
also asserts is true.
Oxford Dictionary (First Definition):
scholar (schol·ar): a specialist in a particular branch of study, _especially
the humanities_ ; a distinguished academic
From the UC Law School statement at FactCheck.org:
"Senior Lecturers are considered to be members of the Law School faculty and
are _regarded as professors_ , although not full-time or tenure-track ... Like
Obama, each of the Law School's Senior Lecturers have high-demand careers in
politics or public service, which prevent full-time teaching. Several times
during his 12 years as a professor in the Law School, Obama was invited to
join the faculty in a full-time tenure-track position, but he declined."
~~~
anamax
>>The claim was that he was a constitutional law scholar, not that he was a
professor. While there are overlaps between the two groups, neither one is a
subset of the other.
>You're kidding, right?
Not at all. I have reasonably high standards for scholars.
For example, even though the degree is "Juris Doctor", I don't call lawyers
"Dr.". (However, I will call them "Esquire".)
Meanwhile, you'd call a 6th grade history teacher a "scholar" if they teach
some constitution....
~~~
jeromec
_Not at all. I have reasonably high standards for scholars._
This is not about you. It's about the definition in the dictionary. It has as
a primary entry for scholar "a distinguished academic".
The definition for "professor" from Wikipedia:
_The meaning of the word professor (Latin: professor, person who professes to
be an expert in some art or science, teacher of high rank[1]) varies by
country. In most English-speaking countries it refers to a senior academic who
holds a departmental chair_ ... etc.
I don't know how you equate "Senior Lecturers regarded as professors" by a
university to a 6th grade history teacher who may also be the school gym
teacher filling in. That's stretching things a bit.
~~~
anamax
> In most English-speaking countries it refers to a senior academic who holds
> a departmental chair
Which Obama didn't....
In general, real professors have publications. Heck, so do real academic
doctors. Honorary and "we're giving him an appointment to curry favor" ones
don't.
~~~
jeromec
Bottom line:
Point 1: You had a problem with me referring to President Obama as a scholar.
Regardless of your semantic arguments, dictionaries also define scholar as
simply a student or learned person.
Point 2: The university statement clarifies how and why Obama was regarded as
a professor -- and not just an "honorary" one.
Point 3: Most academic doctors or professors with publications do not go on to
become the President of the United States. Have you ever stopped to think
maybe he was busy in service of the public as well as his family?
Honestly, the original point was about the contrast in perspective, as far as
the Constitution is concerned, between Obama and Bush. I really don't see what
you are challenging.
~~~
anamax
> Most academic doctors or professors with publications do not go on to become
> the President of the United States.
Irrelevant. Becoming president doesn't imply that he's anything else.
Or, do you want to argue that he's an astronaut too? He didn't ever go into
space, but that's just because he had better things to do.
> Have you ever stopped to think maybe he was busy in service of the public as
> well as his family?
It doesn't matter why he doesn't have scholarly output. If he doesn't....
FWIW, almost every other editor of the Harvard Law Review managed to crank out
a paper or two during their tenure.
> Honestly, the original point was about the contrast in perspective, as far
> as the Constitution is concerned, between Obama and Bush. I really don't see
> what you are challenging.
You seem to think that teaching a class tells us something important. Without
scholarly output, we know nothing about what he did. (I'm a lecturer at a
major university....)
~~~
jeromec
_You seem to think that teaching a class tells us something important._
Correct. In the context of a presidency, along with his words, I believe we
can infer a regard for the Constitution. And Obama made essentially this
point. Take a look at an excerpt from a speech by President Obama on national
security:
_We are building new partnerships around the world to disrupt, dismantle, and
defeat al Qaeda and its affiliates. And we have renewed American diplomacy so
that we once again have the strength and standing to truly lead the world.
These steps are all critical to keeping America secure. But I believe with
every fiber of my being that in the long run we also cannot keep this country
safe unless we enlist the power of our most fundamental values. The documents
that we hold in this very hall - the Declaration of Independence, the
Constitution, the Bill of Rights -are not simply words written into aging
parchment. They are the foundation of liberty and justice in this country, and
a light that shines for all who seek freedom, fairness, equality and dignity
in the world._
I challenge you to find _any_ reference Bush made to any of the above
documents at any time while on the subject of national security where he is
clearly expressing a regard for the document(s) as a guide.
------
DanBlake
I am skeptical - The host, <https://www.burst.net/> Looks like a template
monster design with a reseller system, no traffic rank and a nearly empty
forum- From a outsider looking in, it looks like a host that is barely in
business and likely ran by one guy from his apartment.
Maybe they are over-exaggerating for press? Maybe the server crashed, and they
dont want the bad press so did a bogus excuse? Stranger things have happened.
But I highly doubt this has even remotely anything to do with "operation in
your sites" and is likely related to some issue at burstnet. I wouldnt be
surprised if law enforcement isnt even involved.
~~~
zaidf
Trust me, burstnet is far from a small host. They went through a rebranding I
believe as part of their clean up effort from their last brand which had a
reputation for attracting high bandwidth questionable sites.
------
datawalke
BurstNET is located very close to where I am. About a year and a half ago I
toured their facilities for a colocation project. Upon walking in I was
horrified. They rows of tower based servers with their cases ripped off on the
wire-frame racks you would find in a home improvement store. After seeing that
and hearing they lacked any fire suppression system I respectfully walked away
from their bid.
------
MadWombat
Well, there is a link to a thread on a webhostingtalk.com, where some people
are discussing the issue. After reading the original posting by the blog
service provider and some of the replies, here are some basic lessons to be
learned from this.
1\. A lot of people have no clue as to the legal process
2\. It pays REALLY well to have external backups
3\. It might be a good idea to use encrypted volumes to store sensitive data,
so if authorities are involved, they have to serve you with papers to get your
decryption keys. This way you stay more informed.
4\. Your hosting provider probably has a clause in their ToS that more or less
says "we can terminate your service whenever, the hell, we want and there is
nothing you can do about it". Deal with it.
5\. This story still sucks.
6\. Seems like this guy was simply small enough to just serve a court order
and shut down his service. I don't think anyone would shutdown Google for
questionable content on a blogger account or google web pages.
7\. I am pretty sure, that there is no legal way for a law enforcement agency
to remain anonymous while doing something like this. Either I am wrong about
it or something is amiss.
~~~
adamc
Your hosting provider probably does have such a clause, but after exercising
it they should expect to go out of business.
~~~
MadWombat
Not if they only do it to a small percentage of clients and within common
sense. Generally the clause is there, so that they have a legal ground to shut
you down without waiting for legal process to catch up (i.e. if legal
authorities ask them without providing a warrant, if they get complaints about
some questionable content etc.)
------
jacquesm
A blogging service works on a per-account basis, for them to shut down the
whole server instead of just taking down the offending account(s) seems to be
pretty excessive, no matter what those accounts have 'done'.
There is some chance they found themselves the unwitting participant in a
child pornography distribution network, and that they don't know which
accounts are 'the ones', and they've taken everything off-line until they've
verified which accounts are bad and which are good.
~~~
j_baker
Why keep it a secret if it's just kiddie porn?
~~~
jacquesm
Brand damage.
------
gphil
If this isn't just sensationalist reporting, then this is pretty bad. I wonder
if it's related to the piracy crackdown that was recently announced by the
White House.
~~~
derwiki
The spokesperson said it wasn't a copyright thing; it sounds a little extreme
for that anyway. I'd rather not speculate on what it is though until we get
more details.
~~~
gphil
Sorry, I missed that the first time I read through the article.
------
kwamenum86
From BurstNET:
"We cannot give him his data nor can we provide any other details"
I guess this is one of the dangers of hosting a user-generated content site-
law enforcement may confiscate your server. This seems highly unusual even for
something like child pornography. Usually they ask (politely then forcefully)
the server owner for cooperation. It's possible that the owner of Blogerty is
a suspect.
------
known
Instead of closing down the blogs why not impose fine on print & electronic
media, if they publish a lie.
------
deanerimerman
Yeah! joshwa's got a point there! Law enforcement agents concerned with not
publicly identifying themselves might also likely be concerned with:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posse_Comitatus_Act>
~~~
j_baker
That only applies if this was done by the _military_ though.
------
Spoutingshite
A phrase with the words sledgehammer and nut comes to mind.
Obviously somebody was a naughty boy, but what about the other users of the
server?
------
logic
More details from BurstNet's CTO:
<http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-20010923-261.html>
------
pinksoda
This is why I don't trust the government with an internet kill switch.
------
Ardit20
That is a bit Kafkaesque.
Everyone has the right to know why their right is being denied or what they
are being charged with. If it was a privet firm then fine, but the government
can't just go around closing websites without saying if not in detail then in
general what the charges are. How, if the website owner is wronged, is he able
to challenge the decision if he does not even know what the allegations are
against him.
~~~
Roboprog
What you say was more or less true in 2000. Things have changed a bit since
then. The fact that many recent laws and programs obviously defy the first ten
amendments to the US Constitution have gone "unnoticed" by the SCOTUS, and
both major brands (D & R) seem content with how things have developed the last
decade.
"We the rabble" are likely in for a 10 year slog to fix things, if we are
lucky: paper ballots; some kind of coalition or runoff voting rule changes to
take down the "two" party system; reestablishment of the rule of law.
~~~
Ardit20
I am sorry. I can not quite agree with that. I do not know about the united
states, but here in the united kingdom we have a very independent judiciary
which has ruled against the government time and time again.
I do agree in a way, just before Tony Blair left, which I think was 2008 or
2007 things seemed to be going in a very dark direction, but frankly, it is
the peoples fault.
We are so lucky as to be able to change government without bloodshed and in
the UK for what I know we are so lucky as to not go down without a very real
power struggle between the executive and the judiciary.
Take them to court I say. That is what they are for.
------
ndimopoulos
I am thinking that the subject might be child pornography, espionage or cyber
terrorism. Should some of those blogs had some sort of method of communicating
information with terrorists I do not see why the NSA would not shut the whole
thing down.
I hate to be in the shoes of those 70000 people but from the article and
evidence available right now this is a really serious matter.
~~~
danek
maybe the fbi thinks terrorists were communicating via blog comments, in a
secret code designed to look like spam? as far as 'movie-plot terrorism' goes,
i don't think it's too far fetched.
~~~
naturalized
Does it mean that any site can be shut down if it's used by terrorists? Which
one is next: facebook, because terrorists can create a group there and send
messages, twitter, because a terrorist cell can use it to coordinate attacks,
or perhaps wordpress? Which service will be shut down next?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Firefox web browser - ericras
https://itunes.apple.com/app/apple-store/id989804926
======
po1nter
duplicate of this:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10553646](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10553646)
~~~
ericras
Thanks - I stumbled across it and submitted the itunes link hoping to find the
discussion on here.
------
wodenokoto
I'm disappointed that the styling didn't include the iconic round, enlarged
back button.
It also doesn't have the swipe-from-left to go back functionality.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Asshole x software = Asshole at scale - hermitcrab
http://successfulsoftware.net/2013/07/14/asshole-x-software-asshole-at-scale/
======
dethtron5000
Another use case that the author doesn't go into is the proliferation of
penetration/injection/other security attack scripts that allows people to
throw a battery of common attacks against dictionaries of sites. That's
allowed malicious people to be malicious at scale.
------
quchen
I wonder what state of mind suggested throwing "asshole" around all over the
place leads one to think it's a good stylistic device for a semi-technical
article. The text feels like it's written by a 3-year-old just after learning
a forbidden word.
~~~
acuozzo
Don't be an asshole.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN:Kindle Popularity and the affect of physical books - pedalpete
Has anybody else noticed the cost difference between physical books and kindle books on Amazon seems to have shrunk significantly?<p>As an example, Guy Kawasaki's book
Enchangement is more expensive as an e-book than a physical book.
http://www.amazon.com/Enchantment-Changing-Hearts-Minds-Actions/dp/1591843790/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1298425537&sr=1-1<p>Was this inevitable??
Do you think we will likely continue to see an increase in the price of e-books?
======
mechanical_fish
Ebooks and print books have different markets. Ergo, we should expect pricing
to be correlated, but different.
Consider: The economics of producing a hardcover book and a trade paperback
are not as different as their prices suggest. The hardcover costs a bit more
to print, but not significantly much more, because most of the cost of
producing a book is in the writing and editing and marketing. The difference
between hardcover and paperback is an artificial marketing distinction:
Hardcovers seem more substantial, and (more importantly) they come out
earlier, so they sell to the people with more money than patience and with a
taste in bookbinding. They are therefore priced higher to take advantage of
those folks' willingness to pay.
I suspect that so long as e-readers cost hundreds of dollars (and, more
importantly, e-books have DRM and can't be borrowed or resold) they will
naturally tend to be priced like hardcovers, or worse.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: Sinkhole – A CLI tool to archive your files into AWS Glacier - lunarcave
https://github.com/ncthis/sinkhole
======
brudgers
Glacier as a first order archive reminded me of this discussion:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10921365](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10921365)
~~~
lunarcave
Yeah, that sound like a nightmare. I was wondering why it would be that high
and then I saw there were a bunch of failed attempts being billed for as well
in that instance.
I personally just push anything that would be highly improbable for me to ever
need.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Fortnite seems to have been removed from the Play Store as well - cinntaile
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.epicgames.fortnite&hl=en_US
======
blunte
Good. The sooner a big well-funded company hits this duopoly wall, the better.
They will have the resources to fight this, and the outcome will hopefully be
positive for all other developers.
Apple and Google are gatekeepers to all mobile devices (practically), but the
value they add as gatekeepers is questionable. Certainly there is some value
in their delivery (and much lesser so, their security) service; but their fees
are not market set (since they are effectively monopolies by device type). If
there were actual competitors, their rates would be much lower... around 2-5%
probably.
~~~
simonh
Android has a plethora of app stores, there have always been tons of them.
Some phones have shipped with three or more, one from Google, one from the
phone manufacturer and one from the network. Then you could add another one
from Amazon, etc, etc.
Google Play Store won out on Android simply because the multitude of stores
was a nightmare for customers. They don’t want multiple stores, they want one
store on this phone, that will also be on their next phone. Any ‘monopoly’
wasn’t seized by Google, it was pushed eagerly on them by customers craving
consolidation and simplicity.
Same for me, I don’t want 5 blasted stores on my iPhone. I want one store and
run by someone I trust. The same goes for my Switch too, I’m quite happy for
Nintendo to run the store for it. If I don’t like how they run it, I’ll get a
PS 5 or XBOX. That’s where the competition is. I have plenty of choices
thanks.
~~~
ocdtrekkie
This is completely false. The Play Store has "won" by Google chopping the legs
off all the alternatives. They have to be sideloaded and you have to enable a
scary checkbox to do so, that suggests it's less secure to use any app store
but the Play Store.
~~~
megablast
Yeah? you think users love hunting down a particular app store becauase that
is the one that has the app you are after???
~~~
untog
If only there was an example of a platform where you downloaded apps from the
web and installed them at your own will!
Oh, wait. It’s what we all did and do with computers. This isn’t some mystical
unknown.
~~~
scarface74
And we see how that worked out. Viruses, malware, ransomware, key loggers, 10
toolbars on your browser.
~~~
untog
Which is where the (existing, robust) system of app permissions comes in.
Something the desktop world never had.
(besides, last time I checked my macOS machine is neither virus ridden nor
covered in toolbars)
~~~
scarface74
Because no one bothered to write viruses for it. There were more viruses for
Windows than Classic MacOS and it was a complete shit show compared to Windows
between 1995 - 2000. It didn’t even have memory protection.
~~~
untog
I’m talking about the macOS I run on my MacBook today. It is not virus ridden
nor covered with unwanted toolbars.
~~~
scarface74
And again it’s because no one bothered to write toolbars and viruses for the
Mac. I never got viruses on a Windows PC but are you going to say they don’t
exist? You never had to clean up your less tech savvy relatives computer?
~~~
untog
What I’m saying is that the vast, vast majority of desktop users have an
entirely satisfactory computing experience today, using operating systems that
let you install whatever you want.
Yes, if you go back in time you find OSes with hideous security models that
made things like keyloggers possible. Mobile OSes today do not have those
problems, and have strict permission prompts that gatekeep functionality.
Yeah, I’m sure there would be some shitty experiences if people could install
whatever they want on their phones, it’s the price of giving everyone that
freedom. But if desktop OSes in 2020 are anything to go by, it’s really not
that big of an issue.
~~~
scarface74
So the whole ransomware and virus problem is imaginary?
------
bigtones
The real reason Epic Games did this... Money - they were forced to hand over
more than $500 Million dollars to Apple and Google in the past 12 months
alone. That's $1.3 Million dollars per day.
Epic gave Apple over $360 Million dollars in the last twelve months just to
list the game in it's app store, and over $150 Million to Google to do the
same. By any measure, having to hand over half a billion dollars is just an
insane cut of revenue to have to give two companies that had absolutely
nothing to do with conceiving, designing or developing such a successful game.
[https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/13/technology/apple-
fortnite...](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/13/technology/apple-fortnite-
ban.html)
~~~
Ductapemaster
"...absolutely nothing to do with conceiving, designing or developing such a
successful game."
But it has _everything_ to do with _distributing_ the game. Also it has a lot
to do with outsourcing the maintenance of the mobile platforms — designing
hardware, OS releases, etc. Epic did not design their own hardware, their own
silicon, build entire global supply chains, design UX, etc. Apple and Google
did. Do they not deserve a cut?
I'm not here arguing the percentage of the revenue, just that that _some_
percentage is clearly warranted here. Their relationship with Apple and Google
is clearly a partnership, meaning it has to benefit both sides. Same way it
works with consoles.
~~~
wvenable
> But it has everything to do with distributing the game.
Because they're the only option. I mean there's no reason why Epic couldn't
host the app on their server that people could download. It's not without
precedent. But it's just not allowed for mobile.
> designing hardware, OS releases, etc. Epic did not design their own
> hardware, their own silicon, build entire global supply chains, design UX,
> etc. Apple and Google did. Do they not deserve a cut?
Seriously? You think Epic should have to pay for the hardware that we
consumers buy for thousands of dollars? Apple has some of the highest hardware
margins in the world. They don't need software developers to pay for the
hardware that we've already paid too much for. These aren't consoles sold for
a loss.
~~~
interpol_p
> Because they're the only option. I mean there's no reason why Epic couldn't
> host the app on their server that people could download. It's not without
> precedent. But it's just not allowed for mobile.
Didn't they move to the Google Play Store (from their own download manager)
specifically because sideloading was too hard and scary for customers that it
was having an impact on Fortnite installs?
Having the option wouldn't be enough for Epic even if it were available on
iOS, because it wasn't enough for them on Android
~~~
wvenable
Well Google specifically doesn't make it easy or safe to install apps from
other sources. But there's no reason why it couldn't be just as simple and
safe as getting it from the app store.
The problems mentioned below are really only possible because Google kind of
leaves everyone to the wolves when it comes to sideloading.
~~~
interpol_p
Epic's quote at the time was the following:
> Google puts software downloadable outside of Google Play at a disadvantage,
> through technical and business measures such as scary, repetitive security
> pop-ups for downloaded and updated software, restrictive manufacturer and
> carrier agreements and dealings, Google public relations characterizing
> third party software sources as malware, and new efforts such as Google Play
> Protect to outright block software obtained outside the Google Play store.
------
soulofmischief
A lot of people are giving Epic a hard time for this, but I think it takes
quite a bit of gusto to disrupt such an insane moneymaker in order to rally
its userbase against these anti-competitive practices.
~~~
MBCook
Really? I don’t think I’ve seen anyone today with an anti-Epic take. Maybe I
just haven’t gone down far enough in the comments.
~~~
echelon
Twitter has Apple fans rushing to criticize Epic. I'm absolutely flabbergasted
the freedom disruption blinders are so strong.
Why _anyone_ supports Apple is a mystery to me. What if the web forced you to
use Apple Payments? What if Microsoft forced all installs to go through the
Microsoft Store?
Apple took focus from the web and then extinguished openness. It's tyranny.
~~~
bhupy
I'll try and play devil's advocate for you.
Apple recently rolled out "Sign-In With Apple", which creates burner e-mail
address that you can seamlessly use with 3rd party services. As a privacy-
conscious consumer, this was great! On top of that, Apple forced all of its
developers to support "Sign-In With Apple". This is one of the many reasons I
continue to use Apple's phone and OS, because it gives me some peace of mind.
Apple Payments, similarly, gives me some financial peace of mind by providing
me with one centralized place where I can view and cancel my
subscriptions/purchases. I can't tell you how many times I've forgotten to
unsubscribe from a service that I don't use. With Apple's in-app payments
system, I can keep tabs on _everything_. It's like a user-friendly financial
reconciliation layer.
Both of these Apple services place some amount of burden on the developer, and
I'd even argue that the first example was pretty broadly celebrated by
privacy-minded HN readers. The strongest devil's advocate argument is that the
second example provides the same value to Apple customers, and that's a
distinguishing feature of its platform that it ought to be able to maintain.
There's a strong argument to be made that one ought to be able to side-load
apps and install competing app stores on their iPhones (I tend to agree), but
that's somewhat orthogonal to this particular issue, especially considering
the Google Play Store action.
~~~
paulgb
I think there are basically two ways to look at Apple's App Store policies:
1\. Apple acts like a sort of consumer union, coordinating behavior of a
massive and lucrative audience so that apps have to meet certain minimum
standards to reach it.
2\. Apple acts like a protection racket, extracting a piece of the consumer
surplus because they can.
It seems that you like the benefits of #1, and I agree with you. The problem
is that in the Fortnite case, it appears to be a case of #2 posturing as #1.
Does anyone truly believe that Fortnite players are _better off_ paying 30%
more to Apple?
~~~
JumpCrisscross
This is a good framework. One way to merge these views is with a graduated
take rate. So Apple might take 30% of the first $10mm, 20% of the next $10mm
and $10% thereafter.
------
reissbaker
This is also bad, but Google still allows Android users to install Epic's game
store (which does continue to list Fortnite), so I think it's a bit more
defensible than Apple's ban in which it's now just impossible to install the
game at all. Removing from the Play Store on Android isn't equivalent to
removing from the App Store on iOS; you can install apps from outside of the
Play Store on Android, but you can't install apps from outside of the App
Store on iOS (at least, not without jailbreaking).
~~~
ridiculous_fish
Epic already tried to make a run of it outside the Play Store, and gave up,
citing Google's efforts to "outright block software obtained outside the
Google Play store." I don't think there's a practical difference here.
~~~
reissbaker
If I go to fortnite.com/android, I can still download and install the Epic
Game Store for Android. So it's definitely better than the situation on iOS.
In practice, you can still install Fortnite on Android (and it's only a Google
search away — when I searched "fortnite android" just now, it was the top hit
of the search results, just after the News section that's filled with the news
of the Play Store ban); you can't install Fortnite on iOS at all.
It's actually even slightly easier to install APKs on Android than installing
non-Mac-App-Store software on macOS — with Android it prompts you right when
you open to allow or disallow installs from the source you downloaded from,
whereas macOS makes you dig around in Settings the first time. I tried
installing the Epic store just now on Android, and it was a fairly seamless
experience.
I'm sure it gets fewer sales, since the Play store is bundled with most
Android phones and the Epic store isn't. But it's pretty different than an
outright ban: the Play store is charging you the 30% Google tax for
reach/audience, but you're free to list on an alternative store if you choose
to.
------
ivanstojic
It's important to remember that Epic games isn't a champion of freedom here.
After Epic store launched on the PC in 2018, Epic used their platform's
growing popularity to bait and/or strong arm (it's unclear to me) indie
developers into exclusivity contracts on Epic's game store. This action caused
a massive uproar in the gaming community because with those exclusivity deals,
Epic made developers break existing preorders.
This isn't about freedom or choice or walled gardens. It's about cutting off a
slightly bigger slice of a billion dollar pie.
~~~
el_nahual
I happen to know some first-time indie devs that were given this deal. The
deal is incredibly generous. Basically, epic offered them a bag of money in
exchange for a certain period of partial exclusivity (basically "don't be on
Steam"). That's it. This bag of money allowed the developers to:
\- Grow the dev team enough to accelerate time to launch--QA extra engineers,
heck, the devs even used the money to pay for _porting the game to other
devices!_
\- Guarantee that they could continue to fund development of the game after
launch. Bugfixes, DLC, etc.
\- Have enough left over to "try again" and launch a sophomore game regardless
of the performance of this one.
You'd think that fans of indie games would _love_ this. Who could possibly be
opposed to having an indie dev get funds that would enable them to graduate to
managing a small indie game studio instead of a ramen diet & 20 hour work days
in the living room.
And yet they got enormous amounts of hate from so-called indie game fans and
members of the gaming community. And yes, the devs were aware that the hate
was coming from a disproportionately small number of people and that most
people don't actually care at all. But still, the psychological toll of having
to deal with the harassment was enough to make them strongly consider not
taking the money--even though it was the right thing to do both from a
financial pov and from a development pov (because it would guarantee they
could finish and support the game).
The crazy thing is that _even if you hate epic_ you should love these deals:
cheer for your favorite dev, then wait a year and buy the game on Steam,
doubly sticking it to the man.
~~~
donmcronald
Exclusives on consoles suck, but the Epic store has been a huge win for
developers and gamers. Bags of money, more choice, and competition and the
only downside is needing to install an extra launcher. Yes please!
~~~
shuntress
Important distinction: this is choice and competition for the developers but
not for the consumers.
It would be choice and competition for the consumer if users could access any
game through either platform and choose their favorite.
------
627467
Good for Epic to open this new battle front against Apple (and it seems
Google).
As I wrote in the Apple thread: I think Epic are the ideal entity to do this
since - so long as Apple or Google won't actively erase apps from people
devices - they already have large install base and it's unlikely to grow much
more.
Those who managed to install the latest update are already able to use epic
"apple/google tax"less payment system so that protects their revenue for a
while.
If either of those para-monopolies start erasing apps from people's phone's
that would only add to the narrative that Epic, Spotify, EU et al. are already
pushing: these two entities have built a global extractive platform that keeps
partners and consumers hostage by their fees.
------
mcint
It may not just be for a lawsuit. They may provide fuel for a change of law,
as Congress bumbles through an attempt at anti-trust enforcement, maybe they
can become a test case for lawmakers looking for loss of competition and
consumer choice. (Although existing lobbying dollars from Google, Apple,
Facebook, & company may be effective in holding back representatives. Money in
hand, in election season no less.)
Epic Games can show just how much the on-going appstore tax prevent new
business models from taking hold. They shown an incredible ability to entice
people to separate from their money, even convinced Disney?! to partner for
branded content.
Alongside Epic Games licensing of the Unreal Engine at-or-below cost (12%
[1]), I believe Sweeney's commitment to growing a "Metaverse" market at the
expense of Epic's short-term profit.
This comes alongside EPIC(.org)'s comparisons about American vs Chinese &
emerging markets competitiveness, linked today [2].
[1]:
[https://www.matthewball.vc/all/themetaverse](https://www.matthewball.vc/all/themetaverse)
[2]: [https://epic.org/foia/epic-v-ai-
commission/EPIC-19-09-11-NSC...](https://epic.org/foia/epic-v-ai-
commission/EPIC-19-09-11-NSCAI-FOIA-20200331-3rd-Production-pt9.pdf)
~~~
mschuster91
Isn't Congress on summer vacation and then they'll all be fighting for
reelection anyway? I hardly doubt anything will get passed until next year if
it's not important enough to get a bipartisan vote.
------
nsgoetz
The Google statement really feels like they're subtweeting Apple:
> The open Android ecosystem lets developers distribute apps through multiple
> app stores. For game developers who choose to use the Play Store, we have
> consistent policies that are fair to developers and keep the store safe for
> users. While Fortnite remains available on Android, we can no longer make it
> available on Play because it violates our policies. However, we welcome the
> opportunity to continue our discussions with Epic and bring Fortnite back to
> Google Play.
------
jay_kyburz
I look forward to putting my game Neptune's Pride in the Epic Games store and
using PayPal to collect payments.
~~~
DetroitThrow
I had been trying to remember the name of this game for over a year now, my
few Google searches for "long term space strategy mmo" never yielded anything.
I love that hackernews seems to dredge up the interesting parts of the net.
Anyways, Neptune's Pride is very very fun and I can't wait to play it again!
~~~
jay_kyburz
Hello DetroitThrow! Glad to hear my not very subtle plug for the game might
get at least one player back!
------
Andrew_nenakhov
I won't stop telling this: mobile platforms need not only third party app
stores, but third party push notifications services too. Both iOS and Android
love to kill apps in the background. This behavior, sans push notifications,
cripples a lot of types of applications (chiefly, all messengers).
If there ever would be some legal pressure on Apple& Google to open up their
platforms, it is important to make this point known to legislators.
~~~
user5994461
Applications have to be paused to save battery, or killed to save memory. You
can lookup the Android doc since the first version 10+ years ago, it explains
very well the lifecycle of apps. Mobile devices would be unusable if it were
not for that.
~~~
Andrew_nenakhov
This obvious thing you say doesn't change the fact that there is no a way to
wake an app from sleep without FCM push notifications or running a background
service with persistent notification (which users hate), which has a lot of
restrictions that get tighter with every new version of Android.
------
TillE
I really don't see how Epic has a leg to stand on here, not on a platform
which allows sideloading. The Apple case is complicated, but this seems like a
straightforward violation of an entirely voluntary contract.
~~~
dannyw
Microsoft got pinged for pre-installing Internet Explorer.
Android could potentially get pinged for pre-installing Play Market and not
offering a choice.
~~~
dagmx
Doubtful. Android can be customized by the OEMs and many do provide alternate
stores preloaded. They'd have to go after Pixel phones (not a massive market
share) or after the requirement to use Play services to be in the store.
------
drusepth
Not commenting on whether Fortnite should or shouldn't have been removed from
either app store, but wanted to point out one HUGE difference between Android
and iOS here:
Removing Fortnite from the iOS store wholly removes the ability for people to
download and play Fortnite on iOS devices, unless they're jailbroken.
Removing Fortnite from Google Play does no such thing. It's still readily
available to download and play from other app stores and/or Epic directly. No
need to jailbreak or root.
This is a huge difference in paradigms that'll probably go overlooked with
headlines of "Apple and Google remove Fortnite from app stores".
I think this is why Epic is so ready to "take on Apple" (see: their Nineteen
Eighty-Fortnite ad). This'll be a legal battle that's exciting to see,
especially in the current/brewing anti-big-tech political climate.
------
leereeves
Confirmed by The Verge, who got a statement from Google:
> The open Android ecosystem lets developers distribute apps through multiple
> app stores. For game developers who choose to use the Play Store, we have
> consistent policies that are fair to developers and keep the store safe for
> users. While Fortnite remains available on Android, we can no longer make it
> available on Play because it violates our policies. However, we welcome the
> opportunity to continue our discussions with Epic and bring Fortnite back to
> Google Play.
[https://www.theverge.com/2020/8/13/21368079/fortnite-epic-
an...](https://www.theverge.com/2020/8/13/21368079/fortnite-epic-android-
banned-google-play-app-store-rule-violation)
~~~
crazysim
It's definitely a statement that's very aware of the situation on iOS.
------
brundolf
It's _fascinating_ that Google is deciding to form a unified front with Apple
instead of playing the "good guy" and taking an opportunity to paint their
competitor in a bad light. It really betrays just how important that 30% fee
must be to them. The plot just keeps thickening.
------
tony
If anyone likes to follow app store case law, Oyez has the verbal arguments
for Apple v Pepper that follow with text captions:
[https://www.oyez.org/cases/2018/17-204](https://www.oyez.org/cases/2018/17-204)
[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Inc._v._Pepper](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Inc._v._Pepper)
------
jandrese
As I see it this improves their chances of winning the suit. By having Google
act in the same manner they have a stronger case that the market is a duopoly
that restricts customer's freedom.
Remember that courts tend to be very lenient towards business practices, so it
takes egregious behavior to convince them to step in. This bolster's Epic's
position.
------
jonplackett
This is a PR move. They would have known they’d get kicked off for adding
their own payment system.
They didn't make this in the time it took Apple to reject it. It's all pre-
planned
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6B4glqJFz0&feature=emb_rel_...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6B4glqJFz0&feature=emb_rel_end)
~~~
MereInterest
So? That something is predictable does not make it ethically right. That Epic
could predict Apple enforcing its monopoly does not make it right for Apple to
have a monopoly.
~~~
cvandebroek
Epic is also not ethically right. They shamelessly make their money on minors
and pretend to do good for the gamers.
~~~
adtac
What's wrong with that? Besides, how Epic makes money is irrelevant to this
discussion. Your statement is blatant whataboutism.
(FWIW I despise many of Epic's decisions, particularly their hostile attitude
towards Linux as a platform, so no, I'm not biased towards them.)
~~~
cvandebroek
It's not irrelevant when you start argueing about being ethical.
Besides that, Epic themselves play Gatekeeper through the Epic Game Store and
pay big money to ensure they are the Gatekeeper (excluding retail and other
platforms), made on kids by loot boxing them.
------
rangewookie
the 1984 ad is a little strange TBH. Apple was saying IBM wants to control the
future of all information in this country, so come join us instead. Epic is
saying, we want more money so standby while we go to court. Where is the epic
smart phone alternative which is going to save us from the apple monopoly?
It will be better for all developers if the gatekeepers lower their rates, but
epic really doesn't strike me as a white knight here.
~~~
kmonsen
I agree with the spirit here, what we really want are more phone operating
systems and competition that way.
They are of course really hard to make ...
~~~
suby
The problem is that app stores are charging 30%. More Operating Systems and
competition would be good, but it's not going to fix the problem. After all,
Steam takes a 30% cut, and they've got a client for multiple desktop operating
sytems, as well as numerous stores competing against them (Windows Store, Mac
Store, Itch.io, GoG, Humble, Greenman gaming, tons more). Normal people are
just not going to install another operating system on their phone, or app
store for that matter.
Apple or Google may cave in this particular case because Epic has some
leverage with their userbase, but I'd be shocked to see either of them lower
the rates for anyone other than Epic. I think it's going to take legislation
to fix this.
------
mulmen
I'm confused, the other story on this is " _Apple_ kicked Fortnite off the app
store". Did Google coincidentally do the same thing? Did Epic actually pull
their game in both places?
~~~
3PS
Epic pushed a server-side update which gave users on both iOS and Android
access to discounted prices that sidestepped the usual 30% cut to Apple or
Google. This was a violation of terms of service on both platforms, so
Fortnite was removed from both the App Store and the Play Store. Epic already
knew this would happen, which is why they prepared their PR and legal teams
accordingly.
------
z3t4
One reason for the duopoly is that it cost more to have your app on more
platforms. Its a disaster that for example government apps like id only works
on the latest ios or android. There are also Sailfish, FirefoxOS, bunch of
feature phone OS, and likely a lot I dont know of. The duopoly is self
inflicted by the software industry.
------
Aissen
It seems Google is still using the same tactics it used to kill Skyhook (Maps
competitor on wifi location), and probably most GApps competitors: they
blocked Oneplus from bundling the Epic launcher with system permissions
(allows updates in background, like the Play Store):
[https://www.androidpolice.com/2020/08/13/google-
reportedly-b...](https://www.androidpolice.com/2020/08/13/google-reportedly-
blocked-oneplus-from-pre-installing-the-epic-games-app-on-its-phones/)
------
dustinmoris
It's important to remember that Apple and Google only have a Duopoly, because
nobody else seems to be able to develop anything that is remotely appealing to
customers. Microsoft tried with their own mobile operating system many years
ago and they failed at every attempt.
If Apple was told to open its App Store they could literally just shut down
their App Store instead the next day and in a few days or weeks consumers all
around the world would put too much pressure on any legislator to revert their
changes, because not a single consumer cares about Epic, but everyone cares
about their iPhone to remain as awesome as it is today, ad part of it is
Apple's walled garden.
~~~
gizmodo59
I don’t see Apple shutting down App Store even for spite. Not sure their
operating expenses on App Store but if they reduce their cut, it won’t look
bad on the books.
------
gumby
I really don’t understand the argument about Apple’s store, when Apple has
only 20-25% of the installed base and the dominant platform has many stores to
choose from.
Customers are plainly choosing the open platform.
~~~
partiallypro
First off, that's globally, not the US (in the US it's ~50/50.) Secondly,
despite Apple not having a "monopoly" on the install base they do essentially
have a monopoly on store expenditures and revenue. There is a reason why Apps
launch on iOS first (usually), AppStore members are more likely to buy the app
and do in-app purchases than Android users. This is BY FAR. I forgot the exact
numbers, but I believe it's near double or triple that of Android. The
AppStore is a cash register for Apple, 30% is insanity.
------
Mandatum
What happens to players who refund everything from these stores once the apps
are no longer accessible? Does Apple or Google just eat the cost? I presume
Epic has already been paid out, it seems like Apple and Google wouldn't be
able to claw back that refund money.
------
BooneJS
Will my kid be able to buy new skins with something other than vbucks when
this is all said and done?
------
grawprog
Was fortnite on the play store? A few months ago I decided to try it for
android, I had to download the epic games store app from their site and
install it from there. This was in like February or something.
------
FridgeSeal
I can do nothing but laugh - I have precisely zero sympathy for Epic here.
------
social_quotient
Did this decision likely get made before the meeting with congress? Curious
the lag time on corporate decision making on something like this.
The fight was bound to happen but I’m fascinated by the timing.
------
tibbydudeza
Hey does TenCent not own a big chunk of Epic ???.
It would be great for Huawei if this whole closed appstore ecosystem would be
broken up and give customers the freedom of choice.
------
bredren
I thought they required an install from their Epic Games app store on Android,
specifically to get around Google Play fees.
~~~
mcny
They did. Seems like it only changed in April. Maybe they wanted to see the
numbers and gather data.
[https://archive.fo/Z0huU](https://archive.fo/Z0huU)
~~~
bredren
Huh. I presume these numbers will look very bad for Google. There are no
extra-app store options on iOS.
If lowering the cost of app sales royalties to all 3rd developers is the only
result of this, I'd say this will be worth it.
------
skc
Google may have missed a great PR opp here.
~~~
SquareWheel
I'm sure they weighed that against setting a precedent that developers can
sidestep their 30% cut. The income was probably considered more valuable than
the PR.
~~~
dragonwriter
> I'm sure they weighed that against setting a precedent that developers can
> sidestep their 30% cut
That precedent is being set anyway, the Epic Games store still exists on
Android, and you can get Fortnite through it, and this dispute can't do
anything but bring more attention to that fact.
Of course, that kind of does show a way in which they are better for devs and
consumers than Apple, since dispute over store terms with devs are less of a
total barrier to delivering/selling (for devs) or getting access to (for
consumers) apps on the platform.
------
csneeky
The link leads to nothing? Has been removed? (Sorry if late to the game but
seems no one has mentioned this yet)
------
quotemstr
Totally not coordinated at all. That Google and Apple have been completely
consistent on demonetization, censorship, and general fuckery is just a
coincidence. That the principal people involved all hail from the Bay Area and
have similar social circles doesn't matter. Nope, no antitrust problem here,
no cartel, no siree.
------
chrisan
Don't xbox and playstation also take a 30% cut on sales?
------
tomcam
Apple and Google are totally not acting like a cartel.
------
muyuu
Any official statements released?
------
damnyou
I've been very critical of Apple, but Google deserves the same as well. Hope
Epic files a lawsuit against Google too.
~~~
dragonwriter
Since there are alternative stores on Android (incluid Epic’s own, which,
IIRC, they used Fortnite exclusivity to launch), to which developers
demonstrably do resort if Google's pricing or other terms become unfavorable,
there's a lot weaker antitrust argument with Google Play.
~~~
damnyou
I use Android with alternate app stores everyday, so I'm intimately familiar
with the issues with them. The most prominent ongoing issue is that they can't
auto-update apps the way Google's can. It's not a level playing field.
------
baby-yoda
the enemy (aapl/goog) of my enemy (antitrust regulators) is my friend?
~~~
markus_zhang
No but you want them to fight at least
------
Datsundere
This is exactly what DHH fought over apple to get their app approved in the
play store. If you still think that having to pay 25% of your profit just to
list your product that you didn't even use their tools to make, then you're
insane.
------
scott31
As a Fortnite player, its time to buy an iPhone then
~~~
tveita
You might have missed some steps of this still developing story:
[https://twitter.com/markgurman/status/1293984069722636288](https://twitter.com/markgurman/status/1293984069722636288)
------
lwansbrough
Crazy number of boot lickers in these threads.
------
teknopurge
This is going to backfire for Epic. I see both sides, however, the App Stores
have overhead to support free apps, and they need to be compensated.
If a software developer has an issue with the distribution channel, then they
can make their own, including the R&D and operate expense for the hardware. I
know, really unpopular take. Bigger question is are Apple and Google (with
hardware/software ecosystems) deserving of Bell-style regulation? The US
already has a playbook for this.
~~~
wvenable
According to another comment here, Epic paid Apple over $360 Million dollars
in the last twelve months. I'm pretty sure Apple's overhead isn't so high that
they need to charge that much money for just one application.
Epic already has a distribution channel, payment processing, the whole 9
yards, what they don't have is anyway onto the hardware that you own.
~~~
teknopurge
The amount paid to Apple is not a factor - it's what the agreement was. If
that 360 MM is 30%, then we can also say I doubt Epic has over a billion in
overhead. I do not believe the point is valid.
Epic does have a way onto the phones: provide an easy way for User's to
jailbreak them as part of the ingress to the Epic distribution channel.
"In 2010 and 2012, the U.S. Copyright Office approved exemptions that allowed
smartphone users to jailbreak their devices legally,[62] and in 2015 the
Copyright Office approved an expanded exemption that also covers other all-
purpose mobile computing devices, such as tablets"
So all Epic needs to do is assume the cost and investment of managing the
inter-dependencies of the hardware with various other pieces of software,
including their distribution channel.
------
Wowfunhappy
IMO, this was Epic's one misstep—they should have pulled Fortnite from the
Google Play Store a week before this stunt. Apple is the big fish (revenue-
wise) with the most draconian policy. Provoking two giants at once was not
necessary.
Every other aspect of how Epic played this has been brilliant IMO.
~~~
wvenable
I disagree. This proves that one can be shut out of the almost the entire
mobile software market in a single day.
Apple is not a monopoly but Apple and Google together have just shown the
incredible power they wield.
~~~
kmonsen
Of course you can when you break the terms of services. Try adding some porn
to your game and see it gone from both stores in a day as well. Or some other
way to obvious break their terms.
~~~
wvenable
This is a protest and a law suit against those terms of service. They have to
break them to even have a case.
~~~
Wowfunhappy
But the protest works is they're doing something which ought to be allowed. If
Epic got pulled from the App Store for suddenly showing pornography, I don't
think they'd get much sympathy.
------
emadabdulrahim
Epic will lose this fight, because they initiated it the wrong way.
You just don't start a law suite by violating the terms, then go ahead and cry
about it.
~~~
ffggvv
where did you get your law degree?
~~~
emadabdulrahim
Epic Games, obviously.
------
wetpaws
I predicted it one hour ago -
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24149151](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24149151)
~~~
taytus
Take it easy Nostradamus.
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"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
What visa type do you need, exactly, to legally participate in Y Combinator? - dotBen
http://benmetcalfe.com/blog/2012/02/what-visa-type-do-you-need-exactly-to-legally-participate-in-y-combinator/
======
dotBen
This is basically my response to the "My US border entry nightmare" YC post
earlier in the day (<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3545548>)
Which became too long as a comment, so I blogged it.
~~~
arctictony
Yep, I had this issue. No visa covers a foreign entrepreneur wanting to come
and create jobs in the US. In the end I had to go through contortions to get
an O1 but it wasn't pretty.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Hacking... trees? - DanLivesHere
http://us1.campaign-archive.com/?u=2889002ad89d45ca21f50ba46&id=d747c1d468&e=df8918339e
======
mapleoin
And here's the wikipedia article that this was taken from:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_shaping>
~~~
DanLivesHere
I actually relied a lot more on the Gilroy Gardens' website :)
~~~
duck
How did you do that subscriber sign-up box only on your archive page?
~~~
DanLivesHere
<http://www.mailchimp.com/resources/merge/>
------
edkennedy
I first heard of this from the remarkable gardens of Peter Cooke, which can be
seen at their website: <http://www.pooktre.com/>
And it also reminds me of the fantastic sci-fi novel by Leo Frankowski,
Copernick's Rebellion in which the hero genetically engineers trees to provide
housing & food for the globe.
------
sammyo
It's an art project but there are upside-down trees at MASS MoCA
<http://www.massmoca.org/event_details.php?id=29>
------
DanLivesHere
By the way, this is from my daily "learn something new" email -- if you have
any general feedback about the endeavor, let me know. Thanks :)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Why is down voting disabled on some submissions? - jug6ernaut
As title says, down voting is disabled on some submissions. For example the recent SpaceX Thread [1].<p>[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8071070
======
sp332
If the comment is over 1 day old, you can't downvote it anymore. See, you can
still downvote this comment on that thread because it's only 18 hours old.
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8081863](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8081863)
~~~
jug6ernaut
Ahh thank you, this makes perfect sense.
------
timtamboy63
You can downvote? Does it come with higher karma?
~~~
DanBC
There are downvotes and flags. People with at least 750(?) karma can downvote
comments, so long as they are less than 24 hours old. No one can down vote
submissions.
If a submission does not belong on HN you can flag it. Be cautious with
flagging because you can (apparently) lose flagging privlidges. (I think I
flag too many submissions and I have cut back on that. I think I flag comments
carefully).
You can flag individual comments by clicking the [link] link which should then
provide an option to flag.
There have been some discussions and guidance about the difference between
downvoting and flagging but I can't find them at the moment. (But if you do
get downvoted it's nice to remember that some people use it to express
disagreement).
~~~
logn
I can confirm personally that you can lose flagging privileges :)
My advice is not to flag off-topic posts and just stick to flagging spam or
obscene content.
------
kordless
A better title would be "Why is down voting _on comments_ disabled on some
submissions?"
~~~
jug6ernaut
I said submissions because it seemed to apply to the whole post. Another
comment has indicated it is because of the posts age, which makes sense for my
example.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Why Positive Thinking is Bad For You - cwan
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/creativity-and-personal-mastery/201004/why-positive-thinking-is-bad-you
======
s2r2
[http://www.topatoco.com/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_C...](http://www.topatoco.com/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=TO&Product_Code=QC-
THINKPOS&Category_Code=QC)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Android 6.0.1 (CM13) on Microsoft Lumia 525 - thewisenerd
http://forum.xda-developers.com/windows-phone-8/development/android-6-0-1-cm13-lumia-525-t3442630
======
kchoudhu
Is this as a result of the golden key attack[1] from a few days ago?
[1] Previous discussion:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12259911](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12259911)
------
solnyshok
LK boots Linux boots TWRP boots Android boots Display works Touchscreen works,
but needs some calibration Virtual buttons (Back, Windows, Search) not works
yet Sound not works yet Modem not works yet Wifi not works yet
------
thewisenerd
youtube link:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNlHMMWZm6U](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNlHMMWZm6U)
------
cvs268
Isn't it the NOKIA Lumia 525?...
------
cocotino
At last, something useful I can do with my 520
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Meditation For A Stronger Brain - jamesbritt
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129324779
======
srwh
mmm-mm
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Google AU -- Dont stop me now - delinquentme
http://www.google.com.au/
======
derrida
In case you are wondering, press 'play'.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Cost-Cutting in New York and London = A Boom in India - makimaki
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/12/business/worldbusiness/12indiawall.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
======
sidsavara
Wow 40% of jobs could be offshored? That surprises me. What is the 60% of jobs
that requires a physical presence in wall street?
~~~
eugenejen
Meeting customers in person. Sitting in meetings in companies that is going to
have IPOs. Sitting in wealthy client's private jet or yachts in Saint Tropez
talking about the new products to hedge the client's capital. And because it
has to be in person, they would better dress nicely and are attractive.
------
noor420
It is a good time for Indian research-related startups to take advantage of
this. Indian VCs should take note.
"Over all, United States banks will cut 200,000 employees by 2009, the banking
consultancy Celent said in April. "
"Theoretically, as much as 40 percent of the research-related jobs on Wall
Street, tens of thousands of jobs, could be sent off-shore"
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Feeling sorry for machines is no joke - gilad
https://www.theverge.com/tldr/2019/6/17/18681682/boston-dynamics-robot-uprising-parody-video-cgi-fake
======
bryanrasmussen
I recently submitted Why do Children abuse robots?
([https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20195120](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20195120))
which links this research
[https://rins.st.ryukoku.ac.jp/~nomura/docs/CRB_HRI2015LBR2.p...](https://rins.st.ryukoku.ac.jp/~nomura/docs/CRB_HRI2015LBR2.pdf)
which has some relevance to this.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
UCite.it: beyond search - agibsonccc
http://ucite.it/
======
agibsonccc
Feedback is appreciated.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Girl unaware all her pictures are sent to journalist - lordlarm
http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dagensit.no%2Farticle2596740.ece
======
gcb0
I'm experiencing something that is obviously dumb users.
i have a first.last@gmail address and my name is very common. So i bet others
had to use less desirable gmail addresses.
Since google started to aggressively push for adding alternative email and/or
phone number, dumb users that initially wanted my email address entered it as
their "alternate email" not understanding it's for password recovery only.
I clicked the "not me" link in more than 20 confirmation emails, but google
probably never used that to better inform the dumb users.
Now my gmail account is a cesspool of emails intended for other people, site
registration confirmation for idiots with same first/last name but a different
middle name... And there's no spam algorithm that can fight that!
Time to start looking for alternatives.
~~~
AJ007
Most of my projects involve a mass-market audience so I get a pretty good view
of what average competence looks like. Based on this, I would guess that a
significant portion of Americans have a great difficultly reading. Even when
you put a big message that says this is not for X, people will continue to do
X.
If you run a startup or a company whose audience is early adapters you get a
skewed view of the average level of competence of users.
I don't know if things get worse in other countries. However, I would guess
that 10-20% of the US population lacks the basic literacy and logic skills to
hold a manual job involving anything but repetitive tasks.
~~~
vellum
_However, I would guess that 10-20% of the US population lacks the basic
literacy and logic skills to hold a manual job involving anything but
repetitive tasks._
~13% when it comes to reading, ~20% when it comes to quantitative tasks.
<http://nces.ed.gov/naal/pdf/2006470_1.pdf>
~~~
derefr
And even besides the people with low IQ, most everyone is only capable of
thinking abstractly _some of the time_ \--and even then only after years of
cognitive development[1]. System 2 thinking[2] is taxing to the brain
(consumes more glucose/oxygen/etc), and is switched out of whenever it's not
absolutely necessary.
[1]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piagets_theory_of_cognitive_dev...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piagets_theory_of_cognitive_development#Formal_operational_stage)
[2] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual_process_theory>
------
oellegaard
tl;dr
A Norwegian girl, living abroad, enabled "auto upload my pictures to Google+"
on her phone and for some reason they end up in a Norwegian IT journalists
Google+. Everything from full passport details to regular photos are uploaded.
The journalist can see Geo location etc as well. Google keep stating it is not
possible and the journalist are experiencing problems contacting Google.
~~~
esalman
You do not have to `enable` it, as soon as you add an account to an android
phone, photos automatically start syncing.
~~~
UnoriginalGuy
What kind of account? I have my Google account(s) synced up to my Android
phone and have a total of 0 photos in my Google+ album.
I have them syncing with DropBox intentionally.
~~~
dkersten
Same for me - but I noticed that it suddenly started syncing to Google+ too a
few weeks ago (not sure why it started doing this, either there was an update
or it was because I logged into Google+ using the default Android Google+ app
and it enabled it then). Either way, I wasn't particularly happy about it,
though I believe it uploaded them but did not make them public. I turned it
off as soon as I noticed as I don't need my photos synced to two places and I
already had photos synced to DropBox.
~~~
myko
> or it was because I logged into Google+ using the default Android Google+
> app and it enabled it then
It asks you if you want the uploads to take place when you first setup the
app.
~~~
dkersten
Unless its a small, easy-to-miss checkbox, I was only asked to log into my
Google Account.
~~~
lawdawg
it's definitely not small or easy to miss. The whole "instant upload" part is
an entire screen outlining what it is with a clear opt-out.
------
Osmium
Just a warning: blurring pixels in sensitive photos like this is often
insufficient. Always black out the information instead (and make sure to
flatten the image! and not save it as e.g. a pdf with a black bar over it
which has actually happened before too)
[http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2007/01/how_to_recover...](http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2007/01/how_to_recover.html)
~~~
aaron695
That would be interesting if they actually deciphered a real blurred picture.
Which they didn't cause it's not possible, I mean, left to reader.
[edit: I put it with the myth you need to erase data on a hard disk randomly
multiple times <http://www.nber.org/sys-admin/overwritten-data-gutmann.html> ]
~~~
tjoff
Funny how you present your view as fact and then complain about having to put
up with myths...
<http://yuzhikov.com/articles/BlurredImagesRestoration2.htm>
~~~
aaron695
No, I more commented on the article made a pretty bold statement and then
didn't follow it up yet everyone buys into it.
I've never seen it actually shown so that to me makes it dodgy. If it was
possible it'd be a pretty cool demo.
(And I assume I don't need to say removing camera blur, the famous photoshop
swirls incident etc is not the same.)
------
web64
I guess tech-journalists gets to try out quite a few mobile phones through
their work.
Would it not be a reasonable scenario that the journalist got to try a phone
and used the Google+ app with his account. Upon returning the phone, it wasn't
reset properly before being sold on to another person. So the Google+ app
could still be associated with the journalist's account when the phone was
sold on.
Update: In this article(<http://www.dagensit.no/tester/article2355417.ece>)
the journalist reviews the Sony Xperia S, the very same phone model that the
girl uses.
------
drakaal
I am guessing there is a user Hash Collision.
Google uses hashes for a lot of things. Hash tables are very fast, and great
for database look up. In Python if there is a hash collision both entries are
compared and resolved by comparison. This is still fast because doing a
compare against 4 collisions is still much faster than doing a compare against
1Billion user names.
That said... The odds get to be beyond astronomical. What percentage of people
are journalists? I mean if they said someone contacted us to let us know, that
would be believable, but "I am a journalist, and this is happening to me"
seems a lot less likely.
I'm not ready to side with Google that this is impossible, but even the
response from Google doesn't sound like the Google I know. While Google is
hard to get a hold of for tech support and resolution of things, if you do get
them to respond to a privacy concern they are swift.
With a Teen Girl they would be even swifter. One naked Bathroom pic and they
are suddenly in the Child Porn distribution business, knowingly infringing
(since they have been told now) on a teen with out her knowledge. That's the
kind of thing that an employee goes to jail for, not just gets some big fines.
~~~
ams6110
_The odds get to be beyond astronomical_
The odds of winning the lottery are pretty poor too. Yet people win them every
day.
~~~
pjscott
Let's not hand-wave; the numbers actually matter here. One-in-a-million
chances happen every day. One-in-2^128 chances do not. If you're exclusively
using a hash for identifying someone, then you'll make sure it's big enough to
prevent accidental collisions. This is not expensive.
------
brudgers
As much as I love bashing Google over privacy. And as highly probable as I
believe the sort of glitch described is likely to occur, two things make me
skeptical of this story.
A) That of all the random ways that a bug like this could manifest itself, it
happened with a tech journalist on the receiving end.
B) That the author spoke with a live human Googler over a customer service
issue in regard to a free service.
The real story here is B not A.
~~~
objclxt
> _The real story here is B not A_
I would assume if you're a journalist in the tech industry worth you salt you
probably have a Google contact you could call.
~~~
brudgers
There is a difference between knowing someone at Google and getting someone at
Google to go on the record in regard to a customer service issue with a free
product as "spokesperson Cristine Sorensen" is reported to have done.
~~~
Evbn
Claims of Brokenness don't get support. Claims of violations of privacy policy
and law get support.
------
OSButler
My wife had a problem with a girl creating a facebook account using a similar
email to hers that somehow got her gmail account connected to that facebook
account.
There was some account sharing going on, as the girl used that email address
to login to her facebook account and all the FB notifications ended up in my
wife's inbox.
At first I thought her account was compromised, but it was a secure password,
so it seemed to be caused by the only slightly differing email addresses
somehow being shared internally by gmail.
Only after activating 2-factor authentication did I manage to prevent that
girl from using my wife's gmail account. However, this was followed by a few
weeks of constant gmail notifications about a detail/password change request
sent to her phone.
------
drucken
" _The girl lives on another continent, so it is not just knocking on the door
either._ "
from
" _Jenta bor på et annet kontinent, så det er ikke bare å banke på døren
heller._ "
Can I assume that is mistranslated since the passport picture shows Norway
which is the same country as the journalist?
Separately, DN.no seems to be a business tabloid, 8th largest, in Norway,
according to Wikipedia
(<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dagens_N%C3%A6ringsliv>).
~~~
zidel
The translation is correct, so she might be living somewhere else.
On the topic of translation issues, "We" in the first sentence of that
paragraph is "Google" in the original which changes the meaning a little.
------
antsam
For the longest time, I used to receive someone else's e-mails on GMail. Our
e-mail addresses were very similar except that mine had periods in it and his
apparently didn't. Either that or he really loved signing me up for things.
~~~
andrewaylett
My understanding is that Google strips full stops before comparing email
addresses and accounts for equality, which is really annoying when people
split their email addresses differently at different times, making them look
distinct when they are actually the same.
~~~
myko
It's really useful to me.
I have a filter for messages to: [email protected]
which marks the message read and moves it out of my inbox.
This is the address I give out to companies whose correspondences I don't care
to read generally but don't necessarily want to go directly to the trash.
~~~
scott_karana
You can also use + suffixes, which allows you to label.the address.
[email protected] for example.
~~~
SoftwareMaven
Assuming the crappy regex on the form will accept it.. :( It's better now, but
I still fail about 20% of the time.
------
_delirium
Minor wording point: I think "sensitive" rather than "delicate" pictures is
what's meant here, i.e. in the sense of "sensitive documents".
(Sensitive/delicate overlap in some of their meanings, but not this one.)
~~~
RexRollman
I thought the same thing but had assumed this was a Google Translate issue.
------
Hitchhiker
" Whether you are trying to protect corporate intellectual property or just
the privacy of your personal life, the key idea is that you shouldn't
underestimate the importance of your disclosures, particularly over time. "
[1]
[1] - Conti, Greg (2008-10-10). Googling Security: How Much Does Google Know
About You?
------
ddod
I'm glad to see a story like this getting some press as I've suspected that
I've been dealing with something very similar for years now. Every so often I
get an email from Facebook or some other service asking me to confirm a sign
up I never made and under a different name, and then afterwards (where it gets
strange) I get an email thanking me for confirming. Gmail says no other IPs
have logged into my account and there's nothing in my sent folder related to
it. I've changed passwords and it still happens. It's almost as if I share an
email address with someone but they have a different "account".
~~~
Evbn
That is just someone using your address as their alternate email.
~~~
ddod
I really doubt that, as it doesn't seem like you can put in multiple email
addresses when you are first signing up for Facebook
(<http://puu.sh/2IP5J.png>). I also don't imagine Facebook continues to email
the unverified email addresses after a user has changed their address to pass
the verification.
------
dwc
Uff! Min paranoia fortalte meg å slå av automatisk opplasting. Jeg er veldig
glad jeg gjorde.
~~~
zerr
კარგი გადაწყვეტილებაა.
------
jayferd
slight mistranslation: "...sak som Google ikke kan forklare" means "...that
Google can't explain", not "...that I can't explain". (my Norwegian isn't that
good, but this kind of sticks out...)
------
OGinparadise
Reason #12 why I will not use Google Glass or talk (beyond "hi" and "Yeah,
nice weather") to one that has them on. I don't care how much they keep
pushing them, they have their agenda, I have mine.
Stuff like this has the potential of ruining lives and relationships.
~~~
corresation
Unwanted sharing is not cool, however when you say-
_Stuff like this has the potential of ruining lives and relationships._
Do you mean that _truth_ has the potential of ruining lives and relationships?
~~~
kevingadd
The idea that context-free photos uploaded to the internet (and potentially
shared with the public) without the subject's permission somehow represent
'truth' is hilarious.
If they say a picture's worth a thousand words, then it's not much of a leap
to apply this quote:
"If you give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest of men, I
will find something in them which will hang him."
How many pictures out of context do you think it would take to ruin the
average person's marriage? Destroy their career? Make them a public
laughingstock? Not many pictures, if you choose the right ones.
~~~
corresation
The idea that you can misphrase what I actually said so grotesquely is itself
"hilarious".
The GP opined that photos ruin lives and relationships. I've yet to hear a
scenario where a unwantedly shared photo ruined either a life or relationship
where it _wasn't_ that it actually revealed a hidden truth.
~~~
sesqu
You're awfully close to a No true Scotsman argument, there. However, if you're
interested in damaging photos that aren't secret, you need but take a look at
the history of social news. There have been a number of high-profile false
allegations with associated vigilantism.
~~~
corresation
I'm nowhere near that fallacy. I am specifically looking for examples to the
claim that I questioned (the single example provided to me thus far actually
supports exactly what I said).
That the crowd can be stupid (as in the recent Reddit Boston bombing nonsense)
has absolutely no relevance to this.
~~~
sesqu
So what you're looking for is 1) a photo 2) not depicting a secret 3)
publicized unintentionally 4) that ruined a life or relationship 5) without
involving mass misunderstanding
Sorry, I can't provide one for you. The documentation on such events is
typically kept to a small circulation.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Subsets and Splits