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Erlang or Java (Reactor) - dericop
Hello,
I want to select a stack for a new highly concurrent service (hundreds or thousands
of updates per second).<p>Do you think that Erlang or Java reactive stack (Reactor) will be a good fit? Which would you prefer?<p>Thanks.
======
dmlittle
The answer will probably depend from person to person. In the end choose
whichever _you (and your team)_ feels more comfortable with.
~~~
dericop
Thanks for your answer!
------
probinso
erlang is more fun, and is was designed for what your discussing, but you'll
want to learn both the language and OTP
~~~
dericop
And what do you think about the learning curve?
~~~
0_gravitas
Depends, but I personally think its comparable to the learning curve of Java,
in fact, I found it easier to learn about than Java. I would immediately
recommend reading Joe Armstrong's thesis, which goes into the design process
of the language and the OTP
[https://erlang.org/download/armstrong_thesis_2003.pdf](https://erlang.org/download/armstrong_thesis_2003.pdf)
In fact, I would recommend reading that even if you didn't want to use Erlang,
its just a good and interesting read, which offers some cool insights into
concurrency, distributed systems, and message passing.
~~~
dericop
I will read the Armstrong's thesis! Thanks.
------
iends
Use what you know.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Snowden to make statement imminently, from Moscow. - teawithcarl
https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/351809049446203392
======
brown9-2
[http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/01/us-usa-security-
sn...](http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/01/us-usa-security-snowden-
letter-idUSBRE96017M20130701)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Now on twitter.com you can save or schedule drafts up to 18 months in advance - aspenmayer
https://twitter.com/twittersupport/status/1266081598748925961
======
aspenmayer
Tweet was edited for length. Original tweet was:
Not quite ready to send that Tweet? Now on
[https://twitter.com](https://twitter.com) you can save it as a draft or
schedule it to send at a specific time –– all from the Tweet composer!
Source for 18 months is:
[https://www.neowin.net/news/scheduled-tweets-and-tweet-
draft...](https://www.neowin.net/news/scheduled-tweets-and-tweet-drafts-are-
now-available-on-twitters-website)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Firefox, IE, Chrome and Common Names - adontz
I have found a really strange thing I have not heard about.<p>If you visit a TLS enabled website under name "www.something.ext", but it provides certificate for "something.ext" only, I mean common name is "something.ext" and "www.something.ext" is NOT listed in alternate names, then Mozilla Firefox will report invalid certificate. Google Chrome and Internet Explorer show NO warnings. I've noticed this behavior first at https://www.vali.ge (actual content irrelevant), but pretty sure it is not web-site specific.<p>Usually "www.something.ext" is same site as "something.ext" but it does not have to. I consider this to be an intentional security vulnerability and really not happy about this.
======
lsiunsuex
Someone correct me if I'm wrong (I'm a bit rusty on A records and C-names) but
just because 2 addresses show the same content, does not necessarily mean they
are the same website. domain.tld is a different address from www.domain.tld
and by all accounts, could point to 2 different contents.
Most will re-direct to the other. So if I chose to use www.domain.tld I may
redirect domain.tld to www.domain.tld or vise-versa.
If you want a certificate that covers both domain.tld and www.domain.tld -
those are called wild card certificates and can cover totallyrandom.domain.tld
and superhappyfuntime.domain.tld and anything else you might need (email.,
webmail., catslol., etc...)
So a non-wildcard certificate placed on both www and non-www is in fact, not
valid because a regular every day certificate is only valid for 1 url.
~~~
adontz
There are also non-wildcard certificates, which are valid for multiple
specific names, but not the case I am discussing.
[https://www.digicert.com/subject-alternative-
name.htm](https://www.digicert.com/subject-alternative-name.htm)
~~~
lsiunsuex
Says it right in the marketing
"Secure Host Names on Different Base Domains in One SSL Certificate: A
Wildcard Certificate can protect all first-level subdomains on an entire
domain, such as *.example.com. However, a Wildcard Certificate cannot protect
both www.example.com and www.example.net."
That is in fact, a wildcard certificate, just not directly advertised as such.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Don't Panic: there's more TTL - tetrakai
https://karla.io/2016/06/12/dont-panic.html
======
beezle
This could be a really neat canary too
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Heathrow Airport fined £120K for serious failings in data protection practices - bauc
https://ico.org.uk/about-the-ico/news-and-events/news-and-blogs/2018/10/heathrow-airport-limited-fined-120-000-for-serious-failings-in-its-data-protection-practices/
======
SenHeng
> The member of the public decided to tell The Sunday Mirror newspaper about
> the find, which days later published a story claiming the loss could
> potentially have compromised airport security, including putting Queen
> Elizabeth II, politicians and VIPs at risk. > Yesterday, the company with
> the job of looking after the data, Heathrow Airport Ltd (HAL), was fined
> £120,000 ($160,000) by Britain’s Information Commissioner (ICO) for allowing
> this to happen.
That's a surprisingly tame fine. I would've expected a couple more zeroes.
~~~
pdpi
Put into perspective — £120k isn't enough to hire two full-time people to work
on this sort of problem, so why would they?
~~~
rangibaby
See: the infamous Pinto memo
------
raesene9
This is, unfortunately, not really a surprise. There are a lot of companies
who, instead of analyzing what data sharing facilities their staff need, then
procuring appropriate services to meet those needs, take the approach of
"pretending the problem isn't really there"
This inevitably leads to people using inappropriate mechansism like USB
sticks, personal cloud sharing etc to get their jobs done.
~~~
NikolaeVarius
At the same time, the lack of even basic protections is alarming. Don't need
software controls to lock out USB drives, when there is superglue in the
ports.
~~~
pjc50
A big hassle in a world of USB keyboards and mice.
~~~
NikolaeVarius
In my experience, the usb ports for those were locked down by the manufacturer
and would be pretty hard to get at unless you were somewhat determined. The
point being that, in this scenario, it (probably) wasn't some hostile agent
that exfiltrated this data, but a unknowing employee
------
excalibur
> HAL carried out a number of remedial actions once it was informed of the
> breach including reporting the matter to the police, acting to contain the
> incident and engaging a third party specialist to monitor the internet and
> dark web.
Ooh, did they sign up for their Free Dark Web Scan?
------
fspacef
> exposed ten individuals’ details including names, dates of birth, passport
> numbers, and the details of up to 50 HAL aviation security personnel
I think this is significant especially in an environment where GDPR non-
compliance can penalize American companies for millions/billions. I would say
compromising the identity of security personnel that could be exploited for a
physical attack should deemed even more harmful and fined at a higher rate.
~~~
mattnewton
As is, this fine probably doesn’t cover the salary of a junior security
researcher for one year to discover vulnerabilities and enforce best practices
that could have prevented things like this. The message seems to be don’t
bother actually securing your systems if you are a European outfit.
~~~
tomfanning
£60k is a relatively decent IT salary in the UK.
It's probably a couple of junior security researchers.
But your point is still valid.
~~~
pbhjpbhj
£60k gross salary for an employee might come at a £100k cost for the company
when you add in NICs, pensions, HR costs, training, provision of equipment and
office space.
------
dsamarin
> Heathrow Airport seems to have been in denial that anyone might save data to
> drives or, if they did, would fail to secure them properly.
Just entertaining myself here by speculating, but could it have been possible
that someone attempted to steal this information from the airport with
malicious intent and lost it?
~~~
eesmith
The odds would be extremely low, and would fall into Schneier's 'movie plot
threat' category,
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Schneier#Movie_plot_thre...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Schneier#Movie_plot_threat)
More specifically, we know that people use USB sticks to transfer data, even
across "secure" air-gapped systems. (Eg, Stuxnet.) Some organizations will
even fill USB slots with glue to prevent this sort of use.
By comparison, the rate of espionage/information theft through physical access
to the data is much lower.
Since you posit a rare occurrence - information theft - followed by an even
more rare scenario - losing the information - I can easily conclude that it's
very unlikely.
~~~
practice9
> The odds would be extremely low
That's why I have trouble believing this story really happened. Simpler
explanation would be that money simply changed hands for reasons unknown
(bribes, etc.)
~~~
eesmith
You think it's easier to believe that The Sunday Mirror paid someone at
Heathrow to deliver a USB stick than it is to believe that lots of people at
Heathrow are using USB sticks and one of them dropped it?
And you think The Sunday Mirror lied to the Information Commissioner’s Office
about the data provenance? That is, lied that it was found by a member of the
public in Kilburn, and/or lied that it was viewed by that same member of the
public on a public library computer before handing it over to The Sunday
Mirror?
I don't. I don't see why you do. I don't see why we should regard your
interpretation as "simpler".
Especially when (according to the linked-to report), Heathrow Airport
Limited's own investigation could figured out who lost the stick, concluded
that the USB stick was likely lost during commute-time transit, and showed
that there were serious information security problems at Heathrow, with
'limited data protecting training in place' and no technical methods in place
to keep data from being transferred to unencrypted or unauthorized sticks?
The report disagrees with your doubt, saying "The Commissioner has made the
above findings of fact on the balance of probabilities."
How do you end up with a different balance? What scenario are you thinking of?
------
sbradford26
My company has a policy that if you plug that usb drive into a company
computer it will wipe it and encrypt the drive, if it is not already
encrypted. It would have made it difficult for people to read the information
once it was out, but doesn't solve the issue of someone dropping it outside.
~~~
Angostura
That's rather nifty - how is it implemented?
~~~
sbradford26
I believe it is a McAfee product.
[https://www.mcafee.com/enterprise/en-
us/products/technologie...](https://www.mcafee.com/enterprise/en-
us/products/technologies/file-removable-media-protection.html)
------
shibel
That’s like fining me $0.25 for speeding. Very deterring...
~~~
dsamarin
Fun fact: For most cars the sweet spot on the speedometer is about 40 to 60
mph, and generally, doubling your speed requires more than double the
horsepower. Speeders likely already spend more than $0.25 in gas per trip from
lost fuel efficiency. Even more when there are stop lights and other traffic.
------
jackconnor
This fine is way too low to make any kind of an impact, unless some pretty
serious threats were made along with it.
------
PanMan
it's 'only' a $160K fine. I'm fairly sure people lost more expensive USB
sticks. Eg this story, of someone having thousands of bitcoins on a (not lost
but broken) USB stick: [https://www.news.com.au/finance/money/investing/dont-
tell-my...](https://www.news.com.au/finance/money/investing/dont-tell-my-wife-
melbourne-man-cries-over-lost-bitcoins-as-price-surges-past-us10000/news-
story/bd18b6f6aa123dca017f9cc75544fd01)
------
sctb
We've updated the link from
[https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2018/10/10/airport-
mislays-...](https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2018/10/10/airport-mislays-
worlds-most-expensive-usb-stick/), which points to this.
------
daniel_iversen
This sort of data still on USB sticks?? And in 2017?? What the hell.
~~~
spydum
USB drive is not the most alarming detail. The fact that sensitive data was in
a TRAINING VIDEO.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
What to Do About Inequality (2012) - huihuiilly
https://bostonreview.net/testing-tax-policy
======
netcan
Picketty kind of reminds me of Yuval Noah Harari in that they both have
stunning insight and perspective on the past, but get quite bland once the
present comes up.
For YNH, his key points in history really changed my perspective, on people
history and progress. I'm totally sold on the central thesis: human progress
is fundamentally the ability too cooperate in increasingly large groups, and
the quality of that cooperation. The whole thing is mediated by our arsenal of
collective fictions.
But when we get to the present, what we have is fairly generic. He's certainly
an intelligent commenter, but the historical thesis doesn't seem to play into
his current affairs opinions at all, or his futurism.
Picketty is similar (but a lot less readable). He makes a pretty compelling
empirical case for his thesis, growing inequality is a long term trend during
capital accumulatui periods. Wealth disparities are mitigated by big capital
destruction events like big wars. There's a theoretical case but it's simple
and the evidence is in the data, not the theory (r<g). Convincing.
What does this mean for the present? Apparently, something approximating the
current French tax system.
Income tax isn't new. We've had higher and lower high marginal rates than
suggested in this article. The problems within those system are the problems.
Maybe im being harsh.
------
_jal
Pretending that rates like these are unheard-of madness is either ignorance or
an attempt to deceive.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_tax_in_the_United_State...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_tax_in_the_United_States#History_of_top_rates)
~~~
ryanworl
This is a distortion of history. No one paid these rates. The Tax Reform Act
of 1986 eliminated, reduced, or modified the deductions the people that
would've paid these rates were previously allowed. Additionally, the
wealthiest individuals typically do not receive much wage income relative to
their capital gains.
There are reasonable arguments to be made about increasing or decreasing
taxes, or adding new types taxes or removing other ones, but this meme of "our
posted tax brackets used to be higher, and everything was fine, therefore we
need that again" is simply untrue.
~~~
_jal
> and everything was fine, therefore we need that again" is simply untrue.
I said nothing of the sort. If you have an argument with someone else, go have
the argument with them; don't put words in my mouth.
~~~
kolbe
Your original statement was a response to no one, too. Not sure why you're
upset when he did the same. I think it's arguably even fairer of him, because
due to your lack of explanation for why you made your comment, he was left to
surmise what the purpose could have been.
~~~
_jal
Uh, what? That person responded to me.
And since it is apparently OK with you to make up stuff that other people
never said, I take serious issue with your immoral pro-puppy-murder stance.
------
buro9
Tax assets and not income.
Income = social mobility, and is directly related to "money you earn" and
cannot effectively be inherited (you're dead, you are no longer earning).
Assets = wealth, and is directly related to "money previously earned" and can
be inherited essentially forever ( [https://anarchimedia.com/2019/01/15/rich-
families-in-florenc...](https://anarchimedia.com/2019/01/15/rich-families-in-
florence-today-are-the-same-rich-families-from-600-years-ago/)
[https://www.theguardian.com/money/2019/apr/17/who-owns-
engla...](https://www.theguardian.com/money/2019/apr/17/who-owns-england-
thousand-secret-landowners-author) )
I now believe that the only effective way to end the excesses of inequality is
for effective tax on assets, land being the most obvious but all assets should
be up for taxation.
And as strict as asset taxation should be, so should income taxation be
reduced.
~~~
roywiggins
A real inheritance tax with teeth, or a land tax, would be worth trying.
In the US, an asset tax is _probably_ unconstitutional.
~~~
crazygringo
Property taxes are asset taxes.
What makes you think there's anything unconstitutional about it whatsoever?
~~~
roywiggins
Property taxes as we know them are levied by states and localities... whether
the feds can do the same is the question.
Apparently there are actually decent arguments that it would be constitutional
after all: [https://itep.org/the-u-s-needs-a-federal-wealth-
tax/#constit...](https://itep.org/the-u-s-needs-a-federal-wealth-
tax/#constitutional)
The history of the Federal government's ability to tax is pretty tangled
though. [http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/02/constitutional-
concer...](http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/02/constitutional-concerns-are-
a-major-risk-for-a-wealth-tax.html)
------
throwaway5752
I can only guess that most people commenting don't understand how tax brackets
work and have not read the article.
I'm certain that at least half of the comments right now are from people
reflexively spouting off without having read it.
------
dougmwne
Adapted from a much better article here:
[https://voxeu.org/article/taxing-1-why-top-tax-rate-could-
be...](https://voxeu.org/article/taxing-1-why-top-tax-rate-could-be-over-80)
The caption on Figure 2 in this article claims that there's zero correlation
between top bracket tax cuts and GPD growth. My eyes must be playing tricks on
me because I see a possible correlation. I think this might be a good example
of conclusions in search of evidence. There must be other ways to break down
the economic data to prove or disprove the hypothesis in an unbiased way, if
anyone cared to do so.
~~~
jquery
Only changes in “effective rates” is meaningful anyway. A correlation between
nominal rates (which no one paid) is almost useless.
------
bo1024
I thought most really wealthy people don't earn "income" in the first place?
Don't they generally pay capital gains tax, or no tax by just borrowing money
against their assets rather than selling them?
~~~
TheBeardKing
That's the real problem. Capital gains taxes are at historic lows since the
Bush administration [1]. They should be bracketed like income.
[1][https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_gains_tax_in_the_Unite...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_gains_tax_in_the_United_States)
edit: Downvotes instead of rebuttals. Nice.
~~~
throwaway5752
I think you're being downvoted because capital gains are split between long
and short term gains, and short term gains are already taxed like income.
The division exists to encourage longer term investment, and it's probably a
good policy. I didn't downvote you, because I think that general point that
the spread between long and short term rates is too regressive at higher
income brackets.
------
Bartweiss
Leaving aside the moral arguments, would this actually _work_ to reduce
inequality?
Piketty makes a case that GDP wouldn't suffer with a much higher top marginal
rate, but doesn't demonstrate (here) that it would significantly alter wealth
inequality. There are a number of ways that might not follow: capital flight
or tax avoidance, untaxed fringe benefits saving money, general regressive
flows like "having stock" wiping out the change.
Scheidel ( _The Great Leveler_ ) has argued, I think pretty persuasively, that
mundane domestic policy doesn't undo inequality. It can constrain it, and
sometimes diminish it briefly before wealth catches up to the changes, but
major reversals seem limited to economic crisis, if not actual war or
collapse. Diminishing top-end incomes might slow the worsening of inequality,
but Piketty's own thesis ( _r >g_) suggests that it won't do anything to
actually arrest the trend.
~~~
kolbe
You bring up possible implications of altering the system, but there's really
no way to know without experiments. And with a system as unique as the 2019
United States, we cannot reliably look to other countries or other eras to
give us natural experiments.
~~~
Bartweiss
Certainly the inability to run a test or set a control is a constant problem
for macroeconomics, but I don't think that deprives us of _all_ information.
Piketty, at least, is content to compare the relationship between top marginal
tax rate, pre-tax income share, and GDP in Germany, Denmark, the UK, and the
USA since the 1970s. He finds that higher top marginal tax rate correlates to
(and precedes) decreased top pre-tax incomes, and doesn't correlate with GDP.
Inequality numbers might be distorted by other changes, but it would be
interesting to at least see the naive comparison between top marginal tax rate
and change in wealth inequality for those same countries.
------
DannyBee
Remind me again of that time when simply and directly trying to attack very
complex sociopolitical problems has worked?
In fact, trying to directly "solve" complex systems like these with lots of
variables, as if they were just "problems", never works (regardless of area).
So while this may be a good idea or it may be a bad idea, it's definitely not
going to "work" on its own.
(and i get how hard it is to sell people on the idea that no, you will not
just do a thing and have it solve all the problems, instead you are only
trying to get the system moving in the right direction, and then adaptively
try to do things that keep it where you want it. But that's at least got a
chance)
------
wazoox
It misses a "2012" in the title.
------
hackeraccount
What it says on the tin and what people actually pay may be two different
things. As a hypothetical if the rate is 100% it may be that no one would make
anything in excess of where that rate kicks in.
I doubt very much that no one will be compensated in excess of the rate
though. People will just have to go to the trouble of making sure the
compensation isn't affected by the rate. In effect you're paying people to
make an income inequality statistic look better.
------
boshomi
oh, we had tax rates like this, and it worked realy realy bad.
It was very hard for startup and small companies the earn enough equity, it
was taxed away. Without equity it was hard to get outside capital, so the
can't grow.
At this time Austria had a big state-owned industry, but this sector run into
hard troubles.
In the 1980s the tax was cut, at state-owned industry won efficiency after
privatization. Suddenly a strong medium sized industry could grow. In the
1990s the work productivity grow about 10% per year.
By the way for democracy it is necessary that there a no big tax payers. Big
tax payers get big political influence. Huge political influence results in
protection by laws, and this protections are usually as unfair as hard to
detect. And it is nearly impossible to get rid of them.
The far better strategy is a wide spread tax and social fairness by social
transfers. High profits has to be fight by concurrency and hard executed anti
trust laws.
------
fredgrott
I think it's distorting what Piketty has always stated in his own study...you
really should spend some quality google search time and get the study and
invest some time in reading it and the critics rebuttals
~~~
Bartweiss
Wait, this was written _by_ Piketty. That doesn't mean it's not
misrepresenting his data, researchers do that all the time in popular forums,
but I'd be really interested to hear what specific difference you're pointing
to.
(I did notice that his theory 2, tax avoidance, wasn't actually examined, and
that he argues for a lack of GDP harm but doesn't actually show here that
lowered top income produces lower equality.)
------
ohaideredevs
It would work on killing any motivation I might have to make money.
~~~
psychometry
If that's the only thing that motivates you, I don't think it would be any
great loss to society that you stop doing whatever it is you do.
~~~
jquery
You certainly don’t know that, what an arrogant thing to say. Do you think
garbage truck drivers work for personal edification?
~~~
danaris
I don't think garbage truck workers would throw in the towel and stop working
because income taxes or wealth taxes went up. They're working because they
need to eat.
If ohaideredevs is in such a place that he's able to stop working and not have
to worry about being able to pay for housing, food, clothes, insurance, and
all the other necessities of daily life, then that's great for him, but I
guarantee you absolutely that the vast majority of the people in America would
neither stop trying to make money, nor stop trying to make _more_ money, just
because some taxes went up. More money—even if a higher percentage of it would
go to the government—just makes too much of a difference in the day-to-day
life of most people for those kinds of concerns to be anywhere near strong
enough to make it look unappealing.
So if someone who already has so much money that they don't need to work
another day in their life stops trying to make money...or even if it's someone
who makes so much that making more wouldn't reduce their stress in daily life
no longer trying to increase their income...I don't think that's a net loss to
us in any meaningful way.
~~~
kolbe
You act like everyone is capable of doing everything. If ohaideredevs is a
world class computer scientist, it would be devastating. The economic
contribution of someone who can enrich our knowledge of data science or
algorithms is thousands of times higher than blue collar labor. And you cannot
just ask a worker in sanitation to start developing new deep learning
techniques after you lose someone who can.
------
sleepyhead
Correct title for this submission: "What to Do About Inequality"
------
bmmayer1
I wonder if Piketty would happily give up 83% of his newfound wealth.
~~~
317070
How is that relevant? I would give up 83% of my wealth if all other wealthy
would and it would solve inequality. If it is only me that needs to give up
83%, then not only is it not fair, it also does not solve societal inequality.
~~~
whb07
Then what do you do when you realize you’re not the smartest, or best athlete,
or good looking? There will always be inequality to some degree or another.
~~~
317070
I am neither the smartest, best athlete or best looking by multiple degrees of
magnitude. Why I should be the richest by multiple order magnitudes is a
complete miracle to me.
Yes, there will always be inequality. Yes, that is a good thing. But that is
no excuse to the current level of wealth disparity.
~~~
whb07
There isn’t “extreme” inequality, there is higher inequality though. Btw, if
you were to lookup the root cause for this you’d find the government and the
fed printing money that pushes up equities.
------
fopen64
The destination of this money is equally important. Tax and hire a lot of lazy
public servants is a moral hazard as well.
~~~
overthemoon
You're not wrong, but "the government should be well run" is true no matter
what.
~~~
fopen64
Yes but if you are left with less disposable money you don't have any escape
whatsoever if the government is not well run.
~~~
danaris
No one that this proposal would affect would have any trouble escaping if the
government became so poorly run that it started to cause serious problems.
You recognize that this is aimed at higher _marginal_ taxes on those who are
already making very large amounts of money, right?
~~~
fopen64
These people are human beings too. And the middle class is looking: whatever
happens in the top tax bracket, trickles down.
------
jquery
I noticed the study cleverly avoided hard questions like “absolute levels of
income” which the USA largely dominates and instead focused on “rates of
growth” which favor poorer countries such as those in the EU. Where’s the EU’s
Apple, Amazon, Google, Netflix, or Microsoft? All they can do is slap “fines”
(backdoor taxes) on our most successful companies but they seem utterly unable
to build their own. Never mind it looks at the USA shortly after a business
cycle nadir, how would this study look during our long boom cycle?
------
alfl23
Unlike any other organisation of its size, government is never held liable for
efficiency, nobody ever questions government for "return on investment", even
though it's the largest one all of us make.
What this article is suggesting is largely suicidal, taking cash from a far
more efficient business community government by "laws" of competition,
evolution of markets etc, the impact here would be catastrophic at best, I
really don't think you can debate this in the space of one article.
My number one would be move all government money on blockchain, and make that
public, then see if it's really so smart to "give them more", through any
means.
Inequality has always been a constant throughout human history, and it's far
better now than in the middle ages, where we are all entitled to education,
healthcare, and have extremely fast access to information.
I'm not suggesting there isn't a problem, but you haven't found a solution.
"Tax the rich" is something everyone can scream off the top of their lungs,
until it comes to bite them hard the next day when their pay must be cut to
keep the company they work for profitable.
Step 1 would be removing the biggest inefficiency of capital allocation in
most of these "high growth" western economies, measure and publicise return on
investment of public funds, and proceed to realise raising tax "just like
that" is a very very bad idea.
~~~
agentdrtran
only on HN would a completely insane idea like "move all government money on
blockchain" be the top comment.
~~~
baddox
It’s the bottom comment at the time of this comment.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ten Dropbox Engineers Build Lossless 'Pied Piper' Compression Algorithm - boyd
http://science.slashdot.org/story/15/08/28/2014238/ten-dropbox-engineers-build-bsd-licensed-lossless-pied-piper-compression-algorithm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Slashdot%2Fslashdot+%28Slashdot%29
======
CraftThatBlock
Look at the Github.. I laughed. :)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The Killer App: Wired Magazine, Voice of the Corporate Revolution (1995) - pron
http://thebaffler.com/archive/the_killer_app_wired_magazine_voice_of_the_corporate_revolution
======
pron
"Wired’s distinctive maimed typography and its fluorescent hues may be
interesting, but the magazine’s truly marvelous feature is its corporate-
cultural mission. Wired is technology’s hip face, an aggressive apologist for
the new information capitalism that speaks to the world in the postmodern
executive’s favored tones of chaotic cool and pseudo-revolution."
"Wired ’s vision of the good life is impressively consistent: money, power,
and a Game Boy sewn into the palm of your hand. Equally consistent is the
absence of any serious consideration of the problems that come with business
control of information technology. In order to reconcile its standard pro-
business politics with its rebel image, the magazine makes a great display of
embracing a certain strain of extreme information antinomianism."
"Another Wired cause célèbre is the outlaw hacker. In almost every issue, it
seems, the editors find a new way to stir readers’ outrage over the fate of
one Phiber Optik, a jailed hacker described as having a “colorful urban style
and a near suicidal willingness to demonstrate his prowess at picking the
locks on telephone company systems.”2 While Wired’s ongoing loyalty to the
troubled young man is admirable, its frequent stories do little more than use
him to reaffirm the myth of the rebel entrepreneur so celebrated in
contemporary management literature."
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Project Cassandra: Facebook's Open Source Alternative to Google BigTable - Anon84
http://www.25hoursaday.com/weblog/2008/07/14/ProjectCassandraFacebooksOpenSourceAlternativeToGoogleBigTable.aspx
======
siculars
good stuff... the amazon dynamo paper should be required reading for people
contemplating implementing these "eventually consistent" data stores.
~~~
siculars
[http://s3.amazonaws.com/AllThingsDistributed/sosp/amazon-
dyn...](http://s3.amazonaws.com/AllThingsDistributed/sosp/amazon-dynamo-
sosp2007.pdf)
------
fauigerzigerk
The funny thing is we heard all of that in the 90s when object relational
databases became popular. More interesting would be to hear how Cassandra
scales across machines because that's what's so troublesome with databases,
not the datamodel.
And, by the way, it's ironic that users of MySQL complain about the join
performance of relational DBMS
------
jonny_noog
Looking for more information on this project, I come across this Wiki entry:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassandra_Project>
I thought this was somewhat amusing considering some of the conspiracy
theories surrounding FaceBook.
------
cmars232
This is great news... At first glance, the Cassandra codebase looks smaller
and simpler than HBase. It will be interesting to see how it compares -- I've
had data integrity with HBase, but I'm also doing weird stuff to it (storing
tons of scientific floating-point data...)
------
henning
This is implemented in Java, a language I have been told by people who get
heavily voted up on this site is a ball and chain.
BigTable is implemented in C++ or Java. Cassandra appears to be most or all
Java. But Java and other compiled languages are death for startups and
corporations. Error! Error! Does not compute! Why aren't they using Ruby or
Lisp?
~~~
benreesman
Java is an excellent language for writing the kinds of programs that were
traditionally written in C but where the performance of Java is adequate (and
as the performance of well-written Java programs seems to be asymptotically
approaching the performance of well-written C programs this set is larger all
the time). In fact, treating Java as a garbage-collected C is often a very
reasonable thing to do.
People who bitch about how 'Java is dead' are referring (whether they know it
or not) to the practice of attempting to write change-prone business logic and
other glue in it. This practice was always a bad idea, something that even Sun
now seems willing to admit. If the Rails/Django discussion is at the center of
someone's programming universe then it is likely that to him or her that this
is the only kind of code in the world, and thus Java is of no consequence to
those sorts of people.
However, if your project is ambitious enough you'll find that you will need
both glue and infrastructure, in which case having a language like Java
underneath your dynamic language (people who use JRuby for example, or like
me, Rhino) will be a godsend when you need performance or the occasional
static-typing guarantee.
If you'll allow me to make the obligatory pg/Viaweb reference then I'll point
out that Viaweb contained non-trivial amounts of both C and Perl, in spite of
the obvious advantages of using Common Lisp for the store editor proper.
~~~
henning
I find it disappointing that you feel dynamic typing is incompatible with
performance.
Now's the time to rediscover optional static type annotations used for
optimizing compilation. Radically innovative!
~~~
benreesman
Addressing someone like a tardy child (I'm not mad, just disappointed) is a
reliable way to inflame the discussion. I don't think I will respond if you
phrase any further replies like that.
The claim that "dynamic typing is incompatible with performance" is
considerably stronger than what I said (and I would contend belies an
imprecise if not misguided notion of "dynamic typing"). That being said, for
people interested in using a mainstream platform to develop their
applications, the JVM offers a number of extremely productive "dynamic"
languages none of which perform as well as Java across a broad spectrum of
activities. I think you will find it telling that the engineers at Facebook
(who are world-class) chose to implement this system in Java.
Optional type annotations are a wonderful idea and I am optimistic that
someday the tradeoffs we mark around performance and convenience can be
granular and addressable at a lexical level in a single file. Until then, the
mix of a JVM scripting language and code written in native Java calling each
other trivially is pretty damn close.
Now I invite you to write a similar system using SBCL, if you enjoy debugging
inexplicable concurrency failures. Or maybe you'll use Actionscript 3? I hear
it has optional type annotations. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go work
for the Man on dreary accounting software.
Fail.
------
coglethorpe
I can't hear the name Cassandra without thinking of Woody Allen's "Mighty
Aphrodite."
~~~
st3fan
In France, she'd be called la renard. Hunted, with only her cunning to protect
her.
------
mleonhard
I hope I'll need to deploy this in a couple of years. :)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Why are RationalWiki articles always high up in Google search results? - StandardFuture
RationalWiki admits to their political-bias and outright incompetence in maintaining a purely objective stance on topics:<p>https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Essay:I_thought_this_was_supposed_to_be_RATIONALWiki<p>So, why do they seemingly always show up high in Google search results?
======
eesmith
I was thinking to write along the lines of "there is no purely objective
stance on topics".
But I see the page you linked to already covers that, in spades.
What searches are you doing to end up there? It rarely shows up in my
searches, unless I'm searching for specific hot-button topics.
And are their answers incompetent?
~~~
StandardFuture
> there is no purely objective stance on topics
This is an objectively wrong statement. The existence of Mathematics is a
negation of this statement in its entirety. Observations are purely objective.
Measurements are purely objective.
> Are their answers incompetent?
Do you consider purposely substituting biased views in place of objective
observation a form of incompetence? I don't. I consider it a form of
intellectual dishonesty. That is far worse.
~~~
eesmith
Then let's make it practical.
Name one news source which you consider to have "a purely objective stance on
topics".
Because I can't think of a single one.
And I would rather have one whose biases are worn on the sleeve, than shrouded
in a false disguise of neutral objectivity.
Even if we restrict ourselves to mathematics, consider Georg Cantor, who
demonstrated the existences of multiple types of infinities. Quoting
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg_Cantor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg_Cantor)
:
] Cantor's theory of transfinite numbers was originally regarded as so
counter-intuitive – even shocking – that it encountered resistance from
mathematical contemporaries such as Leopold Kronecker and Henri Poincaré and
later from Hermann Weyl and L. E. J. Brouwer, while Ludwig Wittgenstein raised
philosophical objections. Cantor, a devout Lutheran, believed the theory had
been communicated to him by God. Some Christian theologians (particularly neo-
Scholastics) saw Cantor's work as a challenge to the uniqueness of the
absolute infinity in the nature of God – on one occasion equating the theory
of transfinite numbers with pantheism – a proposition that Cantor vigorously
rejected.
] The objections to Cantor's work were occasionally fierce: Leopold
Kronecker's public opposition and personal attacks included describing Cantor
as a "scientific charlatan", a "renegade" and a "corrupter of youth". ....
Writing decades after Cantor's death, Wittgenstein lamented that mathematics
is "ridden through and through with the pernicious idioms of set theory",
which he dismissed as "utter nonsense" that is "laughable" and "wrong".
Which of these observations were purely objective, and in the 1800s, how would
you be able to tell?
> in place of objective observation
The choice of what to observe and what to report is based on views of what is
important, so therefore subject to subjective bias. You cannot have one
without the other.
~~~
StandardFuture
> Because I can't think of a single one.
This is beyond and silly and pedantic. We are all supposed to rely on what YOU
can and cannot think of?
If you really want some mathematical objectivity then maybe go read through
Serge Lang's Algebra and come back with me on which parts you found to be
subjective. You might find some!
> Which of these observations were purely objective?
Sigh ... so you have an anecdote of something that at a particular point in
time was unproven and conjectured. That status allowed others to make
subjective claims against it. And you are using this to try to argue that
everything at all times is never objective? That is silly. Can you really not
see the flaw in your logic here? The clue word was: anecdote.
> The choice of what to observe and what to report
I never made this differentiation anywhere in my comment. I pointed at blatant
intellectual dishonesty which is stating things either false or in a fashion
that might provide a more naive reader with a false pretense or to perhaps
make something concrete appear ambiguous, etc.
You are trying to restrict all possible forms of intellectual dishonesty to
reporting bias. You are doing this is either out of ignorance or intellectual
dishonesty. I am guessing the latter as you seem to have no moral contention
with it.
And yes, you can have things that are not subject to bias. Dropping an apple
from a window always causes the apple to fall towards the earth and not away
from it.
This conversation is pointless because you are either a troll or a supremely
dishonest individual.
~~~
eesmith
You wrote: "We are all supposed to rely on what YOU can and cannot think of?"
No, of course not. I asked for your help in identifying "a purely objective
stance on topics" precisely because I am limited in my understanding.
I am expressing my ignorance. You imply such sources do exist, so please
educate me.
You wrote: "I pointed at blatant intellectual dishonesty which is stating
things either false or in a fashion that might provide a more naive reader
with a false pretense or to perhaps make something concrete appear ambiguous,
etc."
Where did you point that out? You implied it, but have yet to demonstrate a
concrete example.
> "you are either a troll or a supremely dishonest individual"
While you have yet to take any of my questions seriously.
1) "What searches are you doing to end up there?".
To clarify, among other things, RationalWiki contains summaries of activities
by people that leftists sometimes categorize as "fascist", "fascist adjacent"
or "white supremacist." It is one of the few sources which do that. So if you
search for those names, then it's likely you'll come to a RationalWiki page.
2) "And are their answers incompetent?"
To clarify, I used "incompetent" because your top-level comment used
"incompetence." I wanted some examples of answers which were demonstrably
wrong, and some indication that they were wrong more often than other sources
that Google might use, and perhaps some indication that their biases were the
reason for being wrong.
You wrote "Dropping an apple from a window always causes the apple to fall
towards the earth and not away from it."
But dropping a helium-filled balloon does not.
So if you are news source, and _only_ talk about falling apples and never
about helium-filled balloons floating away, you are reporting the facts yet
resulting in biased reporting.
If your news show often reports about fraud in the welfare system, and never
covers wage theft, then it too is _both factual and biased._
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
New wonder drug matches and kills all kinds of cancer - spking
http://m.nypost.com/p/news/national/testing_starts_creates_homegrown_4jSHWpWFBEkczPTFque7VM
======
Splendor
I get all of my science news from celeb gossip sites.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
How Much Land Does a Man Need? (1886) - utopian3
https://www.online-literature.com/tolstoy/2738/
======
idoubtit
This story was faithfully transposed to *bande dessinée" (European comics) by
Martin Veyron in 2016. "Ce qu'il faut de terre à l'homme" won a prize at the
Angoulême Festival, and I recommend it very much if you can read French. My
only complaint with it is that the handful of Cyrillic texts in the drawings
are not made of Russian words but simple transliterations of French words.
Among the short novels wrote by Tolstoi, my personal preference is for "Father
Sergius". A young prince can't support any more the royal court, so he flees
outside of his world, then struggles in trying to find meaning and peace in
his life.
~~~
amiga_500
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Tolstoy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Tolstoy)
> Tolstoy also became a dedicated advocate of Georgism, the economic
> philosophy of Henry George
> towards the end of his life, Tolstoy become more and more occupied with the
> economic theory and social philosophy of Georgism.
> He spoke of great admiration of Henry George, stating once that "People do
> not argue with the teaching of George; they simply do not know it. And it is
> impossible to do otherwise with his teaching, for he who becomes acquainted
> with it cannot but agree."
Land value tax explained in 10 minutes:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gD_dZvPwAj0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gD_dZvPwAj0)
~~~
perl4ever
You know what _else_ is an interesting fringe idea that had some famous
adherents?
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_credit](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_credit)
...I have never really looked into it, but I happened on a paragraph that
makes it sound like it might be an approach to dealing with the problems
people complain about a lot these days:
"Douglas proposed to eliminate the gap between purchasing power and prices by
increasing consumer purchasing power with credits which do not appear in
prices in the form of a price rebate and a dividend. Formally called a
"Compensated Price" and a "National (or Consumer) Dividend", a National Credit
Office would be charged with the task of calculating the size of the rebate
and dividend by determining a national balance sheet, and calculating
aggregate production and consumption statistics."
"Based on his conclusion that the real cost of production is less than the
financial cost of production, the Douglas price rebate (Compensated Price) is
determined by the ratio of consumption to production. Since consumption over a
period of time is typically less than production over the same period of time
in any industrial society, the real cost of goods should be less than the
financial cost.
For example, if the money cost of a good is $100, and the ratio of consumption
to production is 3/4, then the real cost of the good is $100(3/4) = $75. As a
result, if a consumer spent $100 for a good, the National Credit Authority
would rebate the consumer $25. The good costs the consumer $75, the retailer
receives $100, and the consumer receives the difference of $25 via new credits
created by the National Credit Authority.
The National Dividend is justified by the displacement of labour in the
productive process due to technological increases in productivity. As human
labour is increasingly replaced by machines in the productive process, Douglas
believed people should be free to consume while enjoying increasing amounts of
leisure, and that the Dividend would provide this freedom."
~~~
amiga_500
This would be soaked up by rent, which is set by available income less
essentials.
~~~
perl4ever
There are townhouses roughly five miles apart in the city where I live that
differ by a factor of two in price. If what you say means anything, they
should rent for the same amount...? It seems doubtful to me.
~~~
amiga_500
No. Location matters. 5 miles is a long way in any city. Identical apartments
5 miles apart will have different rents.
~~~
perl4ever
The major office complex in the middle of things is _almost_ ten minutes
commute from the expensive townhouses and _just over_ ten minutes commute from
the cheap ones. Even though it's right beside the expensive homes. So in this
particular case, 5 miles is _not_ a long way.
It seemed pretty obvious to me that the difference was that the expensive ones
were brand new and the cheap ones were 25 years old. But often people don't
think of houses depreciating like cars.
------
cutchin
This story has stuck with me for years. Any time I've over-promised what I
could deliver or stand to miss a deadline or am otherwise stressed out by
situations of my own creation it comes back to me.
This website often focuses on ambition and furiously chasing one's dreams, but
it's nice to have reminders that in the end, it's the small comforts and
relationships we've built that really matter.
~~~
perfect_kiss
What's fun enough, Tolstoy has another story, "What Men Live By", which was
usually published alongside "How Much Land",
and says just the same things about comforts, relationships, and generally
love, which really matter:
[https://www.gutenberg.org/files/6157/6157-h/6157-h.htm#link2...](https://www.gutenberg.org/files/6157/6157-h/6157-h.htm#link2H_4_0001)
~~~
abyssin
Thanks for sharing this story! I just finished reading it and it's a good
reminder that we live together and depend on each other's help and support.
------
ArtWomb
Absolute classic. Another Tolstoy short story I really love is the tale of
"The Two Pilgrims". You read them once. And they stay with you your entire
life ;)
[http://www.online-literature.com/tolstoy/2891/](http://www.online-
literature.com/tolstoy/2891/)
------
curuinor
Tolstoy was a Georgist, and this is basically a little Georgist short story.
[https://www.jstor.org/stable/3487337](https://www.jstor.org/stable/3487337)
The basic point of Georgism is that landownership is the root of most of the
economic evil in the world and land should all be expropriated and held in
common. (but don't want to expropriate capital or do anything to it, unlike
the Marxists: Marx called Georgism "Capitalism's last ditch")
So strangely enough, it's not about greed in general, it's about land
specifically.
~~~
baxtr
Interesting! I wonder though what is specific to land which is different from
any other asset or capital in general according to Georgists?
~~~
curuinor
Basically, the social value of land is 100% socially constructed, but under a
system of landownership, it's 100% privately held and all the profit goes to
private hands. There are multiple empty lots very close to downtown SF which
are worth millions, tens of millions that the landlord didn't do jack shit to
improve, that everyone else improved the value of, that the entire value of is
the location. But when the landlord sells, only they get the value.
But it's easy as hell to tax land and impossible to avoid the tax (just show
up with cops, what the hell are they going to do, move the land? - and if they
don't pay, just sell the land to someone else, although usually the aim is to
collect the tax when transactions happen) So tax it. 100%. Georgism's tax
suggestions go: have that 100% land tax (not property tax), have no other
taxes, that's it. Also tax networks which have an inherent monopoly effect, it
was also suggested by Henry George.
Nothing to do with agrarian points of view, really. Georgism was created in
SF, it was most popular in NYC, and it was talking about the problems of the
first properly modern cities in America and Britain.
~~~
mc32
When you don't or can’t own land you end up with favela-like developments.
It’s okay as a sort of transition from homelessness to home ownership but you
don’t want that to be the end stage for a city.
~~~
curuinor
Land value tax isn't property tax. Despite my use of the word "expropriation",
what George specifically suggested was that people would be able to own land,
they just wouldn't benefit any from improvements in land value because of the
land value tax. So you would have to improve property and do something with it
to benefit from it.
------
adembudak
Gosh... I (re)read it this morning, and come across it to here. I developed an
habit that I gift a book to a random person I meet on outside... at a coffee
shop, or on a beach whatever. I usually choose a person that read a book and
go like "hey, what are you reading?" and we talk about it... It's a great
icebreaker. By the time, I happen to buy hundreds of books and decided to
share them. What is the point collecting them and calling it a "library"? It
eventually lead me to meet the people from all shades of life with the
interesting stories.
~~~
christiansakai
Interesting practice. I like to read, around 2 books per month, and mostly
random books (non fiction) that catch my interest. I have interests that are
unrelated to one another, and due to this I find it difficult to just talk
about a book to someone I know, and even more so with strangers.
~~~
CyanBird
2 books per month, really?
What does your schedule looks like? I have a large catalog of books which Id
love to go over, but it can be very hard for me to find the time to simply sit
and read beyond sitting on a plane or a bus
~~~
ConsiderCrying
Do you not have much free time after work? Or do you just feel like there are
better things to occupy it, other than reading?
I always read after a work and manage more than 2 books a month but, then
again, I don't think I've seen a movie or played a video game in at least half
a year, so I'm sacrificing on that front.
~~~
Infinitesimus
I'd wager family responsibilities (young kids, sick family, partner who
doesn't value reading alone for 1hr as much as you do, etc.)
~~~
ConsiderCrying
Yeah, I'm lucky to have no kids and a bookworm partner so I don't get roped
into playing with toys or watching reality TV. The other option in such cases
would probably be their commute to work, if they have one. Audiobooks can be a
real savior there.
------
Tepix
This story reminds me of playing the board game "Deep Sea Adventure" (
[https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/169654/deep-sea-
adventur...](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/169654/deep-sea-adventure) )
with some friends. In this game you try to get as much treasure as you can
from the sea bottom floor. At the same time you share your oxygen supply with
your competitors. We managed to run out of air three times in a row! The final
round was particularly amusing: When the players noticed that (only) one
player had a chance of making it back to the surface, they made sure to use up
the shared oxygen supply since they were doomed anyway.
Fun game, give it a try. Also quite educational, just as this excellent short
story.
------
lukaa
I'm glad that Tolstoy found it's place on hacker news. His Christian anarhisam
and nonviolence doctrine influence basically all civil right heroes in 20
century. But it is funny how Georgisam is selected. Just wonder could it be
related with high property price in bay area.
------
bmn__
The story is reminiscent of the
[http://enwp.org/The_Fisherman_and_His_Wife](http://enwp.org/The_Fisherman_and_His_Wife)
archetype.
It teaches the concept of "good is good enough" and the consequences of greed.
~~~
GordonS
Hah, I read that to my kids last night, and the article also reminded me of
it!
------
rjkennedy98
I believe James Joyce considered this the finest short story ever written.
------
redandblack
We had a translated and simplified version of this story for my Tamil class in
elementary school - and distinctly remember this and a few others. So much so,
that I googled a few years ago to realize that the original was from Tolstoy
------
forgotmypw
Russian:
[https://rvb.ru/tolstoy/01text/vol_10/01text/0259.htm](https://rvb.ru/tolstoy/01text/vol_10/01text/0259.htm)
------
notlukesky
A security warning for those who have an account on this site. Please do NOT
set up an account or log in as the signup/login page lack SSL (https). All
passwords will be sent in clear text.
------
newnewpdro
Curse you HN, here goes another unplanned multi-hour diversion.
~~~
mathgeek
The story is quite short. Easily completed in 10-15 minutes of focused
reading.
~~~
jacobush
If you really _think_ about the story, it can be a multi-hour diversion. (Or a
multi-year diversion.)
------
anoncow
Archive link:
[https://web.archive.org/web/20200105211507/https://www.onlin...](https://web.archive.org/web/20200105211507/https://www.online-
literature.com/tolstoy/2738/)
~~~
IA21
Mirror for ctrl+f
------
epaga
Absolutely love this short story, it really gets under your skin.
In one sense, I'm pretty sure it's a riff on Jesus' parable of the rich fool
(recounted in Luke 12:13-21). In both cases, the sudden & unexpected death of
the main protagonist shocks you into thinking through their (and by extension
your own) value system.
------
elcomet
In french (Le Moukik Pakhom):
[http://www.metafora.ch/wp-
content/uploads/2015/06/Tolsto%C3%...](http://www.metafora.ch/wp-
content/uploads/2015/06/Tolsto%C3%AFPakhom.pdf)
------
perfect_kiss
The story of climate change from mid-20 century to present day, at a glance.
------
anoplus
What a coincidence. Yesterday I searched for short stories on the web, to read
before bed and saw this one. Now in HN.
------
mirekrusin
\- how much is enough?
\- little bit more...
------
discreteevent
Antony Beevor mentions this story his book about Stalingrad. It's in reference
to Hitler's stategy on the Eastern front.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Don't Create Objects That End with -ER - yegor256a
http://www.yegor256.com/2015/03/09/objects-end-with-er.html?2015-10
======
dalke
You posted this 5 months ago, at
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9174193](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9174193)
, with 10 comments.
In that thread I gave what I consider to be substantive comments, and felt
that your responses were incomplete.
In addition to my concrete example of something useful named a "-reader",
other objects that end with an "-er"/"-or" include "generator",
"ParseTreeListener", "JavaLexer", "JavaParser", and "ParseTreeWalker". What
are your proposed better names or better design for those?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The Atlantic: A Waking Nightmare for Covid Patients: PTSD - nixtaken
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_AKe07J7tE
======
nixtaken
Holy hell. This epidemic is going to teach everyone a thing or two about
anesthesia. Part of you does remember what happened to your body while you
were under. I had two operations as a teen and feel like they changed me
forever.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: Type someone's name and find out how to pronounce it - mac_was
https://www.sayoname.com/me/maciej
======
mac_was
Hi HN, I've created sayoname.com, which allows everybody to create profiles
and record first and last names. You can video chat with people and search for
names and last names. It is free.
Why this idea? My name is Maciej and, after moving abroad, I've found that my
name is hard to pronounce for others and might make them uncomfortable when
starting a conversation with me. Hopefully, if you work in an international
environment, you can make people's life easier by recording your name and
sharing your profile in email footers or Linkedin.
There are around 300 recorded names—a hundred recorded by Chinese native
speaker surnames, about 150 Polish and 50 Ukrainians. If your name is missing,
record it, others might need it one day.
The app is Node.js + React. I hosted it on AWS Beanstalk. I can share my
experience on how to setup SSL, auto-scaling, CLI tool and answer more
questions here or directly on a video chat call.
If you are up for it create a profile, record your name and call me so we can
test how the video chat works :)
Currently, there is a 5 minute limit for video calls but the first 100 users
to create profiles and record names get this upgraded to 60-minute calls. Just
let me know, you can use the form here
[https://www.sayoname.com/contact](https://www.sayoname.com/contact)
So if you are curious how to say Maciej go to
[https://www.sayoname.com/me/maciej](https://www.sayoname.com/me/maciej) :)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
No password is safe from new breed of cracking software - lisper
http://www.salon.com/2013/09/02/no_password_is_safe_from_new_breed_of_cracking_software_partner/
======
thirsteh
I'm sorry, but this latest spree of articles is nonsense. There is nothing
wrong with a _randomly_ constructed password or passphrase, and each of these
articles conveniently forget to mention that the tools are only this effective
when the service provider doesn't do password authentication properly (e.g. by
using bcrypt or scrypt with a high work factor rather than MD5 or SHA-1 to
store the password 'fingerprints.')
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
MicroTESK (Microprocessor Testing and Specification Kit) - peter_d_sherman
http://www.microtesk.org/microtesk/about-microtesk/
======
peter_d_sherman
>"MicroTESK (Microprocessor Testing and Specification Kit) is a toolkit that
automates development of test program generators for microprocessors and other
programmable devices. Test program generator (TPG), or instruction stream
generator (ISG), is a utility for producing randomized assembly code aimed at
functional verification of RTL models, FPGA-based emulators, and ICs.
[...]
MicroTESK is applicable to a wide range of microprocessor architectures
including RISC (ARM, MIPS, Power, RISC-V, SPARC, etc.), CISC (x86, etc.),
VLIW/EPIC (Elbrus, Itanium, etc.), DSP, GPU, etc."
Open-source, too, apparently...
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The Problem with Patriotism/Nationalism - cwan
http://mattmaroon.com/2009/12/02/patriotism-is-stupid/
======
callmeed
_"So when I buy a shirt, whether the job of making it went to an American or a
Chinese person, someone got paid and I’m happy for that."_
While I (think I) understand the heart of this sentiment, if you're going to
be non-patriotic, you should still be pro-human rights to some degree.
If a corporation exploits workers (either at home or abroad), you shouldn't be
happy about giving them your money. Yes, the _"anti-establishment, local-
everything"_ crowd takes this to the extreme, but I still think it should be a
factor in your decision-making.
~~~
gloob
_While I (think I) understand the heart of this sentiment, if you're going to
be non-patriotic, you should still be pro-human rights to some degree.
If a corporation exploits workers (either at home or abroad), you shouldn't be
happy about giving them your money._
I'm not certain I understand precisely your argument; I have the impression
that you're referring to the sweatshops and similar? I wouldn't put "A minimum
wage of $foo" under the header of "human rights", myself, which is why I think
I'm missing your point a bit.
On the assumption that I understand it, however, and the primary complaint
against these companies is that they pay their workers very little, I would
like to ask: what other options do the companies actually have? Paying the
workers anything like a first-world wage would probably cause all sorts of fun
with inflation. Paying them a third-world wage is evil. Is the solution to
just not have employees in (e.g.) China at all? (Honest question.)
But, again, I probably misunderstood your point.
~~~
callmeed
Perhaps "human rights" is too broad an umbrella, but I still think it applies.
My primary complaint is _not_ about wage. It's about the treatment of workers
in general. Unsafe conditions, unsustainable hours, exposure to chemicals,
dangerous equipment, forced labor, physical abuse, etc. And, yes, people can
be underpaid even relative to their cost of living.
Combine those things with governments that afford little or no transparency
and you have what amounts to a "human rights" problem (in my opinion).
Seriously, it's not hard to find reports on working conditions in China ...
yes, I know they aren't all bad ... but it aint Willy Wonka's chocolate
factory over there. Nothing wrong with putting a little research and thought
into your purchasing decisions–that was my point.
Oh, and I don't think your last question was _honest_ ... because it makes no
sense. The solution obviously isn't to have no employees in China.
------
coffeemug
I think patriotism is just a special case of misusing the word "we". As in "we
put a man on the moon". No you didn't. Hundreds of physicists, mathematicians,
engineers, workmen, and men (and women) with really big balls put a man on the
moon. _You_ had almost nothing to do with it (other than being forced to
provide an infinitesimal part of the funding, but that's hardly _your_
achievement).
~~~
holograham
Putting a man on the moon would not have been possible without the funding
that was supplied by the American people so yes WE is appropriate.
------
J_McQuade
As sort of an aside: I'm living in England, and have a friend with a very
(English) nationalistic bent - and he actually identifies far more with, say,
our Indian or Polish communities than he does with the angry, ignorant, BNP
style person that would have them "go home", as he sees them as having a far
greater sense of their heritage than the baseball-cap wearing, drum-and-bass
club-frequenting, take-away chomping thralls that have "lost all sense of
their national identity".
How important any of this is is definitely open to debate (we argue about it
all the time, actually), but he's a smart guy with an interesting point of
view, and I think he serves as a good example of why you shouldn't
automatically associate patriotism/nationalism with racism, protectionism and
bigotry.
That said, though, he is probably quite an exception in this regard.
------
javert
"Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other
countries because you were born in it."
There's a critical difference between _nationalism_ and _patriotism_. What
that quote is talking about is nationalism.
Here is what the quote should say:
"Patriotism is your conviction that this country is _good_ because its people,
culture and government are fundamentally moral."
By "moral," I mean "good for human life."
It's right to be patriotic about America. In this country, more than anywhere
in the world, people are _free_. Free to live their own lives, to generate
wealth, and to generate happiness. And we have a culture that supports reason,
productiveness, and life in general.
Of course there are lots of exceptions to that, like protracted and pointless
wars in the Middle East, but those are not fundamental artifacts of the
conception of America; they are side-effects of bad culture today.
~~~
coffeemug
By your definition of patriotism, there is no such thing in practice. It
always degrades from loving your country because you were born in it, to
hating other countries because you weren't born in them. It's extremely rare
to see a benevolent version of patriotism the way you describe it.
~~~
gaius
_It's extremely rare to see a benevolent version of patriotism the way you
describe it._
I see it every weekend at Rugby matches.
------
known
I think Political Leadership allover the world want their _voters to be
subservient_ and they mask this is as Patriotism/Nationalism
------
johndevor
Is this suitable for HN?
~~~
J_McQuade
It's something to think about. That's HN in a nutshell, as far as I'm
concerned.
~~~
johndevor
What do you _not_ think about (just playing devil's advocate here)?
~~~
J_McQuade
Now there's an infinitely-answerable question! I don't think bout what would
happen if my pineal gland turned into trifle, or the implications of the
increasing variety of hair-care products on Afro-Vietnamese relations, or how
many M&Ms it would take to fill my shoe (though I admit that the latter
question could well turn up in one of these trendy job-interviews we keep
hearing about - get researching!)
Basically, I don't think about those things (in any depth, at least) because
nobody else does. Subjects such as the double-edged sword of nationalism etc.
plague our collective consciousness and as such are worth the brain-cycles, if
you're that way inclined.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Charlie Chaplin was the ideal actor for members of the Soviet avant garde - never-the-bride
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/may/06/the-chaplin-machine-by-owen-hatherley-review
======
THE_PUN_STOPS
Pretty amazing that the "Modern Times" link in this article goes to their
original review of the film from July 14, 1936.
[http://www.theguardian.com/film/1936/jul/14/derekmalcolmscen...](http://www.theguardian.com/film/1936/jul/14/derekmalcolmscenturyoffilm)
~~~
moreira
> Another Nazi spokesman said that reports from abroad had indicated that the
> picture had a "Communist tendency" and that this was no doubt the reason why
> the picture was unacceptable.
It's so incredible to see such an old news article, talking about Nazi
spokespeople's comments, on a modern website, looking just like every other
article on that website. The internet is remarkable.
~~~
hayksaakian
this choice note at the very end of the article
[It was suggested by Mr. A. E. Newbould, publicity director of the Gaumont
British Film Company, last night that, though it might sound absurd,
"Chaplin's moustache is so like Hitler's that I am of the opinion it may have
played some part in the prohibition of the film."]
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: One tool to view your website analytics, SEO, uptime, and security - kamban
https://flatga.io
======
kamban
I launched this tool last year, as a simple Google Analytics interface. Since
it attracted a good audience, I improved the tool to be an all-in-one website
metrics tool. It works on top of Google Analytics, and Google Search console.
It also does performance tracking, and security review. I am happy to answer
any questions you have.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: CloudFetch Never miss interesting stories on HN/ProductHunt/any website - timqian
https://cloudfetch.info/
======
timqian
Hi HN,I build this tool to help me collect interesting updates on my favorite
websites such as Hackernews, ProductHunt, Github trending, IH and so on. Hope
this tool can help you been better synced with your favorite info source
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Google Automatically Adds Scroll to Text Fragment to Search Results on Chrome - SaijoGeorge
https://tldrmarketing.com/seo/google-automatically-adds-scroll-to-text-fragment-to-featured-snippets-in-serps-on-chrome/
======
yamboy1
I honestly dislike this feature, because it leads to very messy looking urls
with lots of url escapes in them, as well as the whole `#:~:text` thing: (you
might need to click on the url to see the escapes)
[https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/198590/what-is-a-
bi...](https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/198590/what-is-a-bind-
mount#:~:text=A%20bind%20mount%20is%20an,the%20same%20as%20the%20original).
------
SaijoGeorge
Google has been criticized by some experts for implementing the feature in
Chrome by default since the feature can have some privacy issues. Here is a
tweet
[https://twitter.com/pes10k/status/1229835239565905921](https://twitter.com/pes10k/status/1229835239565905921)
by Peter Snyder Security Researcher @ Brave and another comment from David
Baron from Mozilla [https://github.com/mozilla/standards-
positions/issues/194#is...](https://github.com/mozilla/standards-
positions/issues/194#issuecomment-566719528).
And it looks like Google is now automatically adding Scroll To Text Fragment
to Featured Snippets in Search results, this basically means that if you are
on Chrome and click on the Featured Snippet they can automatically scroll and
take you to the section of the page where the snippet was lifted from.
Try searching for
[https://www.google.com/search?q=Will+emojis+and+HTML+tags+wo...](https://www.google.com/search?q=Will+emojis+and+HTML+tags+work+with+FAQPage+Schema)
on Chrome Desktop. I was able to trigger them from Australia.
Another interesting thing is that it __only happens in Chrome __, Edge and
Firefox did not show them and in some cases, the Featured Snippet did not
appear as well, kinda makes the SERPs on other browsers feel quite inferior
IMHO.[https://www.google.com/search?q=faq+page+Structured+data+typ...](https://www.google.com/search?q=faq+page+Structured+data+type+definitions)
– try clicking on different browsers.
Even when the Featured Snippets are shown in these other browsers they don’t
get the Scroll To Text Fragment treatment.
[https://www.google.com/search?q=scroll+to+text+fragment](https://www.google.com/search?q=scroll+to+text+fragment)
– try clicking on different browsers.
Obviously these other browsers don’t support Scroll To Text Fragment so it’s
pointless to show them right, well in the case of Firefox yeah but Edge runs
on Chromium and Scroll To Text Fragment actually works on it. Try clicking on
[https://tldrmarketing.com/about-
us/#:~:text=Does%20Konami%20...](https://tldrmarketing.com/about-
us/#:~:text=Does%20Konami%20mean%20anything%20to%20you%3F) on Edge.
From what I can see all Featured Snippets are getting the Scroll To Text
Fragment treatment on Chrome desktop, would love to see examples when it’s
not.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The Paradox of Building America's Green Lifestyle Grid - hownottowrite
https://mountainjournal.org/renewable-energy-solves-one-problem-but-creates-another
======
mrpopo
Very important article.
A point that failed to be mentioned is this one : as the mining demand goes
up, more and more "low-concentration" mines will be opened, requiring more
energy to extract the same amount of raw materials. And, unfortunately, the
mining industry is also entirely reliant on fossil fuels. Mining dump trucks
carry up to 700t of material, it's hard to imagine the size of the battery
that would move such a thing.
Another reason why major changes in lifestyle are inevitable, and solar
panels, wind turbines and carbon capture plants won't cut it.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Benefits of Bootstrap framework with it's example - brijeshdobariya
https://dev.to/codedthemes/benefits-of-bootstrap-framework-with-it-s-example-2i26
======
nivertech
How tailwind CSS compares to Bootstrap?
------
Dahoon
A list of benefits but no cons?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask YC: Avoiding "enterprise software" and self-justifying IT groups? - makecheck
One of the things I miss most about working at a startup is that IT in a startup focuses on actual productivity. Ironically, in a tiny company with a keen instinct for survival, the IT people at a startup don't seem as paranoid as those in large companies. There's no "herd" making things needlessly difficult. And certainly no zealots who believe the only conceivable way to solve a problem is by paying (horrible) software companies millions in licenses. There's no automatic disdain for free or open-source software, either.<p>What would you do to transform a larger company? To challenge them to take a risk and try to get the job done without Microsoft? To instill in people the importance of proper research (e.g. don't pay thousands for a helpdesk when there are dozens of free ticketing systems)? To reassure them that "invisible", highly effective systems are productive and won't cause IT people to be fired?
======
aggieben
This is simply the nature of large companies. Trying to "transform" it seems
like tilting at windmills. That's why people start startups.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Website that will log you out of all your accounts - sergiotapia
http://superlogout.com/
======
kitwalker12
goddamit...atleast ask for a confirmation.
------
dvh
AKA "The list of websites that don't know what CSRF is"
~~~
gus_massa
Some site don't check this in the logout page on purpose, for example google:
[https://sites.google.com/site/bughunteruniversity/nonvuln/lo...](https://sites.google.com/site/bughunteruniversity/nonvuln/logout-
xsrf)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Could Facebook Become The Next Microsoft? - rchambers
http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/07/19/could-facebook-become-the-next-microsoft/
Amongst all the noise today over Facebook's acquisition of Parakey, little has been said on what the acquisition means for Facebook in the broader sense.
======
Jd
I made a comment on the (Facebook) -> (Social Networking Microsoft) possiblity
a few days ago on a similar thread that was up here. I believe at this point
only pmarca and Ning have a decent shot at saving us from this nightmare. On
the other hand if someone could throw together an open-platform API for social
info sharing, this could prevent Facebook from locking up the market.
If no one is able to do this in the next six months, it is going to be a long
hard messy few years for social networking, esp. since Facebook places your
data behind lock and key. That will be a lot of unrecoverable data after three
or four more years.
Any one want to form a startup to challenge Facebook? I'd love to take on
Zuckerburgler.
------
earthboundkid
No.
Next question?...
~~~
mynameishere
Could Facebook Become The Next General Electric?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Lambda Architecture - r4um
http://lambda-architecture.net/
======
lfl1001
Good, bookmarked
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Photoreal Roman Emperor Project - pier0
https://medium.com/@voshart/photoreal-roman-emperor-project-236be7f06c8f
======
ralfd
Quite a bit "dark-washed". Aurelius was likely from the Balkans/Dacia, maybe
even descended from Roman settlers, Carus was probably from southern Gaul.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carus)
Vespasian and Domitian were Italian nobles. Tacitus (who was Italian too) and
Florianus were half-brothers, so they should be similar.
Marcus Aurelius family comes from Spain, and his mother was a noble Roman
woman...
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domitia_Calvilla](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domitia_Calvilla)
...and his father's mother was a Roman woman too.
It is all just speculation but compare it to this artistic rendition:
[https://i.redd.it/92np45xeap521.jpg](https://i.redd.it/92np45xeap521.jpg)
Actually what irks me is his son Commodus: This is not how blonde people, even
with a tan, even black haired Italians with a tan and narcistically coloring
their hair with gold glitter, look like.
~~~
ralfd
I meant with first Aurelius = Aurelian
[https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurelian](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurelian)
> "The ancient sources do not agree on his place of birth, although he was
> generally accepted as being a native of Illyricum"
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illyricum_(Roman_province)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illyricum_\(Roman_province\))
------
mc32
Previous discussion:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24172603](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24172603)
------
drclau
This is awesome. While listening to The History of Rome podcast, I went to
Wikipedia to see whatever type of media there’s to see how the people looked
like. For the old times, it’s of course statues, and sometimes only coins. For
the late emperors there are paintings too, but fairly unrealistic.
------
thdrdt
Is it a coincidence George Clooney's face looks the same as a lot of those
renders?
Now I wonder if this has to do with the learning set or that those face types
are very common.
~~~
kevinpet
Those emperors paid a lot of sestertii to make sure their bust came out
looking like George Clooney.
------
Igelau
I really want to believe that that's what Nero looked like. I'm pretty sure he
tried to get me to prop him up for a keg stand at a college party.
~~~
ddalex
Augustus looks likes Daniel Craig, a bit.
~~~
OJFord
Not a coincidence, this article doesn't seem to mention it, but in the Times
(London) write-up it states the training data was similar-looking celebrities,
and names Craig for Augustus.
------
sakopov
Nero looked like Ramzan Kadyrov (the present Chechen leader). Both are also
quite deranged. This is a pretty spectacular project!
~~~
waynecochran
And he had a "neck beard."
------
forgot_account
My physical education teacher in High School was the spitting image of Trajan
(this was late 90s). We were blown away the first time we saw a picture of
Trajan in our texts. He used to call his Cadillac a "battlewagon" but after we
showed him the picture he called it a "chariot" instead. Fun memories..
------
Ericson2314
Ah, so that's the what Zuck Cut is trying to reference.
------
BerislavLopac
Oh, let's play the game of "who would be the best actor to play each emperor"!
A few obvious ones:
* Gallienus: Pedro Pascal
* Decius: Clive Owen
* Maximinus Thrax: George Clooney
* Augustus: Daniel Craig
How about the others?
~~~
lowdose
* Quintillus: Ben Affleck
* Herennius Etruscus: Colin Farrell
~~~
mprev
Tiberius: Tim Apple
------
pluto9
There's a conspicuous number of young dudes who were emperor for a few years
or less and stopped being emperor because they died. It seems that emperorhood
is bad for one's health.
~~~
dskrvk
Also, many of them were killed by praetorian guards. Obvious fix: disband the
praetorians. Oh wait, actually we need those to protect against assassins!
------
netman21
OK, I have a question that has been bugging me for years. How do these Romans
shave? Finely stropped bronze blades that must dull immediately? Did they
pluck their whiskers?
~~~
mtmail
Seems metal razor were invented at least 2000 years prior the Roman Empire.
"Around 3000 BC when copper tools were developed, copper razors were invented.
The idea of an aesthetic approach to personal hygiene may have begun at this
time, though Egyptian priests may have practiced something similar to this
earlier. Alexander the Great strongly promoted shaving during his reign in the
4th century BC because he believed it looked tidier."
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaving#History](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaving#History)
------
aga98mtl
I feel like they should have used more pictures of people from central Italy
in their dataset. These images look very northern european to me.
~~~
vondur
Well, they are using the descriptions that have come down to us from Ancient
times, and I don't know how much the Ancient Romans differ from modern Romans
in terms of their racial aspects. Italy has had a lot going on since ancient
times in terms of peoples that have migrated there.
------
z3phyr
Trajan and Augustus rather look the same. Also I wonder if this would expand
to include Constantine and beyond?
------
ur-whale
They almost all look the same (or at least have the same weird smirk). Is that
an artifact of the methodology or is is a problem with the training set
because all roman sculptors were trained by the same school?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Sort CSS declarations with this npm package - Siilwyn
https://github.com/Siilwyn/css-declaration-sorter
======
Siilwyn
Released this package some time ago, now I'm searching for ways to improve it.
If anybody knows a good documented order that I can include don't hesitate to
suggest it. Also any other kind of feedback is more than welcome!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
How Our CSS Framework Helps Enforce Accessibility - kungfudoi
http://www.ebaytechblog.com/2015/11/04/how-our-css-framework-helps-enforce-accessibility/
======
thebouv
The title is a bit strong -- their standards encourage accessibility, they
don't enforce it.
Now a TDD/linter/review bot that could check for broken rules? That would be
pretty cool.
However, the article is a great read on accessibility in web dev. Something so
many of us overlook.
------
jbeja
Interesting idea, but I not sure of its practicality, there is nothing to stop
the developer to add classes that don't follow this convention.
~~~
austenallred
Perhaps the main CSS is expected to remain largely unchanged. If the framework
is in a certain state you really shouldn't have to touch it.
------
threefour
I find it sad that eBay even has to think about this. The W3C should have
built it into the specs from the beginning instead of making accessibility a
ghetto.
I think I have great empathy for my customers, but it's hard even for me to
justify going through all this extra work when I'm not sure anyone will use
it.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: What day of the week has the most traffic on Hacker News? - questionr
I'm curious which day (of the week) does HN experience the most traffic/viewership?<p>If not available, could you wager a guess? I would say, Monday or Friday.<p>Are there any numbers for this and other HN-related statistics?
======
tish91
I guess it's Monday, as ppl get back to office :P
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: Observable Notebooks - jashkenas
https://beta.observablehq.com/
======
jashkenas
Before this post fades from the front page, I just wanted to take a moment to
link to some of the things folks have been publishing this morning:
Nick Strayer shows how t-SNE is similar (equivalent?) to a force-directed
graph layout: [https://beta.observablehq.com/@nstrayer/physics-based-t-
sne](https://beta.observablehq.com/@nstrayer/physics-based-t-sne)
Jim Bumgardner published a tutorial that starts with drawing circles with
canvas, then fibonacci spirals, then colorful sunflower seeds:
[https://beta.observablehq.com/@jbum/circles-spirals-and-
sunf...](https://beta.observablehq.com/@jbum/circles-spirals-and-sunflowers)
Kamil Slowikowski drew a lovely Barnsley Fern:
[https://beta.observablehq.com/@slowkow/barnsley-
fern](https://beta.observablehq.com/@slowkow/barnsley-fern)
Alan Palazzolo did a Mandelbrot fractal with randomized coloring:
[https://beta.observablehq.com/@zzolo/mandlebrot-
set](https://beta.observablehq.com/@zzolo/mandlebrot-set)
Justin Palmer uses PROJ4JS to transform and scale a local map:
[https://beta.observablehq.com/@caged/local-map-projection-
wi...](https://beta.observablehq.com/@caged/local-map-projection-with-d3)
~~~
jacobolus
Inre your first link, things can get a bit awkward if someone uses javascript
features that aren’t supported in your browser. The error message is not
especially non-expert-reader-friendly:
[https://i.imgur.com/Hw9NDPA.png](https://i.imgur.com/Hw9NDPA.png)
Any plans to add some kind of transpilation or ...?
~~~
nstrayer
Oh no! That's my bad. I always default to using the spread operators because
it's so nice and I live in nice new browsers.
------
danso
Just in case people were wondering, the site seems to have been overwhelmed
for the past 10-15 minutes. But there's a YouTube demo of the tech
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16275040](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16275040)
I guess an oversimplified description would be that this is like a Jupyter
Notebook specifically for JavaScript. Libraries like D3 are pre-loaded and
immediately accessible. Am definitely interested in hearing the details about
what it is built with and medium to long-term plans for the service.
Note that the Jupyter Notebook service generally requires you to be installing
and running Python etc. on your own computer. Jumping into an Observable
notebook is as easy as opening your browser and signing in via GIthub
~~~
goatlover
There's a reason why you would want to run Python and that's the huge, well
supported scientific computing libraries it has.
~~~
tmcw
Absolutely! We all quite like Python, and there's no denying that JavaScript
doesn't have the same caliber and range of scientific code (yet!).
I fully expect plenty of people to do some of the data-crunching in Python,
Julia, R, and so on, and bring it into Observable to explore and experiment.
And I also expect JavaScript's ecosystem to blossom, especially with
WebAssembly & WebGL hitting the mainstream.
~~~
goatlover
No doubt you're right, but I don't think JS is well suited for scientific
computing. At least Python gives you operator overloading. Julia and R are
designed for this field. It's better for JS to remain on the presentation side
for anything sophisticated.
~~~
colbyh
Forgive me if I read the response wrong but that seems like exactly what the
author is saying? Do your computing in Python/R, export a generated CSV, and
then present it in Observable?
~~~
goatlover
With the possibility that WebAssembly and WebGL will make the libraries in
Python/R available to JS. Which might be alright. You probably won't be able
to utilize vectorization with operators.
------
web007
Please, Observable, put something on the page that says what language this is!
I figured this was like Colaboratory
([https://colab.research.google.com](https://colab.research.google.com)) or
Azure Notebooks ([https://notebooks.azure.com/](https://notebooks.azure.com/))
or some other hosted-jupyter variant. There was no information about how it
should work when I went to the scratchpad, and I could barely tell it was
Javascript when picking one of the sample notebooks.
~~~
waleedka
Not only the language, but have at least one line that says what this is. I
can guess that it’s a hosted notebook service, but I can’t tell how it’s
different from Jupyter Notebook. Is the difference in the language it uses, or
are there other differences?
~~~
jacobolus
See [https://beta.observablehq.com/@mbostock/five-minute-
introduc...](https://beta.observablehq.com/@mbostock/five-minute-introduction)
and the links therein, e.g. the video they made
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEmDwflQ3xE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEmDwflQ3xE)
------
shalabhc
This looks fantastic. The model appears very clean and different than Jupyter
in many ways:
\- cells can have names (it seems each cell can only export one name that is
visible to the rest of the notebook)
\- dependent cells auto-update when a source cell changes
\- cells can be generators that auto update up to 60 times/sec
\- cell values can be tied to UI elements easily
So instead of Jupyter's model where all cells execute in the same namespace,
here you have named cells explicitly connected to each other in a graph and
executed in topological order (not linear order).
The introduction covers these pretty well:
[https://beta.observablehq.com/@mbostock/five-minute-
introduc...](https://beta.observablehq.com/@mbostock/five-minute-introduction)
------
ryanianian
This is really cool and would be a great way to introduce programming concepts
in an educational setting. Instant-feedback, inline documentation in a
narrative style, and running on a browser really lowers the barrier for entry.
I would have loved something like this when I was learning programming in
middle-school decades ago.
Since it comes from the guys behind D3 it's not surprising that much of the
visuals come from D3. This is really evocative, but it may limit some of the
audience for this tool. I would encourage the developers to take some cues
from Apple's swift playgrounds and add visuals and sliders for even some of
the simpler language constructs like loops and add some "simple" wrapper
functions for drawing elementary shapes. This would definitely be a shift from
the intended purpose as I see it right now, but it would have the side-benefit
of increasing debugability as well.
Great work - look forward to having the occasion to using it.
~~~
jashkenas
I would have loved something like this while learning to program as well. I
mean ... the Ruby REPL was fun, but this sort of thing is just so much more
tactile and visual.
We haven't had time to produce as many demo notebooks as we might have liked,
but these notebooks really aren't D3-specific in the slightest. They're a
reactive flavor of JavaScript, and anything that produces a value or can be
rendered to the DOM will work.
For example, here are a whole mess of Plotly charts:
[https://beta.observablehq.com/@jashkenas/plotly-
js](https://beta.observablehq.com/@jashkenas/plotly-js)
Here are some (wild) WebGL, Three.js and regl sketches:
[https://beta.observablehq.com/collection/webgl](https://beta.observablehq.com/collection/webgl)
And here are some simple native inputs you can use to control your sketches:
[https://beta.observablehq.com/@jashkenas/inputs](https://beta.observablehq.com/@jashkenas/inputs)
Remember — a "slider" here isn't anything special. It's just a chunk of DOM
that produces a number as a value. It can be replaced with anything else you
can imagine that produces a number as a value. There's no API there ;)
~~~
ryanianian
Oh that's cool I thought there were special hooks with D3. The native inputs
demo seems really compelling especially in a learning environment. I'll
definitely play with this and bring it into my next mentoring group meeting.
(They'll be so glad to get away from scratch!)
One cool thing that Swift playgrounds let you do is advance program state
through loops and other flow-control line-by-line using a slider. I think they
have to have cooperation with the compiler/runtime to make this happen. (I'm
also not sure how truly useful it is after a few days of learning the basics.)
I suppose you could do something similar with the native inputs but not using
native syntax. What I'm thinking would be a massive undertaking I realize -
it's cool that this offering generates so many "ooh and what else" ideas.
~~~
jashkenas
Yes, it's absolutely worth exploring further — and we definitely have notions
for ways to further expose and make interactive the running state of the
notebook.
But for starters: You can do something similar to expose the internal state of
loops and flow-control constructs by just using JavaScript's generators.
Here's an extremely simple example that slowly yields the value of a loop's
`i` variable:
[https://beta.observablehq.com/@jashkenas/flow-control-
demo-w...](https://beta.observablehq.com/@jashkenas/flow-control-demo-with-
generators)
If you remove the delay, it'll instead yield `i` at 60fps.
------
octref
The app itself is well done, but the editing experience is quite
lacking...It's 2018 and people don't want to write html/css/js as if writing
txt files. [https://codesandbox.io](https://codesandbox.io) can be a good
inspiration to learn from. I believe its popularity is a result of using
Monaco[0] and supporting Language Servers[1].
I would advise looking into editing/language support early. Auto completion
(for DOM API, D3 API, etc) and error checking can be very helpful to the user.
Still, congratulations to the launch (the app looks beautiful and UX is pretty
solid)! When I was reading @mbostock's medium post[2] a few months ago I knew
something like this will popup.
Anyway, back to building my own thing which focuses on the editing side of
playgrounds, which I think is what most online ones (Codepen / JSFiddle) lack.
[0]: [https://microsoft.github.io/monaco-
editor](https://microsoft.github.io/monaco-editor)
[1]: [https://microsoft.github.io/language-server-
protocol](https://microsoft.github.io/language-server-protocol)
[2]: [https://medium.com/@mbostock/a-better-way-to-
code-2b1d2876a3...](https://medium.com/@mbostock/a-better-way-to-
code-2b1d2876a3a0)
------
rntz
This works by executing Javascript code written by the user. Since these
notebooks are shareable, and there is also a log-in feature, do any security
features need to be put in place to prevent, say, someone linking me to a
notebook that sends my login credentials for observablehq.com to a malicious
host? That is, is the javascript inside the notebook sandboxed in any way?
I don't fully understand how modern web security works. But "executing
arbitrary javascript written by user A on website B viewed by user C" seems
worrying.
~~~
jashkenas
Yes. We use <iframe>s with the sandbox attribute
([https://developer.mozilla.org/en-
US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/if...](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-
US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/iframe#attr-sandbox)) to uh ... sandbox away the
running JavaScript.
If you inspect them, you'll see that those frames are hosted on
observableusercontent.com instead of observablehq.com.
It's a similar security model to how raw files on GitHub are served from
githubusercontent.com.
~~~
ontouchstart
I wrote a simple notebook:
[https://beta.observablehq.com/@ontouchstart/test](https://beta.observablehq.com/@ontouchstart/test)
to confirm that the code is running in an iframe from host
[https://static.observableusercontent.com](https://static.observableusercontent.com)
------
simonw
The homepage copy didn't quite capture me... until I realized it was the new
thing by D3's Mike Bostock! Maybe worth name-dropping that somewhere on that
page? Though I don't know how many people would respond to that other than
myself (hopefully lots of people).
~~~
sillysaurus3
Eh. I respect people more for not namedropping themselves, but maybe I'm alone
in this.
(Are you sure it's a good idea to perpetuate the status quo? It's hard to get
anyone to pay attention to what you've made unless you're already known. That
seems a bit unfair to the next generation, and rather the opposite of
oldschool hacker ethos.)
~~~
simonw
I totally see where you're coming from - name-dropping like that feels really
tacky. I'd shy away from that on my own projects.
The challenge is helping people understand what something is and why it is
valuable as quickly as possible. In this case, the fact that the team behind
this are Mike Bostock (d3), Jeremy Ashkenas (Backbone, CoffeeScript) and Tom
MacWright (Mapbox Studio) feels very relevant to getting me excited about the
project.
It's such a strong product that I imagine word of mouth (plus how well it
demos) will do that job for them though. This was just my first thought on
loading up he page in Mobile Safari (and then realizing what it actually was).
~~~
kakarot
Yeah honestly that raised my interest considerably.
------
trevyn
A+.
Feedback: I instantly understood that it was something similar to Jupyter, and
my very first mental question was "I hope it's in JS", and this took a
surprisingly long few seconds and two page navigations to establish -- I
expected the choice of language to be on the splash page.
Anyway, very well done, and it's quite clear to me that JS is going to
_trounce_ Python for nearly everything long-term. The JS ecosystem is just an
unstoppable freight train.
~~~
tty7
lol
------
rrherr
Their new screencast is awesome too!
"Observable: An Earthquake Globe in Ten Minutes"
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEmDwflQ3xE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEmDwflQ3xE)
~~~
jashkenas
And good place to drop few links, if you'd like to cut to the chase.
The finished notebook from the screencast (which you can fork):
[https://beta.observablehq.com/@jashkenas/earthquakes](https://beta.observablehq.com/@jashkenas/earthquakes)
And a fancier version that spins, reuses the canvas element instead of re-
rendering it from scratch, projects the quakes as circles on the surface of
the sphere, and offers a bunch of other options to configure (like if you'd
like to chart the past day, week or month of quakes):
[https://beta.observablehq.com/@jashkenas/quakespotter-0-1](https://beta.observablehq.com/@jashkenas/quakespotter-0-1)
~~~
d--b
Do you guys have a keyboard shortcuts cheatsheet? I can't figure how to move
from one cell to another without clicking or creating a new cell.
~~~
tmcw
Sure thing! When you're on a notebook, click on your user avatar, then help.
Walkthrough: [https://file-oxhnhlfzte.now.sh/](https://file-
oxhnhlfzte.now.sh/)
~~~
d--b
Most excellent, thanks much
------
cpsempek
This couldn't have come at a more convenient time for me. After years of
telling myself I'd learn D3 I have finally started to as well as use it at
work. I was using an extension in Jupyter but it was behaving unpredictably,
and not being a frontend engineer by trade I found the process of sublime +
browser foreign and cumbersome. As a big fan of jupyter and zeppelin I am
stoked to see notebooks entering the js data viz domain.
Curious as to know how developers view the notebook paradigm? I feel like
there is a sense of pride in working from the command line or vi, so wonder
how these UI heavy approaches are received by the js/python/scala community.
~~~
spot
The BeakerX extension to Jupyter has good support for D3 visualization of data
prepared in Python and other languages.
[http://BeakerX.com/](http://BeakerX.com/)
~~~
spot
Here's a live demo on MyBinder:
[https://mybinder.org/v2/gh/twosigma/beakerx/0.12.0?filepath=...](https://mybinder.org/v2/gh/twosigma/beakerx/0.12.0?filepath=doc/python/AutoTranslation.ipynb)
------
krebby
To me the killer app for this is to empower data scientists to create useful,
ad-hoc visualization apps for their results. Right now the html / presentation
story for Jupyter notebooks is awful.
Mike, Jeremy, and Tom, this looks awesome. I'm looking forward to put it
through the paces.
~~~
joshuamorton
>Right now the html / presentation story for Jupyter notebooks is awful.
How so?
Ive found it pretty straightforward to convert matplotlib plots to gif/mp4 for
presentation (note: this can be done automatically within the notebook), and
plotly is pretty good for truly interactive stuff.
~~~
krebby
I'm specifically referring to the use case of creating explorable apps. Most
data scientists I know would love a way of, say, building a map with a few
input controls that alter the data or presentation (colors, layers, filtering,
aggregation).
I'm currently working on a JS-powered geospatial exploration app that is meant
to be run either standalone or embedded into a Jupyter notebook. We often run
into questions around how much the embeddable app should be scriptable or how
much user control to allow. This would seemingly solve many of our needs.
~~~
claytonjy
Have you looked at shiny (R) or dash (python)? I found it pretty easy to
building a map with a few input controls that alter the data or presentation (colors, layers, filtering, aggregation)
with R + shiny + leaflet
~~~
krebby
Yes, but neither shiny nor python (folium, etc) give us the level of
customization or control via an actual JS bridge that this appears to.
That said, I tried to create a demo application and it seems like the require
/ exports / global situation isn't 100% yet. Any tips from the team on what to
do here?
[https://beta.observablehq.com/@akre54/deck-gl-
test](https://beta.observablehq.com/@akre54/deck-gl-test)
------
krazydad
Seeing a lot of posts of the "Observable vs Jupyter" variety. I really don't
think this has to be a this versus that kind of discussion. There is plenty of
room for both.
~~~
bayonetz
How about both rolled into one somehow!?!
------
MJSplot_author
I like the idea, I've even written something similar myself, but for me a few
things were not clear.
How would I load in data that is stored on my harddrive (not web addressable)
without having to run my own server or go through the file selector popup box
each time. User JS can't just read the harddisk (a requirement for web
security). If I have to run my own server then a major selling point of this
is gone.
I work with large tabled data and very often use vectorised functions using
numpy or pandas, working on entire columns with a fantastically simple
interface. A = B * x, for arrays B, scalars x returning a new array A. Is
there something as beautiful available, working around the lack of operator
overloading in JS? I've only seen string abuse like p('A') = p('B*x'). Auh.
~~~
tmcw
Good question! Mike wrote a notebook about getting data into Observable here:
[https://beta.observablehq.com/@mbostock/introduction-to-
data](https://beta.observablehq.com/@mbostock/introduction-to-data) \- the
gist is that right now any host that supports CORS does the trick, and the
combination of GitHub Gist & RawGit is pretty good for the task. It'd be nice
to drag & drop data right in the app, though, so... stay tuned.
And, yep - something like pandas for JavaScript would also be nice... also
stay tuned.
------
d--b
FYI: got some 'Oops, an unexpected error occurred.' error message, then the
notebook I was testing just disappeared.
~~~
jashkenas
I'm afraid that we're running into a database error at the moment. We're on
it...
_Edit 1: Deploying the fix now..._
_Edit 2: ... and we 're back._
~~~
subbu
I thought I broke it :)
------
dunham
So I finally got around to taking a good look at this last night after work. I
adapted a single page d3 app that I'd written many years ago to model sous
vide cooking.
A few comments:
\- Probably needs some more documentation. Maybe a quick reference for the API
that's available and a list of keystrokes. I will admit though, I bailed
halfway through the tutorials so I could start playing with it.
\- I'd like to be able to drag and drop cells (or otherwise rearrange them). I
created my page, but then wanted to better organize it. Making new cells and
cut/pasting content was annoying.
\- The Opt-Return thing is killing me. It executes the cell in Jupyter and
splits the cell into two in Observable. I can't think of a reason I'd want to
split a cell in the middle. I believe splitting in the middle will always
result in two cells with syntax errors. Perhaps just always create and focus a
new, empty cell?
\- It'd be nice if there was an easy way to delete a cell. Currently, I'm
emptying it and then joining with the previous via option-del, which
concatenates cells. I believe joining two cells with content will always
result in a syntax error, so I'm not sure the utility of that.
\- The samples were useful, especially for learning how d3 fits into this. I
ended up breaking up a long function (to build the d3 graph) into multiple
cells, taking cues from the samples. (I also learned that d3 has changed a
little since v3.)
It would also be nice to be able to rename variables (i.e. refactor), but
that's not a critical feature.
------
peregrine
So please let me know if this is rude, but how is this funded?
~~~
trevyn
The monetary cost of running this can be very low, since the computationally
expensive part runs on the client. So it doesn't really need much "funding" to
build and run, just time investment.
------
chatmasta
Glanced over this yesterday, came back to it today when I saw it was by
jashkenas, who has done some real innovative work over the years. @jashkenas
-- is this your primary project now? Are you building a business around this
or is it more for fun/open source?
Would be curious to hear plans to monetize it.
------
orbifold
Would be cool if there was reason / typescript support.
------
polalavik
How is this different than Ipython/Jupyter notebooks? Whys everyone freaking
out about this.
~~~
mbostock
A few differences. 1. You don’t have to install anything, so running (or
forking) someone else’s notebook is as simple as clicking a link. 2. It’s
reactive, which means simpler code and better feedback, particularly when
building user interfaces or analyzing realtime data. 3. It runs in the browser
so you have direct access to powerful graphics (and GPU computation): Canvas,
SVG, WebGL. 4. You can quickly import code for reuse from other notebooks,
making a notebook a kind of lightweight library as well as a human-readable
document.
~~~
goatlover
> 3\. It runs in the browser so you have direct access to powerful graphics
> (and GPU computation): Canvas, SVG, WebGL
Jupyter is a web server. Notebooks run in the browser. iPython the kernel can
run on the command line in addition to the browser.
> 1\. You don’t have to install anything, so running (or forking) someone
> else’s notebook is as simple as clicking a link
Jupyter lets you clone notebooks with the click of a button.
Also, you can run Javascript from a Notebook cell, and there are Python
libraries that interface with the JS visualization libraries, like Plotly.
~~~
danso
Jupyter Notebooks run in the browser but what examples are there of being able
to write Python and have the same kind of access to the DOM and graphics APIs
like you have with JavaScript?
~~~
goatlover
ipywidgets for creating interactive html widges & dashboards and Plotly,
Bokeh, and nvd3 are 3 examples for visualaition that integrates Python with JS
libraries.
Of course JS gives you full flexibility for talking to the DOM and graphics
APIs, but web apps are not the main focus of data science. The web is just one
possible means to presentation or collaboration.
------
Kagerjay
Its still lacking some core features that make jupyter easier to use. I went
through the tutorials and 10 min earthquake videos.
There's no shortcut for deleting items on the "help" section. No WYISWYG
editor for that either. So if you want to delete a bulletpoint you
accidentally made, it just shows up as "undefined"
There's not a way to bind your own hotkeys. Some of default hotkeys get
overridden by my own set of hotkeys, so this isn't too helpful
I'm not a big fan of the UI/UX. I see where its going, collapsing items you
don't want to see. But this gets rather tedious to always do everytime. There
should be a default setting that lets you bind whether pins are defaulted or
not.
------
stevedomin
Great product! I've been using RunKit
([https://runkit.com/home](https://runkit.com/home)) a bit, what would you say
are the key differentiators?
~~~
webXL
Yeah, a while ago I discovered this slick JS notebook app called Tonic, and
could never remember the name until one day I came across this thing called
RunKit and I thought that it must be a clone. Nope, name just changed when
Striped acquired it.
When I saw this app, I thought Tonic must have gone through another
rebranding. Wrong again! This just looks more geared for data visualization
and collaboration though. Would be curious to see if Tonic/RunKit (or iPython
even) were used as inspiration.
------
smortaz
This is fantastic & a huge congrats from the Azure Notebooks team!
------
dyarosla
Legitimately very cool. As someone else mentioned I’d also really like the
ability to embed these on another page, and possibly have these run locally
offline.
I do have a question: for notebooks linking to outside notebooks: is there
anything that prevents breakages? Ie external notebook variable name changes
or is completely removed, would parts of my notebook relying on that one then
also fail? Is there some kind of public versioning of notebooks so that I can
refer to a value at notebook ref,v1?
~~~
jashkenas
That's a fantastic question.
It's not ready yet, but we're hoping to roll out import pinning for notebooks
soon.
Each notebook is versioned — every time you make a change and re-run the cell,
a version is saved to the server. And every time you publish, that's a
publication of a specific version of the notebook.
Our plan is to pin the version of any code you import from outside the
notebook, including require(npm-module), import {value} from "other-notebook",
and even the version of the Observable standard library that was current when
you wrote the notebook.
Hopefully, that should provide a good foundation for robust notebooks that
don't break as libraries change over time. Of course, you'll be able to re-pin
a new version if you want to upgrade something.
~~~
dyarosla
Awesome. Thanks for replying. I'll definitely be watching your team at work :)
------
atarian
Any plans to make the notebooks embeddable in other sites?
~~~
jashkenas
Yes, and single interactive cells as well.
A notebook already runs in a sandboxed iframe, and is able to load its
dependencies there (libraries, data, values from other notebooks). So we're in
quite good shape to be able to do that soon.
~~~
cscheid
Fantastic.
One final question/request (for which I'd happily pay for!) : it would be
awesome to have a path away from Observable's infra if desired. Say I _really_
want to host a particular notebook locally: is something like that planned? I
know this is not a trivial feature since notebooks can call other notebooks,
but I'd love to develop stuff on Observable knowing that should the worst
happen and it doesn't exist anymore, I can run it all locally on my webpage.
~~~
jashkenas
Yes, something like that is in the roadmap.
We’ve been scrambling to get things ready enough for this initial launch, but
Mike managed to get the Standard Library open sourced this morning:
[https://github.com/observablehq/notebook-
stdlib](https://github.com/observablehq/notebook-stdlib)
One of the next pieces we'd like to open-source is the Notebook Runtime — All
of the JS that you need to take a blank webpage, and host a notebook within
it.
After that, there's some file format details to figure out — hopefully a
notebook can just be published and consumed as a standard ES Module. But then
we'll be most of the way there.
------
th0ma5
I found the source for a "standard library" for this project, but nothing for
the project itself. Anyone have any pointers?
~~~
hk__2
That’s because it’s not open-source.
------
crooked-v
This is cool, but I'm annoyed at yet more intentional overlapping of names in
the JS ecosystem.
------
sramam
Strikes me that a markdown syntax with small extensions would serve well as a
format for this. This seems to invert the default mode from text to code. Is
there a reason for this?
Also, where are the notebook stored? Can I get an offline copy? Wasn't obvious
from a quick look.
------
bayonetz
I'd love to see a notebook environment that could somehow combine Python data
science tools with DOM/JavaScript interactive visualization tools like D3.
Jupyter and crew do former and this does the latter. What we really want is
both. Would obviously be tricky to both implement technically and to design a
good experience that lets you swap between the two languages and paradigms.
Like you might have run webserver behind the scenes to expose the Python
produced data to the D3? Stuff like that. Sounds like an interesting
challenge. Because I'm generous though, I'd like to give this idea away for
free to anyone willing to execute on it. Just joking! Devil in the details.
More accurately, I'd just be pumped if someone had the energy to tackle this
beast. Also, I'd definitely pay for a hybrid tool like this.
------
dpweb
Really useful tool to iterate and riff on ideas.
The visualizations especially good as a feature to promote it.
im sure im not alone id love to create pretty charts and would wow a
customer.. But cant justify spending the cycles to fully learn d3 etc..
------
d--b
Ah! At last!
Mike: if you're reading this: thanks a million!
~~~
d--b
Btw, Tom & Jeremy: thanks too!
------
daotoad
Nice work, it looks pretty slick. You have a right to be proud of your work.
But....
IMO, the project name is a disaster.
If successful it will muddy the water on searches for RxJS (and other Rx)
observables.
Please do like the Amber.js team did when they learned of a name comflict and
rebrand as Ember.js. That would be awesome.
------
maxsavin
It's amusing that their markdown example is not reactive.
------
jbverschoor
so... what IS observable?
------
Numberwang
I like it, but I'm not sure I have a user case for it.
------
huangwei_chang
Sorry, I can only see "Oops, an unexpected error occurred."
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
XSS in Tweetdeck (don't view in Tweetdeck...) - maaarghk
https://twitter.com/derGeruhn/status/476764918763749376
======
adambard
So apparently this was retweeted by @5SOS, a teen pop band with some 3 million
followers, which is why most of the responses are confused teenagers.
For some reason this is hilarious to me. Not the pinnacle of responsible
disclosure, but no real harm done.
~~~
yror10
Obviously their social media agent uses tweetdeck...
------
mrspeaker
The replies to that tweet are beautiful. Sometimes you forget that not
everyone in the world can recognize a cross-site scripting vulnerability when
they see one!
------
theboss
What's sad is that not even wrong security was in place here. They didn't even
try. There was NO XSS prevention.
<script>javascript</script> is the first payload you try when looking for the
stupidest XSS you can find....
~~~
adambard
Apparently it was only activated if you included an emoticon (<3) in your
tweet, possibly following the closing script tag.
~~~
ozh
Any UTF8 char actually 💩
------
k-mcgrady
I guess the New York Times uses Tweetdeck[1]. I saw this because several
people I follow had retweeted it and the Twitter app notifies you if several
of your followers do the same thing. It's a useful feature. If Tweetdeck does
the same thing it could make this spread really fast.
[1]
[https://twitter.com/derGeruhn/status/476764918763749376](https://twitter.com/derGeruhn/status/476764918763749376)
------
DouweM
I wonder if the poster of this "twitter worm" could get in legal trouble for
this; it's quite similar to the Samy MySpace worm[1] of a decade ago, where
the creator was charged with a felony (they plea bargained out).
[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samy_(computer_worm)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samy_\(computer_worm\))
~~~
nknighthb
Fortunately, the author appears to be German.
------
blackRust
Looks like it might even be starting to loop around? The Guardian have already
scurried an article about it [1].
[1] [http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jun/11/twitter-
tw...](http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jun/11/twitter-tweetdeck-
xss-flaw-users-vulnerable)
------
6thSigma
A lot of people I follow must use Tweetdeck. This has been retweeted on my
feed several times in the last few minutes.
~~~
maaarghk
Somebody in my office got hit with it, that's how I found out.
------
maaarghk
Wonder if it's because of the emoji at the end? It's HEAVY BLACK HEART,
U+2764, e29da4 in hex.
------
zatkin
"The _most powerful_ Twitter tool for real-time tracking, organizing and
engagement."
~~~
michielvoo
So powerful, it even supports scripted tweets
------
basicallydan
39,000 retweets and counting.
------
rrss1122
Someone's gonna get in trouble for using an eval in tweetdeck...
------
sp332
Tweetdeck seems to be down now.
~~~
ozh
It is:
[https://twitter.com/TweetDeck/statuses/476770732987252736](https://twitter.com/TweetDeck/statuses/476770732987252736)
== "We've temporarily taken TweetDeck services down to assess today's earlier
security issue. We'll update when services are back up."
------
tarekmoz
Security 101 ?
------
hybridknight
so fast
~~~
maaarghk
Apparently it's fixed already
[http://thenextweb.com/twitter/2014/06/11/tweetdeck-users-
xss...](http://thenextweb.com/twitter/2014/06/11/tweetdeck-users-xss-
vulnerability-means-revoke-access-now/)
~~~
ojii
Definitely not fixed here. Chrome on Linux, logged out and back in, closed and
re-opened tab. Not fixed.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Up with Downfly - bootload
http://gigaom.com/2007/07/11/downfly/
======
cmars232
Unfortunate name!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The State of Mexican Venture Capital - dennisvdheijden
http://www.dennisvanderheijden.com/the-state-of-mexican-venture-capital/
======
ememorato
As you have well mentioned, Mexico's entrepreneurship and startup investment
scene is in its infancy. A notable barrier between this current state and a
more mature ecosystem where capital is flowing in and out of innovative new
companies is that we have yet to see big exits "coming out of Mexican soil",
as you mentioned to Dave McClure in the comment section. It is something I
believe we need to really work hard on, and not as individuals but as a
Mexican community. Those of us involved in this line of work know how critical
it is to much of our collective success for a Mexican startup to beef up,
grow, expand and then be either acquired or go public in the near future.
Which is also why I get frustrated when non-constructive criticism, rivalries,
egos or lack of collaboration hinder us from getting closer to achieving this
critical milestone. Investors are not stupid; they have money for a reason.
They are also market-oriented people who are interested to a lesser or greater
extent in making a profit. Give them a big profit resulting from a Mexico
company, and capital will flood our scene and become abundantly available.
Then again, it is a task we should ALL, as individual parts of this growing
Mexican community, take to our hearts and one worthy of our serious
commitment.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Fanboy Theory - Cadsby
http://www.marco.org/2012/01/04/fanboy-theory
======
loso
I don't agree with this at all. Most of time, when I see charges of
"fanboyism" it is when a person is attacking, or is known for attacking, the
choices of others. For example, "You use Windows over Macs? You must like
viruses". Or "You have an IPhone and not an Android, then you must not care
about being open".
Most rational people will not get mad if someone loves a particular product.
But they will get mad if someone is constantly insulting the product choices
that they have made.
It's fine to love one product and not like another. But don't let
condescension, even if it is subtle, come out while you are discussing it.
That is what brings the blow back.
------
kbob
"If you publicly express an opinion that any particular platform is best for a
significant portion of buyers, you’re effectively saying that the people who
chose differently were _wrong_."
That's the fallacy right there. "A is better than B" does not imply "B is
bad".
But a fanboy, who's gotten his identity and sense of self-worth tangled up
with his product choices, has made a tremendous effort to rationalize his
purchase of A to the point where he believes B must be bad. Any evidence that
B is not bad forces him to rationalize the evidence away.
Two things make it easy to slip into fanboyism about phones. The
manufacturers' marketing keeps telling us that owning A will make you one of
the cool kids, encouraging us to derive self-worth from the product. We also
have to rationalize spending money, perhaps more money than we can afford.
Most of us don't get nearly so emotional about, say, shampoo, because we can
easily afford to buy any brand we like or switch brands on a whim.
------
landhar
Why wouldn't the same mechanism apply for banks? There are also a big variety
of banks to chose from and people tend to pick one and stick with if for a
while. But you don't see BofA/Chase/YouNameIt fanboys.
~~~
tobtoh
That's an interesting point - it's obviously not 'choices' per se that causes
'fanboyism' ... so what is it? Emotional attachment? I could understand that
with say religious choices, but why do people get so attached to their phones
then?
~~~
angli
The are a couple of possible reasons I see: 1\. Hackers, and the kind people
who really care about this kind of thing want to have the best; if someone
says it isn't the best, even implicitly by saying that they prefer a
competitor, we get defensive.
2\. What companies you choose can be seen as a single pieve of what some
perceive as an ideological struggle. Google the defender of openness, and
Apple the harsh dictator, managing user experience with an iron fist.
3\. People have their phones nearby nearly 24/7. It's possible a subconscious
attachment to it develops in people, though I don't know the psychology of it.
------
laconian
Could this article be considered a quine? It both describes fanboyism and IS
fanboysim at the same time!
~~~
pork
No, just ironic.
------
FrankBooth
In which a fanboy attempts to justify his fanboyism.
------
tobtoh
It's a bit like discussing choices in religious ... if you say your beliefs
are the correct ones, what does that say about my differing beliefs ...
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Overview of our startup industry - Daily Deals - saifa
I want to write a post and overview about my start-up industry. Unfortunately it's not a pro post, as I’m far from being a good blogger and english is not my 1st language.<p>That is not a secret that group buying (daily deals, social e-commerce, Groupon) is one of the most popular web topic in 2010 and the biggest trend which is growing world wide. How many of you tried to build something in that area? I guess that's scary to jump to the car overload by passengers.<p>This is my personal view of how daily deals industry started and developing:<p>1) Woot.com (2004) – I think this website is a 1st seed in group buying<p>2) Groupon (2008) brought group buying in new level by offering deals from services and local merchants. Groupon is the most cloned website in history of internet, more than 1000 clones over the world (Dec 2009 – May 2010). I wanted to make one too ))<p>3) Daily deal aggregators (yipit, dealradar and etc). I would compare aggregators to price comparison websites.<p>4) Specific daily deals websites (food and dining, fitness and workout, products). More services coming in that area for sure.<p>5) Traditional stores start their daily deal section on their websites (target, compusa and etc)<p>6) Some big players start their own daily deals services. Aol (with wow.com). Who next? Ebay? Amazon?<p>7) Free daily deals – TapZilla.com gives out a limited amount of applications for iphone for free<p>8) Groupon starts integration with Ning and Ebay<p>9) Groupon offers a tool to merchant to run deals by the own<p>10) …<p>I was tempted to do daily deals website, but decided to jump to deals aggregator, that was a time when the most of daily deals websites did not have the affiliate platforms. We were forced to parsing/indexing their pages without having any affiliate with them. Now the most of them have affiliate with CJ or other platforms (some of them run own platform, which is not good idea). I left aggregator idea too.<p>We all are in the middle of the road of social e-com. My list will have more items and I hope that I will add one there too (hehehe) )))<p>Thanks for reading my post, appreciate that.<p>http://www.facebook.com/saviski
======
tamersalama
Interesting study.
Why don't you share this on your own blog/site? You can refine and add links
it as you go.
~~~
saifa
Thanks. Sorry,I don't have my personal blog at the moment.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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The Feed Is Dying - frostmatthew
http://nymag.com/selectall/2016/04/the-feed-is-dying.html
======
drdeca
My only complaint about chronological feeds is that it doesn't have a "jump to
where I last was/left off" option, so that I can read the things in order.
On the other hand, I have much larger complaints about an opaque method of
ordering the feed.
Let the user choose what they see, and in what order (or, at the least, let
the user understand how it works).
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Will the techno-optimists save the world? - mwhite
http://paulgilding.com/cockatoo-chronicles/will-the-techno-optimists-save-the-world.html
======
redwood
While I would never deny that the climate is changing, I think you do see an
intellectually dishonest approach used by the climate change-focused
community: and that is to frame the coming challenge as a point of no return
wall that we're quickly approaching.
I understand why this technique is used: it compels action now, because when
problems only get worse over time, and there's little short-term gain to
taking painful action in the short term, you need to compel it through some
kind of strategy. However sometimes I think this approach backfires, because
people can feel that the world they live in does not behave in this way.
People see rapid change all the time, and the pace of change may increase. But
this is not the same as a sudden earth death scenario.
I think this is where techno-optimists come in as necessary reminders that
_no_ if we don't do something to stop climate change today, we _will_ somehow
survive. Maybe we'll survive with a lot more deserts or a lot more flooding,
and a lot more extinctions. But we will find a way to survive.
I think a good thought experiment is climate change adaptation. Let's say we
see active flooding happening in a place: would we be better served to use the
tool we have _today_ \--- fossil-fueled machines --- to terra-form, build
levvies, save people, etc?
I recognize the thought experiment above is misleading in that it's not an
either or --- we can reduce emissions and still use fuels in life/death
situations etc. But if the thought experiment becomes an allegory for the
world of today: that is a place where we're working hard to keep 7 billion
people alive, through a global infrastructure that _today_ requires fossil to
function. Aren't we using fossil just to fuel our own survival right now? Even
the developing world is (I'm sitting here in Bangladesh right now where they
use petro-ferts and rely on trucking and shipping like everyone else).
Technologies will change when economics make sense, governments can help and
probably should help more. But we need to be intellectually honest to be taken
seriously by the masses.
~~~
orlandob
The counter-research to the climate change hysteria movement suggests that the
solar cycle has everything to do with global climate. Of course we need to be
mindful of our capacity to pollute our environment to limit harmful effects of
industrialization.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Viddyou Offers High Definition Uploads For Personal Videos; For a Price - aaroneous
http://mashable.com/2008/03/19/viddyou-hd/
======
aaroneous
Hey guys - this is my tiny little startup, and we released some exciting new
stuff that's getting a little coverage. I'd love to hear your feedback if you
have any. :]
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Peanut-allergy cure close after Australian breakthrough - ourmandave
http://www.smh.com.au/national/health/peanutallergy-cure-close-after-australian-breakthrough-20170816-gxxz10.html
======
DrScump
If it has a 33% failure rate, I think "cure" is overstating it.
------
jessriedel
Does this lend additional weight to the hypothesis that early exposure to
peanuts reduces the likelihood of a peanut allergy?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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What Millennium Park's 'Cloud Gate' Looks Like from Inside - mzs
https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/what-millennium-park-cloud-gate-looks-like-from-inside-451341533.html
======
one2zero
I had no idea that this was called the "Cloud Gate"...just assumed it was
called "The Bean".
Let's talk about The Sears Tower and Comiskey Park now.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Can't get motivated. Help? - t0pj
I've been thinking about creating an online dating service for quite a while.<p>I figured it would be a good way to do something simple and cut my teeth on some new technologies. I had a plan. The code would be written in PHP. I would use MySql for the database. Apache would serve up the HTTP requests. I could simply start with the Ubuntu Linux desktop at my house. Dynamic DNS would keep my site Web accessible over my little cable modem. With this infrastructure in place I decided to get started.<p>I seemed to have everything planned out. I had been attending a local PHP meetup. I started discussing the site I was readying myself to design and acquired some help in the form of free hosting services. I was planning on using PHP and MySql and because my colleague's hosting service provided these, I switched over. I just pointed my domain name to his servers and started a very minimally designed site. At this point, you could (and still can) create an account, choose whether you're male or female, add your own tag line and select an age range.<p>I figured I'd just code away and a fully functional dating site would crystalize before my very eyes. For instance, I had ideas and wrote some code for doing the site in multiple languages like English, Spanish, German, Russian and Japanese. I also started researching AdSense and how to actually drive traffic to my site.<p>It seemed as if I was learning something new everyday. I was also becoming more and more aware of how little I actually understood. This was a good thing and didn't stop me from forging on.<p>However, it seems there are a lot of ways to go about not getting something done. There were seemingly minor distractions in the form of work, home and family. That, along with my knack for procrastination, somehow kept me away from really making steady progress.A few days of no progress turned into weeks and months. It seemed that I was a little disgusted with my inaction and didn't want to face all of the work I should've completed by now.<p>So what really happened?<p>It seems I've lost all of my momentum and no longer have the desire to keep going with this, not really original, idea. I really wanted to architect a unique experience compared to all of the other dating sites out there. I'll tell you right now. With a 9-to-5 grind that I'm really starting to dislike and continuous family obligations (paying loads of attention to my three-year-old, moved into a new house in a new city with new schools, dealing with my teenage son's issues, etc), it's really difficult to focus on a little web site design.<p>I don't really think I wish to do a dating site anymore. I definitely do want to do something that brings people together at some personal level. I love coding and database design and need to get some more experience in web design (even design, in general). Perhaps a social networking site? Here I go again. I really have a problem with attempting to bite off more than I can chew.<p>Maybe I'm thinking too big here. I don't know. It's really hard at this point for me to even come up with simple ideas that solve real problems. I'm not sure if I just need to take a step back and not do anything remotely useful for a while. Yet, at this point, I don't think I'm burned out. Am I in denial?<p>I guess I'm just seeking out a way to somehow restore my motivation so I'm reaching out to all of you for help.<p>Any war stories of defeat after defeat and finally emerging triumphant against all odds?<p>-- onebigcatch.com
======
nostrademons
When I have motivational difficulties, I've found that they usually stem from
one of two root causes:
1.) I subconsciously _know_ that what I'm doing is pointless and so my
subconscious won't let me waste any more time on it.
2.) I'm lacking one or more skills to make the project happen, but don't
consciously realize it, and need to spend time burning in the necessary skills
before I can return to "the big job".
In either case, the solution's the same: work on something else for a while.
That's what I'd recommend for you.
As for war stories of defeat and then emerging triumphant, I've got a
couple...
My first big project that I initiated myself was supposed to be a quick PHP
rewrite of a large Harry Potter fanfiction site. I was in college, had worked
for a year as a programmer beforehand, and thought it'd take six months. When
I started digging into it, I realized I had no idea how to architect a big
webapp and a whole bunch of little corner cases that were about to make my job
really different. Unlike you, though, I couldn't give up: other people were
depending on me, and we'd already announced the rewrite to our ~40,000 users
(lesson learned: _never_ preannounce software). I finally finished more than 3
years later, after I'd graduated, having banged out a couple of other PHP
webapps in the meantime for my college.
When I was doing Diffle.com, I got to the point where I had to convert my
cofounder's Photoshop mockups to HTML/CSS and bogged down. I'd never done the
front-end of a website before; I'd always had other people do the HTML and
hand it to me to turn into templates. So I shelved it for a couple weeks,
launched another website with a dead-simple layout, and then came back to it.
After having launched something else, I found my CSS issues were much easier
to resolve.
------
stillmotion
Your problem is, you're thinking up ideas everyone else has thought up. I find
when I'm demotivated, I'm really working on something I know will fail. If you
don't believe in your product, you're going to fall short of any motivation
very early into development.
Here's the tip, work small, but think big.
Focus on a niche, not the entire world. A dating site is nice and all, but,
you've got eharmony.com, match.com, singles.com, and you're real big
competitor, plentyoffish.com. A social network is nice and all, but you've got
Facebook.
It sounds like your taste exceeds your skills. I know the feeling, and trust
me it's the worst thing in the world. But if you want success, channel that
frustration and make it work for you. Learn the fundamentals, and just try and
try and try. Before you know it, you've gotten better. And as time progresses,
you've become the best in your industry.
So three things. ONE: Be innovative. TWO: Be small. THREE: Hustle your face
off.
\--EDIT--
Oh yeah, another thing. Don't get caught up in the little things. If you
really want to be an entrepreneur FOCUS ON THE BIG PICTURE. If you like
programming, but feel like you're getting lost in all the fiddly bits, then
find a framework or language that doesn't cost you time. If you like
designing, but feel like you're wasting your time trying to figure out where
elements go, find a great design and understand what makes it great. Look to
others to show you the way so that you understand the bottom line. Time ==
motivation. Motivation == success. Success == Awesomeness.
------
known
You may find the solution at
(1) <http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/07/25/0329226>
(2)
[http://discuss.joelonsoftware.com/default.asp?biz.5.402425.9...](http://discuss.joelonsoftware.com/default.asp?biz.5.402425.91)
------
bcater
Do something - anything - even if you know it's wrong. You're bound to hit
upon something eventually. Just don't waste good time.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Ask HN: How do you manage redux at scale? - adambratt
Question for all the redux or Rx.js users...<p>How do you efficiently manage your state/actions when it gets super complicated?<p>I don't mean in terms of performance though, I'm interested in terms of how you make it so your codebase is still scaleable.<p>I've worked on/built 4 front-end apps now that were 100k+ lines of code and it always seems like redux becomes a large blockade to refactoring/features at some point.<p>It seems great if you know exactly what your code should do..but when you're a startup and refactoring features every couple months, it feels like Redux can actually hurt you more than help you.<p>I just had to trace down a component interaction that bubbled up to its parent component that called an action def that then was thrown in an action func thats outcome ran through a reducer that was monitored by an rxjs observable.. And all of this was just to remove an element from a page. I've got 7 files open and it took me 10 mins to trace something trivial down.<p>In scrappier times, I'd just call the $.delete and .remove() the element. Two small pieces of code, could even stick them in a React component and call it a day. If I needed to refactor the behavior, I could just open up it up and find it in a few seconds<p>I know redux is crazy powerful and can make some things really awesome and I've seen it first hand..my last team built a dope Redux app that was handling thousands of stock ticker updates a second with crazy performance. That said... it creates such a web of structure that it feels super hard to untangle when you need to change your state structure or refactor behavior around an action.<p>tl;dr keep me from switching back to vanilla js and the stone age
======
namuol
It's hard to say what's going wrong without looking at actual code, but here
are a few anti patterns to look out for:
DON'T use actions like methods or setters.
DO try to think of actions as simple events.
DON'T describe the -effect- of an action in its payload.
DO describe the -cause- of potential effects in the payload, and let your
reducers handle the rest.
DON'T think of stores as singletons that you can poke at from the UI.
DO think of stores as convenient "views" into the full history of events in
your app.
DON'T use actions as a way of announcing that some piece of state has changed.
That's what `subscribe` is for.
Here's a great talk about scaling Flux:
[https://youtu.be/Dm9NgjR5Jn4](https://youtu.be/Dm9NgjR5Jn4)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Linux – Btrfs, ZFS, ext4: performance [pdf] - joshumax
http://www.dhtusa.com/media/IOPerfCMG09.pdf
======
jmcguckin
You ought to point out that this paper is 6 years old.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Dizzy Gillespie ran for U.S. president - keiferski
https://www.jazziz.com/time-dizzy-ran-president-united-states/
======
rudiv
> John Birks Society
LOL. In case anyone missed the reference:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Birch_Society](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Birch_Society)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Which books did you download from the Springer Bonanza? - jacquesm
For a much too short time Springer allowed the free download of a large chunk of their catalog. I downloaded "Impact of Information Society Research in the Global South" and "Intertwingled" (A book about Ted Nelson).<p>What did you get out of this surprise gift?<p>(email in my profile ;) )
======
lovelearning
Oh damn! I didn't realize they're not available any more. Just went and
checked, and yes, the two I got yesterday are no longer free.
Wondering now if it was just a misconfiguration on their part, and did I do
something illegal by downloading.
Btw, I got "All of Statistics" and "Programming Challenges" by Skiena. Both
were HN recommendations (thanks HN!)
------
sitkack
Much, very much. Sadly no books with "linear algebra" in the title were
available.
$ find . -name '*.pdf' | grep -i '%3' | wc -l
399
But more sadly, books which I wanted to send to everyone in the world are no
longer free. :*(
~~~
jacquesm
You lucky man!
~~~
sitkack
Almost all Springer books can be found in the right places.
~~~
jacquesm
Yes, but this was as far as I could see legal. And the 'right places' may very
well not be.
------
itg
All Of Statistics by Wasserman
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Valve: Handbook for New Employees [pdf] - dcschelt
http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/1074301/Valve_Handbook_LowRes.pdf
======
RUG3Y
I've read this before. I wish I could work there, but I'm sure my resume and
skills are not good enough.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
China’s Financial Services Industry Is Banking on AI - Yuqing7
https://medium.com/syncedreview/chinas-financial-services-industry-is-banking-on-ai-68995e8b90f4
======
NicoJuicy
They are betting so hard on A.I., but a bank only has to do a couple of
things.
\- transfer money cheaply, fast and easy
\- fix/ detect abuse and stop malicious wire transfers
\- advise rich clients
\- make it possible to automate things ( eg. An API )
\- give loans
I'm not really sure how A.I. would give the edge. Some things can be
automated, but if everyone would do this. The one who doesn't automate and
gives more personal advice will have the client's preference.
I think the minimum should be an open bank Api though.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: Voice to MIDI bot - rammo92
https://blog.buildo.io/voice-to-midi-bot-193b83f47d6e
======
matt_the_bass
Will this work with drums? It would be awesome if I could (poorly) beat box a
rythme and get a drum loop in return.
~~~
casper-12
Yes, it does. Have a look at the bot.
~~~
matt_the_bass
Awesome! I’ll take a look when I get back from my current travels.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Meter‐Scale Experiments on Magma‐Water Interaction - sohkamyung
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2018JB015682
======
sohkamyung
NYTimes article on the experiments at [1] with video.
[1] [https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/08/science/volcanos-
explosio...](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/08/science/volcanos-explosions-
lava.html)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Land deals in Africa and Asia: Cornering foreign fields - Anon84
http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13697274
======
potatolicious
Very interesting article - and we can see the effects of this sort of land
ownership historically, particularly with regards to American multi-national
agriculture giants.
From what I know of the situation, the effects of these massive land buy-outs
are rarely positive. Yes, it generates employment locally, but it creates a
trade deficit for the host country like you would not believe, and drives
everyone into poverty in the long run. Not to mention that many of these
countries are starving, and instead of using the land to grow food crops and
feed the people, they're exporting bananas and pineapples, and re-importing
staple foods that they're not growing themselves at high prices.
This behaviour has led to revolutions in the past - and we know that the
ousting of the socialist Salvadore Allende in Chile (by the CIA, no less) was
fueled largely due to American corporate objections over nationalization of
farmlands. And then he was replaced by Pinochet - a story we would be better
off not repeating.
Whatever the benefits of this sort of deal, I'm fairly certain the farmers at
on the fields are not seeing it. Massive land buy-outs like these benefit only
the gilded upper classes of these poor countries.
------
seldo
This reminds me of the Transnationals described in Kim Stanley Robinson's Red-
Green-Blue Mars trilogy (which won an award for its realistic portrayal of
economics). Basically, the multinationals found small countries with a GDP
much smaller than their own profits and bought the whole country: land,
infrastructure, and government. Then they refashioned the laws of that country
through corruption and bribery to fit themselves and began operating at a
level parallel to the governments of other countries, rather than being
subject to their laws.
In this case, the governments of Saudi Arabia, China, etc., worried that the
countries that supply them with raw materials will pass laws restricting
exports, are buying massive portions of the production capacity of these
exporting countries to essentially make it impossible for these countries to
sell goods to anybody else. It's simultaneously a clever and sinister form of
neo-colonialism.
------
3pt14159
I'd buy land in these countries if I had an army backing my land claim. In
general, I have a strong dislike for national investments like these. If the
only difference between me and China is that I can't trust their
courts/government and China can, due to China's large stock piles of guns,
then it presents an unfair (and illiquid) market place.
------
patrickg-zill
Read up on Benetton in Argentina also.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
New Haswell Thinkpads - Aaronneyer
http://shop.lenovo.com/il/en/laptops/thinkpad/t-series/t440
======
Aaronneyer
No purchase page yet, but you can see details on most of the new haswell
thinkpads by hacking the URL.
~~~
Aaronneyer
Here's some of them:
[http://shop.lenovo.com/il/en/laptops/thinkpad/t-series/t440s](http://shop.lenovo.com/il/en/laptops/thinkpad/t-series/t440s)
[http://shop.lenovo.com/il/en/laptops/thinkpad/t-series/t440](http://shop.lenovo.com/il/en/laptops/thinkpad/t-series/t440)
[http://shop.lenovo.com/il/en/laptops/thinkpad/s-series/s540](http://shop.lenovo.com/il/en/laptops/thinkpad/s-series/s540)
[http://shop.lenovo.com/il/en/laptops/thinkpad/s-series/s440](http://shop.lenovo.com/il/en/laptops/thinkpad/s-series/s440)
[http://shop.lenovo.com/il/en/laptops/thinkpad/l-series/l440](http://shop.lenovo.com/il/en/laptops/thinkpad/l-series/l440)
(This one actually appears to be on sale already)
[http://shop.lenovo.com/il/en/laptops/thinkpad/edge-
series/e5...](http://shop.lenovo.com/il/en/laptops/thinkpad/edge-series/e540)
[http://shop.lenovo.com/il/en/laptops/thinkpad/x-series/x240](http://shop.lenovo.com/il/en/laptops/thinkpad/x-series/x240)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
COBOL ON COGS - troystribling
http://www.coboloncogs.org/INDEX.HTM
======
mynameishere
Laugh all you want. I remember when the terminal connections to mainframes and
vaxen were being replaced by websites in the mid-to-late 90s. It was
astonishing just how much _worse_ websites could be.
~~~
gaius
Yeah, those old developers would _think_ about what their users were doing -
for example, moving between fields would happen in a sensible order, NOT just
in the order the HTML was laid out in. Those old apps might look clunky to
modern eyes but really, they were _polished_ to a degree that rarely happens
these days.
------
mhartl
...for those who missed it last April 1.
------
swilliams
I do love how INDEX.HTM is all caps.
------
edw519
lol - well done!
I've often teased my "green screen" clients that I could rewrite all their
software to run in a browser. (It's not really that much of a stretch.)
What would really be impressive on OP's webpage would be F keys and Esc that
worked as advertised in the text. It's really not that hard to coopt them from
the browser.
~~~
henning
There are very strong parallels between a web app without Ajax/Comet and a
3270 terminal application.
~~~
gaius
Do you remember when Netscape Navigator used to include a 3270 emulator?
~~~
henning
Sorry, I'm too young for that.
~~~
gaius
Heh :-)
Well, it did; the similarities between the web sans AJAX (which we just called
"the web" back then!) and 3270 were noticed by the early Netscape developers
too.
------
Locutus
Check out the screen burn-in! LOL!
------
khafra
...and here I'd just been wishing for Prolog on a Pogo Stick, and Malbolge on
a Minefield.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Sprint Nextel Lost 1.3 Million Customers in Quarter - josefresco
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/08/technology/08nextel.html?ref=technology
======
iigs
The only thing keeping me with sprint is that I have a soft spot for the
underdog.
The device situation on CDMA is bleak, and Sprint aggravates it by not
allowing devices they didn't sell (ESN filtering) onto their network. Being
able to buy a GSM phone and drop your SIM in is rad.
------
josefresco
Buying Nextel for roughly $41 billion? Not such a great idea.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Controlling a Quadcopter with Hand Gestures - theseankelly
http://www.thejumperwire.com/articles/controlling-a-quadcopter-with-hand-gestures/
======
fermienrico
Hand Gesture controls bother me. I see all these fancy implementations
enabling hand gestures such as the Google ATAP project called Soli [1], but
none of these replace haptical feedback. One of the major aspects of any
haptical human-to-machine interface is feedback and robustness. When you turn
a high quality 30 indent encoder from Alps [2] or avionics grade Elma encoder
[3]; you'll realize the value of haptic feedback. There is a reason why
cockpits are full of knobs and dials, although unfortunately, that's changing
due to highly integrated multi-function glass instruments.
Problem with hand gestures is robustness. Theramins (hand gesture based music
instrument) are cool, but they take forever to master and I am not saying they
are trying to replace pianos, but let's just say - iPad pianos are not fun
precisely because of the lack of feedback.
I really think gesture based controls are inferior. They have no place in my
living room, my car or anywhere in my life.
That said, I think the implementation of hand gesture based systems as pointed
out in this article are truly interesting. It is a challenging problem.
[1][https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QNiZfSsPc0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QNiZfSsPc0)
[2][http://www.alps.com/prod/info/E/HTML/Potentiometer/RotaryPot...](http://www.alps.com/prod/info/E/HTML/Potentiometer/RotaryPotentiometers/RK097/RK097_list.html)
[3][https://www.elma.com/en-as/products/rotary-
switches/rotary-s...](https://www.elma.com/en-as/products/rotary-
switches/rotary-switching-products/encoders/)
~~~
themagician
I wish we could meet somewhere in the middle for user interfaces in general.
We went from dedicated buttons and knobs to slates of glass. I was really
hoping for reprogrammable buttons and knobs instead, where labels and scales
are replaced with LCD displays.
IMO things like the Model 3 just take it too far.
~~~
fermienrico
I don't know how to explain this but I'll try my best:
_Categorized /Binary controls_: Things like clapping to turn on/off lights,
or a hand gesture to navigate to home in a car.
_Continuous controls_ : Changing temperature, modulating a note (Theramin),
controlling a quadcopter as in this article.
Binary/categorized controls are kind of ok. Hand gestures for continuous
controls are _not_ ok.
~~~
yorwba
I remember reading about some Google project that used haptic self-feedback
for continuous gesture controls: To turn a virtual knob you'd rub your
fingertips in a turning motion and to move a slider you'd slide your thumb
along your index finger.
I think that's a pretty clever solution; unfortunately I can't find the blog
post right now.
EDIT: They call it Project Soli:
[https://atap.google.com/soli/](https://atap.google.com/soli/)
------
orliesaurus
A friend of mine has managedd to 3d print his FPV drone. The nexy step is that
we're going to join forces and then we're probably going to hook it up with
some Myoband or similar device to control it in a more "natural" way -
hopefully we'll be successful - has anyone got any tips for us?
------
northwest65
I did this with a Parrot AR Drone 2.0 and a Leap Motion. I let one of the
project managers at work fly it in the cafeteria and she put it into the
ceiling. I'd like to have tried it with FPV, as you had to look at the drone
while keeping your hands in a reasonably tightly defined area above the Leap
Motion.
------
letier
Might be relevant for some of you.
Former colleagues of mine were experimenting with leap motion control for
drones. They also had other experiments with the holidays lens and Oculus
rift. I'm not sure whether they brought it together.
[https://www.youtube.com/user/parrotsonjava](https://www.youtube.com/user/parrotsonjava)
------
jaclaz
Hand gestures are not "entirely controlled", I mean you might want to cough,
sneeze or yawn and put automatically the hand before your mouth, or you might
be wanting to swat/chase a fly or mosquito away.
If you are hand gesture controlling - say - a browser or a painting app, at
the most you use undo or back, but what happens with the quadcopter?
------
limaoscarjuliet
When I see hand gestures controls, my first thought is: it will be very
painful very fast! It does look great in Sci-fi movies, but IMO it is not very
practical.
------
stevemk14ebr
This is so cool. I can't wait untill holo-lens like device become cheap and
ubiquitous
------
MR4D
What happens if you sneeze? Just wondering if things like that have to be
accounted for.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Apple faking 489 to 815 PPI on iPhone 4 ads - pmikal
http://www.digitalsociety.org/2010/06/apple-using-fake-489-to-815-ppi-on-iphone-4-ads/
======
MarcusA
Also, none of my friends are as attractive as the models used on the Facetime
page. Stop faking my friends. Apple, please fix this.
~~~
redstripe
As a side note, doesn't the guy talking to the woman with the baby look like a
younger and chubbier steve jobs? You know iClone is coming soon. Everyone will
get a hot model. Hell with Microsoft, I'm switching for sure when that
happens.
~~~
goatforce5
I'm thinking that Jonathan Ives is turning in to Steve Jobs.
~~~
lanstein
Ive, not Ives.
------
rbranson
Isn't this obvious to anyone seeing the ads? I don't think people skiing are
actually going to fly out of my TV when I see those ads, or that a humanoid
rabbit is actually going to try to steal my Trix.
~~~
rudyfink
I think a better example would be do people think they will experience similar
changes to the people in the before and after photographs (beauty/weight
loss/dental) or do they believe the examples of computer speed/performance
improvement (download times or computing performance) products.
------
pchristensen
I also posted this on the article:
No one that sees these videos or ads on the web will be using a 300dpi screen
so they need to overcompensate. A more interesting comparison will be what
resolution they show in their print ads.
~~~
confuzatron
Well, looking at the keynote slide, the samples are heavily zoomed in so 'old'
pixels are depicted as tens of screen pixels high. For an honest portrayal,
it's easy: 'new' pixels just need to be depicted as half-as-high. Sorry, but
the '300dpi' blather is complete reality-distortion nonsense. :)
~~~
jfoutz
Do you have the slides? I just saw the image from the guy's site. I'm not sure
how much the angle of the photo will compress the distant (high quality)
letter. those displays are huge, so maybe the letters are 30' apart? it's not
clear how far away the camera is.
They are kind of weird samples. For example the big pixel side is highlighting
25 pixels, but you could easily draw a 16 pixel square and assert the light
row should go in the next sample. Also, the big side is taken from a point
with a -1 slope, but the little side is much steeper, maybe 5? It seems like
you'd want to compare the same section of both letters.
Also, it's not really clear to me why each red box in the lower left sample
has 2 or more colors. That seems like a good indicator that the red box != one
pixel.
~~~
DougBTX
The second, black and white, example is a screen shot from the Apple website:
<http://www.apple.com/iphone/features/retina-display.html>
The interactive examples further down appear to be realistic though.
------
Groxx
Actually, I just realized... for the _effect_ of what they're claiming (pixels
smaller than you can see), this is a perfect comparison. Blocks to none. Sure,
they're achieving it by bending the rules, but I got the impression that
300dpi played second fiddle to _"your eye is unable to distinguish individual
pixels."_ [1]
[1] <http://www.apple.com/iphone/features/retina-display.html>
edit: their side-by-side comparison shows the correct number of pixels between
the two.
~~~
silvestrov
The side-by-side hover-loupe (under "In a word, resolutionary") is very very
good at demonstrating the difference.
The loupe uses the image below. You can open them and verify that no cheating
has been used. The 3GS image has 2*2 pixel blocks all over. The images don't
have subpixel antialiasing (as they have to be viewable on all kinds of
monitors), so I expect them to look a tiny bit better IRL.
iPhone 3GS: [http://images.apple.com/iphone/features/images/retina-
resolu...](http://images.apple.com/iphone/features/images/retina-
resolution-3gs-20100607.jpg)
iPhone 4: [http://images.apple.com/iphone/features/images/retina-
resolu...](http://images.apple.com/iphone/features/images/retina-
resolution-4-20100607.jpg)
Try view the images. A truly great difference.
~~~
ZeroGravitas
A truly great difference if your iPhone was the size of an iPad.
Put them both on the screen and stand far enough back to equalize them with
the size of an iPhone held up at a reasonable reading distance. They will both
be equally unreadable.
------
SandB0x
I liked the old adverts that tried to show you how sharp DVDs were...on VHS.
~~~
graywh
I seem to recall current ads doing the same thing comparing digital cable to
analog....
~~~
malvim
Same with DVD vs Blu-Ray
~~~
tomjen3
Can you actually see the difference between DVD and Blu-Ray?
It may just be me, but it appears that they are not much sharper than the DVDs
(unlike the DVD vs VHS change) and most of it is marketing.
~~~
jerf
Be sure to check this chart: [http://hd.engadget.com/2006/12/09/1080p-charted-
viewing-dist...](http://hd.engadget.com/2006/12/09/1080p-charted-viewing-
distance-to-screen-size/) and compare that to the viewing set up you had.
It is very, very, very easy to put yourself in a situation where 1080 is
useless. The cutoff for where your 1080 40" TV might as well be a 720 TV is 7
to 8 feet; further away than that and you can't tell the difference between
1080 and 720. At about 12 feet you've lost HD entirely. Many people have
setups that fail these criteria. And this is a continuum, not a sharp cutoff,
so if you're on the far side you may be able to tell a difference but not
think it's worth it.
Now, all that said, well-upsampled DVDs are much closer to BluRay than people
selling BluRay would like to admit. It isn't the same, but I couldn't call it
"night and day", certainly.
~~~
tpz
All true, but worth a brief addition: these viewing distance / screen size /
resolution models all assume average adult vision, so if you are one of the
folks both lucky and unlucky enough to have above-average vision (or below,
for that matter) you should take that into account.
As but one example, the parent's example transition at 7 to 8 feet would occur
around 10 feet for me. Above-average vision is great on paper but translates
into more expensive displays positioned farther away. :(
------
miguelpais
It was not the high-quality of the "a" on the right that was exaggerated, it
was the low quality of the one on the left.
The "a" on the right is fine, it is there to represent the kind of image in
which you no longer are able to detect pixillation, going above of the
supposed 300dpi limit, like what would happen on the iPhone4. On the other
hand, presenting on the left an "a" with half the quality of the one on the
right would probably be too difficult for people to spot the difference.
If they were fair on that slide, it probably would be interesting to analyze
if people would really notice the difference or if they would just pretend
they did (<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Emperors_New_Clothes>). Sure
thing, it would not have that much of an impact, at least until all of those
people get the chance of having the new iPhone in their hands.
~~~
not_an_alien
It's still a lie.
------
not_an_alien
Adding to that the fact that their clever semantics is making it _sound_
better than it is (claiming '4x more pixels' - which is true, but it's just 2x
the resolution)...
It's the best mobile device screen out there, hands down. They really don't
need to do that.
------
thenduks
People always seem to forget that this is _marketing_. They're trying to show
what the difference is _like_ , they don't need to be exact.
~~~
nooneelse
"I'm not lying about how big the fish was, just giving you the effect of what
it was like to catch it."
~~~
jerf
And if the _effect_ is the main point of the communication?
------
smackfu
I was wondering about that. It did look like the "after" image was just
someone using the font at full resolution, rather than being properly scaled
down.
------
alanh
The ratios in the demo are correct if you compare them not to the iPhone 3G
but to desktop monitors at 72dpi.
But seriously, this is all to demonstrate the difference. It’s not a ‘claim’.
After all, 815dpi will look the same to the human eye as 370dpi…
~~~
confuzatron
The graphics may not be honest, but they are indeed truthy.
------
seanalltogether
Is 300 really the max of the eye, I wonder how that is calculated. For
instance, if you had a 1 pixel line at about a 15 degree angle, does that mean
you would see no aliasing effects?
~~~
bbatsell
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1412296>
------
gaborcselle
I don't understand how the author of this article gets his numbers of 489 to
815 PPI. Can someone explain this?
~~~
sirn
Original iPhone = 163 PPI.
25x more pixels (5x the resolution, count the block) = 815 PPI.
------
fleitz
From the article: "Do you really need 300 PPI on a 3.5 inch phone?"
Do you really need a phone? Marketers don't sell needs, they sell wants.
------
hackermom
This is a bit of sensationalist non-news, isn't it? I mean, we all know how
exactly _every single computer software/hardware manufacturer_ always use
"resolution-less" photographs in their ads on computer screens, cellphone
screens and so on.
~~~
confuzatron
I think when you're _specifically_ comparing resolutions, and you make one
resolutionless and the other not... well, I'm sorry but it's not quite the
same.
------
draper
"So you’re calling Apple out on their supposed exaggeration of the pixel
density
based on… Screenshots from compressed videos?"
unbelievably dumb blog post.
~~~
jrockway
Oh right, because compressing video _adds_ information...
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Codeacademy Learn SQL Course, with HN Data Dump - awin
https://news.codecademy.com/how-to-hack-hacker-news
======
DrScump
Actual title: "How to Hack Hacker News".
Github, the New York Times, and Medium are the sources most trusted by the Hacker News community
Most _clicked_ != Most trusted.
------
awin
Interesting marketing technique!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
London's rental market: where $2k a month gets you a bed beside the toilet - onetimemanytime
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/02/29/uk/london-renting-compared-berlin-gbr-grm-intl/index.html
======
strken
If you look at the floorplan[0] shown in the article, it looks like any sane
person who lived in the flat would treat it like a normal studio and put their
bed in the main room. It's baffling to me why the floorplan shows a sleeping
area in the bathroom, but perhaps it's a legal quirk of some kind.
[https://cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/200212132008-04-londo...](https://cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/200212132008-04-london-
rental-market-intl-exlarge-169.jpg)
~~~
jaclaz
Well, in another EU country (Italy) that flat would be against building rules
and Laws, not only you cannot call a bathroom "sleeping area"[1] but usually
(there are exceptions for historical buldings and handicap toilets) a toilet
(where the wc is) cannot be connected _directly_ to a kitchen or more
generally where meals are prepared, but long before that the very minimal
surface for a flat is 28 sqm (the one in the article is around 26) to be an
autonomous unit.
Additionally, from the photo it appears that the WC is connected to an
electric sanitary macerator, which is not admissible unless it is for a
secondary bathroom.
[1] the area of any room aimed to the permanence of people cannot be less than
9 sqm
------
FartyMcFarter
Let's find out what you can actually get for $2k (about £1560), in the same
area CNN went for:
[https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-
rent/find.html?locat...](https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-
rent/find.html?locationIdentifier=STATION%5E1712&maxPrice=1750&minPrice=1400&radius=0.5&propertyTypes=&mustHave=&dontShow=&furnishTypes=&keywords=)
It doesn't take long to find something better than a "bed beside the toilet".
------
Findeton
I live in London. The main reason for this is that government generally
doesn't allow buildings higher than 3 stories. Everyone wants to live in
central London but there just ain't enough flats. This situation is somewhat
similar to the zoning thing in the US. Supply is lower than demand, so prices
go up, who would have guessed?
~~~
pjc50
> generally doesn't allow buildings higher than 3 stories.
This seems a strange claim in the city that has the Shard. I doubt London is
really constrained by planning permission, just that it seems only to be
granted for hyper-luxury flats.
~~~
Findeton
You doubt, but it's the reality. Sure, if you're going to build $600 million
in a sky-scrapper you can also spend some more in convincing authorities to
get you the legal permissions. But if you're going to try and build a 4 or 6
floors building, that's going to be complicated.
------
jpxw
The article mentions Berlin's rent controls. Just going to put it out there
that rent controls almost never work, and tend to have the exact opposite
effect that they are intended to. Rent control isn't a solution to a housing
shortage.
~~~
ShorsHammer
> rent controls almost never work
So what's the average rent in Berlin for comparison?
Edit: From here I'm getting 50% lower rents.
[https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-
living/compare_cities.jsp?cou...](https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-
living/compare_cities.jsp?country1=United+Kingdom&country2=Germany&city1=London&city2=Berlin&tracking=getDispatchComparison)
~~~
DangerousPie
The rent is low, sure, but good luck finding a flat to begin with:
[https://www.thelocal.de/20191125/nearly-1800-people-turn-
up-...](https://www.thelocal.de/20191125/nearly-1800-people-turn-up-for-flat-
viewing-in-berlin)
~~~
mytailorisrich
That's exactly the expected result of rent control!
~~~
leereeves
To benefit current renters who never want to move again, and no one else?
~~~
mytailorisrich
Yes. It increases demand while reducing supply and the expected result is
exactly what is illustrated in the article posted above.
------
lclarkmichalek
I mean, Camden. Go two or three stops up the northern line, and you can find
something much more sensible. The rental market might be insane in certain
areas, but this isn’t representative of what 2k dollars a month will get you
------
IkmoIkmo
I'm not sure what the solution here is... At the end of the day, if your city
is nice enough, and demand is high enough, and supply is low enough, you're
going to see prices per unit of area rise. And you can do two things, pay
more, or accept less space. And in the latter case you run into these
ostensibly weird constructions like sleeping in your bathroom.
I don't know what to think of that. On the one hand its inhumane. On the other
hand, it's self-inflicted. If you're in the UK, you absolutely don't need to
live in London to live a normal life with a decent job, food on the table,
good healthcare, good education for your kids etc. The person who rents this
place probably is single, late twenties, works in finance, and will likely
live here only 2 years before moving to something bigger with a longer
commute, but not quite yet before he/she wants to live in the city near the
action. Although there's reason to pity, this isn't your stereotypical
dystopian pity-case of a family of three menial workers living in a Hong Kong
cage.
You can have a discussion about London being a place only for rich people, and
that without mitigating measures you get an economic divide between rich and
poor, with no socioeconomic mobility. And that's true. In this context I have
quite clear opinions on the need to keep neighbourhoods mixed, which requires
subsidised social housing (council housing), subsidised private (public)
education, subsidised after-school programs etc. But that's a matter of
distributing scarce high-value resources to poor people to keep a healthy
level-playing field in society. But it does not solve the underlying scarcity.
Whatever government system you apply to London, you'll always have this
scarcity, and people self-inflicting themselves by choosing to pay 2k for a
bed in a bathroom. You can take that choice away through regulation (no beds
in bathrooms, minimum unit sizes etc), but it doesn't solve the underlying
scarcity issue, just the symptom.
One course of action that I think we should take, is driving centralised
decentralisation on a national level as much as possible. Yes we can
acknowledge urban centres do wonders as knowledge/financial/cultural hubs. But
we can also acknowledge that hyper-concentration in one place, is not
preferred to concentration in 5 places. the UK does this very poorly with
London taking up a huge part of the national economy. Germany does this much
better, with many regional economies which are all very strong and have their
own pull.
------
mmmrk
[The following is a rant] I've been living in London for 2 years now and I
find the city dreadful. The quality of housing is usually well below the
standards I'm used to from Germany (I won't start on the pricing), but what
really bothers me how decrepit everything is. I was looking to rent in the
area south of Brixton and frequently felt like I was looking at trash heaps
with a roof and flatmates. Sometimes there was a permanent garbage dump on the
front porch or something?! I now live in something resembling modern
construction, that was however cheaply built and has thin walls and lacks
thermal insulation in my bath, so I have to keep the door closed when it's
cold outside. I "only" pay 900 GBP to live with two flatmates, which is OK for
London I suppose. I have this nagging thought in the back of my mind to brexit
at some point...
~~~
sgt
This video comes to mind:
[https://youtu.be/gzVJw1-YrkM](https://youtu.be/gzVJw1-YrkM)
Note that PJW is perhaps a bit too far right leaning, so take his views and
opinions with a grain of salt. A lot of the content is quite true though, and
both liberals and conservatives alike ought to be concerned.
~~~
jpxw
I've been living in London for three years now, after living in the
countryside. This video is correct.
------
Al-Khwarizmi
The first time I moved to the UK from Spain, I was like "hey, rentals are not
_that_ expensive. 300, 400, 500... more or less like in my home city".
That was until I realized the "pw" near the prices meant "per week", of
course.
------
polymonster
I live in London, it is expensive for sure.. I have seen some pretty
ridiculous flats for around the same cost as the one in the article, one with
a shower cubicle in the bedroom comes to mind... not quite as bad as toilet
but still you don’t want a wet bedroom.
Some of the landlords are just taking the piss, there are much better places
for better value in decent areas just don’t get tricked by the snakey estate
agents like foxtons and look around you can find reasonably good value..
------
Jedd
London is an amazing place to live, and (painfully cognisant of how this
sounds) if you get a chance to live there for a while, I'd heartily recommend
it.
Though of course much of the shine has indubitably disappeared since Brexit.
I was there 2008 through 2013 - and in 2010 we rented a relatively new 1
bedroom flat, on the 2nd floor (of 13), overlooking the Thames, around the
Docklands (east London, near the secondary financial sector) on a clean, safe
estate with a concierge. This was £280 / week.
A decade later, and doubtless having spent quite some time to find a highly
unpleasant flat in a ridiculously inflated part of town (Camden) and TFA are
citing £375 / week for a shared bedroom & toilet.
Like any metropolis, London is immense, with huge variations in quality and
cost -- everything is a tradeoff against how close you want to be to the
center versus how long you want to spend commuting.
FWIW when we moved from London UK to Sydney Australia in 2013 we went from
river views, 40 minute commute to city center in London at £280 (~ AUD475) /
week , to 60 minute commute to city center, highway views, for AUD500 / week,
for the same quality apartment.
Never move to Sydney if you can avoid it.
EDIT: Oh, one of the problems with high-rises around London is the fact the
whole place is a few metres above sea level, and the ground water levels are
insanely high. I had engineer friends who worked on the underground (tube)
extension years earlier, who told me that if the bilge pumps stop working,
tracts of the underground lines would be flooded within fifteen minutes. The
Thames Barrier (worth a google if you don't know of it) is unlikely to be
effective within 10 to 20 years. Plus they've got lots of real estate locked
up by investors who simply never occupy it -- all of this does brutally wonky
things to real estate pricing there.
~~~
avianlyric
> The Thames Barrier (worth a google if you don't know of it) is unlikely to
> be effective within 10 to 20 years.
Not quite true. The Thames Barrier is expected to remain effective for the
next 70 years (till 2070).
There’s a plan to figure out it’s replacement sometime around 2050.
You read more about it here if you’re interested:
[https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/thames-
estuary-21...](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/thames-
estuary-2100-te2100/thames-estuary-2100-te2100)
~~~
Jedd
Thank you. I'd had in my mind that 2040 was when it approached (effective)
EOL, and from the country that had 40 years to plan for the Concorde
replacement, I was not overly optimistic.
Seems there has been a general trend of increasing need to use the barrier,
though the 2014 'blip' threw this number upwards. I'm seeing some references
to 'it's fine until 2050-2070', but OTOH I'm not seeing a lot of 'we've
underestimated global warming effects, so sea level won't be as bad as we
thought' stories -- so presumably we should be looking towards the lower end
of that 2050-2070 range.
I read through the v.interesting link you provided -- it reads very gov.uk.
Sadly, after the past couple of years of gov.uk activity I'm not particularly
sanguine that they will actually attend to this work.
------
mouzogu
I don't know we need to keep using euphemisms like "housing crisis". Just call
it what it is; greed and and exploitation. These apartments are usually not
fit for living, they're damp, cramped and thats likely to be the least of your
concerns.
------
nonsince
If you want to support some people working on fixing this situation
[https://www.actiononemptyhomes.org/](https://www.actiononemptyhomes.org/)
------
DanBC
I'm a bit confused about the flat they're talking about. I thought that there
needs to be 2 doors between the loo and the kitchen, and that you can't have a
loo that opens into a kitchen.
Turns out that's probably wrong: [http://www.extensionbuild.co.uk/can-door-
open-directly-from-...](http://www.extensionbuild.co.uk/can-door-open-
directly-from-bathroom-kitchen.html)
------
zabil
I recently moved to London and rent in Zone 1. The single bed apartment I live
is in pricey but it's a great location and a short commute to my office in
central London.
That said, I am in tech and a significant part of my pay goes on rent.
However, from my recent house hunting experience, there's definitely better
options for the price mentioned in the article especially in Zone 2.
------
tomxor
There used to be a 2 door building reg rule for between toilet and kitchen...
I think that was relaxed but I am pretty sure you are not allowed to install
toilets in open living spaces. I suppose it wouldn't be surprising to see many
regulations broken in London given the opportunity for profit.
------
robjan
This particular flat is quite poorly laid out. I'm presuming it's a subdivided
flat.
That's pretty common where I live but usually the internal walls would all be
knocked down and placed more sensibly before renting it out. I guess the UK
has more strict planning laws which prevent this.
------
bakuninsbart
When it comes to housing markets the discussion is usually centered around
free market vs. government regulation, but both sides selectively use sources
to underline their points.
Viewing the housing market simply as an issue of demand vs. supply is faulty -
there are other factors at work that are detrimental for renters. I have
terrible internet right now which makes it hard to look up sources, but almost
all cities here in Germany have rents rising faster than wages or inflation -
even those with decreasing populations.
Even if it was just an issue of demand and supply, housing isn't just any
commodity. Cities shouldn't just maximise for supply, they also have to factor
in other things, like life quality, availability of services, pollution and
more. For example I don't think rent control is an effective tool to be used
broadly, but if I look at the district I grew up in in the 90s, almost all the
native people were pushed out of it, and the rich people living there now not
only fundamentally changed the districts spirit, they also effectively
segregated themselves from the poorer segments of society. If this trend
continued on a city-wide level, you would have boring rich districts and
ghettos, as well as increasing and very visible inequality.
So in the housing market I think capitalism fails quite spectacularly in
accounting for very important factors that are only indirectly tied to profit.
The few metropolis that have a functioning housing market _usually_ also have
massive public-housing companies, and they mix meaningful regulation with fast
and easy bureaucracy. - The obvious examples coming to mind would be Singapore
and Vienna.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
What happened, Gmail? - xoxoavi
https://uxplanet.org/what-happened-gmail-e5f35e423b1b
======
tgb
The author's experience with GMail seems to be the opposite of mine. The new
features for disappearing/unprintable/etc. emails sound like they're just
going to cause annoyances while Gmail sorting things into promotions and
updates is _absolutely fantastic_. And I use the "forums" tab too. This _is_
the "good method for telling users what they need to read" that the author
wants - that's what Primary is. This _is_ the way to help manage the number of
emails you get. This _is_ the efficient way to categorize and sort the emails
that you get. It's really not Google's fault that you've got 6gb of emails in
the promotion and updates tabs without realizing it - they've been prominently
showing you the new emails you've received in those tabs every time for years
now.
Here's the feature I keep wishing for in Google: when I attach a file, it
should let me rename the file. I want to store it on my compute with a name
that's meaningful for me and to send it to someone with a name that's
meaningful for _them_. Eg: I want to have cv_google.pdf for my copy of my CV
that I'm sending to Google for a job application but I want to have them
receive it as cv_tgb.pdf to know that it's from "tgb". Similarly, when I
download a file I want to be able to rename it.
~~~
8ytecoder
I have been using Google Inbox since the launch and I absolutely LOVE it. It
finally solved my email problems.
\- I have notifications disabled for all but the important emails. So I
respond to emails in time and I don't keep checking my phone anymore.
\- Easy to read and discard emails. Especially promotions. I actually do check
them - once a day and once a day only and then delete them all.
\- Social/Updates ...etc are neatly organised. I check them during a downtime
and not often. They don't alert me.
\- Organising emails by trips are great. I can find all the relevant emails in
one bundle.
\- Absolutely love the GTD features - Marking as Done and Snoozing emails. My
Inbox is always zero. I use that as pretty much a task manager as well.
Overall, classification of emails make emails actually usable for me. I used
to be meticulous with creating email rules and filters in Outlook so I get to
the ones I need to and ignore the rest for my sanity. Now it's done
automagically and pretty spot on.
~~~
freehunter
My problem with it is that I don't trust it. Outlook does the same thing, I'm
not singling Google out for this. Anything that automatically sorts my email
for me, I don't trust it to get it right 100% of the time. And the last thing
I want to do is a miss a critical email because Google or Microsoft told me it
wasn't important to me.
Case in point: I run a website for my town and some user actions are sent to
me via SendGrid emails. Not a lot, but maybe one or two per day. I've made the
email subject descriptive enough that I rarely need to open them to know what
happened. I'm guessing that because it's a mailer from SendGrid and that I
rarely open them, my email provider decided that they weren't important emails
and stopped sending them to my inbox. When I figured it out a few days later
and went to check the other tab, I found a couple messages had been sent of
people wanting to purchase ad space that the email provider had also decided
wasn't important enough to notify me of.
So now I have to check both tabs religiously (in reality I just turned it off)
because I can never trust that I'm not missing something.
~~~
zamber
The idea with whitelisting is viable. Use a
[email protected] email for these and then in the classic
interface set a filter that will land these mails always in your inbox with an
additional label.
Been doing this kind of categorizing with filters since I discovered the
feature and never looked back.
~~~
freehunter
But then that's no better than just managing my email by hand. The whole point
of these smart inboxes is to not have to do that.
~~~
zamber
In my setup there are no blanket rules. Only super important and especially
annoying stuff gets the filter treatment. All the rest is autosorted.
------
pmlnr
Email was meant to be kept simple, and Google is making this exponentially
hard with every single "design" iteration. Get off Gmail - it'll break your
email.
The article has very good points, especially when it touches the issue of
"hidden" mail, like the promotions tab: there are labels and tabs. There
should be only one system, and no, don't hide things from the user at this
level. When there's 17k mails in promotions, eating up 6GB alert them, let
them know. (This ties back to how WordPress keeps hiding anything technical
from users, which is also bad[^1])
Filtering on Gmail is outrageous, especially when you compare it to Sieve. No
option to match on custom header, seriously?
Things like unprintable email is a bad joke. Unprintable? What if I connect to
Gmail with mutt? It gives the sense of a false security.
I'm aware of all the arguments against email, but so far nobody could come up
with a robust, reliable (see SMTP retries), async, world wide, federated
solution, that even touches the level of email.
Here's a revolutionary idea: instead of trying to come up with a new email,
stop breaking the current one, and keep using it.
[^1]: [https://www.rarst.net/wordpress/technical-
responsibility/](https://www.rarst.net/wordpress/technical-responsibility/)
~~~
Waterluvian
If I want to take my 20GB of email out of Gmail and put it elsewhere for the
next 15 years without having to think about it, where do I go?
~~~
peatmoss
You might also consider registering a vanity domain to go with your Fastmail
(or other) subscription. It’ll allow you to keep your email address even if
Fastmail gets evil / bad in the future.
When I bought my domain, it was before Gmail was as ubiquitous as it is today.
My email was hosted by a mom and pop ISP. Then I moved to Gmail and later to
Fastmail.
Having my own domain is inexpensive, fun, and lets me maintain email
portability over time. Namecheap is a good, easy registrar. I moved to them a
while back and was impressed at their documentation and help during that
domain transfer.
~~~
Waterluvian
Good advice. I assume I can forward my Gmail because that address has been my
address for as long as gmail has existed. This is just like cell numbers. You
attach one to everything in your life and transitioning is near impossible.
Glad the government forced free number transfer. If only emails worked the
same way.
~~~
peatmoss
Yes, I’d forward emails until you can get everyone trained over to using your
new email address. I’ve done that in the past with mostly inactive emails that
I got through professional or academic associations. Presumably Gmail still
makes auto-forwarding reasonably easy.
~~~
distances
Why not just leave the forwarding on? I still have my first e-mail address
from the 90s forwarding all incoming mail to my current one, though it's very
rare by now that anything comes.
~~~
peatmoss
You could! The only reason not to is if you wanted to close the account for
some reason.
------
pferde
Among "needed innovations", the post lists: "A good method for telling users
what’s important to read and what can wait for later."
To me, it's downright scary that someone would want Google telling them what
is important in their own mailbox. Personal responsibility bad, Hand-holding
good, apparently.
~~~
praseodym
Just as scary as having Google filter out mail that is totally not important,
i.e. spam?
In Gmail you can (un)label email as being important, which will then train an
algorithm just like a spam filter. Besides that, it will learn to recognise
email you reply to often as being important.
I very much like this feature; I set up the Gmail app on iOS to only send me
push notifications for important mail. For me that strikes a good balance
between no distractions and not missing out on important email.
~~~
stephenr
Spam can be removed by objective filters, that simply classify the email
against known patterns/rules. Who you are or what you like is irrelevant to
them.
This is not that: it's you, giving a giant personal information sponge, a
bigger tap.
~~~
loup-vaillant
> _Spam can be removed by objective filters,_
Those "objective filters" prevent me from sending email from home (I have to
relay through a non-residential IP).
I receive about a dozen spam email per day (with occasional surges and
lapses). My server accepts everything, and a simple local filter from my mail
user agent (Evolution or Thunderbird, mainly) let few through, and false
positives are very rare.
I'm not sure why the giant providers need to work any differently.
~~~
Yetanfou
A dozen spam messages per day? Lucky you. I did a tally on yesterday's harvest
on my server and found the following:
\- 57 rejected messages designated as spam by SpamAssassin
\- 137 greylisted messages, most of which will end up being spam as those
addresses which I communicate with regularly will be in the whitelist.
\- 181 connection attempts blocked at the gate due to protocol violations
(most of them due to fake HELO, usually trying to connect using my own
server's FQDN)
\- 144 delivery attempts blocked at RCPT due to the use of blacklisted
recipient addresses. This is why using recipient-specific sender addresses
makes sense when communicating with commercial, organisational or governmental
institutions: it makes it possible both to track down who leaked or sold
addresses to spammers as well as to block those addresses entirely.
This domain has been handling mail for close to 23 years now, the server is
used daily by about 8 people, it also forwards mail for a few others.
I generally don't see more than one or two spam messages per week in my actual
INBOX.
~~~
loup-vaillant
Ah, 8 people. If we remove the protocol violations, we get (57 + 137 + 144) /
8 = 42 spam message per person per day. Between 3 and 4 times my amount. I may
be lucky, but frankly that doesn't sound extraordinary.
I also get no more than 1-2 spam message per week in my inbox.
------
therealmarv
Extra First Class World problems: Inbox is not optimized for iPhone X.
Everytime I read this I cringe.
How about the thought that your phone broke common UI behaviour and not your
software which needs to adapt to a new screen culture.
I'm sure very soon Inbox will support iPhone X. But there are many other
problems in Inbox which I see more important like Unspam emails without Gmail.
~~~
matwood
> Inbox is not optimized for iPhone X.
This has led me to think Inbox is on its way out. Lack of updates is the
classic Google move prior to killing a product.
~~~
spookthesunset
> This has led me to think Inbox is on its way out.
Any time an app takes forever to update to a new apple screen resolution is a
good indicator the app is on its way out.
I mean, think about it.... if you were all-in on your app, wouldn't the
highest priority fixes on your backlog be "get the damn thing to run in the
native resolution of your target device"?
------
ex3ndr
Article is a little bit biased as a one who worked on messaging apps claiming
that messaging (eg Slack) solve communication is just wrong. Outlook
screenshot is very simple and clean but... it mentioned as an example of
nightmare.. Looks like author got in the his own bubble just like google.
~~~
ex3ndr
> An efficient way to categorize, filter and search content.
No, no one likes to categorize emails, this is work for someone else or for
power users that's not a case for GMail.
> A tool to help users fix mistakes they’ve made, such as sending someone the
> wrong email, or spelling something incorrectly.
For a long time Telegram didn't want to introduce this feature since if you
sent something this should be in other's inbox. If someone can modify your
inbox than you won't be able to trust that some random email won't disappear.
> Allowing users to handle their business better through Gmail (e.g. sign
> documents, approve things, review things).
Uh, guy just want to put everything to GMail while claiming that this is not
an "innovation".
> Allowing users to design their emails in a better way.
Do you want to receive emails from your lawyer in comic sans? There is a
reason why FB, Slack, Telegram, etc don't allow you to style your text easily.
> Letting users know if someone read their presentation and what parts
> interested them (DocSend).
Breaking fundamental flow of an email. No one will see if you read and no one
will be upset. There are a reason why slack dosen't have read status.
GMail probably have a lot of problems now, but (sorry) this all just
unprofessional judgment.
~~~
xoxoavi
I think these suggestions make some sense since they are still problems that
exist. The way you'd imagine solving them could be different if you were on
that team, with the data and would iterate to find the solution. The bullet
points under the innovation section are not suggestions for solutions, on the
contrary, they are problems that users still have. For each of these problems,
there are services that are trying to solve that problem. Take scheduling a
meeting as an example. Google's solution was to bring the calendar into Gmail
and increase complexity. X.AI's solution is to make a bot that coordinates.
Some other companies will have different solutions. The point is, what is the
best solution for a user who is in the frame of mind of emailing. It is very
easy to stuff things from different places one on top of another and it's
called sustained innovation (if I'm not mistaken). But what ideally should
happen is finding new ways to adapt these extra services, including these
problems in a way that is matched with the main use case. Otherwise, it gets
complex.
------
rangewookie
I created an account to comment on the good experience I was having with the
update.
I did a side-by-side comparison of the old UI and the new UI and I've changed
my stance. The old one is a better "email" UI, but google is trying to mature
the email experience.
A big problem here is that email showing it's age. Google is eager to hide
less common tools behind menus. They want to delete all of the old "manual"
buttons/tools so their smart filters can take over. It wont work. The truth is
everyone likes email because it's fairly consistent, but we're forever trapped
in 90's tech.
Instant messengers have transformed the way that we communicate, but email
hasn't caught up. Maybe... it shouldn't.
~~~
pmlnr
> email experience
Email, at this point, is infrastructure. There is no need for an "experience"
with it.
------
legohead
What got me is they moved the archive button. I have been trained to click on
the email, move my mouse up a few pixels, and click archive. Now when I do
that, my cursor resides on the spam or delete button. Oops! I don't think the
Google of yesteryear would have made that mistake -- the google that designed
Chrome closing tabs to stay the same size so you could close multiple tabs
quickly.
------
GordonS
Something I really hate about Gmail is the way it places attachments at the
bottom of the page. So if I open a long thread in which the latest email had
an attachment, I've got to scroll down to the bottom to locate it - it's so
unintuitive that I often find myself scanning the page looking for the
attachment.
------
axiomdata316
I feel with each Gmail "improvement" Gmail gets slower. I miss the days when
Google’s priority was speed and not pretty. I feel less productive when I'm
always eating for pretty Gmail to load and respond to actions in the ui.
------
ggm
It flickers. It animates. It's annoying. Thank goodness they did not break
keyboard shortcuts.
It's more intrusive as a gui than the old one.
~~~
pmlnr
As long as google keeps the imap and pop3 gateways alive, we have a choice.
Use them, utilize other webmails, even run it localhost, like rainloop;
desktop clients, like geary, evolution, claws, thunderbird; command line, like
mutt.
Don't let the gmail interface drive the way you want to deal with email.
~~~
TheDong
Their imap gateway is nonstandard to say the least. The labels vs folders
thing is already a mess, but it also speaks a protocol that is just different
enough from regular imap that most clients (e.g. thunderbird) have a different
implementation with quirks for google-imap.
Using those clients is sub-standard with google's imap implementation, and
switching between them is more painful due to how each one handles googles
"labels not folders" quirk
~~~
pmlnr
This is true, I'm well aware of this, but at least there's still a choice.
Unfortunately nothing is truly stopping Google to pull a Slack move and close
the gateways... unless the amount of IMAP/SMTP users are significantly higher,
than we know, or that those users are tech influencers Google don't dare to
loose.
~~~
erichurkman
I would wager that G Suite users will keep IMAP/SMTP alive via Outlook and
other enterprise deployments.
------
bobinux
Is it just me or does the new Gmail UI feel sluggish/unresponsive? Scrolling
the mail list is lagging a bit, the left side menu takes time to initiate the
appear animation and the animation itself is too fast. When hovering the mouse
over mail list, the interaction icons do the lagging effect, which is really
not nice for eyes.
However the right side menu for Tasks, Calendar and etc. is nice, I like
having them in one place instead of keeping multiple diff tabs open.
I'm not sure if this lag effect is intentional or a performance problem, maybe
React instead of Angular could help :D
------
tehabe
Inbox looks really nice and is (to me) very simple and I kinda wished Google
would have uses Inbox as a template because Inbox has also two things which
makes my life really hard: 1 I can't sent emails to groups in my contacts and
2 in the Sent folder it doesn't say to whom I've sent the email but that I
sent them, which I already know.
Both issues are also true for the Gmail application on Android.
------
ino
It's also slower. The scrolling is choppy and I shouldn't need a top of the
line computer to scroll smoothly through some emails.
------
roberttod
I just went through my Inbox to figure out why I still use email.
For personal stuff, I think WhatsApp, Messenger, iMessages are clear winners.
90% of my emails seem to be marketing I'll never read or notifications I
ignore. I try my best to unsubscribe, but email really needs maintenance to
work nicely.
For work almost everything is Slack. Sales team and a few others still seem to
use email for some reason. Email is vital for communication with clients and
it's pretty good for a big announcement where you can then choose to "reply
all" or "reply", not sure Slack solves that nicely with threads. Also email
seems to be used for anything considered too important for Slack, but I can't
see any good reason why it should be that way.
When you boil it all down, it looks like a lot of use of email is for legacy
reasons, i.e. some people still insist on using it. There is legitimate
usefulness over other options when it comes to communicating between companies
though. Even if Slack figured out a way to fix that, they'd probably require
the reciever to be paying for Slack.
I guess the ability to send a stranger a message is email's weakness and it's
strength. Nothing out there has solved that yet.
~~~
leetcrew
an email address and a phone number are still the only things you can safely
assume everyone has. for many of my older relatives and non-tech
acquaintances, the only options are email, sms, or phone calls.
i dislike phone calls in general for all but the most time-sensitive and/or
intimate conversations. i get a bit anxious on the phone and i don't like
being essentially blocked for the duration of the call.
i dislike sms because i don't have an iphone, so i cannot respond using a full
sized keyboard without using workarounds like pushbullet, which i don't feel
like setting up for the small number of people who insist on using sms.
i don't love communicating via email but i would contest the claim that it is
a legacy technology on the basis that it does not have a clear successor.
there is no modern service that matches the ubiquity of email; the penetration
is unequaled even by the likes of facebook. i would also point out that
(personal) email addresses provide highly stable means of communicating with
infrequent contacts. while people's phone numbers change over time, people
seem to accumulate personal email addresses and at least forward the old ones
to their main account. if i got someone's personal email address five or even
ten years ago, i have a pretty good chance of reaching them today. on the
other hand, i assume that phone numbers that i haven't used for a couple years
are dead links. with messaging apps, you don't always have a clear indication
of whether the person currently has the app installed with notifications
enabled.
------
sssparkkk
Been thinking of switching back from Inbox to Gmail for one single annoying
and IMO stupid design decision: if there are multiple recepients for the email
the main reply button will by default perform a reply all. Had me look like a
dork a few times, replying to everyone that I can't make it to a party or
something.
Anyone else been bitten by this?
~~~
hokoto
I think the party host who is sending his invitations without using bcc is to
blame here.
I use gmail mainly for business related mails and the default reply-all makes
a lot sense - almost all the time other recipients ( managers, clients etc)
are there to be kept in loop. If you forgot and just reply to it, then you
have send the same mail again - or worse you never notice it.
~~~
sssparkkk
The party host is not using bcc because he/she wants everyone to be aware of
who has been invited to the party.
I guess it boils down to your default usage of email; I've never had an email
client before Inbox that does 'reply all' by default.
------
dheera
Where is this "unprintable e-mail" and "self-disappearing e-mail" feature? I
don't see the options on my Gmail. I would love to write a Chrome plugin to
destroy these features.
Once information enters my premises, I do whatever the hell I want with it as
long as I'm not sharing it with others or violating any NDAs. In particular,
you do not get to define the media and methods I use to access, consume, and
save information. You just get to send me a binary number containing
information, and it's your choice whether you want to do that or not. That's
it.
If you don't agree to me having personal freedom, don't send me information
and don't contact me.
------
Froyoh
Between the Gmail and Reddit redesigns Reddit's redesign was so much worse.
------
alkonaut
Those that don’t use inbox, why? I’m sure there are features of gmail that are
missing from inbox but what are they? Why do Google keep these two “forks” of
the same product?
~~~
achamayou
I find the lack of visual density and regularity in Inbox very annoying. Gmail
(compact) fits 3/4x times more emails on the same screen, with a single text
line of identical size for each. It's very quick and easy to scan through.
Inbox looks like a jumbled mess to me, with randomly sized images and pre-
rendered images, and it makes me scroll a lot more.
Annoyingly, the new UI is slightly less dense than before, but it's still much
better than Inbox.
~~~
alkonaut
I think the key idea behind inbox is that you don't have more than say 5 or 10
emails in your "to do" view. I never had to scroll. I only look at the inbox
view (i.e. things I need to deal with) - and that is always fewer than one
screen. If I need something from the "already dealt with" screen I do a
search, never a visual scan. This might be due to the volume of emails
received obviously, but that's why I was wondering. It might also depend on
the usage pattern, e.g. I reply to probably fewer than 1 in 100 emails for
example.
If I had more emails, or more emails I actually had to address by replies, it
might be different. I never noticed the "images" in inbox though. Are those
for things like purchases or travels that it renders differently? My emails
just look like subject lines, with about the same density in inbox as in
classic gmail (Quick check: An inbox email on desktop is a 32px div with 6px
padding, while a gmail email is a 39px table row - so quick estimate is 5px
more per email for inbox)
~~~
achamayou
Yes, for some reason Inbox expands some attachments inline for me, and pre-
renders some links (with a picture from the page a short summary). It doesn't
seem to do it systematically, and it could be something that can be turned off
in options (it didn't seem to be when I first checked). It seems to pick the
most useless items for expansion (recurring bills! 150px vertically for this
month's G drive bill!).
A quick an dirty screenshot-on-my-current-machine shows inbox compact emails
at 60px vertical, vs 50 for the new gmail. All of the difference seems to be
whitespace, the fonts are more or less identical. There's extra waste for
"Today" and "This month", and with a couple of expanded pictures, I can't even
fit 10 emails vertically on my screen (MB 12"). Gmail shows 20 emails in the
same space just fine.
It's quite possible that if you have just the right volume of email, the Inbox
format is perfect. It's also possible that most people don't mind scrolling.
Me though, I like to see as much as I possibly can at a glance.
------
naveen99
My gripe is when I star something in gmail it shows up 3 times in my outlook
todo list. I suppose it’s partly microsoft’s fault.
Hmm maybe there is a fix: [https://www.msoutlook.info/question/copies-in-
important-fold...](https://www.msoutlook.info/question/copies-in-important-
folder-gmail)
------
spinchange
I don't understand replacing the onmouseover shortcut to all mail from/to a
given address with shortcuts to other google apps actions (add to contacts,
compose, schedule event, hangouts, etc.) I'm mostly a keyboard shortcut person
but that's a mouse action I use all the time.
------
rayiner
While we are griping, the mobile website is complete crap on iOS, constantly
mistaking the initial touch to start a swipe motion. So you accidentally open
emails while trying to scroll through them. I’ve never seen any other website
do this, so I’m assuming someone got too clever.
~~~
mhuffman
Youtube (another Google product!) does this and it is infuriating! The youtube
iOS app is utter garbage, but the site itself is nearly unusable because of
the initial-touch mistake.
------
jordan_
I moved from gmail to fastmail and am much happier.
------
dejournal
I like the new design.
My only issue is that the sidebar expands when I mouse over it. Does anyone
know if this can be fixed so just the icons show?
------
dvfjsdhgfv
What about sorting e-mails? By size, for example?
~~~
benrbray
I think that's a very uncommon use case and I can't think of a time I've ever
wanted to do that. I've sorted by "has-attachment" but why would you need to
sort by size?
~~~
rrdharan
Well it becomes important when your .PST file is about to hit the 2GB limit
and you need to find large attachments to delete.
[https://www.lifewire.com/outlook-pst-files-size-
limit-117334...](https://www.lifewire.com/outlook-pst-files-size-
limit-1173344)
(NB: I’m being facetious, and agree with you - this, 15ish years ago, is
really the last time I remember needing to sort by size)
------
jimmies
I'm sure the Gmail team has done great research on this, and this might have
worked for the majority of the users, but just not for some power users such
as Hacker News readers. And I think, that's because we might have one false
belief, that is User Experience/User Interface is one big, beautiful,
monolithic top of the mountain everyone wants to reach. It is not: Power users
and the normies might have different needs. A normie like your mom and mine
don't know how to turn off annoying notification emails from Facebook, so they
might need a tool to help them hide spammy emails. They need something easy to
hit, hard to miss, because they use their fingers to point. But you and I use
keyboard shortcut and know exactly not to give our serious email addresses
away, we don't need that.
An UX that is great for your mom and mine might be bad for you and I.
I noticed that on one of my project that got on Hacker News and Hackaday, then
got viral on reddit and media and such a week or so later. It has both a
github and a couple of videos linked on the site. What I noticed from my
rudimentary Cloudflare log and Youtube analytics was that the HN crowd read
and looked at the github, but most didn't watch the video. The normies crowd
watched the video, but most didn't read. To me, it was kinda funny.
I think that's part of the crisis that GNOME 3 suffered lately. I seriously
tried GNOME 3 for a while and their macOS approach - simplify, trying to make
good choices by default - genuinely sucks for me. I want to see my options,
don't hide them away from me. I want to be able to make choices. The problem
that the GNOME 3 team doesn't realize is that their users aren't made up of
majority normies. They are the ones who are savvy enough to install a Linux
distro on their desktop. They are the ones that will go great lengths to
customize something to make it work exactly the way they wanted. And GNOME 3
fails to deliver that [1].
At first when I worked on my project, I wanted to create something very simple
that "just works." As time went by, it turned out to me many of my users, the
ones that stick and support my project aren't the ones that just install and
forget. They read the docs, wiki and the source code to tease out what I was
trying to do. So I realized having a great, updated wiki is a very valuable
asset. It takes great pain to do it, but it is worth it.
The problem with project that are extremely popular like Gmail is that you
tend to carter for the mass. But are they loyal? Are they the ones that
actually use and love your product? Are they the ones that influence other
people's choices? I think those are the questions worth asking and considering
when designing products.
1:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/8etezq/_/](https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/8etezq/_/)
~~~
pmlnr
> so they might need a tool to help them hide spammy emails.
They need a tool to make the source of the spam stop spamming them, not a tool
to hide this. Sweeping the dirt under that carpet is not an actual solution or
fix.
------
finchisko
Also what genius decided that left menu will slide on mouse hover when there
is hamburger icon for that.
------
blarg1
when gmail started filtering my emails I just deleted all the
filters/tabs/whatever. Though it took me bit to figure it out.
------
fiatjaf
I don't understand people complaining on free services. I believe it's
something you can do, but not as seriously as this article makes it sound.
Gmail is a toy.
------
make3
the new self erasing and unprintable emails make me really hope we can opt out
of the new gmail.
------
senectus1
the missing bloody contacts is driving me nuts, otherwise its ok i guess.
------
ehosca
does the new design allow me to sort my emails in date order received?
------
nukeop
Material Design is one of the worst things that ever happened to the design of
websites, not only Google's but everyone's, since now so many are trying to
copy it. I have no idea why anyone would want to see it anywhere.
~~~
chenster
Couldn't agree with you more. We should have a drink :)
------
EugeneOZ
Better than Inbox, anyway.
~~~
Froyoh
Better than Reddit's redesign
------
chenster
@google, check this: [https://dribbble.com/shots/4020485-Inbox-
Client/attachments/...](https://dribbble.com/shots/4020485-Inbox-
Client/attachments/921027). It's better than yours.
Never a fan of material design.. seriously, Google is NOT good at design.
Period. I hoped, in this Gmail iteration, Google would finally take the plunge
and kill the flat icons and minimalist design and once for all. It's quite the
opposite unfortunately. It got flatter and uglier. All so plain and washed
out, one doesn't know what he should look at first.
~~~
andrewguenther
That design is...awful. Tons of wasted space, prominent screen real estate
given to interactions the user will never engage and less than 50% of the
screen is given to the content I am there to see?
> one doesn't know what he should look at first.
Pot, meet kettle.
~~~
chenster
So what I heard is that people would just prefer something like the
Thunderbird, basic but functional - [https://addons.cdn.mozilla.net/user-
media/previews/full/152/...](https://addons.cdn.mozilla.net/user-
media/previews/full/152/152814.png?modified=1458845197) and you don't care if
it's ugly. However, You can't just think like gmail are only used by engineers
who designed it. Most of the users are not.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Google AMP is bad for e-commerce - themaveness
https://thirtybees.com/blog/amp-is-bad-for-e-commerce/
======
kinkrtyavimoodh
Despite understanding and largely agreeing with the concerns against AMP Cache
that get discussed any time an AMP article gets posted on HN, I cannot stress
enough on how relieved I feel to see the lightning icon next to a mobile
search result, especially on my now aging phone.
Most content websites have become such a massive crapfest of ad-bloat, bad UX,
huge page sizes and general usability hell that it's nigh impossible that I'd
be able to reach the actual content of a non AMP site in the first 5-10
seconds of clicking on its link. (On my phone that's an additional 1-2 seconds
for registering the tap, and 1-2 seconds for navigating to the browser)
My click-throughs to non AMP websites have reduced considerably.
So say what you may, AMP (or FB Instant or its ilk) will prosper until the
mobile web experience stops being so crappy.
(Edit: About a decade ago, when mobile browsers were in their infancy and data
plans were slow and limited, I distinctly remember using Opera Mini for mobile
browsing because it used to pre-render pages on the server and send a very
light payload to the phone. This saved you both data costs and made mobile
browsing even realistically possible)
~~~
dividuum
Personally I don't think the idea behind AMP is bad. But the implementation is
dangerous as it artificially fragments the web. I guess fewer would oppose AMP
if google made some machine verifiable guidelines for "light" webpages that
would earn them this "icon". Linked from the "fat" page by some "link" meta
tag.
~~~
godot
>if google made some machine verifiable guidelines for "light" webpages that
would earn them this "icon". Linked from the "fat" page by some "link" meta
tag.
That is exactly what AMP is; with the exception (a huge one, I know) that
Google also then caches the page on their server and serves it from a
google.com host.
~~~
avaer
For Google, the hijack is the prime feature; AMP is the PR vehicle that makes
it swallow.
AMP could have been done without the huge exception, but then Google couldn't
profit from it.
~~~
claudiulodro
The fast, non-blocking content loading is the main feature. I took a radical
path when developing my site and made it AMP-first. Instead of having an AMP
version of each page, every page is its own AMP version because it's an AMP
page.
Even served from my cheapo shared web host and not Google's AMP cache, I have
pretty-much instant loading of all pages:
[http://multithreaded.link/2017/08/lyft-customer-
acquisition-...](http://multithreaded.link/2017/08/lyft-customer-acquisition-
costs-decrease-uber-stumbles/)
It's a good framework for building super fast pages. I will admit it's a
little riskier to build a site on top of technology a large company owns, but
this is a risk that you also have when you use React or other frameworks.
~~~
kmoe
Your "About", "Contact", and "Privacy Policy" footer links don't work (they go
to "#").
~~~
claudiulodro
Yeah sorry about that! I just launched it recently so I'm still getting
everything going. :)
------
ucaetano
The author seems to completely misunderstand the point of AMP. It was never
designed or created for dynamic, interactive content, especially e-commerce.
This is like complaining that a hammer is bad for driving screws.
~~~
themaveness
I don't think its that. Its that AMP is borderline an anti-trust. But the
point is, even with the speed and possible ranking boost, does it boost
conversions? More traffic without conversions generally does not help an
e-commerce site.
~~~
ucaetano
> Its that AMP is borderline an anti-trust.
And why is that?
> More traffic without conversions generally does not help an e-commerce site.
You should not be using AMP for e-commerce, at least not for anything but a
static product page.
Again, if you try to drive a nail with a hammer and it doesn't work, the fault
isn't on the hammer, it's on you.
~~~
kuschku
> And why is that?
Because you only get a ranking boost if your page
> contains a <script async
> src="[https://cdn.ampproject.org/v0.js"></script>](https://cdn.ampproject.org/v0.js"></script>)
> tag inside their head tag.
and
> is allowed to be cached in the Google AMP cache
~~~
cramforce
As the otherwise pretty wrong article correctly states: There is no such
ranking boost.
~~~
rhizome
Not even for Google News purposes? That's 90% of the AMP links I see.
~~~
cramforce
Was talking about Google Search. Don't know about News. But the original
article was about e-commerce.
~~~
gertef
What if your ecommerce is fronted by news or blog?
~~~
cramforce
News shows up in the Top Stories carousel, not all blogs. If the news is so
newsworthy the Top Stories carousel is the right space.
~~~
kuschku
Not correct.
Just look at this example:
[http://i.imgur.com/84FvZmA.png](http://i.imgur.com/84FvZmA.png) Notice how
the news carousel is completely unrelated, and the pages do not otherwise show
up in the search.
Also notice the awesome bug in Google where "Nazi flag" returns "Flag of
Germany".
~~~
cramforce
Oh, certainly for English results showing news results for that query is very,
very relevant given what is going on in the US with people waving actual nazi
flags. You can see that if you e.g. search for a flag that isn't in the news
(like danish flag) there is no news result.
I'll report the flag bug.
~~~
kuschku
You’d think so. But many blogs and ecommerce sites have started dressing their
content up so that it ends up in that carousel, even if it’s not actually
relevant.
Google always ends up putting news from a sailing event from last year in that
carousel when I search stuff about my city. Especially awesome in Google News
& Weather, where 90% of the news are from last year.
Google seems to just displays the top X search results that happen to be AMP,
no matter how old they actually are.
That said, an antitrust complaint was filed with the EU anyway, so we can all
just hope your employer is forced to end AMP sooner rather than later, and we
can all replace it with a solution that doesn’t rely on any single group’s
implementation.
------
dbg31415
Conceptually I hate AMP. I wish they would just have guidelines for fast load
times, and award better rank and a lightening badge next to pages that are
adhering to those guidelines. I HATE that Google restricts design, re-formats
pages, and serves your content.
That said, AMP clearly isn't for eCommerce. You want dynamic, personalized
content for eCommerce. Recommendations based on past pages visited, or search
terms, or your location... It's not just about fast loading pages.
Some eCommerce may fear that their sales will suffer if someone else gets a
page that's in AMP and then Google's new rankings put that page over their
own... But that's no reason to convert your site to AMP. It's a good reason to
build out landing pages specific for search terms, do paid advertising around
keywords, and just generally market your products / site.
Generally speaking, people who come in to product pages straight from Google
are just doing price comparison anyway -- it's just a step in the decision
journey, but if you've done a proper job of marketing your business, customers
that buy tend to go straight to your site and do a search using your own
search tools.
------
roneythomas6
Why would you build your whole site on AMP??? Please read this before think
about build AMP. [https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2016/12/progressive-web-
amp...](https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2016/12/progressive-web-amps/)
~~~
kuschku
> Why would you build your whole site on AMP???
To get a ranking boost? For some search terms, moving to full AMP gives you a
ranking boost catapulting you from page 13 or worse to the #1 result. So if
you don’t use that, someone else will use that advantage.
~~~
roneythomas6
Guardian for example runs their own AMP cache and gets in page 1 without
Google AMP cache. Also AMP is one in many factors that is used to decide site
relevance. Amazon and many other sites that don't use AMP gets featured in
page 1 on mobile.
~~~
kuschku
The guardian may run their own CDN, but all guardian search results in Google
Search redirect to the Google AMP cache.
For example, current #1 result for "guardian" is
[https://www.google.de/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/world/2017/a...](https://www.google.de/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/world/2017/aug/16/grace-
mugabe-zimbabwe-south-africa-diplomatic-immunity)
------
andy_ppp
AMP is fine. AMP Cache is embrace, extended and break the web in fairly
fundamental ways.
~~~
roneythomas6
Cloudflare provides AMP cache. If you don't want to use Google CDN.
~~~
superkuh
Cloudflare's AMP cache is even worse. If someone goes to a website
behind/rehosted on Cloudflares AMP that has a link from that site to a third
party site (say, yours or mine) that third party site will be spidered and
also rehosted on Cloudflare AMP.
Then when someone goes to the intentionally Cloudflare AMP site and clicks
through to your site your actual domain never gets the hit. Instead all
traffic remains within Cloudflare and you never see it.
Additionally, after 2 months of trying to contact anyone at Cloudflare about
this exact situation happening with the most popular page on my domain (saw
the cloudflare AMP bot in the logs) I still can't get a real person. Their
support is attrocious.
~~~
Pxtl
Get a lawyer. They're copying your content and misrepresenting a link to their
site as yours.
------
cramforce
"AMP does not allow for use of forms". This is wrong
[https://www.ampproject.org/docs/reference/components/amp-
for...](https://www.ampproject.org/docs/reference/components/amp-form)
…and similarly the rest of the article seems badly researched.
~~~
Navarr
The biggest key to me was the complete ignorance of why a pagespeed might be
higher despite "overall load time" being slower.
Perhaps, author, because of how those pages are painted
------
benmarks
There's a whole lot wrong with this article. Chief for me is the absolute
ignorance around AMP -> PWA flow and browser-native payments API:
[https://developers.google.com/web/updates/2016/07/payment-
re...](https://developers.google.com/web/updates/2016/07/payment-request)
This tech may seem trivial to broadband users, but has demonstrated itself to
be effective in mobile-heavy, low-bandwidth markets (ref India & myntra.com)
------
linopolus
So AMP is not even faster than other mobile pages without the google CDN? A
pity so many prefer something like AMP to generally stripping down their
sites. Get rid of JS unless absolutely necessary, compress/remove images,
remove all this ad and bloat, and your page, whatever category it fits in,
will load blazyingly fast. What happened to good old sole HTML and CSS, served
statically or server-generated for lightning speed?
~~~
acdha
It's not only not faster but it's often slower — AMP puts 100KB of render-
blocking JavaScript into the critical path. If you can render a page with less
than that, you're likely to beat it, which I see regularly on iOS.
~~~
squeaky-clean
Not only that, but because of the limitations of AMP, many AMP sites are
getting slower and slower as they attempt workarounds. I've seen many sites
recently that do section headers as a large image-as-text, I'd guess because
they want to use a custom font? Even worse is AMP won't load images until
you've scrolled them into view.
------
JoshMnem
AMP is terrible for the decentralized, open Web in general.
------
gregable
Breaking down a few of the concerns in this article:
> With AMP [chat applications] cannot be used
True currently. There are no chat application amp extensions, yet. This could
change in the future. Vendors interested in implementing one for AMP should
get involved at
[http://github.com/ampproject/amphtml](http://github.com/ampproject/amphtml)
> AMP does not have any markup specific to checkouts
Most web pages move from shopping cart to payment by changing URLs. This would
work just fine with an AMP page. There is in fact at least one vendor who has
integrated payments with AMP already:
[https://www.ampproject.org/docs/reference/components/amp-
acc...](https://www.ampproject.org/docs/reference/components/amp-access-
laterpay)
Also take a look at
[https://ampbyexample.com/advanced/payments_in_amp/](https://ampbyexample.com/advanced/payments_in_amp/)
> AMP does not allow for use of forms
See [https://www.ampproject.org/docs/reference/components/amp-
for...](https://www.ampproject.org/docs/reference/components/amp-form)
> They really do not support a logged in state, or user preferences. Things
> like recommended products, or recently viewed products will not work with an
> AMP page. None of the personalization aspects like “Hi, Lesley” are done
> with AMP.
See the (perhaps poorly named)
[https://www.ampproject.org/docs/reference/components/amp-
lis...](https://www.ampproject.org/docs/reference/components/amp-list) This
supports loading content specific to the user, even on a cached amp document.
> if search and filtering are a large part of your site’s mobile navigation,
> AMP will be useless.
This is exactly what amp-bind was built for:
[https://ampbyexample.com/components/amp-
bind/](https://ampbyexample.com/components/amp-bind/)
> Google Analytics is not supported on AMP
Google Analytics is fully supported in AMP. Here's the Google Analytics
support page:
[https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection...](https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/amp-
analytics/)
> If you use a different suite of tracking such as Piwik or kissmetrics, they
> will not work with AMP.
There is a large list of analytics vendors that have direct support here:
[https://www.ampproject.org/docs/guides/analytics/analytics-v...](https://www.ampproject.org/docs/guides/analytics/analytics-
vendors)
Other vendors can be added with a small amount of configuration. Here's a
guide for Piwik, for example: [https://www.elftronix.com/guide-to-using-piwik-
analytics-wit...](https://www.elftronix.com/guide-to-using-piwik-analytics-
with-amp-on-wordpress/)
Alternatively, vendors can submit a configuration to the AMP project which is
just a few lines of JSON, then the vendor will be supported more directly.
> Ad Revenue is Decreased
The link is to a single article from a year ago. There are many studies
pointing to the opposite effect as well.
> A/B testing is not supported
See [https://www.ampproject.org/docs/reference/components/amp-
exp...](https://www.ampproject.org/docs/reference/components/amp-experiment)
> Performance
I'm not sure what URLs the author used, but I tried to find a similar
overstock recliner page that might be the right one. I found:
[https://www.overstock.com/Home-
Garden/Recliners/Leather,/mat...](https://www.overstock.com/Home-
Garden/Recliners/Leather,/material,/18555/subcat.html)
The author tries to use a google.com/amp URL, but these redirect when not
coming from a search click. Much easier is to take the CDN amp URL, which is
served the same way:
[https://cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.overstock.com/Home-
Garden...](https://cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.overstock.com/Home-
Garden/Recliners/amp/Leather,/material,/18555/subcat.html)
I loaded both of these in Chrome, simulated a mobile device, network tab, and
throttling with Fast 3G. Here were my results:
* non-AMP: 42 requests, 1.1 MB transferred, Finish: 10.3s, DomContentLoad: 3.38s, Load: 9.52s
* AMP: 35 requests, 408 KB transferred, Finish 5.87s, DomContentLoaded 1.28s, Load: 5.88s
The AMP page is 60% smaller and hits the load event in 40% less time. However
"loaded" is a funny term in the world of javascript driven websites and needs
to be looked at more carefully.
I suspect that the author's referenced tool is reporting "fully loaded time"
as the time that the last network event ended. AMP pages intentionally delay
loading images below the fold to prioritize visible content. This results in
some images loading later without impacting the user experience. For example,
as I scrolled in the AMP page, the "Finish" time would move ahead to a new
time as new images were loaded. With events like analytics triggers, looking
at the time the last network event finished is typically a misleading metric
and won't work correctly with most amp documents.
If you load filmstrips in Chrome's Performance Tab, you can see this more
clearly. Filmstrips display what the page looked like at snapshots in time
after loading starts. For my quick test with network throttling, the non-AMP
page takes a little over 6s to finish reaching it's final state and the AMP
page takes about 2.2s. So AMP here is nearly 3x faster as the user would
perceive it on similar connection speed.
------
k__
Privacy issues aside, I don't get AMP, most of the time it doesn't even work
right and I'm using chrome on my android tablet.
It either doesn't load or goes back to the previous page after a few seconds.
------
taytus
Disclaimer: I'm working on ROBOAMP (an AMP generator)
AMP has limitations, like any piece of technology. Once you understand the
limitations you should be able to plan your attack accordingly.
We are pre-launch but if you want early access and test our automatic
generator please email me.
------
nouveau0
Should have stopped at Google AMP is bad.
------
droopybuns
Anyone else annoyed at how evernote web clips are completely busted on AMP
pages?
------
themaveness
I imagine it will likely be shelved soon either by lawsuit or just by Google's
closing it down.
~~~
akras14
I appreciate your optimism, but my read is that current Google management is
very heavily invested in this idea and will fight hard before they give it up.
In addition AMP has penetrated other platforms, like Facebook, Twitter and
Pinterest.
The cat is out of the bag, and it will not be easy to put it back.
~~~
sliverstorm
_The cat is out of the bag, and it will not be easy to put it back._
Yup, now that those damn users have gotten a taste of speed & low data usage,
it's gonna be hard to drag them back to how it used to be. We had a good thing
going, and they didn't know any better.
~~~
akras14
No one is advocating for users to have a bad experience and large downloads.
~~~
onion2k
The author of the article being discussed expressly states that AMP is bad
because it doesn't allow chat services or 3rd party integrations. Those are
two examples of things that often lead to a bad experience and large
downloads.
------
aritali
I cannot see AMP remaining viable in the long run. I think there is going to
be a lot of push back or non adoption because the walled garden is just a way
to track users and advertise to them better.
------
denisehilton
What do you say about blogs? I understand that AMP is harmful to e-commerce
based websites but what about blogs that are totally based on content and
Google ads? How does it impact them?
------
w00bl3ywook
wtf is this guy talking about? This article has so many errors, it should be
retracted.
------
ziggzagg
Mot google projects die organically, with a short life span. No need to keep
bashing AMP like this.
~~~
ashark
This particular AMP-bashing post just reminded me to go change mobile Safari's
default search engine to DDG, which I'd been meaning to do so I stop being
sent to terrible AMP pages, but kept forgetting to do because in the moment
I'm always more interested in finding the info I want on a non-AMP page than
fiddling with settings. So it was useful to me.
~~~
Lio
You can use Duck Duck Go to stop Google showing you AMP links in search
results by starting your searches with "!g".
If AMP was so good for me vs just good for Google I would expect them to allow
opt out for those, like me, that don't want to see AMP results.
------
kuschku
So, to avoid having to argue the same problems always again, here’s a summary
of some of the technical and antitrust issues with AMP:
1\. You have to embed the AMP version from Google’s servers, you can’t self-
host the AMP js, or run it from another CDN. This makes your site unavailable
in, for example, China, relies on Google’s systems, and ensures that Google
knows every user of your site.
Source: [https://www.ampproject.org/docs/reference/spec#required-
mark...](https://www.ampproject.org/docs/reference/spec#required-markup)
> contain a <script async
> src="[https://cdn.ampproject.org/v0.js"></script>](https://cdn.ampproject.org/v0.js"></script>)
> tag inside their head tag.
2\. You need to allow Google to cache the content, and all Google products
will always link to the Google cache version. You can not opt out of this. You
can not ensure users visit your own CDN version. You can not prevent Google
from displaying modified versions of the pages (for example, the header UI of
AMP pages in Google search, and the swiping between pages gesture).
Source:
[https://developers.google.com/amp/cache/faq](https://developers.google.com/amp/cache/faq)
> Q: Can I stop content from being cached?
> A: No. By using the AMP format, content producers are making the content in
> AMP files available to be cached by third parties. For example, Google
> products use the Google AMP Cache to serve AMP content as fast as possible.
3\. Pages that use AMP get a massive indirect ranking boost. Yes, they don’t
get directly boosted, but they get added to the AMP carousel, between the ads
and the #1 result, or between the #1 and #2 result. If, for a given search
term, none of the top pages have an AMP result, Google will boost the first
3-4 pages that have an AMP result to this place – even if they’d organically
rank on page 10 or later. In some situations, I’ve seen results from page 13
boosted to #1.
------
thinbeige
Tried today to find a way to let amp-img mimic CSS' background-size cover
paired with background-position. Not possible, so I need still to use CSS'
background-image without AMP's preloading feature.
This is one of the most used features in HTML/CSS to handle images, people are
complaining in the Github issues, others rewrite the whole Internet in AMP
with AMP components.
This is ridiculous, Google just wants to restrict other ad networks' JS and
recreates HTML/CSS/JS for no real reason.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
12 fuck ups whilst making a chatbot - jonplackett
https://medium.com/wk-ventures/11-f-k-ups-whilst-making-a-chatbot-10b71d837e2a
======
BentFranklin
<i>Some people are too stupid to follow directions</i>
Just have the chatbot tell the cookbot what to do.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
How would you flip 5k - shams93
Her first thought is house flipping, not sure what people think about that. I've heard of good results with short term corporate bonds from some family. How would you flip 5k into a running business?
======
CyberFonic
You only make money flipping houses if you do most of the work yourself and
hustle on buying materials and PC items. It is extremely rare to make a profit
if your use contractors. You have to keep in mind the transaction and holding
costs as well.
The best way that I know of using 5k in a business is to buy stuff at a good
wholesale price and sell it for a good price. If you mark up 50% the 5k
becomes 7.5k and then you do it again and now you have 11.25k and so on - the
beauty of compound interest. But again, you need to know your target market
and there is some work to be done.
Corporate bonds? I'd think you'd better do at a casino.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Why leaks are so toxic to secretive entities - antonioono
http://zunguzungu.wordpress.com/2010/11/29/julian-assange-and-the-computer-conspiracy-%E2%80%9Cto-destroy-this-invisible-government%E2%80%9D/
======
badwetter
Excellent read; thanks for posting this blog!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
ArrayDB, a new and easy PHP ORM - mstdokumaci
http://github.com/mstdokumaci/arraydb
======
blj
I am not a PHP programmer, but I noticed that most of the files does not have
a php closing "?>". Or am I missing something?
~~~
mstdokumaci
it's mostly not adviced: <http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4410704/php-
closing-tag>
~~~
blj
oh right, that makes sense. I suppose PHP won't complain about the missing
"?>". Thanks.
------
fatiherikli
good job.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Stephen Wolfram IAmA On Reddit (3pm EST) - nswanberg
http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/tmutz/stephen_wolfram_nks_10th_anniversary/
======
minimax
Anyone interested in NKS might also be interested in Cosma Shalizi's review
which details several substantial problems with the book.
<http://www.cscs.umich.edu/~crshalizi/reviews/wolfram/>
~~~
taliesinb
It might be good reading, but I don't think its a good review. What follows is
my review of the review, which is rather long, but I've been meaning to write
something for a while, so here it is.
The review is filled with a lot of Shalizi saying how bad Wolfram's book is,
but when it comes time to justify his criticism he seems either to get bogged
down in something quite orthogonal to what Wolfram is actually saying, or to
recap some history without relating it to his original claim.
I feel like a good-faith review should at least try to understand what the
original author's major claims are, state them, and then weigh them. He hasn't
done this. In fact, I suspect he hasn't read very much of the book at all. Of
course, he doesn't have to, but then he must refrain on passing judgement on
the core ideas, especially when the core ideas aren't actually intelligible to
him.
Here's a list of concrete criticisms from Shalizi's diatribe that I was able
to identify. I follow each with my own thoughts, as someone with mathematical
training who has both read the book and been to the summer school
(<http://www.wolframscience.com/summerschool/>).
0) "Wolfram's main discovery and idea is that "simple rules can produce
complex results", something that is neither novel nor helpful."
Actually, Wolfram's discovery is that the very _simplest_ non-trivial programs
that incorporates time and space can be arbitrarily complex (loosely
translated, 'universal'). Furthermore, after doing exhaustive enumerations of
many program families, it is demonstrated that _most_ of them have this
property.
Those qualifiers make a difference; because now Wolfram is studying the
zoology of programs, instead of the piecemeal taxidermy that was attempted
before.
1) "Wolfram's chapter on perception recycles the production rules approach to
cognition."
This is a bizarre conclusion. It seems to be taken from about two sentences
out of a chapter of around 90 pages. Actually, to the extent that Wolfram
offers a theory of cognition, it is closer to Jeff Hawkin's hierarchical
temporal memory.
Now, there are several interesting claims and ideas (perhaps wrong) in the
section on perception, but Shalizi doesn't have anything substantive to say
about them, for them, or against them.
2) "Wolfram doesn't understand evolution. Also, programs can't explain
evolutionary adaptation."
The first claim is unlikely.
The second claim is true, but once again Shalizi seems to have misread (or not
read) Wolfram. Wolfram doesn't claim that programs are responsible for
evolution, but rather than lots of complexity comes 'for free' without natural
selection having to incrementally produce it. Natural selection can preserve
these useful programs once they have been discovered, but they cannot be
constructed piecemeal.
3) "Wolfram is dabbling in toy computer models, nothing more."
It's easy to perceive it that way. I think this is just a side effect of how
wide open the space of programs is. It is an orchard so large, with so many
low-hanging fruit, that the logical thing _isn't_ to construct one extremely
good snowflake model and write a book about it, but to show that even an
absurdly simple one can get you further than most numerical models do, and
then go on to show the same thing for a dozen other problems.
No particular example is meant to be both novel and definitive. Rather, the
whole collection of examples is to demonstrate that a connecting thread of
extremely simple programs runs through very many scientifically and
mathematically interesting questions, and that a small amount of tugging on
each one can yield some disproportionately impressive answers -- even if the
models are overly simplistic.
4) "Wolfram fails to define complexity other than visually."
Shalizi misses the point about metrics of complexity, thinking that the lack
of a single definition of complexity is a bad thing. Instead, it represents a
new approach. Let me explain in more detail.
The basic premise is that any particular (practical) complexity measure boils
down to using a particular program to shortcut or predict the evolution of a
process. Wolfram argues this is both true of hardcore statistical analysis and
"folk analysis", i.e., looking at stuff visually.
Recall that Wolfram claims that most non-trivial processes are "irreducible":
you have to run them to find out what they do. Therefore, definitionally, they
cannot be shortcut by any practical complexity measure. That means that most
complexity measures will agree on all the interesting cases: they'll all
'break a tooth' on the nugget of irreducibility and claim them to be maximally
complex.
So _if_ the principle of computational irreducibility is true, _then_ we have
the conclusion that devising complexity measures (while a fun game to play) is
not actually that crucial to whole enterprise of understanding complexity.
5) "Wolfram doesn't understand relativity and/or Bell's inequalities."
I don't know any loop quantum gravity, so I can't comment on how much deeper
it is than Wolfram's work on trivalent nets.
Actually, Aaronson's claimed disproof of the network universe really hinges on
whether you allow weak, long-range connections in the graph. It's more of a
stalemate.
6) "Wolfram tried to use Cook's result with crediting him."
There is no evidence for this claim -- from what I've heard, Cook broke an NDA
he signed that required him to wait for the publication of the book to talk
about the result, and then broke _another_ agreement by trying to publish it.
But ultimately, it's a "he said, she said kind of thing" -- we cannot conclude
anything about the character of either of them.
7) "Wolfram gets the history wrong."
No examples of actual errors are provided, although "indefinite examples are
available on request". 'Indefinite' is a good choice of word.
8) "Wolfram's style is unpleasant."
I happen to think that most of it is written in simple, straightforward,
unpretentious language -- contrary to much academic work. Of course, this
isn't an academic work, and wasn't purporting to be written in academic style.
From history, we have two diametrically opposed examples of style for large
scale scientific works: Newton's Principia, which was so technical, dry, and
austere that it took quite a long time for people to actually start reading it
and absorbing the ideas; and Darwin's Origin of Species, which was
straightforward, readable, and sold out on the first day.
~~~
minimax
So Wolfram thinks he is the Charles Darwin of what exactly? The Origin of
Species has a singular focus, i.e. presenting evidence for the mutability of
species. What is NKS's focus? What makes you think NKS is in any way
comparable to Origin of Species?
~~~
taliesinb
Read my sentence carefully. The only point of comparison is that they are both
"large scale scientific works".
But since you asked, NKS's focus is simple programs.
------
dude_abides
This was his reply to a question asking him to have a bug bounty program like
Knuth.
_We could have bankrupted Don Knuth when we first started automatically
generating TeX from Mathematica years ago!_
Talk about humility..
~~~
taliesinb
You seem not to be aware that he's joking.
~~~
skeletonjelly
Sarcasm is hard to portray in text. He's clearly really good at it.
------
Skyhook-
Stephen Wolfram's AMA from March 5, 2012.
[http://reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/qisot/im_stephen_wolfram_m...](http://reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/qisot/im_stephen_wolfram_mathematica_nks_wolframalpha/)
~~~
hexagonal
So he's doing an AMA every two months?
------
doug1001
Question to SW about this favorite books:
_On my desk I have to say I have only one book: A New Kind of Science._ [by
Stephen Wolfram] _But within reach, I have [N]ewton, Darwin, Euclid, Galileo,
Boole, D'Arcy Thompson, Linnaeus."_
------
koglerjs
what, did he want more attention?
I have a hard time giving his work the respect it admittedly deserves because
of the weight of his ego.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
We’d have more quantum computers if it weren’t so hard to find the damn cables - respinal
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/612760/quantum-computers-component-shortage/
======
stwe_
I am working with one of these dilution refrigerators of Oxford Instruments in
my PhD thesis (not directly quantum computing, but a related topic in the
direction of quantum computing). They are an incredible piece of machinery,
with the push of a button they cool down your sample from room temperature to
about 20 mK (admittedly, it takes ~30 Hours). That's 0.002 degrees above
absolute zero.
I wonder how much of the 500k$ is really the material cost. As it was said in
the article, the Helium-3 gas is already 40k$. And there is a lot of high-
purity metals used: gold-plated oxygen-free copper for the main parts, silver
wire for thermal anchoring and heat exchangers, indium wire for vacuum seals
etc.
And thats just for the cryostat. To really use the cryostat for quantum
computing experiments, you need to buy all of the cryogenic high-frequency
electronic stuff. The cryogenic cables mentioned in the article by Coax, Ltd.
are indeed really really expensive. Our last batch of NbTi-NbTi cables (i.e.
superconducting inner + outer conductor) were about 1500$ per meter. Cryogenic
microwave amplifiers (they operate at ~3.5 K to reduce microwave noise) cost
about 5000$ per piece. Microwave circulators run at about 1500$ per piece.
(According to the google paper, they used 9 cryogenic amps and 45 cryogenic
circulators).
It's really very fascinating. But on the other side, I guess there is just not
enough demand to justify founding another company building these fridges or
superconducting cables. Unless of course at some point you manage to build
these systems in large scale. But right now, that is just not feasible because
it's no plug-and-play system. You have to constantly adjust and recalibrate
the electronics to make the chip work.
------
madengr
The article talks about superconducting cables, but these cryogenic cables are
not superconducting. Seem like regular Kapton flex cables, either strip line
or broadside coupled.
[https://www.delft-circuits.com/wp-
content/uploads/2019/08/Da...](https://www.delft-circuits.com/wp-
content/uploads/2019/08/Datasheet-CrioFlex-CF2.pdf)
I suppose you could use superconducting ribbon, or sputter thin film
superconductor onto a Kapton core.
------
anonytrary
Misleading title; also the article is mostly fluff. TLDR; quantum computers
are expensive because superconductors are expensive to maintain, and companies
like IonQ and Delft Circuits are looking into some solutions.
~~~
fsh
IonQ uses trapped ions, not superconducting circuits. Completely different
technology.
~~~
anonytrary
That's still a potential solution.
------
yskchu
[https://archive.is/YVWm8](https://archive.is/YVWm8)
------
p1mrx
I usually try Monoprice, or eBay.
~~~
smabie
Don’t go for the monster quantum cables, they are usually a rip-off!
------
dvh
You mean more than zero?
~~~
AlEinstein
Are you saying that you personally have zero quantum computers or that nobody
has more than zero quantum computers?
~~~
MisterTea
You can't tell if someone has a quantum computer until you observe it.
------
unnouinceput
Quote: "The problem is that these huge cylinders, which can cost between
$500,000 and $1 million each, are custom-made, and researchers say that only a
few companies, like BlueFors in Finland and Oxford Instruments in the UK, are
producing high-quality ones."
There, the next unicorn - why only UK & Finland and not a Silicon Valley
start-up as well? In the end it's just tech that requires investment, and God
help us, there are plenty of venture capitalists looking for next unicorn. I
mean the quantum computing field is so hot these days that everyday you find a
new article about it.
~~~
imglorp
I'm a little unclear on the benefit here. Say I have a hard problem and want
to spend say $15 million for one machine, and further say that my problem
might be suitable for a quantum algorithm, and further say I'm okay restocking
all the exotic cryogenics etc.
At that price, I could buy at least 15,000 boring old machines using a boring
distributed algorithm.
Is that quantum algorithm really worth it?
~~~
yjftsjthsd-h
I assume the idea is that the technology is still in its infancy and in a few
years it will be competitive.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
An iPhone App Market That Doesn't Require Jailbreaking... Which Apple Can't Stop - peter123
http://techdirt.com/blog/wireless/articles/20100730/00083610420.shtml
======
bradleyland
It's not exactly like this is a secret. Steve Jobs talked about the "openness"
of the web as a platform explicitly at WWDC.
------
WilliamLP
> First, it's good to get more people realizing that HTML is already pretty
> damn good at creating app-style experiences,
That would be good if it were true. It's not.
~~~
donohoe
Actually it is. "app-style experience" is the easy part - but there's more
examples of bad then good.
The failing is when HTML/JS needs to do 'heavy lifting' that native code does
better (such as large memory based tasks, 3d rendering for now, animations,
heavy math, or hooking into hardware).
~~~
WilliamLP
If there are many more examples of bad than good, and for JS apps, this is a
dramatic understatement, this is a great pragmatic definition of it not being
good for apps.
For example, I've never played a JS/Canvas game for the sake of it being a
good game. Has anyone? I see a lot of frameworks, and a lot of demos to
advocate for the platform, but no good games. Why is this? At this point, the
novelty of the platform is no longer an excuse. It has been a forum darling
for several years now.
~~~
joneath
Sadly this is true. Canvas is still very much in its infancy. I see two main
issues with Canvas for games right now.
First, canvas really needs to be hardware accelerated (someone already does
this, Microsoft?). Having a few objects move around should barely take any CPU
but with Canvas today it can be anywhere from 10%-20%.
Second, their needs to be game engines/abstractions on top of Canvas. Most
developers don't want to have to write there own render/clear loop with all
the utility functions to do movement, render shapes, texture elements, and
keep object state. I know their are a few out there now but they are no where
near the quality needed. This second step will not happen until my first point
(HW acceleration) is in place.
~~~
gizmomagico
Writing you a snarky reply about your misuse of "their" and "there" and
erasing it was somewhat cathartic. But not enough, so I had to write this.
_Please_ make sure that you can use some of the most basic building blocks of
your native language.
------
kingofspain
Wasn't this originally going to be the only way to release apps for iPhones?
Later they caved in & allowed native. I didn't get an iPhone until a couple of
years after all this though so my history may be off somewhat.
Point being, if true, this was no 'secret' - it was originally plan A.
~~~
JunkDNA
No, you're exactly right. In fact, when the iPhone was first released, all the
pundits and bloggers were practically screaming that it was so unfair that
Apple didn't allow developers to write native apps and that HTML web apps were
a poor substitute for what you could do natively. They pointed to how Google
got to write a custom app for maps, and how it was unfair to competitors who
would be locked out.
It was like that for the entire first year of the iPhone. Then, once the app
store was announced, it's like all the bloggers and pundits suffered
coordinated, selective amnesia. The irritating thing about this article is
that the tone suggests this is somehow something Apple would be upset about,
when in fact, Apple promotes HTML apps as an alternative to the restrictions
of the app store.
The success of the App Store is 80% linked to the fact that it's a
frictionless purchasing environment. I can buy an app from some random person
for 99 cents and not have to worry that he/she has my credit card number.
Furthermore, you're likely to think twice as you go to purchase a 99 cent fart
joke app and you're entering your credit card number into a web form. That
feels like you're spending money. But punching your password into iTunes
_rarely_ (if ever) feels like spending money. Apple is excellent at separating
consumers from their money. Developers of App Store apps get to use "the hand
of Jobs" to ply your cash from your wallet.
I suspect that if Apple allowed web apps to bill against itunes accounts,
you'd see a huge explosion of pay iPhone-optimized web apps that would
otherwise go into the App Store. With a little bit of Safari integration, you
could allow developers to put little "buy now" buttons on their web apps and
it would feel just like an app store purchase. I doubt Apple would ever roll
out such a feature, since it sounds like it would be minimal benefit but have
a fair number of headaches.
------
lecha
Good start, OpenAppMkt. Keep it up.
Without going into flamewar about native vs. HTML5, HTML5 apps have their pros
and cons. But they still need a commercial distribution channel. People should
be able to buy HTML5 apps as simply as they buy native apps.
------
timmorgan
The OpenAppMkt app has a nice interface for being HTML only -- wonder how they
got the fixed position buttons on the bottom while allowing scrolling in the
body of the page?
As far as I knew, that was impossible due to Safari Mobile on the iPhone not
supporting fixed position elements.
~~~
voidfiles
Most likely they are using JS to secure the position, and yes you are right
Mobile Safari doesn't support position:fixed;
------
quizbiz
Is there a good tutorial to be found about making an HTML5 app?
~~~
statictype
<http://sixrevisions.com/web-development/html5-iphone-app/>
------
voidfiles
It's about control of distribution. Apple clearly is cool with HTML5, that
isn't new. Everyone is also right that Apple clearly dominates distribution,
but it's not an absolute lock. The only way you can ever wrestle control away
from Apple is if someone creates an alternative, which is what OpenAppMkt has
started. Just because it's not huge now, or it's not dominate now, doesn't
mean that it can't become a player in the future.
------
joe-mccann
Apple could "stop" this very easily. Don't allow access to native hardware
APIs through the browser via JavaScript; thus, making "webapps" inferior to
"native apps" based on capabilities of interacting with the hardware.
Phonegap, FTW.
------
powrtoch
I've often wondered just how many people have ever used the "add to home
screen" button, or even really noticed it. I assumed for a long time that the
"+" icon just added a bookmark to mobile Safari.
Note that HN is clearly not a good sample group to poll this.
------
blocke
So we're showing off the power of HTML5 by locking it to iPhone only... Nice.
------
napierzaza
People hate the App store regardless of the iPhones HTML app capacity because
they want what the App store offers without the compromise that Apple makes
them take.
They want centralized marketing, distribution, security and payment handling
which the HTML option doesn't have. They could build a website selling these
apps if they wanted, but that would be work outside of developing, which they
don't want to do.
Everyone wants to be on the App Store because that's where you go for apps.
You don't Google for "html iPad App RSS reader". So no one is going to install
your app.
With the recent security issues with Android phones (this will happen with
Apple apps too, but maybe to a smaller degree) Apple's controls are looking
nicer and nicer.
Sour grapes.
Also, what's with the title "which Apple can't stop". You're thumbing your
nose at Apple with a feature they developed and encouraged?
~~~
yumraj
Regarding: _With the recent security issues with Android phones (this will
happen with Apple apps too, but maybe to a smaller degree) Apple's controls
are looking nicer and nicer._
I respectfully disagree. App approval process has nothing, repeat _nothing_ ,
to do with security. As an example I can create a time-bomb app, which does
nothing nasty for 6 months and then once it is deployed on several Apple
devices it begins to do whatever it was programmed to do.
There is no way an app approval process can handle that or catch that. That
requires disassembly and careful analysis of the source or disassembled code.
That apps on Apple's devices are more secure is an illusion.
~~~
forgottenpaswrd
"That apps on Apple's devices are more secure is an illusion."
Yeah, and careful sandboxing of each app and control of the functions you use
has nothing to do with security either.
Apple knows what functions you use and when, and the data you send receive
using them. They know the format, nothing else is needed. That's one of the
reason they only let you use documented calls.
For me its easy to make a software that monitors that activity,so with so many
people smarter than me, I can not imagine that Apple has not done it. I know
they have automated tools for analyzing Apps proposals, so I'm confident they
monitor live the apps activity.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
A majority of millennials now reject capitalism, poll shows - alphonsegaston
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/04/26/a-majority-of-millennials-now-reject-capitalism-poll-shows/?postshare=6201488310112857&tid=ss_tw
======
tabeth
In my experience, people who criticize this article are probably benefiting
from "capitalism" (the majority of people on here, I reckon, do), meanwhile
those struggling from inequality, not being here, will fail to have their
voice heard. And so the echo chamber ensues.
That being said, capitalism and having things like free healthcare and
education are hardly mutually exclusive. So I think the article's conclusion,
"In an apparent rejection of the basic principles of the U.S. economy...",
(more the poll) are a bit misleading.
Here's the actual poll, by the way:
[http://www.people-press.org/2011/12/28/little-change-in-
publ...](http://www.people-press.org/2011/12/28/little-change-in-publics-
response-to-capitalism-socialism/)
Thanks to twblalock for including the recent poll:
[http://iop.harvard.edu/youth-poll/harvard-iop-
spring-2016-po...](http://iop.harvard.edu/youth-poll/harvard-iop-
spring-2016-po..).
~~~
dnautics
alright. I'll bite. I have made almost no money in the past year, and my bank
account is nearly zero. I had a relatively middle class upbringing (but for
reasons I'd rather not go into) my family is currently bankrupt.
Capitalism (in the free markets sense) is great. The problem is that gobs of
money are stolen from poor people like me by the government through various
processes, the biggest of which is inflation. This money is largely
redistributed to cronies - the easiest of which to see are the big
contractors. Less obvious are the banks and directly profit off of low-
interest loans by flipping them to higher-interest borrowers, and even less
obvious is wall street (whose coffers are filled by middle class people pushed
into protecting their assets from inflation).
This is Capital-ism (in the marxian sense) -- the philosophy deciding that the
pursuit of capital is a good unto itself. Unfortunately, the state has decided
to attempt to 'harness' capitalism for its own idea of 'social good' which of
course basically taints the non-zero-sum nature of free exchange with the
zero-sum game of political hierarchy. The more this happens, the greater there
will be inequality. It's a direct consequence of the first principles, and is
unavoidable.
~~~
oconnore
If you have a bank account of almost zero, inflation can't possibly be
stealing money from you (unless you also have gobs of cash under a mattress
somewhere).
~~~
rocky1138
Except that the prices of everything rise every year.
~~~
dakrootie
Everything?
True, some prices have risen. But, if I may, here are some fun equations to
ponder.
1996 (Florida)
Minimum wage $4.25 Gallon of milk $2.73 Gallon of gas $1.26 Dozen eggs $1.31
2017 Minimum wage $8.10 Gallon of milk $3.31 Gallon of gas $2.41(was almost
$4.00, if I remember correctly a few years ago?) Dozen eggs $1.59
1996
Electronics (to do work, using one's natural talents, for example) Expensive.
2017 Electronics: Much cheaper. Adjusting for inflation: much, much cheaper.
Of course, with electronics, there are too many intricacies to list, but
here's a specific one. I bought a 512MB compact flash card in 2001, which set
me back $249. I think the last one I bought was 2 years ago, or so. It was $60
for 16 GB. I make my living taking pictures. What would 16 GB worth of
pictures have cost me in 2001?
I'm happy with these numbers. Simply put, let's think very carefully before
using absolutes.
~~~
dnautics
Since you've cherry picked your data to support an observation of no
inflation, do you also support not increasing the minimum wage?
~~~
dakrootie
There is acknowledgement of inflation in every one of my examples, save
certain electronics. I have no idea how to answer this question as I didn't
deny prices increased.
------
dsacco
This article is a lot of fluff. It opens with a survey that finds a majority
of millenials do not agree with capitalism.
Then it tempers that with the acknowledgement that "capitalism means different
things to different people" and that it's unclear if respondents favor another
system more, or just don't support anything.
Finally, it sort of meanders around with different people weighing in on what
this might mean or what the cause could be.
Nothing really...happened here. It would be nice to see an article (or survey)
that does a few things better than this:
1\. Engages with both the material and millenials in an intellectually
satisfying and nuanced way. Millenials are spoken about here not as members of
the conversation, but as specimens. Furthermore, there's frankly not a lot of
rigor in figuring out why millenials might not approve of capitalism other
than the garden variety "first-pass" analyses you can read elsewhere.
2\. Establishes greater rigor in both terminology and discovery. Maybe
"capitalism" should have been defined more rigorously in the study. Maybe
questions should have been less leading and asked about alternatives if
capitalism is not satisfactory to the respondents.
3\. Attempts to develop real conclusions instead of polarizing ones. Maybe the
survey shouldn't have asked about "capitalism" at all, but instead asked about
specific policies in a bipartisan manner. Avoiding the difficulties that make
mistakes in my #2 point would be a significant improvement.
In fact, at this point I'm not sure if the goal was to honestly engage with
the material or millenials at all at this point, or if there is an agenda for
pushing out articles that paint huge demographics with such a broad brush. I
don't _like_ feeling that way or questioning this, but it doesn't feel like a
real attempt was made here. I honestly left this piece without being able to
make any real conclusions. I'm a millenial myself, so take that for what it's
worth.
------
Gustomaximus
The cold war branding of anything communism/socialism as evil is being seen
through as rhetoric, and more people are seeing merit of using blends of
governance than pure free market. People 50 years ago had to support one
system of face real consequences.
We can now debate the merit of concepts like "privatise luxury, socialise
necessity" without being a 'commie bastard'. With the irony being socialist
policy was far more in place and accepted 60 years ago when people were so
anti-Russia and communism/socialism.
I really hope nations leaders can hear this because if they keep pushing
people down with income disparity, access to a reasonable living and
opportunity the pressure will build up for a bigger push-back, and potentially
something dangerous if driven by anger/desperation rather than a common will
to succeed.
I feel this is one of many strengths of democracy where it should allow
pressure values to pop safely and society realign much earlier and easily than
other government styles.
~~~
edblarney
"The cold war branding of anything communism/socialism as evil is being seen
through as rhetoric"
I can hardly believe that anyone who was alive during the 'cold war' would
ever say that.
I grew up in an immigrant community in Canada, and most of my friends fled
those disastrous, oppressive and totalitarian 'communist paradises' all over
E. Europe, China, Vietnam, Cuba - and also - Sweden, by the way. Nordic
countries were extremely socialist during the 1950's to mid 1980's.
If you were to try to say this in front of my friend's parents, they'd
'trigger', and kick you right out of the house in anger.
My uncle escaped Communist Hungary as a boy, literally, at night, running
through the forest with soldiers chasing he and his mother.
I also remember the very real threat of a nuclear holocaust, in the 1970's to
late 1980's it was a very, very real and tangible things.
You can try to 'debate', that's all fine, but communist utopian (read:
dystopian) ideals seemed pushed by young naive people in every generation.
It's almost as though they don't grasp the lessons of history.
There'll always be need for 'constant vigilance' against oppression by
capital, fleeced consumers etc. - but socialism and especially communism are
unmitigated disasters.
Communists are definitely 'dirty'. They represent, in reality - the world's
greatest movement of mass murder and oppression. The paradox of the constant
attraction to communism lies in their apparent goodwill: hey, who wouldn't
want 'equality' and 'food for everyone' , yada, yada? Sounds great! Reality is
a little harder and sometimes takes time to grasp.
"privatise luxury, socialise necessity". Defining 'luxury and necessity' is
the root of that statement.
In Poland, just before the fall of communism, they had only Vanilla, Chocolate
and 'Pink' ice-cream, because anything else was bourgeois (i.e. a luxury), and
banned. In Bulgaria, there was no ice-cream. :)
Food is definitely on some level a 'necessity' and we definitely have not
socialized that. Maybe we can make sure everyone gets healthcare without
socializing too hard as well.
~~~
Clubber
The problem with the theory of communism economics is we've only seen it
implemented a few times, and they've all been terrible.
Communism, I believe, was to be implemented in a post industrial country. When
Russia implemented it, they were pre-industrial, and during a massive war.
As an aside, Germany actually shipped, by train, an exiled Lenin to Russia to
destabilize it during WWI.
~~~
Retra
The problem with communism is the same problem with unregulated capitalism:
when you give extraordinary power to a small minority, everyone else suffers.
There's also the problem that violent revolutions are extremely risky, and are
unlikely to result in anything but a dictatorship, exacerbating the previous
point.
Most failed communist communist governments have these problems, as do most
failed capitalist governments. Until you have a peaceful transition into a
communist system properly hardened against corruption, you'll have little real
reason to believe it is any more flawed than capitalist economies.
~~~
Clubber
I don't think you can reasonably compare the suffering of any capitalist
society with the suffering of Soviet Russia, especially in the 1930s.
~~~
RugnirViking
You can try
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_East_India_Company#Confl...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_East_India_Company#Conflicts_and_wars_involving_the_VOC)
------
jstewartmobile
I think the rub is that the public debate confuses the triumph of the old
British system of aristocracy and privilege with "capitalism". Just as they
had the "corn laws" in the early 19th century, we have pharmaceutical import
bans, region coding, the "dutch sandwich" and many many other _privileges_ to
keep the winners winning with a minimum of effort.
If that's what passes for capitalism, who wouldn't reject it?
People spend too much time debating economic systems when the fundamental
problem is a public neglect of equal justice under the law.
~~~
smokestack
Equal opportunity, not "equal justice under law". Capitalism favors those who
are lucky. It's nothing to do with law.
Edit: who wouldn't reject these things if they weren't benefiting from them
(vast majority of people)?
~~~
jstewartmobile
It has everything to do with the law.
If a small bank got into the insurance business prior to financial services
dereg of 1999, it would have been _crucified_ by the feds. Citibank and
Travelers did exactly that, but since our justice and regulatory structures
are pay-for-play, and their market capitalizations were high enough, they were
able to proceed without controversy.
On an individual level, our prison population is disproportionately black, and
disproportionately locked up on minor charges with an inadequate defense. A
prison stay has far-reaching consequences on wealth, employment, and social
status.
As a small business person, if I were to copy an idea from Apple (like, say
rounded corners), they would sue me into the ground (I think their suit with
Samsung is already over $1B). If they were to steal my idea, I would go broke
on attorneys fees long before I ever got to a courtroom.
Equal opportunity isn't worth much without equal justice under the law. You'd
have a good run, only to have the house take back all the winnings in the end.
------
mindcrash
Yes, because a society based on Marxism will be _so much better_. Because that
is the big idea right? Marxism?
But these millenials who seem to think they are all smarter than everybody
else forget one thing: of all the things we tried capitalism and democracy are
the _least destructive_ forms of governing society.
Or as Jordan Peterson, a tenured psychologist, has stated several times
already: "Those who claim 'With us this time it (Marxism) will become so much
better' have no idea what they are talking about"
------
mc32
So, what they really mean is that they want less globalization... rather then
less capitalism... and we know many older voters also voted for less
globalization... so it's like both young and old, stung by globalization and
financial crises want to retrench?
~~~
nostrademons
That doesn't follow from the article. What it said, explicitly, was they want
less _crony capitalism_.
Globalization itself isn't bad. Globalization where the playing field is
rigged so that you need to be a billion-dollar corporation to participate in
the spoils is.
~~~
mc32
On the one hand globalization is good --despite cries of "imperialism"
globalization has done more to deliver people from abject poverty than
anything else --I'd argue much better than if native socialism had taken place
and disallowed "imperialistic" global companies from setting foot. Even the
Doles and Chiquitas, much maligned for making banana republics out of
countries, had a positive impact on those countries... See the alternatives,
Bolivia, Paraguay, Myanmar, Nepal, etc. countries where these imperialistic
global companies did not set foot and "exploit" the locals.
On the other hand, it does take away from the poor people in developed
countries like the US, Japan, the UK, Australia, South Korea, etc. when their
economies seek out cheaper labor to make their economies work. If we didn't
have imported labor for farm workers for example, we might pay more for
grocery goods, etc but we'd have people who are currently out of a job making
some money working on farms --working on farms _isn't that much worse_ than
working at a McD or Walmart. It's be kind of like grocery goods are in Japan
--good quality, but expensive picked by their own farm workers -with the aid
of automation.
In addition to that, Globalization has not only enabled seeking cheap labor
but also seeking "cheap" regulation and government through globalization. And
these kids of things either enable or exacerbate things like the financial
crises.
------
twblalock
This is like those surveys that show a majority of Americans oppose Obamacare,
but a majority favor almost all of the individual policies that comprise
Obamacare when the word "Obamacare" does not appear in the survey.
What I would like to see is a survey that asks people their opinions on
certain characteristics of capitalism, without mentioning the word
"capitalism." I think the results would be very different.
~~~
waisbrot
But it's interesting to see that "capitalism" is becoming a dirty word, when
in the cold-war era it was the opposite of "communism" which was a synonym for
"evil".
~~~
twblalock
Yet "socialism" is an even dirtier word according to the survey results. What
we really have here are young people who are fed up with the low level of
economic opportunity available to them, relative to the level of opportunity
they expected to have.
~~~
mindcrash
You are not looking for the word "socialism". The word you are looking for has
the highest approval rating in this poll. Then everything makes sense.
------
eli_gottlieb
_Arise ye prisoners of starvation! Arise ye wretched of the Earth. For justice
thunders condemnation, a better world in birth._
I mean, sure, most Millenials probably equate capitalism with neoliberalism
and socialism with social-democracy, but hey, given that interpretation, yeah,
neoliberalism has ruined quite a lot of our lives.
------
friedman23
Most people do not even understand what capitalism is thanks to the term
becoming conflated with greed. And as the poll shows, not supporting
capitalism doesn't mean supporting socialism.
~~~
nickthemagicman
Keynesian demand side capitalism has proved to be great.
Unregulated supply side economics appears to lead to massive exploitation and
monopolies.
That being said socialism and capitalism work together everyday in America.
See highways, education, plumbing, etc.
It has been argued that Socialism/government regulation is needed for
Capitalism to work optimally.
~~~
friedman23
If we are going to call every government with a highway system and a free
healthcare system socialist the word becomes meaningless.
------
schoen
(2016)
I'm curious what the results would be for "free enterprise", "free markets",
or "private property".
------
raleighm
Issues it would be helpful to unbundle when talking about capitalism:
Contract law. "Capitalism" here usually means private voluntary agreements are
very sacred or absolutely sacred.
Property law. "Capitalism" here usually means a rule of first possession.
Tax law. "Capitalism" here usually means a presumption against taxation,
especially if redistributive in purpose.
Limited liability. "Capitalism" here usually means possibility of absentee
investors.
Fiduciary duties. "Capitalism" here usually means duty to maximize
shareholders' economic value.
Antitrust law. "Capitalism" here, as term is used by self-perceived opponents,
usually refers to corporate bigness.
Etc.
Was Thomas Jefferson capitalist? He hated bigness in all forms.
Was Thomas Paine capitalist? He thought rule of first possession was useful
because easy to administer but proposed something akin to universal basic
income.
Important to be clear, as many others have noted in the comments.
------
otempomores
The problem with whishing for socialism in a divided democracy is that the
owners will align with any dictator available to keep what they gained. So
higher taxation and redistribution within legal boundaries is discussable.
Disowning is destroying the democracy and a sure way to start a civill war.
------
oliwarner
I don't think this is anything particularly new. There's a pretty old saying
(that is constantly mis-attributed[1]):
> If you're not a liberal when you're 25, you have no heart. If you're not a
> conservative by the time you're 35, you have no brain.
Within a capitalist society, young people on the whole have less, but have to
work for everything. After a decade or two working to earn stuff, you feel
like other people should do that too. You can chase the reasons why down a
million psychological rabbit holes.
That said, there's no reason why this would not be _more true_ now than it
ever has been before. Adjusting for inflation, we're paid the same as our
parents but houses and rent is 10× what it was for them. (At least in the UK)
the post-war decade-long housing boom flooded the market with cheap but good
stock. Councils used to build for their own social care, and these eventually
went on the market too. Now we only get mega-developers holding land until
they get approval for high-density crappy houses.
That's a very distinct shift from socialised building projects to capitalist
building. And it's skewed our entire economy, and really hobbles anybody on a
lower income without a house to inherit.
[1]: [http://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/02/24/heart-
head/](http://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/02/24/heart-head/)
------
squarefoot
Capitalism per se isn't wrong, but becomes extremely dangerous if left
uncontrolled as it is today. What is _very_ wrong and dangerous with
capitalism is the lack of a line dictating when an entity should stop amassing
power and wealth, especially when limited resources are involved. You can
print infinite money but you can't create infinite land as the planet surface
isn't infinite, which one day will lead us to the point when a few extremely
rich people will own the entire Earth surface.
------
Jotra7
So much no true Scotsman about capitalism in here it's not funny.
------
carsongross
“The Reformer is always right about what's wrong. However, he's often wrong
about what is right.”
― G.K. Chesterton
------
tmoot
It seems like publishing standards have really sank.
~~~
ssalazar
Capitalism at work!
------
Tokkemon
My grandfather had to live under communist rule. Capitalism is fantastic
compared.
------
salesguy222
Any political/economic system will have individual actors that destroy the
lives and wellbeings of others.
if your system can prevent these people from wielding such power, i'd like to
hear how!
~~~
gremlinsinc
Part 1: Caps on Exec pay - 25x avg salary for first x # of employees, as you
add more employees over your baseline that multiplier goes up for example
every 1000 employees = 1x so hire 10k and now you're able to earn 35x median
wage -- i.e. more employees = more money for execs, as wages increase that
also = more money for execs. That handles the corporate side of the
corruption.
Part 2: Enact the Anti-corruption act in every governmental capacity from
mayorships to congress to ban all money in politics.
Part 3: Members of congress can earn no more than the average salary of an
American Citizen, and their healthcare plan is--the same as the average
American w/ no perks above what American's get.
Part 4: Term limits for congress, not life-time bans, but you can only server
in congress non-congruent terms, meaning you can't serve back to back, someone
else has to take your place for a term. More lifeblood bled into congress
can't be a bad thing.
~~~
dustinblake
There's a major problem with term limits. Let's say we fix the House of
Representatives so that instead of constantly having to run for (re)election
with two year terms, we change them to 4 year terms but limit them to 2.
Ignoring the major changes that the committee chair/assignment system would
require, no longer having a wide range of seniority, the entire body would
suffer because the most experienced any legislator could be would be those
elected to their second term, i.e. years 5-8 of their House career.
Why is this not good? Who also resides in Washington DC and interacts with
legislators, with virtually no limits on their length of involvement in this
game? Lobbyists. You set up a system where the Legislators are effectively
perpetual newbies with an extremely broad scope of issues they must interact
with and influence for the best. Lobbyists with just a decade of experience
will know far more than any legislator. There's already a lot of legislation
is introduced that's provided verbatim from lobbyists... expect that to get
worse, not better, with an even more inexperienced elected officials.
We already have a system of term limits, it's called electing someone else.
Don't make it impossible to keep an excellent legislator who has the broad
support of their constituents; make it easier to elect someone new to replace
a bad one. With the insane costs of campaigning and getting elected, we'd all
be better served by simply reducing that barrier to a minimum. Publicly funded
campaigns also remove the influence of financial contributions.
------
EJTH
Sure they reject capitalism when they are asked, but will gladly buy an iPhone
or other consumer electronics designed to fail within a few years of normal
usage.
They will gladly post all their private information to Facebook for that warm
fuzzy feeling of people liking their updates, while they are being datamined
and their profiling sold to advertisers.
But when asked, then sure everyone is against capitalism.
------
mrschwabe
Reject taxation and monopolization, not capitalism.
~~~
astrange
Personally, I'm okay with two of those.
------
pizza
Maybe the way to read this is "willingness to embrace innovative alternatives
to the stagnation of current financial systems"
------
jitix
This article seems to be based on a small sample size. As an anecdotal
evidence, most millenials that I've met (I'm 29) are very pro-capitalism but
are liberals. In 2017 you should not mix the two - you can have a capitalist
economy that provides universal healthcare and education, and eventually even
UBI.
~~~
zurn
The article is paraphrasing a poll that was done by Harvard Institute of
Politics, that had 771 18-29 year old responders. I think that is a reasonable
sample size for this kind of poll.
------
known
Millennials are thinking Capitalism is a hindrance to
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs)
------
known
Millennials are confused; Unlike capitalism, globalization is zero-sum;
------
gydfi
Like most arguments about "isms" that do not have a single, rigorous
definition accepted by everybody, debates about "capitalism" are pretty
useless.
Karl Marx means one thing by the word, Ayn Rand means another, most other
people in between have other ideas (or vague fuzzy feelings) about it, and yet
everybody talks as if their own idea matches someone else's.
------
Grue3
A majority of millennials are idiots. News at 11.
~~~
dang
Would you please not post uncivil and unsubstantive comments to HN?
------
perseusprime11
Did we not learn that Capitalism failed a long time ago? Why else will we have
an Insurance system that is deeply incentivized to not cover your conditions?
Why else will we have an Education system that is deeply incentivized to
profit off your education and put you in debt for your life?
~~~
twblalock
You may not like capitalism, but it is an indisputable fact that capitalist
societies have higher standards of living, including for the poor, than
societies that use any other economic system. By that standard, it's more
successful than any other system, and hardly a failure, despite what other
problems is has.
By the way, the problems you describe about insurance (I assume you mean
health insurance) and the high cost of education are not characteristics of
most capitalist economies. The United States is an outlier in those areas.
Plenty of other capitalist countries have universal health care and free
education. Plenty of others have universal health care and non-free education.
Only the US has the double-whammy of expensive health care and expensive
education.
~~~
perseusprime11
How does Universal Health care and Free education play into the principles of
capitalism?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
DoNotPay Unsubscribes You from Spam–and Tries to Get You Paid - mmhsieh
https://www.wired.com/story/donotpay-unsubscribe-spam-class-action/
======
hedora
Clicking through the article: They also offer a service to sue robo callers.
You get a burner credit card number to help you claim that bogus cruise you
keep winning. When the scanmer tries to charge it, DoNotPay gets their vendor
information and auto-sues them for $3000.
------
graham_hughes
Very hype, quality engineering, excellent job.
4/5 software engineers recommend
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Army War College paper predicts possible collapse of US military within 20 years - low_common
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/mbmkz8/us-military-could-collapse-within-20-years-due-to-climate-change-report-commissioned-by-pentagon-says
======
grouseway
"Water is currently 30-40 percent of the costs required to sustain a US
military force operating abroad, according to the new Army report. A huge
infrastructure is needed to transport bottled water for Army units"
Is this for real? It seems like a gross exageration given how many man-hours
of maintenance are needed to keep a plane in the air for 1 hour, or the cost
of fuel, or the cost of ordinance, or a hundred other things.
~~~
stevenwoo
It depends on the theater of deployment and mission but the majority of
deployed troops are support and not combat. The Army would have the lowest
percentage but the Navy in WW2 had something like 10 to 1 support to combat
and the Air Force was higher but numbers have trended lower since then. I
remember this from reading a lot of military history when I was younger for
some reason. [http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-
bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA472467](http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA472467)
------
unlinked_dll
The potential "collapse" of the US Military (and what does that mean,
specifically?) hinders on the assumption that the US will be engaged in
foreign conflicts across the globe.
I think we'll turn isolationist well before that becomes a reality. Foreign
policy wonks can talk up and down about the necessity of American troops to
protect human interests in Bangladesh, and to prevent destabilization of
neighbors, potential conflict involving nuclear states... but I have trouble
seeing the Senate voting to deploy troops when their constituency thinks, "who
gives a shit about Bangladesh?"
~~~
mnm1
True, but since the Senate (or house) hasn't been needed to deploy troops for
decades, I don't think their viewpoints will matter.
~~~
unlinked_dll
The War Powers Resolution [1] requires Congressional notification within 48
hours and limits engagements to 60 days without further approval.
Congress hasn't declared war since WW2, but they have been required to both
approve military deployment and spending for every conflict since. Most
controversially, the Authorization for Use of Force in Iraq [2].
[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_Powers_Resolution#Question...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_Powers_Resolution#Questions_regarding_constitutionality)
[2]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authorization_for_Use_of_Milit...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authorization_for_Use_of_Military_Force_Against_Iraq_Resolution_of_2002)
------
anigbrowl
The title rewrite obscures the significance: an Army War College paper points
to a possible collapse of the US military within 20 years.
~~~
low_common
Thanks, I updated the title because I completely agree.
------
thrower123
At least for the United States, most of the dire consequences are entirely
avoidable; we just have to get off our duffs and do some work, and not idle
away.
Like the example given in the article of PG&E's rolling blackouts, these are
mostly self-inflicted problems that are completely within our technical
abilities to fix, we just have to do the work and spend the money
intelligently to fix things that we've let go to seed.
------
jmann99999
"The report also warns that the US military should prepare for new foreign
interventions in Syria-style conflicts, triggered due to climate-related
impacts. Bangladesh in particular is highlighted as the most vulnerable
country to climate collapse in the world."
This opening sentence of the VICE article is what gives me pause. It seems to
imply that the US military will be intervening in all sorts of theaters due to
climate change. What?
While I'm sure that the US powers will take every opportunity to increase
influence, I don't believe most US citizens would support that. Especially if
there were costs at home.
This feels like a report designed to keep military spending at all-time highs.
Yes, climate change is an issue that must be addressed now. Contemplating
"invading" Bangladesh on the pretense of climate change seems like a bridge
too far.
~~~
unlinked_dll
I agree with you, but climate change isn't the casus belli here. It's more of
the buildup of tinder that gets sparked by the proverbial assassination of an
Archduke. Examples of this recently are the Arab Spring and Syrian Civil War.
The US didn't become involved in Syria _because of_ climate change - rather
climate change caused the conditions for the conflict to erupt, and at the
time, it made sense for the US to deploy ground troops and get involved in
that conflict as it aligned with foreign policy goals in the region.
With Bangladesh, you essentially have (edit:) 160 million people in a country
where a third of it floods each year. Tens of millions on floodplains at sea
level. Their political, ethnic, and religious borders are historically tense.
When sea levels rise it will displace many of those people into Northern
India, and possibly southern China.
The question to ask is what will the political response from the regional
powers be when this happens? And how does it affect US goals in the region?
What foreign policy tools will be available to realize those goals? This
report points to the idea that the US military will not be one of them, which
means if conflict erupts the US will be on the sidelines. Whether or not
that's a good thing is impossible to predict.
~~~
Mediterraneo10
> The US didn't become involved in Syria because of climate change - rather
> climate change caused the conditions for the conflict to erupt
The Syrian conflict has nothing to do with climate change. There has been
longstanding discontent among the Syrian population with the Assad family,
namely 1) like his father, Bashar al-Assad is a dictator with a secret police
that is quite nosy and bothersome in Syrians’ everyday lives, and 2) Assad
comes from a minority sect of Islam that most Syrians are not sympathetic to
(and he has given important positions and financial opportunities to other
members of his minority sect). The country was already a powder keg of sorts,
and gradual radicalization of the Muslim population and social media lit the
match.
Then, once the conflict broke out, the Syrian regime began forcibly
conscripting Syrian young men to fight on the regime’s side. This was not an
attractive prospect, to say the least, and so a lot of them began to flee the
country, joining those who were forced out by the fighting itself, and some of
them took up arms against the regime.
------
kdmccormick
Stop linking to shitty news sites with clickbait headlines.
Start just posting the link to the study/report.
------
Ch3cksum
"Well that is where we are. You say we are on the brink of destruction and you
are right. But it is only on the brink that people find the will to change.
Only at the precipice do we evolve. This is our moment."
------
gigatexal
And what of the cause missing in your title that cause being climate change?
------
throwaway5752
The people that wrote this are serious people, and the person that
commissioned it is a Trump appointee. It's bad that so many crises are
happening at once. This can't be procrastinated on even one more year. This
article links to a pdf report. The report is just as dire as the article. Your
life is directly or indirectly in danger. This is no exaggeration.
Fight against climate change and the interests that minimize it like your life
and the life of your children depend on it.
~~~
balt_s
> Your life is directly or indirectly in danger
Should I be concerned? Did they say Texas was hosed?
~~~
opsiprogram
Pretty sure that is the point...? The United States won't be safe. So I'd
assume if you accept this paper, the answer is yes you should be.
------
notus
I guess the army war college is like grad school for military. I thought
University of Phoenix was their grad school. The more you know.
------
ncmncm
With any luck, civilization will collapse before 2040, and then supporting the
US military will be the least of our problems.
We are well along that path. When ocean acidification collapses the fish
nurseries, and large parts of the tropics become uninhabitable by humans as
temperature/humidity goes high enough to cause heat stroke from normal
walking, global thermonuclear war is not far off.
~~~
anonuser123456
Or maybe humans will just adapt like we always have?
~~~
flukus
Humanity adapts, humans die en masse and take societies and nations with them.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Joint Statement Regarding the Insolvency of Mt. Gox - velcro
http://blog.coinbase.com/post/77766809700/joint-statement-regarding-the-insolvency-of-mtgox
======
lkrubner
For historical perspective, consider the last great panic to sweep the USA
before the Federal Reserve was established:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panic_of_1907](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panic_of_1907)
What is (so far) missing in the world of Bitcoin is a single actor powerful
enough to play the organizing role that Morgan played during that previous
crash:
"Morgan summoned the presidents of the city's banks to his office. They
started to arrive at 2 p.m.; Morgan informed them that as many as 50 stock
exchange houses would fail unless $25 million was raised in 10 minutes. By
2:16 p.m., 14 bank presidents had pledged $23.6 million to keep the stock
exchange afloat. The money reached the market at 2:30 p.m., in time to finish
the day's trading, and by the 3 o'clock market close, $19 million had been
loaned out. Disaster was averted. Morgan usually eschewed the press, but as he
left his offices that night he made a statement to reporters: "If people will
keep their money in the banks, everything will be all right""
~~~
powera
If 50%+1 of the Bitcoin miners agree, couldn't they just mint 700000 extra
bitcoin to make the depositors at MtGox whole? The confidence it inspires
would probably be worth more than the impact of the inflation, and with
Bitcoin prices dropping miners need to support the price to stay above break-
even.
~~~
patio11
Technically speaking, yes. That would kill Bitcoin, though, because the
community depends on it having an (eventually) fixed supply rather than it
being having "an eventually fixed supply, except when we have a _really good_
reason to do quantitative easing."
~~~
intelliot
Technically speaking, no.
patio11: that is not how the Bitcoin protocol works.
Even if 99% of the Bitcoin miners agree, they cannot create extra bitcoin; it
is simply impossible because that is not something that miners control. Every
full node (client) on the Bitcoin network verifies the validity of each block.
A block that created more bitcoins than allowed by the protocol would be
rejected by the clients (and the miners who follow the original rules). The
"extra" bitcoins would be on a hard fork and thus invalid to anyone on the
main (original) blockchain.
More info:
[https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Weaknesses#Attacker_has_a_lot_of_...](https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Weaknesses#Attacker_has_a_lot_of_computing_power)
~~~
patio11
You're right, the defecting miners would have to convince people to download a
new client, or convince the sites which those people access Bitcoin through to
use the new client. Sorry, should have mentioned that, but I thought the
thrust of the concern was "Could we just rewrite the rules of Bitcoin to make
this retroactively not happen?" And the answer to that is "Yes, but the
community would explode."
~~~
judk
What you are describing has already happened once, with the rollback and the
0.7 -> 0.8 version upgrade.
------
waterlesscloud
"Acting as a custodian should require a high-bar, including appropriate
security safeguards that are independently audited and tested on a regular
basis, adequate balance sheets and reserves as commercial entities,
transparent and accountable customer disclosures, and clear policies to not
use customer assets for proprietary trading or for margin loans in leveraged
trading. It does not appear to any of us that MtGox followed any these
essential requirements as a financial services provider."
Did I miss the part where Coinbase, Kraken, Bitstamp, BTC China,
Blockchain.info, and Circle met those essential requirements?
I guess those things are just essential now, not in the past.
~~~
skywhopper
So, the Bitcoin community is calling for regulation?
~~~
clamprecht
It sounds like self-regulation. If exchanges would just prove solvency
periodically (which is possible with the blockchain), the whole world could
see it. Wouldn't it be nice if you could see the balance sheet of your bank,
in a way that accountants couldn't lie about it?
~~~
rdtsc
> It sounds like self-regulation.
Because that has worked wonders for the other industries -- let's have pharma
companies, oil, food producers, just self regulate.
~~~
dmm
There are historical instances of self-regulation working. The movie and video
game industries control their own content ratings and before the invention of
dynamite, nitroglycerin was commonly used as an explosive in construction.
Shipping NG is very dangerous because of its instability and many accidents
occurred. They industry eventually developed extensive standards regarding
shipping that vastly improved the safety of shipping NG.
~~~
eropple
_> movie and video game industries control their own content ratings_
Not sure you're helping yourself here. The established movie industry uses its
content rating system as a bludgeon against independent filmmakers. The video
game industry's content controls are largely a joke, assigned arbitrarily by
people who never actually play the game.
~~~
bduerst
How are movie ratings used as a bludgeon against independent filmmakers?
~~~
dagw
Short version: Most cinemas and other outlets in the US won't carry your movie
if it's unrated, so in effect those who control the ratings control which
movies can get distributed. Also most cinemas in the US won't show NC17 rated
movies so the ratings people can also use that as a way to prevent your movie
being shown to a large cinema audience if they want to.
------
zoba
Wow, so Coinbase just changed the title. It used to read as velcro correctly
posted on HN. [http://i.imgur.com/dX8315e.png](http://i.imgur.com/dX8315e.png)
~~~
skywhopper
Yes, note the URL linked from this page (which now redirects to a new URL)
includes "the-insolvency-of-mtgox":
[http://blog.coinbase.com/post/77766809700/joint-statement-
re...](http://blog.coinbase.com/post/77766809700/joint-statement-regarding-
the-insolvency-of-mtgox)
~~~
micahgoulart
I know in this case it is true (I read it while it still had "insolvency" in
the title) but for future reference, the only part that matters is the id in
the URL, the second part can be made up like so
[http://blog.coinbase.com/post/77766809700/i-just-made-
this-u...](http://blog.coinbase.com/post/77766809700/i-just-made-this-up)
------
olefoo
This sort of thing is why finance is a regulated industry.
Although why anyone would have had money in Mt. Gox after they had their
stateside accounts frozen is beyond me. It's not like there weren't any
warning signs
[http://www.techmeme.com/130620/p53#a130620p53](http://www.techmeme.com/130620/p53#a130620p53)
~~~
Symmetry
You can't have progress without the possibility of failure. I'm glad my local
bank is regulated and insured by the government, but I'm also glad that the
world of Bitcoin exists for people who want to experiment with digital
currencies.
------
spiralpolitik
This is Coinbase, Kraken et al throwing MtGox under the bus to stop the taint
from spreading. Note there is no mention of any help for MtGox or its
customers. Just reassurance that they aren't MtGox.
This is the wagons being circled to stop the non MtGox price from tanking
further.
~~~
Narkov
Why should they help MtGox or its customers?
~~~
spiralpolitik
They shouldn't, but there seems to be the expectation that the community will
step in and help MtGox out of this mess for the sake of Bitcoin.
It isn't going to happen as MtGox has been a boil that's needed to be lanced
for a while now. This is the first step given that MtGox has decided to stay
silent.
~~~
zanny
The best thing for the sake of bitcoin is for Gox to be gone. Maybe we could
finally have a year where the incompetence of their engineering and management
staff doesn't skew the price all about like a merry-go-round.
------
dmitrygr
It is pretty entertaining to watch the bitcoin crowd slowly reinvent all the
controls that exist in the existing monetary systems as they slowly learn what
they are for. One lesson down, how many to go? :)
~~~
anywhichway
What controls? I see some empty reassurances, but nobody that I see is
proposing controls. I doubt controls for existing monetary systems would work
for bitcoins anyway as it requires a central organization that has power, like
printing money, and enough vested interest to through good money after bad
money to save the currency. Bitcoins have neither of these.
~~~
bduerst
From the Article:
>Acting as a custodian should require a high-bar, including appropriate
security safeguards that are independently audited and tested on a regular
basis, adequate balance sheets and reserves as commercial entities,
transparent and accountable customer disclosures, and clear policies to not
use customer assets for proprietary trading or for margin loans in leveraged
trading.
~~~
bertil
I believe that anywhichway hasn’t found the names of the “independent[…]
audit[ors]” in that document. He’s being harsh, but his point is technically
true: the text reads ‘should’ first. Hopefully, a matter of days.
------
username223
> the digital currency industry.
It's like the beanie baby industry, minus the stuffed animals.
~~~
lmm
Or like the collectible card game industry.
~~~
poolpool
Do you know any sites to sell and trade TCG and CCG cards?
~~~
lmm
Not yet, but I heard some guy in Japan was thinking of setting up an online
exchange for magic the gathering cards.
------
anigbrowl
Thinking about this...
_This tragic violation of the trust of users of Mt.Gox was the result of one
company’s actions and does not reflect the resilience or value of bitcoin and
the digital currency industry._
The best way to build trust in the 'resilience of Bitcoin' would be to
leverage the blockchain technology to help document who lost what and monitor
if/when any of those coins appear in the future. This is going to cost money
as well as development time.
It's one thing wax pious about how and why this happened and to say it must
never happen again etc. But the best thing the exchanges could do for their
long-term credibility would be to each put up a chunk of cash and engage an
expensive law firm to set up a trust and audit the whole affair as completely
as possible. That's going to require a collective commitment of of a million
dollars, or possibly a few million.
It's either that or get put under the microscope of existing financial
regulators on their schedule, which (IMHO) will relegate BTC to the status of
a disaffection currency that is only convertible in fringe markets.
------
throwaway5857
MtGox failed because they relied upon the correctness of their own
implementation of the bitcoin protocol.
This was a huge mistake, one which I am sure will haunt all involved for a
long time.
Coinbase is making the exact same mistake.
They rely on their own implementation of the bitcoin protocol.
Their client has been hard forked repeatedly.
Some of these incidents were random, but many were forced; not by attackers
but by whitehats trying despirately to show them their error.
The danger of using their own implementation cannot be overstated.
For the love of god move to the reference client.
------
whileonebegin
"So, my Coinbase account was hacked, bitcoin stolen, now what?"
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6946832](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6946832)
FYI, after some time, Coinbase followed up with my support ticket and said
tough luck, bitcoins lost, better luck next time. No mention was made of any
effort to track-down the hacker or fraudulent transaction. They probably
didn't even block the hacker's IP address.
And yet, Coinbase declares, "We strongly believe in transparent, thoughtful,
and comprehensive consumer protection measures. We pledge to lead the way."
------
Moral_
[https://www.mtgox.com](https://www.mtgox.com) \-- The site is now blank
~~~
lazyloop
Wow, watching this thing unfold is like watching a train wreck in slow motion.
~~~
Moral_
If you join the MTGOX irc channel its like watching the soviet union collapse.
~~~
icpmacdo
link please. Freenode?
~~~
Moral_
irc.freenode.net ##mtgox-chat
~~~
gizzlon
_#mtgox-chat Cannot join channel (+i) - you must be invited_
:(
~~~
dscrd
Two #s, that was not a typo
------
catmanjan
Anyone else getting the sense that a lot of people on HN have a large
investment in MtGox?
Not usually this much nay-saying (denial?) on here.
~~~
minimaxir
A lot of people _everywhere_ have a large investment in MtGox.
~~~
notacoward
Um, no. The vast majority of people even among wealthy/high-tech countries
have absolutely nothing to do with MtGox, and people in the rest of the world
are even more distant from it. It might loom large on the horizon for you and
for a significant percentage of HN users, but let's not completely lose
perspective here.
~~~
erichurkman
If the other post is to believed, they have around 740,000 BTC. There are
roughly 12,400,000 coins total at the moment. That pegs Mt. Gox's share at 6%.
~~~
zanny
I'm sure a lot more than 6% of all total bitcoins are lost to dead wallets and
such already, though. Only drives up the scarcity of the rest of em.
I highly doubt Gox's coins are "gone" though. Someone has those wallets and
almost certainly is going to make a pretty penny fucking over the customer
base, but caveat emptor.
------
whistlerbrk
Wow, reading the comments about ways to solve this above and I'm speechless...
let's follow demands for regulation/self-regulation/FDIC-style insurance to
its logical conclusion - it seems to me that everything will eventually come
full circle and every financial institution and mechanism that people do not
like today which moves them towards Bitcoin will ultimately be recreated by
this new wave.
Bitcoin is not a revolution, it is not a movement, it's an iteration, and a
significant one.
The same thing for the internet, today vs 1996, all the same huge media
companies as before dominate the web with some new ones mixed in that jumped
in early.
------
tlrobinson
Also:
[http://www.circle.com/2014/02/24/joint-statement-
regarding-i...](http://www.circle.com/2014/02/24/joint-statement-regarding-
insolvency-mt-gox/)
[http://blog.blockchain.info/2014/02/25/joint-
statement/](http://blog.blockchain.info/2014/02/25/joint-statement/)
[https://vip.btcchina.com/page/notice20140225](https://vip.btcchina.com/page/notice20140225)
[http://www.reddit.com/r/Kraken/comments/1yux6n/joint_stateme...](http://www.reddit.com/r/Kraken/comments/1yux6n/joint_statement_regarding_mt_gox/)
~~~
skywhopper
Whoa, I just noticed the CEO of Circle is one of the creators of ColdFusion.
~~~
vijucat
Not sure. The JJ Allaire mentioned here :
[http://www.rstudio.com/about/](http://www.rstudio.com/about/) is probably
different from the Jeremy Allaire mentioned here :
[http://www.circle.com/about/](http://www.circle.com/about/)?
~~~
npongratz
If Wikipedia can be believed [0], JJ Allaire [1] and Jeremy Allaire are
brothers [2].
[0] I mean no slight against Wikipedia, I only mention this since the
statement "He now runs a bitcoin start up in Boston" is supported by no
citation (as of 2014-02-24).
[1]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_J._Allaire](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_J._Allaire)
[2]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Allaire](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Allaire)
~~~
whistlerbrk
Yes indeed they are brothers. Homesite/Dreamweaver/CFML forever baby, that's
how I got my start coding. ColdFusion so, so, so far ahead of it's time.
------
tskweres
Although we shed a tear for not being included in this Industry Leading
announcement, I think we can all make a group announcement on top of this
joint announcement that announces that Mt.Gox is pretty crappy.
Travis Skweres - Cofounder, CoinMKT
~~~
notacoward
Classy.
------
_pmf_
> We strongly believe in transparent, thoughtful, and comprehensive consumer
> protection measures. We pledge to lead the way.
Words are cheap.
------
tokenadult
Since a Hacker News participant first told me about Bitcoin Ticker[1] (back
when a regulatory action in China caused a sharp drop in Bitcoin prices in
U.S. dollars), the Bitcoin price has dropped still more. That's not the kind
of volatility I look for in an investment.
[1] [http://bitcointicker.co/](http://bitcointicker.co/)
~~~
brazzy
> That's not the kind of volatility I look for in an investment.
Are you aware that any investment that produces nothing other than a rising
market price is pretty much guaranteed to have very high volatility?
------
VikingCoder
So the story goes:
The new Russian President found a note in the desk of the old Russian
President, "To my successor: When you find yourself in a hopeless situation
which you cannot escape, open the first letter, and it will save you. Later,
when you again find yourself in a hopeless situation from which you cannot
escape, open the second letter."
A few months later, there was a massive problem. The new Russian President
opened the first letter, which said, "Blame it all on me." He did. It worked
great.
A little bit later, there was another massive problem. The new Russian
President opened the second letter, which said, "Sit down, and write two
letters."
I feel like this is the Bitcoin community collectively blaming the old Russian
President. (Never mind the inherent flaws in the system.)
------
Aqueous
This was signed by:
Jesse Powell — CEO of Kraken
Nejc Kodrič — CEO of Bitstamp.net
Bobby Lee — CEO of BTC China
Nicolas Cary — CEO of Blockchain.info
Jeremy Allaire — CEO of Circle
Fred Ehrsam — Co-founder of Coinbase
but NOT:
Brian Armstrong - CEO of CoinBase?
~~~
ericd
Maybe he's on a flight? Its not really necessary that it be signed by everyone
at each company.
------
chris_wot
Hold on... which exchanges were using customer funds for margin loans?!? Was
Mt. Gox doing this?
------
crazypyro
Interesting to see these companies assume that the report is real. I wonder if
they had contact with the owners of MtGox or if they simply wanted to get a
jump on what is sure to be a major downswing in BTC prices.
~~~
Aqueous
This is coordinated. Which means they've known long enough to coordinate every
exchange.
~~~
crazypyro
That is an interesting point. How long would it actually take to coordinate
between those exchanges though? Its been a big day in BTC news and I'm sure
everyone with some skin in the game is watching the news like a hawk.
~~~
Aqueous
Probably not very long. But I'd wager they've known since at least this
morning. Given last night's resignation of Mt. Gox from the Foundation, I'd
say since last night.
------
iamchmod
Wow! I can see a misguided politician already saying something like "Maybe all
bitcoin exchanges/wallets/etc need money transmitter licenses or FDIC
insurance"
------
zacinbusiness
I think it would be cool to hear what the creator of Bitcoin thinks about all
this. Is it annoying? Or is it the beauty of a new technology that's still
cutting its teeth.
~~~
knodi
Good luck finding Satoshi Nakamoto. Also this wasn't a bitcoin issue, it was
an exchange issue.
~~~
zacinbusiness
I know it's not a bit coin problem, but I'd like to hear his (or her) thoughts
on how people are implementing the technology, how these sorts of problems are
being handled and what he sees as the major lessons learned (other than don't
trust some non-insured entity with your cash).
------
thinkcomp
My response:
[http://www.aarongreenspan.com/writing/essay.html?id=100](http://www.aarongreenspan.com/writing/essay.html?id=100)
------
fixermark
So it seems, in essence, that the fundamental issue is that MtGox became "Too
big to fail," and this is what the repercussions on a currency market of the
failure of a large and trusted institution look like.
It's an interesting object lesson for armchair economists, and I'm sure some
hay will be made drawing comparisons to the US housing market crash and the
value of the dollar.
------
pdovy
I think there should be some discussion about setting up a SIPC equivalent for
Bitcoin exchanges. Each exchange/operator contributes dues that provide a fund
for compensating losses in the event of a member's insolvency. That would also
provide a strong incentive to for members cry fowl about bad practices, self-
audit, etc.
------
nasalgoat
After the first rumblings of problems at MtGox, I moved my BTC over to a local
wallet. Best decision I made all last year!
------
chrisBob
Is it possible to fine the bit coins that were stolen and then effectively
devalue them? One thing the miners should be able to do is refuse to verify
transactions with the stolen BTC.
~~~
danielweber
There is always that option. But what if you got some bitcoins today that
turned out to have been stolen two months ago?
It might be a good idea, but it's antithetical to the community.
------
bakhy
isn't the bitcoin scene beginning to resemble a modern government in
recession? carefully crafted statements, avoiding to say much, but very
reassuring... markets be praised!
the leaked "Crisis Strategy Draft" slideshow seems like it was actually
authored by these companies, not MtGox.
------
dustcoin
"In order to re-establish the trust squandered by the failings of Mt. Gox,
responsible bitcoin exchanges are working together and are committed to the
future of bitcoin and the security of all customer funds."
As someone with funds stuck in gox, I optimistically hope that "all customer
funds" includes gox customers, in the form of some sort of industry-led
bailout.
~~~
anigbrowl
Nothing personal (I don't know you at all)but I find it ironic that you want
bitcoin users on other exchanges to pick up the tab for your poor investment
decision. _Cavest investor_ , and all that. The irony of a bitcoin bailout is
pretty damn thick.
~~~
dustcoin
Before the news of gox's massive 740k BTC loss, I had considered the
possibility that a competing exchange would buy out MtGox, cover the small
hole in customer balances (10-50k BTC) and gain a larger customer base while
also boosting the confidence of the bitcoin community.
A "bailout" could have been mutually beneficial. 740k BTC is way too much.
~~~
anigbrowl
Yeah, I should have added that by bailout I meant financed by other industry
participants rather than via some notional hit on everyone's BTC holdings -
but ultimately the cost would have to be passed back to the users in the form
of increased transaction costs.
------
conanbatt
This feels like taking advantage of Gox's demise.
~~~
chris_wot
Mt Gox were pretty pathetic, I can't really blame them. But then again, they
are worried about how it will affect bitcoin as a whole.
~~~
conanbatt
For all they did wrong, known for a very long time, they were the lead
chargers in bitcoin and all these exchanges got "real investors" and after
Mtgox was successful. If Mtgox were trading magic cards, the story would have
been probably different for most exchanges. They deserve to shut down, and
stop business. They dont deserve to get ridiculed because they didnt measure
up to the expectancy created around an instrument they dealt with when it was
worth nothing.
~~~
chris_wot
They took a lot of money and mismanaged it. They absolutely deserve the
ridicule. They had _a lot_ of time to get their act together.
------
NickSharp
And now coinbase.com is down. Not a good sign...
------
jamesk_au
Note that the "industry leaders" who "stand by this statement" have published
slightly different variations of it.
See, for example, Circle's statement[1], which styles itself as a joint
statement regarding "the Insolvency of Mt.Gox", and describes Mt Gox's actions
as "abhorrent". At the end of Circle's statement, after listing some of the
high standards to which Bitcoin custodians should be held, the author(s) make
this observation: "It does not appear to any of us that MtGox followed any
these essential requirements as a financial services provider."
The statements of Kraken[2], BTC China[3] and Blockchain.info[4] also describe
Mt Gox's actions as "abhorrent" and make the same observation about Mt Gox in
relation to its compliance with appropriate standards.
Coinbase's statement[5], on the other hand, does not use "abhorrent" and does
not express any view on whether Mt Gox complied with the "essential
requirements" of a Bitcoin custodian. But the Coinbase statement does include
this sentence: "Mtgox has confirmed its issues in private discussions with
other members of the bitcoin community". That sentence is conspicuously absent
from the other statements.
Finally, the Bitstamp.net[6] statement is completely different. It says that
the "known losses" of fiat currency and Bitcoin "are limited to those balances
that were in MtGox's care", and that Mt Gox "can best explain how this
happened".
The names of the industry leaders appear at the bottom of each statement. Have
they signed off on all of them?
Did some leaders edit the "joint" statement to avoid potentially defaming Mt
Gox?
Or do some of them know something we don't?
\---
[1] Circle: [http://www.circle.com/2014/02/24/joint-statement-
regarding-i...](http://www.circle.com/2014/02/24/joint-statement-regarding-
insolvency-mt-gox/)
[2] Kraken:
[http://www.reddit.com/r/Kraken/comments/1yux6n/joint_stateme...](http://www.reddit.com/r/Kraken/comments/1yux6n/joint_statement_regarding_mt_gox/)
[3] BTC China:
[https://vip.btcchina.com/page/notice20140225](https://vip.btcchina.com/page/notice20140225)
[4] Blockchain.info: [http://blog.blockchain.info/2014/02/25/joint-
statement/](http://blog.blockchain.info/2014/02/25/joint-statement/)
[5] Coinbase: [http://blog.coinbase.com/post/77766809700/joint-statement-
re...](http://blog.coinbase.com/post/77766809700/joint-statement-regarding-
the-insolvency-of-mtgox)
[6] Bitstamp.net: [https://www.bitstamp.net/article/Statement-by-Bitstamp-
regar...](https://www.bitstamp.net/article/Statement-by-Bitstamp-regarding-
MtGox-insolv/)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
A cheaper, already available brydge competitor. (iPad = MacBook Pro) - nico_h
http://www.thefancy.com/sales/2273/ipad-notebookcase
======
SpenceAiello
No speakers on this one?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
RIP Jody - kfadler
http://heykfa.com/post/45663629559/rip-jody
======
esthercrawford
Mental health conversations are really tough because no one wants to be
stigmatized. Depression and anxiety are issues that millions of people deal
with but unfortunately acknowledging personal issues with either is seen as a
sign of weakness rather than strength. That'll change as more people in power
lift the veil by discussing their own challenges.
~~~
kfadler
+1. Great comment.
------
rohamg
thanks for posting this Kevin. definitely a conversation that needs to happen
out in the open.
~~~
kfadler
Thanks Roham.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
ThinkGeek TK-421 iPhone keyboard case review - shawndumas
http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/01/thinkgeek-tk-421-iphone-keyboard-case-review/
======
kls
Sold, it is the one thing I decry about the iPhone. I prefer the side kick
style physical keyboard. I am a happy camper right now.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
HP packs 6 cores, 32GB ECC memory, 4TB SSD into a 5lb laptop - bluedino
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2018/04/hp-uses-new-6-core-mobile-chips-to-build-some-monster-workstations/
======
peatmoss
Impressive, but will it run Linux without being a pain in the ass? In all
seriousness, I feel like the Thinkpads almost, but not completely, manage to
be the standard Linux laptop.
Especially for pro laptops, I don’t understand where there can be benefit in
producing anything other than a platinum level supported linux machine.
Assuming mostly Windows users, what does Linux compatibility really cost
manufacturers?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Sleep 'boosts brain cell numbers' - akandiah
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-23932577
======
yardie
Good article. I hope some of these 'brogrammers' read it and realize that
programming 20 hours a day is not only shortening your lifespan. It is,
literally, making you more stupid.
~~~
arethuza
I wonder if anyone has ever done a statistical analysis of a large project to
see _when_ changes that generated bugs were actually performed. I've long
suspected that when you see particularly silly bugs committed by people who
really do know better there is usually some explanation that can often be that
they are tired/stressed/distracted.
[NB I know myself that I can do particularly silly things when tired so I will
sometimes let myself spend a long time investigating a problem but I won't fix
it until the next day.]
~~~
vidarh
I've had projects where we had to send people home because they became a such
a noticeable burden.
Personally I wanted to force people out of the office much earlier on one of
them because pretty much nothing got done when people were staying late, but
it left everyone more tired in the morning, but the CEO was of the "more hours
== more work done" mentality and wouldn't listen.
------
w1ntermute
I think everyone owes it to themselves to set aside a few weeks in which they
go to sleep early enough that they wake up naturally every day. The feeling is
amazing and it does wonders for your productivity.
~~~
Tarential
It is so good for productivity that I've completely stopped using "staying up
late" as a method to get things done. If I have a lot of work to do that's a
good sign to get to bed early and start in the morning when I'm fresh.
Problems that I spend hours on the night before seem to solve themselves
magically in minutes. After a while I got the hint: Just go to bed and sleep.
You save time and feel better.
------
polskibus
This is an important finding, not because it confirms something that seems
obvious for many people (ie. prolonged sleep deprivation = worse performance),
but because it can help change the dominant management style in companies.
Overworking is a very old problem, but hopefully similar findings will boost
the strength of counter arguments.
~~~
rbanffy
I fear overworked managers will not be able to understand the issue.
~~~
kamjam
Maybe after a good nights sleep...
------
Sagat
I learned early in life that it's better to work intensely and rest a lot than
do more work of a lower quality. If you are sleep deprived you might miss
insights and opportunities. Time is the most valuable resource in the
universe: by staying awake longer you are not gaining time but shortening your
available time pool in the long run.
------
jpease
My cats should have brains the size of large melons.
------
kvee
So will it ever be possible to artificially produce these cells that go on to
make myelin and reduce or eliminate the need for sleep?
~~~
mistercow
Maybe, but I doubt that will be sufficient. Evolution being the opportunistic
bastard that it is, it seems likely that lots of little processes have hitched
a ride on sleep. There may not be any single factor to take care of which
eliminates the need for sleep entirely.
------
cyeah
I have little time. I sometimes overwork one hour or more and I also have a
long commute (between 1.30h - 2h). I sleep at least between four and five
hours (except weekends). I work full-time and I'm studying a degree. If I
don't do this, I don't have time for everything (see work, study, hobby
projects). But it is true that I still feel so unproductive, I can't focus, or
it takes me a while and I'm easily distracted, it takes me a long time to
think of the correct way to structure a pattern or algorithm... I tried to
sleep more, but I always end up feeling overwhelmed by all the tasks.
~~~
beachstartup
if you're feeling overwhelmed (these are your words), why are you doing so
much?
seriously. why?
~~~
acuozzo
_I challenge you_ to say this to a poverty-stricken single mother of a
mentally-disabled child with no job prospects (due to not having any
marketable skills, certifications, or degrees) and a mountain of debt left
behind by a dead-beat husband who is incapable of providing child-support due
to being an alcoholic bum with no job prospects of his own.
This is what my mother-in-law has to deal with every day.
Sometimes people "[do] so much" because they have no reasonable alternatives.
Being overwhelmed is a fact of life for them.
~~~
beachstartup
this guy is talking about "hobby projects" and posting on HN.
my response was directed at him, not your hypothetical single mother with a
special needs child.
~~~
acuozzo
> my response was directed at him
OK, point taken and understood. My apologies for taking your comment out-of-
context.
> not your hypothetical single mother with a special needs child
It wasn't hypothetical. That's an accurate description of the life my mother-
in-law leads.
------
shire
The feeling of going to bed early and waking up with the sunrise is an amazing
feeling. To be honest I don't know why we were created with a sleep function,
we would get so much done without it. Imagine what mankind would achieve with
an extra 12hours!
~~~
pm90
Not much, since for the most part our ancestors did not have illumination at
night
------
amerika_blog
Sleep... what a great idea. Someday. It's on the to-do list.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: Style – A very small, responsive style sheet - 127001brewer
http://style.choinski.net/
======
fiatjaf
This is very, very cool. Awesome, I would say. It is really awesome, when your
layout is simple, to not have to think about various screen sizes and just let
this stylesheet adjust it for you.
Maybe you could call it "adjust.css", or something like that, to emphasize
that.
I will use it, for sure.
~~~
127001brewer
Thanks - I appreciate that.
------
colept
Between 980px and 1024px the layout took up 100% of the window width.
[http://i.imgur.com/wo0KsU0.png](http://i.imgur.com/wo0KsU0.png)
In my perspective spacing is the number one principle to respect when doing
responsive layouts. Responsive design has to be balanced between spacing and
utilizing white-space.
~~~
127001brewer
Thanks for letting me know - I'll add another media query for these
dimensions. (By the way, which device did you use to view it at these
dimensions?)
~~~
fiatjaf
Firefox has a "Responsive Design View" that lets you inspect this easily.
~~~
127001brewer
I've found that Chrome's responsive view does a better job than Firefox - but
I'll check it out. Thanks!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: Ringo - Building access the way you want it - j-m-o
https://www.tryringo.com
======
j-m-o
Long time lurker, first time poster.
Around Christmas, my apartment building changed over their buzzer system to
call a dedicated number instead of a phone in the unit. This made coordination
of inviting guests over difficult for me and my girlfriend, as we had to
choose whose number to use -- an idea born.
This is my first venture into entrepreneurship, so I'd really like to hear any
feedback. For those curious, I'm using Play 2.0.x on Heroku. Twilio's the
phone provider and Stripe's the payment provider. I started this project to
learn some new things and break out of my J2EE dayjob doldrums.
Since buzzeromatic folded, there doesn't seem to be anything else in this
space - although the real challenge now is how to get it to the consumers
who'd find it useful. I'm thinking my main markets are college-aged people
with roommates, as well as down-sizing couples moving into condos.
Thanks for taking a look!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Stop Wasting Money on Unnecessary Monthly Subscriptions - nreece
https://www.wsj.com/articles/stop-wasting-money-on-unnecessary-monthly-subscriptions-11557331377
======
dr01d
Requires a subscription to read. Nice.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Volvo introduces airbags for pedestrians - flexie
http://inhabitat.com/volvo-introduces-the-worlds-first-pedestrian-airbag-equipped-car/
======
nagrom
Hm. This seems odd to me - the system certainly costs some money to install,
and the person paying for it (the driver) derives minimal (no) benefit from
it. Why would the driver pay for this system if not forced to by a regulator?
Does it result in lower insurance premiums?
I understand that it is nice to drive a car that is more safe for other people
in the case of an accident, but you can do that cheaper by driving more slowly
and more carefully, surely? I would think that if you are the type of driver
who cares enough about potentially injuring others to pay several hundred
dollars for this safety system, you're not the kind of driver who is
recklessly endangering other people's lives and thus requiring it.
EDIT: I don't understand this being downvoted at all. I'm not saying it is a
bad or pointless system. I'm saying that the people most likely to need it are
not likely to pay for it! Is the solution to enforce usage by regulation, to
reduce insurance premiums for cars that have this system fitted or something
else?
~~~
paddy_m
The liability insurance rates for a car like this should be lower. Especially
in a heavy populated area like NYC. Personal injury lawsuits are very
expensive.
~~~
nagrom
Best response to my comment so far :-) I would think that Volvo would look to
work with insurers to show that the V40 should benefit from preferred premiums
that payback the cost of this system in X years, based on some typical
profile.
------
digitalengineer
There's also new braking technology to automatically stop the car when it's
about to hit something in front of it. (Of course this could lead to another
car crashing againt car nuber 1 if it doesn't carry the technology). Apart
from that cars added "shock absorbency" in hoods and widened the space between
the engine and the hood.
But still, do people start to drive faster and closer to another because of
the extra safety-features like airbags, ABS, safetly belts, roll-cages?
Imagine a long spike shooting out of the logo on the steering wheel if you
really hit something hard. That would greatly reduce accidents.
~~~
nodata
I think you're quoting Steven Landsburg:
[http://stuartbuck.blogspot.nl/2008/08/spikes-and-steering-
wh...](http://stuartbuck.blogspot.nl/2008/08/spikes-and-steering-wheels.html)
But remember this is a fallacy: <http://forums.theregister.co.uk/post/259350>
~~~
rgbrenner
I think this is a better link to prove it's wrong:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_motor_vehicle_deaths_in...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_motor_vehicle_deaths_in_U.S._by_year)
Deaths in 1980: 51,091
Deaths in 2011: 32,367
And that's w/ 90m more people, and nearly double the number of miles driven.
Clearly safety improvements DO work.
------
westicle
In Australia Volvo drivers are stereotyped as terrible, unaware drivers
(possibly due to the tank-like nature of early-model Volvos). So much so that
the phrase "Bloody Volvo driver" is a commonly understood phrase.
And now Volvo itself doesn't trust its drivers to brake before driving into
pedestrians. Perhaps even Volvo is embracing the "Bloody volvo driver"
stereotype.
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IYKdzNUd1A>
Edit: I should admit that I drive one myself.
~~~
tomgallard
interesting- in the UK, Volvo drivers tend to be thought of as left-wing,
cautious, careful, slow. The brand is also associated with the left-leaning
newspaper 'The Guardian' as well as museli and wearing socks with sandals!
~~~
snogglethorpe
Hmm, in the U.S., they seem to have aspects of _both_ these stereotypes (at
least at one time; I haven't lived in the U.S. in many years): cautious, slow,
sandal-wearing, but also self-centered and kind of clueless, blithely mowing
down pedestrians despite their avowed support for all living beings... ><
p.s. I've actually known some Volvo owners in the UK, and they really did read
the Guardian!
p.p.s. I'm totally left wing, wear socks with my sandals, and eat tons of
muesli... oO;
------
prawks
_Once a pedestrian steps in front of the vehicle, the car’s brakes apply
automatically if the driver doesn’t react fast enough. If the sensors detect
an imminent collision with a pedestrian while driving at high speed, the
airbag pops-up and inflates in a U-shape._
This sounds like it will be a lot of fun once those sensors start to wear out
and malfunction.
~~~
objclxt
What's the worst that can happen if they do malfunction? Presumably no airbag,
but you're no _worse_ off than being hit by a car without pedestrian airbags.
I suppose the other type of malfunction would be accidentally discharge, but
this is a) exceedingly rare, and b) no riskier than the airbags already _in_
the car
~~~
prawks
Meh, I was thinking more of the latter. First generation sensors I'd imagine
would be more prone to erroneous readings, including false positives. Randomly
having the car force you to a stop in traffic could be a little annoying.
------
atarashi
There's a video on youtube of the the pedestrian airbags in action
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4d9dqaMDxI&feature=play...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4d9dqaMDxI&feature=player_detailpage#t=70s)
------
vincentkriek
I don't mind reposts of old stuff when it is interesting, but this has been
introduced about a year ago? The streets are filled with the Volvo V40 (first
model that has it, and every V40 has it standard) over here, so to speak.
------
jack-r-abbit
I'm surprised that the air bag in that location is even that effective. Before
the pedestrian encounters the airbag, they have already been struck in the
lower body by the very front of the car, then roll up the hood before hitting
the windshield. And while this may prevent them from hitting their head on the
windshield or A-pillar, they are still likely to be thrown off the hood before
everything is settled. So I guess in a situation that involved 4 impact
points... making one of them softer is better. But this surprises me.
Also, not every body even rolls up onto the hood. Depending on the speed,
height, etc... pedestrians often just get launched out in front of the
vehicle.
------
duck
Next up, people wearing helmets when they go for a walk.
------
darxius
Very cool, but I'm not sure how I feel about the brakes being applied
immediately. Maybe I'm missing some information. Do the brakes remain engaged
as long as there is something in front of the car? If so, this could become
dangerous for the driver. A criminal would just have to have his criminal
buddy stand in front of a stopped car and the driver now can't get away
because of the automatic brakes.
~~~
nagrom
The automatic braking system is likely turned off below a certain speed.
Otherwise you wouldn't be able to reverse out of a parking space that faces a
wall.
~~~
lttlrck
It's just as likely to disengage when you reverse.
~~~
nagrom
Nope, because then you couldn't park facing a wall in the first place.
------
stcredzero
Inhabitant: is it really necessary to add your own zooming code for tablets?
Yours doesn't work as well as Apple's. It's not as smooth, and why would I
want to zoom _and_ simultaneously twist my page 31.7 degrees to the left!? I
never want to do that, which Apple engineers understood.
Zooming is a core feature of mobile browsers. Please cut this extraneous stuff
out.
------
jeroen
march 9, 2012: [http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/technology-blog/volvo-
introduces...](http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/technology-blog/volvo-introduces-
pedestrian-airbags-222726925.html)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
What books can I read to improve my writing? - ssono
In the past, my writing has been good enough to get the job done for classes. However, I would like to learn to write in a way that is enjoyable to read. I know that the usual advice is to read and write more often, but I was hoping that HN would have some book suggestions to improve my prose.
======
paulcole
On Writing by Stephen King is quite good. Depending on where you'll be
writing, Content Strategy for the Web by Kristina Halvorson might be useful,
too.
~~~
shanecleveland
A great suggestion. And I'll second King's own suggestion to read The Elements
of Style by Strunk and White. Though, some of its advice might be a bit dated
and best used in small doses. But to will provide a great foundation.
------
dmullet
"On Writing Well" by William Zinsser. Considered by many to be the best guide
to non-fiction writing.
~~~
rwieruch
I can only agree with it. I summarized my learnings from the book, if you are
interested to have a look what it is about:
[https://www.robinwieruch.de/lessons-learned-on-writing-
well/](https://www.robinwieruch.de/lessons-learned-on-writing-well/)
------
itamarst
The best book on understanding what style means: _Clear and Simple as the
Truth_. Every other book just has confusing "this is The Correct Way", which
is wrong, it all depends.
Once you understand style, either try for style they mostly talk about in that
book (classical style), or if you want practical style then _Revising Prose_
or _Style: Toward Clarity and Grace_ are good.
------
spcelzrd
There are so many. Writing, like any other skill, can be taught and learned.
Don't just practice and passively observe.
Thinking in Style, Pinker
Revising Prose, Lanham
Good Prose, Kidder
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Shyp Goes Nationwide By Letting You Comparison-Shop Shipping Services - bitsweet
https://www.fastcompany.com/3064387/startup-report/shyp-goes-nationwide-by-letting-you-comparison-shop-shipping-services
======
piron_t
I sent 3 boxes (same size) to a friend, the estimate price was $95 + 25 of
shipping, the total price I paid was $248.36, even if they had all the
measurements/weight within the app. They split my package in 3 and made me pay
full price. (When you enter the weight, they don't say it's 50lb max) so they
send 3 shipments (they could have done 2 instead of 3, but I guess the guy who
packages my stuff was lazy and also entered different LxWxH for the exact same
boxes). I contacted the support and got a refund of $60ish. The price you see
in the app should be the price you'll pay, not +200ish % ... (Again, they have
a picture + all the measurements/weight ...)
~~~
kevingibbon
thanks for the feedback. With this new label product you can package your
items yourself and print the labels. You get a final price in app/web before
purchase.
With our pickup/packaging business there is no way to give a price up front.
Only to give an estimate based on the information we receive. There are too
many variables that go into the packaging process (padding, re-arranging
items, multiple boxes etc). Something that I would love to be perfect on but
its a very hard problem.
We typically split items into multiple boxes for safety or to reduce the cost
of the overall shipments. There are some very high oversize fees from the
carriers that we try to avoid as much as possible.
I hope you will give this new product a try :)
~~~
piron_t
If you add a low/high price estimate, I'll probably give it a new try.
You can also probably add a "Is this item fragile" as an option to add less or
more padding.
Also I send 3 boxes of the exact same size, it would be great in your app to
be able to duplicate items (I had to create one big package by adding the
height and weight all together, was too lazy to create 3 different ones, or 2
in a extra large and 1 in a large)
I sent an email to the support and got refund a bit. (all the boxes I shipped
were the same size, but I don't know why they were slightly different for all
of them in the confirmation email I received ..)
~~~
kevingibbon
I really wish it was that easy. We have tested a bunch of different things and
there is no solution that works 100% of the time. For example.. there is no
standard fragile item. A fragile item could be 2" of padding or could be 10"
of padding.
The #1 most important thing is that the item arrives safely. #2 is reducing
the price our customer pay. We even have machinery to create custom on-demand
boxes to .1 of an inch so we don't ship air.
Starting today..For customers that are very price sensitive they can package
their items, not pay the $5 pickup and still be able to use our great UX/price
comparison technology.
------
rconti
Excellent. I can't get over how hard this information has been to come by in
the past.
It's always a ridiculous guessing game of LxWxH with penalties over Y
dimensions total, with weight and shipping speed as confounding factors.
Then the calculus changes totally if you manage to fit the item into a
slightly smaller box.
You have to juggle 3+ websites, entering a bunch of information that shouldn't
really be relevant, to get to a cost number.
Then you go to ship something and the cost STILL is totally different from
what the website said it would be.
------
adamfeldman
According to the UPS Developer Kit's guidelines for the UPS Rating API[1] (the
API used for getting shipping rates):
Unapproved business models/usages
• Display of UPS rates side by side with competitor rates
How does Shyp get around this restriction?
[1]: (page 25)
[https://www.ups.com/media/en/UPS_dev_kit_user_guide.pdf](https://www.ups.com/media/en/UPS_dev_kit_user_guide.pdf)
~~~
hayksaakian
it ticks me off when pedants run to the terms of service/etc. to undermine
something exceptional.
if you're big enough, or influential enough you can negotiate your own terms
of use for any API or any service.
if you're small, then they probably won't even notice your usage.
shyp is not a weekend hackathon project. While it's certainly possible they're
blatantly violating terms and hoping they don't get caught, that seems
unlikely for a venture backed startup.
~~~
ecommerceguy
Actually, I was wondering the same thing (circumventing TOS).
>Exceptional How? Shyp is nothing new. These services have been around for
ages (Pitney Bowes, more recently Stamps.com, more recently than that
Shipstation, Ordoro, the list is fairly extensive) and these terms have been
around for just as long. If you want to use UPS in your app, better get used
to playing by their rules. I bet we see a change very soon in the way Shyp
presents pricing to the end user.
>If you're big enough... eBay and Amazon both do NOT show side-by-side cost
comparisons for shipping services. Neither do ANY of the established "apps".
Big enough for you?
>Small Shyp is below the radar as of until right about now.
As for the execution of the app itself. Why print an estimated delivery range
(Fedex 1-6 days) when the exact date is available through API? Sometimes Fedex
Ground is cheaper but a day slower. Price of delivery isn't everything (Prime
has proven that abundantly).
------
retox
This is an advert, right? Why has it been on the front page for hours, YC
funded?
------
kordless
So how does Shippo fit into all this?
[https://goshippo.com/](https://goshippo.com/)
~~~
mylifeisshan
Hi, Shan from Shippo here! We power applications like this by helping them
connect to multiple shipping carriers from one API to compare rates, print
labels, track shipments etc. Through the combined volume we get through the
platform we also help businesses get volume discounts from carriers.
~~~
howardjs
Is the Shippo API powering this Shyp app?
~~~
kevingibbon
For this new product, no. We use a ton of different technologies to make
different parts of our business work. We prefer to focus on solving consumer +
smb pain points vs owning the entire stack ourselves.
------
gumby
I wonder how their model scales since after all this time they haven't even
expanded into Silicon Valley. I assume it only works with the density of a
small to medium sized city like San Francisco.
------
swang
so shippo lists shyp as a company/partner that uses their backend. does this
mean shyp has moved away from shippo or that this is the resulting product
built on top of shippo?
~~~
kevingibbon
We do not use shippo for this product.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: What is the modern equivalent of monster.com these days? - epynonymous
what do people use to find full stack development opportunities, hacker rank? i am targeting us market.
======
RNeff
monster.com is still in operation. Also: Hacker News has jobs at YC companies
LinkedIn.com Glassdoor.com indeed.com simplyhired.com anglelist.com
~~~
epynonymous
thanks, any success with these either for hiring for finding jobs? i ised
monster in 2003-2004 to find an opportunity and i've been with that company
for the last 13 years. my network's mostly in this company.
------
epynonymous
this is what i've found: hackerrank.com, angelist.co, dice.com (not so good),
lever.co.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Is it time to move away from silicon-based solar? - turing
http://arstechnica.com/science/2014/02/is-it-time-to-move-away-from-silicon-based-solar/
======
kken
PV "breakthroughts" are a dime dozen. Usually things quickly break apart due
to these reasons:
1) The solar cell has to stable for 20 years in the field, not the 5 minutes
it requires to collect the data for your publication.
2) You have to make 200 million cells per year with a yield >98%. Can you
really do that?
3) Manufacturing cost on paper and in reality are two completely different
things. Reducing material consumption is good, but it is not the only cost
driver. Again: YIELD.
The first point is something that can be partially answered with a lot of
additional research. Doable by a university, but often much more frustrating
than the research they'd really want to do.
The only answer to the last two points is to try it on a large scale. And
people did that for many technologies, see Nanosolar, Solyndra and many more.
The problem is that so many failed, that currently nobody is willing to invest
in new PV technologies.
Right now there is only silicon, CIGS thing film and CdTe thin film on the
market. I doubt that a new technology is going to become relevant anytime soon
as all of these technologies still have some room to breathe.
The article mentions, that 15 years passed without a new efficiency record in
Si based solar cells. This is completely meaningless until that number is
approached by mass manufactured cells.
~~~
bdcs
64% of residential solar costs are the so-called soft costs of permitting and
installation. PV's tech problems are smaller than its social/political
problems. [http://cleantechnica.com/2013/12/12/nrel-soft-costs-now-
larg...](http://cleantechnica.com/2013/12/12/nrel-soft-costs-now-largest-
piece-solar-installation-costs/)
~~~
kken
Yes, especially in the US. There is also a huge bureaucracy problem.
Even at the current cost of PV and the current electricity prices, residential
PV generation amortises in areas where a lot of air conditioning is required.
This basically applies to the entire south west of the US.
The problems rather seem to be ignorance and an unwilligness to see a house as
a long term investment.
------
outworlder
What about lower efficiency, but much cheaper panels? What is it that drives
price up so much? Production capacity? Market forces?
~~~
msandford
That's exactly the direction some folks have gone.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copper_indium_gallium_selenide_...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copper_indium_gallium_selenide_solar_cells)
One of the startups, nanosolar, seems to have failed.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanosolar](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanosolar)
You can actually pick up some nanosolar stuff on ebay right now.
[http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/151190922913?lpid=82](http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/151190922913?lpid=82)
I am not sure if there are any other companies still trying to make a go of
this but last I checked -- a couple of years ago -- there were two or three
others.
~~~
canistr
I was always under the assumption that Gallium Arsenide was the future after
silicon.
What's the difference between GaAs and CIGS?
~~~
msandford
A number of people realized that they could lay down really thin films of CIGS
materials and process the cells reel-to-reel. Imagine loading up a 10 ton roll
of thin stainless steel in the morning and having 200 acres (or some crazy
number) of solar cells by evening. If they had been able to sort the process
technology out it would have been INCREDIBLE.
But of course the devil was in the details. This was a hardware based company
so it's not terribly surprising that their R&D time went out past their
funding. Look at how badly hardware Kickstarts do on average, blowing multiple
"deadlines" because often-times hardware is more difficult than software. Not
that it's impossible, but it's definitely unforgiving.
When it absolutely has to be exactly right the first time it's going to take a
lot longer than you think, even once you account for the fact that its' going
to take a lot longer than you think.
------
higherpurpose
> But that manufacturing innovation hasn't been matched on the basic research
> side; it's been over a decade since the last time anyone set a new
> efficiency record for silicon cells.
> The material in question is gallium arsenide, which can be fashioned into
> solar cells with efficiencies twice those of silicon
What about this breakthrough doubling the typical solar panel efficiency to
44.7%? Isn't it based on silicon solar panels, too?
[http://www.ise.fraunhofer.de/en/press-and-media/press-
releas...](http://www.ise.fraunhofer.de/en/press-and-media/press-
releases/presseinformationen-2013/world-record-solar-cell-
with-44.7-efficiency)
~~~
deeviant
No, anything in that range of efficient is a multi-junction cell. Multi-
junction cells use a range of layered materials, each tuned to a narrow
spectrum in which they can convert more efficiently than silicon, for
instance.
------
acd
The material used in silicon solar cells Galium Arsenide isn't an
environmental friendly material. For us to have large quantity of solar power
the materials used in the solar cells can't be dirty in themselves or the
environmental advantage are lost.
Here are some alternative links
Organic solar cell [http://www.heliatek.com/newscenter/latest_news/neuer-
weltrek...](http://www.heliatek.com/newscenter/latest_news/neuer-weltrekord-
fur-organische-solarzellen-heliatek-behauptet-sich-mit-12-zelleffizienz-als-
technologiefuhrer/?lang=en)
A question in my mind is if plants is the ultimate solar cell, cheap to
produce, naturally converting solar energy into biomass, sugar and potentially
diesel. There are also ecoli based solar conversion.
Boing Green diesel breakthrough [http://www.energypost.eu/exclusive-report-
boeing-reveals-big...](http://www.energypost.eu/exclusive-report-boeing-
reveals-biggest-breakthrough-biofuels-ever/)
Ecoli biogasoline [http://cleantechnica.com/2013/09/30/kaist-researchers-
produc...](http://cleantechnica.com/2013/09/30/kaist-researchers-produce-
gasoline-from-escherichia-coli/)
------
Egregore
As an active user of silicon-based solar in self sustained home I would say
that we need a more efficient and cheap battery technology. By cheap I mean
cost/cycles, current lead acid batteries offer less than 1000 cycles
considering 30% usage, improving number of cycles 10 fold and usage to 100%
would be great.
------
ars
Is he trying to violate the laws of thermodynamics?
The front has to let sunlight in, but then keep photons from
escaping. ..... This takes photons from a broad area and
funnels them into the PV chip. The other end of the U acts
like a reflective cap, making it very hard for a photon to
escape from the chip without being reflected back into it.
So basically a funnel with a wide part and a narrow part? And since it's
narrow it's less likely for a photon to enter?
That actually doesn't work - the intensity at the narrow end is higher, and
the total number of photons going in each direction is exactly the same.
One way mirrors do not, and can not, exist.
(One thing that does work is having slanted walls and lots of reflections
giving many opportunities for the photon to be absorbed. But if it doesn't it
will inevitably escape again.)
~~~
hrjet
Somebody has already explained it in the comments in the article:
"The light coming in the from sun is pretty directional, and a parabolic setup
will focus it down to a handy point. The photons being emitted by the the chip
are more diffuse and so most will be reflected back down to be re-captured."
------
scythe
Alta Devices has been in the thin-film GaAs space for years. They've attracted
nine-figure investments and posted really spectacular efficiency of ~28% in
GaAs thin films. It's all very exciting, but these discoveries are not
untrodden ground.
[http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:PVeff(rev131204)a.jpg](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:PVeff\(rev131204\)a.jpg)
[http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/Sources-Alta-
Dev...](http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/Sources-Alta-Devices-GaAs-
Solar-Startup-Purchased-by-Chinas-Hanergy)
------
InclinedPlane
There's nothing wrong with silicon PV arrays, they're easy to manufacture in
high volumes and low cost, they have reasonable efficiency levels and high
durability. The problem facing greater adoption of solar power continues to be
the storage problem. If people want to improve deployment of solar power then
they should work on that problem first and foremost.
------
meepmorp
I'd think the greater natural abundance of silicon, coupled with the lower
toxicity vs an arsenic compound, would make such a move unlikely in
deployments that don't require maximum power output for a given area
(satellites, for example).
------
the_cat_kittles
there are nascent technologies for refining silicon into solar grade that are
like 30-50% cheaper than what is currently used, they just need to be brought
up to production scale. So, to answer the title- no
------
ck2
gallium arsenide costs a fortune, way more than twice of silicon
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
After 3 years, admin of Free Rainbow Tables has decided to quit - vaksel
http://www.freerainbowtables.com/
======
ErrantX
I wonder if he's found anyone to take it over - shame to see it die (I learnt
a lot from the site)
------
pmorici
"Current CPU power 998 GFLOPS"
Doesn't seem like they have much computing power behind their project. You can
get 8 times that with a single machine with 4 of the latest Nvidia graphics
cards in them.
<http://www.tomshardware.com/news/PC-supercomputer,5513.html>
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Let your website cast the Northern Lights – Auroral - szynszyliszys
http://blog.lunarlogic.io/2016/let-your-website-cast-the-northern-lights-auroral/
======
ArturT
This demo page looks awesome
[https://lunarlogic.github.io/auroral/](https://lunarlogic.github.io/auroral/)
~~~
szynszyliszys
Thanks! :)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Facebook Does Not Benefit from Hate - minimaxir
https://about.fb.com/news/2020/07/facebook-does-not-benefit-from-hate/
======
diego
They benefit from engagement. Turns out hate is a large part of engagement.
Writing an article to say it isn't so does not make it true.
~~~
consumer451
> Turns out hate is a large part of engagement.
My personal experience makes me agree with you. I would even take it further.
Hate, or "punching down" is the easiest way to drive engagement. Is anyone
aware of any research that may confirm or deny this? My search skills have
failed me.
------
hangonhn
I had to Google it to confirm but Nick Clegg is the same guy who was the
Deputy Prime Minister of the UK under David Cameron. I'm super curious about
how that came to be -- what skillsets and talents a former Deputy Prime
Minister of the UK provides to a company like Facebook.
~~~
burkaman
He's friends with a lot of people in the UK government and Facebook doesn't
want to pay taxes there:
[https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/oct/08/facebook-...](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/oct/08/facebook-
uk-tax-bill-sales-margaret-hodge)
------
paulgb
There's been a number of stories of companies putting FB ad buys on hold on
the front page recently[1], and a recurring HN response has invariably been
"this will accomplish nothing". I'd like to point out that this is a 180 from
Zuckerberg's "arbiter of truth" position from before the advertiser boycotts:
> they don’t want to see hateful content, our advertisers don’t want to see
> it, and we don’t want to see it. There is no incentive for us to do anything
> but remove it.
[1] e.g.
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23646852](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23646852)
~~~
multiplegeorges
Not really, a few sentences later he reiterates their commitment to leave
hateful (but not hateful enough!) stuff up.
------
floatingatoll
Tech social media confuses "free expression" with "amplified expression".
If you're going to leave hate-filled posts by a world leader up on your
platform, but it's also okay to restrict amplification of those posts.
Twitter understands this and has begun restricting amplification in various
ways. Will Facebook next do the same? This post suggests that they will not.
~~~
ricardo81
I think social media typically 'amplifies' the worst facets of people in
general, and Facebook have built a business model around it. At least the
public posts, widely shared or large groups. I'm sure most people in their
small groups behave better.
------
burkaman
Facebook doesn't even remove groups that people use to encourage and
coordinate actual real-life murder: [https://popular.info/p/murder-exposes-
facebooks-boogaloo](https://popular.info/p/murder-exposes-facebooks-boogaloo)
~~~
throwawaysea
By my understanding, the boogaloo thing is mostly a meme used as a joke about
prepping, like for "SHTF"
([https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=SHTF](https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=SHTF)).
For example, "I need [some flashy firearm] for the boog". There are some
people/groups who have co-opted that branding and are actually intending
violence, but those are in the minority. That's why the Facebook announcement
specifically takes a nuanced approach in identifying only a subset of those
groups as problematic. From [https://about.fb.com/news/2020/06/banning-a-
violent-network-...](https://about.fb.com/news/2020/06/banning-a-violent-
network-in-the-us/):
> This network uses the term boogaloo but is distinct from the broader and
> loosely-affiliated boogaloo movement because it actively seeks to commit
> violence.
This is also why a lot of the articles attacking Facebook for hosting boogaloo
content are plain wrong. To many they come off as unhinged fake news simply
because they don't see that the most common use of 'boogaloo' is as a joke.
~~~
GaryNumanVevo
The boogaloo crowd is the exact type of crowd to say "oh it's just a joke"
just before committing acts of violence. They know as well as anyone that
being ironic will attract those who have the same beliefs unironically.
------
mattmiller
Facebook benefits from outrage. Outrage leads to engagement and virality. Hate
correlates to outrage.
------
yalogin
Well if we were to believe they don't benefit from hate, we need proof. For
that we need numbers. So unless they start implementing some filters for hate,
we will not know the impact. In reality, we all know they do benefit from it.
I would say its on them to prove they don't benefit, not using rhetoric but
using numbers.
------
burger_moon
In a way they don't benefit from hate. How many people here quit fb _because_
of politics and toxic communities?
------
MrBuddyCasino
Unpopular opinion: FB is just the scapegoat.
First they claimed 100k$ worth of Russian ads made Trump win the election,
when 1B$ from Bloomberg didn't move the needle.
In the age before social media, left- and rightwing could pretend the other
side doesn't exist. This has changed, and things have gotten more divisive as
a consequence.
------
asdff
If hate keeps people using the site, they benefit from hate.
~~~
bryan_w
But why would people use a site makes them mad?
~~~
asdff
Why do people go on /r/asktrumpsupporters and ask the same questions for the
past 5 years? It's cathartic. You get an adrenaline rush from arguing, and
satisfaction if you feel you've proved yourself right. It is the same primal
emotions from our childhood schoolyard argument days creeping back into adult
life.
Very interesting psychologically how facebook is tuned to tap into these
primal and tribalistic tendencies, but also very terrifying how wired we are
for this.
------
sharkmerry
Perhaps I am naive. It seems they do benefit from hate, in that negative
emotions drive more engagement.
IF they truly didnt want to benefit from hate, they would find a way to not
always rate negative engagement (arguing) as "engaging".
~~~
foobiekr
Official denials are actually confirmations.
------
fred_is_fred
Yes it does. People love to post rage and hate inducing posts because they get
replies and likes, and Facebook serves more ads.
------
Abishek_Muthian
And the News websites are claiming sensational headlines don't get them more
clicks.
I would like Facebook to put the money where the mouth is and remove featured
image, title from the shared URL and show an image of 'Summary' of the article
from og:description tag i.e. forcing people at-least to read a bit about the
content.
------
jasonv
Been wondering if FB and other socials could move away from engagement volume-
based advertising.
Perhaps "low max # ads a day" kind of thing.
It would hurt revenues, to be sure, but seems that Facebook already has
outsized revenues per employee count. And certainly, Zuck's share valuation is
a bit on the high (and possibly unsustainable) end.
------
sub7
Nope, they benefit from the systemic robbery of your time and attention while
giving you almost no value in return.
------
mrkramer
Facebook's userbase is a mirror of human society if you want to fix Facebook
fix society first.
~~~
dumbfoundded
The problem is with how facebook amplifies messages. By showing you the posts
you're most likely to engage with, Facebook encourages polarization. In normal
society, if you hold a hateful, minority opinion like deeply racist beliefs,
you're more likely to be presented the majority opinion. Facebook allows you
to disappear into a world where you only are exposed to people that agree with
you.
~~~
throwawaysea
I agree that Facebook encourages you into echo chambers. I think that's even
more true of Twitter. Reddit is also like that. In my experience YouTube is
better in this regard than the others, but perhaps also problematic. The users
of these platforms don't make this easy, however. As an example, if you try to
cross the "party lines" and engage on a post in a Facebook group you may not
be aligned with, you will be met with ridicule and vitriol, rather than
neutral intellectual discussion. A flood of reactions will occur. Memes/gifs
will be used. People will use phrases like "OK Boomer" or call you a "Karen"
or accuse you of being a "Communist" or "White supremacist" or whatever else.
It's not pleasant.
The other, bigger risk, is by engaging outside the echo chamber you also need
to expose yourself to actions outside of Facebook. First, your social circle
may observe your comments or what you like and that may have social
consequences in a world where no one is allowed to harbor differing opinions.
Worse, people do doxx others, try to shame them in 'real life', get them
fired, and so on. This is a particularly common practice on the left side of
the American political spectrum (see 'cancel culture',
[https://www.marieclaire.co.uk/opinion/cancel-
culture-682272](https://www.marieclaire.co.uk/opinion/cancel-culture-682272)).
There is little psychological safety even on anonymous platforms like Reddit,
so I think it would be much harder for anything but echo chambers to form on a
platform that requires de-anonymization like Facebook.
------
cbron
> Importantly, Facebook helped people to get accurate, authoritative health
> information.
Surely the author experienced some form of cognitive dissonance while typing
this out.
~~~
madaxe_again
The Author is Nick Clegg, ex-leader of the Liberal Democrats in the U.K. -
he’s a career politician, so this is kinda second nature.
------
VBprogrammer
I was hoping to see some kind of commitment to return any profits from ads
which are later decided to be hate speech, or close to hate speech, to worthy
causes.
In fact it doesn't really address the "Facebook profits from hate" point other
than perhaps implying that they spend more money on preventing it than they
gain from it.
------
tzvsi
"This piece originally ran in AdAge."
So, this article is meant for advertisers. Profits over people.
~~~
paxys
Advertisers are people too, my friend.
~~~
jfengel
No, advertisers are the only people. Everybody else is the product.
~~~
ghostbrainalpha
You are on fire with the analogies today!
------
mrweasel
>Facebook does not profit from hate. Billions of people use Facebook and
Instagram because they have good experiences
I'm fairly sure that the racists, Nazis, conspiracy theorists and pedofiles
are have a great experience communicating with like minded people on Facebooks
platforms.
More interestingly I very excited to see if companies like Coca Cola, Lego and
Verizon will see any change in sales after boycotting Facebook for 30 days. If
their sales remain largely unaffected it will change the whole premise for a
large number of companies and challenge the existence many "online ad
agencies", which do little more than manage social media accounts.
------
untilHellbanned
Michael Jordan does not benefit from basketball.
~~~
lostgame
Better example: ‘Google does not benefit from stealing user data.’ :P
Jordan doesn’t even play ball anymore. :3
~~~
MisterBastahrd
Facebook owns a website.
Jordan owns a basketball team.
~~~
lostgame
Did not know he owned a team, hehe! Just knew he wasn’t playing anymore. Shows
you how much I know about basketball. :P
------
throwawaysea
Obviously, Facebook does not benefit much from "hate speech". The majority of
content on Facebook and the associated advertising/revenues are from other
types of content. The broad generalizations made by the Twitter mob and news
media about Facebook being 'built' on hate or 'profiting' from hate is
hyperbolic. That said, I think it is fair to say that Facebook, Twitter,
Reddit, and YouTube all benefit from engagement. And engagement is often built
on emotion, particularly negative emotions like outrage.
Personally, I wish Facebook would simply not give credence to complaints about
'hate' and only censor content that breaks the law. If someone doesn't like a
certain page or group or whatever, they can just choose not to follow them. It
is very simple. Therefore, what the anti-Facebook crowd is asking for is not
about their own experience. It's that they want no one else to be able to
harbor certain views or opinions or even to discuss them. That's dangerous,
and the vague and ever-expanding label of "hate speech" disallows
conversations that need to take place on controversial topics.
Given that there it is easy to curate one's own feed and experience on
Facebook, the motivation of this activist mob is simply to stifle others'
freedom of speech. The fact that they are doing it by pressuring a large
private organization (instead of a public one) does not make it any better,
even if it is legal. It is still unethical and immoral from my perspective,
because freedom of speech is _that_ fundamental to our society. Today in the
US, there is a ubiquity to attempts from mobs stifling speech using labels
like "hate speech". This must be met with fierce opposition in all situations,
big and small. If not, it will eventually bleed into more and more of our
society. We're already seeing it in absurd situations like Stephen Hsu's
resignation (see [https://www.thecollegefix.com/scholar-forced-to-resign-
over-...](https://www.thecollegefix.com/scholar-forced-to-resign-over-study-
that-found-police-shootings-not-biased-against-blacks/) or
[https://quillette.com/2020/07/01/on-steve-hsu-and-the-
campai...](https://quillette.com/2020/07/01/on-steve-hsu-and-the-campaign-to-
thwart-free-inquiry/)).
------
rp00
I’m not convinced hate speech is real and I’m certainly convinced that hate
speech is not violence.
I fucking hate Facebook.
------
empath75
> We’re a pioneer in artificial intelligence technology to remove hateful
> content at scale.
This is everything wrong with social media in a nutshell. This isn't a problem
that can be solved with artificial intelligence. You need human beings
enforcing human standards of decency.
Keep in mind, that Facebook's 'artifical intelligence' algorithms
automatically created lots of white supremacy groups and promote white
supremacy content, and allowed advertising targetted at white supremacists.
Throwing more AI at a problem created and exacerbated by ai isn't going to
solve it.
~~~
zpeti
And you think humans will do a good job at correctly assessing pieces of
content on the sliding scale of “hate”? When one moment it’s fine debating
gender issues and a moment later it’s hate speech? For 35,000 people?
This is an impossible problem, both for AI and humans. Any suggestion that
this will be solved is pandering bullshit to the NYT crowd.
~~~
commandlinefan
It's becoming increasingly clear that "hate" is a dog-whistle for "not
explicitly left-wing". Which is unfortunate, because yet another useful word
is being stripped of meaning.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
S.F. Tenant Forced Out by 315 Percent Rent Hike Wins $400,000 Settlement - happy-go-lucky
https://ww2.kqed.org/news/2017/01/17/s-f-tenant-hit-with-315-percent-rent-increase-wins-400000-settlement/
======
afinlayson
If you don't understand the rental laws don't be a landlord. There's too much
of a belief that landowners can do whatever they want.
------
crimsonalucard
The landlord definitely had no right to raise rents to such an absurd price,
but a 400k penalty is equally absurd. I have no respect for both people in
this case.
~~~
jibalt
I have no respect for you, since it was an agreed upon settlement that
reflected the penalty that the landlord would have faced had he gone to trial,
and that penalty wasn't set by the tenant.
~~~
crimsonalucard
There is no need to get personal here. I am stating my opinion of these two
people as a bystander, you are making a personal remark to me.
There are limits to an agreement. In terms of respect, I respect people who
value logic, reason and morality over terms of an agreement. Your point taken
to the logical conclusion means that agreements can override everything
including human rights.
400,000 is unreasonable. Although the tenant didn't set the penalty she was
rewarded not compensated for her troubles. Sure the word of the law is final,
but did the tenant deserve 400K? No. The tenant does not deserve 400k as much
as the tenant does not deserve to have rent prices used to kick her out.
~~~
jibalt
"In terms of respect, I respect people who value logic, reason and morality
over terms of an agreement"
Then you, like me, have no respect for you. Again, you are blaming the tenant
for the amount of the settlement when that amount is due to factors that the
tenant did not create ... if you bother to read the article, you will see
mention of the triple damages that could have been awarded -- that was set by
society, not by the tenant. If you don't want personal comments, then don't be
so cavalier about making public proclamations of disrespect for others ...
especially when they are victims of atrocious behavior. The landlord willfully
violated the law for their own benefit and at the expense of the tenant. They
are lucky that it's only a civil penalty that they can afford, rather than
being thrown in the hoosegow.
"did the tenant deserve 400K?"
See how you change the subject, from whether the tenant deserves respect as a
human being, to whether they deserve a 400K payment? That sort of thing is why
I have no respect for you.
~~~
crimsonalucard
I am not blaming the tenant for the amount. I am saying I do not respect the
tenant. The tenant does not deserve 400k which can be about half way to buying
a house in certain parts of the bay area. I cannot respect someone who accepts
a penalty fee he or she does not deserve. IMO The tenant deserves at most 30k
for her troubles. 400k is immoral, illogical and unreasonable.
~~~
jibalt
And I do not respect you for your heartlessness, illogic, intellectual
dishonesty, and immorality ... what, you expect her to turn down a settlement
offered by the landlord? No, you don't really, and you wouldn't yourself. The
woman suffered through breast cancer while couch surfing during her eviction,
for God's sake. Bad people disrespecting good people is the new world order.
I'm done with you and will now bathe.
------
dmitrygr
This is insane. An owner of a property not subject to rent control should be
free to raise rent to any amount. The argument that "Look, you can increase
the rent to market rate, but you can’t raise it way above market rate" is
completely insane. If I want to charge you $900,000 per second to rent my
house, I am free to, and you are free to not rent it then.
~~~
rsj_hn
Actually, no. Charging existing tenants more than the market rate in order to
evict them and so avoid your obligations under the OMI regulations is not
something that you are allowed to do. If you want to do an OMI, then do the
OMI. File the paperwork, compensate the tenant, wait the required period, and
do the owner move in properly.
Nothing forces you to be a landlord -- in this case the owner inherited a
house with tenants. They can always sell the asset to someone who is familiar
with the laws and is able to comply with them. Given the high prices in SF,
this should be easy to do.
But owning property with an existing tenant makes you a landlord -- you are
choosing to be in this highly regulated line of work. It used to be case that
landlords could do whatever they wanted to tenants, but the law has since
changed. Now being a landlord requires that you maintain the property, that
you give proper notice for things like rent increases, that you file paperwork
when you want to do the OMI, and that you compensate the tenant for evicting
them due to no fault of their own (such as what happens with an OMI). So
please do your homework instead of arguing that you should be able to do
whatever you want to your tenants.
~~~
jimmywanger
I don't think that's what happened in this case.
They removed an illegal (that's the key word) in-law unit, making the unit a
single family home.
That single family home was no longer under the rent control laws, enabling
the owner to jack up the rent.
If they had gone by the book, they would have just had to pay the tenant 9.5k
to go away, which is what (in retrospect) the owner should have done.
400k seems egregiously high, and designed to pander to populist opinion rather
than any reasonable interpretation of the law.
~~~
dragonwriter
> That single family home was no longer under the rent control laws, enabling
> the owner to jack up the rent
Unreasonable rent increases to circumvent OMI rules are generally prohibited
in such rules (since they are the most obvious way to effect an eviction
pretextually), which are independent of rent control rules. The legal issue
here was the OMI rules, not rent control, so the illegality of the other unit
or the change in rent control status is irrelevant.
> 400k seems egregiously high, and designed to pander to populist opinion
> rather than any reasonable interpretation of the law.
It's not a 400k award, it's a 400k settlement, which means that the owner
clearly thinks that the actual award that survived all appeals plus the cost
of litigation (including the cost in the owners time) would be at least that
much.
~~~
jimmywanger
> It's not a 400k award, it's a 400k settlement, which means that the owner
> clearly thinks that the actual award that survived all appeals plus the cost
> of litigation (including the cost in the owners time) would be at least that
> much.
Why did you nitpick a point instead of addressing the egregiously high seeming
cost? Your point merely buttresses my point, which is that 400k is far more
than can and should be reasonably expected.
~~~
jibalt
Why did you dishonestly call it a nitpick, rather than the essential point
that it is?
> Your point merely buttresses my point
Um, no. That's a ridiculous dishonest claim.
> which is that 400k is far more than can and should be reasonably expected.
No, the whole point of the "nitpick" is that this is false. The landlord quite
reasonably expected to pay more if he were to go to court. There's a good
reason for this expectation: because the landlord intentionally violated the
law for their own gain at the expense of the interests of the tenant. The
landlord is a bad bad person who did a bad bad thing, and should be treated
accordingly.
~~~
jimmywanger
I guess this is you missing the point.
> Why did you dishonestly call it a nitpick, rather than the essential point
> that it is?
You should understand the point being discussed before accusing people of
dishonesty. The point buttresses my point, if read using any definition of
basic reading comprehension you'd chose to use.
> The landlord quite reasonably expected to pay more if he were to go to
> court.
And my point is that the unlawful eviction of somebody, even with punitive
damages, shouldn't rise to even the same order of magnitude of 400k, let alone
a huge amount higher. That's enough to buy a new house in much of the rest of
the country.
The punitive damages should be something to do with the total lawyer fees in
the case, as well as the expenses to move, as well as a deterrent amount.
NOT the ability to buy an entire new house, or an amount which might
reasonably requiring the person being sued to sell the house. Now is the point
clear to you?
~~~
dragonwriter
> And my point is that the unlawful eviction of somebody, even with punitive
> damages, shouldn't rise to even the same order of magnitude of 400k
Why not?
> That's enough to buy a new house in much of the rest of the country.
So what? What does the rest of the country have to do with it? The rest of the
country isn't where the wrongful deprivation occurred.
> The punitive damages should be something to do with the total lawyer fees in
> the case
Lawyers fees and court costs are often awarded _in addition to_ any actual
and/or punitive damages awards, and are, like actual damages, compensatory
rather than punitive.
> as well as the expenses to move
Again, that's compensatory rather than punitive damages, and it's what's
required when landlords _comply_ with the notice and other restrictions
applicable to OMI evictions.
> as well as a deterrent amount.
Actually, that's the only part that is punitive in nature.
You've basically identified the relocation payment they would have had to make
if they complied with OMI rules, punitive damages, and fees and costs, but not
any compensation for harms due to the failure to observe the procedural
(notice/timing) requirements of Omi rules or for not paying when due.
Now on top of what all that would have been in the case of a trial, add in the
value to the _defendant_ of not admitting wrongdoing, and avoiding the costs
(including time costs and stress) of litigation, and you've got a reasonable
upper bound on a settlement.
> NOT the ability to buy an entire new house, or an amount which might
> reasonably requiring the person being sued to sell the house.
Well, it's clearly not enough to buy an entire new house in the area in
question, so that's irrelevant. And I hardly see how the latter standard is
justified, since that's dependent wholly on the defendants financial state.
You certainly haven't established that the actual number here doesn't fit even
your initial description of the elements that would make a reasonable amount.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
PostSecret Pulls iOS App Over Abusive Submissions - d_r
http://www.macrumors.com/2012/01/02/creator-pulls-postsecret-ios-app-over-abusive-submissions/
======
prawn
"We even tried prescreening 30,000 secrets a day." and "99% of the secrets
created were in the spirit of PostSecret."
Is there a point where even 30,000 quality secrets per day are going to be too
overwhelming and better off screened somehow anyway?
I run sites with anonymous submissions and lose a lot of time screening some
really offensive crap, but even with 30k decent submissions per _year_ , I'd
be keen to filter those pretty strongly. e.g., if there is no expectation from
users that they'll see everything decent that they submit, just approve the
first x and flag the rest for later or never. Will even the most committed
reader have time to go through 30k a day? As far as I understand PostSecret,
they aren't really localised and probably not categorised, right?
~~~
endianswap
It has been years since I visited the website, but I remember FMyLife.com
simply displaying the "approved" posts to anonymous users. If you register,
though, you can rate posts but also view the incoming queue. It seemed to be
successful because I never saw spam in the anonymous view and the spam posts
in the new queue seemed to already have marks against it. To me it doesn't
seem like PostSecret would be any different, but maybe I'm missing something
(possibly because it's an iOS app we're discussing).
Also, is anyone aware of any websites crowdsourcing moderation through
Amazon's mturk? It seems like that might work and it sounds cheaper than
moderating 30k secrets a day in house (but it would probably be less
accurate).
~~~
akg
Interesting idea to use optionally registered accounts for moderation;
although I guess it kind of digresses from the point of anonymous posts.
Interesting idea to use mturk, it would probably be cost effective but the
turn-around time may not make it feasible.
~~~
prawn
On one of my sites, a higher level of moderator has access to edit/delete
while basic moderators (any regulars, basically) can "sin bin" a post for
review/attention. Seems to work reasonably well in catching the worst posts.
------
akg
This seems to be a general problem with anonymous posting venues. The amount
of spam is often inversely proportional to the effort required to distribute
the spam.
I wonder if the app's user community can fight against it by using a simple
karma/points rule like on HN or Reddit. Too many down-votes and the post
doesn't show up.
------
smashing
Anonymity without moderation will tend toward the profane.
~~~
glhaynes
Especially when there's essentially no cost (time/money/etc) to post.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Top 8 Worst Kids Boardgames - bengarvey
http://kidsdungeonadventure.com/top-8-worst-kids-boardgames/
======
YmMot
Operation and Hungry Hungry Hippos don't really belong on this list as they
are not board games per se, they are games of skill. By this rationale quite a
lot of video games are "bad" because they don't fit the criteria for a good
board game; of course it doesn't make sense to judge them by that rubric.
It should be noted that they both we created in a time before video games were
widely available, so perhaps they are rather quaint in some respects today,
but I think the fact that the skill required is different from that required
by most video games today causes them to retain enough novelty to still be
entertaining.
The author says that without the theme, Operation would be nothing but picking
stuff up with tweezers. In fact, that is a game my siblings and I (all firmly
in the Nintendo generation) enjoyed very much and spent many many hours doing
(in a version called "pick up sticks").
~~~
bengarvey
I hear you on games of skill vs board games.
I agree with you that these games were designed in a different era, but that
we shouldn't continue to play them out of tradition. We should retire the ones
that don't hold up and make room for new games.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Amazing WebGL demo: A 4-dimensional rendering of a Klein Bottle. - sjwalter
http://tenfour.ag/n22d?ref=hn
======
sjwalter
Source for the renderer and the rest available on github.
<https://github.com/adrianbg/n22d>
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Introduction to Parallel Computing - crfprogrammer
https://medium.com/tebs-lab/the-age-of-parallel-computing-b3f4319c97b0
======
crfprogrammer
Snippet that caught my attention as someone who’s mostly been programming in
high level languages.
“During the era of Moore’s Law a common mantra in the software world has been,
“the programmers time is more valuable than the computer’s time.” This
mentality has brought plenty of wonderful things with it including dynamic and
expressive languages such as Python and JavaScript. These languages create
programs that — compared to their equivalents written in C — are slow and use
lots of memory. These trade offs were easy to make when computers would be
twice as fast, have more RAM, and larger CPU caches in a year and a half.
These advances have also brought down the cost of creating software and made
it much easier for beginners to learn how to program. But Moore’s Law is dead.
CPU speeds have been stagnating for several years now, and experts in the
field of computer hardware do not expect them to recover [...]”
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
File sharing = theft is a "category mistake" - laika4000
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2010/0813/1224276715223.html
======
wcarss
"throw someone off the internet? - is that some surreal metaphysical joke by
the Irish, British and French governments"
Good read - this would make for some excellent comedy.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
New Startup Offers Free Live Negotiation Course from MIT - negotiateup
https://negotiateup.com/courses/curhan
======
axiosgunnar
Is it only for people in the US?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Is there any way to see blocked content in my chrome browser? - SabrinaMorris
I can't browse youtube and facebook from laptop. there are no problem with internet connection. Can you help regarding this matter?
======
LillieAfleur
To unlock all blocked sites in Chrome, you can use the best fastest and most
secure option which is a VPN.
A VPN is the most secure and fool-proof way to unblock sites in Chrome with
AES 256-bit Encryption and OpenVPN.
A VPN also masks your original IP and alters it with another fake IP which
makes you able to unlock all the blocked and censored sites in Chrome and all
other browsers.
1\. NordVPN NordVPN is a Panama Based VPN service best and Anonymous to
download Torrents Anonymously. Download from [https://theporndude.com/useful-
software](https://theporndude.com/useful-software)
2\. CyberGhost CyberGhost is a comprehensive VPN which is secure and provides
fast speed connection.
3\. ExpressVPN ExpressVPN is Top Best VPN Service which has an amazingly fast
speed VPN connection, anonymous and Best for Torrenting. I can say this
because I use it, so there is no ambiguity in my mind.
------
ferto
Did you open the Developer Tools and check what it says in the console ?
(Right click -> Inspect -> Check red colored text)
b) your location / country is the problem ?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Internet For Obama - This Seat's Taken - riskish
http://teespring.com/ThisSeatsTaken
======
jilt
How about this instead?:
[http://www.zazzle.com/government_did_not_build_my_business_t...](http://www.zazzle.com/government_did_not_build_my_business_tee_shirt-235188879708487239)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
State board concedes it violated free speech rights of red-light camera critic - JoshTriplett
http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2017/12/state_board_concedes_it_violat.html
======
JoshTriplett
This is the case regarding whether someone could call themselves an "engineer"
without going through some kind of licensure process, to which the answer
turns out to be "yes, of course".
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Subsets and Splits