Hacker News Reader

ScottWhighamon Take-home interviews

Wait - where does it say this is an option? It isn't as far as I can tell - it is how they do it. You either invest 3-9 hours on a "project" before the interview or you don't get the interview.

This isn't "an alternative testing process" as such.

ScottWhighamon Mongolian shipwreck from 13th century invasion of Japan discovered

Awful page to link to since it features (a) an auto-play video ad, (b) click-text hidden ads, and (c) a full-page auto-popup after x seconds. Sheesh.

Try this instead:

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ20...

Page about the 1st shipwreck found:

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ20...

ScottWhighamon To Apple, Love Taylor

You're missing the biggest difference: longevity. An album can sell for 50+ years whereas an app... well, let's just say it's one step above "ephemeral".

All the more reason app developers shouldn't/wouldn't go for such a deal.

ScottWhighamon To Apple, Love Taylor

I didn't downvote but can see that some people might, in addition to what was previously mentioned, be upset by the vagueries of "From my experience with people that work there..." We don't know you - how many people do you know who have worked there? What were there roles (or thereabouts)? It's just so vague that I can't really derive any value from your post.

ScottWhighamon Why Doesn't Creativity Matter in Tech Recruiting?

And, like it or not, this is one of the main reasons that certifications matter at some job positions. If I have two candidates that are equal in every way except candidate A is more creative but candidate B has the XYZ certification, which one am I going to be better prepared to defend when pushed?

ScottWhighamon [dead]

Too vague - come on... put some thought into it and try again.

ScottWhighamon I Do Not Agree to Your Terms

I couldn't disagree with your comments more. No, this isn't standard - attempting to auto-enroll someone into an indemnification clause that has no limits is not 'standard'. And saying '... don't hold us responsible' is the wrong way to look at it - instead, it's more like saying '... if you do hold us responsible, the content creator is the one who actually has to pay the charges."

ScottWhighamon I Do Not Agree to Your Terms

I'm not really sure this is one for HN to be up in arms about.

FTA: "If we receive a legal claim about your RSS content, we will tell you so that you can resolve the issue, including indemnifying Apple if Apple is included in the claim."

I guess I don't understand why you do not take issue with this line. Apple has "enrolled" him in an indemnification clause without his consent or request.

ScottWhighamon Withdrawal from the Recording Media Business

The Company currently expects that the impact of this business withdrawal on its corporate earnings will be immaterial.

I guess I don't know much about this company - is this line shocking because they are such a prominent player, or is this line more of a "We really didn't do much in this area thus nothing will really change"?

ScottWhighamon Invert a binary tree on LeetCode

I don't see how this is relevant - in this case, a coder was rejected for a coding position. If we substitute your case, you could re-state it as "A player was rejected for defender" (or attacker/etc). In your example, you've changed that to "A manager was rejected for defender". Not the same.

ScottWhighamon What happens when you add a new teller? (2008)

It helped me to visualize the problem. I don't know if HN's formatting will kill this but here goes. The idea is that six customers arrive at 9:00, 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, and 06 - then map them out to "What happens when you add a new teller?" I tried to figure out how the author's explanation that adding one teller can go from 5 hours to 3 minutes.

Edit - the text version was a disaster here. Here is an image of what I used to try to understand:

http://i.imgur.com/HOKgfmd.png

One teller: average wait time is 22.5 minutes for "six users who arrive one minute apart from 9:00 to 9:05"

Two tellers: average wait time is 8 minutes.

I think to go from "5 hours with one teller" to "Three minutes with two tellers" requires you to space people out more than "one every one minute".

ScottWhighamon The Violent and Sartorially Complicated World of Biker Gangs

But couldn't you say that about, say, 1,000 other articles/posts that were also posted on the internet today? My point is that this is not "special" in any way - it's a topic about crime which is, according to the guidelines, off-topic.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

ScottWhighamon The Violent and Sartorially Complicated World of Biker Gangs

Flagged. I don't come here for journalism about "everyday life" - even if 1000 others upvote this, it won't change what HN is about for me: startups, tech life, and things that tech folks typically find interesting. It's not that this is completely uninteresting - it's just that it is a run-of-the-mill article/post. There's nothing special about it - the only value it has is that it is topical relative to recent Texas crimes. If this had been submitted without the recent Texas shootings, it would've been flag killed instantly.

As the guidelines say, Off-Topic: Most stories about politics, or crime, or sports, unless they're evidence of some interesting new phenomenon. Videos of pratfalls or disasters, or cute animal pictures. If they'd cover it on TV news, it's probably off-topic.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

ScottWhighamon Peak car

This makes no sense unless the distribution between rural vs. urban populations changes. If most of the projected population growth (to 10bb people by 2083 [1]) happens in areas where there is mass transit, then great - this seems plausible. If the % of the population growth continues to be what it is today (close to 50/50 [2]), then this just cannot be plausible. 5bb people in 2083 is unlikely to be result in fewer than the number of drivers that there are on the roads right now (roughly 1bb) [3].

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_growth [2] http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/news/population/world-... [3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_vehicle

ScottWhighamon Show HN: Sandstorm-powered “Try a demo” on Etherpad front page

That's better - thank you. We (the community) just saw this as "Is it spam?"

Sorry - I thought you were a new account. I'm using the chrome extension "Hacker News Enhancement Suite" and it highlights yours in a very-similar-color-to-newbie-color.

ScottWhighamon Show HN: Sandstorm-powered “Try a demo” on Etherpad front page

I like Etherpad but unless you give us a reason for posting this here that is HN-related, it should be flagged.

ScottWhighamon A Diet Might Cut the Risk of Developing Alzheimer’s

I would assume the downvote(s) came from people unimpressed that you were negative/attacking without posting supporting reasons.

ScottWhighamon Why Spotify Pays So Little

I don't really know how you quantify "number of plays" through time and attribute a "value per spin". Take John Coltrane's "Blue Train" - $10 for that album in 1957 would have given you almost 60 years of unlimited play (if you could keep the record clean!).

To a certain degree, "Buying an album" has always been a gamble. Spotify/Amazon/etc make it easier to (a) not buy albums that suck, and (b) buy more singles instead.

ScottWhighamon Why Spotify Pays So Little

I don't follow. Why does splitting revenue amongst millions of people provide a boon for the major studios (thus making splitting everyone better)? You say it's better but I don't see the an elaboration on the why.

ScottWhighamon Why Spotify Pays So Little

I'm happy to play along but first can you give us an idea of the answer(s) will relate to the topic at hand? I'm struggling to find a correlation.

ScottWhighamon Ask HN: How do I find co-founders in El Paso, TX?

No one can give you a definitive answer here (a) because no one has seen your idea(s), and (b) because no one who lives in that area has yet responded.

Sometimes you just have to build, build, build. Sometimes you have to learn/acquire new skills that are outside your comfort zone. Sometimes you have to put on the salesperson hat yourself. Such might be the case for you.

It's not as though El Paso is a wealthy area - there are likely to be very few tech investors in that area. It's a mistake to think that the only "value" an investor offers is in the money they provide. A good investor has ideas, past history in the tech world, and a network that can help. El Paso is unlikely to have a large number of people who meet that criteria.

Don't fly to SF to "find founders" - that seems naive. Move to SF - that's fine, but don't just fly there for the weekend and possibly make a decision on a "life partner" after a few hours of drinks. Austin is closer than SF and way cheaper. Austin has a lot of what I'm talking about - tech investors with history/contacts.

ScottWhighamon Channel9, please be concise

I disagree with points 1 and 2 completely.

Point #1 - That just isn't true. Developers as a group have no more or no less time than anyone else, obviously. A 5 minute video may or may not be more effective - it depends (a) on the topic, and (b) the people delivering the message. To make such a generalization is just wishful thinking. I wish I could learn "Evolving software engineering practices" in 5 minutes but, unfortunately, that takes longer.

Point #2 - That is your opinion. I'm of the opinion that the people doing the content should do what they want. I enjoy differences. Not every video has to be packaged the same way or have the same flow.

You seem to have conflated "What I like" and "What the world needs".

- http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Visual-Studio/Connect-event-...

ScottWhighamon 0h h1 – A little logic game

You get it, but will the masses remember the name? I doubt it. Terrible name when it comes to mass appeal; kitchy name for techies.

ScottWhighamon Defining Powerhouse Fruits and Vegetables: A Nutrient Density Approach

I think this is a great start. I love studies that (a) cite quality sources, but (b) leave you with more questions than answers. I know - we all love to have everything tidily rapped up in a five paragraph article but hey: new studies beget more new studies and those new studies hopefully will answer questions like:

* It says, "Because preparation methods can alter the nutrient content of foods (2), nutrient data were for the items in raw form." Would love to see this compared to the results after "common cooking and preparation methods"

* Can we compare this to serving size next?

* What are the nutrient densities of, say, beef? chicken? Pork? Rice? Noodles? etc (other staples of many diets)

ScottWhighamon Amazon releases new Kindle products

Legit question: why buy each version? Is it just for fun, or is it because the new versions have a feature you craved? Or is it because something went wrong with your current version? I have a three year old Kindle and, as far as readers go, it's good. I'm trying to think what would make me upgrade and I'm just not seeing a compelling reason in these new versions. Mostly the new features seem to add things I don't want/care about: touch, GoodReads integration, etc.

ScottWhighamon A scientist stole my root beer

I was hoping you'd share a way to make root beer the traditional way? Sounds like a fun weekend experiment for me and the kids.

ScottWhighamon The Simple Technology That Accidentally Ruined Baseball

I'm sorry but maybe you are confusing "football" with "American football"? In "soccer" (ahem), the game is completely subject to the ref's discretion. If the ref gives a red card in the first minute, it will affect the game. If the ref chooses not to give that red card, it will affect the game and how it is played. There's no other logical way to view it.

ScottWhighamon High School Is Killing Creativity

You ask for thoughts so here's mine: Anyone can make a controversial, opinion-based statement. Anyone. There's nothing interesting about your particular statement in that regard. It could have been interesting if you'd taken the time to explain your opinion. But you didn't, and thus all I read is a one sentence opinion. Why should I take the time to offer my own explanation of my opinion when you couldn't be bothered to do the same?

ScottWhighamon Aspirin could dramatically cut cancer risk, according to biggest study yet

Am I correct in saying "This isn't a new trial-based study; it's really just an analysis of available study data based on either (a) other previously published analyses of this type, or (b) an interpretation on follow-ups of clinical trials"?

I'm not used to reading science journals so it's possible that I missed something.

http://annonc.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2014/07/30/an...

Methods The effect of aspirin for site-specific cancer incidence and mortality, cardiovascular events was collated from the most recent systematic reviews. Studies identified through systematic Medline search provided data regarding harmful effects of aspirin and baseline rates of harms like gastrointestinal bleeding and peptic ulcer.

ScottWhighamon Seven habits of highly fraudulent users

It could be both misinterpreting the data and not misinterpreting the data though. Let me explain...

The argument for misinterpreting the data is easy to use when you account for time zones. If (a) I'm in the US and (b) I notice that most of my fraudulent transactions occur around 3AM, then it follows that (c) most of my fraud occurs at night. However, if the corollary of "Most of my fraud occurs from India/Singapore/etc", then it's simply a matter of time zones. Does most of my fraud occur at night? It does if I'm in the US but, if I'm the hacker in India/etc, then it occurs during the day. It's 3:45AM where I am in the US (CDT) but it's 2:15PM somewhere in India...

However, if I was to write a training manual for my employees who worked in the same building as me (US CDT), then I'm not misinterpreting the data. The data is the "truth" here - if it shows that most fraudulent transactions occur around 3AM local time, then that's the truth and I'd be foolish to over-complicate the issue when trying to train new hires on how to spot fraud.