Hacker News Reader

npisention Some spectacular SEO surrounding Oscars...

Perhaps my favorite: watchoscarsonline. tumblr. com

npisention And Now Let Us Praise, and Consider the Absurd Luck of, Famous Men

Go through life assuming you're lucky, but that your luck is hidden from plain sight. It needs to be uncovered.

And, of course, try to maximize the number of encounters with potentially lucky circumstances.

"Prime numbers, which are divisible only by themselves and one, have little mathematical importance. Yet the oddities have long fascinated amateur and professional mathematicians."

This article really highlights the need for better science journalism. Not to mention several paragraphs are plagiarized directly from this other article: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn23138-new-17milliondig...

I can only guess, though, that Fox News stopped reading that New Scientist article at the "diamond" metaphor because the next paragraph states directly that prime numbers "underpin the cryptographic techniques used to make online transactions secure," which even to the layperson should seem pretty damn important...

npisention The Lesson of Grace in Teaching

Some really thoughtful and enlightening words about teaching from an old math professor. Makes me realize the nuance great teachers bring to the classroom, which is something we too easily and too often overlook.

npisention Harvard Students in Cheating Scandal Say Collaboration Was Accepted

I totally agree. And it sounds like the students knew perfectly well that they were cheating... "[one of the students] said that he also discussed test questions with other students, which he acknowledged was prohibited, but he maintained that the practice was widespread and accepted." Now they are just whining that they got caught ("I'm a Harvard grad, god dammit!").

I went to a small science/engineering school with a very serious honor code, and can assure you there is nothing contradictory about saying "you may use online resources, but do not discuss this test with anyone." It's sad that some Harvard students think their privilege entitles them to ignore the rules.

npisention Show HN: Better interface for browsing Amazon Instant Streaming videos

Feedback welcome! I've been sitting on this project for a few weeks, and decided it was finally time to just submit to HN. The goal is to generate some passive revenue for a school library project my fiancée and I have been working on with some friends/partners from Bamako, Mali.