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scscscon Microsoft submits code to be considered for the Linux Kernel

Why would you say that?

I'm curious about the book. Why not simply publish it digitally? Why go through "traditional" publishers?

If the pills do you good, I don't see why you'd have to return them as long as you legally bought them.

A company has the right to do what it wants with its products, and when that company ..., when it ..., and when it ..., when it's ..., then I'm going to look with skepticism upon claims that Amazon's removing an illegal book and offering a refund equates to a sacrilege of justice.

All of the elided content in the above quote is presumably good stuff Amazon did for the commenter.

It is my impression that the commenter has just admited to being driven by personal experience (instead of objectively judging) when he said that Amazon removing an "illegal" book from the Kindle is not unjust.

scscscon Amazon deletes purchased copies of 1984 from Kindle

Rocks did not lobby for the law of gravity.

scscscon The Game Crafter- CafePress for Boardgames

What if the profit is negative?

scscscon 8 hours of Windows 7 Amazon sales outstripped Vista's entire pre-order period.

In the EU, how will people download Firefox if they don't have a boot-strap browser already available?

scscscon Stupider Than You Realize

I think people are as smart as they need to be. You don't need to be able to summarize tabular data if you work at a fast food shop (e.g. as a waiter).

And it definitely has to do with the circles you hang around in. As a programmer you're more likely to be in a rather smart circle.

scscscon [dead]

Btw, have you seen how much the official upgrade from 4GB to 8GB costs?

scscscon Is P=NP an Ill Posed Problem?

Dude, you have no idea what you're talking about. So please stop with the bullshit about great mathematicians and computer scientists when this has nothing to do with them -- only with you -- you cannot accept being wrong. Do your homework first.

Recognizable is not the same thing as acceptable. For example, some undecidable languages are recognizable by Turing machines.

You can leave it as an exercise for anyone you wish, but your assertion (existance of a simple metaproof that there is [a proof of either P=NP or P!=NP]) is false. I base my assertion about your assertion on the fact that about 40 years of research has not produced such a metaproof.

scscscon Is P=NP an Ill Posed Problem?

I was not refering to your definition of P and NP (which I've just reread and I think it's not good; you want "accept", not "recognize"). I was refering to the fact that you do not make the difference between "true" and "provable", which can be found in any standard introductory book on logic; or, if you prefer a novel, Hofstadter's Goedel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid.

scscscon Apple, Acer, and...Arrington?

I don't think so. I feel the tablet would be used in places where you couldn't contribute (very much) anyway: in the train, in bed before going to sleep, etc. I like the idea of being able to add a keyboard though. If the price is good, I don't see any reason not to buy one.

scscscon Is P=NP an Ill Posed Problem?

Your comment shows you don't know much about logic.

scscscon Refactoring vs Just Changin' Crap

Reflection does not break the static type system in any way. However you are right in assuming the refactorings are in general not correct in the presence of reflection.

scscscon Why free software shouldn't depend on Mono or C#

I do not want to enter a dispute concerning naming, but I'll just point out that many consider a compiler to be anything that you might call translator. What would you call a program that transforms C code in assembler code? Isn't assembler code source code?

scscscon The Pragmatic Programmers release an online magazine

I've read it all; it contains good content, but nothing extraordinarily interesting, like a good computer magazine used to do in the 90s.

I think the funniest thing is them bashing ebook publishers for trying to imitate the worst parts of books (i.e. turning pages) and then have them publish the magazine in pdf format.

Otherwise, I like their approach. I think their vision of e-publishing is one of the best in the industry; when I get some more free time, I'll go and see which of their non-DRM-ed books I could use.

scscscon There is something about this 110 MPG car that does not smell right

I think the trick is the "equivalent" part. If I got it right, they are using some sort of fuel which provides 1/3 of the energy regular gasoline does. Which means they are probably doing 110/3 mpg on this type of fuel.

scscscon Why free software shouldn't depend on Mono or C#

The ability to translate between two programming languages is called a compiler. There is theoretically nothing stopping anyone from writing a anything-to-anything "converter" (you mean compiler).

scscscon Why free software shouldn't depend on Mono or C#

When was the last time you've seen a C# app that conforms to the ECMA standard? Most apps written in C# make such heavy use of the Windows API that they are as importable as possible.

If you believe that MS is pushing open standard, you are at best naive.

scscscon Gates buys Feynman's "Messenger" lectures (to make available to the public)

What if they will only be available under DRM/proprietary format?

scscscon Why cheap airlines are so cheap

I doubt it. And I guess safety is on everyone's priority list.

scscscon Why cheap airlines are so cheap

No, I am not implying that.

scscscon Ask HN: Why should we upvote or downvote a comment?

You can't tell people how/when to upvote/downvote/do nothing. It will not work and people will try to game the system. People will vote based on instinct.

For example I upvote what I like/agree with. I downvote stupid or wrong stuff.

That being said, I think the HN community has regulated itself remarkably well so that truth/content gets sufficient votes and falsehood/noise gets downvoted, and heavily so if needed.

scscscon Why cheap airlines are so cheap

I have never used the so-called low cost airlines. However I have problems fitting my knees even in high cost economy class. I would imagine there is a business opportunity for airlines which are willing to cut costs in every way other than safety and passenger space (i.e. we don't need those lounges).

scscscon Why cheap airlines are so cheap

Yes, which fails to add up to the difference. They get a 43% "total advantage", but the low cost ticket prices seem around 30% of the high cost tickets...

scscscon Why cheap airlines are so cheap

I think you took the wrong direction of reasoning. He says we can tell he's a Mac user because he is willing to pay more even for the two hours of a flight. Therefore, next to the flight expense, the Mac sounds like a cheap box.

scscscon No Hire

I didn't publish it. I merely shared it with friends. The publishing was simply a side effect (the information society equivalent of pollution, as Bruce Schneier puts it).

scscscon Your arteries on Wonder bread

I might be willing to admit healthy and tasty sometimes work together. But healthy and cheap/fast? I don't think so.

scscscon Your arteries on Wonder bread

Current reality. I'm not sure why, but really unhealthy food seems to be very very cheap (think chips, crackers, snacks, chocolate, etc). And healthy food tends to be expensive, usually takes some time to cook, and it might not taste very good.

scscscon Netflix Prize 10% barrier broken

On the contrary, they are supposed to publish it.