terranstyler

I kind of addressed this here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31966228

I can't really tell to what extent you're not computing previous digits (or doing work that could quickly be used to come up with these previous digits) with this algorithm but O(n^2) seems quite heavy compared to O(1) (I expect) to get the n'th digit of op's number.

Maybe I should rephrase it:

My assumption is: If there is an O(1) algorithm to determine the n-th digit of an irrational number x then the number is still "of a different class" than the likes of pi and there OP might not be able to induce things from this "lesser class of irrational numbers"

However, it's just an intuition

I narrowed down "algorithm" to a specific sort of algorithm in the original reply.

What I meant is:

Describe the n-th digit of an irrational number without calculating all previous positions of the number.

If pi were a sequence of digits, there is no algorithm to calculate it other than by calculating pi but there is one for op's number. The very fact that he could show the algorithm for creating the sequence of numbers in his post is indicative of that.

For pi such an algorithm doesn't exist (other than calculating pi itself).

I wanted to emphasize this by talking about the "sequence of digits" in my original reply but apparently I failed at explaining this well.

So here's a bet:

I give you the 10^100th digit of the above algorithm and you give me the 10^100th digit of pi.

Whoever fails owes the other side 10 BTC.

The difference might be:

For your example there is an algorithm to describe the sequence of digits and for Pi there isn't.

EDIT + Clarification: There is an algorithm to calculate the digits of your number without calculating all previous digits. But for pi there isn't.

Bold claim in terms of IT (there exists currently no self-aware system in IT) but of course it contains all the info needed to build a human.

I'd rather say it contains the code to generate itself which should be much easier (= earlier) to find.

Location: Heart of Europe Remote: Yes Relocate: Depends

Data scientist/engineer working in a neat and well-paid position is looking for a new challenge, preferably dealing with functional programming and in a quant/trading related domain.

I bring low-ego / social skills, well-rounded technical knowledge and an analytical mind.

chuhujitri@matra.top (email is throwaway and randomly generated)

Excuse the op-sec

A fried of mine reported scientific misconduct (p-hacking) and, together with a few colleagues, left the research group, due to moral harassment by the head of that group.

The university removed all of them from the research group and said they could continue working on the data because it belongs to the university.

3 months later:

- investigations of scientific fraud against the people leaving (neglecting authorship because the data could after all not be used and the head wanted a say in the articles, i.e., change them completely). Also some random other allegations that didn't stick.

- police investigation of defamation (because they reported the scientific misconduct and some other misleading statements used by the head in sales for a research-related product)

- the university now expects them to contact the head of the ex-research group to clarify questions of authorship

- the head meanwhile continues as before

SEEKING FREELANCER

Location: CET

Remote: yes

Requirements: Be smart, love to learn, be comfortable with working remote and know a few of the following (in order of decreasing priority): clojure, cljs, js, SQL DBs, git, java, Statistics, Machine Learning, NoSQL DBs, Continuous Integration, Admin, Devops

I have a number of data science projects, personal and business, where I would need a helping hand. Typically I do them myself (full stack) but recently I find myself doing more acquisition and results presentations, so help somewhere along these lines is appreciated.

I would start with a small project, via upwork if you prefer, and go from there.

email: $my_login$@myway.com

Frankly, I don't see how regulations or laws should protect the user for several reasons:

Firstly, there are already privacy laws yet it doesn't look as if they apply and that Verizon thinks that even in the case of a law suit Verizon will be able to benefit more than this law suit will cost.

Secondly, even if a court determines that the conduct of Verizon in this case is not legal, the verdict will still be special enough to not be applicable in a loop hole case. So I see protection provided by law as limited.

Thirdly, enforcement is rather difficult and not as obvious as, e.g., a daylight robbery, especially for non-technical observers which I presume to be the vast majority of law enforcement personnel.

And finally, (and rather an opinion) I think government is rather delighted to know who does what on the internet, so I don't see a real motive for them to move decisively apart from some half-* voter appeasement.

I think he means that _using clojure_ (to implement the IDE) is very language specific as opposed to saying "it is based on clojure" or "clojure is cool because X" (which everyone can).

Obviously "Panic" is a well-known company for developing IOs applications and for at least 145 people on HN this is common knowledge.

Is there anything special about this company?

EDIT: Although the people downvoting (currently -1) this won't read this edit anymore, the question was (and is) meant serious.

I work 50%+ in Clojure as an IT Consultant and here in Europe it's not that easy to find a company that uses Clojure and embraces its benefits.

When I use clojure, it's typically for companies who need to get something done and then I choose clojure to do it, but only once someone specifically asked me for clojure (but it was an American company).

I don't find it as easy to work as clojure guy in Europe.

In comparison, in the US there's much more demand but many companies refrain from remote contracting Europeans (even though I think my background is quite good ML, Data Science, Statistics, ..)

So IMO the TL;DR is: filling clojure positions is only a problem in the US, not in Europe.

Yes, for that reason I took it off, still the question is how can one communicate that one is? Should you write "constantly programmed faster and leaner and with less errors that his colleagues?". I don't think there is a way to communicate this but I still think it matters.

You can easily determine if some one is a BS guy in a technical interview anyway, so I don't think, BSers are very frequent in IT and much less so in programming.

Are you hiring right now?

I wrote exactly these two tags "fast thinker" / "quick learner" in my CV / cover letter / LinkedIn profile and I removed them a few months later because from my experience it looks like they drive recruiters away or scare them.

There is one thing in your post I must particularly disagree with:

> There's absolutely no talent shortage in the Bay Area, provided you can pay (and your ideas are interesting)

I can generalize that "there is no shortage of anything provided you can pay". You can get a BMW in Cuba, a skyscraper in NY and what ever you want where ever you want, it's just much more expensive.

Still, there are shortages and high prices are indicative of that.

For this very reason I always try to stay in the "mid to low frequency" spectrum.

Put very bluntly, in high frequency domains you compete with fast people (and they have resources) but in mid- or low frequency you compete with smart people. The problem is much harder but therefore it's also much easier :)

This is not to say that I'm a profitable quant (because I'm not) but I think my chances are much higher in the are I chose.

If you want to learn the language for the pleasure of speaking it, you may find it easier to find Spanish speaking people, especially in the Americas.

If on the other hand you want to increase your market value, going the extra mile might pay off since the supply of German and Japanese speakers is probably smaller by an order of magnitude while the GDP (as a proxy for the economic value of the language) is comparable and much denser.

For English speakers German should also be much simpler than Japanese.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2014/03/language-stu...

"Suspicion of Authority" and "Society never works" are not something arising from culture, they are consequences of the principal agent problem in Western states.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principal%E2%80%93agent_problem

IOW, it's a fundamental problem of Western democracy and any other "representational" system that is not based on voluntary agreement and/or immediate feedback.

Unfortunately, people do not have a sufficient degree of control over authorities, hence a frustration and its emergence in culture.

I don't understand how code on a USB drive can be executed on a PC. I seriously thought that USB was (as a protocol) a generic data interface.

However, if it is something else (like, e.g., something that executes code from time to time), isn't it insecure by design?

And if so, why did nobody see it and was it malice or stupidity?

I can certainly not say you're view is wrong and I didn't know of the group membership (thanks for that). Still, my 2ct

Motive: The motive "mistake" is a motive that works for both sides.

Identity: The membership in the groups "Russian" and "former FSB" is at most an indication. "All former FSB members that are Russian shoot down passenger air planes" holds as much as "All Germans kill jews" and "All jews kill Palestinians"

Murder weapon: The thing is, I assume Western media is as biased as Russian media. The very fact they rarely even consider Ukrainian govt participation (as they should also with the Maidan sniper shootings) makes me wonder what side I should trust less.

This view is partially based on the WMD allegations in Iraq and the use of chemical weapons by Assad, both of which can be considered "false flags". Re Assad, see http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/29/world/middleeast/new-study...

I have quite a few problems with Western media stating that it's Putin's fault.

- There is a lack of motive (seriously why would he?)

- There is a lack of identity (if it were the Separatists, are they really controlled by Putin to that degree?)

- The murder weapon happens to also be in the hand of the Ukrainian army (19 systems, 3 of them stationed in the range of the crash site) [2]

- The Ukrainian air control obviously let the flight deviate quite a few kilometers of the "usual route" which goes south of Donetsk. [1]

- The lack of prosecution in the case of Maidan snipers (and evidence against the Ukrainian gov't as being behind it) and the Odessa fire.

I am not saying who it was or who it wasn't. I just state that I seriously doubt anyone who claims to know it right now.

[1] https://twitter.com/VagelisKarmiros/status/48992616773114265...

[2] http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/18/us-ukraine-crisis-... 2nd paragraph

I don't read the Guardian comment section. What is the difference between the Guardian and a comparable major German newspaper w.r.t. comments?

Well, first let me state that I am not sure what to make of this Non-sovereignty.

However, here are some of the arguments I find interesting:

- A decent amount of videos about this topic can be found on youtube, most of the feature also Schäuble (Minister of Finance) saying that Germany neither is nor ever was souvereign.

- Untampered elections are necessary but not sufficient for democracy. What if you elect someone and the newly elected just do as they please after the election? (see US or Germany)

- free press: This is my personal opinion but I often find that very interesting things happen worldwide and the German press doesn't care or all major journals have the same opinion (example: EU is good, Russia is bad, Ukraine is Putin's fault)

Well, given the alternative and some modest regard for basic human rights (such as, e.g., stated in the German constitution [1]), they are legally bound to do exactly that.

[1] http://dejure.org/gesetze/GG/10.html

The reason they don't do it, in spite of nearly everyone [1] distrusting the US gov't, makes me wonder what kind of leverage the US secret services have.

It also lends some credence to the "Germany was never really souvereign" theory.

[1] Just check the comment sections in the major German newspapers.

OK, just to clarify - I wanted to point out that the site basically says "once you're reading this, you're getting tracked" paradox warning in a (IMO) funny way.

I don't agree at all with these practices.

Warning:

The first sentence goes "If you read Boing Boing, the NSA considers you a target for deep surveillance".

So, if you find this interesting, maybe you shouldn't read it.

I currently work on an automatic Piano agent (software only) that randomly creates and plays well sounding melodies in the spirit of Chopin.