alistproducer2

We used scheme in my programming languages course (which was one of my last course before graduation). at first I hated it, but then once I got it, it was fun! functional programming forces you to think in a way that is much more conducive to understanding programming on a deeper level and thinking creatively to problem solve. Imperative programming, while easier, is more of a blunt instrument. Efficient, but blunt.

Thanks for this comment. you've given me several things to Google :)

On a similar, but separate note, my bank launched a new version of its online banking platform. From launch I noticed it opened my accounts in a new tab while leaving my credentials (password and all) in the sign-in form. Not so bad when signing in from home - horrific if you're signing in from a public computer. I tweeted to the bank and spoke to someone on the phone about it. It's been 3 months and the bug is still there.

[EDIT] I decided to log in today just to see if it's still there (was a couple days ago), and it's finally been patched. If I had used a throwaway I would gladly let you guys know the bank, but I won't since it's trivial to find out who I am from my handle.

This feels like the Microsoft internet explorer case all over again. Me thinks Google will have to back off this one, especially if it blocks competing ads by default.

As a parent, that mother's story is horrific. I couldn't imagine the pain of something like that. Not just because her son died, but there's no way she doesn't somehow blame herself for how he turned out (as I know I would).

Moving one, there's is something to be said for the effect of expectations. The data shows that you don't see the same levels of mortality rise in any other population. Simply put, us minorities don't have a false narrative of the American dream instilled in us and therefore don't expect to achieve it. We don't experience suicidal disappointment in ending up in a dead end job because our role models (parents grandparents) are statistically likely to have held those kind of jobs.

Personally I hate "white privilege" as a trope, but it does speak to something real: minorities, until very recently, were largely locked out of the American dream (as white people know it). The wealth of white households was 13 times the median wealth of black households and 10 times the wealth of hispanic households[1]. Numbers don't get like that over night. They are the result of generations of discrimination and institutional systems designed to exclude and screw with people that were not white. The point I'm making is that the average white person today probably doesn't even realize that, relative to other groups, their expectation of what a "nice" life is is basically seen as unattainable for others. Hence, we (POC) don't kill ourselves because we failed to reach the unattainable.

As the economy, and society, has diminished the ability for many whites (especially in rural areas) to take vantage of their "privilege" and they're forced to play the same game as the rest of us, they find themselves feeling like failures right out the gate and aren't quite sure why - hence the anxiety and subsequently despair.

The answer to this is not that white folks "check their privilege" - although it would help to stop being in denial about it and the effects it has on them and their expectations. The answer is to realize that rugged individualism is just a myth. In no other culture is this myth so central, and now so damaging. Despite what their parents and grandparents, and TV shows and movies have taught them, their relative success is not due to how much tougher they are than other folks and America is not, and has never been a meritocracy.

At this point, white America can continue to believe this rubbish at their own peril. Support policies that acknowledge people need other people and we will, evidently, kill ourselves if we go at everything alone as "rugged indivduals" unless the game is rigged in our favor (even if we don't realize it).

1: http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/12/12/racial-wealt...

I work for a large company that used to outsource all of it's IT to a large contractor. Almost all of the applications and code I've worked with that was done by the outsourcing company was substandard crap. Obviously over complicated to support large (profitable) estimates.

From my experience working with a lot of tech immigrants, I can say that compared to the native population, they seem about the same in terms of competency. The only issue is the language thing. In tech (especially at large companies), so much of what you do is communicating with others and not having a good command of the English language can make an otherwise capable dev a lot less so.

If I were hiring, I would never consider a person that didn't have a good command of English unless they were really a rock star in something that didn't require much communication.

yeah, I would've liked to see some more diversity in the content as well. I do like the concept though. It's nice to see companies putting resources towards efforts like this.

My advice would be to ride out the job until you start seeing some revenue. IF you're already working on it on the clock, why not continue? I know how you feel and am in a similar situation (responsibility-wise), and have struggled with the same feeling and thoughts.

Congrats on building something real and I hope the acquisition works out well for you and the company in the long run. I've enjoyed, and been inspired by, a number of IH articles.

Does this mean IndieHackers become the propaganda arm for Stripe's customers? Or is this a goodwill purchase? Maybe it's cheaper than a national ad buy targeted directly at potential new customers?

I was [breifly] part of a project that used slack as the primary communication medium. I can second all the points in the article. IRC is a terrible format for open source collaboration. Flame wars can get out of control really quickly via text.

IMO a large part of the failure to deal with this problem has to do with political cowardice on the part of the left. Sometimes if you're just honest with people as opposed to constantly trying to sugar coat, lie, or guilt trip people things go better.

It's truly baffling to me that dim-witted local politicians can constantly convince local populations into tax increases and blowing up of local coffers to build sports teams new stadiums when they already have functional ones. On the other hand you're telling me it's impossible to sell a tax that is going to be used to literally save the world?

Student loan money is awesome. Go to a state school, pay for school with PELL grants and working. Take the loan money and bank/invest/refinance stuff with it. The interest doesn't start accruing until after graduation so until then it's free money. The worst thing you can do with it is actually pay for school with it, especially an expensive private school for a degree with uncertain job prospects.

I, personally, found that my views were being influenced by the uniformity of opinions on my network of choice (MSNBC). For example, after watching the first debate I felt that Hillary was getting smashed after watching the post show, I had changed my opinion.

This one of many articles existing the abuse of the disability system. Where's the call to cut the waste, fraud, and abuse?

Getting cable news out of my life was one of the primary reasons I cut the cord. I get my political news almost exclusively form digital print. It's to the point where actually seeing video of Trump is jarring because I'm just so used to reading and seeing stills. I pretty much forget how stupid the man sounds when he talks until I catch a clip on Last Week Tonight.

We cut the cord late last year and I can say we feel the same way about commercials. They seem so forced. From the acting to the music to the stale jokes. I must say though, sometime I miss being able to just turn the TV on without actively searching for something.

So I was a call-in on NPR yesterday(http://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2017/03/29/internet-privacy-cong...) that discussed the ISP privacy issue. I brought up the cried fund and all of the guests immediately jumped to the defense of the data seeking companies saying how these companies were too reputable to "allow" such a thing to happen. I'm finding all of this love for these previously unknown companies very strange.

>"I would expect such a team would offer to Congress some very different conclusions regarding the human impacts on climate."

The sheer stupidity of saying we should fight biased research by funding a plainly biased team of "researchers" who, with hat in hand, state their conclusions before they've even begun is mind boggling. I can't say it surprises me though. There's lots of mind-bogglingly stupid shit happening in national politics all over the world.

How is this the top comment? The use of the word heretic in the article subtly implies the consensus on climate change is based on faith and not tons and tons of research. It's not that there is no place for different viewpoints, there just comes a time when the burden of proof for contrarian research becomes so high that most of it never clears the bar.

I'm not so sure one needs to be high-IQ to be proficient. Outside of pure CS research, there's nothing in practical software engineering that requires much more than average to slightly above average intelligence to comprehend. the main thing you need is a person that is genuinely curious.

So I was a call-in on NPR today (http://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2017/03/29/internet-privacy-cong...) that discussed the ISP privacy issue. I brought up the crowd funding initiatives to buy Republican's info as well as the Democrat's unwillingness to make use of this issue. The call-ins were unanimously against what the congress did.

edit: Here's the GofundMe trying to raise money to buy their Internet history. Something tells me this dude is going to run off with the money though

http://resistancereport.com/resistance/crowdfunding-lawmaker...

Don't start companies in places where the prevailing rates are in the 6 figures unless you have the cash to afford it.

The idea that software engineering is a "talent" strikes me as wrong. Knowledge of algorithms and data structure is attainable by anyone willing to put in the time to read a book. Hire people, incentivise them to learn what's important to the success of your company. Pay them to practice their new skills. Being congenitally "smart" is not the only path to being useful and innovative in a company. Being curious, willing to learn, and having a company that knows how to steer its workforce is.

All the black folks I know, including myself, did not take it like that. The point, being made in front of an all white audience, as it was, looked a lot more like a reinforcement of the well trodden belief among conservative folks that black people's​ problems are due to Democratic mismanagement, their own rotten culture, and not racism (because racism hasn't been real since the 60's)

The GOP has survived, and thrived, on fringe issues for generations. In the poli-sci world such tactics are known as wedge issues. The Dems know they exist, but are very poor at the successful execution of them. At the end of the day, the federal government has very little daily impact on most people's lives. In order to get people's interest, one has to elevate fringe issues and create strawmen to get people interested. The GOP has understod this forever.

>Although Washington Post isn't quite Brietbart yet they appear to be headed rapidly in that direction from my perspective

So you've never actually been to Breitbart then? I checked it regularly before the 2016 elections and, in those days, it certainly earned its nickname "stormfront lite." They've toned it down since the additional scrutiny and subsequent mainstreaming of the Trump era, but WaPo has never been and will never even come close to Breitbart. Also Breitbart is an overt propaganda outlet. WaPo may seem biased, but it certainly does not engage propaganda on the same level as Breitbart.

interestingly enough the top comment is argues the regulation in question is overreach so I think you're giving the HN community too little credit.

One aspect of this that is being missed is how well this illustrates the inability of the Democratic party to take advantage of an obviously advantageous situation.

It's a no brainer that most people would recoil at the idea of everything they do on the Internet suddenly being for sale. It would be super easy to come up with at least a dozen relatable nefarious use cases and stuff them into TV commercials and ads and tying it to the Republican party.

But nope, silence. It's almost like they don't want to be in power. It feels like I live in a de facto one-party state.

personally, I find the deletion time limit a bit arbitrary. I suppose the finality is there to make one consider the tone before posting. there's nothing worse than posting a karma-burning comment and coming back to find there's nothing you can do about it.

Please share your VPN setups. I would like to have my VPN connection at the router level, if possible.

Edit: Here's sort of an answer to my own question https://www.howtogeek.com/221889/connect-your-home-router-to...