Hacker News Reader

autopovon What to do when your self-driving car decides to drive you to the police

>This is Terraform, our home for future fiction.

(The next line after the story's end.)

autopovon Amazon Free Shipping minimum is now $49

In the States there was a similar company[0]: Best Products Company. You'd go in, browse the display models or thumb through a catalog, and if you wanted to buy you'd go to the sales counter, place your order, the clerk would fill out a form in triplicate, make a call, and about twenty minutes later, your item would come from the stock room on a long conveyor belt.

As a kid, it was great fun to watch, but I wouldn't put up with it these days. If I have to fight traffic and go to a shop, I like to get in and get out as fast as possible.

Best was best (ahem) known for its funky stores' architecture. The one in Sacramento, California, was especially interesting[1]. A corner of the building was literally removed to open the showroom then put back at night to close up shop.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Best_Products [1] http://www.emporis.com/buildings/1260719/best-products-showr...

autopovon VC Vinod Khosla trys to sell Martins Beach easement to state for $30M

tries

It seems Khosla and his legal team plucked $30M from where the sun don't shine. I hope the state does use eminent domain to restore the public's access to one of California's most beautiful beaches.

Some background: http://www.hmbreview.com/news/martin-s-beach-now-open-for-a-...

autopovon How a Reporter Pierced the Hype Behind Theranos

I can forgive Watson for not understanding proper nouns, but not for confusing it's and its (given plenty of context).

The insertion of %HESITATION to denote pauses of speech is an unexpected delight.

A long time ago, as work-study, I transcribed several audio recordings of descendants of the first non-Native settlers of Santa Clara Valley. There were many ellipses in my transcriptions, and I wonder if future researchers will question if they represent hesitation, ums or uhs, or periods where the recording was unintelligible.

autopovon Google Launches Fresh-Grocery Deliveries

I still have a couple of WebVan's plastic bins. They went out of business soon after my order was delivered. They're still in quite good condition despite the abuse I've heaped on them. Will Google want them back?!

autopovon Here's How the Sound Blaster Changed Computing

I had an IBM PC Jr. I don't remember much of it except that it used a cartridge for DOS.

I will never forgive Creative for buying then decimating Henry Kloss' Cambridge SoundWorks. I so wanted a Model 12.

autopovon I'm sleeping alot less thanks to Airbnb

Alot is not a word.

autopovon Why Most Websites Look the Other Way on Ad Blockers

Why would eBay block ad blocker users?

autopovon Ask HN: What should we fund at YC Research?

This is an excellent idea.

I spent a year at the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The number of statutes and regulations for just CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act) [1] for example fills 425 pages. The department also oversees building codes, liquid pipeline infrastructure, wildlands defense, fire & rescue, etc.

Whenever a new or amended statute is introduced it takes months to evaluate if it replaces or conflicts with existing code. If passed and signed into law it can take a year or more to integrate.

Every year a newly-elected legislator introduces a bill akin to simplifying existing laws. Every year these bills never make it out of committee (i.e., they are shelved) because it would require years of pulling committed resources (SMEs, analysts, support personnel and millions of dollars) out of threadbare operations.

Every department in the State draws up a similar analysis, and the cumulative cost scares the legislature/governor. But it's a good way to introduce the green legislator into how the state government works.

The joke in the halls of the Natural Resources building is that there are too many rules and regulations, but there are not enough resources to correct the situation.

F&FP had no central repository of its own codes. Analysts had to use keyword searches of the public California Codes website!

[1] http://resources.ca.gov/ceqa/docs/2014_CEQA_Statutes_and_Gui...

autopovon Hacking Food: 3 months on $6.50/day

How does one get "seal salt"?

autopovon George Orwell on writing: Those six little rules

While "The Economist" squabble over these pedantic style rules, a modest survey of various social media utterances proves a number of native English speakers can't figure out simple grammar: It's/its; there/they're/their; then/than; etc.

Those six—now seven updated—rules are on a higher intellectual plane than that of the average netizen.

I'd use a metaphor to summarize my observation, but I don't want to break the rules.

autopovon New York is installing its promised public gigabit Wi-Fi

"Once completed, the hubs will also include... two 55-inch advertising displays."