The Crowdtilt site is written in Perl using the Dancer web framework. Perl may no longer be the default choice as a scripting language for those new to programming, but it's just as capable as Ruby and Python.
2,290 karma · joined May 23, 2012
Just from yesterday, "Treehouse gets $7M to bring learn-to-code programs to high schools". https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5520726
Why are "savers" demonised as "hoarders"?
Why should they be blamed for the structural problems of an economy too reliant upon debt-fueled consumer spending?
What's wrong with people saving for their future and not spending beyond their means?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/jan/13/interest...
Meanwhile, today's 0.5% interest rate is unprecedented, a record low never seen before in the entire history of the Bank of England stretching back to 1694.
Meanwhile, MBP Retina owners have to sit on the sidelines because Apple decided they didn't want to use a standard connector.
"Keep in mind that although the interface is electrically SATA, it is not physically SATA or mSATA or any other standardized interface - this is entirely Apple's own creation."
"Keep in mind that although the interface is electrically SATA, it is not physically SATA or mSATA or any other standardized interface - this is entirely Apple's own creation."
Oh wait, they can't, because Apple came up with their own butchered SATA interface instead of using the standard one.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/dec/19/north-korea-...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/sep/22/wallstreet.mo...
"Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, the last two investment banks left standing, will become traditional bank holding companies, marking the end of an era for Wall Street.
The Federal Reserve's surprise announcement, which came at 2.30am London time, places the banks under the supervision the bank regulators and gives them easier access to credit to help them ride out the financial crisis."
Why are Germany repatriating their gold? Why do they want it in their own hands? Why go through all that trouble instead of just selling? Why would they want to keep holding onto a "piss poor investment"?
Regarding China, the article's author believes that China has been accumulating gold. The last known official figure is from 2009 and since then imports continue to rise, which in the authors opinion, have been destined for the Central Bank.
As for Russia, they have been accumulating gold for a few years now, and it's right there in the article. "It owned 400 tonnes of gold at end of 2006... At the end of last year, the central bank held nearly 950 tonnes of gold".
If you want to dismiss gold as a "piss poor investment" that's fine, but not everyone shares your view or your investment objectives.
Do you know something that the Chinese, Germans and Russians don't ?
"Central Banks Bought Most Gold in Nearly 50 Years"
http://www.cnbc.com/id/100458951
"The Russian central bank will continue to buy gold as it seeks to diversify its foreign reserves away from paper assets it views as risky"
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/24/russia-cbank-idUSL...
"The startling news that Germany is repatriating its gold reserves from the United States and France has got precious metals speculators worried that this is the first major sign that trust between central banks across the globe could be deteriorating."
http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertlenzner/2013/01/19/the-ger...
"How Much Gold Does China Really Have?... China is the world’s leading gold producer and also the world’s leading gold importer. And surprisingly their official gold holdings haven’t risen an ounce in over three years."
http://www.moneymorning.com.au/20130211/how-much-gold-does-c...
http://www.cyprus-mail.com/cyprus/cyprus-banks-pass-eu-stres...
Many think the bank stress tests are a joke and only exist to raise investor confidence. If true, then those people so quick to criticise Cyprus, might soon find themselves sharing the same fate.
"Any counter-proof that Satoshi Nakamoto did not design a ponzi scheme on purpose?"
Cached copy (original was deleted):
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:XJ8SqHg...
More discussion here:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=158111.msg1673645#ms...
Q1. We can differentiate between fiat currencies by looking at the qualities of the issuing authority, and thus determine that it's better to have savings in Swiss Francs rather than Zimbabwean Dollars. With Bitcoin, Litecoin and other forks, how do we differentiate apart from popularity of the network?
Q2. I've heard the argument that Bitcoin is valuable because there is scarcity in the system, a limit to the number of coins, thus it is similar to gold. However, if tomorrow somebody discovered vast amounts of pink gold, with exactly the same chemical and physical properties as gold, except for the colour, it's likely the price of gold would fall. As Bitcoin is facing this exact scenario via forking, what are the potential consequences, and does it even matter?
[1] http://litecoin.org (changed the hashing algorithm from SHA256 to Scrypt)
Q1. We can differentiate between fiat currencies by looking at the qualities of the issuing authority, and thus determine that it's better to have savings in Swiss Francs rather than Zimbabwean Dollars. With Bitcoin, Litecoin and other forks, how do we differentiate apart from popularity of the network?
Q2. I've heard the argument that Bitcoin is valuable because there is scarcity in the system, a limit to the number of coins, thus it is similar to gold. However, if tomorrow somebody discovered vast amounts of pink gold, with exactly the same chemical and physical properties as gold, except for the colour, it's likely the price of gold would fall. As Bitcoin is facing this exact scenario via forking, what are the potential consequences, and does it even matter?
[1] http://litecoin.org (changed the hashing algorithm from SHA256 to Scrypt)
In December 2012, the FDIC and Bank of England published a paper saying:
"deposit guarantee schemes may be required to contribute to the recapitalization of the firm... insofar as a bail-in provides for continuity in operations and preserves value, losses to a deposit guarantee scheme in a bail in should be much lower than in liquidation."[1]
In a nutshell:
"...the new system raids the Deposit Protection scheme, gives it to the bank instead of you and when that fails to save the bank…then what? The bank fails again and there is no money left in the Deposit Guarantee scheme."[2]
[1] http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/Documents/news/2...
[2] http://www.golemxiv.co.uk/2013/03/plunderball-the-new-euro-b...
Here is the full list:
http://www.financialstabilityboard.org/publications/r_121031...
If you are management at one of these banks, you essentially have a risk-free business, and can do whatever you want without fear of bankruptcy or prosecution.
"bank customers would pay a levy of 6.75% or 10% on their bank deposits... The EU and IMF have demanded the levy in return for a 10bn-euro ($13bn; £8.6bn) bank bailout." [1]
We don't really know which individual came up with the idea... but the EU were okay with the original plan to take money from those with <100k as part of a bailout, as long as the Cypriots got it passed locally as a "tax" to avoid any potential legal issues with the EU directive on protecting deposits.
Working backwards, on your second point, if the FDIC ran out of money, the taxpayer might eventually have to step in, which might not be politically feasible if taxpayers have bail-out fatigue.
"During the savings & loan crisis, the FDIC did not have enough in deposit insurance receipts to pay for the Resolution Trust Corporation wind-down vehicle. It had to get more funding from Congress." [3]
On your first point, the full paragraph provides better context, where they are saying they want to use insurance funds to recapitalize the bank and prevent a bust from happening in the first place. Of course, the bank might need more money, leaving the insurance fund empty, and deposit holders at risk.
"34 The U.K. has also given consideration to the recapitalization process in a scenario in which a G-SIFI’s liabilities do not include much debt issuance at the holding company or parent bank level but instead comprise insured retail deposits held in the operating subsidiaries. Under such a scenario, deposit guarantee schemes may be required to contribute to the recapitalization of the firm, as they may do under the Banking Act in the use of other resolution tools. The proposed RRD also permits such an approach because it allows deposit guarantee scheme funds to be used to support the use of resolution tools, including bail-in, provided that the amount contributed does not exceed what the deposit guarantee scheme would have as a claimant in liquidation if it had made a payout to the insured depositors."
[1] http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-23/u-s-deposits-post-b...
[2] http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/03/22/4-wall-st-banks-still...
[3] http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2013/03/when-you-werent-looki...
"Back in December 2012 the FDIC and the BoE published a joint paper outlining their new approach for how to resolve any future collapse of one of the Too-Big-To-Fail banks...
'deposit guarantee schemes may be required to contribute to the recapitalization of the firm'[1][2]
...the new system raids the Deposit Protection scheme, gives it to the bank instead of you and when that fails to save the bank…then what? The bank fails again and there is no money left in the Deposit Guarantee scheme."
[1] http://www.golemxiv.co.uk/2013/03/plunderball-the-new-euro-b...
[2] http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/Documents/news/2...
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5442290
The media are part of the hype machine but they aren't responsible for investing in companies like Summly, holding demo days, running weekend hackathons, acqui-hiring or bringing on board token celebrity investors... are they?
The tech media and mainstream press routinely salivate over stories of 13... 15... 17... and 19 year old whiz kid entrepreneurs.
Yet there was a time when teenagers and young adults wrote software and tinkered with hardware, sharing their creations with friends and peers, on a journey of computing discovery.
There was a time when 'Demo Day' literally meant getting a group of friends together, travelling to a new city, and showing off your coding and artistic skills. The prizes were prestige and peer recognition. http://archive.assembly.org/1992
Now, kids and teenagers are being schooled to hustle and score big money. Where is the pure joy of discovery? Something has been lost.
EDIT: Just wanted to add, it's amazing what you can do in just 4kb (4096 byte executable, no external data files). This should inspire programmers of all ages.
2012 Fireflies: http://archive.assembly.org/2012/4k-intro/fireflies-by-blobt...
2009 Muon Baryon: http://archive.assembly.org/2009/4k-intro/muon-baryon-by-you...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/655740.stm
"Police had to step in to keep order among investors queuing to buy shares as the internet gold rush swept dramatically into Hong Kong.
A crowd of about 30,000 people formed outside one of the few banks where small investors could apply for shares in internet firm tom.com.
...
Thousands of investors pushed and shoved through queues stretching back as far as half a mile to hand in their forms at the worst hit HSBC branch in Kowloon.
Analysts have predicted that the Hong Kong firm's share sale will prove to have been a record 2,000 times over-subscribed."
http://www.smh.com.au/business/the-sons-rise-in-the-states-2...
The first investor was Horizons Ventures, the investment arm of Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-Shing, who put in $300k.
$30 million could be spent on building daycare for all Yahoo mums and dads who can no longer work from home.