Hacker News Reader

radaon Come here and work on hard problems – except the ones on our doorstep

Just one example: Manas Air Base base in Kyrgyzstan. Annual rent $63MM.

radaon Name.com Tells Customers To Change Password Due To Breach

I got the email an hour ago.

radaon Deep-seated attitudes to women have roots in ancient agriculture

It sounds like your problem with the article is that its "mother goddess" interpretation is baseless because there is no written record of that time period. That's valid, except you then proceed to offer your own modern interpretation that is equally as baseless. Just because we are inordinately pre-occupied by porn today, doesn't mean pre-historic people were. If anything, they were hungry, hand-to-mouth wilderness survivors so those big-bellied women are much more likely to symbolize a well-fed person than a pornographic ideal (especially since breasts were not the sex symbol they are today for much of human history, and neither was masturbation to external visual sources). Or they could be literally anything else - kids toys, voodoo dolls, whatever. Like you said, no written record = speculation.

Also:

the ancient artists of surviving ancient art were mostly teenage boys

Sources?

Edit: Anyone care to reply instead of downvoting?

radaon The Bootstrapper's Bargain

I ran a 3-founder startup from my apartment for a year before we got an office and I wouldn't recommend it. Because it's your office, you feel that you must be working at all times, and it leads to burnout. We did become more productive after we'd moved.

radaon Ask HN: Who is hiring? (May 2013)

Minneapolis: Senior Web/Mobile Engineer/Developer. Full-time, local only, no sponsorship.

Looking for one good developer to join our team. Great environment (think start-up within a large stable company), truly great small team and outstanding life-work balance/schedule (no overtime, summer hours, etc).

Our stack is: C#, PHP, MySQL, Javascript (plain/JQuery/JQuery Mobile), HTML5, iOS, Android, Selenium. Any combination of those skills is fine.

Full time onsite Minneapolis (Eden Prairie) only, no sponsorship.

Email me at http://i.imgur.com/jg46D.png. I am happy to answer any fellow developers' questions but please, no recruiters. Thanks!

radaon Florida Teen Charged With Felony After Science Experiment Goes Bad

Step 1. Send black teens to courts twice as often as white teens.

Step 2. Pass them through to adult courts twice as often as white teens.

Step 3. Keep them in prisons 60% longer for the same crimes.

Step 4. Use big words like "confounding variables" to pretend that it's complicated.

Sources:

http://www.iamforkids.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Promise...

http://www.allgov.com/news/top-stories/black-americans-given...

radaon Florida Teen Charged With Felony After Science Experiment Goes Bad

In this report from 2008, black students in Florida were two and a half times more likely to be arrested, referred to court, and waived to adult courts:

http://www.iamforkids.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Promise...

In particular, black Florida youth were almost twice as likely to be referred to adult courts as white youth.

I knew about DWB (driving while black) but apparently, LWB (learning while black) is a "thing" too:

http://www.time.com/time/education/article/0,8599,238611,00....

Quote:

A study [...] reports that black students, although they made up just 30% of the population of Miami-Dade County public schools in 2000-01, accounted for half the school arrests in that district.

radaon Florida Teen Charged With Felony After Science Experiment Goes Bad

You are surprised at how much the discussion has focused on race? You must be somewhat sheltered. I am white and nerdy and a relative new comer to the United States and not particularly interested in race issues but even I know that race disparities in both arrests and incarcerations are huge. Black females are imprisoned 3 times as much as white females, and make that 6 times for black males. Do you really think that this girl has the same chances as if she were white?

radaon What ever happened to Adria Richards?

Me to KP: You keep repeating that she represents all women.

You to me: Odd. KP said the opposite.

Are you trolling? Let me quote KP:

If she [Adria] didn't proclaim to represent us then it wouldn't be a problem to me.

and

She [Adria] said she is speaking for women in tech.

On what planet are these statements the opposite? I quite literally quoted KP's claims verbatim.

And why did you post that random <blockquote>? Was it supposed to prove that Richards said she was speaking for all women? Because in what you quoted, she doesn't actually say that.

radaon What ever happened to Adria Richards?

I don't have the quote on me, but it's online. Google more if you care to see it.

You have made a false claim about what Adria Richards said. If you do not have a quote to back it up, how can I be expected to? How could I possibly find a quote that doesn't exist?

I'm just saying most women in general would be offended to be represented by Adria.

You keep repeating that she represents all women. She doesn't. And you don't know how most women feel based on your own feelings.

You're saying I need to apologize. That shows me you're offended.

I said no such thing. Again, please re-read my post.

Your voice definitely counts too. I just don't understand it (I'm honestly trying).

No, you are not "honestly" trying. You've accused Adria Richards of saying something she didn't, I asked for a quote, and your response was "google it", even though I already said "I've just re-read her tweets and her blog post, and I couldn't find anything". You are also intentionally arguing with things I did not say; implying that I am emotional ("offended") to avoid arguing on substance; and using sarcasm like, "most women are not interested in being made to look stupid" because what, some women like me are? This is not how people maintain an honest and healthy discussion.

radaon What ever happened to Adria Richards?

If she didn't proclaim to represent us then it wouldn't be a problem to me. I really don't see how that can be argued.

She said she is speaking for women in tech.

Quote please? I don't think she said or proclaimed anything of the sort. (I've just re-read her tweets and her blog post, and I couldn't find anything).

I'm speaking for women in tech.

Please stop. You do not speak for me, or any other women in tech. Your opinion is your own.

You're as offended as if I ruined someone's career/life at pycon.

I am not offended at all. Please re-read my post. Which parts did you think said or implied that you've ruined anyone's life or career?

radaon What ever happened to Adria Richards?

Women in tech need you now to return our reputation to what it was before your outburst.

I disagree. She needs to attend to her physical safety, first and foremost, and her mental health, a close second. The overreaction to her tiny tweet was about a million to one and her very public flogging was so out of proportion and so misogynistic and racist that if I were her, I'd be scarred for life. It reminded me of those 3rd world stories that pop up every once in a while where some poor woman gets raped by an entire village as punishment for adultery. Let's not pile up on an already unfortunate situation by suggesting that the perpetrator of a tiny crime (if a rather temperate tweet that called a joke "not cool" can even be called a crime) has to apologize in the wake of other people's much, much larger crimes (from the firing of one of the jokers to rape threats to death threats).

On a larger note, it's never a minority group's responsibility to keep the majority prejudice-free. We really need to dispose of the silly notion that it's our responsibility as women in tech to be 100% perfect lest some men decide to withdraw their respect. We do not deserve to be held to a higher standard than men who engage in irrational, drama llama or otherwise childish behavior all the time (case in point, the dongle joke that started the whole thing).

Our reputation does not need to be "returned" because it was never "lost". Adria Richards, take care of yourself.

P.S. You said, I don't like how she's trying to speak for me and want her to apologize. Do you not see that she was not trying to speak for you any more than you tried to speak for me just now? That being born a woman does not make you the speaker for, or responsible for the reputation of, your entire gender? Otherwise you have exact same thing to apologize for.

radaon Do Elite Colleges Discriminate Against Asians?

My hiring process is very similar to yours. Every one of 6 devs in my office has a history of side projects if out of college, failed startups if older, etc. I don't know if I would apply the same standard to a high-schooler though.

To give a specific example, I've always thought that community involvement is one of those developmental stages that happen later in life. Bill Gates is a great example: obviously a "leader in business, innovation and politics", who went from active, principled disdain towards all charity when he was younger to the world's biggest philanthropist today. Whenever I see community involvement coming from a high schooler, I always "blame" parents, college admission coaches, church, etc.

Similarly, serious commitment to more than one sport makes me think "ambitious parents" and "affluent" rather than "drive". I just don't buy that a high-schooler, all by him/herself, has the wherewithal to manage multiple athletic training programs. I did serious ballet before I went to college, and let's face it, while I did all the sweating, my mother gets more than half the credit.

radaon Do Elite Colleges Discriminate Against Asians?

The article discussed this extensively: these well-rounded-ness requirements are arbitrary, having been introduced in the 20's with the sole purpose of keeping out jewish students. While it may very well be true that the average asian applicant plays less sports than the average white applicant, it doesn't have any relevance to the applicant's aptitude for computer science.

radaon I was a college newspaper advisor

"You can't arrest me, I pay you" is facile in the legal context of individual rights vs. the common good. This is, in fact, the opposite - suppressing the common good (loosely, freedom of the press) for individual gain. I don't see how it's "essentially the same argument" at all.

radaon I was a college newspaper advisor

Given that they paid the printing costs, I guess it's up to them if they want to control it like that.

Students paid the printing costs (or, on students' behalf: their parents, taxpayers, or private donors).

radaon Lulu: An App No One Should Accept

There was. It was called Facemash and is now Facebook.

radaon Lulu: An App No One Should Accept

Kind of like when Mark Zuckerberg made Facemash to rank female undergrads, and then never succeeded at anything after that?

radaon Taxi industry lawsuit against Uber transferred from state to US court

Slavery bad. Law bad when law say slavery good. Rich man make slave work because bad law, very bad.

Is that better? I tried to use shorter sentences.

radaon Taxi industry lawsuit against Uber transferred from state to US court

Your point that there is a historic basis for the law is well taken. However, history is not an excuse, especially when it comes to forced labor (cough, slavery, cough).

Also, when you say "used to routinely", you are projecting. The press made it into a banner issue, but really, think about it. "Uptown" used to be very, very poor, and poor people don't take cabs.

radaon Taxi industry lawsuit against Uber transferred from state to US court

This kind of sentiment comes up a lot, and I am sorry, I find it kind of revolting.

There is this notion that cabbies are discriminating against the downtrodden, but in reality, they are the downtrodden. They are low-income, immigrant people who, unlike you, actually live in those outer boroughs. People who need money so badly that they will drive a cab for a living.

You, on the other hand, are a wealthy dude. A dude with so much disposable income that you can throw $20-$40 at a cab instead of taking the subway for free. (Free as in, you already have an unlimited metro card, yes? And $20-$40 is just one way, yes? And you do this every weekend, yes?).

So you, the wealthy dude, have the law on your side. Apparently, your need for low-cost on-demand, luxury transportation trumps the basic human right to free will. Apparently, mostly white, wealthy people need to be protected from being discriminated against by mostly brown, poor people. Apparently, when a laborer refuses to take on dangerous work or insufficiently compensated work ^, we must bring in the government guns and show him who's boss.

(^) It's always money or personal safety. Discrimination has nothing to do with it and I find it rather humorous that cab takers project their own racist attitudes onto cab drivers, seeing as I don't recall a while cabbie once during my 15 years in NYC.

radaon Lean In should be read by everyone, including men

The top comments on here are all from men who took offense to their fellow man's rather non-controversial (IMHO) acknowledgement that a man necessarily, by definition, lacks the first-person experience on women's issues. They have not commented on anything of substance from the actual article.

So this mysterious word of yours.... what is it?

Mine is "privilege blindness": http://www.shakesville.com/2008/04/blindness-of-privilege.ht...

radaon Ask HN: Who is hiring? (April 2013)

Minneapolis: Web/Mobile Engineer/Developer. Full-time, local only, no sponsorship.

Our stack is: C#, PHP, MySQL, Javascript (plain/JQuery/JQuery Mobile), HTML5, iOS, Android, Selenium. Any combination of those skills is fine.

Full time onsite Minneapolis (Eden Prairie) only, no sponsorship.

Email me at http://i.imgur.com/jg46D.png. I am happy to answer any fellow developers' questions but please, no recruiters. Thanks!

radaon Booth Babes, Street Clothes, and GDC: Thanks But You sort of Made It Worse

Oh I agree on the ROR. I was addressing the silly notion that there is anything remotely hard about finding he-babes to do promotional work. If you are going to say, screw any moral considerations, I am just going to do what's best for my bottom line, that's fine... it's the dishonesty that I find distasteful.

radaon Booth Babes, Street Clothes, and GDC: Thanks But You sort of Made It Worse

And my several years of experience that involved hiring actors and models tell me that there is an endless supply of pretty people of either gender happy to wear a variety of outfits.

radaon Booth Babes, Street Clothes, and GDC: Thanks But You sort of Made It Worse

They said the same thing about flight attendants.

radaon Booth Babes, Street Clothes, and GDC: Thanks But You sort of Made It Worse

Odds are, if you were recruiting for [promotional ] work 90% would be outgoing and attractive young women, just like recruiting programmers will get you 90% geeky white males.

Absolutely not true. There is no shortage of male actors and models. Whatsoever. And the prettier they are, the bigger the pay delta vis-a-vis the female actors and models. Whoever is hiring booth babes is actively excluding men, and paying through the nose to do it.

radaon Frustrated with iCloud, Apple’s developer community speaks up

The rest, like online backup and document syncing and calendars, seems to work most of the time.

Those 3 things are broken as well. Lost all my data twice.

radaon What it’s like to have two mothers

Oh really? So you see an article titled "What it's like to have two mothers", respond with "kids need male role models" but excuse everybody, what you really mean is, "it is important for children to be exposed to people of different age, ethnicity, culture, opinion, and such". Ok then.

FYI, kids grow up just fine in culturally and ethnically homogeneous environments. There is a world outside the United States or wherever you happen to be from. There are very large countries out there made up entirely of one ethnicity and one culture, and not everyone in those countries is devoid of empathy.

radaon What it’s like to have two mothers

I've read your post several times to make sure I understood it correctly before posting.

I replied to your baseless assertions that kids need male role models and both genders for their development: "in the absence of a father figure kids will look for role models [several examples of male role models]", "you don't want a homogeneous environment". My links show research that specifically says this is not true. The author of the article goes to great lengths to say it's not true. Do you have any facts or personal experiences that say otherwise?

(If by "uncle" and "Clint Eastwood next door" you didn't mean a male role model, and by "homogeneous environment" you didn't mean gender-homogeneous, then what did you mean)?