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Yeah I just saw that too. How lame! I expected something much more... I don't know... professional I guess. Or at least interesting.

I suppose it's possible the site was hacked. Let's hope that's the case and that we all haven't been intentionally duped by the creator.

I'm failing to see what all the fuss is about regarding the UI on this site. It's relatively minimalistic, easy to navigate, and the header condensing to a smaller version was slightly unexpected but I wouldn't call it "jarring" or a deal-breaker by any means. Someone mentioned that Mashable has a great UI and I'm going to have to strongly disagree. Mashable's UI is horribly cluttered and much harder to decipher, while I had no problem whatsoever navigating and understanding the Quartz site.

I did notice, however, that the header will drop back down when choosing another link or scrolling back up to the top of an article regardless of whether it's the top of the scroll area. This seems more like a bug than anything, not something intentional to the UI.

I should have been a little more clear as what I was getting at. I wrote it pretty hastily. See my edit on the original post.

Thanks. Although I was hoping to get some real, personal examples of what folks here consider to be important problems.

Why would you post this on HN? Flagged. And for those of you who don't know, it's extremely NSFW.

What I'm actually starting to love (or already do?) is that nerdiness is slowly but surely becoming the norm. Soon, there will be little to no distinction, or at least it won't be at all like it was when I was a kid.

I'm sure kids will still separate themselves into their own cliques like they always have, but each clique is being redefined as a result of new technological standards. It's an interesting phenomenon.

I found that explaining concepts that I think I understand well to other people in a way that is easy for them to understand makes me either realize I don't understand it as well as I thought I did or I figure out something new in the process. Couple that with the fact that you're spreading knowledge that might be new to others and/or possibly stimulating some kind of intellectual conversation with others who already know the subject matter and it's a win-win. So don't let the fear of looking dumb next to an expert in some field demotivate you from contributing.

The key is that I'm not actually polluting the global namespace. I also feel like using the globals object + require() would still be ugly/messy.

Just today I devised a pretty solid method to build a fairly complex node.js app while keeping it simple, maintainable and scalable.

I like the way node kind of enforces modularity, but for something as complex as the backend (super-flexible api for a frontend dbms) required for my project, it would save a lot of time/effort/ugliness-of-code to have a few objects on the global scope while allowing individual parts to be split up into their own files; e.g., a few utility functions, String/Array.prototype functions, a socket.io instance, and a redis client instance, among other things.

And to make things manageable and more extensible all while minimizing duplicate code, I ended up using John Resig's "Simple Javascript Inheritance": http://ejohn.org/blog/simple-javascript-inheritance/. I like being able to simply call Class.extend({}) to create/extend any class with access to its "super" functions. Each class is contained within its own file, of course.

The method is pretty simple: 1) Organize and order the files like you would on a client (web browser) where "global" variables are allowed. 2) Use some program to concatenate the files in the correct order into a single node app.js file for testing or production.

I'm currently using a batch script (yes, I use Windows :P) that looks something like this:

  del app.js
  type global.js >> app.js
  type appBegin.js >> app.js
  type loggur.js >> app.js
  type classes\Class.js >> app.js
  type classes\Client.js >> app.js
  type get.js >> app.js
  type post.js >> app.js
  type set.js >> app.js
  type socketsOn.js >> app.js
  type appEnd.js >> app.js

Don't get me wrong, node's module system is used when it makes the most sense. But for what I need to do, this works perfectly. It doesn't promote spaghetti code the least bit; everything is easy to read and follow (could even call the code pretty!); it's 100% clear which objects are shared (especially since most files contain a single object or class); and as long as the method is used consistently, you get all the benefits of node/socket.io while maintaining cleanliness and scalability.

I've actually been working on exactly this (but considerably more powerful and in-depth than Pipes/IFTTT) for quite some time now (almost 2 years, on and off). It was originally designed to appeal to non-programmers; and I would have released it months ago but decided to rewrite nearly everything to make the code as modular/flexible/easy-to-learn as possible for developers (both newbie and seasoned).

Before I link to it, I'd like to apologize for overly generic descriptions currently on the site. I whipped together the entire site in a few days not knowing the exact direction I wanted to take the software, so I left everything pretty vague; I really just wanted some content that at least somewhat described my ideas. I'll put the link at the bottom of this comment so you read all this first.

From a technical standpoint, this is currently where I'm at with it:

- Users create a myriad of widgets that can "interact" with each other; the fullscreen version of Loggur consists of "layouts" of widgets, while the mobile version of Loggur lets you access widgets individually in typical mobile app fashion

- Databases are incredibly easy to create; just add fields to a widget and specify their relationships to one another

- All kinds of special extensions included by default, like automatic importing of various data sources, scraping of websites, cron jobs, PDF report generation, emails, sms notifications, triggers, and graphing

- Everything is taggable for reuse, from the apps themselves to widgets to components to elements to lists and to the data associated with all of the above; you can either "mirror" or "clone" any one of these parts in another app/widget/component by doing a quick search for tags (or if you know the exact path to the part, just enter that); so for example, if you really liked what someone else has made and wanted to reuse parts of it in your own app, you'd do a quick search for it, clone it, and modify it to suit your needs, saving a lot of time

- Data associated with apps can be any combination of public/private, singular (your individual profile), and/or group-specific; you can quickly/immediately switch between views of each

- Permissions on everything; specify who can view and/or edit apps, widgets, components, elements, lists, and/or data

- Appearances are somewhat customizeable and will become much more so at some point; customization currently consists of the basics like colors, backgrounds, and sizes; apps are designed to be scalable to any screen resolution (think large dashboards ;)

- Each one of the pieces outlined above (widgets, components, etc.) can be embedded on your own site(s) through small snippets of code

- Data associated with apps is easily accessible, currently only available in JSON but if for some reason other formats are requested in high numbers, I might do that

- Users can toggle the ability to view app/data updates as they happen in realtime; they can also invite each other (or a Loggur dev if they need help) to take turns using/building an app

- Regarding the mention above about rewriting the project to be more modular/flexible for developers, I felt doing this was 100% necessary/worth it because it occurred to me a few months ago that the best approach to make this succeed in the long term is to make this a legitimate platform (buzzword, sorry!) where developers can quickly/easily make and share awesome extensions and be rewarded (paid) for their work

Check it out (sign up for it ;) here and remember to ignore the bad, vague descriptions currently on the site: http://loggur.com

You're right. That's what I ended up focusing on after a few listens and chose the correct answer, which could probably be attributed to being an ex pro drummer. Most people were probably focusing on the vocals, not at all attuned to what quality percussion sounds like, which is why more people chose the wrong answer. One might even go far as to say that more people think vocals sound better at 128 than 320.

Man I think I might be kind of a slow typer. I was only getting like 45 wpm in the javascript test. I think it's because of all the abnormal characters, although I do code in js daily. -_-

But keeping my fingers on the home keys to type has always felt really awkward to me. I tend to position my hands differently depending on the word I'm about to type - in a way that let's me "roll" my fingers along in just the right sequence so it tends to be a series of short bursts where it would seem as if I'm actually just smashing a bunch of keys at once over and over again.

Edit: I just tried type racer and was getting 80+ wpm. /me wonders how people get 140+. :O

Or more importantly, we're already having sex with our distant relatives!

Well, some of us are.

I really hope it becomes standard for websites like this one to no longer require a full signup to use it. Maybe use a combination of sessions, IP addresses, browser fingerprints, etc. to differentiate anonymous users. I understand that the creator(s) of the site want to gather as much contact information as possible, but those who care to be a part of the community will do just that, while the rest (like myself) just want to try it out immediately... without filling out another sign up form.

I submitted my answer to the corn on the cob question but didn't make it any further than that because it immediately asked me to fill in a handful of fields to sign up. If I was able to continue without having to do that, I would have probably stuck around longer to provide the site with answers to other questions (providing value) and possibly even gotten sucked in and if I saw that the site was well-made, become a long-lasting member of the site's community.

To the above few parents, keep this idiocy on reddit, please.

As a hacker, I've never taken a marketing class (or even a business class) and this all just seems like common sense to me. Pardon my arrogance, but it does seem to me like we hackers/coders are inherently better equipped for branching out into other areas of business than MBAs are at branching out into technical areas. That's not to say there aren't a high number of MBAs who can hack; it's just that a hacker's ability to quickly recognize patterns and manipulate systems to their will makes it a bit easier, whether it's code or the flow of information/relationships between people required for business/marketing.

I'm really not a fan of BMI being the determining factor in obesity. At 27 BMI, I'm apparently 3 BMI away from being considered obese. As a naturally large, fairly muscular 24 year old german/irish man, I'm 6 foot 1 and weigh 205 lbs, but you can see my abs and I'm in relatively good physical condition. Is my definition of obese wrong? I always thought obese meant someone with at least a few dozen lbs of excess fat.

Sadly, that flowchart has some truth to it.

I asked this in another (semi-dead) thread and it didn't get a response, so I'll ask again as I couldn't find any information on it. Was any legal action taken against facebook in the recent e-mail hijacking fiasco? I think there should be, since e-mail has pretty much replaced snail mail in terms of business communications, which directly affects the livelihood of many people. Companies like facebook with so much power at their fingertips should not be able to get away with doing things like altering millions of people's address books for their own selfish reasons.

Interesting. I wonder why no legal action has been taken against Facebook for this recent fiasco... or has there?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe you can revert to Windows 7 style for normal desktop use, as Windows 8 is designed for touch screens. Although I heard you can't make the reversion permanent; you have to manually revert after each boot. But that would seem kind of silly to not be able to set the default style, so my sources could be misinformed.

That's actually a really good analogy. And the GP is right. There should definitely be some laws to prohibit these kinds of things that Facebook is attempting (doing), now that electronic mail/communication is becoming standard.

I switched from PHP to node.js and haven't looked back since. And I know node has its shortcomings, but in time I have no doubt that they will be sorted out. Right now it does absolutely everything I need it to do and more.

A huge part of node's appeal to me (and many others, I'm sure) was the fact that I already knew javascript. Making the switch couldn't have been easier.

I used to defend PHP; but now when I look at PHP code, even well-written code, it just makes me go "ugh".

I really don't like this idea. While it might have helped ensure the OP's longevity in the company, it's selfish and is really doing more harm then good in the long run. And that doesn't really seem like the OP's style.

I hope you and others don't view the world this way. If you do, you're only holding the rest of us back. It reminds me of the other comment here about screwing things up on purpose just to increase budget:

Occasionally a politician will sweep through with an attempt to cut costs (they're the only ones who even pretend to care) -- the bureaucracy will respond by firing the most useful and publicly visible of their employees to ensure that service levels drop thus justifying their case for an increased budget later on. - http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4167459

This just saved me a ton of time! I'd been planning doing implementing something similar to this in my startup's webapp. The flexibility this provides is just awesome and should hopefully make things much easier.

Thank you Marcin Warpechowski / Giraffe for creating this and uptown for submitting this.

This is why I read HN daily.

If anyone is interested in our little community, it's mostly on irc.globalgamers.net within the following channels: #tdmpickups, #iPug, #mlut, and #mlig. Basically you join pickup games (aka pugs) - 4v4, 5v5, etc. - using an IRC bot that keeps track of everything, captains choose teams, select a server, everyone enters, ready-up, and may the best fraggers win. And of course hilarity ensues on IRC afterwards. ;)

I actually still play UT99 daily! There's still a fairly competitive community where we hold tournaments and stuff.

Plus, I'm developing something (long-awaited) for UT99 called NewNet (similar to Lotus's UT2004 UTComp mod) that eliminates all movement lag and simulates zero ping server-side. And at some point I'd love to create something similar to QuakeLive (Quake via the browser, with tons of stats tracking and stuff) for UT99.

For a 13 year old game, it's still more fun than most games out there if you ignore the trolls.

> particularly its module system (a kind of sideways inheritance where you could override an ancestor in a package, but not have to override all the descendants to have them inherit the behaviour - really handy for third-party plugins

Do you know if this can be done in UE1? I'm actually developing something called "NewNet" in UT99 for fun - plus, more people actually still play that game than all the others! Basically it fixes the movement lag associated with high pings and simulates zero ping by keeping track of the positions of all actors from within the past second or so, and "rewinding" the server to that saved position according to the ping of the shooter. There are mods for UT2003/UT2004 (UE2) and UT3 that do this, but nothing for UT99 - although there's the ZeroPing mod which is way too easy to exploit, as it's clientside hit detection. People said it couldn't be done for UT99 but I've managed to get a working prototype, even though it's quite messy and hacked together. It'd be great if I could do what you've mentioned, as it'd clean things up quite a bit.

The hacks I've had to do it get it to work right have been pretty silly, and there's a lot of duplicate code because I had looked for something like you mentioned (the sideways inheritance) but maybe I didn't look long enough, because I couldn't find it for UE1.

Just a tip for those who aren't web devs: the page layout can be fixed by removing the comment/element via Chrome's inspector.

Right-click on the comment, choose "Inspect Element", and delete it.

And of course the same could be done with any modern browser's inspector.

It's certainly very cool, but is it really that useful? Or I could just be missing the bigger picture. I actually hope that's the case so I can learn something new today. But it just seems to me like making a png/gif image is much easier and more practical. I do love to see technology pushed to its limits though!

I guess one of the cooler applications of this shape making method would be the ability to transform one shape into another very smoothly with a relatively small filesize (as opposed to an animated gif).

Why not Chrome, Safari, or Firefox?