thirdstation

Does anyone know when this archive was released? The copyright at the bottom of the index page says 2010 so can we assume this is a recent, awesome event?

BTW: I Googled for some PR for this but didn't find any (at least, on the first page of results).

Why is this version more useable than the already available versions?

I prefer the text version myself. I can use it in more places than this HTML version.

(first) (second) (third) (nth )

any Lisp

Have you considered selling this as an assessment tool? You'd probably have to drop the Kung-fu theme but that doesn't mean it would have to be boring either.

I think a scored and timed test would be really useful to HR departments at large corporations who need to screen technical applicants.

One hitch is that with most thing *nix, TMTOWTDI. Do you check for the result or do you check the command typed? Just as an example, your screenshots show the pushd/popd lesson. If prompted to change to my home directory in under two seconds I'd just type 'cd'. To get back to where I used to be I'd type 'cd -'. I never use pushd/popd. If the lesson is presented as 'use pushd and popd to navigate the filesystem' then there's no issue.

And thus opens the "in order for you to have privacy, we must be able to identify you" argument.

Why are software developers segmented between "rock stars" and "not rock stars"?

A salary estimate search on Simply Hired for "rockstar accountant" yielded no results :-)

The Moth podcasts are usually really good.

http://www.themoth.org/podcast

Yes. 300 words exactly. No tricks or gimmicks involved.

Sadly, I don't have any examples. It was a loooong time ago.

I think the 300-word cap was to force you to choose every word carefully.

I am a counterexample. I learned how to write in college during my freshman year. My professor capped all essays at 300 words which, at first blush, seems like a cakewalk. I found it much harder to get a point across in 300 words than all of the previous reports I'd written where the objective was to fill pages.

Filling pages is different from writing. The most frequent criticism he'd levy was "show, don't tell".

I put discussion/aggregator sites like HN in a different class than news sites. We come here to talk about things we see elsewhere. It's not very important who we are in Real Life. I think anonymity can improve the discussions.

Mr. Van Dyk makes a valid point but doesn't take it to the conclusion that comments aren't created equal. I would prefer to only see comments that improve the overall quality of the article -- just like the old days when you had to write a letter to the editor to augment or rebut an article (as he mentions).

I look at privacy as a zero-sum game.

Under your scheme, I can elect to comment pseudo-anonymously but, I'm not really anonymous. I've given my anonymity to HN (and the OP indirectly).

If I give something away I want to feel equally compensated. I wouldn't in this case.

I'm not opposed to using real names but, reject being compelled to do so.

1) The Internet never forgets. If you post something regretful in a fit of rage you can never take it back. You are not the same person you were ten years ago (even if you have the same name). Do you want to be judged today on how that person behaved back then? It is naive to think you won't be judged so.

2) There are some really batsh*t-crazy people in the world. I prefer to be somewhat isolated from them.

3) How do you verify a real name from a real-sounding name?

I would also like to see some evidence that "Real Name" = "better comments".

I called them and the rep said it's b/c of the load. She assured me that it will show up eventually.

I was on a sales call once when my neighbor's kid burst into my house and started shouting in Bengali.

I managed to hit the phone's mute button while furiously gesturing at him to be quiet.

Because I don't speak Bengali, I had no idea what he wanted. I had no idea how he got into my house either. He stopped shouting, looked at me and scampered out the front door.

Turns out he was looking for his sister, who was playing with my kids, who I had banished from the house for being too loud.

Paper will be around for a loooong time. There isn't yet a medium with the same longevity. I use both digital and paper formats depending on why I'm reading (research vs. leisure).

The Publishing industry will continue to change drastically. I just marvel at how long it's taking.

My fear regarding content moving to digital-only media is that we'll no longer be able to own anything.

I like Bruce Schneier's response:

"Privacy protects us from abuses by those in power, even if we're doing nothing wrong at the time of surveillance.

"We do nothing wrong when we make love or go to the bathroom. We are not deliberately hiding anything when we seek out private places for reflection or conversation. We keep private journals, sing in the privacy of the shower, and write letters to secret lovers and then burn them. Privacy is a basic human need."

Snipped from: http://www.schneier.com/essay-114.html

Their anonymously-signed blog post doesn't engender much confidence in them as a company. Except that they try hard to protect their own identity.

Who pays for the lawyers should the journalist get sued for libel?

I realize I have an idealistic point-of-view but, I always thought journalism was about the news and not about the journalist.

EDIT: removed gripey, complainy questions.

I was talking about citations on the web but agree with your point. Quick access to cited material means more time devoted to solving the client's problem (or serving more clients - both are good outcomes).

Perfect summary! The linked article was almost information free.

There is more information on their wiki. The elevator-pitch version is here: http://citability.pbworks.com/Onepager

IMO, it goes off the deep end after the WHY section. The scientific community has been dealing with the issue of citability for a couple of decades now (that I have witnessed) but, it seems like the folks at citability.org are intent on reinventing the wheel on this one.

Hyberbole retracted after a little research. I was speaking of property taxes specifically. It's possible to quadruple my property taxes by moving to the same state in which I work. That would put me about an hour from my office and is the most expensive area in the state. Being within 30 min of my office would be 1.5 - 2 times more expensive property tax wise.

Fully agree. Having a developer work remotely requires the manager to also be more organized and work differently.

Not always an option. In my case, moving closer would quadruple my taxes. Decent neighborhoods are 40 minutes away (average commute in my office is about 40 min).

There's also the question of working spouses and kids.

If it were for a boffo CEO position I'd consider moving but, to be just another seat warmer, not so much.

(disclaimer: I really like my job which is why I drive 2 hours each way. If I can work out moving closer that would be beneficial to all involved I would. I won't get within 30 minutes though - that I already know).

I'm one of those extreme commuters too. I work from home two days a week so, I try to look at it like I spend 4-out-of-7 days at home. It helps only a little.

My previous job was 100% telecommuting. That lasted almost five years.

It's better than not working (did that too).

Great idea! I made a remember-mode template for emacs so I can store happy thoughts whenever they occur.

If you use org-mode and remember-mode you can add this template to your org-remember-templates: ("Happy Thought" ?h "* %U %?" "~/happy.org" "Happy Thoughts")

Doing so made me happy, so I added it to the file, which in-turn produced happiness. Ahhh, recursive happiness.

Since a year ago my commute is 4 hours per day. My last job was 100% telecommuting.

After three months I started telecommuting two days per week and try to work in an extra day here and there.

I love my job and where I work. There's nowhere close to me that offers the same opportunity. I just wish it were closer.

Moving is not a easy option because I have a family to consider. I also don't want to live near my job because I don't care for the town - in fact, there is no town, just corporate parks and plazas.

I live where I do because it's affordable. I don't own a McMansion.

It's not a perfect situation but, you work with what you have. I'm working toward pushing the telecommuting option further.

The irony is that I have to be more productive telecommuting than if I warmed a seat for eight hours :-)

I took his Programming Languages and Translators class when he was at Columbia. It was, hands-down, the best class I've ever taken. His enthusiasm for the subject was evident. The aspect about the class I liked best, and which I try to emulate, it that he rarely ever directly answered a question. He would, with incredible patience, ask you questions in-turn to help lead you to the solution or definition. I always found that impressive from a graduate-level professor.

I think I still have his ML implementation of Red-Black trees he gave the class.

I wonder how many of those sites are pushing Unicode without knowing it. I still see programmers and non-programmers scratching their heads over character encoding issues.

How will textbook publishers react to this?

Will they: 1) Publish new editions more frequently? 2) License the books to rental companies instead of selling them (maybe they already do this, I don't know)? 3) Require a cut from each rental?