I find that the site has definitely spread apart in it's values. And the real problem is as "undesireables" flood in, the people who are truer to the original culture get disgusted and back away.

As a personal (though perhaps not universal) example, see here, http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=458256 , a +23 comment decrying the multi-page split of the article. See here, http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=398185 , my own comment railing against them wasting my time\effort like that.... modded down to -6.

I don't want to be a whiny nuisance about it, but when that happened it really alienated me from the community and quite frankly I don't think I've contributed much anything of value since. I felt betrayed when I chose to stand against that kind of crap and I was stabbed in the back. Add in the fact that the "rules" are not being applied equally as the culture splits, and it just feels random and unfair.

To conclude my soapbox, I could be doing approx. 50 trillion things on the internet right now, so stop trying to waste my time\effort with 11 three sentence pages, snarky\"witty" comments; and God save the YCNews

I think it just comes down to wording. The post that ends with "FAIL" got downvoted.

That seems pretty harsh to me, but I think people are just hypervigilant against any hint of encroaching diggishness.

Of course 13589999047 is art! It's a incono reactive absurdist challenge to those who would have us destroy the sanctity of art!

... Not quite sure what point exactly I was trying to make, but yes, I made several words up to make it with, and I stand by my point!

Oh yeah, cause I just demand to have balloons and a cheap plaque for my first day on a job.... or, you know, maybe not? My gen is probably unreasonable (few people are in any gen methinks) but "they" clearly just don't get it at all.

Well, I think Python has one obvious preferred way of doing things, but then tends to let you do it anyway you want. Which I guess is a part of the whole "Python supports multiple programming paradigms (primarily object oriented, imperative, and functional)" thing. Not that I know that much about Python either but it is my preferred language.

Because of crippled lambdas, Python never felt to me like it really supported functional programming.

You can experiment with some functional ideas in Python, though -- once you're familiar with basic Python, exploring the stuff you can do using higher-order functions is likely to be quite educational, with the caveat that (in that language) recursion will blow up on you when it gets too deeply nested.

So, while it doesn't really support FP fully, it's probably sufficient for basic FP from a pedagogical standpoint. (I also think it's one of the better candidates for a first programming language overall.)

Heh. You picked the exact wrong author to dismiss summarily.

Apparently. I stand by my decision though. Time\effort is worthy of defending.

Edit: It occurs to me now that I don't think I even dismissed the author summarily, just that website... I think I will be borrowing a copy of the book from a friend.

"And once again, financial innovation is moving faster than rules can keep up with it..." More like the rules are being written out of the way to allow for "financial innovation" to break free of order and bring chaos.

If we had sufficient numbers, sure, that'd be a great way to go. But as it is with almost no one caring\learning about technical\political issues like those involved in this.... I just can't see it working. The problem isn't the technology... it's the people. And that's a hard problem indeed to fix.

If it wasn't hard it would have already been done. It's time we had a "healthy disregard for the impossible" and get to work fixing the people problem.

Ghandi was one man (albeit a great man), yet he alone changed a country, and the world. We are already a community strong, and a community of leaders and visionaries at that. There's no reason we can't do as ajkirwin suggests and build our own protocols, systems, and infrastructure.

We are the future, and its our chance to make the world as we want to make it.

Let's get to work.

I guess I'm just outpouring all the frustration and rage I've felt whenever people turn to focus on all the cool shiny technology related to a problem.... when the problem at it's core is social. For just a moment, forget protecting yourself with technology! What would have happened if the Hollings Bill had passed? http://www.wired.com/politics/law/news/2002/03/51275 Anyone continuing to produce "free" technology would have a heavy hammer dropped on them... and a similar bill could easily pass in the near future, probably with some explanation they need it to fight terrorism.

Yeah, we need free technologies. Guess what, we have them! What we need to do is retain the right to develop, possess, and use them! And as distasteful as is, that's a political fight. So, uh, yeah..... forgive me if I'm over reacting.... but I really don't think I am....

DRM has never been about stopping piracy. It's been about controlling how you use your content. For example, I'm sure the media companies would love to recreate that part of history where everybody rebought a bunch of music they already owned to move from tape to compact disc. This is an extension of that, though thankfully the difficulty in controlling this beast properly ought to slow it's deployment.

They will be able to control all of this (with few exceptions) once each and every move on the internet is authenticated. It will happen. All they need to do is cite terrorism and child pornography.

Sadly, a test for strep will not find cancer, but nor most likely will a doctor looking for strep notice other problems... you have to watch for unusual frequency and severity of symptoms and be willing to seek second opinions, preferably from specialists in that area of medicine. The test for strep can be done fine by the Wal-Mart lab. When it comes back negative and you still have persistent problems, go see your doctor!

Of course, maybe your doctor will test you for strep time after time coming up negative, and never notice the fricking golf ball sized swollen tonsils that are making you sick almost year round until you finally demand to go see the ear\nose\and throat specialists, where upon 1 nurse and 3 doctors in a row will do a double take upon seeing them and immediately schedule the surgery to remove them.... no, I'm not bitter at all! :| At least strep tests aren't painful....

I think the idea of "impossible ideals" is very important tool. For example, when you decide you'll crack down and never have another bug again, on the one hand you're obviously doomed to fail, perfection is unobtainable, but on the other it can direct you towards the bug free end of the spectrum. The idea of reaching for ever more "rectangular" shapes seems to fit that mind set, as you approach the "most rectangular" shape.