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smarterchild

The keyword for the problem you're talking about is the "long tailpipe theory." [1] I was just reading Wait But Why's article [2], which concluded that the overall greenhouse impact will still be lessened by using electric cars over internal combustion.

I didn't dig into the sources enough to conclude that it's truly a better option, but those articles are a good place to start.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_long_tailpipe

[2] http://waitbutwhy.com/2015/06/how-tesla-will-change-your-lif...

Re:Losing focus: Why tech is getting in the way of work on Friday May 08, 2015 @09:51AM (#9511698)
I really like the use of tools that make focus the default, low-motivation option. If you're not on a Mac, Firefox has LeechBlock[1] and Chrome has StayFocusd[2]. Also, if you're on HN, there are built-in settings under your username you can use to limit how long you can access the site for every few hours.

Ironically, that's why I'm on HN now. I know I only have 15 minutes and then I won't get to use it for another few hours. :)

[1]https://addons.mozilla.org/En-US/firefox/addon/leechblock/

[2]https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/stayfocusd/laankej...

Re:Lenovo: researchers find 'massive security risk' on Wednesday May 06, 2015 @12:55PM (#9500032)
https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/product_security/lsu_privil...

If this is considered "Medium" Severity, how bad would it have to be to become High?

Where did you get the piano score for the Tocatta?
Re:Linux is an operating system for all ages on Tuesday May 05, 2015 @11:46AM (#9493106)
Have you tried setting her up with a standard user login by default? I did that with my folks and the number of computer questions seems to have gone way down.
Re:The compiler flag that time forgot on Monday May 04, 2015 @11:57PM (#9490775)

Ask HN: Recommendations for Computer-Science Fiction?

In this recent post (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9447097), the author talks about CS works that seem so advanced as to be science fiction. The following quote comes up:> This term stands in contrast to Computer-Science Fiction, which is indeed fiction about computer science.Any recommendations for Computer-Science Fiction, that is, interesting, well-written fiction about CS? I'd...

( Read More... | 1 comment | on HN )
Re:Beware of Trivial Inconveniences (2009) on Saturday March 07, 2015 @03:43PM (#9163051)
Do you think that another danger of inconveniences is that it's easier to make an inconvenient mechanism more and more inconvenient than to start restricting something that hadn't been restricted before at all? Like having a tiny inconvenience at first somehow "reserves your right" to add more restrictions in the future?
Re:Lightspeed – A Browser Experiment on Saturday August 09, 2014 @09:07AM (#8156822)
> Hidden functionality is a UI and UX anti-pattern

I suppose the entire terminal, by that argument, is an anti-pattern. I feel a little better about not ever getting past mediocre in shell. :)

Re:FUCK YOU AMAZON Fuck you for being right Again on Saturday August 09, 2014 @09:03AM (#8156816)
People get outraged when you tell them how they should think,

but the fact that the argument has no (obvious) logical holes causes cognitive dissonance because it's harder to phrase why you dislike it.

Re:Ask HN: How do you test web UI/JavaScript? on Friday May 24, 2013 @03:39PM (#5764842)
Do you do testing by hand now?
Ooh, text adventures! Some suggestions:

If you haven't played any before, your first question may be: Why would I play a game made up just out of text? The IFComp is a good place to start. It really helps to what really talented people can do with the medium. Here are two worth playing:

1) Taco Fiction (http://ifcomp.org/comp11/play.php?id=201) and

2) Violet (http://jayisgames.com/games/violet/), both previous winners.

Inform7 is a very widely used tool for making IF now (http://inform7.com/); I haven't played with it much, but from what I've seen, it does some really great stuff. It's a good way to get started writing your own games.

--

Full disclosure: My current project is a way to make CYOA from the browser. (http://adventurecow.com)

Re:Books for people in the software business on Monday January 23, 2012 @01:18PM (#3501414)
> when someone gives me the "top 5", I consider it only a trailhead; it's unlikely my top 5 would be the same.

That's a fair point. The important part, it seems, is identifying not just which books to read but why. That information would help you and I find our 20%.

Re:Books for people in the software business on Sunday January 22, 2012 @11:37AM (#3496920)
Not that these are bad books (I've read a lot of them and they are quite interesting), but I think there's more value in compiling a list of the 5 most important books we should read, rather than the 30.

Of course we can learn something from reading 30 books. It'd almost be hard not to (if you chose the right genre). The problem is that, while entertaining, I'm sure a lot of us are looking at these books not just for fun, but because we want to figure out how to run our software business.

To take every software book that's imparted some little bit of insight and put it in a huge list only gives you a huge list of books to read, with no indication of which 20% of those books will give you 80% of the insight. And while some of us can digest this list in two weeks, for others it's a huge time commitment they don't have the ability to make.

I apologize for ranting, and this list does have some useful information (especially in the commentary on each book). But I get uncomfortable when I see a "Top X design articles" or "Top Y books" and the X or Y is >10. I feel like we are feeding our desire to gorge on numerically delimited information without necessarily getting substance out of it.

Re:The Case for the Single Founder Startup on Saturday July 23, 2011 @01:04PM (#2797270)
Strict equals - it doesn't cast types.

Programming distinction, and no idea why the author used that. Mostly the same meaning though, for conversational purposes.

Re:Apple’s iCloud Icon Uses The Golden Ratio on Friday June 17, 2011 @12:38PM (#2666153)
Apple's design reputation is so established at this point that, if they hadn't used the Golden Ratio, I suspect there would be articles titled "Why does Apple's iCloud Icon deliberately ignore the Golden Ratio?"
Re:Ask HN: Do you automate most of your routine tasks? on Thursday March 31, 2011 @06:12PM (#2393946)
While I automate some computer related tasks, I can't automate house chores, working out, etc.

So I wrote an app to remind me: http://i.imgur.com/exzb0.png

I find this sort of thing most useful if you have chores that you want to do regularly, but not on a specific day (i.e. clean every Tuesday).

Re:Code School now open to the public on Tuesday March 22, 2011 @02:54PM (#2355832)
They're in the business of coding first, the coding of business second.
Re:Open-source, JavaScript JSON HTML viewer released on Monday March 21, 2011 @11:37AM (#2350165)
I've used/loved http://chris.photobooks.com/json/default.htm since the beginning of time for debugging. It isn't embeddable, though I find that it's more readable.

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