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Stories from June 1, 2009
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1.The Flimsy Doorknob & The Forgettable Receipt (dustincurtis.com)
142 points by bradgessler on June 1, 2009 | 60 comments
2.Bing Is Live (bing.com)
137 points by jasonlbaptiste on June 1, 2009 | 117 comments
It goes beyond just unification of existing tools. I think it will catch on.
126 points | parent
4.An open letter to Jason Calacanis (fluther.com)
126 points by jobenjo on June 1, 2009 | 49 comments
5.Dreamers (tom.posterous.com)
88 points by jcsalterego on June 1, 2009 | 18 comments
6.Common Solecisms - Words you are almost certainly using incorrectly (economist.com)
73 points by smanek on June 1, 2009 | 66 comments
7.MS just announced some pretty awesome stuff for the Xbox (gizmodo.com)
73 points by viggity on June 1, 2009 | 35 comments

Make my salesmen travel more efficiently?

I am not sure what it does, but it looks fucking gorgeous.
10.Understanding Engineers (pastiche.org)
62 points by adamc on June 1, 2009 | 9 comments
11.Lamson 0.9 Is Out, Find My Bugs (zedshaw.com)
61 points by nanexcool on June 1, 2009 | 4 comments
12.Ask HN: How to stay focused?
56 points by mantas on June 1, 2009 | 28 comments
13.Ask HN: P=NP, what do you do?
54 points by mariorz on June 1, 2009 | 65 comments

> You can do anything you want in this country, even if you weren't born in this country and didn't even speak the language. Just don't take no for an answer and always accept responsibility for your own failure.

Hot damn, I love the American dream, and I love hard working immigrants who show the rest of us, when we get lazy or self-pitying, how it's done.

Dennykmiu, it's great to have you here in the US. You're an inspiration. Thanks for being here, and thanks for posting!

Hoo-ah!


mariorz: is there something you'd like to tell us?
16.The 31-Year-Old in Charge of Dismantling G.M. (nytimes.com)
50 points by blogimus on June 1, 2009 | 41 comments
17.Almost.at: Real Time Events, As Tweeted By The People Who Are Actually There (techcrunch.com)
49 points by vaksel on June 1, 2009 | 3 comments

even with computers that operated at, say .. the speed of light.

As opposed to our modern day computers, driven by steam and turtles.

19.I want to help you write better... (afterthedeadline.com)
48 points by raffi on June 1, 2009 | 29 comments

I freaking hate prescriptive linguistics. The people who love to prescribe are so often prescribing incorrectly. I couldn't get past the first one in this article:

> Acronym: this is a word, like radar or NATO, not a set of initials, like the BBC or the IMF.

Wikipedia:

> In 1943, Bell Laboratories coined the term acronym as the name for a word (such as SONAR) created from the first letters of each word in a series of words (such as SOund Navigation And Ranging). The terms initialism and alphabetism are neither widely used nor widely known. The term acronym is widely used to describe any abbreviation formed from initial letters.

First off, the word was created by a corporation; secondly, the term is widely used and understood to apply to words like "BBC" ("Three Letter Acronym"); thirdly, the "correct" alternative is not widely used or understood. So if you use the correct terms your communication would actually be less clear, which is, as I understand, the point of studying grammar/linguistics in the first place.

For more on this exciting subject, see David Foster Wallace's excellent "Democracy, English, and the Wars over Usage":

http://instruct.westvalley.edu/lafave/DFW_present_tense.html

21.Google to sell eBooks (nytimes.com)
44 points by qeorge on June 1, 2009 | 29 comments

Just as in any other field, there are those with experience that are good at their jobs and those that are bad at them. This does not mean that someone with no experience should be hired to do the job.

"Now class, today we will talk about what you want to be when you grow up. Isn't that fun?" The teacher looks around and spots the child, silent, apart from the others and deep in thought. "Jonny, why don't you start?" she encourages him.

Jonny looks around, confused, his train of thought disrupted. He collects himself, and stares at the teacher with a steady eye. "I want to code demos," he says, his words becoming stronger and more confidant as he speaks. "I want to write something that will change peoples perception of reality. I want them to walk away from the computer dazed, unsure of their footing and eyesight. I want to write something that will reach out of the screen and grab them, making heartbeats and breathing slow to almost a halt. I want to write something that, when it is finished, they are reluctant to leave, knowing that nothing they experience that day will be quite as real, as insightful, as good. I want to write demos." Silence. The class and the teacher stare at Jonny, stunned. It is the teachers turn to be confused. Jonny blushes, feeling that something more is required. "Either that or I want to be a fireman." --Grant Smith

24.Apparently Bing Is Something Of A Hit (techcrunch.com)
42 points by vaksel on June 1, 2009 | 54 comments

> The 0.9 release is the result of a lot of work, but I want people to break it and criticize it to death.

I've slagged on Zed once or twice, but the above sentence is pure gold.

I'll definitely give Zed this: he's willing to take it as he dishes it out.

Thick skin is a necessary trait for anyone who wants to change the world.

Kudos to Zed.

26.Java's Original Sin (gbracha.blogspot.com)
40 points by ksvs on June 1, 2009 | 13 comments

Yes. Making stuff is the way to learn, the way to meet smart people, and the way to increase your morale.

Remember, too, that 20 is still way young. It feels old to you, because it's the oldest you've ever been, but you haven't really cut off any options yet.


What you should really do is make a complete system and put it out there for people to use. A web service, an iPhone application, a desktop application, whatever. There are no educational prerequisites which prevent you from doing this. This will give you something to put on a resume, experience getting something done from start to finish, more general programming experience, and possibly the foundations of your own startup. It will also let you know if this sort of life is something you even want to do. If you didn't enjoy the process or you couldn't get anything out the door, chances are you might be better suited for something else. This website is hacker and startup oriented, but truth be told that sort of thing isn't the best fit for everyone and there are many other paths to success. It's better to figure this out when you're 20 and then adjust accordingly.

I used Cappuccino to build the front-end, so thanks go to the 280 North guys!
30.General Motors declares bankruptcy (guardian.co.uk)
37 points by ksvs on June 1, 2009 | 24 comments

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