Old Stone Walls Reveal How Earth’s Magnetic North Changes over Time
20 by pseudolus | 3 comments on Hacker News.
Saturday, March 16, 2019
WILD COUNTRY by Anne Bishop
Dangers threaten the resettlement of a ghost town by humans and creatures known as Others.
#14 on the NYT Best Sellers List for Combined Print & E-Book Fiction
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#14 on the NYT Best Sellers List for Combined Print & E-Book Fiction
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THE ISLAND OF SEA WOMEN by Lisa See
The friendship over many decades of two female divers from the Korean Island of Jeju is pushed to a breaking point.
#13 on the NYT Best Sellers List for Combined Print & E-Book Fiction
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#13 on the NYT Best Sellers List for Combined Print & E-Book Fiction
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UNTO US A SON IS GIVEN by Donna Leon
The 28th novel in the Commissario Guido Brunetti series. The Italian detective uncovers the secrets of a deceased family friend.
#12 on the NYT Best Sellers List for Combined Print & E-Book Fiction
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#12 on the NYT Best Sellers List for Combined Print & E-Book Fiction
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THE LAST ROMANTICS by Tara Conklin
A family crisis tests the bonds and ideals of a renowned poet and her siblings.
#9 on the NYT Best Sellers List for Combined Print & E-Book Fiction
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#9 on the NYT Best Sellers List for Combined Print & E-Book Fiction
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THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW by AJ Finn
A recluse who drinks heavily and takes prescription drugs may have witnessed a crime across from her Harlem townhouse.
#6 on the NYT Best Sellers List for Combined Print & E-Book Fiction
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#6 on the NYT Best Sellers List for Combined Print & E-Book Fiction
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DAISY JONES & THE SIX by Taylor Jenkins Reid
A fictional oral history charting the rise and fall of a ’70s rock ’n’ roll band.
#5 on the NYT Best Sellers List for Combined Print & E-Book Fiction
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#5 on the NYT Best Sellers List for Combined Print & E-Book Fiction
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THE MALTA EXCHANGE by Steve Berry
The 14th book in the Cotton Malone series. The former Justice Department operative tangles with a rogue cardinal and an ancient sect of knights.
#4 on the NYT Best Sellers List for Combined Print & E-Book Fiction
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#4 on the NYT Best Sellers List for Combined Print & E-Book Fiction
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SILENT NIGHT by Danielle Steel
After tragedy strikes, a child TV star loses her memory and ability to speak.
#3 on the NYT Best Sellers List for Combined Print & E-Book Fiction
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#3 on the NYT Best Sellers List for Combined Print & E-Book Fiction
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CEMETERY ROAD by Greg Iles
The journalist Marshall McEwan returns to his hometown, which is shaken by two deaths and an economy on the brink.
#2 on the NYT Best Sellers List for Combined Print & E-Book Fiction
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#2 on the NYT Best Sellers List for Combined Print & E-Book Fiction
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FOX NEWS: Car smashed after it ‘limboed’ under 2 overturned trailers in California: authorities
Car smashed after it ‘limboed’ under 2 overturned trailers in California: authorities
A Honda being driven on a California roadway “limboed” between a pair of overturned trailers, police said Friday, causing significant damage to the car including a shattered front window.
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FOX NEWS: Could Elon Musk’s high-speed tunnel in Las Vegas answer nation’s infrastructure problem?
Could Elon Musk’s high-speed tunnel in Las Vegas answer nation’s infrastructure problem?
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority voted earlier this week to move forward with contract negotiations with Musk’s The Boring Company to construct a tunnel transportation system connecting the roughly two-mile long convention center.
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FOX NEWS: Racing icon Janet Guthrie dropped as NASCAR Landmark Award nominee
Racing icon Janet Guthrie dropped as NASCAR Landmark Award nominee
Was on the list for three years.
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FOX NEWS: Performance enhancing pigment? 2020 Ford Mustang's Grabber Lime paint is 'on steroids'
Performance enhancing pigment? 2020 Ford Mustang's Grabber Lime paint is 'on steroids'
A different kind of green.
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FOX NEWS: SEC charges former Volkswagen CEO Winterkorn with fraud for role in dieselgate
SEC charges former Volkswagen CEO Winterkorn with fraud for role in dieselgate
Says he did nothing wrong.
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FOX NEWS: Tesla Model Y debuts in California with $39,000 base price
Tesla Model Y debuts in California with $39,000 base price
Important new model coming next year.
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FOX NEWS: Tesla Model Y teased ahead of reveal in new photo
Tesla Model Y teased ahead of reveal in new photo
Wraps come off tonight.
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FOX NEWS: Jay Leno says he likes domestic cars because 'I'm American'
Jay Leno says he likes domestic cars because 'I'm American'
He can buy anything he wants.
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FOX NEWS: James Bond is going electric with battery-powered Aston Martin in next film, report says
James Bond is going electric with battery-powered Aston Martin in next film, report says
Battery-powered Bond?
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FOX NEWS: Man named Sober charged with drunk driving
Man named Sober charged with drunk driving
What's in a name?
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New ask Hacker News story: Ask HN: Annual Bonus Time, Team's Not Happy
Ask HN: Annual Bonus Time, Team's Not Happy
29 by le-mark | 27 comments on Hacker News.
I'm a manager of a team in a large company. Annual raises came out. I had a pool to divy up, which I did, and then my recommendations were ignored by higher management. The pool went else where, and my team got scraps. This team is quite good, they really kicked ass last year. A lot of overtime on a very high profile project. Feedback I got was they expected more, and I did to. So question; how to handle this? Worst case is I lose some people. Well maybe that's not worst case, maybe worst case it they disengage.
29 by le-mark | 27 comments on Hacker News.
I'm a manager of a team in a large company. Annual raises came out. I had a pool to divy up, which I did, and then my recommendations were ignored by higher management. The pool went else where, and my team got scraps. This team is quite good, they really kicked ass last year. A lot of overtime on a very high profile project. Feedback I got was they expected more, and I did to. So question; how to handle this? Worst case is I lose some people. Well maybe that's not worst case, maybe worst case it they disengage.
New ask Hacker News story: Ask HN: What's the tech scene like in New Zealand?
Ask HN: What's the tech scene like in New Zealand?
23 by moving2nz | 13 comments on Hacker News.
Is NZ a good place to be a software developer, all things considered? I'm curious to hear more about the tech working culture, meetup scene, any interesting startups, and popular tech choices for NZ companies and the like. I'm looking to relocate from London, UK. The "big" tech companies seem to be TradeMe and Xero, and maybe WETA Labs. Start up wise, I've heard of Rocket Labs but not sure if they count as a start up anymore. Salaries seem to be about half what they are in London, and my impression is that most of the backend dev jobs seem to be .NET or Java focussed.
23 by moving2nz | 13 comments on Hacker News.
Is NZ a good place to be a software developer, all things considered? I'm curious to hear more about the tech working culture, meetup scene, any interesting startups, and popular tech choices for NZ companies and the like. I'm looking to relocate from London, UK. The "big" tech companies seem to be TradeMe and Xero, and maybe WETA Labs. Start up wise, I've heard of Rocket Labs but not sure if they count as a start up anymore. Salaries seem to be about half what they are in London, and my impression is that most of the backend dev jobs seem to be .NET or Java focussed.
New ask Hacker News story: Ask HN: How much would it cost to replicate GPT-2's model?
Ask HN: How much would it cost to replicate GPT-2's model?
4 by sharemywin | 1 comments on Hacker News.
Cost 1: Scrape 8 Million articles from Reddit posts. https://ift.tt/1S2KZLm Cost 2: Training a 1.5 B parameter transformer network. I'm assuming it could be trained with google's TPUs. And the model would just be a bigger version of the model open ai released.
4 by sharemywin | 1 comments on Hacker News.
Cost 1: Scrape 8 Million articles from Reddit posts. https://ift.tt/1S2KZLm Cost 2: Training a 1.5 B parameter transformer network. I'm assuming it could be trained with google's TPUs. And the model would just be a bigger version of the model open ai released.
New ask Hacker News story: Ask HN: Tools of the Trade, 2019 Edition
Ask HN: Tools of the Trade, 2019 Edition
16 by yarapavan | 3 comments on Hacker News.
Inspiration: Hacker News Tools of the Trade - https://ift.tt/1oThKvg
16 by yarapavan | 3 comments on Hacker News.
Inspiration: Hacker News Tools of the Trade - https://ift.tt/1oThKvg
New ask Hacker News story: Ask HN: Is Getting Things Done still a book that HN recommends?
Ask HN: Is Getting Things Done still a book that HN recommends?
9 by dominotw | 10 comments on Hacker News.
I have some spare time to learn to improve and structure my time better. I remember seeing lots of recommendations for GTG couple of yrs ago but not so much now.
9 by dominotw | 10 comments on Hacker News.
I have some spare time to learn to improve and structure my time better. I remember seeing lots of recommendations for GTG couple of yrs ago but not so much now.
New ask Hacker News story: Ask HN: Has anyone had luck using the Wikipedia data dumps?
Ask HN: Has anyone had luck using the Wikipedia data dumps?
4 by perfect_loop | 3 comments on Hacker News.
Many docs and tutorials are from 10+ years ago. Have you had any luck loading the data dumps (not the API) locally in order to play around with them? if yes, I'd very much appreciate it if you could point me in the right direction.
4 by perfect_loop | 3 comments on Hacker News.
Many docs and tutorials are from 10+ years ago. Have you had any luck loading the data dumps (not the API) locally in order to play around with them? if yes, I'd very much appreciate it if you could point me in the right direction.
New ask Hacker News story: Ash HN: Given the salary of a developer, how can a side project be worth it?
Ash HN: Given the salary of a developer, how can a side project be worth it?
17 by iraldir | 14 comments on Hacker News.
Disclaimer, this is a real first world-problem. As a JavaScript contractor in the UK, I can easily make 500£+ a day, full time, minus taxes. My goal was to reimburse my student loans (done) and start putting money aside for making my own startup. But the more I stay in this business, the more I make money, and the more it's hard to even imagine a startup that comes close to that opportunity cost. Even for a side project, it would simply be more profitable if I just spent time finding higher paying customers for my JavaScript skills. It sort of feels like a trap. Anyone got a story of how they went through that?
17 by iraldir | 14 comments on Hacker News.
Disclaimer, this is a real first world-problem. As a JavaScript contractor in the UK, I can easily make 500£+ a day, full time, minus taxes. My goal was to reimburse my student loans (done) and start putting money aside for making my own startup. But the more I stay in this business, the more I make money, and the more it's hard to even imagine a startup that comes close to that opportunity cost. Even for a side project, it would simply be more profitable if I just spent time finding higher paying customers for my JavaScript skills. It sort of feels like a trap. Anyone got a story of how they went through that?
New ask Hacker News story: Ask HN: Articles like Sam Altman's startup playbook?
Ask HN: Articles like Sam Altman's startup playbook?
46 by aliswe | 6 comments on Hacker News.
I really like that website, as well as his latest blog post. Do you know of anything similar, perhaps written by someone else?
46 by aliswe | 6 comments on Hacker News.
I really like that website, as well as his latest blog post. Do you know of anything similar, perhaps written by someone else?
Fox News Alert: Your favorite show, Fox News @ Night with Shannon Bream, will be on in a few minutes!
Get ready! Your favorite show, Fox News @ Night with Shannon Bream , will be on in a few minutes on the Fox News Channel!
Fox News @ Night is a live hour of hard news and analysis of the most compelling stories from Washington and across the country.
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Fox News @ Night is a live hour of hard news and analysis of the most compelling stories from Washington and across the country.
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Fox News Alert: Your favorite show, The Ingraham Angle, will be on in a few minutes!
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The Ingraham Angle cuts through the Washington chatter speaking directly with unexpected voices and the actual people who are impacted by the news of the day.
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The Ingraham Angle cuts through the Washington chatter speaking directly with unexpected voices and the actual people who are impacted by the news of the day.
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Fox News Alert: Your favorite show, Hannity, will be on in a few minutes!
Get ready! Your favorite show, Hannity , will be on in a few minutes on the Fox News Channel!
Candid, controversial, and completely unleashed, Sean brings you political news of the day!
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Candid, controversial, and completely unleashed, Sean brings you political news of the day!
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Fox News Alert: Your favorite show, Tucker Carlson Tonight , will be on in a few minutes!
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Tucker Carlson Tonight brings you spirited debate and powerful reporting on the issues you care about each weeknight at 8pm.
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Tucker Carlson Tonight brings you spirited debate and powerful reporting on the issues you care about each weeknight at 8pm.
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Fox News Alert: Your favorite show, Fox News @ Night with Shannon Bream, will be on in a few minutes!
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Fox News @ Night is a live hour of hard news and analysis of the most compelling stories from Washington and across the country.
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Fox News @ Night is a live hour of hard news and analysis of the most compelling stories from Washington and across the country.
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Fox News Alert: Your favorite show, The Ingraham Angle, will be on in a few minutes!
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The Ingraham Angle cuts through the Washington chatter speaking directly with unexpected voices and the actual people who are impacted by the news of the day.
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The Ingraham Angle cuts through the Washington chatter speaking directly with unexpected voices and the actual people who are impacted by the news of the day.
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Fox News Alert: Your favorite show, Hannity, will be on in a few minutes!
Get ready! Your favorite show, Hannity , will be on in a few minutes on the Fox News Channel!
Candid, controversial, and completely unleashed, Sean brings you political news of the day!
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Candid, controversial, and completely unleashed, Sean brings you political news of the day!
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Fox News Alert: Your favorite show, Tucker Carlson Tonight , will be on in a few minutes!
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Tucker Carlson Tonight brings you spirited debate and powerful reporting on the issues you care about each weeknight at 8pm.
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Tucker Carlson Tonight brings you spirited debate and powerful reporting on the issues you care about each weeknight at 8pm.
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Fox News Alert: Your favorite show, The Story with Martha MacCallum, will be on in a few minutes!
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Each night at 7pm EST, Martha MacCallum will take you deeper than ever before into the stories that matter to you.
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Each night at 7pm EST, Martha MacCallum will take you deeper than ever before into the stories that matter to you.
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Fox News Alert: Your favorite show, Special Report w/ Bret Baier, will be on in a few minutes!
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Join host Bret Baier and Fox's Team Washington to find out what's happening inside the Beltway and on the world stage.
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Join host Bret Baier and Fox's Team Washington to find out what's happening inside the Beltway and on the world stage.
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Fox News Alert: Your favorite show, The Five, will be on in a few minutes!
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The hot topics that have everyone talking from the voices that will have everyone listening!
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The hot topics that have everyone talking from the voices that will have everyone listening!
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Fox News Alert: Your favorite show, Your World With Neil Cavuto, will be on in a few minutes!
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From Main Street to Wall Street - All the day's headlines and all the market's moves!
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From Main Street to Wall Street - All the day's headlines and all the market's moves!
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Fox News Alert: Your favorite show, Shepard Smith Reporting, will be on in a few minutes!
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The way we gather it, break it and deliver it. It's all about to change! Don't miss Shepard Smith Reporting.
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The way we gather it, break it and deliver it. It's all about to change! Don't miss Shepard Smith Reporting.
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Fox News Alert: Your favorite show, The Daily Briefing, will be on in a few minutes!
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Dana Perino hosts The Daily Briefing at 2PM/ET, an hour often dominated by breaking news and more from Washington and around the nation
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Dana Perino hosts The Daily Briefing at 2PM/ET, an hour often dominated by breaking news and more from Washington and around the nation
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Fox News Alert: Your favorite show, Outnumbered Overtime, will be on in a few minutes!
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Faulkner continues the conversation on the top news stories by utilizing the resources of FNC journalists in the field, plus one-on-one interviews.
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Faulkner continues the conversation on the top news stories by utilizing the resources of FNC journalists in the field, plus one-on-one interviews.
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Fox News Alert: Your favorite show, Outnumbered, will be on in a few minutes!
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They’re outspoken… out of the box…outrageous & outstandingly smart! And he’s…outnumbered!
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They’re outspoken… out of the box…outrageous & outstandingly smart! And he’s…outnumbered!
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Fox News Alert: Your favorite show, America's Newsroom, will be on in a few minutes!
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Bill Hemmer & Sandra Smith brings you the news that matters to you!
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Mornings are always a good time with friends! Join hosts Ainsley Earhardt, Brian Kilmeade and Steve Doocy.
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All the breaking news from overnight, plus the day's top stories and more
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All the breaking news from overnight, plus the day's top stories and more
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FOX NEWS: For Syrians, 8 years of war leaves stories of loss and hope
For Syrians, 8 years of war leaves stories of loss and hope
War is personal.
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FOX NEWS: The Latest: Saudi media says 1 citizen killed in NZ attack
The Latest: Saudi media says 1 citizen killed in NZ attack
The Latest on shootings at mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand (all times local): 5:30 p.m.
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FOX NEWS: New Zealand massacre suspect made stops in North Korea, Pakistan during global travels, reports say
New Zealand massacre suspect made stops in North Korea, Pakistan during global travels, reports say
The man suspected of live-streaming himself kill 49 people and wounding dozens more in a Friday shooting spree at two New Zealand mosques plunged himself into white nationalist message boards after global travels that included stops in North Korea and Pakistan, according to reports.
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FOX NEWS: In wake of shooting, New Zealanders show kindness to Muslims
In wake of shooting, New Zealanders show kindness to Muslims
People across New Zealand are reaching out to Muslims in their communities and around the country the day after mass shootings at two mosques that left 49 people dead.
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FOX NEWS: Efforts to blame Trump after New Zealand mosque attacks
Efforts to blame Trump after New Zealand mosque attacks
Domestic blame game begins as Trump extends support to New Zealand; reaction from The Hill columnist Buck Sexton.
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FOX NEWS: Is the left using the New Zealand tragedy to shut down speech they don't like?
Is the left using the New Zealand tragedy to shut down speech they don't like?
Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham discuss on 'The Ingraham Angle.'
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FOX NEWS: Dhillon: Media tearing us apart by blaming New Zealand attack on Trump
Dhillon: Media tearing us apart by blaming New Zealand attack on Trump
Left rushes to blame New Zealand mosque massacre on Trump; RNC national committeewoman for California Harmeet Dhillon reacts.
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FOX NEWS: Hannity: Our hearts go out to New Zealand
Hannity: Our hearts go out to New Zealand
Dozens killed in New Zealand mosque massacre; shooter live-streamed attack.
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FOX NEWS: Lawyer: German journalist detained in Venezuela set free
Lawyer: German journalist detained in Venezuela set free
A human rights attorney says a German freelance journalist jailed in Venezuela since November as a suspected spy has been freed.
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FOX NEWS: China said to have database listing 'breed ready' women
China said to have database listing 'breed ready' women
China continues to deny human rights to citizens; reaction and analysis from columnist Gordon Chang.
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New Show Hacker News story: Launch HN: Bottomless (YC W19) – Coffee Restocked with a Smart Scale
Launch HN: Bottomless (YC W19) – Coffee Restocked with a Smart Scale
122 by seizethecheese | 206 comments on Hacker News.
Hello, HN! We're Michael and Liana, co-founders of Bottomless ( https://bottomless.com ) Bottomless automatically re-stocks coffee using a smart scale. Users leave their coffee on the scale, then we detect the perfect time to trigger re-orders. We ship the scale for free when customers buy their first bag. We met in college, and bonded over talking about businesses we could build together. You could say we've kept in touch since then: we're now married. Bottomless was born out of our frustration managing our household stock levels. We always seemed to be running out of one thing or another. When we thought about it, we realized that restocking was a universal problem. But if this was such a big problem, why was there no great solution? Subscriptions should be a solution, but they don’t work well for items that aren’t used on a set schedule. It seemed that if we could capture data on usage and stock levels in a passive way, we could solve the problem. Thus, Bottomless, the concept, was born. The market for stuff people repeatedly buy is enormous. (We'll leave an exact estimate up to the reader's imagination.) We decided that to start we'd establish a beachhead with a single market. We landed on selling premium coffee because it's cheap to ship and has good margins. It also is much better shipped straight from the roaster than bought at the grocery store. In the beginning, we built the simplest thing possible to test if the concept would work. We hacked together a scale prototype, made five of them and got them into the hands of friends. We bought coffee from roaster websites with our customers’ addresses to bootstrap supply. The goal was to test if people would leave their coffee on a scale, and if we could reorder at the right time. It turns out they would and we could! Since then, it's been a matter of making larger batches of scales. We bought a few 3D printers and acquired quite a few burned fingers from soldering. We've benefited from a few technological tailwinds. For one, smartphone supply chain has driven down the cost of components quite a bit. We've been able to build hardware that works for this business model out of super cheap WiFi modules and LiPos. Also, the level of open source software for ML is quite powerful and well-documented. We're aware that we are just scratching the surface of re-ordering hardware. We'd be interested to hear ideas that the community might have about this space!
122 by seizethecheese | 206 comments on Hacker News.
Hello, HN! We're Michael and Liana, co-founders of Bottomless ( https://bottomless.com ) Bottomless automatically re-stocks coffee using a smart scale. Users leave their coffee on the scale, then we detect the perfect time to trigger re-orders. We ship the scale for free when customers buy their first bag. We met in college, and bonded over talking about businesses we could build together. You could say we've kept in touch since then: we're now married. Bottomless was born out of our frustration managing our household stock levels. We always seemed to be running out of one thing or another. When we thought about it, we realized that restocking was a universal problem. But if this was such a big problem, why was there no great solution? Subscriptions should be a solution, but they don’t work well for items that aren’t used on a set schedule. It seemed that if we could capture data on usage and stock levels in a passive way, we could solve the problem. Thus, Bottomless, the concept, was born. The market for stuff people repeatedly buy is enormous. (We'll leave an exact estimate up to the reader's imagination.) We decided that to start we'd establish a beachhead with a single market. We landed on selling premium coffee because it's cheap to ship and has good margins. It also is much better shipped straight from the roaster than bought at the grocery store. In the beginning, we built the simplest thing possible to test if the concept would work. We hacked together a scale prototype, made five of them and got them into the hands of friends. We bought coffee from roaster websites with our customers’ addresses to bootstrap supply. The goal was to test if people would leave their coffee on a scale, and if we could reorder at the right time. It turns out they would and we could! Since then, it's been a matter of making larger batches of scales. We bought a few 3D printers and acquired quite a few burned fingers from soldering. We've benefited from a few technological tailwinds. For one, smartphone supply chain has driven down the cost of components quite a bit. We've been able to build hardware that works for this business model out of super cheap WiFi modules and LiPos. Also, the level of open source software for ML is quite powerful and well-documented. We're aware that we are just scratching the surface of re-ordering hardware. We'd be interested to hear ideas that the community might have about this space!
New Show Hacker News story: Launch HN: Point (YC W19) – First Debit Card with Points
Launch HN: Point (YC W19) – First Debit Card with Points
79 by patrickmro | 113 comments on Hacker News.
Hi HN community, We’re Patrick, Kenan, and Sid, the founders of Point ( https://ift.tt/2u7QyA9 ), a consumer digital bank focused on rewards. After being fed up with the poor customer experience and tactics of traditional banks, we did some digging into why we put up with our own subpar banks. We've discovered that the way most people end up with their current bank is by default (ex: parents set it up for them), rather than by choice. The complete opposite was the case for credit cards; credit cards were actually chosen based on their qualities. We began to wonder why a solution that combined the rewards and benefits of a credit card, with the simplicity of a bank account didn’t exist. After extensive research and testing of various existing products, we determined that everything came up short for our personal needs. That was the problem. Whether it was simply the lack of a clean mobile user experience, or rewards that were relevant, nothing managed to fit the bill. Since banks are a fundamental part of our everyday modern lives, we shouldn’t have to settle for a less-than-stellar experience just because that’s the current standard. That’s when we realized, we don’t have to settle. This was an exciting enough realization for us all to quit our day jobs as product managers, designers, and engineers. We decided we needed to create a revolutionary bank. In order to solve this problem, we created a new-and-improved debit card. We are focusing our efforts on debit because it is currently the most popular payment method. Although debit is the preferred method, in the real world, there is little incentive to use one over the perks offered by credit cards. This unfortunately leads the majority of the dissatisfied group to settle for credit cards, with their offer of limited perks that typically come hand-in-hand with unavoidable debt. Our business model is sustainable because we are partnered with a smaller regional bank and don’t have the hefty over head of a branch network. The reason we don’t see larger banks offering debit cards with rewards is because of the "Durbin Act”; a federal mandate which slashed interchange margins of banks with more than $10 billion in deposits. This was done in order to protect consumers and merchants from increasing and predatory prices that banks were trying to instill. If successful in our mission we hope to keep the up and comers out of un-necessary credit cards and raise the standards of user experience for banks. There is no reason why dealing with your bank should be as dreadful as the DMV. We look forward to hearing your thoughts on what we are building and are open to any and all suggestions. Feel free to drop us a line at hello@trypointbank.com and check out our waitlist on our landing page.
79 by patrickmro | 113 comments on Hacker News.
Hi HN community, We’re Patrick, Kenan, and Sid, the founders of Point ( https://ift.tt/2u7QyA9 ), a consumer digital bank focused on rewards. After being fed up with the poor customer experience and tactics of traditional banks, we did some digging into why we put up with our own subpar banks. We've discovered that the way most people end up with their current bank is by default (ex: parents set it up for them), rather than by choice. The complete opposite was the case for credit cards; credit cards were actually chosen based on their qualities. We began to wonder why a solution that combined the rewards and benefits of a credit card, with the simplicity of a bank account didn’t exist. After extensive research and testing of various existing products, we determined that everything came up short for our personal needs. That was the problem. Whether it was simply the lack of a clean mobile user experience, or rewards that were relevant, nothing managed to fit the bill. Since banks are a fundamental part of our everyday modern lives, we shouldn’t have to settle for a less-than-stellar experience just because that’s the current standard. That’s when we realized, we don’t have to settle. This was an exciting enough realization for us all to quit our day jobs as product managers, designers, and engineers. We decided we needed to create a revolutionary bank. In order to solve this problem, we created a new-and-improved debit card. We are focusing our efforts on debit because it is currently the most popular payment method. Although debit is the preferred method, in the real world, there is little incentive to use one over the perks offered by credit cards. This unfortunately leads the majority of the dissatisfied group to settle for credit cards, with their offer of limited perks that typically come hand-in-hand with unavoidable debt. Our business model is sustainable because we are partnered with a smaller regional bank and don’t have the hefty over head of a branch network. The reason we don’t see larger banks offering debit cards with rewards is because of the "Durbin Act”; a federal mandate which slashed interchange margins of banks with more than $10 billion in deposits. This was done in order to protect consumers and merchants from increasing and predatory prices that banks were trying to instill. If successful in our mission we hope to keep the up and comers out of un-necessary credit cards and raise the standards of user experience for banks. There is no reason why dealing with your bank should be as dreadful as the DMV. We look forward to hearing your thoughts on what we are building and are open to any and all suggestions. Feel free to drop us a line at hello@trypointbank.com and check out our waitlist on our landing page.
