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Stories from February 21, 2011
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1.An Open Letter to Apple on the Readability App rejection (readability.com)
478 points by bensummers on Feb 21, 2011 | 199 comments
2.Why nothing can go faster than the speed of light (reddit.com)
431 points by danteembermage on Feb 21, 2011 | 222 comments
3.The Boy Who Stole Half-Life 2 (eurogamer.net)
401 points by twidlit on Feb 21, 2011 | 125 comments
4.Show HN: Breakup Notifier (breakupnotifier.com)
264 points by theli0nheart on Feb 21, 2011 | 118 comments
5.Homeowner forecloses on Wells Fargo office, becomes folk hero (agentgenius.com)
256 points by gregory80 on Feb 21, 2011 | 122 comments

This really highlights how utterly insane our system is. I'm living off of my own business, which means that I don't have an employer to cover me under group insurance. But I really only make enough to live frugally and save a tiny amount each month--to me, an affordable health insurance plan would be between $50-$100 a month.

Fat chance of that happening. And if it did, the deductible would be so high as to make the plan worthless for anything short of a car-crash-emergency-type-situation.

But not only would it not happen at that price, but as the article says, it wouldn't happen period--even though I'm a healthy, nonsmoking, active 26-year-old male, I've had cubital tunnel problems in the past (typing) and surgery on my wrist (badly broken in an accident). If I applied, I would surely be denied--and again, as the article states, if you're denied once, your chances of being accepted in the future just dropped by a big percentage.

It literally makes more financial sense for me to pay minor expenses out of pocket and declare bankruptcy in the chance of crippling bills than to be insured.

Healthcare in America is utterly, utterly broken; it's damaging poor, middle-class, and rich people alike, and stifling innovation. I have the ability to innovate with my company because I'm young, single, and healthy; but many smart people have existing medical problems, families, or other factors that make them indentured servants to the company that pays their healthcare. As a nation we're under the thumb of the insurance companies, and instead of doing anything serious about it, we've done almost the worst possible option: require every one of us to be a customer of these monstrous companies, with little regulation on cost or other government oversight. I'm the first person to back health insurance reform, but we've reformed it in the name of shoveling more money into the pockets of industry instead of for regular people needing real care.

It's crap like this that's compelling me to make my current expat lifestyle permanent. America might still get the tax dollars my business generates (the only country to still tax you if you live abroad) but it won't get my brain or my talent within its borders.

7.Changes to my life as a result of just four weeks of daily meditation (philosophistry.com)
182 points by philipkd on Feb 21, 2011 | 94 comments
8.Redis at Disqus (bretthoerner.com)
153 points by tswicegood on Feb 21, 2011 | 41 comments

> To be clear, we believe you have every right to push forward such a policy. In our view, it’s your hardware and your channel and you can put forth any policy you like.

It isn't Apple's hardware; let us not forget the hardware belongs to the people buying the iPhones and iPads out there. Apple's enforcement of what can and can not run on these devices is not some fundamental property right, but an artificial construct.

10.The secret life of punctuation - ¶ (The Pilcrow) (shadycharacters.co.uk)
148 points by dogonwheels on Feb 21, 2011 | 20 comments
11.Typical programming interview questions. (maxnoy.com)
147 points by gaiusparx on Feb 21, 2011 | 107 comments
12.Microsoft confirms Kinect hackers to get official developer kit (pocket-lint.com)
142 points by mjfern on Feb 21, 2011 | 37 comments
13.TinyGrab abandons iOS because of new App Store rules (tinygrab.com)
142 points by st3fan on Feb 21, 2011 | 74 comments
14.Python 3.2 Released (python.org)
142 points by mattyb on Feb 21, 2011 | 51 comments
15.PS3 Hacker Raised All the Legal Funds Needed to Beat Sony in a Weekend (escapistmagazine.com)
136 points by Mikecsi on Feb 21, 2011 | 21 comments

Only every 24 hours?!? But when the window is open, you RUN! Did Ted Mosby teach us nothing?

This is the most pointless, trivial, absurd, creepy app I've seen in a while.

Signed up.

I think it will be massively successful!

18.Using an oscilloscope as a Gameboy display (flashingleds.wordpress.com)
131 points by trafficlight on Feb 21, 2011 | 8 comments
19.Google Font Directory (expanded, moved to new URL) (google.com)
133 points by moeffju on Feb 21, 2011 | 30 comments

For those not familiar with RobotRollCall (the author of the linked comment) check out his profile and other answers. He is one of the best contributors to AskScience and can explain almost any theoretical physics topic in understandable terms. People joke that he is actually Neil deGrasse Tyson and that he should really get this own column / talk show.
21.Ultima Underworld bugs (dfan.org)
109 points by rsaarelm on Feb 21, 2011 | 17 comments

Free Version Notification Email:

X is now single.

Paid Version Notification Email (with semantic analysis!):

X is now single.

She broke up with her boyfriend because he didn't pay enough attention to her.

Lately she has been listening to Arcade Fire and eating cupcakes.

Click to phone X now - suggest getting a cupcake together.

23.rbtrace: like strace, but for ruby code (github.com/tmm1)
101 points by tmm1 on Feb 21, 2011 | 11 comments
24.Selling Kiko: How Justin Kan sold his first YC startup on eBay (areallybadidea.com)
98 points by randall on Feb 21, 2011 | 25 comments

Anyone else think that nearly the entire financial industry is ready to be replaced with a lot of very short shell scripts?

It seems to me that their value add is negligible compared to how they're rewarded.

26.Wherein my Kiss was Rejected (jamesaltucher.com)
94 points by jaltucher on Feb 21, 2011 | 32 comments
27.No more desktop Linux systems in the German Foreign Office (h-online.com)
94 points by bjonathan on Feb 21, 2011 | 80 comments
28.CD3WD Archives the Information Necessary to Rebuild Society (cd3wd.com)
91 points by fogus on Feb 21, 2011 | 18 comments
29.Can Montreal Become an Open Source Startup Hub? (nextmontreal.com)
88 points by evanprodromou on Feb 21, 2011 | 84 comments

I would have died at the age of 19 if it weren't for the help of the UK's National Health Service. My parents and I didn't have to worry about hospital bills, future insurance issues, being tied to a job, any of that crap. Just get some rest, get better, go out there and be productive again. The American system looks like a horrible joke from over here. I just can't understand any of it.

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