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So I made something that's pretty stupid but had fun doing it

hitlerhops.com

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Re: So I made something that's pretty stupid but had fun doing it

#81

Post by geekdesigngirl »

This is my second post on HN and I, for one, think this is disgusting. How is this right? Most of the comments on this thread are defending this app and yes, it does what it sets out to accomplish. However, are we so much in an echo chamber that we don't realize how the things we build affect other humans?! We deal in a world of systems, where point A leads to point B. But the systems we put in place are interpreted by human minds and human emotions, all of which don't have a point A or point B. I have a friend whose family doesn't go back more than 2 generations because they were all murdered by Hitler's regime at Auschwitz.

It's easy to make stupid apps (your word) but, in a post earlier today about creating apps for the greater good (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1770435), this is just blatantly adding bad. I mean, come on, do something worthwhile with your talents.

What's the point of this app? Is it just to get a rise out of people? I put in Dalai Lama and there's a separation of 3. I expected more from this community.

Re: So I made something that's pretty stupid but had fun doing it

#83

Post by patrickaljord »

_cbsz wrote: post #58
cnlwsu wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That was actually the original idea but the CPU behind it (requires a lot of ram and multiple systems the way I worked it) was too expensive to swing by the wife for a goof off project ;)

You can't pre-compute it with the Floyd-Warshall algorithm in C or something? EDIT: to try to answer my own calculation on the back of the envelope... We're going to need n^2 space and n^3 time, where n is the number of nodes. There are about 3.5 million articles ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Size_of_Wikipedia ), and if we assume that the diameter of the Wikipedia graph is 255 or less, we need 1 byte * 3.5…

Or you can just download an RDF dump of wikipedia and make your queries using sparql http://dbpedia.org/

Re: So I made something that's pretty stupid but had fun doing it

#84

Post by njl »

seldo wrote: post #35
dreyfiz wrote: post #16

This is awesome, but I wish you would eliminate the hops that consist only of dates because they aren't very interesting.

Ditto. Although I was interested to learn that Donald Duck has a direct connection to Adolf Hitler.

"Der Fuehrers Face" is a fascinating watch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iumEGAUceDg

Re: So I made something that's pretty stupid but had fun doing it

#85

Post by rwhitman »

Ok, I get it. But I'm not amped by it. 2 reasons:

1) Hitler is associated with way too many entries, I mean for 10 years he controlled most of europe, there isn't a topic in 20th century history he doesn't touch at some point. Its too easy to get to hitler through wikipedia. I'd like to see it with someone less obvious (and funnier) - like Ted Nugent

2) I'm kind of disturbed by the cutesy drawings of Hitler. I dunno, I normally have a thick skin and a good sense of humor, but having been raised jewish its hard for me to look at cuddly hitler and not cringe a little

Re: So I made something that's pretty stupid but had fun doing it

#87

Post by araneae »

geekdesigngirl wrote: post #81

This is my second post on HN and I, for one, think this is disgusting. How is this right? Most of the comments on this thread are defending this app and yes, it does what it sets out to accomplish. However, are we so much in an echo chamber that we don't realize how the things we build affect other humans?! We deal in a world of systems, where point A leads to point B. But the systems we put in place are interpreted…

Over-react much?

Also, what is the point of this statement: "I put in Dalai Lama and there's a separation of 3." Are you complaining that it's a short connection? I mean, obviously, this is simply demonstrating the small world effect, which is a pretty amoral concept as far as concepts go.

Re: So I made something that's pretty stupid but had fun doing it

#89

Post by Untitled »

rwhitman wrote: post #85

Ok, I get it. But I'm not amped by it. 2 reasons: 1) Hitler is associated with way too many entries, I mean for 10 years he controlled most of europe, there isn't a topic in 20th century history he doesn't touch at some point. Its too easy to get to hitler through wikipedia. I'd like to see it with someone less obvious (and funnier) - like Ted Nugent 2) I'm kind of disturbed by the cutesy drawings of Hitler. I dunno,…

> I dunno, I normally have a thick skin and a good sense of humor, but having been raised jewish its hard for me to look at cuddly hitler and not cringe a little

Maybe you should grow a thicker skin? The British Empire was arguably more evil than the German Reich (and did evil for quite a few centuries). Yet the Union Jack is displayed everywhere (even on shirts) and the same hateful institutions are still there (e.g. the royal family).

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