instruction stringlengths 4 105 | output stringlengths 8 56.7k |
|---|---|
iPad facts thread ? | gojomo: iPad once challenged Chuck Norris to a fight. Norris hasn't been seen since.(Is that the kind of "iPad facts" you mean?) |
Please review my site - A Craigslist competitor for rural areas | geoffc: The site now does an IP address location and zooms you to the state level. |
iPad & "YCRFS 5: Development on Handhelds" | albertsun: There are already SSH client's available for both the iPhone/iPad and Android. Using that to run/edit all code on a remote machine seems like the only viable way of doing development on a mobile right now.A set of sysadmin and server monitoring tools might be a more manageable intermediate step towards full fledged development on locals. |
book recommendations for linux server admin? | jpluscplusm: As a sysadmin who wishes he'd discovered this book earlier, I have no problem with recommending "The Practice of System and Network Administration" as a great resource: http://everythingsysadmin.com/aboutbook.htmlIt's definitely an OS-agnostic book, so if you're looking for "how do we do task/process/design A with OS B?", it's not the right fit. It'd still be worth it if you're expecting to have to do anything except the very shortest-term systems administration. |
Review my startup | benologist: So following my post the other day about how exactly people go about launching a beta we just leapt in and opened up. We scored a nice blog post from a prominent blogger in the Flash game space which has doubled our userbase already, and we're working hard on even more features to better-align us with the requirements for social games, and to go even deeper into casual game tracking.It's going to be a very interesting February seeing how we cope with all the new games being added. :) |
what new market opportunities do you see for the iPad? | jacquesm: Vertical stuff mostly, insurance guys, realtors.Basically anybody filling out forms on the hoof. |
Review my startup | oman121: It's somewhat difficult to read the numbers in the middle of the page. |
Does the iPad name inspire? | tokenadult: A lot of women are laughing at the name, having other associations for the word "pad." One of my Facebook friends asks, "Max-IPad?" |
Does the iPad name inspire? | evandavid: The whole 'i' thing is wearing on me. I expected to see a new angle. |
Does the iPad name inspire? | J3L2404: A very unfortunate choice. Completely tone-deaf. Apple product line now reads Macs - iPads. Yikes!Also plays into the "Pink Malibu Stacy iPhone" problem. |
Review my startup | mitchellh: I've made a few "bigger" flash applications (for fortune 500s and the like) and in general I don't see the benefit of this versus Google Analytics[1], which provides a Flash tracking API[2]. All your points you note on the left side I've done in one way or another via Google Analytics.I admit that the google analytics flash API only allows you to track "events" and sometimes pass a numeric value with an event which analytics will mean for you, but in practice, I've found that that is often all that was requested by my employers. e.g. "We want to know when people go from A => C => B, vs. A => B => C." Easily done! "We want to know the average time a user spends on this panel" Done!So could you explain to me some features you have that google analytics doesn't have? And justify their benefit enough such that a company would sacrifice a single analytics account to view all their web analytics for two sites to view their page and SWF analytics separately?[1]: http://www.google.com/analytics/[2]: http://code.google.com/apis/analytics/docs/tracking/flashTra... |
Does the iPad name inspire? | adelevie: I like the name. When I see it written it conjures all the good associations I have with iPods, then I realize it's different--it's tough to explain. |
Review my startup | faramarz: I would put an action call at the bottom of your price chart. while the user is there, get them to test the system or sign up. present an opportunity to make a decision. |
What do you use to invoice people? | gserafini: I've been using Freshbooks for quite some time and have recommended it to many people now. It is easy, simple to use, free for up to 3 clients. They keep on making it better over time which is quite nice too. I've made a lot more $ by having a system that tracks invoices, payments and all that (rather than the 'doing it by hand using Word' method I used to use). It also supports recurring billing which I've found to be great for automatically generating ongoing web hosting invoices. Creating a new invoices is very simple and intuitive.Here's a link (referral) to check it out: http://www.freshbooks.com/?ref=e8ba201056138-1 |
Does the iPad name inspire? | az: Yeah, not too creative |
Review my startup | espadagroup: I would work on some landing page optimization. For example the Join our Beta, which I am assuming is your call to action right now should be on the left side of the page and above your stats bar. Also, the first big text the user sees should be you main value point, at this point the first big text doesn't even include the word Flash or Game. |
What do you use to invoice people? | waivej: Having been down that path, I would recommend an app like an old copy of QuickBooks, an online app like Freshbooks, or an open source equivalent. (eBay?) It makes it easy to be organized and establishing a good system early on gives you time to think about important things. |
What do you use to invoice people? | andyjdavis: It obviously may not be possible for your specific business but if it is I'd encourage you to try and arrange things so you don't have to invoice people at all.For http://comfypage.com we have a small set of additional services we can provide. We used to invoice people but these days for most stuff people fill out a form and pay online then we get an email that says "person X wants Y done" No invoicing required and we get paid up front so there's no chasing payments involved.We're probably losing a percentage of customers who don't like this process but the amount of time we spend on admin tasks is basically zero. |
what new market opportunities do you see for the iPad? | Gatsky: It opens up a new market for the JooJoo tablet as a web-enabled sushi platter. |
Is there a HIPAA for dummies for medical startups? | Paul_Morgan: Go to the source: http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/understanding/index.htm...It's not really that hard. Keep personal data secure when stored and encrypted when in transit. |
Review my startup | paraschopra: I think a demo will really help in showing what your app does. |
Thoughts on CMS business | gexla: My suggestion for making money in this space is not to build a CMS and sell it, but rather to build add-ons for existing systems. I use ExpressionEngine and I have seen popular add-ons sell for as much as the CMS itself (personal license.) That way you have left the hard part to the developers of the CMS (growing a community, attracting developers and building a customer base.) |
Do all the iPad articles really add something valuable? | pvg: You are asking a very self-referential question which you probably know the answer to. If a tsunami of iPad posts don't add much value, as you suggest, how much value do meta-iPad posts add, do you think? |
Do all the iPad articles really add something valuable? | sheriff: This is the first time I've ever pulled up Hacker News and found nothing interesting on the homepage. |
Do all the iPad articles really add something valuable? | JacobAldridge: Don't forget the niche in a niche - at a quick glance the top 8 articles and 14 of the top page are iPad related, but only 5 of them attracted me and only 2 warranted upvotes. Only 3 got enough support to make it to the best page.So it's not the same 87 people upvoting all the articles. They are discussing different facets, which will appeal to different HN members.Having said that, I am looking forward to tomorrow ... |
Do all the iPad articles really add something valuable? | imasr: I believe it is a sign of how important this issue is to the community. I wouldn't underestimate it. |
Do all the iPad articles really add something valuable? | patio11: This too shall pass. Also, people have been mature enough to avoid tossing an Erlang-bomb, which is a plus. |
Do all the iPad articles really add something valuable? | nedwin: It's a little frustrating seeing a full page of iPad posts but when I looked a little closer I could see that they're all (mostly) looking at different things. I was keen to know more about why it didn't have a camera and how this would affect web-apps - there's an article for that. :)That said I think I'll take the next couple of days off from HN. |
Do all the iPad articles really add something valuable? | plinkplonk: "Do all these articles really add any value beyond perhaps the first or maybe second?"You must be new here!Aside from the "value is in the eye of the beholder" answer, Apple has always had a bit of a cult like following even among some developers, and when an Apple product launches you can expect some links on the front page. And arguably it does have some impact on Hacker's lives and is worth some discussion, even if you think (as I do) the reactions (both pro and anti) to this specific product is overblown.But yes, this will fade over the next few days. Just the "cost of doing business" on HN. Just wait a couple of days and things will be back to normal. |
Marketing Books for Developers? | docpepin: Unleashing the Ideavirus by Seth Godin |
Do all the iPad articles really add something valuable? | AndrewDucker: This is self-correcting.When people are bored of talking about the iPad then they will stop voting the articles up. If more exciting things appear then they will be voted up.Give it 24 hours, and the wheel will turn again. |
Why is there no stylus with the iPad? | alanl: I'd love to be able to jot down quick notes & sketches. Perhaps Apple think this is more of a business user requirement, and the ipad is more a leisure device.Plus the stylus would need to be a conductor or carry some sort of a charge to work on the capacitive screen. |
Why is there no stylus with the iPad? | Kliment: Capacitive touchscreens tend to require electrical contact with the body to activate. This avoids accidental clicks due to non-body objects pressing the screen and provides slightly better accuracy than resistive touchscreen technology, but it also means that a nonconductive stylus will not work. a conductive one would need to distort the electric fieldof the touchscreen in much the same way as a finger, and this is tricky to do with a small point. This is one reason I prefer resistive touchscreens (built one into my Eee). |
Why is there no stylus with the iPad? | nfnaaron: The size and shape does strongly suggest writing with a stylus. |
Do all the iPad articles really add something valuable? | wglb: Only a small fraction of them do, and this is not one of them. One can understand the excitement, however. I would imagine this will tail off over the next day. |
Why is there no stylus with the iPad? | js3309: The only thing that is keeping me away from buying an iPad is the lack of some sort of handwriting/stylus feature.This would open up for you to take it to school and take notes or make notes in meetings. |
Is there a HIPAA for dummies for medical startups? | mscantland: We've been in this space for a long time, doing both consulting work and two healthcare web services.It is usually a mistake to think of HIPAA as some sort of over-arching checklist of requirements such as encryption schemes.Instead, your goal is to put together a privacy and compliance plan that meets the HIPAA Rule as well as state and local regulations, which sometimes are more specific or strict. I find that the best way to start is to think about how your service uses data, who are your users, and what are they doing with the data (sharing it with others, keeping track of it, submitting claims through your system, etc.). Once you've figured that out, use the flowchart on the HHS website to determine if you are a covered entity under the HIPAA rules: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/HIPAAGenInfo/Downloads/CoveredEntityc...Once you've determined if you are a covered entity, you can narrow the parts of the Rule in which you need to become expert. Depending upon your business, you may determine that you are a healthcare clearinghouse, a provider, a payor, or not a covered entity at all. Each of these entities have specific requirements, and you'll need to work with these requirements as well as fill in details in your privacy plan so that you can act within the law and also be a good data steward for your users. If you are not a covered entity, you still may need to comply with some parts of the Rule because you are acting as a Business Associate (BA) of a covered entity. Or you may not be a business associate-Google Health for example does not consider itself to be a BA.The HHS website (http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/understanding/index.htm...) is a good place to start. After that, the HIPAA Rule is formally implemented in 45 CFR Part 160, and Subparts A and E of Part 164:* http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_07/45cfr160_07.ht...* http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_07/45cfr164_07.ht...Privacy rules are just one of the complex parts of healthcare. This is a huge part of the economy, and a large amount of the inefficiency isn't because someone hasn't created a web service to streamline it. Healthcare data aren't like banking transactions-there is a complex vocabulary and making it machine readable has been a huge challenge and isn't anywhere near being solved. There are also many embedded interests (employees with jobs they don't want to lose as well as big companies with profit motives). The upside is that if you do something successful, you will improve the lives of many.Best of luck with your venture, and get in touch with any questions (mscantland at innova-partners dot com). |
Do you need a seed investment to get VC? | pclark: It won't matter. |
what are your favorite blogs? | DanielStraight: All Japanese All The Time: Ostensibly about learning Japanese, really about learning in general. http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/ |
what are your favorite blogs? | dood: Mine:Three-Toed Sloth: data, complexity, and so forth: http://www.cscs.umich.edu/~crshalizi/weblog/Paul Kedrosky: economics, insight, analysis and links: http://paul.kedrosky.com/Mind Hacks: fantastic source for everything mind/psychology related: http://www.mindhacks.com/Ran Prieur: a unique perspective, always thought provoking:
http://www.ranprieur.com/Kevin Kelly: various cool blogs on tech, future, society, etc.: http://www.kk.org/Daily Meh: interesting thoughts, ideas, links and photographs: http://dailymeh.tumblr.com/There are others I could add, but thats a good start. |
what are your favorite blogs? | tjr: http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/philg/http://juliemelton.com/ |
Ideas for getting a visual to represent a domain other than favicon? | coffee: maybe there is a way to grab their gravatar if they have one? |
Why is there no stylus with the iPad? | jimjo: Needs a stylus, no question. Need to be able to take notes at lectures with this thing or I'm not buying it. Need to be able to take notes on the stuff I'm reading on it. |
How to setup home systems that can control lights/temperature, etc? | jason_tko: There has to be at least a few people on HN that have done this. Did you use systems like Linux Home Automation (http://www.linuxha.com/) or http://www.linuxmce.org ?Did you roll your own? Buy a commercial application ? |
How to setup home systems that can control lights/temperature, etc? | timthorn: I first tried to do something like this about 10 years ago. I wanted to put a microcontroller in every switch patress and network them across the mains using a TDA5051A modem. Unfortunately the size of the various components (including all the transformers and other passives) was too great for me to retrofit to exisitng hardware.I've come back to this recently, as I can now use a ZigBee module for comms, and by going surface mount I can get the required components in a very compact space.Never tried to do voice recognition in a socket, but that's a very interesting idea - have microphones in every patress and network them to create an array. |
Had enough of the iPad yet? | nishantmodak: You have just added to the buzz. :-) |
Had enough of the iPad yet? | icey: I've had enough of people posting just to complain about it. |
Do you need a seed investment to get VC? | peripatetic: No need for seed for the "connections." In fact a seed investment can kinda screw things up because you're deal won't be as clean.Only take on seed if you think it would improve your "funding profile" to VC's. So you need to evaluate 1. what your funding profile looks like now. 2. what it would look like after a seed investment. And remember more is not always better (meaning, sometime its better to show a little less results than more. ie "wow, these guys raised a $500k seed and still only grew at 2x...")PM me if you want to talk about your current vc fundability (i'm ex-vc, current ceo of startup) |
How to setup home systems that can control lights/temperature, etc? | turmon: X10 is one way (old, standard) to do this. It works by transmitting a couple of bits at each zero-crossing of the 60Hz house current. IE, it works over your existing electrical lines.I set up a system in my house, controlled partly by controllers in the switches themselves (push a button on a wall-mounted switch inside, it sends an X10 signal thru the house wiring to a listener in a box in the back yard). Also controlled by an always-on computer which can turn off lights at given times, or respond to scripts, or pokes over the internet.The potential is huge. But the reality, with X10, can be a bummer. At first the system worked quite well -- lights on and off at the correct time, good response to button presses. But for reasons not clear at all, the system performance gets flaky. I put in a repeater/phase coupler (e.g., http://www.smarthome.com/4823/Leviton-2-Phase-X10-Coupler-Re...), changed out some of the off-brand switches with Leviton parts, etc. This helped, but did not make the system solid.This turns out to be unacceptable. When you press a light switch, you need the light to come on (even if it's just a driveway light). Nobody in the house but me has the patience to use the X10 switches any more. But now, it would be a major pain to replace the X10 components because the cost and re-install time adds up. (E.g., one X10 dimmer is about $70. I have almost 10. One multi-unit wall controller is about $50, and I have almost 10 of those too.)I put this stuff in myself, but I don't think the problem was with the install. I'm an EE, I'm used to lab work, and I'm familiar with the NEC for home wiring.Perhaps a Zigbee, UPB, or Insteon system would be better.My lessons learned:
X10 doesn't work in my (modest-sized) house.
Don't commit to any home automation system without a long-term small-scale trial.
Don't use these components for critical tasks (like "turning on the heat so the pipes won't freeze", or "turning off the sprinkler system"). |
Do all the iPad articles really add something valuable? | DenisM: The rush of iPad news means there are a lot of lookers on HN and not enough makers. Makers care about tools and processes and generally stuff conductive of making, while lookers want to ogle. Lookers aren't bad people, but makers need to have their own place with high signal/noise ratio, while lookers tend to unwillingly destroy it when they show up in large numbers. |
What contact management system do you use | ScottWhigham: I'm just a small solo dev and a Windows guy so I just use MS Outlook. It's not great but it does 80% of what I want better than any other single tool. |
How does one actually buy gold | noonespecial: If you want real metal, your best bet is probably US Mint "gold eagle" coins.http://www.usmint.gov/mint_programs/?action=american_eaglesYou can also by stocks (in a gold mining company) or futures in a commodity market. There's also a dizzying number of derivatives.I gotta say though, its far from a certainty that now (or any time) is a "good" time to buy gold. Its just a commodity (and not a particularly useful one) that has some elements of currency because of its relative scarcity. It can suffer a plunge in value from a crisis in confidence like any other currency. It seems like a good bet against inflation, but if you took that bet in 1980 (the last historic high driven by inflation fears) you didn't recover until 2007!If you want a precious metals hedge, getting some silver (low value, easy to trade) or some platinum (actually useful for many things as well as valuable) wouldn't be a bad idea.One final thought, it is good to value food, shelter and clothing, but don't forget tools and weapons. If you get to the point where your food and clothes are a deciding factor, a good saw and a strong, sharp knife will be just as precious. |
What options exist for a recent CS graduate? | mbrubeck: Check out http://www.geekcorps.org/ who are working on community radio projects in Mali. I've talked to some Geekcorps volunteers who were using an open-source project that I maintained, and they seem to be doing good work. They've been operating for several years now. |
How does one actually buy gold | envitar: “It gets dug out of the ground in Africa, or someplace. Then we melt it down, dig another hole, bury it again and pay people to stand around guarding it. It has no utility. Anyone watching from Mars would be scratching their head.”
– Warren Buffett |
Does patronizing marketing material work? | docmach: Without naming names it's hard to know what you're talking about. If it's public marketing material why not provide a link? |
How does one actually buy gold | keefe: there's something to be said for buying property |
what are your favorite blogs? | kebaman: A good economic blog I like is 'The Big Picture' by Barry Ritholtz: http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/ |
Can you help me help a friend in need? | jacquesm: Why do you need exactly $1000 ? |
How does one actually buy gold | Rodyland: http://www.perthmint.com.au/investment_invest_in_gold_overvi... |
Getting started with CNC machinery... | jacquesm: Hey There.First of all, congratulations, now get yourself a pair of safety glasses and wear them, all the time. I'm seriously not kidding about this, it is one of the most important things that you could overlook and when you are just starting out with this the chances of an 'incident' are very large, bordering on certainty.Then, to give you some pointers I need to know a bit more about your machine, what size machine do you have, what is the working volume, stroke, power of the spindle motor and the kind of drive you've got (servos ? steppers ?).Is it a production machine or a rebuild ?What kind of materials do you intend to work ?What kind of workpieces do you intend to make ?Are you going to program the machine directly or are you going to set up a whole chain ? (cad package, translator, machine controller)-- do you know cnczone.com ? --Strike that, missed you mentioning cnczone in your comment.I think cnczone is by far the better forum for these kinds of questions, the people there have spent collectively multiple 100's of lifetimes programming, building and debugging cnc gear, this is a very interesting field to play around in.--In the few leftover hours that I've got I'm converting this rig:http://pics.ww.com/d/93690-2/dscf1225.jpgTo a modern simultaneous 4 axis controller. It's been lots of fun so far but rather a whole lot more work than anticipated. |
How does one actually buy gold | fexl: These are my favorite: http://bullion.nwtmint.com/gold_krugerrand.phpKrugerrands have the lowest premiums and are resistant to scratching. That particular vendor is highly professional. |
what do you think are the interesting alternative web frameworks? | gtani: Erlang: riak/ nitrogen comboScala: liftClojure: compojure, enlive.Smalltalk, seasidehaskell happstack (i think that's the one that's not dead |
Getting started with CNC machinery... | bootload: "... My question to everyone here that has (hopefully) messed about with CNC machinery is: how did you get started? Are there any online/ofline guides you would recommend? ..."The best resource is probably to contact your local hackerspace ~ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hackerspace Where do you find them ? ~ http://hackerspaces.org/wiki/List_of_Hacker_Spaces Playing with CNC machinery requires a bit of up-front knowledge and semi expensive kit so a hackerspace good place to ask questions.To give you an example of what you can do with CNC mills check out what vrogy builds with his own CNC mill ~ http://www.flickr.com/photos/vrogy/sets/72157602307522809/ You can get a good idea of what he's using for looking through his flick set ~ http://www.flickr.com/photos/vrogy/sets/ |
Getting started with CNC machinery... | frankus: I went back to school in a much more applied program (post-bacc at the Vehicle Research Institute at Western Washington University) than my undergrad (Engineering at Harvey Mudd). One of the classes we had to take was a basic CNC programming class. We started with hand-writing a program to carve our initials into a block of aluminum, all the way up to designing a much more complex part in a CAM system.Of course I haven't touched a CNC machine since. Depending on your project you may or may not be hand-writing G&M codes, but my understanding is that most professional work on anything but simple parts is done with a CAD/CAM package. |
How does one actually buy gold | yalurker: Historically, by the time inexperienced retail investors are hearing/thinking/talking about an investment, all the profit to be made is gone.When everyone was flipping houses every 6 months, that signaled the end of the housing bubble. When everyone was buying dot com IPOs, that was the end of the internet bubble. By the time Glen Beck is telling every Fox News viewer to buy gold...My point isn't to tell you what is, or isn't a good investment. Just pointing out that a little bit of knowledge can be a dangerous thing when investing. |
Rate my essay, please: On thinking | jcapote: I liked this. Good advice, I, too always feel like I must be either producing or consuming, but I never think about...thinking. |
Is my business idea viable? | bjoernw: http://www.sponsrme.com |
Is my business idea viable? | JacobAldridge: I think this is absolutely something that has potential.What I would like to see are some examples (fine if they're hypothetical at this stage) that subtly promote the benefits of using the service, both as someone looking for sponsors (which seems fairly obvious) and as somebody who might sponsor an event.A great example would help me get the product, if that makes sense. |
Is my business idea viable? | staunch: I think there's probably a ton of one-man businesses out there that want to buy advertising, but don't have the technical or financial means to do AdWords (or similar) effectively. If those people could risk $50-$100 on sponsoring some content to see what kind response they get, I think some would.If you can make it so people can generate sales by spending $50-$100 at a time that would be of great value.A newsletter seems like a very good idea, although I doubt you should restrict yourself to that. Also, I think many (not all) small businesses will want to advertise locally. You should make sure businesses only see requests for sponsorship they might conceivably sponsor.I don't like the domain at all. I think it'd be much better to find a single made up word that's brandable, or a multi-word domain that's not a misspelling.I don't know how you're planning to make money, but I don't think anyone would complain if you took a cut of the ad buy. |
Rate my essay, please: On thinking | jazzychad: Excellent. I found that when I started working from home that I felt like I had less time to think than when I would daily commute to my job. I became frustrated more easily. Then I finally decided to force myself to take time and just think.Full writeup here: http://bootstrapd.me/?p=534 |
Rate my essay, please: On thinking | brg: You extracted the best point made during the Mixergy interview with Seth Goodin, and I'm glad you are expanding around it.I think however your attempt to separate rumination from production is not valid. Ideas need to start somewhere, but their creation will be much more efficient if one actively attempts to find one than hoping one pops up from a walk in the park. Perhaps the distinction you are trying to making is better demonstrated by comparing research and labor, or as Edison put it, inspiration and perspiration. |
Why hasn't anyone done this sort of hack for (intro) textbooks? | jasonlbaptiste: Other idea is to build a network around everyone using a particular book. The popular books out there have thousands of students using them at the same time. There's probably a lot of value of connecting them all together. Notes, answers, questions, etc. |
Rate my essay, please: On thinking | staunch: Reminded me of http://www.paulgraham.com/island.htmlI thought it was good, and I've had a similar experience. |
Recommendations for Java Hosting? | chrisduesing: I have had a good experience with eApps.http://www.eapps.com/ |
Rate my essay, please: On thinking | meese_: Interesting essay. Kind of distracting how every sentence is followed by two spaces, though.Should listening to music necessarily be considered "consuming"? I go running all the time while listening to instrumentals, and it helps me concentrate.I too have a significant portion of my epiphanies while running or biking, or just walking away from what I was doing, staring at the ceiling, and thinking it over. Gazing into a computer screen seems to promote the narrowing down of ideas rather than the conception of new ones (if that).Also, has anyone else found showers extraordinarily easy to concentrate in? I'm not sure what it is (white noise?), but I often find that when I take a shower my stresses fade away and whatever problem I was having folds out with an obvious-in-hindsight solution. (I also take notoriously long showers, for this reason.) I really wish I could replicate this experience somewhere else; the only other time I've had it is occasionally when falling asleep (which also, incidentally, causes me to take much too long to fall asleep — not exactly an ideal combination). |
Graduate school admittance concerns | hga: Two best ways of getting into graduate school:1. Get a professor at your target graduate school to say "admit this guy" (i.e. he wants you to do research under him).2. Get recommendations by people who are known by professors in the admitting university. |
Rate my essay, please: On thinking | DTrejo: In Dijksterhuis 2004:George Spencer Brown has famously said about Sir Isaac Newton that “to arrive at the simplest truth, as Newton knew and practiced, requires years of contemplation. Not activity. Not reasoning. Not calculating. Not busy behavior of any kind. Not reading. Not talking. Not making an effort. Not thinking. Simply bearing in mind what it is that one needs to know.”– The Black Swan by Nassim TalebI purposefully don't listen to music when I walk places. I enjoy thinking and taking in my surroundings. However, I probably still don't think enough. Thanks for this article!Side note: Please don't justify the text if you don't have to, it makes it harder to read. Thanks! |
Rate my essay, please: On thinking | tigerthink: I have way more ideas for stuff to work on than time and energy to work with. |
Graduate school admittance concerns | zzleeper: Everything depends on the LoRs.. as the other reply said. |
Rate my essay, please: On thinking | JshWright: "Next time you read a blog, stop afterwards and think about it"Great... Now I'm stuck in an infinite recursion, thinking about your blog about thinking about blogs... |
Rate my essay, please: On thinking | ahlatimer: I found the same thing through yoga, meditation, and showers. I didn't think all that much while actually doing yoga, but there was a certain clarity of mind that made it easy to go sit on a park bench and think out my problems much easier. At the pace my life is currently going, I have given up yoga and meditation. Thank you for giving me a gentle push to pick it up again (even if yoga, specifically, isn't what you were suggesting). |
How does one actually buy gold | joeycfan: Don't buy it at the Toronto Airport.Vendor there was selling 1/25 oz coins for $120 Cdn - that's $3,000 / oz.It's not supposed to get that expensive until this time next year! |
Rate my essay, please: On thinking | kowen: This reminds me of the movie/book 'The Peaceful Warrior' by Dan Miller (... there's never _nothing_ going on!)There are two distinct 'incubation' type behaviors that I have observed - one is the internal thinking that you describe in this essay (showers, running, walks, yoga, or just sitting on the edge of a cliff and looking at the world).The second type of incubation behavior is a type of 'prattling on'. Doodling, drawing mind maps, morning pages, stream of consciousness, etc.Mind you - mind maps can be used very constructively, but sometimes it's just a type of brain dump.I find that the second type of processing is useful when my mind is so full that I get stuck in an idle loop: nothing useful coming out at all; a cross between analysis paralysis and broken record. |
Why hasn't anyone done this sort of hack for (intro) textbooks? | Fixnum: I haven't really investigated, but I suspect that in the introductory math/phys/chem courses you'll find that variable names/values also change in various ways. So in keeping track of what's "different or new", you end up not needing just dependencies but, realistically (in terms of reader convenience, but also due to difficulty of parsing OCR'd math problems to determine which are 'isomorphic'), all the problems from the latest edition. Which might not quite be 'fair use.'I am not sure about other courses like bio or psych.Good luck solving the textbook problem, though ... |
Rate my essay, please: On thinking | losethos: Take-up smoking ;-)It's good for meditation. |
How do you find designers and animators? | nreece: Have a look at http://99designs.com |
Ask HN:: Review My Webapp | mattm: I've had this idea in mind for about a year now and finally got around to doing it. I'd be interested in any feedback you have. Since I'm not really a marketing person, I'd be interested if you have suggestions on where to market the site. I am trying out Google Adwords but would appreciate any other suggestions. Thanks. |
Rate my essay, please: On thinking | frossie: I realise it is probably rude to ask this, but how old are you?The reason I ask, is that you comment that this is a symptom of your generation's upbringing, but the reality is that there is also a simple age component in this.When I was young, I used to devour books while commuting on public transport. Occasionally I would glance up at the older commuters and see them sitting there, staring into nothing, and would think "Gee how can they just stand there doing NOTHING". Now I am one of those people - given 5 minutes with nobody fighting for my attention I just sit there and grab the opportunity to think.In other words as life starts throwing more things at you, the necessity of defending some thinking space becomes more apparent, irrespective of which generation you belong to. |
Ask HN:: Review My Webapp | cmelbye: Very nice idea, with a slick widget appearance. The actual feed management interface could use a bit of work, though. After I add a Twitter account/RSS feeds, is there a button to get out of the "new digest" wizard and back to the list of them? Also, could you explain what exactly a "digest" is somewhere in that new digest form? I didn't really know what I was creating. Finally, some of that sample code is a bit iffy. I believe the PHP code will cause the page load to hang while it's waiting to download the page from your server, and if your server is down it will hang for a long time. Very cool idea, just apply a little polish. |
Rate my essay, please: On thinking | mnemonicsloth: The second part, about running and thinking, is good stuff.The first three paragraphs are a turn-off because they're about you and not your topic. They feel tacked-on.I'm just guessing here, but maybe when you got the idea for this essay you didn't quite know how to lead into it? |
Interested in using Lisp for IMAP with SSL and S3? | vsync: Yes please |
looking for a linux script/app to block my Internet from 10pm-6am? | csmeder: note: I didn't have TV and still don't (as it would foil this plan)... |
looking for a linux script/app to block my Internet from 10pm-6am? | ecyrb: as su, add crontab entries to call ifup and ifdown:
("crontab -e" to edit crontab)* 22 * * * ifdown eth<X>* 6 * * * ifup eth<X>where <X> is your ethernet interface. |
Is my business idea viable? | ElbertF: You can make almost any business idea work if you're a good enough sales person, making a website and wait is not going to get you far. If you get enough people to use it, how do you plan to make money? |
what do you think are the interesting alternative web frameworks? | ElbertF: I wonder what people think of my PHP framework Swiftlet. The latest stable release is still missing some features but it works very well for simple sites.http://swiftlet.org |
Router resale and FCC certification | dpifke: Reading this decision, I would say you're likely to run into issues with the FCC if they were to find out about it:http://www.fcc.gov/eb/Orders/2008/DA-08-167A1.htmlRelevant quote:If the radio frequency equipment is modified by any party other than the grantee and that party is not working under the authorization of the grantee pursuant to Sec. 2.929(b), the party performing the modification is responsible for compliance of the product with the applicable administrative and technical provisions in this chapter.In other words, if it's a certified device (has an FCC ID number on the label), you would need to obtain a new certification (new FCC ID) after making your modifications. Doing so would probably eat whatever profits you stand to make (and then some). |
Rate my essay, please: On thinking | Asa-Nisse: The essay is a little bit on the light side. For starters I dont think you bring the reader in with your opening paragraph.I would start with the second paragraph instead. It's much more interesting.Since you dont reveal how old you are I'm assuming you are < 25. Speaking as someone thats older than that I would say that I have been feeling the same as you do from time to time in regards to the "I must be doing something". And I agree its a problem if you dont know how to "turn it off".If its any comfort I do know that excellence and aspiring to great things are a universal truth however. There is no such thing as a lost generation or losing the ability to think. You might look up to great individuals that seems like they are towering now, but trust me, in years to come you'll realise they are just as human with weaknesses and flaws like everyone else.It's what you do at your best that counts. |
Graduate school admittance concerns | babycakes: I went from the University of Arkansas (sub-top 100, electrical engineering) into the direct Ph.D. program at Purdue University (top 10, electrical and computer engineering) with a three-year fellowship. Among my classmates were students from Michigan Tech, Tennessee Tech, University of Kentucky, Southern University, Florida A&M, Iowa State University, Colorado State University, and UTEP. If I were in your shoes, I would:1. Volunteer for undergraduate research.
2. Get those letters of recommendation lined up, especially from your research advisor.
3. Identify professors at each school you'd like to work with and contact them directly* about your desire to work with them. Be specific about what you want to work on.
4. Ask your research advisor to review your research statement. Be warned that he/she may try to talk you into staying.Also, if you think you want a Ph.D., apply for the direct Ph.D. program. Professors are significantly more likely to take a Ph.D. than a M.S. because they get you for 5-7 years instead of two. You also get preferential funding opportunities. You can always change your mind later.* Many professors will ignore you. Don't be offended. Professors at distinguished schools get dozens of these emails. |
Rate my essay, please: On thinking | nedwin: The quality and quantity of feedback on this essay is a good signifier of a great HN community. |
Ask HN:iPad and chrome-os might be disruptive, how can Microsoft react? | ippisl: Microsoft should built some controlled version of it's os, using applications verified for safety , speed.And then use those applications to conquer many vertical markets for the non-techies crowd.for example: Microsoft should built some platform using mathematica or similar software to sell interactive educational math books. With right way of selling it to colleges this could work very well. |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.