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Why is there so much talk about git but little about mercurial | thomasmallen: Mercurial is widely used...> Has mercurial failed?I'm not sure why you equate hype with success. Anyway, Hg is an awesome tool. I love FreeHg too. I use it to manage my .vim/vimfiles, amongst other things. |
Why is there so much talk about git but little about mercurial | DenisM: Alas neither can support effective work in large repositories: at my day job we have about 100gb repository (just one branch), but most people only use 4Gb at a time. Except the build servers - they get the most of the stuff at once. Perforce lets you create partial enlistment and only get the 4gb you need, while both Git and Hg require pulling entire 100Gb over the network.There's been very little progress on these issues as well - both communities seem to be content with relatively small repositories. Sad. |
Why is there so much talk about git but little about mercurial | DougBTX: I first heard about Git when the guy who wrote most of of stood up and did an empassioned Google Tech Talk about it. I'm loathe to pick it out as marketing, because that invites the idea that any communication is marketing communication. But communication is important, I've never heard a Mercurial dev get up and talk good about their project.Is git technically better? I have no idea, git works fine for me, someone will have to get up and point out why Hg is so great before I even try it. |
What's your favorite embedded system? | joe_bleau: My favorite embedded stuff has always been self-designed. |
What are your favorite talks/videos? | bemmu: Luis von Ahn - Human Computationhttp://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8246463980976635143 |
Why is there so much talk about git but little about mercurial | bkbleikamp: When is MercurialHub.com launching? |
Why is there so much talk about git but little about mercurial | yesimahuman: I love mercurial. Works on windows/linux too and bitbucket.org is great. |
What's your favorite embedded system? | bootload: "... What's your favorite embedded system? ..."Arduino ~ http://arduino.cc/Hands down the cheapest, most open-sourced and fun stuff you can play with. I know it doesn't run Linux, but the cost, expandability through open-design and toolchain make it worth considering for prototyping. |
Why is there so much talk about git but little about mercurial | kaens: Git gets talked about a lot because it's a good tool, and was written by Linus Torvalds - which basically ensures that a whole lot of people will try it out. Since it's pretty damn good at what it does, most of those people kept on using it. |
What's your favorite embedded system? | bayareaguy: http://www.soekris.com has good stuff |
Why is there so much talk about git but little about mercurial | ken: What do you want us to say about it? I use it every day at work and at home, and it's a solid DVCS; I don't talk about grep (or any of my other tools), either, but that doesn't mean grep "failed".It could be where you hang out. I heard about Git a lot when I was using Rails, because Rails used it. I hear a lot about Github here on HN, because it's a cool web startup. If you go someplace where Hg is used (and there are some big projects) you see a very different picture. |
Why is there so much talk about git but little about mercurial | schtog: I never used a vcs before but tried git and it was very easy to use and together with github(which really is superawesome) it is truly super. |
What's a modern equivalent of the 80's "War Games" movie? | bemmu: The feel of the computer culture back then was so different. Perhaps now the reality of the web itself is enough? We don't need movies about cyberspace any longer, it's here now, and that's exciting. |
Has your handwriting suffered from years on the keyboard? | ErrantX: yes - a lot.Partly from lack of practice but also from RSI which gives me cramps :(EDIT: I'm in my twenties too |
Has your handwriting suffered from years on the keyboard? | stanley: Most definitely, both in quality and speed. It shouldn't come as a surprise though, if you don't use it you lose it. |
Has your handwriting suffered from years on the keyboard? | lallysingh: I think more than a few of us start typing so early that it's hard to separate the two.OTOH, I find that the kinds of pen & paper I use have a significant effect on the quality of my handwriting. |
Has your handwriting suffered from years on the keyboard? | epi0Bauqu: It always sucked. |
Has your handwriting suffered from years on the keyboard? | jjs: My handwriting was always bad, and deserved to suffer. :P |
Has your handwriting suffered from years on the keyboard? | alex_c: Not really, I've always had terrible handwriting. Never had the patience to do all the silly writing exercises back in grade 1 :pOn the other hand, I do all my brainstorming and to-do lists on paper (and occasionally whiteboard), so I don't think I'll ever be completely out of practice. |
Has your handwriting suffered from years on the keyboard? | crux: My handwriting was always pretty bad and erratic; no doubt because I spent most of my time at a keyboard. But a couple years ago I decided to basically engineer myself a style of handwriting, first designing an alphabet, then training myself to use it (and only it). That project has grown to something of a full-fledged writing system. I would recommend to any geeks that they take a couple weeks to work out something for themselves and then try to learn it. It's been quite satisfying. |
Has your handwriting suffered from years on the keyboard? | electromagnetic: My handwriting quality has actually improved, but I've been using a computer since I was about 4 so I guess the only thing that could happen was improvement! |
Has your handwriting suffered from years on the keyboard? | critke: Yep. It's nuts. The only thing I write by hand is to-dos into my small notebook. And it really sucks when I can't figure out what I have to do because I can't read what I wrote. |
Has your handwriting suffered from years on the keyboard? | eddycole: I can'r really comment on the quality of my own handwriting (nerve damage in my right arm from motorcycle accident years ago means limited dexterity in that hand) but observing others, like my daughter, her friends, etc. handwriting - yes, handwriting quality seems to be suffering. As is grammer, sentence structure, and punctuation. ;^)I fear that like many of the skills we as people used on a daily basis, computers, automation and our 'convenience oriented' lifestyles are causing us to lose those skills like handwriting. |
Has your handwriting suffered from years on the keyboard? | vaksel: Of course it has. Especially since in the last 3 years, I haven't written one sentence on a piece of paper(I don't count filling out checks, signing credit card slips, or writing a shopping list).In fact my writing is so bad, I find it easier to type out a shopping list in notepad and print it out, than write it on a piece of paper. Why? Because if I write it on a piece of paper, I most likely won't be able to read all of it, when I actually get to the store. |
Has your handwriting suffered from years on the keyboard? | symptic: My handwriting has been very neat and tight. I write in cursive and in pencil, since being left-handed is horrible with pens, but people complain about it being too small and too light.Woe is me? :P |
Has your handwriting suffered from years on the keyboard? | zack: I actually have pretty good handwriting, so no. My handwriting has perhaps only improved from years on the keyboard. Coding and related pursuits are, for me, creative activities; my handwriting, I feel, is a manifestation of this temperament. |
Has your handwriting suffered from years on the keyboard? | thomasmallen: No, because I usually plan things out on paper. |
Has your handwriting suffered from years on the keyboard? | baha_man: Yes, definitely. I find that using a fountain pen improves my handwriting, as well as being more pleasurable than using a biro. |
Why is there so much talk about git but little about mercurial | aupajo: Try both, choose for yourself. |
Has your handwriting suffered from years on the keyboard? | joe_the_user: FM Alexander argued that the process of learning handwriting was detrimental to the functioning of the human organism. The sooner computer abolish the activity, the better. |
Has your handwriting suffered from years on the keyboard? | time_management: Just as the quality of the language determines that of your code, the quality of your pen determines that of your handwriting. When I use a nice pen, my handwriting's pretty good. When I use a cheap pen, it looks like that of a six-year-old. |
Has your handwriting suffered from years on the keyboard? | qqq: i don't know. i'd have to do some hand writing to find out. |
Has your handwriting suffered from years on the keyboard? | petercooper: Use it or lose it. It's like asking if your weight has suffered from years of sitting on a couch eating pizza every night.If you type a lot but you also continue to write a lot, your handwriting will be a lot better than if you write a lot less due to keyboard use. |
Has your handwriting suffered from years on the keyboard? | Dilpil: Taking higher level math classes is a good way to force yourself to maintain good handwriting. You quickly learn that if you want to have any chance of finishing a question, your going to have to write your solution neatly and in easily readable steps. |
Has your handwriting suffered from years on the keyboard? | m_eiman: You'll never know if it's better or worse than it would have been without a computer. It might be worse, but it might also be better. Some professions who write a lot are notorious for their bad handwriting, e.g. doctors. And I dare you to read anything my grandfather has written, and he writes most everything by hand! |
Has your handwriting suffered from years on the keyboard? | mickt: My handwriting has always looked like a spider fell in an inkwell and the ran across a page. After 10 years using a keyboard, all I can say is that my hand writing has gotten even worse. I do find that if I use a really good pen, it doesn't have to be expensive, that I can write reasonably well, bit it's still crap ... :) |
Has your handwriting suffered from years on the keyboard? | brentr: I hate my handwriting. When I have to turn something in, I always type it. Since I am studying mathematics right now, that means I format almost everything using LaTeX. |
Has your handwriting suffered from years on the keyboard? | puzzle-out: My handwriting: lower case - bad and getting worse; upper case - rock steady. Thankfully most written applications ask for upper case anyhow. |
Has your handwriting suffered from years on the keyboard? | kajecounterhack: My handwriting grew a lot worse when I shifted from a written diary to a typed blog... |
Has your handwriting suffered from years on the keyboard? | fauigerzigerk: Yes it has, very much so! It's funny that you say this because all people I've been telling about it have been shaking their heads in disbelief. I was starting to think I'm insane or something. |
Has your handwriting suffered from years on the keyboard? | Zev: I personally think my handwriting sucks. But lots of other people tell me that it's actually pretty good. I think thats just because I tend to write big whenever possible - it's impossible to read my handwriting when i write small. |
Has your handwriting suffered from years on the keyboard? | mdakin: If you want to do something about the problem I highly recommend:"Write Now" by Barbara Getty and Inga Dubay [1]It is a workbook-style introduction to "italic" handwriting. I worked through it a few years ago and to this day my handwriting is still legible. (It was not prior; the learning process was triggered by the realization that consistently I could not read my own handwriting.)[1] http://www.amazon.com/Write-Now-Complete-Program-Handwriting... |
Has your handwriting suffered from years on the keyboard? | mmmurf: tremendously |
Has your handwriting suffered from years on the keyboard? | jfoutz: no. my handwriting has always sucked. |
Has your handwriting suffered from years on the keyboard? | tdavis: My handwriting is nearly illegible, even to me. I think the main problem is that I try to make writing as efficient and fast as typing which results in blobs that don't necessarily look like words. I still prototype stuff on paper, but if I haven't looked at a diagram in a while I sometimes have to guess as to what I wrote.That being said, I have the ability to provide very nice handwriting, but it requires an obscene amount of time and it hurts my hand after a while. |
Has your handwriting suffered from years on the keyboard? | rms: No, it was always terrible. |
Has your handwriting suffered from years on the keyboard? | Tangurena: I found that the thing that affected my handwriting the worst was when I was studying Japanese. Now my handwriting is close to illegible in both Roman and Japanese scripts.Writing with a ballpoint, my handwriting gets worse. I've found that I need to use a fountain pen to keep it legible (as long as it stays dry) because those pens require more attention to angle/pressure/etc in order to write. The pen I use is a Namiki retractible, which entertains some folks. |
Has your handwriting suffered from years on the keyboard? | dkokelley: No, but that's because I started using a tablet for day to day computing. |
Has your handwriting suffered from years on the keyboard? | kaens: My handwriting basically looks like a five-year-old's.Doesn't help that I'm left-handed either. |
Has your handwriting suffered from years on the keyboard? | grouchyOldGuy: My handwriting was never good, but thirty years of all-day use of a keyboard, it has definitely suffered. I find that I frequently misspell words (even my name), not because I don't know how to spell, but because my motor skills have atrophied enough that I get odd twitches when writing. My block printing is legible however, perhaps in part because of the mechanical drawing course that I took in college when I was an engineering major. The instructor was anal about the formation of letters and numbers. Other than shopping lists (even those are often typed and printed), I rarely write anything any more. When I sent out Christmas cards, I practiced writing before committing pen to card. |
Has your handwriting suffered from years on the keyboard? | raamdev: I was home-schooled my entire life. I wrote everything on the computer; notes, todo's, letters, essays, everything. My dad is a writer and he would give me essays and books to grammar-check for him when I was young, so my English grammar is pretty good. My handwriting, however, is so embarrassing. I write in all capital letters and it looks like chicken-scratch. Hell, I can't honestly say I even know how to write all the cursive letters!I'm 26 and I know my writing isn't going to magically get any better with time. I've been looking for good material to help teach myself how to handwrite, but I haven't found much. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong place (or not hard enough).If anyone has any suggestions for improving my handwriting, I would love to hear them. (I saw the post about the "Write Now" book, and I'm definitely going to pick that up.) |
Has your handwriting suffered from years on the keyboard? | jfarina: I've been reading off a computer screen since I was 5. I'm so used to type, I can barely read cursive. |
Has your handwriting suffered from years on the keyboard? | dfranke: I block-print in small caps. It looks decent but takes a long time to grind out. |
Has your handwriting suffered from years on the keyboard? | zitterbewegung: No it hasn't. I have been printing since grade school because my handwriting sucked to begin with. I have been typing since then also. |
Has your handwriting suffered from years on the keyboard? | bwd: People still write things by hand? |
Has your handwriting suffered from years on the keyboard? | Erf: I grew up using a computer. My penmanship lessons in school were botched. I started typing all my homework from fourth grade onwards. My handwriting, to this day, is only borderline legible. |
Does your ACM chapter suck? | dangrover: This is my school's: http://acm.ccs.neu.eduIt's okay -- I was involved for a couple years, then got sick of it. We've had some decent speakers. |
Gaming Startups | rtf: I work in console game development, I've made Flash games, and I spent a week trying with a startup. (Subsequently I returned to console games.) Long post ahead.When speaking of console gaming there is a considerably larger amount of formality and regulation than most web startups because of the influence manufacturers and publishers have. You work on their hardware, you are funded by hitting their milestone definitions, you are beholden to their marketing plans, and you cannot get distribution without their approvals. Studios that do big AAA titles are perpetually one project away from bankruptcy because big games ramp up to a huge staff for full production(which ideally occurs once the major unknowns of the gameplay, prototypes, engine, tools, pipeline etc. have been worked out) and unless they have a new project waiting once the first one ships, they're burning through massive overhead and face firing half or more of their employees or shutting down. The place I work for specifically avoids taking on big projects because of crushing past experiences.Independents face a problem more similar to the early-stage startup of getting traction in the marketplace. They typically succeed via radical product differentiation, since the other angle(high quality) is covered by console developers already. This market has diverged into many subsets - to name the major ones: downloadable games, browser-based multiplayer, Flash games... each one has different production requirements and monetization strategies. While you can find plenty of success stories....there are also plenty of starving indies out there. As well, indies (as a rule) are less likely to make their games available as an ongoing, continuously improved service in the way a web company does. But the ones that go the service route, in my eyes, are more likely to succeed long-term than those following a "shipped product" model. To succeed as an indie you really need a rabid fanbase that follows your brand; the alternative is to jump onto the bandwagon of the week(casual games, girl games, etc.) and peddle your clone against 10000 other clones, which ultimately leads to a quality war and the console market situation.Finally.....the biggest difference between websites and games is collision detection. To put it the way my boss does, "collision is gameplay." Not all games need collision, but those which involve simulated physical interactions do, and that requirement comes up astoundingly often, so it's a cornerstone game programming task. Plus, the particular implementation of collision radically influences the game so it's not a matter of dropping in library code.That's not to say that the programming's the only problem - art is a problem because it always takes a long time, and game design is an unbounded-size problem. Solid game design happens after prototyping many different gameplay mechanics in isolation, keeping the ones that work, and then iterating over their integration until a satisfactory combination is achieved. This means: do a lot of work. Throw most of the work out. The leftover crumbs ship.An ambitious project I am taking on now in my spare time is the angle of simplifying the game development process itself, with a website that promotes sharing and reuse of game-related content under Creative Commons. Long-term I want to add editing tools to create specific game types, but that is an easy task to underestimate and the web entrepreneurs that I've seen take it on so far have either grossly cut back on the features to get something done in a few weeks(making the service mostly useless) or allowed the scope to grow too large, finally failing after a depressingly massive effort. (see Gameclay) |
Has your handwriting suffered from years on the keyboard? | zkarcher: Y |
Has your handwriting suffered from years on the keyboard? | timothyandrew: Oh, yeah. |
Gaming Startups | DarkShikari: If you want to look at an interesting example of a successful independent game designer, look at ZUN, the developer of the wildly popular Touhou Project shmup series. You'll notice a few things:1. He's stuck to a genre that, while still quite popular, does not require an enormous development team. The place for gaming startups is not in the business of the "big players", but working on games whose main attraction is creative content and enjoyable gameplay, not high-end graphics and enormous amounts of hand-crafted content. Because of this, ZUN can develop roughly one game a year for the most popular amateur (doujin) game series in Japan in his spare time... and still have time to work full-time at Taito corporation! See Braid for another example of a relatively low-budget game that made it big.2. The primary attraction of his games is probably the incredibly well-made musical scores: each game has a full soundtrack, with tracks for every level and boss fight. This serves as a "grab": the easiest way to get someone's attention is a case of "that looks cool" or "that sounds cool." His games certainly do the latter. If you can get a talented artist, music is not something that inherently takes a great deal of time to produce, unlike enormous amounts of 3D modeling or other forms of content. Most importantly, people simply like listening to good music while playing a game: if you find people are turning off the music to play their own during a game, you have done it wrong.3. In the end, remember that enormous resources and marketing are not necessary to create a game. ZUN has certainly proven this true: he has gone from making hobby games in college to being the sole developer of a game series so popular that the fanbase has its own concert, its own convention so large it rents out the Tokyo Big Sight convention center, and makes up almost 5% of Comiket. Yet he never did any significant marketing--his fans marketed the game for him. And he still outright refuses to sign any rights over to a major corporation for any sort of higher-budget game or non-game adaptation.Now, perhaps ZUN was lucky. Or perhaps in one of his drunken moments (he's notorious for his love of beer), he struck a goldmine of brilliance that allowed him to become so successful. But he's certainly not unique: the way to success for a small games developer is to make niche games and acquire a dedicated fanbase, not to aim at the Halo market. |
Does your ACM chapter suck? | hapless: Why did you expect "the world’s largest educational and scientific computing society" to welcome your "entrepreneurship" ?That's just not what they're about. |
How to implement a custom rating system (with a declining date relevance)? | olefoo: Why not just calculate it as an insert trigger but only look at the current day and have a table that stores a running total per item/day. That way you never have to go back to calculate days that are done.And yes, this is more expensive up front, since you're taking a hit per insert; but your data base is always current. |
Single Programmer Testing | dpapathanasiou: You can (and should) write unit tests for every new function, even as a single developer.Here's an article you might find helpful: http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/library/j-test.htmlAlso, wikipedia has a list of unit testing frameworks by language: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unit_testing_frameworks |
you're rich, now what? | cperciva: Write the world's most secure cryptographic library. |
you're rich, now what? | brk: Do it again.Once is luck. Twice is skill. |
you're rich, now what? | thomasmallen: Maybe I'd found a zoo. |
you're rich, now what? | kirubakaran: 1. I'll spend time learning well. My current disjointed knowledge frustrates me. [math, physics and computer science]2. I'll work on creating beautiful, useful, innovative products.3. Backpacking, flying paper planes, watching cartoons, video games, reading fiction by the fireplace, writing, etc4. I'll fund cool projects using the YC model.[I do these things now on a smaller scale. If I'm rich, I'll be able to do much more of these, which would be awesome.] |
you're rich, now what? | code_devil: invest your money in social causes, if possible your time into it as well. OR spend more time on working what you did to be rich on the first place, so you can spend even more on social causes BUT do take out time to relax and enjoy with loved ones as well. |
you're rich, now what? | mooneater: Time to change the world. |
you're rich, now what? | rcoder: Improve the world: start a charitable foundation; support amazing candidates for public office; invest in social services for developing nations.Improve yourself: go back to school and get a degree in history, or music, or art; travel to another continent and live somewhere new long enough to learn the language; write a book, and read a lot of other peoples'.Improve others: get your teaching certificate (usually <1 year of school) and teach math to middle-school students; tutor kids at a local library or after-school program in computers; adopt. |
you're rich, now what? | ashleyw: • Move to the SF area
• Attend loads of cool conferences
• Splash out on some new gear — a new Mac for starters
• Be able to spend a lot more time on personal projects
• Start a new startup; its not work if you enjoy doing it. ;) |
you're rich, now what? | swombat: Examine my life with more attention.(see http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/24198.html ) |
you're rich, now what? | edw519: 2 chicks |
you're rich, now what? | critke: Goof off for a while. Then do it again. Because goofing off is only fun for a while. |
you're rich, now what? | look_lookatme: Live between Mexico, LA and NYC. Spend my days dallying.Share the wealth with my family. |
you're rich, now what? | stcredzero: Philip Greenspun has some thoughts:http://philip.greenspun.com/non-profit/http://philip.greenspun.com/materialism/early-retirement/ |
you're rich, now what? | maurycy: To be rich means a lot of things. You can be named rich if you have either $10M or $10bn in the bank.Let's say, realistically, that I have $10M.First of all I'd cut all unnecessary costs, rent a smaller flat and spend a year thinking about my life, studying something just to clean my mind, collecting startup ideas. It is important not to freak out.Then, I can either go back to the university or start another company. I think it depends on my thoughts during this gap year. |
you're rich, now what? | kirubakaran: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=79057 for reference. |
you're rich, now what? | pstinnett: Depending on HOW wealthy I am:- Clean up all friends/family student loans and credit
- Build a new house, buy anything I want
- Start a college fund for my nephew
- Do it again |
you're rich, now what? | okeumeni: No more need of VC to do the things I want to do. |
you're rich, now what? | jws: Finding myself in a similar situation, my answer is... "I don't know, I've spent all my attention getting this done, I'll work on what comes next now."Most people give me the eye like "Ah ha! He has some plan that he isn't ready to divulge.", but really. I don't know. I'm working on it now. |
you're rich, now what? | albertcardona: You've got to be kidding me. What not to do? But at least be sure to keep some cushion of money somewhere, perhaps properly, securely invested. |
you're rich, now what? | adrianh: Become a professional musician, and hack on things on the side. |
you're rich, now what? | time_management: Crank out a novel. Then try another startup. |
you're rich, now what? | raju: I don't work for a startup, and I don't own one - But to answer your question -To me being rich is not about money, its about being able to do what I want to do, when I want to do it. Money only buys me freedom, and thats it.Having said that, I would sit back, kick of my shoes for a couple of months, and spend time introspecting. What's my purpose, what do I want out of life. Then go out the pursue that.Spending time on a quiet beach sounds great, but gets old quickly.And yes, 2 chicks :D |
you're rich, now what? | mrtron: I would keep enough cash so I wouldn't have to work for someone again (including investors).Then I would continue doing things similar to now, but with no business model in mind. I would also travel more.Sadly(?) I think thats all that would change. |
you're rich, now what? | ercowo: spend time with my wife. walk the dog. go for hikes / ski / see the outdoors. read books on philosophy. generally, lead a life of quiet contemplation |
you're rich, now what? | trey: hoard my money and not share a red cent |
you're rich, now what? | noonespecial: Honestly, keep it a secret. Live like I've been living and worry much less.I've found (by other people I know actually getting rich) that there's really nothing you can say or do with your money where you won't come off as a condescending prick to someone who knew you and imagines that they are in some small (or not so small) part responsible for your current success.Failing the "keep it a secret" part, Warren Buffet's life suggests that just implementing the second part will go a long way in itself. |
you're rich, now what? | cmos: Expand the basement laboratory and revolutionize the world. Again. |
you're rich, now what? | ig1: Non-profit work, my two main ideas are an mturk for charity work and a decent career guidance website. |
you're rich, now what? | aaronblohowiak: Mega mega rich: I would create an electromagnetic cannon to help us escape earth more cheaply and rapidly, and invest in technologies to help us colonize other planets.Leisure rich: I would study martial arts, get personal training every day, and work on projects with my friends. |
you're rich, now what? | pg: I know this isn't the sense of "now" the question intended, but what I'd recommend is taking a long vacation, to clear your head. You can't usually do this immediately after selling, because you have to work for the acquirer for a while. But when you finally leave the acquirer the best thing you can do is go somewhere far away for at least a month. |
you're rich, now what? | schtog: 1. Pay off everything for me and my closest family.
2. Buy house on Hawaii and in Whistler.
3. Batmobile.
4. Try to solve a big, hard problem that I didn't have the means to before. Perhaps not one as "pie in the sky" as "make solar power work" or "cure cancer" but something along those lines. |
you're rich, now what? | jodrellblank: Grow my hair long (again) and get someone good to make it look stylish and neat. Buy some nice clothes, such that I don't have to worry about not having any sense of clothes.No office dress code, woohoo.Do some startup funding on useful wearable keyboards, better software for small helpdesks/teams (I have plenty of ideas), better software/user interfaces for virtual desktops, but with grouped applications by user task.Inject self replicating nanobots under all of Africa, acting as a synthetic water table, pumping, purifying, filtering seawater from the coast and bringing it inland, then piping it up to the surface.Secretly hire a contracting company to rip out the traffic lights at a nearby road island and replace them with my new design. Keep stats and, when convincing enough, announce the change to all and pressure to get all traffic lights in the country moved over.Bring some ultra-fantastic business internet access to this area for a reasonable cost, spam the town with wifi and build a couple of good datacenters around, buy various shop facilities around the town and surreptitiously start selling the right kinds of interesting things, buy a couple of central indoor spaces and run barcamp/unconvention/XYZcons regularly. Try to seed and cultivate a high tech, hacker friendly yet quirky and personal friendly cafe style environment around here. Or maybe in another country with better weather. Or maybe both.Daydream, in other words, while feeling awkward, guilty and undeserving. |
you're rich, now what? | MaysonL: Join Esther Dyson in funding Fluidinfo. |
you're rich, now what? | strlen: Get a house in the Santa Cruz mountains large enough to hold a decent sized library and a miniature lab/computer history museum, invest the money to get a speedy Internet connection there. For the next few years spend the rest of the time reading, writing code (especially code that can't immediately be "something people want": design and write programming languages and OSes "just for fun") doing photography (build out a proper studio and dark room) and collect historical/esoteric hardware (e.g. PDP-10s, VAXen).Then in few years, attempt another start-up (but without risking my entire wealth on it - won't put more $100k into it) and if that fails, take a job (without regards to pay or seniority of position) at a research lab / university / technology company I believe in. |
you're rich, now what? | sivers: I sold my startup a few months ago for enough cash that I never have to work or worry about money again. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=341565I went to the most peaceful spot I could find, and relaxed. I did nothing. http://www.vimeo.com/1292105After only a couple days, it was never more clear that I was never doing anything for the money anyway, and the reason I'm always working, driving, pushing, learning, growing, and building companies is NOT about the future-goal but increasing the quality of my present moment. It's exciting! It's fun!So, I started working again. Not because I have to, but beacuse I want to. It makes my brain spark in a way that not-working doesn't.So here I am again, programming, excited about some new thing I'm working on, exactly the same as before I sold the company. I didn't buy anything because there's nothing I want. My debts were already paid off.Philip Greenspun's article really does describe it best. http://philip.greenspun.com/materialism/early-retirement/So does Felix Dennis' book How to Get Rich. http://www.amazon.com/dp/1591842050Feel free to contact me directly if you have any specific questions you don't feel comfortable posting on the board here. http://sivers.org- Derek |
you're rich, now what? | subpixel: Keep it a secret, and try to make a difference: http://is.gd/bPVr |
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