captain_mars

I've had the same experience.

Recently, we were visited by my sister-in-law. We ended up talking about a topic, say Topic X. Topic X _never_ comes up when I and my wife are alone; it is simply not a part of our life. We have been married for 15 years, without talking about it even once.

However, it did come up while talking with my s-i-l, and my Android phone was lying nearby. Minutes later, after my sister in law had left, I was presented a Topic X - related ad on YouTube.

It was displayed only once, I ignored it, and no Topic X - related ad was shown after that.

I'd rather spend time with my family on our own terms and not because I have to support them.

Speaking as an Asian, I grew up in a culture where parents, and elders in general, are super-important. Things are changing now, but many of us are still very close to our parents.

In old-school thought, taking care of one's parents is seen not as an obligation, but as an opportunity to serve them, and to repay them (in some small measure) for the love and care we have received from them in our childhood.

When my grandfather passed away suddenly and unexpectedly in his 60s, my father was distraught that he did not get an opportunity to serve him.

My point is, many of us view the situation differently - not as a burden, but as an opportunity.

However, it is undeniable that sometimes it can be a burden, and for those situations, it would have been excellent to have the government take care of the elderly, as it is done in your country.

Edit: A typo.

I'm perfectly happy with a state where I can acquire as many resources as possible, even if that incurs a significant cost to others.

I'm not going to judge you on moral grounds. Instead, consider what would happen if everyone lived like that. What kind of world would we have? I think it would be a hellish dog-eat-dog world.

You may believe that the world is already that way, but at the moment, there is a lot of kindness, compassion and consideration too. Instead of that, if everyone had the attitude of "I got mine, f* you", the world would be unimaginably worse than it is now.

Moreover, that kind of living is unsustainable in the long run. If you collect as many resources as possible to the detriment of others, sooner or later others would try to snatch those back from you, even by violence.

OP here.

The thread by a person who had no network and needed to find work immediately hit home for me (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14842684). I have been out of work before, and understand the importance of having a network and portfolio. But I haven't really gotten around to building them.

This service is something I need to help me get off my butt, and it might help some others too.

In the beginning, it will only remind people once a month to work on building their network, portfolio pieces, CV, etc.

Later, I plan to add features to hold people more accountable, so that they follow through on their intentions.

Would this be something you use? How can I make it useful for you? Any feedback will be greatly appreciated!

Edit: Brevity.

Packt Publishing is running a similar promo today: every ebook and video is only $10.

https://www.packtpub.com/

I'm not the person you replied to, but I got the same impression.

The linked email in turn links to the PHP NG page (https://wiki.php.net/phpng) on which the version number mentioned is 5.7.0-dev

I'm just starting to learn PHP, and I noticed that recently there have a few new books about Laravel. So, it seems to be the "new hot thing" in PHP.

To a newbie, would you recommend Symfony, or Laravel?

Thanks!

Wow. I was thinking of writing a similar post just two days ago. I am almost the same as you; I have been struggling with procrastination for almost 20 years now, sometimes successfully and sometimes not.

Some quick notes about what I have understood:

* I am depressed. I have EVERY symptom of chronic depression listed here: http://www.webmd.com/depression/guide/chronic-depression-dys...

However, I don't know whether I procrastinate because I am depressed, or whether I am depressed because I procrastinate.

* Procrastination is a way of avoiding pain - the effort required in "work".

* Procrastination itself is addictive: it gives instant pleasure instead of the pain of "honest work". And the person procrastinating intellectually knows that it is bad for them, but once they are truly addicted to it, they are unable to stop.

* Procrastination is a habit, and habits can be changed.

* Habits are just patterns of behavior that we have memorized in our sub-conscious minds, so that we don't have to think about performing a certain action, or taking a particular decision, over and over again. It is a labor-saving device for the mind. If we had to think anew about every action we do / every decision we take, we would quickly get tired. But once an action or decision become a habit, we don't have to think about it; it just happens automatically. That's a great energy saver, if the actions / decisions are "good" for us, but can be life-destroying if the actions / decisions are "bad" for us.

* Habits can be changed. First, mentally review what you will do the next time you are in a "moment of choice" - such as sitting in front of your computer. Resolve to do your client work instead of playing a game. Actually visualize doing that: ignoring the urge to play a game, calming yourself until the urge subsides, and then calmly doing the "right thing (TM)" - opening up your IDE and coding.

Next, when you really are in the moment of choice, really do the above. To elaborate: You will feel the urge to fire up a game. At that moment, tell yourself that you have been down that road before, and you know where it leads. Tell yourself that it is ruining your life, and you won't accept it any more. That you will do the "right thing" (TM) no matter what. At this moment, you may have to stop everything and just breathe slowly and deeply until the "urge" to play the game subsides and you are calm again. Once you are calm, it is easy to take the right decision.

The first few times you do this, you may find it difficult, or almost impossible. But trust me, it can be done. And the more often you do thins (calm yourself until you can do the Right Thing), the easier it will become. You see, this will slowly become your new habit, and the old habit will fade away because you will no longer be reinforcing it.

All the best! Write to me: tech.rohit@gmail.com

From a programmer approaching his 40s, thank you for the great advice, and for the inspiring story of your 60-year-old friend.

Immediately after Obama won his presidential election in 2008, this was one webcomic's take on Obama's promise of "Change":

http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=2994

Moving my single-player game progress between computers.

A few months ago I completed a game on an old Windows PC. Recently, I acquired a new PC, and had to unlock all the levels of the game again by playing through the game from beginning to end.

It's just a minor inconvenience, so it doesn't really "piss me off"; it is just something that would be nice to have.

When I read the headline, my first thought was, "How about humanizing people first?"

As much as I love technology, I'm afraid our technological progress is far outpacing the wisdom required to wield it well.

Highly advanced technology in the hands of unethical or short-sighted people can actually cause more harm than benefit.

Imagine if Google's next big product involved a brain-computer interface in which the mind communicated directly with Google search.

The term "Adsense" would acquire a whole new meaning.

I wonder what Apple hopes to achieve by following a policy of no Android-related content on the iOS app store.

It's not as if it will prevent people from learning about Android's existence.

It's now midnight in my time zone, and I will be going to sleep. But, I will read every comment when I come back online in a few hours, and will reply to any question you ask.

Thanks.

> If the app would be able to synchronize with these online repos tracking systems, then I could see myself using this app.

Thank you. I will consider this feature.

However, what about Dropbox integration? If the app synchronized to Dropbox so that you could access your bug list on all your machines, would that work for you?

Thanks for your inputs.

> First, consider building it as a SaaS web app rather than a desktop app. ... I want to be able to see things from my phone, other computers, etc.

I will consider it. I was thinking of making this a desktop app, because I was visualizing it as something I would use only while coding. I had not considered that someone may want to access the list through a phone. But now that you mention it, I can see the possibilities.

For example, someone may want refer back to the list of open bugs on their personal project, while commuting back from work. Or someone may think of a great idea for their app while not being near their desktop, and may want to make a note of it.

> what does this offer me that I can't get elsewhere, for free?

Most apps (Redmine, Mantis, Bugzilla etc.) are browser based ones, and I believe desktop apps can be slicker and faster. More importantly, most bug-tracking apps force the user to adapt to them, rather than letting the user adapt the app. I also find them a little too complex for a solo developer.

Thanks again for your inputs!

I'm an Indian, and I didn't perceive that comment as being racist. It appears to stem from the OP's experience. And it is true: there are a lot of low-quality developers in India (but also a few very good ones.)

Keep on honoring him - with your actions.

> The solutions to the most defective countries are all pretty straightforward and widely known.

Maybe you really do know the best solutions to every country's problems. Or maybe you know enough "rules of thumb" to get each of these countries to start moving in the right direction. That is not my point.

However, one "meta" problem is that most people are convinced that they know the solutions to the world's problems, and if everybody else would let them execute their solution, the world would be fixed.

I have never posted comments about whether a particular action has made me lose my faith in humanity, or whether it restored my faith in humanity.

But after reading the linked article, my faith in humanity is definitely shaken.

The meat industry's focus is not on ending animal abuse, but on making it more difficult for animal abuse to be discovered and proven. In other words, they are determined not to change their ways, because (I imagine) doing so will be inconvenient, and might cause them to make slightly less money than they make now.

How can any state legislators support such moves (and introduce these bills)? Do they have no ability to empathize with another living being? If no, are they fit to be our leaders?

Edit: Typo.

Let's assume that animals don't have any rights.

Still, they do feel emotions such as joy and fear, and physical sensations such as pleasure and pain. And how we treat them does have an effect on which of these they are going to feel.

Would I go out of my way to cause pain to an animal? Would I go out of my way to prevent pain to it? On what basis should I decide?

I think everything we do says, "this is who I am". That is, through every action (or inaction), we make a statement about how we perceive of ourselves. If I perceive of myself as a kind person, I would be conflicted about doing anything that I know will cause pain to another sentient being. If I have low self-esteem and don't think of myself as a particularly nice person, I might not make much of an effort to regulate my behavior to account for the effect it might have on others.

So, I would say that we forget about "animal rights", and think only about whether our actions truly reflect the kind of people and the kind of society we wish to be.

> ... haphazard notes into an actual product of a writer.

To be fair, this particular blog post is titled "Notes on ..."

I listen to instrumental music - whether classical, contemporary or techno, and sometimes even rock.

I find vocals very distracting.

> A beggar & her naked child ...

Actually, a lot of the time, the child is not hers. It's rented from the child's real mother, so that the beggar can earn more money. But I'm sure you already knew that.

> Take an Indian to US or Australia and he will not spit or litter. While the same person might even pee on a street back in India.

I think this is the "broken window effect." [1] We Indians see so much litter / garbage around us most of the time, we don't feel it is wrong to add a little more to it. Also, we feel, "If nobody else cares, why should I"?

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broken_windows_theory

> its too risky without at least throwing the idea out there first to see if there's any response.

Even after throwing the idea out there and getting HN's feedback, it is still too risky.

It is difficult to predict the success of any venture. (If it were easy, every venture would've been successfull!) As you would already know, many ventures that looked promising in the beginning don't give as much returns as expected, while many ideas which were initially dismissed by experts go onto to become successful businesses.

And moreover, startups often "pivot", sometimes completely throwing away their original idea, while at other times making significant changes to it.

In short, it is too early to say how successful you could be with your business.

I don't know about your personal situation, but if my family were dependent upon me, I would not quit my day job for a website unless the odds of success were very, very, high, and then too, if I did have a "safety net" to fall back on.

Could you try to keep going in part time mode? Could you wait to quit your job until your website shows clear signs of gaining traction? Only you can really judge your situation and take a call.

Also, community-based websites often start off slowly and grow organically. This is because people don't like to register with and post content on sites that appear to be inactive. They will make their first posts on your website only if they believe that there are other people who will see those posts and will interact with them. In other words, activity attracts activity.

To get around this chicken-and-egg problem, the owners of many "forums" seed their sites with fake accounts and content, just to give an impression that their site is active, and to attract the first few "real" users.

I am explaining all this to say that it will take time for any community-based website to take off. It might take months for your website to reach any kind of traction. So, don't count on your website becoming an overnight success or "going viral". It is possible, but not probable.

From my experience, I believe having a stable life and a supportive family is very important to business success. They provide you with a strong foundation, and a way to weather the emotional lows and highs that come with startups. So, I would definitely give higher priority to family and life.

Moreover, I understand from reading others' experiences that for them "success" (however they defined it) took much longer to arrive than they had anticipated in the beginning. So, if you are counting on the "success" of your idea to make everything OK with your family again, be aware that that success, if it arrives, may arrive too late to undo the damage.

Finally, money is important, but so are your relationships. If relationships are good, I can still be content with my life, even blissful, even if I was earning below my potential. So, unless I were in a situation in which my family was already starving to death, I would not destroy my family trying to "make it big."

Good luck!

On reading that paragraph, my instinctive reaction was that they (Adobe) got to be kidding. But no, they are completely serious.