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davemel37

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Thank You For visiting my HN Profile. My Name is David Melamed and I truly appreciate you taking the time to learn more about me. If you appreciate my comments on HN, I encourage you to check out my blog at http://www.DavidMelamed.com

If you want to learn more about my work experience, check out my linkedin profile at http://www.linkedin.com/in/marketingseo

email: David at Davidmelamed.com

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www.linkedin.com 8y ago

Marketing matters: a higher calling

davemel37
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news.ycombinator.com 8y ago

Which Enterprise Products started out solving SMB problems?

davemel37
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news.ycombinator.com 10y ago

Ask HN: Are real estate agents the problem with out of control home prices?

davemel37
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news.ycombinator.com 10y ago

Ask HN: Are you cutting costs because VCs warn the sky is falling?

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news.ycombinator.com 11y ago

The Argument Against Good UX Design

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news.ycombinator.com 11y ago

Larry Was a Savage

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searchengineland.com 11y ago

Google Updates Their Webmaster Guidelines

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venturebeat.com 12y ago

Greatest Update Ever – It was 750k, not 750 million

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www.adotas.com 12y ago

Surving The AdPocalypse: What will you do when advertising stops working?

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news.ycombinator.com 12y ago

How Google Really Thinks About Linkspam

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news.ycombinator.com 12y ago

Smart people will think your idea is stupid

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news.ycombinator.com 12y ago

Seth Godin on How To Stop Being a Freelancer and Start Being an Entrepreneur

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www.ppchero.com 12y ago

Google Has a Tool to Easily Translate Adwords Campaigns.

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news.ycombinator.com 12y ago

Ask HN: Why is Enterprise Software So Expensive?

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news.ycombinator.com 12y ago

Here's How Rap Genius Should Be Building Links

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news.ycombinator.com 12y ago

Are All Arguments About The Same Thing Fundamentally?

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petitions.whitehouse.gov 12y ago

White House Petition To Save A Little Boys Life

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www.google.com 12y ago

The Only Analytics Reports You'll Ever Need

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news.ycombinator.com 12y ago

How To Bypass Customer Service Call Wait Times.

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imgur.com 12y ago

From Reddit: Mug for Engineers

davemel37
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www.mattcutts.com 13y ago

Penguin 2.0 Is Here

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1pts0
www.shoemoney.com 13y ago

If Only Elon Musk and Tesla Read This Before Trying To Get Press

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2pts1
www.shimonsandler.com 13y ago

On Site Social Media Optimization By Using Trending Hashtags

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news.ycombinator.com 13y ago

My New Years Resolution: Billing Myself For Wasted Time

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news.ycombinator.com 13y ago

How Benjamin Franklin Got His First Fifty Customers

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imgur.com 13y ago

Is It Spam To Email Me a Confirmation For Unsubscribing?

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news.ycombinator.com 14y ago

Ask HN:What are the most creative show-stopping trade show ideas?

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news.ycombinator.com 14y ago

Worried About Someone Stealing Your Ideas? Eric Ries's Answer.

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news.ycombinator.com 14y ago

Ask HN: Re: NO NDA's - How can I Become an Advisor to a Startup?

davemel37
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news.ycombinator.com 14y ago

ROI is a Vanity Metric and The Real Secret to YC's Success

davemel37
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You lost me at requiring registering an account to see flight availability. You need to give some value before asking for my contact info. Too many free alternatives exist that don't gate their search results.

If your premium features are worth it - I'll register. If you want my info - maybe capture it with an offer for an alert after I do my initial query.

------------ In terms of feedback on the broader platform and idea - I think you may be confusing two different audiences. Travel hackers and average reward consumers are different consumers - Your messaging "free flights using points" and attempt to monetize with credit card offers are targeting average consumers - but your search engine and the headache/problem you are trying to solve is really a travel hacker problem - and honestly - its not really a problem - I kinda Enjoy The Hunt!

"I was talking about people defaulting to claims of bigotry at any sign of criticism."

The idea that antisemitism is used to silence criticism of Israel is meant to do exactly that, victim shame them into silence - its an outrageous accusation without any factual basis.

I don't know anyone that defaults that way about every criticism of Israel...but there are many types of critiques that are clearly antisemitic - for example blaming Jews or even Israelies collectively for their governments actions - or holding Israel to a standard you dont hold anyone else to or leveling criticism at Israel with no attempt to even get the facts on the ground correct.

Can a claim of antisemitism be taken at face value without accusing the victim of weaponizing it to silence criticism of Israel?

Why are you looking for reasons to dismiss accusations of anti semitism?

Why isn't your default compassion and understanding?

Here's the thing I don't get.

If a groups behavior doesn't match your expectations based on your perspective of their history but you dont have the benefit of their lived experiences, wouldn't that be a tell-tale sign to try to recognize you MUST not have an understanding of the topic or enough information to formulate an opinion?

"people should stop using accusations of bigotry as a weapon to silence people"

Huh? Are you seriously calling someones words who feels victimized, a weapon? Are you seriously holding fear of actual violence to an unsubstantiated standard?

"If you want to call someone a bigot, its pretty important to make sure you are right about it."

Please show me one other form of bigotry accusation you hold to the same standard.

This perspective is almost certainly a blindspot. Im not certain - but I definitely would not rely on you to stand up or defend folks from actual antisemitism.

How do people even think, let alone say these things and not get called out by everyone immediately?

Do you actually and critically think this is true or even appropriate to say?

I find this advice to be outdated. Unless the actual page offers real contect around the intent of the searcher, I find the quality of these leads and conversion rates drop.

The Manhattan Eruv 7 years ago

This is sort of correct - its not the temple rather the Mishkan (tabernacle)... The commandment of Shabbos is six days you should "Taaseh Melacha" and rest on the seventh day... later by the building of the Tabernacle, it connects mentions shabbat out of place and is interpreted to mean, dont build the mishkan on shabbat...and to interpret work as related to creating a tabernacle...https://www.etzion.org.il/en/mishkan-and-shabbat

Ultimately, the general idea is "we create during the week and on sabbath, separate ourselves from that creative energy and just enjoy our handiwork, just as the creator of the world did... this is why even plucking a blade of grass would be forbidden..anything that creates either through adding or removing things is in the framework of how Shabbat laws are interpreted...

As I understand it in my lay background.

The Manhattan Eruv 7 years ago

This says exactly what I wrote just discusses other features...in essence it turns off automatic features.

The Manhattan Eruv 7 years ago

In theory, I can also argue that your view above is also a personal construct to help you cope with existence...

I wont pretend to understand consciousness or the human experience...but I like to be pragmatic, and from a pragmatic perspective, I dont see the utility of your belief about religion and faith and power structures...its an almost helpleas viewpoint that rejects everything as imaginary and malleable...and I dont see the value in that in my own beliefs and philosophy.

The Manhattan Eruv 7 years ago

Fair enough about how you arrived at your views. For what its worth, my views are not as rigid as these comments suggest. They are nuanced and ever evolving... I suspect Eruv is a complex topic with more reasons than just "convenience."

I am not an eruv or even a Jewish law expert, but I can assure you though that Rabbi Moshe Feinsteins positions were widely accepted in the Orthodox Community and his opinions are not only well documented and sourced, they are studied today much like court precedents are set. There are obviously differing view points, but in order to disagree with him and be listened to, one would need to extensively show their math and support their dissenting opinion with reliable sources and case history...

In general, the rule of thumb around Jewish law atleast for Orthodox Jews is, "ask your local orthodox rabbi." And interestingly enough, when interviewing for synagogue and pulpit positions, one of the common questions asked of Rabbi Applicants is "who do you ask your religious and halachik questions to?" Central to the faith is collaboration and discussion at the highest levels and if you arent stumped constantly and discussing with mentors and peers, you by default disqualify your credentials to most Ultra Orthodx Jews.

The Manhattan Eruv 7 years ago

Not really. Some debates are based on different ways to interpret modern activities with ancient frameworks...but it still has to follow rational and defensible reasoning or sources... you may find a rabbi who says its ok to push a button on an electical oven on sabbath but you wont find one wh says you cannot do that, but you can set a timer on sabbath as long as it doesn't show on the display...

The Manhattan Eruv 7 years ago

The OP is mistaken (in my view) about Sabbath mode and its function. The common scenarios are a fridge or oven light that turns on when you open the door. In those cases, opening the door would be no different than flipping the switch to complete a circuit that turns on a light. So, sabbath mode disables that feature and allows you to open the door without turning on a light. Unscrewing the lightbulb or using tape to hold down the switch on the doorframe is the other way to do this. Setting a timer during sabbath, for another time on sabbath would be the same thing as just turning it on directly.

As difficult as it may seem to many people, the "hacks" are grounded in sound but nuanced reasoning...the cases that make no sense logically are typically mistaken application...the talmud is literally rabbis disproving these ideas based on logic all the time.

The Manhattan Eruv 7 years ago

I cant edit my post above this...but I want to correct that the person I was responding to did not delete a hateful comment. Just an assumed accusation I assumed was hateful but was in fact just an assumption based on a premise I do not agree with and feel was unfair. Not hateful but unfair in my own opinion!

The Manhattan Eruv 7 years ago

You are right. I am sorry for using such forceful language. I do not know you or your motives and will edit my posts. My only request is that you take a minute as well to consider why I perceived your comments the way I did, and you ask yourself some tough questions about your own assumptions.

The Manhattan Eruv 7 years ago

You would be violating Sabbath law if you press any buttons on the oven especially Bake, even with a timer...unless you set the timer before sabbath starts. Sabbath mode just turns off automated features when you open or close the oven or fridge door.

The Manhattan Eruv 7 years ago

Thats not what sabbath mode does. It allows Jews to open and close the door without turning on a light or a fan. You cant change the temperature or press bake or any buttons on it...it simply doesnt active automated features that typically activate.

The Manhattan Eruv 7 years ago

From your very first link, "but a minority of comments have been Islamophobic, leading a local rabbi to denounce “threatening and misleading” language that echoed historic antisemitism."

So basically, you said Jews care about whats inside the Eruv because a small minority (of jerks) who are outright denounced by rabbis, and the majority of Jews reject... must mean Jews are islamophobic and want to keep a mosque outside of an eruv...

My perception is that your making assumptions about many people and communities based on a few news stories about a few bad actors. There are layers of potential bias in these stories and even if you investigate further, it clearly doesnt support your contention.

Edit: I changed language from calling this hateful since I was wrong to make broad assumptions. The author is likely not hateful but rather making assumptions that I disagree with...much like I was. Hopefully we can both walk away from this exchange slightly more open minded.

The Manhattan Eruv 7 years ago

I can appreciate your perspective but I strongly disagree with your reasoning. It comes off as shallow and founded with preconceived notions and biases. Not to say i dont have my own biases and perspectives...but it would be easier to take you seriously if you simply said, I havent studied it and dont feel a need to focus my energy there. You are free to use shortcuts and heuristics in all your decision making, we all do...but its a mistake to have a strong opinion and call something meaningless or blatant cheating without even having a minute understanding of how jurisprudence of Jewish law is established.

The Manhattan Eruv 7 years ago

The legal proclamation from the city that is required for it to be valid. What makes anything a legal boundary? What makes a neighborhood zoned as residential? Is it the residents and how they use the structures they call homes or is it the legal process and documentation that designates it?

The Manhattan Eruv 7 years ago

With all due respect. No one is asking to go into your house. They just want to push a stroller on the publicly funded sidewalk in front of it the same way you want to drive your car on the publicly funded street in front of theirs.

(Edit: I see you removed the hateful part of your post, Ill keep this here though.)

The point about a mosque sounds like either you live near clueless Jerks or you believed a made up rumor. I dont know any religous Jews that care about whats inside or outside the Eruv except their homes and perhaps local hospitals or nursing homes to visit ill and elderly when they cant drive.

The Manhattan Eruv 7 years ago

In my orthodox circles, Rabbi Moshe Feinstein was considered to be THE preeminent expert on Jewish law in America and the final voice on tough decisions...and while there are many opinions out there, I cant imagine many orthodox observant rabbi accepting an eruv that he rejected. I do not however know the specifics in this case...

The Manhattan Eruv 7 years ago

To be fair, it takes 7.5 years to study the entirety of the Talmud doing one two sided page a day for about an hour...and this barely scratches the surface... to have an opinion of religion without putting in the effort is equally as ludicrous and meaningless.

The Manhattan Eruv 7 years ago

Its not a religious symbol its a legal boundry that has a religious benefit. Most city eruvs use existing infrastructure like phone wires, walls, fences through backyards even gulleys if they are steep enough.

The Manhattan Eruv 7 years ago

My understand of Melakha is creative effort not brute force.(i.e. six days G-d created and the seventh he rested (from that creative effort))

The Manhattan Eruv 7 years ago

While all rules in Judaism are debated endlessly and have a multitude of opinions... My understanding is that most stringent Halacha followers would agree one SHOULD not watch a spurs game on Shabbos...and there are clearly several rules around separating the day from others that may even make it a prohibition(not that I havent watched my share of sports games on Shabbos.) I just think its worth pointing out that its rare youll find a rabbi that says you Should watch the game.