drndown2007

This made me chuckle after just reading a rant about someone leaving Linux and going back to Windows because of all the secret handshakes and tribal knowledge required.

Actually, I agree with it. I'm a Linux noob, and even I (the target idiot?) can't find anything in the latest version of Ubuntu without having to constantly search. The older version was quite discoverable for me though. I'm also looking around for something more useable.

Nothing against Optimizely (I'll go see what it is after I post), but man I'm getting tired of the cutsey -ly names. This is one fad I wish would fade away.

That works in theory. But have YOU read all the fine print when opening an account with your bank? I haven't either -- everything we do is based on some common sense and trust. If we had to verify everything we did with everyone we did it, our way of life would end.

LOL - lots of folks defending TV :)

I completely agree with Josh though. In my case, I haven't watched more than 30 minutes of TV (usually zero) in a week for probably 10 years now. Instead, during the evenings I worked on my business while my spouse watched TV. Now I have a great business to show for all those hours. Don't have anything to show for the TV-watching hours from the previous 10 years though. YMMV (though you'll never know 'til you try it!)

A friend and I were discussing this once. I don't like horror films because of the gore. He told me that when he first started watching them, the gore creeped him out and made him uncomfortable. After years of watching them though, it doesn't faze him at all. To me, that's the very definition of media changing someone. Of course that doesn't mean he's going to become an axe murderer, but it had a noticable impact on his thought patterns. Take someone that is unstable to start with, and maybe... ?

As I mentioned above, Authorize.Net's CIM (Customer Information Manager) works in a similar way -- you send the credit card info from your website to Authorize.net (and never store it in between) and you get a token back which you can store, and which you can use to make charges later.

They also have CIM, Customer Information Manager, where you send the credit card info (thus never storing it yourself) and you get back a token. Anytime you need to charge that card, you charge the token instead. PCI compliance is then on Authorize.net

So did mine, but that was 1994 so it didn't seem so bad :) (which is another way of saying that context is _very_ important, like year, what part of the country, web programming vs kernel drivers, DBA, etc)

Leave. Your hard work is being wasted there. I was in almost an identical situation. When I left the company folded, but funding was getting short anyway (the first time a check bounced I used that as my excuse). The boss won't be happy, but you can only go up from where you're at.

Happy side note: 10 years later I'm running my own startup (only founder) and it's great. However, working in big companies between the two was definitely helpful.

Am I the only one saddened by the fact that this would have been a piece of cake back in high school/college, but can't remember how to do them (integrals) anymore? :(

And what exactly is going to make that tide rise? Nothing is free -- everyone has to work. We have to sacrifice our time and energy to survive and have some comforts. There's no way around that one.

Is it just me, or are we seeing a lot of hip new Web 2.0 sites that are going under lately? Is lack of an actual business model the culprit?

>highest concentration of pure happiness and elation on this planet

Very well said. This is just fantastic. I hope the Egyptian people get everything they're hoping for. How exciting!

gokhan's comment is buried quite deep, but needs to be seen:

"Check the FAQ first: http://www.uncontactedtribes.org/articles/3109-questions-and....

But could this be because they don’t see the benefits of ‘our’ way of life? If they knew, might they want to join us?

They won’t get the chance. In reality, the future offered by the settler society is to ‘join’ at the lowest possible level often as beggars and prostitutes. History proves that tribal peoples end up in a far worse state after contact, often dead."

Thanks for sharing that. After reading about how the Christians and Muslims are protecting each other, I think Egytians in general must be pretty awesome people.

I assume (hope) there must be some smart people somewhere starting to work on some sort of P2P/mesh internet replacement that could work with all the wireless routers out there in order to prepare for the day when something like this happens again... ?

Are you sure? When I login I seem to see 5-10 posts from a list of 100 people (well, admittedly less since I've ignored so many). I you were my friend, how could you know _you_ were in that 5-10 posts that _I_ see -- you don't know how many other friends I have, and how much _they_ have posted.

BUT when you just throw it up on the wall, you have no idea if anyone read it. And chances are, most of them didn't (didn't check in regularly enough, or they did check in, but your post wasn't one of the top 10 that was put on their page, etc).

So did you really tell anyone?

I agreed with much of it, until he inferred the " 'repertoire of infidelity' among low-income men" is because they don't have good jobs.

"Does it matter how they approach procreation, how they juggle 'doubt, duty, and destiny' when they are denied the jobs that are the sine qua non of parenthood?"

I think it DOES matter. It represents a level of maturity, respect for others, and thinking about the future. Those are principles that should be taught, and are often taught through culture. "It's all hopeless anyway" can explain why some fall victim to drugs and crime, but it's inexcusable to pull another person (the girl) or two (her baby) into the net. That is the essence of lack of responsibility.

Other than this central issue, I agree with much else of what he wrote.

My son saw this and wants to patent bricks now. I'm so proud :)

Anyone have any idea how much it would cost? I'm in for $100 or more

Does that mean you still have a Commodore 64? (Seems like everyone upgraded -- I mean, 64 freaking K!!!). Course you only got to use 49K of it, but still!

I loved the TRS-80. We had some in my Jr High. We had an assignment to create some large ASCII art via hundreds of print statements and then print it out on the dot matrix printer.

I'd love to know what the success and failure percentages are for Silicon Valley startups. I'm sure there are overall higher successes in raw numbers, but in per-VC dollar invested, or per-developer capita, I'm skeptical.

Maybe it's just me, but it seems like most of the startups I hear about these days are just CRUD apps aimed at some social niche. Those can be built anywhere, and don't require rockstar programmers.

It's OK if you have a plan for how you'll make money. If you're just building something cool, and figure, somehow..., later..., you'll make money, that's what he is saying is not OK.

DHH at 37signals would probably agree too since that's his thing -- if you can't charge from the get go, you're not building a business, you're just gambling on 'good luck' happening somewhere (ie getting bought out by Google, etc)

Very insightful. Thanks

Do you seriously think there are no effects at all? How can you be so naive as to think this hasn't and won't change anything when such a giant portion of the population is experiencing sights/sounds/shows that no other generation ever has?

Whether you see that change as good or bad, this will change personal relationships, and societies are nothing more than the sum total of all personal relationships.

I recall reading that the original study indicating red wine was good for the heart was based on studies of a chemical in the wine which was given to rats as part of the study. To get the same amount the rats got, and assumably the same benefit, you'd have to drink a ridiculous amount (1000's of gallons a year IIRC).

Fantasic write up. I don't know if anyone has seen "Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief" (pretty good - I enjoyed it), but there is a part where the heroes enter a casino. Everything you could wish for was there and so nobody left. And it was a trap -- it's sole reason was to entrap people so they never did anything with their lives. Your description made me think of WoW in that way. I'm sure WoW's intentions aren't evil (they just want your money!) but the outcome is the same.