egiva

I was thinking the same thing - today's Brilliant Jerk is tomorrow's visionary - just look at Steve Jobs as a good example. People also adapt and change over time, so that's important to take into account. I think the comments here all show that this brilliant jerk phenomenon is an oversimplification of something we've all experienced at work.

I agree 100% that textbooks have too many levels of abstraction added over time. There's a really interesting answer given on this exact same subject by Bill Gates at the Aspen Festival - check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iqf3rvg742g

Thanks rbranson, this comment was very helpful. I also think that the logical fallacy of some of these arguments is that they´re absolutist - it´s better to follow your advice because it´s a very logical progression to start with a SQL database and then move into different things as you grow. Life is a progression and I think your quote about premature optimization is spot on - it IS the root of all evil because it´s absolutist and too rigid to fit the curve of everything that life (and tech, and work) throws at you!

Question: maybe just my simplistic take on these complaints - and I have the same ones - but can 90% of these all be broken down into two categories? (database-related), and (UI-related) issues? Windows desktop indexing, iPhone extra space taken up by "other" - can you simplify these things by saying that they´re database related? I´d love to hear someone´s opinion on that.

Well, then please accept my apologies and thank you for taking the time to explain. As I said originally, I think that it's wonderful that you're encouraging young people, and especially women who are under-represented, to get involved in the tech industry. That is truely a goal worthy of your 2.5 years of hard work.

Thanks for the comment drharris. With all due respect, I think this is a paid promotional article, not something that should be promoted on the front page of HN. Consider this: A) they published the article, then changed it to optize it for SEO. The original title being "How to Recruit Women into Tech: A Madison Ruby case study". B) Event insiders and HN users with very low ratings plugging Madison Ruby in the comments section, and specifically plugging organizers "Jim and Jen" stating that other events people should consider hiring them. C) The author's story is highly unusual - blogger with no previous interest in programming invited (for free) to a tech conference, and afterwards writes very long, SEO-optimized blog post about the event? Hey - I'm sure the event was great, and I'm a 110% supporter of any ways to get young people, and more women into the tech industry. But I think that paid promotional work has no place on HN, because it's disingenuous to present it as a true testimonial.

No I didn't. I understand the post. I support anyone, anywhere who wants to learn programming and show an interest, especially young women who are under-represented in the industry. I just think that they're promoting Madison Ruby because the piece is highly structured to display a very specific keyword density, and that's typical for promotional work. So my vote is that they're not being honest about the origins of this article. Just an opinion though.

The keyword density and some of the keyword repetition for this article makes me suspicious. Not questioning the experience - I read it and it sounded great. Just analyzing the most common words and phrases used though - so you decide: 'Ruby' - 19 times (~2.4% density) 'madison' - 15 (1.87%) 'madison ruby' - 12 (1.50%) 'tech' - 13 (1.62%) 'conference' - 12 (1.5%)

I couldn't help thinking while reading this that my main concern with registration systems isn't the complicated Regex as much, but rather the really annoying registry bots that sign up phantom accounts. I'm not a huge Captcha fan, but without something (Recaptcha, ghosted fields, etc) you'll get SPAMMED with tons of fake accounts - and they have valid emails, AND the bots click on the links in the confirmation email automatically. It's really sad.

I don't think that in a few decades we'll see a "world filled with Gabriellas". Luckily (for the time being), our universities are really good at pumping out Rodrigos rather than Gabriellas. It's later when you enter the working world when the occasional Gabriella moves up through the company. So the real issue revolves around manager competence, or manager-team member relationships and how this social selection dynamic affects all of us.

Sounds to me like an engineer with that level of experience, who had navigated the patent process for his own prior patent, would know a thing or two about patents. I'm open to the possibility that there's a conflict of interest, but this bogus article says things like "I don't know if Apple uses this patent...or Samsung." That's fishing for hits by generating false controversy focused on some poor guy trying to serve as a juror.

I think this is a terrible article for demonizing some poor juror who had to put his life on hold for weeks to sit through this case. Don't blame the messenger (juror) for the broken patent system.

Like Kiva, it would be good to also list the "sponsor" (read: 501(c)(3) name) on the patient's profile/donation page. If that sponsor name also included a link to a basic sponsor profile page showing further sponsor information, that would be a step in the transparency direction for me. I'm hesitant to donate until I see which charity is sponsoring the person who needs treatment.

EDIT: I dug through the pages and found a link to a Google Spreadsheet doc with basic information regarding the sponsor for each patient. This is one area I would definitely improve into a sponsor link on each patient's donations page. But all-in-all, great stuff!!

It proves that re-posting is effective for content owners, although it's really annoying when reposts don't include anything new. This one seems to sneak through because it's really interesting. I just pre-ordered one.

I wonder how that statement is influenced by investigator bias - in the 1950's where "street smarts" (working class parents, working class background) somehow viewed socially as superior in these situations when compared with educated families?

At these airports we've lost the human caring, the human service-related element that makes America great. - I think that there's no demonstrable security value for the majority of these projects, and since 2001 we've allowed the defense industry to ingrain top-heavy industrialized defense projects into our daily American life - militarizing America. Along the way we've lost some of our true values and this doesn't make us a better, safer country. Where's the article about saving a stranded man and helping reunite him with his family?

The possibility that they would have locked down a major airport, stranding thousands of travelers and generating millions of dollars in lost revenues would have been a true farce. How many armed guards could you hire, trained to HELP as well as protect, for the cost of a $100 Million lemon defense system? At least we would be helping solve the unemployment problem, rather than pumping countless millions into the coffers of international defense companies like Raytheon.

Look, I've lived in Spain for a long time and obviously I see what's happening here. But I'm from California and I read/see/hear what the US press says about Spain. DO NOT BELIEVE IT! Most reports, and unfortunately this report as well in Slate, are more gut-check types of articles, with little background, facts, or true reporting.

For the curious, here's one BIG fact that all the press write about spain, but is totally false:

Reports state that Spain has 24%+ unemployment. FALSE! Unemployment figures in the US are pretty reliable (minus structural unemployment) - but in Spain the official figures are totally bogus. MANY PEOPLE work the system here - basically declaring themselves as unemployed (in order to collect the State's very generous unemployment insurance benefits), while continuing to work "illegally" - ie in the undeclared/un-oficial black labor market. Obviously, the government loses revenues in the form of unpaid social security payments, but 24% unemployment here is a total myth. I'm not sure why the press doesn't point that out.

I was reading this article (on my computer) and when Schmidt says "Take your eyes off that screen and look into the eyes of the person you love. Have a conversation, a real conversation"... well let's just say that I actually turned in that exact moment and looked at my wife to have a conversation, and she said "shhh, I'm watching my program on TV!" Guess we're a modern couple haha

Don't see anyone mentioning here that you can also play the piano with the ASDF...(etc) keys on your computer's keyboard. It was way easier playing it that way, rather than clicking with the mouse. Great job!

I understand what you're saying, but PUD has a lot of experience building startups and I think he has the right mix of know-how and resources to launch any of the ideas listed in the article as part of Fandalism.

My first thought after reading PUD's original post was the "band generator" idea too. It seems in line with the idea of exposing and building on musical talent in a community-building atmosphere, which I think(?) is in-line with his core goals for the site...

Really love the band generator idea - PUD, if you're listening in, make it happen! I'd use it...

Yeah, why not have two contraceptive methods in play - like a "Plan A" and a "Plan B"? I think you're on the right track here. Many men, including myself, feel pretty equal with their spouse in terms of family planning, but having a Plan B would definitely give me more peace of mind "just in case" haha.

This is a great summary you've written here and worth a second read. In deed there are confounding cultural factors built into standardized IQ testing. You wouldn't expect a white European student, even from another English-speaking country like the UK, to arrive at one of our school and test as highly as children born in the US. There will always be some exceptional cases, but in general environmental and cultural factors make IQ testing highly culture-specific.

What we need to ask ourselves here in the US is why some children get left behind culturally, or why some children live in disadvantaged environments, broken homes or single-parent households. Solving those problems would quickly close the IQ gap by giving more equal opportunity to all children.

> This isn't true at all. They haven't been shown to be biased, merely that blacks score lower. Extensive research has show that IQ tests have equal predictive power for blacks and whites.

I think you illustrate the danger of making assertions without being entirely informed - that is to say that what you state here is the beginning of the truth, but taken out of context. There was (and in many cases still is) a heavy cultural bias built into standardized IQ testing. Traditionally, most tests were developed and tested against middle-income, white children. Black children traditionally tested one standard deviation below their white counterparts, even when controlling for income, etc. However, many experts agree that this is due to cultural bias and environmental factors, agravated by the strong corelation between income and where you live geographically in the US, including resources (or lack thereof) in corresponding school districts. Example: children in troubled, inner-city schools would often have less access to rigourous IQ testing when compared to their urban, middle-class counterparts.

There is also the complicating factor of single-parent or broken homes and the roll that plays in a child's lack of overall intellectual development. This also correlates to income and geographic area (i.e. innercity versus urban environment).

> I've never understood why eliminating one of the few objective measures and making the hiring process entirely subjective was an improvement.

That's another subject and worth talking about. I'm simply stating that you should be very careful when talking about the black-white gap in IQ scores. There are too many factors at play to make a clear case for IQ differences between races.

For an informative article with really enlightening references, see this: http://theafrican.com/Magazine/IQ.htm

Actually, the plan for this arctic cable is mostly driven by the needs of the financial-services industry in London and Tokyo (i.e. high frequency trading, ultra low latency direct market access, etc).

No on mentions one of the real behind-the-scenes motives for these new lines: Tokyo and London are major hubs for the financial services industry and reducing even 60ms in transmit time means big bucks for High Frequency Trading in these two stock markets: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-frequency_trading

Unfortunately Mauritania isn't the last stronghold of slavery. Modern slavery exists in a number of places - including:

The Ivory Coast - cocoa farming. Child slaves are an exploited part of the labor force in cocoa production (yes, your chocolate's main ingredient, cocoa, may come from sources that employ forced labor). Info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children_in_cocoa_production

The Unites States: there are an estimated 50,000 people trafficked into/out-of the US every year. 2.8 million children live in the streets, with over 30% exposed to the sex trade in some capacity. Source: http://www.gchope.org/human-slavery-statistics.html

If the goal is to learn JavaScript as a first language, maybe it's better to first learn it on Codecademy. Otherwise I really use Khan Academy for everything. Also, JS is not a good first language for anyone. Never.

There were a lot of people (9to5mac, mashable, etc) talking about this picture on the invite. They're talking about an iPad in portrait mode, and without the home button. Whole long comments about this new iPad without the home button, etc. Does anyone else think this is a touch TV? There's nothing in the invite pic to preclude TV-like dimensions for this device. My money is on an iPad event, and a "oh. One more thing!" TV unveiling at the end...

This came just in time - for more inspiration don't forget to check out Mari Sheibley's website http://mobile-patterns.com/ - shows the best patterns from the top apps, organized by pattern type.

Actually, other people have done this in the past - Timothy Ferriss (the biz guy and author of "The Four Hour Work Week") was famous for using this adwords multivariate testing technique when he was deciding the future title for his book! See a great interview here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JHzLlvlVmQ