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solson

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Director of Technology at Ergotron, Inc. I also run a blog a http://www.steve-olson.com and have also been involved in several internet startups.

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pizzascripters.com 10y ago

Show HN: Lottery – Can you beat the odds?

solson
1pts0
pizzascripters.com 10y ago

Show HN: Lottery – Can you beat the odds?

solson
9pts7
pizzascripters.com 11y ago

Show HN: My 12yo Dev This Game and Released to iOS/Android/HTML5 Using LibGDX

solson
9pts4
pizzascripters.com 12y ago

Minecraft Theme 2048 – Created by an 11 Year Old

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www.aei-ideas.org 12y ago

Women earned a majority of 2012 doctoral degrees in 33 STEM fields

solson
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sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com 15y ago

Sitting Can Be as Dangerous as Smoking

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www.juststand.org 15y ago

The Science Behind the Need to Stand - Results of Take-a-Stand Project

solson
10pts8
www.bloomberg.com 15y ago

Detroit Grows Faster Than Silicon Valley in Tech Jobs

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news.ycombinator.com 15y ago

Ask HN: Anyone know a good PC Tech in Minneapolis/St Paul?

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1pts0
www.juststand.org 15y ago

Standing vs. Sitting at Work | Calorie Burn Calculator

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2pts1
steve-olson.com 15y ago

Stand Up While You Work and Live Longer and Healthier

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1pts0
dangerouslyirrelevant.org 15y ago

We spend 80% of our classroom time on the skills needed for 10% of our jobs

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www.booksmn.com 16y ago

How to Buy Used and Discount Books Online

solson
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blogs.ergotron.com 16y ago

How to Make Your Presentation Display Mobile

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1pts0
www.designshare.com 16y ago

Beware of the Sitting Trap in Learning and Schooling

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blogs.ergotron.com 16y ago

3 Main Causes of Computer Related Discomfort

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blogs.ergotron.com 16y ago

Creating a Healthy Work Environment

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blogs.ergotron.com 16y ago

Is The End of the Cubicle Finally Nigh?

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www.dangerouslyirrelevant.org 16y ago

Education and Learning to Think

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www.steve-olson.com 16y ago

What My 7 Year Old Learned From MMA (Mixed Martial Arts)

solson
28pts34

- Intermittent Fasting - Paleo Diet, - Strength Training 4x a week - Weighted Pull-ups, Weighted Squats, Deadlifts, Bench Press, Leg Extentions, Weighted Lunges, Weighted Dips - Stand 50% of the time while I work. - Minimal alcohol and caffeine

This is complete bullshit.

As a moderately anxious person I have a completely different internal experience on an American subway vs. one in Tokyo. I have almost no anxiety in Tokyo. Why? it is one of the safest big cities in the world. Theft, terrorism, assault, and general creepiness are almost non-existent and everyone knows it and behaves accordingly.

In contrast, you have to be much more aware on American mass transit to avoid problems. American mass transit is far more dangerous than in Tokyo and it is almost instantly apparent to anyone paying attention. You'd be a fool not have situational awareness on an American subway because there is a higher probability of personal harm.

To one degree or another authority implies the threat of violence. For the person confronted with violence, subconscious automatic action is required for survival. Mistakes may be made, but trust in your training is essential. It is the same in sports (football, basketball, ice hockey, tennis), if you have to hesitate and consciously think, you are "in your head" and you'll be beaten. Some of us have been trained to react automatically by our environments. The best training ground for criminal behavior is juvenile detention and other forms of incarceration where hesitation will get you in trouble quickly. Our system is creating these kids who act on auto pilot. If they lose respect they have lost nearly everything they have.

When you show overt contempt for sports you are showing contempt for most everybody and that is problem with your social skills.

It's called being a snob. The disdain for working class culture among academics was part of the reason I choose not to pursue a formal higher education. I suspect this overt snootiness keeps many gifted working class kids from participating in higher education.

I grew up working class and was a boxer. I love Ice Hockey, Football, UFC, NASCAR, Motocross, and heavy metal, but I am also an academic and an intellectual. Many highly educated people have told me so, I just don't have the paper to prove it.

My oldest son is highly gifted earning math test scores putting him in the top tenth of one percent and placing 1st in regional Math Masters competitions. He also plays ice hockey so he interacts socially with the 'jocks' and the 'brains' preferring the company of the 'brains.'

Most of his 'smart' friends show contempt for sports which is a social problem since he is an athlete.

When a kids says, "Hockey. Meh. It is a bunch grown men with sticks chasing a black piece of rubber around a sheet of ice" he is saying in effect "What you love is obtuse and low brow and I don't care how that makes you feel." And that is just rude.

One other thing most people don't know about this: Free shipping actually costs the buyer more than actual shipping costs. The seller has to guesstimate what actual shipping costs are and add that to the margin. Most estimates will be higher than actual costs since estimating under costs will put you out of business fairly quickly. If they aren't over actual costs initially they will be adjusted to higher than actual costs over time.

eBay is doing the same thing. They are pushing sellers to offer free shipping which simply means don't line item your shipping costs. The sellers still need to pay for shipping. Amazon still needs to pay for shipping too. It is built into their model.

I mean really people, I hate to sound condescending, but... when you do a "buy one get one free" do you really think you got something for free?

Maybe one day we'll all get free healthcare and free schools and freeways too. Don't kid yourself, you're paying for them.

I think the obvious answer is that this isn't FREE shipping. Nothing is FREE. "Free" shipping is nothing but marketing speak, and if this is illegal so is "Buy one get one Free" or "Buy one get one half price" since the discount is built into the business model.

My wife is an Amazon seller and yes when she ships prime she must pay for shipping which would force her to lose money on each shipment so she builds the cost of shipping into the cost of the item. The cost of her taxes are in the item. The cost of her employees are in her item. The cost of software licenses are built into the item.

The only thing you get with FREE shipping is a receipt that doesn't include shipping as a line item. Someone has to pay the driver, buy the truck, and put fuel in it, pay for the insurance, etc, etc, etc. It can't possibly be free.

300 million Americans x $2,000 per month x 12 Months = 7.2 Trillion annual printing of new money. Total M2 Money Supply is currently 10.5 Trillion and the entire US GDP is only 15.6 Trillion. So adding approx 70% to the money supply every year or adding 50% of GDP as new cash to the economy every year will only result in 2% more inflation??? If you believe that, I've got a dot com to sell you...

Yes college was more affordable and for many it is unaffordable today. Young people and parents need to seriously consider forgoing college entirely, that will be the only thing that will force the price down. These parents and students freely choose to pay these absurd tuition fees. Until you stop paying them, they will keep raising them.

Cars in 1984 are not comparable to cars in 2012. There are many emissions and safety requirements on modern cars that have forced the price up. Also the reliability and quality of most modern cars far exceeds 1984 models. Most young people would not want anything like a 1984 car. Ford Pintos were cheap, problem is they exploded when they were rear ended.

Housing is expensive, but it depends where you choose to live. Hip areas have always been expensive. Toronto wasn't hip in 1984 and nor was silicon valley. In Mpls I rented a decent 2 bedroom apartment in 1986 for $550 per month, the same apartment today rents for $850. if you want to live near the "cool" people it will cost you.

The concept of opportunity cost has nothing to do with the "average individual" it is the cost of the "next best alternative usually forgone". I did not go to college, during most of my "college years" (18-22) I worked a total of 50-80 hours at as many 3 different jobs. That was my next best alternative. I still work 50-70 hours, between different jobs and businesses and transitioned from working class to upper middle class. In retrospect, I can see, for me, the opportunity cost of attending college would have been very high...

Agreed, but if there is no paper or coin cash like Sweden is proposing, how would the "Somali Banker" get digital currency to a party in the jurisdiction without paper currency? I assume it is all done in paper cash today. Barter seems impractical.

Yes it is a tax on unsold inventory. If I spend $100 on inventory, my business has $100 less cash. IRS rules do not allow my business to write off that cost until the goods are sold (COGS). If I do not sell that inventory, the IRS treats the unsold physical inventory the same as $100 cash for tax purposes, however my $100 is gone and I have no customers, so unless I destroy my inventory, I have to come up with tax payments for $100 I already spent. I've witnessed retailers smashing mass amounts of merchandise in compactors to avoid taxes on sunk cost. Some publishers have incinerated train loads of books for the same reason. Unsold inventory is a liability... Regardless of what the IRS says, inventory isn't worth anything until someone pays you for it, and you can never be sure if anyone will pay you for it or exactly what the price will be until the transaction occurs.

Inventory is a liability, not an asset and the tax code should reflect that. Taxing unsold inventory is simply one more thing that creates an unfair legal advantage for internet delivered content over traditional print content.

The government should not attempt to even the playing field by clamping down on technology and the internet. Instead it should eliminate taxes on unsold physical inventory and eliminate retail sales taxes and retail property taxes.

I don't know exactly what sets the flag off, but it is something like IP address, cookies, hardware, or some combination.

I also got the impression from the way they described the multiple phone calls to Amazon CS that the decision was made by an algorithm or some bunkered third party security firm that CS could not contact.

I'll have to check with these folks and see if they are willing to do a blog post about it. The one that is still selling is justifiably afraid of what could happen to that business.

I've seen this and yes there are false positives. It is unfortunate they have no reasonable appeal process. Amazon will ban you with no recourse if two selling accounts appear to login from the same network/same computer. It does not need to be a banned account. At least that's what appeared to happen in one case I've seen. Maybe it is cookies too, who knows.

Two internet merchants in the same family. Both have separate businesses, separate tax IDs, separate locations, etc. One family member is older and needs a lot of help with IT stuff. The younger family member comes over on the weekend to help with network/computer problems and happens to login and check their orders. Amazon sends an email to both of them demanding that one of the accounts be immediately closed or they will both be terminated. Again, they tried everything to get a human being to listen. No help from Amazon. The older family member closed his account and lost 50% of his revenues because he felt responsible for the entire situation. The younger seller 's account remained open. It was extremely heavy handed.

I have close relationships with both of these people and I am 100% sure neither of them are involved in any fraud.

Questions I have frequently pondered are...If one could as easily replicate and distribute physical products as we can digital products, what would that do to creativity and innovation?

Say you you could make infinite cheap copies of a car or a TV, would anyone make a better one?

With the elimination of scarcity what would we do with all our stuff and our free time? Would we sit around and turn into blobs or would we make things better just for the joy of it? Just for the recognition?

Isn't it apparent that IP laws/copyright in the digital age are just a way to impose artificial scarcity where it no longer exists naturally?

I have 2 kids and I love them and yes they are an asset but at the same time they are expensive. My point is... Once you have kids, I guarantee you will be more risk averse. The best time to start a business is before you have kids or after they've grown. You won't find a lot of people who quit a good corporate job and do a start up with small children at home. Clearly there are a few, but they are outliers. If do start a business with small children at home, you'll need a highly supportive spouse.

For someone with entrepreneurial aspirations, getting a corporate job is a great way to learn more about a business or a market. However, be aware it can be a trap. Getting married, getting a mortgage, having kids, may keep you trapped at the corporation until you're 52, you get laid off and your only asset is old irrelevant or proprietary knowledge.

If you're young, my advice is, find a way to OWN assets. Don't wait until you're 30 or 40 or 50. Start now! Don't trade your life away building valuable assets for someone else. Make sure you get a piece of what you are building.

Having been poor (not 3rd world poor, poor by American standards) I found the most difficult thing is leaving the poverty stricken network. You don't feel like you've made it until you reject the entire mindset. Until then, you feel like you've sold out. My mother still makes me feel guilty and shames me every time I see her. Until you've had a parent who shames you for doing better than they did, you'll never understand the trap. I tell my upper middle class neighbors about this and they can't imagine parents who wouldn't want their children to do better than them. While I still talk to my parents I've dumped the rest of the network. I protect myself and my family from my old network. Their whole way of thinking is poison. With many of them you risk violence, drugs, abuse, sexual abuse, racism, etc. Even if you trust one or two of them you can never trust who they will bring you or your family in contact with. No amount of mentoring or example setting has helped, it just breeds resentment. Their world view traps them right where they are and their rejection, resentment, and hostility to a better way of life creates their poverty and isolation. Sending them to Harvard isn't going to make a damn bit of difference. Well, MAYBE if you sent one or two, but if you sent enough, they'd just ruin Harvard.

I came to the conclusion many years ago that in America poverty is a contagious mindset, nothing more. But I do understand that it is a difficult mindset to escape due to social issues. In all honesty, in most cases the middle class and rich have good reason not to network with the poor.

I'm the software development director here at Ergotron. We appreciate your feedback and I will forward this to product development. It will help us improve our product. About the study, we supplied the product used in the study, but it was conducted by Health Partners Journey Well and we have no input on the results. BTW, the detailed results and methodology haven't been released by Health Parters Journey Well yet. I am told they will release those details but we don't know when.

I'm the software development director here at Ergotron. The purpose of Juststand.org is to bring awareness to the benefits of standing and the risks of sitting too much. Will we benefit from that awareness? Yes, we hope so. But the purpose of the site is not to just simply push our product. On the products page of juststand.org we link to some competitors products as well as our own. http://www.juststand.org/tabid/660/language/en-US/default.as...

That's exactly why shouldn't have a "national education system" or standardization of schooling. We need education that fits the student not one size fits all factory schooling. As for meaningful ways for colleges and employers to measure candidates... how about meaningful innovative projects. The last developer I hired completed a innovative project (on contract) for us before we hired him. I would never hire off a resume and interview alone. I'd ask the candidate to show me what he/she has created.