Towards frameless (clockless) video - <AUTHOR> http://ideas.4brad.com/towards-frameless-clockless-video <comment><USER2> The problem is, video cables need to handle the worst case scenario and the worst case is a full refresh. Consider full motion video, whenever there's a jumpcut, nearly every pixel changes. There's no way to compress that data down without loss of fidelity.

I question how necessary all this is. Display resolutions have stagnated while cable bandwidth has followed Moore's law. Until we get past the dpi impasse and start producing true high res screens, we can afford to just keep on upgrading cables occasionally.

<comment><USER3> _Consider full motion video, whenever there's a jumpcut, nearly every pixel changes. There's no way to compress that data down without loss of fidelity._

I think the author is proposing a non-causal protocol, where the data isn't necessarily sent in order. In FMV, perhaps the preceding scene can be sent with less than the full bandwidth of the cable. The computer can send the display many of the commands to generate future frames in advance, tagged with when they should be executed. Now that there is some buffering, there is more time to send the next full refresh.

At least, that's the intention I got from reading the piece.

<comment><USER2> That doesn't work in the case of interactivity (ie: games) since you can't buffer.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> A solution looking for a problem. The author goes straight into the technical details without actually mentioning why we need this.

<comment><USER5> It is analogous to Variable Bit Rate mp3 audio encoding.

It is a way of using slightly more bandwidth to increase the framerate of video, instead of just the usual increasing resolution of each frame.

It should also provide a way to degrade gracefully to output devices that don't support high frame rate.

<comment><USER6> _It is analogous to Variable Bit Rate mp3 audio encoding._

No, it would be analogous to variable _sample rate_ audio encoding, which doesn't exist.

 _It should also provide a way to degrade gracefully to output devices that don't support high frame rate._

Hierarchical B-frame structures in H.264 already provide this feature. For example (where A is the highest level, B middle, C lowest, and P frames are "ordinary" frames):

        Full framerate: P A B A C A B A P
        Half framerate: P B C B P (drop the As)
        Quarter framerate: P C P (drop the As and Bs)
        Eighth framerate: P P (drop the As, Bs, and Cs)

This is possible as P/B/C can't reference As, P/C can't reference Bs, and P can't reference Cs.

Some broadcast hardware encoders are known to use an even more extreme structure that involves 15 frame per hierarchy, allowing down to one _sixteenth_ of the framerate.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> No, the point of the article (or at least the problem to be solved) is driving a high resolution display from a device or cable or network that doesn't have the bandwith to do it the old fashioned, constantly updating frame way. DVI is really just a digital hacking up of analog VGA which is not far above old style video, and this makes no sense in a world where all displays sold have frame buffers of their own and memory and graphics hardware are super cheap.

We should move everything to fully digital protocols, and share cables, and get power on the cables (in both ways) too.

</comment><comment><USER8> He's reinventing Display PDF, badly.

</comment><comment><USER9> FTA: "Today, the world has changed. Displays are made of pixels but they all have, or can cheaply add, a "frame buffer" — memory containing the current image. Refresh of pixels that are not changing need not be done on any particular schedule. We usually want to be able to change only some pixels very quickly. Even in video we only rarely change all the pixels at once."

The trouble is, the system has to be designed to accommodate the worst case. "Usually" and "rarely" are of no more use in video than they are in realtime 3D graphics.</comment>


Sam Altman (Reluctantly) Says Y Combinator Has An Accelerator Monopoly - <AUTHOR> http://techcrunch.com/2014/05/05/sam-altman-kinda-sorta-monopoly/

<comment><USER2> If you limit the world to Silicon Valley that's probably true.

With startup school coming to London accelerators elsewhere will definitely be starting to get worried, but for now YC is simply 'best of breed', not a monopoly.

Google has a near monopoly on search. YC definitely does not (yet) have a monopoly on the concept of acceleration or even the start-up scene in general.

The reason why they might achieve a monopoly at some point is because of the network effects in the alumni.

<comment><USER3> > The reason why they might achieve a monopoly at some point is because of the > network effects in the alumni.

Aaaaand Hacker news :).

No seriously, HN does a great job of reminding people to apply at YC, this probably helps them get lots of applications. Other advertising endeavors probably help (tour buses going directly to Harvard, MIT, etc. where YC alumni talk to folks).</comment></comment>


We're treating self-improvement like a software upgrade - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/team-human/were-treating-self-improvement-like-a-software-upgrade-b25a8e3a80c6 <comment><USER2> The anti-self-improvement arguments usually devolve into weird strawman arguments and non sequiturs. In this case, the author is trying to portray modern technology and companies as the enemy because he wrote a series of books on the subject.

> It's that we humans should be making active choices about what it is we want > to do to ourselves, rather than letting the machines, or the markets > propelling them, decide for us.

Self-improvement isn't synonymous with buying products or following companies. In fact, two of the most common self-improvement goals are to reduce the amount of time spent in front of screens and to spend more time with friends and family.

This article reads more like an anti-technology or anti-corporate piece disguised as a criticism of self-improvement.

Ironically, the author of this post would like to sell you his thinly-veiled self help books such as "Program or Be Programmed: Ten Commands for a Digital Age" and "Get Back in the Box: How Being Great at What You Do Is Great for Business". This blog post is marketing material for his specific brand of self-improvement.

<comment><USER3> Rushkoff has been a digerati pundit for a very long time. He is definitely NOT a self-help guru. He's a legit academic at CUNY/Queens who has written quite a few books, writes articles, has a podcast, and gets paid to give talks when invited.

Yes, he can get preachy sometimes, but he's not part of what I call "the self- help-industrial-complex". He doesn't use ponzi-like levels of ever more expensive training seminars, that garbage people like Tony Robbins and all their ilk on youtube use to make money.

Rushkoff makes compelling and sincere arguments, he admits it when he's wrong (eg like the "Program or be Programmed" book) and, yes, he's certainly a lefist. He puts himself out there and isn't afraid to break consistency with his previous views. I admire all of that.

This particular article makes some good points. I don't agree with all of it, but it's a solid point of view and not disingenuous marketing.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> There are a lot of leaps of logic here - somehow he jumps from the fact that wristbands that count our heartbeats and footsteps are trying to improve health to the idea that our humanity is reducible to a bunch of data points.

Then somehow we've jumped to digital implants that don't exist yet and some extremely theoretical ideas of how they might be terrible for society.

Just a whole lot of doom and gloom with no real substance behind it.

</comment><comment><USER5> When really it's more like a SaaS product. You need to keep paying for the self-improvement, month after month, with your time...

<comment><USER6> Yes, success is rented, not bought, and the rent is due every day.

<comment><USER7> Never heard this before. Good rule of life.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> > Your value is not utility.

Lol let your value feed you when you run out of money with that line of thinking. Once you are wealthy, then sure; but not till then do humans have value in these systems were born into.

</comment><comment><USER9> On the specific mechanism of self improvement. Cycles of Intense focus, activity, followed by deep rest. Checkout Andre Huberman's podcast "a neuroscientist and tenured professor in the Department of Neurobiology at the Stanford University School of Medicine"

[http://podcasts.joerogan.net/podcasts/andrew- huberman](http://podcasts.joerogan.net/podcasts/andrew-huberman)

<comment><USER10> Video version [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLJowTOkZVo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLJowTOkZVo)

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> We _are_ objects. Our humanity comes from how we're used and for whom. One of the purposes of meditation is to separate the ego from the self and be able to look upon ourselves dispassionately and objectively, for the purposes of improving both, the spirit and its current vehicle.

<comment><USER12> Yeah, I'm very happy to be using myself for myself (and for others), thank you very much.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> I played Gris recently. An absolutely artistic, captivating platformer. But it was still deterministic along several dimensions. I feel that it is a counterexample to the all-encompassing claims made by the article. Why can't _parts_ of self improvement be like a software upgrade?

</comment><comment><USER14> > gender fluidity would disappear

Transhumanism would result in the opposite. The very idea of a gender binary should be called into question when you reach the level of augmenting and transcending the limits of your flesh.

The author seems to have a very narrow understanding of Transhumanism.

</comment><comment><USER15> in a sense it's really hard to create a being that is superior in all scenarios rather than superior in specific scenarios.

For example, roughly speaking, being a tall and very muscular person can be a disadvantage in a famine. Or being much much smarter than your peers can be a disadvantage in certain social scenarios that get you expelled for non- conformity...

I imagine we will see a similar issue with transhumanism, where the resultant products are better in some scenarios, but also worse in others.

</comment><comment><USER16> Off-topic but medium has almost turned into a paywall these days, it won't allow you to read more than 5 articles without subscribing to their paid service. Should HN and Google be promoting such a walled garden, especially when creative commons content is found aplenty on the interwebs?

<comment><USER17> They kept bugging me to log in. When I did, they started throwing things about limits around. So I deleted data related to the site and never log in. Since then I get to read as much as I want.

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> > Self-improvement of the transhumanist sort requires that we adopt an > entirely functional understanding of who and what we are: All of our > abilities can be improved upon and all of our parts are replaceable. > Upgradable.

Yeah right, but we're so far away from creating even a single "upgrade" that's comparable with the human body. For example, even the best cameras would never even be in the same competing arena as the human eye. No sensors come close to our sense of touch.

The transhumanist ideology is nothing else but some kind of perverted ideology that we somehow would be upgraded with a usb port sticking out from the skin.

Even the very best tools we have today to save lives and help our bodies sucks in comparison with the biological counterpart. Sure there may be a future that we would "upgrade" ourselves, but when that time is here (which would be very, very far into the future) everyone will instantly do it because it will be so much better. There wouldn't be some kind of discussion about it since the result is so obvious.

For it to happen, whatever we replace something with will have to have all the features that we currently enjoy + a lot more.

<comment><USER14> > even the best cameras would never even be in the same competing arena as the > human eye

All it takes is looking at photos from space telescopes, or electron microscopes... It should be obvious that technology can make better cameras than human eyes. Or slow motion video cameras... Infrared cameras...

The only thing about human eyes that is superior is that they come connected to the brain.

For now, technological augmentation is "air-gapped". It's incorrect to ignore air-gapped augmentations. Hell, even _glasses_ could be considered the first step, and have existed for hundreds of years.

Using glasses is essentially the "no brainer" conclusion that you are looking for. People already accept that it's ok to try to do better than nature provided for you.

<comment><USER18> Just being able to see something is just a small part of an eye.

You have "instant" focus, muscles that can turn the eye in almost every direction except where the skull is. We have self repairment to some degree if you get hurt. Automatic cleaning.

Sure other cameras that humans have built could be a good extension to the body if we somehow could send it wireless to our brains. Because all ways we have to date when it comes with integrating with biological matter is the part that is hard.

If we could have a chip inserted into our brains that accepted wireless communication, then sure it would be very useful. The issue is we have nothing that even comes close to that today afaik. Using glasses could also be a useful tool, but that isn't really "upgrading" the human body or being a transhuman in the sense that the article brings up.

My point is sure we have tools that could potentially upgrade our bodies but they aren't good and it seems it is a long way before anyone would operate some cables into their brain in order to accept infrared video.</comment></comment></comment>


The Moment I Knew Twitter Had to Buy Periscope - <AUTHOR> http://techcrunch.com/2015/03/11/the-moment-i-knew-twitter-had-to-buy-periscope/

<comment><AUTHOR> For all the hate Shane's getting in the article comments, he did a good job of illustrating exactly why Periscope is a cool service (and now I have to go look up Meerkat).

<comment><USER2> There's a difference between hating the article and being unable to read the article without getting a headache.</comment></comment>


Food photos with great resolution for free - <AUTHOR> Hi.
Some time ago i have temporally switched from development to cooking. And while took some photos, you can use it in your products as you wish)
http://adbrvl.co/1HK7zRy
Bon appetit. <comment><USER2> You might get more looks if you change the shrouded link to its native form.

<comment><AUTHOR> More looks is not a purpose. But, i'll follow your advice. Thank you)</comment></comment>


Nexus One plagued with 3G connectivity and support issues - <AUTHOR> http://news.softpedia.com/news/Nexus-One-Plagued-with-3G-Connectivity-Issues-131754.shtml

<comment><USER2> Makes me wonder if these are new 3G users on T-Mobile's network. Switching between 3G and Edge is quite common, and entirely a function of the 3G coverage in your area, which is often spotty, but slowly improving. I see this all the time on my G1, but it happens less and less as 3G coverage improves. The issue seems to be that the towers that support 3G have a different range than the towers that support GPRS. Naturally, T-Mobile tries to do the cost- effective thing and only upgrade the towers that will give them the requisite coverage. However, that isn't always easy to predict.

<comment><USER3> Also, with newer phones, including the Nokia E72, E75, and the Motorola Milestone, there is absolutely no problem when switching over. Data connections don't drop a bit, voice isn't lagging or anything. I wonder if these people actually experience problems or whether they just sit and stare at their status bar icons.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> Repeat after me: The singular of anecdotes is not data.

<comment><USER4> I believe that's "The plural..."

<comment><USER3> You are right, of course, and I should have said "The singular of anecdotes isn't data, either" - the nexus reports obviously have a bunch of anecdotal "evidence" behind them :)

</comment></comment></comment><comment> joe-mccann Haven't had a single problem here in Austin, TX...3G is fast and haven't switched over to EDGE one time???

<comment><USER5> Zero problems with the phone so far, I'm in NYC. Spent the weekend in VT and worked fine there as well.</comment></comment>


Watch out yo. Deep Learning is about to change - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/@debarko/supervised-deep-learning-in-image-classification-for-noobs-part-1-9f831b6d430d#.3kvgdodxx <comment><AUTHOR> Follow the author [https://twitter.com/debarko](https://twitter.com/debarko)</comment>


Google, privacy and Street View - <AUTHOR> http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/technology/2008/07/google_privacy_and_street_view.html <comment><USER2> You can really like a lot of things about Google, and I still assume that they take "Dont be evil" seriously, but at some point their gathering of information becomes nothing but scary. Even if they keep their efforts up, I think we will face multiple problems through that total concentration of information.

<comment><USER3> Google is just one buyer of these sets of photographs. Google shares them with the world, the other buyers use them for some purpose you don't hear about behind closed doors.

Who's evil?

Anyway, I don't see how opening up our society is a bad thing. For years, people have been afraid to be themselves because of taboos. When Google (or whatever) makes it clear that everyone else is just as weird as you, maybe we can stop being so secretive and embrace our real human nature.</comment></comment>


You're Leaving Out the Customer: How to Quantify Your Value Propositions - <AUTHOR> http://blog.priceintelligently.com/blog/bid/193618/You-re-Leaving-Out-the-Customer-How-to-Quantify-Your-Value-Propositions

<comment><USER2> Definitely interesting to see the quantitative approach. Anyone else utilizing something closer to this versus A/B testing?</comment>


Why Was Pinball Removed from Windows Vista? - <AUTHOR> http://blogs.msdn.com/b/oldnewthing <comment><USER2> See [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10529390](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10529390)

</comment><comment><USER3> The provided link is wrong anyway.</comment>


A Gentle Introduction to Algorithm Complexity Analysis - <AUTHOR> http://discrete.gr/complexity/ <comment><USER2> The explanation of Big O in Grokking Algorithms was clearest for me. It doesn't assume any knowledge and even re-introduces logarithms and binary search before using them in examples:

\- Logarithms and binary search: [https://livebook.manning.com/#!/book/grokking- algorithms/cha...](https://livebook.manning.com/#!/book/grokking- algorithms/chapter-1/)

\- Big O: [https://livebook.manning.com/#!/book/grokking- algorithms/cha...](https://livebook.manning.com/#!/book/grokking- algorithms/chapter-1/87)

<comment><USER3> THIS book was my first serious introduction to anything BigOh. Playful yet dead nuts on the mission to introduce self taught programmers like me the fundamentals the right way.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> When I was a computer science undergrad, this is the one video that made algorithmic complexity stick in my head, hopefully someone else finds it as useful as I did;

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phbu-K4tlQg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phbu-K4tlQg)

<comment><USER5> This is a good video but it gets the definition of omega and theta wrong, or at least their definition is very non-standard.

By default, O, omega and theta all refer to the worst case running time.

        - O(n) means worst_case_run_time <= C n
        - omega(n) means worst_case_run_time >= C n
        - theta(n) means C1 n <= worst_case_run_time <= C2 n

If you want to talk about something other than worst case, you usually just say it in words, like "the average complexity of this algorithm is O(n^2)".

(I can't remember when someone has ever looked at "best case".)

To rephrase

\- "This algorithm is O(something)" means I have an _upper bound_ on the running time on the worst inputs.

\- "This algorithm is omega(something)" means I have a _lower bound_ on the running time on the worst inputs.

\- "This algorithm is theta(something)" means I have both an _upper and lower bound_ on the running time on the worst inputs (that differ only by a constant multiple.

In particular, a lower bound _does not_ mean "best case" (they aren't even in the same part of the sentence).

(There's also some other detail from the video like the bit representation of string length that needs a footnote but that's much less important, I think.)

<comment><USER6> Big-O typically refers to worst case when people discuss algorithms, but its definition has nothing to do with runtime, or even algorithms, at all. It was invented by mathematicians decades before computers existed.

It's also more nuanced than the inequality in your correction. It's a statement about limits of functions.

<comment><USER5> Thanks for the clarification. I never really know how much (accuracy) to put in a post. I'm assuming that part of it is what turned some folk away from learning complexity in the first place. (I have intuition but not a firm grasp of what turns people away either.)

The implicit default of "worst-case running time" (in the context of algorithm) may actually be the source of errors like the one made in the video. For what its worth, I actually think the lim sup definition is easier because its fewer things to memorize.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> This Parallel & Sequential Algorithms book from CMU uses a simpler language cost model instead of the traditional machine based model to do analysis if anybody is interested [http://www.parallel-algorithms- book.com/](http://www.parallel-algorithms-book.com/)

 _When using a machine model, we have to reason about how the algorithm compiles and runs on that machine. For example, if we express our algorithm in a low-level language such as C, cost analysis based on a machine model that represents a von Neumanm machine is straightforward because there is an almost one-to-one mapping of statements in C to the instructions of such a machine. For higher-level languages, this becomes trickier. There may be uncertainties, for example, about the cost of automatic memory management, or the cost of dispatching in an object-oriented language. For parallel programs, cost analysis based on machine-based models even more tricky, since we have to reason about how parallel tasks of the algorithm are scheduled on the processors of the machine._

</comment><comment><USER8>
        for ( var i=0; i<n; ++i ) {..

In Javascript this will loop from 0 to n-1 inclusive regardless of using ++i or i++, because that loop 'stepping statement' happens after the loop body.

Its possible to combine the step in the test to go from 1 to n-1

        for ( var i=0; ++i<n; ) {..

best to be aware of the quirk and just do

        for ( var i=1; i<n; i++ ) {..

</comment><comment><USER9> Excellent article (previous discussion on HN here: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4200846](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4200846))!</comment>


CloudMounter for Mac Featured on the Mac App Store and Producthunt - <AUTHOR> https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cloudmounter-mount-cloud-storage/id1130254674?mt=12 <comment><AUTHOR> [https://www.producthunt.com/tech/cloudmounter](https://www.producthunt.com/tech/cloudmounter)

</comment><comment><USER2> great! Saves disk space on my SSD. Thanks!</comment>


Show HN: My first webapp. Build with rails, backbonejs and lots of love. - <AUTHOR> http://www.themescroller.com

<comment><AUTHOR> A couple of month ago, after finishing (almost) Standfords Saas-class (<https://www.coursera.org/course/saas>), i decided it was time for my first webapp.

A directory for wordpress themes sounded like a small enough project to start learning everything there is to know about running a webapp. What i learned the last 2 month feels more valuable then 3 years of college. The backend runs on rails, the frontend is done with backbonejs and i'm using mongolab.com as my database-(service).

the skills that i learned so far are mostly technical, now i need to figure out how to get the word out... any pointers on how to do that are very welcome.

I thought i start here since i love how much you help fellow hackers out. any feedback on the app would be highly appretiated.

<comment><USER3> It's pretty neat, I like the ability to view a lot of themes at once juste scrolling. One minor thing : when using the filter part, if I tick for example "business" then untick it maybe it should come back to "all" by default instead of showing a blank page?

How do you manage the color detection, do you tag it yourself? For Orange, there's one theme that should not be here : the "screen" one but as the theme is based on pictures "wallpaper" changing maybe one of them has orange in it?

<comment><AUTHOR> oh thanks, good call with the unticking thing. i didn't even notice that.

the colors are tagged by a script. i wrote a scraper for all of these marketplaces, which collects all the data, takes a screenshot, (tries) to guess the main color and uploads everything... so yeah, if there is a huge example picture with the color orange, my script thinks orange is part of the theme. maybe i can deactivate all images for the color guessing part. i have to figure that out. but thanks for the feedback, really appretiate that!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> This is a great first app. I assume you are looking for ideas of things to think about and work on next, otherwise I wouldn't criticize. So here are a few ideas:

\- Right now you have to click directly on the checkboxes and radio buttons, which are small targets. There is an easy way to let users click on the text next to the checkbox, and a padded area around it a few pixels, which will make them much easier to use.

\- You are mostly using the browser-default typography. Most web applications look better with sans-serif fonts, like the ones you see in any menu on a desktop application.

\- The url is currently a bit ugly for the default case, with lots of ?blah=all. Can you figure out a way to remove those and just assume "all" as the default if it isn't in the url?

\- The filter tab currently has what I would technically describe as "a big jumble of options". Everything looks the same and is the same size, as if you expect all of the options to be equally used and to have the same relationship. Can you think of a way to provide more understandable structure, by making some of the options (the more useful ones) stand out more, and others be out of the way. Or can you find some relationship between the different options that can be expressed visually?

\- "Only free themes?" All, Yes, No. Are "all" and "no" the same? Perhaps you mean: All, Free, Paid?

Have fun! I know how exciting a time it is tuning your first big thing. Good luck.

<comment><AUTHOR> wow lots of great advice. thanks for the feedback, especially the long-url- thing blew my mind...it's so obvious..but i never thought of it!

<comment><USER4> This is a great first project, and I wish you luck. I have a decent amount of experience with rails and backbone, feel free to email me if you ever have questions or want code reviewed: firstname.lastname@example.com

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Very nice. Here's just a small thing I'd change: You update the url using backbones router.navigate, right? If you pass {replace: true} in the options object, the browser won't create a new entry in the history as it does right now but still update the URL. <http://documentcloud.github.com/backbone/#Router-navigate>

<comment><AUTHOR> yes, exactly, that's how i do it. maybe i'm missing something, but why do you suggest not making an entry in the history?

<comment><USER6> The user is scrolling one long page, not navigating between 'pages'. Having entries inserted into the history while scrolling seems very counter-intuitive to me.

<comment><AUTHOR> mh yes that makes sense.

i think the reason why i did this, was because initially the preview und market links didn't open in a new window. but you're right, if the user is staying on one page, he doesnt need a 'back' functionality.

thanks for the feedback, i already changed it, going to push it later...

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> I got a question and a feedback : 1/ how do you make money ? Do you get a commission for each theme you sell

2/ It would be great if you had some info about the theme, for example, when I'm looking for a wordpress theme, I want to make sure its design is responsive. You should add some theme info to your app !

Great job anyway ;)

<comment><AUTHOR> 1) yes, through affiliate links. most marketplaces give you commission on sales.

2) yes better filters/ more infos is on the roadmap. getting data of ~4000 themes is not a task i want to do by hand. and the infos i get by scraping the sites is limited. but as someone said before, the user doesn't care about how its done, the user cares about how it works. so i'm going to think about that. maybe i let mechanical turks look for all that data.

but for now: there is a filter for responsive themes. its the layout-> responsive layout filter. if you select that, you will get all the themes where i definitly knew that they are responsive.

<comment><USER7> Thanks !

Good luck with the themes info retreival :)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Congratulations on releasing your first app.

To get the word out; posting here is a good start. Post on Reddit too. Also, you could try sending a Press Release type email to relevant blogs - <USER2> might blog about your app.

Think about SEO and how your site ranks in a Google Search for instance.

<comment><AUTHOR> thanks.

yeah seo is a hard one, since the app is basically just images...

<comment><USER9> How about using alt- and title-tags for those images?

<comment><AUTHOR> right, meta tags are also missing at the moment. but generally speaking...its a javascript app, with dynamic content (filters) and only images... the googlebot is not going to apply filters. or maybe he is, i don't know.

<comment><USER10> The google bot won't touch any javascript, it will just follow links. You can consider a link to a directory to the different themes.

<comment><USER11> Googling "googlebot execute javascript" indicates otherwise.

<comment><USER10> I stand corrected. they use Javascript in a headless browser to generate the site previews. Detailed information on how Javascript is interpreted to index sites is hard to find. I would not count on Javascript to instruct Google Bot what to index.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> The more I experience it, the more I think the "pinterest-style" layout is absolutely the best way to consume visuals. Great idea and great execution! I would definitely use this.

From the perspective of a dev who occasionally buys from Themeforest, I find a few of the pieces of default TF metadata really important: price, browser support and # of sales (in decreasing order of importance). Don't know how accessible that info is via the API, but it'd be great to access that info without many (or any) clicks.

</comment><comment><USER13> This is a very nice first web app. Congratulations, you've done fine work.

I will offer one UI design tip. The radio button for All and check boxes for yes/no, etc under the filters tab is not how these ui elements are typically used. Checking Yes and No _is_ all, so there is no need for the All option, just have all the check boxes checked by default and allow the user to uncheck the ones they don't want to see.

</comment><comment><USER14> Nice idea, browsing through Themeforest is a bit of a painful, multi tab experience most of the time.

How about adding a text search as well? I regularly search for stuff like "admin" or "app" to narrow the search.

</comment><comment><USER15> It's a very nice app, but it does not say anywhere that these are Wordpress themes - is that obvious to everyone?

<comment><USER16> Wasn't to me until reading your comment.

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> I'd dial back on the shadows behind the themes. It makes the pictures look like they're glowing.

</comment><comment><USER18> Outside of HN, no-one cares what it is written in, only what it does.

<comment><USER19> ...and yet this was posted to HN.

<comment><USER20> I assume he was giving advice for when he advertises it other sites other than HN

<comment><USER18> That is correct.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Is Iran's halal Internet possible? - <AUTHOR> http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/10/201210263735487349.html

<comment><USER2> "If successful, Iran will have accomplished something few other nations could: full control over its citizens' modern communications."

I feel like a lot of nations could do this, they just don't. After all, when the internet was invented it would be quite easy to do such a thing.</comment>


The Semantics of Transactions and Weak Memory in x86, Power, ARM, and C++ - <AUTHOR> https://www.usenix.org/conference/atc19/presentation/chong <comment><USER2> Research aside, I don't really know of anyone or any company using hardware- provided transactional memory in the industry. Yes, software transactional memory is frequently used by Clojure and Haskell people, but hardware TM? I've only ever read about Intel TSX in the manual. Can someone provide some examples of that being used in the industry?

<comment><USER3> Intel disabled TSX some time ago via a microcode update because it was buggy. I'm not sure they enabled it back in newer CPUs.

<comment><USER4> That was on Haswell and it was fixed in Broadwell and later. Any new processor will have it (except AMD's chips).</comment></comment></comment>


Android VS Windows Phone from a developer's scope - <AUTHOR> http://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/wcb9t/android_vs_windows_phone_from_a_developers_scope/

<comment><USER2> Why link to the reddit submission ? Why not link to the blog post directly ?</comment>


The Pied Piper of Mucus - <AUTHOR> http://www.popsci.com/bown/2009/innovator/pied-piper-mucus

<comment><USER2> Never mind the idiotic title, this is a classic story about invention. His breakthrough was accidentally figuring out that a _mouthpiece filter_ was more important than the entire rest of his complicated machine, and it invalidated the design he had been working on for 15 years. Can you imagine? Most people would never allow themselves to notice something like that: the cognitive dissonance would be way too intense.

"I felt so stupid because the answer was so simple" is a deeply creative, even heroic statement.</comment>


Ask HN: How much do you make at Facebook/Apple/Netflix/Google? - <AUTHOR> I am curious as to how these numbers have changed in the last couple of years.
I work for Google and make ~ $300k every year (160 base+salary and 140 stock). I am a L4 and have 5 years of experience out of college.
Discussions from 2 years ago:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10758278
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11314449
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11312984 <comment><USER2> Not at any of the aforementioned companies, but just for fun...

L6 at pre-IPO SF-area unicorn, 11 years out of college, 3 at current company. 200K base salary, no bonus, but RSUs that would be worth about 1M/year if we were to IPO tomorrow at the current funny-money valuation, but right now they are worth exactly zero. Whether or not they ever become worth more than zero remains to be seen.

</comment><comment><USER3> Time to be ashamed of my not-west-coast salary again.

<comment><USER4> My company moved me away from the East Coast and didn't even bother with the West Coast and while I was able to negotiate a salary increase.. moving me the mountainous desert warranted them to pay me far less. Can't really complain... can't say I'm rich, but I am making a good living. Whereas living on the coast cost me about 1 out of 2 of my paychecks for rent, I now have a mortgage that costs me about half of one paycheck (though my lady and I split the costs and charge her adult children rent as well).

I work beyond my job to try and make that East Coast or West Coast salary in my own time.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> When people say they make 140 stock, you mean you got stock options worth $140k and if you don't have to spend a penny to cash it out outside of taxes?

<comment><USER6> It could be RSUs

<comment><USER7> So, are these stock options that's added on top of base salary every year?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Humble brag?

</comment><comment><USER9> Good god. What do you work on?</comment>


Appharbor's danish company declared in bankruptcy [in danish] - <AUTHOR> http://www.version2.dk/artikel/konkurs-rammer-det-danske-succes-startup-appharbor-48621

<comment><USER2> AppHarbor is still in the running, we've posted an update here: <https://appharbor.com/page/appharbor-status-update>

</comment><comment><USER3> This is a bit of an odd story, they're still tweeting as recently as 15 hours ago: <https://twitter.com/appharbor> and blogging as recently as yesterday: [http://blog.appharbor.com/2012/10/31/repository-pattern- and-...](http://blog.appharbor.com/2012/10/31/repository-pattern-and- convention-based-entity-framework-code-first)</comment>


Dear Google, Am I a person or an email address to you? - <AUTHOR> http://numgal.blogspot.com/2013/04/dear-google-am-i-person-or-email.html Here's my take on Google's identity management and access control environment, why I find it a PITA, and what I think they should do differently. <comment><USER2> I largely agree with this post and share the author's frustrations. But there's a part of me that still likes the fact that a large portion of the web equates an email address to an identity. If you choose not to use your true identity, it's as easy as creating a new email address. Eventually someone will solve the identity problem without sacrificing anonymity for those who need or want it.

<comment><AUTHOR> So I'm the author of the OP. To be clear, I'm not advocating for Google or anyone else to force people to have only a single account. If people want to use multiple accounts and have multiple identities for anonymity or to separate "work" and "personal" Internet personas, then they should be free to do so. However I believe the option should exist for someone to unify their accounts through a single identity if they so choose.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> To Google you're a PGO - Profit Generating Organism. The more emails the more chance for profit.</comment>


Image-to-image translation in PyTorch - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/junyanz/pytorch-CycleGAN-and-pix2pix <comment><USER2> The live demo is super fun (I really hope this does not kill it) : [https://affinelayer.com/pixsrv/](https://affinelayer.com/pixsrv/)

<comment><USER3> Thanks for the link - you're right, it _was_ fun!

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Serious question, can graphics rendering in games be replace with a technology like these? Then the developer will train a model to convert a simple low poly count 3d image to a very beautiful looking image, and gamer's PC will use those weights on the fly to make the game look beautiful. No need for expensive GPUs (as long as NN predictions are easy)

<comment><USER5> >No need for expensive GPUs

These techniques require expensive GPUS. Even with top of the line hardware it takes a few seconds per frame. Perhaps something like this could be used to assist animators and modelers though.

<comment><USER6> But you'd only have to render the level _once_ , after that it's all textures to be slapped on polygons. And those 'expensive GPUs' are pretty much there in that context since they were designed for games to begin with.

In fact, let's stimulate this to make sure GPUs get even faster and have more memory.

GP is wrong in that GPUs won't be needed but that doesn't make it a bad idea as such.

<comment><USER7> >But you'd only have to render the level once, after that it's all textures to be slapped on polygons.

No, then you'd have textures on low resolution polygons. That's using the method during production, not in the renderer. If you want this method to improve image rendering it needs to happen as part of the render ie every frame.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> There is an implementation in TensorFlow too: [https://github.com/vanhuyz/CycleGAN- TensorFlow](https://github.com/vanhuyz/CycleGAN-TensorFlow)

</comment><comment><USER9> This is almost scary if you think about it, because this is in its infancy. In 5, 10, 15 years, will any photo be able to be authenticated? Will this be doable in real-time at high resolution, on live video feeds? Will we be able to believe anything but our own eyes?

<comment><USER10> Infancy? Convolutional neural networks have like 20 years. It is just recently when we were able to use bigger models and more data in GPUs when it becomes something main stream and a lot of people are doing things with it. So it is more like in its maturity. Now it is a field growing slowly but steady. Don't expect big things but small increment also every year (which by the way are awesome stuff)

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> The cat demo is hilarious. But kind of spooky if you consider that cats are still recognisable as cats :)

[https://github.com/junyanz/pytorch-CycleGAN-and- pix2pix/raw/...](https://github.com/junyanz/pytorch-CycleGAN-and- pix2pix/raw/master/imgs/edges2cats.jpg)

</comment><comment><USER12> The only thing not exciting about watching unfold the AI renaissance than may eventually break the turing barrier, is that the research demos are shit for quality.

I admit it's exciting to zoom in on that little zebra video, but the RealVideo sizing makes it hard to characterize artifacts.

Some papers include dozens of images at 32x32 and I wonder if people really stop to look at them.

A small price to pay I guess. Most first worldish problem ever?

</comment><comment><USER13> As always, I would prefer more focus on training your own models rather than running prebaked ones.

</comment><comment><USER14> This is crazy...I wonder how long it'll take for this to be a feature in something like After Effects.

</comment><comment><USER15> Wow - impressive!</comment>


Bitcoin's terrible 2018 doesn't bode well for the future of crypto - <AUTHOR> https://www.engadget.com/2018/12/20/cryptocurrency-year-in-review-loser/ <comment><USER2> Most people who got rich from bitcoin did not do it 'overnight' as the article states. They probably held for several years. I think the author is confusing pyramid schemes with the creation of a new asset class. Sure the next 2 years will be bumpy. People have to plan on waiting for growth in the long-term. There is a word for people who try to guess the short term: speculators.

<comment><USER3> That is the key differentiation between a speculator and an investor or God forbid, a user.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Bitcoins value comes from the real assets that are traded. These assets are foremostly illegal drugs, guns, porn and -- financial security under oppressive government. The last one is now much less valuable however, when Chinese government has started clamping down free internet, and bitcoin transactions will be monitored more closely. However now that we have bitcoin derivatives those who are afraid that bitcoin does not represent their moving asset valuation correctly can effect real changes. Therefore it is prudent to assume that bitcoin will settle down to reasonable level. I think the psychologically "reasonable" value is when one bitcoin is comprehensible to average drug dealer in 3rd world countries. I say 1000 dollars is such a number.</comment>


The Elder Scrolls: Skyblivion - <AUTHOR> https://skyblivion.com/ <comment><USER2> I guess voice acting will be stripped from the older game, so it will require owning both.

I wonder how many people on the team came from the Morrowblivion project. Can't wait to heart about the Skyfall project circa 2024.

<comment><USER3> Heh, to be frank I think the game would be improved by leaving out the voice acting entirely. It's pretty bad.

<comment><USER4> They spent too much money and Patrick Stewart and Sean Bean and not enough on "general" voice actors. There are like five people voicing the hundreds of characters in the game.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I have to admit, even as an elder scrolls fan whose favorite game in the series is Oblivion, I've never much understood Skyblivion. There's very little you can't do to Oblivion with mods that you can do to Skyrim. Skywind has its own devs, but there are plenty of other games in the series which could use a rebuild, like Redguard or Daggerfall. Despite that, I do greatly look forward to the completion of this project.

<comment><USER6> Daggerfall is getting remastered and there's an actual playable version: [https://www.dfworkshop.net/](https://www.dfworkshop.net/)

I installed it recently just to scratch that childhool itch, and it's looking good, and still plays well (this was one immersive game back in the day)

Here's an ultrawide screenshot if you're interested: [https://ibb.co/HrZZHcp](https://ibb.co/HrZZHcp)

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> I remember a similar project to port Morrowind over to the Oblivion engine. I wonder if we'll eventually end up with a chain of total conversion mods where each installment of TES is ported over to the next installment's engine.

<comment><USER8> I think that eventually changes into skywind</comment></comment>


ASRock BitCoint Mining Motherboard - <AUTHOR> http://www.asrock.com/news/index.asp?cat=News&ID=1765

<comment><USER2> Note that GPU-mining Bitcoin these days is unprofitable. However this motherboard is still very useful for GPU altcoins such as Litecoins.</comment>


Show HN: Material Design for Bootstrap 4 - <AUTHOR> https://fezvrasta.github.io/bootstrap-material-design/ <comment><AUTHOR> Author here, it took a lot of months to update the project to the new Bootstrap version, modernize the build pipeline and improve the look of the project.

Now it's finally ready for production use, and it's obviously free! :-)</comment>


LED Streetlights Bad for Your Health? - <AUTHOR> http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/21/health/led-streetlights-ama/ <comment><USER2> Title: Doctors issue warning about LED streetlights</comment>


Pool playing robot and Augmented Reality pool - <AUTHOR> http://hackaday.com/2009/09/20/pool-playing-robot-arpool/

<comment><USER2> My masters thesis and a ICME 08 paper was somewhat related:

<http://mixedrealitybilliards.com>

I have not worked on that in 2 years. Let me know if you would like to revive it!

</comment><comment><USER3> Takes Virtual Pool to another dimension ;)</comment>


Security of Java takes a dangerous turn for the worse, experts say - <AUTHOR> http://arstechnica.com/security/2013/09/security-of-java-takes-a-dangerous-turn-for-the-worse-experts-say/ <comment><USER2> This is a misleading headline, since the article is referring to the security of old versions of Java. I guess "Outdated Software Contains Known Security Holes and Will Probably Never be Patched, Experts Say" is not as catchy of a title.

How is this news? The more popular a piece of software is, and the longer a specific version of it has been in use, the more bugs will be found and exploited. Duh?

<comment><USER3> While I agree that the article is highly misleading, I don't think this is a complete non-issue. I imagine there are still a lot of organizations (especially those in developing countries) that have systems that were setup a decade or so ago with XP, IE7, Java5, etc. and haven't been properly upgraded.

<comment><USER4> I know of a company whose standard is XP, and will not upgrade Java because existing applications won't run if they do.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Who exactly is exposed to these flaws?

Anyone who has attempted to run an applet on any modern browser in the past 6 months will know it now involves a lot of work -- clicking through several dialogs and warnings even if you _do_ have the latest version.

If you don't have the latest version, some browsers make it impossible, and others let you go ahead only after you acknowledge that you're putting your immortal soul in dire peril (or something along those lines).

Java on OS X will _self-disable_ if you don't use it for a while, so then you have to figure out how to enable it, again, if you even figure out what has happened.

In Safari _even when everything is enabled_ you see a gray box with small text saying something like "plugin disabled" in it. You have to click the small text (though it doesn't look like a link or button) to access the menu to enable it and continue.

I suppose they must be targeting corporate machines running XP and IE7 or something like that? I don't think most other people are succeeding in running legitimate Java applets, let alone anything that would be a security risk.

<comment><USER6> > _Who exactly is exposed to these flaws? Anyone who has attempted to run an > applet on any modern browser in the past 6 months will know it now involves > a lot of work -- clicking through several dialogs and warnings even if you > do have the latest version._

Some hundrends of millions of people still running XP, Windows 2000 or Vista, with IE or Firefox?

<comment><USER5> With an old version of FF, you mean?

AFAIK FF still supports XP (though probably not per-service-packs XP), though I haven't checked recently.

For IE, you're probably right.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> So, correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't these issues all around the sandbox functionality of applets?

So specifically, to exploit these, you write a dodgy applet, then convince users to run these applets locally (by hijacking websites or whatever), whereby you break out of the sandbox and do bad shit.

So then, in terms of how Java is generally used: on servers, on android, to execute code that runs locally on your box outside of a sandbox anyway (e.g. minecraft) these issues are in fact complete non-issues?

It seems to me that if they just split off the applet part into its own thing the world would be a far better place.

<comment><USER8> You are wrong, the article isn't about the merit of applets, these issues deal with a company that doesn't want to support software that is deployed on millions of PCs.

<comment><USER7> When I said issues I meant the bugs which Oracle isn't fixing, not the issue that Oracle isn't fixing the issues.

But I feel like you already knew that.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Do people still run Java Applets now adays?

<comment> iso-8859-1 Yes. If you want people to stop, make a fully functional replacement for [http://ysangkok.github.io/algorithms-in- action/](http://ysangkok.github.io/algorithms-in-action/) or JFLAP. I made a B-Tree visualization: [http://ysangkok.github.io/js-clrs- btree/btree.html](http://ysangkok.github.io/js-clrs-btree/btree.html) but there are still dozens of algorithms left.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> Didn't redhat say that they will continue to maintain OpenJDK 6 ? [http://www.redhat.com/about/news/press-archive/2013/3/red- ha...](http://www.redhat.com/about/news/press-archive/2013/3/red-hat- reinforces-java-commitment)

</comment><comment><USER11> Long-time Java developer here saying I mostly abandoned ship several years ago. Still work doing some Java dev, but have mostly switched to Ruby, because Scala is unreadable to me and I've not found anything else I like as much as Ruby yet. Oracle really fucked things up, if for no other reason than they've poorly managed security issues. They let the government tell people to uninstall Java from their browsers. That is fucked up. It's like they don't even care and want it to die.

<comment><USER12> Doesn't the article pertain to applets? Are there any developers out there still writing Java _applets_?

<comment> Al-Khwarizmi Well, I have a Java system for playing interactive fiction games on the desktop. When people started playing them on the browser, the obvious way to adapt my system to that functionality was an applet. That way I could reuse 99% of the code, and they could get the same functionality as on the desktop.

Sadly, now it's getting harder and harder to run applets. And I'm not going to code a different web-based version of my system (which would involve not only rewriting a lot of code, but finding different libraries to handle MP3, OGG, SVG graphics, etc.) so I suppose my system will just slowly fade into obsolescence.

For some things, applets are still the best choice... or would be, if users were not aggressively discouraged from using them due to what amounts mostly to PR campaigns (as i.e. Flash is by no means more secure than Java applets, and browsers don't make you click through four layers of scary dialogs to run it).

What I hate about coding projects for end users that need to run on shiny platforms (like the web) is that you always get caught on politics. Stuff like company X not allowing running software written in language Y on platform Z so as to promote its own platform, and making you port everything several tiems. Or company X including a crippled distribution of software Y because it hates company Y (this happened with Ubuntu and Java and has brought me scores of bug reports to handle). I guess my future hobby projects will be in C/C++ and directed to technical users that don't expect to run their machine learning software (for example) on a tablet browser...

<comment><USER13> If you really want to target the web, what's wrong with JS/CS in the browser or on Node.js for desktop apps?

Of course, you could always use C/C++ with emscripten, and target the web that way...

<comment> Al-Khwarizmi Because this project is already there, I started it in year 2000 when most of those technologies didn't exist. I would need to code everything again in JS, and we are talking about more than 150 KLOC. Plus libraries that might not be available in JS. And then I would have two separate versions to maintain. No way I'm going to do that, I'm not getting paid for this project and I don't have enough free time.

With Java on the other hand, I had a desktop app and an applet sharing the vast majority of the codebase, only very specific parts of the code (a small part of the UI and I/O code) differ. This is what was allowing me to maintain the project and support both desktop and browser, until the applet paranoia growed out of proportion and browsers put applets in permanent quarantine.

Of course, if I started this project now rather than in 2000, I would probably make different decisions regarding language and technologies used. Although it would still be a bit annoying not to be able to use Java. It's not my favorite language, but I definitely prefer it to JS by a mile.

<comment><USER13> I was thinking more about the fact that you had switched to C/C++.

I agree that re-writting an app of that size is a giant PITA.

You could always use GWT though, and compile Java to Javascript. Altough you would probably have to re-write code as you're not targeting an applet anymore.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> Which Java software does not run on Java 7, preventing users to upgrade? I thought Java was backwards compatible.

<comment><USER15> AspectJ would probably be the most widely broken dependency, even with UseSplitVerifier enabled. Version 1.7 of AspectJ fixes the issue, but most corporate IT consumers aren't in a position to update it themselves.

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> Please don't use java Applets for anything. It is age old, unsafe technology. End of story.

<comment><USER17> Please also disable the .jnlp extension handler included with many older browsers, and activated by installing Java from the Oracle (and formerly Sun) Java virtual machine.

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> > custom-written apps that work only on the older Java version

How is that even possible?

<comment><USER17> Using Java WebStart, the .jnlp file can specify which version of the JVM to use when running the application (not an applet, but a full-blown Java application).</comment></comment>


Area Entrepreneur Wakes Up at 5AM to Pretend Like He's Getting More Shit Done. - <AUTHOR> http://robbieabed.com/area-entrepreneur-wakes-up-at-5am-to-pretend-like-hes-getting-more-shit-done-before-noon/

<comment><USER2> Ha, nice title

I thought this was a thread on entrepreneurs that constantly tell the world they are working hard on social media sites versus actually working hard</comment>


Ask HN: What is a non-developer to do? - <AUTHOR> Hi guys,
I'm 24, got a masters in business and I am totally clueless on what to do with my life. I would like to ask you for some advice because I have been reading HN every day  for the past 6 months and saw some brilliant advice given on these boards.
I am from Europe and when I was 18 I chose to enter a business university because I liked to organize trips for my friends, had excellent grades at school and teachers and parents told me it's the safest bet because a good income and future are guaranteed with this kind of degree.
6 years later, I have my degree, I have a job in a Spanish business consultancy but I feel pretty much useless; I spend my days preparing elaborate 300 slides power point presentations full of citations of market reports and always followed by some bs excel projections about future revenues and promises of a brighter tomorrow. The bosses love my work, the clients happily pay astronomical fees to listen to our "expert" advice, and I wonder how is it even possible to make so much money selling what we are selling, air.
During my business studies, startups were never mentioned, I grew up believing a good idea is what matters, and that either you have it, or you do not, and that lady luck was the one who distributes ideas to whoever she chooses.  After stumbling upon HN and the plethora of other blogs and articles linked here I started to see how narrow my vision was and how much more there was to creating a business than writing your 100 page business plan.
So my question is, how can I get out of this vicious circle of unfulfilling work 9-20  (officially its 9-5 by I never get out of the office before 20) and do something that I care about?
I have been trained to be a good office boy so I can most likely get employed for the majority of big companies and start climbing the corporate ladder starting with €30k . It just that, working the 40 years of my life doing stuff that I do not care about just to earn a lot of cash does not particularly motivate me.
On the other hand there are startups, 100% dedication to your product, the whole team believing in what you are doing. Sounds like fun, but I realize that I am useless in an environment like that. With no tech expertise and 2 years business experience I do not see myself critically contributing to any serious startup.
I have tried finding a solution myself, I read countless posts on the quarter life crisis, vault and wetfeet industry reports, talked with my career manager, my friends, my parents - nothing really helped me. I do not know what kind of job I could do with my current skills that could make me wake up in the morning and feel motivated to go there.
Perhaps some of you have gone through the same path, perhaps you can see something I do not, but any word of advice would be appreciated!
Cheers from a sunny Spain! <comment><USER3> You must read sivers.org - Derek Sivers is a musician turned entrepreneur who became a programmer too and he has great advice on many issues you speak of.

First, check out the following on finding your passion: <http://sivers.org/passion>

Next read this article about taking that big step towards your dreams (its one of my favorite): <http://sivers.org/loss>

If you find yourself wanting to get into the tech startup route but despair about not being a programmer, the following is excellent advice on how to turn your idea into a blueprint for a programmer and also (I think) great advice on how to become a product guy: <http://sivers.org/how2hire>

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks a lot for the links! I did read some cool stuff from Sivers before but I missed the articles you linked

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Can you sell? A lot of people with business degrees can't or won't-- but some can.

Non-geeks can be good at selling, designing, SEO, SEM, PR, finance, copywriting etc.

I'd suggest taking two steps. 1) Try to move yourself nearby startups (if that's really your thing). This can be in Spain-- just spend time at whatever geeky meetups you can find and start batting around ideas. And 2) Start trying to get smart about some of those non-geek skills that are valuable in a small software company. Optional: 3) Learn to code. Most startup coding is just about form fields and databases-- not algorithms.

<comment><AUTHOR> Definitely great advice!

No I cannot sell, usually this is what partners do in my company. I only interact with the clients after the initial sale was done. The closest I get to selling is in drafting the request for proposal (a doc where you tell them how you want to solve their problem/need) for the specific client.

<comment><USER4> Related question: WILL you sell or would you hate it? Sales is definitely a skill, but a learnable one (especially if you have solid biz/people/negotiation skills and a willingness to hear the word "No" a lot. ;-) )

<comment><AUTHOR> Of course I am willing! As long as I believe in what I am selling I think it would be a great challenge to get my point through

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> The start-up scene in Spain is very small. I recommend you to read Loogic, a blog about start ups in Spain.

If you dont like what you are doing, don't do it. Find something that motivates you.

In my opinion you should learn at least some basics skills about planning in technology/engineering. Learn what is the Waterfall model, what is Toyotism, what is Agile software development, scrum, Kaban ... there are many things that you can learn, but first things first. What are you interested in?

Anyway, my very best advice. Try to crash in a place where they really know what they are doing. Try to work with great and smart people, even if you earn less money. "Be the worts", that will make every day a challenge.

Will you consider relocate?

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for the blog, will add it to my list of morning reading. I do read a lot, I love it! Apart from web reading I also read books, non fiction mainly - I recently read hackers&paints, 4 steps to epiphany, presentation zen, back of a napkin...I love reading stuff that makes me better at work. What I do not like is the lack of flexibility to try new stuff at work.

The interested part is what bothers me. I cannot seem to find an answer to that even though I spent countless nights trying to figure it out. I like reading, watching movies, going to the gym, dancing, skydiving....heck, I have loads of interests! But hey, can you make a living out of reading books that you like and dancing?

I moved away from my country of origin at 17, lived in 4 different countries and I fluently speak 4 languages. Relocating is not a problem at all.

<comment><USER6> You are a pretty smart guy.

It seems to me you would be happier with another job that allows you more "free time" to find something pursuable (some idea) that you can get passionate about.

You are working 11 hour days. I'm sure when you come home in the evening, you really don't want to teach yourself to write code before you pass out, all the while torturing your mind to find some passionate interest to pursue.

I recommend finding a job where you can have more free time, even with a paycut.

PS: Since you are making a decent bit of money, and can speak 4 languages, find a successfull website in one language/country, and you can create a similair site in the same/other country using the other language. You can hire contractors to build the necessary components, and should be able to do this without quitting your job. You manage the content in the language of your choice.

You also would have an edge in affiliate marketing for these other languages.

Can any other HN readers comment about their experiences with Google AdSense/Affiliate Marketing in other (non-US) countries/languages? or US non- english?

<comment><USER5> That is a question that I ask me every week. Actually I ask myself two questions?

\- How can I identify products that can be adapted to a different culture?

\- How can I replicate a successful business model in a different environment/country?

I lived for a while in Miami, and I succeed a couple of times taking a project that I like, I revamped it a little bit to target the US latino market. I am trying to do the same thing in Denmark now, but I am failing all the time.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> I wrote an article on this subject:

<http://spencerfry.com/whats-a-non-programmer-to-do>

It was spawned from a HN post:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=779378>

<comment><USER8> Awesome, awesome stuff. Definitely the inspiration for my first blog post. Coincidentally, I just wrote it yesterday :)

<http://austinbrandt.posterous.com/hustlin-aint-easy-part-1>

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> You havea couple of skills that are really useful for startups: you know how to research a topic, you probably know how to schmooze with people, you know how to put together a decent presentation & you know how to write well. Those are all tasks that are terrible time-sinks for developers in a startup. My tip:

Learn how to create a distraction-free environment for developers by taking over all of these distracting tasks that nevertheless need to be done.

Hell, maybe there's even a business right there: become a VA for developers so that they can focus on code. Expect to lower your rates though ;-)

<comment><USER10> Are you hiring or know someone who is?! I appreciate your attitude, but it seems startups give us more business-focused people the cold shoulder. Or maybe I haven't found the right one ;)

<comment><USER11> Writing presentations and schmoozing are not hire-able skills for a startup.

However, if you can get startupX paying clients for their product, that is a hireable skill.

<comment><USER9> If said schmoozing can get you press, investment or blogging attention then I'd say that's valuable. But sure, paying customers are the best!

Edited to add: a traditional powerpoint presentation may not be valuable, but if you can create a good video, slideshow or pdf and make it generate traffic to your website, that's valuable.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> I come from a similar situation and faced similar challenges, especially after trying to launch a web startup with no financing and no developers on board. It failed. I'm determined to stay in tech, so here's some of my (occasionally conflicting) thoughts.

1) You call yourself a business guy, but are you a product guy? If you're a product guy -- if you can understand the soul of a product and how it interacts with people -- that can be inherently valuable. In my experience, most people I've met may be "tech" or "business", but they're not product people.

2) Get an internship. Beg. Show up, prove why you're valuable, send unsolicited resumes with advice and biz dev/product suggestions. Be humble, but not too much. Work for free for a couple months, or at minimum wage or whatever is legal. Just get your foot in the door.

3) Read. The Elements of User Experience (<http://amzn.to/aFNjSn>), The Mythical Man Month (<http://amzn.to/cFLDlB>) -- these are just to get you started. Learning to code a little bit will be good as well. The point is not to become an expert developer, but to learn how developers think. Think of your reading as travel literature and learn about different cultures.

4) Look for non-sexy opportunities. Twitter, FB, 4SQ, Zynga etc., get all the hype, but there's tons of need for software development and product design in what I call the "iceberg industries." The trucking industry brings in $250 billion dollars in revenue every year. That's almost twice the size of the airline industry and yet a typical website of theirs looks like this: <http://www.highwayfreight.com/index.php>

5) Think about CPG (even though it's not tech, it still can be a startup). It's a risky, tough move and faces lots of market forces, but can be incredibly lucrative. You could find a small local product that you believe in, invest some cash to get equity, and try to make them big. As a consultant, your skills may be valuable because the problems in these types of entrepreneurial efforts are operational problems, not innovation problems.

6) Don't worry too much about the idea or where you're working right now: your goal is to build professional and personal credibility. Give away your great ideas. Most people who have them don't tend to have just one.

7) Don't worry about home runs. Most entrepreneurs I know have small lifestyle businesses and love their companies no matter the size. It's kinda like having a kid. S/he's probably not going to grow up to be president, but you're going to love 'em anyway.

<comment><USER13> It's interesting that you imply <http://www.highwayfreight.com/index.php> is bad design, when you consider the design of the website you're typing into. :)

My point is, you have to find _actual_ opportunities. A shiny website may not be one, but you might manage to convince yourself that you could convince others to see that a new website is a necessity, or even very valuable.

<comment><USER12> I should have been more clear. My point is not that it's a bad design per se; as you point out HN isn't the best designed site in the world either. My point is more that these industries are old, established industries that haven't yet built up innovative approaches (whether from the consumer side or the business side) to their business models.

I used trucking because I did some research on the industry and found that they have a fair amount of logistical innovation but still have major inefficiencies in the way that their customers book business. It's not the perfect example. But I think my point stands.

<comment><USER13> My point was that your fundamental assumption is wrong. HN has a _fantastic_ design. I believe the trucking site is just as effective.

<comment><USER12> Interesting. I'm somewhat inclined to agree with you w/r/t HN, because the UX of HN is great, though at this point we may be disagreeing definitionally over "design."

As for the trucking website, I would completely disagree for the following reasons:

1) You have to receive a quote over email. Why? Either their systems are built that way, which is ridiculous, or they require a human to look up values and quote a price, which at this point is also ridiculous.

2) The form design is terrible. Eye movement/focus is all over the place.

3) There's absolutely no reason to use this company vs. other companies based on their home page. What's their selling point? They have the same boilerplate as everyone else.

4) Amateur hour: They misformat their own phone number: "(256) 852-553 5." That nav bar. That frequent shipper link.

<comment><USER13> Ah. This is a pretty interesting discussion, I think, so let's try to figure it out.

One of my points -- disregarding whether the concept of quoting a price is good or not -- is that there isn't anything fundamentally wrong about this form: <http://dl.dropbox.com/u/315/random_pics/free_quote_form.png>

They provide a phone number, office hours, and a satisfaction assurance.

About whether manually quoting prices is a good idea or not... I think overall it facilitates the sales process, not harms it. It's a fact of the industry, for one. For two, communicating verbally is much more engaging than via the internet. It _seems_ like you would attract more customers in this instance, unless your company did something fundamentally differently from the competition.

 _) Amateur hour: They misformat their own phone number: "(256) 852-553 5." That nav bar. That frequent shipper link._

But does that really _matter_? What matters is that they provide a specialized service to move an item from point A to point B. Sure, an extra space is a typo, but not a serious one.

I'm really not trying to be nitpicky. I'm trying to point out that people often make fundamentally wrong assumptions. And that will have a direct negative impact when deciding what to spend time on, which is one of the most precious resources.

<comment><USER12> _...there isn't anything fundamentally wrong about this form"_

I think the only way to definitively prove either of my points is with A/B testing, etc. But one way I can try to make my argument is to look at forms from other successful companies. Almost every single long web form I've seen or filled out goes down where there is a clear sequential order. Think about long forms on SurveyMonkey or the product selection form on any computer manufacturing website. The main exceptions seem to be for very short forms (~4 fields).

 _They provide a phone number, office hours, and a satisfaction assurance._

None of that is different from the competition.

 _About whether manually quoting prices is a good idea or not... I think overall it facilitates the sales process, not harms it. It's a fact of the industry, for one._

There may very well be good, or more accurately, rational, reasons for manually quoting prices but the ones that I can think of (there's human judgement involved, etc.) are all business opportunities. From a buyer/consumer perspective, this pricing uncertainty and lack of information can be confusing and even bad. Imagine having to do this for airline prices, etc. Even FedEx will quote you a price for a similar service (and they use vertical forms: <http://at.fedex.com/QX58q>).

An aside: whenever I hear something along the lines of "a fact of the industry" I usually smell money. That doesn't mean I know how to get it, but it's somewhere out there.

 _But does that really matter?_

Absolutely. This is not an industry where there are one or two or three players. There are dozens of competitors and if I'm entrusting my business -- and goods worth thousands and thousands of dollars -- I'm going with the "most professional" people. I may pay more for it, though I don't want to. I'm not going to go with the firm that has so little attention to detail that they can't correct typos on a website that has likely been around for years. The fact that they didn't even notice bugs the crap out of me.

Here's a way to test this, if you'd be interested: Take screenshots of this site and I'll pick another site that I think is better designed but that offers the same services. We ask people to pick one based purely on sight. Some third party has to be willing to set up the survey though and email it to some of his or her friends to ensure impartial results.

 _I'm really not trying to be nitpicky._

I don't think this is a bad thing. I think if you're really passionate about this stuff you care about it to the core or it's not worth caring at all.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> The Paul Graham article "How to Do What You Love" has some tips in it that you might find useful.

<http://www.paulgraham.com/love.html>

</comment><comment><USER15> If you have the chance, try and attend a hack weekend like http//:launch48.com . You will meet lots of people who are doing are interested in doing startups. You will get a healthy overview of what it takes in one short weekend. 2\. Try and get involved in a startup project even if it is for fun and I promise you that it will jump start something in you.

With your skills (common sense) you could do learn HTML, UX and learn to create mockups e.t.c.

The most important thing you can do now is to take action.

best of luck man

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks a lot for the advice, sounds like an interesting start

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> Buenos dias! I'm a PR professional toiling in the American Midwest after leaving the San Francisco Bay Area for family reasons. My plan, in another couple of years, is to leave the job I'm working at now for the startup industry.

I'm not a geek. I have dabbled some with Python, like reading the occasional "hard" CS article linked from HN, love startup culture, love technology, etc. I'm not a hacker though. Most my good friends are, however.

My plan, which could easily apply to you goes a little like this.

Work here in the midwest for another couple of years while the family situation resolves itself. Do research on which of the big American tech hubs (Austin, Boston, NYC, Silicon Valley, etc.) are looking the most active in terms of hiring. Move to that place and start seeking a job -- as a PR professional. Now, granted, by the time a startup is seeking a dedicated and experienced PR professional, they're beyond the "five guys working to hack together a product" stage. However, those are the kinds of people I want to work with, not 50-year-olds grinding out their remaining work years sitting in an office.

I cannot imagine working in a corporate environment for more than a couple years. Even less can I imagine living in the stagnating midwest (not even Chicago) for more than a couple years.

Develop a 3- or 5-year plan to get yourself out of the corporate doldrums. Be willing to move to where the beating heart of tech entrepreneurship is in your country/region. Gather as much experience as you can doing as many varied tasks within your area of expertise as possible. Learn sales, learn marketing, be active in social media, teach yourself some programming so you can at least participate in conversations by asking intelligent questions.

Startups need more people than just hackers once they have a product on their hands. No eres sin util in such an environment. Buena suerte!

</comment><comment><USER17> As other people already said, you're underselling yourself. You have great skills and a great mind to even achieve more skills. If you're interested in the tech/web space and really interested in the creating part, why not learn programming? Yes, it takes time, yes it can be hard, but it can also be fulfilling. I'm a business guy myself, although I study Electrical Engineering and I'm currently trying to learn Ruby on Rails. Frameworks like Rails or platforms like Titanium (www.appcelerator.com) make it easy for non- programming people to learn the basics (be it Ruby, JS, HTML or CSS) and actually create something. I did an online tutorial on JavaScript, after that I dived into Titanium and tried to re-implement an example. After a few days and some setbacks, my iPhone app was 90% done. As I said, if it's creating in the tech world, you're interested in, don't worry be crappy and learn a lot along the way! :) What do you have to lose?

</comment><comment><USER10> I'm sort of in your situation, although I do have some background in programming from college years. I also did the consulting thing before getting my MBA. That said, I'm looking for product management positions, and think that they might be a good fit for you too.

In theory, product managers should be able to take care of all the business matters to free the developers to concentrate on the code. Good product managers would be capable of defining requirements, deciding which features for which release, doing some level of marketing and analytics, etc. Your business and consulting background would definitely be a good fit for these kinds of activities.

tl;dr - look for product management positions.

<comment><AUTHOR> I only have 2 years of work experience, I highly doubt I am qualified enough to work as a product manager :)

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> If your business experience is in talking with and listening to other people, it is valuable. If you know about marketing or sales, it is valuable.

Instead of worrying about what to do, worry about how to meet people that are also interested in building things. The rest follows from there.

If you've got friends to explore with, the question becomes "what do we do?" instead of "what do I do?" and it's a more powerful mental place to start from. Still scary but not such an overwhelming existential question.

Once you've got exposure to the world you want to be in, you'll find your place. In the mean time, make sure you're saving money so you're capable of doing something about the opportunity you find, once you find it.

</comment><comment><USER19> \- stop relying on advice given by anyone not where you want to be

\- the amount of revenue a business makes is based on the amount of value it is able to generate for other people. focus yourself on generating value, whether it is directly for consumers/businesses are a business, or as a proxy working for a business and delivering value through the business.

A business cannot survive without generating value. Focus on the core of business and work from there. Figure out ways you can most effectively deliver value, then start from there.

</comment><comment><USER20> If you're in a place to make big $ w/o doing anything creative, you're in a privileged position in life. Most people are making just a little $ w/o doing anything creative or having any meaning in their life.

Doing anything that matters is a lot of work with just a slight sliver of reward. If you're in a position to make it as a rent-seeker, I say milk it for what it's worth.

<comment><AUTHOR> Those are exactly my fathers words. I have definitely thought about this option, my fear is that I will get to 35 without having done anything that I care about in life.

<comment><USER20> Well, I was being about 50% sarcastic there. Personally I've been forced into entrepreneurship, somewhere around 37, because I realized my career wasn't going to go anywhere (in terms of either doing work I could be proud of or making $) unless I made some move.

At the age of 25, I just didn't have that sense of urgency.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> You're underselling yourself massively here. You are in the minority - <USER2> can't move for tripping over developers. I can't get a decent sales/marketing/ops guy for blood nor money. Find a startup that you believe in and just approach the people behind it - send them a couple of ideas for how you'd contribute and I'll bet they're interested.

</comment><comment><USER22> The first step is knowing that you want to make a change, kudos on that! Great questions and some good answers here, look forward to reading more. As someone light on the programming side, always interested in responses on this kind of question. Especially answers that go beyond, "hey, go learn to program more."

</comment><comment><USER23> You really have a lot to contribute to a start up. I believe that each person in a startup should bring skills to the table to help it grow. You being with a business background could help create marketing plans, and secure funding for the start up. There's sooo much you can do!

Hell, I would love to have you on my team =D

</comment><comment><USER24> You need to find something that interests you and that you can care about. When you do, find a company that does it and try to work for them. If there isn't a company, make one. Obviously this is easier said than done, but it always takes some extra effort to get out of a rut.

Best of luck!

</comment><comment><USER25> "So my question is, how can I get out of this vicious circle of unfulfilling work 9-20 (officially its 9-5 by I never get out of the office before 20) and do something that I care about?"

Find something you care about. Start doing it.

Why do you have to make it harder than that?

<comment><AUTHOR> Sounds easy. Finding something that you care about and that you can actually contribute to is the hard part.

<comment><USER26> It's deceptively simple; focus only on what's fun and interesting. No more analysis needed.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER27> Leverage your current position to acquire new skills. Continue to acquire skills until you feel moderately useful, then repost this question and list the skills you have acquired, and the quality of advice will improve.

</comment><comment><USER28> It sounds to me like you do not like doing work for others that doesn't fit a personal passion. If this is the case then I think you will be able to solve your problem by finding something you are passionate about, thinking of the problems related to it, and coming up with a solution.

There are manta business ideas that do not require a room of engineers. I'm an engineer and have many ideas, but the best method for finding the right one to work on for me is to add artficial constraints.

Take your constraints and turn them into a filter for ideas.

One of the best ideas vie had in weeks turned out to be an online business that requires only 2 pages on a website and an agreement. No real engineering work and I could do it in a weekend.

But what is critical about that idea is that it addesses a problem in an area that I'm passionate about in a very profitable and scalable way.

So, what are your constraints? \- you have a good job, no need to give that up right now sovfind something you can do two days a week, at least until it gets off the ground. \- you're not an engineer.... So either learn how to program- which you can do if you want. You mitt never be as good as a natural, but don't let that stop you. -- or find something that needs little engineering thatbp you can either get a friend or outsource or stumble thru yourself. \- you know a lot about business and your in Spain. What will the business community need in spain in the next decade?

Or find some other passion -- running, whatever. The most economical unsound hobbies still provide avenues for businesses even if it is making products to help other hobbyists.

You have access to a lot of stats... Are there things there that people don't generally know or realize? Trends to be exploited?

You are on the right track. Just dedicate yourself and look for the business that fits your situation. What makes it a startup is the business being a powder keg. But if you end up with a lifestyle business the first time out, don't worry, you will learn so much doing it that you'll wonder why you paid for and MBA!

You can always sell a lifestyle business to any umber of people whethe real startup idea comes around... Or take your time and find a powder keg you can light.

Either way, put your weekends into it, make it your passion, and quit your regular job when you're earning more from the side job than the regular one.</comment>


The blood of poor Americans is now a leading export, bigger than corn or soy - <AUTHOR> https://boingboing.net/2019/12/09/leeched.html <comment><USER2> It sounded surprising to me too. Looking closer the source is actually "Human or Animal Blood". Also Ireland similar amounts as the US, so I'm thinking its probably Animal blood, but I haven't found a good definition.

[https://oec.world/en/profile/hs92/3002/](https://oec.world/en/profile/hs92/3002/)

[http://www.worldstopexports.com/top-blood-exporters-by- count...](http://www.worldstopexports.com/top-blood-exporters-by-country/)

<comment><USER3> FWIW the population of Ireland is approx 1/70 of the population of the US, and we don't do paid donations

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Meanwhile Canada bans paid donations.

While volunteer blood product is great and all, the supply isn't enough and just means we use American product.

Dunno why we (Canadians) disallow a homegrown industry and insist on paying everyone in the process except donors.

Somehow domestic dairy production is a national asset that must be protected, but it's totally okay to depend on foreign nations for blood products.

<comment><USER5> > paying everyone in the process except donors.

Probably to reduce incentives for people desperate for cash. If I ever need blood (I'm in France, same payment system as in Canada from what I know, and what you wrote), I want clean blood; and I'm not paying (with my tax money) for dirty blood to be pumped.

If you pay donors, whatever drug addict might think about making a quick buck, lying on their medical form, getting their next high. You could do ID checks at each donation event, ban people for life - but how can you do that while keeping their data secure? (Banned from giving blood = either addict, or is/was seriously ill, or received a transfusion already, or had male gay sex, etc. ; which is a serious privacy leak)

<comment><USER6> You know that blood products are screened for a number of sexually transmitted diseases and other infectious products before transfusions, right? Off the top of my head, HIV, hepatitis, syphilis, and CJD among others. I'd imagine this list is similar in every country.

There's always a theoretical risk of getting an infection from blood transfusions. In the US there is a reported risk of < 1:1,000,000 for HIV post transfusion, but that is because we did not test for it in the past. We have been for at least a decade if not more.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> > blood now accounts for 2% of the country's exports -- more than corn or > soya.

That seems to be the core fact in the article, and no source is given. It seems ridiculous to my eyes, you'd think this would be an easy thing to cite...

Edit: Yeah, this seems to be bunk. Here's a relatively authoritative-looking source for "Plasma, Vaccines, Blood" which puts it at $23B per year:

[https://www.ustradenumbers.com/export/plasma-vaccines- blood/](https://www.ustradenumbers.com/export/plasma-vaccines-blood/)

US total exports are around $2500B per a quick google, which puts that at about half what is claimed.

And of course mixed in with that blood is the presumptively much larger trade in vaccines, which is a known US export industry. I can't find anything that tracks this number with blood donation products split out.

Second edit: As others in this topic are pointing out, in fact that "plasma/blood/vaccines" number includes _animal_ products also. So this article is garbage, sorry.

<comment><USER8> >corn increased 32.62%, from $8.39 billion to $11.13 billion. [1]

[1] [https://www.forbes.com/sites/kenroberts/2019/01/14/corn- is-o...](https://www.forbes.com/sites/kenroberts/2019/01/14/corn-is-one- of-2018s-fastest-growing-exports-might-slip-past-soybeans/#6190fd8c490b)

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> I fed myself in college off plasma donation money. It paid about $100 a week. You could only donate twice per week, and the majority of the pay came on your second donation each week. It took just over an hour to donate each time, close to $50 an hour was amazing money a few years ago when I was a college student.

While you were donating you could watch movies, read books, homework was kind of an option since you didn't have the use of one of your arms.

<comment><USER10> Me too but received about $90. Would definitely do it again. My experience it took about 2 hours but during this period I used the time to study or rest.

If they didn't pay I'd probably donate maybe once a year. I never felt "exploited", and I'm sure somebody needed that plasma.

<comment><USER9> Exactly. I hate all these comments about how if we pay people for blood then we'll get "dirty blood".

Poor != dirty

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> Anecdotally: a new plasma donation center was constructed just by my office on high-value real-estate directly on the light-rail line. Everyone I've seen using the debit cards issued by the donation company look terribly beat.

</comment><comment><USER12> By value not by volume. Just wanted to clear that up.

<comment><USER13> data needed to back that information up.

US exports total 2.5 trillion ... basically this source claims that the US sells 25 billion dollars worth of blood plasma.

Ok even if we were to entertain that idea as being true, if that amount of plasma is indeed needed, how would you get it in any other way than paying people?

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> For some reason, possibly because it is overly dramatic, ridiculous and has no real data sources the article immediately felt made up, aka fake news.

Then I saw this in the Wikipedia about one of the alleged sources labeled as "interviews by MintPress":

> _By 2016, MintPress News had begun reprinting copy from RT (formerly Russia > Today) and Sputnik._

<comment><USER14> Spouting "fake news" for shit you disagree with is just beyond lame.

It's fine to argue that "MintPress News" is not a reputable source, but that MintPress News article is _loaded_ with verifiable sources that you can easily look up yourself:

[https://oec.world/en/visualize/tree_map/hs92/export/usa/all/...](https://oec.world/en/visualize/tree_map/hs92/export/usa/all/show/2017/)

[https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2018/03/plasma-...](https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2018/03/plasma- donations/555599/)

[https://oec.world/en/visualize/tree_map/hs92/export/usa/show...](https://oec.world/en/visualize/tree_map/hs92/export/usa/show/3002/2017/)

But instead of arguing about the interpretation of the data, or pointing to other data sources, you choose to parrot "fake news" because that's apparently what passes for logical discourse in this day and age.

<comment><USER15> From your oec.world source, "Human or Animal Blood is also known as vaccines, toxins.

Human or Animal Blood is a 4 digit HS92 product."

What does that even mean? I think they're looping in vaccines and more in their human or animal blood category.

[https://oec.world/en/profile/hs92/3002/](https://oec.world/en/profile/hs92/3002/)

Edit: among other things, they seem to be including all of the following as "human and animal blood", among others:

* 300220 Vaccines; for human medicine

* 300230 Vaccines; for veterinary medicine

* 300290 Toxins, cultures of micro-organisms (excluding yeasts) and similar products

[https://www.foreign- trade.com/reference/hscode.htm?code=3002](https://www.foreign- trade.com/reference/hscode.htm?code=3002)

<comment><USER16> Hello, I am the lead developer on the OEC. I was brought here by an open issue someone made referencing this article. @articfox you are 100% correct in that the data is factual (or as reported by source) but the text is missing some context. The HS product 3002 does include vaccines and this was missing from the label.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> Gee, and all my college buddies did it for beer money.

</comment><comment><USER18> Wait, what? Where does one even go to get paid for a blood donation?

<comment><USER19> probably talking about plasma "donations".

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> fluxuate?

</comment><comment><USER21> Mods: blogspam, real link is here:

[https://www.mintpressnews.com/harvesting-blood-americas- poor...](https://www.mintpressnews.com/harvesting-blood-americas-poor-late- stage-capitalism/263175/)

<comment><USER13> That now really sounds like fake news.

\- Zombifying America's poor

</comment></comment><comment><USER22> Further proof that America is the greatest country in the world. So loved that people pay money for our blood.

</comment><comment><USER23> Even if the magnitude is wrong, this is still a problem of perverse incentives. Should people be allowed to sell a kidney to make rent?

</comment><comment><USER24> The divide in this society is becoming so deep stories like this almost seem like a parody.

If you're at a high enough level you get paid in equity-based compensation or benefit from a close relationship where someone gets paid in equity, then you're golden. These are the greatest times in history, every number keeps going up and everything keeps improving. Endlessly increasing buybacks and endlessly increasing equity compensation is doing nothing but accelerate this massive growth at the high level.

For everyone else it's a nightmarish hellscape of gig jobs and poverty and debt and zero healthcare. It's such a different experience that rich people might as well be living on the moon.

<comment><USER25> Not disagreeing with you but is the relative inequality better or worse than other periods in history? I would argue the world is more fair today for more people than it ever has been before. Of course there is inequality, there always has been, but its getting better.

<comment><USER26> There has been a trend towards more inequality in developed countries over the last decades. So we have to be careful not to regress.</comment></comment></comment>