What is the most "Advanced" programming language? - <AUTHOR> http://agiliq.com/newsletter/what-is-the-most-advanced-programming-language/

<comment><USER2> I love it, nice attempt at starting a troll war :) Hope pg doesn't see that you've ranked anything ahead of Lisp for example.

Not clear to me if your rankings are correlated with things that are advanced, obscure, arcane, or have the tendency to attract pedantic audiences. Might be more interesting if you could normalize for those factors somehow.</comment>


The Pursuit of Beauty: Yitang Zhang solves a pure-math mystery - <AUTHOR> http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/02/02/pursuit-beauty <comment><USER2> Yes, he is a different class. Different from all those mathematicians working at Harvard, Princeton, etc.

That adjunct job gave him sanity to solve the problem. In the case of Grigori Perelman, these universities (Princeton, Harvard) did not want to give tenure job after his proving Soul Conjecture; this was during his postdoc at Courant NYU.

Of course, these math guys wanna offer a tenure track position, which woulda prevented him from proving Poincare conjecture. He went back to Russia, spent time in isolation for 8 years or so. Proved it. Once he published the paper on arXiv, the shithead professors at Princeton, Columbia want him back, so that they can be co-authors of his paper on poincare conjecture or these universities can appear on the paper a la affliation: you see, these elite universities love to show "Mr X from Princeton solved poincare conjecture".

Another chinese professor at Harvard tried to steal the credit from Perelman for the same conjecture.

It is a big mess out there. Zhang somehow used his adjunct/tutor job to spend time in number theory. Perelman used his postdoc fellowship savings to solve his problem. IN Zhang's case, he got the tenureship after his proof; Perelman gave up math.

<comment><USER3> I assume by "chinese professor at Harvard tried to steal the credit from Perelman", you mean the defamatory article written by The New Yorker regarding on Shing-Tung Yau. That accusatory article was written by an outsider with no regard to reality. For a correct account from within the mathematical community, see [http://doctoryau.com/hamiltonletter.pdf](http://doctoryau.com/hamiltonletter.pdf).

<comment><USER4> While that may be true, there is no denying that Yau is a pretty divisive figure. He seems as interested in building his image in China and making the Chinese nation proud, than he is in doing real math. I can see why this attitude would rub some mathematicians the wrong way.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Hardy's comment about math being a "young man's game" has bothered me since I read his "Course of Pure Mathematics" about 10 years ago.

I'm sure there's at least a bit of truth to the statement that mathematical discovery is, in general, easier for younger minds, but it seems to be an unnecessary and harmful trope to propagate.

Either you still have it, or you don't. Why does the Fields Medal care about age? If a 60 year old proves the Riemann Hypothesis, why is he or she ineligible? This happened notably with Andrew Wiles. He (indirectly) proved Fermat's Last Theorem and was rewarded a "special plaque" instead of the Fields Medal for the crime of waiting until after his 40th trip around the sun to work on it.

There's also the issue of economic pressure. We expect our young minds to solve "real problems" and to want to make a lot of money doing it. Pure mathematicians get to "hide" in academia when times are good and are often on the street when they aren't so good. In the absence of a focus on supporting the arts (including math) through patronage etc it is just _hard_ for young people to get in the field. Older people have more time. Let them create without lowered expectations.

For a deeply beautiful subject with a lot of very smart people, this whole age thing is just scratch-your-head puzzling.

<comment><USER6> At the risk of downvotes, I will state a whole bunch of [Citation Needed] BS, which is, nevertheless, empirically true & in Hardy's favor -

1\. Cerebral atrophy affects left brain disproportionately more than the right 2\. Math is predominantly a left-brain activity. 3\. Ergo, short-term memory & dexterity with numbers generally degrades with age ( supposedly peaking at 25 & declining from then on).

Most math majors I've spoken to ( from prodigies to professors & people in between ) attest to the fact that they were much sharper when they were quite young. It isn't that they become dumber as they age, more like - they pick up a different kind of math to compensate for some of the other math that required them to exercise their symbolic manipulation skills at superior pace, which they have now lost.

<comment><USER7> On the flip side, anyone who's in the social sciences can tell you that self- reporting is a terrible gauge.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> There's an interesting (and impassioned) critique of this article at

[http://www.angrymath.com/2015/02/yitang-zhang-article-in- new...](http://www.angrymath.com/2015/02/yitang-zhang-article-in-new- yorker.html)

<comment><USER9> Could you perhaps explain what you found interesting? It's an angry screed very revealing of its author's personality, but not particularly insightful about the article.

<comment><USER10> I was thinking the same, the blogger appears to have a lot of things he's upset about and is taking them out on the article.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> This author immediately made me hate him starting with the first paragraph. What was the point of that first paragraph? And I'm OK with adding some color throughout to liven up a story but I felt like this author was just wasting my time to try to show off that he's a writer. What an asshole.

<comment><USER12> That first paragraph's tl;dr was basically: I'm bad with numbers, I'm an artist, but someone told me about this math guy with an interesting story.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe the author made an error. The author wrote:

"A prime from which you can remove numbers and still have a prime is a deletable prime, such as 1987".

However if you remove the 7, then the number is divisible by 2, so the statement: "A prime from which you can remove numbers and still have a prime is a deletable prime" does not apply to 1987.

<comment><USER14> > However if you remove the 7, then the number is divisible by 2, so the > statement: "A prime from which you can remove numbers and still have a prime > is a deletable prime" does not apply to 1987.

A deletable prime doesn't require that the deletion order start from the last digit; the deletion order for 1987 is:

1987 -> 197 -> either 19 or 17

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> For anyone behind the paywall, here's a pastebin link. The article was a bit long to break into comments.

[http://pastebin.com/Xtm3f64E](http://pastebin.com/Xtm3f64E)

<comment><USER16> Just googling for the article's title leads to a link that works. They don't paywall people coming from Google

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> OT the cartoons interspersed in the OP are absolutely awful. Nice work if you can get it!

</comment><comment><USER18> The author does not even understand the difference between arithmetic and mathematics.

<comment><USER19> What's the difference?

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> How can it be solved , if it's still considered a mystery ?

</comment><comment><USER21> get rid of new yorker = paywall

<comment><USER22> I too have read my last complimentary article of the month, and am stuck behind the paywall. Could someone paste the article here?

<comment><USER15> Here's a pastebin link, the article was a bit long to break into comments. I hope that's okay.

[http://pastebin.com/Xtm3f64E](http://pastebin.com/Xtm3f64E)

<comment><USER22> Thanks a bunch!</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Just Buy All the Unicorns - <AUTHOR> https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-12-12/just-buy-all-the-unicorns <comment><AUTHOR> This article echos some thoughts I've had about why accelerators like Y Combinator and Techstars work. An investor makes money on the _really big successes_ , but these are impossible to predict. So venture capitalists are better off investing a little bit of money in every credible startup.

The article draws an analogy to index funds in the public markets, but I also see similarities with how Blumhouse Productions makes movies, or even how poker players decide their bets. The lesson in all cases is to invest a limited amount of money in a ton of reasonable projects, and then ride the few winners.</comment>


Techcrunch to endorse US Presidential candidates - <AUTHOR> http://primaries.techcrunch.com/

<comment><USER2> Prediction: Ron Paul('s botnet) will win with 99.94% of the vote.

<comment><AUTHOR> I'd put the over/under at 70.

Edit: Never underestimate the Ron Paul botnet, he's at 87% right now.</comment></comment>


Ask HN: Do you read literature  and novels? - <AUTHOR> As software developer i always take time to push my career up and read technical books to be able to do the job better, but sometimes i like reading stories and novels, but i don't have time for it, do you read novels ? <comment><USER2> I used to read heavily on public transport, always carrying 2 or 3 novels in my bag. I would read one book on the way to work and another on the way home.

For personal reasons I no longer do that, so I make time when I get home from work in the evenings to read a chapter. I also deliberately leave books lying around to remind to make time.</comment>


Western-style diet linked to state-dependent memory inhibition - <AUTHOR> http://sciencebulletin.org/archives/3270.html <comment><USER2> The title states "western-style diet", but the article is about obesity. What is the purpose of changing words around like this? Not everybody who lives in western society is fat. Plenty of people living in non-western societies are fat, some more so.

[http://obesity.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=00437...](http://obesity.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=004371)

It doesn't seem very descriptive of the phenomenon.

<comment><AUTHOR> Research was done on "Western diet — one high in fats and sugars and low in fruit, vegetable and fiber"

<comment><USER3> "high in fats"

I never hear any specifics about how other cultures consume low amounts of fat. I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that western diets are actually the lowest in fat.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> The "citation" goes to the front page of a conference, rather than to a publication at that conference. I am unable to find any paper matching the description on the conference web site or with google scholar and, quite frankly, I have no trust whatsoever in sciencebulletin.org to summarize these things correctly. This doesn't deserve a front page slot because it's extremely likely to be untrue.

<comment><USER5> \---

Western diet is associated with poorer inhibition of wanting for palatable snack foods when sated T.N. ATTUQUAYEFIO1, R.J. STEVENSON1, R.A. BOAKES2, M.J. OATEN3, M.R. YEOMANS4, M MAHMUT1, H.M. FRANCIS1 1Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia/2University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia/3Griffith University, Gold Coast, Australia/4University of Sussex, Sussex, United Kingdom Animal data indicate that hippocampal function is impaired by the increased consumption of a Western-style diet, with potential consequences for energy regulation. Based on such data, it has been argued that consumption of a Western-style diet impairs the ability of the hippocampus to inhibit retrieval of pleasant-food related memories in the presence of food cues, when sated. We tested this in healthy human participants (N = 94, Mage = 20.3, MBMI = 22.3) who varied in their habitual consumption of a Western-style diet .Verbal paired associate (VPA) learning, a known hippocampal-dependent process, liking and wanting ratings of snack foods were assessed first when participants were hungry, then when sated. Stepwise multiple regression analyses evaluated found that Western-style diet was associated with a slower VPA learning rate and a smaller reduction in wanting for snacks from before to after lunch. The latter was also strongly related to VPA learning rate, suggesting that wanting for foods has a memory-related component and would therefore likely involve the hippocampus. Further, it shows that greater consumption of a Western-style diet is associated with poorer inhibition of memories for highly palatable food when sated. This is the one of the first translational pieces of evidence from animal data showing the impact of a Western-style diet on both hippocampal-related memory and inhibition in humans.

Supported By: Macquarie University

\---

Above is what I found on the conference site. I was also unable to find the paper. I agree that sciencebulletin didn't do a good job reporting on this.

On the other hand, this is not novel in any way, and there is already substantial literature on this topic that suggests the same thing. If the topic is of interest to others, perhaps the older papers, or a list of them, should be posted instead.

<comment><USER6> There is no paper. This was a 15 minute oral presentation. It may or may not be interesting work, but it's not at the point where the popular press should be reporting on it.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> [meta warning]

HN is fantastic for increasing signal:noise on technical topics, but I don't feel like we do as good of a job with medical topics.

There are so many of these "oh wow; cool!" psychology "studies" that just don't have much substance to them.

The fact that it gets upvoted here speaks to how hard it is for less educated individuals to focus on the important parts of science news.

<comment><USER8> Too often, medical and psychology discussions turn into anecdata repositories.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> I wonder if this is also due to the constant stream of food-related advertisements in popular media. Those are usually for high fat, high calorie food. Most of the time, those ads repulse me because that does not look appetizing to me (I'm picky like that). But I've witnessed friends see the same ad and start craving that particular food item.

</comment><comment><USER10> [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6670052](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6670052)

I read about this anecdotally regarding specifically foreign language teachers who go abroad and practice a foreign tongue almost exclusively when unwinding with the help of the cheap local ferment, on their return they find the fluid conversation ability really only surfaces when intoxicated, and speaking fluent Spanish while drunk at a party is impressive to no one.

</comment><comment><USER6> It sounds like this was a conference presentation, which are usually not peer- reviewed in biological sciences, so I would be very careful about drawing any conclusions from it.

</comment><comment><USER11> Like with any observational study, it's worthwhile to think of other things people who eat a Western-style diet might do differently from the control population before accepting the implication that the observed difference in memory performance is because of the food.

For example, perhaps affinity for snack food has something to do with how much time people spend engaging in sedentary activities like watching TV. There's already plenty of existing evidence (mostly also observational, mind) suggesting that lack of physical activity is associated with poorer cognitive outcomes.

</comment><comment><USER12> Interesting. May be they should just call it high fast high sugar diet though considering that it has spread across the world (thanks to McDs/DunkinDonuts/StarBucks)

<comment><USER13> Articles on pre-journal publication science don't belong in any general public discussion groups.

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> I have no idea what publications they're referring to in this article, but here's what you probably came to read:

Article: [Fat, sugar cause bacterial changes that may relate to loss of cognitive function]([http://oregonstate.edu/ua/ncs/archives/2015/jun/fat- sugar-ca...](http://oregonstate.edu/ua/ncs/archives/2015/jun/fat-sugar-cause- bacterial-changes-may-relate-loss-cognitive-function))

Study: [Relationships between diet-related changes in the gut microbiome and cognitive flexibility]([http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306452215...](http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306452215004480))

\-----

Article: [This is your brain on sugar: UCLA study shows high-fructose diet sabotages learning, memory]([http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/this-is-your- brain-on-suga...](http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/this-is-your-brain-on- sugar-ucla-233992))

Study: ['Metabolic syndrome' in the brain: deficiency in omega-3 fatty acid exacerbates dysfunctions in insulin receptor signalling and cognition.]([http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22473784](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22473784))

\-----

Also: [Systems Nutrigenomics Reveals Brain Gene Networks Linking Metabolic and Brain Disorders]([http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352396416...](http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352396416301438))

</comment><comment><USER15> that sounds a lot more like correlation than causation to me.

if you're brain constantly signals 'i need food' you're going to eat more and get fatter. personally, i've not eaten any burgers or alike for years and still had to fight that urge every day.

couldn't really find the mentioned source, as the linked URL doesn't point to a study or paper and the homepage only shows their event schedule and similar.

<comment><USER16> Just curious why you decided to stay away from burgers? I don't really consider that to be a bad choice. The fries and soft drink/shake that come with it certainly can be.

<comment><USER17> The bun, fries, drink, sugar laden sauces, and the cheese.

And let's hope the burger is pure beef, and fried in healthy fats (preferably its own beef fat), not canola or other garbage oils.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> I'm going to go out on a limb and say this has many more implications than just food related memories..

<comment><USER19> Depression/rumination for one I would think.

<comment><USER20> Rumination could be the reason for the success of Westerners. Negative emotions exist for reasons linked to survival or they would not exist at all.

It is difficult not to notice that those countries which have prospered the most over time are also those places where the inhabitants can be stereotypically withdrawn, introspective, morose.

It is for this reason I do not trust sunny Californian optimism. It is more than plausible that the opposite, a dim view of the future and humanity, will lead to ultimate long lasting successes.

In countries where the inhabitants are exuberant, joyful, extroverted, their economy is invariably en route back to a war torn hellscape from which it came.

Don't ask me to have a universal theory of why this should be so. It is just hard not to notice the pattern. I believe that holding a dystopian view of the future is counterintuitively key to the development of new technology that arrests the probability of that view becoming a reality. Prepare for war if you want peace. Perhaps the same is true of humanity and technology.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> While there are other plausibilities, this agrees with a food addiction model of overeating.</comment>


Dear Facebook's 200,000,000th user, here's what you missed... - <AUTHOR> http://www.iseff.com/post/94234480/dear-facebooks-200-000-000th-user-heres-what-you

<comment><USER2> Short version: You missed nothing.

</comment><comment><USER3> Anyone recall the ability to see where your friends last logged in from at their school? ex: "Chris last logged in from Simmons Hall".

I found it pretty interesting they had these names, given the rDNS didn't resolve to anything descriptive.

<comment><USER4> When did it do that? I was in pretty early, but dont remember that one....woulda been nice!

<comment><USER5> It ended in September 2006. It was cool because you could see the other person's IP, which was useful because you could then use your Google analytics to see which hot girls were clicking the links from your facebook profile to your home page.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> The bit about News Feed is the most important to me.

 _News Feed. The news feed was by far the most revolutionary thing that Facebook ever did. It not only changed the way people interact with Facebook, but really with the web as a whole. It's probably the most copied feature of Facebook, and for good reason. Facebook is nothing today without the News Feed._

</comment><comment><USER7> I like it better when it was closed to Universities and Companies... The signal to noise as increased exponentially since the introduction of regions.

</comment><comment><USER4> And who could forget Zuck's photo up in the upper right corner. :D

<comment><USER8> Now, if I remember correctly, there were theories as to "who" was in that photo. Groups on FB started popping up seeing if it was this one kid from a certain school that was used in that photo.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> I just don't get facebook. It feels like the AOL of social media.

The part that turned me off is when I tried to sign up it wouldn't let me continue without giving it the logon to my email accounts.

I prefer far more open systems like friend feed.

<comment><USER10> Are you sure it wouldn't let you continue?

That absolutely doesn't sound right.

<comment><USER11> You certainly don't have to give it your login details, but as I recall that isn't entirely clear. There's a "skip this step" button, but the language used doesn't make it sound like that option exists.

I may be misremembering though, and I expect the exact details change from time to time.

<comment><USER9> They didn't make it obvious and it comes off as they just want to rummage though all my accounts. It turned me off to them rather quickly.

Right after I signed up they started Beacon.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> None of this is very notable, but there was also Wirehog: a web app Zuck (et. al.) wrote to share files over Facebook.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wirehog></comment>


Count Distinct Compared on Top 4 SQL Databases - <AUTHOR> https://www.periscopedata.com/blog/count-distinct-in-mysql-postgres-sql-server-and-oracle.html <comment><USER2> Oh well, a competitor bashing PostgreSQL without knowing what they are seeing.

PostgreSQL has an excellent planner, the problem (for count(*) and count- distinct queries) is that PostgreSQL keeps it's visibility information in the actual rows not in a memory structure.

The good thing about that is correct transaction semantics (which MSSQL does not always guarantee in the count cases) and never having to fiddle with tuning memory for locking (and having queries cancelled because it runs out!).

The bad thing about that is that count is slow (as it needs to hit every row in the table to see if it is visible) and that locking selects (i.e. for update) suddently costs write i/o....</comment>


As Rents Outrun Pay, California Families Live on a Knife's Edge - <AUTHOR> https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/21/us/california-housing-crisis-rent.html <comment><USER2> It's time for cities to put a hard ratio limit on office space to housing space. Bay Area especially is just building office spaces as tax revenues are lucrative and there is no other liability unlike housing which requires schools, libraries and other infrastructure. Mayors of cities are primarily responsible for this mess, companies are definitely complicit.

</comment><comment><USER3> Interest rates are too low.</comment>


Uber for Ambulances deadpools - <AUTHOR> Stat.com is no more. We have decided to focus in a new direction. <comment><USER2> Clickable link [http://stat.com/](http://stat.com/) and the subpage [http://www.stat.com/about.html](http://www.stat.com/about.html) still exists. The cached website has a copyright of 2013.

"Stat is healthcare on-demand. With a simple push of a button, get a doctor, CNA, HHA, or a medical transport in minutes for you or the person you're caring for."

I'd love to read a post-mortem. Or [http://failory.com/](http://failory.com/) interview.</comment>


RFS: Hacker News without the anecdotal comments - <AUTHOR> I enjoy HN except for the anecdotal comments of the form, "I think X based on my experience Y, so the solution is X". Myopia degrades the community just as much as the ad hominems do.<p>Is anyone working on a natural language processing plugin to filter out these low quality, N=1 comments? <comment><USER3> Excuse me but you think anecdotal comments degrade HN based on your dislike of them, so the solutions is a natural language processing plugin to filter them out?

I mean I also think - based on my personal experiences of natural language processing (which are limited) and my readings in the field which are also not as extensive as they could be - that filtering out anecdotal comments (as opposed to low quality comments in general) would be a difficult task - <USER2> probably the solution is just to wait a few more years given current rate of progress in the field.

It's just - I think there are problems with this idea.</comment>


Supply-demand model of labor markets is broken, preventing pay raises - <AUTHOR> http://www.businessinsider.com/supply-and-demand-model-of-labour-markets-is-fundamentally-broken-2018-6 <comment><USER2> They mention, as evidence that the number of people looking for work is less than the number of job openings. I would argue that both of those numbers are flawed.

First of all, Having a job opening doesn't mean you urgently need a position filled. I've seen companies post the same job opening year after year after year, and get hundreds of applicants and still never hire anyone. Someone i know, (a data analyst) would often apply for these jobs, never ever hearing back or getting any kind of feedback on what they're looking for. There simply isn't any need, the posting is just there because someone forgot about it. If these companies were at all serious about hiring anyone, they'd at least get their career section of the web site straightened out.

Second, I think the total number unemployed may be miscounted. I know the unemployment rate number has huge problems.

<comment><USER3> > Second, I think the total number unemployed may be miscounted. I know the > unemployment rate number has huge problems.

Maybe you're referring to the fact that it only counts people who are actively looking for a job, and ignores those who would like to have a job but have given up looking?

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> " As I've noted before on Business Insider, the part-time gig economy has broken a fundamental link in capitalism that was good for workers. Pay rates no longer move upward as unemployment moves downward because companies like Uber, Just Eat, and Deliveroo can switch their demand for labor on and off on a minute-by-minute basis. Self-employed folks making a living on Etsy, Amazon, Airbnb, or eBay know their clients instantly go elsewhere if they raise their prices by even a few pennies."

Anyone who's studied the basics of Econ knows that this situation is called a Perfect Competition (as evidenced by nothing less than the admission of perfect elasticity of demand). It's not just that employers became 'more powerful', individual workers became more powerful in the sense that startups have been intruding on economic fiefdoms. What used to be monopolistic competition or even oligopoly (e.g news services) is now facing fundamental market structure changes that bring the cost of labor down to its 'true' value. It turns out the 'true' raw economic value of a lot of labor is what it would be under serfdom: subsistence wages. This is to say that individuals have become more able to enter previously restricted markets, with the consequence that few of them pay very well.

(Exercise for the reader: Consider the correlation between the implicit class- signaling based monopoly of higher education and its effect on wages compared to the rest of the increasingly competitive malthusian economy.)

</comment><comment><USER5> Cut social security and payroll taxes, deliver money right back into the hands of the workers. If more people are employed the need for these services is lessened anyway.

With advances in medical care, people can keep working until they are 70 or 80, at a lower rate eg. part time. Work keeps the brain active and prevents degeneration.

Finally reduce the cost of land and rents which is the major cost of life for the majority of workers. Do this by limiting immigration and keeping the country at a stable population, not growing endlessly.

If people truly need welfare or Government services, such a subsidised tuition, healthcare or a cash handout, then tally the paid amounts against their individual tax file, and claim the amounts back by increasing their tax level by single digits. If there is still an unpaid amount at death, then claim it from their estate.

Doing all this you can substantially cut the welfare state and encourage work. The end goal shouldn't be a UBI or negative income, it should be that 20 hours of basic work should be enough to allow you to afford a basic life.

<comment><USER6> And how do you address the massive injustice in wealth and opportunity distribution already present because of centuries of capital and power sharing the same bed? I'd be all for your proposal if it included a way to nationalise all capital above a certain threshold, bring everyone to that threshold and then distribute the rest based on merit. But I don't think that is possible. But your proposal assumes not just a just world, but that the world already has been just for 100s of years

<comment><USER5> Ah yes, I have a solution for that. Link tax breaks to having children, and penalise the childless wealthy. Eventually society will be mostly comprised of the descendents of the successful, and inequality will be reduced.

Millionaire parents having one child concentrate their wealth into a small part of society. They should instead be having multiple. Success and intelligence has a genetic component, so you're improving the overall health of society through such measures as well.

Otherwise there are far less radical things than breaking up and dividing wealth (which has worked horribly in the past - look at the USSR). Simply breaking up large monopolistic tech companies such as Valve, Google and Amazon for example, as was done for Bell Telecom.

<comment><USER7> I'm often amused looking into simple solutions for complex problems. Sometimes though I'm tired reminding about the pitfalls on this path.

What you propose is not particularly well supported by explanations. There are examples in the past (I'm omitting them) when such an approach lead to bad things.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


If you want to get rich, stop being a fucking joker - <AUTHOR> http://www.sebastianmarshall.com/if-you-want-to-get-rich-stop-being-a-fucking-joker?1 <comment><USER2> "Dear Sebastian, we quit, piss off. Best, Sam, Lee, and Jon."

Seriously, this is just ridiculous.

Is there anyone here that would actually put up with this ridiculous public shaming at all, let alone from a CEO that's off in Asia staying up "20 hours" to print flyers for one of his other companies, while he bitches that you're not reneging on your teaching commitments (which I would presume he knew about when he took you on...) so that you can meet his arbitrary (and from the sounds of it, utterly unrealistic) timeline?

Fuck guys like this. I know them, and I'm even friends with a couple, and sometimes they're decent people to hang out with and (on occasion, in the right contexts) even learn from. But I'd never _dream_ of working for them, or even usually _with_ them, because they tend to be neither very good businessmen nor good employers.

Bitching about your people being "jokers" is not the way to speed up a product's release: cutting features _is_ , and that sometimes requires a CEO's involvement. Learn that lesson fast, or you'll be sorely disappointed in all your future projects, especially when you're just the guy-in-charge-of- negotiating-rates-for-business-cards...uh, I mean CEO.

<comment><USER3> A couple points -

They're partners, not employees.

Yes, I'll suffer at the printshop when I promised it. My colleague offered to do it, but he just had a baby and it would be ridiculous to keep him all night. No one else was available on Sunday night.

> they tend to be neither very good businessmen nor good employers.

My staff like me, I pay top of market (sometimes 10x market pay, if the person is worth it but short-changed due to supply and demand), everyone is treated great, we have a culture of radical transparency and honesty, have a book club, there's no task management, and everyone is free to basically do whatever they want whenever they want as long as they get their job done.

I want people to be their best and keep their word. And again, that email was to business partners, not to employees, on what was supposed to be a very short project that dragged on.

I don't know if you'd like working with me. Maybe not, it's not for everyone. But I look for top performers, pay them extremely well, treat them well, give them huge respect and autonomy, and push them to give their best and really deliver. We tend to have fun, too.

<comment><USER4> this doesn't sound like 10x to me

"I got a top creative designer in there working for a fraction of his normal cost by being very fucking cool with him, and also working out a deal where we refer him business, and he can use our office space to hold client meetings during our off hours.

...

The designer came with me, working for peanuts compared to his normal rates (he's a top guy)"

<comment><USER5> I'm also not sure why a "top designer" wouldn't have his own office space.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> This should be a very good read for those of you that think that formal education is not necessary for start-up success. I am not sure who the author of this is and whether he went to college or not, but he clearly needs to take a good writing class. He may actually have a good point about keeping commitments but the whole thing is written so badly, in such a meandering and repetitive way that it is a joke. And I doubt any of the recipients of that email will take him seriously and will stop going to their classes to work on his project as he requests.

The saddest part is that he most likely thinks he is working very hard and being very productive. He is writing all these pages upon pages of stuff repeating the same mantra, relating to his favorite history channel shows, etc. But of course he is wasting his time and the time of the people that will have to read the thing. Although I am sure the readers get some entertainment as a side benefit. If he knew how to write he could have written a tight passage of several paragraphs or so that properly conveys the need for dependability and the urgency of the situation without making a fool of himself or insulting his readers.

Writing is a skill and it matters. This is especially true for people in leadership positions.

<comment><USER7> The repetition is obviously intentional (I'm surprised this wasn't evident to you). It's written more as a speech rather then a pamphlet. Have you listened to for instance Obama, or any other politician? Usually they have very little to say(you could probably summarize in 5 sentences), but to get the point across they use repetition. It's an effective communication tool.

<comment><USER8> > _It's an effective communication tool._

...used really badly in this example.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> as an engineer I've worked for this type of douche idea/business guy. When doing exactly what he says, he says "somethings just not right", then I ask "ok what is it then".. he responds "I don't know its just not right". DOUCHE.

Then he tells me to take more initiative, and I do. Then I get an email like this that says why isn't things getting done, and I say.. because I'm doing things like setting up stupid accounts that he could be doing rather than writing stupid blog rants like this. Or why are we using x service instead of y service, "well you told me to do what I thought was best". He responds "Well its not what I had in mind". DOUCHE.

He promised me trips to asia, bonuses, and days off when the product is a success. He hasn't told me how much equity I have or vested, because he said that another thing we will deal will when we are successful, but its been over two years, and I'm still having to listen to his stupid rants and fake motivational emails. DOUCHE.

People like this are poison, and working for people like this will kill you inside because slowly as an engineer you'll dream, why can't I work with a real engineering team that can just write code, solve tough problems, work with cool tech and why do I have to deal with this bullshit.. when this douche needs me more than I need him. But because people like this have money, and there are always people willing to sell their services.. he may get a product out and may bullshit enough people that he has is something useful, but thats the way the world works.

<comment><USER10> Get out now. There's better people to work with.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> Spend whatever you need to get it done, but I'm not willing to pay a top designer his normal rates even though I'm having him do a rush job at 2am. But that's okay, I'm being very cool with him and I promised him I'd recommend him to other big shots.

Well, the "top designer" is an adult, we assume, and can make his/her own decisions, but I stopped falling for that kind of bull shit 25 years ago. A good designer is worth paying good rates. Despite lavish praise as they walked out the door with "my miracle", I never once had any of those "big shots" ever show up again, much less provide me with any kind of value in return.

(Now on a side note, I've done spec work and/or above the call of duty rush jobs for customers who've done well by me _in the past_. Or on very rare occasions, I've pulled rabbits out of hat for new customers who were _refered_ to me by very good customers. Maybe that's what's inexpertly being alluded to here. But I doubt it.)

</comment><comment><USER12> Can someone provide me some concise explanation as to what Sebastian Marshall has actually _done_ \- outside of lots of blog posts, Hacker news posts, and travel?

<comment><USER12> LinkedIn has a stub page saying "I don't really use linkedin".

His 'About' page has this: "I worked as an entrepreneur from 2004 to 2008". That's it.

From 2009 onwards, there appears to be a lot of stuff about travel, and sleeping less, and "purifying my diet".

I have some friends with bios/resumes like this; these also happen to be my "rich kid" friends.

<comment><USER13> I really dislike seeing comments like this on HN.

I've clawed my way from poverty to lower middle class, helped out as many people along the way as I could, done some amazing things, written a lot of brilliant code that's running the guts of a couple businesses and maybe even an East Bay school district still.

But, I've never written about any of it, I don't talk about it much, and honestly, I'd rather do just about anything other than write or talk much about it.

I have some really fantastic clients that are the same way, too.

There are a lot of incredible people in the world whose name you don't know. Just because they don't do PR for themselves the way that, presumably, you do, doesn't mean they should be dismissed out-of-hand.

<comment><USER14> You've just written about it.

And so has this Sebastian, in fact, if anything, volume is certainly not the problem when it comes to his writing.

I'm similar to you. As in I don't write blogs or do much formal "PR" or online networking with my real name. I don't have a linkedin account, I don't use google+ and I don't have a website with my real name. I however write comments on reddit, hn and a ton of other lists and forums.

By the way, whenever somebody describes their own work as "brilliant", my alarm bells go off.

<comment><USER15> I agree - he writes quite a lot, but somehow it's mainly about his aspirations. If somebody can link to a post where he talks about actual and concrete success, that would be great. So far, all the aspirational rants make it seem like he is mainly contract-hopping and astroturfing.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> Dear Sebastian,

You worked 20 hours straight. Congratulations, want a biscuit? That's about 20 hours _less_ than what most people here have done trying to meet a deadline, or squash a stubborn bug. And that's not counting the guys who do that for kicks on Minecraft (I kid ...).

Hannibal nearly got his troops to Rome. Presumably, he knew where Rome was, and so did his men. If you want people to MARCH, they need a destination. In web apps, this is a wireframe.

So, break out a HTML editor, and get the wireframe up. Then tell the devs to push it live, put the database behind it, and get it to scale. If not, it's because you don't have a product in mind, and simply MARCHING is not going to get you to Rome, or anywhere. When people are lost, or lack a compass, they generally walk around in circles. Does that seem familiar? Of course, good engineers use the time to check out options, so they know what to do when there's actually a clear goal.

Most engineers live to fix problems. A creaky prototype that won't work is a problem that needs to be fixed. A blank page is just a chance to make scribbly notes.

</comment><comment><USER17> So let me get this straight. This guy is fronting the money on his credit cards, can't do any of the work, and gets people to do things for him by "Being very fucking cool with" them?

Yeah. Keep your money. Fuck your business cards. You sound like sales guys scum trying to leverage the real makers in this project.

</comment><comment><USER18> Stop being a joker! Don't make excuses! Everyone has reasons! Fuck reasons!

Also, I can't do it, because I'm otherwise engaged.

<comment><USER19> If he was sipping margarita on a beach, your words would be right. But he is putting in 17 hr days on another project, so I dont see why he cant ask his partner/employees for greater commitment.

<comment><USER20> Because his other employees are working other jobs or, as "Sebastian" points out, in classes. That's why. He's not willing to sacrifice his other project, but he's asking them to sacrifice theirs. If you're asking people you're leading to make sacrifices you're not willing to make, you're a bad leader. Period.

<comment><USER19> Ok, that's the context you picked up on. I did not. What I got was that he set a timeline for project A. But that timeline did not work out. Now Sebastian is busy with project B. To empower the team on project A, he gives them a cc and the decision-making authority to get the project going. He also throws in some hannibal and "joker" stuff to rally the troops and make a point about sticking to commitments, forging thru obstacles. This does not make for a bad leader.

<comment><USER21> All that stuff specifically does make for a bad leader.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> I don't "fucking" understand where Sebastian gets off: "I had all the time I'd need for this project if we met our original timetables. Now, I don't have it any more because I'm working 12 to 17 hours per day on something else."

In a nutshell, the CEO is saying, "Hey guys, listen, I'm really this one kind of person who gets shit done, except for right now I can't be because I have to take care of some other self-interests (no this isn't the same as being a joker), so I need you to meet my crazy standards."

So he's unable to actually live up to the work ethic he espouses and purports to be a paragon of and as a result wants his staff to fill in the blanks while he works on "something else"; to just "get it fucking done" and not be "jokers". This is contrived and manipulative. If I were working for this guy that would be the last professional exchange we ever had. Horrible leadership.

</comment><comment><USER23> I certainly don't understand the context of the email or the people involved, but that seems extraordinarily douchey. Perhaps I'm the exception, but when your primary focus is on being a multi-millionare, you are missing something from your life.

<comment><USER19> I don't think that's the main focus of the post - its more about sticking to commitments and making stuff happen in spite of obstacles. Obviously money is a financial reward but that's not what I picked from the post.

</comment></comment><comment><USER24> This post represents subpop-management nonsense. People are complicated but there are, in fact, things we can do to work with each other. "Commitments" can be considered real things and we can hold each other to them. You either fulfill on a commitment or you don't. If you don't, then fuck you and you're RIFed. If you do, then you're part of the team. (An aside: why is fulfilling on commitments part of being excellent?! Shouldn't it be a criterion?!)

If you don't consider "commitments" to be real things, then you run round and round the what-are-we-doing-and-why-didn't-you-do-it circle... And then you write a blog post.

Update: freeloaders/non-fulfillers are a real thing. I'm one of them. Generally, I perform at a very high level, but I'll dial it back if I'm under the gun and a client unintentionally indicates that they're not one to assess slippages accurately. Unlike most freeloaders, I wake up at 3AM and think about how to fulfill against a late commitment.

</comment><comment><USER25> I can't help feeling that that was written by a cross between a motivational speaker and a mafia don.

The letter had an interesting voice and was well written; however, it immediately set off unconscious alarms in my mind. It was trying to influence the reader too coarsely on too emotional a level; I do not like that sort of thing very much.

<comment><USER26> I agree, some people are shy, unsure, etc, and will get defensive when presented with an angry person barking orders. It's not the military. They may find these people won't even talk about their work because they don't want to offend the barker.

That said, it really depends on the culture of the employees on which motivational techniques to use.

<comment><USER25> For me it didn't feel like something from the army as much as a car salesman trying much too hard.

Also, as a college student, I would be really suspicious of somebody telling me not to go to class--I'm perfectly happy to do that of my own violation, but anybody suggesting it immediately comes out as against my best interests.

<comment><USER26> It's more of an analogy like this: You're a group leader for a group assignment due Tuesday morning. You think it's great, they're the top 1% in the class. They promise to do their sections of the topic by Monday meeting so you can work together to compile it. Monday comes around, they said they tried and didn't finish their sections. Now you're stuck all night fixing their sections and compiling it together.

That's simplified analogy, and the author would angrily call them "jokers".

<comment><USER25> Except for the bit where you're doing other schoolwork instead, I presume? Besides, I wasn't talking as much about the content of the letter as the tone --that's what I found off-putting.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER27> I can sympathize and understand with what he's writing.

I know it seems douchey and shallow to a lot of you, but when you work remote with a team of friends, things tend to get far too casual and eventually everything falls apart altogether. Suddenly everyone has an opinion on design decisions, or a meeting needs to be held on whether we should use Mongo or MySQL, and we should just think about it on our own time and get back together next week for more discussion.

Complacency is really the biggest enemy of the side project / remote team. And so making excuses becomes easier and easier as time progresses.

Someone has to step up and lead, so maybe a motivational speech is just what the team needs. The points about partying and making money might matter to his team, maybe its why they're working on the project in the first place. (And none of us can say that the excitement of making money doesn't motivate us).

So the man makes it clear where he stands; step up and get shit done, or leave and be a joker. Do you want to sell sugared-water for the rest of your life? Or do you want a chance to change the world?

<comment><USER5> _Someone has to step up and lead, so maybe a motivational speech is just what the team needs. The points about partying and making money might matter to his team, maybe its why they're working on the project in the first place. (And none of us can say that the excitement of making money doesn't motivate us)._

Maybe, but if this was intended as a motivational speech (and motivational _speeches_ work a lot better than motivational _emails_ ) then it's a terrible one.

</comment></comment><comment><USER28> Telling someone not to go to their university classes so that they can crunch on your $generic_web_app should be a jailable offense.

<comment><USER29> To say that is to miss the point completely.

He's not telling someone not to go to their classes, he's illustrating the sort of behaviour change necessary between "I tried" and "I did it".

He doesn't "want a cookie" for working 20 hours on a Sunday night, he's illustrating the attitude shift between "I tried" and "I said I'd do it, so I did it".

<comment><USER21> This is such Americanized bullshit. There's no difference between the two.

<comment><USER29> That's like saying there's no difference between manslaughter and murder.

The outcome may appear no different - success or failure - but the mental state is different, and the path to the outcome may be.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER30> You know who's a joker? The guy who "got a top creative designer in there working for a fraction of his normal cost by being very fucking cool with him, and also working out a deal where we refer him business". That's who.

<comment><USER31> You're missing the point of the email. He's asking his team to stop sweating the small stuff and just get it done. He's pointing out that others are busting their ass (the designer) while the team is trying to figure out something basic like email providers.

Just pick something and go with it.

<comment><USER32> But it is a stupid statement. There are good reasons why things can't get done sometimes, and no amount of shouting or motivational posters is going to change that. Eventually when you are running towards a goal and not planning, you realize you can't just continue, you have made a mistake and are heading in the wrong direction. This get it done attitude ignores this face.

<comment><USER29> _This get it done attitude ignores this face._

Except it doesn't. The post clearly and repeatedly says "if you can get a goal done, do so. If you can get a good enough substitute, you don't need to ask me, I trust your judgment. If you could do it but you need money, here are my card details, I trust you to spend money carefully. And if you are doing the above and get stuck _tell me and we'll fix it together_.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER33> that guy is full of shit

check out the REAL JOKER:

[http://www.sebastianmarshall.com/hey-you-yeah-you-you-can- be...](http://www.sebastianmarshall.com/hey-you-yeah-you-you-can-be-an- entrepreneur)

In the comments section of this post, he mentions that he's going to finish the editing process of his book by 30 september

Now check this post:

<http://www.sebastianmarshall.com/why-isnt-my-book-done>

He's a fucking joker!

<comment><USER32> Even in the post he is making excuses why he can't mail out a newsletter. Surely he should just get it done, not come up with excuses. That is classic Joker behavior right there.

</comment></comment><comment><USER34> This incoherent rant should convince Sam, Jon, and Lee to cut their losses, if they haven't already.

Spending 20 hours over a weekend to bang out marketing materials is supposed to be impressive? How about planning ahead and using something like Crowdspring and VistaPrint to get these distractions completed.

Promising to make $10K in the first six months is supposed to motivate? You didn't share how you plan on doing that except, "I will make it happen." Have you demonstrated in any way in the past six months that you can deliver on this promise? Promises, wishing, wanting, pleading are hollow gestures.

A grand vision and clear plan on how to achieve it, a track record accomplishments and successes: these are the things that make a good leader. They are the qualities that inspire others to do great things.

<comment><USER35> Is 10k/6mo really that impressive, even on a shoestring budget in Japan (where I assume Sebastian is)? I mean, that's a 5th of what you could earn as an engineer at jrandom startup in the bay. Even biz-dev/product types like him (not engineers) are probably getting close to 100k now, if not more.

</comment></comment><comment><USER36> WTF is all that stuff about S3 doing in the middle there? Setting up S3 takes about 10 seconds. Hardly worth invoking _Hannibal._

Sebastian: please seek professional help before you hurt yourself or someone else.

<comment><USER37>
      Sebastian: please seek professional help before you hurt yourself or someone else.

Yep, I agree. Sebastian sounds like he drives himself too hard and has variously 'lost it', 'gone mad', 'gone off the deep end' or is in the early stages of a massive nervous breakdown.

Not too many people would put up with even a fraction of his bile in real life, so Sebastian may be very very lonely or surrounded by other mal-adjusted people.

So yes, Sebastian if you're reading this, please seek counseling ASAP, the world is not how you imagine it and you are in dire risk of going mad.

</comment></comment><comment><USER38> Coffee is for closers or something.

We like to think that having money fixes things and we can just throw cash wildly into the air while making definitive exhortations and all will be well. We will be Gods or something! But unfortunately, it doesn't, not usually. What's pretty broke without cash doesn't typically get fixed when you shove its gullet full of coinage. Every once in awhile, throwing money into a whirlpool works, and when it does, you should totally record that shit. Put it on YouTube. But not what preceded it, no way.

<comment><USER39> He never mentions how much money he's will to pay to 'get stuff done.' In fact it sounds like he's not willing to pay anything other than satisfaction. I don't have these mommy and daddy issues anymore.

Sincerely, The guy who's work ethic is directly proportional to how much money you throw at me.

<comment><USER35> Au contraire, he makes the incentives quite clear: in the short term, parties at beach houses in Asia; in the long term, being rich and "RISE IN THE WORLD FAST".

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER40> Good for him for getting shit done and empowering his troops but unless their financial incentives are as strong as his, he's just another psychopathic manager for asking them to sacrifice for him ("skip your classes", etc).

<comment><USER41> That's the point where I was irrevocably lost. Skip my classes for a possible trip in asia if we happen to do really, really well?

Made me think of the 'Screw you, pay me' guy.

<comment><USER42> That's not really a good analogy. The 'F you, pay me' guy was talking about being assertive and sticking up for yourself in the face of clients who are trying to get you to do work for free/not pay their bills etc. (that's if we're talking about the same person)

A better analogy would be that the OP is more like the client of the 'f you, pay me' guy.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER43> Write these kinds of rants. Get your anger and frustration on paper. Then, throw it out. Revisit your thoughts later. Repeat until your thoughts are coherent and your course of action is clear.

<comment> ryan-allen I agree. I read somewhere years ago (in my early 20s) about how Abe Lincoln wrote a disappointed letter to a General when he failed to continue fighting to win a battle (they had been fighting for days on end and were exhausted).

That may or may not be accurate but the point of it was he was upset, took it out on someone and then did not send the letter, and the advice was to take things like this and put them in your drafts and sleep on it.

This may have been in the book "How to Win Friends and Influence People".

Effective immediately, I started refraining from sending annoyed or angry emails. I'd file them in drafts and sleep on it.

I can't recall ever sending an email of this sort since. In hindsight there was always a better and more effective way to deal with the situation.

I think some people just love the sound of their own voice (and the sight of their own words) that they feel compelled to 'ship' after they've produced something like this. Some things just shouldn't ever be sent.

I think he'll regret doing this this in time. I certainly would.

</comment></comment><comment><USER44> [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_personality_disord...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_personality_disorder)

<comment><USER45> He's self-admittedly bipolar.

>I'm cyclothymic too. Like Nieztsche and Byron and those guys. Albeit, much less talented; I'm just saying I got the same affliction. [...] What's a cyclothymic? It appears that we feel emotions more strongly than other people, and cycle through them. I'm fucking awesome when I'm manic, I can rapidly invent, experiment, implement, advance science, build systems, recruit and hire people, and just massively do unhumanly large amounts of stuff. Cyclothymic mania is when the SPIRIT OF GOD is within you.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pressured_speech>

</comment></comment><comment><USER46> <http://www.sebastianmarshall.com/about>

The guy seems to be a bit of a self styled guru selling his lifestyle brand which is abstractly focused on 'victory'.

<comment><USER47> "I'll work to make this an excellent use of your time." Followed by his life story.

</comment></comment><comment><USER39> The guy who wrote this article sounds like the kind of person who wants to get everyone to do his work for him. His personal problems are leaking into his work life. He probably needs a vacation or to change lines of work. He's not a joker, he's a bitter old bastard (regardless of his age).

Advice for the inexperienced doer: Don't listen to this guy. Pace yourself. Do what you need to and make time for yourself. This guy wants to smoke a cigar in his office while you kill yourself. This is his attempt at being 'the boss man' and it's transparent. You will never be happy making people like this happy. If this kind of verbal abuse makes you feel bad then seek therapy don't work late every night. Stand up for yourself.

</comment><comment><USER48> he's manic, and one of his friend should take him to a therapist. he's comparing himself to nietzsche, hannibal, byron. he's making crazy plans of self-improvement. he's swearing, cussing, incoherent, ALLCAPS in every blog post. he's not sleeping. he's not focusing on anything of real value. I really hope he has someone that takes care of him.

<comment><USER5> I've always found manic depression fascinating. I recommend the book "Electroboy: A Memoir of Mania" by Andy Behrman. He talks primarily about his manic phases, how he would rush out and buy things he couldn't afford, get into weird sex situations, fly round the world for no reason, and so forth, and how he eventually wound up involved in art forgery, before getting caught and deciding to submit to electroshock therapy.

This Sebastien Marshall guy really sounds exactly like him.

</comment></comment><comment><USER49> Are they really jokers, or were the tasks unreasonable in the first place? The only way to know is to understand the tasks in detail, which I suspect the author doesn't.

The whole "just get it done" thing sounds impressive, but it doesn't hold up in reality. Just cure AIDS. What are you waiting for? People are dying! Get that cure finished by Monday.

Also note that there's a large border zone where things are possible but require sacrifice. They could get it done by sacrificing their leisure, their health, their social status, their unrelated duties, their morals.... It's up to them to decide how much of that is worth it. This is not a decision to take lightly.

<comment><USER29> _The whole "just get it done" thing sounds impressive, but it doesn't hold up in reality._

Yes it does, you're just not reading it properly. Assume you're being attacked by a wild animal, which attitude is more helpful out of the following?

1) I will do anything to overpower it and kill it, or any acceptable substitute such as distracting or trapping it, or escaping in any other fashion.

2) Well, it might be too powerful for me, and maybe I'm too tired, and if it's getting dark I can't see it as well, and I guess I'll try, but it's unreasonable to think I can win, and in this situation having precisely accurate beliefs _is_ my highest priority, so I'll start off by assessing how energetic it looks and estimating how powerful it is before I start doing anything, if it's too big I won't bother.

It's "duh" obvious that in a survival situation, the former might get you out, the latter might not. It's "duh" obvious that _you might not win, whatever you do_ , but that's _not relevent_ because you don't get _points for trying_ , you either survive, or you _die_.

Now, comparing a survival situation to a project, or a company, or any everyday life situation, isn't really a fair comparison. But comparing the attitude you hold _can be_ a fair comparison.

By your reply you are implying the OP is so dense they don't understand that some things can't be done. Do you honestly think that's true? You're giving zero credit to their intelligence at all.

The "just do it" attitude is not _supposed_ to be telling you that "you can do anything rah rah just will it and it will happen, laws of physics and human limits be damned".

It's _supposed_ to be telling you that hurdles are OK, you will meet them, and you can jump them, or go round them, or plough straight through them, or move them, or pay someone else to move them, or rent a car and drive through them, or burn them down, or argue the race to different track with different hurdles, or setup your own athletics federation and recruit athletes and viewers for races without hurdles, they're all fine, but doing nothing won't help, nor will giving up. If you want to solve a problem, getting points for trying won't get the problem solved.

"Just get it done - you can" isn't meant as a literally true fact you have to _agree with_ , it's a helpful attitude to hold and act on _even while knowing it's not literally true_.

<comment><USER49> So why haven't you cured AIDS? What in your argument (or the OP's) changes when the difficulty of the problem is raised to absurdity?

Some problems are easy. Some are hard. Some are too hard to be worth solving. Some are essentially unsolvable. When someone argues problems are in category 2 by _ignoring_ categories 3 and 4, they lose credibility.

As for trusting the OP's intelligence, he appears to be a marketer ranting at engineers. Even if he's extremely intelligent, he doesn't have the knowledge to judge if what he wants is possible or not.

<comment><USER29> Not sure if you're being deliberately obtuse or if you really don't see the point.

Compare:

Problems involved in curing AIDS: Needs a biotechnology background, a medical background, a chemistry background, an understanding of disease processes and treatment processes, FDA approval trials, pharmaceutical manufacturing.

Problems mentioned in the article: two people disagreeing on how Amazon S3 should be setup because they aren't happy which account to use or who should pay. Asking the leader to make "stupid nitpicky decisions" which they could make, but don't. Not deciding which email/newsletter program to buy. Not proceeding with what they agreed and instead generating ideas for other kinds of possible business model.

I haven't cured AIDS because _I literally can't_. They haven't registered an Amazon S3 account because ... what?.

 _As for trusting the OP's intelligence, he appears to be a marketer ranting at engineers._

And if he was saying "I asked you to have this facebook killer done by last week. Lee, where's that scalable S3 backed website I ordered you to write? Sam, your friend with the content industry connection, I need a film licensing agreement for streaming, come on, I expected better of you. Jon, I told you to sign up some people, Google Plus had millions of users in its first weeks, how many have you cold-called?

Then I'd be right behind you calling him a clueless PHB and a pox on all right-thinking people.

But he _isn't doing that_. These people agreed a project on a rushed timescale that they voluntarily comitted to - presumably they were all confident it was a solvable problem.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER50> I had a different take on the article than most of the comments I've read. It's about keeping your word. If You say you're going to do something then DO IT. If you don't want to be seen as a joker then you just have to keep your word.

I see it like this. If you make a timeline yourself and find you won't be able to keep it then you have 2 options. 1) Let the person you promised know right away or 2) "find a way. Or make one" - do what you got to do to get it done.

Sebastian is highlighting the second option because it's already passed deadlines and shit sounds like it's getting serious.

If you want to be respected, loved and an effective leader. Keep your promises. Every single one of them. (Or, in true Machiavellian form, at least make sure it's perceived that way.)

</comment><comment> laurent-LB If this guy was my friend I would look for a therapist for him. This is the second time I come across this blog and the tone sounds more and more delusional and manic.

<comment><USER51> Yeah he's definitely manic and probably co-morbid with other issues. Manic people often develop inflated self-images to compensate for their repressed feelings of inferiority.

Just an all around neurotic. Generally miserable to be around and incapable of enjoying life.

He doesn't need non-jokers he needs a therapist.

What is sad is that guys like this have NO CONCEPT of how other people view the world. They do not realize that we can all sit calmly and enjoy life, that we can enjoy smalltalk, that we can relax with our family and not stress over the fact that we're "not wealthy".

He takes his business so seriously because he is mentally ill and he must excel at business (not just excel, but conquer) to appease his neuroticism.

</comment></comment><comment><USER52> This is the same dude who ripped into patio11 for not living up to his potential.

Personally, I would feel that HN can do without this tone-deaf self- importance.

<comment><USER29> There's a world full of people ruined by thinking like this.

Our language, our culture has "self-importance" as a _negative_ attribute. It's ridiculous.

 _Like_ yourself. Feel that you are important! What are you living and fighting and dieing for, if you feel unimportant and think everyone else should too? That's no way to be. :(

<comment><USER53> You're taking the definitions for the word "self" and "importance" and just assuming that "self-importance" is the concatenation of those definitions. It is not. It means an _exaggerated_ sense of one's own importance, or outright arrogance: <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/self-importance>

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER54> For what it's worth, this attitude is valuable in certain positions. Many of the sales reps I work with have this attitude and it works for them. Basically - they will go to hell and back to get something done for a customer. They will dictate engineering schedules, beg and steal equipment, relentlessly war- dial, and make generally unreasonable requests.

What happens with their requests? People find it easier to bend to the will of the determined than convince them otherwise. It gets stuff done. It also wrecks havoc on the 'balance of things' which may or may not have an inflated importance. This is why people hate sales reps.

Conversely - customers generally love this. Customers love making demands, feeling like they're the only customer, and having faith they'll get the best they can get.

The balance is burning those cycles, because there are limits; hell or no hell. If business cards are worth destroying your sleep and weekend to have them by Monday, so be it.

<comment><USER55> In the long run, the best and the brightest won't work in that kind of environment and the customer will ultimately get a substandard product. Good sales reps set achievable stretch goals and customers reap the long term benefits.

</comment></comment><comment><USER56> I really really hope he loses his best employees for this rant. We shouldn't encourage this kind of behavior. Receiving this email would be enough to make me immediately start looking for other work.

</comment><comment><USER57> Reminds me of this quote: "For a rough approximation of your valuation, circa 2004, you can also use Kawasaki's Law of Pre-Money Valuation: for every full- time engineer, add $500,000; for every full-time M.B.A., subtract $250,000. "

</comment><comment><USER58> I dig the anti-joker sentiment, but this is a bit much. It's good to keep a team motivated, focused, and dedicated to their work but this reads like the author got a sign from god that he and his team were inventing the "next Facebook." The big problem here, though, as others have pointed out: there's a glaring desire for money. Money is the keyword throughout the entire email. "I'll foot the bill," "I want to make us rich," "we can rent a beach house." What happened to "this idea is really cool and even if we don't get rich, I want to make sure it sees the light of day." Joker...

</comment><comment><USER20> This guy kind of seems not necessary to the whole project, aside from small amounts of funding. If he's spending 12-17 hours a day on something else entirely, what is he personally doing to advance the project?

Did he just have an "idea" and hire a bunch of engineers "find a way or make one?"

</comment><comment><USER59> Makes some good points, but finishes badly. The best part is where he is going to reward his best employee with an all-expenses paid vacation with....Sebastian Marshall!

<comment><USER60> Second prize is two vacations with Sebastian Marshall.

<comment><USER61> What, no steak knives?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER62> From the comments.

"A joker is someone who says they're going to do something, and then doesn't. A joker always has excuses."

\</comment><comment></comment><comment></comment><comment>-

Hannibal you're back! Did you conquer Rome?

Erm no. Had no siege weapons and my men would… Oh well, I tried…

No, I don't give a fuck that you tried. Did you do it or not?

Could have.

DID YOU DO WHAT YOU SAID YOU'D DO OR NOT?

Erm no.

Hannibal you're a fucking joker and we've got problems.

\</comment><comment></comment><comment></comment><comment>-

priceless.

</comment><comment><USER63> I really, honestly thought that this guy was showing us a parody of a letter from a desperate, clueless manager on a failed project. I guess this demonstrates some startup-kool-aid varient of Poe's Law.

</comment><comment><USER64> Reminds me of the story of steve jobs, when he dropped the original ipod prototype into a fishtank to force the engineers to make it smaller: 'See? Bubbles? That means there's air in there. Make it smaller.'

</comment><comment><USER20> "Find a way. Or make one."

V

"I'd do it myself, but I can't, because I'm doing something else that takes all my time."

<comment><USER65> I read this guy relatively often. I even could understand his latest post. but, after some closer inspection -> you just nailed a point.

On the other hand: Maybe this posting is his understanding of making a way. Could that be possible?

</comment></comment><comment><USER66> What did I just read?

<comment><USER67> I'm with you. No clue.

When it got to him and a designer in a print shop at 2:30am, I was expecting the punchline to involve crystal meth or something.

<comment><USER68> Yes, he definitely has a Jesse Pinkman vibe going on.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER69> I actually think this is brilliant. I'm just going to pretend this email was written to me and act accordingly.

<comment><USER41> Make sure you're responsible with his credit card.

</comment></comment><comment><USER70> Maybe this says more about me than about the author of that blog post, but if I got an email like this from my "friend and boss", I'd be thinking hard about my future with this "company".

</comment><comment><USER71> The advice he gives about keeping your word is good advice. I try to keep my word, and I enjoy working with others who do. However, committing to do unreasonable things in an unreasonable time and then not being able to finish them is not so much about "keeping your word" as it is about being realistic. No matter how great you and your team are, you have to set realistic goals and doing that is not being "normal" or "average" it's being reasonable and having a work/life balance.

</comment><comment><USER72> I think the author of this fails to realize that you can teach a lot of things but not attitude. You can't convince someone to be passionate about your pet project, not gonna happen. All the begging and reasoning in the world is not going to change their mind. If your so fired up about whatever it is that your doing, find other people that are fired up about it too. If you can't find those people then be more reasonable with people who are building your dream.

The whole, if you want to be rich is really strange too. How about being successful, I think that is a better goal. Success is not having a ton of money, no life, and being a slave driving prick, its about being good in all areas of your life. Believe it or not there are many people out there that would pass up the chance to be rich if it meant they would be absolutely miserable at work everyday.

And finally, no matter how hard you work, how many hours you put in, you can still fail. Its tough to realize that but it happens every single day in the tech world. Once you realize being overly consumed, frantic, and obsessive doesn't guarantee success, you may discover a different way of working, a better way. Be happy with your life dude, that's something you can bank on no matter how much money you make. Otherwise the joke is really on you.

</comment><comment><USER73> Not sure what to think of that. He should hire an editor. Most people would not respond positively to that letter so his whole philosophy is meaningless.

Though I can sympathize with trying to avoid distractions and delays with simple problems. Micro-managing horrors.

And I also hate excuses. As someone who is on the verge of failing, I absolutely loved the Hannibal quote. Do anything to succeed mentality is good if applied to being self-critical. I believe that increasing work ethic, knowledge and skills with overall hardcore discipline is the only thing I have to logically and spiritually continue to use to fight the constant failure I've experienced.

In other words, as I was often told growing up "don't be sorry, be correct". Stop making excuses and do it. There's some chance, some method, some concerted effort that will yield an eventual probability of actual success which is only achieved by being self-critical and then improving.

EDIT - I didn't write this very well. Valid excuses are actually very good and effective. Logical reasons why something can't be done lead to ways it can. I've worked with too many people who avoid "negativity" out of some law of attraction thing. So I like when people say, "I'm stupid, your stupid, we're all being stupid but we can and should be smarter by doing X, Y and Z".

</comment><comment><USER74> I work my arse off for my company/manager when the heat is on.

I know that when I commit to get something important done by a time X, I get it done or have put in all the time I could on it. So do other people on the team. My manager doesn't ask me or other members of the team to stay late unless it's important. We keep the pressure on and keep working away every weekday all day.

My manager never written anything like this to the team while I've been there. And for that, I am pretty glad.

</comment><comment><USER8> It's very sad to see someone with such clear MH problems and no support in place.

([http://www.sebastianmarshall.com/an-open-letter-to-simon- and...](http://www.sebastianmarshall.com/an-open-letter-to-simon-and- schuester-ceo-carolyn-reidy))

<comment> clark-kent wow this guy has really lost it. The worse part is that he has fans that cheer him on.

</comment></comment><comment><USER75> This type of rant is insane to me, I would never work for a guy like this. But thats just me, for others it might be prefectly fine...

Generally it sounds like he needs a hug or something.

<comment><USER5> A hug, or possibly medical treatment for his bipolar disorder.

</comment></comment><comment><USER76> What was that? Does anyone have any sort of context to this? Who are these people?

Why do I feel like I'm missing a punch line?

<comment><USER77> It's meant as a glimpse into someone else's project. I like it because it lets me compare it to my own with no preconceptions.

</comment></comment><comment><USER78> If I were Lee, I'd be scratching my head wondering exactly what it is he's asking of me.

If I were Sam, I'd wonder why he's decided to dick me about without apology, explanation or reward, then spend the next three paragraphs apologising to Lee and promising to "do something cool" for him.

</comment><comment><USER79> How does this guy have time to blog about it?

<comment><USER80> He just posted an email, with ctrl+f replace of names. So probably not too long :)

<comment><USER79> Even "simple" posts like that took a lot longer than you'd think. At least if you take the time to make them read well and look good, which he did.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER81> Why does this article get so many comments ( so much attention)? I try to read it but it is so poorly written, even the profanities doesn't work. I've tried to find out more about his achievements, but couldn't find anything impressive. What do I miss here?

<comment><USER82> Because it was written by this goon: <http://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=lionhearted>

His biggest accomplishment known to folks at HN is...getting a lot of karma at HN.

</comment></comment><comment><USER83> i would like to slap the author.

</comment><comment><USER84> Jumping from topic to topic, bold, and capital letters = too badly written - did not read. What happened to normal prose, where you use words to describe things instead of bold phrases and random fragments? Seeing this has made me a bit ill...

</comment><comment><USER85> "Interview" with Sebastian Marshall:

<http://www.whohub.com/sebastianmarshall>

</comment><comment><USER86> The thing is, you can follow all the advice and platitudes given here _and you still_ may not get rich.

And, sometimes the joker gets lucky.

</comment><comment><USER87> When I first became a manager, I used to push people like this. The sad truth is that finding just one more person with this kind of intensity is hard. I've only known a few people with this type of intensity.

After moving to SF I now realize maybe its unnecessary. People get burnt out working at such high intensity. If your a really effective manager then you can ensure success by figuring out what is important and asking your engineers to deliver that instead of them slaving away on shit that might not be useful later.

</comment><comment><USER88> tl;dr but I got a kick out of the bit on his about page that says he aims to get between 4-7 hours of sleep a night and insinuates that 8 is too much. The way he's going he'll be dead at 40. Sleep is important, don't skip it.

</comment><comment><USER89> The insightful part is this: "What's a joker? A joker is someone who says they're going to do something, and then doesn't. A joker always has excuses. "Oh well, I tried…" -> No, I don't give a fuck that you tried. Did you do it or not?

DID YOU DO WHAT YOU SAID YOU'D DO OR NOT?

If not, you're a fucking joker and we've got problems."

To summarize: don't talk about it, be about it.

<comment><USER90> A problem might be that "it" in the mind of the manager is a clear cut, black and white thing, whereas in reality it might turn out to have more facettes and nuances. With a bulldozer manager (get it done or get out) it might be difficult to adapt to reality.

I also dislike that kind of speeches because it sets up a power hierarchy from the start. Not a good basis for cooperation.

<comment><USER29> He doesn't say "get it done or get out", he says "get it done or tell me".

As distinct from "think about it, then ask me, then try it, then ask me, then get stuck"

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER91> The term is slacker, not joker.

</comment><comment><USER92> I know when I finish a project I call up the 'forces of hell' on my side. It's needed for that last 10%=90%.

</comment><comment><USER93> Maybe this is what people need. I don't know because I don't know the people involved. I can say that what he's saying resonates and the words have poignancy because I remember times where I wasn't clearly enough focused on the end goal and such a speech might have been the right motivator. On the other hand when I'm really procrastinating it's usually because something is not right on a deeper level, either the goals, or the people, or something else is rubbing me the wrong way. It's not easy. Sometimes deep introspection is necessary. When you're talking about others it's even harder, but that's where the art of management comes in.

</comment><comment><USER94> outch, this reads like the author is about to breakdown 'bi-winning' style.

</comment><comment><USER95> Am I the only one here that actually liked the article? Regardless of this guy's resume, or the grammar, or the presentation, he has a point! This...

"You're all highly highly skilled, top 1% at your craft. You're all highly highly intelligent, top 1% of the population. You've all got excellent social skills, top 1% communication skills. And yet, you're middle class. Have you reflected on that? You're the top 1% IN EVERY CATEGORY THAT MATTERS, and yet, you're relatively poor.

Do you know why? Because you haven't stopped being a fucking joker like the rest of society."

<comment><USER41> They're middle-class because they're working for a salary. That's obvious. You can be middle-class and rich - $200k/year will do that to you - but you won't find a lot of upper class people drawing a salary as their primary income. Perhaps some doctors and lawyers might at the upper end of the scale, but in tech? No.

</comment></comment><comment><USER96> Compare this to the blog post written by Kicksend last week: <http://blog.kicksend.com/kicksend-is-hiring>

There is no comparison.

</comment><comment><USER97> The caps/profanity to content ratio is way to high for my taste. Weird: usually there is interesting stuff on that blog, and the writing is Okay too.

not to self : never drink and post.

</comment><comment><USER98> Tell me this guy doesn't wear a gold chain and stink of aramis. Ever hear of a psychic vampire? Feel sorry for the people under this guy and is hard on for jokers.

</comment><comment><USER77> This reminds me of "Stop doing stupid shit," [1] one of my favorite articles of all time. This was a great read. The intensity and the trust he projects onto his friends is a good role-model for anyone working with their friends on something and making less progress than they'd like.

[1] [http://jinfiesto.posterous.com/how-to-seem-good-at- everythin...](http://jinfiesto.posterous.com/how-to-seem-good-at-everything- stop-doing-stu)

</comment><comment><USER99> I read this as fiction then I realized he was serious. Obviously in need of some counseling. Delusional ? He reads like a carbon copy of "The Secret"

</comment><comment><USER100> Why the fuck is this on HN? For the comedy?

<comment><USER82> Because the blogger used to post on HN very frequently. He's good at synthesizing bold yet vacant rhetoric that plays well here, but resonates especially well with coders who secretly think they're better than everyone else.

He usually doesn't sound so bug-nuts, though; maybe this was an early draft he hadn't cleaned up.

</comment></comment><comment><USER101> Freaking ace, guy's a legend!

Having said that, I'd rather get myself strung up in a Judas cradle than work for or with him :D

</comment><comment><USER102> Its parody right? The author is actually demonstrating the point by being the "fucking Joker" himself?

I thought this with absolute certainty through the first 3/4 of the post. What a strange feeling as it dawns that this guy is serious.

This made my morning much more surreal. Its like long-form xkcd.

</comment><comment><USER103> As someone who is partnered with 2 other people in business, I can really appreciate what's being said by Seb: If you make a commitment - hold to it.

We had the same situation come up this week for us. A job went sideways that was worth a month of expenses and then some. The client gave us a deadline to fix it, and if it wasn't they weren't paying.

I told my partners I would do whatever it took to fix this issue because that's too much money to lose. Long story short, our team had it fixed in two days; including contingency plans B, C, and D lined up if our first solution didn't work.

Complete trust has to exist in a partnership, otherwise it doesn't work. And this means sticking to our commitments.

</comment><comment><USER104> I'm sorry but this guy sounds like such a douche to work for.

</comment><comment><USER105> Where does the "forces of hell" reference come from?

<comment> mh- The middle of the letter..

      The Romans thought Hannibal had the FORCES OF HELL ON HIS SIDE. Why?
      Because of that quote: "We will find a way. Or make one."

</comment></comment><comment><USER106> Those who can, do. Those who can't, blog about it.

</comment><comment><USER107> Since most commentators seem to have missed it: Please read the very first paragraph!

 _> Get a coffee and some popcorn ready before you read this one. Love it or hate it, either way you'll be wildly entertained. Names and details changed, for obvious reasons._

In other words, the whole article is _not_ meant seriously.

<comment><USER108> I'm not sure why someone down-voted you, although I disagree that this was some sort of satire. I hope it was, as it reads like a harsh, chest-thumping, insulting diatribe, like some over enthusiastic high school football coach -- and one that won't accept responsibility and just blame others when they loose.

</comment></comment><comment><USER109> This guy expresses a lot of confidence in his developers and is just trying to motivate them. This is a good thing. It is so so easy to be a joker. Everything in nature needs energy to move forward, including startups and software developers.

</comment><comment><USER110> i predict the credit card maxes out in 2 weeks.

<comment><USER111> I predict the other guys bail and ignore the credit card.

</comment></comment><comment><USER112> This guy sounds like an utter penis.

<http://www.sebastianmarshall.com/about>

</comment><comment><USER113> Are we sure this isn't a spoof?

</comment><comment><USER114> Yo, Hannibal, use the ring.

</comment><comment><USER115> What a douchebag.

</comment><comment><USER68> Haven't we all been there though?

</comment><comment><USER116> At first I thought this was posted by one of the email's recipients as a form of revenge on its douchebag author. Then, I realized it was posted by the author on his own blog... how embarrassing.

The whole letter/blog simultaneously reeks of desperation, egotism, conceit and condescension. He clearly craves validation and doesn't hesitate to dole it out to himself. "I picked you guys because you're the best! Now quit sucking and start being awesome like me! Money money money!"

Sad.

<comment><USER32> Surely this guy is joking.

"A joker is someone who does not complete something, and has excuses. Don't be a fucking joker."

and later

...Hannibal is his greatest hero, the guy who ALMOST conquered rome, but had a great excuse for not doing so.

and

"Now, here's the score. I had a very fast, but totally possible timetable. At first, we were on it, and killing it. Then, one of us slipped. I don't know who slipped first, it's irrelevant. Now, we're all slipping. "

Right, so the timetable doesn't include any latitude for delays.

and

"I can do marketing campaigns, but I need product and tech set up first. I mean, it's not optional, it's a core dependency. All of this shit was supposed to be done weeks ago."

Sounds like an excuse, sounds like he should stop being a joker and just GET IT DONE. No excuses.

This guy is deluded, lives in a separate version of reality where he has excuses but no one else can. Excuses can also be reasons why something is not going to work.

<comment><USER107> He's joking for sure. Just have a look at the very first paragraph! (see also: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3246869>)

<comment><USER75> Hard to believe it's a joke. In that case the whole blog must be a joke. Just read the about page on his blog. Same degree of douchebaggery

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER117> I can identify with what sebastian is experiencing here. Its easy to work with friends, or be friendly with your employees. Its easy for things to get casual. Its easy for people to start running everything by you.

Its VERY easy for the sense of urgency to just go away. Its very hard to get people highly motivated about time. It's easy to kill an entire day with BS, and let things just stretch out. Especially when you're an employee, and you're working for options. Options are so intangible. You're theoretically motivated, but on a day to day basis, do stock options get you doing 6 things in an hour instead of 3 or 4? Especially if your boss isn't there? (And if your boss is there then you're likely to be inhibited.) It's really easy to kill time by running everything thru your boss too... it lets you cover your butt, and you can read HN while you wait for him to make a decision.

I don't know how you teach initiative... but this is a good attempt.

Find a way or make one. Good advice.

Its a shame most of the comments on this seem to be reddit quality. Almost as if the people making them have never been in this situation. (and this was the situation I found myself in at my very first startup-- when we all felt we had no clue what we were doing, and tended to wait for direction, rather than take initiative.)

<comment><USER118> 2 things:

* If you are always running your business with a sense of urgency, you are going to burn out. You are going to burn out your employees. You've might have bitten more than you can chew. Some things are not possible and you need to have realistic expectations. It is fine to have stretches of busy time, but that can't last forever.

* > Its very hard to get people highly motivated about time. -- Ok so it is crunch time. Try communication & openness. Put up a whiteboard, show how many days left, how much money is left, the list of unfixed bugs, and whose name is next to it. Update frequently. Detect problems and slips early and try to fix. Don't yell at them or talk about fucking Hannibal, because you know what? You look like a Joker then.

<comment><USER119> "If you are always running your business with a sense of urgency, you are going to burn out. You are going to burn out your employees."

That's not really true. If you're always running your _life_ with a sense of urgency, you're going to burn out. But your life doesn't have to be your business.

I'm a big fan of the "give me six good hours a day" school of thought. You're not at work your whole life (or maybe you are, but you're not doing urgent stuff your whole day). You don't expect your employees to be at work their whole lives. But when you are at work, you focus on the tasks that need to get done, and you finish them. If problems come up, you figure out a way around them, redo your plans, and adjust your schedule accordingly.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER120> This sounds terrible. I would be very unhappy with my life if my job involved regularly receiving emails like this.

<comment><USER5> If your job involves regularly receiving emails like this, you need to run, not walk, away from that relationship. This guy seems like one of those poisonous people who will inevitably screw things up (through some combination of ego and ignorance of the way the world works) and then blame you for it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER121> Could someone enlighten me what this is about and what is the context because while I can understand the point he seems to be trying to make (just make it happen) I have no idea who he is and what that was written for...

Oh and: he equals being "only" middle class with being a "joker" who hasn't risen to their potential but the wealthy people are the not-jokers and the ones to admire? Seriously??

> _99% of people you interact with in life are fucking jokers._

99% of all humans think that 99% of people are jokers, idiots or just dumb... very trustworthy figure.

<comment><USER8> > _what is the context_

The context is someone with a severe mental illness (bipolar disorder) going through a phase of mania.

Here are some links to information:

([http://www.mind.org.uk/help/diagnoses_and_conditions/bipolar...](http://www.mind.org.uk/help/diagnoses_and_conditions/bipolar_disorder_manic_depression))

> _When I'm in a manic phase, I feel as though I am capable of anything and > everything. This can be an amazing feeling, but I sometimes get frustrated > and angry with people. Ideas flow constantly and quickly, as if my brain is > on fast-forward. Everything happening in the world has significance in my > life._

([http://mentalhealth.gov/health/publications/bipolar- disorder...](http://mentalhealth.gov/health/publications/bipolar- disorder/complete-index.shtml))

([http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/mentalhealthinfo/problems/bipolardi...](http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/mentalhealthinfo/problems/bipolardisorder/bipolardisorder.aspx))

<comment><USER121> Well, this fits in with my own armchair-psychological evaluations of OP...

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER122> I once was CTO to an idiot like this..

I walked out after 30 days of these con games..

This author is poison

</comment><comment> jc-denton "Stop being a fucking joker." It is quite funny how people come up with the subjects they have the most problems with. For example we had a professor also teaching project management who had a hard time keeping his meetings, work, teaching, etc organized ;)

</comment><comment><USER123> Sorry, but I could not read it all... I got bored after 5 minutes of reading.

</comment><comment> jc-denton But I somehow agree with the non-joker argument. Ever heard somebody who doesn't write code, arguing about how great open source software like Ubuntu is?

</comment><comment><USER19> I loved it!

</comment><comment><USER124> A rich man walks into a bar. The barman says "Is this some kind of joke?"

</comment><comment><USER125> I don't mind swearing, but the persistent f-bomb really adds nothing here...

<comment><USER81> Exactly. I think the primitive language contrasts with his high expectations.

</comment></comment><comment><USER126> TL,DR. Started out with an email that looked like it was written by a scammer, got bored, moved on.

</comment><comment><USER127> I'm confused. I'm trying to get rich writing jokes, and you tell me to quit being a joker and just get it done. But "it" is being a joker. Seb, are you going meta on me? Am I supposed to consider my professional joking to be something else, in the same way bank IT workers in the 80's were told to think of themselves as bankers, not programmers? OK, man, BAM I'm not a joker. Welp, back to work!

</comment><comment><USER128> If you want to be BIG then this is how you do it. You stop being a fucking joker :D

FIND A WAY. OR MAKE ONE! great stuff on there. This is an excellent motivational post.

</comment><comment><USER129> Can't help but wonder if this is going to start all the pro vs cons for swearing in posts again. It would be great if everyone did everything they said they would to the deadline but in reality the unexpected happens and if you get this draconian people just will not commit to anything</comment>


Amazon commences fire sale of Fire Phone at $199 off-contract - <AUTHOR> http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00OC0USA6

<comment><USER2> This includes a year of Prime, which is priced at $99, which makes the math even funnier.

<comment><USER3> with free shipping?

other free prime promo only include the useless video streaming and such.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Dumb question, but can you just root these and install a stock Android 5.0 image on them? That's about the only way I'd be interested in this phone unfortunately. Even then a Moto X or even Moto G is probably a better idea.

<comment><USER5> Not that I know of, but you can change it to feel like a normal android with google play store and so on with this guide: [http://forum.xda- developers.com/fire-phone/general/guide-mak...](http://forum.xda- developers.com/fire-phone/general/guide-make-fireos-looks-feel- normal-t2898921)</comment></comment>


Best Practices for ML Engineering - <AUTHOR> https://developers.google.com/machine-learning/guides/rules-of-ml/ <comment><USER2> This is great for ML Engineering. Does anyone know a similar document for ML Research?</comment>