Show HN: mmerch.com (Solo Founder, ~2 years in development) - <AUTHOR>

I've been building mmerch.com alone for roughly the past two years part time.
I'm really hoping I can get some reviews/critiques on it.
Thanks!
mmerch.com <comment><USER2> First, well done. It's hard doing this kind of thing in a vacuum, and this is a great start.

From my perspective, the inventory management piece needs some work. Think about it this way - you get a half dozen boxes in with four different styles of shirts in three colors and four sizes. What's the fastest way to get this information into inventory? Example: the long-sleeve shirt with piping arrives in two colors - in green you receive 1xs, 2s, 4m, 4l, 2xl, and in blue you receive 2xs, 3s, 3m, 3L, 1xl. Styles are rarely available for more than a season, so this is a process that is repeated again and again and again. Customers will also want to be able to track product cost, associate products with a vendor, and enter the vendor's sku. Otherwise, it's "We need to reorder those pink shirts. Where did we get those?"

I'd ditch the customer photo. It looks nice in the demo, but I don't really follow why an ecommerce customer would provide a photo. It also makes the rows on the Customers page really tall, which means that you get many fewer customers on a page. The same goes for the products page in the control panel - I'd keep the photos, but reduce the thumbnail size.

On the Products page, I'd want to be able to sort by sales for a given time period. I'd want to know which products are selling well, and which aren't.

Finally, I didn't see any shipping settings (apologies if I missed them)? You'll need to be able to calculate shipping cost for a given shipping provider (FedEx, UPS, USPS, etc) from the point of origin to the customer. Shipping costs are pretty much what makes or breaks an online retail company. Ideally, you'd allow for more than one carrier, since small/light items are usually much cheaper to ship via USPS.

<comment><AUTHOR> Seriously, that's some of the best feedback I've gotten from anyone. Thank you. I'll definitely look into implementing those changes.

You can get to the shipping settings from the general settings page. Right now you create shipping rules which are based on price and weight that you can assign to specific countries. There is no integration with FedEx, UPS, or USPS yet but in previous versions I had spent some time integrating their shipping rate and shipping label api's which I plan on adding back soon.

<comment><USER2> Glad to help. I co-founded an online retail company in the early 00s and (foolishly?) decided that the off-the-shelf stuff available at the time didn't solve our problems, so I ended up writing a lot of code to handle our specific inventory management and shipping issues.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> I tried out your site and have some feedback for you:

a) In general, I like your design, though I'm not a big fan of the flicker when you use Javascript to change the font. I'm using Chromium on Ubuntu though, so this may not show up on Windows/OS X.

b) Check out this scenario. Enter your live demo site and go to the settings page. Attempt to change a value on that page and then click 'save'. When I save the settings, I end up on an unstyled page that says, "{"success": "Store Settings Successfully Saved"}". I suspect that would scare customers away!

c) The 'add a product' page needs some work. I found the whole process quite difficult and found myself constantly asking myself what information I really need. This is problematic because I suspect I have more eCommerce experience than your target customer. The first thing I'd do is move the 'add photos' function higher. Second, I'd consider walking people through the process (ie - through a series of smaller forms rather than one long form)...

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for the feedback, I'll definitely fix the store settings issue.

Good point on the add product page. I'm going to try simplifying that. Moving the photos up sounds like a good idea as well

</comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> <https://mmerch.com>

</comment><comment><USER4> It shows that it has been a labour of love. Kudos!

My 2 cents: I would like to have a "View store as customer" link, which shows a preview of the store. I created a single dummy product and tried accessing it at <https://memememe.mymmerch.com/> which threw an internal error. Also, the Add Product page is a tad long and would be better if broken up into 2-3 pages.

Again, great work! Good luck.

<comment><USER3> You have to go to the settings page to find this, but apparently, you can access the demo at <https://demo.mymmerch.com>.

Edit - I just tried that link and it throws an internal error as well. Sorry!

<comment><USER4> Murphy and his stupid laws :)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> You should probably raise your prices on all of the plans. You're going to attract customers you don't want to deal with at $10 a month.

</comment><comment><USER4> How would you go about marketing this? I don't know much about the e-commerce site creator market, but what separates you from the competition?

<comment><AUTHOR> Right now we're focused on smaller shops, price wise we offer a lot more features, multiple payment gateways, complete custom themeing and also marketplaces that you can showcase your products in for no additional cost. VNTGE.net is the first marketplace that's been built for vintage and antique goods.

*First as in first mmerch marketplace, not first ever.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> Have you tested that landing page?

<comment><AUTHOR> No, I haven't done any A/B testing yet. But I know it probably needs some re- work</comment></comment>


Open Letter to CNet (RE Bundleware) - <AUTHOR> http://neosmart.net/blog/2011/open-letter-to-cnet/

<comment><USER2> Have you tried contacting them directly? This post says its easy to get the wrapper removed. <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3318224>

<comment><USER3> But why should you have to contact them directly to get the wrapper removed?

They're likely in violation of the licence of most opensource packages which typically have a clause saying you can't redistribute your version and call it the same thing.

Imagine the real world equivalent - e.g. if you bought a delicious meatball Subway sandwich and took a giant dump on it and then tried to sell it as the same delicious Subway sandwich...</comment></comment>


TCC – Tiny C Compiler - mutin-sa http://tinycc.org/ <comment><AUTHOR> I'm a huge fan of tcc. I use it on embedded systems -- a good trick is to pre- process any headers you need via cpp preprocessor, 'compress' them in a single file, and add your .c to that. That way you don't need to cart around all the -dev packages etc.

The 'hidden gem' of tcc is libtcc (the backend), which you can use as a JIT subsystem in your own code. For example I've written a full JIT translator for simavr [0] like that. The code translates each AVR opcode into it's own little piece of C, then compile the whole 'firmware' and runs it.

[0]: [https://github.com/buserror/simavr/tree/wip/jit](https://github.com/buserror/simavr/tree/wip/jit)

</comment><comment><USER2> Updated version here: [http://repo.or.cz/tinycc.git](http://repo.or.cz/tinycc.git)

<comment><USER3> Oddly this updated version has worse code generation than the last official release (at least on Windows). It uses 3 instructions just to push one arg to a function call!

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> From the website: "[Note: I am no longer working on TCC. Check the mailing list to get up to date information.]"

</comment><comment><USER5> Previously: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13249851](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13249851)

I'm sure it's been posted more than that, though.

</comment><comment><USER6> Fabrice Bellard's projects always make it to the front page every time they are posted.

<comment><USER7> What does he work on nowadays?

<comment><USER8> Well, he made it possible to run Windows 2000 in JavaScript: [https://bellard.org/jslinux/vm.html?url=https://bellard.org/...](https://bellard.org/jslinux/vm.html?url=https://bellard.org/jslinux/win2k.cfg&mem=192&graphic=1&w=1024&h=768)

It works by running QEMU inside Linux inside a modified JSLinux, and then running Win2K inside QEMU.

JSLinux was modified to incorporate AMD's hardware-assisted virtualization instructions/extensions, so that QEMU could use KVM. This means that actual x86 emulation gets done in JavaScript layer, and you have (JavaScript (JSLinux(QEMU)) <-> Win2K) instead of (JavaScript(JSLinux(QEMU(Win2K))))), which would be... well I tried running Mini vMac (Mac 128K emulator) inside Basilisk II (PowerPC Mac emulator) one day... it was pretty much unusable, even though Classic Mac OS was designed for a 7.8MHz CPU.

So basically this wouldn't have been possible without implementing virtualization. Despite the fact that said virtualization is actually fake, and it's really emulation.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Is its preprocessor compliant yet? Last time I checked, the P99 project page said it fails to compile on tinycc.

<comment><USER10> Last time I tried it chokes compiling toybox too.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> There are few C99 compliant compilers. In my opinion, TCC is a very good tool, and deserves being maintained.

</comment><comment><USER12> It is a pitty that the QCC (QEMU Codegen) and TCC has not been materialized.

<comment><USER13> Any more info about QCC?

edit: googled it, [https://www.landley.net/qcc/](https://www.landley.net/qcc/)

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> I would love to see it on Github rather than somewhere else, more people can engage and watch (Just saying)

<comment><USER15> GitHub mirror: [https://github.com/TinyCC/tinycc](https://github.com/TinyCC/tinycc)

<comment><USER16> How would I go about creating a github mirror for some other project? I mean I get that I can just upload the project as it is, but what if I want it so that updates to the original are reflected automatically in the mirror?

<comment><USER17> Create a repo on GitLab where mirroring is in the default featureset, then create a repo on GitHub, then create a hook so that when the GitLab mirror pulls in new commits, it pushes those to the GitHub "mirror".

Or just question why you're doing this to begin with.

<comment><USER16> Interesting.

The motivation to put up the mirror is that the creator of the original project has no interest in changing his project to work with the languages' package manager, but has endorsed others mirroring it. So I could mirror the original project on Github and add the files needed for the languages' package manager to work with it.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Ask HN: How critical is the job-loss in Tech due to Covid-19 - <AUTHOR> How critical is the job loss in Tech because of corona virus lockdown <comment><USER2> What exactly do you mean by "critical"? Do you mean "expansive" maybe? This site tracks startup layoffs: [https://layoffs.fyi/tracker/](https://layoffs.fyi/tracker/)

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> I'm a tech worker at a large non-tech industry company. So far, there are not any layoffs.

If the economy goes down further or stagnates for more than 6 months, then layoffs are an option. I also heard similar from a friend working at another large company.</comment>


Ask HN: Should I be concerned about this job offer? - <AUTHOR> I'm an undergrad with previous experience as a C++ dev at a medium-sized company. Recently, a small landscape architecture firm posted a freelance app dev position at my school to which I applied and was interviewed. The interview went well and I strongly suspect I'll get a call in the next day, but I have some concerns.
The app they want sounds somewhat complex: it involves plotting routes on local trails and tracking location and distance traveled. It was requested by one of the firm's clients as part of a larger project. The firm has no experience with software development, but instead of contracting out to a professional developer, they decided to hire a student. The deadline for the app is the end of summer and I would be the only person working on it, including interface design and whatnot.  The apps they used for comparison with the final product were both popular and polished; One is developed by a team, though the other seems to be by a single guy (who is much more experienced than I am). Oh, and it needs to be available on both Android and iPhone.
Am I correct in thinking these sound like unrealistic goals, or am I actually overestimating this project's difficulty? I have no experience developing phone apps (this was clear on my resume) so maybe this is simple with existing frameworks or libraries.
Before continuing, I should mention that my academic background is weak and my employment record is filled with a few holes. My alternative to this job is either fast food or waiting for another job like this that is willing to hire me despite my background, and local dev jobs are scarce here. Therefore,
If the scope of this project is or becomes too big, what actions should I take?
How do I avoid being taken advantage of salary-wise? Obviously they are looking to spend as little as possible if they're hiring a student. I have no experience negotiating and don't think I have much leverage with the little background I have. <comment><USER2> _The deadline for the app is the end of summer..._

If the company has made a promise like this to the customer _without even having a development team in place_ , you can be guaranteed this won't be the only dishonest piece of the puzzle.

Bail and don't look back.

<comment><USER3> I think you are right, but ..

My 2nd job in NYC was with a startup doing microfische replacement -- think laser disks and early 90s. The owner of the startup had sold a solution to a bank downtown and it was my first day on the job .. at one of client's buildings in Wall Street. It became clear that 1st day that the solution simply did not exist. The demo that got the client was using a competitor's product.

I ended up designing that solution from ground up, hugely improving on the fake demo and we ended up successfully installing the product on the original client and another bank in Long Island.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Chances are, if they went to a University to get an app developed, they want it cheap. I've been in on more than one meeting where this was suggested.

Just be honest about the whole project. Let them know what they are getting into and set a plan from the start. If they decide to keep adding on requirements or changing things around, let them know how much time it will add onto the project.

You may never get the project done and it may be really complicated, but it will be great experience. I have many projects like these that I worked on after college.

</comment><comment><USER5> Well if your option is App development or Fast Food, well I'd choose app development.

As far as salary wise fast food vs app development, talk to your friends and see what they are getting for their summer gig. Is it close to where you live? Maybe accept a lower rate and work remote/only come in for demos/reviews.

I would propose developing the iOS version first, completing that by end of summer is doable. You'll learn a lot.

Setup milestones for the summer. I'm not sure you can get both completed. Maybe propose to create the iOS app and they can hire an offshore dev to port to android. Or maybe recommend hiring another student to do the android version at the same time as you working on the iOS version.

Only accept this as hourly, since you'll be learning, changing things as they get feedback.

Since you'll be doing iOS development see if they can set you up with a new macbook air or pro, iPhone and iPad for testing, apple dev license, photoshop, etc that you'll need to create this.

Sounds like a good opportunity to learn iOS development. More pay and more productive than fast food.

The summer will go by fast so try to make progress early.

Good luck, enjoy the summer.

</comment><comment><USER6> I once turned down an accepted offer because I realized I was not qualified to perform the task. They wanted me to analyze and estimate the time required for a rewrite on technology I was totally unfamiliar with. The greenfield development was extremely attractive to me, but I was able to temper it by coming to terms with the fact that the stress of achieving their goals with my time and skills would be really irresponsible. There are other opportunities. Don't sacrifice your sanity.

</comment><comment><USER7> Hi,

I've built a similar mobile app for both iOS and Android (as two native applications, not sharing a code base), built on top of Parse as the back-end- as-a-service. I also teach mobile app development at the university level.

I don't think that this is a reasonable goal for a summer college student with no mobile app development experience, on either platform.

I'd suggest scoping out the project into several distinct goals:

1) List of trails on iOS 2) List of trails on Android 3) Map of trails on iOS 4) Map of trails on Android 5) Trail detail screen on iOS 6) Trail detail screen on Android 7) Plotting trail route on a map in iOS 8) Plotting trail route on a map in Android 9) Showing user's route on a map in iOS 10) Showing user's route on a map in Android

And so forth based on the requirements. Explain to the company that you are going to work from the top down, and whatever you accomplish during the summer is what you accomplish. It may just be steps 1,2,3 and 4, or it may just be 1 and 3 on iOS.

Feel free to reach out if you need help!

</comment><comment><USER8> There are a lot of red flags in your description. This doesn't sound like an ideal first development job for a few reasons. Most importantly, focus on finding a position where you can learn more software engineering practices from great mentors.

Questions to ask yourself: What are your personal career goals? How would taking this job serve them?

</comment><comment><USER9> > The firm has no experience with software development, but instead of > contracting out to a professional developer, they decided to hire a student.

The client & the architecture firm need a problem solved. Better to ask-- What would it take to make this happen?

One place to look is to start talking with seasoned, off-shore developers. These guys often have teams of junior devs working under them. Essentially, you would serve as the PM - supervising the work, interfacing with your firm's superiors and the client. Figure out the budget and timeline. Tell your prospective boss you've got an economical and workable solution. But you need approval to bring in sub-contractors in order to meet the aggressive delivery schedule. Stretch projects like these are stuff that build great careers.

</comment><comment><USER10> In terms of the complexity of the app, I'd say to start looking into the kinds of technologies you'll need to fulfil the requirements. Sounds like you will need a server somewhere with an API, and of course the app itself on whatever platform is appropriate. I have not done much mobile app development myself, but I would not underestimate the impact on the project of, for example, learning how to develop an Android app. Each ecosystem has its own vocabulary and conventions you will have to understand in order to develop the app well.

That, of course, is not to say that you can't get something out in two or three months that is functional, if rough around the edges (at least in terms of the code).

If you're really worried about the possibility of not being able to deliver, I would advise you to pay close attention to the terms of the contract if they offer you the gig -- how much freedom do you have on the project, are you accountable for its success (particularly in a financial sense).

You can recommend that the company bring on another developer, perhaps before you sign stuff. Treat it less as a negotiation with an employer and more like a consultation with a client: you want the app to be successful, and another developer would help to ensure that.

</comment><comment><USER11> i agree with the others: this sounds like a sand trap. stay away.

for me, the biggest red flag is that they are setting a deadline unilaterally _and_ willing to hire someone with zero mobile experience to meet that deadline. makes no sense. they have no idea how long it will take, and neither do you. a professional, experienced engineer with a solid set of requirements in hand _might_ be able to make an accurate estimate. but here, they're just picking a date out of thin air. honestly, what's their rush? i hardly know anything about them but they already sound like the proverbial 'bad client'.

a note about pay: if you are going to be a salaried employee, then whatever you've finished at the end of the summer is what they get. (i'm assuming you work in an at-will employment jurisdiction like much of the U.S. is.) maybe that's a complete app, maybe it's just 20% of an app. but if this is really a situation where you're signing a contract and committing to some deliverable, then ... no. stay away.

> "my employment record is filled with a few holes"

no one cares about your work experience while you're still getting your bachelor's.

do yourself a favour: you need to get on the ball and hustle and at least _attempt_ to secure a proper (paid) internship at a software company, or a bank, etc. you need to be around people you can learn from, for one thing. and if you're not working somehwere, pick up some books on topics you're not familiar and work through them. go work in your university's library, don't just stay at home. can you implement Raft in C++? there's your first project. no fast food.

</comment><comment><USER12> With all due respect. Take the fast food job.

Why? You won't be burned out after a days work and probably can spend time enhancing your development skills. Far more valuable in my opinion.

I once took a job at a Starbucks for a year as a barista to be able to focus on my own projects and learning. No conflict of interest and at the end of the day making coffee I was super motivated to go home and learn until I passed out :-)

</comment><comment><USER13> 1\. You're correct, those requirements aren't trivial. They're also not impossible, it's just a considerable amount of work.

Phone libraries won't magically solve any of your issues.

2\. I would attempt to drastically reduce the scope. __Emphasize the worst- case development time __to your client. The client 's reaction to this is often very informative. My best clients react by accepting my concerns and scaling back the requirements to the bare minimum. My worst clients have refused to acknowledge serious issues and insisted on charging ahead without changes to the plan.

3\. You avoid being taken advantage of by having a better offer. Since you can't do this immediately, accept that you will be taken advantage of until you can clearly signal your value. Put effort into personal projects and other visible demonstrations.

</comment><comment><USER14> If they are willing to hire a student, they are willing to get student grade results.

<comment><USER15> Which is its own concern, you shouldn't go somewhere where your hard work will look like nothing

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> Even if you have a weak academic and employment background you can ABSOLUTELY get a dev job that won't be designed to fuck you over, like this one is.

You might have to move, you might have to get a (paying) internship (they definitely exist), and you might have to send out some cold emails to people you don't know to ask. But there's no reason you should be waiting tables.

</comment><comment><USER17> I'd heed the advice in here. It sounds like a big project to take on as a lone student.

On the other hand, you can go in guns blazing and be professional and fair and say "this is unrealistic I need to hire someone" and you could easily have yourself a software company funded primarily by somebody else's misguided speculation.

</comment><comment><USER18> Don't say no.

Just ask to be paid by the day/hour. Look at salaries in your city for 2 years experience, and ask for the upper end.

Negotiation is simple: ask them to make you an offer first, if they offer you less than want state your price, and if they wont meet it then walk away.

<comment><USER19> _If_ he takes the job, then this is certainly wise. But it is still most likely a bad idea to take the job.

* As an undergrad on summer internships, and in your first few years of professional work, it is better to optimise for learning rather than earning. A project where you work alone with unfamiliar technology at a non-software company won't provide that. He should instead find a software company with a culture of strong mentoring and code reviews.

* It's possible to learn Android, iOS or web development over a summer if you have some previous C++ development experience. But learning all three, and designing and building a reasonable quality app on two platforms + a server backend is just not feasible. The end result will be poor, and the client will not realise that this was because of their own unrealistic expectations. As a result, OP may not get a great reference to use after graduating.

I mean, if the other alternatives are fast food jobs, then sure. But he needs to manage the expectations of the employer very carefully - maybe proposing a mobile website only, no native or hybrid apps for the first version.

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> > I have no experience developing phone apps

If you had some decent experience, you'd probably be able to write this app (or at least something like it) in ~4 months of full time solo work.

That's if you worked with some discipline and knew what you were doing already.

</comment><comment><USER21> This smells bad, I say walk away it looks more trouble than its worth.</comment>


Ask HN: Why Are People Staying in More? - <AUTHOR> People are increasingly working, consuming entertainment and ordering food from home. Why is this happening? Have there been other times in history when people have spent most of their time at home? <comment><USER2> Well, we've constructed an app based world where you don;t need to go out, or pick up the phone, to talk to your friends. Food, shopping, entertainment is all centred around the individual. There's an app for that.

It's constructed, accidentally, an age of self-centred loneliness. Towns, bars, shops are increasingly struggling. Yes, going out is expensive, and it's cheaper to buy a few bottles of beer and Netflix, but few of our social networks (those used to be real not online) are based in the local pub or weekly club any more. Now they're all around the personalised, I'm the centre of the world, app.

Don't agree about the depression - When my parents went through the depression, everyone was in everyone else's pockets. They'd spend time in each other's houses for ad hoc childcare, meals, help from debt, hiding from the rent man etc. A lot of their stories were of a world I don't recognise at all. Everyone knew everyone in the street and did things together; it was almost disturbingly social. Maybe that was because they were in a city, I don't know.

I suspect the right balance is somewhere in between.

</comment><comment><USER3> Where I live (Chicago area), restaurants are packed most nights, and on weekends, movie theaters are too. Your mileage may vary on "most" people staying home.

That being said, for me, the number one and two reasons I stay home are cold and traffic. I go out a LOT more when it's warmer. But anything I can go out for is weighed against the time I'm going to end up sitting in my car. I tend to do a lot of stops or whatever on the way home, but tend to stay home once I am there.

Also, note that tipping significantly increases the cost of food, which you don't escape with delivery, but do escape if you get takeout/to-go. And with an often 30-40 minute wait time to be seated at a restaurant some nights, not waiting to not have to tip sounds mighty worthwhile.

</comment><comment><USER4> Well.. the Great Depression comes to mind.

Going out is expensive. The middle class has less disposable income now. I am not middle class (because I am a web developer) but though I can afford to go out, I don't go out that often.

I prefer to cook at home, for cost and health. I have a great tv, the movie theatre is expensive, so it has to be a movie I really want to see. Working from home is awesome. I do it as much I can. My cat misses me when I am away.

People spend a lot of their time "virtually socializing" with their phones. So, being at home alone.. isn't as alone as it used to be,

</comment><comment> 70122-_6 "another time in history..." yeah the 50's with their pooches. [http://hyperurl.co/45dv8p](http://hyperurl.co/45dv8p)</comment>


Modafinil and Startups - <AUTHOR> http://swombat.com/2012/2/27/modafinil-and-startups <comment><USER4> It's worth noting that not everyone responds to modafinil. If you've had genetic sequencing done (I had mine done by 23andme), you can predict your response by checking your Rs4680 status. <http://www.snpedia.com/index.php/Rs4680>

      rs4680(G;G) carriers deprived of sleep respond quite well to 2x 100mg
      modafinil in terms of improved vigor and well-being, and maintained
      baseline performance with respect to executive functioning, whereas
      rs4680(A;A) individuals barely responded to the drug at all.

I'm A;A, and normally have almost no response to modafinil. I discovered, however, that I have significant modafinil response while on an MAOI (transdermal selegiline). I've stopped taking it recently, since I've finally tracked down the primary causes of my excessive sleepiness, (very deficient in vitamin D and cortisol). Modafinil has been a massive help both with fatigue and depression, and let me stay functional and productive through a difficult time in my life while I tracked down the actual problems.

<comment><USER5> Contrary to what some doctors tell you, it is really hard to fix a Vitamin D deficiency with dietary supplements. Go to a tanning salon and get 250,000IUs in 10 minutes. Of course this is going to be a bit weird if you are naturally dark skinned, but far more effective than taking pills.

<comment><USER6> Citation? I ask because I'm interested in making sure I'm healthy, not to just be a jerk on the internet, and if that's true I'm doing something wrong.

<comment><USER5> No citations exist. My comment was directed at the grandparent whose original symptoms warranted taking dangerous MAOIs. In that case, I would consider an off literature treatment to fix the vitamin D deficiency as fast as possible. Tanning beds are carcinogenic and not recommended for general health.

<comment><USER4> I started taking MAOIs while trying to deal with depression. SSRIs had pretty severe cognitive side-effects for me, and low doses of transdermal MAOIs have a better risk profile than traditional oral MAOIs. You're right about dangerous, though. I first started modafinil while on the MAOI, and didn't find out that it didn't work for me off of it until I stopped using the MAOI due to apparent serotonin toxicity, which you don't want to screw around with.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7>
        What I found with more experimentation of days both with
        and without Modafinil was that actually, I was just as
        productive if I was well rested, healthy, well fed with
        healthy foods and working on something I cared about.

This, I think, is the most interesting part of the entire piece. He talks at length about the benefits of Modafinil:

        On the good side, those tasks which I did line up got
        done, and with great energy, velocity, etc. A good day
        on Modafinil could easily concentrate several days'
        worth of work into one, by getting rid of all the empty
        distracted bits of the day."

(which sound fantastic) but then mentions that you can get the same benefits just by being healthy. Makes me think that it's kind of incredible what our body can do on its own.

<comment><USER8> That is my own main takeaway... Which is why I don't take Modafinil anymore.

<comment><USER9> What about combining good health with using Modafinil? The naive idea is if they are good by themselves, they could be better together.

<comment><USER8> When I'm well rested, well fed, healthy, etc, then the Modafinil just has the basic effect of increasing focus and energy while decreasing breadth of thinking, with the comedown 8 or so hours later that leaves me sucked dry. It's not that bad, but it's not so great as to be worth the risk on a regular basis, imho.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> I threw my last pack away last year, due to the emergence of a nasty side effect. I'd used it to power through a few insane projects, and had what I would call a decent "honeymoon period": get up at 4am, brain so groggy it was hard to tie my shoelaces, pop 100mg and within 30 minutes I'd be hyper-awake, clear headed and have laser sharp focus. The euphoria he mentions was nothing mild for me either, it really wasn't far off something like cocaine or ecstacy (minus accompanying loss of faculty).

Then gradually another feeling started accompanying it, which I can only describe as a "darkening" of my perception of the world, and strong sense of impending doom which became intrusive and hard to ignore (to the detriment of whatever task was at hand). It rendered me mildly depressed and highly anxious at the same time (although only for about 12-14 hours), and it did so consistently. I've never heard anyone else mention such an effect, but if anyone starts feeling a bit like that (and for me it was frankly a powerful and rather scary side-effect), consider whether the drug is to blame.

<comment><USER11> This is exactly what I felt when I was taking Adderall when I was about 25. I chose to stop taking it after a few months because I just couldn't handle the sense of impending doom, and at times fear, which would strike every day around 7pm.

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> I didn't get around to trying Modafinil, but I've discovered that pure caffeine and guarana extract work better than coffee for me. I was a heavy coffee drinker all my life, but several years ago, it just stopped working as well. There's something in coffee besides caffeine that makes me feel jittery and nervous _without_ feeling more alert after a couple of days of drinking it regularly. Basically, it helps with physically intensive tasks, but doesn't help when I have to sit down and do any kind of mental work anymore.

Using 100 mg of caffeine 3x a day, on the other hand, gives me the same effect as coffee once did - I can jump around filled with energy and work at my computer with more energy for longer periods of time. 400 mg of guarana extract (~80 mg caffeine) makes me more alert without the physical tension or jitters - if anyone has "coffee fatigue", as I call it, try caffeine pills or guarana extract (but not in high dosages!).

I've also found L-carnitine to augment caffeine in physical tasks, and taking 400mg of guarana extract with ~200mg of rhodiola rosea and 50mg of L-theanine lets me work and then sleep pretty well, like I never took caffeine in the first place. YMMV, but it's definitely fascinating to see how we can alter our bodies with psychoactives (obviously, you take a risk, so you have to understand that and doing proper research before using anything).

I still want to try Modafinil, but just can't get my hands on it right now...

</comment><comment><USER13> Is it just me, or does using mind-altering substances to get through one's daily schedule seem like it crosses the line?

I'm always a little baffled when people sacrifice their health for work - it's a very bad decision in the long term. You can always find another job, but once you damage your health, you may never get it back.

<comment><USER14> Do you drink coffee or caffeinated soda? Also Modafinil by itself doesn't seem to cause any health problems, so I'm not sure what you're getting at there. The impure Adrafinil can cause liver problems though. I'd agree that a drug that gave work benefits but resulted in brain damage 2 years later isn't worth it, but let's be specific when talking about what health risks are around for particular chemicals, diets, and chairs/no chairs.

My own experience with Modafinil is that it lets me focus intently on one or a handful of things for longer periods of time, but doesn't give me much if any boost in willpower to pick, so I rely on putting myself in the right environment where there's only a few options to pick from.

<comment><USER13> > Do you drink coffee or caffeinated soda?

In fact, I don't, and precisely for this reason. Caffeine addictions seem to be just as bad to me.

Instead, I sleep more (enough so I don't have to use an alarm) and strive to cut unnecessary things from my life to save time. For example, I know it's a little cliche, but people survived without TV until 50 or 60 years ago. I got rid of my TV, and it saved me a lot of time.

<comment><USER15> Do you eat sugary foods? Fatty foods? Ingesting sugar and fat causes your brain to release dopamine. Without this mind-altering biochemistry, people wouldn't be nearly as compelled to eat a piece of a chocolate cake or a piece of bacon.

(Note: dopamine reabsorption is also slowed by caffeine, which is why it improves your mood.)

My point is not to be pedantic, it's to say that no matter what you're ingesting, you're altering your mood. While I'd obviously agree that becoming addicted to mood-altering substances isn't a good thing, I think that (like sugar and fat) they can be used responsibly.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> I've found it occasionally helpful, but it will in no way fix procrastination -- in fact you can procrastinate (by e.g. reading through top 100 random stories on reddit) more efficiently and with fewer regrets. If you can get into the "flow" (in the psychological sense) you're able to stay there for longer and are less likely to get interrupted, but you're better off starting the day with a clear todo list and by priming things by producing, not consume (as per the recent articles).

If mixing with coffee, consume both well before you intend to sleep; I've found myself a few times in an unpleasant alert but wanting to sleep state.

<comment><USER17> > I've found it occasionally helpful, but it will in no way fix > procrastination -- in fact you can procrastinate (by e.g. reading through > top 100 random stories on reddit)

In my (ahem) friends experiments with modafinil he reported the same thing, i.e. that he procrastinated with a vengeance. Last time this happened he managed to get through O'Reilly's _Mastering Algorithms in C_ in a single sitting, though it was completely unrelated to the work he was supposed to do that day.

<comment><USER8> I got as far as having some really intensely focused world of warcraft sessions on modafinil... What a waste...

<comment><USER18> Not only that, but modafinil is also great when you absolutely, positively, have to win a flame war on the Internet.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> I have taken 100-400mg of Modafinil daily for about 10 years.

I happen to have my 23andme results (thanks for the tip, tene!) and it looks like I'm rs4680(A;A). Despite what the paper in CPT says, it does have a significant effect on my alertness.

The comments about procrastination and focus all sound familiar to me. So do the comments about addiction: sometimes I'll forget to take it and if I don't have any because I forget to pack it while travelling I don't feel an urge to do anything about it. I only have a few things to add to what's been said already:

1) Modafinil is not a substitute for sleep for me. I've gone without sleep for days while using it, and I do suffer from the effects of sleep deprivation. I just don't notice that I'm suffering from them. The best way to describe it is that I am alert and thinking, but I am missing half my IQ points and don't realize it unless I'm particularly mindful about how I am feeling. I'm great at driving, working out, the boring parts of reverse engineering firmware, and other mindless repetitive physical tasks, though. A few years ago I decided to spend a lot of time at the gym and was performing at superhuman levels: it's just not normal for a 5'8" guy to feel happy about running 6 minute miles at 4 AM on no sleep. When I did that on no sleep I kept losing my keys and phone, though...

2) Modafinil significantly increases my ability to get out of bed in the morning. I've never taken a sick day since I started using it. If I don't get enough sleep I still zone out a little during the day, but it makes it so much more pleasant to get out of bed and go through my morning routine if I'm missing sleep. I'm certainly in better shape because I have the energy to go work out, as I mentioned.

3) I'm quickly approaching the point where I'll have been on Modafinil for more than 50% of my life, and as far as I can tell there have been no long- term side effects. My partner is a MD and although at first she couldn't believe that it wasn't permanently screwing something up, she's come to accept that Modafinil seems to be pretty safe in my case.

4) Despite what others have said about Modafinil affecting their creative thinking, I have no problems assimilating entirely new concepts or doing other abstract thinking while using the drug.

<comment><USER20> > Despite what the paper in CPT says, it does have a significant effect on my > alertness.

You're not the first 23andMe user I've heard say that; as I caution people in my section on the topic ( <http://www.gwern.net/Modafinil#effects> ) SNP studies are pretty gosh-darn unreliable, and even if the SNP effect turns out to be genuine (as they often do not), the effect may not be worth caring about.

</comment></comment><comment><USER21> Gwern has a summary article[1] on Modafinil which (among other things) goes through the literature on the effects and side-effects.

[1]: <http://www.gwern.net/Modafinil>

</comment><comment><USER22> I've commented on Modafinil before ( <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=647333> ). Please see caveats there.

I would say that Modafinil does not make a boring task interesting. It does not supply any drive to work.

I characterise the effects as blowing away that fog you sometimes feel is within your head.

Even better, I have found that it is quite possible to sleep on Modafinil. It will be light sleep because if you're indulging then you probably have a lot on your mind anyway and this will dictate how well you sleep.

You'll find that you wake up with some residual effect ( clarity ). This is a good thing, unlike a hangover/comedown.

</comment><comment><USER20> Hm, didn't expect to see this on Hacker News. Better copy over my comment from Reddit [http://www.reddit.com/r/Nootropics/comments/q878x/modafinil_...](http://www.reddit.com/r/Nootropics/comments/q878x/modafinil_and_startups/c3vkayx) :

> Sure, you won't find studies of people who fried their neurons by using > Modafinil for 10 years in a row, but that's because Modafinil isn't that old > yet.

Actually, it is. Even ignoring all the animal and French experiments etc, Cephalon got FDA approval and started selling it in the US in... 1997? 1998? That's close to 14 years now.

This is why blogs with no comments annoy me - how is the author supposed to find out that he made an obvious mistake? Or for that matter his claim modafinil is more amphetamine-like that proponents claim - well, I'm a proponent but at least when I claim it has little in common, I have [actual citations](<http://www.gwern.net/Modafinil#fn11>).

EDIT: I checked; it was approved in December 1998, so 1 December 1998 - <USER2> is 13 years, 2 months, and 27 days.

<comment><USER23> > This is why blogs with no comments annoy me - how is the author supposed to > find out that he made an obvious mistake?

Email? His site-wide byline is a mailto.

<comment><USER20> Yes, so I can email him and hope he will update or edit or admit he's wrong, and also accept that by the time he does so most readers will be gone - <USER3> than post a public comment he would specifically have to censor, and my correction be visible in time for most readers to see if they care to.

I hope you can see why I would regard one alternative as way better than the other.

<comment><USER20> Proving my point: a day later, with the comment on both Hacker News & Reddit, his incorrect claim remains. In fact, as far as I can tell, he has not edited it _at all_.

Why, again, would I prefer to email him?

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER24> Interesting. I take modafinil 2-ish times a week, sometimes to skip a night's sleep to work on my own projects, sometimes to get a really productive day at my day-job with a startup.

My subjective experience with driving on Modafinil is very different: I become significantly more aware of everything on the road. It turns me into a laser, sure, but a laser that's constantly scanning back and forth. Too many confounding factors to say why that is.

I haven't noticed any diminishing of 'broad thinking'. Not sure I could claim any increase, though.

His claim that it's better to get productive days through other means seems to be a false dichotomy: Modafinil isn't dangerous like he's convinced it is, and while you can get productive through better health and rest, you can get even more productive by eating healthy, exercising, resting properly, _and_ taking Modafinil. It's not clear why he thinks that Modafinil will force you to be unhealthy, thus making it a choice between "healthy" and "moda" (Honestly, the days when I take Modafinil, I find I have the focus to exercise harder and longer, and the willpower to eat much healthier).

His points about 'shortcut to a really productive day', 'having a clear _big_ task to focus on', and 'drink a lot of water' are all spot-on, though.

I have to disagree with his recommendations: I think Modafinil's value proposition is positive for almost everyone, and proportionally more valuable as the value of your time or focus increases. HN readers in particular tend to have valuable time and extremely valuable focus; Modafinil is a huge gain, something like a large fraction of just the positives of amphetamines, with the negatives of caffeine instead.

The illustrious __gwern __has an article covering the medical research, benefits, risks, a novel cost/benefit analysis, and supplier information here:<http://www.gwern.net/Modafinil>

(Yes, it's been linked a few times already in this discussion. Go read it already.)

</comment><comment><USER25> The thing I find most interesting about Modafinil is how consistent the stories are about how people feel (and work) when they take it.

Everyone talks of extreme focus, but perhaps a loss of judgement about what tasks are actually important.

I don't have any particular conclusions about that - I just find it really interesting.

<comment><USER26> This is an excellent tl;dr for what it does. I had some truly excellent Minecraft sessions, for instance..

</comment></comment><comment><USER27> I've taken it a few times when I really had to push hard to meet a deadline (coding). One time while working my sister texted me to say she just boarded her flight to Canada (from Europe). What seemed like a short while after she texted me saying she'd arrived. During her entire flight (6+ hrs) my concentration never flinched. I find it very effective indeed.

</comment><comment><USER28> I have taken 200mg of Modafinil daily for more than 5 years.

Before it, I could go to sleep just about anywhere and just about any time. I could easily sleep for 12 to 14 hours a day if I let myself. When I had a work commute of about an hour and a half, I would have to pull over, sometimes four or five times, during the afternoon drive home to take cat naps because I couldn't keep my eyes open. It didn't matter how much or how little coffee I drank, it didn't matter how much I slept the day before, and it didn't matter whether I was eating my typical diet which was fairly healthy, or if I had unusual amounts of junk food that week.

Caffeine doesn't work "normally" for me. I like the taste of coffee, I usually have one cup a day that I sip throughout the morning. However, I don't have a Folgers moment. I am not groggy until I get my first cup. If I drink a soda or coffee or even have a shot of espresso in the afternoon, I don't get a sudden boost of energy. I don't even get the boost of energy from energy drinks. When I drink a lot caffeine or other energy drinks in a short period of time, I find that they will give me a mild case of the jitters, but even then, they don't counteract my actual drowsiness. Hence, I've never gone higher than my typical cup of coffee in the morning and frequently a soda in the afternoon. More than that has almost all down-sides and no up-sides for me.

I took a sleep study, and I was not diagnosed with narcolepsy because that diagnosis is very specific. You must immediately fall into REM sleep. I was diagnosed with a "we have no idea what you have" condition of excessive daytime drowsiness and received a prescription for Provigil. Originally, it was a 100mg dose, but when that was not effective, it went up to 200mg.

It is a bit of a wonder drug for me, but certainly not in the terms that it was described in this article. It doesn't make me hyper focused or give me unusually sharp focus, it just removes the incapacitating drowsiness I suffered in the afternoon. I've actually found that music is more distracting to me during work hours since I started taking it. While I still enjoy listening to various types of music for recreation, I don't play music while working anymore.

I would definitely say it is not addicting in the manner that coffee is. On vacations and at times I didn't have my prescription with me, I've gone weeks without taking it. There are no withdrawal symptoms, other than the fact that I would be excessively drowsy again, especially in the afternoon. If I stop drinking caffeine, I will suffer migraines for about two weeks.

I will agree with the part about broad focus vs narrow focus. I can think better about large system design late in the evening. When I am working on an architecture problem during the afternoon, I find myself frequently rat- holing. I'll focus on one specific part and just keep going back to it over and over rather than spending enough time at the higher level.

<comment><USER4> Your symptoms sound very similar to mine. I eventually had a large vitamin, neurotransmitter, hormone, and adrenal panel done, including saliva and urine samples throughout the day, and blood of course. I was severely deficient in vitamin D, very low cortisol, and notably low B12. Since starting to address these issues, my life has improved significantly. If you haven't had similar tests done, I encourage you to do so.

<comment><USER28> I've had normal blood work and an adrenal panel. Don't know about the more advanced stuff you are talking about. I'll bring it up with my doctor, and I thank you for the advice.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER29> > _I used a (legal) drug called Modafinil_

As far as I'm aware, in both the UK and the US, it's legal only as a prescription drug, i.e. if you buy it online without a prescription it is no longer legal.

</comment><comment><USER30> Your description of the subjective effects of modafinil sound almost identical to those of Adderall (d-amphetamine). Adderall has a very well established short-term safety profile in therapeutic doses, but long-term use, especially at moderate to high doses, can lead to severe dependency and a host of health problems, in a very similar manner to cocaine. If what you say is true that Modafinil doesn't have the high addictive potential of amphetamines and cocaine, that sounds very appealing, but taking any drug even once if it's too new to know if there are long-term side effects from short-term use really scares me. I'm glad you conclude that sleep, nutrition, and exercise are preferable.

P.S. Wikipedia says Modafinil is Schedule IV in the U.S., which means that, like cocaine and morphine (Schedule II), Modafinil is illegal unless you have a prescription.

<comment><USER31> It's not that similar to Adderall or other amphetamines. The mechanism of action is different. There is some overlap in effect but it's quite different. Amphetamines will provide intense focus and are generally short lived. Modafinil will provide improved focus and alertness and is long lived. The focus is nowhere near as intense.

Adderall and cocaine are even less similar. Cocaine is purely a psychological addiction. Amphetamines have both psychological and physical addiction. Modafinil has little to no addiction. Over time your body will get more efficient at breaking down modafinil down so you may need to increase dose but that's it. There are studies done over years but there aren't any extremely long term ones yet.

While still illegal schedule IV is nothing like schedule II. LE generally doesn't care that much about IV. I've read about schedule IV drugs being opened by customs and allowed through. Think of IV as less than being caught with a joint.

</comment></comment><comment><USER32> Two points I didn't see about modafinil that I've found: 1) There's a long lag from the I take it until the time it kicks in. I read somewhere that it has to be processed by the liver once and the results of that are what actually has an effect. The upshot is, if I take it after about 11am, I will find myself awake after 1am. So for me it's early or not at all.

2) As a hangover/sleepless night cure. Modafinil is a great "fixer" for a slow d-r-a-g of a day. By noon I usually have forgotten I started the day hungover.

I generally take 50mg for the mildest effect, or sometimes 100mg if the need is greater.

</comment><comment><USER31> My personal experiences with modafinil's effects are similar to the OP's. It increases my focus more than caffeine but not like Adderall. It completely clears away brain fog and eliminates sleepiness. I find it lasts 6-8 hours for me, depending if I'm sleep deprived or not.

I found that if it's evening, I'm tired, and I take it that it may take up to 2 hours before my alertness improves. Normally it's about 1 hour.

Other than terrible smelling urine I don't notice any side effects.

Modafinil also seems to be synergistic with caffeine. I can take half the caffeine with the same or better effects.

</comment><comment><USER33> I tried provigil for two weeks and it made me feel like a zombie. I was less sleepy but I felt kind of 'hazy', like there was something between myself and my thoughts slowing down the interaction. It _did_ make me slightly more productive, and able to completely focus on boring tasks.

One interesting side effect is that it made me a bit more social and during those two weeks I had dozens of extremely boring (in hindsight) conversations with random co-workers. It seems to lower my threshold for boredom more than anything.

</comment><comment><USER34> Another good take on modafinil:

<http://www.gwern.net/Modafinil>

</comment><comment><USER35>
      Modafinil is also compared to amphetamines (which are
      often used either for recreation or to treat ADHD), since
      its effect is somewhat similar. Generally, the comparison
      states that amphetamines are bad for you and that
      Modafinil is not as bad because it "works differently",
      but there is probably more overlap than the proponents of
      Modafinil would like you to think.

There is one massively huge difference between amphetamines and Modafinil.

Modafinil is not addictive.

I have a prescription for Modafinil (required in the US) and have been taking it for over 5 years. Getting the prescription was fairly simple and required going to a sleep doctor and getting a "sleep study".

I would never have thought of myself as narcoleptic, although I remember frequently being unable to stay awake in high school math class. I think some would characterize me as "a sleepy guy" and I do have to be careful while driving late at night.

I don't take it on weekends, or vacations. Even for up to 3 weeks or a month, I'll go without Modafinil.

Taking Modafinil keeps me alert and excited about my code and my business.

Not taking Modafinil helps me relax and not think about the stress of running a business. I enjoy things like TV and Movies a whole lot more. Playing with my kids is also more fun when not on Modafinil.

But when I need to get back to work, within an hour of taking Modafinil, I am excited about the code in front of me and can work productively for 12 or more hours per day. When evening comes and you know you need rest, there is no temptation to take more Modafinil and work through the night - although that would be possible.

On more than one occasion, I have forgotten to take Modafinil before work in the morning. These days were much less productive, filled with self-promoted distractions and much less excitement about my work. But more importantly, there is no urge or need to take Modafinil; so much so, that I am able to forget about it completely.

These non-addictive characteristics are completely unlike amphetamines (which I have also unfortunately tried in my more distant history).

Addiction is not something that is just in the mind. Everybody who takes amphetamines or smokes cigarettes on a daily basis, will eventually become addicted. Some are able to overcome that addiction, others are not, but the physical addiction is a certainty.

No one who takes amphetamines on a daily basis will ever forget not to take them, nor will they enjoy a 2 week vacation without them. Same goes for the smoker without cigarettes.

Modifinil is quite easily forgotten for long periods of time. I think it is important to note this difference.

<comment><USER36> _Addiction is not just in the mind_

Addiction, in rats at least, appears to be more in the environment than the body. Rat Park[0] is a fascinating experiment demonstrating this.

[0] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_Park>

<comment><USER37> Thank you for bringing up the Rat Park experiment.

The Rat Park experiment is often conveniently ignored because it essentially debunks a lot of common 'wisdom' regarding drugs. It's hard to villainize certain drugs as 'bad' and evil' while endorsing others in light of the Rat Park experiment, which shows that 'bad' drugs aren't chemically 'bad' - they're just taken in a 'bad' setting.

Fortunately, the theory is now becoming harder to ignore, because that's the basis of a lot of effective modern drug treatment, which tries to identify the underlying cause of drug addiction (the environmental/behavioral problems that cause an individual to abuse drugs), rather than focusing on the drug use itself. That's not saying that drugs don't have a physical impact - they do - but if drugs are being used as an outlet to compensate for environmental factors, then removing access to those substances will just cause the underying problems to manifest in other (potentially worse) ways.

It's the difference between treating the symptom of a disease and treating the disease itself. Yes, you might want to take cough medicine if you have lung cancer, since it'll help with your symptoms, but you'd be a fool to think that that's going to cure the tumor that causes you to cough.

This theory is very powerful, because it means that you can use the same techniques to treat drug addiction and other psychological ailments like PTSD, anorexia and self-mutilation, which are themselves often best thought of as psychophysiological responses to environmental factors.

Interestingly, if you _really_ want to use physiological symptoms as the basis for determining whether a drug is addictive or not, then alcohol is probably _the most addictive substance known to man_. If you ever want to give yourself a scare, look up some of the symptoms of acute alcohol withdrawal (which can actually kill you, after a long and painful bout of _delirium tremens_ and worse).

TL;DR: Addiction is best thought of as a mental response to environmental factors. So, in a sense, it really _is_ 'all in the mind'. Or alternatively, not at all in the mind, and all in the environment. Whichever way you prefer to think of it.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER38> Just wanted to throw out there: please don't start any drug meant to impact the way you see the world without supervision (preferably, professional supervision). If something bad/weird happens, you might not be the first person to notice, especially if the response is emotional/perception based.

</comment><comment><USER39> Getting a full nights sleep every night does wonders for concentration as well. Don't think of your body as the jar your brain walks around in. They are very tightly linked. If I wanted the effects he describes I'd spend 30mins on the elliptical.

</comment><comment><USER40> Trying to hack the body like this is the equivalent of fiddling around with some extremely complex code that you have no idea what does (in production, on an infinitely complex system with zero unit test coverage).

<comment><USER41> Your comment is nothing but a metaphor for fearing the unknown.

<comment><USER42> that's how I justify my drug use, too

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER43> _The music also made a big difference. Listening to Infected Mushroom while high on Modafinil and coding up a storm made me feel like I was some kind of insane coding machine that could complete pretty much any coding task in record time._

Hilarious :)

On a more serious note - this sounds a lot like taking Ritalin. _I was just as productive if I was well rested, ...and working on something I cared about._ \- this isn't always an option. Sure, heavy use of anything isn't good. Lest we forget it's a drug after all, even regular use might be too much for some.

I really liked the article and the approach on things.

Thanks

<comment><USER44> I'm glad someone else noticed the mention of Infected Mushroom. I had many good (no Modafinil, just caffeine) coding binges listening to it years ago. After a while it gets too much and you move on to Oakenfold mixes, Daft Punks' Alive 2007, etc, but if you've never coded to Infected Mushroom's Classical Mushroom you need to try it...

</comment></comment><comment><USER45> Thank you for writing this, it articulates everything i have felt about it perfectly! Eerily similar to my experiences. It has always bothered me that people think these drugs make you smarter, because they dont. I think of them more like shots athletes get in hurt muscles- the shot didn't make you stronger, you just dont feel the pain anymore, at the expense of long term health. Only in very special circumstances is that worth it.

</comment><comment><USER46> Seems like there's a lot of consensus here that Modafinil has no known dangerous side effects. I'm a little curious and concerned about the potentially fatal skin conditions (SJS, etc.) mentioned in the wikipedia article though:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modafinil#Side_effects>

Anyone know about this? Is this a race-specific problem? Or just not as dangerous a risk as it sounds?

<comment><USER20> > Anyone know about this? Is this a race-specific problem? Or just not as > dangerous a risk as it sounds?

Look carefully at the FDA information and run the numbers to decide for yourself: <http://www.gwern.net/Modafinil#side-effects>

</comment></comment><comment><USER47> I bought pack of generic modafinil (do not remember exact brand). It was manufactured in India.

It had no effect on me. I tried up to 4 100mg pills at once (i.e. I started with half table one day and each day increasing dosage). Although, I also suspect it might be a fake, since I was buying from some online "pharmacy". Provigil both too expensive and require doctor's approval.

Just found about piracetam, thanks to this thread. just ordered :)

<comment><USER31> Quality varies significantly between Indian manufacturers. Sun Pharma Modalert is a known quality brand.

</comment></comment><comment><USER48> Interesting timing, just when I was about to swallow a 100mg pill of modalert to pull an all nighter and I find this on HN. I usually keep a few of them in drawers at home and work for one of those `rare occasions`. Tonight happens to be one of them.

</comment><comment><USER17> Someone brought this up last time we talked about this on HN so I thought I would mention it here. Modafinil is technically a _stimulant_, not a cognitive enhancer (like piracetam).

<comment><USER20> Er, piracetam is usually described as being a nootropic, and substances like nicotine or amphetamines or caffeine as being cognitive enhancers due to the existence of known decreases in performance; because modafinil has few to no known mental penalties, it is usually described as being a nootropic and not a cognitive enhancer.

Stimulant, on the other hand, is a completely cross-cutting orthogonal classification. A drug which enhanced transfer of information into long-term memory and nothing else could rightly be described as a nootropic but not a stimulant.

</comment></comment><comment><USER49> I have heard it very difficult to get a prescription for Modafinil, even if you have work sleep shift disorder because most doctors aren't used to prescribing this drug.

</comment><comment><USER50> Prescription of modafinil for any reason other the conditions for which it's indicated (hypersomnia or accepted off label use) is highly irresponsible of physicians.

</comment><comment><USER51> For anyone that's interested, when he says "online pharmacy", what that really means (at least in the US), is:

A. An Overseas pseudo-legal (at best) operation that will send you the drugs discreetly in an envelope. The success rate of getting it through US Customs will be good as long as it's not shipped from a hot spot and does not come in a package.

B. A Mexican drug dealing operation that smuggles the drugs across the boarder to a US stash house, which then takes orders online, receives payment for the order via MoneyGram, and ships the orders out from within the US overnight by FedEx to your door steps.

<comment><USER14> C. The Silk Road.

<comment><USER31> Modafinil on Silk Road is about twice the price of online pharmacies and most of the people selling it appear to be international.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER52> I would agree that occasional use isn't a good idea. I've done that and it really is more trouble than it's worth. That said I still do it. If I have a day where I'm extra lazy I'll take a Nuvigil (Armodafinil, which is the active isomer of Modafinil) and be productive but with some side effects which include

Headaches

Nervousness

Some inability to focus between tasks

I've also found dosage has a sweet spot. I wouldn't take less than 150mg of Nuvigil as lower dosages make me strangely more nervous.

</comment><comment><USER53> Stuff I've tried over the course of the last year or so:

1) Caffeine pills, 200mg each, around $4 at Walmart. I wrote about this before. The effects are far superior to coffee. More consistent, no intestinal distress. I could take one upon waking, and another around lunchtime. I haven't been taking them daily for a few months now, and my daytime productivity is certainly lower.

2) Piracetam with Choline Citrate and, sometimes, Centrophenoxine. I would usually take around 2g Piracetam and 1 - 2g Choline in the morning, and repeat the dose in the afternoon. It definitely has some effect, but I can't say whether or not it's really a positive one. I suspect that the key (like what the author of this article mentioned) is to have your tasks laid out clearly. I definitely had a few weeks where I got a tremendous amount done, but it was early on in the project when I knew exactly what to do, and how to do it. Overall, I say the jury is out on whether or not Piracetam has a beneficial effect on me. It might increase crankiness, which I've never read about from anyone else.

3) 1,3 Dimethylamylamine (DMAA), one of the three primary ingredients in Jack3d (a very popular pre-workout supplement). I settled on 2x20mg DMAA pills and 1x200mg caffeine about 30 minutes before my workout. Initially, I would get a mild sense of euphoria while walking to the gym. After about three doses, the euphoria seems to have gone away, but I am still able to power through my weight lifting routine without hesitation or procrastination. I've done this every other day for about a month now, and as long as I'm getting sufficient sleep, the effects seem consistent. I generally take it at around 5pm, get to the gym at 5:30, work out for 60 - 90 minutes, go home, and eat. By 11pm I'm very sleepy, and I don't have any more trouble getting to sleep before midnight than I normally do. Like most Internet/information addicted people, I certainly have my nights of senselessly clicking until the wee hours, but this seems unaffected by the DMAA + caffeine. By the way, I wear a heart rate monitor when experimenting with this, and I don't think I would do any intense cardio while on it. I don't believe I'm anywhere near a problematic dose level, but I'll err on the side of caution.

4) Cardio. I started feeling depressed heading into the holidays, so I did 30 minutes of moderate cardio (140bpm heart rate) every day for two weeks (I typically do a lot of cycling in the summer months, but not so much in late fall through early spring). My depression lifted very quickly. In general, I'm of the opinion that 30 minutes daily or every other day will do quite a lot to increase general alertness throughout the day. I'm going to experiment with something even easier: taking a morning walk first thing in the morning every day.

<comment><USER7> I haven't tried any of the pills you've mentioned, but I'll second #4. I run all summer and fall, but take the winter off. I find that I'm _much_ less happy and more irritable when I'm not exercising regularly. I'm sure there are a billion [1] studies showing that exercise is good for your mental health, but I'm lazy and don't feel like googling for one.

[1] An exaggeration.

<comment><USER53> The thing that I found particularly interesting about my cardio experiment is that I'm already more fit and active than average. Every other day (barring the occasional extra rest day), I'm at the gym, doing 60 - 90 minutes of free weights. My heart rate is often 140 - 170 when I come off a set, and I pretty much jump on the next set when my heart rate hits 125. By the definitions I found, that is technically cardio, yet doing 30 minutes of daily bike riding _still_ seemed to have an effect.

I've also found that having a bright light helps, particularly in the darkest of the Pacific Northwest winter months.

I started taking 2,000iu of vitamin D upon waking, too. This may or may not help with wakefulness and may or may not assist in combating depression.

<comment><USER54> An experienced running coach has recently opined that spending an hour in the gym doing strength is about equivalent to 10 minutes of running.

Part of the reasoning could be the activation of different energy systems. Lifting activates the anaerobic system, whereas sustained cardio activates the aerobic system and dips into the anaerobic only at higher levels of effort. The anaerobic system transmits something like 30+ ATP (energy currency of the body), whereas aerobic is 2 ATP [1]. That might explain why you experience this difference.

[1] [http://ksuweb.kennesaw.edu/~vking2/PhotosynthesisandCellular...](http://ksuweb.kennesaw.edu/~vking2/PhotosynthesisandCellularRespirationpost.ppt)</comment></comment></comment></comment>


How to start a Chinese company - <AUTHOR> http://dangerousprototypes.com/2016/01/26/how-to-start-a-chinese-company/ <comment><USER2> Wow that's crazily bureaucratic.

I speculate the different attitudes of the agents vs the government could be one or both of:

1\. Shenzhen is a special economic zone, with a clean bureaucracy, while the agents may have gained their experience from out of state.

2\. Government workers are keen to show a good image of their country to their guest-foreigners.

As I've said, pure speculation.</comment>


Russian satellite's 121-megapixel image of Earth is most detailed yet - <AUTHOR> http://www.theverge.com/2012/5/12/3016254/russian-satellite-earth-from-space-121-megapixels

<comment><USER2> "You develop an instant global consciousness, a people orientation, an intense dissatisfaction with the state of the world, and a compulsion to do something about it. From out there on the moon, international politics looks so petty. You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say, 'Look at that, you son of a bitch.'"

\- Edgar Mitchell, Apollo 14 astronaut, People magazine, 8 April 1974.

</comment><comment><USER3> It's amazing how The Verge, CNET and Gizmodo all failed to add any value to this story, they just extracted it from the source site instead and each tossed in some links to their own trash.

<http://planet--earth.ca/>

</comment><comment><USER4> It seems colour channels are not properly aligned. There are green/purple artefacts around clouds.

The "aliens" snapshot, just show this : <http://gigapan.com/gigapans/103187/snapshots/274815>

<comment><USER5> I can't source this or anything but I seem to recall someone mentioning that the extra green/purple is actually near infrared that is getting scattered back and interpreted by the camera for scientific purposes.

<comment><USER6> Could also be chromatic aberrations too from poorly coated lenses.

Edit1: Check out the edges of the world. Wonder what the issue there is?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> I'm still fascinated by how completely uninhabited most of the earth looks in the daytime from this distance. I honestly can't see any signs of civilization from a cursory glance at this image. Maybe I could if I knew what to look for; I'm curious what features you could see at 100% view on the full image.

<comment><USER8> Which is especially fascinating when comparing it to the Earth at night - [http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0011/earthlights2_dmsp_big.j...](http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0011/earthlights2_dmsp_big.jpx)

<comment><USER7> Yes, that is why I specified daytime. I had not seen a full composite image, before, thanks. I find it interesting how uniform the lights look across the planet. I try to simultaneously remember how much we are affecting this planet and how little.

<comment><USER8> Raw data if you're interested: [http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/dmsp/downloadV4composites.html#AVSL...](http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/dmsp/downloadV4composites.html#AVSLCFC)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Ok can someone help me out here, I'm going to the zoom version of it here: <http://gigapan.com/gigapans/103187>

But it seems, well, quite underwhelming? I zoom in a bit and it just goes low res very quickly. I was expecting to be able to go a lot deeper.

<comment><USER10> It's a single photo of the entire earth from space. 121 megapixels is good, but it's only 10x the 12 megapixel sensor of my current camera. It's good, but it's not Gigapixel good. However, it is the highest resolution single photo that contains the whole earth in it. You can find better ones that are stitched together, but none that are a single image from a single instance in time.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> What I find really peculiar is how the colors after composition and postprocessing are so different from the other images of Earth at <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blue_Marble> It seems similar to the problem of determining the 'true' color of the Martian sky: [http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/spotlight/spirit/a12_20040128...](http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/spotlight/spirit/a12_20040128.html)

<comment><USER12> They haven't adjusted these to be true colours - the article says the rust colour is an artefact from combining images from the infra-red and the other colour cameras.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> The one comment on the site is exactly the question that I want to know as well:

Where can we download the full-size image?

<comment><USER14> According to this site <http://planet--earth.ca/> (Go to Electro-L Images, then Image Gallery) the full image is too expensive to host and he's providing a torrent soon.

<comment><USER15> Would be a fun project, perhaps, to chop it up into tiles, host them on amazon s3, and use the CATiledLayer class to build an iOS viewer - or the equivellant in one's platform of choice.

<comment><USER16> You can see it on Gigapan, works on iOS: <http://gigapan.com/gigapans/103187>

<comment><USER17> "Size 1.12 Gigapixels"

There was a down-sampling step somewhere between the source image and that Gigapan image.

<comment><USER18> The image went from 0.121 GP to 1.12 GP, It was not down-sampled, it's the oposite. Maybe to meet Gigapan's minimum 1GP?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> On the video you can see how the Sun reflects from the Earth:

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hdyRh60R-Q>

</comment><comment><USER8> Original data from the Russians:

Night Day animation - <http://eng.ntsomz.ru/electro/el_061011>

</comment><comment><USER20> I only wish it were color corrected. It's hard to appreciate it when it looks so unnatural.

</comment><comment><USER21> I really want to a real time version of this as a Desktop. There are a million virtual Earths but there's something alluring about the idea of seeing a real time image of the planet.

<comment><USER22> Allow me to recommend OSXplanet and xplanet. They are as close to a realtime image as you can get, and they are designed for use as a wallpaper.

</comment></comment><comment><USER23> Great picture - be warned, does not include North America. First thing I wanted to do was see if I can see my house, and from what I can tell, I can't even see my country.

<comment><USER24> 1 pixel = 1 km, according to the article.

<comment><USER12> I'm waiting for the 1 pixel = i minecraft block map now.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER25> Title is wrong. NASA's Blue Marble is about 3.7 gigapixels.

<comment><USER2> Blue Marble is a compilation from several different instruments. The new "photograph" was taken with a single satellite all at once.

<comment><USER24> The recently-released Blue Marble image was from several different _overpasses_ (six to be exact) but only one instrument on one spacecraft.

[http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_21...](http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_2159.html)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER26> Where's 'Merica? This photo is biased.</comment>