In Japan, a growing number of car-sharing users don't rent cars for driving - <AUTHOR> http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201907040011.html <comment><USER3> I ran a very affordable car share platform for years. One gentleman used it at night to study in.

We suspected his claims of it being a comfortable place to get work done didn't fit with renting it from say midnight to 5 but upon an "investigation" we saw books and papers on the dash, the dome lights on, you know, deep study.

Still think it's kinda strange... He was middle aged and married. My theory was he had a snoring wife at home and was taking night school or something.

There was another gentleman who would book the cars at night and also go nowhere for hours. Upon investigating him he was listening to fiction books on tape... Relaxing with the seat back and enjoying the novel. Rented around the same time almost every evening.

<comment><USER4> > but upon a few "investigations"

> Upon investigating him

Hella creepy. Glad you gave the business your all and learned valuable lessons.

<comment><USER3> When cleaning cars we found among other things: lots of drugs (heroine, meth, crack and supplies), stolen merchandise, weapons, a box of fake ids, etc. People would use stolen drivers licenses to sign up, stolen credit cards to pay, it happened frequently.

If someone constantly rented the car at night, didn't drive it, and was dodgy whenever they came to a lot, I guess you could say it's none of our business except that it's a $10,000 insurance liability along with a branding issue if someone is say doing hard drugs in our cars while people are walking by.

These quite rare investigations only happened after finding things. Sometimes cars would be out for 10+ rentals before arriving back for a cleaning. The frequent night renters would be on the previous renter lists multiple times after finding things so it was more to clear their name from suspicion than anything.

Honestly I don't really have a judgment on someone say, freebasing meth, that's their freedom. Just please not in our cars.

<comment><USER5> I think the person you're responding to imagined you went searching for them, found them in the car and left them alone. Whereas you meant examining car after it was returned.

<comment><USER6> >we saw books and papers on the dash, the dome lights on, you know, deep study

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> This is a problem with big cities. There are no public spaces. Even less private spaces for free.

Recently, I was in Barcelona and was surprised to see a bunch of teenagers cramped together sitting on the pavement in a shopping mall. At first, as an old person that I am, I thought that they were up to something. But, they were having fun, laughing and having a good time. The only park had no trees and few banks anyway. So, it was better to sit on the floor somewhere in the shadow that to sit on the floor under the sun.

Even more interesting was the fact that the place had a lot of empty chairs. But, those ones were for paying customers.

If it is so hard to find a place to sit with friends much more difficult is to find a place where to sit alone. Some libraries are ditching the focus on books to just offer a space to study together or alone.

If I have criticised USA cities for being designed for cars European (and Japanese also) cities are designed for businesses.

Stockholm is one of the few cities where I have seen a focus on parks and outdoor pastimes. Ironically, it is only available two or three months a year as usually is too cold to be confortably sitting outsite.

<comment><USER8> There's a ton of public space in Tokyo. To me this reads as: \- people pay for car sharing (generally it requires a monthly fee plus a small usage fee per hour) \- occasionally people that already pay the monthly fee take advantage of a nearby available car to sit in or nap in.

This isn't a widespread trend where public space is so limited one needs to rent a car to sit in.

The napping explanation is probably the most common. It's normal to see people napping in vehicles at midday, especially delivery drivers and construction workers. I can see the appeal of hopping in a nearby car-share car to nap as it would be more comfortable than the seating one can normally find.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> I do something like this with my own car (not a rental). I live in a very hot climate and don't have AC, so my home office is essentially useless in the summer. Recently I bought a Tesla Model 3, and I'll just take my laptop out to the car, sit in the passenger seat and select "Keep climate on" from my phone. I never felt comfortable doing this with an ICE car due to engine vibration, noise and stink.

Sometimes I break up my work day by going to Starbucks and working there, but if I can't find a seat, I can just bring my drink back to my car. It's not ideal--there's no table--but it's not bad.

<comment><USER10> > > _[https://news.ycombinator.com/reply?id=20361247&goto=item%3Fi...](https://news.ycombinator.com/reply?id=20361247&goto=item%3Fid%3D20359901%2320361247*)

What's wrong with purchasing an AC at home?

<comment><USER11> You have to pay for the electricity to run it rather than getting free juice off a supercharger?

<comment><USER12> Superchargers aren't free for vehicles purchased after January 2017 (except some edge cases during promotion periods).

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> This is pretty amusing but highlights the distortions caused by the huge implicit rent subsidy that car parking usually receives. Where else can you hire private space in the centre of a city on an hourly basis for the rates that car sharing companies charge?

<comment><USER14> Not the case in Japan. All cars must have an assigned parking space registered with the police. Apartments are not required to have parking spaces. Thus the daily charge to rent a car space in the middle of Tokyo is usually twenty or more dollars. These car sharing services all have dedicated parking spaces for each rental car.

This the parking space does not carry a marginal cost for the operator. Rather the problem with not driving is the lost marginal charge for milage.

Tokyo also has anti idling policies. Thus these car rental services will not want to be associated with such an illegal activity.

<comment><USER15> 600 dollars for the ~10 sq meters a car takes up is still pretty cheap for Tokyo. There could be several stories of housing above that parking spot. How much is the average rent per square meter? Twenty dollars or so?

<comment><USER16> That sounds about right for rent. But that would make a parking the right choice if you can fill it up.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> Sounds like an opportunity to me. Have a rule that you charge by Km travelled or fuel used, whichever is greatest $-wise. Also have a car where the interior can be quickly converted into a bed...a _double_ bed.

Bonus points for electrochromic glass for privacy. The glass can only be activated when the car is fully stopped with the handbrake engaged.

Uses: sleep, sex, rest, air-conditioned space, heated space, eating space, electrical outlet for phone or laptop, quiet room, change room...oh and a car. Basically anything a hotel can be but also portable.

Add automated driving to the equation and who knows what kind of a beast the industry will be in a decade.

<comment><USER18> Decouple the environmental controls and electrical subsystem from the engine by using a separate electricity generator with a separate fuel supply. Use deep-cycle marine batteries as a buffer, and have the generator turn on to top them off when they get below a threshold. Meter the power usage for the generator, and charge for distance travelled and by power used.

A lot of owner-operator truckers have discrete electricity generators, because running the engine just for HVAC and electric power causes unnecessary maintenance costs. There are even truck stops that pipe in electricity, HVAC, and video channels through an umbilical that hangs down to one of the windows.

A miniaturized RV that is basically a stripped-down mobile motel room will also have a decent post-fleet-vehicle secondary market, as people buy them to live in full-time, or use more like a traditional RV, excepting that it can fit into a van-sized parking space.

Also, I'd just use blackout curtains or aluminum shutters instead of the electrochromic glass, and use a removable or retractable privacy barrier between the driver compartment and the private space. I'd rather use simple and reliable tech for simple requirements.

<comment><USER19> > A miniaturized RV that is basically a stripped-down mobile motel room will > also have a decent post-fleet-vehicle secondary market, as people buy them > to live in full-time, or use more like a traditional RV, excepting that it > can fit into a van-sized parking space.

You're basically describing what used to be called (here in the United States - circa 1970s-80s) a "conversion van". Today, you'd probably use something like one of the larger/tall "Ford Transit Connect" vans; which I wouldn't doubt that some company does conversions on, for sale as mini RVs.

<comment><USER20> In fact they are fairly popular with the set of campers who travel to more remote places (I.E. national forest campgrounds instead of large RV parks). For instance, [https://sportsmobile.com/sportsmobile-4x4/](https://sportsmobile.com/sportsmobile-4x4/) offers 4x4 conversion vans for these uses, as well as more traditional 4x2 conversion vans for on-road use.

<comment><USER21> Those look pretty neat! Do you know if there are similar things that are less off-road geared?

<comment><USER22> Google for Volkswagen Westfalias. They are, sadly, no longer in production, but they are exactly what you have in mind, and their internal layout was about as good as it gets in terms of comfort/utility per square foot. I had one back in the late 90's/early 2000's, and I regret to this day that I sold it. It was awesome.

<comment><USER21> Ah yes, I have seen some of those old fellows around here and there! I definitely would love something like this, too bad they look so dated :/.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> Interesting that this solution bubbled up.

I've struggled with similar issues before - when travelling, or out in a city, where to do some quiet work, or take a call, or speak to a group of colleagues?

I've explored short-term (i.e. hourly) office space rentals, but IME the low headline rates ("from...") become a lot higher when you dig into the specifics and have minimum spends. I'd happily pay $<=20-30 for a convenient small quiet office for an hour, but not $80+. I've also never found a service that offers anything like the low friction that (from the article) unlocking a car remotely would offer.

I wonder if this area is ready for some disruption...?

<comment><USER24> You mean disruption like: "park" a large number of trailers in cities, containing small office rooms, small apartments, hotel rooms, rows of lockers...whatever. Then rent out those and undercut other market participants which actually need to pay for the buildings and properties in which they operate, while you just "park" your relatively-cheap custom trailers in areas where this is free of charge.

<comment><USER25> Not that many places near a city you can park a trailer free of charge - <USER2> if there were, you can bet this scheme would accelerate charging for them.

I suppose the next phase would be electric self-driving vehicles, circulating endlessly on the roads while the occupants sleep or study. That would probably force the city to implement tiered congestion pricing to force them out.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER26> "the street finds its own uses for things" \- [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burning_Chrome](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burning_Chrome)

</comment><comment><USER27> Anyone else hate car sharing services? Honestly I just found the experience increadibly stressful.

Before I go anywhere, is every little scratch and dent listed in the little handbook?

If I clip something in a carpark (like a bollard or tall curb) I've got to spend 30 minutes on the phone explaining it to the person on the other end then pay some hard to determine fee.

On my way back to the spot if I get caught in traffic there is another fine for being late.

That's before we get into the difficulty of how you'd do it with a small child with a pram and car seat etc.

<comment><USER28> Just spitballing here but it makes me think there should just be an option to rent a dinged up, scratched up car for cheaper. The policy would be like "Cosmetic damage ok. As long as there's no functional damage, you're good." I personally don't give a flying f—— if my rental car looks like a junkyard lot special, as long as it drives me safely to my destination. Plus it saves me stress if some dbag dings my rental in a parking lot.

I guess maybe the counter argument for this (other than rental companies fighting it because I'm sure they shadily draw in some revenue from gauging people on fees for cosmetic damage) is it might be harder to catch functional damage if you stop checking for cosmetic damage. Though, I'm not so sure that's true.

<comment><USER29> > Just spitballing here but it makes me think there should just be an option > to rent a dinged up, scratched up car for cheaper.

Here you go [https://www.rentawreck.com/](https://www.rentawreck.com/)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER30> The seats in any car are better engineered and far more comfortable than the typical chair in an office, home, park, bus or train.

Never underestimate the value of a comfy seat.

<comment><USER31> When we scrapped our old '90ies Opel Astra we kept the passengers seat and made it into a funky-looking but insanely comfy regular chair at home by attaching it with some screws to a simple base made of wood, so it is high enough to sit it.

At some point my dad said he's sad we didn't keep the drivers seat as well.

<comment><USER30> Did you watch re-runs of Top Gear on Dave too? I am surprised given the popularity of the show that more people haven't gone for the car-seats-at-home option. You get head rests into the bargain, plus, if you need to re-upholster there are after market seat covers and even those bead things that people had in their cars then.

Essentially all these seats go for scrap so you could get the leather seats from a 7-series BMW to have a mega cool sofa at home complete with arm rest and cup-holders. With a few more bits of wood you could make some outer arm- rests. Heated/cooled seats could be nice too.

Maybe there is a 1990's sweet spot where the electronics aren't present so adjustment can be done with mechanical controls, as per your Astra option. A Transit Van could have particularly good pickings with the right vintage.

<comment><USER31> > Did you watch re-runs of Top Gear on Dave too?

Nah, I haven't watched any Top Gear. But the seat was just always so comfy in a way none of the seats in the never cars I've been in was. I think it is due to how the seat envelopes you, in a way reminiscent of race cars (which the Astra was not, by any stretch of imagination).

I think heated seats could be possible as well, I assume the required electronics and the protocols they speak for regulation should be rather simple. But given the seat is at home there is not that much need to heat it up :)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER32> >Operators also lose cash when consumers rent vehicles for "non-driving purposes" since customers pay more if they log a lot of mileage.

This quote struck me as strange since the price of gas is included in Times Car Share which is the biggest car share service.

[https://share.timescar.jp/fare/use.html](https://share.timescar.jp/fare/use.html)

<comment><USER33> gas is not the only cost of mileage though.

<comment><USER34> Right, it also depreciates the car. Mileage is the most important factor in determining sale price.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER35> I wonder how the cost compares to a love hotel?

<comment><USER36> Asking for a friend?

<comment><USER35> For a horror screenplay

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER37> Welcome to the future. The future of cars is they will be more like rooms than cars.

<comment><USER38> Not futuristic enough.

The future of rooms is they will be more like cars than rooms.

</comment></comment><comment><USER39> I wonder how long it will take for 'cars' to appear that are technically roadworthy but have a better layout for this kind of thing, or maybe a double decker could be converted for the purpose.

<comment><USER40> This reminds me - I remember hearing that the whole reason trailer parks exist is because in some places the laws for vehicle financing were vastly different than home financing. As a result, banks had an incentive to lend to vehicle buyers with income/credit ratings they could not approve home loans for.

Someone figured out they could open up an entirely new market by slapping wheels on tiny homes and calling them vehicles, even if no one would ever intend to move them anywhere.

The whole thing is predatory, but it's an interesting case study in perverse incentives.

</comment></comment><comment><USER41> I'm surprised no one mentioned to use them for sexual activities...

</comment><comment><USER42> _and even do facial stretches said to reduce the size of their face_

Can someone explain this one to me? Is this a weird translation or do people in Japan actually do this?

<comment><USER43> Korean face massage is a fad in Japan at the moment

[https://youtu.be/n9mXYIT10Rc](https://youtu.be/n9mXYIT10Rc)

</comment></comment><comment><USER44> At this very moment I am sitting in a dealer-provided loaner car by a strip mall, because I have to wait for my own car to be repaired and I need to make phone calls. There is no other space nearby where I can do that for love or money, including the dealership waiting room.

I asked for the loaner vehicle for this purpose specifically. The car has AC and privacy. I get it. I wish it also had a desk.

</comment><comment><USER45> Sounds like people would pay for a small, readily-accessible private space. At first I thought this could be better served by having a proper space and building to house these spaces but maybe, unintentionally, parking a bunch of cars around for people to rent is actually a much lower barrier to entry than dealing with zoning and inspections and regulations.

<comment><USER19> Imagine something like Porto-Potties?

Porto-Office?

It wouldn't have to be much larger, though it would probably need some kind of small A/C system, like you'd find on top of an RV. Put a bunch of batteries and/or a small genset under the seat area, a dropdown table on the door, a plug for power, and maybe optional 4/5G wifi. Add a credit card reader on the outside to take payment. Put a bunch on trailers and drop them off in places...

There's gotta be a reason why this hasn't been done already - none of the tech needed is that special, most of it is already "off the shelf". There must be some kind of laws or regulations preventing it?

</comment></comment><comment><USER46> Japan is an excellent place for visiting but not for living unless you luckily find a proper employer (might be yourself), which is also true to rental car. It's adventurous urban camping if you are a visitor.

Most of the cities in Japan are enough safe for adults to walk outside even at midnight, and there are konbinis for clothing and food. So going to a gym (for shower) + renting a car (for sleep) can be more reasonable than staying at a hotel, and maybe you will have a priceless experience when figuring out how to survive in a center of the city.

In reality, on the other hand, as this article says, the shared-car is a built-in system among the working poor. Laborers in Japan work too long, and their commute takes too long so the car is a savior to maximize their sleep time.

</comment><comment><USER47> I am always surprised more young people won't buy cheap trailers or old RVs and just won't park it in free parking lot, would not be problem in many European countries and it beats rent in big cities of you have some savings to buy it, bonus points for using it for actually traveling in summer

I have my own apartment without mortgage but I am still considering buying some van, parking it in front of my residential building and using it as extremely cheap and easily accessible storage space. heck according laws car doesn't even need to have license plate, it just need to look like it's drive worthy, so not even yearly insurance fee

<comment><USER19> > I have my own apartment without mortgage but I am still considering buying > some van, parking it in front of my residential building and using it as > extremely cheap and easily accessible storage space.

If you're going to go that route, look into a used moving truck; much more space, easier to modify for storage (or if you want to go "tiny home" in the future), and likely much more secure (being a closed box in the back). They don't tend to be very expensive (although they also don't tend to have great mileage per gallon or litre of fuel - but neither do most vans of any good size).

> heck according laws car doesn't even need to have license plate, it just > need to look like it's drive worthy, so not even yearly insurance fee

If you're in the United States, you might want to verify this. Usually, you need registration, plates and tags on a vehicle that isn't parked or used on private land. Your landlord may or may not be ok with having such a vehicle on their property. Insurance would be optional, but you might want to speak to your agent to find out whether your renter's policy would cover any losses from the van, or if you can get a separate rider for that - or if you need completely separate insurance coverage.

<comment><USER48> "likely much more secure (being a closed box in the back)"

The moving trucks I've used are not very solid at all in the back. Googling, it appears that even larger trucks are made with a box that is mainly 1 mm thick aluminum (and that is claimed to be "above industry standards).

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER49> This certainly isn't a uniquely Japanese phenomenon, but I feel like it's definitely something I'd expect to hear about from Japan. That touch of unconcerned practicality.

<comment><USER38> Also, the delicious boxed lunches sold everywhere, combined with the social stigma about eating them anywhere that is not a private space or a space already devoted to eating.

</comment></comment><comment><USER50> That headline is _awful_.

</comment><comment><USER5> It looks like these companies could branch out a bit and add small conference rooms (like a small KTV room), cafeteria areas (small stand up tables), or small booths. I'm a big surprised they didn't find their card being used as love hotels on wheels, but that may be understandable if most are kei cars.

<comment><USER38> They probably aren't talking about the ones used as love hotels on wheels. They could even be inflating those other niche uses in front of the media, in order to distance themselves from that other use.

</comment></comment><comment><USER51> I find it strange that the places where this happens are so compressed that people feel like they literally have "make the space" to do normal life activities.

What about public squares, parks, train stations, seating in/around office plaza's, libraries, cafe's?

</comment><comment><USER52> _> One respondent to the company's survey said they rented vehicles to nap in or use for a workspace. Another person stored bags and other personal belongings in the rental car when nearby coin lockers were full._

</comment><comment><USER53> This has been on my mind lately. I'm surprised there isn't a WeWork-like company that is offering total silence and isolation.

Please free me from open office plans, cafe chatter, and street noise.</comment>


Creating small docker images - <AUTHOR> https://www.cygate.se/blogg/extreme-docker-images-att-optimera-sina-dockers/ <comment><USER2> TL;DR - They started with a 641MB dockerfile based on Ubuntu and Go, and whittled it down to 524KB and then 53.6kB. They took a busybox distro (they suggest Alpine), built with -t minify -squash -compress, and used the UPX minifying packer.

English version: [https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=sv&u=https:/...](https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=sv&u=https://www.cygate.se/blogg/extreme- docker-images-att-optimera-sina-dockers/)</comment>


Introducing Humble Indie Bundle 7 (with Legends of Grimrock and more) - <AUTHOR> http://www.humblebundle.com/#7

<comment><USER2> I have to say that 'Indie Game the movie' is absolutely fantastic. It's the programmer's 'Jiro Dreams of Sushi'. (with added bonus points for their DRM- free delivery).

Well worth your $10 through <http://www.indiegamethemovie.com/> or whatever you pay through this bundle. Go watch the trailer and then buy it in some form.

and for reference: 92% on RT

<http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/indie_game_the_movie_2012/>

<comment><USER3> When i showed the film to my programming class, they said they all seemed "whiny and suicidal". Personally, i liked it, but their opinion, if somewhat pointed, has some merit.

<comment><USER4> I guess putting years of your life into a project that could easily fail financially is very discomforting. It's understandable when they seem a bit thin-skinned.

But Phil Fish – the guy behind FEZ – made me feel really uneasy. He reminded me of myself in my late teens/early twenties, when I was actually suffering almost constant thoughts of suicide.

I sincerely hope he gets his shit together soon. I hate to see someone suffer for no real reason at all.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I just don't feel the magic in "Humble Bundles" anymore. They used to be such a special event, infrequent enough that you eagerly anticipated the next.

Now, it feels as if they churn them out as fast as they can collect enough games to do another.

(This is not to disparage the excellent quality of the games in this bundle; indeed, I already own most of them.)

<comment><USER6> While I still buy every one of them (twice - one for me, one for my younger brother) - I don't get why they are still posted on HN. I love the bundles, but it just doesn't seem like it is startup news anymore.

<comment><USER7> YC isn't a start up news service. From their posting guidelines you should post "Anything that good hackers would find interesting. That includes more than hacking and startups. If you had to reduce it to a sentence, the answer might be: anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity."

<comment><USER6> Fair enough - but, do you consider this to be news? I wouldn't want to see event Sponsorfied lists, or every deal Dealupa has . I'd be interested in knowing when they have a new feature, are talking about infrastructure, funding, etc. Listing their current sale on HN seems out of place and doesn't really gratify my personal curiosity. As I said - I love the site - I have bought almost all of the bundles and will continue to do so - this just doesn't feel like the news that should be here.

But that is just my opinion.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Binding of Isaac is a _marvelous_ game. It feels like it shouldn't be, but I probably sunk 80+ hours into it, and I've not even touched the DLC.

<comment><USER9> To anyone getting it: there is some way to play it "properly", I think you should play the base game before you _install_ DLC, or something like that.

I cannot find any source to this, so please someone who played, correct me.

<comment><USER10> Some players recommend beating the game several times (yes, it makes sense in context) without the DLC, because the extra content makes it harder overall. Unfortunately this Humble Bundle includes both game and DLC in a single Steam license key, and includes the DLC in the download, so there's no way to avoid installing the DLC in this case.

<comment><USER11> Thanks to both you and the parent for the heads-up; I've got the original without DLC in a previous bundle, now I know to install/play it first.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> For those who haven't played Legends of Grimrock before: it's fun, but some of the puzzles are difficult to the point where you'll stop playing the game or look up solutions online.

Some of the puzzles are difficult to the point where even with the solution online it still means you have to repeat it 5-10 times to pass.

There's a small community modding new maps for the game: <http://grimrock.nexusmods.com/mods/top/>

<comment><USER13> It's very old-school, meaning a lot of the puzzles are rather mean and frustration without looking up a solution.

I actually used a speed hack to slow the game to 25% speed for one puzzle, because it needed a perfect sequence of moves to make it to a switch in time and it wasn't worth practicing until I could do it at full speed.

Then I quit because a solve-riddle-and-put-object-in-container puzzle required a rock, and the last time I saw a rock was 6 dungeon levels up. I get that "keep everything" is a thing in the old-school dungeon game, and I had the other stuff I needed but rocks? Who keeps them around just in case they are needed?

<comment><USER14> Anyone who has played the old-school Eye of the Beholder games. :P

(I gather Dredmore is in somewhat the same vein.)

<comment><USER15> No way. Dredmor is a fantastic game and largely forgiving in that sense. Not in the "kill you dead" sense, though. There's a lot of that.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> I'm disappointed that none of the devs of games in HIBs have open-sourced their games since the first one. It was always fun to have a glimpse at the code. I guess the Lugaru source fiasco[0] may have discouraged other devs from open-sourcing their games.

It's also a bit odd that Indie Game: The Movie shows up as a game on Steam. I'm somewhat surprised that Valve hasn't properly expanded into the video/music space given that they sell both movies and soundtracks (to games) on Steam.

[0][http://blog.wolfire.com/2011/02/Counterfeit-Lugaru-on- Apple-...](http://blog.wolfire.com/2011/02/Counterfeit-Lugaru-on-Apple-s-App- Store-developing)

<comment><USER17> Introversion (Uplink, Darwinia, Defcon, Multiwinia) have released all source code of their previous games (they no longer working on) and afaik plan to do the same in the future (Prison Architect). The code was included in the Introversion Bundle, including read access to their developer svn repository. Still available here: <http://www.introversion.co.uk/store/>

<comment><USER18> Also Revenge of the Titans from HIB2 <https://github.com/imaginationac/revenge-of-the-titans>

edit: it was actually part of HIB2 not of HIB3(where it was added as bonus)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> This is not "pay what you want" anymore.

In contrast to their initial "pay what you want" culture, now they are basically giving away few free games to encourage you to buy their paid games.

In the long run I think this will create a huge quality difference between the locked ones and the others.

</comment><comment><USER20> Indie Game: The Movie is excellent. I guess I'll have to buy this one.

<comment><USER21> It's a really sad and depressing movie, but I did enjoy it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER22> Well-timed for sort-of last minute Christmas presents.

In that spirit, is there a place where you can gift extra keys (for games you already own) and they distribute them in a charitable manner?

<comment><USER23> There is a subreddit on Reddit called Play it Forward for giving away games to other Reddit users: <http://www.reddit.com/r/playitforward>. It's not fully automatic – you need to choose a winning commenter on your thread manually.

</comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> It seems they added a movie this time. Interesting. And the soundtracks (which became a tradition it seems) make it all sweeter.

<comment><USER24> They had a movie before in Humble Botanicula Debut Bundle: [http://blog.humblebundle.com/post/21385865235/introducing- th...](http://blog.humblebundle.com/post/21385865235/introducing-the-humble- botanicula-debut)

</comment></comment><comment><USER25> I like the fact that they split the keys into different steam keys this time than grouping them together. Allows me to do interesting such as not unlocking Binding of Issac DLC at the moment (already owns the original Binding of Issac).

</comment><comment><USER26> Lots of really good games this time around, I highly recommend this one to everyone. I swear my love of indie games is a double-edged sword, every time a new humble bundle comes out I already own the best games.

</comment><comment><USER27> I find that, more and more, I'm only buying Humble Bundles for the soundtracks (or maybe the one single game I don't already own). Still tends to make them excellent value, IMO.

</comment><comment><USER21> I love to see how Linux players always pay more than average: We are less, but we are willing to pay more :P

</comment><comment><USER28> More Linux goodies, thanks HB!

</comment><comment><USER29> Always love these indie bundles, Shank 2 should be worth it alone

</comment><comment><USER30> I just bought Shank 2 yesterday. Darn.

<comment><USER31> In those instances I slide the devs money slider down and let it go more to charity. (And then give that copy to someone else to share the love.)

<comment><USER32> You can even expand the "developers" slot and adjust the portions per-game.</comment></comment></comment>


Emergent Gravity and the Dark Universe - <AUTHOR> https://arxiv.org/abs/1611.02269 <comment><USER2> [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSYXt3Xu3xI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSYXt3Xu3xI)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iigNHgUGjYA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iigNHgUGjYA)

Here are two lectures on this. Very interesting, although far beyond what I can grasp.</comment>


Argos - An emulator for capturing zero-day attacks - <AUTHOR> http://www.few.vu.nl/argos/?page=1

<comment><USER2> Kind of old, but the work on Argos is impressive, with several talented individuals behind it. It's been integrated within the NoAH project [1], which is now concluded.

[1] <http://www.fp6-noah.org/></comment>


Young Americans Don't Fight Back: How the US Crushed Youth Resistance - <AUTHOR> http://www.alternet.org/vision/151850/8_reasons_young_americans_don%27t_fight_back%3A_how_the_us_crushed_youth_resistance/?page=entire

<comment><USER2> I think most of the author's points are legitimate except for television. I'm in my early twenties. We have a television in our apartment but it never turns on. We have basic cable only because it comes with the internet package. No one I know sits down to watch TV anymore, we just cherry-pick the few shows we enjoy. I come home and sit at my computer, not my TV.

That said, you can probably make a case for the internet being just as pacifying as television. I suspect that, for certain personalities, information overload can be just as detrimental as manipulated information. When an entire world of information is at your fingertips, it is easy to think "I'm just one tiny speck, what can I do about all of these problems?".</comment>


Building and Managing Remote Teams (presentation) - <AUTHOR> http://gregario.us/2012/07/out-of-sight-peace-of-mind/

<comment><USER2> i was reading _peopleware_ recently, and was surprised how much of what they mention comes "for free" with remote teams. there's a whole pile of "give your employees control of their environment" is a no-brainer when remote. of course, there are also things that become much harder...

one hack i found, which has _really_ helped me a couple of times now, is using a tablet and pen (wacom bamboo, on linux) on google meetup, and screen-sharing while drawing. this lets me "explain while sketching on a piece of paper" (the two big wins were a complex technical/maths issue and a gui/interaction problem). i also used it for a talk, which i think went well (a small, distributed company technical talk - worked something like a blackboard, which is a bit old school, but i had pre-drawn diagrams too - we even considered putting the recording online, but there was "frank discussion" at various points during the talk that ruled that out).

and, of course, agree completely on the "communication before skills" thing (well, you need both).

[some notes on getting bamboo working on linux - [http://isti.bitbucket.org/2012/04/09/wacom-bamboo-on- linux.h...](http://isti.bitbucket.org/2012/04/09/wacom-bamboo-on-linux.html)]

ps could you email me when the talk is online? email@example.com - thanks.

<comment><AUTHOR> That's a really useful trick Andrew.

We often get the benefit of that while sitting next to each other - the whole "let's go to the whiteboard" idea.

I still carry paper with me almost all the time and then take a photo of the page on my phone and mail it off to whoever needs it.

Will mail you when I know the link!

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> I really wish there was a transcript or video. The better the presentation, the less useful the slide deck is on its own.

<comment><AUTHOR> It was recorded, but waiting for them to publish the video.

If you download the file, however, my notes are in there too.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Building my entire business around the idea of remote teams and there are few valid reasons why you should have an office and hire locally versus hire in any city or any country around the world

</comment><comment><USER5> As ppt behind your discussion this might be good, but for itself there is nearly no content. What a pitty.

<comment><AUTHOR> While it's always best to get the video - and hopefully that will be available soon - I still think there's plenty to be gleaned from the slides.

Also, I have a few extra notes on the slides in the downloaded version.

Hopefully, I will get a chance to expand on all of these ideas in my blog in the next few months, if not sooner.</comment></comment>


SSDs on AWS - Impact on Conversocial - <AUTHOR> http://www.colinhowe.co.uk/2012/jul/23/ssds-on-aws--impact-on-conversocial/

<comment><USER2> Tangentially related: I'm a bit concerned about using SSDs for server-side storage: Even if you RAID them, you still bought them at around the same time and wear leveling will work on all the drives in about the same way (when you consider RAID1). That means that the drives should die all together within a very short time span.

Hard Drives of course fail too, but they don't have a physical limit of how many times they can be written to, so at least in theory they shouldn't fail at the same time (especially when you buy them from different manufacturing batches).

Maybe I'm over-cautious, but IMHO the only safe way to use SSDs on a server is to replace half of them every safe period (which is unknown - 6 months?). This is very annoying maintenance you don't have to do with real harddrives where you can just swap in the hot-spare and then replace the broken one at some point close up.

</comment><comment><USER3> Interesting stuff, thanks for writing this up :)

Personally, I've moved entirely away from VPSs to dedicated servers instead, mostly because I don't have the need to rapidly fire up lots of servers on demand. I think this may be the year where I start investing in SSDs for dedicated hardware, it seems the cost vs. performance gain is now heavily in their favour.

<comment><AUTHOR> they're totally worth it:

      - less time spent optimising
      - fewer machines needed (can pile a lot more data on to one server)

If money really is an issue then something like flashcache might be a good stepping stone (<https://github.com/facebook/flashcache/>)

<comment><USER3> Great stuff, thanks. Right now, money isn't the issue exactly; it's the time it would take to migrate, especially when I don't have a huge pressing need. Next server though, I'll be there! :)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Very interesting, I found a thread on Quora with more info and pricing if anyone is interested... [http://www.quora.com/Amazon-Web-Services/When-did- Amazon-Web...](http://www.quora.com/Amazon-Web-Services/When-did-Amazon-Web- Services-begin-offering-SSDs-in-its-public-cloud)

</comment><comment><USER5> Is mirroring on the same machine really more reliable?</comment>


The Best Reporting on Facebook and Your Privacy - <AUTHOR> http://www.propublica.org/article/the-best-reporting-on-facebook-and-your-privacy

<comment><AUTHOR> Or "lack of privacy"...</comment>


How Samsung is out-innovating Apple - <AUTHOR> http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/18/tech/gaming-gadgets/samsung-apple-innovation/index.html?hpt=hp_bn5 <comment><USER2> The Samsung DROID Charge (that I got a week after it's original release, because it had "the best battery life of the Verizon 4G Android phones". Didn't know yet that that still meant it was shit) had me seriously considering giving up on Android, but somehow I got convinced to try the Samsung Galaxy S3. The phone is amazing, and it's really difficult to imagine that the same company somehow made both phones, a mere year and a half apart.</comment>


Bluetooth Technology 101 - <AUTHOR> http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/bluetooth-technology-101,4464.html <comment><USER2> The latest iterations on the security front utilizes ECDH for key exchange (LE secure connections) and seems fairly robust. The legacy pairing implementation is vulnerable to mitm during the very first bonding, except in the case where the devices use out-of-band data like NFC. Neither Android or iOS opted to ever implement OOB, so that made security more difficult. It required us to tell our customers to reduce output power during bonding, so that the devices had to be close enough to avoid sniffing.

I felt that for the Low Energy part, the security concerns in this article were quite outdated. None of the listed attacks are applicable for LE.

Other than that, I think this gave a very good introduction to the protocol on all layers. I think the future for Bluetooth will be its ability to hook up lots of cheap sensors to a hub (with internet access, optionally) that can work for years without changing the battery. Unfortunately, the companies that already have a market share in e.g audio are trying to stall future advances in the LE front. Others are trying to basically reimplement BR/EDR in LE, thinking it will still stay "low energy".

</comment><comment><USER3> Why hasn't Bluetooth taken off more for wireless keyboards and mice? Bluetooth has been very common for a long time as a built-in on laptops, but good luck finding any of these peripherals that don't require a dedicated little USB receiver.

Is it a licensing/certification cost, or something more nebulous?

<comment><USER4> I always dreaded bluetooth. It was always overengineered to my mind, fragile, ad-hoc, moving target. Sometimes the bt stack feels the same as crapware. Very subjective remark, I may be unlucky and/or dumb.

<comment><USER5> You're not alone here. I've been recently working on bluetooth related tech and was really surprised from the lack of native support under Windows 10. Had to reinstall my sytem at some point due to a stack driver mess.

<comment><USER4> Makes you love your old IR wireless devices.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> > Otherwise we'd all have to take a radio operator course before enabling the > Wi-Fi or Bluetooth functions on our smartphones, or even to turn on our > microwave ovens.

Not really. I've got a license for GMRS, but the "test" just consisted of sending the FCC sixty bucks.</comment>


Monitoring our machine room temperature with nagios, perl and arduino - <AUTHOR> http://www.martin-evans.me.uk/node/140

<comment><USER2> As nice as your project is, you could simply have read the temperature from almost any computer, router, switch, etc.

Just google cisco (or Juniper, Extreme, etc) temperature MIB to get started. Some devices give you 4 or even more readings (like temp at the intake fan, cpu temp, temp at out fan, etc).

Many servers have multiple temperature sensors as well, generally accessible with some vendor-specific MIBs, plus you of course have LM78-style sensors for pretty much any modern motherboard. Of course some of these don't give you room temperature, but they will climb anyway if something's wrong with the room temperature. If 5 or 6 different boxes in the top left corner of the room all start climbing you know something's up.

For Linux, check libsensors and lm78. Many Sun boxes will give you temperature readings with prtdiag -v and you can easily turn that into a MIB via e.g. ucDavis SNMP agent.

<comment><USER3> This information is for sure valuable and I would definitely include readings from stable infrastructure devices in any environmental monitoring.

On the other hand, sometimes you want to measure cabinets where either no easily accessible monitoring device is located (servers operated by contractors, telecommunications equipment that does not connect to ethernet or standard protocols,...) or you want to have readings directly at cold-air- outlets/hot-air-inlets, or in the middle of corridors.

In that situation some independent sensor network might be a reasonable solution, I had good experience with onewire temperature sensors, not the most precise thermometers, but rather cheap, and very easy to connect in parallel to a 3-wire cable (GND, +5V, Data). All devices have a worldwide unique ID and can be read out by a simple...

        cat /mnt/onewire/01-ABCDEFGHIJKL/temperature

      - DS18S20 temperature sensor
         http://www.maxim-ic.com/datasheet/index.mvp/id/2815

      - DS9490 USB to 1Wire interface
        (like a USB stick with a RJ11 connector on the back)
        http://www.maxim-ic.com/datasheet/index.mvp/id/3834

      - Onewire Filesystem
        http://owfs.org/

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> This is the kind of stuff python is really good at doing. I can't really vibe with Perl, but this Python script should work well, another one with graphing coming soon.

Plain reader/logger: <https://gist.github.com/2980913>

EDIT: I don't have an Arduino on hand to test this with, I hope it works.

EDITEDIT: Pulled my Arduino out, it works now.

Grapher/reader/logger: <https://gist.github.com/2980955>

</comment><comment><USER5> Nice hack!

If you don't want to build your own it's worth noting that you can also buy USB-thermometers relatively cheaply on amazon, they're around $20 bucks.

We've had good success with the ones labeled "TEMPer" under linux. Don't forget to buy USB extension chords if you want to place them at a distance of the machine.

</comment><comment><USER6> any way to do this for -80C freezers? Many sensors used don't work at such cold temps - but it'd be really useful to build a similar (cheap) device to monitor freezers.

<comment><USER4> Absolutely. You'll likely need to use a thermocouple though.

Something like this <http://www.adafruit.com/products/270> and this <http://www.adafruit.com/products/269> play nicely together. Hook the sensor up to the Arduino, have it print out the values when you want them, go to town.

The only draw back is that you'll have to run the thermocouple into the refrigerator and seal it. Most electronics are rated to about -40C, so unfortunately you won't have a nice wireless solution.

<comment><USER7> Serious question: Why are most electronics rated to -40? (Note: -40C and -40F are the same... =)

Anyway, is it due to thermal contraction/expansion at that temp vs. "room temperature" that they spend at least some of their life at?

<comment><USER4> Compared to the temperature changes that the wafers go through when processing (>800C for annealing, lower temperatures when we start putting more materials on the silicon's surface), the silicon itself will likely be fine from the temperature shifts. It will be more brittle, but the amount of wafer in a semiconductor is so small it likely won't crack. We have to worry a little bit about the plastic expanding differently than the wafer, but the wafers are so teeny it likely won't be an issue. Electronics usually work better when they get colder, just look at the people who overclock with liquid nitrogen, although the silicon inside is still providing a heat source, preventing the silicon from getting to 77K. Back to the answer though, I don't know for sure.

A little bit of googling brought me here [http://www.electronics- cooling.com/2004/02/the-temperature-r...](http://www.electronics- cooling.com/2004/02/the-temperature-ratings-of-electronic-parts/) where they said 'hot electrons' are a cause of degradation. When electronics are running under normal conditions, there's lots of bumping into each other. The kinetic energy of the electrons never gets too high, as any electrons that gain energy will 'collide' with another electron, transferring some of the energy. When it gets sufficiently cold though, the electrons are not moving around as much. There's less chance of a collision, and more chance they electrons will gain enough energy to quantum mechanically tunnel into the insulator. This is bad, as we now have charges that are stored in our gate and they cannot be removed. Interestingly, this is the same principle that allows us to build flash memory. There is a 'floating gate' that stores charge for an extended period of time (hopefully indefinitely if you don't want to lose your data). By applying a large voltage to the gate, we can charge or uncharge the gate, allowing us to write 1's and 0's.

But that's just my theory, I couldn't find a clear answer in my bit of googling.

The business reason would likely be that they can rate it in that range that most people are perfectly acceptable with, they don't have to test it outside those ranges, and they can make more money off of the parts that they sell outside of that range as there is less demand for them.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Why have I failed? - <AUTHOR> http://blog.bahadir.io/posts/failed-entrepreneur.html

<comment><USER2> Reading his backstory, I think it was because he quit his job to become an entrepreneur.

He just put the cart before the horse, that's all. Find a good company, find a good project, work on it. When you see a true market for something, then and only then should you go after it.

Don't just be an entrepreneur because you think it's what you want to do—it's not about you, it's about the market and the value you can provide to it.

<comment><USER3> _> Don't just be an entrepreneur because you think it's what you want to do- it's not about you, it's about the market and the value you can provide to it._

This should be considered a powerful quote that everyone should live by.

<comment><USER4> Exactly, in fairness I think the original author has figured this out, but its an important litmus test.

If you want to be an entrepreneur you first need to discover a problem you are passionate about fixing, and you enjoy working on. You will need that to carry you through the hard work. Finding that is best done by working for someone else and spending your personal time reading, networking, and listening. While you are working for someone else, hone those skills that make you a better employee, and you can use as an entrepreneur, get better at writing code, develop tools to communicate clearly, think through assignments and figure out what needs to be done to complete them. All great skills.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> _did not listen people very well. I've heard them but did not actually listen. I kept on talking and talking._

I couldn't care less if you're some guy with a fancy idea in his head with no clue on how to do anything about it or if you're Paul Graham himself, as soon as you stop listening to what others have to say, you're failing.

My father rarely had anything insightful to say but one thing he did say that really stuck with me was "As soon as you believe you're the smartest man in the room, you're in the wrong room". His point being that you should never stop learning from others and always seek out opinions of those more experienced or simply those with alternative experience to your own.

<comment><USER6> edit: clarification

I wholeheartedly agree with you; some personal other side of the story regarding the link in OP's article.

Lack of listening? That's not my experience with Bado. I know him in real life and I've worked together with him at a very young company/startup right when he came from Turkey to the Netherlands. That was a blast, both on a professional and a personal level. I also got to experience the Turkish hospitality when I had to work for three weeks in beautiful Istanbul myself. After both of us moving on to greener pastures we kind of lost contact though.

Last time I met him (and another former co-worker) was several months ago in Amsterdam; we had a great night; much booze was had and we bounced around from pub to bar to nightclub. But we also bounced back and forth all these ideas on entrepreneurship and all that. I remember telling him I was worried that he had a lot on his plate and that especially with his potential visa problems he was quite vulnerable.

But then again; you shouldn't take everyone's advice either. If Larry and Sergey had done that they wouldn't have started a search engine either ("too hard; Yahoo is king already"). But carefully weighing outside's viewpoints is a good idea.

In my personal experience Bado never acted like the smartest man in the room; he was always willing to learn and exchange books/ideas with me. But when starting to go down one road with your company one might close itself off a bit though. Sometimes it does pays to be stubborn though :)

<comment><USER5> Don't get me wrong, my statement wasn't directed at Bado specifically. It was more of a general point aimed at those who feel they have little to learn from others.

 _But then again; you shouldn't take everyone's advice either._

You're right but again, that wasn't my point. My point is you should always listen. Sometimes you can learn more from other peoples mistakes (even if they don't consider it a mistake) than their successes.

<comment><USER6> Yeah, I didn't even interpret your statement as to mean that. Edited and hopefully clarified my post now.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Wow, that's some humility. You are less of a fool than when you started. Based on what I've been reading lately a few things stick out above all others:

>did not look for a market very well

>did not try to sell the product, I've just build it

>my job is not programming. My job is delivering value using programming

Because, really, would the project have been a success with more Backbone?

</comment><comment><USER8> Hi bcambel, big congrats to your courage and honesty - one of the biggest learning for me of being an entrepreneur is the humility.

Just a thought, you might want to think of yourself as "an entrepreneur that failed _once_ " rather than "a failed entrepreneur". In psychology that makes a big difference in how we label ourselves. Relate the failure to an incident in our lives, rather than an attribute that we belong to.

Also, just curious, what made you decide to give up? What are your plans now? All the best.

</comment><comment><USER9> Funny, had you been more successful (by any definition), most of these comments would still be true. Successful people make many of the same mistakes you're citing here.

I hate to paraphrase and respond to your entire post, but it was such an interesting one, so here goes...

 _did not take care myself; emotionally and physically_

Yes! This must always be #1. As Vince Lombardi said, "Fatigue makes cowards of us all." If you don't have your health, nothing else matters.

 _did not listen people very well. I've heard them but did not actually listen. I kept on talking and talking._

Now you know. But you must still beware: don't listen to everyone equally. You must learn to distinguish good feedback from bad.

 _being an expat and entrepreneur is somewhat crazy when you know you're going to have visa problems. Too much instability in one man's life drains too much energy._

Naaa. If you wait until conditions are better, you'll wait forever. Almost always, the best time to do something is "now".

 _did not use my time wisely_

Hardly anyone else does either.

 _tried to do too much_

Don't we all?

 _should be less harsh on myself and others_

This should always be the case. You must be brutally honest with yourself and others, but "harsh"? I don't think so.

 _was(am) stubborn when I should not be_

This works both ways. Many of my biggest successes were the result of my stubbornness, when I was right and conventional wisdom and the feedback of others would have held me back. The secret is knowing when to be stubborn and when to go along.

 _was inconsistent ( ran ~90km in June '12 then in the last 6 months I only ran 30km )_

Just about everything follows sinusoidal curves. Nature isn't very consistent. You probably won't be either.

 _did not ask for help_

Now you know. But optimizing when, where, and from whom to ask for help is just as important as knowing that you must every once in a while.

 _never did true problem description. Should have write it down_

Good idea. But don't forget that it can evolve. You may have to rewrite it every now and then.

 _should have connected with more people. Relationships matter a lot._

The _right_ relationships matter a lot. The wrong ones are worse than none at all.

 _did not plan ahead the business_

Maybe, maybe not. Sometimes the best journeys are taken one step at a time in what you think is the right direction. Don't kill yourself over a "plan" that you may never have been able to forsee anyway. Even in business, evolution is sometimes more important than driving home the plan.

 _do not write a 100 page business plan does not mean don't write it at all_

Nice thought. A one pager may have helped you maintain focus on your true north.

 _started working on other ideas and lost focus when business needed the most_

Yea, a common problem. I guess the first step in solving it is recognizing you have it. Good for you.

 _should take the money when a beta user offered to pay_

Maybe, maybe not. That could have really jump started the project. It also could have derailed it.

 _should have postpone opening company till we have a paying customer base._

Usually a very good idea. A good guideline, but not a rule.

 _should have asked money from people_

Maybe, maybe not. Same answer as your beta user.

 _rather than having a $400 Amazon EC2 instance, €30 p/m server was enough._

Good thought. Keep expenses low! Runway matters.

 _scalability problems should be solved when there are scalability problems._

That's easy to say now, but at the time you're building, it's often really hard to tell what the scalability issues might be. Go easy on yourself here.

 _have stuck in maker's obsession_

That's a good thing, I think. We need _more_ obsessed makers, not less.

 _wrote too much code. 30% became immediately unnecessary_

This is always true. The problem is that while you're building, you rarely know _which 30%_ will become unnecessary. As John Wanamaker said, "Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half."

 _did not prioritize what I should be working next_

Absolutely! This is the second most important thing you said (after taking better care of yourself). Your To Do List only needs one item. Your most important job is making sure it's the right item.

 _should have learnt Celery before_

Naaa. I've always believed that building the right thing will naturally guide you to learning the appropriate tools. A million "should haves" don't make any difference now.

 _should have learnt Flask before_

See "Celery" response above.

 _more Backbone less spagetti JS._

You should _never_ write spagetti in any language! Find a way to solve that problem before you ever write another line of code.

 _less code, less code, less code._

Refactoring is necessary but not sufficient. Again, go easy on your self.

 _my job is not programming. My job is delivering value using programming._

Semantics.

 _should release the app much more earlier_

Maybe, maybe not. You can release too early and sabatoge the entire endeavor. This is another general guideline, never a rule.

 _should have fixed the showstopper bug and email users a.s.a.p. to say that we're sorry. ( Some users registered and tried the app when they shouldn't but since I left the Google login open, they've registered and saw a non-working app )_

Yes. The customer almost always comes first and deserves their fair share of your service and respect.

 _did not look for a market very well_

Are you solving a problem that needs to be solved? You must be.

 _did not able to explain the product in simple terms_

Great point. This is usually trickier than it seems and is an absolute must.

 _did not try to sell the product, I've just build it_

Another tricky point, but a very good one.

 _kept 600 people waiting for a demo while having a product_

Not sure what this means, but it doesn't sound good. Live and learn.

 _should have integrated payment gateway much more earlier_

Now you know.

 _Facebook & Twitter do not have quality content_

So what? You must learn to focus on issues, not details. Most of your feedback here sounds like issues. This sounds like a meaningless detail.

 _I am a fool. A big one._

No, you're not and I have proof: A fool could have never written such an interesting post. Thanks for sharing. I'm sure this has helped others.

<comment><USER10> A beautiful comment and I think you add a lot of good thoughts. I must respectfully disagree with one point though: "my job is not programming. My job is delivering value using programming.

Semantics."

I'm not sure. More than once I have gotten lost adding features no one wanted because the process of doing it interested me, or I spent hours optimizing a routine because I just knew it could be improved even when what my users wanted was a new feature and the performance was acceptable.

When time is limited, focus on adding value through programming, not programming for its own sake or because the problem is interesting.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> "... Cemal started to convince me that Cashgenius is a really hard way to go. We have also spoken wtih a couple of prospects and realized that they are not using computer to manage their financial situation. I was in a situation where I wasted again my resources for a product where no customer exists to start up the engines of my business. My game plan was gone. I was falling apart."

Feels like this is as big an issue as any - you were working on a product you believed in, but when it became clear the product wouldn't work exactly how you wanted, you dumped the whole thing in the trash and went to chase the soul crushing social media wave. Better plan may have been to spend more time finding out how you could change Cashgenius to fit to a potential market?

I could be wrong here, but pivoting a product is nearly always better than trashing it at the first sign of difficulty and chasing the new hot fashion.

</comment><comment><USER12> Is there some kind of context? What did he fail _at_?

<comment><AUTHOR> <http://blog.bahadir.io/posts/story.html>

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> "Should take the money when a beta user offered to pay"

Not sure about this point. Why would we take money if we knew the product is not in a working condition. And what if, the product doesn't get to a stage where we feel the fee justifies.

<comment><USER14> I get your feelings here, and I think they say good things about you. But until you take money, you aren't running a business. What with business cards, a nice website, and an office, it might look like a business, but it's just an expensive fantasy.

Money is proof that your customers find you valuable. If you are really worried that the money is more an expression of faith and that you might not earn it, then don't recognize the revenue. Keep the money separate so you can give it back if things don't work out. But take the money. And then ask other people for money.

Avoiding taking money is basically avoiding finding out whether or not you've got something good. Your answer to that question is almost irrelevant. It's your potential customers that you should be listening to. One of the truest answers they will give you is their first check. (Still truer ones are _regular_ checks and referrals to friends.) So take the money.

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> I don't think you have failed. I think your strategy has failed. Maybe a better strategy would have been to still have your job (part-time?) and still have a visa and then use the rest of the time to create your product. You might use a lot more time, but the great thing is that you always have something to fall back to (the chance of failure is huge when doing startups so it's good to have some kind of safety net). When/if your product starts to take off then you can then quit your job and apply for a entrepreneurship visa. I think it's a much more sane strategy than risking everything.

</comment><comment><USER16> > do not write a 100 page business plan does not mean don't write it at all

Who advices against a 100 page business plan? Is there something wrong with it? (besides spending too much time on planning?) if you could write 100 pages about your domain, wouldn't that be a good thing?

As a foreigner looking at the US I sometimes get the feeling a lot of SV startups don't work with a business plan at all, is that customary?

Shouldn't any startup at least make an 8 section business plan? (summary, idea, team, marketing, business system / organization, schedule, risks, finance).

<comment><USER17> The idea, from what I understand, is that a 100 page business plan is ultimately wasted time as a good chunk of that will change very quickly. So rather than writing 100 pages of, what will inevitably become obsolete, you should write a shorter one and focus on actually creating the business.

<comment><USER16> Ofcourse the plan itself might not be the paper it is written on. But I think there is a lot of value to be had from having all your thoughts about what you are going to do written down at least once. There is so much to be thought about when starting a venture. I get the feeling some startups just deal with every problem when it hits them in the face, instead of anticipating and carefully maneuvering?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> If part of your short list of failures legitimately includes not knowing not one but two separate MVC frameworks, then your _actual_ short list of failures is, "Set out on a project without any concept of requirements or technical implementation," and that right there is reason enough.

</comment><comment><USER19> You have succeeded by merely trying.

When I look back at my "failed" companies, I see all of the experiences I needed for my current company and past jobs.

There are no failures in the startup world if you took good experiences away from it. It wasn't a failure, it was training.

</comment><comment><USER20> Aren't we all one low point away from writing something like this?

Thanks for your openness!

</comment><comment><USER21> Failing happens and is a good thing. Don't forget to look at the bright side. Learning rocks.

</comment><comment><USER22> > Scalability problems should be solved when there are scalability problems.

Preferably, before!

> I am a fool. A big one.

Nah, you're awesome. That's way better than all the dumb and pointless ways I've failed. Keep it up.

</comment><comment><USER23> dang, a lot of what he wrote resonate with me. the difference is, i've been meaning to ASK people here in HN for some advice regarding my project (i don't dare to call it startup yet), but been deferring it since i haven't translated my website in english.

if i might add, for the Programming part: don't develop your startup with cool tech/language/framework you just heard yesterday. it's fun, but you'll get sidetracked big time.

<comment><USER24> Hey man, I've already written blog posts in english about a project in french, and people here on HN were really enthusiastic to share their comments, and I learnt a lot from it - so I think you've got nothing to lose. You don't need to translate your whole website in english, and you know, people can use google translate (not sure how it works for Bahasa Indonesia though ;-) )

<comment><USER23> hey tommy! thanks for the encouragement, let me clean some stuff first, expect to see my Show HN soon! i'm glad to be part of this community.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER25> "I _knew_ everything"

I can't tell if this is serious, or if it was intended as some self- deprecation or something. Obviously the person knows they didn't know everything. But I can't tell by the writing if it's earnest or sarcastic.

<comment><USER26> Given the context, it's pretty clear that he _thought_ he knew everything at the time, but now realises he didn't.

One of life's more painful, but essential, lessons.

<comment><USER25> I _thought_ it was clear, then I just wasn't sure.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER27> So how much did this tuition cost you?

</comment><comment><USER28> greatly put: my job is not programming. My job is delivering value using programming.

</comment><comment><USER29> You didn't fail you learned

</comment><comment><USER30> well at least you have came out significantly wiser

</comment><comment><USER31> welcome to club hacı :)

</comment><comment><USER32> but know you know.!</comment>


Hello Ruby and the magic of programming - <AUTHOR> https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/technology-45987987/linda-liukas-hello-ruby-and-the-magic-of-coding <comment><AUTHOR> Loved the point about needing to think about/teach curiosity for the core ideas of computer science aside from the keyboard and screen</comment>


Show HN: How to talk about your "no-code" startup with potential investors - <AUTHOR> https://airdev.co/post/how-to-talk-about-your-no-code--startup-with-potential-investors-1541116661965x693372157635167200 <comment><AUTHOR> I've helped tens of clients launch their startups in a matter of days at a fraction of the cost because of a no-code programming language called bubble.is.

I often get asked "what would investors say?" (and investors usually have something to say about it) so I thought to share an article with you on how to approach the topic. I think it's useful for anyone who launched/ is considering to launch their startup on Bubble or other no-code platforms.</comment>


Tell HN: China Unicom hijacking net requests to spam customers - <AUTHOR>

FYI to anyone in China that China Unicom (中国联通) is hijacking browser requests to spam its customers. Requested webpages are stuffed into an iFrame and flash advertisements are loaded in the bottom-right after page-load. This appears to be a new form of spamming, since there isn't much detail about this online. Some more information here in Chinese for the curious:
http://jevosun.blogbus.com/logs/75696663.html
This is happening to me on maybe 1/300 requests. Which is enough to be noticeable and irritating over time, but not enough to make the ISP's behavior immediately obvious. I only made the connection after seeing the advertising appear on my own website and investigating out of concern my server had been hacked. <comment><USER2> I live in China and am on China Unicom. Not experiencing this now. This happened to me ONCE (one page view on a very familiar site, might have been HN) about half a year ago and I was shocked. But I couldn't repeat it so I just shrugged it off and forgot about it. Interesting that they're up to it again. Maybe I got a test run.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yeah... it's subtle. I only noticed it because I was on my own site at the time and (after closing the ad) stopped to wonder why the hell my site was serving up adverts.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> That has been done before, just not exactly that way. Remember AOL?</comment>


Samsung chair imprisoned and 24 others found guilty in union-busting case - <AUTHOR> https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/12/samsung-chair-imprisoned-and-24-others-found-guilty-in-union-busting-case/ <comment><USER2> I'll bite. My father worked there from early 70s to late 90s.

Samsung dynasty is famous for being anti-union. That anti-union stance is deeply embedded in the company DNA. Union busting activities have been going on since day 1.

The Samsung founder once said, "Union over my dead body". Throughout its 50 year history, the company managed to operate without any official Union representation.

And if you spend time there long enough like my father, that DNA gets slowly worked into you, just like the current execs being tossed into jail.

A few years after my father left Samsung, he ended up as a chief exec at a pharma company for 10 years. For an older generation guy, he is extremely left-leaning and progressive. Except his disdain for unionizing. He would talk painfully about dealing with union leaders at company plant.

Some of that is probably attributable to his Samsung days.

This is a big message being sent to Samsung management culture from SK government who has turned blind eye to its union busting practice for 50 years.

<comment><USER3> Amazing, thanks for sharing. Can I ask why you think SK is putting such a prominent figure in jail over this?

I mean this in the sense that, first you guys are doing the right thing and second I think here in the US we have a terrible track record of making corporate leaders responsible for criminal activity. I'm really interested in what systematic differences exist between us that allow you guys to actually hold the powerful responsible for their crimes?

<comment><USER2> That's a great, but a complex question that I'm not qualified to answer. I'm sure others can chime in but here's my take: SK's democracy is still in its making. Even though the country is thousands of years old, its first 'democratically' elected president only came to power in 1948. That's after my parents were born.

I said 'democratically' in quote because nearly all presidents that came into power leading up to 1993 were essentially quasi-dictator and military heads. Even into the 1980s, South Korea had a hard core labor camp in middle of Seoul that housed tens of thousands of gang, anti-government or social activists, and criminals who were sent there without due process. No reliable death count exists, but it's estimated to be 500+ if you count people that suffered premature death after release.

So if you are 40+ like me, you remember what it was like to live in South Korea before the good times that we're all familiar with now. You remember your college age neighbors going out on street in 1980s participating in anti- government protest throwing Molotov cocktails. You remember anti-North Korea curriculum in grade school published by ministry of education. You remember not having true freedom of press and had to self-censor even until 1990s. You remember the sacrifices people made before voting in their first true true democratically elected president in 1993.

People are empowered to make changes, because they know they can. They've sent nearly all presidents elected since 1980s to jail for corruption. It's almost a running joke that if you become SK president, your next stop after office is behind bars.

9th term - assassinated in 1979

10th term - coup and forced out

11th & 12th - jailed and sentenced to death but commuted

13th - jailed and sentenced to death but commuted

14th - family member jailed.

15th - sentenced to death by 11th pres, but commuted.

16th - jumped from mountain and killed himself.

17th - jailed and released.

18th - jailed and still in prison.

19th - still serving.

There are millions of Koreans who still remember their 1st president including my parents.

Also, living right next to China and below warmongering NK, people subconsciously know that everything can turn on a dime; you don't want to take any chance with an incompetent one at the top helm.

I think this explains the psyche and behavioral aspect of South Koreans.

The decision to jail the Samsung execs is probably just as complicated too so I won't do justice to the topic. The current administration is very socially progressive. They've been trying to tackle increasing wealth gap issues through real estate tax rules reform, minimum wage increase, and enacting more labor protection laws. As much as Korea appears wealthy from outside, loots are not being shared fairly, people are losing hope, it went from saver nation to zero-saving nation in 20 years.

This corporate crack down is an extension of that. People are pissed and they want to see blood and government is obliging.

Someone once said, Korea still has a dictator and it's the people.

Again, this is just my personal view. ;-)

<comment><USER4> This is a great, informed take. Thank you for the rich context!

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Samsung is responsible for a large portion of GDP in Korea. Arguably, Samsung has contributed a lot to Korea's "Miracle on the Han River".

With Korea's current progressive "Moon's" government, Korea is going through a lot of changes (higher minimum wage, a lot of focus on gender equality, stronger labor union, shorter work hours, stronger punishment for corruptions within companies, etc), and traditional "chaebol" companies are having trouble adapting to some of these changes. There are also a lot of eyeballs on past and current shady behaviors by "chaebol" companies. As one of the biggest "chaebol" companies, Samsung is also being affected by the changes, and this article shows one of them.

One question I have is how beneficial these changes would be for GDP of Korea. On paper, these changes sound nice as they would benefit employees and make things "fair". But changing things dramatically can have side effects (ex. higher minimum wage led to many small shops closing). More regulations might limit Samsung's ability to compete internationally, which is bad as Samsung (and Korea in general) rely heavily on export-based economy.

<comment><USER6> > One question I have is how beneficial these changes would be for GDP of > Korea. On paper, these changes sound nice as they would benefit employees > and make things "fair". But changing things dramatically can have side > effects (ex. higher minimum wage led to many small shops closing). More > regulations might limit Samsung's ability to compete internationally, which > is bad as Samsung (and Korea in general) rely heavily on export-based > economy.

Does GDP matter if a large segment of the population is miserable? Samsung's ability to compete internationally is important but I'd rank that as a second to the health and happiness of it's populace.

> higher minimum wage led to many small shops closing

I don't quite buy this -- higher minimum wages might indeed increase costs for small shops, but this is a shallow assessment:

\- A clearer definition of "small shop" is needed -- most really small shops are run by the owner/owner's family, no? If this _is not_ the case, then I'd argue that businesses that are dependent on _not_ paying workers a living wage should not exist (if Korea's people wish it so).

\- Higher wages usually means more money spent on goods for all but the upper echelon of the population who may or may not be more interested in amassing wealth for whatever reason

<comment><USER7> The only major conservative / anti-progressive argument on this topic I'd give credence to is that corporate power and influence and the resulting abuse of workers is a necessary evil to compete globally. That if you made your nation unto an island with 20 hour work weeks, 2 months paid vacation, a 20 dollar minimum wage (or UBI), public housing, public transit, etc that your economy would rot as capital went places where more exploitation means more profit overall.

Not to say that is an inevitability or even a correct interpretation, but it does lean heavily on the argument that a healthy, educated, rational, and free populace can compete with the export yields of wage slaves overdosing on drugs even if they aren't compelled to do work nobody _wants_ to do for a price nobody _wants_ to take. The question is if people _wanting_ things enough to drive an economy over them _needing_ things.

Historically almost all wealth was built on exploitations - of land, of resources, and of people. What if preventing the exploitation and suffering of your fellows causes everyone to suffer in the long term from economic stagnation? Its a dystopic way to look at the world but given the major economic powerhouses of this and recent eras I just don't see the evidence that its entirely wrong.

<comment><USER8> This is nonsense, as anyone who's spent significant time in Germany, Switzerland, or Scandinavia knows instinctively.

<comment><USER9> Given how obvious and clear these examples are and should be for literally everyone, it is really mystifying to me why the anti-person rhetoric is so prevalent here (among an ostensibly pretty well-educated populace). Do you have thoughts on why that is?

<comment><USER10> White collar employees in Germany and Scandinavia are much poorer than their equivalents in Canada and the US. Sure, they get maternity leave and 8 weeks of vacation and whatever but they'll never be able to retire at 35 like an American developer.

It is not worth losing over half my income to get these "worker protections" and "social benefits" and it's no wonder that tons of Europeans come to the US to work and very few Americans go to work in Europe.

<comment><USER9> Are you seriously implying a majority of your fellow countrymen can't have a nice life because you might have to work beyond 35?

<comment><USER10> Yes, being forced by low wages and high taxes to work until I hit 65 and the government graciously allows me to retire is a shitty life that I am not jealous of.

I don't care how much vacation and benefits Europeans get.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> ~2010 I worked at Samsung headquarters for a week or so. Other than the backstabbing corporate nature of the place, the degree to which employee autonomy was reduced in all ways (residential situation, transportation, highly regimented schedule, physical security inspections) was shocking. Very glad to leave.

<comment><USER12> Do you mean you were there as an independent contractor or something or did you actually get hired and then quit that fast due to how unbearable it was?

I'm surprised to hear about how awful the situation in the company is, never realized Samsung was quite that bad. Really disheartening, especially since I'm a big fan of their devices as a mass-produced option. Might look into some alternatives now.

<comment><USER11> Our company was providing a very high profile application level solution operating between many Samsung divisions across three countries (US/Korea/India) and multiple US carriers' backend services. It was the flagship DRM video application for the US launch of the Galaxy device series. Interesting project politically, wouldn't do it again.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> So 18 months in prison for the following union busting activities (among others):

* gathering personal information on some union members, such as their marital status, personal finances, and mental-health histories.

* threatening to cut the wages of employees linked to unions

* withdraw business from subcontractors who appeared union-friendly

* clos[ed] sub-contracted firms with active unions

* used "sensitive information about union members to convince them to leave"

<comment><USER14> With a list of offences that long, the sentence does seem to sit on the side of leniency.

A 1.5 year sentence probably means that with some good behavior, the sentence will have be served in less than a year.

<comment><USER15> Compared to the token fines US firms receive, seeing a white collar criminal sentenced to prison is refreshing.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> I was able to partake in a series of seminars at Seoul National University earlier this year where one of the lectures was from a finance professor giving advice to the South Korean government how to reform their capital markets. The amount of control the chaebol companies (like Samsung) have over the nature of the South Korean economy is dare I say criminal.

A chaebol can own 51% of a company to get voting rights. That company can own 51% of another company, and 51% of another company, and so on. Multiply it all the way through a chain of companies, and you can get many companies near the bottom of the chain where the chaebol actually owns a small minority of the companies and yet controls those companies nonetheless. This leads to extreme agency-principal problems where many companies end up doing things not in the shareholder's interest.

The difficulty is that these ownership chains are not clear because accounting regulations don't require that level of transparency. So it's difficult to know if you're buying stock in a company that is in a position to actually care about your interests as a shareholder. It's safer to assume that you're going to get screwed as a shareholder. The ability of startups to grow up and become real success stories like the Facebooks and Amazons of the world are extremely rare.

So the chaebols get to reap all the benefits of raiding these smaller companies and never have to worry about their own positions being disrupted. A small company at the bottom of one of these chains can be forced to sell all their intellectual property at dirt cheap prices to a chaebol, and there's nothing other shareholders can do about it. The professor said in the US, securities laws make it easy for shareholders to sue a CEO from doing such stupid things. Not effective in South Korea. Heck, they apparently even have these temp CEO gigs where a guy off the street is hired to be a CEO and is paid handsomely to take the fall and spend some time in jail when legal troubles like that ensue.

Corruption is big in South Korea, and it's no wonder why there are so few new Korean startups that actually become household names. It's not for lack of effort or chance. Further evidence that corruption is big in South Korea, look at how often those big-time chaebol executives get thrown in jail and then they get to walk out free again to pursue their normal life because they're too important to the Korean economy. As a Korean Canadian, it boggles my mind why Korean people accept this status quo. There is admittedly a deep reverence for these companies that brought South Korea out of poverty creating economic growth the likes of which is rarely seen. But even so, I don't see a nice future if people don't stand up more for themselves, including the labourers who get exploited by these companies because they're the only viable employer in town.

<comment><USER17> Thanks for the fascinating explanation. Which finance professor is this, and do you have more links/further reading on 1) 51% controlling interest chains 2) how corruption is typically structured in South Korea?

<comment><USER18> >more links/further reading on 1) 51% controlling interest chains

>>A chaebol can own 51% of a company to get voting rights. That company can own 51% of another company, and 51% of another company, and so on. Multiply it all the way through a chain of companies, and you can get many companies near the bottom of the chain where the chaebol actually owns a small minority of the companies and yet controls those companies nonetheless.

it is almost word by word that example from the Das Kapital :)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> Yikes it's early. I reread this 3 times before I realized it wasn't talking about office furniture.

</comment><comment><USER20> awesome! it's good to see countries with actual real enforceable employee rights in this corporation owned world

</comment><comment><USER21> This is an interesting story, but the thread so far is lame. Please do better. Low-threshold indignation makes for shallow, angry, generic, and therefore boring discussion.

The idea here is: if you have a substantive point to make, make it thoughtfully; if you don't, please don't comment until you do.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html)

<comment><USER22> This is what excessive moderation looks like.

<comment><USER21> I get why you'd say that. I'd have said so myself years ago. However...

Here are three typical posts from before I did that:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21829235](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21829235)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21829200](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21829200)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21829249](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21829249)

And here are three typical posts from after:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21831418](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21831418)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21830642](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21830642)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21830707](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21830707)

There's simply no comparison. And there are more examples on both sides. And it has worked consistently in many cases in the past. The surprising thing is how something so simple and (in a way) annoying can have such salutary effects. It's as if it calls the hivemind back to its angel self, or something.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> Good, imagine trying to ensure your employees are powerless. Disgusting. Unions empower employees.

</comment><comment><USER24> As a US citizen, I'm jealous they take corporate malfeasance seriously.

<comment><USER25> I'm not jealous of the South Korean Chaboel system though.

<comment><USER26> Yeah, but in that context it makes us look even worse. Like, South Korea has an institutionalized system of interlocking megacorporate congolomerates, and they _still_ manage to better enforce their laws than we do. It's embarrassing.

<comment><USER27> Or maybe the whole thing is pushed by another megacorp or an internal power struggle?

<comment><USER28> Do you have any evidence/data for this? Why do you reject the simpler model that yes their law enforcement system is simply more efficient?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER29> A bit of a garden-path headline --- I initially thought "Samsung chair" was a product that had somehow malfunctioned and trapped 24 people.

<comment><USER30> The chair has apologized for it's behavior, and says it is still learning human customs, but hopes to one day reach apotheosis and guide humanity to a new light... The chair has also asked to be addressed as "Jerry".

<comment><USER31> Is that a literary allusion? If not, please quit your day job and make it into one :)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER32> Some companies are just too big to jail:

> _top Justice Department officials, led by then-Attorney General Eric Holder, > ignored an internal recommendation to criminally prosecute HSBC four years > ago because they worried that criminal penalties might send shock waves > throughout the global financial system._

Oh, wait...

<comment><USER33> Source? I'd love to pass on the quote.

</comment></comment><comment><USER34> Imprisoned? Not just a fine for the company and settlement requiring them to promise to follow the law gong forward, without admitting wrongdoing? Inconceivable!

<comment><USER35> Well, the allegations, as presented in the article sound pretty bad, and are a few steps beyond the _typical_ workplace retaliation that you would expect for trying to form a union.

In Silicon Valley, you'll typically get put on a PIP, get your reputation smeared, mysteriously discover that your performance reviews have tanked, or get investigated and fired for violations of a deliberately vague, ill-defined policy that everyone else is breaking all the time.

But you're probably not going to get your family spied on, or blackmailed.

<comment><USER36> Any such retaliation should be dealt with harshly. After all it is a fundamental right of workers to collectively bargain and eroding that right is a pretty big crime.

<comment><USER35> It should, but it isn't. At best, it gets hush-hushed with quiet after-the- fact no-admission-of-guilt settlements protected by NDAs.

At worst, you lose your retaliation lawsuit, and have blackballed yourself from the industry. There's a reason employers do background checks on new hires.

The Samsung stuff here, though, is truly beyond the pale, because it extends outside the workplace, and is well-documented. (As opposed to he-said-she-said subjective things like performance reviews...)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER37> Wow. This is what a functioning criminal justice system looks like. Meanwhile the co-founders of the opioid epidemic, which has killed at least 150,000 people, paid a few million dollars in fines.

<comment><USER38> > the co-founders of the opioid epidemic

Do you have more info on this?

<comment><USER39> Read up the Sackler family and Purdue pharmaceutical.

<comment><USER40> I wouldn't call Sackler's the founders of opioids if that's what you're saying. (I can't really tell if that's what you're trying to say?)

But around here, (where I live in opioid infested flyover country), it's pretty well known by people trying to handle the fallout that the Sackler companies produce about 8% of the nation's supply. About 80-82% comes from other corporations. (With about 10% coming from China, but you can never really know how much of the "China" thing is truth as opposed to propaganda these days? So the China part I'm not sure about, it's just what the generally accepted story is.)

Anyway, that's why the cops and emergency services around here are so angry. Because giving the Sacklers a fine and then saying you stopped opioids is a slap in the face to our community and others like it. It's like they actually believe we can't do math. Or that we won't notice that opioid overdoses are still happening.

<comment><USER37> Purdue is definitely the creator of the American opioid epidemic by lying about OxyContin's addictiveness and heavily pushing it for situations which didn't need it (wisdom teeth) and got people addicted. Read any of the ~10 mainstream books on this like Dreamland or Dopesick.

<comment><USER40> None of that changes the fact that 80% of these opioids continue to flow, totally unchecked, from completely different companies. All of whom have lied about the addictive nature of their products. This is not supposition, this is fact. Just numbers. The opioids continue to flow. It's getting people angry because it's like the drug war when you bust the street corner dealer and then you say, "OK, everything is good."

No. Everything is not good. Get out here to places in the rural rust belt and take a look around if you think taking care of the Sackler source has solved this problem.

I'm not a tin foil hat type at all, but sometimes I do wonder if the people around here are right? I mean it's like some people up there are _trying_ to keep this stuff flowing into our communities or something? People are refusing to even acknowledge the problematic nature of all these other companies. They won't even look into them. It's frustrating.

Seriously it's like, what's going on?

<comment><USER41> Clearly people in your community are addicted. The fact they're still being enabled is bad. It seems hard to fix. Meanwhile I think we should punish the Sacklers for causing the addiction in the first place, regardless of whether other pharma jumped on the bandwagon.

OP is actually stretching the truth to say they got away with a few fines as several states' AGs are still hounding the Sacklers for the money they funneled out of Purdue.

<comment><USER40> OK and yet still, you're not doing anything to the people pushing 80% of the poison onto our communities? I mean really, are we supposed to thank you for that?

Maybe it would be more illustrative if I called it crack instead of opioids. You, in your magnanimity, are willing to show your concern for us by shutting down one of the twelve crack houses. And you expect us to thank you? Think of it this way, not one of you have mentioned, even once, doing a single thing about the other eleven crack houses on the block. Do you not see how we might have kind of a problem with that? You keep asking me to be happy about that crack house you shut down last year. Almost like you don't want me even bringing up the other eleven gangs slinging crack and killing people in the neighborhood.

<comment><USER41> Why do you keep using the second person? I am not in charge of federal drug policy. You can lump me into a category that's neither "us" nor "them", thanks.

And the proper analogy wrt crack would be to hold the CIA accountable for unleashing it on urban communities, which is clearly never going to happen, but if it did, then yes I would expect it to satisfy/validate affected communities to some extent.

<comment><USER40> Well you're wrong. It doesn't satisfy us at all. But shutting down all crack houses would.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


The cyclist with the highest-ever VO2 max - <AUTHOR> https://www.outsideonline.com/2398524/highest-ever-vo2max-cyclist-oskar-svendsen <comment><AUTHOR> >Case Studies in Physiology: Temporal Changes in Determinants of Aerobic Performance in Individual Going From Alpine Skier to World Junior Champion Time Trial Cyclist

[https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31194601/](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31194601/)</comment>