Ask HN: how to start a startup when you need a proper salary - <AUTHOR> Most startup stories describe how the founders at some point were not getting any salary, sharing rooms, sleeping in a couch, and barely sleeping. Is that the only way to be successful in a startup? What if you have two kids, a wife and a mortgage, should you just trash all your startup ideas and forget about starting one? What's your opinion and can you share any relevant story? <comment><USER2> I come at this with experience of both successful and failed startups while being married and raising kids. My question is do you want a "lifestyle" business where you can make life changing money for you & your family plus leave something for your kids or are you wanting to be a unicorn and/or change the world?

Many times people in the tech startup world favor the unicorn idea, but the reality of it is you can make a lot of money and personally be very successful, plus make others successful all while not working yourself to death. This requires a lot of focus on making a product/service and being profitable from as early on as possible. In fairness I never worked on a problem that could change the world until what I am doing now, but I am currently in a funded startup where that is our focus.

Personally, in my past, I have done what many in the tech industry wouldn't think is cool or a rocketship, but it changed people's lives, was profitable very early on and we had a hell of a lot of fun, but we would never have been considered on the unicorn track. This is for the businesses I created, I have been part of funded and rocketship startups prior.

But if you could put a business together that would be say, $5-$15M a year in revenue over 5-7 years and profitable at 30-40% where you control the majority stake and it just keeps generating revenue year after year would you be happy?

Honestly you can start this type of business while working a full time job, it requires a bit of time management but you can do it. When I did this as a FTE I would work during the day, come home have dinner, spend time with the kids and wife and than start working on the project at like 9-10pm when kids went to bed, some nights I'd take off for time with the wife too. Then I'd pick one day a weekend and work all day, but stop around 4 or so and spend time with the family. This let me have some balance, but TBH it is still hard, but once things start picking up it gets easier. I will say that if you go this route you have to expect you'll have lean times where it is a struggle, and flush times when things feel amazing, it is a bit of a roller coaster, so you need to have balance and a supportive wife. And you need to make sure you prioritize family times so you don't become the MIA parent.

You are welcome to send me an email (check my profile) if you want to chat about it, having done it I get it is not easy.

<comment><USER3> Great advice. I don't see it as "change the world ideas" vs. something that is not. Pinterest isn't a changing world idea, so is Atrium or something else. The difference is do you want to work on a business of your own and as with any business it has to be profitable (I don't why it's called lifestyle business - it's just business). The other option is to try and get someone to gamble millions of dollars on your idea without being profitable for years. Getting someone to gamble like this just requires a lot more time. That's all.

<comment><USER2> I agree, I don't like the term "lifestyle business", it is just a business, but in the tech industry I have seen that term used in a derogatory way when frankly I love that type of business.

Raising money can be done outside of the traditional tech VC world as well. High net worth individuals who themselves own businesses many times are willing to invest on pretty decent terms. But your point is super accurate, raising money takes time focused on raising money and not building the business or product, which is why incubators/VCs favor multi-founder startups. The incubators all know essentially one founder will spend the majority of their time raising capital, meeting new investors and finding warm intros to investors etc. It is a full time job.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Just save up enough money to be comfortable not taking any salary for the next 15 months or so. Some ways to save include but are not limited to: buying in bulk, skipping everything considered a perk, holidays, cooking 100% of the time (I recommend meal prep)...

The problem with that is, more often than not great startups have a 12-16month window to launch. Depending on your particular instance, you might miss yours while you're saving up. A way to kinda mitigate that risk(or just an alternative way on its own) is to work all the free time on it + get some cofounders + raise a friends&family round.

</comment><comment><USER5> Fortunately, you don't need to quit your day job nor live a crazy lifestyle in order to launch a startup. All you have to do is commit to working on it 5 minutes per day and it will happen.

This is what I followed when I built CloudBuddy ([https://cloudbuddy.cloud](https://cloudbuddy.cloud)). For any side project it starts off being exciting and looking like a climbable mountain. Then when you start to get into it, it seems daunting. Each day I would tell myself that I am going to put one foot in front of the other and walk up the mountain. No matter how slow it seems, I will make it to the top. Some days I was so burned out; those were the days that I only worked 5 minutes on it and called it a day. Other days, I was into it and naturally blew beyond the 5 minutes.

It took me 2 years and 3 months to launch CloudBuddy (which has paying users). There isn't anything special about me or my circumstances - I'm married, have a child and have a day job.

If your having difficulty starting or working consistently on your side project and it would help to have someone to talk to, email or drop me a line. My contact info is in my profile.

<comment><USER6> Really cool that you've built this simple service. How did you reach out to your initial customers initially?

Also, assuming it's just a storage service at the moment? :) I'm in need of storing docker containers on behalf of customers.

<comment><USER5> To date I haven't specifically tried to reach out directly to potential users. I've just been posting on Hacker News!

CloudBuddy doesn't currently support storing Docker containers.

Here is a write up on 3 that do: [https://www.nirmata.com/2017/03/14/comparing-container- image...](https://www.nirmata.com/2017/03/14/comparing-container-image- registries-dockerhub-amazon-ec2-and-jfrog-artifactory/)

With pricing on those 3 here: \- DockerHub ([https://hub.docker.com/billing- plans/](https://hub.docker.com/billing-plans/)) \- Amazon Elastic Container Registry ([https://aws.amazon.com/ecr/pricing/](https://aws.amazon.com/ecr/pricing/)) \- JFrog ([https://jfrog.com/pricing/#on-prem](https://jfrog.com/pricing/#on- prem))

If you need something more custom, let me know and I can brainstorm with you (my contact info is in my profile).

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> [http://www.startupsfortherestofus.com/archives](http://www.startupsfortherestofus.com/archives)

Listen to the archives, you can follow along with Rob as he stair steps up from job boards to a SaaS with an exit. Lots of great advice on creating a startup with kids, job, mortgage.

@DHH Startup School Talk (Inspiration) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CDXJ6bMkMY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CDXJ6bMkMY)

</comment><comment><USER8> You work like crazy in two jobs. I did exactly this putting in 100+ hour weeks for around four years until mark II of my startup was profitable enough to support me and my family.

<comment><USER9> That's amazing. May I ask a few follow up questions? Have you written more about this anywhere? Did you do 100+ hours every week or maybe alternative week etc.? Did it negatively impact your health? Did you manage to have any family time?

Most important of all - what did you do about sleep? If you didn't get much sleep, how did you sustain that for 4+ years? May I see a sample of your daily schedule?

I'm sorry if that was too much and too many questions - I'm deeply interested in this subject.

<comment><USER8> I haven't written up about my 100+ hour weeks specifically, but from 2008 to 2012 I did literally nothing but work and sleep every day (7 days a week). Even eating I did while answering emails, etc.

Sleep I didn't skimp on (7 hours average a night, but that is my norm even now).

My day would start at 6.30am (sometimes earlier if I needed to call a customer in a bad time zone), eat breakfast while dealing with emails, etc, go to work around 8.30am (I luckily had a short commute), work until lunch, work on my business over lunch, work more and come home around 6 pm, eat dinner and work, then round out the day with some more work, and finally go to bed around 11.30pm (sometime later if I need to call customers, etc). Weekends were much the same except no commute.

No I didn't get sick and physically I could have sustained it for as long as I needed, the biggest side effect was my judgement started to become detached from reality. It was a very slow and steady drift, but in hindsight I can see my decisions were not always the best. Nothing catastrophic, but not the best by any means.

This was the cost of building a business when you have a family to support. I now get to spend a lot of time with my family, and while it wasn't easy, I still think it was the right decision. Four years of very, very hard work has avoided 30 years of hard work.

<comment><USER9> Thank you for being so open about this. The information helps me a lot. Thanks again.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Just because you have a family doesn't mean that you should thrash your startup ideas. It takes more planning, a deeper commitment to focus on core business building activities and a more selective criteria on what you will work on.

I see it as a plus to have a family to take away the stresses of building a business. It's kept me motivated to hone it on what things I should and should not be doing. I have found that I have done more than I could ever have done had I been single.

We're now in a position to start beta testing with customers with a potential to raising initial funding to identify the right business model.

</comment><comment><USER10> A lot of advice here is about finding time to work on your product on nights and weekends. You also need allocate some time during the day for marketing and communicating with your target customers

</comment><comment><USER11> Ideas worth nothing. Talk to potential customers, try to learn they problem, see if they like your idea of solving their problem. Use "paper and scissors" to build quick and dirty prototype — this is possible while having full time job.

If you idea is too grandiose that is not possible to launch while working full time — find another, smaller idea. Bootstrap, sell - make money, then you will have funds for your big idea.

</comment><comment><USER12> You could save up enough money to the point which you're comfortable not accruing more wealth for the time you think it takes to prove the startup out prior to funding. Finding partners who can do the same can accelerate the time to an MVP. Also, it's possible to start something on the side while keeping your day job.

</comment><comment><USER13> Pick an idea you can work on in the evenings and weekends. This may limit what idea you choose - but if it is your first attempt at this it would be better to choose a small well defined problem anyway to get experience of all the fun of building, marketing and selling something.

</comment><comment><USER14> You can still take a salary with VC funding. That's really the whole point of seed funding. But there's a balance there. If you're taking much more salary than your cofounders, you also take much less equity.

</comment><comment><USER15> 1: You can work and use your salary to fund your startup 2: You can buy a startup and extend 3: Save money and move somewhere cheap</comment>


Visualizing how a population grows to 7 billion. - <AUTHOR> http://www.npr.org/2011/10/31/141816460/visualizing-how-a-population-grows-to-7-billion

<comment><USER2> Here's another visualization focusing on the last 200 years. Doesn't focus on population growth as much as life expectancy, but a far cooler visualization in my book!

Starts about 30 seconds in: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbkSRLYSojo>

</comment><comment><USER3> And on behalf of Australia, I'd like to say a big "well screw you too" to whoever designed that glassware.

<comment><USER4> You mean on behalf of all of Australia's not quite 22 million people? I think it would have been hard to illustrate the growth with liquid, given how few Australians there are.

<comment><USER3> True; I just wish they'd refrained from saying "And here is the rest of the world" while showing five out of six inhabited continents.

Or they could have just drawn us on "Asia" and relabelled it "Asia-Pacific".

<comment><USER5> Considering just Indonesia has more than 10x the population of Australia you could also say Pacific-Australia.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Man, I was hoping that they'd show interesting things in continent vs. continent population dynamics. Like how Christopher Columbus & his diseases pretty much decimated the Americas' population.

<comment><USER7> I did like the population densities at the start.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> One thing for sure, We aren't filling up earth's surface at that speed. I'm agnostic about the other issues surrounding population growth, but the authors would've made more impact if they used real ratios ( like land surface used per person, a certain natural resource consumed per person, etc.)

<comment><USER7> People haven't agreed yet what ratios matter, so I think it's acceptable to focus on the concrete numbers at this point- particularly for the layman, which NPR must consider.

'Which ratios' _is_ a very important question- odds are there are only a handful that will really matter. For example, we seem to be running out of oil, heavy metals and helium a lot faster than we are land.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> Thats a great video, but now I have to pee.

</comment><comment><USER10> I must admit, "visualizing how a population grows" gave me another mental image.

</comment><comment><USER11> If poverty, famine, and disease is already bad in sub-Saharan Africa, and is going to get much, much, worse in the future, at what point can the rest of the world safely wash their hands of the situation and say "you're on your own". If one contry cannot feed and sustain themselves should the rest of the world really carry this burden?

</comment><comment><USER12> Buffering...</comment>


California estimates 25.5M residents will get virus in next 8 weeks - <AUTHOR> https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/19/coronavirus-california-estimates-25point5-million-residents-56percent-of-the-state-will-get-virus-in-next-8-weeks.html <comment><USER2> So basically in 10 weeks the economy will be fucked and everybody will have it regardless of what measures they take.

Anyone else seeing the problem?

<comment><USER3> Most will be asymptomatic or mildly affected. The seriously ill will be treated with the newly approved Chloroquine drug and recover fully in 6 days.

What's the problem again?

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> There's a great epidemic calculator here -> [http://gabgoh.github.io/COVID/index.html](http://gabgoh.github.io/COVID/index.html)

Curious what the true parameters are for this outbreak, R0 must be pretty high.

</comment><comment><USER5> That is quite the estimate. I'd love to see the data behind that number.

<comment><AUTHOR> Back of the envelope:

California had 18 death last I checked. A good estimate for real infections is 800 _current-deaths = 14400 infected [1]. If doubling time is 4 days, that 's 14 doubling periods. so 14400 _ (2^14) = 23,5929,600. I'd guess this is worst case, not likely-case but still terrifying.</comment></comment>


Scrollbar test on hn (Please dont approve this post) - <AUTHOR> I need a pre and scrollable <comment><AUTHOR> avaer 18 days ago [-]

I have some experience with this stuff, and my go-to advice is:

      - Never construct or mutate objects in a loop or recursive call.
      - Preallocate the max of what you'll need at load time, then index into it.
      - Prefer typed arrays over objects.
      - Don't use strings. Work with numbers.
      - Remove function calls.
      - Do not call a function with differently shaped arguments.
      - If the JS engine can't prove a number is a 32 bit int, you'll take a large perf hit.
      - Break out your algo into a worker. Not only does it keep things responsive, but it might actually be faster due to less GC pressure.
      - The web stack is full of frightening gotchas that you'll discover. Recieving large data on a WebSocket can halt your DOM rendering. Leaking a Promise callback can completely blow a function into interpreter mode. And other fun times.

Finally: If you're hand optimizing and not getting sufficient results on your preferred browser, accept that you're screwed. The next browser will break your assumptions. Rethink your algorithm and data flow, or move it elsewhere, like a worker or server. I do agree the tooling for this stuff isn't great, but I found Chrome's line-by-line perf counts to be excellent hints about where you could do better. It's often surprising but obvious in retrospect.</comment>


MVC Podcast Episode 13: Tech Mentorship; MS Vis Studio; Bitcoin; Gigster; More - <AUTHOR> http://mvc-the-podcast.github.io/2015/12/22/episode-13-secret-santas-secret-identities-mentorship.html <comment><AUTHOR> MVC Podcast Episode 13 is up! This is a geek podcast where a university CS instructor (Marty) and a developer at a major tech company (Victoria) talk about the week's tech/geek news, with a focus on topics of interest to computer scientists / programmers.

This week, Victoria and I have a discussion about mentorship in tech; Microsoft open-sourcing Visual Studio; Bitcoin; Yahoo; Gigster; and we give our hot takes on Secret Santa and White Elephant gift exchanges. Check it out, and Happy Holidays!</comment>


IPhone developers aren't stupid. Consumers just know what they want. - <AUTHOR> http://ryanleland.com/2009/11/iphone-developers-arent-stupid-consumers-know-what-they-are-willing-to-pay-for/

<comment><AUTHOR> This is in response to [http://www.quirksmode.org/blog/archives/2009/11/apple_is_not...](http://www.quirksmode.org/blog/archives/2009/11/apple_is_not_ev.html) ( <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=957314> )</comment>


X-3/x-1=x-4/x-5 - <AUTHOR> http://www.bing.com/search?q=x-3/x-1%3Dx-4/x-5&go=&form=QBLH&scope=web&qs=n

<comment><AUTHOR> In other words, bing now has some calculation abilities. MS is running an ad with this particular calculation suggested as a Bing search and a background photo of a blackboard.

Well, as you see, it works. And (I presume) they would like you think about the fact that throwing the same equation at Google does nothing useful (inexplicably, the first result was a page about BSD).

But I wonder how many users of this feature will be familiar with the rules of operator precedence? I admit I read it as:

x-3

\--- = ... << I can't format it right but you get the idea

x-1

After testing it with Google, I went to Alpha, which (unsurprisingly) handled it with aplomb, giving it to me with proper notation as well and making me aware of my mistake. So I tried it as (x-3) / (x-1) = (x-4) / (x-5), which Alpha also handled with Aplomb (11/3 if you are lazy).

However, inputing the latter into Bing (without or without spaces for padding) gave no calculation or result, but just a bunch of (mostly unrelated) search results. Seems rather counter-productive on MS's part.

Apologies if this is excessively trivial.

<comment><AUTHOR> Even weirder...

(x-3)/x-1=(x-4)/x-5 works OK (ie Bing treats it as math); indeed for (x-3)/x-1=x-4/x-5 Bing properly gives both solutions 1/2(5+/-(29^0.5)).

But it absolutely Does Not Like parentheses in denominator (eg x-3/(x-1)=x-4/x-5) on either side of the equation. Clearly, I need to get out more.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> For some reason, it only works for certain combinations of countries and languages. E.g., it works for Argentina: [http://www.bing.com/search?q=x-3%2fx-1%3dx-4%2fx-5&setmk...](http://www.bing.com/search?q=x-3%2fx-1%3dx-4%2fx-5&setmkt=es- AR) but not Chile: [http://www.bing.com/search?q=x-3%2fx-1%3dx-4%2fx-5&setmk...](http://www.bing.com/search?q=x-3%2fx-1%3dx-4%2fx-5&setmkt=es- CL)

<comment><USER4> And not for Turkey..

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Please don't post homework problems to this newsgroup.

<comment><AUTHOR> Oh dear, I hope that's a joke :-/ Maybe I should have done it as a 'tell HN' type post. I thought people would be interested in the depth of the parsing tree.

<comment><USER5> Yes. I thought "newsgroup" would be a giveaway. :-/ No usenetters here, eh?

'course, people may just not like the joke.

<comment><USER6> I had a comp.lang.lisp flashback, so I'll say you did a good job :D

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> FWIW: <http://www.numberempire.com/equationsolver.php> says -1/4. It will only give 11/3 if you explicitly put parentheses: (x-3)/(x-1)=(x-4)/(x-5) . So I believe Bing's result is correct. Based on elementary school order of operations, the implied parentheses on the original equation are: x - (3/x) - 1 = x - (4/x) - 5.

</comment><comment><USER8> I don't see the result in Bing.

alpha direct link: [http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=(x-3)/(x-1)%3D(x-4)/(x-...](http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=\(x-3\)/\(x-1\)%3D\(x-4\)/\(x-5\))

<comment><USER9> Are you outside the USA? I'm in Taiwan and Bing isn't calculating it for me either. It's just returning a bunch of normal search results in Chinese. Maybe calculation only works for queries coming from inside the USA.

<comment><USER10> Well, I'm in India and it does display the calculations for me.

<comment><USER11> I'm in Croatia and it's not returning calculations for me. It seems only select locations got this enabled in the first run...

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> To be fair:

<http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=southernmost+us+capital>

<comment><USER13> Washington, DC is the only US capital.

<comment><USER14> Surely state capitals count as capitals in the US?

<comment><USER13> Those are state capitals, not US capitals. Though I guess you could make the case that America has 3 capitals: U - S - A!

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> An interesting, apparently unintentional, side effect is the exercise in the precedence rules.

Search engines (bing, google, wolfram) get the precedence but are finicky about calculations. Humans (presumable anyway, from the earlier comments) do the calculations but sometimes overlook the precedences. I think it is rather funny.

</comment><comment><USER16> Live! search could do these types of calculations for sometime. It could even handle solving quadratics.

<comment><USER17> Live search had an integrated exclamation point in the name?

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> x = 11/3

<comment> mark-t No, x = -1/4 is correct. Perhaps you should look up the order of operations.

<comment><USER14> I'm getting x = 11/3 as well.

My workings:

(x-3)/(x-1) = (x-4)/(x-5)

(x-3)(x-5) = (x-4)(x-1)

x^2 -8x + 15 = x^2 -5x +4

-8x + 11 = -5x

11 = 3x

x = 11/3

FWIW, wolfram alpha agrees with me.

<comment><USER19> You changed the equation.

You started with

(x-3)/(x-1) = (x-4)/(x-5)

which is not the same as

x - 3/x - 1 = x - 4/x - <USER2>

, the equation in the submission.

<comment><USER14> Haha, thanks - I guess the problem is in my parsing :)</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Should You Be Jealous of Your Dog's Health Insurance? - <AUTHOR> https://priceonomics.com/should-you-be-jealous-of-your-dogs-health/ <comment><USER2> > She could ask how much her treatment will cost, but her doctors won't know. > "We're never told how much things cost,"

This to me was the most baffling thing when I moved to America. How can people accept this? "I'd like to buy this TV/car/plane ticket/bottle of soda/shirt, how much does it cost?" "we don't know, you have to agree to buy it first, then we'll bill you whatever the f we feel like, and you'll just pay up."</comment>


New kind of metal in the deep Earth - <AUTHOR> http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111219112216.htm <comment><USER2> The truly fascinating part of this is how FeO is a conductor at these temperatures and pressures, but ceases to be so when the temperature or pressure drops. So for you computational physics students out there, consider the effects of a current in a moving current where the conductivity is determined by temperature and pressure. That is a simulation that has to take into account the thermodynamics of heat transfer out of the core, the temperature changing effects of constricting magnetic fields, and the effects of shock waves in a fluid in motion.

Basically we don't have the science to describe the behavior of a planetary core made up of this type of material! Is that cool or what.

<comment><USER3> We definitely have the science to describe this.

It just happens to be very complicated. You're right in that it's a mixture of E&M, thermodynamics, and fluid mechanics. Whether it becomes computationally prohibitive to model is something I am unsure of, but may be possible with some simplifying assumptions.

Edit: after a bit more research, I found a paper where, if I follow correctly, they are laying out a framework for creating such a model: <http://arxiv.org/abs/1004.1611>

<comment><USER2> Seriously? Except its not a plasma, its a fluid, and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations don't include (at this stage) electromagnetic forces. Show me a paper that can describe a fluid in motion where the force on each element is computed as a function of the electromagnetic state, the thermal state, and the viscosity state of each other element and I'll show you a candidate for a Nobel prize.

At least in the open literature I haven't seen CFD models that consider the influence of elements beyond a few centimeters, the magnetic forces in the Earth's core move elements meters, if not kilometers, away so the date sets do get very strange, and you have to mix in that if they cool to much or you hit an eddy current and the pressure drops the current gets cut off and the electrodynamic forces stop.

<comment><USER4> So these are the guys to watch then?

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dm4RvDSkUY>

<comment><USER2> If you can blend that with a CFD simulation and then add in the changes in conductivity as the material goes in an out of its conductive and non- conductive modes sure.

Its the latter bit that seems so mind bending to me. MHD simulations start with a plasma and it can be conducting throughout the simulation in all places.

CFD simulations deal with the forces between elements that express as viscosity, turbulent, and laminar flows.

MHD assumes that elements in the flow are _always_ affected by the electro- magnetic forces in play, CFD doesn't account for electro-magnetic forces.

CFD assumes that the elements in the flow are only affected by the forces of nearby elements and not the actions or state of elements that are further away.

An FeO simulation has to combine them somehow, and account for whorls and eddies converting elements from the MHD domain into the CFD domain and then back again.

Anyway, I am looking forward to the papers on this stuff. It combines two areas I enjoy, complex systems and physics!

<comment><USER5> Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) is the combination of Maxwell's Equations in a moving frame of reference and The Navier Stokes Equation. So it includes both the impact of inertial and electromagnetic forces of the flow. MHD is the long wavelength limit of kinetic (particle) plasma theory. The Earths core has in the past been modeled as an MHD fluid but it is usually assumed to be incompressible. I am not aware of compressible models but I have not worked in this field in a decade.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> To save you reaching for gunits or doing any upsetting mental arithmetic, 4000°F == 2204°C, and 3000°F == 1649°C.

<comment><USER7> So... really hot.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> On a related note, I was astonished how many different states water (H20) can be in.

Many more than just solid, liquid, gas.

.

See <http://www.lsbu.ac.uk/water/phase.html>

My ice goes up to ice-eleven (XI) ?

<comment><USER9> Thankfully, it skips IX.

<comment><USER10> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_IX>

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> Disappointed, thought we would be expanding the Periodic Table.

<comment><USER12> The periodic table is pretty much complete at this point, the super-heavy elements after about 112 are very unstable and are probably very rare in nature.

<comment><USER13> There are however even heavier elements that are hypothesised to be stable. In that sense, the periodic table is not complete.

      probably very rare in nature.

I don't know the scope you had in mind, but this seems to suggest these elements may occur naturally on earth. Just to be on the safe side, I want to point out that they don't. They just don't occur at all on earth, outside of laboratories for near infinitesimal amounts of time.

The probability of them occurring naturally in cosmic-scale events is also extremely small. For all practical purposes, probably for at least a thousand year to come, these elements do not exist naturally.

<comment><USER12> Any condition you can create in a lab probably exists somewhere in the universe. There's probably a planet of molten Californium somewhere out there being bombarded by Einsteinium asteroids.

<comment><USER13> That's only true under the assumption of an infinite universe, in which even an event of the smallest probability will take place. Let's stick to the observable universe: it won't happen there.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> Sounds like the kind of thing that would sent Tesla running back to his lab the moment he learned of it.

</comment><comment><USER15> I wonder how the pressures were achieved. I remember a sciam article way back which discussed attempts to create metallic hydrogen in the lab using, in essence, g-clamps. (Only a tiny amount of substance could fit into the apparatus, of course. Still it was amazing that such a simple device could achieve the necessary pressure.)

<comment><USER16> Diamond anvil?

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

<comment><USER15> Yup, looks like the exact thing.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Kind of makes you wonder why Mars doesn't have a magnetic field then?

Its composition is similar to Earth's, and I assume that it's big enough to have similar pressures and temperatures closer to the core?

<comment><USER17> Mars is about half the size of Earth, so it's possible that is too small to make enough of this conversion happen to generate a magnetic field. Also some theories of Mars formation would lead to a different composition of its core due to prior collision(s).

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> Do the electrons really get squeezed closer to their nuclei? I thought that only happened in massive collapsing stars where gravity overpowers everything.

<comment><USER19> There's a continuum. In the cores of stars that continuum bumps up against the physical limits of electron degenerate (white dwarf) matter. But even within ordinary planets like our own solid matter is compressed to a significant degree. For example, even though Earth's inner core is primarily comprised of Iron and Nickel it is compressed to such a degree that it is denser than Lead.

<comment><USER20> Disclaimer: I have no clue what I am talking about

What if gravity is an emergent result from the compression of matter? The greater the compression, the greater the density and gravity?

<comment><USER21> "The greater the compression, the greater the density" is essentially tautological. Of course packing the same amount of stuff in a smaller space makes it more dense. It's true in the same way the statement "Enlarging things makes them bigger" is true.

But as for gravity, no. Gravity is a function of mass. Compressing a body into a smaller space will not increase the gravity you experience at a given distance from the mass's center of gravity (though it will allow you to get closer to the center of gravity). If you magically replaced the Sun with a black hole of equal mass, the planets would continue their orbits undisturbed — even though a black hole's singularity is infinitely dense and the Sun is less dense than the Earth on average.

<comment><USER20> Thanks for that reply!

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> Banish the thought, but for a moment, I thought of dwarves.

</comment><comment><USER23> At 690,000 atmospheres, you can see this too!

</comment><comment><USER24> Heavy.</comment>


Nelson Mandela dies aged 95 - <AUTHOR> http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/05/nelson-mandela-dies-aged-95-south-africa

<comment><USER2> How the commonwealth remembers men when they die, and that too for a day or two.</comment>


Map of Internet Usage By Country - Country size proportioned accordingly - <AUTHOR> http://money.cnn.com/magazines/business2/storysupplement/worldinternet/index.htm

<comment><AUTHOR> I'm wondering if this includes mobile internet usage. Since as luccastera pointed out, Africa is small (yet there mobile usage is comparatively high).

</comment><comment><USER2> Wow! It's so sad to see Africa so thin in the map. I hope the OLPC project will help fatten it up a bit.

</comment><comment><USER3> seems finland is #1 with 75% of the population classified as internet users. that means everyone for me btw (because babies can't possibly be internet users do they?)</comment>


Why Vladimir Putin Suddenly Believes in Global Warming - <AUTHOR> https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-09-29/climate-change-russia-s-oil-and-gas-heartlands-are-under-threat <comment><USER2> Answer: Melting permafrost is causing the physical foundations of oil-and-gas infrastructure to be undermined and weakened.

Also, at least one of the graphs gave 'load bearing capacity' numbers but no units, so that was useless.

<comment><USER3> Thank you for this summary,

But I have also read commentary that says Russia favours warming climates since it increases its living conditions; Russia is a very cold place. Is that complete baloney?

<comment><USER2> The article discussed that; Putin was initially fine with global warming. It's only now that some downsides of permafrost melting have come up that Putin is having second thoughts.

What the general opinion of the Russian population is on global warming, I do not know.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> The title is misleading: The Russian Federation had signed the Paris climate accord in 2016, and has only failed to ratify it. So, it's not "disbelief" but "dragging of feet".

It is annoying that a lot of US media has this kind of a anti-Russian vitriol in its phrasing and lacks basic professionalism in reporting.

(caveat: I couldn't read the full article because there's a paywall.)

</comment><comment><USER5> Alternative explanation: Putin has zero plans to move a finger towards the commitments. The accord is after all - an accord - utterly unenforceable. The political equivalent of "I promise to guarantee to at least think about possibly trying to begin considering doing something about this issue".

For the Western media this is great anti-Trump ammo: "Even Russia is signing the accord, impeach! Riot!". To the Pro-Putin media this is great: "Putin's leadership in tackling this global catastrophe". Domestically, he can point at this every time a Russian is affected by the environment.

</comment><comment><USER6> Maybe, but words and actual action as far as Russia and Putin goes are not always one and the same.

I'm not convinced the kleptocracy in Russia cares about longer term results.

<comment><USER7> Russians are definitely interested in self-preservation. That's the most basic of human instincts.

<comment><USER6> If that instinct was strong enough to push climate change policy I think we would be farther along policy and action wise. It doesn't seem to be.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Caring will do nothing now. It is almost certainly too late to stop the permafrost from melting.</comment>


SublimeText2 plugin - See added, edited or deleted lines since last Git commit - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/jisaacks/GitGutter

<comment><USER2> This is pretty awesome. It will make it so much easier to prepare for code reviews and be able to tell someone about how much time it will take to do one.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yes, this plugin is pretty awesome :) Also note that this is _not_ a work of mine, so any remark, bug report, etc should be filed on Github.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> I am the author, I am glad you guys like it as much as I do. I came here to submit it, but Balto beat me to the punch! :)</comment>


The Mass Exodus of Confederates to Brazil After the Civil War - <AUTHOR> https://www.thevintagenews.com/2018/08/13/confederates-brazil/ <comment><USER2> This is what happens to the people who lose a civil war. Leave or be dealt with harshly for being disloyal.</comment>


North Korea: Could Google open up the dictatorship? - <AUTHOR> http://www.channel4.com/news/north-korea-could-google-open-up-the-dictatorship

<comment><USER2> No. It's not even worth discussing, the possibility is so tiny and slim.</comment>


Tell NH: $1.17 .com at Godaddy - <AUTHOR>

HN, the recent FP article about getting a four letter domain inspired me to find one. A quick google search for godaddy coupons found me the "FALL99" promo code which gave me a .com for $1.17 [1].
The catch is that a credit card must be used (Paypal not accepted) and only one per customer.
I did not create this coupon, I do not profit form it, I just wanted to share it with other HN readers.
EDIT: This coupon expires after 10k registrations or Oct. 5 whichever comes first.
EDIT: Found the info on Godaddy.com:
"Register or transfer any available .COM, .US, .MOBI, .BIZ, .NET, .ORG, .CA, .CO.UK and .IN domain for just $0.99! Applies to the first year only of new or transfer registrations. This offer may not be used for renewals, bulk registrations, premium domains or Sunrise/Landrush domain registrations. Limited to one order per customer, expiring after 10,000 redemptions or on October 5, 2010 (whichever comes first). Discount will be reflected in your shopping cart; cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer or promotion. Customers may not use gift cards, PayPal® or AliPay to redeem this offer. * Plus ICANN fee of 18 cents per domain year when applicable."*
[1] http://livecodes.blogspot.com/ <comment><USER2> Godaddy could be giving free domains and I still would care. Their service is awful, the control panel is a mess and god help you if you have any problems because the support sucks...

<comment><USER3> I've bought all my domains from them for 5+ years and have never had to contact them for anything. I buy a domain, change the nameservers and do everything else from my favorite host.

<comment><USER4> I've had to contact them RE: a domainsbyproxy account. When I had registered my domain using domainsbyproxy, it was done with my GoDaddy username and password. Sometime since then, domainsbyproxy and GoDaddy split(?) and needed separate logins. Aaaaand I didn't have a domainsbyproxy login.

Verifying my identity (thankfully) was a hastle, but it was a hastle I shouldn't have had to go through.

<comment><USER5> This is what I hated the most, especially when I had to cancel domainsbyproxy separately. Not to mention, it is so painful to remember my logins for both services.

<comment><USER4> Yeah, I've since decided to just use a P.O. Box. I found one with 24/7 access for $22/6mo. Cheaper than domain proxying for everything I do.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Embrace failure. Get out and Do Something. - <AUTHOR> http://ceedubs.github.com/blog/2012/01/11/embrace-failure-get-out-and-do-something/

<comment><USER2> I really like this post. It definitely speaks to me. I also like the fact that you're embracing your fear and posting it on HN for all to see. It's great to see you take action.

Being a perfectionist, I sometimes stop for fear of criticism and more importantly, failure. I literally have a chat with myself in my head. I need to tell myself that it's good enough and that if it fails, I can fix it or move on.

Perhaps it is this that the idea of the Lean Startup has also piqued my interest. It is both horrifying and exhilarating to fail fast. Unfortunately for me, unlike you, I have yet to take action.

<comment><AUTHOR> There is no time like now :)

Notice that my actions weren't diving into my own startup. Maybe I'll get there some day. Any action is better than no action, even if it is small and/or doesn't "succeed."

You have already told HN that you struggle with the same things I do. What is a next action that you could take?</comment></comment>


History of SQLite in the Browser (2014) - <AUTHOR> https://nolanlawson.com/2014/04/26/web-sql-database-in-memoriam/ <comment> Lx1oG-AWb6h_ZG0 I feel like there's some missing context here: the late 2000s/early 2010s were also when the nosql craze was really taking off: Cassandra was open sourced in 2008, MongoDB came out in 2009 and spawned the "MEAN stack" (remember that?)

Using SQL was extremely unfashionable then, so it's no surprise that developers at Mozilla/Oracle (and even Google and Microsoft) were not keen on adding a sql stack.

</comment><comment><USER2> Please add (2014) to the title.

Back then, the latest plot twist in local storage hadn't happened: [https://www.theregister.com/2020/03/26/apple_relax_were_not_...](https://www.theregister.com/2020/03/26/apple_relax_were_not_totally/)

</comment><comment><USER3> I really think this was more about crippling the browser experience to benefit native apps and P2P apps. Supposedly Sqlite, which is widely revered as one of the best engineered pieces of software maybe ever made, doesn't have an "alternative implementation" so it can't be used, but some guy at ORACLE comes up with a lackluster nosql solution and we're all good?! Not buying it...</comment>


The Surprising Role of Government Agencies Behind Apple's Innovation - <AUTHOR> http://torgronsund.com/2014/11/29/government-apple-innovation/

<comment><USER2> What does it mean that the click-wheel has an arrow from RRE, CERN?

I first heard about that sort of control mechanism from Cooper Interaction Design's work with the Sony Passport entertainment system. See [http://archive.visualstudiomagazine.com/channels/web/builder...](http://archive.visualstudiomagazine.com/channels/web/builder/archives/1998_08/feature/acside1.asp) for a picture from 1998.

According to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPod_click_wheel](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPod_click_wheel) , "It is not widely known that Apple did not develop the click wheel; Synaptics came up with the design for the device."

I don't agree with the logic behind "Hence a significant portion of Apple's profits should be going back to the U.S government to provide returns to taxpayers for the investments that they have made in the past".

It's easy to recenter the things to IBM, Intel, or AT&T - all of who also developed techniques that are required for a modern iPhone, like microprocessors and Unix. Doesn't that mean that a significant portion of Apple's profits should go to those companies as well?

And ... huh? They attribute "microprocessor" to DARPA? DARPA was ARPA until March 1972. Quoting Wikipedia: "Three projects delivered a microprocessor at about the same time: Garrett AiResearch's Central Air Data Computer (CADC), Texas Instruments (TI) TMS 1000 (1971 September), and Intel's 4004 (1971 November)." \-- all are pre-DARPA.

Also, CERN is on there twice. CERN is not a US organization. Therefore, that logic also demands that CERN receive part of Apple profits.

The underlying philosophy seems to be that we owe much to our predecessors, so we should be obligated to pay the current version of the same organization. I disagree with it, as it seems like an obligation that can never be discharged.</comment>


AngularJS Antipatterns and Pitfalls - <AUTHOR> http://nathanleclaire.com/blog/2014/04/19/5-angularjs-antipatterns-and-pitfalls/

<comment><USER2> What is even considered overuse of event broadcasting and listening? I disagree completely with this being an anti-pattern. It is very effective and it helps encapsulate code and separate out concerns very well.

For example, if you are polling for new data, it is MUCH cleaner to broadcast the event and let each directive react and change their own state. In other words, each directive should be in charge of their own state. It is not the poller's responsibility to understand who's state that it needs to mutate.

<comment><USER3> While I think your use case for events is clearly a good one, I've also seen the pattern abused, e.g. a widget opens a dialog selector and the selector fires an event to transmit the selection rather than just returning a promise that it resolves.

Events seem the perfect fit for pub/sub like you describe where there is a one to many relationship, but the pattern does seem abused by people who use it for a one to one communication between parts of the code. Calling it an anti- pattern is perhaps a bit too harsh and detracts from the valid uses. Though, I am glad the author brought it up as too many events in the system can make it challenging to reason about.

<comment><USER4> That shouldn't even be a Promise imo. That should be an expression on your directive that is called with the selection.

`on-select=handleSelection( selectedItem )` or something.

<comment><USER5> I also don't think a promise makes much sense, if we're talking about the same sort of widget. For a "selector", where the whole purpose is selecting a thing, I think that even better than that would be to use ng-model (or something similar). Which nearly comes back full circle to the original $emitting an event scenario, except instead the other side would $watch (rather than $on, and avoiding the emit/broadcast part on the directive's side totally).

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> I completely disagree with the assertion that controllers should be as lean as possible, but I agree that the specific example that he gives is atrocious.

When it comes to controllers, I only have a few rules:

1\. Never, EVER use $scope.$digest or $scope.$apply in any controller method. If you find yourself needing this, then you're missing a call in a spot higher up the stack ( event handler, websocket callback, etc.. ).

2\. $timeout is acceptable if you legitimately need a delay - don't use it for control flow, ever. $evalAsync can be useful for coalescing multiple calls to a function into one during a digest cycle.

3\. Minimal DOM manipulation. I will not say there's never a use case for DOM manip, but it should _not_ be your first instinct most of the time. If it is, then take a step back and grab some coffee, go for a walk, and then look again. Often times, I'll use a variable instead and add a watcher on it in my directive to do the DOM manip. One can argue that it's needless overhead having the watcher, however I feel it's more in the spirit of Angular and does not contribute excessive overhead. If it does, then you can start making optimizations in the future after it's been proven that they're actually a problem.</comment>


Remains of the murdered Romanovs 'authentic' - <AUTHOR> https://www.dw.com/en/russia-remains-of-the-murdered-romanovs-authentic/a-44700092 <comment><USER2> My son asked me the other night how long we were going to live which took me down the Oldest_people[0] rabbit-hole on wikipedia. On the page for Jeanne_Calment[1] I found this interesting line:

"She considered the most important historical event in her lifetime to have been the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the execution of the Russian imperial family, a view shared by many fellow centenarians."

Goes to show just how impactful this act must have been.

[0] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oldest_people](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oldest_people) [1] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeanne_Calment](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeanne_Calment)

<comment><USER3> I can only imagine, but one thing that's really striking to me is how incredibly long the Soviet Union lasted. There have been a lot of awful things that have happened in history, but they tend to go as rapidly as they come especially when it comes to major powers in modern times. For instance the entire era of Nazi Germany was a mere 12 years from start to finish! The Soviet Union lasted for 69 years.

And the USSR itself was a communistic nation where the government even thinking you said the wrong thing was enough to get disappeared. And tens of millions citizens were killed by this government in its efforts to maintain itself. And then there was the fact that the economic system itself was failing as evidenced from decades of completely unnecessary shortages on pretty much everything. There was a joke within the Soviet Union that the only thing that's permanent within the union are temporary shortages. Of course, again, say such a joke to the wrong person and get disappeared.

Imagine living your entire life from birth to your sixties under such a system. I find it remarkable how little focus is given to things like lessons from the USSR as opposed to e.g. lessons from the Nazis.

<comment><USER4> I think more comparable with Nazism would be Stalinizm. It didn't last that long(although the horrors done to the Soviet people in that short time are unimaginable). Most of Soviet Union's history and the Cold War is relatively calm if I just subjectively compare to our times.

<comment><USER5> Mass slaughter started well before Stalin, so at least 30+ years. What followed was calm compared to Stalin, or to North Korea, but nevertheless you wouldn't want to compare it to saner parts of the world.

<comment><USER6> When are you saying the slaughter started? 30 years pre-Stalin takes you back to before communist rule by my estimate, however there are a variety of points you can measure from.

<comment><USER5> Slaughter started with Lenin (not even counting the Civil War), so from the revolution to 1953 give you a bit over 30 years, give or take.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> There is a great book on the Romanovs by Montifiore which covers the grisly end and the events leading up to it.

It's well worth reading his other books on Russia, particularly Young Stalin as it covers the same time period and gives a good sense of the chaos and confusion of the revolution. [https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/22/books/review/the- romanovs...](https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/22/books/review/the- romanovs-1613-1918-by-simon-sebag-montefiore.html)

</comment><comment><USER7> > Researchers exhumed Nicholas's father Alexander III — himself assassinated > in 1881 — to prove "they are father and son."

Alexander III was Nicholas II's father. He died in 1894 of illness (I don't see any hint of assassination). The Alexander who was assassinated in 1881 was Nicholas II's grandfather, Alexander II. Which body got exhumed?

</comment><comment><USER8> In Yekaterinburg lies the "Church on the blood", an impressive edifice with portraits of the Romanov. The museum beneath the church has many details of their lives and how they got executed. It is a place not to miss and a traumatic experience, for who wants to understand Russian history.

</comment><comment><USER9> Somewhat related: I remember it being a little disturbing to learn that during this period (and for a long time before) the leaders of the most powerful countries were related.

Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, and King George V of the United Kingdom were first cousins. Not to mention leaders of Norway, Denmark, and others.

Considering that, it's almost surprising how _stable_ the time was.

<comment><USER10> Stable...until it went completely bonkers in WW1. The flipside of "stability" is often "unable to change course when something bad happens". The fundamental problem in WW1 is nobody on any side willing to admit this wasn't working for them. In France the and U.K., they could have electoral upheavals. In Russia, Austro-Hungary, Germany, and the Ottoman Empire, they monarchies were all eliminated either during WW1 or immediately after, in large part because they couldn't change course. Stability is only a virtue if you're not screwing up.

<comment><USER11> > Stable...until it went completely bonkers in WW1

Even WW1 was stable compared to some of the all in brawls that plagued Europe, at least you knew who was on which side for the most part. By comparison look at the Thirty Years War: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirty_Years'_War#Involvement](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirty_Years'_War#Involvement)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> Every year in (private) school we watched Nicholas and Alexandra. The grade school kids were sent out before the ending.

<comment><USER13> Why every year? That seems excessive.

<comment><USER12> Don't know. Probably to instill in us the dangers of communism.

<comment><USER14> Of course, the liberal revolution in France took the same step.

They had trials, but it really just came down to, 'The king is guilty of having been king.' The royal family is an existential threat to the new government.

<comment><USER15> In both instances, there was a civil war with one side having the royal family arrested, and the other side fighting to free them and reestablish the monarchy. Eliminating the royal family imply there is no going back possible, which must erode significantly the will to fight the civil war, no?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Too late to disprove the several Anastasia pretenders, though: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Duchess_Anastasia_Nikola...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Duchess_Anastasia_Nikolaevna_of_Russia)

</comment><comment><USER16> _Nicholas II, his German-born wife and their five children were shot by Bolsheviks as a consequence of the October Revolution_

They were not "shot as a consequence of". They were deliberately murdered under direct orders from Lenin, Dzerzhinsky, et al.

They were all brought together in a room and were shot and _stabbed_ in a process that took about _20 minutes_. Their bodies were then desecrated and disposed of.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Execution_of_the_Romanov_famil...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Execution_of_the_Romanov_family#Execution)

<comment><USER6> He was a terrible leader. Racist and horrifically anti Semitic, aggressive, incompetent as a military leader and in domestic policy. The number of deaths directly attributable to him is right up there with most the other Russian leaders. This doesn't justify what happened to him, but certainly helps explain it.

<comment><USER17> >Racist and horrifically anti Semitic

Just like basically everyone else at the time.

<comment><USER6> To be clear, his anti-semitism extended to support of murderous pogroms. This wasn't common elsewhere.

<comment><USER17> [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hep- Hep_riots](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hep-Hep_riots)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti- Catholicism_in_the_United...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti- Catholicism_in_the_United_Kingdom)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dechristianization_of_France_d...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dechristianization_of_France_during_the_French_Revolution)

<comment><USER6> The first and last are 100 years earlier and the second two relate to catholics.

I may be missing your point but you don't give any context to those sources.

<comment><USER17> Yes, catholics. Why does it matter? Persecution is persecution, be it against jews, catholics, protestants, muslims, atheists, whatever.

Also, you're saying "100 years earlier" as if that's a long timespan in history. I know, the USA is not much older than that, but in Europe, 100 years is nothing.

And considering that ~40 years after the last Russian pogroms there was this thing called "the Holocaust", I'm not really convinced that antisemitism was a thing of the past in Western Europe either.

<comment><USER6> You are right, it's still there and does periodically make it into the news (eg the U.K. Labour Party is still struggling with anti-semitism this week). [https://www.google.co.nz/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/politics/...](https://www.google.co.nz/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/politics/2018/jul/17/labour- agrees-to-fresh-antisemitism-consultation-after-stormy-debate)

The cited persecution of Catholics was and is still undoubtably, but it things happening around the turn of the 20th century in Britain really weren't of the same nature as what was happening in Russia, not at all. British weren't raping and killing Catholics in massive waves of concerted violence with state involvement and approval and that's exactly what was happening in Russia around that time. 100 years is relatively short time but I definitely argue that a lot has changed and the level of violence is declining. Pinker has some good article on the subject of violence but which notably don't say anything about violence toward small groups, though say a lot about the larger picture.

[https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/steven-pinker- thi...](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/steven-pinker-this-is- historys-most-peaceful-time-new-study-not-so-fast/)

[https://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/pinker07/pinker07_index.htm...](https://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/pinker07/pinker07_index.html)</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Ask HN: 3 Ideas (with slides) for YC W10 - What do you think? - <AUTHOR> http://ycombinator-w10-cofounder-search.tumblr.com/ <comment><USER2> I am going to pull this out because I feel it might not get seen otherwise:

<http://www.slideshare.net/YCW10/cutbots-presentation-1946585>

Read this presentation. It is, far and away, the best pitch I have ever seen.

I have sold to, approximately, these customers for the last 3 years. Once a little blog none of you have ever heard of got the notion "Hey, gals, lets have a scrapbooking competition with a bingo theme, hey, this guy does bingo" and that one mention sold a week's worth of software.

Passionate customers. Willing to spend money. On IP. With zero cost of reproduction. On a recurring basis. With the added benefit that the hardware integration poses a competitive moat, and increases customer lock-in, not that you'll need it because they are a fiercely loyal tribe if you treat them right.

If I had $25k burning a hole in my pocket, I would be contacting you to discuss angel terms as we speak.

<comment><USER3> I know your bingo card creator is your baby.. but.. have you considered applying with him? When all is said and done, the upside seems larger in the physical goods space.

<comment><USER2> The upside you speak of can't offer me anything that I value which I don't already possess, but the changes in my life I would have to make to have a shot at it would cost me dearly.

<comment><USER3> I appreciate your self-awareness and frankness. Thanks.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Here's the deal: I really like your ideas ... what bothers me, however, is that I can't tell much _about you_ from this blog.

It's curious that you're hiding your name (I guess if you're worried about losing your current job, that's understandable). A little more personal data (maybe even a picture) would be nice.

If I was going to get in bed with a co-founder (figuratively speaking), I would need to know more than those bullet points. I'd even go so far as to say that it's more important than the idea itself.

<comment><AUTHOR> Callmeed, I completely agree. The quality of the cofounder is paramount. My goal is to find people who are interested in the concepts and then share more info about myself. As I mentioned on the site, my current job is awesome and I'm trying to fly under the radar a bit. Great point though.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Your cut-boxes idea is best. I would suggest removing the other two slideshows/presentations because I feel they weaken your overall pitch. Investors want to know you're focused, confident and dedicated to your idea. They wont necessarily get that impression if you're offering a download of your brain. But good luck!

<comment><USER6> The YC application does specifically have an entry for alternate ideas, so at least in this case it's probably a plus if anything. Plus, pg makes a big point of the way startup ideas change over time, so I doubt that being focused on one idea is too much of a point for him.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> I like your ideas. The back of the napkin math is a little excessive sometimes: I can do the math that if your averaging the same amount per user and your users increase by 10x, then your revenue does as well. I don't need to see what 100x would mean, or 500x.

The excessive use of the handle YCW10 loses credibility in my book and adds an air of pretentiousness.

<comment><AUTHOR> joez,

re: back of envelope math, I concur, but I showed it to some people who were fairly bright and they commented that the rev potential wasn't called out, when it actually was more modestly. People tend to flip though these quickly so its spelled out a bit pedantically.

re: name - just wanted something generic that also referenced the goal. Happy to change it if pg or anyone else has a problem. No pretensions intended.

<comment><USER7> Just got home, took a deeper look and had a few more thoughts.

I think the greatest part about these products is the "viral" (for lack of a better word) ability. Someone with a new necklace will have all their friends asking about it... show their 10 BFFs. Same goes for cutbot and name tags. (See: [http://blog.businessofsoftware.org/2009/07/seth-godins- talk-...](http://blog.businessofsoftware.org/2009/07/seth-godins-talk-from- business-of-software-2008.html)) This is something that will be worth noting to people.

I noticed you were pretty specific with what you wanted in a co-founder on cutbots. Did you ever consider that you'd want someone with negotiation/supply chain management skills who has done deals [possibly in China] before? Or if you have before personally, even better. Just throwing that out there.

Lastly, a good way to get some attention and hype when your more finalized would be via <http://www.kickstarter.com/>. These seem like projects people would want to fund (in return for something... maybe first dibs?).

Good luck!

<comment><AUTHOR> Joez, Good point about the social nature of the product. It is referenced obliquely on the Joolme slide, but also stands true for the other two. I'll work on that.

I would certainly consider someone with Supply chain experience. I have some knowledge by virtue of my job, but it would be a welcome addition.

Kickstarter is a great idea! It would be cool to "Syndicate" that and a YC round:)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Hi. I'm formerly of both startups and Artwork Automation tech. Your idea sounds great & good luck with finding a co-founder.

@YC W10 I have a few comments

1\. CutBots :: Installed base of cutting machines

Can you offer a service to post the results to your customers who don't have a cutter? Frequent or On Demand customers may still want a discreet device but experimenters may be prepared to wait for the post.

\--

2\. Established Competition

Shapeways.com and others. Their big trade is vanity bracelets.

\--

3\. Suggested Reading

Crossing the Chasm - Moore. Specifically this book details the difficulty of going from the Hackers who search for your "Hack CriCut" to the Early Majority who do scrap-books. The Early Majority will need specialist tactics and Moore's Whole Product solution.

\--

4\. Business to Business

My Artwork Automation tech was B2B rather than your B2C focus. I would say that you should consider refocussing away from customer facing to White Label provision.

Consider that anyone can now have Nike shoes made with your own name on them[1], and lots of people have heard of Nike versus whoever did their implementation for them.

Try to imagine selling your tech to say a Crafts Magazine where the magazine can promote their cutter tool and you provide the technology & delivery and take a cut of any transactions.

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

[1] [http://missgeeky.com/2008/04/03/nike-id-design-your-own- shoe...](http://missgeeky.com/2008/04/03/nike-id-design-your-own-shoes/)

</comment><comment><USER9> Great ideas. I'm particularly impressed with the term "web 3d". The PR will just roll in -- especially in "today's economy" -- press will love to discuss Americans who actually (1) make things and (2) sell those things.

I've had a very nebulous idea that's been percolating in my mind: software designed for small machine shops to organize their work. It never occurred to me to organize hobby folk. awesome.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yeah I see a lot of reporters going gaga over Web 3.D because of the physical production aspect and the way it fits in with the whole numbering scheme. I see as many readers of this site rolling their eyes though.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> I love your Joolme idea (great name, too). Teenage girls are an underserved market (online, at least) and I can see its potential. I have 2 sisters that used to buy costume jewelry all the time. Even as adults, they still do.

The potential problem I see is the social aspect of trying on the jewelry physically and "chatting / giggling / discussing" it. You alluded to some aspect of social design but will it be enough?

P.S. - you might want to do a private registration on your domain names, unless you used a pseudonym or a friend's name :) [edit: since you want to remain anonymous]

<comment><USER11> Ever heard of candy? My cousin has a big zip lock completely filled with brightly colored beads. She and my brother would sit and make herself, him, or their friends bracelets. This can be time consuming, but she clearly enjoyed it.

My point is that making can be _more_ social than shopping.

ps: That paper cutting slide show it great. I'm sure I'll imitate the style next time I need to create one.

<comment><USER10> Making something together physically is fun but online? Not so sure.

<comment><USER11> Oh, I see your point now. I hadn't viewed that slide show yet and thought it was more like the paper cutting pitch. I think it could work, but more likely licensed and sold to a store like Claire's.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> This is a great way to go about getting cofounders. Love it. Good luck.

</comment><comment><USER13> i like your style. very curious to know if this pans out for you.

i'm looking for a co-founder, too. my current project may not overlap with your interests, but i recently showed off a neat diy CNC mill at Maker Faire. maybe the networking and idea exchange would be useful for both of us. i will shoot you some email.

<comment><AUTHOR> thanks diN0bot. Please shoot me an email, would love to hear about the CNC.

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> I like how you think beyond the usual social network web stuff. I also like how you identify problems in existing markets, sexy or not - way to go, imho.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks moe, I love twitter and music as much as the next guy, but I think there are hundreds of other cool uses for technology. Especially things like the CNC paper cutters that you can get at Hobby shops for $250. One of the founders of MakerBot has a cool line that went "Steve Wozniak couldn't have predicted 4Chan in his wildest dreams when he was building the original Apple" I think we are at a similar stage with these devices. Will be interesting to watch, even more interesting to build!

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> I'd find #3 more interesting if it were the 'Threadless Tees of Jewelry'

<comment><USER16> I think esty.com may already have become that.

</comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> My main interest is combining the web with custom manufacturing technology to help people build anything they can imagine. I'm also interested in ideas usually discussed under the banner of "Web Meets World" "Internet of Things".

In short I really like the internet and plastic. I'd like to combine those two things in satisfying ways.

</comment><comment><USER17> You have a comma out of place on slide #10. Just saying. :-)</comment>


Show HN: Shop – a LAMP website for your own private shopping list - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/JamesSCrook/shop <comment><AUTHOR> No, it's not a joke - LOL! It's a real website that I wrote (a) to address a real need, and (b) to learn some new skills.

I did advise, _" shop is not a particularly complicated project. If you're interested in these technologies, I recommend developing it yourself. I made the source code available in case there are people who need it, but don't have the inclination and/or time to develop it themselves"._

This was meant to convey the fact that it's a rather modest achievement - probably two orders of magnitude less complex than some of my other stuff. I probably should have added "for N users" in the subject, though...

</comment><comment><USER2> The author requests that we link to the page at [https://jamesscrook.github.io/shop](https://jamesscrook.github.io/shop) instead of the actual GitHub repo.

</comment><comment><USER3> Is this an April Fools joke? I honestly can't tell.</comment>