Grinnmarr · HackerTrans

Grinnmarr

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Ask HN: Why did you kill this thread?

news.ycombinator.com

1 pointsby Grinnmarrvor 17 Jahren-1 comments

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vor 16 Jahrendiscuss

I had mine done here http://www.elliseye.com/ in 2001 or 2002. At first my vision was 20/15 in one eye and 20/10 in the other and I felt like the bionic man. This over correction lasted about a year before it started to degrade and I am now worse than 20/20 I imagine. I can still pass a driver's test, spend hours everyday in front of a monitor, see well at night etc. My only complaint is the slight starburst effect around bright glowing objects at night but I consider that a small price to pay. To this day I consider it the best money I have ever spent.

vor 16 Jahrendiscuss

Agreed. I don't like the politics of this "scandal" like many in this community, but this IS a serious fight AND I believe the stakes are even higher than many here on my side seem to think. It is how the battle is to be fought that concerns me as victory is my goal. This editorial, with all due respect to the EFF which I mostly support, is ultimately trite, pendantic, and shallow despite casual appearance to the contrary. This isn't just about freedom of speech. It is about putting a roof over our children's heads and food in their bellies. "You've got to get mad. You've gotta say 'I'm a human being God damn it, my life has value!'

vor 16 Jahrendiscuss

Bah. Amazon didn't cave to political pressure, it made a sound business decision. While it may offend your politics this was about the bottom-line. It isn't Jeff Bezos' job to make polical statements with other peoples money, he has enough of his own for that. This isn't a privately held firm we are talking about folks. I doubt Amazon's PR team had to give this more than 5 minutes thought before calling the board. Whining about Amazon not fighting the fight is to either sorely misunderstand the nature of business OR a veiled attempt to promote anti-capitalism rhetoric. Liberal Capitalism (or however closely we approximated that during the last century) is in its death throes. The revolution is upon us and the bastards are winning. But to whine about Amazon acting in their own self interest? Wake up! As much as I love the Amazonians (as they refer to themselves) and have had the pleasure of gracing their halls on several occasions you need to realize that in the true scheme of things Amazon and the Federal elite are on the same side in this war. And it isn't the side many of you think you are on. But the power structure keeps selling the dream and enough of the poor and down trodden keep buying it up.

If you want to attack Amazon's decision, then you must attack the forces and structure behind it. If this was a game, Amazon made the right move. Don't hate the player, hate the game. Please.

vor 16 Jahrendiscuss

Methinks the lady doth protest too much. If she has as big a problem with this as she claims then she has greater challenges facing her then learning how to set (or correct) a boundary. Seriously. I was recently fired by a client after rejecting her sexual advances. Maybe I'll make a blog post bragging about my animal magnetism to assuage my disappointment over my professional failure.

vor 16 Jahrendiscuss

No matter how brilliant one is, its ridiculously hard to know what you don't know.

This cannot be overstated. And when ego is the cause...oy vey! I believe that one of the greatest intellectual challenges to overcome when one over identifies as being "brilliant" is the, oft youthful, focus on pedantry. How embarrassingly ironic to display one's ignorance as a result of flaunting one's intellect. As a recovering pendant well in to those years that separate true youth from "decidedly middle-aged" let me sincerely recommend to some of our (mostly) younger members that they put down the Bertrand Russell long enough to pick up some William Blake.

  When used properly, I have found that one of the most powerful phrases I can use to build confidence, trust, and credibility with a client is "I don't know."

vor 16 Jahrendiscuss

I think your perception that the entertainment industry is in anyway a meritocracy is naive. There are always exceptions to the rule but for the most part it is still a "it's not what you know it's who you know" industry. This discussion reminds me of one of my favorite all time bumper stickers: "Real Musicians Have Day Jobs."

vor 16 Jahrendiscuss

I agree with many of the other respondents that you are grossly overstating the role the names played. Additionally, while I agree wholeheartedly that "Mint" is the better name, when considering the role the company names played (however large or small) in the eventual outcome, I think one needs to weigh Wesabe's poor choice of name at least as equally significant as Mint's good choice if not much more.

vor 16 Jahrendiscuss

It's their job to try and collect as much as they can. Even if your contact is friendly and sympathetic, if they think you can pay on better terms than you offer they will hammer you. On the flip side it is your job to be honest about your situation and get them to accept terms that you can actually meet. Other people have given better and more specific advice but the bottom line is they will take what they can get. No hard feelings. Business is business.

vor 16 Jahrendiscuss

LASER eye surgery. Best money I ever spent.

vor 16 Jahrendiscuss

I can't really comment on the viability/marketability of your product concept, but I will offer this very important, if not somewhat trite, piece of advice. If you are going to try to sell something to designers and use words like aesthetics in your sales copy, you will most likely fail if your own presentation is not aesthetically pleasing. Others have given some great suggestions below. I just want to emphasize that before you work to send any traffic to your site you should greatly enhance the look.

vor 16 Jahrendiscuss

This is a lot of fun but the great variety of results I received left me without any sense of who I may actually write like. I analyzed a series of correspondence, all written within several weeks, and similar in tone, and I was told that I write like: Dan Brown, James Joyce, Isaac Asimov, Stephen King and Douglas Adams. Anyway, I love the concept. Please add Robert Louis Stevenson (Strange Case) to your collection. Thank you for the narcissistic pleasure :D

vor 16 Jahrendiscuss

In the UK "punting" is an oft used slang term for frequenting prostitutes. A "punter" is akin to a "john" here in the states.

vor 16 Jahrendiscuss

I can totally relate. I spend way too much time helping my Mom which aggravates the hell out of me because she has been using a PC since Win 3.1 and she still can't remember the easiest of tasks. Thankfully she has friends to help her with her financial reporting (she is treasurer for 2 non-profits) and her desktop publishing, but no matter how many times I tell her to stop installing free cursors and such it seems I need to clean her system out regularly. She is like the lady who calls tech support only to discover that her PC isn't even turned on lol But I could never charge her. She is my Mom. Now my sister on the other hand pays too many consultants too much but only wants free advice from me which I give casually. The few times she has asked me to do serious work she has balked even when I low balled her on the price. So she continues to spend too much for too little because she won't hire her little brother.

Friends ask for help all the time and I just dispense advice. I am not creating anything for free unless I have an emotional investment in the project and honestly I have always been uncomfortable charging friends. The friendship is what matters and a formal biz relationship can really stress it out at times. If I were you I would make it a policy to not work for family and friends and then make exceptions on a case by case basis if you feel inclined.

vor 16 Jahrendiscuss

I'm not sure if you are being snarky or just ignorant, but the "The Artist..." is the commonly accepted usage and descriptor http://www.citypages.com/1999-06-23/news/the-people-formerly...

vor 16 Jahrendiscuss

If I was at my wits end, I would start calling in to Google corporate until I got someone who could actually help. Don't get irate, be pleasant. If you must talk lawsuit, do so without threatening. Also, re-read the fine print of the Google checkout contract before calling.

vor 16 Jahrendiscuss

According to Dave Itzkoff, an employee and frequent contributor to the NYT, this is a hoax. http://twitter.com/ditzkoff/status/15847765293

vor 16 Jahrendiscuss

I have a couple of friends that managed large software development projects with global teams, one while at Microsoft and the other while at Autodesk. They both told me that outsourcing work to India was not seen as a way to cut costs but to instead acquire talent. That being said, as a small business person with limited development skills I do save money by outsourcing to India. But I take the time to thoroughly qualify my contractors, develop proper specs, and establish realistic expectations. I may spend significantly more time managing an overseas project than if I was working with a local or even American developer, but I currently have more time to invest than money. So there are the opposite ends of the spectrum...I imagine the middle ground can get pretty convoluted ;)

vor 16 Jahrendiscuss

Is there anywhere in the country where AT&T's network is actually better than Verizon? As much as I love my smartphone (incredible) its best feature is a reliable network with great coverage. Forgive me if I sound like an ad but I live in the heart of the city of San Diego and my friends on AT&T have spotty coverage right here in the heart of a metropolis.

vor 16 Jahrendiscuss

I just wish I had enough rep to down vote your comment :P His posts and complete transparency about growing his business epitomize the type of community contribution that brings me back to this site time and time again.

vor 16 Jahrendiscuss

"...All those moments will be lost in time; like tears in rain. Time to die."

FYI Rutger Hauer actually wrote that last line in to the script. Most memorable scene in the movie if you ask me.