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PaulMorganon Ask HN: Taxpayer funded open source?

The government picks winners all the time when awarding contracts and has a lot of experience doing so (when the process is done right). For Arpanet they picked a winner with BBN.

PaulMorganon Ask HN: Taxpayer funded open source?

Guess Arpanet was a huge mistake because it was government funded.

PaulMorganon Obama, computerize health care records

It's complicated (I work with Medicare Part D prescription transactions).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_medical_record http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_health_record http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_Insurance_Portability_an... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicare_Prescription_Drug,_Imp...

PaulMorganon Ask HN: Inheritance?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Is-a versus http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Has-a. Usually the "perfect" tree isn't really all that perfect.

PaulMorganon Ask HN: I could really use some business advice.

Have you thought about other sales channels - Mail Order Catalog, Physical Stores, Licensing or Distribution to other Retailers?

$800/day or $300K/year isn't limping - it's a nice little business which might or might not have growth potential. Do some market research and answer those questions CyberFonic asked.

If you're in the USA contact the SBA. The SBA SCORE program is great for getting help with growing a business.

PaulMorganon Ask HN: Flex or JavaScript. Which way to go?

The client wants the new part done in Flex.

The Customer is always right - use Flex.

PaulMorganon Ask HN: In which modern language/environment/framework is programming a joy?

Why pick one or two? All of them are a joy. I get paid to play with software and computers.

PaulMorganon Wooing the Geeks: Smart Hiring Strategies

Trilogy hasn't set the world on fire (insurance subsidiary?): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trilogy_(company)

Epiphany got acquired: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epiphany,_Inc.

Byron Krug moved on: http://www.linkedin.com/ppl/webprofile?action=vmi&id=318...

Chris Ostroot appears to still be recruiting for Trilogy and 'successfully tapped 33 students from Carnegie Mellon's Class of 1998 -- more than any other technical employer recruited from that university this year. In August, at Trilogy's annual awards banquet (which Trilogians call "prom"), she was named the company's "Superstar" and was awarded a 1999 Saab convertible.' from http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/21/insanity.html?page=0%...

PaulMorganon The search for a nearby second Earth

In light years Alpha Centauri is right next door, just down the street, within spitting distance...nearby.

PaulMorganon Employee Performance Reviews Do More Harm Than Good

I once worked with a manager who was very up front about using performance reviews to retaliate against any subordinate who crossed her. Luckily she wasn't my boss.

PaulMorganon Salesforce.com API Gotchas Part 2: Custom Fields

Nope. It's Windows 2000 which is locked for admin and can't be updated. I have trouble even getting Acrobat and Flash updated.

PaulMorganon Why journalists deserve low pay

They SHOULD be low-paid if all they do is act as a stenographer and just repeat verbatim what is said by the anonymous sources of power.

PaulMorganon Ask HN: Math behind Algorithms

Look for any book on Finite Mathematics.

PaulMorganon Salesforce.com API Gotchas Part 2: Custom Fields

I'm required to use IE6 as this is a work computer and the company's standard is IE6 which can't/won't be changed. This web site won't allow me to view the content as I'm using the IE6 browser.

PaulMorganon Code Considered Harmful

"It is a scientific fact that, statistically, bug density does not change with programming language. So, a denser language means fewer bugs."

I don't agree based on my experience coding APL which is a very dense language. Maybe you get fewer coding bugs with a denser langugage but you encounter other much worse problems. Code you can't understand. Code that doesn't match the requirements. Code you have to rewrite if you ever want to change it. I prefer verbose code.

PaulMorganon Close to the Problem

His premise that the further down the list the closer you are to a problem doesn't apply to all problems. I'm not closer to the problem of Global Warming that the President - probably the opposite.

PaulMorganon Office Walls = Dry-Erase Board

You can buy 8x4 white panelboard at Lowes or Home Depot for about $15 a panel. The surface can get burned off if you use some caustic cleaners but it's cheap to replace.

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&prod...

PaulMorganon I'm leaving my day job. But my CEO doesn't want me to leave.

How about a retainer agreement? They purchase some of your time each month. This limits your time devoted to their concerns but could also be a distraction from the startup. The rest of your time is devoted to your startup with the retainer giving you more runway.

Any chance your current employer could become a paying customer? Starting off with a customer gives you credibility for capital and other customers.

PaulMorganon Coding Horror: Death to the Space Infidels

Zend framework also agrees with the PEAR PHP standard - 4 spaces for indentation with no tabs allowed:

http://framework.zend.com/manual/en/coding-standard.php-file...

PaulMorganon Ask HN: Where to find public business information?

Try one of these libraries:

http://www.uspto.gov/go/ptdl/ptdlib_1.html

PaulMorganon Eagerly Anticipating PHP 5.3

Seeing as I'm at work and can't upgrade from IE 6.0 I can't view this site. Ahh Well.

PaulMorganon Ask HN: Can someone please explain the logic of Google vs Newspapers?

Actually, buggy whip manufacturers are still in business:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whip

I like to read my newspaper while eating lunch. Don't want to use a WiFi laptop for the same purpose. It doesn't fit very well on the table.

PaulMorganon Ask HN: Good online magazines, anyone?

Mother Jones Magazine: http://www.motherjones.com/

PaulMorganon Please tell us what features you'd like in news.ycombinator

Sorry, I put this in as a submitted question.

Could you add a media type categorization to the submit page? I'm on a work computer without sound. Would be great if I could pass over the video and podcast links and only go to the blog/news stories. Nothing fancy like a filter - maybe just some radio buttons on the submit page for text|video|sound| that would appear in the listing.

PaulMorganon The Tao of Programming

This is a copy of:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tao_of_Programming

with another online version:

http://www.canonical.org/~kragen/tao-of-programming.html

PaulMorganon Ask HN: Recommended sites for advertising tech jobs

http://www.dice.com for US tech jobs.

PaulMorganon College dropout makes $100,000 a year, with a two-day workweek

Answered my own question. He's still in business:

http://www.thegreatzucchini.com/index.html

PaulMorganon College dropout makes $100,000 a year, with a two-day workweek

I'm curious where this guy is now after three years. Is he still doing this gig or have his flaws caught up with him?

PaulMorganon Zuora - subscription billing and recurring payments

They don't seem to want information about their service to get out to the masses. It's stuck in PDFs behind some marketing sign up forms.