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brianmckenzie

648 karma · joined April 24, 2007

brian at dream operator dot com
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brianmckenzie··on Ford rehires 350 engineers after AI fails to preserve expertise or train juniors
I've had two different Porsches, a Cayman S and a Macan. Neither gave me a day of trouble. You just have to do all the maintenance, which is obviously expensive.
brianmckenzie··on Seven great but notoriously hard-to-finish books
Catch-22 was hard for me simply because it was too dark to handle at the point in life when I tried to read it, although it is quite funny in places. It isn't 'hard to read' though.

I couldn't put 100 Years of Solitude down once I picked it up, and I don't understand why it's on the list as opposed to Gravity's Rainbow or something along those lines.

brianmckenzie··on Falling birth rate not due to less desire to have children
Schindler's List is a fantastic film, but it's also the kind of film most people only want to watch once. That might explain it.
brianmckenzie··on Rise of the Synthesizer
There were two (hardware) additives synths, both from Kawai - the K5 and the K5000 series. I have the K5000S, and it is relatively difficult to program.

It sounds like nothing else out there, don't think I'll ever get rid of it.

brianmckenzie··on The Future of Adobe Fireworks
Many Coldfusion developers use it, can't imagine many others do but perhaps I'm wrong.
brianmckenzie··on SmartAsset, the Financial Calculator Killer
I tried this out earlier today, and it's great but one thing confused me a little - your system seems to choose a home price for me based on income and savings. In the real estate market where I live this results in twice the house I would want/need. It also screws up the tax and rent/own calculations, I would think.

Is there some way I can set the max home price?

brianmckenzie··on My GF learned to code in 3 months. This is what she came up with.
This is really impressive for three months, and the little charts on her skills page are funny!
brianmckenzie··on Ten $50,000 grants for startups who move to St. Louis
Hi there!

I also live in St. Louis (moved here about a year ago after six years in SF), and I'm quite fond of thinking. Shoot me an email if you want to meet up sometime, if nothing else I can probably introduce you to at least one other person here who is into quantum mechanics.

brianmckenzie··on How to hire an idiot
Watch out though. Lots of people lie about being eagle scouts, and you can't verify it without having their troop # and contacting BSA headquarters.
brianmckenzie··on Today a programmer was born. And you are my mother.
Hey, congratulations. I'm also in St. Louis so I joined your meetup group.
brianmckenzie··on The sound of mspaint.exe when interpreted as PCM audio data
Another interesting thing to do is play back image data as audio. I used to use this for wild sound effects in tracks I was making about 15 years ago. Never did get to the point where I could play around in photoshop to deliberately create sounds, but I suppose one could if you made a study of it.
brianmckenzie··on The Boy Who Stole Half-Life 2
IANAL, but at first glance it would be 5 years federal, 6 years for Washington state. In practice they probably wouldn't let him into the US.
brianmckenzie··on Ask HN: How Many of You Are Like Me?
I don't know if this is still the case, but Catholics were the single largest religious group at the University of Chicago when I was there in the late 90's.
brianmckenzie··on How Telephone Directories Transformed America
The yellow pages can still be useful in some situations, although like you I mostly use them to start the BBQ. I'm playing devil's advocate here...

- You're in a metro area with lower-than-average internet uptake. There will still be a lot of businesses you can't find (easily) without the yellow pages.

- If you're searching for a business where net presence is not a big differentiator, their yellow page ad may well give you more information than google would. My favorite guitar store barely exists, as far as google is concerned.

- You're stranded in the middle of nowhere and you don't have a smartphone. If there's gas station nearby the yellow pages are the best way to find a mechanic/locksmith/etc. This has happened to me.

brianmckenzie··on Nvidia announces Project Denver ARM CPU for the desktop
Very good point. I was in much the same boat as the OP. There is a lot of respect out there for people who've worked their way through school.

Be careful not to emphasize it too much though, lest it seem like you're making excuses. Maybe the person considering you for a job did the same thing.

brianmckenzie··on Who Writes Wikipedia?
Out of curiosity, how many HNers write on Wikipedia? I do it every so once in awhile, but only only on a few topics I'm intimately familiar with, or to fix obvious vandalism.
brianmckenzie··on Art of the Steal: On the Trail of World’s Most Ingenious Thief (April 2010)
Yeah, I was also quite skeptical of that part - he was somehow able to track down a parachute, a perfect replica of the jewels, and an outlaw pilot all in the space of 24 hours? All this when he was on vacation in a foreign country with his girlfriend and her family?
brianmckenzie··on Ask HN: What are you reading right now?
I Am a Strange Loop - Douglas Hofstadter
brianmckenzie··on 20 Year Old Founder Jessica Mah Raises Over $1 Million For Indinero (YC S10)
Having known Jessica for several years - she is the real deal, and she can handle the pressure. Some people are just made to do this kind of thing.
brianmckenzie··on Apple's attention to detail
Ha! I had the exact same experience, although I don't remember how many shares I bought. Buying those shares turned out to be a great idea, too.
brianmckenzie··on Ask HN: What if nothing works out?
You ask a really good question.

I have failed w/two different startups, one very recent. The first time it was great for my career in monetary terms. The second - I don't know what will happen, but I don't regret doing it.

Working on a failed startup is draining. Your whole life is tied up in it, and if the company fails it seems like a phantom limb for awhile.

To directly answer your question - past entrepreneurship should be a big plus to any company worth working for.

You know you want to try something else, why not another startup?

brianmckenzie··on Drug Wars, TI-83+ inspired game coming to your iPhone
The TI-82 was the first model I ever saw it on, in the early 90's. Considering that the most readily available way to distribute the game was an audio cable, there were probably several versions from several authors floating around. A few kids at my high school wrote their own versions.
brianmckenzie··on Big Bang Abandoned In New Model of the Universe
Whoa! Ever wanted to lose almost 100 karma in ten words or less? Ask me how.
brianmckenzie··on Big Bang Abandoned In New Model of the Universe
At the time yes, but it seems like it came across more as a troll. Time to stop posting after midnight.
brianmckenzie··on Big Bang Abandoned In New Model of the Universe
You are conflating a philosophical disagreement with a judgment of character.
brianmckenzie··on Big Bang Abandoned In New Model of the Universe
The entire body of knowledge collected by humanity over the last 10,000 years is one of war, famine, and neglect for others. We can do better.
brianmckenzie··on Big Bang Abandoned In New Model of the Universe
Want to downvote more?
brianmckenzie··on Big Bang Abandoned In New Model of the Universe
Why not just admit we don't know?
brianmckenzie··on Sorry AirBnB Hipsters, I’ll Take Health and Safety Over the Cult of Disruption
You're just as likely to have unsafe wiring in your leased apartment as w/an AirBnB situation. Same goes for most of the stuff he said.

The article doesn't make any sense to me.

brianmckenzie··on The Programmer Dress Code
At one previous job of mine, the CEO banned me from wearing a sport coat to the office. He thought it was 'bad for team morale, like I thought I was better than everyone else'. Pffft.
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