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chamblin

45 karma · joined March 21, 2013

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chamblin··on Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce
For what it's worth, Stripe is the only place I've ever worked that did not pay out accrued PTO. It does so only in jurisdictions where it is legally required.
chamblin··on Ask HN: What are your “brain hacks” that help you manage everyday situations?
Coin Flip Rule: If I think about a tough decision for too long, it's a sign that the decision may be tough because the choices are really close and additional thinking is likely not worth it (the added value of making the "correct" choice will be very small). In this case, choosing at random is OK.

Just start: If I feel unmotivated, I'll wind up a Pomodoro timer and just try to knock out one. Usually, I will feel a lot better/more motivated once I get going on a task.

Stupid/evil rule: If I disagree with someone, I recognize that I will often shortcut this to the other person knowing less than I do, or to having ulterior motives. When I see I am doing this, I ask why they might disagree, other than explicitly being stupid or evil. Since people are very rarely stupid or evil, this helps me to understand the perspectives of others.

chamblin··on Silicon Valley: Perks for Some Workers, Struggles for Parents
On one hand, startups strive very hard to become more diverse workplaces, believing that by having different kinds of people, more and better work will be done. On the other hand, "culture fit" bars exist so that any diversity achieved by such initiatives is entirely superficial.
chamblin··on Show HN: Sheetlabs – Turn your spreadsheets into APIs
I know you're still working things out, but I feel that your free tier is overly generous and your Business tier is a steal at $20. If it assuages a pain point for someone, that pain point is likely worth quite a bit more.
chamblin··on California Teacher Tenure Laws Ruled Unconstitutional
Isn't it just as, if not more, likely that a teacher would i.e. refuse to teach evolution (or even just be generally incompetent) and irremovable because of tenure? How does that improve anything?
chamblin··on Are you a Real Libertarian, or a ROYAL Libertarian?
I wish it were possible to have a tech community that politics didn't eventually dominate.
chamblin··on Show HN: Our pivot that nudges you to try new offline things. No lame coupons
This is an awesome idea! I signed up.

Random feedback. I think you should get to claim your first tickets on the confirmation page (this is what I came here for :)

Since I'm only familiar with your product insofar as the Insider's Club, I was a little confused when I went to http://www.upout.com and it was relegated to a corner link to click ("...oh yeah, it's upout Insider's Club, not upout"). It's just a pivot, but maybe it should have a first class site of its own?

There's all these great Premium Claim Events at the bottom of the claim page. I don't know whether or not that's an awesome idea, but it would be great if I knew when/if/how I was ever going to be eligible for that instead of just telling me that I'm not.

The claim page says "You have 1 Claims" instead of "You have 1 Claim"

You could price this more aggressively I think, but $20 makes it an easy choice for me to sign up.

chamblin··on Profit affects doctors' treatment decisions
5&6 - it is nonsense to lay the blame for any aspect of the ACA/Obamacare at the feet of the Republicans (they hated on a lot more than the death panels, many things that also came to be). The Democrats own every vote in its favor, and they could have any version of the bill they desired. They are responsible for any perceived problems with the legislation.
chamblin··on Bloom Filters by example
This is kind of a fundamental part of bloom filters. They're probabilistic data structures, which is the trade you make for space efficiency.

If you get a false back, you can guarantee that some item is not in the filter. If you get a true back, you can be fairly certain it is. Once you have a degree of certainty, you can do a more thorough check for membership while cutting out large numbers of negatives.

chamblin··on This Isn't Capitalism, It's Growthism, and It's Bad for Us
>> A truly free market is not necessarily capitalist

Can you elaborate?

chamblin··on If Crowdfunding is the New Day Trading, Look Out
This disdain for "common" investment is over the top.

A much bigger concern than the potential for poor decisions by individuals is the creation of financial instruments that are, by government fiat, only available to an elite group of institutional investors and the otherwise-wealthy.

chamblin··on Ask HN: recommend a book that explains how computers work down to the silicon
Check out Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software by Charles Petzold for a slightly romantic take, or Malvino's Digital Computer Electronics for an undergraduate view of computer architecture.
chamblin··on What Startups Need to Know about Obamacare
> 1.) Are you a human being? [ ] No -- Sorry! [ ] Yes -- Great, you're covered.

Is this actually true? Does the NHS (or any so-called universal government healthcare programs) really cover literally any human?

chamblin··on Low pay and the rise of the machines
I am not a slave, and I won't have any.
chamblin··on Inequality is real, personal, expensive, and it was created
$106,187 is the you're-rich-enough cutoff (at least for an Other Race-male)
chamblin··on Outbox – A beautiful inbox for postal mail
$4.99/mo seems pretty cheap for this service.
chamblin··on Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line
A Boston Police, Fire, EMS Scanner feed is available here: http://www.broadcastify.com/listen/feed/6254/web/?rl=rr