Hacker News Reader

danielhon Linus Torvalds: Debugging hell

There are some aspects that might be worth voting this article up. Like the one you noted, or the mere fact that even a genius like Linus gets frustrated about debugging.

Still, I can't help suspecting that many voters wouldn't care if some John Doe had written this story.

danielhon Social Network Profile Costs Woman College Degree

Lesson Learned: Use Privacy Controls On Your Social Network Profile

I'm pretty sure that U2-singer Bono would say something like "don't trust Privacy Controls On Your Social Network Profile"

Don't put anything potentially compromising online, private or not.

danielhon Linus Torvalds: Debugging hell

Despite the risk of being voted down by the fanboys, I have to ask: how could this receive 12 votes within 40 minutes?

What's so newsworthy about Linus being frustrated about debugging?

danielhon Dave Ramsey: "Why We Don't Take Credit Cards"

It's not like anybody is forced to buy anything from him. You are free to look (and pay) for advice somewhere else.

Without any statistics to prove it, I would reckon that Ramsey looses more money buy alienating potential customers than he saves on transaction fees.

I also think that CCs have their benefits, if used in a responsible way. But if Ramsey is strictly against CCs, not accepting them shows integrity.

At least, it creates massive buzz if the tubes pick up the story ;)

danielhon Dave Ramsey: "Why We Don't Take Credit Cards"

I don't know Dave Ramsey, but he apparently puts his money where his mouth is. And this should be honored.

Whether you agree with his opinion on credit cards is another story.

danielhon Ask HN: Is my little tool doomed to obscurity?

Are you sure that you don't violate the Whois TOS?

The compilation, repackaging, dissemination or other use of this Data is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of VeriSign.

danielhon An ErlangWeb Tutorial

Correct me if I'm wrong, it's a ErlangWeb tutorial.

It's like posting a link to a rails tutorial and saying it's about ruby.

danielhon "Healthy lifestyle.."

It's even funnier that they still get votes on HN, if they have a rockstar status among hackers.

danielhon [dead]

I can't find a statement in the article that he didn't get funding for a show to attack global warming.

The sad fact is that since I said I didn’t believe human beings caused global warming I’ve not been allowed to make a TV programme.

That sounds different to me. If he didn't get funding for a show because BBC thought the topic wasn't part of his core competences, that's just fair enough.

If he didn't get funding for a show unrelated to the topic of global warming because of his opinion, then it's a witch hunt.

danielhon A new approach to the sign up form

Unless the whole page uses HTTPS, securing just the login might still leave you vulnerable to session hijacking and just gives you a false sense of security.

Don't use your gmail (ebay, paypal,...) password for test-driving a site you saw on HN.

danielhon Calories Do Count

If it is evil government intervention, what about warning labels on cigarettes?

danielhon Review my startup - Plura Processing: Web Traffic = Grid Computer

I can see your point, but wouldn't be any ad-driven website/game be considered theft of service?

A ton of flash ads might have a bigger impact on your system performance (and on your wallet, if your ISP charges by traffic)

danielhon Why Talent Is Overrated

The sports analogy is misleading.

If you want to make it to the top in sports, you need the talent, which in this case, means the right genes.

Usain Bolt will never beat Haile Gebrselassie in a marathon, no matter how much training (or doping), and vice versa.

danielhon The Future of Web 3.0 According to Yahoo

It comes down to even more APIs while giving the user control over his data.

So, Web 3.0 == Web 2.0 + Privacy? Sounds more like Web 2.1 to me.

danielhon My start-up, wyDay (comments wanted)

Having a quick glance at the website, I found it hard to grasp what wyUpdate is really about.

"wyUpdate Express is the free limited version of wyUpdate"

"wyUpdate Professional includes all the features of wyUpdate Express, plus the license to use the wyUpdate Professional Designer commercially"

Yeah, but what is wyUpdate about? Maybe you should include a 2-sentence explanation at the top, along with a more descriptive tagline.

danielhon How to Write Injection-Proof SQL

To cut a long story short: ignorance.

Most people just don't have a security mindset. They are happy when it works the way it is supposed to.

danielhon Australia - Welcome to the Orwell continent

You are right, thanks for pointing that out.

danielhon Is Twitter the newest data security threat?

Twitter is more a threat to productivity than to security.

danielhon Why to Start a Startup in a Bad Economy

Indeed, there are a ton of web-apps that probably will never take off. Still, there is the big advantage that you can build a prototype almost for free.

Other fields (solar, biotech, whatever) might require way more money to start. For real stuff, like machines, not for swag and parties.

Having nothing than an idea, how do you convince a VC that you need a ton of money, given the current economic situation?

danielhon The 100 Oldest Companies in the World

So if you want to make a lasting impression, get into real estate or liquors.

If you fail, you have at least a roof over your head or a drink to keep you warm.

danielhon I find this startup rather disturbing...

The downside of this approach is that you have to mess up only once and accidentally create a connection between 'leethaxor' and 'your.name'.

And because you felt safe when posting as leethaxor, the result will be much worse than if you just posted sane stuff under your real name.

danielhon PHP is a /great/ first language...for a hacker

I think that most lovers of "obscure" languages (I'm thinking Lisp, Erlang...) couldn't care less about being different. These languages challenge your mind and allow you to solve problems more efficiently.

Or have you every seen a serious project done in Whitespace, Brainfuck, etc?

danielhon Ask YC: I just got laid off, and I have some startup dreams.

I second that. Meetups are the best way to get in touch with like-minded and interesting people.

danielhon How to get into the Hottest Restaurants in Town

I agree, the word "hack" is overused. But if you go by the jargon file definition, you can apply it to almost anything.

"hack [very common]

1. n. Originally, a quick job that produces what is needed, but not well.

2. n. An incredibly good, and perhaps very time-consuming, piece of work that produces exactly what is needed."

He got into the restaurant. Whether greasing palms is "not well" or "incredibly well" is up you ;)

danielhon How to get into the Hottest Restaurants in Town

It's called Hacker News. Didn't he hack his way into the restaurants?

danielhon Success is complex, Failure is a no-brainer

My understanding of the post is that one single mistake might be enough to ruin your business or career. To grow and succeed, you have to get everything right. Or at least the majority of things. And this gets more and more complex.

I totally agree with you, failures can be very valuable, as long as you learn from them.