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pchap10k

9 karma · joined February 8, 2012

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pchap10k··on I wouldn't invest in open-source companies, even though I ran one
Do engineers working full time in a FOSS core team need someone to pay their salaries? Nothing the author said was against FOSS on a volunteer basis. What he said was it’s a challenging business model, unless you can reach escape velocity, and the window for that success is much narrower than simply selling a commercial product from day one.

There are real differences between FOSS that provides foundational capability (network layer, drivers, OS) and application layer projects. Firstly, they largely were built at a different time, secondly they were pure FOSS and not backed by a founding company that relied on it to keep core development going (Redhat’s business backed into Linux, so they benefitted from an existing core).

TLDR a founder who struggled to establish a business based on FOSS is saying don’t do it as a business because it’s harder than you think and can feel like a thankless endeavor.

pchap10k··on An experiment in teaching a language without relying on translation
More or less that’s right. They’re a good step toward seeing pictographs as phonetic characters.

When I first starting learning Japanese I took an intensive 7 week course. We learned Hiragana and Katakana in one week, though it took longer to really make that knowledge long term available. I forgot a lot of it after completing the course, but my first year living in Japan helped restore it all!

Now my kids are learning kana and my oldest kanji. The state of the art here is still drilling and repetition. FWIW this website is cute, but without learning the characters you have to rely on verbal instruction, so as an experiment it only works after learning the Kana.

pchap10k··on Google says tricky job interview brainteasers were ‘a waste of time’
Very true. Being the best in an industry can give you the illusion you're the best at everything. Even in areas where you have no basis for being the best.

Once Microsoft, now Google, by virtue of their high salaries, prestige and market leadership are virtually self selecting in the candidates they attract. Of course there are plenty of poor candidates, but both companies essentially hire based on brand, either that of the candidate's past employers or alma mater.

I'm glad this useless technique is in the recycle bin of history. Now if only they started making people write code in interviews then we'd be getting somewhere (maybe they are? are they?)

pchap10k··on Clickbank order details in plain view
Cardholders name is PCI data. So in most cases the customer?s name and the cardholders name would fall under the auspices of PCIDSS. This is definitely a breach.
pchap10k··on Remind HN: iOS 6 Beta 4 has expired ("Could not activate iPhone")
Thank you. It was annoying that software update can't differentiate beta and release versions of 6.0. It kept saying "already up to date" but I was too lazy to download the IPSW directly. Not so lazy now.
pchap10k··on 16-Year-Old MIT Admit Sends Her Admission Letter Into Space & Films the Journey
Wow a lot of jealous comments in this thread. I'm feeling it too. Why didn't my dad work at JPL and teach me physics and electrical engineering on his knee!?!

Seriously, not everyone with her opportunities wouldve converted it into her accomplishments. Sure she had chances, but she brought her own drive and determination.