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peoplerock

247 karma · joined August 13, 2009

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peoplerock··on The Economics of Climate Change
"For the world's economy, of course, trillions of dollars are now at stake in pursuit of emissions reductions based on the flawed science that these leaked emails have helped lay bare."

From what I've read about them the emails lay little bare about the science - more about the politics of trying to keep down the FUD-slingers and easily-publicized, some-what contrary findings.

Further, a huge increase in funding does not constitute evidence that it is being used for "flawed science".

The future of powerful data and analysis of climate changes is in sad shape if (unsigned) articles in WSJ.com by persons of unknown scientific credentials become the guides for world policy.

peoplerock··on Secret compartments
You mean the 'business model' of "annoy the piss out of site visitors for sake of more ad views"?

Well, it's one approach to trying to rescue the Boston Globe from death.

...one destined to lead to online (as well as on-paper) death - in my humble hope.

peoplerock··on Device spells doom for superbugs
"The team says that an exposure to the plasma of only about 12 seconds reduces the incidence of bacteria, viruses, and fungi on hands by a factor of a million - a number that stands in sharp contrast to the several minutes hospital staff can take to wash using traditional soap and water."

And what of those bacteria/viruses that do survive. Don't we run the risk of creating "super bugs on steroids" - letting only the really fittest survive?

peoplerock··on Microsoft makes patent claim for sparklines
FWIW: Googling 'sparklines' right now gives me a first Sponsored Link of:

Microsoft.com/Office2010 Microsoft Excel 2010 Beta: Explore the New Features. Get it for Free!

¿Apparently it's going to be a highly touted feature... so they figured they'd might as well try to get a patent?

peoplerock··on Do you think the whole email me at XXXXXX[at]XXXXXX[dot]com fools the spammers?
What do you mean by "simple math captchas"... where the distorted characters display something like "2 + 3 =" - and I'm supposed to type 5 or five?

Or are you simply using a simple math question (un-captcha'd)?

I've been experimenting with my own db of questions that can be answered with a word - including simple arithmetic and simple reasoning such as "Which is warmer? Hot or cold?" - and finding almost no spammer cares enough about my sites to develop a decoding table for comment submission [that would of course change if I were Amazon, etc.]

All of this is moot, of course, if some spammer were to care enough about auto-registering/emailing my site to get porn-visitors to solve the questions/captchas in order to "see more".

peoplerock··on Do you think the whole email me at XXXXXX[at]XXXXXX[dot]com fools the spammers?
Yes, data are helpful. Regularly updated data: more so - because they would enable us to see whether/when spammers are adjusting their methods to accommodate our latest obfuscations.
peoplerock··on Apple doesn't owe you anything
You could add to your (self-answering) question "...would cannibalize their laptop sales..." the phrase: "...and that has perhaps 1/3 the profit margin?"

Apple's decision making looks to me more like (as with the MB Air), "can we develop a high-margin product that will draw NEW (ex-Windows) customers (and maybe some wowee press coverage)?"

peoplerock··on Steve Jobs Named ‘CEO of the Decade’
As has been argued around the business web, Jobs' absence/incapacity for better part of a year - while Apple continued to develop dramatically better than the rest of the industry - may have been helpful as a demonstration of what the organization can do on its own.
peoplerock··on Improving WebKit's Web Inspector
JSON highlighting... at last. It's like someone finally cares about providing an inspector for daily use!
peoplerock··on Ask HN: What's the best webapp UI you've seen and what was used to make it?
It might be awesome... at whatever it does.

But I have a real UX concern when I land at a site and... WTF: I can't even tell what it is about, what services it offers, is there any possibility that I might be a target audience?

Attractive landing page, but totally flumoxing.

[edit]PS: Okay, now I give in and click on "overview". That page has the phrase "a single place to collaborate..." A simple tag line like that is needed on masthead.

Plus [it's flash-based, is it?], I'd like to highlight copy and copy the phrase "a single place to collaborate". Well, that's not going to happen: text not in html :( ::something to think about UI-wise::

peoplerock··on IE6 users and status-conscious creative directors
So would the point then be that we need to belittle (or abuse or revolt against) IT departments that rest on 20th Century laurels. Or perhaps... embark on educational campaigns aimed at companies that are not mandating/funding their IT departments to join us in 21st Century?
peoplerock··on Barbara Ehrenreich questions positive thinking
"once you've got cancer 'thinking positive' will probably do very little as you're too far gone" ?

I'll try to speak in an even-toned way (as spouse of a nine-year breast cancer survivor):

The survival rate is well over 50% (at five years) for many forms of cancer when treated with best current therapies. Most people who've got cancer are NOT "too far gone." In fact, therapists who specialize in such self-healing methodologies such as biofeedback would probably identify breast cancer patients (especially when caught in early-to-mid stages) as in a primo place to benefit from stress reduction, constructive visualizations of their future, and other audaciously positive thinking.

I would not expect "pressuring" anyone to think positively would be very therapeutic. However, skilled clinicians who guide patients toward their own preferred style of positivity can be god-sends. (In my/our humble experiences.)

peoplerock··on Kathy Sierra on Feeling Better is Better [video].
Weak, obvious presentation.

Six minutes long, first 45 seconds of which wastes you time with saying how great their "speedy presentations are. (what's wrong with this picture?)

peoplerock··on Ask HN: Please review my app: Was it up? - dead simple monitoring
Only one email acct? They're free at so many places.

I have several (to go with different identities) that all fwd to one location.

So for this app I would use

* mysite1.com@mymaindomain.com -> to mymaindomain@gmail.com

* mysite2.com@mymaindomain.com -> to mymaindomain@gmail.com

* mymaindomain@mymaindomain.com -> to mymaindomain@gmail.com

peoplerock··on Hole for light created on Earth
Reality: Marketing has a huge place in headline-writing. Headline-writing is a "science" in itself (funded).

What HN can do to serve its members: Omit the marketing/hype when posting a title at HN.

peoplerock··on No-contract $30 / $45 Straight Talk wireless plans storm Walmart
You mean: "thanks", Rupert.

But a sincere thanks to you for explaining to get there via a google search.

Which raises questions (besides the 'why am i out of loop'?):

  • How did you know about the "via google" phenomenon for this article?

  • Is that true for all/many wsj articles?

  • Why does Rupert love Google referrals?

peoplerock··on Why Texas Will Resist the Call for a Unified Smart Grid
?Transported only over land?

Apparently Seimans plans to overcome the wetness of the Mediterranean:

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20091015-714009.html

peoplerock··on Take A Trip into the Future on the Electronic Superhighway (1993)
And except that even after logging in... i see only a blank page :(
peoplerock··on CSS Differences in Internet Explorer 6, 7 and 8
It's not IE that needs to be disparaged. [By the standards of ~2000 it was pretty good, no?]

It's those who declined upgrade it year after year.

peoplerock··on Websites Built with Kohana PHP
I think some balanced discussion about Kohana v. CodeIgniter would be helpful on HN.

I haven't followed the debate, but I do find it interesting that the Kohana article on Wikipedia is being evaluated for possible deletion because all (nearly all?) contributors to its K v. CI debate are "developers of K" according to the WP discussion page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion...

peoplerock··on Looming Disruptions to the Software Industry
I'm no one to assess Jason's gifts of prophecy, so he may be right on target as to what now "looms" as potential disruptor:

> Applications will be much less visible.

> Service applications will grow like wildfire.

> Applications will be seen more as components, or capabilities, than distinct and unique units of software.

> True object-oriented applications will become a reality.

> The conversation container will become the new AppStore.

I hope some HN vets will share their nominees, since I tend to bet on real disruptions coming from what's off the radar completely, rather than what's "looming."

peoplerock··on Ask HN: How do you concentrate?
"Trying" adderal doesn't have to mean illicit adderal.

Used under physician supervision he (w/doc) may find a dosage and plan that works for him. YMMV.

peoplerock··on Ask HN: How do you stay (somewhat) healthy?
Former biofeedback therapist here. The effect of caffeine on muscle tension is measurable: it is impossible for nearly everyone to achieve as deep a muscular relaxation (measured by EMG) after just 100mg caffeine.

I haven't looked at evidence in years, but the gastrointestinal and heart rate effects of even higher levels can be remarkable. I remember medical journal articles (Am J Psychiatry, i believe) referring to it as "caffeinism" - since the mental-alertness benefits habituate, but not the autonomic stimulation.

Like with any mind-alteration: exercise caution. Listen to what your own body tells you.

peoplerock··on SQL Databases Don't Scale
Yes it's interesting. Yes it compares Oracle and MySQL.

For balance it would be helpful to have an analysis from a more independent source than Oracle.

peoplerock··on Experiment: No Comment Scores
I think it would be very informative to collect data on whether or not that sort of mob effect gets diminished by removing display of the comment-votes: will it keep "cute" one-line jabs from soaring to top of page?

PS: please don't ask me how to quantify such data :)

peoplerock··on Self-employed are frozen out of mortgages
IANAL, but I'd wager that proof of taxes withheld would be the key issues (pay check stubs, etc.)
peoplerock··on Google Has A Solution For Internet Explorer: Turn It Into Chrome
Isn't a valid part of "supporting standards" declining to support what ignores standards?
peoplerock··on The HTML5 drag and drop disaster
It sounds like W3C has been listening to usability critics about as sympathetically as MS did with IE6. [pops antidepressants]
peoplerock··on The HTML5 drag and drop disaster
I just hope that when PPK unwinds a bit that he presents the issues he experienced to appropriate W3C feedback channel... written in a more factual style. We really need them to hear this.
peoplerock··on A take on Tornado and "modern" web servers
@audidude: FYI - your server (www.audidude.com) is either being hit really hard right now or is completely down.

Without access to the original post there, this noob can only assume(hope) the discussion is about the Tornado Web Server (http://www.tornadoweb.org/). I'm interested in alternatives to Apache, so am looking forward to you being back online. Gracias.

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