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raheemmon Act As If

This article and Conan is advising the same sentiment as being discussed at the current #1 post on HN (Fucking Sue Me) --> https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6366912.

TLDR: Just do things even if you are scared about the risks.

raheemmon Fucking Sue Me (2011)

My point is that risk is often perceived to be greater than it actually is. So taking action in spite of the risk has two benefits - the real risk is exposed and often less than what we imagined and progress is made from taking action. True, this can lead to a stressful experience and perhaps recklessness.

raheemmon Fucking Sue Me (2011)

My risk-averse nature has been the #1 challenge in my startup life of the last 11 months.

I was worried about taking on a partner for 3 months. Finally I just decided to skip that - it meant I'll grow slower.

I was worried about sending sales and marketing emails for 4 months. Finally, I decided to announce my beta launch and offer discounts for anyone who signs up. One customer signed up and paid for a year's subscription.

Because I had a customer, it forced me to stop dreaming about the perfect product launch and just do my beta launch. Which happened 3 weeks ago.

Now I worry about losing that one customer because my beta product is not perfect. Im also struggling with getting more customers. Why? Because I want to create the most perfect email marketing funnel. I've been procrastinating on this for a month now.

If I worried a lot less, things would happen so much faster.

raheemmon Government Announces Steps to Restore Confidence on Encryption Standards

The justice dept caught a bunch of mafiosos without violating the rights of everyone else. Why? Because judges oversaw the handing out of search and wire-tapping warrants. A balance was found between security and liberty. Unfortunately, what is happening now is that we are lead to believe it is one or the other. And it's made worse when the debate gets trapped in the "right vs left", "conservative vs liberal" context.

Seems to me that the judicial system needs to get more involved in this. Congressional oversight of NSA, TSA, DOD, etc has not really worked.

There is also a role for technology to play. Out of millions of calls, billions of emails, how do you flag that one bad guy? The implicit assumption in such a problem is that you collect the data on everyone so that you can look for patterns of bad guy behavior. But is there another way?

raheemmon Government Announces Steps to Restore Confidence on Encryption Standards

I hate all this NSA spying but they do have a point - if they cant read the communications of the bad guys, how are they supposed to catch them before it's too late. Isn't there a way to accomplish both objectives of security and preserving constitutional freedoms?

raheemmon The NSA's Cryptographic Capabilities

On a different note, considering the popular myth that government by default is incompetent, this is a remarkable degree of competence, surpassing even the private sector.

raheemmon A most bizarre and mysterious cocoon

What a great site! Thanks.

raheemmon Defeated

Shit will really hit the fan when we have a President or some authority figure who will use all this massive surveillance power to run McCarthyistic campaigns against people. Heck, already NSA employees are spying on their former lovers. The author is correct, this is how freedom and rights are lost, slowly and bit by bit.

raheemmon We Need To Talk, Google

Yes you are right. But my switch was based more on a general "getting tired of google's bullshit" feeling that has been building over the last 2-3 years, especially my experience with google support, adwords, youtube integration, and all the crap that they know about me. At one time I was doing almost 90% of my work in google ecosystem.

Now its spread between yahoo, ddg, dropbox, etc. I feel even more strongly about Facebook. If and when a viable alternative is available, I'll be switching. Similarly with email. For the first time I'm starting to become open to paid email that is secure. I guess it has to be a non-US company.

raheemmon We Need To Talk, Google

I moved from chrome to FF and google search to duckduckgo search after prism.

raheemmon Amazon Ramps Up $13.9 Billion Warehouse Building Spree

How does #3 work? The merchants store their inventory in Amazon warehouses? Or do they use Amazon software to track their inventory?

Re: #2, so Amazon is playing the role of FedEx/UPS?

raheemmon How to trap a whistleblower

How would you classify handling the American economy during the worst banking crisis, killing OBL, pulling US out of Iraq, etc, etc? Pretending or Doing?

raheemmon Jeff Bezos Is Playing Chess

I did. What is the theory?

raheemmon Jeff Bezos Is Playing Chess

He said the same thing in all the paragraphs as in the headline - Bezos is playing a smart game that the rest of us don't get. So what exactly is that game?

raheemmon This Student Project Could Kill Digital Ad Targeting

and that privacy data is used to tailor ad serving.

raheemmon Zynga Shuts Down OMGPOP One Year After Acquiring It For $200M

If failure of such magnitude cannot be criticized, then what should be?

raheemmon YC without being in YC

Excellent mindframe hack.

raheemmon Spain Is Beyond Doomed: Unemployment Charts

It seems Iceland was in worse shape than Spain but they have managed to resolve their issues by revaluing their currency (similar to declaring bankruptcy?).

Why is Spain not able to do the same? I'm guessing it's because they are part of the EU and do not have their own currency?

raheemmon How Google Sliced Away Our Knife Ads

Seriously, there is a need for a startup to disrupt the hell out of google.

raheemmon Frederick W. Smith: No Overnight Success

The timing of this link almost seems karmic. After only 6 months of trying, failing to learn coding, a competitor beating me to launch, less than $1k left in the bank and living a broke ass life for what seems like an eternity, I was thinking of throwing in the towel today. This gives such great perspective. I'll try harder.

raheemmon I'm a loser and I want to change that - now

My hat's off to you for being so vulnerable and courageous. I don't have any advice but wish you the best and thank you for sharing this thread. I can relate to so much of what you have said.

raheemmon Show HN: JFDIN - Just Fucking Do It Now

Strangely, I find the profanity motivating.

raheemmon Show HN: JFDIN - Just Fucking Do It Now

Helping you get your shit together. Cause Clearly, You Can't

The snarky tagline actually works.

raheemmon Zombie Startups

Good accompaniment music

raheemmon The Story of Bageshwori, Watsi's First Patient

Hey Watsi, you could probably help some folks here in Bangladesh. Let me know if you need any on-the-ground assistance here.

raheemmon Why HN was down

I'm curious how was RTM able to notice that the problem seemed related to a specific item id? It would be great if he might write a short blurb similar to yours. Which also makes me wonder, why does RTM not write much?

raheemmon Ask HN: Which hosting company to use for a small SaaS product?

Check out the VPS reviews on lowendbox.com. I got a good VPS for only $4/month - 2GB ram, 80GB disk, 1.5 TB monthly free bandwidth.

raheemmon There’s a local business revolution on the horizon, and we can make it happen

There are some really amazing ideas in this article -- Direct public offering being the most intriguing. I imagine a local, kickstarter platform that would enable local businesses to raise funds and issue DPO shares. The main challenge seems to be that local businesses fall into the high-risk, low-return part of the risk-return graph. But then every WalMart, Microsoft and Google did start out as a local story. This is indeed revolutionary.

raheemmon Meet Watsi, Y Combinator's First Nonprofit

Not to be cynical but how do they ensure the veracity of the patients?

raheemmon Facebook tests $1 fee for inbox access

They should just switch to a subscription model ($10-$100/yr tiered pricing) and then offer those users super features like "killer privacy", "payments", "events", "shopping", etc. Free users can continue to get photos and advertising, like now. What's the risk? They could be more bold about making money in other ways besides advertising.