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rb2e

3,445 karma · joined February 16, 2013

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rb2e··on Procrastination should be solved by lighting fires, not filling buckets
Okay, I have a crazy idea. I don't believe the answer lies in a digital solution. Our bodies adapt and can filter out a lot of background noise, our email boxes and phones are just the same. We filter them out. So you need a loud reminder.

What you'll need: 1) 1x Egg Timer. Its need to be mechanical and loud. Crazy loud. An mechanical alarm clock is just as good but it needs to be loud. This has to be on your desk, within your line of sight.

2) 1x Day to Day diary if you travel, or a piece of A3 Card if you work in one location.

3) Golden or silver star stickers (yes folks we are going back to school).

Premise:

1)Pick a task to complete (if its a big task, break it down into workable small chunks).

2)Set the Loud egg timer to fifteen minutes.

3)Go. You have 15 minutes to accomplish this task.

4) When the timer goes off. Stop. Have you accomplished the task? If yes, put a star sticker in your diary or on the piece of card but keep this out of eye sight. Write down the task you accomplished. If you didn't complete the task, no sticker but doesn't matter. Keep going.

5)Start a new task with a completely different subject matter. Set the timer for another 15 minutes and go.

6)Once you have completed this cycle four times. Stop. Set the timer for 15 minutes. You are free to surf any social sites, check your phone, email etc but when the timer goes off. Get back to it.

7) On the Sunday of every week, publish how many stars you got on your blog, in a public post. No need to detail the exact tasks but a summary of what you accomplished, would be good.

8) At the end of the month, write a summary on your blog. Repeat for every quarter. Then at the end of year, write an end of year review. Publish it on your blog.

Goal: To fill the page of your diary or the A3 Card with stars so that at the end of the day. You can see what you have accomplished. However the main thing is, its not the stars you've stuck on (which is just a simple gamification), its keeping your mind occupied.

The publishing your achievements on your blog is for a public record.

Notes: Don't use your phone, computer or digital timer. You'll just block it out. An mechanical timer is best because its loud and in your face.

If you are really serious about the money, donate it to a worthy cause.

rb2e··on Using Historical Data To Rank The Top Magic: The Gathering Cards
As someone who for a time bought MTG cards, in the secondary market, there is real money to be made in apps with analyzing financial data.

The secondary market is like a stock market only without regulations, has high fluctuations and swings. Oh and the God of world, Hasbro can reprint most cards in new sets except for a few on the reserve list at wil. Overnight a card can rise or fall. There are many people trying to predict the next swing and trying to get in on the ground floor.

If you're good at analyzing data, can grasp the game quickly and understand why certain cards are more valuable than others, then there is a great opportunity to "sell shovels to gold diggers".

The main market is http://magic.tcgplayer.com/ for the US. http://www.starcitygames.com/ is the one everyone watches. If they begin to buy up cards and force up prices or slash prices, the market notices. If you have a spare weekend, take a look. Might make a good side project.

rb2e··on Gates calls Ctrl+Alt+Del command a mistake
Full Interview is here http://youtu.be/cBHJ-8Bch4E and he talks about ctrl + alt + delete being mistake at around 16:33.
rb2e··on Stop using Digital Ocean Now For the greater good
10MB once no, but lets say hypothetically, if the dropbox api returned an error or wasn't available which denied your request but your script didn't account for it and it constantly kept making the request over and over and over. The 10mb would soon add up.

Also, are you sure it wasn't something else, not the dropbox db script which could have caused problems?

rb2e··on Who rooted kernel.org servers two years ago?
Do you have an extension blocking ads? I found the same problem and disabling the extension, stopped the problem occurring.
rb2e··on How to tell your mother and bosses why they should protest surveillance
>Personally I'm not worried if GCHQ know that I went to the doctor about a rash.

Except it can leave you vulnerable to blackmail. Say your rash is a symptom of a STD which was caused by a drunken one night stand with a x/y person you met at a bar. "Now you wouldn't your partner to find out would you?" says the guy in guy in the suit...

Other ways health records can be abused if your partner or child needs a transplant and they are way down the waiting list...

rb2e··on Poll: Are there too many NSA stories on HN, or not enough?
To downvote comments, you need to have a certain amount of Karma though I don't remember the exact number.
rb2e··on Ask HN: HN Political News Overload?
People are passionate. If a subject comes up which ignites the passion and touches them, they will get worked up about it. It’s not a unique feature of HN. Its everywhere from Reddit to Facebook and YouTube comments.

I’ve come to believe there is a lot of group think when it comes to the nature of comments. It’s a consensus of opinion and if you write something which goes against the tide of the consensus, you will be down voted especially when its around subjects people are passionate about it. I don’t have a problem with this per se but it can be annoying when you just wish to give an opposing view point.

The fire, anger just touches some and the quiet ones shy away from posting for fear of down votes and those who just wish to give an opposing viewpoint, end up being censored by down votes and negative comments. To be honest, its seems Reddit has influenced a style of voting behavior. It’s a “hive mind” mentality.

I personally believe if you stopped displaying the total Karma for each comment and on your profile, it would stop it being a point scoring mentality. Quality content and discussion, not gaining karma points should be the focus. Keep the number internal. Sometimes people say something popular just to get points of Karma but there is no benefit of having a Karma total displayed, it just turns into a phallus measuring completion ultimately. With the total Hidden from profiles and comments, you will see in time a different dynamic.

rb2e··on Who Are We at War With? That’s Classified
I thought congress had to make a formal "declaration of war", so how could it be classified?

Perhaps I live in this fantasy land where little things like the law and constitution are ignored by those in power.

rb2e··on Block NSA funding for collecting the call records of all Americans
No offence is taken. I've been reading and studying Intelligence/espionage for a long time. Not the fancy James Bond stuff, just the boring average, mundane stuff of the past 100 years.

I offer no solution because quite frankly, there isn't one. Unless you want to shut down the US military's and civilian intelligence gathering capabilities, it's not going to happen. There will always be reading your mail and listening in to your phonecalls. It is not going to stop.

I am not for this, I love my privacy but I am simply pointing out what will happen, regardless of any action taken.

rb2e··on Block NSA funding for collecting the call records of all Americans
The NSA is the heart of the intelligence gathering apparatus of the US Military Industrial Complex. Like it or not, this bill will pass either tomorrow or another day, tacked on to another bill. It is strategic to the military and the country.

There is no way in hell, this bill will not pass. You can scream, occupy the streets, protest, do whatever but it will not change a thing. It will go through.

The US military Industrial Complex is vast. It lobby’s hard. To vote against it is to be called “un-American”- you know its BS but the talking heads will say it. Its powerful but that isn’t the point of this post.

Truthfully, our governments have been spying on us for a long time. My country, the UK was reading the mail and telegrams long before the US. Then it was listening and recording phone calls. This is just a step up. As technology increased capabilities, the net has grown wider. From ECHELON to this.

Civil liberties does not mean anything to them as the mindset has stayed the same no matter how much you may scream or complain, realistically it will not change a thing because at the end of the day, the country will have enemies and it needs an intelligence gathering capability. It won’t give a damn about our rights as it tries to secure itself.

rb2e··on Bose founder, Amar Bose, has died at 83
As a ex sound engineer and now self described audiophile, I deeply admire and respect Bose products. Though expensive, I loved my Bose speakers till they fell off my computer desk onto the floor. The small cube satellite design with the sub on the floor, filled the room considering there such small size. They were good enough for me to mix and master with for my friends projects.

RIP Dr. Bose

rb2e··on [dead]
Lets see. You have a high level figure arrive in your country. He is a US national. A country you spend a great amount of time, money still spying on. (The cold war never offically stopped - US vs Russia spying still goes on).

You know the figure worked in key area's of the NSA. His own passport has been cancelled. He is in a precarious position diplomatically and he is on your "home turf".

Any Spymaster worth their salt would not hesitate to act. To debrief and learn as much information the person has in exchange for asylum.

rb2e··on [Paper] 3D Printing of Free Standing Liquid Metal Microstructures
Found via Reddit. Video of 3d Liquid metal printing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ql3pXn8-sHA. Also more info from the creator (via Reddit): http://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/1hx18t/i_spent_four_...
rb2e··on Andrew Mason's album "Hardly Workin'" now available
The music isn't actually bad. It is much better than I expected from some of the 'hating'. Production wise, it's stellar. He can sing well in the rock/pop style.

Is this Zepplin, Pink Floyd or Beatles? No but it's not trying to be. Would I want to buy it and listen to it? No, but I'm not in the target market and this music style bores me but musically, I cannot fault it.

rb2e··on Apple releases Web-based RSS reader prior to Google Reader shutdown
If this is an apple product, why is it built by web design firm called fountain? And why is there nothing on it that says Apple etc though the OP says apple has released it?
rb2e··on Edward Snowden has not entered Russia - Sergei Lavrov
My guess is, he was put into a waiting car owned by a foreign government and whisked away somewhere or taken to another waiting plane and 'smuggled' out.

But this has been planned with pinpoint precision and I expect there is a lot of 'back channel' negotiation/diplomacy being carried for safe channel to fly him to Ecuador or wherever.

He will probably only turn up officially when he is out of arm's reach of the USA.

rb2e··on Edward Snowden has not entered Russia - Sergei Lavrov
It is pretty much becoming something out of a Tom Clancy novel. You could easily imagine a situation room like you see in many a Hollywood movie tracking him. Though Hollywood, this is not.
rb2e··on Introduction to Guitar
Take this with a pinch of salt but this is my ideal way of starting to play guitar.

You'll need:

A starter Eletric guitar & Amplifer - Cheapest way is to buy a combined Guitar/Amp package from the likes of Fender sold under their Squier range. Now others may hate them but for the beginner they are ideal. At worst if you hate it, stick on ebay or craigslist or if you handy with a soldering iron, upgrade the pickups. Also makes sure the amplifer has a headphone socket and use headphones for late night jams.

An electronic tuner - Guitars go out of tune. It will get you consistant results sound wise. There is nothing more off putting for a beginner for a guitar that is out of tune.

Now this is optional - get your guitar setup at your local guitar shop. It will help sound wise and playability.

Buy strings - Don't worry about breaking strings. They are cheap. Easy to replace. If you can upgrade the ram in your PC, you are competant enough to change a guitar string. It's easy, nothing to be afraid of.

For instant results, learn how to play the intro riff to the Deep Purple song, Smoke on the Water. It is easy and will give you an instant results. Then learn "Power Chords". Will get you results that will please your ears.

There are tons of youtube tutorials on how to play the guitar. Start easy, don't worry about not getting it right. Just take your time, relax and enjoy it. The chords, scales will come in time. The main thing is to practise rhythum.

An electric will give you results quickly compared to Acoustic and Classical, which due to the way they are setup. Are harder to learn on. If you are not sure, try them in your local guitar shop.

Some may hate what I suggest but I believe for a beginner, simple results will encourage you further and make it enjoyable so when you do the course above, it is not as scary.

A course like the above would be great and I believe if you add it in with what I suggest, you'll be happy.

Remember nothing is set in stone. You can learn acoustic, electric and classical at anytime in your life. Just have fun and enjoy it.

One last thing, /r/guitar sub Reddit is great if you have questions or your local music shop. Don't be afraid of asking questions. That is how we learn.

rb2e··on Anonymously matching startups with potential acquirers
Background: http://www.forbes.com/sites/tomiogeron/2013/03/06/startup-fa...
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