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zdean

2,251 karma · joined February 15, 2011

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zdean··on Why we’re closing Walnut
"In short, we found product-market fit."

"Despite our early successes, we’ve decided to close Walnut. Our tests revealed that we could create an experience customers loved, but we doubted our ability to be profitable long-term."

If people weren't willing to pay for a product you were offering at a price that would sustain the business, then you did not in fact find a product-market fit.

zdean··on A convicted felon who became a Georgetown law professor
Did you actually get through the entire story? This guy got 2 cases in front of the Supreme Court WHILE IN PRISON! That in itself would be a career maker for any lawyer...he did it before he went to law school....WHILE IN PRISON!
zdean··on The Human Rights of Women Entrepreneurs by Reid Hoffman
"... then we have bigger problems."

Yes, I think this is precisely the point of this issue...that the problem IS bigger than just some outlier assholes and extends to a systemic bias/-ism towards women in tech and probably many (most?) other industries. Which, if true, necessitates that we frame the problem as an attack on the human rights of 1/2 the population.

zdean··on The Human Rights of Women Entrepreneurs by Reid Hoffman
Focus doesn't mean exclusion. (borrowed)
zdean··on The Human Rights of Women Entrepreneurs by Reid Hoffman
"I don't often write immediate reactions to recent news."

This is a peculiar statement to start with. Was this "news" because it only now came to his attention via this particular article. Was the head of the largest social network dedicated to the "world's professionals to make them more productive and successful" ignorant to the reality that half of them were facing in HIS industry for so long or was it simply not an issue to him until it was reported (for the umpteenth time) in this news article?

While I'm glad he's at least now publicly acknowledging the problem, I think it'd be great for the men who want to solve this problem for women to be a bit more humble, sit down, and listen to how women would like their human rights acknowledged and respected.

zdean··on Truckers Working Alongside Coders Trying to Make Driverless Trucks
"I still think driving a truck as a profession will be a thing of the past within 20 years or so."

I hope so. Trucking is one of the toughest professions for a person to endure that I've ever seen. It destroys a person's body and mind...and you're lucky to end up making minimum wage when you account for how many hours they spend working.

zdean··on Four steps we’re taking today to fight online terror
"... extremely offensive viewpoints."

I imagine it'll be a very fuzzy line that they draw.

zdean··on Alex Honnold Scales El Capitan Without Ropes, and the Climbing World Reels
Having never tried rock climbing, I'm curious what the potential causes of catastrophic events would be on this kind of a climb (that would necessitate safety gear for most climbers in the first place)...pieces of rock that give out under a hand/foot, appendage slipping out of place, etc.?
zdean··on Tesla Model S and Model 3 comparison
This might be just about the most awkward product marketing page I've come across in my memory. I personally probably will never be able to afford a model S. So I'd essentially be their market for the 3. But looking at how they talk about it, they've pretty much unsold me on it. The worst is this paragraph:

"Model 3 is designed and built as a mass market, affordable electric vehicle. Although it will be our newest vehicle, Model 3 is not “Version 3” or the most advanced Tesla. Like Model S, it is designed to be the safest car in its class."

zdean··on Lockheed Knee-Stress Relief Device
I wouldn't give up on it. I remember a few years ago the stories of people 3d printing prosthetic hands for $50...where the cost had previously been $30k+. I imagine that some ingenuity and determination could do the same here.

https://3dprint.com/2438/50-prosthetic-3d-printed-hand/ https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/244608

zdean··on M.M.A. Fighter’s Pummeling of Tai Chi Master Rattles China
I also practice BJJ but think of MMA as a pretty brutal no holds barred sport. The 2 things are not the same (although often talked about as being the same). BJJ is a (relatively) narrowly defined practice. MMA is a sport where you can bring any fighting practice or combination into the ring (and the successful fighters bring many). BJJ is a big part of MMA, but arguably no longer the defining skill needed to succeed (especially in the past 5 years or so).
zdean··on To Stay Married, Embrace Change
I wonder if by the time we find "The Ultimate Secret to Staying Married" we'll have already learned that marriage doesn't have to be the final goal of a relationship after all.
zdean··on Novel Phage Therapy Saves Patient with Multidrug-Resistant Bacterial Infection
Better source from UC San Diego:

https://health.ucsd.edu/news/releases/Pages/2017-04-25-novel...

zdean··on Who lost the most marks when cheating was stopped?
Respectfully, you're dancing around the issue.

What it would betray is the reality that not all wealth is earned equally. Yes, there are plenty of people that earn through effort and merit. But to look at one's environment (wether in a first, second, or third world country) and not see how much wealth is created through cheating is ludicrous. When someone walks into a bank with a gun and empties the registers, it's easy for us to see how that's criminal. But someone who empties a bank via Wall Street, etc. is just doing their job I suppose.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1596363/

zdean··on Who lost the most marks when cheating was stopped?
The aim was to show that in the absence of academic cheating, a meritocracy would emerge. What the researcher realized was that the deck was stacked against poorer students and in favor of richer students...in essence, the cheating/rigging was happening before the kids walked into school...and the academic cheating was a response to level the playing field.
zdean··on Just Say No
Killing someone is a bad outcome no matter how you look at it. But we make a moral distinction between defensive and offensive killing and allow for "justifiable homicide". Similarly, I think the same test would hold true for lying. If you're doing it offensively, it's bad and wrong. If you're doing it defensively (as is the case in this story), I don't think anyone would question that it was morally justifiable.
zdean··on Southwest to Stop Overbooking as United Uproar Echoes
I think if there's any airline that I'd give the benefit of the doubt for making a change like this, it would be SW. I can't imagine that a conversation around this issue ONLY came up for them after the (most recent) United fiasco.
zdean··on How to Say (Almost) Everything in a Hundred-Word Language (2015)
The focus on simplifying language reminds me of "Albert Einstein's Theory of Relativity In Words of Four Letters or Less"

http://www.muppetlabs.com/~breadbox/txt/al.html

zdean··on Louisiana’s Governor Declares State Of Emergency Over Disappearing Coastline
I don't think the parent comment disagrees with you that it's an emergency...I think he's surprised by the designation because it'll focus attention on the root source of the problem and make the local governments confront a not-new problem of their own making...it's a focus they may not expect or want.
zdean··on Calculus Made Easy (1914) [pdf]
Thanks for that affirmation. I actually taught them binary counting too over a weekend a few months back...I was amazed how quickly they were able to pick up on it (3rd and 5th graders). With limited time/energy, I was hoping to find some great resources to add to what I can provide them individually.
zdean··on Calculus Made Easy (1914) [pdf]
Would you happen to know of any websites, video series, books, etc that would be in the same vein as these 2 sources but geared towards very young students (elementary/middle school math)? ...so that they can understand it conceptually from a young start.

EDIT: I'm working through Khan Academy with one of my kids...would like to find other resources as well.

zdean··on Pharmaceutical company wins $1M in legal fees from patent troll and Stanford
For clarity, that's "Leland Stanford Junior University"
zdean··on United Broke Its Contract with Flyers
The article also goes on to say (in essence) that even if you assume that United was in the wrong on this point, it constitutes a breach of contract on United's part. At that point, Dao is free to sue for breach of contract...but United is free to ask him to leave.

I'm not justifying United's actions (or that of the police)...just saying that Dao unfortunately probably wouldn't have a legal argument against being asked to leave.

zdean··on US drops 'largest non-nuclear bomb' in Afghanistan
Read the article linked to in my earlier comment.
zdean··on US drops 'largest non-nuclear bomb' in Afghanistan
DU is used in warheads >> DU releases radiation >>> radiation causes cancer. Therefore, you could link the bombs that use DU to cancer.

In this case, maybe they didn't have DU, but there are still other nasty contaminants that come with 22,000 pounds of explosives dropped in a relatively small area (not to mention the 10s of thousands of smaller bombs being dropped throughout that country and other war zones).

zdean··on US drops 'largest non-nuclear bomb' in Afghanistan
Cancer screening skyrocketing doesn't account for a skyrocketing rate of cancer...it would simply capture more of the absolute number.
zdean··on US drops 'largest non-nuclear bomb' in Afghanistan
The cancer rates in Iraq, Afghanistan, etc have skyrocketed in the past decades. Some believe it's tied to the relentless bombings:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/dec/14/iraq.military

zdean··on US drops 'largest non-nuclear bomb' in Afghanistan
What makes you sure it doesn't cause cancer...because it's not an atomic weapon?

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/dec/14/iraq.military

"The amount of DU used during the Iraq war has not been revealed, although some estimate it was more than a thousand tons."

zdean··on US drops 'largest non-nuclear bomb' in Afghanistan
1. "Only inhabited by ISIS" - Really? Says who? There were no villages or civilians within the kill perimeter?

2. What's the aftermath of a 21,000 pound munition on the environment and resources of the region. Do a google search for the impact of bombing in Iraq, Afghanistan, etc on local cancer rates.

Maybe you still don't object...but at least we can be clearer on the true impact of the bombing.

zdean··on Former Google VP Starts a Company Promising Clean and Safe Nuclear Energy
Modular nuclear energy:

http://www.nuscalepower.com/

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