Abid

For those using Stripe to ship physical goods, can you please comment on how you're handling the fact that Stripe does not validate the billing address prior to the charge going through?

I'd love to implement Stripe on my website but very worried that this could lead to fraudulent charges.

I spend about two hours commuting myself. For me, the worst part is the fatigue that hits you afterward and the affects of it that linger for many more hours that keep you from doing more productive things.

No commute to and fro work!?

"As far as (non-mission critical)web frameworks go, I think these days you have two options: Python/Django and Ruby/Rails."

I wonder what the author means by "non-mission critical?" Someone considering writing a web app in Django/Rails that is used by thousands of customers might be scared off by that statement.

Has DHH exploded yet (again)?

http://37signals.com/svn/posts/2585-facebook-is-not-worth-33...

If you Google it, you'll get a comprehensive list of dry cleaners/Thai restaurants with an accompanying map. And that list usually shows up at the very top rendering everything below meaningless. Try it.

If people are finding out about these places using Yelp, Google, Groupon et al. is there really a need for a SEO friendly website? Many of these businesses don't care about a web presence because its effect would be negligible.

I suppose you could justify the cost of building out a website for the local dry cleaner, but seriously, does that help it gain any new business? I doubt it.

Those are interesting examples because you didn't lose the passwords, those websites did. So stuffing your password in your wallet, or making sure they were 12 characters long wouldn't do any good.

I always have a question come to mind whenever I read these kinds of guidelines: what percentage of computer users have ever had their passwords compromised?

I'm guessing there's no real way to gauge this because I've never seen a study nor heard anyone else touting one and yet, complex password protection guidelines are always being recommended. Why?

This guy sounds like a total dick and isn't a stickler for details, but he does touch on an important conundrum stated more eloquently by other social scientists like Jared Diamond in his book "Collapse."

The conundrum being that feeding people and providing them with vaccines, new crops and other means for a better life without checks on population growth can lead to some serious problems - competition for a limited amount of environmental resources probably being the biggest one.

How do we ethically balance our concern for fellow human beings who are suffering in abject poverty on the one hand, and what kinds of problems overpopulation can lead to because of those same efforts in environmentally strained areas on the other hand is a tough question to answer.

Entrapping impressionable people who otherwise have no history of terrorism, let alone a criminal record, has become the go-to weapon for the FBI. Virtually all other terrorism-related arrests made in this country since 9/11 have been made using this tactic.

Serves the FBI right for A) Ruining innocent people's lives, and B) Screwing over the very community that they claim to be partners with.

Something to bear in mind: these Groupon guys are some pretty business savvy dudes. They've started several very successful companies in the past and likely have a very good idea of where they're going with this. I wouldn't dismiss their rejection so hastily.

"Amazon cuts them off, then says the Lieberman call had nothing to do with it. We have no reason to doubt Amazon. It's consistent with their philosophy of not taking sides in political battles."

Seriously? Is there some memo addressing this self-evident truth that I missed? What Amazon did was politically expedient. That doesn't mean they didn't take sides.

From what I can tell old dinosaurs like Match.com continue to dominate this field. OkCupid was the last site I heard of that people found unique in approach, but even that was mostly used for the fun tests and quizzes rather than dating.

But you have to acknowledge the fact that more people are now exposed to the Wikileaks data precisely because of Wikileaks's "dramatic" release announcements.

The point is to focus on the fact that it will take time (and thus, effort) to give your project a chance. In other words, don't set unrealistic goals - e.g. "I'm going to build, launch and get my first 1,000 customer in two weeks" - because you're more likely to abandon the project instead of grinding it out as you should.

What's with the disagreements? His argument is against the claim that "'simple' is unilaterally better for your business." He's entirely correct. At some point, you'll have to go out and get new customers if you want continued growth. Public companies - the commerce variety he mentions specially - are implicitly required by shareholders to show such growth if they are to remain relevant. And so, you'll have to find ways to make that happen. Upselling seems to be one such source.

Small UI issue that stood out: the grey text in the features area on the bottom of the home page is almost blending in with the background making it almost illegible. I'm on Firefox.

Fantastic stuff. I was wondering if users are just shown the different pages randomly or is there more granular control involved?

This is precisely the kind of thing we need more of. Most people simply don't understand everything there is to know about loans they are signing up for.

Two main culprits in my opinion: 1) the language that is used to describe these financial products; 2) the unwillingness of businesses to take the time to explain the terms of the deal.

I think scraping a constitution and writing a new one inevitably brings about political turmoil precisely because the stated goals aren't being accomplished.

You're right in that duration shouldn't be the only measure, but I think the longevity says something about how society feels in general about the constitution's efficacy.

Jared Diamond works with a similar theme in his book "Collapse" though he goes further and explores issues that might literally bring about an end to our societies.

The take-away from both pieces: we should regularly question our beliefs and values in a larger context - what may seem like a perfectly normal, decent and harmless thing to us may be doing our society irreparable harm in the long run.