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StefanPatelskion Stop Freelancing

I used to be one of those kid webmasters working from the basement of my parents. Though I did technically have a company. So having a company doesn't really mean anything.

StefanPatelskion An interview with Bill Gates

You are right, but I hope you do understand my point. This is about short term vs. long term. Bill Gates could have made the choice to not found Microsoft, and instead give the seed money to a charity that solves a disease. But then he wouldn't have been able to spend billions on malaria research.

Both the short term and the long term are important. So it is strange to make the comparison. Both these investments can co-exist.

StefanPatelskion An interview with Bill Gates

Give a man a vaccine, and he lives for a day. Give a man the opportunity to educate himself, and he will be able to find vaccines to last a lifetime.

StefanPatelskion I lost years’ worth of Google Docs files because of a poor user interface

You would not need to be able to edit the offline file. Instead it could still be just a link to the online version of the file, like it is now. But additionally it could contain the actual data that can be imported back to Google servers when it is accidentially deleted from the server.

StefanPatelskion Inspired by the 180 websites I will understand 52 academic papers in 52 weeks

Even if he would work full-time on that, it would be impossible to do in most cases. A week is usually not enough time to organize an experiment, especially when you are not experienced in the field.

StefanPatelskion If you use Google+, you could become an ad next month

"Actions you take on Google" is indeed frighteningly broad. But although I'm not a legal expert, I think that the sentence you quoted has to be interpreted in a different way when you consider the entire paragraph, which limits the scope of that sentence.

"If you have a Google Account, we may display your Profile name, Profile photo, and actions you take on Google or on third-party applications connected to your Google Account (such as +1’s, reviews you write and comments you post) in our Services, including displaying in ads and other commercial contexts. We will respect the choices you make to limit sharing or visibility settings in your Google Account."

I interpret that last sentence as "only things that are publicly shared by you are subject to being displayed". I assume that means that email, privately shared G+ posts, web searches, etc. are safe from becoming public. Although I agree it's very vague.