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abstractbillon Check you're wearing trousers first

Excellent post.

The first question I ask myself, as an engineer approaching a new problem, is "How can I cheat? What's the 90% solution that will take 10% of the time?" (The next question is, "Is 90% enough?").

I'm always surprised by engineers who don't think this way.

abstractbillon "Attrition is a group statistic. It doesn't apply to me."

It's a game of more skill than the lottery, sure. But it's still largely a game of luck.

abstractbillon How to do anything

Yes, this works [1]. Much harder questions are what to do, and who to do it with.

[1]: The only difficulty is when you encounter a combinatorial explosion of potential solutions. It will work eventually, but it might take too long.

abstractbillon My experiences in tech: Death by 1000 paper cuts

The point of alcohol is to lower inhibitions.

So even when I'm at home on my own watching a great documentary on netflix, and I have a beer or two, you're saying I can only be doing it to lower my inhibitions?

abstractbillon Benefits matter, or why I won't work for your Y Combinator startup

Founders risk it all to found companies and rightfully have the greatest reward. Startup employees haven't risked as much

True(er) a decade or so ago, but definitely not true today. Founders currently, if they're doing it right, risk a bruised ego and a submarket salary for a few years. Employee risk is about the same.

abstractbillon Why an MRI costs $1,080 in America and $280 in France

One doesn't generally have a sudden and unexpected need for a very particular type of food that only relatively few specialists know how to produce.

abstractbillon This Man Thinks He Never Has to Eat Again

I don't think it's a hoax - he's sending me a batch and I can't wait to try it. I enjoy food occasionally, but most of the time it's just a giant pain in the ass.

abstractbillon Official Hacker News T-Shirt

We're adults here, if we can't take critique without crying foul - the internet isn't for us.

In my experience when people ask for a critique of something completely new, they're asking (usually without knowing it) for the high-bit: Does this completely suck, or should I keep working on it? Unfortunately people too often respond with only the low-bits, forgetting to add "but these are nit-picks, the overall idea doesn't suck, and you should keep working on it". At best that's frustrating, because you only hear low-bits when you wanted the high-bit. At worst it's a disaster, if you misread low-bits as high-bits and give up on something promising.

abstractbillon Who took a chance on you?

Honestly, very few individuals have ever taken a chance on me, but the British government certainly did in a very life-changing way: I was lucky enough to go to university when a full student grant would still pay for tuition and all basic living expenses. I got a BSc and then a PhD, which was a giant leg-up (from a working-class background).

abstractbillon Growth and Government

I honestly don't know. My gut feeling would be no - the rich people I know personally tend to be very conservative with the bulk of their wealth, and at least one of them does just pay someone else to grow it for him. I'd love to see more data though!

abstractbillon Growth and Government

I don't think he did. If I remember correctly, he said you - as an individual entrepreneur - should seek out markets where you will not have to compete.

abstractbillon Growth and Government

Surely someone must be conspiring to steal the fruits of their labor and allocate it to the 1%

That's not necessary at all, and I think everybody knows it. The thing I think people often perceive as unfair is that there's a level of wealth beyond which you don't have to do anything at all, and you will continue to gain wealth - often at a rate that's much faster than people who do work very hard. I can see that feeling unfair. I tend to think in more pragmatic terms personally - I don't care too much if it's fair or unfair, I care more about whether it works (and on that, I'm undecided).

abstractbillon Growth and Government

there is nothing wrong with the top 1% of people owning 99% of stuff

Presumably you can imagine a point at which inequality would cause the world to grind to a halt; in the extreme, let's say just one person on the whole planet owns everything that can legally be owned. If you can imagine that not being a particularly good thing, then the argument just becomes one of "how much is too much".

abstractbillon Growth and Government

The GDP growth rate chart is interesting; The overall trend line does point gradually downwards, but the big spikes in both directions seem to have flattened out a lot, rather than just the positive ones going away. I wonder what would cause that.

abstractbillon Einstein’s ‘spooky action at a distance’: 10,000 times faster than light

Earlier on, the article says:

"As of our current understanding of quantum mechanics, though, it is impossible to send data using quantum entanglement, preserving the theory of relativity. A lot of work is being done in this area, though, and some physicists believe that faster-than-light communication might be possible with some clever manipulation of entangled particles."

Shame it's so vague about those some physicists!

abstractbillon Hacker News Parody Thread

Also, you forgot at least one archetype: the enthusiastic rant from an oblivious hell-banned poster.

There should also be a subthread complaining to the moderators about the title change.

abstractbillon It’s the Sugar, Folks

Smoking was reduced through education, not taxation.

Do you have any references to back this up? I'd be genuinely very curious to see them!

abstractbillon My new medical research startup launches today: let me know what you think

Definition #2 of "regime" makes sense to me for this context, though I think regimen is more common in the US (regime is more common in the UK): https://www.google.com/search?q=define%3Aregime

abstractbillon Thalmic (YC W13) introduces gesture control without the cameras

I haven't been so excited in a startup's product in a very long time. I'm constantly tapping out rhythms with my fingers - often quite pleasant and complex ones - and for whatever reason I've never been able to do the same onto any kind of midi device - a keyboard or a set of drum pads or whatever. I would love to give this a try as a midi controller!

abstractbillon Bitter Pill: Why Medical Bills Are Killing Us

My wife and I are on the hook for the first $5,000 per year, and the insurance will pick up 100% of the costs after that.

Sounds like you have a near-identical plan to the one my wife and I have. Don't bank on the insurance company doing what they say they will, at least not without a fight. Just to throw out a random example, in the few weeks after our daughter was born we received a dozen or so letters from the insurance company all telling us the company didn't think some aspect of the childbirth care was "necessary", and that they didn't want to pay for it. Quite a shocker for us, as the birth was relatively routine, and every intervention was something the medical staff thought was necessary. In the end, after hours of phone calls, we got them to pay for most of it, but definitely not 100% of the after-deductible amount.

abstractbillon Bitter Pill: Why Medical Bills Are Killing Us

In which case, a cure for any terminal condition is worth an infinite amount of money given that people would, if you required them to, generally give you all of their money and any more that they could borrow, beg, or steal.

abstractbillon Business in a Box

(that page says the security comes with extra purchases - a Kensington ClickSafe cable lock, and/or an add-on bolt-down kit).

abstractbillon Business in a Box

Mount your stand securely to any surface without drilling.

I wonder if "securely" just means my ipad won't fall over, or if it also somehow means customers can't run away with my ipad while my back is turned. That seems pretty important to me, and hard to achieve without drilling.

abstractbillon This is how you healthcare: American Death in London

What pre-existing condition? This was after I fully recovered from the pneumonia, the stomach ulcer, and the norovirus.

abstractbillon Like a Swarm of Lethal Bugs: The Most Terrifying Drone Video Yet

It reminded me of this rather amusing music video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UgGXo38Guc

abstractbillon This is how you healthcare: American Death in London

For me there's a very specific, personal, reason. At the end of 2011 I got randomly unlucky and suffered from pneumonia, a stomach ulcer, and a norovirus all in the space of three months. I was hospitalized for the norovirus. After that I was told by more than one insurance agent that I wouldn't be able to purchase insurance at any price, for about 18 months. Obamacare does at least stop that from happening to people. I'd prefer single-payer, but like I said, it's a step.

abstractbillon This is how you healthcare: American Death in London

Having lived in the uk for the first 27 years of my life, and then in California for the past 10, I have only one word to describe the way American healthcare feels to me: barbaric.

Long live the NHS, and yay for Obamacare - it seems like a step in the right direction at least.

abstractbillon Slate: a Mac OS X window manager for power users

Thanks, that does look quite awesome!

abstractbillon Slate: a Mac OS X window manager for power users

I have (set-frame-parameter nil 'fullscreen 'fullboth) in my .emacs, and it just works (GNU Emacs 24.2.91.1 (x86_64-apple-darwin, NS apple-appkit-1038.36)).

abstractbillon Slate: a Mac OS X window manager for power users

Lots of people -- I'm one of them -- find that switching whole windows seems to pop the mental stack.

That's really interesting! I have the opposite problem - switching windows doesn't pop my mental stack, but if there's anything on the screen other than what I'm trying to focus on, it keeps diverting my attention and ruining my concentration. Fullscreen emacs on OSX (without even the system menu bar!) is just awesome for me.

Here's a screenshot of what my entire desktop looks like when I'm working on code: http://abstractnonsense.com/desktop-2013-02-17.png