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allardschip

36 karma · joined June 8, 2012

Founder of http://www.othercircles.com
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allardschip··on How Hacker News Completely Changed My Life
Toronto as well. Couple of blocks north!
allardschip··on Show HN: SideProjects.com - 37 Bootstrapped Profitable Projects
Awesome!
allardschip··on Show HN: SideProjects.com - 37 Bootstrapped Profitable Projects
Great book and I just bought it. Is it possible to get a version with a white background for better printing?
allardschip··on I just left 200 fake parking tickets at YC Demo Day...
Praise from me for the naughty tactic regardless of execution. If you're note sure if you did the right thing then find some consolation in the fourth point on this page: http://paulgraham.com/founders.html

Let us know how it goes.

allardschip··on Why I released a crappy todo app that no-one will ever use
+1 for shipping code
allardschip··on At what point can I say I’ve “learned” a language?
You have learned a language sounds like you are done learning. The longer I spent with a language (both formal and natural ones) the more I am aware of what I don't know yet. Since I realize that, I never considered having learned a language again. If a language, even my mother tongue, does not feel like a struggle, then I am just taking a break from learning.
allardschip··on Current Article Popularity Trends on Hacker News
Beautiful graph. The notes with the graph are TC;DNG for me (too complicated; did not get). Sounded impressive though.
allardschip··on Wedding Startup RegistryLove (YC S12) Lets Couples Register For Anything
I think you are spot on. It's the same reason why making a successful online dating website is very hard.
allardschip··on Wedding Startup RegistryLove (YC S12) Lets Couples Register For Anything
I recommend refraining from using the W word when getting an initial quote if you can.
allardschip··on UCLA scientist discovers plate tectonics on Mars
Thank you. So different densities are sufficient, not liquidity? From the same article on Wikipedia: "Dissipation of heat from the mantle is acknowledged to be the original source of energy driving plate tectonics, through convection or large scale upwelling and doming.". Mars is thought not to have the dissipation of heat any more hence the lack of tectonic movement?
allardschip··on UCLA scientist discovers plate tectonics on Mars
Interesting but I am not getting it. How does plate movement happen without a liquid substrate?
allardschip··on UCLA scientist discovers plate tectonics on Mars
The scientist in the article claims that Mars still has tectonic movements which strikes me as odd. I thought the consensus on Mars tectonics was that it has stopped a long time ago. If there is movement than the core must be liquid and moving. If its core is liquid and moving it would generate a magnetic field. Just like our liquid core creates the magnetic field around earth.

The thing is.... Mars has no significant magnetic field like we have around our home planet. It's also the reasons why more of the sun's radiation gets through to the surface on Mars than on earth. Our magnetic shield deflects radiation, Mars does not have that shield.

It's believed that Mars lost it's liquid core because it's smaller than earth and therefore has a higher surface to volume ration. That caused it to cool off a long time ago.

allardschip··on Don't be evil - Google pays £6m UK tax on £395m turnover
Profits for the books are somewhat malleable by an accountant. There are still limitations to what you can do. For tax, rules are tighter. Even revenue is often not objective. For example, I sell someone a subscription to a service for a year. Do I record the revenue now (not a good idea), spread it out over 12 months (practical) or every time a user uses the service (not so practical, more realistic?).

Corporate tax is on profit. VAT like taxes are closer to revenue (or more accurately, closer to when you get paid by customers).

allardschip··on Mars rover camera project manager explains 2MP camera choice
The bottleneck to a large extend is the bandwith/costs of transmitting the extra data. NASA will create higher resolution images by stiching low res imagery for us wanting higher res.
allardschip··on Show HN: My first webapp. Build with rails, backbonejs and lots of love.
I stand corrected. they use Javascript in a headless browser to generate the site previews. Detailed information on how Javascript is interpreted to index sites is hard to find. I would not count on Javascript to instruct Google Bot what to index.
allardschip··on Show HN: My first webapp. Build with rails, backbonejs and lots of love.
The google bot won't touch any javascript, it will just follow links. You can consider a link to a directory to the different themes.
allardschip··on ToS;DR — TL;DR for Terms of Service and Privacy Policy
Great initiative. Can the mere length of a TOS and it's complexity be a factor in the rating too? The crowd here may be able to somewhat grasp the legalese in a TOS. It's not fair to expect that from any normal visitor.
allardschip··on Decrypt.py: Act like a decrypting hacker on tv
I think you just did :)
allardschip··on Decrypt.py: Act like a decrypting hacker on tv
Looks clean to me. Check out for yourself of course. Does bring up an interesting dilemma. We all download code, libraries etc. all the time without going through it with a fine comb...
allardschip··on Curiosity Mount Sharp Photo
Sending $$ might not be much. Receiving is another story.
allardschip··on How to change someone’s mind on the Internet
Enjoyed reading that, thank you.
allardschip··on How to be a growth hacker
I think meetup had the post to Craigslist a long time a go. Not sure if the still do it.
allardschip··on Craigslist Suing Padmapper
Why did Craigslist decided to sue padmapper but let housingmaps.com live for many years is puzzling to me. Anyone has an idea why?
allardschip··on This Stunning Timelapse Space Video Will Astonish You
Yes that's possible. It would not be able to capture as much detail but you would get surpisingly far. The technique is called stacking in astrophotography. There is special software for it. Searching on astrophotography+software will get you some ideas of what is available. Stacking has revolutionized astro imaging and decent amateur pictures with moderate equipment + stacking can outdo professional work from a few decades ago.
allardschip··on How to hack the beliefs that are holding you back
Reminds me of Annette Benning in American Beauty: "I will sell this house today. I will sell this house today."

Not starting on activities because you don't like them or you don't feel not comfortable will drag you down. You'll be thinking about it all day. I tell myself in the morning to the most unpleasant thing on my to do list first. Eat the hairy frog first! I learned from Randi Pausch. Worth watching every minute: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTugjssqOT0

-edit spelling

allardschip··on Ask HN: How you manage your to-do list? Are you happy with it?
I write my to-dos in a plain text file. I try to avoid writing down actions; I prefer deliverables because it's clearer when you actually have achieved something. I prefix to-do items with a character if the status changes immediately after the change. Here are the prefixes I use:

No prefix: This item was written down but hasn't started @ in progress: I started working on it, the item is with me. # finished > means this item is currently with someone else. It works as a reminder to chase someone after some time. x means canceled / decided not to do d means on hold because dependent on something else ! prioritized for today

I have items grouped with the first line being a heading for the group. I write notes or status if relevant after a to-do item and a comma. If things are crazy I will start notes with today's date. That's specially useful when there is a lot of back and forth on something. Daily, I'll copy yesterdays list and past it above. I remove the items that are done or canceled. The system is all home grown, arcane and works for me.

allardschip··on Ask HN: Learning to switch off
I had the same issues for a long time. Here are some things that worked for me: - Young children! They will tire you out to the point that you will actually sleep. - Doing what you like for a day job. Makes a big difference. - No screens for an hour or even two hours before you go to bed. Consider not watching TV. I haven't seriously watched TV for years and am much happier for it. - Get obsessed with something outlandish or random. I am building telescopes and gaze in to the depths of space. Gives me some perspective on life on the small blue marble we're on.
allardschip··on Ask HN: Still acceptable to use PHP for new projects?
If you enjoy programming in it, mostly doing http work and you think you can find talented , smart php developers in your area, go for it.

If your ideas need thing like massive concurrency or lots of number crunching, you may want to look at some other options as well.

allardschip··on Save The Trees - Use More Paper
Beef especially is very taxing on the environment. It takes a lot of energy to get to beef and there is methane from cow manure causing greenhouse effects. I enjoy a nice steak but suggesting there is no negative side effect to the environment....
allardschip··on Save The Trees - Use More Paper
Sounds rational but the numbers dont't add up. There is still a net loss of forests. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forest#Forest_loss_and_manageme...

Quote: In the United States, most forests have historically been affected by humans to some degree, though in recent years improved forestry practices has helped regulate or moderate large scale or severe impacts. However, the United States Forest Service estimates a net loss of about 2 million hectares (4,942,000 acres) between 1997 and 2020; this estimate includes conversion of forest land to other uses, including urban and suburban development, as well as afforestation and natural reversion of abandoned crop and pasture land to forest. However, in many areas of the United States, the area of forest is stable or increasing, particularly in many northern states. The opposite problem from flooding has plagued national forests, with loggers complaining that a lack of thinning and proper forest management has resulted in large forest fires.

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