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blurry

576 karma · joined June 18, 2008

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blurry··on Bye-bye kindle
Why do you think they don't? I've been reading books through Kindle For iPhone for a month now. Takes me 30 seconds to buy a book, or download a sample to decide later. Love it.
blurry··on Can I Set Up An LLC To Avoid Personal Liability In A Lawsuit?
Not so in New York. You have your UBT (over $3,000 per year), your publication requirements (over $1,500 per registration), and more. Considering that generally your clients cannot sue you for more than the contract was worth in the first place (excepting rare cases of willful negligence etc.) it is far from a no-brainer.
blurry··on Ask HN: flirt140, how are they determining the gender?
What a load of crap. According to this tool, Linus Torvalds writes like a woman, and so do Zed Shaw and Steve Yegge.
blurry··on White House Drug Czar Calls for End to 'War on Drugs'
federal authorities would no longer raid medical-marijuana dispensaries in the 13 states where voters have made medical marijuana legal.

Sounds substantive to me.

blurry··on ACLU sues over patents on breast cancer genes
Myriad's patents give it exclusive right to perform diagnostic tests on the genes -- forcing other researchers to request permission from the company before they can take a look at BRCA1 and BRCA2, the ACLU said. The patents also give the company the rights to future mutations on the BRCA2 gene and the power to exclude others from providing genetic testing.

How does that not hold back research, or merely "slow down" testing?

blurry··on Ask HN: Any web app suggestions for project management?
Since you already have your team on gmail I would suggest this:

1. Add Tasks from Google Labs to everyone's gmail account

2. Add same to Google Sites (you can insert gadgets into pages, just make sure you add Google Labs Tasks and not other task apps also from google)

What I really like about this setup is the ability to create tasks from emails with 1 click, so you can keep track of the whole conversation from the individual task itself.

It's not the prettiest setup but it does have the ability to share conversations, create multiple projects and structure tasks hierarchically - which to me is all you need. And hey, it's free and builds on what you already have.

blurry··on An Introduction to Mindfulness Meditation
Mine was the same in terms of the requirement to sit upright with exceptions granted to just a couple people. It was in Massachusetts although I forget the exact name of the place.
blurry··on An Introduction to Mindfulness Meditation
I'd like to second that experience, and to comment on some parts of it.

On one end of the spectrum, I am baffled by the drama surrounding the "weird shit" happening to your body. I had the same stuff happening during my meditation but I didn't find it to be all that notable. Yes, after several days you begin to isolate tiny little sensations (like weak electric current) all over your body. It's really just that and nothing more though. I guess I question the value of that particular experience - is it really such a huge revelation that practicing a small task over and over makes you better at it, sometimes enabling you to do things you didn't think were possible?

On the opposite end of the spectrum, I feel like people don't give enough credit to the experience of forcing yourself to keep a position in spite of searing pain. I am preparing to give birth soon and one of the exercises for pain management is to practice relaxed breathing while squeezing ice cubes in your hands. It's painful but also incredibly empowering to learn that pain can be overcome, and unlike meditating for days to achieve a few weird sensations, it's a practical skill. You don't have to commit yourself to a 10-day retreat or practice a particular form of meditation to achieve that though, there is a variety of ways to do it, none of them particularly mystical.

blurry··on An Introduction to Mindfulness Meditation
A few months ago, I did the same course here in the US and I am sorry to report that I did not have a great experience.

For one, I was disappointed with the supposed difficulty or profundity of the course. Just like miles above, my fellow attendees, the teacher, the guru, and the friend who recommended the course to me in the first place, all described the experience in very dramatic terms (hell, heaven, profound impact, etc, etc). In reality, for 10 days, you don't do anything but sit in a dimly lit room for hours on end and concentrate on your breathing and other sensations. In between, you eat and sleep. That is all. Personally, I haven't found it especially challenging to shut up and focus for a few days. I also can't say that several days of highly-enhanced perception that followed the course had any profound long-term effect on my life. It was nice, but not more than that. (Those of you who do yoga probably know what I am talking about - those couple hours of feeling balanced, clear-headed and less "ADD" immediately following a yoga class).

Also, I felt that the course was misrepresented. What attracted me to this particular form of meditation was the promise of a 100% non-religious, 100% evidence-based practice. The website, the live teacher and the videotaped guru/founder S.N. Goenka stressed over and over the importance of personally and physically experiencing any insights. On the first day, we were told that we must simply observe any sensations that come with the breathing and not intellectualize the experience or give it any meaning other than what is. However the very next day, we were fed a whole bunch of hooey about the life of Buddha Gautama and the attendant reincarnation theory. The Buddha's tale was presented as a true story, and the reincarnation cycle was presented as the imperative to practice Vipassana mediation. The gist of it was, if you are good (i.e. you practice) you will eventually graduate to an enlightened status, but if you are bad (you don't practice, or waste your time with other meditation methods that may mean well but are silly because they focus on chanting or other false techniques) you will continue to suffer here on Earth. I really didn't appreciate the disconnect between the non-sectarian promise of the course and the reality of what the guru was telling us from his videotape each evening.

To be fair, I will add that the brainwashing is of spiritual rather than commercial nature and the course organizers do not want anything from you other than to "get" it. I would say that if you can set aside the negative aspects I mentioned above and you have 10 days to spare, it's a great way to reset your focus. Just don't buy it when they tell you that something incredible happens on the sixth day. They re-iterate over and over during the first 5 days that you must stick it out and something profound will happen on Day Six, but it's the same thing every day - meditate, eat, sleep, meditate, eat, sleep.

blurry··on Thoughts on hacking finance
Come on, the ideas are as lazy as the writing.

Consider this gem:

We need better ways to provide financing to those who need it: students, low income groups, creatives, people with poor credits. There are lots of opportunities to provide low cost alternatives to what traditional banks are failing to offer.

So the idea is to charge high-risk borrowers low-risk fees? Didn't we all just go through this?

blurry··on Ask HN: What would you love to pay for if it was available?
Couldn't you use Amazon's mechanical turk?
blurry··on Ask HN: How can I tell if I'm working with a savvy business person?
From my (extensive) experience, there is no way to know in advance. The only way to guard against surprises is to tie ownership to execution.

Set specific performance goals for both yourself (modules released, SEO rankings, whatever's relevant) and "the suit" (capital in the bank, number of users, number of paid subscriptions, etc). Tie each goal to percentage ownership. If goals are met, you vest. If goals are not met, you find another partner or scrap the project altogether.

Also make sure that the goals are on a somewhat concurrent timeline. "Suits" generally have trouble executing on a "beta" product so if you do not set concurrent goals, you will keep developing new features and never, ever have the chance to see your partner in action.

What I mean is, push really hard for a bare-bone set of requirements that you both agree to be "good enough" as the first iteration of your product, and as soon as that feature set is in place, your partner needs to execute (again, whatever's relevant to you - sell some subscriptions, get some marquee clients on board, raise capital, etc).

Good luck!

blurry··on Ask HN: The best way store thousands of Images on a server
Check out this Stanford presentation

Facebook - Needle in a Haystack: Efficient Storage of Billions of Photos

http://www.flowgram.com/p/2qi3k8eicrfgkv/

blurry··on How Geico Wastes $90MM a Year on SEM
Unlike some of the other companies, it does not have profitability as an exclusive motivation. Even at break-even, it generates significant float for Bershire to invest.

Can you explain?

blurry··on Ask HN: Models for investing in the stock market...
Your best bet is to set up several virtual trading portfolios and see which strategy actually works for you. You will learn much quicker and make your first mistakes with fake instead of real money.

Google virtual stock portfolios or virtual investments - there are lots of websites that offer fantasy trading. One of your goals should be to simply find out how much time you can devote to your portfolio... most people find that its' a job and go back to index/mutual fund investments.

blurry··on Job opportunity in Boston that might interest a hacker
Why would a boring project manager job for a boring HR application interest a hacker?
blurry··on Google is Evil, Worse than PayPal: Don't use Google Checkout for your business
"Don't be evil" is google's corporate motto. I believe that's what she was referring to.
blurry··on NYC Entrepreneurship Week: 4 days of advice and talks for free
www.rosetechven.com

www.newyorkangels.com

blurry··on Paying for hackernews frontpage links, now?
My guess is he wants to push androidster.com (android app consulting)
blurry··on Story Time
Complilation of davesecretary's stories:

http://www.storylog.com/time-for-some-stories-corrected/

blurry··on "I Quit" 1 Year anniversary
Check out freelancers union.
blurry··on Justin.tv - Paul Graham at AngelConf
As a new yorker, my favorite quote is:

You have to be good. Really. That's probably why angel investing hasn't taken root in New York - you can't screw people".

blurry··on How to Be Jason Bourne: Multiple Passports, Swiss Banking, and Crossing Borders
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perpetual_traveler
blurry··on Ask YC: Has anyone incorporated as a Vermont Virtual Company?
If your goal is to simply set up a merchant account, you don't need to register a corp/LLC. You can just go to your local city hall and obtain a DBA (doing business as). The DBA will allow you to open a bank account, which in turn will allow you to open a merchant account.

Long-term, I would advise to register an umbrella corp/LLC and obtain a DBA for each of your websites. In my experience, most banks do not understand that a single company can operate multiple domain names so eventually you end up with multiple corporations and LLCs just so that you can maintain multiple merchant accounts. DBAs are a much simpler and cheaper way to get around this.

The main benefit of this setup is that you can still do offline work (e.g. consulting) where you live. Since you are required to foreign-quality in every state you do business in, it wouldn't help you to incorporate in Vermont if you have local clients in another state - you'd just be doubling your paperwork, yearly filing fees, taxes, etc.

blurry··on Can a musician sell their music online?
A friend of mine makes sells a decent amount of his music on beatport.com.
blurry··on Intuit tries to call Mint's bluff? Is this normal?
I've used both Quickbooks online and Mint and as much as I agree with you on interface, I must completely disagree on features. I wish I could use Mint but after trying it out there are several showstopper issues. Just one example, Mint lacks the ability to import or even manually enter past transactions so it's really useless if you want to get all of 2008 in there.
blurry··on Intuit tries to call Mint's bluff? Is this normal?
Depends who is the buyer. If it's the store then Intuit will definitely account for them as purchased. I don't know how it works in shrink-wrap software retail, but in most retail situations products are bought wholesale by the store, not lent on consignment until the end-user purchases them.
blurry··on Yelp and the Business of Extortion 2.0
They also scrape reviews from other websites. I've found a couple reviews that I wrote elsewhere, "written" by various strangely prolific Yelp users who had single-handedly managed to post hundreds upon hundreds of reviews. (These were for small neighborhood hangout-type restaurants... meaning there is no way they were paid for).
blurry··on Google's Numbers Every Developer Should Know
Please don't post a link to your own blog when all it does is link to another post. Just link to the original.
blurry··on When anonymous attackers went after two Yale law students, they struck back
Actually, I thought the article pretty clearly stated the opposite of your last point.

One, the women were far from litigious (depends on your definition of course but to me taking a year and using everything from humor to begging in an attempt to resolve the case without going to litigation is the opposite of litigious).

Two, they did not have the resources to sue the posters - unless I misunderstood the article, Google's legal firm is representing them for free because Google wants to have control over any legal precedents that affect their ability to index non-moderated online forums.

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