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dpieri

662 karma · joined September 30, 2010

Trying to improve the marijuana buying experience.
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dpieri··on Ask HN: Who is hiring? (December 2017)
Hivemapper | San Francisco (Burlingame) | ONSITE

Hivemapper uses machine vision to transform airborne video into a high definition living 3D map providing the world’s most important organizations the tools to travel through time and automatically detect changes.

Roles:

  - Forward Deployed Engineer (Requires Security Clearance)
  - Senior Computer Vision Engineer
  - Senior Backend Engineer
  - Backend Operations Engineer
  - Senior Software Engineer (Algorithms)
  - Senior Web UI Engineer
  - Web UI Engineer
https://hivemapper.com/jobs
dpieri··on “This mistake will become the thing you are best known for”
It appears a stay has been issued by the Governor: https://twitter.com/grahambrewer/status/649327710699831296
dpieri··on Netflix Switch – dim lights, turn on the TV, order food, and silence your phone
Like the Amazon Dash Button, this is a great reminder of how hardware is still useful in the age of touchscreen interfaces.
dpieri··on Uber Would Like to Buy Your Robotics Department
As a CMU grad it was kind of a gut punch when I heard about this. However, I'm confident that the CMU robotics program will be just fine in the long run.

The thing that worries me more is if this makes universities afraid of partnering with companies like Uber in the future.

dpieri··on Ask HN: Credit card cannot be used for purchasing medical marijuana in Colorado?
Yeah, he's right. Lots of dispensaries take credit cards. Most do by flying under the radar or just lying on their application. Some merchant services providers are willing to work knowingly with marijuana businesses, but they are taking a risk doing it.

Getting a card-not-present account (which is what you would want) is even harder. As far as I know nobody has done it in a legit way.

Background: I'm the co-founder of Marvina (https://marvina.com) and I've been trying to figure out payments for almost a year. There's reason to be optimistic, but so far nothing big has broken.

This is the kind of stuff we deal with every day: http://mmjbusinessdaily.com/breaking-mbank-to-close-all-cann...

dpieri··on Show HN: Premium Medical Marijuana Subscription – SF Only
Thanks for the encouragement!
dpieri··on Show HN: Premium Medical Marijuana Subscription – SF Only
Absolutely! We have our eyes on topicals, edibles, and concentrates. That's really where the market is moving. Look out for an edibles only Marvina box soon!

Until then I'd recommend docGreen's cannabis infused creams. I think you can pick them up at SPARC in San Francisco.

dpieri··on Show HN: Premium Medical Marijuana Subscription – SF Only
We believe that cannabis should be taken as seriously as any other business.

Hopefully soon this won't be a topic that people are afraid to bring up in polite company.

dpieri··on Show HN: Premium Medical Marijuana Subscription – SF Only
Correct. You also have to be there because only the person with the doctor's recommendation can accept the delivery.
dpieri··on Show HN: Premium Medical Marijuana Subscription – SF Only
Thanks for the encouragement!

If only we could use Stripe! Unfortunately marijuana is specifically mentioned in their list of prohibited businesses: https://stripe.com/us/prohibited-businesses

dpieri··on Show HN: Premium Medical Marijuana Subscription – SF Only
Well that's certainly a concern. We hope that everything about the experience will make people want to stick with it. Even if you are educated about marijuana strains its a better customer experience than going to a dispensary or using traditional delivery.
dpieri··on Show HN: Premium Medical Marijuana Subscription – SF Only
Yes cash-only for now. We've considered Bitcoin but unfortunately all of the popular Bitcoin payments companies don't work with marijuana businesses.
dpieri··on Show HN: Premium Medical Marijuana Subscription – SF Only
Try it out and let me know what you think!

dane at marvina dot com

dpieri··on Show HN: Premium Medical Marijuana Subscription – SF Only
We created Marvina for people who don't enjoy picking strains each month. Unless you are fairly knowledgable choosing from the hundreds of strains on the market can be overwhelming.

If you know exactly what strains you want then Marvina probably isn't for you.

dpieri··on Show HN: Premium Medical Marijuana Subscription – SF Only
Please try it out and let us know what you think!

It's cash only right now so if you don't like it you don't even have to remember to cancel before your card gets charged.

dpieri··on Show HN: Premium Medical Marijuana Subscription – SF Only
With the Marvina brand we wanted to stay away from traditional marijuana stereotypes. We want to create something more inclusive than the vibe that most current marijuana businesses give off.

Our two branding rules right now are: 1. No green 2. No puns

dpieri··on Show HN: Premium Medical Marijuana Subscription – SF Only
It's not very hard. In California a doctor can give you a recommendation for any condition for which marijuana may be helpful. This includes things like stress, anxiety, insomnia...

I've got with these guys, they have two offices in SF and an online appointment scheduler: http://green215.com

dpieri··on Police Can Seize and Sell Assets Even When the Owner Broke No Law
Also you usually aren't given a court-appointed lawyer unless you are also facing other criminal charges.
dpieri··on Police Can Seize and Sell Assets Even When the Owner Broke No Law
I think the issue mark-r was talking about is that the property is seized before any sort of due process has concluded. Also, if the government doesn't bring a case against you you have to actively fight to get your property back. So if your car is seized and neither party takes any further action the default behavior is the government now owns your car. [someone correct me if I'm wrong about this]
dpieri··on RIP Mayor Menino a driving force behind Boston being an innovation hub
He enjoyed being mayor so much, you could say the job really was keeping him alive. The genuine enjoyment that he got from his job was truly inspirational.
dpieri··on Consider the Lobster (2004)
Being conscious of the experience of the experience is I think a central part of Postmodern expression. This is more a criticism of Postmodernity than DFW.

IMO reading about the experience of the experience is what makes his travel essays so interesting. See also: "A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again", and "Getting Away from Already Being Pretty Much Away from It All"

dpieri··on Consider the Lobster (2004)
Consider The Lobster was my first exposure to DFW. The first time I heard it I thought this guy was crazy and didn't take it seriously. After a while I realized that DFW is one of the best authors that ever lived.

His writing is incredibly dense so you have to space it out and be very focused when you read, but its worth it.

I'd recommend all the essays in "A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again", including this one about David Lynch http://www.lynchnet.com/lh/lhpremiere.html

His review of Terminator II is probably the most cerebral essay about an action movie ever written: https://www.scribd.com/doc/14994144/David-Foster-Wallace-F-X...

dpieri··on Ask HN: Startup lawyer who will take on marijuana software startup?
Both. Most likely a startup lawyer for standard corp docs and a marijuana lawyer for state marijuana laws.

The main issue is finding a startup lawyer who is willing to take on a startup who is serving the marijuana industry.

dpieri··on Ask HN: I'm visiting SJ for 3 weeks. What do I do?
Rent a car and drive over 17 to Santa Cruz. Spend some time there then drive up 1 to San Francisco. If you have time make a stop at Big Basin Redwoods State Park to see some really big trees.

I'd also recommend driving 35 (Skyline) between San Jose and San Francisco.

dpieri··on Ask HN: Startup lawyer who will take on marijuana software startup?
Thanks for the recommendation! Do you know if he has done work for early stage startups before? Finding a lawyer who is great at startup things (incorporation, fundraising, options etc...) and marijuana law would be great but I'm expecting that I'll have to have two specialists for those very different fields.
dpieri··on Carnegie Mellon creates fund to invest in its recent graduates
Just come and talk to us. The first step is just letting us know you exist, and then why we should be excited about you.

It will be a lot easier for you to convince Sophomores and Juniors to come on as interns than getting a graduating Senior at first. On the student's part it is much less of a risk, and besides, staying around for a summer in Pittsburgh isn't too bad. Once you get some people to intern for you then you can get some name recognition on campus and start recruiting more seriously.

Well that's what I think anyways.

dpieri··on Carnegie Mellon creates fund to invest in its recent graduates
I think you are being unreasonably hard on Pittsburgh. Recently it has become a great place to live. Areas like Shadyside are thriving with young people and great new restaurants and bars are opening every month.

Pittsburgh knows how it has and continues to benefit from the legacy of the enormously rich people it has produced over the years. I have never personally felt that the city is morally opposed to the concept of rich people.

dpieri··on Carnegie Mellon creates fund to invest in its recent graduates
As a student, I agree that recruiting is a huge problem. Most CMU students have jobs by October their Senior year, and startups can not afford to make offers that early, or even pay for a booth at the job fairs.

It doesn't seem like this fund forces people to stay in Pittsburgh. I do think it is important that the school continue to encourage people to stay though; SF and Boston shouldn't have a monopoly on entrepreneurship.

dpieri··on What do you listen to while hacking?
Sigur Ros, Pixies, Explosions In The Sky
dpieri··on The Beginning of NeXT
This might be the first one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9dmcRbuTMY

And the second: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dn3Ex-5dPAo&feature=relat...

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