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ejsazon Ask HN: What would you tell your 16-year-old self?

I just came back from a long walk, and wow! Didn't expect to get this many replies. Thanks a bunch to everyone.

Time to go rock climbing, try new stuff every day, and finally get around to finishing my project and starting a new one.

ejsazon Ask HN: What would you tell your 16-year-old self?

I remember someone writing something along the lines of (I think I read this from an article I found on HN actually):

When people tell you advice, they tell you some useful bits, but they also include everything they wished they'd done, and everything that their friends told them.

Yeah, I'm pretty careful.

ejsazon Ask HN: What would you tell your 16-year-old self?

Thanks. This resonates with me.

ejsazon Ask HN: What would you tell your 16-year-old self?

Hah! I've certainly been doing that more often, particularly this summer.

ejsazon Vancouver high school teacher launches students into computer-world big leagues

Computer Science (or "Information Technology" as it's officially called) is an elective at school that students can take starting at the Grade 9 level. Students start out learning Python as their first language and learn C++ after two years.

I would guess 100-200 students take the course in total out of about 1800 students in the school. Students receive a very comprehensive education in the field and are encouraged to work on their own projects at the same time (e.g. I've done a lot of work in node.js, which isn't at all taught in the CS curriculum). Personally I've found that my teacher has given me the original knowledge of programming and from there I mainly was able to develop my knowledge on my own time as well as through the course.

Edit: more technical details: One can take an IDS (independent study) course in Computer Science their final year if they wish. Here you get to work on your own programming projects.

ejsazon Vancouver high school teacher launches students into computer-world big leagues

Just to clarify: I'm Emmanuel, the tall kid in the picture. I know, I know, shameless plug, but the shameless plug isn't for me but for my school. The main purpose for me posting this is for parents of kids in the Lower Mainland who might be interested in programming to be able to educate themselves about a possible option for secondary school.

Feel free to ask any questions of me, I guess?

ejsazon The Jenna Marbles Paradox: Why Are YouTube Videos So Terrible?

Throughout modern history (certainly long before the internet) creative works that become the most popular are not necessarily that of the best quality. They're usually those that cater to the interests of the most people.

It happens to be that most people wish for regularly-updated pieces of entertainment that give them a particular emotional stimulus, regardless of their "quality". Aspects of human nature like these affect markets involving a macrocosm like the community of those that watch YouTube. Changing the pay model won't fix that. In the end, the number of people who want to view one's creative work determines how much the creator earns.

So really, rather than being a complaint about YouTube, this article is a general complaint about how things of "bad quality" are more popular than things of "good quality", which is a half-handed complaint about an aspect of human nature in the public macrocosm. This can't really be fixed unless one limits the audience in some way, and often it's a much more logical decision not to do that.