nickmolnar

That Rapidshare link isn't a valid RAR file. I posted a working torrent of the album here: http://neekolas.tumblr.com/post/108678640/my-first-torrent

As a related question:

Could you learn as much taking a free course online (MIT OpenCourseware or Stanford's free courses)? No grades, no need to hand in assignments, no mandatory exams.

I'm trying it as an experiment right now. Any bets on whether I finish the course and/or learn anything?

I saw him speak at my University. He's got the right way of looking at things. Very pragmatic. Also, one of my fave TED talks.

I just found this. Apparently the Linux kernel is primarily written by sailors.

http://www.vidarholen.net/contents/wordcount/

While people's portfolio's are hurting right now, for the most part you can make a positive real return on investing in dividend paying stocks or long-term bonds. The only catch is that the rate is really low, so you need to already be very wealthy to make it work.

China, Saudi Arabia, and Japan have political considerations, as well as financial, so they are more likely than an impartial investor to take unnecessary risk or allocate funds poorly.

...and with only an $800 up front investment I'm sure.

All Ponzi schemes are the same.

Isn't every forum that has a few admins basically an oligarchy? Same with mods in IRC.

I think there is news to report every step of the way. It would start with what needs to be done, and why the project is valuable, then move on to what is being done and what milestones are being hit.

All of these are definitely low value activities; the goal would simply be to reduce administrative overhead (time, not money). That way, contributors would spend more time doing the high value work and less time on BS. The goal would also be to foster a sense of community and make it easier for new members to join and get caught up on the big-picture goals of the project.

Maybe all that is needed is a non-binding proposal that the top 6 developers would, after the product reaches a particular milestone, band together and start a company, dividing shares however they choose.

I just think that having any plan for the future would make developers more likely to invest their scarce time.

Fair point. Let's assume that the only goal is to make the project go forward. All compensation and credit should be structured to further this goal.

I guess 100% is the best way to structure it. Possibly even with a disclaimer saying the founder would not create any company out of the source code - but could be hired by anyone who does. The founder's role would then, simply, be an evangelist for the project(s).

I think the last four people would participate in the hopes of entering the top six, but a more open plan would probably encourage more participation. I think the last four would participate with the goal of entering the top 6, just like the dozens of applicants for the winner-take-all Ansari X-Prize.

Drop.io/hackernewsresume

It's meant to be tongue-in-cheek, but some employers didn't quite get it.

Another idea I have been thinking about is the necessity of having plans in place, from the beginning, for if, and when, the project begins to have commercial merit. If everyone knows that 90% of any ensuing corporation will go to the top 6 developers on the project, they are much more likely to commit valuable resources.

That brings up another important question. How do you find the ideal person to take a leadership role for development? That is where the credit should go, but it's a tough spot to fill.

That's about what I was imagining.

I've had people tell me that setting up the SVN, moderating discussions in a mailing list, twittering project updates, and orchestrating the cultural/public facing side of the organization are the most productive early tasks.

My question is: will people start working on a project without even a line of code, or will there be paralysis until there is something to work off of?

If the government could bend the rules and allow them to renegotiate labour contracts and healthcare without declaring bankruptcy, that should be option #1.

If these companies are still straddled with the nightmare of these obligations, no amount of government money will save them in the long run.

Government run "innovation initiatives" are fraught with the same problems as a government owned company (moral hazard, non-market competitive landscape, distorted incentives) and should be considered equally inefficient. Nothing can match the innovation that could be achieved by allowing these companies to be broken apart (a process that began 30 years ago when Toyota started achieving success using standard, outsourced, intermediate goods). Breaking these companies up would create a competitive framework for smaller players to enter. Think about what could happen if you could start a car company without having to hire a single assembly-line worker? It would be like giving the car business a set of APIs.

...although I did have one CEO try and bill me for the ink it used for the hardcopy.

I have a 10meg PDF resume (4 pages with lots of pictures, hyperlinks, and partial nudity). It has gotten positive responses about 60% of the time, but they are generally very positive. Having a resume that doesn't please everybody, and stands out from the pack, is valuable. Even the 40% who didn't like it will remember it.

Just for the record, the map is showing directions to the Greenlake Zoka, not University.

Whew. Almost forgot about this one. I'll be there

You cunt.

That was an awful rickroll

Bauhaus on Cap Hill is pretty great, although a resto-bar would also solve the problems of having minors not being able to attend while letting some of us sip a cool beer.

Bid/Ask is a much more efficient system than an auction. Stock markets were all English auctions until people realized there was a better way.

I think a good place to start looking for a model is donorschoose.org. Don't invest in companies: invest in projects. If you broke the company up into small, discrete, chunks you could probably get under the investor limits and not have to file a disclosure. You would basically be letting the market allocate funds within a firm.Then, the firm just breaks up profits and gives dividends. Of course, the term "firm" doesn't really fit here, things would be much looser than what fits into our present definition.

You would still need a crazy team of lawyers to avoid trouble, but it's certainly a loophole worth looking into and a very efficient system for allocating capital.

The Game didn't really start the genre. Microsoft was doing ARGs internally before 1997, and possibly provided some of the inspiration for the film. There was also Dreadnot which predates the film as well.

Unfortunately, that was a one-time event. A great time was had by all, but I am no longer living in Montreal. It will continue, but in another city and in a completely different form. Faceless Invasion is a broader organization, and each game aims to be both subversive and unique.

I have created two small ARGs, Faceless Invasion and FCLSNY. Since then I have spent extensive time researching the genre, trying to figure out how & why it is effective. I'd be happy to share what I know if your friend has some specific questions.

It would be pretty cool to export finished playlists to Muxtape. I mean, you can create your own playlist sharing system, but might as well play along with the marginally bigger dogs.