theblackbox

Why are you asking the community this question? Why not just ask an admin like you would on any other forum or irc network? Why do people think that this is something other HNers need to know about?

[edit: this is a genuine question to establish a motive that might stop me flagging this and other content, this post is worthless clutter for all I can see]

[edit2: anyone care to explain their downvotes?]

The point is not about money or status, or pain and joy, but about the willingness to confidently feel into[1] these things. Mediocrity robs you of your passion. The point is not that failure teaches, or that children should not be built up by an overbearing, over-parental, society, but that all beings should seek to FEEL. It's a curious state that foreshadows knowing, and to be content with mediocrity would greatly reduce the variety of sensations that a moral, considered life can hope to expect in this world. It's existential suicide. And it grieves me dearly, so I get all righteous and pontificate.

[1:Einfuhlung, Johann Gottfried Herder, Isaiah Berlin]

It's the tepid nature of this statement that I am most against. Despite the fact it's also just downright wrong - the malleability of the brain is close to miraculous and studied heavily in many areas of science.

Rats that are kept in cages devoid of adornment have smaller, less dense, brains than rats that have toys and varied sonsory stimulation. It's simple, the more things we have with which to think, the better and more complex our thinking can be.

Think Orwell's Newspeak and Herman Hesse's Glass bead games.

What is awful here is that you seem to be convinced that mediocrity is a worthwhile tactic for people and for children... and I think this rips the heart from the very idea of what it means to be alive and better oneself.

The comparison is flawed due to the failure to realise these are children!

Who cares if they fail? If they do, they shouldn't - that's the lesson. If you do, they will - you're a poor teacher.

We learn by failure, coddling a child within it's abilities is anethema to creating independent, curious, creative people, that can challenge themselves and know thier limits.

.... ugh, I feel a blog post or some poetic vitriol coming on.

I apologise unreservedly. I do not use reddit, and found this on some IRC chan to distract me for a few minutes... I figured it would die like all my submissions have with less than 20 upvotes and a few comments about similar implementations or pros/cons of such a drastic change to user interface.

@jacquesm: I think I just inadvertantly gave you a case study!

/me hangs head in shame

I remember reading about a theory expounded upon in the last chapter of Stardust (by John Gribbin), where he claims it's possible (although he urges you to think of it as a thought experiment) that Universes are born from black holes and that if that were so, there would be a sort of evolutionary pressure that would lead to Universes becoming better at creating black holes. This, in essence, explains away the curiously specific and precise numbers that are the foundations of our universe. They have evolved to support matter and energy in the form we are accustomed to seeing it, because that is the most conducive to the birth of black holes and baby universes.....

/me takes it all with a pinch and a half of salt

I remember reading about a theory expounded upon in the last chapter of Stardust (by John Gribbin), where he claims it's possible (although he urges you to think of it as a thought experiment) that Universes are born from black holes and that if that were so, there would be a sort of evolutionary pressure that would lead to Universes becoming better at creating black holes. This, in essence, explains away the curiously specific and precise numbers that are the foundations of our universe. They have evolved to support matter and energy in the form we are accustomed to seeing it, because that is the most conducive to the birth of black holes and baby universes.....

/me takes it all with a pinch and a half of salt

Very well put. I recently got hold of a very interesting book[1] that was all about how the "free press" effectively seek to raise the cost of production/distribution so as to stifle the voice of independent publishers and how this has lead to the conglomeration of media outlets under very specific political banners (and even shaped politics itself). Unfortunately, mine was an old copy, but it has since been heavily updated for the internet era. I doubt it shares your optimism, though I would certainly like to. I try to keep my eyes open for inde/underground publications[2] now, as I have a much better appreciation of their work.

[1: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Power-without-Responsibility-Broadca...] [2: one I've become aware of recently - Dodgem Logic (http://www.dodgemlogic.com/) that are very deliberately subversive. I think one of the guys out of The League Of Gentlemen is involved.]

Ha, that reminded me of one of my heros: Michio Kaku. He built a particle accelerator in his basement when he was a teenager and wiped out every transformer in his neighbourhood! Another amazingly reckless Japanese guy who inspires from the danger of the edge (he now builds infinite improbability drives for the galactic elite).

I've not really kept up with this story, nor can I rouse myself to feel the outrage shared by a lot of the community on this one... but if I were to throw in my two cents, I'd have to point to Google Flu Trends [1] and the fact that their modeling of influenza outbreak and spread are some of the most accurate and up-to-date on earth, often besting the World Health Organisation. This is sometimes used as justification for extending the length of time that Google retains data.

If this anti-google sentiment is to be believed and they are marching the corporate road to evil, I shudder to think of the information that could be inferred from collective search pattern trends.

I just noticed that the example had not been given yet and I think it's an important one in this debate. It is a seemingly benign, if not entirely altruistic, case study. What is the consensus, smoke and mirrors, or is there a real social value to be gleaned [2] from the harvest of the vast data swarm?

[1: http://www.google.org/flutrends/] [2: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gleaning]

Almost totally unrelated:

http://www.rogersconnection.com/

just wanted to strain your wallet a little further =P (and your mind, of course)

Exactly, I would claim the author to be a fool if this wasn't included.... we are all entrepreneurs here, right?

In the same way I never batted an eyelid with David Welton's Slicehost vs. Linode[1] article. It was informativve and unbiased and I was happy to provide some incentive back for that.

[1: http://journal.dedasys.com/2008/11/24/slicehost-vs-linode ]

you mean practitioners? surely?

Normally I would put aside my Grammar Nazi persona, but you make the mistake twice, so I feel compelled to intervene.

It's not solving a problem, it's making the solution more convenient.

Can't say at the moment, ongoing negotiations and the like ;)

I'm not so sure I understand what you mean here, guys. If I'm right, using PO boxes or temporary virtual addresses is kind of redundant in this situation as it obsfucates the addresses anyway.

I was reminded of 24 Hour Party People and Factory Records swish designer table (somewhere around £20k iirc)

Just confirmed this one with one of the founders...

"that puts quite a bit of work on the delivery service."

This is exactly what has been done - the barcode translates to a consignment number that is useless without access to myHermes' database. This is in virtue of them having recently incorporated new barcode scanners that link them into this system.

[EDIT: dunno about the https overkill, though]

yes they are working on US launch about Feb

[EDIT: great idea about reddit and secret santa btw, anyone know who would be a good contact?]

Any comments and suggestions I can pass on to the founders would be greatly appreciated.

"Why would someone give up 50% of potential revenue when they can use adsense for search and keep 100% of the payout."

Is it just some type of "modular business tactic"?

So instead of being an entrepreneur for years and building up links based on hard won personal experience, one would prefer to plug into a ready made solution? Just as one might prefer the ready made whitedotbox affiliate scheme to learning the innards of the adsense system?

I wonder if it is simply profiteering on the lack of skills/knowledge outside of "industry hubs". For instance I am based in an isolated rural community. What business networks exist are difficult to break into and often don't have the vision/drive/momentum that comes as standard for more metro/cosmopolitan communities. (although this seems like a gross over-generalisation, and my networking skills might just be a lot worse than I like to think!)

I got (similar to) this as a first impression too (didn't catch the recently bankrupt founder, so thanks for that), but I just thought it was worth putting to the community. I'm still wet behind the ears as an "entrepreneur" and thought there might be someone here who knew of this and/or had some personal experience with them.

One thing that confuses me: when does multilevel marketing become something to avoid? For instance, we recently had contact with whitedotbox.com who have partnered with Yahoo! to offer a pay-per-click search box that can drive revenue for charity and third-sector organisations. This seems all well and good, but it's highly tiered and has affiliate/referal incentives built in. What is the line between a "pyramid scheme" (so to speak) to be avoided, and a method to build in growth?

Might just be being very naive so feel free to kick me into gear ;)

The "why" is a whole world of debate in and of itself, and is in fact a problem with the language used to convey scientific understanding.

From Wikipedia: Teleology (Greek: telos: end, purpose) is the philosophical study of design and purpose.

What happens is that ideas are often conveyed using teliological phrases, such as

"the sparrows migrate to africa in the winter month so as to find abundant food sources and rear the next generation..." or "testicles reside outside of the body major in order to benefit from a reduced temperature...".

The problem is that these make sense to us, although they are _very_ incorrect. The teleological concepts of "so as" or "in order to" are the whys and they are very tricky beasts. So, for utmost correctness one would prefer to say:

"the sparrows migrate to africa in the winter month finding the abundant food sources needed to rear the next generation..." or "testicles reside outside of the body major benefitting from a reduced temperature..."

It's a very subtle issue, and one that is compounded by the popularity and ease with which we talk about biology and evolution in particular. Ernst Mayr wrote some spectacular essays on the subject, he's one of my heros so forgive me for the blatent plug! He claims that a formal understanding of the errors of telology must permeate the sciences, and most especially biology (he was a philosopher of biology), so as to clear up the ambiguities that can lead one to think there is an end or purpos (telos) to evolution. Even now it is still quite common for people to think of it in terms of progress and constant betterment instead of just simple and blind adaptation.

Okay, I've never been able to figure this one out... you're saying the perfect place for a first date is a large darkened room filled with strangers and an attention grabbing audio-visual bonanza?

I just don't get it.

Maybe as a second or thid date, once you've figured out some particularly interesting inde film you think he/she might like. Otherwise it just seems a bit uncomfortable to me.

Anyway, having said that: I wonder if you can utilise aspects of speed dating and social media. The point of speed dating is the anonymity (it's a person, not a profile), and a (woefully) popular part of social networking are those abhorent lists of likes and dislikes. Throw people together "willie nillie" (anonymously so to speak) and provide them with some of the aforementioned evil lists to fill in about the other half. This can then be pushed as marketing info, and you can direct the latest black and white french film that the local picturehouse is showing to the perfect couple... the idea being that it is the other way round, (active instead of passive) so it still has the feeling that you invited her to this movie because she told you it was her favourite. You didn't just read it on a profile and think that'll do.

It's the "In-vitro kits" that really get me thinking. I wonder if they will be as magnanimous as the author suspects or if they will simply be another tool of third world oppression. Like with how GMO crops sometimes have a built in dependency on a nutrition product sold by the same company, or how they can be made infirtile so the farmer cannot reseed the same crop. It all seems like another rift in the Socio-technological Divide, to me!

On a side note, what would in-vitro mean for Halal/Kosher meat? Anyone care to speculate?

... which, in turn, resists the gravity (iirc?) i.e. supernovas are formed when this balance collapses and a series of fission/fusion reactions fail to stabalise the star. This helps create heavy elements, as the star explodes and some magnificent forces are unleashed, seeding the surrounding space with the necessary stuff for "further development" - later stage stars, planets, coments/asteroids and life.

I highly recommend Stardust by John Gribbin for a thorough and accessible read on the subject of stars and their evolution.

I don't know what to say... this is a very emotive subject on both sides and I have conflicting forces pulling me in both directions. But for something that is stunning beyond compare, is the equal of any and all great things ever said, I can recommend few things with more passion than Charlie Chaplin's Great Dictator[0]. It's a film that sums up the genius of the man, and the power of film. But, more importantly, it speaks of the nobility of the human heart... I'll let him say it better than I could ever hope to. He apparently regretted making the film as it was made before he was aware of the full horror and attrocity of the concentration camps... but it's a beautiful and timeless piece of cinematography that inspires me.

[0] - His closing speech: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcvjoWOwnn4

Thank You to all men and women everywhere who fight for liberty... however that may be.

There are some very similar fundamentals here to a lot of what "Gandhian economics" teaches.