skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Yes, $1000 is a lot of money for that test. No, it is not incredibly useful. We're in a period of time when DNA testing is mainly for early adopters. However, the Moore's Law equivalent for DNA sequencing blows away the Moore's Law for transistors: every year genetic sequencing has become cheaper by tenfold.

23andme's disease risk indicators aren't overly meaningful, because they only test for a few SNPs and true disease risk is made up of many SNPs and multi nucleotide mutations and deletions, as well as levels of miRNA expression. Many of the mutations are only studied in caucasians. For now, most genetic tests are interesting rather than explicitly useful. Five or seven years from now, after Google's 100,000 genome project is complete and you can get a whole genome test for $1000, genetic testing will be very useful. Let's just hope that the results of that study are completely public.
I don't think full disclosure is intended as a rhetorical device to remove the bias from the writer, but rather as a filter for the reader to use to selectively ignore the bias.
It sounds like agile, but really, is putting 12 bazillions features on a website a agile thing ? Agile is a company-level thing, not a development team matter.

Look at this : http://www.justin.tv/ it feels like clutter to me. I suppose that they wish that putting "features" by the dozen will help them getting more users, but I think when your users start to wonder "where do I click next ?" or "what do they want me to focus on ?" ; You are not on the good tracks.

Like soccer : stop for a second, raise your head, look around, if you run fast with your head down, you'll end in the corner.
1) I'm not a big fan of the name, maybe it has subtle meanings that I'm not getting. It just doesn't flow. It sounds like a military term.

2) A lot of space is wasted in this site. The whole left column, which is about 40% of the site, is completely blank. I have mixed feelings about the little feedback bar, which, being a black log and over a yellow background, reminds me of ___.

3) Eventually you'll have to start making money, and thus putting up ads. The nice thing about wikipedia is it is non-profit and doesn't serve ads. If wikipedia did serve ads, I probably wouldn't bother contributing.

4) You should study the usage patterns of wikipedia, and what made it successful. I think there was an essay about that somewhere. The conclusion is that most of the edits come from a small minority of hyper-dedicated users, and the general high quality of writing on wikipedia can be attributed ot them. How are you planning to attract those types of people?
About 10 years ago, I considered the possibility of a gadget that connected to a home computer and allowed you to perform genetic testing at home - without revealing information to third parties. They'd be a large market for such a device. Unfortunately, it isn't feasible yet but it will be.
Most programmers I've come across, especially here, couldn't seem to care less as long as they post their startup and score points from peers.

Perhaps you could stop being so nice to us. Just kidding. Believe me, most of the programmers here understand this completely. We also understand that things like quantitative market analysis, business plans, etc are for the most part useless because no battle plan survives contact with the enemy. In this regard, I think we are more right-brained, or at the least more honest, in terms of what we think users want. We put out a rough approximation of what we think they want and let them guide us. What could be more empathetic than that?
The Pownce API is well written and impressive. My only problem with it now is that Dave Winer likes it. Aside from that, very well done but it's hard to design around Dave. :)
youwalkaway.com is generating lots of money. You can make money even in tought times.
What are the inhibiting cost factors?
I read http://www.takingchildrenseriously.com/ and its email list. (Note: website not updated recently.)

I also write about parenting. Try

http://www.curi.us/archives/list_category/50

or

http://www.curi.us/archives/list_category/6

It's not especially organized and other topics are mixed in. I also write to the email list above.
Steve Jobs is a big follower; He follows his heart.
I definitely lean to towards free market solutions, but the more I see libertarianism defined as an ideology that applies in everything from market pricing to child raring the less I like it. Whoever called it the Marxism of the right was spot on when it comes to things like this.

With an ideological framework you can define certain things to be true without reference to reality, and suddenly you're arguing that reality is failing to live up to your theory and not the other way round. Anything that claims to provide insight into a topic but uses an ideological lens to get there is fundamentally flawed.
libertarians frequently take positions like "I own the TV, so it's my decision if/when it will be used." How does this book handle that sort of issue?

(Note: I am generally libertarian-oriented and this kind of position is often taken by people I otherwise respect.)
Missing option: Smalltalk
In praise of the humble but world-changing tuber
I think this might be a good chance for family members of people who suffer from rare and un-curable diseases to see if they too are susceptible. Other than that I think 100$ might have been a good price for this vanity.
http://health.msn.com/kids-health/articlepage.aspx?cp-docume...

That article says that 90% of American parents spank their toddlers. Whatever the real figure is, a lot of people's gut tells them that hitting their children is right.

I agree with the sentiment that you shouldn't try to force some one-size-fits-all formula on your kids when it feels wrong. But we do need reason, frequently.
I agree. I've seen it 4 times over the past year.
I think it's pretty good to start with describing what your product will do and then come up with plays on it that are unique. YCombinator is a cleverly descriptive way of naming a company that starts companies. I believe Google's name comes from the idea that it's indexing a huge number of pages. It'd be lame to have called Google BigNumberofIndexPages.com or YC CompanyThatStartsCompanies.com. So aim for clever and inside humor that will give it personality.
There would have to be a cost to clicking on it, or people would click just to see who the voters are. I wonder if it would be enough to have it hide the article.
You know, you're absolutely right. I was out of line with that comment, and I see how people could pretty easily take offense. Thanks for your honest feedback, and I will keep a careful eye on this type of behavior.
I second this advice.

I have two daughters. The oldest is 4 going on 5, the youngest is closing in on 2. I guess I read the same books as my wife when she was pregnant with our oldest daughter ("What to Expect When You're Expecting", and some encyclopedic books regarding kids development and diseases). But neither of us has really resorted to any kind of manuals since then.

The most surprising thing (to me, at least) about having kids was the realization that they aren't alien creatures or high maintenance robots, but little people with their own very different personalities, even as newborns. And like other people you need to engage them on their level. And the relationship evolves from there.

So I guess my advice here is listen to them first. Read some clinical books to get the facts about sickness and heath, and when to call a doctor, but your let own observations be the main guide. Congratulations!
For SNP testing, the cost of micro-arrays and micro-array reading machines are way too much for at home use. Whole genome testing right now is astronomically more expensive than SNP testing.

However, if the rapidly decreasing cost of genetic sequencing keeps up, then it will eventually be possible to create at home genome sequencers that feed into your home computer to analyze the data. The privacy paranoid will have to pay a significant premium for this privilege.

Also, a DNA extraction machine would have to be bundled with the at home sequencer, ideally in one machine, and DNA extraction machines are also too expensive for home use. Without a machine, DNA extraction involves proprietary solution combined with various steps of heating and centrifuging.
is it even possible to build something that would allow a non-technical person to conduct genetic testing at home?
If enough people upvote it, the bozo button clickers are revealed.

Edit: better yet, they should be revealed unconditionally.
I read this entire article, and thought it was fascinating.

Fluff or not, at least it's quality.
Fair enough. However, I'm probably going to state what will be an unpopular opinion but one which is, I think, nevertheless true: spanking a child teaches a valuable lesson. I hardly ever do it, and I never do it as a punishment to be meted out later (as in, wait 'till your daddy gets home, then you're going to get it!). In the case where you've got a child who's prone to hit, I think it's reasonable to hit them back. Not with the same force, but it's a valuable lesson to learn that if you hit someone, you're going to get hit back. I don't want my kids to learn that they can physically intimate someone without consequence. Lacking that negative reinforcement, I _think_ you've got a bully in the making.
"... After looking at that page, I have no idea what that's supposed to do. Will someone enlighten me? ..."

Processing [0] is a graphical open source tool-kit to visualise data. Created by some ex-MIT Multimedia labs. It is designed to get non-programmers to program visually yet let programmers visualise large volumes of data w/o having to the need to take "Death Graphics" (COS 426) or re-code low level graphics routines from scratch.

This link looks like it describes a ruby binding to processing. If you have the $$$'s you could probably buy Mathematica which does similiar things. But processing is open and free.

[0] Processing ~ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Processing_(programming_language)

[1] COS 426 or Death Graphics is a demanding course at Princeton CS dept ~ http://www.cs.princeton.edu/courses/archive/spring08/cos426/
Beware of creeping fluff(ism).

Regardless, "fluff/cruft" has a circular tendency to attract users who register and post most of the stuff.
Not the most efficient, but here was my process:

1. List 100 things about your company and what you want it to represent.

2. Throw that into an application with custom rename logic (i.e. remove vowels, flip words, replace similar sounding letters, etc)

3. Run the list against taken domains

4. Code in some random simple removal logic based on the letters

5. Comb through remaining by hand.
Talk to the Estately.com guys. If nothing else, you can hear how much fun it is trying to change the real estate market via the startup route. They'll probably also be happy to tell you about all the roadblocks the old-school real estate folks put up just to prevent this. And they're all-around cool guys with lots of interesting stories.

(No, I am not one of them, but I had a beer with them once.)
The reason hitting people is bad is not that you will get hit back. That is one reason, but it's not the most important one, otherwise it'd be ok to hit defenseless people (like one's children).

Hitting people is an ineffective way of life -- it is bad for yourself. When you cooperate, you both win. When you fight, at most one of you wins, and usually you both lose (even if you don't get hurt, peaceful people will now keep their distance).

Fighting is also an irrational approach to conflict resolution. It makes no attempt to have the best idea implemented. Instead, it implements the idea of the physically strongest person. That is not a way to find the truth or to achieve good outcomes.
Time to move on?

- EDIT -

Downmodder, I'm asking rms why he wants to sell his account.
Have you seen myspace.com? It's proof that clutter isn't the problem tech people think it is.

See http://andrewchen.typepad.com/andrew_chens_blog/2007/11/do-y... for more in depth coverage of the same idea.
Is it possible to make money off of advertisements if your primary audience are techies?
I am planning on starting a website primarily aimed at techies. The problem is that techies are very unlikely to click on ads and use AdBlock, further lowering the probability. Is it possible to make money off of advertisements if your primary audience are techies?
Read the Ferber sleep book. The details matter.
Spoken like someone who has never reasoned with a two year old.
Possible? Sure. I've put up web pages directed toward programmers, and have gotten ad clicks.

But you'll probably find a greater click-through rate writing on other topics.
What percentage does it take to get 2x your base salary in 4 years max (accounting for multiple rounds and the subsequent dilution)? Adjust base salary until it fits your goals.

Remember: early employees never get rich, except for the really exceptional cases in which even the dock workers get a huge windfall.
We don't share much with "agile development" except a rapid development cycle.

"Agile development" things we don't do do (from the wikipedia article):

Exhaustive unit and integration testing - our testing is sparse and only for things that need it worst

Close, daily cooperation between business people and developers - getting business people involved in day to day development is horrible, at least in our experience

Even late changes in requirements are welcomed - we don't really have "requirements"

Face-to-face conversation is the best form of communication - face to face communication is essential, but it's not the "best form of communication". It's extremely costly in comparison to email.

Although we are "agile" in the following ways, they seem so self-evident that it's difficult to think anyone would ever admit they don't follow them:

Customer satisfaction by rapid, continuous delivery of useful software - vs. slow, halting delivery of useless software?

Working software is delivered frequently (weeks rather than months) - this we do, and it's good advice. Small things we'll even do on an hourly, or minutely basis.

Working software is the principal measure of progress - broken software or nonsoftware is the measure of progress?

Projects are built around motivated individuals, who should be trusted - projects are built around commitees who can't be trusted?

Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design - no attention to technical excellence or design?

Simplicity - complexity?

Self-organizing teams - top-down organized teams? unorganized?

Regular adaptation to changing circumstances - rare adaptation to changing circumstances?
Only people who try reasoning with two year olds can understand what sort of processes are truth seeking and capable of solving problems and being educational, or not?

Or only people who try reasoning with two year olds get so frustrated that they feel hitting children is best?
How do you get around the problem of "diluting" the main puzzle? If fewer people play with the main puzzle, that could result in a loss of traffic overall.

It's similar to the problem of subreddits diluting the main reddit.
From the article: the company will surprise many with its plans to embrace open source.

Microsoft's market capitalisation is 253.15 billion dollars. Redhat's market capitalisation is 3.47 billion dollars. MySQL's market capitalisation is 1 billion dollars. Other open source companies form a long tail and make the size of the open source market quite arguable. Regardless, I would be surprised if Microsoft obtain 2% of revenue from open source in 2008. I'll be more surprised if revenue from open source fully offsets losses from comparable but open source operating systems, databases and productivity applications.
Honestly, I find the subject matter of the ad more relevant than the presence of an ad. Partner up with good sites like New Egg or Tiger Direct for ads and you're bound to get some good numbers. Stick with Google AdSense (and that's not to say anything negative about AdSense) and you wont see near the same numbers mostly because

1. Everyone recognizes AdSense and it doesn't really stand apart from content (this reflects on how effectively and tactfully place your ad)

2. More common is it becoming to see Ads on AdSense that point to TLD's that display no relevant information, or useful data, so people automously ignore them.

Advertisements are all about the audience, much less the product. Get the right ads, and you'll see results even with the techie crowd who are more familiar with blatantly bad advertisements.
Wow that guy who made Justin.tv must be really sexy!
"Learning Lisp is an uphill battle. Even though in Computer Science terms Lisp is an ancient language, few people to date figured out how to teach it well enough to make it accessible. Despite great efforts by many Lisp advocates, learning Lisp today is still hard."

I agree. I'm going from newb to lisper, and it hurts.
A potential problem is this would dilute the main puzzle, resulting in less competition and interest in the site.
The U.S. voted no on Microsoft Office standard at ISO
actually regarding the MMR vacine, is it possible to get them separately?? i am completely pro-vacination but it is hard to ignore the fear of MMR related autism... what say?
Multi-Touch gestures in any application
Tellme Founder: Sale to Microsoft Has Worked Out Well
ok, maybe I'm not the guy to sell average product to average people then.

So this is a proof that agile can be applied to average products for average users.
Here are some quotes from the book which may provide more insight:

"Children are rational and logical, and want to be happy, just as we do."

"The only important difference between adults and children is experience."

"The three main qualities you need to foster in your child's personality are independence, self-esteem and individuality."

"In order to prevent your children from harming your belongings, you need to establish exactly what property belongs to whom in your home.... A working example would be to decide that your child's room, toys and clothes are his property."
FOWA Updates
Is 23andMe's test for HIV resistance the same gene as your startup tests for?
Don't be a stranger. Let us know what you decide and how it goes. Always interested in success stories from those who aren't chained to their terminal all day (and night) long.
did I tell you? Now, I am going for Web 6
I just spent four weeks on a pediatric neurology clerkship in medical school, and my wife is a pediatric occupational therapist. Throw away your TV.

Just do it.

After Katrina, when we evacuated to my parents' house, they'd just moved in themselves, the day before. We agreed to not hook up cable. My kids calmed down noticeably. No, remarkably. We watch, maybe, a movie or two a week. The DVD player broke, so they only watch those movies on a computer anyway. The TV hasn't been turned on in weeks. I now own a $5000 Ethan Allen box to hide a $500 TV box that I don't use. Just throw the boob tube away. What do you do with a livingroom that has no TV? Feng shui.

My wife has started advising parents of kids with ADHD to get rid of their TVs. They're scared at first, but they do it. And in a few days or weeks they love her for it.

The pediatric neurologists I was with last month think ADHD probably isn't even a legit diagnosis (psychiatric diagnoses are voted on). They very frankly told me they think it's mainly a combination of TV and bad parenting, which is on the rise thanks to TV and entirely too many double-income homes. And if you're questioning their politics, these folks are insanely smart and educated, and probably more liberal than Noam Chomsky, and I know at least one that raised four kids herself.

In case you missed it: throw away the TV. All of them.

For specific readings, go to PubMed's Entrez site and look up the author "Christakis DA". He's prolific, but his biggest newsmakers are some rather large studies showing dose-dependent correlations between TV and obesity, attention deficit, violence at school, and I think there was something else.
Notes for March 3rd SDWest talk on interviewing in Silicon Valley
That would make sense, though I thought they only tested for single nucleotide polymorphisms and the HIV mutation in question is a 32 base pair deletion.
thanks for sharing this
What Every Leader Needs To Know About Followers: http://www.bravacorp.com/leadershiphbr17followers.pdf
Maybe the number of player's at Matt Maroon's level were smaller than the number of VC and startup founders, which would tend to explain his observation.
As a father the best thing you can do after attending to your daughters immediate needs, is learn more about how to become the kind of father that your daughter needs. After reading the following book I feel better prepared and informed to be a better father.

Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters
(http://www.amazon.com/Strong-Fathers-Daughters-Secrets-Fathe...)
Definitely. Already, some high end scientific equipment is almost completely automated. I think it could get as simple as "spit in tube, place tube in machine, push button on machine, plug machine into USB port on computer." There will exist a market opportunity for this eventually
Missing option - Assembly language. Okay, fine - I'm joking.
Notwithstanding your objection to my use of poetic license, let me refocus: I argue your revulsion of TED's smugness is similar to other people's revulsion of our culture here. I once said:

"It surprises me that people can indict others with the adjective 'holier-than-thou' and not feel ashamed of themselves. The word screams, 'I'm going to bring you down to my level!'"

Smug, holier-than-thou, arrogant, self-righteous: one can easily inflict these words on pg for unashamedly littering his essays with references to Leonardo da Vinci and Jane Austen and Copernicus and Kelly Johnson. At times I've felt put off by the way he does this, but I'm rational enough to know this emotion - the emotion that coerces us to prevent our fellow apes from rising above their proper place - is wrong, at least in this case.

So what if TED is smug? They deserve to be - many of their videos are really, truly interesting. As an example, I recently enjoyed the one on African Aid: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/159. I'll warn you in advance that he's a very captivating speaker - it's hard to stop watching after you've begun.
What other people read/buy/like alone is near useless data. Garbage in, garbage out.

I can't believe people are still trying to wave their hands and pretend they have some amazing algorithm to turn this data into half useful recommendations.
Oh man, I had no idea something like this existed! Shades of Gattica, but SO SO cool!

Also reminds me of Dawkin's writing on a "Moore's Law" for genetics, basically saying that there's an exponential equation describing number of genes sequenced for a fixed cost.

Guess we've gotten at least to the point where $1000 buys one (apparently) meaningful information about your genetic structure.

Methinks I'll wait until the cost has fallen by another order of magnitude or so . . .
Good advice for someone, like me, who's new to the entrepreneurial world. The "Poker People" article mentioned in the linked entry is also pretty good.

Good, if for no other reason, than it gives me the names of some other VCs other than Paul Graham to dig up some info on.
This opens up a whole new level of narcissism. "My DNA is better than yours." :)
And cue panicky article about "possible plagues from the sky" in 3..2..1..
Lit Nerds: TS Eliot's Wasteland - well referenced
I've found that the type of exercise matters A LOT for me. If I'm tired and I can get away to lift for a half hour or a little more, I come back to whatever I was doing re-energized and feeling great. Aerobic exercise leaves even more drained and desperately wanting sleep or, at the very least, caffeine.