skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Ask YC: How do you lose weight?
This was inspired by another Ask YC post that mentioned the Hacker's Diet (http://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/www/hackdiet.html).

After extensive research, I tried the Hacker's Diet and lost 60 pounds over 7 months. The big problem with HD is that it doesn't emphasize increasing your protein intake. As a result, I lost some muscle mass as well as fat. I kept the weight off for two years but eventually gained most of it back. Another criticism of HD is that you lose your energy--had I been working at the time I couldn't have pulled it off.

I recently started a medically supervised diet called a Modified Fast which does emphasize increasing protein and virtually eliminating carbs. One of my board members recommended the clinic and they claim they can do 15-20 pounds a month with no muscle loss or decrease in energy. I'm ahead of schedule but I'm only a couple days in so it doesn't really count. (The first 10 lbs are water weight.) I also take an appetite suppressant called phentermine during both diets.

Here's the Wikipedia link (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketogenic_diet) for something similar to my current diet. They call it the Ketogenic Diet. (The whole point is to kick your body into a state of ketosis where it rapidly burns off all your fat. The protein is to make sure it doesn't also burn off muscle.)

So YC, have you ever tried to lose weight? If so, how?
I loved this answer:

"I don’t think it’s about philosophy. It’s about getting people what they need, and about getting the results to be as accurate and fast as possible."

Much better than the usual jargon, cliches and buzzwords people tend to spew in interviews.
Arpan from Siphs here. Thanks for the feedback so far, definitely appreciated! Looks like the elevator pitch is too wordy so we will work on clarifying. That said, the Siphs button does both (lets users either post to a social media site or send the web page to a friend via email). Regarding monetization, it's a subscription based model. Before you think, no way, that will never work, let me highlight that we've already signed up paying customers. Any experiences with scaling from here would be great! Thanks and kudos to Steve from howtosplitanatom for putting this together.
"could it be Sun loves Ruby because it needs lots of their servers to scale?"
I like classical while programming. Check out Otto's Baroque Musick: http://www.shoutcast.com/directory/index.phtml?sgenre=Classi...
Hey, it did actually catch in the database, it just didn't register your user number. I've put your user number on the entry now, so it's live. I think there was one page in the site that didn't carry over the session variables, but that bug has now been fixed.

Thanks for submitting, I liked your article!
> How do you guys deal with emotional problems?

I'll smack you in the face and scream at you to "Pull it together man!" Or would you prefer a hug?

> What kind of non-computer things can you readily do to get away from it?

Sports are important. NOT going on runs, or "working out", or bike rides, or a friendly co-ed softball league. Men need physical athletic competition. Personally, nothing puts me on an even keel more than getting punched in the face. Real adrenaline rushes put all stress in perspective.
Redeye VC: First Round Capital funds 4 of 11 "Top Young Entrepreneurs"
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Heavy Metal Cloud
This question has been asked so many times here, I think it's better to have this sticky.
This is a bit off-topic (if the topic is the traffic spike) but I am impressed by the openness of this post; more, somehow, than by his first response the other day. Maybe that's because the spotlight is largely off by now? Anyhow, way to turn a negative into a positive.
Oh I would definitely have a huge expectation if I were to meet up with someone who had secured a $2m round from Sequoia - I understand you completely there. Angel funding of $100k though is often given to ID-10-Ts because the angels are not savvy (certainly not all angels, of course, but there's a significant portion of angel investing given to just plain stupid ideas). If someone told me they had raised $250,000, I would be interested to hear how but I wouldn't think they were one notch up the ladder until I heard more. For $500,000, I'm more interested. For $1m+ then you start getting into the space where you either fooled one sucker for a lot of money or you have a good idea (typically).
how about vapornix? or vaporOS?
Bloggers Unite For Human Rights challenges
While the words might change from country to country and are sometimes taken for granted, human rights represent one of the universally agreed upon ideas
A trick I sometimes use is to leave something broken (or unfinished) when I quit working. It's easier to get back up to speed by picking up where I left off than by starting something new from zero.
It isn't something in the brain you can point at like a tumor - it (seems to be) an difference in the development of structures or the concentration of neurotransmitters that everyone has - so a diagnosis can only be made based on whether these differences are impeding in some way. That's why it doesn't really make sense to say it isn't a problem when how problematic it is is one of the diagnostic criteria.
i used, to great success, a variation of this:

http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2007/04/06/how-to-lose-...

in addition to this type of diet and exercise, lift weights to build muscle. more muscle = more calories burned. because of this, make sure to take in extra protein, and during the one "break" day, eat minimal protein.

change around the food and such as you like, but keep the principles the same.
Both this and the parent comment strike me as very much a Western and modern spin on Buddhism. It's one I happen to be sympathetic to. But I'm also skeptical of what happens when such traditions are taken far out of their historical and cultural context.
To Get Rich, Just Follow the Instructions
1-800-FREE-411 and Pennsylvania politics
Ask Yc:are there any other popular essayists
i love reading PG essays
are there any other popular essayists ?
PayPal Plans to Ban Unsafe Browsers
Why Writing Your Own Search Engine is Hard
Evolving Beta
Cities Caught Illegally Tampering With Traffic Lights To Increase Revenue Of Red Light Cameras
I personally like homepage layout, I think your conversion rate could be really high for blog conversions, but, as browngeek said, there is no instant gratification.

I'm not to tempted to create my own cause I don't know what's entailed. I do know it takes 5 minutes now and that's not time I have right now.

Maybe you should make the "Start creating mobile pages" link bring you to a blank mobile page where you can become invested and then force the user to sign up once they have everything they want; like their layout, pictures, url..etc.

Good idea though, and you're off to an AWESOME start.
Right off the bat there is no link for a more in depth review. You have a good pitch, but no 'Read more here' link. You have links to other sites reviewing your product, but I would like to see an explanation(more than 3 steps) of how it all works. Interesting idea, I think you may have something here.
My extended family has an email list. The articles and other links that people forward are already too much to keep up with, mixed in with personal life updates. I think the problem described in this article is not technology-specific, although twitter certainly amplifies it.
First of all, exercise. You can't get in good shape through diet alone. Exercise is more than just cardio; strength training increases the amount of muscle mass you have, which allows you to burn more calories.

"Diets" don't work because the word implies a temporary change in your eating habits. In order to maintain weight loss, you need to change your eating habits for the rest of your life.

Further, in order to be in good shape - not just maintain "low weight" - you need to eat well and exercise. For the rest of your life.
There's that nice image on internets: How to lose weight in 2 easy steps. Step 1. Stop eating so much you fat fuck. Step 2. Wake up and move your ass.

Well basically that's it. I go to dancing classes. It's not hard and effect is not instant, but I rate that better than gym.
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expend more calories than you eat
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How to safely send your deck to investors.
Good response - I'm curious what other feedback people have given, especially about using it (not just the superficial UI issues)?
John Hartford!
I use stickk.com as an incentive to workout regularly. I play squash 3 times a week and do cardio and weightlifting twice a week. It's all about regular exercise as well as cutting out fatty foods (hamburgers, fries, pizza, etc.). Also, be careful about eating fruits. Vegetables and lean meats (turkey, chicken) are far better for you.
To me it's really obvious that you should eat well and exercise... the problem is getting the time to do it. Why not work/hack at the same time as exercising?

My home work desk is configured for standing... right now I'm experimenting with mini-steppers though I have a feeling that I either need to hack a full blown stepper or that I need to buy a treadmill. The problem is that most mini-steppers have bad design and will probably break in a month, though if you want a treadmill that doesn't break after prolonged use; I've heard you need to spend a few grand...

Ideas:

- http://www.engadget.com/2005/06/08/the-treadmill-workstation...

- here's one guys hack: http://webworkerdaily.com/2007/07/31/web-workout-make-a-work...

- http://www.realtechnews.com/posts/3634

- http://www.buzzfeed.com/buzz/Treadmill_Workstation

I also use a combination of Wii and a mini exercise cyle (not usable for most desks and it's too loud for the office) when I play xbox 360 video games.

http://www.amazon.com/Brookstone-Mini-Exercise-Bike/dp/B0000...
First off, congrats to the guys who made the list. It's hard work being an entrepreneur, and I'm glad that you guys are getting some good press.

But, I do have a problem with how it seems that these businesses are being selected. It seems that the level of funding that these people raised is used as a hallmark of how good the entrepreneur is. Isn't the mark of a good entrepreneur how much they can do with how little?

I can understand why a video company like Video Egg might need a high capitalization. Bandwidth charges for video streaming are high. But, I'd still balk at taking $27 million in funding.

Etsy--31 million in funding. Granted, the company has 1 million users and 75,000 sellers. But really, 31 million dollars! What does an e-commerce site need 31 million for?

I've actually begun to see taking large sums of VC money as a competitive disadvantage. If these companies take $20-30 million in funding, the VC's are going to push for a 10x return. That means that their investors are wanting a $200-300 million exit. And, even at those rates, I'd imagine that the founders shares are quite diluted by that point.

And, I'd guess that the chances of getting a $200-300 exit are a lot slimmer than getting a $5-6 million exit. For details Google "Digg acquisition": http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=active&clien...
This seemed to be pretty good advice to me. I'd improve on it by pre-registering a login for the investor so that you can simply give them a username and password without forcing them to jump through any registration hoops.
expend more calories than you absorb
easily said, harder to do.

Lookout for hidden calories. Soda, juice, etc can contain about 250 cals per glass. It takes probably about 15 minutes of running to counteract that.

So, to balance those scales of calorie intake (or tip them into your favour) focus on eating better and drink mostly water, coffees and teas.

Exercise is a must. Do whatever form you can do regularly.

Patience is the final piece the puzzle, you can't healthily lose more than a few pounds a week.
Google Video Gets A Makeover And New Features
I just started at the gym. I've gone every other day so far. It's only been the first week, but I am starting out slow with about 30-60 minutes of cardio. Along with that I try to keep in check what I am eating. Eating breakfast is a big thing cause it gets your metabolism going in the morning. For lunch instead of a whole sandwich I eat half a sandwich and some fruit and a yogurt. For dinner I try to keep red meat to special occasions and eat more chicken and fish. I also try to make smarter choices like salad with dressing on the side instead of french fries. Thats about it.

Edit: I also don't drink soda, diet or regular.
This is a great comment. I read folks I think are grounded in both contexts--modern and historical. Try "What the Buddha Taught" by Walpola Rahula for background.
Excellent points. Muscle mass is key for many things, including burning more calories.

I wouldn't focus on being a certain weight or losing a certain weight - you should initially be staying about even since you will be increasing muscle mass while reducing fat mass.
Thank you for your good advice. However, I respectfully disagree with your last point: "...the greatest benefit of disagreeing well is ... that it will make the people who have them happier." While disagreeing well undoubtedly does remove ill temper from discussions, I see a much greater benefit, one that everything else in your illuminating article leads towards: reasoned disagreement helps us arrive at the truth.
Sanity Check: Is Your Addressable Market Size Realistic?
All-Pro Hacker Wanted
This is straight-up plagiarism from a cool book from several years ago.
The best resource I have ever found on this is Lyle MacDonald's materials. You can go to (http://www.bodyrecomposition.com) for articles. He takes a geek approach to nutrition, and talks extremely straight about it, and bases all his conclusions on science and research.

There are many myths and pieces of information out there on dieting. Yes, keeping protein intake up, to a point that many people would even consider disgusting, is important. It's ultimately pure thermodynamics: eating less than you burn. However, it is a big mistake to try and do too much in the gym. The eating is by far the most important part of the equation.

Another big key is that certain diet patterns are much easier to follow. Low carb works very well for me (after a week or two of adjustment where I'm absolutely fried). Once it's locked in, all cravings for high carb and junk foods just disappear. But I have to be careful, because any break from this leads to extreme temptation again.
I also think that for many people strength training can be more fun, and consequently, are more likely to continue doing it. It's more visceral than most cardio, and the goal/reward system of increasing weight and reps gives faster gratification.

Part of the problem is that most people have no idea how to do the basic lifts, and most personal trainers don't teach them. Another problem is a basic lack of structure, which is why I advocate focusing on the basic lifts: bench, squat, deadlift and maybe clean & press.

Doing both cardio and strength training is important, but I think most people already understand the basics of cardio.
You remind me of a statement I read attributed to Andrew Carnegie, something like (I'm paraphrasing): "I made several hundred million dollars and gave it away, and the giving was incomparably harder than the making."

Also, I suppose that a psychological advantage of not having money is that you can imagine how much better off you'd be if you had it.
From someone who exercises a good amount (usually 5-6 days a week for 1-2 hours at a time) I never really believe in exercise for weight loss.

The math just doesnt work out, go and run hardcore for about 3 miles at 250 lbs bodyweight and you are looking at burning about 500 calories. While thats a good amount its the same as maybe 2 bottles of soda. Its a lot easier to cut out 100 calories from 5 meals then to run 3 miles...

So I never advocate exercise for weight loss purposes as much as diet. I greatly advocate exercise for all the other benefits plus the motivation it helps with in dieting.

Really as someone else stated, if you are overweight you need to make a lifestyle change. Cut out all the crap esp empty calories like soda (sugar) pastries, and other junk.
The elevator pitch should not contain information that detailed. When you get into revenue models and such, unless its a USP then it becomes more than an elevator pitch.

Once you get a formal pitch then you can go into detail. Everyone should memorize their elevator pitch as it will be used VERY often . :)
find a better available url...hahahaa. Its tough.
No.

1) The marketing reason is pretty simple. If Sun does a lot for Ruby, they will win points with Ruby users, so when the time comes to choose an OS or buy servers, Sun would be higher on the list.

2) Every big corporation likes to have it's own technology. IBM is doing more for Java than Sun is, Microsoft has .NET, so Sun can back Ruby and it doesn't cost them much, since most of the work is already done.

3) The 15-20x number was off the cuff. I'm no expert, but it seems like the perceived Ruby slowness actually comes from Rails.
Apparently I am no longer a "young" entrepreneur. (sigh)
Amazing visual search coming to iPhone in June
Real People Don't Have Time for Social Media
Don't try to fight the stuff head on. Recognize when you aren't going to be productive in front of the computer, and walk away. Figure out something else to do, ideally something that gets you in a better mood, or feeling more productive, or helps clean away all the things you're worrying about. Sometimes that means cleaning the house or running some errands. Sometimes it means playing a couple hours of Halo 3 with your friends. Often for me, a trip to the gym will do wonders. After my post-workout shower, I feel like I'm restarting the day.
F Me. $15 mil for adding tinsel to your MySpace? And "RockYou is lining up a new round of funding to stay sharp.".

Etsy: $31.6 mil for a swapmeet just for handmade crafts.

When people take that much buck for so little bang it doesn't seem like they are interested in ROI or making it big so much as having a jobs program for them and their buddies.

Auctomatic sold for what probably amounts to a few months' burn rate for these suckers and still made their founders millionaires. How are these guys with 20 or 30 mil invested going to find a buyer that makes them a profit?

By the strict definition of entrepreneur (assuming the risk), that title goes to the VCs. When the venture tanks it's not going to be the founder who's out $30 mil.

Not a lot of technical wow in that list. Drupal probably leads by a good margin.
Kul,

Which provider are you using for the live streaming on the IPLT20.com?
People who think juice is a healthful food are nuts.
1. I moved to Europe

2. I stopped drinking soda
Someone call Sun and tell them to stop sponsoring Rubinius work sessions, then. They wouldn't want Ruby to run too fast.
Your math doesn't work because it's not that simple. The effects of exercise - strength training or cardio - do not stop once you stop. Your metabolism is raised for hours after, and your body has to start repairing itself.

Also, please note there is more to exercise than cardio.
They're also sponsoring JRuby, which at the moment is often even slower than MRI.
That's true. Vomit it all up.
you gotta learn how to die-ie-ie /
if you ever want to be alive.
Not everyone has a problem with calorie intake.
Joe Hruska (one of my co-founders at RescueTime, YC08) has lost 42 pounds in the last 3.5 months with approximately zero exercise.

He pretty much did the South Beach Diet. It's kinda faddy, but it really is approximately what humans were designed to eat. You should pick up the book, but approximately: no white flour, no white sugar, no rice, no potatoes. First two weeks are pure carb-free (painful) but the rest of the time, complex carbs are okay in moderation.
I think there are two issues in losing weight:
1) Dropping the fat aka expending more energy than you absorb and working to keep muscle as you go.
2) Changing your habits to effect a change to not go back to where you were.

Frankly, most of us are professional sitters. We essentially do nothing physical every day. If we were, historically, designing the human system, we would have never expected it to expend so little energy in a day. We have systems to manage and regulate weight but our activity level is below the expected minimum and they fail. Design-wise--we are not what was expected, so we must consciously do more.

This is to say that medicine and science can help you tremendously with 1) but you need to get your head in a different place if you want to succeed at 2) and that is hard++.

In addition to your efforts at 1), I would _strongly_ recommend working on new habits. One I continually recommend is getting the habit of doing something physical for an hour a day on average. If you can't do an hour at first, do a half-hour on average. By something I mean literally that: bounce a ball against a wall, go for a walk, go for a run, hit the weights, jump rope, bicycle, etc. Just make sure you are fairly constantly active for the period. I think this something idea is more effective because it is much easier goal to keep. People fail at 2) because they cannot stick to their goals for new habits.

This is already more than I intended to write, but I have one last point. Focus on developing a truthful awareness of what you are putting into your body. Eating is an amazingly subtle and powerful mental process. Forcing yourself to be aware of what goes into your body will help you engage better habits.
SICP - summary of 10 months working through the entire book
> Etsy: $31.6 mil for a swapmeet just for handmade crafts.

I'm assuming that your italics were meant to indicate that you think this is a silly idea. But what you probably have to consider is the size of the handmade craft market in the US. Then consider the entire world-wide market. It's probably very large. And Breyer @ Accel is no fool.
Please explain why you think it's a mistake to "try and do too much in the gym." My observation is that people don't work hard enough in the gym.
Me three...

Are there some simple percents on beta tester burn rates when the product is unfinished, but appears promising enough to sign up and try it. Best guesses?
NTFS Stuff - WSH script for reporting NTFS permissions
It is hard for a Microsoft System Administrator to keep trace of all changes made to the “logical” structure of a fileserver, so many times we felt the need for a quick and easy tool that could help us to locate those “significant” folders that, in some way, affect the normal application of NTFS permissions based on the “inheritance” principle.
Some features we expected. We added task deadlines (and its effect on prioritization) based on feedback, and assigning resources is coming very soon. Plus, someone wanted to understand how to migrate into StreamFocus slowly, continuing to use their existing tools. Our tool isn't a full desktop/office suite that needs to manage everything; rather it can be adopted incrementally. And we were asked about import from Outlook, integration with email, etc., which we'll look into.
I'm not saying people shouldn't drink juice. Juice tastes great and is a gentle morning eye-opener. That's why I drink it.
Make simple changes that add up. Exercise, of course. Take the stairs, walk further distances.

Switch out breads and starches for veggies. Eat a meat with spinach and tomato, instead of fries / pasta. Skip the soda, skip dressing and use more spices for flavor.

If you're gonna go for a gimmicky diet, I recommend the caveman diet: http://www.earth360.com/diet_paleodiet_balzer.html