skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
This article has a major, major fault. It implies that learning happens step by step, and to learn new things you have to stop what you're doing and move onto the next thing.

This is not how it works. Well, in my case. The way I learn, and have learnt for the past several years, is by diving in head-first and facing the facts 1,000 times at once. I didn't learn python, then learn MySQL. No, I learn Django which taught me the two, plus how to build a web framework, how to do unit and functional testing, how to scale and deploy application, how to interact with organized and structural programing, and how to be the best programer I can be.

Learning doesn't happen step by step, it happens in a vast flow. In high school, did they teach you how to write an essay, then let you write a little English, then move onto History? No, they threw you in head-first with 6 or more classes a day, and made you face the facts. If you really want to learn how to "Hack", dive in face first, don't think about the consequences, fight for your life and do what ever you can do to learn new things.
I think I understand the underlying reasoning behind the question. If like me, you have read a lot of the posts on this site, and the essays of Mr Graham, and have a desire to somehow start a start-up, or become your own boss etc., you search for ways to achieve this/these goals.

Most of the advice is fairly general, and I was often left with the feeling that many people just repeat the mantra: 'learn how to hack', 'do something you want, and users will like' etc etc. All good advice I may say, but nothing too concrete on how you actually start!

As hackers, most people will say: "you need to code, and business people, although relevant aren't required straight away."

I sort of agree and disagree. What does not work though is doing nothing, or procrastinating(in the wrong areas).

For me, I decided to at least do SOMETHING. I came from a systems engineering background (read:good Microsoft/Cisco techie, and reasonable sales/presentation sort of guy) - not a hacker though.

So, I decided to attempt to learn Java about a year or two ago. I have done OK with this, but unless you use a language in anger most days, you don't get very far. My latest attempt is Python. I like Core Python Programming 2nd edition by Wesley J. Chun.

What I guess I am trying to say is, you need to work out where you want to be (successful business), and take small steps towards it. That maybe learning business stuff, and it maybe learning to hack. Whatever. Just do something that is a step towards where you want to be, and continually re-evaluate how it's going.

Good luck.
That's not true either, especially for caffeine (particularly when consumed via coffee) and alcohol (it depends on your definition of frequently).
Unfortunately they still don't seem to support Java, nor have an ETA on when they plan to.

The pricing change seems to make this even more of a problem, since you're now paying for the extra CPU usage.
I'm pretty sure if narcolepsy could be controlled by meditation people would do it. Clearly Modafinil has a measurable clinical effect that no amount of wu can reproduce.

I was surprised how well tested it is, given this off-label use. It's a reasonably tested drug: http://www.powerset.com/explore/semhtml/Modafinil?query=Prov...
Yup, This is called an Equity Collar. One should consider getting this insurance even as an individual investor... to protect your investments against worst case scenarios.
Intelligence Agencies: The Question Obama and McCain Won't Get Asked
If you'd bother to research it even slightly, you'd see there are placebo-controlled trials. I am not a qualified physician in this field, but I got ahold of some of the information and the methodology seemed solid, except in the case of a few off studies.

Go research for yourself: http://www.powerset.com/explore/semhtml/Modafinil?query=Prov...
I was going to go into this field, until I saw this really good documentary as a teenager, which made me realize how dangerous this technology is.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088247/
Easy Peanut Butter Jar
I understand that you have issues with TC and Arrington, but I'd think this post would least compel to point something like that out. He merely posted a letter that I happened to find interesting. Save those lines for the moments when they are really necessary.
Writing Haskell As Fast As C
In 1st place, who is Viagra? Never seen her.
This is pretty spot-on. Find something you like to use or are interested in. If you want to get involved in coding, you should start with some minor bug fixes. For instance, Django has a separate list of "easy improvements" to encourage newbies to get involved (http://code.djangoproject.com/wiki/LittleEasyImprovements). You generally should not try and go for a major bug fix right off the bat, because if your code does not follow the convention for that project or the direction in which it is going, your patch will probably be rejected.

Coding aside, most open source projects are also hurting for things like proper documentation, testing on multiple platforms, plugins, and a good-looking accessible website, so you should just find the intersection of your skills and interests with what the project lacks and go on from there.
I was thinking about how to better answer your question concerning the sub-zero game statement I made. Let's remove ourselves from finance for a minute into something that is more traditional in the game theory studies--namely poker.

If the game is played where the players arrange transfers face to face such as in a home poker game, then the game is zero-sum. Your losses are my gains. No money is created. No money is destroyed. It stays inside the game. The minute we go to a casino to play the same game, the game becomes sub-zero due to the rake. You lose X to me and Y to the rake. I gain your X and lose Y to the rake.

Your cash flows: -X - Y. My cash flows: X - Y. In a zero-sum game your cash flows are the negative of my cash flows. This implies -(-X - Y) = X + Y. This is a contradiction. Therefore, the game is not zero-sum.
I'm sure the author knows what she's talking about and to some extent I agree with her, but humbleness is a useful quality too, in gifted people especially. Being skeptical about your own innate gifts makes you work harder in applying them, which elevates the quality of what you produce. When you start to believe you're better than "normal" people and you can do no wrong thanks to your awesome superpowers, that's usually when the wheels come off the wagon.

Low self-esteem is a drag but I often produce my best work when I feel like I'm a fraud and I have to convince myself that I'm not.
Ask YC: "Can a 40 year old, married with 3 children, start a start-up?"
I have been just watching this site for a few months now. I even bought 'Hackers and Painters', even after reading most of the essays online!

I would like to know what people think of the following two points:
1) Is it best to be young as you tend to have fewer commitments etc?
2) Having little or no money, or being frugal is good. Keeps you focused!

I fail on the first point, but I am a winner on the second!

What do you think? Should I go for it anyway?
Our Data, Ourselves
Google says that when it believes a user has performed a search that they believe is "navigational" they will serve site links for your site.
Age, marital status, and personal situation have much less to do with it than you may think.

Removing the word "fail" from you vocabulary have much more to do with it than you think.

Go for it!
> A way of tracking your person diets intake

(along that line) The data that companies have about you available to you in a machine readable format. (e.g. your grocery receipts)
Anxiety and sleep disorders,irritability, caffeine dependency (addiction that has withdraw symptoms such as headaches, drowsiness, nausea,) peptic ulcers, ge reflux, increased rates of Parkinson's disease in men, and such.

Dependence isn't something I desire.
Look for rms' post on this page
The other thing worth noting is that a well functioning capital market is not zero-sum, it puts the capital in the most profitable growth opportunities. So speculators may be incorporating information into prices that has value. Of course they may be incorporating disinformation as well; hence the importance of regulation against cornering the market or pump-and-dump schemes.
Yes, of course you can.

Sure, being younger allows for more time, but I'd imagine being that age has given you some maturity in handling finances, emotions, etc. I'm sure you'll have to make some sacrifices seeing that you have many commitments and responsibilities, but if it's something you truly want to do, go for it.

At the very least, you'll enjoy the ride, and when things get tough, you'll have your wife and children to find happiness in. And if you're successful, great. Either way, it'll be a journey that I'm sure you wouldn't want to regret never taking down the line.
I would like to read more about this. Do you have a citation re: LSD and analytical abilities?
I definitely agree with this -- although maybe not that you have to start at the beginning. I started with lots of python/Java, but then dropped down to where I had been staring at enough assembly that moving back up to C was a huge relief.

I think it's nice to get to learn programming and just get going with something like python, where you can take advantage of all the libraries like other people have mentioned, and maybe have more fun right away and avoid being turned off by it all -- before learning all the lower-level stuff -- not that you shouldn't learn it though!!
I actually think the two sentences that follow that quote reveal a lot more about Paul Erdos.

"You've showed me I'm not an addict. But I didn't get any work done. I'd get up in the morning and stare at a blank piece of paper. I'd have no ideas, just like an ordinary person. You've set mathematics back a month."

(http://www.untruth.org/~josh/papers/Paul%20Erd%F6s%20bio-rev...)
I respond with a simple question: Are you alive?

I am not trying to be rude, overly simple, or anything else that may be viewed as a negative response. I am simply trying to clear away all of the clutter.
Right. I understand that part. Same reason why professional cyclists wear helmets. Helmets slow you down a bit but everyone would rather wear one for safety even if they wouldn't because they would take the risk for a better chance of winning.

Still thats not quite my question. Getting braces for your teeth seems to be ok. Some people are uncomfortable with breast implants while others think they're great (insert your own joke here). What about surgery to make you smarter? In my gut that seems wrong but I'm not sure why.
Safire - An iPhone Web Application Framework
Are you suggesting that the 'fear of failure' is a major reason why people don't make the leap?

I have to say, I think you are correct.

Fear of failure is HUGE.

Imagine if I had a fear of failure.... what could be the outcome?

1) Leave current job (it pays the bills etc.)
2) Start new venture
3) Fail! (I have deliberately shortcut the possible reasons - so bear with me!)
4) No money comes in....
5) Can't pay bills.....
6) Lose home etc etc

I believe the people who study this type of thought process would call it the Domesday scenario!

I guess success would be called the 'Google scenario'!?

I can't remove the word fail from my vocabulary - just try and make succeed more likely - how?
Freaking Awesome!
I hope so. I'm in the same boat (plus a couple years) and have my sights set on doing a startup as well.

That said, I wish I had pursued this 20 years ago when I had more time, energy, and freedom -- but I guess I wasn't ready then.
Yes - I believe I am!

Could you expand/clarify a little?
I can tell if your software is open-source if you leave the source code on your website. I can't tell if "free-range" eggs were actually laid by hens allowed to range freely.

Whether something is open-source or not is pretty obvious; whether something is organic or not is difficult to verify and not generally well-understood yet.
I appreciate the response.

Can I ask what you are doing about it?
I am sorely tempted to try out these memory pills. Days used to be when I was preparing to ace my SAT's that I used to take spirulina to flush the system. These days, the designer pills have become more streamlined in their effects. I just wish there's more research done on these drugs. Right now, I'm too chicken to experiment with anything other than passive, non-endocrinal, CNR non-reactive drugs.
If you are alive, then you have the ability to sit down and pursue this. Failure versus success is a completely different argument.

EDIT: What I am trying to get is across is this--the only thing that would be stopping you is you. Who cares if you are beyond are a certain age?
You can ask yourself this, "Do you regret more the things you have wanted to do and have not done or regret more the things you have done and wished you didn't?"

If you want more motivation, look on the web for older people who started businesses.
Benefits of coffee:
Increased sexual drive, increased mental awareness, reduced diabetes risk, mood boost, increased endurance, depression, headache and cavity prevention and decreased Parkinson's risk according to this: http://men.webmd.com/features/coffee-new-health-food
This study also points out that the benefits are primarily driven by the caffeine, not the coffee.

I think you're confusing dependence with consistent usage.

Aaron, I see what you're saying, but even the healthiest food in the world or exercise can be bad for you if you over do it.

People often have a knee jerk reaction to drugs: if it alters the mind/body in some way it's bad. I'm saying this notion isn't always true and drugs, when used properly or even, occasionally, for recreation purposes (shown in the article) can have myriad benefits. But as always I enjoy the intelligent discussion provided HN that feels so rare on the rest of the web...
Does your wife work? If yes, may be. If no, forget it.

I am 52 with two kids and I have been doing startups for the last 15 years. You need support from your family and you need good health. It is hard for the family to support you emotionally unless they are financially secured.
What an interesting blue, gem logo.. I've seen something like that before, but I just can't put my finger on it..

Looks like a neat framework though.
Glue! As perl was, so ruby is becoming (a nice glue.)

I like JRuby, cause it lets me use the gynormous amount of java libs in terse, "powerful", ruby without jumping through hoops.

Why are so many people afraid/resistant to this paradigm?
"Learn-to-Hack" could be a good startup. I am sure anyone who reads HN and cannot code would love to learn how to. If you are a good hacker and you love to share your knowledge you can certainly build a loyal community may you start "Learn-to-Hack" blog/web app.

Now having said that I think it is important for people who cannot code to know that "Hacking" is a lifestyle and not really a skill or a profession. At least that is the vibe I get from the ones I know. I think Hacking dates back to thousands of years back. Like hacking "fire", "huts". Hacking is now refered to software I guess. I dont think you can learn to be a Hacker. As a matter of fact I am not even sure that all coders are hackers.
Pogue loves his Chumby
But you're worrying about a problem you don't have and probably won't have. If that's your reasoning behind not doing "x" then I'd argue that you may not be cut out for being an entrepreneur. The entrepreneurs I know tend to be the ones who try to find the way to make it work instead of the type who pessimistically rejects an idea because of the types of reasons you give. Reminds me of a conversation I had recently about taxes - I groaned that it was tax time and the guy I was talking to said that he liked being in the lower tax bracket because he gets a tax refund every year.
Has anyone else read "Nonzero" by Robert Wright? It's one of two nonfiction books that have noticeably improved my understanding of the world, with almost daily benefits. (The other is The Black Swan.)
That logo is so slick it must be a great framework!
Read this: http://www.egov.vic.gov.au/in-link/inlink_redirect.php?env=-...
"I can't remove the word fail from my vocabulary"

You could start by removing the word "can't" from your vocabulary.
It really depends on the domain you want to work in. Do you want to create a web service? Do you want to create systems? Do you want to create a tech start-up? I assume the answer to the last is yes, but even then it is not necessary for every founder to be a hacker, but it certainly does help.
I'd suggest getting a job in the biz (if you aren't already in it), networking, have some fun, and let life take care of itself. The best cheap ideas come from an insider who tries to solve a niche problem for a group that they have intimate knowledge of. Go be a consultant for someone and figure out how to make their life better.

"Confusion creates opportunity" so I'd suggest, after a few years of working for someone else, to find something to streamline or make easier for that niche.

Lastly, bootstrap it by doing it in your spare time for 2-3 years until you build it up enough to support you.
Yeah. No kidding. Honestly? Fuck that. ;)
There's something squirrel-y about liking a device that shows very short TV clips that are degraded by compression on a tiny screen.
NO! You have already failed by the fact that you need to ask the question.

If you need someone else to convince you to do a startup you are in the wrong game.
I'm not quite sure I see the real threat here. Barring remotely exploitable firmware bugs, this family of exploits requires access to the hardware. No security model anywhere can protect a machine from an attacker with physical access...
"good health"

Thanks for mentioning this. People don't normally think of their health until they lose it. It's so important that I'd represent it like this...

Probability of success = (a + b + c + ... + z) * health
Are 'fail' and 'can't' words in your vocabulary?

I assume so, as you clearly understand my comments.

Something more thoughtful would help! ;)
Uh, he may have averted failure by asking the question.

I wonder how many never ask and never try.
No, there's really no answer to the question of why aerodynamics isn't important for a lunar lander.

The answer you give to that, as you imply in a later paragraph, is really an answer to the question "if a typical person thought aerodynamics was important for a lunar lander, why would they be mistaken?" It's fairly easy to answer that, at least with respect to our peers; we're used to vehicles designed with wind resistance in mind. But this is not the answer to the question of why it's not the case that aerodynamics is necessary for a lunar lander.

Similarly, though there is no answer to the question of why it's not the case that speed is necessary in exploratory programming, I could, if I knew why the OP mistakenly thought it was, have explained why he was wrong. But while I could guess why one of my peers might mistakenly think aerodynamics mattered for a lunar lander, I have no idea why the OP might think speed mattered for exploratory programming.

Sigh. What a huge waste of time this thread has been. I feel like I've just spent an hour trying to convince someone that the Monte Carlo fallacy was false.
Your Business can never have too many 'Friends'
What are the policies of the lab when it comes to the employees using the technology for the greater good of mankind? Do you have a deep knowledge of something? Use the media to create a series of video lectures on that topic. I always love watching lectures about interesting things.
Money and time are huge things here that we have no data on.
1) Do you have enough money saved up to support your family for two years and to support the launch + operation of your idea? If not, then no problem - just do it part-time for 2-3 years until you can go full-time.

2) Are you willing to commit 20 hours a week part-time or 60 hours a week full time? If "No" to whichever is appropriate then I'd say that you would find it difficult to succeed regardless of other circumstances.

Best of luck to you!
if the goal is to get rich, i absolutely agree with you.
How To Use Google Analytics Videos
90% (actually, about 98%) of American drivers are above average, owing to a statistical quirk. There are 6 million car accidents in the U.S. each year, out of roughly 240 million vehicles. At a minimum, that means that 97.5% of drivers get in no accidents that year. They join the big bulge of people who are "average", having perfect driving records or only an accident a decade or so.

Accident frequency is a power law distribution - a large percentage of crashes are caused by a small number of drivers who habitually violate traffic laws, drive drunk, or otherwise engage in risky behavior. One of the distinctive features of power law distributions is that there's this long tail of people with very small values, and then a few people who make up most of the curve. So (made up numbers) you might have 60% of the population who has never gotten in an accident, then 35% who has gotten in one, then a tiny fraction of 1% who's been in a dozen. Over an 80 year lifetime, that 6 million accidents/year results in 480 million accidents, or 2/person, so with the hypothetical percentages above, 95% of people are above the mean and 60% are above the median.

Just goes to show that you can't assume everything is a Gaussian. ;-)

A similar phenomenom occurs in many, many other fields. The average (median) wage-earner actually makes below average (mean) wages, because the existence of Bill Gates and Carl Icahn skews the distribution upwards. The median sale price for a startup is $0, because over half of them fail. The average test scores in Palo Alto or Weston, MA or Hunter College High School really are above average, because those places already preselect for bright kids. It's quite possible for Lake Wobegone to exist: you just need to compare your kids with someone else's average.

And none of this invalidates SSB, but you picked a bad example to illustrate it. When 90% of drivers think they're in the top 50%, they're right.
Swiss man flying over the Alps
If you are waiting for other people to give you an answer, you're probably not ready, yet, despite on your age and life experience.
That seems like a pretty trivial issue to be concerned about.

It's like saying, 'after this class, I'm going to be a pro at Photoshop!' Everyone knows you won't, but it's used for motivational purposes to get one started on the track to learning.

Anyways, it's a helpful list, iamelgringo. Thanks.
The best advice that I ever received regarding startups is that one needs to think in terms of a three-legged stool, with one leg being our family, one leg being our health and the last one being our career. If two are firm on the ground, we have a fighting chance fixing the third. Otherwise, forget it.
"Something more thoughtful would help!"

It may not have been very profound, but that was the most thoughtful response I could give.

I believe the single biggest differentiator between success and failure is not giving up. Removing the words "can't" and "fail" from your vocabulary is a very simple illustration of this philosophy.

(Lighten up, it's metaphorical, not literal.)
A fair point!

Actually what I was attempting here was to try and question the thinking behind when we can and can't do things that we wish to do.

I don't need anyone to convince me, I was trying to challenge the general perceptions of when you can start a start-up.

I never think a question is a 'stupid question', and I also don't think asking a question is a failure.
I don't know if this fits your reqs or not but we use Zoho Chat internally: http://chat.zoho.com/
I know how you feel, I had a similar question a while back: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=130293. Some interesting responses. Seems like Summer of Code is good way for students to get involved.
Even if you master a programming language and have no clue about algorithms, it won't work.