skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
In Argentina they drink Matte, a substance which consists of what looks like leaves and twigs dug up from the Pampas. I believe they also eat tremendous quantities of beef... though that may not help with staying awake.
Amphetamines.

Good enough for Erdos, Good enough for me. Of course, stark terror of politically-motivated violence works even better (cf. career of Leonhard Euler).
Water. Lots and lots of water. Also has the advantage that it forces me to get up and move regularly - what goes in must come out.

Other than that, good music can get me "in the zone".

I've only ever really drank coffee out of boredom, or socially... ("want to go for a coffee break?" "sure, it means avoiding work for half an hour!")
I am surprised nobody is talking abt good 'ol weed!! Don't you reach the peak of creativity under the influence?
http://lipstick.com was there first, methinks.
Palo Alto Becomes Facebookplex?
'Web 3.0,' Apparently, Has Interchangeable Parts
Coffee, but just one really big cup when I wake up. I'm a few-months-on, few-months-off smoker, but hopefully will give it up entirely. Although many disagree, I think that coding on a nice three-beer buzz is a blast. That's as far as I'm personally willing to go, but I've worked at places where the IT department was better stocked than the Mexican mafia.
It may sound stupid, but eat plenty of fish. Omega-3 fatty acids (in fish) have been shown to boost mood and concentration, among other things. I can attest to that.

But fish is expensive so just buy the pills at Walmart..
Kongregate fundamentally isn't in game development--it's simply another form of distributing UGC. I'd rather be in the business of creating great games.

Thanks for the comment on the color scheme. I've altered it slightly to be less headache-inducing.
Most of us are developers. Creativity is only part of the equation, and pot definitely does not contribute to any other piece.
I'm on a strict regimen of EPO and Hemoglobin blood transfusions, but that's for cycling, not coding.
That's not artificial, but then again, the question is of the "when did you stop beating your wife" kind.

So yes, good regular sleep, meals that aren't too heavy to digest, and add 20-30 minutes of exercise in the morning for good measure.
Depends on your locale. I bought fish for a family lunch of twelve today. Six dozen fresh sardines, 24 EUR. It would have costed more to order hamburgers or pizza for twelve. YMMV.
In Brazil we drink "Matte" as well but for me its more for the taste (and for the heating effect on the winter) than for the effect.

On my cubicle we share a 2L Coca Cola at 4 pm. It helps a lot in raising moral.
Your issues with...
So, I have several ideas that have been brewing in my cerebral hemispheres for a while now. However, I am trying to develop them into more complete and though out ones. In doing so, I have been asking people a whole slew of questions trying to pry out issues and problems they've been facing with existing services, so that I may capitalize on such issues and use them in developing my ideas. I thought I'd do the same here, seeing as you guys are a helpful, critical, and insightful bunch.

And here we go. What are your issues with...

1. Facebook - more speficially, do you feel that the connections you make are meaningful. Does it help you create stronger ties with existing friends? Any issues with it's tendency to expose everything out in the open? etc.

2. Internet TV - Why don't you watch it? Does it focus on the wrong content? What would make you watch it? etc.

3. Getting your online news - Let's face it, Digg now is crap. I know many people will agree with that. It's crapiness isn't exclusive to Digg alone, but has spread to similar services. What do you hate about it, what would you fix? I also believe that news.yc is a great source of info. What do you like about it? Anything you'd add/change?

I have more questions, but this seems like a bit much already.

Thanks to all who contribute.
Yeah cron works for lots of stuff. Some things need to happen asynchronous but more quickly than is convenient to do with cron. Not enough people use cron jobs though either.
Kratom guy: it's really funny the way you guys have to sell your stuff. Another site sells "Kratom Incense Capsules"....

When I open your site and see that bunch of green stuff for sale, it just looks like weed has another name now.
Can you give more details on getting a visa to start a startup in Canada?

I have a potential co-founder just across the border in Vancouver, but I was under the impression that you need a whole heap of money to get in as an entrepreneur. Or would you go in under the skilled worker program (er, programme)?
The incense thing is done more for the benefit of Paypal than anyone else.
If your are not a designer stay simple. Everyone can respect minimalism. Especially in a beta product. Some of the best designers in the world are known for their use of "white space". Dont kill a good product with overdone bad design.
Everything they said was nice until I went to their application and read this:

"Tandem backs existing and potential founders who combine strong technical abilities with a keen understanding of their users and a deep passion and energy for building services for fast-growing business or consumer communities."

What the hell is that?
http://nostalgia.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Erdos
"
His working habits became characterised by working obsessively long hours, sleeping at most 4-5 hours a night and relying on the heavy use of amphetamines to maintain his activity levels. Once a friend challenged him to give up his drug use for a month; he complied, but later complained bitterly that mathematics was held up for a month.
"
1. Not really, but it's endlessly entertaining and sometimes even useful. I haven't made any meaningful new connections though recently I got accidentally friended by a private equity guy who gave me a little advice for my companies.
The only issue I've seen come up repeatedly is when relationship breakups hit the mini-feed with the little broken heart icon. The real-timeness of this is a bit much for some people.

2. I tried Joost a while ago and there wasn't much that seemed worth watching. Usually I browse http://www.videosift.com which is a digg like site for online video. It's mostly limited to short clips and a few longer videos that no one reports to Google for deletion. Joox.net is also outright amazing but you need to install a plugin (seamless install in Firefox)

3. As the community gets bigger news has to start appealing to the lowest common denominator. see http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40284
The roboticist Marc Raibert also has some good advice on writing.
http://www.alice.org/Randy/raibert.htm

His work is very related to AnyBot. You've probably seen that funky walking robotic dog. It's mind blowing
http://bdi.com/content/sec.php?section=BigDog
The Best Venture Capital Advice I've Ever Seen
Yes, you can predict it.

A number of game engines have face aging techniques. Those are fairly advanced. Generally, the bone structure does not change, but the cartilage expands (ears and faces never stop growing) and skin sags. Deterioration of skin with liver spots, increased transparency, etc. are fairly well known.

This doesn't sound like a very compelling business, but it could be fun.
Examples:

- The top goal of talking to VCs is getting to a quick no.

- Demos are not a requirement - the potential investors can visualize the product.

- Don't go to investors too early. You only get a few chances at that first impression.

- Raising money is a numbers game - Will visited over 60 VCs; Cisco, Intuit 50+, etc.
Rah Rah ?  No.  Match Incentives with Individual Employee Motivations
I don't think you're asking the right questions.

- What motivates you?

- Can you do something that will help you in multiple ways (fun? learning? curiosity? creativity? potential for money to continue doing this forever?) and also will help the world as well?

- What would you be working on right now regardless of chances of getting funding if you didn't need to work for someone else?

- What would you like to learn about that you think will help you in the future (e.g. web apps, not COBOL) regardless of whether you succeed or not?

Then just create small projects and ask people to use them.
Well, a lot of these questions were ones that I have answered myself and were products of my frustrations with existing services, so I just want to extend these questions out to many and see if such frustrations are common.
1. Facebook - No, I don't feel the connections I make are meaningful. It is useful to talk to people I otherwise wouldn't, but I rarely do that either. The group and event organization are the most useful features to me, because they are really the only features that couldn't be replaced with email or IM.

2. Internet TV - My first thought was, "there is such a thing?" Most of the stations (eg. NBC) block non-US IPs from watching their online programming, so I guess am missing out on that. I almost never watch TV, but there are a few shows I do enjoy, and I would much rather watch them on my own time than when they air. And I would gladly pay a small amount of money to do away with the ads, even if it meant the video file could only be watched once.

3. News.YC is great, partly because it is small.
Artificial light.
1. Facebook lets me keep in touch with friends that I would otherwise never think about or remember. Right now, this is my only "serious" use for it.

2. I guess internet spoiled by letting me be an active participant (i.e. reading and commenting on news). I actually find TV to be boring if not done as a social activity: going out with friends to see a movie, for example.

3. Reddit, news.YC, and smaller niche sites (Center for Responsible Nanotechnology) do it for me.
Granted, Facebook does allow friends to keep in touch, but does it strengthen connections with friends? Or does it go deep as just looking at photos and writing on walls?
PCP when coding Python and schrooms when hacking LISP.

What kind of question is that and what kind of answers are you expecting?

(p.s. Wine is neither artificial nor a stimulant.)
I don't want to get into a debate about apple, but ...

People that can use a sub $1K dell can use a mac mini. People that need multiple large displays can get a MacPro. People that need mobility get a MacBookPro.

I don't see the problem.

Also, the IT support costs alone justify getting Macs. My current company has around 5 people in IT servicing the windows desktops and servers. There are 0 people servicing the linux servers and desktops, because we do development under linux and peers solve most problems quickly. The mac folks just don't have problems beyond things like "this doesn't work with our MS exchange server"
"It is useful to talk to people I otherwise wouldn't..."

I find the beauty of Facebook is the ability to manage acquaintances and good friends and place them on the same level. However, I also feel that this prevents circles of friends and groups from growing tighter.

"The group and event organization are the most useful features to me..."

They may be the most useful, but there's much more room for improvement.
Widescreen monitor for development
What's for you the best widescreen monitor for development use?
Amphetamine is one hell of a drug for productivity but it's got some nasty side effects. It's insane that a very large percent of our children are prescribed hard stimulants. Amphetamine makes just about everyone more productive so of course it makes kids better at school.
1. My issue with facebook is that I feel bad rejecting requests to add friends, invitations to events, and applications I don't want. And yes, I know this is lame. I am actually thinking of nixing my account and just going back to blogging as my online outlet/identity/whatever. And no, I don't think the connections have been that valuable. To me, IM was/is a better social networking tool. Wow, I just sounded like an old fart to myself, at 24. I guess if you use facebook with intention, it's a good tool, but as a "destination" it's just become full of noise.

2. Nope. I might start watching videos of DIY stuff, but that's about it. I just cut off my cable I don't want to just replace it with online spectation.

3. A half-dozen RSS feeds in Google Reader, all blogs as opposed to general news. I scan digg, slashdot, and reddit but rarely click through any links anymore (thank god reddit wasn't around in '04 or I would've been just like the people spamming it up with political outrage now). Not much I'd change about news.yc, in fact I'm kind of obsessed by the simplicity of its UI, and have enjoyed the quality. I hope the specificity of the topic will limit the dilution seen at the general news sites.
Just require pictures of the person and their parents, then morph them together more and more to show aging. It would be far from exact, but plenty good enough for a popular Facebook app. You can send me my royalties c/o news.yc.
if you become a millionaire with this calculator i will cut my wrists :)
1. Facebook is pretty solid, and I think its openness is one of its major strengths. It does strengthen my existing friendships, and I've made some new friends on there as well. With the new apps coming out, it seems like the sky is the limit. The only thing I dislike about it is the design - it is very usable, which is priority #1, but otherwise so-so. I especially hate the offset-header thing they do, it makes me feel as if something is missing/broken. Many of the apps are counterintuitive or obnoxious. I hope people aren't getting mad at me for ignoring their zombie invitations.

2. There is a lot of weakness here, which seems odd considering the obviousness of the solution: I should be able to watch any TV show from any network I want, whenever I want. I should be able to pay 50 cents to get rid of the ads or something, or just run the ads outside of the shows entirely. In addition, when I go to a network site the landing page should be a video player playing whatever is being broadcast in my time zone at that moment. 1) Put TV on the internet. How hard can that be? 2) Make it random-access. 3) Have all the shows on there, past and present.

3. Online news is even weaker than online TV, if that's possible. I'd rather bathe in motor oil than read the comments on Digg or Newsvine. There does seem to be a correlation between how long a news site has been around and how badly it sucks. Could a million bored secretaries flaming randomly eventually reproduce the works of Shakespeare? I don't know, but they're giving it their best shot.

I'm going to say something heretical here: social news is a lousy idea unless a narrow focus is maintained, like news.yc. I read news looking for insights that I as an average American cannot reach on my own. The commentary of millions of other average Americans adds NOTHING - in fact, it's a negative value proposition.

The solution, if you agree with me that news should provide insight, is exceptional reporting, top-notch writing, and a variety of ideological viewpoints. You aren't going to get that stuff from the internet masses.

That being said, I do like very focused social news sites like news.yc. Then again, you guys aren't a bunch of 'average Americans'.
Google News Hypocrisy: Walled Off Content
Tony Dakota - Venture Capitalist
This was a great show!
No, I agree. It's all about the niche.
It just hit me that you could also look into face averaging, and make a fantasy application that would "beautify me." Then you could use faces of other races, eye colors, hairstyles etc. It wouldn't involve as much morph algorithm development as merging of layers and transparencies after finding key points. Then you could pitch it to, I dunno, plastic surgeons, hair stylists, or contact lens makers.

I have the impression that a person nearing 30 is less likely to want to know how they would look old, than how they would look pretty, artificially or not.
> Don't you reach the peak of creativity under the influence?

But then you forget that great idea you had the next instant.
You don't need any god damn thing for creative stimulation. If you can't get yourself creative, drugs, booze, whatever isn't going to help.
Auctomatic to present at Limerick (Ireland) OpenCoffee Thursday
There is a long history of artists, musicians, and writers that would completely disagree with that statement.
1) Facebook is useful to me in order to a) always have up to date contact information b) have a central place where I can browse photos and c) have a quick introduction to new people that I friend, and see what they are into d) and keep tabs on what all my weak connections are up to. I don't have any major issues with Facebook.

2) I'm selective about what I watch, so I don't browse YouTube. I watch the Daily Show and selected PBS documentaries online. Occaisionally I rent a movie from Amazon Unbox, but the selection is terrible. I use NetFlix to watch old The Wire and West Wing episodes. I wish I could watch those shows online, but they are not available.

3) I wish there was a small niche news site for thoughtful political commentary and policy analysis (as opposed to the endless ranting on reddit). New.ycombinator and programming.reddit.com are great for my programming, business, and startup news.
Raising more than 10x at a time can be like putting rocket fuel in your Vespa. If you burn through it then you're probably going to quickly. If you just keep it in the bank then you probably should have raised less.

How can you grow too fast? Growing takes away options and forces you to commit earlier to larger projects. If you're cheap and burning low then you can have multiple shots at the target. If you have a 300k/month burn then you better have the right target in your scope.

Why might it make sense to raise less rather than save it in the bank? There are a few inflection points in the value of a company over time. You release your product, and your valuation goes up 5x. You reach breakeven, the valuation goes up another 3x, etc. You want to time your raising money (and the amounts) so that you get money when it's the cheapest for you.

If it cost $x to reach the recent proof point then it's rare for the cost of the next proof point to be > $(10)x.
It seems like it isn't case sensitive, so can't tell the difference between 1MB and 1Mb (1MB = 8Mb)
SubmitYourVote.com
I absolutely agree about the support costs - that alone makes the Macs worth it.

Having never used the Mac mini I don't feel qualified to compare it to a Dell. I suspect that the performance is similar, yet I also suspect that a $900 display-less iMac would blow the Dell out of the water, with the drastically lower support costs.
I have seen this site before. I liked it a lot!
http://instacalc.com/?d=&c=MSBwaW50IGluIGN1YmljIGNtfDEgc...

1 pint in cubic cm, sure. Cubic meters, no problem. Cubic knots, even cubic rods, anything you want.

But cubic acres? Now that's just getting crazy. Acres measure area, so not exactly sure what a "cubic acre" would be. I suppose it could be a cube with 1 acre each side, but man, that's pushing it :).
I'm trying to come to grips with the fact that interesting new stuff on the Internet doesn't come around every 5 minutes.

Every 3 months, yeah, but after 10 years of browsing the Internet for several hours a day, I think I've seen most of the interesting stuff. "Dude, I beat the Internet, the boss at the end was hard as hell."
I remember you kyro. Have you gotten started on something? I think many of your questions would answer themselves one way or another after you start designing. But I'll take a stab. I'll skip 2 because I don't watch so much TV, reason being that in most cases, reading is the fastest way of absorbing information.

1. of course they are meaningful, because I know the people. The ties they create are digital. For those that bond with their friends online, FB facilitates it. For those that don't there's no difference (I'm in this group). I don't expose much of myself nor edit my profile much because I don't think it's worth the effort.

3. This problem I'm particularly interested in.
The idea that services like these attract the LCD is a result of their design and not of operation. I think it is possible to circumvent this problem, but you must change the design concept.

I recently attended the Wikimania conference and they talked about the absurd complexity of the rules now applied to Wikipedia. The oldies were talking about "back in the day" just like the old diggers. Spawning a new Wikipedia-like system isn't going to work; Citizendium is not the answer. You can spawn a new digg and it would still face the same problems. You can talk about spawning a new news.yc for non-startup content, and assuming it gets popular, it would still run into quality control problems. Plus, pg has a sizeable following, but there is only one of him: unless he clones himself for the new site, or creates a different system, his divested energy will result in one being less active than the other.

A community news site that handles 10K users isn't going to handle 1M users similarly just by scaling the system or by implementing friends and leaders. There's that rule of 150 written in the Tipping Point book that says any group exceeding about 150 members will become difficult to manage(I shouldn't cite Gladwell but it's not an unfounded idea). A site of thousands of active members will, of course, run into management problems, but with a 10:90 active:lurker ratio, it works ok when your site has up to perhaps 20k users before you see any substantial, visible change in focus. Since not every user is active at the same time of day, you can increase the size of the virtual community, perhaps to something like 300 core members before the content changes dramatically.

I don't know digg's numbers, but taking wikipedia as an example, with thousands of active editors, of course you will run into problems! And they think it's a result of lack of consensus over what is acceptible behavior or something.

Seems pretty obvious to me, and I welcome challengers. When I said this at the conference nobody seemed to buy it though.
Ask News.YC: Do you prefer to hack in darkness or in the light?
My Inspiron E1705's 1920x1200 screen. I'll be moving to a MacBook eventually, though.
Stop it. Stop it right now.
That's a genius way to make a pitch to hire someone, and a great twist on Tetris, but it takes a long time to get to the whole pitch. :)
Why social networks use bidirectional links even though unidirectional links may be better
I think the main reason is simply to get people to invite their friends to the site, thus increasing the number of users via peer pressure.

For specialty social networks (or specialties within a general social networking site), your friends are probably not the best people to connect to. In that case, it would probably be better to use unidirectional links so that you can "subscribe" to anyone whom you would like to learn from.

Yet these unidirectional links -- while better suited in such cases -- are not great in attracting people to the site. And so such sites probably won't get enough critical mass to be interesting.

It seems to me that friend requests should act as subscriptions. They could then be upgraded to bidirectional links if the friend request is accepted.

Moreover, such links should not designate friendship at all, but rather, interest in keeping in touch with someone's activities (e.g., their subscriptions to groups, the apps they add to their profile, etc.).

You could use some sort of reward to encourage people to invite their friends that has nothing to do with these links.
So are you telling me that Merril Lynch is more famous than Pepsi and Nike?!?!
The title is the most important part of anything that needs a title.
That link is getting passed all around. I think there's a reason why it's so slow :(