skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
At 19 I made enough money to last for the next 15 years. Let's not measure success by the past.

You have your entire life ahead of you to make money. Even the most average 35 year olds are living fine enough with standard jobs. But you don't have your entire life to get an education and acquire skills you would not have otherwise. You have about 10 more years, after that period, you'll not want to go back to school.

So, why not get it done with now that you can still have fun at school, and then make your fortune afterwards? Is there something in particular that has to happen right now?

If you said you were heading west to start your business, I'd say fine, your fortune depends on your skill. But you're heading there to get a JOB. And the first thing they look for is your education. Which you don't have. You really want to go through the rest of your life explaining why you could not finish college? In a year you can get it done with and then start out the adventure without bad cards.

Yes, I'm being a bit of a buzzkill here, but for me it just does not seem sensible to head off to a new country without an education, without any money, and without any place to stay. But, every man has to find his path.
Hong Kong is great. I'm planning to work there for a bit a bit in the future.
Don't worry too much about it. Plans are overrated. I've never made a plan in my life and everything has worked out so far. Pretty anecdotal and vague, I know, but I'm just saying it is possible.

If I were in your position I might consider starting up a freelancing business, getting a few steady clients, then coming to the US for "pleasure". Line up a place to stay where nobody is going to ask for a green card; if any group will put you up, it'll be hackers.

After that... who knows! A really vague, partially illegal, mostly crazy plan. I like it.

Edit: And if you make it to Boston, let me know. We've got a spare room you could crash in for a bit I'm sure (see profile for info).
http://www.amazon.com/Mathematics-Birth-Numbers-Jan-Gullberg...

Everything you need to know in the correct sequence.
yes, google. The "I'm Feeling Lucky" button is your friend :-)
The Bay Area is really expensive too. Especially when it comes to housing.
I definitely like Berlin - considered living there for a year (I speak German which makes it easier). It is a city of experiments, both good and bad, full of great art, and a very active night-life scene.
Certainly not. I stand corrected, codeview.

Every time I read 'iPhone' I get a reflexive reaction to a closed, evil gatekeeper keeping me from doing what I want to on the plaform, and projected that onto Adobe. My bad.
I like your style. Do you keep a blog? You probably should start with making yourself established, at least to a few people, over the internet. If people know you by your writing, then it will become easier to ask them for accommodations and work.

This works for a number of "indie" (read: part-time and/or hobbyist) developers. Try to make friends with other London bloggers and you might find that what you're looking for is in your backward. London is HUGE. I used to live in New Cross (SE London - SE14), and I used to think about how many damn talented engineers and internet devs I used to silently pass each day on my way to Central London.

I live in NYC now, and at 23, I have similar qualms about missing the important first-steps to start-up success. But take it easy until you at least establish yourself with others who may very well take you to your next connection.
like Songsmith is going to change how music is made. [...] the best music comes not from formula but from the human mind.

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=456490

'If you tried, if any Mind tried, could you impersonate my style?' the Chelgrian asked. 'Could you write a piece - a symphony, say - that would appear, to the critical appraiser, to be by me, and which, when I heard it, I'd imagine being proud to have written?'
The avatar frowned as it walked. It clasped its hands behind its back. It took a few more steps. 'Yes, I imagine that would be possible.' [...]

'So what,' the Chelgrian asked, 'is the point of me or anybody else writing a symphony, or anything else?' [...]

'Ziller, are you concerned that Minds - AIs, if you like - can create, or even just appear to create, original works of art?'
Hehehehe.

I saw the movie, Helvetica, recently. It was astonishing to see people's vehement opposition to (no, hatred of) a typeface. (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0847817/)
BitTorrent Researcher: Copyright Will Be Obsolete by 2010
To heck with soul -- now that I've listened to several of the tracks in the original article, the problem with Songsmith is that it's hard to reverse-engineer a rhythm that you're singing against. [1] It mangles the rhythms in Roxanne, in which Sting's vocals are designed to play around and against the timing of the rhythm section, and its treatment of the first few seconds of Intergalactic are comedy gold, as it desperately tries to figure out the beat. It makes the Beasties' syncopation feel wickedly subversive. ("Wait", says the computer, "you're allowed to sing off the beat? You utter bastards.")

It's a hilarious simulation of the more painful aspects of the amateur music experience, [2] but it doesn't have the rhythmic chops to out-rap a five year old.

Maybe it would do better if we gave it a metronome.

---

[1] "hard" in the sense of "actually, I think it's logically impossible".

[2] If only metronomes were issued at birth. Though, actually, that's happening now: I have hope that Rock Band and DDR will help to raise an entire generation that has a sense of rhythm.
"We label official sites, and always put them on top."

How would we torture-test this product claim?

This claim is a lie as to an ego search on my own name. There is an "official" page (one I maintain), but it's not the top result. Do we consider Paul Graham, to give a familiar example, to have an official site?
He was much more open then.
I'm interested mostly in programming news, so my list is pretty small (sites are listed in order of my preference):

1. news.ycombinator.com. The first news site to note is that one I was reading when saw this thread.
2. reddit.com
3. stackoverflow.com - Yeah, it	isn't news site. I've mentioned it, because it can	be used	to find	out comments to somewhat appeared by	virtue of news.
4. dzone.com - It looks	like nobody wants to discuss news on this site.	Anyway,	there are lots of useful links.

I'm going to extend this list by adding	interesting sites which were mentioned anywhere with those ones.
No I don't actually, although oddly I did start writing a post last night... I probably should finish it off. I do the same 'I wonder if they're...' analysis!

Thanks for the pointers : )
Heh. Meta discussion that is also on topic.

Note that the article is from 2003. This problem has been around for a long time. As far as I know, no one has ever really solved it.

One thing I've noticed on Reddit and Digg is that discussion stops being a conversation when the number of posts gets too high.

It's still a conversation when you have forty or fifty posts: you can read the whole thing and understand what is being said before you contribute. When every conversation has over 100 posts, you don't have one conversation any more. You have a bunch of parallel conversations, often repetitive. Worse, you start seeing more posts where the author is not trying to talk to another person, but to stand on a soapbox and make points to the crowd.

I don't think this is (necessarily) a failure of etiquette or good manners, just a limitation on how much information people can digest in a casual setting like a web forum.

Of course, as you get more users, you will also get a higher absolute number of people who are intentional troublemakers or who are incapable of understanding the community standards. Unfortunately, these guys have a tendency to completely take over a thread.

One possible solution that I'd like to see someone try is intentional sharding of the community. Costly, but worth it IMO if it kept some enclaves of high quality discussion. You could give everyone read only access to any shard, which would be a decent option for the lurking majority.

Though I don't know of anyone who has solved the problem of community deterioration, my gut feeling is that it is solvable, someday. At least to the extent that a good conversation is about good manners and paying attention, and not about showing up at the place that is currently in fashion.
The "out-of-plumb" is their set-point then. No law of nature says buildings have to be straight up. If what I described didn't happen, they'd fall over, so therefore it must happen.
Misinterpretation of my initial post, I didn't say I was broke, I said I was on a budget : )

I'm not specifically after a job, but if in the short-term it put a roof over my head - I'd be happy for it.

I think we'll definitely have to put the Education thing down to cultural differences. You're using phrases like 'go through the rest of your life' and 'bad cards'. It simply isn't like that.
Thats all I've been doing pretty much, I used to do freelance bits from when I was about 14 (which seems crazy now), so I've been sending some mails and have stuff trickling through - it seems like the best bet for someone in my position.

I'll definitely bear the room offer in mind. Thanks : )
Ask HN: When Does a Startup Need Management?
I'm part of a first-time startup working in alternative energy. We've built some technology and are in the process of filing provisional patents, but the idea was brought up to bring on someone with management experience in order to help us shape our business.

What's the value of someone like this joining a team of engineers? What should their relationship be with the company? How long should we try to go without?
Yeah what seems silly, odd & out of the ordinary often becomes successful. Gets people talking!

Look at the Snuggie craze, which keeps you warm yet looks totally ridiculous!
Free AVG Anti Virus Software
Alright, let's agree that we disagree on that point. I will say that going to a university can be a very enlightening experience, particularly when you study a difficult subject, and don't just study because it's what should be done. And it has nothing to do with 'cultural differences', the cultural differences between us are likely minimal.
The point is that regulators are human and humans don't have the properties assumed by the "regulation will protect us" theory. If a system only works when some of the components are made of unobtanium, the system doesn't work.

The current "stimulus" package is a great example. Well over half is just pumping up budgets for existing programs. Does anyone believe that those "enhanced" budgets will not become permanent?

Govt regulation also reduces diversity. It says that everyone pretty much has to behave the same way. We know how that works out.

Govt regulation is also political in the worst sense. Wells Fargo took a huge hit when it stayed out of the subprime mortgages. Regulators refused to let WF enage in unrelated activities (acquisitions, opening branches, etc.)because WF didn't "play ball", activities that said regulators let cooperative institutions do.

Note that regulators don't take the hit.
If you have a team already there is some sort of management going on. What exactly do you mean by bringing in with someone with management experience. Can you elaborate on why this idea came up? Are you looking for someone to manage the product lifecycle? Are you looking for someone who will market you product? Are you looking increase sales?
Also, you could set the num parameter: http://www.google.com/search?q=asdf&num=1
Here's the best one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JM1GUk1SBmY
Writing on water: The ecstasy of surfing
Band names that are really hard to search for
Change the "ftp" protocol to "http" for a more reasonable download speed.
Do you have some more info on that? I'm thinking about moving to SFO as well; but Berlin is probably a lot better!
Ask HN: Favorite Technology Company Superbowl Ads?
We all know that many people just watch the Superbowl for the commercials. Where else would some company spend $20 Million just to make you laugh/remember their brand?

So what's your favorite technology company ad for the Superbowl?

I've got to admit, I like commercials with monkeys. CareerBuilder.com has done a great job. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4WVZDljBfk and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR71GnQ4CU4

As a side topic, do these ads make much sense financially? I know for startups they don't, but they've got to make some sense for companies or they wouldn't keep buying them. I wonder what the company profile needs to be to make these things worthwhile?
Echoing on what @mkuhn said, i would normally like to use a stopwatch mode when i would be doing something for a long period of time. For example, half a day's work for project A and then switching to project B or something like that.

Otherwise, i tend to just use time slots and fill then in at the end of the day in a spreadsheet. Mechanical and tedious, but it does the job. Of course, it doesn't really help unless i remember to fill the information in.
Seems the research fell into two camps:

1) Women desire emotional intimacy
2) Women desire to be desired on more of an instinctual level

Seems that these two forces, seemingly contradictory are just the ego vs. id. The ego desires intimacy, an emotional connection etc., and that leads to sexual desire. However the id, on the more narcissist side, wants to be wanted or "sought after" on more of a primal note. I don't think this is a contradiction at all. The id controls desire throughout much of our evolution, however, because long-term partnering has selective advantages by being better for the survival of the offspring, the ego side develops also which wants more of that emotional connection. This is not really that hard. The woman's ego wants emotional connection, the woman's id wants a primal connection of being desired. In short, the woman wants Richard Gere. :-) (Speaking as a gay man anyway so maybe I'm projecting my own psychology into it, lol!)
What I'm thinking of here is a search engine that returns a single result per item, and then if the result answers your question, it ranks higher in the search result, meaning it answers other peoples questions too. You can click a button to get rid of the current result and view the next. This way, the search engine always gives the best possible reply.
TED Talk that provides impressive demo of Microsoft's Photosynth
Why would you go to the USA? Getting a work permit there is a nightmare. Not to mention their current .. uh, "difficulties".

As a Pommie Bastard your 2 best options IMO are:

- working holiday in Australia (you're eligible up to 18 months I think, you will have NO problems extending to a full work visa)

- teach english in Japan (I think the WH visa is good for 12 months) (can be surprisingly good)

Obviously I reckon AU is your best bet, we won't be hit anywhere near as hard as other countries by the current "troubles". Or, if you can't stand your criminal ancestors, I recommend a tour of duty in Asia - Taiwan, Korea, Shanghai. That's where the future lies, after all. May not be a good idea if you're a breast man.

I like SF and all but kinda thinking this is exactly the wrong time. The visa problems are just the icing on the bad idea cake.
The Apple 1984 commercial is my favorite www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYecfV3ubP8.

Unless you are releasing something as significant as the Macintosh I think it's too much money.
I was about to do the same, but then work for free possible in exchange for a license of the company's software. Is it legal to work for free like this in the US though?

I can pony up a couple grand and do a housing swap which should allow me to live decently in SF and let me work with a truly interesting tech company for a change ...
Note: a 30-second ad this year is running somewhere north of $3 Million
Do people speak good English? How hard do you think it would be for a foreigner (not speaking German) to get around in Berlin?
But part of what groupthink does is make the points mean less. The opinions of a few can start a groupthink snowball burying good comments and raising mediocre comments to high scores.

So as of now, that information you're using is unreliable because it is affected by groupthink.
how many people would go to Google and search for a term "new search engine"?

I'd figure a person would use the term search or search engine, and for those duckduckgo is not even in the top 10 pages
Is there some particular reason a lot of you recommend Campfire over, say, running an internal Jabber server?
We have already established that Songsmith does not break any new musical ground...but the more I think about it this is hardly an impressive technological feat either. I have a Casio keyboard from the early nineties that has about 100 tunes from different genres. You can change the key of these songs as they are being played and it makes them sound like an entirely new creation. We have also been able to analyze vocals and determine the tone for a while. Songsmith basically slaps the two ideas together. This could have been in beta by 1995.
Melting glacier shows heat under Alaska volcano
Singapore. Thriving startup community. VERY oool govt + system, liberal visa policy

I just moved my startup from SF there, consolidated our employees across the world and got money to do it too from the Govt.
Intro to git rebase
I would if it were on Hacker News. Other than this thread, I'll have forgotten about it by tomorrow.
How Google's hypothetical web drive could be used for more than just storing spreadsheets
http://www.google.com/trends?q=new+search+engine%2C+hacker+n...

You have to start somewhere...
I was in your situation. I came to California and tried to get a job, but getting a work visa is almost impossible. I tried actually twice, both times using all the 90 days allowed with a tourist visa.

Result: I went back to Europe and worked for an American company in Ireland, then visited my girlfriend in California and we ended up married. So yes, I live in California now, but:

- This is not the way I thought I'd get a visa.

- In the beginning we thought sometimes about moving to Europe. My work permit took very long. Months.

- For the most part today you don't need VCs anymore, so you can start your company pretty much anywhere.

Also, in some parts of the EU the economy is better than here. Denmark is already out of recession.

Good luck.
"new search engine": Approx search volume January=18,100. Approx search volume average=22,200

(From google adwords tools).

For comparison, "people search" gets 68,000,000 January, and average of 30,400,000
If it occurs to them to do the searching.
There's strange and then there's overly long. Google rolls off the tongue.

Also, Google is fun, maybe even a little silly. DuckDuckGo is childish. It makes me think it's a search engine for toddlers.

I'm willing to admit I may be wrong, but I think that name will hold them back.
But Singapore is boring lah...
If flash ever comes to the iPhone, and isn't absolutely opt-in, I will be getting rid of my iPhone. No question. Do not want.
Hudson River Hero Game Splashes Down | TechJaws
If you do make it over, here's a great resource for cheap short-term housing: http://www.airbnb.com/
this somewhat sounds like the search-wiki extension Google has. you can only see it when you are logged in but you can influence the ordering of results. it's not one result but you can manipulate them and AFAIK Google mentioned that they want to use that data sometime in the future.
> People like it here because one can have a civil conversation.

It's true, I don't know how I stumbled across this site but one thing I noticed is the 'high quality' comments compared to other social news websites.

I'd say to the regulars be patient with us, the new folks in town, since we may be a bit jaded by some of the other places we visit and, yes, the anonymous nature of the Internet does bring out the worst in people, including me.

One thing I've learned when commenting is "less is more" (although you'd never know by this three paragraph 'comment').
paulgraham.com, which is labeled Official site at http://duckduckgo.com/Paul_Graham

Sorry if our text is a bit unclear. We label official sites (that we know about), and always put them on top.
Yes, I wish points were displayed as:

upmods - downmods = score
I somewhat agree with you. In the long-run in my opinion it will hinder widespread adoption because, as you said, the name just sounds silly. But right now the name probably helps them because it generates attention and is memorable. But how DuckDuckGo thinks about this when it comes to a long-term perspective I don't know.
My advice to you is to just do it. I did the same when I was 18 but in the other direction (orem, utah to manchester uk). I just went there w/o a high school diploma or college education - but with a good dose of real world experience - and kept applying for jobs until I found a place that could hook up a work permit for a skilled tech worker. I eventually got a 6 year work permit and loved every minute of it. As it was a "council job" they even payed for my OU courses! I actually had indefinite leave to remain but I lost that as I have not gone back in over 2 years (I have been back in utah almost 3 years now). Essentially - if you have confidence in yourself and your skills you WILL make it work.
It's harder to change names later. Google both generated attention immediately and was long-term viable.

The product will generate attention in the long run if its good.
"VERY cool govt + system"

You have got to be fucking kidding me. Yeah, oral sex is illegal, that is "VERY cool".

Maybe the biz aspect works for you, and the MRT is good, but I just have this very nasty feeling about governments like that.
Sort of off topic, but is the adwords tool the best one to use to find search volume?
oops - I totally glazed over what "implicit" meant. With my understanding corrected this is 20x cooler!
In the startup scene and among anyone with a technology-oriented college education, it won't be a problem at all. Almost all Germans learn some English in high school, and most retain enough to at least a have basic dialog.

In short: working in the startup scene won't be a problem; grocery shopping might be an adventure. ;-)
Troll!

This guy stole all your little life-plan wet dreams, and spoonfed them right back to you in a Sunday morning gimmick post.

Gold!
Just to be clear, I went for this key phrase, e.g. look at the homepage title.

I thought "new search engine" was a) in immediate reach; b) efforts for it could help with "search engine"; and c) people actually searching for "new search engine" are probably good candidates for using Duck Duck Go.

Now I suppose it's time to move on to higher volume stuff...
I think it's fairly easy to get around without speaking german. btw Berlin is great :)
I'm sure it would make the aurochs feel better to know that after we slaughtered it into extinction, we kept the domesticated version around to live in tiny pens and provide us milk and/or beef until we slaughter them too. And wolves will be happy to know their domesticated brethren are in humane shelters everywhere after we gun the last one down from a helicopter.
If you have a point of reference, I find Google trends useful as well. By point of reference, I mean you have some keywords where you know the actual click volume from personal experience, i.e. you rank 1st on that keyword.
And you know how they got that ranking?

They promoted a widget - http://duckduckgo.com/karma.html - a little while back that when you install it on your site it uses backlink text of "new search engine" to link to their front page (rather than the page with the widget).

Sadly I don't find their actual search engine very useful at all, but the widget is excellent! It shows you your karma count / popularity on a handful of Web services including Hacker News.