skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
"The universe was made on purpose, the circle said. In whatever galaxy you happen to find yourself, you take the circumference of a circle, divide it by its diameter, measure closely enough, and uncover a miracle--another circle, drawn kilometers downstream of the decimal point. There would be richer messages farther in. It doesn't matter what you look like, or what you're made of, or where you come from. As long as you live in this universe, and have a modest talent for mathematics, sooner or later you'll find it. It's already here. It's inside everything. You don't have to leave your planet to find it. In the fabric of space and in the nature of matter, as in a great work of art, there is, written small, the artist's signature. Standing over humans, gods, and demons, there is an intelligence that antedates the universe.

The circle had closed. She found what she had been searching for.

http://www.generationterrorists.com/quotes/contact.shtml
I was responding to the personal question.

You're right that sorting by time would change that incentive, and that it'd be a useful option sometimes.
just looking for the first 10 seconds, the front page says:

"Whether you are recruiting a Web developer, designer, Internet marketer, social media consultant or an executive team member, our job board will foster the connections."

seems relevant to many of the posters on YC.
Where can you get incorporated for 90$ ?

I always thought it was several hundred at least
Oh this reminds me, there is a similar incentive to upvote stories you commented on so more people see the story and potentially join in the comments discussion.
It varies by state. I think I paid $400 in Michigan, but that was mostly for legal fees to have someone manage all the paperwork for me. I don't remember the actual state-required fees to be all that excessive at all.
Thats a good point, maybe adding the number of unique visitors who viewed that thread into the description like:

Thread Title

(x points by YCusername, Y views, Z comments).

Its just an idea but it may work.
Infoseek, believe it or not, was damn good. Almost on a par with G back then.
The Psychology of the Internet
> We've got excellent personal rapport

Then why are you posting here instead of having a serious sit-down talk with him about it?
Ask YC: What was your first computer?
I've been reading The Soul of a New Machine and it's made me feel nostalgic. My first computer was the Coleco Adam (http://oldcomputers.net/adam.html).

What was yours?
Intuit's New Startup Competition
Intuit started a competition with the winner receiving $50,000.
It takes a little bit of humor and a lot of humility (emphasizing the latter). And from your replys to the other comments, it sounds like you are well on your way already.

I am writing my own experience as a Crashed-and-"Turned" entrepreneur and I have a slot to publish next Thursday (10/25). Please check back.

<a href="http://www.lovemytool.com/blog/startup-for-less.html">Startup for Less - Survival Guide for Bootstrapping Entrepreneurs</a>

Good luck.

--Denny--
It's fairly obvious when someone has done this, because comments don't often have 0 points here. And if a bunch of comments all have zero points, and someone else's comment is on top with one point, people can kinda guess who did it...

PG has been known to look at who did the downvoting in cases like this (yes, that information is on the server) and penalize them. So you do have an incentive not to be a tool. People take notice.
Indiana is about 90
Here's a question I've been pondering...

How exactly do you vote someone down anyway? I only have up-voting options. My guess is that you need some level of Karma first, but what's the threshold?
You get the downvote arrow for comments when you have 20 karma.
TRS-80 Model III (1981).

I collect old computers and now own: Kim-1 ('75), Apple II ('77), Commoodore PET 8K ('77), TRS-80 Model I (78), Apple Lisa-1 (83), Osborne-1, Atari 400/800, Heathkit H89, Northstar Advantage, Next Computer Nextstation. I even own a reproduction Apple-1 and manuals to the Xerox Alto.
I paid $55 for an LLC in Oregon, and did the paperwork myself. I also shelled out around $100 for various Nolo books. (My calculation was that I'd rather spend the money to get a basic understanding of the process than to just pay someone to do some simple paperwork).
So, as you point out, the strategy would work better if you don't downvote anything to zero. And don't downvote very many things.
As others have said, eat some really healthy food and do some serious exercise. This is the best medicine known to man for burnout.

If I begin to feel even slightly burned out, I make a beeline for Wagamama in Harvard Square (or Faneuil Hall). At the risk of sounding like an advertisement, the combination of the food and atmosphere there are anodyne when I get tired of coding. I hope they expand out from the Boston area soon so you West Coast people find out what you are missing...
Mine was a 486, but my first programming experience was my father's HP 11C caluclator (http://www.hpmuseum.org/3qs/11c3q.jpg)

;)
vic-20
I learned to Hack on a Commodore PET that was owned by my elementary school. It was far more fun to modify the learning programs we were supposed to be using, than to actually USE the programs as intended.

Then the school got a Commodore 64. Oooh! Colors!

Then the first PC that was mine, and located at my house was a PCjr (but I had the "real" keyboard). A lot of people slam the jr, and I've never understood why. I wrote thousands of lines of BASIC on it, learned to interface with various peripherals, hand-soldered a memory expansion card, and other fun things.

Then I built an IBM PC from parts (and by PC I mean a 5150), followed shortly by an XT, and then about a year later an AT (and I overclocked it from 6Mhz to 8Mhz, IIRC).

Next was a PS/2 Model 30 (bought), Model 55 (built), Thinkpad 700 (built), and a couple of other IBM machines. If it's not obvious by now, my dad worked for IBM, so I had access to a lot of IBM parts. The PS/2 Model 30 talked to the AT and jr over a parallel-port LANtastic network. Then I got actual LANtastic ISA cards. There was PCNet broadband network in there somewhere also.

After the IBM's was a whole slew of built clones, from a 486sx, up through Pentiums.
I was asking purely rhetorical question :) Surely 125 bucks is not a big investment into startup. We invest a lot more each month :)
Dump and run.
People think ugly == trendy?
Ok, your notion of walking a graph is not incorrect, but there's a MUCH simpler way to look at your problem: combinations.

You basically have a stream of tokens (x), and some of these tokens (C) are contractible. In other words, they have alternate forms.

So a sentence is something like this:

x1 x2 x3 C1 x4 x5 C2 x6 x7 x8 x9 C3

Now, break it up like so, where the contractible word is at the end of each segment, and create the alternate forms:

1a) x1 x2 x3 C1 // C1 is "do not"
1b) x1 x2 x3 C1b // C1b is "don't"

2a) x4 x5 C2 // C2 is "he has"
2b) x4 x5 C2b // C2b is "he's"

and so on.

Now just find all the combinations of the above segments. 1a 2a, 1a 2b, 1b 2a, 1b 2b. This may look like a nested-loop thing but it's far easier to do it recursively.

I have code that does this in Perl, if you want it. I was thinking of translating it to Ruby as an exercise but it looks like I'm too busy for that right now.

I suggest you take a look at SICP some day. Writing algorithms like this will be second nature once you grok those techniques.
mine were SURA PK8000 (http://rk86.com/frolov/sura.htm) and ES1840 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ES_PEVM)
I used to play Space Invaders on a TI-99 my dad got when I was in kindergarten. My first real computer was an IBM PS/1.
Kaypro II
Excellent answer. I deleted my response because this is a better one.
You are right to ask for a precise definition. I mean the Fortune 5000. What you are describing (usually called the mid-market) definitely will be a play for Web X.0.
this is interesting, though as with any marketplace liquidity is the winning factor. my gut tells me there won't be enough of that to make this work but who knows.
Before you read the YC email or answer PG call, read this.
Your success or failure are both in front of you. What will happen is just a matter of choice. You chose success. You left the safe and secure land of corporates and you are sailing towards the uncertain, unknown land of startups. Unlike most people who live according to the past ("it has always been done this way" ) you are one of the few on this earth who let the unknown future guide you ('well I am gonna do it a different way"). While on your journey you will add passengers who won't pay you, and will keep asking for more comfort on your ship. If you do not deliver, they will suddenly disappear. i do not need to tell you that 9 out 10 who sail never come back. They become lunch for the sharks, but your hard-headed nature pushes you to go. You only fear staying in safe-mode. I admire your courage and your seeking attitude, which is why when the sharks and pirate show up, when your boat is sinking, when your passengers are disappearing, when you loose one of your sailor or think about going back, do not be afraid as we are all here to support you. We will fight the sharks, fix your boat, recommend passengers, recommend loyal sailors, and we certainly will not let you go the opposite way. Do not give up if you do not make it to YC. Help is here, just ask for it. Keep paddling. Never Ever Ever Give Up.
why not? The guy is young, and is asking about some advice in here (which is probably the right place). When you are friends with or get along with somebody, sometimes it is harder to tell them up front that what they are doing is not working out.
I personally believe that submitting an application to YC is an experience itself and whether we will be invited or not, it gave me few minutes to step back to look at a big picture and get more inspiration to continue working.
Our civilization reaches a critical point as we reach Type 1 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kardashev_scale) and see if there is life that has already claimed the close parts of the galaxy. If there is nothing out there, we get to expand and grow. If space is already claimed, then we will probably get gamma ray bursted or something. Either way, it's something we have to and will try.
Let me stop ou there buddy. the rocioromero house are very nice, elegant and open. You can truly tell that this house is designed to let you breath. Seriously all the extra we are adding to house is to personalize them. Why? Why trying to be so freaking different. I am a victim of that problem as well, we need to all relax and spend less on material crap
different == trendy
It will really make a difference when we have brain interfaces or enhancements. Controlling a remote device with a thought, for example, or sending/receiving a short message would both be "the future".
How To Create Momentum With VCs
While some VCs have a very structured process for responding to entrepreneurs, others do not. In my post, What To Expect After The First Meeting, I mentioned that VCs with less structured processes may not respond to you after your first meeting because of a lack of interest...
This isn't how I see the incentives. I am much more likely to game the system by voting up all surrounding comments if they are at a level of one. Then, I figure people will wonder why my comment only has one karma compared to a bunch of other good comments with two karma. And maybe a voting frenzy will start.

I usually vote up stories where I comment as well. I figure if they are worth discussing, they are worth voting up and it also makes my comment more likely to be voted higher.
I agree 100%. Writing that app was extremely beneficial in itself. It is an excellent forcing device to stop and think about the difficult questions.
More hackers should become writers.
ZX81 (3.25 MHz Z80 cpu, 1KB of RAM, cassette tape storage). I used it to teach myself Basic when I was 9.

The funniest thing about it was "fast" and "slow" mode. The Z80 was actually used to generate a TV signal, so you had two modes for running programs: In fast mode, the screen went blank, and the cpu just ran your program. In slow mode, the cpu got interrupted regularly to update the screen (which made your program run a lot slower!).
I'm a fan of view counters on forums and elsewhere but I know they usually aren't enabled because they are a strain on the server resources.
You had a good adviser. Mine would grudgingly look the other way if I took a couple weeks of vacation (at best), or become actively hostile (at worst).

In any case, it's excellent advice. The only reason I was able to finish grad school was because I took a couple well-timed vacations when I was in exactly the mental state that the OP describes.
To continue the metaphor for a bit, here's some apropos consolation for any who don't get good news tomorrow:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Skye_Boat_Song

Chorus:
Speed bonnie boat like a bird on the wing,
Onward, the sailors cry.
Carry the lad that's born to be king
Over the sea to Skye.

Loud the winds howl, loud the waves roar,
Thunderclaps rend the air,
Baffled, our foes stand by the shore,
Follow they will not dare.

Chorus

Many's the lad fought on that day,
Well the Claymore could wield,
When the night came, silently lay
Dead in Culloden's field.

Chorus

Though the waves leap, soft shall ye sleep,
Ocean's a royal bed.
Rock'd in the deep Flora will keep
Watch o'er your weary head.

Chorus

Burned are our homes, exile and death,
Scattered the loyal men.
Yet ere the sword cool in the sheath,
Charlie will come again.

Chorus
So then different == ugly?
English Queries over Databases
If you haven't done so, take a proper vacation. Leave your current environment behind completely, don't take a computer with you, and don't allow yourself to so much as think about work.

When I was in your situation, I tried to take pseudo-vacations (i.e. I stayed home for a few days, instead of going to work), but they were never enough. Only by forcing myself to make a drastic lifestyle change, was I able to break out of the fog.
not necessarily, I disagree with the assertion that ugly == trendy. And different of course doesn't always equal trendy..

In the end, these things are really hard to pin down.
I think we're using two different meanings for "enterprise software."

I mean it in the sense of the system which stores all of the business information for a company or other organization (the "enterprise".) It keeps track of things like "who are the employees" and "who are the customers" and "what inventory do we have" and "where is it" and "where's the money" and things like that. This includes systems which can be described as accounting, customer-relationship management, human-resources management, etc.

You could also call it "Business Information Management" systems although the phrase "Enterprise Software" is more common (at least among my peer group.)

Companies like Seibel, Peoplesoft, SAP, Great Plains, Oracle, sell this stuff for a lot of money to big companies who then spend absurd amounts of money hiring poor idiots like me to work with it. In fact, that's exactly what I've done for a large part of the last ten years, for two different Fortune-100 companies, and I've had plenty of opportunities to observe these systems and think about ways of improving things

The biggest innovation in this type of software has been the move from using a client program on each user's desktop to web-based but their web interfaces aren't very good.

While virtualization may be very important to how an enterprise runs its software it's not directly applicable to the software itself. The employee who goes to a web page to sign up for a new health insurance plan doesn't know or care whether the web page is coming from a VM or a Sun box or a Dell box - but the fact that he CAN sign up for a new health insurance plan online or request a different schedule or generate a verification of employment letter to use in getting a mortgage.(1) THAT is important to him.

And that's the kind of enterprise software I'm talking about.

(1) All three are innovative features that the enterprise systems most people use don't have.
Yes!!!

I had the same thing. I also used it to teach myself BASIC... Just because there was no other way to communicate with the computer, really.

My "favorite" part was how long it would take to load a program from the cassette drive. At least 5-6 minutes, during which the screen would go weird colors (with time, you learned to distinguish - white/red means nothing happening, blue/yellow means program is loading) and make really weird sounds...
An Atari 400.
My first computer was actually a Packard Bell. ;)

When I got it, it was nearly top of the line.

It was a Pentium 60 Mhz, had 8 MB RAM, 420 MB HD. 14.4 Modem. I think it also had 1 MB Video memory and a 2x CD-Drive. I later upgraded it to 16 MB Ram. I built the next few computers I owned and have since switched to Macs.

I actually did my first programming on that machine. I used QBasic to make a simple game where you moved a car around the screen.

I think I still have it in a closet somewhere.
Me too. Remember the membrane keyboard? And storing the programs you wrote on cassette tape. Those were the days.
Dispensing of a Co-founder? check out Murdr, Inc
A more serious answer... I believe that concepts like this are often of an "unusual" design as a way of capturing your attention and forcing you to really look at the package.

Current "normal" housing designs are capable of being highly efficient with (relatively) minor visible changes. However a super high-eff house that looks like any other house won't have the same punch that a high-eff house that also looks like an architectural innovation would have.
Still Tired
Enough, already.
Burnout feels incredibly illogical, because you can't do what you tell yourself you want to do. You can have a conversation with someone and get right fired up about an idea in-the-moment, but when you try to execute, a blanket of fog comes over your brain and you sit there like a deer in headlights. You can hardly perform at the level of a 10-year-old, no matter how much you tell myself that you want to continue.

I think this is your brain telling you that you would rather be doing something else.
Indeed it is an experience.
Evidence shows that cheating at Absolute Poker was done with insider help
> All the people who've changed the world have been energetic and determined.

I'm not so sure about this. I'd rather like to think: All the people who have taken credit for stuff that has changed the word have been energetic and determined.
Zoho DB: Software As A Disservice
A BBC Micro. With a tap drive. Ahhh the days of Repton
Commodore 64. But it wasn't really mine, I had to fight with my two sisters over it ( Oh for the days of dig dug ).
My second was a Performa 476. Also had to fight.
That I programmed? IBM 1401. That my family owned? TRS-80.
Was your previous submission

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=67013

getting killed by the admins not enough of a hint not to spam us with this junk?
This is getting creepy, I'm getting out of here.
Broerse Blog
I don't think this happens very often. But I'm writing some software now to fix various abuses involving downvoting (mainly karma-bombing, where one person tries to nuke another's karma by downvoting any comment by them), and will write more if necessary.
For what it's worth, most serial entrepreneurs I've talked with tend to advise waiting a while before incorporating. If you're still in the kitchen table phase, which you say you are, then your co-founder may be right. Until you graduate and begin working full-time on the project and have a demo that are you pitching to investors, incorporating is really just a distraction. At best it doesn't really help anything and at worst you screw it up and it takes thousands of dollars to fix.
I got a Commodore 64 in '82 when I was eight, with disk drive and dot matrix printer. By the time I was 12 I was going to garage sales with my mom (an antique dealer), buying old broken C64s and other machines of the era (by high school I'd already owned several Spectrums, an Apple Lisa, many TRS-80s, a Coleco Adam, a Commodore Plus 4, and other assorted weirdness), and fixing them for resale (fixing computers back then meant soldering iron and a meter and lots of trial and error). So, my first business sprang from my experience with my first computer.

I also ran a BBS on my C64 through middle school and early high school. So, it gave me experience with computer networks, too. ;-)

I also loved Soul of a New Machine. Fantastic story, and reading it back in 97 or 98 lead me to research and buy Data General stock, which turned out well when they were acquired by EMC.
I've never seen this. More common is if someone posts a comment on a mediocre article and then votes up the article.
YC: What No Means
A PET 8K. I wrote my first contract program on an Apple II about the same time, so it was a tie.

We had one PET in the high school library. The other nerds and I used to fight over who could program it. There was a sign-up sheet but the rules weren't strictly enforced. One guy named Roland kept using teacher's notes to jump in line. So I wrote a program called "Kill Roland" that all the other kids loved. As I remember, little "R"s came down from the top of the screen and you maneuvered a gun to shoot them before they got to the bottom. Very simple stuff, but the game got so popular that Roland never came to the library anymore.

Mission accomplished.

I miss that little PET. I think I still remember the POKE statements used to control the screen. Geesh -- those brain cells should have been recycled a long time ago.
Ahh the old 'Trash-80'
He MIGHT just be expressing concern over the cart-before-the-horse issue. I'd echo the "build something first" sentiment.

That being said, one of the hardest challenges to overcome is a founder with substantively less commitment than you. It's like dating/marrying a girl (or guy, I suppose) who wants to spend EVERY evening together when you still want to spend a lot of time with friends or alone... Either person who compromises has a good chance of feeling resentful.

So gather an understanding. Set some initial expectations, like:

"we will each spend an average of 25 hours per work a week until we hit milestone X"

"we well get together 4 evenings per week to work together"

"if we hit milestone Y, we will dump everything and work full time on it, borrowing money if we have to."

"if we fail to hit milestone Z after 8 months, we'll close it down."
Can we buy a vowel?
Sinclair ZX Spectrum
Honestly not sure what it was... featurewise it only had RF out and did everything from a tape drive... so I'm thinking an Atari 400... but don't remember a membrane keyboard, so may have just been something similar.

First computer I really used a lot was the 486DX2-80 my family got in 6th grade. I was so excited to play X-Com on it!
Yeah, it is, a bit. Don't get too worked up over this, guys. We're just trying to cook up a new model for seed funding, not starting a cult.
MSX (Toshiba HX-10, 64Kb RAM). Z80 based too.
you have been around for 20 days only. You will see a lot creepier. Here and on your way to success. If you run away from YC because of my 15 lines, I doubt how you will do as a startupreneur. EDIT: Sorry sbh i shouldn't comment on the 20 days. that was a lil mean.
I actually really love the rocio romero designs. I find them modern but not cold and impersonal. They aren't even that unusual on the continuum of modern architecture. Great big windows, efficient layouts, and reasonably inexpensive.

Ugly is the more expensive, HUGE houses that crop up on subdivisions around america with cheesy granite everywhere.
Does this mean I have to tear down my PG posters and little statue I built?
Mac LC. I was a late-bloomer.