2009-10-02 front | Hacker News

... a "Jump to Conclusions" mat. You see, it would be this mat that you would put on the floor... and would have different conclusions written on it that you could jump to.

17.

Understanding python *args and **kwargs (dpeepul.com)

18.

The real reason that capitalism is so crash-prone. (newyorker.com)

19.

Yext Scores a $25M Round from IVP (techcrunch.com)

20.

Scientists Develop Nasal Spray That Improves Memory (sciencedaily.com)

numair on Oct 2, 2009 | parent | context | on: Mark Zuckerberg: The evolution of a remarkable CEO

Every employee is rated on a scale from 1 to 5, with five being the highest. No one gets a five. If you get a 1 or a 2, you’re quickly shown the door. Related to that are the steady departures of early founders and executives. Two of them, Adam D’Angelo and Dustin Moskovitz, were Zuckerberg’s high-school and college friends, respectively. They weren’t forced out, but they burned out or realized they weren’t right for their jobs.

Wow, what complete horseshit. Adam and Dustin were two of the most talented people Facebook had - they were the key to the engineering culture that made Facebook work in the first place. Half of Facebook's infrastructure and featureset either wouldn't exist or scale if it weren't for Adam's efforts, and Dustin was the guy who always rallied the troops...

I really hope people don't take this article at face value. This reporter/blogger/whatever he calls himself is obviously trying to prime the pump for scoops and leaks, or to get someone to show up at his shitty conference, or something like that.

22.

Google Wave crashes on beach of overhype (scobleizer.com)

23.

"Loading..." Animated GIF Generator (ajaxload.info)

24.

XS: Lisp on Lego MindStorms (kyoto-u.ac.jp)

25.

An interview question you had better know how to answer (hypecycles.wordpress.com)

26.

Google Removes Pirate Bay Frontpage From Search Results (torrentfreak.com)

tsally on Oct 2, 2009 | parent | context | on: One Small Leap for Open Source, One Giant Leap for...

What if civil engineers could file a patent that looked like that following:

A method and system for crossing a body of water via a constructed object. The customer starts on one side of the water and walks across the object to the other side.

Your average software patent is roughly equivalent to a patent on the concept of a bridge. If there are useful software patents, they've been overshadowed by the large number of abusive ones.

ahoyhere on Oct 2, 2009 | parent | context | on: I don't like you very much

Overly wordy and self-indulgent, and for all the navel-gazing, doesn't come to a satisfying conclusion.

It's hard to say that communication problems are "a little bit of me, and a little bit of them" if you go and say things like "Wow, you're a tall fucker!" to new clients when you meet them. Y'know?

I can see how that might lead to a long dark night of the soul, but who wants to read about it -- when it's written so hamfistedly?

29.

Assessing Competition Risk for Digital Media Startups (techvibes.com)

30.

Google forces employee to disavow MVP status (theregister.co.uk)