Causalien's comments

Causalien | 11 years ago | on: Ask HN: Those who quit their jobs to travel the world, how did it go?

I am on year 3 of what was originally a 6 month trip. 6 months, I find is when most people decide to go home, but it is also the crucial wall that allowed my travel personality to take over.

There was no magic pill for me. My first 6 months was miserable, it was an adventure, sight seeing and meeting fellow travelers awt hostels was still something I wanted to do. I ended up very lonely at the end of 6 months and didn't make any friends.

After that is when I mentally stopped thinking about traveling and seeing the world. I just exist and tried as hard as possible to listen to that voice inside. I went for crazy experiences that I only hear in passing. That hermit in a jungle that someone talked about in passing? I went and visited him. The cult with promise of salvation? Yeah that too.

Then I got too many friends. The experience didn't just transform what existed in me. I am literally a different person. But I had to leg go of the notion that I am just traveling and that I am going back later.

Causalien | 11 years ago | on: How can an introvert Asian engineer like me make friends?

I thought I had social interaction down pretty well. At work, I'd always have an entourage of people near my desk chatting. I see friends once a week. But i had no idea that I can be what I am now.

You know those people who can just strike up conversation with anyone? Yeah, It took me 6 months of travel. I suggest you take a gap year to travel. Hostels are the best place to practice social interaction and even if you bomb it, there is always a new group tomorrow.

believe me when I say, it is not your language skill that is lacking. You just aren't interesting enough and haven't tested out the way to converse with people effortlessly yet. As an engineer, do a trial and error if... else if ....

I know this because I met a south Korean with broken english who learned English within one year of travelling. He was the centrr of attention and he talked to everyone. The feeling was, it's just talk. Don't make such a big deal out of it. Some people are assholes and you move on.

Causalien | 12 years ago | on: How startups should die

In this situation. Do you think your moral obligation to repay your debt outweight the moral obligation to your user's data?

Or compare this to the moral obligation to repay your investor vs that of the user's data.

Causalien | 12 years ago | on: How startups should die

I am in the process of shutting down my first company and I would like to thank you for sharing your experience because every decision I make right now has huge ethical implications.

Causalien | 12 years ago | on: Soylent Subterfuge: When a Bad Joke Turns into a Business

I am all for this since I rarely have time to enjoy food. However, I also understand that some of the nutrients probably can't be absorbed by the human body in that form, so for me, it'll be treated as a supplement. If they can do one thing that'll make me buy this. It'll be to change it into a cookie.

I mean c'mon, that gruel looks disgusting and the thing already tasts disgusting.

Causalien | 12 years ago | on: How multi-lingual children learn languages

As a multilingual speaker (English, Mandarin, French, all fluent) who eventually let English take over as my main language here's what I think.

If you learned two languages since birth you develop two language sites. I read somewhere that the Wernicke's area is divided into two if you do this as well. Perhaps auditory memories are triggered based on language as well. You think and have internal dialogues in different languages which triggers completely different memories. This explains why one might lose one language, but keep the other one.

Whereas, for learning languages later in life, a person tends to translate the new language into the main language. The internal dialogue is always in the form of the main language. The memories are one contiguous experience based on one language. Often, when self examining during meditations, it is hard to make out what language is used. This explains why a brain problem will wipe out sections of speaking ability across all languages because they are all eventually translated from the main language.

Like people who started with C, we tend to think in C and see how new languages add on to C and just remembers the new rules of the new language relative to C instead of having a completely new life experience from ground up of learning the new programming language.

In short: Bane said: "I was born in darkness, you simply adapted"

Causalien | 13 years ago | on: Ask HN: Has anyone refused to work in a typical 9-5 job?

Can never get up at 7am. Spent 2years looking. Found out that I can survive without a corporate job. Now I do work from 11am to midnight on my own Corp.

In a traditional Corp, my boss will probably think I am lazy. As I come in late(which they see) and leave late (which they don't see).I also tend to put my feet up on my table and close my eyes when thinking about a programming problem really deeply.

Causalien | 13 years ago | on: IFTTT raises $7M from Andreessen Horowitz, NEA and Lerer

Been using IFTTT since the beginning and asking them how I can throw money at them because I need them to remain functional.

I use them to backup all my social media onto my wordpress blog which in turn is a record of everything that happens to me in my life.

Cheap quick scraper for a few websites to monitor items that I want to buy and get cellphone notification the moment they are posted.

It's a good glue.

Causalien | 13 years ago | on: Skills Don’t Pay the Bills

This industry is more experience based. Sure, theory will teach you that under certain conditions a plasma cutter ( or welder)'s arc is going to be certain shape and the speed need to be certain inch/minute for minimal dross, however, it is never 100% accurate. Therefore, the actual skills lies in the know how to adjust.

Moving on, with CNC automation, you need experience in both industry to understand how to program a CNC machine. With full automation becoming the trend, I see a huge lack of skilled workers who can fit this wold. Afterall, why would you go into manufacturing of metals if you understand computers.

Causalien | 13 years ago | on: Apple’s stock price falls to lowest point in six months

What you are seeing. Is a reversal of sentiments from all front. Steve, is a scary negotiator to go against, that's why apple got the deals it got.

If you are buying based on PE, good luck.

Yes I put my money where my mouth is. Sold AAPL, bought TSLA.

Causalien | 13 years ago | on: 42Floors Raises $5M, Expands Office Search Site To New York

An idea came up while searching. You know what would be cool? A way to see what type of business is in each office building. I want to find co-working spaces that have a large concentration of the type of business I am in for obvious networking purposes.

Causalien | 13 years ago | on: In deep with Tesla CEO Elon Musk

The most important thing is that the stock doesn't fall even when he says these things that shouldn't be said. Indicating approval of his style. Or how insignificance it is compared to missing delivery target.

Causalien | 14 years ago | on: Instagram is "worth" more than the New York Times

It sounded so dumb at first, but after thinking about how my pet changes my travel schedule and has caused me to ask too many favors from friends. Someone please do this.

It'd be awesome to be able to leave my pet with other fellow pet owners. I'd be willing to take pets in my house as well to keep my cat company.

Causalien | 14 years ago | on: The day Apple won the Flash fight

From an ActionScript developer's point of view it still takes too long to develop anything interactive in html5. So for the sake of time cost/income, I'll continue to push interactive content out in flash, while using html5 for linear stuff.

With the recent news of unity for flash, the whole thing is about to embark on a new adventure.

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