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chamblin's comments

chamblin | 7 years ago | on: Ask HN: What are your “brain hacks” that help you manage everyday situations?

Coin Flip Rule: If I think about a tough decision for too long, it's a sign that the decision may be tough because the choices are really close and additional thinking is likely not worth it (the added value of making the "correct" choice will be very small). In this case, choosing at random is OK.

Just start: If I feel unmotivated, I'll wind up a Pomodoro timer and just try to knock out one. Usually, I will feel a lot better/more motivated once I get going on a task.

Stupid/evil rule: If I disagree with someone, I recognize that I will often shortcut this to the other person knowing less than I do, or to having ulterior motives. When I see I am doing this, I ask why they might disagree, other than explicitly being stupid or evil. Since people are very rarely stupid or evil, this helps me to understand the perspectives of others.

chamblin | 11 years ago | on: Silicon Valley: Perks for Some Workers, Struggles for Parents

On one hand, startups strive very hard to become more diverse workplaces, believing that by having different kinds of people, more and better work will be done. On the other hand, "culture fit" bars exist so that any diversity achieved by such initiatives is entirely superficial.

chamblin | 12 years ago | on: Show HN: Our pivot that nudges you to try new offline things. No lame coupons

This is an awesome idea! I signed up.

Random feedback. I think you should get to claim your first tickets on the confirmation page (this is what I came here for :)

Since I'm only familiar with your product insofar as the Insider's Club, I was a little confused when I went to http://www.upout.com and it was relegated to a corner link to click ("...oh yeah, it's upout Insider's Club, not upout"). It's just a pivot, but maybe it should have a first class site of its own?

There's all these great Premium Claim Events at the bottom of the claim page. I don't know whether or not that's an awesome idea, but it would be great if I knew when/if/how I was ever going to be eligible for that instead of just telling me that I'm not.

The claim page says "You have 1 Claims" instead of "You have 1 Claim"

You could price this more aggressively I think, but $20 makes it an easy choice for me to sign up.

chamblin | 12 years ago | on: Profit affects doctors' treatment decisions

5&6 - it is nonsense to lay the blame for any aspect of the ACA/Obamacare at the feet of the Republicans (they hated on a lot more than the death panels, many things that also came to be). The Democrats own every vote in its favor, and they could have any version of the bill they desired. They are responsible for any perceived problems with the legislation.

chamblin | 12 years ago | on: Bloom Filters by example

This is kind of a fundamental part of bloom filters. They're probabilistic data structures, which is the trade you make for space efficiency.

If you get a false back, you can guarantee that some item is not in the filter. If you get a true back, you can be fairly certain it is. Once you have a degree of certainty, you can do a more thorough check for membership while cutting out large numbers of negatives.

chamblin | 12 years ago | on: If Crowdfunding is the New Day Trading, Look Out

This disdain for "common" investment is over the top.

A much bigger concern than the potential for poor decisions by individuals is the creation of financial instruments that are, by government fiat, only available to an elite group of institutional investors and the otherwise-wealthy.

chamblin | 12 years ago | on: What Startups Need to Know about Obamacare

> 1.) Are you a human being? [ ] No -- Sorry! [ ] Yes -- Great, you're covered.

Is this actually true? Does the NHS (or any so-called universal government healthcare programs) really cover literally any human?

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