sdh's comments

Maybe you're not aware how these "unrealized" capital gains (at scale) are indirectly realized in the form of loans taken against value of the asset.

Massive wealth doesn't operate in income or even in typical capital gains advantages you're referring to. It operates at a scale where the value of the assets are so great, banks compete to give loans to them, which are not taxed like income.

It's totally absurd to argue that loans from assets isn't income. It's used to purchase more assets, to purchase tax favorable legislation, to buy media to keep us thinking this issue is about paying capital gains on your retirement portfolio.

If Bezos will "never get that money unless he sells stock" was a true statement, then where do all the yachts and houses and other assets come from? How does he buy them? If the IRS suddenly recognized loans taken against asset wealth or any exchange of assets as income, the tax rates of the super wealthy compared to the average American would suddenly look sane.

needs a random button

I agree. The art doesn't have to be good or hung in a gallery to be of value.

The paintings represent an new, and perhaps candid insight into the thoughts and feelings of a former president. They might reveal something we wouldn't otherwise have the opportunity to observe. GWB may not even know what he's revealing about himself.

My take on the paintings is that they project a sense of loneliness, separation, and introspection.

very interesting.

you can't change anything without critical mass. it usually takes a national disaster or profound fear of something to mobilize support for popular change. depending on your point of view, that's either a feature or fault of our society.

Are these real CEOs or idealized CEOs? I've worked for CEOs who were horrible people and yet extremely successful (ie: running profitable businesses and having repeat success).

Sadly, the nice CEOs I've had were failures building companies.

From my observation, the quality that defines a CEO is that they are oblivious to their own faults and the feelings of others.

They are like bad dancers with confidence. They have no idea they look like an idiot or that they're making you uncomfortable, and if they did, they wouldn't care.

cool, but what's this -really- for? ;)

recruiting coders?

optimizing keyboard layouts?

optimizing character usage for new language or framework development?

advertising open source projects?

In SFO, I haven't seen any of this and security seems pretty much unchanged, but recently going through San Diego was a completely different experience. There they were searching passengers and using full body scanners on children. I overheard a mom telling her kids, "just do what they tell you" waiting in line to be searched, and being a dad, was immediately sick to my stomach thinking of what these kids were learning. If you don't have children you have no idea that simple statements like that can become rules in a child's brain; rules that are likely to get applied out of context.

Just curious, how would you answer a 3-6 year old child as to why it is ok for a uniformed stranger to be touching them?

Maybe the employees of Zynga who weren't offered this deal should sue Zynga for too little compensation for the value they've created. The hammer should swing both ways.

In my experience, the difference between a GSD engineer and an average engineer is the understanding that it is up to you to be motivated, focused, and effective.

And, I've worked with many GSD engineers, so they definitely exist.

Groupon's model is only broken in the context of billions or trillions. At smaller scale, which sounds like what your friend is thinking, there is still lots of opportunity to innovate and profit.

hmm, should new painting viewers bother with rembrandt, michelangelo, caravaggio, da vinci, etc?

um, yes!

asimov, bradbury, clarke, huxley, etc are worth reading no matter what century you're in.

I can't stand technical jargon or people who use without regard for their audience.

The only purpose of jargon is to make a conversation exclusive to only those who know the language. If your purpose is to educate or collaborate or truly communicate, then jargon is harmful.

Legal jargon is probably the worst example.

I'm starting to get really annoyed that the price of some ebooks is actually more than the price of the printed book. That is just ridiculous and publishers better check their greed quickly if they want people to keep paying for books.

FTA:

"The attack that stole the personal data of millions of Sony customers was launched separately, while the company was distracted protecting itself against the denial-of-service campaign, Sony said."

Wow. I didn't think they could do better than "most people don't know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it?" but I was wrong.

Sony Command: Quick! All security personnel are immediately ordered to drop what they're doing and guard against that DOS attack!

Sony Security: But Sir, won't that leave our user data "un-guarded"

Sony Command: We don't have time for that now, Soldier, now move Move MOVE!!

1. startups are not risky. there's plenty more

2. it's a lot harder to negotiate terms with an experience entrepreneur.

3. over 30s can hire under 30s.

4. is it techcrunch or techtroll?

you mean our servers aren't in the sky?!

"Android has more market share than iOS"

Where are they? I read this statement all the time, but I barely know anyone who has an android phone. Not a scientific measurement, but still ...

"Android emerging as the clear winner of mobile and iOS being reserved for the trendy/artistic/quality crowd"

I really disagree with this statement. First, you can't generalize iOS buyers like this, but more importantly, how do you define winner? Market share? Phones with Android installed on them? How many of these Android users are buying apps?

As a developer, the only measurement I care about is how many of potential buyers of my app are there. Android might have more installed OSes, but iOS has more app buyers.

That's the real reason you see companies focused on iPhone app development and not Android app development.

Is it OK to hire from your friend's company?

Sure, as long as it is totally transparent to everyone. You can't force people to work for you.

Is it OK to recruit from your friend's company?

Definitely not.

my feedback ...

first, the app is really cool. love the idea.

personally, I'd lose the head shots and job titles from your about page. instead, tell us why you created this, how you got started, etc.

what are you doing with this data? do you have a privacy policy? this probably won't stop your growth, but it might encourage adoption if you let people know you aren't evil.

hopefully, this improves the deliverability of email that originates within amazon's environment. the service can be easy, but if the messages aren't getting through, then there is no point and sendgrid and others will continue to survive.