seanoliver's comments

New York actually had Air Taxis (passenger van helicopters) that shuttled people around the city until 1979 when a horrible crash ended the company forever.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Airways

Life almost certainly exists elsewhere in the universe (particularly if you consider that which is beyond what we define as ”observable”). As others have commented, it’s too large for it not to exist.

However, it does seem extremely rare and could be so rare that it doesn't exist in the observable universe (it's almost certainly not in our Local Bubble).

It is interesting to also think about the likelihood of "intelligent" life. Because while basic, simple organisms are bound to appear somewhere else considering the universe's vastness, the idea that they could develop this intelligence and self-awareness is another big leap that doesn't seem like it necessarily needs to happen wherever life is happening.

I don't see how Sam can return if the board doesn't resign. It's either them or him at this point.

What is the actual problem with AI generated text in and of itself?

If it was completely AI generated without any human intervention, it likely would have been fairly generic / poor writing anyway. At least for the time being, AI is a new tool at our disposal but it's still just a tool, like a calculator or a hammer.

Students should be judged on the merit of the work even if some of the work is AI generated.

Not unpopular at all IMO. AI should be (and is) raising the bar all around, both for students and for teachers.

This teacher is failing the test.

Props to the Airtable team for keeping the faith for 2.75 years between launch and first customer.

> - forcing a range means these ranges will skew lower so higher performing people will lose out and average salaries will go down

I could easily see this having the opposite effect: Forcing a range causes employers (particularly those with less name recognition) to increase posted salaries in order to get people interested enough to apply.

I don't see how posting lower salaries would do anything but discourage top applicants.

Of all the questions I've been asked in interviews over the course of my career, this is the only one I can actually still remember to this day. Partially because it's extremely unique. And partially because I was fairly certain at the time, judging by the look on your face, that I'd completely bombed it. (Also reading your explanation above, I now KNOW that I bombed it.)

Anyway, I'll attest to the fact that Dan at least didn't veto all candidates purely on the basis of their response to this question (unless I was the result of a massive clerical error).

Outcomes aside, I'm very thankful for my experience at Optimizely. My time there was a major inflection point for me both personally and professionally. I wouldn't be as effective in the workplace as I am today—nor would I have some of my most meaningful friendships—had I not cut my teeth at 631 Howard — thanks Dan (and Pete, if you're reading this too).

EDIT: Also considering the timeline and the role described in the OP's message, there's a nonzero chance we were interviewing for the same role. Small world!

Ah good point. I'm not very familiar with Thai. I'll also say that many Chinese songs try to retain the tones as much as possible, but they're generally a lot harder to make out in music, so it's usually not the most useful learning tool. I do think listening to music is important for cultural immersion in any language, though.

I wouldn't call this the "secret" to learning a foreign language as an adult. Obviously immersion in a language is ideal, and the fact that he had already learned Spanish is even more ideal.

I'm currently 2 years into my attempt to learn Chinese and I can say that many of these tips don't apply to all languages:

1. Listening to music won't help with comprehension of tonal languages like Chinese because songs will usually ignore the tones so that they sound better set to music.

2. Reading children's books in character-based languages like Chinese will only be helpful if you're already proficient in a few hundred basic characters. Since there's no alphabet, there's no way to sound out words the way we can in English.

Otherwise, there are some great tips here. I agree that listening to classroom discussion and hearing others' mistakes is a great way to learn. It's also important to do daily, focused practice in the mornings when your mind is fresh and not muddled by other things.

Overall I think it's a good Quora answer but not necessarily a "secret" to learning a language.

I've been looking forward to this game for years now. I thought it would never come. And now that it's here I'm totally saddened and appalled that EA would ruin such an incredible legacy for such petty reasons.

There has to be another way to stem piracy without totally obliterating the value of an otherwise excellent game...

This is why I read Hacker News. Every now and then you find something so candid and real that it makes you sit back for a moment afterward and really consider the decisions you're making and the things you're focused on.

Thanks for sharing.

I feel like Coke could probably make the same argument about Pepsi. There are plenty of examples of very similar products competing with one another in today's marketplace.

It seems like EA winning this could lead to a lot of anti-competitive activity down the line.

Thanks for keeping this incredible resource current, Michael. The first edition of your book was what first got me into web development. I'm definitely looking forward to the updated edition!