24 ms·

Try the unconventional alternative

48 points by marklittlewood 15y ago

amirmc 15y ago
Great story and a good example of why having the right team is critical. Creative problem solving is a difficult thing to cultivate since it requires both insight (e.g the ePrize legal guy) and also the courage to actually voice it. Many environments do a great job of inadvertently crushing the latter.
JacobAldridge 15y ago
Two very good business stories on unconventional thinking, both forced by a lack of proper preparation and due diligence. It doesn't distract from the OP's point - don't restrict yourself to only the obvious options you have in front of you - but at the same time, think about how much opportunity could have been created by applying to innovation the thought that went into fixing two million-dollar mistakes.
ez77 15y ago
How is the Brazilian embassy 'within the geographic borders of Australia'? That piece of land is part of Brazil (full stop), and for this reason (embassies) all countries are multiply-connected regions. Edit: To be precise, their largest regions (excluding their own embassies) are multiply connected.
- damoncali 15y ago
  That's pretty much a courtesy, no?
  - sp332 15y ago
    If someone commits a crime in the embassy, they should be tried according to the laws of the nation of the embassy. Also, an attack on an embassy is technically an invasion of the land of that nation.
- nhebb 15y ago
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diplomatic_mission#Extraterritoriality http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diplomatic_mission#Extraterrito... Contrary to popular belief, diplomatic missions do not enjoy full extraterritorial status and are not sovereign territory of the represented state
ianterrell 15y ago
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordian_knot http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordian_knot
thisisfmu 15y ago
Good story. Wouldn't a better hack have been to draw input values in both countries, then communicate this input to the other location and XOR the results to determine the final outcome, so the drawing will actually have happened in both territories? This would also scale to n>2 countries.
- StavrosK 15y ago
  > so the drawing will actually have happened in both territories? Or neither, depending on your viewpoint.
- ryandvm 15y ago
  Laws do not work that way! [You don't get to use a Morbo reference every day on Hacker News.]
  - thisisfmu 15y ago
    i did go to law school and am thus reasonably well aware of how laws work ;) having no specific knowledge about sweepstakes regulations, i does not appear completely unreasonable to me that a random drawing in each territory completely changing the outcome might satisfy the requirements. as a practical matter, when $1m in extra payouts are at stake it could be reasonable to accept a fine from regulators while at the same time avoiding civil liability to participants.
marklittlewood 15y ago
This is one of the most unexpected, but welcome, reactions to anything I have put on Hacker News. Thank you wonderful HN people.

Great story and a good example of why having the right team is critical. Creative problem solving is a difficult thing to cultivate since it requires both insight (e.g the ePrize legal guy) and also the courage to actually voice it. Many environments do a great job of inadvertently crushing the latter.

JacobAldridge 15y ago

Two very good business stories on unconventional thinking, both forced by a lack of proper preparation and due diligence. It doesn't distract from the OP's point - don't restrict yourself to only the obvious options you have in front of you - but at the same time, think about how much opportunity could have been created by applying to innovation the thought that went into fixing two million-dollar mistakes.

ez77 15y ago

How is the Brazilian embassy 'within the geographic borders of Australia'? That piece of land is part of Brazil (full stop), and for this reason (embassies) all countries are multiply-connected regions. Edit: To be precise, their largest regions (excluding their own embassies) are multiply connected.

damoncali 15y ago
That's pretty much a courtesy, no?
- sp332 15y ago
  If someone commits a crime in the embassy, they should be tried according to the laws of the nation of the embassy. Also, an attack on an embassy is technically an invasion of the land of that nation.
nhebb 15y ago
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diplomatic_mission#Extraterritoriality http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diplomatic_mission#Extraterrito... Contrary to popular belief, diplomatic missions do not enjoy full extraterritorial status and are not sovereign territory of the represented state

ianterrell 15y ago

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordian_knot http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordian_knot

thisisfmu 15y ago

Good story. Wouldn't a better hack have been to draw input values in both countries, then communicate this input to the other location and XOR the results to determine the final outcome, so the drawing will actually have happened in both territories? This would also scale to n>2 countries.

StavrosK 15y ago
> so the drawing will actually have happened in both territories? Or neither, depending on your viewpoint.
ryandvm 15y ago
Laws do not work that way! [You don't get to use a Morbo reference every day on Hacker News.]
- thisisfmu 15y ago
  i did go to law school and am thus reasonably well aware of how laws work ;) having no specific knowledge about sweepstakes regulations, i does not appear completely unreasonable to me that a random drawing in each territory completely changing the outcome might satisfy the requirements. as a practical matter, when $1m in extra payouts are at stake it could be reasonable to accept a fine from regulators while at the same time avoiding civil liability to participants.

marklittlewood 15y ago

This is one of the most unexpected, but welcome, reactions to anything I have put on Hacker News. Thank you wonderful HN people.