6 ms·

"To come up with something truly original, you have to ignore common sense."

108 points by balsam 13y ago

edem 13y ago
When I come to HN I ofter scan through the top page and middle click on seemingly interesting links. That means that after 5 secs I have around 10 tabs open. If you post something which has some auto-playing stuff it will be disturbing for me because I have to search through all of the tabs and switch it off. Please refrain from this in the future. It also mixes up with the music one might listening to and ends up in a grating cacophony.
- lcedp 13y ago
  Unfortunately it's a common practice. E.g. youtube does it. I'm using Flashblock add-on which activates videos on mouse click.
- jodrellblank 13y ago
  "My computer doesn't work the way I want, world please change your behaviour for me". http://thenextweb.com/google/2013/02/25/google-chrome-may-soon-get-audio-indicators-to-show-you-noisy-tabs-keep-them-open-when-memory-runs-out/ http://thenextweb.com/google/2013/02/25/google-chrome-may-so...
6ren 13y ago
approaching Poe's Law http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe%27s_law http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe%27s_law
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
jmduke 13y ago
I'll be honest -- when I read the title and the domain I was worried someone submitted a Vooza video out of earnestness. These videos are hilarious but also useful. Whenever you try out a new pitch (and "pitch" in this sense isn't necessarily related to VC/startupland -- think of it as an answer to "how do you spend your time?") consider these clips.
dylangs1030 13y ago
Hilarious. This video reminds me of the CollegeHumor parody of startups - http://www.collegehumor.com/video/6507690/hardly-working-start-up-guys http://www.collegehumor.com/video/6507690/hardly-working-sta... I love all the bland, platitudinal aphorisms and vague "x for y" explanations. It feels like a lot of startups do this without realizing. They covered the basic buzzword list: * "disrupt" * "change the way you interact/think/work" * "like x for y" * "pivot" * "what if you could..." etc...etc...etc...
- vorg 13y ago
  Pivotal disrupts different by adding G to the names of competitors' products when naming their own clones: GRooby, GRails.
- angersock 13y ago
  Er, I may or may know somebody who has done some work under a name inspired by one of their company names. It's one of those things that seemed a hell of a lot funnier at the time, until you're trying to pitch work with a straight face.
losethos 13y ago
C:\TAD\Text\BIBLE.TXT bylon took away from this place, and carried them to Babylon: 28:4 And I will bring again to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, with all the captives of Judah, that went into Babylon, saith the LORD: for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon. 28:5 Then the prophet Jeremiah said unto the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests, and in the presence of all the people that stood in the house of the LORD, 28:6 Even the prophet Jeremiah said, Amen: the LORD do so: th
gkoberger 13y ago
It's a parody, of course -- but that quote isn't necessarily bad. Tomas Jefferson is attributed with a similar one: "If you want something you’ve never had, you must be willing to do something you’ve never done." A lot of the innovative companies we know did things that defied common sense. (And of course, there's a lot of companies we'll never hear of because they ignored common sense.) So, it's a case-by-case thing.
- solistice 13y ago
  Well, you innovate by ignoring common sense, but by keeping by your senses. There was a time when people believed that the human body wasn't designed to go faster than 20 miles per hour. Some crazy people disproved them. We're still on the side of those crazy people, and we're doing even crazier speeds than they proposed.
- cabalamat 13y ago
  > that quote isn't necessarily bad Indeed. If you're using sense that is common to everyone, then 7 billion other people will have potentially thought of it before you. Original ideas imply uncommon sense.
  - ehsanu1 13y ago
    Original ideas imply uncommon sense. I like that way of putting it. To me, having uncommon sense is not synonymous with ignoring common sense. Why not use both!
    - Ma8ee 13y ago
      Exactly. It's "common" that must be negated, not "sense".
- marcusf 13y ago
  Contrasted with a favourite from Stephen Fry: "An original idea. That can't be too hard. The library must be full of them."
ryen 13y ago
This should be a channel on YouTube if its not already. Great job!
- kephra 13y ago
  A Youtube video would allow downloading and watching it offline or in a secure manner. They should at least tell what 3rd party JS domains are required to watch the video. Allowing vooza + wistia still shows a black window instead of a video. The other 3rd party domains, are evil facebook, google analytics, twitter and optimizely, and do not sound as if they are required for watching the video. It looks as an other example of JS done wrong. And yes - i've tried it in my only browser where I allow flash.
terhechte 13y ago
It has been at least a year since I've seen that video, and I still have to smile when they explain "StumbleMonkey"
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]

108 points by balsam 13y ago

edem 13y ago

When I come to HN I ofter scan through the top page and middle click on seemingly interesting links. That means that after 5 secs I have around 10 tabs open. If you post something which has some auto-playing stuff it will be disturbing for me because I have to search through all of the tabs and switch it off. Please refrain from this in the future. It also mixes up with the music one might listening to and ends up in a grating cacophony.

lcedp 13y ago
Unfortunately it's a common practice. E.g. youtube does it. I'm using Flashblock add-on which activates videos on mouse click.
jodrellblank 13y ago
"My computer doesn't work the way I want, world please change your behaviour for me". http://thenextweb.com/google/2013/02/25/google-chrome-may-soon-get-audio-indicators-to-show-you-noisy-tabs-keep-them-open-when-memory-runs-out/ http://thenextweb.com/google/2013/02/25/google-chrome-may-so...

6ren 13y ago

approaching Poe's Law http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe%27s_law http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe%27s_law

deleted 13y ago
[deleted]

jmduke 13y ago

I'll be honest -- when I read the title and the domain I was worried someone submitted a Vooza video out of earnestness. These videos are hilarious but also useful. Whenever you try out a new pitch (and "pitch" in this sense isn't necessarily related to VC/startupland -- think of it as an answer to "how do you spend your time?") consider these clips.

dylangs1030 13y ago

Hilarious. This video reminds me of the CollegeHumor parody of startups - http://www.collegehumor.com/video/6507690/hardly-working-start-up-guys http://www.collegehumor.com/video/6507690/hardly-working-sta... I love all the bland, platitudinal aphorisms and vague "x for y" explanations. It feels like a lot of startups do this without realizing. They covered the basic buzzword list: * "disrupt" * "change the way you interact/think/work" * "like x for y" * "pivot" * "what if you could..." etc...etc...etc...

vorg 13y ago
Pivotal disrupts different by adding G to the names of competitors' products when naming their own clones: GRooby, GRails.
angersock 13y ago
Er, I may or may know somebody who has done some work under a name inspired by one of their company names. It's one of those things that seemed a hell of a lot funnier at the time, until you're trying to pitch work with a straight face.

losethos 13y ago

C:\TAD\Text\BIBLE.TXT bylon took away from this place, and carried them to Babylon: 28:4 And I will bring again to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, with all the captives of Judah, that went into Babylon, saith the LORD: for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon. 28:5 Then the prophet Jeremiah said unto the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests, and in the presence of all the people that stood in the house of the LORD, 28:6 Even the prophet Jeremiah said, Amen: the LORD do so: th

gkoberger 13y ago

It's a parody, of course -- but that quote isn't necessarily bad. Tomas Jefferson is attributed with a similar one: "If you want something you’ve never had, you must be willing to do something you’ve never done." A lot of the innovative companies we know did things that defied common sense. (And of course, there's a lot of companies we'll never hear of because they ignored common sense.) So, it's a case-by-case thing.

solistice 13y ago
Well, you innovate by ignoring common sense, but by keeping by your senses. There was a time when people believed that the human body wasn't designed to go faster than 20 miles per hour. Some crazy people disproved them. We're still on the side of those crazy people, and we're doing even crazier speeds than they proposed.
cabalamat 13y ago
> that quote isn't necessarily bad Indeed. If you're using sense that is common to everyone, then 7 billion other people will have potentially thought of it before you. Original ideas imply uncommon sense.
- ehsanu1 13y ago
  Original ideas imply uncommon sense. I like that way of putting it. To me, having uncommon sense is not synonymous with ignoring common sense. Why not use both!
  - Ma8ee 13y ago
    Exactly. It's "common" that must be negated, not "sense".
marcusf 13y ago
Contrasted with a favourite from Stephen Fry: "An original idea. That can't be too hard. The library must be full of them."

ryen 13y ago

This should be a channel on YouTube if its not already. Great job!

kephra 13y ago
A Youtube video would allow downloading and watching it offline or in a secure manner. They should at least tell what 3rd party JS domains are required to watch the video. Allowing vooza + wistia still shows a black window instead of a video. The other 3rd party domains, are evil facebook, google analytics, twitter and optimizely, and do not sound as if they are required for watching the video. It looks as an other example of JS done wrong. And yes - i've tried it in my only browser where I allow flash.

terhechte 13y ago

It has been at least a year since I've seen that video, and I still have to smile when they explain "StumbleMonkey"

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]