GavinB

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451.
by GavinB 18y ago
"Let's talk about wizards and witches. There is a tendency to talk of them in one breath, as though they were simply different sexual labels for the same job." This is one of the many reasons that Harry Potter is so subversive. Witches an
452.
by GavinB 18y ago
Really it's a tautology. "Non-technical people can't judge technical people." Once someone learns enough to judge technical skills, they are declared technical and so don't disprove the statement.
453.
by GavinB 18y ago
Here's another question: What's the best way to fire multiple people. Tell them at once? One at a time and risk the rumor getting out? It seems like every time I hear a story about a layoff people complain that the management mishandled i
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by GavinB 18y ago
Figuring out how to make big organizations run nimbly is the next big challenge. Almost all successful start-up businesses will grow into large ones. Figuroug out how to make that transition gracefully and keep some of the agility is a key
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by GavinB 18y ago
I would think that as long as you're not distributing the font file you should be fine. If you want to be safe, go for fonts that are distributed free, and provide credit somewhere on the site. If you stick to free or standard fonts, I thi
456.
by GavinB 18y ago
"Buying a printer remains the last confusing part of modern computing." Graphics cards are just as bad. RAM can be tricky with all the different types and price points. And how are you supposed to compare between the different CPUs with dif
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by GavinB 18y ago
Un travail bien fait! I'd like to see some more font options. The stock web fonts tend to look a little stale because we see them in so many places. It would also make things slightly easier if there was a download button next to the web a
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by GavinB 18y ago
Why is the bashing of the military in this conversation accepted without a second thought? The armed forces have had a rough time of it the last few years, but many servicepeople find the military incredibly rewarding. There's a reason why
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by GavinB 18y ago
IE6 is like vinyl, man. It's a timeless classic. The pages just look better through it, like they did when I was a kid!
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by GavinB 18y ago
There are several. Dolphin is one: http://www.boonex.com/products/dolphin/
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by GavinB 18y ago
Since we're talking about a subjective judgment, sure. We're in the midst of a major revolution in music distribution. While revenues are down, people are listening to more music than ever before, and getting more choice in what they can l
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by GavinB 18y ago
It might be more accurate to describe it as a rut for you . I don't mean that as an insult, it's okay if you just don't like what you hear. If you're looking for "the cool new things" that are happening, I definitely wouldn't look at the T
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by GavinB 18y ago
There's a fantasy out there that auto-tune makes you into a great singer. There's way more too it than that! The difference between great and poor singers is all about tone and emotion. There's way more to making pop music sound perfect th
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by GavinB 18y ago
Making an activity into a game is sometimes the best way to get what you want. The trick is to reward people for doing the right things. The problem is that no one has yet invented a karma "game" that can't be manipulated. Still, when you
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by GavinB 18y ago
So you're saying Amazon FPS isn't a game where you walk through the halls of a virtual bookstore fragging bad authors with your BFG? Well, this looks kinda cool too, I guess.
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by GavinB 18y ago
Well, are any of the individual activities by themselves bad things to do? Most of them don't actively detract from the discussion, they're just a bit selfish and egotistical in aggregate.
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by GavinB 18y ago
That's a fair point. It wouldn't be much of a hacker site if we didn't run the experiment just to see what happens. Sadly, I'm betting on "no measurable change."
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Gaming HN for an Orange Name - A Warning
64 points by GavinB 18y ago|45 comments
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by GavinB 18y ago
Maybe HN needs an API to help detect sarcasm . . .
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by GavinB 18y ago
Unless this case ends up dismissed or easily won, Google should redirect all Italian IPS to a page explaining what has happened and that they are unable to do business in Italy until the laws are changed. They should add a "contact your gov
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by GavinB 18y ago
Brown does offer grades -- A, B, C and No Credit. No Credit in a course does not appear on the transcript as a fail, it simply disappears. If you didn't get credit in the course, you didn't get credit, no penalty for trying something and
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by GavinB 18y ago
Yes, premium luxury products can make a huge profit. This doesn't mean that someone who goes for the middle of the market and works on low profit margins is somehow "wrong." Apple nailed the market with a great product. What makes them spe
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by GavinB 18y ago
1) Be a better piece of software 2) Get acquired by someone who wants to compete with Google 3) Have enough customers to stay profitable even if Google has a larger userbase. Google doesn't have a monopoly, even in its core offerings like s
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by GavinB 18y ago
If we could the quality of teachers with the precision that we measure baseball players, then yes, the best teachers could make millions teaching the children of the super-rich. Additionally, colleges would pay a premium to have the top te
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by GavinB 18y ago
The $250 netbook may not cut it, but I'm writing this on a brand new $400 laptop that has plenty of processing power, 2 gigs of ram and a decent graphics card. This power would have cost over $1500 two years ago. When the computer costs t
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by GavinB 18y ago
Step 1: Define question begging. Step 2: Show that the statement does not use your definition of question begging. Hoisted by your own circular logic, question-begging petard!
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by GavinB 18y ago
In many ways these are more interesting as windows into the minds of the writers than into the future. Part of the exercise should be imagining things that are contrary to one's beliefs and expectations.
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by GavinB 18y ago
Second for anything near Union Sq. It's easy to get to for those of us who refuse to pay Manhattan rent.
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by GavinB 18y ago
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1phz4-G1tc I wrote the music and played the guitar and bass.
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by GavinB 18y ago
What if the horseman actually loved riding?

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