mchannon

95 ms·

871.
by mchannon 14y ago
I referred to "a molten salt", which in practice is never sodium chloride; probably because its melting point is higher than some superior alternatives. Molten salt is used for two reasons. It is the best real-world conductor of heat you wi
872.
by mchannon 14y ago
They probably keep it at under 1000 degrees by circulating a molten salt at whatever rate is necessary to carry away the heat. No matter what the target is made out of, without that circulation to withdraw heat, it wouldn't get much hotter
873.
by mchannon 14y ago
Fully refundable free advice: Both of these sound like they would have trouble making money. On the one hand, both of them compete with existing solutions (webcasting and pay-per-view/direct feed). On the other hand, both of them are subje
874.
by mchannon 14y ago
6. You may want to beg, borrow, or steal the funding to get a professional accounts receivable presence going (someone who patiently and persistently reminds those delinquent customers that they're behind on their bills). Reading between t
875.
by mchannon 14y ago
If you go on to the next paragraph in the wikipedia article you copy-pasted without citation, you'll see "The term "efficient" is very much confused and misused with the term "effective". In general, efficiency is a measurable concept, quan
876.
by mchannon 14y ago
You've seen the jobs picture; probably better to roll the device in a year or two, all else being equal. That said, we don't know what kind of career or kind of degree you've been preparing for. Going for an M.A. in oh, say, History, proba
877.
by mchannon 14y ago
Energy-storage technology isn't inefficient. Energy-storage technology is expensive.
878.
by mchannon 14y ago
I don't see the distinction. Tacos cost more per pound than bulldozers, and cost more to produce per additional unit than enterprise software (assuming off-the-shelf and not custom-built). A taco has just as large a long-term commitment as
879.
by mchannon 14y ago
Two possible approaches: First, run it through a parser to verify there's an @, a valid suffix (.com, .de, etc), resolvable domain, and just hope that they spelled it correctly. Second, send it an email (maybe just a "thank you for signing
880.
by mchannon 14y ago
It's not a good negotiation tactic, because it's the very opposite of closing from the start. Imagine a Taco Bell with no prices posted on their menu board (if they even have a menu board), drive-through only, minimum 30 minute conversatio
881.
by mchannon 14y ago
I could negotiate from an actual price much more easily. It's just rich that people think that piling more work and delay on their customers, particularly in this day and age, is somehow a smart business practice.
882.
Ask HN: Could someone fix "call for price?"
4 points by mchannon 14y ago|10 comments
883.
Ask HN: Making the most of a cofounder-seeking trip to the BA
6 points by mchannon 14y ago|1 comments
884.
by mchannon 14y ago
I somehow don't think that's the case, given that even crappy airlines have dozens of support staff dedicated toward fielding customer complaints (figure 100 callers per cancelled flight, and dozens of cancelled flights due to weather or wh
885.
by mchannon 14y ago
Are these trolls with an existing patent you're considering infringing? Or are these trolls gremlins who will somehow come out of the woodwork after you get your own thing going and try to patent it? Patent trolls survive by making money.
886.
by mchannon 14y ago
It depends on: Where (climate) and Location on house (shading) and Electricity Price and Discount Rate and *Utility/Government Incentives (vary by utility) but at $5.50/W (assuming installation is free) in a place like Phoenix, you're l
887.
by mchannon 14y ago
If you have to pick one, in most cases it'd be web. Mobile devices have web browsers but web devices don't have mobile browsers. 9 times out of 10, if your application doesn't have any advantages on a mobile device (location services, came
888.
by mchannon 14y ago
Attitude is everything when it comes to startups. Your post suggests you've got a good attitude. There are no shortage of programmers with a lot more experience who have completely useless attitudes. They code well, but don't care for any
889.
by mchannon 14y ago
There are all sorts of overlaps with math and programming that take place in industry but usually they involve other disciplines as well (physics, chemical engineering, biology, materials science, electrical engineering, the list goes on).
890.
by mchannon 14y ago
IANAL.. mainly depends on your original contract, and any strings attached to your refund. Get an attorney, who'll probably advise you to seek an out of court settlement, if possible.
891.
by mchannon 14y ago
Unfortunately the CFR (like most sausage) is the result of compromise, and what people often fail to take into account is that the code won't compile on purpose. In our case the compiler itself is a living, breathing entity that gets fed no
892.
by mchannon 14y ago
Being willing and able to walk away from it all to become an early employee is actually even less common than people who do it all to become a lone entrepreneur, so don't sell that aspect short. Getting institutionalized in a toxic work env
893.
by mchannon 15y ago
As insurance is a bet on things going south, and startups bet on things not going south, there's very little overlap, other than what landlords and governments mandate. Much more interesting is whether the entrepreneurs on HN have health in
894.
by mchannon 15y ago
There's a very simple way to avoid feeling bad about someone beating you to the punch- the fact you hadn't heard about it before you got started reflects badly on the incumbent firm's marketing skills (how many other people don't know about
895.
by mchannon 15y ago
Interesting idea. To set prices, etc. there'd have to be "buyers" and "sellers" of some sort, and some way of attracting outside parties (or perhaps other startups) to do the buying and selling even if it's not for real money. The main thi
896.
by mchannon 15y ago
Reminds me of Dillon Edwards Investments (google it and you'll get the joke). Coming up with a non-word name sounds like your task here. The word "event" doesn't portmanteau up well with anything and it doesn't contain comfort phonology th
897.
by mchannon 15y ago
So is this like an intrade for startup success or failure? Kinda like a deadpool? I'd think there'd be too much potential for gaming such a system if I understand it right. I can bet on who will win an election and that works out because
898.
by mchannon 15y ago
The best way is the method that involves the least baggage with your new startup. Even if you have no lingering legal headaches at the new one (patent rights, copyright, trade secrets), you personally need to be free of lingering distracti
899.
by mchannon 15y ago
Hope you're not too committed to this partner. Based on the way you've described it, I'd run screaming from getting in bed with this individual. Let's try a marriage analogy for giggles. My girlfriend is divorced, and she has a lot of bil
900.
by mchannon 15y ago
Reducing SiO2 to Si requires extremely high temperatures (2000°) and sucks up all nearby carbon (bye bye graphene). Even most university labs will have trouble coming up with the temperatures required, particularly considering you want to k

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