philk

14 ms·

91.
by philk 16y ago
I don't know, personally I think those Forbes lists are a menace. What if you get rich but don't want the bullshit that comes from everyone knowing you're loaded?
92.
by philk 16y ago
Nothing, although I admit that if I was pg I might be slightly creeped out.
93.
by philk 16y ago
From the article: roughly 80 cents of every government dollar in California goes to employee compensation and benefits So that's salaries as well as pensions (and salaries will be making up the lions share of the 80%). To quote Felix Denn
94.
by philk 16y ago
Given that we have something like 7 billion people, the odds of losing half of either gender are fairly low. If it's because of something nuclear -- you will probably want to be on the casualty list, not the survivor's. You're taking that
95.
by philk 16y ago
Fair enough. Off the top of my head, a whole host of reasons: a) I'm unconvinced that my money will make a positive difference. b) I don't want to reward begging. c) I don't find interacting with the homeless enjoyable. d) If I give the qu
96.
by philk 16y ago
This is hilarious and I'd love to know how many new people sign up after this article (and how sticky customers are in the coming months). Also, I know it's simply a rhetorical flourish but: or, for $7.50 a month, you could give just a qua
97.
by philk 16y ago
You're right. Billions of dollars, fancy toys and a hot wife. I don't know how he makes it through the day.
98.
by philk 16y ago
I might be missing the point here but paying someone to tell me I'm awesome would make me feel rather sad. Of course, that may not extend to everyone. I imagine a reasonable portion of the self help community would embrace this sort of thi
99.
by philk 16y ago
That's a nasty response to someone who provided a legitimate and interesting answer.
100.
by philk 16y ago
I might be an antisocial misfit but I find the idea of having stranger's dogs hanging around while I'm trying to work distracting at the very least.
101.
by philk 16y ago
This is a fine example of why I don't trust pundits. It's near impossible to tell those who are right from those who merely sound like they're right.
102.
by philk 16y ago
It's a fair point, but he's probably focusing on the arts and soft sciences because those degrees are the most overpriced for the value they deliver. To put it another way, an MIT grad with an engineering degree is going to be much better o
103.
by philk 16y ago
There's still a lot to like about Google; it attracts brilliant engineers, it treats them well, it builds some remarkable products and there's a good deal of status associated with working there. Every company will have its flaws. Google h
104.
by philk 16y ago
I'm not sure why you think we need researchers who are at the top of their fields to "teach the same damn introductory-level BS to spotty-faced teens every damn year".
105.
by philk 16y ago
Well, the overall unemployment situation isn't good but assuming the productivity boosts are sustainable[1] this would seem to be a piece of positive news. [1] This is of course assuming that the profit gains are coming from productivity im
106.
by philk 16y ago
I'd suggest that the doctrine of laches is completely valid in this case. Facebook isn't just a company that has "recently become cash flow positive", it's a company that's been highly valued for at least six years. In June 2004 Peter Thi
107.
by philk 16y ago
The best analysis of the lawsuit I've seen comes from grellas' brilliant posts here on HN[1]: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1537158 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1510528 [1]Which, as a side note, drives home just how much be
108.
by philk 16y ago
Warren Buffett made almost all of his money himself. The problem is that when people get unearned money they usually become wasteful and lose their drive. It's also really hard to keep working on something financial when you've got a large
109.
by philk 16y ago
philanthropic donations are only ever patronizing You're wrong. The Gates Foundation has pledged $10 billion to vaccine research and I can't think of how that could be considered "patronizing". it shouldn't be possible to accumulate tha
110.
Would you rent a friend?(guardian.co.uk)
2 points by philk 16y ago|0 comments
111.
The Secrets Next Door(projects.washingtonpost.com)
1 points by philk 16y ago|0 comments
112.
National Security Inc. - Part 2 of the Top Secret America Investigation(projects.washingtonpost.com)
5 points by philk 16y ago|1 comments
113.
by philk 16y ago
That is entirely false: a) If the system worked, the initial photos would have been checked and then the complaint would have been disregarded. b) If the system worked, innocent parents who provided a loving and safe home for their children
114.
by philk 16y ago
You can get to the full text of the first article "A Hidden World, Growing Beyond Control" here: http://projects.washingtonpost.com/top-secret-america/articl... It paints the national security apparatus as the expensive, bureaucratic clus
115.
by philk 16y ago
Given you're ruling out ultimatums or walking, I would suggest the following: 1) Work on the business a little bit every day. Every day is important, because it builds momentum, keeps you focused on it and keeps you making progress. The p
116.
by philk 16y ago
This isn't a particularly surprising outcome. I think the problem they're facing is twofold: 1) There's lots of news content available for free. 2) Very few people actually need the news. I can think of maybe two situations in my entire
117.
by philk 16y ago
What a Programmer Sees When He or She Watches Inception does not have the same panache.
118.
by philk 16y ago
I understand what you're saying, but I think the signal:noise ratio on HN is better than most other places on the web. Plus, there's still plenty of quality, detailed comments. For example in this thread: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?
119.
by philk 16y ago
Urgh. That sounds rather awful. Out of interest, why were the customer and sales guy so pleased to be there? Was there any rationalization going on[1], or did they just see tits and not think any further? [1] ie "I think that one really l
120.
by philk 16y ago
I'm not sure if I'm in the minority here but I always find the concept of booth babes awkward as hell. Just the idea of interacting with someone who's been paid to endure my company seems rather unpleasant.

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