pekinb
pekinb on Hacker News
The glee with which people are piling criticism on these guys is disturbing.
"Do you think Moby Dick or War and Peace are considered great due to their simple ways of communicating ideas?"
This is not an argument for being deliberately obtuse.
Really? There are valuable lessons in this speech. How does DFW's suicide affect his messages?
Sarcasm doesn't do well on hacker news, unfortunately.
That's unfair. I have no skin in this game. The example I gave originally addressed the establishment with no gift cards. Then I had to respond to the claim that Giftrocket is trying to replace gift cards, so I said I'd always pick a gift card if one were available, and if not, I'd give cash over paying a third party.
You'd use the service. I wouldn't. I argued why I don't see anyone using it. Don't write me off as an internet misanthrope trying to ruin everyone's fun.
edit: I'll be more constructive. I'd consider using this if it somehow felt like a gift card instead of a deposit to my paypal account.
I would give a giftcard if one were available. I'd buy a $30 card for $30. If one weren't available, I sure wouldn't pay a company $1.50 to set up a hoop for my friend to jump through.
It wasn't a gift card in my examples. It was cash. Or an American Express giftcard. Just like you'd be getting with GiftRocket, except GiftRocket wants a cut.
$X is worth $X in gift cards. I'm fine with that. I hate the idea of paying this company when they don't add any value.
Me: "Hey dude, there's this great new Mexican place on your block. Here's $30. Enjoy." = free
Me: "Hey dude, check out this website that's going to tell you about this great new Mexican place on your block. Here's $30. Enjoy." = not free
At that point, why not just transfer the money yourself? I get that gift cards > cash for gifts, but if you're worried about the issues you mentioned, you might as well give the person the cash and tell them you know this great new restaurant you think they'd love. It's like you're saying, "Hey, wouldn't it be cool if there were gift cards that didn't have these drawbacks?" It exists. It's money.
"Of course, the recipient can always opt not to actually use the gifted money..." That's some A+ writing there, Lou.
So I pay a company 5% for the privilege of sending my friend blocks away so I can put money in his paypal account?
Headlines like this are one of the dangers of our little HN niche.
really? I think that makes it significantly better.
what work do your "fuck"s and "shit"s do?
what other verticals is airbnb entering?
I think you guys need to start exercising or something
< is outraged >
< joins Save the Whales facebook group >
< satisfied, inserts handful of almonds into mouth >
"It's like trying to eat, but before you can bite, you have to pay for your share of the spoon."
I may be mistaken, and this might require an exhaustive search of the relevant literature, but I believe 3SAT is NP-Complete and therefore this one example does indeed lead to the stated conclusion.
Posted by
pekinb on Thursday December 23, 2010 @02:07PM
from the ask-hn dept.
I didn't start programming as a kid. I didn't write my first line of code until freshman year of college. Problem sets in [functional programming language] were fun and satisfying, then I found myself loving classes like discrete math, algorithms, and complexity theory, so I decided to major in computer science. When it was time to get a job, I had some offers for more money than I thought a 22...
Should have been more clear: this is sarcasm. The guy in the video sounded like a douche.
When I read that sentence, I felt like I did the last time I ran out of sex.
If anything, budget for slightly more than you think you'll need. I just don't see how 1300/mo is going to be possible.
Can someone at questvisual say more about the platform? I have some ideas I'd like to try.
I'm confused. Do I also need to show respect to people who have no chance of helping me or my friends later?