david927

"Syntax-Free Programming" is as much an oxymoron as "Language-less language". It may be graphical; it may be less rigid (what they're talking about here), but it's there. I would recommend that they …

> I think the US is much too large in terms of people, GDP, and land area to be efficiently governed by one entity. I've felt that way for a while now. People need to feel they have sovereignty, …

I would definitely consider outsourcing. You have to be prepared to spend some time finding the right people, giving test projects, etc. But if you do it right, you can find amazing people for very …

So, with the same reasoning, no one with many shares of a company would dump them? China's been divesting dollars for a while and will dump to get that 25% if it has to.

I understand what you're saying Mark and I agree. I think waitress was an unfortunate example, though. Maybe I can offer a different perspective of what you're saying: There's a 'pyramid of necessity'…

> Buy gold and/or silver And if you want to keep it, store it in Switzerland.

I disagree that it's a personal preference. Just as some tastes need to be acquired, so does much of understanding (as with art). The first 10 times I heard Bob Marley (& Tom Waits, Arcade Fire,…

> Call me crazy Ok, you're crazy. The problem is, learning Perl allowed you to essentially get a fish for a day. Perl is not going to last. What you learned was essentially how to get a Rube Gol…

Prague isn't that far away, and remember that you and your family have a free place to stay here anytime.

You're very protective of this community, David, and I appreciate it. But this economic crisis is not only a once-in-a-lifetime event, but it has tremendous consequences for start-ups. It's better ju…

I didn't infer that she was a transexual from the name change; I read it when looking for the name change.

Wait. That's not quite fair. First, I found out that she's a transexual quite easily and so that can hardly be called "outing" someone. Second, I did think about whether I should write that comment,…

I thought it was interesting that her name is Jessica -- that's not a Czech name and there's no equivalent. So I looked her up and she was born George (Jiri) Fridrich. She's a transsexual. (Not that…

Thanks; you're right. Doing disk + S3 is a great idea. I'll implement it immediately. I also have an idea of how I can implement disk + SimpleDB as well, which would make everything faster and easi…

Thanks for your help. This was just an idea I wanted to run up the flag pole. I don't plan to implement the site unless I can partner with someone who would be able to handle the main part: the SEC …

Well, there are other services: Google's Big Table, among others. But the title begs a different, better question: What about a local version of S3? What would be great is a small engine that would r…

The money each person contributes will be an equity investment.

Thanks for your feedback. I agree -- this biggest hurdle is creating the legal framework for it. Generally, it seems to me like a natural progression. Web startups don't need VC in many cases -- they…

Because it means the end of the telecommunications industry. Cellphones that use Skype would mean free national telephone calls to everyone. But it's exactly this kind of progress that can get us eve…

I don't keep a penny in the bank more than I have to. I understand the FDIC exists, but I trust my mattress more.

I agree. Germany has the best scene. Someone should organize something in Berlin.

Exactly. The idea that bees could somehow be experiencing a six-dimensional manifold doesn't seem crazy to me.

Sounds great. I'm in Prague and can't make this one, but let me know the next one and I'll do my best. david927 at gmail

I think that's the big flaw with this, and that's simply that it's a small company. The one thing I can't risk in my cloud app framework is that the company will suddenly go under or that it won't tru…

Thanks, Neil. You're right. (My memory is rough.) I still would call the success of the PC an accident by IBM. Microsoft's position was to make as much money as possible by licensing it wherever it …

That's just silly. IBM opening up their architecture (unlike Apple) created the PC market. Microsoft just squeezed profit off of every sale.

Another quote from Ray Ozzie: "Microsoft is a pernicious form of American capitalism." (I can't find the quote anywhere, but I read it in 1996 in a magazine in Germany, loved it, and remembered it. I…

Or we're finding out how useless they were all along. The web allows us to dig for what -we- find important; -we- become the editors. And that will keep stupid people stupid, but allow smart people …

I always thought that Kurzweil was too simplistic in the way he comes to his conclusions and this points to just a couple of the reasons. I think if we ever hit singularity, it will be because of some…