One Big Fluke

May 10

From this article: “The people you want to hire aren’t applying and interviewing, they’re running their own companies.” Or at Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc.
from One Big Fluke http://bit.ly/11YUrkB

May 09

All useful code must be rewritten at least twice.
from One Big Fluke http://bit.ly/ZLP1rK

Apr 10

“Today we can officially confirm the release date for the Mac version of SimCity is June 11”. Sweet.
from One Big Fluke http://bit.ly/10SM1uQ

Apr 08

For the uninitiated

John Carmack’s magical sqrt (). Came up in conversation again tonight. It’s amazing!

from One Big Fluke http://bit.ly/10IRjsj

First game of the season

from One Big Fluke http://bit.ly/150O6tY

Apr 07

The feeling when the domain you want for your project is available.
from One Big Fluke http://bit.ly/143Bl2d

I dislike dubstep because it’s so desperate for attention.
from One Big Fluke http://bit.ly/Z121Mq

Woah, end of an era.

subprocess.CalledProcessError: Command '['java', '-version']' returned non-zero exit status 1

I don’t even have it installed.
from One Big Fluke http://bit.ly/Z121Mm

Apr 06

Tech bubble: Your problems aren’t everyone’s problems

The other day I saw a tweet go by that made me think twice:

The idea that this issue is big enough to win the popular vote for President seemed questionable.

I wondered:

Who would want to use electronics during takeoff/landing?
How many people actually own a smartphone or tablet at all?
And how many people fly on an airplane regularly anyways?

If you are reading this, chances are you fall in these categories and so do your peers. But the real answers are surprising.

The data

Baseline for perspective: 81% of US adults use the Internet. 67% of them are on Facebook. (Pew)

87% of Americans have a cellphone, but only 45% have a smartphone. 31% have a tablet. (Pew)

The kicker: 56% of US Internet users have not been on an airplane this past year. 18% never have. (Google Surveys)

Let that sink in

Only 43% of the US Internet population has been on an airplane in the past 12 months
More people have used Facebook than have flown on an airplane this year
More people own a smartphone than have flown on an airplane this year

So don’t assume that everyone’s experience is just like yours. As we see in the data, outside of your circle the world is very different.

I don’t think we should feel ashamed for living in a bubble and having privileges. Products like Dopplr and TripIt are very valuable to their niche of frequent travelers. As long as we acknowledge how lucky we are, it’s fine. The problem is when people don’t realize they’re a niche and assume everyone thinks like they do.

In the end

Perhaps Ben’s tweet was deadpan, a hilarious critique of Senator Claire McCaskill, Democrat of Missouri, who really should be focusing on the welfare of the majority of Americans, not the privileged few.

(Discuss on YC HN)
from One Big Fluke http://bit.ly/10qFpF0

Apr 05

HN is so far gone now that someone felt compelled to put “Time for a technical article” in their submission title.
from One Big Fluke http://bit.ly/14JMODn