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Ask HN: Cool Things You've Done (Brag Thread)

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Re: Ask HN: Cool Things You've Done (Brag Thread)

#101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very awesome achievements. Congrats. I particularly like the guitar/music stuff. Anywhere I might be able to hear those songs of yours? And by prodigy, was that specific to a style? Like classical etc?

I studied classical but was interested in guitar noodling a la Steve Vai. I played some of his stuff live around 17. I studied under a student of Segovia (or a student of, I can't really remember) and "learned faster than anyone he knew." My parents drove me 500 miles round trip for lessons. I don't have any of that stuff but could send you my punk-doo wap band's ep if you really want to hear it. It's pretty rough ar…

Wow, I would love to be able to play like Vai. Makes me think of the awesome battle in Crossroads. Neo-classical is pretty amazing. As for the EP, you mean you'll email it? If so sure. moollaza@gmail.com (Thanks!)

Re: Ask HN: Cool Things You've Done (Brag Thread)

#103
I've been locked up in a Russian prison while travelling. Met the local Mafioso. Ate great Borscht.

Haven't seen a winter since 2006. I chase the sunshine around the world by doing mini-migrations to avoid the cold.

I learn a little bit of the local tongue everywhere I go. Can say 'Thank you' in around 30 languages.

I met up with my step-dad after 25 years of separation. An amazing guy and someone I definitely want to get to know better.

My other great achievements are a work in progress though...

EDIT: added a missed item

Re: Ask HN: Cool Things You've Done (Brag Thread)

#104
* I've arranged big underground raves with international DJ's

* I've successfully started a bar in Ibiza from scratch

* I learnt PHP, javascript, SQL, CSS and HTML from scratch without any help

* I hold three patents

* I've done three startups

* I survived an English boarding school

* I bought a boat that I live on, which I've totally refurbished and redone without ever having had a screwdriver in my hand before.

* I have been asked to star in a pornmovie, but declined

* I've had a short but glorious career as a male stripper

*I had fun doing all of it

:-)

Re: Ask HN: Cool Things You've Done (Brag Thread)

#106

* I built a distributed search engine for my final year college project, when my teachers and friends told me I was taking on too much. It survived two project mates walking out, and some rather dumb ones pushed in. I got a 97 for it, and consider it THE accomplishment of my college years. * Wrote an indexing program in C that crashed a Netware network. :P * I've read the Bhagwad Gita, the Koran, the Bible and the Ta…

Speaking Hindi is not a necessary condition for one to be considered Indian.

Tao te ching is not a religious book.

Re: Ask HN: Cool Things You've Done (Brag Thread)

#107

The first application I ever wrote, theoretically saved the company $10.2 million dollars. I was working as a systems administrator at a Big 3 automotive supplier and identified a gap in our million dollar production system. If we ever lost connectivity, the system would be useless and the off-line backup system was insufficient. Our contract stated that we could be charged $10,000 per minute for shutting down the pl…

Did you get any rewards/recognition from your employer for your work? (I understand that the feeling that your app worked great itself is a big reward).

Re: Ask HN: Cool Things You've Done (Brag Thread)

#108
post #5

I once saved a five year old from drowning in six feet of water. Boiling water. While naked. (OK, technically speaking ~45C, not boiling.)

How has no one else asked what happened yet? Why was there a 5 year old in 6 feet of water? Why were you (or the 5 year old?) naked at the time?

I was on summer vacation with my friends to a sleepy hot springs in eastern Japan. (At the risk of stating the obvious, one is naked when in a Japanese hot spring.)

Anyhow, my friends had been badgering me for a while while in the indoor portion of the hot springs to transition to the outdoor portion with them. I told them I would come out in a few minutes. This particular hot springs, being mostly natural, has an uneven gradient -- it has a transition from 1.5 feet deep to six feet deep which is about as abrupt as falling off a cliff. The transition is marked with a log suspended above the water and a warning sign outside the door.

Anyhow, while I was still gathering up my courage to go outside, a little boy splashing along in the two-foot end of the spring approached the gap in the pole that permits access to the deep end and, before anyone could warn him away, vanished.

I only have two coherent memories of what happened next: one, I remember thinking most strongly that I was disregarding the advice in the Boy Scout Manual by entering water to remove a drowning victim and, two, as soon as we broke the surface he spit boiling water in my eye. This made me happy because it meant I didn't have to attempt rescue breathing.

What made me substantially less happy was going from being the gangly white guy in the corner everyone was making a pretense of not staring at to being the gangly white guy in the center of the room who everyone was making absolutely no pretense of not staring at. I handed the child to his father (didn't say anything -- my Japanese totally failed me out of embarassment) and bolted to the corner. Then folks heard the commotion from the lady's side of the springs and came over to see what was happening. I bolted out, got changed, and searched the vicinity for icecream while waiting for my friends to finish their baths.

Re: Ask HN: Cool Things You've Done (Brag Thread)

#109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I studied classical but was interested in guitar noodling a la Steve Vai. I played some of his stuff live around 17. I studied under a student of Segovia (or a student of, I can't really remember) and "learned faster than anyone he knew." My parents drove me 500 miles round trip for lessons. I don't have any of that stuff but could send you my punk-doo wap band's ep if you really want to hear it. It's pretty rough ar…

Wow, I would love to be able to play like Vai. Makes me think of the awesome battle in Crossroads. Neo-classical is pretty amazing. As for the EP, you mean you'll email it? If so sure. moollaza@gmail.com (Thanks!)

Oh man, I had that movie on vhs and watched the guitar battle scenes countless times. About the ep: we were an acquired taste so be prepared but yeah happy to email it to you.

Re: Ask HN: Cool Things You've Done (Brag Thread)

#110

The first application I ever wrote, theoretically saved the company $10.2 million dollars. I was working as a systems administrator at a Big 3 automotive supplier and identified a gap in our million dollar production system. If we ever lost connectivity, the system would be useless and the off-line backup system was insufficient. Our contract stated that we could be charged $10,000 per minute for shutting down the pl…

Did you get any rewards/recognition from your employer for your work? (I understand that the feeling that your app worked great itself is a big reward).

I know my boss and his bosses really appreciated it, but that was the extent of it.
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