Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

11th grade

xkcd.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 145 posts

Re: 11th grade

#71

Post by markbao »

kirse wrote: post #69
thomasmallen wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm looking over your stuff at http://markbao.com/ ... it looks like you're more concerned with appearing to be an entrepeneur than with the work itself and product quality. These sites are simply fluff. Also, I'm not sure how you can really create quality small business collaboration tools without having been in the working world. Just an observation. Making $10B is not a very admirable life goal: http://markbao.com…

I thought the same, but then I realized I did the exact same thing when I was his age. At that age, you're just starting to get your name out there and want to be noticed, so it's not a bad thing. Besides, that website just looks like a resume. $10bn is an admirable aspiration , but it's not quite a goal (or even a stretch goal). Usually I see the aspiration as the end of the race, and the goals as the individual, cl…

>At that age, you're just starting to get your name out there and want to be noticed, so it's not a bad thing.

Yeah, that's a part of what I'd like to accomplish. The more I get my name out, the more people I meet. I'm also saying (in the spiel/rant) that it's not the ONLY thing that one should be doing.

>$10bn is an admirable aspiration, but it's not quite a goal (or even a stretch goal). Usually I see the aspiration as the end of the race, and the goals as the individual, clearly-defined steps taken to reach the finish line.

Thanks. You're right—my fault for confusing the two :)

Re: 11th grade

#73

Post by aswanson »

timr wrote: post #35
sown wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I was in HS I recognized it as a waste. I didn't really learn much. The people around me didn't care and it mostly felt like day care. It all was mostly busy work. The only way to get a "challenging" education was to jump through a bunch of hoops, such as joining Key Club, marching band, AP everything, extracurricular this and that, all of it just a way of padding a college resume. Now those are things you will…

You're talking to someone who not only went to a public high school (and not a particularly great one), but had to fight to take college courses, as well as the few AP classes the school offered. I was just as bored as you writing five-paragraph essays; I winced my way through such winning courses as "Home Economics" and "Typing", as well as a chemistry class where everything was taught as a fact to be memorized, wit…

I kind of wish I would have tried theater or band in High School, just for the experience and interaction with other people. Just to do something I normally wouldn't.

Re: 11th grade

#74

Post by aswanson »

markbao wrote: post #71
kirse wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought the same, but then I realized I did the exact same thing when I was his age. At that age, you're just starting to get your name out there and want to be noticed, so it's not a bad thing. Besides, that website just looks like a resume. $10bn is an admirable aspiration , but it's not quite a goal (or even a stretch goal). Usually I see the aspiration as the end of the race, and the goals as the individual, cl…

> At that age, you're just starting to get your name out there and want to be noticed, so it's not a bad thing. Yeah, that's a part of what I'd like to accomplish. The more I get my name out, the more people I meet. I'm also saying (in the spiel/rant) that it's not the ONLY thing that one should be doing. > $10bn is an admirable aspiration, but it's not quite a goal (or even a stretch goal). Usually I see the aspirat…

I like the look and feel...are you using rails?

Re: 11th grade

#75

Post by coryrc »

markbao wrote: post #51
coryrc wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A website is not a startup. A startup company can have its main business revolve around a website, but you seem to have confused the issue. You have played coder with some websites, but where is the revenue? the marketing? all the non-fun things? p.s. Poolify -- you have to change the name. Poo-la-fi is how I read it.

I pretty much finished AOD before I figured out that it wasn't revolutionary or anything (and in that area, pretty much have to revolutionize to win.) Poolify was an experiment. It's a process, still figuring things out. My newest does have plans for the aforementioned.

You know, I was a little harsh since I ignored what you have accomplished. You're already in the top 10% for sure (I'd guess top 1% but you can't tell over the Internet), so I left out the compliments (I've got to remember to not treat social interaction like manipulating those little microcontrollers).

Anyway, good job.

Try to follow KISS more. Back when gas first started to go over 99 cents, gas stations couldn't charge that much because the computers in the pump only had cents. They would have to buy a new $200 computer to do it. However, my grandfather's friend came up with a simple circuit for $5 to let the owner's charge $1+ and he made millions selling the little things. As a kid, little local companies will share lots of operational details with you because they don't find you a threat. You could use that knowledge to serve the market using your skills. I usually started on something simple like setting up computers to gain trust before moving up to more valuable work.

Re: 11th grade

#76

Post by markbao »

aswanson wrote: post #74
markbao wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> At that age, you're just starting to get your name out there and want to be noticed, so it's not a bad thing. Yeah, that's a part of what I'd like to accomplish. The more I get my name out, the more people I meet. I'm also saying (in the spiel/rant) that it's not the ONLY thing that one should be doing. > $10bn is an admirable aspiration, but it's not quite a goal (or even a stretch goal). Usually I see the aspirat…

I like the look and feel...are you using rails?

Thanks. Nah, I use Rails on apps, but for my personal site it's just overkill. Just using simple PHP. (not the updated one either, which is why the contents are kind of lame, new - http://files.markbao.com/newstuff.jpg)

Re: 11th grade

#77

Post by aswanson »

markbao wrote: post #76
aswanson wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like the look and feel...are you using rails?

Thanks. Nah, I use Rails on apps, but for my personal site it's just overkill. Just using simple PHP. (not the updated one either, which is why the contents are kind of lame, new - http://files.markbao.com/newstuff.jpg )

So you just make jpegs of your logos by hand, no CSS?

Re: 11th grade

#78

Post by Retric »

jey wrote: post #40
timr wrote: post #15

Ugh. Why is it that self-professed "nerds" are always so blatantly anti-intellectual? It's such short-sighted nonsense; nothing but pandering to the immaturity of every 16-year-old throughout history who day-dreamed his way through the classes that he didn't like, and justified it by whining: "when am I gonna have to use this?" You know what? Sometimes you have to learn things that you don't think you'll "use in real…

Er, what exactly is intellectual about 1300 hours of busy work? I fully support learning/reading/studying, but formal education only includes those things obliquely as an accidental side effect. High School is mostly about babysitting and obedience -- your success is measured by your willingness to jump through arbitrary hoops specified by authority figures. Sure, the ones who take an interest in the material will le…

It's been 15 years (eep), but 11th grade was not a total waste of time. My public school was large enough to have the full remedial, general, advanced, and honors class spectrum so I could avoid the dumbest elements of society. Granted honor classes where still boring but least they tried to speed things up and my classmates where mildly interesting.

Anyway, I was classified as Exceptionally Gifted (IQ 160+?) / Learning Disabled which basically meant they had no idea what to do with me. I did the whole state science, math, and chess thing so I spent time around people who where focused and intelligent in high school most of the extreme cases seemed broken. I don't feel that having children jump through more and harder hoops leads to a happy healthy life. I would have have loved a shorter more focused school day, but I don't see the value of trying to cram more facts into high school. Adding a course in investing, speed reading, or other useful skills would have been nice.

PS: I don't know if I fear success, but I don't know how I could have coped if I was profoundly gifted and everyone around me had seemed even dumber.

http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/underserved.htm

Re: 11th grade

#80

Post by markbao »

aswanson wrote: post #77
markbao wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks. Nah, I use Rails on apps, but for my personal site it's just overkill. Just using simple PHP. (not the updated one either, which is why the contents are kind of lame, new - http://files.markbao.com/newstuff.jpg )

So you just make jpegs of your logos by hand, no CSS?

Nah, I do both design and CSS. Didn't get a chance to XHTMLize the file.
Post reply on HN