Live data from Hacker News

Some advice from Jeff Bezos

37signals.com

71–80 of 140 posts

Re: Some advice from Jeff Bezos

#71
post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a strawman though, nobody actually says that. People complain about "flip flopping" when they see a politician campaigning and he or she says one thing on tuesday, something contradictory on wednesday, and then is back to the previous position again on thursday.

Usually when I see it, it is people complaining that a candidate endorsed different viewpoints than they did during past elections (in other words, they think something different than they did years ago). Kerry and Romney both come to mind (though to be clear, both (or at least Romney) have been accused of the type you are talking about as well) . Specifically I have heard some people claim that Romney has flip-flopp…

I think a lot of that is just that if the person in question clearly does just say whatever they think people want to hear, then a dramatic change in position appears more likely to just be more of the same. Romney suddenly being against "obamacare" is a good example. It doesn't appear that he changed his mind because of new information, since he still claims his version of the same thing is great, but Obama's is terrible.

Re: Some advice from Jeff Bezos

#74

I would argue that this is the defining factor in what makes someone intelligent or not. If you're always revising your ways of thinking about a problem, your probability of converging on a solution is vastly greater than someone with a narrow, one-track focus. In fact, another article on the HN homepage ( http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/streams-of-consciousness... ) elaborates on this point of trying multiple "s…

> did you know that a spinning ball weighs more than the same ball when it is stationary? Did you know that the Earth's rotation itself adds about 2.38 billion metric tons to its mass, and we have the Soviet Union to thank for figuring that out? http://infranetlab.org/blog/2008/12/harnessing-the-energy-fr...

Hmm.... > The amount of energy in the earth is vast – the kinetic energy of rotation alone is 2.137 x 1029 Joules

10^29?

Re: Some advice from Jeff Bezos

#75

I would argue that this is the defining factor in what makes someone intelligent or not. If you're always revising your ways of thinking about a problem, your probability of converging on a solution is vastly greater than someone with a narrow, one-track focus. In fact, another article on the HN homepage ( http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/streams-of-consciousness... ) elaborates on this point of trying multiple "s…

Well stated, and I agree wholeheartedly. For now.

Re: Some advice from Jeff Bezos

#76
post #23
post #8

Good advice but I'm curious about: "Jason Fried is the fastest white man you'll ever meet." Is Jason actually really fast and/or was he an athlete at a prior time?

Yeah, it was really weird hitting the bottom of the article only to find a vaguely racist nonsensical byline.

While certainly a seemingly off-color (no pun intended, I swear) remark, this is an interesting topic that came to my attention during the London Olympic games. Of the ~80 men who have run a sub-10 second 100m dash, only one or two of them have been Caucasian, though Jason Fried was not among the list. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10-second_barrier#Ethnicity

Re: Some advice from Jeff Bezos

#77
post #42

"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds" - Emerson. When I first read that quote in early High School I didn't understand it. It was the kind of thing that ate at me, I could not get what he was trying to say. To me, consistency was an important part of life; the old adage that you stick to your word. However, that quote transcends the idea of being consistent, because when you often make decisions wi…

Also often misquoted by leaving out "A foolish" so programmers and designers can dodge criticism on their APIs or designs.

Re: Some advice from Jeff Bezos

#78
post #7

If someone can’t climb out of the details, and see the bigger picture from multiple angles, they’re often wrong most of the time. This works both ways. If someone can't get more than one level below the surface and understand the details that form the whole, they’re also often wrong much of the time. Just ask any boss I've ever had.

Sounds like you need to look at that quote a little bit more... I think your missing the point.

Re: Some advice from Jeff Bezos

#79
post #78
post #7

If someone can’t climb out of the details, and see the bigger picture from multiple angles, they’re often wrong most of the time. This works both ways. If someone can't get more than one level below the surface and understand the details that form the whole, they’re also often wrong much of the time. Just ask any boss I've ever had.

Sounds like you need to look at that quote a little bit more... I think your missing the point.

I think your[sic] missing the point.

Speaking of missing details and being wrong . . .

Post reply on HN