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Khan Academy requests for donations as their servers are at 250% normal load

khanacademy.org

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Re: Khan Academy requests for donations as their servers are at 250% normal load

#221

Post by phaemon »

wendyshu wrote: post #206
phaemon wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He probably has. He's asking for amounts from $5 to $100 dollars. What makes you think he hasn't donated at least that much? How much did you donate?

You have a point, maybe he's in the job he's best at, he's worth double that to the organization so he's effectively donating $800k/yr, and that's the optimal amount to give to charity given his preferences. If so, no foul. When I was a student I gave on the order of $100 per year. Anyway I feel sorry for you because you attack people instead of ideas, that must be really draining.

I feel bad about my last response.

I'm Scottish, living out on the west coast. We've had no cases of coronavirus here yet. Therefore things are not as bad here as they are elsewhere.

So, you should just read all my comments in your finest Scottish accent. I'm sure it will be terrible but at least it might give you a laugh.

Re: Khan Academy requests for donations as their servers are at 250% normal load

#222

Post by mikekchar »

dillonmckay wrote: post #120
toto444 wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some economists show in the paper linked below that being not for profit can be seen as a commitment for quality since you have removed from the company the incentives to exploit your consumers. Abstract : Entrepreneurs who start new firms may choose not-for-profit status as a means of committing to soft incentives. Such incentives protect donors, volunteers, consumers and employees from ex post expropriation of prof…

I disagree with that. Most US universities are non-profits and use undergrad revenues for real estate development.

While absolutely true, a good counter example are various co-ops that are run as non-profits. Often they can not only be the best place to get high quality good, but also the only place, since they are driven by what their members want rather than trying to make the highest possible profit. However, wherever there is a lot of money, you will find people who are trying desperately to shove that money into their pockets.

Re: Khan Academy requests for donations as their servers are at 250% normal load

#223

Post by notduncansmith »

arzel wrote: post #43

Ahh.. Khan Academy.. the usefulness this site provided throughout my middle and high school education. Quite frankly, it literally saved my ass. I've gone ahead and donated $1K.

Thanks for setting a positive example. I’ve set up a monthly donation, so I’ll match yours today over the next 4+ years :)

Re: Khan Academy requests for donations as their servers are at 250% normal load

#224

Post by woofie11 »

sumedh wrote: post #105
woofie11 wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I worked for a not-for-profit where, 3 years in, we learned the CEO was making as much as everyone else combined for the first year. Guy was also doing minimal work. I got fed up with these things. If Khan either open-licenses the platform, or takes a pay cut to $200,000, I'll donate. If he does neither of those, I'm treating this as a 501(c)3-by-technicality only. It's a good for-profit, mind you, but still a for-pr…

> takes a pay cut to $200,000, I'll donate. Why $200,000, why not $100,000?

$200k is about the threshold needed to qualify for a mortgage in the area he's living for a comfortable, but not luxurious single-family home.

That's also a good baseline for a standard-of-living where all necessities are met, without worrying about them, and where there isn't financial stress. However, it's not enough to get rich.

It's also a point where I don't feel like I'm making a significantly greater sacrifice than Khan would if he paid out of his own pocket (in other words, a signal that I care more about the organization than he does).

$100k would be okay in the midwest or rural America.

Re: Khan Academy requests for donations as their servers are at 250% normal load

#226

Post by phonon »

dangoor wrote: post #213
phonon wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you try switching your interpreter to PyPy?

That's not possible in that particular hosting environment. I believe some people have done experiments with PyPy, but the difference in performance is nothing like that we see with Go.

Oh, because you use App Engine Standard? Did you reconsider being locked into App Engine? What about App Engine Flexible? https://cloud.google.com/appengine/docs/flexible/custom-runt...

PyPy might give you a 2-4x speedup, and if it wasn't for App Engine Standard, might be as easy as dropping it in instead of CPython, while Go is a total rewrite. Seems strange you wouldn't at least do a deeper dive on PyPy...

Re: Khan Academy requests for donations as their servers are at 250% normal load

#227

Post by lern_too_spel »

dirtydroog wrote: post #201
lern_too_spel wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$800k is an experienced engineer's salary where Khan Academy is based.

Lol, what

Khan Academy is based in Mountain View. There are plenty of engineers getting that annual compensation at Facebook/Google/Netflix.

Re: Khan Academy requests for donations as their servers are at 250% normal load

#228

Post by dangoor »

phonon wrote: post #226
dangoor wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not possible in that particular hosting environment. I believe some people have done experiments with PyPy, but the difference in performance is nothing like that we see with Go.

Oh, because you use App Engine Standard? Did you reconsider being locked into App Engine? What about App Engine Flexible? https://cloud.google.com/appengine/docs/flexible/custom-runt... PyPy might give you a 2-4x speedup, and if it wasn't for App Engine Standard, might be as easy as dropping it in instead of CPython, while Go is a total rewrite. Seems strange you wouldn't at least do a deeper dive on PyPy...

The fundamental reason that we started on this track is the need to get off of Python 2, which has reached EOL and from which the community is moving away. Because of APIs we're using and such, it's not easy to switch to Python 3. Because of API changes in GAE, moving to PyPy on Flex is also still difficult and doesn't solve the problem of still being on Python 2.

Performance is one of several important reasons for the move to Go, and not the top reason.

Re: Khan Academy requests for donations as their servers are at 250% normal load

#229

Post by maps7 »

xnyan wrote: post #216
maps7 wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you implying I'm not human in some twisted way? Either way enough people disagree with me so my comment is dead and likely any more conversation from me will be down voted so I won't continue this. Stay safe.

It was probably not necessary to put words in my mouth. You also stay safe.

Please try to make sense in future posts.

Re: Khan Academy requests for donations as their servers are at 250% normal load

#230

Post by make3 »

0_gravitas wrote: post #219
arzel wrote: post #43

Ahh.. Khan Academy.. the usefulness this site provided throughout my middle and high school education. Quite frankly, it literally saved my ass. I've gone ahead and donated $1K.

> the usefulness this site provided throughout my middle and high school education I'm a deal past these periods in my life, and I did quite well via just arbitrary memorization, at the cost of never really developing an intuitive understanding, and therefore a true appreciation, for subjects like math. I've only recently started going through KA's courses, starting all the way back in Algebra.

as someone who only does intuitive learning and who is garbage at memorization, the idea that people like this exist is so foreign to me
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