mhartl

Joined 19 years ago

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9,947

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2,077

Member since

Mar 18

Namer of tau and founder of Tau Day. Author of the Ruby on Rails Tutorial and cofounder of Learn Enough (acquired 2022). YC alum (W08). Find me online at michaelhartl.com, on X at @mhartl, or via email at [email protected].

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Recent submissions

Comment · 1 year ago

It’s true that, due to its volatility, Bitcoin is currently not a good store of value, at least in the short term. There’s an underlying truth, though, which is that Bitcoin is a potential store of value. In particular, it has all the necessary qualities of a monetary good, among them durability, divisibility, portability, verifiability, and above all scarcity.

Buying Bitcoin right now involves speculating that others will also see this potential, which is why it’s accurate to describe it for the moment as a speculative asset. The reason buying Bitcoin is a smart bet is that its monetary properties are so good that it has the potential to store a significant percentage of the world’s savings. Once that happens, its volatility will be much lower, so it will be a good store of value. And of course its purchasing power in current U.S. dollars will be much, much higher, which is why it’s a good idea to buy some now.

Decisions Nobody Made, Policy Edition, with Dave Guarino complexsystemspodcast.com

1 mhartl 2 years ago 0 comments

The Elegant Universe pioneerworks.org

1 mhartl 2 years ago 0 comments

The benefits of GLP-1 drugs beyond obesity science.org

1 mhartl 2 years ago 0 comments

Personal Strategies for Math Learning michaelhartl.com

2 mhartl 3 years ago 0 comments

Learn Enough and the Rails Tutorial have been acquired news.learnenough.com

2 mhartl 4 years ago 0 comments

Some big news about Learn Enough news.learnenough.com

1 mhartl 4 years ago 0 comments

Launch of the Ruby on Rails Tutorial 7th Edition news.learnenough.com

2 mhartl 4 years ago 0 comments

Comment · 4 years ago

I followed YC from the time it was just a glimmer in pg’s eye (http://www.paulgraham.com/start.html). By the time I went through YC myself, in the Winter 2008, I felt like I was already late to the game. Eventually I realized W08 was still early, early days. (For example, the weekly dinners were generally cooked by pg himself. Also, the benches would see-saw up if someone on the wrong side left their seat—I’m sure some of you fellow old-timers now recall that idiosyncrasy with a strange sense of fondness.)

Congratulations to Y Combinator on 17 amazing years. Here’s to many more years to come!

Comment · 4 years ago

I’ve been following this project closely (oshams is a friend and I’m an investor in the company), and to echo Darmani’s comment both the product and the pace of development have been extremely impressive. Congrats on the launch!

Comment · 5 years ago

This point is explicitly addressed in the post:

I haven’t tried everything on this list, mainly due to cost. But you’d be surprised how cheap most of the things on this list are (especially the free ones).

Comment · 6 years ago