p333347

The task of verification looks like a nice AI problem to solve.

tvtropes.org.

plato.stanford.edu, which is a philosophy encyclopedia by Stanford university.

Nice content but had forgotten what the site looked like. It literally kills the eyes and gives a headache when the green on black index page suddenly changes to black on white text file page.

Indie movie maker (with story, screenplay, editing, cinematography, directing and money all being mine so that I am in total control of creativity). Making movies has been a long time dream for me. I will do that when I am older and have enough time and finances to experiment, more than what I have been able to so far. And when I do that successfully, I would be simply swapping software & moviemaking for what is profession and what is hobby.

c++ 03. (This works well for me and never felt a need to switch to newer versions beyond using a few things here and there like auto, with new meaning. I have been using latest Visual Studio Express versions since 2010 so this 'mix' has no problem. I don't write code to be backward compatible compiler wise so on that count also its not a problem.)

Two things stood out right away (on Firefox 42) and point 2 particularly dissuaded me from checking it out any further. 1. It doesn't check for empty content and produces a pdf with just 'memo' and horizontal line. 2. Can't paste, ctrl+v won't work and there is no paste in context menu.

> Notice how much of the countries and people living near the equator fail to have built great civilizations, humans just aren't as productive in the heat.

I think Iraq, Egypt, Iran and India were all as hot as they are now and they all had some of the greatest civilizations. Historically these "countries" spread beyond current political borders which more or less encompasses a continuous stretch of land and I am talking in that sense.

> Perhaps the best advice is from Michelle Obama: "When they go low, we go high"

Brilliant appropriation.

The usage "big omega" and "little omega" always makes me chuckle, as they translate to "big big oh" and "little big oh".

Printed copies stored in libraries of UN and each of the Security Council permanent member countries, and whoever volunteers to make it "technology proof". Further, the paper and ink could be engineered to last for many centuries.

OK. Going by what you said, the best way is to actually build something that works, and if possible non trivial (you can even try to clone an existing popular app as you can focus on actually implementing it than brainstorming ideas), and showing it at places like HN, CodeProject etc with your profile clearly mentioning you are looking for a job (and a career change). Action beats words. If the app you have already built is in good enough working condition, you could use that itself. Being in between jobs is even better for this adventure as you can dedicate full time to this with no distraction. Good luck.

I am in a similar boat as you, except I am trying to move from C++ desktop to web domain, and this is what I am doing - building apps (actually porting my private desktop apps to web platform). Once I am happy with the quality, I will leverage on them. Of course, I am looking for a position comparable to my current one (lead dev or more) so I am being a bit more thorough etc.

> I was starting to once again decide if I wanted to found something or look for a job, then I realized I actually wanted to be a developer. So it is a mature decision.

You mean you want to work as an employee for someone as a developer and not be a developer entrepreneur? Just want to know.

Stick to your specialty and scratch the programming itch as a hobby. If you get good at that hobby, see if you really want to be a professional dev and look for a job. If you get nothing you like start your own thing (your experience with startups might be handy here). I would wait at least a year to see if this is just an infatuation or deeper love. And while you are learning, pay special focus to algo and design, a bit more than knowing nifty things with popular frameworks in the language of your choice.

> I am constantly seeking to remind her that it is a lack of lightheartedness that is at the rock of extremism....I know the likelihood that I'll ever succeed is small, but it's important to me to wake people from what I consider to be a way of thinking that impairs sound judgement (say, when voting or choosing how to react to world politics). I'm not against religion or the right to practice religion, just its ability to cause hysteria.

Have you considered what is trivial and lighthearted to you might be deeply offensive to her? You might say "that is exactly what I am trying to change" but to that I would say "why". Unless a person is explicitly causing harm either by doing anti social things or inciting people with speeches to do anti social things, or forces their belief system on you, what someone believes in or finds funny is no one's business. I guess your mother isn't any of that - she's just a law abiding woman with a certain religious faith that makes her life feel meaningful - so leave her alone.

It also seems that you are to quick to relate religious people with religious extremists, which is flawed. The whole idea of atheists having to "wake up" religious people is quite cocky and indecent. Also the assumption that religious people have "impaired judgement" is deeply offensive. If anything, its the atheists who are extremists with impaired judgement because they think they are better then the religious people.

I used to be one of these cocky atheists in my early 20s and used to constantly bother my deeply religious mother until one day she told me off. She basically said why do I bother her when she doesn't force me to follow the religion (she did like any parent till I was a teen and rebelled and then left me alone). That was a wake up call to me. Of course, my cockiness will come right out whenever a religious relative or colleague tries to mock my lack of faith or give me unsolicited advice with religion based arguments. But in general, I don't try to be holier than thou and look down upon religious people or interfere with their faith.

Have you talked to this person in order to understand his "serious personality problems" or just basing these on what you hear or observe? You said you brought all the team members, so I assume all of you think alike, which seems obviously different from this person, so the difference in perspective is magnified that much more. I say have an honest discussion. If you have already discussed, share the gist of it with HN so that people can assess things in a fair way to provide useful solution. You also haven't told us how and why he has the most equity. Who knows, he might be an eccentric that not many can understand!

Be it web application development in specific, or software engineering in general, or even in life itself, I'd say its much better to be good at many things than great at one thing. For one, it makes a person self sufficient and independent. Assuming one is a curious autodidact, one can always improve or learn things that they aren't good at yet. Next, it sort of gives you a perspective from various points that makes you appreciate things better. Finally, it is a humbling experience (which is good in life) as it makes you realize how much there is to learn - the more you know things the more you know you know nothing effect. Of course, one must not get perturbed when derided as "jack of all master of none". On the flip side, one must also not go around town calling oneself a polymath or a renaissance man - those days are over, at least with established fields of knowledge - as it would be equally ridiculous.