Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit | josscrowcroft's comments login

Is improving water quality the decided-upon method for preventing (or even reversing) bleaching of coral reefs?

It seems like that ship has sailed, and now more technological advances are required.

Speaking from zero expertise or experience in marine biology, is it not possible to manufacture massive quantities of synthetic coral that somehow corrects for the changing water quality to enable coral life to flourish?


The problem seems to be the water temperature. It's not easy to fix.


Again speaking from zero expertise, would it be possible to genetically engineer coral lifeforms to adapt to higher temperatures?


Maybe, but it's part of an ecoSYSTEM, so do other reef dwellers all need to be modified? How does that affect migration and comptetion? Etc


I think we've been with HelpScout for around 4 years at https://openexchangerates.org. The service is great, and they just seem like a really honest, switched-on team.


I am fortunate that neither work, family, nor leisure compel me to fly to (or through) the USA at any point. I intend to keep it that way.


I liked this one:

https://github.com/squared-one/omniauth-unsplash/commit/072b...

"... It's not really removing any password, is it? But hey, why not use the momentum ... wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"


    -    protected $password = '12root34';
    +    protected $password = '';
"I'm a bit disappointed now that putting 'protected' in front of the password doesn't protect it ;)"


Another less 'relevant' result:

  -    acceptHandshake = params.pass == PASSWORD
  +    acceptHandshake = true//params.pass == PASSWORD


That just seems like a guy testing his authorization code. I would expect the next commit to put it back to its functional state.


Like 'Revert "remove password"'? ;-)


just growth hacking


free advertising. genius!


I'm curious, at that scale why don't they build their own infrastructure? Surely it would cost less?


They could do, and it might save them a few hundred million dollars, but the risk of project failure (lateness, budget overrun, etc) would be a lot higher. For example, committing $1bn to AWS with with a 5% risk of failure is a lot more sensible than committing $750m with a 25% risk of failure doing it yourself. It's entirely possible Snap's board would have refused to let them do it themselves if the risk was high enough.


My guess is that the human capital they need for such a build-out is hard to come by and mostly already working for Google Cloud and AWS.


It's not like they don't have the option to build it themselves in the future. This provides a lot of flexibility with very little liabilty to get their platform massive.

Besides they aren't like Facebook where they will grow their hardware slowly as they ramp up, Snapchat is already incredibly popular. It would be a massive undertaking to move everything to the data center. The experts who are good at that kind of thing are all already gainfully employed.


> This provides a lot of flexibility with very little liabilty to get their platform massive.

This is completely untrue. They are committed to spending that money with at least Google (whatever they don't use in infra, they have to make up with a true up payment). I don't know the AWS terms, but they would have to be successful at a level that is completely unrealistic for this to be financially sound (considering their growth numbers show users have tapered off).

https://twitter.com/dannysullivan/status/827274299929026560

"Snap’s daily active user grown went from single digit to flat last year"

If user growth is flat, and you're not yet profitable, the only nob you can turn is more ads or making ads more expensive for ad buyers. Neither option will endear Snap with either party.


It's much easier to go belly up with chapter 7 and not have to sell millions and millions (billions?) in physical assets then to simply say "sorry, we're out of business" to the contracts for future obligations.


I don't think they could build their own infrastructure cheaper than Google or Amazon. Both companies have very large scale and have been doing this for quite a time, have custom hardware etc.

For deals of this size, it might make sense for both Google and Amazon to put their margins quite low - as they know the alternative is that Snapchat just builds their own infra. For Google there could be also the PR factor involved.


It would definitely cost less, and datacenters are readily available, already running (i.e. zero actual project risk).

My guess is that they hope to use Google's TensorFlow and/or a lot of the GPU instances from AWS - TensorFlow needs a special chip and GPUs become outdated in 1 year, so it makes more sense to lease them as-needed.


I doubt their concern is saving money in this case, it's more about time to market for new products/features. If they can get a head start by spending more up front and focus entirely on their product, they may be able to grow significantly faster than if they kicked off a multi-year effort to role their own infrastructure.


It costs time, and results in instability for their user base in the interim.


What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami. I'm on at least my third reading and imagine I'll read it again.

Also re-listened to Getting Things Done by David Allen. This could also be any number of times.

Sort-of related, currently re-watching Westworld. I burned through ten episodes in two sittings first time around and wanted to properly appreciate it this time at a more leisurely pace.


A very well-reasoned and well-written piece. Thank you.


Alternatively - under UBI - you may decide to work 6 hours per day, and enjoy the earned income in addition to the regular Basic Income payment, all the while knowing that you can leave (or switch employer) any time without fear of destitution.


You would still face the same issue since, you make more money you may have a nicer apartment or house. You would then still be trapped in that job to maintain your chosen lifestyle.


Yes but that is entirely your choice. If you want the freedom to leave a job on a whim then you likely are not going to be spending money on a home that is too expensive to live in without working.


Difference between $X for 0hpd and $Y for 6hpd is too steep.


I got the mayonnaise guy as well!


Link! This is useless without a link!


I've been writing Morning Pages (3 x A4 pages, hand-written) every day for almost three years. Sometimes I do them in the afternoon or evening, or right before bed.

Sometimes I'll only do one page, sometimes ten... A month or two ago I spent a month writing about 20 pages a day of "morning pages" after a few intense experiences.

After a month or so I didn't need to think about it any more, and now I can't imagine not doing it. Every morning, wake up, make coffee, write, then start the day. I find my life is richer and deeper as a result.


I've a question: Do you limit your topics or simply write whatever you are thinking about? Do you set a timer?


Good question! Neither. I write whatever is on my mind, it changes day-to-day. It's sometimes logical, rational things, plans for the day or week or a project, and sometimes it's dream recall from the night before, or pennies that have dropped, sometimes it's stream-of-consciousness, nonsense, or just fiction. I'll usually shift between these and page 2-3 tend to be more 'out there' and get to the deeper stuff going on in my life. I don't set a timer, but the process generally takes 25-30 minutes on an average day.

The key is to write without editing and as much as possible, without stopping to think or read.

I learnt about the practice in The Artist's Way about 3 years ago. I think this is the most up-to-date website about it: http://juliacameronlive.com/basic-tools/morning-pages/


Thanks! I might have to give this a try. I've been considering writing more, and this seems like it would be fitting for me.


Do you think that writing on paper vs on a computer makes a difference?


Consider applying for YC's Spring batch! Applications are open till Feb 11.

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: