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Comment Re:Enough already? (Score 0) 691

If it is over water, it will make a big splash.
If it is over land, it will make a crumbling sound.
It might completely fail - but it will not cause radioactive contamination of the surrounding area for the next year or more.
It will not cause cancer in the surrounding cities (including tokyo) just because wind blew wrong.

I was a neutral on the nuclear energy till two days back - now, I am having a rethink - it is far too dangerous for the advantages it offers.

Comment Re:all this crap about israel (Score 5, Informative) 240

India - a nominally democratic country that has nucs so it can ward off Pakistan.

I guess you are using nominally - as - existing on name only - right?

From this sentence, I take it that you have never been to India - and dont even really know about it. There are many negatives for India, but being non-democratic is not one of them.

Democracy is the most important thing in our collective psyche. And when people kick your country down on the biggest thing it believes, due to their ignorance - it really really feels bad.

Comment Re:Ummmm ... (Score 1) 286

Whoever who could have done anything against the US gov using these applications would already have done this by now. People are talking about proxies etc - can they proxy to a different country?
All they are doing now is to provide these tools to the Iranian citizens - which is a good thing.

Comment Re:Repeating history (Score 2) 266

IANAE, but it looks like an issue with the basic concept of stocks. Stocks are a nice way for a small company to get external funding and grow, but once it breaches the small company size and the companies growth decreases in speed, then short term benefits override long term benefits for the share holder.

For smaller companies, the money put in by the investor grows in multiples within few years - so the investor is wary of doing anything that can jeopardize the future of the company - since the profit margins are unattainable through other methods. For bigger companies, the company might grow 20% or so per year - so people who make the decisions (big investors) - has multiple options, and so try to maximize the profit even if messes up the company. Even the company tanks after 5 years of higher profit, they can use the money to put in any other big company giving the same level of profit, and totally they have higher returns overall.

Even dividends I dont think helps much in this case, since it is just percentage of the profit. So, unless a completely new concept comes which can avoid this problem, this issue is going to be there.

Comment Re:Ideas are cheap... (Score 1) 735

Thank you very much. This has been a hugely supportive and helpful discussion. I am really thankful to MartinShou, Yourself, mutube, Hairy1 and everyone else too.

I had lost a lot of confidence during the whole thing, and was quite hard on myself, since I did not persevere. But yes, it could be just that without a business partner, it is easy to quit.

Thank you all again.

Comment Re:Ideas are cheap... (Score 2) 735

Please dont take it in a negative way. I am very happy that I did start on it, but what I am sad about is that it did not pan out, and because in my opinion I did not try enough.

I agree to all your points (esp since otherwise, I will be branded an idiot :-) ), but all said and done, some days and nights, I do feel very sad that I did not go ahead with it.

There is a lot of knowledge gained from it, I have become much more competent programmer because of it, I appreciate my family more because of it, I got more time to play with my kid etc. But there are downsides too, which we should accept too along with the positives.

Comment Re:Ideas are cheap... (Score 2) 735

I am still happily married - so the regret is not about that.

The regret is due to the following reasons:

1. I started the company hoping that I will be able to be financially secure after a while. That did not pan out, and I am in the same state financially as I was before I started the company.

I have many other ideas too. I thought I will try out the most financially lucrative one, get enough money to be safe for the rest of the life, and then try out my other ideas. That is not going to happen anytime soon.

2. The realization that I quit on something. I did not try enough during the sales part. I could have persevered and then if I fail, I can accept. I myself know that I did not try anywhere near hard enough during the marketing/sales part.

It is very hard if you know you quit before you acted with your full energy on it. I did not do that, and so it is quite a big regret.

3. I now know that it requires perseverance. I did not know to what level - at that time. I lacked it then, and I am not sure whether I lack it even now. Unless you jump in there, you really do not know how deep you are.

So my confidence also has taken a hit.

Even though I tried a little bit, I am still in the same position as before. That does hurt, especially when you know it is only your fault.

Comment Re:Ideas are cheap... (Score 5, Interesting) 735

Amen to that, brother.

I started my own company. The idea was good, and I had confidence in myself to create the program by myself.
I left my job and started out on my own. My wife (and my 2 year old too) was also full supportive.

I completed the coding and testing part. It took me close to a year, but I finished it.
It works great, everybody who saw the program (including one MNC), said it is very well done.

After that it came to marketing and sales.
I went to an MNC where I previously worked. They said they are interested and pulled me around for 4 months before they stopped answering my calls.
And by then - after 1 year - I got tired and lost my will.

I started fighting with my wife everyday for very small reasons. Pressure from parents/relatives/friends etc to look for a job etc. Not from my wife though.

I relented, and I joined a startup - actually I went there to sell my product, and they were very impressed and asked me to join them.
It has been a year now. I have a fully done product with me. I have not gone to sell it to more than 3 clients.

It is something I regret, and regret a lot. But I now understand, with experience, that starting a business is not about coding or even having the idea.
It is about perseverance and patience. Which I sorely lacked.

Comment Re:Here we go again (SCO) (Score 2, Insightful) 675

Even though I want to support Google in this case, we cannot be sure - unless we go through their whole set of comments.
Note that android code was not written by Google - it was by Android Inc - and so we cannot just discount it by saying why would google need to do that.
This will be a fun fight to watch though.

Comment Re:An interesting motto (Score 1) 200

For a guy who lost both the arms, I think this motto is fine. This is a big deformity - and there will be a lot of bitterness in the soul against God and even to his fellow people. I do see some people overcoming that bitterness, but most people do not.

Think about it - being dependent on others for the whole life, everybody else showing pity on you - it is enough to make any one bitter - I know for sure that I would be. Especially a person who knows the joy of being independent till 18 - it will be especially hard for him.

Given the circumstances, I have no problem with that motto at all.

Science

Submission + - The World's Cheapest Hydrogen Production Process (gizmag.com)

ElectricSteve writes: FUKAI Environmental Research Institute has announced a new technology for obtaining hydrogen that it claims is less expensive and more efficient than anything that's been tried so far. FUKAI's process involves adding aluminum or magnesium to boiling "oefunctional water," a proprietary substance that can be produced simply by running regular tap water through a natural mineral-containing "functional water generation unit." The bonds that join hydrogen and oxygen molecules in regular water, which ordinarily require some energy to break, are weakened in functional water. The liquid yields 2 liters (122 cubic inches) of hydrogen gas per gram of aluminum, or 3.3 liters (201 cubic inches) per gram of magnesium. FUKAI claims that the cost of producing enough hydrogen to generate 1kWh of electricity is about 18 cents US. That cost could be lowered through the use of recycled aluminum.

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