Hacker News: acafourek

New comment by acafourek in "City Map Generator – Create procedural American-style cities in the browser"

acafourek — Tue, 21 Jul 2020 02:13:02 +0000

Broadway is a great example of something having very long-lasting effects. It’s much older than a postal road, being originally formed as a footpath used by the local native tribes to travel up and down Manhattan. It roughly followed a ridge line that is not very evident in lower Manhattan today but becomes much more obvious when you get up to northern Harlem, Washington Heights and Inwood.

New comment by acafourek in "Time Traveler by Merriam-Webster: Search Words by First Known Use Date"

acafourek — Sat, 27 Oct 2018 14:27:15 +0000

Uncovering the first printed use of a word is known as “antedating” and has been central to dictionary efforts since the first edition of the OED. If you’re intrigued by the topic or just appreciate historical esoterica, I highly recommend the book The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester- it’s a great quick read.

New comment by acafourek in "Show HN: Auditus – Ebook to Audiobook Conversion"

acafourek — Sun, 01 Apr 2018 13:17:38 +0000

The DAISY markup spec is a cool project if you’re into the tech of text/audio sync.

Also check out LearningAlly.org- a non-profit that produces audio books with synced text highlights. They are specifically oriented toward students with reading challenges but I believe anyone with some certification of learning difference can join. (They require certification to avoid conflict with copyright protections)

New comment by acafourek in "Ask HN: Who is hiring? (March 2018)"

acafourek — Sat, 03 Mar 2018 19:11:22 +0000

Lat Long | UX Designer | REMOTE, CONTRACT |http://latlo.ng

Lat Long is a web development team specialized in crafting experiences and products for clients who are pushing the boundaries of science, exploration and adventure. Our team is fully remote with an office hub in Brooklyn. (recently rebranded to Lat Long, website is in-progress. Previous site+portfolio is at http://a022digital.com )

Currently kicking off an editorial+ecommerce project for Airstream (the iconic silver trailer); need a UX designer with eCommerce experience to lead UX research/design. Project is on aggressive deadline and ready for immediate kickoff.

Full description: https://www.notion.so/airstreamx/UX-Designer-838f25b6567d41b...

New comment by acafourek in "Show HN: A game my 12-year-old daughter wrote"

acafourek — Tue, 02 Jan 2018 12:31:00 +0000

This might be the first time anyone has ever said “Luckily my mother is a psychologist...”

New comment by acafourek in "Why Are New York City’s Streets Always Under Construction?"

acafourek — Fri, 19 Aug 2016 02:24:12 +0000

I am highly skeptical of other replies to this post that make the subway seem like a summertime Shangri-La. While I think it's better than a urine- scented tardy hassle, I don't think many people who have spent a few years in NYC would describe their summer commutes as "pleasant".

Overall it's a miracle public utility that you don't appreciate as much as you should until you've left the city, but that July/August trip is a sweaty mass of humanity no matter how you crunch it.

New comment by acafourek in "Ask HN: How to handle employee requesting inflated salary/title?"

acafourek — Wed, 08 Jun 2016 02:34:22 +0000

There is a big difference between "wait a year" and "here are tangible goals, action steps and valuable skills to develop by accepting X, Y and Z responsibilities. At Time A and Time B, let's review and make incremental advancements toward your title and salary goals".

If you aren't willing to stick it out through the latter, you're probably doing the manager a favor in the long term by shopping that CV around.

New comment by acafourek in "Bold: Make Your Words Stand Out"

acafourek — Wed, 08 Jun 2016 02:23:30 +0000

I can definitely see how this could be useful for teams that create content collaboratively. When our team works on release notes, blog posts, support articles, etc we use a combination of Slack and Google Docs.

After editing, we post to tumblr (product updates), Medium (blog/marketing) or any one of half a dozen other places where we out stuff. Bold feels to me like Medium with bonus collaboration features + integrations. Tools like http://www.hemingwayapp.com/ built in sound awesome. Add in the ability to create your own assistants (import brand assets, pull up GitHub issues, insert content from your YouTube channel, find the right gif for this paragraph) and it adds up to a much more centralized writing experience for modern work-related content creation.

New comment by acafourek in "Show HN: The Top Fives – now with Dark Mode"

acafourek — Mon, 15 Feb 2016 13:41:34 +0000

See also: http://alltop.com since ~2008(ish)

New comment by acafourek in "The United States Postal Service Will Now Email You Your Mail"

acafourek — Mon, 07 Dec 2015 07:29:06 +0000

There was a startup called Outbox awhile back that was trying to be a proxy service for physical mail- have your mail forwarded to them (or maybe they picked it up manually?) and they digitized it for you. This idea from USPS isn't quite that but a good step in the right direction. Super handy for more transient urban millennials at least.

Our Time in an Accelerator Was a Hero Montage

acafourek — Wed, 26 Aug 2015 22:31:51 +0000

Article URL: https://medium.com/alumni-spaces/our-time-in-an-accelerator-was-an-80s-hero-montage-d84893c2ad30

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10126423

Points: 3

# Comments: 0

New comment by acafourek in "Ask HN: Company got acquired, new contract seems oppressive"

acafourek — Wed, 17 Jun 2015 12:16:05 +0000

I've used UpCounsel for "on-demand" lawyers for things like this. You describe the project and what kind of help you need, then lawyers bid fixed rate quotes. In my experience turn around for quotes is less than a day.

Intern Remotely with Alumni Spaces (ERA8)- Product, Marketing, Research and Tech Ops

acafourek — Thu, 14 May 2015 20:21:19 +0000

Article URL: https://alumnispaces.recruiterbox.com

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9547345

Points: 1

# Comments: 0

New comment by acafourek in "Ask HN: How to handle emails from customers?"

acafourek — Sat, 20 Dec 2014 14:14:38 +0000

My team has been using Freshdesk for about a year and it is killer. By default, your user creates an account to view tickets and communicate, but it is also highly customizable- we've changed all the settings so the users experience is entirely via email (so they never have to create a Freshdesk account) but they get automatic replies to let them know that we've received their email and a ticket has been created. It's also free for up to 3 users which is a heck of a deal.

New comment by acafourek in "Ask HN: HN/PH/Startup News sites, a distraction from your MVP?"

acafourek — Thu, 06 Nov 2014 03:19:01 +0000

Just like there are examples of companies/products that have become wildly successful without outside capital, or perhaps without a technical cofounder or without reading any books about Lean methodology or without ever reading a single PG essay, that is not evidence that any of those things are detrimental to one's success. Resources like HN, etc are just like any other resource- you have to filter your exposure, sift through the useless and apply your own judgment as to the appropriateness for your particular situation. They are distractions if you allow them to be and tools if you will them to be.

New comment by acafourek in "Backstabbr: A modern web interface for the classic board game Diplomacy"

acafourek — Fri, 17 Oct 2014 01:38:28 +0000

I've been looking for a way to learn Diplomacy for some time now - the controls feel a bit cumbersome but after just using the sandbox for an hour or so, I have a far better introduction than I've gotten from just reading primers. Nice work.

New comment by acafourek in "Hundreds of Devices Hidden Inside New York City Phone Booths"

acafourek — Mon, 06 Oct 2014 14:24:57 +0000

As of 2009, only 4 phone booths remained in Manhattan: http://www.scoutingny.com/the-last-phone-booth-in-new-york-c... Comments on that thread note that in 2012, at least 2 of those were verified as still around, but not sure about now.

There are a lot of phone stalls still around though - a number of which have been sites for experimental improvements for some time now, including a Google initiative to outfit some with public wifi: http://www.nyc.gov/html/doitt/html/business/future-of-public...