Hacker News: blakeross

New comment by blakeross in "PwdHash (2009)"

blakeross — Tue, 12 May 2020 01:27:57 +0000

This is definitely pre-2009, I built this at Stanford w/ the others and I was only at Stanford until around 2005. (But they may have continued updating it given the Firefox version number referenced.)

New comment by blakeross in "U.S. Files Criminal Charges Against Theranos’s Elizabeth Holmes, Ramesh Balwani"

blakeross — Fri, 15 Jun 2018 23:40:44 +0000

No, but I'm bummed they didn't steal the name "Pricks"!

New comment by blakeross in "U.S. Files Criminal Charges Against Theranos’s Elizabeth Holmes, Ramesh Balwani"

blakeross — Fri, 15 Jun 2018 21:34:01 +0000

Biannual reshare of a pilot I wrote for a TV parody of Theranos: http://www.blakeross.com/pricks.pdf

New comment by blakeross in "Theranos, CEO Holmes, and Former President Balwani Charged with Fraud"

blakeross — Wed, 14 Mar 2018 22:42:50 +0000

Hah good memory! I guess I'll resurrect it for the trial :)

New comment by blakeross in "Exponent – Build native apps in JS that work across both iOS and Android"

blakeross — Mon, 26 Sep 2016 20:14:08 +0000

I know lots of platforms-of-the-month come through HN, and it's hard to filter the signal from the noise...just wanted to add another voice that Exponent is indeed awesome. Built by one of the sharpest (and most humble) teams in the valley.

New comment by blakeross in "Under Fire, Theranos CEO Stifled Bad News"

blakeross — Mon, 11 Jul 2016 04:20:54 +0000

My semi-annual plug for the parody television show I wrote about Theranos last year:

http://www.pricks.com

New comment by blakeross in "Craig Steven Wright claims to be Satoshi Nakamoto"

blakeross — Mon, 02 May 2016 09:19:45 +0000

"One of the most useful lessons I learned from working at Facebook had nothing to do with technology: Doubt the media. Always doubt the media."

(https://medium.com/@blakeross/don-t-outsource-your-thinking-...)

I'm happy to see that The Economist, at least, has a healthy sense of skepticism.

New comment by blakeross in "Aphantasia: How It Feels to Be Blind in Your Mind"

blakeross — Sat, 23 Apr 2016 19:25:01 +0000

Hm I guess I didn't make that clear. Doriane is just another friend of mine, not my mother.

New comment by blakeross in "Aphantasia: How It Feels to Be Blind in Your Mind"

blakeross — Sat, 23 Apr 2016 18:58:28 +0000

I haven't.

New comment by blakeross in "Aphantasia: How It Feels to Be Blind in Your Mind"

blakeross — Sat, 23 Apr 2016 18:57:10 +0000

Whatever you want to believe about semantics (which I addressed in the article), the Exeter neurologists did see a difference in the man's MRI scans versus the control group.

Sure, we can call that a "variability in human ability" rather than a "disorder". I never used the word "disorder" anyway.

New comment by blakeross in "Aphantasia: How It Feels to Be Blind in Your Mind"

blakeross — Sat, 23 Apr 2016 18:46:19 +0000

I drink socially. It seems to have pretty typical effects -- less social inhibition and so forth. Why do you ask?

New comment by blakeross in "Aphantasia: How It Feels to Be Blind in Your Mind"

blakeross — Sat, 23 Apr 2016 12:30:29 +0000

I'd like to. I just don't know how I'd even begin. It's like telling me to start working out my third arm.

New comment by blakeross in "Aphantasia: How It Feels to Be Blind in Your Mind"

blakeross — Sat, 23 Apr 2016 12:19:06 +0000

I would be curious to see how the HN community scores on this aphantasia survey embedded in the BBC article: http://www.bbc.com/news/health-34039054. Perhaps there's a connection between programmers and this condition. Will you take it and report your score?

The survey is oversimplified, obviously, but it was devised by the Exeter neurologists who are studying this. I got the lowest score (8/40) since none of the questions make sense to me (no image on any of them).

New comment by blakeross in "Aphantasia: How It Feels to Be Blind in Your Mind"

blakeross — Sat, 23 Apr 2016 12:07:36 +0000

That's one of the FAQ's in the piece:

8. Do you dream? No, or I don’t recall them. I’ve had a couple dreams but there was no visual or sensory component to them. When I woke up, I just knew a list of “plot points” about things that happened. This is also how I digest fiction.

New comment by blakeross in "Aphantasia: How It Feels to Be Blind in Your Mind"

blakeross — Sat, 23 Apr 2016 11:45:11 +0000

Really?! That is fascinating to me. I am 100% language on the inside.

New comment by blakeross in "Aphantasia: How It Feels to Be Blind in Your Mind"

blakeross — Sat, 23 Apr 2016 11:42:31 +0000

Meditating has never done anything for me visually. I thought the idea of "visualizing" while you meditate was just a figure of speech.

I haven't tried psychedelic drugs. Maybe I should start.

New comment by blakeross in "Aphantasia: How It Feels to Be Blind in Your Mind"

blakeross — Sat, 23 Apr 2016 11:30:41 +0000

I think I've stored basic information as to color degree, like "X is very dark blue" and "Y is light blue." I'd have to actually see the objects to settle a close contest.

Trial and error for matching colors.

Thanks for the insight on the "milk voice." You'd think by now I'd learn not to assume anything. I thought the "neutral inner voice" was universal.

New comment by blakeross in "Aphantasia: How It Feels to Be Blind in Your Mind"

blakeross — Sat, 23 Apr 2016 11:07:55 +0000

I'm the author of this post, happy to answer any questions.

About me: I was formerly a director of product at FB and a founder of Firefox. My YC startup became FB's first acquisition. I'm focusing more on creative writing these days (wrote the Silicon Valley spec script and the Theranos parody that have come up on HN a few times.) Aphantasia was a pretty weird discovery for me given this new focus.

New comment by blakeross in "Theranos Is Subject of Criminal Probe by U.S"

blakeross — Tue, 19 Apr 2016 05:12:52 +0000

This is great, I hadn't heard of it before.

New comment by blakeross in "Theranos Is Subject of Criminal Probe by U.S"

blakeross — Tue, 19 Apr 2016 01:18:06 +0000

I appreciate it.

You can't sell a script for a show to the show itself. In fact, the staff isn't even allowed to read it for legal reasons (if they happen to conceive a similar idea, they're worried you'll sue them later).

However, an agent could shop your script to other shows to demonstrate that you're able to integrate well into a world you didn't create. It's rather strange: If you want to write for Breaking Bad, you should write a script for The Wire.