[davidw]

I heard about a small business that makes bingo cards for non-technical (putting it mildly in some cases) mostly US-based elementary school teachers, created by some guy in Japan.

I don't think that having the problem yourself is necessarily good. I think it's better in many cases to go solve a problem for "real people" - those that are currently using, say, an Excel sheet in place of what your solution offers, or something like that.

[nl]

The replies to this post show there is no market for humor on HN, even if some seem to lack that exact thing :(

[vladmk]

Oh there is a market just a small one. :-)

[GBond]

startup idea: invent a way to signal humor/sarcasm on the internet

[radicalbyte]

You're thinking of Patrick McKenzie (patio11, one of the top posters here) and his bingo card creator.

http://www.kalzumeus.com/ http://www.bingocardcreator.com/

On a slight tangent: his blog rocks!

:)

[Brajeshwar]

His newsletter is cool too. One of the few Newsletter I'm happy subscribing to.

[aragot]

And he works 70-80hrs a week, which explains parts of the successful implementation of his ideas.

[patio11]

FWIW: I don't work 70 to 80 hours a week. My best estimate would be 35 to 45, with variances depending on what is happening in life.

The more useful numbers for calculating successful implementation of my ideas are 8 and 5. I have 8 years in the game, and get +/- 5% compounding improvements a month. This happens fairly reliably whether I work 20 hour weeks or 90 hour weeks and, after a few years in the salaryman salt mines, I know which I'd rather pick.

[dualogy]

Eh this guy is patio11, he's a practically celebrity around these parts!

> I don't think that having the problem yourself is necessarily good.

First off when he started this, he was very close to the "problem". Then, for years he listened intently to almost every single minor or major feedback putting himself in their shoes, which again is very "close to the problem".

[dkersten]

Eh this guy is patio11, he's a practically celebrity around these parts!

I'm pretty sure davidw knows that and said it tongue-in-cheek. davidw has been on HN a long time and is, himself, high up on the highest karma list of people.

[davidw]

I actually met patio11 in person at MicroConf Europe, last year. He's a nice guy, and some of his BCC stories are very entertaining.

[larrys]

"I'm pretty sure davidw knows that"

35k karma (davidw) means more than "pretty sure" I'd say that's certainty.

[larrys]

"I heard about a small business that makes bingo cards for non-technical ....created by some guy in Japan"

Trying to say this in a nice way: I personally don't think it's good form to use these "insider" type things. Would be curious how many people are aware of what you are referring to or even for that matter who "PG" is (although that one for sure I understand as being a necessary part of some indoctrination..)

That said since I know what you are talking about I found it enjoyable!

Anyway, for one thing it's not particularly googleable. So it's not like saying "write your own shell script perl is to much work for that" where because this site is for hackers and further "shell script" or "perl" can be understood by newbies by, say, "searching that site funded by YC that is run by a guy in PA and has a funny game like name with an animal in it".[1]

I do agree with your point. Specifically because not knowing something can sometimes be an advantage instead of a disadvantage because you can be more creative in your approach.

[1] duckduckgo.com

[nhebb]

Indirectly you've identified a product in great need - a sarcasm detector for the humor impaired. ;-)

[StavrosK]

The guy you're talking about is Thomas Ptacek, he's been known to comment here from time to time. He's also interested in crossword puzzles.