If you are asking which I'd pick, I'd pick google. However, I'd specifically want to work on/with google earth. I think google earth is awesome and would like to know more about it, the technology behind it, the geosciences that make it possible, etc...
If you are trying to figure out which offer you should take, you should ask yourself what you would rather be doing. Would you rather be working in the world of searching? Or social media? It might be worth asking both of the companies for more information on what roles and responsibilities you would be expecting, and what department they might stick you in.
I wouldn't stress it as the most important decision of your life -- after all, if you work at google and decide you don't like it, you wouldn't be the only person to apply at facebook! ;)
Ryan, I completely disagree. I am surprised that you would think that the society benefits more from the education than the individual. According to me, if I have higher education, I get a better job, better salary, more respect in social circle. Compared to this, what does society get if I am educated?
I don't know if this outweighs what the individual gets, but society certainly benefits from educated individuals. Shiny new iphones, better health, more entrepreneurs, better research... I could make a huge list of things that people smarter than me have done to make my life better.
EDIT 1: <snip> why don't we provide good healthy food for all the individuals
Some countries are doing just that, in schools, or other places. Most countries monitor their citizens health and provides incentives to get healthier.
I like the idea of sharing todo lists, and if you don't mind some commentary on your list...
It's clear that some of those are just thoughts you have bouncing around, and are not very well fleshed out on your list. Or in other words, I read them on your list, and I'm not sure what you are trying to propose as a project.
I think some of the projects that you have marked "small" could easily become large projects if not careful!
And, I think the screenshot web page is a good idea! Would you be offended if someone else did that? (I probably won't, but I still think it's a good idea.) This is one of those cases where registering the domain name (I checked) might be a good idea, if you would get offended by someone taking that idea, at least force them to choose a new name.
Thanks for your commentary. This is exactly why I feel it is such a good thing to share one's ideas openly. I agree these are not concrete ideas - they are more of a reminder for me next time I'm looking for a project. E.g. "sound-gen in flash" is basically to remind me that it is now possible to synthesize audio in Flash dynamically. You can fill an array with 44,100 bytes (0-255) and it will play that for one second. This would be a very logical extension of my research project: http://chir.ag/493 and http://chir.ag/493/water/ that was done using a Java Applet. I figure Flash work pretty well for stuff like this too.
I have absolutely no problems with anyone else making these apps or buying the domain names including screenshotnow.com. In fact I expect others to either make these apps or completely obsolete them by making other things that work even better. I move things down to the 'baked' section once I find something has been already made well. E.g. I wanted to make an equation solver/calculator-creator using JSMath. It would let anyone with very basic math skills to create say, a mortgage calculator using simple formulas. Then anyone could fill in the variables to get the answer. And you could share your calculators with others. One day I found this: http://my.instacalc.com/calc/429c5824467344b29f3dbdb57c58498... and it does almost exactly what I wanted to do (though I would have a different/nicer UI).
And then I'll say if you are considering Eureka, CA (or Arcata, CA, ten miles away), I will heavily recommend Corvallis, OR instead. I've lived in these places, and the difference in the attitudes I get from people is amazing.
Oddly enough, after I moved to Corvallis (from the east coast) is when I read that essay, which led me to reading all his other essays, and to reading Hacker News!
Back to topic, most small towns feel stifling to me; you may be fine with what entails but I need some socialization, and what PG says about how cities (and towns) can influence the inhabitants seems to hold true, or at least it seems to hold true for me.
Best of luck to OP where ever your travels take you!
If this is the same Dover book we used in our graph theory class, I found it difficult to learn from without a professor explaining the unclear sections. Not just doing the exercises, but some of the things they presented as trivial had some important steps missing.
I would expect that there are plenty of small US cities that are cheap for those who don't want to deal with a new country while they are trying to set up a startup, however....
While low expenses are a good thing, I've learned the hard way I'd much rather pay higher rent to live somewhere I am happy, than to halve my expenses and live somewhere not as nice.
On the other hand, I think I'd appreciate almost any of the cities on this list.
If you are asking which I'd pick, I'd pick google. However, I'd specifically want to work on/with google earth. I think google earth is awesome and would like to know more about it, the technology behind it, the geosciences that make it possible, etc...
If you are trying to figure out which offer you should take, you should ask yourself what you would rather be doing. Would you rather be working in the world of searching? Or social media? It might be worth asking both of the companies for more information on what roles and responsibilities you would be expecting, and what department they might stick you in.
I wouldn't stress it as the most important decision of your life -- after all, if you work at google and decide you don't like it, you wouldn't be the only person to apply at facebook! ;)