I might soon be part of an internet startup. We're talking with a relative about setting up a consultancy & business news service on a certain sector, and I've generated a part of the idea and accepted to take on the technical/editorial side for a while (I've almost a year til when I start my master's, and will probably work up until when I start my thesis; so almost two years). If things work out, this might be a dream job (except academia) for me, and even very lucrative. But I'm fairly n00b in this space, both business and professional work, though I have the technical skills. Thus I'm seeking general advice on

• how to organise this thing: how to make sure we communicate well on dates and plans and how to make educated guesses when setting up an agenda

• how much will it cost: we'll start with making a database and running a sector-specific blog/news site as publicity (though I'll make sure the content is quite decent, not just a showpiece), but then later we'll introduce a tangential online service and a mobile app leveraging that crowd

• working with non-techies: I'll be the only techie in this startup and I need to help people with gathering, storing, organising and utilising historical data with certain variables, ensuring they keep an accurate record and can make quality queries easily; the 3 people apart from me will be non technical

I think quite a bit of you here have been involved in this sort of scenario, so maybe you could have some advice for me. I'd appreciate anything, examples of approaches, links to tools, what not, anything you think could be useful. Thanks a lot in advance!

It's a dry, windy day. I had my left hand stationary on my cat's back and was petting him with my right hand. I noticed when I removed my right hand from contact with his fur, I got tiny shocks in the middle finger of my left hand, but only when removing my right hand and only in my left middle finger. (He didn't seem to notice any shocks.)

Why is this very specific type of electric shock occurring?

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Black Mirror Season 4 Episode 4 - Crocodile

Paired up by a dating program that puts an expiration date on all relationships, Frank and Amy soon begin to question the system's logic.

Black Mirror Netflix link

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I started Dear White People with a skepticism towards their intent. I thought the name of the show was an indication that it would be another example of media exploiting identity politics. I began watching with that expectation and held that perspective for quite a while afterwards.

The characters and story itself immediately engaged me. I was compelled by virtually every person and their experiences. The students of Armstrong-Parker are unique, passionate, ambitious and intelligent. As a natural result of this perspective it was easy for me to want to entertain their ideas and arguments.

This experience was at odds with another: The students extended very little thought and charity towards any opposing ideas or experiences of people outside of their ideology and social group. I felt uneasy that these characters who I liked and respected were making so many failures in upholding their intellectual integrity.

After a long period of confused enjoyment I realized that my issue was a false assumption. My initial expectation felt like it was being reinforce continuously so I never thought to reconsider the shows intent. After some reflection I think the actual intent is demonstrating the deeper problems of identity politics through the “good” characters exhibiting real human flaws. The racial issues are, of course, important and I’m glad to have engaged them but the true value is in the subtleties of how people interact with each other on these issues.

So I've just finished watching the new season. I had low expectations going in, given how the writers had to cut out their main character at the eleventh hour, but I still can't help but feel disappointed.

Soo many plot threads left open. No repercussions for any of the shit that went down over the last 5 years. The good journalist ends up dead, Claire Underwood commits murder literally in the oval office while secret service is right outside the door and then... nothing. That's it. That's what we get for series a finale. I mean, what?

I've also been quite pissed off how they tried to turn Claire into a feminist icon. Claire is a monster. She is at least as bad as Frank. She wanted to literally start a nuclear war to deflect attention away from herself.

Don't get me wrong, having a feminist message is ok. It's good. It's even timely. But not with Claire fucking Underwood for fucks sake! In the first episode where that female soldier asks her if she even has a plan so that more soldiers won't end up dead, Claire snarks at her with "you wouldn't ask me that if I was a man". Really? This fresh recruit, this soldier who you will be sending to her death is asking you - someone who never held any public office before - whether you have a plan and your response is fuck patriarchy?

How about that scene where she fires her entire cabinet and fills it with an all-female cast? Forget about real life, it's not even realistic in the show's world. Remember how hard Frank had to fight, how many people he had to cross, bribe and even murder just to replace a single seat in earlier seasons? Where was the senate? Did everyone else just roll over; how come nobody fought her on this? It felt like the writers really, really wanted to play out their deepest, guilty-pleasure Hillary 2016 fantasies out on the show and the script suffered for it.

If they just left things at the last season's finale where Claire looked into the camera with "my turn!" it would have been a much more powerful moment, certainly better than this disorganized, directionless mess we got.

So yeah, that's where I'm at. How about you?