Ask HN: What "impossible" things have you done?
Have you been told by someone "That's impossible!" and then went on to do it, just to prove them wrong?
What current things do you think are impossible?
Please share your stories, and your challenges!
Have you been told by someone "That's impossible!" and then went on to do it, just to prove them wrong?
What current things do you think are impossible?
Please share your stories, and your challenges!
I was told I couldn't get a job in the company they were working in. They said I was too junior. I applied anyway and got it ^_^
The flip side is that I've been told that I'm never going to succeed in launching a business. Been stubbornly trying for a long time T_T
A minor example to kick things off
Long, long ago I was told you couldn't boot Unix and MS-DOS from the same hard drive. (Back before Linux was a thing) It took some cleaver tweaking of the boot sector, but I had it working reliably the next day.
I like that.
I used to keep track of ways to dual-boot Linux and DOS/W9x and never could pull the trigger until NT6 and Grub1 reached enough maturity to make it actually seem like I could achieve it. I guess I waited about 10 years :\
One weekend long ago I designed, built, and deployed a high-precision electronic temperature controller to replace a mercury-containing unit which was originally included with laboratory reference instrumentation.
Before there was a commercial all-electronic alternative to the originals.
Using only parts that could be bought at Radio Shack at the time :)
There was no spite involved :) Nobody cares about this kind of days' work. Personal pride should be rewarding enough.
I had no idea if it was going to be possible until I was done anyway :\
Plus I had bigger fish to fry that had already been proven possible, even though the hard work needed was years, not a weekend, and odds of success were still much lower than an iffy new circuit.