kloc

Is software estimation relevant in this community? Assuming most of the folks here are working in startup environment, I am curious if software estimation is done and if yes how. I work in a big organization where estimation is done by a gut feeling of someone senior and often outdated with latest technology trends. This result in over estimation of as much as 5 times (sometimes 10 times) the actual effort required. I wonder if software estimation is an art or science. Please point out to some good resources to learn good software estimation.

People get used to poverty. People in unhappy jobs get used to their jobs. People get used to failures. People get used to corruption.People get used to bad marriages.People get used to bad habits. Do you know how to break this cycle?

I am going to start a personal web project and professionally I am an Asp.Net(MVC) programmer. I have been trying Django which is nice and want to learn and use it. But sometimes I am too inclined to just start using Asp.net MVC. Obvious benefits to use are: 1) I am well versed in Asp.net (MVC) and Dotnet framework. 2) I have MSDN license so access to all MS tools. 3) Visual Studio is an awesome IDE. Some reasons not to use: 1) MS lock in. 2) Expensive hosting(??). 3) Not so cool :)

I am confused b/w choosing a country specific TLD (ccTLD) or the Dot Com TLD (gTLD) for my domain.My website/blog will only cater to a specific country.What would be better from SEO and "end user perception" perspective. Also, ccTLD for the Domain Name I like is available and gTLD is not.

I have been reading newspaper everyday for as long as I can remember. I am thinking of canceling my subscription( I read Hindu in India). Reasons to stop: 1) By the time I get the newspaper next day most of the news I had already read on line. 2) Most of the news is not useful or uninteresting to me like crime, bad road, CM inaugurating a new flyover etc etc. 3) Too much paper to handle, I live in a small apartment, clean it once in a week and I have paper scattered all over my place by then. 4) The time I spend reading can be used to read something more interesting to me. Reasons not to stop: 1) Will miss out the editorials. 2) Will miss out the weekly magazine and monthly literary review. 3) Will miss the daily cartoon strips (Calvin n Hobbes fan).

All of the above can be still read on line but I don't think I will be really doing it. There are more interesting things(like read Hacker News, reddit etc) to do on line :)