jkeel · HackerTrans

I agree. I wish there was a more organized "left" but from what I've seen it's just many many random groups that are not on the "right". If there was an organized left, then they should focus only on improving the well being of the average US family through improving the economy and healthcare to work for everyone. The left let's itself get baited into these culture wars. If everyone's lives improved then I believe a lot of these culture war issues would improve as a byproduct of a happier populace who would be more forgiving to those around them.

jkeel

10 anni fadiscuss

Except I'm not sure this is an "unreal" risk. I was telling someone a story today about how I was outside with my daughter who was 10 at the time. We live in cul-de-sac and 2 houses down there is a neighborhood pool but across the street (very non-busy street). The neighborhood has some unused wood from building a fence and sent an email out saying that people could take some. My daughter said she wanted to take a wagon and go get some to make a project. I encouraged her to go alone but I'd watch from the front of the house, but next to the road (I'm literally 2 houses away). I actually thought it would be good for her to do it alone (with me watching). I watch as she looks both ways before crossing and being very careful of her surroundings, etc.

Then all of a sudden the teenage boy (about 15-16 years old) runs out of the house over to her and starts talking to her. The mother runs out soon after. I walk over there and they are talking to her and looking concerned at me. I walk up and the mom is yelling at me about letting my daughter outside alone. I explain to her that I was here the whole time watching. She then says that some stranger could have come up to her in which I reply, "I know. It's a good thing I was here."

My daughter said she was afraid to go in the front yard after that because she said the creepy neighbors are probably watching her. Thank goodness they moved away a few months ago.

jkeel

11 anni fadiscuss

I hope your app does well and catches on. I enjoy meeting new people and not always just dating. I'm going to spread the word!

jkeel

12 anni fadiscuss

My grandfather was a truck driver for over 40 years. He worked for a few different companies at during his lifetime but his last was for the US postal service. He said that was the life for a truck driver. He over drove twice a week (to and from Dallas, TX x2). I think it's really hard to get a job with them as a truck driver from what I remember.

Anyways, I love the truck driver culture. Before my grandfather worked for USPS, I would go with him on trips and we would go to these truck stops that were more like diners. I'm not sure if a lot of those exist anymore but the waitress would always remember my grandfather and he would just say, "my usual". Fond memories.

jkeel

13 anni fadiscuss

Good point about not loosing 1st amendment protection.

jkeel

13 anni fadiscuss

Yippee! Only 3 in my town! (1 - Raid on an Innocent Suspect, 2 - Death of an innocent) :-/

jkeel

13 anni fadiscuss

That's what I'd like to know too? I'm reminded of the old line I hear of "well, that escalated quickly".

Shouldn't there be maybe a simple check from a non-armed individual (I'm thinking a nice gentleman or lady in business attire - an investigator). Seems like most people will gladly help the police if they are kind and courteous. Then if that doesn't work out, bring in standard officers (no SWAT), to discuss matters but without breaking into a house. There still seems like there should be many levels of escalation before a SWAT is called.

Only if some sort of armed conflict occurs then a SWAT team is probably necessary and called in with proper escalation procedures. Why jump straight to armed conflict mode by bringing in a SWAT? Heck, I would even wager to say that RIGHT before a SWAT is called if you warn the individuals that if they don't comply, a SWAT will be called, then just the warning will be enough. Still I can't stress enough, that there should be escalation procedures. Long escalation procedures.

jkeel

13 anni fadiscuss

I'm don't think I agree with laws that can throw people in jail for making non-funny and grotesque comments. I'm not sure what being a young white male has to do with it either.

On the flip side, I would have found it more understandable that the police do a thorough investigation to decide if any laws have been broken. I fail to see the crime committed.

jkeel

13 anni fadiscuss

I dislike that in the article they removed the context of his statement. Just reading this, it sounds like he was making a threat, but if you read the KHOU.com (Houston) article it appears that here's merely mocking the person who is calling him insane.

http://www.khou.com/news/texas-news/Texas-teen-charged-with-...

NPR version: "I think Ima shoot up a kindergarten / And watch the blood of the innocent rain down/ And eat the beating heart of one of them."

KHOU version: 'Oh you're insane, you're crazy, you're messed up in the head,’ to which he replied 'Oh yeah, I'm real messed up in the head, I'm going to go shoot up a school full of kids and eat their still, beating hearts,’ and the next two lines were lol and jk.,"

jkeel

13 anni fadiscuss

Yeah, I live in San Antonio and go to New Braunfels pretty often. I wouldn't call it a small town.

The whole thing seems absurd. His statement is obviously making fun of the person calling him insane, not a threat. It's pretty bad when you have to be so careful with what you say, because it can be considered "terroristic". Who get's to make that determination and how long do you get to sit in jail for until it's decided regarding a crime that wasn't committed?

jkeel

13 anni fadiscuss

That's what I was wondering. The comma is just a separator. Plus it's only really needed BEFORE each field not after the preceding field.

jkeel

13 anni fadiscuss

Nice to see this discussion on HN. Back in early 2000, when I worked at Walmart's home office in Bentonville, we had a speaker come and talk to ISD about this exact topic. That was the main line that stuck with me, "Employees leave managers, not companies". It's probably not the case 100% of the time for causing the loss of an employee, but having a good manager makes all the world of a difference in an employee's happiness.

jkeel

13 anni fadiscuss

Sorry to hear about the response. Hopefully I didn't come off as being negative. I thought maybe I was learning something as well. Different people have different experiences. I myself don't know much about Canada except that it appears to be a beautiful place I want to visit some day.

jkeel

13 anni fadiscuss

Maybe it's due to the fact I graduated from the UT system, but I thought it was well known that UT Austin had a top notch CS program.

jkeel

14 anni fadiscuss

Based on the information in the article, I cannot see how they can be just to go after him. With that logic they could go after owners of apartment buildings or even arenas (music festivals/shows tend to have people doing drugs there).

jkeel

14 anni fadiscuss

Good if-by-whiskey example. For those that weren't on HN yesterday: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/If-by-whiskey

jkeel

14 anni fadiscuss

Plus, just allowing access to code and having them deliver it isn't the end. You need to be involved in Quality Management (code reviews, testing, etc.) to make sure they are doing a job to your standards (or better!) That stuff takes time and it looks like he was managing it well if he was getting good reviews.

jkeel

14 anni fadiscuss

I support my wife and 4 kids and the way I've had to deal with insurance is by getting a High-deductible Health Plan which pays 100% after the deductible is met. Then by having a HDHP I qualify for a Health Savings Account (HSA) which I can put a certain amount into each year pre-tax. The money I put into the HSA grows with decent interest if I don't use it. I get a Visa debit card which I use whenever I go to the doctor, dentist, etc. It still costs a lot of money each month, but so far so good.

jkeel

14 anni fadiscuss

I have 4 children and they are all young (under 10). While after having kids my motivation and drive to do more increased, it actually took a few years for me to figure out what worked for me. I had to give up a couple of my most favorite past times (writing music, playing in bands, and video games).

I found I had to just pick one major task to do in my spare time so I chose focusing on personal projects. I usually woke up earlier than everyone else and went to bed later than everyone else to make it work. I would commit to at least 1 full hour to working on a project per night (which wouldn't always work out). The key for getting a project done was laying out the tasks and always moving forward so that every hour was spent getting closer to completion.

It was a long road but I now enjoy working for myself as an independent consultant, I have a side project I work with a friend on, and I have my own product I'm working on as well.

I would say that it's a little easier when the children get older but not too much as they start becoming more active in activities like girl/boy scouts, sports, etc.

jkeel

14 anni fadiscuss

I agree. Even now (2012 - almost 2013) there are still lots of services needed but when I was a teenager I unfortunately kept looking for a type of job that my friends had instead of looking for a need to fill (I eventually did land a very different job though working alongside field workers).

Today I've seen adults in their 30's and 40's jump out of the IT industry to start their own business scooping dog poop out of back yards and making enough money to live on. Same thing with cleaning swimming pools. There are lots of services they could provide.