Ask HN: What are you thankful for?

I am thankful for my fingers.

Last week I was just about to enter a hotel. A teen exited from the heavy and large revolving door, and being a teen, he made sure the doors were spinning really fast when he left. When I was entering, I tried to stop it: I put my hand on one of the doors and tried to pull back.

Big mistake.

I realized the door was too heavy and still spinning rather rapidly. By the time I left my hand, the door was a centimeter away from finally entering the outside frame. I pulled away my hand just in time, but the shear weight of such a door coupled with the speed would have wiped out my fingers (there is no space between the door and the outside frame). I wouldn't know what would have happened.

In another instance, somebody closed a steal door (not common in North America) against my fingers. I went straight to the hospital as I couldn't move my fingers, but luckily everything was alright after a few hours. But a revolving door is a different story. It doesn't stop.

I'm thankful that my mother struggled to leave the Soviet Union so that I could be born in America. Although she didn't come directly here she likes to say that "she researched the subject thoroughly and decided America would be the best place to have children."

I'm thankful for my parents who gave me a computer when I was like 6 and supported my learning throughout the years.

I believe this was a very smart move. It's one of the main reasons I'm having fun doing my work today, without any money issues.

I'm grateful for the free open source software that's essential to keeping projects on budget.

That corny questions like these aren't nearly as frequent over here as they are on Reddit.

Hacker News

I only started actively reading and posting on HN in July this year, and it's been increasing my web/startup IQ like no other. I only wish I had started sooner.

Thanks to all of you for making this community happen.

It's very rare for me to find a book that I literally cannot put down, but last night I started reading "Blood, Sweat and Tea: Real Life Adventures in an Inner-city Ambulance" - it's a collection of blog entries from a chap who worked in the emergency services.

This made me appreciate all the times my family and I have had the benefit of the emergency and health services - so I am very very grateful for the people in all countries who dedicate their lives to protecting and saving others.

I have a loving family, great friends, and that I was born with exceptional talent.

My co-founder.

Why is it especially appropriate today?

I'm thankful for all the genius programmers out there who have decided to contribute their time and expertise towards free and open source programs that allow me to do what I do.

"If I have seen further it is only by standing on the shoulders of giants." - Newton

I'm thankful that my oldest son discovered programming (and HN, and other useful online communities) after being a math-avid little boy. The math background still comes in handy, but he enjoys computer science even more than math.

I'm grateful for the awesome community that HN is :)

I am thankful for the fact that I continue to have the opportunity to live another day, to be able to breath on my own, walk on my own, and think on my own and to have the opportunity each day to make a positive impact on my wife-kids-family-neighbors-friends-strangers and the world.

This: http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/2010/p...

Other taxpayers' money.

Canadian Thanksgiving.

Nothing at all - I am a grumpy old man.

And I like it this way, dammit.

(seriously, ask a silly question, get a stupid answer).

I'm thankful for having the opportunity to chase my dreams, instead of being forced to steal or worse for mere survival.

I'm thankful for great American people like Sarah Palin. And for our old allies like North Korea, Syria, Iran etc.

I am thankful for being lucky to lead a happy, healthy life, having loving parents and a decent job.

I am thankful to my belief that it still hasn't given up that I will make big one day.

what else do you need to be thankful for than health and family?

In no particular order, I am thankful for opportunity. I'm thankful for most of the great things our nation has to offer, and how good it is overall even when parts of it are very, very broken. I'm thankful that there are (or were) people like Mark Twain, Kurt Vonnegut, Neil Gaiman, to write words, thoughts and ideas that captivate, provoke and inspire me. I'm thankful for my family, and that none of them have any horribly pressing problems. I'm thankful that even in this economy, and with others in terrible plight, that I am able to afford and appreciate a meal shared with the people I love.

I am extremely thankful that expertise in my hobbies are valuable; and there are a couple times where I really f'd up, and consequences could have been much worse than they were.

opportunities!

The internet, I wouldn't be who I am today without it.