No reason to gloat. Yea, I eat them too, but not proud of my actions.
2,272 karma · joined February 17, 2021
In all honesty, I haven't found a writer, or journalist, I'm giving any money to besides a few honest non-profits. (And yes it's hard to find a honest 501c3.)
I feel you should put the affiliate links on your writing. It's not selling out. It's selling out when you have good income, security, and a home.
I don't have any problems with average people putting up affiliate links, or ads.
It's the wealthy boys who can never get enough monetary praise I have a problem with.
You guys were still drooling over Zuckerburg, and that movie. (Some claim different, but for many Zuck was John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever for a generation of nerds. Yes, it's embarrassing now, because they All sold out. Facebook, Google, etc. were going to make society better. The story is still unfolding, but greed rules when you get out of school? I guess?
She copied Steve Jobs with her rediculious attire, and we all were afaraid to ask the tough questions because of her gender. Everytime I questioned her company, someone would accuse me of misogyney in a subtle ways.
In the end, she blamed her actions on that little fat guy who followed her around like a hungry puppy dog.
In a way, I'm glad we had a Holmes. Getting that gold rush money was irritating for those that didn't have the inside friends, or the wealthy parents.
I haven't been able to sleep through the night for decades.
The number one cause if not depressed, anxious, or blew a mental gasket (sorry about the nomenclature. Psychiatry is very much an art. I have a hard time with their diagnoses.); is alcohol use. Too much. You go to sleep, but wake up three hours later.
So I agree with you that stone is a better material for holding heat, by how much--I don't know.
Having a stone fireplace might make sence heating one room, but I still have my doubts on energy saved, unless you have some kind of adobe house built around a huge stone fireplace.
It just seems more practical to have hydronic heating in your structure than a stove in each room. I have tried to heat a home with a Wolf Stove in a fireplace. A Wolf stove use just a metal stove with a fan in it. It's a fireplace insert. It only heats up the room it's in. It does heat up the bricks on the fireplace, but not enough to keep heat in when the fire is out.
If anyone decides to put in a hydronic heating system, you will like it. It's good for allergies too. I put one in a bay area home, and the install is pretty simple. The books make it much more complicated than needed.
Basically put down pex piping, or registers (radiators, baseboard) in each room. Soneyinrd you need both. Buy a boiler that has been around awhile. Condensing boilers are new, but efficient. Buy your primary pump, and your sector pumps. Know the difference between primary, and secondary piping. You will need an expansion tank. I used a mixture of copper, and pex. And a thermostat.
(In the Bay Area, we use natural gas. An electric heating here is very costly. Stay away from electric. Oh yea, for some reason hydronic heating was stopped in the 50's here. Contractors went to forced air, even though most homes don't have air conditioning. This means many hvac techs do not know how to work on hydronic, but act like they do. So double check their estimates.)
I will keep the 1st editions, and most reference books.
I feel can toss everyone of my computer books. (Not one did I find well written, or worth keeping. If anyone decided to write a computer/programming book take out every unneeded word. Maybe take a technical writing course if you live near a good university?)
It's just hard to get rid of reference books.
I have never met a man who cared about what color of anything they wear.
I have never heard a man even notice makeup, other than being too much.
And the big one--shoes. Men don't notice shoes. We just gasp at the price. I have a sister who because a multimillionaire making/selling shoes to women. She knew how they felt about shoes, and exploited it. Oh yea, throw in hand bags. I have never heard a male utter this sentance, "But did you see her handbag?"
Female fashion is not due to men. Men got a break on this one war. You can argue the mini-skirt was man's doing, but that's pretty much it.
(This is just for America. I have no clue to the rest of the world.)
I asked the first one about his fee. I went in not knowing. I had this horrid anxiety that just wouldn't go away. He says, "pay me what you think I'm worth."
I was in such angony, but did't want to piss this guy off. He had a good reputation. He offered no medication, and had this rediculious theory my anxiety was post traumatic syndrome from the '88 earthquake.
Anyway ge told me his fee was $450.00. I paid it and left.
I saw a Phd. Psychologist I found in the yellow pages. I talked and talked. I cried, and cried. Nothing was stopping the daily anxiety.
I ended up finding a Psychiatrist who didn't rape me on price. He put me on two very addictive drugs, and I've been on them decades. The mandatory appointments are tedious. I get absolutely nothing out of them. I've been on the same dose, so I think i'm just addicted, and any perceived pharmaceutical help is placebo.
Anyway--unless you hear voices (really bad voices that are bothering you greatly I added that tidbit about voices because they found schizophrenics do better long term without meds), or ready to commit suicide; I would stay away from the entire profession.
Oh yea, in your twenties and thirties, they are rough decades. If you don't bust a gasket consider yourself lucky.
If I had a do over, I don't think I would have ever seeked help. It's kinda a joke. It's definitely an art.
You are minutes away from the beach, and mountains.
A lot of the jobs are union.
I've been to a lot of cities, and none compare to SF.
As to the homeless. It's everywhere. America is not what it used to be. I don't care where I go--there's a homeless problem.
The police force needs an enema though. I would like to see a top down firing. It's been terrible for years. They need social workers instead of harassment, They need to lower ridiculous traffic fines though, but every town has been slowly raising fees/fines. I would like to see all nepotism in city hiring stopped.
San Francisco is going nowhere. It will just get more popular once the Covid problem is abated.
Oh yea, if you are a SF resident, and have a sick pet, you will never find a more reasonable vet than their SPCA.
Live life too. Experience how the others live. Always write from the heart.
In all honestly, I don't feel wealthy men can write well. Strike that last sentance. They can churn out sentences, but they are not interesting.
We suffer through their writing becacuse they are wealthy.
We feel they must have something inciteful to say because we equate wealth with talent.
I think every wealthy writer knows their best work was done when they were comming up, and almost always when they were poor, and struggling.
I can honestly say the only perk of being poor is you will be a good writer of you take the time to write something, or better than the wealthy man on his best day.
(I don't feel like a debate. It's just my opinion. And I'm sure you will find good writers that are financially well off, but they wern't always wealthy.)
The American people seem so disenfranchised they might let it slide, while the wealthy boys will use their money to buy goodwill.
I hope not.
A wealthy man gets a $270 red light ticket. (This is the one where turning right on a red light is illegial. It seems like they arbitrarily decide which intersection to enforce?). The wealthy man casually mentions it over din din. Goes to sleep, and has the help drive his spawn to private schools. Yea--I live in a county filled with rich people, and they are obnoxious on so many levels.
To the poor man it might be part of his rent.
So yes--if I ran things; The wealthy would pay more at DMV, bail, patent fees, incorporation fees, etc., and especially property taxes. You want a third mansion so you don't have to look at your neighbors---get ready to pay Zuck.
I would love to see Jay Leno pay a $100,000 speeding ticket.
(I believe they are trying this in Sweden?)
I have found the opposite though, but not on new hires.
On new hirers the employee is looking at money, and reputation.
I have seen guys stay in mediocre companies for years because they like the owners, and the managers.
A place can have a lot of perks, but if the employee doesn't feel like they are family/team; you will have an employee that does the bare minimum, or tries to sabotage at worse.
Those middle managers whom are terrible with people are poison to the company.
I used to work for a restaurant consultant firm. I basically got the job because I spent way to much time hiding out in school, and was a cook in high school.
Our job was to go in as customers and find out why the business was mediocre. We also looked at the accounting. (This was before cameras were everywhere.)
I did feel like a weasel, but told my boss employee theft is not part of my job. I will not go to court, or even turn in tap tillers (guys basically stealing). The restaurant industry is rife with theft.
My boss's attitude was basically try to turn over help every six months. It's cruel, but effective.
I noticed a trend. On pretty much every fledgling site I went to, there was one, or two, people who made the staff angry. The employees seemed to take it out on the restaurant.
They were all middle manager types.
I once went into this bar in SF that used to be profitable. I went there a few times. There was this one bartender/manager who was nice initially, but had a very bad side to her. She literally alienated 90% of the staff. Even customers did not want to deal with her.
She was a friend of the owner. She was the queen of Mixology (Her title), and mean. She had something nasty to say all the time, but was cagey. When someone was watching her, she was Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz.
I told my boss the problem, but the owner never fired her.
I left the job after a few months.
Most of the restrants failed because they were in the wrong location, or food wasen't right, but there were places that went down to one, or two, toxic people.
Admit defeat.
Get used to just making a barely livable income, like the rest of us.
Stop begging. Stop the obnoxious ads. Stop the shady subscription schemes. Enough with the .99 cent for six week promos. We obviously don't value you enough to give your access to our debit cards.
Newspapers you lost the war.
The sooner you realize it the better.
Follow the PBS model at this point.
(And I realize the importance of non-biased news. I wouldn't mind seeing tax money going to certain high quality organizations.)
I started using it because I ran out if cutting fluid, and noticed no difference.
(It seems like I'm always being told to use this oil, or cleaner, when I'm working on a project. Before paying for the brand name, I always look up the MSDS on the product. Many products can be made at home with experimenting.)
How about this senerio though.
I heard our President yak about his accomplishments this morning. I was half asleep, but felt his voice sounded different. I thought maybe just hoarse, or I was wrong about his voice.
I was thinking about his appearance. I don't know if I would recognize him if he walked up to me on the street without the suit.
Ok the Hollywood script.
Joe biden goes into a hospital. He only wants certain Secret Service personnel around.
His boy, and wife, are tragically killed in a plane accident.
Joe decides he needs grieving time.
The year before all this happens the NSO finds a lookalike Joe Biden, and performs all the necessary surgery.
A few more weeks pass, and the switch is performed. The real Joe is gone. The fake one is in power.
Then China, or Russia, have control.
(I guess if there was suspicion--the FBI could perform a dna test though? I think someone did this in a movie.)
It's not just an argument in class; it's plastered all over the internet and could have far reaching future problems for their future.
I like the fact students have more of a say.
In my day, I had a chemistry teacher harrass me to the point I needed to change schools. I remember going to a school counselor, and the counselor said, "Dr. Bezergian is crazy, and you are the type he likes to go after. At the time, I didn't understand "the type". It turns out he would make life in his class difficult if certain students that didn't return his advances. I started putting it all together when I was in a bar celebrating finishing second semester of Organic Chem. after enrolling in a different college. I was giving my usual Dr. Berzergian stories. A guy from another table chimed in and knew the PhD. He filled me in on his personality picadillos.
My point is even if we had the internet back then I probally wouldn't have said anything about the guy, but the other guys who had to switch schools for chem, or just drop out of college, probally would have posted something about the man. Hell, we woukd probally have our tuition paid over his sexuality and the way he tried to get his dates?
I lost my point.
I guess it's just discussing topics in class shouldn't be posted on the internet, unless those topics are causing damage to the students. I guess we will argue over whats bad enough to ruin a teacher's reputation in school, and socially?
My father bought his last new truck in 1998.
The salesman ask my father about power windows, and other accessories. My father was a Shade Tree mechanic his whole life. He just looked a me, and said, "I hope I never see the day I can't roll down a window, and those motors are just another thing to fix."
I was comfortable with the computer controlling the truck. I knew they had federal standards, and requirements. I also remember an instructor telling us, you will see a lot of mechanics replace the computer. It's not the computer. The failures rate of a vechicle's computer is extremely low. What happens is the mechanics damages the computer by checking it's ohms with the wrong DVOM, or short it out by accident.
My point is about simplicity, and the availability of parts.
I believe the only computers that the federal government demands high standards for are the main computer that you plug your scan tool into, and in many vechicles the sewerage power train computer.
All those dash computers don't have the same quality demands from the government?
I just don't want to see the day where only wealthy people buy vechicles because of maintenance/repair costs.
In the 70's a guy could get a backbreaking job, and still have opportunities of getting something better. A union construction job was usually a test away from a hire.
You could afford an apartment, by yourself, or 1 roommate, with the wage paid. (An apartment by yourself, and not cramming multiple families under one roof.)
In the 80's a guy getting out of prison actually had a few jobs that were waiting. Buying a truck, and starting an unlicensed landscaping business was always there. House painting was always there. Tree Trimming business was always there.
Today there's just too much competition, and bonds, licenses, and customers who know the rules. And customers who know they can hire on the very cheap if they have too.
And you could live in a one room apartment, and pay your bills. Hell, you could even go out on the weekends and feel potent. You could look at the pansy wealthy boys and smirk.
As for teens, and twenty somethings, who didn't want to break their backs; there were always cashier jobs, sales, stocking, security, etc.
Now--those jobs are treated as careers by desperate immigrants.
Immigrants who have different cultures than American. I said nothing about race. I'm talking culture. There's many of you looking to pounce--I know.
The story was written well. I was looking for a rich guy's name as the Writer. Wealthy boys like to write about the time dad made them get a lousy job. Oh, they never mention dad. It was always their decision to get that hard job. Later in life they can claim they know what it's like to work hard. And at best it was only a few months of getting their hands dirty. In their Horacio Algier's fictional mind they actually belive they are the hard working Americans, but they use money as their tool. They always leave out all the perks of growing up wealthy, and sympathetic dad that helps out at the right times right up into their 40's.
The difference is the poor work hard everyday. They wake up with their muscles hurting. It's cool until you hit 45, or maybe 50. After that homelessness becomes a viable option.
America should be ashamed of itself.
You got more profit by making product overseas. You somehow convinced workers unions don't work.
You allowed in too many poor cultures to fill those lousy jobs American teens/twenties used to count on.
I don't feel like a debate. I've been wanting to say this for awhile.
(I am not a fan of overregulation. In the USA we have made practically everything illegial.)
I have seen them squash interesting debates.
I had one guy email me, and tell me at home to stop commenting so much. (Never forgot that one, and there are no TOS. I will probally pay for those last two sentences? Then again if HN is what it claims, maybe not?)
What makes this place special is there are a wide range of people here interested in many subjects. What I love most is cutting through the bull. I doubt there's a person here who doesn't know about The Scientific Method, or The Placebo Effect.
We don't automatically give credit to the wealthy boys unless they did something really spectacular in their lives, and we want to know exactly how much help the wealthy family had in the success. We don't let them pontificate ad nausium because they made money. We scrutinize and investigate everyone, and every idea. From the best in class PhDs to lost disenfranchised souls. Everyone has a chance to make their point.
Hacker News is by far the best site for technical discussion.
(I do spend too much time here. It's my fault though. I don't have much of a life, and I am lonely. I am looking for new sites besides Reddit. Reddit would be so much better if everyone wasen't trying out for a SNL contract.)
As a kid, I remember seeing 5000 Sudafed (actually the main chemical ingredient) for $20. I was always confused. Why would anyone want so much cold medicine, and later on--they must be for confusing the drug buyers.
Even with all the advertising, and copious amounts of Sudafed, making meth was an unknown to many drug dealers.
I had a chem teacher in college who liked to tell about the student he had who made meth, and sold it. Forget his name? Anyway, the word was he ruined his eyesight because early on he worked with too much mercury. There was one student who kept her book open during the test. He would walk up/down the isles and couldn't spot her cheating.
Low grade coke was everywhere. I tried it three times in my twenties. I was offered it at parties. All three times off duty cops offered it to me. Yea--probally evidence. I never felt anything though? It was weak, or my constitution was different?
A lot of people smoked cigarettes. Coke was around. Drinking was like today, but one for the road was real. Opiates were only for the down, and out.
Amyone who has registered with them knows this.
Go with Goole for $13. You will never hear from them. You won't have to worry about drug fueled marking bs, or unethical behavior.
After trying at least 7 antidepressants over the years; I sometimes wonder exactly how much over Placebo do they work.
My doctor finally came clean one day. Antidepressants at their best might give you a bit more energy.
I noticed he started prescribing bupenorpine off label for treatment resistant depression. I understand why. I think he got tired of seeing patients not responding to traditional antidepresssants.
Most psychiatrists will not deviate from the old standbys though, even the progressive doctors.
(I can offer this. With time you will start to feel better. Everyone's biology is different. My depression when it hits sometimes takes a few weeks/months to lighten up, but it always lightened up, and wasen't tied to situational circumstances.)
I think just spending time with a plant might make it more healthy, even doing the bonsai thing which always kinda bothered me too.
Yea--there are no citations. Just a wacky thought I have had for awhile.
I had an english teacher in college accuse me of cheating. Well accused me in a roundabout way. My paper was on psychosurgery, and violent criminals. He said he needed to ask his girfriend, who had MFCC, how to pronounce amygdala. From then on I dumbed down my papers for him. I would purposely use a bunch of semicolons, and dashes.
I loved to write until I had that guy as a teacher.