Ask HN: What were your naivetés in your twenties? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: What were your naivetés in your twenties?

#251

Post by tome » Thu, Jul 01, 2010, 4:03 PM UTC

lsc wrote: post #230

stratospark wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your mom was teaching you more about responsibility than anything else.

I understand that was the intent. The problem is that it teaches rote work, which is quite a bit less useful than triage and delegation, I think, when it comes to general 'responsibility' I /always/ will have more tasks that i want done than I have time. I need to decide what tasks I drop on the floor[1], what tasks i delegate to others, and what tasks I do myself. [1]dropping tasks gracefully is a /huge/ part of bei…

There will always be rote work, and it's worthwhile learning how to cope with it.

Re: Ask HN: What were your naivetés in your twenties?

#252

Post by infinite8s » Thu, Jul 01, 2010, 7:51 PM UTC

WalterBright wrote: post #208

Floss your teeth. Every day. Your older self will thank you.

Agreed. There are a lot of minor defects you can hide when you get older, but bad teeth is not one of them. And getting them fixed costs a lot of money!!

Re: Ask HN: What were your naivetés in your twenties?

#253

Post by runjake » Thu, Jul 01, 2010, 9:35 PM UTC

37, here. One of my - That the old saying "you can do anything" is hogwash. It gets parroted by your teachers and parents without a thought, but it's totally true. It comes down to how bad you want it and what you're willing to sacrifice.

Re: Ask HN: What were your naivetés in your twenties?

#254

Post by kranner » Fri, Jul 02, 2010, 3:41 AM UTC

gruseom wrote: post #200

chegra wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"We believe also that the white race of South Africa should be the predominating race."- Gandhi http://www.trinicenter.com/WorldNews/ghandi4.htm Yes, I'm talking about the early part of his life. Well if you feel comfortable - ex-racist.

If you go back far enough, you won't find anyone who thought the way we do about race, so the label you're putting on Gandhi here is an anachronism and the moralism implicit in it is glib. A more interesting place to look for Gandhi's shadow side is in the dynamics of his family, particularly his oldest son (IIRC) who lived out all the things his father hated; he became an alcoholic and, worse, a salesman.

But Gandhi shouldn't have had to be completely responsible for how his son turned out (assuming he turned out badly).

I might blame some but not all parents, as a class, if their kids became alcoholic, but in the case of specific individuals it's hard to say.

I agree with you on the first point.

Re: Ask HN: What were your naivetés in your twenties?

#255

Post by switch » Fri, Jul 02, 2010, 4:51 AM UTC

chegra wrote: post #203

kranner wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lots of people contribute nothing to racial harmony over their lives and yet they'd be sufficiently politically correct that you couldn't call them racist or ex-racist. Gandhi ended up having undone the damage to an incredible, extraordinary extent. I'm no Gandhi fanboy, but I don't see how the hint of blame that 'ex-racist' implies can be applied to his life.

Maybe you are right. I was using Gandhi as an example of how evaluating ones fault is not necessary the way to judge people for a job. Sure he made these mistake, but it didn't take away from his ability to unite people. That is the point I was trying to make, whether he was a racist or not, his genius still stands.

this is the stupidest comment I've ever read anywhere. Mahatma Gandhi did a lot for people in both South Africa and India. By glibly calling him a racist you're insulting an entire country and a great man.

Re: Ask HN: What were your naivetés in your twenties?

#256

Post by Psyonic » Fri, Jul 02, 2010, 6:20 AM UTC

chegra wrote: post #109

cookiecaper wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sports stars are something of an unusual situation. Things like instability generate publicity for the given player and his team. Rodman was good for the Bulls because: a. the Bulls is show business; people pay to see characters like Rodman b. celebrity tabloids/news pick up on "unstable" behavior and make a show out of it, which is good publicity and marketing for the subjects c. a long-term steady relationship is n…

[I didn't downvote you, I think you are making some valid points] What I'm trying to point out is not paint with broad strokes. But evaluate everything and everyone independently of rules. Flaws of people admired: 1) Gandhi - Racist 2) Martin Luther King - Copy someone's work for his phd. Also an adulterer. 3) Edgar Allan Poe - So disrespectful that he was disowned by his guardians. 4) Tesla - Hated fat people. 5) St…

Some of these are interesting. Gandhi, for instance, may have been racist in his early life. But if he changed as he aged, does that make him a racist forever? In other words, there was a racist Gandhi, but also a non-racist Gandhi. Which one gets the legacy? Both?

Re: Ask HN: What were your naivetés in your twenties?

#257

Post by chegra » Fri, Jul 02, 2010, 8:30 AM UTC

switch wrote: post #255

chegra wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe you are right. I was using Gandhi as an example of how evaluating ones fault is not necessary the way to judge people for a job. Sure he made these mistake, but it didn't take away from his ability to unite people. That is the point I was trying to make, whether he was a racist or not, his genius still stands.

this is the stupidest comment I've ever read anywhere. Mahatma Gandhi did a lot for people in both South Africa and India. By glibly calling him a racist you're insulting an entire country and a great man.

http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

You insult the whole community with your glib response. But it still stand Gandhi was racist in his early days.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2003/oct/17/southafrica.indi...

Re: Ask HN: What were your naivetés in your twenties?

#258

Post by Tichy » Fri, Jul 02, 2010, 4:16 PM UTC

bd wrote: post #126

torpor wrote: post #34

A couple things from this forty-year old: 1. If you want to have kids, do it sooner rather than later. The sooner you have them, the better: they grow up so fast, you'll still have time in your 40's to enjoy life with them as teenagers, if you're lucky. If you leave it too late, you'll be pretty disconnected from their teen lives, and hell .. what 40-year old doesn't enjoy the odd jaunt with their teenage kids, eh? I…

1. If you want to have kids, do it sooner rather than later. Having kids later is like letting them time travel to the future. I'm glad my parents had me late.

Unless there comes a new ice age and people start fighting all over the place for food and shelter, or whatever. Let's hope it won't come to that - but anyway, the future might not always just be new versions of iPhones. I think we are actually one of the first generations that never had to experience a war in their home country (speaking from my countries perspective).

That said, I am also curious about the future and hope to experiences as much of it as possible...

Re: Ask HN: What were your naivetés in your twenties?

#259

Post by moomba » Fri, Jul 02, 2010, 4:33 PM UTC

yread wrote: post #70

Drink white beer only in reasonable amounts!

But, don't feel afraid to go into excess when the time permits. Life is about pushing the boundaries.

Re: Ask HN: What were your naivetés in your twenties?

#260

Post by projectileboy » Sat, Jul 03, 2010, 5:08 AM UTC

- Define and prioritize your values. Most people never do this, at any age, and that's too bad, it helps you make and live with hard decisions.

- Read something, write something, and build something, every day.

- It all comes down to an old Arab proverb: Take what you want and pay for it.