91–100 of 427 posts
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It's like somebody wanted to write Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, attempting something really deep and profound, and ended up with gibberish.
They even made it as long as a book. Did you read the entire thing?
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Your assumption about the demographics of HN is counter to everything I've seen. Most of these people do have money. Simply by virtue of being professionals in the US, they are part of the 1%. If someone was really inclined, $20k USD would pay for a year's rent in a comfortable apartment. $20k for other expenses. A year of grinding is open to a lot of people here I bet. They just don't want to do it. The fear is too…
You need to add another $20K for taxes. And potentially another $10K for health insurance, depending on location. At $70K/yr you’re well into the top tercile in the US.
I'm conflicted by this article. I'm sympathetic to it, but some things just really push past my BS meter. For example: >This is related to why man became stunted with the dawn of agriculture. We traded a life limited by the occasional violent struggle over bountiful surplus for a more predictable life limited by grinding labor after barely sufficient nutrition. Firstly, "man" or humanity did all of their greatest wor…
graeber’s new book, dawn of everything, is a good place to start
I'm conflicted by this article. I'm sympathetic to it, but some things just really push past my BS meter. For example: >This is related to why man became stunted with the dawn of agriculture. We traded a life limited by the occasional violent struggle over bountiful surplus for a more predictable life limited by grinding labor after barely sufficient nutrition. Firstly, "man" or humanity did all of their greatest wor…
Not saying it's necessarily right or wrong, but Yuval Noah Harari, in his book "Sapiens", has a perspective on the transition of humanity to agriculture that echoes TFA (or vice versa). It struck me, when I read it, as an interesting perspective, as we do tend to see the move to agriculture as strictly positive.
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Courting appears to be the correct term for what was intended in that he did marry her. It's the pursuit of a serious relationship and it gets used for non romantic situations as well. Businesses court each other. So do nations. Their ambassadors sometimes court each other, not for a personal fling, but to broker an important deal between nations. Courting is that process of trying to make a connection that works equ…
Agree. And if he said "dating" it would have implied something different.
So these days you aren't necessarily trying to decide if you want to marry. In Edwardian times, that was more likely to be the goal of seeing someone: to try to establish a serious, committed relationship under the bonds of marriage.
Dating seems to be a broad term that can mean anything from casual hookups to courting for purposes of trying to marry. And the fact that it's broad has two positives to it: It gives the couple latitude to sort their own feelings without deciding ahead of time if this is a casual hookup or a serious courtship (or something in between) and, secondarily, it protects their privacy.
It protects their privacy by allowing them to communicate to others that "We are seeing each other romantically" while sidestepping questions like "How serious are you two?" or "What are your intentions?"
It also protects their privacy by declining to indicate if they just had dinner together or if they actually slept together. And it's not anyone's business in many cases, though people tend to be nosy.
Sometimes, a broad umbrella term that is not making such specifics clear is a feature, not a bug, of using it. But I agree that the broader term would have communicated something different in this case and the more specific term is the correct term for what he likely desired to communicate.
They did get married. Now that he is married, he has no need to obfuscate the fact that he wanted a serious relationship.
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If it does, you will be extremely delighted knowing there is a book by Marcus Aurelius called Meditations. The book withstood the test of time. He has written it clearly and explained his reasons in a proper manner. He was a roman ruler and everything is from that perspective. Most of the people here are probably not making enough money to get by the everyday mundanes of life. So things like self-actualization are fa…
Your assumption about the demographics of HN is counter to everything I've seen. Most of these people do have money. Simply by virtue of being professionals in the US, they are part of the 1%. If someone was really inclined, $20k USD would pay for a year's rent in a comfortable apartment. $20k for other expenses. A year of grinding is open to a lot of people here I bet. They just don't want to do it. The fear is too…
most white collar professionals, SWEs included, are not even close to being in the 1%. the 1% income bucket for the whole country starts around $350k, so roughly an L5 at google.
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If it does, you will be extremely delighted knowing there is a book by Marcus Aurelius called Meditations. The book withstood the test of time. He has written it clearly and explained his reasons in a proper manner. He was a roman ruler and everything is from that perspective. Most of the people here are probably not making enough money to get by the everyday mundanes of life. So things like self-actualization are fa…
The notion that one has to take care of one's "needs" before pursuing anything "higher" is a lie and an excuse. The number of great intellectuals and writers who lived at least a portion of their lives - and often more - in absolute penury is testament to this. Einstein for example nearly died of starvation, yet he kept working. One could make an argument that it is because of real world difficulties that one is able…
Citation needed. I'm unable to find any sources that back this up.
Einstein was known as a mathematical GENIUS far beyond his years, even as a young person.
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> is the lifestyle of someone with 100% confidence in their social safety net Sorry, but millions of working and middle class people without any "net" have done it in history, I'm sure millions have done it in the US, and millions will continue to do the same thing in the future. As for "whitest"? Tons of blacks have quit their jobs and safety nets and tried their luck in what was termed "the great migration", while…
You understand that for most of the people in the great migration, "quit their jobs" is shorthand for "escaped from indentured servitude as a sharecropper on the farm where their parents were born as human property", right?
I’ve been writing open-source software for a very long time. This was mostly because I earned my pay as a manager. The job paid … not great, but enough to keep the lights on, and to let me save. It also wasn’t particularly demanding, and gave me time for extracurricular coding. I needed to code, to keep my chops up. Even in “nights and weekends,” I was able to get some fairly serious work done.
Then, in 2017, my company dragged all the distributed engineering back home (Japan). I knew it was coming for years, but had no interest in bailing. I had a team of engineers under my command, and would remain until the end.
Then, I found out that no one wanted me. Some folks were quite blunt about it.
After a few months of being insulted and patronized, I decided that, even if I found a job, I would be treated like garbage. I had no interest in that.
Fortunately, I am able to retire early (not that early. I was 55, when I left my job).
I need to work. If no one wants to pay me, I’ll do it for free; which is what I’ve been doing for the last couple of years. I took the first couple of years to learn up on stuff, and re-establish a full-time self-discipline.
These days, I work harder than I ever have in my life. I’m at my desk for at least eleven hours a day, seven days a week. It’s not all “production programming,” but most of it is.
The difference in productivity is astonishing. I often get more done by 8:30 AM (the standard start time for my day job), than I used to get done all day. My GitHub Activity Chart is solid green (and not “gamed,” either).
And I’m really enjoying it. I’m quite aware than many folks would find my life unenjoyable, but I’m weird. I like it.
The last year or so, I’ve been writing a fairly ambitious social media-like application, with some friends, as a 501(c)(3). It’s nearing completion, and is work that I’m proud of. Of course, like every project I’ve ever done, I’d like to rewrite it, using all the stuff I’ve learned, but I won’t do that. I’m pretty used to shipping, so we’ll have something nice.
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Your assumption about the demographics of HN is counter to everything I've seen. Most of these people do have money. Simply by virtue of being professionals in the US, they are part of the 1%. If someone was really inclined, $20k USD would pay for a year's rent in a comfortable apartment. $20k for other expenses. A year of grinding is open to a lot of people here I bet. They just don't want to do it. The fear is too…
> Simply by virtue of being professionals in the US, they are part of the 1%. most white collar professionals, SWEs included, are not even close to being in the 1%. the 1% income bucket for the whole country starts around $350k, so roughly an L5 at google.