211–220 of 247 posts
surviving a mass shooting The conversation surrounding such events and lack of political or social will to change left me jaded with Americana, ultimately I left the country and decided to contribute to a more sane society.
A sad state of affairs in which a country gives more rights to firearms than a woman.
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Scene playing out ca. 2013: Store Manager: It looks like someone hacked our computer, let's call the police, they'll know what to do. FBI: Our diligent detective work has uncovered the perp is named MG. We will lock him up for 20 years for a CFAA violation. Store Manager: Isn't that kind of harsh? I've since called the tech support line who told me to turn it off and back on again, and that seems to have fixed it. Co…
More like 1983. This was me at our local Sears department store, loading up every demo BASIC computer with digital vandalism.
Three. First was when i was 19, I took a year off after highschool and went to a new town to study and accumule as much knowledge on physics, until one day when my roommate brought some hump, i took some of it as I was about to watch "the social network" and made me switch from physics to spending the rest of the year learning c++, and eventually getting an engineering degree on systems informations. Second and third…
What is "hump?"
I was in an isolated exurb working hard labor at a UPS warehouse. I became an active user of an open source project and a regular on an IRC network. Over time I got to know a few of the founders, and got offered a job and relocation to San Francisco. It feels like it was a quick inflection point, but it ultimately changed my life: am now married to my partner, the company got acquired, we had a baby, and I have some…
In 2007, I joined the US Army infantry at the height of the Iraq war, two months after my 17th birthday. I had grown up brainwashed into the idea of military service being the single best thing a person can do, and wanted nothing more at that point than to get out of my small hometown. As I was training with my unit for deployment, we were spending days on end practicing combat drills to storm buildings. This was the…
How did you swing this?
Oh, there are infinitely many moments where the course of my life branched into some different direction, but nothing that really changed me. That's probably why I'm a loser, I never changed in since I was young, just let life wash over me like water.
A friend said the other day, tomorrow isn't written yet...
When a kid (10+ years younger) at a rave told me --being a vegetarian at the time-- that I'm not "nice to animals" and not "doing enough" and if I cared to be consistent with my beliefs I should go vegan. Also: children, DMT, studying Buddhism and a not to be named hard-core socialist music festival near Berlin.
Why not name it?
In 2007, I joined the US Army infantry at the height of the Iraq war, two months after my 17th birthday. I had grown up brainwashed into the idea of military service being the single best thing a person can do, and wanted nothing more at that point than to get out of my small hometown. As I was training with my unit for deployment, we were spending days on end practicing combat drills to storm buildings. This was the…
> Eventually turned myself in and (miraculously) got out with an honorable discharge. How did you swing this?
I broke my back (shatter a few discs) in the Army and it wrecked my career but it probably saved my life. Recovery was a slow process, but the change was sudden. It took me a while the learn the lessons from the experience. Which can be broadly summed up as " Try and end up spending more time doing things you like, than things you don't".
Better a broken back than a broken brain. If it's not the TBI or PTSD, the slow descent to alcoholic depression will do it. Never met another OIF/OEF combat vet without one of the three.
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Haha I also have Counter Strike to thank for starting my first company in game server hosting and pays for my livelihood even until today.
Hah, awesome! Funny enough hosting those servers is what got me into Linux and eventually the career I mentioned. I can't say I was industrious enough to do the business thing, maybe one day.