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Ask HN: Who needs help this holidays?

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Re: Ask HN: Who needs help this holidays?

#171

Post by planetafro »

quickthrower2 wrote: post #75
qingcharles wrote: post #47

Just want to say thank you to OP for this offer! I'm homeless after ten years in pretrial detention simply because I couldn't get access to my money to bail myself out. By the time I got out everything was gone. I am doing fine though and am on the road to recovery. It's been a hard few weeks as all the food pantries I went to over the Thanksgiving holidays were closed, when you would expect them to be open, but my r…

WTF. Ten years locked up without trial, isn't that unconstitutional?

Kevin Mitnik was famously held for 4 and a half years before his trial. That's where I learned about this shitty practice.

Anyone else rocking the "Free Kevin" bumper sticker back in the day?

This and civil forfeiture stuff always has pissed me off immensely.

Re: Ask HN: Who needs help this holidays?

#172

Post by teddysc »

UncleEntity wrote: post #137
teddysc wrote: post #97

Thank you Alexander! I'm a graduate student in the US, I need some major dental procedures done but am put off by the potential bills (even with a good dental insurance, it would still cost thousands of dollars; a lot of dark patterns, they can't give you a rough quote before doing an expensive checkup). I did some research myself on where to find more affordable quality dental care in my area, and found that a top d…

> ...and found that a top dental school nearby would offer care from students at a lower rate, but I'm not sure if that's a good idea. My parents have been doing that for years at the dental college down the street from their house and have nothing but good things to say. Same college also does eye doctoring and they also go there for that. IIRC, the format is a newer and more experienced student work on them while a…

Thank you!

Re: Ask HN: Who needs help this holidays?

#173

Post by throwawayigloo »

wiradikusuma wrote: post #31

I can't give money, but I can give my time. I've interviewed hundreds of candidates for the past 3-4 years. Recently I noticed more and more people are immediately available (i.e., they're currently unemployed). If you're affected by tech winter and looking for someone to have a technical discussion to "upskill", feel free to reach out: https://tidycal.com/wiradikusuma/hn-30-min I'm writing a "wide spectrum" technica…

(Just asking on here since it might be useful to others)

What advice would you give for a stay at home dad (5years) looking to return to tech.

How do I portray that on my resume and on linked in? How big of a deal is it?

Re: Ask HN: Who needs help this holidays?

#174

Post by one_more_time2 »

lazyasciiart wrote: post #58
qingcharles wrote: post #47

Just want to say thank you to OP for this offer! I'm homeless after ten years in pretrial detention simply because I couldn't get access to my money to bail myself out. By the time I got out everything was gone. I am doing fine though and am on the road to recovery. It's been a hard few weeks as all the food pantries I went to over the Thanksgiving holidays were closed, when you would expect them to be open, but my r…

That is infuriating to read about, let alone live through. Something around 80-90% of people in US jails are being held pre-trial, most of them with a cash bail option they can’t afford or like you, can’t arrange from jail. I encourage people to donate to organizations like The Bail Project or local bail funds, who are also usually strong advocates for ending cash bail and pre-trial detention policies, which function…

Illinois just took a huge step forward by eliminating cash bail. It hasn't had all the negative impacts that detractors predicted.

I would think a libertarian-orientated place like HN would be in full support. This model should be copied across the country so people aren't unconstitutionally jailed before being convicted. Unfortunately, the discussion has been focused on politics as a Democratic legislature and Governor passed the law.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/opinion/commentary/ct-opinion...

Re: Ask HN: Who needs help this holidays?

#175

Post by davidashe »

Physkal wrote: post #106

I really need some therapy.

Have you tried ACA meetings?

adultchildren.org

It’s twelve-step based, but more focused on recognizing and managing one’s traumas. ACA can synergize nicely w/ therapy. Since it is technically free, it could be a useful companion to therapy, or even a substitute while professional is not available.

I am in US, but ACA is international.

I am a big believer in therapy, but it can be costly, and finding an effective therapist for you can be a difficult onramp to effective care. ACA + therapy has been a helpful combination for me.

Re: Ask HN: Who needs help this holidays?

#176

Post by gigatexal »

gigatexal wrote: post #102
qingcharles wrote: post #47

Just want to say thank you to OP for this offer! I'm homeless after ten years in pretrial detention simply because I couldn't get access to my money to bail myself out. By the time I got out everything was gone. I am doing fine though and am on the road to recovery. It's been a hard few weeks as all the food pantries I went to over the Thanksgiving holidays were closed, when you would expect them to be open, but my r…

I’ll spot you a a few months at Hetzner — I’ve no coupons will just spot you the cash. I like the company and am willing to help you out as well.

email me!

Re: Ask HN: Who needs help this holidays?

#177

Post by neilk »

Beijinger wrote: post #144
neilk wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you mean Vancouver, Canada, that’s where I live. A friend of mine used to work with a social service agency. He might know where I could put up flyers or something. It is common to see these sorts of things just pasted up on lampposts, too. Do you have a picture? Other details? Email me at the address in my profile if you want to be more private.

Please check your keybase

oh wow i only get spam there these days. ok i will look

Re: Ask HN: Who needs help this holidays?

#178

Post by gaws »

m348e912 wrote: post #108
wyclif wrote: post #74

I hesitate to post here because I really don't like talking about my problems and have never written anything like this before. I'm one of the original members of HN and I've been here for a long time; since week one I think. I'm an American technologist who has done web dev work in the past, but right now I'm stuck on an island in the Philippines without income or employment, and things are getting pretty desperate…

If you are comfortable maybe I could take a look at your resume. Not getting ANY response from employers is unusual. Perhaps part of the problem is US/EU companies don't want to hire Philippine residents directly, especially if they don't have a presense there. You might be better off working for a Philippine firm that contracts with US/EU companies.

> Not getting ANY response from employers is unusual.

Really? Companies ghosting applicants, has, unfortunately, with high supply and low demand of well-paid tech jobs, become a standard practice, especially for candidates in the United States and Europe.

Re: Ask HN: Who needs help this holidays?

#179

Post by webmaven »

Alexander, thank you for posting this.

I am a pretty tight spot, financially. I could use any assistance thrown my way, from a couple of hundred dollars to cover food, to several hundred more to cover utility bills and rent before the Internet and power are shut off and/or we're evicted, on up to a couple of thousand more to pay off the property taxes[0] before the house is auctioned off (which is imminent, but a lesser amount will at least put it off).

On top of everything else, we've been slowly wearing out more durable goods like clothes without replacing them, and my 9-year old laptop has finally given up the ghost.

I'd rather not post publicly about all the personal circumstances that lead to this juncture, suffice it to say that depression makes physical health problems that cause fatigue worse, making it impossible to work, as well as much harder to navigate public assistance options, and mistakes from a decade ago can cause one to be deemed ineligible for assistance like Medicaid and SNAP/EBT now, and I haven't been able to fix the problem yet.

So, please help, if you can, to whatever extent you can.

[0] We live in a manufactured home, on a rented lot. So we're facing eviction from the lot (which we can't afford to move the house from), as well as owing property taxes on the house itself.

Re: Ask HN: Who needs help this holidays?

#180

Post by codeforafrica »

I am not sure if this fits here, but there have been a few people posting who are struggling to find work, and so maybe this is a good audience for me.

First of all, financially, I am still good. I have a runway of about a year in expected payouts from past work.

About a year ago I moved my family from China, where I lived for 15 years, to Africa to start a new venture. At the time I had a customer who stuck with me and continued to pay me for work, so I was financially secure while making that move. Unfortunately a few months ago after 10 years of working together this customer had to end our cooperation due to lower profits on his side. I like to think that he stuck with me as long as he could afford it, and I am very grateful for that.

In China I had a great experience working with junior developers, training them and giving them a kind of work experience that they would not get in a Chinese company, and build a bridge between Western and Chinese cultures.

I would like to continue this kind of work in Africa, and I am looking for work that enables me to do that.

I am not creating a charity, and I am not looking for donations. Although you could pay me to work on your or my favorite Free Software or Open Source project. Aside from that I am simply looking for customers or employers who want the money they spend on their projects to have a secondary effect beyond just paying someone to get the work done.

I spent the past few months in Europe working hard to build a new network, going out almost every evening to events to network with people. My network is slowly growing. Better than my past networking efforts in China, but so far no solid offers materialized yet.

You can help if you have connections to people that believe that business should have a social impact. Or if you have ideas how I can improve my chances at finding those connections.

I am open to any kind of software development contract work from established businesses to startups who need a technical co-founder.

You can find my email in my profile.

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