151–160 of 246 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Nice to have you back Ed. Stick around. :)
I never left. I love Hacker News. And I'm not proud of grandparent comment, but I couldn't resist. I'll try to revert to making comments that provide value to my fellow hackers.
They didn't stole the boat, they seized it. Not wanting to sign an erroneous legal document is respectable, calling the DHS stealers is clearly not. Don't be surprize if they won't cooperate to solve the matter ASAP.
DHS behaved in a morally indefensible manner. I don't care if Arrington is telling a one-sided story and was actually a total asshole: DHS works for the American public and my tax dollars pay for the pain of putting up with jerks for the public good. Hence, they stole his boat. If the President were to show up at my parents' doorstep without a warrant or probable cause and shoot my little sister because he was having…
He will get his boat back once the paperwork is completed correctly. Shocking, I know, but he will.
A guy I know was in a similar situation when trying to enter Australia. 20+ years ago, when he was 18, he was arrested for the afternoon because of a student protest. So now on the visa forms, when entering Australia on vacation, he was asked if he had ever been arrested. He checked yes. The border control people in Australia denied him entry, and put him on the next plane back home. When he told the border guy the f…
But I wouldn't risk this going into the US.
On other countries, it's worth the risk, and it has worked for me already (not with something written, but spoken. I wasn't lying btw)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
>> The other solution is to be really, really nice. To be incredibly accommodating. To engender a spirit of goodwill, joviality and kindness such that the flunky wants to help you. That is not a practical solution. It sounds almost like a bribe. I'm not saying that you should be rude to anybody, but you shouldn't have to kiss somebody's ass just so that they do their jobs. Is a slippery slope. Now you are kissing the…
So I was pulled over while driving a few months ago. I was trying to keep up with a friend, I got behind and I made a really stupid, illegal and probably dangerous maneuver in trying to keep up. Happened to be a cop at that intersection who pulled me over. Officer comes to the car, and asks about what I just did. I pretty much immediately admit to doing it, and tell him that it was a terrible lapse of judgement on my…
The OP was trying to do something right, and got punished for it.
http://upgrd.com/matthew/thrown-off-a-united-airlines-flight...
9/11 seems to have given a big swathe of people in the US the ability to do outrageous things more or less at will. I wouldn't be surprised if this turns out to be one of its most damaging consequences.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Maybe, but it's also just as likely to have resulted in a ticket after confessing.
Not sure why you're getting downvoted, because you're absolutely right. In fact, the parent's anecdote is just that: an anecdote. The reality of the matter however is that you should never, ever admit wrong-doing under any circumstances. Use the minimum amount of words for basic communication with the cop, be polite, and then deal with whatever ticket is written (either pay it or contest it in court).
Stonewalling isn't necessarily the best strategy, particularly if you both know you were in violation.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Expecting that is absolutely fine. Feeling entitled to that is not. You don't get to fuck over other people's days when they fail to extend you a courtesy. Well I mean, clearly they do get to do that, but that is a problem, not excusable behavior. I treat clerks nicely because I am a decent person. I treat government officials in positions of power over me nicely because, aside from being a decent person, I understan…
You think you understand the score, but to me it seems more like a persecution complex. The irony is that in Arrington's situation the border agent tried to educate Mike that this was a rule that could be safely bent in the interest of expedience, but it was Mike himself who insisted on perfect procedure.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Expecting that is absolutely fine. Feeling entitled to that is not. You don't get to fuck over other people's days when they fail to extend you a courtesy. Well I mean, clearly they do get to do that, but that is a problem, not excusable behavior. I treat clerks nicely because I am a decent person. I treat government officials in positions of power over me nicely because, aside from being a decent person, I understan…
You think you understand the score, but to me it seems more like a persecution complex. The irony is that in Arrington's situation the border agent tried to educate Mike that this was a rule that could be safely bent in the interest of expedience, but it was Mike himself who insisted on perfect procedure.
I'm not saying it justifies rudeness, but I can see being quite thoroughly paranoid about signing a federal form that contains a known inaccuracy. The agent's opinion that the discrepancy was unimportant might not have been shared by her superiors.
If people can be subject to federal prosecution for signing a form prepared by government workers, those workers should consider it their job to make sure the contents of that form are absolutely accurate.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Live your life however you want, but that sounds shitty to me.
It sounds pragmatic to me. It takes someone very naive to be rude to a cop or other government official, knowing how miserable they can make your life with very little effort. It takes someone even more naive to genuinely care about someone who would be willing to use frivolously the power to make your life miserable. There are "good" cops and government officials, but they are the minority. When you encounter a rand…
> Being nice to a beaurocrat is stupid. Appear to be nice or even charming is one thing but always be willing to throw them under the bus once you are done with them.
I think he is saying it is shitty to pretend to be nice and then be willing to thrown them under the bus when you are done with them....
Why not actually be nice? What is stupid about being nice to a bureaucrat? It's not as if a bureaucrat is not a person, and people respond to kindness. Pretending to be nice to someone and then being "willing to throw them under the bus when you're are done with them", sounds pretty sociopathic to me. And I don't know about you but I find sociopathic tendencies pretty shitty....
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This highlights a problem which isn't unique to Australia. For example, if a potential employer (or whoever) asks you if you've ever been arrested and your record has been expunged or you've been pardoned, you are expected to lie and say "no". That is how the system works. It sucks, but learning how to deal with these sorts of things is part of the price one has to pay when they have a run-in with the law. I'm not su…
I'm wondering, isn't asking for your criminal history during job interviews the same as discriminating based on age or race? I mean, even if you were convicted, you've paid the price by doing your time and after that you should have equal opportunities at a job like anyone else, right? Maybe I'm just too idealistic but I never understood why we hardly give these people a second chance. And then people wonder why reci…
Not sure how that's racist or ageist?