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What Happens When One of Your Coworkers Dies

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Re: What Happens When One of Your Coworkers Dies

#181
post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It can lead to a very dangerous fatalism. If you think it's in God's hands whether you survive a crash, why wear a seatbelt? More generally I get annoyed when someone says something false, even if I can't immediately see what mistakes it's going to lead them to make. My experience is that even the most benign-seeming of errors can cause problems sooner or later.

> Why not just say 'Thanks'? > It can lead to a very dangerous fatalism. I know I'm quoting out of context, but I had to. > My experience is that even the most benign-seeming of errors can cause problems sooner or later. But of course you don't mean the mistake of mistaking a genuine attempt to be friendly for something to be indignated about. No, when someone speaks from their position into your life, that is not ok…

> But of course you don't mean the mistake of mistaking a genuine attempt to be friendly for something to be indignated about

Projecting much? I never said anything about being indignant; it annoys me, or maybe saddens is a more appropriate term, but that doesn't mean I respond in anger. Pretending you think someone's right when they've just said something wrong may be the easy way out, but being truly friendly requires being more honest (and sure, sometimes it turns out it was you who was wrong all along).

> Who here would care if they're hellbanned?

I think HN's hellbanning is a terrible practice, I've said so repeatedly, and if you have any suggestions for how I could prevent it then I'd genuinely welcome them. But I don't think "don't downvote anyone" is a good response.

> Yet from what I can tell, not believing in a particular fairy tale doesn't mean that every single thing you otherwise hold true isn't a fairy tale as well. It doesn't take a lot of science or introspection to realize that, does it? When people say "Planet Earth" instead if exactly describing the configuration of all matter and energy in the universe, does that make you angry, too?

I'm not perfect, and I never will be. That doesn't mean I shouldn't try to become better.

Re: What Happens When One of Your Coworkers Dies

#183
post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It can lead to a very dangerous fatalism. If you think it's in God's hands whether you survive a crash, why wear a seatbelt? More generally I get annoyed when someone says something false, even if I can't immediately see what mistakes it's going to lead them to make. My experience is that even the most benign-seeming of errors can cause problems sooner or later.

> It can lead to a very dangerous fatalism. If you think it's in God's hands whether you survive a crash, why wear a seatbelt? Hand-wavey answer: something about the devil tempting Jesus to jump from the top of the temple because why not ? since he's the son of god obviously big daddy will save him right ? Then Jesus says something about not "testing" God.

Sure, there are arguments. But there are arguments for a lot of things in the Bible, and very smart, very knowledgeable people still disagree about what it prescribes. My experience is that if you base your decision-making on reading the bible and doing what you think it says, sooner or later you'll do something bad. (If you follow the advice of a major church you're less likely to do obviously bad things, but IMO the social/political policies religions tend to advocate are also bad, though in more subtle ways)

Re: What Happens When One of Your Coworkers Dies

#184
post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Sometime it is very difficult for human to understand GOD and his punishment ! What a rude, and offensive thing to say.

I am not rude against GOD and i am not complaining. Here i was trying to express my views as i seen many-time that good people are suffering and bad people are enjoying !

^ this is just too funny.

Re: What Happens When One of Your Coworkers Dies

#185
post #8

This has happened in my experience before, and it is one of the strongest reasons for good source control that is infrequently considered. It was a tragedy when a very wonderful and dear researcher in our group died suddenly, especially to his three children and wife that he left behind. It was also a great loss as well that we could never recover some key bits of source code from his computer, and that a very promis…

Just yesterday I was nearly run over by a taxi (in Seattle, what?) running a red light. As I realized he wasn't stopping I thought to myself, "at least all my code is checked in and pushed". True story.

In 2004 when I was working in Seattle, in the course of a year there were three accidents on 5th and Battery that were exact mirrors, IE: car going too fast, hits a pedestrian on the same corner. I don't remember the first, the second a German tourist was killed, and the third my co-worker and I were walking to lunch over at the Two Bells. She was hit. I'm not a superstitious or religious person, but something just didn't seem right and I lingered a few seconds on the curb and jumped back just in time - good or I'm sure we would have both been killed. Luckily she survived, and I'd even say it was a (positive) catalyst in major life changes for her - she made a job change, moved to a different city, took up new hobbies, got in shape, etc. After the event, I'll just say that: a) the city of Seattle is completely negligent in not fixing the traffic flow in that spot, b) the Seattle Police Department is truly evil (their handling of the "investigation" afterwards was appalling) and c) you will never erase the image of a car hitting a co-worker / friend/ other human being from your memory. Work is a good thing and should be fulfilling, but something like that is a good reminder that work is just one part of our life.

Re: What Happens When One of Your Coworkers Dies

#186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just yesterday I was nearly run over by a taxi (in Seattle, what?) running a red light. As I realized he wasn't stopping I thought to myself, "at least all my code is checked in and pushed". True story.

In 2004 when I was working in Seattle, in the course of a year there were three accidents on 5th and Battery that were exact mirrors, IE: car going too fast, hits a pedestrian on the same corner. I don't remember the first, the second a German tourist was killed, and the third my co-worker and I were walking to lunch over at the Two Bells. She was hit. I'm not a superstitious or religious person, but something just d…

I know that intersection, as it's just on the edge of downtown, the traffic is thin enough to let people think they can go faster than they really should.

Re: What Happens When One of Your Coworkers Dies

#187
post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Sometime it is very difficult for human to understand GOD and his punishment ! OP isn't stupid. He has no problem comprehending the wrath of your imaginary friend, nor the imaginary nature of the aforementioned wrath. He lost a dear friend and mentor. The one who has trouble understanding reality is you.

A few months ago, I was on the losing end of a head-on motorcycle versus Jeep Cherokee crash and spent several days in the hospital. I had some pretty severe injuries but somehow managed to not smash my head in -- I don't wear a helmet and, although I had several broken bones, I somehow escaped with only had a few cuts and scrapes to my head. Several of the doctors and nurses said (words to the effect of) "someone up…

As a fellow atheist and motorcyclist, may I suggest that you start wearing a helmet? I mean, when there's no afterlife to look forward to, you should probably wear the appropriate safety gear.

Re: What Happens When One of Your Coworkers Dies

#188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. Hellbanning is random. Although making 'dissenting' comments, or disagreeing with the hivemind certainly accelerates your hellbanning. I've been hellbanned umpteen times for essentially no good reasons.

> Hellbanning is random ... I've been hellbanned umpteen times for essentially no good reasons. LOL. Replies to previous comments of yours: > Well trolled...time to move on > Feel like I am replying to a obvious troll

The meaning of "troll" has been diluted so much in recent years, that it's now largely used by the media, and people in general, to mean someone who expresses a view that you disagree with.

And it's used to describe people on twitter who harass or post abusive comments.

"troll" used to mean something. Now it's just a stock insult.

Re: What Happens When One of Your Coworkers Dies

#189
post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why not just say 'Thanks'? > It can lead to a very dangerous fatalism. I know I'm quoting out of context, but I had to. > My experience is that even the most benign-seeming of errors can cause problems sooner or later. But of course you don't mean the mistake of mistaking a genuine attempt to be friendly for something to be indignated about. No, when someone speaks from their position into your life, that is not ok…

> But of course you don't mean the mistake of mistaking a genuine attempt to be friendly for something to be indignated about Projecting much? I never said anything about being indignant; it annoys me, or maybe saddens is a more appropriate term, but that doesn't mean I respond in anger. Pretending you think someone's right when they've just said something wrong may be the easy way out, but being truly friendly requi…

I am sorry, I expressed myself very badly. I didn't mean to jump at you for the votes etc., but the general reaction to that post really astonished and saddened me.

And when I said "posturing", I was not even just thinking of this thread, but general delusions about being objective. I can see being "more objective", but even that will always be vague, and I think "objective, period" is out of the reach of anything within the universe. Simply because it's in and part of it. Yes, I get that religious stuff can be annoying, but so is thinking you're suddenly sooo objective just because you're not religious... On the scale between subjective and objective, the needle doesn't even visibly move, so to speak.

When someone expresses genuine condolences in an awkward way, a huge drama over religion and calling that person basically evil and wrong is kinda tragic. Like petty fights at a funeral. But you shouldn't be the scapegoat for that, just like that Indian poster shouldn't be the scapegoat for pushy religious people they were mistaken for.

General idea: If someone says something that means something nice in their culture, but means "asshole" in the one of the listener, they still said something nice, it's just misunderstood. Each knowing the culture of the other better would fix that. That's how I see it, anyway.

Re: What Happens When One of Your Coworkers Dies

#190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FYI, bluekitten, you've been hellbanned since December 13.

Interesting. bluekitten seems to have been hellbanned after posting only two comments. Is that all it takes? Edit: And in the time it took me to post this, the comment appears!

Yes, this place is heavily censored.
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