Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

I'm About as Good as Dead: The End of Xah Lee

ergoemacs.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

241–250 of 315 posts

Re: I'm About as Good as Dead: The End of Xah Lee

#241

Post by octopus »

antocv wrote: post #187
madaxe_again wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, it's even better. He was browsing pr0n when taking that screenshot. Google those imgur filenames in the downloads bar.... facepalm

Why is porn something to hide? I dont understand it, is it because its shameful?

I think it is just US "puritan" culture. In general it is not a good idea to let a potential employer know that you are actively watching porn ...

What you do in private is nobody's business, but if you do it publicly ... this could rise a red flag for an US employer.

Re: I'm About as Good as Dead: The End of Xah Lee

#242

Post by overgard »

mercer wrote: post #193
overgard wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So your post kind of resonates with me, but if I were to boil it down I think your point is "Smart people frequently do dumb things, but that doesn't mean they're not smart". Agreed! I just think a lot of what we call social skills really comes down to, frankly, giving a shit about the person in front of you. For exceptionally smart people sometimes this is hard. Interacting with average people can be mind numbing. I…

> I just think a lot of what we call social skills really comes down to, frankly, giving a shit about the person in front of you. Very true. But first of all I'd argue that 'giving a shit' in itself is a skill. We are, to a large degree, taught to be nice. Watching the average eight-year-old in a school yard is a clear example of that. They're practically psychopathic: developed enough to understand the concept of 't…

> But first of all I'd argue that 'giving a shit' in itself is a skill.

Yes. No doubt. I think for intellectual people, the tendency is always to move to a higher level of abstraction and generalize. Works well for ideas, but not for people. A lot of times, the interesting thing about people or situations is in exploring the details.

(That's probably not going to make it on a motivational poster any time soon.)

Re: I'm About as Good as Dead: The End of Xah Lee

#243

Post by natural219 »

wfjackson wrote: post #11

Edit: He seems to have a lot of interest and worked a lot on good documentation, which is the bane of the typical OSS project. Why doesn't Red Hat/Google etc. throw some money at him to write docs for underdocumented OSS stuff? Sounds like win win for all. It's hard to find really smart developers that are interested in writing documentation.[End edit] If you don't really know him, his LinkedIn profile shows more det…

I have never heard of this guy, I popped open the JS tutorial, and I am very thoroughly impressed. This is actually one of the best introductions to JS I have ever read. I bought his emacs book because I didn't know how to donate otherwise.

Re: I'm About as Good as Dead: The End of Xah Lee

#244

Post by octopus »

madaxe_again wrote: post #123
userbinator wrote: post #94

Did he just post a screenshot of his bank account with the session key visible in the URL !? (I know it's probably not too significant and there are other checks in place, but I found it rather ironic when the text right above it happens to be "I try to be VERY VERY careful".)

Actually, it's even better. He was browsing pr0n when taking that screenshot. Google those imgur filenames in the downloads bar.... facepalm

facepalm because of him watching porn or because he uses same browser to log into his bank account (which is not a good idea) ?

Re: I'm About as Good as Dead: The End of Xah Lee

#245

Post by nkozyra »

[deleted] wrote: post #204
nkozyra wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is he a particularly noted person? Maybe just in the emacs community? I don't know who he is and that resume is pretty skimpy. It seems that his biggest need right now is self-presentation and that's a pretty tough thing to acquire on short notice. I'd also say there would likely be way more opportunities for someone of his skillset outside of the valley, where the skimpy resume probably looks even skimpier by compar…

[deleted]

That's what our company does - we produce redirect loops for corporate sites.

Re: I'm About as Good as Dead: The End of Xah Lee

#246

Post by SandB0x »

seansoutpost wrote: post #73

Xah,It really sounds like you need a bitcoin address. Coinbase.com (YC S12) is a great place to start. Once you have some coins, you will find no shortage of people in the bay area willing to buy them off of you. I would even be willing to run a btc fundraiser on your behalf. I don't have a lot of rep on here, but it's pretty solid in the bitcoin space. Google Jason King Bitcoin or Sean's Outpost Best of luck, man. S…

> Xah,It really sounds like you need a bitcoin address.

Only on Hacker News.

This guy needs professional support for his mental health issues, food to eat and help in finding a steady job.

Re: I'm About as Good as Dead: The End of Xah Lee

#247

Post by overgard »

mercer wrote: post #197
overgard wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, I'm not trying to pick on people with neurological disorders. For those people I'm sure it's an incredible struggle. I'm mostly thinking of average people that just aren't willing to put forth the effort.

But how can you tell?

Well, what I'm saying is stuff that you would apply to yourself. So I don't know how you'd tell, but presumably, if a person had one of those disorders they'd already know.

Re: I'm About as Good as Dead: The End of Xah Lee

#249

Post by rando289 »

zymhan wrote: post #223
IanKelling wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just spoke to Xah on the phone. He does want people to donate to his paypal address. He can transfer it to someone to cash it out if needed. He will be making further updates on his site, probably later today to be clear about that. He will be looking into bitcoin also. So feel free to donate, I think at least his contributions to emacs documentation make it worthwhile.

Can't he get a Paypal debit card for free, so that he can spend the money directly from the account?

Yes, he can. Some people don't know about that yet.

Re: I'm About as Good as Dead: The End of Xah Lee

#250

Post by freshhawk »

sanxiyn wrote: post #160
swah wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like Erik Naggum, which is considered a troll by many, and also a great writer w/ deep knowledge of programming languagess if can get past the troll part.

Also Jon Harrop. There is no doubt he is trolling, but also no doubt he is a very accomplished programmer. (He may disagree he is trolling, but if audience thinks you are trolling, you are.)

"if [the] audience thinks you are trolling, you are"

Really? I thought the entire definition of trolling was based on intent. Trolling is trying to provoke a reaction from people.

By your definition a significant percentage of the world is trolling the anti-vax and truther communities for example. And many mentally ill people who comment online are trolls instead of just being mistaken for them?

This definition seems a lot less useful to me than the intent based one.

Post reply on HN