My political persuasions have changed radically over the last 20 years... And I used to find politics interesting.
Ask HN: What have you changed your mind about recently?
81–90 of 112 posts
Re: Ask HN: What have you changed your mind about recently?
#82Something I read in Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell shocked me into reconsidering my role as a father. I'm not a big fan of that book in general, but I found a pearl in there. I used to think that I needed to set and enforce hard rules, as if this will teach my kids order. I don't want them to take the easy way out or try to negotiate everything. I thought my approach was a good balance to my wife's, as she doesn't asse…
Don't be too hard on yourself, and don't go too far in the opposite direction. Kids do want boundaries, and they are happier when they have them. Watching my 8-year-old nephew's behavior bears this out perfectly; when he's given lots of input into plans and opportunity to negotiate, he acts like a demon and ends up melting down and unhappy. When given rules he's a happy angel.
I think the trick is to not open the floor to negotiation. If kids have reasonable objection or points you hadn't considered, they will raise the point and you can modify the rule. If they know that they are "negotiating" just to get their own way and that it won't work, they won't waste the time--and everyone will be happier.
That's my experience, anyway.
Re: Ask HN: What have you changed your mind about recently?
#83I changed my mind on event models in stateless protocols. I used to think, "Oh, that sounds nifty. I bet it works really well, and simplifies the wiring." Now I think, "Wait, how can an event work in a stateless... Oh, that's just sneaky Microsoft." Not by choice, rather by circumstance, I have been writing Web Forms apps in ASP.NET for the last year. Took me that long to realize that something about the whole idea j…
I recently came upon MVC, and similary was enlightened re. the events within ASP.NET WebForms. I highly reccomend checking out thier approach: its incredibly flexible from a very low level.
Re: Ask HN: What have you changed your mind about recently?
#84Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's an interesting frame to the question -- whether you are a good match for the community. Wouldn't the question work better the other way around -- Whether the community was a good match for you or not? You would judge the answer based on how much the community helped you reach your goals. Whereas with the other question you're always looking outward for somebody else to validate you (which seems prone to gettin…
Being a match is close to symmetrical, but "usefulness" perhaps isn't. I get a great deal from this site and the musings of many of its participants. It's only reasonable that I should try to give something back, but repeatedly things I think are interesting get absolutely no response. With me getting a great deal out, but the community not getting much back, are we therefore a good match? Perhaps that's not really t…
Or they have nothing to add to the discussion/your point.
Re: Ask HN: What have you changed your mind about recently?
#85The late Roman empire, thanks to Theodosius: The Empire at Bay : http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?bi=0&bx=of... I used to have very unclear picture of the late empire. Without thinking about it too much, I bought into the pervasive idea (probably due mostly to Gibbon) that the late empire had lost its Roman mojo: that it had become barbarized (what does that mean?) and worn out (why then?). Now I have a…
In "Mohammed and Charlemagne" by Henri Pirenne, the whole Mediterranean region after collapse of the Roman empire still enjoyed prosperity. The economy went down after trades in Mediterranean sea decreased due to Muslim Arabs had taken control the area.
Re: Ask HN: What have you changed your mind about recently?
#86Earlier quoted context omitted.
I do believe you are correct (I remember the same thing). People use what they have, but being dead from a knife is still dead. I find the rate of various crimes important as opposed to the tools used. Tools can be substituted.
Tools generally only have partial substitutes. (From memory only...) Suicides decreased in the UK when catalytic converters became required on cars: other means of suicide remain available, but most are harder for the potential suicide than sitting in a car with a pipe from the exhaust through the window. Knives are substitutes for guns, but it's harder to kill 10 people with a knife than with an automatic. Which may…
I believe "high gun ownership correlates with high homicides" to be false. Maybe for a specific demographic or area, but in the middle of the country it just isn't so. I used to work the social work circuit in data collections and research; and the prejudices of the people doing the study show in their interpretation of the raw data and the conclusions they reach.
As we were reminded of today in tragic fashion, suicide bombers seem to get a pretty high body count without using a gun.
Re: Ask HN: What have you changed your mind about recently?
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
About 15 years ago, I was at a state sponsored meeting in Minot ND. A group the state hired was there telling us about risk factors in the community. The group hired was from the west coast and all the research they cited was studies done in low income urban areas. They pointed out guns were a big risk factor. The head of one of the local social service programs took exception to this. He asked how many people in the…
Switzerland is actually a very bad example to use. The unusally (for Europe) high number of firearms there is because the members of the militia army keep an assault rifle at home. This is rather different from a handgun or a shotgun, and you're not allowed to use them outside military training.
In a lot of ways, I think it is a very good example. They have access and advanced training (assault rifles are actually very hard to use). The fact that the citizens obey the law and don't use their weapons for greater crime is telling.
Re: Ask HN: What have you changed your mind about recently?
#88This year has brought me to the belief that the forth estate is dead and has been replaced by pundits of all shapes and sizes.
You can argue where every news organization fits on the political spectrum (other than they all fit at one of the sides and the middle is an illusion), but I don't think there is any network or newspaper that just prints the facts of the case. Every network has their favorites and calls the other sides "little people" names (e.g. pinko, teabagger). All the networks throw out opinions and call them facts. Heck, making up crap doesn't even seem to phase anyone (e.g. false papers, trucks with explosives on the gas tanks).
Has any network gone through the current draft of the health car bill and told us what's on it? Has any network tried to get all the payouts the gov did as part of the bailout?
Re: Ask HN: What have you changed your mind about recently?
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
Tools generally only have partial substitutes. (From memory only...) Suicides decreased in the UK when catalytic converters became required on cars: other means of suicide remain available, but most are harder for the potential suicide than sitting in a car with a pipe from the exhaust through the window. Knives are substitutes for guns, but it's harder to kill 10 people with a knife than with an automatic. Which may…
I believe "high gun ownership correlates with high homicides" to be false. Maybe for a specific demographic or area, but in the middle of the country it just isn't so. I used to work the social work circuit in data collections and research; and the prejudices of the people doing the study show in their interpretation of the raw data and the conclusions they reach. As we were reminded of today in tragic fashion, suici…
"in the middle of the country it just isn't so" ?
That point of view seems rather US-centric. (Apologies if I've misinterpreted what you meant.) My point was in relation to different countries, higher gun ownership correlates with higher death by gun. I was not comparing different geographic areas within the US. It's obviously a complicated question with many influencing factors, but ignoring the availability of guns does seem to fly in the face of the evidence.
Given that the US has high homicide rates, compared to other countries, then if high availability of guns in the US is not a contributing factor, then what would you saw were the relevant factors?
"suicide bombers seem to get a pretty high body count without using a gun" ?
Absolutely. Suicide bombers can probably achieve a higher murder rate than people with guns, much as people with guns can achieve a higher murder rate than people with knives, and people with knives can achieve a higher murder rate than people with clubs.
High availability of suicide bombers in a society is likely to lead to a higher homicide rate than in a society where suicide bombers are not so prevalent. High availability of guns in a society is likely to lead to a higher homicide rate than in a society where guns are not so prevalent.
So, given the discussion is about the availability of guns, I'm not sure of your point here.
Re: Ask HN: What have you changed your mind about recently?
#90Nobel peace prizes. I used to see them as the ultimate award that could be earned and the ultimate award which humanity could bestow on an individual. Now I see them as a powerful and influential political tool.
I think many people came to that conclusion many years ago ... I am a bit slow on the uptake.