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Oculus Rift co-founder killed by gang trying to escape police

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Re: Oculus Rift co-founder killed by gang trying to escape police

#251

Post by Nux »

malandrew wrote: post #230
InclinedPlane wrote: post #140

This is a good reminder to always be a defensive and aware pedestrian. Just because you have the light or the right-of-way doesn't mean you are guaranteed a safe crossing of the street. Whenever I cross an intersection as a pedestrian I always look both ways (even on one way streets) and I always keep an eye on cars that are still in motion, especially those that don't appear to be slowing down. It's good to make the…

As someone who's been hit by a car twice (neither were my fault), it's also a good reminder that cars simply don't belong in urban areas with a sufficiently dense population. I still don't get why most American cities still don't reach a tipping point then go whole hog in making certain parts of cities pedestrian and bike only.

Agreed!

Re: Oculus Rift co-founder killed by gang trying to escape police

#252

Post by katbyte »

Kequc wrote: post #247
grannyg00se wrote: post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What the hell? So are home alarms (with prominently displayed window stickers) mandatory by law? What if I leave my cell phone out on the table while I'm eating at a restaurant? By-law infraction?

There's no such thing as a slippery slope. If you leave your windows open and aren't there then people can easily steal from you and then cost the public money. Nobody was penalised, simply contacted and asked to close the window on their car.

However if they had not been able to contact someone:

> police is forced to tow the car in that case, if they cannot reach someone

Re: Oculus Rift co-founder killed by gang trying to escape police

#253

Post by SolarNet »

jader201 wrote: post #168

I've not been following the Oculus Rift very much, other than waiting for its release and keeping an eye on which games might support it once it's released. So I don't really know much of the history or the company. Can someone share how Reisse was involved w/ the Oculus Rift? Looking at the company's profile[1], it makes no mention of Reisse, and lists Luckey as the "Founder". Even searching their site[2] makes no m…

Many early employees are truly better called founders, just ones that didn't officially work at the company until after it's founding.

He could have been moonlighting for them, he may have helped come up with the original idea, or work with the company to solve some of the core design challenges.

Just because his title wasn't co-founder doesn't mean he wasn't as important as any other founder or early employee.

Re: Oculus Rift co-founder killed by gang trying to escape police

#254

Post by mpyne »

foobarbazqux wrote: post #241
mpyne wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That particular case was where HN really shifted, but that doesn't make the parent comment incorrect.

This is a story about the literal intersection of police, guns, gangs, speeding, pedestrian crosswalks, motor vehicle accidents, and the sudden, traumatic, and innocent bystander death of the co-founder of a visible startup. And you guys expect no discussion of politics? Can you point to a single story since the inception of Hacker News that quite obviously involved the intersection of hacker/startup culture with the…

> I'll be the first to agree that political extremism is aggravating, but the solution to political extremism is not the avoidance of politics altogether.

On the contrary, avoidance of all politics is a wonderful individual solution to political extremism. Which is why so many "normal" people refuse to get involved at all, which is why all of us "normal" people end up so surprised every 2 years over a bunch of reactionary representatives being elected.

At least on HN you were able to have reasoned political discourse, which is far less aggravating. Even where I disagree with others I love being exposed to angles I hadn't considered, cultural nuances that might explain why something would work in the EU that wouldn't work in the U.S. (and vice versa), and all of that.

But from what I can tell even on HN we're shifting farther and farther away from that into the creationist mold of "I have decided what the answer must be, now I need only twist the facts to suit". Even where the answer that's decided on is actually right, that's no way to conduct a 'debate'.

Re: Oculus Rift co-founder killed by gang trying to escape police

#255

Post by shabble »

danielharan wrote: post #239
InclinedPlane wrote: post #140

This is a good reminder to always be a defensive and aware pedestrian. Just because you have the light or the right-of-way doesn't mean you are guaranteed a safe crossing of the street. Whenever I cross an intersection as a pedestrian I always look both ways (even on one way streets) and I always keep an eye on cars that are still in motion, especially those that don't appear to be slowing down. It's good to make the…

Much as I agree pedestrians should be looking both ways and keeping an eye out for cars... Can we please stop blaming the victims? The main way to stop the carnage is to change our infrastructure. It's a political issue.

I've seen one or two pedestrian crossings which included fast-reacting automatic bollards, similar to ones in [1]. They took maybe 4-5s to raise and lower, and afaik were highly effective at protecting the users. The initial capital costs, maintenance, and throughput disruption if they fail-up make them impractical as a general solution, at least for the time being.

[1] http://www.edsuk.com/item.php?id=260

Re: Oculus Rift co-founder killed by gang trying to escape police

#258

Post by sbuccini »

samatman wrote: post #207

Last night, I was walking to the store (the Walgreens next to the Berkeley Bowl, for you Bay Areans) and a drunk driver shot up onto the pavement about twenty feet in front of me. It was mere coincidence that my partner and I avoided the hospital or worse. This is a sobering thing to read the morning after that. Seriously: there was nothing I could have done to avoid that. By the time I was reacting, the car was alre…

Berkeley can get crazy, especially that area of town. Glad to hear you're okay.

Re: Oculus Rift co-founder killed by gang trying to escape police

#259

Post by Mithaldu »

Fargren wrote: post #175
Kequc wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I grew up in North America and now live in Germany, I can tell you what I think it is. In Germany everyone is required by law to register their address within two weeks of moving. Not registering where you live and accompanying information, etc is illegal. If you move and someone else is now registered where you lived, you are no longer registered. You cannot really do very many things without that piece of paper inc…

What do you do about the homeless and the people who live in precarious houses that don't really have an address? Or do they not exist in Germany, via public housing or something like that?

Homeless in Germany are much more rare than in the USA due to the simple fact that we have a government-guaranteed unemployment payment program called Hartz 4.

If you're unemployed for a very long time, you are entitled to these things (if you're unemployed in the short term, you're actually entitled to more than the listed):

* the state will pay your rent, water, heating, trash retrieval, etc. (maximum level of that depends on where in Germany you live)

* the state will pay your insurances for rent, illnesses, accidents and extended medical care

* the state will pay you 374€ per month, which you can use for power, internet, food, etc.

A small note: The mentioned insurances are mandatory in Germany and will be removed along with the tax from your job earnings (as an employee) before the cash is even put into your bank account.

So, to become homeless you need to either choose it willingly, or be in such a mental state that you somehow manage to slip through the social security net, but aren't functioning badly enough that the state hasn't picked you up yet.

Re: Oculus Rift co-founder killed by gang trying to escape police

#260

Post by jagermo »

derda wrote: post #118
zb wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In New Zealand the police adopted a (highly-publicised) policy of not continuing to chase people who drive away at high speed due to the danger it poses to the public, when it is trivial to just go round to their house the next day and arrest them. The consequences of this have been as follows: 1) Now everybody runs when stopped by Police. OK, not everybody , but the rate has probably tripled. 2) After the police giv…

I don't know what the official stance here in germany is, but I talked to a member of the Autobahnpolizei (Highway Patrol) and he told me that while they have high powered cars that could follow most cars at high speed they will "give up" when hey feel they pose a danger to other drivers and concentrate on blocking exits etc. . But I have to say I have not seen a police chase in germany my whole life.

I can confirm that. At least 15 years ago in Bavaria, the official statement was: "If innocents are in danger, abort the chase. Get his licence plates, broadcast his description, and we get him". Source: Was a cop back then.
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