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

Watch a VC use my name to sell a con

jwz.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

301–310 of 313 posts

Re: Watch a VC use my name to sell a con

#301

Post by gammarator »

rapind wrote: post #286
Fliko wrote: post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In 2003 it reports that small farms that have $10,000 - $249,999 in sales to be 34% of all farms (in 2003), which is still quite significant compared to the 4.8% that industrial complexes (1.7%) and very large family farms (3.1%) hold.

It's not about super large farms, it's about the industrial machine that has taken over small and large farms, in order to receive subsidies and remain competitive. "Small farmers are often absorbed into factory farm operations, acting as contract growers for the industrial facilities." (Wikipedia) These are still considered independent farms in the census I believe. Corn and Soy Beans account for by far the majority…

"Have you been to a corn / soy bean farm? Visit one and ask the farmer if he enjoys his job, and how much he makes (many are in the red)."

Have you done this yourself, or are you just trying to score rhetorical points?

I have: my parents are corn/soy/livestock farmers on a small farm they own in the Midwest. Their friends and neighbors are all small operations as well. It's not a job you make much money at, it's true--imagine if all of your income depended on good weather and timing the commodities markets right! They stick with it because it's a job with independence and pride in producing something the world needs. Heritage and tradition, too: many have ancestors who have been farming in the area for a century or more.

It's easy to vilify something if you don't understand it.

Re: Watch a VC use my name to sell a con

#302

Post by Fliko »

rapind wrote: post #286
Fliko wrote: post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In 2003 it reports that small farms that have $10,000 - $249,999 in sales to be 34% of all farms (in 2003), which is still quite significant compared to the 4.8% that industrial complexes (1.7%) and very large family farms (3.1%) hold.

It's not about super large farms, it's about the industrial machine that has taken over small and large farms, in order to receive subsidies and remain competitive. "Small farmers are often absorbed into factory farm operations, acting as contract growers for the industrial facilities." (Wikipedia) These are still considered independent farms in the census I believe. Corn and Soy Beans account for by far the majority…

I know some corn/soy bean farmers but not very well. All the farmers I know really well (and have to a point grown up with) are livestock farmers, and they live on a farm and do farm work because they love it. It is not their primary job, most of them do contracting, some are mechanics, some are auctioneers, and others are nurses.

Despite farming not being their primary job, they still make a few thousand dollars a year from sales, which I believe should classify them as a small scale farm.

Farmers don't make a lot of money at all, and they tend to get screwed a lot, this is why you always hear of the angry hillbillies taking over the city. It's kind of like musicians making a living. (Farmers are more important because they provide food, but that's not the point).

As far as industrial machines taking over the business, this is just the nature of needing a lot of food in the world. The morals of these industrial machines are questionable at times, but in the end we need food and most people aren't willing to vegetarian so I guess we are going to have to suck it up until we have better methods. Small scale farms also fill a niche market with local meat/produce and often end up trading/selling their products to other farms.

Back to the point of the main topic; your father wasn't scammed out of his life because he worked hard on a farm. I'm sure at some point he realized that he could sell the farm, move to the city, get a desk job and work less hours much like many other people did in rural areas.

I don't know your father, but I would go as far to say that he probably made a conscious decision to stay on the farm for probably a multitude of reasons. Maybe he liked the life, maybe he liked rural areas, maybe he felt a kid would be better raised on a farm doing lots of hard work, it could be anything really.

Farm work isn't smart work because it requires lot of hard hours with little benefit. Doesn't mean someone is wrong in choosing to do it because it is not only necessary for society, but some people really do like it.

Re: Watch a VC use my name to sell a con

#303

Post by rdouble »

Fliko wrote: post #302
rapind wrote: post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not about super large farms, it's about the industrial machine that has taken over small and large farms, in order to receive subsidies and remain competitive. "Small farmers are often absorbed into factory farm operations, acting as contract growers for the industrial facilities." (Wikipedia) These are still considered independent farms in the census I believe. Corn and Soy Beans account for by far the majority…

I know some corn/soy bean farmers but not very well. All the farmers I know really well (and have to a point grown up with) are livestock farmers, and they live on a farm and do farm work because they love it. It is not their primary job, most of them do contracting, some are mechanics, some are auctioneers, and others are nurses. Despite farming not being their primary job, they still make a few thousand dollars a y…

I don't know where you live but I've never heard of angry hillbillies taking over a city. Where I live the farmers are all millionaires, work five months out of the year and spend the rest of the year in Tampa or Tucson.

Re: Watch a VC use my name to sell a con

#304

Post by Fliko »

rdouble wrote: post #303
Fliko wrote: post #302

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know some corn/soy bean farmers but not very well. All the farmers I know really well (and have to a point grown up with) are livestock farmers, and they live on a farm and do farm work because they love it. It is not their primary job, most of them do contracting, some are mechanics, some are auctioneers, and others are nurses. Despite farming not being their primary job, they still make a few thousand dollars a y…

I don't know where you live but I've never heard of angry hillbillies taking over a city. Where I live the farmers are all millionaires, work five months out of the year and spend the rest of the year in Tampa or Tucson.

I was just making a joke about some of the stereotypes people hold for hillbillies.

Re: Watch a VC use my name to sell a con

#305

Post by realitygrill »

bh42222 wrote: post #199
dgalling wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I highly doubt writers can work the same way. Anyone doing any type of creative work needs these types of breaks. Similarly, one article published without adequate editing/fact-checking can do wonders to destroy the credibility of a blog...

Similarly, one article published without adequate editing/fact-checking can do wonders to destroy the credibility of a blog... Try reading an article on anything you are an expert in, from any newspaper.

aka the Gell-Mann Amnesia Effect

Re: Watch a VC use my name to sell a con

#306

Post by staunch »

fpgeek wrote: post #99
staunch wrote: post #64

It's the height of ridiculousness for someone who retired, at like age 30 to run a nightclub, after working at a startup to say it's a "con". What kind of terrible "con" turns the victim into a millionaire. There are far more startup employees that have become rich than founders or investors. Tens or hundreds of thousands of them. Of course they don't get as much money as the founders or investors, but how is that an…

Would it be ridiculous for someone who won a literal (rather than metaphorical) lottery to call lotteries a con? Because they are, whether you win one or not.

No. Lotteries are not cons either. In the US the rules are published on every ticket and are upheld.

Not that I buy the comparison to lotteries. I'd say startups are much closer to poker. Some people have no chance at making a living playing poker -- other people could almost certainly do it if they tried.

I bet Bill Gates could have been a very good professional poker player.

Re: Watch a VC use my name to sell a con

#307

Post by mncolinlee »

I would argue that some of the best code I've ever written didn't take long to write. If Arrington understood both the physical and mental nature of bug-quashing, he'd have a more nuanced view of the slavish work sessions he's advocating.

Sometimes it makes sense to pull overnighters and sometimes it simply burns a coder out and drives him to poor productivity and an infectious bad attitude. It takes an expert to know the difference.

Re: Watch a VC use my name to sell a con

#308

Post by studentrob »

nknight wrote: post #270
grellas wrote: post #257

"Those who work hard make good" is a profoundly American theme that dates back to Horatio Alger and before - it can hardly be said to originate from a cabal of VCs trying to "put one over" on hapless founders and startup employees in Silicon Valley. No doubt Mr. Arrington adds his peculiarly abrasive touch to the debate (toughen up, don't whine, and let's applaud Zynga for what it did to its employees), but he did so…

> It is also unfair to take him to task for quoting from a publicly available source Quotes which were already removed from their full context, taken further out of context by Arrington, with a shallow, incomplete understanding of the long-term consequences of the events being recounted. Arrington has a Bachelor's in economics and a law degree, until 1999 he was a securities lawyer. He was still in law school when jw…

Amen brotha! Here's to a world where engineers are lead by engineers who lead by example, and not by VCs with law or business degrees.

Re: Watch a VC use my name to sell a con

#309

Post by qntm »

nik_0_0 wrote: post #189
kristofferR wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This may be slightly off topic, but for solving #1 a standing desk is a great idea. My energy levels have improved dramatically and I've also lost some weight since I got my standing desk.

If the human body isn't built for sitting 8 hours a day, I'm damn sure its not made for standing 8 hours a day (not mine at least!)

Then what is it built for doing 8 hours a day? Running? Swimming?

Re: Watch a VC use my name to sell a con

#310

Post by qntm »

kamaal wrote: post #77

Oh, C'mon. So I'm not supposed to work hard and get rich because as a side effect that some one else also is? My dad is a cab driver. He really works his life off. Under absolutely dismal financial conditions he and may mom have given their whole lives to bring us out of poverty. They got me and my sister decent education. They did what every poor family in India does. They worked hard, saved money, invested it and g…

Are your father's cab driver peers also working 12-16 hour schedules?
Post reply on HN