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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

#51

Post by knowaveragejoe »

deelowe wrote: post #9
pastaking wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I usually don't feel anything when I hear of a innocent person dying on the news, but maybe because he's involved in tech, I too am very angry. Why does the police have to chase anyway? Why can't they just identify the car and silently follow it until it stops. Damn it.

Because it's more fun for them if they chase. Really, very rarely should it make sense for cops to endanger countless civilian lives to catch a criminal.

Depending on the offense, there are reasons to do it. If there are not officers immediately behind the perps wherever they stop, they can quite easily disperse into the city or go into a building and take innocents hostage. I don't think the other hypotheses offered in this thread(15 minutes of fame, it's LA's reality show, etc) have quite so much to do with it, especially when you consider how vast LA is.

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

#52

Post by enraged_camel »

davidw wrote: post #42
foobarbazqux wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So because your father is a cop, you don't even want people to question the actions of the cops in the story? And anyway, so what? It sounds like the gang members were the ones out of control, not the police. If the police had struck Reisse that would be different, but they didn't. But then what if the police had done something reprehensible? Nothing should be said because we need to respect your good natured father?…

This site is about hacking and startups, not political ranting. There are other sites for that.

Sorry, what?

https://www.hnsearch.com/search#request/all&q=aaron+swar...

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

#53

Post by enraged_camel »

Xanza wrote: post #25

I just wanted to say two things here. One, this is an incredibly damaging tragedy. I truly wish the best for the community, for the Reisse and Oculus VR family. Secondly, my father has been an officer of the law for more than 25 years -- can we please not turn a thread which is being used to inform the community at large of a tragedy as a way to defame those who wish to do good in their community. I ask out of respec…

>>defame those who wish to do good in their community.

This is an incredible cop-out. No pun intended.

Just because someone wishes to do good in their community does not mean they are immune to being criticized for their actions.

Furthermore, a lot of cops don't give a shit about doing good in their community. They are bullies who have joined the police force to legitimize their violent tendencies.

We need more "good cops" like your father, but let's face it: we will not get them if we do not draw people's attention to the bad stuff a lot of cops do.

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

#54

Post by rosser »

Xanza wrote: post #25

I just wanted to say two things here. One, this is an incredibly damaging tragedy. I truly wish the best for the community, for the Reisse and Oculus VR family. Secondly, my father has been an officer of the law for more than 25 years -- can we please not turn a thread which is being used to inform the community at large of a tragedy as a way to defame those who wish to do good in their community. I ask out of respec…

I'm totally fine with not denigrating the cops that actually care about doing good in their communities. I'm just not convinced that all of them share that sentiment.

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

#55

Post by statusgraph »

Buttons840 wrote: post #48
tyoma wrote: post #24

This is extremely sad, but it made me think of an important topic: contingency planning. Pretty much every organization I've worked for was missing a "key developer got hit by bus" plan for at least one major project.

If that key developer did get hit by a bus then: 1) A new key developer would be hired to maintain the project, and things would be a little rough for a couple months but the company would survive. 2) Every decent person would care more about the key developers life than the "major project". This so called "bus factor" has always bugged me. Documentation is good, but talk of untimely death by bus is silly.

I agree with you, but I think most bus factor considerations are about poaching/the developer leaving =)

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

#56

Post by Sukotto »

I feel badly for his family and coworkers. :(

Make sure you let your family know how much you care about them. Also make sure they will be taken care of in case you're suddenly gone. Firstly by picking up enough term life insurance to cover your dependents' needs until adulthood. Secondly by writing up a will and giving it to someone you trust. [1][2]

We joke about "getting hit by a bus" and a project's "bus factor"[3] but it really does happen. It could happen to you or to a critically important person on your project team. Make it a policy to have all critical info recorded in some systematic way. You don't have to get all iso9000 but you should, at the very least, have everyone do a brain dump into a wiki once a month and keep it in a central location (along with the password file, list of client info, etc.)

-

[1] DIY will: http://www.wikihow.com/Write-Your-Own-Last-Will-and-Testamen...

[2] Reasonably priced template: http://www.legalzoom.com/legal-wills/wills-overview.html

[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bus_factor

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

#57

Post by enraged_camel »

jtchang wrote: post #3

It is always sad to lose someone in your community. The Oculus Rift seems like a pretty cool invention and hope things turn out well. What do you even say when stuff like this happens? He was a developer and in a way we never know when each of us will meet our ends.

A couple of weeks ago, one of the VPs in my company suddenly passed away. A day of vomiting and diarrhea, followed by hospitalization, and shortly after that, gone.

He was 43 years old. Incredibly active, healthy and fit guy. He died of a very rare staph infection. By the time he was diagnosed, it was too late.

I think the lesson is that life is really short, and you never know when it will end. So you better make the most out of the time allotted to you, and the fact that you don't know how long you have left should only fuel your efforts.

R.I.P. Andrew.

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

#58

Post by cperciva »

Buttons840 wrote: post #48
tyoma wrote: post #24

This is extremely sad, but it made me think of an important topic: contingency planning. Pretty much every organization I've worked for was missing a "key developer got hit by bus" plan for at least one major project.

If that key developer did get hit by a bus then: 1) A new key developer would be hired to maintain the project, and things would be a little rough for a couple months but the company would survive. 2) Every decent person would care more about the key developers life than the "major project". This so called "bus factor" has always bugged me. Documentation is good, but talk of untimely death by bus is silly.

This so called "bus factor" has always bugged me. Documentation is good, but talk of untimely death by bus is silly.

The reference to untimely death by bus strike is an example of macabre geek humour; not a serious suggestion that the greatest threat to developers is posed by motorized mass transportation.

Most often developers leave projects -- and especially open source projects -- for far more banal reasons: They move to a different position and don't have the time or inclination to continue maintaining their old code.

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

#59

Post by aaron695 »

Xanza wrote: post #25

I just wanted to say two things here. One, this is an incredibly damaging tragedy. I truly wish the best for the community, for the Reisse and Oculus VR family. Secondly, my father has been an officer of the law for more than 25 years -- can we please not turn a thread which is being used to inform the community at large of a tragedy as a way to defame those who wish to do good in their community. I ask out of respec…

I'm lost, your father was involved?

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

#60

Post by untog »

tyoma wrote: post #24

This is extremely sad, but it made me think of an important topic: contingency planning. Pretty much every organization I've worked for was missing a "key developer got hit by bus" plan for at least one major project.

I don't know that there is any need to be so dramatic. "Key developer gets a new job" is pretty much the exact same contingency plan.
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