altotrees

Joined 11 years ago

Karma
554
Submissions
210
Member since
Nov 23
It is ideas, not vested interests, which are dangerous for good or evil.
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Recent submissions

Comment · 7 years ago
Despite all the dependencies, I really like the clean, simple UI. Very uncluttered, which for a todo app is super important, in my opinion.
Comment · 7 years ago
I just re-read the Atavist piece the other day, as Le Roux made one of his first public appearances at a hearing. A truly awe-inspiring piece of journalism about a man who seems to have already lived multiple lives in his 46 years.

His message board and mailing list comments were especially fascinating to me, as I spent time lurking on those lists and others as a teen. Cannot recommend Mr. Ratliff's work enough.

Comment · 7 years ago
Stories like these are the ones that inspire me the most. People using technology in a way that helps them in their everyday lives, or in a hobbyist fashion. I feel like many of the things I pick-up at work are out of career necessity: the latest framework, bits of an up and coming language that is going to be "the future", semi fluency in a stack so I can aid in a project,I enjoy it, but I don't enjoy it like in the same way I once did.

Probably my favorite programming memory was teaching myself Java as a teenager and building games for my friends and I to play. No responsibility, if they worked...great, if not oh well. It was exhilarating. I do not think programming will ever become a lingua franca, as stated in other places here. I think hobbyist programmers may pop up more and more,or people who know enough to build small tools for themselves (not to scale) and I don't think that's a bad thing.

Comment · 7 years ago
Not sure about the overall ideas in this one. I am currently writing apps in Angular using Python on the backend. Just got a new contract. My career started years ago with only HTML and CSS.

Being experienced, I would agree with the thesis here, except for the fact that we hire several junior devs here at my new office with only HTML and CSS knowledge and then gradually teach them frameworks and tools they will need.

Other places I have worked have taken this approach too. Don't know Angular or ember? That's okay...if you are teachable and really want to learn. Those are the real skills you need.

Comment · 8 years ago
I worked for UPS for a long time, and if I am understanding what you are saying then no, you must be a due-paying member of the IBT to benefit from contractually-negotiated benefits and pay. UPS corporate has a totally different set of benefits, pay, and expectations from their Teamster counterparts.

I may have misunderstood what you meant though.

Comment · 8 years ago
I have had Amazon folks in my neighborhood: leave packages on the sidewalk, throw packages over fences and ask me for a tip.

These are antecdotal, but if Amazon wants to catch up to a company like UPS, they have a ton of ground to make up. Delivering packages is really hard work, believe it or not, and underpaying someone to do it isn't going to bring about the results you're after, guaranteed.

Comment · 8 years ago
So I read this and cannot help but wonder if we really are 5 years away from a massive sea change. People think truck drivers could be obsolete in 5 years time, the bullish ones anyway.

The tech is still developing. We may be in a bit of a hype bubble, but it is as real and clear as it has ever been. I think even as the tech advances rapidly, public acceptance will be way further out than 5, 10 or 15 years. I would venture to say self-driving cars and truck fleets being normalized is 30 years away and in no way because of the tech, but due to all the red tape and public debate that will encase the issue.

If you think all truck drivers are going to be displaced in 5 or even 10 years, you may be living in an HN bubble. Sure jobs will be automated away, but this is going to take more time than lots of people think. For instance, one article like this could delay acceptance for months or years, in my opinion.

Comment · 9 years ago
I lived on one of the streets they mention in the article while attending college. The hardest thing one would see was malt liqour abuse or the occasional nodded off opiate user.

I was just in the area last week, and it is arresting how different things are. Boarded up houses, handwritten signs for suboxone treatment with phone numbers, addled users staring into space on many corners - things have changed.

Stories like this give me a bit of hope because people do recover, I know that. But what is the longterm solution here? The causes of the opioid epidemic are debated ad nauseum, but it seems much harder to put a finger on the pulse of a solution. It's wrecking lives at an increasing rate, that much is for sure.

Comment · 9 years ago
Ugh, this, the Somerton Man cipher as the Zodiac cipher are my top three to see cracked. Maybe someday...

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