andymboyle

Joined 15 years ago

Karma
714
Submissions
54
Member since
May 4
I write books, build stuff on the internet and help people whenever I can.
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Recent submissions

Comment · 3 years ago
I mean, it's a neurodevelopmental disorder that makes it hard for people to accomplish tasks. And what you're describing just seem like all the symptoms people with ADHD would have.

This isn't a perfect analogy, but it's kind of like saying a guy isn't a great runner because he tore his ACL and surgeons fixed it but it's still messed up, and saying he should've just never gotten the surgery.

You're blaming the medication when people with ADHD are already predisposed to not being able to complete things, have normal careers, and are at high risk for anxiety, depression and other things. You're just seeing what ADHD looks like.

Comment · 3 years ago
Very anecdotal here, but I wouldn't be the successful person I am had I not been given medication when I was young, starting in third grade. Night and day difference when I was on it. The medication made me a functioning person who could pay attention and do what I was supposed to do.

However, my doctors treated me with medication _and_ had me go to a therapist for cognitive behavioral therapy. The medication helped me learn to slow down my mind, be able to focus when I normally couldn't, and develop the coping skills that allowed me to function that I was learning in therapy.

My doctors also had never planned for the medication to be long term for me. It was a tool to help the therapy take hold. I was on it for about five or six years, slowly weaning me off in 7th grade once I'd developed the proper skills. I haven't taken any of that medication since then.

I don't think many paired it with therapy back then. Maybe they still don't. But I use those tools I developed in Therapist Bob's office all those years ago on a daily basis. I never could've paid attention to what that man was saying had I not been on medication. Saved my life.

Comment · 4 years ago
Very interesting! Thanks for sharing.
Comment · 4 years ago
Some folks on certain medications (or just because) can have an increase in red blood cell production, sometimes called "blood thickening," I believe, and they can sometimes just get a prescription from a doctor to go to a donation facility. Or some facilities will still just allow you to do this if you tell them you need to get rid of excess blood for the reasons above, and then they dispose of it. (Not everyone requires a doctor's prescription for it.)

That's just one use case, obviously, so there is a system for some to get rid of excess blood, at least, in a similar manner as you would donate.

Comment · 5 years ago
That sucks that people treated you like that, and I'm sorry you had to deal with that.

At my last employer, which was my first time as a manager, I helped to get HR to remove the requirement to have a degree from all job applications, as it was a major barrier to entry and preventing a lot of great candidates from applying. At my current job, I also don't care if you attended college, and removed it from requirements for my team.

I just care if you can do the job and you're not a jerk about it. I know many other folks in hiring positions who feel the same way, and some large companies are starting to rethink their degree requirements. Hopefully it becomes more widespread so folks don't have to experience what you have.

Comment · 6 years ago
Just wanted to say, I used filepicker.io years and years ago on a project and it was wonderful. Thanks for developing something that was easy to use and intuitive, especially when I was still learning the ropes.
Comment · 11 years ago
What's wrong with seeming like you are a recovering alcoholic? Many people are, and if someone judges you for that, they're not a good person. Many people also don't want the excess calories, and if someone judges you for NOT joining them in drinking alcohol, again, they're not a good person.

Same goes if they think you're a food/diet nazi. Who cares? It's your body. They shouldn't be so judgmental of your life choices, especially something as personal as how you decide to fuel your body and stay alive. And if they are judging you, in my experience, it's usually because they're working through their own issues and would rather it not be pointed out how unhealthy their choices are, and they want you to join them in their maybe-not-so-great decisions.

Comment · 12 years ago
Well, I'm not sure what the point of this was. My team at the Chicago Tribune has been working on visualizing and explaining Chicago crime data for quite some time. Here's one of our biggest projects, which pulls in (I think) the same data Socrata used, as well as our own tracking of shootings, homicides and suburban crime data: http://crime.chicagotribune.com

How we built it: http://blog.apps.chicagotribune.com/2013/02/28/the-chicago-c...

More about the suburban crime data: http://blog.apps.chicagotribune.com/2014/01/31/displaying-cr...

Hopefully one of my coworkers will join in here who's more knowledgeable than me, but remember crime data, such as what Socrata is displaying, is just a snapshot of crimes that have been reported. It could mean those crimes were just more enforced at that time, or more people decided to report crimes, etc. It is not a crime victimization survey.

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