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RickJWag

20 karma · joined June 18, 2017

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RickJWag··on Sinclair Made Dozens of Local News Anchors Recite the Same Script
Reminds me of when Trump won the Republican nomination-- a gob of stories ran with basically the same theme and spin.

There's no such thing as straight news. It's all spin, one way or the other.

Here's Politico's take on the Trump speech lockstep reaction: https://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/trump-convention-spee...

RickJWag··on Texas woman sentenced to 5 years in prison for voting while on probation
Reminds me of the monetary damages levied against people who shared music files.

There was a wrong-doing, but the punishment is excessive.

RickJWag··on Texas woman sentenced to 5 years in prison for voting while on probation
Not victimless. That fraudulent vote cancelled a legitimate one.

The punishment is excessive, but there is a real crime here.

RickJWag··on Tech workers who are engineering a mid-30s retirement
They'll be bored out of their skulls in no time.

And if kids come along-- well, they'll want to go back to work anyway.

RickJWag··on Tech workers who are engineering a mid-30s retirement
It's no use being jealous of those that have lots of money. It comes with it's own problems, by the way.

The good lesson of the article is this: If we spend less than we make (no matter the amount), we can eventually stop working if we allow the magic of compound interest to work for us.

RickJWag··on Million-dollar Strads fall to modern violins in blind ‘sound check’
We have yet to return to the excellent pop music of the 80s.
RickJWag··on Being frugal is for the rich
Count me in the 'skip the Starbucks and buy index funds' category.

Over time, it will make you much richer than you'd otherwise be. It really works.

RickJWag··on Gallup Study Shows Well-Being in Decline Across America
Wow, my home state of South Dakota at the top of the rankings.

Snow days must have something to do with it.

RickJWag··on Empty half the Earth of its humans. It's the only way to save the planet
"This situation can’t endure for long – years, perhaps, but not decades."

Time will prove this to be nonsense.

RickJWag··on The financial crisis shattered investors' trust in markets
You can learn a lot from old TV.

I saw a Miami Vice episode a while back, the Bad Guy noted that the Dow Jones was about to break 1400.

It's a constant upward trail, with peaks and valleys along the way. Don't bet against it.

RickJWag··on 23 Things Only 90s Sysadmins Will Remember
Great article. Hacker News paydirt!
RickJWag··on Fifteen Years Ago, America Destroyed My Country
Thankfully, we avoided war-supporting Hillary Clinton.
RickJWag··on ‘Testilying’ by Police: A Stubborn Problem
Are there bad cops? Sure.

But most police are honest. They work a dangerous job, at low pay, and with a mostly ungrateful public. These days, they are a political football with a powerful press working against them.

I'm glad cops are there. It'll be a bad day when the 'Ferguson effect' becomes amplified.

RickJWag··on Millenials aren't entitled; Boomers were just lucky
As a near-Boomer (early Gen-Xer) I do believe I fell into a lucky time. I left high school, then a quick college-paying stint in the service to a red-hot economy in 1990. (Ronald Reagan was to thank for that, and Bill Clinton kept it going.) I started in Programming then, it's been a great ride to this day.

I think kids today have it harder, the opportunity isn't there. AI may take the programming jobs, I'm not sure. (Kids today also have to be exceptionally well-grounded, I think there's a lot more ways to go astray.)

I wish the Millenials good luck-- they'll need it.

RickJWag··on Loneliness on the Job: Why No Employee Is an Island
As a baby boomer, this would have confused me 'till recently.

I've been studying generational differences for an upcoming talk, so I'm tuned into generational attitudes.

We had a mail-list thread this past week about an employee who felt lonely. I found it hard to relate to, but someone on the thread mentioned a YouTube video by Simon Sinek, it's about Millennials in the workplace. It really clicked-- I can see how some people feel this way.

RickJWag··on Why rural Americans are so pissed off
Nothing, really. Except business guests really like to have a nearby airport to fly into.

I know this as I used to work for Acxiom, headquartered in Conway, Arkansas. (Population: about 30k then, an hour from the Little Rock airport). It really was a restriction.

RickJWag··on Why rural Americans are so pissed off
Ask an American Indian how that worked out for them. They had treaties, after all.
RickJWag··on Why rural Americans are so pissed off
Indeed. A majority of Americans support making late-term abortions illegal. (With good reason. It really is a baby human that's being slaughtered.)
RickJWag··on Why rural Americans are so pissed off
Such nonsense. What would Vox know about rural America?

Rural Americans are mad about being called 'flyover states', about being called racists (really for voting against Democrats) and for being portrayed as backwards.

Rural Americans are great people, the same as urban Americans. If you can't see the good in other people, the problem isn't with them.

RickJWag··on Fordlandia
At the time, I'm sure Ford's ideas were considered very progressive and a gift to the indigenous people.

Today, he's the target of a critical article like this one. (There's more criticism of Winston Churchill on HN today, too.)

My theory is that the world has become so prosperous (at least parts of it) that people have no idea what's good and what's not any more.

RickJWag··on [dead]
I totally agree. There are far too many political articles on HN, especially.
RickJWag··on Some terrible personal news
So sorry for your loss, Matt. She was far too young.
RickJWag··on [dead]
Politics on HN. BOO!
RickJWag··on Silicon Valley VCs tour the Midwest
Having seen recent hiring data, I think SV is not sustainable.

Compare salaries to what you get for remote work (especially a timezone or two away.)

It's only a matter of time. The numbers will catch up.

RickJWag··on Silicon Valley VCs tour the Midwest
"...a city with more intellectual diversity"

I'm stunned the NYT printed this. In fact, I'm surprised the NYT printed a lot of the article.

I owe them another look.

RickJWag··on The Silicon Valley elite’s latest status symbol: Chickens
Huh. Here in the remote-work mid-south, chickens are commonplace. The eggs just taste better.

I guess every locale has advantages and disadvantages. For me, winter weather gets extra weighting.

RickJWag··on The World Is Embracing S.U.V.s. That’s Bad News for the Climate
Yes, it has.

HN is about one step above high school in that regard.

RickJWag··on Why I Cloned My Dog
I'm not one to tell Barbra how to spend her money, but I think she should stop portraying herself as a textbook liberal and champion of the 99%. It doesn't ring very true.
RickJWag··on U.S. Income Inequality Hits a New Threshold
I feel the same.
RickJWag··on U.S. Income Inequality Hits a New Threshold
Why not vilify George Soros or ultra-rich Hollywood as well?
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