Hacker News: saxman001

New comment by saxman001 in "Drift towards danger and the normalization of deviance (2017)"

saxman001 — Sat, 21 Sep 2024 01:11:48 +0000

The entire catelogue is actually available for free on their website: https://publications.americanalpineclub.org/

New comment by saxman001 in "Australia to ban engineered stone"

saxman001 — Wed, 13 Dec 2023 22:01:41 +0000

Wearing PPE is miserable. The respiratory masks that reliably keep silica out of your lungs are painful. My job involves working with silica powders and I can really only handle about 20-30 minutes decked out in my bunny suit, respirator, over eye goggles, gloves and disposable sleeves before I need to take a break for air. This is in a climate controlled environment with a minimally physical set of tasks.

Having workers wear PPE is the worst, last resort form of protection. Solutions like switching to safer materials and improving ventilation work much better in practice.

New comment by saxman001 in "Ask HN: Where is the best place to order quality t-shirts for employees?"

saxman001 — Sun, 24 Jul 2022 23:25:53 +0000

Our company uses teesprings triblend option, which come on the bella canvas blanks noted by another user. They're comfy and they don't wrinkle easily. Good enough screen printing that they last as long as t shirts from the store.

New comment by saxman001 in "Ask HN: How do you deal with life altering decisions?"

saxman001 — Tue, 19 Apr 2022 19:06:08 +0000

My advice is to seek advice from people who know you and care about you, not from the internet.

New comment by saxman001 in "E-bike injuries on the rise even on well protected Dutch roads"

saxman001 — Wed, 13 Apr 2022 16:00:03 +0000

I think the fundamental issue with ebikes in urban traffic is that they're some of the most unpredictable vehicles on the road. Here in Cambridge MA some people on these electric vehicles storm through gridlocked traffic like it's a slalom course.

Unlike normal bicycles, these things can have considerable acceleration, so my typical habit to keep tabs on cyclist traffic out the corner of my eye before turning sometimes deceives me. It's very disruptive to have vehicles passing on the right at much higher speeds than the rest of traffic. It only takes one inattentive driver to splat them.

New comment by saxman001 in "Amazon workers at 100 more facilities want to unionize: Amazon Labor Union"

saxman001 — Tue, 12 Apr 2022 18:48:28 +0000

Mark Zuckerburg addressed this question very well on the Lex Friedman podcast. He pointed out that facebook did some science around this and discovered that many top level decisions are lose-lose from a public perception standpoint. On key policy questions the losing interest group almost always manages to create a stink that outweighs the happiness of the winning group.

Couple this with the well documented negative bias of the news, and it's not surprising that most corporate public figures have bleak reputations.

Note that I'm not actually defending these men. I'm simply pointing out that there are some structural reasons for the strong negative perceptions of these executives.

New comment by saxman001 in "Ask HN: How do I develop focus?"

saxman001 — Mon, 04 Apr 2022 13:19:13 +0000

I struggled with the same thing for years. For me the key to getting it together was moderately increasing my caffeine intake, only consuming caffeine first thing in the morning and eliminating alcohol. I also upgraded apartments and bought a new mattress pillows and bedding which helped me get better sleep.

After I made these adjustments I had the boost in concentration and wellbeing that I needed to take on some of the other adjustments suggested by other commenters.

These adjustments made a night and day difference to my ability to focus. Maybe none of these things are a problem for you, but definitely check in on these areas if you haven't already.

New comment by saxman001 in "NYC to mandate proof of vaccination for many indoor settings"

saxman001 — Wed, 04 Aug 2021 18:41:38 +0000

I don't think that the city should be able to impose this arduous constraint on private businesses. These businesses have already suffered greatly under the capacity restrictions of closures. Now they're being asked to turn away potential customers and enforce unpopular rules without compensation, under threat of substantial penalties.

If the city wants to impose this rule, then at the very least they should handle the enforcement. Outsourcing the mandate without compensation is absurd.

New comment by saxman001 in "The CDC Needs to Stop Confusing the Public"

saxman001 — Wed, 04 Aug 2021 14:34:02 +0000

I find it upsetting that the CDC is actively exaggerating the risk to vaccinated people, and the risk that vaccinated people can forward propagate the disease. This columnist does an excellent job explaining these flaws in their recent messaging. Some of the alarmist coverage that's hit front pages in the past week could lead a layperson to think that the vaccines aren't very effective.

New comment by saxman001 in "The case for banning non-competes"

saxman001 — Fri, 16 Jul 2021 17:23:43 +0000

I think that non-competes can be valid in very narrow, very specific scopes. One of my friends has a job that involves evaluating companies and allocating millions of dollars of funding towards them. His contract states that he cannot go and work for the companies that he's evaluating for two years.

New comment by saxman001 in "Amazon Denies Workers Pee in Bottles. Here Are the Pee Bottles"

saxman001 — Fri, 26 Mar 2021 14:45:38 +0000

I suspect that most women would feel differently than you