Hacker News: sceptical

New comment by sceptical in "I am rich and have no idea what to do"

sceptical — Fri, 03 Jan 2025 16:48:44 +0000

What is a life lived well? It is very personal isn't it. There is no intended result or end goal. No greater meaning. I like my life but others may find it meaningless.

The poster asks "Why do I feel the need to only be on a journey if it’s grand?". Makes no sense to me. It is only grand in his head.

New comment by sceptical in "I am rich and have no idea what to do"

sceptical — Fri, 03 Jan 2025 09:57:22 +0000

I retired four years ago just before hitting 50 years of age. There is no real purpose and never was. I got my degree, worked in a field I loved. I was good at it, learned and was successful. But there never was any real purpose except personal growth and being challenged in my field of expertise. I've seen CEOs come and go, engineers much smarter than me leave and poor replacements being hired. Nothing ever really changed. In the work setting nobody is truly important.

I don't know what Loom is and I don't really care. It was not spectacular. It doesn't matter. You succeeded. Now you can start on a new part of life. One where you do not have to prove your ability, you already did. So enjoy, you've earned it.

I am sitting in the cold, snowy Scandinavia. In a few days time I will be travelling to Spain. I cannot wait. When I leave the airport and walk into the sun and the heat, I will be grinning like a madman. After a week of hiking / running, exploring and drinking cold beers in sun I will return home and once I leave the airport I will sigh with relief, home sweet home. After a few days of chores at home I will start looking forward to the trip that is already booked for the next week.

Life is great.

New comment by sceptical in "Over 47? Have you gone through midlife transformation?"

sceptical — Sat, 14 Dec 2024 15:41:42 +0000

At 49 I retired and spent the following years travelling. I did not really see it as a midlife crisis though as it was based on hitting a specific net worth. Now 3 years later I just completed my first marathon. I guess that is text book midlife crisis.

Never been healthier. Never been happier.

New comment by sceptical in "Russia's Economy Is Doomed"

sceptical — Sat, 30 Nov 2024 15:31:30 +0000

Similar to your collection of USSR stories, I bet.

New comment by sceptical in "Code that helped end Apartheid"

sceptical — Sat, 19 Oct 2024 10:03:14 +0000

But it wishes it already. Israel however has nukes and is backed by the US. Iran wouldn't last 10 minutes.

New comment by sceptical in "Code that helped end Apartheid"

sceptical — Sat, 19 Oct 2024 09:47:14 +0000

Quite a bit of wishful thinking here. Who exactly would be able to defeat Israel? Iran? They are cowering in fear right now. Hamas? Hezbollah? Please.

New comment by sceptical in "Israel’s Pager Attacks Have Changed the World"

sceptical — Sun, 22 Sep 2024 15:02:29 +0000

You left out the part: "it was shot down by the Israeli fighter pilots after they did not receive a response to their demands for the aircraft to land"

New comment by sceptical in "What climate activists won't tell you about protecting the planet"

sceptical — Fri, 20 Sep 2024 12:49:46 +0000

I don't think that is what Bjørn Lomborg said at all. IIRC he said money would be better spent on mitigating effects of climate change. Since you say things aren't looking great you actually seem to agree with him.

New comment by sceptical in "Hezbollah pager explosions kill several people in Lebanon"

sceptical — Thu, 19 Sep 2024 19:30:14 +0000

https://edition.cnn.com/world/live-news/lebanon-explosions-h...

New comment by sceptical in "Hezbollah pager explosions kill several people in Lebanon"

sceptical — Thu, 19 Sep 2024 17:15:31 +0000

"Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah says the group’s leadership was mostly spared during Tuesday’s attack targeting pagers that killed several members in Lebanon as they were using older devices while “new ones were sent elsewhere.”

New comment by sceptical in "Why Don't Tech Companies Pay Their Engineers to Stay?"

sceptical — Fri, 06 Sep 2024 06:02:48 +0000

Some companies do. At my previous company (I have since retired), I would get yearly outsized stock grants to motivate me to stay. I sincerely doubt I could have found matching compensation at another company.

I never had any expectation of loyalty from the company and it didn't from me either, otherwise the stock grants would be unnecessary. I had some loyalty to my manager and had promised him to give a heads up before leaving the company. He knew I would retire once I hit my target.

New comment by sceptical in "Tenet Media said it's home to heterodox thinkers. DOJ says it's Kremlin funded"

sceptical — Thu, 05 Sep 2024 18:50:18 +0000

The escalation narrative is propaganda. It is intended to sway public opinion and end support for Ukraine. But people seems to forget that Russia invaded Ukraine and Ukraine can and should do whatever they can to defend themselves. There is no escalation. We can see that with the Kursk invasion and the other of Putin's numerous red lines that has already been crossed.

New comment by sceptical in "Ukraine attacks Moscow in one of largest ever drone strikes on Russian capital"

sceptical — Wed, 21 Aug 2024 18:50:16 +0000

Forcing Russia to allocate a large amount of its limited air defences to defend Moscow seems like a good result in itself. It appears to allow Ukraine to attack airfields, fuel storages and other infrastructure inside Russia with good results.

New comment by sceptical in "Russia Claims Breakthrough With ATACMS"

sceptical — Fri, 05 Jul 2024 13:51:30 +0000

Obviously they disclose this so we don't waste any more ATACMS. How nice of them.

New comment by sceptical in "How much is enough to FIRE in San Francisco?"

sceptical — Thu, 02 May 2024 17:59:52 +0000

I retired three years ago at the age of 49. I was rather successful as a software engineer and is content with what I achieved. My response to your thoughts.

1) I have not missed work at all for the last three years. Not a single day. I have not done any programming since I retired. Instead I spend my time on other hobbies and travelling. I try to take two week-long trips every month to new locations. That is plenty meaningful for me. I have nothing to prove, I already did that. My job now is to see the world while I still can.

2) Initially it was daunting to start living on savings / investments. Especially with an initial ~20% market correction and high inflation. However I am spending less than I expected, only around 2% withdrawal rate and I could reduce that by almost 50% if needed and still live rather comfortably.

3) Financial independence is nice. But you also have to spend the money, while you still can.

New comment by sceptical in "Brisk 22-minute walk could offset harmful effects of sitting, study suggests"

sceptical — Wed, 25 Oct 2023 14:05:01 +0000

General rule is 100 calories per mile so 2500 calories for a marathon seems reasonable.

New comment by sceptical in "Covid's damage lingers in the heart"

sceptical — Tue, 24 Oct 2023 17:33:46 +0000

And yet you want people to trust your anecdata.

New comment by sceptical in "Israelis and Palestinians blame each other for blast at Gaza hospital"

sceptical — Wed, 18 Oct 2023 09:49:57 +0000

That is not accurate. Israel is seeking to destroy Hamas, not Gaza. Hamas must be utterly destroyed. Unfortunately they hide among the civilians, cowards as they are.

New comment by sceptical in "You can now hail an Uber without the Uber app"

sceptical — Wed, 11 Oct 2023 16:29:47 +0000

In Denmark Uber was cheaper, more reliable and vastly better than taxies until it was banned by the government to protect the taxi cartel. And it was actually profitable for Uber. I don't have to make up an anecdote about poor taxi service.

New comment by sceptical in "Tech Workers Deserve a Union: An Interview with Ethan Marcotte"

sceptical — Thu, 14 Sep 2023 14:29:02 +0000

Why is 24/7 oncall exploitation? It is hardly unpaid when you are payed > $500,000 a year. Also you should know this upfront when accepting employment.