Losing it All - <AUTHOR> http://shakycode.com/post/119775920434/losing-it-all <comment><USER2> Very touching post. Good luck with your life.

I wanted to point out a funny thing though. Living in a post-soviet country I can sense my bias that tells me that this is totally ridiculous. Probably the difference between here and America is just so big. This situation is just inherently absurd by the simple fact that selling that iPhone would give me enough money to survive for 2 months paying a rent in a cheap apartment and buying another cheap phone.

Besides that, the most important difference is that we _never_ take such big loans here. Big loans are _scary_ for us. I understand how important they are for developing an economy, but all around me most people would hardly get a loan to buy a car. Even if the economy is poor, people are much more free because they don't take insane debts. I think american culture really needs to remember that debt is dangerous.

Just a quick thought about the abyssal difference between the 2 mentalities.

<comment><USER3> I was taking one of these life self-assessment quizzes yesterday. It has a number of questions which you ponder and respond to in essay form. You can do it in a text editor so it's private and is just an opportunity to think about your life.

One of the questions was "how much credit card debt do you have, and how are you planning to reduce it?" I found it pretty strange that the quiz assumed that the reader would be certain to have some credit card debt; indeed enough that they would need a plan to reduce it gradually.

As an Indian I find this a strange way of looking at things. To me a credit card is a convenient payment method, not a facility to award myself discretionary loans.

<comment><USER2> Same here. If I actually needed a small temporary loan I'd reach out to a friend, but never a credit card like that. We actually don't have such credit cards here, although we have other options for micro-crediting.

<comment><USER3> It's much the same in India. Credit cards are not easy to qualify for, and in most cases you can only expect to get one if you're employed somewhere full- time. As a self-employed person for a large part of my career, I would always have to ask other people to use their credit card for occasional use where no other payment option existed (and pay them directly). I finally got one after having put a significant amount of savings in the bank.

<comment><USER4> Debit cards solve the payment problem for me. They're accepted everywhere, so I've never seen the need to get a credit card at all.

<comment><USER3> Not all debit cards in India can be used for things like setting up a Verified PayPal account, or an iOS developer membership or a recurring payment with a hosting provider. Maybe it's possible now, but it wasn't for me when I tried it.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> This is just a suggestion, but if anyone else encounters a circumstance like this, the best (counterintuitive) thing may be to go to school online. In the US, federal financial aid will provide you with cash for living expenses. There are several open enrollment online schools (here's one [1]) that are cheap enough for you to wind up with about $4-$5K/semester in cash for living expenses. It's not alot, but you can pretty easily "attend" classes online part time while you try to work yourself out of your situation. You get the "credit balance refund" about a month after classes start each semester, but many online colleges have "semesters" that start every month.

While not homeless, my sister came to a crossroads in her career and is now doing this exact thing. The extra $10K/yr basically pays her rent, she is still able to work full time, and she'll have a degree in a field she actually likes at the end. If OP suddenly had $5K in the bank, his road to recovery wouldn't have been nearly as rocky.

[1] [http://www.apus.edu/](http://www.apus.edu/)

<comment><USER6> Educational debt is non-dischargable. While it can be "easy money" for now, _the debt will stay with you until you die._

And while specific skills training _may_ help, more education _won 't_ bring clients online.

APUS is, despite its "public university" name, a private, for-profit institution, owned by American Public Education, Inc.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Public_University_Syst...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Public_University_System)

[http://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/apei](http://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/apei)

[http://www.ripoffreport.com/r/American-Public-University- Sys...](http://www.ripoffreport.com/r/American-Public-University- System/Internet/American-Public-University-System-American-Public-University- American-Military-University-866870)

Those interested in changes to U.S. bankruptcy code, including educational loans, might care to look at the Student Loan Bankrupcy Exception at FinAid:

[http://www.finaid.org/questions/bankruptcyexception.phtml](http://www.finaid.org/questions/bankruptcyexception.phtml)

 _Student loans were dischargeable in bankruptcy prior to 1976. With the introduction of the US Bankruptcy Code (11 USC 101 et seq) in 1978, the ability to discharge education loans was limited. Subsequent changes in the law have further narrowed the dischargeability of education debt._

<comment><USER5> _> the debt will stay with you until you die._

You're wrong. It will stay with you until you pay it off, on relatively easy terms, and payments only begin after you graduate.

 _> And while specific skills training may help, more education won't bring clients online._

Most people seeking a degree aren't in fields where they are looking for "clients". Most people want a degree so they can get a job. If you are referring specifically to learning to code, I wouldn't recommend that anyone use any paid school. There are more than enough free online resources to teach yourself to become a very proficient programmer.

 _> hxxp://www.ripoffreport.com/r/American-Public-University-Sys... _

Most online schools, and indeed most online businesses, have one or more "Ripoff Reports" posted. That site is hardly credible, and I question the motives of anyone that would even post a link to such garbage on a site like HN. Most of those "reports" are written by competitors of the business at issue, angry ex wives, the owner of Ripoff Reports himself etc...it's an extortion scheme, asking people for money in order to modify posts. Posting there is SOP among scumbags. Their PageRank is their only asset, and they use it for extortion.

 _>[http://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/apei](http://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/apei) _

I had no idea that they were publicly traded on the Nasdaq, but that bolsters my confidence in them.

I only mentioned Apus because that is where my sister is going and it is working out well for her. They are fully accredited, and a big chunk of the money my sister is getting is in the form of Pell grants, which do not have to be paid back (your eligibility for both loans and Pell grants can easily be determined at [http://fafsa.ed.gov](http://fafsa.ed.gov)). Yes, you have to pay back the loan portion once you have graduated and have a bachelor's degree. My point was that in a situation like OP's, this would be the first thing that I would do. If you were homeless or close to it, this would be by far the best and lowest cost way to access cash, especially if more education was in your plans anyway. When helping my sister look into this before she enrolled, I was amazed that more people aren't using online schools.

<comment><USER7> There's a huge difference in the risk you are taking when you take on debt that can be cleared with bankruptcy and debt that can not.

This is why I always say that the first thing your business should pay for is an accountant. Same thing. Business mistakes? bankruptcy is the worst case. Sure, it's not that weird for even smallish businesses to sign leases that are worth truly intimidating amounts of money. My own company's co-lo contract would cover a very high-end Ferrari. Leases are debt. But they can be discharged through bankruptcy. Tax mistakes? Tax mistakes are for life (or, as you say, until you pay them off, along with penalties and interest.)

I mean, I'm not saying that I'd never take such a loan, just that it is money at what I consider completely brutal terms, and for me, at least, it would be a last resort.

As an aside, I think that only taking loans that can be cleared by bankruptcy is something of a sanity check. Nobody, right now, would loan me the money to buy a Ferrari, because I can't afford a Ferrari (well, not a new one, anyhow.) and this fact is obvious if you look at my finances, as a bank would before loaning someone that kind of money for a car. I mean, I probably could usually make the payments, but one financial misstep on my part, or some slight flutter in my income stream and I'd be in bankruptcy territory.

Now, on the other hand, if that loan couldn't be cleared by bankruptcy? I think it would be a reasonable risk for most banks to loan me the cash for the Ferrari. I mean I'd be eating ramen, but I could make payments as long as nothing went wrong, and even if I screw it up and they've gotta repo the thing, It's pretty likely that my lifetime earnings, which they'll get to garnish in this hypothetical world where car loans operate like student loans, are going to be enough to more than cover the loan plus interest and penalties.

The point being that operating without bankruptcy really moves the bar on how much effort the bank puts into figuring out if you can afford something.

<comment><USER5> _> I mean, I'm not saying that I'd never take such a loan, just that it is money at what I consider completely brutal terms, and for me, at least, it would be a last resort._

Please look at my comment in the context of OP's story of _living at Starbucks_ and being _beaten and mugged at gunpoint in the park where he was sleeping_. I would say that's last resort territory. Hmm...that or take a loan that you have to _start_ paying back in 4 years? I'm guessing that these negative responses about bankruptcy discharge are mostly from people that have never been in such desperate circumstances.

Also, even in less desperate circumstances, (such as my sister's, where she simply got tired of working in her field) going to school and (hopefully) dramatically raising ones earning potential isn't exactly a worthless pursuit.

<comment><USER7> Yeah, if I didn't have a safe place to sleep, I agree, taking loans that I couldn't clear with bankruptcy would be something I'd be willing to do. Again, your point that I've never been in any situation that desperate is quite true. I've never experienced anything like that.

My real worry though would be that:

>going to school and (hopefully) dramatically raising ones earning potential isn't exactly a worthless pursuit.

especially if you are going to a for-profit school? I... really think that this idea that formal education means more money is a lie that we sell vulnerable children, and a lie we sell ourselves, because we don't understand how to end the cycle of poverty. Then we sell them loans they can't get out of. It really seems pretty terrible to me.

I went to a pretty poor high school - I make a _lot_ more money than most of the people who went to school with me who have gone on to get two year degrees or four year degrees from low-end institutions.

I'm not saying that education for educations sake isn't valuable; it is. I'm just saying that when it comes to ability to earn a living, for me and most of the people I've known, for the people who did well after going to school? School was part of a life that meant you were going to be successful; if you took someone who otherwise didn't have that life and sent them to a low-end school? it doesn't seem to help them much. college doesn't seem to do it without the parents... and at least in my experience, if you _have_ the parents, they will push you in to college, but if you resist, it doesn't seem to depress your earning ability much.

See, my real worry would be that I'd go to school and at the end of those four years I'd be no more employable than I was at the start, and at that point I'd be way worse off, because I'd have this big bunch of debt.

None of this, of course, invalidates your suggestion that you take out the loans and use them to live while you get a regular job again, doing whatever minimum work is required to keep the loans. Obviously, having a place to sleep, shower, and basic transportation is going to make getting a job way easier- so yes, your suggestion is a completely reasonable last resort suggestion.

I think the pushback you are feeling is that I felt like your attitude towards those loans was that they were no big deal, and personally, I think they are a very big deal, especially if you are trying to live on the salary you get if you have a for-profit degree and nothing else.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> First off -- I'm so glad the OP is okay now.

A couple of things in your story seem weird to me, though. Did they really foreclose on your rental house that fast? There were so many properties going under in 2008 that I thought the banks were backed up for months ... Why couldn't you just stay in the rental property until the bank came after it? (PS have you checked to make sure you don't have a deficiency judgment out in your name? Some people are getting charged hundreds of thousands of dollars years after foreclosure!)

Also: you had no credit cards? With most modern credit cards you actually have to call and ask them to stop sending you checks. You could have moved debt from the car to a credit card pretty easily with those, then paid the mere minimum for months.

Did you consider applying for public assistance at all? You could have also tried to barter your skills for housing or food with a church or social service charity.

Again, I'm glad you're okay, and thank you for sharing your story. So many people don't realize they are a lost job or a bad accident away from homelessness; I hope your story encourages more people to save for a rainy day.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yes, I'm doing ok now. Thanks for the kind words.

Yes, the house foreclosed after 2 missed payments. Bank of America moved quick in my instance. I could have stayed in the house but I also lost my car and my house was very far away from my haunting grounds. Logistically it wouldn't have worked. Plus there's the fact that I couldn't afford utilities (in Texas you need A/C). I have no deficiency judgement as that was all cleared up after I was forced to file Chapter 7.

No, I never believed in credit cards. I always tried to carry a low debt load, at least as much as I can.

Yes I applied for public assistance, but since that year I made a good bit of money on paper I didn't qualify for government assistance. Trust me, I couldn't even get approved for WIC or Texas Lone Star.

I'm glad I was able to share my story with everyone. In America it's very easy to lose everything (and gain it back again).

These days I save as much as possible and live a very frugal existence. That's been my mantra ever since I recovered.

Cheers!

<comment><USER9> Having gone through foreclosure myself, there is zero chance that you would lose your house after 2 missed payments.

<comment><USER10> You're not necessarily right just because you went through a foreclosure.

<comment><USER11> I haven't experienced one myself, but much of the inquiries about certain facts (including kjackson's) makes me wonder if there were some artistic liberties taken when writing this heartfelt story.

<comment><USER12> Right-o. From below: "The car was already behind on payments, that part I omitted from the story. As well the house was behind on payments so I let it go to foreclosure. Not the wisest idea, but it happened."

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> The big lesson is to keep an emergency fund of 6-12 months' living expenses.

He shouldn't have been buying a leveraged investment property until he had an emergency fund.

With $100k+/year in income, he should have been finding a way to save $10k+ per year.

<comment><USER14> I don't really see how people get to much more than $40K a year in expenses. That's like a $2K/month apartment and a pretty nice used car with lots of margin for going out.

Granted if you're too aggressive with IRA investing or student loan payoff you can get in a situation like this. That's my downfall - I'd rather be in the market, but you really shouldn't expose your emergency fund to that kind of risk, especially given near-perfect correlation between market performance and personal financial security.

<comment><USER15> Food, housing, and cars aren't the only annual expenses to consider. The biggest one you're missing is health (even with insurance). One major acute health problem that lands you in the ER or the need to see a doctor could easily adds thousands to annual expenses. This happens all the time. You'd be surprised how many people get put into collections for unanticipated health expenditures.

<comment><USER16> In America.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> Great story.

For those of you who are asking "Why didn't you have an emergency fund?", please consider why you would say such a mean and thoughtless thing.

Are you asking because you want to learn something or are you asking because it makes you feel superior because you made different choices? Do you like it when someone asks you why _you_ made a big mistake (esp when they don't actually care about the answer)?

<comment><USER18> I have, on a number of occasions, made serious mistakes. On several occasions people have asked me "why didn't you X". Sometimes the answer is "I was stupid and irresponsible". This makes me feel bad, and rightly so. Other times the answer is "I didn't know I could X." Those are the times when I'm very glad someone asked me the "mean and thoughtless" question.

Concrete example: a friend of mine graduated coding bootcamp and has been interviewing for her first job. After complaining to me about 2-3 interviews in a row where she bombed questions on the same topic (I think inner joins), I asked a mean and thoughtless question: "why don't you maintain a queue of topics you screw up on interviews, and study one topic each day". Her answer was "I've got no good reason for not doing that".

So she made a queue. Then she shrank the queue. The number of questions she messed up started going down. Now she has a job.

<comment><USER19> Sometimes it takes an outsider to see the obvious. Kudos to you for being a good and useful friend instead of just offering sympathy. (By all means offer sympathy, too, but the actionable advice is the more valuable bit.)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> This was a very touching story, and like others have said, I'm very pleased the author has found his feet again.

However, remember that for many people life is like this every day and has been since childhood. These people don't have the resources, skills or networks to pull themselves out of such situations as did the author.

Next time you're tempted to judge someone who has less than you (and everyone judges based on their own experiences, it's all we can do) - remember that you've had it good, despite the downs and maybe they deserve some help too.

This is something I need to keep reminding myself of regularly.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> I'm not sure if I'm the only one who went through this. But I'm an IT professional who was homeless and regained his life. Figured it would be a good read for those out there who are out of work and/or homeless.

<comment><USER21> It was a fantastic read. It's crazy how fast things got bad for you and up again. To go through that in 4 months must have been a emotional roller coaster.

It's also great to hear how many people helped out when you told them about your situation.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thank you for the kind words. It was a roller coaster for sure. It's amazing how many people in the world are truly good at heart. And to think I didn't even have to ask for anything, I just put myself out there and people offered help. Amazing world we live in. <3

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> First of all, this was a very touching post. I'm glad things worked out in the end.

I have a question which I definitely don't mean to be taken in the wrong way, so please just take it as a purely informational query. If I were to find myself in this situation, my first instinct would be to move back in with my parents or otherwise lean on my network of family and friends (couch-surfing, etc), especially if I was reduced to homelessness.

Please feel free to ignore this question if it's too personal, etc, but were family/friends not among your list of available resources, or if they were, was there some other reason you couldn't/wouldn't go there?

<comment><USER23> You ask a great, important question. I have zero idea about OP.

We know that men do not seek help. That's why so many men die from testicular cancer - a disease that's mostly survivable if caught early. Campaigns to get me to check and get help if they find anything have reduced the death rate, but we did need to tell some men to seek help.

We see a similar thing with suicide. "Soften the Fck Up" is an Australian campaign to make it easier for a man to seek help than to die by suicide. (They don't censor the word fuck on their website). [http://softenthefckup.com.au/](http://softenthefckup.com.au/)

They're linked to Beyond Blue which has some research about men seeking help. [http://www.beyondblue.org.au/resources/research/research- pro...](http://www.beyondblue.org.au/resources/research/research- projects/research-projects/men-s-help-seeking-behaviour)

It seems that some men just have a hard time seeking help, even when things are desperate, even for things that are treatable and survivable.

</comment></comment><comment><USER24> I love how he blames Obama. I had a different perspective on our last 2 presidents. I sold everything in the final 2 years of Bush's presidency then bought into the stock market shortly before Obama took office. I've never had to sleep at a Starbucks.

<comment><USER25> Was confused by that aspect, yeah. I'm not sure how McCain would have made the global financial crisis abruptly stop...

</comment></comment><comment><USER26> One big takeaway:

When every single "personal finance" site tells you that having an "emergency fund" of 3+ times your monthly costs (rent, food, insurance, ...) is very important, they probably are right :)

<comment><USER12> Honestly, I often hesitate to just take personal finance bloggers' word for this kind of stuff -- most of the time, personal finance/"early retirement" personalities write about it because they've done very well with it, which makes sense. But most of the time, they've done very well with it because they have made astronomical amounts of money: $100,000 on HN isn't an earth- stopping amount of money, but a $100,000 salary pretty much anywhere else is an _absurd_ number.

Not everybody is going to pull in that much at their job -- on average, probably less than half of that. Anyway, my point is that those bloggers are probably right, sure, but they're right for _their_ circumstances, which are frequently very unusual.

</comment></comment><comment><USER27> I'd like to think I know the situation you're in. A few years ago, I chose not to go to college and instead jump into freelancing. However, doing the odd website here and there wasn't the ticket to success because clients can and do dry up, plus there's the overhead of finding them in the first place. So, I started looking to form relationships with companies rather than small business owners, and now things keep looking better.

All the time, I read on HN about _things_, but never about _people_. I'm glad you shared this, because it reminds me there are humans here after all. Everyone wants to paint their life in the best light, but it's rarely true.

<comment><AUTHOR> Freelancing is really tough but it helped me eat. Forming relationships is everything! It all starts with a simple conversation.

And yes, there are humans here. We may post a lot of tech-ish stuff, but we live, breathe, and love as humans.

I'm actually at a crossroad in my career right now. Trying to jump onboard with a new company as I'm miserable where I'm at. I'm only hoping all of the paying forward I've done since then can help me find a place I really love. Have to stay positive and focused. Good things happen when you believe it. :)

<comment><USER28> Shakycode,

Put some contact information in your profile. A friend of mine might like to hear your story. Might help.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER29> Things that strike me as odd about this story--and yes, odd things do happen in dire times, but still.

1\. Why didn't the author just pawn the Glock? There are many shops here in Houston, and you should've been able to get a few hundred for it.

2\. Why wasn't the rent being charged to the house letters enough to cover at least the 1,500/month mortgage?

3\. Why couldn't the author stay with a friend?

4\. How did HPD not shoot the author? Harris County is pretty good at that. :(

It's a helluva story, and I'm glad the author is on the other side of it now, but wow. ~

Some questions:

Were you by the Galleria, or in SW Houston? I'm getting it was SW Houston, maybe on Holcombe/Belaire (that being like one of the only two B&Ns around at that time)? Was the gym the LA Fitness on Wesleyan by chance? Was the movie theater the Edwards on Wesleyan, or the Angelika (I think they hadn't closed down yet), or what?

EDIT:

The hivemind clearly doesn't approve of trying to learn more about the situation. So it goes.

<comment><USER30> Why not pawn the glock? Because you might get attacked by criminals while homeless? When I was driving across the US with my wife and 4 kids a few years ago, we somehow ended up in Las Vegas one night with about $5 in change and nowhere to stay, thanks to extreme levels of stupidity by my bank which froze my cards (Thanks HSBC!!!). Faced with the possibility of sleeping overnight in a local park, I'm really, really glad we had firearms with us...

</comment></comment><comment><USER31> Am I missing something? Why haven't you tried getting a low-pay day-job (like cashier in mcdonald's) to get on your feet?

Also, I've heard a lot about american welfare programs, how come you weren't applicable?

<comment><AUTHOR> I applied at several places but due to my age and experience I was deemed "overqualified". So I resorted to other means to eat and survive during that time.

I think I answered this before, but I didn't qualify for government assistance as I had made too much money that year. I couldn't even obtain food stamps. The American welfare system is focused on the long-term poor/destitute versus those who fall on hard times.

<comment><USER32> Out of curiosity, how old were you at the time?

<comment><AUTHOR> 32 at the time.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER33> This was a great read. The part where he tried to kill himself by the fountain and the gun jammed, wow. I wasn't expecting that. I am glad the author is doing okay now, it is a reminder that this can happen to anyone at any-time.

As a developer I have had my fair share of job losses over the years, but the one thing that got me through each and every job loss? Savings. I can't stress how important it is to save money. It doesn't matter if you're on $100k or $50k per year, try and at least save a little bit of money from each paycheck.

Recently I was contracting for a startup, like the OP I was earning some serious money, around $10k per month (Australian Dollars) after taxes. After paying my bills, I would set aside some entertainment money, money for a months worth of food/fuel and I would move the rest into a high interest savings account (the interest rate would increase when you cleared a certain balance level) after six months unexpectedly the startup announced they were done, the contractors were fired immediately and employees given a nice 4 week period. I was a contractor, so I had no notice, just a "Thanks for everything"

Usually my first instinct would have been to panic, but living moderately after all of my expenses, I had about 12 months worth of runway. It took me 2 months to find another job, not paying as much, but I didn't struggle. Always save something, because for most of us it isn't a matter of when you'll need it, it is a matter of when.

</comment><comment><USER34> "I pulled out my Glock from my bag, loaded a round in the chamber, and put the gun to my head. Sobbing I sat there and let my life flash before my eyes and I pulled the trigger."

Wow, this is disturbing. I'm so glad to hear that you could overcome that bad turn. Your story is inspirational and shows that we should never give up.

<comment><AUTHOR> This was a dark time in my life. I believe everything happens for a reason. That gun jammed and changed my life.

<comment><USER35> This is the shamanic trial. Your ego died, you have been reborn with new wisdom and experience of the abyss.

[1] [https://www.wingsofpeaceinternational.org/pdf/Shamanic_Journ...](https://www.wingsofpeaceinternational.org/pdf/Shamanic_Journey_Epic_Hero.pdf)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER36> Having freelanced since the first dotcom crash, this reminds me a lot of my own financial anxieties early on. I responded by going super-risk averse in exchange for embracing the riskier income model. For those that are starting out freelancing, the best advice I can give:

You're entitled to nothing! All you will have is what you earn, and you have to keep your sense of accountability. If you find yourself stretching your resources to buy something because you think you deserve it, remind yourself that (in the words of Clint Eastwood) "deserve's got nothing to do with it."

Freelance cash is great, but it's a bit of a mirage, because security is far more valuable than a recurring fat check that might stop recurring. Random rough example: 3 years of guaranteed 5k/month is actually more valuable (on average) than a monthly 10k check that has a 5% chance of ceasing each month, assuming no further employment chances for the remainder of the three years.

My order of priority was always: bare minimum of expenses, max out retirement, emergency fund, and _then_ balancing my desire to increase standard of living with my desire to save. Also remember that buying luxuries has a nasty way of also increasing your ongoing expenses. I tried to aim for an emergency fund of a year, which meant keeping expenses low as much as it meant saving a pile of money.

Volatile investments can make you richer faster, but they also have an increased probability of dropping you below zero, and that's why you must be conservative until you can afford to risk your capital. That applies even more to leveraged investments like taking out a mortgage for a rental property.

Last priority should be purchases that don't make you any money - I'm currently making more than the OP topped out at in his article, but I still drive the same pickup truck I bought in the late 90's, because I personally don't need anything nicer-looking. I work from my laptop for clients that don't care what I drive.

This isn't to lecture the OP - he had his own circumstances and one hell of a humbling experience - more power to him for making his way through it. But if you're a 20-something freelancer that thinks you're doing well just because you're on a 100k projected revenue... please think again. :)

</comment><comment><USER37> Heh - I'm kind of there now. Went from 125K last year to about $450/month now. Didn't have as much stuff - but still have truck payments and a couple credit card bills.

Freelancing and remote contracting can be very uneven. Luckily I had a decent amount of savings to begin with when things dried up.

Kudos to you for sharing - and for being a brave and resourceful person to get through it. The standoff scene is a crazy thing. Over nothing.

<comment><USER38> That's extremely rough--sorry. Do you have an ad on Craigslist? Seems like everyone I try to hire for a gig on CL here in Seattle is busy.

<comment><USER39> Do they have to be in Seattle? Or would you be willing to hire for a gig remote like from Austin, TX?

<comment><USER38> At the moment I don't need anyone but over the years I have used CL for short- term projects. Some of them were remote, some required in-person meets. I'm just saying that they all seemed to get work on CL pretty regularly.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER40> This will be me soon. I have to move out of my flat in 3 weeks, and have nowhere to go. The future's not bright. It's my fault, the result of determined head-in-sand burying. No sympathy is due.

I've been living off my savings, with the aim of pivoting to a programming career after years post university stuck in under-employment. My aim was to build up a folio of work in lieu of the paucity of experience on my CV.

I continued to contribute to various pieces of Mozilla: if you're running Firefox, you're running code I've written, and I managed to build an internal web app that is now considered a fairly critical piece of their internal infrastructure. Other successes included micropolisJS, my SimCity 89 in Javascript port. Others like my functional library funkierJS and my fresh rewrite of V8Monkey/SpiderNode I've not yet managed to get over the finish line.

But as my savings dwindled, I refused to accept it, and focussed on how I'd easily claw my way back out when I landed a good position.

Even in the past year, when I've been barely hanging on, I stupidly refused to accept reality. I've lived on one meal of lentils for about 9 months or so - shedding 6 stone has been nice; it would have been nicer if it had been in a healthy controlled manner. The mobile phone is long gone, and with it my world, and my friend's list shrank considerably. And still I wouldn't accept the position I'd dug myself in.

And now, here we are. My landlord's patience is exhausted. No wonder. In 2 and a half weeks, I become the perverse dual of the homeless guy who learned to code: I know how to code but have sank the other way. There's no friend's sofas or family to bail me out, though that seems fair - I should face the consequences. At best I might get an emergency hostel with the heroin addicts and alcoholics, although my city has a reputation for failing to meet its legal obligations to the homeless.

And I did this to myself, the architect of my own demise.

Apologies for the wall of text. It was, at least, a little cathartic.

<comment><USER41> You have quite the wonderful portfolio for a guy who is learning to code. What is stopping you from getting a job when developer demand is so high?

<comment><USER40> Initially, I was convinced I hadn't done enough to be a convincing candidate. Recently, more prosaic reasons: no mobile phone, no website (can't afford the hosting), can't afford a haircut or suit dry-cleaning for attending interviews...

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER42> Something like this is much less likely to happen in Germany because social security is working really well there. You may say that Germans pay for that with higher taxes but my response to that is: 1.) If that prevents people from trying to kill themselves for no good reason, it's totally worth it. 2.) If it helps highly qualified people to overcome temporary financial struggles more effectively, that's also good for the economy.

OP, congratulations for pulling yourself out of this situation, very impressive, and thanks for sharing your story.

</comment><comment><USER43> What's to take away from this story?

1\. Revolvers don't jam - that can decide between life and death

2\. The mind is remarkably good at warping memories to be more positive. Here we have a man who (spoiler) tried to kill himself and later describing this period of time as "not that bad".

<comment><AUTHOR> 1\. I didn't own a revolver as I always favored semi-autos 2\. Yes, looking back it now almost 6 years later it wasn't as bad as when it was happening. Yes I was on the brink of dying but I came out a stronger person and have learned to look back at the situation as a life lesson. If I let it haunt me to this day I'd be right back where I started.

<comment><USER44> I think you made a lot of decisions in a young person's mindset - some of them got you into the debt hole - but this one saved your life.

Thinking about my acquaintances there are four kinds of people among them who carry automatic handguns. Cops. "Shooting enthusiasts" who spend a lot of time and money practicing and are highly skilled. Former military. And wankers.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER45> I'm not sure I understand what Obama had to do with anything?

</comment><comment><USER46> This is a good example, I think, of how complex the idea of "privilege" is, in that you can have privilege even when you're pretty much at rock bottom. ShakyCode was living on the street, but was able to secure some advantages and eventually pull himself up because he was educated, well-spoken, and able to make a good impression on people who could help him. Those options might not be available to a lot of homeless people. When we say that it's possible to have privilege even if you're poor and marginalized in some ways, this is what we mean.

(I hope it's clear that I don't mean to belittle ShakyCode in any way; there's nothing wrong with using whatever you have to make the best of a bad situation. I don't know what I would have done in his place; I doubt I would have had the emotional strength do do any coding at all in such a rough state, and I absolutely respect what he was able to accomplish. And that's another important point: saying that someone has privilege is not an insult; it's just an observation.)

</comment><comment><USER47> What I see here is that people are quite generous when a member of _our own tribe_ is harmed, hurt, or fallow.

I'm curious if it's because once you engaged him he was articulate and clearly not a normal homeless person, or if it was just that humans empathize more with people they resemble?

</comment><comment><USER48> > Now I understand why there are so many mentally ill homeless folks. The > state of being homeless is very depressing and can bring about mental > illness in the previously undiagnosed.

I'm not sure this is actually the explanation he thinks it is. A significant portion of homeless people had mental illnesses before losing their house. In many cases, illnesses like schizophrenia or untreated mood disorders contribute to homelessness by making it harder to maintain the social connections that form a safety net for many people (for instance, if the poster had driven away all his friends with manic episodes before becoming homeless, nobody would have been around to lend him a car and go get a new contracting job).

</comment><comment><USER49> Back in school I used regularly meet this homeless guy and very often bought him subway and talk to him. One day he showed me his book which I saw him scribble some notes plenty a time, during one of these on/off conversations he told me that he holds a PhD from some univ. in Europe. What intrigues me is that he had some background in astronomy or some similar field of science but the way he would explain things & would always make me wonder how can such an intelligent guy be homeless... This post brought back those memories as if I am reliving it now..hope in humanity still exists.

</comment><comment><USER50> Very interesting story. I'm glad that the story has a happy ending. While reading the story, I felt how the world still has a huge reserve of big hearts, and they can only be found at the right situation. Also, gratefulness is not only a great virtue, but also pays off sooner or later.

Being said all that, recently I've read many similar stories of sharp fall from the height of success. It seems, many people working in the private sectors are vulnerable to "keep running, or you are doomed" like theory. The social and economical structure in many countries, even many developing countries, are different which prevent the "fall from the cliff" like cases. Strong family bonds, affordable permanent ownership of properties etc are key to stability.

Many EU countries have balanced structure where you can choose to slow down in your career path, and to enjoy life. Although government in those countries charge a huge percentage of tax, they take care of their citizens to prevent the sharp fall in career and life.

Perhaps, too strong capitalism, attention to too many distractions all over the world, relying on numbers instead of the quality in those numbers etc are affecting the whole domestic socio-economic balance.

</comment><comment><USER51> I always thought that having a yearly subscription to a gym that provides at least showers and lockers is a good idea.

OP's story seems to confirm.

<comment><USER52> Seems to be a great insurance plan for staying fit and clean when times are rough. +1

</comment></comment><comment><USER53> This was one of the most touching stories I've ever read here on HN.

I tend to read a lot of stories about people's misfortune, and how things turned around -- but hearing the story from someone in similar shoes as myself makes it feel so much more personal.

It's really scary how fast things can turn around, regardless of how 'successful' you are at your job / work. Especially if you're doing any sort of freelancing / etc.

One thing I'd really like to know is this: what can people like myself do to help others who are in a similar situation as the author? Are their specific charities that are useful for this sort of thing? As someone who _wants_ to help out, what can I personally do to make a difference? Is going and volunteering at a soup kitchen something that's needed?

I'm genuinely interested in helping in some way -- if any of you have advice / etc. I'd absolutely love to hear it.

</comment><comment><USER54> _" In the end, money does not equal happiness. These days happiness is a good cup of coffee ... I don't care about materialistic things anymore instead I focus on knowledge and experience and consider myself the wealthiest man in the world because of it."_

That is the best lesson to know. Question, why did the weapon jam?

</comment><comment><USER55> > The 4 months of "hell" were really not that bad looking back at it now. All > of this taught me a great lesson in humility and resourcefulness. It also > taught me to be kind and loving to your fellow man all the while making sure > to "pay it forward".

But it didn't teach them to save a year's living expenses so they'd never get into this situation again? I wonder what is protecting them from becoming homeless if they fall on hard time again -- probably nothing. With that said, this was a really engrossing read and should reinforce the idea that responsible spending is absolutely key to a comfortable life for those of us who perhaps don't appreciate our nest egg of savings quite as much as we should.

<comment><AUTHOR> Quite the contrary. The whole homeless experience has taught me to save every penny I can in an "oh shit" or "emergency" fund. These days I'm well protected and typically have 5-6 months worth of expenses in case the bottom drops out again.

<comment> aces- If you had advanced warning that you would go through the same financial hardship, what would you do differently?

Have you considered driving an offroad vehicle out to BLM or USFS lands and subsisting there for free? You can live indefinitely without paying rent in some places.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER56> This might be a bit impersonal, but why exactly could this person not get a job? If he/she were previously consulting for over 100k a year, surely this person would have some skills that would make them employable?

<comment><USER57> At least in the US, it can be very hard to get a job without a permanent address.

</comment></comment><comment><USER58> This is really eye-opening, thank you for posting! I hope you are doing well now! I'm wondering, as a fellow freelancer, what would you have done differently leading up to the 2008 crash that would have perhaps made life easier? Also seems like you had friends at the time, could you not have couch surfed?

</comment><comment><USER59> This is the risk involved in working as an independent. I have experienced a similar situation but not as difficult as this story. I think most independent contractors are generalists with a diverse set of skills. This makes them disposable in such situations and reduce their employability.

<comment><USER19> Risk, indeed. And always the first disposed of, yes. The first rule of being and independent contractor is to have a year's worth of expenses in the bank. Obviously you don't get to that instantly when you're starting out, but you should try and get there as fast as possible. Two years safety cushion is even better. Having no debt is a huge, immense advantage.

Disclosure: I've been without work for the past 20 months, and will remain comfortable for another year if need be.

</comment></comment><comment><USER60> > You see, there is a lot of food that restaurants throw out every night > because they can't serve it the next day.

Is it possible to work out a deal with these (most?) restaurants to pick up this leftover food and take it to soup kitchens? Releasing liability, and things like that of course.

</comment><comment><USER61> Thank you for sharing. We're very similar, same age, in Houston, so I can definitely relate.

</comment><comment><USER62> Any chance you could put together a video of yourself explaining to people you were homeless? You seemed to get really good responses from people, and I'm intrigued as to whether there was something special about the way you presented.

</comment><comment><USER63> I am glad to have read this post. I have never been in as rough of a financial situation as you have, but I have been in a similar state of mind many times. I am happy that you were able to get back to a good place.

</comment><comment><USER64> Thanks Shakycode for sharing your story. I am glad you came out well and were brave to look back and share your story with the world in a positive way.

</comment><comment><USER65> This was sad for me to read, because it was completely avoidable with an emergency fund and failing that, credit cards.

</comment><comment><USER66> Maintaining savings is very important. I've regretted this mistake many times.

</comment><comment><USER67> > Material-wise, I had everything I needed and could ever want.

But not a 4-month emergency fund?

</comment><comment><USER68> That is an incredibly inspiring share! Thank you, OP.

</comment><comment><USER69> You write really well, thanks for this.

</comment><comment><USER70> Good story, thanks for sharing.

</comment><comment><USER71> I call bullshit.

This guy has 100k/yr in income but no savings at all? And his much highlighted Nissan 350 Turbo _" pro street"_ was bought on credit? Where did the money go? He had people renting his house, presumably for a monthly profit? Did he fail to mention being a heroin addict, or where thd hell did all his money go?

He didn't sell his swanky car immediately, so he could rent a sucky apartment to avoid being homeless?

He gets attacked by a bunch of hoodlums who beat him up _before_ he gets his gun out? But he somehow gets it out anyway.

Then his assailant pulls a gun right back at him, and instead of shooting in fear for his life, he proceeds to engage in a Mexican standoff (which the other guy is happy to maintain too!), and walks up to the guy to deliver a macho line, as if he's in a goddamn movie or something?

Then cops show up and somehow magically diffuse the Mexican standoff situation without using any force themselves?

And finally, there's a time when he's got thousands of dollars of "tax free" income (hah!) in the bank, but he's _still homeless_? Because having money in the bank sure beats having shelter?

This story is complete bullshit.

<comment><USER69> Even if it was bullshit, which I don't believe it is, what does he have to gain from this other than karma points on HN?

<comment><USER71> My guess is that he's a psychopath and just making things up for his own enjoyment. Maybe he's a Narc and just wanted more attention?

But either way, think about what I said about the article. If you're being intellectually honest, you'll have to admit it doesn't make sense.

<comment><AUTHOR> Your guess would be way off. I am neither of those things. Simply a person looking to share his experience. I have much better things to do with my time besides fabricating elaborate stories on the public Internet. Not trying to be defensive, but just saying that not everything on the Internet is rubbish.

I do however respect your opinion and view as an individual. That's your right, of course.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Ask HN: I don't understand why app stores charge 30% of app sales - <AUTHOR>

30% of app sales is a huge comission, charging even more than real estate agents :). Is this percentage justified, what are your thoughts and has some one challenged these rates ? <comment><USER2> The Apple App Store (which has been disclosed in earnings calls multiple years as only just barely in the black) handles your sales tax compliance for you (though the Google Play Store does not...), deals with refunds and complaints, isolates you from chargebacks (every customer that complains to their bank typically costs you an enforced $10-$20 per complaint in addition to the money), is handling your server distribution (fast bandwidth to send updates adds up for large applications that are updated often), provides licensing infrastructure (you don't need to build some kind of "enter your code" DRM system with a bunch of servers that have to be online: you just give your app to the market and wash your hands of the problem; this is also often much easier when a user trades his device in due to a hardware issue: that's the market's problem), and is usually subsidizing a large population of free software that also accumulates complaints and infrastructure costs (and it is that large catalog of free stuff that often is causing your customers to have this experience installed anyway)... I run an app market, we charge 30% and end up with a fraction of that; I've had people who were additionally doing their own payment processing (we run an open ecosystem, and these people were not losing the distribution benefits of my market) stop and transfer all their existing license records to me, because I was simply providing them a more solid and convenient payment experience: they got to concentrate on building their app, and the price difference between their true costs of running this and what I was better spent improving their product and marketing efforts. Comparing to a real estate agent is really off, by the way, because the costs of doing transactions in hundreds of thousands of dollars is fundamentally different than doing transactions on a $1. The "good rates" (so throwing companies like Stripe out the door, which would cost $0.33 upfront) are still going to run you 10% the transaction cost, and the chargeback on a $1000 purchase is still going to cost the same $10-$20.

<comment><AUTHOR> Many thanks Saurik. Makes sense.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> Originally Apply started out with 30%. Perhaps they thought _at the time_ (remember, there were no apps then) that going higher would dissuade developers. Then other app stores (Google Play, etc.) entered and charged 30%. Now, even with entrenched positions, raising the percentage would probably be very negative PR / developer relations. Dropping the percentage doesn't really make sense because you'd just be entering a price war (competitor immediately drops percentage, you both lose).

<comment><USER2> Actually, they were pushing _lower_ , and is designed to compare favorably to retail distribution (which has so many middlemen and infrastructure related costs as to end up with very large and often unpredictable costs of business).

</comment></comment><comment> Lorenz-Kraft I think 30% is a fair price if you think of all the stuff that is provided.

In my view thats mostly: 1: a payment gateway 2: Server structure

I don't know HOW you could afford a standard like this when you sell your app for 1 Dollar ...

</comment><comment><USER4> Because they can. They have a large userbase; being the only legitimate way that users can get apps for their iDevice gives them a monopoly on a huge market

<comment><USER5> Why 30%? Why not 35%, 40%, 50%?

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> It's high, but seeing that they handle billing and that they own and created the platform, I think it's fair enough.

</comment><comment><USER5> The story goes that they only get 70% of the retail price for gift tokens.

<comment><USER7> Interesting, never thought about that. Cost of doing business I guess, keeping users on your platform by making it another purchase option available.</comment></comment>


Power an LED light from your phone line for free - <AUTHOR> http://www.metacafe.com/watch/868499/free_hidden_electricity/

<comment><USER2> This hasn't been news for about thirty years and it's been in archives since at least 1999:

[http://www.phreak.org/archives/The_Hacker_Chronicles_II/phre...](http://www.phreak.org/archives/The_Hacker_Chronicles_II/phreak/chartreu.txt) [http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.phreak.org/archives/...](http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.phreak.org/archives/The_Hacker_Chronicles_II/phreak/chartreu.txt)

</comment><comment><USER3> LED? I've been charging my electric car from my phone line for years.</comment>


Dual Supernovae Light Up June Nights - <AUTHOR> http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/dual-supernovae-light-up-june-nights/ <comment><USER2> FYI about Supernovas:

[https://what-if.xkcd.com/73/](https://what-if.xkcd.com/73/)

\---

Which of the following would be brighter, in terms of the amount of energy delivered to your retina:

1) A supernova, seen from as far away as the Sun is from the Earth, or

2) The detonation of a hydrogen bomb pressed against your eyeball?

A: Applying the physicist rule of thumb suggests that the supernova is brighter. And indeed, it is ... by nine orders of magnitude.

\---

There are some suggestions that a close supernova would emit enough neutrinos to affect life on Earth. I worked on the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory, for my M.Sc. Roughly, about 10^22 neutrinos go through an average building in a day, and maybe _one_ interacts with the building.

<comment><USER3> Maybe I'm mistaken, but wasn't the suggestion that a close enough supernova would pose a threat to life on Earth because of gamma radiation and not neutrinos?

<comment><USER4> Yes, it isn't the neutrinos you have to worry about, its the mass of protons traveling at relativistic speed that nail you.

<comment><USER5> Hiding on the other side of a planet can block most forms of radiation except neutrinos. So, it's not completely irrelevant.

<comment><USER6> I think our radiation shield wouldn't last long. Back of the envelope, just for fun:

supernova type Ia energy release: ~ 1e44 Joules [1] radius of Earth orbit, m: ~ 1.5e11 meters

diameter of Earth, m: ~ 1.27e7 meters

mass of Earth: ~ 5.9e24 kg

average specific heat of Earth (assume it's all granite): 2,000J/kg/°K

Grinding through the above says that if the Sun went supernova of the wimpiest type, it would dump 1e44 Joules to its surroundings. I think this happens pretty fast, say less than an hour or so.

Assuming isotropic distribution, the Earth would intercept about 4.5e-10 of that, or about 4.5e34 Joules.

That's enough to heat the entire mass of the Earth to ~ 3.8e6°K. That would literally vaporize the entire Earth. There goes our radiation shield.

Never mind the supersonic shock coming through the planet from the ablation blow-off on the side facing the supernova.

Amazing and hard to imagine...

[1] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernova#Energy_output](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernova#Energy_output)

<comment><USER5> Planets are going to act like an ablative heat shield so it's not quite that simple, however yea even if you survive the initial event it's going to cook any fragments that would otherwise make it. Also, supernova don't just toss out radiation, the kinetic energy imparted to the outer layers of hydrogen is ridiculous.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Anyone else think of _Look to Windward_?

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Look_to_Windward](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Look_to_Windward)

<comment> david-given According to the Culture timeline ([http://theculture.wikia.com/wiki/Timeline](http://theculture.wikia.com/wiki/Timeline)), the Twin Novae battle occurred in 1367, and the light reached (er, will reach) Masaq' in 2170.

(The Culture found Earth in 1977, shook their heads sadly, and then went away again.)

So if we're seeing the light now, that means that we're 649 light years from Portisia and Junce, which suggests that Arm One-Six is what we would call the Orion Arm (the one on which our sun is located). Which means that we were right in the middle of the Culture-Idiran war back in the 14th century. Lucky us!

</comment></comment><comment> saiya-jin anytime I imagine those absolutely gigantic proportions of these very violent events, i feel tiny and completely irrelevant in grand scheme of universe. which is exactly how it is :)

<comment><USER8> I feel the opposite: I also feel tiny but relevant because in this huge space we are (as far as we know it) the only form of life.

<comment><USER9> I just want a piece of fairy cake!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> It would be so depressing if the peak of alien weaponry is a device that causes a sun to nova, and we are watching an interstellar version of WW III that happened a million years ago as two otherwise intelligent species decided to decimate each other.</comment>


Show HN: SEO-Report.io – Actionable SEO metrics in your inbox - <AUTHOR> https://seo-report.io/ <comment><USER2> What is this offering that I can't get from goog analytics or Adwords, for free?

<comment><AUTHOR> You could compile the data yourself every week using Google Analytics or Google Webmaster tools no doubt.

The tool mainly provides you the convenience and time savings of not having to do this manually every week. Most people (me included) do not want to spent the time (and time is money) on trying to figure out where you can find the different data sets inside Google Analytics.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> Why don't use freemium model?</comment>


Uber to deploy self-driving cars in Pittsburgh - <AUTHOR> http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-37117831 <comment><USER2> Uber like Airbnb is leveraging individuals capital (or ability of drivers to go into debt). However unlike ground in prime location they are literally stamping out new cars every minute. In case of self driving cars it is Uber putting up the capital and margins in transportation fleet business are smaller than what the current Uber valuation implies. Differentiation will be difficult.

It is a risky strategy for Uber but it is hard to see an alternative for them.</comment>


Chrome 51 has been released, HTTP/2 is disabled for most sites - <AUTHOR> https://ma.ttias.be/day-google-chrome-disables-http2-nearly-everyone-may-31st-2016/?hn <comment><USER2> Please don't post obvious duplicates.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11695824](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11695824)</comment>


Moto 360 circular smartwatch released by Motorola - <AUTHOR> http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-29039293

<comment><AUTHOR> When announced at I/O, I was ready to buy it as a personal Android Wear device (already am developing for the Samsung Gear Live). With the announcement of the LGs and the black bar triggering what must be OCD, I will give it a pass. I wonder if they should have waited with an announcement until it was ready...

<comment><USER2> At the time, they were still owned by Google, and it clearly kick-started the category (something Google wanted). For that - it succeeded.

I'm curious about the black bar as well. They show something being below it in the exploded view, so I wonder if there's additional controls there?

<comment><USER3> The ambient light sensor is in that black bar, probably the only smartwatch with auto brightness control.</comment></comment></comment>


Drupal 7 - Faster Than Ever  - <AUTHOR> http://googlecode.blogspot.com/2010/09/drupal-7-faster-than-ever.html

<comment><USER2> These are some really useful changes for front-end developers. I am glad that they are addressing many issues that used to drive us crazy for a long time.

One other issue that needs to be addressed is the extra baggage of html tags (wrapper divs) that come with each block/view. If only there were a way to keep it minimal and turn on the extra wrappers only when they are absolutely necessary...

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> The full post is available at [http://civicactions.com/blog/2010/aug/31/drupal-7-faster- tha...](http://civicactions.com/blog/2010/aug/31/drupal-7-faster-than-ever)

</comment><comment><USER3> Some of these speed-ups are possible in Drupal 6, or in Pressflow, the patched version of D6.

I look forward to migrating my first site from D6 to D7, and doing before and after benchmarks for a real-world site and it's data.</comment>


How localStorage is implemented - <AUTHOR> http://stackoverflow.com/a/15592701/1424361

<comment><USER2> This makes sense, but I can imagine it getting abused in cases where developers aren't being too careful what they allow to be saved in localStorage.

I can think of a few arbitrary examples where you could DOS users of a site, and that makes me think that it's just a matter of time until someone with a mind more oriented to circumventing security finds a more consistently applicable or nefarious use for this.</comment>


Would you hire an open source developer? - <AUTHOR> http://blogs.computerworlduk.com/apache-asserts/2010/10/would-you-hire-an-open-source-developer/index.htm <comment><USER2> Its not the developer, its the open source which is an asset. Developers in this area tend to be contributers to the open source, which means that they are much brighter than 'Learn Apply' proprietary source developers.</comment>


20 WebGL sites that will blow your mind - <AUTHOR> http://www.netmagazine.com/features/20-webgl-sites-will-blow-your-mind

<comment><USER2> The browser is the new Amiga.

<comment><USER3> There have actually been some "demos" in the demoscene, submitted to parties and everything, that were written for the browser. Mozilla jumped on this and is sponsoring two compos (competition categories) for this year's @party: Best Single Effect and Best Multiple Effect demo in a web browser. <http://atparty- demoscene.net/compos.html>

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Next up 20 WebGL sites that blow your graphics card?

</comment><comment><USER5> I just tried out Rome in Firefox. Seemed to work fine. It's nicely done.

</comment><comment><USER6> There's probably an opportunity for a freemium webgl powered MMO. (Paid for with something like an item store)

"No software to install! Free to play! Click here and play with your friends in seconds!"

</comment><comment><USER7> Anybody know what's the deal with WebGL on Linux? I read many of the browser's turn WebGL off on Linux.

<comment><USER8> Only the NVidia binary driver appears to be stable enough to run WebGL on Linux. I believe Firefox and Chrome disable all other ones by default, and even older versions of NVidia's.

You can force-enable it, but it might be crashy.

<comment><USER9> I can confirm this. I am running Chrome on Ubuntu with the Nvidia binary drive and the WebGL works fine.</comment></comment></comment>


Simple 4-bit/1 Hz virtual computer for learning purposes - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/gto76/comp-cpp

<comment><USER2>
                 RAM
        ADDR  ________
        ---- |----***-|
        ---* |---*****|
        --*- |--*-*--*|
        --** |---****-|
        -*-- |-*</comment><comment>|
        -*-* |</comment><comment>--|
        -**- |</comment><comment>--|
        -*** |</comment><comment>--|
        *--- |</comment><comment>--|
        *--* |</comment><comment>-*|
        *-*- |</comment><comment>--|
        *-** |</comment><comment>--|
        **-- |</comment><comment>--|
        **-* |</comment><comment>--|
        ***- |</comment><comment>--|

<comment><USER3> You can do it in one fewer clock cycle per loop by just using the register instead of the extra scratch memory space :) (I also reset the loop at the end or it would be two fewer):

                 RAM  AD PC
        ADDR  ________ _ _
        ---- |---*****|-|*| ; OUTPUT the register
        ---* |-*-*-*--|-|-| ; IF MAX, goto LBL_RESET
        --*- |--*--**-|-|-| ; else add ONE to the register...
        --** |-*</comment></comment><comment>|-|-| ; ...and start over.
        -*-- |-----***|-|-| ; LBL RESET: read in ZERO to the register...
        -*-* |-*</comment><comment>|-|-| ; ...and start over.
        -**- |</comment><comment>-*|-|-| ; ONE (r/o data)
        -*** |</comment><comment>--|-|-| ; ZERO (r/o data)

<comment><USER2> Oh! Yes, that's totally what registers are for, huh? :) Thank you.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> _Computer has one 8 bit register._

That would be enough to classify it as an 8-bit machine, despite the fact that instructions are only 4 bits wide. A real 4-bit CPU, like the 4004, has 4-bit registers.

<comment><USER5> I'd say, more importantly, it has an 8-bit data bus. It is the 4 bit address bus which cripples it. By comparison, the 4004 has a 4 bit data bus and 4 bit registers, but a 12 bit (4KByte) address bus.

<comment><USER4> The Pentium has a 64-bit databus, yet its general-purpose registers are only 32 bits and it is classified as a 32-bit machine.

This gets even muddier with the Pentium MMX, which has a set of 64-bit MMX registers. Of course there's also 80-bit-wide registers in the FPU of everything back to the 8087...

Bitness is a surprisingly subtle thing to define, but I think an 8-bit-wide GPR is enough for this one to be called 8-bit.

<comment><USER5> > The Pentium has a 64-bit databus

Didn't realize that, and you're right. Other examples of CPU's that I'm aware of with a different "bitness"/databus width are the 68008 and 8808, but in both cases the data bus is smaller than the "bitness".

<comment><USER6> Sure, or the 68k itself which has a 16bit physical data bus but 32bit registers, spawning 30+ years of pointless arguing over whether to classify it as 32 bit or 16 bit.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> This reminds me of my Gakken GMC-4. It's a 4-bit computer like this, but a physical piece of hardware. It has 7 LEDs, one 7-segment LED, a 20-key keypad and a tone generator. You have to key in the programs manually on the keypad, but you've only got about 100 4-bit words into which to fit your code and data. It's further constrained by the fact you can only directly address 16 of them for data. Even so, it's surprisingly fun and challenging to write little assembly programs for.

</comment><comment><USER3> I wrote a little fibonacci:

                 RAM  AD PC
        ADDR  ________ _ _
        ---- |---****-|-|*|
        ---* |----**-*|-|-|
        --*- |---***--|-|-|
        --** |--*-***-|-|-|
        -*-- |---***-*|-|-|
        -*-* |----**--|-|-|
        -**- |---*****|-|-|
        -*** |-*</comment><comment>|-|-|
        *--- |</comment><comment>--|-|-|
        *--* |</comment><comment>--|-|-|
        *-*- |</comment><comment>--|-|-|
        *-** |</comment><comment>--|-|-|
        **-- |</comment><comment>--|-|-|
        **-* |</comment><comment>-*|-|-|
        ***- |</comment><comment>--|-|-|
        **** | OUTPUT |-|-|

But due to the saturating arithmetic, it gets to 255 and then just prints 255 over and over. I tried to write one that would reset itself when that happens, but I can't seem to do it in 15 bytes (I have a 14 instruction+3 variable version but of course 17 bytes won't fit in RAM)

Edit: I can save one of the variables with a set-immediate instruction :) [https://github.com/gto76/comp-cpp/pull/7](https://github.com/gto76/comp- cpp/pull/7)

</comment><comment><USER8> Can anyone give me a super dumbed-down explanation of how to operate this machine?

If I understand the README correctly, it looks like the left 4 bits are the instruction, and the right 4 bits are the address. So the line ---1--1- would mean "READ the value from address 0010 into the register". Is the correct interpretation? If so, how do I put a value onto the register in the first place? How I do I set the value at an address?

Let's say I wanted to add 0001 + 0001 and show the output as 0010 on the printer. How would I do that?

</comment><comment><USER9> I wonder why RAM_SIZE = ADDR_SIZE * ADDR_SIZE - 1? I mean why -1?

<comment><USER10> And why ADDR_SIZE squared? That just seems to work "by accident", since ADDR_SIZE is 4 it evaluates to 15. What is really meant is probably (1 << ADDR_SIZE), i.e. 2 raised to ADDR_SIZE. Of course for the value 4 it evaluates to the same thing. For 5 it would become 24 rather than 31 which I would expect, assuming it's a size in bits of course ... Now I'm confused.

The file in question: [https://github.com/gto76/comp- cpp/blob/e800d121e40f8acca6b9d...](https://github.com/gto76/comp- cpp/blob/e800d121e40f8acca6b9d0c4f2fe299fce012eee/src/const.hpp).

And the -1 seems to be explained by how the author wants to use it, it's "last valid address", i.e. _not_ the size at all. Something I'd complain about if this were open for review, for sure. :)

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> "my CPU is a neural net processor a learning computer"

I can't be the only one who thought this, right?!

<comment><USER12> Humor is not allowed on HN, but your comment reminded me of how the original Terminator apparently runs on an 8-bit MOS 6502 if you look at some of the code flying across the screen in those red-tinted POV scenes.

<comment><USER13> Which in turn reminds me of this BBC Radio 4 clip which made me chuckle: [http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02n9txt](http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02n9txt)

"The Terminator is an accounting programme run amok"

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> Would be great if someone reimplemented it for the web.

<comment><USER15> Maybe it would run in something like [https://s-macke.github.io/jor1k/demos/main.html](https://s-macke.github.io/jor1k/demos/main.html) \- I might have to give it a try when I'm at home and have some play time...

<comment><USER12> Uh wow, this is awesome.</comment></comment></comment>


Show HN: TruTrainer is 1:1 fitness on your iPhone - <AUTHOR> http://www.trutrainerapp.com/createaccount/hackernews

<comment><AUTHOR> Hey there,

Yoav here. I do growth for TruTrainer. Chezki, our CEO, will also jump in if you guys have questions! TruTrainer is an app that matches you with a personal trainer on your iPhone. It lets you train on your own schedule and on a much tighter budget, without sacrificing the motivation and professionalism a real life trainer provides. We included a 1 month free trial for Hackers, which is really rare in our space (our competitors give out 7 days, tops). Please check it out and let us know what you think!

<comment><USER3> Who are the trainers? What's the price?

<comment><AUTHOR> The trainers are all certified professionals, most of whom are living in the US and doing some in-person work as well. Once you sign up, you get a list of trainers to choose from according to their specialities, descriptions and photos. The price for trainers varies, but it starts around 50$/month - <USER2> cheaper than hiring an actual trainer at the gym!</comment></comment></comment>


Paul Graham on Coronavirus and Exponential Growth - <AUTHOR> https://i.imgur.com/y0TSN7o.png <comment><USER2> The thing is of course that at some point exponential growth will meet the two-dimensional surface of the Earth, and that upper bound will take over.

Probably that fact is also why exponential growth is so unintuitive, it's so rarely encountered, no one had any opportunity to get familiar with it.</comment>


The potential dangers of Covid-19 contact tracing apps [video] - <AUTHOR> https://nuadox.com/post/616780191158681600/covid19-contact-tracing-apps-dangers <comment><USER2> Blogspam of

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmbOxY7yBL0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmbOxY7yBL0)</comment>


Let's Make This Personal, Please - <AUTHOR> http://weblog.raganwald.com/2008/02/lets-make-this-personal-please.html

<comment><USER2> "we the news.ycombinator.com mutual admiration society"

And don't you forget it.</comment>


Happy New Year - Today we will be drawing a snowflake in PostgreSQL. - <AUTHOR> http://explainextended.com/2011/12/31/happy-new-year-3

<comment><USER2> That's a fantastic display of PostgreSQL skills - well done!</comment>


New xps 13 developer edition 8gb/256gb costs 200$ more than the windows one - <AUTHOR>

I was looking into buying the Dell XPS13 developer edition and as one can see: http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/xps-13-linux/pd?ref=PD_OC going from 128gb ssd to 256gb costs a 400$(949->1349) premium, which I found very surprising. So I checked the windows model as well: http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/xps-13-9343-laptop/pd?ref=PD_OC only 1149$, 200$ cheaper + windows license! <comment><USER2> Looks to me like the Dev Edition is actually a $100 cheaper:

[http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?oc=cax13u...](http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?oc=cax13ubuntus5103&model_id=xps-13-9343-laptop&c=us&l=en&s=bsd&cs=04)

[http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?oc=cax13w...](http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?oc=cax13w8ps5103&model_id=xps-13-9343-laptop&c=us&l=en&s=bsd&cs=04)</comment>


Popcorn Time makes a comeback with new open source Web version - <AUTHOR> http://thenextweb.com/insider/2016/02/03/popcorn-time-makes-a-comeback-with-new-open-source-web-version/ <comment><USER2> > ... shows it offers ( __illegally __) directly in their browser ...

Why making such assumptions? Just to make it look bad? Using such a service is fully legal for me, i don't want to feel criminalized for legal things.</comment>


Show HN: StatMilk - Football Stats Visualized - <AUTHOR> http://statmilk.com/NCAAF

<comment><USER2> Very impressive. Definitely the best data presentation dashboard I've seen. The depth of information (even if the source of information is so centralized) plus the diversity and clarity in presentation, not to mention the overall cleanness of the whole thing, really is very cool.

</comment><comment><USER3> Hah, read the title as "football, the sort you play with a round ball" and got rather excited. Only minor disappontment ensued when I realized you were talking about "handegg". ;)

Still, I love this kinda stuff and have been pining for more creative, dynamic presentations of futbol stats. I wish anyone could explain to me why every darn mainstream coverage site has the same, boring chart of the same, boring dozen stats. Sagarin does some fun math, but his presentation is uninspired at best.

For all the uses of highly-dynamic HTML5/JS that are distracting and unnecesary, presentation of stats is just a homerun! </zing>

<comment><USER4> Football, a sport played on foot.

<comment><USER5> What about handball?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Beautiful! Incredibly clean and intuitive. A great model for those of us building statistical interfaces. A+ and bookmarked.

Small thing: The sorting parameters for "Margin of Victory" and "Turnover Margin" are a bit off. I believe sorting alphabetically rather than numerically?

Looking forward to other leagues/sports?

<comment><AUTHOR> Absolutely! iPhone app is in the final stages as well.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> The interface is excellent. If you had NBA statistics, I would be willing to pay for this.

</comment><comment><USER8> That looks nice. You could improve things a lot by using even a simple model to account for opponent quality, home field advantage, etc.: a simple fixed- effects regression model with team-level effects would be one approach and would take only a few lines of R code.

For an example, look at: <http://www.pseudotrue.com/details> which is my blog, so this is a pretty shameless plug but I don't really know of a different reference.

The point of using model isn't because you believe the model is true or expect it to necessarily be accurate, but because it can give you a better measure than just looking at (say) yards per game.

But your site is cool as is, so good job.

edit: tweaked URL to point to the right page.

</comment><comment><USER9> This is one of the coolest things I've seen in a long time. Would be cool to have the BCS rankings in there as well.

</comment><comment><USER10> Awesome work guys, the presentation and design are excellent, top of the line. Some much attention to detail, pixel perfect, I'm really blown away! I'm not into sports at all, but this is inspiring at many levels.

</comment><comment><USER11> Very nice! Beautiful and very fast for the amount of data that is calculated on the fly. What technologies did you use? Also, did you have to pay license fees to display team and conference logos?

<comment><AUTHOR> MVC3 + SQL Server + Mongo + custom software for the realtime calculations.

All components (with the exception of the front-end) are highly abstracted enabling us to swap technologies (e.g. SQL Server to MySQL, Mongo to Memcached) quickly.

<comment><USER12> Yeah, I'd like to know about the process of showing team logos and the stats. Are you just scraping the data from somewhere, or do you have permission to use any of this data? I'm wanting to build and application similar to this for the NHL (if we have a season... har har...) but the licensing of big teams is scaring me away some.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> This is awesome. My only concern is that the data looks to be a bit stale, as the Oregon Ducks won last night but none of their stats are up. Mind if I ask where you're pulling the data from?

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks. Data is sourced directly from the NCAA. Expect updates every Sunday morning.

<comment><USER14> are you scraping results into your database from their site? Also, are you familiar with sportsML and sportsdb[1] ?

I ask because I am also working on a sports product for release in November.

Nice work!

[1] - <http://www.sportsdb.org/sd>

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> This is beautiful. What charting libraries are you using?

<comment><USER9> Would love to see a breakdown of how you set this up as well as know what libraries.

<comment><AUTHOR> We'll have a blog up and I promise to cover this.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> This is so ill, I love everything about the presentation. I'm partially glad you don't have NFL stats, otherwise my work productivity would plummet.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks - and I suggest you get a lot accomplished over the next few weeks.

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> Great data visualization but the stat widget headers are pretty hard to read due to the complete lack of contrast with the background color.

</comment><comment><USER18> As someone who really appreciates sports stats, I find myself ignoring the numbers to admire the design. Really, really beautiful.

</comment><comment><USER19> What are you using for the help array overlay?

</comment><comment><USER20> The margin of victory does not correctly sort.

<comment><USER21> As well, I'd generally think a 6-0 team should be ranked above a 6-1 team, does not currently appear that way.

<comment><USER22> Agreed. It should be rank ordered by losses then wins.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> Where are you obtaining your stat data from?

</comment><comment><USER24> It appears the only thing that correctly predicts victory is turnover margin!!

<comment><USER21> There is a high correlation in the NFL between turnover margin and winning.

</comment></comment><comment><USER25> really nicely done, would love to see NFL stats

</comment><comment><USER19> What are you using for the help arrow overlay?

<comment><AUTHOR> Overlay image + CSS + jquery-cookie

</comment></comment><comment><USER26> Incredible. I will definitely return to this.

</comment><comment><USER27> Too, too sexy.

<comment><USER28> Yeah, I think it's trying to hard in this regard. It's got a nice clean look, but the font can be a little more traditional, and the dark background with glowing buttons makes it look more like a toy than something used for serious analysis.

It seems geared to comparing conferences and not arbitrary matchups. I was expecting to be able to compare any 2 teams. I'm sure you're working on it.

Good job presenting the data though.

<comment><AUTHOR> Of course you can compare any two teams - click on the logo and select the team(s) you want.

<comment><USER28> I can only select one at a time. And it's not obvious that the NCAA logo is a button.

How can I see a Matchup between Cal and Stanford, like you have for Miami and Florida St.?

<comment><AUTHOR> <http://statmilk.com/NCAAF/MatchUp/107/674/>

<comment><USER28> Ah, how silly of me. You told me to just click on the logos and I was just clicking on them on the wrong tab. However, you really need to put more time into the design of that feature, and that select "button". I know you have a splash screen explaining "select a team", but there's no affordances for the user who overlooks that instruction and is looking to achieve the same thing I was. A simple mouse over effect would help big time.

BTW, on the "Matchups" page, I was expecting to see more than one. You might want a featured list somewhere on that page to make it easier to load this week's big games.

<comment><AUTHOR> Addressing both issues this week - thanks for the feedback.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER29> * Looks great, I think everyone is in agreeance on that. I had some questions about the actual data being shown and whether the emphasis should be on other datapoints and aggregations...

So the aggregate conference W-L standings are overall records, right? As the season goes on, most games are played within conferences...so...what's the relevancy of displaying conference by these W-L numbers? If there were no early non-conference games, then the W-L ratio would basically be 50-50 for every conference. I think you should remove that statistic as it's not terribly useful.

* Also, the filters provide a few confusing options. If I select "Winning games", the view stays the same except that everyone (and every conference) has a winning record...I understand programmatically why that is, but I don't think the layperson will.

<comment><AUTHOR> Great feedback - we're listening...</comment></comment>