Ask HN: Is Revenue-Based Funding Great for SaaS who's just starting? - <AUTHOR> I just found out about this model from https://www.lightercapital.com/how-it-works/<p>It seems appealing at first sight.. but has anyone been bitten by it? <comment><USER2> Why would you need this company if you've got the necessary income already? Just want to spend more than necessary?

Or is this a marketing post?

Based on the lack of information, I'm going with marketing.</comment>


Ask HN:Why do in-ear plugs have left and right marked on them? - <AUTHOR>

Is there anything different in how the two plugs are built?
Is there any difference in how our left and right ear works?
I find that due to my obsessive compulsiveness, I waste a few seconds every time I use them in making sure that I am putting them on correctly!
EDIT: In addition, does it have an effect on your hearing experience if you put the left ear plug in your right ear and vice versa? If not, then why bother marking them? <comment><USER2> Songs are recorded in left and right channels, for the stereo effect.

<comment><AUTHOR> Can you provide some links to more details on "left and right channels", "stereo effect" etc.?

<comment><USER2> Well, I didn't want to link to Wikipedia in my answer, but here you are:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereophonic_sound>

Everything is here: from history to how it works. I hope this gets you satisfied! And btw, I also check which one is the correct... and in my brand new Sennheiser, it is pretty hard to find where it is engraved!

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks a lot! I should have found that on my own! DUH!

<comment><USER2> Nevermind, two hours ago I would have had a hard time finding it (after lunch almost-sleep-state)</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Sunset in Saugatuck features 'ice volcanoes,' weather service finds - <AUTHOR> https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2020/02/16/sunset-saugatuck-features-ice-volcanoes-weather-service-finds/4782742002/ <comment><AUTHOR> We've had some truly weird weather in Michigan this winter. Earlier in the week at a state park near the Indiana line they had ice balls on the beach. I've personally seen that before but it's a once in twenty year thing. But I've never heard of an ice volcano and I've lived my entire life in Michigan. Wonder if they occur elsewhere in the world?

Apparently it's solely a great lakes thing though this might be the first time to happen on Lake Michigan.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_volcano](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_volcano)</comment>


Researchers propose a way to build the first space-time crystal - <AUTHOR> http://phys.org/news/2012-09-clock-space-time-crystal.html

<comment><USER2> Very interesting, I didn't realize if was possible for _anything_ to survive the heat death of the universe. The answer to my immediate question:

 _"'While a space-time crystal looks like a perpetual motion machine and may seem implausible at first glance,' Li says, 'keep in mind that a superconductor or even a normal metal ring can support persistent electron currents in its quantum ground state under the right conditions.' [ ... ] Li is quick to point out that their proposed space-time crystal is not a perpetual motion machine because being at the lowest quantum energy state, there is no energy output."_

<comment><USER3> I was also thinking of this as a perpetual motion machine but perhaps the slightest attempt to use force of the moving ions would cause the rotation to stop. My non-physicist brain says if you have something that will move forever, it sounds like free energy!

<comment><AUTHOR> I believe that because we are talking about quantum effect energy, then it is a case of any form of measuring would effect it. That is to say any attempt to extract (which could be deemed a form of measuring/observing) any energy from it would be at the expense of the source. Can think of it as quantum friction if that helps. Perhaps a betetr way to explain it would be a atom, which has the classic solarsystem effect with orbiting electrons. Now we have managed to tap into that energy and that is the atomic bomb and later nucleur power stations. Now you know in those cases the original source of material/energy is changed and that is it in a nutshell, by measuring/observing/tapping into that level of energy will effect it and in a way introduces friction into a frictionless state of energy.

<comment><USER4> So while it might survive the heat death of the universe, there could be no way to measure it.

<comment><USER5> You would measure it by giving it energy, but not enough to perturb it. You give it exactly as much as it gives back, so you don't cause any changes.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> How would you read the state? If, at the lowest energy state, there is no energy output, would even photons change the state? If so how would you read the "time" from it?

Does that make any sense?

<comment><USER7> Via quantum entanglement, possibly? I honestly have no clue either, but they hint at entanglement, and they don't seem to be worried about observation:

"Peng Zhang, another co-author and member of Zhang's research group, notes that a space-time crystal might also be used to store and transfer quantum information across different rotational states in both space and time."

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> Can someone explain how this thing is different than an ordinary ring of like atoms (e.g., benzene) rotating in a magnetic field?

What experiment can I perform to distinguish a "space-time crystal" from a non-STC in ordinary peroidic motion?

</comment><comment><USER9> Can you manipulate future and past states by manipulating the current state? I'm not too knowledgeable about the matter but it seems like if the crystal's states at certain points in time are fixed from its inception then it can be manipulated to transfer information to future and past states of the crystal.

<comment><USER10> Its only state is its very exotic looking ground state, at least compared to all the other ground states I can think of at this moment. So no manipulating the state because the definition of the thing is its a constant ground state.

There's a fun thermodynamic argument that does not fit in the margins of this hacker news explaining why you can not transmit information by lowering entropy on something already in its ground state.

As for transferring information in general, see "light cones". Going forwards you can't send info further away than the speed of light would reach, and going backwards there isn't much of a light cone...

This prevents information from being stored inside the system, but does not prevent the system from being used "in bulk" as information storage. Crude analogy is you could make a Turing machine where "mark" equals drop one of these crystals on the tape "space" equals wipe it off or flip it upside down or whatever. Or you could make essentially a punchcard by building a 10x10 array of them and smashing some of them in a pattern... theoretically the unsmashed ones would never ever decay, and the smashed ones are too complicated to spontaneously reform, so a large collection of them aligned in certain patterns would actually make a pretty decent ultra long term storage media.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> I can imagine some future analogue of Danny Hillis constructing one of these things, entombed inside the a planet sized crystal extracted from the heart of a gas giant, parked in intergalactic space. The purpose would be to save the universe from heat death by ensuring that time will always have meaning.

</comment><comment><USER12> Is that entire article just trying to say that the ion-ring, which is in it's lowest energy state, rotates at a perfect rate (will never speed up or slow down) and hence you have the central peace of a very accurate time keeper?...

</comment><comment><USER13> Is the speed of the electrons quantized, or can you "tune" the period continuously? Either would be useful.</comment>


Ask HN: What is a good Google replacement for my parents? - <AUTHOR> I am sure I am not alone with parents that are not too tech savvy, but need to use the basics: calendar, contacts, mail, file storage and photos. Google products are great, but not so much for the privacy. I particularly refuse to let them use Google Photo and Drive for anything sensitive (facial recognition, no thanks). Even my mom found it creepy when google searches lead to related ads on her tablet. I am trying to find an alternative that would an all-in-one solution that meets their (simple) needs and my privacy concerns.<p>Any idea is appreciated! <comment><USER2> Hi,

I'm the creator of Bloom[0]. It's a an end to end encrypted Drive, Calendar, Notes, contacts, Gallery...

Within 1 month I'm about to release the native apps (currently it's only a webapp, non encrypted), with paying plans. It will be something like 6€ / m for 100GB, 11€ for 420GB and 21€ for 1TB.

It's also 100% open source[1].

[0] [https://bloom.sh](https://bloom.sh)

[1] [https://gitlab.com/bloom42/bloom](https://gitlab.com/bloom42/bloom)

<comment><AUTHOR> This is interesting, I will keep an eye out for when the apps are released! Some questions/nits: \- Products pages like FAQ don't exists (404) \- Where do you plan to host the servers?

<comment><USER2> Yes, I apologize for the 404 of the FAQ, it's currently moving really fast, and I have forgot to remove the link till the FAQ is ready.

The data will all be stored in France, in a Scaleway datacenter[0], Maybe with an offsite encrypted backup on AWS Glacier, but I'm not sure for this one.

[0] [https://scaleway.com](https://scaleway.com)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> I have been using Fastmail for many years and suggest that they provide an excellent service. They offer a free account for users to try them out but by paying a small fee you get so much more. I have no connection with them other than being a satisfied client. [https://www.fastmail.com/](https://www.fastmail.com/)

</comment><comment><USER4> Getting your photos and videos swept into one tidy pile, with a fast, fun website that you host is what I'm building. Read more here: [https://photostructure.com/about/introducing- photostructure/](https://photostructure.com/about/introducing-photostructure/)

</comment><comment><USER5> While Google has many fine products, I don't think any of them can replace your parents. :)

<comment><AUTHOR> Agreed, not the best sentence ever written :)</comment></comment>


Sun demonstrated touchscreen inertial scrolling - in 1992 - <AUTHOR> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CsTH9S79qI&feature=player_detailpage#t=267s

<comment><USER2> Someone from Samsung should watch this</comment>


Linux is ready for the end of time - <AUTHOR> https://www.zdnet.com/article/linux-is-ready-for-the-end-of-time/ <comment><USER2> tl:dr

The 32-bit signed integer clock rolls over in 2038. This is mitigated by OS updates to a 64-bit clock for most reads of the clock.</comment>


Chicago Police Hid Mics, Destroyed Dashcams to Block Audio, Records Show - <AUTHOR> https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20160127/archer-heights/whats-behind-no-sound-syndrome-on-chicago-police-dashcams <comment><USER2> Let's see.. in the 20 odd years here in Chicago, the sum of my police interactions are:

Hit by a white shirt (supervisor) who came out of an alley on clark st while in a bike lane - somehow my fault, detained.

Hit on foot, by a car with no lights on in a residential neighborhood while crossing at a crosswalk - somehow my fault for being outside while there was "a suspect being hunted"

Watching officers on foot in 7-11's, local shops, etc, just walk in, take what the want, and leave.

Helping a friend move to another city because he ended a relationship with a cop who made his life a living hell after they broke up.

Being accused of trying to "make the neighborhood look bad" when I called the fire department because my neighbor had smoke coming out of the door in his apartment (turns out he was just passed out drunk and left a pizza in the oven, but what else do you do when you bang on a door pouring smoke and no one answers?)

So yeah, once my S/O finishes what she needs to to change jobs, we're out of here I think. The police force here is really the icing on the cake of so much else that's overpriced, corrupt, or just plain sucks about Chicago. All the good things it's supposed to have just seem completely irrelevant to me anymore.

<comment><USER3> I'm moving to Chicago in a few months. Are there certain neighborhoods that should be avoided on the basis of corrupt police activity? I wonder because I could see neighborhoods that are relatively safe in terms of civilian crime, but cops posted in that area might have nothing better to do than mess with its inhabitants.

<comment><USER4> Lifelong Chicagoan here. I've never, ever had these issues and all my run-ins with cops have been fairly uneventful, if not pleasant. Chicago cops have better things to do than give traffic tickets usually and the last time I got pulled over (blew through red from a fast yellow) and I was just let go with a warning.

Recently, there is a mentally unstable person in my neighborhood and he decided to sit on my porch and light pieces of paper on fire one day. I called and they were there in 15 minutes and said they could do what they can to help this guy. The cops seemed geniunly concerned about his and my safety. I was floored by how well this call went.

I live in one of the decent, but not wealthy neighborhoods. Chicago is about 1/3rd horrible ghetto and 1/3rd marginal and 1/3rd decent. Life in those other 2/3rd's is very, very different. If you're outside of the typical "northside" neighborhoods the cops are much tougher and much more paranoid about being hurt or killed. I lived in one of those neighborhoods and there's a completely different vibe there. Cops pull up with 3+ squads at every call, take up defensive positions, hands close to weapons, etc. A dog attacked mine when I lived in Humboldt Park and the cops came out and were cool about it, but clearly on edge as I lived in gang territory. In other neighborhoods, I don't see this edge, or the defensive tactices. So yeah, there's something here about cop safety in marginal neighborhoods. I imagine provoking these guys in these neighborhoods leads to bad outcomes.

Also, not to attack the GP, but there is a Chicago cyclist personality I see frequently. They do dick moves with their bikes, cause accidents, never obey any traffic law, scream at pedestrians, have unbelievable senses of entitlements, kick/punch cars, and constantly pretend to be innocent and are often incredibly confrontational when criticized. I can't imagine cops being nice to these people and the GP sounds like one of these people, which may explain many of his experiences. Chicago cyclists have a bad rep for a reason.

That said, I have next to zero fear of the police and lots of fear in regards to the high criminality and massive gang population here. I've been intimidated and threatened on the train multiple times, car/house robbed, had to walk lady friends to their homes/cars many times not out of courtesy but because there was a known rapist loose or the gang kids were clearly looking to start trouble that night, have been uncomfortably close to a gang shooting at least once, hit 3x by DUI drivers, etc. I suspect Chicago cops are tough because Chicago has so much serious crime. This isn't the suburbs.

Wikipedia: Chicago has more gang members than any other city in the United States: 150,000. The city had 532 murders in 2012.

Chicago tribune: Chicago police officers shot 22 people in 2015, eight of them fatally.

532 vs 8, guys. Oh, 150,000 gang members is 5% of the population. That's right, this is a major city where 1 in 20 are gang members.

That said, the powerful Chicago police union is pretty horrible. It exists to protect the worst of the worst, out of some misplaced sense of pride. I would love to see public sector unions eliminated in the city, if not nationwide. They just make things worse for everyone. Society needs an alternative to the union system in the public sector. I find it bothersome that all the recent ant-police sentiment still has not percolated to the police unions. I suspect this is a political thing where liberals can't attack their own institutions. So expect zero real reform.

FWIW, I am darker skinned and do not pass as "white." I'm typically clocked as a Latino. I've always owned older cars , dress very casually outside of work, and live way below my means. I doubt I was treated in any special way because of status/race. I don't fall into the preferred categories.

<comment><USER2> "Also, not to attack the GP, but there is a Chicago cyclist personality I see frequently. They do dick moves with their bikes, cause accidents, never obey any traffic law, scream at pedestrians, and constantly pretend to be innocent and are often incredibly confrontational when criticized. I can't imagine cops being nice to these people and the GP sounds like one of these people, which may explain many of his experiences."

No, I'm the mild mannered, just let me get home without dying type. Stopping at lights, yielding at stop signs, pedestrian in crosswalks. Not in a particular hurry to get anywhere usually, overweight, calm demeanor. What makes me "sound like" one of these people to you? You'll note I mention this is the total sum of my interactions over 20 years in this city. I have yet to have a positive one, but still, there aren't many to speak of. Also, only the one experience there had anything to do with being on a bicycle.

<comment><USER5> You should mention bikes on r/Chicago.

\----

As a pedestrian and a driver... screw the bikers. 95% of them are really shitty. The other 5% are well experienced in biking, and they hate the 95% of the other ones as well.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Just to be clear: what we are looking at is a concerted and coordinated criminal conspiracy to cover up a range of activities including murder.

<comment><USER7> _a concerted and coordinated criminal conspiracy_

Yes. It's Chicago. You've just described city government in six words.

<comment><USER8> Another poster already alluded to the point, but I'd like to make it explicit: if you believe Chicago is exceptional in this, you are wrong. The NYPD is almost as bad (as far as we know, the NYPD doesn't have an off-the-books torture chamber[1], rather preferring to sodomize arrestees with brooms in the regular jails on a more ad hoc basis).

But just as life-destroying are the things that go on in smaller communities, where talking about conspiracy is just as valid, but the stakes, departments and communities are smaller, so it doesn't get as much attention. I know from personal experience that small town cops can be just as awful, and power structures in small towns don't get the same push back as they do in larger places.

I'm pretty sure we are seeing the beginnings of a sea change here.

Citizen surveillance tech has reached the point that the behavior of police can't be ignored any more, and the disconnect between law, policy preferences and "rough justice" as actually practiced is shocking to people who lived comfortable enough lives to not notice before[2].

Prosecutors and especially judges, always slow to change when change makes their jobs harder, will take longer to get used to the notion that wink-and- nod isn't going to work any more. Police unions are going to lose this fight, especially as activists are starting to become savvy to the tactical advantage of splitting Republicans between law and order fears and union busters.

The result, at least hopefully, will be police that, if not actually part of the community again, are not able to function as the biggest gang around with legal cover.[3]

[1] [http://www.cbsnews.com/news/chicago-police-abused- detainees-...](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/chicago-police-abused-detainees- loman-square-lawsuit/)

[2] Not casting any aspirations there; we all pick and choose where our outrage lands to some extent, I'm just as oblivious to some injustices as other people are to this. It is simply human nature to worry about things closer to one's self.

[3] Not all police, some of them are very good at what they do, etc. At least we can retire the "few bad apples" deflection.

<comment><USER9> What about splitting the left with people who despise police unions and those who support all public sector unions 100% of the time?

<comment><USER10> I don't see a lot of people on the left supporting police unions just because they're unions. Some will support their right to unionize but none of the subsequent behaviour from police unions. You can't really split the left in a significant way on this.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> The police forces in most of America have become a magnet for sociopaths and bullies. There is such a deeply held belief and culture of covering up wrongdoing by fellow officers that it provides a safe space for the absolute worst behavior humanity has to offer. And, because there is still a strongly held belief among most of the nation that, "most cops are good" or even that most cops are downright heroic, that to question or criticize police is to put a target on your back.

A number of my friends are anti-police brutality activists (a few relatively well-known nationwide for it, but all are known by name by many in the local and state PD), and they have quite long arrest records; all bullshit charges, none of which stuck, but all part of a campaign by the police to make their lives miserable. One "accidentally" had his head smacked into a marble floor, hard enough to cause a concussion and a pool a blood on the floor and a night at the hospital, while he was passively filming police at an unrelated protest.

This is not restricted to Chicago, though Chicago seems to be quite far advanced on the path to being the worst.

In short: I don't know what should replace police in the US, but _drastic_ change is needed. Not merely reform; the whole damned system needs to be torn down and rebuilt from scratch. The prison industrial complex, of which police are the front line foot soldiers, is a national disgrace.

</comment><comment><USER12> We need badge-equivalent cameras. What I mean is that we need to make cameras work the same way as badges and uniforms, in the sense that you just can't do police work if you don't have a working camera. A working camera has a red light on it which means that it is currently streaming (possibly buffering if temporarily out of wireless range).

The police don't have to record anything, they just need to stream somewhere with associated meta data. NGOs will come forward to read the streams and save them.

I understand it will be hard to get unions to agree to this and I don't have a solution, but I'm minded of the reforms made to policing in Northern Ireland as a success story.

<comment><USER13>
         you just can't do police work if you don't have a working camera

This is already becoming the policy in many forward thinking agencies.

        they just need to stream somewhere with associated meta data

There are real challenges, both technical and practical. Technically, you've got to worry about connectivity and battery life. Practically, somebody has to pay for it all! There's also many genuine use cases for turning off cameras during a shift, not the least of which is that officers have to use the bathroom just like the rest of us, but others like when talking to confidential informants or at the request of domestic abuse victims. None of these problems are insurmountable, but it's going to take time, energy, and money.

        I understand it will be hard to get unions to agree to this

That was true a few years ago, but now it's becoming very clear that the majority of decent officers want body cameras. They protect them individually and taxpayers against an endless stream of lawsuits. Google around: studies show that they work, very well, for reducing complaints and use-of-force incidents.

Disclaimer: I work on Axon body cameras in Seattle. If you (or anybody else!) are interested in writing code that will help put a camera and less-leathal weapon on every police officer, please email me: firstname.lastname@example.com

<comment><USER12> Thanks, that actually made me feel more optimistic about it, although I hadn't thought of the issues you raise. Keeping a camera charged and working shouldn't be harder than other maintenance already needed such as keeping a firearm clean or keeping a car on the road. If we refine the condition to "you can't appear in public or interact with the public without your camera" then the bathroom problem goes away. Connectivity and confidentiality are harder problems. Confidentiality in particular if it's the case that that's also where a lot of the corruption is.

<comment><USER13> There will be no singular panacea for corruption. However, I'd rather put a camera on every officer on their own terms now, rather than pray for them to magically cooperate with some all-or-nothing plan in the future. If nothing else, it will make a strict plan easier to move to later.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> This is interesting. Normally police departments claim they have few ways to catch corrupt police. And I think there is more than a little truth to that. However, in this case the article shows that corrupt police are revealing themselves through the practice of destroying equipment. This could be an indicator that acts as a "canary" for police corruption! If police departments appropriately monitored such indicators, they may be on verge of discovering an easy method to spot criminal police officers before they do the damage to society.

<comment><USER14> Of course, if the police do stuff like this: [http://www.theguardian.com/us- news/2016/feb/07/leaked-police...](http://www.theguardian.com/us- news/2016/feb/07/leaked-police-files-contain-guarantees-disciplinary-records- will-be-kept-secret) it is unlikely they are willing to take responsibility for enforcement. Rarely does enforcement happen without oversight. By hiding police records they protect themselves, the police department leaders. We should, however, be able to do better. Public records, paid for by the public, are easily considered public property. I think courts could handle this.

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> Until police are jailed for this, nothing will improve.

What's the US equivalent of the Independent Police Complaints Commission?

<comment><USER16> Part of what stops police from routinely infringing civil rights in the pursuit of justice is the legal doctrine that evidence obtained illegally is inadmissible, as is all evidence gained from further (lawful) investigation based on that evidence [1]. what is needed is a law that operates in a similar way, that states that in any lawsuit or complaint against the police, there is a presumption of guilt on the part of the police officer in the event of 'malfunction' of monitoring devices. The only way to make the police comply is to make it in their self-interest (or at least in the interests of the city that would regularly have to pay out presumptive damages) to make sure they are working.

[1] [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fruit_of_the_poisonous_tree](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fruit_of_the_poisonous_tree)

Edit: typo

<comment><USER17> > Although the Constitution of the United States does not cite it explicitly, > presumption of innocence is widely held to follow from the 5th, 6th, and > 14th amendments. See also Coffin v. United States and In re Winship. [0]

One does not sign away Constitutional rights because they become a police officer.

[0] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presumption_of_innocence#The_f...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presumption_of_innocence#The_fundamental_right)

<comment><USER18> What if consequences based on the presumption of guilt where limited to immediate termination and being placed on a list barring the accused from working as a police officer in the future? Is presumption of guilt allowed if there are no criminal penalties?

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> A big part of the problem is our system is set up to favor the governent-- when there's a trial, the judge, the prosecutor, the cops (who handle and control all the evidence) the lab (many scandals in the past 40 years about fraudulent lab work) all work for the government. Even your lawyer is compromised by not being allowed to make certain arguments and the risk of offending the judge (Who there will be future cases before.) The jury are given blatantly tampering instructions from the judge, eliminating much of the value of an independent jury system.

So, who is going to try cops when they are corrupt?

By what mechanism can we the people enforce the law on our own government?

It seems silly to go before our own government and beg for them to obey their own laws.

Sometimes we get lucky- like gay marriage- but how many decades did that take? It was 1980s when the supreme court ruled that sodomy could be criminalized on the basis of "a thousand years of christian tradition" (namely NOT on the basis of the constitution.)

So of course, we will continue to see more and more corruption until like AIDS is now, and the wars overseas -- the news simply stops reporting about it, because it has become the background noise of the society we live in.

That's going the wrong direction.

I'm far more afraid of being killed by a random cop than I am by Walmart or anything in walmart. They all have an incentive to keep me safe so I'll keep buying. They would face consequences (not even criminal, just market consequences) if they were killing people.

Cops on the other hand, they get away with it. And blatantly do day in and day out.

</comment><comment><USER20> I do not understand how these cannot be made idiot proof and cop proof. You can buy the simplest dash cams from China that record HD video and sound that take mere minutes to set up for under a hundred bucks. The first step needs to mandate a tamper proof system and disabling of any police car from leaving they yard unless the device passes on all tests. Then it should be required to report periodically to a central location if it is working and if not the officer can be directed to obtain a new car. Any device found damaged or tampered with should be a federal offense and investigated by the FBI.

As in, those given the ultimate responsibility should be held the most strict standard. Don't like it, get out.

<comment><USER7> I'm sorry but this is hoplessly naive. It's _Chicago_. One of the most historically corrupt machine governments in the USA. Nothing gets done without dozens of people getting paid off if not in cash than in favors or quid pro quo. It's not even something that people on the inside find unusual. It's just how it is, and always has been.

It's a _much_ bigger problem than just mandating tamper-proof cameras.

<comment><USER20> This is why I state, these items must be tamper proof and back by regulations and laws. Likely all this must be at the federal level and it become a crime on the federal level to tamper with them.

So you make it nearly impossible to break/tamper without trying and its a federal offense to do so. Simple.

<comment><USER7> Who is buying the cameras? Who is installing the cameras? Who is determining if they are tampered with? Who is making the laws concerning the cameras? Chicago city politicians or employees. All of whom are being paid and influenced to do do their jobs in a way that favors the right people.

You seem to be suggesting a federal takeover of the Chicago police department -- a city whose mayor is the former chief of staff of the president, who himself is a Chicagoan. Good luck with that.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> " "How they determine that it's purposely caused damages, I'd like to know," Angelo said last month. "How they can figure out what is mechanical or what is human error, I'd like to know.""

Yeah, i mean how could you possibly tell whether it was human error for things like "wires cut with diagonal cutters".

If the officers are so worried, they could do something fairly simple. They could take a cell phone video of what's going on when they try to turn on the audio!

Crazy, i know

<comment><USER22> To be fair, Angelo's job (head of the local union) is to protect and advocate for the officers. Yes, he sounds completely ridiculous, but he can't come out and say "yup, they broke the dashcams."

(In no way do I mean to imply he is correct, or that the system isn't completely broken.)

<comment><USER21> Fun fact: it's not effecitve advocacy if nobody believes you :)

<comment><USER22> Fair enough. :)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> This is what some of us feared with the push for police bodycams, that they will eventually use the evidence only when it suits the police, but not anyone else, which could generally be even _worse_ than not having the video at all. The footage should be required to be uploaded to a federal agency's cloud every 24h.

And now some states are even giving the police permission to do that:

[http://www.wthr.com/story/31063724/bill-allowing-police- to-w...](http://www.wthr.com/story/31063724/bill-allowing-police-to-withhold- body-camera-video-passes-indiana-house)

This is why Larry Lessig has been so right about the need to _fix democracy first_. As long as that isn't fixed first, the corrupt systems will always infect even the best ideas and policies that manage to pass at the federal or state level. You need proper democracy so people can easily throw out leaders who side with those with power and protect them.

</comment><comment><USER24> Doing a ctrl-F for "emanuel" or "daley" in this comment section produced zero results, which is unfortunately rather telling.

Chicago has been run by the same political party since 1931. If the police are this bad and you keep re-electing the people running the city anyway, _you are part of the problem._ Throw the bastards out, don't just grump on message boards and then keep obediently pulling the same lever in the voting booth where it counts.

<comment><USER25> There are no good choices. The challengers are generally people who have heard that Chicago/Illinois are great places to feed. In Chicago, there's The Machine: a system for raising large numbers of votes for Duh Mare's candidates from people who don't care who wins, they just want their Alderman to respond to their phone calls. Outsiders like Blagojevich and Rauner at the state level are just as awful.

The amount of Republican pond scum that Illinois has had to deal with easily compares to the amount of Democratic pond scum that it has had to deal with, it's just a matter of upstate/downstate/collar counties preference which scumbag you vote for. They're all ultimately friends anyway; I think Emanuel once worked for Rauner.

</comment></comment><comment><USER26> Though I agree that this behavior is reprehensible and probably criminal, the comments here seem to miss at least some of the human dynamic here.

I can't hardly imagine that most people posting here would ever consider a job where literally every word or sound that came out of their mouth during their entire working life was recorded, and likely subject to public disclosure. Saying that this is what cops signed up for is not a compelling counter argument either, as this is new and most of the cops in question didn't sign up to work in an environment like that at all.

It seems odd to be even somewhat defending Chicago cops but someone should point out that there are two sides to this.

<comment><USER27> We trust cops to protect the weak, to wield and use firearms, and to enforce our laws. This puts them in a tremendous position to abuse their power.

The recording devices were installed precisely because abuses of power and criminal activity were already a big problem. The thugs destroyed the recording devices because they want to continue abusing their power, period.

For an honest cop, the recordings offer proof of proper conduct. In the setting of lethal force, the truth is very important. If I follow protocol and shoot someone, I hope there is a video showing that I followed the playbook perfectly.

I've been bullied by cops a few times. Their job is tough, but it strikes me as odd that they bully someone like me, an obviously harmless, non-criminal.

<comment><USER28> Your comment brings up the old and terrible response "if you haven't done anything wrong you have nothing to hide"

Is that irony? I never can tell if I use that word right.

<comment><USER27> As the other person who replied points out, it's very different for a trusted government official and a private citizen. The official gives up his/her right to privacy when acting in the role of public enforcer of laws...

<comment><USER28> You're both quite right and so I can only imagine that isn't impressed enough on newly minted government officials.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER29> Chicago PD needs to be disbanded and rebuilt from scratch under federal supervision. I had a lot of police in my family growing up and revered them as public servants, now I cross the street when I see a cop and won't give them the time of day. Yeah, a lot of cops are decent people doing a hard job, but no more respect until they clean up their own act.

</comment><comment><USER30> There is a near-total failure of the press to dig in to police corruption. When a case like this happens, the victim's name is splashed in the papers, and the press camps out on the victim's family's lawn. That's backward, and it does nothing but create some sensation.

The cop involved in the shooting, his personal life, his family, his buddies in the PD, the cops who witnessed the event, their supervisors, etc. should be the ones under the TV lights. That's where you will find the perjurers and the corrupt.

</comment><comment><USER31> A reminder that the primary election for Anita Alvarez, one of the country's worst states attorneys and the person with the most discretion in pursuing cases like this, is this March.

</comment><comment><USER32> This has been the rebuttal every time the argument "we just need bodycams on police" comes up in the latest thread about police indiscriminately raping or abusing women/shooting black men in the street like hunters shooting deer/pepper spraying protesters at point blank range for having the audacity to stage a sit-in.

Body cams won't magically make police accountable or less corrupt. Power corrupts. The only solution is to take power away from police.

<comment><USER33> We do need bodycams on police, but the program needs to be properly administered. Documentation when things break, enough spares so malfunctions are quickly and easily replaced. The Chicago PD is clearly rife with corruption, so you can't just point to this program and say it won't work. There are lessons to be learned here, and they can be avoided with actual (and immediate) accountability.

<comment><USER32> I think it's naive to assume that prosecutors will _ever_ prosecute cops without massive public outcry, that police departments are at all capable of policing themselves (including documenting broken bodycams), or even that politicians are going to have enough teeth to stand up to the police unions.

It's so naive it borders on stupidity. Do you really think "documentation" would change anything? It'd just lead to "Oops, didn't know that was broken sarge, I'll get a spare." "Oops, looks like all the spares are gone. Sarge, can you order some more?" "Oops, forgot to order some spares. Maybe I'll get to it tomorrow."

Chicago is especially corrupt (as far as I know it's the only metropolitan police force with its own CIA-esque black site), but it's _absolutely_ naive to think this can work anywhere. This is just the tip of the spear.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER34> This is a problem at the top and the bottom of the department, and it won't get fixed until both sides are held appropriately accountable.

The beat officers don't care because their management stack doesn't care. This should be pursued criminally, and would be were it anyone else messing with municipal equipment.

This is a departmental corruption issue first and foremost - and it's the senior management that should be held to account. Unfortunately, the problem won't be fixed until some of them go to jail and/or are made to make compensation for the damages and time spent repairing the system. Only then will the policies change to where the guys on the street quit damaging equipment.

<comment><USER35> It extends out of the department as well -- look no further than the DA and the stable of state prosecutors for another cesspool of laziness and neglect.

<comment><USER34> Agreed. And, that's actually pretty scary.

When it comes to Ferguson-type departmental corruption, it shows just how institutionalized the racism is - and how far it extends outside of the departments.

We should likely spend more time on this, as in this light, it doesn't matter what changes are made at a departmental level - there's no path to success on their own.

Change is going to have to be at the elected official level - but those systems are so gerrymandered, and so corrupt that it presents a really difficult problem.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER36> "The head of the police authority review board just resigned.

An off-the-books police facility where over 7,000 people were taken and had their rights trampled was uncovered.

So many people were tortured by the Chicago Police Department that a reparations fund was created.

So many people were wrongfully convicted that the city has now been labeled the "false confession capital of the world.""

[http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/king-chicago- police...](http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/king-chicago-police- department-corrupt-country-article-1.2457985)

</comment><comment><USER37> When they can always get away with slap on the wrist, why not destroy camera or turn it off before shooting someone. Some other cop is going to back any and all claims in court. There is no evidence anyway. They make sure of that. I'm still waiting to see what happened with Ian's case. At least some are indicted because of cams now a days. Turning of cam should have some mark on service records and effect their pay/promotions etc. Whats the need of cop is not to obey and enforce law?

<comment><USER38> In this case, charge the police officer with murder and obstruction of justice; the camera footage would exonerate them if they killed legitimately, after all. Disabling a camera means they've got something to hide.

<comment><USER37> [1] [http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/01/body-cam- captures...](http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/01/body-cam-captures- mans-final-words-begging-the-cops-to-get-off-of-him/)

[2] [http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/01/man-arrested- jail...](http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/01/man-arrested-jailed-for- filming-cop-settles-lawsuit-and-gets-72500/)

In case of [1], that man(and many others) will still be alive if cops behaved professionally rather than behaving like a bunch of _____

In case of [2], why weren't the cops charged with obstruction of justice

There is no one overseeing police behavior, they can get away unless someone with enough time and money takes them to the courts and even then they get too little punishment.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER39> The CPD and City of Chicago have long operated under their own terms, and they need to be very careful now that there is a national focus on them. The common perception from outsiders of the city has always been "well....that's just Chicago" \- think when characters like Rod Blagojevich make it to the national spotlight. With high profile cases of police corruption at the very highest level, I think the "charm" of corrupt politics and government start to go away.

I lived there for 7 years before relocating elsewhere, and at no point did it ever feel like the city was operating on behalf of its residence. There is segregation unlike anything I've seen in any other major city that is entirely ignored, the "startup" culture that they've been trying to cultivate for years is complete BS and at odds with how anti-business the city is, and now people are starting to see what happens when large government organizations go unchecked for decades.

I guess the one silver lining about incidents like this is that it should put some national pressure (and hopefully, accountability) on the CPD. I am aware that things like this happen elsewhere, but having lived in about a half dozen cities in the US, I never felt like the problem was as large and systemic as I observed in Chicago.

</comment><comment><USER40> Is anyone really surprised with this?

These things _have_ to be made tamper-evident, otherwise this is going to happen.

<comment><USER41> There needs to be seals on the cameras, and a connection to the police radio in the car which reports tampering back to the dispatch room.

Any deliberate destruction should lead to disciplinary action up to and including termination.

<comment><USER35> Good luck proving deliberate destruction -- "accidents happen" and noisy hand- waving will result in nothing beyond three-day suspensions and desk jockeying.

<comment><USER41> If there's a pattern, then a second hidden camera can be installed watching the first camera.

You are correct when it comes to discipline, the police union will stand up to bad actor's behalf. That cultural issue will be a tough nut to crack.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER42> How is disabling cameras and audio recorders only a slap on the wrist? Something is deeply wrong with policing in this country.

</comment><comment><USER43> I'd love to know where Obama is in all of this given his South Side heritage.

Also, corrupt cops are a very real thing in Chicago. Dated a girl briefly in Lakeview who warned me that I didn't want to meet her dad as he was a cop and it eventually came out that he was pretty fucking corrupt.

The relationship ended for other reasons, but holy crap was I determined to end it amicably. Last thing I wanted was to be on the shitlist of a corrupt Chicago cop/dad.

</comment><comment><USER44> Police dashcams and bodycams are there to protect officers as much as the public. This being said, I can totally understand why many officers aren't too thrilled about being recorded every second of their shift, and clearly in Chicago several of them have taken action. Police officers are thrown into highly stressful situations every single day, and even "good" cops will make poor decisions from time to time. I think Police dash cams are in the public's best interest, and strongly believe that citizen journalism is helping communities hold authorities accountable, but there needs to be a balance between accountability and unfair scrutiny. Once this balance is found, hopefully incidents such as those described in the article will drop significantly.

</comment><comment><USER45> This seems like a good use case for [https://petitions.whitehouse.gov](https://petitions.whitehouse.gov), no? I have to imagine such a blatent abuse of the system would have to warrant more than a cookie-cutter answer from the administration.

</comment><comment><USER46> I grew up in an Asian country where I have seen police corruption first hand more than once and I always wished my country had better educated and morally strong individuals who would protect the weaker sections of the society instead of siding with rich/powerful people even if they are criminals.

I always wished like in the west police would enforce the law regardless of the status of that individual and that police and other govt officials are better paid and hence there was no need for them to get corrupted for the sake few extra bucks.

I am currently working in one of those "developed" countries in the west and observing things around me, reading articles/comments like here. It appears that, it is not really very different here either. I guess human greed is universal.

<comment><USER47> Police in the US are very much not like police in other Anglo countries; they are much more adversarial.

Not to say the other police are perfect, but it seems much worse in the US. Example: I'm from Australia, and was recounting a story here on HN about how I don't like that subtle power play when police pull you over and talk down to you in the car. So I get out (I'm very tall) and wait for them in a friendly manner. It changes the tone of the traffic stop. Doesn't change the outcome, but it's hard for them to talk down to someone they have to physically look up to.

On relaying this story, multiple HN'ers from the US thought I was genuinely putting my life at risk of being shot by the police, and told me I should never ever do that. This is a _genuinely foreign_ concept to me - that I should be fearful that police might be predisposed to shooting me for getting out of the car. That these folks even have that general fear speaks volumes as to the excessive force the US police use.

<comment><USER48> But see, in the US, the occupants of cars are _much more likely_ to try to use force on police officers, too. (And remember how many Americans are armed.) The police officers are literally in a position where they have to evaluate each move you make in (I'd guess) about half a second. If they shoot when they shouldn't, it may destroy their career. If they don't shoot when they should, they may die.

I don't know, but I suspect that Australians are much less likely to shoot at or otherwise attack police officers...

<comment><USER47> I agree with you in that part of the issue is the armed populace in the US (Australia is very much an unarmed populace, and always has been; ignore most of what you hear about the 1996 gun bans from anyone). Another part of the issue is the 'us vs them' attitude that appears to be more prevalent in US policing (and in US politics in general). In contrast, the UK's police tries to follow the Peelian Principles, which are designed to avoid the 'us vs them' mentality.

For my money, I'd rather have a population without guns, if it means we don't have to be scared of the people we hire to keep our cities orderly. The armed population in the US doesn't seem to be rising up against government transgressions there any more than the unarmed population does here, so it doesn't seem like the rationale for amendment #2 holds water.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER49> These guys seem to make a decent living.

[https://data.cityofchicago.org/Administration- Finance/Curren...](https://data.cityofchicago.org/Administration- Finance/Current-Employee-Names-Salaries-and-Position-Title/xzkq-xp2w)

</comment><comment><USER50> How long before people start defending them, "It's just a few bad apples"? And I won't hold my breath waiting for them to remember the full phase is "a few bad apples spoils the barrel."

<comment><USER51> The "it's just a few bad apples" excuse is especially egregious, as bad apples need to be disposed with rapidly before they rot the rest of the batch.

Farmers who encounter a bad apple don't shrug and say "eh, there'll always be bad apples, nothing we can do". It's really weird how what should be a saying supporting police reform got twisted into something promoting indifference to abuse.

</comment></comment><comment><USER52> I look at the comment from the Police Union and cant help wondering why there is no public outcry to:

      Outlaw public employee Unions?

</comment><comment><USER53> > "How they determine that it's purposely caused damages, I'd like to know," > Angelo said last month. "How they can figure out what is mechanical or what > is human error, I'd like to know."

How video uploads significantly increase after the change in policy, with the same equipment and people, I'd like to know.

</comment><comment><USER54> I just watched L.A Confidential a couple of days ago. All of this sounds awfully too similar.

</comment><comment><USER55> Citizens, get some police suppression/accountability laws on the fucking ballot. The only people who will vote against police suppression laws are police. It's time to stop this bullshit.

</comment><comment><USER56> Chicago has a long history of wide spread willingness within its government to act criminally in return for personal gain. Until Chicago itself is feed up with it, nothing will change.

</comment><comment><USER57> So in even the most extreme, overly generous estimation of plausible "errors" a person could make, we're talking about a police force that is around 40% corrupt?

</comment><comment><USER23> Just a few bad apples...that have long spoiled the whole barrel.

</comment><comment><USER52> Look at the comments from the union rep. at the end of the story. Why is there no call from the public to:

      Outlaw public employee unions?

<comment><USER58> You're getting downvoted, but I think this is a legitimate question to ask, at least about police unions. There are many serious problems with public sector unions. I'd like to point to the financial situations (unfunded pension liability related) of California and Illinois as prime examples of such problems.

</comment></comment><comment><USER59> From the wise words of N.W.A - Fuck da police!!!

</comment><comment><USER60> I bet a simple classifier on all these HN anecdotes could pinpoint the race of the posters to within 99% accuracy.

</comment><comment><USER61> Google Jon Burge if you think this isn't embedded into the culture of Chicago.

</comment><comment><USER62> maybe all police officers should have to record audio and video and do a live broadcast while on duty (someone has to make sure their equipment is working properly)...

</comment><comment><USER63> if you destroy evidence, you should be found guilty of the crime itself as if you'd conspired in committing it, and get the maximum sentence.

</comment><comment><USER64> Seems like separation of power needs to reach further.

</comment><comment><USER65> comment

</comment><comment><USER66> Why is this the top post on hacker news? What does this have to do with anything other than anecdotal, hysterical media BS?

<comment><USER67> I'm just speculating but I'd say that with the recent death of Ian Murdock and how that situation played out, tensions are high between the HN community and the police in America.

<comment><USER68> Yeah, great. A bunch of tech nerds and programmers commenting on a job where your safety is constantly on the line and you have to make split second decisions and you're under enormous stress and there is no black and white. This board is so anti-police it's just disgusting.

<comment><USER69> I work in an industry that supports public safety.

Yes, being a police officer is dangerous, but their safety is not /constantly/ on the line - yeah, maybe once a day, maybe a couple times a day, an officer is going to have to make a choice that could endanger them - its not every second of every day.

The cameras in the end are supposed to protect the officer as much as the citizens, it makes the officers accountable, as well as provides backup for their version of events. Now I get the desire to not be recorded all the time, no one wants a surveillance state - but when the methods of redress for a corrupt officer are so few, body cameras are a reasonable precaution in the eyes of the public.

HN is generally anti-authority, and right now, I can of very little visible authority wise than the police, so right now the police are there as a focus point.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER70> That police have the emotional and intellectual maturity of children wouldn't be so bad if they didn't also wantonly kill innocent people largely without consequence.

Just another fine example of the American police state, but I'm sure some fascist can explain away.

<comment><USER71> Maturity?

You see this as a _prank_?

I think you're on the wrong foot here. The premise of the cameras was not that they were there for decorative effect as some sort of symbol to be vandalized.

I see it as a majority of the Chicago police force destroying evidence and equipment necessary to investigate their actions. This is open rebellion with the intent to escape justice - though for what crime specifically we may never know.

Any proveably "deliberate" tampering should end in a firing, revocation of pension, and then court case brought against them. Any deliberate tampering during which the officer sustains a complaint against them? Enter this into presumptive evidence against the officer and recommend prosecution. We started monitoring the officer because it turns out they can't be trusted as much as we thought - slipping our monitoring and destroying our property is an overtly hostile act, the same as openly slitting the tires of an Internal Affairs agent in the process of investigating the officer.

To deter it in the future: ramp up the random checks (you did have random checks... right? I should be able to pick a random time and download footage) and enter in punitive fines for poorly maintained or operated cameras; Raise salary slightly to make it budget-neutral, but pay for prompt repair first.</comment></comment>


Photographing the Most Radioactive Places in Chernobyl - <AUTHOR> https://petapixel.com/2019/08/27/the-sarcophagus-photographing-the-most-radioactive-places-in-chernobyl/ <comment><USER2> Notice the Windows XP wallpaper in this picture: [https://petapixel.com/assets/uploads/2019/08/11-3.jpg](https://petapixel.com/assets/uploads/2019/08/11-3.jpg)

<comment><USER3> Yikes. Hope its not connected to the internet..

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> "Of course, I'm not going to go in there to take pictures! For reference, staying in this place would be deadly in just a few minutes."

What about sending a drone or robot inside and take the pictures safely from outside?

<comment><USER5> The radiation levels have killed "drones" several times before.

<comment><USER6> Fortunately, there were plenty of"human drones" available to assist with removing graphite.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> If the other control room is contaminated now, wasn't it unsafe to work in after the explosion? They still had a few reactors in operation for a time.

Good to see the control room still runs Windows XP with default Teletubby background. I wonder whether this is a vulnerability and an upgrade is planned.

<comment><USER5> It's unlikely to have any internet connection there - so there's little to no risk.</comment></comment>


Dear procrastinator - <AUTHOR> Dear procrastinator,
Procrastination has nothing to do with disciplining yourself or 'just doing it' This is the most common misconception about procrastination and will instead achieve exactly the opposite of what you want. Let me explain:
The reason why human-beings procrastinate is to feel in control of their life. The act of rebelling against an oppressor, an authorative figure telling you what to do, is your way of regaining mastery over your own fate. Very much the same way kids throw a tantrum when their parents order them to do something, the procrastinator puts off tasks because he has come to harbor resentment against the thing to be done. Why, you ask? Because in your admirable will and ambition to achieve your goals, rather ironically, you have created the only thing that can stop you from reaching your goals: a separate mental authority figure causing unneccessary internal strife. You have created a bully out of yourself.
Start listening to the way you talk to yourself; Instead of punishing yourself for not following up on things, you need to learn to let loose. Adopt the belief that you have the natural tendency to work productively and act creatively. Nobody needs to man up, shape up, or be disciplined. Stop framing the world as if it is a constant struggle to get things done, instead start viewing life as a sequence of awesomely fun and exciting things to work on.
Good luck, Edo van Royen
edit: Humbled by your comments, thank you all. I write pretty regularly, just never on a public forum like this.
note: I notice my writing could use some nuance. Painting an extreme is just a style of writing which helps bring across a point. Obviously there are things that are objectively less fun to do. <comment><USER3> I'm sorry to disagree, but I do. My own battle with procrastination is completely due to laziness. No one likes to do difficult things, and sometimes even things we kind of enjoy. The reality is that we, as humans, never procrastinate when we really, really want something. Not once in my life did I have to "trick" myself into playing a video game a few extra minutes or watch a big basketball game.

In short, we accomplish what we want to accomplish (meaning, the 'fun' stuff), unless we push ourselves.

<comment><AUTHOR> Silverbax, thanks for your comment.

What makes you really want to play a video game and dislike doing the dishes? Is it something objective about the thing to be done, or does it have to do with your mental framing of the task at hand? I feel it is the latter. A friend of mine reviews video games professionally, and he procrastinates on playing games. I think it's because he is told to play games. An authority figure is pushing him to do something and he rebels by putting off playing.

Pushing ourselves only leads to ourselves pushing back.

Cheers, Edo

<comment><USER4> Going along with the thread that was started here.

When I play a video game, it's the game I want to play at the time I want to play it and with the goal that I picked for that session.

If I have to review a video game then I have all these choices largely made for me. The goal is to review the game rather than go for whatever I might want out of the game.

The reality of our lives force us to do things which don't always align with what we really want to do. That's when I procrastinate.

<comment><USER5> I think, for me, procrastination has to do with projecting complication into things. So, if I want to cook something new, I imagine needing to find the perfect recipe with the perfect ingredients, for example.

But, then, there are times when I just decide to do it even if I'm missing ingredients or have not come across a recipe which makes sense to me. Powering thru.

I think for the video game tester, if I were them, I'd project difficulty onto it. Finding the bugs, etc. Feeling like I might not be up to finding anything interesting. It's a bit of a fear of failing, in a way, till I felt, "I'm up to the task now."

<comment><USER6> _I think, for me, procrastination has to do with projecting complication into things. So, if I want to cook something new, I imagine needing to find the perfect recipe with the perfect ingredients, for example._

Need to... or else what? Instead of forcing onwards, ask yourself why you don't want to go forwards...

<comment><USER5> Else fail. A kind of set up fear of failing, I guess.

<comment><USER6> That doesn't go far enough to do any good as an answer. What happens after (or during, or because of) failing that you are afraid of. What is it about failing that you are afraid of?

(I'm not asking so you can tell me, I'm prodding you to ask yourself. To think "hey, I don't really know the answer to that. I wonder why I do feel this way?)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> This is not true for myself at all!

Actually I think in my case all the stuff you read about procrastination does not really aplly to my procrastination:

I think I am one of the worlds worst procastinators and it took me about 10 years to figure out what might be the main reason for my behaviour. It has nothing to with all the stuff you read in all these procrastination books. It's not about the fear of failing, it's not about the fear of winning, it's not some kind of rebellion against some outside force as you pointed out. It's something completly different:

I never learned to do (unpleasant) stuff!

When I look back on my childhood now, it's very obvious what went wrong: I grew up as a very very spoiled kid which never had to do anything "unpleasant". Did not want to clean up my room? No problem. Did not want to help my parents with preparing lunch? no problem. Did not want to do homework? no problem.

From all those years growing up I can remember only one occasion at which my mother tried to force me to do something. But since I was already 12 or so that this time, she gave up after 10 minutes.

I never learned to endure the "stress" or "pain" of all those unpleasant things I have to do (washing clothing, cooking, ...) so it's very hard for me to do them intstead of just browsing the internet and get instant satisfaction.

In combination with some above average intelligence and a very big portion of luck I was still able to study with good grades and I'm currently in my second year of a PhD thesis. For me it's hell on earth! Giving lectures, preparing papers, filling out forms, applying for grants, ... I postpone all of this stuff all the time not because I am afraid i could not do them or because they are pushed on me from the outside. I postpone them because I never learned to actually _do_ unpleasant stuff.

Does this makes sense? English is not my first language and the topic is quite hard to describe.

<comment><USER8> Can you learn to do unpleasant stuff? What does that mean - that your will is broken? Unpleasant stuff is after all unpleasant.

I managed to see some positive things, for example when I do the dishes I enjoy the clean state of the room afterwards. Or in general I try to see cleaning as a workout. But you can only trick the mind to a degree...

If procrastination really is there to prevent us from doing stupid tasks, maybe it is not desirable to learn to do unpleasant stuff. It would mean circumventing that protection.

Thinking about it, maybe the way to learn doing unpleasant stuff is really to look at the bigger picture and why it makes sense to do the unpleasant stuff. If it doesn't make sense, not doing it might be the right decision.

<comment><USER9> _Can you learn to do unpleasant stuff? What does that mean - that your will is broken?_

I would say that it generally means the opposite, that your will is strong.

Getting yourself to do something unpleasant can be difficult, even if you know the long term benefits are there. It takes a strong will to make yourself do something unpleasant without the threat of an external punishment hanging over you in the short term.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Wow.

That actually resonates with me much better than anything I've read on procrastination so far. I am burning lot of my mental cycles on thinking about my own procrastination, and it crossed my mind that when I start to do things that I'm (in broad sense) forced to - by my boss, lecturer or even myself, I feel like loosing some kind of self-awareness, control of my life... I never pin-pointed the feeling exactly, but it resonates closely with what you wrote.

Also, I'm so used to my personal GTD-like productivity management methods that I sometimes feel I'm not able to think or work without using pen & paper or Emacs for organizing my thoughts. Now, the thing I'm worried about is that it doesn't really feel like I have 'boosted my cognitive skills' or whatever - <USER2> feels like I'm so handicaped that I can't think without help of external tools. I look around and see people (that look) smarter and more successful than me, and they don't seem to be using _any_ productivity tricks at all. Maybe it's [something]-bias [1], but it gets me really worried. Anyone on HN felt something similar?

[1] - need to catch up with LessWrong on that ;).

<comment><USER11> Hey, your post resonates with me as well.

I think, the key is to go level up and turn it around. It's not lecturer or boss who force you, it's you who are using them to get something you want. (Here, 'something you want' _might_ include money, knowledge, a degree, but _must necessarily_ include plain 'having fun' (because the validity of any other reason is questionable—and when you question the validity of reasons to do something, you're procrastinating).)

In other words, a problem of procrastination stops to exist once you start enjoying the process. The GTD tools problem gets partly solved as well: you surely are going to get things done if you enjoy the process (although if it's hard to remember all of these things, then some sort of todo list might be handy, you'll know when you start actually needing it).

I'm not saying this is simple (although I'm sure it is, in some sense) or I know how to do this, simply suggesting that thinking about how to enjoy doing things might be a more productive way to burn your cycles than thinking about how to stop procrastinating. The former problem is clearly stated (which is important, prevents losing focus when you're thinking a lot about it) and is likely simpler to solve.

* * *

IMO, many successful people actually _do_ use productivity tricks without knowing it. It's implicit in their life, so they don't talk about it. Many of these tricks may not like like tricks at all. And even if people _did_ talk about them… The real productivity trick is not the trick, it's your habit, tricks become truly effective when you do them naturally, without thinking. Pick good habits. [1]

[1] Relevant: <http://lesswrong.com/lw/60y/action_and_habit/>

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> I'm not lazy, I'm not too proud to do mundane things, and I don't feel others control my life. (How would that last perspective explain procrastinating on a personal project like a painting?) I didn't understand procrastination until I understood it from this perspective (and I imagine a lot of the folks on HN are similar): I procrastinate because I'm a perfectionist. If it's not finished, it can't be judged. There's more I can tweak! Once something is turned in, published, or launched, it stands as an example of my best effort. It wears my name. And that scares the hell out of me.

<comment><USER13> My tendency for perfectionism also contributes but for an entirely different reason; I often feel it's hard to motivate my self because of the increased effort yielding diminishing returns. Yet I know once I get started the perfectionist can take over and I end up burning a lot of time with not much to show for it.

In many ways I sympathise with the OP's point of view to a large extent, while don't really understand yours. That makes me wonder if there's some even more fundamental reason that causes procrastination or whether it can be just different things for different people.

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> There is not a singular cause for procrastination. I've mentioned it many times on HN, but I think it's again relevant to recommend "Procrastination" by Burka & Yuen.[1]

Half the book is spent helping you investigate the root cause or causes of your procrastination, which can include fear about control (losing OR gaining it), as well as fear of success, fear of failure, fear of separation, fear of attachment. They discuss the influence of family and culture, gender, and the role of ADD & executive dysfunction.

The second half of the book is a practical guide to coping with your procrastination and habitualizing better behaviors.

If you're serious about procrastination, my only advice is to listen to the experimentally & research-backed psychiatrists.

[1] [http://www.amazon.com/Procrastination-Why-You-What- About/dp/...](http://www.amazon.com/Procrastination-Why-You-What- About/dp/0738211702)

<comment><USER15> There's something else that's a bit rarer, but not as uncommon as often thought: depersonalization. (Mark my words: depersonalization disorder will be the next ADD/Asperger's/depression as fashionable illness du jour)

In fact, as acute (non-chronic) depersonalization can be a natural response to an anxiety attack, it may be at the core of why "fear of X" can lead to paralyzing procrastination. I've been debugging mine for years with a psychiatrist now, and it's still not clear that I have DPD itself and not depersonalization as a secondary symptom of one of the many things that are wrong with me, but clearly it plays a huge part.

I'm kind of oversharing here, but it's in hope that more people are aware that depersonalization is something that exists, like headaches or muscle cramps, and like ADD (and ED to an extent) is a continuum.

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> HN will never see a more eminently clickable post than one titled, "Dear Procrastinator"

</comment><comment><USER17> _"The reason why human-beings procrastinate is to feel in control of their life."_

Agree completely. Having said this, your suggested solution is incredibly hard to put into practice for many procrastinators out there.

I have bills to pay and a family to support, and working for the Man seems like the only option, at the moment, to meet my financial obligations. I don't particularly enjoy my day job, and I wouldn't do it if I didn't have to. To maintain an illusion that I am not just a slave tied to a very short leash, I procrastinate. Ignoring my email inbox full of pending tasks and spending the day outside in the sunshine instead can feel very liberating, but obviously it doesn't solve anything, and doesn't get me a step closer to greater freedom.

 _"life as a sequence of awesomely fun and exciting things"_ sounds great, but the reality is that only a very small percentage of people are lucky enough to lead this kind of life.

<comment><USER18> I would argue that a portion of that is simply the way you view things. I would also argue that you could eek out control like the method by which you choose to meet your deadlines.

Still... I have this work I should be doing...

</comment></comment><comment><USER19> Procrastination has many causes. I expect this is because humans haven't often needed to motivate themselves, as they have often been motivated by fear and hunger. Above $5 or $10 a day, basic nutrition and shelter is not an issue.

Here's a few reasons why I think some people procrastinate. Mix and match:

\- The need to feel control. \- Some urge to punish or test someone (a parent?)

\- Perfectionism (high standards, the need to over-achieve, or egotism), or a fear of being judged. If it's not done, nobody has to see your crappy work.

\- Laziness. Sometimes an issue for people who can pass without working.

\- Habit. See all the above.

\- Dopamine addiction. The internet has given rise to the junk food equivalent of achievement.

\- Unrealistic expectations, leading to a lack of motivation. Sorry, but they lied when they said the course / job you are getting into is the most important one in the world. They say that about every course / job.

</comment><comment><USER20> [http://www.amazon.com/Self-Discipline-10-Days-Thinking- Doing...](http://www.amazon.com/Self-Discipline-10-Days-Thinking- Doing/dp/1880115026) <\-- this book pretty much sorted out my procrastination problem

<comment><USER21> Book is out of print and 33$ used.

<comment><USER22> a quick search shows that it was republished: [http://www.amazon.com/Self- Discipline-10-days-Thinking-Doing...](http://www.amazon.com/Self- Discipline-10-days-Thinking-Doing/dp/1880115107)

I haven't read it, but looks interesting.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> Very well written Edo, thanks! While I disagree that this applies to _all_ cases of procrastination, it definitely applies to many, and was very eye (and mind) opening to read.

Curious if you have other writings posted anywhere? I'd love to read more about your thoughts on other topics.

<comment><AUTHOR> Hi makeramen, thanks for your comment, glad it was fun to read.

I have been toying with the idea to write more publicly. If you'll follow me on twitter (<http://twitter.com/edo>) you will be the first to know when I do ;-).

Cheers!

</comment></comment><comment><USER24> Great post.

Relevant tactical point:

Replace "I have to" with "I choose to" and "I should" with "Would I like to?"

It really, really, really works.

Instead of, "I have to take out the garbage" - "I choose to take out the garbage." (Or alternatively, "I choose not to" - that's okay too, if you choose to do it that way.)

<comment><USER25> "I prefer not to" (Bartleby)

</comment></comment><comment><USER26> I think the OP argument makes a lot of sense. When I was young, my mother often asked (not exactly gently) to do some tasks and many times I refused just because I was obligated.

In the school and in the college it was exactly the same behavior, I refused to study but when I found an interesting topic outside the college (like programming) I had a lot of will to study it by myself. I never really learned anything in the school class, I am 100% autodidact. The single fact that I was obligated to learn something made me completly ignore that stuff.

</comment><comment><USER27> There are tons of interesting books I bought, but I have kept on procrastinating reading, since I know that I can always read them later. That feeling IMHO - that I own something and can process it later - is major cause of procrastination for me.

same way my browser windows are a mess with 70+ tabs open. Most of them are only open because the content is too interesting to close and I am too lazy to read!

</comment><comment><USER28> Wow, this is such good advice. You're right, I'm constantly having stern talks with myself about being a mature, clever guy and so why the heck am I wasting time, etc etc. Thankyou.

</comment><comment><USER6> That doesn't seem to _answer_ anything. If human beings procrastinate to feel in control, what of soldiers? They can be happy and fulfilled, work damn hard, and be only doing exactly what they are told.

The next question, for you perhaps, is "what do you fear so much about the idea of not being in control of your life?"

<comment><USER29> A soldier is programmed to be the way they are, their lack of procrastination is beat into them as a response to fear, primarily the fear of death. Do what you're told or your squad mates will die, your commanding officer will die, and by extension "you" will die. Death is one of the ultimate motivators.

That said you get a soldier outside the army life and he finds ways and methods of procrastination that rival the rest of us.

I have always fought with procrastination, and it always has boiled down to feeling forced to do things. If something is not happening in the moment, if it's not feel spontaneous then I balk at doing it.

The analogy of rebelling against a virtual or fictitious oppressor self is very fitting, for me, and my natural reaction to this internal dictator is only heightened when it is influenced by an external entity.

I might internally procrastinate about doing dishes for example, but if my wife dares to even suggest or ask if I'd be willing... that procrastination will flare into an outright rebellion against doing that "THING" that is "required" of me. Not saying I externalize the conflict, but mentally that part of me that was causing me to procrastinate is now engaged in guerrilla warfare.

My morning was just ambushed by this small bit of writing btw. I'm "supposed" to be doing some programming you know. Deadlines are looming, people are getting anxious and I'm writing about my penchant for procrastination. ;)

O.

<comment><USER6> _I have always fought with procrastination, and it always has boiled down to feeling forced to do things. If something is not happening in the moment, if it's not feel spontaneous then I balk at doing it._

That's no more an answer than saying if a painting is has too many chairs in it you balk at looking at it. Balking at not-spontaneous things is a description of _what_ you do, but not why you do that behaviour, right?

 _that procrastination will flare into an outright rebellion against doing that "THING" that is "required" of me._

This is not explaining that you procrastinate because you feel controlled, this is observing that you feel controlled and observing that you procrastinate, both when (something unspecified) is the case.

Feeling controlled -> procrastination is not a link which must exist, is it? You can imagine people without that link, right?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER30> I think you are replacing one extreme claim with another.

Becoming better at something means that either your body or your brain have to do do something that it's not used to and doesn't feel comfortable with. It doesn't matter how much you love what you do it's still going to feel harder and thus there are a million other things you would rather do.

When I were young I practiced the guitar 10 hours a day for a long period of time. I loved (and still love) music but it was hard even with this love for my field.

If I wanted to I could simply have been playing things that I already knew. Playing around and not getting any better.

But to become better at something you need to get the discipline to get on with it and that will "hurt".

There are no easy ways to become better.

<comment><USER31> I don't really see where that contradicts what he wrote... could you explain what you mean?

</comment></comment><comment><USER32> "The act of rebelling against an oppressor, an authorative figure telling you what to do, is your way of regaining mastery over your own fate."

Surely you jest.

Oh, sure, some people will procrastinate as rebellion.

Just as sure, some people procrastinate a simple matter of choosing from a menu: choosing steak over fish is for some a simple preference, not weighed down with rebellion against diet or splurging against budget. At a given moment I have the choice to do interesting thing X or less interesting thing Y; I choose X not out of the oppression of why Y is an option at all, but just because it is what I would rather do.

You may struggle against authority an procrastinate as an act of rebellion. Others because it's just what they would rather do.

</comment><comment><USER33> Great post. Many great things can be achieved with a short burst of energy/focus, but these things are often temporary and unsustainable, which is why the Man Up approach gets trumped by the I Will Continue To Do Better approach once real life kicks in.

</comment><comment><USER34> > The reason why human-beings procrastinate is to feel in control of their > life. The act of rebelling against an oppressor, an authorative figure > telling you what to do, is your way of regaining mastery over your own fate.

The academic literature disagrees that procrastination is about rebelling, and 'efficacy' is only one factor; see <http://lesswrong.com/lw/3w3/how_to_beat_procrastination/> and especially its reference section (Luke is great about jailbreaking PDFs and hosting them; I'm slowly reading through those specific PDFs).

</comment><comment><USER35> First off, Nice post. But I disagree slightly out of experience from my own toils with procrastination. I find that I, among many other humans simply want to remain in a state of comfort, whatever that means to each person. Every little thing that deviates one from constant comfort becomes a bump in the state of mind, this bump can be smoothed out in 1 of 2 ways, You can do what you should do, the task at hand, or you can put it off in exchange for a moment of instant gratification, or some distraction action. Now in behavioral theory, there is much less mental strife or tension involve in procrastination (initially), and if the competitor action to inaction a mentally or physically longer journey requiring more energy to complete, the natural response would be the shortest of the two. Instant gratification is powerful! Its a tug-of- war calculation between actions, we will do whatever we can do that's easier or more enjoyable unless we fear the outcome of inaction so much so that it out-ways the positives of the other. We are fundamentally powerless against this. For all you fellow entrepreneurs out there, we simply love building things more than anything else. My procrastination for example consists of working on projects or prototyping a new app. I will default to that when countered with options of going to the movies, eating out, or playing video games. One could argue however that fear of failure motivates one above all others to strive for success. Just my 2 cents.

</comment><comment><USER36> Dear Procrastinator,

Go read up on the topic of procrastination, because it's actually an interesting field of research within psychology. I know you want to, because that way, you can procrastinate even more!

I'm appalled that nobody has yet mentioned <http://procrastination.ca> — home of the Uni Ottawa procrastination research group. Also home of the excellent iProcrastinate podcast: <http://iprocrastinate.libsyn.com/>

It turns out that procrastination is an immensely complex and multi-faceted issue, and no one single solution is going to help everybody. I like the OPs advice, but don't think it applies to every procrastinator! Also, it might be the right advice for you if you want to combat your procrastination, but it won't help you combat other "bad" aspects of your psyche, and eventually, you're going to fall into your old habits.

I'm talking out of experience here: I originally went to a psychiatrist because my life wasn't working out anymore (it was really that general.) Several (mostly inconclusive) diagnoses and 2 years of psychotherapy later, I feel like I'm finally starting to grasp why and how my life went wrong.

Not everybody who procrastinates has serious mental issues. But just as a hint: if, for a prolonged period of time, say, a year, you aren't able to get back on track, or you aren't able to fulfill your dreams or expectations, try a therapist, if you can afford it. (I happen to live in a country with free health care, so I didn't have to deal with that, gladly.)

</comment><comment><USER37> This is the first time I've heard someone speak of procrastination in this light, have to say its impressive. "Regaining mastery of your own fate" makes almost too much sense haha. It's eerily true, kid throwing the tantrum is a good example. We don't feel like doing it, but ;now we have to, so we build up stress and despise the fact that we have to. Very good advice!

</comment><comment><USER38> Actually, I know the problem:

It's with our right hemisphere, it's the one of you that is creative, that had hopes as a child to really do something useful for the world, the one that is out of control, seeks freedom.

The thing is that you aren't doing art/music(that's what people frequently do with it) and art/music is well known as freedom, what you are probably doing is:

A stupid startup to proove yourself, make some money and shit. Even if you own twitter or facebook, it's still shit compared to art, believe me. It's shit.

If you were doing something that would eradicate some sickness in africa and would save millions of people or had anything altruist in it, i doubt your heart wouldn't be pumping from the second you started.

Believe me, it's because what you do is shit, your brain knows and it wants to free you from this bullshit.

I don't procrastinate to wash dishes for my girlfriend, no matter how much it's boring, i fucking love her. But you know, if i had to wash it for ME, i would procrastinate all day. You need love.

</comment><comment><USER18> I like how this meshes with Cal Newport's ideas on procrastination. As I understand it, he views procrastination as the mind's natural tendency to avoid things it doesn't trust: that crappy plan you came up with for getting that project done? Yeah, you don't trust it, so why would you actually try to implement it?

</comment><comment><USER39> The OP's point is a good one but it is not the whole story. People procrastinate for various reasons, as others have already attested.

Personally, I found a simple habit cured me of 50% of HN and Reddit addiction and let me work on things I had procrastinated for a long time:

First thing when I do every morning when I sit down at a computer is e-mail a simple TODO list to myself and also send a report of what I did on yesterdays TODO list.

This e-mail is very simple, a few items and simple descriptions. Only caveat is making the items "actionable" that is something you can do, not something you can just try or consider.

Also, if I do not complete every item on the list, I do not beat myself over it.

This takes a few minutes of time and was very easy to make a habit of using a Don't Break a Chain technique. After a week or so, it doesn't feel forced at all anymore.

</comment><comment><USER40> I'd be interested in exploring the ascetic dimension of procrastination.

That may ring the wrong religious bells but the problem of procrastination in the West was first of all, and there's a lot of documentation surrounding this, a religious problem. Saint Jerome is the first to directly speak of idleness but it's even there in Paul's letters: How do you secure a base of pagans for your Judaic sect in a world swimming with very similar cults and mythologies? Keep em busy with your sect.

This is related to the consistent demand for communal surveillance stretching throgh all the church fathers; everyone should make sure everyone else is busy being faithful. So I wonder how and at what point that discussion of procrastination transforms into the modern formulation?

</comment><comment><USER41> Just got done reading "The Now Habit", and the book concurs with this prognosis. The book also suggest several ways to tackle these issues that cause procrastination. Anybody have any recommendations/pitfalls from "The Now Habit"?

</comment><comment><USER42> VERY rarely do I stop and think "Wow. I was worng!" This is one of those times. GJ!

<comment><USER43> Eckhart Tolle's ideas have a deep similarity of meaning with your idea: that the mind is part of you, and you are not defined by your mind. You need to control it just like any other part of your body. This concept has helped me immensely in casting off procrastination.

</comment></comment><comment><USER44> When I procrastinate, it is quite often a task I do want to accomplish for whatever reason. But I put it off because I'm tired, just don't feel like it, etc. The authority figure you refer to is the voice of wisdom telling me that if I don't go ahead and do it, I will regret it later (this figure is right 99% of the time).

My personality is a high 'C' (for compliance), meaning that I have an appreciation for authority. I think your original essay misses the fact that we all have different personalities and motivations.

</comment><comment><USER45> Reading all these comments, I'm starting to believe that something like Alcohol Anonymous would not be a bad idea for chronic procrastinators... Procrastinators Anonymous?

</comment><comment><USER46> Yeah, sometimes you can't just think your way out of it.

Hopefully one day we'll have a repeatable, very high success method of letting people get work done when they consciously desire it.

</comment><comment><USER47> Note to self: read this article in your copious free time...

</comment><comment><USER48> I have two forms of procrastination:

1\. Virtual procrastination. This happens when I want to achieve more than I can physically do. The end of the work week is here, yet I don't have the sense to just let go and pick it up again next week. I feel burdened by my inability to complete the surplus tasks.

2\. Vanilla procrastination. I hired an assistant. She helps me stay on track. I am a fan of this.

</comment><comment><USER49> I've had similar, fleeting thoughts brewing for a while. Seeing this stated together like this crystallized it. Thanks for sharing.

</comment><comment><USER50> Next task - start listening to the way I talk to myself. I'm going to get to it right after I check the twitter. Honest!

</comment><comment> al-king Dead on! Thinking in terms of "choosing" to do things rather than "needing" to do things has really helped me recently.

</comment><comment><USER51> Ashamed when I read something and learn that I'm causing these perceived issues all myself. Thanx good post

</comment><comment><USER52> amazing. eloquently describes some Truth I've been banging my head against the wall trying to explain to people but not able to find the words. It's the same dichotomy of inner-authority and genuine-self that drives people to force themselves to diet and then cheat on their diets etc

</comment><comment><USER53> What about scheduling some time (daily or weekly) for doing the things that you would normally consider your procrastination activity? Has anyone here tried that? How did it work out? The more details you can provide, the better.

</comment><comment><USER54> Wow. Mind: Blown. What a great insight.

Words can't describe how well this resonates with me.

</comment><comment><USER55> So true. This was exactly my way of dealing with the deadlines in college.

</comment><comment><USER56> Or you are simply experience "Resistance" as mentioned in the "War of Art".

<http://toblender.com/comic/resistance-the-war-of-art/>

</comment><comment><USER57> The simple truth about procrastination is that it happens because you delay your happiness. The act that you are procrastinating or putting off is motivated by a risk of your final reward.

</comment><comment><USER58> I think that procrastinating is beliving there is an easier way to reach your real goals. If your real goal is to enjoy and do nothing procrastinating is the right way to go.

</comment><comment><USER59> I put this together a few years ago with some similar insights... <http://antiprocrastinator.com/>

</comment><comment><USER60> The Now Habit is a book that explains that exact idea... I do procrastinate a bit less after reading that book.

</comment><comment><USER61> I'll finish reading this article later.

<comment><USER62> I actually won't reach this comment without searching. I was going to read the whole thing later.

</comment></comment><comment><USER63> tldr: "The reason why human-beings procrastinate is to feel in control of their life."

The other parts are contradictions.

</comment><comment><USER64> I procrastinate because I can get away with it. Any solution for me is derived entirely from that.

</comment><comment><USER65> I find that preventing myself from reading HN works wonders for reducing procrastination.

</comment><comment><USER66> Usually I procrastinate when I don't have a clear goal or not sure about it.

</comment><comment><USER67> I'm not a procrastinator, I'm an anticipation junkie.

</comment><comment><USER68> There is a colon where a semicolon belongs, and a semicolon where a colon belongs.

</comment><comment><USER69> Dear Edo,

Since you directly addressed me,

thanks for the insight. Do share more.

-

Cheers.

10

</comment><comment><USER70> The other day I tried to use "LazyMeter". I got a few things done using it, but I felt _extremely_ uncomfortable. The feeling was familiar: the same feeling I had in my previous job. I felt suffocated and deprived.

</comment><comment><USER71> Of all the anti-procrastinating advice I've ever read, this is the most succinct and the most helpful. Thank you.

</comment><comment><USER72> [citation needed]

<comment><USER23> It's self-signed... Even if the idea isn't completely original, I would assume the writing is.

Or if you're doubting the factual evidence behind it, I don't think he's presenting this as fact, despite his tone. This is the same tone of many self- help books, even those backed by "real" evidence and data who cite sources. Still doesn't mean they work for everyone.

If you disagree, then don't take his advice.

<comment><USER72> I don't take claims without evidence as a rule, and he didn't present any evidence. His case is especially problematic because he is making strong claims about a fairly well-studied field in which there is not a clearly dominant theory.

If he's not intending to present what he's saying as fact, he should say so.

<comment><USER73> He is clearly presenting his opinion. You are clearly nitpicking for no good reason other than to nitpick.

<comment><USER72> See <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2886575></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Is Blockly the next Excel? Study shows non-programmers can use it for real tasks [pdf] - <AUTHOR> http://boyangli.net/CHI18.pdf <comment><USER2> Why would they when Excel is already on every biz desktop and they know how to use it?</comment>