lettercarrier

I assume the same rules apply.. have to move to SF..

I can't help but comment that we did have a great democracy machine (& education) with something called Television. Virtually free. So much potential. I guess before that - radio. Even newspapers. Before that word of mouth. Each machine had it's masters who rose to the top.

We are in the beginning of phase 2 ( my def.) of social media. We are all in the middle of the 5 layer cake while it's cooking and because of Donald Trump we already don't like the recipe.

This phase of social media too will deform into something less than we thought it was going to be. Just like television. It is fun to watch but clearly it is too late to save it.

I doubt the next 'newspaper,radio,tv,social media' will be created by those inside of it.

Mad is wonderful.. Tom Richmond is one I learn to draw [0] Jack Hamm has the best series, I think, to learn. [0] http://www.tomrichmond.com/

Seems to me the octothorpe is an AT&T or Bell Labs invention. I recall some crazy discussion in Murray Hill before I knew anything about Unix or telephony... LOL

I am sure I am baised, I just don't know how.

< people instead create parallel opportunities that would require less consumption of resources.

I get that. How?

< I want to spend 10+ good years here to learn and contribute towards the industry and move out of here and give the resources to younger generation instead of hoarding on them.

I get this too.. and actually, you are way ahead of me as compared to my "youth" I wanted to be CEO and thought it was going to be as easy as a proof in geometry which required no effort.

Aging is a funny thing. Viewed from afar it is understood by way of observation. Viewed from inside it is understood by reflection.

Wow.. I don't know where to start..

< but the younger person deserves a chance at that opportunity. You had 40 something years to save and build for your better future.

Work harder and be better than the older person... Business is blind and choses the best.

< Please go retire to Florida or spend time with your grand kids or travel the world.

When you get to be 70 your body is failing and your sentence is a dream to the majority of older people. Most older people are like Fussell's Class, "Out Of Sighters." I suspect your comment was from one of a rich(er) perspective.

< Someone who is 70+ does not have the right to make a policy for a generation who is in 20s

There is a couple on my route that do not have kids. They are very active in their political party. They enjoy politics like others enjoy knitting, golf or reading. They are retired. I once said to them something to the effect, "Why do you care [about Obama and all the ills, etc..], you don't have a ticket into the future - you didn't have a child. It would be like my deceased childless uncle setting policy from his 1930's living room in New Jersey for me when I was born in the 60's." I reaized I was strong in my opinion, and they truly never gave it much thought. I will agree with you that the young people should set their destiny, not people my age. I have moved out of the way, so to speak. My opinions are less important than my son's and his generation. I think any reasonable parent would want that for their kids.

But I do see something I never recall when I was growing up in the "Heidi Bowl" and B&W to color transition days of life": A lot of people have a lot of money, and they seed their children with a very good start. At least half of the new howe owners on my route are under 30 children/couples who have been significantly helped.

So before you bash all the 70 year olds out there, they may be funding your spouse someday!

<<< So I'm guessing that in many cases they're a cashier because if they don't work they'll lose the house.

Heck no! Stop working, start dying.

I wish I could find the link to an American Heritage article on a female (I believe) that was on a failed crusade to overcome the amount of poverty, poor conditions and voicelessness in America for the elderly at (I believe) the turn of the century or first decades..

I am very glad many older Americans can make it. Taking care of the non-working elderly Americans is mostly a chore that I see in both my day job and my family's own history.

One true benefit of being an older worker is you don't ever have to put up with any BS at your job. I work now at the most hated retailer and love it, but will quit the minute I stop liking it. I will move on to the next part time job. When I was in the tech scene I never had the choice to leave because the pay was too good. But as an older dude, the freedom from saying "Screw you employer" is better than power or prestige

I have a skimpy monthly data plan, and appreciate the fact that your changes does nothing to increase data intentionally or accidentally (like Reddit).

I like the fact that the hide feature does not persist when I am not logged in. I mostly use mobile and never log in (via mobile).

Since each punch card meant something, you really learned code. Watching out for memory and keeping track of registers was paramount (COMPASS was my HS and Freshman initial class). Syntax killed, but was overcome by hand writing code. The science of CPS courses had to be taught just to be able to pass the class via assignments. Writing an OS with punch cards was an entire term.

We could get same day runs if we paid more or had our own account. There were 3 tiers of cost..

And... you always kept your card decks until you graduated.

"Pay up, Mortimer, I won the bet."

"Here. One Dollar"

From the vantage point I have in my union job and my part time job at a very large retailer with low wage hourly workers, there is no way rich people give away their money. At least without wanting something in return. That point is rock solid and not changeable. You don't get something for nuttin.

Having some that get BI and some not in a community will create a BIpolar environment. Real emotions exist.. I can only imagine when couple A gets 5 years worth of money and single person B living down the road does not. Or Whatever. There has to be some catch.

But this is real and not Trading Places. I wonder what the bet is and I wonder what the dollar will be?

My dad required his kids to change a flat AND read a map before we got the car keys. AAA membership was for maps only. There was great pride in planning our own trips on our own and TripTiks were not for our family because we could do it ourselves.

Map reading skills was the beginning of a love of super-geography (as my professor called it, "the whyfore of where.")

Plus, a map was the first use of different letter sizes, colors, etc.. that I can remember.

The telephone was a shared device, and as a child it was not mine. In college, it was shared with 4 other people (and still not mine). Then once married, it was shared with my spouse.

But now there is no more 'shared voice device.' It is not pratical to not own a phone. But all cell phones are not sharable. Hence, by default, either I carry a phone and the contact person knows explicitly I am ignoring them or I answer it. But when the only game in town was a simple telephone, a busy signal or no answer just meant nobody is available. Nothing else. But now, with my phone, I can no longer say I am not available, imo.

The Telephone with Dial Tone and associated Busy Signal. A busy signal meant nobody could contact me; Also, by either not answering the phone or by simply taking the receiver off the hook I controlled interruptions. And, nobody became concerned if they did not hear from me in an hour, 1/2 day, day or even week. And I had no concern if I did not hear from others either in that timeframe.

So the "tool" to maintain privacy was very controllable by me and nobody would think otherwise.

Any Norton product dBase III

If "209 drinks and salads" were on the evenings sheet for a wedding, it would mean 209 of each.

Furthermore, if a worker would come up to me an question, "Does this mean 209 of each" I would think he kid is not bright and needs direction for everything????!!!!

The non Express stores were long known as poor performers, even if they were new openings. The newish CEO has razor sharp skills and keeps making decisions that long ago should have been done.

Uber is all of us on HN. And we need to speak up that greed is bad. We need to not associate with greed. We need to recognize that this new economy-thing-that's-so-new-we-don't-have-a-name-for-it-yet changes life; And we need to not be on any side that funds, creates, supports, programs, designs and Elephant-in-the-room ignores greed.

If the end result of rich people funding new companies makes greed, then I vote to stay poor. There is so much potential with "airborne extensive genetics" to do good. But Uber is greed; greed is bad and toxic.

I had tears when I read the entire thing. I thought it was well written

The absolute best article (which I have a photo copy of) is this one [1] about a 14 year old boy at a baseball camp. It is by Ira Berkow of the Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/1986/12/25/sports/sports-of-the-times...

My success at ending conversations successfully greatly improved once I took formal training in personality types [1] Stick a dozen or two in a room and get a good facilitator to explain how others are. Then you will become so much better at knowing how to end a conversation, or even better, when you should not even bother entering in one. Thinkers; Deciders; Sensors; Feelers, in my learning sessions.

As a boss, I told everyone that under stress, I am a huge decider. Don't waste my time with conversation; get to the point. But under normal conditions, I am extremely verbose.

I think the "science" part of the article is good, as any formula can help when needed. But I sum up what I think my conversation partner is (thinker, decider, sensor, feeler) so I know how to end the conversation.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personality_type

I enjoy reading what and how you write. Which is why I enjoy HN.

<< I should be largely invisible to the enforcer class.

The genie is out of the bottle. My health suffers if I think and express myself like you just did, although very eloquently. My roots are academic but my current state is prole. (ever read Fussell's Class?" [1] It is WONDERFUL!)

<< far more threatening to me than individual criminals.

I disagree. If you ever lose a relative to a gun or a drunk or cocaine, then storing a googol of data on me is never as threatening.

<< Any tool that can be used for legitimate police work can also be used for political oppression.

Maybe because I am political only one day of the year (or 2, depending), the day I vote, I do not feel oppressed.

[1] http://www.amazon.com/Class-Through-American-Status-System/d...

I was once asked to hand over mail from a certain address in Weschester NY so they could copy the OE, both sides. I refused. I, like my peers, take privacy and sanctity to the absolute extreme level. We have all had the stranger asking for "their" mail only to not be able to provide proper ID; the ex husband trying to intercept the check; the private eye snooping around asking pointed questions.

To me, this article says what we know anyway, the USPS ain't perfect. On the scale of things to worry about with your mail, this is not one of them. Even if the USPS wanted to create the worlds best spy system they would find a way to screw it up. Don't fret about this, folks.

Fret about: The crook who steals your parcel from your porch; the person who skims your phone number off your Amazon parcel; the neighborhood junkie who uses mail to receive drugs and then doles them out to your kids; the nosey neighbor who steals your identities; the person who forwards your mail without you realizing it.

I would love to see this work. Really love to.

This has as big of a chance to improve humanity as wikipedia, I believe. The elimination of news curators will reduce other people thinking for them.

< how much would you pay? $0.00 Zip. If I have to pay, I go away. Looking back to my pre HTML Labs days, I don't think I ever go to the same site(s) longer than a year or so. Nothing regularly.

I had an interesting self discovery. After I insulted a coworker for not being able to think for himself; always parroting Rush, he challenged me to listening to his radio show for one week. I did. I was surprised at what I learned.

I never, ever listen or watch commercials. It's subconscious. I could not change the radio during commercials as I had to listen to his show. It KILLED me. I NEVER listen to commercials.

Then I realized I flip if I watch TV. If I listen to radio, I change the station automatically when I hear a commercial. YouTube, turn down sound. Automatically. TV shows, watch after it starts so I can fast forward via Tivo.

Same goes for anything pay online. See a pay requirement? Go away. I realize I don't buy any online content; No site I have ever gone to is worth paying (directly).

By the way, I pay for internet access 4 ways each month; cable ($50); two phones ($100); library internet access ($~100 via property taxes used to fund town library). I pay enough.

We used to laugh when our CEO/Head went to extremes to put customers first with things like creating a "Customer Bill or Rights." We thought it was overreaction after some glitch or dumb one-off call center rep violating PC correctness. But now I think Uber should get a transfusion.

All rides free New Years Eve and Halloween. No ride will ever cost more than $X (should not be hard to figure out - with an * too) To show good faith, ride once, the next is on us (for x weekend). Publicly terminate knuckelheads ("Jimmy the Greek") [1] Establish & Invite consumer, safety and the driver community to form an oversight group to ensure Uber holds itself to community standards.

My Luddite world has no idea what a Uber is, but they sure know how to ask and find out. New things to my Luds come from hearing human voices - asking neighbors/friends is still #1. Nothing out there now says "Uber has cleaned up its act" First impressions have to be disproven and last the longest.

[1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzB7IsmOegE

Great Read. I see a ton of the GE Supra iBox Lockboxes. I hear they cost realtors a lot and they have no alternative. Perhaps for the VRBO or non-Realtor properties too.

This is a really stupid question, but will there be hybrid locks not for door/access but stuff we never thought could be locked in the old mechanical days? a pack of cigarettes? pill bottle? sleeve to a jacket? briefcase? mouse? baby child-proofing? an envelope?

They emptied the mall and put up an Amazon Slot

With a working hell, a geek And a sweltering com dot

Don't it always seem to go That you don't know what you've got Till it's gone They emptied the mall and put up an Amazon Slot

They took all the middle class Put 'em in a middle class museum

And they directed their chauffeur a mile and a half just to see 'em

Don't it always seem to go That you don't know what you've got Till it's gone

They emptied the mall and put up an Amazon Slot

Late last night I heard my phone alert scream

and a big yellow Uber Took away my all my old dreams

Don't it always seem to go That you don't know what you've got Till it's gone

They emptied the mall and put up an Amazon Slot

Comments are what gets me here, for discovery. Love when topics and links are the subject of comments.

I think my CPS degree received when having to use IBM 129 and 3 runs per day afford a great HN following.

I really don't get the down up karma thing. Just glad smart people with lots of time on their hands post interesting stuff

I would like it to read to me. My wakeup browsing headlines, my kindle ebook or names of recent Facebook postings.

I would like to replace my Clapper with it and add a connection to my coffee maker. [BION, the Clapper is one of our top gadgets so we do not have to roll over and turn off the bedroom lights].

I also would like it to respond to >1 name so different people can have different commands and/or meanings.

Prime packages are treated better than Express; tracked better and always delivered. In my PO nothing is more important. A misthrow of a media mail or regular parcel gets delivered the next day (misthrow = put in the wrong hamper and not noticed until the truck gets loaded; the correct carrier has left); whereas if a Prime parcel is a misthrow, they send one of the "gargoyles" (i.e. newly minted temporary $16.50 hr workers) to deliver it that day.

Sometimes people still don't understand Sunday delivery and don't look for it or expect it.

USPS get ~$1.50 per parcel from Prime. (trying to recall redacted pdf with that figure). EDIT orig reversed

True story> Because 100% prime delivery is required, after checking the nightly report and found one amazon not delivered, a supervisor had to knock on a customer's door after 8pm and ask if he could scan the package. The package was already in the garbage and had to be given to the sup. [This is an extreme case but it does reflect the "emergency" hyper nature given to Prime parcels.]

If in fact the status you receive from your Prime packages are "refused" or "unable" it could be many things.. from bad (they want to stop the "clock") or most likely other things: Dog in yard; no safe and secure place to put the parcel; It is raining like hell and your regular carrier knows you don't want wet diapers (oh, by the way Kimberly Clark Amazon delivered diapers are exposed on the bottom; great for store shelves but not good if you leave them on a wet set of stairs);

Pmg Donahoe says systems don't store address info long term (>30 days) and are not linked nationwide

They ask us how to monitize last mile or get new revenue. I suggested giving patrons data on what pieces went through sorters. Have a table view where you see letters processed that day. You could know what will be in your mailbox. You could see history of when stuff gets mailed to you. So many possibilities.

USPS really has no profit thinking mindset whatsoever. Coming from telecom it's polar opposite.

If bed bath & beyond mails a $5 coupon, ad space on the patrons table view could be sold to linens n things or Wally (like my online bank transactions). This is just the beginning

We know (without any help from electrons) who gets arrested, where they work, car they drive, marital status, divorced or about to be, kids, age, political involvement, Prime customer, when they are home and when they are not, animal lover, catalogue orderer/receiver, has parents at home, previous city, tax bill, Cable/telco/direct tv, lawn service/snow removal, ultra rich and ultra poor. We see changes first too, often before they even tell other family members.

Imagine a good analyst having at it with just the to/from addresses / names.

The USPS has no clue, not even a crumb of a clue, how valuable letters, flats and parcels are to a company who wants to acquire new customers.

Ahh.. oh well..

By the way, the USPS takes no taxpayer money...