HN user

throwaway76025

19 karma
Posts0
Comments13
View on HN
No posts found.

Homeless for nine months and about to be officially destitute tomorrow. At least I’ve had a vehicle to have shelter and live in a warm area.

Combo of Homelessness and poverty is a cycle that is quite difficult to get out of. I took on programming work from nice folks while still homeless, which absolutely backfired. Lack of a normal safe routine and attempting to work from public when under such stress can be an effort in futility. Thus couldn’t work and couldn’t get back on my feet. It’s a vicious cycle

The other consequences are deteriorated mental state from isolation, paranoia, and depressive symptoms all of which serve to make digging out of any hole seemingly impossible.

Constant never ending stress, concerns about basic survival, concerns about physical safety change your mentality. Idgaf attitude prevails, to the point where crime including violence seem less unjustified.

I could go on, and obviously this is just an anectode

Dosage is the critical factor for any drug and everyone is absolutely unique (and, more so, in unique life circumstances at a given point) as it pertains to mind altering substances and the actual outcome of their lives. Set and setting matter. If you’re depressed and doing nothing but getting stoned, you’re using weed to keep yourself busy. It offers potential for “wasting” away, by staying stoned.

Marijuana is commonly abused and does ruin lives. Washed up marijuana addicts are common, yielding lost potential for the addict and a loss for society. The unproductive stoner has long been an American cliche, but true. (file_id.diz)

Meth, on the other hand, leaves little room for responsible recreational use. I’d be shocked if more than 1% of people who’ve ever tried meth would call themselves “responsible casual users”.

Discussed here recently, there’s a path from public to private sector that does serve the need to retain talent, to some degree.

Also, to say they are mostly corrupt or incompetent seems possibly too much of a broad stroke that is based on anecdotes. I don’t believe Snowden, for instance, ever suggested either of those are true — did he?

Finally, if this is your assessment, your standard may be unusually high. Maybe your peers, many not quite as good as you, are actually quite skilled? Just a hunch, could be wrong.