I'm one of the co-founders of an organization mentioned in the article, GrowSF. We focus on common sense outcomes, not political posturing or national progressive rhetoric. The author makes the classic mistake of cynically dismissing the hard work required from regular people to make a difference. And to cast a centrist organization like GrowSF as part of some secret cabal is both lazy and irresponsible journalism.
If anyone has any questions about GrowSF, feel free to ask!
It stands to reason that the biggest funders of an organization have the most influence over it. Who are GrowSF's biggest funders? How much money have they given?
The only way we'll fix this is by replacing the ideologues on the Board of Supervisors with forward-thinking leaders who want to grow the city, make it easier for businesses to open and operate. That's why we started GrowSF - we can fix San Francisco, but we have to act as a real voting bloc. Check us out at growsf.org
We can fix it, but only if we get organized. Sachin Agarwal (co-founder of Posterous) and I founded GrowSF to fix the city. We're less than two years in and already the #2 most influential voter guide in the city.
We must elect pro-growth and pro-tech people who can bring competence to government. There's no other way out of this mess.
I find it curious though that your guide only endorses a single candidate, when the voters can rank multiple candidates.. Surely there are multiple candidates that stand out above the rest, and bringing attention to that set would help get better people into office?
For everyone that lives in San Francisco: the only way we'll be able to fix our city is if we get involved. That means voting and donating to pro-growth and pro-competence political groups.
That's why a4agarwal (https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=a4agarwal) and I started GrowSF — we can build a better city, but only if the tech industry supports pro-growth policies and elected officials.
I'm a US expat (live in the UK) who is thus still registered to vote in San Francisco. Do us expats a favor and post your endorsements at least 2 months early. Our postal ballots are sent early and most sites procrastinate on their voter guides. For instance I filled and mailed my ballot for the June 2022 elections on April 28th, and I wish SFGate had published their analysis of the primary race for Insurance Commissioner sooner, I would have voted against the incumbent.
With universal vote by mail, expats now don't vote too much earlier than voters in the city. For the June 2022 election, voters in SF received their ballots on May 8. So I think you got yours one or two weeks before that?
The deadline for deciding who could appear on the ballot was yesterday, September 6th, for the November 8th election. So ballots should start getting printed today and mailed to expats some time in the next week. So I think you'll get your ballot mid-to-late September.
We're currently on track to publish the voter guide on October 1st, but I'll see if we can get it up any earlier!
Yes, of course, if you register as an overseas voter. You get to keep voting in the last place you lived. I couldn’t transfer my vote to Texas where it would do more good, for instance.
I know a us citizen can always vote in a federal election. But generally you can't vote in a local election, unless you live there. I can't tell from the link you posted... But apparently California doesn't care. And some wonder why people question election results.
> you can request to receive your ballot and voting materials by email, fax, or mail, and vote for contests in all federal, state, and local elections held in the precinct where you last lived, or where your parent/legal guardian last lived if you have never lived in the U.S.
Hire a trainer and learn how to weightlift. You may have been a nerd like me that thought weight lifters were wasting time on vanity, but as you age your body will betray you. You need to learn how to stay fit or you will end up with myriad health issues and end up unhappy.
A trainer is essential for a new lifter. It is easy to hurt yourself, and you need to work on good form for years before it becomes second nature. You will look good (you won't look like a meathead), feel good, and your bones and heart will stay strong into middle age as your peers get fat and unhealthy.
I second this. I started weightlifting this autumn. Attended a course at the local weightlifting gym and now trying to train 3 times a week and at least once a week with a trainer. My back pains are gone, posture is better than ever and it has also improved my mental health and self esteem. It's an addicting sport, but boy it's hard in the beginning :)
I always avoided exercise and sports...a lot of the reason was I never played sports when I was younger, and by the time I got to HS I was literally a decade behind my peers in basic skills (passing, dribbling, shooting, etc.)
When I finally started strength training seriously, it was eye opening. I wasn't far behind, and it was easy to see progress. Putting 5lbs on the bar, every time you squat, 3x a week, for 10 weeks, is pretty encouraging, and pretty obvious.
I agree with the weightlifting but honestly most trainers are garbage and most reasonably smart people would do equally well just finding good resources on youtube and making an effort not to be a dumbass.
A trainer can be amazing but I wouldn’t call it necessary, especially for someone young. They can get expensive and the op would get a lot of value from starting weight lifting imperfectly now than potentially waiting years to be in the financial position to hire a coach. There’s so many fantastic resources online. Just stay away from Olympic style lifts and be careful with compound movements.
Definitely start with a trainer. They can enforce good technique and give you the basics of nutrition and mesocycle planning. I personally regret not starting with a trainer, as I'm now fixing issues that I reinforced because I didn't have the proper external feedback.
As an anecdotal counterpoint of the 10ish people that I knew that started lifting in their teens and early twenties not a single one had a trainer. Preventing injuries through proper form is the main benefit of a trainer and everyone stayed fairly injury free.
You don't need to hire someone to explain good nutrition, sleep, etc. Does it help? Absolutely. But necessary? No. There's so much amazing content on the internet. Especially when you see how little training the average personal trainer is required to undergo. Someone truly competent will run you close a $100 an hour.
Implying people need to start with a trainer is pointlessly exclusionary.
When I started training I couldn't afford a gym membership so primarily did bodyweight training at home, so a trainer was just completely off the radar as an option.
Sure, once I could afford the gym I could train a lot better, and the may have neen true if I could afford a trainer on top, but I couldn't.
'get a trainer' is proxy for 'get a form check', which is fair advice to prevent long term injury.
There are many beginner friendly lifting resources online, and communities who will help you review videos of your lifts without needing a specific trainer.
Lifting, triathlon, marathon, cycling - any sport, really - with a good trainer. You’ll get fit, you’ll have fun and you’ll gain a sense of accomplishment. Especially the endurance sports also tend to have a strong spiritual impact on people as it really exposes your strengths and weaknesses, can be very similar to meditation etc. The role of the trainer is to keep you moving at a reasonable pace towards whatever your goals might be without hurting yourself.
I was given The Barbell Prescription[1] by a friend for my 40th birthday.
It is pretty thorough in suggesting why weightlifting (or rather; resistance training) is more important than endurance/cardio. In summary: they train different muscle types, and the anaerobic types age worse than e.g. the heart, so it's better to focus on that. They do suggest that you complement it with some cardio exercise, but it's a side gig rather than focus.
I think both are important. I love running and started it first but ended up injuring myself and couldn't run for a number of years. Lifting fixed the issues I had and allow me to run consistently. The body you build with weight lifting is, in my opinion, a more aesthetically pleasing one as well.
Ideal would probably be a mix of resistance training, maximal intensity-metabolic conditioning work (sprints/HIIT/plyometrics), and low intensity steady state cardio (i.e. zone 2, cardio at the pace.you can hold a conversation). Each has unique benefits.
Both are important. My elderly father's doctor recommended he start lifting weights. My father already gets a reasonable amount of aerobic exercise, but they do different things for the body.
I'm nearly completely aphantasic. I can get very brief flashes of images but can't make them happen nor hold them in my mind.
I almost never dream. When I do dream it's fairly lifelike.
I can't visualize anything arousing. When I first learned (at 26!) that my friends can visualize any fantasy at will I was floored. I have zero internal imagery for anything sexual. Have no fantasies.
I can't picture anyone's face. Bodies are only experienced in person. If I can't see it with my eyes, it doesn't exist.
I worked at Amazon years ago (2010-2012) on the retail website search navigation. I didn't like it, but it was nowhere near as bad as this hyperbolic post.
Joining Amazon was the best thing I could have done with my career at that stage in my life. I learned a ton! But the culture does grind you down, especially when your alternatives are much more cushy.
I didn’t get any cushier offers out of undergrad and have worked at Amazon since - do you think that reflects poorly on me? I self harm sometimes because many people think it does…
If you don't desire to seek medical help, the best thing you can do is stop self harming and stop caring about all the possible negatives you are imagining.
I've gotten fat from all the stress of being a working man. I need to stop caring about all of the pitfalls and just live my life.
Very cool idea, but my first thought is a worry that this will turn into Trojans-as-a-service. The last thing I want, as a developer, is to hand over binary build to an untrusted third party that's injecting unauditable code into my app. You need to provide transparency to hit the market you're after.
That’s a valid concern, but Pakkly has never and never will modify your app. It will be installed exactly as-is, with a proxy launcher to facilitate updates. I’m also working on getting that launcher PGP signed so you can verify it’s from us.
Realistically, are you able to make that promise? In practice that would mean you could never sell the company, because current promises go out the window in that scenario (see every company acquired by Facebook).
If anyone has any questions about GrowSF, feel free to ask!