5 ms·

This app just makes people worry even more. Worry is bad. Worry kills you from the inside. Leave it behind and carry on. Also, get something not worth steal

This app just makes people worry even more. Worry is bad. Worry kills you from the inside. Leave it behind and carry on. Also, get something not worth stealing then you don't have to worry about it. Anyone half decent can be productive on a piece of junk. If you have something valuable or desirable, you have to spend $15 on an app to track it, deal with insurance companies, deal with the police, buy a burglar alarm to keep your premiums down, buy gates to protect your house, worry about getting mugged, worry about leaving it somewhere, worry about status etc. It is just not worth it. I live in the knowledge that if someone decided to nick my laptop, they would be seriously disappointed (and I'd be 80GBP down rather than 1000GBP + all the above down). Ironically I left it in a McDonalds in London for 2 hours and it was still there when I realised and went back. Even the staff left it there and cleaned around it.

ora600 15y ago
Heh, its nice to see a version of "don't wear a short skirt when you go out, and don't drink" aimed at the 50% of the population that normally don't get blamed when they are victims of crime. They don't seem to like it either.
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
- noonespecial 15y ago
  I think maybe some people around here might think "don't have nice things" is not the greatest way to solve a community's crime problem. I think a better way to solve it than having a shitty laptop that I hate might be to quit arresting people for having bits of politically incorrect plants in their pockets and start arresting thieves and muggers. Especially when they've got the evidence of the crime right in their house and the police get told the address. How much easier could it be?
juiceandjuice 15y ago
my Macbook Pro only goes places I'm comfortable with, home, maybe neighborhood coffee shop, other friends houses, and that's it. My Thinkpad X61s goes everywhere. I took it to NYC, walked even drunkenly walking around in the middle of the night with it in my backpack in Brooklyn and Manhattan and on the subway. I've hesitated upgrading my iPhone 3GS just because it's starting to look a bit busted but gets me along perfectly fine. I was using it to sync photos while there to Dropbox in case either/or got stolen. Of course, I've had my car broken into three times, and each time has made me more and more anal about it. The first time was the worst though, a 1965 Fender Bandmaster at work on christmas eve, worth about $800. What was shitty about that was I had just got out of band practice, hadn't gotten home, it was in a very conspicuos, non-hidden place on a very busy day (I worked at a grocery store) and nobody saw anything. Other times were much less severe, a shitty CD deck ($40), some CDs (maybe $60 I spent?) and a crappy coat. Mostly I just got sick of replacing the window, but that was only $15, so it didn't matter so much.
- chrisjsmith 15y ago
  Ironically I paid 20 GBP for my last car - worked fine for a whole year (bar an oil leak that cost 10GBP to sort out) then someone nicked it. Wasn't particularly bothered - I don't use a car any more.
  - jessedhillon 15y ago
    Am I reading this right? It cost you 20 pounds to buy a car?
    - chrisjsmith 15y ago
      Yes - a Rover 416SLI with 75,000 miles on the clock from an auction. Like one of these: http://www.aronline.co.uk/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Rover416.jpg http://www.aronline.co.uk/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/R...
rvanniekerk 15y ago
Great mindset. Don't buy decent equipment to increase productivity, buy cheap hardware because it (most likely will be) stolen at some point! Also don't make decent money because at some point you will most likely become a victim of identity theft. Oh and make sure you live in a run-down old shack because someone is probably going to rob you otherwise! Stop making yourselves a target people...
- chrisjsmith 15y ago
  It is decent equipment - it's just not new and shiny. It is as good now as it was when it was new. Spending 1000GBP more will not increase my productivity but it will make me have to work harder to pay for it therefore taking time away from things I deem more important. I make enough money to be happy and not sacrifice time with my family. I live in a nice house in a nice area (which my family appreciate) - I can afford it because I don't have to pay for a new car and MacBook Pro every year :-) I am not a target. I am just a person in the crowd not flashing white earphones around. Oh did I say: I have a family who are more important than shiny stuff.
  - Super_Jambo 15y ago
    What on earth functional laptop are you running for 80GBP? I've a Lenovo T60 which cost £300 refurbished. Had to get extra Ram, HDD and HDD bay. I really wouldn't want anything with a smaller feature set so I'm kinda intrigued!
    - chrisjsmith 15y ago
      Thinkpad X60. 1.66GHz, 2Gb RAM (1 gig of it scored on Freecycle), 80Gb disk. Runs Windows 7 perfectly fine. From an auction (not ebay - a proper one).
yread 15y ago
I think that's a very valid point and don't understand why it was downvoted. This is hacker news after all - a hacker can be productive with an ssh terminal
pdenya 15y ago
My laptop was stolen 5 years ago and I still think about it and get angry occasionally. Just letting people take things that are important to you and immediately moving on may work for you but for me, my laptop was the most important thing I owned at the time, my thoughts linger.
- chrisjsmith 15y ago
  It happened to me once, which is why I think what I do now. It's given me peace of mind for years which is priceless.

ora600 15y ago

Heh, its nice to see a version of "don't wear a short skirt when you go out, and don't drink" aimed at the 50% of the population that normally don't get blamed when they are victims of crime. They don't seem to like it either.

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

noonespecial 15y ago
I think maybe some people around here might think "don't have nice things" is not the greatest way to solve a community's crime problem. I think a better way to solve it than having a shitty laptop that I hate might be to quit arresting people for having bits of politically incorrect plants in their pockets and start arresting thieves and muggers. Especially when they've got the evidence of the crime right in their house and the police get told the address. How much easier could it be?

juiceandjuice 15y ago

my Macbook Pro only goes places I'm comfortable with, home, maybe neighborhood coffee shop, other friends houses, and that's it. My Thinkpad X61s goes everywhere. I took it to NYC, walked even drunkenly walking around in the middle of the night with it in my backpack in Brooklyn and Manhattan and on the subway. I've hesitated upgrading my iPhone 3GS just because it's starting to look a bit busted but gets me along perfectly fine. I was using it to sync photos while there to Dropbox in case either/or got stolen. Of course, I've had my car broken into three times, and each time has made me more and more anal about it. The first time was the worst though, a 1965 Fender Bandmaster at work on christmas eve, worth about $800. What was shitty about that was I had just got out of band practice, hadn't gotten home, it was in a very conspicuos, non-hidden place on a very busy day (I worked at a grocery store) and nobody saw anything. Other times were much less severe, a shitty CD deck ($40), some CDs (maybe $60 I spent?) and a crappy coat. Mostly I just got sick of replacing the window, but that was only $15, so it didn't matter so much.

chrisjsmith 15y ago
Ironically I paid 20 GBP for my last car - worked fine for a whole year (bar an oil leak that cost 10GBP to sort out) then someone nicked it. Wasn't particularly bothered - I don't use a car any more.
- jessedhillon 15y ago
  Am I reading this right? It cost you 20 pounds to buy a car?
  - chrisjsmith 15y ago
    Yes - a Rover 416SLI with 75,000 miles on the clock from an auction. Like one of these: http://www.aronline.co.uk/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Rover416.jpg http://www.aronline.co.uk/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/R...

rvanniekerk 15y ago

Great mindset. Don't buy decent equipment to increase productivity, buy cheap hardware because it (most likely will be) stolen at some point! Also don't make decent money because at some point you will most likely become a victim of identity theft. Oh and make sure you live in a run-down old shack because someone is probably going to rob you otherwise! Stop making yourselves a target people...

chrisjsmith 15y ago
It is decent equipment - it's just not new and shiny. It is as good now as it was when it was new. Spending 1000GBP more will not increase my productivity but it will make me have to work harder to pay for it therefore taking time away from things I deem more important. I make enough money to be happy and not sacrifice time with my family. I live in a nice house in a nice area (which my family appreciate) - I can afford it because I don't have to pay for a new car and MacBook Pro every year :-) I am not a target. I am just a person in the crowd not flashing white earphones around. Oh did I say: I have a family who are more important than shiny stuff.
- Super_Jambo 15y ago
  What on earth functional laptop are you running for 80GBP? I've a Lenovo T60 which cost £300 refurbished. Had to get extra Ram, HDD and HDD bay. I really wouldn't want anything with a smaller feature set so I'm kinda intrigued!
  - chrisjsmith 15y ago
    Thinkpad X60. 1.66GHz, 2Gb RAM (1 gig of it scored on Freecycle), 80Gb disk. Runs Windows 7 perfectly fine. From an auction (not ebay - a proper one).

yread 15y ago

I think that's a very valid point and don't understand why it was downvoted. This is hacker news after all - a hacker can be productive with an ssh terminal

pdenya 15y ago

My laptop was stolen 5 years ago and I still think about it and get angry occasionally. Just letting people take things that are important to you and immediately moving on may work for you but for me, my laptop was the most important thing I owned at the time, my thoughts linger.

chrisjsmith 15y ago
It happened to me once, which is why I think what I do now. It's given me peace of mind for years which is priceless.