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Fortunately, FAA regulations also seem to require the flight attendants to sit in their seats during takeoff and landing. Once the flight attendants are done "

Fortunately, FAA regulations also seem to require the flight attendants to sit in their seats during takeoff and landing. Once the flight attendants are done "policing" the isles and get in their seats, I just take out my Kindle and start reading again. So far, I haven't caused any aircraft crashes... and my fellow travelers have never called me out on it: apparently they also think the rules are stupid.

look_lookatme 13y ago
And what's so difficult about following the rules and being inconvenienced for 20 minutes? The amount of entitlement in this HN discussion is nuts.
- gnaffle 13y ago
  Yep. At least some HN members will get the same attitude back at them in the form of their users bragging to others about how smart they are since they managed to bypass the company firewall or some such thing, and saying "so far, I haven't caused any security breaches, so it can't hurt"..
  - enraged_camel 13y ago
    I think you chose a bad example. Company firewalls exist to manage risk and liability for upper management, not to provide any type of real security. If a security incident happens, management wants to be able to say they did their due diligence and paid for the "best" firewall on the market.
    - gnaffle 13y ago
      Would say that a company would be equally well protected by having all computers on their network with reachable IPs, with no filtering whatsoever?
- greenlander 13y ago
  I spent a large part of my career working for a small company in Silicon Valley that became a Very Big Company. One of the things that the CEO liked to do for a while is have a "lunch with the interns” during the summer. He’d chat with them and give them an opportunity to ask questions. As the manager of a lot of interns, I was also invited, and I often went. I was (and still am) on a first-name basis with the CEO. One time an intern asked, “what do I need to become the CEO of a company like this?” The question made me laugh, because I already knew the answer. The answer is that there is no answer. You must have a vision about what you can do, and you must believe it. If you allow every idiot in the world to draw a box around your behavior, you won’t accomplish anything. I know that the Kindle (with wifi off) isn't going to crash the airplane. Amazon knows that the Kindle isn't going to crash the airplane. So why should I respect the opinion of the flight attendant? The flight attendant is, after all, a flight attendant because they would have never had make it through differential equations without sleeping with the professor. So why should I give that ditz any respect? This isn’t about ‘entitlement’. Take all that crap your professors at the university told you and put it in /dev/null where it belongs. Reframe the issue in terms of what is right and what is possible. If you want to be truly successful, you must learn about breaking the rules. (And by “truly” successful, I mean truly successful. If your goal is to accumulate $800K in your 401K and own a house in Sunnyvale, California outright… well you can do that by following all the rules and following Company Policies.) Write your own rules in life. Perhaps I already answered your question, “And what's so difficult about following the rules and being inconvenienced for 20 minutes.” And if you don’t feel that I did, it means that you’ll never find the answer. Maybe you’ll find success. Or maybe you won’t. But the feeling will be liberating. There is no man like a free man.
  - austinz 13y ago
    Thank you for proving the parent's point about entitlement. "So why should I give that ditz any respect?" Seriously? "There is no man like a free man"? As if reading your Kindle during takeoff is going to turn you into a Randian ubermensch ready to disrupt every industry in the world?
    - CamperBob2 13y ago
- CamperBob2 13y ago
  Following stupid rules empowers stupid people.
  - look_lookatme 13y ago
    Stupid is as stupid does right? Also when the going gets tough, the tough get going. And don't forget rome wasn't built in a day. A quitter never wins, and a winner never quits.
    - BlackDeath3 13y ago
      It does sound a bit contrived, but I agree. Following rules 'cause they're rules doesn't set a good precedent.
    - CamperBob2 13y ago
      Hacker News is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're going to get. For the record, I don't really advocate disobeying or even arguing with air crewmembers. That's a well-considered holdover from maritime law that probably goes back a thousand years: their boat, their rules. However, if nobody pushed back, the annoying parts of the rules would never be fixed.
- Karunamon 13y ago
  Following the rules simply for the sake of following the rules only does not make you better than anyone else, or noble, or good, or any other such thing. It makes you obedient.

look_lookatme 13y ago

And what's so difficult about following the rules and being inconvenienced for 20 minutes? The amount of entitlement in this HN discussion is nuts.

gnaffle 13y ago
Yep. At least some HN members will get the same attitude back at them in the form of their users bragging to others about how smart they are since they managed to bypass the company firewall or some such thing, and saying "so far, I haven't caused any security breaches, so it can't hurt"..
- enraged_camel 13y ago
  I think you chose a bad example. Company firewalls exist to manage risk and liability for upper management, not to provide any type of real security. If a security incident happens, management wants to be able to say they did their due diligence and paid for the "best" firewall on the market.
  - gnaffle 13y ago
    Would say that a company would be equally well protected by having all computers on their network with reachable IPs, with no filtering whatsoever?
greenlander 13y ago
I spent a large part of my career working for a small company in Silicon Valley that became a Very Big Company. One of the things that the CEO liked to do for a while is have a "lunch with the interns” during the summer. He’d chat with them and give them an opportunity to ask questions. As the manager of a lot of interns, I was also invited, and I often went. I was (and still am) on a first-name basis with the CEO. One time an intern asked, “what do I need to become the CEO of a company like this?” The question made me laugh, because I already knew the answer. The answer is that there is no answer. You must have a vision about what you can do, and you must believe it. If you allow every idiot in the world to draw a box around your behavior, you won’t accomplish anything. I know that the Kindle (with wifi off) isn't going to crash the airplane. Amazon knows that the Kindle isn't going to crash the airplane. So why should I respect the opinion of the flight attendant? The flight attendant is, after all, a flight attendant because they would have never had make it through differential equations without sleeping with the professor. So why should I give that ditz any respect? This isn’t about ‘entitlement’. Take all that crap your professors at the university told you and put it in /dev/null where it belongs. Reframe the issue in terms of what is right and what is possible. If you want to be truly successful, you must learn about breaking the rules. (And by “truly” successful, I mean truly successful. If your goal is to accumulate $800K in your 401K and own a house in Sunnyvale, California outright… well you can do that by following all the rules and following Company Policies.) Write your own rules in life. Perhaps I already answered your question, “And what's so difficult about following the rules and being inconvenienced for 20 minutes.” And if you don’t feel that I did, it means that you’ll never find the answer. Maybe you’ll find success. Or maybe you won’t. But the feeling will be liberating. There is no man like a free man.
- austinz 13y ago
  Thank you for proving the parent's point about entitlement. "So why should I give that ditz any respect?" Seriously? "There is no man like a free man"? As if reading your Kindle during takeoff is going to turn you into a Randian ubermensch ready to disrupt every industry in the world?
  - CamperBob2 13y ago
CamperBob2 13y ago
Following stupid rules empowers stupid people.
- look_lookatme 13y ago
  Stupid is as stupid does right? Also when the going gets tough, the tough get going. And don't forget rome wasn't built in a day. A quitter never wins, and a winner never quits.
  - BlackDeath3 13y ago
    It does sound a bit contrived, but I agree. Following rules 'cause they're rules doesn't set a good precedent.
  - CamperBob2 13y ago
    Hacker News is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're going to get. For the record, I don't really advocate disobeying or even arguing with air crewmembers. That's a well-considered holdover from maritime law that probably goes back a thousand years: their boat, their rules. However, if nobody pushed back, the annoying parts of the rules would never be fixed.
Karunamon 13y ago
Following the rules simply for the sake of following the rules only does not make you better than anyone else, or noble, or good, or any other such thing. It makes you obedient.