
OK, Milt Olin, I'll start writing again - revorad
http://sivers.org/milt
======
sivers
Wow. Thanks for the unexpected post & votes here, HN buddies. This community
is an ongoing inspiration.

~~~
ChuckMcM
The sentiment you express is very true. Time is limited, make every day count.
As I got older that became more and more clear to me.

~~~
sivers
A big reason I haven't been posting anything in months (years!) is I think
what I have to say isn't very novel or interesting.

"Time is limited, make every day count." Yeah yeah yeah. We know. Everyone
knows.

Took a sudden death and a lot of sobbing today to make me say fuggit and just
write, without worrying about being novel or unique.

I ordinarily don't care about upvotes, but something so unoriginal (but
hopefully important) as this getting upvoted by my peers on HN is really
encouraging.

~~~
Theodores
When you are feeling better about this can you return with a follow up article
for the HN audience?

I have read the news reporting and I just don't understand how he came to be
hit and for the result of that to be so terrible. Something in the reporting
just does not add up and I could do with some normal person rather than a
journalist to make sense of it for me.

I am a cyclist and I have a vested interest in knowing how to avoid deadly
situations. In my experience to date accidents are always unexpected, however,
with hindsight, so much could have been avoidable. Negligence is not always
100% one party or the other, even if it is 0.5% negligence on my side and
99.5% on the other side, there is still something in my control. There are
easy wins like having a maintained bike, with lights, high-visibility clothing
and no headphones being worn. There are also more subtle ones like confidence,
not being deferential to motor cars and having pedal cleats correctly placed.

Was there anything that your friend could have done differently? Was there
anything in the layout of the street that could have been different? What was
the totally unexpected thing that other cyclists including myself need to add
to their internal database of random hazards to look out for?

Given that this is police investigating police a considered and independent
study of what actually happened could be of great use.

~~~
mtrimpe
Life is fragile. Especially on a bike. I once survived getting hit at 30mph
and I can't even remember all of the stories I was told about how lucky I was.

I probably heard about a dozen different ways children of friends (I'm Dutch)
died from just being hit at 5mph and hitting their head the wrong way when
falling.

~~~
annnnd
Just curious, is it not mandatory for children to wear helmets on bikes in
Netherlands?

~~~
mtrimpe
It's indeed not mandatory. Biking in general is still much safer than in the
US though since we have a strong biking culture, good infrastructure (separate
bike lanes and traffic lights) and laws that (nearly) always hold the car
responsible for any damages.

------
hudibras
You try to do everything right (helmet, bike lane, daylight riding), and then
a police car runs you over and kills you.

Sometimes I don't know why I bother doing anything except spending time with
my family. I tell myself that I've got to pay the bills, be an adult, etc.,
but is it really worth it when everything can be over in an instant?

Now I'm depressing myself. Maybe reading another couple HN articles will cheer
me up...

~~~
danieldk
_I tell myself that I 've got to pay the bills, be an adult, etc., but is it
really worth it when everything can be over in an instant?_

One of the reasons we work is to obtain the means to do nice things with
family. E.g. travelling to some beautiful mountain range and enjoying it
together. Family life becomes better with variety and new experiences.

We should draw the line at somewhere. If we are working ten hour days six days
a week, we have lost balance. Unfortunately, the income distribution seems to
become so bad that a considerable amount of the population can do nothing else
than to work.

------
visakanv
I've always been bothered by what I call this 'life-perspective problem", and
of course, I'm always bothered more when something horrible like this happens.
(The preceding statement has its own problem buried in it- because something
horrible is always happening, at every second.)

I've spoken about it in other forms- "procrastination should be solved by
lighting fires, not filling buckets" and so on. There is powerful emotional
energy to be harnessed, but a lot of us (maybe just me, but clearly others
too) have no idea how to manipulate it effectively, so we typically go without
it. When we do get a flash of inspiration, the energy needs to go into a
system where it generates something lasting- otherwise we just get the one-off
blogpost or product that doesn't go anywhere. We get tired and everyday life
dehumanizes us again.

It's the same central idea: Can we modify our circumstances and environment
such that they remind us of the things that matter, in a way that disrupts us
from settling into sub-optimal comfort zones?

I used to think that maybe this was a self-indulgent problem that I had,
simply romanticizing the moping around, but clearly it afflicts even highly
productive and accomplished persons like Mr. Sivers. Clearly this is a broader
human problem- our inability to contextualize things, to see the bigger
broader picture except when it's too late, or when we're unexpectedly
inspired.

Is meditation the solution? I think meditation is a practice that encourages
the broadening of perspective, but I'm sure there are other ways to reach the
same destination- I'm sure we could design for it into our media, into our
daily lives.

There is some very meaningful work to be done in this "perspective/reminder"
space, but I don't know what exactly, and I don't know how to do it. But I'd
like to get involved in it somehow, someday, before it's too late.

I hope this is helpful to someone. Thanks for sharing, and thanks for reading.

~~~
kirse
_There is some very meaningful work to be done in this "perspective/reminder"
space_

This falls under the category of "knowing thyself". Each man must learn his
own rhythms and behaviors well enough to build a system custom-tailored to his
needs - and adapt it as he changes, too.

Even in something as simple as the Lord's prayer ("Give us today our _daily_
bread..."), we are taught that, yes, this sort of perspective shift is
required _daily_. And to skip it means that one will begin to drift. I heard a
great phrase once, and it's that "vision leaks."

Whether in your own life or leading an organization, if you are not daily
renewing the "stickiness" of your vision, it will leak.

I like to keep an ever-changing whiteboard (otherwise my brain soon ignores
it) of short reminders on the wall next to my front door, and also a plain
notebook that I carry everywhere for weekly to-do / prayer / big-picture
reminders. Journaling helps too, but I don't do that daily.

The thing that ties it all together though is the daily restoration via a
relationship with Christ, I am always learning something new in prayer and
through reading the Bible. Many on HN would deny and balk at the existence of
a man's soul/spirit, but what you're talking about missing has been known for
thousands of years as daily spiritual renewal.

If you think the answer is a daily _ritual_ like meditation, you'll simply
grow tired of that habit quite soon. And rightfully so, it entirely misses the
point of what God intended - a grace-filled and dynamic daily _relationship_
with Him.

------
leokun
Riding bikes is super dangerous. I always slow down and give bikes a lot of
space. I also think bike riders should ride on slower, non-busy roads whenever
possible, but I'm not at all blaming bike riders.

~~~
mikegreco
This doesn't really tell the whole story. Riding bikes is dangerous, but the
real danger here is driving a car.

When you're driving a car you are in charge of a multi-thousand pound hunk of
metal with more momentum than most people can even comprehend, and the
slightest jerk of a wheel can send it careening off in a completely different
direction in milliseconds.

On a bike or walking with your own two feet, you're always in danger when the
operator of a car isn't performing their due responsibilities.

To Sivers, I'm sorry for your loss. This article is an inspiration, and a
remarkably poignant commentary on how to best make use of our fleeting time.

~~~
acjohnson55
Gotta agree with you here. Maybe with more intelligent car systems and
advancements in mass transit, the future can be brighter and safer.

------
sergiotapia
Sorry for your loss. I used to ride my bike everywhere when I was in my late
teens; these days I can't imagine doing that. All it takes is one distracted
driver to cause terrible loss.

------
menosee
Derek -- This is a nice piece in a difficult time. I am childhood friends with
one of Milt's sons and know his family appreciates all the love being sent
their way. Thank you for sharing with everyone.

------
iamthepieman
Sivers, may you be at peace.

It took a death in my family to make me realize that I needed to "start
writing again". That was several years ago and I see myself in some of the old
ruts and in some that are newly worn. I wonder how many tragedies before I
learn my lesson.

------
3pt14159
sivers your work is some of the truly best.

I'm so sorry for your loss, I've never lost a close friend so I have no idea
what you are going through, but obviously if there is anything we can do to
help just put out the word.

------
javindo
Wow, just like that. This was amazingly sombre, sorry for your loss and thank
you for your inspirational words.

------
donretag
The other thread regarding Milt's death:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6875151](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6875151)

~~~
sivers
Thanks for posting that in these comments. I hadn't seen that thread.

------
sidcool
Sorry for your loss, Derek.

------
camkego
Setting up dual booting two OSes is not a good use of my time?

------
jarnix
They show this on TV in your country ? they don't have anything else to talk
about ?

