the fact that you're quick to tell me you're a pardoned felon but not why gives me a creepy feeling, and I say that with a lot of felon friends and family..
probably not the detail to omit to try to hook a readership..
technical aside : on low bandwidth connections your site acts really inconsistent and weird; it appears to be downloading those on-hover sound files.
ChrisMarshallNY 15 minutes ago [-]
It may be a bit of a "hook." He mentions that he explains it in the book, and provides the first chapter. It's probably in there.
I was a nasty felon, but as a juvenile (13). I got clean at 18, so my adult record is unblemished; but nowadays, I would probably be tried as an adult.
No, I'm not not gonna mention why, here. It's just a distraction.
wombat-man 2 minutes ago [-]
Unfortunately, it would actually probably matter a lot if you can afford a good attorney.
That’s his pardon. That’s about all we got though, the record was expunged.
netsharc 41 seconds ago [-]
When I saw "pardoned" on his site I thought "I'll wager January 6 and a MAGA pardon".
But this says 2013 so my guess doesn't line up.
45 minutes ago [-]
ChrisMarshallNY 21 minutes ago [-]
Thanks for sharing this!
I tend to hang with a number of folks with similar stories (I've been a Recovering drug addict for 46 years, and only mention it now, occasionally, because I'm not looking for a job -and it's usually not relevant to HN discussions).
wmchen 1 hours ago [-]
Thank you for sharing this. I would be excited to read your autobiography.
I find stories like yours inspiring, and reassuring in a way. I'm increasingly worried about this trend toward being tough on crime in response to growing public disorder, increasing maximum sentences, and generally taking a no-holds-barred approach because good society has been wronged.
I've been a victim myself, from petty theft to assault when I intervened to stop a hate crime, by people out on bail with long court records. After being assaulted I really did start to question my beliefs on this. But I still very much genuinely believe that people can change and should be given a second chance, even though some won't take it seriously, and for others it might take a very long time.
I've met quite a few people with criminal records, or records as youth offenders, who genuinely did become better people over time. A former classmate of mine used to deal cocaine and is now a personal trainer with a wonderful personality and sense of morality. Another used to be a lookout for a stash house and has similarly moved on from that life.
I guess that's what I find so reassuring about stories like yours. I've seen people change and move on from what was probably the worst chapter of their lives, and become people I'm genuinely glad to know. I worry that in our societal desire to be tougher on crime, we're becoming less willing to give people that chance. And I think stories like yours are a good reminder of why we shouldn't lose sight of it.
juujian 1 hours ago [-]
People can change when you have a justice system that is aimed at reforming offenders rather than simply locking them away or punishing them. America's justice system is the opposite of that, socializing even petty criminals that incidentally land in the system into doing more crime. That's why America has so many more people locked up compared to other countries, which is significantly more expensive in the long run, too...
Muromec 47 minutes ago [-]
>What I'm doing now is writing an autobiography. The main theme of it is hope.
Hope to work hard and win the lottery ticket when the game is stacked against you? What hope?
I'm happy for your personally, but it doesn't sound like a message of hope.
salesthrowaway3 8 minutes ago [-]
Reminds me a bit of the actors that tell you they finally broke it big because they didn't quit, or that they made it right before they ran out of money.
That's great and a nice story, but it doesn't take into account the many more that really did run out of money and got into a real tough situation, or didnt quit and just kept trying til their time was over.
danso 2 hours ago [-]
I read the first chapter of your autobiography, looking forward to reading the rest. For the current audience reading this, do you mind spoiling/summarizing how you got into software engineering? Had you dabbled in it before your conviction, and did you study it while serving your prison sentence?
pavel_lishin 1 hours ago [-]
Minor feedback: please don't have your site make noises. It's distracting.
semolino 15 minutes ago [-]
AWF I GO THEN!
…
I'm torn on this. I get that users have never welcomed umprompted audio on webpages. On the other hand, the web as a creative medium benefits from increased whimsy. The worst downside I can image as a consequence of this behavior is embarrassment while taking public transport, or waking your baby.
blobbers 16 minutes ago [-]
And definitely seem to give off 'smug' vibes about his life afterwards. I'm all for people paying their debt but I didn't get the main theme of hope.
I got a feeling of lack of remorse and someone sort of sociopathically showing off.
cat-whisperer 2 hours ago [-]
your website uses the exact tech as the openAI website that they had for Astra. Interesting
aaron_m04 28 minutes ago [-]
I don't know anything about this Astra thing but his site looks very AI-generated!
Doesn't go into the why, however. Presumably future chapters will.
larrymcp 38 minutes ago [-]
I believe I've located a news article which gives a brief description of the altercation, at https://archive.is/utJqE
It says that his mother told police that "her son hit her husband after the couple confronted him about being involved in a robbery. She told police her son had property in his room that they believed may have come from the robbery."
rectang 55 minutes ago [-]
I've read it and besides the "why", I'm also wondering about the long-term impact on the person who was hit (Buford's father).
pavel_lishin 42 minutes ago [-]
I guess this means chapter one's a good hook.
literallyroy 37 minutes ago [-]
Unfortunately there is no chapter 2 for me to pay for…
readthenotes1 1 hours ago [-]
Tldr:
Hit his dad on the head with a metal baseball bat with other family members around.
JuniperMesos 39 minutes ago [-]
This could be a crazy violent act that deserves making someone a felon, it could be an act of self defense that was unfairly prosecuted, or it could be something in between.
keel-control 33 minutes ago [-]
ASPD perhaps which would also explain his fast life type strategies of high risk high reward low impulse control decisions. Which in this case led to success.
Reminds of the veritassium video where it said being persistent is more valuable than being consistent in the sense that you only need to win the lottery once to be rich forever. Whereas you can consistently work a job for an indefinite quantity of time and never be rich.
3 minutes ago [-]
soperj 29 minutes ago [-]
most people who win the lottery aren't rich forever.
15155 2 minutes ago [-]
I imagine this largely depends on if you elect for the lump sum or annuity payments.
tomjakubowski 3 minutes ago [-]
[delayed]
mmmlinux 20 minutes ago [-]
Well it happened when they accused him of being part of a robbery that took place. So, kind of looks like it might be the first one.
84949595 2 hours ago [-]
[flagged]
Rendered at 20:59:13 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) with Vercel.
probably not the detail to omit to try to hook a readership..
technical aside : on low bandwidth connections your site acts really inconsistent and weird; it appears to be downloading those on-hover sound files.
I was a nasty felon, but as a juvenile (13). I got clean at 18, so my adult record is unblemished; but nowadays, I would probably be tried as an adult.
No, I'm not not gonna mention why, here. It's just a distraction.
Glad to see you're doing well now.
That’s his pardon. That’s about all we got though, the record was expunged.
But this says 2013 so my guess doesn't line up.
I tend to hang with a number of folks with similar stories (I've been a Recovering drug addict for 46 years, and only mention it now, occasionally, because I'm not looking for a job -and it's usually not relevant to HN discussions).
I find stories like yours inspiring, and reassuring in a way. I'm increasingly worried about this trend toward being tough on crime in response to growing public disorder, increasing maximum sentences, and generally taking a no-holds-barred approach because good society has been wronged.
I've been a victim myself, from petty theft to assault when I intervened to stop a hate crime, by people out on bail with long court records. After being assaulted I really did start to question my beliefs on this. But I still very much genuinely believe that people can change and should be given a second chance, even though some won't take it seriously, and for others it might take a very long time.
I've met quite a few people with criminal records, or records as youth offenders, who genuinely did become better people over time. A former classmate of mine used to deal cocaine and is now a personal trainer with a wonderful personality and sense of morality. Another used to be a lookout for a stash house and has similarly moved on from that life.
I guess that's what I find so reassuring about stories like yours. I've seen people change and move on from what was probably the worst chapter of their lives, and become people I'm genuinely glad to know. I worry that in our societal desire to be tougher on crime, we're becoming less willing to give people that chance. And I think stories like yours are a good reminder of why we shouldn't lose sight of it.
Hope to work hard and win the lottery ticket when the game is stacked against you? What hope?
I'm happy for your personally, but it doesn't sound like a message of hope.
That's great and a nice story, but it doesn't take into account the many more that really did run out of money and got into a real tough situation, or didnt quit and just kept trying til their time was over.
I got a feeling of lack of remorse and someone sort of sociopathically showing off.
Especially if its for the purpose to drum up interest for your autobiography.
Doesn't go into the why, however. Presumably future chapters will.
It says that his mother told police that "her son hit her husband after the couple confronted him about being involved in a robbery. She told police her son had property in his room that they believed may have come from the robbery."
Hit his dad on the head with a metal baseball bat with other family members around.
Reminds of the veritassium video where it said being persistent is more valuable than being consistent in the sense that you only need to win the lottery once to be rich forever. Whereas you can consistently work a job for an indefinite quantity of time and never be rich.