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The caffeine curse: why coffee shops have always signalled urban change

theguardian.com

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Re: The caffeine curse: why coffee shops have always signalled urban change

#171

Post by ido »

songshu wrote: post #133
dkopi wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tel Aviv's weather is very comfortable. Hasn't snowed in tel aviv since 1951. Summers can get hot and humid, but air conditioners are the norm, and dress code is shorts and flip flops. And Tel Aviv has an awesome beach you can actually swim in. To quote wikipedia: Tel Aviv experiences a Mediterranean climate with hot summers and generally mild, wet winters. The average annual temperature is 20.2 °C (68.4 °F). Average…

Are you non-Jewish by any chance? I've had a great time in Israel as a tourist, but often wondered whether I'd be able to fit in there as a non-Jewish (and non-American for that matter) person. I'm not overtly religious in any other way, and I have Jewish people in my family, but there's no way I can pass for Jewish in any extended conversation.

Not the parent, but I think it would be doable albeit awkward at times. But there a lot of not-so-great things about living in Israel compared to Western Europe and North America.

Re: The caffeine curse: why coffee shops have always signalled urban change

#172

Post by colanderman »

doktrin wrote: post #149
colanderman wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you used "to decry" to mean exactly the opposite of its actual meaning. ("To decry" means to denounce as harmful, not to promote.)

I think you misread. Revisit my original post : > "everyone" would mean student activists who are busy decrying the tearing down of several high rise projects The student activists, in this case, are in fact very much against the tearing down of said highrise projects. I'm surprised that wasn't clear.

I'm still confused, because in one sentence, you talk about affluence bringing luxury high-rises, while in a later sentence, you talk about activist art students who want to preserve graffiti.

Are the high-rises whose removal the students decry not the luxury ones, or is it a different group of activist students from those who like graffiti who are the ones who want to keep the luxury high-rises?

Or are the activist art students supporters of both luxury high-rises and graffiti? I'm confused :)

Re: The caffeine curse: why coffee shops have always signalled urban change

#173

Post by marklyon »

dkopi wrote: post #103
abledon wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I'm in a coffee shop sometimes the people watching me as I code in a somewhat frenzied manner, kinda weirds me out. Do you find it easy to block out the peripheral perception that 3-4 people are just staring at you from across the room?

It's just that. a perception. Everyone's a bit self aware, but the truth is that people around us are also very self aware. People will look at you every once in a while, but they're looking at everyone else as well. People watching is fun, and a main reason people go to coffee shops. If you ever do catch someone staring at you, just give them a friendly smile. They might even be waiting for a signal that it's okay t…

The friendly smile is key.

I was working on a project at an airport - I had something like a six hour layover and set up at a nice table near the food court - I noticed I was being watched and smiled back. The kid came over to me and asked what I was doing. Seems he'd learned some HTML and JavaScript, but was being told in school that "real" programming was super-hard and not for him. We ended up spending about an hour talking about studying CS, how he could learn programming on his own and I eventually sent him away to catch his flight with my copy of the Rat-cover Python book.

He stayed in touch. Today, he's living his dream working on a rather awesome-sounding project.

Re: The caffeine curse: why coffee shops have always signalled urban change

#174

Post by omonra »

StevePerkins wrote: post #132
omonra wrote: post #14

"what everyone hates about urban change and gentrification – first come the creatives and their coffee shops, then the young professionals, then the luxury high-rises and corporate chains that push out original residents" I personally have no problem with it. And if we're talking about crappy and dangerous neighborhoods that are becoming upscale - I love it. If anything I think it's the sort of process that benefits…

> "what everyone hates about urban change and gentrification..." I don't mean to be inflammatory, but I've never understood exactly what "everybody" sees as the desired state. When white people move out of urban centers, it is "white flight"... a negative phenomenon. When white people move into urban centers, it is "gentrification"... also a negative phenomenon. Are white people just considered inherently evil, and t…

I don't think the people who are upset about both white flight and gentrification think of things in 'white people' terms.

Rather they focus on blacks (or whichever minority the whites happen to be fleeing or displacing). It's a natural liberal tendency to focus on the 'underprivileged'. I believe it stems from the (unconscious) belief that the whites will look out for themselves - but blacks et al need to be helped. White man's burden 2.0, if you will.

For example in today's NYT there is a long article about lack of black pitchers in the US baseball league (they don't count spanish speaking blacks as aa). And there is a regular recurring piece about lack of black players in certain NFL positions (while they're actually 70% of all players).

Meanwhile I've never seen a similar article about dearth of white players in the NBA or the NFL. To an outside observer this might appear racist - but the journalist writing these pieces probably think that looking out for minorities is just what good people do. And whites will manage to take care of themselves.

Re: The caffeine curse: why coffee shops have always signalled urban change

#175

Post by doktrin »

colanderman wrote: post #172
doktrin wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you misread. Revisit my original post : > "everyone" would mean student activists who are busy decrying the tearing down of several high rise projects The student activists, in this case, are in fact very much against the tearing down of said highrise projects. I'm surprised that wasn't clear.

I'm still confused, because in one sentence, you talk about affluence bringing luxury high-rises, while in a later sentence, you talk about activist art students who want to preserve graffiti. Are the high-rises whose removal the students decry not the luxury ones, or is it a different group of activist students from those who like graffiti who are the ones who want to keep the luxury high-rises? Or are the activist…

You're confused about the term "high rise projects", which refers to lower income public housing - not luxury condos.

Re: The caffeine curse: why coffee shops have always signalled urban change

#176

Post by colanderman »

doktrin wrote: post #175
colanderman wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm still confused, because in one sentence, you talk about affluence bringing luxury high-rises, while in a later sentence, you talk about activist art students who want to preserve graffiti. Are the high-rises whose removal the students decry not the luxury ones, or is it a different group of activist students from those who like graffiti who are the ones who want to keep the luxury high-rises? Or are the activist…

You're confused about the term "high rise projects", which refers to lower income public housing - not luxury condos.

Ah thank you.

Re: The caffeine curse: why coffee shops have always signalled urban change

#177

Post by mixedCase »

cardine wrote: post #153
dkopi wrote: post #59

Commenting on this post while I'm at a coffee shop myself. If I had to pick one city for having the best coffee shops, it would probably be Tel Aviv. The coffee is great, all coffee shops are laptop friendly (and gladly provide you with the wifi password), and people are very open to social interaction with strangers. At any given moment you'll find a designer working on a logo, an architecture student reading a post…

How do you all stay productive with laptops? I can't imagine doing any actual coding work unless I have two monitors and a work station.

In my case using tiling window managers and 10 workspaces makes working on a laptop tolerable enough. That said, I do have to bring my own keyboard.

For those people who tolerate (or even like) chiclet keys, they could very well find it optimal to work on the go.

Re: The caffeine curse: why coffee shops have always signalled urban change

#178

Post by TrevorJ »

matwood wrote: post #142
cafard wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you mind telling a long-ago Coloradan the neighborhoods? Forty years ago I used to go to Muddy Waters of the Platte, which was 15th St. across the Platte & train yards from downtown. Apart from that, I remember one around Larimer & Speer, but not much else.

None of them were downtown. One was in Parker and the other 2 were in Aurora. Aurora is so big that there are very nice parts and very not so nice parts. 40 years ago, I'm guessing both of the places were still just plains. Now they are Denver suburbs. I liked being a 1/2 hour from the city and also so close to the wilderness. Probably one of the favorite places ever to live. If Denver had an ocean it would be my ver…

I love Fika in Parker. Nice place and a great vibe.
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