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The Metrics of Backpacks

artpractical.com

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Re: The Metrics of Backpacks

#31

Post by onlyrealcuzzo »

rfrey wrote: post #27

I really liked this essay, and I think I would really like its author if I knew her. At the end of the essay, the vague sadness I felt was joined by a pretty unsympathetic “well, what did you expect?” kind of feeling. I didn’t like that, it put me into the shuttle bus of coyotes she might have been talking about. But she doesn’t like technical backpacks, or people who like technical backpacks, and she took a job in a…

I absolutely loved this article. From start to finish -- all the wild threads, the transitions, the prose -- it was amazing.

I haven't been compelled to comment on how much I loved a literary piece like this since someone posted A Kingdom from Dust on HN.

If you liked this, you might like it, too: https://story.californiasunday.com/resnick-a-kingdom-from-du...

Re: The Metrics of Backpacks

#32

Post by thih9 »

barryhoodlum wrote: post #17
shaftoe wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I abandoned about halfway through when I realized it wasn't going to get to a discussion of backpack design and I had no idea what the actual point was. You're not alone.

Hope you guys manage to convince your wives to watch some sci fi!

Why are you assuming that parent commenter has a spouse that doesn't watch sci fi?

I'm sure you have a point, I wish you wrote about it in a clear way instead of implying unhelpful things about other authors.

Re: The Metrics of Backpacks

#33

Post by sk0g »

thih9 wrote: post #32
barryhoodlum wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hope you guys manage to convince your wives to watch some sci fi!

Why are you assuming that parent commenter has a spouse that doesn't watch sci fi? I'm sure you have a point, I wish you wrote about it in a clear way instead of implying unhelpful things about other authors.

It's a reference to a passage in the post, so I wouldn't assume they had any malicious intent.

Re: The Metrics of Backpacks

#34

Post by everythingswan »

thih9 wrote: post #32
barryhoodlum wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hope you guys manage to convince your wives to watch some sci fi!

Why are you assuming that parent commenter has a spouse that doesn't watch sci fi? I'm sure you have a point, I wish you wrote about it in a clear way instead of implying unhelpful things about other authors.

In the article, the author describes the people she works with in this exact context.

Parent you're replying to is lumping those further up the comment chain with the people described in the article. She says they often talk about how to get their wives to watch more science fiction movies.

I felt it landed perfectly given the context of the article, YMMV.

Re: The Metrics of Backpacks

#35

Post by brians »

golergka wrote: post #8

> Dustin wants me to know that it was his decision to not hire me. “I have to feel really good about a person before I bring them on, and I don’t feel that way about you,” he says. Whenever I took a decision to fire somebody, I always made a point of openly taking responsibility for it. I thought it was the right thing to do; I was sick of people who couldn't stomach making a decision, and that I could at least look…

Nah, seems like a power trip to me. Maybe hoping she’d throw herself at him; maybe just getting into making her know it was his feelings that controlled her access to housing and health care.

Since it was about a hiring decision—not just a termination of a 1099 contractor—I’d take it to the California labor board.

Re: The Metrics of Backpacks

#36

Post by neffy »

barryhoodlum wrote: post #17
shaftoe wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I abandoned about halfway through when I realized it wasn't going to get to a discussion of backpack design and I had no idea what the actual point was. You're not alone.

Hope you guys manage to convince your wives to watch some sci fi!

There are women in this world who like to watch Sci-Fi.

Re: The Metrics of Backpacks

#37

Post by 781 »

derrida wrote: post #23
781 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Standardizing, gridifying and quantiazing it's what allows our modern huge world to exist. > Social scalability is the ability of an institution –- a relationship or shared endeavor, in which multiple people repeatedly participate, and featuring customs, rules, or other features which constrain or motivate participants’ behaviors -- to overcome shortcomings in human minds and in the motivating or constraining aspects…

Standardizing and quantizing is also what enables conceptual proliferation which makes reality increasingly intractable. Understanding this is why China had Chuang Tzu and continuity in civilization. Things shouldn't be the slave of reason, they should be a slave of the senses. Love, Hume/Buddha :) perception in terms of quantization has that old problem 'with a hammer everything looks like a nail'... everything look…

> Things shouldn't be the slave of reason, they should be a slave of the senses

People say that. But then they are horrified when someone kills another one because it made them angry. Or when a man rapes a woman because he couldn't control his senses.

They say they want a "human touch" and "emotion instead of logic", but don't like the consequences of truly doing that.

Re: The Metrics of Backpacks

#40

Post by et-al »

CrestonePeak wrote: post #30
rfrey wrote: post #27

I really liked this essay, and I think I would really like its author if I knew her. At the end of the essay, the vague sadness I felt was joined by a pretty unsympathetic “well, what did you expect?” kind of feeling. I didn’t like that, it put me into the shuttle bus of coyotes she might have been talking about. But she doesn’t like technical backpacks, or people who like technical backpacks, and she took a job in a…

When the town turns into a company town for the makers of technical backpacks, I feel some admiration for the people that try to assimilate, but also... it's kind of a shame. There's no easy reaction to all the engineers and technical staff that don't love making tech products, maybe don't even like it. I want to explain to them why I love it in the hopes they'll start to feel the way I do and be happy. But people ar…

Bingo.

> Surrounded by transplants, we together inhabit a prehistoric California of 1970s sedans, rickety on the highway, hot air blowing through open windows into the backseat. [...] Our coworkers had moved here to be a part of the future, but we were left over from something that had already passed.

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