Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Cities and Ambition

paulgraham.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 313 posts

Re: Cities and Ambition

#131

Post by ardit33 »

idmkid wrote: post #47
maxklein wrote: post #14

Duuude, Mister Graham, I've never even heard of this Cambridge, and I seriously doubt it is the intellectual capital of the world. And you know what - you are not qualified to judge. You've not been to Urumuqi, Jenin, Port Harcourt or Bahia, how can you make a judgement based on having been in two cities? And furthermore, I take offense at the suggestion that American universities produce the best students. In genera…

black bums, lower class korean immigrants... I appreciate German attitudes of precision but with that mentality no wonder you lack immigrant capital.

Joke of the day: What do you call an european with no sense of humor.....

drums...

German!!

In other news, an immigrant will always feel as second class citizen in most of europe, and Germany has a bad reputation about it. In some parts of East germany there is some Neo-Nazi resurrection, and there is lots of xenophobia.

The states it is a total different thing. It depends where you are. In SF i just don't feel foreign at all, as most people I meet actually speak at home another language, or have traveled a lot. There is no visible discrimination, and I feel I could be an american one day.

Living in the south, it is a total different thing. You feel foreign, no matter how good your english skills are, BUT, you can actually score points with girls thou (if you are white, of course), as there are not that many europeans around.

In germany, they give you this thing called the blue card, so you could slave working on some company, then they kick you out when the time is up, with no path to citizenship. Hmmmm.... No thanks, I just don't feel being used as a disposable thing.

Re: Cities and Ambition

#132

Post by ardit33 »

rtf wrote: post #63

My experience as a native resident of San Francisco(22 years, but the last few mostly spent out of town for college/work) is that most of the people residing there are _tourists_. That is, people who come there(and many different people do, the turnover is high) also tote along some baggage of what they think the city is about. Vision meets and gradually becomes reality as the newcomers act out their desires, to vary…

SF was created during the madness of Gold Rush, and it changed over nite. Then it got raised twice to the ground, and got rebuild again.

The Japanese got kicked out, and the Chinese and African Americans moved in.... etc. etc. Than the 60s and the hippes came, then the 90s and the dot commers came.

SF has always been a city in a huge flux, as a place of great opportunities, and attracted many people with the "gold rush' mentality

Your grandparents propably were some of these people that came to SF for these opporunities.

Re: Cities and Ambition

#133

Post by ardit33 »

epi0Bauqu wrote: post #92
menloparkbum wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The bums in Cambridge are almost always white.

There is a disproportionate number of white bums, but there are certainly a lot of black bums too. So I would not say they are almost always white.

my favorite is that black guy that hangs before Au Bon Pain that uses flatery to get money: "Young lady", "Big guy", "Pretty lady", could you spare some change?

SF bums are not that pleasant.

Re: Cities and Ambition

#135

Post by bootload »

hugh wrote: post #69
edw519 wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"your best best is probably to try living in several places when you're young" I have, and here's what they've said to me: Pittsburgh: You should be nice. New Jersey: You should be in New York. Los Angeles: You should go outside. Phoenix: You should go inside. Detroit: You should be glad you have a good job. Tampa: You should buy a new pair of flip flops for dinner Saturday night.

Places I've lived: Sydney: You should spend more money on real estate. Melbourne: You should spend more money on clothes. London: You should have been here 150 years ago. Davis, CA: You should leave Davis, CA.

"... Melbourne: You should spend more money on clothes ..."

No it's more like...

Melbourne: You live in the sports capital of a sports crazed country. You should go to the footy, the cricket, tennis and don't forget some new duds on cup day.

Re: Cities and Ambition

#137

Post by imp »

motoko wrote: post #108
hugh wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Places I've lived: Sydney: You should spend more money on real estate. Melbourne: You should spend more money on clothes. London: You should have been here 150 years ago. Davis, CA: You should leave Davis, CA.

Places I've lived: Mountain View, CA: We're not the Barrio (any more). Toledo, OH: We're close to Detroit. Bowling Green, OH: Attend a real university with your real high school friends! Columbus, OH: Love Ohio State football (and basketball, if the season's wrong).

Cleveland, OH: You gotta be tough.

Re: Cities and Ambition

#138

Post by edw519 »

jimbokun wrote: post #113
edw519 wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"your best best is probably to try living in several places when you're young" I have, and here's what they've said to me: Pittsburgh: You should be nice. New Jersey: You should be in New York. Los Angeles: You should go outside. Phoenix: You should go inside. Detroit: You should be glad you have a good job. Tampa: You should buy a new pair of flip flops for dinner Saturday night.

"Pittsburgh: You should be nice." Being a native Western Pennsylvania, and living more of my adult life in Pittsburgh than anywhere else, I'll take that as a compliment :). I moved to NYC with my wife right after we were married, and loved every minute of it. But decided to return here to raise our kids after they were born. An interesting thing about Pittsburgh is the number of large non-profits of every kind, espec…

I've met nice people everywhere I've lived. Somehow, and I'm not sure why, it seems just a little bit easier to meet nice people in Pittsburgh. Whether it's the checkout line in a supermarket, in a restaurant or bar, or just hanging out, people generally seem friendly and engaging.

(The day after a Steeler's loss, of course, all bets are off.)

Re: Cities and Ambition

#139

Post by jamongkad »

jimbokun wrote: post #114

Anyone offer thoughts on Asian cities? I lived in Japan for a year, and mostly agree with shiro's summary. I guess I would only add that Japan's identity is far more tied up in Tokyo (and vice versa) than any one U.S. city is indicative of the U.S. as a whole. Generally, when people cite Japanese culture, it is Tokyo culture they are referring to (and given the emphasis the Japanese themselves put on Tokyo, not inacc…

I can definitely vouch for China. I lived in Shanghai and Xiamen respectively. Both cities with different attitudes in their way of life. Personally I love the hustle and bustle of Shanghai, most of my customers are in Shanghai and we all agree that it's the place where the most action is happening in Asia. Although it is not without it's bumps.

First off I naively went there hoping to get a piece of the action by introducing our web app to local companies. Result? Zilch...too much misunderstanding led to deals that either took way too long to process or have fizzled out.

What I discovered though and almost by accident, is that it's the foreign companies who operate there, became our primary customers. Which was a relief cuz I would hate to translate our web app to formal mandarin(actually people on shanghai speak a different kind of mandarin note the distinction.)

Xiamen OTOH lacked the hustle and bustle of Shanghai. It seem more laid back and the people and their customs reflect that attitude. The highlight of Xiamen is the Gulangyu University in Gulangyu island and it's deep history of producing some of China's most talend pianist and musicians.

Re: Cities and Ambition

#140

Post by brightonreader »

Thanks for your letter to Cambridge (Boston). I grew up in Boston, raised by parents who told me two things with more regularity than anything else 1) Go outside 2)Read more. I've lived in San Francisco, New York, Burlington VT, and Nashville and could not agree more than Boston is a city that people consumed with ideas come to really appreciate - even as they shovel out their cars in March.
Post reply on HN