The Show Horse and the Work Horse • Hacker News Board

Re: The Show Horse and the Work Horse

#71

Post by jacobush » Wed, Jul 24, 2019, 11:01 AM UTC

lqet wrote: post #57

i_am_nomad wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good lord... a show kitchen? Not to doubt you, but I have never heard of this. Clearly I don’t travel in rarefied circles. But, it’s hard for me to imagine being held hostage to the psychological drive to own such a thing.

The living room in my grandparent's house was basically for show and never used, and they were by no means affluent. It was (and still is) a collection of antique and early-sixties furniture, often inherited, thick carpets and baroque wallpaper. They gradually stopped using the room and converted the dining room into a second living room after their children were out of the house, and by the time I was a child, the r…

My grandparents had a room exactly like that!

Re: The Show Horse and the Work Horse

#72

Post by jacobush » Wed, Jul 24, 2019, 11:02 AM UTC

ryandrake wrote: post #53

i_am_nomad wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good lord... a show kitchen? Not to doubt you, but I have never heard of this. Clearly I don’t travel in rarefied circles. But, it’s hard for me to imagine being held hostage to the psychological drive to own such a thing.

You’ve seen show living rooms, right? Where the furniture is new and pristine, nobody’s allowed to sit there and kids aren’t allowed to play there? Even some middle class people do this thing. Probably a similar concept, especially in bigger houses. Beyond some size, I suppose you have more space than you can effectively use, so rooms start emphasizing display rather than function. Nice problem to have I guess!

It's a horrible problem to have signifying spiritual death.

Re: The Show Horse and the Work Horse

#73

Post by dTal » Wed, Jul 24, 2019, 1:51 PM UTC

WhyKill wrote: post #41

lonelappde wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would you say that? Cities ate constantly doing studies of revenue and cost impact. Forecasting revenue and traffic changes is bread and butter stuff. Putting flea markets in walking distant of everyone is a terrible logistical model.

Actually no, it's amazing one. This is how markets have been for thousands of years, within walking distance of the homes of the people using them. But yet it isn't compatible with modern "advances" like zoning, parking lots, and NIMBY driven politics.

Zoning, in particular, is a terrible scourge on communities. It's hard to overstate the social damage caused by making it essentially illegal to build a functioning "village". I would go so far as to assert that it essentially shreds the fabric of society, both directly (by robbing people of shared local activities and context), and indirectly (by forcing everyone into cars to get anything done, where they can't interact with one another).

If you've ever lived in a town where shops, parks, living quarters, and government buildings are cheek-by-jowl within walking distance, a "zoned" area feels like a desert - unable to sustain life.

Re: The Show Horse and the Work Horse

#74

Post by lifeisstillgood » Thu, Jul 25, 2019, 6:30 AM UTC

closeparen wrote: post #69

lonelappde wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If state governments made suburbs pay their bills and externalities out of current accounts instead of mortgaging the future and cutting up and poisoning city residents with highways, the invisible hand of free market economics would push people to live together in cities if they want to keep their highly materialistic lifestyles. As it is, people make short term optimal, long term bankrupt, and tragedy of the common…

I doubt you could build a public transit system without mortgaging the future. If the pollution externalities are priced in, people will buy electric cars.

What do they drive the electric cars on? I agree about mortgaging the future, but roads + (electric) buses makes a perfectly sensible public transit system for a lot of density levels.

Re: The Show Horse and the Work Horse

#75

Post by erikpukinskis » Fri, Jul 26, 2019, 1:22 AM UTC

dTal wrote: post #73

WhyKill wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually no, it's amazing one. This is how markets have been for thousands of years, within walking distance of the homes of the people using them. But yet it isn't compatible with modern "advances" like zoning, parking lots, and NIMBY driven politics.

Zoning, in particular, is a terrible scourge on communities. It's hard to overstate the social damage caused by making it essentially illegal to build a functioning "village". I would go so far as to assert that it essentially shreds the fabric of society, both directly (by robbing people of shared local activities and context), and indirectly (by forcing everyone into cars to get anything done, where they can't inte…

> it essentially shreds the fabric of society

This is intentional. You shred the fabric of society, then you can let companies sell all of it back to people and tax the value.

No tax revenue when your Auntie cools lunch for the neighborhood kids.