tl;dr
Steve (yes I call him by his first name) live near me. As a neighbour. Just down the street. I have moments where he has acknowledged my existence. He even knows my waspy name.
My Neighbor, Steve Jobs
31–40 of 48 posts
Re: My Neighbor, Steve Jobs
#32If you've ever wondered what a pure name-drop is like when extended to multiple paragraphs, your wait is over.
Re: My Neighbor, Steve Jobs
#33One or two Halloweens ago, I went over to Steve's house. While everybody was waiting in line, it turned out that Steve was standing behind a doorway, where everybody was going through.
He just stood there. Nobody noticed until they started walking back having gotten their treats from the front door.
I was impressed. Impressed because he was not the one handing out the treats, but the one standing behind a doorway, where nobody noticed him.
Re: My Neighbor, Steve Jobs
#34Next up on HN: Blog post from housekeeper of Mr. Steve about how exacting he is on some occasions and how kind he is on other. I think Steve Jobs and his contributions to the tech world are extraordinary. I wish him well and hope he lives happily for a long long time. Just as I wish for anyone I know or do not know, that they live happily. Steve is not a friend of either you or me. I do not need to know how he was as…
Maybe so, but in today's era of celebrity gossip, I'm thankful for someone to be famous for actually doing something memorable than the endless stream of minutiae about a sequence of borderline NPDs whose only talent is capitalizing on media exposure.
Re: My Neighbor, Steve Jobs
#35Marc Zuckerberg goes past my house almost every week in Palo Alto. Seeing on the streets someone you see in the media helps making him normal.
Re: My Neighbor, Steve Jobs
#36Next up on HN: Blog post from housekeeper of Mr. Steve about how exacting he is on some occasions and how kind he is on other. I think Steve Jobs and his contributions to the tech world are extraordinary. I wish him well and hope he lives happily for a long long time. Just as I wish for anyone I know or do not know, that they live happily. Steve is not a friend of either you or me. I do not need to know how he was as…
The debate over whether your complaint is valid could seriously span volumes. Frankly, if you truly respected Steve Job's contributions and simultaneously found his personal life of zero interest, I would find that extremely odd.
Most, probably the vast majority of, people become very interested in every aspect of their hero's lives. I'm sure you can think of many reasons why this might be the case, both evolutionarily and practically. The fundamental attribution error notwithstanding, discovering what relationship a particular aspect of genius has to other traits of a person is powerfully interesting to human beings.
Perhaps you literally don't have any curiosity over your heroes beyond their strict niche. Perhaps you have no heroes. Perhaps you don't think Jobs deserves to be anyone's hero. But don't be surprised at everyone else's outpouring of interest, because most people aren't like you.
Re: My Neighbor, Steve Jobs
#37I'm ashamed to admit that part of the reason for my wife (artithmetic on HN) and I to pick our current apartment in Palo Alto several months ago was because it was a stone's throw away from Jobs' house. He's been a long time hero of mine and when we got a chance to live close by, we jumped at it. Bonus - we're even closer to several YC startups, I suspect if I shout loudly, the LikeALittle guys can hear it.
One of the most amazing things about Palo Alto is that the city-provided services are actually good enough that people like Steve Jobs use them, in preference to private schools, fortified compounds, etc. At least, this is amazing to me after living in a bunch of third world places where even lower middle class people try to avoid any contact with neighbors, government-provided services, etc. (my girlfriend actually…
In Brazil, the best colleges are public. They are so good it's bad: the rich kids take a semester or two of specific courses to pass the entrance exam, leaving the poor people out.
Re: My Neighbor, Steve Jobs
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
There may be some idolizing, but I think it's more about premature eulogizing of a man who's made huge contributions to technology, whether you buy Apple products or not. Ballmer isn't even in the same realm. Personally, I'm interested in his life beyond Apple. He was an out-of-the-box thinker who went through many serious failures and successes. How could he NOT be interesting? I feel I could learn a lot from him. I…
premature eulogizing I mentioned this to a friend the other day. If I only read all of the stories coming out about SJ I would have assumed he died and not just left his CEO position.
You understand that he left his CEO position because he's dying, right?
Re: My Neighbor, Steve Jobs
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
premature eulogizing I mentioned this to a friend the other day. If I only read all of the stories coming out about SJ I would have assumed he died and not just left his CEO position.
You understand that he left his CEO position because he's dying , right?
There's still a difference though - he's not a vegetable; he's very much alive today. Pseudo-eulogizing a person who is still alive isn't good taste - save them for when he is gone. It's not like the story will change, or will be any different then.
Re: My Neighbor, Steve Jobs
#40Honestly, I think the neighborly thing for the author to do is to allow Steve his privacy.