51–60 of 120 posts
At least, most developments and streetscaping projects around here don't go down with at least a (public) city council vote.
I'm not sure what my point is... maybe just that I'm curious what the local media coverage of this is/was?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's a herd phenomenon. Even if PG writes something utterly pointless, he gets upvoted to the stratosphere. It would be nice if this changed. Intelligent and successful people like PG don't need this kind of adulation.
This isn't utterly pointless. I'm glad I know about it, and I wouldn't have without this essay. Or were you just saying "in general"? If so, point me to something PG has put online that is utterly pointless. He has a remarkably good filter for useful content, even within his own essays there are rarely sentences that are extra.
For starters, I didn't say that the story about oaks getting hacked is pointless. Note also that I didn't say that PG puts pointless essays online.
My comment was on what PG comments on HN. If somebody asks PG a question and he briefly replies "yes", the comment gets upvoted beyond what is reasonable, even if it's the question, NOT the answer, that carries the interesting information. Hell, a Y/N answer only carries 1 bit of information...
I was trying to point out that, contrary to popular belief, HN is not immune to herd phenomena. In a way, this might be a good sign. It shows that we're humans. It shows that computers haven't yet passed the Turing test.
I like Cal Ave partly because it's about as close as you can get in this area to my favorite neighborhood in Seattle (15th Ave). A photo I took yesterday while they were taking the last one down: http://openbs.org/photo/wehavenotrees.jpg Quote from the notice they sent out: "The City of Palo Alto Public Works Department ... shall be replacing most of the street trees on Cal Ave ... most of the existing trees are Holl…
It might be sacrilegious to ask, but what does this have to do with hacking (other than say, hacking down of oak trees). The fact that it's ranked so highly just goes to show the amount of ass kissing going on here.
It's a herd phenomenon. Even if PG writes something utterly pointless, he gets upvoted to the stratosphere. It would be nice if this changed. Intelligent and successful people like PG don't need this kind of adulation.
At any rate, pg is a recursive input to the hn community. Part of this community is pg. Part of this community is you and me, too, but a bigger part is him.
A large part of why I came here in the first place is pg's essays, which span the gamut. I came to think of him as a clear thinker, so I'm going to pay more than usual attention to anything he has to say.
I used to think most American cities were ugly because nobody cared enough to make them beautiful. Reading this almost makes me think it's intentional . Very sad indeed.
You'd think that, as a trade-off, American cities would be usable for motorists. But traffic congestion is such a big problem that it's impossible to build a city to satisfy even that requirement.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's a herd phenomenon. Even if PG writes something utterly pointless, he gets upvoted to the stratosphere. It would be nice if this changed. Intelligent and successful people like PG don't need this kind of adulation.
Silly. First of all, pg virtually never writes anything pointless. Even if he does, a little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men. At any rate, pg is a recursive input to the hn community. Part of this community is pg. Part of this community is you and me, too, but a bigger part is him. A large part of why I came here in the first place is pg's essays, which span the gamut. I came to think of him as a…
(This is dating me--haven't been back there for 20 years.)
It might be sacrilegious to ask, but what does this have to do with hacking (other than say, hacking down of oak trees). The fact that it's ranked so highly just goes to show the amount of ass kissing going on here.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's a herd phenomenon. Even if PG writes something utterly pointless, he gets upvoted to the stratosphere. It would be nice if this changed. Intelligent and successful people like PG don't need this kind of adulation.
I can't quite put my finger on it, but I think this comment shows a slight lack of... something... hmm... This is a bit disorganized, but I'll try to lay out how the gears are turning in my head: When you implicitly call out a community or someone very admired in that community (whose also running things for free for a lot of people's enjoyment), it's courageous but it burns some of your future ability-to-speak-out-a…
That's depressing. That's what education is supposed to be about (rather than blindly accepting incorrect facts).
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I can't quite put my finger on it, but I think this comment shows a slight lack of... something... hmm... This is a bit disorganized, but I'll try to lay out how the gears are turning in my head: When you implicitly call out a community or someone very admired in that community (whose also running things for free for a lot of people's enjoyment), it's courageous but it burns some of your future ability-to-speak-out-a…
I stand by my comment. My opinion is based on evidence: some high-karma members can get away with stuff other members can't get away with. If a newbie posted about oaks getting hacked, the post would be flagged right away. Of course, since PG runs HN, the community should indeed cut him some slack as a token of gratitude. My comment was an attack on the herd phenomenon, not on PG. It was not meant to offend anyone. I…
I disagree with your reasoning, though. This neighborhood is (apparently) pretty well known in Ye Olde Silicone Valley(e). That being the case, I'll bet any number of nerd bloggers or private individuals could have written it up and gotten upvotes; perhaps not as many, but that's not a problem unless you dislike the idea of reputations in general.
The other factor to consider is this: that the people upvoting are aware that PG has more clout than the average poster, are aware that this is a slightly less-hackerly story, and are upvoting it because they approve of the additional attention PG can help bring to it.