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

A town of about 200 people, almost all of whom live in the same building

stories.californiasunday.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 188 posts

Re: A town of about 200 people, almost all of whom live in the same building

#51

Post by nmrm »

noobermin wrote: post #14

It would be interesting if someone tried this in one of these larger cities with high rises like Singapore. You'd create a smaller groups with a sense of community while still giving members the benefits of living in a large city. The reason I thought of this is it reminded me of a strategy of using small bible study groups being employed in a large church that was part of my alma mater. The idea is that it was easie…

This was the concept between some subsidized housing in the mid 20th century, and was for the most part a failed experiment in architecture.

The two significant differences here are 1) government officials and law enforcement are part of the housing complex and not external; 2) since they aren't housing projects, the buildings don't have automatic class stigma.

Re: A town of about 200 people, almost all of whom live in the same building

#52

Post by ceejayoz »

NinjaTime wrote: post #32

Hell most jails in the U.S dwarf this complex. Dear lord I hope an EMP never hits any of those towns. Sure hope the gov hasn't taken away the ability to protect yourself.

To my knowledge, EMP has killed precisely zero people in human history. I'd be curious as to why you think people living in a high-rise can't defend themselves.

Re: A town of about 200 people, almost all of whom live in the same building

#53

Post by rconti »

grecy wrote: post #26
lucaspiller wrote: post #13

This article makes it sound like some remote wilderness where you would freeze instantly when you go outside. The climate there (according to wikipedia) isn't that cold, right now it's -12c with a high of 3c over the next few days - there are plenty of European cities with colder climates. Still an interesting place none the less. They have an official website with more details: http://begichtowers.com/ - there is a…

Coastal Alaska isn't nearly as cold as everyone thinks. The ocean keeps it mild. It snows a lot, and it's often windy, but the actual temperature is rarely below ~ -20C. I'm in the Yukon, away from the ocean. I rode my bike to work at -37C this morning :)

I read somewhere that Whitehorse has the highest number of bicycle commuters per capita. I rode my motorcycle through there a few years ago, and it was quite beautiful.. but I don't get why so many bike commuters. I guess compared to a big city it has no transit or less transit? But less spread out than a typical suburban area?

The statistic would have surprised me in an area with mild weather year-round; nothing about the area seemed particularly well- (or ill- , for that matter) suited to bicycle commuting. A fairly compact downtown but plenty of rural housing.

The cold winters just made the bicycle commuting stat mind-blowing.

Any feedback about this statistic? Is it like a "yeah, but.." kind of thing? Or does the area really take pride in bicycling? Some kind of history I'm not aware of?

Re: A town of about 200 people, almost all of whom live in the same building

#54

Post by phamilton »

cgh wrote: post #29
lucaspiller wrote: post #13

This article makes it sound like some remote wilderness where you would freeze instantly when you go outside. The climate there (according to wikipedia) isn't that cold, right now it's -12c with a high of 3c over the next few days - there are plenty of European cities with colder climates. Still an interesting place none the less. They have an official website with more details: http://begichtowers.com/ - there is a…

The coldest city in Europe is Helsinki. According to Wikipedia, the average high is 9 C and the average low is 2.9 C. For Whittier, the average high is 7.3 C and the low is 1.7 C. Can you give some examples of these many European cities that are colder, on average?

Some cities in Northern Sweden and their yearly average low/high:

Kiruna: -8.1 to 1.8 Luleå: -1.5 to 5.9 Umeå: -0.8 to 6.7

Luleå and Umeå both have Universities and populations of ~45k and ~80k respectively. Kiruna is a mining town.

I lived in Umeå for a few months, it's actually pretty pleasant.

Re: A town of about 200 people, almost all of whom live in the same building

#55

Post by arethuza »

cgh wrote: post #29
lucaspiller wrote: post #13

This article makes it sound like some remote wilderness where you would freeze instantly when you go outside. The climate there (according to wikipedia) isn't that cold, right now it's -12c with a high of 3c over the next few days - there are plenty of European cities with colder climates. Still an interesting place none the less. They have an official website with more details: http://begichtowers.com/ - there is a…

The coldest city in Europe is Helsinki. According to Wikipedia, the average high is 9 C and the average low is 2.9 C. For Whittier, the average high is 7.3 C and the low is 1.7 C. Can you give some examples of these many European cities that are colder, on average?

Vorkuta looks to be on the European side of the Urals - and that's pretty chilly:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vorkuta

Re: A town of about 200 people, almost all of whom live in the same building

#57

Post by grecy »

rconti wrote: post #53
grecy wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Coastal Alaska isn't nearly as cold as everyone thinks. The ocean keeps it mild. It snows a lot, and it's often windy, but the actual temperature is rarely below ~ -20C. I'm in the Yukon, away from the ocean. I rode my bike to work at -37C this morning :)

I read somewhere that Whitehorse has the highest number of bicycle commuters per capita. I rode my motorcycle through there a few years ago, and it was quite beautiful.. but I don't get why so many bike commuters. I guess compared to a big city it has no transit or less transit? But less spread out than a typical suburban area? The statistic would have surprised me in an area with mild weather year-round; nothing abo…

The vast majority of people that live here do so because of the amazing array of wilderness outdoor activities on offer mere minutes from town. I've lived in a lot of places in Western Canada, and none of them hold a candle to Whitehorse in this regard.

I don't know for sure, but my guess on a bike riding stat is that there are a lot of people living here that are outdoor/fitness freaks. Most of them are super freaks.

Also, anyone that doesn't like the winter leaves. So those of us that stay love it, and we don't care if it's +30C or -30C when it comes to doing awesome outdoor activities :)

Re: A town of about 200 people, almost all of whom live in the same building

#59

Post by seanmcdirmid »

grecy wrote: post #45
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reminds me of Harbin, on the bus trip from Changchun in the winter I watched the mercury fall from -20 to -35. It wasn't really that bad (my digital camera battery failed me at the ice sculptures, however).

Yesterday I drove 1225km from British Colombia to my home in the Yukon. I started the day at -5C, saw it hit -39C on the drive and finished at -36C. It was the most beautiful blue-sky sunny day and sunset. The full moon, Northern Lights and herd of Caribou helped too :)

Do you have a thermometer in your car? I was surprised that the buses in north east china all have this (displayed up front), as if trying to tell us how much colder it was getting :) My only experience of making that trip is in the summer.

What is weird thing about china, however, is that both Changchun and Harbin are huge cities with millions of people. How could so many people live where it is so cold...the entire huge songhua river is completely frozen over. Surreal.

Re: A town of about 200 people, almost all of whom live in the same building

#60

Post by kendallpark »

haroldp wrote: post #28

W00h! I grew up in Whittier, AK. Ask me Anything! Haha, seriously, I moved to Whittier at the age of 2 in 1974 and lived there until 1986. The big change there since I left has been the tunnel. When I was there you had to drive your car up onto a railroad flatcar (and pay a steep ticket price) to get out. Anchorage is only 55 miles away, but really it's two mountains away. The railroad sold passenger service only as…

What's it like having an entire town in one building? Crime? Illness? Religious events? Births? Deaths?
Post reply on HN