How Restaurants Got So Loud • Hacker News Board

Re: How Restaurants Got So Loud

#111

Post by ben509 » Wed, Nov 28, 2018, 3:15 PM UTC

briandear wrote: post #107

keiferski wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Libraries are not playgrounds. This idea that the primary functional purpose of an important space should be some kind of afterthought is rather depressing, but I guess is follows from the entertainment-centric culture we live in. The purpose of a library is to read, not to entertain your kids.

Actually the primary purpose of a library is to be a repository of books, not a reading room. Just like the primary purpose of a bookstore is to sell books, a library is a place to check out books. Besides libraries should change! Who the heck goes to a library to look at encyclopedias to write papers anymore? If you are doing academic research, go to an academic library — a place where you’ll find few kids. But a co…

> That should be a place where everyone is welcome and excited about books...

But to get excited about a book you have to be immersed in it, and that requires reading it and really focusing on the subject matter.

If people are talking all the time, they're not reading books, and others aren't able to enjoy their books.

> ... not a coworking space for old curmudgeons.

Old curmudgeons aren't part of "everyone"?

Re: How Restaurants Got So Loud

#112

Post by briandear » Wed, Nov 28, 2018, 3:15 PM UTC

eponeponepon wrote: post #29

thom wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Libraries are repositories of books for people to take away. The idea that they need to provide office space for people who could just as well read at home is stupid.

Good luck taking a Gutenberg bible or a Shakespeare first folio away to read quietly at home.

Sure because most community public libraries have those just laying around for any member of the public to read whenever they want.

This is such a straw man. Unless you have an actual academic need for an actual Shakespeare first folio, you can read that text without needing an original printing. If you have such a need, the Palo Alto Public Library isn’t likely to have a it there for the asking.

Academic libraries at universities have their purpose, but your local public library isn’t going to typically be used by Shakespeare scholars.

Reading restricted collection books is a pretty low percentage of why people visit libraries. Reading ultra rare, priceless books is almost non-existent as a percentage of library visits.

Re: How Restaurants Got So Loud

#113

Post by always_good » Wed, Nov 28, 2018, 3:17 PM UTC

adrianN wrote: post #32

rubinelli wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kids that grow up associating libraries with fun are much more likely to want to visit them after they learn to read. Libraries are closing down because they don't have any readers.

I don't go to libraries anymore because I can get any book I want for 3-4 Euros shipped to my door.

I hope you can appreciate how fortunate you are.

Though 4 Euros ($4.50) is less than half what I pay for most books I want on Amazon.

It would be very expensive for me to feed my book-reading habit like that. I couldn't afford it without libraries.

It's nice that you can afford to spend money on books, but we need a solution for everyone else, especially if we agree that books are a good thing for society.

Recently there was that op-ed in Forbes that said we don't need libraries because we have Amazon: https://qz.com/1334123/forbes-deleted-an-op-ed-arguing-that-... -- Was such a disaster that Forbes limped away from it by deleting it.

Re: How Restaurants Got So Loud

#114

Post by ben509 » Wed, Nov 28, 2018, 3:17 PM UTC

eponeponepon wrote: post #60

thom wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, apologies if I think kids being encouraged to go to libraries is more important than grown ups who can go _anywhere_ refusing to finding somewhere to read.

What kids should be encouraged to do is not merely attend a library as if simply being there is an end in itself, but to learn to appreciate and enjoy quiet, reflective learning.

I think the above comment gets to the heart of the problem with the "community libraries should be fun" argument.

Re: How Restaurants Got So Loud

#115

Post by dsfyu404ed » Wed, Nov 28, 2018, 3:17 PM UTC

fnordsensei wrote: post #70

Illniyar wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The purpose of libraries has been completely ousted by the internet. It is no longer a place that makes vast knowledge attainable to the average person, that's the internet now. You can either have no libraries at all or libraries that cater to a different purpose, one that they can offer better then your phone.

The idea behind libraries is that a minimum of knowledge should be accessible to everyone. For what it's worth, there's still a lot of information you can acquire legally and for free from a library that you can't get both legally and for free from the internet.

Unless of course you're looking for information on some niche thing that nobody was talking much about after ~2000 or so.

Re: How Restaurants Got So Loud

#116

Post by mo1ok » Wed, Nov 28, 2018, 3:18 PM UTC

pcarolan wrote: post #61

I work remotely and find myself working from a lot of Starbucks. The music level seems consistent no matter where you go to the point where it feels like a policy. It is just loud enough that you can't drown it out with a good set of headphones or take a conference call without annoying the rest of the group. It seems too consistent to be unintentional. Conversely, there's a new coffee shop in Chicago that is designe…

OMG! I'm glad I'm not the only that noticed this. The music is definitely there to discourage staying and working.

Re: How Restaurants Got So Loud

#117

Post by sevensor » Wed, Nov 28, 2018, 3:20 PM UTC

Some of the best restaurants I've been to, sonically speaking, have been in old houses that were converted into dining establishments. Because there's a limit to how much they can knock out interior walls, there are only two or three tables to a room, and the loud kitchen is necessarily in a different room from the dining. This really keeps a lid on the noise and lets you have an intelligent conversation at your table.

Re: How Restaurants Got So Loud

#118

Post by post_break » Wed, Nov 28, 2018, 3:21 PM UTC

There is a chinese place I go to specifically because it is quiet. I'm so tired of loud places to eat. It's draining on you after a while.

Re: How Restaurants Got So Loud

#119

Post by something2 » Wed, Nov 28, 2018, 3:23 PM UTC

jlokier wrote: post #108

There's an ice cream and bagel place in town. In the late evening it's consistently packed with people on their laptops or reading books. One day I noticed the music was much louder than usual, and asked the staff to turn it down. I figured it was a mistake because it was normally much quieter. They told me this was the new company policy. To set the music uncomfortably loud to make people leave, after finishing thei…

Does wearing noise-cancelling headphones actually protect your ears? My understanding of noise-cancelling(at least the active kind) is that it would play the noise you would normally hear but in a mirrored fashion to dampen out the noise you'd hear.

I'm just wondering if that would protect your ears, do as much harm, or double it.

Re: How Restaurants Got So Loud

#120

Post by simonebrunozzi » Wed, Nov 28, 2018, 3:25 PM UTC

I hate loud restaurants, I hate loud cafes, I hate when I have to listen to dumb music all the fing time.

I am also very surprised that no one has figured out a way to offer a quieter version to customers like me. I'd pay more to have a quieter experience.