201–210 of 252 posts
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Well, a double walled enclosure with vacuum inbetween would seal out a lot. Plus you could market it as "the double vacuum". Profit!
The problem is the outflowing air. That's where the noise comes from.
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Leaf blowers used by homeowners or the people paid to take care of their gardens are one of the most "typically American" and absurd and annoying things. You almost never hear/see these things around Europe, except some similar contraptions use to take care of very large city parks, for which they probably make sense, and even then they are used at reasonable hours. I mean, using a powered leaf blower to help clean u…
So do you have some incredible raking skills, or do trees not lose many leaves where you're from? Here cleaning leaves under a big tree in the fall, with or without a leaf blower, takes a solid hour. 2 if you've been lazy and not done it for a week.
In the long run the solution to hatred of maintenance of deciduous trees is a chainsaw and an evergreen sapling, but I digress. There are people trapped in prisons, err, I mean overactive homeowners associations, who have to do exactly what the warden says exactly when the warden tells them to do it, but they were dumb enough to pay a huge quantity of money to give up their freedom, so serves them right.
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When you're paid to clean leaves off multiple front yards? 15 * yards * days used per year = a whole lot of time. It's really not surprising that they pick what works quickest.
Not at all. I've watched them for years all over California and in a few other States. I used to film them and show friends, back when making movies with a pocket-size device was novel. They tend to loiter and run the machinery excessively whether it's needed or not. I'm not sure why. A display of 'work theater' to impress their clients? Or maybe it's to keep the driving/onsite ratio reasonable? Like, they have enoug…
It's so true. I can do routine work with noise, but not the kind that requires insight. The sad thing is that noise is yet another example of the phenomenon of "the tragedy of the commons." Which means things tend to get noisier and noisier. In fact, what has surprised me most about living in Palo Alto is how noisy it is. You'd think living in the suburbs would at least be quiet. It is on weekends. But the problem wi…
Im in Mountain View and I can tell you that at least half of the problem is shoddy construction. East Coast houses are made to keep out weather and West Coast houses are made not to hurt when they fall on you. And this issue is going to make someone a billionaire in the future. Urbanization is well under way and people are only getting noisier and more crowded. Also, another area for huge improvements is in the legal…
I could be misunderstanding. If not, that sounds insufferable.
It's so true. I can do routine work with noise, but not the kind that requires insight. The sad thing is that noise is yet another example of the phenomenon of "the tragedy of the commons." Which means things tend to get noisier and noisier. In fact, what has surprised me most about living in Palo Alto is how noisy it is. You'd think living in the suburbs would at least be quiet. It is on weekends. But the problem wi…
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That worked? I had to deal with conversations happening near my office a while back, and looked into noise-canceling headphones, but the reviews and articles I read claimed that they didn't do a good job on voice. They were designed for the kind of continuous noise you get from things like airplane engines, not for sporadic things.
I use QC-15 Bose headphones daily. You have to be listening to music (or your favorite white/pink/etc noise) while wearing them to be effective blocking voices nearby, don't believe anyone that tells you otherwise. The paradoxical effect is that since they are effective blocking low frequency noises, the voices kind of stand up if not listening to anything. I started by making one of these many years ago: http://www.…
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I have a little farm-house at the end of a dead end street. No traffic, nearest neighbor 100 meters and he's doesn't own a leafblower. Clear view of the fields in three directions for the next 5 miles or so, 20,000 sq ft lot. It's been up for sale for 2 years, if you're interested ;) http://www.funda.nl/koop/oudezijl/huis-4510315-oudezijl-1/fo... Ideal spot for quiet hacking and that new YC EU headquarters!
If anyone is looking for houses in quiet locations I can recommend mountain bothies in Scotland - these are open houses (they are completely free to use) in some amazing locations: http://www.mountainbothies.org.uk/ Power and internet access are slightly problematical but to read and think they are great.
It's so true. I can do routine work with noise, but not the kind that requires insight. The sad thing is that noise is yet another example of the phenomenon of "the tragedy of the commons." Which means things tend to get noisier and noisier. In fact, what has surprised me most about living in Palo Alto is how noisy it is. You'd think living in the suburbs would at least be quiet. It is on weekends. But the problem wi…
This is why I hate bans on particular items and want the language of the law to name what they are actually trying to prevent (high dBA device used in neighborhood).
Its very interesting that we've existed as thinking animals for a lot longer than "office jobs" have existed.
From an evolutionary perspective, our best thinking was almost certainly done in near perfect silence or at most calm animal noises. Hmm, we're tracking that yummy large mammal and I'm hungry, whats the next move? So I hear my neighbor chipping away quietly as I think up the best way to whack this rock to make it a better arrowhead. How do I cut this tree down so it doesn't land on my head? So I'm staring at these wheat seeds, thinking about what would happen if I buried them in the dirt and came back later. So looking at the position of the sun / moon / stars, is this the time to plant the wheat seeds?
I don't see an evolutionary example of hard successful thinking in an intentionally noisy distracting environment. In fact if its noisy its because the lion is roaring at us trying to eat us, so deep thinking is probably not advised compared to fight or flight. I guess fight or flight style coding exists at places swirling the drain. Finish this report or we're all on the unemployment line next week. Um, OK, crank up the death metal on the speakers and see ya in twelve hours with a finished product ...
From an evolutionary standpoint we should be able to do our best, deepest thinking/coding on a bench at the zoo by the "food" animals, or perhaps sitting in a cow pasture. In (rare) good weather, I've had decent results with a laptop sitting in a covered (dark-ish) park rain shelter.
If "paleo" concepts apply to food, why not thinking? Its very interesting that we've existed as thinking animals for a lot longer than "office jobs" have existed. From an evolutionary perspective, our best thinking was almost certainly done in near perfect silence or at most calm animal noises. Hmm, we're tracking that yummy large mammal and I'm hungry, whats the next move? So I hear my neighbor chipping away quietly…