4 ms·

Being able to walk to your job will provide you more happiness than a lawn and a very long commute. Time and peace of mind are often underrated.

mc32 10y ago
I'd love being able to walk to work. On the one hand it's very medieval -pre industrial revolution kind of thing, on the other hand you're right next to work... I don't want to be a five or ten minute walk away from work when someone thinks I'd be the ideal option to come in on off hours b/c I'm so close by.
- dccoolgai 10y ago
  I walked to work over 10+ years over the course of 3 jobs (10-30 minutes, depending) - I remember when I started thinking that would be a problem, but it really wasn't. Over that time there was maybe once or twice where I got called because I was close (and it was a true emergency, so I didn't mind). I found the benefits of having co-workers over for barbeques/drinks/etc. made me very popular in the office and outweighed any other drawbacks from being close. The 10-minute walks were also nice for unwinding mental state from work. It's just a lot more calming to walk (even on a busy sidewalk) than to cram in mass transit or sit in traffic.
- cujo 10y ago
  Not only does that likely happen a lot less than you think, but you'd probably still be off the clock more if you count your commute drive time.
- clock_tower 10y ago
  If you're beginning to wonder about this sort of thing, I'd strongly recommend reading up on Really Narrow Streets, on the New World Economics website. The author has more or less managed to quantify what makes Old World cities so liveable, and he's beginning to get some traction among urban planners. You might also find his discussion of the Industrial Revolution spirit -- what he calls Heroic Materialism -- interesting; I think he makes a strong case that the pre-industrial shouldn't automatically carry negative connotations.
  - mc32 10y ago
    I think I agree with that. By pre-industrial I meant that for many people where they lived and where they worked were geographically either identical or close enough (baker baked in their house, butcher slaughtered in the back yard, spinner spun in the house, serf worked at a nearby lord's land, etc.) I think there are some negative connotations simply because serious disease was untreatable and incomes were meager among other things (like power inequality and very low education).
Normal_gaussian 10y ago
A lawn I can lie and eat out on during the evenings and weekends? The ability to have real cats that roam and dogs that amble around freely? No. You can't be so certain what will provide any given person with real happiness.
- larubbio 10y ago
  Why not have both? Cities have parks that you can lie and eat out on during the evenings and weekends. They also have dog parks. Free roaming cats are bad for birds, so keep them inside. https://abcbirds.org/program/cats-indoors/cats-and-birds/ https://abcbirds.org/program/cats-indoors/cats-and-birds/
  - athenot 10y ago
    The free-roaming birds in my yard (red tail hawks) are bad for rabbits and small dogs... :) For me, the real reason for a yard is for my children to run around in it, to explore and play on their own without the need for planned activities or helicopter parenting. It used to be permissible to let kids play in public parcs on their own but nowadays, that's a great way of becoming the person who writes "Home is where the bars are".
  - Normal_gaussian 10y ago
    Public parks are not personal spaces to populate and use as you see fit. They are also public. The rhetoric about free roaming cats is also only partly informed. Firstly it is recognised that indoor cats are much more likely suffer from health issues relating to anxiety and depression. The why is not studied particularly well but it likely stems from completely destroying their ability to socialise, and restricting their roaming area (which for cats is very large). In many places keeping cats indoors is considered cruel. Secondly, the effect of cats on the environment is completely dependent on where you are. This is because the danger of a cat comes from their predatory nature and most places - especially after the spread of humans - are lacking in active predators. Obviously there are areas where the risk posed by a non selective predator is very high; areas with endangered populations may want to encourage people not to gave cats or to regularly clip claws. Again, as it turns out the world is a wonderfully diverse place on which homogenous rules are a bad fit.
beachstartup 10y ago
unfortunately, walking anywhere near LAX means you're going to be breathing in jet fumes.

mc32 10y ago

I'd love being able to walk to work. On the one hand it's very medieval -pre industrial revolution kind of thing, on the other hand you're right next to work... I don't want to be a five or ten minute walk away from work when someone thinks I'd be the ideal option to come in on off hours b/c I'm so close by.

dccoolgai 10y ago
I walked to work over 10+ years over the course of 3 jobs (10-30 minutes, depending) - I remember when I started thinking that would be a problem, but it really wasn't. Over that time there was maybe once or twice where I got called because I was close (and it was a true emergency, so I didn't mind). I found the benefits of having co-workers over for barbeques/drinks/etc. made me very popular in the office and outweighed any other drawbacks from being close. The 10-minute walks were also nice for unwinding mental state from work. It's just a lot more calming to walk (even on a busy sidewalk) than to cram in mass transit or sit in traffic.
cujo 10y ago
Not only does that likely happen a lot less than you think, but you'd probably still be off the clock more if you count your commute drive time.
clock_tower 10y ago
If you're beginning to wonder about this sort of thing, I'd strongly recommend reading up on Really Narrow Streets, on the New World Economics website. The author has more or less managed to quantify what makes Old World cities so liveable, and he's beginning to get some traction among urban planners. You might also find his discussion of the Industrial Revolution spirit -- what he calls Heroic Materialism -- interesting; I think he makes a strong case that the pre-industrial shouldn't automatically carry negative connotations.
- mc32 10y ago
  I think I agree with that. By pre-industrial I meant that for many people where they lived and where they worked were geographically either identical or close enough (baker baked in their house, butcher slaughtered in the back yard, spinner spun in the house, serf worked at a nearby lord's land, etc.) I think there are some negative connotations simply because serious disease was untreatable and incomes were meager among other things (like power inequality and very low education).

Normal_gaussian 10y ago

A lawn I can lie and eat out on during the evenings and weekends? The ability to have real cats that roam and dogs that amble around freely? No. You can't be so certain what will provide any given person with real happiness.

larubbio 10y ago
Why not have both? Cities have parks that you can lie and eat out on during the evenings and weekends. They also have dog parks. Free roaming cats are bad for birds, so keep them inside. https://abcbirds.org/program/cats-indoors/cats-and-birds/ https://abcbirds.org/program/cats-indoors/cats-and-birds/
- athenot 10y ago
  The free-roaming birds in my yard (red tail hawks) are bad for rabbits and small dogs... :) For me, the real reason for a yard is for my children to run around in it, to explore and play on their own without the need for planned activities or helicopter parenting. It used to be permissible to let kids play in public parcs on their own but nowadays, that's a great way of becoming the person who writes "Home is where the bars are".
- Normal_gaussian 10y ago
  Public parks are not personal spaces to populate and use as you see fit. They are also public. The rhetoric about free roaming cats is also only partly informed. Firstly it is recognised that indoor cats are much more likely suffer from health issues relating to anxiety and depression. The why is not studied particularly well but it likely stems from completely destroying their ability to socialise, and restricting their roaming area (which for cats is very large). In many places keeping cats indoors is considered cruel. Secondly, the effect of cats on the environment is completely dependent on where you are. This is because the danger of a cat comes from their predatory nature and most places - especially after the spread of humans - are lacking in active predators. Obviously there are areas where the risk posed by a non selective predator is very high; areas with endangered populations may want to encourage people not to gave cats or to regularly clip claws. Again, as it turns out the world is a wonderfully diverse place on which homogenous rules are a bad fit.

beachstartup 10y ago

unfortunately, walking anywhere near LAX means you're going to be breathing in jet fumes.