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A Very Old Man for a Wolf
- Pyrodogg 9y agoGood read. I'd also like to point out the Long Reads section of the Hacker News Letter. Otherwise, I wouldn't have noticed this.
- BatFastard 9y agoLosses credibility when it claims a wolf can run 10 times faster than Usain Bolt when it is running at 38 miles per hour. Usain runs at a rate of 22.5 miles per hour in a 100 meter dash. But a nice story.
- girzel 9y agoTen mph faster, not ten times.
- koverstreet 9y agoYou misread. Go back and reread. "they can do bursts of 38 miles per hour, ten faster than Usain Bolt" And that's not how you spell looses, you ignorant twat.
- dang 9y agoThis sort of comment will get you banned on HN regardless of how bad what you're replying to was. You owe better to the community if you want to keep posting here, so please read https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and take the spirit of this site more to heart. https://news.ycombinator.com/newswelcome.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newswelcome.html explains it too.
- koverstreet 9y agoOk, I deserved that. That said, it would be _really_ nice if the mods took those kinds of posts seriously - "I can't think of anything constructive to say, so I'll just find something to crap on and try to score points".
- dang 9y agoWhat makes you think we don't? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16024778 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16024778 The problem is that what you did is a lot worse. As long as users are posting "you ignorant twat" and whatnot, it's hard to raise the bar much higher, for the same reason that police in high-crime neighborhoods don't spend much time on bike thefts. My dream for HN is that the community will learn to resist not only the crudest impulses but also the shallow and uncurious ones. Then we'd really get somewhere. But if such a process is possible at all, it's slow, and takes many steps backward as well as forward when new users arrive who aren't yet informed by the culture. When you post a comment like the one above, you're not just insulting a particular commenter, you're kicking down part of this building that we're all slowly trying to construct together. That's the bigger reason not to do it.
- sulam 9y agoHere's the direct quote: "Wolves are so fast—they can do bursts of 38 miles per hour, ten faster than Usain Bolt..." I can see why it was confusing! But as written, not 10 times.
- sandworm101 9y agoI'd believe 10x. Usain Bolt runs on tracks, in shoes. Put him on the open tundra beside a wolf. Or in a forest. Running at speed through rough terrain is something we just dont do well. Watch any footage of wolves (or dogs) chasing something. Their brains do calculations, path-finding, beyond our abilities. Bolt would be on the ground and bleeding within a few strides.
- adt2bt 9y agoYou lose credibility when you make this comment after misreading the quote you’re railing against.
- m3kw9 9y agoDidn’t think I would read it through, but I did! Was a refreshing read amids all the tech. Pretty well written.
- paulcole 9y agoWhy didn’t the article cover the wolf’s attempts to hack his diet to extend his life? Was he on a life-extending keto diet, practicing intermittent fasting, or using Soylent as part of a calorie-reduction diet? What apps did he use?
- hbarka 9y agoWell-written. Heartbreaking.
- bprasanna 9y agoThe narration is splendid! Couldn't stop reading!
- brudgers 9y agoReading about wolves crossing borders, killing stock, and people hunting them reminded me of the opening chapters in Cormac McCarthy's The Crossing. A good novel, though not among his best.
- celias 9y agoReminds me of this This American Life episode about hunting the Custer Wolf in the 1920's https://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/582/when-the-beasts-come-marching-in?act=2 https://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/582/... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Custer_Wolf https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Custer_Wolf