3 ms·

America in general is pretty dumpy. For one thing we have not been spending much money on infrastructure. I think Palo Alto is nicer then your typical comparabl

by gpsx 9y ago

America in general is pretty dumpy. For one thing we have not been spending much money on infrastructure. I think Palo Alto is nicer then your typical comparable cities in the US, but that is not saying much. I think Silicon valley has changed in a different way. Young people now want to get a safe, big paycheck at companies like Google, Facebook and Apple rather than doing a startup. I suspect that hurts innovation. At the same time maybe it will make some really big projects possible, like self driving cars and big AI advances?

rabboRubble 9y ago
Amen... I had to fly through San Jose airport once. Never again. Most miserable airport I've been in. Stupid design. Coming in from overseas, I was forced to exit the secured arrivals area, walk outside lugging bags over broken pavement to an entirely different terminal (no automated pedestrian walkway or train connecting terminals all within a single conjoined secured zone), and go through the TSA security theater for a second time. Barely made my flight 3 hours later. This entirely ignores the hideously ugly buildings themselves. Felt creaking, ugly, poorly thought out, and old.
- DrScump 9y ago
  Felt creaking, ugly, poorly thought out, and old. But at least it's been ungodly expensive to design, build, and operate.
candiodari 9y ago
> For one thing we have not been spending much money on infrastructure. Or houses. Californians live in wooden shacks. Or windows. Or doors. Or company interiors. Or heating systems. Or hotels (and let's not discuss motels). (But there's many things much better about the US too) You should try living in Western Europe and compare the small things. The difference is staggering.
- DrScump 9y ago
  Californians live in wooden shacks. Compare post-earthquake images from China to post-earthquake images from California, and those "shacks" look a bit better.
  - candiodari 9y ago
    That explains the "wooden" part, but European wooden houses still look a lot better and sturdier than Californian ones, or American ones in general. And they do build that way even where earthquakes do happen. And European ones especially vastly outperform American ones when it comes to sound and climate isolation (warm or cold, doesn't matter). The sad part is that those European wooden houses are considered amongst the worst possible houses in Europe when it comes to isolation, again both where it comes to sound and where it comes to climate.

by gpsx 9y ago

rabboRubble 9y ago

Amen... I had to fly through San Jose airport once. Never again. Most miserable airport I've been in. Stupid design. Coming in from overseas, I was forced to exit the secured arrivals area, walk outside lugging bags over broken pavement to an entirely different terminal (no automated pedestrian walkway or train connecting terminals all within a single conjoined secured zone), and go through the TSA security theater for a second time. Barely made my flight 3 hours later. This entirely ignores the hideously ugly buildings themselves. Felt creaking, ugly, poorly thought out, and old.

DrScump 9y ago
Felt creaking, ugly, poorly thought out, and old. But at least it's been ungodly expensive to design, build, and operate.

candiodari 9y ago

> For one thing we have not been spending much money on infrastructure. Or houses. Californians live in wooden shacks. Or windows. Or doors. Or company interiors. Or heating systems. Or hotels (and let's not discuss motels). (But there's many things much better about the US too) You should try living in Western Europe and compare the small things. The difference is staggering.

DrScump 9y ago
Californians live in wooden shacks. Compare post-earthquake images from China to post-earthquake images from California, and those "shacks" look a bit better.
- candiodari 9y ago
  That explains the "wooden" part, but European wooden houses still look a lot better and sturdier than Californian ones, or American ones in general. And they do build that way even where earthquakes do happen. And European ones especially vastly outperform American ones when it comes to sound and climate isolation (warm or cold, doesn't matter). The sad part is that those European wooden houses are considered amongst the worst possible houses in Europe when it comes to isolation, again both where it comes to sound and where it comes to climate.