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I lived until recently in Florianópolis, one of the state capitals of Brazil. It is a naturally beautiful island city, and it has an iconic bridge leading into
by kroltan 3y ago
I lived until recently in Florianópolis, one of the state capitals of Brazil. It is a naturally beautiful island city, and it has an iconic bridge leading into it ("Ponte Hercilio Luz" if you want to search for photos).
For some god forsaken reason, someone got away with building a gigantic - and I mean GIGANTIC - screen billboard right in line of sight of this historic postcard. I don't recall when it was installed, but if you look at any photos of the bridge taken from the south since maybe 2015, it is there.
It is bright, it plays animated ads the entire day, and it is also perfectly aligned with the nearby major road Beira Mar Norte so that people driving south to the bridge see it just off to the side of their view where it won't be covered by transit.
Frankly just due to the animations I'm surprised it is not banned as an epilepsy hazard, but alas, money speaks louder than reason, and one of the most iconic and beloved sights in this city is now tainted with the most vapid disservice to humanity.
Here's a screenshot of Google Street View: https://i.imgur.com/OXeVkuq.jpg https://i.imgur.com/OXeVkuq.jpg (annotated as their camera doesn't pick up on the brightness during the day due to sea haziness)
- tr4vis 3y agoI'm from Florianópolis and everyone I know hates that stupid billboard - it goes against the natural vibe of the city. In person it's an eye sore from kilometers away.
- whats_a_quasar 3y agoNot directly related, but it's so cool that three different people from Florianópolis have commented! I don't think I'd ever meet someone from that part of Brazil in my normal life. That's a little bit of internet magic
- tr4vis 3y agoI was also taken aback tbh. But it makes sense considering Florianópolis is one of Brazil's major tech hubs.
- kroltan 3y agoYep, I always see a couple fellow manézinhos (or at least residents) whenever Florianópolis is mentioned.
- virgulino 3y agoNow four.
- sgt 3y agoHow is living in Florianópolis or in southern Brazil? Just out of curiosity. Lifestyle good?
- tr4vis 3y agoLiving in southern Brazil surpasses the rest of the country in terms of quality of life (especially safety) imo. As for living in Floripa, it's a pretty easy-going lifestyle, being that it's a capital that's also a subtropical island. Nightlife isn't as you'd expect compared to bigger cities, but the many beaches, beautiful landscapes and friendly people you meet here definitely make up for it. Honestly, I wouldn't live anywhere else for the time being.
- virgulino 3y agoFlorianópolis is a peculiar little island. It has gotten much bigger and trendier in this millennium.[1] But it is still the island of witches and other supernatural creatures.[2] As a dinosaur from the 8-bit era, I appreciate and resent both worlds. As a first generation islander (manezinho), I am neither Little-Endian nor Big-Endian . I love it here. On top of that, we are in the mullet season. [3] 1 - https://youtu.be/fEK53W3Y-vE https://youtu.be/fEK53W3Y-vE 2 - https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&q=florianópolis+franklin+cascaes+bruxas https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&q=florianópolis+frank... 3 - https://youtu.be/9YftNiFyQ9E https://youtu.be/9YftNiFyQ9E
- sgt 3y agoThought you meant mullet as in the hair style. Some kind of bizarre Brazilian version of Movember.
- rbanffy 3y agoWe don't look Brazilian when online ;-) Now, seriousness, there is no such thing as "looking Brazilian". We come in all sizes and colors.
- rektide 3y agoFar less offensive but the DC metro got screen ads & it just so cheapens the experience. Used to be a kind of impressive semi-brutalist feeling, which isn't super fancy or anything. But now just tacky.
- WarOnPrivacy 3y agoI used to ride the red line when the Metro first opened and you're right. I miss that patterned concrete atmosphere.
- samstave 3y agoIm surprised there hasnt been more efforts to hack these things MaxHeadroom style and do subversive propaganda... I cant wait until someone hacks on of these screens and does deepfakes on them - either some politicians doing crazy things, or celebrities doing crazy things, or more subtle ads that seem real, but are taking the piss.
- artsytrashcan 3y agoThey're slowly ruining the vibe. Several stations raised the intensity of the lighting, painted the cement coffers, changed the warning lights from yellow to red, and some have even replaced the iconic floor tiles. The new trains in general are a travesty, too. The old ones had a warm 70s color scheme, warm lighting, and carpet that absorbed some of the track noise. The new ones are steel on the outside, white and blue on the inside, with cool lighting that clashes with the stations and hard surface floors that don't dampen noise at all (to say nothing of the redesigned seating, made uncomfortable to deal with a non-existent homeless rider situation). Oh, also, the first set of them were duds with major issues. Walking into Metro stations and onto the trains used to be a calming experience, stepping out of the stress of the city or suburbs into a chill and welcoming atmosphere. Now, I can feel my blood pressure jump.
- leonheld 3y agoI live here and oh God I fucking that that billboard so much. It fills me with pure rage.
- fastball 3y agoYou fucking what?
- rbanffy 3y agoI think only the owners and the advertisers like it. Would a couple high power microwave transmitters pointed at it be able to increase maintenance cost enough for them to give up?
- m463 3y ago> I think only the owners and the advertisers like it. Isn't that true of all advertisement? sigh.
- matheusmoreira 3y agoSomeone here on HN once floated the idea of someone taking a paintball gun and going to town on these obnoxious billboards. Truly the hero we need right now. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28969142 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28969142
- 3y ago
- Bloating 3y agoThe mayor's newphew owns the billboard company
- samstave 3y agoHA! I KNEW IT - when I first read that comment, the only thing I could think of re: "how?" was some political shenanigans. Philippines is so much like that - for example, the Ayala family... corrupt as sin, but have their fingers in every aspect of philippines business and politics.
- kroltan 3y agoIt is kinda fitting in the sense of all the corruption that made the bridge repairs take longer than I've been alive, now that it's repaired (?) there's that horrendous screen. It's like the rotten cherry pit atop the pile of turd. But nevertheless, it is a true shame.
- totallywrong 3y agoI hate those with passion. I was recently in Panama City which is filled with ultra-bright, enormous screens. It made my hotel room fully lit at night! I have no idea how they're legal.
- chaosjevil 3y ago[flagged]
- dang 3y agoPlease don't take HN threads into flamewar. It's not what this site is for, and destroys what it is for. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- chaosjevil 3y agoContrariwise to your assumption I was not trying to bring a flamewar up, even if feeling the need to point that out. With that in mind, your silence towards the potential nationalist for doing something that _also_ goes against the spirit of HN* is rather... curious. *bringing up what's at the very least off-topic trivia (i.e. noise, or "fluff" as Graham would call it).
- dang 3y agoPeople often feel like the mods are singling them out unfairly, but most often we just didn't see the other side. We can't read everything. If there's another comment that you feel should have been moderated but wasn't, I'd be happy to take a look, but I'd need a link.
- chaosjevil 3y ago[flagged]
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- anigbrowl 3y agoY'all need to team up and figure out a way to get rid of the billboard.
- kristofferR 3y agoHere's an ad for the screen: https://floripasquare.com.br/megatela/ https://floripasquare.com.br/megatela/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7sNpVCgdPs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7sNpVCgdPs