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At this point, I'd gladly take the leaf blower. Car stereo sub-woofers and straight pipe Harleys: Two things that, in my opinion, should be outright outlawed.

At this point, I'd gladly take the leaf blower. Car stereo sub-woofers and straight pipe Harleys: Two things that, in my opinion, should be outright outlawed. Live on a street where they are frequent, and your life will be difficult. Live next to someone who tinkers on them incessantly, and your life will be hell. Work is another problem. I wore out my health trying to cope with the "standard environment". (Which, of course, was spun as "collaboration". [Cough - "cost savings" - cough.]) No more. For my own sake, as well as to no longer support people who promote such environments.

anigbrowl 13y ago
I live near both those things and can put up with the intermittent noise. Leafblowers are an invention of Satan and must be destroyed, preferably along with their owners and operators. They are the epitome of laziness.
- babby 13y ago
  I wonder if the majority of the noise can be snuffed by using a battery powered electric motor, or if it's the fans that generate most of the sound... A Silent leafblower sounds like a potential invention.
  - jacquesm 13y ago
    You'd make a lot more money by inventing the silent vacuumcleaner.
    - skore 13y ago
      I don't think it would be that hard to invent. What's hard is making it silent and compact.
      - jacquesm 13y ago
        Show me.
        skore 13y ago
        Well, a double walled enclosure with vacuum inbetween would seal out a lot. Plus you could market it as "the double vacuum". Profit!
        jacquesm 13y ago
        The problem is the outflowing air. That's where the noise comes from.
        skore 13y ago
        Well, that's where "lots of corners in the airpipe design" comes in. That, plus what I said before are big points in making something big.
  - mprovost 13y ago
    I have a corded electric one and it's quieter than a petrol model but probably not much. You still have to wear ear protection.
- amerika_blog 13y ago
  To be fair, Satan also invented Slayer, which kind of evens out the leafblower damage.
- pasbesoin 13y ago
  I had neighbors who insisted upon playing their car (or truck) stereos whenever outside, which was fairly perpetually. There is nothing that blocks or masks the sound of those sub-woofers. It was an unincorporated location, and the county sheriff couldn't be bothered. It also turned out that the little local street was a shortcut. "Intermittent" turned out to be a... weak description of the traffic situation. I nonetheless grew at least somewhat accustomed to the passing noise. The non-stop, however... Oh, and those same neighbors didn't have Harleys, but they did seem to be of the opinion that every vehicle had to have glass packs or something similar. And that they had to be "tuned up", with sometimes an hour or more of engine revving, seemingly weekly. By comparison, I can hear a leaf blower. But as a fairly constant drone, and one that does not, at low frequency, pass right through the house, I find it comparatively easy to take.
__--__ 13y ago
Work is another problem. I wore out my health trying to cope with the "standard environment". (Which, of course, was spun as "collaboration". [Cough - "cost savings" - cough.]) No more. For my own sake, as well as to no longer support people who promote such environments. How's that going for you? I came to the same conclusion a few months ago, especially the "wore out my health" part. I quit my job in SV, moved back to rural NY and have been focusing on getting healthy again, both mentally and physically. I haven't found a full time telecommuting job yet and, in all honestly, I'm dreading it. I have difficulty believing that, even while telecommuting, any company is going to be truly different from the "standard environment."
- pasbesoin 13y ago
  I was actually fairly well able to deal with the personalities and political stuff. I've always been fairly easy to get along with and able to establish good working relationships with a wide variety of people. (Even the jerks, although I've become increasingly less tolerant of such behaviour.) It was the physical environment that did me in. I was responsible for fairly essential financial analysis of about a billion dollars in revenue, at one point, including managing the transition of/to some fairly radical and poorly planned systems conversions. Yet they couldn't find anything better for me than a cube where my kitty-/katy-corner neighbor spent a couple of hours a day on speakerphone, and the senior manager next to me spent a different hour of the afternoon chatting on the phone with his son -- a fabric wall is not effective when two people are sitting circa five feet apart. I didn't even care what they were doing -- or, in the case of the family chats, also not doing. I just didn't want to fight the noise for my concentration. In another position, they finally agreed to move me to an office. Which, despite better rooms being available (and turned down by my manager), they made a windowless box (fine -- well, ok, I can cope) located next to a conference room, with no sound insulation in between (not fine). The irony in that was that about half of the team I was on at that point was located either at other offices or virtual. That aspect worked our really just fine. One of the fellows I grew to have a lot of respect for, over the course of a couple of years, I never met in person. Yet we could pick up the phone and call -- or just email or IM or whatever -- and immediately address and plan a course of action, or take action when immediately needed, with no problem. He was a seasoned developer who knew how to get stuff done. So... Personalities and experiences differ. But, I wouldn't worry too much about the virtual part. From my perspective, it would be likely to make me more effective in doing the actual work. And I would welcome the separation from all the environmental crap. Perhaps also the ability of people to just stop by my cube or office and draw me into their political BS or social BS. There's good social. And there's wasting an hour debating the best Jim Carrey movie. I can do without the latter. Actually, I'm dealing with a little environmental noise now, at the moment. So, I hope I remained coherent in this response. TL;DR: Do the work, and unplug from the crap. Keep the network active, for if/when the crap nonetheless starts to exceed the work. Use virtual as a crap buffer/filter. -- P.S. The guy I mentioned coming to respect? Well, I got to know more than a bit about his golf fetish. There is -- or can be -- quality socializing in a virtual environment. What's nice, though, is not to be forced to tune out your neighbors' two hour discussion of their weekends.
kgermino 13y ago
>straight pipe Harleys I live in Milwaukee. Harley's 110th is here this week(end). I made a point to stock up on sleep over the weekend :) Seriously, that "Loud pipes save lives" thing is such bullshit. Hearing a bike coming from a mile away is not the same thing as seeing where they are. And then at 2am the bars close and everyone goes outside to see whose bike is the loudest... I like bikes, probably going to buy one someday, but modding your bike specifically to see how loud you can make it is unbelievably obnoxious. </rant>
dredmorbius 13y ago
Some years back I walked into such an environment. Oh, and no receptionist. The interior was essentially warehouse space furnished with ranks of Costco plastic tables as desks, aligned flush, ten abreast. Waited to be acknowledged and sat through the interview but very nearly walked straight out. Oh, and the security profile of the place was abysmal (they feature in one of those horror stories you hear online). My feedback to the recruiter: thanks, that's now my benchmark for worst prospect ever.

anigbrowl 13y ago

I live near both those things and can put up with the intermittent noise. Leafblowers are an invention of Satan and must be destroyed, preferably along with their owners and operators. They are the epitome of laziness.

babby 13y ago
I wonder if the majority of the noise can be snuffed by using a battery powered electric motor, or if it's the fans that generate most of the sound... A Silent leafblower sounds like a potential invention.
- jacquesm 13y ago
  You'd make a lot more money by inventing the silent vacuumcleaner.
  - skore 13y ago
    I don't think it would be that hard to invent. What's hard is making it silent and compact.
    - jacquesm 13y ago
      Show me.
      - skore 13y ago
        Well, a double walled enclosure with vacuum inbetween would seal out a lot. Plus you could market it as "the double vacuum". Profit!
        jacquesm 13y ago
        The problem is the outflowing air. That's where the noise comes from.
        skore 13y ago
        Well, that's where "lots of corners in the airpipe design" comes in. That, plus what I said before are big points in making something big.
- mprovost 13y ago
  I have a corded electric one and it's quieter than a petrol model but probably not much. You still have to wear ear protection.
amerika_blog 13y ago
To be fair, Satan also invented Slayer, which kind of evens out the leafblower damage.
pasbesoin 13y ago
I had neighbors who insisted upon playing their car (or truck) stereos whenever outside, which was fairly perpetually. There is nothing that blocks or masks the sound of those sub-woofers. It was an unincorporated location, and the county sheriff couldn't be bothered. It also turned out that the little local street was a shortcut. "Intermittent" turned out to be a... weak description of the traffic situation. I nonetheless grew at least somewhat accustomed to the passing noise. The non-stop, however... Oh, and those same neighbors didn't have Harleys, but they did seem to be of the opinion that every vehicle had to have glass packs or something similar. And that they had to be "tuned up", with sometimes an hour or more of engine revving, seemingly weekly. By comparison, I can hear a leaf blower. But as a fairly constant drone, and one that does not, at low frequency, pass right through the house, I find it comparatively easy to take.

__--__ 13y ago

Work is another problem. I wore out my health trying to cope with the "standard environment". (Which, of course, was spun as "collaboration". [Cough - "cost savings" - cough.]) No more. For my own sake, as well as to no longer support people who promote such environments. How's that going for you? I came to the same conclusion a few months ago, especially the "wore out my health" part. I quit my job in SV, moved back to rural NY and have been focusing on getting healthy again, both mentally and physically. I haven't found a full time telecommuting job yet and, in all honestly, I'm dreading it. I have difficulty believing that, even while telecommuting, any company is going to be truly different from the "standard environment."

pasbesoin 13y ago
I was actually fairly well able to deal with the personalities and political stuff. I've always been fairly easy to get along with and able to establish good working relationships with a wide variety of people. (Even the jerks, although I've become increasingly less tolerant of such behaviour.) It was the physical environment that did me in. I was responsible for fairly essential financial analysis of about a billion dollars in revenue, at one point, including managing the transition of/to some fairly radical and poorly planned systems conversions. Yet they couldn't find anything better for me than a cube where my kitty-/katy-corner neighbor spent a couple of hours a day on speakerphone, and the senior manager next to me spent a different hour of the afternoon chatting on the phone with his son -- a fabric wall is not effective when two people are sitting circa five feet apart. I didn't even care what they were doing -- or, in the case of the family chats, also not doing. I just didn't want to fight the noise for my concentration. In another position, they finally agreed to move me to an office. Which, despite better rooms being available (and turned down by my manager), they made a windowless box (fine -- well, ok, I can cope) located next to a conference room, with no sound insulation in between (not fine). The irony in that was that about half of the team I was on at that point was located either at other offices or virtual. That aspect worked our really just fine. One of the fellows I grew to have a lot of respect for, over the course of a couple of years, I never met in person. Yet we could pick up the phone and call -- or just email or IM or whatever -- and immediately address and plan a course of action, or take action when immediately needed, with no problem. He was a seasoned developer who knew how to get stuff done. So... Personalities and experiences differ. But, I wouldn't worry too much about the virtual part. From my perspective, it would be likely to make me more effective in doing the actual work. And I would welcome the separation from all the environmental crap. Perhaps also the ability of people to just stop by my cube or office and draw me into their political BS or social BS. There's good social. And there's wasting an hour debating the best Jim Carrey movie. I can do without the latter. Actually, I'm dealing with a little environmental noise now, at the moment. So, I hope I remained coherent in this response. TL;DR: Do the work, and unplug from the crap. Keep the network active, for if/when the crap nonetheless starts to exceed the work. Use virtual as a crap buffer/filter. -- P.S. The guy I mentioned coming to respect? Well, I got to know more than a bit about his golf fetish. There is -- or can be -- quality socializing in a virtual environment. What's nice, though, is not to be forced to tune out your neighbors' two hour discussion of their weekends.

kgermino 13y ago

>straight pipe Harleys I live in Milwaukee. Harley's 110th is here this week(end). I made a point to stock up on sleep over the weekend :) Seriously, that "Loud pipes save lives" thing is such bullshit. Hearing a bike coming from a mile away is not the same thing as seeing where they are. And then at 2am the bars close and everyone goes outside to see whose bike is the loudest... I like bikes, probably going to buy one someday, but modding your bike specifically to see how loud you can make it is unbelievably obnoxious. </rant>

dredmorbius 13y ago

Some years back I walked into such an environment. Oh, and no receptionist. The interior was essentially warehouse space furnished with ranks of Costco plastic tables as desks, aligned flush, ten abreast. Waited to be acknowledged and sat through the interview but very nearly walked straight out. Oh, and the security profile of the place was abysmal (they feature in one of those horror stories you hear online). My feedback to the recruiter: thanks, that's now my benchmark for worst prospect ever.