bmd3991

FWIW I appreciate what you do

This is my favorite thing about Japan. The layout and transportation perfectly matches my ideal, I’d love to live there for some amount of time.

Semi off-topic, but how is working in the firmware/drivers/systems space? Everyone always talks about how hard it is, so that makes me think that companies would be paying a premium for good systems devs. On the other hand there aren't as many companies who have that need. I enjoyed the low level work I did in college and have been thinking about getting back into it, but there are no jobs involving it near me (moving to Seattle in a bit so this should change)

True, I do think that's what's driving all of this negativity around cities. Maybe it's just a bunch of people who hated living in the city but were surrounded by people who liked it, but now they can finally come out with their true feelings. I'm in the same boat, COVID has cemented my feelings on the matter. I don't like that [some] people are celebrating the fall of big cities, because we already only have like 3 of them and some people actually like them

Agreed, having a family I think changes just about everything for a lot (most?) of people. Eh I started it by being dramatic with the blowing brains out joke :)

I can see where you're coming from, and most of my friends are the same way. They would never want to live in a place like NYC, it's just too crazy and they want their space. Not that that's your exact reasoning, but I get it for some people

Edit: The more I think about this the more I realize I'm probably unqualified to be having this discussion, since I really haven't lived in enough of these places to talk diversity of communities

Yeah I mean I agree with you in theory, but I just haven't seen that in practice. I'm not saying you're wrong - the most likely answer here is that I just haven't been to the places that you're talking about.

All of the midwestern cities that I've lived in have definitely lacked a lot of cultural diversity, even if you drive out to the outskirts of the city where the majority of minorities tend to live (again, in the cities I've been to).

Maybe because the majority of people in these cities aren't as interested in the diversity, so the diverse populations can't really start a business that succeeds since no one (outside of their tiny community) wants to go there?

Or, I'm just wrong and haven't been to the right places

ok granny ( just playin ;) )

I'd say Chicago is such a dark horse that it's unfair to include it in this article. Well not unfair exactly, but it doesn't fit in with the rest of the list given its size. The list is about midwestern cities, but we all know it's really talking about the migration of people from large to medium sized cities, of which Chicago is not one

All good points, nothing to counter on my end lol

Good point. I don't know that this explains everything, but it would be silly to think that this isn't at least part of it

Yeah I mean I was trying to convey that I understand why SOME people would like that, and maybe I failed at that. Though, to be fair, I don't think wanting to enjoy a good bowl of noodles as often as possible is as bad as a thing as you're making it out to be lol. I don't think there's anything objectively wrong with Madison. I'm just surprised that it seems like 99.999% of people would prefer that lifestyle to one in a bigger city. Family is something that throws a wrench into my whole comment lol, I understand I'm in the minority when it comes to that

You're right, but I personally don't count Chicago. A distinction needs to be made between "big city" and "midwestern city" - they aren't mutually exclusive like some are alluding to (probably not on purpose). I think that it actually goes against the trend, since I'd consider it a "big city". It is interesting that so many people are moving there, considering the hot thing these days is moving away from big cities. Of course part of that is the fact that it has a good COL, and a lot of big city perks

Agreed about the trendy medium sized cities - people love them but they seem so bland to me for the same reason (great another craft burger place...).

You're right that there are probably more natural little Italy's out there, but no way you'll find an equally good Chinatown within a 2 hour drive of that little Italy. But, if you love Italian food and hate Chinese, then maybe that's a trade you're (not you specifically) willing to make.

I can see the access to nature as a reasonable trade off, if you're out hiking every weekend then maybe that could make the M-F in the smaller town more liveable

It definitely is an interesting situation

Yeah, I mean it's fair that I haven't lived in every midwest city in America. But I've lived in 3 for multiple years each and I disliked them all for more or less the same reasons. Obviously it all just boils down to what you want out of life, so at a certain point it just becomes "agree to disagree"

Yeah definitely a valid point. I understand (more or less) for people who want kids, I need to add that to my comment. Of course I can still see some benefit to raising kids in a place like NYC, but that's much more nuanced

Edit: The below applies to people who don't want kids. I get why you wouldn't want to raise kids in somewhere like NYC (though I can also see the inverse).

I don't comment often on HN but I feel like I had to chime in here with a bunch of questions. These may sound inflammatory but I mean them sincerely, I just don't see where people are coming from. I understand that a lot of the things I'm listing are negatives for some people, I'm just shocked that it seems like they're negatives for 99.99% of people. Like, I'd expect at least a little more of a balance

I don't understand all of the hate for big cities recently. I mean do THAT many people truly hate living in a big vibrant city? Do that many people really want to have to get into their car and drive 25 minutes to the only (probably subpar) ramen shop in town. Does everyone just want a big 6 bedroom house that they can sit in and read/watch TV all day? Are you gonna go out on all that land more often then you would go out to eat world class, multicultural food? No one likes/wants public transit anymore? Having tons of theaters, shops, bars, etc around? You don't want access to the [some of the] most interesting jobs in the world? Surrounded by people who are world class at what they do? Being able to go to a bar and find someone who's a musician, someone who's an actor, someone from wall street, someone who sells hotdogs, etc all in the same place? How could you go from NYC to Madison, WI and not be so bored that you want to blow your brains out? It's a completely different world.

Maybe it's just the midwestern cities that I've been in, but they're all so dead. Everyone just seems to be ok with the status quo. Everyone just goes home and watches TV until work the next day. Maybe once a year they take a beach vacation, and then the other week they have off they see family for the holidays.

I mean yes, I get that it's expensive. I'm just surprised that SO may people have been seemingly staying in this place that they hate, driving up rent prices for everyone who wants to be in the city, just so they could keep whatever job they have. I mean if you really hated the city wouldn't you have looked elsewhere by now? It's not like it's competitive to get a job in one of these midwestern cities, so surely that great job you had in NYC that tied you there would guarantee you a way out of the city.

Binge eating can cause acid reflux, so I wonder if it’s a similar mechanism. Something about eating so much food in a small window maybe (?) doesn’t give your body time and space to digest it properly

Yeah I get that, I do love how clean this feels right now and comments could muddy it up pretty quickly

Would love if it allowed comments, as I want to put ideas out there and see discussion. I understand if it’s not the experience that you’re going for though - a lot of the time comments aren’t simple/easy/minimalist/etc. Great product, love it!

It could make for an interesting Firefox extension I think

What I’d like to see is a search that excludes any page with ads, and any page with affiliate links. That alone would get rid of 90% of the garbage