

In defense of Mr. Pernicious (Jason Fried) and Big Shoulders (Chicago) - malbiniak
http://spill.tanagram.com/2010/06/25/in-defense-of-mr-pernicious-jason-fried-and-big-shoulders-chicago/

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tptacek
Chicago does not make rocket ships. I love this city, but please keep it real.
The downside to Chicago: you won't get funded. The upside to Chicago: you
won't get funded.

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Yoonka
Awesome discussion! This is the second time someone has pointed out that
Chicago doesn't make rocketships. Tell me why this doesn't count as a
spaceship?
[http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_X-37?wasRedirected=tru...](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_X-37?wasRedirected=true)

What's your angle on this not being ours?

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tptacek
Boeing corporate moved to Chicago in '01, but its aerospace engineering and
manufacturing teams did not. The heart of that company is still on the west
coast.

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Yoonka
Hi Tptacek, My point in the post was comparing corporate headquarters. I
responded to a similar comment on spill. I'm pretty sure (though haven't
researched) Gap and Levi's don't manufacture in SF. I've worked in Seattle
with the fine folks at Boeing and agree they are the guts of the company. The
money still comes from Chicago.

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mikeryan
I'm totally unclear how geography had a damn thing to do with Jason's advice
on hiring. Nor is it clear why either of these posts had to degenerate into
some sort of "my town is better then your town" penis waving contest

~~~
starkfist
I will let you know why, but it will cost me karma and likely start another
penis waving contest:

it is a Chicago thing.

Chicagoans (who live there) cannot stop talking about how great Chicago is.
And it's a zero sum game. Chicago can't just be great on it's own... your town
has to SUCK in comparison. No other other town has this problem. Even New
Yorkers can admit that New York sucks from time to time, or will say that
Miami is nice in the winter. No Chicagoan will ever say anything good about
another city without also mentioning why Chicago is better. And you're lucky
to get even that. Usually they will just tell you why where you live sucks.

-Signed, someone born and partially raised in Chicago and glad I don't live there.

~~~
tptacek
It is _so_. _much_. _better_. than other US cities, though!

Seriously, though:

(1) People either _love_ or _hate_ NYC, and they _love_ or _hate_ SoCal. They
_love_ or _don't care_ about Chicago. It's a biased signal.

(2) Chicago is the closest thing in the US you can get to NYC if you want
"major urban center", "top population center", and can't actually deal with
NYC. That's me. I can't deal with NYC, but I appreciate what everyone else
does in NYC, and Chicago has 80% of that. This would be "just another thing
people who like Chicago say about Chicago" except that "proximity to the NYC
experience" is a _huge deal_ for city lovers.

(3) People, especially tech people, underappreciate just how small San
Francisco, Seattle, Austin, Portland, and even Greater Boston are. I say that
not to put Chicago on a level above them, but instead to note that those
cities have fewer boosters _just statistically_.

(4) That said, most of the "Chicago is amazing" stuff comes out in
conversations with NYC-ers and SF-ers, and we tend to concede that, say,
Portland is a nice place to live too.

Oh, and by the way? We didn't bring Chicago into this. That original douchey
blog post did, with its commentary about how everyone in the third largest
metro area in the country "works for or knows someone who works for the parks
district". But now you know why 'tptacek thinks Chicagoans act like that.

~~~
starkfist
See what I mean?

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tptacek
I'm imagining you hitting refresh waiting for the first reply to CTR-V that
into. ;)

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starkfist
It's a slow evening with high chance of thunderstorms...

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tptacek
Seriously, I hear this all the time about Chicagoans, and easy as it would be
to just take it as a compliment about the city and get on with my life...
don't you think maybe there's a reason why Chicago generates this reaction?

Please note: I'm trying to give you reasons that don't just devolve to "it's
because Chicago is so awesome". I'm saying, "deceptively huge number of
people, not polarizing, and the largest genuine urban experience outside of
NYC".

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starkfist
Yes, I am sure there are reasons why Chicago generates this reaction.

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tptacek
You just think one of them is "inferiority complex". =)

~~~
Yoonka
Seriously dude, your mama _is_ fat. :-P

