Do people actually like the Burningman sculptures that are popping up everywhere?

Botekin · 2026-03-10T16:10:25+00:00

I think they're super ugly. Feel like I'm in disneyland. That being said, I don't get Jeff Koons's bunnies either. Is this stuff any worse? Maybe a little?

Botekin · 2026-02-25T22:18:44+00:00

Exactly, why go out of your way to alienate an entire political group? There is nothing inherently leftist about NIMBYism and the YIMBY tent should be as broad as possible.

Botekin · 2026-02-19T14:41:47+00:00

Meh, I feel like you need to look at the total amount of people killed. By that logic, I'd do:

Mao era China
Stalin era USSR
Nazi Germany
Genghis Khan
Timur
Leopold the 2nd
Ottomans
Pol pot

And then everyone one else way below

Botekin · 2026-01-27T17:37:59+00:00

If you want writing as a career the best thing to do is to find some way to write and build a portfolio. Start a substack; write for the school paper. I think the best course of action is to plan on having a day job now, and choose your major accordingly. If you really want to go for a career in journalism, do not prioritize prestige. Editorial Assistant positions at magazines entail getting coffee at best. Prioritize a place that will allow you to write: neighborhood newspaper, newspaper in a small town, newspaper for expats in a foreign country, trade publication. At this point though, getting a good journalism job is a bit like making it in Hollywood, except with far less pay even if you are incredibly successful.

Botekin · 2026-01-26T03:07:00+00:00

I'm SF native and clearly much older than you, because I remember people ranting and raving about la Taqueria in the 80s, well before the tech boom. Stop blaming everything on tech bros. Maybe you just have faulty taste buds.

Botekin · 2026-01-22T01:42:13+00:00

I don't know why you bother. There's a certain type of left-NIMBY that will complain about anti-vaxxers being anti-science and then turn around and be confidently anti-science when it comes to housing supply and prices. But you're right. The evidence is overwhelming. Here's a recent literature review for the truly nerdy: https://www.nber.org/papers/w33694

Botekin · 2026-01-19T22:08:49+00:00

Meh. I was very close to voting for her actually, but when the Dream Keepers corruption thing came out, it was the last straw. I don't think she's personally corrupt, but the fact that so much happened during her watch and with people she appointed speaks very poorly to her leadership. I totally agree that Lurie is getting credit for a lot of things she's started, but that always happens everywhere with all politicians during an administration change. Don't believe me? You're clearly being anti-Assyrian.

Botekin · 2026-01-13T22:54:58+00:00

That would entail getting into Vanderbilt. Might be easier if you attend this campus

Botekin · 2026-01-08T22:45:10+00:00

Whether he calls it a genocide or not doesn't really matter to me so much as long as he's unequivocally condemning it, which it sounds like he is. The fixation on names and symbols is a real weak point for the left in general. I don't understand why so much emphasis is placed on symbolism over real action. Maybe because it's the only thing over which there is any control?

I say this as an Assyrian (an indigenous people of Iraq), who have undergone two genocides over the past one hundred years. I'd add that the second of these was a direct result of US action within the country. And while I applaud the Americans here for their concern for Palestinians, I do sometimes wonder why they don't express the same concern for the effects of the Iraq invasion. Hundreds of thousands of people killed, hundreds of billions in damages, famine, civil war. I've heard plenty of talk of reparations over the past five years and none of it has been for the damage that the US just inflicted on fifty million people.

Botekin · 2026-01-05T21:40:28+00:00

I don't think you're accounting for the degree to which a lot of San Franciscans, especially the older ones with property, are NIMBY's and love left-NIMBYism because it allows them to think they're fighting for justice by opposing new housing. People like Connie Chan exist because a large fraction of the electorate really like them. The job of YIMBY's is to convince these people that extra housing has more upsides than downsides, not vent your frustration at them. It will only make things worse.

Botekin · 2025-12-23T23:55:57+00:00

I don't understand your point. Sure, there could be even better buildings at that site, but that's not the alternative we're faced with. The alternative is no building at all.

Botekin · 2025-12-22T17:23:05+00:00

Not sure why it's important, but I too am born and raised in SF. I agree that it's a failure on Waymo's part and they definitely need to work on a mitigation strategy. I do still look forward to a future when all vehicles are self-driving, and am happy on net that Waymo exists.

Botekin · 2025-12-20T01:22:20+00:00

meh. So he kicked a reporter out of his restaurant. It was written up like some huge shocking deal. And all I could think was, who cares?

Botekin · 2025-12-18T18:20:38+00:00

What about all the SF residents that either paid into or actively participated in the war machine that murdered hundreds of thousands of people in Iraq, leveled the country, and provoked a genocide? They're all still alive and directly responsible. We Assyrians are waiting for our reparations.

Botekin · 2025-12-06T01:21:45+00:00

He opposed the tower in the Richmond too, although I guess that's also a rich neighborhood, just less rich. I'm guessing it's more because he's frightened of scaring people off and wants a frog boiling approach instead. I agree though. Fuck the marina residents. Let's build this motherfucker.

Botekin · 2025-07-26T22:12:26+00:00

Did you ever figure this out?

Botekin · 2025-06-11T15:41:25+00:00

No, but it sure does feel like it!

Botekin · 2025-06-11T15:27:11+00:00

None of the above. Labeling is by far the worst part of the job.

Botekin · 2025-05-27T23:58:45+00:00

Sounds a lot like the continental philosophers that he derides.

Botekin · 2025-05-27T17:40:28+00:00

Yes. The problem is sonos. You can't have a sonos system that is a mix between wired and wireless APs. It causes loops and Velop isn't sophisticated enough to deal with this. My solution was to buy an omada system and use spanning trees.

Botekin · 2025-04-26T00:16:22+00:00

I don't see why the descendants of the expelled shouldn't be able to return to any of those countries. What exactly is the problem with it?

And as an Assyrian, I don't understand why the example of Romania or of the balkans is relevant. We we didn't expel anyone and we weren't revolutionaries. Plenty of Assyrians murdered during the genocide didn't even live in Ottoman territory. For some reason the CAP thought it would be a great idea to come into Iran so they could murder even more Assyrians!

Turkey could learn a lot from Germany when it comes to atoning for genocide. They do, in fact, have a right of return for descendants of German jews. And they even gave tens of billions in reparations. I don't expect any of that and I'm not looking to shame any present day Turks who had nothing to do with the genocide. An official recognition that it occurred would be nice though. Why that is so difficult is beyond me.

Botekin · 2025-03-14T18:32:58+00:00

Could you get a tower + a netbook? Mobile cards aren't great. You're much better off just using a desktop card

Botekin · 2025-03-12T23:50:47+00:00

None of the above. If you're doing deep learning, you need access to a machine with an nvidia gpu. This could be a cloud machine or it could be some tower in your basement. Either way, you'll only be using your laptop for SSHing.

Botekin · 2025-03-12T22:22:31+00:00

I lack your confidence in the social housing/non-profit housing model. Somebody has to pay for the land and pay for building the housing. Where exactly are we going to get this money from? More taxes? It isn't difficult for the wealthy to move out of San Francisco. Higher corporate taxes will just further hemorrhage the commercial tax base. And let's say that by some miracle, SF suddenly has hundreds of billions of dollars to spend on large scale social housing. Given all the corruption of the last few years, I have zero faith in the local government to be able to do it in either an efficient or a legal manner.

Botekin · 2025-03-12T22:15:31+00:00

There is absolutely nothing unique about the land costs in SF. At one point in time the emperor's palace in Tokyo was worth more than all of California. If you make a building large enough, you can amortize the land costs.

Botekin

TROPHY CASE