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Oh, you're so awesome it hurts? Sorry to hear about your rich people problems. > the greatest motor race in the world: 24 hours of Le Mans The entire southern

Oh, you're so awesome it hurts? Sorry to hear about your rich people problems. > the greatest motor race in the world: 24 hours of Le Mans The entire southern half of the U.S. begs to differ. Personally, I'd go with the Monaco Grand Prix if we're talking cars. If we're talking about "motor races" in general, it'd definitely be the Isle of Man TT. Hell, any one of the 18 yearly Moto GP races is probably better than Le Mans.

mberning 13y ago
24 Hours of Le Mans is generally regarded as one of the greatest motor races in the world. It is considered part of the 'triple crown' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple_Crown_of_Motorsport http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple_Crown_of_Motorsport). If you think Le Mans is not one of the most competitive and prestigious races in the world you are sorely mistaken. To say it is any more or less prestigious than winning Monaco is a purely subjective manner. The idea that the opinion of motorsport fans in the southern US has any weight is laughable. They are generally the most ignorant of other forms of motorsport and least well informed motorsport fans. It is worth pointing out however that DHH does not compete at the highest level in Le Mans. He is one class below.
- Irregardless 13y ago
  > To say it is any more or less prestigious than winning Monaco is a purely subjective manner. Of course it's subjective, and anyone who would declare a particular race "the greatest in the world" is obviously full of it. Someone just couldn't resist stroking his own ego a little more. I know DHH has a reputation for being arrogant and opinionated, but this post was over the top. > The idea that the opinion of motorsport fans in the southern US has any weight is laughable. They are generally the most ignorant of other forms of motorsport and least well informed motorsport fans. I bet you couldn't walk 10 feet at a NASCAR event without tripping over someone who could fix your car. I'd be amazed if you could find a single person like that sitting in the stands of a Formula 1 Grand Prix event.
  - phillmv 13y ago
    Well… if you live or grew up in in Europe Le Mans is definitely crème de la crème. They cover that shit live on TV. No one's making that up.
  - corin_ 13y ago
    > Of course it's subjective, and anyone who would declare a particular race "the greatest in the world" is obviously full of it. Do people not have personal favourites that they might, even with self-realising bias, call "the greatest in the world"? And if you were then talking, or writing, about this awesome experience, wouldn't you easily use those words to describe your feelings, rather than to statistically analyse race rankings?
  - mberning 13y ago
    Considering that I race a modern, fuel injected, turbocharged, AWD vehicle I'd say that they have very little chance of fixing anything on my car. It doesn't have a big sloppy push rod v8.
    - irreverentbits 13y ago
      Modern pushrod designs aren't "sloppy" - when you don't need to rev as high to generate adequate power, you don't need the added valve stability that an overhead cam arrangement provides. Not to mention that a single camshaft actuating pushrods is more space and weight efficient than a set of overhead cams. But then, that's just my opinion as someone who races a modern, fuel injected, naturally aspirated, RWD vehicle. A vehicle which has a pushrod V8.
alex_doom 13y ago
That article is weirdest humble brag I've seen in a while. Then again I'm not ultra competitive.
jamesaguilar 13y ago
I think you are missing the point of the article when you focus on who is having the problems, not the nature of the problems being addressed. Anyone who is trying to be the best can benefit from considering this advice. Likewise, you are off base both on whether Le Mans is one of the greatest motorsport races, and in focusing in on that seriously non-central part of the article.
socrates1998 13y ago
> Oh, you're so awesome it hurts? Sorry to hear about your rich people problems. Haha, that's exactly what I was thinking. It's the humble brag. He talks about ambition like everyone thinks it's great. I don't know him personally, but if all of his projects get in the way of being a decent father, then it ain't worth it, in my opinion.
larrys 13y ago
What I like is that writing like dhh has done is a good example of how to brag without appearing to brag. You wrap the bragging around a larger point which acts like the red herring to distract from the bragging. So you get to mention your "fastest and most reliable car, the best-prepared team, and two of the fastest team mates in the business" appearing almost sheepish and incidental. Or here is another of the same, saying something like this while making a point about anything: "This experience has been a painful realization of everything that Alfie Kohn wrote about in Punished by Rewards and a reminder of the wisdom of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s Flow." I have no clue who that is. But it sounds impressive which most things you have never heard of tend to do.
- sporkologist 13y ago
  That's how I read it. "I and my millions of dollars and world class team only came in second in an extremely competitive race, and I want everyone to know how that was a wake up call for me to not be so ambitious, because ambition can be poisonous. So here are some other philosophical writings about how to be happy with what you have and not be ambitious."
pg 13y ago
It's mortifying that this mixture of insult and irrelevance has so many upvotes. I know everyone's been worried about the amount of politics on the frontpage lately, but I'm much more worried about this comment. Political storms pass eventually, but comments like this rising to the top of HN threads is a sign of real decay. Whatever you think of DHH, there is an important point in this article, and thanks to the people who upvoted this comment, the people talking about it are relegated to the bottom of the thread.
- corin_ 13y ago
  Is it not possible that he would have ended at the bottom of the page not the top, and if so wouldn't it have been better for you to stay away to find out, since your comment likely adds many more downvotes to your parent comment?
- vl 13y ago
  Well, a lot of discussions in the last few months have top comment which a) was made early and b) disputes some minor technical point in the original article, while not being relevant to discussion. Maybe making younger low scored/recently upvoted comments sink even slower could fix that? In the meantime I use Chrome extension to fold those.
  - pg 13y ago
    Yeah, I know. The underlying problem is the same. I've spent a good deal of time thinking about how to fix it. I wonder if it would work to normalize votes based on how far down the page a comment is. God would that complicate the code though.
    - jamesaguilar 13y ago
      You should name the feature the anti-bike shed.
    - porker 13y ago
      Could we also have a communal "hide posts by this user" feature? Over time the aggregate data would be useful to detect who is like this - especially if we can select a reason for hiding a user.
bitwize 13y ago
The entire southern half of the U.S. begs to differ. The entire southern half of the U.S. also begs to differ with the rest of the world on when the Earth was formed, whether homosexuals deserve marriage rights, and other things. Hint: they're usually wrong.
- awj 13y ago
  As someone who grew up in the southern half of the U.S.: a) you're wrong, b) you're really not helping. Judging the entire region by the loudmouths just gives them an even louder voice than they had. There are plenty of great people in the south, maybe if you'd shut up with your generalizations and stereotypes they'd engage the rest of the world and drown out the bigots.
- Xcelerate 13y ago
  Wow! As someone who has lived in the southeast my whole life, I resent that. We have Georgia Tech, Oak Ridge National Labs, and plenty of intelligent people here. Some great innovations have come out of all parts of the south: from Atlanta, Chattanooga, Nashville, Ashville, etc... I can't believe you would make such a sweeping generalization.
- heartbreak 13y ago
  Another southerner here... Your comment is pretty narrow-minded, don't you think? Isn't that the same ineptitude you're accusing me of having?
  - bitwize 13y ago
    Yes, I do think, and I'm sorry.
mehwoot 13y ago
Eh, each to their own. In terms of endurance racing, 24 hours of Le Mans is the race. Whether you think endurance racing is the greatest of the types of motor racing.. entirely subjective.
locusm 13y ago
Not trying to change your mind on what is the greatest race, but I came across this the other day and realised how little I personally knew about this race. Truth in 24 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27F26UA1i6M http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27F26UA1i6M
rewind 13y ago
The irony of you posting this in a previous thread is almost too much to bear: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5900209 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5900209

mberning 13y ago

24 Hours of Le Mans is generally regarded as one of the greatest motor races in the world. It is considered part of the 'triple crown' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple_Crown_of_Motorsport http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple_Crown_of_Motorsport). If you think Le Mans is not one of the most competitive and prestigious races in the world you are sorely mistaken. To say it is any more or less prestigious than winning Monaco is a purely subjective manner. The idea that the opinion of motorsport fans in the southern US has any weight is laughable. They are generally the most ignorant of other forms of motorsport and least well informed motorsport fans. It is worth pointing out however that DHH does not compete at the highest level in Le Mans. He is one class below.

Irregardless 13y ago
> To say it is any more or less prestigious than winning Monaco is a purely subjective manner. Of course it's subjective, and anyone who would declare a particular race "the greatest in the world" is obviously full of it. Someone just couldn't resist stroking his own ego a little more. I know DHH has a reputation for being arrogant and opinionated, but this post was over the top. > The idea that the opinion of motorsport fans in the southern US has any weight is laughable. They are generally the most ignorant of other forms of motorsport and least well informed motorsport fans. I bet you couldn't walk 10 feet at a NASCAR event without tripping over someone who could fix your car. I'd be amazed if you could find a single person like that sitting in the stands of a Formula 1 Grand Prix event.
- phillmv 13y ago
  Well… if you live or grew up in in Europe Le Mans is definitely crème de la crème. They cover that shit live on TV. No one's making that up.
- corin_ 13y ago
  > Of course it's subjective, and anyone who would declare a particular race "the greatest in the world" is obviously full of it. Do people not have personal favourites that they might, even with self-realising bias, call "the greatest in the world"? And if you were then talking, or writing, about this awesome experience, wouldn't you easily use those words to describe your feelings, rather than to statistically analyse race rankings?
- mberning 13y ago
  Considering that I race a modern, fuel injected, turbocharged, AWD vehicle I'd say that they have very little chance of fixing anything on my car. It doesn't have a big sloppy push rod v8.
  - irreverentbits 13y ago
    Modern pushrod designs aren't "sloppy" - when you don't need to rev as high to generate adequate power, you don't need the added valve stability that an overhead cam arrangement provides. Not to mention that a single camshaft actuating pushrods is more space and weight efficient than a set of overhead cams. But then, that's just my opinion as someone who races a modern, fuel injected, naturally aspirated, RWD vehicle. A vehicle which has a pushrod V8.

alex_doom 13y ago

That article is weirdest humble brag I've seen in a while. Then again I'm not ultra competitive.

jamesaguilar 13y ago

I think you are missing the point of the article when you focus on who is having the problems, not the nature of the problems being addressed. Anyone who is trying to be the best can benefit from considering this advice. Likewise, you are off base both on whether Le Mans is one of the greatest motorsport races, and in focusing in on that seriously non-central part of the article.

socrates1998 13y ago

> Oh, you're so awesome it hurts? Sorry to hear about your rich people problems. Haha, that's exactly what I was thinking. It's the humble brag. He talks about ambition like everyone thinks it's great. I don't know him personally, but if all of his projects get in the way of being a decent father, then it ain't worth it, in my opinion.

larrys 13y ago

What I like is that writing like dhh has done is a good example of how to brag without appearing to brag. You wrap the bragging around a larger point which acts like the red herring to distract from the bragging. So you get to mention your "fastest and most reliable car, the best-prepared team, and two of the fastest team mates in the business" appearing almost sheepish and incidental. Or here is another of the same, saying something like this while making a point about anything: "This experience has been a painful realization of everything that Alfie Kohn wrote about in Punished by Rewards and a reminder of the wisdom of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s Flow." I have no clue who that is. But it sounds impressive which most things you have never heard of tend to do.

sporkologist 13y ago
That's how I read it. "I and my millions of dollars and world class team only came in second in an extremely competitive race, and I want everyone to know how that was a wake up call for me to not be so ambitious, because ambition can be poisonous. So here are some other philosophical writings about how to be happy with what you have and not be ambitious."

pg 13y ago

It's mortifying that this mixture of insult and irrelevance has so many upvotes. I know everyone's been worried about the amount of politics on the frontpage lately, but I'm much more worried about this comment. Political storms pass eventually, but comments like this rising to the top of HN threads is a sign of real decay. Whatever you think of DHH, there is an important point in this article, and thanks to the people who upvoted this comment, the people talking about it are relegated to the bottom of the thread.

corin_ 13y ago
Is it not possible that he would have ended at the bottom of the page not the top, and if so wouldn't it have been better for you to stay away to find out, since your comment likely adds many more downvotes to your parent comment?
vl 13y ago
Well, a lot of discussions in the last few months have top comment which a) was made early and b) disputes some minor technical point in the original article, while not being relevant to discussion. Maybe making younger low scored/recently upvoted comments sink even slower could fix that? In the meantime I use Chrome extension to fold those.
- pg 13y ago
  Yeah, I know. The underlying problem is the same. I've spent a good deal of time thinking about how to fix it. I wonder if it would work to normalize votes based on how far down the page a comment is. God would that complicate the code though.
  - jamesaguilar 13y ago
    You should name the feature the anti-bike shed.
  - porker 13y ago
    Could we also have a communal "hide posts by this user" feature? Over time the aggregate data would be useful to detect who is like this - especially if we can select a reason for hiding a user.

bitwize 13y ago

The entire southern half of the U.S. begs to differ. The entire southern half of the U.S. also begs to differ with the rest of the world on when the Earth was formed, whether homosexuals deserve marriage rights, and other things. Hint: they're usually wrong.

awj 13y ago
As someone who grew up in the southern half of the U.S.: a) you're wrong, b) you're really not helping. Judging the entire region by the loudmouths just gives them an even louder voice than they had. There are plenty of great people in the south, maybe if you'd shut up with your generalizations and stereotypes they'd engage the rest of the world and drown out the bigots.
Xcelerate 13y ago
Wow! As someone who has lived in the southeast my whole life, I resent that. We have Georgia Tech, Oak Ridge National Labs, and plenty of intelligent people here. Some great innovations have come out of all parts of the south: from Atlanta, Chattanooga, Nashville, Ashville, etc... I can't believe you would make such a sweeping generalization.
heartbreak 13y ago
Another southerner here... Your comment is pretty narrow-minded, don't you think? Isn't that the same ineptitude you're accusing me of having?
- bitwize 13y ago
  Yes, I do think, and I'm sorry.

mehwoot 13y ago

Eh, each to their own. In terms of endurance racing, 24 hours of Le Mans is the race. Whether you think endurance racing is the greatest of the types of motor racing.. entirely subjective.

locusm 13y ago

Not trying to change your mind on what is the greatest race, but I came across this the other day and realised how little I personally knew about this race. Truth in 24 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27F26UA1i6M http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27F26UA1i6M

rewind 13y ago

The irony of you posting this in a previous thread is almost too much to bear: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5900209 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5900209