Reader's Comments

You know, at first I was really enjoying your page, thinking "hmm.. there is some insight here. And its a whiteboy giving this anti-Gatez sentiment, and he even lives in the Northeast." I nodded my head in solidarity to your anti-Gatez, anti-mega-corporation hot air, and briefly had a tiny spark of hope within me for middle-class colleged whites and the general populous of this country, thinking, perhaps racial stereotypes are just that - stereotypes.

And then... you became everything you were at first berating. Look in the mirror, my friend. You are the "yuppie scum" you speak of. Enjoy your meaningless life of material collection, your yuppie condo, and your hot-macho car or European sedan. Hmm... maybe you'll find a modestly attractive, practical, young white bride, have a few kids, and then die, your children meanwhile having completed your meaningless cycle.

USA #1!

-- cattle #3432477, September 24, 1998

F-14's... been there.
~M.Kelly

-- Matthew E. Kelly, February 26, 1999

I recently had my garbage disposal blow up too. It looked about as old as the house and had obviosly been installed wrong. I drove to sears. They had a 1.5 horsepower monster on display at the front of the isle for 139.95, but I didn't think I'd be able to carry it out to the car by my self. I got the 1/3 hp kenmore for 39.95 from the bottom shelf and installed it in about 45 minutes. It's much quieter than the old beast, and sounds sort of like the trash compressor on a garbage truck. Very nice.

-- David Tarulli, March 15, 1999

I live in New York. Garbage disposals are illegal here. Now I know I'm not missing much.

-- Frank Wortner, March 17, 1999

I have always rented furnished apartments, and am now saddened by the fact that my worldly possessions will no longer fit in my Olds Cutlass Supreme.

-- Kris Willoughby, May 26, 1999

Phil, your writing, as usual, is interesting even though I'm bored by the subject matter. I'm once again alarmed by the clash of tone/attitudes and the reality, that is, the CASH you have available. As the first rather venomous fellow wrote in this string, several minivans full of stuff and the purchase of a 1/4 mil house squash a lot of my respect. It's a neat trick, though; create an incredible identity (compassionate, resourceful, intelligent) and then tear it down with extensive bursts of self-pity/-indulgence. You're a lit. follower, from some of your other scribblings...check out Russell Banks' "Continental Drift."

-- Lyn Lord, June 10, 1999

I think I've been outdone. Last week I bought a $AU41,500 house 10 mins from the city that *is* being pulled down soon. It came with an outdoor toilet and a tree in the roof ...

-- Robyn Stanley, July 26, 1999

I'm rather saddened by all the hostile comments I see on this page. Phillip Greenspun has done rather well for himself, and I'm always pleased to see that, but I don't think that affects his merits as a person one way or the other. He's very generous with the knowledge and software expertise he pours into his web sites, and I would bet they haven't shown much in the way of financial return. I think he calls himself a scum-sucking yuppie materialist as a way of self-satire, and I find it rather amusing.

For another look at the real estate world, see David's Dream House, an exploration into the world of cut-rate (or theoretically cut-rate) real estate in the Los Angeles area.

-- David H Dennis, August 28, 1999

I recently moved to a newer apartment away from all the noise of the inner city. The total cost of moving was $60 and that was for the U-HAUL. Well the two not so bad things about the move was that my wife and I were the One Man his Wife and a U-HAUL, and secondly the move took about 5 days. We only had to move about 15 miles away. The good thing Is that we got rid of a lot of junk, and we did not have to worry about any of our stuff being stolen by movers. We moved the day after thanksgiving, and could not get a U-HAUL until 5 pm that evening. We did not think we had to reserve a U-HAUL prior to moving the day after thanksgiving, but surprisingly everybody else in the city that was planning to move, moved on that day. So advice is dont move the day after thanksgiving unless you believe you need to work off all that turkey you ate the day before. Well I wonder if Phil was more worried about losing one or several of his LP records or losing an MIT text during the move. Anyway moving can be tiresome but I would rather do it myself than pay $500 for some guys to dump my property in the middle of the floor at my new home. ..

-- Arthur Pinkerton, December 12, 1999

I was in Harvard Square about two weeks ago and everyone there seemed miserable. Why didn't you get a place near Fanuel Hall? It was full of cheerful materialists.

My own perspective is that freedom is inversely proportional to number, size, and cost of possesions. Having got rid of my house, my wife, my cat, my furniture and my car I feel now free to contemplate the infinite.

Of course, I am now unfortunately filling up my apartment with camera equipment, so will probably never achieve Zen. I seek instead the exact correct amount of underexposure for my slide film as the key that will unlock the secret of the universe.

-- Bill Mallin, January 13, 2000

Hey, are those magnapans?

-- Patrick Kelly, July 17, 2000

On the insinkerator web site, you can search for the "right disposer for you" where you can select how important quiet operation and long product life are to you. How thoughtful of them to produce the Badger 1 model for people who don't want quiet operation or long product life. "Hi, I'd like to return this disposer because it's too quiet, -and don't you have a model that will fail sooner?"

-- Mark Barnes, December 2, 2000

Actually, Nolo Press has a Real Estate Section now, so you can buy a house without a lawyer.

-- Guan Yang, March 17, 2001

I think the key to everything is moderation. When the pursuit of material objects and money becomes so great that one is willing to do anything (lie, cheat, steal, forced child labor etc.) it's over the top. There is a point where the amount of money a person has cannot even possibly be used for anything else but to enslave the people (i.e. Bill Gates being able to buy Romania, but not being able to utilize all of the assets personally). That is simply wrong.

In response to the quote from -- The First and Second Discourses, Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Animals were the first ones to mark out their territory... and they still do it by leaving urine trails... I believe Rousseau was right... humans are about as civil as animals sometimes. (sigh)... so much for M.I.T grads...

-- Ernest Citizen, July 18, 2001

GIVE me women, wine, and snuff

Untill I cry out "hold, enough!"

You may do so sans objection

Till the day of resurrection:

For, bless my beard, they aye shall be

My beloved Trinity.

John Keats

-- Muawiyah Askari, September 11, 2003

It's funny how all you people are jealous of Philip and can't give this brilliant MIT grad and teacher a hand. I think a job well done. BTW he didn't ask for you to read his article on buying his new home. So if you knew it was going to be a boring topic. LEAVE :)

-- Paul Batalla, January 9, 2004