Google hires private ferry service

boing
21

I hear their executives use helicopters to get to their private jets.

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22

Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! I know what all these tech companies should do. Since the good citizens of the area hate these tech companies so much, the tech companies should leave.

I hate to sound like some obnoxious right-winger, but as much as it pains me to admit that businesses left Illinois because of a 2% tax rise, they did. And it sounds like companies like Google are up against a lot more opposition than a puny tax rise.

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23

I just want to be offended by something and I’m not sure where to start.

Dammit!

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24

I honestly hope so. All this noise about the plight of the poor residents of one of the most privileged cities of the world with all these technologists rushing us headlong toward Dotbomb 2.0 wanting to live on their turf. Boo fucking hoo…

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26

I don’t think you understood my point. I’m not saying protesting against the giant corporations that are colonizing SF is rational, just that things like their massive buses make an easy target for people’s frustrations over all the people living here who don’t contribute to anything except rising rents.

And mind you, the protests did some good: Google and their ilk are now paying to use the city bus stops, which are a public resource.

As far as the change being inevitable, people like you said the same thing in the dotcom boom, and that sure busted marvelously. And this, which I like to call the “app boom”, will surely do the same. And San Francisco will continue to be a boom and bust town long into the future. But hopefully its arts scene won’t be completely obliterated before this next bust comes along.

And on a sidenote, I still love San Francisco. And Brooklyn. Hell I lived in Williamsburg in the early 90s when I couldn’t even get my friends in the East Village to cross the bridge since they’d never even heard of Williamsburg. Talk about times changing. And maybe the change will be as drastic in SF, but I doubt it. With any luck we’ll be buying the Google ferries at auction in a few years, just like we did the Kozmo.com scooters.

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27

i got into boingboing from RAW and cyberpunk and ERIS and new interesting ideas. all of these comments are from exactly the people we hated for their privilege and mediocrity. i live in an old tech town in the midwest that is luckily immune from these fucking kids. at the very least, praise bob for that.

much solidarity to the people of oakland that are assaulting and blockading tech company shuttles! for the kids that didn’t think punk was a joke - may the yuppie scum indeed die!

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28

yeah, the good ole times, when “you” guys had your little subculture protected from the vagaries of real life… you know how “we” call the people that want everything to stay the same as when they were young(er), with as little change as possible, and perhaps a little side dish of “us vs them”?

Conservatives. You’re in good company now. Enjoy!

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29

If you are a San Francisconian, can you please ask one of these Googlenians why my android phone sometimes plays videos on boingboing, and sometimes will not play them?

If you see a Wells Fargonian, will you please fart in their personal space?

Thanks!

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30

It’s a Doodle for Google’s employee …

34

All this dire concern trolling because beschizza jokingly said two words, “Checkmate, poors”?

Pathetic.

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35

you’re drooling all over that strawman. i’m in my 30s. i was lucky enough to know some solid older folx when i was coming up. still hooking up DIY bands with house shows, still a neophyte, and still hating yuppies.

36

oakland is the spot where the real conflict is kicking off. which makes sense. but that’s where gentrification (the kind that hysterical hyperbolic motherfuckers rant about) is really really actually happening. google buses have been blockaded and attacked, and liberal yuppie businesses are constantly getting their windows busted out. it’s reeeeally not a simple thing.

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37

Yeah? Well I’m gunna build my own ferry, with blackjack and hookers…

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38

But very common anywhere near water.

Ferrys are part of TFL in London, many people in the docklands take one to work. I live on the coast and there’s a hover ferry that runs every 30 minutes.

If they have enough employees to justify a dedicated charter then it seems like a very boring, sensible option.

I guess landlocked people think that boats are more luxurious than busses… They’re not.

Comparing it to a yacht is like comparing a Grayhound bus to a limousine.

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39

You forgot “gave birth to Hitler and promote Nazi dogma” in your little fantasy.

40

I’m a Google, you’re a Google,
wouldn’t you want to be a Google
too !

41

yes, a bit more effort. mouse to upper right. close window. problem solved.

42

may your hatred guide you to a happy life victor.

but that’s where gentrification (the kind that hysterical hyperbolic motherfuckers rant about) is really really actually happening.

you’re a riot.

45

Not much of a yacht if it’s actually used for something, innit?

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46

Shesh, they finally figure out how to get people to stop driving solo in their cars, and all you hear is people complaining.

I regret not getting a rent controlled apartment in San Francisco in the 1980s, and then holding on with a death grip.

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