I don't completely agree. The type of reporting done on tech websites and the type of reporting done in the past is a completely different strategy. The writers here don't have the luxury of sitting on a story. It's fast passed and the focus is geared toward being accurate with the technical details more than the grammatical details. That is not to say that it should be ignored, on the contrary, but we should give a little more leniency that we would in the past.
As an example, just the other day when Apple reached 1B App Store apps downloaded there were forum members wondering why AI hadn't posted an article on it when plenty of other sites blogged about it. With so many blog sites being able to report on quick little snippets of info and the internet becoming even more entrenched in our lives this problem will only increase, especially on tech sites trying to hold your attention for more than two paragraph report like AI.
If the grammar is wrong than the meaning is skewed, possibly making it inaccurate.
If you look at the ad AI recently posted about hiring writers for the site, they require some kind of English degree, so, it's not too much to expect proper use of grammar in articles posted here. Writing with proper grammar doesn't take more time than bad grammar, it just requires more knowledge.
If the grammar is wrong than the meaning is skewed, possibly making it inaccurate.
If you look at the ad AI recently posted about hiring writers for the site, they require some kind of English degree, so, it's not too much to expect proper use of grammar in articles posted here. Writing with proper grammar doesn't take more time than bad grammar, it just requires more knowledge.
Very rarely has the meaning been misunderstood because of grammatical errors on this site. I've seen it happen a few times on this from a word, usually a verb, used in an unusual manner or from a confusing sentence structure, but never from a simple syntax error.
As for more knowledge being required, that assumes that the writer is not aware that 'Job' is not spelled 'Jobs' or the differences between 'their' and 'there', 'it's' and 'its', etc. I don't think there is an argument that will convince me that the writers at AI are not aware of the differences of these oft discussed homophones.
This is hardly about fanboys. It's about environmentalists pretending to be preservationists trying to save an old house by strong-arming the town council. This isn't the first time these schmucks have meddled in such affairs.
I know this house rather well... I used to consume mass amounts of unmentionable substances in the ballroom (the pipe organ is no longer there). It was an impressive home for sure and original builders (Jacklings) should reason to be proud but ... it is by no means historic in the way that other Woodside homes are... such as Filoli (Heaven Can Wait, Dynasty), the Buck Estate (Little Miss Marple) and the Fleischaher estate. Just because a house is old and huge, doesn't make it historical.
The below link takes you to a series of images showing other nearby (less than 15 miles away) estates in the area that ARE significant as opposed to the place Steve wants to replace.
She's also a liar. The family that lived there in the '70s were the Lloyds, not Luce. I know because I used to party with the former owner's son, Andrew Lloyd back in the '70s and early '80s... in the ballroom no less. The pipe organ was removed and sold (to a client of mine) and now resides in Burlingame, CA. It's a nice, large home but there's really nothing significant about it other thans it's large and (was once a) beautiful estate. There have been many such estates in Woodside an its surrounding communities (Atherton, Portola Valley, etc.) and most of those were torn down and replaced without interference... Suddenly, when a famous and incredibly wealthy enterpreneur wants to do the same thing, these preservationist wackos grab the ambient limelight of this luminary to do nothing but draw attention to themselves.
I remember patting walls and gold-encrusted trim in the ballroom, exploring passages and basement vaults at FILOLI (Dynasty, Heavan Can Wait, Joy Luck Club, about five miles form Steve's property) on many occasions during the '70s... but I don't claim to have ever "lived" there. My mother worked there.
Here are few more notable neighbors of the Jackling estate... they kinda make it look like a run-down old barn today... http://gallery.me.com/macntek#100016
Quote:
Originally Posted by OS11
but it's not about the $13 million to restore it... it's about building a new house to his specs on that same land. he's offered it for $1 to anyone that will move it, but so far, no takers...
and i've done a bit more research and it's not the city council that is against it... it's this lady...
--- her family owned the Jackling House in Woodside in the 1970's ... She remembers patting the walls and touching the cast-iron staircase of the 17,000-square-foot mansion. ?It makes a real impression on you when you are 9 years old,? Luce said. ----
and even though she now lives in Miami Beach, she started a bogus "preservation" scheme through "UpHold Our Heritage" to try and defeat Jobs through the courts. you can read a quite a bit more here:
fortunately, the city council has denied her request to move up the next hearing, so it's this coming Tuesday... then hopefully it can be "legally" demolished.
The below link takes you to a series of images showing other nearby (less than 15 miles away) estates in the area that ARE significant as opposed to the place Steve wants to replace.
Actually, Steve's house doesn't look like chopped liver at all next to those other estates. It looks like a pretty amazing house, at least from above. Wonder why he won't spend the money to restore it, it would probably end up being an awesome house if he did.
She NEVER lived there. The Lloyds lived there in the '70s and '80s and I know this because my brother and I used to spend time there... drunk, smoking pot or dropping acid with their son, Andrew. End of story.
Quote:
Originally Posted by walshbj
When I saw it was the former owner of the property who was opposed to the house being knocked down my first reaction was - why didn't she write that into the deed?
I guess she didn't want deed restrictions reducing her selling price. So she wants the house to stay as long as it's someone else's loss, not hers.
Unless I'm missing something. Which I might be. I'm a bricklayer, not a Realtor®.
Don't we all... but, he doesn't need that kind of house. He's not a pretentious, nouveau-riche who needs to constantly remind the world of how well he's done for himself. He currently lives, and has for decades, in a modest home in Palo Alto. I imagine he just wants more privacy and peace that a larger lot and quieter streets afford.
By the way, in those photos, Steve's house is not to scale with the others. For instance, the Carolans estate is 92 rooms and was designated by JFK to be his West Coast White House, Filoli's ballroom (the right-wing of the house) is about the size of Steve's main residence and sits on 6,000 acres of formal gardens and nature preserve, the Buck Estate is very tall with multiple stories and spiraling chimneys and, if you check out Steve's neighbors in Google Earth, you'll see that his place really isn't that significant... kinda blending in with his neighbors.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Trajectory
Actually, Steve's house doesn't look like chopped liver at all next to those other estates. It looks like a pretty amazing house, at least from above. Wonder why he won't spend the money to restore it, it would probably end up being an awesome house if he did.
I say bulldoze it now and ask for forgiveness later!
Drop the bulldozer in gear, jump out screaming "Bee's, Bee's there after me...". Then say WOOPS as it drives through the front doors knocking over some structural element holding it up.
Or you could pull a "Real Genius" move and blame it on faulty code in windows.
Actually, Steve's house doesn't look like chopped liver at all next to those other estates. It looks like a pretty amazing house, at least from above. Wonder why he won't spend the money to restore it, it would probably end up being an awesome house if he did.
I wish I had this problem!
There's 2 costs. 1) refurbish it, removing toxic chemicals in it. 2) It's not very eco-green to own, live in, run a home like that. I think he simply wants a smaller home with style that fits HIM on the land he purchased the home currently sits on.
The below link takes you to a series of images showing other nearby (less than 15 miles away) estates in the area that ARE significant as opposed to the place Steve wants to replace.
the first image is not the Jackling estate, please update... thanks.
i agree. what's the penalty for razing a "protected" property. i'm sure he can afford it. :-) i'm sure the backlash would be significant, though.
so, on a more serious note:
steve?s a *billionaire*. since preservationists would be happy to have the home moved elsewhere, why doesn?t he just buy another lot, have the house moved there, then build what he wants on the current lot? even if that were to cost $10 million, what?s that to someone who?s worth in excess of $5 billion? (remember, a billion is a THOUSAND million. i know for a fact that people forget that.)
in other words, he?s a millionaire 5 *thousand* times over! why not spend $10 million to move the house to another setting? (and i don't think it would actually cost that much.) then he could (a) put it on the market until a buyer comes along, and still (b) build his dream house on the current lot.
this seems so ridiculously simple, especially for someone as ultra-wealthy as he is. so, what?s the big deal?
Steve Jobs spends his whole life promoting "California values" which is all communal and anti private property, so them not respecting his ownership is just his chickens coming home to roost.
I have never ever read any piece where Steve Jobs has come out promoting, championing, and campaigning for anything even remotely described as "Califronia values". Has he delivered any speeches condemning the institution of private property? As a capitalist who has billions worth of shares of stock has he railed against private property? In fact what exactly are "California values"?
That was the stupidest, most ill-informed post in a long time.
... limited knowledge. As an Architect (of European Nationality and having lived in the US for 10+ years) I would caution the overzealous posters wanting to tear down the building.
If the masses always got their will there would not be an Eiffel Tower today (for example).
Historic value has absolutely nothing to do with whether or not something is deemed aesthetically pleasing by someone ( Currently we are struggling to convince many people of merit of certain modernist buildings, just because they do not like the aesthetics).
There are secretary of the interior's standards and not knowing who all (for example, as it matters in regards to historic significance) has come and gone in this house (aside from the copper baron who was mentioned) we can not pass judgment without further investigation.
If indeed it is true that Steve Jobs has owned the house for 25 years (as another poster mentioned) I would say that adds to it's historic significance and also makes me think: Shame on him for not maintaining it better.
Further: I would mistrust a General Contractor's report on the condition of the house and - reading between the lines - the condition seems to be still quite suitable for renovation. The fact that the contractor claims it would have to be brought up to current seismic codes and have all windows replaced shows lack of experience in historic renovation on his part. (Also: Relocating a house from its original site greatly diminishes its historic significance).
Finally: I would not trust claims from a former owner and other politically motivated interests. A good solution would be to retain out-of-state, uninvolved expertise to generate a "historic structure assessment" which would objectively identify historic merit and specific features, as well as potential use suggestions, a basic renovation strategy, and rough budget numbers. Maybe Steve Jobs could hire an Architect to design a 6,000 sf contemporary addition and turn the existing building into a museum or foundation headquarters? I think he could further his legacy here.
I stand corrected. You're absolutely right, the Jackling/Lloyd/Jobs estate is not nearly as nice as the image I used and that image has been replaced by the correct one. It seems I lost my bearings since the estate's address used to be on Mountain Home Road, not Roble Rd. via Roberta Drive. Those roads didn't exist and were private drives which forked-off from the Jackling drive at the time I knew it. How times have changed. As it turns out, Steve Jobs and Larry Ellison are practically neighbors. And by the way, all the pictures I found on the web are either very old B&W images or grossly photoshop enhanced images of the place. Today, it really is run-down. When I knew it, It was still quite inhabitable but certainly didn't strike me as historical (and I am interested in, have studied and followed local historic architecture). If I felt it was really noteworthy and needed saving, I would be among the first to protest its demolition, as I did with Douglas Hall in Atherton, Filoli when the State wanted to make it a public golf and country club and the Uplands Mansion in Hillsborough.
About the organ's location... I dunno. All I know is that a client of mine bought it form Steve Jobs. Maybe he's waiting for the house to come down. I'll ask him what's up. But, that website with the color pix of the organ are quite accurate... that's where I used to party alright! Thought, I don't remember the debris all over the keyboard. I do, however, remember the faint rumble of the compressor under the terra cotta floor.
Comments
I don't completely agree. The type of reporting done on tech websites and the type of reporting done in the past is a completely different strategy. The writers here don't have the luxury of sitting on a story. It's fast passed and the focus is geared toward being accurate with the technical details more than the grammatical details. That is not to say that it should be ignored, on the contrary, but we should give a little more leniency that we would in the past.
As an example, just the other day when Apple reached 1B App Store apps downloaded there were forum members wondering why AI hadn't posted an article on it when plenty of other sites blogged about it. With so many blog sites being able to report on quick little snippets of info and the internet becoming even more entrenched in our lives this problem will only increase, especially on tech sites trying to hold your attention for more than two paragraph report like AI.
If the grammar is wrong than the meaning is skewed, possibly making it inaccurate.
If you look at the ad AI recently posted about hiring writers for the site, they require some kind of English degree, so, it's not too much to expect proper use of grammar in articles posted here. Writing with proper grammar doesn't take more time than bad grammar, it just requires more knowledge.
If the grammar is wrong than the meaning is skewed, possibly making it inaccurate.
If you look at the ad AI recently posted about hiring writers for the site, they require some kind of English degree, so, it's not too much to expect proper use of grammar in articles posted here. Writing with proper grammar doesn't take more time than bad grammar, it just requires more knowledge.
Very rarely has the meaning been misunderstood because of grammatical errors on this site. I've seen it happen a few times on this from a word, usually a verb, used in an unusual manner or from a confusing sentence structure, but never from a simple syntax error.
As for more knowledge being required, that assumes that the writer is not aware that 'Job' is not spelled 'Jobs' or the differences between 'their' and 'there', 'it's' and 'its', etc. I don't think there is an argument that will convince me that the writers at AI are not aware of the differences of these oft discussed homophones.
1) If Jobs says it's a turd, he's probably right.
2) Town council members are almost always short-sighted, bloated idiots.
3) Imagine a house guided by Jobs' exquisite taste. The iHouse. Only a fool would say "no" to it, but see item #2, above.
An iHouse with no Windows.
An iHouse with no Windows.
or Gates!!
I know this house rather well... I used to consume mass amounts of unmentionable substances in the ballroom (the pipe organ is no longer there). It was an impressive home for sure and original builders (Jacklings) should reason to be proud but ... it is by no means historic in the way that other Woodside homes are... such as Filoli (Heaven Can Wait, Dynasty), the Buck Estate (Little Miss Marple) and the Fleischaher estate. Just because a house is old and huge, doesn't make it historical.
The below link takes you to a series of images showing other nearby (less than 15 miles away) estates in the area that ARE significant as opposed to the place Steve wants to replace.
http://gallery.me.com/macntek#100016...&bgcolor=black
throw some news at the fanboys and watch them defending Jobs even knowing nothing of the story's background.
I remember patting walls and gold-encrusted trim in the ballroom, exploring passages and basement vaults at FILOLI (Dynasty, Heavan Can Wait, Joy Luck Club, about five miles form Steve's property) on many occasions during the '70s... but I don't claim to have ever "lived" there. My mother worked there.
Here are few more notable neighbors of the Jackling estate... they kinda make it look like a run-down old barn today... http://gallery.me.com/macntek#100016
but it's not about the $13 million to restore it... it's about building a new house to his specs on that same land. he's offered it for $1 to anyone that will move it, but so far, no takers...
and i've done a bit more research and it's not the city council that is against it... it's this lady...
"Clotilde Luce"
http://www.miamibeachhistory.org/act...ilde_luce.html
--- her family owned the Jackling House in Woodside in the 1970's ... She remembers patting the walls and touching the cast-iron staircase of the 17,000-square-foot mansion. ?It makes a real impression on you when you are 9 years old,? Luce said. ----
and even though she now lives in Miami Beach, she started a bogus "preservation" scheme through "UpHold Our Heritage" to try and defeat Jobs through the courts. you can read a quite a bit more here:
http://snipurl.com/gqejb
fortunately, the city council has denied her request to move up the next hearing, so it's this coming Tuesday... then hopefully it can be "legally" demolished.
The below link takes you to a series of images showing other nearby (less than 15 miles away) estates in the area that ARE significant as opposed to the place Steve wants to replace.
http://gallery.me.com/macntek#100016...&bgcolor=black
Actually, Steve's house doesn't look like chopped liver at all next to those other estates. It looks like a pretty amazing house, at least from above. Wonder why he won't spend the money to restore it, it would probably end up being an awesome house if he did.
I wish I had this problem!
When I saw it was the former owner of the property who was opposed to the house being knocked down my first reaction was - why didn't she write that into the deed?
I guess she didn't want deed restrictions reducing her selling price. So she wants the house to stay as long as it's someone else's loss, not hers.
Unless I'm missing something. Which I might be. I'm a bricklayer, not a Realtor®.
By the way, in those photos, Steve's house is not to scale with the others. For instance, the Carolans estate is 92 rooms and was designated by JFK to be his West Coast White House, Filoli's ballroom (the right-wing of the house) is about the size of Steve's main residence and sits on 6,000 acres of formal gardens and nature preserve, the Buck Estate is very tall with multiple stories and spiraling chimneys and, if you check out Steve's neighbors in Google Earth, you'll see that his place really isn't that significant... kinda blending in with his neighbors.
Actually, Steve's house doesn't look like chopped liver at all next to those other estates. It looks like a pretty amazing house, at least from above. Wonder why he won't spend the money to restore it, it would probably end up being an awesome house if he did.
I wish I had this problem!
I say bulldoze it now and ask for forgiveness later!
Drop the bulldozer in gear, jump out screaming "Bee's, Bee's there after me...". Then say WOOPS as it drives through the front doors knocking over some structural element holding it up.
Or you could pull a "Real Genius" move and blame it on faulty code in windows.
Actually, Steve's house doesn't look like chopped liver at all next to those other estates. It looks like a pretty amazing house, at least from above. Wonder why he won't spend the money to restore it, it would probably end up being an awesome house if he did.
I wish I had this problem!
There's 2 costs. 1) refurbish it, removing toxic chemicals in it. 2) It's not very eco-green to own, live in, run a home like that. I think he simply wants a smaller home with style that fits HIM on the land he purchased the home currently sits on.
Drop it, remove it, get on with life.
The below link takes you to a series of images showing other nearby (less than 15 miles away) estates in the area that ARE significant as opposed to the place Steve wants to replace.
the first image is not the Jackling estate, please update... thanks.
this is the correct estate:
http://www.zillow.com/homes/map/460-...02_rect/17_zm/
and the pipe organ is still there... as 2008 at least... here are some photos...
http://scotthaefner.com/photos/search/jackling/
Actually, Steve's house doesn't look like chopped liver at all next to those other estates.
MacinTek has the wrong image marked as Steve Jobs / Jackling estate... so ignore the first image until he fixes it. the correct aerial view is here:
http://maps.google.com/maps?t=h&q=37...2&z=18&iwloc=A
i agree. what's the penalty for razing a "protected" property. i'm sure he can afford it. :-) i'm sure the backlash would be significant, though.
so, on a more serious note:
steve?s a *billionaire*. since preservationists would be happy to have the home moved elsewhere, why doesn?t he just buy another lot, have the house moved there, then build what he wants on the current lot? even if that were to cost $10 million, what?s that to someone who?s worth in excess of $5 billion? (remember, a billion is a THOUSAND million. i know for a fact that people forget that.)
in other words, he?s a millionaire 5 *thousand* times over! why not spend $10 million to move the house to another setting? (and i don't think it would actually cost that much.) then he could (a) put it on the market until a buyer comes along, and still (b) build his dream house on the current lot.
this seems so ridiculously simple, especially for someone as ultra-wealthy as he is. so, what?s the big deal?
1925 ? Its a house, not a historic building.
Clotilde Luce, whose family bought the Jackling estate and lived there during the 1960s... (not 1970's)
http://www.almanacnews.com/morgue/20...ackling27.html
Steve Jobs spends his whole life promoting "California values" which is all communal and anti private property, so them not respecting his ownership is just his chickens coming home to roost.
I have never ever read any piece where Steve Jobs has come out promoting, championing, and campaigning for anything even remotely described as "Califronia values". Has he delivered any speeches condemning the institution of private property? As a capitalist who has billions worth of shares of stock has he railed against private property? In fact what exactly are "California values"?
That was the stupidest, most ill-informed post in a long time.
If the masses always got their will there would not be an Eiffel Tower today (for example).
Historic value has absolutely nothing to do with whether or not something is deemed aesthetically pleasing by someone ( Currently we are struggling to convince many people of merit of certain modernist buildings, just because they do not like the aesthetics).
There are secretary of the interior's standards and not knowing who all (for example, as it matters in regards to historic significance) has come and gone in this house (aside from the copper baron who was mentioned) we can not pass judgment without further investigation.
If indeed it is true that Steve Jobs has owned the house for 25 years (as another poster mentioned) I would say that adds to it's historic significance and also makes me think: Shame on him for not maintaining it better.
Further: I would mistrust a General Contractor's report on the condition of the house and - reading between the lines - the condition seems to be still quite suitable for renovation. The fact that the contractor claims it would have to be brought up to current seismic codes and have all windows replaced shows lack of experience in historic renovation on his part. (Also: Relocating a house from its original site greatly diminishes its historic significance).
Finally: I would not trust claims from a former owner and other politically motivated interests. A good solution would be to retain out-of-state, uninvolved expertise to generate a "historic structure assessment" which would objectively identify historic merit and specific features, as well as potential use suggestions, a basic renovation strategy, and rough budget numbers. Maybe Steve Jobs could hire an Architect to design a 6,000 sf contemporary addition and turn the existing building into a museum or foundation headquarters? I think he could further his legacy here.
A current example in Europe:
http://deconarch.files.wordpress.com...-dresden-8.jpg
http://www.daniel-libeskind.com/typo...565e0a224b.jpg
Sorry for the long post ... I am passionate about these things :-)
MacinTek has the wrong image marked as Steve Jobs / Jackling estate... so ignore the first image until he fixes it. the correct aerial view is here:
http://maps.google.com/maps?t=h&q=37...2&z=18&iwloc=A
I stand corrected. You're absolutely right, the Jackling/Lloyd/Jobs estate is not nearly as nice as the image I used and that image has been replaced by the correct one. It seems I lost my bearings since the estate's address used to be on Mountain Home Road, not Roble Rd. via Roberta Drive. Those roads didn't exist and were private drives which forked-off from the Jackling drive at the time I knew it. How times have changed. As it turns out, Steve Jobs and Larry Ellison are practically neighbors. And by the way, all the pictures I found on the web are either very old B&W images or grossly photoshop enhanced images of the place. Today, it really is run-down. When I knew it, It was still quite inhabitable but certainly didn't strike me as historical (and I am interested in, have studied and followed local historic architecture). If I felt it was really noteworthy and needed saving, I would be among the first to protest its demolition, as I did with Douglas Hall in Atherton, Filoli when the State wanted to make it a public golf and country club and the Uplands Mansion in Hillsborough.
About the organ's location... I dunno. All I know is that a client of mine bought it form Steve Jobs. Maybe he's waiting for the house to come down. I'll ask him what's up. But, that website with the color pix of the organ are quite accurate... that's where I used to party alright! Thought, I don't remember the debris all over the keyboard. I do, however, remember the faint rumble of the compressor under the terra cotta floor.
http://gallery.me.com/macntek#100016