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Comment by HanClinto | Hacker News Reader

Yeah, that's a tough one. If I make a joke about your behavior or appearance, even if it feels neutral or innocuous to me, you might not see it that way. And if you push back, then I defend myself by saying: "Whaaat? It was a jooooke!"

Especially when it's done frequently / regularly, the line between "consistent neutral-ish jokes" and "mild harassment" can become a bit blurred.

Not saying that such things should be outlawed or policed or whatever -- I just shrugged it off and didn't let it bug me. But if I'm trying to quantify it as positive or negative, it usually felt like a joking comment made at my expense.

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I hear what you're saying and you're right in that there is nuance. I normally will give a light glib comment about something and then wait to see if I get any back. If I do it's good fun and I'll do more but if I never do I know the person isn't ready or willing to engage on that level. I find that people usually use the "It's just a joke" line after saying straight up rude things rather than light remarks.

Additionally: what motivations does one have to ride a unicycle instead of a bicycle? I can only think of reduced storage space being a practical benefit.

> what motivations does one have to ride a unicycle instead of a bicycle? I can only think of reduced storage space being a practical benefit.

You're assuming a practical benefit but maybe people do it for fun, the challenge, or simply because of the novelty.

Good thoughts -- yeah, this is a tough one to parse, and I don't have all the answers.

> Additionally: what motivations does one have to ride a unicycle instead of a bicycle? I can only think of reduced storage space being a practical benefit.

For me, it was more fun than walking, and was good balance practice. It was faster than walking, and unicycles are smaller than bikes. Additionally, I juggle, so this was a nice thing to practice to put into my act.

> what motivations does one have ...

We are on a site named Hacker News, after all.

> Because it's there. — George Mallory

I don't personally feel that the "hacker ethic" is just doing whatever odd thing to do it. I think it's more of a desire to see how and why things are they way they are, and to tweak it so it is better. Riding a unicycle for attention vs creating a self leveling unicycle. But I'm not really qualified to say, and I defer to those who are.

The progression is natural (it also leads to "code golf", lambda calculus/SKI, etc.): almost everyone learns to ride vehicles with three wheels, most people learn to ride vehicles with two, so why not continue the minimisation to one? (zero wheels would normally be considered too degenerate to be practical, but maybe some hacker may eventually come up with the pedal-powered hovercraft? How about fractional wheels [or is this just a penny farthing]? imaginary wheels?)

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