This rather confused me. Even more so because some of the details seem to being live edited.<p>A cycle courier for legal documents that gets to read the documents.
He crewed on a sub (initially im sure it said commanded) yet doesn't get on with computers yet even though he is homeless he knows about the square product, and also having never worked in design knows about Dieter Rams, someone with almost no designers I've ever met have ever heard of.<p>Just a weird story over all.
Being homeless myself I can say most homeless people I have met do it on choice.
Not sure about the USA, but here in Tokyo people become homeless after realizing they are wasting their lives working for goals and objectives that benefit nobody.
Eventually you realize you don't need most of the "commodities" and "comfort" of modern life. Maybe it is my engineering background speaking, but you learn to maximize output and minimize input in all aspects of life.
Sure, sometimes simple pleasures as sleeping can be hard sometimes (some hot nights, some cold ones). But on the other hand there is a feeling of freedom that comes from the lack of material possessions, nothing to take care of, nothing to protect, no attachments, no home to go back, no bills to pay, no future to worry about... just freedom, and it feels great :D
What this guy didn't say is that he figured out an alternative occupation - wandering the streets of san francisco saying intelligent things to young middle class people in the hopes that they will give him disproportionate handouts.<p>I've encountered this more than a few times when I lived in Berkeley. I think its a technique thats somewhat endemic to the bay area homeless population.
<i>Larry had actually been the messenger for the first documents in the Barry Bonds perjury case. Larry had been the first member of the public to know about the doping. He told me how reading those documents had ruined baseball for him.</i><p>I find this a bit unlikely. Then again, it might explain why he doesn't have a job as a bike messenger any more.
Am I the only one who found the whole thing extremely patronising? "A homeless man who could teach <i>me</i> something, who would've thought. I went to MIT!"
I lived in the Tenderloin for 3 months during the past summer, one block from the shelter on Polk st.
I've had conversations with numerous homeless people (while waiting for a bus) and all of them had an interesting story to tell (whether it's true or not, that's another issue).
What really struck me was that every homeless is homeless by his own choice. They have families (which could help them) and money and yet they choose to sleep on the street. I've never had an incident with any of them.<p>One thing I didn't noticed until I moved out is that Tenderloin really teaches you to be humble.
I would recommend anyone considering to start the next (insert buzzword here) startup to spend a month living in Tenderloin. You'll learn a lot about real-life problems, not just 1st world problems.
I like this story.<p>But this part baffles me: he 'wants to be his own man', so he won't work for somebody else. Instead, he doesn't work <i>at all</i> and accepts money from strangers... and somehow that is better and more prideful than working for somebody else?
Why be surprised that a homeless person knows a lot of things. Many homeless people are not "losers" -- they're winners of sorts.<p>Not winners in the sense of being successful or in control of one's destiny, of course, but in the sense of being slave to no one and fooled by no ideology. They're real-life Diogenes.
A good anecdote re: the value in (not being afraid of) striking up conversations with strangers. I think a lot of people, myself included, have a tendency to shy away from such encounters - ask the right questions, and you can get really interesting stories.<p>On the other hand, the man's comment about "wanting to be his own man" got me thinking about doing startups for the sake of not working at a large company. While it's probably a nice touch, I think I'm getting more cautious about letting that be a determining factor.
I am glad you had a positive experience with The Tenderloin. I had quite the opposite experience: I was nearly attacked.<p>He was spouting off stuff like "Stupid Americans!" and saying he was not afraid to get sued and that he would just return to his home country. Needless to say, I was pretty terrified. This dude was scary, and my friend (SF local) warned me about The Tenderloin.<p>Anyhow, I think it's great that you met such a positive and interesting character in one of the most unlikely places.
<p><pre><code> and found that my hand-pump was made for a different valve
than on my tire.
</code></pre>
With all handpumps I know, you can unscrew that top part and reverse it, so it fits the two most common kinds of valve (of which I don't know how you call them in English).
> <i>I asked him how he knew to reconfigure bike pumps</i><p>This is the most interesting part of the story.<p>Why do smart people come to weird conclusions such as "I have the wrong pump" rather than "This pump has a simple tweak to work with both popular valve types"?<p>And then "This was not obvious to me, and thus it is an obscure piece of knowledge, so anyone who does know it must have some weird experience" when really anyone who's used a bike pump knows this, especially if they've read the box.
The most unbelievable part of your story: you didn't know how to use your <i>own</i> bike pump! From your description it sounds like a pretty common design.
I am homeless and pretty open about that fact, as well as the expensive medical drama which led to my current situation. I am kind of offended. This piece sort of sounds like "wow, homeless people are actually human and once had a life off the street. Whoda thunk! (pat self on back for being so humane)"<p>Replace "homeless" with black, gay or similar words and see how you feel about announcing they are human and everything.
I really enjoyed the encounter.<p>It really makes one think about so many things. Who would have thought that a homeless guy would know about Square and even after that, you would be in a conversation with him about interface design.<p>If that guy has a good understanding of design by chance, I really think that he can actually do well in the industry :) [Just a thought]
Thank you for reminding us to be open to the unexpected. Life is a beautiful gift and so often I live in my "shell." I am sure I have missed many opportunities to meet the Larries of the world--thank you for the reminder to be present.
"I’ve been riding since I was 12 years old and have done several long-distance rides. Here I was getting schooled by a homeless person."<p>How is his being homeless related to his knowledge of bikes?
I'm sure he was a really smart guy with an interesting story but you sound a bit naive in believing everything he said i.e. about the Bonds papers and his tours and all of that. Likely a lot of exaggeration, some straight bullshit and a little bit of truth.<p>Great story though. And kudos to dropping a c-note on him. Giving a lot to them rarely is far better than $2 here and there, which will likely just go to beer or a small meal. $100 they can actually do something important with.
Anyone who has spent time in San Francisco, worked in the industry or ever spoken to a person who writes like that knows the story to be a fabrication.