Re:Waymo car vandalized and lit on fire in San Francisco
by nwiswell on Sunday February 11, 2024 @04:13AM
(#39333667)
> Also it’s possible I overplayed how much of this was an SF phenomenon.
Yep. This is a phenomenon everywhere. I don't have hard data to support this, but I'm under the impression that soccer fans in Europe are even crazier.
Re:Waymo car vandalized and lit on fire in San Francisco
by seanmcdirmid on Sunday February 11, 2024 @04:31AM
(#39333757)
Ya, or hockey fans in Canada after they lose an important game. But Paris is special, since this generally happens every summer and May Day from kids just being angry.
Unheard of in Asia, however a skyscraper was accidentally burned out on the last day of CNY in 2009.
2014: https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Here-we-go-again-Gian...
2012: https://www.nydailynews.com/2012/10/29/san-francisco-giants-...
2010: https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/sports/world-series-damage-r...
As for doing so on Chinese New Year? I honestly think this Waymo got stuck in the crowd at the wrong place at the wrong time. Waymo has a good track record and still does in my books, but this car shouldn’t have been near Chinatown on Chinese New Year. It’s just stupid that it was, and unfortunate for the car. Those streets really are narrow and yeah, it gets crowded, so I’m inclined to think this was more a crime of opportunity. A mob gathered, some of them drunk and/or edgy, one thing led to another, etc.
Also it’s possible I overplayed how much of this was an SF phenomenon. It’s the City I know best but I found reports of other sports fans doing the same across America and Canada when I was Googling those links for you.