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[2023-06-27 16:09:48] - found this lovely twitter screenshot on reddit. i'm not sure which i'm more pissed off by. ~a
[2023-06-27 14:10:51] - paul: "probably his company with the least probability of working" i thought the point was that his other grand plans (everybody drives for every trip and sometimes we use hyperloop) definitely require tunnels. ~a
[2023-06-26 20:28:30] - daniel: oops. tonight works, thanks. ~a
[2023-06-26 20:24:02] - paul: tonight works, thanks! ~a
[2023-06-26 20:23:19] - paul: "aren't the majority not Tesla specific but car specific" and? i shouldn't invest in something that's bad, just because it's the least bad part of a larger bad group. ~a
[2023-06-26 20:16:45] - a: good for sc2 tonight? if not preferences? -Daniel
[2023-06-26 20:07:52] - a: The Boring Company I thought was a joke for like months. I still don't really get it and think it's probably his company with the least probability of working. -Paul
[2023-06-26 20:07:04] - a: Lots of fair points, but aren't the majority not Tesla specific but car specific? I mean, it's still a perfectly valid reason for not wanting to invest, though. -Paul
[2023-06-26 19:23:36] - paul: "Musk would blow millions of dollars just to try to get rid of high speed rail seems.... odd" yeah, you're right. i uuuh, maybe think i'll just step back from my statements earlier so i can reevaluate. the boring company seems like a good idea in theory, but i really hate that he's just doing it all to make his shitty form of transportation JUST as shitty. ~a
[2023-06-26 19:23:16] - paul: i like FSD's potential BUT it's still *more* dangerous than a human imo. ~a
[2023-06-26 19:23:05] - paul: (4. governments go bankrupt maintaining car facilities. 5. teslas are heavIER which is bad for people getting crashed into. 6. their cybertruck has ridiculous sharp edges that will fuck people on the street up BAD. 7. all cars are heavy which is bad for the environment. 8. teslas are heavIER which is bad for the environment: nee and endless roadway production. 9. lithium battery production is bad for the environment.) ~a
[2023-06-26 19:22:49] - paul: "Something else?" all of the above and more? in decreasing priority order: 1. cars are inefficient at getting people to their destination, and clog up roadways in . . . well, an inefficient way. 2. all cars fuck people up when they crash into people. the REST don't matter. #1 are all that matters to me. but here are the rest: (3. people bankrupt their personal finances buying and maintaining cars.) ~a
[2023-06-26 18:03:57] - a: Anyway, I definitely will agree that there's a decent chance hyperloop ends up failing. But the idea that Musk would blow millions of dollars just to try to get rid of high speed rail seems.... odd. Why would he care? Seems more likely he thinks high speed rail isn't going to work and was legitimately looking for a better alternative. -Paul
[2023-06-26 18:01:38] - a: "you definitely needed to qualify this. hsr is real and exists. it's super popular around the world" Right, sorry, I meant in the US. -Paul
[2023-06-26 18:00:51] - a: "i'm strongly against tesla's whole business model, though" Interesting. What part? The FSD? The EVs being heavier and thus more deadly? EVs not being as environmentally friendly? Something else? -Paul
[2023-06-26 17:24:19] - paul: by speed ~a
[2023-06-26 17:23:56] - paul: "High speed rail, like peak oil, is something I've heard is just around the corner for my entire life". you definitely needed to qualify this. hsr is real and exists. it's super popular around the world. by mile. ~a
[2023-06-26 17:15:24] - paul: "the company I referred to him founding was hyperloop. Not tesla" oh shit. i was misunderstanding. "Do.... do you think Tesla is fraudulent" no. i think musk lies a lot, but definitely no. i (sheepishly) have a few shares in tesla. i'm strongly against tesla's whole business model, though, so i'm slowly divesting. ~a
[2023-06-26 17:03:58] - a: Do.... do you think Tesla is fraudulent? -Paul
[2023-06-26 16:58:54] - a: Honestly, I thought THAT is what you were originally referring to in your original post. You specifically called out hyperloop. -Paul
[2023-06-26 16:58:07] - a: No, the company I referred to him founding was hyperloop. Not tesla. -Paul
[2023-06-26 16:56:59] - a: "who suggested he started up his company for this purpose?" Isn't that exactly what you accused hyperloop of being? -Paul
[2023-06-26 16:49:55] - paul: "started up a fraudulent company" i keep forgetting to correct you on this. tesla was founded in 2003 by martin eberhard and marc tarpenning. ~a
[2023-06-26 16:47:28] - mig: right, we're both talking about the hyperloop. hyperloop was hyped to hinder CA's high speed rail, yes. i said this first: "In 2017 he tweeted he had 'verbal government approval' for a so-called hyperloop". musk was 100% lying. i don't think he bought tesla to kill california hsr, but he did lie to the world to help kill california hsr (who knows, it could have died on its own). ~a
[2023-06-26 16:34:58] - a: i think paul is talking about the hyperloop? I know you’ve railed (lol) about how the hyperloop was hyped to hinder CA’s high speed rail? - mig
[2023-06-26 14:24:23] - paul: the one place we might agree though, is it's possible california high speed rail was going to die anyways. we desperately need high speed rail, but i'm starting to think the US doesn't have the leadership it takes to build high speed rail. ~a
[2023-06-26 14:07:39] - paul: you missed a third option (C) less controversially, he just wanted his cars to sell well, so he knifed the competition. knifing your competition can be done in multiple ways, but beating them in the market is always better for everyone than debasing yourself with sneaky lies and false statements. ~a
[2023-06-26 14:05:36] - paul: "who started up a fraudulent company solely out of his hatred and fear of high speed rail" wait isn't this a bit of a strawman? who suggested he started up his company for this purpose? if you were being non-literal, sorry that i missed it: but, nobody thinks buying and expanding a car company was done to screw over public transit. ~a
[2023-06-26 13:40:07] - a: So if we've been waiting for decades for high speed rail, and there is no sign it seems like it will ever go beyond a multi-billion dollar waste of taxpayer money, and some billionaire thinks he can maybe do better, why would we assume (A) that THAT was the thing that killed high speed rail and (B) that it was done with nefarious purpose and not because he didn't want to wait another decade for signs of progress? -Paul
[2023-06-26 13:38:09] - https://reason.com/2022/10/13/we-told-you-why-and-how-californias-high-speed-rail-wouldnt-work-you-chose-not-to-listen/ The biggest news I've heard about it recently was around reporting the New York Times (the New York Times!) did around how much of an epic failure California's attempt has been. -Paul
[2023-06-26 13:37:26] - a: Count me as still skeptical of this theory that Musk is some mustache twirling villain who started up a fraudulent company solely out of his hatred and fear of high speed rail. High speed rail, like peak oil, is something I've heard is just around the corner for my entire life. I'm still waiting. -Paul
[2023-06-23 18:35:00] - "In 2017 he tweeted he had 'verbal government approval' for a so-called hyperloop - a kind of train system - to connect New York City with Washington DC, Philadephia and Baltimore. This has yet to materialise." oh, man, they left out the one sentence where they mention that he did this in his target market where high speed rail was starting to gain momentum. ~a
[2023-06-23 18:31:32] - not the onion. after reading this i feel like zuckerberg is serious and that musk is not. ~a
[2023-06-23 16:51:17] -
inclusive-or. ~a[2023-06-23 16:45:09] - a: por que no los tres? -- Xpovos
[2023-06-23 13:30:16] - i've never heard of lucinda babers mostly because i don't live in dc. but i feel like, after reading this article, and after watching a few public dc community-meetings, i'm starting to wonder if lucinda babers isn't a terrible person who's *worse* than just bad at her job. she seems to be actively fighting for negative change in dc. ~a
[2023-06-23 13:26:04] - mig: we'll reevaluate in 10 years? say 2033? i predict by then, reddit or facebook or twitter will be a shell of its former self. ~a
[2023-06-23 13:24:56] - mig: "such a feat is trivial though" i can't believe i forgot slashdot. no such a feat is nontrivial. but reddit (or facebook or twitter or etc) may do it to itself. we'll see i guess. ~a
[2023-06-23 13:00:55] - wave and buzz kind of make my point as also ran failures who tried to topple the established players. - mig
[2023-06-23 12:59:03] - a: sure reddit can be toppled. I don’t think such a feat is trivial though. - mig
[2023-06-22 18:35:16] - mig: i mean, isn't that exactly what happened with digg? and myspace / orkut / friendster / googlePlus / googleWave aka googleBuzz / vine / etc? nobody expects reddit, or any network like that, will for-sure last forever, right? ~a
[2023-06-22 18:21:45] - Which maybe sounds negative towards them but I think anyone with that option would be hard pressed to turn it down. -Daniel
[2023-06-22 18:21:13] - paul: I think its once they decide they want to head towards IPO. In the begining its your project that you just want to be successful. Eventually one decides that selling out and getting a shit ton of money is a nice option too. -Daniel
[2023-06-22 18:18:36] - A bit surprised it has taken this long for it to become a problem for reddit. -Paul
[2023-06-22 18:18:06] - Daniel: Yeah, that sounds most reasonable to me. I think we are seeing that a bit with stuff like CNN and Vice Media and whatnot too. Lots of news and communications platforms are widely used and/or important.... but it's not clear the best way to monetize them. -Paul
[2023-06-22 17:51:49] - title: then why hasn’t a reddit clone eclipsed reddit? - mig
[2023-06-22 17:20:45] - and the struggle between people who are used to / want free services or platforms and the people who have to figure out how to pay for them. -Daniel
[2023-06-22 17:20:10] - paul: If there is a connection between Twitter / Reddit I would think that its the ongoing struggle to figure out how to monetize / IPO these platforms and products which are highly profitable but not really inherently money generating. -Daniel
[2023-06-22 15:37:40] - yeah i never literally followed him. but back when he was president i read it pretty often. nowadays he's not on twitter at all. ~a
[2023-06-22 14:56:54] - a: I don't follow Trump, and I normally don't see community notes directly on people I follow, but people I follow do occasionally retweet or quote tweet things that have notes. They seem more consistently helpful and accurate that a lot of fact checking I have seen. -Paul
[2023-06-22 14:50:32] - a: "there's a pretty high chance these people are dead. i even feel uncomfortable typing this, here." Yeah. It's crazy, but given the likely alternative, at this point I find myself hoping it was some structural decompression days ago which killed them instantly instead of them slowly freezing / suffocating to death in pitch darkness. Just sucks. -Paul
[2023-06-22 14:35:31] - paul: i'm pretty sure community notes are made by the community. i.e. they can be wrong. it's probably the point of the "rate it" button, right? for the record i have no opinion on community notes, i don't think i've ever noticed them on the tweets i read (i don't usually read tweets by "important people". ironically trump is the major exception to that). ~a
[2023-06-22 14:02:52] - paul: that they don't care about other people, only themselves? that they should pull themselves up by their bootstraps? it is highly inappropriate, though: there's a pretty high chance these people are dead. i even feel uncomfortable typing this, here. ~a
[2023-06-22 01:04:51] - a: I hope so? Only possible relevance I can think of is that either donating to Republicans implies some degree of carelessness or donating to Republicans means their deaths are less tragic. -Paul
[2023-06-21 22:23:26] - seems irrelevant, no? ~a
[2023-06-21 21:45:24] - https://twitter.com/newrepublic/status/1671625232640098308 I've seen a lot of intersting takes regarding the Titanic submarine story, but this one stood out because it's not some twitter rando, but a theoretically journalistic entity. I wonder what the implication is here. Or why this is newsworthy.... -Paul
[2023-06-21 21:38:35] - Like: Will student loan forgiveness benefit the wealthy over the poor? False. Because there are income caps on people who can claim it. Okay.... but people with student loan debt in general tend to have higher incomes than those who didn't get college degrees. -Paul
[2023-06-21 21:34:39] - mig: It's frustrating how often political fact checkers focus on something which is technically true (ie, this company did use Starlink) but contextually is irrelevant or even misleading (losing contact with the submersible probably has nothing to do with Starlink). I saw a lot of this around the student loan forgiveness, where the fact checkers seemed to be willfully misunderstanding some of the arguments. -Paul
[2023-06-21 20:34:20] - paul: the first snopes blurb is fucking bizzare. “Yeah we’re marking this statement as true, but we actually have no idea that it is”. Musk Man Bad is a helluva drug. - mig
[2023-06-21 19:59:45] - a: https://twitter.com/neontaster/status/1671600120427675650 I know you're skeptical of Musk's twitter, but how do you feel about community notes? -Paul
[2023-06-21 19:36:45] - a: Yeah, I don't mean directly. I guess I'm wondering if there is some underlying social movement that might be a contributor to both. Maybe I am overthinking it. I have had the concept of big social movements on my mind lately. The way the culture/politics is going today seems very different from like 2 years ago. -Paul
[2023-06-21 19:19:01] - paul: they did specifically mention twitter/elon in my link in the section with "twitter/elon" in the title. ~a
[2023-06-21 19:18:12] - paul: "I wonder if they're connected on some high level" hmmm, wow. uuh, the twitter and reddit situations do not seem linked. . . . unless reddit decided to use this time of turmoil to make big changes? but i don't see that as likely. ~a
[2023-06-21 19:09:53] - Like, is this a sea change when it comes to the balance between free speech and content moderation? Or maybe an increased push to monetize because cheap money is going away? Something else? -Paul
[2023-06-21 19:08:58] - With the caveat that I know next to nothing around the specifics of what is happening at Reddit.... it's interesting to me that this is happening around the same time another popular communications platform (Twitter) is going through changes and platforms like Twitch are also seeing some criticism from creators. I wonder if they're connected on some high level? -Paul
[2023-06-21 19:04:53] - (also do be careful, a lot of the links on those links are nsfw) ~a
[2023-06-21 19:02:24] - reddit is going off the deep-end? thanks, i hate it is now un-moderated. so is interestingasfuck and shittylifeprotips . . . crazy! details here. ~a
[2023-06-21 18:51:20] - paul: hmmm, ok. ~a
[2023-06-21 18:05:38] - "aws services which reddit seems in line with" using what math? amazon charges 0.005/iops-month, which is roughly $.002 per million io operations (0.005/(365/12*24*60*60)). i know each api request will be thousands of io operations, but i'm not sure how using aws prices we would ever get to $250 per million requests. ~a
[2023-06-21 17:32:47] - a: https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/siemens-energy-takes-full-control-siemens-gamesa-2023-06-13/ Sounds like it started last year but as of June 13th, hasn't quite finished? The Microsoft acquisition of Activision was initiated over a year ago and is still in limbo.
-Paul[2023-06-21 17:23:45] - is it true that apollo has about 900k users? That was mentioned in a comment? - mig
[2023-06-21 17:22:12] - My only real frame of reference is aws services which reddit seems in line with but obviously thats not really an apples to apples comp. - mig
[2023-06-21 17:20:22] - a: I don’t think I can defend much of reddit’s behavior. But I’m less interested in that than the central question of whether reddit’s api pricing is onerous or not. I don’t have a good frame of reference and I don’t think I have found one yet. Christian cites instagram but i can’t find that pricing list anywhere or even know if that’s an honest apples to apples comparison. - mig
[2023-06-21 17:15:44] - paul: "Maybe the delisting hasn't completed yet" i doubt it, it was a year ago the process started. ~a
[2023-06-21 17:11:01] - https://reason.com/2023/06/21/lab-leak-theory-confirmed-ben-hu-wuhan-china-covid/ So, can we agree that the lab leak theory is more likely true than not at this point? -Paul
[2023-06-21 17:10:29] - a: It has happened automatically for me in the past, yes. Your brokerage is still showing your old shares? Maybe the delisting hasn't completed yet? -Paul
[2023-06-21 16:32:16] - that's right. usually this is more automatic, isn't it? if it matters, though, this isn't an american company. it was traded on a US exchange, though. ~a
[2023-06-21 15:38:22] - a: And you didn't get shares of another company or money in exchange? -Paul
[2023-06-21 15:33:27] - i dunno. nothing special? still business as usual and they're still making new offerings and products and revenue and profit is pretty normal: except for the delisting ~a
[2023-06-21 15:23:04] - a: I'm completely unaware of that company. What is going on with it? -Paul
[2023-06-21 13:43:26] - paul: i noticed that siemens gamesa renewable energy sa (gctaf aka sgre) stopped trading on nasdaq. so, now what? i don't hold too many shares, but if i wanted to trade gctaf, what would i do? i wasn't even considering selling my gctaf shares until i noticed that the "last" price was getting removed from a few places. the "last" price didn't seem too concerning, but i'll admit things may have changed now that they're de-listed. ~a
[2023-06-21 13:10:18] - anyways, read the rest. there's a lot there and every bit of it shows how obvious their intentions were. ~a
[2023-06-21 13:09:16] - mig: the "30 day" thing also tips their hand. ~a
[2023-06-21 13:08:31] - mig: that means that with $0 profit, $0 in R&D, $0 in rent, $0 salaries, $0 etc, they're still in the red. ~a
[2023-06-21 12:40:06] - mig: but read the rest: all of the developers are being screwed. the amount per user they're asking for is 29 times more than they can even pull in on their own users. they want to kill third party apps and to hell with the users and unpaid moderators. the users and unpaid moderators have issue with that. ~a
[2023-06-21 12:37:26] - mig: "could this just be a symptom of inefficient api usage on apollo’s side". yes, possibly: *not* "just" though. they did discuss that in the recorded call that apollo's developer, christian, was forced to publish, when he was wrongly accused of demanding hush-money. ~a
[2023-06-21 12:26:15] - mig: regarding context from the link "Apollo's existing subscription users use on average 473 requests per day. This is more than an average free user (240) because, unsurprisingly, they use the app more." ~a
[2023-06-21 01:26:58] - playing some devil’s advocate could this just be a symptom of inefficient api usage on apollo’s side? I dunno if he’s addressed it , but the usage #s he’s citing do seem high. - mig
[2023-06-20 22:51:20] - a: I probably need a frame of reference for usage and pricing. 7 billion api requests/month does seem … excessive. - mig
[2023-06-20 20:39:59] - giant wall of text that gives lots of insight to the "api" conversation. biased viewpoint? sure. but he also backs everything he says up with lotsa links. other than quitting reddit forever, i'm not sure how i should support him and his cohorts. ~a
[2023-06-20 17:57:09] - mig: why didn't the background check catch this? ~a
[2023-06-20 17:56:12] - obviously i wouldn't be getting a gun, but if i did, and they asked me if i was addicted to anything, but like i was addicted to something a year ago (or any amount of time ago), i'd be like, well i'm 1 year sober, but *one day at a time*! (fills in "no" on the form) does the form have any specifics? ~a
[2023-06-20 17:54:06] - mig: he did lie? the article didn't say that: obvious follow up question, was he charged with any drug related offenses on or near-after october 12, 2018? a normie would be asked the same question: you said you weren't an addict on that date: but, like, were you? was it a lie? or not? ~a
[2023-06-20 17:17:25] - I certainly don’t believe his punishment (effectively nothing)would be in linewith what a normie would get. - mig
[2023-06-20 17:13:25] - https://news.yahoo.com/hunter-biden-reportedly-violated-federal-152649044.html he lied on a background check form about his drug use. This doesn’t seem like a trivial or ticky tack issue. - mig
[2023-06-20 17:10:19] - this feels like the kind of charge that most trump-appointed u.s. attorney's would straight-up drop. ~a
[2023-06-20 17:08:46] - mig: the u.s. attorney is trump appointed, so you aren't going to get far claiming bias or coverup or going easy on your own or whatever. ~a
[2023-06-20 17:06:59] - mig: moreso, can you point at one "commonsense" gun law, where this punishment would not be in line with the law? like, remind me what commonsense law he even broke? he was an addict so he's technically supposed to relinquish his gun? to whom even does he do that? seems like a very minor charge, but feel free to correct my misunderstandings. ~a
[2023-06-20 17:04:09] - mig: "and being ok with Hunter’s deal" can you point at one person who is "ok" with hunter's deal and is crying "we need commonsense gun laws!" ~a
[2023-06-20 16:59:46] - On top of that It seems very difficult to reconcile they cries of “we need commonsense gun laws!” and being ok with Hunter’s deal. - mig
[2023-06-20 16:56:04] - really lite. Its a difference with not much distinction. - mig
[2023-06-20 16:55:42] - a: he’s technically being charged and convicted of the tax charges. The gun charges will be dropped pending some diversion program. 2 years probation for > $ 1 million in tax evasion and lying on a background check form to illegally obtain a gun seems really
[2023-06-20 16:16:53] - a busy toronto street is banning car traffic all summer ~a
[2023-06-20 16:16:50] - (i'm not exactly going for whataboutism: i'm trying to focus on the fact that biden is being charged, convicted, and justice will be served. unlike all the other cases of illegal shit we've been talking about recently) ~a
[2023-06-20 16:15:05] - mig: isn't he pleading guilty and (potentially) being convicted of a crime while being a child of a sitting president? for all the illegal shit trump did during his presidency, they charged him with zero crimes during his presidency. ~a
[2023-06-20 15:14:43] - https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/joe-biden/hunter-biden-plea-deal-income-tax-case-gun-charges-rcna90144 i thought democrats were super cereal about tax cheats and breaking gun laws. - mig
[2023-06-20 15:08:57] - paul: the two graphs are close, yes. they both use the same source. one graph excludes re-releases (ps2 ultra slim, etc) and the other does not. also they roughly end on the same date, but i don't think it is exact (one ends q3 last year, and the other doesn't specify, but is roughly the same year). ~a
[2023-06-20 15:00:04] - a: Yeah, even if that second chart shows the exact same data as the first chart (which I assume it does), that second chart more closely matches what I thought was the breakdown between PS and Xbox. ie, I knew PS largely was the big winner, with Xbox360 being the only one which was competitive. -Paul
[2023-06-20 14:51:37] - since college i've had a strong dislike of all things microsoft, but recently i've found typescript (a microsoft programming language that builds on javascript) and github/github-pages/github-actions/etc (microsoft acquired the site in 2018) very useful and powerful. ~a
[2023-06-20 14:07:28] - xpovos: yeah the slope looks pretty heavily skewed towards the ps even if you ignore the start-time. here's a version that splits it out by release. i tried to find a graph for just the united states and failed (i did find articles that the playstation did still outsell xbox, in some releases, in the united states). ~a
[2023-06-20 13:49:42] - Xpovos: Yeah, but even with that.... I guess it's hard to tell, but it looks like the graph is implying ~80 million xbox units sold between the launch of Xbox360 and XboxOne and ~120 million PS units sold between the launch of PS3 and PS4. -Paul
[2023-06-20 13:44:21] - I'd love to see Nintendo units on the graph as well. The other note is the very low slope of the X1 time period, which really shows the relatively poor performance of that generation, which we knew. -- Xpovos
[2023-06-20 13:43:39] - Paul: Xbox 360 did outsell PS3 overall, at least for a period of time, but that graph starts from PS1 and goes through total units. The slopes are what you're asking about, essentially. And it's such a long time horizon that it's tough to see. -- Xpovos
[2023-06-20 02:12:53] - a: Because I am pretty sure that in Japan (which I think might be the #2 console market in the world behind the US?) the Xbox has never sold well. -Paul
[2023-06-20 02:12:19] - a: I knew Playstation was generally beating Xbox, but what shocked me about your graph was that I could've sworn there was an extended time when the Xbox360 was beating the PS3. Do you know if it is US or worldwide? -Paul
[2023-06-20 02:10:53] - a: I'm not saying they succeeded, only that that was their goal. Maybe even still is? Democratic politicians seem quiet on this now, but it sounds like big tech companies are still suppressing social media involving RFK Jr. -Paul
[2023-06-20 00:17:08] - a fun graph. i always figured it was closer to 50-50. maybe it's one of those android-vs-ios things where in the united states the numbers are just different? ~a
[2023-06-20 00:16:46] - i don't mean to be so combative, though. i mostly agree that RFK (and whoever) are gaining steam because of how weak biden is. ~a
[2023-06-19 23:48:20] - paul: "it had to be mandatory and any vaccine hesitancy had to be excluded from all public discourse" you must never watch fox news. or listen to any republican politicians. or any republican rallies. or any republicans period? false statements about vaccines is in about 100% of the republican talking points and are the false statements are repeated constantly on fox news. ~a
[2023-06-19 17:14:36] - It's crazy to me how much the politics of things have changed in my lifetime (I mentioned lots of times before how for the longest time, it was generally the left that was suspicious of vaccines, until Trump and COVID where suddenly it had to be mandatory and any vaccine hesitancy had to be excluded from all public discourse). -Paul
[2023-06-19 17:13:12] - https://www.cc.com/video/uwf623/the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart-robert-f-kennedy-jr Just stumbled upon this 2005 interview between Jon Stewart and RFK Jr about vaccines and autism. It does not appear to be a hit job where he makes fun of the person, but instead an earnest discussion on how big pharma is covering up the dangers of vaccines. -Paul
[2023-06-19 15:12:58] - I mean, I guess he's pro-bitcoin, so that's cool. But everything else seems not just bad but likely specifically against what the left has been against recently. It just feels a little similar to Trump where some rando outsider with tons of views the party should find repellent somehow gets a lot of support. -Paul
[2023-06-19 15:02:47] - a: "but he sounds awesome" I assume you're being sarcastic, but he's like polling pretty favorably among Democrats considering they have the incumbent president. I know that probably speaks more towards Biden's weakness, but.... Like aren't we just like two years removed from everybody on the left thinking everybody on the right was irredeemable because they were anti-vaxxers and election deniers? -paul
[2023-06-18 04:53:44] - sorry I don't know rfk jr. but he sounds awesome. ~a
[2023-06-18 04:50:50] - you guys buy movies and tv shows and then leave them on the cloud? ballsy. ~a
[2023-06-18 01:38:11] - https://www.engadget.com/google-unexpectedly-sells-its-domain-hosting-business-to-squarespace-183001176.html Google shutting down another beloved service. Uh... should I be worried about the movies and TV shows I have bought through them? -Paul
[2023-06-18 01:22:21] - Is it just because he's the only halfway legit Democratic alternative to Biden right now? Is it the Kennedy name? I mean, isn't his claim to fame being a huge anti-vaxxer, election denier, and conspiracy theorist who thinks the CIA killed his father. -Paul
[2023-06-18 01:20:38] - https://twitter.com/BillAckman/status/1670223599808962564 Can somebody explain to me the appeal of RFK Jr? I've seen a bunch of pretty respected people across the political spectrum going gaga over him. I feel like I am taking crazy pills. -Paul
[2023-06-17 02:57:57] - I've generally tried to give him the benefit of the doubt, but man does it seem like he's really lost his marbles. -Paul
[2023-06-17 02:56:50] - https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2023/06/16/biden-god-save-the-queen-man-remark/70332100007/ "Todd Gillman, the White House correspondent for The Dallas Morning News, covered Biden's speech and said that he and other pool reporters in the room did not understand the intent of the remark." -Paul
[2023-06-16 15:55:52] - https://nypost.com/2023/06/16/biden-jokes-that-he-was-40-when-he-met-a-17-year-old-eva-longoria/ OMG. When I read the “She was 17, I was 40" joke, I couldn't believe Biden was that much older. Then the article explained that apparently the joke is he was passing himself off as younger, because he "would’ve been 50 when Longoria was 17". Jesus Biden is old. -Paul
[2023-06-15 19:17:07] - mig: "I’m not sure exactly what Trump changed" he's literally being charged with the thing he proposed, (heavily) promoted during the 2016 election, and signed into law. i'm basing my feelings on that. ~a
[2023-06-15 00:24:34] - And well if a normie had been doing what Clinton did I’m very certain that person would be in federal pound me in the ass prison. - mig
[2023-06-14 21:27:06] - a: I’m not sure exactly what Trump changed, but I’m basing my feelings on how regs have always been. - mig
[2023-06-14 17:48:42] - paul/mig: didn't the clinton situation happen before the new regulations trump introduced to safeguard classified secrets and punish people who didn't safeguard those classified secrets? ~a
[2023-06-14 17:25:15] - I’m not arguing Trump should get off. In fact I’ll be peeved if he does. But I’m getting pretty tired of the pundit/pol crowd squawking about “no one is above the law” and “integrity!” while trying to say clinton did nothing wrong. - mig
[2023-06-14 17:22:12] - “was there clearly intentional and willful mishandling of classified information?“. In clinton’s case, absolutely. Clinton was very much aware that she got classified info through her emails, and there’s no way she wasn’t aware that setting up her email system the way she did wouldn’t cause info spills. - mig
[2023-06-14 17:19:55] - a: But I'm also swayed a bit by the argument that the law should be enforced equally or else respect will be lost for it. If all white people doing selling cocaine get ignored but all black people selling cocaine get arrested, that's kind of BS. That situation does need to be resolve somehow. -Paul
[2023-06-14 17:17:48] - a: "one of them got away with it. that doesn't mean the other should?" This is where I'm still uncertain. On the surface, it seems pretty obvious that two wrongs don't make a right and obviously just because somebody else got away with something it doesn't mean Trump should too. I pretty strongly believe that. -Paul
[2023-06-14 17:15:54] - a: And honestly? I think Clinton benefitted from the fact that it was literally during an election where she was a major party candidate. If she was actively running for president, I wonder if things might have been different. Rightly or wrongly, I think there's extra weight arresting somebody actively running for President for a major party vs "just" a former politician. -Paul
[2023-06-14 17:13:58] - a: "the main issue to the director of the fbi is apparently different than the main issue to you" Maybe? Is Comey on record as saying Trump's situation is different? Also, it's not like the FBI is infallible. Wasn't the Durham report all about how they made a serious of bad judgement calls in their investigations of Trump? -Paul
[2023-06-14 17:12:52] - https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/14/business/starbucks-manager-racial-discrimination/index.html $25 million is a decent chunk of change for something that seems like it might be hard to prove. -Paul
[2023-06-14 16:42:05] - paul: to xpovos's point, prosecute them when they blatantly / recklessly / continuously break the law. ~a
[2023-06-14 16:41:51] - paul: the fbi director and his team decided she did not but i am willing to admit that the fbi director is only human (sometimes worse). "it's also hard for me to argue why Hillary shouldn't have been" we agree regardless: what clinton did was bad. what trump did was worse. one of them got away with it. that doesn't mean the other should? ~a
[2023-06-14 16:37:34] - paul: "She definitely lied about it" did she lie to law enforcement? (i.e. did she obstruct justice?). i read your article but didn't see that specifically called out. they say "she lied" in the text, but my skimming couldn't find the "she lied" sentence. ~a
[2023-06-14 14:59:17] - paul: "Like, the main issue to me is" the main issue to the director of the fbi is apparently different than the main issue to you. the main issue to the director of the fbi was, were there efforts to obstruct justice? was there clearly intentional and willful mishandling of classified information? was there vast quantities of materials exposed? etc? ~a
[2023-06-14 13:43:30] - a: I think his sister-in-law lives there? Maybe? Not sure. -Paul
[2023-06-14 13:43:18] - Like, the main issue to me is: Should people be prosecuted for knowingly mishandling a bunch of classified info and lying about? I kind of think yes? And if so, both Clinton and Trump did that. -Paul
[2023-06-14 13:40:14] - a: I don't really see how you can say Trump's case clearly involved all and Hillary's didn't involve any. Both seemed to involve the mishandling of classified info (clearly and intentionally). Both involved lying about it. I do not count Trump's bizarre admiration of dictators as indications of disloyalty anymore than I would consider the failed "reset" that Clinton oversaw with Putin. -Paul
[2023-06-14 13:26:00] - paul: why is vinnie moving to florida? i'm not . . . like questioning it or anything, just curious why he picked florida. ~a
[2023-06-14 12:39:46] - on the other hand, the trump case astonishingly includes all of those criteria. if you count his zealous admiration of literal dictators as an indication of disloyalty. ~a
[2023-06-14 04:11:35] - paul: "mishandling or removal of classified information: [is associated with] clearly intentional and willful mishandling of classified information; or vast quantities of materials exposed ... ; or indications of disloyalty to the united states; or efforts to obstruct justice": “we do not see those things here” - fbi director james comey (registered republican / donor) regarding the clinton case after a year-long investigation. ~a
[2023-06-13 20:53:37] - And with the LP seemingly self-destructing.... man.... I don't know what I'll do if it's Trump vs Biden vs some non-serious LP nominee.... This is shaping up to be a depressing election. Everybody always wants to say this current election is always the most important? I say it's always the most depressing.
-Paul[2023-06-13 20:40:30] - Xpovos: HAHAHAHAHA..... oh, were you serious? I am starting to wonder if both major parties are trolling the American people by nominating increasingly bad candidates over and over to see how much they'll take? -Paul
[2023-06-13 20:22:03] - Paul: Or, maybe, both parties could stop nominating people inclined to perform criminal actions to benefit themselves? Maybe if Republicans go after Biden next and Democrats go after {...} next it's all for good cause and the lawsuits force a reckoning with corruption. -- Xpovos
[2023-06-13 19:51:54] - a: Not looking forward to the future where the party in power is constantly going after the leading candidate of the party out of power. Having said that, Trump couldn't have brought this upon himself any more. -Paul
[2023-06-13 19:51:10] - a: https://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2016-07-05/fbi-email-investigation-shows-hillary-clinton-lied-and-got-away-with-it She definitely lied about it. In terms of sheer brazenness and lack of concern over the law, it certainly seems like Trump should probably get arrested. But it's also hard for me to argue why Hillary shouldn't have been which then slippery slides into Biden and his garage full of docs. -Paul
[2023-06-13 19:13:18] - intent is relevant and so is obstruction. ~a
[2023-06-13 19:12:14] - mig: i think the biggest difference is that trump tried to obstruct/cover-up. i'm not sure clinton did any obstructing or covering up, did she? ~a
[2023-06-13 19:03:04] - a: i dunno for sure he’ll shake off these specific charges. Though I’ll be peeved if he gets a conviction while clinton skated on her private server thing. - mig
[2023-06-13 18:31:24] - "donald trump is now under arrest". well, it finally happened. we arrested a president. he'll walk, of course, but damn, i thought this day would never come. ~a
[2023-06-13 17:10:40] - ok, makes sense, thanks. ~a
[2023-06-13 16:29:23] - a: Well, low inflation probably generally means lower rates, which means alternatives to the stock market (ie, CD's and high yield savings accounts) look less attractive. My guess is this is people assuming everybody else is going to jump back into stocks and trying to get in front of it? -Paul
[2023-06-13 15:39:01] - it's a bit weird that the stock market SHOOTS up when the low inflation numbers posted (i don't usually see a 1% change in pre-market hours). i feel like unexpectedly low inflation would mean that your stocks are literally worth unexpectely less, but i'll admit it's probably a more complex relationship? if someone can prodive a theory as to why this is reverse of what it should be i'd like one. ~a
[2023-06-13 15:00:37] - a: Well, there's 6 months left, but yeah, that prediction is looking even less likely than 6 months ago. -Paul
[2023-06-13 14:57:01] - daniel: https://lemmy.world/ a decentralized reddit ( https://join-lemmy.org/ if you want to pick a server). ~a
[2023-06-13 13:37:04] - paul: regarding "the fed will reduce rates to 2.5% (or lower) in 2023" . . . did you see the inflation numbers? 4% over the past 12 months. 3% since january annualized. (1.5% over the past month annualized). unless something changes (which i'll admit could happen) the fed woudln't reduce rates to 2.5% in 2023, right? ~a
[2023-06-12 20:58:30] - Daniel: Yeah, I can see reddit as being generally more useful. I think they serve different purposes, though. For whatever reason, I just never got into reddit. I also thought Twitter was stupid worse Facebook for awhile when it first came out. -Paul
[2023-06-12 19:40:26] - daniel: i don't know if i totally follow the recorded calling, but it was an interesting insight. as far as i can peace together, reddit is losing money on users who use the api. so they are trying to make the short-term decision instead of the long-term one. ~a
[2023-06-12 19:32:08] - daniel: mmmm, "they don't want people to use all their comments / posts for language processing" i'm not sure that's the argument i've seen made anywhere. this thread doesn't mention language processing. maybe i don't know what you mean by language processing? ~a
[2023-06-12 18:35:57] - paul: reddit is so much better than twitter imo. -Daniel
[2023-06-12 18:35:35] - a: I get that they don't want people to use all their comments / posts for language processing but it seems there ought to be a way to fix that w/o killing 3rd party stuff? /shrug. I've never been totally sure how reddit would ever be profitable though I very much enjoy it as a service. -Daniel
[2023-06-12 18:34:41] - a: I don't use any of the 3rd party apps so I'm not as invested in their success though I don't have anything against them. I do wonder if there is a lot of difference between people natively making requests against reddit vs the api calls that come from a 3rd party. If the ads or whatever are still there in the 3rd party version then I don't know what reddit's deal is. -Daniel
[2023-06-12 18:33:19] - a: I've heard of the reddit controversy, but barely use reddit so it doesn't register much with me. I would definitely miss everybody leaving twitter more than everybody leaving reddit.
-Paul[2023-06-12 18:29:26] - a: I concur that debate invites was problematic, but it was a useful way of ensuring SOME points for non-winning candidates drafted. I think having more candidates provide some ROI is helpful as well, otherwise a single market for single winner top of the ticket is by far simpler, if possibly less fun. -- Xpovos
[2023-06-12 17:36:57] - https://reddark.untone.uk/ . . . ugh, i wonder if i'll ever get around to fixing that bug. i probably should also do something about paul's parenthesized urls. ~a
[2023-06-12 17:35:33] - https://reddark.untone.uk/ and Major Reddit communities will go dark to protest threat to third-party apps. any thoughts? i'd like to know mostly what those of you who use reddit will do if reddit melts down. i'm obviously fine switching, but it will make me sadder than if (say) everybody left twitter.
~a[2023-06-12 17:23:01] - it'll administer itself, but i hear you. ~a
[2023-06-12 17:21:05] - a: I assume money is only spent if you win the auction. I'm game for a market, but am not volunteering to administer it.
-Paul[2023-06-12 17:10:38] - alternatively, i think a "trade" is the system usually used for fantasy sports. ~a
[2023-06-12 17:09:24] - if you mean the market, suggestion, you could simplify it. bids and asks are their own lines in a sheet. if i bid or ask is filled, another sheet is updated. i imagine bids and asks wouldn't be created let alone filled too often. ~a
[2023-06-12 16:33:14] - a: That's going to need some serious spreadsheeting to do backend work. It sounds like fun, though. Maybe initial input is from some official prediction market, but then it adapts to our own market efforts? To be efficient, we'd need more players, I think. -- Xpovos
[2023-06-12 16:23:06] - (i also could imagine a very different scenario, where we're all just buying shares in a politician. the points get split amongst the shareholders. hell we could even create a market where you can buy and sell shares later on in the process) ~a
[2023-06-12 16:20:53] - . . . if you don't get the money back i could imagine a super fun scenario where you have zero players? ~a
[2023-06-12 16:19:53] - paul: looks good to me! which type of auction? FPSBA? what happens when you lose the auction? do you get the money back to use further down the line? or no? ~a
[2023-06-12 14:31:49] - a: I think we used debate invites last year, which was a mess. Should we just offer points for major party nomination for Pres (maybe 5 points?) and VP (3?) and maybe minor party nominations too (3/1?) -Paul
[2023-06-12 13:52:39] - paul: i say auction, sure why not. but i think what matters more to me is how we define the winner: lotsa points should probably go to whoever wins the republican nomination. i know it'll probably be trump, but it isn't a lock. points for a third party nominee? points for a vp nominee? i think in the last election, too much hinged on the top spot? ~a
[2023-06-12 02:27:15] - a: Here's a question: Should it be a draft? Or an auction? We all get $100 to bid on candidates. Just feels like a draft gives too much power to whoever has the #1 pick and can get them an incumbent Biden. -Paul
[2023-06-09 17:22:58] - Xpovos: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marianne_Williamson_2024_presidential_campaign Don't forget about our favorite crazy lady. -Paul
[2023-06-09 16:07:25] - "sellers have tapped an audience that believes Trump’s ouster was part of a great conspiracy and that by investing in the Trump Rebate Banking System, or TRB for short, Trump will reward their loyalty by making them rich" careful your eyes might be damaged from rolling too much ~a
[2023-06-09 11:32:22] - a: With RFK. Jr. in there's already a primary factored in. The real question is will there be more? -- Xpovos
[2023-06-08 17:22:12] - i'm in. the best part of this draft is that there will potentially be a democratic primary too since our current democratic pick sucks ass and has questionable health. ~a
[2023-06-08 14:25:16] - Hey, should we do another fantasy presidential candidate draft? I had fun last time, even though I sucked at it. -Paul
[2023-06-08 13:52:03] - Xpovos: It's tough, because the article seemed heavy on anecdotes but not on data. I totally believe self driving cars are causing issues, but at what rate and how does that compare to human drivers? Is it getting better? It's also a bit of a damned if you do / damned if you don't because it sounds like many of these issues are the cars being abundantly cautious and the alternative might mean the cars causing some fatalities. -Paul
[2023-06-07 21:34:34] - maybe in retirement i can get a job as a bus driver??? ~a
[2023-06-07 21:28:33] - based on purchasing trends, we at ford understand that for our customers, bigger is better. They want more seating, more cargo space, and more security for passengers ... the rugged drive system easily adapts to medians and sidewalks ~a
[2023-06-07 20:27:16] - a: to answer your question: the one paid off by Waymo. But to get to the root of it, that’s why I posted the article. I want this to work. It just doesn’t. And it’s a lot further off than anyone on “my” side wants to admit. — Xpovos
[2023-06-07 13:13:28] - xpovos: "they’ve obscured data about their cars’ basic operations". if we ever accept these cars onto our roads, it'll be because they're more reliable than humans at driving. if they obscure the data, and can't show that they're better than humans, then what corrupt official would sign off on this? ~a
[2023-06-07 10:49:45] - https://www.sfgate.com/tech/article/cruise-waymo-driverless-cars-san-francisco-18132953.php — Xpovos
[2023-06-07 10:49:07] - “If they want us to believe things are getting better, they should give us data to demonstrate that, because that is not what we are seeing from calls to 911[…]”
[2023-06-03 02:18:48] - Still struggling with how it practically works, though. I guess it just can take a lot more damage in the first two seconds of battle? Makes it even better for tanking banes? Less appealing for Yamato cannons?-Paul
[2023-06-03 02:17:50] - mig: https://www.reddit.com/r/starcraft/comments/10eu7jg/how_good_was_immortals_barrier_when_it_used_to_be/ Sounds like there is/was a lot of confusion around it, but it might no longer be active? I would be aghast if it was, since I have never activated it. -Paul
[2023-06-03 02:17:09] - a: Not as much of an issue for Zerg, although we do run into larvae issues. I think my problem is that I sometimes forget to transfer drones to new bases? So my income starts dropping and I don't notice? -Paul
[2023-06-02 22:04:16] - paul: barrier is an active ability for reducing damage while hardened shields was for passively reducing damage that was in large chunks (ie siege tank blast) - mig
[2023-06-02 20:16:01] - i'm like, well i'm at 200, so i'm setting pretty, now i gotta build a bunch of buildings right before the big fight so i'll be ready to re-max. ~a
[2023-06-02 20:14:34] - yeah something i learned from watching some of those youtube videos online is that in late game you gotta spend a lot of money on buildings: just to decrease your re-max time. ~a
[2023-06-02 19:01:44] - It still happens a lot in ZvT for me where I am on like 6 bases and I am able to keep the Terran to 3 all game and then completely randomly in the late game they move out with a massive force, take a good trade against me, and then I can't re-max in time and just lose. I need to get better at the late game. -Paul
[2023-06-02 18:59:36] - a: Nice! I could see stalkers as being a nice, beefier and more mobile alternative to marines / marauders. I had 3 ZvT games in a row last night were I went ling/bane/hydra and then eventually into ultras in the late game where I felt like I did some nice multi-prong surrounds... except I still lost one where I was absolutely sure I was winning all game. -Paul
[2023-06-02 18:27:53] - i had a really awesome game recently where i was pairing stalkers with a teammate that had tanks. i'd stutter step from the tanks into the defending force, then blink onto the remaining defenses. the flexibility of the stalkers with the power of the siege tanks was a pretty strong combo. ~a
[2023-06-02 17:46:53] - oh shit. yeah obviously no clue, but that's something we'll have to check. i honestly only rarely make immortals, usually just one or two as i'm making my way to collosus. or if colosus is not working out sometimes i'll fall back on imortals. ~a
[2023-06-02 17:38:48] - a: I think you used to be able to see hardened shields too? But maybe not. Now I am paranoid that it's an activated ability because some people are mentioning it online but maybe that was a previous balance change? -Paul
[2023-06-02 16:36:03] - paul: i've definitely *seen* the barrier. it's like a sphere you can see. but it's really good to know the mechanics of it (that it only lasts 2 seconds and that it has a cooldown of 32s) ~a
[2023-06-02 16:34:51] - https://liquipedia.net/starcraft2/Immortal_(Legacy_of_the_Void) TIL that Immortals no longer have hardened shields and have something else called "barrier". Not entirely sure how it practically changes things. -Paul
[2023-06-02 16:34:18] - a: It's interesting, because I suspect the pro-lifers believe strongly that if you show the other side pictures of the choice they want to abort, they would change their minds too. I suspect because both sides are assuming the other side is an extremist. -Paul
[2023-06-02 15:08:06] - it seems weird to have two characters named "ben" in a series like star wars. i get that leia and han named their kid after their late friend ben kenobi, but it seems confusing from a story-telling/plot perspective. ~a
[2023-06-02 14:13:53] - paul: right. you gotta ruin someone's life. do you make it a human, or a "human" the size and shape of a bean? (not my idea, but) i think activists protests would be changed forever if they were to have their posters show the actual size of things. you'd need a lot of large arrows so people could even see it. ~a
[2023-06-01 18:19:28] - a: Oh, definitely didn't mean to trivialize. The other side would submit it involves murdering a baby. So, yeah, pretty high stakes all around. I meant "fussing" in terms of the philosophizing about what constitutes a heartbeat. -Paul
[2023-06-01 17:54:14] - mig: this goes directly to the point in my opinion. you called it "cardiac activity". and in my opinion "cardiac activity" != "heartbeat". to have a heartbeat, you need a functioning heart. but i'll admit it's ALL semantics. ~a
[2023-06-01 17:08:24] - a: i guess it comes down to if you believe that baked bean is “alive”. Does the cardiac activity make it alive or does it actually need a functioning heart? - mig
[2023-06-01 17:05:50] - Like the whole fucking point that the debt ceiling exists is to force the spending cut discussion. - mig
[2023-06-01 17:05:06] - paul: re: it’s also gotten a bit tiring that the “raise ceiling unconditionally” is portrayed as the grown up position while asking for paltry spending cuts is considered “hostage taking”. - mig
[2023-06-01 17:02:37] - ah context: the headline was stealth changed. It used to say “Ted Cruz suprisingly called out Uganda’s anti-lgtbq law” (which still shows up in the google search for the article). - mig
[2023-06-01 16:59:51] - https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/amp/rcna86825 this headline was a bit perplexing to me. Why exactly is it surprising Cruz would be against jailing and/or putting gay people to death. - mig
[2023-06-01 16:32:19] - paul: you're right of course, but i definitely wouldn't use the word "fussing" because it trivializes forcing someone to give birth. ~a
[2023-06-01 16:29:12] - a: Sorry, didn't mean to distract from your other question. This is exactly why I think we're better off fussing over this nuanced specifics at more local levels. -Paul
[2023-06-01 16:28:38] - a: But the current environment is pretty crazy in that you have a situation where a bunch of banks just suddenly went under largely because they bought too many US Treasuries and then the Federal Reserve raised rates super fast. Now, the government is about to flood the market with treasuries after the debt ceiling deal. Are banks going to buy? -Paul
[2023-06-01 16:18:25] - in other super-controversial news: how do we define "heartbeat" in things that don't yet have a functional heart? theintercept seems to think we call a lot of things "heartbeats" in things that are too small to actually be a functional heart. "a six-week fetus is about the size and shape of a baked bean". ~a
[2023-06-01 03:10:29] - a: I wouldn't doubt it, but I'm sure I got noisier in 2008. That's why I have been more reticent to predict a currency crisis now. Too gun-shy over being wrong previously.
-Paul[2023-05-31 17:55:54] - a: It's a classic, "the market can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent," kind of problem. -- Xpovos
[2023-05-31 17:28:35] - i think you've been saying it longer than 2008. ~a
[2023-05-31 16:50:02] - I know I've been saying this since 2008, but might we see a looming crisis involving the USD as the reserve currency or government debt being untenable? -Paul
[2023-05-31 16:49:17] - Surprised we didn't talk much about the debt ceiling debates. Seems like the Republicans were even more inept than usual in putting up a fight and this agreement is even less fiscally responsible than usual. Combined with unprecedented Fed rates increases which might have made a majority of banks insolvent, and commercial real estate collapsing due to remote work, and interest on federal debt ballooning... -Paul
[2023-05-30 23:36:35] - mig: word. ~a
[2023-05-30 22:16:55] - a: I’m sure many would if they weren’t being threatened with arrest for letting their kids be outside unsupervised. - mig
[2023-05-30 20:51:38] - in the 90s i was walking/biking roads in annandale, fairfax, springfield, reston, herndon, and arlington, before i was allowed to drive. things have gotten better for kids / the elderly. we have a long way to go until there's equity for those without a car. i'm surprised more parents don't want their kids to have autonomy that breeds confidence, independence, and self-sufficiency. https://twitter.com/BikeGillian/status/1637289878688768000 ~a
[2023-05-30 19:31:44] - paul: i've always been a fan of this video to help see how the script can be flipped (in our area this would only work in dc and a few places in arlington) ~a
[2023-05-30 19:28:25] - paul: "giant pain for drivers in a ton of situations" i'll point to xpovos in this case: "What benefit does that thirty seconds save gain, and for what cost?" ~a
[2023-05-30 19:27:32] - paul: the fact that you have to look at both of the lanes of traffic you are crossing (a crosswalk is a lane of traffic) will always be a thing you have to do. no amount of changes will fix that, but protected intersections do make you look at fewer places. ~a
[2023-05-30 19:26:17] - paul: i don't follow this example, sorry. signalized, your crossing left and the pedestrian is doing what exactly? ~a
[2023-05-30 19:24:06] - a: "nobody is expecting you to be perfect" Thanks. And I appreciate you giving me the benefit of the doubt. In the example I just mentioned, though, it would be a scenario where the pedestrians have the walk sign to go and would probably already be halfway through the crosswalk, but I'm not used to looking for that and instead am focused on checking oncoming traffic. -Paul
[2023-05-30 19:18:18] - paul: "am not always aware of people potentially crossing at crosswalks" nobody is expecting you to be perfect. it is a shared responsibility, and the laws reflect this: pedestrians/etc in virginia are not permitted to "enter the crosswalk in disregard of approaching traffic". they are also required to "come to a complete stop prior to entering such crosswalk". our biking friend probably didn't do the second one of these. ~a
[2023-05-30 19:15:12] - paul: the conclusion many traffic scientists come to are protected intersections or complete streets. both are less dangerous than what we have now. they usually are rolled out in urban environments, *not* where you live. ~a
[2023-05-30 19:13:30] - a: So, yeah, I guess no turns except when explicit might solve it, but it seems like a giant pain for drivers in a ton of situations and would likely worsen traffic. -Paul
[2023-05-30 19:12:44] - a: It's hard to describe, but taking a left at a green light (not green turn, but green straight) can be super dangerous for pedestrians and cyclists because I, as the driver, am trying to accelerate and take my left quickly while watching for oncoming traffic, and am not always aware of people potentially crossing at crosswalks. -Paul
[2023-05-30 19:11:25] - a: Yeah, I would love to keep cars completely separate from pedestrians AND cyclists, even at crosswalks. The solution doesn't have to be "well, I guess you can never cross a street as a pedestrian", and I agree a complete separation seems really difficult, but so does a world without cars and obviously the current situation is dangerous. -Paul
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