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ActuallyATleilaxuGhola

Axolotl Tank Class of '24

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joined 2022 September 08 09:59:22 UTC 

				
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ActuallyATleilaxuGhola


								

								

								
								
								

								
							
					
 
				


				
Axolotl Tank Class of '24

				
				
				

				

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					joined 2022 September 08 09:59:22 UTC
				


				
					

					
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				Culture War Roundup for the week of June 9, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Remember ~nobody relevant believed in Communism in the USSR in the eighties either




Interestingly, I've read recently that this common perception was actually the opposite of the truth -- the rabble and many of the mid and low level bureaucrats (i.e. people who were not fully insulated from the real world) no longer believed, but the relevant people in the upper echelons of power still mostly believed, and some quite fervently.  Gorby himself did not plan to abandon Communism, he just wanted to release enough pressure to right the ship.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of June 9, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I had to Google the bonesaw reference.  The Khashoggi(?) guy, right?  Didn't that blow up just because he was a WaPo writer and because he crossed state lines got chopped up in an embassy?  That was one of my earliest noticings about "current thing" programming. Suddenly 10,000,000 reddit threads about some literal who nobody cared about the day before.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of June 9, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
But it's cruise control for cool.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of June 9, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I will concede that very dense places are different.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of June 9, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Bikes are less predictable.  They can weave, turn, and change speeds much more suddenly than a car.  When I'm walking and I hear a car coming behind me, I glance back once to see its trajectory and adjust my path accordingly.  When I hear a bike coming quickly towards me, I usually glance back several times to track it since I can't fully tell where the cyclists plans to go.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of June 9, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Disclaimer: I don't hate cyclists and have not had many negative experiences with cyclists while driving.


I always find it difficult to find sympaths for cyclists in America.  My thinking goes like this.


    

  1. America is built for cars.  Homes and jobs are far apart.  Friends and employers expect you to travel distance only reasonably covered with a car.
    2. 

  2. Thus, cars are a necessary part of life for most Americans.  You need a car to get a job to feed your kids.  You must buy and drive a car even if you don't really want to.
    3. 

  3. Biking to work or to the grocery is not feasible for most people for many reasons.  Your employer won't think it's cute that you show up sweaty, or drenched in rain, or 30 minutes late due to snow.  Your wife won't be amused when you have to bike 30 minutes to Walmart every day to fill your backpack with food for the kids.  How do you get to the hospital when someone is sick or injured?  How do you take your family anywhere, especially when the kids are small?
    4. 

  4. Thus, cycling is best thought of as either an elective hobby for those with money and time to burn, or a last resort for truly destitute and/or criminal.  The former can afford a car if they want, they just choose not to.  The latter have bigger problems than just not having reliable transportation and prioritizing bikes over cars won't fix those.
    5. 

  5. Thus, I really don't care about cyclists' complaints.  I mentally put cyclists in the same bucket as skateboarders, rollerbladers, and Segway riders.  If you can do your hobby on public roads safely and without endangering yourself or or car drivers, then fine.  If there's any inconvenience or risk to drivers, the just ban everything except cars and call it a day.
    6. 



tl;dr I need to get to work on time or pick up food for dinner, I'm not interested in being delayed or inconvenienced to accommodate some bum or some stranger's vanity hobby.




An argument I'm somewhat sympathetic to is that if we don't accommodate cyclists, we'll be stuck in our current automobile-centric hellscape forever.  That is probably true.  However, my preferences go like this:


    

  1. Cities designed for bikes & public transit, cars rarely needed
    2. 

  2. Cities designed for cars
    3. 

  3. Cities designed for cars where cycling is awkwardly retrofitted into existing car infra with significant gaps where there are no provisions for bikes at all
    4. 



In the U.S., number 3 seems by far the most common, and it sucks for everyone.  The car/bike war is one of those problems that IMO can only really be solved by  a strong executive power not beholden NIMBYs and lobbyists.  Until one materializes, I'm supporting option 2 all the way.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for June 8, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Thank you.  That sounds terrifying.


I think I got the tiniest taste once playing laser tag with my coworkers once. Two of the dozen or so guys were ex military and they were just wiping the floor with everyone. They weren't spec ops or anything, just low ranking army enlisted, but they clearly knew how to move between cover, how to wait patiently for their opponents to move, and how to understand their and their opponents' line of sight.  I got tagged a bunch, it was eye opening.


Given the above, it's interesting to me that there are some people who are exhilarated by the experience.  I guess some just have a knack for it and are thrill seekers.  Definitely not for me.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for June 8, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


The last two are really not games for the faint of heart though, it turns out that in our modern age, real world tactics are actually quite complicated and unintuitive.




I'm interested, tell me more.