I mean in fact air travel has gotten a lot better since 1986 because it is both more affordable and you are much less likely to die in a plane crash
Constantine@ajaxsinger.bsky.social · 18h agoFood, man. Food is so much better than it was in 1986. All of it. Poor-people food, restaurant food, fresh food, frozen food. Food is just a hell of a lot better.
@dingbattitude.bsky.social my ebike could not have existed at any price in 1986, the battery technology was non-existent
Cars are far more reliable than they were in 1986. When I was a kid we had a Chrysler that we called the “uh oh car”; the good car was a Datsun where the bottom rusted out. Really any manufacturing process is way better than it was 40 years ago.
Constantine@ajaxsinger.bsky.social · 18h agoFood, man. Food is so much better than it was in 1986. All of it. Poor-people food, restaurant food, fresh food, frozen food. Food is just a hell of a lot better.
If HCD lets this absurd Beverly Hills SB 79 misinterpretation slide, it could amount to the biggest de facto rollback of pro-housing legislation in California history. cayimby.org/blog/sb-79-o...
Data are clear: Speed safety cameras are arguably the fastest, most effective, most affordable way to cut traffic fatalities
David Zipper@davidzipper.bsky.social · yesterdayA story of cause and effect: Last November, Ontario banned cities from using speed safety cameras to issue tickets. Reckless speeding immediately surged in Toronto, Ottawa, Guelph, and cities throughout the province. A 🧵 about my latest in Bloomberg (gift link)
Please share
Stephen Jacob Smith@stephenjacobsmith.com · 2d agoWe're working with @metroabundance.bsky.social to collect cost drivers in California building codes and standards above and beyond national model codes/standards. See here for more – please circulate among architects, engineers, etc. in the state! admin.centerforbuilding.org/wp-content/u...
I think it's very obvious that this sorta ultra aggro performance is what you do if you aren't actually a big tough guy. I think... like... Jason Mamoa's general affect is more similar to what I've experienced from actually big tough guys irl. Which is odd though cos the latter is just as fakeable?
Dan of the Year@downwithdan.bsky.social · 2d agoHe will never understand that being "the fat guy from Superbad" is infinitely better than being "the martial arts chud nobody likes"
Jones Act is one of idiotic protectionist laws that people like Donald Trump love. It is no different than a tariff. In fact you partly can blame Joe Biden’s idiotic defense of the Jones Act, which did nothing for him politically, for Trump being able to cancel some wind energy projects…
Scott Lincicome@scottlincicome.bsky.social · yesterday"It’s hard to find a better example of a failed trade law than the Jones Act." nypost.com/2026/08/03/o...
Gravel teens are obviously problematic given where they ended up, but this was a fascinating read on the economics of private ambulances: davidoks.blog/p/why-americ...
Why American ambulance rides are so expensive
The unfortunately botched economics of emergency care
davidoks.blog
Pride Ott 🦦 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️@hikoukihikouki9.bsky.social · 2d agoHelicopters are expensive to operate, and ambulances are expensive to operate, so I shudder to think of the cost of how expensive it is to operate a helicopter that is also an ambulance
ngl the economics of healthcare generally in the developed world going forward looks so bleak. Everyone is stretched to their absolute limit, when this is literally the least amount of burden placed on the healthcare system relative to the rest of society for the rest of our life.
Legal immigration as most Americans conceive of it does not meaningfully exist in the United States. "Just come here the right way" is one of the most pernicious lies in contemporary US politics, accepted across the aisle as the goal of the immigration debate when it's impossible in reality.
Genuinely, the vast majority of American voters believe that only laziness or criminal intent could be stopping the average immigrant from obtaining US citizenship. The truth is that becoming a US citizen takes years upon years of work and requires navigating a baroque bureaucratic nightmare.
Secretary of Defense Rock@sodrock.bsky.social · 2d agoI remember a family member of mine saying “isn’t it like going to the DMV?”
I forget where I saw it, but some lawyerly things knower on here posted that the charges got dropped because the DOJ lawyers filing it didn't want to get disbarred for submitting a complaint they knew was based on bullshit. Might be in a lesson in people still worried about life after Trump...
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 2d agoTrump says Jeanine Pirro "choked" and then snaps at a reporter who asks if her job is safe: "Don't ever talk again"
Extremely related point: people don’t want to pay more for quality, they want to be cheap and complain!
Reconstruction 3 Enthusiast@squalortoballer.bsky.social · 3d agoThis is why flying is bad now. People will say they want full service airlines and wax nostaligic about the golden age of jet travel (when it was unaffordable), but revealed preferences are that people choose the lowest up front price option when spending their own money.
We're working with @metroabundance.bsky.social to collect cost drivers in California building codes and standards above and beyond national model codes/standards. See here for more – please circulate among architects, engineers, etc. in the state! admin.centerforbuilding.org/wp-content/u...
admin.centerforbuilding.org
May I remind you all that we are all against Jane Kim’s plans for a public fire insurance company for essentially the same good reasons. It’s a considerable problem!
There are still conflicts of interest here, one being that the state both has the sovereign ability to cap its own liability and another being that everyone knows that unlike say PG&E, the state of California can’t go out of business. Maybe this is why so many countries use regulated corporations?
California Transit Nerd@catransitnerd.bsky.social · 2d agoState self insures, just like some massive corporations do because that’s a reasonable enough solution at the scale given no single insurer would want to take the risk
Still can’t over the fact that the president of the United States just told an entire state to pound sand after getting cyberattacked by a foreign adversary because they didn’t vote for him and it was treated like a Tuesday lol
But to get back to how badly the trains needed upgrades, let's compare like with like. Here's a sample trip from Downtown LA to Culver City. - LA Metro E line (2026): 30 minutes - Motor Transit Co. bus (1948): 39 minutes - Pacific Electric Railway (1948): 43 minutes 7/
Just because it is old doesn’t mean it’s historic ugh
New town every hour@townsusa.bsky.social · 3d agoDacula, Georgia Pop: 6,350 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dacula,_Georgia Images: https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=140497986 https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=170487622 https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=34096071
They are the least reliable and honest people on Earth. Formal or not, their words are worth nothing.
The Washington Post@washingtonpost.com · 2d agoActing attorney general Todd Blanche formally rescinded the Trump administration’s proposal for a $1.8 billion fund for people who claim they were victims of political prosecutions. It’s a step toward becoming the head of the Justice Department.
Unpopular only in that most people don’t want to admit what their revealed preference shows.
Max Dubler 🏳️🌈@maxdubler.com · 3d agoI think my most genuinely unpopular take is that a widely held and genuine consumer preference for cheaper, lower-quality goods, not private equity, is driving the decline in quality of consumer goods like clothing and housewares.
I think this a legit question for the “build state capacity” plan (which I agree with): what do you do with the liability when something goes wrong? Note that in this case the state of Minnesota limited its own liability to $1m aggregate and there were over 100 claims.
Nilo@nilo.bsky.social · 3d agowww.maslon.com/jacobs-engin... Crazy case. Looks like Jacobs did relatively well despite the state trying to screw them but still no small firm could have absorbed that.
Has anybody tried to study the impact of Minnesota’s ex post facto laws and lawsuits following the 2007 I-35W bridge collapse? This was near the start of my career and I remember being pretty shocked that an engineering firm would have ex post facto liability for something designed 40 years prior.
YIMBYonese Liberation Army@dingbattitude.bsky.social · 3d agoNot just unpopular. Remember the bridge that collapsed in Minnesota? The state took legal action against the successor firm to the consultant that had designed the original bridge decades before. Using consultants means there’s someone else’s insurance to raid first before the state takes liability.
Annex the Russian far east to the NWT
ellen teapot 🇨🇦🏳️⚧️@ellenteapot.ca · 3d agoWide Canada is Wide
Not just unpopular. Remember the bridge that collapsed in Minnesota? The state took legal action against the successor firm to the consultant that had designed the original bridge decades before. Using consultants means there’s someone else’s insurance to raid first before the state takes liability.
Michael@tralfagar.bsky.social · 3d agoConsultants offer a convenient fall guy if something becomes unpopular.
The North American Plate ends at the Chersky Mountains. Manifest Destiny 😉
Anton Gerashchenko@antongerashchenko.bsky.social · 3d agoGarry Kasparov: I would bet a considerable sum that in 10 years, Russia will not exist in its current borders. I hope it will happen sooner, because it's not that people ask me, do you want Russia to collapse? It's not about whether I want or not. It's going to happen.