meff's recent activity
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Comment on Copying US president Franklin Roosevelt, Joe Biden uses executive power to create a New Deal-style American Climate Corps in ~enviro
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Comment on What’s missing from America’s EV charging strategy in ~transport
meff Link ParentI think this is an underrated option. Have the government own and operate scooter stations and pocket the profits. Force a shared charging standard through these stations. Private companies can...I think this is an underrated option. Have the government own and operate scooter stations and pocket the profits. Force a shared charging standard through these stations. Private companies can always compete. Generally the US government tends to be bad at creating capital intensive infrastructure, but scooter charging is mostly just running a few regular 15A circuits, which should be simple to build out.
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Comment on What’s missing from America’s EV charging strategy in ~transport
meff Link ParentThe line between "public" and "private" when it comes to roads and transport seems to me to be quite fuzzy. Roads are used mostly by private individuals with private infrastructure who can use...The line between "public" and "private" when it comes to roads and transport seems to me to be quite fuzzy. Roads are used mostly by private individuals with private infrastructure who can use vehicles of varying geometries which put varying amounts of wear-and-tear on the infrastructure (for example, heavy cars are a lot more damaging of pavement than lighter ones) but are subsidized through a combination of taxes (often sales and property taxes) and user fees (the gas tax, which hasn't been updated for inflation in over 30 years.) Parking for cars is generally supported through parking mandates which end up being a tax on the developer to ensure that all projects being created have parking. BEVs and hydrogen gas charging already have tax budgets allocated toward them.
While I would love a world where private vehicles and private usage of resources was purely funded by the private owner or user, the system of transport the US already has is a deeply intertwined public/private affair. Given that, I see little reason to draw the line for scooters when we already accommodate the private automobile so much. I think it makes a lot of sense for governments to pass sensible regulations on scooter share companies, such as dedicated parking areas and huge fines and property seizure on failed compliance. My worry is that giving cars a lighter regulatory environment than scooters will just end up with the US leaning into its over-reliance on cars for everything.
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Comment on What’s missing from America’s EV charging strategy in ~transport
meff Link ParentHonestly, it's a big lift to get Americans to bike a few miles as is. Americans are so culturally oriented around the car that most Americans just don't have the cultural template to relate to...Honestly, it's a big lift to get Americans to bike a few miles as is. Americans are so culturally oriented around the car that most Americans just don't have the cultural template to relate to others who exert themselves to get from their start to their destination. An eBike makes their ride similar to a drive; eBike rides require low effort and little physical prowess.
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Comment on What’s missing from America’s EV charging strategy in ~transport
meff Link ParentCars double park and stop where they're not supposed to all the time; the reason cars stopping haphazardly isn't as big of a problem is because the US has dedicated large swathes of its land to...Cars double park and stop where they're not supposed to all the time; the reason cars stopping haphazardly isn't as big of a problem is because the US has dedicated large swathes of its land to parking. Cities like LA dedicate 14% of their total land area to car parking. Cities frequently mandate a minimum amount of parking to ensure that drivers have easy parking within reach. Scooters don't even have a fraction of this. Of course, if we're looking for existing solutions and not new policy, then the answer is docked bike sharing or parking spots for dockless scooters.
Several cities in the US, Canada, Europe, and Australia have docked bikeshare programs. Many cities in the US have also only allowed a restricted set of companies to operate their dockless scooter shares.
The solutions here are pretty easy and I feel that it's a bit unfair that we hold scooters and bikes to a higher standard than cars, who also regularly park illegally and even drive without necessary paperwork despite having a much higher potential for harm.
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Comment on Electric vehicle owners are fed up with charging stations that lack a single amenity — I had to pee in a bush in ~transport
meff Link ParentHuh I never thought of that but it makes a lot of sense. Do utility hookups usually come near the street?Huh I never thought of that but it makes a lot of sense. Do utility hookups usually come near the street?
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Comment on USENET, the OG social network, rises again like a text-only phoenix in ~tech
meff LinkAs someone that uses text usenet from time-to-time, there is a very slow amount of growth in the network and folks are starting to talk on there again. The problem is: There are a lot of...As someone that uses text usenet from time-to-time, there is a very slow amount of growth in the network and folks are starting to talk on there again. The problem is:
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There are a lot of newsgroups out there from when Usenet was popular and so there's no good way to find community.
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Most of the people on Usenet are... tech people. I'm tired of only talking with other tech people on the net and I'd love to open Usenet up to a less technically savvy bunch (and I've been thinking about this for a while now and have even considered trying to build a more modern client.) The existing clients are all pretty bad. Pan is a decent newsreader but it's still so much harder to get started with than a modern social network that I don't even feel comfortable recommending it to too many people.
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Usenet still has some of the old-school cranks who do nothing (cough Adam Kerman cough) but tell you how your posts are not following netiquette. It also has some of the old kooks who probably need their medication but continue to post... unhinged things. You can plonk (put them in your killfile) the kooks, but when they get other people to respond, you still see huge flamewars that you have to manually plonk.
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The NNTP protocol used to interact with Usenet is very old-school. This is obviously just an implementation detail, but its semantics are much closer to FTP than modern stateless semantics which makes it more painful to develop new clients.
Overall I'd love to talk with more folks on Usenet and it's truly an example of internet infrastructure that's very hard to kill. But I just don't see it getting particularly popular again any time soon. UX standards of net and web users have just gotten high enough that without some serious client work, Usenet won't be usable (pun intended) any time soon.
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Comment on Introducing Amtrak Airo - A modern passenger experience in ~transport
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Comment on The Electronic Frontier Foundation, kiwifarms, death, harassment: a critique in ~tech
meff (edited )Link ParentThis is generally how democracies slip to authoritarianism (though I want to emphasize that political scientists broadly view democratic freedoms as a spectrum and that no nation is perfect.) One...Maybe it's short-sighted, and the slippery slope does eventually happen, but arguing on that possibility is like asking the people actually suffering to just "tough it out" because things could get worse.
This is generally how democracies slip to authoritarianism (though I want to emphasize that political scientists broadly view democratic freedoms as a spectrum and that no nation is perfect.) One of my favorite parts of the cute Secret Hitler board game is how once fascist policies have been enacted, both the Liberals and the Fascists can use them to their advantage.
Imagine a world where a very wealthy person, let's call them Belon Busk, decides that they do not want teens to have access to information about being LGBT. Busk buys a Tier-0 ISP and decides to stop routing traffic to datacenters that offer information to teens about being LGBT. Now any teen who wants to access this information but uses an ISP that peers with the ISP that Busk bought cannot access this information without using things like Tor or the Yggdrassil network. In a world where we have politicians in parts of the country who would hunger for this power and are already trying to ban books that discuss LGBT issues, this would be a huge win. The nature of a Tier-0 ISP is such that you've probably blocked off access to lots and lots of people, making the content pretty much unavailable on the net.
Edit: to be clear, I don't like the idea of relying on ISPs and the like to regulate the internet. The implications of that obviously aren't great. I think I'm really just asking what else can we do? What is the best course of action?
Harassment and incitement to violence laws and precedent exist. While I'm not a lawyer, the case for harassment seems quite obvious for KF and the case for incitement to violence doesn't seem that hard to prove either.
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Comment on Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin killed in plane crash in Russia in ~news
meff LinkSo the question still stands: who will try the next coup and how will that go? Echoes of the '91 Soviet Coup come to mind.So the question still stands: who will try the next coup and how will that go? Echoes of the '91 Soviet Coup come to mind.
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Comment on How universal basic income became the pessimist’s utopia in ~finance
meff Link ParentThis isn't really how politics works in the US. The reason why UBI is such a nonstarter is because it's such a huge change. The magnitude of change a bill demands must come with a corresponding...Which is part of the reason I think the powers that be oppose it so much. Workers not utterly depending on their employers for sustenance is a recipe for workers demanding good conditions in the workplace, which hurts the bottom line.
This isn't really how politics works in the US. The reason why UBI is such a nonstarter is because it's such a huge change. The magnitude of change a bill demands must come with a corresponding amount of political capital spent. Someone with a lot of political capital, often a new politician elected on a popular mandate, proposes a large change. A whole bunch of other politicians only agree to it if their pet causes are supported. After several compromises, this bill is passed. The more political capital the creator(s) of the bill has, the fewer compromises are needed to pass the bill.
Right now in the US nobody has much political capital. Presidential elections are hotly contested and the last one even flouted the long tradition of peaceful transfer of power. Congress is sharply divided and unwilling to compromise. In this climate, it's very doubtful that any large change can pass without going through so many compromises that it ceases looking anything at all like what was originally proposed.
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Comment on One car per green: Why the lights on US freeway onramps can’t end traffic jams in ~transport
meff Link ParentI'm not alluding this at all. I'm just trying to show how absurd this even is when a city becomes as developed as LA. Smaller cities have the choice to kick the can down the road by widening their...I take issue with the suggestion you keep alluding to that widening roads would be a possible solution to the congestion problem if the option was available
I'm not alluding this at all. I'm just trying to show how absurd this even is when a city becomes as developed as LA. Smaller cities have the choice to kick the can down the road by widening their streets, but LA physically cannot. There is a literal cap on the growth of its lanes.
The only viable solution for urban environments is to push and incentivise more efficient modes of transport. Until people realize that they can't drive their big metal box everywhere within a city we'll never get rid of traffic and congestion.
This is fun in theory but in practice this isn't what most Americans are okay with. I know, because some of the work I do is sitting at intersections and canvasing locals to sign onto street design changes which benefit other modes. In this regard the urbanist web is a bit of an echo chamber. In real life, I've had neighbors come up to me and tell me why they need another lane or parking or some other auto-oriented feature even when speed surveys and collision data shows that traffic calming is necessary. All we can do is go out and gather popular support for these changes.
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Comment on One car per green: Why the lights on US freeway onramps can’t end traffic jams in ~transport
meff Link ParentOf course. It's just that the political will doesn't exist. From what I've seen, LA City Council does not want to do anything to upset drivers and making dedicated bus lanes makes drivers feel...Of course. It's just that the political will doesn't exist. From what I've seen, LA City Council does not want to do anything to upset drivers and making dedicated bus lanes makes drivers feel that they're losing ground to bus riders.
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Comment on Want employees to return to the office? Then give each one an office. in ~life
meff Link ParentThis isn't a universal experience, even in California. Software engineers who seem to be the most passionate about this debate generally have the economic means to be picky about where they live....Taking it to extremes like California where you routinely have oriole striving for 40 min to 2 hours, how much chaos would you rather put up with to not have to do that?
This isn't a universal experience, even in California. Software engineers who seem to be the most passionate about this debate generally have the economic means to be picky about where they live. My partner and I live in a place where we can do a 30 min biking commute, including 7 min on public transit, to our offices. By not doing that you're making a choice, and that's fine. But all else equal, if you prioritize other things over your commute, say space or suburban amenities, that's a signal that you don't really care that much about going to the office. There's nothing wrong with that but I think we need to acknowledge that if you put something lower in your basket of preferences then it's expected that you won't have an ideal outcome there.
This does not apply if you just don't have the economic means to live close to your office which is an unfortunate reality in too much of the US because of our sprawly design.
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Comment on One car per green: Why the lights on US freeway onramps can’t end traffic jams in ~transport
meff Link ParentI visit LA frequently but don't live there so I'm not sure about the particulars. But my experience on the Metro has been... mixed. Buses only really have priority downtown. Blocks are huge and...I visit LA frequently but don't live there so I'm not sure about the particulars. But my experience on the Metro has been... mixed. Buses only really have priority downtown. Blocks are huge and bus stops can be awful. I've taken two buses before where they just missed my stop (though both operators were very nice, one actually drove the bus directly to the closest point on an arterial and the other went to an extra stop along their route back to the yard and let me get off.) Because buses get mired in the same traffic as cars, they're often a lot slower than driving when you account for frequent stops on many of the routes and walking to the actual destination. The subway is nice but its poor headways and consequently poor ridership numbers speak for themselves.
From what I can tell it's all a huge lack of political will. LA City Council members push back on bike lanes whenever and wherever they can. Lack of political will to give buses dedicated lanes. The impression I get spying on LA area local politics is that locals feel that traffic is a zero-sum game and offering any advantage to any other mode is just making every other mode lose. The walking back of protected bike lanes in Culver City shows me this zero-sum attitude is alive and well in the region. With that kind of thinking, I just can't see how the region can ever dig itself out of its congested hole. If you can't widen roads, you're already up against vehicular throughput limits, and you refuse to offer priority to more space-efficient modes, then there's just no way forward.
I'd happy to be wrong but that's my impression as a frequent visitor looking in and a transit activist in a different place.
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Comment on One car per green: Why the lights on US freeway onramps can’t end traffic jams in ~transport
meff Link ParentThis isn't particularly specific to vehicle-based development. It's the same for any queuing system; you're adding a form of back pressure. This applies to lines of pedestrians at entrances,...This isn't particularly specific to vehicle-based development. It's the same for any queuing system; you're adding a form of back pressure. This applies to lines of pedestrians at entrances, cyclists, boxes, packets, batch jobs, any queue really.
LA in particular has very limited avenues of vehicular congestion easing because LA is already so developed. You can't widen arterials and most freeways because there's existing, expensive, development along these ROWs. Fundamentally maximum vehicular throughput is much lower per unit area than cyclist or pedestrian throughput, so beyond a certain density it just cannot move enough vehicles to offer unclogged traffic flow. That's the main issue with sprawl-oriented vehicular development, at least when it comes to congestion.
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Comment on Want employees to return to the office? Then give each one an office. in ~life
meff (edited )LinkI really dislike the debates about WFH because they're mostly about which personality types we are, and so the medium we use to discuss selects who will participate in the discussion. The folks...I really dislike the debates about WFH because they're mostly about which personality types we are, and so the medium we use to discuss selects who will participate in the discussion. The folks who spend lots of time online are generally the folks least likely to do well in an in-person social setting. Online life tends to self-select for folks who find in-person socializing to some extent exhausting, stressful, or anxiety inducing. These folks are the most likely to favor smaller social groups and will find it more enjoyable to work alone or among family.
My partner is the exact opposite of most of the commenters in this thread, but I don't think she's that rare. She has ADHD and craves stimulus; interacting with people is a large part of how she gets stimulus. The move to permanent remote work was very detrimental to her mental health. Now that she has a choice to go to the office she does. Working the way everyone in this thread (and lots of other online threads) discusses would be her form of personal hell. For folks like her though, a personal office would probably be the same as WFH, a sort of isolating space where the things that give her energy just don't exist. I'm somewhere in the middle. I had an office as a senior grad student and it felt very similarly to when I used to work from my own apartment (which is very common among grad students.)
I always thought cubicles were the perfect middle ground. Isolated enough that you could disconnect if you found social situations overwhelming but open enough that when you need to ask a question or just want to impromptu socialize, you could. If you were the type that really didn't want to socialize at work, a few unenthusiastic conversations in your cube would be enough to signal that you didn't really enjoy work socializing. As someone who needs some social energy in my life but also can get overstimulated in an open office, my time working in cubicles was the best of both worlds.
EDIT: I also think there are some pretty detrimental effects of WFH on junior employees. A lot of junior employees need a quick feedback loop to unblock themselves the first dozen times they get blocked. WFH environments are terrible at quick feedback loops and generally benefit employees that can unblock themselves or know how to batch up blocked work. Almost every junior I've worked with picks these skills up just fine with time (it's part of the transition from junior to higher levels after all), but I believe that it's detrimental and a huge career drag without the initial fast feedback cycle. Most of the junior engineers I mentored when my last company went remote during the pandemic had a really hard time ramping up.
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Comment on The Reddit protest is finally over. Reddit won. in ~tech
meff LinkI've been on Reddit for a long time (since 2005.) Reddit already became too big by 2012-ish for me to want to participate in any non-niche community on the site. (I distinctly remember the Narwhal...I've been on Reddit for a long time (since 2005.) Reddit already became too big by 2012-ish for me to want to participate in any non-niche community on the site. (I distinctly remember the Narwhal Bacons culture heh.) Only 2 of the communities I participate in did anything for the protests (one being r/askhistorians.) Like others here, it was getting obvious to me that even medium sized communities on the site were becoming obnoxious. The site has generally been fomenting an attitude of negativity and gotchas. A lot of subreddits became circlejerks where the same set of topics got upvoted and everything else got downvoted (like r/wickededge.) A lot of the larger subs I was on were dominated by teenagers (which is just a structural property of the internet itself and who has time to post.) I also found the speed of the API pricing changes to be in pretty bad taste (though not the changes themselves which I feel they had every right to do.) None of the communities I was in moved and don't seem to have any plans to move.
That said, the overflow from the Reddit protests had a real detrimental effect on other social sites I visit. HackerNews for example had a real dip in quality from the protests and has since become a lot more Reddit-like in its comment sections, and now has a lot of the same "downvote disagreeing viewpoints with impunity" culture that lives on Reddit. (Not that HackerNews didn't have existing problems of its own.) There was also a lot of hopeful/borderline disingenuous posting in other communities on how the Fediverse's community is now sufficient to replace Reddit (which isn't true for any of the subcultures I'm into) and just a lot of emotional rhetoric that left a sour taste in my mouth.
I'm glad the culture on this site is a lot more thoughtful than the culture of Reddit and I enjoy reading and posting here quite a bit. That said, none of the Reddit communities I was on want to move, so I'll be using Reddit for the foreseeable future. I'm hoping some Fediverse Reddit-likes do end up building new, healthy, communities, but the drama I've seen on Mastodon brings me a bit of pause. On the Twitter side of things I'm really enjoying Bluesky and somewhat enjoying Threads.
Overall, a time for lots of change in the social media landscape.
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Comment on Why Americans love big cars in ~transport
meff Link ParentYou're not wrong. The main reason SUVs and large cars are popular in the US isn't just CAFE standards. The US makes sure roads have much higher LOS than equivalent roads in Europe and much of...I've always been skeptical of this take. For one, remember that before the OPEC crisis, American "sedans" were massive. By width and length they were in many ways larger than many SUVs today, even if they were "sedans", although they didn't get jacked up yet. It was not until the gas crisis that America began to import and favor economy compact sedans from Europe and Japan
You're not wrong. The main reason SUVs and large cars are popular in the US isn't just CAFE standards. The US makes sure roads have much higher LOS than equivalent roads in Europe and much of Asia. Roads that would be 2 lanes or simply gravel graded in Europe or Japan are 4 lanes in the US. Moreover US lane widths are much larger than those in Europe or Asia. With more and wider lanes, naturally larger cars are more appealing.
Of course all Americans get to pay the taxes for this high LOS road system oriented around personal vehicles.
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Comment on On "bullshit" jobs - New data supports the idea that some jobs are "so completely pointless, unnecessary, or pernicious that even the employee cannot justify its existence" in ~life
meff LinkAs usual in the social sciences, multiple well-regarded papers disagree on whether an effect exists at all. In this case "Contrary to Soffia et al. (2022), this article finds robust support for...As usual in the social sciences, multiple well-regarded papers disagree on whether an effect exists at all. In this case "Contrary to Soffia et al. (2022), this article finds robust support for Graeber’s theory on BS jobs.". This always makes social science research fraught as repeatability is very difficult to achieve.
FDR came to power during the Great Depression and fought WWII. Americans, indeed most countries, wanted to do anything to fix the Great Depression. I mean, many think that the political climate which accepted someone like Hitler in Germany only existed because of Germany's desperation during the Great Depression but they also had to deal with the aftermath of WWI and the Treaty of Versailles.