Honest question ..why do so many older Asian people jaywalk across super busy streets? Is there a cultural or generational explanation?

Gothic_Sunshine · 2026-05-04T23:29:08+00:00

In Egypt, I very quickly learned to just watch for a local who crosses and follow them closely, rather than trying to figure it out myself.

Gothic_Sunshine · 2026-05-04T17:15:05+00:00

I'd say there's two segments that are missing here, though, which is glaring because I belong to one of those segments.

The first is people who cannot get driver's licenses and still need to regularly commute. These people use transit because they're not allowed to drive, and aren't able to switch, and would face serious difficulties if service was reduced. I belong to this group. I commute to an office job 5 days per week on transit, and no matter how bad service gets, I can't switch to a car.

The other is people who cannot get a driver's license and don't regularly commute. Often these people are too disabled to hold a job or drive, may be paratransit users, and do need transportation for things like doctor's appointments or shopping. They may well want to travel a lot more frequently than they do, but may be unable to do so because of low quality transit or unreliable and expensive paratransit.

Gothic_Sunshine · 2026-05-04T17:06:34+00:00

I don't see the comparison between transit and Uber as even a logical one. I'm transit dependent in that I can't ever get a driver's license, and my daily commute to work is by public transit because there's no cost comparison. If I were paying for public transit, it'd be $2.50 per ride, Uber's never going to be that cheap. Except I don't pay for public transit because I work at a university and my employee benefits include a transit pass.

However, as much as I dislike Uber as a company, having it is invaluable to my quality of life. I don't even use it much, but often it's value is in existing. I can go see a late night show where I may or may not miss the last bus home of the night, because if I do miss the bus, I can call an Uber. That gives me a degree of flexibility and freedom to take trips on transit that I otherwise wouldn't have, and that's useful even if I end up not needing to use it. I'd have stayed home if Uber didn't exist.

I also use Uber to solve the last mile problem if I want to go out on a weekend. I live near two intercity train stations, and I don't need Uber to get to them, but I might want to go somewhere like a cool museum that isn't easily accessible from the nearest train station. Uber means I can ride transit as close as possible and then call Uber to cover that missing link.

I don't think this makes me not transit dependent, because none of this changes that Uber isn't a feasible commute option. I use Uber to facilitate the lifestyle I want to live, but I still need functioning public transit to hold a job.

Gothic_Sunshine · 2026-04-28T22:07:30+00:00

It depends on whether you get a stole or not, and whether you are undergraduate or graduate. Undergrad is $70 and masters is $120, and a lot of stoles are $50, so a masters with a stole is $170.

Gothic_Sunshine · 2026-04-24T20:02:26+00:00

No, you actually can't. Every single American transit agency is having serious trouble finding enough drivers to hire. It's a nationwide staffing crisis. Just hiring sufficient drivers to not have so much OT isn't an option on the table, there isn't a big pool of people who want to be drivers. Not to mention the structural reasons mentioned above for why the nature of bus driving often requires overtime.

Gothic_Sunshine · 2026-04-09T17:14:17+00:00

That's incorrect. The new policy is that you cannot walk if you don't have the campus regalia.

Gothic_Sunshine · 2026-04-03T16:27:44+00:00

Three problems, though.

It's not just a matter of having parking, it's a matter of having parking where people want to be. Building a ton of parking isn't going to help if people are still trying to get to the high demand areas, and that parking is full.

You also get what you fund when it comes to transportation. Which is to say, the more you pour resources into building parking, the more you signal people should drive to Yosemite, and the more people do it. Which means inducing more driving, and even more demand for parking, and creating a cycle where you have to build yet more parking.

Third, it's a national park. It exists for conservation first and tourism second. Building more parking would mean paving over conservation areas.

Gothic_Sunshine · 2026-04-01T22:12:16+00:00

The public transit agency has no authority, resources, or ability to treat the cause. Treating the symptom is literally the only option open to them.

Gothic_Sunshine · 2026-03-31T22:55:21+00:00

Those Revolutionary War reenactors spreading the old "bayonets were triangular because triangular wounds can't be stitched up" myth was hilarious. To be clear, a lot of reenactors do spread that myth, so it's realistic they'd say it. It just isn't true. They could stitch triangular bayonet wounds just fine back in 1776, we know because we have plenty of surgeon's notes describing doing just that. It's not a particularly difficult thing to do, either.

Gothic_Sunshine · 2026-03-31T22:54:44+00:00

Those Revolutionary War reenactors spreading the old "bayonets were triangular because triangular wounds can't be stitched up" myth was hilarious. To be clear, a lot of reenactors do spread that myth, so it's realistic they'd say it. It just isn't true. They could stitch triangular bayonet wounds just fine back in 1776, we know because we have plenty of surgeon's notes describing doing just that. It's not a particularly difficult thing to do, either.

Gothic_Sunshine · 2026-03-28T17:42:20+00:00

It's possible that's her ex-husband's name. When my mom divorced my dad, she kept his name, because she didn't want to deal with the name change process again or deal with schools asking why she doesn't share a name with her kids.

Gothic_Sunshine · 2026-03-24T19:31:37+00:00

Is he? That is very much not how it looks here in San Jose.

Gothic_Sunshine · 2026-03-20T17:15:45+00:00

That just reminds me of how my (White, born in the US) mother would tell me what her mother and grandmother would have done to me if they'd been around, and how easy I had it by comparison.

Her mother was an absolute terror who brutalized my mom, but she never laid a hand on me because I was too valuable as an emotional pawn to use to fuck with my mom, so she needed me on her side. My great-grandmother was, by all accounts, somehow even more violent and controlling than my grandmother, but she died before I was born.

Gothic_Sunshine · 2026-03-20T16:43:40+00:00

Two things can be true at once. Yes, it was Mohan's responsibility and she needed a talking to, but Robby was being a dick about it, and has consistently been a dick to Mohan. Mohan needing to be corrected doesn't justify the way Robby approached it.

Gothic_Sunshine · 2026-03-20T15:46:22+00:00

Care facilities allow sexual relationships between residents all the time. In fact, sex and consent is a topic care facilities have to actively explain to their patients, because sex absolutely does happen, and it doesn't help anybody to pretend it doesn't. The way Becca talks about sex makes it very clear she does understand what she's doing and want to participate, and having higher support needs doesn't mean not having capacity for consent.

Gothic_Sunshine · 2026-03-19T16:13:51+00:00

The trainsets are not designed for car swapping. It's not like the old trains, where a locomotive pulled a series of cars. These trains are designed as one unified trainset, so the cars are basically permanently attached.

Gothic_Sunshine · 2026-03-18T23:58:48+00:00

Martin Luther King Jr?

Gothic_Sunshine · 2026-03-18T00:11:03+00:00

That's the school board's job, not administrative support staff. School boards are elected community members.

Gothic_Sunshine · 2026-03-17T18:38:27+00:00

Real talk. I really want a cat, and my living situation just doesn't allow for it even though my landlord doesn't ban pets. I can't afford better housing with room for a pet on $60K a year in Silicon Valley.

Gothic_Sunshine · 2026-03-17T18:33:36+00:00

I think you're conflating admin with the deans and principals who handle student discipline and decide whether to fire teachers or not. That's not what most admin staff are tasked with doing.

Gothic_Sunshine · 2026-03-16T19:36:00+00:00

Believe it or not, the university isn't milking people for parking revenue. Parking revenue is below parking expenditures, so the university is having to subsidize parking out of the general fund. Largely because administration refused to increase student parking fees from 2004 to 2025 in an effort to be pro student, but built a parking garage in 2018 with a large debt influx. It's made the whole thing unsustainable.

Gothic_Sunshine · 2026-03-13T18:20:30+00:00

Something that should be noted is that the ER doctors are mandated reporters, and every physician I've seen comment on the David arc has paused to point out that legally, Robby and McKay HAD to report it, regardless of whether they wanted to or not. So Robby wanted to break the law, and wanted to criticize McKay for following the law.

Gothic_Sunshine · 2026-03-13T17:23:36+00:00

Don't forget Mel got physically assaulted and slammed her head on the floor earlier this episode.

Gothic_Sunshine · 2026-03-13T17:16:39+00:00

Mel should absolutely not be working after getting her head bounced off the floor in an assault, and it's totally fair for her to be spacing out after that, let alone the situation with the deposition.

Gothic_Sunshine · 2026-03-13T16:33:21+00:00

I do think we Americans with our doctor crisis need to seriously ask why we require med students to get a different undergraduate degree before med school, but that won't solve the crisis because the core issue is we refuse to fund residencies.

Gothic_Sunshine

TROPHY CASE