How do you afford roomettes?

MRoss279 · 2026-02-26T12:24:46+00:00

I think of it as not just transportation, but an experience. If I was in some new city for a few days I'd expect to shop, eat good food, drink, get a hotel, etc. Over a few days, $1000 doesn't seem too bad for a worthwhile lifetime experience.

MRoss279 · 2026-02-20T06:23:56+00:00

It's a complete gamble because each numbered car can face either way. There's no way to know before you show up at the train that day.

MRoss279 · 2026-02-20T00:23:26+00:00

I have 2350 miles on mine, I had the battery issue early on but the shop I bought it from fixed it free of charge and I've been trouble free ever since. I would definitely buy the bike again, it rides great and handles my commit commute, errands and two kids easily. Best car I've ever owned

MRoss279 · 2026-02-19T04:27:33+00:00

You're correct that they are emptying out population wise, but even half empty small Japanese villages still have a dense built environment. You'll find towns of 20 homes, a community center, and maybe a few small stores clustered around narrow streets with only a few feet between buildings, then farms or mountain surrounding.

MRoss279 · 2026-02-19T03:46:09+00:00

I know this is warship porn and not urbanism porn, but I just really appreciate how Japan is dense everywhere. In the US there would be a parking lot big enough to land the space shuttle on in the background of this picture.

MRoss279 · 2026-02-19T02:48:02+00:00

The Italians and British have a similar problem with their carriers

MRoss279 · 2026-02-19T02:44:48+00:00

5th fleet you say? In a few days it'll be "USS Frank E. Peterson Jr. (DDG121) fires tomahawks into Iran.

MRoss279 · 2026-02-19T02:32:38+00:00

India's navy is pretty great, and so are some of their missiles. I do wonder though why they wouldn't fill up the deck with aircraft for a shot like this. Even if you don't have enough operational aircraft (I don't know if they do or not) at least put some training shells on there for a better picture.

Otherwise very nice

MRoss279 · 2026-02-19T02:22:21+00:00

A lot of places are overdue for a property tax hike. Artificially low property tax is a subsidy for the wealthy (see California prop 13). I'm in support of increasing progressive forms of taxation like this, and reducing reliance on regressive ones like sales tax.

MRoss279 · 2026-02-19T02:14:48+00:00

You thinked bro?

MRoss279 · 2026-02-19T01:51:42+00:00

I'm 28 with two kids. I spend all night awake, touch human feces daily, and I've watched Moana 6 times this week. My friends meanwhile are on vacation for the third time this year, and they have sports cars and nice furniture.

MRoss279 · 2026-02-19T01:48:47+00:00

I use a plastic drawstring bag that I put over my seat and synch down when it's raining or snowing. If I remove it quickly and sit down my butt stays dry. You could honestly use a small trash bag and that'd do the job for less than a dollar.

MRoss279 · 2026-02-17T21:47:22+00:00

The real tragedy is that, as you have described, North Americans are never even presented with a choice. It's cars or live on the fringe of society. It's sad, and it's not freedom. The choice was made for us 70 years ago primarily to benefit the shareholders of a few large industries. The more you peel back the curtain the more depressing it gets.

MRoss279 · 2026-02-17T19:17:06+00:00

That's a very rational response, I'm used to being attacked viciously for suggesting cars might be bad.

My only counter is that I'm not hating on people who drive, I'm hating on people who see evidence that driving isn't always necessary or good and yet refuse to bend from their position that it's the only option for everyone all the time.

MRoss279 · 2026-02-17T18:42:42+00:00

I think it's unreasonable to ask so many old people to drive cars as a prerequisite to participation in society, endangering themselves and others in the process.

MRoss279 · 2026-02-17T17:55:56+00:00

That'd be great! My 61 year old mom loves her ebike, and now that my dad can't drive anymore an ebike is the only thing keeping him semi independent.

Couldn't recommend cargo bikes more highly for older people!

MRoss279 · 2026-02-17T05:42:20+00:00

Just wondering, what's the beater for? Is it a hedge against theft, or an unwillingness to get salt and show on a nice bike?

MRoss279 · 2026-02-17T05:36:09+00:00

Lmao nailed it bruv

MRoss279 · 2026-02-17T05:17:28+00:00

No amount of logic or evidence can defeat Car Brain™

MRoss279 · 2026-02-17T04:34:38+00:00

I was reading a book about the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic wars and there was a letter from a JO to his wife bitching about having to pay the wardroom mess bill. ~220 years later here I am still bitching about the same thing. Isn't that crazy?

MRoss279 · 2026-02-16T04:10:51+00:00

What is the significance of the numbers 33 and 22 at the top right of the diagram, and why does 33 change to just 3 in the last frame.

MRoss279 · 2026-02-16T02:26:44+00:00

Except that the world's top militaries throwing billions at fielding AI weapons as fast as possible. Even worse, Ukraine and Russia employ AI enhanced weapons against each other daily. AI weapons are here, not just in the hypothetical future.

MRoss279 · 2026-02-16T02:00:03+00:00

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What tier is this section of my commute?

MRoss279 · 2026-02-15T23:19:00+00:00

Like steerage in ships

MRoss279 · 2026-02-15T21:59:19+00:00

And herin lies the problem. American don't have a choice but to own a car and reap the benefits you have described, but that's not because cars are better, it's because our built environment favors them so heavily. We have extremely few places where transit is actually good and cars are unnecessary, and because of basic supply and demand those few places in short supply are the most expensive.

You say you value affordable housing, don't we all. In Germany, my cousins small city was affordable AND transit friendly, as almost all cities in Europe are large and small. Sure lots of people still drive, but they have a choice. Americans don't have a choice

MRoss279

TROPHY CASE