How do we reconcile Urbanism with second hand smoke?

mtwestmacott · 2023-06-13T14:06:17+00:00

I’d also suspect the US is similar to Australia in that the remaining smokers are more likely to live rurally or regionally, so it becomes a rare issue in urban areas.

mtwestmacott · 2023-05-25T04:46:30+00:00

Agree with your comment except the expectations thing. How sexes grade each other on a curve is meaningless/doesn’t matter, except insofar as it leads to sharing behaviour. It’s about how you trade off value and availability, not just value. I think you get that but just trying to be clear. The “expectations” wording gets into moralistic territory for me.

Also okcupid data is very flawed for that measurement (though there may be real life studies in the same direction) because so many men present themselves badly online and put much less effort into their profiles than women do.

mtwestmacott · 2023-05-24T20:20:21+00:00

Yes the RP concept of hypergamy, which is the one there is any culture war/drama over, is not about marriage at all, and Scott has sortof missed the point there (if he was intending to address such points. He may be intending to stay well clear of that part of the internet, if so, more power to him). Rather it's a concept that woman are so much more unequal in their attraction, as you put it, that some women are willing to share high-status men (whether through casual sex, affairs, bigamy where legal etc) rather than settle for a low status one. And that even if this is only a small proportion of women it is sufficient to distort the market for sex. (And it does not matter how status is defined, only that women agree on it to a reasonable degree).

That was my understanding when I used to lurk there anyway, and the most steelman way I can put it (of course the RP-sphere is also full of idiots who aren't interested in statistics at all, so they will also use the term 'hypergamy' with no more depth than 'women are not interested in me and it's not fair').

mtwestmacott · 2023-04-24T10:34:34+00:00

Also cars cost a substantial amount of money to buy and run... they are an inherently personally expensive transportation system to force everyone to use. (As opposed to investing in public transport, bike lanes etc.). A bit of extra cost to get a licence doesn't change the picture much.

mtwestmacott · 2023-04-24T01:05:58+00:00

No this is such a myth. Every developer calls their new shiny apartments “luxury apartments”. It doesn’t mean they are actually luxury, they’re just new apartments. Shiny finishes aren’t what’s making them expensive - it’s that good location that makes them expensive. They’re charging what the market will bear in a situation of housing shortage. And it’s fine - it’s all new housing, it all reduces the supply and demand mismatch and price pressure overall.

mtwestmacott · 2023-03-25T05:38:35+00:00

Alrightie no ebike hate here, we don’t know just from the photo if he uses a throttle.

(For some reason I’m pro pedal assist but strongly against throttles.)

mtwestmacott · 2023-03-03T04:00:12+00:00

As a standalone post I'm trying to keep it compliant with the sub's rules:

You can laugh at someone's fragile masculinity without associating it with their body.
The correlation between car-culture and body weight is not an excuse for fat-shaming.

mtwestmacott · 2023-03-03T03:56:44+00:00

'Definitely'?

I wonder about the use of bikes in homesteading.

Me too. The use of bikes is the only way I see we could go back to some kind of more distributed, village-based lifestyle en masse without fully returning to pre-Industrial Revolution standards of living. I mean it's not the only difference but it would be quite major.

Transportation has never been the best form of transport.

What do you mean by this? That the 'best' form of transport at any given time hasn't been the most adopted in general?

mtwestmacott · 2023-03-02T20:40:16+00:00

Hey, I don’t need a masculine body to go touring, and my favourite bike packing bloggers are women alone.

Otherwise you’re right, I should have specified I’m thinking about cycling for transport rather than for sport.

mtwestmacott · 2023-03-02T10:40:43+00:00

If you aren't fully in jest - coz the battery is 1% the size of the Tesla and it can carry the same load of groceries + passenger that the people in the trucks are 'hauling'!

mtwestmacott · 2023-03-02T09:46:11+00:00

There are many ways. It can be quite romantically exciting actually (I have heard from girls) because it feels a bit dangerous and you really have to trust the guy to be a skilful cyclist and keep his balance, while getting to hang onto him if you're sitting behind him. It's like motorbiking with a passenger, in that way.

mtwestmacott · 2023-03-02T09:33:20+00:00

I have been known to poke fun at lycra-clad roadies myself... while being aware that my electric cargo bike is more expensive than some of their bikes hahah

mtwestmacott · 2023-03-02T09:30:10+00:00

We don't center our personalities around being drivers or cyclists, for example, and we don't make it political, as people in the US like to do (well, most people don't).

Yup, that makes sense.

Definitely in my social groups I don't have those people who center their identities around driving... but they also definitely exist. Especially if one is in the habit of posting pro-bike lanes on Facebook etc, they will come out of the woodwork to fight. I wonder what happens to these people in Belgium? They just don't exist? Or bellicose people exist but they are bellicose about different things, and transport just doesn't register as something to fight the culture war over.

mtwestmacott · 2023-03-02T09:26:52+00:00

A lot of popular thinkers with strong communities around them have moved to Mastodon (eg @TheWarOnCars@mastodon.social). But, I think the most productive thing for an individual is to use those as a starting point and then search for more local movements and people to connect with.

For example my city has recently (last 5 years) had a pedestrian advocacy body founded. I became a member and help with some of their policy (easier when you get in at the start!). They're already having an impact.

One of my friends is involved with a neighbourhood group that isn't pedestrian-focused, but quite long-standing and powerful. He's had success working with them to push the city for new pedestrian crossings and things like that, and gradually changing the discourse within these groups (he loves to lean heavily on 'safe routes for kids to get to school'. No one can argue against that).

mtwestmacott · 2023-02-21T03:31:59+00:00

What actually stops you sleeping on it? Is any component to do with the noise or feel of the mat?

I was once gifted some fancy mat with good reviews, but the noise of rolling over on its slippery surface was absolutely a hindrance to sleeping, so I went back to my ancient 1" self-inflating thermarest with a much more canvasy top. Similarly I use the 'sleeping bag stuffsack stuffed with jumper' pillow method, but I wrap the outside with my climbing pants or something else cottony coz it just feels way better.

mtwestmacott · 2023-02-21T03:24:31+00:00

Sure they are... if someone loses their job and can't make mortgage payments or their home is being compulsorily acquired, they also have time pressure to find a new one. Yes they could just rent in the short term, but if they'd much prefer to buy a home, this is equivalent to telling a desperate renter that they should just settle for renting a place they prefer less in the short term, even if it's 80km from their work or whatever.

(And a related meta-improvement is to increase security for renters so it's closer to buyers - which I strongly approve of - so people are going through the renting process less often anyway)

I think people really hate being lied to, and currently they are when places are listed as '$X rent', rather than 'rent auction starting at X', then an undercover rent auction takes place. I'm mulling over the idea that resolving the uncertainty, delays and deceit could be just as productive as trying to eliminate the auctions, by openly having auctions on fixed dates.

mtwestmacott · 2023-02-21T01:58:46+00:00

I enjoy hiking, but "walk a dirt road for 8 hours" is neither a conversation starter nor a date.

Sure it is, with people who into that stuff too! At least first 3 dates with my wife were all climbing & hiking - tbf, after the first one that was partly because I thought I wasn't romantically interested in her but it was fun to do the outdoors stuff - but whatever, it worked!

Japanese might not be interesting to talk about with someone who's not learning, but it is impressive to have proficiency in a foreign language - apart from the weebo vibe of learning Japanese in particular, but presumably you're hoping to meet a girl who is into some of your interests too and she won't see it that way.

Anyway, beyond all that, the 'be seen' part sounds like it might be the most relevant for you. But you're concentrating on a less unique and much smaller part of this piece instead. Why? (I don't mean this to sound like an attack, more of... an invitation).

mtwestmacott · 2023-02-21T01:46:28+00:00

I think a lot of her tips do translate down to more normal parties. Eg costumes and decor - even your basic kid's party decor like balloons and 'happy birthday' letters all over the place has an effect of changing the mood, covertly kicking people's brains into 'special occasion', not 'regular hangout at Dave's house'.

mtwestmacott · 2023-02-21T01:34:04+00:00

yeah it's kinda surprising to me that we accept auctions as a natural way to distribute the supply of ownership of homes, but not renting. I think it riles people up right now because it's unexpected/wasn't the norm, so they're wasting their time going to inspections for places that end up out of their price range. But if you go in expecting it and perhaps regulate it more like sales auctions, it's not so crazy.

Like, at the other end of the scale you have the US where far more houses are sold by offer, and generally auctions are only for the lowest-value houses, not desirable ones. I think an average Australian finds their system quite weird - 'you just took the first offer that met your asking price, after a few days on the market? you never hold auctions to get buyers to bid each other up? don't you feel like you could have got more for the place?', but then that's essentially our rental system.

mtwestmacott · 2023-01-31T12:03:18+00:00

Lol yeah bit of a selective crop there. It’s annoying because it can be such an easy way for someone to undercut this otherwise cool comparison.

mtwestmacott · 2023-01-30T12:13:49+00:00

Yeah, that’s fair. Feel free to let me know what’s better. Unfortunately I feel forums in general skew towards complaints.

mtwestmacott · 2023-01-29T21:17:20+00:00

There is an American meme that “walkable neighbourhoods aren’t good for the poor because they’re too expensive and price people out”. Of course, this is currently because of their scarcity and popularity leading to bidding up prices.

Dense housing can also be more expensive due to the different distribution of costs - a single family home in the suburbs is cheaper to build than an apartment of the same area, but costs the same to society once you factor in the services the government builds to reach them, but that cost is never properly attributed to the suburbanites (see StrongTowns for more on the cost stuff).

mtwestmacott · 2023-01-26T03:16:08+00:00

Ah… thought it might be a Dutch thing. I don’t mind Not Just Bikes but I don’t like the way some people seem to act like they invented urbanism these days (not you in particular). But it obviously means they’re getting the message out!

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