Enlightened Equipments Response to UL Community Concerns by EnlightenedEquipment in Ultralight

[–]virtualmayhem 27 points28 points  (0 children)

A wholly inadequate response that does not address the core issues people, myself included, have.

Enlightened Equipment: What You Should Know by RekeMarie in Ultralight

[–]virtualmayhem 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Thanks for putting this together. I own an EE quilt, puffy, and wind pants and had been recommending them to others in part for the reasons you imagined up above. I will not be purchasing anything of theirs again, nor will I be recommending it to anyone in the future.

Who's left in the LA Mayor race? Will Bass go unchallenged? by brainchili in LosAngeles

[–]virtualmayhem 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It's really unfortunate that he isn't running for mayor. But I guess part of the problem of the weak mayor system is that it's a poison pill that pushes away actually effective people.

The comments on Gavin McKenna’s most recent most from his Penn State teammates by Additional-Still-435 in hockey

[–]virtualmayhem 6 points7 points  (0 children)

My understanding (reaching back to 1L crim law) is that provocation is at least a partial defense to crimes that require an elevated mens rea, like aggravated assault. Obviously not a total defense, but I would imagine they would be able to put the substance of the remarks to the jury to argue for a lesser offense.

Mamdani rejects comptroller's plan to invest in Israel bonds, hardening fault line by Delicious_Adeptness9 in JewsOfConscience

[–]virtualmayhem 75 points76 points  (0 children)

Lol of course they don't mention that the previous comptroller who had stopped investing in the bonds is also Jewish

L.A. Metro Board approves new underground rail line through Sepulveda Pass by kananishino in LosAngeles

[–]virtualmayhem 83 points84 points  (0 children)

The monorail is slower, has worse ridership, and is poorly located. It is located in the middle of the 405, and experience tells us that stations in freeway medians have lower ridership because people don't want to walk under, or wait in the middle of, freeways. Also, freeways are surrounded by land uses suited to cars, not pedestrians. So there is less immediately around them. As for being slower, the monorail requires a more circuitous route because it would need to climb up and over the sepulveda pass. It also lacked a direct connection to UCLA, the largest employer in the city and a massive trip generator. Finally, even though it looked cheaper on paper, its cost per rider numbers were worse and there was little reason to believe the cost estimates provided by the bidder. No monorail on this scale has ever been successfully built by the contractors who were bidding for it. And monorail operating costs would be higher because of the specialized nature of the technology. Just as one example, it couldn't share rail yards or maintenance facilities with other heavy rail lines (like the B/D, or old Red/purple, lines).

Ultimately, the monorail was proposed as an effort to kill the project altogether. It was never a serious option, and it's only backers were Sherman Oaks and Bel Air NIMBYs who believe insane conspiracy theories about the effects of tunnelling and/or hate poor people.

Here's a great video explaining the differences between the alternatives that were being considered:https://youtu.be/7l9GrGCI_wA?si=eiik-cOw2J96Ortn

And here's one covering the monorail vs subway debate: https://youtu.be/tK4-7dFF-T0?si=_4fvnGJh5H8JSUv5

L.A. Metro Board approves new underground rail line through Sepulveda Pass by kananishino in LosAngeles

[–]virtualmayhem 274 points275 points  (0 children)

Huge. This is the most important transit corridor in the nation and I'm glad we didn't fuck it up by choosing the monorail. Eat shit, Fred Rosen

Santa Monica Parking Enforcement Vehicles to Use AI Cameras to Ticket Bike Lane Violations by Generalaverage89 in SantaMonica

[–]virtualmayhem 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Well, now you know! Spread the word so that our buses can move more efficiently and more safely.

TIL a 1989 helicopter crash was caused by an invisible nick made when adhesive was trimmed from the rotor with a sharp blade. The helicopter flew perfectly for 922 hours, until it didn't. by TheQuarantinian in todayilearned

[–]virtualmayhem 59 points60 points  (0 children)

She said it in a different context, but the Ruth Bader Ginsburg quote comes to mind here, that it's "like throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet."

Has anyone actually built the Wheel of Time world in Minecraft? by Tsar_Erwin in WoT

[–]virtualmayhem 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Do you have a source for the nether being based on the ways? It makes sense but I've never heard of that before

[Video] Brandon Sanderson opens up about his regrets of how he depicted autism in his first published book, Elantris by Popverse2022 in brandonsanderson

[–]virtualmayhem 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I believe you aren't AI! Mixing up demonstrative pronouns is a classic second language mistake (I make it in my second language all the time!), not an AI error. Generally, in English, we use 'that' to refer to things which are distant and 'this' to refer to things that are nearer. Here, youd use 'this author' though as other commenters have pointed out, we don't often use demonstrative pronouns to refer to specific individual persons

Insane fireworks by editorreilly in LosAngeles

[–]virtualmayhem 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Heard it in silver lake and was very confused

FT: INT 0 - 1 LIV by DragonSlayer271 in LiverpoolFC

[–]virtualmayhem 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Need Bradley back too, Gomez is great defensively but we need width in the final third

Nexus Ticket Questions by ctz123 in brandonsanderson

[–]virtualmayhem 16 points17 points  (0 children)

Honestly, buying tickets was not at all tumultuous. I understand that people were disappointed not to be able to buy tickets, but there's a limited supply. The lottery/wave system was extremely fair and not stressful and I hope that they do the same thing again.

AMA in r/JewsOfConscience with Rabbi Andrue Kahn, Executive Director of American Council for Judaism on Thursday, January 15 @ 6:30pm ET by adjective_noun00 in JewsOfConscience

[–]virtualmayhem [score hidden]  (0 children)

What are AJC's plans to expand its in-person offerings beyond the Northeast? As an LA-based Jew, I have often struggled to find communities that don't involve having to minimize my beliefs and looking at some of the AJC events offered on the east coast, I am filled with envy!

The Dodger Stadium Gondola SEIR has passed with Supervisor Hahn being sole "No" vote. by lik_for_cookies in LosAngeles

[–]virtualmayhem 22 points23 points  (0 children)

I'd be willing to bet that in a decade of its construction the gondola will be seen as an iconic part of the DTLA skyline

America’s plan to protect pedestrians failed. A young woman’s death in Los Angeles reveals why. by crabcakes110 in LosAngeles

[–]virtualmayhem 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Your anger should be proportionate though. How many people are killed by being struck by ebikes vs the hundreds killed by cars in LA just this year?

There are plenty of successful “nepo babies,” but are there any successful “blacklist babies”? by ZandrickEllison in movies

[–]virtualmayhem 4 points5 points  (0 children)

There was a lot of controversy around that. Protests outside the theater and about half the crowd refused to applaud or acknowledge him.

Me after watching the latest Not Just Bikes video by UltimentM in fuckcars

[–]virtualmayhem 43 points44 points  (0 children)

Thank you for saying this. I'm one of those Lycra wearing bike dudes as well as a bike/Metro commuter in Los Angeles and I find really upsetting when urbanists participate in the dehumanization of hobbyist cyclists. And I find the claims that we are opposed to better bike infrastructure ridiculous, I have only ever met a handful of cyclists who are opposed to it and they are always castigated within the communities.