Project: Supporting Inclusive Grassroots Democracy in Ukraine

On the one hand, I understand the intent behind it.

On the other hand, leveraging grassroots political groups was Russia’s key to success in 2014; the primary driver of the 2014-22 conflict; and the casus belli behind the full scale invasion.

Most bike-friendly cities I’ve visited in the last ten years fall into two categories: 1) a comprehensive network that’s been intentionally incorporated into the infrastructure across decades, or 2) quick-and-dirty changes that work really well on some streets with a comprehensive network to be desired. Paris has built a comprehensive network with mostly quick-and-dirty changes in less than ten years. And it’s obvious just riding around that these changes continue to iterate. I was most delighted to track how the striping below my feet had been scraped and relocated as evidence that the bike lanes had been expanded. It’s a work in progress, and that progress is working.

I felt that paragraph adressed it pretty clearly. It’s not that Paris is doing better than X Netherland city. It’s that Paris is tackling the problem with a quick and dirty, but still comprehensive, network. An approach that can be modelled in other cities, even without decades of working towards the goal.

An approach that has inspired me to delegate in my own city as a way to get after this.

It feels like every game studio is laying off right now?

Just because I do these things does not mean it’s optimal. My concern is that social media exists as a method for furthering monetary, political, and ideological aims. It was promised as great democratization, but has done little of it.

My friend Solomiia has taught her kid to run to to the shelter when the warning goes off even if mom isn’t roght behind. She’s made a fun game of it. It’s great parenting. It would still be easier for her to parent without Shaheds overhead. But hey, I can pat myself on the back because my kid has less screen time.

And property tax isn’t?

There are a lot of things parents can do on their own, but their mental capacity is limited, and things like this make it easier. Peer pressure exists, this helps level the playing field. It also makes it availible to all parents, regardless of how they get their internet (not always a home router).

I can also always stop my kid from looking at advertisements targeted directly at kids as a parent. But it’s a lot fucking easier in Québec where it’s banned and I didn’t have to deal with cartoons of cereal boxes.

Neat.

Doesn’t solve the massive infrastructure bill, land use requirements, and safety issues of cars though.

Crisis is a normal kicker enact change. Change without it tends to be quite difficult.

Land Value Tax.

Land Value Tax / Georgism.

Transit should be free.

Yes.

There is some nuance to this. Transit SHOULD be free, but it takes extremely strong political will to improve transit (add more funding) once it has been made free.

Example: X transit is 50% government funded and 50% fare funded.

Government decides to make if free, 100% government funded. Great!

Or government decides to increase funding to 100%, but fares remain. Now there is a 150% budget to improve the transit.

At 50 kph tires are louder. From 30-50 kph tires can be louder.

There’s a lot of factors (notably vehicle weight, tires type and tire age)

I know, there’s just a lot of misinformation fighting against wind power right now.

Yup but even then, using crude oil refined to lubictate a wind turbine for 12-18 months worth of power is a better use than burning it for a few seconds of power.

And people are working towards recycling waste lubricating oil back into lubricating oil. https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3298/12/5/135

Mon calice, this is tellement useful!

https://www.machinerylubrication.com/Read/395/wind-turbine-lubrication

It is valid that a grid failure proof system is a bigger change to relationship with the grid.

But as someone with a 10x cost difference between on-peak and off-peak pricing, stored power certainly changes how I interact with the grid. My time of use use, and therefore my family’s own habits, are drastically changed. Not doing laundry 16h00-21h00 with a toddler was a rough go. So yes, my relationship with the grid has totally changed; in ways more than jsut my bill.

They sure do, I’m just trying to demonstrate that public transit infrastructure still matters. Even if it’s an above ground system.

Metro stations are defense infrastructure even if they aren’t bunkers. Public transit directly achieves Baseline Resilience Requirements 2 & 7. It indirectly achieves others.

NATO’S 7 baseline resilience requirements: https://www.cimic-coe.org/handbook-entries/welcome-to-the-cimic-handbook/vii-resilience/7-2-seven-baseline-requirements/

I’m not sure how that is a disadvantage compared to being on the power grid? If you are on the power grid, and the grid goes down, you also don’t have power.

What is this a disadvantage compared to?