r_klancer

What I want to know is, why isn't "Wiki maintainer"/"Librarian" an accepted job category, and why don't companies hire dedicated individuals and teams to do it? I think that would have a decent ROI, but we probably need someone in the industry to prove the concept, à la Google and SREs.

Back in 2006 I actually had a moment where I overheard someone at a university talking about an obscure subject (synthetic biology) I had spent the last couple of years saving del.icio.us links about.

We soon had this conversation:

Wait! Are you so-and-so?

Dude, how did you know?

We've been saving all the same links to del.icio.us!

I had just finished a rotation in one of the handful of labs in the world that worked on this subject, and he had arrived to do a junior year summer internship in the same lab. Incidentally we both were led astray, in some sense, by all the Web 2.0 idealism of tools like del.icio.us; neither of us fit in in academic biology. He even took it to the extreme of opening a nonprofit to support DIY, "open source" biology ... (So very late-aughts!)

Some of those already exist! At increasing levels of car-like-ness:

* https://www.wired.com/gallery/best-electric-cargo-bikes/

* https://www.contemporist.com/5-examples-of-enclosed-bike-des...

* https://www.arcimoto.com/

(Studiously ignoring parent's intended snark)

In all seriousness, I'm expecting an explosion of these new light vehicle body types in the coming decades, as global trends of cheap electric drive + batteries, increasing urban congestion, and less car-oriented urban planning trends converge

Your idea was fleshed out using St. Louis as an example in this article from Washington Monthly (warning: explicitly partisan source): https://washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/maraprmay-2016/the-re...

4. They tend to hit pedestrians and cyclists above their center of gravity, so they knock you down under the wheels instead of up and over the windshield

I don't know if my experience is usual, but readily ride buses and trains that air so crowded I almost have to physically force my way into them, and I take Lyfts occasionally, but I never, ever opt for the shared ride.

Maybe it's just me, but something about sharing a ride with one or two random people in the back seat of a sedan just seems unpleasantly awkward. Whereas a bus has enough people that you're a face in the crowd.

(context: US, Boston/Cambridge/Somerville area)

Which reminds me of this article - https://medium.com/swlh/self-driving-cars-should-be-tuk-tuks...

Which reminds me that one concern with the Cruise vehicle is that, understandably, it looks as if it's heavy and built to US passenger car safety standards.

Whereas a tuk-tuk or jeepney designed exclusively for slower speed urban travel could be built sub-500kg which would be better for pedestrian safety and energy efficiency.

(Of course, especially in the US market, there are other factors that go into consideration, such as the perceived or real need to travel in 30+ mph mixed traffic, the need for large batteries that allow a high utilization factor between charges, etc.)

Why does that video not have more views?

One Cambridge business that has been vocally against bike infrastructure is a pharmacy. I understand why they would be against it, because much of their clientele is elderly. There's a new parking protected bike lane in front of their business, and there are fewer parking spots than there used to be (and those that remain are bang against the "car lane" on one side and the bike lane on the other)

I fully support the law, but given that the proprietors treat us very well and know my wife by name, I haven't tried too hard to change their mind.

OMG DID I JUST SEE YOU IN UNION SQUARE, SOMERVILLE? (Or was it your friend?) I noticed the pigeon.

(File under: it's a small world, I probably shouldn't act so surprised.)

Not quite true! I was planning to complain that Free File Fillable Forms, the only way to e-file for free regardless of income, had been taken away a couple years ago.

However, I noticed that it's back for the 2018 tax year. https://www.irs.gov/filing/free-file-do-your-federal-taxes-f...

It's very basic -- it's literally just a way to fill out and submit the paper forms electronically (though it does the "add lines 35 and 36"-type arithmetic for you.) But it's an option for you procrastinators who earned more than $66K last year.

Relatedly, Massachusetts used to run a free online "TurboTax" program for all. To file your taxes you went to a government website and answered the questions. Unfortunately, that program was canceled a year ago when they upgraded systems, and now the only way to e-file is via a paid preparer.

Message your manager, say you need to have a little talk, and then tell them you will be leaving.

Optional preceding step: get new job first.

Excellent point, I hadn't put 2 and 2 together (about which side of the street it should have been put on)

Immediate reaction: Well, now there's Peloton, the fitness tech company, Peloton, the self-driving truck caravan company, and Peloton, the cluster scheduler...

> some reason think they are in a race.

When you see people out on the sidewalk, most of them are walking ... some of them are jogging ... and some of them are running. I don't think the runners think they are in a race (though they may or may not be training for one.)

I don't know if you're referring to Beacon Street in Somerville, but...

Even though I actually haven't ridden that way since they built the cycle track, I live in the neighborhood and the cycle track has looked awkward to me since they put it in. Back when I commuted home down Beacon I would bomb down the slight downhill to the Star Market at 25 or so, pretty far out into the "car" lane, because I wanted to be able to see, and have time to react to, any cars attempting to pull out of the side streets.

To the grandparent's point, the cycle track is really only compatible with laid back putt-putting. I think if you were to carry any speed at all, you'd eventually get T-boned by a car pulling out of the many poor-visibility side streets ... or you'd T-bone the car yourself ... with your face.

So if I'm out on a ride (not just going to the store or something) I think I'll avoid the expensive new cycletrack, thank you.

Oh, you're right. I was misled by the Brave post -- sad to say I'm _mostly_ unfamiliar with either project.

Interestingly, just yesterday I was wondering what happened to Jon Udell (whom I used to read for his thoughtful perspective back in the aughts, but haven't followed in a long time.)

Inspired by this post (he is listed among tbray's "grays") I checked him out. Turns out he works for Brave too.

Also, TIL about Brave.

Of interest to HN.

Specifically, the bill Lyft has proposed and is attempting to pass would eliminate the ability of every Oregon city from taking the following common sense steps to protect TNC passengers:

   ...
   - Collecting local data, which is critical for understanding congestion and climate impacts.
   ...

TNC providers are not eager to reveal any more of their data than they have to, for reasons of proprietary advantage. Similarly they understandably don't want to take on the operational cost of having to comply with many local requirements. (I work in data at a tech company; I can sympathize with their point of view.)

Yet if urban mobility ultimately becomes a good provided by tech monopolies, we want to make sure local governments are in on the loop with respect to the knowledge and data those companies have, and have some leverage to enforce local requirements.

Applications to current issues regarding privacy regulation, antitrust and tech monopolies, and the potential rollout of autonomous vehicles are left as an exercise for the reader.

Also, recommended: "Inside the Transportation Data Tug of War" - https://www.move-forward.com/inside-the-transportation-data-...

I don't know about all roads, but I noticed there are signs of movement in the (de)congestion pricing (of downtown areas) front in the last week or so -

https://boston.curbed.com/2019/1/29/18201817/carbon-neutral-... (and related discussions - obviously this is just a report, not yet political movement)

https://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/news/2019/01/16/andrew-...

https://la.curbed.com/2019/1/16/18185602/congestion-pricing-...

Not to put too fine a point on it, but that existence (or, it should be said, the possibility) of that very large public benefit is exactly the thing that could be used to shield those companies' business decisions from any constructive criticism or regulation.

"Last year, Senator McClellan caused 40,000 people to die by voting against the Make AV Companies Invulnerable Act"

Honestly, I think they should be provided at the outskirts of the city or metro area, and riders should transition to some kind of transit or circulator vehicle to get to their final destination. Or to a bike or e-bike or some kind of urban-friendly light electric vehicle.

With automated parking (for individually owned vehicles) and, you could just step out of your car and onto a waiting vehicle.

The accordion effect applies to highway traffic, though. The study discusses central cities that have (for good reason) expensive parking.

A steady stream of moving cars is not appropriate for an urban center, as they would form a barrier to walking, cycling, scooting which is apparently a thing now, etc.

> they will come from a handful of companies who will face public pressure not to program them to allow grossly wasteful or antisocial behavior.

One hopes. But one could also say: they will come from a handful of companies that will endeavor to make it seem that _the things that are most profitable for them and convenient for their customers_ are one and the same as the public interest.

There are already narratives at hand that will make this easier: "40,000 lives a year!", etc.

I've gone from being kind of excited about robot cars to realizing that we will have to be very vigilant.

There's some kind of light but I've never quite understood what the light means.

Worse yet, at least in Somerville and the general Boston area, I'm seeing touch-sensitive buttons instead of physical buttons that depress--with no haptic feedback; and only some of them play a recorded "Wait" when you press.

I'm gradually training myself not to jam my finger painfully against them to be "sure" I pressed.

If it turns out they're also placebos, I think I'm just going to give one a good kick next time I go by...

First time I visited Seattle, I crossed a wide-ish, but completely clear street against the light. When I got across, an homeless-looking guy came running up to tell me, "Don't do that, man! Fifty dollars, and they'll catch you!"

I remember wondering how anyone ever got anywhere.

$1 fine for you! (....and me) https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2014/07/23/fear-getti...

There are also some trollebuses in Cambridge, Mass, heading west of Harvard Square toward Watertown. as I understand it, they replaced regular trolleys some decades ago (1950s?)

Also, Boston's Silver Line buses start their journey in a tunnel, running on overhead power for several stops, then switch to CNG to complete their route aboveground.

1. Raised platforms would allow using automatic doors and all-door boarding. Right now, doors can't be automatic because you don't know which ones board at platform level and which need to have the builtin stairs dropped down to track level. As it is, not only does it take time for a conductor to drop the stairs, but staffing is a major part of the T's operational expense for each ride.

Also, the passenger throughput per door is higher when they can just walk off, instead of having to teeter down stairs. (Not everybody can just hop down the stairs)

Oh yeah, frustrated passengers opening the door and lowering the stairs themselves is a dangerous no-no.

2. Electric trains accelerate and decelerate much faster, cutting time off the trip. They have more rated HP and can "burst" up to something like 2x the rated HP when accelerating from a stop.

(Except on those fun fall days when the train slides on the wet leaves...)

Source: personal experience as an MBTA commuter rail rider (reverse commuting to Concord) for four years, former occasional NJ Transit rider (on the electrified Northeast Corridor)