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bazkie 👩🏼‍💻 bitplanes 🎵 reshared this.


Nothing makes you hate cars more than living on a busy street, forced to listen to their din day in and day out. >:(

Cities Aren't Loud: Cars Are Loud — Not Just Bikes

Urban noise is a common problem, and the vast majority of it is created by motor vehicles. Noise is far too often dismissed as a minor nuisance, rather than the legitimate health issue that it is.

The book "Curbing Traffic" has a chapter about the health impacts of noise pollution. I explore the research in the book, and visit Delft, the city that is highlighted in the book as being a shining example of what can happen when noise pollution is taken seriously.

This video explores the problem that farting cars, farting motorcycles, and farting mopeds create in our cities.

#FuckCars #urbanism

in reply to Neil E. Hodges

every time I contemplate "upgrading" the stock exhaust on my bike, I remember it's already louder than a car exhaust.

Most car exhausts, anyway. Not the M3 that my neighbour across the road drives.

in reply to Neil E. Hodges

The last place I lived was originally on a country road and was generally pretty quiet. But growing up population of the nearby city meant more and more traffic, and subdivisions (one was which ended up against my back property line). By the time I moved, the area had become solidly suburbia and the road became a major secondary road and quite noisy

bazkie 👩🏼‍💻 bitplanes 🎵 reshared this.


From here:

There is no 'free' market, and there never has been. The 'free' market is predicated on the belief that all players will act honestly, and make informed choices based on available information. This is a completely false assumption, and has been proven so time after time.

It completely ignores human nature whereby someone will always lie, cheat, and steal to achieve their own ends -- this is what we see here.

Industry players will always form cartels and collude in anti-consumer behavior -- price fixing being the prime example.

Without someone to keep corporations in line, the market would steadily skew to all of the power being in the hands of a few.

There is no such thing as a 'free' market, and there simply never has been. It's a utopian myth which can never be true.

People who go around spouting about the 'free' market are either naive, self deluded, or actively lying.

#capitalism

in reply to Neil E. Hodges

damn, so we've had 11 years of this very thing getting worse.

when will people get it?! people keep voting for these pro corporate parties and it's depressing

in reply to bazkie 👩🏼‍💻 bitplanes 🎵

Said parties have both rigged it to be this way and have convinced the people that this is the only way it can ever be. :(
in reply to Neil E. Hodges

well, the same is happening here in the Netherlands. people have been voting the neoliberals into power for decades, despite things going to shit, and other parties being available here.

it's the propaganda that's working; most people still believe that free market capitalism is great, and it will take a lot more downfall before they understand it's shit.

Neil E. Hodges reshared this.

in reply to bazkie 👩🏼‍💻 bitplanes 🎵

@bazkie same in UK, but I think its also because neoliberalism provided short term gains - a young adult working in the skilled trades or the remaining middle level office jobs which exist and haven't been outsourced/replaced by AI can afford to get a used Audi on finance and just about run it - they get scared of green/left parties as they think "tax will go up and petrol will be £2/2€ a litre again" and that's a powerful paranoia (especially if they are in a long term relationship and have now got kids to feed/fund through school)
in reply to bazkie 👩🏼‍💻 bitplanes 🎵

@bazkie about 10 years ago when I had learned just enough Dutch to read sites where younger folk hung out (and chat to them) I learned a fair few thought all the bicycles, good public transport (which folk in UK often envy!) and the high cost of learning to drive (which is same as UK) was imposed by "big government/EU" and they wanted to have cars just like young people in UK, enjoyed watching Top Gear and thought folk in UK and USA had more "freedom" (and those youths would be 30-40+ by now, many with families of their own)

At least you are highly unlikely to get Nexit as everyone can see the mess the UK is now in 5 years later..

in reply to Alex@rtnVFRmedia Suffolk UK

@vfrmedia UK has been a lovely warning sign for us indeed!

..tho people have been voting far right the past few years despite Trump, so maybe most people don't really understand warning signs 😅

and about that dutch youth; keep in mind we've had neoliberal rule for decades now, so the whole "free market good, nationalization bad" has been really hammered in.

not sure if we'll get rid of it in my lifetime tbh. but most of the lovely social policies we have left stem from the more progressive governing we had before I was born 😅

btw why did you learn dutch? (maybe I asked before)

in reply to bazkie 👩🏼‍💻 bitplanes 🎵

@bazkie I moved to Suffolk, which is not /that/ far from the Netherlands (especially at the point of Lowestoft which is the furthest Eastern part of England) and has many cultural and trade links with NL, also I am a former radio pirate and was always curious about the pirate radio scene there and started listening to the stations and wanted to learn the language (piratenzenders are quite surreal, with 3 different languages of music and songs which are a mix of synthpop/disco, country and western and seashanties 😁 )
in reply to Alex@rtnVFRmedia Suffolk UK

@vfrmedia ohh right I think you mentioned that before! those piratenzenders sure are something else :D it's funny how it combines, eh, "rural culture" with everything else!
in reply to Alex@rtnVFRmedia Suffolk UK

I love pirate radio!

I don't know if it's actually a pirate station, here's an FM broadcaster near Quinault Lake here that plays all kinds of odds and ends with weird stuff in between. It might fall under LPFM, but I doubt the FCC would hassle them anyway since it's in the middle of nowhere and low power.

in reply to Neil E. Hodges

@vfrmedia what's LPFM?

I wonder if maybe the FCC is a bit more relaxed these days since people listen to FM radio less (or well, I imagine that they do)

in reply to Neil E. Hodges Neil E. Hodges reshared this.

the "free market" is to economics what the frictionless spherical cow is to high school physics.

The very existence of corporations means there is no free market. Corporations are a legal construct of governments that grants a business (and later even a mere collection of assets) status as a district entity separated to some degree from the owners and workers within.

As such, there is no choice between "government vs corporations" because they are *two sides of the same coin*...it is all one big hegemony.

We have all been thoroughly conditioned to think otherwise for a couple of centuries now. It is thoroughly ingrained the minds of everyone in the "free world" that corporations are the capitalist free market and government is the socialist planned economy but that is pure BS.

The biggest economies in the world have arrived in the same place from two different directions...the US being a corporatocratic regime and China practising state capitalism.

As such deregulation just means re-regulation.


in reply to Neil E. Hodges

≠ PHYSICAL REMOVAL WILL BE REQUIRED ≠ is ignored

Neil E. Hodges doesn't like this.




Finally got the Barkbuster hand guards back on my #Triumph. It took me so long to get to it because it involves drilling and slotting the plugs the hand guards mount to. (The stock bars have threaded inserts welded into their ends that the hand guards previously mounted to, but these aftermarket bars don't have those.) #motorcycle

Glad I'm finally comfortable with using the cutting wheel of my #Dremel at full speed. It didn't take very long at all to do the slotting through the aluminum plugs!

(Extra mirrors to be removed when I get time.)

Unknown parent

Neil E. Hodges

I've taken it on fire/gravel roads, but nothing crazy.

The Barkbusters are for wind and weather protection. The last time I rode without them, my gloves soaked through and stained my hands purple. :(





Went on a little spin over Snoqualmie Pass, through Yakima Canyon, and back over Chinook Pass on the way to SoSo Cycles in "Tacoma" (really Fife). Riding my #Triumph Bonneville with the aftermarket scrambler bars really hammered home how awkward the bars were, so I wanted to talk to someone familiar with cafe racers and so on. Mark at the shop gave me some great suggestions and sent me on my way. (Album) #motorcycle #photography #photog #photo #photos #mywork

I was worried that Chinook Pass might be closed, and the lack of traffic heading east as I headed west didn't help. Thankfully, it ended up being open and not too busy.

in reply to Neil E. Hodges

You have a few more weeks, usually, before Chinook closes. I suspect it might've been a little chilly, though. 😃


Got a couple of #motorcycle handlebar options on the way for making my #Triumph Bonneville's seating position more sporty. I stopped by a European motorcycle dealer yesterday and they recommended trying a drag handlebar after seeing the scrambler bars on the bike now.

Unknown parent

Neil E. Hodges
My other ride is a Ninja 1000SX, which doesn't bother my knees.

Dave Heinemann 🇦🇺 reshared this.


I used to think my #Triumph Bonneville T120 was slow, but recent rides like yesterday's to #Lake #Chelan taught me that all I had to do to make it fast was use more of the engine's rev range and engage my core when cornering. It's so much fun now! (8 photos here. More from yesterday's ride to come.) #motorcycle #photography #photog #photos #Washington #WashingtonState

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in reply to Neil E. Hodges

What are all those exhausts doing on an electric motorcycle? Or if not electric, why are you calling i a "torque monster"?


ArnoWI 🇧🇪 reshared this.


Stopped by my local dealer to test ride a #Triumph #StreetTriple today. Not only was the engine super easy to work with, the ergonomics were great for the street! The riding position was somewhat sporty without being too committed. #motorcycle (1, 2, 3)

Neil E. Hodges reshared this.


The allure of Eastern Washington became too much, so I headed over there via Snoqualmie Pass (the least likely route for snow). Rather than sticking to the Interstate, I also checked out the old highway (US 10) east of Cle Elum, which was exactly the kind of riding I look for. Only when I hit Moses Lake did I turn back, after exploring the mid-century downtown. (Moses Lake (2023-03-18), Album (85 photos), 15 photos attached) #photography #photog #photos #photo #motorcycle #mywork

My #Triumph was plenty powerful enough to handle the nearly 100 MPH traffic speeds on I-90 in Eastern Washington, but the wind buffeting made me miss my Ninja.

(I've been riding nearly every weekend in March, but I've been spending time refining my photo editing skills.)

This entry was edited (2 years ago)


Saw someone riding a Meridan #Triumph triple yesterday. It made quite a sound! #motorcycle