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.
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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.
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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
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bazkie 👩🏼💻 bitplanes 🎵 likes this.
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.
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@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..
@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)
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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.
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@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)
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.
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#
Red flag warning says WA’s Cascades ripe for wildfire — The Seattle Times
Elevated wildfire risk is in the forecast through Monday evening.The National Weather Service issued a red flag warning for conditions conducive to extreme fire behavior from 2 to 9 p.m. Sunday in Chelan and Douglas counties, as well as the Methow River Valley. The warning covers the east slopes of the Cascades into the Columbia River basin.
Central Washington starting Sunday afternoon will see high temperatures from about 95 to 101 degrees and relative humidity around 15% to 20%, said Steve Bodnar, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Spokane. Starting Sunday afternoon and into the evening hours, winds will pick up to 20 mph and gusts up to 30 mph.
“It’s really, really dry out there and having this heat wave that we’re in right now, conditions are just getting drier,” Bodnar said. “Our fuels are continuing to cure further and further.”
Central Washington has not had a wetting rain — a tenth of an inch of rainfall — in almost 50 days. And there’s no rain in the forecast.
A fire weather watch is also in place for portions of Central Washington on Monday, when winds will shift, coming out of the north and northwest as a cold front passes, according to the National Weather Service. The Okanogan Valley could see some of the strongest gusts, up to 55 mph.
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The Pomas fire wasn't too far from us, but we didn't experience anything other than mild haze and the smell of fire.
What I find weird is that I saw almost no reporting on it. :/
Ballard Bridge reopened after malfunction causes traffic backup
The Ballard Bridge was shut down due to a mechanical issue on Sunday, resulting in a lengthy traffic backup.The information about the closure was shared by Seattle’s Department of Transportation (SDOT) X.com account around 5 p.m.
SDOT says the crews are continuing to monitor the situation.
They are also running tests to make sure that everything is functioning correctly.
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Still not sure what to expect this weekend beyond "cold", and I'm not the only one. #Seattle #wawx #weather #wasnow
The reason I have posted pretty much zero regarding this weekend, is because there is pretty much zero model consensus (as per usual, but I don't remember it ever being quite THIS bad ...😩) on where the snow will be. We are confident in sub freezing temperatures for a few days....but snow....yeah, I wish we had some sort of idea.That is why there is a range of possibilities for snow. I wish I had a better answer. Ideally, prepare for snow, but don't be surprised if it does not snow or only very little. There will still be very cold temperatures - so keep that in mind. I'll have more info later today - as much as I can share with you with any sort of confidence.
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Now I'm to the short-tempered part of the depression.
Hopefully it stops by Monday as predicted by the forecast.
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bazkie 👩🏼💻 bitplanes 🎵
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Neil E. Hodges
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Daniel
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.
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Mira
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