Actual sunrise time 5:29. In reality, the first bit of sun came at 5:32...
I've scanned the headlines and stories this morning, but nothing meets my standard. The closest I came to something bloggable was "I’ve Seen a Future Without Cars, and It’s Amazing/Why do American cities waste so much space on cars?" by Farhad Manjoo (NYT).
This is not a complaint! No news is good news, so perhaps no bloggable news is good news. See you later!
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113 comments:
After a while. Nothing to do. There is a rumor this is Sunday. Wish the churches were open and singing the great Hymns again. But alas, we must lock down in fear until November 4th.
The car as a symbol of individual freedom is a relatively recent phenomenon. The people who articulated the philosophical underpinnings of that freedom had no knowledge of cars. For all their advantages, cars are also destructive on many levels and at some point the era of cars will be over. When that happens, some other object will become the symbol of individual freedom. But in the meantime, the fetishization of cars will hold back progress.
Over the past few months parking has gone way up on apartment seekers' priority list for some reason I notice. I think it has to do with something that has been in the news now for a while that impacts the perception of mass transit, but I doubt the New York Times has heard of it, it’s probably nothing.
I've lived in three cities without cars: London, Tokyo, and Chicago.
I walked a lot and got public transportation and rides from friends who did have cars.
I loved not having a car. The biggest downside in Chicago was there were no veterinarians in walking distance, and a lot of cabbies and Ubers don't want dogs. I had a vet who came to our home, but there were things (like tests) she couldn't do, and our dog was elderly. I also had some friends in the suburbs of Chicago who I didn't see as much as I could have, because getting there (and getting back home!) was a challenge.
But with the COVID in NY, they are still pushing the no cars thing? How short are our memories?
Vehicles are freedom, Manjoo, you idiot.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/07/young-white-mother-killed-black-lives-matter-mob-allegedly-saying-lives-matter-national-media-fully-ignores/
Love those dark waters. If your comment at end means you're done blogging for the day, I hope you two are having a great one. Summer is the best! PS. A lot of moonlight from the half moon at 4 a.m. Very clear skies here in the mid-Atlantic after a storm on Friday. Did I mention summer is the best? Summer is the best!
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/07/three-churches-burned-just-24-hours-wouldnt-know-watch-national-news/
https://nypost.com/2020/07/11/joe-bidens-family-has-a-long-rap-sheet/
YES!
let's get rid of cars! Make ALL ride face to face, in crowded mass transit !
while we're at; we should BAN all private housing
Everyone, should be REQUIRED, to live in crowded assisted care facilities
After all, THE POINT of civilization, is the Complete eradication of mankind
Nuclear Weapons didn't work
the AIDS disease didn't work
Climate didn't work
But this Novel Corona Virus; it just might do the trick!!!
Flying today. Going to hold my breath all 2.5 hours. Hope it works. I'll let you know on the other side. If you hear knocking but don't see anything, it's me letting you know I made it.
The bigger question is why do we waste so much space on cities?
tim maguire said...
The car as a symbol of individual freedom is a relatively recent phenomenon. The people who articulated the philosophical underpinnings of that freedom had no knowledge of cars. For all their advantages, cars are also destructive on many levels and at some point the era of cars will be over. When that happens, some other object will become the symbol of individual freedom. But in the meantime, the fetishization of cars will hold back progress.
******************
Snort: what "progress" is cars holding back?
Are airplanes holding back progress too?
Should people all just hunker down in city rabbit warrens and walk everywhere? Is that progress? Are the people in NYC infected with covid because they were forced to commute in crowded subways part of that "progress" you speak of?
This guy Manjoo is obviously a third-worlder. I've experienced the utterly disgusting air pollution in Delhi, and I can understand how he thinks removing cars would be "progress". But in this country we dealt with that problem forty years ago, and today America's urban air is much cleaner than in the 70's.
Why? Our wealth, plus political will, resulted in environmental standards that led to the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts. Our country changed its ways, and the results are all around us.
NYC is NOT Delhi.
THAT's "progress".
It would seem the Roger Stone Commutation outrage and the Trump Wore A Mask outrage have burned themselves out. Rather quickly.
Sunshine with a high temp of 85° is in the forecast. Low tide (the best time to be at the beach here) is around 11:15am. No news to kvetch about frees me up to go with mrs. stevew and the granddaughters to the beach! Perfect timing.
Farhad Manjoo?
Go fuck yourself.
You scan those dailies and I'll finish watching another episode of Mr. Carlson's Lab and check back with you later. Thanks for the update.
I bet those old wax capacitors leak like a sieve...
Doesn’t there have to be one bloggae event a day to keep the streak alive? How many days is it now?
Indeed:
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2020/07/stay_angry_not_dispirited.html
The Soviet view was that everyone should live in public housing and take public transportation. You see mile after mile of these concrete monstrosities still in every city, each one in worse repair than the last. Housing that no one with a choice would want to live in.
But for the select few who could afford it and had the right connections, there was a car. A car so bad that no one with a choice would want to drive it.
"It would seem the Roger Stone Commutation outrage ... (has) burned (itself) out. Rather quickly."
I'm really surprised about that. Makes me wonder what's going on.
I know it’s not a popularity contest but I’ve narrowed down a list of my top five favorite commenters. If I’m reading comments at all, I tend to skim straight through, and usually these are the ones who attract my attention. Can’t say these people are at all similar, nor do they reflect my own worldview. But I always feel like I get something good out of all of their posts.
1. n.n
2. J Farmer
3. stephen cooper
4. The Crack Emcee
5. traditionalguy
Re: cars
First. Not everyone lives in a city or has access to public transportation. NYC can go to Hell.
Second. Didn't we learn a lesson about public transportation and the spreading of disease just recently? Crowd people like sardines into unsanitary disgusting metal conveyances. If you are in a car, you are only exposed to yourself or your KNOWN passengers.
Third. If you don't have a car, even IF you like NYC subways....how do you propose to go anyplace outside of your gross, disgusting, unsanitary, crowded city?
Fourth. Cars are freedom. Free to move around where you like. When you like. With whomever you like. Free to pick up and go somewhere ....anywhere, anytime. Free to take a side route or unexpected road and discover new places.
People who don't want you to have cars don't want you to have freedom. They are the same people who don't want you to have the First or Second...or any....of the amendments to the Constitution. They don't want you to have the Constitution. They can eat a bag of dicks.
A single person driving in a car is both a symbol and the reality of freedom and independence. That is why "they" hate it so much.
You know, the other thing I was thinking about was Mary L. Trump PhD’s book and her assumption that Trump’s childhood dictates his emotional state his entire life. It’s a repudiation of her entire field of psychotherapy, when you think about it. A repudiation of the idea that people can overcome childhood traumas by reexamining and re-understanding them as an adult rather than being prisoners of conclusions that they drew as small children.
But in the meantime, the fetishization of cars will hold back progress.
Hmmm. I don't fetishize cars, but I also don't often disagree with you. What progress do you think cars are holding back?
Aren't cars just one rung below airplanes on the ladder of transportation progress?
"I’ve Seen a Future Without Cars, and It’s Amazing/Why do American cities waste so much space on cars?" by Farhad Manjoo (NYT).
I have an old friend that sells "Seeing the Better City" in Europe, and he has a spiel that he sells to Urban Development departments in Academia. He always want to share what's just beyond your vision.
I've read some of his stuff. it's like an Obama speech.....or finding salvation in words printed in a lesbian bookstore. You're always going to find your their there.
Those who work for mainstream media really seem to be relishing their self-imposed role as the Thought Police.
CNN Business was able to positively identify CharlesXII as Neff by reviewing messages he has posted throughout the years on the forum and matching them up with publicly available information about him.
And I'm sure they're very proud of their work, too.
Farful?, Tim, the rest of you who wish to tell me what I should like and how I should live - fuck you all very much.
A dozen or so veteran major league players have said they will opt out of playing the shortened season due to concerns about the health of themselves and their families. There will be more before the season starts in a couple weeks. Some are predicting the trickle will become a flood and the season won't be played, but I hope they carry on come what may. Even if all the veteran stars who have banked tens of millions don't like the risk calculation, there are minor leaguers who are at little risk from the virus, and they'll happily sequester from family for a couple months for the opportunity and the major league paycheck. It could be a very interesting and exciting season, as players we've never heard of burst on the scene and prove themselves.
Holy Smokes!! My old friend with the urban development vision has found the NYT article by Mr. Manjoo, and he jumped in front of that parade.
Cars are not symbols of freedom and independence. They are one of the most important tools ever invented. Cheap enough for nearly everyone to own, along with the road system they create a hive of transport to deliver people and things to where they belong on time and on budget. It's an electrical grid for atoms. Elon Musk is working day and night to save the car to make sure America continues to be great.
I swam 2-miles this morning with a group of unmasked crazy people. The water was dark and choppy while puffy clouds raced across the morning sun. I love New England and the can-do Yankee Spirit of America. Everyone agreed we should close our borders to all the shithole red states so they don't fuck up our beautiful Covid success.
"I’ve Seen a Future Without Cars, and It’s Amazing/Why do American cities waste so much space on cars?" by Farhad Manjoo (NYT)."
20 bucks says Mr. Manjoo never leaves the city.
It's nice to sit in the sun at the coffee shop on old University and work, FWIW. Hello Madison on a sunny cool and dry beautiful morning.
how he thinks
"Manjoo prefers to be referred to with singular they pronouns."
Althouse; be on the lookout for some story on what happened to ABC’s This Week With George Stephanopoulos. Less than halfway into the show, the host was on-camera with no awareness that they were on. He then seemed to struggle to join his panel of commentators, then seemed to angrily declare a technical problem. Then, about 35 minutes of commercials on ABC affiliates all throughout the Eastern Time Zone.
If you don't like cars, don't own one. Problem solved.
Oh, but that's not the problem, is it? You want to force other people to live the way you want them to, not the way they want to. Pro tip- that makes you a dick. But then- you're from New York and write for the Times, so you knew that already. Right?
It's not easy to come up with interesting stories when you've spent the last umpty-eleven years staring into a mirror.
Last month the Wall Street Journal ran a moving article about the Covid effect on families living in close quarters. Its reporters visited a large African American family in Gadsden, Alabama, and Native Americans in the desert southwest. Interesting and respectful perspective -- me, I like that kind of thing.
The next week, it ran a long article, based on 90 interviews with healthcare workers, about how the NYC hospital system so mishandled Covid in the city. The responses were scattered, as was the management during the crisis, which also provided perspective.
The Journal also has built a strong reporting team in Asia at a moment when it matters. Who cares about whether/how Notre Dame gets rebuilt when the tensions in the Pacific region are so many and so ominous?
There are always good stories waiting to be told, but it now seems that "news" professionals are more interested in instructing people they never will meet on how to think and how to vote. The incuriosity is striking.
My eldest son (who's 28) proposed to his girlfriend today and was accepted. My second son brought his girlfriend to visit last month and they married at the wedding chapel here.
Millennials and the Covid. Strange and wondrous times.
All quiet on the urban front.
Oh my god.
What are we going to do with ourselves?!
The best part of the Manjoo piece? All the maps, drawings and illustrations. My favorite: park avenue when it was a park.
Jersey Fled said...
"It would seem the Roger Stone Commutation outrage ... (has) burned (itself) out. Rather quickly."
I'm really surprised about that. Makes me wonder what's going on.
It was expected, and nobody's comments are a surprise. The fall exactly along the lines you'd expect.
Cars aren't going anywhere and neither is the internal combustion engine. I am not even convinced ride sharing will expand beyond more than the present reach of taxis and Ubers. And, after this year, what is the likelihood of urbanization is going to continue to expand, which is a necessary component to getting rid of the automobile?
Howard, how was the swimming with a mask on your face, or did you just wear Scuba gear?
"I love New England and the can-do Yankee Spirit of America. Everyone agreed we should close our borders to all the shithole red states so they don't fuck up our beautiful Covid success."
These are the times when I wonder whether or not Howard is a brilliant satirist.
Everyone agreed we should close our borders to all the shithole red states so they don't fuck up our beautiful Covid success.
The worst states in the country for Covid are all New England states. The above has got to be the most mind numbingly stupid thing Howard has ever said, and since stupid is his usual standard, that’s saying a lot.
"But in the meantime, the fetishization of cars will hold back progress."
20 bucks says tim maquire lives in a city.
Everyone agreed we should close our borders to all the shithole red states so they don't fuck up our beautiful Covid success.
Works for me. Do it !
A repudiation of the idea that people can overcome childhood traumas by reexamining and re-understanding them as an adult rather than being prisoners of conclusions that they drew as small children.
Somebody needs to read "Blueprint," even with the new afterward.
Blueprint’s main thesis is what Plomin calls “the nature of nurture” which posits that our genes are nudging us to respond to, interact with, and even shape our environments to fit our individual genetic dispositions. Plomin states ‘Psychological environments are not “out there” imposed on us passively. They are “in here”, experienced by us as we actively perceive, interpret, select, modify, and even create environments correlated with our genetic propensities.”
A simple example Plomin gives is that it’s widely assumed that children who are read to by their parents do better in reading in school and that this is a causal relationship. This is not the case, the relationship is actually correlational in that parents who enjoy reading and who appreciate the value of reading are more likely to be intelligent and want to read to their children too [who share 50% of the parent’s DNA] and that the children inherit some of these traits that make them more interested in and amenable to being read to.
I agree with that review but Plomin also acknowledges that children may be influenced by parenting but adult behavior is more genetic.
@MayBee
I love cars as sculpture...beautiful mechanical things. But I also lived in Tokyo. We had the option of getting a car on the company's dime but decided against it. The mass transit there is spectacularly efficient. I walked everywhere, often 6-8 miles a day and got to know the city very well by doing so.
The only time a car would have been handy was when golfing or doing Costco runs in Kawasaki. But for golf I had rich friends with cars and drivers. For Costco I schlepped : )
https://medium.com/@vernunftundrichtigkeit/coronavirus-why-everyone-was-wrong-fce6db5ba809
Imagine how Ken B and the other cvnts will attack reasonable people when they start to acknowledge their own hysterics.
Shame on us for observing their idiocy.
so we pick over the carcass of mueller's op ed, which is full of category error,
Howard thinks that if Massholes are slightly better than New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut... then that is somehow success.
Still, worse than Rhode Island.
Math is hard.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1109011/coronavirus-covid19-death-rates-us-by-state/
For all their advantages, cars are also destructive on many levels and at some point the era of cars will be over
I'm taking the under. The engineers have done a good job with the hybrids to switch off the motor in the city and we're nearing an EV tipping point for certain classes of passenger and livery vehicles. Gas isn't going away completely but enough to make a meaningful difference in pollutants. Eff off with the carbon-free stuff for everyone, or so says science - despite what 'science' pushes...
My next car is a gas Defender but hopefully the one shortly after that is an EV truck. ..
I live in the city one car for the household- sure is nice to have to get away from the city.
interesting,
https://covid19-projections.com/
The incuriosity is striking.
Their mission has changed. No time for curious. Coordinated manipulation is the priority.
By the way, Manjoo is not advocating against cars. He's pointing out there's a better use for the real estate space in a city like NYC. With lots of maps, drawings, illustrations.
So, when I see no news I wonder what real news has been suppressed. The past 20 years capitalism has lifted more out of poverty than anything has, ever, by a long ways. See a lot of reports on that?
Some regulars here suggested the book Freedom's Forge by Herman. It’s about converting the US economy to war production in WWII. I am almost finished it. This is a FANTASTIC book. The best book I have read so far this year.
Media seems to have an endless supply of immigrants from 3rd World like Farhod who find fault with everything in America. WTF have we allowed them to immigrate here?
indeed
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/bethbaumann/2020/07/12/watch-cuban-immigrant-warns-about-the-deadly-pill-americans-are-about-to-swall-n2572332
It's not a joke in the best of taste, but I've always thought 'Manjoo' sounds like the villainous title character of the scariest horror movie ever shown in ISIS territory and the Gaza strip: half man and half Joo, the Manjoo can pass for a normal human long enough to make all his diabolical dreams a reality. (Sorry, there's no pun so stupid I won't grab it when I see it.)
No news would be good news. Unfortunately, there is a report of Bad News that would probably be of interest to Althouse: the St Louis attorneys who stood outside their house with firearms have apparently been subjected to a search warrant. The rifle was confiscated; the couple told the police that the pistol used by the wife is in the custody of their attorney. I can't imagine that a search warrant would be granted without an allegation that an identifiable crime had been committed. What crime??
It has been said that if the US had been settled from west to east instead of from east to west, New England would be mostly empty.
there's a better use for the real estate space in a city like NYC. With lots of maps, drawings, illustrations.<
Burning it down? I would never go back willingly.
Ken B: Shut down the economy.
Also Ken B: Anybody who says the healthy should be allowed to work wants grandma to die.
Gripping hand Ken B: Free exchange (which he erroneously calls capitalism - a Marxist misnomer) has led to more people escaping grinding poverty and extending lives than any other thing in history.
Ken B retains the title.
“ The closest I came to something bloggable was "I’ve Seen a Future Without Cars, and It’s Amazing/Why do American cities waste so much space on cars?" by Farhad Manjoo (NYT).“
Of course it is idiotic. The left has a wet dream where everyone, outside some rare farmers, who keep the food rolling in, long vessels in a dense urban city. As noted above, they have appropriated this from the Stalinist Communists, and want it for the same reason - control. But most Americans really don’t want or like that vision of a Marxist utopia. For most of us, big cities, and, in particular, the types so densely populated that mass transit is the preferred mode of transportation, are not where we want to raise kids, in particular. There is something satisfying about that little piece of private property in suburbia. About a grill in the back yard, a back yard where the kids can play in relative safety, and attend decent schools, and not be as subject to the power plays by the unionized teachers, and how much they were able to contribute to the mayor, and with a garage for their two cars, as well as a work bench for manly hobbies, etc.
Living close packed together is idiotic in this country of wide open spaces. There is no rational reason to force that. Here in MT, most everyone is quite happy at living at may 1/200th the density of NYC. Sure, a century ago, we needed those big cities because industry, at the time, required large numbers of relatively (by today’s standards) unskilled workers who had to live close to work. We don’t need that anymore, and probably haven’t for much of our lifetimes. And that became esp apparent during the COVID-19 shutdown, where so many jobs showed that they could be done remotely, which means anywhere in the country.
But the Dems in charge of their party, almost inevitably, represent voters content to live in these urban dystopias. Make no mistake, a vote for the Dem candidate in this coming election means that more and more Americans will be forced back to living in these squalid urban hell holes. Their plan, that China Joe Biden has happily endorsed, is to withhold federal HUD funding for counties and cities that don’t force their inhabitants to live in multi family units. The idea is to make single family zoning illegal across the country. And if that isn’t enough, they want to divert significantly more highway funds to mass transit - ignoring of course that the monies are collected At the pump in an explicit deal that they be used to pay for the roads being utilized. And, of course ignoring that one of the major reasons for their fixation on mass transit, is the epic amount of graft that can be skimmed by politicians their families, and other insiders.
This is what is going on with this article - trying to convince people that living in these progressive urban dystopias is preferable to living in those evil suburbs, with their trees, back yards, decent public schools, and two cars.
If we nuked NY City it could start over from year Anno Gotham 1. Sometimes you need to throw out the first attempt and start over.
tim maguire said...
The car as a symbol of individual freedom is a relatively recent phenomenon.
It's not clear what your time frame is here tim. If you mean human history, I'd agree.
The automobile as we know it was invented by Henry Ford in 1908 as the Model T. It was invented, developed if you prefer, specifically to give people mobility.
"I will build a motor car for the great multitude. It will be large enough for the family but small enough for the individual to run and care for. It will be constructed of the best materials, by the best men to be hired, after the simplest designs that modern engineering can devise. But it will be so low in price that no man making a good salary will be unable to own one--and enjoy with his family the blessing of hours of pleasure in God's great open spaces."
Henry Ford from his autobiography" my life and work" 1923
It was originally 1908 and was what we would today call a company vision statement.
John Henry
Another big reason for the Model T was to develop an affordable tractor. This he eventually did as the Fordson and it revolutionized farming perhaps more than any other single development in history.
It was a cheap, rugged, tractor that any farmer could operate and maintain. The technology did not exist to do it in 1908. Building the model t let them develop the technology.
Ford had grown up on a farm and hated staring at the back end of a mule. He was a big believer in Heinlein's adage "all progress is made by a lazy man looking for an easier way" (even though he preceded the adage by most of a century"
John Henry
“Cars aren't going anywhere and neither is the internal combustion engine. I am not even convinced ride sharing will expand beyond more than the present reach of taxis and Ubers. And, after this year, what is the likelihood of urbanization is going to continue to expand, which is a necessary component to getting rid of the automobile?”
You are going to get it by fiat if a Dem wins the White House this year. Biden has already confirmed that he is completely onboard with using HUD and highway funding to force high density, multi family, zoning in suburbs across the country. My understanding is that the regulations are already on the books already, from the Obama era, and just have to be enforced.
This is one of those deep dark secrets that the MSM is intentionally hiding, because they know that if it were extensively known by the public, the Dems would lose the suburbs in a landslide. Let me repeat that - Biden has signed onto an Obama era plan to destroy the suburbs through forcing extensive zoning changes that would forbid single family dwellings. If you vote for Biden, you are voting to destroy the suburbs. Very simple. And keep that in mind in November when you vote.
Howard, agree with you about cars. Not so much about Musk. Coal powered cars have their applications but those are far from universal. My guess is that for the US it would be 20% coal, 80%gas/diesel.
Serious question:you say you went swimming with unmasked people. Do you mean to say you think people should wear masks while swimming? Did you wear yours while in the water?
Please tell me i am misreading you.
John Henry
"What crime?"
They are to be made an example. Because they are rich, they are able hire private security even if you take their private guns, so the plan is arrest them and put them in jail where inmates can exact justice on them.
This is why you should probably leave the big blue cities- you won't be allowed to protect your property when the police are gone, or so hamstrung they refuse to take calls. You will be left with the Crack method of utilizing your social skills to escape with your life when they loot your home.
I'm Full of Soup said...
Media seems to have an endless supply of immigrants from 3rd World like Farhod who find fault with everything in America. WTF have we allowed them to immigrate here?
Ted kennedy is the main reason
John Henry
You all do realize that coal powered cars, if prevalent in high enough numbers, will transform potsto chips.
Well, you do, don't you?
https://www.packagingdigest.com/flexible-packaging/will-electric-vehicles-put-pouch-machines-out-business
John Henry
“What crime??”
Likely something like aggravated assault, for threatening the “mostly peaceful” demonstrators. And they might lose at trial. We are talking a deep blue city, with a corresponding jury pool. The one thing that might save them is that most of the “mostly peaceful” demonstrators appear to have been white. If the were mostly black, I expect that the couple would be locked up for the rest of their lives, and the keys thrown away.
Legally, what I see going on is that the couple very much appears to have committed aggravated assault (or something similar) by threatening the “mostly peaceful” “protesters” with lethal force. Their legal excuse, or defense, is self defense. Just like for homicides, including murder, self defense is a statutory defense. It was effectively raised by the couple claiming that they were in fear of imminent death or great bodily injury (which was my first hint that he was a lawyer). That means (because they are in one of the 49 states that isn’t Ohio) that prosecutors have to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that their claim of self defense is not legitimate. Prosecutors cannot use the Retreat Doctrine to do that, because it has been abrogated in situations like this by the MO legislature. That means disproving one of the other elements of the defense (beyond a reasonable doubt), and my bet is that they will try to show that their fear of imminent death or great bodily injury had not been reasonable. The fear has to be both objectively and subjectively reasonable for self defense. No evidence of subjective unreasonableness (as you might have if he had bee a Navy SEAL) which leaves objective unreasonableness. If I were defending him, I would be collecting footage of the violent protesting around the country. And I think that all things ding equal that would be compelling. But it isn’t - they are likely to go to trial with a jury heavily biased against them. If they can’t get the trial moved to a more evenhanded venue.
I rode in a Tesla for the first time 2 weeks ago. I have to say it seems like a superb car. The semi-autonomous driving blew me away. Acceleration was unbelievable. Overall design very nice.
But:
The owner had to drive quite a ways between home and plant. The plant has several chargers (not the superchargers) for employees but, one day they were all in use.
He didn't think he had enough juice to get home so at lunch we had to drive about 10 miles to a coaling station. That's how I got my demo ride.
It was not a painful experience, just plug int the charger and while eating lunch it got up to 80%
Still,not something I would be willing to put up with.
John Henry
Blogger tim maguire said...
The car as a symbol of individual freedom is a relatively recent phenomenon. The people who articulated the philosophical underpinnings of that freedom had no knowledge of cars. For all their advantages, cars are also destructive on many levels and at some point the era of cars will be over. 7/12/20, 7:14 AM
Tim, your comments are unfortunate and narrowly focused on the negative. You don't give cars the benefits they have given society. Compared to horses in cities, cars are wonderful and cleaner. As humans we first walked, then we tamed animals for productive use, then we attached those animals to wheels. We also used boats for conveyance. It is not surprising the countries who have an abundance of waterways, rivers or access to oceans, developed greater economies/societies versus land locked countries (trade). Once the car [trucks, trains, ships, airplanes, etc.] became abundant, for everyone, our productivity continued to soar exponentially. Next may be flying vehicles, etc. There will always be an individual conveyance systems coupled with mass conveyance systems. Just look at airplanes. In the future, there may be individual beam transportation devices. But long distances will still require a vehicle which protects us from environmental harm - space for example. Try not to let your narrow focus and political ideals to mess up societies never ending progress, especially in the short term.
Trying to find some evidence of Chuck's 9:44 comment I fast forwarded through Stephanopoulos' show. Imagine my "surprise" when I ran across an interview with someone from The Bulwark.
Can we at least get rid of luxury cars? Those murderous psychos are capable of anything.
Readering: "By the way, Manjoo is not advocating against cars. He's pointing out there's a better use for the real estate space in a city like NYC."
Shorter: Central Planners like Central Planning.
"He's pointing out there's a better use for the real estate space in a city like NYC."
"Better use" is rather subjective, is it not? What he's pointing out is his preference for how the real estate space in NYC should be used, and that he envisions using the government to enforce his preference by banning cars.
"Flying today. Going to hold my breath all 2.5 hours. Hope it works."
Has anyone tried to bring full SCUBA gear on board an airplane yet?
As for cars, urban mass transit badly needs a technology update as it really hasn't changed significantly in a century.
In the last half of the 19th century there were rapid changes: horsecars (on rails) replaced omnibuses, cable cars and then trolleys replaced the horsecars, then buses (and subways in larger cities) replaced the cable cars and trolleys. And since then ... well, now an app might tell you when the next bus or train will arrive but that's about it.
The basic problem with transit remains what it always has been: that a single vehicle can rarely take you from where you are to where you're going. Instead it's a walk to a bus to a train to another bus and another walk to get where you're going, and that rarely by anything like a direct route.
Thus, cars (private, Ubers, taxis, limos) continue to clog the streets even in Manhattan because, despite the traffic, the door-to-door travel time is almost always significantly less in a car than on transit.
And that's before one even considers the unpleasantness of riding in transit vehicles, let alone the risks in the time of the Virus.
Which is why people who live just about anywhere other than Manhattan continue to drive if they're able to and can afford to. Transit is then offered as a service to those who can't afford a car, or are unable to drive.
If you really want to get people out of their cars you'll either got have to force people out of them, or come up with something significantly better than 1920s technology to move people around urban and suburban areas.
Another foreign-born person who wants to tell us the way we should do things. A friend posted something on Facebook, a picture of a sign which said:
RESPECT CHARLOTTE COUNTY [FL]
WELCOME
You came here because you didn't like there,
and now you want to change here to be like there.
We are not racist, phobic, or anti whatever-you-are,
we simply like here the way it is and most of us actually
came here because it is not like there, wherever there was.
You are welcome here, but please stop trying to make
here like there. If you want here to be like there you
should not have left there to come here, and you are
invited to leave here and go back there at your
earliest convenience.
I think that sums it up.
After COVID-19, urban mass transportation is close to dead, if the public is allowed the freedom to exercise their choices.
"I know it’s not a popularity contest but I’ve narrowed down a list of my top five favorite commenters. If I’m reading comments at all, I tend to skim straight through, and usually these are the ones who attract my attention. Can’t say these people are at all similar, nor do they reflect my own worldview. But I always feel like I get something good out of all of their posts.
1. n.n
2. J Farmer
3. stephen cooper
4. The Crack Emcee
5. traditionalguy"
Yeah right. I am the king of Althouse. And right behind me is Betamax3000 and then also Laslo or Laszlo.
CONCLUSION:
Kay is a fucking masochist.
Sure, a century ago, we needed those big cities because industry, at the time, required large numbers of relatively (by today’s standards) unskilled workers who had to live close to work. We don’t need that anymore, and probably haven’t for much of our lifetimes.
Yup. Remember the Bhopal disaster, where all the employees lived close to the plant. When I was a boy, many people I knew lived close to the steel mills in South Chicago. They may have owned cars but they were not for commuting. They would ride a streetcar to work and drive on the weekends, Remember "Sunday Driver ?"
There is no reason to do this anymore and the chaotic cities provide an excellent reason to get out. Democrats these days are like the old communists. Everything is theory.
"What crime?"
MISSOURI | *571.030. UNLAWFUL USE OF WEAPONS — EXCEPTIONS — PENALTIES.
1. A person commits the offense of unlawful use of weapons, except as otherwise provided by sections 571.101 to 571.121, if he or she knowingly...
(4) Exhibits, in the presence of one or more persons, any weapon readily capable of lethal use in an angry or threatening manner; or
(5) Has a firearm or projectile weapon readily capable of lethal use on his or her person, while he or she is intoxicated, and handles or otherwise uses such firearm or projectile weapon in either a negligent or unlawful manner or discharges such firearm or projectile weapon unless acting in self-defense; or...
My Analysis
If charged on section (4) I'd question the constitutionality of the statute, both in terms of vagueness (e.g., "angry and threatening"), and the arbitrary and capricious classification of persons, conduct and the availability of defenses with regard to a fundamental right.
Under section (5) you can "handle or fire" a weapon, while drunk, in a "negligent or unlawful manner" if you're "acting in self defense".
Yet section (4) proscribes "exhibiting" a weapon in self-defense up until the point of firing the weapon, whether drunk or sober?
Depending on the rules of construction, I'd have to think the conduct made criminal under section (4) would be subsumed under the "unlawful manner" exception in section (5) providing them with the privilege of self-defense.
Amazingly, under section (5) of this statutory scheme, wouldn't one of the couple's strongest defenses be that they were drunk at the time?
What a mess! I think prosecution under this statute is ripe for a challenge.
"What crime??"
The crime of feigning some sort of ignorance that is so stupid you'll never be called on it.
Like those rich New Yorkers are ever going to give up their limos.i
"Thus, cars (private, Ubers, taxis, limos) continue to clog the streets even in Manhattan because, despite the traffic, the door-to-door travel time is almost always significantly less in a car than on transit."
Why People Don't Use Mass Transit
by Steven Dutch
Apart from the cost of wages, economic planners rarely acknowledge the value of individual time, but that has absolutely no impact on the reality that people themselves do put value on their time. As John Naisbitt pointed out in Megatrends, one of the first thing people do when they acquire some affluence is begin to buy back their time. They hire out boring or unpleasant tasks like food preparation, housekeeping, child care and repairs. (Home delivery services are even enjoying a bit of a resurgence as two-earner families find themselves increasingly pressed for time.) Failure to recognize the value of time to individuals leads to unproductive results.
There are plenty of good reasons to encourage mass transit, but arguments about the hidden costs of the automobile fall on deaf ears because people, unconsciously or not, factor time and convenience into their decision making. The average driver knows perfectly well why she drives.
https://www.stevedutch.net/pseudosc/masstransit.htm
https://fee.org/articles/the-most-intolerant-county-in-america-and-the-most-tolerant-city/
Tolerance, Howard-style.
Birkel said...
https://fee.org/articles/the-most-intolerant-county-in-america-and-the-most-tolerant-city/
Tolerance, Howard-style.
*******************
Careful....of the three MA cities cited as most intolerant---Boston, Cambridge and Newton---only Boston is in Suffolk county.
So right there, the study is woozy.
OTOH I live just west of Cambridge, and it is all too obvious that it's the land of the Walking Woke.
It would seem the Roger Stone Commutation outrage and the Trump Wore A Mask outrage have burned themselves out. Rather quickly.
@stevew, Nancy Pelosi is trying to revive the Roger Stone issue by proposing legislation to limit the President’s ability to use the power of the pardon. Seems obvious that she will draft it so that it only applies to Republican presidents.
WI DHS reported a -1 death rate today.
That's pretty notable.....
From the post:
"I’ve Seen a Future Without Cars, and It’s Amazing/Why do American cities waste so much space on cars?" by Farhad Manjoo (NYT)"
That's one way to move people to public transportation...in preparation for the next pandemic.
Adding to what Wince said:
Didn't those folks in MO face an angry and threatening mob that had destroyed a gate and marched onto private property? IOW were trespassers?
With obvious hostile intent?
I'd certainly like to ask the prosecutor what the couple should have done, in face of those circumstances.
If I had to defend the couple at trial I would certainly ask that question in front of the jury.
Hmmmmm... https://noqreport.com/2020/07/12/officials-scramble-to-deny-herd-immunity-after-news-of-68-antibody-rates-in-parts-of-nyc/
People who have cars hate personal choices.They really li!e steeple though.
Michael,
In Bhopal union carbide got the govt to leave a large undeleloped tract around the plant site.
Over the years squatters, very few of whom worked for union carbide, moved onto the land.
Carbide tried to get the city, state and country to remove them with no success.
That's why the magnitude of the disaster.
John Henry
Michael,
In Bhopal union carbide got the govt to leave a large undeleloped tract around the plant site.
Over the years squatters, very few of whom worked for union carbide, moved onto the land.
Carbide tried to get the city, state and country to remove them with no success.
That's why the magnitude of the disaster.
John Henry
Is anyone in the St. Louis mob gonna be charged for breaking down the couples gate and trespassing?
@BigMike: Interesting. What are the odds she is simply acting to shore up her base, not likely to follow through?
Seems obvious that she will draft it so that it only applies to Republican presidents.
I would go for a law that they could not pardon a donor. That would kill it for the Democrats.
Those choppy waves remind me of the Ocean. You don't need the sea when you have a big enough lake.
Big Mike said...
It would seem the Roger Stone Commutation outrage and the Trump Wore A Mask outrage have burned themselves out. Rather quickly.
@stevew, Nancy Pelosi is trying to revive the Roger Stone issue by proposing legislation to limit the President’s ability to use the power of the pardon. Seems obvious that she will draft it so that it only applies to Republican presidents.
***************
The power of the POTUS to pardon is right there in the Constitution. It is plenary, aside from the ability to pardon people who have been impeached and removed. Malig-Nancy is just posturing for her lo-info base of h8ers.
As for the Mo couple, the Governor should simply pardon them, the moment they are charged with anything. No more farcical Left-wing justice.
I think Nancy cannot alter the pardon power by law.
Isn't it one of the enumerated powers of the President?
Would she not need an Amendment to change it?
And PDJT did not pardon Stone. Stone is still a convicted felon. All he did was commute the sentence to time served. I didn't even know there was.
Stone can continue to appeal the verdict.
After the election, PDJT can grant a pardon if the appeal is not working out.
A pardon makes it like it never even happened. No longer a felon.
Though, I wonder, could be be called a "Former convicted felon"?
John Henry
John Henr
" But in the meantime, the fetishization of cars will hold back progress."
Progress towards what? More importantly away from what?
"Progress towards what?"
Making it easier for the overlords to keep track of where the plebes go. They hate the idea that people are just going wherever they want, whenever they want. Way too messy, needs to be more controlled.
"The bigger question is why do we waste so much space on cities?"
Cities are a much more efficient and less wasteful use of space than suburban housing tracts.
“ Cities are a much more efficient and less wasteful use of space than suburban housing tracts.”
Not sure why that would be advantageous. Apparently, if you increase population density to a certain point with rats, they turn cannibalistic. We are a social species, but tend to do better emotionally living less densely that leftists and their politicians would prefer. Probably a lot less densely. We have lots of room in this country - if we spread our population out evenly, around the country, we would be settled at 100 per square mile, which means that each of us would have maybe 6 acres to ourselves. The population density of NYC is roughly 28k per square mile, which translates to 280x the minimum density that we could support. Places in adjacent NJ are twice as bad (at over 50k per square mile). Why live that densely if most of us are happier not doing so? We don’t really have any reason to, except that people living densely in cities are easier to control. We have the space and the resources to spread out. So why not do it?
I despise, detest, and distrust the NYT. The WaPoo, too.
Evey time I see something like this, I re-read Shellenberger's Apology.
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