SwingingTheLamp

joined 3 weeks ago
[–] SwingingTheLamp@piefed.zip 33 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Despite all the (phony) reverence for the document in the U.S., the Constitutional Convention fucked up, badly. The Founding Fathers disliked political parties, considering them divisive, so they drew up a system that assumes that all office-holders are independent. That system is supposed to leverage the mutually-opposing interests of the representatives to check and balance each other. It simply can't work if a group of people with aligned interests control multiple branches of government.

They signed their new constitution in 1788, and by 1792, Alexander Hamilton formed the first political party. Whoops.

[–] SwingingTheLamp@piefed.zip 112 points 5 days ago (11 children)

I know that many departments have a maximum intelligence limit, but is "too dumb to be a cop" really thing?

[–] SwingingTheLamp@piefed.zip 1 points 1 week ago

From the passenger's perspective, a taxi and a self-driving car are functionally identical. But back when Uber, Lyft, and the rest were offering cheap rides subsidized by VC money, all that happened was that they made traffic congestion slightly, but measurably, worse. People didn't give up private cars in large numbers, though.

If we get self-driving cars, then people's private cars can add to the problem by cruising around empty most of the time, and if they're not in them, there's nobody to be bothered by traffic delays. The only way to achieve the dream of eliminating gridlock would be to ban private cars. And if that were politically feasible, why not just do it now with transit?

[–] SwingingTheLamp@piefed.zip 2 points 1 week ago (3 children)

How will that help? By some studies, about 30% of traffic on downtown city streets is drivers circulating looking for street parking. With self-driving cars, they could cause congestion by circulating all day instead of parking.

[–] SwingingTheLamp@piefed.zip 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

We haven't banned cars, but my city did put a park-and-ride lot at each end of its one BRT line. It's pretty great, now the haters get to complain that BRT is a failure because nobody rides it, AND that it's useless because those lots are always full.

[–] SwingingTheLamp@piefed.zip 58 points 1 week ago

Indeed, never try to outrun a bush fire. Stand your ground, make yourself look big, and intimidate it by staring it down.

[–] SwingingTheLamp@piefed.zip 0 points 1 week ago

Does it now? Prove it.

[–] SwingingTheLamp@piefed.zip 1 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Same reason spree shooters choose gun free zones.

LOL. Might wanna get acquainted with what reality says 'bout that...

[–] SwingingTheLamp@piefed.zip 22 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Hey, is this the 500/10 guy?

[–] SwingingTheLamp@piefed.zip 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] SwingingTheLamp@piefed.zip 22 points 2 weeks ago

*Probiotic protein bar.

[–] SwingingTheLamp@piefed.zip -1 points 2 weeks ago

If it makes you feel better to believe that, go ahead. For my part, I think it's a pretty obvious truth that when the government makes an open-access highway for everybody to use, everybody is going to use it, even in ways you may not like. Especially when it makes driving the fastest and most convenient way to get around. (Making driving on the highway faster than public transit requires lots of infrastructure, and was a deliberate policy choice.)

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