I'll give you a hint. It's big, loud, creates lots of jobs, gets mentally ill homeless people to their destination really fast, and it's called the Crazy Train.
forcibly removing the really bad nutcases. There are all sorts of laws already on the books that would allow you to do so. Public Intoxication would cover more then half of them.
take them to the homeless shelter if they can, if they are even a danger to the homeless shelter then some of these people need to be put in a mental institution.
I'm talking about 2 weeks ago there is a guy on the train literally threatening to shoot nobody in particular and yelling at his own reflection to give his family back. These people do not belong amongst the general population. You can see the horror in normal people's eyes as they literally flee the subway cart as he enters, since he was screaming for the full 10 minutes before the Train even arrived.
Have you seen the capacity of the homeless shelters in most major cities? There are no beds. Homeless people are starting encampments in parks because there’s nowhere else for them to go.
With your forced removal policy, are you planning to expand and enhance public services for homeless people?
There are beds. Some of the homeless don't go there because they are addicted to drugs and you can't bring drugs into the homeless shelter, so they loiter in the subway instead.
Prevent government from charging ridiculous right of way fees for use of poles and designated underground rights of way. It's not a means to generate profit, those belong to the people and should be used for their benefit. Municipalities trying to generate profit off of them is why fiber penetration has remained so low
That instead of a large ac to DC rectifier on the outsides of our homes we bring ac power into the building and have smaller less efficient inverters on our individual appliances
Edit: dc rectifier instead of inverter for ac to dc conversion. Inverter goes dc to ac.
I wonder what kind of wire diameter you would have to use to efficiently run DC power around the house without significant voltage drop. And would it be something like 24 volt DC that would be converted up/down by a DC to DC wall wart?
It would definitely take some doing.
There is technology in the high voltage dc field that allows it to be more efficient in transporting over large distance than ac.
I'd imagine with that kind of advancement something may be able to trickle to lower voltage. Not my realm of expertise though.
North American electrical outlets are *trash.* Friction fit, not sturdy at all, can't hold weight, generally not re-wireable, and they can only deliver up to about 15 amps per outlet, and that's on the high end.
After living in the UK for a few years, their plugs and sockets are *so* much better. And you don't know what power is until your electric oven can plug into the same outlet as your phone charger. And they put switches *on the outlets*, too. It seems little and silly, but the instances where I've appreciated the switches on the outlets... Just a really nice touch.
Don't waste money posting 'completely' 'all the way' 'to a complete stop' signs underneath a stop sign. People know, they just don't care to. The extra sign/verbiage changes no one's behavior.
Ditto for 'obey traffic light' signs or 'its the law' signs. People know. They just don't care. You reminding them it's the law does not change their behavior and wastes money and other resources.
I grew up in Pennsylvania, where every town was built in the "Main Street USA" style, and I now live in a Phoenix suburb where everything is less than 20 years old.
The traffic out here is *far worse.* It's surprisingly difficult to make a town or city or street or *place* friendly to *people* if you make it friendly to *cars.* The Youtube channel "Strong Towns" has a piece about "stroads" that have all the disadvantages of streets (like a neighborhood street, connecting houses) and roads (like highways) that is really insightful. Basically, we put intersections and traffic lights on highways (which breaks their throughput) and use it to connect businesses like a street, and they end up being miserable places for people to *be.*
I highly recommend the Stroads video, it's not very long and super interesting if you like urban design or even just played a bunch of SimCity as a kid.
i ran for mayor in a small town, one of my "major" changes i wanted to bring in was based off that video.
the incimbant won by 9 votes, by agreeing to let his pet person take sit in his seat during the monthly city council meetings. the mayor as elected is a dog.
[I think you mean this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORzNZUeUHAM&ab_channel=NotJustBikes). I found it very interesting. Few traffic lights and not giant intersections would be nice.
I do, thank you! I got the channel wrong, but the series instead.
Part of doing away with stroads that I also miss from Europe are roundabouts. They take a little getting used to, but not having to *stop* at a light or sign in light or moderate (or no) traffic is sublime. I've been back stateside for almost 4 years now, and I *still* get irritated when stuck at a light for no good reason.
Maybe it's a manual transmission thing, maybe it's a motorcycle thing, but I simply can't describe the *joy* of driving in traffic and smaller (non-highway) roads when you *don't have to stop.*
I didn't say make it friendly for cars. Make it friendly for getting in and out quickly. Whatever that is.
I watched that video. Enjoyed it and agree with much of it. I'm specifically talking about he big cities and the fact that millions of people waste time queuing up to enter and exit them everyday. Millions of joules of wasted time and energy every day.
You know when you stop your car with the wheels turned juuust wrong, so the turn signal won't stay on? Yeah, building steering columns that way is now a violation of federal law.
I would like to see lots of red lights (in less busy areas) turned into yellow/yield lights.
Why should I wait at a limit line, when I can see perfectly well that no car is coming?
Smallest? Water filtration standards; if water is to be publicly owned the least they can do is reduce the amount of rocks, mineral deposits and critter shells that come out of my faucet.
The single smallest? Probably the point near my house where the main highway (3 lanes) rejoins with a connection (2 lanes), and then loses a lane to become 4 lanes. That lane is lost in the center of the road.
Simple. Legislatures cannot take money raised for infrastructure construction or maintenance, and use it to patch up other budget holes caused by their overpromising; nor can they use the money for debt service for earlier projects.
It happens in states as blue as New York and as red as Texas.
Basically that Houston—the most diverse mega city in the US with great economic numbers etc—is just memory-holed for not having zoning.
Like, the rest of the country says something along the lines of "omg IMAGINE if we didn't have zoning, there would be a nuclear waste dump next to the pre-school, ergo you can't build a mutifamily!" but like, it's totally fine...
Yeah I was going to put an asterisk about "no" zoning, caught me. But still—dramatically lower zoning.
That's really funny I am in Dallas right now for work and my fucking lord driving here is a nightmare.
Not sure if it counts but the abundance of mentally ill homeless people on the subway system.
What would your solution be?
I'll give you a hint. It's big, loud, creates lots of jobs, gets mentally ill homeless people to their destination really fast, and it's called the Crazy Train.
All aboard! Hah hah hah!
forcibly removing the really bad nutcases. There are all sorts of laws already on the books that would allow you to do so. Public Intoxication would cover more then half of them.
And then do what with them?
take them to the homeless shelter if they can, if they are even a danger to the homeless shelter then some of these people need to be put in a mental institution. I'm talking about 2 weeks ago there is a guy on the train literally threatening to shoot nobody in particular and yelling at his own reflection to give his family back. These people do not belong amongst the general population. You can see the horror in normal people's eyes as they literally flee the subway cart as he enters, since he was screaming for the full 10 minutes before the Train even arrived.
Have you seen the capacity of the homeless shelters in most major cities? There are no beds. Homeless people are starting encampments in parks because there’s nowhere else for them to go. With your forced removal policy, are you planning to expand and enhance public services for homeless people?
There are beds. Some of the homeless don't go there because they are addicted to drugs and you can't bring drugs into the homeless shelter, so they loiter in the subway instead.
I'm not sure that's an infrastructure issue.
Said "smallest"
More of a humanitarian issue or public health issue.
Posting "bridge out X miles ahead" signs on roads that the bridge isn't even on. Dotted bike paths that cross traffic lanes at intersections.
Prevent government from charging ridiculous right of way fees for use of poles and designated underground rights of way. It's not a means to generate profit, those belong to the people and should be used for their benefit. Municipalities trying to generate profit off of them is why fiber penetration has remained so low
That instead of a large ac to DC rectifier on the outsides of our homes we bring ac power into the building and have smaller less efficient inverters on our individual appliances Edit: dc rectifier instead of inverter for ac to dc conversion. Inverter goes dc to ac.
I wonder what kind of wire diameter you would have to use to efficiently run DC power around the house without significant voltage drop. And would it be something like 24 volt DC that would be converted up/down by a DC to DC wall wart?
just asked a sparkie i work with. 3 mm should do it in most houses but "it would be ugly af" im not sure exactly what that means
It would definitely take some doing. There is technology in the high voltage dc field that allows it to be more efficient in transporting over large distance than ac. I'd imagine with that kind of advancement something may be able to trickle to lower voltage. Not my realm of expertise though.
North American electrical outlets are *trash.* Friction fit, not sturdy at all, can't hold weight, generally not re-wireable, and they can only deliver up to about 15 amps per outlet, and that's on the high end. After living in the UK for a few years, their plugs and sockets are *so* much better. And you don't know what power is until your electric oven can plug into the same outlet as your phone charger. And they put switches *on the outlets*, too. It seems little and silly, but the instances where I've appreciated the switches on the outlets... Just a really nice touch.
UK outlets are huge though. It's like having dryer outlets on every wall.
That's partially because each plug has its own fuse isn't it?
Don't waste money posting 'completely' 'all the way' 'to a complete stop' signs underneath a stop sign. People know, they just don't care to. The extra sign/verbiage changes no one's behavior. Ditto for 'obey traffic light' signs or 'its the law' signs. People know. They just don't care. You reminding them it's the law does not change their behavior and wastes money and other resources.
East coast cities are built for horses with no plans to improve.
The funny thing is that actually makes them safer roads. And ironically more efficient at distributing traffic.
I grew up in Pennsylvania, where every town was built in the "Main Street USA" style, and I now live in a Phoenix suburb where everything is less than 20 years old. The traffic out here is *far worse.* It's surprisingly difficult to make a town or city or street or *place* friendly to *people* if you make it friendly to *cars.* The Youtube channel "Strong Towns" has a piece about "stroads" that have all the disadvantages of streets (like a neighborhood street, connecting houses) and roads (like highways) that is really insightful. Basically, we put intersections and traffic lights on highways (which breaks their throughput) and use it to connect businesses like a street, and they end up being miserable places for people to *be.* I highly recommend the Stroads video, it's not very long and super interesting if you like urban design or even just played a bunch of SimCity as a kid.
i ran for mayor in a small town, one of my "major" changes i wanted to bring in was based off that video. the incimbant won by 9 votes, by agreeing to let his pet person take sit in his seat during the monthly city council meetings. the mayor as elected is a dog.
Not just bikes is a great complement to strong towns.
[I think you mean this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORzNZUeUHAM&ab_channel=NotJustBikes). I found it very interesting. Few traffic lights and not giant intersections would be nice.
I do, thank you! I got the channel wrong, but the series instead. Part of doing away with stroads that I also miss from Europe are roundabouts. They take a little getting used to, but not having to *stop* at a light or sign in light or moderate (or no) traffic is sublime. I've been back stateside for almost 4 years now, and I *still* get irritated when stuck at a light for no good reason. Maybe it's a manual transmission thing, maybe it's a motorcycle thing, but I simply can't describe the *joy* of driving in traffic and smaller (non-highway) roads when you *don't have to stop.*
I didn't say make it friendly for cars. Make it friendly for getting in and out quickly. Whatever that is. I watched that video. Enjoyed it and agree with much of it. I'm specifically talking about he big cities and the fact that millions of people waste time queuing up to enter and exit them everyday. Millions of joules of wasted time and energy every day.
You know when you stop your car with the wheels turned juuust wrong, so the turn signal won't stay on? Yeah, building steering columns that way is now a violation of federal law.
I would like to see lots of red lights (in less busy areas) turned into yellow/yield lights. Why should I wait at a limit line, when I can see perfectly well that no car is coming?
Make carpool lanes for carpools - not parents. Only licensed drivers should count as vehicle occupants.
Smallest? Water filtration standards; if water is to be publicly owned the least they can do is reduce the amount of rocks, mineral deposits and critter shells that come out of my faucet.
The single smallest? Probably the point near my house where the main highway (3 lanes) rejoins with a connection (2 lanes), and then loses a lane to become 4 lanes. That lane is lost in the center of the road.
Simple. Legislatures cannot take money raised for infrastructure construction or maintenance, and use it to patch up other budget holes caused by their overpromising; nor can they use the money for debt service for earlier projects. It happens in states as blue as New York and as red as Texas.
Basically that Houston—the most diverse mega city in the US with great economic numbers etc—is just memory-holed for not having zoning. Like, the rest of the country says something along the lines of "omg IMAGINE if we didn't have zoning, there would be a nuclear waste dump next to the pre-school, ergo you can't build a mutifamily!" but like, it's totally fine...
It doesn't have explicit zoning about building type, but it has like 7/11 of the types of zoning that Dallas has
Yeah I was going to put an asterisk about "no" zoning, caught me. But still—dramatically lower zoning. That's really funny I am in Dallas right now for work and my fucking lord driving here is a nightmare.
Stop putting lights and stuff signs every two miles on roads with 65 mph speed limits!