|
Look, Genghis Khan traveled really far.
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2017 03:49
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 7, 2024 01:47 |
|
|
Powered Descent posted:A nice neat one-quarter of the planet is not, in fact, missing! If it was, and it was exposing the inner core like that, we'd be able to see it from space. And also all the people where Asia used to be would tell us. Also, the remaining ¾ of Earth would collapse and re‐form into a smaller spheroid.
|
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2017 03:52
|
|
|
Powered Descent posted:A nice neat one-quarter of the planet is not, in fact, missing! I would have awarded points for this joke.
|
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2017 04:02
|
|
|
why would anyone willingly live in san francisco
|
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2017 04:12
|
|
|
Grand Fromage, how old are your pupils?
|
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2017 04:22
|
|
|
Platystemon posted:Grand Fromage, how old are your pupils? Probably as old as the rest of his eyes.
|
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2017 04:27
|
|
|
16-18. I wasn't too surprised, I've yet to encounter a student with literally any geographical knowledge. I gave a map quiz in history class mostly for shits and giggles and the average grade was like 5%.
|
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2017 04:31
|
|
|
boner confessor posted:nope, i'm looking at the right place. there are nice big sidewalks, and i even found a streetcar. the widest street i can find is about the same as any other major american urban boulevard. i'm guessing the flags have more to do with weird christian think of the children abundance of caution than whatever imperceptible slights can be found about the mormon's fairly typical urban development It's not an average downtown setup, especially for a 19th century American city, but in recent years they've worked on making it better. 99% Invisible did an episode on it. http://99percentinvisible.org/episode/plat-of-zion/ I always heard the joke that Brigham Young made them that wide so he could walk arm and arm with all his wives down the street. The reality is much more ridiculous. Smith dabbled in Freemasonry so I imagine he was caught up on the whole sacred geometry thing too when he designed his utopia. I did not convey it very well but the crosswalk signals do cut out on you at some intersections downtown due to the width of the streets, hence the flags to increase visibility. If you walk briskly it isn't a problem but if you're walking slowly it's going to go red on you before you reach the otherside. I experienced it first hand but it's only bad in the original grid area, as mentioned by Playstemon. They probably have the flags at the smaller intersections as a tradition or to protect the half dozen kids who aren't being watched by their early 20's parents. It's not to say that SLC has freakishly wide streets, they are wide, but streets have less intersections so there's less corner typical commercial space for downtown residents. RocknRollaAyatollah fucked around with this message at 04:37 on Mar 10, 2017 |
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2017 04:32
|
|
|
SLC has a number of eight-lane streets downtown, which is larger than you see in most cities. Thinking of most cities I've lived in, a 6-lane street downtown seems pretty normal, but 8 is pushing it and that does give you a much broader expanse of cement city-wide. EDIT: there's an interesting proposal to put narrow mini-blocks down the medians of the widest SLC streets: 
TapTheForwardAssist fucked around with this message at 04:54 on Mar 10, 2017 |
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2017 04:51
|
|
|
TapTheForwardAssist posted:EDIT: there's an interesting proposal to put narrow mini-blocks down the medians of the widest SLC streets: Some streets already have parking spaces down the middle, which is pretty weird. https://www.google.com/maps/@40.7627086,-111.9011249,246m/data=!3m1!1e3
|
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2017 05:00
|
|
|
Platystemon posted:Some streets already have parking spaces down the middle, which is pretty weird. That looks like it works rather well. Extra points for using slant parking so stuff doesn't get tied up by poor parallel parking. https://goo.gl/maps/RFtYpsBmwNn You can see a similar idea here, though the whole median is wider because subway-surface trolleys go down the middle as well
|
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2017 05:40
|
|
|
Lawndale Ca has some of the best Median parking Ive seen https://www.google.com/maps/place/H...3523873!6m1!1e1
|
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2017 07:20
|
|
|
RocknRollaAyatollah posted:It's not an average downtown setup, especially for a 19th century American city, but in recent years they've worked on making it better. 99% Invisible did an episode on it. http://99percentinvisible.org/episode/plat-of-zion/ I always heard the joke that Brigham Young made them that wide so he could walk arm and arm with all his wives down the street. The reality is much more ridiculous. Smith dabbled in Freemasonry so I imagine he was caught up on the whole sacred geometry thing too when he designed his utopia. I think the thing I'm really struggling with is why they don't just vary the timer on the lights depending on the width of the street. Or is this also codified in Mormon scripture?
|
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2017 07:46
|
|
|
a pipe smoking dog posted:I think the thing I'm really struggling with is why they don't just vary the timer on the lights depending on the width of the street. Or is this also codified in Mormon scripture? That would be a stumbling block to the chariots of the Lᴏʀᴅ (read “cars”).
|
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2017 07:49
|
|
|
 taken from a PR piece about free trade in agri-business. By including this picture the editor of this article is suddenly making it much more political. http://www.freshplaza.com/article/171862/EU-trade-deals-increase-sales-and-support-jobs-in-agriculture
|
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2017 12:31
|
|
|
a pipe smoking dog posted:I think the thing I'm really struggling with is why they don't just vary the timer on the lights depending on the width of the street. Or is this also codified in Mormon scripture? It's based on stoplights. I imagine car traffic is given priority over foot traffic because it's an American city after all. Platystemon posted:That would be a stumbling block to the chariots of the Lᴏʀᴅ (read “cars”). Pretty much this.
|
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2017 14:40
|
|
|
RocknRollaAyatollah posted:It's based on stoplights. I imagine car traffic is given priority over foot traffic because it's an American city after all. If by priority you mean legal right of way then you're wrong, most US cities (all?) give pedestrians legal right of way. In practice however drivers are bloodthirsty cunts in most cities and don't adhere to it.
|
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2017 16:41
|
|
|
fishmech posted:You kinda can though. The "city" plans were actually meant to be for a community where everyone would be living on their own farms, and then when they realized they actually wanted to have a real city after all the huge blocks used for the majority of the city never got redesigned for a more suitable layout. Basically what they were planning for was ridiculous from the start, the arrival of cars just changed the ways in which it was a bad idea. It would certainly be interesting though, to see a Salt Lake City where all the large block areas were used in the original intended way, as single family farms. 99% invisible had a pretty good episode on the SLC urban plan. http://99percentinvisible.org/episode/plat-of-zion/
|
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2017 16:47
|
|
|
wide stance posted:If by priority you mean legal right of way then you're wrong, most US cities (all?) give pedestrians legal right of way. No, that's not what was meant at all. What was meant was that traffic signals for cars and the flow of car traffic is probably given priority over crosswalk signals and the flow of pedestrian foot traffic.
|
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2017 16:52
|
|
|
TapTheForwardAssist posted:SLC has a number of eight-lane streets downtown, which is larger than you see in most cities. eeh pretty typical for young, western or midwestern cities developed during mass automobile ownership as the predominant mode RocknRollaAyatollah posted:I did not convey it very well but the crosswalk signals do cut out on you at some intersections downtown due to the width of the streets canal st. in new orleans is this wide and doesn't have any problems. sounds like in SLC the signals are too short for some streets because of a preference for shorter wait times for drivers
|
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2017 17:17
|
|
|
boner confessor posted:eeh pretty typical for young, western or midwestern cities developed during mass automobile ownership as the predominant mode SLC is different in that it was designed that way way before the automobile and for different reasons.
|
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2017 17:19
|
|
|
Cool graphic from 99% of how big city blocks are in SLC:
|
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2017 19:38
|
|
|
TapTheForwardAssist posted:Cool graphic from 99% of how big city blocks are in SLC: Can confirm that whenever work takes me to SLC from Portland it's honestly really noticeable (Portland where our light-rail is limited to two cars because three cars would block intersections at every stop).
|
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2017 20:11
|
|
|
this reminds me of how incels freak out about not getting laid because their wrists are too narrow and their clavicles spaced too far apart unless the streets are a tenth of a mile wide its really inconsequential except as a celebration of diversity
|
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2017 20:14
|
|
|
xrunner posted:Can confirm that whenever work takes me to SLC from Portland it's honestly really noticeable (Portland where our light-rail is limited to two cars because three cars would block intersections at every stop). Anecdotal, but when I visited SLC in 2005, a local friend told me that when the SLC streetcars first went in they had to put out a ton of billboards and radio announcements reminding people to watch out for them. Despite the streetcars being like 12 feet high and brightly colored, *and confined to a specific track on the road* apparently a lot of oblivious drivers were just plowing right into the side of them and saying "it just came out of nowhere!"
|
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2017 20:19
|
|
|
TapTheForwardAssist posted:Anecdotal, but when I visited SLC in 2005, a local friend told me that when the SLC streetcars first went in they had to put out a ton of billboards and radio announcements reminding people to watch out for them. Despite the streetcars being like 12 feet high and brightly colored, *and confined to a specific track on the road* apparently a lot of oblivious drivers were just plowing right into the side of them and saying "it just came out of nowhere!" this also isn't limited to SLC, drivers being apparently incapable of noticing streetcars is a problem anywhere new streetcar systems are added this one has a number of pedestrians walking right in front of trains too https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aq6W45lG1Jg
|
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2017 20:26
|
|
|
Toronto has had streetcars for ages, drivers still don't seem to notice them.
|
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2017 20:31
|
|
|
boner confessor posted:this reminds me of how incels freak out about not getting laid because their wrists are too narrow and their clavicles spaced too far apart Source your quotes.
|
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2017 20:36
|
|
|
Platystemon posted:Source your quotes. about street widths or unfuckable neurotics?
|
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2017 20:39
|
|
|
boner confessor posted:about street widths or unfuckable neurotics? Probably he meant the widths but I'd say both, IMO. Incel posts are e: more accurate Private Speech fucked around with this message at 20:49 on Mar 10, 2017 |
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2017 20:45
|
|
|
Ensign Expendable posted:Toronto has had streetcars for ages, drivers still don't seem to notice them. My first time in San Francisco I was lost in down town at night and had never driven in a place where streetcars share city streets. It was loving terrifying. Still didn't do anything as stupid as in that video though. Private Speech posted:Probably he meant the widths but I'd say both, IMO. Incel posts are It's funny, because I have narrow wrists and wide shoulders and literally no one has ever commented on them. As for being a sexless loser, that probably has more to do with my horrible personality and disgusting goonbody.
|
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2017 20:53
|
|
|
boner confessor posted:this also isn't limited to SLC, drivers being apparently incapable of noticing streetcars is a problem anywhere new streetcar systems are added Yeah, it's just baffling. For years I lived in places in the US where you pretty much need to drive (lots of rural posts in the military), and I never felt a twinge of road rage. Then after I moved to DC I sold my car and just got around by subway/taxi/bikeshare and man I just absolutely came to hate car drivers. I've (justifiably) thwacked cars with umbrellas, knocked on windows to tell people they almost killed me, called cops a couple times to report drivers failing to yield. I'm a really calm car driver, but when I'm walking/bicycling/motorcycling I find them just enraging. I'm figuring out next job prospects and it's frustrating to realize that there are only a couple cities in the US where it's really easy to get by without a car, and doesn't make you a weirdo who presumably lives in his mom's basement. It was striking that after living in California and Texas, and seeing on dating websites lots of women in their 20s say "must have a car, no scrubs" and then I moved to DC and it's all women saying "must live in DC proper, no suburbanites" or "must live within 20 minutes of the Red Line".
|
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2017 20:55
|
|
|
Yeah, the Great American West has a pretty loving nutso car culture. I once dated a Chula Vista girl who was absolutely thrilled to see me show up in my 15-year-old Focus because it meant I wasn't a total loser. People are also weirdly impressed if you're under thirty and can drive stick.
|
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2017 21:07
|
|
|
It's one of those weird things in America that at the higher-end, not having a car can be prestigious and hip, as long as it's clear its voluntary and enabled by your privilege. If you're riding public transport because you can't afford a car, you're bottom-barrel. I'll honestly admit I felt kinda smug about not owning a car in DC, but I was aware that part of the reason that was possible is because I paid high rent to live within walking distance of a metro station, and had money to take Uber when it was more convenient, or use carsharing apps if I wanted to go out of town on a weekend or move some furniture. I knew plenty of folks making six figures in DC who used Bikeshare, rode the bus to work, and didn't own their own car. Though then again, I knew folks in the DC are who were pretty well-off and absolutely refused to take public transport. Not all suburbanites either, knew a guy who lived just north of Chinatown in DC but drove his Jag to work every day despite it taking just as long as the subway. He was also totally unaware there was a subway stop two blocks from his house that was on the same line as a stop on the same block as his office. And knew a woman who refused to ever take the subway in DC, drove everywhere, despite having been raised in Queens. I just don't grasp the mentality that leads you there.
|
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2017 21:15
|
|
|
I think people like cars because they're your own private little bubble where you're in control and you don't have to deal with strangers. Peer in the windows of other people's cars and you'll see couples arguing, kids making scenes, people rocking out to their music (and singing along!), nose picking, messy eating, makeup application, weird states of partial undress, all sorts of poo poo. There's an expectation of privacy in cars (even if it's just illusory) that you just can't get on public transit.
|
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2017 21:30
|
|
|
People still do all those things on transit though.... 
|
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2017 21:34
|
|
|
Duckbag posted:It's funny, because I have narrow wrists and wide shoulders and literally no one has ever commented on them. As for being a sexless loser, that probably has more to do with my horrible personality and disgusting goonbody. Yeah uhh, I didn't mean goon incels when I said that. Uhmm.
|
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2017 21:43
|
|
|
Duckbag posted:I think people like cars because they're your own private little bubble where you're in control and you don't have to deal with strangers. Peer in the windows of other people's cars and you'll see couples arguing, kids making scenes, people rocking out to their music (and singing along!), nose picking, messy eating, makeup application, weird states of partial undress, all sorts of poo poo. There's an expectation of privacy in cars (even if it's just illusory) that you just can't get on public transit. Not to read too much into it (or get too far off maps), but I wonder what portion of that in the US is tied to the general "ewwwww, people not exactly like me!" Reading Free Republic and other right-wing sources, they have this continual bafflement that some people enjoy interacting with a wide variety of people, and/or don't want to be in a bubble of exclusively their own type at all times. I wonder to what degree this is an American-heavy race/class issue, and to what degree more transit-friendly countries might not necessarily be more chill so much as they have less racial diversity and less class-divide to fret about. I'll fully grant though that I get twinges of "am I just a deadbeat?" for riding the city buses in Austin and not having a car, and there is some portion of sketchy folks who frequent the buses, but there are enough college kids, hipsters, and commuters that it doesn't bother me much, but I do feel the remnants of the public-transport stigma. EDIT: went looking for an evocative Freep quote, and here's one ranting about streetcars in the Twin Cities: quote:Mainly, the LIBiots want to remove the Freedom that is afforded you by a personal vehicle. They despise your Freedom. TapTheForwardAssist fucked around with this message at 21:48 on Mar 10, 2017 |
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2017 21:46
|
|
|
ah yes, the freedom afforded by a personal vehicle which drives on government roads policed by government employees that you need a government permit to use and which many governments force you to carry insurance for
|
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2017 21:51
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 7, 2024 01:47 |
|
|
That same type of attitude exists in Europe as well, it's just that there public transport is often legitimately the superior option in terms of time and convenience, compared to taking the car and getting stuck in endless slow-moving traffic jams (and there is still a baffling amount of people that pick the latter option). This contrasts with the American Southwest's sprawling, grid-based, 50%-parking-lot cities where not having a car is presumably a serious handicap in most cases.
|
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2017 21:55
|
|
