@BenRossTransit@mastodon.social
@BenRossTransit@mastodon.social avatar

BenRossTransit

@BenRossTransit@mastodon.social

Transit advocate. Author of Dead End: Suburban Sprawl and the Rebirth of American Urbanism. Chair of Maryland Transit Opportunities Coalition. Searchable.

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interfluidity, to random
@interfluidity@zirk.us avatar

Word problem, inspired by NASA moon clocks:

Quito is 2820m above sea level. I live at sea-level. From my perspective, about how much is the life expectancy of a Quito-an reduced by virtue of gravitational time dilation?

(see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitational_time_dilation ht @dpp the formulas are right there so it's just plug 'n chug, right? right?)

BenRossTransit,
@BenRossTransit@mastodon.social avatar

@interfluidity @dpp
Physics problem I asked a long time ago:
A 5-ton truck approaches a brick wall and does not apply brakes. Which is more likely?
a) Thermal fluctuation lifts up the wall and truck drives safely underneath.
b) Truck passes through wall by quantum penetration.

interfluidity, to random
@interfluidity@zirk.us avatar

“the horrific violence and incipient famine in Gaza receive little coverage in mainstream Israeli media” https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/02/opinion/netanyahu-protests-legacy-war.html

BenRossTransit,
@BenRossTransit@mastodon.social avatar

@interfluidity @Alon There has in fact been a vast amount of unfair portrayal. "Genocide". "Legitimate resistance" on Oct 7. That feeds Israeli (and American Jewish) defensiveness and bolsters Netanyahu's basic argument that non-Jews are inherently anti-Semitic so strength alone is what matters.

BenRossTransit,
@BenRossTransit@mastodon.social avatar

@interfluidity @Alon I see the opposite of "overly generous" portrayal of Israel's actions, unless you're watching Fox News.
Here's just an example from this morning. Headline is that experts say "Israel can likely argue" that diplomatic status did not protect the Iranian consulate in Damascus against Israeli attack. In text of article, all experts say flat-out that it did not protect.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/02/world/europe/interpreter-israel-syria-embassy.html?unlocked_article_code=1.hk0.d-hE.xwUVL82-ZLsN&smid=url-share

BenRossTransit,
@BenRossTransit@mastodon.social avatar

@interfluidity @Alon The article clearly explained that the host country is obligated to respect diplomatic status but not third countries. Diplomatic facilities ordinarily get the same protection extended to all civilian buildings, but this clearly doesn't apply here since the attack killed 7 high-ranking military officers and no one else.
I have not seen anything that disagrees with that analysis.

bikepedantic, to random
@bikepedantic@transportation.social avatar

Cambridge (MA) councillor Burhan Azeem did the only good thing you'll see on the internet on this cursed day https://www.annexboston.com/

BenRossTransit,
@BenRossTransit@mastodon.social avatar

@bikepedantic This from @ggwash was pretty good. https://ggwash.org/view/93123/brunch-links-meet-our-new-intern-phil-mendelson

BenRossTransit, to random
@BenRossTransit@mastodon.social avatar

Not sure which half of this is worse:
Australian city will remove half its bike lanes to create 10 ft x 23 ft parking spaces for pickup trucks that are too big to fit into regular parking spaces.
https://www.drive.com.au/news/gold-coast-council-removes-cycle-lanes/

interfluidity, to random
@interfluidity@zirk.us avatar

a useful antidote to the broadbrush narrative that Israel is simply insisting Gaza starve.

i hope 's empirics and moderation are broadly right, but i have very little confidence, the information environment surrounding Israel/Palestine is too thick to cut through.

https://jabberwocking.com/how-much-aid-is-gaza-getting/

BenRossTransit,
@BenRossTransit@mastodon.social avatar

@interfluidity @Alon The chaos in Gaza is definitely on Bibi for refusing to plan for "the day after" which has by now arrived. But it's on Hamas too, which is actively preventing the emergence of any alternative governing force while Bibi only does it passively. Here is the latest: https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/hamas-accuses-pa-security-forces-of-trying-to-sneak-into-gaza-with-aid-trucks/

BenRossTransit,
@BenRossTransit@mastodon.social avatar

@Alon @interfluidity A big part of the reason the ratio of military deaths between Hamas & the IDF is so large is that the IDF is much less willing to risk its soldiers' lives. There's a natural resistance to risking Israeli soldiers' lives to feed enemy civilians.

BenRossTransit, to random
@BenRossTransit@mastodon.social avatar

WaPo takes on the the true low-hanging fruit of urbanism. Downtown surface parking lots that aren't even used for parking. https://wapo.st/3VDeTf4

Alon, to random
@Alon@mastodon.social avatar

32,333 dead. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/3/25/israels-war-on-gaza-live-nine-killed-in-israeli-strike-on-deir-el-balah

BenRossTransit,
@BenRossTransit@mastodon.social avatar

@failedLyndonLaRouchite @Alon And there's this NYT article which blames the suffering on an "Israeli raid" & frames the hundreds of Hamas fighters in the hospital as Israel-says-Hamas-denies. With this classic:
Dr. Al-Tanna said Israeli forces had gathered doctors and patients in the complex’s emergency room while they swept the grounds outside....
He declined to comment on whether Palestinian fighters had fortified themselves in the medical complex.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/24/world/middleeast/al-shifa-hospital-gaza-israel.html

BenRossTransit,
@BenRossTransit@mastodon.social avatar

@tobie1 @failedLyndonLaRouchite @Alon It's extremely difficult to reconcile the high percentage of women & children reported by the Gaza MOH with Hamas fighters constituting between 20% (Hamas) and 40% (IDF) of the deaths.
On top of that, it seems that the IDF attacks have been more narrowly targeted in recent months due to improved intelligence & withdrawal of some troops. Current fight in Al Shifa hospital is an example.

enobacon, to random
@enobacon@urbanists.social avatar

a bicycle is such an anathema to the worldview of car brain, that it causes the motorist to question the foundations of his assumptions about reality, and feeling somehow cheated but perplexed, he honks out his impotent rage

BenRossTransit,
@BenRossTransit@mastodon.social avatar

@enobacon The middle-class cyclist who could afford a car is a threat to the motorist's status. The motorist doesn't even notice the guy cycling on the sidewalk to a job in the restaurant kitchen.

capntransit, to random
@capntransit@urbanists.social avatar

Anniversary blog post from March 24, 2011: There's an active train line running right next to the Mohegan Sun casino that connects to the Northeast Corridor. Why doesn't the casino have a train station with regular service?

https://capntransit.blogspot.com/2011/03/missed-opportunity-for-rail-oriented.html

BenRossTransit,
@BenRossTransit@mastodon.social avatar

@Ofsevit @capntransit How much money is being spent to build a train to Las Vegas? How much would this cost?
And then factor into the comparison the difference between access to train stations on the Northeast Corridor and access to a train station in Rancho Cucamonga.

foxandcity, to random
@foxandcity@urbanists.social avatar

Absolutely fascinating chart.

https://www.resiclubanalytics.com/p/remote-work-continues-wreak-havoc-san-franciscos-office-marketthese-markets-arent-far-behind

BenRossTransit,
@BenRossTransit@mastodon.social avatar

@foxandcity Explain to me, please, why San Jose is doing better than San Francisco.

Alon, to random
@Alon@mastodon.social avatar

Ynet reports, based on Saudi reports, that armed people are guarding aid trucks to Gaza who look like they're affiliated with the Palestinian Authority or Fatah, and not Hamas. I swear, if Israel somehow blunders its way into good COIN...

https://www.ynetnews.com/article/bj3hkqe06

BenRossTransit,
@BenRossTransit@mastodon.social avatar

@Alon If this is really happening, it probably has a lot to do with Biden directing the CIA. The Israeli government would be getting pushed, not blundering.

BenRossTransit, to random
@BenRossTransit@mastodon.social avatar

More than 60% of last month's reported inflation was due to price of housing & gasoline. (Car insurance also a contributor.)
Sprawl & car culture.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/gasoline-shelter-costs-lift-us-124508361.html

capntransit, to random
@capntransit@urbanists.social avatar

RT @idothethinking Minneapolis Federal Reserve did a study on the city's flat & decling rents, finding that for every 100 market rate apartments built, 70 existing apartments were freed up in low income neighborhoods.

What lessons on gentrification can be extracted here.

https://www.minneapolisfed.org/article/2024/how-new-apartments-create-opportunities-for-all

BenRossTransit,
@BenRossTransit@mastodon.social avatar

@capntransit @idothethinking The discussion of gentrification in this article is really just about gentrification accompanied by (or preceded by - but that is actually pretty rare) new construction. Gentrification in the absence of new construction does drive up rents.

BenRossTransit, to random
@BenRossTransit@mastodon.social avatar

Do road diets really cost what DOTs say they do?
Because a Baltimore streetscape project was changed in midstream, we know the price of the road diet part. Converting the 4-lane road to 2 car lanes + 2 bike lanes cost $182,432 out of a total project cost of $61,200,000.
https://baltimorebrew.com/2024/03/06/after-8-years-of-construction-and-31-over-budget-the-central-avenue-streetscape-is-almost-done/?mc_cid=0fb958e257

Alon, to random
@Alon@mastodon.social avatar

I'd like to highlight something about Trump's line on the Gaza war, that Israel should "finish the problem": besides the hawkish sentiment, there's nothing there. None of what Trump said is recognizable in Israel; there are hawks in Israel who use language like "final victory" and "Hamas must be totally destroyed," but Trump didn't say anything like that. He's just shooting from the hip. In contrast, what Biden says is recognizable as something an Israeli leftist would.

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4509309-trump-on-fighting-in-gaza-youve-got-to-finish-the-problem/

BenRossTransit,
@BenRossTransit@mastodon.social avatar

@Alon Like Trump on pretty much any issue.

BenRossTransit, to random
@BenRossTransit@mastodon.social avatar

Montgomery County eliminates minimum parking requirements within 1/2 mile of Red & Purple Lines stations. https://moco360.media/2024/03/05/county-council-loosens-parking-requirements-for-developments-near-public-transit/

BenRossTransit, to random
@BenRossTransit@mastodon.social avatar

Putting a speed camera in a low-income neighborhood doesn't "target" the neighborhood - it protects it from speeders.
Baltimore study checks registration address of 268,000 ticketed vehicles. Only 10% were within one mile of camera location.
Also: 248 vehicles received 20 or more citations within 6 months.
https://www.thebaltimorebanner.com/community/transportation/speed-cameras-red-light-ticket-equity-baltimore-O5WMBEKOLFAVPCRSNSQ7YMDHZI/?schk=YES&rchk=YES&mc_cid=a5a01b64db

BenRossTransit, to random
@BenRossTransit@mastodon.social avatar

Instead of banning bus lanes in Indianapolis, the Indiana legislature will only ban conversion of existing lanes to bus lanes. This is the "compromise." https://www.wfyi.org/news/articles/indianapolis-blue-line-saved-as-lawmakers-local-officials-reach-compromise

BenRossTransit, to random
@BenRossTransit@mastodon.social avatar

Nimbyism in wealthy neighborhoods isn't a specifically left-wing problem . (If anything, it's more severe in right-wing areas.) https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/01/us/politics/affordable-housing-florence-south-carolina.html?unlocked_article_code=1.ZU0.rKSZ.EZIwFpg4r2AT&smid=url-share

BenRossTransit, to random
@BenRossTransit@mastodon.social avatar

Milwaukee County won't buy any more battery-electric buses. First buses ordered got pulled off the road within 3 months, and cost is double diesel buses. https://urbanmilwaukee.com/2024/02/28/transportation-transit-officials-done-with-battery-electric-buses/

BenRossTransit, to random
@BenRossTransit@mastodon.social avatar

WaPo says we have a transportation crisis. A crisis for whom?
● Virginia Beltway toll lanes carry 41,000 daily trips. WaPo gave plans to extend them into Maryland extensive news coverage & wrote twenty supportive editorials.
● Fairfax County's bus system, which carries 26,000 daily trips, has been shut down for a week by a strike. Not a word about it yet in WaPo, neither in news nor opinion pages.

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