@crschmidt@better.boston avatar

crschmidt

@crschmidt@better.boston

Tilter at windmills. Alphabet Workers Union. Opinions stated here are my own, not Google's. He/him. Signal: 617.599.5778. https://better.boston/@crschmidt on Twitter. Available on tootfinder.

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crschmidt, to random
@crschmidt@better.boston avatar

Good morning!

The temperature outside this morning was 20 degrees farenheit in Cambridge, MA, and the Brown School Bike Bus and Peabody School Bike Bus each had 12 kids riding in them. On the ride to work, I was slowed down by the congestion in the bike lane as I rode in a pack of 9 cyclists down Hampshire Street. This morning I also saw my first two e-Bluebike riders in the wild.

Turns out that cycling happens in winter, even in cold places.

crschmidt, to random
@crschmidt@better.boston avatar

I like riding bikes and I think many people who currently feel forced to drive would like to ride bikes if they felt they could do so safely, but they don't feel they can. It's so sad that people are kept from the joy of cycling as a means of transportation by fear for their safety.

crschmidt, to random
@crschmidt@better.boston avatar

I think a lot of people think "tax write-offs" explain a lot more than they actually do.

crschmidt,
@crschmidt@better.boston avatar

@wollman this post is in direct response to the idea that is a full explanation.

Like, Batgirl was not released primarily because the studio decided they didn't want to release it. The tax write-off on the $90M project (relative to a $33B annual revenue) is an ancillary benefit, not a primary one. (And the write-off is probably worth significantly less than that; Coyote v. Acme write-off was $30M on $70M of spending.)

cstross, to random
@cstross@wandering.shop avatar

It’s 38 years since Clive Sinclair launched the ill-fated Sinclair C5 battery-electric recumbent tricycle.

How would a modernized, redesigned equivalent be received by the market today, given the rise of e-bikes and congestion charge zones for cars? (I'm pretty sure an update would be lighter, if only b/c batteries have moved on and e-bike components are available off-the-shelf.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinclair_C5

crschmidt,
@crschmidt@better.boston avatar

@cstross big problem with that type of vehicle is just being too low to the ground to have good visibility on city streets.

crschmidt, to random
@crschmidt@better.boston avatar

So, I'm looking at travelling to NYC in late March.

Amtrak tickets on March 18th are $20. Amtrak Tickets on April 8th are $20. But Amtrak tickets on March 25th are $184, and on April 1st are $139.

I can't tell if this is legitimate demand (e.g. everyone wants to be in NYC the week of March 25th), or if this is something weird with Amtrak scheduling + pricing.

crschmidt,
@crschmidt@better.boston avatar

@wordshaper Given that JetBlue tickets are still at their minimum price, I think I'm convinced that this isn't driven by organic demand, but some kind of applied filter on pricing. (Also, scheduling now for that trial date seems dubious at best.)

crschmidt, to random
@crschmidt@better.boston avatar

As a recently inducted member of the non-profit industrial complex, man, the non-profit world is wild.

crschmidt, to random
@crschmidt@better.boston avatar

As of this week, I have loaned out E-Bikes from the Camberville E-Bike Lending Library for a total of 52 weeks of borrowing time since the start of October.

Given the typical price of renting an e-bike in the community is $400/week, this means that I have saved members of the community $20,000 in rental fees.

crschmidt, to random
@crschmidt@better.boston avatar

On Cambridge City Council's housing evolution on ABC endorsees:

In 2018-2019, 3 endorsed, 2 additional sometimes friendly folks.
2020-2021: 6 endorsed; 1 additional sometimes friendly.
2022-2023: 6 endorsed; 1 additional sometimes friendly
2024-2025: 6 endorsed, 1 previously endorsed by ABC who is sometimes friendly.

Feels like the pro-housing coalition is continuing to win, and there's a reasonable argument to be made that this council is stronger than any previous on housing possibility.

crschmidt, to random
@crschmidt@better.boston avatar

Quick Cambridge election outcome thoughts:

On housing, this is a great Council. Jivan is a big step up, and I look forward to what we can do this term.

On bike safety: This is a soft-but-not-worst-case result. Pickett is a big step down over Mallon/Carlone, and protecting the CSO will require constant vigilance and pressure, especially on Wilson (to be good)/Nolan (to stay good). Significant expansion this term seems unlikely (but so does major rollback, imo).

crschmidt,
@crschmidt@better.boston avatar

@thomasconnor @Kevin @kinkema hung out with a Toner/Nolan voter who lives one block over and doesn’t get it either. (I didn’t bother to engage her on why Toner.)

DemonHusky, to random
@DemonHusky@better.boston avatar

Full election results:

SUMBUL SIDDIQUI*
BURHAN AZEEM*
MARC C. MCGOVERN*
PATRICIA M. NOLAN*
PAUL F. TONER*
JIVAN G. SOBRINHO-WHEELER
E. DENISE SIMMONS*
AYESHA M. WILSON
JOAN F. PICKETT

crschmidt,
@crschmidt@better.boston avatar

@bikepedantic @DemonHusky I’d say pretty much best case for ABC, and not worst case for CBS. (5 semi endorsed candidates, 1 who will probably not be vocal in public opposition). I’d give 10:1 odds on no major rollback of the CSO during the next council term.

scooooooott, to random
@scooooooott@urbanists.social avatar

Estimating total votes at ~27.5k (based on number of precincts reporting and current vote count), it looks like Sumbul has already hit the threshold to be elected

crschmidt,
@crschmidt@better.boston avatar

@Ofsevit @scooooooott @bikepedantic it was absolutely not even close; like 600 votes. Thumbs up to the lefty crew for the fight, but there just isn’t room for two left lane candidates in Cambridge without a 25% increase in that electorate.

crschmidt,
@crschmidt@better.boston avatar

@scooooooott @utherp @Ofsevit @bikepedantic Yeah, I think this is right. Nolan was somewhat soft on her support in this election cycle, and there's no strong prediction of exactly how Wilson will govern on Council, but I would say this council is very unlikely to move forward with massive CSO expansion, but also unlikely to significantly reduce the CSO.

On the housing front, this is a great Council to have.

crschmidt,
@crschmidt@better.boston avatar

@Ofsevit @dhidalgo @scooooooott @utherp @bikepedantic At the end of the night, when all the votes were counted, I heard Suzanne Blier commenting on the outcome to another CCC member: what she said was "Well, at least we got Joan."

So I think that the CCC feel the same way I do: That Ayesha was not going to be someone who they were going to be happy with. (I think their endorsement was strategic for their slate, nothing else.)

crschmidt,
@crschmidt@better.boston avatar

@bikepedantic @inliuofjoan @Ofsevit @dhidalgo @scooooooott @utherp yeah, i know that "bus lanes are always empty" is kind of a 'Yes, that's the point', but the MBTA does not make it easy to advocate for them with current service along northern Mass Ave.

Maybe new management + the new success with hiring bus operators can turn around the trend a little bit.

crschmidt, to random
@crschmidt@better.boston avatar

Vote for pro housing candidates, so there are more 7 story buildings in Cambridge.

bikepedantic, to random
@bikepedantic@transportation.social avatar

Patty Nolan just posted on nextdoor the records of candidates voting (and not voting) in muni elections. I never thought that I would ever like a Patty Nolan post. https://nextdoor.com/p/jM9rPfSDRXGn?utm_source=share&extras=MTU4OTYyOA%3D%3D

image/jpeg

crschmidt,
@crschmidt@better.boston avatar

@bikepedantic @Kevin his answer to this on Reddit was weird, and a combination of “I didn’t feel like it was my place” with “I travel a lot” which was a completely incomprehensible answer to the question; it’s not like he just doesn’t vote in municipal elections, the dude just doesn’t vote.

crschmidt, to random
@crschmidt@better.boston avatar

Good morning!

In October, I loaned out 51 e-bikes to people, for a total of 188 days of loans. During that time, the bikes covered 1400 miles of travel. 4 bikes were donated to the library; I also purchased one, and had one stolen from a borrower.

This week is municipal election week in Massachusetts. If you're in Cambridge, bike lanes and street safety are on the ballot, as is protecting and accelerating progress on fighting for more housing. Make sure you vote!

ascentale, to random
@ascentale@sfba.social avatar

You might have n+1 cycles so that you can still ride in situations that would otherwise be difficult. @MartyCormack asks:

Q4. Of your multiple bikes. which one is your favorite to ride and why?

In case the "n+1" reference needs clarification:

Q: What is the correct number of bikes to own?
A: n+1, where n is the current number of bikes you own.

(Also, a reminder to boost any Q/As for visibility if you think it'd be useful!)

crschmidt,
@crschmidt@better.boston avatar

@inliuofjoan @nothingfuture @ascentale @MartyCormack I make the argument to my wife that having ten bikes doesn’t _really_count if they all live in other people’s garages. It is only mildly effective.

https://camberville.ebikelibrary.org

mcc, to random
@mcc@mastodon.social avatar

This Sunday on Twitch at 2 PM EST (11 AM PST) I will be continuing my stream of the "lost" e-Reader levels for Super Mario Advance 4, which were originally playable by collecting physical cards with barcodes on the back but can be played in their entirety on Nintendo Switch Online. So far I've finished 17 of the 38 levels; they're actually really good, and extremely difficult. This is legitimately some of Nintendo's best 2D level design ever.

Watch at: https://twitch.tv/mcc111

crschmidt,
@crschmidt@better.boston avatar

@mcc Daylight time is the summer version of time, standard time is the winter part of time. So you've been wrong all summer (all your life), but saying "EST" is technically correct now.

crschmidt, to random
@crschmidt@better.boston avatar

people have probably already heard me say this, but JUST IN CASE:

It is voting season in Cambridge, MA. There are 6 people who have been endorsed by A Better Cambridge (pro-housing) and Cambridge Bike Safety (pro safe streets):

Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler, Sumbul Siddiqui, Frantz Pierre, Marc McGovern, Adrienne Klein, and Burhan Azeem.

Please rank these 6 people highly on your ballot.

TechConnectify, to random
@TechConnectify@mas.to avatar

Hi, I'm stuck waiting on laundry to finish and am bored, so why don't I come on here and write some hot takes about YouTube?

I mean, I can think of several reasons, but too bad I'll do it anyway.

Knowing the leanings of the folks on this particular platform this is likely to spark some debate, but note that I'm not trying to paint YouTube as a saint - in fact, the first thing I want to talk about is a strategy they've taken which puts me and all YT creators in a weird place:

crschmidt,
@crschmidt@better.boston avatar

@TechConnectify > Does more go to video creators if you stream music less? Or not at all?

No. Your subscription cost is split into the music and "other YouTube" buckets regardless of whether you use music at all.

I think that this sucks. And I think that YouTube is not up-front about it is because they know that many people would be angry about it.

crschmidt,
@crschmidt@better.boston avatar

@TechConnectify @aymm Correct.

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