pleaseclap

pleaseclap, 10 months ago to random

Realizing that a lot of e-bikers don't realize that downhill brakes, dual suspension, dirtbike tires and cafe racer seats are all choices and they're not necessarily good ones

Like, you could upgrade from 4 piston to 6 piston brakes to address your weight to braking power concerns

Or, you could trim 10-20 pounds off of your build, even putting less powerful brakes on, and experience more effective braking and better performance just because the bike is lighter

pleaseclap, 4 months ago to random

"Drone attacks by rebels in the red sea could soon worsen Global Inflation" - NPR

Y'all, a supply restriction causing things to get more expensive is not inflation, that's just a normal supply/demand market condition. Prices go up when demand catches up with and starts to outpace supply.

Prices raised beyond additional supply costs are also not inflation: that's literally just market exploitation. Predatory pricing.

Inflation is defined by changes in the money supply.

pleaseclap, 6 months ago to random

I was today years old when I learned "parking" literally used to refer to civic green space lining the roads

So every time you say parking you're directly referencing a thing that was lost during the automobile's aggressive and costly takeover of public spaces

pleaseclap, 4 months ago to random

AI isn't replacing jobs: employers are firing people.

pleaseclap, 9 months ago (edited 9 months ago) to random

Anybody ever ridden/owned a front hub motor #ebike?

I have a BMX bike with 110 spacing in the rear which makes most rear motors out of the question

And I'd like to go say, idk, maybe 30-32-35 mph

And I'm worried about stability at those speeds on a front motor because it's pulling and every bike I've ever ridden pushes you with the rear wheel but maybe I'm over-thinking it

pleaseclap, 9 months ago to random

If Chomsky were made to be in charge of a revolution, he'd be a Lenin

And I don't mean like, he'd get stuff done

I mean like, the ways he'd get stuff done would mostly not be revolutionary and forward-looking: like Lenin he'd maneuver armies, take and execute hostages, crush dissent, negotiate with settled territory, etc. His defense would be realpolitik: he'd note the threat of international competition and interference and rely on a playbook of known methods of perpetuating the state

pleaseclap, 6 months ago (edited 6 months ago) to random

Listen carefully when you hear tech bros talking about "autonomy" these days:

The focus has shifted from "automation" - they've added the next layer. Automation was interested in how a corporation produces stuff with fewer workers and less manual data entry. Autonomy is interested in what products militaries, millionaires, and billionaires will need to be self-sufficient during the climate apocalypse, and includes reducing dependence on infrastructure, service workers, and staff.

pleaseclap, 5 months ago to random

The root of it all is people saying "I just can't bike everywhere where I live [it's too car-centric]" and being absolutely right about that and then not moving to someplace where they can bike everywhere

My advice is to choose your next place based on the assumption that you don't have a car and you need to live someplace where you don't need one

Then when you get there, don't use the car that you don't need,

then sell it because you live someplace where you don't need a car

pleaseclap, 13 days ago to random

I think even if you're very pro-Israel, drawing a "red line" against attacking Rafah is sane, and it's the stated policy of the Biden administration

It remains to be seen what will happen once that line is crossed (as it has been): will the Biden administration pretend it never existed? Will crossing the "red line" have any consequences whatsoever for Netanyahu?

pleaseclap, 10 months ago to random

In defense of civil aviation, dang near 90% of that red line is contributed solely by USAF C-17 operations

Don't forget to add in miles flown by stratotankers to refuel C-17s mid-route, while you're checking my math

pleaseclap, 3 months ago to random

Honestly the main thing that makes me doubt the CIA killed Kennedy is that they haven't taken shots at Trump; the same security argument applies

But it's probably just because it's just different people at the CIA these days and the new guys are chaos artists who welcome the coming constitutional crisis

pleaseclap, 2 months ago to random

The special weather statement for central indiana right now:

• Record lows expected
• 40mph gusts and sustained high winds
• Also btw there's a wildfire risk because it's low humidity and spring isn't fully here yet so the entire landscape is exposed dry dead stuff and half of us smoke cigarettes

pleaseclap, 10 months ago to random

The Van Moof debacle reminds me of Second Sight

When the company went out of business, patients were left without support or maintenance options for their experimental bionic eyes

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-60416058

pleaseclap, 3 months ago to random

Reading an argument for women's equality framed around the time of the French Revolution

Her argument is that rational beings, when disenfranchised, have no civil, orderly, or legal recourse; they will nonetheless seek recourse. If their tactics are "lowly" - when they undermine the state with tricks, subterfuge, rebellion - this is the mode they've been assigned by tyrants.

A civil, orderly, moral society requires passionate, liberally-applied enfranchisement to grow

pleaseclap, 3 months ago to random

Car people at the office: "Hey what do you do when it snows"

Also car people: re-scheduling their remote days every time it snows

The office on snow days: the guy who biked there, the guy who walked there, the 4 student employees who all walked, and nobody else

pleaseclap, 4 months ago to random

Hey wow so #2023 is over FINALLY what the fuck wow what a year y'all let's start listing things that happened this year I'll start

• the House couldn't elect a Speaker for weeks
• Chinese spy balloons
• a train full of carcinogens derailed in Ohio
• Trump accumulated four indictments and 91 charges
• Tom Brady fucked off, finally
• The WHO declared an end to a pandemic that is already back, as infectious and widespread as ever
• England crowned a pedo

#2023recap

pleaseclap, 3 months ago to random

Morning situation:
VIX (fear) is up
DXY is up (strong dollar, weak equities)
S&P is on its 5th day green
the last hour of trading yesterday was a low volume drive up to resistance ("irrational" bulls - HFT)

Hypothesis:
it will be red day for the S&P

Evening disposition:
it was a red day for the S&P

pleaseclap, 6 months ago to random

Finally ordered the complimentary titanium Apple Card to go with the digital card I've had for awhile

So the idea here I guess is if something happens to your phone, you're good to go

Which is nice in theory but this sliver of precious metal comes in a three layer ultra stiff cardboard envelope, so that it won't bend and snap en route

Did Apple designers not realize people would want to put these in their actual wallets? Jesus christ

pleaseclap, 10 months ago to random

Researching a Compsci major

I'm so committed to not paying back my student loans, that I'm going back to school

But look, see, I tried to find a definition for a course, and I just found the whole course basically but from Stanford

https://web.stanford.edu/class/cs103x/cs103x-notes.pdf

Academia is completely overrated

pleaseclap, 3 months ago to random

1. put on dry socks
2. feet warm :)
3. feet sweat :(
4. socks moist
5. feet cold :(
6. remove moist socks
7. dangle cold toes until dry
8. repeat

pleaseclap, 3 months ago (edited 2 months ago) to philosophy

How would you design a #leftist university?

pleaseclap, 5 months ago to random

Let's be clear

It's not exceptional or objectionable that public money transfers into the private sector via unaccountable contracts with the military

That's basically how all government spending works. You need a building? You hire a contractor - you give public money to a private person and create private sector wealth

What's objectionable about the military-industrial complex is war

War is objectionable and exceptional

pleaseclap, 28 days ago to random

pleaseclap, 10 months ago to random

I've been riding and maintaining bikes since middle school but I can't explain why my bullitt still has the same perfectly inflated tires that it had when I pulled it out of the box and assembled it

I mean it's 9 months and I've never added air pressure to these tires and they never seem to get any softer

It's a good thing, I'm just totally confused and have no idea how I would replicate this situation on any other bike

pleaseclap, 28 days ago (edited 27 days ago) to random

"The price is free ninety-nine"