Viewing profile — notauser

Any dispute which has a Wikipedia page (like the Malaysia/Singapore water dispute) is: - Too complicated to assign blame to one party - Futile to rehash in HN comments

In the UK, the statue came first - phone boxes were modelled on Soane's tomb in a London graveyard near St Pancras station: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/the-tomb-and-t…

That's because rent of $1.5k is for the whole of a house, whereas the mortgage is only covering whichever part of the house you don't own. My rent would be $3k, but I own one third…

In the UK, lenders are resticted by the regulator - only 15% of their loans can be at greater than 4.5x income. As a result 5x and 6x income mortgages tend to be easier to get the …

There is definitely non-linear pricing in the London housing market as one example. When I was last looking - Studio apartments and one bed room apartments rented for similar amoun…

Aluminium or Titanium frames make the best travel bikes. - Unlike steel, they don't rust. - Unlike carbon, they can cope with rough treatment (for example when loaded into the hold…

The cycle lane on Kensington High Street (a major London East-to-West route) actually sped up car journeys. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/jan/01/removed-lond... When it …

I work on the basis of 80g of uncooked pasta per person for our family. We aren't exactly skinny, either, despite being pretty active (an average of 70 miles of cycling a week). Th…

Not having a private drive is mostly an issue in London, where curbside chargers are already being built all over the city. Here's an example of the light pole chargers that are be…

Here's an example of the light pole chargers that are being installed in residential areas in London: https://www.ubitricity.co.uk/b2b-local-authorities/ They deliver 5.5 kW, which…

Not hard. We have taken the whole family camping by bike-train-bike. Even a small car would be a doddle. The four year old is towed using a follow-me, all the gear goes in a couple…

Diplomatic buildings have often been strong points designed to keep staff safe in uncertain times. This is true even in safer locations; the new US embassy in London is very much a…

Thankfully the people of SF have voted for some change for the better. https://sfbike.org/market-street-2020/ It isn't perfect, but, keep hopefully people will keep voting for impr…

UK VED is a polution tax (not a road tax) and cycles don't pay it because they don't pollute. VED is a very small proportion of the UK general tax take and not ringfenced to fundin…

There have been quite a few studies with conclusions like this: "On average, the estimated health benefits of cycling were substantially larger than the risks relative to car drivi…

Given that poor people can't afford to hoard because of the cost of storage (especially in cities) and financing, isn't it better that rich people are encouraged to hoard when supp…

The U.S. did not use COVID-19 diagnostic tests produced by the WHO in favor of producing its own. So it could have deviated on mask guidance, too.

The very best HDR cameras have roughly the same dynamic ranges as the human eye. You can't display all of this range to people because of the limitations of display technology, but…

It's hard not to talk about the most dominant thing in your life, and only a few people have the skill of being genuinely interested in the priorities of other people. Some people …

I live in London, where escalator lane discipline is very good - mostly because if you fail to stand on the right you will get jostled by 80kg of fast moving commuter. It's a cultu…

My builder bought goods in 100kg at a time by cargo bike from a local aggregation point. The only things which couldn't be delivered this way were joists, which came by a small ele…

Quite possibly. I'm a line manager and amicable resignations are much cheaper than terminations when you add up goodwill, management time, and direct costs.

Yes, but fewer people are having children, which reduces the demand for suburban living. The suburbs also have less attraction for me as a parent. In the old days you could let you…

EVs are more efficient (in terms of emissions per mile) even when powered by fossil fuel grid generators, because power station generators are so much larger. They can also be fitt…