Motorists have been stranded on a major interstate in Virginia since last night • Hacker News Board

Re: Motorists have been stranded on a major interstate in Virginia since last night

#681

Post by unethical_ban » Wed, Jan 05, 2022, 2:41 PM UTC

flavius29663 wrote: post #617

unethical_ban wrote: post #497

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Senate is entirely vestigial and needs to be dissolved or other wise made to be proportional to population, if we are going to keep an upper house at all. The House needs to be rid of single member districts, ideally, and move to a multimember party system. Barring that, first-past-the-post should be completely replaced as a voting mechanism. The Supreme Court should be reformed with term limits of some kind, and…

EU was founded quite recently. It too has mechanisms to avoid concentrating all the power in the hands of the big ones: Germany and France. E.g. for the European Parliament, each country has a different level of representation (MPs per capita). Germany has the least representation and Malta has the highest. This way smaller countries also have a voice. There are other mechanisms as well(agencies HQs, comisioners etc.…

The EU and the US are at different levels of integration, though the EU does have free trade and travel.

I should read the details on the implementation of the EU parliament, but I wonder if this "minority voice" equivalent in the EU is able to block essentially any progress or legislation.

I also wonder why the states in the US should have nearly as much say as they have in 2021. We aren't a small band of ragtag cultures stretched across have the universe as we were in 1789.

Re: Motorists have been stranded on a major interstate in Virginia since last night

#682

Post by asoneth » Wed, Jan 05, 2022, 3:02 PM UTC

AnthonyMouse wrote: post #534

asoneth wrote: post #489

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but the people who already live in the suburbs still get a 30 minute commute instead of a 60 minute commute because of the wider road That is true for several years after the highway widening. Which is good for politicians who operate one election cycle at a time. But the population doesn't just sit back and enjoy shorter commutes after a highway widening project. The towns that used to be two hours outside the cit…

> But the population doesn't just sit back and enjoy shorter commutes after a highway widening project. Notice that this is true of anything that relieves the highway congestion in any way whatsoever. As soon as the road is clear, no matter why, the commute is shorter and it becomes more attractive to live further away in distance. > Eventually (over the span of decades) this results in a new equilibrium in which the…

> Notice that this is true of anything that relieves the highway congestion in any way whatsoever.

Is that true if we charge an appropriate price for road use? Isn't that what we do to manage availability of every other scarce resource to ensure it is being used optimally?

If you increase the price of using the road at the busiest times then eventually you will arrive at a price that maintains the optimum flow rate. You may need to adjust the price occasionally to track shifts in inflation and population, it has equity issues, and (like most sustainable solutions) it is politically difficult. But I don't understand what would cause it to stop working. In the places it has been implemented (e.g. Singapore, London, Stockholm) it is generally unpopular at first and then extremely popular after a year or so. And administering it should become cheaper as technology improves which may make it feasible for smaller cities as well.

> If the population was stable, and you built a road which is sufficient now, it'll probably stay sufficient as long as the population remains stable, because who is building enough new housing to move the needle on traffic in a city that isn't growing?

Even in metro areas that have stable populations, heavily subsidizing transportation infrastructure (whether transit or highways) between the city and the suburbs often has the effect of slowly shifting the current metro population outward to those suburbs. By subsidizing suburban commuters you are making living in the suburbs more attractive than it would be otherwise. As you make it more attractive, more people who currently live in the city will rationally choose to move to the suburbs.

I'm not saying it's a bad idea to build more lanes, just that on it's own it is not a sustainable approach. As long as rent/land prices are largely set by the market and roadways are free or heavily subsidized then it's not surprising that people take advantage of that and you end up with a shortage of road space.

(I agree with your comments on zoning.)

Re: Motorists have been stranded on a major interstate in Virginia since last night

#683

Post by x86_64Ubuntu » Wed, Jan 05, 2022, 3:13 PM UTC

MathCodeLove wrote: post #549

x86_64Ubuntu wrote: post #546

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's the US, it's safe to assume that anomalies concerning political power are due to maintaining the racial hierarchy. Just because it's ugly and interferes with the American myth of equality doesn't mean it's not true. "One reader wrote to the Washington Evening Star, saying: “If you get rid of the 90,000 negroes residing in this city I am in favor of suffrage. As long as they are here I am opposed to it,” accordin…

No, it's not safe to assume. It's ridiculous to assume that there's even some intrinsic "racial hierarchy" to begin with. Some demographics do better on average than others, much like how Asian-Americans have a higher average household income than White-Americans, but despite what twitter says that's largely not due to any deeply rooted systemic issue. I don't think a single readers letter to some local news organiza…

Just cause one group does better than another is not proof that systemic issues don't exist for another group. In the article they cite multiple sources of anti-black resentment being the cause of D.C. not receiving statehood, I only cited the letter because it was small and to the point.

Re: Motorists have been stranded on a major interstate in Virginia since last night

#684

Post by x86_64Ubuntu » Wed, Jan 05, 2022, 3:16 PM UTC

MathCodeLove wrote: post #650

jyounker wrote: post #631

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's ridiculous to assume that there's even some intrinsic "racial hierarchy" to begin with Yea, it is ridiculous to assume that there is an intrinsic racial hierarchy. That doesn't mean that that US doesn't have one though. If you need evidence, just look at incarceration rates, police shooting rates, property ownership rates, intergenerational wealth, representation in government, hiring disparities, educational…

Current economic consequences of historic oppression are, while unfortunate, not indicative of current, on-going oppression. It's also quite misleading to throw out statistics like incarceration rates, police shootings, etc and assume it's automatically because of racism and not instead indicative of the violent culture that become pervasive in many black urban communities. I have no doubt that part of it does stem f…

So these policies existed up until the 1980s, but the sentiment driving them has somehow gone away? Classism is an over-cited reason used to remove the issue of race from the discussion. Jim Crow applied to all blacks, regardless of class. Housing covenants denied the sale to blacks regardless of class.

Re: Motorists have been stranded on a major interstate in Virginia since last night

#685

Post by bagacrap » Wed, Jan 05, 2022, 3:34 PM UTC

mannerheim wrote: post #568

daveevad wrote: post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 1.3 million registered snowmobiles in the US [0] For fun, let's just say those are evenly distributed amongst the states and there are 26,000 snowmobiles available in Virginia at DoorDash's disposal. I'd wager snowmobiles wouldn't be the limiting factor in this operation. [0]( https://www.snowmobile.org/snowmobiling-statistics-and-facts... )

There are probably not very many snowmobiles in Florida.

something tells me Florida Man likes snowmobiling across the swamp a la https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NySgXKgfICM

Re: Motorists have been stranded on a major interstate in Virginia since last night

#686

Post by shkkmo » Wed, Jan 05, 2022, 3:39 PM UTC

MathCodeLove wrote: post #563

shkkmo wrote: post #545

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's funny how the two major regions of the US that clearly deserve statehood (DC and Puerto Rico) but have been denied that right for decades, seem to be areas with lots of poor non-whites. Racism is not the only factor in play here (political balance of power is a huge factor), but to deny that racism has played a significant role in creating this situation is ridiculous. I place that racism squarely in the laps of…

On what ground do you claim that DC and PR clearly deserve statehood? I think to take an incredibly complex economic, social, and political decision and assume its outcome is influenced in any significant capacity by the demographic makeup of those regions is ridiculous.

What is complex about it? That sounds like an excuse for not making an actual argument. There are lots of excuses when it comes to not granting statehood but they are invariably self-serving. They pay taxes but their votes don't count. We had a revolution once where that was a major factor. Puerto Rico is near the median in terms of state population. For over two down decades it has been clear that a majority of Puerto Ricans do not want to remain a territory.

Re: Motorists have been stranded on a major interstate in Virginia since last night

#687

Post by chiefalchemist » Wed, Jan 05, 2022, 3:47 PM UTC

rbanffy wrote: post #273

chiefalchemist wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One storm is not a trend.

I'm almost willing to bet that storms will get progressively worse in the next few years.

Interesting. The West Coast got a TON of snow in the last couple of weeks and this did not happen. The point is, over-confident and under-prepared humans are not a proxy for the evils of climate change. Let's not get too carried away. Climate change is new and it's real. Human stupidity? Much more established and reliable.

Re: Motorists have been stranded on a major interstate in Virginia since last night

#688

Post by shkkmo » Wed, Jan 05, 2022, 3:54 PM UTC

dnautics wrote: post #562

shkkmo wrote: post #545

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's funny how the two major regions of the US that clearly deserve statehood (DC and Puerto Rico) but have been denied that right for decades, seem to be areas with lots of poor non-whites. Racism is not the only factor in play here (political balance of power is a huge factor), but to deny that racism has played a significant role in creating this situation is ridiculous. I place that racism squarely in the laps of…

You might have an argument about DC, but Puerto Rico has not been "denied" the right. There have been many plebiscites on the issue and the status quo has been maintained each time.

You mean the 5 plebiscites out of which only the first from over 60 years ago favored remaining a territory? Those plebiscites only provide wiggle room because of issues with which and how many options were presented.

The last one though, presented a straight yes or no on statehood and statehood won by a significant margin.

Officially, both political parties tend to say they support self determination for Puerto Rico, but still nothing has happened.

Re: Motorists have been stranded on a major interstate in Virginia since last night

#689

Post by TheSalarian » Wed, Jan 05, 2022, 4:02 PM UTC

xattt wrote: post #464

obmelvin wrote: post #385

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A little extra reason to refuel your car sooner rather than later is that the fuel pump will be stressed more as the tank approaches empty.

Where is the additional stress from? Lack of weight from fuel above to push it through the fuel lines?

Adding on to eyegor's response, in some instances, a thin layer of sediment can build up in a gas tank as well. This is normally not an immediate concern in and of itself but letting your fuel pump run too close to empty can start drawing in that sediment which can eventually clog the pump. It's worth noting this is more common in vehicles that tend to sit for a longer periods of time, like lawn mowers, motorcycles, and grandma's beige-on-beige 2008 Camry.

Re: Motorists have been stranded on a major interstate in Virginia since last night

#690

Post by bin_bash » Wed, Jan 05, 2022, 4:06 PM UTC

imgabe wrote: post #560

dnautics wrote: post #552

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> DC needs to be a state. Alternatively, give back all of the residential parts back to Maryland (like Arlington was given back to VA). For a long time this wasn't politically feasible because DC was rough and MD would not have wanted it, but by now the tax base has to be high enough for it to be a net positive for MD. Of course, the democrats will lose 3 "safe" electoral votes but you could amend the constitution to…

MD doesn't want that and neither does DC. DC is not Maryland. It's its own place with its own identity.

You could probably say is not for all 50 states without finding much disagreement.