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Deterioration of local community a major driver of loss of play-based childhood

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Re: Deterioration of local community a major driver of loss of play-based childhood

#311

Post by whitakerch »

complaintdept wrote: post #137
crooked-v wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My particular bugbear here is the absolutely insanity of truck and SUV heights, to the point that even full-grown adults are no longer clearly visible from inside new vehicles ( https://i.imgur.com/1dHWVxn.png ).

Actually, you'd want to get rid of those in car displays that require you to take your eyes off the road to do almost anything now, and will also spoil your night vision. There was an episode of Radiolab that was talking about this, and they made a very compelling case for it, along with those super bright headlamps that ruin your night vision when they're equipped on an oncoming vehicle. Tellingly, almost all increa…

You'd want to get rid of both.

Re: Deterioration of local community a major driver of loss of play-based childhood

#312

Post by lukan »

complaintdept wrote: post #137
crooked-v wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My particular bugbear here is the absolutely insanity of truck and SUV heights, to the point that even full-grown adults are no longer clearly visible from inside new vehicles ( https://i.imgur.com/1dHWVxn.png ).

Actually, you'd want to get rid of those in car displays that require you to take your eyes off the road to do almost anything now, and will also spoil your night vision. There was an episode of Radiolab that was talking about this, and they made a very compelling case for it, along with those super bright headlamps that ruin your night vision when they're equipped on an oncoming vehicle. Tellingly, almost all increa…

"along with those super bright headlamps that ruin your night vision when they're equipped on an oncoming vehicle."

I hate them.

I dream of the day, when proper night vision gear with the result displayed to the front window will be standard in cars, so all the cars can have no, or very soft lights to drive around savely at night.

Also, why not heat vision to better spot humans (and animals)? For the AI as well as the humans.

Is the tech military restricted?

Probably partly.

Re: Deterioration of local community a major driver of loss of play-based childhood

#313

Post by CalRobert »

nottorp wrote: post #257
ThalesX wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm in Eastern Europe; I've only seen an "American-style" SUV once I think two decades ago. I still can't get that image out of my mind. It was like a tank in front of my car. I couldn't understand how it fits our streets, how it parks, I couldn't see around it. Just... wow, honestly. I have no idea what car it was, but it was like a huge pick-up.

I once saw a F-150. It needed 3 parking spots at my eastern european local mall :) And I don't mean the driver was an asshole, it simply wouldn't have fit in otherwise.

The driver was an asshole for not finding somewhere else to put it.

Re: Deterioration of local community a major driver of loss of play-based childhood

#314

Post by User23 »

bedobi wrote: post #29

The design of the physical environment is in no small part responsible for this. Don't believe me go to Europe and Japan where kids are still allowed to walk and bike to school, to friends places and just in general play and exist outside unattended to a much higher degree than in the US. Because in the US they would be roadkill, and even if they somehow survived outside of a car, car centric design means there's now…

Now why would children be safer in high trust homogeneous societies that share descent, religion, language, and culture than in low trust divided societies that share little more than a common currency?

Must be light trucks! What a fine example of Occam’s butterknife at work.

Re: Deterioration of local community a major driver of loss of play-based childhood

#315

Post by bdw5204 »

euroderf wrote: post #182
CalRobert wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Europe is getting worse too. Big SUV's and trucks, fast traffic, and cars illegally parked all over the footpaths (and I'm talking about the Netherlands here, it's worse elsewhere). I mean it's better here than where I grew up (California) but I still wouldn't call it "good".

> cars illegally parked all over the footpaths This is where opportunistic roving tow trucks start to sound like a good idea.

Tow trucks would also be very useful to handle the people who think the trolley tracks, the bus stop or the sidewalk are a good place to park their car.

With trolleys, it'd be even better if the tracks themselves had some kind of AI technology to detect parked cars and call the tow truck to remove the car before it causes a delay.

Re: Deterioration of local community a major driver of loss of play-based childhood

#316

Post by whitakerch »

rootusrootus wrote: post #71
bedobi wrote: post #29

The design of the physical environment is in no small part responsible for this. Don't believe me go to Europe and Japan where kids are still allowed to walk and bike to school, to friends places and just in general play and exist outside unattended to a much higher degree than in the US. Because in the US they would be roadkill, and even if they somehow survived outside of a car, car centric design means there's now…

I live in the US and my kids walk and bike to school. You're making wide generalizations across a large country.

I would LOVE to know where this is?? If it's more walkable that JUST the school.

I have lived in suburbs near enough to schools that you can walk on 2 occasions in both NC and AZ but this was a very lucky quality, not the norm AT ALL, highly desirable, and you could walk to practically nothing other than the school. Leaving the neighborhood on foot was not a good place to be walking.

Re: Deterioration of local community a major driver of loss of play-based childhood

#317

Post by randomdata »

jjav wrote: post #207
rootusrootus wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in the US and my kids walk and bike to school. You're making wide generalizations across a large country.

> I live in the US and my kids walk and bike to school. You're making wide generalizations across a large country. I've learned from HN discussions that there is a vast difference in what people think of as a "suburb". Some will say it takes over 30 minutes by car from a suburb to the nearest store. To me that's very rural, I'd never consider that a suburb. But some do. So we get these disconnected discussion on how…

> To me that's very rural

That's the idea if used in the North American sense. Suburbs are effectively rural areas, except with a higher population density. You will see rows of houses instead of rows of corn, but otherwise no different.

> Places with single family homes and parks and playgrounds where I can very easily walk to just about every store or service nearby.

What's a town, then?

Re: Deterioration of local community a major driver of loss of play-based childhood

#318

Post by erikw »

bhickey wrote: post #247
eru wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, the driver should also be on the hook for driving such a dangerous machine in the first place.

The manufacturer should be jointly liable for producing a defective vehicle.

I don't think you can legally sell a new small vehicle in the US, so the root cause is legislation that prevents this. I believe that if you could legally produce kei sized vehicles in the US, there would be a massive market for it, especially in urban environments. And I'm sure US manufacturers would be happy to sell them to all comers.

Edit: Basically any car from Suzuki would be a hit in the US: https://www.suzukiauto.co.za/new-cars

Re: Deterioration of local community a major driver of loss of play-based childhood

#319

Post by acjohnson55 »

naasking wrote: post #160
acjohnson55 wrote: post #152

The article rings true to me. I don't think that we want to try to turn the clock back, as much as trying to find ways to combine the good parts of past and present norms, while excising the bad parts. I'm a parent of 4 small children in a smallish town (16k, single school at each grade level), and I'm cherishing the sense of community much more than I expected. There's something to having shared context with almost…

> I only wish I felt like it were safe for my kids to explore on foot. Why do you feel it's unsafe?

Because people drive through my town like maniacs, speeding and running traffic lights. There aren't routes for pedestrians and cyclists to get around town without having to cross major streets at unprotected intersections. A lot could be done to improve the bikability and walkability, but the county and state own our major roads, and are historically more concerned with car throughput than pedestrian safety. This may be starting to shift, but that's the status quo.

Re: Deterioration of local community a major driver of loss of play-based childhood

#320

Post by hiatus »

erikw wrote: post #318
bhickey wrote: post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The manufacturer should be jointly liable for producing a defective vehicle.

I don't think you can legally sell a new small vehicle in the US, so the root cause is legislation that prevents this. I believe that if you could legally produce kei sized vehicles in the US, there would be a massive market for it, especially in urban environments. And I'm sure US manufacturers would be happy to sell them to all comers. Edit: Basically any car from Suzuki would be a hit in the US: https://www.suzuki…

> I don't think you can legally sell a new small vehicle in the US

This is blatantly false. See: the Mitsubishi Mirage as just one example.

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