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150 days of living and coding in a van

ruby-on-wheels.github.io

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Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#391

Post by aidos »

kelnos wrote: post #365
aidos wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This seems to have attracted a lot of downvotes, I guess because it's overtly antagonistic. But I too prefer to work on a smaller screen (and I have tried much larger monitors). I switch context and then just work in that context. I don't feel the need to be able to see a load of different things at the same time. Really though, it's subjective and everyone should just do what works best for them. It's the same discu…

> This seems to have attracted a lot of downvotes, I guess because it's overtly antagonistic. A fine example of how it's really difficult to express tone via text (I read it as pretty breezy, not antagonistic), and why we should all attempt to apply the principle of charity to everything we read before assuming someone's being a dick.

I'm going to be totally honest—I personally thought the tone was ok but felt like I should err on the side of caution, lest I too suffered the wrath of the large-multimonitor crowd :-)

Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#392

Post by SigmundA »

classisch wrote: post #343
mikestew wrote: post #323

It would appear that “van” has a different definition in Europe. In the U. S. I think most would consider that a Class C RV. I’m not just being pedantic, as there is loads more room in the authors rig than our VW Westfalia, or even a Chevy conversion. I’d live full-time in what’s pictured (and plenty of U. S. retirees do just that), no problem, but I’d have to have a genuine need before I’d consider more than a month…

Ha! I'm not a native speaker. I used the word "van" because I didn't want to write "campervan" all the time. But maybe "camper" would have been better? > A campervan (or camper van), sometimes referred to as a camper, or a caravanette, is a self-propelled vehicle that provides both transport and sleeping accommodation. The term mainly describes vans that have been fitted out, often with a coachbuilt body for use as a…

In the US your linked RV is a Class A.

Yours would be a Class C

Campervan in the US is associated more with Class B's

The difference is Class A is a complete custom body, Class C is a cutaway where the cab is built by the chassis maker but the house body is not like yours. Class B is basically a van body on the outside.

There are variations, Super C's, B plus and so on.

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

Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#394

Post by Jemmeh »

twobyfour wrote: post #86

Are there any women here who have done something like this and would be willing to comment on it? Theoretically it sounds cool, but I'd be a bit anxious about personal safety.

Learn to use pepper spray. It's fairly simple and will empower you a lot. You can buy some that shoots a jet ~10feet. Also when you park lock the doors and make sure you can easily hop into the front seat and drive off. Most of the time no one bothers you, at least here in the U.S. I'm sure it depends on location a bit too.

Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#395

Post by amigoingtodie »

keldaris wrote: post #363
solatic wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why would any sane person leave the water running while brushing their teeth? a) the price of tap water being cheap enough that the difference in consumption between efficient and wasteful behavior not causing a meaningful enough difference in the bottom-line cost of the monthly water bill to affect a change in behavior b) sanity not being the same thing as morality, with the sane person not considering the waste o…

I'm not really sure how wasting a bit of water while brushing your teeth in Berlin could be considered particularly immoral or unethical. Berlin is, as far as I know, in no danger of water shortages and being more frugal with water in Berlin does nothing whatsoever for the billions of people in the world who have no or limited access to safe water supplies. Am I wrong?

It is not being wasted.

It is being paid for, and then goes back to the earth.

It is not like it is being contaniminated with mercury.

Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#396

Post by pascalxus »

intoverflow2 wrote: post #317
majewsky wrote: post #190

> The amount of water that I used in Berlin to brush my teeth is probably enough for a whole day in my van. Maybe 80% of the water just flowed from the tap right into the drain without even touching my body. I hear things like that time and time again, and I can literally not understand it. Why would any sane person leave the water running while brushing their teeth? When I brush my teeth, the water runs for one seco…

Wonder what the harmful emissions from my flat and walk to work were vs the van. /s Smug statements about how wasteful people not living in these fringe conditions are always remind me of the Soylent founder lecturing about how doing laundry wastes water while also reordering all his clothes from china when they get dirty. [1] [1] https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/08/op-ed-how-i-gave-up-...

what does he mean with "It bothers me immensely that all clothing is hand made. Automation is woefully absent from the textile industry"?

I thought all clothing construction was automated in factories, like any assembly line automation.

Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#397

Post by dragonwriter »

mod wrote: post #386
binarysolo wrote: post #379

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember reading the article awhile ago and came across the same passage (and remember having a similar reaction): "I have not done laundry in years. I get my clothing custom-made in China for prices you would not believe and have new ones regularly shipped to me. Shipping is a problem. I wish container ships had nuclear engines but it’s still much more efficient and convenient than retail. Thanks to synthetic fabr…

I really think he's saying he doesn't use a washer/dryer. He states very clearly that he washes and reuses them.

> He states very clearly that he washes and reuses them.

No, he very clearly does not state that he washes or reuses them. Here is the clothing section, in full:

--- I enjoy doing laundry about as much as doing dishes. I get my clothing custom made in China for prices you would not believe and have new ones regularly shipped to me. Shipping is a problem. I wish container ships had nuclear engines but it’s still much more efficient and convenient than retail. Thanks to synthetic fabrics it takes less water to make my clothes than it would to wash them, and I donate my used garments.

It bothers me immensely that all clothing is hand made. Automation is woefully absent from the textile industry, but I don’t think it always will be. For now a few new t shirts and jeans per month is not very offensive. I certainly buy less clothing overall than a typical consumer. Synthetic fabrics are easy to recycle and I believe will soon be made with biofuels. Still, this area needs some work. ---

The only reference to washing them is the water savings of buying new over what it would take to wash them; now, he also says that he buys "a few new jeans and t-shirts each month" and "less clothing than the typical consumer". Now, those descriptions appear to conflict, and either one of them seems to suggest enough reuse that many people would assume he must be washing them a few times -- going with the first (which is the one least indicative of reusing clothes a lot), and assuming "a few" is not more than 5 of each, he'd have to be wearing each at least ~6 times, which seems a lot without washing. But he doesn't say he is washing, that's just an implication that is easy, though not necessarily correct, to read into his statement.

Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#398

Post by pascalxus »

beebmam wrote: post #367

This is cool, but honestly I think there's a bigger problem that people don't seem to want to address: Housing affordability. Why do we allow home prices to be so expensive? Simply no one from my (millenial) generation can afford to buy a house. Home prices are so beyond insane, and it's crippling my generation. I make $200k a year and I'm unable to buy a house where I live. That's how fucked it is.

Your absolutely right. and no one realizes the enormity of the tragedy. With people traveling 10x longer commute distances the cost to the environment is also 10x as much as well!! Traffic on the highway gets clogged, causing people to spend even more time on their commute. So, CA laws that obstruct building like CEQA (an environmental protection law) are doing more to harm the environment than help it. Meanwhile, the next generation is being driven out of the bay area and eventually out of CA. And that's just the tip of the ice berg.

All the solutions proposed by politicians (affordable housing, regulation) only serve to make the problem worse. The answer is, we need: massive increase in housing supply or a decrease in the # of employers/jobs in this area.

I'm sure there's countless VCs and founders that want to solve this Housing/Transportation problems ~ potentially a multi-trillion dollar opportunity. But, it's absolutely unassailable: the barriers to entry are so extreme, and the amount of government legislation and politics in the way is so insurmountable, I don't even know of a single company or startup that's legitimately working on this problem. It's a man made problem, that will require a man-made solution. It'll take an army of politicians to make this happen, perhaps a startup filled with politicians, not engineers.

Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#399

Post by JKCalhoun »

classisch wrote: post #345
intoverflow2 wrote: post #317

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wonder what the harmful emissions from my flat and walk to work were vs the van. /s Smug statements about how wasteful people not living in these fringe conditions are always remind me of the Soylent founder lecturing about how doing laundry wastes water while also reordering all his clothes from china when they get dirty. [1] [1] https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/08/op-ed-how-i-gave-up-...

Agreed! The same goes for my solar panels: Yes, I use a renewable source of energy. But how many resources were required to built these panels and once they break, where do they go? I'm not quite sure the ecological footprint of my life style is smaller than of someone who lives in an apartment in Berlin. However since I live in the van, I pay way more attention to where I and others waste resources. Maybe a first st…

> But how many resources were required to built these panels

You manufacture things like that near (nearly) free energy sources like rivers.

Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#400

Post by driverdan »

libria wrote: post #389
driverdan wrote: post #344

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven't had a partner while owning the bus so it hasn't been positive or negative. I've encountered very few negative reactions to it, mostly positive. I've had a few people respond with shock, as if they didn't understand it at all. People who would be negative about it are not people I want in my life. I expect friends and family to support my decisions, even if it's not something they're interested in themselves…

> People who would be negative about it are not people I want in my life. I expect friends and family to support my decisions, even if it's not something they're interested in themselves. On the other hand, it's unhealthy to surround yourself with yes-men. I personally think it's pretty cool, but I can't say I support the decision since I don't know if it's good for you in the long run. I wager you take criticism bet…

> On the other hand, it's unhealthy to surround yourself with yes-men.

Agreed.

> I wager you take criticism better than that sentence indicates, though.

I think constructive criticism is extremely important and solicit it. It's a good way to discover mistakes or better options.

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