Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Utah expands public transportation with rapid bus transit, free until 2021

rideuta.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 188 posts

Re: Utah expands public transportation with rapid bus transit, free until 2021

#61

Post by ivanech »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #30
ivanech wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Catholics are pretty different. The Catholic Church asks for less than the LDS (and most churches) at the local level, and it's quite a bit more hands-off. The higher levels of Catholic hierarchy looks like a medieval institution because it is a medieval institution. There is definitely set dogma, and the Church does not waver on it, but Catholics are generally quite comfortable being buffet Christians (choosing whic…

That is only true in the states and perhaps parts of Europe. Catholics in Latin America, Africa, and the Philippines are much less buffet.

Very true! I should have specified that this applies for Catholics in the United States.

Re: Utah expands public transportation with rapid bus transit, free until 2021

#62

Post by Rebelgecko »

conroy wrote: post #12

As usual, this looks like a half-baked implementation of BRT. They get many things right, including articulated buses, off-vehicle ticket purchase, and raised platforms. However, like most BRT systems in the US, it fails on the most important metric: dedicated lanes. Only half of the route is in exclusive lanes, which means the half the time buses will be fighting traffic. Instead, we should be aiming to build more B…

For LA, separate bus lanes make a lot of sense. For Utah (really only SLC), it's really not necessary. When I was in SLC for work, "bad" traffic was when I had to tap the brakes on the freeway at 4pm.

Re: Utah expands public transportation with rapid bus transit, free until 2021

#63

Post by matthewwiese »

dredmorbius wrote: post #54
krapp wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A cult is nothing more than an unpopular religion. Christianity itself was just a Jewish cult until Constantine found it useful.

There are a number of other features generally included in the definition of cults. Isolation, absolute authority, leader-worship, shunning of defectors, and other elements among them. https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Cult#Warning_signs_of_a_potent...

I agree with you that it's uncharitable to call Christianity a cult when there are more obviously perverse religious/New Age groups that better align with the definition (at least for the sake of debate).

However, I'm sure if you asked an LGBTQ person of their experiences with Christianity, especially with the uniquely conservative U.S. evangelical variety, they would say that some of those qualities clearly fit the bill.

Edit: One could also argue that the Catholic Church and its system of cardinals electing the pope (and whose very presence is regarded as sacrosanct) would qualify as both absolute authority and leader-worship. Albeit, I know the pope's own cop out is that God is the absolute authority, but I digress before my interest in theology leads us all down a dull rabbit hole.

Re: Utah expands public transportation with rapid bus transit, free until 2021

#64

Post by wwweston »

billiam wrote: post #42
reaperducer wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of Christians talk a big game about charity and such. But once I started becoming familiar with LDS folk, I was really impressed. They’re Christians in ways many other denominations only claim to be. KSL-TV (LDS-owned NBC station) has an AppleTV app, and watching the SLC local news is far more interesting than I thought it would be. And there’s far less needless murder and mayhem plus more “good” news than is a…

Sorry, I too know many LDS members and really love the SLC area and all the other incredible things in the state. While I like lots of things about the LDS community, the society there has many of the problems of Western states with lots of poverty, plus some that may be attributed to Mormon values: the highest rate of antidepressant use of any state, and the highest rate of cosmetic surgery. As for crime, the murder…

> plus some that may be attributed to Mormon values: the highest rate of antidepressant use of any state, and the highest rate of cosmetic surgery.

The perfectionist streak is real. The manifestation in cosmetic surgery is somewhat odd considering it's not explicitly taught (and has even been explicitly been panned). My own theory is that it's a weird combo of taking ideals seriously, religiously magnified & concentrated conscientiousness, and finally, heavily emphasizing the importance of having a mate and tying status to it.

However, I'm not sure the most ready explanation for any outlying antidepressant is oppressive religious expectations, outside of either some extra zealous backgrounds or key demographics like gay/lesbian individuals who are presented with a dilemma by the church that usually can't be resolved living inside church direction.

Given the famous abstinence from most common forms of self-medication (alcohol, weed, and tobacco), and a bit of a bent for being directed by authority, seems to me a good chunk of the difference is likely to essentially be displaced system-approved substance use.

Re: Utah expands public transportation with rapid bus transit, free until 2021

#65

Post by wwweston »

ivanech wrote: post #27
dba7dba wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing with LDS is that it's more of an organization with a strong (aka oppressive? or too powerful) leadership at top. Every adult has to go on a 'mission' for a full year? On the flip side, there is no such distinct leadership/requirements in most other Christian organizations. Pretty much anyone call self a Christian. Maybe Catholics are similar to LDS but I'm not too familiar with them.

Catholics are pretty different. The Catholic Church asks for less than the LDS (and most churches) at the local level, and it's quite a bit more hands-off. The higher levels of Catholic hierarchy looks like a medieval institution because it is a medieval institution. There is definitely set dogma, and the Church does not waver on it, but Catholics are generally quite comfortable being buffet Christians (choosing whic…

As far as I can tell, all Mormons are buffet Mormons. The ones that think they're not just usually aren't thinking about the rest of what's being served besides what they usually eat.

(Your point about relative comfort at this fact may remain true independent of this observation.)

Re: Utah expands public transportation with rapid bus transit, free until 2021

#66

Post by chrisper »

danschumann wrote: post #35

They should make a bus system that can change any light to green when the bus shows up, and control the grid in other ways to truly expedite public transit.

Has existed in Europe since forever. Usually busses and trams have their own traffic light here.

Re: Utah expands public transportation with rapid bus transit, free until 2021

#67

Post by nasredin »

billiam wrote: post #42
reaperducer wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of Christians talk a big game about charity and such. But once I started becoming familiar with LDS folk, I was really impressed. They’re Christians in ways many other denominations only claim to be. KSL-TV (LDS-owned NBC station) has an AppleTV app, and watching the SLC local news is far more interesting than I thought it would be. And there’s far less needless murder and mayhem plus more “good” news than is a…

Sorry, I too know many LDS members and really love the SLC area and all the other incredible things in the state. While I like lots of things about the LDS community, the society there has many of the problems of Western states with lots of poverty, plus some that may be attributed to Mormon values: the highest rate of antidepressant use of any state, and the highest rate of cosmetic surgery. As for crime, the murder…

You forgot pornography.

Utahns love porn.

Also all the crap LGBT Mormon kids go through.

Re: Utah expands public transportation with rapid bus transit, free until 2021

#68

Post by phamilton »

conroy wrote: post #12

As usual, this looks like a half-baked implementation of BRT. They get many things right, including articulated buses, off-vehicle ticket purchase, and raised platforms. However, like most BRT systems in the US, it fails on the most important metric: dedicated lanes. Only half of the route is in exclusive lanes, which means the half the time buses will be fighting traffic. Instead, we should be aiming to build more B…

I remember when the Orange Line launched. We used to call it the "Black and Blue Line" because the buses got hit pretty often at intersections. I guess it was confusing for some.

Re: Utah expands public transportation with rapid bus transit, free until 2021

#69

Post by xeromal »

bobthepanda wrote: post #47
reaperducer wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pittsburgh has this, too. A dedicated transitway from downtown to the airport. It was a pretty efficient ride when I used it about ten years ago. But at the same time it seemed kind of wasteful.

A good functioning bus lane will feel very wasteful only if it's working as intended and the buses are free-flowing. The entire point is that the buses flow quickly past traffic; you could open up the lane to HOV or cars, but then traffic times would just degrade. https://la.streetsblog.org/2014/07/08/balancing-cars-cash-an... > In May 2014, Streetsblog L.A. began to receive tips that Silver Line BRT service along th…

The tolls should be raised until a lower amount of cars are around

Re: Utah expands public transportation with rapid bus transit, free until 2021

#70

Post by xeromal »

rblion wrote: post #57

Considering moving to SLC, it's the perfect hub for all the stuff I like to do and has lots of nice people and food. Airport is not crowded either. I love how mountains are visible from most places as well. Within a few hours I can be at the Grand Canyon or at Yellowston or in Denver or in Las Vegas.

I've lived in Chicago, Atlanta, Los Angeles and SLC and SLC is easily my favorite of the bunch. LA has more amenities, but SLC balances that with WAYYYY more accessible outdoor activities, a proper winter, cheap housing, and nicer people.
Post reply on HN