Divided Lanes (PPP)

The Conservative says, “We should not have to pay the medical bills of cyclists who carelessly get injured by cars on the road. If they didn’t want to get hurt, they should’ve been in a car.”

The Liberal says, “Fine. We’ll mandate helmets, headlights, taillights, high-viz vests, and register all bicycles against theft. Nobody should be unsafe regardless of social status.”

The Libertarian says, “Fine. We don’t believe in more laws, but while we’re at it, those helmets must comply with strict safety rules so onerous that only the companies we own stock in can legally manufacture them. No laws!”

939

Apparently this is post 939 on this blog. I would’ve rolled 1000 years ago if FecalDook and Shwitter hadn’t stolen my gas. Those platforms have really exhausted me. It’s bad enough that FB has turned into a shit pile of late: 3 posts from friends — only 1 of which is from today — and then nothing but “Suggested For You” teasers mixed with ads.

It’s like they’re repeating the mantra “Brought to you be Carl’s Jr” over and over in a panic as the world burns around them. Praying for that last bit of money. Clutching at dimes.

I make posts, but they get sucked into the vacuum, and it becomes a zero sum game. Negative sum, really. I get nothing out of it. And after that pandemic isolation, I’m fucking hungry for feedback.

To hell with apps.

Pegged

Based on my YouTube suggested videos, Google thinks I’m a lefty urbanist who’s fascinated with trains, planes, bikes, walkable neighborhoods, civil infrastructure, and has a passing interest in science, psychology, sex ed, and questionable comedians. There’s some malignant threads of amateur radio and electronics tacked on for good measure.

Damn, do they have me binned.

Preacher, Choir

Some Guy With a Blog says:

I get it. I know why TED Talks are so popular. Why we watch them and share. We all fantasize about being that expert up there, giving our experiences and laying out the facts, as though the truth we bring forth is something everyone should hear, something everyone should take in.

We so want to be that person on that stage. And, to some extent, we carry on as though we are that person on that stage. Standing alone inside the red circle, our minutes counting down on a screen in front of us, we make our elevator pitch explaining our entire academic oeuvre to an audience who was not there during the hardest times of our research.

We want to be bringers of the holiest of light.

But nobody’s life is truly changed by a TED Talk, is it? At least, not those who didn’t already want it to be changed.

A lot of smart people out there; wise people. But not everybody with a strap-on mic is wise, no matter who vouches for them enough to give them stage time. So listen critically.