Coffee Talk V: The Final Battle

[forty_three]

Yeah, it's frustrating. I went to an after hours zoo event Friday night and by the time I got there I was angry and wanted to go home.

Man I miss going to that zoo. My mom ran the gift shops and I used to go down there a lot to have lunch with her.

But yeah, it is not an easy place to get to.

 

[forty_three]

Gaetz campaign hires Epstein lawyer in connection to DOJ investigation, report claims

The probe has reportedly expanded from sexual misconduct to include campaign finance issues

www.independent.co.uk

Matt Gaetz has hired a lawyer who defended El Chapo, Epstein and the leader of a sex cult. And his PAC paid for them.

Subsequently, the investigation is expanding more into campaign finance in addition to the whole sex trafficking minors thing.

 

[mooger_35]

“Mr Fernich specialises in "subtle, novel and creative arguments that other attorneys may miss", according to his website.”

Sounds like a whole lot of bull shit

 

[forty_three]

“Mr Fernich specialises in "subtle, novel and creative arguments that other attorneys may miss", according to his website.”

Sounds like a whole lot of bull shit

 

[Cyder]

I object! Chewbacca is NOT from Endor and I move to have this removed from the record!

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

In this area we had so many mishaps too. At different times there were talks of a 2nd beltway or an east west highway through the city, Nothing was ever done for lots of reasons (some legit) but the last few times I have heard nothing will be done because projections show they wont be needed in the future. Meanwhile this mid sized city is ranked in the top 20 in congestion and climbing every year, They also originally messed up the beltway by making the majority of bridges that go over it 6 lanes. So adding another lane is largely impossible unless you replace a bunch of bridges as well.

Plus the 'moderate' republican governor (who voted for Ronald Reagan last presidential election) killed a paid for by the feds east-west Baltimore light rail.

Anywhere in Canada not called Alberta any talk of new highway capacity is met with reaction akin to dumping nuclear waste on street corners.

Any valid arguments as to why new expressways might be needed (name it - population growth, increased truck traffic, bypassing urban areas, etc.) is just countered with "INDUCED DEMAND!" which, while there is some merit to that, completely ignores the fact that when an already heavily populated region is increasing in population 10% every 5 years there will be more cars and trucks on its roads and they need to go somewhere.

Moving from Toronto to Vancouver has been incredibly calming in that the traffic here is barely a fraction of how bad things are in Toronto, especially on city streets, but the highway network is god-awful and there's 0% of it ever improving and as the region becomes more crowded the effects are really going to start to be felt.

And even when they had the chance to build roads that would help around the city, they didn't. I-70 was originally supposed to go through to 95 Just south of the tunnel which would have alleviated a lot of the west side traffic to downtown. They when they extended I-83 into downtown, they just kinda stopped. If that connected to 95 on the other side of the tunnel that would help from both the south and east.

And I always wished they would have put light rail up to Bel Air. Even if it only got to the harbor it would have been better than driving into downtown every day.

Columbus has that "bullseye" type setup with an outerbelt and two highways through the city going both east/west and north/south. The only issue is the North/South highway goes through an area that makes widening it really hard so as the congestion goes up, that area gets worse.

Highways through cities are even more taboo. Toronto is replacing a section of the Gardiner at the east end (where there is a fuck ton of vacant land to be developed in the next 20 years) and activists have acted as if they're committing a war crime for not just tearing it down permanently.

Rochester bulldozed a downtown highway, Buffalo is pushing to get rid of the Skyway and the Kensington Expressway, Montreal got rid of the elevated approach to the Pont Cartier and made a surface-level boulevard (although they're one of the smart lucky few who buried their downtown highway back when it was still cheap to do so), there are a lot of movements to follow suit in a lot of cities. Be interesting to see the impact it has on more populated downtowns.

Per the commuter/traffic talk, the likely reality is that current infrastructure will probably continue to be the norm in many places because:

• More work from home options will continue to reduce weekday pressure on roads and mass transit.
• Self-driving cars are likely to become the norm and when you factor in their efficiency, accident reduction, eliminating unpredictable/emotional driving decisions, etc. - our current roadways will probably be able to handle significantly more cars while actually reducing traffic.

When you combine these factors, you have the possibility that even presently congested cities will become downright pleasant to drive in/through/around without adding any new travel lanes. This isn't even factoring new models of car sharing/ownership that may come about. There is the potential to see the benefits of the car (solo travel, direct routing) with the efficiency of mass transit.

I think it's going to be amazing to see. And of course likely finally in place around the time I'll be retiring.

If some of these people don't like a COVID shot, imagine how they're going to feel when we start legislating such that humans won't be ALLOWED to drive cars anymore because it will be too dangerous. Kids driving now are unlikely to learn how to drive a stick. Kids born now may not ever have to learn how to drive at all.

I don't know what Vancouver was like pre-Covid so I can't speak to it but having spent the last 10 days in Toronto I can say they're at about 90% of the traffic level they were at pre-Covid and that's still with half the downtown office towers either empty or doing alternating cohorts. Transit is apparently back to about 50%, so either still quite a few commuters staying home or a big chunk have switched to driving or other forms of transportation.

And then the WFH'ers, of which there's definitely a lot more but how many remain permanent is going to be interesting to see. A lot of them moved to smaller cities or further-out suburbs which could start to tax infrastructure there as those cities grow.

 

[forty_three]

Highways through cities are even more taboo

It's a little easier to stomach when a city has robust public transport, the lack of which is one thing Columbus and Baltimore have in common.

They wouldn't extend I-70 as originally designed because they didn't want to bulldoze a part of park. A park which is now famous for being the dumping ground for bodies in the west side gang wars. Like seriously, new cops are told to go there and look for missing persons and only report finding bodies that fit the description otherwise it's too much paperwork.

It's also where they found my car when it got stolen.

 

[Comeds]

Man I miss going to that zoo. My mom ran the gift shops and I used to go down there a lot to have lunch with her.

But yeah, it is not an easy place to get to.

You may have liked the program I saw. It was a zoo history one. Dinner, drinks, then a guided tour of some of the exhibits/enclosures that are off limits to the public now. Pretty much a talk about how the zoo used to be 'throw up a cage and put an animal in it' and how it has evolved into what it is now. Being from the area I remember a lot of the old area. I remember a tiger angrily pacing back and forth in a too small enclosure all day. I remember the elephant being housed in a small building.

 

[forty_three]

You may have liked the program I saw. It was a zoo history one. Dinner, drinks, then a guided tour of some of the exhibits/enclosures that is off limits to the public now. Pretty much a talk about how the zoo used to be 'throw up a cage and put an animal in it' and how it has evolved into what it is now. Being from the area I remember a lot of the old area. I remember a tiger angrily pacing back and forth in a too small enclosure all day. I remember the elephant being housed in a small building.

A lot of those changes happened while she worked there. I got to walk around the polar bear exhibit before they moved them. I imagine there have been a lot more changes since I was last there.

It used to be so depressing watching those poor tigers in that little box.

 

[Comeds]

A lot of those changes happened while she worked there. I got to walk around the polar bear exhibit before they moved them. I imagine there have been a lot more changes since I was last there.

It used to be so depressing watching those poor tigers in that little box.

Apparently the tigers used to frequently pee on spectators so that's some good news.

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

It's a little easier to stomach when a city has robust public transport, the lack of which is one thing Columbus and Baltimore have in common.

They wouldn't extend I-70 as originally designed because they didn't want to bulldoze a part of park. A park which is now famous for being the dumping ground for bodies in the west side gang wars. Like seriously, new cops are told to go there and look for missing persons and only report finding bodies that fit the description otherwise it's too much paperwork.

It's also where they found my car when it got stolen.

Leakin? Read something about that a while ago.

Probably for the best if its disappeared, sadly.

 

[dare2be]

“Mr Fernich specialises in "subtle, novel and creative arguments that other attorneys may miss", according to his website.”

Sounds like a whole lot of bull shit

Translation: better at lying and getting away with it.

 

[mattola]

why is he not in jail?


Gaetz is a very unhinged dude.

 

[puckhead]

I like how Milley just calmly wrote something down in the middle of it
I'm watching Dexter now, so I like to think Milly just wrote down his name for later.

 

[elocomotive]

why is he not in jail?


Gaetz is a very unhinged dude.

-Biden is weak
-We should be winning
-Defend the troops
-Beltway insider

He was a wall reference away from hitting all the rhetorical greatest hits in 20 seconds.

 

[elocomotive]

I like how Milley just calmly wrote something down in the middle of it
I'm watching Dexter now, so I like to think Milly just wrote down his name for later.

He better call Milley and apologize...

 

[forty_three]

Flag-wearing man throws Molotov cocktail into Austin Dems HQ

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — An arson investigation was underway after a man wearing an American flag bandanna threw a Molotov cocktail into the headquarters of the county Democratic Party in Austin.

apnews.com

Spend 5 years telling people someone is the enemy, when in fact they are just like you except they disagree about a few things. If only we went after every type of radicalization the same.

Brown guy in Afghanistan? 20 year war.

Texas dickhead? Potential presidential candidate.

 

[forty_three]

53% of British people now think Brexit is going badly, poll says, after empty shelves and fuel shortages hit the UK

A poll by YouGov poll suggests a majority of British people believe Brexit is going badly, with only 18% thinking it's going well.

www.businessinsider.com

In other news 47% of Britain is intensely stupid.

 

[forty_three]

Now for some real coffee talk - instructions for an office's new coffee machine.

 

[thedddd]

53% of British people now think Brexit is going badly, poll says, after empty shelves and fuel shortages hit the UK

A poll by YouGov poll suggests a majority of British people believe Brexit is going badly, with only 18% thinking it's going well.

www.businessinsider.com

In other news 47% of Britain is intensely stupid.

Seems to be a trend in certain countries.