Peter From Queens, Not Queensland

I've been to Australia once, in 1998, and nothing that's happened there since is my fault. flic.kr/s/aHsk69iRWf

@Watchman_motto My town would probably fine me for even proposing this

With the looming housing collapse, might not be a bad idea to build a studio above the garage. This is what I’m doing for my oldest.

@mertonesque J. Geils Band, perhaps

okay, another microgenre: "bands where the lead singer is not the most famous one". only other example I can think of is Santana

@RaminNasibov No US president has died with the number of states at his death being the same as the number of states at his birth.

What historical fact sounds fake but is true?

@cIass_man Some things will never change.

me: ten thousand lossless rips, record collection, cd collection, great stereo, chair positioned for optimum listening also me: let's put on "the way it is" by bruce hornsby again

@DumbMoneyCapitl @Handre Giant baskets that they had to toss coins in

@Handre How did they collect / enforce tolls from passing ships?

Private lighthouses operated profitably across Britain for over 200 years before the state seized them in 1836. The Eddystone Light alone generated massive returns for Trinity House through tolls collected from passing ships (who paid willingly because, you know, not dying on rocks has value). Smeaton's tower stood as both an engineering marvel and a testament to private enterprise solving genuine market problems. The Happisburgh Light in Norfolk, built by private subscription in 1790, collected light dues that more than covered operating costs while saving countless lives along that treacherous coastline. Free market economists have studied these operations extensively, yet somehow the textbook myth persists that lighthouses represent classic "public goods" requiring government intervention. Politicians nationalized these profitable enterprises under the usual pretense of serving the public interest, then spent decades running them less efficiently than their private predecessors. Today's infrastructure debates ignore this history entirely because acknowledging successful private provision of "essential services" threatens too many bureaucratic rice bowls. The evidence sits right there in the records. Private lighthouses worked, which means questioning what else government actually needs to provide.

@DavidEveryman @rocks_boffin I have news for you about the constancy of the meter... bigthink.com/starts-with-a-…

@rocks_boffin This is why the rest of the world uses metric.

every engineer at my company simultaneously just started seizing and foaming at the mouth, screaming, puking and wailing, when they spotted a well 330 feet off the line and i asked which kind of feet they were using. Never seen anything like it. I didn’t know what to do. I tried to comfort them by performing an interpretive dance of Archie’s law

@L0m3z When I read "kitschy boomer anthem"

My Sharona randomly came on at the gym. Never really listened closely to it and always regarded the song as one of these kitschy boomer anthems, but turns out the album version (unlike the radio version) has one of the best pop guitar solos I've ever heard. What a revelation.

@B840D0o @nicolegelinas It's probably cheaper to get out at Lefferts and take a taxi to Howard Beach from there.

@B840D0o @nicolegelinas -> Drive to Lefferts = free -> Subway to Howard Beach = $8.75 What are we even doing here?

For an automated train, these headways aren’t impressive …

@MurrayHillGuy1 1pm - College student home for break

What time you wake up says a lot about you 3am — hopefully waking up from your hinge dates bed and leaving 4am — blue collar dude already 2 coffees deep 5am — locked in workout psychopath or 75 years old 6am — marathon runner or recently heartbroken 7am — normal productive human getting his day started 8am — remote worker logging on from bed 9am — lazy individual in a dead end job 10am — freelancer (jobless), Mamdani supporter 11am — the “influencer” who posts “good morning” during lunch rush 12pm — graveyard shift grinder or insanely unemployed 1pm+ — genuinely concerning and need to get your life together

@Romy_Holland @evilduck92 I've encountered a lot people who are married and get very defensive and irrational when poked about their choice of spouse, what gives?

@evilduck92 i’ve encountered a lot of people who eat meat and get very defensive and irrational when poked about this choice, which is not what a person who deeply believes what they’re doing is moral behaves like.

as someone who spent 16 years doing some combo of vegan/vegetarian/pescatarian and then gave up and ate meat while pregnant last year, i actually think this tweet is true. the feeling of choosing to eat meat was very much like “*shrug* i’m gonna do something selfish and sorta evil because im lazy and full of desire.” i think many choices are like this and you’ll find that acknowledging that reality actually feels better than doing mental gymnastics to justify your decisions.

@Colin_d_m A Princeton Dinky for everyone!

@Colin_d_m There should be more little spur lines off main lines everywhere.

Atlanta is insane like why would you build a metro station here. The crazier part they made a line specifically to serve this place as a one-station spur

@AbakpaJob @charlescwcooke

In fairness to Jesus, "One of you will betray me" is a great dinner party conversation opener.

@lymanstoneky The northeast is full of them: Newark, Trenton, Hartford, Wilmington...

Is there any city in America so dramatically far below its potential as St. Louis?

@UrbanCourtyard I'm absolutely with you on courtyard blocks, but everything you ever need is never going to be within a tenth of a mile. City living has wonderful advantages, there are just trade-offs you have to deal with too.

@peterdutton A three year old is not capable of walking a mile. And the question is not “is it physically possible” but “is it more convenient than a car”

The walkability scores are outrageously bad and lead to all sorts of confusion about what constitutes a “walkable” neighborhood. People will tell me that a neighborhood is walkable because there is a grocery store within a .5 mile radius. But if you are a parent with toddlers or a 70 year old with bad knees, half a mile is not walkable. In a very walkable neighborhood, it’s more convenient to walk to many daily destinations than to drive. This is why dense, mixed-use blocks are make the most walkable neighborhoods. You can shop, pick up dry cleaning, visit friends, pick up a prescription, go to a cafe — without even crossing a street

@UrbanCourtyard Half a mile each way to preschool, half a mile each way to church, 3/4 mile each way to their favorite playground. Did those walks many times with my kids when they were that little. You're not breaking any speed records, but they absolutely can do it if you let them.

@UrbanCourtyard Use a stroller with a standboard. Multiple kids are always going to be harder. It's not much fun to get them in and out of car seats either. You also learn that a three-year-old is indeed capable of walking a mile. Get them used to it young.

@peterdutton It’s not easy with one toddler. It’s outright hard with multiple small children.

@Izengabe_ @ajlamesa Yes. It's commuter rail that needs to be massively improved. A train that can get you from Providence to Boston in 15 minutes is less important than commuter trains between Providence and Boston that leave every 15 minutes.

@ajlamesa This is all wrong. The priority should be on high speed commuter rail. 1) NYC to New Haven (with stops in Stamford & Bridgeport) 2) NYC to Philadelphia with stops throughout NJ.

High-speed rail corridors that I would prioritize for the United States (in order of prioritization): 1) DC - Philadelphia - NYC - Providence - Boston 2) Chicago - Milwaukee - Madison - Minneapolis 3) San Diego - Los Angeles - San Francisco 4) Portland - Seattle - Vancouver (Canada) 5) Miami - Orlando - Tampa 6) Dallas - Austin - San Antonio - Monterrey (Mexico)