Interesting Links for 27-01-2012

[andrewducker]

• Depression makes it more likely you'll do overtime
  (tags: work depression psychology )
• Cars Kill Cities
  (tags: cars transport cities )
• Android and iPhone neck and neck in the US smartphone market
  (tags: iphone apple android mobile )
• Apple still dominates the tablet market, but Android narrows the gap
  (tags: apple android tablets Technology )
• Pressure is being applied to raise the tax threshold for low earners further and faster
  (tags: poverty tax uk libdem politics money )
• Do the weather forecasters used by the Daily Mail actually exist?
  (tags: weather fraud DailyMail )
• This is how I feel about people on minimum wage paying tax
  (tags: poverty uk tax )
• Why McDonald's second biggest market is...France
  (tags: food mcdonalds )
• Neil Gaiman on Lewis, Tolkien and Chesterton
  (tags: writing CSLewis GKChesterston neilgaiman Tolkien )
• Tetris Furniture
  (tags: games design furniture tetris )
• Douglas Adam's letter to the studio exec responsible for getting Hitchiker's to the screen.
  (tags: HHG2G hh douglasadams movies )
• US government covering up an epidemic.
  (tags: weird disease usa )
• I laughed a lot at this video of programming language strangeness. If you're a geek you might do too.
  (tags: video funny ruby javascript code programming )
• Mail Online overtakes NY Times as top online newspaper. Now that's terrifying.
  (tags: internet web news DailyMail )
• Graphene can now distill alcohol. Is there anything it can't do?
  Of course, I'm still waiting for anything graphene related to make it into the shops.
  (tags: graphene Technology alcohol )

Comments

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

I would say that's true about food if you're not buying for more than two people, aren't generally buying beverages, and aren't buying from anywhere far enough away that you want to consolidate shopping trips.

[andrewducker]

I'd saythat if your city contains houses far enough away that you can't do a shop every couple of days then it's badly designed.

[laplor.livejournal.com]

Agreed, and sadly, mine is badly designed in that very way.

My city deliberately uses a zoning system to ensure that residential, business, retail, and industrial areas all be as separate as possible. You cannot live near where you work, nor buy food near either your home nor your job.

Then they provide bus service between the zones only on the hour, and not before 7 am nor after malls close. They can't understand why the bus system is lightly used, so the keep withdrawing routes and runs.

Lately they've been on a kick to try to reduce car/pedestrian fatalities - a problem that better urban design would have greatly prevented!

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

I've got varied grocery shopping within half a mile, but if I want Whole Foods or Trader Joe's (and I generally do), I use a bicycle with large baskets, and (especially the Trader Joe's) is far enough away that I don't want to bike there (mass transit would take about as long on the average, I think, and it would be less convenient to carry things) every couple of days.

[andrewducker]

I'm lucky in that Edinburgh has tons of supermarkets - there are smaller versions of Tesco and the Co-op within a 5 minute walk of my office, and I live between a Sainsbury and a Morrisons. If I want to go to RealFoods then that's a bit further, I agree. But thankfully pretty much everyone delivers nowadays, so even for larger things I just need to book a slot.

[skreidle.livejournal.com]

Most of the U.S. is badly designed in this way, due to commercial/residential zoning restrictions. You'll see miles of housing, then maybe some major roadways, then miles of shopping. Walking simply isn't an option. (In actual cities, or in "town centres" that are popping up here and there in the suburban areas, walking or biking can be more feasible.)