Interesting Links for 12-04-2019

[andrewducker]

Huge decline in religious beliefs among Edinburgh residents, figures show

I blame the trams
(tags:Edinburgh religion )

The Redditor who accidentally spent a year talking to himself

(tags:discussion fail internet reddit )

How the Conservative Party abandoned their attempt to attract the young

(tags:age Conservatives viaCipherGoth )

Ex-Pope blames 1960s revolution for sex abuse

(tags:catholicism abuse OhForFucksSake )

Julian Assange arrest: Swedish prosecutors receive request to reopen rape investigation

(tags:Sweden JulianAssange rape )

Critics, judge me for my work in Derry Girls and on the stage, not on my body

(tags:acting actors women bodies society )

Cambridge Becomes First U.S. City to Require Protected Bike Lanes

I'd cycle to work every day if I didn't have to share a road with cars
(tags:usa bicycles )

Dear #Remainers, I beg you, stop normalising the far right.

(tags:politics fascism racism uk )

Perfectly illustrating in 4 seconds the pointlessness of the live action Disney remakes

(tags:Disney movies animation OhForFucksSake )

DHS, FBI say election systems in all 50 states were targeted by Russia in 2016

(tags:Russia usa elections fraud )

Scott Kelly Spent a Year in Orbit. His Body Is Not Quite the Same.

(tags:space bodies )

Brexit - where now? The flow chart

(tags:flowchart uk europe )

Do you like early game Civ? And Egypt? You may want to play this

(tags:games Egypt civilization )

What's going on with Assange and Sweden

(tags:JulianAssange sweden )

Comments

Ex-Pope blames 1960s revolution for sex abuse

[jack]

The first ex-pope in 600 years, and we get one with opinions like this.

[cmcmck]

Mind you, Auld Reekie has had masses of empty churches for as long as I can remember!

[andrewducker]

Yeah, they've been amalgamating for ages.

And I think this is mostly people who never went to church feeling more comfortable saying that they aren't religious.

[alithea]

Yeah, I think previous generations would all put down their religion as CofE or whatever unless they were staunch atheists, even if they literally only set foot in a church for christenings, weddings and funerals, whereas now more people are happy to admit they don't believe any of it, and also more people are celebrating/commemorating those milestones outside of churches.

I certainly remember my mother making me put CofE on a form when I was a kid just because she'd had me christened in a CofE church!

[skington]

Sometimes you don't have a choice. When I buried my mother in France, we had a church service (pretty much had to in a small village) and they asked me what religion she was. I said she was an atheist, but they weren't having that. Eventually I said "whatever religion she wasn't, was Anglican" and that satisfied them.

[alithea]

There is that. I'm married to someone who grew up in NI so I'm also very familiar with the 'yes but are you a Catholic atheist or a Protestant atheist?' Joke that isn't really a joke.

[cmcmck]

I'm a Quaker and was asked the same thing in joke about being a Protestant Quaker or a Catholic Quaker by an NI couple (who happened to be one of each) of my acquaintance! :o)

The Redditor who accidentally spent a year talking to himself

[jack]

I'm always scared I'm talking into a void wherever I am :)

Gosh, that's so weird. I can so easily imagine thinking "am I imagining this...?" I don't know how long it would take to be sure I was being ignored, not just not happening to say anything that provoked a response. I hope I would have given up posting ages before that. But OTOH, I don't know if I ever would have got round to asking support as opposed to just assuming it was unfixable.

I guess, I do strew a lot of words into the void when I write dreamwidth posts I don't know if anyone will read. But I think they do help me anyway. And I know people DO, because every so often someone gushes at me about something I wrote ages ago. I guess it's like writing a diary, people did that before other people read them :)

Re: The Redditor who accidentally spent a year talking to himself

[andrewducker]

I read them!

Re: The Redditor who accidentally spent a year talking to himself

[movingfinger]

I just assume I am talking into a void, always!

Re: The Redditor who accidentally spent a year talking to himself

[ironyoxide]

I do feel like "shadow bans" are one of the many things wrong with the internet as currently constructed.

Bike Lanes

[channelpenguin]

Having barriers between road and cycle lane is a GREAT idea. It seems like it would solve some of the issues we have in Berlin.

We have dedicated bike lanes pretty much everywhere central in Berlin. It is pretty awesome, and means that I cycle (at least when I am healthy) which I would never do in London! It could be better thought out though, in my opinion.

There are still (annoying) motorvehicle-related risks 1) from right turning vehicles turning across the cycle lane. This isn't helped by the inconsistency of the "bike lights" (which we have!) - sometimes we go with the pedestrians. Sometimes with the cars. Sometimes there are no special bike lights. At many junctions, cars can turn right on a filter signal - but the pedestrian light will still be green!!! (that freaks me out).

Consistency would be much better in any bike lane scheme.

Being seperated from the cars would make that clearer. But does that mean we always woudl go with teh pedestirams? That would drive me mad on main roads with many side streets (like we have here!!! )

2) (in my neck of the woods) stopped vans unloading to shops across the cycle lanes.

Not sure what you do about that. Or how you do that if you have a hard barrier.

3) It is also common to have a parking area *between* pavement and cycle lane, so parking / unparking cars are also a risk.

Better to have the cycle lane always next to the pavement. But see above under "many side streets"...


Our cycle lanes are mostly level with the road. In the Netherlands, I saw them being level with pavement, which strikes me as more sensible.

In Berlin the cycle lanes are also in places very narrow, or in very bumpy condition - or both. Not great and sometimes impossible for my road bike with super skinny tires. ALso they are often very poorly lit. Despite that I *think* you MUST use the cycle lane if it is there (I haven't checked the law!). At least by the filthy looks and annoyed hoots I get for car drivers.

Cycle lanes should ideally be wide, well-lit and well-maintained - else I'd rather be on the road with road user rights.

The sheer volume of other cyclists is *really annoying*. Not sure how you solve that. But wider lanes with room to overtake safely would be awesome.

[Of course, despite all this luxury of cycle lanes, the classic Berlin cyclist is cycling on the pavement, at night, without lights, on the phone, smoking a cigarette and drinking a beer! Lest you think this hyberbole - I have seen exactly this at least twice!]

Cambridge, Mass. and cycle lanes

[movingfinger]

I cycled to work (and walked, in winter) for years through Cambridge, and cycled around town and through town too of course. I used the "bike paths" (increasingly infested with joggers, which caused me to use the streets more as motorists are more predictable) along Memorial Drive also. The Memorial Drive bike paths and sidewalks were never wide enough, especially toward the Longfellow Bridge end, and a potent reason not to use them was that if you used the bike path all the way through the esplanade, at Longfellow Bridge, uhhhhhh there wasn't really anything... which in effect was a delay, coping with climbing stairs or the crappy sidewalk or whatever. I generally threaded through the stopped car traffic.

Anyway, I can't see how they can segregate cyclists along the few roads that would most need it. They are all main arteries and they are jammed bumper to bumper. (I guess removing parking along those altogether would provide a lane, but the roads are lined with businesses that need deliveries, and Uber is gonna Uber.) As in so many other places, rigorously enforcing existing traffic laws, including enforcing existing double-parking bans by towing, and also giving cyclists clear ways (striping) to move at lights and through intersections would be a better way to deal with it.

Cambridge is very dense, and there are loads of small side streets. If I were cycling there now, I can visualize a webwork of secondary streets and alleys I would likely use in preference to Mass. Ave., Broadway, or Hampshire/Cambridge.

Re: Cambridge, Mass. and cycle lanes

[jducoeur]

I'm deeply amused that this is the first I've heard of this story, and I live about a mile away.

Anyway, I can't see how they can segregate cyclists along the few roads that would most need it.

A year ago, I would have agreed. But the recent Beacon Street rebuild looks pretty good -- I haven't had a chance to bike it yet, but it looks better than almost any of the streets here in Somerville, and demonstrates that, with sufficient political will, they can make things a good deal better. (Not perfect, mind -- but better.)