Thanks, I’m glad I could help! Here’s a link to a video I really like by About Here on the topic if you want to learn even more https://youtu.be/sKudSeqHSJk

Definitely, it’s easy for a large investor to build new market rate housing, buddy up with a pricing algorithm, and maximize profit. Then they sit until either all the other housing comes up in price or they eventually find someone willing to stomach the price.

Speaking from my own experience it took me a long time to move into a better apartment, not because I couldn’t afford it, but because there simply wasn’t enough housing that felt like a good value. So I sat in an apartment that was great but didn’t suit all my needs, and when I finally moved that older less expensive unit became available. If there was more newer housing, or more options in general, then maybe I would have moved quicker and that older unit could have been turned over to someone that needed it more sooner.

I guess my point is that part of it is the speed at which all this can happen is dependent on how much housing there is. And I’m also not saying market rate housing is the solution either. I think affordable housing, co-ops, etc. being part of the mix creates a more fair housing market.

The benefit of market rate housing is that it hopefully will be occupied, allowing for higher income earners to move into a more expensive unit and freeing up an older lower cost unit. In a perfect world this works like a chain and eventually lower cost older units become more available. Building “affordable” or “low income housing” isn’t really appealing to developers without financial incentives.

This does all assume speculators do not buy the newer housing and sit on it as an investment. More housing being built is generally all a good thing and it needs to outpace the population growth to have an effect on pricing. So even if there is plenty of new housing if it’s not being built quick enough prices will continue to rise.

If the units are sitting empty as speculation/investments that’s an issue for government (and especially local government, so get out and vote locally!)

There’s also the difference in how the word is used more as an adjective than a noun. In the same way calling someone a disabled is a lot more dehumanizing than saying they are a person with a disability.

Maybe you’ve already made a decision on this but in general I run one helmet that tests well on the Virginia tech tests https://www.helmet.beam.vt.edu/bicycle-helmet-ratings.html

Then I use a buff/hat under the helmet on colder days. This is usually good for me down to freezing temps, generally I don’t ride much below that since I don’t have studded tires at the moment.

Wow! Thanks for putting up this super informative post and following through so many comments. I love using a waxed chain and I think it’s definitely hard for people to jump to when their bike maintenance is essentially zero. I run wet lube on one bike for wet weather riding (like >50% of the year) so I know both sides pretty well. The wax chain is so much easier to clean and maintain it’s crazy.

It’ll be hard to convert anyone that just lets their bike run into the ground before they start taking care of it, but they’re also probably on bikes that are sub $500 and aren’t looking for efficiencies or endurance performance.

I agree with you but the silliness of the leveling system did have its own charm. As a kid I spent so much time jumping around and putting points into getting those athletics skills high enough that it became a bit game breaking.

There’s a certainly a balance somewhere in there but I don’t think the game was ever difficult enough, playing on medium difficulty, to feel like you’ve fallen too far behind the curve. For context I’m thinking mostly about oblivion.

I probably played through oblivion more times making builds that weren’t optimal and had weird stats than I did trying to min/max my attributes. I think, for me, leaving room for that kind of gameplay is part of what made the older games so special.

Here is a great NPR podcast on it. But basically they tried it in California, people liked it, TurboTax didn’t and lobbied against it. They sent you how much you owed and you could verify it, confirm, and send it back super simple.

https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2019/04/03/709656642/episode-760-tax-hero

I think a lot of this is about context too. I don’t think anyone would bat an eye if you used the ok symbol in that context. I still use it pretty regularly, but I’m also not a white dude or using it for no reason in photos and only to my white friends. They probably had some other problematic instances and this was the final straw to kick this guy out.

A lot of the political discussion I’ve read on here has also been pretty well thought out. I feel like people are taking time to explain their perspective more and even if in general it’s been more left leaning there is definitely more nuance. I was surprised by the quality of some of the discussion around the end of affirmative action.

I read too that going no rules is basically abandoning moderating and giving Reddit more ‘legitimate’ reason to replace the mods.

Another weird example would be r/soccer and r/football where soccer ironically became the defacto.