Jake Berman

I voted "yes" on all the NYC ballot questions, for the record. They're all basically sensible measures so that the City can get shit done faster.

Question 4: This requires the Department of Buildings to establish a central permit hub for building permits, instead of the current stupid system where you have to submit permit applications to a zillion different city agencies for different things. Vote yes.

I voted "yes" on all the NYC ballot questions, for the record. They're all basically sensible measures so that the City can get shit done faster.

Question 2. Q2 gives the city procurement board the power to streamline the requirements to become a city contractor for smaller vendors, and other technical changes. As someone who worked in city contracting, this is a sensible reform. Vote yes.

I voted "yes" on all the NYC ballot questions, for the record. They're all basically sensible measures so that the City can get shit done faster.

Question 1: faster sidewalk cafes, less nosy neighbor meddling Question 2: procurement reform (good!) Question 3: faster street safety projects (bike lanes, bus lanes, public plazas) Question 4: streamlined building permitting Question 5: specific targets for the city rainy day fund

British politics don't really map to American ones, but it's worth noting that British NIMBYs make American ones look like amateurs.

Excellent article by @ad-mastro.bsky.social - a lot of Japanese micro businesses are the equivalent of setting up a business in an US garage.

BEST NYC SUBWAY LINES TO NAP ON, A RANKING 🧵 1. NQRW. Trains are roomy and usually pretty uncrowded, and the old trains with the orange seats have more seats than average, so you're more likely to get a place to have a nap. Also, the local is slow, so you're less likely to miss your stop

9. Shuttles (Franklin, Rockaway, 42nd St). Too short a ride to be able to take a nap on.

BEST NYC SUBWAY LINES TO NAP ON, A RANKING 🧵 1. NQRW. Trains are roomy and usually pretty uncrowded, and the old trains with the orange seats have more seats than average, so you're more likely to get a place to have a nap. Also, the local is slow, so you're less likely to miss your stop

7. 123. Narrow, cramped, old trains with AC that often fails. Hard pass.

BEST NYC SUBWAY LINES TO NAP ON, A RANKING 🧵 1. NQRW. Trains are roomy and usually pretty uncrowded, and the old trains with the orange seats have more seats than average, so you're more likely to get a place to have a nap. Also, the local is slow, so you're less likely to miss your stop

5. ACE. Now we're in the "yeah this is pretty mid" category. The trains have good AC (fine) but have way fewer seats (boo). Both the A and E have express segments (boo), and I've seen more crazy shit happen on the A train than on any other. All the good things are counterbalanced by the bad. Meh.

BEST NYC SUBWAY LINES TO NAP ON, A RANKING 🧵 1. NQRW. Trains are roomy and usually pretty uncrowded, and the old trains with the orange seats have more seats than average, so you're more likely to get a place to have a nap. Also, the local is slow, so you're less likely to miss your stop

3. G train. It's tied with the JZ for type of train, AC quality and overcrowding, but it gets deducted a point because the G doesn't go nearly as many useful places as the JZ. I say this as someone who lived off the G for many years.

BEST NYC SUBWAY LINES TO NAP ON, A RANKING 🧵 1. NQRW. Trains are roomy and usually pretty uncrowded, and the old trains with the orange seats have more seats than average, so you're more likely to get a place to have a nap. Also, the local is slow, so you're less likely to miss your stop

This honestly sounds like a good case for the courts establishing a product liability doctrine for LLMs. (For the non-lawyers: if you make an unsafe thing, whether it's a car or a chainsaw, the maker is on the hook for damages caused by defective design and manufacturing.)

In a lot of ways, the environmentalism of my parents' generation didn't ask anyone to sacrifice anything. People still drove (but it was a Prius), lived in the burbs (but with a beautiful garden), bought supermarket food (but bought organic). It was an aesthetic choice as much as anything. 🧵

If you've spent your whole life going hiking, driving a Prius and having a beautiful garden in the 'burbs, it's horrifying to think that the guy who takes the train and lives in a steel tower is doing a better job of saving the planet than you.

In a lot of ways, the environmentalism of my parents' generation didn't ask anyone to sacrifice anything. People still drove (but it was a Prius), lived in the burbs (but with a beautiful garden), bought supermarket food (but bought organic). It was an aesthetic choice as much as anything. 🧵

But at its core, Village Homes is just a suburban subdivision with a green veneer. It's a great way to cosplay as a Hobbit, but it's actively worse for the planet than living in a steel tower on top of a subway station.

In a lot of ways, the environmentalism of my parents' generation didn't ask anyone to sacrifice anything. People still drove (but it was a Prius), lived in the burbs (but with a beautiful garden), bought supermarket food (but bought organic). It was an aesthetic choice as much as anything. 🧵

I grew up around a lot of these types of people. I went to high school in a college town that was famous for an early eco-development with bike paths, solar power, communal gardens, and natural drainage. It's called Village Homes.