Dave Mathieson

Me in a big luminous yellow high-vis jacket and hood - though maybe you can't see me apparently

BTW this is what I was wearing at 3pm today in broad daylight when, in the space of less than 200m, and while cycling on a painted insult (AKA an unprotected cycle lane) TWO DIFFERENT DRIVERS swung in across me causing me to swerve into traffic/slam on my brakes because they "didn't see" me

Highway filled with car congestion

If you widen that highway

you won’t reduce emissions

or congestion.

What you WILL do

is spend a lot of public money

to induce even more cars

emitting even more GHGs and pollution

in the same or worse congestion

with people still demanding that you widen the highway.

Period.

Quote of the day

Somebody's been drawing venn diagrams of towns of various sizes with constituencies of govt TDs that are landlords.

Yep, that's fair. I think it stems from the belief that private companies are in constant competition and that this forces them to be better, more efficient/innovative. Sometimes true, but the downsides (e.g. chasing short term profits, favourable taxes/subsidies) don't get the same weight.

Plans to expand Dublin Airport clash with global effort to slow climate change - Dublin Inquirer Adding more flights and passengers would mean more greenhouse gas emissions, planning documents submitted last month by airport operator DAA show.

Plans to expand Dublin Airport clash with global effort to slow climate change. Adding more flights and passengers would mean more greenhouse gas emissions, planning documents submitted last month by airport operator DAA show. (2024) www.dublininquirer.com/plans-to-exp...

They want the "free lunch" of other people's cash when the impacts hit without any of the legwork and risk entailed in reducing emissions by anything like what's required.

I think this a special case of a more general thing across media/politics. "Hey Mr Airline guy, we'd love your thoughts on bike lanes"

I shouldn't be remotely surprised but it's still breathtaking how some politicians talk about how serious they take climate when asking for external €s while completely ignoring it domestically, where climate action takes political skill, risk and powers of persuasion.

(I'm aware that this put me somewhat adjacent to the "snouts in the trough" / "NGOs" / "they're all the same" people but it's hard when the government do stuff that actively encourages the idea that government is basically a waste of time)

I presume this measure is either to take ministers out of the loop of decisions that may be unpopular in their constituency (or with their favourite special interest groups), but then it just confirms the idea that being a minister isn't about getting stuff done nationally, but is instead a perk.

There virtually never a mention when the airport is being discussed. It's no wonder that there's widespread ignorance about how much flying adds to (already high) emissions when politicians and media can get away with basically ignoring it (except in special "environment" segments)

From what I've read, Judicial Reviews will now be capped in terms of costs _even if you win_ and so challenging a future decision to grant planning on a flood plain, for example, will become much harder (and therefore less likely).

"We had a lovely wedding 18 months ago, I don't know why you're getting so upset over these subsequent so-called 'affairs'"

But isn't the government intentionally making it harder to object to any such future developments by making the cost of judicial reviews prohibitive for most people?

It goes a bit easy on the institutions and govts that use these models. Doesn't feel like a genuine misunderstanding of the science - more like deliberate obfuscation to allow them to carry on as normal. Insurance industry (which has much more direct stake in accuracy) is not so optimistic.

Comic. [2x2 chart. Top left quadrant: seem like dinosaurs x are dinosaurs. Silhouettes of dinosaurs stegosaurus, triceratops, tyrannosaurus, velociraptor, and long-neck dinosaur. Top right quadrant: seem like dinosaurs x are not dinosaurs. Silhouettes of mosasaur, quetzalcoatlus, dimetrodon, plesiosaur, and pteranodon. Bottom left quadrant: don’t seem like dinosaurs x are dinosaurs. Silhouettes of penguin, egret, ostrich, pigeon, falcon. Bottom right: don’t seem like dinosaurs x are not dinosaurs. Silhouettes of squirrel, stapler, plant, person, and bicycle.]

Dinosaurs And Non-Dinosaurs

xkcd.com/3204/

Post a banger not in English

youtu.be/gnvJEhRNkSw

That's 2000 new cars on the road right there

Does he also think that Mars is tiny whereas the Moon is massive?

They've really torn up the rule book with this one - previous luxury vodka advocacy methodology was dire and begging for this kind of disruption

I guess it needs to be priced at a rate that's attractive enough to encourage recycling, rather than a rate that's acceptable to manufacturers.

I'm not a lyrics person, I tend to just base my liking on the music etc, but I'm sure there are plenty of songs where the lyrics aren't particularly inspiring anyway and where, if you don't speak the language, you're better off just hearing the vocals as another instrument.

I’d say about 12-15 years ago I was at a seminar about climate change and social justice and someone from (I think) the EPA said we knew all the things we needed to do in Ireland to combat climate change, but there was just no political will. Seems nothing has changed.

"We're for the jobs the comet will bring..." #DontLookUp

Galway cyclists seek a ‘safe space’ four years on from collapse of Salthill project ‘You are caught between parked cars where you could be ‘doored’ at any moment, or fast-moving traffic’

Galway cyclists seek a ‘safe space’ four years on from collapse of Salthill project www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2026...

I keep thinking about this tweet.

Phew, given that there's no data available about transport policies, it's lucky that we have the intuition of blokes from behind their car windscreens to help us.