GeorgeWeeks2014

Via www.tumblr.com/oshea55/8085...

Shakespeare knew about environmental psychology centuries before it became an academic discipline.

📸 NASA

February 14, 1990: Voyager 1 took the famous "Pale Blue Dot" photo.

"Consider again that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives."
~ Carl Sagan

Yes, this. An electric motorcycle 🏍 is not the same as e-bike 🚲.

An electric motorcycle is basically a dirtbike with a large electric motor replacing the two-stroke petrol engine.

An electric bicycle uses a combination of human (pedal) and electric power. It's a different design philosophy.

A portion of the Strøget pedestrian street in Copenhagen that widens into a grand people-place.

One of the most successful pedestrian streets in the world, the Strøget in Copenhagen, was filled with cars until a 2 year pedestrianization pilot project in 1962. The opposition argued “no cars means no business,” but the street has been a massive retail success, the city’s busiest shopping street.

‘Growing epidemic’: Bay Area teen’s 40-mph crash reveals overlooked dangers of e-bikes Crashes on e-bikes and illegal “e-motos” are causing alarm across the Bay Area. “They think they’re buying an e-bike when they’re not.”

I think the media understands the difference between e-bikes and illegal e-motos. They are intentionally conflating the difference between legal e-bikes and illegal e-motos to stoke fear and get clicks.

It's could destroy the e-bike revolution if we don't find a way to stop it.

The archetype of Dr Who!

Yes. Having sabotaged the remaining good bits of Britain first.

The UK will follow the EU...provided that Reform fails to win the next general election. They are funded by fossil-fuelled lobbyists.

Government wants to bypass fast-track process for proposed liquefied natural gas terminal A proposed LNG terminal will bypass even the fast-track process in order to be built in time.

Indeed yes. It can be done; America just chooses not to 🤦‍♂️

If it's any consolation to Americans, "clean, green New Zealand" is beholden to the same forces 🔥

www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...

Green Building Council calls for solar over Government's LNG plan

📢 Andrew Eagles said he didn’t accept the contention that liquefied natural gas would smooth out the highs in electricity prices.

I am not surprised that Turkey 🇹🇷 is in a respectable position; petrol there is incredibly expensive. Surprised that it isn't higher.

Yeah it's funny that. South Africa has had terribly unreliable electricity supplies for decades (thanks Eskom) so maybe there's a reluctance to buy anything that runs off the mains?

A country that is neither warm, nor wealthy, nor famed for the quality of its infrastructure.

Kathmandu has dreadful air quality. I can see why EVs would be a popular public policy.

Clear example of industry capturing policy. Japan has almost no oil and gas of its own; it would do well to adopt EVs. Air quality in big Japanese cities could also use improvement. But Toyota isn't keen on this and the current policy settings don't favour EVs.

Aggressive marketing has driven rise of double-cab ute - time to hit the brakes? Analysis: "Explore your inner beast." That was the slogan used last year to sell the Ford Ranger. At 2.4 tonnes, that's a lot of "light" truck, but the stakes are rising.

New Zealand has similar population density, GDP/capita, population distribution and urbanisation to Finland 🇫🇮 where 56% of new vehicles are electric.

NZ public policy favours car companies selling double-cab utes (with snorkels) to people who live in urban Auckland 🤦‍♂️

www.rnz.co.nz/news/on-the-...

It's funny - in the 1970s China and Inida were the poor countries that relied heavily on coal for railways and industry while the USA was trying to diversify its energy mix.

The situation in 2026 is the opposite. Yes, China still burns far too much coal. But they're investing heavily in solar etc

I'd watch James Bond over Marvel any day.

Bond films are actually funny.

Totally a bunker. To retreat to the "island paradise" of New Zealand after American society has collapsed due to the efforts of Thiel et al.

US billionaire Peter Thiel ‘abandons’ Lake Wānaka lodge build The PayPal co-founder and Donald Trump supporter had envisaged a private residential estate to accommodate up to 30 guests.

Peter Thiel repeatedly had his resource consent applications refused for his house in Wanaka, which was a good thing.

www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...

Xtwitter became irrelevant many years ago. The UK government would be better off using OnlyFans. Or Bluesky.

Nothing is more fragile than the ego of a man with a shiny new pick-up truck.

I don’t know how many people join Bluesky each day, but my sense is that more & more people are discovering the outstanding community/conversation here (best on social media) about better cities. I still think STARTER PACKS are a superpower. I’ve made many, but here’s my first again. Please share.

It was overplayed on all the crappy radio stations in October 2002.

I much prefer a Bond-theme singer with a 10,000 watt voice. Shirley Bassey. Or Adele. 🔉 🎶

One of the most ludicrous Bond films ever. As silly as any of the silliest Roger Moores. And that's pretty silly.

Ireland seems to have become infected with anti-cycling mania. This year we have seen:

▪︎ Compulsory cycle helmets making it within a whisker of Cabinet.
▪︎ Judge explicitly incorporating personal bias in a judgement
▪︎ Proposed ban on bikes on rapid transit system.

Who's behind this? Anyone know?

Woohoo! I hope that this can be a precedent for other rail reopenings in the NE, e.g. Leamside Line via Washington to Durham.

Welcome to the Plutocracy

I daresay. I don't know Blenheim particularly well but I suspect there is a substantial cohort of pupils within cycling distance of schools. Whether or not kids do cycle will depend on the overall quality of the network.

Obvs.

It's healthier to enable *many* businesses to make a profit on the basis of high-quality public infrastructure.