theluketaylor

I'm hugely in favour of adding non-market housing anywhere it can be added, but the author declaring it a different fix to the housing crisis from zoning is naive at best. Non-market housing is subject to the exact same complex local regulations as market housing, plus all the complexity of government projects, a patchwork of subsidies, grants, and loans to get funding, and even more intense public scrutiny. Trying to get social housing done is playing an exceptionally hard game on nightmare mode.

The single lever he points out is itself a ton of local, regional, and federal regulations and laws that all need modernizing or abolishing, which is far from a simple, single lever at all.

A phrase I heard from a tv writer on a podcast was "note behind the note".

The gist of the conversation was about TV execs giving all sorts of bonkers notes all the time that are usually terrible. This writer tried to think about what might have triggered the exec to make a note. Maybe the characters are not engrossing enough, or the plot is too complex, or the dialogue isn't snappy enough. If the exec had been engrossed in the story they wouldn't have made a note. This writer rarely implemented any note from an exec, but did make all sorts of changes in and around noted sections.

There is at least some truth to induced demand with new housing driving an influx of new residents, especially in cities with economic opportunity.

Just like transportation induced demand, the solution is different style of infrastructure. High capacity metros, bus lanes, and regional rail to get people out of cars and use limited transportation corridors more efficiently than single occupancy vehicles. One more lane bro doesn’t work, but adding new forms of more efficient transportation does.

New, denser housing with mid rise and high rise buildings and a mixture of unit sizes in walkable neighbourhoods with good transit access absorbs new residents and drives down housing costs for everyone. Single family sprawl doesn’t work, but density can.

We have under-built for decades, so it’s easy to misunderstand the signals. More housing gets built and prices still go up, and many people are concluding more housing just increases prices, leading to people with good intentions decrying “luxury housing”. There are plenty of nimby actors in the mix too, tossing in all sorts of misinformation and bad faith arguments, muddying the water.

The reality is areas with strong economic growth are all failing to add enough new housing and demand continues to outstrip supply, leading to higher prices. Many studies have shown even new high end housing helps manage prices, as someone rich enough upgrades, leaving their unit empty for someone else to upgrade into. That chain continues all the way down into the lower cost units, each time freeing up space someone else can afford. Large migration into a region can mess with how much prices can be affected, but studies still show even high priced new units do slow down growth in prices. Supply and demand does apply, we have just massively underestimated how far behind supply is for the demand and need to add so much more housing.

Taxing unrealized gains is a terrible idea, but I do think we need to expand the definition of realizing a gain.

0.1%ers borrowing against stocks and others assets and paying little more than minimum interest is a system-breaking loophole that has exploded the wealth gap. It needs to stop. Taxing unrealized gains isn't the fix. Leveraging an asset needs to be a realized gain.

People should be paying capital gains on the delta between book value vs the asset valuation at loan time. They are gaining from the asset appreciation to have access to more leverage and that gain should be taxable. This would re-set the book value so people don't pay capital gains multiple times on the same gain, but they shouldn't be able to defer the gain forever while using debt to avoid tax.

There should probably be a lifetime exemption of around $1 million to allow the middle class to leverage their home and other key assets in a way the richest have benefitted from for so long, but once you use up your exemption no more tax-free leverage.

A truck and a tank have a lot in common

Maybe in 1942. Modern tanks cannot be built on highly specialized production lines that build road vehicles without years-long re-tooling. M1 Abrams tanks don't even use piston engines, they have turbines.

A older, but well documented example how specialized modern automotive production has become is the Mercedes Benz 500e. In the 90s Mercedes wanted to build a more powerful, wider version of the E class. They added 56 mm to the front fenders and discovered it wouldn't fit through the production line properly. MB contracted for Porsche to handle the low-volume 500e on a different production line.

Another option is just stick to a smaller circuit.

80% of 15A x 120V = 1.4 kW

80% of 20A x 240V = 3.8 kW

Just going from a standard 15A outlet to a 20A/240V nearly triples the amount of power, and many homes that would need a new panel for a 50A charger have room for one more 20A circuit. Cars typically spend 8-16 hrs per day stationary in their own driveway, so 3.8 kW translates into tons of range.

While 40A or 50A is nice to have, it's far from necessary.

30K would be on the higher end for air source. My install this year was 25k CDN including a lot of duct work.

40K is also on the low end for geothermal. I'm guessing you were able to trench instead of drill?

If you can afford ground source it's by far the best option in cold climates. Steady ground heat means you get the same efficiency all year round. The install can be eye-watering though.

There are many passenger vehicles with brake-by-wire, but only one I'm aware of with steer-by-wire: cybertruck

We're already there. Emmanuel Clase is under investigation for fixing pitches and can't play right now.

I don't love sports betting in general, but I really hate betting on short term events like specific pitches or a strikeout. There is way too much incentive to fix.

Betting as a major sponsor and league endorsed? Yes, very new.

We've come a long way from the black sox and Pete Rose being banned for life over gambling

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Sox_Scandal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Rose#Permanent_ineligibil...

I'm a huge fan of the automatic balls and strikes challenge system baseball is going to adopt.

Awful calls need to be struck from the game and this should do that. Tonight my Blue Jays had a double taken away on a foul call and a ball 2 inches off the plate called a strike in the same at bat with the bases loaded. Between this and the horrible reviews last week it feels like the fix is by MLB to keep us from winning the division.

Unlike tennis where in and out have always been strictly defined and we just didn't have the technology to enforce it, baseball has always involved the human element to the strike zone and some umpire judgement on whether the pitcher hit the spot or just got lucky and what a given batter's zone is. I want some of that to stay, with catchers holding game-long discussions about the zone with umpires, and batters having their own sense of the zone.

I don't want full automatic balls and strikes, so I like the challenge. There is some new strategy on when to deploy it and who can be trusted to recognize a missed call. It leaves some room for a pitcher and catcher to work a corner over a few innings to expand little by little.

Bruce C was scrapped 15 years ago.

There is extensive long term refurbishment of the existing reactors that includes uprated capacity, but there isn't currently any plans to add new reactors at Bruce.

A different Ontario nuclear site (Darlington) does have work underway to build four BWRX-300 reactors, one of which will be the first in the world.

Single stair is one of the reforms I'd most like to see.

At the time 2 stair requirements were adopted it was vital, with devastating urban fires a common occurrence. We have so many new options for both preventing fire and keeping evacuation routes accessible for hours that it's no longer required.

The regulation has a huge impact on the layout and form it's possible to build, and I think it's a huge driver of the visceral reaction against apartment living in the US and Canada.

Being able to build 4-8 storey apartments on a single lot with a central stair where every unit has windows on at least 2 walls would be a game-changer for north american urban spaces and a pathway out of the housing crisis.

It costs a lot less to build transit infrastructure before or at the same time as everything else compared with adding it later, even if the line is underused as density is added.

The best alternative is a well-planned phased line with carefully protected right-of-way and a dedicated source of long term funding. Bonus points for it being a combination of value capture taxes and the transit agency being a property developer in their own right around stations. The early phase can be inside the boundary of current development so there are people to ride right away. Developers can build and market using the upcoming line, and prospective residents can be confident it will happen with funding secured.

Overground is a great example of how to re-use existing rights of way, but I do think London is a bit in the sheer number of under or dis-used lines that were available. DLR is a similar re-use of existing rights of way, but there just are not that many places that had such a huge explosion of rail in the 19th century that is now derelict and available for re-use.

I do think Overground is a great case study in the value of both branding and service. Quite a bit of the Overground was already operational passenger rail, but it was fragmented under different operators, names, and service patterns. TfL wisely brought it under a single brand, making it simple to understand, especially as part of the larger London transportation network.

TfL also arranged consistent service, newer rolling stock, and full electrification and made the service pretty reliable. Turns out if you offer good frequency people will make use of it. Wild.

Here in Ontario we've been watching Metrolinx try and fail miserably to build out an RER/S-Bahn system out of the GO network. We're 8 years into the GO Expansion plan and Metrolinx has yet to raise a single catenary pole. It's beyond shameful. We're getting tons of shiny stations with huge capacity, but no real service has emerged (or shows any sign of emerging) to get value from all the dollars spent.

Metrolinx has been unwilling to make the leap to metro operations with line isolation and high floor platforms. They are also unwilling to move to electric multiple units to realize acceleration gains. They are trying to cling to scheduled service and commuter-oriented patterns, just because that's how it's always been done.

Great example from just this week.

Here in Ontario the province passed a law directing themselves to remove separated bike lanes from Bloor Street, University Avenue, and Avenue Road in Toronto, claiming it would reduce traffic congestion. They are three important surface arteries in and around the downtown core.

A group of cyclists sued the government under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, with the verdict being handed down this week. The cyclists won, though it's far from the end of the story since the government can appeal or invoke the notwithstanding clause.

One of the lone voices who filed court statements in support of the government was a retired Toronto fire captain, who stated without evidence that bike lanes increase both congestion and emergency response times. The judge was not convinced, in part from lack of supporting data, but also because the sitting fire chief said in a public meeting the fire department had not recorded an increase in response times.

Collisions involving cyclists have gone down around 50% on those roads since the lanes went in, despite cycling volume nearly doubling. A retired firefighter still felt compelled to testify it would harm emergency response. Wow.

North American fire departments are among the biggest blockers of urban road safety improvements here, demanding huge lanes for huge trucks. Those lanes leave tons of space for other drivers, leaving them feeling safe to speed, resulting in more carnage when pedestrians are hit.

Those huge trucks are also all custom built chassis and incredibly expensive.

European fire departments using customized versions of off the shelf commercial vehicles are so much more sensible for urban spaces and don't need to drive transportation decisions.

Bus lifespan is 15-20 years max and needs tons of maintenance during that time. Trains last 40 years and go 100,000 miles+ between failures.

Trains are a bigger upfront investment, but are cheaper in the long run, especially once capacity is factored in. You need a lot of busses to equal moderate sized trains.

Busses have their place, but not as the backbone for rapid transit in even moderate sized urban areas.

BRT trades CAPX for OPEX. In Latin America where BRT is hugely successful capital is expensive and labour is cheap, so hiring a ton of drivers is easy. In high labour costs markets like the US, Canada, and Europe BRT falls apart. It's often all transit agencies think they can get funding and support for so it's pushed, but it's way too easy to cut back BRT attributes like signal priority, dedicated lanes, and all door boarding to end up with just a bus with a fancy livery.

Frequency is freedom.

Nothing feels slower than standing still. Sitting in congested traffic sucks, and so does loitering on a train platform or a bus stop.

When the vehicle arrives so quickly you don't even consider the timetable or care if you just miss a train transit is an easy choice.

Both examples of Great Society metros that were on the bleeding edge of what was possible in the early 70s. Automatic train control advanced rapidly, with both Vancouver SkyTrain and London Docklands Light Rail being built in the 80s and operating driverless for their entire existence.

DC Metro just recently re-enabled full automatic train operation across all the lines in June.

Canada Line is a bit weird since it wasn't built by Translink and doesn't use the same technology as the rest of SkyTrain. It was under built by the P3 out of caution for opening in time for the Olympics and extreme cost control, but they were really pessimistic in ridership projections. It was always going to burst at the seams pretty quickly, especially with all the transit oriented development along the route. It should have been built to the same ~80m platform as the rest of SkyTrain.

My ideal default rapid transit buildout for midsized urban areas would basically be SkyTrain with value engineering to extend the platforms to 100 or 120m with minimal cost in the future.

The elevated steel structures of the NYC subway and Chicago El have nothing in common with modern elevated rail. Modern concrete guideways are small and quiet.

Melbourne is eliminating grade crossings with new guideways and creating linear park space underneath as they go.

That's true, but if you've kept a lid on construction costs as light metros tend to do, the public will embrace building new relief lines that bring more service to areas with moderate access. That adds big capacity you can then continue to grow into. Paris is a great example of this, they often just add whole new lines rather than trying to wring a bit more capacity from existing ones.

There are off the shelf trains, tracks, and stations already. It's one of the key ways many european and asian operators deliver tons of transit for the dollar.

SkyTrain vs Seattle Link Light Rail is a fascinating contrast.

SkyTrain works because of a virtuous cycle of attributes: Full grade separation enables automation. Automation enables many trains per hour. Many trains per hour with short trains still has tons of capacity. Short trains means lower costs for stations, which as the article notes is a huge portion of rapid transit costs. Lower cost means building more transit for the same budget, so more transit gets built. More transit with great headways results in transit being the mode of choice. Take any one of these elements out and you can still have a functioning transit system, but the magic is missing.

Link light rail is so close to full grade separation but not quite there, so headways are limited by the grade crossing. With longer headways, bigger trains are needed to serve the same capacity. Bigger trains mean big stations and beefier, more expensive viaducts. Big stations are expensive.

Link is gaining ridership and offering great service, but it's hard not to think if they had learned the full lessons from nearby Vancouver it would be even better (and cheaper).

That's true on grid connections, but containers full of batteries could probably overcome that problem.

Porsche has a 2.1 MWhr battery trailer that can deliver 3.2 MW peak they bring to electric track days to keep all the cars charged. That's enough power for some serious industrial processes, and if more is required horizontal scale is pretty simple.

A quick trip overnight to a high powered car charger could fill the batteries by morning. For many loads a simple grid connection constantly trickle charging would be enough power to operate indefinitely.

As far as I know all the common commercially available heat pump appliances all use the same refrigerants, so it doesn't seem like it would be that challenging.

In cars that have unified heat management the refrigerant cycle is handled as a separate element, with a manifold controlling individual coolant loops to each component. I'm picturing something similar for the home, with a coolant moving heat to and from each appliance using standardized communication to the manifold. There would probably need to be heat buffer tanks, but air to water heat pump systems for radiant heat already need this anyway.

With home HVAC, fridges, water heaters, and dryers all using now able to use of dependent on heat pumps I wonder how long it be before we see modular appliances that connect to coolant lines where the temperature differential is supplied by a central high efficiency heat pump.

Cars already have heat scavenging that can move heat from where it's being created through losses to places where it's valuable, like the cabin or battery pre-heating. Especially in cold climates it feels like homes should be next.

Since Apple doesn't offer trials I have no issue with a dev offering some limited free download with IAP to unlock. The limits need to match the app in some way, like a limit on total queries or a timer.

Subscriptions have to be either something that has recurring costs to the developer (like they depend on a 3rd party API that charges for access) or the dev is upfront that it's an optional opportunity to support them. I'm also fine with some nice-to-have features locked behind a paywall if they are not core to the app functionality.

Carbon fibre is incredibly expensive to manufacture. It requires a lot of manual part manipulation and yields can be poor.

BMW made a big bet that batteries would remain expensive and weight would matter for EVs. i3 and i8 were studies in scaling up structural carbon fibre mass production based on that bet that failed pretty badly.

Structural batteries are already a thing. Carbon fibre won't be the housing without a bunch of innovations.