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The buildings here would mostly fare better in a hurricane than the "matchstick" houses I see in places like Florida. The problem is a lot of infrastructure here is underground, so a major hurricane would be an unprecedented disaster. If the subways get flooded, we're talking about rebuilding...

It's often not an unwillingness but an inability. Back when I finished college relocation wasn't an option. I had no money to move, no money to buy the auto I would have needed just about anywhere I did move, and to top it off I couldn't deal emotionally with being thousands of miles from...

NYC and other urban areas have high costs of living simply because nationally there is a shortage of urban housing (and a glut of suburban/exurban housing). More people want to live in cities than there is housing, so that drives the cost up. Every person who might leave NYC of out disgust has...

I agree with both of you. A lot of times when I've known poor people and talked about money, their idea to help their future was "play the lottery" or "pray". In short, they resorted to superstitious, magical thinking, instead of doing things more likely to actually work. And yes, we really...

A big reason why some of the population aren't worth enough to society to be self-sufficient is lack of decent education, plus growing up in a culture where education isn't valued. Fix that and you've solved 90% of the problem on the people side. The other 10% are mostly people who, through no...

Not 100% true. Like you, I'm definitely cool to government programs which redistribute wealth directly, but I realize that certain types of government spending can have huge impacts on the economy. Mainly, I'm referring here to infrastructure spending. Many types of infrastructure which are...

Well, you would absolutely hate NYC weather. You never really get used to it, either. The few rare dry days here only serve to remind me how miserable it is the rest of the time. I guess on positive side, higher humdity is beneficial during the colder months.

76°F was the highest in August so far, and 85°F in July? Probably low humidity also. Much better than the typical mid 80s to 90s, high humidity NYC summers. Last night I was soaking wet after riding in 76° temps. :( The humidity here is just relentless.

Here's an interesting article: Crumbling Infrastructure Symbolizes U.S. Economy I agree with the basic premise of the article-namely that economic recovery is impossible if our infrastructure continues to crumble. Sure, it's absolutely a good idea to cut the kinds of government spending which...

For what it's worth my brother is looking at dual suspension mountain bikes. Yes, I did mention to him he'll be sacrificing a few mph in return for comfort. He didn't really care all that much. Even back when he rode a lot, he used to leave the tires on his road bike at a lower pressure for a...

Efficiency also equals more speed for any given level of effort. In my neck of the woods I feel safer the closer I match my speed to prevailing auto traffic. If money were no object I would be riding a Quest velomobile which would let me more or less keep up with local auto traffic, except on...

That looks like a nice bike. I'm personally on the fence about carbon bikes, but that's mostly because of the third-world condition of the streets here. If you have smooth roads by you, a carbon bike should be just fine.

Wood looks interesting. Those frames are way out of my price range, unfortunately. A wood frame would be different though, that's for sure. I wonder what the maintenance requirements are? Also, how would they fare in humid places like NYC?

My thoughts as well. He mentions that "Job one for the 12 is to pare down some future promises that even a rich America can’t fulfill. Big money must be saved here." He probably doesn't wish to give any more money to government until he can be sure it will be spent responsibly. If you just...

I started a thread at CPF about it. In a nutshell, my ~25 year old Raleigh is starting to have rust issues, has had a broken rear chainstay for the last 12 years, and I'm just looking for a "lifetime" bike. Of the four common frame materials, here's my thoughts on each (cut and paste from the...

I noticed that myself. It seems the prices of all bike tires have doubled or more in the last year, including the airless tires I'm using. In 2008 I bought a pair for $60 shipped. Last I checked, I think the lowest price for the same tires was $108 per pair. Still a bargain though given that...

Yes indeed, that's the problem in a nutshell-RAID 0 which hits alternate sectors of the economy but has no inherent backup against catastrophy, and sometimes causes the entire economy to hang.

A sales tax in lieu of both corporate and personal income taxes gets around all the issues you mentioned. Anyway way you look at it, figuring out how much income tax a corporation owes is highly complex. It requires a huge expenditure of manpower. Even then, there is no "correct" number due...

This might interest you-SRM data for the 2011 Tour de France. You're actually getting into the same territory as these guys if your numbers are right. My limit for the ~500 watt range is about 30 seconds on a good day. I think my numbers would be higher if I could do something about lactic...

190 bpm? Let's see, the maximum HR is 220 minus your age, so you were right about at maximum. For my age it should be about 172 bpm. I've hit 165 on the recumbent cycling machine (and probably climbing hills on the road) but I try and keep the average for an hour under 150 bpm. I'm assuming...

This isn't giving disincentives to be successful. From where I stand, $10 million is a lot of money. All my idea would do is discourage those who have already been successful from accumulating more. To me it makes all the sense in the world once you've made your wealth to step aside and give...

Regarding the home mortgage deduction, this is a perfect example of social engineering of the tax code which has had a long term negative effect. Either eliminate the home mortgage deduction, or allow deducting rents also. As it is, the tax code skews finances in favor of home ownership. This...

I agree wholeheardly with the idea of an asset tax, although my version might not kick in until $10 million or so (and indexed for inflation annually once put into effect). The reason is threefold. One, it would bring in large amounts of money. Two, it would discourage hoarding assets. If...

The household equivalent of printing money out of thin air is claiming bankruptcy. Granted, it's now harder to do than in the past, but wiping out debt is functionally the same as making money out of thin air. And I don't necessarily agree that governments have to borrow. Governments could...

And to show how ass backwards the tax system is, I'm ironically in pretty much the same position now making about $6K a year from self-employment. Right now, I don't pay any income tax, but pay Social Security tax at the rate of 15.3%. That would be a huge hit for someone making so little but...

What's cool about GPS is looking at the logs after a ride. I just discovered a few days ago that I can make tours of my rides in Google Earth from GPS tracks. This lets anyone take a virtual bike ride over the same route I actually biked on, and at the same speeds (if replayed at 1x speed).

I've opted out of buying cars altogether. For what they cost to buy and operate, I don't consider the benefits all that worthwhile.

Actually, I do get annoyed, but not to the extent I get annoyed with no talent, no brain CEOs taking multi million dollar bonuses for doing nothing more than gutting a company to temporarily increase profits. I'm all for rewarding a CEO who actually grows their company as that takes real...

I agree. Every time I hear someone talk about the waste and fraud in government projects, I counter with the huge bonuses paid to executives in large corporations. In a manner of speaking, this is just another form of inefficiency. Money is spent on exorbitant salaries going to people who...

Yes, that's basically everything in a nutshell. Low taxes then imply small government, higher taxes bigger government. The argument then basically devolves to what functions should government do, and can those functions be performed more efficiently or cheaper by private industry. My take on...

Consumer debt is what helped create a false bubble of prosperity which couldn't be sustained. Like governments, people should learn to live within their means. Don't charge more than you can afford to pay off in full at the end of the month. Easy access to credit, especially home equity...

Remember the tax rate under Reagan was 50% for the majority of his term. It was cut under Bush I, raised slightly under Clinton, then cut again under Bush II. The theory that cutting taxes generates more government revenue is correct-to a point. It should be obvious that a marginal rate of zero...

I think in the long run the wealthy and megacorporations will start to see that it's in their own interests to pay higher taxes despite the present, nearly religious opposition to any type of tax increase. I fear though this won't happen until the system completely collapses. The present...

The simple fact is certain types of infrastructure needed for a modern economy to function are too expensive, with too long a payback period (or perhaps there is no payback period, ever) for private industry to even consider investing in. The list includes railroads, roads, airports, seaports...

At this point, it probably makes a lot more sense to break the US into three parts, consisting roughly of the East Coast, West Coast, and everything in the middle. Ideologically, the states in each group would be closer together, and better able to get more done. Why this isn't being...

I did read your post. All I said was it was theoretically possible, in that no laws of physics are being violated by the claimed output of 200 MW, nor do working efficiencies need to be some totally unrealistically high value such as 75% or 95%. If the efficiency is only a few percent, as the...

Well, that still makes it theoretically possible. I think the average amount of sunlight in Arizona over a 24 hour span is in the 300 to 400 W/m² range. If this plant can harvest sunlight with a 25% to 33% efficiency, it will work as advertised. The best solar cells (in the lab) could...

The only purpose of prison should be to reform criminals so they can be let back into society once they are no longer deemed a danger (i.e. that means indeterminant, not fixed, sentences). I regard a criminal more like a bad part which needs to be fixed. You don't hit your car with a hammer to...

Not bad. I just did 20.7 miles today at a 14.6 mph average. The crosswinds, and mostly poor pavement conditions didn't help. It's really amazing how when I go from typical NYC bumpy roads to smooth pavement my speed jumps about 3-4 mph for the same effort. Honestly, it sounds like you're...

Once in a blue moon I might do that, generally towards the end of the summer when I'm getting sick of the heat. Usually I use the excuse that I'm testing the A/C's cooling ability. :diablo:

My comfort zone is similar to Lunar's. Anything much over 75 I hate, especially with the high humidity typical of NYC summers. I generally let the thermostat keep the room at around 70, although I've been known to go as low as 55 when I'm in the mood for cold. Can't wait for fall.

I'm surprised nobody has found a hardware solution to this, something like putting a jumper on the HDD which disables writing to the boot sector. Once you partition a hard drive, there's no reason for anything to be written to the boot sector unless you're repartitioning it.

Regarding your experience with Esenda, it never ceases to amaze me how companies do totally stupid things virtually guaranteed to piss off customers to save what probably amounts to pennies in the short term (and in all likelihood costs them more than they save in the long term). This includes...

It's not just air flow which matters but also static pressure. A great example might be comparing a bladed fan to a squirrel cage blower. The fan might move more air under no back pressure for any given power consumption. However, if you stick it in a long duct, it may move next to nothing...

Excellent! That's pretty much around where I am on rides of that length (when I'm riding regularly anyway). Lately my averages have mostly wallowed in the mid to high 14s, entirely a result of not riding all that much. 5 rides in March, 4 in April, 5 in May, barely over 200 miles total. Last...

On the cadence, there's really no set number to aim for, although in all honestly pushing a high gear at much under 60 RPM in never a good idea. Consider 60 RPM as sort of the rock bottom of what you should be aiming for. At this point, the first order of business is to just get your legs used...

Now I have my own uphill battle to fight. Sick all these week, including bedridden sick with a high fever for 3 days. Tonight was the first ride since last Saturday. Surprisingly, the speed wasn't bad (14.8 mph average actually), but no endurance. I went 7.6 miles, then the congestion flared...

Ugh. I know that feeling all too well. It happened on a ride this March. Getting out of the city seemed kind of easy, too easy actually, given that it was only the 3rd time since December that I was on the bike. Coming back, I knew why. :arge: 15-20 mph headwind nearly the entire 10 miles...

Maximum emergency braking rate depends upon track adhesion. Adhesion varies with speed (it's way less at high speeds). On good track, figure you can obtain an average deceleration of around 0.1g (2.2 mph/sec). At that rate, it'll take you about 4 km to stop from 320 km/hr. A more typical...

Just make sure you still have enough fluid left in the system so that you still have brakes. I'm really surprised there isn't an expansion chamber or some other means of temperature compensation in these hydraulic brake systems.