What can you get to within a 15-minute walk of your house?
@vividspecter @wolfpack86 Even three or four stories of apartments above the shops, instead of... Just a roof.
@Brendanjones @urlyman @fuckcars You need to keep in mind we are talking about a country here where a not insignificant proportion of the population thinks walkable neighbourhoods are a deep state conspiracy...
@CStamp @c9 @fuckcars It would also be interesting to see a regional and a rural/inner urban/suburban breakdown as well.
I suspect the numbers might be very different between, say, someone who lives in the heart of Brooklyn vs a rural town in Idaho (where everything in town is or could be a 15-minute walk) vs a suburb of Dallas or Atlanta.
@BernardSheppard @fuckcars If you're within walking distance of a good shopping street with a supermarket (Fitzroy St definitely counts), I think it's fair to tick off that box...
@Jakra @fuckcars Very good point.
I took "sports arena" to mean a stadium where professional sports are played. (So the MCG/SCG/Adelaide Oval/Optus Stadium/Gabba/Olympic Park/etc.)
If you mean local community cricket/Aussie rules/soccer/rugby ground then there's one within walking distance of my house.
@PPBOY Who's the bot?
@drolex I'm telling you some arbitrarily designated regions are far larger than most people imagine them to be.
@CompostMaterial Would you be willing to swap it for northern Queensland?
@skydivekingair @darnell The mainland of Australia is 7,591,608 square kilometres.
Add Tasmania and various offshore territories, and that rises to 7,688,287 sq km.
The land area of the contiguous US (so excluding Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, etc.) Is 7,663,941.7 km.
Add them in, and you get 9,147,420 sq km.
So comparing like for like (mainland to the contiguous 48 states), Australia is slightly smaller.
The only way you get to "Australia is slightly larger" is if you include non-contiguous and island states for Australia (Tasmania), but not the US (Alaska and Hawaii).
But that is an apples-and-oranges comparison.
@cosmicrookie @ardi60 "Why does this bloody thing keep asking 'a/s/l' and 'Do you want a NSFW roleplay?' even when I tell it no?!?!"
@zenkat @technology Totally agree.
But.
It's a surefire way to get yourself in that mess in rapid time, when you otherwise wouldn't.
@ada @hauilemmy This is where it's a bad thing that Tumblr hasn't federated with the Fedi yet.
Having the "original" Fedi apps (including Mastodon) plus Tumblr would better balance the size of Threads.
@LovesTha @CableMonster @DriftinGrifter So let's sum this up then.
Modern pickup trucks are substantially larger and heavier than their '90s counterparts, with a smaller cab.
That means they weigh far more, are far bigger, and yet carry less than the vehicles that did the same job 30 years ago.
At least in Australia, they are directly subsidised by the federal tax system. Federal and state taxes pay for main roads.
And they're giant economic externality machines.
On local streets, which are funded by local councils, they cause additional road damage that is cross-subsidised by local councils.
They generate externalised costs from higher emissions, in the term of more frequent and severe bushfires, floods, droughts, and hurricanes.
They generate externalities in terms of pedestrian injuries and deaths that are subsidised by the healthcare system.
They generate higher health costs from air pollution. Again, these costs are cross subsidised.
That's without even getting into the massive subsidies at play with car-dependent suburban sprawl.
Or how modern pickup trucks are a massively inefficient use of road space.
Or how businesses are forced to cross-subsidise car ownership by needing to have large parking lots for motorists.
So yeah, it's probably not unreasonable to ask you to pay your fair share for some of those costs.
(3/3)
@LovesTha @CableMonster @DriftinGrifter So pick-up trucks are now typically larger, heavier, and cause more road damage than their '90s counterparts.
All while having smaller cabs, making them less effective tools for transporting construction supplies and equipment.
- Then there's the higher pollution. This leads to more frequent and severe bushfires, droughts, floods, hurricanes and heatwaves.
"Currently, automakers must hit a fleet-wide target for cars of 181 grams of CO2 emitted per mile, but 261 for light trucks, a 36 percent difference. By 2026, cars must average out to 132 grams of CO2 per mile compared with 187 for light trucks, a 34 percent difference."
- The 2023 Australian floods alone, which were directly linked to ocean warming (https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/oct/18/everything-is-saturated-whats-driving-the-latest-floods-in-eastern-australia ), had a cost of $5 billion:
"Treasurer Jim Chalmers has warned economic pressure from natural disasters will continue through 2023 after modelling showed severe flooding across the country last year cost the economy $5 billion."
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/floods-cost-economy-5-billion-last-year-20230112-p5cc1t.html
- Then there's the added costs of higher fatalities from larger, heavier vehicles:
"More than 7,500 pedestrians were killed by drivers last year — the highest number since 1981. The final tally may be even greater given that Oklahoma was unable to provide data due to a technical issue."
https://www.npr.org/2023/06/26/1184034017/us-pedestrian-deaths-high-traffic-car
"The chances of a pedestrian dying in a single-vehicle crash were 68 percent higher when that vehicle was a light truck relative to a car, all else being equal.
- More tailpipe emissions means more deaths and hospitalisations:
"Tailpipe pollution contributes to the premature death of 11,105 Australians every year, according to new research.
"The modelling from the University of Melbourne claims vehicle emissions in Australia are also to blame for more than 12,000 hospitalisations annually due to cardiovascular issues, along with almost 7000 respiratory hospitalisations per year."
https://www.drive.com.au/news/emissions-kill-10x-more-australians-than-road-toll/
So that's 10 good reasons right there.
(2/3)
@LovesTha @CableMonster @DriftinGrifter Okay, let's break this one down a little bit:
- The typical size and weight of pickup trucks has increased massively since the '90s:
"Since 1990, U.S. pickup trucks have added almost 1,300 pounds on average. Some of the biggest vehicles on the market now weigh almost 7,000 pounds — or about three Honda Civics."
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-03-11/the-dangerous-rise-of-the-supersized-pickup-truck
"Moreover, pickups’ weight increased by 32% between 1990 and 2021 ... In the 1980s, about half of pickup trucks were categorized as small or midsize. But by the 2010s, small pickups had nearly vanished as Americans increasingly bought into the big truck lifestyle."
https://www.axios.com/2023/01/23/pickup-trucks-f150-size-weight-safety
- Pick-ups are also larger than their '90s counterparts:
"A [Consumer Reports] analysis of industry data shows that the hood height of passenger trucks has increased by an average of at least 11 percent since 2000 and that new pickups grew 24 percent heavier on average from 2000 to 2018. On some heavy-duty trucks, such as the Ford F-250, the front edge of the hood is now 55 inches or more off the ground—as tall as the roof of some sedans."
https://www.consumerreports.org/car-safety/the-hidden-dangers-of-big-trucks/
- Paradoxically, pick up trucks made before the '90s had more capacity for transporting construction supplies and equipment than their new counterparts:
"As pickups transitioned from workhorses to lifestyle vehicles, their design shifted accordingly: Cabs expanded to accommodate more passengers, while beds shrank.
"The first generation of F-150s was 36% cab and 64% bed by length. By 2021, the ratio flipped, with 63% cab and 37% bed."
https://www.axios.com/2023/01/23/pickup-trucks-f150-size-weight-safety
- Each time you double the weight of a vehicle, you cause roughly 16 times as much pavement damage:
"The generalized fourth-power law explains why road damage is disproportionately inflicted by the heftiest vehicles. Developed after extensive federal roadway testing during the 1950s, the law is a rule of thumb showing that roadway stress caused by two vehicles is a function of their relative weight per axle scaled to the fourth power. As a result, a single 80,000-pound auto hauler with five axles can cause around 4,000 times the destruction of a two-ton car."
https://slate.com/business/2023/06/electric-vehicles-auto-haulers-weight-capacity-roads.html
- In Australia, main roads are generally funded by federal and state governments through a mix of fuel excise and consolidated revenue. Local streets, which account for most of the road network, are funded by local councils through rates.
- Despite the added cost, receive several tax breaks under Australia's tax code.
"Temporary Full Expensing allowed for vehicles to be claimed as an immediate, one-off tax deductible expense, and while that deduction was capped at $60,000 for passenger vehicles, there was no limit for vehicles that can carry at least a tonne.
"And the Loss Carry Back tax offset allows a business to claim the purchase of a new vehicle against the previous year's profits if that vehicle creates a net loss for the business."
(1/3)
@thepixelfox @Zagorath @pineapplelover @dgriffith Playing devil's advocate for a moment, the flipside to all this is that high school kids can be incredibly judgemental when it comes to fashion. Teenaged girls especially, but boys too.
Especially in mixed-income or aspirational middle class areas, you will have parents who will pay up to buy designer labels and Nike/Adidas footwear for their little precious.
Then you have the kids whose parents have more limited means, and who wear hand-me-downs or stuff they get from Kmart or Target.
Immediately, that brings class into the classroom. It says to the working class kids that you are less than.
Having a uniform — ideally one that can be purchased from a discount department store — levels that playing field.
And yes, uniforms are authoritarian. Had you asked me 20 years ago, I'd have wholeheartedly agreed they need to be banished.
What changed my mind was talking to a former neighbour, around 10 years ago, who had been a working class kid raised by a single mum.
She'd originally went to high school at a selective entry school that didn't have a uniform. And she constantly felt left out, and the better off kids whose parents could afford to buy them nicer clothes regularly picked on her.
She eventually changed schools to one that had a set uniform.
So school uniforms can be egalitarian — as long as they're affordable.
@dan @thehatfox I moved schools during high school.
At the first, they had a special senior student uniform for year 11 and 12.
The second allowed casual clothes for year 11 and 12, but it had restrictions on what you couldn't wear (so no spaghetti straps — shoulders had to be covered, no bare midriffs, no jewellery aside from earring studs, etc.).
Deleted
Permanently Deleted
Jump
@eatham @unionagainstdhmo Perhaps the date of proclamation could work as a national holiday?
"The Proclamation Declaring the Establishment of the Commonwealth was a royal proclamation made by Queen Victoria on 17 September 1900 federating the six separate British colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia under the name of the Commonwealth of Australia."
Another option would be 3 March, when the Australia Act passed, which effectively ended British rule over Australia:
"The Australia Act ended all power of the UK Parliament to legislate with effect in Australia – that is, "as part of the law of" the Commonwealth, a state or a territory (s 1). Conversely, no future law of a state would be void for inconsistency with (being "repugnant to") any UK law applying with "paramount force" in Australia; a state (like the Commonwealth) would have power to repeal or amend such an existing UK law so far as it applied to the state (s 3). State laws would no longer be subject to disallowance and reservation by the monarch (s 8) – a power that, anomalously, remains for Commonwealth legislation (Constitution ss 59 and 60).[n 6]
...
"The Acts came into effect simultaneously, on 3 March 1986."
@uis @milicentbystandr The architect you're thinking of is a guy by the name of Victor Gruen.
The short version is that he was a socialist from Austria, who wanted to basically recreate the great walkable streets and plazas of Vienna indoors in Minnesota.
His views on cars, ironically, wouldn't be out of place on a @notjustbikes video: "Suburban business real estate has often been evaluated on the basis of passing automobile traffic. This evaluation overlooks the fact that automobiles do not buy merchandise."
He hated cars, and saw this as an antidote to car-dependent development:
"But Gruen had a grander vision. He wanted to re-create in microcosm the walkable, diverse and liveable town centres he so loved in Vienna.
"Part of his motivation was seeing how reliance on the automobile was affecting cities. In his classic book, Shopping Towns USA, Gruen rails against the development of drive-by shopping centres focused on catering to passing motorists.
"The original plan was for commerce to be broken up by numerous attractions like aviaries, fountains and works of art. The mall itself would be surrounded by residences, offices, medical facilities, schools and everything that made a community.
"The mall was inward-looking, not to keep people focused on spending but to shelter pedestrians from cars and away from their fumes and noise.
"Here’s the first painful irony, then. Rather than developing the new mixed-use centre envisioned by Gruen, the only thing built was the mall and car parks. The grand vision was reduced to a monoculture of big shopping brands surrounded by massive car parks, all accessible only by automobile."
https://theconversation.com/triumph-of-the-mall-how-victor-gruens-grand-urban-vision-became-our-suburban-shopping-reality-172393
So the modern American shopping mall is basically a perversion of Gruen's original walkable town square/main street in a building vision.
Urbanism #UrbanPlanning #capitalism #cars #malls