davetapley

joined 1 year ago
[–] davetapley 1 points 3 weeks ago

Whatever you pick checkout Yousician if they have it. It's great for learning.

[–] davetapley 3 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Boeing engineers traced the leak to a flange.

I expected software issues, maybe avionics, but a flange? How.

[–] davetapley 5 points 1 month ago

Forgive me for only TLDW and not watching, but was ack mentioned?

I've never looked back.

[–] davetapley 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

How would you defined a what a landlord does, then?

I'm happy to use a different word if that would help, but whatever you call it, there is a structure in place that allows people who own property to make money by doing nothing. Call it 'land lording', call it 'passive income'.


is an inevitable component of life in contemporary society

Yes, but only if it's:

a. Legal, and: b. Some people can accumulate enough wealth to buy up multiple properties, and: c. Some people are too poor to afford any property (or qualify for financing).

Which is the situation we're in.

it’s problematic when excessive and greedy

Well we can agree on this. But I'd go further and say that's always going to be the case, because:

a. Housing isn't something you can opt out of. b. The people who own the homes have all the bargaining power. c. The more money you can accumulate through renting the more power you have.

[–] davetapley -1 points 2 months ago (3 children)

Great questions!

  1. Yep, you can sell it* to someone else. Or it'll just sit there and then I would advocate for some kind of common sense squatters law to take effect.

  2. Short answer: See 1; long answer: you could find somewhere run by e.g. a housing co-op, or a (long-stay) hotel, or a property management company* and stay there.

  3. Yes I'd be fine with that, caveats:

    • You are also benefitting from someone tending to the house while you're gone, so I'd expect the amount to be commensurate with that*.
    • You're not going on holiday to another one of many other properties you own which you also rent out when you're not in them.

Note: All my answers involve exchanging some kind of value (indicated by *) for money, and that's my key point. If you're actually contributing something then I have no problem with that. But that's not what being a landlord is. A few ways this is evident:

  1. We already have words for all the jobs: Architect, building super, cleaner, designer, engineer, landscaper, manager, plumber. These are useful skills, people should get paid for them, but:
  2. A landlord is different. They make money by rent seeking, per Wikipedia: "the act of growing one's existing wealth by manipulating the social or political environment without creating new wealth". They don't do anything except own a piece of paper (and the blessing of our current laws) which says they can do that.

Now, the water can get muddied when people are both landlords and do the other jobs (e.g. cleaning), but it's pretty easy to think of other examples of this:

I also skim money out of the register, but I also get paid to work in the store. In both cases (rent seeking and skimming) I'm making money, but not actually adding any value.

Or, to my original example: Scalping tickets. I'm not putting on the show, I'm not the talent, or involved with the venue, I'm not printing or shipping the tickets. I'm not doing anything except gaming the system to make money.

Just like robbing a bank, just like ponzi schemes, and just like Sam Bankman-Fried: Gaining money, not adding value (aka creating wealth).

The only difference is we decided (as a society) some are legal, and some are illegal, and I have a good idea why (see Figure 1.).

[–] davetapley 17 points 2 months ago (7 children)

The people who live in it.

Not a person who owns a piece of paper that says they own it.

[–] davetapley 23 points 2 months ago (9 children)

Landlords create housing in the same way scalpers create tickets: They don't.

The houses are built, the work is done.

[–] davetapley 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Well that's it, it almost always is more convenient (again, assuming you have one, it has fuel, roads are built and prioritize cars etc.), but that completely ignores all the negative externalities.

Like: it would always be more 'convenient' for me to pee against a wall when I need to go, but if everyone starting pissing everywhere it would be objectively worse for everyone.

[–] davetapley 3 points 2 months ago

I love this! Really gets at the essence of what I was thinking, thank you.

112
submitted 2 months ago by davetapley to c/fuckcars
 

I'm getting a lot of 'but my car is more convenient' arguments lately, and I'm struggling to convey why that doesn't make sense.

Specifically how to explain to people that: Sure, if you are able to drive, and can afford it, and your city is designed to, and subsidizes making it easy to drive and park, then it's convenient. But if everyone does it then it quickly becomes a tragedy of the commons situation.

I thought of one analogy that is: It would be 'more convenient' if I just threw my trash out the window, but if we all started doing that then we'd quickly end up in a mess.

But I feel like that doesn't quite get at the essence of it. Any other ideas?

 

Just came across this article about a book titled:

The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing An Epidemic of Mental Illness

I haven't read it, but I'm a little concerned that the article has zero mention of the built environment. Thoughts?

[–] davetapley 3 points 2 months ago

At this rate they'll make him sit in the garage with a dunce cap on.

[–] davetapley 3 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Flashbacks to when I lived in the UK and so much misinformation in the (failed) referendum to get it there.

Made me realize: Consider the average voter and then consider explaining the merits of different voting systems to them. It'll never happen.

44
That Lando jump start (www.planetf1.com)
submitted 3 months ago by davetapley to c/formula1
 

“The stewards reviewed positioning/marshalling system data, video and determined that the video appeared to show that Car 4 moved before the start signal was given,” their report began.

“However, the FIA approved and supplied transponder fitted on the car did not indicate a jump start.

“Article 48.1 a) of the Formula One Sporting Regulations states clearly that the judgment of whether or not there was a jump start is to be made in accordance with the transponder, which did not show a jump start. In the circumstances, we took no further action

 

My current pet peeve is people complaining about the 'cost' of protected bike lanes because "people on bikes don't pay their way".

Beyond even the data showing just how much private car ownership is already subsidized, can we just take a moment and acknowledge: We wouldn't need protected lanes at all if cars were not killing and injuring so many people.

It's like the owner of an animal bemoaning the cost of an enclosure for their animal, which keeps killing and maiming members of the public as they pass by.

It's not the victim's fault the enclosure is needed, and it's not the fault of someone riding a bike they need protection in a public space.

 

...

22
Happy Birthday Murray Walker (en.m.wikipedia.org)
submitted 8 months ago by davetapley to c/formula1
 

I still can't listen to The Chain without being right back there in my childhood home. I was too young to really understand what I was watching, but I remember loving it regardless.

 

On September 28, Epic Games announced the sale of Bandcamp to Songtradr, Inc. In an internal announcement to staff, Epic Games wrote that Songtradr, Inc. would be offering positions to some Bandcamp employees but not all. This comes amidst ongoing contract negotiations with Bandcamp’s staff union - Bandcamp United.

 

I wish I could share it, but I guess DRM makes the screen go black.

Starting at 09:00 in the F1 TV Pre-Qualifying Show - Qatar the presenters are standing in the pit lane with a regular camera, and start talking about Alonso.

Then it cuts to a shot of them from overhead using the pit lane cable camera, which immediately starts rolling down in the pit lane until it reaches the Aston Martin garage where it zooms in to the car being worked on.

Really cool attention to detail. And the first time I've seen that camera used by the F1 TV people.

72
submitted 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) by davetapley to c/workreform
 

A video explaining modern monetary theory and how with a little Marxism it can benefit everyone.

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