1. RELIEF

2. *conceded

First off, all these brands and model names! If you’re frugal (I certainly am) then you should be very wary of spending over the odds in order to fund a marketing budget. Another problem with showy brands is that they make you a target for thieves.

A bike is a bike. It’s mostly a bunch of mix-and-match spare parts made of metal (or else by Shimano). This is why (IMO!) the case is weak for spending $$$ on a big-brand bike, unlike for example a high-tech gadget which is essentially a black box. Unless, of course, what you’re looking for is the label itself.

Anyway. Go electric. Seriously. I say that a former serious cyclist who has done lots of touring. It makes cycling less of a PITA and so more likely that your new toy won’t be abandoned in a closet in a few months time. If you were in Europe I’d recommend secondhand or something from Decathlon. If those are out then you could do worse than ordering direct from one of the new Chinese marques. Like mine, an electric fat bike which I’ve posted several pics of here. I’ve done 3000 km on it since last year, all touring. It’s extremely reliable and I didn’t pay hundreds of bucks for a fancy label.

For reference, Paris (France) has had a scheme like this for several years. No lottery, the rebate is 50% of the purchase price capped at 400€.

So my e-bike cost me 800€ instead of 1200. The bike needs to be registered with an official ID (it’s now mandatory for bikes in France, it’s like having a dog). And of course be on the list of EU-regulation-respecting models, which is (unfortunately) quite short.

BUT. It seems that as of this year the rebate is means-tested (like Washington). To incomes of <10,000€, so you now have to be pretty poor to qualify. But bike usage has exploded in Paris so perhaps the scheme has done its job.

The danger of retaining one’s purity is that you risk forfeiting influence over what may (very well) happen anyway.

Predictably insightful.

multiple groups that prioritize different paired corners of this people-information-scale triangle

Fact remains that we’re struggling mainly with the scale corner here.

[etc etc] The shape supports the palm and lets riders rotate their wrists inward. With bent elbows and a narrow arm position, the hood position can now be surprisingly aerodynamic. [etc etc]

What lot of words to confirm what surely every cyclist has known they were a kid: bull-horns are just more comfortable than any other configuration you could come up with, and if you wanna go faster then just bending yer arms will help.

Brake “horns” always struck me as a tacit admission by bike designers that nobody wants to ride with drops, not really.

Still, interesting article.

Proof if ever it were needed that voting matters. If somebody hadn’t put those Greens and Pirates there, this fight would have been lost before it began.

Well that got technical pretty fast.

And yet somehow it is still cheaper to fly than to take the train.

An unusually clear explanatory article. This problem needs fixing. As a layperson it looks to me like the “discussion” mentioned needs to crystallize into a proper meeting of all stakeholders so as to get a binding decision about how to fix it.

Veo intends to charge Denver residents $0.25 per minute to rent their vehicles, compared to the current $0.44 per minute charged by Lime and Bird. Users will still pay the same $1 unlocking fee.

Damn. You Yanks must be really rolling in it.

Looks great. I don’t know why he’s playing dumb about the quirky product description. It’s obviously just auto-translated from Chinese, like with pretty much any manufactured product these days.

OK I get all that and it’s not to be dismissed. But their product is better than what we have here. That’s why Blacksky built upon it and not upon this, despite the cost. The excessive centralization seems to be more of a human problem than a technical one. Humans take the path of least resistance and Bluesky’s resources have allowed it to make a product that the fediverse will never be able to compete with.

Personally, I get what I want here (I don’t use Bluesky) but it’s pretty clear to me that I’m not representative (in caring about the principle of decentralization) and neither are you. I’m a pragmatist by nature. Bluesky and AT Proto are an obvious improvement on Twitter. If they have the potential to be a version of decentralization that actually takes off and goes mainstream (because let’s be serious, the fediverse is not doing that), then personally I would take that win. It hasn’t happened yet but personally I’m not going to spit on it in advance like everyone here is doing.

they are in complete control of the real-world use of it

They’re not. I mentioned Blacksky.

As I understand it, their endgame is that Bluesky will be a big fish in a pond of other fish, and that the best way to get that fishpond is to make Bluesky as good a product as possible, hence the (limited) VC money.

As a strategy it has risks but so does the alternative. To make the obvious comparison, UX on the fediverse is rubbish, with an incomprehensible onboarding funnel, amateurish design, servers that keep disappearing. There’s a reason Bluesky has eaten the fediverse’s lunch.

With respect, I think people here are making this into a sterile religious war when really it’s a disagreement about strategy. Some of the people who vouch for Bluesky I have been following for years. They want exactly the same things as most people here. Personally, I see no reason to question their intentions.

Fair enough. But, as you know already, AT Protocol is not chained to Bluesky. Other things are already being built on it (Blacksky for instance). Sure, the startup costs of federation are high, but that was a technical choice. To insist that it’s all a plot to become the next evil Twitter continues to feel a bit swivel-eyed to me.

This seems to be the closest to a reasoned argument in this thread. Realistically, what should they be doing differently?

IMO this is unfair and conspiratorial. The people behind Bluesky have been quite clear about where they are trying to go (i.e. not simply replace Twitter), some of those people have a lot of credibility in this area, built up over years. Maybe they make different assumptions about tech and user preferences but I see no reason to assume evil intentions.

Very interesting! I’m thinking that the disadvantages you outline are a problem that could be overcome with experience. After all, by definition AWD gives an extra lever of control to the rider. Obviously the crashes by new riders have to be factored into the cost-benefit equation.

Democracy provides for the peaceful working out of different interests between different groups. Personally, I find the argument somewhat persuasive that if young people don’t vote, then anti-youth policies are entirely democratic and appropriate. If it really mattered to them, then they’d vote.

But as you imply, a problem is introduced when one particular vote has consequences that are impossible to reverse for decades.

Beata Manthey, head of European and global equity strategy at Citibank, said the interest in European stocks had been driven by “domestic stimulus delivery” as well as a rotation towards non-tech sectors.

Defence stocks, which soared last year, have made further gains, with Germany’s Rheinmetall up 12 per cent in 2026 and the UK’s BAE Systems rising 26 per cent.

A choice between investing in an AI bubble or a arms boom. What a world.