Two weeks worth of links. This time with a comics extra instead of leadership links.
Lots of good environment and urbanism articles.
And the most surprising podcast about how rescuing people from cars is changing.
Engineering
A Deep Dive into Memory Leaks in Ruby - part 2
CPAN - This Day In History [Podcast] - when I switched from Perl to PHP, CPAN was what I was missing the most
Backblaze Drive Stats for Q2 2022 - also available as raw data!
All You Need to Know about EdgeDB - first time I hear about this one
The Best-Selling PC of All Time: Commodore 64 Turns 40 - I never had one, but all my friends did
Work
Malcolm Gladwell slams working from home: ‘What have you reduced your life to?’ - great hair, weird opinions. I am not a WFH zealot, but this piece seems to be wrong in so many ways. Especially if you check how he works.
Environment
Rhine close to running dry in German energy nightmare - this is fine
Source of River Thames dries out ‘for first time’ during drought - also fine
Bitcoin mining operation Riot Blockchain earns more money in July by - look at that thing!
Sostenibilidad del Consumo en España [Spanish, PDF] - impact is moving outside of Spain, food & mobility have the biggest impact
A fine or a nudge? Charging for plastic bags works and is an interesting behavioural case study - "The average shopper in a UK major supermarket now uses just three plastic bags per year, compared to 140 back in 2014."
No more glaciers in Catalonia as climate change melts Iberian Peninsula's last ones away - I didn't even realise there was one, and now it will be gone in 20 years
Spain puts limits on air conditioning and heating to save energy - this also makes life in the city nicer
Spain warns heatwave threatens olive oil production - we have olive trees and only the ones in the shade of the house have olives this year
Urbanism
Ten futuristic cities set to be built around the world - none of these will ever be built
Brussels breaks up with the car - "If you look at the numbers, only 20 to 25 percent of the people who live or come to work here use cars,"
La revolución peatonal de Valencia [Spanish] - I haven't seen these plazas open yet, but this looks great. Valencia is brilliant anyway.
Paris halves street parking and asks residents what they want to do with the space - “We can no longer use 50% of the capital for cars when they represent only 13% of people’s journeys,”
The Car-Replacement Bicycle (the bakfiets) [YouTube] - definitely more useful in cities, but I love my cargo bike
The political economy of car dependence: A systems of provision approach [Paper] - " Through uncovering the constituents, processes and characteristics of
car-dependent transport systems, we show that moving past the automobile
age will require an overt and historically aware political program of
research and action."
SF traffic cops issue just 10 citations a day - this sounds like every city
Fare deal: Ireland joins Europe-wide efforts to coax people out of cars - cheaper public transport will help, but you have to be patient
Bicycle Theft Barcelona 2021 - one of the big problems for cyclist in Barcelona
UK heatwave: Weather forecasters report unprecedented trolling - lets just pretend it doesn't exist
How far can you go by train in 5h? - pretty far if you are in Paris or Switzerland, the network in Spain has lots of big holes
The city that pioneered Europe’s car-free future - Pontevedra still doing fine "Instead of driving out to malls on the periphery, people shop in the city center: The city is our mall."
Comics
xkcd-excuse.com - make your own excuses
How to Enjoy Your Own Geekiness - not me!
Inflation - ouch
Sprints - this sounds familiar
Random Spreadsheets
Excel Esports: ALL-STAR BATTLE [YouTube] - Yes, the spreadsheet
Is it time for a complete overhaul of car wreck rescue techniques? [Podcast] - apparently we never stop learning. This is amazing and not obvious at all.
"Men have no friends and women bear the burden” [Podcast] - I have trouble with making friends. Time to join some local clubs.
Opinion Why does the IRS need $80 billion? Just look at its cafeteria. - this is beautiful and makes me feel better about all weird processes
The End of Manual Transmission - can't come early enough. If you like it so much, then also go back to rotary phones. Your steering, throttle and brakes are probably already by wire. I wonder if "sport"-car companies will add fake stick shifts to future cars just for these weirdos who like to feel "to be in control".
People are blowing cinnamon on their front doors – wellness experts explain why - what?
Stray review – cats get the cream in slinky, post-apocalyptic fantasy - five stars
Other Links
Friday Links Disclaimer
Inclusion of links does not imply that I agree with the content of linked articles or podcasts. I am just interested in all kind of perspectives. If you follow the link posts over time you might notice common themes though.
