simplesleeper | 5 years ago | on: New UK police speed gun can read license plates from half a mile away at night
30mph changing to 20mph makes a huge difference to journey time... And london drivers hate it to the point most of them ignore it.
simplesleeper's comments
simplesleeper | 5 years ago | on: Show HN: Hexagonal Minesweeper with multiplayer, geographic maps, zoom and pan
Doesn't work on mobile :(
simplesleeper | 5 years ago | on: The demise of the second-hand bookshop
In the UK, I've helped run some of the ninja bookshop crawls. There are usually guided routes that take you through independent bookshops - they are always interesting and great for discovering bookshops and the cities themselves.
Independent and second hand shops have really benefitted from these events and they usually offer discounts and gift bags for crawlers
simplesleeper | 5 years ago | on: A College Degree Is No Guarantee of a Good Life
what is stopping you from buying and reading books on cryptography, number theory, security protocols etc?
simplesleeper | 5 years ago | on: A College Degree Is No Guarantee of a Good Life
why couldn't you? of course you can
simplesleeper | 5 years ago | on: Roger Penrose – Is Mathematics Invented or Discovered? [video]
This is just the age old question of nominalism vs realism
simplesleeper | 6 years ago | on: Ask HN: What is your blog and why should I read it?
https://www.michalpaszkiewicz.co.uk/blog/
I have worked in transport for over 5 years in software and have read most of the technical books in the internal London Underground library. I generally have read >50 technical books a year.
In my blog I collect and distill what I have learnt. I write about transport, software development and things I feel others should know.
simplesleeper | 6 years ago | on: Self-driving cars turned out to be harder than expected
If you try driving in Italy like you do in the UK, people will use their horn. Then you will understand.
simplesleeper | 6 years ago | on: A Typology of Organisational Cultures
That's what organisational transformations are for
simplesleeper | 6 years ago | on: Tell HN: I used to be homeless and want to work as a software developer
Not true at all. If you have tech skills, you will never run out of job opportunities in the UK
simplesleeper | 6 years ago | on: Tell HN: I used to be homeless and want to work as a software developer
have some compassion and screw the rules
simplesleeper | 6 years ago | on: Croydon Shut Down
Britain runs 20% of Europe's rail journeys. It has the least accidents and deaths of passengers and staff. It is considered the most improved rail network year on year since 1997. It has some of the lowest fares if you book far in advance (and count the cost of subsidisation for foreign fares).
simplesleeper | 6 years ago | on: Citymapper
I work for Transport for London and I advise people to use citymapper rather than the official TfL tools.
simplesleeper | 6 years ago | on: Neo-Aristotelian Perspectives on Contemporary Science
An alternative take here: https://www.michalpaszkiewicz.co.uk/blog/reviewnapocs/index....
simplesleeper | 6 years ago | on: Tunnel Boring Machines (2018)
While more infrastructure will indeed just create new wardrop equilibriums (and potentially sometimes make things worse - see Braess' paradox), banning cars is also a bad idea.
Frankly, cars are the most efficient means for individuals to travel - they may result in poor traffic flow on some single links, but otherwise they have huge benefits.
It is also worth noting that banning cars will affect the poor the most negatively. While poor people use cars less as a percentage of their population (about 9/10 the percentage of the amount that the rich use them), there are far more of them. Poor people are often the ones who have to manage multiple cases - a family and a job, a few jobs etc and often are unable to love near their workplace, or to find a (decent) job near their suburban homes. All of this means that the value of a car is much higher for them, as it can be the means for them to manage their more complex life scenarios efficiently (see "Disrupting Mobility" for more details - it's a great book)
simplesleeper | 6 years ago | on: Ask HN: What will become possible by 2025 in your field of expertise?
WebAssembly?
simplesleeper | 6 years ago | on: Monty Hall Problem
I wrote a post that explains this as well, including a playable game with cards (uses js) https://www.michalpaszkiewicz.co.uk/blog/montyhallexplained/...
simplesleeper | 6 years ago | on: Traffic apps turned L.A.’s neighborhoods into ”shortcuts”
1. Has no support from central london residents and
2. Sadiq Khan has already tried to Pedestrianise Oxford Street, but was blocked by parliament.
3. There are cycle lanes and cycle highways and there is a lot of development in the cycle space - and will no doubt be continued. Bus lanes and schemes to improve buses are constantly being tried, but their uptake is low, meaning that it is difficult to increase the service, as they are not very profitable
simplesleeper | 6 years ago | on: Traffic apps turned L.A.’s neighborhoods into ”shortcuts”
They certainly get different results - but as I said, I don't know the intricacies of their system
simplesleeper | 6 years ago | on: Traffic apps turned L.A.’s neighborhoods into ”shortcuts”
Agreed - I've had similar issues when renting a big van - I was directed through streets where I didn't comply with width restrictions
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