allthelolcats

Maybe you’ve already made a decision on this but in general I run one helmet that tests well on the Virginia tech tests https://www.helmet.beam.vt.edu/bicycle-helmet-ratings.html

Then I use a buff/hat under the helmet on colder days. This is usually good for me down to freezing temps, generally I don’t ride much below that since I don’t have studded tires at the moment.

Wow! Thanks for putting up this super informative post and following through so many comments. I love using a waxed chain and I think it’s definitely hard for people to jump to when their bike maintenance is essentially zero. I run wet lube on one bike for wet weather riding (like >50% of the year) so I know both sides pretty well. The wax chain is so much easier to clean and maintain it’s crazy.

It’ll be hard to convert anyone that just lets their bike run into the ground before they start taking care of it, but they’re also probably on bikes that are sub $500 and aren’t looking for efficiencies or endurance performance.

Here is a great NPR podcast on it. But basically they tried it in California, people liked it, TurboTax didn’t and lobbied against it. They sent you how much you owed and you could verify it, confirm, and send it back super simple.

https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2019/04/03/709656642/episode-760-tax-hero

A lot of the political discussion I’ve read on here has also been pretty well thought out. I feel like people are taking time to explain their perspective more and even if in general it’s been more left leaning there is definitely more nuance. I was surprised by the quality of some of the discussion around the end of affirmative action.

Yes, if all that matters in your life is where you go to school then yes they were held back from achieving that.

For a lot of people higher education is seen as the mantle to climb the socioeconomic ladder and on average the Asian or white kid who was competitive but didn’t get to go to harvard will achieve similar outcomes regardless.

Were they held down though? In California when they eliminated AA at their public universities there wasn’t much change in the economic outcomes for asian and white students. Sure, before maybe they didn’t get to go to the ‘best’ school but on average still had similar outcomes.

This isn’t true for black/Hispanic/native American students whose economic outcome depreciated. These students benefited from being able to break into the social networks provided by elite universities. Something that white/Asian students might already have access to.

So if all that matters is going to elite schools then sure, but there are externalities that are important and not everyone benefits equally from the top echelon of schools. It’s not a perfect system but it’s better than not having it.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/06/27/1184461214/examining-the-impact-of-californias-ban-on-affirmative-action-in-public-schools

Another weird example would be r/soccer and r/football where soccer ironically became the defacto.