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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: June 13th, 2023

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  • I have a Priority Apollo. The maintenance is way less than any of my chain-drive bikes, which I really appreciate. I tend to bike in the winter and in the rain (although not so much this last year), and it has been so much better for that (internal hub as well: no salt/sand in the gears, no risk of rust, etc). The internal hub on it is different shifting than a normal derailleur, but you get used to it. It’s definitely heavier than my roughly equivalent spec chain-drive bike, and it feels a lot slower. It is silent (like you don’t think of chains as loud, but by comparison you really notice the lack of sound). The major downside is it just doesn’t “feel” as responsive as a chain. I don’t quite know how to describe it, it’s not like there is a bunch of stretch in the belt or anything, but it just feels different in a way I don’t entirely love. That could partly be a factor of the internal hub though, and I’ll be honest, if I could do it again I would have gotten a belt single speed rather than internal hub, but I would get a belt again – even if only for avoiding the salt damage in the winter.




  • It takes, what, about five minutes to fuel up a gasoline powered vehicle. Optimistically, in ten years time on a fast charger, 20 minutes for an electric? So theoretically, to maintain the current flow rates on highly trafficked routes (like the 401 from Montreal to Toronto), during peak hours, vehicles need to be stopped at a service station for at least four times as long as they currently are now. It’s also slightly over a 500km long drive, so unless you’re really playing chicken with range you will need to stop at least once (I could be wrong, but I believe most gas powered vehicles can do around 600km range at 120km/h?). I wonder what the land-use requirements will be to charge those vehicles – Walmart parking lots beside the highway may begin to make a killing if they lean into it.

    For me, unless my landlord suddenly decides to spend a tonne of money to furnish the first-come, first-serve outdoor parking lot at my building with electric chargers, it’ll be a hybrid after that date (unless I’m rennovicted before then). I wonder if someone is liable for the tripping hazard of extension cords running out the front door and across the sidewalk to street parking.

    Obviously I’m being a bit silly and sarcastic here, but the wholly electric by 2035 scheme seems half-baked based on the assumption everyone lives in single family homes and that the amount of intercity travel will decrease in aggregate by then. Rather than say, increasing taxes year on year for gasoline powered ownership and then some heavy investment into things like high speed rail, cycling infrastructure, trams, etc. The solution to cars are too polluting doesn’t have to be the same number or more cars . . .


  • I’ve taken to using Kagi. It may not meet your privacy requirements (more below), but it does keep the web wonderfully shopping mall free. It’s a paid search engine, it sources results anonymously from other search engines as well as its having its own internal database. I generally find because the search results are weighted by its own criteria which in no way is influenced by ad revenue decisions they tend to be pretty good – plus you can customize them by assigning your own weightings to sources you like to use a lot (like, say, Wikipedia) or ones you never want to see (like AI-generated spam domains). Privacy may be where it breaks down for you, and will depend on your threat model. For the most part, my privacy concerns are more for private businesses and advertisers – which it excels at protecting me again. If I was concerned about law-enforcement it may be less desirable (it is run out of the USA and is presumably subject to subpoena), likewise for state-level espionage (and if that’s your concern, you wouldn’t be asking this question anyway).

    All in all, hugely happy with it and totally think I’ve gotten my money’s worth from it – but I also totally get a lot of people aren’t interested or are unable to pay for a search engine. I figure I’m paying one way or another, and I’d far rather pay this way than with my time sorting through ad spam. If you are interested, they have a tonne of documentation explaining their philosophy, search results, privacy policy, and what all you get for your money.