TheRealKuni

We use plenty of biodegradable plastics. They’re not always the correct solution. You wouldn’t want an airplane biodegrading, for example.

It's doesn't matter, since the absence or presence of light would still be perceived by colour blind people. It doesn't change how they would drive, as they are already driving with the knowledge of colour blindness in mind when looking at tail lights.

Tail lights being red is fine if you live with the most common forms of colorblindness which fall into what we call “red-green colorblind.” It is still a different color than headlights.

Now put those same red-green lights on the front, and we have a problem.

I did the perpendicular thing for a while, but two of the magnets I use with the phone (one a charger, one just a mount) are strong enough that removing the phone perpendicularly is difficult.

If I ever decide I don’t want my printed case, I’ll try the loctite solution! Thanks!

I 3D printed my phone case. I had considered going without a case, but the Snap 4 Luxe, which I absolutely love, adheres better to cases than the bare phone. That could be my fault, maybe I didn’t clean the phone or adhesive properly, but if I have the phone on a magnet sometimes the Snap stays behind.

So I found a case design someone else made, brought it into Blender (because I don’t know CAD), thickened the back to the same distance as the Snap, then made a hole for the Snap and made sure to include a lip to cover over its curved bezel. I printed the first few layers in a tough 68D TPU, then switched to a 95A TPU for the rest. The tough layers and the lip keep the Snap held to the phone even when the adhesive fails, and the softer TPU makes the case easy to put on and remove.

(This is like, my seventh iteration of this case, and it sure seems flawless for the past few weeks.)

This lets me use the Snap with as little wireless charging distance as possible. I found that some cases added to the inherent 2.5mm of the Snap are just too much distance to reliably charge using weaker qi chargers. With this setup I can wirelessly charge much more reliably! And since I thickened the back of the case, the magnets on the Snap now sit flush with the rest of the back, making qi2-based external batteries more manageable.

I always laugh at these people. I’m paraphrasing, but in the 7th book Harry essentially tells Voldemort, “I died for them, you can’t touch them.”

This is of course mirroring the fact that his own parents had died to protect him from Voldemort in the first place, but it’s also very much symbolic of the central Christian concept of Christ dying to save sinners. Harry is very much a Christ-figure in the end, forgiving those who had been his enemies and even pitying Voldemort himself. It’s not quite as blatant as C.S. Lewis and his, “If people don’t realize the lion is Jesus I’m going to have an aneurysm,” but it’s still obvious.

People who say stuff like this is satanic live in such a pitifully small world. I feel sorry for them.

Seems like they are only installing the heat under the roadway, so walkable may not be the best word unless we expect pedestrains to share a lane with cars in the winter.

There aren’t many cars that use this street. Traffic historically is: people going into the less-utilized side of the parking garage under the performance hall/convention center, valet parking for the hotel, and loading/unloading of shows at the performance hall or ballroom. It’s a small street with a turnaround at the end, and then the Grand River. And a walking bridge across said river to the Gerald R Ford Presidential Library and Museum.

Even though it sure seems like the construction is completed, that parking garage entrance/exit still has not reopened. I’m not sure it will (which is very mildly frustrating for me, I perform at that hall a few times a year and prefer that access point because most people use the other).

They’ve added new pedestrian-focused stuff closer to the river, like a nice seating area and a better flow to the walking bridge. I wouldn’t be shocked if they already heated these sidewalks. This also improves access to the area behind the performance hall and convention center, which has some nice tables and seating and a good view of the river.

This all complements the ongoing “Restore the Rapids” project, which is aiming to make the river more pleasing to look at (it’s already beautiful, it’s just rather tame nowadays after various efforts over the last 175 years or so to harness it).

Anyway, my point is that street already served more pedestrians than cars before this redesign effort, and I suspect it will be even more pedestrian-focused now.

Ah, right. Obviously. Because the same amount of water needs to change phase.

Still, in that time this road will be walkable, while others may not. And you still avoid the piles of snow and salt runoff that come with a non-heated surface.

It takes much less energy to prevent the accumulation in the first place. Which is the goal with this sort of setup.

In this case, the people who will benefit most are probably pedestrians trying to access the walking bridges over the Grand River. This is a small part of Lyon street wedged between Monroe Avenue and the Grand River.

Judging by that picture, pedestrians can get fucked though.

A picture can be deceiving.

That picture is of work being down on a part of Lyon street south of DeVos Performance Hall and Convention center, between Monroe Avenue and the Grand River.

(Don’t let the name fool you, DeVos Hall and DeVos Center are owned by the city. They’re just named after the billionaires who paid a chunk of change for its construction and subsequent renovations.)

The reconstruction there is to make the area much better for pedestrians. There used to be a some parking along that street, which I think when the work will be finished will be purely for valet service for the hotel on the south side of the street. That part of the street has been at least partially closed to cars for a while, even though most of the work is done. And I wouldn’t be shocked if those sidewalks are already heated.

As I said elsewhere, they’ve added a really nice seating area at the end of the street (you can’t really see it in this picture because it goes down toward the Grand River). This also better connects Monroe Avenue (where the picture is taken) to the walking bridge behind DeVos Hall that goes over the Grand River to the Gerald R Ford Presidential Library and Museum. Just across the street from that is the Grand Rapids Public Museum, with yet another pedestrian/cyclist only bridge back across the river.

Just behind the camera and about a block south is Rosa Parks Circle, another pedestrian focused area with safe access to several restaurants with outdoor seating and the Grand Rapids Art Museum.

In short, this is a very walkable part of town. It isn’t perfect, but it’s far from “pedestrians can get fucked.”

Also as I stated elsewhere, heating under the street like this can prevent the accumulation of snow which would be plowed onto sidewalks or bike lanes, and the accumulation of ice which would be treated with salt that would then run into the Grand River. It’s a very good solution for the specific problem faced by this city.

Grand Rapids isn’t the most bike-friendly city, but it’s also very far from the worst. I bike through it somewhat regularly, and have only come close to dying once (while biking over the speed limit on Lake Drive in East GR, but not fast enough for one asshole who decided to pass me illegally and almost got hit).

We could certainly use more bike lanes, but we have some good trails in Kent County.

This method of snow prevention is awesome when the weather is right. You keep ice and snow from accumulating in the first place, so it doesn’t need to be plowed and end up blocking the very sidewalks and bikelanes we want. And it also means you don’t need nearly as much salt.

It’s not a perfect solution, but it’s not a bad one either.

Edit: Also this is near an area that is being redone to be largely pedestrian-focused. Cars have been cut off from a good chunk of that road I think, the parking garage exit that goes onto that street has been closed for over a year now. Maybe it will reopen, but regardless, they’ve added a lovely little sitting area down that street. And just down that street where this is shot there’s a lovely walking bridge over the Grand River to the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library/Museum, which is just across the street from the Grand Rapids Public Museum, which has yet another walking bridge (the Blue Bridge) over the Grand River back to this side.

In other words, this is a very walkable part of the city. Again, not perfect, but better than lots of places.