My impression is that the US has thoroughly neglected all forms of non-car infrastructure. Some straight bike and foot paths running straight through a suburban cul-de-sac maze would do a lot of good.
No, that was pre-school care, for kids whose parents need to go to work earlier than the school starts. No idea if that exists in the US; if it does, I suppose that would solve the problem of the parents whose kids' school now starts a lot later. Just like after school care can solve the problem for kids coming out of school earlier than they used to. But if this was the easy solution, I don't think so many parents would be complaining.
Only a very small percentage of Dutch kids go to pre-school care. Much less than after school care. Most parents prefer to go to work when or after their kids leave for school, possibly dropping them off at school.
As for whose fault the accident was, that's something that further investigation will show. It seems the brake of the vehicle was malfunctioning. Expect thorough investigation into the safety of these electric passenger scooters. But tragic as it may be, no vehicle, not even school buses, are immune to accidents.
Anything? I certainly do want something that I mentioned in my post. I don't want the excessive bussing, but I do want mixed neighbourhoods. Those are generally much healthier for the city and more pleasant to live in than highly homogenous neighbourhoods. Just like the mixed schools.
I can certainly understand the desire for more mixed schools; some schools in Amsterdam could certainly use being a bit more mixed.
But still, that doesn't mean everybody has to be bussed, just half of the kids living in a neighbourhood that is itself completely homogenous as well as too far away from a different neighbourhood.
Of course the real solution to that problem would be to encourage more mixed neighbourhoods. Add bigger, more expensive houses in poor neighbourhoods and more affordable housing in wealthy neighbourhoods.
Foot paths should be a no-brainer. Even if Americans don't bike, surely everybody's got legs? Bike paths would be awesome of course, enabling kids to bike to school on their own. But even if you want to restrict them to the bus, foot paths directly to the main roads with bus stops there would make a ton of sense and save everybody a lot of time.
How about somewhere in the middle? Schools that aren't enormous, small enough to have them within a reasonable distance, but large enough to have at least one teacher per year group?
5 miles isn't a problem. I biked 10 km to school from age 12. My wife 20 km (she lived in a very rural area). A big part of the problem is of course the complete lack of bicycling in the US. That takes away kids' mobility.
I don't think teens are maturally night people, it just works out that way because they go to bed much later. Youmg kids are put to bed fairly early so their parents still have somr time for themselves. Teens have their own evening activities, so they go to bed later and have more trouble getting out of bed in the morning.
Every aspect of your comment sounds completely insane to me. An hour from bed to school is not hard where I live. My 9 year old son often gets out of bed at 7:45 and is at school at 8:30. We live right next to school, but even with 15 minutes walking or biking, it's quite doable. No primary school in a city should be further away than that (though in very rural areas they might be).
The idea that a school would punish a child for coming on foot or bike is too idiotic toi believe, were we not talking about the US here. Americans seem to he completely nuts when it comes to schools or transportation.
What kind of security would you need? And why 7:30? Dutch schools start at 8:30 and kids walk or bike there. Young ones accompanied by their parents.
Lack of walking and biking infrastructure in the US is definitely a problem of course, but it seems to me that that's the thing that needs to get fixed here.
If this is such a hassle, what is the advantage of the US school bus system?
Netherland has no school buses; all schools start between 8:15 and 8:45, and kids go to school on their own bike. Young kids are brought by their parents. Especially in a city like Boston, I would expect the distance to school to be too short to justify buses.
But we do have rights. We have agreed on plenty of very important rights. Discussion is ongoing on even more rights. Most people like having rights. It's why we care about them and are willing to defend them not just for ourselves, but for others.
Rights are not magical things with their own independent existence. Rights exist only because society has decided those rights are important and is willing to protect them.
It used to be that kings had a divine right to rule, and society was willing to protect that right. Then people decided it was a stupid right and took it away. Instead they decided everybody should have the same right, the right to equal treatment under the law, and equal voice in government, etc. Originally this right was only for rich men, but eventually it was extended to women and poor people. Because society decided it.
Rights do not exist independent from the society that grants them and is willing to defend them.
I don't mind paying more than $500 for a good phone, but in recent years I've been appalled at the awful quality of high-end smartphones. I had to return an HTC One because it had a broken mic that apparently couldn't be fixed in the three times they claimed to have fixed it. My Samsung Galaxy's orientation is broken, regularly does completely random stuff, and it's full of bloatware I can't remove. Connectivity is poor. I really love Fairphone, but my Fairphone 2 does automatic reboots way too often (and no high-end smartphone has been immune to this).
Maybe the best smartphone I've ever owned was the Motorola Milestone I bought after my iPhone 3G was stolen. It had a period where it occasionally called random people, didn't receive software updates and had an encrypted bootloader that prevented me from updating it, but at least it felt like I had the best device available at the time. The iPhone I had before that had poor connectivity and is of course limited by Apple.
I don't understand why €600 can't get me a reliable, crap-free smartphone.
His weakness? What about yours? You're the one crying about man-bashing, a war against masculinity and left-marxist thinking (whatever that may be). You radiate insecurity that you try to blame on others, and apparently found it necessary to vote for racism and misogyny so you can feel important again. The sickening weakness here is yours.
You people are really getting bad. You have no respect for anyone who disagrees with you despite their status in the system that you completely base your identity on. Not to mention the ongoing total and complete lack of critical thought, rationale, and evidence in your discourse.
It is the complete lack of critical thought, rationale and evidence in Ben Carson's delusions that makes us dismiss him as an idiot. We have evidence that he is an idiot. Tons of it. How much do we need? I'm not sure what you mean by "their status in the system that you completely base your identity on", but it's certainly not mere disagreement. I even dismiss Jill Stein's (far lesser) idiocy, though she's from the exact party I would prefer to support.
I disagree with Jeb Bush and John Kasich, but I respect them as fairly sane and rational people.
Hence: tax the rich, give their money to the poor, so they can buy stuff from the rich.
This is a joke, right? If I have to give someone my money to by my product, I might as well cease making my product - assuming that I had a desire to make money off my product (or even cover the cost of making the product.)
The problem is the ignorance and indolence of the general population being seduced by socialism. It has never worked.
Depends on what you mean by that. The kind of wealth redistribution we have in northern Europe and in the US of the 1930s-1950s, worked quite well. Killing the free market is (usually) a terrible idea, but ensuring that people can afford to buy stuff works incredibly well.
Exactly. The real problem is the economic system that puts all the power and profits in the hands of a rich few. We could have had that 15 hour work week if we'd divided the profits of our higher productivity in a more equal way, but we decided that taxing the rich is bad, while the rich owning all the means of production is good, so they get all the profits and they get to keep it.
Money only has value if you can exchange it for other people's work. I'm not sure if machines will accept it...
When the machines become citizens who own themselves and the fruits of their labor, we're in deep trouble. Until then, the machines belong to someone who gets to enjoy the fruits of the machines' labor. When all the machines are in the hands of the rich, while the poor are unemployed, nobody will have money to buy the products of the machines. Hence: tax the rich, give their money to the poor, so they can buy stuff from the rich. Or make the machines common property somehow.
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My impression is that the US has thoroughly neglected all forms of non-car infrastructure. Some straight bike and foot paths running straight through a suburban cul-de-sac maze would do a lot of good.
No, that was pre-school care, for kids whose parents need to go to work earlier than the school starts. No idea if that exists in the US; if it does, I suppose that would solve the problem of the parents whose kids' school now starts a lot later. Just like after school care can solve the problem for kids coming out of school earlier than they used to. But if this was the easy solution, I don't think so many parents would be complaining.
Only a very small percentage of Dutch kids go to pre-school care. Much less than after school care. Most parents prefer to go to work when or after their kids leave for school, possibly dropping them off at school.
As for whose fault the accident was, that's something that further investigation will show. It seems the brake of the vehicle was malfunctioning. Expect thorough investigation into the safety of these electric passenger scooters. But tragic as it may be, no vehicle, not even school buses, are immune to accidents.
Anything? I certainly do want something that I mentioned in my post. I don't want the excessive bussing, but I do want mixed neighbourhoods. Those are generally much healthier for the city and more pleasant to live in than highly homogenous neighbourhoods. Just like the mixed schools.
I can certainly understand the desire for more mixed schools; some schools in Amsterdam could certainly use being a bit more mixed.
But still, that doesn't mean everybody has to be bussed, just half of the kids living in a neighbourhood that is itself completely homogenous as well as too far away from a different neighbourhood.
Of course the real solution to that problem would be to encourage more mixed neighbourhoods. Add bigger, more expensive houses in poor neighbourhoods and more affordable housing in wealthy neighbourhoods.
Foot paths should be a no-brainer. Even if Americans don't bike, surely everybody's got legs? Bike paths would be awesome of course, enabling kids to bike to school on their own. But even if you want to restrict them to the bus, foot paths directly to the main roads with bus stops there would make a ton of sense and save everybody a lot of time.
How about somewhere in the middle? Schools that aren't enormous, small enough to have them within a reasonable distance, but large enough to have at least one teacher per year group?
5 miles isn't a problem. I biked 10 km to school from age 12. My wife 20 km (she lived in a very rural area). A big part of the problem is of course the complete lack of bicycling in the US. That takes away kids' mobility.
I don't think teens are maturally night people, it just works out that way because they go to bed much later. Youmg kids are put to bed fairly early so their parents still have somr time for themselves. Teens have their own evening activities, so they go to bed later and have more trouble getting out of bed in the morning.
Every aspect of your comment sounds completely insane to me. An hour from bed to school is not hard where I live. My 9 year old son often gets out of bed at 7:45 and is at school at 8:30. We live right next to school, but even with 15 minutes walking or biking, it's quite doable. No primary school in a city should be further away than that (though in very rural areas they might be).
The idea that a school would punish a child for coming on foot or bike is too idiotic toi believe, were we not talking about the US here. Americans seem to he completely nuts when it comes to schools or transportation.
What kind of security would you need? And why 7:30? Dutch schools start at 8:30 and kids walk or bike there. Young ones accompanied by their parents.
Lack of walking and biking infrastructure in the US is definitely a problem of course, but it seems to me that that's the thing that needs to get fixed here.
That kind of road structure is not unusual in Netherland. The buses follow the common road. It'd be silly to have them enter the cul-de-sac.
If this is such a hassle, what is the advantage of the US school bus system?
Netherland has no school buses; all schools start between 8:15 and 8:45, and kids go to school on their own bike. Young kids are brought by their parents. Especially in a city like Boston, I would expect the distance to school to be too short to justify buses.
Except those handful of people in the world whose first language isn't English.
But we do have rights. We have agreed on plenty of very important rights. Discussion is ongoing on even more rights. Most people like having rights. It's why we care about them and are willing to defend them not just for ourselves, but for others.
Rights are not magical things with their own independent existence. Rights exist only because society has decided those rights are important and is willing to protect them.
It used to be that kings had a divine right to rule, and society was willing to protect that right. Then people decided it was a stupid right and took it away. Instead they decided everybody should have the same right, the right to equal treatment under the law, and equal voice in government, etc. Originally this right was only for rich men, but eventually it was extended to women and poor people. Because society decided it.
Rights do not exist independent from the society that grants them and is willing to defend them.
I don't mind paying more than $500 for a good phone, but in recent years I've been appalled at the awful quality of high-end smartphones. I had to return an HTC One because it had a broken mic that apparently couldn't be fixed in the three times they claimed to have fixed it. My Samsung Galaxy's orientation is broken, regularly does completely random stuff, and it's full of bloatware I can't remove. Connectivity is poor. I really love Fairphone, but my Fairphone 2 does automatic reboots way too often (and no high-end smartphone has been immune to this).
Maybe the best smartphone I've ever owned was the Motorola Milestone I bought after my iPhone 3G was stolen. It had a period where it occasionally called random people, didn't receive software updates and had an encrypted bootloader that prevented me from updating it, but at least it felt like I had the best device available at the time. The iPhone I had before that had poor connectivity and is of course limited by Apple.
I don't understand why €600 can't get me a reliable, crap-free smartphone.
Your weakness makes me sick.
His weakness? What about yours? You're the one crying about man-bashing, a war against masculinity and left-marxist thinking (whatever that may be). You radiate insecurity that you try to blame on others, and apparently found it necessary to vote for racism and misogyny so you can feel important again. The sickening weakness here is yours.
You people are really getting bad. You have no respect for anyone who disagrees with you despite their status in the system that you completely base your identity on. Not to mention the ongoing total and complete lack of critical thought, rationale, and evidence in your discourse.
It is the complete lack of critical thought, rationale and evidence in Ben Carson's delusions that makes us dismiss him as an idiot. We have evidence that he is an idiot. Tons of it. How much do we need? I'm not sure what you mean by "their status in the system that you completely base your identity on", but it's certainly not mere disagreement. I even dismiss Jill Stein's (far lesser) idiocy, though she's from the exact party I would prefer to support.
I disagree with Jeb Bush and John Kasich, but I respect them as fairly sane and rational people.
If he is not an intelligent man... how did he reach the top of his field as he did?
Whatever it is, he certainly put an end to using brain surgeon as a synonym for really smart.
I wonder when a former rocket scientist will run for president.
this is a joke, or at least was a joke. Now it's probably a reality
Reality is the real joke.
Hence: tax the rich, give their money to the poor, so they can buy stuff from the rich.
This is a joke, right? If I have to give someone my money to by my product, I might as well cease making my product - assuming that I had a desire to make money off my product (or even cover the cost of making the product.)
It worked very well for Henry Ford.
The problem is the ignorance and indolence of the general population being seduced by socialism. It has never worked.
Depends on what you mean by that. The kind of wealth redistribution we have in northern Europe and in the US of the 1930s-1950s, worked quite well. Killing the free market is (usually) a terrible idea, but ensuring that people can afford to buy stuff works incredibly well.
Exactly. The real problem is the economic system that puts all the power and profits in the hands of a rich few. We could have had that 15 hour work week if we'd divided the profits of our higher productivity in a more equal way, but we decided that taxing the rich is bad, while the rich owning all the means of production is good, so they get all the profits and they get to keep it.
Taxes are decided by the House of Representatives. If you want change, you need to vote all those lazy incumbents out.
Money only has value if you can exchange it for other people's work. I'm not sure if machines will accept it...
When the machines become citizens who own themselves and the fruits of their labor, we're in deep trouble. Until then, the machines belong to someone who gets to enjoy the fruits of the machines' labor. When all the machines are in the hands of the rich, while the poor are unemployed, nobody will have money to buy the products of the machines. Hence: tax the rich, give their money to the poor, so they can buy stuff from the rich. Or make the machines common property somehow.