Jan and Klodi's Party Bus - part II **off topic discussion**

Chuchote

Role models #1 Eileen Gray

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/11624291/Eileen-Gray-cyclist-obituary.html

AstraMonti

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/277601164/parkis-space-saving-bicycle-lift

I don't understand.
1) Why does this cost 240 euro?
2) Why is it backed that much?
3) What I am missing?
4) What's the problem with a hook on the wall?
5) Why am I asking so many questions for this shιt?

CramCycle

AstraMonti wrote: »

1) Why does this cost 240 euro? More money than sense, I even see hanging hooks dipped in blue plasticoat and resold for 50euro as opposed to 5euro that they are from the building providers.

2) Why is it backed that much?

I imagine it is people possibly buying a share in the company or bulk buying for their shop.

3) What I am missing?

Nothing

4) What's the problem with a hook on the wall?

Nothing

5) Why am I asking so many questions for this shιt?

You thought it was Friday? The thing won't even suspend a bicycle.

Chuchote

These are good too

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/ie/en/bbb-parking-hook-storage-hook-btl26/rp-prod60754

Beasty

AstraMonti wrote: »

3) What I am missing?

....doesn't work with most road bikes

Rogue-Trooper

Picked up the Lezyne light set from Halfords that has been the subject of much excitment on the bargains thread.

Great lights, but I especially love that that the rubber USB plug on the back light looks annoyed that you've removed it..............

CramCycle

Chuchote wrote: »

These are good too

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/ie/en/bbb-parking-hook-storage-hook-btl26/rp-prod60754

Buy it , paint it blue, write Park Tools in tip Ex on it and charge 75euro. Money in the bank.

buffalo

Interesting way to approach retirement for Phil Gaimon - righting the wrongs of Strava: taking KOMs from a doper (who presumably uses his top spot to advertise his 'brand').

https://cyclingtips.com/2016/12/gaimon-begins-retirement-by-hunting-banned-riders-strava-koms/

“I feel a little bit like someone’s big brother,” he says. “There’s this bully on the playground pushing people around, and I’m the one who can do something about it. I mean, I know a ton of guys who could take these KOMs clean — Mike Woods and Joe Dombrowski could take them with one leg. But unlike me, those guys have better things to do.”

tomasrojo

There was a small discussion of Clinton and the popular vote in the presidential election up-thread. Here's an update:

Here's your semi-recurring update: Hillary Clinton's popular vote lead has now reached 2.52 million votes. In percentage terms that's a 1.9 percentage point margin. It will rise at least a bit more. We can likely be confident that her final margin will be at least 2 percentage points. To compare, that's 5 times the margin of Al Gore's popular vote win in raw vote terms and 4 times his margin in percentage terms. At this point, not only did Clinton win the popular vote. It wasn't even all that close. When George W. Bush had another bite at the electoral apple in 2004 and finally did win the popular vote it was by 2.5 percentage points. Barack Obama's margin in 2012 was 3.9 percentage points.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/two-point-five-million

cjt156

Bernie Sanders won the popular vote in a number of primaries, yet the delegates gave their support to Clinton. So, you know, there's that...

tomasrojo

Clinton won the popular vote in the primaries. She also got the most pledged delegates. The superdelegates could have deserted her and given it to Sanders, maybe, but only by ignoring that Clinton got the most votes, which would be rather weird. It was much closer than anticipated, but it wasn't all that close. Clinton won by every available measure.

There are some rumours that Clinton (or her chosen staff) chose poor strategies in the presidential campaign itself. This wouldn't be that surprising, as she ran a terrible campaign in terms of strategy against Obama in the primaries in 2008.

Chuchote

Jill Stein's vote topped Trumps in some places, knocking out Clinton…

In other news, Hollande isn't going to stand for presidency in France, leaving the field open for Macron, Royal, dunno who else. More interesting than most anglophone candidates - Macron married his school teacher, is an accomplished pianist, practises French boxing/kickboxing for fun, and wrote his dissertation in philosophy on Machiavelli. Ségo, mother of four children with Hollande, is an army brat with a lifetime in politics and a great strategic thinker who sidelined 'reform' of employment law in her own region at one stage by announcing that no government subsidies would go to companies that adopted the new contracts. (Don't expect serious coverage of her politics from anglophone newspapers, which are more interested in her style and sex life.) Could Laurent Fabius - on the right of the left as a free-market nationalist - stand? The 'Blairiste' Manuel Valls with his tin ear for sensitivities?

And on the right, the Trump-like François Fillon (who plans to cut unemployment, oddly starting off by promising to cut half a million public service posts and put all those people on the dole, d'oh) is the Thatcherite great hope against the National Front's Marine Le Pen, who is out-Trumping Fillon by promising to protect those public servants. Currently Fillon is making the running but Le Pen is making the policy of the right with her anti-immigrant rhetoric. She has a straaaange background https://www.1843magazine.com/features/marine-le-pen-letrangere

Interesting times, my dears, interesting times.

tomasrojo

Chuchote wrote: »

Jill Stein's vote topped Trumps in some places, knocking out Clinton…

Funnily enough I was just reading about third-party candidates as spoilers.

Again, I don't have any interest in defending Stein. Boo Stein! But I don't think it's clear that absent Stein, Clinton would have won. More importantly, so what? Presumably we're going to have 3rd party candidates in every election. You can think they're assholes and that people who vote for them are assholes, but that doesn't make the candidates go away or their voters vote for the Democrat.

http://www.eschatonblog.com/2016/12/jill-stein-is-horrible-whats-your-point.html

Lusk_Doyle

CramCycle wrote: »

Buy it , paint it blue, write Park Tools in tip Ex on it and charge 75euro. Money in the bank.

I'm reporting you to Specialized. They know how to deal with people like you.

Lusk_Doyle

tomasrojo wrote: »

Clinton won the popular vote in the primaries. She also got the most pledged delegates. The superdelegates could have deserted her and given it to Sanders, maybe, but only by ignoring that Clinton got the most votes, which would be rather weird. It was much closer than anticipated, but it wasn't all that close. Clinton won by every available measure.

There are some rumours that Clinton (or her chosen staff) chose poor strategies in the presidential campaign itself. This wouldn't be that surprising, as she ran a terrible campaign in terms of strategy against Obama in the primaries in 2008.

Clinton "beat" Sanders only because the DNC and in particular, the now disgaced Debbie Whatshername Schultz, conspired to make it so. Sanders was the "stick it to the system" democrat vote that those idiots were too stupid to realise was needed. Hence they now have Trump.

tomasrojo

Lusk_Doyle wrote: »

Clinton "beat" Sanders only because the DNC and in particular, the now disgaced Debbie Whatshername Schultz, conspired to make it so. Sanders was the "stick it to the system" democrat vote that those idiots were too stupid to realise was needed. Hence they now have Trump.

She actually did beat him, obviating the need for scare quotes. The DNC need a much more comprehensive clear-out than just that woman, from what little I know of them, but they didn't hand the nomination to Clinton. She beat Sanders quite clearly. The machinations of the DNC probably weren't all that consequential.

Maybe Sanders would have done better against Trump. We don't know what would have been unloaded on him during the campaign, because he didn't actually win the nomination. There were some mentions of him living at home with his parents until his mid-thirties, stealing electricity from a neighbour, and some interesting prose writing from the 70s. I don't know whether any of this is true (as if veracity would have made much of a difference anyway), but it was obviously being heated up for use in the unlikely event of him securing the nomination.

tomasrojo

I probably should say Sanders seems ok to me, and I'm not much of a fan of Clinton. In fact, she's a terrible campaigner, as far as I can see, especially in terms of strategy. I just have never seen the whole "Sanders was robbed" narrative as very convincing.

Lusk_Doyle

tomasrojo wrote: »

She actually did beat him, obviating the need for scare quotes. The DNC need a much more comprehensive clear-out than just that woman, from what little I know of them, but they didn't hand the nomination to Clinton. She beat Sanders quite clearly. The machinations of the DNC probably weren't all that consequential.

Maybe Sanders would have done better against Trump. We don't know what would have been unloaded on him during the campaign, because he didn't actually win the nomination. There were some mentions of him living at home with his parents until his mid-thirties, stealing electricity from a neighbour, and some interesting prose writing from the 70s. I don't know whether any of this is true, but it was obviously being heated up for use in the unlikely event of him securing the nomination.

I used the " " to illustrate that it was not a fair contest and the dogs on the street know that the banks, large corporations and their lapdogs, the party elite, conspired to ensure that Clinton won. You need look no further than the mass disenfranchisement of the voters prior to the primaries and caucuses not to mention the blatant electoral fraud by the local captains. They did that off their own bat? No chance.

I don't see how any of the items you mentioned, whether true or not, would have had a negative impact on a Sanders presidential campaign against Trump. Sanders waa killing him in national polls all through the nomination process. The angry uneducated white middle aged male vote would have been beaten by the disillusioned young vote across all ethnic and social groups. However, the DNC, et al, could not see the wood from the trees and ruined it. Granted, they will learn from this and get the correct candidate next time round so maybe it was a necessary evil for ultimate good?

Lusk_Doyle

Oh and superdelegates are a complete joke and make a total mockery of the democratic system. Put there by the party elite to protect the interests of their benefactors by having a failsafe in the event of a mass revolt by voters.

Beasty

Lusk_Doyle wrote: »

I'm reporting you to Specialized. They know how to deal with people like you.

Hopefully they follow the yellow card, red card, ban model:)

tomasrojo

Lusk_Doyle wrote: »

I don't see how any of the items you mentioned, whether true or not, would have had a negative impact on a Sanders presidential campaign against Trump.

I've no idea why Mike Dukakis sitting in a tank made him unelectable, but there's plenty of material there to make him look like a deadbeat.

Lusk_Doyle wrote: »

Sanders waa killing him in national polls all through the nomination process.

I saw that, but the voters knew absolutely nothing about him at that stage. He might have managed to get an attractive account of himself before the voters successfully, but then again, maybe not.

I'm not saying he wouldn't have won. But I don't think polls carried out on relative unknowns almost a year away from election day are all that meaningful either.

tomasrojo

Lusk_Doyle wrote: »

Oh and superdelegates are a complete joke and make a total mockery of the democratic system. Put there by the party elite to protect the interests of their benefactors by having a failsafe in the event of a mass revolt by voters.

It strikes me as a weird system, but Clinton would have won on pledged delegates alone. So they were irrelevant. Their only importance was that they COULD have ensured Sanders victory, if they ignored Clinton's larger share of the vote and majority of pledged delegates, and went for Sanders.

Wishbone Ash

tomasrojo wrote: »

I've no idea why Mike Dukakis sitting in a tank made him unelectabe....

It was the helmet!

In fairness to Dukakis, he was one of the few that refused to engage in negative campaigning which led to his demise. I found him to be very likeable because of it.

tomasrojo

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

It was the helmet!

In fairness to Dukakis, he was one of the few that refused to engage in negative campaigning which led to his demise. I found him to be very likeable because of it.

Yeah, I guess the helmet didn't look great. Let's not start on helmets, for God's sake!

Wishbone Ash

Andrew Sachs RIP (Manuel - Fawlty Towers)

Lumen

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Andrew Sachs RIP (Manuel - Fawlty Towers)

I suppose this is appropriate. :pac:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyuS8GcENfQ

CramCycle

Lusk_Doyle wrote: »

I'm reporting you to Specialized. They know how to deal with people like you.

Specialized voice: Say hello to Queenie, your new puppet master, CramCycle is on vacation, PERMANENTLY.

Chuchote

Interesting presentation (goes into English after the short intro) about Utrecht's changes to make it a city where people want to live, not commute

manafana

Chuchote wrote: »

Jill Stein's vote topped Trumps in some places, knocking out Clinton…

In other news, Hollande isn't going to stand for presidency in France, leaving the field open for Macron, Royal, dunno who else. More interesting than most anglophone candidates - Macron married his school teacher, is an accomplished pianist, practises French boxing/kickboxing for fun, and wrote his dissertation in philosophy on Machiavelli. Ségo, mother of four children with Hollande, is an army brat with a lifetime in politics and a great strategic thinker who sidelined 'reform' of employment law in her own region at one stage by announcing that no government subsidies would go to companies that adopted the new contracts. (Don't expect serious coverage of her politics from anglophone newspapers, which are more interested in her style and sex life.) Could Laurent Fabius - on the right of the left as a free-market nationalist - stand? The 'Blairiste' Manuel Valls with his tin ear for sensitivities?

And on the right, the Trump-like François Fillon (who plans to cut unemployment, oddly starting off by promising to cut half a million public service posts and put all those people on the dole, d'oh) is the Thatcherite great hope against the National Front's Marine Le Pen, who is out-Trumping Fillon by promising to protect those public servants. Currently Fillon is making the running but Le Pen is making the policy of the right with her anti-immigrant rhetoric. She has a straaaange background https://www.1843magazine.com/features/marine-le-pen-letrangere

Interesting times, my dears, interesting times.

Fillion is no trump, to compare them is silly. He is the prefect foil to Le Pen as he has policies just right wing enough to steal from her, cant say im huge fan given his religious background and thoughts on muslims.

Chuchote

manafana wrote: »

Fillion is no trump, to compare them is silly. He is the prefect foil to Le Pen as he has policies just right wing enough to steal from her, cant say im huge fan given his religious background and thoughts on muslims.

Fillon hasn't been, but the view in France is that he's picked up on Trump's methods and started using them in this election.

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2016/11/making-france-great-fillon-trump-footsteps-161128093319320.html

But while unemployment, debt, and government spending remain high, France is not "on the verge of bankruptcy" as Fillon contends. The French economy, the world's fifth largest, is diverse and solid and has been able to cope with the 2008 global financial crisis better than most.

France is nothing like the US, but Fillon like Trump, needs the gloom and doom argument in order to impose his agenda; to raise the retirement age, cut welfare, privatise healthcare, reduce vacation and increase working hours. And of course, cut corporate tax to "stimulate growth".

http://www.vox.com/world/2016/11/28/13763476/francois-fillon-france-election-2016-2017

Finally, he has proposed a fairly drastic revision to French foreign policy. He is an actual personal friend of Vladimir Putin; the two have, among other things, played billiards together. Unsurprisingly, his foreign policy is astonishingly pro-Russia, and not just on issues related to terrorism. He has called on the West to accommodate Putin’s interventionism in Ukraine, and blamed “American imperialism” for Europe’s problems.

https://www.letemps.ch/monde/2016/11/24/y-ressemblances-entre-lelectorat-francois-fillon-celui-donald-trump

Il y a des ressemblances entre l’électorat des deux hommes. Leurs électeurs sont animés d’un sentiment commun de colère face à ce que je préfère nommer «l’éligarchie» que les élites. Cette révolte est celle du peuple avec un grand P, pas seulement celle des classes populaires. On la retrouve dans le vote pour le Brexit au Royaume-Uni, dans l’élection de Trump, et dans les 44% de voix au premier tour obtenus dimanche dernier par François Fillon. Ce qui la caractérise? Le ras-le-bol de politiciens perçu comme ligotés par les groupes de pression et la prime donnée à une rupture sans concession au nom des «valeurs». De ce point de vue, Alain Juppé incarne parfaitement «l’éligarque» français hors-sol, issu des grands corps de la haute administration. Fillon, en revanche, a un profil plus atypique d’élu de terrain, plus proche des gens. Il n’est pas énarque. Il apparaît plus indépendant. Fillon est aussi plus typiquement français, moins mondialisé, moins américanisé.

http://www.haaretz.com/world-news/europe/1.756062

Frenchmen need to fight against Muslim sectarianism, Fillon told Europe1 on November 23, like “we fought against a form of Catholic sectarianism or like we fought the desire of Jews to live in a community that does not respect the laws of the French Republic.”