Martha Lauren
@nqrw.bsky.social
Train conductor, point access block appreciator, problematic bisexual
Kind of impressive how you can go through the history of any rock band and there'll have been a dozen different members at one point or another, and not a single woman among them
November 4, 2025 at 12:31 AM
Kind of impressive how you can go through the history of any rock band and there'll have been a dozen different members at one point or another, and not a single woman among them
Reposted by Martha Lauren
Will I be the first to suggest the carbon offsets worked exactly as planned: they delayed real action for another 25 years
Carbon offsets fail to cut global heating due to ‘intractable’ systemic problems, study says
Carbon offsets fail to cut global heating due to ‘intractable’ systemic problems, study says
Analysis of 25 years of evidence shows most schemes are poor quality and fail to lower emissions
The failure of carbon offsets to cut planet-heating pollution is “not due to a few bad apples”, a review paper has found, but down to deep-seated systemic problems that incremental change will not solve.
Research over two decades has found “intractable” problems that have made carbon credits in most big programmes poor quality, according to the study. While the industry and diplomats have made efforts to improve the system, it found much-awaited rules agreed at a UN climate summit last year “did not substantially address the quality problem”. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
October 6, 2025 at 5:32 PM
Will I be the first to suggest the carbon offsets worked exactly as planned: they delayed real action for another 25 years
Reposted by Martha Lauren
The pricing software/ blackrock obsession is so funny to me because it basically posits that there was no housing crisis before, like, 2018.
YIMBYs: “We should attack the landlord cartel’s anti-competitive regulatory capture by getting rid of racist laws that make it illegal to build dense, sustainable housing”
the antimonopoly left, for some reason: “wait no don’t do that, the problem is just the pricing software”
the antimonopoly left, for some reason: “wait no don’t do that, the problem is just the pricing software”
ngl my opinion of the antimonopoly movement, which I'm generally vaguely supportive of, has gone down lately. Lina Khan endorsing a "private sector DOGE", a lot of stupid opposition on stuff like housing...credibility does sort of matter for this kind of thing and idk man, they're giving me pause
October 6, 2025 at 7:51 PM
The pricing software/ blackrock obsession is so funny to me because it basically posits that there was no housing crisis before, like, 2018.
Reposted by Martha Lauren
Reflections on last week's #WeekWithoutDriving in a city that still refuses to acknowledge the existence of its nondrivers — which a comprehensive new report claims make up one-third of LA's population
One-third of Angelenos do not drive
Walking back the "car-free" games promise is unconscionable in a city where the people who don't drive are also the most vulnerable users of our streets
www.torched.la
October 6, 2025 at 7:04 PM
Reflections on last week's #WeekWithoutDriving in a city that still refuses to acknowledge the existence of its nondrivers — which a comprehensive new report claims make up one-third of LA's population
Some of these interchanges on the RATP are ridiculous
October 6, 2025 at 8:08 PM
Some of these interchanges on the RATP are ridiculous
Reposted by Martha Lauren
feels like we're living through some kind of cultural gas leak
Microsoft launches ‘vibe working’ in Excel and Word
Microsoft launches ‘vibe working’ in Excel and Word
Vibe working is all about Office’s new Agent Mode.
buff.ly
October 1, 2025 at 4:52 PM
feels like we're living through some kind of cultural gas leak
I love how the SNCF journey planner is like 'have you considered not taking the train?'
October 4, 2025 at 12:20 AM
I love how the SNCF journey planner is like 'have you considered not taking the train?'
Remember this genius innovation?
October 2, 2025 at 11:03 AM
Remember this genius innovation?
Reposted by Martha Lauren
A station that gets 6 trains per direction per day should look like Exo's stations, not like that, honestly. There are hundreds of bus stops that serve more people that need investment in fixed infrastructure more than this. Just build a platform and add 3 bus shelters.
September 30, 2025 at 11:05 AM
A station that gets 6 trains per direction per day should look like Exo's stations, not like that, honestly. There are hundreds of bus stops that serve more people that need investment in fixed infrastructure more than this. Just build a platform and add 3 bus shelters.
Is there anything in the world more satisfying than gaming air fare fluctuations successfully?
September 29, 2025 at 11:24 AM
Is there anything in the world more satisfying than gaming air fare fluctuations successfully?
Don't count your blessings before they've hatched
September 25, 2025 at 3:45 PM
Don't count your blessings before they've hatched
The YIMBY movement will not rest until every town has its own Tour Montparnasse
September 18, 2025 at 12:39 PM
The YIMBY movement will not rest until every town has its own Tour Montparnasse
Threads discovering that 'country' is an imprecise term with no specific definition
September 12, 2025 at 11:51 AM
Threads discovering that 'country' is an imprecise term with no specific definition
Bud Abbott invites Lou Costello over for Ethiopian food
Costello: What's for dinner?
[hilarious misunderstandings ensue]
Costello: What's for dinner?
[hilarious misunderstandings ensue]
September 8, 2025 at 8:16 PM
Bud Abbott invites Lou Costello over for Ethiopian food
Costello: What's for dinner?
[hilarious misunderstandings ensue]
Costello: What's for dinner?
[hilarious misunderstandings ensue]
One of my favorite bits was when we just got nationalised and for a while I was like 'welcome on board this SNCB train to Shepperton' or 'this is your Grote Britse Spoorwegen service to Woking' or 'thanks for traveling with Brit Államvasutak'
September 4, 2025 at 1:53 PM
One of my favorite bits was when we just got nationalised and for a while I was like 'welcome on board this SNCB train to Shepperton' or 'this is your Grote Britse Spoorwegen service to Woking' or 'thanks for traveling with Brit Államvasutak'
Reposted by Martha Lauren
So what precisely do the right want to do about the white working classes? Certainly not go to university, as they want numbers down. Nor to have a unionised manufacturing job, as they don't want unions.
No, they just want pawns as part of their culture wars. They don't give a toss.
No, they just want pawns as part of their culture wars. They don't give a toss.
“The group nobody seems to care about” Apart from dominating political discourse since Brexit? That group?
August 31, 2025 at 9:09 AM
So what precisely do the right want to do about the white working classes? Certainly not go to university, as they want numbers down. Nor to have a unionised manufacturing job, as they don't want unions.
No, they just want pawns as part of their culture wars. They don't give a toss.
No, they just want pawns as part of their culture wars. They don't give a toss.
(me taking the train home following a few pints after work) ah, so the PTI hazard observer becomes the PTI hazard
August 25, 2025 at 8:14 PM
(me taking the train home following a few pints after work) ah, so the PTI hazard observer becomes the PTI hazard
King County Metro states 55% of fare revenue comes from ORCA Business Passport (employers paying per head for their employees to have annual transit passes).
Does that mean that uptake is exceptionally high, or that fare evasion is the norm for everyone else?
Does that mean that uptake is exceptionally high, or that fare evasion is the norm for everyone else?
August 22, 2025 at 8:25 PM
King County Metro states 55% of fare revenue comes from ORCA Business Passport (employers paying per head for their employees to have annual transit passes).
Does that mean that uptake is exceptionally high, or that fare evasion is the norm for everyone else?
Does that mean that uptake is exceptionally high, or that fare evasion is the norm for everyone else?
Reposted by Martha Lauren
As Robert Moses once said, you need to put everyone’s homes on one side of the Intercoastal and FECR and all the Targets and Publixes on the other
August 19, 2025 at 8:31 PM
As Robert Moses once said, you need to put everyone’s homes on one side of the Intercoastal and FECR and all the Targets and Publixes on the other
It's because trains are good
Does anyone have a good explanation for Amtrak’s impressive post pandemic ridership growth?
FY19: 12.5 MM
FY24: 14 MM
🔼 12%
FY19: 12.5 MM
FY24: 14 MM
🔼 12%
August 20, 2025 at 6:52 PM
It's because trains are good
Reposted by Martha Lauren
“Some of his subcontracted immigrant workers are demanding extra wages for running the risk of being detained by ICE. That has pushed individual daily labor costs to $400 to $500, up from between $200 and $300 a day.” www.reuters.com/world/us/thi...
This construction project was on time and on budget. Then came ICE.
Under a broiling Alabama sky a frustrated Robby Robertson, a construction site superintendent, surveys an 84,000 square foot, mostly built recreation center close to the Gulf coast port city of Mobile. The site is eerily quiet.
www.reuters.com
July 28, 2025 at 6:29 PM
“Some of his subcontracted immigrant workers are demanding extra wages for running the risk of being detained by ICE. That has pushed individual daily labor costs to $400 to $500, up from between $200 and $300 a day.” www.reuters.com/world/us/thi...
This whole europoors thing is just American liberals coping with the cognitive dissonance of believing in global warming while maintaining an extremely energy-intensive lifestyle, by framing conveniences like keeping your house a constant 70 freedom degrees as the baseline of a civilised existence
Beyond the fact that this kind of petty engagement farming looks like the projection of an American elite inferiority complex in an era when the US is plunging into a severe domestic crisis, it also entrenches an intellectual isolationism that compounds that America Crisis
July 21, 2025 at 1:35 PM
This whole europoors thing is just American liberals coping with the cognitive dissonance of believing in global warming while maintaining an extremely energy-intensive lifestyle, by framing conveniences like keeping your house a constant 70 freedom degrees as the baseline of a civilised existence
Hot n spicy take: Meal kits suck in many respects (excessive packaging, immiserated warehouse workers, semi-scammy subscription model) but if the use case is an alternative to meal delivery they're an unequivocal good
July 18, 2025 at 7:19 PM
Hot n spicy take: Meal kits suck in many respects (excessive packaging, immiserated warehouse workers, semi-scammy subscription model) but if the use case is an alternative to meal delivery they're an unequivocal good
The two best value mcdonalds items (wrap of the day and double cheeseburger) have both increased in price by 20p in London, this is my radicalising moment
July 13, 2025 at 3:47 PM
The two best value mcdonalds items (wrap of the day and double cheeseburger) have both increased in price by 20p in London, this is my radicalising moment
If I were Houston I would simply tear down all freeways inside of the 610 loop, build automated metro lines along those freeway corridors, and use planning policies to concentrate development within that area
July 7, 2025 at 1:50 PM
If I were Houston I would simply tear down all freeways inside of the 610 loop, build automated metro lines along those freeway corridors, and use planning policies to concentrate development within that area