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CorrectHorseBat commented on Germany's train service is one of Europe's worst. How did it get so bad?   npr.org/2025/12/12/g-s1-1... · Posted by u/pseudolus
thaumasiotes · 5 days ago
> there's probably fewer different routes on the subway so trains conflict with each other less

This isn't obvious to me. Here's Deutsche Bahn's map of the system: https://cms.static-bahn.de/wmedia/redaktion/aushaenge/streck...

Here's a map of Shanghai's subway system: https://www.travelchinaguide.com/images/map/shanghai/subway-...

The German intercity rail network certainly identifies more lines, around 57 to Shanghai's 18, but this isn't directly related to the complexity of the topology. For example, line 14 appears to begin in Aachen and dead-end into Berlin, at which point line 95 begins in Berlin and runs out to Poland. As far as the routing is concerned, those could be the same line. But they're given different numbers. When the same thing happens (at a smaller scale) in Shanghai at the west end of line 9, the tail bit of the line going to Songjiang is still called "line 9". Note that if you want to ride out to Songjiang, at some point you're going to have to get off your "line 9" train and walk over to another station where a different "line 9" train will take you the rest of the way.

Discounting that, the two layouts appear to be roughly similar on the fundamentals, if differently scaled.

The most obvious difference is that the routes between major German cities are served by several lines. This is clearly meaningful in some cases; line 29 from Munich to Nuremberg continues north to Hamburg via Berlin while line 41 from Munich to Nuremberg continues northwest to Dortmund via Frankfurt and Cologne. On the other hand, line 8 from Munich to Nuremberg parallels line 29 for the entire length of line 8 (line 8 stops in Berlin, but line 29 doesn't).

My first guess would be that conflicts arise from the fact that the German trains are on the ground, and when their tracks cross, conflict can occur. This isn't true of a subway system; when subway tracks cross, they do it at different altitudes, allowing both tracks to be in use simultaneously.

CorrectHorseBat · 5 days ago
Not only do tracks cross, trains also share tracks and platforms. In Shanghai only Line 3 and 4 share tracks and platforms.

Your map only shows ICE/IC lines, there are many more other lines which share the same tracks. This shows a more complete picture: https://www.deviantart.com/costamiri/art/Transit-diagram-of-... but it still doesn't show international trains and freight.

CorrectHorseBat commented on The architecture of “not bad”: Decoding the Chinese source code of the void   suggger.substack.com/p/th... · Posted by u/Suggger
scooke · 7 days ago
The author wrote,"Because there is a vast interval between “good” and “bad,” it accommodates complex relationships." which, to me, shows they don't truly grasp the cultural context of his Chinese environment. There is the same interval between good and bad in both Chinese and Western values and thinking and terminology. What makes it seem there is a difference is the hesitancy to be affirmative in Chinese culture. To affirm some thing is to claim knowledge and expertise, and in doing _that_ comes an expectation that those around the Affirmer acquiesce to their expertise. This is another facet of Face. Very few people will claim such a level of knowledge and expertise and experience, so the words used are purposely "vague". It's not a issue with the terms.

I was once asked if I speak Chinese and I answered affirmatively, "Shi da" (very bad pinyin btw). Everyone thought that was hilarious! They were able to think it hilarious because, at the time, I was just a young single man, and my answer made it sound like I was affirming that I speak Chinese, _all of it_! But in my mind the conversation was in Chinese, I understood the question and gave an answer in Chinese, so of course I can speak it...just not fluently. I learned from that experience that a better answer is, "keyi", which is essentially "enough" but in a more humble mode and the breadth of that word itself is adapted to the context. If asked in a market about my Chinese, "keyi" means "enough to do shopping" with no claim to more than that. If in the context of a class at university, it meant "enough to do the work" but not claiming to be super smart, NOR, dumb (since it's at university). It isn't the words, it's the interpersonal culture, face, and both communicating and showing you know where you fit in.

CorrectHorseBat · 7 days ago
I think your issue is just that your grammar was wrong.

是的(Shide) is the closest thing to yes in Mandarin, but it's as universal. Answering 是的 on the question 你会中文吗 is like answering "yes I am" on the question "do you speak English?". 可以 isn't correct either, unless they asked 你可以说中文吗?, which is more like "Can you switch to English?" And not "are you able to speak English?" if I'm not mistaken.

Answering 我会 is perfectly fine, even if you don't speak perfectly Chinese. If you want to sound be more humble you can say(我会)一点点/丢丢. 还可以 doesn't fit the pattern either, but it is ok too I think.

Not a native speaker though.

More on topic: To me not bad/不错,no problem/没事 are just as positive in English, maybe even more in the case of no problem. But I'm not a native speaker of either.

CorrectHorseBat commented on Japanese game devs face font dilemma as license increases from $380 to $20k   gamesindustry.biz/japanes... · Posted by u/zdw
akdor1154 · 16 days ago
Interested in tangent replies to this, even if such fonts are artistically unsuitable for games - are open source fonts OK for Japanese? I understand that Unicode denotes single characters for both Chinese and Japanese (and Korean outside of Hangul?) even though there are differences between how nations write these 'single' characters, so the result is a Unicode font will look like a Chinese font, or a Japanese font, but not both.

How do the big Unicode OSS fonts like Noto, Deja Vu deal with this?

CorrectHorseBat · 16 days ago
Every variant is a different font. IMO Han unification is one of the greatest failures of Unicode.
CorrectHorseBat commented on Jakarta is now the biggest city in the world   axios.com/2025/11/24/jaka... · Posted by u/skx001
CorrectHorseBat · 22 days ago
Nice theory, but my experience is exactly the other way around.

Even after several years of learning Chinese I still had trouble communicating with Chinese people, especially those who had no experience talking to foreigners. When I arrived in China and asked the way to the university I was going to (which was close by and very famous) they just didn't get what I was saying. In the end I had to show them the written word.

I don't speak Japanese, but when I arrived and said the name of the city and they immediately understood where I wanted to go. After my experience with Chinese I was flabbergasted that that went so smooth.

I blame the tones in Chinese (which I admit I'm not very good at)

CorrectHorseBat commented on Solarpunk is happening in Africa   climatedrift.substack.com... · Posted by u/JoiDegn
manmal · a month ago
> why should a gas plant get more for its electricity when it's indistinguishable from solar electricity?

I already wrote it: levels of service. A gas plant powers up in minutes. A coal plant in hours. A nuclear reactor in years. Solar and wind isn’t controllable at all.

CorrectHorseBat · a month ago
But why would anyone else being able to deliver at the same time get anything less?

I agree there's actually an issue here, ideally the price should be set by the next seller which just didn't get to sell.

CorrectHorseBat commented on Solarpunk is happening in Africa   climatedrift.substack.com... · Posted by u/JoiDegn
manmal · a month ago
> Soon there is so much solar that you don't need the expensive gas most of the time.

In the EU (winters with weak solar radiation) this only works if you can store power over multiple months. Getting rid of gas means purchasing and maintaining a giant amount of batteries. Slow storage won’t save you from outages during peaks. We do have very cheap power from solar, during the hot months. In winter, its wind and offshore turbines that are prevalent, but they are as unpredictable.

So, solar and wind power is trivial. Storage is the issue. And consumers will pay that storage, in both grid cost, and spot prices.

I don’t understand why peak producers should dictate prices for all levels of service. Make an exception for them that’s adequate, like a second peak market, and done? Why should a solar producer (who doesn’t buffer!) get 3x the price only because Russia turns up gas prices and the big producers start panic buying expensive gas futures, poisoning their whole lineup in the process? Solar producers just pump whatever’s coming out of their panels into the market, with no regard for grid stability.

CorrectHorseBat · a month ago
Right now providing grid stability is maximally rewarded because you get paid a lot when it's needed and little when there's a lot of electricity available. Storage providers can use this spread to make money and create grid stability.

I'm not sure what you mean by second peak market?

Let me turn around the question, why should a gas plant get more for its electricity when it's indistinguishable from solar electricity?

CorrectHorseBat commented on Solarpunk is happening in Africa   climatedrift.substack.com... · Posted by u/JoiDegn
manmal · a month ago
Here in Austria, grid costs are now on par with the actual electricity cost. Each are ca €0.1 per kWh now, plus again that in taxes.

Once the EU finally gets rid of the ridiculous pricing model where spot prices are dictated by the most expensive energy source (usually, gas), we might have a situation where grid costs exceed the cost of energy itself.

Oh and what do they do with that money? Hoard it for upcoming grid updates, which they supposedly have to make to accommodate solar peaks and EV charging. And buy solar parks in Spain, apparently.

CorrectHorseBat · a month ago
>Once EU finally gets rid of the ridiculous pricing model where spot prices are dictated by the most expensive energy source (usually, gas), we might have a situation where grid costs exceed the cost of energy itself.

Why is it ridiculous? From a pure mathematical economics point of view it's genius I think. It means energy producers can just set their price at production price, knowing they will get the best deal that way and thus don't need to speculate on the electricity prices. It makes electricity as cheap as possible when it's abundant and expensive when it's not, also incentifying users of electricity to shift their consumption.

What's a better way of doing it?

CorrectHorseBat commented on Python Steering Council unanimously accepts "PEP 810, Explicit lazy imports"   discuss.python.org/t/pep-... · Posted by u/Redoubts
curiousgal · a month ago
Some folks at HRT[0] will probably be unhappy about that lol

0.https://www.hudsonrivertrading.com/hrtbeat/inside-hrts-pytho...

CorrectHorseBat · a month ago
Look at the names in the PEP [1], this PEP is written by them

[1] https://peps.python.org/pep-0810/

CorrectHorseBat commented on From VS Code to Helix   ergaster.org/posts/2025/1... · Posted by u/todsacerdoti
dkdcio · 2 months ago
same -- I wish Helix would just have a full vi-compatible mode, it would probably be enough to get me to switch

the other thing for me is lack of the GitHub Copilot extension. I am far too used to having tab-complete. there's some effort for Helix extensions to handle this but it's not close to on-par last time I checked

CorrectHorseBat · 2 months ago
But why then switch?
CorrectHorseBat commented on Cheap DIY solar fence design   joeyh.name/blog/entry/che... · Posted by u/kamaraju
bradfa · 2 months ago
What are typical costs in Australia?

Typical roof mounted installs in the USA are in the $3-4/Watt range, inclusive of parts, labor, and permitting for professional installation. Tax credits and other incentives can reduce this.

Code compliant ground mount installs via DIY are in the $2.75-$4/Watt range, inclusive of all parts and permitting and assuming labor is free but that a licensed electrician is needed for final grid tie. Tax incentives can reduce this. Not needing permits or a licensed electrician also can reduce it. Alternatives such as using wood racking instead of metal is also cheaper but this may violate electric code.

CorrectHorseBat · 2 months ago
In The Netherlands it's €0.90-1.30/kWp for installation of rooftop solar, everything included. Here in Belgium it's maybe 10-20% more I think, no permits required. Neither country have particularly low labour costs.

u/CorrectHorseBat

KarmaCake day1327August 10, 2020View Original