The Off Topic Topic

[Admiral Yi]

You mean Shahid Khan. Sadiq Khan is the mayor of London.

K.  Dude with the handlebars.

[crazy canuck]

Heard part of an NPR interview about frats and sororities.  Learned some interesting things.

Kavanaugh was a Deke at Yale.  Wubya was a Deke.
1/6 US college students are part of the Greek system!!!???  Maybe if you include all the faggy no rape party service frats.  That sounded crazy high.  I was just waking up so take with a grain of salt.
Sororities don't throw parties, only frats.

was the word "rape" in that sentence a typo?

[Valmy]

At Stanford, sororities didn't throw parties for safety reasons. Instead they would co-host at frats.

Because frats make everything safe?

[garbon]

At Stanford, sororities didn't throw parties for safety reasons. Instead they would co-host at frats.

Because frats make everything safe?

From what I recall being told it was that they don't have groups of drunk men free to roam about the female house/dorm rooms.  At my college, it was mainly the frats who registered to throw large campus wide parties.

[Valmy]

Yeah same here.

That tradition, and the reasoning for it, seems a little outdated. Ah well.

[garbon]

Yeah same here.

That tradition, and the reasoning for it, seems a little outdated. Ah well.

Well, I would agree that the ban on sororities being able to host parties seems outdated (shouldn't they have the agency to decide?). I'm not sure that the reasoning is totally flawed.

[grumbler]

At Michigan, sororities do host parties, but only for their "brother" fraternities.  Big parties are almost always at the frats, who tend to have more facilities for them.  Sororities have a LOT more carpeting than fraternities.

[The Brain]

Sororities have a LOT more carpeting than fraternities.

Less so now probably compared to the 70s.

[Tonitrus]

Sororities have a LOT more carpeting than fraternities.

Less so now probably compared to the 70s.

But does it match the drapes?

[derspiess]

Not often.

[mongers]

Watching the evening news now feels like an act of civic duty, rather than something interesting or enlightening.

[The Brain]

I haven't watched the evening news in 20 years.

[Syt]

Electric scooters are becoming more popular in Vienna:



Currently there's two companies offering them for rent. You use an app to locate one in your vicinity and then unlock it with the app. When done, you lock it again and leave it for the next person.

You pay by time (not sure what the prices are ...), and one of the services (I think Bird, which is also covering much of the US) also gives you rebates if you volunteer to charge a scooter in your apartment at night.

Haven't tried them yet, but I think it's not a bad idea.

[Oexmelin]

They are quite popular now where I live (Bird and Lime). Give them a try. It's actually quite fun.

It works oddly well, but only because there are so few pedestrians in the Midwest... I can see problems in places where sidewalks are more crowded.

[Syt]

Bird and Lime is what we have, with a third one joining now. Non-electric scooters have been a common sight for years now. Vienna has an ok bike lane system. When you use the motor you need to use bike lanes or streets, if you use muscle power, you can use sidewalks.

Some companies are looking into offering e-bikes. I rode one of those in the Styrian hills in summer; they're quite good, even when you're completely out of shape, like me.