Denis Defreyne

Weeknotes 2024 W39: Funky Fahrradampel

September 23​–​29, 2024

Quick bits:

  • Happy autumn/fall!

  • I have started to feel the effects of the isotretinoin treatment, which I wrote about last week. My skin is drying out, and my eyes and lips are dry. Gotta stock up on eyedrops and chapstick, especially with winter practically around the corner.

  • In response to my “air potatoes” suggestion, T—— recommended “tree potatoes” instead. Someone tell T—— that the four elements are not earth, water, fire and… trees.

  • I’m pretty much entirely stuck with the one-person play I’m writing. I think I need to give it a break, and continue with other stories.

  • In Berlin traffic news: A car drove all the way along the sidewalk and I later got shouted at by someone going against traffic on my bike lane. This city often makes me want to stay indoors, because the traffic is chaos.1

Let’s talk about Berlin cycling infrastructure, a topic I have had considerable first-hand experience with.

As of late, this particular setup has been vexing me:

A two-lane road with right-hand traffic. There is a traffic light, but no intersection ahead. A bike lane runs to the right of the traffic light. The traffic light pole has a traffic light specifically for bikes. The bike path does not have a white line indicating where to stop.

Assume that you’re cycling, coming from the direction of the magenta arrow. If the Fahrradampel2 were red, would you stop? If so, where would you stop?

To my understanding, a bicycle-specific traffic light like that does not apply to the bicycle path on its right. But I cannot find a good source to confirm or deny that. Note also the absence of a white line on the bicycle path, too, which would indicate where to stop.

Worth noting, too, is that there is no reason for bicycles to stop on the bike path at all: there is nothing that crosses the bicycle path (no pedestrian crossing, no intersection, no garages) for another 100 meters.

The most plausible explanation I’ve heard is that the bike path is in such bad condition that it is expected for cyclists to go onto the road. That would explain why there are two bike lanes, but I am still confused as to why the traffic light is there in the first place, and why it’s often green for bikes while simultaneously red for cars (like in the photo).

Berlin’s cycling infrastructure — or perhaps Berlin’s traffic infrastructure in general — is distinctly subpar.

Entertainment:

  • I replayed Quantum Break,3 and was simultaneously pleasantly surprised and disappointed.

    There is a lot to like about the game. Despite it being a 2016 game, it still looks remarkable. The motion capture and full-motion videos tie in nicely.

    However, it aims very high and doesn’t quite succeed at everything. The combat is clunky and repetitive. The writing, with its cliché dialogue, is far below what Remedy is capable of. The full-motion video feels too much like a cheap science fiction TV show, though I can’t put my finger on why.4

    But it’s still a good game. If you haven’t played it yet, do so — especially if you like Remedy’s other games.

  • Satisfactory5 continues to be fun.

Tweets and toots:

Links:

Tech links:

  1. I’ve got a souvenir, even: the 10 cm scar I obtained a few months ago is fading only very slowly. ↩︎

  2. bicycle traffic light ↩︎

  3. Quantum Break (Remedy Entertainment, 2016), published by Microsoft Studios. ↩︎

  4. It likely is a combination of cliché characters, lack of direction, often cringey or outright bad dialogue, and action scenes that have far too many cuts that fail to make up for the lack of choreography. ↩︎

  5. Satisfactory (Coffee Stain Studios, 2024), published by Coffee Stain Publishing. ↩︎

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