The bicycle friendliness of European railway operators

July 7, 2021 by kris de decker Filed Under: Bicycles, Bikes, Random, Trains, Travel

The European Cyclists’ Federation (ECF) has released a new report, “Cyclists love trains: An analysis of the bicycle friendliness of European railway operators,” which aims to guide industry and policymakers in identifying ways to improve the combination of two of the most sustainable modes of transport: bikes and trains.

This timely new report analyses and ranks 69 European train companies and services according to six key indicators for combined bike-and-train travel, such as bicycle spaces in trains and the quality of bike ticket or reservation channels. The report’s rankings show that there is much room for improvement in Europe.

Only one train service, NS-DB (Intercity Berlin), which runs between Amsterdam and Berlin, scored in the “excellent” category. Operators that scored in the “good” category in facilitating bike-and-train travel include SNCB/NMBS, SBB, Deutsche Bahn and MÁV-START.

One fourth of the 69 operators and services scored in the “moderate” category, including České dráhy, SNCF and Trenitalia, while the rest perform either “poorly” or “very poorly” on most indicators, including Flixtrain, Greater Anglia, Renfe and Eurostar.

A Design Inquiry into Degrowth and ICT

July 5, 2021 by kris de decker Filed Under: Internet, Random

Roel Roscam Abbing wrote a conference paper about Low-tech Magazine’s solar powered website: ‘This is a solar-powered website, which means it sometimes goes offline’: a design inquiry into degrowth and ICT.” Workshop on Computing within Limits. 2021.

[Read more…]

Reversing the Glow-Worm’s Decline

April 19, 2021 by kris de decker Filed Under: Biodiversity, Random, Trees

Coppicing & pollarding trees could provide us with energy, materials and food — but also with a lot of glow-worms (or fireflies), a research paper argues: [Read more…]

Number of Hospital Beds per 1,000 Inhabitants (1960-2018)

April 13, 2021 by kris de decker Filed Under: Health, Random

Corona restrictions around the world are primarily aimed at not overwhelming hospital capacity. But hospital capacity is not what it used to be. In the 1960s and 1970s, the US and many European countries had around ten hospital beds per thousand inhabitants. Nowadays, the US has less than three, while many European countries have less than five.

Hospital beds are defined as beds that are maintained, staffed, and immediately available for use. Total hospital beds include acute care beds, rehabilitative beds and other beds in hospitals. [Read more…]

The “Lavet”: A Sink, Bathtub, Shower, and Washing Machine on 1m2 of Space

April 1, 2021 by kris de decker Filed Under: Bathing, Random, Washing machines, Water

Image: Marktplaats.

The lavet is a typically Dutch invention that was mainly used in social housing in the 1950s and 1960s. It was produced up to 1975, with a total production of about 1 million. The lavet is somewhere between a sink and a bathtub. It consists of a plateau with a raised edge, in which on one side is a 40 cm deep tub with a diameter of almost 60 cm. Unique to the design is the multi-functionality. The lavet fulfilled the functions of a bathroom and laundry room but required ​​only one square meter of space. [Read more…]

Nettles are the fibre of the landless

February 11, 2021 by kris de decker Filed Under: Random, Textiles

Nettles for Textile is a website dedicated to all things nettle related, especially the sharing of skills and techniques that will help to best utilise this incredible resource for local textile production. There’s also a great selection of references on the historical use of nettles.