On an old team that did this, we joked that the cleaning staff had as much control of the roadmap as the product managers.
The cheap offbrand sticky notes didn't stick very well, so after one or two status changes, or just being on the wall for a while, they tended to fall to the floor. If we were lucky they'd get stuck somewhere at random, and not just thrown out.
>There isn't some industry saying "yes we could cut and cover here, but we prefer the slower more expensive option of a TBM"!
At least for Vancouver, there was absolutely an industry arguing for the slower-more-expensive TBM option on a route that followed exactly a road (the Broadway line extension) - local businesses along the route. The previous line which was mostly done by Cut-and-Cover (the Canada Line) had a very major impact on businesses along the route for years.
There are plenty of people who will acknowledge that something is cheaper _overall_ but the impact on a small group being higher can make them extremely vocal, and that has to be managed in public projects.
> I see that [...] Canada line under Vancouver chose tunnels over cut and cover because it was cheaper.
Canada Line was mostly Cut-and-Cover - only the bits below downtown and crossing below the water were bored, the bulk of the underground was done cut and cover for cost and speed to make sure it opened for the 2010 olympics.
It was not a popular choice - not really announced before the project was approved, and local businesses along the route took a big hit.
Vancouver's current Broadway Line Extension is being done with TBMs to avoid the impact that the cut and cover canada line segment construction had.
Sewer are properly buried, Rogers cables are just thrown around with maybe a bit of dirt on top of it was a good day.
I redid a wall in my backyard last year that is close to a Rogers box, I removed ~15 old cut cables from the ground.
Man if there's one thing I can credit bell for, is that they really pushed for fiber. Before we had bell fibe here (for a shockingly reasonable price) in Montreal, we were stuck with absolute trash DOCSIS for so long. Every time the revisions increased ,the speeds would be nominally faster but in reality came with trash stability and peak time performance.
I'm sure DOCSIS is great for what it is, and in fact it's extremely impressive what it can do with existing cable lines, but the second biggest player here (Videotron) basically milked it dry. Again it's weird to praise them but Bell invested in wiring up the entire city and suburbs and I can get 3gbps symmetrical GPON FTTH for the price that 150mbps used to go for not even 3 years ago. I blame DOCSIS in a way because it made players with existing lines extremely complacent
Went about an hour north of Vancouver BC Canada to get away from bit city lights and watch.
It was probably not the brightest small strands I've ever seen - if my memories of Northern Saskatchewan as a kid are still accurate - but I don't think I've seen the whole sky light up to such an extent.
magenta and green colours were clearly visible in person during the intense periods, although obviously not as bright or intense as long exposure photos. Solidly visible bands for at least the two hours I stayed out.
Wouldn't knock it till you try it! The drink kinda had it's moment a couple years ago - "Aerocanos" or "Steamed Iced Americanos" are the names I've heard for the drink. Often made with the kind of post-brew chilled cold brew that OP was railing about. Cold coffee, steamed to frothy, then either pour over ice to re-chill or serve warm.
Wouldn't try to randomly talk a barista into making one, but if you see them on the menu at a shop or have an espresso machine, they're pretty neat.
Coffee nerd, I like to play with this stuff.
Steaming cold brew (flash or regular) will give a very smooth frothy texture - almost nitro like foam. You can serve them over ice to get them back to cold, or serve warm.
Tasty if you use good coffee, and pretty unique honestly - "steamed iced americano" or "aerocano" are the two names I've heard if you want other people's reports on them.
You're right that it's very different from the experience of microwaved cold brew, and a customers response can be all over the place depending on what they're expecting.
If any HNers are looking for a cheap entry point into the style without spending $250+ on a beautiful bunch of laboratory glass ware, there's the puckpuck[1], which sits on top of an aeropress and turns it into functionally the same device as the Yama towers - slow controlled valve dripping cold water at a controlled rate onto a bed of coffee and a paper filter over the course of hours.
I've found it a nice way to play with the style without investing the money and space. Still want one of those towers if I ever see them cheap though.
Look, my coffee routine is _perfectly reasonable_.
Fractional gram dosing, multiple pours at different temperatures, timed switch from immersion to percolation, and benchmarking different filter papers has a _measurable impact_ on my coffee.
And I have the data and refractometry measurement data to show it.
... Admittedly the refractometer was expensive, and incorporating it into the routine is complex and not very intuitive.
I can also assure you that I don't look cool while doing it.
