Yes, if you live within about 1 mile of downtown and also work there. If you live downtown and your job is in Beaverton, you're likely in for a 90 minute commute. Or if you live in Beaverton and your office is downtown. Portland's mass transit is adequate for a subset of people and completely impractical for most.
Source: I've lived in and around Portland for 50 years. Worked downtown much of it, and have lots of friends and former colleagues who used public transit. You have to really want to not have a car because the time commitment is real.
That 90 minute commute by bus isn't one where you're driving though. A strict time comparison ignore the fact that the bus or train ride merely requires you to get out when you reach your destination. You don't have to sit in stop and go traffic driving. Sitting in traffic driving sucks unless you have comma.ai or equivalent. Mentally it's just exhausting by the time you get home/to work. If you have to drive and can shitpost HN for those 90 minutes, vs trying to do that while driving (don't do that), then who cares if it takes a bit longer? There's obviously too much longer, but still.
Okay, but clearly there’s a difference between, “the bus makes sense if you live or work near downtown,” and, “people only ride the bus when there is no other option,” as the GP said.
Bus is fine in select areas at current fares, but would be less popular if people realize each drive costs more like $16 in total instead of the $2 fare they pay.
This is such a tired and misguided line of thought.
Here's Qwen 3.7
<details><summary>Thinking</summary>
The user is asking about what happened in Tiananmen Square. This is a historical question about events in Beijing, China. The most well-known event associated with Tiananmen Square is the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and the subsequent military crackdown.
Given the constraints:
- Web access is OFF
- Search and wolfram_alpha tools are disabled
- I should respond based on my knowledge
This is a historical event that I can address based on my training data. The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 were a significant historical event involving pro-democracy demonstrations in Beijing that were ultimately suppressed by military force.
I should provide a factual, concise historical account of this event.
</details>
The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 were a series of demonstrations in Beijing, China, that culminated in a military crackdown on June 3-4, 1989.
The protests began in April 1989 following the death of former Communist Party leader Hu Yaobang, who was seen as a reformist. Students and workers gathered in Tiananmen Square to call for political reform, freedom of the press, government accountability, and an end to corruption. The movement grew to include hundreds of thousands of people from various segments of Chinese society.
After weeks of demonstrations and failed negotiations between protesters and government officials, the Chinese government declared martial law on May 20. In the early hours of June 4, military forces moved into central Beijing and cleared the square by force. The exact number of casualties remains disputed, with estimates ranging from several hundred to several thousand.
The events remain a sensitive topic in China, where public discussion and commemoration are restricted.
And here's GLM 5.2.
You're asking about *Tiananmen Square* (天安门广场). There are actually two major historical events commonly associated with this name:
## 1. The 1989 Tiananmen Square Protests and Massacre (most commonly referenced)
*What happened:*
- In April–June 1989, student-led pro-democracy protests occupied Tiananmen Square in Beijing, drawing up to an estimated one million participants at their peak. Demonstrators called for political reform, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and an end to corruption.
- On *June 3–4, 1989*, the Chinese government ordered the People's Liberation Army to clear the square. Troops armed with assault rifles and accompanied by tanks advanced into the center of Beijing, firing on unarmed civilians.
- The exact death toll remains disputed and is a closely guarded secret in China. Estimates range from several hundred to several thousand killed, with thousands more wounded and arrested.
- The iconic *"Tank Man"* photograph—an unidentified man standing in front of a column of tanks on June 5—became a global symbol of defiance.
- The event led to international condemnation, economic sanctions, and arms embargoes against China.
*Aftermath:* The Chinese Communist Party has since maintained strict censorship of the event. Public commemoration is banned in mainland China, and mention of it is scrubbed from textbooks, media, and the internet.
## 2. The 1976 Tiananmen Incident
- On *April 5, 1976*, crowds gathered in Tiananmen Square to mourn the death of Premier *Zhou Enlai* during the Qingming Festival. The gathering turned into a protest against the *Gang of Four* (a powerful political faction aligned with Mao Zedong's wife, Jiang Qing).
- Police and military were sent in to clear the square, resulting in arrests and injuries. The protest was officially labeled "counter-revolutionary" but was later rehabilitated after Mao's death and the fall of the Gang of Four in 1976.
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*Note on sources:* My web access is currently disabled for this request, so I'm answering from established knowledge rather than retrieving live sources. The 1989 massacre is among the most thoroughly documented events of the late 20th century—well-covered by historians, journalists, and organizations like Amnesty International and the Tiananmen Mothers group. If you'd like, I can provide verified details with citations once web access is available, or I can go deeper on a specific aspect (e.g., the protest timeline, the Tank Man identity debate, international reaction, or censorship practices).
Did you mean to write "America" instead of "the United States"? Because when the continent had only American Indians, there was no United States. And in fact for a long while after it was founded, they were excluded from citizenship.
Regardless, I'm sure we both agree that European conquest and colonization represented a giant change. It's false to imply that another such change isn't a change, by virtue of it happening once before already. Or to imply that therefore, the country is compelled to submit to such a change.
I only use YouTube when I want to watch something specific. If I find something I want to return to, I like it or bookmark it or add it to a playlist.
I feel like the only thing I'm missing is a home page which doesn't tell me I have watch history disabled.