Please_Do_Not

Literally every fable ends with a good lesson, how to pick! The salt merchant's donkey sticks out as a memorable one because it's complex--the donkey's mistake is not trying to lighten its load, it is doing so excessively, trying to reduce its load to zero every day. The merchant's revenge seems somewhat cruel, but isn't actually forced upon the donkey until/unless, even though the sponges are very light on the last day, the donkey tries to make them even lighter by slipping into the water. It's a classic "pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered" type message, but with some interesting nuance to it.

Probably.

Chimichurri! Parsley, garlic, Fresno peppers, oregano, salt, pepper, olive oil, and vinegar. Just chop finely and mix. Good on everything from meat to seafood, potatoes, brussel sprouts, and dry toast. Can't go wrong with it.

A walkup apartment means no elevator, so to be fair to anyone else, a small walkup could still require like 15 flights of stairs. And by "small" I was referring to the apartment, but obviously still joking about the whole comment. Saying that a small apartment is only for fit people is supposed to be like saying a stool with a 300lb limit isn't a stool.

Definitely seems to work better/more consistently now

100% agreed with this point. I don't think the article attacks bike makers for their specialization, but I think a lot of the people reacting to pieces like this take it there or read active/intentional fat-phobia into brands' current practices.

Totally agreed and I see the connection with the (deplorable) "all lives matter" reactionary argument. I don't think this article makes the argument I was referencing, but many people's reactions in these comments do. I honestly don't find much that I disagree with in the article, but in how people suggest the bike industry addresses those issues, there may be a lack of balance.

If it's not meant to hold 300lbs, it's a decoration, not a stool! My apartment is only built for 2 relatively fit people, being a small walkup. So I consider it more a sculpture than something functional.

I agree that there should be options for bigger people, but that doesn't mean that there shouldn't be bikes as light and high-performing as possible made for those who can use them, and if that's the focus of a given manufacturer, that's not an ethical issue. It's just their specialization, and there's plenty of room for other designers to focus on bikes for heavier riders as that market becomes viable.

Everyone deserves to ride bikes, and bike designers deserve to focus on the types of bikes they want. 7-foot NBA players deserve to be comfortable in cars, but it's not Ford's fault or responsibility that finding a car is more difficult for them than for those between the 10th and 90th height percentiles. No less unfortunate, but changing the design of all cars or expecting app major manufacturers to design for outliers isn't necessarily a solution.

Yeah I just don't see the solution that a lot of people are pushing for. Should everyone's bike be heavier because some people need them reinforced? And should scooters not be popularly used until motors than can push 3x the weight are common?

Having bike and scooter options available that work for everyone should be a goal, but criticizing existing models doesn't make sense to me.

Well only 15% and 4.5% of adults are obese in the Netherlands and Japan, respectively. Nearly 50% in the US are. I don't see any reason why the few design differences between a classic American hybrid or road bike and either of the types you mention would drastically affect their weight capacity, but it's also just much less of an issue in those countries.

Yeah I mean even if you're someone who feels that being fat is not their fault or something to be ashamed of, nor are the laws of physics and limitations of structural integrity someone else's.