Notices by CurtAdams (curtadams@urbanists.social)

Just got back from my local #nokings protest. I counted 1626 attendees, about the same as last time. But the driver response was very different! CONSTANT honking, constant waving; just tremendous support. Last time there was a lot, but not continuous like last time.

The protest was around an interesection so I couldn't get a good crowd shot. So you'll have to settle for this very funny costume:

Trump's FBI told New York to stop investigating Epstein: https://www.justsecurity.org/132230/fbi-stand-down-directive-epstein-timeline/

@skinnylatte Waymos aren't fully autonomous. They have remote human supervisors, who I suspect can't control them in outages. You're seeing what it would look like if they were really autonomous.

ICE agents kidnap active firefighters: https://web.archive.org/web/20250828024358/https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/climate-lab/federal-agents-arrest-firefighters-working-on-wa-wildfire/

Followup on the active firefighters ICE kidnapped: They were in the country legally as contract firefighters, with work visas.

ICE's solution to getting caught? They teminated the contracts, kicking 44 firefighters (all US citizens or with work visas) off the line, for a fire that's only 13% contained.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/federal-agents-arrest-fire-crew-members-washington-wildfire-rcna227797

@liztai My Asian friends (Viet, Malay, and Chinese) have always called it Lunar New Year.

@skinnylatte @sarajw I like fusion cuisine in general but my husband, who is HK Chinese, absolutely blows a fuse at "inauthentic" cuisine so I don't have that. Although he is accepting of Panda Express, go figure.

@skinnylatte I've had decent dimsum dishes at smaller places but they don't carry full menus (so not all 5 kitchens) and I agree it's still not as good as the big specialist dimsum restaurants.

Predictably, now that Harris lost and Trump is President, Trump wants to ethnically cleanse the Gaza Strip. Not a surprise, since his son-in-law and previous Middle East envoy (Jared Kushner) wanted to turn Gaza into a giant seaside resort.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/25/politics/trump-gaza-strip-jordan-egypt/index.html

@inthehands One thing that backs this up is the longstanding NYT practice of slapping a conservative-biased headline on a basically decent article.

@br00t4c The scare tactics about renewable curtailment deliberately ignore that fossil fuel has vastly *higher* curtailment. According to wiki, coal power plants have usage in the US of 50% to 60%, meaning they have curtailment of 40% to 50%. Compare this to the California renewable curtailment rate of 1-2% and you can understand why coal plants are closing so fast.

@Danetteb @roadriverrail My impression is that many people have a vulnerability to or even desire for "woo" and as religion faded it's being filled by other nonsense.

I can't claim immunity. I was really into "Chariots of the Gods" as a kid (a 70s extraterrestial visitation book).

Since his previous plane has mechanical trouble, Trump is now flying Jeffrey Epstein's plane.

Literally.

https://viewfromthewing.com/trumps-plane-ground-after-emergency-landing-now-hes-flying-jeffrey-epsteins-old-jet/

From SlickRockWeb on the Nazi's site:
"Why is Peter Thiel's new hire, Nate Silver, at Polymarket getting more and more desperate and screechy? Now he is ranting about invoking the 25th amendment on President Biden. That's not partisan wishcasting at all. Its almost as if there are millions dollars riding on the outcome of Biden stepping down. Oh wait ...Polymarket is a gambling site that allows you to bet on election outcomes? You don't say!!"

#NateSilver #PeterThiel #Biden

(1/4) Consumer Reports just released an extensive report on pesticides in conventional produce, and options to replace with organic. I used it to generate some recommendations:

High Risk Conventional, Recommended Organic:

Bell Peppers,
Blueberries,
Green Beans,
Hot Peppers,
Kale,
Mustard Greens,
Frozen Spinach,
Frozen Strawberries

https://www.consumerreports.org/health/food-contaminants/produce-without-pesticides-a5260230325/#crs-produce-ratings

@RickiTarr @robotdiver @sand @tezoatlipoca It's not unregulated greed, it's greedy regulation. The problem is that we are not building enough housing, because regulations prohibit it (mostly zoning in North America).
In 30 years, Tokyo has gone from the most expensive megalopolis on earth to the most affordable with one simple trick - allowing townhouses, apartment buildings and condos pretty much everywhere.

@thomasfuchs It was overblown, but there is some reality. My husband works at a industrial valve company, and they now 3D print many of their valve parts. OTOH, I have an acquaintance who works printing 3D game settings for RPGs. Larger sets are insanely expensive, even now, because 2x dimensions is 8x printing. He has some amusing stories of the weird stuff that goes wrong in 3D prints, too.

@ExtinctionR Not going to respond directly to denialists, but I find it amazing that some people still at least pretend to believe that dumping hundreds of billions of tons of heat trapping gases in the atmosphere will not - trap heat.

@amaditalks @mekkaokereke Good bike infrastructure is a great boon for disabled people. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSGx3HSjKDo And this is useful not only for those with mobility disabilities, but also for many people with vision and neurological disabilities who can't drive anything, not even those insanely expensive wheelchair-adapted vans.