Joan Liu

My least popular (and most correct) view is that cars should be automatically limited to the local speed limit. Put the pedal to the floor and you still can't go over 25mph in a residential area.

(15 in Manhattan btw)

This made me feel a bit better about my dad's commenting on my weight and the large size of my upper arms (which are from lifting heavier and heavier weights this last year!). Thank you for writing this.

Gah looks like bluesky's rotate photo function doesn't work

An installation with a bell that rings on the anniversary of the Nagasaki atomic bomb, in remembrance of those who were impacted

A blue statue of a man, seated, one arm pointing up and another pointing to his left. This is the Nagasaki peace statue that is located in Peace Park

A hanging clock, slightly damaged, frozen in time at 11:02, when the bomb went off in Nagasaki.

The view of modern-day Nagasaki from a lookout area, full of buildings and greenery

I went to Nagasaki last year. It's amazing to me the things that managed to survive, how it affects people today, and how the city rebuilt after. The Peace Park has statues donated from countries, including some that no longer exist

signs of cats who are running for cat mayor of somerville, massachusetts

a sign for a cat running for cat mayor named hermes squirmies

a pink sign for a cat running for cat mayor named beatrix. her slogan is “no kings, only princesses”

a sign for a cat running for cat mayor named Luna. her slogan is “pro zoomies, chaos, and attention”

there’s an election for Cat Mayor currently happening in Somerville, Mass. and every cat deserves to win

Do I wish a weigh a little less? Yes, just not enough to really do anything about it.
Do I realize some of his specific criticism is a bit unreasonable?
Yes, I work out and have larger muscles, so my arm will be thicker than his, which has no muscle tone.
But something about it just sticks with me

I was the kid who just didn't care when others tried to make fun of my acne, or my unstylish clothes, or the hot pink color my parents chose to paint the house, but when it comes to my own dad calling me fat... 🫤

Well not around here in Boston-area 😅. The real "cost" is convincing 16 other people to agree to pay for this effort when they don't even want to pay $300(?) to paint the transformer as graffiti deterrent. Though the new fence project went through with only design-based objections. 🤷‍♀️

I'm in a multi-building, 17-unit condo association and so the transformer for the entire condo possibly needs to be updated. Just gas stove and water heater for me to electrify; heat pump electrician thought I could get one more w/o the upgrade. Estimated cost for upgrade: $100k+

This image of a toaster looks like it was generated by AI 😂

If you’ve been impacted by a crash—through injury or the loss of a loved one—your story matters.
📍Every pin on that map is a policy failure that could have been prevented.
Help us show lawmakers what’s really at stake.
Share your story! familiesforsafestreets.org/stories

Purdue student detained by ICE and taken to troubled Louisiana holding facility Yeonsoo Go, 20, was detained after her immigration hearing in Manhattan and taken away by ICE agents.

Go, a college student, has a dependent visa (her mother, an Episcopal minister, is here on a religious worker visa), which doesn't expire until Dec. But when she tried to renew it early, ICE nabbed her and sent her halfway across the US to a detention center.
www.wthr.com/article/news...

They also tend to assess the property higher than market rate to collect more revenue.

Also in Texas, the assessed value seems to be higher than the fair market price, while in MA (and I assume California), the assessed value is lower than fair market price. So $1M condo in MA taxed at $900k value, while $1M McMansion in TX taxed at $1.1M

Maintaining the driveway has a cost, for a more direct cost example, but the free parking space also has hidden costs of wear and tear on the roads that lead to the parking space, and depending on layout leads to less walkable neighborhoods.

5. Donating money to local journalism efforts
6. Working for the MBTA

And not local, but makes me feel better as well:
7. Writing postcards to swing state voters
8. Donating money to certain organizations in my home state of Texas, where there are good people hurt by horrible people in charge.

1. logging 311s for road/sidewalk conditions that could cause injury
2. Donating money to local groups helping small businesses, immigrants, and people needing housing
3. Making sure our city and state follow through on promises for safer streets
4. Attend local meetings and share the conversation

A lot feels pretty hopeless, but community-building activities at a hyper-local level brings me hope.
Things that I'm doing that I believe lead to improved community, should you feel inspired to adopt any for yourself:

It seems like people really like these weird cargo bike thingys. Arlington, MA

Houston has such great food! It's a very diverse city, supposedly the most diverse in the US, and the food scene reflects that, and the experimentation you mention. The only complaint I had was pizza, which was not very good unless it was Indian pizza.

Some folks associate cars with freedom, but I live even more free every day when I leave my home without spending a dime on fuel or insurance by riding my bike. Being free from fuel and insurance sure adds up.

When I learned about this piece of history in school, the part that stood out to me was that Chinese-Americans felt obligated to wear something identifying them as not-Japanese. As a Chinese-American myself, it was a clear reminder that racism towards other groups can hurt us too.

When I was little, the U.S. military came to our home at gunpoint and took me and my family away. We were imprisoned for years in barbed wire camps simply because we were Japanese American. I have spent my life telling that story, hoping it would never be repeated.

Cargo Bike Test Drive event is this Saturday AM in Arlington. An event where owners of cargo bikes volunteer their time to help those considering cargo bikes figure out the right cargo bike for them. Test drives in a safe for newbies environment. www.familybikeride.org/testdrive

A drone display of a deer with antlers, staring straight towards the camera

A drone display of a hummingbird at a flower flapping its wings

Yesterday we happened to catch a drone show from a roof deck in Brookline. The pictures don't fully convey how amazing it was.

Ohhh even better if the cat lives in tewkspurry.

16. The Article was published in The Wall Street Journal as an exclusive.' However, since publication, Defendants have widely disseminated it to hundreds of millions of people worldwide.

WSJ claimed the Trump–Epstein article was an “exclusive.” But what if I told you they fully intended to show it to people? storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

I kept mine, but for funsies I pondered portmanteaus such as: my last name could be incorporated into his by just adding a letter to his

Hey everybody. How’s it going? Hot enough for you?

Anyway, let’s revisit the bumpouts of Beacon Street. They were installed several years ago with no particular plan or capacity for maintenance.

Let’s see what happened!

1/?

I just audibly squealed with excitement when my husband suggested we take the 109 #bus to dinner tonight. 😅