Clayton Becker

What goes on here?

Fire departments aren't killing people directly like police are, but they sure as hell *are* worsening public safety by refusing to consider evidence that conflicts with their preconceived beliefs.

We need to have a serious conversation about our fire departments refusing to engage with evidence and consistently arguing against adopting international best practices with regards to the built environment.

It's the same kind of argument they make when they oppose things like complete street redesigns because they're ostensibly worried about response times, even though complete streets dramatically reduce crashes, which is the number one thing fire departments are called for these days!

This is just more of the same unsubstantiated "we don't like it so it shouldn't be allowed" argument that we've seen from fire departments in the past.

...and compare the US codes to international standards in the Appendix.

5. There's only like 20 pages of actual report here, and half of that length is summary of existing laws and why they're writing this report in the first place. This took two and a half years to write?

4. Actually, near as I can tell from my initial read, they don't present any genuine empirical safety data at all! Despite the fact that this data does exist and they're ostensibly aware of it given they mention the places in the US where these buildings are legal...

3. They don't even compare small single stair buildings to large dual stair buildings currently allowed by the code. Which is kind of a weird choice if you're interested in determining whether these buildings are safe.

Just went and did a quick read of this report.

Some thoughts...

1. It's really bad. Like I would question it as being passing work if one of my undergrads turned it in.

2. They don't engage with any of the extant literature on the subject.

The US military achieving direct combat objectives versus the US military doing seeming anything else

It is completely insane to see the current administration make *exactly* the same (if not worse honestly) choices.

I would like to extend a big hearty "fuck you" to everyone who told me this guy was the peace candidate.

"Because I knew we were going to be hopelessly fucked because of that war and I wanted you to know that we were against it from the beginning."

I've told this story before but it bears repeating.

One of my earliest memories is of being taken to an anti-Iraq war protest in the lead up to the actual invasion. This was not a popular position at the time.

When I asked my mom years later why she brought me, she said:

This does not strike me as particularly difficult I have to say...

It is insane how they're just exactly recapitulating W's moves like beat for fucking beat man...

We've all seen this film before!

Goodbye bus

I have missed the bus while standing directly on the opposite side of the street literally every day this week. I must be cursed

Little do they know, every hate comment only increases my power.

Lotta snowflakes in the YouTube comments on this video who can't handle that we don't like Shirley very much

@jamellebouie.net made the point some time ago that people are going to deny they ever voted for this guy.

And folks...

YouTube video by Reject Modernity Pod We Checked Nick Shirley's Work In California. He Was Wrong About Everything.

Me and a friend who also works with the California Voter File took a look at Nick Shirley's voter fraud claims and surprise surprise, they don't stand up to scrutiny.

youtu.be/WT1EOIBSCMk

Saw Wuthering Heights.

Beautifully shot. Wonderfully acted. Some genuinely sublime moments.

Super fucking weird. Did not enjoy the film.

So much so, in fact, that he's liable to make the situation even worse for himself politically, and therefore worse for the United States economically.

I must say I find it sardonically funny that the tariffs seem to be the thing that Trump cares most about when they are one of his absolute worst issues with the public.

Dude is 30 points underwater on this issue and is crashing out over the Supreme Court decision.

Remember when an LA City Councilmember bragged about forcing an affordable housing project to downsize from six to three stories?

Well, there's a twist to this that I've been sitting on for months...

Why are we still pretending that there is a football game still happening right now?

Nithya Raman is clearly and by a wide margin the most serious candidate in the race for LA mayor and people should vote for her

This is the inevitable result of making cars essentially mandatory to get around and then designing our roads with only the convenience of drivers in mind.

Have we considered that safety is a shared responsibility? Was the store wearing dark clothing? Did it dart into the road? It must have come out of nowhere huh?