Jay Luker

Right!? They’re not negative externalities! The bad things will happen to exactly the class of people it’s meant to help.

Intrusive zoning thoughts: watching the new ecca vandal video and wondering how much GFA they were able to shave off with these dropped basement ceilings

Ooh I think we’re being pushed towards Davis.

Stuck on a red line train for an hour now. No available seats. Wish it hadn’t been leg day at the gym.

*waves from the stuck car*

This law will kill a lot more people than were ever in danger from an e-bike by orders of magnitude. It will lead to more less healthy active transportation and more driving, which means more toxic emissions and more road deaths.

Why New Jersey Has New Comprehensive E-Bike Regulations All e-bikes must be registered and insured, whether they are low-speed e-bikes that require pedaling and can't exceed 20 miles per hour, or they are motorized bicycles that reach 28 miles per hour.

THIS is the problem I have with the little shits riding e-motos on the sidewalks around here. It’s not that the danger they represent (although it’s not nothing). It’s that the _perception_ of danger they instill leads people to the idea that there’s a crisis warranting draconian regulations.

Plug-in Metal Wall Light Black Brass (Set of 2) Meet Tamlin, our set of 2 vintaged brass and matte black plug-in wall lights. Its articulating feature allows you to direct the light left or right and is dimmer compatible. Cord cover included. Or di...

After looking at hundreds of light fixtures over the last couple of weeks I can confidently say these are the worst I've ever seen. A shocking 21 positive reviews, none of which are from anyone named Mario or Luigi.

Give a gift box to someone! I’d been looking for a way to say thanks to some hotel staff that shipped me a forgotten iPad last week.

If the worst single-family house in your n’hood costs over $1 million, then your n’hood should be zoned for apartment buildings.

(It’s pretty much that simple)

My #1 recommendation is that you watch Sorcerer (1977)

The late EO Wilson also shows up in the emails. Probably Chomsky tho.

leo decaprio excitedly pointing meme

Lexington mentioned!
lexobserver.org/2025/12/23/l...

Picture of someone wearing a hat that is also headphones

Is this the stroad of headwear?

So is public comment. I recently stumbled on Arnstein’s Ladder of Citizen Participation (1969) and it’s not a coincidence that these things are happening concurrently.

Probably the most significant conclusion of the planning board in this policy statement is that, depending on scale, siting and con- centration, multi-family dwellings can be compatible with detached houses and can be assimilated in predominantly single family neighborhoods.

From the 1970 Lexington town report. Still fighting this battle 56 years later. Time is a flat circle, etc, etc.

Housing Theory of Everything undefeated

It was great!

TIL there are three completely different novels with the title "All That Is Solid Melts Into Air"? One about Chernobyl, one about 9/11, and one about a college rower, all available through the Libby app. Fortunately my library had a physical copy of the Berman book. 😅

Most of Lexington Mass town center is a collection of objectively boring commercial buildings, many from the 60s, yet it’s considered sacred due to proximity to a very historic site. Makes it genuinely confounding to match the “character”.

The artificer nodded. "I can build this wheeled chair, but why? You have an enchanted hover seat."

"Yes," the wizard fumed, "but the palace have erected magic-cancelling wards."

"Why?"

"Don't know. But they didn't think of people who need mobility aids. So I need wheels to go shout at the king."

Great episode! I’m wondering if the fact that managed lanes also increase storm water management costs is ever considered. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how segregated these things are treated in city budget analysis when the overwhelming contribution of storm water comes from road infra.

bsky.app/profile/kati...

Although the intersection does not specifically meet the warranted under MUTCD Section 2B.13 – Warrant A [Crash Experience], the crash history at the intersection does denote two (2) pedestrian and two (2) bicycle crashes over the past 7-years at a location that is a direct connection to the Lexington High School. The 2024 traffic counts measured at least 650 pedestrians crossing at the intersection on both days of measurement, much of which is school related. This level of pedestrian traffic merits further consideration of enhanced traffic control beyond the existing TWSC conditions

Buried in a 57-page, windshield perspective traffic analysis report for an intersection near Lexington center I find the key nugget of context. As the parent of two future LHS students I say, gee thanks I guess.

This is unfortunately only intended to be temporary while the MWRA work is happening on the bikeway. Advocates (inc me) are planning to push back but it’s still early in that effort.

Do you have members of your community organizing or advocacy group that can’t self-regulate? You should watch this video. Are you involved in local politics (itself a community), trying to shape policy and improve your town, i.e. making things? You should watch this video.

screencap text: This conception of what it means to be part of a community is zero-sum. It treats neighbors not as people, but as fixed entities. It treats communities as consumer products, not as dynamic, living things. Most of all, it definitionally fails to count “I live in this town and I am in favor of this new housing” as a valid answer, and so the notion that “nobody wants this” becomes circular. Anybody who wants it isn’t really part of the community. You aren’t proving that some members do want it; you’re just proving that you’re one of those nefarious “they.” This notion of neighborliness and community is akin to basing fellowship on excommunication.

Folks, our definition of community is broken.

Hi, It's "They," We're The Problem Living in a place does not require that you gatekeep it

FOR EXAMPLE, I thought about it while reading this post by @ad-mastro.bsky.social thedeletedscenes.substack.com/p/hi-its-the...

Its immediate target is the community surrounding the design of a role-playing game, but I have thought about it every day for weeks and continue to come across contexts where the insights apply that have nothing to do with TTRPGs.

YouTube video by Matthew Colville Community

This video by @mattcolville.bsky.social has changed the way I think about communities in pretty much every aspect of my life, and you should watch it.

youtu.be/emdki5B_O7Q?...

The most basic curb extension possible with an accessible ramp on a normal two-lane street

NextDoor people reacting as if a black monolith descended from the sky

They put in a curb extension somewhere on Main St in Medford and people on NextDoor are being extremely normal about it.