So great and so generous of Nick - I'll be using this (with credit, obvi) on my syllabi.
Transportation engineering professor. Road safety, planning, behavior, & culture; wildfire planning and response; inclusive disaster evacuation; ethics of tech in transportation; planning in the Petropyrocene. She/her.
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So great and so generous of Nick - I'll be using this (with credit, obvi) on my syllabi.
One of my most strongly-held beliefs is that cars were a huge mistake. Ambulance carrying a crash victim crashes in L.A., drawing a crash investigator — who also crashes - Los Angeles Times share.google/XzWB3gQ8zWUK...
That's a feature of being an insecure asshole who is also an academic. Or a student, it sounds like. Hopefully they'll be humbled soon. Most of us are actually *more* aware of how little we know about most things.
Economies of Scale (of fake tanner)
as I read the history of AI, it is apparent to me that the sector was a lot less horrifying when it was just a bunch of academics with government funding (yes, with a sprinkle of IBM and the like) people were making money but not planet-distorting money everything is income inequality in the end
An hour ago I passed a man driving a Tesla with a license plate that said "AI Mind" and I felt a little piece of my soul die
Most of Chinese Camp has burned to the ground, according to Chronicle photojournalist @stephenlamphoto.bsky.social. Some residents of the historic Gold Rush town stayed to fight the blaze, despite evacuation orders. #CAwx #CAfire www.sfchronicle.com/california-w...
"In high-crime neighborhoods, [Baltimore] pinpointed investment in public parks, pools + gyms to keep them open during the time when youth crime is most likely to occur: spring break, summer vacation, + Sat night. For the first time since the 1970s, all of the city’s rec centers are open late..."
Oof. I'm too tired right now as I wander aimlessly in this Target in East Sac while I wait for my car to charge, but I have some *thoughts* about the state of electric vehicles and EV charging infrastructure in the US. Especially during a nationwide Verizon outage. 😣
omg y'all. The algorithm put this article into my fb feed, and holy moly the comments. 🫠😆. Too tired to alt text and share tonight, so I'll try to remember to share tomorrow.
but with the opposite feeling! 😏
I can't remember the last time I gave my thumb such a workout refreshing my skyline
(from the old place, that is)
this is "30-50 wild hogs" or Left Shark-level singular focus, and I'm so here for it
Homelessness is a fundamental violation of the social contract. It is a policy failure, NOT a personal individual failure. They’re coming for the most vulnerable. If you punch down, ask yourself why. & then consider that integrity, kindness, & interconnectedness are the true immutable life values.
I was just thinking the same thing 😄🤦🏻♀️
Wes 😂
The Gilded Rage
I was at Morro Rock Beach last night and there was a huge pod of dolphins putting on a show! 🥰
Not kooky! More than a few of us do study it! It's like 80% of my whole research agenda. 😁
The maddening thing is that we know EXACTLY how to prevent this. Yes, kids should get vaccinated, test, stay home when sick, mask as much as possible. But even without any of that: Better ventilation and filtration in schools can MASSIVELY reduce viral spread, for all sorts of respiratory diseases.
I have heat stress just thinking about that. No thanks. 🥵
This headline is really something. A better version would be: "Removal of a mere seven parking spots provides room for safety improvements for $12mil trail, which will be enjoyed by thousands" Morro Bay-Cayucos connector trail will result in loss of some parking spots share.google/ZvLHRnL8LWtQ...
"Electrical power caused 9.4% of fires [in CA betw 2010-2021], collectively burning 20.9% of the total acreage...Mitigating electrical power–related ignitions may offer a particularly impactful approach to reducing wildfire risk compared to other ignition sources." ascelibrary.org/doi/abs/10.1...
I'm jealous of the title, I'm working a paper about how the "Only You" pushes the onus on individuals rather than systems, agencies, or corporate actors. 😏
I'd love to visit Slovenia, actually, but yes, in this case, San Luis Obispo :)
Hey y'all - FYI, I've landed in SLO after several months being semi-nomadic and am deep in the process of unpacking. I just got internet at home. It'll be a week or two before I have a work office. If you've emailed me in the last couple weeks/months, please feel free to re-send to my calpoly email.
An M.I.T. study found that 95% of companies that had invested in A.I. tools were seeing zero return. It jibes with the emerging idea that generative A.I., “in its current incarnation, simply isn’t all it’s been cracked up to be,” johncassidysays.bsky.social writes.
Same for a lot of chronically ill kids who may not have the energy to participate in IRL activities.
I worry about people turning to AI for traffic modeling, which I would certainly put in the "high-stakes scenarios" category.
Excellent piece by my colleagues and friends at @hrrctamu.bsky.social Great explanation of how "vulnerability" is almost always caused by systemic and structural failures, not individual characteristics. theconversation.com/one-of-hurri...
Have you read @jeffsharlet.bsky.social 's The Undertow: Scenes from a Slow Civil War (2023)? If not, you should check it out.
I feel ya. I've mostly only been able to watch Great British Off, American Ninja Warrior, or other similarly positive and comforting shows since 2016.
I'm sorry. That's awful.
thank you for appreciating my super nerdy joke 😄
mindless mandates for endless pavement is going to be title of my book on induced demand
I was literally just thinking about this yesterday. I had dusted off an old album that was my absolute favorite to bike home to on summer nights, and I got so nostalgic about Portland.
The number of too many eel-related degrees is n+1
Those of us in STEM must vocally affirm that the humanities are our allies, and no department is expendable. Arguing we can survive by cutting whole disciplines isn’t just inhumane, it’s nonsensical. The humanities tell us why we’re here in the first place, and what to do about it! This isn’t hard!
I didn't put it together that you are the co-author of Carjacked. I wish I had my copy handy to take a picture (my stuff is all in storage temporarily). It has a zillion tabs, mostly for quoting in my dissertation I think, but also for teaching. 😊
Amen. Yet very little mention of it when everyone was all a flutter about the loneliness crisis.
bsky.app/profile/drta...
Important thread. The homelessness and housing precarity crises are much broader than what is visible or known by most of us.
Honorable mentions: Brisbane Santa Barbara Delft Bonn Galway
you basically just described my worldview
Nice. I'd like to walk the Northern Camino some day - not for religious reasons, but because I think that route along the coast must be beautiful.
I'm lucky to have been to some amazing places, and I still have so many I would love to see!
I still miss it every day!
nice! My mom's grandparents were from near there, they were Spanish Basque (so I'm 1/4). I loved Barcelona but I think I'd like one of these fictional cribs to be up north. 😏
ooh, this one is fun. Munich, Paris, Portland, San Sebastian, and Wellington or Christchurch I haven't been to those last three, but I feel like I would love them.
Pretty sure I'll be assigning this article in my transportation classes ...
What in the racist toxically masculine snowflake did I just read??
People are being very obvious about using the phrase "feeling unsafe" in place of "being super racist" lately
"ambient, pervasive, and multi-modal"? thanks, I effing hate it.
I miss season 2 of the internet when Google actually worked and I didn't have to run baby animal pics through an Al checker and my washing machine wasn't texting me 2-factor auth codes
art
I've said it often, but libraries are, without hyperbole, one of the greatest things humans have ever done. Like ever.
I'm so so so furious at the future creativity and artistry that AI is taking away from all of us by convincing kids nothing is worth doing on their own
You can't teach U.S. history without "divisive" narratives. Slavery wasn't "unifying." The Japanese incarceration wasn't "unifying." The anti-immigrant Operation Wetback (real name) wasn't "unifying." It's history's job to tell the truth, not cover up past racism to pave the way for future racism.
Mild Anxiety at the Laundromat
3 Non Blondes
UB39
that's better than mine, I was going to go with They Might Be Average Height
came here to make sure someone shared the whale video 😂
Arresting homeless people for sleeping in public spaces doesn't reduce homelessness, according to a professor who studies the issue. It often leads to worse health and makes it harder to find stable housing. buff.ly/aHuwSNG By @sprzybylinski.bsky.social @michiganstateu.bsky.social
Inshallah 🙏
Excellent advice. My life has gotten easier since I started thinking about my future self when creating or updating my syllabi. (*easier, not easy, since I'm apparently a pedagogical masochist and constantly tweaking and trying new things 😄🤦🏻♀️)
I so want this for all of you New Yorkers
this is parody, right? right?? 😭
Men Stop Gendering Emotional Labor Challenge
Ambient Social Disorder is the name of my punk Muzak fusion cover band
I don't follow most other states closely, tbf, but the top officials in Texas seem to be the most cruel, petty, and bigoted politicians that I can remember in my lifetime. Yet they keep getting re-elected. Although, maybe as much due to gerrymandering and voter suppression as popularity.
well this looks incredible. Excited to dig in. We need a module focused on traffic modeling and its biases and use in unjust transportation systems.
My first response to reading this was not printable. Paxton is perhaps the most vile state politician in power today, and that's a high bar to clear. He's cruel and creepy and weirdly obsessed with children's private information. And as you can see here, openly fascist, too.
this dc situation looks pretty horrible. i wish i had more to say except that autocracy is always mundane and petty and vicious and encourages you to look away and be safe. and you can live quite normally under it until you're a direct target
I've said it before, but I legit want to replicate this, combined with @hrrctamu.bsky.social 's disaster camp and my sustainable communities summer class, at Cal Poly. What do you think, @aigreve.bsky.social @citybeautiful.nebula.tv, you in ? 😄🙏
(side side note, that may be poor grammar the way I used mythos, but you get the idea 😏)
so true. I had a van full of mostly-international students on a field visit somewhere in rural TX, and I didn't want them to get out at the gas station where we made a quick stop. It felt very uncomfortable.
Absolutely. So much racism embedded in the stereotypes about DC crime.
(I should note, I also love Sacramento. It would/will live up to its potential if/when it finally gets back to the riverfront, but it is generally great. Flat, mostly good weather, bikable, neat old streetcar neighborhoods, etc)
Side but related note - mixed use is good for this reason (among others)!
People have had this ridiculous crime mythos about DC for as long as I can remember. I lived in DC in 2003 and in downtown Sacramento in 2004, and I felt way safer in DC, because there were always people about, unlike Sacto's "five o'clock desert" when all the office workers left. I love DC.
hell yes! I get that for sure. Glad you are still here.
I was disappointed to read past the headline and learn she is the Massachusetts Governor who happens to be a lesbian, and not the Governor of Lesbians who happens to live in Massachusetts.
happy birthday! sounds like a great way to celebrate. :)
same
that's an interesting hypothesis! It'd be cool to do a few studies to try and tease out the relative influences of height, suspension, lack of road noise, and time spent driving at various speeds. I know that's why dashed road lines are so long but I never thought about vehicle height difference.
absolutely. That '84 Volvo was a manual, as were most of my vehicles after it. I miss that. Not needing to shift makes it easier to daydream, mess with a phone or infotainment system, etc.
Of course, the idea of "time is money" is so deeply embedded in our capitalist system that anything that meaningfully slows down, well, anything, gets enormous pushback. But we can have a more humane pace and scale of life, if we want it.
I believe we can reverse it. Our brains are elastic (I drove a campa in NZ and a jeep on St John, it is amazing what our brains can adapt to). But it will take a massive political and financial and regulatory overhaul of our system to change things to help evolve our brains back to slower speeds.
Not only are speed limits higher on most TX freeways and highways (70-75 mph, typically), people also drive higher than that. When I first moved there, it felt alarmingly fast to drive in the flow of traffic. After a while, it felt normal and "safe". We've done that to ourselves on a massive scale.
It is a form of the "homeostasis of risk". Our brains adapt to a new normal once we've done something long enough. I knew of the phenomenon but never really understood until I moved from Oregon to Texas. People actually largely followed the 55 mph limit on intra-urban freeways. Not so in TX.
I don't think most people understand how our brains have adjusted to the high speeds of driving. What once felt fast feels normal. And thus anything slower feels like unacceptable impediment. It isn't just better insulation and shocks (although it helps - my '84 Volvo *told you* when you hit 60 mph)
Those tiny residential streets should have traffic diverters. 😏 They aren't even expensive!
me too, and me too! I was lucky to raft and canoe the Klamath as a kid, I'm so stoked for those kids to experience it undammed like that. 💙
Me too, friend, me too
😂👏 I am totally stealing this for class thank you
I totally agree, my husband drives a F-150 Lightning, and its cruise control changes based on speed limit, but sometimes it is picking up a nearby road instead of the highway. But what I think we can/should do now is motion-based speed management. Like, turning tight turns, like on urban streets.
That's funny, because I think that over time, speed management would actually lead to more support for infra, rather than for higher speed limits. Sounds like a good study! 😄
I also am very thankful for people like you, working our parks and wilderness areas, and think we need to ensure you have safe and efficient options, too. I just don't think that "edge cases" mean we should not implement change for the majority of situations where it would help.