313 evolving streetscapes, solar rising, and more boone things



File under: pandemic
Looks like we might be heading toward a color again, like purple or orange.

We were at 300 cases a day, so this is improvement. Look at LA, though. Officially 1 in 10 people have caught Covid-19 down there. Unofficially, I've seen numbers as high as 1 in 3. Here in SF, we're at 1 in 30. 

After 313 days of some degree of lockdown, I can say with some confidence it looks like our plan is to avoid getting sick and wait for the vaccine.

File under: we the people

Wherein we examine the premise that actually, the loudmouth bellyaching is more of a recognition that the world is changing than any ability to do anything about it.

Because a better world is happening.

This is certainly true for me. Thank you to everyone who has gently helped me see that indeed, I don't always have the best answer, but I can be helpful.

File under: thank you for the miracles that are happening in our lives
Which is really another way of saying, a better world is happening.

For a number of years, since learning about peak oil, oil wars, and absorbing climate change happening, I've been advocating for walkable lifestyles, cycling, and urban and transit-centered infill.

Some of my ideas are kinda radical, at least in the US, like shutting down streets to car traffic. Then filling them with more housing, businesses, etc. So radical, I had no idea how it might come about.

Then we had a pandemic. And weirdly, this crazy awful disease started to change our streetscape. And now that it's happened, I think the cat is out of the bag. We've seen how charming it can be. (It reminds me a bit of some spots we hit in Rome in 2019... The birthplace of Romance.)

Add in ideas like this, and we're moving toward a whole new urban landscape.

Cities are not fixed things. They keep getting built up in layer by layer. Just because the car had a solid 75 year run of dominating our streetscape, doesn't mean it will last forever. Or even very long.

File under: mad spokes

Wherein a trashed alternator from an old car becomes the motor for an ebike.

Good for 40mph. He said he could get more out of the motor, but wasn't so sure about the rest of the bike.

File under: doesn't really need to be said, but it kinda does

And back to a positive vision for the future...

Last year wasn't very good for the fossil fuel industry.


A group of old friends sends around a top-ten-ish list of our past year's notables. One friend who is currently living in South Korea spent a fair amount of time talking about how he's gotten into hugging his rock climbing buddies during the pandemic. (South Korea has done an amazing job of being on top of the spread... They've had indoor dining, etc, pretty much all along.)

He's always enjoyed being a little bit of a trendsetter. I'm guessing fall 2021 is going to be full hugging season.

At top, let my hand wander into a drawing in Autodesk Sketchbook. Below, another sunrise, this in Concepts App. That UI is pretty good for working quick, but it leans heavily upon its vector roots. (Autodesk Sketchbook is also vector, but does a better job hiding it. Hmmm. Maybe that's part of my issue. Maybe I'll try a few in Clip Studio Paint again... But all that clicking just to get a brush with the right color on it... Maybe I'll check out some of the other "paint" apps, too.)

 

And after I took it too far...

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