Why are cities called “City of …” in most states, whereas in Utah (and maybe elsewhere) it’s “… City”? For example, Park City or Salt Lake City

Some people believe that the earth is flat. Should we study whether the earth is flat?

Snow in the Uinta Mountains. I’M NOT EXCITED, YOU’RE EXCITED!

Excited about the updated lineup of chapters of United by Nature, which continues the efforts we started with the First National Nature Assessment. Nature affects so many things in the U.S. and beyond, as shown by the diversity of these chapters. Learn more here: weareunitedbynature.org

Happy Fall Equinox 🍂

Morning trail run

My younger daughter was singing very loudly, “Por la mañana café, por la tarde ron” by Bad Bunny at Costco today. In Utah 😂

Fall

I know that World ITTs are different from Grand Tours ITTs, but please bring back 50-60kms ITTs to the Tour de France and let Remco cook.

Funny story: when I was offered my first assistant professor job at Cal State Northridge about 10 years ago, I was told that they wouldn’t have paid for a work visa. There are probably many state schools and other small schools for which even the previous levels of expenses weren’t doable

Sunset light

Why is this horrible for Universities? Just about everyone who isn't a citizen or green card holder already who's hired for a tenure track faculty position is hired through an H1B and then, after 3-5 years, applies for a green card. This is literally "No more foreign professors can be hired"

If this is implemented and stands in the courts, significantly fewer international graduate students will come to American universities because it will be nearly impossible to get a job in the U.S. after graduation. Another major hit to the U.S. higher education system

Fall colors starting to pop

Are they going to tell me that the COVID vaccine includes a microchip designed by Bill Gates? Jokes apart, I’m glad a prescription won’t be required

"Though [Democratic] cities are far better than [Republican cities] in almost every regard, the homelessness crisis that the housing crisis begets negates all of it in most people’s eyes."

Increasingly darker times in American higher education. It’s becoming unbearable

Why are pedestrians and cyclists often called “vulnerable road users?” Because cars and trucks are “dangerous” road users. People walking and cycling aren’t vulnerable on their own

Today’s ACIP meeting promoted false claims and misguided information about vaccines. AAP will continue stepping up and working with our local, state and federal partners to make sure every child in every community continues to have access to immunizations. bit.ly/4puP4uf

Stop watching the tv channels and other media that are censoring people. Read a book instead.

The entire State of Utah is yet again experiencing drought. 78.2% of the state is experiencing severe or extreme drought droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentMap/S...

The Sunset in San Francisco looks like a prototypical faux-liberal places with "Everyone is welcome here" signs but that fights against denser housing and recalls a council member over turning space for cars into space for people. Also, the NYT's motor-normativity in full display: "beloved" highway?

Barcelona has signed a contract with the Tour de France for the 2026 grand depart. Will it happen? I doubt the UCI will remove Israel Premier Tech’s license. And based on this year’s protests at La Vuelta, I don’t think the Tour stages in Barcelona will be able to happen with IPT present

A union that represents university professors published a guide tailored to help its members navigate social media during the “current climate.” The advice? Lock down your social media accounts, expect anything you post will be screenshotted. 🔗 www.404media.co/union-warns-...

More evidence of the success of the multi-modal policies by @slcmoves.bsky.social. Ridership on the Route 9 bus increased 260% from 2018 to 2024. This is thanks to increased frequency (paid by SLC), a more multi-modal street design (9-Line), and more people living on + visiting the corridor

Fitting

I feel for U of Utah students. I understand that many travel from far and have jobs before/after class. But they do have free transit passes. There are several park-and-ride lots along the Red Line. The solution is rarely more + cheaper parking, but making better use of existing free transit

Labor requirements have become increasingly common in liberal places, including California. These places tend to use market-based housing construction or renovation to achieve too many goals (eg labor, below market rate units, green building), which leads to less housing being built altogether

At least in the US, most politicians who call themselves "climate mayors" are mostly doing virtue signaling. They often avoid taking bold action over contentious issues like dense housing near transit and jobs and active transportation investments that might upset drivers

The heated debates about cars in cities aren’t a matter of ideology. They’re a matter of geometry. You simply cannot accommodate increasing travel demand by creating more space for cars. There’s no room for that without demolishing buildings, cutting trees, and endangering bikers and pedestrians

folks, I want to remind you that a ton of federal workers are about to get their last pay check at the end of this month and this stuff is going to get much worse

Over the summer, we applied for a federal grant under HUD (Housing and Urban Development). Today, we got notice that HUD decided to not fund any proposal from that new funding opportunity. They’re just trolling us and wasting our time deliberately, right?

Do you think Juan Ayuso would have given up a major World Tour win to a teammate like Tadej Pogacar did today?

Someone sent me these beautiful books about chefs in the mail. No note. In a world full of awful news, this made my day. Thanks to whoever was so kind

Morning hike

My department @uwmadison.bsky.social is hiring an assistant professor with expertise in environmental politics. Send us your application. jobs.wisc.edu/jobs/assista...

Utah football fans, rejoice. Yes, the first half was ugly. But last year’s team would have probably lost this game, or it would have been uncomfortably close. This year’s team is different. Go Utes.

The U.S. is very insular - We call football soccer, and our “football” doesn’t involve kicking the ball much - We use imperial units when most other countries use the metric system - We call the country “America” while most of the world uses that name for the continent What else?

Confining new apartments to lots facing loud, polluted, high-traffic arterial streets is profoundly inequitable. www.sightline.org/2021/10/19/c...

I don’t know who needs to hear this, but nobody goes to the park to be chased and almost attacked by your off-leash dog. I’m so so tired of this. It’s out of control in SLC

Cities in America, circa 1990-2025

Kudos to the Avenues Street Festival in SLC for having a bike valet. Bike valets are a great way to incentivize less driving to events

Now that the Vuelta is basically over, I feel pretty comfortable saying that the Giro d’Italia was the most entertaining grand tour of the year. From Siena to Colle delle Finestre and with several classics-like stages, it was uncertain until the end. That can’t be said for Tour or Vuelta

I think we’re going to look back, 20-30 years from now, and fail to understand how so many people back then fought to stop housing near transit. Density near transit makes so much sense

Morning hike

I could live off of tapas. But don’t tell my Italian compatriots. I might lose my Italian citizenship

Can’t overstate how important this law will be. This all started in 2018 with SB 827. It only took seven years 🙃

It's crunch time, YIMBYs! 🗣️Years of work depend on a vote that will happen today. Today is the day to take action. If you've already called/texted/emailed, do it again. If it's your first time, it's not too late. LET'S PASS SB 79 AND FIX CALIFORNIA! cayimby.org/call-sb-79/

Interesting study of Edinburgh & Glasgow 20mph schemes. Concludes: “… the citywide enforcement of 20mph speed limits, as in Edinburgh, has reduced the risk of vulnerable road users, and especially pedestrians, being involved in serious or fatal collisions...”

Great news from California. If you live there, call your Senator and tell them to support SB 79