Day 21 - Icon Rhode Island Public Libraries Here are the Public Libraries across Rhode Island. The symbol is from the @nounproject.bsky.social, which is probably one of the best subscriptions I have. The symbols are graduated by square footage. #30DayMapChallenge

Here's when data since 1948 says PVD should expect snow: 1st flakes: Mean 11/29, trend 11/26 (50% in 11/12-12/11) 1st 1": Mean 12/8, trend 12/6 (11/17-12/25) 1st 3": Mean 1/1, trend 12/22 (11/25-1/18) 1st 5": Mean 1/11, trend 12/26 (11/29-1/22) 1st 10": Mean 1/24, trend 1/22 (12/27-2/17)

Insane but true fact: making US roads as safe as Canadian, Australian, or European roads would save more lives than eliminating murder from the US.

I've seen crowd estimates for #HandsOff2025 in #PVD from about 5k-20k. Using mapchecking.com, drone footage from IG, and the footprint of the crowd at 1:15pm when I left (people were still streaming into Burnside Park from Steeple St), I think 13,000 is the minimum actual number. 20k is plausible.

This is how the hostile takeover of our government and armed robbery of our money is going. One month in and they're completed 1/3rd of the Project 2025 agenda. www.project2025.observer?utm_source=w...

Exactly, what's always bugged me about this discourse is that if you compare the Most Online fringes of the left and the right, the right is far worse! Democrats are adding letters to "LGBT" while Republicans are planning a coup.

This needs to be required reading for all democrats and lefties. We need a shared language for our time. “To that end, I’m going to list the potential resolutions from best to worst:” www.liberalcurrents.com/is-it-a-coup/

A lot of folks asked why I through this January's record global temperatures were so unexpected. I think this graph shows it pretty clearly: pretty much every other January with La Nina conditions has been a cooler than the surrounding years.

As an organizer, 1) it’s important to change people’s minds so they agree with you 2) most people don’t follow politics as closely as anyone reading this post 3) Some Trump voters were lied to about his positions by right wing media. If they see the light, welcome it

"Wow, should I worry about New England earthquakes?" you might ask. Probably not? There was a big one in 1755 in Newbury MA & there are small quakes like this every few years apparently & might someday be a bigger one. They've tended to be between Newburyport, Portsmouth, Winnepesaukee, and Concord.

"Govt is important. We need it to regulate a whole range of things. When it fails in those functions, people die. That Trump is indifferent to his responsibilities & incompetent means we can expect more deadly accidents in every aspect of society regulated by the federal govt — which is all of them"

Sen Chris Murphy (D-CT) just now: “You could literally walk down the street and the first 100 people you’d find would be less dangerous as the head of HHS than Robert F Kennedy Jr. He will get people killed”

Pritzker: "They are either lying to us or they are critically incompetent. This is what happens when you staff the federal government full of project 2025 contributors that don't have any experience governing and don't think that the laws apply to them."

It's sort of difficult putting in a solid day at the law factory when you get a push alert every 10 minutes that makes you wonder if law is a real thing anymore

I'm exhausted by all the people out there who are trying to prove they're each the most cynical world-weary disillusioned person who's not gonna ever do a fucking thing ever except dump on everything and expect to be admired for that. Wrote about that in 2016:

The climate justice screening tool, saved and online: edgi-govdata-archiving.github.io/j40-cejst-2/...

Being a person with deadly, incurable cancer who is nonetheless still alive for an indefinite timeframe gives me an interesting metaphor that helps me deal with things like large-scale corruption in government or commerce. Bear with me for a second while I try to explain.

I mean, this isn't a mystery, we know it doesn't do that at all. Two year cycles means the endless campaign and constant fundraising, campaign donors are a relatively wealthy slice of the electorate. It's also why we get so many lawyers, who can draw on the resources to afford to campaign.

this is incredible stuff. most state DOTs would spend tens of billions on highway expansions to try and see numbers like this (that wouldn’t even pan out anyway thanks to induced demand lol)

In 2020, we mapped out the danger zones that will close in on Americans over the next 30 years — combining climate data with wildfire projections by US Forest Service researchers. See what changes are in store for your county. By @shaw.al , @abrahm.bsky.social & Jeremy W. Goldsmith

Research from Australia on 30 km/h zones (20 mph) Findings show decreases in vehicle speeds and decreases in serious injuries Didn't find that people will actually go the lower speed limit, but that seems okay to me Safety is the goal, not compliance

This is my New Year's Eve.

An even better strategy is to not play Monopoly. I also heard that it's a less painful experience (b/c it's half as long) if you don't get free money on the "free parking" space, which is not in the rules but many people do anyway.

The history of urban snow removal is really fascinating; the obligation for property owners to shovel predates plowing (and autos) and so until cars snow removal was a civic obligation FOR PEDESTRIANS; now that has flipped and snow gets plowed ON TO sidewalks and sidewalks are impassable

Map showing the percent of solar energy received on the winter solstice compared to what is received on the summer solstice. This is a 1991-2020 average and takes clouds into account.

We are electrifying the global car fleet. If your country offers the raw materials or builds EVs at scale, your treasurer will be very happy about this.

"Over the past three decades, the average U.S. passenger vehicle has gotten about 4 inches wider, 10 inches longer, 8 inches taller and 1,000 pounds heavier" wamu.org/story/23/11/... Can someone translate this into parking spaces lost and potholes due to weight for #carbrain messaging?

All right, a quick 🧵. (Deluding myself into thinking they're going to be quick is part of the process.) So, what is a good & complete federal climate policy? IMO, it's a stool with three legs: 1. Massive investments. 2. Regulatory reform. (Big bucket.) 3. A backstop price on carbon.

Shorter: yes, handing out money is all we *can* currently do, but I will not pretend it's the only thing we *need* to do or that people who want to do other things are to be belittled & dismissed. The hippies are right that it's not enough!

Our first #treebybike! Ratchet straps installed for bringing a granny cart to the farmers market worked great for a tree too. Tree sellers, brewery staff & patrons, and passersby were all even more appreciative than the usual experience of just showboating the Urban Arrow around sans tree.

I really enjoy the specificity of these "so how did the weather today compare?" updates. Yesterday's highs were just over a standard deviation below average, while the lows were only slightly below average.

classic revolutionary dynamics. very bad to solve problems by random street murder but if you don’t want that to happen you fix the problems

Interesting new report on transit costs. The data make clear the crisis of construction cost inflation in the Anglosphere. One problem: A higher level of project soft costs, such as professional services, due to lack of in-house expertise. Another problem: Overbuilding due to high risk aversion.

Insurance is the canary in the coal mine for the climate crisis. No insurance -> no mortgages -> no housing market. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

As Dems reelect a spritely 74-year-old Chuck Schumer as Senate Leader, this is a reminder that U.S. politicians are the oldest of any democracy, despite the U.S. having one of the youngest populations.

JUST IN: A majority of France's National Assembly just voted to topple the government of Michel Barnier, the PM who's headed an alliance of Macronists & conservative over the last 3 months. Government must now resign. This is all nearly unprecedented, so what's next is quite unclear. Explanation:

1/ A thread on the madness of Dem fundraising and why it needs to change 🧵 📈 Look at this chart of political fundraising emails I received in 2024: - 3,212 fundraising emails in total. - 48 in a single day! Badgering your supporters is disrespectful, annoying, and, frankly, counterproductive.

Just about complete with state turnout rates, with still just a few more states left to post final numbers. Here's a 2020 (Blue) to 2024 (Orange) turnout rates with green arrows identifying turnout rate increases

Day 26 of the #30DayMapChallenge: Projections “All models are wrong, but some are useful.” This is especially true for maps. While often viewed as objective truths, maps are shaped by countless choices that can influence how viewers interpret them. More at: bit.ly/4fS03sm #GIS #DataViz #ArcGISPro

#30DayMapChallenge Day 30 (Final Map): NOAA NHC announced the official end of 2024 Atlantic #Hurricane Season, so I updated my Historical Hurricane Tracks map, with 18 new storms and 5 labels of landfall ones: Beryl, Debby, Francine, Helene, Milton. Original images: cartoguophy.com/maps/histori...

While we’re on the topic of clemency — Biden ran as opposed to death penalty in 2020, and while Trump is sure to set up a new execution spree like he did last time, Biden has the power to commute the sentences of people on the federal death row.

Well, this does unbelievable damage to the credibility of the dems, especially as moral opposition to Trump.

"The opioid epidemic has wiped off a year from US male life expectancy... gun deaths (homicide and suicide) and elevated rates of road accidents account for an additional 9 and 6 lost months respectively, relative to peer countries" @jburnmurdoch.bsky.social www.ft.com/content/b397... #publichealth

This is correct. And don't tell me Trump didn't pay a price last time he did it. He did! Among the damage Nixon did: Created mistaken belief that the only two possibilities are Driven From Office and Paid No Price.

In few US states has homelessness improved between 2020 and 2023. The country continues to face a housing crisis. HT @VineMapper

Researchers estimate that if e-bike trips expanded to 11% of all vehicle trips, transport emissions would fall by about 7%.