Iowa City made buses free in August 2023 with a goal of lowering emissions and encouraging people to take public transit. Now ridership is up, traffic is down, and the program is extremely popular. So popular that the City Council has voted to extend it for another year.

Hey, just got word that there's someone out there emailing people from annleckie05 at gmail, pretending to be me "reaching out" to people. That is not me! If I email you out of the blue it will almost certainly come from annleckie.com, or possibly my personal email which doesn't contain my name.

One of the most frustrating things about any form of art is that one mark of constant improvement is that you're always a little critical of your last creation, because you've hopefully improved enough in the wake of it to see its flaws. Still distressing though.

Been really vibing emotional storytelling-forward or adjacent music lately. AJJ, McKinley Dixon, and Uncluded have all been stuck in my head.

I really cant decide if the amount of cool stuff to read and play is a blessing or a curse.

Go to that gig. listen to that song, dust off that record player, learn to play that guitar. Music helps us through. Life can be overwhelming at times. Music can help, I promise you that x

An AP headline on a push notification read "At least 24 people are dead and 54 wounded after Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, testing the ceasefire that began in October, officials say." That is clear skewing. That's not testing a ceasefire. It's breaking it.

Good reminder!

I'm sitting at the DMV, number 10th in line for an appointment scheduled for 20 minutes ago, and I'm realizing why I put this off so long.

People of Scotland. Nature Needs You. And swift bricks could be mandated in Scotland if we work together now. The RSPB Scotland has this e-action for anyone based in Scotland action.rspb.org.uk/page/181323/...

Props to Scrivener for finding mac users a way around this.

The online sphere is getting REALLY conspiratorial right now, so I'm gonna ask y'all to write the claims you're buying into down. In a month, mark any that turned out false. Cut the people who told you that shit out of your info network.

Couldnt have fuckin said it better myself.

Look, sometimes posting here can be a grind, but you have to jump in feet first and everything will come out fine on the other side

Kinda sucks when you love your job but not your workplace.

I feel a little bad saying it, but I can't help but notice that every pro-AI person I meet is also someone whose opinion I would take with an enormous grain of salt.

Been trying to make more vegan recipes and picked up a cookbook. Made sauteed mushrooms with shallots and thyme, and misir wot.

The longer I live in NYC, the more I like both rats and pigeons.

I got to hang with a NYC Godot gamedev community this week and it was a highlight of the week. There's sooo much value in in-person creative communities.

You look for cracks everywhere to exploit against fascists. Period. I think some people seem confused about the state of things in this country.

Winter Burrow is out TODAY. I'm hoping it will scratch my Stardew itch while I wait for Haunted Chocolatier store.steampowered.com/app/3008740/...

Reposting this because I'd love some recommendations.

I've been trying to increase my repertoire of vegan recipes and I'm having a little more trouble than I thought I would.

Hey so it's suddenly pretty fucking cold here in NYC.

The sequel to disco elysium is what happened to disco elysium

For as much attention as political misinformation gets, I feel people miss the prevalence and damage of random misinformation. A loooot of social media channels are built on "weird facts" or "hacks" that are straight up bullshit because the algorithm incentivizes tabloid style shock appeal.

The best thing you can do for yourself next year is to join an organization if you can.

Someone at my work put up an "is a hotdog a sandwich" poll and I think its gonna start a fight. People are scribbling full sentences on it now.

Look at all the little dudes!

I spent almost all of yesterday hammering out the full first draft of a short story and I feel like I have the brain version of the happy exhaustion you get after a long hike.

As this fuckstick fights to keep SNAP cuts, keep 3 things in mind... 1. The immense effort he and his party are putting into starving their own people. 2. The good that this level of effort could accomplish. 3. That many outlets are treating this like regular-ass news rather than an atrocity.

We’re hiring! Our new resume portal is live, and we’re looking for top talent in NYC to help build this administration and deliver on our affordability agenda. Could that be you? Apply using the link below. transition2025.com/apply

I was wondering why it got a little colder and found out Cheney died. Guess that gate to hell that was open for him finally snapped shut.

I think a good quick and dirty test for any political system you have in mind is to ask how you'd like to be one of the poorest or socially ostracized members of that society. How would you live? Would you think it's fair? Would you be able to get by?

For those of you who are scared about people going hungry but aren't at immediate risk yourself: You can help. Find local mutual aid groups, like Food Not Bombs. Donate money to food banks if possible. And ask around in your community, see who needs help.

People opposed to your political project don't want that project to succeed. Why would you listen to their advice?

Who else associates certain disciplines with specific colors? Like, in my head, biology is lime green, science is blue, cooking is white and silver. What associations do you have?

Hey artists Just keep posting. Last post didn’t get many likes? Keep posting. Not 100% happy with what you made? Post it. Feel like you aren’t getting anywhere? Keep posting. You never know who will find you and when.

If you use Notion you can contact them and ask for AI features to be removed from your account, they'll be like "are you sure? This isn't reversible" and then when you say yes it'll be fixed by the next day. Very handy

It sometimes feels like there is a particular brand of left-leaning person that would rather fully lose than have an incomplete victory.

There is no situation where elected officials should be able to pick their voters. Decisions like these should be completely out of their hands.

A friend roped me into his fantasy football league. I know exactly nothing about football, so I picked players based on who had cool names. I am in second place.

Far as metaphors go, this one is pretty on the nose.

If you're bothered by everything going on, then stop waiting for some big organization or politician to fix it for you. Go out there, organize, build a movement. Don't wait for someone to tell you what to do; figure out what needs to be done and learn how to do it.

Something I wanna tell every budding creative is that everyone has a different way of doing art that works best for their brains... and that yours might change over time. Art is as much about figuring yourself out as it is the craft, and you'll have an ebb and flow of internal battles. That's okay.

High key wouldnt be surprised if it caused him to *lose* votes.

So, on account of me being bad at watching things, my spooky ass ain't seen Over the Garden Wall until today and I know I'm a decade late, but holy SHIT is it brilliant.

US news comes across as completely batshit when you’re outside of the US. Pretending I don’t speak English because I cannot explain this degueulasse.

I got to see Pierce the Veil yesterday and hoooooly shit. They use a stadium for everything it's worth. It was an incredible show.

Something I've noticed, moving from a not-great place to NYC is how some long-time residents take for granted the opportunities available to them. I hear coworkers from poor backgrounds talk about programs their schools offered that I wouldve adored, but would be unthinkable back home.