We're gonna need to de-Trumpify our language, not just our government. "Making a deal" didn't originate with him but he poisoned it. Because "a deal" is only what personally benefits him. Henceforth, we negotiate agreements.
bettybarcode (she/her)
@bettybarcode.com
Walking is a right; driving is a privilege. Not the other way around. Defund, abolish, prosecute. Oh, and I RT ducks. #DriverNotCar #PlowSidewalksToo #WindshieldBias
If you want to have any hope of persuading people, you’ve got to first understand how the human mind works. open.substack.com/pub/speakeas...
Why people oppose the safer option
What I got wrong about persuasion.
open.substack.com
I am once again asking if it's possible to issue a massive class action lawsuit against state DOTs or engineering boards for negligence in Traffic Engineering licensure for perpetuating poor road designs that actively enable deadly driving patterns
OB Cycler@obcycler.bsky.social · 4d agoDoorzone bike lanes are engineering malpractice.
Honestly, "click here" links didn't even make sense in 1998 — but at any rate, we've known better for at least a quarter-century. Knock it off, already!
bettybarcode (she/her)@bettybarcode.com · 4d agoIf you are still using "click here" links in the year of our lord 2026, cut it out already. They made sense in 1998. Today they stymy screen readers.
"Quaint," as a descriptor for places, now means "pre-automobile."
Flexposts protect cars, not cyclists. #WindshieldBias
Action Committee for Transit@actfortransit.bsky.social · 4d agoOur River Road correspondent sent these images with the comment "It's not windy." Sure can't tell that from looking at these! Plastic isn't protection - even for itself." Cyclists and pedestrians have been killed in this area.
You know how there are articles, sometimes entire books, of drawings & plans for cities that were announced but never built? Highways, commercial developments, whatever. Someone could do a version with all the things that were for sure going to destroy the city/ruin the neighborhood and...didn't.
Tom Flood@tomflood.bsky.social · 4d agoAll the hysteria and rhetoric that consumed a community around these bike lanes ended and now no one talks about them and people use them (including those with mobility devices) all the time for work, school, play and everything in between. Change is hard for some people but we all adapt.
If you are still using "click here" links in the year of our lord 2026, cut it out already. They made sense in 1998. Today they stymy screen readers.
Accessibility Awareness@a11yawareness.bsky.social · 2w agoHyperlink text should make sense when read out of context. Screen reader users can navigate from link to link, and can listen to links in a list. When navigating this way, only the link is read. So "click here" or "read more" won't make sense.
Downplay a book or movie: "Blues Acquaintances"
Jake_Vig@jakevig.bsky.social · 6d agoDownplay a book or movie: "Reasonable Expectations"
Probably the most difficult thing YIMBYs face -- really, anyone who lives in a city -- is that government-subsidized street parking is one of the single largest barriers to affordability, safe streets, and climate action. That's because drivers view it as an entitlement, like social security. 🧵
My sit bones hurt after 5 miles on the bike and padded shorts did not help. A wide, cushioned seat made all the difference. If you have girl butt, replace your anorexic saddle.
My city painted some green bike boxes for left-turning north & south-bound cyclists. I think they positioned them wrong. From what I read, they're supposed to be where I drew red boxes. Instead, if I want to turn left, I have to go to the far corner in front of cross traffic. What do we think?
For lots of Americans, transportation history goes like this: First, we all walked. 👞 Then we all got horses. 🐴 Then we all got cars. 🚗 Trains, boats, canals, ferries, streetcars, bicycles, not to mention having everything nearby so that no mechanical transpo was needed: all memory-holed. 🗃️
Gravel Influencer@gravelinfluencer.bsky.social · last wk.It's depressingly hilarious to me how so few people understand what transportation looked like in the early 20th century in the U.S.
Was waiting at a red light, on my bike, with helmet & gloves, and a driver passed by & shouted, "Thank you for being safe." I think it's been 10 yrs or more since someone yelled "Get on the f______g sidewalk" at me.
New moral panic in Magaland: guacamole is trans.
Jeff Groh@jeffgroh.bsky.social · last wk.Avocados come in 2 varieties - A-types start each day female and switch to male midday. B-types do the reverse. In work just published from the last chapter of my PhD, we show this system evolved 40+million yrs ago and is regulated by alleles of 1 transcription factor www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
After dark, is it: A puddle A pothole A grease spot A shadow
suyu@suyu.bsky.social · last wk.It’s that time of year again when we have to play the guessing game of whether the motionless thing in front of us on the cycle path is a pine cone, 😌 a Japanese giant hornet, 🫥 or a bumblebee. 😭
What are the best new bike lanes in the United States. Yes, bike lanes. We want to know, send your faves.
No one is louder or more profane than a driver caught in the wrong.
ICE OUT State Fan@therealjoro.bsky.social · last wk.A while back I had someone threaten to shoot me because I asked why they were parked in a bike lane instead of in the empty public parking lot literally 5 feet down the road. A few days after that a guy drove down the bike lane after me for about a block when I yelled at him for doing the same.
If you have unused bike lanes it means only this: THEY ARE UNSAFE and DONT CONNECT ANYWHERE PEOPLE WANT TO BE. I see cities slap rando lanes on busy corridors with people driving 55 mph all.the.time. They don’t go to anywhere or from anywhere, they start/stop randomly and they are scary AF!
bettybarcode (she/her)@bettybarcode.com · last wk.The people who complain about empty bike lanes do not want full bike lanes. They want no bike lanes.
Car ads promise you speed, power & control, which cities cannot provide. In spite of bazillions spent trying to do so.
Matt Lawlor@mattjlawlor.bsky.social · last wk.And being behind the wheel is both a kind of power trip (I’m driving what amounts to a death machine and weapon) and immensely frustrating (why are there traffic lights, why are there scooters, all of these things are in my way and delay/annoy me). It’s a toxic cocktail and always there.
A driver in Boston ran down and murdered a scooter rider because he felt "disrespected." Cars are weapons.
WCVB NewsCenter 5, Boston@wcvb5.bsky.social · last wk.Man faces murder charges in fatal scooter crash, Boston police say | Click on the image to read the full story
1976: Everyone's moving out of the city, this is a crisis! 2026: Everyone's moving into the city, this is a crisis!
The Buffalo News@buffalonews.com · last wk.From the archives: The Buffalo area became one of nine U.S. metropolitan areas most troubled by a 'pattern of city residents fleeing to the suburbs,' and more.
The people who complain about empty bike lanes do not want full bike lanes. They want no bike lanes.