@alan@subdued.social avatar

alan

@alan@subdued.social

Admin of subdued.social in #BellinghamWA. Lead Cartographer at https://vis.social/@stamen. Social media for https://social.ridetrans.it/@CascadiaRail. 15 minutes of fame: https://subdued.social/@pop_vs_soda

Was https://subdued.social/@mappingmashups on Twitter.
#cartography, #dataviz, #urbanism, #RankedChoiceVoting, #ElectoralReform, #ProportionalRepresentation, #HighSpeedRail, #OpenStreetMap, #TheExpanse

Don't want local content? Just mute the #BellinghamWA hashtag.

pronoun.is/he

Older posts: https://mastodon.social/@mappingmashups

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

openstreetmap, to trans
@openstreetmap@en.osm.town avatar

Happy Trans* Day of Visibility!

Trans people are mappers, and hackers, and cartographers, and have always been a part of the OpenStreetMap community.

The OpenStreetMap project is creating a freely licenced map of the world, based on how things actually are, based on how they act, and appear, not based on what some government says. OSM is trans positive.

#OpenStreetMap #OSM
#TDoV #TransDayOfVisibility #Trans

https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/w/images/thumb/2/2f/2019_v1_OSM_Logo_trans.svg/480px-2019_v1_OSM_Logo_trans.svg.png

alan,
@alan@subdued.social avatar

@openstreetmap @sanfierro here you go https://time.com/5211799/what-does-trans-asterisk-star-mean-dictionary/

motoridersd, to TheExpanse
@motoridersd@pug.ninja avatar

Finished S4 of . Most of it was a bit of a slog, 8 episode seasons would probably be best for these shows.

The last two episodes were great. Filip looks like Naomi and Marco's kid OMG

alan,
@alan@subdued.social avatar

@motoridersd S4 (and book 4) are divisive: For most people it’s a slog but some people love it. I did appreciate it a lot more on my second viewing and second reading, but it remains probably my least favorite. If it’s any consolation, they cut a lot from the book in order to add more content to keep Avasarala and Drummer’s characters active for that season of TV. There’s probably only like 5 episodes worth of content if you look only at the parts that came from the book.

alan, to random
@alan@subdued.social avatar

“My politics are whatever this is”, but as a whole thread:

https://urbanists.social/@straphanger/112168979067387415

alan, to random
@alan@subdued.social avatar

"California Shows the U.S. Is Too Polarized for Top-Two Primaries"

https://www.governing.com/politics/california-shows-the-u-s-is-too-polarized-for-top-two-primaries

Frustrating article that makes good points about the flaws in the nonpartisan top-two primary system, but doesn't mention reforms that would fix it. In passing it says "Alaska has its own variation" of a non-partisan primary, but that variation () fixes all the problems listed in this article!

@FrancisWilkinson please take a look at Alaska's system more closely next time!

alan,
@alan@subdued.social avatar

@FrancisWilkinson Well, a large part of your article is (rightly) concerned about Democrats like Schiff effectively funding Republicans who they think will be weaker candidates in the general election. There would be zero incentive to do that in a ranked choice general election among the top four.

alan,
@alan@subdued.social avatar

@FrancisWilkinson Also, if the concern is that the “wrong” Democrat won (that is, assuming that Porter or Lee could have beaten Schiff in the general if they had made it through the primary) then RCV in the general would give that a chance to happen. I’m not saying top four on is own does anything at all. It’s the ranked choice top four that makes all the difference.

alan,
@alan@subdued.social avatar

@FrancisWilkinson Of course this election isn’t a good example if your premise is that top two elections are meant to produce moderates and that they’re failing to do that. (As an aside I’m not sure if I agree that moderation is the main goal of top two, vs preventing third party spoilers)

In this case Schiff was the moderate and Porter and Lee split the progressive lane. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/barbara-lee-katie-porter-california-senate-primary_n_65e50f3fe4b013678e15bf92/amp

alan,
@alan@subdued.social avatar

@FrancisWilkinson Had Schiff not juiced Garvey’s result and instead Schiff was facing off against a progressive in the general, the progressive vote would consolidate but the Garvey voters could vote for Schiff and help him win if they were worried about that. The top two system still would have worked fine as designed. The more moderate candidate will win in any case in this example.

alan, to random
@alan@subdued.social avatar

Yesterday the Fair Representation Act was re-introduced in Congress! This reform will stop gerrymandering and make the House of Representatives more competitive and more responsive to voters.

Learn more from here: https://fairvote.org/our-reforms/fair-representation-act/

And contact your representatives and ask them to support the !

https://p2a.co/ZraNU5n

alan,
@alan@subdued.social avatar

@InkySchwartz What valley are you in? This proposal would roll you up with some adjacent areas and give you more than one rep.

Simply increasing the number of reps but maintaining single-member districts is underwhelming. Just look at the smaller districts in state legislatures and you can see that they're just as easily gerrymandered, just as often stuck with unresponsive incumbents who can't be defeated, and still completely locks out third parties. A bigger house solves basically nothing.

timbray, to random
@timbray@cosocial.ca avatar

They’re thinking of changing the name of Powell River: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/name-change-powell-river-divide-1.7145873?cmp=rss

OK, but how about we do “British Columbia”? It’s a horrible name, picked by Queen Victoria in 1858, and the locals hated it even back then.

alan,
@alan@subdued.social avatar

@timbray yes the computer thing is an issue but so is the cultural attachment to those initials (is there any other state or province that uses its abbreviation so frequently as a shorthand? It’s hard to think of one).

But yeah after following this idea for the last decade or so, there have been no alternate BC names that seem like they’ve got legs. Maybe it’s time to start trying out names that don’t fit the BC abbreviation and see if there is something that can gain consensus.

alan, to maine
@alan@subdued.social avatar

"Maine votes to join multi-state agreement to elect the president by popular vote"

It's not passed into law yet, but seems likely at this point.

This map shows a credible path to achieving 270 votes before the 2028 election. If you're in one of the blue states on this map, please write to your state legislators and governor!

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/3/13/2228016/-Maine-votes-to-join-multi-state-agreement-to-elect-the-president-by-popular-vote

futurebird, to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

A lightly left-leaning generally Democratic friend has just now noticed that freaking out about the election is reasonable... but they do take my opinion somewhat seriously (even after calling me "probably a communist" I have no idea)

I made such a horrible face (involentary) when they said something about giving money to Biden I had to make another suggestion ... uh..."Democracy Docket?"

Any democrats who might not get the help they need from the DNC but still might win I could also mention?

alan,
@alan@subdued.social avatar

@futurebird Yes, voter reg and turn out efforts precisely, focused on presidential battleground states (if your friend's freak-out is primarily about the presidency). Also orgs that will help fight for ballot access, and be positioned to join in legal challenges if the electoral college is close again. So something like Stacey Abrams' Fair Fight Action? https://fairfight.com/

alan, to Seattle
@alan@subdued.social avatar

Alaska Airlines adds third daily flight between Bellingham and Seattle:

7 p.m. departure adds option for Seattle connections

https://www.cascadiadaily.com/2024/mar/13/alaska-airlines-adds-third-daily-flight-between-bellingham-and-seattle/

alan,
@alan@subdued.social avatar

@qwyllion YES! I mainly used those for connections through PDX rather than getting off there, but it was so nice for extra schedule flexibility.

alan, to random
@alan@subdued.social avatar

Tomorrow in , the Historical Society has a presentation about the 1880’s Bellingham Bay and British Columbia Railroad.

This might sound like it's only of interest to the nerdiest of train nerds. BUT HEAR ME OUT! The old track bed of this railroad still exists in places, and is part of the long-proposed Nooksack Loop Trail & the Bay to Baker Trail. We need to convert more old railroads to non-motorized trails!

Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/694872506058357

A screenshot of the event page on Facebook. Text reads: March 14 Presentation: 1880's Bellingham Bay and British Columbia Railroad at the Whatcom Museum
A map of the proposed Bay to Baker Trail

alan, to random
@alan@subdued.social avatar

First presidential primary election results for have dropped. Here in "uncommitted" is getting 9.62% percent of the Democratic vote, and "write-in" is at 1.58%. Only King County has a slightly higher proportion of "uncommitted" with 10.15%. Expect those percentages to get higher over the next few days at the later ballots get counted. The statewide vote for "uncommitted" is at 7.53% right now. https://results.vote.wa.gov/results/20240312/president-democratic-party_bycounty.html

alan,
@alan@subdued.social avatar

Also today: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden-trump-poised-clinch-nominations-set-up-bruising-presidential-rematch-2024-03-12/

alan, to pnw
@alan@subdued.social avatar

‘It’s like being stoned.’ How Bellingham got its nickname: The City of Subdued Excitement

https://www.columbian.com/news/2024/mar/11/its-like-being-stoned-how-bellingham-got-its-nickname-the-city-of-subdued-excitement/

alan, to random
@alan@subdued.social avatar

I wrote a blog post looking back at ten years of working at @stamen:

https://stamen.com/year-ten-at-stamen/

alan, to movies
@alan@subdued.social avatar

"What is ranked choice voting and how does it work at the Oscars?"

https://apnews.com/live/2024-Oscars-updates-winners#0000018e-263a-d7d8-a7ee-bebe8b890000

alan, to random
@alan@subdued.social avatar

, (where I live) is studying whether our cities have enough room in their Urban Growth Areas to accommodate future population growth, and my eyes are glazing over trying to read this document called "Whatcom County Land Capacity Analysis For Permanent Housing and Employment Needs"...

https://66a2f909-8feb-4909-aed7-264978eeceae.usrfiles.com/ugd/66a2f9_c882c722cfed43e3918413bd71fefe68.pdf

Instead my mind keeps wandering back to this map I made comparing the city of (population 90k) with (population 400k) which have the same land area:

alan,
@alan@subdued.social avatar

Note, those maps are in the style of the Vienna Model exhibition which we hosted in Bellingham in 2018 https://localgroup.studio/the-vienna-model

alan,
@alan@subdued.social avatar

@timClicks Thanks! The style is borrowed from The Vienna Model traveling exhibition: https://www.vienna-model.at/en/

alan, (edited ) to cycling
@alan@subdued.social avatar

Today (Tue Mar 5) at 5pm, the city of will present concepts for a protected bike lane on Holly St, one of Bellingham's busiest downtown streets. There will also be a presentation from Catie Gould, senior transportation researcher at the Sightline Institute.

Event is at Structures Brewing on Holly St.

Photo is of a protected bike lane in Medford, OR, similar to what we'll have in Bellingham.

https://www.instagram.com/p/C38oE2HSsu9/

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