Post AFZJEeILnCKhtV6pAe by sajith@toot.cafe
(DIR) More posts by sajith@toot.cafe
(DIR) Post #AFVoCKsFLfL71pR7MO by djsumdog@djsumdog.com
2022-01-16T22:42:47.916785Z
2 likes, 3 repeats
We were never in this together, but you are not alone:https://battlepenguin.com/philosophy/we-were-never-in-this-together-but-you-are-not-alone/
(DIR) Post #AFWmaLkZjjC1wi8CUC by bonifartius@qoto.org
2022-01-17T09:59:26Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@djsumdog really nice post! :)
(DIR) Post #AFXDW8oMbB9fQ97Y2a by djsumdog@djsumdog.com
2022-01-17T15:01:13.897061Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@bonifartius Thanks for reading!
(DIR) Post #AFXGuvwjroE2cgYH1k by sajith@toot.cafe
2022-01-17T15:15:23Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@djsumdog Many stores in Toronto had "we are all in this together" signs early on. Most of them disappeared after a few months of fourteen days to flatten the curve. 🙂 I love SD too. Spent Christmas of 2013 in Aberdeen, and learned that folks there do not leave homes or cars locked. When leaving, our friend's dad lent us his car to go to the airport, and asked us to leave the key in the ignition. That trust is truly precious.Took a road trip in 2019. Loved the nice SD people even more.
(DIR) Post #AFY0ZKIbEvEZfiPbO4 by sajith@toot.cafe
2022-01-17T22:18:42Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@djsumdog Uhh, sorry about the poorly constructed sentences. Evidently you understood. 🙂 I meant to say that our friend's dad asked us to leave the car in the airport's parking lot, with key in ignition. Someone would pick up the car later.I saw unlocked homes and cars in rural Maine too. In one such place a small store was the community hub. Children played outside, adults came and went.That got me thinking about the value of social trust, and its place in small town and rural America.
(DIR) Post #AFY0ZKh3lynetZr8Vs by djsumdog@djsumdog.com
2022-01-18T00:10:49.942150Z
2 likes, 0 repeats
@sajith I understood ya 😋 .. Locking your car doors in kinda interesting. The vast majority of people don't want to be fucked over or fuck people over. That does seem to change in densely populated areas; the reasons for that are complex.I remember one night in Chicago hearing a car alarm going off as I was trying to sleep. The next morning I went out to my car and the battery was dead. The car was empty, except for my cheap, $50 heads up display that was on the passenger floor. I hadn't bothered picking it up when it fell. Someone must have mistaken it for a cell phone and tried to break in, leaving the alarm to drain the battery.I use to love riding trains. Even though everyone was silent at 8am, riding packed shoulder to shoulder to work on the Blue Line, you were still forced to see an acknowledge people. I always thought there was something about this that made people more aware and emphatic to others. Some would say "well everyone's on their phones" (I'd often be reading a book on mine, or listening to a podcast), but it's really not so different than the 80s with everyone reading magazines/newspapers. In the summers I'd ride my bike. It was 30 min either way and I hated being packed elbow to elbow without the barrier of a thick jacket. I wonder why people feel safer in less densely populated areas. I guess it's harder to skip and scam. In a town of 2,000, people know each other .. but it does still happen.
(DIR) Post #AFYHue9aJYAcYGwnS4 by sajith@toot.cafe
2022-01-18T01:14:42Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@djsumdog Tucker Carlson did a segment on why more "room" is good.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ka7zKnzEfsI'm two minds about this. I love small town America, but I also think that well-designed density is a good thing. It leaves more room for farms and forests. Dense cities are cheaper to run. They allow for better co-operation. Response to Covid-19 and various other politically rooted problems (riots, lawlessness) has distorted things severely, but I'm sure this pendulum too will swing the other way.
(DIR) Post #AFYHuebEekHvw1ssYC by djsumdog@djsumdog.com
2022-01-18T03:25:10.267812Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@sajith I agree with being of two minds for sure. I’ve enjoyed cities with good transportation; a safety net for when I’m way too old to drive safely. Melbourne and Wellington. NZ were the two best in regard, with Wellington being just the right size (~400k, very compact, but with TONS of greenspace around it). I’m very glad I didn’t stay in either of those countries looking at the direction they’re heading.Chicago had a lot of amazing stuff going on. Any meetup you were interested in, there were 3 ~ 5 of them, one for each part of the city. At the same time, even though it has a ton of parks, it didn’t feel as open an inviting as Melbourne. It just felt like rust and decay. It was an hours drive to get out to something resembling a park. At least they weren’t packed; in Seattle you drive two hours out and the parks are still super crowded.My hometown in Tennessee is just about the right size. It has terrible public transport, but I’m okay with that tradeoff really. Most of the parks and green spaces are still there; some have even expanded.
(DIR) Post #AFZJEeILnCKhtV6pAe by sajith@toot.cafe
2022-01-18T12:56:06Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@djsumdog My latest move is to Houston, from Toronto. I miss Toronto, although we were locked down and isolated during most of our time there. I miss the good public transit, walkability, lively street life, beautiful old buildings, ubiquitous street art, nice green spaces, and seasons. Bad drivers, homelessness, and surrounding sprawl are what I used to complain about. 🙂But I think I miss the smaller Indiana towns the most.