Wendy W @WendyW@qoto.org

Well, that did not go well, eh. As some of the subscribers probably know, I'm from Russia. This platform is small enough to speak more or less openly, so here is a quick recap of what the last week looked like from the inside.

Putin declared mobilization: men with previous military experience must go to war, anywhere between 300k and 1 mil of them all over the country (the precise number is kept secret). On the first day, no clarification about categories was given, and hell broke loose. Amputees, elderly, people who never served in the army, parents of infants were drafted. Police would break into houses and catch people in subway.

The mobilization was not evenly distributed. In small towns and villages more people were drafted, to the point where protest started, especially in southern regions. In big cities it is less noticeable and smaller percentage of men are drafted, while more have the resources to flee.

The chaos subsided over the next few days. Some people are now excluded from mobilization, like students and workers of "crucial infrastructure", including financial sector. Most employers fight for their workers and try to keep them safe. Universities and scientific institutions do the same, draw all the resources they can.

From the first day, people started running. There is a humanitarian catastrophe on the border with Georgia, people have to pay to locals even to get in lines. Airplane tickets are sold out, ones that left are priced 10k$+. Estimates say that at least 200k left for Georgia and Kazakhstan that have land border with Russia. Better estimates do not exist at the moment, but it is compared to the Exodus by some.

Many people agree to fight and even buy ammunition for their own money to have better chances of surviving. Some of them are patriots, most of them seem to be obedient to whatever ones in power say.

In my view, @BrentToderian, the best thing with cities is the concentration of excellence.

I know this is an assertion with a potential to annoy, so I'll try to illuminate:

To me, with both a rural and urban personal history, a city is defined by a high density of The Very Best - in whatever field, be it thinkers, musicians, actors, craftsmen or maids.

(To me, a "city" has a cathedral, a university, and/or a harbour. Plus a history.)

#urbanism

Streets aren’t set in stone, nor are they frozen in time. Just because they’ve looked one way for decades, it doesn't mean they can't change.

#Rotterdam is a perfect case study of a city designed around the car, that took back space for walking, cycling, transit, and public life.

Musk's new round of dumbassery has clearly given a boost to #mastodonmigration but not nearly as big as in the past waves. Then there were days with 5-10k news users per hour. But we'll take it.

If your city isn’t embracing the PERMANENT post-pandemic transformation of streets as places for outdoor seating & cafes (aka #Streeteries) then your city hasn’t yet learned one of the most important lessons for better streets & cities in recent years. #Montreal is a city that REALLY understands.
#cities #urbanism #StreetsForPeople #streets

Lists of journalists banned on Twitter, please.

Now that there's another wave incoming, I've been trying to keep my feed pretty tailored to my niche. So if you're into #playwriting #musicals #theatre #ttrpg #ThemeParks #ImmersiveTheatre #anarchism or anything tangentially related, give me a shout.

I've discovered a lot of great stuff since joining that I never would have found before. I've read new plays, played some experimental games, and bought some new mystery boxes. Turns out that when you're free from the #algorithm - you actually see stuff you like!

90% of all trips in dense Hong Kong are by public transit — I’m told that’s the highest in the world. 11 million people use the profitable & efficient transit system every day, with the Octopus stored value card making payment on all modes easy, even for taxis and other things. Integrated, efficient, easy. Pics from my 2018 deep dive in the city.
#PublicTransit #HongKong #cities #urbanism #transportation #city #PublicTransport #cars

Maynooth College winter wonderland

I popped out to the shops as London's first snowflakes of the year were falling. Two excited cafe staff ran out into the street in their shirt sleeves, laughing and dancing. I asked, "First time?" and they said "yes!". First time for me too, after 23 years in the tropics. It really was magical. A romcom moment. Don't have a photo but I can replay the experience in my head.

Had a tough day on Facebook. I still don’t know what you’re supposed to comment under a photo of a new baby, but I’ve learned it isn’t ‘Yikes’.

How can the EU really become independent of Russian gas? Accelerating energy efficiency (light blue) and renewables (light green) are the big ones!
https://iea.li/3uL2EP3

@BrentToderian @TheGentYYC I think climate policy that relies on any single thing as a magic bullet is a problem. We have a large integrated society/economy and cutting our emissions requires changes in a lot of areas. EV’s will help but we also need changes across the board, not just cars.

Her mother, worried that Lord Byron's poetic temperament might be familial, insisted that Ada be tutored in math, science, and logic. Those things, she reasoned, might counter Ada’s volatile inheritance.

Ada was tutored by the renowned mathematician and astronomer Mary Sommerville, “the Queen of Nineteenth Century Science,” who was nominated for membership in the Royal Astronomical Society at the same time as Caroline Herschel.

Image: Mary Sommerville (self-portrait)

Ada Lovelace, née Augusta Ada Byron, was born #OTD in 1815. A mathematician and the first published computer programmer, she offered a prescient vision of what computing would become.
Portrait: Margaret Sarah Carpenter (1836)

Ouch. Talk about #abandonware. This is why I’m last in the queue for implants. I’ve been involved with #IoT things for far (far) too long. 😱 https://www.nature.com/immersive/d41586-022-03810-5/index.html