Wendy W @WendyW@qoto.org

If you're interested in the present and future of fusion energy then I recommend this 30-minute video. Really in-depth look at Helion's process for generating electricity.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bDXXWQxK38

BIG NEWS: New York Mayor #EricAdams has announced a “reimagining of Fifth Avenue — from Bryant Park at 42nd Street to Central Park at 59th Street — as a safer, less congested, pedestrian-centered boulevard that also prioritizes cyclists, mass transit, & the public realm.”

This is one I’ll be watching!
https://www.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/news/917-22/mayor-adams-moves-reimagine-fifth-avenue-bryant-park-central-park

#NYC #NewYork #NewYorkCity #urbanism #cities #StreetsForPeople #cities #city

I'm testing out my first pinned post. I'm #newhere and finding my way around. I'm here to learn about things to do with better #cycling and #walking and to share what I'm learning as I go.

My day job is running the new agency responsible for cycling, walking and wheeling in England - Active Travel England. Busy times :)

I’ve said it before. These things are complete game changers. As usual, a car driver cut me up from the inside on Lambeth Bridge roundabout (south side horrendous layout) but with the e-bike you can move faster to avoid danger caused by drivers. If the saddles could go slightly higher then = dream bike for me #radfahren #cycling #mobility

#Introduction Hi all, I’m a developmental neurobiologist running a lab that uses brain #organoids to uncover mechanisms that make the human brain special. Follow me for interesting papers in this sphere, updates on our research, and fun science things I find along the way!

Excited for an #introduction 👋!

📝 We are Penn NeuroKnow, a #neuroscience blog run by PhD students in the University of Pennsylvania’s Neuroscience Graduate Group.

👩‍🔬 👨‍🔬 Our goal is to share our love of neuroscience with you all. Each post breaks down a different topic in neuroscience, ranging from general neuroscience knowledge to summaries of exciting new studies that are changing how we think about the brain.

🧠 Recent topics have included why we get the hiccups, how the octopus controls its arms, and how neuroscientists are starting to realize that what they thought was noise might not actually be so noisy.

⏰ We’ll be sharing links to our latest posts with short summaries every Tuesday when they go live. We’re looking forward to sharing our posts and engaging with the community here!

https://pennneuroknow.com/

#sciComm #scienceCommunication #writing #blog #neuro #PhDStudent

"William Hogarth’s Satire on False Perspective (1754), engraved by Luke Sullivan, offers an Escher-like array of impossible lines and vanishing points: a man lights his pipe from a distant candle; a flock of sheep grow bigger as they recede round a corner; a foreground flag disappears behind a distant tree, and many more."

https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/william-hogarth-satire-on-false-perspective?ref=the-browser

Oh, wow, Tom Lehrer has released all of his songs into the public domain. Apparently also his website will shut down "at some date in the not too distant future" so now's a good time to download directly.

"In short, I no longer retain any rights to any of my songs.
So help yourselves, and don’t send me any money."

https://tomlehrersongs.com/

European Union negotiators reached agreement early on Sunday morning (18 December) to reform the EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), the biggest carbon market in the world and the bloc’s flagship climate policy instrument.

https://www.euractiv.com/section/emissions-trading-scheme/news/eu-agrees-carbon-market-overhaul-in-bid-to-hit-2030-climate-goal/

Kindness Can Have Unexpectedly Positive Consequences

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/kindness-can-have-unexpectedly-positive-consequences/

#science
#blackmastodan

Philosophy article recipe https://www.keithfrankish.com/philosophy-article-recipe/

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.
QT: https://bitcoinhackers.org/@mastodonusercount/109523947318898102

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