Ryan

A neuroscientist who does fun things. He/him. Mastodon: @[email protected]

[Ryan @InterChaos]

I've mostly moved over to mastodon ([email protected]), but popping on to say I helped do a thing that is cool and on Kickstarter right now, and people should take a look and back if they want! https://t.co/uB9lTsSCAn

[Ryan @InterChaos]

Mastodon account is @[email protected]

[Ryan @InterChaos]

More to the point, I think it leads to bad politics—there isn’t a demographic electoral college where the 50%+1 vote gets you anything, and you should work on getting the marginal voter wherever you can find them, and the same issue often wins marginal voters across groups!

[Ryan @InterChaos]

I don’t get the point of the genre of commentary where people point at exit polls and say “groups that did >50% D good, <50% bad.” It’s completely superfluous analysis—we have a much more accurate marker of who to shame—everyone who voted R!

[Ryan @InterChaos]

Go and vote! (for local elections, and for the party that wants the government to work to help people and isn’t planning on how to hold the government hostage to cut social security and medicare). You get democracy (pretty great!) and stickers (important for almost-2-year olds!)

[Chris Friend @friendchristoph]

If we implemented electrified EMUs on the Providence Line, one could easily live in Providence and commute to Boston in ~45 minutes (and vice versa). We really don't grasp how transformative frequent, electrified Regional Rail could be in this country.

[Ryan @InterChaos]

@MackDistrict6 Congrats!

[Ryan @InterChaos]

Happy Primary day #RI! This year local candidate quality and outreach was incredible. Voted for @gonzaloque @AnderBois and @MackDistrict6, but @Nirva_LaFortune, @vote_bradly and @CoreyJonesPVD made the choice hard! Whoever wins, I’m optimistic about PVD (esp housing—#YIMBYRI!)

[Ryan @InterChaos]

I’d love to see this calculated for PVD, but it’s striking how much of the low-hanging fruit is just more density (which is also a win-win for housing affordability) and isn’t constrained by state or local fiscal capacity or puts significant cost on residents or business.

[Ryan @InterChaos]

@RebeccaKislak @AnderBois @Nirva_LaFortune @NellieGorbea @MackDistrict6 @Gonzales @brettpsmiley @vote_bradly @CoreyJonesPVD @CouncilHelen Obviously not a silver bullet by any account (and making sure that the fire safety concerns are met by seeing what other places that allow them do is crucial), but 5-6% cheaper dense buildings with better natural light and airflow isn’t nothing!

[Ryan @InterChaos]

It would be amazing if RI updated its building code so buildings like this weren’t illegal. Has there been any efforts toward this in either legislature or at the RI DoS? @NellieGorbea @MackDistrict6 @RebeccaKislak

[Philip Oldfield @SustainableTall]

Timber high-rise, with facade PV shading systems and skygardens. The PV will power 50% of electricity needs. Embodied carbon 20% below conventional structures.

Boltshauser Architekten, Zurich
https://t.co/9O851GFCG2

[Ryan @InterChaos]

@RebeccaKislak @AnderBois @Nirva_LaFortune @NellieGorbea @MackDistrict6 @Gonzales @brettpsmiley @vote_bradly @CoreyJonesPVD @CouncilHelen Definitely agree that it’s a lot of little things. It does seem like there are some cheap regulatory gains—e.g. Seattle style permitting of single staircases for <7 floors makes it easier to build smaller dense building (that are more pleasant!) (e.g. https://t.co/kWP3F7Lrgm )

[Ryan @InterChaos]

@CoreyJonesPVD Absolutely, the suggestion that increasing density should primarily be in low income areas of PVD was part of @JohnGPVD ’s QoL plan that made me quite hesitant—we need upzoning everywhere to relieve pressure on rents/housing prices everywhere (since prices->displacement).

[Ryan @InterChaos]

@AnderBois @Nirva_LaFortune @NellieGorbea @MackDistrict6 @RebeccaKislak @Gonzales @brettpsmiley @vote_bradly @CoreyJonesPVD @CouncilHelen Can you talk more about next steps? Information is great (necessary!) but my sense is that the biggest bang for buck is what barriers (e.g. removing zoning restrictions that prevent eco-friendly + dense housing being built by right) and how cities wield tax-code and subsidies.

[Philip Oldfield @SustainableTall]

Timber high-rise, with facade PV shading systems and skygardens. The PV will power 50% of electricity needs. Embodied carbon 20% below conventional structures.

Boltshauser Architekten, Zurich
https://t.co/9O851GFCG2

[Ryan @InterChaos]

@lisefrac It's considered best practices in print—the rule of thumb is to aim for ~70 characters per line for readability, and it gives more flexibility for putting in images and sidebars (e.g. most magazines are also similar). Ideally, there'd be better digital native versions though...

[Ryan @InterChaos]

Current head-canon: muppets age at least 50 times slower than humans, so all of the adult muppets are over a millennium old and have seen dozens of generations of humans live and die.

It also means we have at least a century more of terror from Abby the omnipotent toddler.

[Ryan @InterChaos]

@mattyglesias Ignoring irrigation seems kind of a big omission (i.e. the Nile was actually a huge breadbasket in ancient times), but is allegedly incapable of supporting people!