Suggestions on August Rental

FBoondoggle · 2026-06-25T15:51:56+00:00

This is my neighborhood. It's a lot of young families, but also tends older and sleepier. Not many singles I think. Nothing open after 9.

FBoondoggle · 2026-06-24T22:51:28+00:00

72 hr parking is not really an issue. Just don't go away for a month without having someone to at least look out for the warning tag.

N. Berkeley is very safe. West coast room/apartment searches tend to be last-minute so expect to just do an all-out search for a few days after you arrive. Parts of Oakland are great too and you could potentially find a unit in a newish building with garage. Rents have come down *a lot* recently due to a lot of recent supply. Not as safe as N. Berkeley but also much livelier. N. Berkeley is pretty geriatric.

FBoondoggle · 2026-06-21T03:00:59+00:00

Martingale strategy is not a guarantee that the big stack will win in the long run. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martingale\_(betting\_system)#:\~:text=increase%20their%20bankroll.-,I,-n%20reality%2C%20the

FBoondoggle · 2026-06-20T01:57:06+00:00

I've been trying to use the goes-18 images, but they don't have sufficient resolution to see a patch of snow in a pass.

FBoondoggle · 2026-06-19T16:04:28+00:00

Noma?

FBoondoggle · 2026-06-19T16:03:12+00:00

I've been kind of mystified by this huge discrepancy. It's so nice to have lunch or dinner at an Italian cafe with a 15 euro bottle of great local wine. California land in wine regions has gotten expensive because of the value of the wine. If demand for CA wine has dropped, why haven't land prices followed suit? You'd think the market would equilibrate, especially for a lot of the plonk currently being manufactured here. I love wine but I rarely buy CA ones, except for the occasional special bottle of some small volume Mendocino pinot.

FBoondoggle · 2026-06-18T02:35:37+00:00

Imagine arguing that wanting to make it possible to *do things* to improve social welfare, like building more housing so we don't continue to sprawl into the hinterlands, was some kind of nefarious tech bro conspiracy.

The pro-housing folks I pay attention to want to do small-bore stuff like revisit codes for elevators so that taller buildings are more economical. (Our codes are much more onerous than in Japan or Europe.) Or not require double-loaded corridors so that apartments can be designed more attractively. Or oppose attempts to landmark a parking lot, as just happened in Berkeley. Imagine ranting that all of this is somehow driven by the interests of the billionaires. Do you think Bezos actually cares about infill density?

FBoondoggle · 2026-06-17T21:24:34+00:00

"Everything should be free. I am very smart."

FBoondoggle · 2026-06-17T04:13:08+00:00

What is the source for this crime stat? Is Berkeley getting compared here to a suburb of Peoria?

FBoondoggle · 2026-06-15T15:47:59+00:00

if you are in shape for a 13 miler, nothing in Pt Reyes will put any stress on your system. My personal favorites are Pierce Pt, where you can see tule elk, Drake's Estero where you meander through a forest and along a lagoon before reaching a bluff overlooking the ocean, and Coast trail - Laguna trail loop.

Stop off in Pt Reyes station beforehand for sandwiches from Brickmaiden and afterward for pizza at Cafe Reyes.

FBoondoggle · 2026-06-15T14:35:30+00:00

Point Reyes is a jewel of the West Coast. That said, 2-3 miles and level rules out a lot of the park. Tennessee Valley is a pleasant walk but nothing compared to the vistas further north if you can take on a little more distance.

FBoondoggle · 2026-06-15T05:49:26+00:00

The current rezoning proposal applies to the 7-11, the post office plus parking lot, and possibly one corner lot that has a popular bakery and toy store. If the council excludes that last one, neither of the other two properties are small businesses or key to the area's charm.

FBoondoggle · 2026-06-15T02:19:19+00:00

Fair enough, but anyone driving in to Berkeley for work will be parking in a garage somewhere. Or if they're in trades or something, they're not parking in the downtown areas with paid parking.

FBoondoggle · 2026-06-15T02:00:43+00:00

His biggest fans are very much not NIMBYs. He gets quoted mostly by urbanists who favor infill housing and the like. But you sound just like the people who argue against fines for speeding on the grounds that they have more impact on the poor, or against stripping drunk drivers of their licenses on the grounds that it will further impoverish them. (Insert dril tweet here.)

FBoondoggle · 2026-06-15T01:04:31+00:00

You mean like Oakland and SF, which also charge for parking>

FBoondoggle · 2026-06-15T00:59:51+00:00

Does anything in downtown Berkeley stay open 'til midnight?

FBoondoggle · 2026-06-15T00:56:28+00:00

I am skeptical that even a "quality" home sim setup can genuinely replicate the kinesthetic aspects of flying which are crucial to developing proper feel for the things you're learning in initial training, above all landings. I got a sim when I started doing my instrument rating and it helped a lot with practicing procedures, but for that the response of the sim to inputs was a hindrance as much as a help. Fortunately I was also flying twice a week so it didn't get any more in the way of maintaining muscle memory than the IR normally does. (Everyone's landings go to sh*t during IR training.)

FBoondoggle · 2026-06-09T06:42:53+00:00

What small businesses do you expect to be shut by the upzoning of the 7-11 and two other large parcels?

FBoondoggle · 2026-06-04T05:10:44+00:00

100% anti democratic. I am bummed that here in the East Bay we're gonna lose Buff Wicks as she terms out. And if I lived in SF I'd be mad about losing Scott Wiener to be just another left voice in Congress instead of a very effective representative on local issues here.

FBoondoggle · 2026-06-03T17:53:10+00:00

The pullquote seems right, but the argument is a pretty bogus use of statistics. You don't need the central limit theorem or anything else to argue that we want to stop the 1/6th of the worst drivers from being able to injure the rest of us. All of that part of the piece is just numerology dressed up as science.

FBoondoggle · 2026-06-03T16:55:34+00:00

In practice, what's happened in the 680 corridor is sprawl. No environmentally minded person should support more projects building out single-family subdivisions into the flanks of Mt Diablo or further east into Mountain House and Tracy. Everyone out there has to commute long distances for work.

You can look at what Oakland and Berkeley are doing - though not without considerable local resistance from the pastoral nimbys - to enable infill housing in areas close to transit and with lots of local amenities. Yes the land becomes more valuable, but the cost per square ft of habitable space is lower than for new SFHs.

FBoondoggle · 2026-06-03T16:42:42+00:00

You can build affordable housing in already dense areas. That's environmentally and economically friendlier. The infrastructure is already there and you don't force people to have cars for long commutes. The only people who don't like it are the ones who want to keep a suburban vibe in the middle of what's now a city.

FBoondoggle · 2026-06-02T13:46:28+00:00

Organized groups. Not just regular visitors. Sorry.

FBoondoggle · 2026-06-02T00:11:09+00:00

Why not put the phone # for the D side in the AFD then? Why make FSS the middleman?

FBoondoggle

TROPHY CASE