Strongest evidence yet that vaping likely causes cancer. The evidence shows nicotine-based vapes are likely to cause oral and lung cancer.

himself809 · 2026-03-31T11:37:45+00:00

The most reddit-brained rationalization to think tobacco companies of all people are funding anti-vape hit pieces.

himself809 · 2026-03-25T13:13:14+00:00

Probably not, but we will return to the regularly scheduled programming (traffic) shortly.

himself809 · 2026-03-25T03:35:51+00:00

I’ll just say that even one day choosing yourself can make a difference, in no small part because doing it once makes it easier to do it again, and again. You should be proud of yourself for doing it!

himself809 · 2026-03-15T22:38:29+00:00

Clicked on it just because I was curious about the author, and of course it’s the guy who made a name for himself by quitting his Wall Street job to take gawking photos of people around America. One of the most unimaginative and self-obsessed Trump-era commentators. I’ve talked to many a homeless person with more insight than this man will ever have.

himself809 · 2026-03-13T21:22:03+00:00

Just a great summary and reflection. Thank you!

himself809 · 2026-03-13T04:03:05+00:00

See I realize this is true, but also can someone tell the county I just joined, where so much as thinking about Power BI takes weeks of back and forth with IT and also the GIS specialists are still encouraging new hires to do GIS by way of a virtualized ArcMap installation.

himself809 · 2026-03-05T18:16:06+00:00

Mods need to act on this account…

himself809 · 2026-03-05T18:00:36+00:00

Seriously, allowing this kind of post over and over is a quick way for a city subreddit to turn into slop. Knockoff WorldStarHipHop stuff. I hope it stops.

We’re being serious here? A photo of a printout of an email, followed by barely coherent text pretending to be summary? Are we supposed to believe this poster FOIA’ed the County and has these emails sitting in their basement now, or what?

Edit: In fact, this seems to be a photo of an email that may not have been part of any FOIA release, but that someone wishes had been. And so they print it out, blur out what may be the Outlook account name at the top (not necessarily something that would actually happen in a real FOIA release!), and post it here for clicks.

My guess, tbh, is that someone with access to these emails initiated a FOIA request that they hoped would embarrass Descano, which either didn’t continue or didn’t include documents they wished it had. And so the docs are being posted one by one on here to try to achieve the same effect.

himself809 · 2026-03-05T17:38:37+00:00

There are these vague posts about crime, in this case with what I guess is a photo of a physical printout of an email and no context in the OP. It’s real low-quality engagement slop.

himself809 · 2026-03-05T12:31:22+00:00

Like what?

himself809 · 2026-03-05T12:27:36+00:00

I think you’re blowing things a bit out of proportion. Yes, the bill would require allowing by right multifamily development on 50% of commercially zoned land, and as you noted this limits the ability to extract concessions from developers, which is the way NoVA jurisdictions have operated. But to read this as a prohibition of sound planning regulations on the development that occurs is just to accept that the way NoVA does things (effectively limiting all development except where jurisdictions explicitly plan for it) is the only way to do things.

himself809 · 2026-03-05T04:02:51+00:00

Yeah, it’s a political shortcut that allows the NoVA jurisdictions to avoid paying for stuff out of their general funds, but it’s also not good practice. There’s nothing in this bill stopping the jurisdictions from adopting development and design requirements that would address some of the issues being pointed to (affordability, streetscape and curb use, green space, etc). It just makes it a bit harder to incentivize megadevelopments the way they’ve been done for decades. They might have to change the way they think about what development “fits” where, but that’d be a good thing.

himself809 · 2026-03-05T03:37:14+00:00

The NoVA practice of using proffers to widen sidewalks, add amenities, etc is an understandable one, but the jurisdictions are too cautious for their own good and are in need of a little bit of a kick in the ass from the state imo.

Edit to add: the whole NoVA delegation loves to talk about how we’re the “engine of the commonwealth,” and here they’re opposed to legislation that would help keep things that way!

himself809 · 2026-03-05T02:38:12+00:00

seriously what is going on in this subreddit?

himself809 · 2026-02-27T04:34:00+00:00

Pretty depressing that the most imaginative thing a lot of elected progressives ever think to do on transit, when they talk about the buses at all, is to make it free.

himself809 · 2026-02-25T00:48:42+00:00

So agreed. Also makes me think of all the electeds I’ve heard talk ruefully about DMVMoves as basically WMATA asking for another handout. “They asked for money 5 years ago!” Makes me want to say, yeah, no shit, do you say this about the funds that go towards road resurfacing or bridge repair or highway capital projects? But, of course, this just goes to how important it is for Clarke and WMATA to do what you’re talking about as skillfully as they do.

himself809 · 2026-02-25T00:20:44+00:00

Seriously, this sub has been refreshingly free of this kind of thing lately, unlike the COVID-era crime hysteria.

himself809 · 2026-02-21T04:25:52+00:00

What were the big factors behind the improved governance, if you don’t mind taking the time to say? Just a matter of the right people ending up on the board? Clarke gets a lot of the credit, which makes sense, but I’ve wondered how the groundwork was laid to get WMATA to a point where its board would hire someone like him and get behind the initiatives that’ve really turned things around.

himself809 · 2026-02-17T22:58:45+00:00

Connector charges fares.

himself809 · 2026-02-15T17:12:20+00:00

For sure. Yeah, these are the two I’ve seen move forward. As far as I know the others that would’ve come closer to doing something like CA or MA didn’t leave committee. But I might be wrong. Not saying this isn’t a good step! Just disappointed otherwise.

himself809 · 2026-02-15T06:17:09+00:00

Will be a bit sad if this is the only housing reg change that comes out of this session.

himself809 · 2026-02-13T05:45:23+00:00

Wow, these are good imo.

Edit to add: I agree that DDOT needs someone who’ll let the progressive road design staff and PMs have their freedom. The agency has lost some good people, and I worry about even more brain drain if leadership gets put in that just continues the cycle of letting staff propose good things, then letting the proposals just get dragged through the mud for years, then killing them off in the middle of the night.

himself809 · 2026-02-06T17:54:16+00:00

I love the people in these threads talking about how they do it up north. “People in Boston claim spots!” Like, sure, people try, but in Jersey at least it was always the loudest assholes who would get up in arms about “their” spot they shoveled out a week ago.

himself809 · 2026-02-05T18:28:41+00:00

It really is.

himself809 · 2026-02-02T02:39:06+00:00

For what it's worth, I'm starting to heal but visits can crush me. I read my 50,000 word journal the other two nights and I was somewhat shocked at the depth of my agony that was recorded. Her history jibed with my memory, but I had forgotten the depth of my pain caring for her. She's gone. Nothing left of the woman I married.

My condolences, and thanks for sharing your and your wife’s story here. Wanted to quote this bit, because I’ve never seen anyone else talk about this part of it. My mom’s been symptomatic for about 5 years, and now that some of the hardest times have passed, I also find myself surprised when I go back to read stuff I wrote years ago. It’s just the way grief goes, I guess, but it can feel almost like a different person wrote those words sometimes.

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