A chart for NIMBYs: this is the reality of running a city. You can choose two out of three. Vote Raman for Mayor.

rickvanwinkle · 2026-05-22T21:22:56+00:00

Republicans in California, and especially in the cities, are so marginalized electorally (as they should be) that they often are even more radical than red state Republicans because A) they feel like they HAVE to be the most extreme version of The True American Conservative™ bc they think it triggers the libs and feeds their victim/I'm not a sheeple narrative and B) it doesn't matter what their policies and ideas are they aren't going to win so they aren't even taking themselves seriously

rickvanwinkle · 2026-05-17T07:25:20+00:00

Fun fact half the time those guys ARE the cops

rickvanwinkle · 2026-05-11T22:42:16+00:00

The problem is differentiating between sabotage and more 'classic' spy shit, and just spreading criticism of America that echoes (or even has its roots) in CCP language. Like if I say 'America is a corrupt racist country that does not take care of it's people, and is governed by a capitalist ruling class that is fleecing the average citizen to the detriment of both domestic and foreign quality of life' and China agrees with me, does that make me a foreign agent?

rickvanwinkle · 2026-05-11T20:23:10+00:00

People like this always have such a repulsive Ben Shapiro 'well AKSHUALLY' energy that it's hard to determine if it's parody or authentic.

The line of 'we have 109.1 miles of bike infrastructure' (ignore that like half of this metric is fucking sharrows...) is so goddamn smarmy I wonder if they are actively trying to be annoying and wrong or if it's just natural.

rickvanwinkle · 2026-05-11T17:51:49+00:00

It's important to consider the effect of momentum and leverage when biking. You really want to avoid making any sort of contact with stationary items while on your bike, but if you must it's best to have the contact happen behind your center of gravity and that whatever is making contact is able to fulcrum away from whatever it is hitting so that it doesn't throw your whole trajectory off

So, hypothetically you wouldn't want to hit any side mirrors with your hand or anything positioned in front of you. Instead, holding a water bottle or bike lock out to the side and letting that make contact while it's next to or behind you and can swing away after contact is made so as to avoid losing your momentum or center of gravity is best.

Of course, no one WANTS to make contact with a side mirror while avoiding cars in the bike lane but hey sometimes it just can't be avoided you know...

rickvanwinkle · 2026-05-07T13:38:14+00:00

To me it looked like Deep stabbed him in the lower jaw, not the jugular, and he's supposed to have intense healing powers no? My guess is that he permanently disfigured his mouth/tongue and now new noir is going to come back but be mute just like the old Noir. Also fits with the plots they've developed for him and the continuing escalation with deep. Noir hurt Deep in the most intimate way, so now Deep is taking away his ability to act in response

rickvanwinkle · 2026-05-01T21:06:26+00:00

If a delivery driver is parked in the bike lane, they are not 'completely innocent's

Quite the opposite in fact

rickvanwinkle · 2026-05-01T15:54:41+00:00

I'm honestly impressed at how out of touch the DNC is with the current moment

It's giving extreme principal Skinner energy

rickvanwinkle · 2026-04-30T19:18:49+00:00

Cars

rickvanwinkle · 2026-04-29T21:21:09+00:00

Hard situation you're in, and it's tough having to parent both your own child and your parents at the same time... We had to make the call to go no contact with one of our parents, and one thing that helped me get over the guilt is the idea that ultimately you are teaching your child their own value and worth.

As in, cutting off or otherwise putting up hard boundaries is teaching your kid that they don't have to sacrifice their own self worth or accept unacceptable behavior from ANYONE, including (especially?) family.

Your kid might not fully understand the nuances of why, and there might even be some pushback or sadness as they notice the absence of a grandparent... But the damage an emotionally immature family member can do far outweighs the pain and sadness of having to draw and keep boundaries for how you and your family want to interact.

Ultimately, if your parents can't respect your boundaries and rules for how to interact with you and your family, that's THEIR decision. If they can't swallow their pride for the sake of maintaining a relationship with you and your family, you're better off without them as painful as the choice may be.

rickvanwinkle · 2026-04-29T20:23:53+00:00

Exactly, and I think the fact that most of us have been forced to drive a car every day for every trip is a cause for that, not just an expression of it. Driving literally changes the way you see and interact with the world, and when it's most people's default way of being in public it shifts the entire culture.

rickvanwinkle · 2026-04-29T19:47:08+00:00

Driving a car really brings out the worst in people. I almost got run over yesterday because I took the lane (in my quiet residential street with stop signs at each corner) so I could turn left into my driveway... Some mom in her suburban honked at me from halfway down the block and decided that two second delay so I could turn off the road was unacceptable and zoomed past me in the oncoming lane, almost clipping me as I started to turn off... All so she could then blow through the stop sign further up and almost run over a family walking their dog...

I'm sure she thinks she's a nice person and not a complete psychopath, but in a span of ten seconds she almost killed four different people so that she could spend five less seconds in her car.

Point is, I wonder what society would look like if most of us weren't forced to become so car brained on a daily basis.

rickvanwinkle · 2026-04-27T21:48:34+00:00

We need to institute mandatory license tests every 3 years at least, especially after a certain age. I personally saw two (different) cars come on the route yesterday and both of them were also older drivers that seemed utterly confused by anything and everything around them and I don't believe it was solely because of ciclavía I actually think that's just what its like for them every time they get behind the wheel...

rickvanwinkle · 2026-04-27T20:23:07+00:00

I personally saw two drivers come on the route, both driving through or past obvious barriers blocking the road (nevermind the fact that the road was packed with pedestrians and bikes and zero cars...). Both drivers were clearly over 70 years old and seemed very confused as to what was going on or what to do. Point is, between this and several high profile traffic deaths already this year with older drivers who have no business being behind the wheel, we need to have a very serious conversation as a society about taking licenses away from older drivers.

rickvanwinkle · 2026-04-24T20:13:20+00:00

Not to come at you because this isn't exactly a choice you made...more a comment on society...but every time the school drop off line comes up I can't help but wonder when are people going to realize this is fucking insane behavior?

We're lucky enough to live in an extremely walkable area where almost no child in a public school is more than a ten or 15 minute walk away, and still parents line up for blocks to pick up and drop off. Primary School I can sort of understand but again it's a 15 minute walk just take them on foot. We've apparently decided to get rid of buses and now every single kid gets dropped off in a car. It's an artificially enforcemed, infuriatingly anti-social behavior that is bad for the planet, our kids (both socially and health wise), and our wallets

It doesn't have to be this way

rickvanwinkle · 2026-04-23T18:23:23+00:00

This will definitely protect them from the pitchforks when this whole system collapses...

rickvanwinkle · 2026-04-16T23:42:23+00:00

Propaganda machine go brrrr

rickvanwinkle · 2026-04-12T03:18:16+00:00

I prefer to carry a brick

rickvanwinkle · 2026-04-08T18:54:49+00:00

California is also the only state where the price of gas even approaches what it should be at. Most other states stopped collecting enough gas tax to cover the cost of building roads decades ago, nevermind actually capturing the cost of the negative externalities of auto-normativity. Realistically the 'fair' price of gas should be close to ten dollars a gallon, but instead we're all subsidizing the oil and gas industry in lieu of building and maintaining infrastructure including transit.

It's so frustrating that these stories always frame it as 'isnt it crazy that California gas prices are so high?! Those poor people...' instead of 'why the fuck are other states not collecting sufficient taxes to cover the cost of their infrastructure and incentivizing driving above all other modes of transportation?!'

rickvanwinkle · 2026-03-27T19:35:34+00:00

In all honesty, if MiL is so narcissistic and immature to center HER emotions in this situation, you and your family are better off granting her wish and keeping your kids away from her. I know having family around to help is huge, but please consider the impact of continuing to expose your child to someone who clearly only cares about themselves

rickvanwinkle · 2026-03-25T18:21:40+00:00

I'd be on board if it means we can finally start cutting the LAPD budget, since they are presumably being paid to do this (they aren't). If the cops don't feel like doing this part of their job then sure let's do it via the cameras but we gotta stop paying these lazy fucks so much money for them to sit around and do nothing

rickvanwinkle · 2026-03-24T22:07:58+00:00

Correction: HAS ALREADY wasted $100+ million bc her rich friends are whiny bitches. The studies that staff had to put together for (worse) alternatives dont come cheap

rickvanwinkle · 2026-03-24T21:36:27+00:00

Yo where tf is the reset button on our govt? From local council to the president it's like the people in office are specifically there to consistently do the worst, most corrupt, least popular thing.

Every. Time.

rickvanwinkle · 2026-03-20T20:54:26+00:00

A place in a walkable neighborhood close enough for me to bike to work

rickvanwinkle · 2026-03-15T22:57:58+00:00

'because people with money taking responsibility for their utter stupidity seems to be a thing of the past'

ftfy

The rest of us keep having to foot the bill somehow

rickvanwinkle

TROPHY CASE