When Taylor Swift was doing her tour this year, I saw lots of news articles about the "Taylor Swift" effect on public transit, and how people were taking the metro and buses to her concerts, and it was invigorating essential city infrastructure! So, given that Loserville (aka Los Angeles) is one of the biggest cities… Continue reading Los Angeles metro trying to be good
I was in San Francisco during the second full week of December for the American Geophysical Union conference, and on the Thursday of that week, I dropped off two pieces of mail. I dropped them off directly at the post office in downtown San Francisco (so not in a blue street-side mailbox). One letter was… Continue reading How fast is US mail delivered?
This is one of my favorite books. It's by the same author who wrote Anne of Green Gables. One thing that always intrigued me about this book is the food they are described as eating. According to "Magic for Marigold", which is set in the 1920s, all they ate back then was cake and pudding… Continue reading The food they eat in “Magic for Marigold”
I made these Eid cards for the Eid after Ramadan in 2023. I didn't think they looked all that special, but everyone I sent them to did! That was so nice. They said, woah, were did you get those? How did you make them? Well, it was very simple. The flowers in middle are from… Continue reading Eid cards
I love the author of Anne of Green Gables. On a quiet, remote shelf on the eighth floor of Davis Library in Chapel Hill, I found her biography "The Gift of Wings" and read it all. And it described her marriage and how damaging it turned out to be -- to both of them. He… Continue reading Lucy Maud Montgomery wrote her husband into her books
I went to the California Science Center, and guess what, there's a drawing of a kid from Siler City, North Carolina, hanging on the wall. Somehow, a drawing from one of the most random towns in North Carolina made it to a very busy area on the other side of the country. I'll bet it… Continue reading Siler City Fame
Because Trash Angeles is literally the world's nastiest city and the big public embarrassment ever, the best strategy for riding the metro is to sit in the very first car. So that if anyone decides they want to beat you up, you can at least knock on the driver's door and hopefully that will stop… Continue reading Is the Los Angeles metro safe? Part 6
I got on the metro at night after dark. Bad idea, but that's how it went. It was a Saturday night. By some miracle, my train section was completely empty. I relaxed ... for two stops. Then, a man gets on. There's 5 other train sections that he can sit in, but he has to… Continue reading Is the Los Angeles metro safe? Part 5
The short answer is that nothing about Trash Angeles is safe. It's a trashy city that gets trashier and filthier by the second. I got on the metro on a Sunday night. It was already dark. This is not the smartest decision in the world to make. But that was how it turned out. However,… Continue reading Is the Los Angeles metro safe? Part 4
One time as I was waiting for a train, something came flying out of the sky. I heard it before I saw it, because there was a great, frightening crash of breaking glass. Everyone on the platform jumped, and as I turned towards the sound, there was now a heap of what looked like takeout… Continue reading Is the Los Angeles metro safe? Part 3
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