@derpoltergeist@col.social avatar

derpoltergeist

@[email protected]

Aquí quiero hablar de música, libros, ciencia ficción, idiomas, bicicletas, transporte público, urbanismo y deportes (fútbol, béisbol, básquet y lo que surja), pero realmente soy periodista que investiga la desinformación. Toots en 🇨🇴🇮🇹🇺🇸🇷🇺💚

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Driving Today was SO Obnoxious

I had to drive to and from an appointment twice today (drop off and pick up)(not a school) and I faced like… A dozen moments of aggression from other drivers. From being cut off, to being blocked from merging. Some dangerous, others harmless. Just a dozen pointless but intentionally rude moments. Usually I’m getting tailed...

derpoltergeist,
@derpoltergeist@col.social avatar

@Franzia @Facebones I have only driven three times in the past 13 years. It's one of the benefits of having lived in cities where you don't need a car to survive (Bogotá, Colombia; Genoa, Italy; and NYC). I wish your city can become like this soon, and you don't have to drive ever again!

derpoltergeist,
@derpoltergeist@col.social avatar

@Dkarma @theplanlessman public transportation can absolutely work for rural populations. As long as it's designed and built well. But our governments keep robbing us off that possibility. And we keep letting them.

derpoltergeist,
@derpoltergeist@col.social avatar

@Dkarma you're so close to getting the point, it's a bit painful.

Hi-viz (files.mastodon.online)

alt textPost by Urban Cycling Institute. text: ‘New study into effectiveness of hi-viz for cyclists in car traffic’ - by Brendan Gavrin images: Two photos. One is captioned “Driver’s view of cyclist dressed in black”, the other “Driver’s view of cyclist dressed in hi-viz”. Both depict a phone in front of a...

derpoltergeist,
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@psycho_driver @Masimatutu texting while driving. Assuming you have more rights just because you were in a car and running late. Sounds like the jackass was you.

derpoltergeist,
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@Moneo @Eheran I live in a city that constantly shows up in the top 5 for worst traffic in the world. BUT, we also have a sizeable bike path network. I almost exclusively move on my bike (I don't have a car, but sometimes I take a taxi or a bus). The other day I told someone I haven't been stuck in traffic in years, and they couldn't understand how (the answer is easy, you don't get stuck in traffic in a bike path. Even when there's a lot of people, you keep moving along).

derpoltergeist,
@derpoltergeist@col.social avatar

@dog_ @Potatos_are_not_friends ok, but how often do you carry a laser printer? Should all urban design be made to prioritize cars just so someone can carry something heavy once every three years? Wouldn't it be better if you only had to use a car when you actually needed it?

derpoltergeist,
@derpoltergeist@col.social avatar

@dog_ yes, it's fine to use cars from time to time. But is it fine to absolutely destroy our cities to prioritize space for cars? That's the point of this community. It's not "never use a car", it's "cities should belong to people, we shouldn't have to give up so much space for cars".

derpoltergeist,
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@dog_ ok, cities, towns, human settlements, whatever you want to call it. Why should any of those be made for cars and not for people?

derpoltergeist,
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@dog_ replying to your edit: if you live in a place that forces you to drive, that's not your fault. We're all striving here so more places can be places where you're, actually, not forced to drive a car.

derpoltergeist,
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@fishos @LibertyLizard If it doesn't lower speeds, then it is not pedestrian-friendly.

derpoltergeist,
@derpoltergeist@col.social avatar

@fishos ah yes, the least pedestrian-friendly infrastructure. Let's build more of those to make roundabouts pedestrian-friendly somehow (?)

[article] Thumbtacks strewn across Montreal bike path as tensions rise between motorists, cyclists (globalnews.ca)

Montreal is easily one of the most bike-friendly cities in North America, and yet even here we have carbrains who feel perpetually entitled to 250 parking spaces (the amount removed for the new bike lane) over the needs of everyone else. Clearly someone felt so strongly entitled to their parking that they threw thumbtacks in the...

derpoltergeist,
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@bionicjoey @Fried_out_Kombi Welcome to the @TheWarOnCars

derpoltergeist,
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@Ooops @Fried_out_Kombi When US people tell you their cities were built for the car, remind them that in fact their cities were bulldozed over to make room for cars.

derpoltergeist,
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@Nouveau_Burnswick tram tracks just want to be free.

hawksquill, to bookstodon
@hawksquill@writing.exchange avatar

Just started Tehanu by Ursula K. Le Guin. Apparently the later books of the cycle are disliked by fans. I am bewildered by that assessment. I can already tell this is an all-time favorite.

Everything from the prose to the characters feels more mature and meditative. Gender is also examined in a much more holistic and painful way. Several passages have already spoken to my soul in such a deep way that I know will remain with me for a long time

@bookstodon

derpoltergeist,
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@philip_cardella @wordstitcher @hawksquill @bookstodon I hope you missed a word somewhere.

derpoltergeist,
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@Grizzlysgrowls @ukaunz @bookstodon @philip_cardella @wordstitcher @hawksquill Oh wow. I was just being facetious (it sounded like she was living inside another person), but I'm learning a lot in this thread. I lived in the US for a while but never heard of mother-in-law as a dwelling. Thanks, everyone!

mjjmori, to bookstodon
@mjjmori@mastodon.social avatar

I’ve gone back to an old #novel I’ve been writing for years- this time I’m getting it done! 😉

But, in doing so I have decided to change the prose text from past-tense to present-tense to give the #narrative some extra tension and forward drive.

It’s working out so far, but I’m not entirely convinced it’s the right thing to do. Most narratives are written in past-tense after all, so it might make my novel less inviting.

Thoughts? 🙂

@bookstodon @amwriting #amwriting #mjjmori

derpoltergeist,
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@rayckeith @mjjmori @pretensesoup @bookstodon @amwriting The novel "Aura" (very well-known in Latin America) by Mexican writer Carlos Fuentes is written in the second person, and a good chunk in the future tense.

derpoltergeist,
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@lagomorphlecture Ah, thanks. That explains a lot in this thread. But still, living in an apartment can be great. Maybe right now in the US it's hell. But it doesn't have to be that way.

derpoltergeist,
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@figaro @vlad76 Hey, did you guys know that speed limits exist because the faster a car goes, the more likely it is to kill someone?

If you don't go over the the speed limit not only do you not have to pay a fine, you're also less likely to kill someone! It's a win for everyone!

derpoltergeist,
@derpoltergeist@col.social avatar

@BorgDrone @pbrisgreat Unfortunately no. In the United States the pedestrian or cyclist can be at fault (I, thankfully, don't live in the US but I lived there for a while and I noticed the laws are skewed towards cars).

derpoltergeist, to random Spanish
@derpoltergeist@col.social avatar

Desde 2019 estaba haciendo un hilo, en la otra red social, con pensamientos breves sobre cada libro que me terminaba. Como no voy a volver por allá, voy a seguirlo aquí.

Quizás los spamee un poco por aquí hoy mientras me pongo al día.

Por si les interesa, aquí iba el hilo: https://twitter.com/derpoltergeist/status/1575707346457989120

Y aquí las mismas reseñas, pero en The Storygraph: https://app.thestorygraph.com/user_reviews/pablusioumeo

@libros

derpoltergeist,
@derpoltergeist@col.social avatar

[10 de diciembre de 2022]

(Este me lo leí en portugués y una de las reglas de este hilo es escribir el pensamiento en el idioma en el que leo, pero mi portugués no da para eso):

El pasado no está fijo, el pasado está en constante reescritura. Es más, el presente es poco más que una reescritura constante del pasado. Luchar contra esa transformación es inútil.

@libros

derpoltergeist,
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[February 10, 2023]

Technologies that make content available don't have to be monopolized by big tech companies. We can fight back for them.

@bookstodon

derpoltergeist,
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[14 de febrero de 2023]

El miedo y la paranoia que no sólo se aprenden, sino que se interiorizan, se somatizan, al crecer en una ciudad peligrosa nunca desaparecen, ni al estar en un mejor lugar, ni al estar en una mejor circunstancia. Esto, en parte, hace que hagamos de nuestras ciudades latinoamericanas archipiélagos inconexos de lugares que nos parecen seguros. Pero también que nuestra sed de justicia está tan poco saciada que a veces no vemos la humanidad de los otros.

@libros

derpoltergeist,
@derpoltergeist@col.social avatar

[March 16th, 2023]

When you are subject to cruelty, you are prone to fostering cruelty, even if you think you are creating justice.

@bookstodon

derpoltergeist,
@derpoltergeist@col.social avatar

[March 31, 2023]

Some of the digital communication tools we use disembody us to the point that a literal disembodiment goes unnoticed in this story: at work we become only our productivity. Our bodies are irrelevant for most interactions, they matter only for those who actually want to get close.

@bookstodon

derpoltergeist,
@derpoltergeist@col.social avatar

[27 de abril de 2023]

El poder corrompe sin excepción. No importa lo consciente que se sea de esto, de los planes al respecto, de las intenciones, el poder corrompe sin excepción.

@libros

derpoltergeist,
@derpoltergeist@col.social avatar

[May 27, 2023]

There can be mastery in being self-referential, in making your characters be overtly explicit in where they (and we are) in your own plot. There is a good, effective way in guiding your readers through a mystery story, without revealing the solution.

@bookstodon

derpoltergeist,
@derpoltergeist@col.social avatar

[May 30, 2023]

Music is not only about notes and rhythm, it is about connection, and there is no deeper connection that the bond you create with the artists, songs and albums that define your youth, that shape you into the human you will be, that make you realize where you want to go in life. There is no greater joy that finding that sound, no greater pain when it sounds out of tune, no better feeling that knowing you've learned how to find a new, different tune to guide you.

@bookstodon

derpoltergeist,
@derpoltergeist@col.social avatar

[June 21, 2023]

Our society, our collective and our self is based on so many things that we take for granted, that if we change one of those things, it ends up being eery, almost a horror story. But even then, there is power in company, humanity can adapt.

@bookstodon

The 'New York Times' attacks e-bikes while ignoring the real danger all around us (electrek.co)

The New York Times published a pair of articles this weekend highlighting the rising number of deaths of cyclists riding electric bikes. However, in one of the most impressive feats of victim-blaming I’ve seen from the publication in some time, the NYT lays the onus on e-bikes instead of on the things killing their law abiding...

derpoltergeist,
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@rm_dash_r_star @bumble you're so close to getting the point, it's a bit painful.

derpoltergeist,
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@Zana @RGB3x3 It's quite funny how the whole premise of this sub/community is "it's insane that driving cars is the main option for transportation in many places, we should strive for our cities/countries to build other, better, more sane options" but there's always a comment in every post reminding us that there "aren't any other options."

derpoltergeist,
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@Blamemeta @diskmaster23 I was on a road trip recently. My country (not the United States) doesn't have functional trains. It took us six hours to get to another city that's 180 kilometers away. So much freedom...

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