My kid wants to be a novelist. She's working on her first long book project this summer; about 20k words in and it's a fun story, but she seems to have hit a wall.
I'm hoping to find resources and guidance meant to help kids plan and finish a first book. If you know of anything that might be useful for a 10 yo, brilliant-but-scattered budding author, I'd be grateful for a tip.
lord knows her parents are not equipped to help.
Thank you!!!
spotted in my kitchen drawer this morning at the exact moment it was most true.
@TheWarOnCars #TheWarOnCars #YoudBeHappierBiking #BikeTooter
Someday, I hope, we decide to care as much about protecting humans on foot or bicycle as we do about parking lots.
Note that she still wouldn't be able to #MakeEyeContact with the driver, so if this were a crosswalk, she'd still, even at 4 feet, 8 inches tall, be too short to follow the primary "safety" advice we give our kids.
Huge milestone. At 4'8", the kid's finally tall enough for the top of her head to be visible to the driver of an #F250.
(and yes, this IS a pedestrianized area)
The people who prop up #CarCulture are the ones who tell #pedestrians, #cyclists, and others they are vulnerable and must watch for cars.
The people who prop up #RapeCulture are the ones who tell women they are vulnerable and must not go out after dark.
These are the same thing.
No one should get to build or perpetuate a system that knowingly and consistently puts people in harm's way and then call those people "vulnerable"
The term #VRU implies that being in danger (e.g., in danger of being hit by someone driving a car on a poorly designed street) is a condition the 'vulnerable user' opted in to.
#VulnerableRoadUser is thus used to define people ouside of cars according to the dangers imposed by cars and the people who drive, design, and cater to cars.
It's textbook #VictimBlaming, characterizing people as vulnerable because they dare exist in public without a #car.
#CarBrain #RoadSafety #VisionZero (3/4)
Vulnerability is not an intrinsic characteristic of anyone. It's a condition imposed on people by their environments (be those environments physical, social, economic, political, etc).
#VulnerableRoadUser language dehumanizes and makes it easy to shift blame and responsibility off those causing harm and onto those receiving it.
#CarBrain #RoadSafety #VisionZero (2/4)
Since it's come up on other platforms again, here's your semi-annual reminder that the term "Vulnerable Road User," or #VRU, is a #transportation catchall for "humans not safely ensconsed inside a motor vehicle," and it's lazy, inaccurate, offensive, and counterproductive.
Q. Does your big promotion mean you'll be able to drive to work now?
A. I actually like biking.
Q. But you at least get a parking spot?
A. No, I don't get a parking spot.
Q. But you could drive if you needed to?
A. Yes, but it wouldn't get me to work any quicker than biking.
Q. But what if it rains?
A. I get rained on.
Q. But wouldn't you rather drive if it's raining?
A. I'd get rained if I drove too.
Q. But...but...but...
#Biking is just better.
#iykyk
#fedibikes #BikeTooter
said toddler is 10 now, so the stashes have gotten bigger, but they're still just as loved as ever. It's a great way to use up whatever random bits of food you've got lying around. Bonus points for making it feel like snacking.
I admit I went a little overboard, but the "squirrel stash" is a favorite meal around here and I will never stop evangelizing it.
We found our first #SquirrelStash on the kids' menu of an outdoor cafe/petting zoo (yes) in #Aotearoa #NewZealand when our daughter was a toddler, and have been attempting to replicate it ever since.
Basically, you put a few pieces of whatever reasonably healthy food items you have on hand + 1 or 2 junk items on a plate and get out of the way.
I asked the kid to make ID tags for the purple broccoli I'm setting out in the #garden today.
I've now published a write-up and the source code for how I calculated a connectivity rank which could be used to help prioritize how a bike network is built out based how segments would improve connections with the existing network.
https://mark.stosberg.com/bike-network-connectivity-rank/?ref=mastodon
Thanks to all the open source mapping projects that helped make this possible, including #qgis #valhalla #josm and #turfjs. And yes, I used JavaScript for this.
Feedback, improvements welcome!
Transportation resilience expert. Studying, teaching, learning, tooting about 🚶♀️🚲 🚌 & 🛣️, with occasional outbursts about dogs, kids, & gardening. Searchable on tootfinder. Opinions my own.
Not anti-car, just anti-carbrain. A person, not a data point.