Reposted by Rachel MannBrandon - "Fietser" @americanfietser.bsky.social · 05/10/2026I want to take a moment to let people know that this is not super new tech. It has existed for years, but more notably in countries that design urban infrastructure to enable people of all ages and abilities, not just the car drivers. 419232
Reposted by Rachel MannBrandon - "Fietser" @americanfietser.bsky.social · 05/10/2026"But the handicapped need cars!" No, what they need are options in mobility. The tech exists to enable their freedom of independent mobility, but almost always what is lacking is the enabling infrastructure. Bike lanes and quality sidewalks serve everyone. 3857811402
Rachel Mann @biofillea.bsky.social · 19/09/2026In terms of political activism, I've reached the 'oh, so that's why my public highschool English teacher was hammering on about the ethos/pathos/logos rhetoric of persuasion' era. 010
Reposted by Rachel MannAda Palmer @adapalmer.bsky.social · 18/09/2026Kākāpō numbers pass 300 for the first time in 75 years. New Zealand’s flightless, nocturnal parrot now totals 325 birds, after a record 90 chicks fledged this season, built on the Department of Conservation’s recovery programme, which started with just 51 birds in 1995. DOC buff.ly/7YIOBd9doc.govt.nzKākāpō population reaches new milestoneThe official population of the critically endangered kākāpō has reached a recovery-era high of 325 birds. 10737250
Reposted by Rachel MannPatrick Siegman @siegman.biz · 10/09/2026Pew Charitable Trusts found that since 2017, housing in Austin has become MORE affordable for the average worker, thanks to the construction of more than 120,000 new homes. 13310
Reposted by Rachel MannTressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 04/09/2026I’m starting to confuse GLP and GPT 1121712
Reposted by Rachel MannChad Loder @chadloder.dev · 02/09/2026"Bottom 60% of households" is a wild phrase 12559711616
Rachel Mann @biofillea.bsky.social · 29/08/2026Caught the Thursday lunar eclipse near the Saint Paul Cathedral, MN. Not bad for a phone pic, methinks. 030
Rachel Mann @biofillea.bsky.social · 05/08/2026Proud to have voted yes for another 39 new homes at last night's Grover Beach Planning Commission meeting. #YIMBY 020
Rachel Mann @biofillea.bsky.social · 19/07/2026That halftime performance warmed my jaded heat. I laughed out loud when Ted Lasso and Coach Beard rolled up. And the Muppets?!?!? Maestro Dudamel looked like her was having the time of his life. 110
Reposted by Rachel MannChiliDishGamBOO!no @chilidishgambino.bsky.social · 14/07/2026Calling the RFK Jr diarrhea strain “MAHA Blast” since it has now evidently infiltrated Taco Bell 4346961172
Rachel Mann @biofillea.bsky.social · 26/06/2026My niece is competing at Theater on Ice Nationals in Irvine, CA tomorrow. I just figured out I can take my folding e-bike on the early Pacific Surfliner Amtrak train from Goleta to Irvine and roll up in time to watch her team skate. Wish me luck in my lower-VMT adventure! 120
Reposted by Rachel MannM. Nolan Gray 🥑 @mnolangray.bsky.social · 25/06/2026A new RAND study of impact fees finds that a 25% reduction in such fees would increase the number of feasible housing developments by 20%, and pay for itself via increased taxed revenue. www.rand.org/pubs/researc...rand.orgUnderstanding How Impact Fees Shape Housing Development FeasibilityAs California cities face growing pressure to build more housing, high development costs remain a major barrier. RAND researchers examines whether reducing impact fees could help make more housing pro... 18418
Rachel Mann @biofillea.bsky.social · 20/06/2026Can they eat freshwater algae? Asking for a reflecting pool... 000
Rachel Mann @biofillea.bsky.social · 17/06/2026Arrived home last night to another of the cats' mixed media art installations, "The Remains of the Jay". 130
Reposted by Rachel MannGuy Venables @guyvenables.bsky.social · 14/06/2026One of my cartoons for Monday's Metro 321197034266
Rachel Mann @biofillea.bsky.social · 04/06/2026Proud to have voted yes. More homes for neighbors! 000
Reposted by Rachel MannMax Dubler 🏳️🌈 @maxdubler.com · 01/06/2026Brand new homes are expensive primarily because building them costs a lot of money and the sale or rental price needs to cover the cost of construction. We have a housing affordability problem because restrictions on new home building have driven up the prices of OLD housing that should be cheaper.thewychefamily.comAffordable Housing Is Harder to Build Than We Want to AdmitAffordable housing isn't built by demanding it, it's built when the math works. A look at the financing gap behind every project, and who closes it. 313727
Rachel Mann @biofillea.bsky.social · 27/05/2026I impulse bought this curvy Heywood-Wakefield desk yesterday off FBMP for $220. Braved a meetup at a storage unit with a thankfully decent seller. Champagne finish, solid hard rock maple, and all the drawers have dovetail joints. No apologies. 130
Rachel Mann @biofillea.bsky.social · 29/04/2026I discovered a few days ago that my health insurance now covers the extended-release version of my ADHD medication for a reasonable $40/mo. Well hello, quiet brain! 000
Reposted by Rachel MannMax Dubler 🏳️🌈 @maxdubler.com · 28/04/2026The price of housing is set by supply and demand. The only way to reduce rents and home prices in high-demand cities is to build a lot of new homes. Rent control only slows down price increases for incumbent tenants. It does not reduce prices for newcomers or people who want to move.theargumentmag.comThe anti-market delusion at the heart of the housing crisisBreaking news: Housing is a market 411318
Rachel Mann @biofillea.bsky.social · 24/04/2026My hips don't lie and they are excited about this possibility. 010
Rachel Mann @biofillea.bsky.social · 19/04/2026This is your reminder to make art and music at all times, but especially in chaotic times. POV: my seat at today's rehearsal for the SLO Master Chorale concert tomorrow of Haydn's "The Creation" at the Cal Poly Performing Arts Center in San Luis Obispo, CA. I'll be thinking the #Artemis mission. 040
Reposted by Rachel MannMadeleine Bonsma-Fisher, PhD @mbonsma.bsky.social · 14/04/2026Awesome new paper by @ashtonindc.bsky.social unpacking ideas about "what—and who—our streets are for" that are behind car supremacy. By analyzing what people say at public meetings, this paper makes the case that individuals are upholding car supremacy and stymieing efforts to build safe streets. 55825
Reposted by Rachel MannMrs. Betty Bowers @mrsbettybowers.bsky.social · 11/04/2026The shared excitement over NASA’s recent mission compared to the general indifference to SpaceX missions speaks to the power of something seen as the product of communal human effort rather than just the ego and avarice of one obnoxious dork. 496178083656
Reposted by Rachel MannCalifornia YIMBY @cayimby.bsky.social · 09/04/2026U.S. building codes require two stairwells above three stories, which forces a layout that squeezes out larger apartments. Much of the developed world allows single-stair buildings even up to 10 stories with no measurable safety tradeoff and more room for families. cayimby.org/blog/the-sin...cayimby.orgThe Single Stairway to HeavenStairway reform could increase housing abundance and affordability by making better use of a building’s floor area. 49115
Reposted by Rachel MannMeade Krosby @meadekrosby.bsky.social · 08/04/2026Things that help calm the nervous system, quickly: - Box breathing (in for 4, hold for 4, out for 4, hold for 4, repeat) - Immerse your face in cold water (activates mammalian dive reflex) - Humming (stimulates vagus nerve) - Exercise (anything helps, outside even better) - Impeachment and removal 9196982721
Rachel Mann @biofillea.bsky.social · 04/04/2026When new homes go up rents go down. @kpbssandiego.bsky.social www.kpbs.org/news/economy...kpbs.orgSan Diego rents declined more than 19 of nation’s top 20 markets following surge in supplyRents in San Diego for a 1-bedroom apartment decreased by 5.6% year-over-year, more than every city in the top 20 priciest markets except New Haven, CT 000
Rachel Mann @biofillea.bsky.social · 01/04/2026Somebody reassure me there's a seven-second delay on the Artemis II launch broadcast? I'm still traumatized from watching the Challenger shuttle explosion live as a 5th grader. 010
Reposted by Rachel MannDavid Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 26/03/2026I don't think people fully appreciate how apocalyptic things are for US science. I haven't had any new funding since 2024, but I'm still ok since typical grants are for three years. This means next year I will be completely out of funding and will have to fire everyone in the lab. It's not great. 4153242362
Rachel Mann @biofillea.bsky.social · 25/03/2026Nice work, Florida! www.politico.com/news/2026/03...politico.comA Mar-a-Lago flip: Dems win Trump's hometown Florida House districtTuesday's results add more tallies to a trend of Democrats flipping Republican-held seats in state legislatures across the country over the past 14 months. 000
Reposted by Rachel MannSteve the Muppet Wrangler @beardog63.bsky.social · 24/03/2026I’ve started investing in stocks: beef, chicken, and vegetable. Someday, I hope I’ll be a bouillonaire. 2356019699
Reposted by Rachel MannKAFUI 🇬🇭 @mykafuiohkafui.bsky.social · 17/03/2026Graduating high school before ChatGPT is like having a brain made of recovered steel from warships old enough to not have been weakened by atomic bomb isotopes. 89107292199
Rachel Mann @biofillea.bsky.social · 11/03/2026Tuesday stopover at Apogee Brewing in Grover Beach, CA. I met 93yo former UCSB printmaking professor Ed, born in London, 1932. Sharp as a tack. He shared about being evacuated to the countryside of Yorkshire during WWII, meeting his wife of 70y, Nora (RIP) at his uncle's post-war wedding reception. 110
Reposted by Rachel MannDr Grace S Peng @gspeng.bsky.social · 09/03/2026Car tires are the leading source of microplastics in coastal CA waters. We're also breathing it. Electrifying cars won't help particulate air pollution (strokes, heart attacks, asthma, dementia) at all because they trade fewer tailpipe particles for more tire particles. 4289
Rachel Mann @biofillea.bsky.social · 05/03/2026More evidence that building new market-rate "luxury" condos frees up more affordable rental vacancies than building new low-income-restricted units. uhero.hawaii.edu/wp-content/u... 000
Rachel Mann @biofillea.bsky.social · 03/03/2026Gentle reminder to take a break from the horrors and set your alarm for the lunar eclipse at 3-4am PST. Expecting clear skies on California's central coast. I'll be up, contemplating our 'island home' as it aligns between our two lights, source and mirror, sun and moon. 000
Reposted by Rachel MannCarl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 27/02/2026Cover of The Lancet: @thelancet.com www.thelancet.com/journals/lan... 15381653434
Reposted by Rachel MannDara Moskowitz Grumdahl @deardara.bsky.social · 26/02/2026open-mic in front of the concentration camp... 031
Reposted by Rachel MannRobert Prinz @prinzrob.bsky.social · 23/02/2026Imagine if people kept complaining "Why does this juice keep getting me drunk!?" and you had to explain over & over again that it's wine, not juice. But then they continued to complain about the "juice" anyway, and tried to ban it? This is how I feel about the e-moto versus e-bike debate right now. 1373
Reposted by Rachel MannMichael Hobbes @michaelhobbes.bsky.social · 23/02/2026Even more evidence that building new housing decreases rents: Researchers tracked the residents of a newly built luxury condo building and found that they freed up less expensive apartments nearby. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.... 271177220
Reposted by Rachel MannGovernor JB Pritzker @govpritzker.illinois.gov · 19/02/2026Just unveiled the Building Up IL Developments (BUILD) plan and gathered a group to talk about housing in our state. The consensus? We need to build more and fast. Looking forward to getting it out to communities across Illinois. 1748072
Reposted by Rachel MannBenjamin Schneider @benschneider.bsky.social · 13/02/2026Architectural beauty is a really important issue in housing advocacy, but it can be hard to address with policy. So many "design" regulations end up making buildings uglier. This piece is a great summary of the kinds of policies that could actually promote beautiful buildings.cayimby.orgBuilding Beautiful Homes - California YIMBYThe Next Phase of California’s Pro-Housing Reforms By Eduardo Mendoza California is finally making it easier to build more housing – but the next fight is whether people like what gets built. Ugly and... 091
Reposted by Rachel MannRobert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 27/01/2026Cartoon by Adam Zyglis 13662022319