iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Jim Duncan

John Garrison Marks @johngmarks.com · 2h

To lose visitors in the year you HOST THE WORLD CUP and celebrate a big anniversary is truly incredible.

In a 1.5 mile bike ride to a meeting in Charlottesville: - 2 people driving cars ran red lights at McIntire/Preston - Police officer on phone was honked at to go at green - person driving a truck ran a red light a full 3 seconds after it turned But the people on foot & bicycles are the problem?

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Jim Duncan @jimduncan.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Would be amazing if the Blue Ridge Homebuilder Association would speak out about ICE taking people who build houses in the Charlottesville area. www.axios.com/local/richmo...

axios.com

Builders say ICE enforcement is slowing Virginia construction

A Richmond builder says it's affecting vendors, construction timelines and the ability to build new houses.

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Jim Duncan @jimduncan.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Which new sticker was a harder decision than how to vote.

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Jim Duncan @jimduncan.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Fall morning rides are high up on the list of "best things about living in the Charlottesville - Crozet area." Except for the deer.

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Jim Duncan @jimduncan.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Wish I could make it to this meeting on Thursday in Charlottesville about the Charlottesville Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee. communityengagement.substack.com/i/217716084/...

Thursday, October 1, 2026

Three meetings today. Not much information about any of them.

The Albemarle Board of Equalization will hold a public hearing at 8 a.m. in Room 246 of the county’s office building at 401 McIntire Road. They don’t post agendas but these are recorded.

Albemarle’s Natural Heritage Committee will meet at 5:45 p.m. in Room 241 of the county’s office building at 401 McIntire Road. There is no agenda at publication time.

The Charlottesville Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee has two co-chairs but no specific members. I found this out in the past week after someone sent me a clip of someone at a recent meeting advising the group to not listen to one demographic in the community. I’ve not been able to independently locate the clip to write about the incident in particular but I am certainly going to keep researching. In any case, they meet at 5 p.m. somewhere. Neither city meeting calendar says where, so good luck.

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Jim Duncan @jimduncan.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Started a new book today. "The Great Displacement." Good times. *removed the brewery name. :)

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Jim Duncan @jimduncan.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Grateful that as I sit on my back porch and work, the drone I hear is being flown by someone in an adjacent neighborhood, and the drone isn't armed. Sounds simple and silly, but I'm working to be mindful of joys(?) of life.

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Jim Duncan @jimduncan.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

"Feature needs Wi-Fi. Go to Settings to Connect" is something I saw yesterday on a stove as my clients and I were doing the final walkthrough. Stoves shouldn't need wi-fi. Or firmware updates. They need to get hot.

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Reposted by Jim Duncan

Anu @nofirstorder.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

The Hague doesn’t even need an investigation team, they just need to plug @atrupar.com ‘s timeline straight into the evidence folder.🤷🏻‍♀️

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Jim Duncan @jimduncan.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Recorded my Note's video intro four times; and then Substack sent it to everyone. Darn it. Violating my "one email a month" rule.

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Jim Duncan @jimduncan.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

I miss the HooK. As part of the relaunch of realcentralva.com, the developer had to get rid of a bunch of links that used to go to the Hook, and now go to some spammy scammy site.

- What changed: 264 links across 206 rows now go to Wayback snapshots. That covers post content, post excerpts and comments, including four trackback author URLs. I rewrote the stored content rather than relying on the runtime dead-link filter, which only covers post content.
- Snapshot dates: The real Hook site stayed up through June 2022, and the squatter appears from July 2022. Every snapshot is pinned to June 15, 2022 or earlier, using the closest capture to the post date where one existed. I spot-checked eight and all were genuine Hook pages.
- No snapshot: 14 of the 214 URLs were never captured. The 17 links pointing at them were unwrapped to plain text; I did not point them at Wayback, because it could serve a squatter capture.
- Verified: No live-host links remain in posts, excerpts or comments. Four posts still show a Hook URL as the visible link text, but the link itself goes to Wayback. Modified dates on the posts were preserved.

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Jim Duncan @jimduncan.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

I do appreciate Substack's making images for my monthly note. Coming this week. realcentralva.substack.com

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Reposted by Jim Duncan

Dr. Sandra Steingraber 🏳️‍🌈 @ssteingraber1.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

We are here now: Germany is storing backup versions of US climate data to protect the work of our scientists for the next U.N. climate assessment so that it “cannot be meddled with or compromised by the administration of President Trump.” e360.yale.edu/features/ger...

e360.yale.edu

Why Germany Is Building an Ark for U.S. Climate Data

As researchers around the world begin work on the next U.N. climate assessment, fears are growing that the Trump administration could meddle with critical U.S. climate data. In response, scientists ar...

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Jim Duncan @jimduncan.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Why are homes so expensive and take so long? This is a reason. Not *the* reason, but 100% *a* reason.

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Reposted by Jim Duncan

Max Fawcett @maxfawcett.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

This is the part many Americans -- including the Bezosites at the Washington Post -- don't understand. Canadians don't see this just as a Trump thing. It's that America elected him twice, and the second time with an even bigger mandate. The problem we're addressing is America, not Trump.

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Jim Duncan @jimduncan.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Over 21 years of blogging, and it was time for a rebuild. I'm still learning the ins and outs, but I think it looks a lot better, and the blog seems faster now, too. :) www.realcentralva.com/2026/09/17/r...

realcentralva.com

Refreshing The Blog - 21 Years Later - RealCentralVA

RealCentralVA has had countless themes over the years, and so many versions of WordPress. It was time for an overhaul. I started writing RealCentralVA in…

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Reposted by Jim Duncan

David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

“We are also looking at whether the Earth is flat”

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Jim Duncan @jimduncan.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

A quick look at interest rates: Buyers shopping now will be borrowing closer to seven vs mid-sixes a few weeks/months ago. That does not automatically move prices, but it does move what a given buyer can pay, and it removes the argument that waiting to list & hoping for lower rates is a strategy.

What this means for a seller here is simple and not yet visible in any of the county data below. Every figure in this report was
produced by buyers borrowing in the low-to-mid six percent range. Buyers shopping this October will be borrowing closer to
seven. That does not automatically move prices, but it does move what a given buyer can pay, and it removes the argument
that waiting for lower rates is a strategy.

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Jim Duncan @jimduncan.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Fresh pavement on 10th St. makes riding a bicycle on it so so so so so much better. Did I mention so much better?

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Jim Duncan @jimduncan.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

The worst part about this morning’s bike ride is that I did not get a picture of the bat that flew and attached itself to my chest.

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Reposted by Jim Duncan

David Zipper @davidzipper.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

New study finds the social cost of driving a car 1 km—including pollution, crashes, infrastructure, and noise—is more than *triple* the private cost paid by the car owner. doi.org/10.1016/j.tr...

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Jim Duncan @jimduncan.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Talked to a builder in Albemarle today saying that they are delayed because they can't get the framing labor. Where the hell are the homebuilders' associations? Realtor associations? Housing delays cost people - in time, anxiety, life delays, and also money.

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Jim Duncan @jimduncan.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

A thing I've been saying to people curious about the turning Charlottesville real estate market -- for those sellers whose expectations need to shift, it often takes 7 to 17 months for them to accept the new market reality. 1/

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Jim Duncan @jimduncan.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

A darn good ride this morning. The eyes were watching us. And we're just big kids looking at clouds. #FromtheBicycle

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Reposted by Jim Duncan

MapQuest @mapquest.com · 27/08/2026

We’re not changing it.

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Jim Duncan @jimduncan.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Why do I get up early to ride? Because even though we ride the same roads often, the landscapes look different every day. Heck, two of these pictures were taken seconds apart! #FromtheBicycle

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Reposted by Jim Duncan

Jess Piper @piperformissouri.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

This is some North Korea level shit put out by Homeland Security…

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Jim Duncan @jimduncan.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

We should try this in Charlottesville.

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Reposted by Jim Duncan

Mar Hicks @histoftech.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

As satire, this is amazing. Unfortunately it’s not satire.

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Jim Duncan @jimduncan.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Our HVAC went out. My wife and I complained that we had JUST replaced it. I checked the invoice. "Just" was four years ago. "Just" is relative when you're selling a house. The roof? 7 years. The carpet? 10. When you list, your "just" needs a date on it. realcentralva.substack.com/p/time-compl...

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Reposted by Jim Duncan

Nolan Hicks @ndhapple.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

“On the lists, the many wood products include 36 different kinds of plywood alone. Homebuilders in the United States have already said there is not enough American product to replace Canadian plywood, so the tariffs could increase housing construction costs.” www.nytimes.com/2026/08/23/w...

nytimes.com

What Canadian Goods Will Take Trump’s 50% Tariffs? Some Pretty Strange Items.

Buoys, dog muzzles, capes, national flags and “base metal statuettes” from Canada are now more expensive for U.S. shoppers.

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Jim Duncan @jimduncan.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

This is one of the craziest storms. I think I’ve seen. So much lightning and thunder. #crozet

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Reposted by Jim Duncan

Justin Wolfers @justinwolfers.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

Trump just imposed 50% tariffs on Americans who buy a range of Canadian goods. Here's what's going on, and why it matters: newsletter.platypuseconomics.com/p/why-trumps...

newsletter.platypuseconomics.com

Why Trump’s New Tariff Is Bigger Than Canada

Trump just hit Canada with a new set of 50% tariffs.

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Reposted by Jim Duncan

RealCrozetVA @realcrozetva.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Riding bicycles outside in Crozet is good. And a fantastic start to the day.

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Reposted by Jim Duncan

Howard Eissenstat @heissenstat.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

This will pretty much end international students pursuing doctorates. A shocking decision and one which will do irreparable damage to the United States in the long term. www.highereddive.com/news/trump-a...

highereddive.com

Trump administration caps student visa stays at 4 years under final rule

Critics have castigated the measure, arguing it ignores average degree completion times and creates unnecessary burdens for international students.

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Jim Duncan @jimduncan.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

This is outstanding. And this is perfectly stated: "I’m just sad that our built environment, engineers, and car monoculture in North America pushes people into expensive car ownership."

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Reposted by Jim Duncan

paulusg.bsky.social @paulusg.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

leftylady.bsky.social @leftylady.bsky.social · 3h This. All day long this. THIS is the reason we have trump.

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