iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Pigeon would honestly be great, especially if it was designed so that kids could go up and sit on its head

This website is a parody of itself

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Uggggh, I type one of those words way more often than the other :-)

America needs more statues

.@mattyglesias.bsky.social calls for more statutes in US cities. My particular nomination is that DC should have a statue of Stanislav Petrov, ideally unveiled at a (hopeful, future) time when the US and Russia have something positive to celebrate. www.slowboring.com/p/america-ne...

slowboring.com

Let's think less about who to tear down and more about what to build

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Oh man, for $4.40 or whatever it's the best falafel I've had in this hemisphere. Don't let them add hummus; do slather on the various sauces and pick your fave.

Falafel Inc is the best sandwich in DC

Michael Andersen @andersem.bsky.social · 02/04/2026

Reposted by Salim Furth

Have you ever seen a scale map of the solar system? Where you learn that despite the vast distance between Earth and Mars, the outer planets are just incomprehensibly beyond? This has been a tweet about Tokyo

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Reposted by Salim Furth

Michael Andersen @andersem.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

Japan observations thread, April 1-14 ⬇️

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Michael Andersen @andersem.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

Ha! Wellington just opened a very similar library (we visited on Day 2). Really excellent.

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Reposted by Salim Furth

New Zealand observations thread, March 2-31, 2026 ⬇️

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Salim Furth @salimfurth.bsky.social · 16/02/2026

I don't think those were folksongs - they were introduced as hymns, and I think one of them was originally an English hymn. The prayer following the hymns was, if my ear served, in the name of Jesus Christ. (This was at an event hosted by the city, and the musician was identified as a city employee)

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Maybe it was originally horse-shoeing and buggy repair shops?? Makes you think...

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Salim Furth @salimfurth.bsky.social · 12/02/2026

I always wondered why there was a Selim Rd in Silver Spring. Now I know: Selim (no relation) was the actual *discoverer* of the original silver spring in what's now Acorn Park. americanaristocracy.com/houses/silve...

americanaristocracy.com

Silver Spring Mansion - American Aristocracy

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Reposted by Salim Furth

Eli Sabin @eli-sabin.bsky.social · 03/12/2025

We did it! After years of work, our Downtown for All zoning reform plan has passed the New Haven Board of Alders! Our legislation significantly expands how much housing can be built in our city's core, and it will make a real difference for New Haven families. 🧵More details:

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Stephen Jacob Smith @stephenjacobsmith.com · 07/11/2025

One way to reduce condo defect liability: stop forcing architects to design buildings that leak. HCD’s “objective design standards” guide *encourages* making building envelopes more complex, heightening leak and therefore defect lawsuit risk cao-94612.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/documents/Ap...

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Salim Furth @salimfurth.bsky.social · 06/11/2025

Never mind, I'm not going to engage here. This website is a ridiculous parody of itself.

Salim Furth @salimfurth.bsky.social · 03/11/2025

NEW: There were lots of lessons for YIMBYs and housing scholars at the Urban Econ Association conference. My favorite papers were those that offered some cautions or leaden linings to popular ideas. #UEAMontreal2025 marketurbanism.com/2025/11/03/h...

marketurbanism.com

Hot takes and Pensées, #UEA2025 – Market Urbanism

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Salim Furth @salimfurth.bsky.social · 27/10/2025

Regardless of whether you build roads, congestion scales with city size because there's an increase in the number of destinations worth driving to (and those destinations are further away). Only a wonk would think that growth might not be associated with congestion :-D

Salim Furth @salimfurth.bsky.social · 27/10/2025

Maybe fire departments in colonial-era cities like Santa Fe should buy appropriately-sized vehicles so they can reach all the residents, rather than expecting "good civic planning" to make wider streets??

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Salim Furth @salimfurth.bsky.social · 27/10/2025

Normies don't think in per-capita terms. (A much easier example: immigrants probably increase traffic congestion even though they are less likely to drive than the native-born).

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Salim Furth @salimfurth.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

Overheard: "Son, what are you doing?? You may not rollerblade on the stairs!!"

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Emily Hamilton @ebwhamilton.bsky.social · 16/10/2025

To the lawyers out there: how are public art requirements constitutional? What is the conceivable nexus between building a building and creating a need for more art? The new building will reduce the community's art per capita?

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Reposted by Salim Furth

Parking Reform Network @parkingreform.org · 14/10/2025

So far in 2025, 11 cities have clearly signaled that the era of mandatory parking is coming to an end! 🎉 parkingreform.org/mandates-map/

A table titled "Cities That Abolished Parking Mandates in 2025". It lists cities and the dates they removed mandatory parking requirements. The cities are Toledo, OH (Sep 9); Oak Forest, IL (Aug 26); Shoreline, WA (Aug 11); Denver, CO (Aug 5); Boulder, CO (Jul 24); Botnell, WA (Jul 8); Bremerton, WA (Jun 4); Fairview, OR (Jun 4); Franklin, WI (May 6); Fitchburg, WI (Apr 8); and Sherbrooke, QC (Apr 8).

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Salim Furth @salimfurth.bsky.social · 13/10/2025

1 & 3) Swap out barely-observed, divisive Columbus Day for fun, unifying National Parks Day. 2) Flip MLK Jr Day to August, timed to King's greatest speech, and nudge Labor Day to late September. + Juneteenth should be a Monday holiday so it has the predictability to develop its own traditions.

Salim Furth @salimfurth.bsky.social · 13/10/2025

Our holidays have 3 big problems: 1) Columbus Day is divisive; a few others are a bit confused 2) Just 4 of the 11 happen during the bright half of the year 3) There's a 98-day gap from Presidents Day to Memorial Day!

Salim Furth @salimfurth.bsky.social · 13/10/2025

Happy (?) Columbus (???) Day! This "holiday" (I'm working...you're probably working) is Exhibit A in the case for a federal holiday shakeup.

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Salim Furth @salimfurth.bsky.social · 10/10/2025

The program pays the same regardless of land cost and occupancy, a common feature in developing-world housing programs (Mex, ZAF did the same), which is a pretty big incentive for siting them on cheap land.

Salim Furth @salimfurth.bsky.social · 07/10/2025

I've seen a couple of those sites. We had to be taken there by helicopter (!!) because many are built on very cheap land multiple hours' commute from the core of Rio. It's a terrible system and we should not imitate it.

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Salim Furth @salimfurth.bsky.social · 06/10/2025

It's like the miracle for the Widow at Zarephath, except with a bottle of Frank's Red Hot that's been Basically Empty since 2022.

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Reposted by Salim Furth

Stephen Jacob Smith @stephenjacobsmith.com · 01/10/2025

Pew finds something that everybody in codes and standards knows but few will say out loud: we apply far stricter fire safety standards to apartments than to houses. www.pew.org/en/research-...

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Salim Furth @salimfurth.bsky.social · 24/09/2025

I'm a principled defender of local government and participatory democracy. You can tell I'm principled because it runs so hard against my other policy priorities! A few decades of crappy housing policy isn't worth ending small democracies over.