Anton Lodder
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antonlodder.bsky.social
Anton Lodder
@antonlodder.bsky.social
city dweller, YIMBY with strong-towns tendencies. in my day job I solve optimal powerflows for distribution grids. extremely bike-pilled in Hamilton ON
Reposted by Anton Lodder
SAFETY FIRST !!!

**(Does not apply when drivers convenience come into the equation. In that case we can add a deadly lateral slope to sidewalks for a smooth driveway cut)**
December 30, 2025 at 6:14 PM
Reposted by Anton Lodder
Incredibly, not one of these milestones scores as a “win” using the traffic engineering metrics that quietly dictate city planning.

Urban planning prof Jonathan Levine and I have one paper detailing why and another explaining why it has to change for any vision of abundance to succeed. Links below.
Year 1 data on congestion pricing in Manhattan…

* Vehicle traffic: -11%
* Foot traffic: +3.4%
* Storefront vacancy: -0.9%
* Pollution: -22%
* Revenue for mass transit: $548M

So YES this has been a huge success.
December 30, 2025 at 4:54 PM
don't sleep on Ryan's favs
December 30, 2025 at 3:30 PM
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Me, a week ago: I am sure 6-7 annoys parents, but children have always constructed a shared language outside of adult society. This is necessary! Good for them!
Me, after spending the holidays with a bunch of niblings between 5 and 14: I am calling on the United Nations to ban the numbers 6 and 7.
December 27, 2025 at 10:30 PM
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tabling intersections solve this but we've given over 98% of urban public realm to cars so we're forever doomed to have terrible and expensive sidewalks
Here's one I complained relentlessly about and got the city to remove the river rocks BLOCKING THE PATH TO THE BEG BUTTON and weirdo curb/tripping hazard, but it still sucks!
December 29, 2025 at 5:13 PM
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The alps in october
December 29, 2025 at 5:25 PM
did my first 100-mile ride this year, a race-against-the-ferry on Manitoulin Island. goal for 2026 is to get fit enough that it doesn't completely destroy me to ride this far 😅
December 29, 2025 at 5:03 PM
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Mamdani has selected the Ninja Turtles' lair from TMNT II: The Secret of the Ooze as the location for his swearing-in ceremony

turtlepedia.fandom.com/wiki/Second_...
December 29, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Reposted by Anton Lodder
this will sound a bit corny but I mean it: parents should want their children to have the freedom to discover and claim their own identities, and plenary #adoption as it has existed for the past 100 years is designed to take that from us.
I think that adoptive parents who oppose this idea are forgetting that *all* parenting is about stewardship and not about ownership (unless patriarchy is important to them). 🥚
Let me push this to the literal adoptive parent discomfort zone, adoptees should be able to annul their adoptions and reclaim their original identities. 🥚
December 29, 2025 at 1:51 AM
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Everyone's body is different, but this is very true for me. Not that I don't also try to do strength training, but running is the best exercise I've found not just for my physical health but also to my mental health. Cardio + time spent outdoors = magic.
not gonna evangelize about it but tbh coming to understand the value of cardio is one of the biggest positive changes I've made of any kind to my adult life, for whatever that's worth
Fitness gurus are always knocking cardio. Well, the elliptical is super effectively for weight loss. It’s low impact so you can do it for long time periods, every day. I can burn 800-1000 calories in an hour. I can do it daily. I lost 100 lbs once doing nothing but that damned boring elliptical.
December 28, 2025 at 5:58 PM
this is a very interesting topic, but the reason it's maybe my favourite episode of the year is all the other things it touches on regarding grid modernization, vpps and market structure.
Today on Volts: you've probably heard that Australia has cheap rooftop solar power. You've probably also heard some rumors & myths about it. (Is it destabilizing the grid?) I called my favorite Australian energy expert to clear it all up. This is a fun one!
www.volts.wtf/p/whats-the-...
What's the real story with Australian rooftop solar?
Saul Griffith joins me to debunk the myths surrounding Australia's massive influx of solar energy.
www.volts.wtf
December 28, 2025 at 9:56 PM
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"rich asshole says something" just shouldn't be news.
December 28, 2025 at 7:05 PM
I'm a degrowther (in the sense that I think shrinking our economy by not having everyone spend their money on cars would make us richer)
will never cease to amaze me that china built out it's HSR infra for about a trillion dollars - while the US spends roughly 1.5 trillion a year just on *car ownership*
My whole life we’ve been told that The US is simply too big to have high speed rail
December 28, 2025 at 9:54 PM
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Most bike lanes in “ok” shape - but my wife disagrees.

This is why there is a gender difference in cycling. Infrastructure and maintenance matter.
December 28, 2025 at 7:19 PM
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They'll literally salt the earth for car culture, but for everyone else, it's a "pull up your bootstraps" policy.
This morning I walked home over 35W. There was only ~1 inch of snow on the ground, but plows were already out doing their thing on the highway.

Meanwhile, the sidewalk I was on will likely not get cleared for hours or days.

We *all* need clear sidewalks in winter.

#PlowMPLSsidewalks
December 28, 2025 at 8:31 PM
thought I'd look over the Hamilton LRT conceptual plan for fun. I'm not having fun
December 28, 2025 at 5:49 AM
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If you're a nondriver, especially one who is disabled, you regulary have to deal with inaccessible infrastructure like this. I regularly encourage people to navigate their communities through the lens of someone who might use a mobility device or have trouble walking. Because it will be eye-opening.
I know the 38 isn’t the route with the highest ridership, but dang if this isn’t a ridiculously inaccessible stop.
December 27, 2025 at 10:52 PM
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Fascinating 2008 paper on "Redefining fire safety in Swedish high-rise buildings" speaks to risk-informed design of single exit stair high-rise buildings in Sweden, featuring the Turning Torso (54 storeys, residential/offices) and the Kista Science Tower (31 storeys, offices)

wuz.se/wp-content/p...
wuz.se
December 28, 2025 at 12:54 AM
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another robot highlight for 2025: man wearing humanoid mocap suit kicks himself in the balls
December 27, 2025 at 5:27 PM
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A thread of #agrivoltaics
March 26, 2025 at 11:04 AM
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Bike Share ridership increased 20% in 2025, to a record 8.3 million rides!
December 27, 2025 at 3:29 PM
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For a contemporary example of this, look at the extremely precise parking requirements in the ITE Parking Generation Manual.
A type of practice that I find interesting historically is the rigorously untrue. Astrology, for instance, was often a very tightly defined practice with a seriously requirement of learning: it just wasn’t actually real.
December 27, 2025 at 3:31 AM
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I spend $30ish a year to support one of the best urbanism/safe streets creators around, which seems like an absolute bargain. Plus, I got a cool sticker when I became a supporter! What are you waiting for?
We are now 11 subscribers away from a pretty big end-of-year goal. Please sign up and support the podcast!

www.patreon.com/c/thewaronca...
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Thank you!
December 27, 2025 at 1:45 AM
Reposted by Anton Lodder
Republicans want to kill the post office and the media is there for it, which is why you have never seen a news story about how the police department has never turned a profit and is a waste
December 25, 2025 at 1:14 AM