David Ramos
@imagineterrain.bsky.social
Designer/design educator in Washington, D.C. Making maps/systems to help us imagine landscapes past + future. Lost streams, hydrographic history, 🚲🛶🌊 imaginaryterrain.com
Pinned
David Ramos
@imagineterrain.bsky.social
· Sep 24
A pinned collection of map projects, starting with "Lost Streams of Washington, DC," and "From Bay to Mountains," the Chesapeake Bay region's railroads, past and present.
Columbia Road NW, Washington, DC. There is obvious, bitter irony, but I think that a more hopeful read is available too.
January 21, 2026 at 6:33 PM
Columbia Road NW, Washington, DC. There is obvious, bitter irony, but I think that a more hopeful read is available too.
Lac Pink, in Gatineau Park, Quebec, is known for being a vivid green, but it's currently frozen over.
January 21, 2026 at 5:06 PM
Lac Pink, in Gatineau Park, Quebec, is known for being a vivid green, but it's currently frozen over.
“The whole thing is fucking senseless. I gave up trying to understand it.” Washingtonian talks with a DC National Guard soldier. washingtonian.com/2026/01/21/a...
An Anonymous DC National Guardsman Tells All
“This is not what I signed up to do.”
washingtonian.com
January 21, 2026 at 4:39 PM
“The whole thing is fucking senseless. I gave up trying to understand it.” Washingtonian talks with a DC National Guard soldier. washingtonian.com/2026/01/21/a...
Reposted by David Ramos
So I thought, "let me edit this." On Grokipedia, you can suggest an edit, which I did. All edits go through grok, and here's what it said when it rejected my edit.
January 20, 2026 at 4:34 PM
So I thought, "let me edit this." On Grokipedia, you can suggest an edit, which I did. All edits go through grok, and here's what it said when it rejected my edit.
It’s sad that well-functioning adults are starting to assume that any well-structured, engaging writing is AI-generated. Sad in many ways.
January 16, 2026 at 6:44 PM
It’s sad that well-functioning adults are starting to assume that any well-structured, engaging writing is AI-generated. Sad in many ways.
Reposted by David Ramos
Just learned that feds want to use the Patuxent Research Refuge for DHS and Secret Service training and are planning to clear a whole lot of forest intended for conversation and scientific research to do so. I called my congressperson. There is a lot going on but they cannot have Patuxent for this
January 16, 2026 at 1:39 AM
Just learned that feds want to use the Patuxent Research Refuge for DHS and Secret Service training and are planning to clear a whole lot of forest intended for conversation and scientific research to do so. I called my congressperson. There is a lot going on but they cannot have Patuxent for this
DDOT's using bikeshare station ad space for posters that offer advice on snow removal — put snow in the planting strip, but stay clear of crosswalks and curb ramps.
January 14, 2026 at 7:11 PM
DDOT's using bikeshare station ad space for posters that offer advice on snow removal — put snow in the planting strip, but stay clear of crosswalks and curb ramps.
NORAD is planning an air defense exercise over the DC area, between midnight and 2 am Wed, Jan 14 (tonight). wtop.com/local/2026/0...
Fighter jets to fly over DC region in defense exercise - WTOP News
If you’re up late or an early riser, you could see or hear military aircraft over the D.C. region early Wednesday.
wtop.com
January 14, 2026 at 12:01 AM
NORAD is planning an air defense exercise over the DC area, between midnight and 2 am Wed, Jan 14 (tonight). wtop.com/local/2026/0...
DC Water is pausing its rollout of recalculated impervious area fees, a jump in water bills that took ratepayers by surprise. www.popville.com/2026/01/upda...
Update to DC Water Price Spikes Letter - PoPville
DC Water email (PDF) "Update: Clean Rivers Impervious Area Measurements and Implementation Pause Dear Customer, We are writing to follow up on a recent letter you received regarding updated measuremen...
www.popville.com
January 13, 2026 at 7:04 PM
DC Water is pausing its rollout of recalculated impervious area fees, a jump in water bills that took ratepayers by surprise. www.popville.com/2026/01/upda...
_Gourmet_ folded in 2009, but Conde Nast failed to renew the trademark, and five independent food writers are bringing the magazine back as a newsletter. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/13/b...
Gourmet Magazine Is Back. It’s Not Exactly Sanctioned.
www.nytimes.com
January 13, 2026 at 5:45 PM
_Gourmet_ folded in 2009, but Conde Nast failed to renew the trademark, and five independent food writers are bringing the magazine back as a newsletter. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/13/b...
Locks are to keep honest people, honest. Shed on National Park Service land, 2024.
January 8, 2026 at 7:07 PM
Locks are to keep honest people, honest. Shed on National Park Service land, 2024.
A NYC coop faces a 450% jump in its ground rent. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/08/n...
A Huge Increase in ‘Ground Rent’ Stuns Co-op Residents
www.nytimes.com
January 8, 2026 at 6:30 PM
A NYC coop faces a 450% jump in its ground rent. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/08/n...
The clowns at the National Design Studio launched a new site, this one for RFK Jr's red-meat-on-top inversion of the food pyramid. It's bad, even setting aside the psuedoscience. Atrocious type, janky animations, and muddy, pixillated illustrations.
January 8, 2026 at 2:47 AM
The clowns at the National Design Studio launched a new site, this one for RFK Jr's red-meat-on-top inversion of the food pyramid. It's bad, even setting aside the psuedoscience. Atrocious type, janky animations, and muddy, pixillated illustrations.
This is got to be part of their twisted thinking, yes.
From the stupidquestions community on Reddit
Explore this post and more from the stupidquestions community
www.reddit.com
January 7, 2026 at 8:22 PM
This is got to be part of their twisted thinking, yes.
I was lucky to be aware of the fireworks, and also their rhythm is distinctive, but we live in a timeline where "attack by Danish special operations forces" is a possibility and I can understand the widespread alarm.
I see that I'm not the only one baffled by the Jan. 5th fireworks display (although I did happen to see a note about it earlier).
January 6, 2026 at 1:45 AM
I was lucky to be aware of the fireworks, and also their rhythm is distinctive, but we live in a timeline where "attack by Danish special operations forces" is a possibility and I can understand the widespread alarm.
I see that I'm not the only one baffled by the Jan. 5th fireworks display (although I did happen to see a note about it earlier).
January 6, 2026 at 1:03 AM
I see that I'm not the only one baffled by the Jan. 5th fireworks display (although I did happen to see a note about it earlier).
A wash of color in a bleak midwinter.
January 4, 2026 at 10:56 PM
A wash of color in a bleak midwinter.
Reposted by David Ramos
Ok. So. They anonymised the sheep.
January 4, 2026 at 1:10 PM
Ok. So. They anonymised the sheep.
"Typology": in architectural criticism, a synonym for "type"; a word that gains its cachet from being so fancy that no one, including the writer, actually knows what it means.
January 3, 2026 at 3:16 AM
"Typology": in architectural criticism, a synonym for "type"; a word that gains its cachet from being so fancy that no one, including the writer, actually knows what it means.
Eighteenth Street in Adams Morgan now that the streateries are gone. This is sooo dumb.
January 2, 2026 at 9:02 PM
Eighteenth Street in Adams Morgan now that the streateries are gone. This is sooo dumb.
Ringo: "Is that what I think it is?"
Jules: "Uh-huh."
Ringo: "It's beautiful."
Jules: "Uh-huh."
Ringo: "It's beautiful."
January 2, 2026 at 2:47 PM
Ringo: "Is that what I think it is?"
Jules: "Uh-huh."
Ringo: "It's beautiful."
Jules: "Uh-huh."
Ringo: "It's beautiful."
I've turned off wireless emergency alerts, but I do use the FEMA app so that I get particular types of warnings. (No more being woken up at 2 am for a flash flood warning when I'm 100 ft. above my local stream's armageddon flood elevation.)
Early-morning alerts create their own risks: wake up 300K people at 4:30 am, and you'll have a lot of sleep-deprived drivers the next morning with slower reflexes and worse decisionmaking. But no one's going to blame the agency for extra crashes.
January 1, 2026 at 10:02 PM
I've turned off wireless emergency alerts, but I do use the FEMA app so that I get particular types of warnings. (No more being woken up at 2 am for a flash flood warning when I'm 100 ft. above my local stream's armageddon flood elevation.)
Poster for ITC Garamond, Jack Summerford, 1979.
December 31, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Poster for ITC Garamond, Jack Summerford, 1979.
Related: the image of controlling nature is critical to life out west. Los Angeles gets less appealing, the more you understand how much nature wants to kill you.
It’s kinda interesting that Mt Baldy in CA seems to kill fewer people than Mt Washington in NH does, considering that Baldy is also very close to a massive metro area and is also much higher in altitude.
I wonder why
I wonder why
December 30, 2025 at 8:12 PM
Related: the image of controlling nature is critical to life out west. Los Angeles gets less appealing, the more you understand how much nature wants to kill you.