City of Madrid significantly boosted the takings of its shops and restaurants last Christmas by banning cars from the CBD, finds an analysis by Spain's second largest bank.

This has been an interesting summer for me. Here are some highlights.

Attached: 1 image Ring-necked Pheasant This long-tailed game bird is native to Asia and has been introduced in many other parts of the world. Male has fleshy, red facial wattles, iridescent blue neck, and richly colored red and golden underparts with dark spots; his namesake white neck ring is indistinct on some birds. Female is buffy-brown, heavily marked with black, and usually shows some white markings around the eye. In much of its introduced range, including North America, there are no similar species. Elsewhere, note male’s blue neck and heavily spotted body, and female’s spotted or chevroned (not barred) underparts and mostly plain face lacking strong red markings. Found in farmland, scrub, and along the edge of forest, and often gives a loud, abrupt rasping call that draws attention to its presence. Japanese birds are now treated as a separate species, Green Pheasant. Link: https://ebird.org/species/rinphe1 Photo Location: United States

I’ve had a couple side conversations recently about centralized video. John Gruber makes a strong case today that this needs to be solved soon: > With YouTube, Google has a centralized chokehold on video. We need a way that’s as easy and scalable to host video content, independently, as it is for written content. I don’t know what the answer to that is, technically, but we ought to start working on it with urgency.

In Finland, the number of homeless people has fallen sharply. Why? The country applies the "Housing First" concept agains homelessness.

Attached: 1 image California Quail Small and rotund with obvious teardrop-shaped plumes protruding from forehead. Looks gray and brown at a distance, with white streaks on the sides and a scaly belly. Males have black face and longer, more curled crest than females. Usually seen in flocks running on the ground in open, scrubby habitats. Listen for frequent, three-noted call, audible at long distances. Separated from similar Gambel’s Quail by range; also note California has scaly belly with rusty (not black) patch and duller brown crown and sides. Native to western North America including Baja California; well-established introduced populations in Chile, Argentina, New Zealand, and Hawaii. Link: https://ebird.org/species/calqua Photo Location: United States

Now the important stuff. New single hand high score in Balatro last night. On purple stake. High Card on lvl 30 or something. Never got a damn negative joker.

Attached: 1 image The CHP relying on bitly links leading to Twitter does not seem like great Emergency Alert infrastructure.