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drtcombs.bsky.social
Tab Combs
@drtcombs.bsky.social
9K followers 2K following 2K posts
Transport-Equity-Resilience PhD.
Road Harm Reducer.
Villagist.

She/hers. Occasional outbursts about dogs, kids, Davidson hoops, & gardening. My opinions are mine.
Please read pinned post before following.
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drtcombs.bsky.social
Another excellent family outing to #BikeTheVote

#Democracy #ChapelHillNC
A selfie of me in yellow helmet and orange jacket. Behind me are a kid and a man. We're all on bikes on a residential street
November 4, 2025 at 9:43 PM
drtcombs.bsky.social
Vibe
Photo of a grimacing jack-o-lantern with large round eyes and a flat smile as if it is saying, "eeeeeeeeek" in a flat, hopeless voice
November 1, 2025 at 12:24 AM
drtcombs.bsky.social
oh. my. effing. word.

#TrafficViolence #VictimBlaming #CarBrain
screenshot of an alamy stock photo purchase page. The image is a cartoon showing two children in a crosswalk next to a park in a residential area. There is a soccer ball in the street, and the kids were apparently trying to retrieve it. But there is also a red light facing the crosswalk, presumably meant to tell the children not to cross, and next to the crosswalk is a truck, stopped, with the driver leaning his whole torso out the window pointing at the boys with a violently angry expression on his face. The caption for the image reads: "Traffic violation scene. Kids violated road rules, boys cross path for ball. Outdoor children dangerous situation, roadway risk play. Danger car."
October 31, 2025 at 8:05 PM
drtcombs.bsky.social
After diving into the website, it's most definitely an #AI account pretending to be a human company, brokering freelancing deals between humans.
screenshot of the epicfreelancer.bsky.social account, which has no profile descsription and a profile picture that is a white rocketship icon on a purple background. Its pinned post says: "Want something built quickly? Come to epicfreelancer.com." The most recent post says: "The key insight: every task you outsource successfully is one you never have to do again." The account has 2.6 kfollowers, 56.6k follows, 54 posts, and one new block
October 22, 2025 at 11:53 AM
drtcombs.bsky.social
the "oops I almost killed you" wave

#CarBrain #ShitDrivers #ChapelHillNC
October 21, 2025 at 8:03 PM
drtcombs.bsky.social
the spikes
Side view of the truck, showing a company logo (triad commercial asphalt) and spikes on the hubcaps
October 19, 2025 at 5:15 PM
drtcombs.bsky.social
4'11, almost 12 years old, still not big enough to "be seen"

#TruckBloat
Photo of a young girl, dressed in blue soccer kit, walking past a lifted white dually pickup truck next to a soccer field. The top of the girl's head is several inches below the truck's hood.
October 19, 2025 at 5:10 PM
drtcombs.bsky.social
I got killed off (again, presumably for good this time) 5 years ago today

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tab_(dr...
Photo of a can of Tab soda sitting on a bed of ice. The ice appears to be lit from below, or maybe there's a spotlight shining on the can.
October 16, 2025 at 9:11 PM
drtcombs.bsky.social
tf is a theophite and how did I get on its blocklist?
screenshot of a blocklist report from clearsky reading: "Blocked by 55 users via lists lists.alxtratrstrl.xyz alextraterrestiral's lists theophite followers self-explanatory? view subscribers"
October 16, 2025 at 5:56 PM
drtcombs.bsky.social
I am increasingly baffled...and alarmed.

What is the value of citations--one of the primary ways academics are judged--if they are generated through #AI #slop?

#AcademicSky #Academia
screenshot of the paragraph in which my research on traffic impact assessment is cited. The text reads: "Adaptation is an effort to modify movement patterns to suit specific requirements, such as adjusting, changing, rearranging, revising, and adding variations. Meanwhile, origination is creating new movement patterns to suit certain situations or problems, such as designing, composing, building, creating, constructing, and creating something new (Combs, McDonald, and Leimenstoll 2023)."
October 7, 2025 at 1:09 PM
drtcombs.bsky.social
#APA "Female respondents earned 9% less, on average, than male respondents. However, this gap is predominantly attributable to diffs between respondents w/ 30 or more years of planning experience."

a) false
b) if true, no thoughts why women bail earlier than men, APA?

#planning #gender
Horizontal bar chart showing salaries for male and female identifying urban planners at varying levels of experience. At each level (ranging from less than 5 years to more than 30) male identifying planners make at least a couple thousand dollars a year more than female
October 4, 2025 at 4:57 PM
drtcombs.bsky.social
We have a neighbor who only emerges from his somewhat spooky-looking home twice a year: in late September, to put out his #Halloween decorations, and on Oct 31, to scare the literal poop out of trick-or-treaters.

It made me indescribably happy to see him setting up this weekend.
photo of a fake body-bag with the text, City Morgue, lying on a leaf-scattered lawn. Poking out of one end of the bag is a rubber head, cut and bloodied, looking into the souls of passersby on the street.
September 28, 2025 at 3:38 PM
drtcombs.bsky.social
All told, I covered .9 miles to avoid a 0.075-mile sidewalk closure.

17/n
Screenshot of my garmin app, showing the route I traveled, covering 0.88 miles, including a loop through a building, taking 16 minutes and 53 seconds, to avoid a very short sidewalk closure.
September 24, 2025 at 7:41 PM
drtcombs.bsky.social
Back into the building I went, and fortuitously noticed another sign, which I followed directly into a computer lab with a class underway.

I hustled back out and asked random people if they knew where the accessible path was and they just looked bewildered by the question.

15/n
Back inside the building now, a photo of another yellow 'accessible path' sign with a left arrow, leaning on a random wall in a random hallway. I happened upon it entirely by accident.
September 24, 2025 at 7:41 PM
drtcombs.bsky.social
I tried to retrace my steps, but admittedly got lost, popped out a different door, and encountered steps.

14/n
Photo taken from outside the building again, showing a different brick sidewalk running adjacent to the building and ended in a concrete staircase
September 24, 2025 at 7:41 PM
drtcombs.bsky.social
And found myself face to face with an enormous electrical panel (which I did not photograph lest it appear I was up to no good)

13/n
Photo of what the previously-described yellow sign is pointing to: a set of wooden double doors, behind which lives an enormous electrical panel
September 24, 2025 at 7:41 PM
drtcombs.bsky.social
No matter. I entered and was met with a new signage scheme. Obediently, I turned right...

12/n
Photo inside a building, which posters suggest to be a computer science building. In the middle of the shot is a yellow sign (all the rest up until now have been blue) leaning on a wall, reading "accessible path" with a right arrow
September 24, 2025 at 7:41 PM
drtcombs.bsky.social
Or I guess it's called Entry B now

11/n
A brick sidewalk next to a brick building; ahead is another sign, this time reading 'accessible path thru building "Entry B"'. There is no arrow this time, but the sign is next to a door into a building, so presumably the door is Entry B (though it is not marked as such)
September 24, 2025 at 7:41 PM
drtcombs.bsky.social
Once I reached the distant signs, I was delighted to learn that I was about to begin the indoor portion of my journey (into unnamed but actually named building, and presumably through Entry A)

15/n
A closer shot of the sign in the last post, reading 'accessible path thru building' with an arrow pointing right
September 24, 2025 at 7:41 PM
drtcombs.bsky.social
Here we get to a wide open area; fortunately I am farsighted and have a decent sense of direction, so I was able to spot the next signs in the distance, even if I could not read them

14/n
A large pedestrian plaza made from grass and brick pavers. In the middle of the shot but way off in the distance there is a blue sandwich board sign, in the same style as the rest of the signs in this adventure
September 24, 2025 at 7:41 PM
drtcombs.bsky.social
Another sign, though I probably could have worked out that I was meant to turn left here on my own, given there were no other options.

13/n
Brick pavers, brick building, and a tree. In front of the tree is a sign reading 'accessible path detour' with an arrow pointing left. To the edge of the shot on the right is a concrete staircase going up
September 24, 2025 at 7:41 PM
drtcombs.bsky.social
I was directed down a ramp to an abrupt u-turn. I was glad I was not actually on wheels, because I'd probably have blown right past the single sign for the u-turn (or flipped & rolled trying to make the turn)

12/n
Everything in the shot is brick save for some blue recycling bins, a random traffic cone, and a sign (pushed off to the side and at an extremem angle to anyone who needs to see it), reading 'accessible path detour' with an arrow pointing right, indicating the traveler must double back in a u-turn
September 24, 2025 at 7:41 PM
drtcombs.bsky.social
The next turns were double-signed, following best practices for trail marking

11/n
More brick pavers and brick buildings, with two signs again: one reading "pedestrian detour" with an arrow pointing right, the other reading "accessible path detour" with an arrow pointing right More brick pavement and buildings. Here we have two signs situated at 90 degrees to each other. The one facing me says 'accessible path detour' and has an arrow pointing left; the other sign (presumably facing travelers attempting the detour in reverse) says 'accessible path detour' and has an arrow pointing right
September 24, 2025 at 7:41 PM
drtcombs.bsky.social
Having spent 21 of the past 22 years on this campus, I naturally had no idea where "entry A" was, so I just looked for the next sign. Fortunately, it was not far away.

10/n
Photo of a brick-surfaced pedestrian area and a brick building. In front of the building is a sign reading "Accessible Path Detour" with an arrow indicating to continue straight ahead (past the building)
September 24, 2025 at 7:41 PM
drtcombs.bsky.social
My 'accessible' adventure started off easily enough.
There was good signage telling me the sidewalk was closed, and that I should turn left and enter an unnamed* building through "entry A."

*it does have a name, but this was not included in the sign

9/n
Photo of a wide brick sidewalk, blocked by two sandwich board signs. The sign on the right says "sidewalk closed." The sign on the left reads "Accessible Path Thru Building "Entry A" with a left arrow underneath the text.
September 24, 2025 at 7:41 PM