The Wordsmith's Forge

Look at this list of bike-friendly features.  The first three of those also benefit people who walk, use wheelchairs, or otherwise travel by person power rather than motor vehicle.

* Physical separation from traffic 
* Short connected blocks 
* Shaded streets 
* Places to park

Of those listed, one has still more advantages.  Shade trees along a street also:
* reduce the urban heat island effect
* counterweight against climate change
* soak up runoff from a rainstorm
* provide wildlife habitat, especially if native species
* improve physical and mental health of people in the area.

When considering ways to improve your hometown, look for the ones that benefit multiple user groups in various ways.  That gives you the most bang for your buck, so make those a higher priority than projects with only one benefit.

These are some posts from the later part of last week in case you missed them:
Birdfeeding
Recipe: "Crockpot Rabbit with Mushrooms"
Sense-Ation Bingo Card 11-1-20
Poem: "Created by the Restitution"
Moment of Silence: Sean Connery
Poem: "To Endure Pain with Patience"
Bingo
Community Building Tip:
Today's Smoothie
Samhain Ritual 2020
Poem: "Their Need for Our Disciplinary Assistance"
Birdfeeding
Poem: Autumn Haiku 10-21-20
Poem: "A Purring Parcel of Paradox"
Poem: "What Hatred Never Learns"
Worldbuilding
Poetry Fishbowl Report for October 6, 2020
Poem: "Those Tiny, Negative Elements"
Self-Awareness Question: Time
Poem: "The Evolution of Society as a Whole"
Birdfeeding
Cuddle Party


I finally finished posting all the things from the half-price sale and its followup pool. \o/ That means most of the China's Mistake poems are now up, and you can see the sequence on the sale page.  dialecticdreamer has also posted the coverage of Boss Finn stomping her way up the ladder in the stories "Boss Talk" (with Rinaldo), "Lateral Discussion" (with Gigio), "Captain's Prerogative" (with Pinocchio), and "Meeting of Minds" (with Il Dottore). It takes her that long to run out of different sets of Things People Have Fucked Up Today.

There will be a Poetry Fishbowl on Tuesday, November 3 with a theme of "Crossing Cape Lines."

If you vote, or otherwise assist in the election, you can reveal a verse of a previous linkback poem.


Poetry in Microfunding:

There is one open epic at present.

"The Best Understanding of Their Differences" belongs to Polychrome Heroics: Calliope. Calliope and Vagary start on couple exercises.


The weather has been cool and breezy here, with occasional rain. Seen at the birdfeeders this week: a flock of mourning doves, a flock of cardinals, several sparrows, several goldfinches, a Bewick's wren, a downy woodpecker, a dark-eyed junco, a house finch, and a squirrel.  I finished planting my fall bulbs.  The hackberries dropped most of their leaves last night, and the sycamore dropped a lot too.  The walnuts have been bare for a week or two.

Places worth staying in offer growing room. 

A key reason why people move away is lack of resources.  The town doesn't have stores, businesses, etc. where they can meet their needs -- and it's not a good foundation for launching new businesses to fill those gaps.  An unfortunate side effect is that places considered good, such as big cities, become overcrowded and expensive and thus develop whole new ways of not meeting people's needs.  >_<

This article asked whether an all-local diet is even possible. 

Excuse me while I die laughing.  Until the last few hundred years, that was the norm almost everywhere, and it still is the norm in some places.  It was the only  option until trade really kicked in with the rise of agriculture.  You ate what there was.  There are still plenty of people who grow or hunt food because they can't afford to buy it or there are no stores where they live.  There are Amish folks who grow all their own food, although not all of them do so.  

Most people in America now rely on long-distance shipping of foods.  Towns and stores are set up that way.  Cities only have about 3 days of critical supplies, which is so stupid I can't even.  If you do not have food sovereignty, you are at the complete mercy of whoever controls the food supply whenever they feel like exerting themselves.

It doesn't have to be this way.  It's not supposed  to be this way.  Everything that can be produced locally, should be, and all places with humans have ways to produce food -- although not all places where humans now live can actually support that many people on the local food/water budget.  You can still do a lot to improve local resources.

The two best ways to do this are to grow your own food and to buy from local producers.  While some people aim to produce 100% of their own food, most do not.  Even growing a small amount gives you experience to take up the slack if things go wrong with the supply.  Me, I'm happy that I can walk around my yard, pick things, and put them in my mouth.  I don't want to give up things I can't grow here, like mango.  Look for Community Supported Agriculture near you.  If that's unfeasible, consider farmer's markets, U-pick, and locally produced animal products.  

This is Asian style fruit and vegetable carving, very impressive.  Note many techniques that overlap with the chip-carving style of woodwork.