J.C. Shepard > Recent Status Updates

“A popular little book published in 1784 by schoolteacher John Filson had made [Daniel] Boone an international hero…. Filson’s book, and countless others that followed, celebrated Boone’s deeds, and transformed him into the embodiment of Jefferson’s ideals on the frontier. A new nation found their first Western hero in Boone, the Jeffersonian pioneer, and at the same time discovered a new identity…”

TV producers are idiots. Listen to the original author!
“Nate was tall, blond, and rangy. His eyes were icy blue and piercing and they peered out from a high-altitude windburned face with high cheekbones and a hatchet-like nose. He wore his long hair tied back in a ponytail with a leather falcon’s jess.”

Excerpt From
Battle Mountain
C.J. Box
This material may be protected by copyright.

I want to like this history of the state we call Kansas, for I am interested in learning about the Sunflower state, yet I cannot. This new style narrative tells stories about the state. These stories are interesting. The problem is the author bounces all over introducing people & events without the benefit of chronology or context. I am so confused.

I have to remember Romantasy is not Science Fiction & Fantasy. It is certainly not Young Adult even if marketed as YA. I like SFF. I don’t like Romance but it’s become wrapped into Historical Fiction & Speculative Fiction (the Outlander effect?).

The YA googly-eye dialogue is bad enough. I really don’t need six pages of graphic soft-porn here. The dragons & graphic violence just barely keep me reading,

“Starting with a “Main Street” and the surrounding blocks and re-creating it as a locus for all types of artistic expression can diversify a small community’s economic base and enrich its activities.”

“Small towns and rural communities with zoning can also cultivate creativity, too, on their own scale—whether that means allowing dance halls, live music, live-work (artist-occupied) studios, galleries, or those third places that allow serendipitous collaboration.

“While there is always some uncertainty even with zoning or covenants [without] truly anything can spring up next door. This degree of uncertainty lowers property values…”

“…libraries empower individuals to participate more fully in civic life… By fostering a sense of belonging and mutual support, public libraries play a vital role in strengthening the social fabric of communities and promoting a culture of active citizenship.” ,

“I couldn’t explain it, not even to myself, but books gave me an unflinching sense of stability and groundedness. That because words survived, somehow I would too.”

The "Battle of Leavenworth" described does not seem to have happened in real life?

The 7th Kansas Cavalry Regiment (also known as "Jennison's Jayhawkers") served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. There were regular army--not independent militia as implied--yet several units had a reputation for irregular scorched-earth tactics later put into play by Sherman in his March to the Sea.

The Lawrence Massacre (Quantrill's Raid), 21 August 1863.

This chapter is set in Spring 1860. Yet “…Abraham Lincoln, elected President of the United States that previous November…”.

On November 6, 1860, voters in the United States went to the polls in an election that ended with Abraham Lincoln as President.

“Removing billboards was associated with a decrease of 30 to 40% in injury crashes, and restoring billboards was associated with an increase of 40 to 50% in injury crashes.”

“Most people would say transportation is about moving people and goods from point A to point B… But at its core, transport is about connecting people, goods, services, and activities….
If transportation is about access, reducing traffic congestion is just one of many possible solutions. Focusing on the wrong goal leads us astray.”

How Much Is Your Life Worth?
“In 1975, the USDOT estimated a a life as being worth $1.4 million in today’s dollars. When the USDOT value of life reached $2.5 million in 1998, it suddenly made sense to (add more safety measures)….The USDOT now uses $11.8 million. Interestingly, every federal agency seems to value life differently.”

“Killed by a Traffic Engineer?
…What traffic engineers are guilty of is creating a transportation system whose designs remain largely based on plausible, but unproven, conjecture.”

Recommended on Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander Methadone list.

“Misidentified priorities lead right into how we mismeasure transportation… At best, we can sat that we have conflicting objectives in transportation. Sure, traffic engineers want to improve safety, but before doing so, we want to minimize congestion, maximize mobility, minimize costs, and so on.
Safety is never first on the list.”

“More Americans [have] died on US roads than in all US conflicts combined, including the American Revolution.”

The Virginia habit of deference to elder-patriarchs was different from the New England practice of veneration for elder-Saints… One culture [New England] exalted old age; the other [Virginia] rewarded seniority—two very different systems.

"A new paradigm for housing will incrementally thicken up existing neighborhoods...
At Strong Towns, we've developed a simple, four-step process for identifying this kind of opportunity and making it happen:
1. Humbly observe: where people in the community struggle.
2. Ask the question: What is the next smallest thing we can do right now to address that struggle?
3. Do that thing. Do it right now.
4. Repeat.

"The next increment of development intensity needs to be allowed everywhere by right."

"The way out of the housing trap must...
* Rapidly add new housing units at affordable prices;
* Not adversely impact the existing housing market;
* Allow for the flow of capital into the community, but slow the flow of capital out of the community; and
* Grow the city's tax base without adding to the liabilities of local governments.

There is no approach currently on-offer that allows these things to happen.

“Strong Towns as a movement has never been about picking a solution; it’s always been an approach. People need to be able to try things, to respond to stress or opportunities as it presents to them. These responses need to be incremental, a discipline that expresses humility, allowing us to be wrong in a way that helps, not hurts.
To escape the housing trap, cities need to replace rigid systems with flexible ones

“At Strong Towns, we push back on the concept of a “solution”. There is no solution to the housing trap we find ourselves in. There aren’t one or two things we can do that will make housing abundant, affordable, and a solid and stable investment…

“Thee has not been a free market in housing in a very long time. Given the state’s role in shaping the market for raw land through the provision of public infrastructure such as roads, bridges ne could argue there never has been.”

“Constant evolution was a defining characteristic of pre-suburban American cities. New neighborhoods were emerging at the urban fringe, but at the same time existing neighborhoods were undergoing steady change.
Today, there is no such steady change, only a binary choice between stasis or radically transformative change.”

“He [Yule Ian] consumed books as if they were as necessary to his health as bread and water, but they were rarely the books he had been assigned.”