Oh good I need a drink. What time is it, 8:30 am?

For anybody in the media who cared to know, for months now there have been peaceful protests in Ferguson with organizers actively speaking out against and mitigating agitators with all of their ability.

In fact, even if you include the riots last night, the public protests have been overwhelmingly peaceful.

Some of these reporters need to get some Black Twitter going in their feed mixed with some of the organizers that are actually on the ground. They might learn something.

I just want to say that my wife told me we should get flood insurance three days ago. Two days ago a man in a kiyak rowed down our street and halfway up my driveway. I do not live in Venice.

My neighbor's washing machine was floating. Other neighbor had water up to their knees. My car flooded up to the trunk before I got to it and managed to get it up the driveway (how the engine hadn't flooded is beyond me...I was ankle deep on water in my car).

All in all we got pretty lucky. Everything that was destroyed was stuff I am just as glad to see gone, and there's no structural damage or drywall down there. Don't think we'll even have anything to claim.

We fared much better than most on out street, and definitely better than our Brother-in-law's friend.

Fun stuff! :)

It's cold in Hamburg.

Let me preface this by saying I have no idea what Paris in the 20's was really like outside of what are almost certainly stale tropes in my mind (but possibly accurate ones).

I will say this about Detroit though. It is currently undergoing a developmental revival that may or may not last, and this development is built on not just a cultural revival, but a creative, determined, DIY culture that was never not there in my lifetime, and did not need to be reintroduced.

Sections of downtown are experiencing a renaissance. Other parts are crime ridden, cheap, terrible, unique, beautiful, and all sorts of other things. The creative class is definitely flowing into Detroit right now and has been for years. I travel to the East Coast and out West a couple times a year on buying trips for fashion & apparel. I've met more than one indie designer in the past few years that, when they hear we live in the Detroit area, say something along the lines of "No way...a got a bunch of friends back in Cali that were talking about just moving to Detroit and getting an old warehouse...just to you know, make art and clothing and stuff."

In my lifetime I've witnessed Detroit about to "come back" about 3 times now. Something is different this time, though who knows how it will play out. That uncertainty is what the vanguard creative class is built on. There is a lot happening in Detroit creatively right now.

Finally, I should note that a terribly large number of the population of Detroit is overwhelmingly impoverished, unemployed, under educated, and black. When you look at conversations like these, most of the residents would probably just shake their heads and wonder wtf. They don't need a cultural scene. They need schools that don't systematically fail their kids, neighborhoods that aren't havens for violence, a chance in hell of getting a job, and something in the way of city services in exchange for their taxes (for those that can afford to pay them). The creative revival in Detroit is stimulating, vibrant, frenetic, life-giving, lauded...and completely overrated with respect to the amount of progress it represents in local popular culture imho.

This is something I brought up about a year ago because I have the same problem.

Sadly Meriadoc, you have met and broke bread with the Hubski team which all but ensures that this feature could never be implemented on your behalf. We all know full well that the cobbler's children go unshod.

For the record, I obviously support accessibility features that address issues like this :)

Was either of us mistreated? Technically, no.

Technically yes.

As I commented in the original post that thenewgreen mentioned above, everybody came from somewhere, including every founder. Let new users compare out loud Hubski to where they came from (wherever that may be) to their hearts content, if Hubski is different and its own animal (it is) they will come to that understanding through asking questions and engaging. In the meantime, there are more than enough tools to block repetitive, abusive, or otherwise low quality content and users (though really, this latest influx of people has been great).

But again, regarding the influx of new users, I say welcome, and keep asking questions. If #askhbuski is overrun with newbie questions so be it. That's what it's for. Asking Hubksi. We can block it temporarily if we get sick of it ;)