A look at the quietest barrier to bicycle adoption (inflating your tires), and why bike share and public pumps deserve more credit than they get.

Prop 13 concentrated power in Sacramento and hollowed out local government in California

Teen licensing rates have been falling since the 1980s. Is it cause for celebration? And what replaced the car?

A comparison of kickscooters and bicycles across learning curve, energy efficiency, cost, portability, and theft risk — and what the differences mean for urban transportation advocates and anyone trying to get out of their car.

Most cycling advocates assume gear-shifting is a baseline skill — but for a large share of the people they're trying to reach, it isn't. If your outreach, programming, or education treats geared bikes as the default, you may be losing new riders before they ever get comfortable. Here's what the data suggests, and why it matters for growing cycling participation.

A practical guide to carrying groceries, gear, and kids by bike — starting with no extra equipment.

Gas prices, parking, insurance, the check engine light — a suburban father's inventory of the mental load that disappeared with the car.

A reflection on a car-free life-—the real tradeoffs, the barometer it provides for community equity, and why to travel slow.

California ranks dead last in cost-of-living-adjusted poverty among all 50 states. A native Californian makes the case that Prop 13, NIMBY housing policy, and stroads make it the most regressive state in America.

I go to city council meetings about bike lanes. Buc-ee's, a 74,000 sq ft Texas gas station, still managed to embarrass me about placemaking. Here's how.

Your bus didn't show up because someone who could have driven it wasn't allowed to take the job.

A map of photos from a walk around Graz, Austria.

A map of photos from a bike ride.

A map of photos I've taken from a day in Milan, Italy.

A map of photos I've taken around Miami, Florida, USA.

I watched a Soviet film and wrote about it.

How automobility separated us from reality itself...

Car dependence doesn't just shape our cities—it shapes who gets to vote.

Thoughts on traveling and commuting for work by running with a backpack.

A photo diary of visiting the main San Francisco library branch

A short photo diary of attending the San Francisco Opera's performance of La Boheme

A photo diary from a Juneteenth visit to Lake Tahoe

A subset of the photos I took during a month of daily observational photography

Photos from flying into SFO airport

A peek at San Mateo County's bus ridership

Attending friends' wedding in the northern reaches of California

Photos of the beautiful architecture & decorations of Congregation Emanu-El in San Francisco, California

An organized group walk from San Mateo to San Francisco (20 miles)

A variety of techniques and technologies for transporting young children short distances

A photo journal of a bicycle commute to my workplace

A short list of items that are good for capturing video and audio on a bicycle

Photo diary from taking the Amtrak train from San Jose Diridon to Los Angeles Union Station (10.5 hours)

Photo diary from taking the Amtrak train from San Jose Diridon to Los Angeles Union Station (10.5 hours)

Photos from a walk along the San Pablo Dam Reservoir trail

A short video of travel from San Mateo to San Francisco's Golden Gate Park

Photos from the San Francisco instant camera conference and photo walk

Photos & observations of an American's trip to southern France, part 2

Photos & observations of an American's trip to southern France, part 2

Photos & observations of an American's trip to southern France

Thoughts & experiences from visiting the downtown Miami library

Photos I have taken from my bike + train work commute over the years

Travels within the San Francisco Bay to Tiburon, without a car

A tour of SamTrans south base - the San Mateo County public bus agency

A collection of bench photos, discussing their placement and design

Photo diary from an Amtrak train ride to San Luis Obispo, California, with bicycles

Electric bikes are safer than regular bikes, here's why:

A trail run in the Crystal Springs Watershed, photos.

Some sample photos and thoughts on the Sony RX100 Mark 6 point-and-shoot camera

Photos of food I've captured over the years.

Make your travels less stressful and more fun

Photos from a week-long visit to Berlin in 2021.

A trip report from a sub-24 hour overnight bikecamping trip from San Mateo to Half Moon Bay.

How political conservatives think about bicycles as a political issue, and ways to speak to them.

Photos from a running trip on the Purisima Creek trail with a local running shop

Photos from an anniversary bus/bike/hotel trip to Half Moon Bay

A photo diary of riding the Amtrak Coastal Starlight from Seattle, WA to San Jose, CA

A photo diary from riding the SFMTA Muni 30 bus

A photo diary from going bike-camping overnight at China Camp State Park, California

A photo diary of visiting Coyote Point Beach, in San Mateo County

A summary of attending YIMBY Prom, 2024

Notes on buying and riding my first electric kick scooter, from Segway Ninebot, as a micromobility connoiseur.

Notes on my experience of bicycling and flying from San Francisco International Airport, using a folding bike

Photos that illustrate the architectural & placemaking concept of 'portals'.

Photos from traveling to Newport Beach, CA

Photos & notes from attending Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition's annual Bike Summit, 2023

Notes & photos from visiting downtown San Diego as a tourist

Notes and photos from riding the BART train with my neighbor Mike

Notes from obtaining & using the first generation of Meta's smart glasses, the Rayban Stories

A discussion of the pros and cons of folding bicycles, vs. normal ones (that do not fold)

Notes from reading the book 'Car Country', by author Christopher Wells

Key takeaways from Josh Bernoff's book on cutting the fluff and writing clearly.

How protected bike lanes save families $10,000/year and build safer, more independent communities.

How switching from car to e-bike for my commute helped me lose 15 pounds in a year.

Photos from our first wedding anniversary stay in San Francisco, across from the Ferry Building.

A photo diary from a visit to San Francisco's Legion of Honor art museum on a foggy day.

Running injury rates are shockingly high. Key findings from academic studies on how to avoid them.

The simple reasons I ride: fun, cheap, healthy, social, and it feels like flying.

Biking to work in LA on a borrowed hotel cruiser—photos from Venice to the Netflix offices.

Screenshots and notes from the BBC documentary on the chaos of post-Soviet Russia.

Data on the human cost of post-9/11 wars and the under-appreciated toll of PTSD.

Photos from my overnight bike camping trip over Highway 92 to Half Moon Bay.

The 'onsite' is the new offsite in the remote work era. Candid photos from team meetings.

A public list of my life goals: documentaries, powerlifting into my 70s, minimizing car use, and building family.

How my dad taught me about investing—starting with $1,000 from a summer job.

Why 'thank you' is just a signal, not a payment—and what actions actually demonstrate gratitude.

A spontaneous visit to a hidden gem of Bay Area history—worth the $6 admission.

Beyond A/B testing: crossover, switchback, bandit, and staged rollout experiments explained.

What I'd teach in a podcasting workshop: why audio-only is underrated, low production costs, and practical tips.

How I learned software engineering best practices by attaching myself to a quiet MIT grad—and the value of finding mentors who let you observe.

Quick video guide on sharing your iPhone or iPad screen in Google Meet and Zoom calls.

A short video tutorial on Chrome keyboard shortcuts for Mac—plus lessons learned about video production.

The four Chrome extensions I actually use daily: uBlock Origin, HTTPS Everywhere, LastPass, and one more.

How I convert Jekyll blog posts into nicely-formatted HTML emails using the Loom theme.

Comparing three microphones for video calls: MacBook built-in, iPhone earpods, and Zoom H4N Pro—with audio samples.

Distilled advice from Priceonomics and others: write about data, confirm biases, and focus on intros and conclusions.

A brief summary of how I have obtained my jobs in tech

You can use this guide to discover, understand and use logging in your Python programs.

Honest reflections on WFH after a year: the health benefits, the boundary problems, and what I actually miss about the office.

Research-backed insights on gift-giving: sloppy wrapping works, experiential beats material, and compliments outperform cash.

99% of software engineering is refactoring other people's code. Here are the testing methodologies that make it manageable.

A meditation on where power comes from: knowledge, community, saying no, and the ability to be generous.

A chess grandmaster's observation: only 5-6 people in the world truly combine hard work, fitness, and competitive drive.

Key takeaways from Google's free technical writing course—practical tips for clearer documentation and communication.

A reality TV show concept where software engineers compete in live coding challenges for a job at a top tech company.

My experience with the Kinesis Savant Elite2 USB foot pedal—what works, what doesn't, and who it's really for.

An audio conversation exploring why stories matter, touching on sci-fi, dance, and the meaning we find in narrative.

A quick guide to setting up your own local video livestream using Docker, nginx-rtmp, and OBS.

Why remote employees should earn more: they work longer hours, lose office perks, and save companies money.

A collection of resources for building DIY teleprompters and interrotrons to enable eye contact in video calls.

A 30-day curriculum to become a backend software engineer, plus recommended MIT and Linux courses.

A brief data-driven review of continuous integration adoption in open-source projects on Github

How I streamlined my blog publishing workflow using Google Docs and Apps Script to convert to Markdown.

Comparing two takes on 'the man in the arena'—from Teddy Roosevelt's famous speech to Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian.