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David Ramos

@imagineterrain.bsky.social

860 followers 720 following 1.1K posts

Designer/design educator in Washington, D.C. Making maps/systems to help us imagine landscapes past + future. Lost streams,🚲🛶🌊 On the web — imaginaryterrain.com

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David Ramos @imagineterrain.bsky.social · 14d

A pinned collection of map projects, starting with "Lost Streams of Washington, DC," and "From Bay to Mountains," the Chesapeake Bay region's railroads, past and present.

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David Ramos @imagineterrain.bsky.social · 3h

There are two different ideas: first, that in my own neighborhood and especially on my campus, what people operate and how is wildly different from 12 months ago. But second, that we have laws around some of those vehicles, and those laws should be better enforced.

David Ramos @imagineterrain.bsky.social · 3h

Yes, I say that because I'm suddenly seeing more riders, on all kinds of electric two-wheel vehicles, putting other people at risk. Mostly that doesn't matter much. It's in the categories that DC law defines as motorcycles and "motor-driven cycles" where it would be good to see stricter enforcement.

David Ramos @imagineterrain.bsky.social · 3h

Yes, there is an additional category — the "motor-driven cycle" in DC law, propelled at 21–30 mph, the classic motor scooter and its modern kin — that also does not belong in bike lanes.

David Ramos @imagineterrain.bsky.social · 3h

"Control" does not mean "eliminate." I chose those words with a purpose. New electric two-wheelers add a new kind of risk— not the gravest, but in my own riding, the most common. The area of 18th/Columbia NW and especially the UMD campus are wildly different from a year ago.

David Ramos @imagineterrain.bsky.social · 4h

Do you disagree that fast, heavy, throttle-controlled ebikes — functionally and legally motorcycles — should be prohibited from bike lanes and sidewalks?

David Ramos @imagineterrain.bsky.social · 4h

What does that have to do with regulating electric motorcycles? Some asshole on a giant two-wheeler brushed past me in a protected bike lane earlier this month. How would you have prevented that?

David Ramos @imagineterrain.bsky.social · 4h

I think we are crossing words inadvertently. Yes, both, though of course cars are by far the deadlier threat, benefitting from the status quo.

David Ramos @imagineterrain.bsky.social · 4h

Yes, it would be good to regulate the size of motor vehicles. I’m glad we agree. What does that have to do with wanting to treat electric motorcycles as motorcycles?

David Ramos @imagineterrain.bsky.social · 4h

Yes. That’s why I said that. To expand: I can take the lane and prevent close passes by motorists. This last month, most of the clumsy, dangerous, or aggressive actions I’ve experienced have been by people on rental e-bikes or e-motorcycles. Granted, I’m in Adams Morgan (delivery hotspot) and UMD.

David Ramos @imagineterrain.bsky.social · 4h

I get it, you’re smart and have read your postmodern philosophers and you have no practical experience with photography, can we move on now and try to deal with the parade of spectres that is smartphone photos since about 2022??

David Ramos @imagineterrain.bsky.social · 4h

Now that conputational photography is ever-present, with its constant and unknowable fictionalizations, can we let go of historians and critics grinding on and on about how photography is subjective, actually?

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David Ramos @imagineterrain.bsky.social · 6h

More and more two-wheel electric vehicles are motorcycles, not e-bikes. We shouldn't talk about or regulate them like bikes, and they do not belong in bicycle facilities.

David Zipper @davidzipper.bsky.social · 10h

My unpopular urbanist opinion is that big, hyperfast two-wheelers are a menace and should be banned from bike lanes/paths (with enforcement).

These things endanger everyone riding a bike or legal e-bike. Worse, they deter some from even trying.

E-bikes have evolved into e-motorcycles. Law enforcement is lagging behind.

Serious injuries are on the rise in emergency rooms around the country, as electric cycles become bigger and faster. Lawmakers and police departments are scrambling to address the problem.

www.inquirer.com

David Ramos @imagineterrain.bsky.social · 6h

Why not both? I can control the risks that cars present to me while I'm out on a bike; I cannot manage the risk created by an e-motorcycle rider who close-passes in a protected bike lane.

David Ramos @imagineterrain.bsky.social · 7h

Tom Sietsema is leaving his job as restaurant critic; maybe it's time to call the paper the Washington Past.

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David Ramos @imagineterrain.bsky.social · 9h

Overlaps are key. That's how you don't end up with (at best) dull and (at worst) racist yelling about what is and is not a Baltimore accent, like, it's possible that different cultural affinities can exist in the same space. There is a piece of Mississippi in Baltimore; and Garrett County too.

David Ramos @imagineterrain.bsky.social · 9h

Compare the EPA/CEC ecoregions. Physical geography is not destiny, but it has a heavy hand in steering culture.

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David Ramos @imagineterrain.bsky.social · 9h

Western Mass is rhotic. Someone from the Berkshires would follow Route 2 (or the Pike) to Boston, then paRk youRR caRR in HaRRvard YaRd.

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David Ramos @imagineterrain.bsky.social · 9h

(Those wind roses come from a 2022 post by John Nelson.) twitter.com/John_M_Nelso...

John Nelson on X: "By golly look at what I just found. There is nothing new under the sun. https://t.co/42KjO3boRE" / X

By golly look at what I just found. There is nothing new under the sun. https://t.co/42KjO3boRE

twitter.com

David Ramos @imagineterrain.bsky.social · 9h

Really, maps of cultural affinities need to have overlapping layers; to show different cultural streams overlapping one another as they move through space. Or to have more than one layer, like wind roses.

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David Ramos @imagineterrain.bsky.social · 9h

Generally good for the regions I know, although there needs to be a north-south or east-west split in Southern New England (the accents change! the architecture changes), and PA/MD.

William Hazen @williamhazen.bsky.social · 1d

This is the most accurate depiction of the Midwest to date. Wichita has always felt like the last Midwest city while also being the first plains city.

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David Ramos @imagineterrain.bsky.social · 10h

Cheap space is valuable!

Reposted by David Ramos

Free Łink - Matthew R Francis @bowlerhatscience.org · 10h

evergreen post

Uncle Duke @uncleduke1969.bsky.social · 10h

on the next episode of copse

Two police officers stop a person disguised as a tree on a pedestrian crosswalk.

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Reposted by David Ramos

Cats of Yore @catsofyore.bsky.social · 1d

What a beauty! Photo from my collection, no documented date/info.

Black and white photo of a longhaired tabby cat, appears to be ginger, sitting up in the sun and licking its chops.

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David Ramos @imagineterrain.bsky.social · 2d

cc @rachelvetica.bsky.social

David Ramos @imagineterrain.bsky.social · 2d

A meander book. (I keep the phone numbers on paper on the back of an old business card, laminated.)

making art @marigoldmimsy.bsky.social · 2d

a pocket phone book zine — one way to record phone numbers you need in your pocket

12 spots to record phone numbers for different types of people you might need like people who will provide safe harbor, people who have technical expertise and people who will pour into you

we need each other 🏵️

a full page design of a 10 pointed star design based on a Muslim design combined with a henna design and gold ink

a 12 square sheet of paper that reads

Pocket Phone Book
Shelter
a person to stay short term
a person to stay medium term
a person to stay long term

Food
a person who can feed you
a person to have fun with
a person who pours into you

Technical
a person with tools
a person for medical // dental care
a lawyer

Care
someone to travel with
someone you're responsible for
someone to help care for children // elders

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