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John Schrag @jvschrag.hachyderm.io.ap.brid.gy · 1d

Inktober Day 7: “Starfish”

Since this is Mastodon, I decided to draw a sea star reply-guy.

#inktober #inktober2025 #starfish

Digital ink cartoon. On the left is a sea star, with the label “This is not a starfish”. The sea star is saying “I’m a sea star, you deadnaming hack!”. On the right is a diagram of the constellation Pisces (the fish), on a starry background. It is labelled “This is a star fish”

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John Schrag @jvschrag.hachyderm.io.ap.brid.gy · 1d

@mralancooper That’s how it works here in Canada and many other parliamentary democracies. Failure to pass a budget triggers an immediate election.

John Schrag @jvschrag.hachyderm.io.ap.brid.gy · 2d

Inktober Day 6: “Pierce”

Alan Alda as Hawkeye Pierce on M*A*S*H.

I said I wasn’t going to use any references this month, but apparently I lied.

#inktober #inktober2025 #pierce

Digital ink portrait of Alan Alda in the role of Hawkeye Pierce.

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John Schrag @jvschrag.hachyderm.io.ap.brid.gy · 3d

Inktober day 5: “Deer”

#inktober #inktober2025 #deer

One-panel comic. A man is seated on a chair, hiding his face in the newspaper he is trying to read. Behind him is a doe, nagging him.

Doe: “Are you going to do the laundry?”
Man: “Yes, deer”
Doe: “Will you take out the trash?”
Man: “Yes, deer”
Doe: “It’s not like I have opposable thumbs, you know”
Man: “I know, deer”

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John Schrag @jvschrag.hachyderm.io.ap.brid.gy · 4d

Inktober Day 4: “Murkey”

Just a quickie today because I have guests from out of town.

#inktober #inktober2025

A digital ink sketch of a skeleton key with the body and tail of a fish swimming through the water. A mer-key, if you will.

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John Schrag @jvschrag.hachyderm.io.ap.brid.gy · 4d

Looking at pictures from the scene, a more responsible headline would point out that there was no safe bicycling infrastructure where the crash occurred.

#CarBrain #biking #waroncars

John Schrag @jvschrag.hachyderm.io.ap.brid.gy · 4d

News headline here says that “Two people sent to hospital after e-bike crash”. I had suspicions, so I dug into the story a bit, and sure enough there was a motor vehicle also involved in the crash. But somehow, the two-tonne fast-moving block of iron has nothing to do with what happened, and […]

Original post on hachyderm.io

hachyderm.io

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John Schrag @jvschrag.hachyderm.io.ap.brid.gy · 5d

Inktober day 3: “Crown”

Please note that I know absolutely nothing about horse racing.

#inktober #inktober2025

One-panel cartoon. A horse stands on the left, wearing an elaborate three-tiered crown. To the right is a jockey, standing arms crossed, looking annoyed and disappointed. The horse says to him “Oh, be reasonable, Jerome. Why would they give YOU the triple crown? I won the damn race.”

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John Schrag @jvschrag.hachyderm.io.ap.brid.gy · 6d

Inktober Day 2: “weave”

#inktober #inktober2025

One-panel comic. A beautiful Black woman is standing on the left, with an enormous mane of gorgeous hair flowing down her back and onto the floor. Two little girls stand to the right, watching her. One is gaping at the woman, while the other, suspicious with crossed arms, says “well, I think it’s a weave.”

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Reposted by John Schrag

Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 7d

“The e-bike market is skyrocketing — and, according to some studies, outpacing electric cars…The question now is: Do officials double down on deadly car-centric urban design, or do they rethink cities to encourage people to ditch four wheels for two?”

Via @grist.org grist.org/transportati...

E-bikes could cut carbon, congestion, and costs — if cities take them seriously

E-bike sales are booming, providing a clean form of transportation that also improves public health. Yet cities remain committed to cars.

grist.org

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John Schrag @jvschrag.hachyderm.io.ap.brid.gy · 7d

I’ll be participating in #inktober this year again as time allows. (I’ll use that hashtag so you can filter my drawings out if you don’t wanna see them)

This year my challenge to myself is to work without references.

Day 1 prompt is “Moustache” — I didn’t […]

[Original post on hachyderm.io]

Digital ink portrait sketch of a balding man with a big pushbroom moustache, wearing a black turtleneck sweater. In the upper left is text reading “Inktober 25 Day 1: Moustache”

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John Schrag @jvschrag.hachyderm.io.ap.brid.gy · 12d

I really enjoyed this charming, quirky short (10 minutes) science fiction film.

https://youtu.be/zsyFIAbphIE?si=J8Hkj8ctWNZBuUlI

#shortfilm

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Reposted by John Schrag

myrmepropagandist @futurebird.sauropods.win.ap.brid.gy · 13d

So what about an app where you have an open (crypto obviously) bidding marketplace to purchase various government officials and politicians? It can be confusing to navigate the current landscape! One guy wants his stuff in cash in a sack behind the bleachers, the next one wants a red envelope in […]

Original post on sauropods.win

sauropods.win

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John Schrag @jvschrag.hachyderm.io.ap.brid.gy · 13d

@dafydd61.bsky.social

Thanks for the recco! I reached out to Charlie’s Freewheels and they got back to me this morning:

“Thank you for thinking of us for your donations! We use the donated bikes in our Build-A-Bike program, where it will be refurbished by a youth participant who will get to […]

Original post on hachyderm.io

hachyderm.io

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Reposted by John Schrag

Dafydd Hughes @dafydd61.bsky.social · 14d

Check out BikeChain and Charlie’s Freewheels. Both great organizations that will make sure your bike goes to a good home.

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John Schrag @jvschrag.hachyderm.io.ap.brid.gy · 14d

Hey Toronto bike community! I’ve bought a new bike, and I’m trying to figure out what to do with my old one. Aside from the obvious option (sell online), are there any charitable or community organizations accepting bikes for redistribution or repair training or some other community-minded […]

Original post on hachyderm.io

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Reposted by John Schrag

Velocipede Rider @ruari.velocipederider.com.ap.brid.gy · 14d

So @sotolf reminded me of something I kind of love. The Japanese "30-hour system". Used in nightlife, broadcasting, and transport, the time extends the day past midnight to keep late-night events grouped with the same calendar day. So a club open from […]

[Original post on velocipederider.com]

A sign for underground bike parking from Japan. The opening hours state 5:00 to 25:00

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John Schrag @jvschrag.hachyderm.io.ap.brid.gy · 18d

I just finished reading “City of Stairs” by Robert Jackson Bennett, the first book in a series, apparently, but it stands alone as a complete story. It was really good. The premise is that an agent of a colonial power comes to solve the murder of a colleague in an ancient city that was once […]

Original post on hachyderm.io

hachyderm.io

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John Schrag @jvschrag.hachyderm.io.ap.brid.gy · 19d

@cirlo That’s fair, and no city is perfect. But I’ve been collecting pictures like this from many cities I’ve visited. Everywhere they create pedestrian-only zones is full of life and economic activity. Even in cities like Montréal where there is not a great dependence on tourism.

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John Schrag @jvschrag.hachyderm.io.ap.brid.gy · 19d

When I looked on maps, I was able to see that the area above the giraffe garden was part of the Hotel de la chèvre d’or — a fancy hotel in the old town. I search their website but could not see any mention of this garden — but they did have one picture that showed a tiny segment of it. And on […]

Original post on hachyderm.io

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John Schrag @jvschrag.hachyderm.io.ap.brid.gy · 19d

I immediately pulled out my phone to search for this. It wasn’t mentioned in any of the on-line guides to the town, or sights to see. The internet didn’t seem to know about this garden, or who owned it. It was a mystery!

It wasn’t until I got home later that I was able to solve it.

4/5

#eze […]

Original post on hachyderm.io

hachyderm.io

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John Schrag @jvschrag.hachyderm.io.ap.brid.gy · 19d

This made no sense, but luckily I was carrying my good camera, which had a 300mm telephoto on it. So with some more dangerous leaning (and my husband telling me to get the hell down before I kill myself) I was able to snap a picture of this mysterious garden […]

[Original post on hachyderm.io]

Photo of two terraces of a garden carved into the side of a mountain. On the upper terrace lawn are several large Greek urns, and life/sized statues of a lion, some women, a horse and a pony. On the lawn of the lower terrace are life-sized statues of two giraffes. There is a stone retaining wall below each terrace.

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John Schrag @jvschrag.hachyderm.io.ap.brid.gy · 20d

After exploring the beautiful old town, we started to walk down the trail that connects Eze to Eze-sur-mer down at sea level. It’s a rough rocky path down the side of the mountain that takes about an hour to walk.

We didn’t go far — just a short distance to a lookout point with a good view […]

Original post on hachyderm.io

hachyderm.io

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John Schrag @jvschrag.hachyderm.io.ap.brid.gy · 20d

The Mysterious Mountain Giraffes of Eze

Yesterday I took a bus up a winding mountain road to visit the medieval village of Eze (rhymes with “fez”) which is located just east of Nice. The bus drops you in the modern town, and from there you walk up a steep hill […]

[Original post on hachyderm.io]

Photo of the view from high up a mountain. In the foreground are the roofs of medieval homes, one flying a French flag. In the background is the sea far below, and an island. In the water are numerous large yachts.

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John Schrag @jvschrag.hachyderm.io.ap.brid.gy · 20d

@bovine3dom Amen to that! I had to walk across several km of Nice today because the strike shut down the tram lines. And the noise difference between the pedestrian and car zones was huge! It’s like urbanists say:
Cities aren’t noisy. Cars are noisy.

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