Koji
@kojisposts.bsky.social
Lib, laugh, love - the sequel
Progress, positivity, point plotting, piano performance, political parties, panel programmes, particular Pennsylvanian pop princess, public ptransit
Progress, positivity, point plotting, piano performance, political parties, panel programmes, particular Pennsylvanian pop princess, public ptransit
Reposted by Koji
Had the real honor of being published by @liberalcurrents.com this year, who ran this essay I wrote trying to explore Zionism as part of broader nationalist movements, instead of as a sui generis phenomenon, either for good or for evil.
The Banality of Zionism
Zionism is just 19th century nationalism, and its conflicts are ordinary nationalist conflicts.
www.liberalcurrents.com
December 7, 2025 at 9:22 PM
Had the real honor of being published by @liberalcurrents.com this year, who ran this essay I wrote trying to explore Zionism as part of broader nationalist movements, instead of as a sui generis phenomenon, either for good or for evil.
Reposted by Koji
It was also kind of crazy to be reminded of how much the needle has moved on housing policy the past few years in Toronto and Ontario, in part thanks to orgs like @moreneighboursto.bsky.social.
Of course the needle needs to be pushed much further and there’s much more work to do!
Of course the needle needs to be pushed much further and there’s much more work to do!
December 7, 2025 at 3:58 AM
It was also kind of crazy to be reminded of how much the needle has moved on housing policy the past few years in Toronto and Ontario, in part thanks to orgs like @moreneighboursto.bsky.social.
Of course the needle needs to be pushed much further and there’s much more work to do!
Of course the needle needs to be pushed much further and there’s much more work to do!
Reposted by Koji
Surreal meeting @uytaelee.bsky.social from About Here, @carastern.bsky.social from Missing Middle Podcast, and Paige Saunders at the @moreneighboursto.bsky.social AGM/Holiday Party!
December 7, 2025 at 3:54 AM
Surreal meeting @uytaelee.bsky.social from About Here, @carastern.bsky.social from Missing Middle Podcast, and Paige Saunders at the @moreneighboursto.bsky.social AGM/Holiday Party!
It's so funny to think about how close the Framers came to a parliamentary system.
Like, they invented Congress, then for the purposes of picking the Executive they invented Congress 2 of exactly the same size. Just define the EC as the House+Senate!
Like, they invented Congress, then for the purposes of picking the Executive they invented Congress 2 of exactly the same size. Just define the EC as the House+Senate!
They manifestly did not believe this! They were terrified of "the mob." Their solutions were just manifestly worse at fixing the problems they were worried about than a straight up parliamentary system
December 5, 2025 at 6:06 PM
It's so funny to think about how close the Framers came to a parliamentary system.
Like, they invented Congress, then for the purposes of picking the Executive they invented Congress 2 of exactly the same size. Just define the EC as the House+Senate!
Like, they invented Congress, then for the purposes of picking the Executive they invented Congress 2 of exactly the same size. Just define the EC as the House+Senate!
Reposted by Koji
“Zoning was invented to separate housing from noxious uses”
Everything below happened after zoning came to the US. We were better off without it
Everything below happened after zoning came to the US. We were better off without it
This chart says everything about city planning. 40% of Seattle’s multifamily zones are next to a highway.
This much
December 5, 2025 at 1:11 AM
“Zoning was invented to separate housing from noxious uses”
Everything below happened after zoning came to the US. We were better off without it
Everything below happened after zoning came to the US. We were better off without it
(11/12) An eye-opening performance that deployed volume and timing in really unconventional ways. Sorita realized that communicating intensity doesn’t require a consistent fortissimo, that subito pianos can be more surprising than strong accents, that a lot of phrases can work without a strict pulse
December 3, 2025 at 10:37 PM
(11/12) An eye-opening performance that deployed volume and timing in really unconventional ways. Sorita realized that communicating intensity doesn’t require a consistent fortissimo, that subito pianos can be more surprising than strong accents, that a lot of phrases can work without a strict pulse
Reposted by Koji
Reposted by Koji
Tools especially. Like, why spend $500+ on this stuff that rarely gets used
Chicago has a tool library
www.chicagotoollibrary.org
Chicago has a tool library
www.chicagotoollibrary.org
The Chicago Tool Library
Borrow tools from the Chicago Tool Library! It's expensive to buy and rent tools – borrow from us instead. We have thousands of tools for DIY, home repair, gardening, camping, cooking, crafting and mo...
www.chicagotoollibrary.org
December 2, 2025 at 3:56 PM
Tools especially. Like, why spend $500+ on this stuff that rarely gets used
Chicago has a tool library
www.chicagotoollibrary.org
Chicago has a tool library
www.chicagotoollibrary.org
Reposted by Koji
Here's the latest in "every person in the Ontario government is corrupt as hell" news
December 1, 2025 at 6:13 PM
Here's the latest in "every person in the Ontario government is corrupt as hell" news
Reposted by Koji
This new Ontario SDF scandal is not to be confused with last month's Ontario SDF scandal, around career colleges
December 1, 2025 at 6:26 PM
This new Ontario SDF scandal is not to be confused with last month's Ontario SDF scandal, around career colleges
Reposted by Koji
I really wish lay people understood that there is nothing intrinsically faster in at-grade, on-street rail compared to buses. If anything, it has a number of constraints that can make it potentially slower. It's the quality of priority that determines its performance, not the rail.
November 29, 2025 at 3:16 AM
I really wish lay people understood that there is nothing intrinsically faster in at-grade, on-street rail compared to buses. If anything, it has a number of constraints that can make it potentially slower. It's the quality of priority that determines its performance, not the rail.
Reposted by Koji
Fun little evening side quest: the subway and streetcar network in April 1954, but in contemporary style.
November 28, 2025 at 6:53 AM
Fun little evening side quest: the subway and streetcar network in April 1954, but in contemporary style.
Reposted by Koji
so our government made a big deal about banning speed cameras but one city left theirs running to see what difference the ban would make and you are not going to believe this
November 28, 2025 at 12:56 AM
so our government made a big deal about banning speed cameras but one city left theirs running to see what difference the ban would make and you are not going to believe this
Reposted by Koji
the whole point is in fact to be self-righteously off-putting. it's about defining your own in-group and signalling how in it you are
www.amazon.com/Hegemony-How...
www.amazon.com/Hegemony-How...
Hegemony How-To: A Roadmap for Radicals
Hegemony How-To: A Roadmap for Radicals - Kindle edition by Smucker, Jonathan. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading Hegemony How-To: A Roadmap for Radicals.
www.amazon.com
November 27, 2025 at 5:32 PM
the whole point is in fact to be self-righteously off-putting. it's about defining your own in-group and signalling how in it you are
www.amazon.com/Hegemony-How...
www.amazon.com/Hegemony-How...
Reposted by Koji
If your argument involves referring to Americans as “USians” it doesn’t matter how cogent the rest of your point may be tbh
November 24, 2025 at 11:13 AM
If your argument involves referring to Americans as “USians” it doesn’t matter how cogent the rest of your point may be tbh
Reposted by Koji
The estimated budget for the Waterfront East "LRT" (streetcar with tiny tunnelled section) is $2 billion?!?! Subway prices for 4km of streetcar. Glad we'll spend next year's municipal election talking about a made up crime surge.
www.thestar.com/news/gta/tor...
www.thestar.com/news/gta/tor...
November 25, 2025 at 2:45 PM
The estimated budget for the Waterfront East "LRT" (streetcar with tiny tunnelled section) is $2 billion?!?! Subway prices for 4km of streetcar. Glad we'll spend next year's municipal election talking about a made up crime surge.
www.thestar.com/news/gta/tor...
www.thestar.com/news/gta/tor...
Reposted by Koji
this is a twofer because both Dr Gay Hitler and George Washington Hitler are incredible names.
Lots of those Hitlers stretch back to the early 1800s. Also, one of those Hitlers gave us an incredible rap name www.circlevilleherald.com/news/hitlers...
November 12, 2025 at 5:25 PM
this is a twofer because both Dr Gay Hitler and George Washington Hitler are incredible names.
Reposted by Koji
We gotta have a clear term for people so cynical they become gullible.
November 12, 2025 at 4:55 PM
We gotta have a clear term for people so cynical they become gullible.
Fantastic way to depict the relative shares of all energy uses
Electrification could now reach 75% of all energy demand, as the road-transport and heating sectors rapidly electrify 🔥🚗
These two sectors account for 50% of global energy use and are now ready to switch from fossil molecules to clean electrons.
https://loom.ly/BwyhReA
These two sectors account for 50% of global energy use and are now ready to switch from fossil molecules to clean electrons.
https://loom.ly/BwyhReA
November 11, 2025 at 6:43 PM
Fantastic way to depict the relative shares of all energy uses
Australia seems like it would have enough solar potential to generate everything for itself + export to places like Japan (converted to hydrogen, presumably)
MILESTONE | In October 2025, renewables generated more electricity than fossil fuels in #Australia for the first time on record⚡
Share of fossil fuels fell to LESS THAN HALF of 🇦🇺's power generation as renewables took the lead.
https://loom.ly/TwPNYos
Share of fossil fuels fell to LESS THAN HALF of 🇦🇺's power generation as renewables took the lead.
https://loom.ly/TwPNYos
November 11, 2025 at 6:39 PM
Australia seems like it would have enough solar potential to generate everything for itself + export to places like Japan (converted to hydrogen, presumably)
I haven’t read the post specifically but I have been thinking about this list. I find 1-4 to be more universal than 5-8
But I think if 6 were rephrased as “what is natural is intrinsically more trustworthy than what is synthetic” it would reflect a very common populist sentiment
But I think if 6 were rephrased as “what is natural is intrinsically more trustworthy than what is synthetic” it would reflect a very common populist sentiment
Hammered out some thoughts on why I was motivated to post a lot about data centers: the popular conversation about them has been disproportionately informed by very low-trust intuitions I think are bad andymasley.substack.com/p/data-cente...
November 11, 2025 at 4:06 PM
I haven’t read the post specifically but I have been thinking about this list. I find 1-4 to be more universal than 5-8
But I think if 6 were rephrased as “what is natural is intrinsically more trustworthy than what is synthetic” it would reflect a very common populist sentiment
But I think if 6 were rephrased as “what is natural is intrinsically more trustworthy than what is synthetic” it would reflect a very common populist sentiment
Reposted by Koji
A friend is coming from Europe to Toronto in a few weeks (not peak anything) & trying to book a hotel. Found a middle-market hotel downtown for $395. That is bonkers. More expensive than London or Paris in the summer. Toronto needs a whole bunch of new hotels. Maybe dead condo mkt can pivot.
September 17, 2025 at 2:31 PM
A friend is coming from Europe to Toronto in a few weeks (not peak anything) & trying to book a hotel. Found a middle-market hotel downtown for $395. That is bonkers. More expensive than London or Paris in the summer. Toronto needs a whole bunch of new hotels. Maybe dead condo mkt can pivot.
Reposted by Koji
In 2018, then-Mayor Ada Colau called Barcelona’s new 30% inclusionary housing requirement for projects over 600m^2 a “paradigm shift,” making housing “a right and not a commodity.” It was supposed to produce 330 affordable units a year. The reality: just 31 affordable apartments in all these years.
Cuando se ha aprobó esta medida dije repetidamente que iba a ser un fracaso y que no construirían nada de vivienda asequible. Se ha probado en mil sitios y no funciona.
Acerté. www.lavanguardia.com/local/barcel...
Acerté. www.lavanguardia.com/local/barcel...
La reserva del 30% solo ha generado 31 nuevas viviendas protegidas en siete años en Barcelona
Otros 123 pisos disponen de licencia ya aprobada, mientras los gremios afectados reclaman un marco legal estable para poder despertar al sector de su letargo
www.lavanguardia.com
November 9, 2025 at 6:28 PM
In 2018, then-Mayor Ada Colau called Barcelona’s new 30% inclusionary housing requirement for projects over 600m^2 a “paradigm shift,” making housing “a right and not a commodity.” It was supposed to produce 330 affordable units a year. The reality: just 31 affordable apartments in all these years.
Reposted by Koji
In a now deleted post, China’s consul general in Osaka said he’s left with no choice but to cut off the “filthy head” of Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi because of her pledge to use Japan’s military to defend Taiwan if the Chinese invade the island. japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/politics/pol...
November 10, 2025 at 5:10 PM
In a now deleted post, China’s consul general in Osaka said he’s left with no choice but to cut off the “filthy head” of Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi because of her pledge to use Japan’s military to defend Taiwan if the Chinese invade the island. japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/politics/pol...
Reposted by Koji
“China is now making more money from exporting green technology than America makes from exporting fossil fuels. This trend will continue simply because renewables are cheap.”
Gift link: China’s clean-energy revolution will reshape markets and politics
www.economist.com/leaders/2025...
Gift link: China’s clean-energy revolution will reshape markets and politics
www.economist.com/leaders/2025...
China’s clean-energy revolution will reshape markets and politics
The world’s biggest manufacturer now has an interest in the world decarbonising
www.economist.com
November 8, 2025 at 6:55 AM
“China is now making more money from exporting green technology than America makes from exporting fossil fuels. This trend will continue simply because renewables are cheap.”
Gift link: China’s clean-energy revolution will reshape markets and politics
www.economist.com/leaders/2025...
Gift link: China’s clean-energy revolution will reshape markets and politics
www.economist.com/leaders/2025...