#435 - Week one #vanlife, IRL zombie disease, and thermonuclear class war
Here's some week one of urban vanlife thoughts for you all:
SF is uniquely well suited for vanlife because its houselife...ain't all that different. In my van, I struggle with street noise and whiffs of sewage from the sidewalk, sure - but those are challenges I also faced in my multimillion-dollar turn of the century Victorian home before!
Since I'm parked a block from my gym and half a block from my grocery store, I'm living a walkable lifestyle! I suspect this gives me the same mental health advantage over houselife that dog owners have over cat owners - talking more walks is shown to make you happier.
I'm also more intimately connected to my neighborhood in a way I wasn't before, since I'm out more often. Like European street culture, I'm recognizing faces and weekly happenings over time because I'm so often out and about.
It's vaguely hilarious how well I blend in with normal techies as soon as I'm outside my van. When entering and exiting, I'm a street rat - but as soon as I'm on the sidewalk I'm just another pedestrian!
It feels a bit like solo backpacking in that I have everything I need and can go anywhere at any time without any external dependencies. Even if I don't exercise that mobility, the feeling of possibility is exuberant.
One way to force cleanliness - live in such a tiny space that you can't do anything without cleaning away the last thing you did 😅
Tech
Toast | Restaurant Point of Sale & Management System
I ordered at Jupiter in Berkeley on this restaurant platform that lets diners order from their phone super smoothly. Instead of just a menu on the QR code - it's an entire shopping app for food that waiters bring to your table and you can settle up whenever! Love it!
Magic Educator | All-in-one tool for teachers — www.magiceducator.com
This app isn't live yet, but it creates lesson plans using AI. You input what you want to learn and it aggregates learnings resources best suited for that.
Game changing use of GPT for sure!
Lifehacks
This Davis sustainable suburb planned in the 70s is noteable for a few reasons:
All the streets are named after Tolkien characters and are cul de sacs
It's so well irrigated that Davis pays them to divert water from other suburbs their way when storms overflow
Houses are positioned to maximize solar panel angles
Kuru (disease) - Wikipedia — en.wikipedia.org
The Fore people of Papua New Guinea used to consume the bodies of their dead as a sign of respect, which lead to this disease passed on by eating human brains, causing shaking, weakness, laughter, and death.
Yikes. Lots of zombie media play off this former reality.
Fun
Campaign Platform — keithbeneath.wordpress.com
This gentleman is running (ran?) for public office in San Francisco on the platform of literal thermonuclear class war with Silicon Valley - he says he wants to nuke Palo Alto.
I hope he's got some more realistic policy goals behind that attention getter 😅
Ultra-Near-Termism: Literally An Idea Whose Time Has Come — forum.effectivealtruism.org
Maybe this is only a joke for Bay Area intellectuals, but this well written essay on why current now utility transcends future long term utility, is either an excellent joke or something take so seriously as to become a joke.
Hat tip to reader Ben on this one!