I’m settling into San Diego to serve as a software expert witness at a trial here in federal court. Would anyone like to get together for coffee? If so, comment here or email philg@mit.edu.
Separately, within only a few hours of walking around I was able to get images of all three pillars of 21st century California: the unhoused, marijuana, and the gender-neutral restroom.
Separately, I can’t figure out how real estate works in California. Downtown San Diego alternates between 15-20-story high modern buildings (real estate is valuable) and surface parking lots, auto repair shops, and vacant land (real estate is not valuable). You don’t see this kind of schizophrenia in Manhattan or Boston.
I am under the impression that this is a product of the many barriers to real-estate development, combined with a property tax system that means that people who have owned property for 10~20 or more years pay nothing.
Also, New York and Boston are just plain much older than any city on the west coast. Come back in a 100 years and check to see if there are still any surface parking lots.
I would be able to meet for coffee in San Diego on Saturday, the 18th, in the second half of the morning.
I have commented on your postings once, under the name Texas Observer.
I’m surprised that these guys don’t leave more “bleed area” on their signs. The left side leaf is almost cut off, and the “San Diego’s Premier…” is asymettric! Nobody knows how to design for print anymore…sigh….
Remember all you stoner sign designers: all these products that are printed on big wide format machines have a “bleed” area, a “safety” area, and a “main content” area. All the text and pictures should be well inside the “safety” lines. If you can’t center your signs, you’re a loser.
This shop should let me design their signs from now on…
Sorry, asymmetric. I would be ashamed to have printed that sign, not for the content necessarily – but because they couldn’t even take the small effort to do it correctly! Of course, if the hapless guys hanging the sign don’t have enough space (and it looks like on the left side here they certainly didn’t) the stoners will blame the workers!
“You cut off my bud, bro! I’m stopping payment on the check!”
From 10/24/01:
“It’s Finally The Good Life For Jim Anchower”
https://www.theonion.com/its-finally-the-good-life-for-jim-anchower-1819583856
I would have been impressed if you had a homeless person deliver some pot to you in a gender neutral restroom.
@Alan, I don’t see how this is possible, here is why:
1) A homeless person doesn’t have the mentally means or physically capacity to make a delivery. Even worse, if s/he discovers what’s the delivery, s/he will inhale it all.
2) A gender neutral person will insist on sharing the pot with you while playing “Love Is Love” and grounding you in #Pride ideology.
Legitimate question– the “all gender” bathrooms I’ve seen are just a singe room with a locking door. Is that the case here, or is this a free-for-all, where anyone and everyone just strolls in and drops trou?
Same thing here in California, Dale…just a bathroom with a locking door. But who knows what goes on behind that door.
Sadly I am in Northern Nevada but would have loved to grab lunch with you at the landings restaurant at KCRQ which has the best lobster roll in all of San Diego county. If you ever return to California I hope you reach out.
But, when do you plan to visit India ! (No, it’s not that bad 🙂 )
So nice to see a homeless guy in San Diego supporting “the latest thing” by using blue-and-yellow colors of an Ukrainian flag for decorating his cart!