A Week of Being Kin Lane - September 29th, 2025
The week started with a heightened level of Squirrel Patrol activity. We issued probably 25 tickets, had a high speed chase with one squirrel down the middle of the road, and encountered two juvenile Squirrels were kung foo fighting on the grass right before Tavern on the Green. We quickly settled things down, and continued our ride around the park.
I was reading about how Trump is cancelling trail and bike lane grants that are deemed hostile to cars. I am fascinated by this administrations blind defense of the automobile as well as going all in on artificial intelligence. I believe they are related. These are both ways of controlling us and maintaining the levels of violence needed to keep things the way they want.
This all left me receptive to a post on Bluesky from Alessandro Rigolon, associate professor of urban planning, “driving didn’t “naturally” become inevitable. We designed a society that make driving inevitable in most places. We can design something different.” Agreed. I believe we can design something different when it comes to artificial intelligence.
There was a story in Wired about Doge, and the impact it has had on government agencies. From my perspective Doge is just a heist. It is a data heist of scale not seen from the private sector before. Doge is after our data. Doge wants to be the authoritative record of every American systems so it can sell access to this via the large language models of choice.
My little sister was in town. She came in from Oregon to see some Broadway Theater. She had never been to New York City. It is always interesting to take people around New York City. It is extra special to take someone you grew up with as a child in the sticks of Oregon around such a big city. I hope you had a good time little sister.
I’ve been to the Metropolitan Museum of Art more than a dozen times. I can keep going back without ever getting bored. I love it there. I’ve even thought about camping out in the bathroom until they close and having the place all to myself. This time I was fascinated by all of the art that had dudes with their dogs, which there are numerous.
We got to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MOMA) about 15 minutes early, to make sure my sister could see Vincent Van Gough’s Starry Night without the big crowds. While sitting in the lobby waiting there was a digital board displaying the following messages in different ways—I didn’t get to see the full thing, as we made our way into the gallery.
I went to see Hadestown on Broadway with my sister. I always enjoy a Broadway show no matter what the story. I went in completely unaware of the backstory and cast of characters, and really enjoyed the band and the story. The stage craft was aligned with the story, music, and the overall impact—it was fun to watch my sister’s response.
On Saturday we did a dumpling crawl in China town. We started with some baked and steam buns, then some steamed and fried dumpling, and on to some egg tarts, candy at Economy Candy, with some more dessert at Super Moon Bakehouse. What a day. We still have food in the fridge to be eaten, bringing the majority of it home.
Audrey and I concluded the weekend with dinner at our favorite neighborhood Italian restaurant. I had gnocchi in a gorgonzola sauce, bruschetta, and tiramisu. Audrey had a seafood ravioli—which was the special. Dinner there is always consistent and amazing, and it has that neighborhood vibe to it that keeps us coming back and sitting in the back corner.
Most of the time when we are done eating something amazing, Audrey is already planning whatever is next. I always joke that her middle name is “next”. I enjoy it because she is always planning some interesting new dinner in a part of town I am more than happy to explore. So when this image showed up on my home screen — I call in Audrey Next.
