It's Symmetry Sunday!
An exterior detail at the PS1200 mixed-use development (Marlon Blackwell Architects, 2023), Fort Worth, TX.
#FortWorth #Texas #Architecture #Photography #Monochrome #BlackAndWhite #Detail #Symmetry #FORAPhotography #SymmetrySunday
This is just one of the hundreds of images available for purchase at: https://www.foraphotography.com
Alrighty. Several hours later, and I have Tarrant County's updated early voting locations :D
Overpass-turbo query: https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/21qx
Actual location info from county (can match up the numbers on the map to addresses): https://www.tarrantcountytx.gov/content/dam/main/elections/2025/0525/locations/0525_EV_Sched.pdf
And a reddit post in the FortWorth subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/FortWorth/comments/1jorg38/early_voting_locations_for_april_2025/
#reddit #pdf #OverpassTurbo #OSM #OpenStreetMap #OpenData #FortWorth #Tarrant #dfw #txpol #uspol
So far, I only have locations that serve (at least) as early voting centers. There are several more pages of day-of voting centers that I could conceivably add. I'm debating building a small, static, mobile website with #Leaflet to perhaps make a "show me my closest voting station" feature, and maybe a "schedule my voting time" feature that spits out an ical file or something. The opening hours are all there in the OSM data.
(Annoying sidenote: most college/university locations are either early vote only, election day only, or not open at all :()
https://ballotverifier.tarrantcountytx.gov/
>The Ballot Verifier allows members of the general public to enjoy access to every single cast ballot in every Tarrant County election as far back as November 7, 2023.
Holy Fucking Shit that's fucking awesome! That's exactly the way it oughta be done! You can literally get PDF scans of the actual paper ballots, yo:
https://ballotverifier.tarrantcountytx.gov/ballot/9E2C70DF-7706-47AA-88ED-C871BB6F96F2
All you need in order to validate your own ballot is, presumably, that GUID in the URL. Sadly, it isn't in the QR code, at least not plainly/obviously. Having an easy way to confirm your ballot after-the-fact would be a big win for voter confidence.
I mean, *technically*, if you recorded your QR code prior to depositing the paper ballot (spoiler, I did :D), then you could, conceivably, download every ballot, scan every qr code, and then find *your* qr code in the pile to validate that your ballot was properly marked. But that would be a bunch more work.
With this data, conceivably, *anyone* can validate, from the *ballot level*, that the election was fairly counted.
You know what? I'mma do it for the upcoming May 2025 election.
Recently heard about DeFlock:
The #AustinDSA #DSA tried to stop these things from cropping up in #Austin #atx, and failed (though they did keep retention times down IIRC).
Whelp. #FortWorth, where I live now, has plenty of open data sources and portals to dig through in search of ALPR stuff too. Which *did* lead me to a contract the city has maintained, since 2020, with Flock for 200+ #ALPR cameras, some new cameras (which Flock apparently gets to own/operate forever despite charging 2500 USD+ per camera) and some licenses for IP cameras to turn them into ALPRs (for these, presumably, they are for cameras the City of Fort Worth already owns/operates).
However, no maps of the cameras' locations are available in these online data portals. More interestingly, the required permits for Right of Way Encroachment don't appear available online either (there are some independent Flock deployments listed for various HOAs, but nothing from the 2020-2021 time-period when theses cameras first went up by the city that I could find). However however, the contract specifically states that such a map must be provided to the city by Flock, and integrated into its GIS, if requested. I'mma go out on a limb and assume that such a request has been made at least once in the last five or so years. So, I made a Public Information Request ( #PIR / #FOIA ) for the info. Hopefully they already have it as shapefiles.
Then, I can get the data added to #OpenStreetMap #osm. Looks like cities near Fort Worth -- Burleson (S), Mansfield (SE), North Richland Hills (NE), Colleyville (NE) -- have some ALPRs mapped. But nothing in Fort Worth proper (or west of Fort Worth).
Every day I remain unemployed is a day I will do everything in my power to be a pain in the ruling capitalist class's ass.
Veteran Family Opens The Great Greek Mediterranean Grill in Fort Worth https://www.diningandcooking.com/1984883/veteran-family-opens-the-great-greek-mediterranean-grill-in-fort-worth/ #FoodAndDrink #FortWorth #FWTXStaff #mediteranean #Mediterranean #MediterraneanDishes #menu #NewRestaurants #TopStory
Top chefs compete in cancer-fighting cooking challenge for National Nutrition Month https://www.diningandcooking.com/1983060/top-chefs-compete-in-cancer-fighting-cooking-challenge-for-national-nutrition-month/ #cancer #Cooking #Dallas #Food&Drink #FortWorth #health #NorthTexas #nutrition #Texas
Le Méridien’s Bouvier Brasserie Offers French Cuisine With a Texas Twist https://www.diningandcooking.com/1972909/le-meridiens-bouvier-brasserie-offers-french-cuisine-with-a-texas-twist/ #cuisine #food #FoodAndDrink #FortWorth #francais #france #French #FrenchFood #Hotels #MalcolmMayhew #NewRestaurants #TopStory
Went down a #CharterSchool rabbit hole today after mapping one in #osm #OpenStreetMap. It really is just one big grift, isn't it? Nominally, "non-profits" "run" the school, but in reality, the vast majority of the expenses for the "non-profit" are payments to a for-profit entity that "leases" its employees to the "non-profit" school. And the vast majority of the "non-profit's" "revenue" is "state program revenue," i.e., your tax dollars.
Fucking disgusting.
@charlesgaba For #tx12, Craig Goldman (R), who represents me... only half of our constituents get healthcare through employers. The rest either don't have it at all, or get it through government-arranged options.
Put in 10 hours of mapping/surveying with #StreetComplete and #OsmAnd. Got a whole lot added. Mapped out every business on the eastern side of Benbrook Boulevard. Also mapped out the sidewalks on the eastern side. Tomorrow I'll try and do the western side. This is a major corridor of Benbrook with a bunch of businesses, so having them all on the map, and updated/fleshed out, should be helpful for folks.
An interesting juxtaposition at the local library :P
Aaaand now it's updated. Deleted the node and made the way/area the library.
https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/672388925
Also ended up updating some wikidata entries as well:
It's Texture Tuesday!
A detail of one of Cliff Garten's Avenue of Light (2009) stainless steel sculptures in downtown Fort Worth, TX.
#FortWorth #Texas #Architecture #Art #Photography #Monochrome #BlackAndWhite #Detail #Texture #FORAPhotography #TextureTuesday
This is just one of the hundreds of images available for purchase at: https://www.foraphotography.com
TLDR: Antivaxxers are misinformed, defensive & contagious.
#TX school celebrates -> 14% <- #vaxx rate, not far from a #measles outbreak. The school PASTOR identifies/brags the school name and location. Then blames someone ELSE for that.
DrRubin: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DG4nzzjMdSD/?igsh=MWF0a3Z1eDhxcW1rdw==
https://www.instagram.com/p/DG5zUkKMinn/?igsh=MWt6bndmNGNkMWw5dQ==
@skyfaller Address data is very resource-intensive to acquire, even when locales have "good" parcel GIS data. I'm debating writing an app to take Tarrant County parcel GIS data and overlay it onto OSM for getting areas and nodes to have *some* kind of address data on them. But so far, it's just an idea in my head. I actually *don't* want to "automate away" this problem; I *want* human beings being the authority on whether any particular proposed address is likely correct or not. #gis #osm #OpenStreetMap #FortWorth #dfw
Does Fort Worth need an urban rail line? Here’s what a study found 
Vehicle traffic over the next 20 years is only going to get worse, so the city should look at alternate ways to move people around.
The average construction cost per mile for a streetcar system is roughly $40 million, according to the city report.
It could also take roughly seven to 10 years to plan, design, and build an urban rail system.
https://www.star-telegram.com/news/politics-government/article301354199.html
Fort Worth proposes urban rail system emanating from downtown | Fort Worth Report
Does #FediverseHouse sound interesting? At least a little bit. The "A Better Web Is Possible" talk by Molly ( @molly0xfff ) sounds interesting at least, though it's a shame that only fifteen minutes appear to be allocated to it. Kit O'Connell ( @oconnell ) is part of a talk titled "Publishers: Audience and Autonomy" that also sounds interesting. On the other hand, you've got folks from Threads and Bluesky acting as a bright blinking "CAUTION" sign.
Do I live close enough to Austin to be there in-person? I suppose. It's a three to four hour drive from Fort Worth.
On the other hand, it all feels very, very corporate. Very bourgy, networky, startupy. And all in the worst ways. Corporations hawking their walled gardens^W^W bespoke, artisanal feeds with only the best free-range, organic advertisements sprinkled in (sparingly, of course). The general strategy seems to be "see all of the fediverse through our app," a blatant and bold Embrace, Extend, and Extinguish play if ever there were one, only this time, sold as an act of "unifying" the oPeN SOciAl WeB.
Maybe I'll be there. Maybe I won't.
