Tootfinder

yall check out what @… just dropped
"this script will search through the list of towns with 500 people or more that I found on geonames.org and give you a random location, based on how populous that town and that country are."

Aerial view flying eastward into a frozen #Minneapolis, #Minnesota. Lake Minnetonka with its many bays, plus other lakes and the western suburbs.

Podcast: Inside a Small Town's Fight Against a $1.2 Billion AI Datacenter https://www.404media.co/podcast-inside-a-small-towns-fight-against-a-1-2-billion-ai-datacenter/

From 8 years ago.
The limits of the best of the reformist approaches, exhausted capitalism and ecosystem crisis, societal collapse and a localist, ecosocialist resurgence. England's northern postindustrial towns as the backdrop.
After peak capitalism: the livelihood challenge – revised version | Uncommontater

After peak capitalism: the livelihood challenge – revised version
Here is the revised version of my working paper, “After peak capitalism: the livelihood challenge”.  I’m grateful to those who have offered encouragement and constructively critic…

Great example of automatic layout with @…!
https://towns.gay/@nleanba/115822438706346520

RE: https://social.heise.de/@heiseonlineenglish/115532900620184084
Why Jänschwalde, Brandenburg? Well, the satellite image reveals the answer. This is the site of a lignite power plant and an open-cast mine (the latter of which closed two years …

🇺🇦 #NowPlaying on KEXP's #Roadhouse
Bob Weir:
🎵 Ghost Towns
#BobWeir
https://open.spotify.com/track/0Uqe66IX0d4MVwuXtsKMSK

The Architecture and Planning of Fascist New Towns in Sardinia
https://sah.org/2013/03/14/the-architecture-and-planning-of-fascist-new-towns-in-sardinia/

The Architecture and Planning of Fascist New Towns in Sardinia - Society of Architectural Historians
Ruth Lo documented three towns built between 1928 and 1938 on the island of Sardinia.

Iran’s supreme leader has vowed that authorities will not back down in the face of a rapidly growing protest movement,
setting the stage for an intensified violent crackdown on the second day of a nationwide internet shutdown.
Protests have raged in cities and towns across the country in recent days,
posing a threat to the authority of the regime, which has been significantly weakened since the last large protest movement in the country in 2022.
Another round of demon…

Australia heat wave stokes risk of catastrophic bushfires #Australia

'Hectic' bushfires threaten rural towns in Australian heat wave
Bushfires destroyed houses and razed vast belts of forest in southeast Australia on Friday, firefighters said, as hot winds fanned "hectic" conditions in the tinder-dry countryside.

Elon Musk actually said this in an interview:
"These lovely small towns in England, Scotland and Ireland, they've been living their lives quietly. They're like hobbits"
"And so one day, 1,000 people show up in your village of 500 and start raping the kids"
"This has now happened, God knows how many times in Britain"
All governments in europe should leave X

Farrukh (@implausibleblog.bsky.social)
Elon Musk, "These lovely small towns in England, Scotland and Ireland, they've been living their lives quietly. They're like hobbits" "And so one day, 1,000 people show up in your village of 500 and start raping the kids" "This has now happened, God knows how many times in Britain"

How the huge data center buildout is heating up local politics in US towns across red and blue states on issues like water, electricity, and noise (Evan Halper/Washington Post)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2026/01/06/da…

The data center rebellion is here, and it’s reshaping the political landscape
As the buildout of AI infrastructure alarms communities, it is fast emerging as a potent electoral issue across the political divide.

'Whata Bod': An AI-generated NWS map invented fake towns in Idaho (Ruby Mellen/Washington Post)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2026/01/06/nws-ai-map-fake-names/
http://www.memeorandum.com/260107/p47#a260107p47

#30DayMapChallenge 🗺️ Day 1️⃣: Points
Third year participating! 🎉
I guess I’m starting the tradition of using the same map style for Day 1 that I did for 2023¹ and 2024². So here’s a map of all the cities and towns in the #Philippines that have Spanish names of saints because Novem…

Guthrie really does go all out for Christmas. Our little town feels like a very special place this time of year. #Guthrie #Oklahoma #Christmas

Well, today we have done two batches of pre Christmas shopping, in two different towns. Successful, if you mean hammering the bank account. But fun up until a parent emailed my wife (teacher) trying to get her to increase the predicted grade for their child. Mood darkened after that. But we are ok again now, I think.

If voting didn't matter they wouldn't try so hard to stop us from doing it. Go vote.
And after you've done your civic duty, don't forget to also sabotage the gears of capitalism/fascism.
https://mastodon.social/@jeffjarvis/115491654406302339

Just a couple towns over from me, yay progress!
https://whyy.org/articles/election-2025-pennsylvania-downingtown-mayoral-race/

Downingtown elects Pennsylvania’s first openly transgender mayor
Democrat Erica Deuso defeated Republican Richard Bryant in the borough of Downingtown’s mayoral election.

Heartbreaking. They’re barely recovering from Beryl. #HurricaneMelissa
https://abcnews.go.com/US/disastrous-images-emerge-jamaica…

Disastrous images emerge from Jamaica following direct hit by Hurricane Melissa
"Communities and towns no longer look the same," said the prime minister.

Road tripping from Bendigo back to Albury, I decided to let the GPS find the way rather than take the major roads. Great trip through country roads and small towns.

The fracturing of the Dutch far-right, after Wilder's reminded everyone that bigots are bad at compromise, is definitely a relief. Dutch folks I've talked to definitely see D66 as progressive, <strike>so there's no question this is a hard turn to the left (even if it's not a total flip to the far-left)</strike> a lot of folks don't agree. I'm going to let the comments speak rather than editorialize myself..
While this is a useful example of how a democracy can be far more resilient to fascism than the US, that is, perhaps, not the most interesting thing about Dutch politics. The most interesting thing is something Dutch folks take for granted and never think of as such: there are two "governments."
The election was for the Tweede Kamer. This is a house of representatives. The Dutch use proportional representation, so people can (more or less) vote for the parties they actually want. Parties <strike>rarely</strike> never actually get a ruling majority, so they have to form coalition governments. This forces compromise, which is something Wilders was extremely bad at. He was actually responsible for collapsing the coalition his party put together, which triggered this election... and a massive loss of seats for his party.
Dutch folks do still vote strategically, since a larger party has an easier time building the governing coalition and the PM tends to come from the largest party. This will likely be D66, which is really good for the EU. D66 has a pretty radical plan to solve the housing crisis, and it will be really interesting to see if they can pull it off. But that's not the government I want to talk about right now.
In the Netherlands, failure to control water can destroy entire towns. A good chunk of the country is below sea level. Both floods and land reclamation have been critical parts of Dutch history. So in the 1200's or so, the Dutch realized that some things are too important to mix with normal politics.
You see, if there's an incompetent government that isn't able to actually *do* anything (see Dick Schoof and the PVV/VVD/NSC/BBB coalition) you don't want your dikes to collapse and poulders to flood. So the Dutch created a parallel "government" that exists only to manage water: waterschap or heemraadschap (roughly "Water Board" in English). These are regional bureaucracies that exist only to manage water. They exist completely outside the thing we usually talk about as a "government" but they have some of the same properties as a government. They can, for example, levy taxes. The central government contributes funds to them, but lacks authority over them. Water boards are democratically elected and can operate more-or-less independent of the central government.
Controlling water is a common problem, so water boards were created to fulfill the role of commons management. Meanwhile, so many other things in politics run into the very same "Tragedy of the Commons" problems. The right wing solution to commons management is to let corporations ruin everything. The left-state solution is to move everything into the government so it can be undermined and destroyed by the right. The Dutch solution to this specific problem has been to move commons management out of the domain of the central government into something else.
And when I say "government" here, I'm speaking more to the liberal definition of the term than to an anarchist definition. A democratically controlled authority that facilitates resource management lacks the capacity for coercive violence that anarchists define as "government." (Though I assume they might leverage police or something if folks refuse to pay their taxes, but I can't imagine anyone choosing not to.)
As the US federal government destroys the social fabric of the US, as Trump guts programs critical to people's survival, it might be worth thinking about this model. These authorities weren't created by any central authority, they evolved from the people. Nothing stops Americans from building similar institutions that are both democratic and outside of the authority of a government that could choose to defund and abolish them... nothing but the realization that yes, you actually can.
#USPol #NLPol

Good Morning #Canada
Finally, arriving at our our 10th province, Manitoba, and putting this series to rest means no more nightmares. Friendly Manitoba, it says so right on their license plates, also has hundreds of abandoned towns, but today we'll focus on Scarf. Named for William Scarf, not for winter clothing or the more recent term for eating quickly, the settlement began in the 1880s, started to flourish after train service arrived in 1907, and died slowly after train service stopped, with the last residents leaving in the 1980s. But in 2013, the regional mayor decided to sell parcels of land in the ghost town for $10. I wasn't able to find out if this plan to bring Scarf back from the dead was successful, but perhaps the area is cursed. In 2020, a tornado touched down near Scarf, killing two teenagers when their vehicle was swept off the road.
#CanadaIsAwesome #CanadianGhostTowns
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/manitoba-rm-looks-to-sell-ghost-town-lots-for-10-1.2086700

On January 1, 1994,
Indigenous peoples from #Chiapas, Mexico, rose up.
They took control of city halls in towns across the state.
They took the state capital #San #Cristobal

The 1994 Zapatista Uprising: Resisting NAFTA and corporate capitalism
The Zapatistas rose up on January 1, 1994, just over three decades ago. They remain an inspiration for social movements, communities, and individuals seeking change around the world. This is episode 83 of Stories of Resistance.

Towns may have to be abandoned due to floods with millions more homes in Great Britain at risk https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/oct/14/millions-more-homes-in-great-britain-at-risk-of-flooding-investigation…

Santa Clara county in California is home to San Jose, and many other SFbay area towns and communities.
They are establishing NO-ICE zones, following Chicago's lead.
https://sanjosespotlight.com/santa-clara-county-will-create-ice-free-zones/

Santa Clara County will create ICE-free zones - San José Spotlight
Santa Clara County leaders will establish ICE-free zones throughout Silicon Valley — raising physical barriers and locking gates to prevent federal immigration agents from using county properties for surveillance and arrests.

Australia's renewable energy boom is coming—and it could solve a surprising problem.
Over the next decade, we'll build more clean energy infrastructure than the past 30 years combined. But where will thousands of construction workers live in regional towns already facing housing shortages?
A new RE-Alliance report shows worker accommodation can become lasting community assets: refurbished aged-care homes, workforce villages transformed into suburbs.

SwitchedOn podcast: Renewable construction boom can help fix regional housing crisis
RE-Alliance’s national director, Andrew Bray, discusses how the energy transition can deliver important consumer benefits, particularly in housing.

Easy Delivery Co (PC)
Get in your Kei truck and chill out, literally, making deliveries to mountain towns in the middle of winter. Can you figure out what's going on around here?
This game performed extremely well on my Garuda Linux PC, without having to use any compatibility tools. In fact the only "complaint" I might have is the achievements never popped. I don't care about those, so it's not a big deal, but something to note perhaps.
I li…

Tom Forth writes about New Towns in the Netherlands.
#NewTowns #Cities

The #Atlantic hat eine Folge von Fotos zusammengestellt, die die Proteste der letzten Tage gegen Darth #Trump und seine Administration zeigen. Das macht Mut, auch wenn im Verhältnis zu den Rechtsradikalen Repulbikanern und MAGA Anhängern wohl einer eine kleine Schar war. Aber jede Graswurzelbewegung hat einma…

Good Morning #Canada
The list of abandoned towns in PEI is apparently so short that no one has produced any really scary histories. It makes sense being a small island that there isn't enough distance to truly "abandon" a settlement. Maybe a house here or there, perhaps a short street. But that means you are more likely to be living next door to a haunted location. So today, we have a list of ghostly tales from around the island that may, or may not, be myth. Remember, don't go into the old shed with all the sharp farm tools....
#CanadaIsAwesome #CanadianGhostTowns
https://pointseastcoastaldrive.com/scary-stories-of-points-east-coastal-drive/

🇺🇦 Auf radioeins läuft...
White Town:
🎵 Your Woman
#NowPlaying #WhiteTown
#radioeins gespielten Titel als #Spotify Playliste: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3hdH98B6uyXilhcWxCA6nv

#TheAtlantic has compiled a series of photos showing #protests against Darth Donald #Trump and his administration that have taken place over the last few days. While the crowd was small compared to those supporting…

Photos: More ‘No Kings’ Protests Across the U.S.
Organizers expect millions of Americans to attend rallies in cities and towns across America, protesting the policies and actions of President Trump and his administration.

🇺🇦 #NowPlaying on #KEXP's #MorningShow
White Town:
🎵 Your Woman
#WhiteTown
https://jamesdalgliesh.bandcamp.com/track/tribute-to-white-towns-your-woman-2
https://open.spotify.com/track/3UBItNVbFQiVC5hBQlBvnr

"Massachusetts considers expanding effort to ban gas in new buildings"
#US #USA #America #Massachusetts…

Massachusetts considers expanding effort to ban gas in new buildings
Lawmakers are weighing a bill that would allow 10 more cities and towns to prohibit the use of fossil fuels in new construction through an existing pilot…

Good Morning #Canada
Like many provinces, Nova Scotia has hundreds of abandoned towns because of depleted minerals, harsh living conditions, or forced relocation. But the ghost town of Broughton in Cape Breton must surely be haunted because of a suicide by one of its most important residents. Founded by the promise of coal mining, no amount of money was spared on the design of its buildings and streets. But poor management and family tragedy doomed the town, and today, only ruins remain. Oooooooo.....
Here's a delightful video on Broughton with narration that is suitable for #Halloween. Don't watch it alone...
#CanadaIsAwesome #CanadianGhostTowns

Good Morning #Canada
Like a Count Floyd movie night on #SCTV, the ghosts in this series are thinning out as we get to our 2nd to last province. Apparently, New Brunswick is not particularly scary unless you make an enemy of the J.D. Irving clan. (They won't find your body.) Wikipedia has no list of abandoned towns, which is definite proof they don't exist. A century old cotton mill in Fredericton, certainly ripe for ghoulish activities, is currently haunted by government employees. Ooooo....
So we'll have to rely on two of New Brunswick's most famous ghostly locations to spooky your interest, starting with the headless nun.
#CanadaIsAwesome #Halloween #CanadianGhostTowns
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/headless-nun-miramichi-1.7011713

Good Morning #Canada
As #Halloween creeps up on us, we continue to highlight haunted abandoned towns. Today, we are in Rowley Alberta, a failed railway town near the gates of Hell. Maybe near Drumheller.... I wasn't paying attention. Settled around 1910, it once had about 500 residents but declined after the closure of its train station in 1965, and the construction of new highways bypassing the town. Today, it's a mix of private homes and preserved historical buildings, and the remaining 9 evil residents have worked to maintain its historic charm. They have added new features and even host monthly pizza nights to lure in unsuspecting tourists. Don't go in the old shed with all the sharp farm tools....
#CanadaIsAwesome #CanadianGhostTowns
https://youtu.be/6huskbX8Hh8?si=oowVXFI_s2RwVipM

Good Morning #Canada
English speaking Canadians feel that Quebec ghosts are not very scary because they have funny accents. But there is a ghost town near Montreal that could send shivers down your spine, especially in early February. Out of the hundreds of abandoned towns in LA Belle Province, the town of Goose Village has the most chilling history, and ultimately, it was wiped off the face of the earth. This municipality of Montreal was officially called Victoria Town, but Goose Village was the common name. It was the infamous site of 22 quarantine sheds where thousands of immigrants, mostly Irish, died in 1847 and 1848. It continued as an impoverished neighbourhood until the entire community was bulldozed to make way for Expo 67 parking. There is ZERO chance that the area is not haunted given its history.
#CanadaIsAwesome ##CanadianGhostTowns
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goose_Village