#Los Angeles Railway

[emperornorton47]

Trolley stop

[caelestina]

Metrolink Line 91 to South Perris @ Norwalk / Santa Fe Springs station.

[zponds]

A week ago, I released a post showing my OCs from the Baltimore and Ohio. Now it’s finally time to reveal my OCs from the only surviving ancient railroad in America; the…

And these engines are all in Union Pacific’s heritage fleet and can be found on Union Pacific��s massive network (as shown below). ⬇️

And these engines are…

Forty-Niner, the streamlined 4-6-2 class P-13 #2906

Duke, the streamlined 4-8-2 class MT-1 #7002

Union, the 4-8-4 class FEF-3 #844

Peabody, the 4-12-2 9000 class #9032

Challenger, the 4-6-6-4 challenger #3985

Wasatch, the 4-8-8-4 Big Boy #4014

Mabel, the 2-10-2 class TTT-6 #5511

Pip (EMD E9 #949) and Emma (EMD E9 #951)

Emily, the EMD E8 #928

Sir Handel, the EMC E2a and first COSF engine

Peter Sam, the EMD E6 and second COSF engine

Jennings, the EMC E2a and first SOLA engine

Daisy, the EMD E6 and second SOLA engine

Marius, the 1st M-10005 and first COD engine

Dot, the 2nd M-10005 and second COD engine

Centennial, the EMD DDA40x “Centennial” #6936

Bunker C. Charles, the (3rd gen) GTEL #28

P.S.: as a little side note, “COSF” stands for City of San Francisco, “COLA” stands for City of Los Angeles and “COD��� stands for City of Denver.

[ericpoptone]

Nobody Drives in LA -- The Ostrich Farm Railway

THE OSTRICH FARM RAILWAY Detail of Map of the City of Los Angeles, 1887, depicting the route of the Ostrich Farm Railway [Note: This essay was written for and originally appeared in the Silver Lake Neighborhood Council newsletter] Today Silver Lake is, by most accounts, moderately well served by mass transit. The website, Walk Score, assigns Silver Lake a transit score of 54 out of a possible…

[destination4x4]

Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad

Explorers of the Mojave Desert in southern California are bound to have heard the stories of the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad. The Tonopah and Tidewater flanks the western edge of the Mohave National Preserve as travels south to north from Ludlow, California to Beatty, Nevada and up to Tonopah, Nevada utilizing the Bullfrog Goldfield Railroad. Many of the off ramps, sites and historic monuments…

[watermeloname]

[reasonsforhope]

"An environmental toxicologist in California is cleaning up areas contaminated with heavy metals or other pollutants using fungi and native plants in a win-win for nature.

Where once toxic soils in industrial lots sat bare or weed-ridden, there are now flowering meadows of plants and mushrooms, frequented by birds and pollinators: and it’s thanks to Danielle Stevenson.

Founder of DIY Fungi, the 37-year-old ecologist from UC Riverside recently spoke with Yale Press about her ongoing work restoring ‘brownfields,’ a term that describes a contaminated environment, abandoned by industrial, extraction, or transportation operations.

A brownfield could be an old railway yard or the grounds of an abandoned oil refinery, but the uniting factor is the presence of a toxic containment, whether that’s a petrochemical, heavy metal, or something else.

Noting that she had read studies about mushrooms growing around the Chernobyl nuclear plant, she came to understand further, through her work, that fungi are an extraordinarily resilient species of life that consume carbon, and even though petroleum products are toxic to plants, to mushrooms they are essentially a kind of carbon.

In fact, mushrooms break down several categories of toxic waste with the same enzymes they use to consume a dead tree. They can also eat plastic and other things made out of oil, like agrochemicals.

At the Los Angeles railyard, as part of a pilot project, Stevenson and colleagues planted a variety of native grass and flower species alongside dead wood that would incubate specific fungi species called arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, which assists plants in extracting heavy metals like lead and arsenic from the soil.

Alongside traditional decomposer fungi, the mixture of life forms demonstrated tremendous results in this brownfield.

“In three months we saw a more than 50 percent reduction in all pollutants. By 12 months, they were pretty much not detectable,” Stevenson told Yale 360.

Decontaminating soil like this typically involves bringing in a bulldozer and digging it all up for transportation to a landfill. This method is not only hugely expensive, but also dangerous, as contaminated material can scatter on the winds and fall out of the backs of trucks carting it away.

By contrast, the plants that draw out the toxic metals can be harvested and incinerated down to a small pile of ash before cheap transportation to a hazardous waste facility.

The technique, which Stevenson says has some scaling issues and issues with approval from regulators, is known officially as bioremediation, and she’s even used it to safely break down bags of lubricant-soaked rags from bicycle repair shops.

“People who live in a place impacted by pollution need to have a say in how their neighborhood is being cleaned up. We need to empower them with the tools to do this,” she said."

-via Good News Network, July 16, 2024

[portal-to-the-past]

Pacific Electric Streetcar, Main St near 5th St. - c. 1949 // Photography by Bob Loewing

Source

[dollielliot]

Elliot Rodger's search history !!! ૮ . . ྀིა⁩

“This is an extremely small segment of internet history contained on the suspect’s laptop. A large volume of data was present in the suspect’s web browsers (Firefox and Microsoft Internet Explorer)” this is all according to the investigative summary

5/14/14

Xingjian railway station terrorist knife attack explosion bombing

Guangzhou train station knife attack

11/31/12

Philosophy of a knife

10/9/12

Did Adolf Hitler have a girlfriend

Adolf Hitler’s childhood

I’ve never had a female friend

Nazi anime

10/6/12

Are there knives so sharp that if you touch it you bleed

Stabbing incident

SRK survival rescue knife

10/5/12

Heinrich Himmler

Roommate takes very long showers

Young people are all mean

Joseph Goebbels has a jewis name

10/4/12

Modern torture devices

Spanish inquisition torture devices

If Hitler was born today

Blood elves are Nazis

Heinrich Himmler urban dictionary 

Reincarnation of Hitler

10/2/12

If you were Adolf Hitler

10/1/12

Adolf Hitler narcicist

Adolf Hitler and the law of attraction

9/30/12

Shooting range los Angeles

Hitler’s speech

9/28/12

George sodini

9/27/12

Racism against Asian 

Holocaust of black people

Nazi curbstomp

Elliot also had “extensive search history for luxury vehicles, video games, and celebrities.” He also apparently watched porn on 23 May 2014, the day of the massacre. (Reminds me of the dude who shot trump ngl cs apparently his last search was porn 💀)

[emperornorton47]

Yellow car

[aheathen-conceivably]

In the first weeks of 1930, a slow passenger train rode through the desert hills of New Mexico. It had begun its journey in the city of New Orleans before heading north alongside the snaking brown waters of the Mississippi River.

From there it had stopped in St. Louis, Missouri before it turned back south, following old pioneer trails as it cut through the American Southwest on the way to its final destination in Los Angeles, California.

In one of the cars, the light, determined click of a woman's heels fell in line with the rhythm of the rails below her feet. The sound had defined her life for weeks, yet she found it just as droning now as the day she had first boarded the train. She made her way from her own cabin, where her niece and brother were spending the final hour of their journey, to the room where her soon to be sister-in-law was readying herself. 

As she approached the door a rail attendant appeared in the car to alert the passengers, “Next stop Strangerville, New Mexico! All passengers ready your luggage! I repeat all passengers ready your luggage!”

Josephine increased her pace and rapped loudly on the door, wanting to ensure that her arrival could be heard above the railway attendant's call in the next car. A small voice told her to enter, barely audible alongside the thundering sound from below.

Josephine entered Zelda and Antoine's suite, which was larger than the one she had shared with Violette during the journey. Half smoked cigarettes and thrice-read books clattered against opulently carved woodwork bolted to the walls. Amidst it all stood Zelda in a white silk wedding dress, preoccupied with her reflection as she pinned a final curl in a perfect curve.

For a moment Josephine forgot the rail’s droning sound or the conductor’s hurried call, “Zelda, you….you look marvelous.”

Zelda turned briefly to acknowledge Jo’s presence, self consciously smoothing down the silk of her dress before she turned back to the mirror to fiddle with the clasp of her pearls, “Do I, truly? I’m afraid it’s quite old fashioned now, isn’t it? I suppose I should have gotten something new rather than just dyeing this old dress…”

Josephine walked over to her, taking the pearls from her shaking hands. As the car rattled on, she couldn’t tell if it was from the constant movement or her friend’s nerves. She spoke to her as she fastened the necklace, “It’s perfect, ma sœur, absolutely perfect. Are you ready? It’s time to put the luggage near the door; we’re the next stop.”

When Zelda didn’t answer Josephine turned her around, softening her face and her voice, “Zelda, you can talk to me, if you need to. Whatever it is. If you aren’t ready I’ll speak with Antoine. Whatever you need.”

Zelda looked at her curiously before an immense happiness overtook her face. She grabbed Josephine’s hands and smiled, “Jo, I’m only nervous because I’ve never been more ready for anything in my life. I’ve waited so long; we’ve waiting so long, it simply feels surreal. Like it’s impossible to feel so much happiness all at once without something going wrong.”

Josephine’s heart soared for her, and then sank as she realized that Zelda had learned to expect misfortune so much that she couldn’t even truly give herself over to excitement in that moment. “Zelda, everything will be wonderful, I promise you. You’ve been through enough, okay? Both of you. Today will be perfect.”

(A very special thank you to @simtleman for creating this gorgeous train build and then sharing it with me as well as all the CC creators you used to make it so stunning ♥️)

[mariacallous]

With the Olympic torch extinguished in Paris, all eyes are turning to Los Angeles for the 2028 Olympics.

The host city has promised that the next Summer Games will be “car-free.”

For people who know Los Angeles, this seems overly optimistic. The car remains king in LA, despite growing public transit options.

When LA hosted the Games in 1932, it had an extensive public transportation system, with buses and an extensive network of electric streetcars. Today, the trolleys are long gone; riders say city buses don’t come on schedule, and bus stops are dirty. What happened?

This question fascinates me because I am a business professor who studies why society abandons and then sometimes returns to certain technologies, such as vinyl records, landline phones, and metal coins. The demise of electric streetcars in Los Angeles and attempts to bring them back today vividly demonstrate the costs and challenges of such revivals.

Riding the Red and Yellow Cars

Transportation is a critical priority in any city, but especially so in Los Angeles, which has been a sprawling metropolis from the start.

In the early 1900s, railroad magnate Henry Huntington, who owned vast tracts of land around LA, started subdividing his holdings into small plots and building homes. In order to attract buyers, he also built a trolley system that whisked residents from outlying areas to jobs and shopping downtown.

By the 1930s, Los Angeles had a vibrant public transportation network, with over 1,000 miles of electric streetcar routes, operated by two companies: Pacific Electric Railway, with its “Red Cars,” and Los Angeles Railway, with its “Yellow Cars.”

The system wasn’t perfect by any means. Many people felt that streetcars were inconvenient and also unhealthy when they were jammed with riders. Moreover, streetcars were slow because they had to share the road with automobiles. As auto usage climbed and roads became congested, travel times increased.

Nonetheless, many Angelenos rode the streetcars—especially during World War II, when gasoline was rationed and automobile plants shifted to producing military vehicles.

Demise of Public Transit

The end of the war marked the end of the line for streetcars. The war effort had transformed oil, tire, and car companies into behemoths, and these industries needed new buyers for goods from the massive factories they had built for military production. Civilians and returning soldiers were tired of rationing and war privations, and they wanted to spend money on goods such as cars.

After years of heavy usage during the war, Los Angeles’ streetcar system needed an expensive capital upgrade. But in the mid-1940s, most of the system was sold to a company called National City Lines, which was partly owned by the carmaker General Motors, the oil companies Standard Oil of California and Phillips Petroleum, and the Firestone tire company.

These powerful forces had no incentive to maintain or improve the old electric streetcar system. National City ripped up tracks and replaced the streetcars with buses that were built by General Motors, used Firestone tires, and ran on gasoline.

There is a long-running academic debate over whether self-serving corporate interests purposely killed LA’s streetcar system. Some researchers argue that the system would have died on its own, like many other streetcar networks around the world.

The controversy even spilled over into pop culture in the 1988 movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit, which came down firmly on the conspiracy side.

What’s undisputed is that, starting in the mid-1940s, powerful social forces transformed Los Angeles so that commuters had only two choices: drive or take a public bus. As a result, LA became so choked with traffic that it often took hours to cross the city.

In 1990, the Los Angeles Times reported that people were putting refrigerators, desks, and televisions in their cars to cope with getting stuck in horrendous traffic. A swath of movies, from Falling Down to Clueless to La La Land, have featured the next-level challenge of driving in LA.

Traffic was also a concern when LA hosted the 1984 Summer Games, but the Games went off smoothly. Organizers convinced over 1 million people to ride buses, and they got many trucks to drive during off-peak hours. The 2028 games, however, will have roughly 50 percent more athletes competing, which means thousands more coaches, family, friends, and spectators. So simply dusting off plans from 40 years ago won’t work.

Olympic Transportation Plans

Today, Los Angeles is slowly rebuilding a more robust public transportation system. In addition to buses, it now has four light-rail lines—the new name for electric streetcars—and two subways. Many follow the same routes that electric trolleys once traveled. Rebuilding this network is costing the public billions, since the old system was completely dismantled.

Three key improvements are planned for the Olympics. First, LA’s airport terminals will be connected to the rail system. Second, the Los Angeles organizing committee is planning heavily on using buses to move people. It will do this by reassigning some lanes away from cars and making them available for 3,000 more buses, which will be borrowed from other locales.

Finally, there are plans to permanently increase bicycle lanes around the city. However, one major initiative, a bike path along the Los Angeles River, is still under an environmental review that may not be completed by 2028.

Car-Free for 17 Days

I expect that organizers will pull off a car-free Olympics, simply by making driving and parking conditions so awful during the Games that people are forced to take public transportation to sports venues around the city. After the Games end, however, most of LA is likely to quickly revert to its car-centric ways.

As Casey Wasserman, chair of the LA 2028 organizing committee, recently put it: “The unique thing about Olympic Games is for 17 days you can fix a lot of problems when you can set the rules—for traffic, for fans, for commerce—than you do on a normal day in Los Angeles.”

[agendabymooner]

odds || pg10 fic

“I’m never giving up against all odds.”

pierre gasly x ofc (88rising!singer!ofc)

EXTENSION TO NEWSFLASH (SEQUEL OF) AND LOWKEY (PREQUEL OF)

Summary: Her songs told a story about how her courtship with Pierre Gasly went and ended in a happy note. OR their timing wasn't always right— that was what she thought as she continued to think that their situationship’s downfall would happen sooner or later. 

Content warning: Based on Niki’s EP, wanna take this downtown. No specific date is used for the release of her music. Use of explicit language, situationship scenarios, miscommunication, OFC being set up, Pierre being a dry texter, only uses a partner’s name (nothing too personal- just a passing comment), a bit angst but has a happy ending (?), indented texts are lyrics

Note: I’m not sure if my taglist would like to read this but I’m adding them into the list just in case :)) enjoy xx

a - n masterlist

o - z masterlist

if you’d like to get on one of my taglists, check this post out

This has got to be a joke. The universe fuckin’ hates my guts.  Remindin’ me ‘U’ and ‘I’ don’t spell ‘us.’

To Pesky Pierre (Respectful): Heeeey!!! My brain is soooo fried today and Brian decided to fuck up my computer. Now I’m just here doing nothing but hope that my dear tech works in the next hour. Sent at 10:21 PM

To Pesky Pierre (Respectful): How r u??? I hope you’re not training too hard and you’re hydrating :) Sent at 10:25 PM

From Pesky Pierre (Respectful): Good morning, Ens. Have 2 train sadly ttyl ;) Sent at 8:31 AM

Well wasn’t that fucking sad, Ensley huffed out quietly to herself as she wished to throw her phone against the wall. They’ve been in what… two dates?

Well, two in-person dates and three unofficial FaceTime dates with shitty takeouts in front of them. Not that she counted; she could have sworn she did not like him that much. 

She wasn’t sure who she was lying to more, though. But just as she continued to deny that she hadn’t looked at her phone every thirty seconds, she was feeling more pathetic. 

What was it about men and why did she continue to give them all a chance? All they do was fuck it up and Ensley was going insane at the thought that the cycle of being with the shittiest men ever wasn’t broken. 

“All I know is suddenly without you, the bed feels too big… That’s good. Good job Henny.”

“Trying to find where your head is but I’m losing myself in the process— no wait, tryna,” she muttered to herself before scratching out the first word of her chorus. 

She thought that songwriting was a way to distract herself from the Pierre fiasco. Everyone said so, as well. They thought that if she kept her head straight she’d be able to think of inspiration and clearly they were right. 

Her friends, Brian and Joji, were laughing at the fact that the said inspiration was the same person they tried to distract her from. 

Pierre Gasly. The man who continued to travel as the Formula One season went on while Ensley remained in Los Angeles. Pierre was the man that the Indonesian woman had been thinking about day after day, his charming personality filling that empty space in her head after he asked if she’d be more than willing to take their relationship to the next level. 

He did warn her about his busy schedule, which Ensley was grateful for. What he hadn’t told her, though, was that he’d eventually drive her insane because of the lack of texts he’d send as time went on— all thanks to his schedule. 

The first month of their situationship was great. He managed to call her and asked if she had supper or whatever meal it was she had to eat in her time zone. He’d often eat his food just as she’d munch on whatever she had that day— sharing conversations while they took a break from whatever the fuck they were doing. 

Hell, Ensley also managed to take the international railways to Rome to meet with him. They were getting along so well that she cuddled with him in his bed twice. 

But in the second month? Fuck, she wasn’t sure anymore. Perhaps it was because it’s the last month of the racing season and everybody’s scrambling to make their way up to the World Driver’s Championship rankings— that included the Frenchman. 

She could understand how busy it is for Pierre and she did what she could to not hover around him. But she was missing him terribly— him and his sex jokes and his never ending storytelling. What could she do? Nothing. She didn’t have any form of label but a situationship with him. 

“You come see me only when I ask first. When you kiss me— do you wish it were her?” 

“—That’s bullshit,” Brian exclaimed as he stood by the oven of Ensley’s open kitchen. Ensley glared at him, and her friend (Brian’s girlfriend) Vanntey smacked him lightly as a warning. Brian gave his girlfriend a questioning look and stated, “Boy Baguette didn’t even kiss her yet! Henny, don’t put that in if this song is about Pierre. That’s just full on delusional.”

“Who says it’s about him?” Vanntey asked with a scoff before telling Ensley, “Henny— your song, not Brian’s. Do whatever the hell you want.”

“At least someone’s sensible enough,” Ensley murmured before turning back to her notepad. Her Twitter notification, one that she intentionally left opened, made a noise as she glanced down at the “related tweet” notification. The post and the responses that came with it were… baffling to say the least.

We share different postal codes Maybe that’s why I never got the memo; She’s the real deal, and I was just a pretty demo.

ensleygaslysoz: y’all— pierre’s ex was at the paddock today 😭😭

peargaslit: nooooo~ YOU CANNOT SAY THAT!!! IM ROOTING FOR HIM AND HENNY!!! 

misskikagasly: ok but they were cute as hell b4 tho 🫠 no h8 to ensley but kika was the shit and i think they should get back together

Ensley’s shoulders slumped at the comments. God’s timing was always wrong, and she’s never hated anything more than the fact that she was actually besotted and in love with Pierre Gasly.

And chances are that he was just waffling about taking their relationship to another level. Men lied to Ensley endlessly, and if she didn’t know any better— she would’ve fallen harder than she did with him. 

And yet my world remains the whole of you to this day. Doesn’t matter what my location says. I’m always tryna get to you.

From Pesky Pierre (Respectful): Are you going to be in London sometime soon? I will be back in Milan and I’d like to stay in with you :) Text me when you get this Sent at 12:31 AM

To Pesky Pierre (Respectful): Can’t. Sorry— Still in the process of producing an EP :) looking forward to chatting soon Sent at 12:32 AM

From Pesky Pierre (Respectful): Likewise. Sent at 2:01 AM

When I'm there, you're not You're here, I'm caught up with my job And your clingy ex comes back a lot Then she leaves and you shoot your shot  But there's someone new I've got

The 88rising studio was where she stayed most of the time now. With the record label releasing an album with their artists, Ensley’s time was taken up by her work as she continued to produce four songs with them. 

That and her own EP took up her entire schedule, thus furthering her communication line with the Alpine driver. 

So much for a good situationship. 

“You wrote this song, Hen,” Isaac — one of the songwriters — told her with a shrug, “he lives in Milan, right? Instead of, I mean, Manhattan’s nice, why don’t you put, Milan is nice?” 

“They have good sunsets in NY,” she murmured quietly. “Look— let’s not talk about him. He’s got his business— this is mine.”

“Your EP so far shows that you’re writing about him,” Isaac replied. “By the way, you’ve got one more to write if you want to have four tracks.” 

“Eventually,” Ensley responded with a wave, her shoulders sagging before her sight moved from the screen of her laptop to the door that swung open. 

Brian walked in with a shit-eating grin, he was followed by Jackson Wang who carried, Ensley could’ve sworn, the biggest bouquet that could’ve ever existed. And just as Jackson walked towards her with a huge smile, her eyes scanned the set and the white card that contrasted with it. 

Dahlias and daisies. She never even mentioned it to anyone before.

Then she remembered a conversation she had about flower markets. She loved Los Angeles, but she couldn’t help but swoon over those Pinterest boards full of flower markets in Italy. 

She tried to romanticize her life in the UK before, but when she flew out to Milan once to see the beauty of it? Nothing could compare to Italy. She remembered telling Pierre that— how she’d kill to have the prettiest flowers in her flat that came straight from the market. 

“What kind of flowers do you like, then?” Pierre asked, amused at the sight of her swooning as she continued to squeal at the photo. 

“If I were to get my photos taken like this? Ugh,” Ensley grinned from ear to ear, “daisies? There’s just something about daisies that makes me think of I dunno… summer? I love the sun— I’m sure you can understand that. You live in Milan.”

“I do.”

“And what else? Huh… Dahlia!” Ensley exclaimed. “It’s just a nice name, no?” 

“I agree,” Pierre said thoughtfully before repeating the word, “dahlia, dahlia, dahlia… It’s a pretty name, indeed.” 

À la plus jolie fille, was intricately written on the envelope as her stomach fluttered at the name. He always called her that for whatever reason, and she eventually learned why. 

“Pretty girl,” Ensley translated the writing as she thanked Jackson, holding the bouquet before placing it down on the table. Her hand eventually grabbed onto the card and pulled out the letter. She didn’t care about her friends as they watched her expectantly. 

Her eyes remained on the letter. 

“My Collette,

This is not bought to make up for my absence, but to remind you that you are as cherished as the bright flowers in this bouquet. I hope you’re taking care of yourself, ma jolie fille.

While I cannot speak to you, I’ll continue to think about you.

XO,

Your Linguini.”

“Your— your Linguini?!” Jackson gasped from behind her, making her turn around as she watched Brian wheeze in laughter. 

The glare that she gave the two left Jackson to shut his mouth and Brian to continue his teasing. Regardless of what the singer just watched, Jackson shook himself out of his thoughts and asked, “Are you gonna text him?” 

But she already did. Long before Jackson could even comment. 

Her eyes scanned on the text message she sent Pierre, knowing full well that he wouldn’t text back a minute or so later.

To Pesky Pierre (Respectful): They’re the prettiest. Thank you, Remy ❤️ Sent at 3:21 PM.

'Cause I know you've got somebody My friends say I could have anybody now that I'm somebody But I don't care if I'm nobody to you, oh

She sighed, not knowing if it was out of contention or sadness. All she was getting from him so far was mixed messages, with him having his ex in the paddock and sending the flowers.

He seemed to be happy to be around his ex, and she was still nobody to him but some person he wasn’t really in a relationship with. 

Maybe she should try to shift her attention away from him. Maybe she wouldn’t think a lot about him that way. 

And that was what she did. She stayed in London for a week or so after her other single with 88rising, La La Lost You, was released. She hung out with Will Lenney and his mates. 

She found herself sitting between Harry Lewis (or Wroetoshaw for those he didn’t know well) and Becky James. Harry was newly single and everyone tried to set him up with anyone with a pair of boobs; Ensley was sadly the newest target of their interest. 

But between the two of them, Ensley and Harry’s “not so friendly” interactions were nothing but banters. They wouldn’t hesitate to tell each other that they’d kiss each other on the mouth but they wouldn’t dare let their jokes go as far as touching each other with a ten-foot pole.

Regardless, everyone tried to root for them and getting too drunk meant trouble. Everyone saw what they wanted to see, immediately pulling their phones out to make a post or more about the two as Ensley and Harry cuddled up in the booth. 

“Why do you let the bloody idiot win, Ens?” Harry whined against the ear of the singer, ranting about Pierre as the Guernsey man continued, “I saw the tweets you know? You’re as much of a somebody as he is— don’t let the bloody cunt ruin your life.” 

“Too late, Harold,” Ensley slurred, sipping on her third sangria of the night. She and Harry didn’t even notice Becky nor their other friend Callum recording their interaction in the background, for the two of them were busy bitching to each other. “He’s ruined me- as in ruined me the moment I went to the bloody Grand Prix in Singapore. In a good way though!” 

“Ruin you in a good way,” Harry scoffed, his hand rubbing her back for comfort as he continued, “You’re writing about him. Your fuckin’ EP is all about him— it’s only reserved for those bastards who broke your heart obviously he’s one of them!” 

“No, they’re really not,” Ensley snorted, “my songs are not all about heartbreak nor friends with benefits I fall in love with.”

“Then name one song about loving then.” 

I know it's pathetic but I couldn't care less I'd wait until the stars uncross and say yes I'll always try to get you

Silence.

Harry’s drunken state continued to be a factor in his calling out as he raised a brow, “See? You’re a bad fucking liar, Ensley. You love him and you’re yearning— I can see it on your bloody face. So now you’re writing about how much he’s letting you down.”

She pouted in annoyance and slumped against his chest. Pierre didn’t even know how much she yearned for him. At the wrong time, while you’re at it. But she didn’t care. 

It’s been nearly a week since they last spoke, and their messages consist of nothing but dry responses and simple check-ins. Was it to ensure that the hope for a successful relationship remains intact or to actually make sure that they still had each other to talk to and that they hadn’t gone and talked to other people? Ensley wasn’t sure. 

To Pesky Pierre (Respectful): What are we? Like… really?

From Pesky Pierre (Respectful): Whatever you would like us to be. And hello too?

To Pesky Pierre (Respectful): Hi. And really? We kept on saying that we’d be making plans but they never happened. It’s like I dunno. We’re avoiding each other because we’re always busy. 

To Pesky Pierre (Respectful): I know I have to make the effort to come by sometimes, but then… How would you even the odds? I really don’t make an excuse when it comes to heading to London just to take the railways and see you.

To Pesky Pierre (Respectful): I’m not even mad. I’m just saying that my time and heart are yours should they be available. Break my heart as much as you’d like but try to even out these odds— without girls trying to waste your time and mine.

The next day she had woken up with an infuriating headache. Thanks to the sangrias she had and Sambuca shots she was handed, she wasn’t able to get in touch with Pierre as early as she could.

She could, however, strangle Will and the rest of their group for posting those cutesy pictures of herself and Harry while the pair were chatting shit about whatever. Everyone now thought that they were seeing each other. 

“WroetoSoleil? Harry, I'm begging you to bag her already!!!” Said one tweet. 

“This is a sign that the friends-to-lovers trope is real.” 

“Pierre, where you at? Ensley’s being won over by W2S now!” 

“I still have some faith in Pierre and Ensley, tbh.” 

And to be honest, Ensley was still faithful to the two of them too. It’s only a matter of time before she begins to shift to someone else if neither of them makes a move. 

Well… she already made hers. It was his game to play now.

She tried to get on with her day after getting too drunk with her friend’s mates. Her flat in London was surprisingly less than dusty despite being untouched for a while. She supposed that’s what happened when she allowed Will and the other lots to occupy her place whilst she lived in LA. 

Then her attention diverted to her notes, writing down lyrics as she sipped on her homemade tea. 

She hadn’t even realized that she had Pierre muted — out of annoyance — until her phone began to go off. She peered down only to see an unknown number FaceTiming her. 

But it said Monaco at the bottom of the number. She could assume that…

“W- oi! Hello!” 

Never in my damn favour I don’t want you for later Never was much of a waiter.

She was right. It was Lando and a certain Monegasque. This number was Charles Leclerc’s and she was subjected to some bullshit that they were up to. 

“I’m ending the call—“

“Wait- no! Henny, don’t! We have to talk,” Charles started. They weren’t even close yet he called her Henny. Whatever he was trying to say, he was desperate to get it out before she could end her call. 

She sat her phone on the coffee table and crossed her arms, watching the two men scramble as they both sat down.

“We heard about what happened with you and Pierre,” Lando started. “Like how you two haven’t spoken properly and all that…?”

Ensley stared back at them, making the two sigh. They wouldn’t be able to get something out of her and so Charles went on, “He saw that picture and video of you and that guy… What's his name— Harry? Yeah, he saw it and he’s basically just… pouting and all that.”

“Long story short, there’s a lot of miscommunication going on between the two of you,” Lando cut off the Monegasque. “I know you’d never date Harry and we all know that Pierre’s not seeing his ex. The two of you right now are misunderstanding each other— just talk, please. Both of you are sulking and we’re all sick of you two being lovesick and shit.”

“It’s not that easy, you bastard,” Ensley swore, flipping off Lando as she grumbled, “Every time I’m available, he isn’t. Whenever I’m not, he’s coming around asking me to travel to Italy as if I have the money to travel with. I’m not as well off as you guys— and clearly, he isn’t making the same effort as me!” 

“How? He’s sent you a lot of flowers,” Charles pointed out. Ensley smothered her face in the cushion and screamed before she turned back to look at her screen with a grim smile.

“You’ve obviously no concept of making an effort without using a material, and it shows,” Ensley snarked.

“It’s just… he’s never asked me if he can stay over in my flat in London before,” she sighed, “it’s always me who has to adjust. I do appreciate it but at the same time… what about me? What if I can’t make it there and he’s still available? Will it stay like that? Just me hoping for some miracle that he’d come by? It’s just… I don’t know. It’s just tiring having to work hard only to end up with nada.” 

Lando and Charles shared a worried look. Clearly, they didn’t understand her side of the story until now. It wasn’t as if she was painted as a bad person— they genuinely didn’t know how she and Pierre spoke and how the duo treated each other. 

“I’m just so ready to say, ‘Yes, be my boyfriend like I’m begging’ but he’s not there all the time for me to answer it!” Ensley exclaimed in frustration, crossing her arms in annoyance as she slumped against the couch. 

“French boy—“

“I’m Monegasque—“

“Monaco boy, tell your best friend that he’s a piece of shit for making me feel like this—“ Ensley said. “God I just want to see him but at the same time I don’t—!”

“Why?”

“Because I know he wouldn’t even these odds no matter how much he wants to,” Ensley chuckled humourlessly. “I don’t even know if he wants to.”

But I’d wait on you to drink you in

Lando almost glanced in front of them, only nodding along at Ensley’s rants. Meanwhile, Charles stared at Pierre with a raised brow. 

The Frenchman sighed silently. 

He really didn’t want to mess this chance up, but it was too bad some things didn’t like to go in his favour.

Even the odds, indeed.

From Pesky Pierre (Respectful): Hello mon amour, are you still in London? Sent at 8:21 AM.

To Pesky Pierre: Yes… why? Sent at 8:22 AM.

From Pesky Pierre (Respectful): Are you off to somewhere else today? Sent at 8:22 AM.

To Pesky Pierre (Respectful): I— why are you being so cryptic? But no, I’m just staying in. 8:23 AM.

From Pesky Pierre (Respectful): Okay. See you in half an hour :)

When I'm there you should, I don't know, like, call up your boss Probably take the day off Maybe we could change the odds!

Ensley Zara Soleil was never the one for surprises. She loathed them so bad. 

But if surprises came in the form of an Alpine driver often then she was willing to welcome it with open arms. Pierre Gasly stood in front of her flat with a bouquet of dahlias and daisies in hand, his smile brightening her day immediately as Ensley smiled like a fool. 

She’s never felt this great over a man for a long time.

“I’m here to even the odds,” Pierre told her with a grin before it fell into a serious expression as he said, “I’m really sorry if I haven’t tried to do it before. I was the one who pursued you first and I should’ve tried harder—“

“Shh…”

“Pardon?” Pierre gave Ensley a puzzled look. 

And rather than telling to shush once more, Ensley gave him a wide grin and took the bouquet from his hand. The confused look remained on Pierre’s face for a brief moment as she inhaled the scent of the flowers. 

“You’re here now, P,” Ensley told him. “I was wondering what you meant by your text but I’ve been expecting you… for a good while.”

Pierre’s confusion was replaced by a wide smile, pushing his shoulders back as he said, “So… where can I start?” 

Ensley smiled and stepped aside, allowing him to enter her flat as she said, “Come in and have a cuppa. We’ve got a lot of things to catch-up on.” 

Don't care how long it takes,  My heart is yours to break I'm never giving up against all odds

fin.

♡ moony’s reminder 🅶 (general): @hiraethrhapsody @avaleineandafryingpan @topguncultleader @enhacolor @roseandtulips @woweewoowa @magnummagnussen @happy-nico

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Biden should support the UAW

On September 22, I'm (virtually) presenting at the DIG Festival in Modena, Italy. That night, I'll be in person at LA's Book Soup for the launch of Justin C Key's "The World Wasn’t Ready for You." On September 27, I'll be at Chevalier's Books in Los Angeles with Brian Merchant for a joint launch for my new book The Internet Con and his new book, Blood in the Machine.

The UAW are on strike against the Big Three automakers. Biden should be roaring his full-throated support for the strike. Doing so would be both just and shrewd. But instead, the White House is waffling…and if recent history is any indication, they might actually come out against the strike.

The Biden administration is a mix of appointees from the party's left Sanders/Warren wing, and the corporatist, "Third Way" wing associated with Clinton and Obama, which has been ascendant since the Reagan years. The neoliberal wing presided over NAFTA, the foreclosure crisis, charter schools and the bailout for the bankers – but not the people. They voted for the war in Iraq, supported NSA mass-surveillance, failed to use their majorities to codify abortion rights, and waved through mega-merger after mega-merger.

By contrast, the left wing of the party has consistently fought monopoly, war, spying, privatized education and elite impunity – but forever in the shadow of the triangulation wing, who hate the left far more than they hate Republicans. But with the Sanders campaign, the party's left became a force that the party could no longer ignore.

That led to the Biden administration's chimeric approach to key personnel. On the one hand, you have key positions being filled by ghouls who cheered on mass foreclosures under Obama:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/03/06/personnel-are-policy/#janice-eberly

And on the other, you have shrewd tacticians who are revolutionizing labor law enforcement in America, delivering real, material benefits for American workers:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/06/goons-ginks-and-company-finks/#if-blood-be-the-price-of-your-cursed-wealth

Progressives in the Biden administration have often delivered the goods, but they're all-too-often hamstrung by the corporate cheerleaders the party's right wing secured – think of Lina Khan losing her bid to block the Microsoft/Activision merger thanks to a Biden-appointed, big-money-loving judge:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/14/making-good-trouble/#the-peoples-champion

These self-immolating own-goals are especially visible when it comes to strikes. The Biden admin intervened to clobber railway workers, who were fighting some of the country's cruelest, most reckless monopolists, whose greed threatens the nation:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/11/dinah-wont-you-blow/#ecp

The White House didn't have the power to block the Teamsters threat of an historic strike against UPS, but it publicly sided with UPS bosses, fretting about "the economy" while the workers were trying to win a living wage and air conditioning for the roasting ovens they spend all day in.

Now, with the UAW on strike against the monopolistic auto-makers – who received repeated billions in public funds, gave their top execs massive raises, shipped jobs offshore, and used public money to lobby against transit and decarbonization – Biden is sitting on the sidelines, failing to champion the workers' cause.

Writing in his newsletter, labor reporter Hamilton Nolan makes the case that the White House should – must! – stand behind the autoworkers:

https://www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/whose-fault-is-it?

Nolan points out that workers who strike without the support of the government have historically lost their battles. When workers win labor fights, it's typically by first winning political ones, dragging the government to the table to back them. Biden's failure to support workers isn't "neutral" – it's siding with the bosses.

Today, union support is at historic highs not seen in generations. The hot labor summer wasn't a moment, it was a turning point. Backing labor isn't just the moral thing to do, it's also the right political move:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/14/prop-22-never-again/#norms-code-laws-markets

Biden is already partway there. He rejected the Clinton/Obama position that workers would have to vote for Democrats because "we are your only choice." Maybe he did that out of personal conviction, but it's also no longer politically possible for Democrats to turn out worker votes while screwing over workers.

The faux-populism of the Republicans' Trump wing has killed that strategy. As Naomi Klein writes in her new book Doppelganger, Steve Bannon's tactical genius is to zero in on the areas where Democrats have failed key blocks and offer faux-populist promises to deliver for those voters:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/05/not-that-naomi/#if-the-naomi-be-klein-youre-doing-just-fine

When Democrats fail to bat for workers, they don't just lose worker votes – they send voters to the Republicans. As Nolan writes, "working people know that the class war is real. They are living it. Make the Democratic Party the party that is theirs! Stop equivocating! Draw a line in the sand and stand on the right side of it and make that your message!"

The GOP and Democrats are "sorting themselves around the issue of inequality, because inequality is the issue that defines our time, and that fuels all the other issues that people perceive as a decline in the quality of their own lives." If the Democrats have a future, they need to be on the right side of that issue.

Biden should have allowed a railroad strike. He should have cheered the Teamsters. He should be on the side of the autoworkers. These aren't "isolated squabbles," they're "critical battles in the larger class war." Every union victory transfers funds from the ruling class to the working class, and erodes the power of the wealthy to corrupt our politics.

When Democrats have held legislative majorities, they've refused to use them to strengthen labor law to address inequality and the corruption it engenders. Striking workers are achieving the gains that Democrats couldn't or wouldn't take for themselves. As Nolan writes:

Democratic politicians should be sending the unions thank you notes when they undertake these hard strikes, because the unions are doing the work that the Democrats have failed to accomplish with legislation for the past half fucking century. Say thank you! Say you support the workers! They are striking because the one party that was responsible for ensuring that the rich didn’t take all the money away from the middle class has thoroughly and completely failed to do so.

Republican's can't win elections by fighting on the class war. Democrats should acknowledge that this is the defining issue of our day and lean into it.

Whose fault is a strike at the railroads, or at UPS, or in Hollywood, or at the auto companies? It is the fault of the greedy fuckers who took all the workers’ money for years and years. It is the fault of the executives and investors and corporate boards that treated the people who do the work like shit. When the workers, at great personal risk, strike to take back a measure of what is theirs, they are the right side. There is no winning the class war without accepting this premise.

Autoworkers' strikes have been rare for a half-century, but in their heyday, they Got Shit Done. Writing in The American Prospect, Harold Meyerson tells the tale of the 1945/46 GM strike:

https://prospect.org/labor/2023-09-18-uaw-strikes-built-american-middle-class/

In that strike, the UAW made history: they didn't just demand higher wages for workers, but they also demanded that GM finance these wages with lower profits, not higher prices. This demand was so popular that Harry Truman – hardly a socialist! – stepped in and demanded that GM turn over its books so he could determine whether they could afford to pay a living wage without hiking prices.

Truman released the figures proving that higher wages didn't have to come with higher prices. GM caved. Workers got their raise. Truman touched the "third rail of American capitalism" – co-determination, the idea that workers should have a say in how their employers ran their businesses.

Co-determination is common in other countries – notably Germany – but American capitalists are violently allergic to the idea. The GM strike of 45/6 didn't lead to co-determination, but it did effectively create the American middle-class. The UAW's contract included cost-of-living allowances, wage hikes that tracked gains in national productivity, health care and a defined-benefits pension.

These provisions were quickly replicated in contracts with other automakers, and then across the entire manufacturing sector. Non-union employers were pressured to match them in order to attract talent. The UAW strike of 45/6 set in motion the entire period of postwar prosperity.

As Meyerson points out, today's press coverage of the UAW strike of 2023 is full of hand-wringing about what a work-stoppage will do to the economy. This is short-sighted indeed: when the UAW prevails against the automakers, they will rescue both the economy and the Democratic party from the neo-feudal Gilded Age the country's ultrawealthy are creating around us:

https://doctorow.medium.com/the-end-of-the-road-to-serfdom-bfad6f3b35a9?sk=207d6afdb89b0351b92233cc3318ab94

There's a name for a political strategy that seeks to win votes by making voters' lives better – it's called "deliverism." It's the one thing the Trump Republican's won't and can't do – they can talk about bringing back jobs or making life better for American workers, but all they can deliver is cruelty to disfavored minorities and tax-breaks for the ultra-rich:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/10/thanks-obama/#triangulation

Deliverism is how the Democrats can win the commanding majorities to deliver the major transformations America and the world need to address the climate emergency and dismantle our new oligarchy. Letting the party's right wing dominate turns the Democrats into caffeine-free Republicans.

When the Dems allowed the Child Tax Credit to lapse – because Joe Manchin insisted that poor people would spend the money on drugs – they killed a program that had done more to lift Americans out of poverty than anything else. Today, American poverty is skyrocketing:

https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/4206837-poverty-made-an-alarming-jump-congress-could-have-stopped-it/

Four million children have fallen back into poverty since the Dems allowed the Child Tax Credit to lapse. The rate of child poverty in America has doubled over the past year.

The triangulators on the party's right insist that they are the adults in the room, realists who don't let sentiment interfere with good politics. They're lying. You don't get working parents to vote Democrat by letting their children starve.

America's workers can defeat its oligarchs. They did it before. Biden says he's a union man. It's time for him to prove it. He should be on TV every night, pounding a podium and demanding that the Big Three give in to their workers. If he doesn't, he's handing the country to Trump.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/18/co-determination/#now-make-me-do-it

[uwmspeccoll]

Milestone Monday

On this day, October 2, 1872, Jules Verne (1828-1905) sent his protagonist Phileas Fogg out on the adventure of a lifetime in his novel Around the World in Eighty Days. On the evening of October 2nd, while at the Club playing cards and debating how the world has grown smaller since a new railway section in India had made it possible to travel around the world, Fogg accepts a wager from his comrades for £20,000 to follow the Daily Telegraph’s itinerary of steamers and rails around the world and make it back to London in eighty days.  

In observance of this fictional anniversary, we’re looking at The Limited Editions Club (LEC) publication of Around the World in Eighty Days written by Jules Verne and illustrated by Edward A. Wilson (1886-1970). It was published in 1962 and printed in an edition of 1500 copies by Saul and Lillian Marks at The Plantin Press in Los Angeles, California. The illustrations consist of sixteen pen-and-wash drawings by Wilson, reproduced in gravure by the Photogravure and Color Company of New York and then colored by hand in the studio of Walter Fischer.  

Wilson, an attendee of the Art Institute of Chicago, illustrated over a dozen books, magazines, and World War II propaganda posters between 1924 and 1950. His vibrant work within LEC’s Around the World in Eighty Days reinforces a sense of wanderlust and adventure throughout the novel. In an eerie coincidence, October 2, 1970 is also the day Wilson passed away after a long struggle with an undisclosed illness.  

The Special Collections holds number 289 of this limited-edition publication, from long-standing LEC member Austin Fredric Lutter of Waukesha, Wisconsin.

View more Limited Edition Club posts. 

View other Milestone Monday posts.

-Jenna, Special Collections Graduate Intern 

[amadholes-lostre]

State of California

I already implied multiple times how different yet imperative California is now in the BNHA-AU. How now there is a new ethnicity due thr mixture of Latin and Anglo (mostly Latin culture) culturr including a new language, how there is a new religion originate from here that now dominated Latin America, and just how different it is from today.

California is still have some similarity from today however; Sacramento is still the capital city with Los Angels still the most populous, it has the highest population (more than 80mil) and most powerful economy in the Union, and still important in the West Coast. Texas is still in second when it comes to population (around 50mil) and population, but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. California also has the highest rail passengers by state alone, maybe similar to Japan ridership. It is likely it is only beaten by the Northeast corridor, but that region should have a population already at 100mil.

Geography

There is not much change when it comes to geography. It is not like there suddenly are topical rainforests (California actually has temperate rainforests). However, thanks to activists, technology, and laws, many damage to the environment by the Climate Crisis were alleviated. Many Redwood and Sequoia trees managed to reclaimed historic range and then some. There are bisons roaming California, too, with extinct animals brought by to life like mammoth and ground sloth, and mythical creature. California also change their agriculture practice, emulating how Dutch cultivated their products, using greenhouses, hydroponic for efficient water saving, etc. I not going get into more detail (go watch a YouTube about Dutch farming), but this method allowed majority of Central Valley be reclaimed by nature, making the land looks like what it did in the 19th century: Lake Tulare is now permanent, marshlands and has a huge delta.

California also deurbanization (actually desuburbanization) many sprawling cities across the state. For instance, the cities I used to live in -Brentwood and Discovery Bay - are now gone, paved out. Many cities, especially in CV, have greenbelt, which also act the limited of their jurisdiction. I also think, with the Climate Crises alleviated, sea levels will drop by a meter or so, so now half of San Francisco Bay, especially south of San Mateo Bridge, is gone, mostly just salt marshes (and no, there are laws forbidding development on it).

There is a bit more rain due to El Nino and La Nina weather system now having a precedence. Like 2-3 years Nino and then 2-3 years Nina. So there could be a drought season. However, those also mean there's a lot more run, even during the mid-spring to mid-fall in Nino. Tropical storms are not uncommon during Nino, at least 1-2. This also means California will lose like a quarter of their desert are gone, so Antelope Valley and San Bernardino Valley biome are similar to Central Valley.

Cities

Bit difficult to talk about cities since some cities changed their name, some new ones, and that I need to make a map. I gonna try to convey the city position by only referring high population, North to South.

Redien- (Redding)- 500k. Know for rail connecting to Redwood Empire Corridor and to Oregon, high percentage of non-Kalifornáns, and high population of Therians/Lycan (Enid lives here).

Bí-Sierra (changing the name)(Chico) - 400k. Know for: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Yebu -250k. Know for: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Sacramento - 5mil. Know for being the capital, HQ of Golden State Railway Company.

Metropolis of San Francisco - 17mil. Know for the birth of Califity, Memorial of Califia, Angel of the Bay Statue (looks like a Japanese woman wearing a kimono, also know as Liberty of the West)/Museum of Asian and Latin Fredoians between early 19th century-1950s and Beyond.

Amid-Tu-Rifã (changing the name)(Stockton)- 500k. Know for looking like Venice and Amsterdam.

Tuolumne-ín-Estanislao (Modesto) - 500k. Know for: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Santa Cruz - 120k. Know for beaches and UCSC.

Salinas -1.2mil. Know for just having an HSR train.

Monterey -90k. Know for the aquarium.

Lafenia [Lafenã means Lavander in Californin (Madera)] - 3.5mil. Know for having the HQ of Rolosron (Golden Iron) Company (focus on rolling stocks), SU Laféna (focus on urban design, transportation engineering, and architecture), and vocation on public transit course.

Fresno - 3.2mil. Know for not being Fresno anymore and a dry port (ironically, it's adjacent by a massive river).

Nés Nakiśa (City near Visalia, between Tulare and Tipton)- 2.5mil. Know for being named after Nakiśa the Lover, the Innocent, and the Miracle-Worker.

Nés Anaís (Bakersfield)- 3.7mil. Know for being the birthplace of Anaís, the Lover, the Guardian, and the Martyr.

Santa de Nagasaki, also called Sanagi (in Santa Maria Valley) -6mil. Know for being a cyberpunk-like city (dont know if that's a good thing or not), cyberware and powered suits industry, and the few pro-hero academy in the world meant for non-quirks. It was a former city-state between the Dark Age to 2200s.

Santa Barbara- 200k. Know for just being a nice city.

Metropolis of Los Angels - 24mil. Know for the Gate of Angels (mixture of Brandenburg Gate and Arc de Triomphe, at San Fernando City), Los Angeles Central Station (mixture of Penn Station and Grand Central Station), Los Angeles Grand Park/The Meadow (bigger than Central Park and Golden Gate Park, at the former city of Compton, adjacent to LA River), The Sequoia (think Tokyo Skytree, have branch-like Observation deck, 670 meters tall, somewhere between Mid-Wilshire and Koreatown).

Rifãsíd (Riverside)- 500k. Know for ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

San Diego- 9mil. Likely just the same as today.

All together, this brings it up to 78 mil people. There are other cities, towns, and villages in California like Eureka, towns around Lake Tahoe, and others around, but theses cities are considered either major, well-know, or important. All these cities, with the exception of Santa Cruz and Monterey, are connected by NAHSR, and Sacramento and Los Angeles are connected to the Continental wide Maglev network. I gonna explain California railways network later.

Most of the cities kept today boundary, however demolishing many of its sprawling suburban housing. Like I said before, most cities city boundary are tangible by its greenbelt, and they can't, by state-law, develop pass it unless their km density passed 25km, which many city, especially in Central Valley, haven't pass it. Actually, many cities in the Valley have an average of 250km land areas, with average of 12k km2 density.

Many cities, but especially to SF and LA, have patches of urban forest. Not parks meant for recreation, but forest that is meant for nature. SF and LA have many patches of those urban forests, many usually 1 km² but could be higher than 100 km². They used wildlife crossing to connect them all.

Many cities looks like a mixture of futuristic architecture (I will talk about that later) and somewhat traditional-like like Isabelan architecture (eclecticism of Spanish Colonial and SF-like Victorian architecture, need to talk about that). However, Sanagi is just straight-up cyberpunk city, like I will call it Capital City of Cybernetic, with having an unusually higher percentage of Non-Quirks. Non-Quirks are more likely to installed cyberware than Quirks, to the point majority of their bodies is cybernetic. (Lets not kid ourselves, with BNHA having robots the size of skyscrapers and artificial islands in the middle of the ocean, yeah they will stereotypical cyberpunk technology.)

Economy

I think I hinted this before, but California, and frankly majority of the world are what I considered social democracy, or at least, some form of socialist. In California (and Fredoia), almost every necessity goods or service like water, energy, internet, healthcare, public transportation (including airlines), etc. is own by the government. Meanwhile, some that considered necessity but needs some in-hand by the people like housing (majority of it), foods, etc collectively owned either by neighborhoods (districts), groups, or guilds. Now I think about it, it kinda similar to Post-War Britain, especially how it comes to Attlee policies.

In California, the state has a market socialism and guild socialism (Democratic Socialism). There are companies that are controlled by employees; democratically elected company leaders, a 1 to 5 ratio wages, input how the company should be headed, etc. Half the company stock is owned by the employees, and the other half is owned by the local governments, which is then controlled by the people. They voted how the stock revenue should be allotted and apportioned accordingly (either funding for transit, schooling, maintained, etc.). However, sometimes, thanks to public banks, they will give denizens the money through all the stocks in the city.

For guild, sometime a mixture of labor unions, company of laborers, or craftmanship. Many cities have guild in it jurisdiction. For instance, and this I have an idea for a while: biking is considered a one major ways of transportation in California. Because of that, bikes is a huge industry in the state, bikes repairers and retailers are common in cities. A guild that focus on biking will required those to join to and gain a permit. The permit is meant for laborer protects, universal bike parts, . Meanwhile, customer who have a warrant for the city bike guild could go to any bike repair: if they broke their bike kilometers away from their usual repairers, they could go to a close by repair shop and have it fix free thanks to the guild warrant.

Another city guild/company is like a group of crafter who also works together, but unlike something like a bike-like guild, it act more like a company whose own/control/manage by the city, like for construction company. It will be more efficient since the city will have experience with laborers, more efficient in talks and shit, and if there is unneeded constructions, many laborers will simply be put on paid leave (which kind of unnecessary because California is always either building or maintaining something lol).

Agriculture is owned by small farming communities. Honesty, they likely lived in Tipi-like housing similarly what I talk about in my last post. Their farming is just straight up just like the Dutch, which give higher yields for hecto without needing to use more lands. The government will give the community findings and buy their products so to keep foods extremely low. the government will then sell it, low price, to merchant/retailers who then sell it to consumer in again, low price. However, 1/3 of foods product in California is grown by urban farming.

The majority of housing is collectively controlled by locals/tenets. I based it on Singapore town council and House and Development Board. I know that anyone who knows about this is probably not a good thing, but the other synonymy or trying, think of example is Homeowner Association, which is worse. Each city (or ' special wards' for metropolis cases) have districts, which democratically handled housing (and other buildings). They also have delegates for the city council. The district receives tenets rents and is handling it by either paying utilities, repairs, or insurance (not like insurance company, "just-in-case" like natural disasters, hero/villain's battle, etc.). Prices are dependable on housing types (a duplex will be more expensive than an apartment, while a town house be more expensive than a triplex), rooms (if you have kids, the price will be lower), floors, material of the building itself, and construction method. But price are all fixated, meaning if there a housing that have all the characteristic in two different location, and one is consider far more desirable for its surroundings, the two housing are still the same price. In today markets, we usually handle this by outbidding another buyer, which increases house prices. This is the reason why San Francisco is so expensive. Instead, California housing is handled by a lottery system, fairness by fate instead of higher monetary. Some participant are allowed to have some advantage depending on their situation: if they live in the district/city majority of their life, if they have a family, they lost another lottery, they are about to be homeless soon, and such. Ironically, Frinsica (San Francisco) is still difficult to get a house there, lol.

In housing there, people either rent or buy housing. By renting, it usually cheaper- if we using today renting price, an average price for like an one room apartment will likely be $150 per month (people have limits of free utilities until hiting that limit. Parking isn't included and is optionable since like more than half of California doesn't have a car). It's for people living short-termin the area, occasionally students for either high school/college who doesn't want to live in dorms/SRO, newly adults, or people who simply want an easily life (which is not stigmatize in California). However, it usually has a maximum limit of how long someone could rent there (usually 5 years), so people are either evicted or pay an expensive extension. Buying a hosing is also preferable and also cheaper than today. I don't know what is considerably an average price, but likely a triplex unit will cost $150k (you not owning the entire building, just the unit. You do collectively share it with two other owners). Buying is likely similar to how Singapore housing (go look at a YouTube video, lol). One thing to note is that the owner cannot sell their unit or rent it to another tenet. They could only sell it to the district, which would likely be the same price with 5% add. The owner could allow their unit to be inherited or allow friends/families/associates to live in it, but that likely it. Selling or renting it will defeat the purpose of a lottery system.

There is a national bank, a public bank owned by the federal government. Each state have their own banks which connected to the federal bank. The benefits is there is no monthly fees, withdrawing money from other state bank atm without fees, easier gaining loans with lower interest rate (great for starting business ), better retirement account which also connects to social security. However, there is a limit how much someone could have in their account before they start paying a monthly fee: $100K, and the fees gets much higher along with the saving account. (Also, it is common for people to have two retirement, the average lifespan is 160 years, and there are also quirks that allow some people to have longer lifespans).

For artisan guilds like for writers and artists, there is likely an universal-like wage so writers/artists could allow to do their craft. However, there is likely a quota/requirement so they actually do what they meant to do.

For exports and well-known sectors, it likely will be the same as today with some key differences. For one, they know for rolling stocks, specifically for HSR, metro rails, and trollies. The company that handles it, Rolosron, is located in Laféna. Another is Kalimé, or sometimes called Kaliniśon, animations production in California. It has their own unique style, similar to anime in Japan: inspiration, and how I think it will look like are SPOP, Gurihiru works, and some comics like Specter Inspector. Produced in either Los Angeles or San Francisco. Cyberware is also well-known, many of which are produced in Sanagi. Maybe also biking manufacturers, revenues from Califinitan pilgrims, and likely that it.

Half the main energy source are renewable, including solar energy, wind energy, ocean tide, and hydroelectricity. The rest is nuclear fusion plants, and when I mean plants, I mean there are only four plants in the entire state (they needed imported huge amount of tritium gas, also yes, there are still fission plants). There are also room-temperature superconductors, which it is not as common so its usually use for either fusion reactors, transmission tower (almost all California's wind power comes from the Great Plains), energy storages for cities. They are also getting into the noireau (metallic hydrogen) industry.

California working hours is 6 hours, and could only work for 4 days. Cause of this, they have 3 day weekend. In Califinity, they viewed that person must time in three order: Friday for resting, Saturday for indulgence, Sunday for praying. They also get 2 four weeks vacation and 1 three weeks of vacation.

Transportation

YEAH! This is the one I waiting for; I keep indulging about California having an intricate rail network. For now, I gonna talk about non-rail transit because I dont fuck around with trains.

The majority of California used rails for transportation, with Los Angeles rails having 28mil passengers in a city of 24mil (wondering how, go look at Tokyo transportations section in Wiki). However, there are many people who also use either the bus or are preferable to either walk or bike to their destination. There are people who uses cars, but it a privilege to use it, and expensive too: there is congestion charge, parking fees, registration fees for battery cars, high taxes for either ammonia or noireau fuels , and high tolls for using Interstate/Expressways (maybe like $1000-1500 for per year, and higher for freight trucks) (many freeway/interstate were demolished in inner-cities however).

Not only that, many cities have streets design that are similar to Tokyo and European cities: having few boulevard that connect the city in boarder scale, but have streets that either one-way, or pedestrian only zone.

This kind of street are very common in California cities.

California owns a state-enterprise airliner, Golden Airline. There are only 5 major airports in California, 3 that deal with international (as in, non-UNEC member)/intercontinental destinations): San Francisco International Airport, Los Angeles International Airport, San Diego International Airport, East Bay Transcontinental Airport (Oakland Airport), and Santa Ana Transcontinental Airport (John Wayne).Not only are there fewer airports, but intrastate flights are banned in the state. Thanks to federal law, constitution, and UNEC, flights are also banned to Oregon, Nevada, Arizona, Navajo-Hopi, and the State of Baja California.

Rail

California owns a state-enterprise that deals with rail passengers called Golden Railways Company (HQ in Sacramento). Actually, it is one of seven subsidies of Amtrak, which is far larger than today, to the point there has to be smaller companies to deal with railways. The other is Lone Star Railways (Texas and California are the only states to have their own railway companies; HQ in Austin), Northeast Railway Company (Northeast region including Maryland and DC, HQ in New York City), Russet Railway Company (Midwest States that isn't under Lakotah lands; HQ in Chicago), Cascadia Railway Company (Oregon and Washington states; HQ in Olympia, WA), South Railways Company (can't think of a good name lol, compassed all other Southern States; HQ in Atlanta, GA), and Sunwest Railway Company (Southwestern States including Idaho, Montana and Wyoming (any left over lol); HQ is maybe either in Phoenix, Santa Fe or Denver).

California has a massive railway network; it's possible to go to any destination via rails in the state, via regional corridor like the Redwood Empire Corridor (talk about that soon), or intercity/hsr. California two important corridors; the Golden Corridor that goes through Central Valley all the to San Diego (and connects to other states and countries), and the Southern Range Corridor (also called Salinas) that started in San Francisco, goes through Salinas Valley, to Sanagi, Santa Barbara and then Los Angels.

The Golden Corridor used the legacy route of CAHSR, a project that, despite its flaws, was fundamentally crucial for the state. I gonna digress for a bit but people bitching about how the route "should be shorten" or go pass certain cities missed the point. California does not have a good connection with its cities. Yeah, there is Amtrak, but the issue is that it is too slow for conveniences, many of its tracks are owned by freight companies, and there are no direct routes for SF-Fresno-LA. The reason why there is such high population in Central Valley is thanks to CAHSR (and other things). The only reason there is some route change is because there are always things to improve on, some cities are just gone, and there are other routes that don't need HSR.

(What the majority of GC looks like)

There is some new routes and changes of route. For one, it goes further norths to Chico, Redding, and then to Oregon. Another is the corridor at SF-Jose. Right now, CAHSR will share with Caltrain, using the same rails. It is great because it electrified the rails. However, there are some flaws. There are still level crossing, which, admittingly, some are being constructed to have grade separation. Another issue is that it has double-track railways, and it's in the middle of an urban environment.

A few decades after Califia's death (maybe 2080s to 2090s), California has somewhat of a rail revolution, transforming the state railways. For one, the state converted half of state route 101 (SF-Mountain View) into quadruple-track railway. The benefits that it allows HSR trains to go faster, allowing other trains to share (the Bay Area has a RER/S-Bahn trains), and is more separate from urban neighborhoods. The corridor split off from MV: one goes to San Jose Central Station (dual-track again), another still going along US101 than merging with IS880 (still a quad-track). The former Caltrain corridor is converted into a BART line (which is owned by BATA- Bay Area Transportation Authority/likely succeeded Seamless Bay Area). Once the corridor enters SF, it follows the same route of US101 (there is now freeways in SF), which, instead following CAHSR terminating underground, it goes to SF Central Station at the former IS80 above ground. It's a through-station and follows into SF-O Bay Bridge, which either goes to Oakland 16th Street Station, or continues to Sacramento. The Bay Bridge (Golden Gate Bridge and San Mateo Bridge too) itself is similar to New York Manhattan Bridge and Brooklyn Bridge: railways in the bottom, 3x3 road, and a pedestrian/cycling route atop.

(Where SF/Frinsica Central Station will be located. Also note this is the only way for cars to enter the bridge. Also, i am hitting on my image limit, lol.

For the majority of the corridor, from Sacramento to San Diego, the majority is quadruple-tracks. Well, maybe six-track if you count Maglev, it fellows the Golden Corridor. Also, San Francisco is the largest city in Fredoia that doesn't have a maglev station (lol, lmao even). Some cities are gone, so the corridor does not stop there. Kings/Tulare is Nés Nakiśa, the one near Visalia, and then to Nés Anaís. If a city is adjacent along the corridor, it will have a station, but the HSR will bypass it. There are also minor corridors that connect to the Golden Corridor. Best metaphor, the Golden Corridor is an artery that connects capillary.

After Bakersfield, it bypassed Palmdale and continued to Burbank/LA. Like I said before, Palmdale is connected to the Golden Corridor and does have it own Corridor, its only that HSR does not go there. After LA, it continue down south; it does not go west to San Bernardino. Instead, it continues journeying to Anaheim and then cutting through Chino Hills towards Riverside. From there, it either goes to Las Vegas and/or Phoenix and/or Jeddito and the rest of the country. Or it continues to San Diego, Tijuana, Mexicali, and then all the way to Mexico City. It is quite common for Californians and Mexicans to travel for either places thanks to UNEC having a open border policy.

(Notices how once stopping at Riverside, it either goes south, north, or northeast). (Also, I mention before and forgot to said it here, HSR can go up to 450 kph (average likely 400 kph). How they achieved this, other then making sure the corridor is as straight as possible is by: having wireless power transfer beneath the tracks (not eroding the overhead lines), concretene (concrete that has graphene mixed in it) to withstand the vibration and have longer lifespan, and nistíl (neo-steel which is my own idea; just steel itron mixed with graphene) which also withstand the vibration, friction, and have a longer lifespan).

The Southern Range Corridor, or the Salinas Corridor, is another corridor that meant for HSR. The Golden Corridor became extremely congestion: not only regional and HSR trains are using it, but also interstate and international trains frequent the route. So GRC constructed another corridor (likely in the early 2200s) to alleviate the main corridor traffic. It also has many cities in this region, especially Salinas and Sanagi, that don't have proper train lines. The corridor started from Gilroy. Instead ofgoing east, it goes south, going to Salinas. Then it goes southeast through Salinas Valley, continuing all the to Paso Robles. Then it goes south through the mountains, going through San Luis Obispo, then stopping at Sanagi (Santa Maria Valley). It then goes southeast again to through another hills, stopping at Santa Barbara, then through the mountains again to Ventura, goes to Oxnard, Camarillo, and then to Los Angeles Central Station.

(What the corridor looks like)

Now, the Golden Corridor and Salinas Corridor aren't the only corridors, but those two are the most important, having HSR lines and high traffic. There are other corridors in California, local/regional ones that connect to either corridors. Small traffic yet crucial. One corridor I want to talk about is the Redwood Empire Corridor.

(red is dual-tracks and blue is single-tracks)

The Redwood Empire population, minus anything south of Santa Rosa, is around 750k. Once past Santa Rosa, the corridor goes in a counter-clockwise. The red that goes east-west allows the line to form a 0-shape route. There is like an average 15-20 on the line. I got the idea from Not Just Bikes video about Switzerland. Thanks to this, there are far more people who travel to Redwood forest, especially in spring and summer. There are other corridors in low-populated regions that use similar routes.

The state entire uses clock-fast scheduling- arriving or departing either at 0s or 5s- and pulse timetabling.

There are different categories and types of rail trains, basing it off from Germany and some from the UK. The reason why those two is because it's the only one I can find in Wikipedia, lol. Usually based on how important the hub is, intermittent trips, number of passengers daily, and huge the building is. If I properly made a category list, LA and Sacramento will be 1 (having a maglev stop) while San Francisco and Lafénia will be 2 (not having one. Also, being the last stop before an important junctions is the reason why Lafénia has such a high population).

Education

Before I startn I need to remind everyone that the average lifespan is 160. This means that people ages slower, including sexual maturity like some animals like giant tortoises and bowhead whales. So there people in their 50s who looks in their 20s, or in their 90/100s who looks like in their 40s, similar like Aragorn from lotr (this also means women/afab are averagely 2-3 inches shorter than men/amab, and menstrual cycle is 60 days. Average Ostrace age is usually 200-250 excluding Kitsune and Sanguinarians). So schooling lasts a bit longer than today. (Also, California schooling is implemented country-wide with some difference.) There are laws that require schools to be surrounded by pedestrian-only streets. School days are Monday-Thursday. Some schools also have Friday but it is only half-time

There is 4 levels based on age:

Elementary school, also have daycare :0-8

Primary School: 8-12

Lower Secondary School: 12-16

Upper Secondary School (referred to as Liséa in Kalifornán): 16-20

Elementary schools are far more common than the other 3 schoolings, with an average 1 elementary per 1.5 km. The reason is that is so young children could be closer to their schools. It compassed pre-school, kindergarten, and Grades 1 and 2. Elementary teaches students their primary language (Kalifornan), basic math, and such. An average elementary will likely have a body of 100-200 students, with teachers having a class of 8-10. The elementary playground will also act as a local park. Elementary students are also called Ducklings due teachers picking up their students and herding them to schools like a parent duck and students wearing bright coats.

Primary schools are a bit more widespread due to students being supposed to act more independently, maybe like 1 per 5-10 km. Students are supposed to learn their second languages (usually either English or Spanish, but in some cases, a different language if the neighborhood has a large non-Californian population). An average class has 10-12 students with 500 per school, and students stay in the same class all day. Parents pick their child schools. Schools last 8:30-1:30

Lower Secondary School is widespread too, with 1 LS per 10-20 km. Students again will learn another language, learn more complex subjects, and such. Average classrooms are 12-16 and like PS, students shared same classes. Students are allow to pick their schooling when entering Lower School. School last 8:30-2:30.

Upper Secondary School (or Liséa in California) is far more widespread, with 1 per 20-40 km. Unlike the last three, students do not share classes but go to classes individually. UP acts more like a university than the other schools. Students may learn another language, but it is not mandatory. Not only students may choose their schooling but they could go to another city's schools if desire. It is common for students from small cities and towns to go to bigger cities like SF and LA for schooling (staying at either schools' dorm, social single-room occupancy, or renting an apartment). Students also gain a counselor who guides them for post-US life and careers, especially if it's related to their quirks. It is dependable on the student's schedule, but Schools last 8:30-3:30.

From Primary to Upper School, all students are required to wear an uniform. However, dress code is only not strict but students are courage to customize their uniform, embracing California social individualism. Gender restricted is illegal, and students, regardless of gender, are allowed to wear either pants or skirts. In fact, it is common for boys and masculine genderqueers to wear skirts during summer classes.

Classes scheduling is dependable on cities and their school district, but there are causes where classes have hybrid scheduling of Block and Timetable, with all 8 classes the first Monday, and A/B for the rest of the week. However, some classes, like language and math, are required to be held daily. A school year lasted from late March-Late June = 4/5 weeks vacation= Early August-Late Nov./Early Dec. = 4/5 weeks vacation = Early Jan - Mid/Late Feb = 2/3 weeks vacation = New School Year.

There is a new legal status called Minor. When a student/child reached the age of 15 years-old, their legal status will be listed as Minor, a transition from childhood to adulthood. Under this status, they enjoy far more privilege than they did as a child:

Allow to consume alcohol that is under 5%.

vote in local election.

Go to doctors without parents permission and do minor procedures like HRT

Watch +16 movies at the theaters.

At age 20, they allowed to do:

Voted in State and National-wide election and run for local office.

Consume all levels of alcohol.

Watch +20 movies at theaters.

Allow to do major medical procedures like gender-assignment surgery.

At age 25, they allowed to do:

Run for state and national-wide lower-chamber office (upper chamber and executive branch is 35).

Join the military.

Allow to work in Pleasure Guild (adult films, sex workers).

Drive and operate machineries like cars, trucks, trains, planes, etc.

Culture

The majority of Californians are an ethnicity I already talked about, Kalifornán. Kalifornáns formed (how does a new ethnicity happen?) due to many other Latins ethnicities' culture, especially Mexicans, shared, borrowed, and merged their culture together with Anglo in California. The language, again called Kalifornán, formed from Spanglish. Kalifornáns is primarily found in California, but many are also found in either US states like Arizona and in Mexico states like Baja California.

Kalifornáns are usually energetic and cheerful, more so than non-Kalifornáns. They greeted one another with hugs and kisses on cheeks, regardless of gender (even in formal greeting, they do so, though only with other Kalifornáns). Informal and casual parties are common, lasting into 1-3 am. When guests come over, the host usually serves coffee like cafecito and some pastries. It is just like other Latin Americans' etiquette.

Small street parties are also more common, usually starting around 4-6 pm. Its due to how permits are not really required, only informing a police officer and asking permission of either store or restaurant owners if they throw one. This creates a stereotype of how Kalifornáns are always throwing parties.

Different gender and sexuality are far more acceptable and common in California, with at least 30% self-identified being queers. Even men who consider themselves cishet will wear skirts if the day is hot, and wear bright colors and showing off skin (think timothee chalamet venice film festival outfit).

In beaches and film, breasts are not stigmatized, and it's common for women or genderqueers with breasts to be top less (though some wears a wrap around their shoulder). Non-genital nudity in media is also non-censor and is known to be shown in media below rated-16. Breasts are not sexualize in California, they are more interested in hips, waists, thigh, and butts.

Kalifornáns celebrated their Quinceañera, regardless of gender. For Kalifornáns, especially Califinitans, a child reaching 15 years old, a Minor in legal status, is considered the second most important birthday of their life (behind their Awakenday). This age is considered a transition of childhood to adulthood, and so, many people celebrate their coming in age day. For girls is called Quinceañera, boys is called Quinceañero, and for nonbinaries and other genderqueers is called Quinceañere. It is commonly to celebrate Quinceañera-children all together in the end of the month, usually at a Califinitan temple, and the government pays half of the celebration.

It is common for Kalifornáns to have mini-vacation once a month or so, using their 3-day weekend. They usually preferred traveling 2 and a half hours away from their home, using HSR (hence the high ridership). It's also common for Minors, even young as 15, to have mini vacation by themselves or with friends. It also common for them to visit family or friends if they attend school in another city.

Kalifornáns usually started parenthood between their 40s-50s, usually having 2-4 kids. Parents use their parental leaves for childrearing; parental leaves could be used for up to 3 years, and both the workplace and government pay for their leave ( the workplace is only up to a year). However, it is common for parents to stay home up to six months, where either parents (or ternary or more parents) will agree upon a schedule where one either: work half day and the other take care of the child, one work full day while the other care, or do a hybrid with mixing both schedules. It's very common for families, friends, and amises (will explain that later) to help rear the child, including the community, too. Thanks to technology and different social norms, there are different ways to begotten a child: artificial wombs are becoming the most popular way, though queue are long. (For artificial wombs, gestation is much larger -16-18 months, but the benefits are that infants are more developed compared to natural ways. They will be born as a 6 months old infant and soon start crawling a month later). Vitro gametogenesis is already mainstream. Another method is synth-organ/glan: synthesizing tissue that does certain functions that can't be found in human biology initially ex: having a specific gland to filter carbon dioxide, or having freckle-like bioluminescent marks. Meaning, it is possible for ciswomen to have a synth-penis that produces estrogen and gamete and, likewise, for cismen.

In Kalifornáns, and frankly, Califinitans too, there are considered 3 important important group that fomrat into structures of an individual: families, friends, and lovers, and they all central around the person. In Califinity, one of the most important holidays (expect the day Califia death/transcendence) involves around this, celebrated in the first 3-day weekend of June (it is no coincident why it is in June). So, while romantic is important, platonic-ships are also very important. One such instance is called amís. An amís (or amise/amisa/amiśo) is someone most dearest, closest friend. A word that is similar to it is the Japanese word Nakama. Rarely will people have more than one amís. It is common between amís to have a civil union while also romantically marry to another person. Amís are known to be intimate, including cuddling, small kisses, and hugs (sex is uncommon but not unheard of). Amís will also raise child together, and sometime they will be both child biological parent. There is a genre in media that is meant for amís.

Snippet culture

Can't really think of categorizing this so I gonna type it out. Kalifornán parents don't genderize their child name. Since Kalifornán uses some Spanish rules, including grammatical genders (-a is feminin, -o is masculine, -e is nonbinary/genderqueer, and no vowels mean gender neutral; likely will use ä,ö, and ë), the parents uses gender neutral, and it's up to the child if they want a gender suffix.

It's common for children to call their parents by their first, especially if they're same-gender. For instance, Anne Boonchuy will usually call her mom Mami Oum. However, sometimes, they will have a nonbinary/gender neutral informal parent word, Parí (pair-e). Same uses if both parents are same-gender or one happens to be a genderqueer.

This isn't only done by Kalifornáns but also country-wide, but it expects for both couples to take each other's name, like how Latin Americans do so. For example, Anne Boonchuy full name is Anne Asnee-Boonchuy (Asnee is Oum's surname). Usually, women keep their mother surname and men likewise. Same-gender couple, like a sapphic couple, both will keep their mother surname and again likewise for gay men couple. Nonbinary/genderqueer couple or partner is a bit difficult, but they usually choose what name to keep or keep if one of their is nonbinary/genderqueer. There are also new surnames. (Disgressing a bit, but Emma Nolan full name is Emma Emdis-Nolan. The -Dis suffix means "daughter," and Em- is shortened for Emma. Also, she has two mothers, but she still gets disowned due to being a non-quirk (oof). Also, she has six other sisters).

There are some new dishes, one is which is sandwich/taco-like. It's similar to roujiamo (Chinese sandwich, which half the bread is halfway slice before stuffing food into) with using arepa (or any other flatbread). The bread is slice halfway, and then hallowing it inisde. Then, the ingredients uses spiced and shredded grilled meat (usually chicken), shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, cutted green onions, maybe diced of white onions, and condiments of sour cream, and either BBQ or thousand islands sauce.

The majority of Southern California are non-Deitist Califinitans, and Northern California are Deitist Califinitans (especially in the Bay Area and Central Valley).

Romantic relationships with age gaps will likely be more common due to longer lifespan, especially if dating an Ostrace. Yoko Tanaka is likely twice the age of Divina, though Sanguinarians ages even slower than an average Ostrace. It will not be surprising if, say, a young Japanese lesbian dated a Kitsune and found out she was alive when Matthew C. Perry went ashore on Japan.

There is a balcony culture, similar to what Montreal has. Since most people in California don't own a single detach housing anymore, and that many housing has a balcony, people will convey their balcony in their own liking. An average balcony is likely a bit smaller than an average room, half which jutted out from the building. There are a lot of hanging plants, many of which are flowering that dangle from it (I based it on Cartagena historic district), and it is common to see people having conversations from across one.

Popular sports are association football that doesn't revolve quirks, girdfield that use flyers (flying broomstick) and non-mage-kind could play, and Metaball, which is the most popular sport in the world. Metaball is a quirks sport, meaning a person needs to have a quirk in order to play. The rules are malleable depending on players, but everyone is required to use a soft exosuit. Capture the Flags is also popular, which is mostly a pro-hero game that heros, usually forming a team based on their cities and playing against each other. The game could escalate very fast, and it is popular on pro-hero academies.

Don't know what else to talk about. The justice system is vastly different, like police officers (other than requiring to have some sort of degree) can't carry lethal arms. The US has a gendarmerie force, the National Guard, which revolves usually against highly dangerous quirks (justice systems are not allowed to use the term "villian")(raiding, capturing, and transporting), internal security, and all that stuff. Pro-heros operate differently than Japan, which are like private cops. Pro-hero is another branch of the National Guard, meaning it's a gendarmerie, different from that they focus more on their quirks individually. Pro-heros usually are put in team, squad, and operate individually and occasionally as teams like Justice League and The Avenger. The highest ranking team in the US is called Liberty Paladins, which usually involves protecting both the prime minister and president, dangerous missions, and stuff (California hero team is called Golden Costodian). Also, during the time of war, Peo-heros will act and operate like soldiers.

Pretty much that it. I planning on changing the US name, somewhat similar to Saoirse, got inspired watching a sex scene of Saoirse Ronan with Charlotte Murchison and I kinda like that name.