David’s Notes
1.🌴I’m going back to Cali! The state’s YIMBYs are still buzzing from Gavin Newsom signing SB79, a hugely significant bill that, among other things, allows denser housing near transit across the state. At this November 6 Canary Live event, I will sit down with housing policy advocate and cleantech investor Kim-Mai Cutler to talk about SB79 and more. As always, we’ve set aside a handful of free tickets for paid Volts subscribers. Register your interest here.
2. 🍖I just got back from Spain! I spent ten days in Madrid, Granada, and Cordoba with Mrs. Volts and the oldest boy, who is doing a semester abroad there. Much fun was had by all, though I remain severely jetlagged.
I wrote a thread on Bluesky about … well it turned out to be mostly about the food. Here it is, as text:
On my way home from a week in southern Spain, a few reflections. Love the walkable streets. Love the sociable culture of outdoor cafes. Love the schedule -- late (heavy) lunch, late (light) dinner, late nights, slow mornings. Love the Arab bath/spa. Love the history. But friends, I must admit... I did not like the food. Like really didn’t like it. For instance: within 48 hours of arriving I was deeply, existentially sick of ham. Like I never want to see ham again. The very word “ham” causes me to shudder. But my god it is *everywhere*, on every menu, in every dish, on every vegetable.
There’s a standard and highly limited Andalusian menu -- ham, potatoes, white bread, oily everything, f’ing croquettes -- that barely varies from restaurant to restaurant, and there are very few exceptions. Like you gotta *work* to find anything else, any other cuisine. It’s fine for a meal, maybe two, but ... again? And again? And again? It’s not just eating one cuisine all the time, it’s a very *narrow* cuisine. A relatively small handful of items. And that handful includes *no* vegetables. Like it is genuinely difficult to find a fresh vegetable. I have no idea how vegetarians survive in southern Spain. Order something called “salad” & you get ... potato & tuna salad. Order “asparagus” & you get overcooked, stringy asparagus ... covered in ham. We went to *numerous* restaurants where there literally was not a single vegetarian dish on offer.
We found a tapas place with a picture of lettuce on the menu so we eagerly ordered it and it was ... a head of romaine, quartered. Maybe a little oil drizzled on it? But that’s it. “Tomatoes” was ... a plate of sliced tomatoes. We must be the only ones who ordered it? The one reliably present vegetable was eggplant ... in tempura batter, deep fried, drizzled with honey. (Yummy, but not exactly healthy.) We eventually found a thai place, a mexican place, an italian place. None of them were particularly good, I’m sad to say. Seattle foodie culture has spoiled me.
Anyway. We had a great time, saw some absolutely amazing stuff (the Alhambra in Granada, the Mezquita Cathedral in Cordoba), but I couldn’t live there. Too many tourists and the food ... I’m worried I’m going to have nightmares about ham.
Oh I wanted to mention one other thing that I loved: plazas! They’re not unique to Spain, obviously -- in fact they’re common in almost all cities outside North America. But I find every single one a pure joy. People are sitting, standing around, kicking soccer balls, listening to music ... *living*.
Plazas! One of those things that I think is so basic to any European that it almost sounds weird to call it out and celebrate it ... but at the same time is almost entirely alien to most Americans. Outdoor living rooms, basically. I can’t tell you what a good feeling they give me. The thing is, to work, to be “activated” in the jargon, a plaza has to be accessible by foot, by lots of people. We’ve all seen those big, austere, empty urban plazas (Atlanta, where I am, has several) in US cities. They don’t work because they’re surrounded by car sewers & only accessible by car.
Our hotel in Cordoba was immediately next to a big plaza and I spent *hours* just watching people. Hundreds of people, hanging out, coming through, some in a hurry, some strolling, some old couples, some packs of youths, some kids playing soccer. People flirting, people fighting. Just ... life. In a car-dependent city, the other people you are living in a city with are just ... drivers, competing with you for road & parking space. They are theoretical, abstract, mere impediments. When you’re walking in & around plazas, they are real, concrete, with faces, with real lives. I can’t even really capture it in words but I want to say that the lack of plazas in the US -- the lack of common public spaces where you can mix, physically, with others, and experience their faces & smells & emotions & lives -- is one explanation for our deep & extensive dysfunctions. </fin>
More thoughts on the Alhambra in this thread:
3. 🔥Subscribers know that I am extremely enthusiastic about hot rocks, ie, thermal energy storage for high-temperature industrial applications. In 2023 I did an introduction to the subject, told through the story of a startup called Rondo: “Why electrifying industrial heat is such a big deal.”
I’m quite tickled to report that Rondo has reached commercial scale:
4. ⚾2025 was the year Mrs. Volts finally lured me into becoming a true diehard fan of the Seattle Mariners, just in time to watch that ludicrously charismatic team battle through a wild, dramatic postseason, reach game seven of the ACLS playoffs, and then lose, tragically, by a single run. The Mariners remain the only team in the league that’s never reached the World Series.
Why do people like sports again?
5. 💚Hey, I realize it’s been a while since I’ve done anything special for my paid subscribers, my beloveds, my dearests, to whom I owe my life and eternal gratitude. After a somewhat sleepy summer, I got slammed into high-gear busyness a few months ago and haven’t really had a chance to come up for air since. But don’t worry, I have a few things in mind for the coming month or two. We need to catch up on the “What the F is happening"?” series and I’ve got a few solo takes I need to get off my chest. Just know that I think about you paid subscribers every day, and say a quiet little prayer of gratitude.
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