Good Morning, RVA: Time to dry out

So long endless rains, hello beautiful week ahead.

October 5, 2015; 7:05 AM • by Ross Catrow

Photo by: Sarah Elizabeth Altendorf

Good morning, RVA! It’s 54 °F, and you may just see the sun today–assuming that it does still exist. Highs in the mid-60s set us up for what could be a pretty delightful week of fall weather.

Water cooler

Richmond Police are reporting a homicide in Mosby Court that occurred early Sunday morning. Officers arrived at the 1900 block of Redd Street to find a 34-year-old man, suffering from a gunshot wound, who died at the scene. This is the city’s 27th murder. At this time last year, Richmond had seen 30 murders.

Yesterday, Richmond Magazine’s Tina Griego wrote a nice, pro-transit editorial that laments Richmond’s lack of a truly useful bus system. If reading that editorial gets you excited, you’ll want to read this explainer about the differences between a bus system designed for coverage vs. one designed for ridership. Then you should plan on going to this community conversation, hosted by Richmond Magazine and The Valentine, tomorrow at 6:00 PM.

It’s that time again, when presidential hopefuls come pouring into Virginia because of our decidedly swing-state nature. WRIC tells me, via the Associate Press, that republican presidential candidate John Kasich will attend a town hall meeting at the University of Richmond today at 11:30 AM. I think, if you put your mind to it, you could catch almost all of the candidates from either party before next year’s election. It’s like an incredibly high stakes game of Pokemon!

Speaking of high-stakes games, the Supreme Court begins its new season today, and the New York Times has a rundown of the topics they’re expected to weigh in on.

Sports!

• Spiders crushed Maine, 48-17.
• Hokies let another one slip through their fingers, losing to Pitt 13-17.
• Nats won two of three against the Mets to finish up the regular season.
• D.C. United beat New York City FC, 2-1.
• Washington beat the Eagles 23-20 with a late Kirk Cousins touchdown.

This morning’s longread

We Are Living in a Robot Moment — Rejoice, Cower, and Copulate?

Should we or should we not have sex with robots? That is, at least, a question.

What’s amazing about the coming extinction of the AIBO, though, isn’t this product-circle-of-life stuff. Toys break; it’s what toys do. What’s amazing is that AIBO owners are experiencing actual grief. From the outside, owning an AIBO kind of looks like the pet version of vaping. But these are people who have owned, and cared for, their robo-pups for years. Longer than the lifespans of most actual dogs, in some cases. Their AIBOs are part of their lives. The New York Times did a video about this in June, and I’m sorry, it’s moving. They’re lighting candles. They’re saying goodbye. I have no idea what this means. Like, are they having an aesthetic experience? Is it absurd and depressing to feel deep feelings for a consumer product? Are the feelings themselves the product? Does it say something optimistic about human nature? Does it say something terrifying? Life is very large. Under the right circumstances, you, too, could fall in love with a toaster.

This morning’s Instagram

The James River was roaring today. #RVA

A photo posted by Creative Dog Media™ (@creativedogmedia) on Oct 4, 2015 at 3:23pm PDT

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October 5, 2015 7:05 AM 3