I have discovered so much new music that I really like via the Label Albums component, and I can't think of any other way I could keep up with all the new releases on the labels I follow. Without Smarter Playlists, I can't think of any other way to do this (build a random mix of new-ish releases from some of my favorite labels.) THANK YOU, u/plamere !
If you like 80s alternative music (New Wave, Post Punk, Jangle Pop, Goth Rock, New Romantic, etc.,) check out LeeCo Radio 10 – A Dream of the 80s. It's updated weekly, usually on Fridays, and always contains 50 tracks from across the spectrum of 80s alternative music.
Paul's recent amazing functional additions to Smarter Playlists (Artists and Albums now flow through the graph) has brought us all closer to realizing the dream of automating the hunt for new music we might like. Here is any early attempt using some of the new functions he introduced.
The program: https://smarterplaylists.playlistmachinery.com/shared/2nlYCxDz2iiB7DJw
Hi u/plamere - this may be working as intended, but I found it counter-intuitive. After your latest post, I expected "Date Filter" to handle either tracks or albums. If that's not the way it's supposed to work, then please just ignore this.
Two San Diego County supervisors unveiled a plan to tackle the Tijuana River sewage crisis, a long-standing issue with significant environmental and health implications. Supervisors Tara Lawson-Remer and Paloma Aguirre introduced their initiative aimed at constructing a new sewage treatment system on the U.S. side of the border during a press conference Monday.
For years, Mexican authorities have faced pressure to manage sewage that seeps into local waterways, yet existing infrastructure has not prevented pollution from impacting communities. Lawson-Remer emphasized the urgency, stating, “We can not keep talking about this.” She and Aguirre hope their proposal will transform the management of raw sewage entering the ocean.
Currently, infrastructure on both sides of the border designed to contain sewage in Mexico has not sufficiently addressed the problem. As Aguirre pointed out, “we can't control what happens across the border - but we can control what happens on our side of it.” The current systems are failing to capture all sewage, which contributes to polluted water and compromised air quality in San Diego.
The newly proposed Tijuana River Capture and Cleanup Initiative is a phased, county-led effort. However, the first step is securing a vote on the proposal during Tuesday's board meeting. If approved, the supervisors aim to pursue state emergency declarations to expedite the permitting process and identify funding sources.
“We won’t continue to punt this to anyone else while we have kids getting sick on a daily basis,” Aguirre declared. The initial phase of the initiative, with a planning process estimated at 18 months, is backed by $1.8 million already allocated in this year’s budget.
San Diego considers public library sites for affordable housing – NBC 7 San Diego
Summary: San Diego is developing an Affordable Home Development Master Plan to identify city-owned properties that could eventually be used to build affordable housing and address the region’s severe shortage of affordable land. Out of more than 400 evaluated properties, the city has narrowed its focus to 20 potential sites, including seven public libraries, two vacant lots, and two city work yards, with 11 identified as the most promising for future development. City officials stress that no housing is currently being built and that existing public services, such as libraries, would remain operational if redevelopment eventually happens.
Link: San Diego Police Ramp Up Enforcement to Restore Order in Gaslamp Quarter | Inside San Diego
Summary: Beginning this weekend, the San Diego Police Department is launching "Operation Last Call," a high-visibility enforcement effort in downtown San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter centered around 5th Avenue and F Street. The crackdown comes in response to surging lawlessness, including disorderly conduct rates three times higher than Pacific Beach last year and a 172 percent increase in assaults on police officers over the past two years. The operation will feature increased foot patrols, dedicated tactical units, strict enforcement of public consumption and disorderly conduct laws, and a zero-tolerance approach to unlawful behavior that will continue until public safety improves.
From the San Diego Digital Archives:
>1941 photo of the trailer camp in Pacific Beach. One of San Diego's oldest suburbs, PB was established in 1887, bounded by La Jolla on the north, Mission Beach and Bay on the south, I-5 on the east and the ocean on the west. During its first 50 years, there was not a lot of life in PB west of what is now I-5. Growth during pre-World War years was quiet and PB remained rural. However, by the end of World War II, that changed and PB led all San Diego suburbs in new population growth.
Link: https://smarterplaylists.playlistmachinery.com/shared/BdG2tNTtHkr083mg
This program randomly samples 50 tracks from your Last 300 Liked Songs that are not in your Top Tracks and haven't been listened to recently. Change the target playlist to one of your choosing.
You can also change the number of tracks retrieved from Liked Songs to dig deeper into your catalog
If you're a fan of genres like Indie Folk, Americana, Alt-Country, and adjacent, you might like this playlist. Updated weekly, usually on Mondays:
Also posted to Fider, here: https://smarterplaylists.fider.io/posts/81/enhance-the-last-fm-users-top-tracks-component-to-filter-on-playcount – Enhance the Last.fm User's Top Tracks component to allow filtering on <playcount>. The LastFM API returns playcount as one of its fields. I would love to be able to retrieve my Top 50 or Top 100 tracks for a time period but filter out songs I have only listened to once or twice. This could either be a range or simply a floor (Minimum Play Count.) Thanks!
Does anyone know the actual reason that the City of San Diego uses heavy equipment to completely denude the entire south end of Morley Field Park?
It's usually filled with thousands of plants, wildlife like rabbits and butterflies, has flowers in the Spring, and is generally a pleasant place to walk around. This is the second or third time in five years I've seen the City completely plow every single living thing into the ground. It's so weird to me – that a city government which often professes to care about nature, wildlife, and green spaces would destroy every living thing in a huge swath of land. I'm wondering if anyone has a clue why they do this?
San Diego County’s apartment vacancy rate reached a historic high of 6.2% at the end of June, surpassing the previous record of 5.7% set during the 2009 recession. This shift comes just three years after a record-low vacancy rate of 2.6% in 2021. Real estate tracker CoStar attributed the rise in empty units to a surge in apartment construction, with a record-setting 6,927 units completed in 2025 and approximately 4,000 more currently under construction. Despite the spike in vacancies, the average monthly rent in the county remained largely flat, rising just 0.5% over the past year to $2,583.
While average asking rents have not dropped significantly, increased competition has forced many landlords to offer lease-signing incentives, such as multiple weeks of free rent and waived parking fees. This high-supply environment is further influenced by a banner year for affordable housing, which added a record 3,836 subsidized, rent-restricted units in 2025. Vacancy rates and rental prices vary widely across the region, ranging from a 11.9% vacancy rate and minor rent declines in downtown San Diego to a tight 3.2% vacancy rate and over 3% rent increases in wealthy coastal areas like La Jolla. Analysts predict countywide rents may drop by an average of 1.7% by the end of this year before climbing again in 2027 as construction slows.
This program makes use of the new Similar Tracks component to find tracks by artists several steps away from a seed artist that you specify. It also uses Artist Filter to eliminate tracks by artists that were found at the next higher level. Because it leverages a lot of Shuffle and Sample components, the output is different every time you run it.
The program: https://smarterplaylists.playlistmachinery.com/shared/0WBl7k8sYrI5gDDu
I love the new "Similar Tracks" component as a tool for finding songs by artists adjacent to ones I'm familiar with. This program includes a filter near the end to include only songs released in the past 24 months, so I can discover new music by bands I might have otherwise missed. It also leans heavily on Shuffle so it produces a different mix every time I run it. If anyone's interested, you can listen to the target playlist here (beware that it changes frequently.)
The San Diego City Council has endorsed ten state legislative bills aimed at reducing electricity rates and increasing accountability for investor-owned utilities like SDG&E. This move comes as SDG&E filed a request to increase rates by over 8% in 2028, citing safety and infrastructure needs.
The proposed legislation includes reforms to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), pushing for stricter scrutiny of rate hike requests. One key bill, SB 905, seeks to limit utility profits from wildfire mitigation and tie executive compensation to lowering rates, while also promoting lower-cost public financing for energy projects. While SDG&E opposes several of the endorsed bills, the utility stated its commitment to reducing operating costs and removing nonessential charges to improve affordability. The city is also exploring the long-term option of forming its own public utility, with a "phase II" feasibility study set for discussion next week.
The City of San Diego has modernized its Open Data Portal to provide residents with easier, more transparent access to more than 100 public datasets, including street repairs, traffic collisions, and municipal spending. Most, if not all, of the data is available for download as CSV files. Some datasets are also available in formats like JSON, GeoJSON, etc. The upgraded portal replaces broad categories with plain-language search collections. Additionally, the website now features a dedicated help section with articles, step-by-step tutorials, and pre-built dashboards to help users analyze the data. Examples of available data sets include:
Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) emissions in the Tijuana River Valley have continued to exceed federal acute exposure guidelines in recent weeks, driven by a broken sewage pipe — the Parallel Gravity Line — in Tijuana combined with summer heat that accelerates off-gassing from untreated wastewater flows.
One-hour average H2S concentrations near the Valley have reached as high as 915 parts per billion; the Level 1 Federal Acute Exposure Guideline is 360 ppb averaged over four hours. The South Bay area most affected includes Imperial Beach, Chula Vista, and communities near the Otay Mesa border crossing. San Diego County has recommended that South Bay residents limit outdoor activity during flare-ups, keep windows closed, and run air purifiers with activated charcoal filters.
Summary: More than a year before 18-year-old Caleb Vazquez and his 17-year-old accomplice killed three people at the Islamic Center of San Diego, local police and the F.B.I. were actively tracking the teenager’s concerning behavior. In January 2025, law enforcement obtained a court order to seize firearms from the Vazquez household after reports that the teen idolized Nazis and mass shooters, and he had previously been placed in an involuntary psychiatric hold. This article investigates how two teenagers, both previously flagged for extremist behavior, were able to carry out a fatal shooting at a San Diego mosque despite prior intervention attempts by law enforcement and federal agencies. It details the missed warning signs, including earlier efforts to confiscate weapons from the suspects' homes and the limitations of current threat-monitoring systems.