Artificial intelligence systems do not think, feel, want or understand. Avoid language that gives them human characteristics.

Re: “people don’t bike in the winter”, let’s think about places where people bike more: the Netherlands, Denmark, Berlin, Paris. Not great weather Places in Southern Europe with great weather and no winter (Italy, Greece) don’t have large biking numbers It’s not the weather. It’s infrastructure

@johnmarion.bsky.social I was talking to some friends yesterday about Providence primary turnout and they shook their heads at how low it historically is. That's true but also, when I gave the context of general election turnout and various ineligible groups, it didn't seem quite as low to them.

The bar for progressive policies is: "did this unilaterally solve the entire gigantic systemic issue without making a single person sad?" The bar for conservative policies is: "did the people pushing this yell out the name of a real problem before doing something unrelated, cruel and ineffective?"

Michael Hobbes@michaelhobbes.bsky.social · 4w ago

Opposing a policy that would increase city revenue because the city doesn't have enough revenue, chef's kiss.

'tis the season* in Boston! Mind your vehicle height on Storrow Drive/Soldiers Field Road and Memorial Drive. Here's my map of some popular locations to sardine-tin the roof of your truck. (*'tis not the season. There is no season. The whole thing about students being to blame is a myth!)

Underappreciated: US farmland *already substantially produces energy, not food*, and does so very inefficiently. Corn ethanol (~40% of all US corn) requires about 100 times more land per vehicle-mile driven than solar photovoltaics -> electric vehicles. Shifting corn to solar *would free up land*.

Cameron 🇺🇸🗽🦅@cameroncorduroy.bsky.social · last mo.

anytime people raise concerns about land use for solar projects or anything like that i just want to point out that half the corn we grow in this country gets used to make gasoline slightly worse

Approximately 74% - 80% of drivers ticketed by New York City's speed camera ticket do not receive a second one. Speeding dropped by 94 percent reduction in locations where cameras were installed. www.nyc.gov/html/dot/htm...

ryan cooper@ryanlcooper.com · last mo.

every speed camera has a big ass sign before and next to it, and they're punched into Google maps. they do not want you paying that ticket, they want you driving in a safe and sensible manner

Also, speaking as someone who loved all the Myst games and Obduction and regularly refreshed the crowdfunder for Firmament for 2+ years, Firmament ultimately kinda sucked. Maybe that's another reason funders were gunshy on a new game from Cyan.

Adam Morgan@adamm0rgan.bsky.social · 2mo ago

For @wired.com, I spoke with indie devs about the video game funding collapse that led to the cancellation of a fascinating new MYST game. www.wired.com/story/no-one...

I looked at some RI Q2 campaign contribution reports to see which candidates share donors. Lots of not very surprising overlaps. Here are some that were interesting, largely because they help elucidate especially those 4-candidate general offices where I've had a harder time getting a clear picture:

It's a very simple equation. The alternative requires that the GOP either implodes or reverses the trajectory that it's been on for like three decades. So the choice is basically "risky electoral reform" or the status quo, and the status quo is "continued collapse of the constitutional republic"

Mark Copelovitch@mcopelov.bsky.social · 2mo ago

There is no crushing the right in a two-party system. That boils down to “Dems will win every election forever,” & we need a system in which Dems can lose & it’s not a crisis for democracy because there are other pro-democracy parties.

Absolutely everybody who knows anything about labor demographics saw this coming miles away. The last 18 months have been a steady stream of “nobody could have predicted” things every minimally knowledgable person loudly predicted.

"For every mile of natural gas pipe we replace today,...customers will be paying off this investment into the 2080s (or later)...If we are planning to transition customers off of natural gas by 2050, why are we building a natural gas distribution system to last through the end of the century?"

Energy Institute at Haas@ucenergyinstitute.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Why Are We Sinking Billions into a Gas System We Plan to Leave Behind? A new post by Meredith Fowlie. Old rules, new pipes, and a shrinking customer base. energyathaas.wordpress.com/2026/07/20/w...

Here's something I post from time to time. My answer to a reader who asked me: what could journalists do NOW to break with some of their more corrosive habits.

If this is accurate, even a "Trump says this, but evidence does not support it story" will be insufficient. This speech is part of an explicit threat against democracy, to overturn and control democratic outcomes. If we can't call this out clearly, we are lost.

Super Shoe@shoe.bsky.social · 3mo ago

It's all fun and games until we gather at the Capitol

This is devastating. Louisa was everything you could ask of a colleague and a human being -- smart, committed, hardworking, and, above all, kind and compassionate. I am heartbroken for her family and for the many people who have lost a beloved friend and colleague today.

The Boston Globe@bostonglobe.com · 3mo ago

A cycling advocate and transportation planner for the city of Boston was identified as the cyclist who was struck and killed in a crash near Roxbury Crossing this morning.

If you're a normal person baffled by stuff like this, the key thing to know is that, to an investor-owned utility like National Grid, "costs less" is a *bad thing*, because they make more profit the more they spend. Making less profit for their investors is, uh, not viable.

Alex Barron@alexrbarron.bsky.social · 3mo ago

National Grid "determined that installing a non-pipeline alternative like electrifying the [3] homes with heat pumps wasn’t viable despite it costing about 20 percent less than a gas pipe replacement..." commonwealthbeacon.org/energy/ten-c...

This is the second time in as many months that a city transportation planner and cycling advocate has been killed while riding. Last month Chicago lost Riley O’Neil, now the Boston cycling community had lost Louisa Gag. Gutting, infuriating, and completely preventable. No paywall: archive.ph/AJHAy

The Boston Globe@bostonglobe.com · 3mo ago

A cycling advocate and transportation planner for the city of Boston was identified as the cyclist who was struck and killed in a crash near Roxbury Crossing this morning.

prepare to have your daughter accused of being a boy and face demands that her gentials be inspected if the dad on the other team thinks that she fouled his special snowflake too hard

Nancy Armour@nrarmour.bsky.social · 3mo ago

The ban is heinous for what it does to transgender athletes. But if you think cisgender girls and young women won’t be caught up in the fallout, too, you are woefully ignorant

This list of assumptions, that are very obviously not remotely how reality works, have been the cornerstone of Democratic strategic thinking for as long as I’ve been alive.

Jeff Lazarus@jlazarus.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Long story short, the median voter theorem - Assumes a single electoral arena - Assumes single dimensional policy space. - Assumes a informed electorate. - Assumes stable policy preferences - Assumes voters choose candidates on policy preferences. None of these things is true.

When cars came along, the industry convinced us their product killing children was normal and probably the children's fault because they were playing in the street The auto industry also told the world that their product represented the future and blind acceptance of it was necessary and inevitable

Carl Quintanilla@carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 4mo ago

“.. He said cars were once portrayed as killing children, but the world changed its norms by having sidewalks and crosswalks .. “When I was growing up, I used to play in the streets,” Huang said. “When cars came along, you obviously can’t play in the streets now.” apnews.com/article/nvid...

The north of Providence, in fact, used to be North Providence (as did Pawtucket west of the Blackstone).

GLM Lightning Mapper might point to a bolide (fireball) causing that very large boom over southern New England a little while ago.

The 2026040801 update of @grapheneos.org seems to have messed up some SSL configuration rendering my mobile browser and several other apps unusable, including updating apps via Google Play Store. Help? #grapheneos nontechnical user here who really wants to stick with the OS.

I’d add that means testing adds a costly layer of bureaucracy that goes to the pockets of expensive consulting firms. It’s cheaper for government to just provide universal services than to sort out who is “worthy” (and yes, tax the rich)

W.E.D.em Boyz@leftistwonk.bsky.social · 6mo ago

We have a very simple solution to universal programs benefiting the wealthy. You claw back the money through taxes on the back end. Everyone has known this for 100 years, but people get to pretend they don’t when it’s convenient for their ideology.

Right. The United States of America literally did not exist before 1789 so how can 1776 or 1781 (the Articles’ ratification) be a point of origin? It’s fine to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, but we should be honest about what that means. #teachablemoment

I came to Minneapolis to report on what's going on, and one of the main questions I showed up with is "just what is the scale of the resistance?" After all, we're all used to the news calling Portland a "war zone" or whatever when it's just some protests in one part of town.

Nuanced take: I think it's really important to give *normal citizens* who supported Trump and off-ramp and *professional writers, pundits and politicians* who supported Trump should have to wear it like a scarlet letter for the rest of their lives

Doctor Memory@blank.org · 8mo ago

This is aggravating, because on the one hand I think it's really important to give fascists an off-ramp and positive reinforcement when they use it... ...on the other hand, FUCK that guy, in particular.

When we look at what he might do with the midterms, it is useful to keep these distinctions in mind. Trump has essentially no ability to exercise direct authority on federal elections. He cannot even pressure states into giving him voting rolls. (8/?)

I am from Providence, but I’m visiting Bondi and witnessed the shooting today. I am very upset but lucky to be safe and okay. I had my camera with me and took photos.

Day 21 - Icon Rhode Island Public Libraries Here are the Public Libraries across Rhode Island. The symbol is from the @nounproject.bsky.social, which is probably one of the best subscriptions I have. The symbols are graduated by square footage. #30DayMapChallenge