Author | Lightnews

Chuck Smith

@chucklessmith.bsky.social

490 followers 1.9K following 850 posts

Nerd. Wine adviser. Data slinger and database evangelist. Linguistics, by letters. Used to host radio shows. ADS-B reporter. Grape smusher on occasion. Weekend beer league hockey. Cars going round! Maniac driving a Saab! Transit dork. How you get ants.

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Chuck Smith @chucklessmith.bsky.social · 6h

Caltrain is (well I am a long term east bay person, but I definitely spent time in Sunnyvale before deciding to move out here) kind of a weird neglected cousin in a lot of ways but I agree, we should be leaping and shouting about how great this improvement is!

1 1

Chuck Smith @chucklessmith.bsky.social · 8h

I will never understand the tireless war against catenary electrification.

There are major kite-flyers in my family(!), and I *still* don’t get the hate for "make the train quietly go whoosh”.

1 4

Chuck Smith @chucklessmith.bsky.social · 8h

And the ridership numbers are soooooo good amidst this pandemic recovery / new reality. Absolute banger of a transit win.

1 1 5

Chuck Smith @chucklessmith.bsky.social · 9h

A worthy complaint too, given that it’s overt white supremacy.

Chuck Smith @chucklessmith.bsky.social · 9h

1. Yep, hypermiling and such has been a thing for a long time. First time I drove a Civic Hybrid, the regenerative braking was soooo cool!

2. Caltrain is newly-electrified and is reporting nearly a *quarter* of its energy use is being recouped with regen: www.railwaygazette.com/infrastructu....

Californian electric train operator Caltrain to be paid for regenerated power

USA: Californian commuter operator Caltrain is to be paid for the power its electric trains return to the grid from April 2026, after regenerative braking was classified as a renewable generation facility.

www.railwaygazette.com

2 1 16

Chuck Smith @chucklessmith.bsky.social · 9h

Also reassuring: Shortly thereafter I started getting low alarms 🙄so I’m very sure we’re still 100% functional.

1 1

Chuck Smith @chucklessmith.bsky.social · 9h

Tuesday’s a big delivery day and I was just moving cases here and there and one caught just so. Fortunately, it caught the not-cannula-end of things, so the business end is still A-OK and I think this patch job will hold. Didn’t see that risk coming at all though. LOL

Chuck Smith @chucklessmith.bsky.social · 9h

Of all the things* I do where I worry about ripping off the Omnipod before it’s done, I did not have “working at the wine shop” on the list. (Currently held on with tape, and ought to make it to expiration in ~24 hours.)

* - Excepting that first hockey game where I got blasted, and it fell off.

1 1

Chuck Smith @chucklessmith.bsky.social · 9h

Committing to (and successfully completing) writing a thesis in LaTeX is not among any regrets I may have.

Reposted by Chuck Smith

James Poniewozik @poniewozik.bsky.social · 17h

Think about buying a car, a fun, stress-free negotiating process that everybody loves. Now imagine that if you don’t buy a car you die and if you buy the wrong car you also die

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

Trump: "I want the money to go into an account for people where they buy their own health insurance. It's so good. The insurance will be better. It'll cost less. Everybody is gonna be happy. They're gonna feel like entrepreneurs. They're actually able to go out & negotiate their own insurance"

1 340 1.4K

Chuck Smith @chucklessmith.bsky.social · 16h

LOL tariffs makin’ it rain, I guess.

2 1

Reposted by Chuck Smith

Nathan Goldwag @goldwagnathan.bsky.social · 17h

I mean, look, it's not wrong, is it?

Kath Barbadoro @kathbarbadoro.bsky.social · 1d

Google AI is like an Eric Adams quote generator

Al Overview

Men in New York have done countless things throughout history, from building the city to participating in major events like the Stonewall riots and the September 11 attacks. Their actions have ranged from daily life and economic hardship during the Great Depression to playing significant roles in the city's political and social landscape, such as the assassination of Malcolm X or the fight for LGBTQ+ rights.

3 12 93

Chuck Smith @chucklessmith.bsky.social · 17h

Aye. Mean, meet median.

1 1

Chuck Smith @chucklessmith.bsky.social · 1d

www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuzT...

Fifty years ago.

Gordon Lightfoot - Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald (Official Audio)

YouTube video by Gordon Lightfoot

www.youtube.com

Chuck Smith @chucklessmith.bsky.social · 1d

Worth noting you can ping your congresscritters here about this hemp bullshit: hempsupporter.com/bill/help-st...

Help stop the congressional attempt to ban hemp products | U.S. Hemp Roundtable

Use this link to contact your members of congress: Stop Hemp-Killing Language in Congress | U.S. Hemp Roundtable

hempsupporter.com

Reposted by Chuck Smith

Justin Wolfers @justinwolfers.bsky.social · 1d

Who imposed tariffs?
Who cut immigration, destroying the ag workforce?
Who undermined the Fed?
Who halted renewable energy?
Who's running deficits?

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

Mike Johnson: "That's the reason the inflation is up, the cost of living is up so high -- because of the policies of the previous administration. Now, we're working to root those policies out and implement our own, but it takes a little time."

94 460 1.4K

Chuck Smith @chucklessmith.bsky.social · 1d

Also given the JD rumors, I should probably stop using “couch this” as a thing, given that it sure doesn’t mean what it used to.

Chuck Smith @chucklessmith.bsky.social · 1d

I assume they can couch this as protectionist politics for the California weed industry?

Chuck Smith @chucklessmith.bsky.social · 1d

“How in God’s name did Mamdani win?!” they ask.

Well, *taps the sign*.

Chuck Smith @chucklessmith.bsky.social · 1d

If any of the Democrat brain trust should want to know why people are leaving the Democrats and trucking the fuck to the left, the last 48 hours have been an abjectly instructional exercise in what Democrats do wrong. Capitulate on healthcare, puritanical CBD politics, and Chuck Fucking Schumer.

JG Conley @jconley.bsky.social · 1d

More than 15 Senate Democrats join GOP to advance nationwide ban on hemp products, including CBD gummies,

Reconstructionist @unavaleable.bsky.social · 1d

oh the paul amendment is going down 78-22

1 3

Reposted by Chuck Smith

onion person @junlper.beer · 1d

a new genre of photo in the last year is federal agents working for ICE pointing guns directly at photographers

1.2K 6.2K 21K

Reposted by Chuck Smith

NPR @npr.org · 4d

The National Association of the Deaf is celebrating a legal victory against the White House. A judge ordered ASL for briefings conducted by the press secretary or President Trump.

Judge orders White House to use American Sign Language interpreters at briefings

The National Association of the Deaf is celebrating a legal victory against the White House. A judge ordered ASL for briefings conducted by the press secretary or President Trump.

n.pr

40 260 1.4K

Reposted by Chuck Smith

The Onion @theonion.com · 2d

Chuck Schumer Helps Pull Democrats Back From Brink Of Courage

370 8.8K 28K

Chuck Smith @chucklessmith.bsky.social · 1d

I’m sleeping better knowing Tim Kaine lost the VP opportunity, given this sack of horseshit.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

Tim Kaine on backlash he's getting: "I got the first good night's sleep last night that I've gotten since Oct 1, b/c I wasn't worried about being able to look Capitol Police in the eye when I walked in, or what a furloughed fed worker would say to me at church, or what somebody would say about SNAP"