Steve Dowling
banner
steve.bsky.social
Steve Dowling
@steve.bsky.social
In another life we were arsonists
I think this bag is fake.

Hermes's flagship products are handsewn using a saddle stitch. A worker marks the leather using an awl and then threads two needles through from both sides.

This results in a tight stitch with no holes between the stitches. The holes here suggest the bag was machine sewn.
November 8, 2025 at 2:12 AM
Reposted by Steve Dowling
This is wild: Bluesky says at least 3% of all posts made on November 1 -- Game 7 of the World Series -- were about baseball. bsky.social/about/blog/1...
The World Series Was Electric — So Was Bluesky - Bluesky
“How can you not be romantic about baseball?” — Moneyball 2011
bsky.social
November 6, 2025 at 10:34 PM
Reposted by Steve Dowling
Hello welcome to bluesky. We have every kind of anti-government radical left of center, and also, baseball
November 2, 2025 at 3:46 AM
Reposted by Steve Dowling
Northwest Chicago Suburb: ICE Agents Rip 15-Year-Old Girl from Car, Slam Her to Ground She Screams “I’m 15!” as Man Kneels on Her Neck
October 11, 2025 at 7:16 PM
"It's time to put the storm windows on."
— Mike Barnicle
October 3, 2025 at 5:00 AM
Reposted by Steve Dowling
I wrote about one of the most terrifying days of my life. www.pbump.net/o/taking-tyl...
Taking Tylenol
DON’T GIVE TYLENOL TO YOUR YOUNG CHILD FOR VIRTUALLY ANY REASON I don’t remember why we brought our two-year-old son all the way into Brooklyn to see the doctor. We were living way out near Connecticu...
www.pbump.net
September 26, 2025 at 4:32 PM
Reposted by Steve Dowling
people have already mentioned SNEAKERs, THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR and of course ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN as great redford performances, let me recommend THE CANDIDATE, which is really one of the best movies ever made about american politics
September 16, 2025 at 6:05 PM
Reposted by Steve Dowling
September 1, 2025 at 10:00 PM
Reposted by Steve Dowling
Last week, Boston received a letter from AG Bondi threatening to prosecute officials and withhold funds unless we cooperate with carrying out mass deportations.

The US Attorney General asked for a response by today, so here it is: stop attacking our cities to hide your administration’s failures.
August 19, 2025 at 2:01 PM
Reposted by Steve Dowling
This is why I don’t spend much time on Meta’s Threads.

So beyond repulsive.
Meta appoints anti-DEI and anti-LGBTQ+ conspiracy theorist Robby Starbuck as AI bias advisor
Robby Starbuck has been appointed as an AI bias advisor at Meta with the goal of making the company's chat bot less "woke."
www.advocate.com
August 14, 2025 at 4:08 AM
Reposted by Steve Dowling
Wow. A group of top scholars at Harvard just sent a letter to its president, Alan Garber, warning against surrendering to Trump.

Signatories include Steven Levitsky, Dani Rodrik, Ryan Enos, Theda Skocpol, and Steven Walt.

Someone forwarded it to me. Read it here:
July 31, 2025 at 3:35 PM
“Going along is what did them in.”
“After years watching Hungary suffocate under the weight of its democratic collapse, I came to understand that the real danger of a strongman isn’t his tactics; it’s how others, especially those with power, justify their acquiescence.”

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/23/o...
Opinion | I Watched It Happen in Hungary. Now It’s Happening Here.
www.nytimes.com
July 23, 2025 at 1:56 PM
Reposted by Steve Dowling
Also out: The fourth annual Peninsula International Dance Festival is coming up at the end of July. Read about the spirit of unity which brings together the over 250 performers who will showcase traditional and contemporary dance from across the globe:

www.sfcv.org/articles/mus...
Togetherness Is the Theme of This Year’s Peninsula International Dance Festival
Over two days in San Mateo, 21 different local dance companies will take the stage in a show of unity.
www.sfcv.org
July 8, 2025 at 9:15 PM
Reposted by Steve Dowling
I have two new articles out in the San Francisco Classical Voice! Firstly, a Q&A with Canadian violinist Blake Pouliot, who told me about his performing inspirations and goals ahead of his performance with the SF Symphony next week:

www.sfcv.org/articles/art...
Blake Pouliot: The Violinist as Actor
The soloist, who once considered a career onscreen and not just onstage, now uses those tools to interpret concertos.
www.sfcv.org
July 8, 2025 at 9:14 PM
Reposted by Steve Dowling
June 19, 2025 at 8:19 PM
Had only ever seen Jon Hamm wear a @cardinals.com cap until tonight.
June 8, 2025 at 11:38 PM
Reposted by Steve Dowling
Law enforcement officers should never cover their faces when making arrests or conceal their identities (unless they are working undercover). They work for us. We have a right to know who they are. These face coverings are frightening & unAmerican, as though they're ashamed of what they're doing.
June 2, 2025 at 1:50 AM
Reposted by Steve Dowling
Reposted by Steve Dowling
BREAKING: In a stunning moment, renowned journalist Scott Pelley just highlighted how Donald Trump is working to stifle free speech in America, and how he plans on fighting back. This is huge.
May 26, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Reposted by Steve Dowling
It's not just you - it's hypernormalization
Systems are crumbling - but daily life continues. The dissonance is real
If everything feels broken but strangely normal, the Soviet-era concept of hypernormalization can help
www.theguardian.com
May 23, 2025 at 12:34 AM
Reposted by Steve Dowling
This is a pretty classic example (imo) of how journalists are approaching LLMs like ChatGPT wrong. AI should be a tool for journalists to improve their work, not a replacement for doing proper research and reporting— even if it's just finding some fun summer book recs.
This was just posted by @tbretc.bsky.social on another platform. The Chicago Sun-Times obviously gets ChatGPT to write a ‘summer reads’ feature almost entirely made up of real authors but completely fake books. What are we coming to?
May 20, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Reposted by Steve Dowling
UNREAL: Worcester police and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were seen on video detaining a mother and her teenage daughter, whose face was slammed into the ground, Thursday in the Massachusetts city. www.nbcboston.com/news/local/h...
‘Harrowing': Video shows Worcester police hold girl's face on ground during ICE operation
Telemundo Nueva Inglaterra captured video of a 16-year-old girl’s face being held on the ground by Worcester police officers; she and her mother were detained in an apparent ICE operation
www.nbcboston.com
May 9, 2025 at 11:54 AM
Reposted by Steve Dowling
"On Swift Horses" is a movie that doesn't shy away from its bold narratives (and attractive cast)— but its sweeping thematic ambition can land a bit heavy-handed. Read my review in The Daily Northwestern:

dailynorthwestern.com/2025/05/01/l...
Jacob Elordi, Daisy-Edgar Jones star in ‘On Swift Horses’
Of all the stars of middling teen film and television once beloved by Gen Z youth, few have gone on to amass a filmography quite like Jacob Elordi. Once known for his role as the unlikely love interes...
dailynorthwestern.com
May 5, 2025 at 3:49 AM