Isaac Grenfell
@igrenfell.bsky.social
Just your typical Montana drummer/statistician/Dolphins fan
Reposted by Isaac Grenfell
The USGS provides several views. This is the west one.
[V1cam] Kīlauea volcano, Hawaii (west Halemaʻumaʻu crater)
YouTube video by USGS
www.youtube.com
December 6, 2025 at 8:05 PM
The USGS provides several views. This is the west one.
Reposted by Isaac Grenfell
We are a great country that can do great things like fight a war and invent a banger steak sauce simultaneously.
November 27, 2025 at 12:40 AM
We are a great country that can do great things like fight a war and invent a banger steak sauce simultaneously.
Reposted by Isaac Grenfell
i talked to RANGE about how the dominance Doug Wilson has been claiming over Moscow, ID on the national stage isn’t borne out in local elections:
The battle for a North Idaho city’s identity:
Recent elections in the North Idaho city tell a very different story about the town than the national news’ attention to Doug Wilson’s Christ Church would suggest.
Recent elections in the North Idaho city tell a very different story about the town than the national news’ attention to Doug Wilson’s Christ Church would suggest.
Elections show Christ Church is not in charge in Moscow – RANGE Media
Amid a national leftward shift in voting, the North Idaho town has long gone progressive
rangemedia.co
November 20, 2025 at 12:27 AM
i talked to RANGE about how the dominance Doug Wilson has been claiming over Moscow, ID on the national stage isn’t borne out in local elections:
Reposted by Isaac Grenfell
Keys & Mulder build dataset to study homeowners insurance using over 74 million premiums from 2014–2024 inferred from mortgage escrow payments. Premium increases are capitalized into home values, reducing home price growth by over $40,000 in the most exposed zip codes. www.nber.org/papers/w32579
November 19, 2025 at 9:33 PM
Keys & Mulder build dataset to study homeowners insurance using over 74 million premiums from 2014–2024 inferred from mortgage escrow payments. Premium increases are capitalized into home values, reducing home price growth by over $40,000 in the most exposed zip codes. www.nber.org/papers/w32579
Reposted by Isaac Grenfell
My honest reaction to that information
November 17, 2025 at 11:41 PM
My honest reaction to that information
Reposted by Isaac Grenfell
It’s an Interesting Time to cancel your @nytimes.com subscription!
November 7, 2025 at 12:00 AM
It’s an Interesting Time to cancel your @nytimes.com subscription!
Reposted by Isaac Grenfell
This is where I make a minor note that Jewish religious court commentaries have held that the actual "sin of Sodom" (that pushed the Most High to decide to smite it) *wasn't* gay sex, or even angel rape, but a girl subjected to death by scaphism for feeding the poor www.sefaria.org/Sanhedrin.10...
![The relevant text of Sanhedrin 109b from the Talmud (the world's oldest law library in existence, on matters of Jewish religious law and, historically, civil law as well).
The doom of Sodom, per this particular chapter (which details many, many other instances of Sodom and Gomorrah's general policies of "fuck the poor and we will screw visitors in EVERY way possible"):
"There was a young woman who would take bread out to the poor people in a pitcher so the people of Sodom would not see it. The matter was revealed, and they smeared her with honey and positioned her on the wall of the city, and the hornets came and consumed her. And that is the meaning of that which is written: “And the Lord said: Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great [rabba]” (Genesis 18:20). And Rav Yehuda says that Rav says: Rabba is an allusion to the matter of the young woman [riva] who was killed for her act of kindness. It is due to that sin that the fate of the people of Sodom was sealed."
In other words: Young girl was running an illegal soup kitchen (feeding the poor was actually prohibited by law). Her illegal soup kitchen was discovered, a mob dragged her into the streets, smeared honey on her, and tied her outside the city wall to be eaten alive by insects (in what amounted to an ancient Levantine version of the infamous Persian punishment of "the boats"/scaphism).
Forcing a girl to die by scaphism for the "unforgiveable crime" of *feeding the poor so they wouldn't starve* is what doomed Sodom, and by extension its continuing violations of customs and laws requiring the poor and the visitor and the refugee to be protected.
Hmmm, kind of sounds a lot like the present Dysadministration and Christian Nationalists, no?](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ypwzxphp2vrumidtfscckz6l/bafkreicb3tflfwyrn6jrhsikomanqkg4u777n62yqofktd4uvvrwwodqua@jpeg)
November 2, 2025 at 8:50 PM
This is where I make a minor note that Jewish religious court commentaries have held that the actual "sin of Sodom" (that pushed the Most High to decide to smite it) *wasn't* gay sex, or even angel rape, but a girl subjected to death by scaphism for feeding the poor www.sefaria.org/Sanhedrin.10...
Reposted by Isaac Grenfell
so back when my dad was working in a Hong Kong children's home aged 18 he had another foreign volunteer friend, Jane. One time they were in the market, and Jane found a really nice cloth with two Chinese characters on, and took it home and made a blouse out of it.
My ideal political candidate has an upper-boob Chinese tattoo that they were told meant “beautiful mystery” but actually means “idiot tourist”
October 30, 2025 at 1:53 AM
so back when my dad was working in a Hong Kong children's home aged 18 he had another foreign volunteer friend, Jane. One time they were in the market, and Jane found a really nice cloth with two Chinese characters on, and took it home and made a blouse out of it.
Reposted by Isaac Grenfell
I think very often people do not realize the sheer *scale* of government, particularly the US government.
There are already food banks/depositories in every district & a ton of Democrats have been doing events to support them, but if no one besides a staffer posts about it, no one knows about it.
Even with a massive support, it's not replacing $100 billion in SNAP. We need a functional government!
Even with a massive support, it's not replacing $100 billion in SNAP. We need a functional government!
October 27, 2025 at 2:12 AM
I think very often people do not realize the sheer *scale* of government, particularly the US government.
Reposted by Isaac Grenfell
A forgotten Chinese cemetery reveals how Missoula buries its past — and why the present is so familiar.
Montana’s Chinese past isn’t past - High Country News
A forgotten Chinese cemetery reveals how Missoula buries its past — and why the present is so familiar.
buff.ly
October 26, 2025 at 11:00 PM
A forgotten Chinese cemetery reveals how Missoula buries its past — and why the present is so familiar.
Reposted by Isaac Grenfell
We asked people who lived in homeless encampments that were cleared out in city “sweeps” to write about what object was the hardest for them to lose.
“They took my baby pictures and my moms obituaries,” a man in California wrote.
(Published Dec. 2024)
“They took my baby pictures and my moms obituaries,” a man in California wrote.
(Published Dec. 2024)
“I Have Lost Everything”: The Toll of Cities’ Homeless Sweeps
Cities often take belongings — including important documents and irreplaceable mementos — when they conduct sweeps of homeless encampments. ProPublica gave notecards to people across the country so th...
projects.propublica.org
October 25, 2025 at 3:00 AM
We asked people who lived in homeless encampments that were cleared out in city “sweeps” to write about what object was the hardest for them to lose.
“They took my baby pictures and my moms obituaries,” a man in California wrote.
(Published Dec. 2024)
“They took my baby pictures and my moms obituaries,” a man in California wrote.
(Published Dec. 2024)
Reposted by Isaac Grenfell
A bunch of supposed leftists spent the entire biden admin undermining the most pro worker admin since FDR because their treats cost too much
October 23, 2025 at 7:42 PM
A bunch of supposed leftists spent the entire biden admin undermining the most pro worker admin since FDR because their treats cost too much
Reposted by Isaac Grenfell
Sure, why not
BREAKING: The entire East Wing of the White House will be demolished “within days,” according to two Trump administration officials, a significant expansion of President Trump's original stated plan.
Trump administration demolishing entire East Wing of the White House to add new ballroom
Trump said in July that the $250 million project “won’t interfere with the current building.”
nbcnews.to
October 23, 2025 at 12:34 AM
Sure, why not
Reposted by Isaac Grenfell
Hi, I'm the ProPublica reporter who's been tracking an unusual stat: U.S. citizens grabbed by immigration agents.
I did it because the government isn’t.
This is what I found.
I did it because the government isn’t.
This is what I found.
October 18, 2025 at 2:11 PM
Hi, I'm the ProPublica reporter who's been tracking an unusual stat: U.S. citizens grabbed by immigration agents.
I did it because the government isn’t.
This is what I found.
I did it because the government isn’t.
This is what I found.
Reposted by Isaac Grenfell
RIP Diane Keaton, I know The Godfather is easy to dismiss as For the Boys but it doesn’t work without an actress who can wordlessly sell this moment
October 11, 2025 at 7:16 PM
RIP Diane Keaton, I know The Godfather is easy to dismiss as For the Boys but it doesn’t work without an actress who can wordlessly sell this moment
Reposted by Isaac Grenfell
Reposted by Isaac Grenfell
Just because an LLM can produce a report with various figures & charts doesn't mean it is good at statistics.
Because good statistics is not about producing code.
It's about deep knowledge of study design & conduct. In my opinion, 95% of all data science problems come from poor questions & design.
Because good statistics is not about producing code.
It's about deep knowledge of study design & conduct. In my opinion, 95% of all data science problems come from poor questions & design.
Y'all. I just got ChatGPT to do everything in R for this manuscript. I mean EVERYTHING. And it's all legit and reproducible. I'm shook.
How are we mentoring our trainees in statistics now? Who needs to learn coding in R line by line, and who doesn't?
scienceforeveryone.science/statistics-i...
How are we mentoring our trainees in statistics now? Who needs to learn coding in R line by line, and who doesn't?
scienceforeveryone.science/statistics-i...
Statistics in the era of AI
How do we mentor, teach, and do stats when AI can do so much of the work?
scienceforeveryone.science
October 9, 2025 at 1:17 PM
Just because an LLM can produce a report with various figures & charts doesn't mean it is good at statistics.
Because good statistics is not about producing code.
It's about deep knowledge of study design & conduct. In my opinion, 95% of all data science problems come from poor questions & design.
Because good statistics is not about producing code.
It's about deep knowledge of study design & conduct. In my opinion, 95% of all data science problems come from poor questions & design.
Reposted by Isaac Grenfell
The Chinese immigrants who built the Transcontinental Railroad quietly endured racism and violence, fostering a complicated legacy for Chinese-Americans.
What eating bitterness has to do with Chinese food - High Country News
The Chinese immigrants who built the Transcontinental Railroad quietly endured racism and violence, fostering a complicated legacy for Chinese-Americans.
buff.ly
September 22, 2025 at 12:01 AM
The Chinese immigrants who built the Transcontinental Railroad quietly endured racism and violence, fostering a complicated legacy for Chinese-Americans.
Reposted by Isaac Grenfell
Reposted by Isaac Grenfell
Just to be blunt, if you want Wired and 404 and The Verge to employ reporters who understand the memes on bullet casings and can connect them to gaming culture while having the legal and support resources to deal with waves of harassment when we do it… you have to subscribe and pay for the work
the entire media ecosystem is just not built or ready for events like this and far right billionaires like larry ellison buying news orgs will only make this worse
September 12, 2025 at 6:58 PM
Just to be blunt, if you want Wired and 404 and The Verge to employ reporters who understand the memes on bullet casings and can connect them to gaming culture while having the legal and support resources to deal with waves of harassment when we do it… you have to subscribe and pay for the work
Reposted by Isaac Grenfell
Reposted by Isaac Grenfell
Firefighting veterans believe the management team overseeing fire crews played a key role in handing team members over to immigration authorities, shares Stateline.
buff.ly/CicG9BT
buff.ly/CicG9BT
Firefighters question leaders’ role in ICE raid near Bear Gulch Fire - High Country News
Firefighting veterans believe the management team overseeing fire crews played a key role in handing team members over to immigration authorities.
www.hcn.org
September 3, 2025 at 2:01 PM
Firefighting veterans believe the management team overseeing fire crews played a key role in handing team members over to immigration authorities, shares Stateline.
buff.ly/CicG9BT
buff.ly/CicG9BT
Reposted by Isaac Grenfell
This firefighter arrived in the US at age 4, has been here for 19 years, was on track to legal status, and was on a crew trying to contain a major blaze (in Washington state, vs Oregon, fwiw.)
h/t @joshuajfriedman.com
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
h/t @joshuajfriedman.com
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Firefighter arrested by US border agents was on track for legal status, lawyers say
Lawyers say arrest of man fighting Bear Gulch fire in Oregon was illegal and demand immediate release from detention
www.theguardian.com
August 30, 2025 at 6:58 PM
This firefighter arrived in the US at age 4, has been here for 19 years, was on track to legal status, and was on a crew trying to contain a major blaze (in Washington state, vs Oregon, fwiw.)
h/t @joshuajfriedman.com
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
h/t @joshuajfriedman.com
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Reposted by Isaac Grenfell
listen, doomers: do you think they just forgot to let ernst in on the big plan to rig the midterms?
I mean when Democrats keep overperforming in special elections in Iowa by 24 points, Republicans running for the hills is expected. It won't wash out the "we're all going to die" energy of Iowa Republicans
BREAKING: Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa won't seek reelection to Senate in 2026, sources say.
August 29, 2025 at 5:53 PM
listen, doomers: do you think they just forgot to let ernst in on the big plan to rig the midterms?