@tim-obedlam.bsky.social
yeah, we need at least one more person in prison: Elon himself.
November 26, 2025 at 10:48 PM
yeah, we need at least one more person in prison: Elon himself.
I'll disagree on Rogue One but agree that Attack of the Clones should be at the bottom. I'd bump Force Awakens up a notch or two as it's the best of the new trilogy although it was basically just a remake of the original Star Wars.
November 24, 2025 at 9:46 PM
I'll disagree on Rogue One but agree that Attack of the Clones should be at the bottom. I'd bump Force Awakens up a notch or two as it's the best of the new trilogy although it was basically just a remake of the original Star Wars.
I believe that Vermont is the state that has voted Republican the most times since the Republican party came into existence in the 1856 election. It literally *never* voted Democrat until 1964, then swung into the Democratic column in '92 and has remained there since.
November 22, 2025 at 2:16 AM
I believe that Vermont is the state that has voted Republican the most times since the Republican party came into existence in the 1856 election. It literally *never* voted Democrat until 1964, then swung into the Democratic column in '92 and has remained there since.
Absolutely. What your state and local government is doing affects your day-to-day life more than the Feds, typically. And a lot of voters, even politically aware ones, don't know and cannot name their state reps or city councillors.
November 22, 2025 at 2:11 AM
Absolutely. What your state and local government is doing affects your day-to-day life more than the Feds, typically. And a lot of voters, even politically aware ones, don't know and cannot name their state reps or city councillors.
The biggest user of water in Arizona has always been agriculture, by a long ways. Phoenix and Tucson both use *less* water than they did 30–40 years ago despite a larger population. Phoenix has ample water even in a drying climate if we stop growing cotton, alfalfa, and pecans in Arizona.
November 19, 2025 at 12:51 PM
The biggest user of water in Arizona has always been agriculture, by a long ways. Phoenix and Tucson both use *less* water than they did 30–40 years ago despite a larger population. Phoenix has ample water even in a drying climate if we stop growing cotton, alfalfa, and pecans in Arizona.
Good. I am convinced that if every single AI data center shut down and ChatGPT and other LLMs vanished in a puff of smoke, it would immediately make the world a better place.
November 18, 2025 at 12:39 PM
Good. I am convinced that if every single AI data center shut down and ChatGPT and other LLMs vanished in a puff of smoke, it would immediately make the world a better place.
When I said "conventionally pretty" that was a backhanded insult. I don't think she's terribly attractive, myself, and you're correct that she's a lousy writer. Also incredibly self-absorbed.
November 16, 2025 at 12:50 AM
When I said "conventionally pretty" that was a backhanded insult. I don't think she's terribly attractive, myself, and you're correct that she's a lousy writer. Also incredibly self-absorbed.
There is no way the Times wouldn't have run the profile if Nuzzi wasn't blonde and conventionally pretty. That shot of her hair blowing in the wind was weird.
She's the worst sort of access journalist even before the weird RFK Jr thing, and certainly doesn't merit a long profile in the NYT.
She's the worst sort of access journalist even before the weird RFK Jr thing, and certainly doesn't merit a long profile in the NYT.
November 14, 2025 at 10:00 PM
There is no way the Times wouldn't have run the profile if Nuzzi wasn't blonde and conventionally pretty. That shot of her hair blowing in the wind was weird.
She's the worst sort of access journalist even before the weird RFK Jr thing, and certainly doesn't merit a long profile in the NYT.
She's the worst sort of access journalist even before the weird RFK Jr thing, and certainly doesn't merit a long profile in the NYT.
I wonder if we're going to see people dying of rabies because they get exposed and refuse to get vaccinated.
Rabies is terrifying. It's one of the few diseases with a 100% fatality rate. Once you start showing symptoms, you're dead, and it's a horrible death.
Rabies is terrifying. It's one of the few diseases with a 100% fatality rate. Once you start showing symptoms, you're dead, and it's a horrible death.
November 14, 2025 at 4:38 PM
I wonder if we're going to see people dying of rabies because they get exposed and refuse to get vaccinated.
Rabies is terrifying. It's one of the few diseases with a 100% fatality rate. Once you start showing symptoms, you're dead, and it's a horrible death.
Rabies is terrifying. It's one of the few diseases with a 100% fatality rate. Once you start showing symptoms, you're dead, and it's a horrible death.
We could be referring to Cleavermanders instead of Gerrymanders.
November 14, 2025 at 12:35 PM
We could be referring to Cleavermanders instead of Gerrymanders.
Holy crap, I'm 17 years older than that guy and I look better and younger than he does.
November 13, 2025 at 11:26 PM
Holy crap, I'm 17 years older than that guy and I look better and younger than he does.
September or early October.
Bugs are gone, weather's pleasant.
Bugs are gone, weather's pleasant.
November 11, 2025 at 6:37 PM
September or early October.
Bugs are gone, weather's pleasant.
Bugs are gone, weather's pleasant.
The invention of D&D and role-playing games as a genre, by Gygax and Arneson was a stroke of genius, but Gygax was a creep, and that's obvious from 1st-Edition D&D, which even has a "Harlot Encounter Table" in the back of the original DMG, where you can meet Brazen Strumpets or Cheap Trollops.
November 11, 2025 at 5:11 PM
The invention of D&D and role-playing games as a genre, by Gygax and Arneson was a stroke of genius, but Gygax was a creep, and that's obvious from 1st-Edition D&D, which even has a "Harlot Encounter Table" in the back of the original DMG, where you can meet Brazen Strumpets or Cheap Trollops.
The thing is, though, it really was easier for GenXers to get started than it is for the current 20-somethings. At least in my area, starting wages for a typical entry-level job have doubled in 30 years, but rents have tripled and health insurance has gone up something like 8x.
November 9, 2025 at 12:58 PM
The thing is, though, it really was easier for GenXers to get started than it is for the current 20-somethings. At least in my area, starting wages for a typical entry-level job have doubled in 30 years, but rents have tripled and health insurance has gone up something like 8x.
Not only that, but it was one of only 6 states that Carter won in Reagan's 1980 landslide, and Clinton carried it both times. Flipped Republican in 2000 and has been increasingly Republican since.
November 9, 2025 at 12:17 AM
Not only that, but it was one of only 6 states that Carter won in Reagan's 1980 landslide, and Clinton carried it both times. Flipped Republican in 2000 and has been increasingly Republican since.
And predictably, your colleague Ross Douthat dismisses Mamdani's election in his usual manner.
November 5, 2025 at 4:22 PM
And predictably, your colleague Ross Douthat dismisses Mamdani's election in his usual manner.
Same here. I'm white, cis, straight, male, a regular churchgoing Christian, a homeowner: and a lifelong Democrat. Our church would send fundie/MAGA types fleeing from the sanctuary in panic. Because we actually try and follow Christ's teachings.
November 3, 2025 at 9:04 PM
Same here. I'm white, cis, straight, male, a regular churchgoing Christian, a homeowner: and a lifelong Democrat. Our church would send fundie/MAGA types fleeing from the sanctuary in panic. Because we actually try and follow Christ's teachings.
Great article, Amanda. I like that you hit on the point that Mamdani looks like he's having fun. He's optimistic—joyous, even. Both Clinton and Obama had that as well.
November 3, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Great article, Amanda. I like that you hit on the point that Mamdani looks like he's having fun. He's optimistic—joyous, even. Both Clinton and Obama had that as well.
This has the potential to kill hundreds or thousands of children. People don't realize how nasty measles is.
October 31, 2025 at 3:45 PM
This has the potential to kill hundreds or thousands of children. People don't realize how nasty measles is.
Joe Rogan was born in 1967. The measles vaccine became available in 1963 and was widely available by the late 1960s. Rogan is definitely conflating measles with chicken pox.
My mother, born in the mid-1940s, got measles as a kid and said it was as sick as she'd ever been.
My mother, born in the mid-1940s, got measles as a kid and said it was as sick as she'd ever been.
October 28, 2025 at 12:02 AM
Joe Rogan was born in 1967. The measles vaccine became available in 1963 and was widely available by the late 1960s. Rogan is definitely conflating measles with chicken pox.
My mother, born in the mid-1940s, got measles as a kid and said it was as sick as she'd ever been.
My mother, born in the mid-1940s, got measles as a kid and said it was as sick as she'd ever been.
This is example #24,318 why the Internet of Things is a BAD idea. Your household appliances, maybe smart thermostats excepted, should NOT be on the internet. You should NOT need an app to control your refrigerator, or your vacuum cleaner, or your bed.
October 21, 2025 at 9:51 PM
This is example #24,318 why the Internet of Things is a BAD idea. Your household appliances, maybe smart thermostats excepted, should NOT be on the internet. You should NOT need an app to control your refrigerator, or your vacuum cleaner, or your bed.
I was a little skeptical of the utility of going to the protest myself, but it was really exciting to be in the largest protest I've ever seen (Minneapolis) marching and waving signs and chanting, and still more exciting to see this happening in dozens of locations in my home state alone.
October 19, 2025 at 2:42 AM
I was a little skeptical of the utility of going to the protest myself, but it was really exciting to be in the largest protest I've ever seen (Minneapolis) marching and waving signs and chanting, and still more exciting to see this happening in dozens of locations in my home state alone.
This goes back decades. I knew a couple Young Republicans when I was in college in the late 80s/early 90s. Openly sexist and racist, talking about women in appalling ways. Not just saying "I'd like to f**k her" which is crude but normal for 19-year-old hetero guys, but "I wanna own that b*tch".
October 15, 2025 at 12:19 PM
This goes back decades. I knew a couple Young Republicans when I was in college in the late 80s/early 90s. Openly sexist and racist, talking about women in appalling ways. Not just saying "I'd like to f**k her" which is crude but normal for 19-year-old hetero guys, but "I wanna own that b*tch".
Obama's acknowledgement that hey, racism still exists in the USA was unacceptable to the likes of Ben Shapiro. Whereas for me it's a truism. It seems that the American right took any recognition of racism from Obama as an affront, as though electing a black President should solve it permanently.
September 28, 2025 at 10:26 PM
Obama's acknowledgement that hey, racism still exists in the USA was unacceptable to the likes of Ben Shapiro. Whereas for me it's a truism. It seems that the American right took any recognition of racism from Obama as an affront, as though electing a black President should solve it permanently.
Multiple people quoted in the article called Trump a successful businessman, and I just sighed in despair at the stupidity. The man went bankrupt running a *casino*, for Christ's sake.
September 25, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Multiple people quoted in the article called Trump a successful businessman, and I just sighed in despair at the stupidity. The man went bankrupt running a *casino*, for Christ's sake.