Tom Zinnen
@tmzinnen.bsky.social
Retired outreacher, formerly at UW-Madison Biotech Center
Beef prices up 5X over last year?
Gotterdammerung it, please show some evidence to back up that extraordinary claim.
Here's an ordinary claim: Ground beef is up from $5.5/lb in July '24 to $6.3/lb in July '25 (the latest FRED data).
0.8/5.5 = 14.5%. That's 1.14X, not 5X.
Gotterdammerung it, please show some evidence to back up that extraordinary claim.
Here's an ordinary claim: Ground beef is up from $5.5/lb in July '24 to $6.3/lb in July '25 (the latest FRED data).
0.8/5.5 = 14.5%. That's 1.14X, not 5X.
November 21, 2025 at 6:49 PM
Beef prices up 5X over last year?
Gotterdammerung it, please show some evidence to back up that extraordinary claim.
Here's an ordinary claim: Ground beef is up from $5.5/lb in July '24 to $6.3/lb in July '25 (the latest FRED data).
0.8/5.5 = 14.5%. That's 1.14X, not 5X.
Gotterdammerung it, please show some evidence to back up that extraordinary claim.
Here's an ordinary claim: Ground beef is up from $5.5/lb in July '24 to $6.3/lb in July '25 (the latest FRED data).
0.8/5.5 = 14.5%. That's 1.14X, not 5X.
They know of which they speak.
Polo, Illinois had a rope factory, if I remember correctly, and we had ditchweed near Dixon for generations after WWII.
Polo, Illinois had a rope factory, if I remember correctly, and we had ditchweed near Dixon for generations after WWII.
November 21, 2025 at 4:32 PM
They know of which they speak.
Polo, Illinois had a rope factory, if I remember correctly, and we had ditchweed near Dixon for generations after WWII.
Polo, Illinois had a rope factory, if I remember correctly, and we had ditchweed near Dixon for generations after WWII.
I wonder: What part of the country has whole milk at less than $2.99/gallon right now?
Why would @nytimes.com use such a stale photo?
Maybe the photographer visited a Kwik Trip in Wisconsin...
Why would @nytimes.com use such a stale photo?
Maybe the photographer visited a Kwik Trip in Wisconsin...
November 21, 2025 at 4:25 PM
I wonder: What part of the country has whole milk at less than $2.99/gallon right now?
Why would @nytimes.com use such a stale photo?
Maybe the photographer visited a Kwik Trip in Wisconsin...
Why would @nytimes.com use such a stale photo?
Maybe the photographer visited a Kwik Trip in Wisconsin...
The man has no balls: specifically, he lacks iron binnacles on either side of his moral compass.
November 21, 2025 at 4:08 PM
The man has no balls: specifically, he lacks iron binnacles on either side of his moral compass.
The federal government and federal statutes do a better job of protecting the USDA's "4-H" brand than they do in protecting the Medicare brand from unpermitted use.
November 20, 2025 at 8:47 PM
The federal government and federal statutes do a better job of protecting the USDA's "4-H" brand than they do in protecting the Medicare brand from unpermitted use.
Dick Cheney didn't speak out against Trump until Cheney felt obliged to speak up for his daughter in 2022.
Somehow, he couldn't bring himself to speak up for the country but rather he remained silent against Trump in 2016 & in 2020.
A tough-guy cowardly cowboy who put party before country.
Somehow, he couldn't bring himself to speak up for the country but rather he remained silent against Trump in 2016 & in 2020.
A tough-guy cowardly cowboy who put party before country.
November 20, 2025 at 8:43 PM
Dick Cheney didn't speak out against Trump until Cheney felt obliged to speak up for his daughter in 2022.
Somehow, he couldn't bring himself to speak up for the country but rather he remained silent against Trump in 2016 & in 2020.
A tough-guy cowardly cowboy who put party before country.
Somehow, he couldn't bring himself to speak up for the country but rather he remained silent against Trump in 2016 & in 2020.
A tough-guy cowardly cowboy who put party before country.
I seem to recall two assassinated in Minnesota and the husband of the Speaker of the House nearly beaten to death in his own home by Trumpists.
November 20, 2025 at 6:47 PM
I seem to recall two assassinated in Minnesota and the husband of the Speaker of the House nearly beaten to death in his own home by Trumpists.
I'm much more concerned with the current use in the US of the Knights Templar cross by the reight-wing religious zealots.
November 20, 2025 at 4:21 PM
I'm much more concerned with the current use in the US of the Knights Templar cross by the reight-wing religious zealots.
American Apartheid, Minnesota Style, Mid-Century Flavor
Don't want any native Americans buying back any prized lakefront property, either.
Don't want any native Americans buying back any prized lakefront property, either.
November 20, 2025 at 4:06 PM
American Apartheid, Minnesota Style, Mid-Century Flavor
Don't want any native Americans buying back any prized lakefront property, either.
Don't want any native Americans buying back any prized lakefront property, either.
Amen.
"He had become the most powerful weapon: the infantryman with a radio."
I'm still astonished that cell phones made this possible for everyone. And then throw in cell phones with videocameras...
"He had become the most powerful weapon: the infantryman with a radio."
I'm still astonished that cell phones made this possible for everyone. And then throw in cell phones with videocameras...
November 19, 2025 at 6:17 PM
Amen.
"He had become the most powerful weapon: the infantryman with a radio."
I'm still astonished that cell phones made this possible for everyone. And then throw in cell phones with videocameras...
"He had become the most powerful weapon: the infantryman with a radio."
I'm still astonished that cell phones made this possible for everyone. And then throw in cell phones with videocameras...
November 19 is the anniversary of the sudden death of UW President Charles Van Hise in 1918 in Milwaukee WI, where he had gone to the hospital for nose surgery.
He went to a hospital while the Influenza pandemic was peaking.
I continue to wonder if he succumbed solely to bleeding.
He went to a hospital while the Influenza pandemic was peaking.
I continue to wonder if he succumbed solely to bleeding.
November 19, 2025 at 3:57 AM
November 19 is the anniversary of the sudden death of UW President Charles Van Hise in 1918 in Milwaukee WI, where he had gone to the hospital for nose surgery.
He went to a hospital while the Influenza pandemic was peaking.
I continue to wonder if he succumbed solely to bleeding.
He went to a hospital while the Influenza pandemic was peaking.
I continue to wonder if he succumbed solely to bleeding.
And the caissons go rolling along...
To paraphrase Twain:
"Tanks are good,
tanks are impressive,
but it's artillery that does the work"
Knox's successors' achievements in 1941-45:
To paraphrase Twain:
"Tanks are good,
tanks are impressive,
but it's artillery that does the work"
Knox's successors' achievements in 1941-45:
November 17, 2025 at 8:55 PM
And the caissons go rolling along...
To paraphrase Twain:
"Tanks are good,
tanks are impressive,
but it's artillery that does the work"
Knox's successors' achievements in 1941-45:
To paraphrase Twain:
"Tanks are good,
tanks are impressive,
but it's artillery that does the work"
Knox's successors' achievements in 1941-45:
Yeah, I remember it was a big deal that Lincoln's catafalque was used for JFK in 1963.
Also, a synonym for 'bier'. English--what a language.
Also, a synonym for 'bier'. English--what a language.
November 17, 2025 at 8:16 PM
Yeah, I remember it was a big deal that Lincoln's catafalque was used for JFK in 1963.
Also, a synonym for 'bier'. English--what a language.
Also, a synonym for 'bier'. English--what a language.
More on Ashokan Farewell from the wikipedia entry:
November 17, 2025 at 7:49 PM
More on Ashokan Farewell from the wikipedia entry:
With parallel bars from the Gold Olympics...
Plank, pedestal, platform, plinth, pulpit, pyre (assuming it's made of wood), catafalque. 👀
Plank, pedestal, platform, plinth, pulpit, pyre (assuming it's made of wood), catafalque. 👀
November 17, 2025 at 6:41 PM
With parallel bars from the Gold Olympics...
Plank, pedestal, platform, plinth, pulpit, pyre (assuming it's made of wood), catafalque. 👀
Plank, pedestal, platform, plinth, pulpit, pyre (assuming it's made of wood), catafalque. 👀
With every Burns et al production, I grow ever more impressed by the violin theme music Ashoka Farewell, that resonated throughout “The Civil War”.
November 17, 2025 at 2:56 AM
With every Burns et al production, I grow ever more impressed by the violin theme music Ashoka Farewell, that resonated throughout “The Civil War”.
Then there's this guy, on a true mullet.
US Capitol, c.1884
US Capitol, c.1884
November 16, 2025 at 6:28 PM
Then there's this guy, on a true mullet.
US Capitol, c.1884
US Capitol, c.1884
Amen. They're dodging responsibility.
Also, what is it with spelling & journalism lingo?
Did they all phale fonix?
Also, what is it with spelling & journalism lingo?
Did they all phale fonix?
November 16, 2025 at 6:16 PM
Amen. They're dodging responsibility.
Also, what is it with spelling & journalism lingo?
Did they all phale fonix?
Also, what is it with spelling & journalism lingo?
Did they all phale fonix?
To wit, the numbers of soldiers and (decisively) of warships.
November 16, 2025 at 3:38 PM
To wit, the numbers of soldiers and (decisively) of warships.
For @notpodium.bsky.social
Leonard Bernstein says a conductor has to learn all the notes or he has “no right to ascend the podium” in the first place.
I’m with Lenny. One ascends and stands on a podium; one stands at a lectern. Conductors do both simultaneously.
Leonard Bernstein says a conductor has to learn all the notes or he has “no right to ascend the podium” in the first place.
I’m with Lenny. One ascends and stands on a podium; one stands at a lectern. Conductors do both simultaneously.
November 15, 2025 at 2:54 PM
For @notpodium.bsky.social
Leonard Bernstein says a conductor has to learn all the notes or he has “no right to ascend the podium” in the first place.
I’m with Lenny. One ascends and stands on a podium; one stands at a lectern. Conductors do both simultaneously.
Leonard Bernstein says a conductor has to learn all the notes or he has “no right to ascend the podium” in the first place.
I’m with Lenny. One ascends and stands on a podium; one stands at a lectern. Conductors do both simultaneously.
At University of Wisconsin System (dba Universities of Wisconsin) fall 2024 enrollment was near but still below 2019 levels. But it got there through an influx of out-of-state students, and that's significant weakness for the political punch of a public system (one that is de facto privatizing)
November 12, 2025 at 3:17 PM
At University of Wisconsin System (dba Universities of Wisconsin) fall 2024 enrollment was near but still below 2019 levels. But it got there through an influx of out-of-state students, and that's significant weakness for the political punch of a public system (one that is de facto privatizing)
Is it a cargo plane when the cargo includes 20 humans?
Or is it a military transport plane?
Or is it a military transport plane?
November 12, 2025 at 9:19 AM
Is it a cargo plane when the cargo includes 20 humans?
Or is it a military transport plane?
Or is it a military transport plane?
Mmm…Is the plane a cargo plane when the cargo is humans?
Or is it a military transport plane?
Or is it a military transport plane?
November 12, 2025 at 8:31 AM
Mmm…Is the plane a cargo plane when the cargo is humans?
Or is it a military transport plane?
Or is it a military transport plane?
Adding this arrow now to the quiver already containing Churchill’s retort: "This is the type of arrant pedantry up with which I will not put.”
(So many variants to choose from.)
(So many variants to choose from.)
November 9, 2025 at 2:26 PM
Adding this arrow now to the quiver already containing Churchill’s retort: "This is the type of arrant pedantry up with which I will not put.”
(So many variants to choose from.)
(So many variants to choose from.)
The gallery for the annual Cool Science Image competition at UW-Madison 🍻
November 8, 2025 at 2:42 PM
The gallery for the annual Cool Science Image competition at UW-Madison 🍻