zappini
@zappini.bsky.social
Gen-X white guy, unlikely poodle owner, disabled (long story), loves forest restoration yet hates yard work, recovering activist, currently helps w/ eldercare.
Just use normal SQL
https://github.com/normalsql/normalsql
Just use normal SQL
https://github.com/normalsql/normalsql
Golden hog.
The gold, 22-foot Donald Trump statue definitely isn’t a false idol. You can tell because Trump’s pastor friend said of the new statue at his Doral golf course, “Let me be clear: this is not a golden calf.”
Gold 22-Foot Trump Statue Definitely Isn’t a False Idol
The gold, 22-foot Donald Trump statue definitely isn’t a false idol. You can tell because Trump’s pastor friend said of the new statue at his Doral golf course, “Let me be clear: this is not a golden calf.”
nymag.com
May 9, 2026 at 12:05 PM
Golden hog.
First contract, down to ~3. Then turn around and expand it. A lot. 100 or so should suffice.
Don't call it "expanding" SCOTUS.
And, for God's sake, don't call it "court-packing."
Call it **right-sizing** the Court. (There are 13 circuits now -- not the 9 circuits there were when it was set at 9 justices 157 effing yrs ago!)
Or call it *modernizing* the Court.
Thank you.
And, for God's sake, don't call it "court-packing."
Call it **right-sizing** the Court. (There are 13 circuits now -- not the 9 circuits there were when it was set at 9 justices 157 effing yrs ago!)
Or call it *modernizing* the Court.
Thank you.
April 30, 2026 at 9:04 PM
First contract, down to ~3. Then turn around and expand it. A lot. 100 or so should suffice.
Blockade of Strait of Hormuz means Trump Admin is replacing the post-WWII maritime order (Pax Americana) with a global protection racket (Rex Americana), rejecting both hegemony and multipolarity. Seems important. Any one considering how this may play out?
April 14, 2026 at 2:00 PM
Blockade of Strait of Hormuz means Trump Admin is replacing the post-WWII maritime order (Pax Americana) with a global protection racket (Rex Americana), rejecting both hegemony and multipolarity. Seems important. Any one considering how this may play out?
Inalienable right to unvote. A version of vote-of-no-confidence.
Since we all vote for who we want for president, we should also have the right to vote for the removal of said president. Congress hasn't done shit, let "WE THE PEOPLE " vote this POS out!
April 9, 2026 at 2:08 PM
Inalienable right to unvote. A version of vote-of-no-confidence.
Personal income down, corporate profits up. Just a coincidence.
April 8, 2026 at 12:42 PM
Personal income down, corporate profits up. Just a coincidence.
I've started observing MAGA relatives very closely. Initially, they ask the right questions, voice relatable concerns. And yet, then land back in MAGA land. A big factor is their media bubble; they're not even aware of (authentic) opposing views, just accepting FOX News' caricatures.
The best explanation why millions of Americans worship and support a convicted felon and sexual predator...
April 5, 2026 at 11:49 AM
I've started observing MAGA relatives very closely. Initially, they ask the right questions, voice relatable concerns. And yet, then land back in MAGA land. A big factor is their media bubble; they're not even aware of (authentic) opposing views, just accepting FOX News' caricatures.
Alas, Biden was bad for ratings.
It was so comforting to have a president that wasn’t a malignant narcissist.
April 3, 2026 at 10:16 AM
Alas, Biden was bad for ratings.
Alas, it was bad for ratings.
It was so comforting to have a president that wasn’t a malignant narcissist.
April 3, 2026 at 10:16 AM
Alas, it was bad for ratings.
Grafting, Obstruction, Projection
Absolutely 💯
Today's GOP
is the most-corrupt political party in American history.
Today's GOP
is the most-corrupt political party in American history.
April 3, 2026 at 10:14 AM
Grafting, Obstruction, Projection
NYT has always defended the Establishment.
Here’s where NYT put No Kings coverage on the home page of its iOS app
March 29, 2026 at 9:10 AM
NYT has always defended the Establishment.
For comparison, +30M acres are used to grow corn ethanol. Solar would free half that land to grow more food for people.
12.7M acres of solar is is about 82% of the solar required to decarbonize the US in the Net Zero America E+ scenario (there's wind and existing nuclear and stuff in there too, but that's the solar portion).
Or we can have 5% of our gasoline displaced.
Or we can have 5% of our gasoline displaced.
The Farm Bureau estimates that a year-round increase from E10 to E15 (15% ethanol blend in gasoline) would increase US corn demand by 2.4 billion bushels a year.
Latest yields per USDA are 188.8 bushels/acre, so growing it requires another 12.7 million acres. That’s about half the size of Indiana.
Latest yields per USDA are 188.8 bushels/acre, so growing it requires another 12.7 million acres. That’s about half the size of Indiana.
March 26, 2026 at 2:59 PM
For comparison, +30M acres are used to grow corn ethanol. Solar would free half that land to grow more food for people.
Just formalizes the status quo. No average person is anonymous.
"Stripping anonymity from the internet would constitute one of the most sweeping rollbacks of civil rights in recent history. It would allow for unprecedented levels of mass surveillance and censorship, endangering the most marginalized members of society."
Congress Is Considering Abolishing Your Right to Be Anonymous Online
The bipartisan push to remove anonymity from the internet is ushering in an era of unprecedented mass surveillance and censorship.
theintercept.com
March 8, 2026 at 4:06 AM
Just formalizes the status quo. No average person is anonymous.
Ambigious rules, lethally enforced.
Seems like the emerging policy is: you people out there are responsible for setting up your own governments, but if the US doesn’t like who ends up in charge we’ll just assassinate or kidnap them and then the ball is back in your court.
LINDSEY GRAHAM: Our goal is to make sure Iran cannot become again the largest state sponsor of terrorism.
WELKER: Does the the president have a plan to guarantee that happens?
GRAHAM: No. It's not his job.
WELKER: Does the the president have a plan to guarantee that happens?
GRAHAM: No. It's not his job.
March 1, 2026 at 9:38 PM
Ambigious rules, lethally enforced.
Ageism? Don't be a hoser, eh. True center are the McKenzie brothers.
February 3, 2026 at 9:03 PM
Ageism? Don't be a hoser, eh. True center are the McKenzie brothers.
Reposted by zappini
IIRC, GWB declared himself The Chief Decider.
I think others did as well. (Rumsfeld, Cheney…) But I think I asked enough people over the years to be pretty sure that there was no actual meeting at which a decision was taken.
January 5, 2026 at 1:16 PM
IIRC, GWB declared himself The Chief Decider.
Duh.
Sen. Van Hollen: "It's my view that the Trump administration has been lying to the American people. This has never been about stopping drugs…This from the beginning has been about getting rid of Maduro, grabbing Venezuela's oil for American oil companies and Trump's billionaire buddies."
January 5, 2026 at 12:17 PM
Duh.
If Waymos become the norm, we can stop wasting money on all those traffic signs everyone ignores. Ditto lane striping, traffic lights, etc.
My least popular (and most correct) view is that cars should be automatically limited to the local speed limit. Put the pedal to the floor and you still can't go over 25mph in a residential area.
(15 in Manhattan btw)
(15 in Manhattan btw)
There is no possible justification for limiting e-bikes to 15mph but not cars.
December 15, 2025 at 12:32 PM
If Waymos become the norm, we can stop wasting money on all those traffic signs everyone ignores. Ditto lane striping, traffic lights, etc.
Andy Rooney, patron saint of punditry, would disagree.
related to this a lot of people in the pundit class need to learn how to just be annoyed by someone or something without turning it into What’s Wrong With America
i am fascinated by how nate silver turns everything he doesn’t like into a bespoke ideology. it’s not that he is annoyed by HCR, it is that she is a dreaded “ism” responsible for everything he doesn’t like about the democratic party. same with bluesky.
December 14, 2025 at 1:16 PM
Andy Rooney, patron saint of punditry, would disagree.
Why do people still play chess?
I don’t think this is a narcissistic injury, but it is an egoistic injury. And it hurts a lot! If a computer can do everything I can do, what makes me valuable? This is a difficult question to answer
seeing a machine do something that you previously thought was unique to your cognition, and opening up that capability to anyone, is to many people a deep narcissistic injury. this explains much about the social environment
December 1, 2025 at 8:44 AM
Why do people still play chess?
AI, ML, LLMs, etc. have always had intrinsic bias. Because the training data itself is biased. (h/t James Mickens PhD, many others). Dr Tanksley's update wrt the harms caused by these tools is both entirely predictable and terribly sad.
I need everyone, esp anyone working in education or tech (but really everyone) to WATCH THIS CLIP of @drtanksley.bsky.social discussing the technologies infiltrating our schools & psyches and how she is addressing it with our young people. youtu.be/5mtcSL4S3HQ
Howard University AI Panel
YouTube video by Tiera Tanksley
youtu.be
November 22, 2025 at 3:53 PM
AI, ML, LLMs, etc. have always had intrinsic bias. Because the training data itself is biased. (h/t James Mickens PhD, many others). Dr Tanksley's update wrt the harms caused by these tools is both entirely predictable and terribly sad.
November 8, 2025 at 5:23 PM
No uncontested races. A meager filing fee buys you column space in a voters guide. Editorial boards and endorsing orgs will at least talk to you. Cheapest, widest, easiest way to promote our values, platform, and positions.
Democrats contested all 100 Virginia House of Delegates races. Part of the party’s statewide success is due to the synergies between the legislative and statewide campaigns—even the losing ones. This is a big reason why Jay Jones won comfortably. This is a model the Dems should emulate everywhere
November 5, 2025 at 5:11 PM
No uncontested races. A meager filing fee buys you column space in a voters guide. Editorial boards and endorsing orgs will at least talk to you. Cheapest, widest, easiest way to promote our values, platform, and positions.
Reactionary beliefs in a nutshell.
So Elon can demand Grok be fed a bunch of training data where it has conversations that skew it conservative, but they simply do not have enough text describing a world that aligns with right wing ideology to actually make it have reasoning that holds together
October 1, 2025 at 3:32 PM
Reactionary beliefs in a nutshell.