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Bill Shein

@billshein.bsky.social
848 followers 614 following 2.4K posts

Writer | Journalist | Friend to animals | Graying rapidly | Words/etc at reasongonemad.com.

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Bill Shein @billshein.bsky.social · 6h
Got Covid and flu shots today, and I’ve just got to say: They must have made the secret nano-sized tracking microchips *even smaller* than last year because I can barely feel them tumbling along in my veins. Science is truly amazing.
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Bill Shein @billshein.bsky.social · 7h
It seems that people really want to vote. “We will come and make our voices clear, no matter how far you push a polling site off of our campus, no matter how far you drag it up the street, no matter if you put it all the way on the other side of Greensboro, we will organize. We will march.”
wfdd.org
After losing on-campus voting sites, NC A&T and UNCG students march to polls
More than 100 NC A&T and UNCG students marched to the polls Thursday to mark the start of early voting. The demonstration came after election officials rejected requests to reopen on-campus voting sit...
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Bill Shein @billshein.bsky.social · 7h
Corny #Berkshires humor wins the day at this year’s Naumkeag pumpkin walk… thetrustees.org/program/naum...
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Bill Shein @billshein.bsky.social · 21h
Journalists used to have beats like crime, local government, or sports. Now there’s this.
A screen grab from The New York Times showing a link to a story, “inside Elon Musk’s $276 Million Rescue Mission for Republicans” and a description of reporter Theodore Schleifer as “covering billionaires and their impact on the world.”
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Bill Shein @billshein.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
And so it begins: another dog-and-sometimes-cat-behind-the-wood-stove season. Photo #1 in a coming 2026-27 series of 139,446 images, all will be autographed and paw-printed and sold via a new collectibles partnership with The Franklin Mint. FOLLOWERS: YOU’VE BEEN WARNED.
Brown and white dog resting behind a wood stove with an orange flame visible in the stove.
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Bill Shein @billshein.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
Has the United States—even once—donated a pair of its more than 2,600 indigenous Panda Express restaurants to China? No, I do not believe it has.
nytimes.com
Giant Pandas, Icons of China’s Soft Diplomacy, Arrive in Atlanta
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Bill Shein @billshein.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
This piece by @charliesavage.bsky.social is essential journalism for this age of political misinformation. A detailed, crystal-clear breakdown of how operatives in the Trump administration spin out faux “factual” narratives.
nytimes.com
How the White House Manufactured a Narrative About a Trump Aide’s Call Logs (Gift Article)
A release of selected records from the classified documents inquiry is a case study in how omitting context can create political ammunition.
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Reposted by Bill Shein
Paul Byrne @theplanetaryguy.com · 11/10/2026
Periodic reminder that Jupiter has rings.
Jupiter! With rings! You can see the Main Ring faintly extending through the left of the image.
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Reposted by Bill Shein
Matthew Downhour @matthewdownhour.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
That's so many giant tortoises I love it. Also it's fascinating that the only places giant tortoises live are tiny islands
theguardian.com
Scientists discover 180,000 giant tortoises on one Seychelles island
Free-roaming Aldabra population far exceeds human population of Seychelles after decades-long recovery programme
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Bill Shein @billshein.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
“We now count twice as many conflicts as 15 years ago. We are at 130 international and noninternational armed conflicts that we classify in our system. That’s the highest number since the Second World War.”
nytimes.com
She’s Been to Gaza. She Met With the Iranians. Now She Has a Warning.
As the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Mirjana Spoljaric goes to both sides of conflicts. She’s worried that our warring world is spiraling out of control.
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Bill Shein @billshein.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Ugh! So, so many words in this story! How about a helpful TL;DR version?
wapo.st
Opinion | Welcome to the Great Simplification
Shorter sentences and more repetitive lyrics are a sign of something bigger.
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Bill Shein @billshein.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
47,219th in a series
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Bill Shein @billshein.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Not a day goes by without people doin' some askin'. *Not* *a* *single* *day*.
Screen grab from Google's "People Also Ask" with these questions:

What are 9 surprising things I can do with a leaf blower?
Are leaf blowers really necessary?
What are the disadvantages of a leaf blower?
Why do leaf blowers exist?
Is it better to get a leaf blower or vacuum?
What to use instead of a leaf blower?
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Bill Shein @billshein.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Watch this space. Easy to predict where this is going. “I applaud this administration,” [Iwry] said, “provided these measures are implemented responsibly, in good faith, and free of conflicts of interest, corruption, and ulterior motives.”
wsj.com
Trump Accounts’ Extraordinary Expansion Puts Individual Stocks Into Kids’ Holdings
Millions of kids will receive donated stocks in individual companies that they can’t reject and can’t sell for five years.
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Bill Shein @billshein.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
New reporting/comment from me: Why can’t this Berkshire County town just install five sets of crosswalk lights it was given by MassDOT in April? Since July, Great Barrington officials have either declined to comment or not responded to questions about a project that has gone off the rails.
reasongonemad.com
A Pedestrian Was Struck at the Rosseter Street Crosswalk Where Warning Lights Were Due to Be Installed Months Ago
Unfortunately, Crosswalk Corner™ is back again—now with even more italicized words!
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Bill Shein @billshein.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
And will now read this find too, which gets into this complicated man and his history.
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Bill Shein @billshein.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
A 1938 mass-market edition of “Seven Pillars of Wisdom” found at a used book shop. Not valuable, not in great shape, but still glad to have it.
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Bill Shein @billshein.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Another tough day of pulling himself up by his own bootstraps, burning the midnight oil, pursuing his goals and dreams. Well, at least his dreams.
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Bill Shein @billshein.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
This is so cool: In Google AI, a flight in our universe today, October 4, that won’t land in New York for six hours has already landed in Google AI’s universe.
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Bill Shein @billshein.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
FYI: “loony” comes from the word “lunar.”
nytimes.com
Superpowers Race to Put Nuclear Reactors on the Moon
The United States wants a reactor on the moon by 2030. A Russian-Chinese alliance is working on one for 2036. Some leading scientists say the danger is great.
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Bill Shein @billshein.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Hey, who is this “FDR” guy? Keep an eye on him. Could be going places, tbh. “The first truth is that the liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism.”
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Bill Shein @billshein.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
#caturday update
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Bill Shein @billshein.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
I like that my guy takes his Saturday-morning-while-I’m-reading-and-drinking-coffee position on my lap, falls asleep in eight seconds, waits patiently nearby when I head to the kitchen for a refill, and then calmly returns to his place and falls asleep again in four seconds. #caturday
Orange cat curled up and sleeping on a human’s lap.
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Bill Shein @billshein.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
That cat is just showing off. There should be a photo of a dog crying in a corner a few feet away.
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Bill Shein @billshein.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
#caturday My guy cares not for the word “dog” in “dog bed.”
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Reposted by Bill Shein
Alex Wellerstein @wellerstein.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
I found a few more entries in the ever-popular "babushkas buffing bombs" genre of photography... (*I recognize that not all are authentic babushkas, but the alliteration was too great for me to resist, I apologize)
mopping RDS-1, the first Soviet atomic bombpolishing RDS-4, the first Soviet tactical nuclear weaponmore buffing of RDS-1, with attention paid t the distinctive eye-like radar altitude sensors that give it such a kawaii facea non-babushka cleans behind RDS-1's ears
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Bill Shein @billshein.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
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Bill Shein @billshein.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
#writing
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Reposted by Bill Shein
Greg Shill @gregshill.com · 29/09/2026
They did the cartoon!
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Bill Shein @billshein.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Sentence for the ages www.nbcnews.com/politics/jus...
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Bill Shein @billshein.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
“Mobile Wash” has a fleet. Curiouser and curiouser! #nyc
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Bill Shein @billshein.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
To save money, the NYC subway system recently reduced by 50 percent its use of the letter “O.” Thanks for your careful stewardship of residents’ tax dollars, @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social!
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Bill Shein @billshein.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
More. 14th Street station.
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Bill Shein @billshein.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
#nyc
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Bill Shein @billshein.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Please explain.
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Bill Shein @billshein.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Well, that was definitely a hoot. Silly Sunday Fun(TM).
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Bill Shein @billshein.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Don’t boss me, jerk.
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Bill Shein @billshein.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Good to know.
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Bill Shein @billshein.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Lunch is served.
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Bill Shein @billshein.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Limited budget. Should I spend it on Tom Ford, Gucci, or turkey?
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Bill Shein @billshein.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
For thousands of years, ancient wisdom has been unmistakable: Nightclubs are The Way.
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Bill Shein @billshein.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
This driveway is getting its daily steps in, it seems. Will ensure a long life of drivewaying!
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Bill Shein @billshein.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
This man apparently has a van and is also easily reachable.
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Bill Shein @billshein.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Possibly noncontroversial take: This is not right.
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Bill Shein @billshein.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Free books at a coffee shop on 14th and 7th this morning. Excited to read about Spencer Tracy, model trains, and then study for the GMAT! #carpediem
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Bill Shein @billshein.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
I don’t know … my schedule is pretty full, but thanks!
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Bill Shein @billshein.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
“Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometime yo—“ damn you 1970s jingle-writers!
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Bill Shein @billshein.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
So good to be back in #NYC, enjoying the fine #journalism that makes this city great.
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Bill Shein @billshein.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
New from me: Updated reporting on the accelerating nuclear-weapons-related defense buildup in the Berkshires. Recent contracts are bringing 400 new jobs, along with broader economic effects across the region—and no local media coverage of the expansion.
reasongonemad.com
FIELD NOTES & EVIDENCE: The Nuclear Berkshires Just Got a Little More Nuclear
New U.S. Navy spending has pushed the Berkshires’ nuclear-weapons-related contract total to nearly $1 billion since January 2024. The expansion is bringing new jobs—and little public discussion.
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Bill Shein @billshein.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Early fall in western Massachusetts.
A gravel road beneath trees, blue sky, and sun.
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