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David Bonowitz @dbonowitz.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Fun with America.gov, for #FEMA watchers:

My question about the status of BRIC grants cancelled on a whim in April 2025 and still not restored, despite court orders nullifying the cancellation. The formal answer is "I cannot verify ..." the status of those grants, but it acknowledges the court orders, ongoing legal action, and FEMA/DHS foot-dragging.

David Bonowitz @dbonowitz.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

And here's an example of that fake masonry style, showing the troweled plaster/stucco, reddish staining from the corroded metal lath, and diagonal wood board sheathing behind.

Common in 1920s San Francisco buildings: exterior stucco plaster troweled to look like block masonry. Image shows an exterior elevation large enough to show several faked blocks and joints. A piece of the stucco has been removed, exposing the base coat behind, reddish staining from corroded wire lath (I think?), and diagonal wood board sheathing as the first layer of the wall assembly over the studs.

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David Bonowitz @dbonowitz.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

2013 building: 1645 Pacific Ave, San Francisco. leaves over the main entry. Nymph (?) along the top floor balcony. I had not seen anything like it in a modern building before. SF also has a lot of 1920s buildings with exterior plaster made to look like stone masonry. Is that also pargetting?

Hand-made plaster ornamentation on a 2013 building in San Francisco. Leaves over main entry. Reclining nymph (?) outside 5th floor balcony.

Detail of hand-made plaster ornamentation over main entry at 1645 Pacific Avenue, San Francisco (c. 2013). Is this pargetting?

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David Bonowitz @dbonowitz.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

How is it possible that ORGAN was not in today's pile?

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David Bonowitz @dbonowitz.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

I hear ya. As if posting was not procrastination enough.

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David Bonowitz @dbonowitz.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

And here's a comparison with the pre-alteration building. L: Yellow box = cantilevered addition, same as previous post R: Approx massing of the addition. Note that the top of the building has also been significantly altered.

East 42d Street building with buckled columns in the news 7/7/26. Left: Altered building today. Right: Same building before the project showing rough location of the cantilevered addition and suspected location of 2 original columns (now buckled) below the addition.

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David Bonowitz @dbonowitz.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

North elev of E 42 St bldg. I *think* this is the location. Left: Yellow box = cantilevered addition, relative to Google maps satellite view or pre-alteration building. Right: box = story w/ 2 columns that appear to be buckled in the story just below the addition.

My guess at where the buckled columns are, based on video posted earlier today and this photo of the north elevation by Dave Sanders of NYT. Left: A cantilevered addition, in progress. Right: The existing columns just below the addition, with two that appear buckled similar to photos posted online by others.

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David Bonowitz @dbonowitz.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

It's depressing (and to some, legit intimidating) to realize how many of our neighbors are sympathetic to these chuds. But their impotence is also laughable. This photo of "tough guys" milling around a public transit platform reminds me of this classic Steadman takedown: #artbutmakeitpolitics

Ralph Steadman's painting of a police chief's convention, from Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter Thompson. Buncha jarheads milling around a hotel lobby looking pathetic in sports shirts and plaid Bermuda shorts.

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David Bonowitz @dbonowitz.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

Follow-up (Drezner being too specific, but I'll take it):

Screen shot of my feed moments later as Cape Verde equalizes Argentina at 2-2 in extra time.

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David Bonowitz @dbonowitz.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

Just gonna save this for future use:

Screenshot of my feed seconds after (Messi-led) Argentina went up 2-1 over (massive underdog) Cape Verde in overtime in the 2026 World Cup.

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David Bonowitz @dbonowitz.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

Baseball, suburbia, underdogs, diversity (and its discontents), the bad guys win on paper, the good guys celebrate community

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David Bonowitz @dbonowitz.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

View from the other end of the walkway: (sorry, that's a little unfair, as this is national guard, not ICE. But it's exactly what the short video made me think of.)

A still from the movie A Clockwork Orange, showing the gang of four thugs, in gang uniform, walking along a paved surface with a pool of sorts on their right.

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David Bonowitz @dbonowitz.bsky.social · 03/05/2026

An under-appreciated scene from Downfall, in which Hitler praises Speer and fantasizes about Berlin as a "treasury full of arts and culture that will survive thousands of years."

Screencap of a scene from the movie Downfall (best known for the meme-ified bunker rant) in which Hitler plans a grandiose reconstructed Berlin with his architect Albert Speer -- including a triumphal arch.

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David Bonowitz @dbonowitz.bsky.social · 22/11/2025

I mean, she and Boebert both have lots of cards to play, and I am here for it ...

Meme image: Alice in Wonderland and Dorothy Gale (from Wizard of Oz), w/ Alice saying "I've seen some weird shit."

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David Bonowitz @dbonowitz.bsky.social · 12/07/2025

saying little, but doing so with a mild speech impediment like mine

A joke "pangram" solution to the 7/12/25 NYT Spelling Bee: TACITULN, instead of TACITURN, in order to use all, and only, the 7 available letters.

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David Bonowitz @dbonowitz.bsky.social · 12/07/2025

something something JUICE yada yada

screen shot of the 7/12/25 NYT mini crossword, completed, showing BLUESKY as the answer to 7 across: "Left-leaning social media site"

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David Bonowitz @dbonowitz.bsky.social · 22/06/2025

Iran, prone to strong earthquakes, produces great structural engineers, plus talented students who would love nothing more than to study in the U.S. I am thinking of them tonight. I was honored to be part of the U.S. delegation to the 2012 U.S.-Iran Seismic Workshop at Sharif University in Tehran.

At Azadi Tower in Tehran, December 2012, with Prof Farzin Zareian (UC Irvine), Prof Bill Anderson (NAS), and Eric Fujisaki (PG&E). Photo taken by Prof Yousef Bozorgnia.

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David Bonowitz @dbonowitz.bsky.social · 14/06/2025

@darthbluesky.bsky.social I just started today's Connections, and 3/4 of the first theme is obvious, but which phrase completes the set ... Do you use a little spoon?

A shot of the New York Times "Connections" game board for 6/13/25, showing DOG, POTATO, and POINT OF VIEW selected, on the theory that the category is obviously "Things associated with darth."

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David Bonowitz @dbonowitz.bsky.social · 19/04/2025

@artbutmakeitsports.bsky.social , I forgot to post this Frans Hals side eye painting from a few nights ago. #sfgiants

Screen shot from the game highlights video of a 4/16/25 baseball game, won by the San Francisco Giants, 11-4, over the Philadelphia Phillies. The shot shows two fans in conversation: on the left, a woman in Philliies gear, including a white pinstripe jersey over a maroon hoodie; on the right, a mustachioed man in Giants black and orange jacket, hat, and mardi gras (?) beads. The man is looking at the woman with a smile and mischievous side eye pose reminiscent of the portraits of Frans Hals.

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David Bonowitz @dbonowitz.bsky.social · 07/04/2025

Give Wilmer his Flores. Seriously, frame this. #SFGiants

National League West standings after the games Sunday, April 6, 2025, showing the San Francisco Giants in first place (8 wins, 1 loss) with a 7-game win-streak.

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David Bonowitz @dbonowitz.bsky.social · 18/03/2025

8.6/ And this one, with the shot clock wrongly expired, but 0.1 sec on the game clock/score bug. WE WUZ ROBBED. Yale 59 - Princeton 57 Three cheers for Old Nassau.

End of the game, Ivy League men's basketball semi-final. Score shows as Yale 59, Princeton 57. The shot clock has expired and the red light is on. But the game clock/score bug shows 0.1 second remaining due to a discrepancy when they started the final play. Princeton's Blake Peters, on the floor after crashing for a rebound, flips the loose ball in desperation toward the hoop. It went in, but they ruled the game over.

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David Bonowitz @dbonowitz.bsky.social · 18/03/2025

8.5/ - Lee misses, but Peters crashes and flips the ball seated with 0.1 seconds on the clock ... AND IT GOES IN ... but the red light went on and the horn sounded early? But look at this photo: Game clock: 5.4, shot clock (which should have been moot): 4.7. Is the score bug clock official?

Final play of the Ivy League men's basketball semi-final, March 15, 2025. Yale leads Princeton 59-57. Princeton starts its final play. The game clock (or is it just the broadcast score bug?) says 5.4 left, but the shot clock (which should match the game clock) says only 4.7!

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David Bonowitz @dbonowitz.bsky.social · 04/03/2025

12/ And those are just the ones I've read, from thinkers I follow here in the blue sky. Here’s the thing: they’re ALL right! But can we afford to spend the next year debating what to call this executive branch coup?

A cartoon (drawn by Gary Larson of the Far Side) of the parable about the blind men trying to describe an elephant, each one getting a piece right, but none able to see the whole picture. The overall caption reads, "To resist effectively, we need to understand that Trumpism is ..." and the individual descriptions have been replaced with: Competitive authoritarianism, Patrimonialism, Techno-optimism & privatization, Christian nationalism, a mafia-style protection racket, and re-segregation.

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David Bonowitz @dbonowitz.bsky.social · 04/03/2025

Yes and no. I've been keeping a similar list. More later, but I suspect an academic analysis like this will not be effective politically ...

A cartoon (drawn by Gary Larson of the Far Side) depicting the parable about blind men describing different parts of an elephant so that none of them has a complete picture. Here, they are describing different explanations of Trumpism: Competitive authoritarianism, Patrimonialism, Techno-optimism & privatization, Christian Nationalism, Re-segregation, and a mafia-style protection racket.

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David Bonowitz @dbonowitz.bsky.social · 17/12/2024

This is more than "considerable." It's a full collapse of the north half of what shows on google maps as the NZ High Commission. This facility was new to the U.S. State Dept, but it was not a new building. Need to know what due diligence was done before DOS moved in.

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David Bonowitz @dbonowitz.bsky.social · 17/11/2024

And by the way, 50-49, or even 50-48, is no blowout.

The April 1989 cover of the Princeton Alumni Weekly, giving the score of a recent basketball game: "[heavily favored #1 seed] Georgetown 50, Princeton 49." The photo shows Princeton's point-center Kit Mueller dribbling and being guarded by Georgetown's Dwayne Bryant.

The top of the March 18, 1989 sports page of the (Newark, NJ) Star-Ledger w/ headlines from the previous day's NCAA men's basketball tournament, including, "[#1 seed] G'town nips [#16] Princeton, 50-49." Below the headline is a photo of legendary Princeton coach Pete Carril grimacing in tense frustration, as he was known to do.

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David Bonowitz @dbonowitz.bsky.social · 03/10/2023

In orange and black solidarity, and in honor of Brooks and my Uncle Jack Zanger, this Giants fan will be giving his (dubious) support this postseason to the Baltimore Orioles. Now then, um, who is Adley Grayson again?

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David Bonowitz @dbonowitz.bsky.social · 27/09/2023

Why we love baseball: My Uncle Jack, who was probably the first person to play serious catch with me (age 5?), loved him too.

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