iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Mike English @mocomikee.bsky.social · 10h

It’s no Downtown Silver Spring but Bethesda remains a perfectly pleasant downtown experience

Reposted by Mike English

Ned Resnikoff @resnikoff.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

"In the states examined in this analysis, a drop of approximately 20% in inflation-adjusted rents—as happened in Austin, Texas, and Minneapolis after those cities made reforms—could reduce poverty by 18% to 26% and child poverty by 21% to 38%." www.pew.org/en/research-...

pew.org

The Housing Shortage Is a Major Driver of Poverty

Housing costs are usually the largest item in a household’s budget and can determine a family’s financial stability.

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Mike English @mocomikee.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

I’ll say this about Ms. Wells, I appreciate her helping make clear that allowing only single family homes to be built is a conservative stance.

A screenshot from Esther Well’s website noting that we should “protect single family zoning by opposing “by-right” high density reasoning.

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Mike English @mocomikee.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Please consider coming to this event focusing on MoCo Board of Ed races this Thursday. I volunteer with this organization a lot and it is a good way to learn more about races that are very hard to get information about. For what it’s worth I’ll there. jufjcampaignfund.org/event/festiv...

jufjcampaignfund.org

Montgomery County Festival of Voting Booths - JUFJ Campaign Fund

Sukkot, or the Festival of Booths, reminds us every year that everything in our lives is impermanent, that we must work to harvest the fruits of our labors, and that those fruits are sweetest when we ...

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Mike English @mocomikee.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

I don’t think I’ve been particularly subtle about this but with more dialogue out there about Esther Wells being a “reasonable alternative” to Will Jawando, no, she’s not. I have my policy disagreements with Will but they pale in comparison to mine with her. Voting for him is an easy choice

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Reposted by Mike English

ProPublica @propublica.org · 26/09/2026

17/ We’re still reporting on this topic. If you use apps like DraftKings or FanDuel or have experience in the gambling industry, you can help us with our reporting by sharing your transaction history with us.

projects.propublica.org

Help ProPublica Report on Sports Betting by Sending Us Your App Data

If you’ve bet on sports with FanDuel or DraftKings, you can help ProPublica understand how these apps respond to their users’ betting behavior. Use our browser extension to download your betting histo...

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Reposted by Mike English

ProPublica @propublica.org · 26/09/2026

15/ There’s much more to the story — which you can read here — but I came away with one overarching takeaway: the “responsible gaming” prompts DraftKings served me were no match for the product design and promos pushing me to do more gambling.

propublica.org

I Deliberately Bet Like a Problem Gambler. DraftKings Made Me a VIP.

Amid growing public health concerns, operators like DraftKings have touted “responsible gaming” tools and prompts. But as I went off the deep end, I found they were no match for the incentives and pro...

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Reposted by Mike English

ProPublica @propublica.org · 26/09/2026

13/ Kalani also said the “system worked the way it was supposed to” for me. I didn’t qualify for a manual review, despite depositing $21,600 into my account in eight weeks. When I asked her if DraftKings ever *did* cut people off, this is what I got:

Article excerpt: Overall, “the system worked the way it was supposed to” in my case, Kalani said. The range of behaviors and indicators that DraftKings scans for that trigger closing or manually reviewing an account didn’t ping for me, she said.

While I often played late into the night, I wasn’t playing in the wee-est hours, between 1:30 a.m. and 5:30 a.m., she said.

I found this response revealing, though perhaps not in the way she’d intended it to be. I’d deposited $21,600 into my account in less than eight weeks, exhibiting just about every sign of compulsive gambling there is, according to my expert consultants. By DraftKings’ metrics, I didn’t even register for a manual review. Kalani had told me that the company was motivated to retain customers who were betting “within their means and can sustain their own entertainment.”

So I asked Kalani straight up: Does DraftKings ever cut somebody off purely based on their betting history and not because they’ve disclosed that they’ve got a problem? “Yes, we do that all the time,” she told me. She repeated the same answer when I asked her how often. I pressed again, and a spokesperson interjected, telling me he could take the question as a follow-up. I checked in later, but the company told me that “we do not share the specific number of closures.”

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Reposted by Mike English

ProPublica @propublica.org · 26/09/2026

4/ But over the next 10 weeks, I’d mimic the patterns of a problem gambler with the help of a panel of gambling experts and learn just how much DraftKings would encourage my recklessness — and just how little pushback I’d get as I spiraled downward.

propublica.org

I Deliberately Bet Like a Problem Gambler. DraftKings Made Me a VIP.

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Reposted by Mike English

ProPublica @propublica.org · 26/09/2026

2/ Why now? More people are betting on sports than ever. But as the industry soars close to $17B in revenue, calls to gambling helplines have also skyrocketed.

Article excerpt: Since 2018, when the Supreme Court allowed states to legalize sports betting, Americans have put more than $600 billion into play. Sports betting is now legal in 39 states and Washington, D.C. Add in prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket, and more people are betting on sports than ever before.

That explosive growth has come with consequences: About a quarter of active sportsbook account holders surveyed by the Siena Research Institute this year said that they’d lost enough on a bet that they’d have trouble meeting their financial obligations. As a result, regulators and lawmakers from Colorado to Massachusetts are starting to question whether things have gone too far — and some are now proposing stricter consumer protections.

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Reposted by Mike English

ProPublica @propublica.org · 26/09/2026

Hey, ProPublica reporter Jake Pearson here. I’m taking over the account to tell you about my new story. For months, I posed as a problem gambler on DraftKings to test the company's "responsible gaming" safeguards. Spoiler alert: They made me a VIP — and I lost $10K. Here's how it all went down. 🧵

Selfie taken by ProPublica reporter Jake Pearson, a man wearing a backwards baseball cap and an orange T-shirt.

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Mike English @mocomikee.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

It is shameful that any of this is legal, let alone promoted. Self destructive behavior is the business model

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Mike English @mocomikee.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Apropos of everything happening all the time everywhere

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Mike English @mocomikee.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Just had a telehealth call and this happened and as an Italian-American (last names are weird) I’ve never felt more attacked in my life

A prompt during a telehealth appointment telling me I can “Use hand gestures to send reactions during a video call. To turn on Reactions, open Control Center, tap Video Effects, then tap Reactions”

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Reposted by Mike English

Melissa Bowman @dtkmelissa.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

"We cannot say we want affordable housing, protect farmland and oppose new homes in existing neighbourhoods. At some point, those positions become incompatible. If we choose to protect the countryside, we must also be willing to welcome more neighbours within our cities." buff.ly/0QxYmTw

buff.ly

LETTER: Incompatible ideas about where new housing should go keep us in crisis

'We cannot simultaneously say we want affordable housing, protect farmland and oppose new homes in existing neighbourhoods,' writes Phil Mills

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Mike English @mocomikee.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Happy to report this was overturned Unanimously Again Hats off to the council for doing the right thing What an amazing waste of time to indulge a stubborn man’s temper tantrum

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Reposted by Mike English

Max Dubler 🏳️‍🌈 @maxdubler.com · 15/09/2026

This is, without question, an Historic Preservation Moment™.

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Mike English @mocomikee.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Solid article here and yes, agreed all around with D. Silver Spring is great and I don’t picture myself ever moving, but we can make it so much better and complacency is the enemy of progress, or something deep like that

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Reposted by Mike English

d. reed, crisp & juicy enjoyer 🦀🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🇬🇾 @justupthepike.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

I had a lovely time talking to @bannermoco.bsky.social about the past, present, and future of downtown Silver Spring. it is unrecognizable to how I remember it as a kid in the 90s (in a good way!) and there’s still so much more work to do. www.thebanner.com/economy/grow...

headline from the banner: What downtowns can learn from Silver Spring about growth, diversity and reinvention, by Marijke Friedman

D. Reed remembers the downtown Silver Spring of their childhood in the 1990s as a quiet and lonely place. It was full of vacant and abandoned buildings, they said, and their family ventured to Bethesda and Rockville for most of their shopping.

The downtown doesn’t feel so lonely anymore.

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Mike English @mocomikee.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Up to my video bullshit again, this time about why “luxury apartments” are often more affordable than the existing “modest” single family homes in high cost of living areas. youtu.be/ghjgAjF8_kg?...

youtu.be

That "luxury apartment" is probably more affordable than your "modest" house in MoCO.

YouTube video by Mike English

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Reposted by Mike English

Jane Natoli 🥑🚲🍍 @wafoli.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

I live in a 120+ year old building. It’s missing basic amenities many folks take for granted that have come along since then. The “charm” of extremely old housing stock comes with a lot of costs! www.sfchronicle.com/realestate/a...

Furthermore, in San Francisco, having tons of pre-World War II buildings isn't much of a rarity. Citywide, a whopping 45% of homes have been standing since then — by far the highest share of any California city with at least 500,000 people. It's also on par with Boston's 47%, the highest of large cities in the U.S., the Chronicle found.

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Mike English @mocomikee.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Apropos of nothing the best thing this site could do for those like me focused on local advocacy is to add a “near you” tab

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Reposted by Mike English

Max Dubler 🏳️‍🌈 @maxdubler.com · 12/09/2026

“Landmarking just preserves pretty things. And it’s not like preserving the buildings keeps neighborhoods as they were. If that were the case the West Village would be full of artists and folk singers.” - @profschleich.bsky.social

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Reposted by Mike English

🦀 Shawn Morris 🦀 @theshawnmorris.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

You're telling me there's another successful pilot/test case/trial for UBI and it shockingly was effective and worked exactly how every other UBI trial works????????? Get outta town

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Reposted by Mike English

Sam @samd.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

fantastic article about an underappreciated housing villain, NIMBY preservationists the funniest part is that another prominent NIMBY just launched a 24-tweet screed against this article, simultaneously decrying the lack of decorum and complaining about the “YIMBY bros cult”

Layla Law-Gisiko *afi @laylaLa...•2h @
22/ So, my question is: can we have a sound and well articulated debate about housing, zoning and preservation without the use of rhetorical tricks such as straw man, false dilemma, post hoc causation, cherry-picking, metric switching, and appeal to ridicule?
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Layla Law-Gisiko *eafi @laylaLa...•2h O
23/ Descartes had a useful rule: accept as true only what one clearly knows to be so. Urban policy could use a little more of that, and a little less certainty veiling for evidence.
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Layla Law-Gisiko 5afi @laylaLa... 2h $ ...
Ad extremumm/ @GVSHP Village Preservation and its ED Andrew Berman must have rattled the YIMBY bros cult pretty badly. LEND!

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Reposted by Mike English

Martin Austermuhle @maustermuhle.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

AI may eventually destroy us, but for now it just makes unbelievably sloppy and inaccurate maps of places. To wit: - There are two Capitols. - National Harbor is… in Virginia? - Georgetown now has skyscrapers. - There are two bridges direct from Anacostia to Crystal City.

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Mike English @mocomikee.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Did a short (ish) video about why you should tell the county council to overturn Marc Elrich’s veto of James Hedrick’s unanimous appointment to stay on the planning board youtu.be/vMRjF7EXfeM?...

youtu.be

The Montgomery County Council Should Override Marc Elrich's veto of James Hedrick's Appointment

YouTube video by Mike English

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Reposted by Mike English

Kate Stewart (she, her) @cmkatestewart.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Today, Montgomery County is commemorating 988 day, a national initiative dedicated to increasing awareness of the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline and encouraging people to seek support when they need it. 988 is always available to those in crisis, but also to anyone looking for emotional support.

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Reposted by Mike English

Kevin Bunch (ubersaurus) @atariarchive.org · 07/09/2026

I will be honest before revisiting 94 for this I wasn’t sure how much we’d get out of it, but the answer was “a lot.” A genuinely interesting game in context!

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Mike English @mocomikee.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

With text based social media, uhhh, showing the constraints of its long term utility, trying another approach too. youtu.be/H6ZWesPt_28?...

youtu.be

Trying to prevent all change in your neighborhood is harmful even if it's understandable.

YouTube video by Mike English

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Sam @samd.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Dawg the landlord cartels purposefully keep rents high by passing NIMBY laws and opposing all new housing!!! constricting supply is exactly how they keep prices high!! I am begging NIMBYs to take a single economics class

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Reposted by Mike English

Sam @samd.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

“no amount of new builds has ever reduced rent” Meanwhile: Austin (it seems like I have stumbled on the last vestiges of 2015 left-NIMBY Twitter on this app)

Pew
Q =
Austin's Surge of New Housing Construction
Drove Down
Rents
Amid robust demand and a wave of policy reforms, Texas capital added 120,000 new homes from 2015 to 2024
Authors: Liz Clifford, Seva Rodnyansky, and Dennis Su

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Chicago 🏳️‍⚧️🌱 @chicagotrans-plant.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Blue states will bleed population to red states until we are eternally ruled by the worst of us purely so that wealthy homeowners can accrue endless property values.

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Mike English @mocomikee.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Unironically yes. Ideally all gambling really but I’m willing to be reasonable here.

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Reposted by Mike English

Arbaz Kakkar5 @arbazkakkar5.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Online betting is this decade's OxyContin. It should be universally banned.

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Matthew Gillikin @mtgillikin.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

I think it’s going to take 5 more years to get where we need to be with respect to addressing homelessness in Charlottesville, but the opening of the shelter is an important step in the right direction

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Reposted by Mike English

Sam @samd.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

i genuinely fucking hate Luigi (a Elon-musk loving nepo baby) for opening this Pandora’s box of edgy faux-leftists who have never worked a desk job in their life celebrating the murder of anyone with a moderately successful private-sector career

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Mike English @mocomikee.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

It’s a long and extremely autistic story as to why this is in my head again but, speaking as an auditor this is the best epilogue any piece of media has ever had.

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Jake Berman @lostsubways.com · 31/08/2026

This is completely insane. 75% of Suffolk County and 10% of Nassau County have no sewers? These are two of the richest counties in America - Suffolk has 1.5 million people and Nassau has 1.3 million. What the hell are they doing on that slender, riotous island?

longislandpress.com

Long Island’s never-ending search for a better sewage system

Exactly where you live on Long Island may directly affect the impact you have on the environment.

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