iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Obbie King @obbiez.urbanists.social.ap.brid.gy · 22/10/2026

When we visited London in 2001, our map said that Oxford Street was pedestrianized on Sundays. Being a Sunday, we said, "let's go!" We HATED it. We found an outdoor shopping mall with the tackiest outlets, overrun with Mutant Shopper Zombies. This sentence seems accurate: "Its primary […]

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Obbie King @obbiez.urbanists.social.ap.brid.gy · 14/10/2026

New TOS from #Dropbox. I'm troubled by this passage: "We’ve further explained our collection and use of your data to better identify what data is being used for which purposes." Has anyone dug deeper into this? What do they mean by "collection and use of […] [Original post on urbanists.social]

A screen shot of an email describing updates in Dropbox' TOS. The highlighted passage reads, "We’ve further explained our collection and use of your data to better identify what data is being used for which purposes."

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Obbie King @obbiez.urbanists.social.ap.brid.gy · 14/10/2026

@nev At the Diablo Canyon protest (fall '81), I was with a group of people chatting with cops near the property holding area. What I didn't know is that meanwhile, my friends were at the back door bribing the trustees (prisoners working) to deliver our backpacks.* Distraction can be a welcome […]

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Obbie King @obbiez.urbanists.social.ap.brid.gy · 14/10/2026

@nev 1) La Crosse WI (same latitude as Toronto, coincidentally) 2) It's a brain-dead, mean-spirited waste of money that will fail spectacularly at "reducing traffic." Induced demand will turn 2(?) lanes of gridlock into 4 lanes of gridlock.

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Obbie King @obbiez.urbanists.social.ap.brid.gy · 14/10/2026

Toxic Tom Tiffany wants to pretend he's in favor of "legalizing" cannabis, but it's only medical... for veterans and people dying of cancer. The rest of us are left crossing the river to Minnesota, or driving to Illinois or Michigan, where tens of millions of tax dollars are collected from […]

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Obbie King @obbiez.urbanists.social.ap.brid.gy · 14/10/2026

@enobacon Maybe instead they should put the mums and pumpkins in one of the car parking spaces. I'm sure there are many more of them than the space devoted to bike parking.

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Obbie King @obbiez.urbanists.social.ap.brid.gy · 13/10/2026

[time zone rant] @sundogplanets What's wrong with people? Any meeting that involves participants in multiple time zones (even those that don't) should be REQUIRED to specify the time zone when they list the meeting time. And not just "PT", but "PDT" or "PST".

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Obbie King @obbiez.urbanists.social.ap.brid.gy · 11/10/2026

T***p is actively engaged in #treason, yet every person with an 'R' next to their name is complicit in this treason. Every time they have a chance to vote to stop this madness, they say, "that's OK." Every R is a toady for the anti-christ, and must be voted out.

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Obbie King @obbiez.urbanists.social.ap.brid.gy · 10/10/2026

If I were Zelenskyy (I'm not), I would bomb the shit out of every diesel refinery in Russia. Then I'd go after their export terminals. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/oct/… #diesel #Ukraine #TrumpTreason

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Obbie King @obbiez.urbanists.social.ap.brid.gy · 08/10/2026

I saw this news and called out, "Oh no! Margaret Hamilton died!", and Rozie said, "Wow, she must've been REALLY old." "No, not THAT Margaret Hamilton." (Her namesake was the Wicked Witch in the Wizard of Oz.) I wonder if NASA's Margaret Hamilton dressed up as The Witch for Halloween […]

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Obbie King @obbiez.urbanists.social.ap.brid.gy · 06/10/2026

Boscobel toddler dies after being struck by SUV in driveway "The initial investigation indicates the incident was a tragic accident, but it remains under investigation." Bullshit. It was caused by brain-dead auto engineers who designed a vehicle that makes nearby toddlers invisible […]

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Obbie King @obbiez.urbanists.social.ap.brid.gy · 26/09/2026

Without BART, the Bay Area would be a totally different place (and not in a good way). It was so successful that fares were enough to pay the bills. After COVID and the dawn of remote work, ridership went down. Now there's a 0.5% sales tax proposal to subsidize it. But this is a tax on those […]

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Obbie King @obbiez.urbanists.social.ap.brid.gy · 26/09/2026

@enobacon He doesn't deserve hanging. That would be too merciful and compassionate. He deserves to be dumped naked and impoverished into the middle of an ebola-infected community, and share in the suffering he's inflicted until the grim reaper collects his pathetic corpse.

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Obbie King @obbiez.urbanists.social.ap.brid.gy · 26/09/2026

@NNN Grrrr. When I was on that very block c. 1990, that lane was designated no parking after 4pm (need the lane for outbound commuters, I guess). I came back to my car at 4:05 and it had already been towed. If they can tow cars instantly to make room for commuters, then they can tow them to […]

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Obbie King @obbiez.urbanists.social.ap.brid.gy · 24/09/2026

@NNN BTI (before the Internet), I used to set my watch to the chime at the beginning of CBS radio's hourly news. Of course, WWVB was the gold standard, but you needed a tuner that could pick up 60khz. Now, it's easy for time-keeping devices to periodically sync with a time server somewhere.

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Obbie King @obbiez.urbanists.social.ap.brid.gy · 19/09/2026

[F-bomb] A reminder: Hunter S. Thompson was in the White House press corps for Rolling Stone magazine, during the regime of RICHARD FUCKING NIXON!! www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/se… #snowflake #manBaby #worseThanNixon

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Obbie King @obbiez.urbanists.social.ap.brid.gy · 16/09/2026

"When an industry that is eating itself alive through "hyperscaling" demands that the government bless a conspiracy to halt competition and ban open source alternatives, you should be suspicious. When that industry is pursuing a venture that has lost more money than any other venture in human […]

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Obbie King @obbiez.urbanists.social.ap.brid.gy · 12/09/2026

Republican keep demonizing Democrats for forming a "Red Green alliance", but personally, I'm fine with that. #RedGreen #Canada #USpol

An image of the Canadian TV character Red Green, unfurling a stretch of duct tape.

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Obbie King @obbiez.urbanists.social.ap.brid.gy · 11/09/2026

@liaizon When #ShitholeSocial was first launched, I remember reading that it was a modified Mastodon instance.

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Obbie King @obbiez.urbanists.social.ap.brid.gy · 11/09/2026

I'm increasingly feeling like the world is being run by comic book villains, but there are no superheroes coming to rescue us.

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Obbie King @obbiez.urbanists.social.ap.brid.gy · 09/09/2026

When I was in high school, the tag line on the radio commercial said, "Someday, you'll own a Yamaha." They were supposedly talking about motorcycles. Turns out they were talking about musical instruments and sound equipment.

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Obbie King @obbiez.urbanists.social.ap.brid.gy · 03/09/2026

@NNN AI is like a student who didn't study the material answering a question on an essay exam. It will NEVER (truthfully) say "I don't know." Instead, it'll dish out a big plate of BS masquerading as an answer.

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Obbie King @obbiez.urbanists.social.ap.brid.gy · 03/09/2026

The "post-American Internet" should've been built long ago. Now Trump has the world by the balls (as long as Big Tech keeps sucking up.) This is scary: "If Trump wants Greenland, he can just order Microsoft to switch off Office 365 for the country and every ministry and significant firm will be […]

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Obbie King @obbiez.urbanists.social.ap.brid.gy · 03/09/2026

@liaizon I'm not surprised you're finding "poorly written" pages on Wikipedia. I had to rewrite a page about a community I belonged to for 13 years, as it looked like the original was composed by some primitive AI bot. I suspect there's a lot of AI slop on Wikipedia.

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Obbie King @obbiez.urbanists.social.ap.brid.gy · 01/09/2026

"Gavin Newsom, ...affirming that 'we have to be builders' and not destroyers, would just leave things alone..." Gavin Newsom will NEVER be president.

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Obbie King @obbiez.urbanists.social.ap.brid.gy · 01/09/2026

What to do with the #orangeDipshit's "architectural legacy"? If I were the next president, I'd freeze all financial assets of the T***p Crime Family, and I'd use that money to remove all the crap they've built and to restore it the way it was […]

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Obbie King @obbiez.urbanists.social.ap.brid.gy · 31/08/2026

I made a screen recording to show how to raise hell with Google over the mis-naming of Lake Ontario. (Recorded in the gMaps web site on a laptop. YMMV)

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Obbie King @obbiez.urbanists.social.ap.brid.gy · 30/08/2026

@NNN Silly question. Of course you should (assuming you are competent with the required tools).

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Obbie King @obbiez.urbanists.social.ap.brid.gy · 29/08/2026

This story mad me sad... The headline says, "How to Make a Bestseller", but nowhere in the article did it say, "Write a good book that people want to read." It was all about promotion, cover design, and convincing retailers to stock it. One would think that a good story should be good enough […]

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Obbie King @obbiez.urbanists.social.ap.brid.gy · 28/08/2026

Even the #orangeDipshit was smart enough to not hate on #DollyParton. After all, everybody LOVES Dolly. NOBODY hates Dolly. But do you know what country is the Dolly Parton of countries? #CANADA! Everybody LOVES Canada. NOBODY hates Canada.... ...except for the #orangeDipshit, the stupidest […]

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Obbie King @obbiez.urbanists.social.ap.brid.gy · 27/08/2026

Please hit Maga-loco, please please PLEASE hit Maga-loco. #TropicalStormDolly

A screen shot from a tropical storm tracking website, showing Tropical Storm Dolly heading toward the West Indies.

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Obbie King @obbiez.urbanists.social.ap.brid.gy · 27/08/2026

Recommended reading for any #Democrats planning to win an election this year. Some have figured this out, too many haven't. "It’s about ‘kitchen-table populism’: focusing on Americans’ day-to-day economic struggles" […]

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Obbie King @obbiez.urbanists.social.ap.brid.gy · 27/08/2026

@danwentzel I seem to remember that there were theaters that did midnight showings every weekend for YEARS.

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Obbie King @obbiez.urbanists.social.ap.brid.gy · 26/08/2026

If there really is a Great Beyond, the line of folks waiting to go thru the gates features #TimCurry and #DollyParton standing next to each other. I'm sure they're sharing stories of their over-the-top costumes and memorable performances.

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Obbie King @obbiez.urbanists.social.ap.brid.gy · 25/08/2026

Checking my traffic on my personal blog this morning, I see a sudden little burst of activity on a post I wrote nearly 20 years ago. What I wrote during the Bush/Cheney years looks like it could have been written yesterday... blog.purplearth.net/the-country-wev…

A screen shot of some text:

In short, we have become the kind of country that we were all taught to despise. So when we criticise the country that America has become, it is in reverence to the America we were taught to believe in. This country still exists within the hearts of its people, but it has been sabotaged by a gang of looters and thugs. This is a shame not only for those of us who live here, but for those in the rest of the world who look to America as a beacon of liberty and hope.

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Obbie King @obbiez.urbanists.social.ap.brid.gy · 24/08/2026

A useful study of the NYT's weaponization of political lexicon. Anything they don't like is labelled "divisive" or "polarizing", and anything the Wall-Streeters would approve of is "unity". I'm gonna start calling Wall-Streeters like Carville "divisive" and "polarizing". We have a divisive […]

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Obbie King @obbiez.urbanists.social.ap.brid.gy · 22/08/2026

I had to read this story for fun... Someone is going 100mph, and PASSES A COP (prudent driving rule: never pass a cop at ANY speed). The chase story reads like something from a Hollywood movie, and he has a laundry list of past convictions, parole, and bail to add to a long list of new felony […]

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Obbie King @obbiez.urbanists.social.ap.brid.gy · 20/08/2026

@kkavee re, "let the business know I dont drive and park a car to shop there"... My wife is always, "why don't you lock your helmet to your bike? Why do you drag it in with you?" I like people to know how I got there.

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Obbie King @obbiez.urbanists.social.ap.brid.gy · 18/08/2026

@NNN A lot of this kinda stuff is contingent on federal help of some sort, and I suspect the current crew is less willing to cut checks than Biden's people were.

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Obbie King @obbiez.urbanists.social.ap.brid.gy · 16/08/2026

Every candidate for federal office must be asked to address this. I'm sure Repugnantans will continue to support their "dear leader" and insist this is OK. When they talk about "supporting the troops," ask if this is what that means. Meanwhile, good luck getting any experienced sailors to […]

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Obbie King @obbiez.urbanists.social.ap.brid.gy · 15/08/2026

@enobacon Shouldn't trailers also be in this discussion?

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Obbie King @obbiez.urbanists.social.ap.brid.gy · 12/08/2026

We are just barely in the path for the partial eclipse.... 0.25% coverage. What's that look like? At "peak eclipse", I looked, expecting to see a little nibble out of the sun. What I saw was the sun slightly flattened on one edge. If I hadn't known better, I wouldn't have been able to tell.

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Obbie King @obbiez.urbanists.social.ap.brid.gy · 09/08/2026

@liaizon @tbernard Sounds like a name for a Chinese data center. (In case you haven't heard, they're talking about sinking them into the sea for the ocean's "cooling" effect.)

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Obbie King @obbiez.urbanists.social.ap.brid.gy · 09/08/2026

@enobacon "...it got buried in my inbox" is Not My Problem.

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