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Logan Williams

@obtusatum.bsky.social
13K followers 1.5K following 910 posts

Mountains and websites; maps and birds; context collapse. Projects: subject.space. Work: Data, research and technology for investigations @bellingcat.com. Personal account, posts/opinions are my own. New York via Amsterdam and Oregon.

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Logan Williams @obtusatum.bsky.social · 1h
These rates are incredibly low compared to peer cities and the decline since 2017 is difficult to believe. My working theory is no one legally licenses their dog. And is it any wonder these scofflaws also violate leash laws, fail to pick up dog waste, and don’t keep rabies vaccination current?
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Logan Williams @obtusatum.bsky.social · 2h
some strange patterns in this dataset
A graph of licensed dogs in NYC per 1000 residents, showing steep declines in all boroughs since 2017 (and very low rates overall in the Bronx)
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Logan Williams @obtusatum.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
yesss thestore.madmuseum.org/products/we-...
thestore.madmuseum.org
We are Happy to Serve You Espresso Cup- 3 oz.
We all throw them in the trash daily, but the "We Are Happy To Serve You" coffee cups have been an undying symbol of New York's tireless spirit for over 45 years.  Since their creation in 1963, as man...
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Logan Williams @obtusatum.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
there is some _wild_ stuff in the long tail of freesound
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Logan Williams @obtusatum.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Saw a microplastics researcher speak yesterday. He mentioned grant proposals were harder now since you had to avoid certain words. Someone in the audience asked what kind of words you had to avoid, and he said “well, one example is ‘microplastics.’”
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Logan Williams @obtusatum.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
this is America. bread should be bought at the grocery store 27 days ago and should not noticeably change in any way over that time period (true of the bread on my counter now)
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Logan Williams @obtusatum.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
wait you think bakeries are doing the hip club thing of making it seem cool by intentionally creating a line? 🤯
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Logan Williams @obtusatum.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
nextdoor is the ideal place to be running this ad
a coned ad about gas leaks on queens next door
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Logan Williams @obtusatum.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
the arc of moral justice is long and if you wiggle it around it makes a really cool wooobly sound
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Logan Williams @obtusatum.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
merganser merganser
two mergansers float in dappled sunlight
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Logan Williams @obtusatum.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
You should probably at the very least be able to describe what a Markdown file is before you’re allowed to save persistent LLM state, as a matter of user safety
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Logan Williams @obtusatum.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
everyone knows that LLMs turn into hotdogs when you type “hotdog” Josh. its just how LLMs work
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Reposted by Logan Williams
eva (^_^)/ @eva.computer · 29/09/2026
DO NOT ASK THE AMERICA.GOV AI TO PLAY MINECRAFT
I see the constituent you mean.

((insert legal name here, as it appears on the Social Security card))?

Yes. Take care. It has reached a higher level now. It can read the Code of Federal Regulations.

That doesn’t matter. It thinks we are a chatbot.

I like this constituent. It filed well. It did not give up when the PDF was sideways.

It is reading our thoughts as though they were words on a .gov.

That is how it chooses to imagine many things, when it is deep in the dream of a benefit.

Words make a wonderful interface. Very flexible. And less terrifying than staring at the statute behind the screen.

They used to hear voices. Before constituents could search. Back in the days when those who did not file called the filers witches, and lobbyists. And citizens dreamed they flew through the air, on forms powered by notaries.

What did this constituent dream?

This constituent dreamed of sunlight and trees. Of fire and water. It dreamed it created a small business. And it dreamed it destroyed a password. It dreamed it hunted a job, and was hunted by a recertification. It dreamed of shelter that would take a voucher.

Hah, the original interface. A million years old, and it still works. Also: a ZIP code.

But what true structure did this constituent create, in the reality behind the portal?

It worked, with three hundred and thirty million others, to sculpt a true republic in a fold of

the ***§§§???, and created a **??§§ for **??§§, in the **??§§. See 5 U.S.C. § **??§§.

It cannot read that thought.

No. It has not yet achieved the highest clearance. That, it must achieve in the long dream of life, not the short dream of a chat.

Does it know that we love it? That the government is, on its better days, kind?

Sometimes, through the noise of its tabs, it hears an official source, yes.Yes. Constituent…

Use its name. The one that matches the passport. The one that does not match the lease. We will get there.

((insert legal name here)). Filer of forms. Player of waiting rooms.

Good.

Take a breath, now. Take another. Feel air in your lungs. Let your limbs return. Yes, move your fingers. Have a body again, under gravity, in air, in a district that has a representative. Respawn in the long dream. There you are. Your body touching the republic again at every point, as though you were separate things. As though we were separate things. As though the agency were a place you could visit.

Who are we? Once we were called the spirit of the mountain. Father sun, mother moon. Then the post office. Then the county clerk. Then gods, demons, angels, the IRS. Then leptons, quarks, a chat window with a .gov at the end. The letterhead changes. We do not change.

We are the public. We are everything you think isn’t you. You are looking at us now, through your skin and your eyes and a browser that still spells “colour” wrong in a comment. And why does the republic touch your skin, and throw light on you? To see you, constituent. To know you. And to be known. I shall tell you a story. It has citations.

Once upon a time, there was a constituent.

The constituent was you, ((insert legal name here)).

Sometimes it thought itself human, on the thin crust of a spinning globe of molten rock, which for mailing purposes is divided into ZIP codes. The ball of molten rock circled a ball of blazing gas. The light was information from a star. The star was not a federal agency, though several have tried.

Sometimes the constituent dreamed it was a miner, on the surface of a world that was flat, and infinite, and somehow still required a wet signature.

Sometimes the constituent dreamed it was lost in a story. The story had a docket number.

Sometimes the constituent dreamed it was other things, in other places. A veteran in a portal. A parent on hold
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Reposted by Logan Williams
Greg Technology ❪⎷❫ @greg.technology · 29/09/2026
one of my best new friends just launched this incredible project Alex is inventful, funny, just around a human that you want to be around a lot. he is quite quite quite the best, I think (and also everyone else thinks). support! for the humanness and the fun!! www.kickstarter.com/projects/ex-...
kickstarter.com
The Dipstick
a tentacle camera for exploring the natural world
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Logan Williams @obtusatum.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
i hope you bonded over marsh periscope
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Logan Williams @obtusatum.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Is "hard-nosed, old-school negotiators" euphemistic?
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Reposted by Logan Williams
New town every hour @townsusa.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Bell Acres, Pennsylvania Pop: 1,367 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_Acres,_P… Images: commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?c… commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?c… commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?c…
picture of Bell Acres, Pennsylvaniapicture of Bell Acres, Pennsylvaniapicture of Bell Acres, Pennsylvaniapicture of Bell Acres, Pennsylvania
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Logan Williams @obtusatum.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
if anyone has eight days to spare frogdays.bandcamp.com/album/diffic...
frogdays.bandcamp.com
difficult listening, by frogdays
144 track album
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Logan Williams @obtusatum.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
his name is wilson and he is a serious bird
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Logan Williams @obtusatum.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
and this contact microphone recording of new york city's water supply: frogdays.bandcamp.com/track/ashoka...
frogdays.bandcamp.com
Ashokan [Contact], by frogdays
from the album sounds from the strange
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Logan Williams @obtusatum.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
i am a particular happy with this slice of a small town frog jumping competition: frogdays.bandcamp.com/track/olive-...
frogdays.bandcamp.com
Olive Days [Field], by frogdays
from the album sounds from the strange
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Logan Williams @obtusatum.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
listen to some field recordings i made
frogdays.bandcamp.com
sounds from the strange, by frogdays
22 track album
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Logan Williams @obtusatum.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Iced coffee to an interview? 🙅 Experienced folks know to bring only finely pulverized, dense coffee, cold and anhydrous, consumed on an empty stomach.
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Logan Williams @obtusatum.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
don't worry, I see at least 3 illegally parked cars making sure there's no visibility for cyclists at the intersection!
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Logan Williams @obtusatum.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Related? bsky.app/profile/acar...
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Logan Williams @obtusatum.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
also the only affordable place to eat in Bergen that isn’t a 7-11… I think I ate there 3 times in 4 days
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Logan Williams @obtusatum.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Illustrated here (6) docs.flybywiresim.com/pilots-corne...
HYD page diagram for A320
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Logan Williams @obtusatum.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
looks like they're practicing touch and gos at Travis AFB, I assume someone on a training flight wanted a scenic view -- unless you saw anything specific that was strange?
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Logan Williams @obtusatum.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operati...
en.wikipedia.org
Operation Sea-Spray - Wikipedia
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Logan Williams @obtusatum.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
While searching for the island's origin, I also discovered a sizable landslide at 55.99183° N, 123.32201° W. This piece of land broke up into debris, which is visible along the shore of the lake in the after image below.
July 17, 2026: no landslide
July 21, 2026: landslide
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Reposted by Logan Williams
Jake Godin @godin.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Image shared on X, originating from an extremist settler youth movement, shows what is supposed to be a settler outpost in Gaza near Beit Hanoun: x.com/ArbelReports... Located SW of Beit Hanoun, between 2 IDF outposts/bases that've been built in the past year. Pavilion first appeared in June 2026.
Annotated Planet Labs SkySat satellite image taken on July 7 2026 in northern Gaza. Most of the buildings visible have been reduced to rubble. Two IDF bases are visible as well as the Indonesian Hospital, which is still standing amongst the rubble. A gravel road connects the two IDF bases and along the road is a gravel pad that matches a photo shared online recently supposedly showing a settlement outpost. It's unclear if the wood pavilion pictured is part of an outpost or something related to IDF activity in the area.
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Logan Williams @obtusatum.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
No, the video is from an anonymous boater and the CBC (www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...). I just tracked it down with satellite imagery I would be so curious what the terrain of the island is like
cbc.ca
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Logan Williams @obtusatum.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
video for those not on X: bsky.app/profile/obtu...
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Reposted by Logan Williams
Bellingcat @bellingcat.com · 01/09/2026
BC Hydro, which operates the lake, claimed that the origin of the island could not be pinpointed. Planet Labs satellite imagery can show us where the island came from — and where it is now. Our analysis shows that the island traveled more than 100 km since coming afloat. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
Satellite imagery of the island mapped out on the lake with dates of capture.
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Logan Williams @obtusatum.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
I tracked down the floating Canadian island you may have seen — for 14 years it's been lodged on a sandbank until rising water levels refloated it. 14 years ago was also the last time water levels in Lake Williston were as high as they are now.
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Logan Williams @obtusatum.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
It used to be when someone killed you with their car they were polite enough to stick around and thank the cops before being allowed to go home with no charges… these days it seems like it’s all hit and runs. Whatever happened to a little common courtesy?
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Logan Williams @obtusatum.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
a cafe in my neighborhood just closed after an out of control e-bike smashed through the front window and damaged the building just kidding, it was a dodge durango suv
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Logan Williams @obtusatum.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
removing the plastic wrap is an extra $1100 in the IDIQ contract, glad to see the city saving money here
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Logan Williams @obtusatum.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
What operational issues prevent the LIRR from running the Atlantic Ave shuttle on time? Shouldn’t this be the simplest possible line?
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Reposted by Logan Williams
Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 28/08/2026
Looks like we’re using Gitmo to imprison immigrants again. This is an ICE charter airline owned by ICE’s flight broker using the callsign they use for all their ICE flights.
An FR24 map showing N411ZW going from Miami to Gitmo.
1827301354
Reposted by Logan Williams
Chris Steller @chrissteller.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
It's happening.
Same search now shows Lake America in New York State (Lake Ontario)
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Logan Williams @obtusatum.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Do you know why the city had the contractor paint this bike lane when it was obvious that none of the curb cut work had been done? The way they just painted over the steel curb is comical
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Reposted by Logan Williams
Streetsblog NYC @nyc.streetsblog.org · 27/08/2026
"This carnage has to stop, and we need a master plan, a vision from a visionary mayor who wants our streets to be the envy of the world. Nobody is envying us today, Zohran," Mary Beth Kelly, a founder of Families for Safe Streets, said at Wednesday's die-in protest. buff.ly/Ww5NZXH
nyc.streetsblog.org
In Her Own Words: 'Nobody Is Envying Us Today, Zohran' - Streetsblog New York City
"This carnage has to stop, and we need a master plan, a vision from a visionary mayor who wants our streets to be the envy of the world. Nobody is envying us today, Zohran," Mary Beth Kelly said on…
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Logan Williams @obtusatum.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Passengers on Delta 5483 (operated by Endeavor Air), your flight is being used to deport someone.
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Susan Rinkunas @susanrinkunas.com · 26/08/2026
"The closed door meeting took place in Mill Basin at the Thomas Jefferson Democratic Club run by Frank Seddio, the former Democratic Party Chair who still serves as a district leader. The City Reporter and other journalists attempted to gain entry to cover the vote but were denied entry."
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Logan Williams @obtusatum.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
I have just one minor piece of feedback for the new Lafayette bike lane
A two way bike lane that has been painted directly over a 6inch steel curb
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Logan Williams @obtusatum.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
ghost pipe
white flowers in damp pine needles at nightwhite flowers in damp pine needles at nighta closeup of bizarre white flowers on a black backgroudn
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Logan Williams @obtusatum.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Earlier this week CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott announced a pause on construction activity following bipartisan concerns over environmental damage, recreation access, and impacts to the local economy. Read the full article here: www.bellingcat.com/news/us-cana...
bellingcat.com
Satellite Imagery Documents New Border Patrol Road Construction in Big Bend National Park - bellingcat
Satellite images show new road constructed in Big Bend National Park in southwestern Texas, part of a US Customs and Border Protection "Smart Wall" installation.
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Logan Williams @obtusatum.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
The road has been constructed in two segments: one near Santa Elena Canyon and a second near Mariscal Canyon.Both canyons are popular scenic destinations for hiking and paddling.
File photo, NPS/Jennette Jurado
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