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Scott

@scottistvan.com
189 followers 251 following 334 posts

Bike/ped/transit activism. Improv Comedy. Software. He/him. See also @scottsthoughts@better.boston on mastodon; Bridged here for convenience: @scottsthoughts.better.boston.ap.brid.gy

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Scott
Emily Gorcenski @emily.gorcen.ski · 28/09/2026
Here’s the most incredible story you’ll read today. A small plane with four people aboard crashes in a field. Another pilot witnesses it. That pilot happens to be flying a bunch of skydivers. They offer to jump to assist, are given permission. The skydivers happen to be EMTs. Everyone survives.
wisn.com
Skydivers alert emergency crews, assist after plane crashes near East Troy airport
Four people were aboard the single-engine plane when it went down in a cornfield near Carvers School Road in East Troy at about 1:30 p.m.
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Scott @scottistvan.com · 22/09/2026
I think the thing that struck me most about Amsterdam is not that it has good bike infrastructure and lots of bikes. It’s that the city (and country) appears to be built around bike-as-default rather than car-as-default and that’s pretty neat.
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Scott @scottistvan.com · 19/09/2026
Continually frustrated by every language learning tool… I want the YouTube channel for “I understand how languages work, please speed run basic greetings people actually use, numbers, and present tense verb conjugation”
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Scott @scottistvan.com · 19/09/2026
1. I haven’t done a redeye in a while and after this one I’m not looking forward to the next one I have in a few weeks, but 2. Having free Internet access while over the mid Atlantic is wild
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Scott @scottistvan.com · 18/09/2026
One of my favorite things is other people’s drama I have no involvement in
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Scott @scottistvan.com · 15/09/2026
Oh heck yeah it’s cardigan weather
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Scott @scottistvan.com · 12/09/2026
Hot take: I don’t like hot pot restaurants. If I’m paying dining out prices I want someone who is good at cooking to do it… I can eat my own mediocre food at home.
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Scott @scottistvan.com · 03/09/2026
In the past two weeks, two people I know in the Boston area have been hit by drivers while walking.
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Scott @scottistvan.com · 03/09/2026
oh sure, exhausted all day but at 10pm is when I get a wave of energy, thanks
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Chris Dwan (he/him) @somershade.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
A friend refers to the "a pedestrian was struck by a car" construction as the "exonerative" tense, and that shall be its name henceforth and hereafter.
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Scott @scottistvan.com · 01/09/2026
Hey Massholes - Go vote! We have a lot of contested primary races today; many will be decided by hundreds if not dozens of votes.
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Adam Conover @adamconover.net · 31/08/2026
AI ruined the internet. Watch the full video on YouTube: youtu.be/JvTJTTUK8cg
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🎃 Spooky Shoshana 🎃 @shoshana.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
The ghosts of James and Helen Storrow demand sacrifices! James fought to preserve and improve the riverbank as a public park. After he died, his wife Helen prevented a highway from being built and donated $1M to the park. After Helen died, MA put a highway through his park and named it after him 🤬
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Scott @scottistvan.com · 01/09/2026
And to clarify for folks who are new and don’t know our street names: Do not drive a truck on the roads next to the river. They might sometimes look like highways, but they are neither highway nor road; they are secret third worse option that will destroy you.
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The Boston LOL 💜 🚲 ⚡ @thebostonlol.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Jamaica Plain folks! You may have noticed that Centre Street was recently repaved without putting in any improvements for either pedestrians or bikers. That's bc @wutrain.bsky.social cancelled the Centre Street improvements project Sign here @universalhub.com actionnetwork.org/petitions/re...
actionnetwork.org
Refund the JP Centre/South Transportation Action Plan
Mayor Wu has quietly cut the funding for the Centre St./South St. redesign plan that would have helped improve the speed and efficiency of the 39 bus, the 4th highest ridership route, and the safety o...
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Jonathan Berk 🏠 @berkie1.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Boston is an incredible place. We should stop gatekeeping this beautiful city and region and build a ton of new housing so more people can afford to live here, experience it, contribute to making it even better and call it home.
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Bikepedantic @pedantic.bike · 28/08/2026
Guys, this is for real. Senate GOP and the administration want to pass a law that outlaws bikelanes on the 160K mile National Highway System. Imagine if adding protected bikelanes to many arterials would suddenly be against the law. Let’s not allow this.
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Gravel Influencer @gravelinfluencer.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Really cool read about busting the patriarchy with regards to biking. This is a really good reminder of how infrastructure can drive culture. When you make cycling accessible for *everyone* then you see wide swaths of people riding. Seeing more women riding in turn encourages other women to bike.
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Scott @scottistvan.com · 26/08/2026
MBTA lines as problematic men: Red line - crypto bro with a sports betting problem Green line - college guy who read the game and is trying way too hard Orange line - he was a cool hipster in college but is now in his early 40s and hasn’t changed anything including his sheets
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Gravel Influencer @gravelinfluencer.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
ICE very quickly recognized that they could be just as effective in kidnapping people with less blowback if they just did it where white people weren't paying attention
bostonglobe.com
ICE arrests jumped to nearly 50,000 in July, the highest monthly total of Trump’s second term - The Boston Globe
The spike in immigration arrests shows that the administration has continued to advance its mass deportations agenda despite a shift in approach earlier this year that sparked a public outcry.
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Scott @scottistvan.com · 26/08/2026
I’ve now got 9 to 5 stuck in my head and it brings me great joy and a little sadness
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mtsw @mtsw.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
"should cyclists wear helmets" discourse is such a good one because the arguments for both positions are totally common-sense and unassailable, everyone just digs in.
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Scott @scottistvan.com · 26/08/2026
Ooh I see we’re having helmet discourse on the timeline again today. Let me grab the popcorn…
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Fietser @americanfietser.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Looks like the big name journalists are taking a stand on a stupid hill. Better put on a helmet before tumbling off it.
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David Zipper @davidzipper.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
New study suggests that a shortage of secure bike parking is limiting e-bike adoption. Glad to see this issue getting attention. It's intuitive that people with quasi-secure bike storage might be OK risking a pedal bike, but not an e-bike that's more expensive. doi.org/10.1016/j.tr...
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FT @fucktheory.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Imagine being talented and beautiful and rich and famous and still the most noteworthy thing about you is how good a person you are.
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Scott @scottistvan.com · 25/08/2026
Ok, I have now tried all of the common coffee brewing methods that don't require a dedicated kitchen appliance. French Press, Moka Pot, Pour Over, Aeropress, and Cold Brew. A thread...
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Scott @scottistvan.com · 25/08/2026
I have no idea how the local state senate race is going to pan out and I’m so curious. In Somerville and Cambridge I can absolutely pick it by neighborhood, but the district also covers parts of Medford and Winchester and I have no idea how those are going to fall.
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Chris Dwan (he/him) @somershade.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Biscuit when? 1/?
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Vice Mayor Burhan Azeem @burhanazeem.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
8 days left! @wilfredmbah.bsky.social and I want to know: do you have a plan to vote?
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Scott @scottistvan.com · 24/08/2026
Trying again to fix my feed - Please recommend artists, comedians, shitposters, meme accounts, cute animal accounts, progressive politicians, educational content, inspirational content, and anything that gives you hope or optimism on the timeline!
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Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani @mayor.nyc.gov · 24/08/2026
We're done kicking the can down the road. Here's how we're fixing the city-owned section of the BQE.
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Scott @scottistvan.com · 24/08/2026
Struggling with tech issues over on the fediverse. Maybe it's time to give Bluesky another go? If anyone has follow recs please lmk! My feed here is a bit dismal.
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Dennis Mersereau 🛰️ @wxdam.com · 30/05/2026
GLM Lightning Mapper might point to a bolide (fireball) causing that very large boom over southern New England a little while ago.
A satellite image from 2:11 p.m. showing a large flash over southeast Massachusetts.
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Bikepedantic @pedantic.bike · 30/05/2026
My entire timeline rn, good job bluesky
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Marion Davis @marionsd.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
When I looked at the (sadly only) 2 proposals for redeveloping 90 Washington St., I thought, well this is pretty obvious! One genuinely cool and green proposal with 600 housing units, including 120 affordable, and nice civic space, and another with a comically huge garage in the middle. Silly me.
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The Boston LOL 💜 🚲 ⚡ @thebostonlol.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
Ebikes exist to get me to all my geographically distributed polycule dates on time and feeling ready to rumble
media.tenor.com
a woman wearing a helmet is riding a bike with the words by cycle written below her
Alt: a woman wearing a helmet is riding a bike with the words by cycle written below her She's heading to yet another lover's apartment for sexy sex
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Scott @scottsthoughts.better.boston.ap.brid.gy · 09/01/2026
Hello Internet! I come to you collecting anecdotes to inspire an upcoming improv comedy project. I’m looking for: issues that you’ve had with a coworker, roommate, or other person you generally were in close and frequent contact with. These may be shared publicly and recorded, so please […]
better.boston
Original post on better.boston
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derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 05/01/2026
amazing how the entire machine can pivot within 24 hours. no need to slowly upsell the argument; just issue new marching orders
Matt Walsh tweeted last year: "We've spent the last 25 years bringing "freedom" and "democracy" to countries around the globe while our own country has been systematically invaded and now our largest cities are run by foreigners and communists. If you want to know why I'm so avowedly non-interventionist, this is why."

Then he tweeted today: ""This is a war for oil!!!!!"

First of all, the "war" lasted like 90 minutes. Second, going to war to secure vital resources for your own people is totally legitimate. Why should we allow some third world communist shithole to control trillions of dollars worth of oil?"Laura Loomer tweeted last year: "I’m America First, I don’t support “Regime Change”. I went on @Bannons_WarRoom to talk about Chinese aggression in Venezuela and why we need to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a foreign Islamic terrorist organization."

Then she tweeted yesterday: "Maduro has arrived at the DEA office in Manhattan. He was transported in an armored motorcade after being transported in a blindfold via helicopter & then by plane to New York after his compound in Caracas was raided by US Special Forces.

Proud to be an American today!

USA 🇺🇸"Catturd tweeted last year: "Name one U.S. inspired regime change that hasn’t ended in absolute disaster."

Then he tweeted yesterday: "Venezuela is now more free than New York City."Will Chamberlain tweeted last year: "The Republican Party is no longer the party of regime change and endless wars

If you want to be its standard-bearer that is a non-negotiable position"

Then he tweeted yesterday: "I can think of few better uses of my tax dollars than black-bagging the head of a foreign narco-trafficking organization that enriches itself by addicting and poisoning my fellow Americans"
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Chris Dwan (he/him) @somershade.bsky.social · 05/01/2026
In street safety conversations, people should write directly about the choices and actions of human operators rather than machines. ‘A driver killed a pedestrian by striking him with a car’ is clearer than ‘a pedestrian died after being struck by a car.’ We should do the same with AI. 1/?
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Dan Seitz @dseitz.bsky.social · 05/01/2026
Jeff Jacoby is always an unhinged doofus, but insisting that Dallas is a model for urban design because he's pissed off about his commute is something else.
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Gravel Influencer @gravelinfluencer.bsky.social · 05/01/2026
Fewer crashes, lighter traffic, more easily available parking, and importantly: Better quality of life. People enjoy environments with fewer cars! By every metric, congestion pricing has been a huge success.
4. Better quality of life
These primary shifts — fewer cars, less congested roads, more transit riders — have in turn produced a number of other effects that might more broadly be thought of as changes to qualify of life. Readers described experiencing safer crosswalks, less stressful bike rides and what feels like cleaner air.

In city data, the number of complaints to 311 for vehicle noises like car honking has declined significantly inside the congestion zone, compared with the rest of Manhattan.
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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 05/01/2026
“It’s really chilling that immigrant New Yorkers going into Wegmans and other grocery stores have to worry about their highly sensitive biometric data potentially getting into the hands of ICE.” Creepy and concerning for everyone, if you ask me. Uncontrolled tech is ruining a lot of things.
gothamist.com
NYC Wegmans is storing biometric data on shoppers' eyes, voices and faces
The supermarket chain says it’s a move to ensure shopper safety. Surveillance experts warn of privacy risks.
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Blue sky nice ghost @rajandelman.bsky.social · 03/01/2026
[Michael Bublé voice] And I'm feeling bad
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Scott @scottistvan.com · 03/01/2026
I still prefer the community feel of Mastodon to Bluesky, though I totally understand why many folks prefer Bluesky. if anyone is masto-curious though, this article from @amanda.omg.lol lays it out pretty well* techcrunch.com/2026/01/01/w...
techcrunch.com
A beginner's guide to Mastodon, the open source Twitter alternative | TechCrunch
Mastodon has almost doubled its userbase since Elon Musk took control of Twitter last month. Here's what you need to know about the platform.
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Mar Hicks @histoftech.bsky.social · 03/01/2026
Barbra Streisand
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella wants you to stop calling Al "slop" in 2026.

Images of satya Nadella and MS AI logo.Microsoft logo redone to say Microslop
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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
As I discussed in the interview, these are the 5 STEPS TO MAKING BETTER CITIES I’ve been using for many years, and eventually wrote about in @fastcompany.com. Too many cities are stuck in Step 2 (doing the wrong things better), and have to really be careful in Step 4 (doing the right things badly).
fastcompany.com
5 steps to making better cities
Before you can do the right thing, you have to do the right thing badly. And before that, you have to do the wrong thing.
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The War on Cars @thewaroncars.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
"Denver transportation officials said an anti-car message that was displayed on traffic signs in Denver on Friday was the result of a hack. One sign, photographed by The Denver Gazette on Friday evening at E. Colfax Ave & Lincoln St near the Colorado Capitol, shared the message 'Cars ruin cities.'"
denvergazette.com
‘Cars ruin cities’ signs in Denver were hacked, officials say
Denver transportation officials said an anti-car message that was displayed on traffic signs in Denver on Friday was the result of a hack. One sign, photographed by The Denver Gazette on Friday evenin...
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Scott @scottistvan.com · 23/10/2025
I am thrilled that the Somerville City Council race has so many excellent candidates in it who I would be thrilled to work with. That said, I am particularly excited about @jonlink.bsky.social and would encourage anyone who votes for me to also vote for him.
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Scott @scottistvan.com · 26/09/2025
Hey @cityofsomerville.bsky.social whats up with these gates that appeared at the new Ken Kelly park? The one blocking the ramp seems to make the park completely inaccessible to wheel chair users, and they block a good portion of the sidewalk when open.
A black metal gate at an entrance to a park is swung open into the sidewalk adjacent the parkA black metal gate stands shut in front of an ada accessible ramp.
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