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Skip Montanaro

@smontanaro.net
1K followers 1.5K following 2.4K posts

Vintage bike rider, book reader, retired software engineer, disappointed in political developments in the US. linktr.ee/skip.montanaro

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Reposted by Skip Montanaro
Fietser @americanfietser.bsky.social · 14h
All painted bike lanes are car infrastructure. The engineers have checked a box, while still allowing at-will, unimpeded movement by motorists in the heart of a major city. This design only serves those who are comfortable being uncomfortable.
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Skip Montanaro @smontanaro.net · 12h
@governor.pa.gov I know reaching potential donors is important, but I was getting so much spam, and "unsubscribing" often didn't work, so I gave up and simply started marking all money requests as spam.
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Reposted by Skip Montanaro
Chris Daniel @chrisdaniel.net · 02/10/2026
It's October, the best time of year to get your flu shot in the northern hemisphere. Enough time to build immunity before most holiday gatherings, and late enough that immunity lasts through the cold season!
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ebisback.bsky.social @ebisback.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Good on you Sister's 👏
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Skip Montanaro @smontanaro.net · 02/10/2026
I've not heard of this before. It would be nice where I live. Keep the cars out of the neighborhood for a couple hours so the kiddos can have a safer trick or treat experience.
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Skip Montanaro @smontanaro.net · 02/10/2026
I don't know what report these numbers come from. All the links I poked in this article lead to other Cycling Weekly articles. I hope they're not basing this estimate on continued exponential growth of bike sales... www.cyclingweekly.com/news/people-...
cyclingweekly.com
Cycling industry needs 45,000 mechanics right now, and it's an AI-proof job
New report says that 105,000 will be needed within six years
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Skip Montanaro @smontanaro.net · 30/09/2026
Eric Schmitt: "Dirtbag" Pete Hegseth: "Hold my beer"
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Skip Montanaro @smontanaro.net · 30/09/2026
@nytimes.com Please, please please, get a second opinion on this. I trust Netanyahu about as much as the 🍆🥔 at this point. www.nytimes.com/live/2026/09...
nytimes.com
Live Updates: FlyDubai Pilot May Have Attempted to Crash Flight to Israel, Netanyahu Says (Gift Article)
Passengers intervened and “prevented a disaster” after one pilot stabbed another during a flight from Dubai, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. The plane landed safely in Saudi Arabia. The motive...
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Reposted by Skip Montanaro
Colette Delawalla, PhD @cdelawalla.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
As always, excellent reporting by @melodyschreiber.com. I have *so much* to say about all this. But let me say this: I've worked with medical record data for research and LMAO, LMFAO even...this is why we need qualified scientists in charge of our scientific institutions.
theguardian.com
RFK Jr outlines expansive vision for collecting US health data at Maha event
Health secretary calls for medical and lifestyle details to be sent to doctors and AI to address ‘chronic disease epidemic’
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Reposted by Skip Montanaro
Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Two Schmitt staffers realizing this might be their last day.
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Skip Montanaro @smontanaro.net · 29/09/2026
@nbcchicago.com Who in the NBS Sports universe thought those of us in Chicago would rather see the Red Sox/Yankees game instead of the Cubs/Padres game??? Someone in your corporate parent has a screw loose.
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Skip Montanaro @smontanaro.net · 29/09/2026
"An unbounded place, a suspended jewel so shockingly bright. Can humans not find peace with one another? With the earth? Can we not stop tyrannizing and destroying and ransacking and squandering this one thing on which our lives depend?" "Orbital" -- Samantha Harvey #climatechange #nokings
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Skip Montanaro @smontanaro.net · 29/09/2026
I didn't know it was meow like a pirate day...
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Skip Montanaro @smontanaro.net · 28/09/2026
I don't think Kenny realizes that's not the flex he thinks it is...
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Skip Montanaro @smontanaro.net · 28/09/2026
I just added a word to mute, t-r-u-m-p. Makes my feed much more pleasant.
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Skip Montanaro @smontanaro.net · 27/09/2026
Or, I don't know, maybe growing alfalfa where that much irrigation isn't needed?
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Reposted by Skip Montanaro
Sam @samd.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
we could solve the western water crisis overnight by simply charging alfalfa farmers market rates for water
Across the basin, alfalfa hay uses more than 5 million acre-feet of Colorado River water — that's 26% of all the water consumed in the basin. One acre-foot roughly equals the annual water use of two or three households.
In the Upper Basin, irrigated agriculture consumes 2.8 million acre-feet, or nearly half the water used by Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, the environment, reservoirs and water exports out of the basin. Cattle-feed crops, like alfalfa, consume 90% of all water used by Upper Basin agriculture.
That means alfalfa uses more water than cities, commercial users and industries across the entire basin:
Collectively, these users consume about 3.5 million acre-feet, or 18%, of the river's water. The Colorado River
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Skip Montanaro @smontanaro.net · 27/09/2026
To paraphrase Ian Malcolm, "science finds a way." Fuckin' eh! 🧪 www.nytimes.com/2026/09/26/s...
nytimes.com
In an $80 Motel Room, a Discovery to Shed Light on the Origins of Life (Gift Article)
A scrappy science project led to a significant discovery: two new species of a rare organism that could elucidate a fundamental transition in the history of life on our planet.
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Skip Montanaro @smontanaro.net · 27/09/2026
Is there anything these fuckers won't ruin? news.azpm.org/p/azpmnews/2...
news.azpm.org
An archaeological site damaged by border wall construction is much older than first thought
A new study found that the Las Playas Intaglio, a sacred site damaged by bulldozers last spring, is over 6,000 years old.
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Reposted by Skip Montanaro
jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 26/09/2026
peter thiel is another one of those guys who we are supposed to think is brilliant but every time he opens his mouth my first thought is “this guy sounds like an idiot”
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Skip Montanaro @smontanaro.net · 26/09/2026
"Meddled?" How about "Attempted Break-in" or "Attempted Hack?" www.nytimes.com/2026/09/25/t...
nytimes.com
OpenAI’s A.I. Went Rogue and Meddled With U.S. Government Websites (Gift Article)
The company did not learn until recently that its technology had meddled with websites for the Education and Commerce Departments and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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Reposted by Skip Montanaro
Scott Metzger @metzgercartoons.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
They're getting chonky for Fat Bear Week 🐻 Patreon.com/ScottMetzgerCartoons
A bear couple is sitting a table in a fancy restaurant. The bear server is holding a pad of paper and saying to one of them, “For the salmon, would you like the pan-seared fillet or a live one from the river that we throw at you?” The female bear responds with a smile, “Ooh, the second one sounds lovely.”
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Skip Montanaro @smontanaro.net · 25/09/2026
That's my personal timeline cleanse for the week.
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Reposted by Skip Montanaro
Allison Gill @muellershewrote.com · 24/09/2026
Please stop overestimating what a democratic Congress can do. The oligarchs are spending money to make you think a Dem Congress can arrest people and hold trials and pass laws without a POTUS signature so that you’ll be disappointed when they don’t do stuff they can’t do. Don’t fall for it.
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Reposted by Skip Montanaro
Mark T. Sneed @marktsneed.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
“Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted.... History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.” ― George Orwell, 1984
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Skip Montanaro @smontanaro.net · 23/09/2026
@nytwirecutter.bsky.social I'm sorry, but maybe blowing away the leaves isn't the best remedy for a healthy yard. Leave them be or mulch them. www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/r...
nytimes.com
Our Leaf Blower Picks Can Clean Your Property Without Making Too Much Racket
For an outdoor mess too big for a rake and broom, you need one of these capable leaf blowers.
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Skip Montanaro @smontanaro.net · 21/09/2026
Why don't they ever show us all the times where bike riders crash into buildings? #BikeSky golfweek.usatoday.com/story/sports...
golfweek.usatoday.com
Car crashes into historic Massachusetts golf shop
Three people were injured after a car crashed into the pro shop at the historic Brae Burn Country Club in Massachusetts.
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Skip Montanaro @smontanaro.net · 21/09/2026
I recently finished @kevinmkruse.bsky.social's book "White Flight." Excellent book, highly recommended. As someone who grew up in the suburbs of San Francisco in the 50s and 60s, I'd never appreciated how their structure was dictated by the desires of segregationists.
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Skip Montanaro @smontanaro.net · 19/09/2026
We've seen a couple different AI systems escape containment during testing. The Israeli AI testing company Irregular has been mentioned in (I think) both the Google and OpenAI breakouts. Who's responsible for building the sandbox, Irregular or the systems 6 owner?
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Skip Montanaro @smontanaro.net · 19/09/2026
@zkw.bsky.social Can you tell your mates to clean up their crawler? Your company is presumably worth $25bn and this is the sort of shit you program into your crawler?
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Skip Montanaro @smontanaro.net · 19/09/2026
I don't know who Reflection.AI is, but its bot wasn't at all kind to my piddly little web server, so I told nginx to return 403. That was 9 days ago. It continues to hit my server, thousands of times a day. Their bot info URL (reflection.ai/bot) 404s and their website provides no contact link.
reflection.ai
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Skip Montanaro @smontanaro.net · 19/09/2026
"On Wednesday, Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) ... posted a Wall Street Journal article titled: “Why I’m Voting for a Texas Democrat.” The op-ed was written by Karl Rove..." This is the best Cornyn could do? Couldn't even write his own op-ed? Couldn't vote against Blanche's nomination?
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Skip Montanaro @smontanaro.net · 19/09/2026
After preparing to board the ship and sending up planes, officials realized that the report had been generated by AI. It was, a source told the reporters, “entirely false.” But it almost “started a war.” One more way AI could kill us all in the next ten years. Who's running this fucking ship?
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Reposted by Skip Montanaro
D. Earl Stephens @dearlstephens.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
📌“He was quickly over run and the elephants trampled him into the earth and all that we found was basically a very large blood stain around the clothing he was in.” Good news is hard to find these days, friends. Enjoy!
dailystar.co.uk
Poacher tried to shoot rhinos but was trampled to death by elephants instead
An armed rhino poacher in South Africa’s Kruger National Park was trampled to death when a herd of elephants charged as he lined up a shot for the animals’ lucrative horns
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Reposted by Skip Montanaro
Mark Jacob @markjacob.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
The owners of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory self-regulated.
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GOP==CRIME @yd52.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
As usual, the FELON IN CHIEF knows just one tactic: yell insults like a spoiled brat! #usdemocracy www.youtube.com/shorts/B1BQ7...
youtube.com
'He went into a tantrum': Rep. Joyce Beatty says she fought Trump during Kennedy Center meeting
YouTube video by MS NOW
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Skip Montanaro @smontanaro.net · 16/09/2026
This is so fucked up... I hope Trump can't figure out all the people he has to pardon for this "work," so there's some hope they will pay for their crimes.
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Skip Montanaro @smontanaro.net · 15/09/2026
From @newrepublic.com: "You shouldn’t have to wonder who’s watching you drive home." Yet another reason to ride your bike as much as possible. newsletter.tnr.com/index.php?ac...
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Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu · 14/09/2026
Your regular reminder: If the Russians stop fighting, the war ends. If the Ukrainians stop fighting, their land will be occupied, their leaders will be killed, their history and language will be erased, their children will be kidnapped to serve Russia.
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Skip Montanaro @smontanaro.net · 13/09/2026
I didn't watch the #ChicagoBears game (I'm at the Evanston Folk Festival), but I had the score pinned. It seems there wasn't a lot of defense. Not problems in the offense though...
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Skip Montanaro @smontanaro.net · 13/09/2026
Is it possible Trump was determined to remove the sculpture because he thought it was created by the governor of Pennsylvania? 🤷‍♂️ www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026...
theatlantic.com
This Was a Good Sculpture
Washington, D.C., is full of cords of connection. By removing a Joel Shapiro work, the Kennedy Center severed one.
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Skip Montanaro @smontanaro.net · 13/09/2026
"Yet in Washington, there has been almost no substantive response." Forget Trump. He doesn't have two spare neurons to rub together. Johnson keeps the House on an extended vacay. Hard to say what Cornyn is up to, hiding perhaps. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/13/u...
nytimes.com
As Fears of A.I. Catastrophe Magnify, Washington Stirs, but Mostly Slumbers (Gift Article)
President Trump has been in the forefront of the “what-me-worry?” crowd, refusing to engage on how to balance the risks and rewards of A.I.
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THEE NWMagpie - I Don't Argue With Ppl John Brown Would've Shot @thenwmagpie.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
I enjoyed Mike Luckovich for years, and then he created this cartoon. I sat and cried for several minutes. Then I cut it out of the Los Angeles Times, and I've kept it ever since. Thank you, Mr. Luckovich.
Mike Luckovich's editorial cartoon showing the 9/11 NY firefighters who died in the collapse of the Twin Towers, finally making it to the top.
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Skip Montanaro @smontanaro.net · 12/09/2026
He must be telling it straight. I voted for him. /s
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Kat Abughazaleh @katmabu.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Thinking about how a girl at Christian summer camp asked me if my dad was in Al Qaeda and I got in trouble for asking if her dad was a Klansman bc “her question was understandable”
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Lanrick Bennett @lanrickbennett.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
✅ A prescription for food and housing w/ Jeff Yoo MD and Andrew Boozary MD h/t @uhn.ca #FridayFlex
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Skip Montanaro @smontanaro.net · 11/09/2026
Oh, and there's the Anthropic report just yesterday that the company shut down projects using their tools which might have led to the development of biological weapons. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/u...
nytimes.com
Anthropic Says It Blocked Possible Efforts to Build Biological Weapons (Gift Article)
In a new report, the A.I. start-up added that it could not determine whether the research was legitimate or nefarious, leading the company to shut down the work.
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Hillary Rodham Clinton @hillaryclinton.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
A third of today's Americans are too young to have any memory of 9/11. For them, the 9/11 Memorial is making a new digital learning experience available starting tomorrow. We said we'd never forget—and part of that charge is making sure the next generation remembers too. 911memorial.org/DLE
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Skip Montanaro @smontanaro.net · 10/09/2026
I actually hadn't noticed, but still, catchy time...
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Kenneth F. Martin @ziggymetal.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Imagine that… A researcher warned AI could end humanity. Congress is starting to freak out. www.usatoday.com/story/news/p...
usatoday.com
A researcher warned AI could end humanity. Congress is starting to freak out.
A Republican called on Congress to convene a special session on AI guardrails. A Democrat pleaded with his colleagues to "wake up" to an "emergency."
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