S Bodzin, Real American 🇺🇸

Discontent creator. Big fan of living things.

Award-losing journalism is at Steven Bodzin (npub1kdn…9wah)

Photos: me, soda pop and ferns

My observations on iNaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=any&user_id=steven-cyclist&verifiable=any
My Latin America/journalism/econ-finance account: https://journa.host/web/@guacamayan
Twitter: https://twitter.com/stevenbodzin

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Last Notes

2026-01-15 00:19:05 UTC

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It's worse than I thought
@npub16sj…va89 : "I talk to young founders these days and for them, there’s no other world than the Trump world. I ask them what inspired them to go into tech and they say they read Marc Andreessen’s manifesto, they read Peter Thiel’s books, and I think, “Oh, your brain’s cooked.” They come in pre-pickled. But everyone else who could have told an alternate narrative has been hounded out of the industry."
https://sf.gazetteer.co/theyve-pickled-each-others-brains

2025-12-12 07:02:38 UTC

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One of these guys, after failing to become a millionaire, joined a writers group that I had somehow come to lead after all the founders disappeared. He wrote a memoir of how he went from being a Harvard frat kid most interested in getting ripped lats to becoming a passionate creative tech weirdo. Naturally it all flowed through riding a bike. Interesting cat!
https://www.bizbash.com/event-tech/industry-innovators-2022-paul-freedman

2025-12-12 02:59:34 UTC

There was an awful moment in maybe 1997 when the thriving creative tech neighborhood of Soma in San Francisco suddenly started to attract business school guys in long-sleeved blue button-down shirts. They would appear in groups of three around South Park and drink expensive espresso and you could see their utter soullessness and depravity as they sought to convert life and excitement into personal wealth, high-end golf clubs, ocean views, trophy wives.

2025-06-17 11:22:28 UTC

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can you point to a source? I don't see the link. I have heard that half of bunker fuel is used to ship oil, for example. But 25x sounds unrealistic.

2025-04-28 18:26:08 UTC

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among the many, many remarkable things about the book Careless People is the clear outline of how tech guys change over time. In the case of Zuck, being blamed for the US 2016 election was a turning point. These guys don't like to admit they have power, so of course they don't want to accept responsibility.

2025-04-12 17:43:29 UTC

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thanks, i night look into it. I just don't think it should require extra apps to keep the apps from spying on my apps

2025-04-12 15:05:27 UTC

Google is something else.
I was chatting with a friend on Signal, using the swipe function on Google keyboard. I thought it was a local function, but maybe not. We talked about Lego. I have probably never typed that word before on a phone.
I then went to the YouTube app to watch comedy and it suggested to me a Lego video, something I'm pretty sure I've never seen before on YouTube.

2025-03-11 10:25:57 UTC

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the big dam in Venezuela is known as Guri. He probably heard that once and got something stuck in his head.
It's the kind of mistake anyone could make, but the fact that it went out on the internet just shows how these guys are accustomed to getting to say whatever old thing and not having to worry about it.

2025-01-19 21:21:53 UTC

AOC's Instagram reel about the tiktok ban is amazing:
-govt provided little evidence of national security risk
-she proposed a privacy law instead, and big tech freaked out
-tiktok has now restored service and thanked "president" Trump, who isn't president
-all major social media now controlled by the right wing
-better to use systems where you own your data (but she's apparently never heard of the fediverse!)
https://www.instagram.com/stories/aoc/3548598772676621249/

2025-01-14 13:14:25 UTC

A lot of people have talked about the weird and frightening rise of non-Black South Africans in US politics. But I didn't realize there was such a good South African article about it. This is powerful, unblinking stuff.
https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2024-11-20-how-south-african-men-are-changing-the-course-of-american-democracy/

2025-01-12 04:35:12 UTC

I am increasingly convinced that vaccination is paying off in NYC. The least vaccinated borough is the one going through a COVID resurgence, while the others are just hanging out
The top line there is Staten Island
https://www.nyc.gov/site/doh/covid/covid-19-data.page#transmission
https://cdn.masto.host/thepitsocial/media_attachments/files/113/813/516/849/408/690/original/9852c28b2a8c70ff.png

2024-12-31 12:57:36 UTC

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he just did time ending just before the election!
He's a trooper

2024-12-30 15:29:42 UTC

It's that wonderful time of the year when those of us with English keyboards get to wish all our Spanish-speaking friends a happy new asshole

2024-12-30 13:15:29 UTC

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"safer than human drivers" they said

2024-12-28 05:36:11 UTC

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Pacer, the US federal court system database, no longer works between about 10:00 a.m. and noon because it is being hit so hard by data mining robots.
https://abovethelaw.com/2024/12/pacer-sucks-more-than-usual-and-we-know-exactly-who-to-blame/

2024-12-09 16:38:14 UTC

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how did you get a camera into my brain without me noticing

2024-11-29 15:14:40 UTC

Stop using land for animal agriculture and we can lower the global temperature by almost 1°F compared to business as usual.
You don't need to be a vegan. But cut your meat and dairy consumption by half or 80%, and remind ever restaurant and store that you want meat free options, and you will have gone a long way toward this goal!

2024-11-29 15:08:50 UTC

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this is one of the advantages of Android. I use Musicolet as a player. It's just a player. No Internet connection at all. Turns my phone into a damn Zune, which is all I want.
The problem is that Apple has made it increasingly difficult to drag music from a Mac onto an Android phone. You really need to play around a lot to set up a wired connection, and Bluetooth is too slow for moving gigabytes of music

2024-11-27 04:00:41 UTC

You know who blames the IDF and Netanyahu for the Oct 7 attacks? A lot of Israelis
If anyone in the US, UK or Germany made these same observations, they would be branded as anti-Semitic. If a university produced this report in the US, its president would be taken to task in Congress and its funding would be at stake.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/26/world/middleeast/israel-oct-7-inquiry.html?unlocked_article_code=1.dE4.HM7q.-8KBkL91igDy&smid=url-share

2024-11-23 16:00:47 UTC

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this is the way to do it! Don't leave until they are chasing you. Don't shut up.

2024-11-06 16:15:29 UTC

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i didn't follow that campaign at all but i know that a lot of the fire-fighting staff in California is made up of slaves

2024-11-04 10:46:55 UTC

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anyway that is a very "i have slaves" recipe. They want to to hand whip a batter for a half an hour?
Who could afford that quantity of cinnamon?
Wild demonstration of preindustrial wealth concentration right there

2024-11-04 10:43:50 UTC

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i wonder if I can fubstitute fomething for the fugar

2024-11-01 23:13:20 UTC

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somebody needs to tell maga to harden the fuck up

2024-10-26 20:06:09 UTC

I just want to release a cloud of gas that calms these people down and makes them more trusting of their fellow humans.
Speaker list for tomorrow at Madison Square Garden:
Donald J. Trump
Sen. JD Vance
Speaker Mike Johnson
Rep. Elise Stefanik
Rep. Byron Donalds
Tulsi Gabbard
Rudy Giuliani
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Lara Trump
Eric Trump
Donald Trump Jr.
Elon Musk
Dan Scavino
Stephen Miller
Dana White
Tucker Carlson
Brooke Rollins
and many more
https://www.nbcnewyork.com/decision-2024/donald-trump-madison-square-garden-rally-sunday-speaker-list-msg/5925253/

2024-10-25 12:54:55 UTC

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That's fine but there is also real reason for hope.
False hope: I'm 100 feet down a glacial crevasse but maybe someone will rescue me
Real hope: I'm 100 feet down a glacial crevasse but I have two ice axes and with enough skill, luck, and perseverance I can get out of here

2024-10-01 14:48:48 UTC

Run, don´t walk, to Pay Pal dot com and unclick the button that would "share" your purchases with everyone
https://www.404media.co/paypal-personalized-shopping-opt-out/
https://cdn.masto.host/thepitsocial/media_attachments/files/113/232/715/150/572/009/original/c2efd215e781b2b8.png

2024-09-17 08:41:11 UTC

I'm still thinking about how NYPD shot 4 people over a $2.90 fare jump.
Just the 9 bullets they shot cost almost as much as the fare that was stolen. Then the critical L line had to be closed for the investigation, costing subway riders countless hours of delay and unaccounted-for cost.
Everyone is expected to survive, but the bystander who was in critical condition? What will his life be like? Can he work again?
The cost, just in $ terms, will be in the millions.

2024-09-17 08:23:24 UTC

New York people: did you know abortion is on the ballot here? Vote YES on question 1!
https://www.nyclu.org/commentary/why-new-yorkers-should-vote-yes-on-proposition-1
From the link:
When we enshrine a right in the state constitution, we protect it from political attacks. In 2022, Lee Zeldin, a staunchly anti-abortion politician, came within six percentage points of becoming our governor... In fact, it was only in 2019 that New York finally removed abortion from the homicide code and began to regulate it under health law.

2024-09-10 11:16:09 UTC

So it turns out the "Sound of Freedom" guy is probably a rapist and at the very least has no sense of sexual boundaries.
This article is full of heinous details of how he has, almost certainly, abused power. Whether it rises to a legally sanctionable act is up in the air, but this is a lot of credible accusations (gift link): https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/09/us/tim-ballard-sound-of-freedom-sex-trafficking.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Jk4.LetW.V50NIv5x2mR_&smid=url-share
Also, the Sound of Freedom movie would have been so much better if it had included this aspect of the "hero."

2024-08-26 10:57:41 UTC

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to be fair this is something that's been endemic in Mass. for many years
The real problem is the mosquitos. Why are there so many mosquitos there? It's swampy, sure. But I just spent the weekend in swampy woods and there were almost no mosquitos. I don't know why but I suspect it was because it's a wilderness where no one ever sprays pesticides, so there are lots of frogs and trout, which devour mosquito larvae.
The cure for EEE (spraying all the suburbs) probably makes it worse.

2024-08-09 22:56:03 UTC

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it's such a tricky topic, right? The US by its size and economic power has outsized responsibility for many things in the world. But it's important to recognize that people in other countries also have desires and agency. If the US really cared about corruption or the rule of law, it would have stronger identity control, make it harder to form shell companies, and require reporting of ultimate beneficial owners for all real estate and bank accounts. Nagahapn

2024-08-09 22:21:01 UTC

Please repost this repeatedly, I'm desperate for a slug of dopamine and nothing is working

2024-08-08 12:03:55 UTC

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"freak accident." No one could ever have predicted that carrying a gun for no reason could result in an inadvertent shooting.
The term is not accident. It's FAFO.

2024-08-01 11:39:58 UTC

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i understand that. It's possible to call them out without repeating them. Otherwise you are pouring gasoline on the fire along with the water. It's just how people's brains work. Repetition causes belief even when the statement is obviously false.
https://cognitiveresearchjournal.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s41235-021-00301-5

2024-08-01 07:27:24 UTC

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you don't actually need to repeat lies. The human brain will believe anything it hears repeatedly, no matter whether you call it racist or not.