E. Allyn Bloom 🇺🇳🇺🇸🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🇺🇦
@ericallyn.bsky.social
850 followers 530 following 8.8K posts
I make jokes about metahumor. He/him. Grey-haired white cis-male-adjacent. Devout agnostic. Black lives matter. LGBT+ lives matter. Immigrant lives matter. Facts matter. Science matters. Aka Eric Bloomquist.
Posts Media Videos Starter Packs
Pinned
ericallyn.bsky.social
"Hope is an embrace of the unknown and the unknowable, an alternative to the certainty of both optimists and pessimists." - Rebecca Solnit, *Hope In the Dark*

Embrace uncertainty.
Reposted by E. Allyn Bloom 🇺🇳🇺🇸🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🇺🇦
carlzimmer.com
Today my @nytimes.com colleagues and I are launching a new series called Lost Science. We interview US scientists who can no longer discover something new about our world, thanks to this year‘s cuts. Here is my first interview with a scientist who studied bees and fires. Gift link: nyti.ms/3IWXbiE
nyti.ms
ericallyn.bsky.social
If my spouse and I have to leave the US, I think I’ll try to convince them that we should move to Portland.
ericallyn.bsky.social
It's my understanding that authoritarianism and incompetent governing is a common combination.

The only sense in which an authoritarian society is merit-based is the "merit" of having or acquiring power. And people who *are* competent are seen as threats by people with power.
ericallyn.bsky.social
I’m old enough that I remember George Bush Sr. accusing someone of being a “card-carrying member of the ACLU”.

At the time, the ACLU didn’t issue member cards. But there was a spike in memberships and people *wanted* cards. So the ACLU started issuing them

Maybe I’ll make an AntiFa membership card
atrupar.com
Jonathan Choe to Trump: "Another group right now that is behind antifa and working with antifa very closely based on the research that we have right now that we're gonna give to you and your team are the Democratic Socialists of America."
ericallyn.bsky.social
It's a small data sample, but I don't think I've met any highly-activist people who didn't understand this.
Reposted by E. Allyn Bloom 🇺🇳🇺🇸🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🇺🇦
oldenoughtosay.com
this is indeed a direct response to that person who said we should abandon trans folk because “ppl won’t die on that hill, it’s not a winning political strategy”

Me. I will die on that hill. We leave nobody on the tracks.
ericallyn.bsky.social
Big ethical decisions are a lot easier when they're someone else's big ethical decisions.

And for anyone who thinks they know what they'd do in that situation ... NO. You do NOT know what you'd do, unless you've already been through something similar.
ericallyn.bsky.social
The Supreme Court used to be pro-slavery. I like to think that at least some of the current Justices have better standards now.
ericallyn.bsky.social
Speaking as someone who has seen some of the insides of the logistical mess that private health insurers cause, we would definitely save money - and free up other resources - with everybody-in single-payer.
ericallyn.bsky.social
OUCH. Seems like there might be a market for unflavored toothpaste, etc. Like there's been, *thankfully*, an increase in scent-free products like laundry detergent and hand soap and so on.

Oh, hey, it's a thing:

duckduckgo.com?origin=funne...
unflavored toothpaste at DuckDuckGo
DuckDuckGo. Privacy, Simplified.
duckduckgo.com
ericallyn.bsky.social
This was actually tougher than I thought. It felt like I was tongue-tied by it.

I still want to cut back on my sarcasm, cynicism, and general negativity. But I'm also going to try to lean more *towards* the positive side of uncertainty.

For my own mental health, if nothing else.
ericallyn.bsky.social
Okay, I'm calling a personal moratorium on sarcasm, cynicism, and general negativity for the rest of day. Not going to generate it, not going to interact with it.

In fact, it's now a sunny fall day here, so I think I'm going to go outside and touch some fuckin' grass.
ericallyn.bsky.social
I'm no kind of finance expert, but to me it looks like a financial perpetual motion device.

And what do we know about perpetual motion devices?

They always stop working.

Unfortunately, this one isn't just a Rube Goldberg gadget on a cellar workbench.
ericallyn.bsky.social
You're right, but that made me remember Lynn Swann being a wide receiver for the Steelers. I was never much of a football fan otherwise, but ye gods that guy was sooo graceful.

And wouldn't you know it, he had *dance training*.
ericallyn.bsky.social
So far I've cancelled two of my replies because I realized they would've broken my moratorium. Yay me!
ericallyn.bsky.social
"To those demented souls who seek to kill, steal, and destroy our country ..."

Has anyone warned Trump about this?
ericallyn.bsky.social
Okay, I'm calling a personal moratorium on sarcasm, cynicism, and general negativity for the rest of day. Not going to generate it, not going to interact with it.

In fact, it's now a sunny fall day here, so I think I'm going to go outside and touch some fuckin' grass.
ericallyn.bsky.social
And that goes for his administration and much of the rest of the Republican Party.

"Lie. If called on the lies, double-down and be an asshole. Attack attack attack."
ericallyn.bsky.social
Being unqualified is a requirement for this administration. They don't want anyone who knows what they're doing. Bonus points if they also oppose the core purposes of what they're put in charge of.
ericallyn.bsky.social
Entirely unsurprising (but still disgusting), if true. Wells Fargo should've been shut down and broken up for parts years ago. Even for a financial institution they're corrupt AF.