Tom Zinnen
@tmzinnen.bsky.social
Retired outreacher, formerly at UW-Madison Biotech Center
Religious fervor, Calvinist zeal, and 3% of Reagan’s appeal.
Like its author, “Unintimidated” is unread and uninfluential.
Like its author, “Unintimidated” is unread and uninfluential.
December 11, 2025 at 4:16 PM
Religious fervor, Calvinist zeal, and 3% of Reagan’s appeal.
Like its author, “Unintimidated” is unread and uninfluential.
Like its author, “Unintimidated” is unread and uninfluential.
"Prosodic" is a term new to me, but already it's music to my ears.
December 10, 2025 at 7:39 PM
"Prosodic" is a term new to me, but already it's music to my ears.
"Ocian in View!"
Please give us the joy of the real text as originally written, as with the Lewis & Clark journals.
"Sic" isn't just for use with dogs.
Please give us the joy of the real text as originally written, as with the Lewis & Clark journals.
"Sic" isn't just for use with dogs.
December 8, 2025 at 10:43 PM
"Ocian in View!"
Please give us the joy of the real text as originally written, as with the Lewis & Clark journals.
"Sic" isn't just for use with dogs.
Please give us the joy of the real text as originally written, as with the Lewis & Clark journals.
"Sic" isn't just for use with dogs.
Ne Plus Ultra:
National Science Foundation: Science Hard
June 5, 2002
National Science Foundation: Science Hard
June 5, 2002
December 4, 2025 at 7:24 PM
Ne Plus Ultra:
National Science Foundation: Science Hard
June 5, 2002
National Science Foundation: Science Hard
June 5, 2002
Saucy Meyers threw in a wrack of lamb in basting the Turkey in Chief.
November 26, 2025 at 12:56 PM
Saucy Meyers threw in a wrack of lamb in basting the Turkey in Chief.
I saw Chaumont and was immediately transported to July 2022. For two weeks I helped at a WW2 archeological site in Belgium and there was a village called Chaumont nearby. And now I wonder who from this Chaumont might have suffered a fate similar to that of Paulette Isakow.
You do powerful work. 🙏
You do powerful work. 🙏
November 26, 2025 at 12:37 PM
I saw Chaumont and was immediately transported to July 2022. For two weeks I helped at a WW2 archeological site in Belgium and there was a village called Chaumont nearby. And now I wonder who from this Chaumont might have suffered a fate similar to that of Paulette Isakow.
You do powerful work. 🙏
You do powerful work. 🙏
Attend Your Union Meetings!
Alas, GOPers at least as far back as Douglas MacArthur become fickle in a pickle.
Alas, GOPers at least as far back as Douglas MacArthur become fickle in a pickle.
November 26, 2025 at 6:42 AM
Attend Your Union Meetings!
Alas, GOPers at least as far back as Douglas MacArthur become fickle in a pickle.
Alas, GOPers at least as far back as Douglas MacArthur become fickle in a pickle.
Beef prices up 5X over last year?
Gotterdammerung it, please show some evidence to back up that extraordinary claim.
Here's an ordinary claim: Ground beef is up from $5.5/lb in July '24 to $6.3/lb in July '25 (the latest FRED data).
0.8/5.5 = 14.5%. That's 1.14X, not 5X.
Gotterdammerung it, please show some evidence to back up that extraordinary claim.
Here's an ordinary claim: Ground beef is up from $5.5/lb in July '24 to $6.3/lb in July '25 (the latest FRED data).
0.8/5.5 = 14.5%. That's 1.14X, not 5X.
November 21, 2025 at 6:49 PM
Beef prices up 5X over last year?
Gotterdammerung it, please show some evidence to back up that extraordinary claim.
Here's an ordinary claim: Ground beef is up from $5.5/lb in July '24 to $6.3/lb in July '25 (the latest FRED data).
0.8/5.5 = 14.5%. That's 1.14X, not 5X.
Gotterdammerung it, please show some evidence to back up that extraordinary claim.
Here's an ordinary claim: Ground beef is up from $5.5/lb in July '24 to $6.3/lb in July '25 (the latest FRED data).
0.8/5.5 = 14.5%. That's 1.14X, not 5X.
They know of which they speak.
Polo, Illinois had a rope factory, if I remember correctly, and we had ditchweed near Dixon for generations after WWII.
Polo, Illinois had a rope factory, if I remember correctly, and we had ditchweed near Dixon for generations after WWII.
November 21, 2025 at 4:32 PM
They know of which they speak.
Polo, Illinois had a rope factory, if I remember correctly, and we had ditchweed near Dixon for generations after WWII.
Polo, Illinois had a rope factory, if I remember correctly, and we had ditchweed near Dixon for generations after WWII.
I wonder: What part of the country has whole milk at less than $2.99/gallon right now?
Why would @nytimes.com use such a stale photo?
Maybe the photographer visited a Kwik Trip in Wisconsin...
Why would @nytimes.com use such a stale photo?
Maybe the photographer visited a Kwik Trip in Wisconsin...
November 21, 2025 at 4:25 PM
I wonder: What part of the country has whole milk at less than $2.99/gallon right now?
Why would @nytimes.com use such a stale photo?
Maybe the photographer visited a Kwik Trip in Wisconsin...
Why would @nytimes.com use such a stale photo?
Maybe the photographer visited a Kwik Trip in Wisconsin...
The man has no balls: specifically, he lacks iron binnacles on either side of his moral compass.
November 21, 2025 at 4:08 PM
The man has no balls: specifically, he lacks iron binnacles on either side of his moral compass.
The federal government and federal statutes do a better job of protecting the USDA's "4-H" brand than they do in protecting the Medicare brand from unpermitted use.
November 20, 2025 at 8:47 PM
The federal government and federal statutes do a better job of protecting the USDA's "4-H" brand than they do in protecting the Medicare brand from unpermitted use.
Dick Cheney didn't speak out against Trump until Cheney felt obliged to speak up for his daughter in 2022.
Somehow, he couldn't bring himself to speak up for the country but rather he remained silent against Trump in 2016 & in 2020.
A tough-guy cowardly cowboy who put party before country.
Somehow, he couldn't bring himself to speak up for the country but rather he remained silent against Trump in 2016 & in 2020.
A tough-guy cowardly cowboy who put party before country.
November 20, 2025 at 8:43 PM
Dick Cheney didn't speak out against Trump until Cheney felt obliged to speak up for his daughter in 2022.
Somehow, he couldn't bring himself to speak up for the country but rather he remained silent against Trump in 2016 & in 2020.
A tough-guy cowardly cowboy who put party before country.
Somehow, he couldn't bring himself to speak up for the country but rather he remained silent against Trump in 2016 & in 2020.
A tough-guy cowardly cowboy who put party before country.
I seem to recall two assassinated in Minnesota and the husband of the Speaker of the House nearly beaten to death in his own home by Trumpists.
November 20, 2025 at 6:47 PM
I seem to recall two assassinated in Minnesota and the husband of the Speaker of the House nearly beaten to death in his own home by Trumpists.
I'm much more concerned with the current use in the US of the Knights Templar cross by the reight-wing religious zealots.
November 20, 2025 at 4:21 PM
I'm much more concerned with the current use in the US of the Knights Templar cross by the reight-wing religious zealots.
American Apartheid, Minnesota Style, Mid-Century Flavor
Don't want any native Americans buying back any prized lakefront property, either.
Don't want any native Americans buying back any prized lakefront property, either.
November 20, 2025 at 4:06 PM
American Apartheid, Minnesota Style, Mid-Century Flavor
Don't want any native Americans buying back any prized lakefront property, either.
Don't want any native Americans buying back any prized lakefront property, either.
Amen.
"He had become the most powerful weapon: the infantryman with a radio."
I'm still astonished that cell phones made this possible for everyone. And then throw in cell phones with videocameras...
"He had become the most powerful weapon: the infantryman with a radio."
I'm still astonished that cell phones made this possible for everyone. And then throw in cell phones with videocameras...
November 19, 2025 at 6:17 PM
Amen.
"He had become the most powerful weapon: the infantryman with a radio."
I'm still astonished that cell phones made this possible for everyone. And then throw in cell phones with videocameras...
"He had become the most powerful weapon: the infantryman with a radio."
I'm still astonished that cell phones made this possible for everyone. And then throw in cell phones with videocameras...
November 19 is the anniversary of the sudden death of UW President Charles Van Hise in 1918 in Milwaukee WI, where he had gone to the hospital for nose surgery.
He went to a hospital while the Influenza pandemic was peaking.
I continue to wonder if he succumbed solely to bleeding.
He went to a hospital while the Influenza pandemic was peaking.
I continue to wonder if he succumbed solely to bleeding.
November 19, 2025 at 3:57 AM
November 19 is the anniversary of the sudden death of UW President Charles Van Hise in 1918 in Milwaukee WI, where he had gone to the hospital for nose surgery.
He went to a hospital while the Influenza pandemic was peaking.
I continue to wonder if he succumbed solely to bleeding.
He went to a hospital while the Influenza pandemic was peaking.
I continue to wonder if he succumbed solely to bleeding.
And the caissons go rolling along...
To paraphrase Twain:
"Tanks are good,
tanks are impressive,
but it's artillery that does the work"
Knox's successors' achievements in 1941-45:
To paraphrase Twain:
"Tanks are good,
tanks are impressive,
but it's artillery that does the work"
Knox's successors' achievements in 1941-45:
November 17, 2025 at 8:55 PM
And the caissons go rolling along...
To paraphrase Twain:
"Tanks are good,
tanks are impressive,
but it's artillery that does the work"
Knox's successors' achievements in 1941-45:
To paraphrase Twain:
"Tanks are good,
tanks are impressive,
but it's artillery that does the work"
Knox's successors' achievements in 1941-45:
Yeah, I remember it was a big deal that Lincoln's catafalque was used for JFK in 1963.
Also, a synonym for 'bier'. English--what a language.
Also, a synonym for 'bier'. English--what a language.
November 17, 2025 at 8:16 PM
Yeah, I remember it was a big deal that Lincoln's catafalque was used for JFK in 1963.
Also, a synonym for 'bier'. English--what a language.
Also, a synonym for 'bier'. English--what a language.
More on Ashokan Farewell from the wikipedia entry:
November 17, 2025 at 7:49 PM
More on Ashokan Farewell from the wikipedia entry:
With parallel bars from the Gold Olympics...
Plank, pedestal, platform, plinth, pulpit, pyre (assuming it's made of wood), catafalque. 👀
Plank, pedestal, platform, plinth, pulpit, pyre (assuming it's made of wood), catafalque. 👀
November 17, 2025 at 6:41 PM
With parallel bars from the Gold Olympics...
Plank, pedestal, platform, plinth, pulpit, pyre (assuming it's made of wood), catafalque. 👀
Plank, pedestal, platform, plinth, pulpit, pyre (assuming it's made of wood), catafalque. 👀
With every Burns et al production, I grow ever more impressed by the violin theme music Ashoka Farewell, that resonated throughout “The Civil War”.
November 17, 2025 at 2:56 AM
With every Burns et al production, I grow ever more impressed by the violin theme music Ashoka Farewell, that resonated throughout “The Civil War”.
Then there's this guy, on a true mullet.
US Capitol, c.1884
US Capitol, c.1884
November 16, 2025 at 6:28 PM
Then there's this guy, on a true mullet.
US Capitol, c.1884
US Capitol, c.1884
Amen. They're dodging responsibility.
Also, what is it with spelling & journalism lingo?
Did they all phale fonix?
Also, what is it with spelling & journalism lingo?
Did they all phale fonix?
November 16, 2025 at 6:16 PM
Amen. They're dodging responsibility.
Also, what is it with spelling & journalism lingo?
Did they all phale fonix?
Also, what is it with spelling & journalism lingo?
Did they all phale fonix?