Department of Government Accountability (DOGA): Silicon Valley Bank and the San Francisco Fed, 1.5 years later

Our stroll to the first morning of work in San Francisco included the usual sights, e.g., a homeless encampment in the same frame as a self-driving Waymo: Also, a smashed office building glass door: It also took us past a Silicon Valley Bank “Experience Center” and the San Franci … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 15 hours ago

Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco

I finally made it to the Walt Disney Family Museum, smack in the center of San Francisco’s Presidio. Why is it in San Francisco when almost everything that Disney did was in Los Angeles or Orlando? Disney’s only child, Diane Disney Miller (mother of 7!), moved to the Bay Area in … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 1 day ago

How was the immigration of José Antonio Ibarra supposed to make the average American better off?

Let’s take a moment to remember Laken Riley. In a closed-border world she would in all likelihood be getting ready to enter the nursing profession, ideally here in Florida where population growth means that we’re always short of healthcare providers. Instead, she is gone, her mur … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 2 days ago

Book selection at the San Francisco fine arts museum gift shop

What do the folks who run the de Young Museum gift shop think that their California customer base wants to read? Here’s one categorized as “Art Theory & Criticism”: (Just now, I reviewed the photos that I took inside the museum. No Black women appear in any of the galleries.) A f … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 2 days ago

A true artist can sell his crack for $1 million

I hadn’t ever noticed this before, but on a recent visit to the de Young Museum in San Francisco, I noticed that they’d purchased Andy Goldsworthy’s crack for what was, no doubt, a significant sum: Speaking of the museum, they acknowledge that they’re on someone else’s land: Nati … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 days ago

Grafitti Drone countermeasures?

On a recent trip to San Francisco, a local friend took us to Andy Goldsworthy’s Spire in the Presidio: We had just come from a parking lot where quite a few cars were virtuously marked: Our friend said “What we need is a drone to paint the Spire sculpture in the Palestinian flag … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 4 days ago

Goodbye to San Francisco

Today was my last morning in San Francisco. Unhoused folks, whom the rich locals say they want to help, in front of the Rolex store and the safe deposit vaults for said Rolexes: Our hotel was right next to a BART station and BART goes all the way to SFO. What did The Google say a … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 5 days ago

Cure worse than the disease: locked-down Americans became alcoholics

From the Official Newspaper of Lockdown, “Excessive drinking persisted in the years after Covid arrived, according to new data.” (NYT, Nov 11, 2024): Americans started drinking more as the Covid-19 pandemic got underway. They were stressed, isolated, uncertain — the world as they … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 6 days ago

The High IQ Party (TM) processes their loss (conclusion: Americans are even dumber than Democrats imagined)

In recent conversations with Democrats in California, New York, D.C., and Maskachusetts they’ve volunteered their feelings regarding the High IQ Party’s recent loss of power. I’ve also checked out their Facebook and X feeds. Typical and eloquent: “What’s WRONG with Americans?” Th … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 7 days ago

The dual fantasy worlds of Republicans and Democrats

As we celebrate National Pickle Day, let’s look at a 63-year-old Democrat who expects, absent dramatic birth control measures, to become pregnant and crave pickles and ice cream. In the video below, she discusses a first person possibility of being a customer for IVF and abortion … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 8 days ago

Parachute and rocket replacement option for Cirrus owners who love Disney and Harry Potter

It’s the 13th of the month so let’s talk about some equipment that you’d have to be unlikely to need… Cirrus airplanes need new rockets and parachutes every 10 years whether they’ve been living on the ramp in Texas or coddled in a climate-controlled hangar. The typical service ce … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 9 days ago

Why isn’t the Ring camera smart enough to notice that a garage door has been left open?

We live in the glorious age of AI. Here in our concrete block hurricane-resistant fortress we have a Ring camera in the back of the garage pointed at the door. It’s called “Garage” in the Ring app. Why isn’t it smart enough to wake up once every 30 minutes and, if appropriate, no … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 10 days ago

Stuart Air Show 2024

In honor of Veterans Day, a few snapshots from this year’s Stuart (Florida) Air Show… First, let’s see what can be done with the latest and greatest iPhone 16 Pro Max. The “5X” lens (120mm-equivalent) works out reasonably well for very large aircraft and for formation/smoke displ … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 11 days ago

California vote counting vs. Florida post-hurricane power restoration

It’s five full days (about 120 hours) after the Election 2024 Nakba. The folks in California who say that they know how governments should operate have counted 72 percent of their presidential ballots (New York Times): Let’s compare this to the numbers in Power restoration after … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 12 days ago

The fascist dictatorship looms, but Democrats expect to overpower it in 2026

Friends on Facebook who have posted for 6-9 months about how the election of Trump v2.0 would mean the end of American democracy are now posting about how they expect to retake the U.S. in 2026 and 2028 via selecting candidates who aren’t as brain dead as Biden-Harris-Walz. The … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 12 days ago

Getting into law school: Go to the most grade-inflated college you can find and cram constantly for the LSAT

College application season is upon us. A tip from a brilliant young litigator with whom I recently worked (as a software expert witness, not in the law mines themselves!)… “Rankings of law schools look at undergraduate GPA and median LSAT score and, therefore, law school admissio … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 13 days ago

Escape jury duty with a positive COVID test result?

I recently testified as an expert witness at a trial where the judge told prospective jurors to expect 4-6 weeks of service during which they’d be hearing about dull technical subjects. One lady mentioned a vacation that she’d booked and paid for prior to being summoned. She had … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 14 days ago

My mom’s aide ain’t Black and ain’t an immigrant

I decided to conduct a Scientific poll this evening around our kitchen table. My mom is 90 and came over from assisted living accompanied by an aide. The aide is an immigrant from Haiti via the Dominican Republic. She probably gets paid about $20/hour and lives in the Democrat st … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 15 days ago

Leftover Inflation?

We are informed by the Biden-Harris administration and media allies (“America’s fight with inflation has been won”, noted the Guardian a few days ago) that inflation has been vanquished. I wonder if there is a significant “leftover inflation” yet to come, though, from companies a … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 15 days ago

Florida Election Report

Before looking at Florida, let’s check to see what a correct vote would look like: Our ruling elite picked Kamala Harris more than 92 percent of the time. How about down here in the Swamp? Thanks to the Lockdown Governors of the Northeast and California, who exported their conser … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 16 days ago

Post-Election Horror

If the election didn’t provide enough horror and dread… A trick-or-treater who showed up at our house last week: (note the bandage on his ear) And here’s my 90-year-old mom meeting a chainsaw killer with Costco chocolates. Mindy the Crippler is ready to provide backup. Not in fra … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 16 days ago

ConcessionGPT

Because political candidates should never plan for defeat, one good use case for ChatGPT is writing a concession speech quickly. I got it to write one on behalf of Kamala Harris: My fellow Americans, Tonight, I stand here bearing the weight of a moment that, for many, feels like … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 17 days ago

New York Times calls Massachusetts for Harris with 0% of votes counted

Don’t need Nostradamus in this situation, apparently. With 0% of votes in, the New York Times has called Massachusetts for the Candidate of Virtue: They similarly called VT, CT, and MD with 0% of votes counted. RI was more efficient, apparently, because fully 1% of votes were tal … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 17 days ago

Kissimmee’s Monument of States

I spent Election Day-1 in Kissimmee, Florida, home to the Monument of States, which includes (I think) a rock from every state: A closer look at some of the components: If you’re going to watch election returns on TV and say to your friends, “A lot of these states are sending in … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 17 days ago

American voters dislike white people

Barack Obama says that each of us should vote for a politician who shares our racial identify, e.g., Blacks for Blacks and whites for whites (video): “Kenyan raised by white mother in Hawaii urges Chicago’s [B]lack men to vote for Indian woman raised in Canada”. It seems, however … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 18 days ago

Why traditional small-government conservatism is dead in the U.S.

“High Taxes, Big Spending, Low Unemployment: Tim Walz’s Economic Record” (Wall Street Journal, a purportedly conservative newspaper, August 2024): [Walz] also pushed through a $2.6 billion infrastructure bill—the largest in state history—that will benefit residents and businesses … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 19 days ago

The mind of the American credentialed class, as revealed by the bookstore shelves

Given the upcoming election this week, I thought it would be a good time to look at how the credentialed class perceives the world. These are the folks who determine what appears in our media and, ultimately, what policies get implemented in Washington, D.C. Where can we find the … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 20 days ago

Why is Kamala Harris still raising money?

Email received just now: Suppose that I do send in the requested $60. Kamala Harris has thus far raised $1.4 billion from her billionaire supporters. Will the $60 additional actually change what they can do over the next four days? How? Or is there some other reason for trying to … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 21 days ago

Are Democrats preparing evacuation flights for the faithful?

Four years ago I wondered why Democrat billionaires didn’t set up transportation for oppressed Americans: Why can’t Michael Bloomberg run a fleet of abortion buses? This year we are informed that freedom dies on January 20, 2025 if the Nakba of a Trump victory occurs. Polls show … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 21 days ago

Terror Swift Sceras Tour

No fewer than 3 out of 130 immediate neighbors have Taylor Swift themes for Halloween decor. Here’s the best one: And on the other side of the sidewalk: The nighttime view: (I hate to brag, but the above photos were taken with my new iPhone 16 Pro Max. Nobody has a better phone t … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 22 days ago

Halloween windshield wipers

A Jeep in Fort Worth, Texas: This looks like a custom project that started with skeleton arms and hands. | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 22 days ago

Avoid a flooded house with a Moen Flo AI shutoff and/or replacing all of the faucet supply hoses?

One of our neighbors recently suffered a massive flood in their house due to a burst sink supply hose: Readers: What material do you think we’re looking at here? A vinyl or rubber inside pipe surrounded by braided stainless steel? All of our houses in this sub-development (within … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 23 days ago

Florida marijuana legalization on the ballot

Floridians will soon vote on whether there is a constitutional right to sell recreational marijuana (Amendment 3). Elite Democrats who control the Palm Beach Post urge peasants to vote “yes” on this amendment. The same newspaper also reports that elite Democrats in Palm Beach per … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 23 days ago

Another call from Kamala Harris for Donald Trump to be assassinated

Here’s Kamala Harris, a few days ago, referencing Hitler and warning of “unchecked and extreme power” that could soon be wielded by the hated dictator Donald Trump: Imagine Donald Trump with no guardrails. If reelected, he will claim unchecked and extreme power. pic.twitter.com/Q … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 24 days ago

End-stage civil rights movement: replace Black Americans with immigrants and their children

Here’s a meme that’s popular among Democrats: Black Americans Rosa Parks and Ruby Bridges took actions in 1955 and 1960 so that Kamala Harris, who apparently identifies as “Black”, could take an action in 2024. (Minor point: If we do want to ascribe a broad social trend to an ind … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 25 days ago

Why didn’t Donald Trump and Joe Rogan wear lav mics during the three-hour interview?

I don’t have the patience to watch a three-hour video, but I did glance at the Joe Rogan-Donald Trump discussion: It looks uncomfortable to have to keep one’s head in the same position for three hours. Why aren’t both guys wearing lav mics so that they can move around, sit back c … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 26 days ago

Lionel Shriver imagines the next logical step in DEI

A report to friends after testifying at a trial in Fort Worth: Our team of 25+ included a fresh-from-law-school white guy who was suffused with progressive values. He tried to engage a Black paralegal who lives in California and is about 60 years old on the beautiful paradise tha … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 26 days ago

One-year anniversary of a Republican conspiracy theory

One year ago today… “Republicans float a quiet conspiracy theory that Biden won’t be on the ballot” (NBC): Though no incumbent president has declined to seek a second term since Lyndon Johnson in 1969, there is an unfounded conversation among a faction on the political right that … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 27 days ago

New York Times: FEMA won’t help hurricane victims without documents

The New York Times reminds us that it is misinformation when Donald Trump says that our government spends money on migrants rather than on Americans who have suffered from natural disasters: One part of the U.S. government welcomes the undocumented, e.g., with a few years of taxp … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 27 days ago

Being microaggressed when someone mispronounces Kamala Harris’s first name

As part of my software expert witness slavery, I’ve been working with some young attorneys. Billing rates for first year associates is now nearly $1,000 per year, which they admit “is a lot of money for someone who doesn’t know anything.” Those fresh out of law school generally c … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 28 days ago

Idi Amin and Kamala Harris

A recent tweet from the person most qualified to be President of the United States: This gives me a chance to dredge up one of my favorite stories at the intersection of African and American politics… Idi Amin sent a letter to Richard Nixon during the Watergate crisis: “When the … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 29 days ago

Intel Arrow Lake CPUs released; Samsung dual 4K monitor?

What do readers think about the Intel Arrow Lake CPUs, which are officially released as of today? It’s time for me to build a new PC. What’s a good parts list? The current desktop was about $2700 in pre-Biden dollars (without a monitor). Adjusted for official CPI, that’s roughly … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 29 days ago

How do Asian Americans process the elites’ selection of Kamala Harris?

Here’s Kamala Harris using the word “hypothesis” in a sentence: I’m wondering how Asian Americans with IQs of 150 and long track records of achievement process the phenomenon of Kamala Harris having been selected by Democrat elites. If Harris had been elected via primaries, the i … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 1 month ago

Will Tesla turn out to be the best thing that ever happened to Harley-Davidson? (self-driving cars and motorcycle safety)

A lot of motorcycle accidents are caused by human automobile drivers failing to see the motorcycle and, e.g., initiating a left turn. (It’s tough to find statistics on this, actually, except from trial lawyers who say that nearly all motorcycle accidents are caused by someone oth … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 1 month ago

UNRWA school superintendent killed by a tank

Even before the vulnerability of tanks to drones was exposed in the Russia-Ukraine war, I couldn’t figure out why militaries were still paying for these dinosaurs. A tale of two tanks… (2019): … why do we have human-occupied tanks as part of our military? Wouldn’t it make more se … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 1 month ago

Donald Trump pinball machine design

Is it time for a Donald Trump pinball machine? The obvious backglass: One mode would be to try to prevent Thomas Matthew Crooks from being able to bring his drone, rangefinder, rifle, ammo, ladder, etc. to the assassination site and, if those challenges weren’t met, stop him befo … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 1 month ago

Donald Trump’s mental condition and Detroit’s overall condition

My direct exposure to politicians on TV is minimal because I don’t watch TV or cable TV news. From skimming print media, such as the New York Times, and statements from Kamala Harris, I had the impression that Donald Trump’s brain had gone at least “half Biden” and possibly “full … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 1 month ago

ChatGPT applies for asylum

The rules for obtaining asylum in the U.S. are fairly open-ended. “Biden administration reverses Trump-era asylum policies” (Politico 2021): The Biden administration is reversing a series of Trump-era immigration rulings that narrowed asylum standards by denying protection to vic … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 1 month ago