Captured with the Rodenstock 23mm/5.6 HR-Digaron-S (@ f/8) lens, Phase One IQ4-150 (@ ISO 50) back, Phase One XT camera. 1/60 second exposure. The strip by day is at its most depressing, like a failed mega-mall and theme park that you might find off a forgotten exit near an interstate highway […]

Las Vegas Strip (Storm Brewing), Paradise, NV, 2024. A small jackpot of pixels at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/53681241556 #photography

Las Vegas Strip (Storm Brewing), Paradise, NV, 2024. A small jackpot of pixels at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/53681241556 #photography

Every now and then I rediscover this amazing website that integrates tax assessment photos taken of almost every building in NYC in the 1940's with a clickable map. Sort what Google street view would look like, if it were 1946. https://1940s.nyc/map/

Captured with a Nikkor 90mm/4.5 lens on a Sinar P camera with a BetterLight 4x5 scanning digital back. This is really more a study in lines than anything else. The simple, unadorned design of the derelict building invites interpreting and exploring abstract forms. This building, from Treasure […]

Pipes, Treasure Island, San Francisco, CA. 2007. All the pixels, just needs a bit of sprucing up, at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/2115767503/ #photography

Pipes, Treasure Island, San Francisco, CA. 2007. All the pixels, just needs a bit of sprucing up, at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/2115767503/ #photography

If you're going to claim that a presidential election is stolen, you need a better smoking gun than "the former owner of a company that made a household plug-in surge protector that was used by some counties to protect some voting equipment supported one of the candidates".

A reminder that if I block you, it’s definitely because I’m afraid of your superior intellect, arguments, and attractiveness. It has nothing to do with your being an annoying, toxic dimwit. My blocking you means I have surrendered! Enjoy your victory.

Radio nerditry: current solar activity continues to give radio conditions a tripple shot of espresso. On medium wave, getting all theee of KMOX (St Louis), WBAP (Ft Worth), KOA (Denver) right now (5pm, still daylight). (Usually these don’t show up until late at night, and sometimes not at all).

King of UK, to his own brother: "That does it, you're not a prince any more. Out you go." US, now that Trump is clearly implicated: "Technically it's not really pedophilia if the girl is 14." The freaking *British royal family* is doing a better job cleaning house than we are.

Margie's Candies, Chicago, IL, 2015 All the pixels, but no ICE agents or National Guard Troops, at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/21135096034

One of the themes of my work is "quietly heroic infrastructure". ICBMs are pretty much the opposite of that. Perhaps the worst infrastructure we ever built.

More ICBM photos and discussion here: https://www.mattblaze.org/blog/titans/

Captured with a DSLR and a Zeiss 21mm Distagon lens. Handheld (there was no room to set up a tripod). In 2009, I was fortunate to join a "top to bottom" tour of former Air Force Titan ICBM site 571-7, now preserved as a museum. Titan II missiles carried a nine megaton(!) "physics package" in […]

Titan II ICBM, Launch Complex 571-7, Sahuarita, AZ, 2009. All the pixels, with none of the radioactive fallout, at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/4181990048/ #photography

I really want a single global setting on my phone for “never autoplay anything ever, no matter what the app settings might have been set to, god damn it”

I should also note that what they're raising money (naturally) to sue for is not actually possible. They want a "recount" of the 2024 election. The election was long ago certified, the deadlines for recounts long past in every jurisdiction, and the new officerholder long sworn in. It's over […]

For context, I'm an election security expert with over two decades of experience doing research on and analysis of voting systems. I've led comprehensive security assessments on behalf of states of their voting tech. I've testified in congress multiple times about election vulnerabilities. I run […]

The only differences between these claims about 2024 and the claims that the election was stolen from Trump in 2020 are: - The losing candidate isn't amplifying the BS this time. - No one stormed the Capitol this time - No one is offering discount coupons for lumpy mail-order pillows this […]

There ARE real vulnerabilities in some of our election infrastructure, and this is absolutely a problem that we should fix (and on which significant progress has been made). But the mere existence of vulnerabilities is not evidence of fraud. Always be skeptical of those telling you what you […]

They're conning statistically unsophisticated, disappointed voters with impressive-looking, but meaningless, "analysis" that tell people what they want to believe. If you push back, they challenge you to prove a negative - "if this is wrong, just show there WASN'T fraud". That's not how it […]

They also have no credible theory of how the massive-scale fraud they believe happened was supposedly carried out, either technically or logistically. They just make vague observations about a few know vulnerabilities in some systems, with no indication that even these were actually exploited […]

If you read their claims, what they're doing is "analyzing" precinct and mail-in voting tallies from different places and claiming the results show "suspicious patterns". Except: - They aren't actually suspicious. They're readily explained by unsurprising demographic differences. - Even if […]

Asserting that a presidential election outcome was altered is an *extraordinary* claim, one that requires significant, compelling evidence to back up. But the "evidence" being presented is just nonsense: A bunch of statistics about "voting patters" that don't actually show anything surprising or […]

First, I would LOVE to believe the "election truth" people who claim the 2024 presidential race results have suspicious anomalies that indicate fraud. Politics aside, it would vindicate longstanding warnings from my colleagues and I that many US election systems have serious vulnerabilities […]

Sigh. The "election truth" people are still going full steam ahead, collecting unwitting supporters who want to believe the 2024 election outcome was hacked. I'm not going to link to it - I don't want to amplify them - but here's a brief thread on how they're being misleading and outright […]

Our most nuanced political discourse now consists of hair splitting over the precise cutoff age of the victim for it to be considered pedophilia.

Titan II ICBM, Launch Complex 571-7, Sahuarita, AZ, 2009. All the pixels, with none of the radioactive fallout, at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/4181990048/ #photography

Just experienced the most hostile MFA login I've seen in a while, from, naturally, a tax accountant (for a nonprofit I'm an officer of). You get sent a 20 character mixed case code, which is sent to your phone as a image via MMS, in a font suitable for use in difficult CAPTCHAs. You have 3(!) […]

Much clearer skies than last night here, but still no auroras visible, either by eye or with a long camera exposure. First we’re denied representation in Congress, now we’re denied colorful ionized particles in the sky. DC kinda sucks.

Addendum: Hobo moniker tags are a rathole you can spend a lot of time going down. I recommend the somewhat obscure documentary "Who Is Bozo Texino", which I just noticed seems to be up on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSqMAADNKA8

This was made with a DSLR and a swinging lens to provide selective focus on the milepost at left. This moved the plane of focus to be non-parallel with the sensor, yielding only a sliver in focus. Image was was captured at "Park Junction" in Philadelphia, where the former Reading Railroad once […]

Park Junction, Philadelphia, PA, 2010. Too many pixels, not enough focus, at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/4472088022 #photography

Seeing a lot of threads lately about "what's your employer's policy when federal agents / ICE shows up". (Disturbingly often, "when they show up" is the first time anyone realizes they need a policy.) Fortunately, my employer, Georgetown University does have a policy, and it's basically "Don't […]

I may be the last person to figure this out, but in case I'm not: My Mastodon browser tab started making an irregular, infrequent beeping sound a few weeks ago, despite my having turned off notification sounds literally years ago. Turns out the latest Mastodon version (which added quoting) […]

"But you're just creating a bubble with all this blocking." Yes, exactly! There are people I simply never want to hear from. And they probably don't want to hear from me, either. Good fences make good neighbors, as they say.

If there's evidence that someone I support politically was involved with - or accepted "hospitality" from - Epstein, you're damn right I want to know about it. Bring it on!

I didn't expect to be moved by an obit of a sportscaster, but here we are. Warning: contains (hopeful) discussion of suicide intervention. https://www.npr.org/2025/11/08/nx-s1-5594133/opinion-remembering-bob-trumpy-nfl-great-broadcaster-and-life-saver

"Connect the dots - it's all right in front of you!", the conspiracy true believer says. Seeing patterns is what we're wired to *do*. It's something humans are so good at, we're constantly bombarded with phantoms of patterns that mean nothing. The trick isn't connecting dots. It's learning to […]

Sigh. The "election truth" people are still going full steam ahead, collecting unwitting supporters who want to believe the 2024 election outcome was hacked. I'm not going to link to it - I don't want to amplify them - but here's a brief thread on how they're being misleading and outright […]

"Stop being bothered by people harassing you" is not actually the helpful advice you think it is.

Park Junction, Philadelphia, PA, 2010. Too many pixels, not enough focus, at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/4472088022 #photography

I apologize if I’m a bit testy lately. I’m still getting swarmed by frenzied strangers who for some reason I can’t fathom are completely freaked out that I posted this without a content warning. https://federate.social/@mattblaze/115522873521993091

A brief reminder that if my unapologetic misuse of Mastodon is ruining your experience here, you can just block my account and it will be as if I don’t exist. In fact, you can also do this with any account that you don’t want to hear from. Of course, every time you hit the block button an […]

Delivery person rang the bell to drop off a package earlier, and for a brief moment I was expecting to open the door to find two neatly dressed, smiling strangers asking me if I’ve heard the good news about content warnings and hashtags.

I apologize if I’m a bit testy lately. I’m still getting swarmed by frenzied strangers who for some reason I can’t fathom are completely freaked out that I posted this without a content warning. https://federate.social/@mattblaze/115522873521993091

A brief reminder that if my unapologetic misuse of Mastodon is ruining your experience here, you can just block my account and it will be as if I don’t exist. In fact, you can also do this with any account that you don’t want to hear from. Of course, every time you hit the block button an […]

Too far south (and too much light pollution) to enjoy the aurora lightshow with my own eyes, so I’m really appreciative of the stunning photos people are sharing tonight. And big thanks to @kims for boosting so many of them.

There are also ventilation structures for the various railroad and subway tunnels that cross the NYC rivers, but their smaller size makes them less prominent. (The electric trains that use these tunnels don't produce exhaust that has to be as aggressively vented as in an automotive tunnel). Let […]