Ben Makuh

Ben Makuh

@benmakuh.com

Writer (Editing my first book!), engineer (Miro), theologian (MA, Denver Seminary), obsessive reader, gardener, connoisseur of dad jokes. benmakuh.com/about

1.3K followers 1.9K following1.8K posts

Ben Makuh reposted

@tylerhuckabee.bsky.social

“five hundred million” in what kind of numerals

The Bulwark@thebulwark.com

RFK: "There's five hundred million Arabs in the world. And yet they don't produce science. They don't win the Nobel Prize. They don't win the Fields Prize. They don't win the Wolf Prize. They don't produce literature."

Maybe they should’ve had a plank in Project 2025 that said, “Don’t lose century-old deep red states in the midterms” so that they knew not to do that

Ben Makuh reposted

Lula won in part by banning online gambling

It’s not nice to call your boss a tinpot dictator, JD

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com

JD Vance: "Gas prices are too high ... they skyrocket every time some tinpot dictator decides to throw a tantrum"

ProPublica@propublica.org

In August, President Trump announced he had signed the “biggest oil deal in world history.” ProPublica reviewed the deal and found it gives a small group of people largely handpicked by the Trump administration long-term control of the enterprise.

propublica.orgThe Secret Terms of Trump’s Venezuelan Oil DealThe Trump administration committed the U.S. to taking a large stake in a Venezuelan company, some of whose owners and investors are shielded from public view. The exact details of the agreement over o...

Ben Makuh reposted

The Associated Press

The long-serving strongman leader of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, has conceded defeat in an election that pitted him and his right-wing party against a diverse student-led opposition movement that spent two years protesting his government.

bit.lySerbia’s strongman leader Vucic concedes defeat to student-led movement in seismic political shiftThe long-serving strongman leader of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, has conceded defeat in an election that pitted him and his right-wing party against a diverse student-led opposition movement that spent two years protesting his government.

I’d say the quality of food at normal grocery stores (not health food stores) has gotten higher over my lifetime

Michael Druker 🇨🇦@mdruker.app

Social media loves talking about how everything is getting worse. But what’s something that you’ve seen get _better_ in your lifetime?

Acyn@acyn.bsky.social

OBAMA: He's got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory. It's gold everywhere.

Is this a new version or something? It looks the same as the old cyber truck

𝘋𝘦𝘦 𝘙𝘦𝘯𝘦́ ❧❦⦁💙⦁❦❧@trinigyal247.bsky.social

Tesla

The temptation for this to be an “I told you so” moment is nearly overwhelming. I don’t know what to say other than that this is why, despite the discomfort sometimes, pluralism is *what you want* in a society. CNers have been building this theocratic kingdom thinking they’ll get a pass because…

Bob Stevenson@bobstevenson.bsky.social

While I appreciate the fact that some of these folks are finally *feeling* the effects of ICE tyranny, it’s maddening that they do not understand this happens like this ALL THE TIME. This kind of willful blindness that has wrought devastating effects on so many in our nation.

They’re on “the winning side.” No. The moment you break ranks, you’re an enemy. I don’t know how many times we need to see this play out before we realize it’s not good for literally anyone.

Voted last night! Sat at the kitchen table for a few hours researching everything with a glass of port.

Ben Makuh@benmakuh.com

I’ve thought about this a lot. I’ve never been to a voting booth in my life. I sit at the kitchen table for hours researching every single one. I guess I would have to do that ahead of time and just write down my answers ahead of time, but why though

Ben Makuh reposted

@jackboot.bsky.social

All standing pangolins look like Bob Cratchit asking for Christmas day off.

Ben Makuh reposted

Chris⚖️Justice

@chrisjustice01.bsky.social

😱 🎃 Halloween Terror 🎃😱

Less Kalshi, more Kashi. Just take the L already

My second-favorite disturbing horse statue in Denver. Cold War Horse will always be #1 for me

John Scalzi@scalzi.com

THEY ARE FEEDING SACRIFICES TO BLUCIFER

QTP with a video game that transports you back to your childhood ⏳

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I’ve thought about this a lot. I’ve never been to a voting booth in my life. I sit at the kitchen table for hours researching every single one. I guess I would have to do that ahead of time and just write down my answers ahead of time, but why though

Memento Mori Mother Kira@kmaustinyoung.bsky.social

I’m really glad California mails me my ballot because I have to fill it out at my kitchen table with 18 different voters guides in front of me. Can you imagine rawdogging this in a voting booth on Election Day?

I’m reading Job and it feels like you could describe it as: Men would rather turn a close friend’s suffering into a theological argument rather than offer a hug

I’m not sure it would even be possible to have a gender-swapped version of this book. “Job sat in dust and ashes, so his three (female) friends brought him meals and just sat with him through the pain. [40 chapters cut by editor] The end.”

Ben Makuh reposted

We’re Not So Different podcast

@wnsdpod.bsky.social

try this handy mnemonic, it’s so simple

Ben Makuh reposted

KetAnthropic JoshAI

The first genuinely honest ad for generative AI I've ever seen, from Microsoft / CoPilot A mediocre white guy sees his non-white colleague getting praised for good work, he asks AI to *literally copy it*, and then he gets all the praise instead: www.ispot.tv/ad/SoDi/micr...

Ben Makuh reposted

@walkerbragman.bsky.social

Elon Musk threatens Congress.

I don’t really know what’s “wow” about this. We’re talking about the guy who defended the “Haitians eating cats and dogs” thing as a useful lie. What would stop him from defending Vivek here?

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com

WOW -- Vance *defends* Vivek's reprehensible ad 👇 Q: Ramaswamy's campaign put out a controversial ad featuring his opponent's mother. Some Republicans are backing away. Do you think it was appropriate? JD VANCE: Well, I'll be honest. Whether the ad was appropriate or not is not really my concern.

What a great choice of metaphor, JD.

FactPost@factpostnews.bsky.social

JD Vance on the economy: "You don't turn the Titanic around overnight"

Finally, a unifying message

Headquarters@headquartersnews.bsky.social

JD Vance makes a recommendation on who to vote for in the midterms: "Vote for the people who have solutions to lower the cost of gas, don't vote for the people who made the problem to begin with."

Ben Makuh reposted

Wrote a thing about how it doesn't really matter whether Zuck shut down the No Kings Insta on purpose or if it was an accident. The problem is relying on him in the first place. www.techdirt.com/2026/10/20/a...

techdirt.comAccident Or Not, The No Kings Takedown Is Why You Shouldn’t Rent Your Megaphone From ZuckThis past weekend was the latest in an ongoing series of (massive) “No Kings” protests held around the country (and in some cases around the globe). The latest one was part of a “…

Ben Makuh reposted

Protestors Criticized For Looting Businesses Without Forming Private Equity Firm First https://theonion.com/protestors-criticized-for-looting-businesses-without-fo-1843735351/

Ben Makuh reposted

@dieworkwear.bsky.social

we need you to rename rent to $500/ month and gas to $2/ gallon

George Pearkes@peark.es

omg

I chortled

Pavel@spavel.bsky.social

The invincible airplane

Ben Makuh reposted

@dieworkwear.bsky.social

just asked my tailor if he disavows the muslin brotherhood

Ben Makuh reposted

@wearenotenemies.bsky.social

i think he thought he was doing the meme

Actually fairly pleased with my loaf this week! They don’t usually turn out this nice for me. This one is sourdough with flax and chia

Time to prep some banana nut muffins for breakfast tomorrow morning

Every time my European coworkers start acting imperious about how consistent their measuring system is, I ask if they use base 10 time as well. 😏 Or if for the sake of metric consistency they use gradians to measure the angle of an arc. 😏

bleary@bleary.off-the-records.com

Bablyonians invented the base 12 counting system (which is why we have 12 hours in a half day and 60 minutes in an hour). You have 12 finger segments on your right hand. You count them with your thumb. You use one finger on your left hand to count a set of 12. An easy way to count to 60. Genius.

Ultimately my feeling is that yeah, a base 10 measurement system is nice for doing mental math, but a human-oriented system of measurement has its own niceties as well. It’s not all backward and stupid.

When I go to Europe and the thermostat in my hotel room uses decimal points just above and below 24C, it makes me think, “wouldn’t it be nice to have a thermal measurement system with a little more expressivity around the temperature ranges human bodies care about?”

Look, I don’t *like* paying property taxes, especially since they’re getting so expensive, but I also realize that that money funds roads, libraries, parks, schools, etc. which I benefit from. Don’t want to pay taxes? Don’t use roads/sidewalks, libraries, parks, etc.

Politico@politico.com

“I’m old. I’ve paid my home off,” said Ray Warner, a 72-year-old Akron resident. “Why would I pay property tax?” Across the country, homeowners are asking the same question and revolting against property taxes at a scale not seen in a half century.

politico.comDo You Really Own Your Home? A Tax Revolt Says No.The argument that property taxes make Americans renters in their own houses has fueled the biggest anti-tax uprising in half a century, and local governments are scrambling.

When I was on Twitter, I had this exact posture. I worked very hard to speak irenically and persuasively. The responses I’d get would be along the lines of, “Oh yeah? Well you probably pee sitting down LIKE A GIRL!” I no longer think short-form social media is a forum for persuasion.

Maddie Kerr@maddie-o-k.bsky.social

the concern i have with the entire left boycotting X is that platform segregation on political lines will give the right a monopolized space for free-range radicalization. what persuasion can the left achieve without engaging others? its the same as demanding that ppl cut off ties w non-leftists

In some ways, it’s not crazy at all. Hatred of the other is pretty central to MAGA. Whether it’s the immigrant, the woman, the black person, the Muslim, the gay person, or now the vegan, MAGA’s biggest flywheel has been, “We’ll excise the people who make you uncomfortable.”

derek guy@dieworkwear.bsky.social

crazy to me that inflation has risen faster than wage growth and the GOP's criticism of talarico is that he might be secretly vegan

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because “everyone loves meat.” It’s obviously more pronounced on the right (try going as a vegetarian man to a church men’s event, it’s *so* fun), but my point is that it’s still one of those things that’s universally seen as weird and abnormal. I think this line of attack on Talarico to bear fruit.

That’s why his response was, “No, I go to BBQ joints like the best of em!” and not, “What’s wrong with following a plant-based diet?” Politically, that probably was the right response, and therein lies my exact point.

In some ways, it’s not crazy at all. Hatred of the other is pretty central to MAGA. Whether it’s the immigrant, the woman, the black person, the Muslim, the gay person, or now the vegan, MAGA’s biggest flywheel has been, “We’ll excise the people who make you uncomfortable.”

derek guy@dieworkwear.bsky.social

crazy to me that inflation has risen faster than wage growth and the GOP's criticism of talarico is that he might be secretly vegan

And frankly, I personally expect this “vegan” thing to work a lot better than most people think. Hating vegans is one of those things that still is broadly bipartisan. I’m vegetarian, not vegan, and I’ve had countless *proudly inclusive progressives* in my life still assume I secretly like meat

Ben Makuh reposted

@joshsternberg.com

Meta took down the No Kings instagram; TikTok banned the Musk documentary account for supposedly violating its political posting policies. A reminder that platforms are owned by the wealthiest of people, control the means of media distribution, & put their thumbs on the democracy scale as they wish

I don’t know who it was that thought, “Let’s hijack the double tap to zoom gesture and turn it into a ‘like this photo’ gesture,” but I hate it. Please stop. It gets me all the time on LinkedIn.