Jonathan Gerhardson

Lurking the Ring doorbell social media app rn and it's like, bear stealing Halloween candy, Karen offering cash bounty to doxx a 15 year old ding-dong-ditcher, another bear stealing Halloween candy . . .

extremely pleased to announce big changes to my news organization this week … read on! #journalism

Moss Triumphant As Jury Finds Sarno Violated His Ex-Mayoral Aide’s Rights… On Wednesday, a Hampden County jury delivered a significant victory to Darryl Moss, a former aide to Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno, that simultaneously rebuked his former boss. After a weeklong trial, the jury agreed that by firing Moss, Sarno, and by extension the city, had

Feed: "Western Mass Politics & Insight"
By: wmasspi on Thursday, October 30, 2025

theshoestring.org/2025/10/28/t...

How crematoriums are recovering precious metals from inside the dead | CBC News A Dutch firm has created a system through which it compensates cremation facilities for recovering recyclable parts from dead bodies, such as titanium hips and knees, stainless steel bone screws — eve...

www.cbc.ca/news/science...

I did not confirm what exactly this specific place was recycling, it could reasonably be other things. But this is fairly common practice, afaik

RECYCLED METAL INCOME 812220 107,575 107,575

This got cut but is also pretty interesting I think. From the 990 form of a Springfield, Massachusetts cemetery and crematorium 🤔

In 2021, the Massachusetts Funeral Directors Association doubled its lobbying budget compared to the previous five years. Previously, it had spent $14,000 per year on lobbying activities, an amount similar to the Massachusetts Cemetery Association’s $12,000 per year. The following year, The Proprietors of Mount Auburn Cemetery in Watertown paid lobbying firm Tremont Strategies Group $54,750, according to state disclosure reports. By 2024, the total amount spent on lobbying activities by clients involved with either side of the death care industry was approximately the same as had been spent by the death care interests from 2015 to 2021 combined

theshoestring.org/2025/10/28/t...

In case you missed it, I made this chart as a part of my latest piece in @theshoestring.bsky.social, earlier this week

I mentioned this stat from Alisa Wood of KKR in a talk I did a few weeks ago, but did you know: There are more private equity firms in the United States than there are McDonald's? (~19,000 vs. 14,000) In 1980, there were 24 PE firms *total* in the U.S. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

“There’s a lot of money in death”: Funeral home consolidation hits western Mass One private equity-backed firm recently bought more than 10% of funeral homes in western Mass, where corporate consolidators now own a quarter of mortuaries — part of a nationwide trend in the death c...

Check out my latest entry in this genre theshoestring.org/2025/10/28/t...

masslogfile.substack.com/p/october-30...

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that there were "particularized reasons for imposing GPS monitoring" as a pre-trial release condition on a man arrested at Logan traveling one-way to Iran following allegations he had embezzled $2 million + 11

A crane lifts a chrome train car onto a flatbed trailer in a parking lot. Trees in background, overcast sky, grass and a small Bobcat machine in foreground

The train car dining room from Bernie's Dinining Depot, which closed in 2022 is being hauled away right now. #westernma

YouTube video by handkerchief tied to stick Tao Lin - I Went Fishing With My Family When I Was Five (Brooklyn, 2008)

m.youtube.com/watch?v=zDP5...

YouTube video by David Brady Purity Of Essence

"He reported multiple dietary restrictions and distilled his own water at home; he appeared very thirsty but was paranoid about the water he was offered."

m.youtube.com/watch?v=iyj_...

Board of Elevator Regulations mentioned

Google Gemini pcontext system prompt? Chatbot's instructions include "Find a Passion Point: Scan the user’s data " and warn to not "connect the dots" between a personal photo and a sensitive conversation when offering personalized advice

Posting jonathangerhardson.substack.com/p/google-gem...

Just in time for your seasonal depression to kick in I am here to tell you to remember that you too will die, and when you do it will cost $7,848* to dispose of you.

*National average for burial or cremation with viewing per a 2023 survey by the National Funeral Directors Association.

#westernma

I was sent a press release this week that claims these are the top ten states "for homeless people." If you are as confused as I am, Connecticut apparently ranks first because it has the lowest share of chronically homeless people. But wouldn't that make it the worst state for homeless people?

mainstreampoetry.blogspot.com/2008/12/you-...

Governor’s WMass aide charged with drug trafficking after cocaine delivered to state building LaMar Cook, deputy director for the governor’s regional office in Springfield, will be arraigned Wednesday.

crazy www.masslive.com/westernmass/...

The “war on fentanyl” is actually paving the way for even worse drugs to do even more harm to Americans because that’s how these things have always gone and nobody ever wants to hear that. If you haven’t heard of the Iron Law of Prohibition, now is a great time to look it up!

Tennessee sheriff defends jailing liberal activist for posting Trump meme about school shooting A Middle Tennessee sheriff is defending the arrest of a man for posting an online meme quoting President Donald Trump.

MUST WATCH: Tennessee sheriff defends jailing liberal activist for posting Trump meme about school shooting www.newschannel5.com/news/newscha...

Their font and text formatting options also leave a lot to be desired

I'm really torn on whether I suspect the sycophancy of chatbots is some technical limitation, like maybe beginning with agreeable language increases liklihood of predicting "accurate" next token, or if it's a psyop

I see it and I'm leaving it

“There’s a lot of money in death”: Funeral home consolidation hits western Mass One private equity-backed firm recently bought more than 10% of funeral homes in western Mass, where corporate consolidators now own a quarter of mortuaries — part of a nationwide trend in the death i...

Check out my latest article for @theshoestring.bsky.social

theshoestring.org/2025/10/28/t...

Imagine being someone who, as their vocation, just moves words around that goes broke not for the obvious reasons but because due to the cunning trickery of a machine made to move words around

October 28, 2025 Gov. announces SHIELD for war, blind community celebrate White Cane Day, a new Standard Operating Procedure for Informal Complaint Forms from Department of Correction + four more

masslogfile.substack.com/p/october-28...

*self immolates*

#massachusetts
#mapoli

It intuitively feels kind of unfair to have a practically unavoidable bill due upon death (in fact some services are termed by the industry as "non-declinable costs") but also caring for the dead is a innately human thing & important to do; those who do do it should get paid for their work.

“There’s a lot of money in death”: Funeral home consolidation hits western Mass One private equity-backed firm recently bought more than 10% of funeral homes in western Mass, where corporate consolidators now own a quarter of mortuaries — part of a nationwide trend in the death c...

Gonna stop here because bsky thread are confusing to use, and I have written at length about this already, and even timed out how long it takes to read. If you have 20 minutes or are smarter than me with less time check it out theshoestring.org/2025/10/28/t...

$7,848 is like your best case scenario too, with flowers*, people crying, etc.

But even for a "direct cremation" or "immediate burial**" with no service, some western Mass. funeral homes list prices close to $6k.

(*Flowers not included)
(**2024. The FTC requires price disclosure on request)