Zora O'Neill

@zoraoneill

Author, ALL STRANGERS ARE KIN (now an AUDIOBOOK!). Editor. I comment on: Arabic, refugees, travel, grammar, Queens, more. she/her. Profile pic: black tee with “love” in white, in Arabic and English. Banner: mosaic of Manhattan skyline seen f/ Queens.

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Zora O'Neill@zoraoneill· 9d

Not only is French magazine publishing enviably robust (rows upon rows in the train station shop), but there are multiple fun socialist magazines?! And also one written/edited by people with autism.

Socialter magazine with an illustrated cover of people lounging at the beach and the headline “why our pleasures are political”

So Good magazine, with the tagline Ecology, Feminism, Solidarity, Society

Alternatives Economiques magazine with an illustrated cover of a man lounging with the a historic cityscape in the background and the headline The Top 30 Most Livable Cities. Upper right corner: interview with Piketty.

Papotin “journal atypique” with poppy illustrated French people and the headline Best of the 90s.

Zora O'Neill@zoraoneill· 15d

In France, admiring an older woman’s style, thinking I need some more interesting glasses and a shorter haircut, and then she stands up and I see one arm is covered in tattoos of Nancy and I almost screamed.

Aghghgh! Creepy Nancy with her flat black dot eyes and her poky puff of black hair

Zora O'Neill@zoraoneill· 16d

Could the foreground be a water tower as seen from a distance? These are in Wald Houses, west side Manhattan, N of Houston. These are not quite the right silhouette to match, but maybe there are others with a similar tall base? (I found these w/ Google 3D street view.)

Zora O'Neill@zoraoneill· 16d

This (41-31 23rd St, LIC, maps.app.goo.gl/fDp8ZpxyZ4gB...) is *not* it, but it could very well be windows like these, with the a/c panel underneath. So maybe not a loft conversion, but just a cheapish new build? Astoria/LIC has tons of new buildings like this.

Zora O'Neill@zoraoneill· 25d

Greece’s dedication to architectural glassware is unmatched and spurs innovation year to year.

A freddo cappuccino (iced coffee) in a tall skinny glass with a sharply flared upper edge. The sea is visible in the background.

Zora O'Neill@zoraoneill· Jul 7

The mannekin pis statue in Brussels, a pudgy little baby boy fountain, peeing. In honor of Belgium's World Cup win over the US.

Zora O'Neill@zoraoneill· Jul 6

Oh my gosh, like p3 of a spy novel from 1987 that I’m reading because several ppl on Twitter said it was “authentic” about CIA handlers, and I’m wondering if this is a key source for the near-myth of taqiyya that pervades US thinking?!?!

Though he was a Sunni Moslem, he looked like any of the rich Christian businessmen sitting at the bar. Like them, he wore a silk suit and lit his cigarettes with a gold lighter. The Arabs have a word for this sort of camouflage. They call it taqiyya. It means that deception and concealment are permissible, when they are necessary. If a Moslem finds himself in the midst of a group of Christians, he should say that he is a Christian. What does it matter? The truth is elastic.

Zora O'Neill@zoraoneill· Jun 20

Is it just me or does the guy who got the reflecting pool contract not look suspiciously like three MyPillow guys in a trench coat.

Very wide man in a double breasted gray coat with a partial black b velvet collar. He has a round face and a dark mustache and toupee.

Zora O'Neill@zoraoneill· Jun 20

Weirdly touching to see patterned plates in an impersonal setting (airport lounge). (Or maybe I’m just up too early after too little sleep.)

A small white plate with a border of twinging flowers and leaves. Very grandma vibe.

Zora O'Neill@zoraoneill· Jun 20

Splintering on the left happens over ideology. On the right it’s just because they’re all assholes who can’t get along. (And I am delighted to see it.)

Italy Doesn't 'Beg, Giorgia Meloni Tells Trump
President Trump said the Italian leader had
"begged" him to take a photo together at the Group of 7 summit. The remarks come as their relationship has frayed.

Zora O'Neill@zoraoneill· Jun 18

Pro tip: NYC Ferry’s Staten Island line goes much closer to the Statue of Liberty than the regular ferry, and our captain even slowed down so everyone could take photos.

Meta photo: in the foreground we’re looking over the shoulder of a man taking a photo. In the background is what he’s focused on: the Statue of Liberty, lit up from the bottom and green against a cloudy twilight sky.

Zora O'Neill@zoraoneill· Jun 3

What movie most shaped your worldview? For me, just based on how often I think of it and nod 'yes, exactly' to myself, I think it was The Muppets Take Manhattan!

Greek diner owner in The Muppets Take Manhattan, with his wavy gray hair swept back and a white neckerchief, leans over the diner counter, bending down to lecture Kermit, whose back is to us in the foreground. He's making the very Greek "let me tell you" hand gesture -- palm open and slightly off vertical -- and he's saying, as the caption at the bottom of the still photo reads, "Peoples is peoples."

Zora O'Neill@zoraoneill· May 28

This Rosenbaum is ofc the guy who wrote a book about AI, packed with hallucinated BS. And right at the top of the story, he's admitting that he forged ahead using AI (to just pull quotes out of thin air, minus context!) even when he knew it could be grotesquely wrong.

"I would ask it for quotes on certain things, and it would deliver them. They would occasionally be spectacular, often serviceable, and then, in very odd ways, just staggeringly wrong.”

Zora O'Neill@zoraoneill· May 19

Greeks improving on Biscoff spread! (It’s still outrageously sweet.)

Zora O'Neill@zoraoneill· May 18

For your reading efficiency, this is the one paragraph you need to grasp the whole ghastly pattern of how authoritarian regimes build a loyal security force.

The playbook for a leader to create a loyal security service, they said, is to set up or repurpose an institution that can become a “second ladder” for career promotions, resource it generously and ensure that the barriers to getting hired there are low, signaling that it offers career opportunities to those who cannot find them elsewhere. (Cutting other government jobs or squeezing budgets can create a larger pool of potential recruits.) The leadership then signals impunity for people on that second ladder, to assure them that they won’t face consequences for wrongdoing

Zora O'Neill@zoraoneill· May 5

Guess whoever designed the Meta AI icon didn't ask any women if it looks too much like a contraceptive logo.

Ombre purple ovals arranged in a circle, reminiscent of a pack of birth control pills

Zora O'Neill@zoraoneill· May 4

One of the saddest AI ads yet. Yes, let’s just skip right through the fun creative part and the part where you build up the relationships that will keep your restaurant going. Thank goodness the future has arrived!

Subway ad, white and pink type on a green background, boring font. Reads “3 months concepting a new restaurant - finding a location, interior renders, and ‘sourcing the perfect sea urchin -
done in 60 minutes for $31 with Hyperagent.

Zora O'Neill@zoraoneill· May 3

The weird effect of years of the NYT uncritically repeating Israeli talking points is that now this headline and images today reads like a kind of jubilation.

Israel Said It's Applying the Gaza Model in Lebanon. This Is What the Devastation Looks Like. Satellite images, photos and videos show the scope of widespread demolitions in southern Lebanon. Above this text is a a grid of six squares, each with a looping video image of a village exploding. The villages are Beit Lif, Markaba, Kfar Kila, Taybeh, Aadaysit al Qusayr and Meiss al Jabal.

Zora O'Neill@zoraoneill· Apr 24

This is the sound of the next-gen Acela. Should I be worried?

Zora O'Neill@zoraoneill· Apr 22

Went to Sardi’s for dinner and it was a total time capsule. I’m simultaneously sad and relieved it’s closing for renovation. Major opportunity for @mayor.nyc.gov to get his caricature installed for the fall reopening. (Mayors through Bloomberg are there — not just Kermit!)

Sardi’s dining room, all burgundy walls and banquettes, white tablecloths, and the signature framed caricatures of Broadway actors all along the walls in neat rows.

Portrait of Kermit the Frog upstairs at Sardi’s. In Muppets Take Manhattan, Kermit tries to make a name for himself by swapping a portrait of himself for Liza Minelli’s, as the rats mount a whisper campaign under the tables. It all goes wrong.

Zora O'Neill@zoraoneill· Apr 21

Won a plant last night at a comedy show because I correctly answered a trivia question: *Morocco* is the world’s largest producer of weed! Finally my travel experience paying off.

Intriguing little succulent plant with surprising fuzzy leaves.

Zora O'Neill@zoraoneill· Apr 18

PSA: Your sneaking suspicions about the crossword are, for the one and only time in your whole life, correct!

Editor’s note: If you plan to solve the Sunday Crossword in this week’s New York Times Magazine, you will find that the answers will not fit. After the issue had already been printed, we discovered that there was an error with the solvable grid of the Sunday Crossword. A corrected version of the puzzle can be found on Page 25 of Sunday’s daily New York Times. We sincerely apologize for the confusion.

Zora O'Neill@zoraoneill· Apr 15

Just read this line in Wikipedia (re: election of 1876) and I think I need to go lie down and think about the passage of time.

Because it was considered improper for a candidate to pursue the presidency actively, reads the highlighted text. The sentence continues: neither Tilden nor Hayes appeared publicly during the campaign. Speaking and leading rallies were left to their surrogates.

Zora O'Neill@zoraoneill· Apr 13

THEN AGAIN…

Tweet from Mel (@villagecrazylady) on Twitter / X
News Been seeing some people say that Apple Maps has never mapped Lebanon and I gotta push back on that.

I redownloaded it and Apple Maps has the entire country of Lebanon mapped out. If you search for towns/businesses by name you can absolutely find them. They have street view, business contact info and town demographics data.

What they have chosen to do is make this information available only upon request. I had to go looking for these things.

For instance, I can find Faqih Gas Station in Arnoun if I go looking for it. I can find Arnoun if I go looking for it. But at no point does Apple Maps show this town to me on the map outside of my specific requests. Same for this coffee shop in Nabatieh.

That’s weird. That’s inexcusable. Especially in wartime.

TBC I’m not trying to cause anyone in Lebanon additional worry or stress- but it’s important for Americans to call this stuff out and do whatever we can to pressure companies into not being evil 24/7.

The map needs to be properly labeled and presented exactly the way it’s done for every other country out there. There is no excuse for this crap.

Continuation of tweet, with screenshots to illustrate.

Zora O'Neill@zoraoneill· Apr 12

Saw on X that Apple Maps has erased village names from southern Lebanon. I thought maybe it was just a zoom issue, and the villages don’t show because they’re small. But no, no it is not. Google Maps for comparison. This is appalling.

Screenshot of Apple Maps, southern. Half of Lebanon, only Tyre and Sidon labeled. On the Israel side of the border many villages are labeled.

Zoom in on a spot in southern Lebanon where a lot of small roads converge. No lane except a pin for Tebnine Castle.

Google Maps screenshot centered on Tebnine Castle. Multiple villages are labeled.

Zora O'Neill@zoraoneill· Apr 11

Maybe it just needs to be styled with the Telfar liquor store bag.

Telfar bag that looks like a standard NYC liquor store bag, black palstic with diagonal silver stripes.

Zora O'Neill@zoraoneill· Apr 9

I was so ready to leave Substack because of the neo-Nazis, and then they added (or I just noticed?) this little feature where if you type TK while you're drafting, a TK pops up in the margin, so you can easily see where you need to revisit. Goddammit that's a good feature.

Screenshot from Substack draft page, draft on the left with a TK and cursor next to it, and small gray ghost TK to the right in the margin.

Zora O'Neill@zoraoneill· Apr 9

And the NYT headline calls it "confusion"

NYT screengrab, headline all the way across the page: Cease-Fire Tested by Confusion Over Strait and Strikes on Lebanon

Zora O'Neill@zoraoneill· Apr 9

Is it these guys? (Teotihuacan -- I couldn't find anything for Tenochtitlan)

Zora O'Neill@zoraoneill· Apr 9

It really is impressive how the NYT avoids mentioning Israel. Nothing in heds and deks. You have to watch the central video and read the captions, and even then, today's bombing of Beirut is framed as effective (Israel says it hit so many Hezbollah targets!) and only b/c Hezbollah made them do it.