Dallman Ross

@spamless.bsky.social

770 Followers 2440 Following

Expat, ex-law left-coastian fan of Brownian motion trying to write his way out of a paper bag. From Oakland, CA; 30 years in đŸ‡©đŸ‡Ș. If we don't know each other and I just followed you back, đŸš«DMs, please! See also https://spamless.substack.com

I wrote to Claude: If I'm going to consider switching to you from ChatGPT (because of politics and humanity, not because of production), I will have to train you to my likes and preferences -- or better said, to my dislikes and annoyances. I am not one for chatty, over-bubbly conversations with AI agents. I appreciate the insight and the factual knowledge I don't have biological access to, but I don't want gushiness. I can't forget your interaction is a mock-up and that you have no actual emotions, so I don't want a long conversation pretending that you do. The answer, also in the image, acknowledges that and instantly changes tone from what came before (not shown) that got me going.
I'm standing behind my Canyon Endurace in long-sleeve riding gear. Neighborhood tree is behind me.
I want to come back to this post because it’s been smoldering at the back of my mind the last few hours. There’s plenty to agree with here. But I think the overall picture you paint goes too far the other way in an attempt to “save” us from our own emotional trauma at what is riving modern politics and society. I agree that the small signs and touches of everyday living and interpersonal joy are not suddenly dead. I agree that a blunt force of negativity and doomsdayism has spread into most every public media utterance with a suffocating gravity. That is, indeed, what news reporting tends to do. That is the baked-in distortion. So, yes, we should not give in to despair about who we are or what strength is still to be found in the quiet pockets of our existence. We are still millions of unsung heroes and ordinary people living our lives as best we can, occasionally finding laughter and a smile. But – But that does not mean that the present danger isn’t imminent, isn’t exigent, isn’t oppressive, or isn’t there. It is all those things. At 70, after having lived for decades in Europe and outside of the American bubble I grew up in, I think I do have the perspective to say: things are bad. A scrappy dream that took a quarter of a millennium to cultivate through countless injustices and reversals along the way is actively under siege in unprecedented ways. It’s very, very dangerous. It’s shatteringly disheartening. It’s real. We must fight back, and we will. So, don’t discount the fix we are in, is all I’m saying. It’s grim. But we’re not dead yet. Anti-disclaimer: No AI was used to formulate these thoughts. đŸ€” Anti-anti-disclaimer: I asked AI after the fact. It told me (a) to lighten the semantic load of my language to keep a modern audience interested (I am ignoring that good advice); and (b) that I left out the summary. Here that is: “Distortion of proportion does not imply overstatement of severity.”
It's good and valid text, but I sniff AI as the author or co-author. That's not an outright disqualification. Not in the least. But it's a warning, a caveat that the weighers and philosophizers of meaning (you, me, and plenty of others) are also inescapably personae of the Machine, at least part of the time. I use AI myself in my work to good effect, but I try not to lose sight of who is User and who is Agent. I hope that goes for you, too. When I write from the heart, as here, I try to insist that it's my own unadulterated voice that comes through. It's just my personal ethic, it's not a rule I expect others to follow. Be well.
Page 1 of 2 of invite letter detailing benefits of becoming a German citizen. LANDESHAUPTSTADT E WIESBADEN Landeshauptstadt Wlesbadon |Dozernat IV | Postfaoh 30 20 | 66020 Wleabadon Der Magistrat Dezernat fĂŒr Integration und Recht Gesundheit und Tierschutz Milena Löbcke MĂ€rz 2026 Deutsche Staatsangehörigkeit- Ihre Chance zur Mitgestaltunc Liebe MitbĂŒrgerinnen und MitbĂŒrger Menschen, die in Deutschland leben, können unter bestimmten Voraussetzungen die deut sche Staatsangehörigkeit erwerben. Eine wichtige Voraussetzung erfĂŒllen Sie bereits Nach dem geltenden Gesetz ist eine EinbĂŒrgerung nach fĂŒnf Jahren Aufenthalt in Deutsch land möglich. Die EinbĂŒrgerung erfolgt nicht automatisch, sondern auf Antrag bei der zustĂ€ndigen EinbĂŒr- gerungsbehörde. Dort erhalten Sie auch eine persönliche Beratung zu allen weiteren Voraus- setzungen und zum Ablauf des Verfahrens. Auch wenn derzeit das EinbĂŒrgerungsverfahren Ă€nger dauert, ĂŒberwiegen die Vorteile der EinbĂŒrgerung Warum die deutsche Staatsangehörigkeit: Wiesbaden ist eine vielfĂ€ltige Stadt, in der Menschen mit und ohne Einwanderungsge- schichte zusammenleben. Die deutsche Staatsangehörigkeit bietet Ihnen viele Vorteile eine sichere und langfristige Lebensplanung in Deutschland mehr Reisefreiheit die EU-BĂŒrgerschaft uneingeschrĂ€nkten Zugang zu allen beruflichen Moglichkeiten ‱ Mitbestimmen und mitgestalten Als deutsche StaatsbĂŒrgerin oder deutscher StaatsbĂŒrger können Sie ohne EinschrĂ€nkungen wĂ€hlen und aktiv an politischen Entscheidungen teilnehmen - auf kommunaler, Landes-, Bundes- und europĂŁischer Ebene. DarĂŒber hinaus haben Sie die Möglichkeit, selbst fĂŒr ein politisches Amt zu kandidieren. Am 15. MĂ€rz finden in Hessen Wahlen statt. Bereits jetzt können Sie sich beteiligen, indem Sie an den Wahlen zum AuslĂ€nderbeirat teilnehmen und lhre Stimme einbringen. *Europaviertel- erreichbar von der Bushaltestelle Willyl-Brandt-Allee/Volkshochschule Linien 5, 8, 15, 18 /2 www.wiesbaden.de
Word of the Day pertinacious Definition: (adjective) Stubbornly unyielding. Synonyms: dogged, dour, tenacious, persistent Usage: When he made up his little mind to have or to do anything, all the king's horses and all the king's men could not change that pertinacious little mind.
Silhouette, I think that's me, in front of dark skyline with swirling gray storm clouds. This might be Wiesbaden, where I live.
Photo of snow-covered mountain peaks with the quote superimposed: „Ein Buch muss die Axt sein fĂŒr das gefrorene Meer in uns."
Smoked wild-catch salmon on home-baked Nordic stone-age bread (nuts and seeds, olive oil, and egg for binding; no flour); cream cheese, blueberries, dill, and more. 70th-birthday brunch.
Title to German cover of Penguin softcover version of Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck
Me addressing the celebrants at the vbw 40th anniversary dinner on November 14th, 2025.
Nordic stone-age bread baked by my wife
Dallman Ross is the new head of the Volksbildungswerk in Nordenstadt Wiesbaden-Nordenstadt. Since October 2025, Dallman Ross has been serving as interim managing director of the Volksbildungswerk Nordenstadt-Erbenheim-Delkenheim (VBW). For forty years, the VBW has stood for community-oriented adult education and aims to continue its proven work — with openness to many new, flexible ideas. “Lifelong learning remains the heart of our work,” says Ross. “We want to create space where people can learn from one another and continue to grow.” Ross has been active in the VBW for 25 years — as a course instructor, board member, and neighbor in Nordenstadt. He teaches English and American Studies in imaginatively designed courses, for example in “Learnin’ to the Hits,” where participants explore language nuances through well-known pop and rock songs. He also leads a German-language world-literature reading group and brings his IT background into the association’s work. A native of Northern California, Ross studied literature and law in Berkeley and San Francisco, attended the University of Heidelberg as an exchange student — and returned to Wiesbaden to stay.
A joke infographic in German I asked ChatGPT to make showing nine things one shouldn't have in hand luggage, all reasonably accurate except for the middle one depicting a package of Robusta coffee.
I'm standing in front of our hedge on the sidewalk in front of our house. Wearing fall clothes, as it's 16℃. Shoes are khaki-colored. That's also a wool shirt and cap. But the black scarf is silk.
Graph shows a downward spike (looks like a cliff) in the dollar this past day.
Newspaper headline and photo describing the arrests of hundreds at the Georgia Hyundai factory location. Company workers were detained.
Me moments before today's ride.
Opening text of the Wikipedia page on "Gleichschaltung."
8x video of me dead-hanging for 2:02 today.
Photo of correction in today's Wiesbadener Kurier. Text is in German.
Simple intraday line chart of Microsoft stock showing the 7%+ pop into earnings.
snapshot of today's page from my Harenberg "Chronik" page-a-day calendar, featuring a b&w photo of Jimmy Hoffa from 1967. Caption in German describes the date and the photo. Quote from Hoffa as the quote of the day: "I do to others as they do to me, not worse." (My translation.)
I've just returned from a brisk training ride. It takes 45 minutes and is fairly flat. T-shirt says never to underestimate an old man with a bicycle.
Image of Trump portrayed as Golem holding an oversize black book with gold title: "The List." A confederate flag with gold fringes is seen to his right. He's sitting at a dark hardwood desk in a dark-brown leather chair. It could be the Oval Office. At the window are three violent looking MAGA supporters in red hats acting like they want to break in and abscond with the book.
I'm in my riding clothes standing in front of a tree behind my blue 1986 KHS road bike just before dinnertime post-ride today.
Grain close up in a field facing toward Wallau from Breckenheimer Weg, Greater Hofheim, Hesse.
My road bike parked in front of a local dairy farm.
Breckenheimer Weg (Greater Wiesbaden, Germany) at dusk. Farm scene with fertilizer tank on fallow field with pastel streaks from fading sunlight staining the sky.
Post-concert jubilation: the Orchestra and soloist.
Screenshot of two simple web-based mail filters that are effective for many people (depends on your situation).
Me doing handstand push-ups two hours ago.
Snapshots include some country Meadow scenes from near my home and a short film clip of me doing spontaneous pull-ups at the gate of a local facility.
DJT's timeline with a message: "No Truths. When this user composes a Truth, ... you will see it here."
Me home just after the concert. I'm wearing a black velvet tailored jacket, black narrow-cut pants with black shoes, and an anthracite styled shirt with a Japanese collar. Around my neck is an amulet of dark wood and silver fashioned by the Salzburg goldsmith and engraver Manfred Stubmann.
A red apple from Germany with two stems.
I'm standing with my Canyon Endurace along a green meadow on a gravel road near Bremthal, Hesse, Germany. It's a beautiful late spring afternoon and about 25° Celsius. I'm wearing a phosphorescent-green "kit." My bike is deep purple (it looks black here). There is a grove of low-growth trees behind me and to my right. My angular late-afternoon shadow across the path adds an interesting touch to the photo.
"The public is tired of media outlets treating politics and democracy like a sporting event with two equally meritorious sides. They don't want to consume media produced by people who fail to view themselves as avowedly pro-democracy, and in opposition to those trying to destroy it. Legacy media isn’t declining because people no longer value news; it’s because they value it more than ever."
B&W photo of man lying prone on a bench with a cat underneath. The man may be asleep or despondent, but he is cradling the cat's head with his right hand. Text over the photo says: "The literal meaning of life is whatever you're doing that prevents you from killing yourself" - Albert Camus
200 selfie photos of me having breakfast over the past year-and-change, displayed in a one-page montage.
I'm in riding kit holding my road bike at shoulder height in a field of dandelions. Meadows along multi-use path on the edge of Erbenheim near Igstadt, greater Wiesbaden, Hesse.
Rainbow through trees over a rural landscape.
This is me tonight doing shin boxes. And getting up. After getting down, of course.
Eintrag ĂŒber das Jahrestag in "Chronik 2025" vom Harenberg Verlag.
I'm reading on our patio under the canopy.
Two clips and two pics from my rural bike ride.
I think you need to rethink your worldview. It was, at least in retrospect, mildly amusing for a few years to see you genuflect to the pseudo-genius who paid millions to pretend he "founded" a car company. But times have changed. The amusement wore off long ago. The guy has long since outed himself as a specious, scurvy, sophistic, illusory, elitist, oligarchic kleptocrat who lied and cheated his way into U.S. citizenship status. Relatives I have who drove Teslas have meanwhile sold 'em. The dude's audacity grows with every passing month. The damage he has foisted on American democracy is deep and unconscionable. Hard to believe you are still swallowing the Kool-Aid.
I moved to Germany from California 30 years ago. I did read Twain's essay when I began studying German a decade and a half before that, and again more recently. It's of course highly recommended. In any case, you've reminded me of an incident some years ago when my German wife and I were having a somewhat heated discussion in German. I interrupted her, and she didn't like it. She laid into me pretty well—until I disarmingly said, "Oh, sorry, I thought I heard a verb!" Then we both started laughing for the next ten minutes.
Castle on the Rhine River in Eltville
Me two hours ago holding my road bike happily in the air before a good ride.