iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

John Lowe @archaeocore.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

Well, he just got run off by the family of raccoons that also hang out in the alley. One of them looks to have lost most of its tail.

Two raccoons eating cat food on our back patio.

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John Lowe @archaeocore.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Fun little surprise, found this corn maze while conducting a background review on the PA archaeology GIS site. Located at Merrymead Farm in Lansdale. If you look at Google Earth using the time slider you’ll see photos from 2020-2025 (this is 2024).

A photo of a computer screen. The image is from aerial photography and shows a dry corn field with a maze cut into it, making a design. The design is two stylized butterflies and a script text reading Butterfly.

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John Lowe @archaeocore.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Dena wanted me to buy us tickets for the game tonight because its gonna rain all weekend, so I did. And then she couldn’t come, but I was able to get some money back for one. And now here I am.

Looking towards home plate from left field near the foul line, Citizens Bank Park. Various pregame stuff is still happening. There are a few fans in Phillies gear (and one on a hoodie) in front of me.

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John Lowe @archaeocore.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Got this hat a couple of months back, finally time to wear it. Go Birds!

A photo of me, mid-50s cishet white male with a white beard, salt and pepper mustache, and big plastic hornrim glasses. I’m wearing a 7 Seconds t-shirt and a vintage Philadelphia Eagles baseball hat, with the words Philadelphia and Eagles spelled out vertically on a white background, on either side of an eagle soaring with a football in its talons on a green background.

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John Lowe @archaeocore.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Why have I never been to Spruce Street Harbor Park before? It’s actually pretty nice, especially on such a nice day like today. Also, cheers to $8 beers (a Troegs Pilsner)

A selfie of me, a 50-something cishet white male with mostly grayish white hair and beard and a salt and pepper mustache, wearing plastic rimmed glasses (you can almost see they’re semi-translucent green). I’m holding a plastic cup of yellow beer, which is in a Detective Pikachu themed koozie. I am wearing a blue t-shirt that reads Time Is Time Was Now and drawings of a reel-to-reel tape recorder, a camera, and a typewriter (the visible elements of a much busier artwork). There is a yellow and white striped awning above me and a blue sky (no pun intended) in the background

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John Lowe @archaeocore.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

For your Friday enjoyment, this is me around age 19 or 20, with my spiky hair (partially sun bleached), horn-rimmed glasses, and a NYC Ska shirt I got in high school (probably at Bleecker Bobs) that I wish I still had. Remember “Flashback Friday” on IG?

An orange tinted (from age) photo of a roughly 20 year old cishet white male standing outside: he has horn-rimmed “old man” glasses, medium length spiky sun bleached blonde and brown hair on top and shaved brown hair on sides. He (or I, more accurately) am wearing a white t-shirt with a black and white art silhouette image of a man in a trenchcoat and a fedora holding a gun, with text in capital italics reading NYC SKA

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John Lowe @archaeocore.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Sold a small stack of records to Sit and Spin last week, trying to thin out my collection. But then they got in a massive collection of 80s punk and hardcore records and I’ve now ended up with more than I sold in the first place. But I finally found Something to Believe In (pun intended)

A photo of me, a cishet mid-50s white male with a gray beard, salt and pepper mustache, green plastic glasses. I’m smiling awkwardly and holding a copy of an 80s hardcore compilation. The upper text says “Better Youth Organization Presents” in a banner. Below, in a larger banner and in an Old English font, reads “Something To Believe In”. The artwork is a hazy pinkish orange tinted copy of what appears to be a painting of a medieval battle. I’m wearing a red satin golf style hat reading Philadelphia Phillies. There is some artwork and a photograph on the wall in the rear. One of the paintings is a painted album cover done by one of the musicians who is on the compilation (Tim Kerr), and the photo is of him and Mike Carroll in the 90s in their band Lord High Fixers.

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John Lowe @archaeocore.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

I was watching the Ring of honor PPV but got distracted by the absolutely ridiculous Philly sunset!

A photo of rooftops of South Philly with a very colorful (shades of oranges and teas and yellows) sunset in the background below a very pronounced gray horizontal cloud cover.

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John Lowe @archaeocore.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

It’s still a little wild to me that Sanrio is so mainstream in the US that there are Happy Meal toys, and a Godzilla crossover no less. I got my favorite little grumpy penguin, Badtz Maru. Shown with my 30 year old Badtz and Hana Maru tattoo.

A photo of a white arm and hand. The hand is holding a happy meal toy featuring the Sanrio character Badtz Maru, a black penguin with large white eyes and a small yellow beak. He is wearing a costume of the Godzilla character Rodan, an orange pterodactyl. There is a faded mostly black and white tattoo on the arm of Badtz Maru and Hana Maru, his seal friend.

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John Lowe @archaeocore.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Final final note while I ignore Nola melting down: I too am a corn grower! We put corn out for squirrels and birds to eat, and squirrels bury some (as they will), and some start sprouting, and I let a couple stalks grow. This was the result.

Photo of me, a cishet 50-something white male with a white beard, wearing a red and white Phillies hat and a white and green tshirt, holding up a tiny ear of corn.

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John Lowe @archaeocore.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Also went to a somewhat bleak, mostly overpriced Goodwill but did find one excellent score: a working Panasonic simulated wood radio (from a high school), gonna clean up and use it at home!

A photo of a vintage Panasonic AM-FM radio with a brass-colored metal tuning and volume/power area on the right and ridged faux-wood plastic over the speaker to the left.

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John Lowe @archaeocore.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

I don’t just talk the talk… PS: if anyone knows where, besides the brewery, I can get this in 4-packs instead of singles, let me know!!

A photo of a 16-ounce can of beer with a mostly green label and text reading Fuzzy “Green Cucumber IPA”, next to a teku glass reading “Cup of Fun” with some of the beer in it. In the background is a TV with T-Mac and Kruk and some Phillies alumnus.

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John Lowe @archaeocore.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

Got a fresh haircut, trimmed the beard, shaved cheeks and neck. Alas, evening plans had to be pushed til tomorrow, so now I’m off to get some cat food and find some food and beer.

Selfie of a mid-50s cishet white male with silver hair and beard, salt and pepper mustache, and big plastic glasses.

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John Lowe @archaeocore.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

We need to increase funding to the National Parks service by tenfold, or more!

A photo of some toilet paper from a bathroom at a national recreation area. It’s a thin single ply paper that is semitransparent. Not only does it not feel good on delicate areas, but it’s so thin that you have to use a lot more to avoid breakthroughs.

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John Lowe @archaeocore.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

Dena is playing Tomodachi Life and has us as characters. She asked to change my outfit and I picked a total early 90s look, then she decided to match me and do a photo shoot. Because we are silly people.

A photo from the Tomodachi Life Nintendo Switch game. On the left is a white guy with glasses Mii wearing teal and purple 90s clothes and 5-panel hat, doing a break dance move and winking. On the right is a white woman with glasses wearing a similar outfit in red and yellow, also breakdancing and winking. The background is a graffiti art wall.

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John Lowe @archaeocore.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

Went to the rooftop to watch the fireworks from CBP but yall the moon looks crazy behind the Walt Whitman right now!

Photo of the moon, glowing a dark reddish orange, rising in the east behind the Walt Whitman Bridge. There is a band of smoke from the Phillies fireworks show at the top of the photo. The photo does not do justice to how cool the moon looks.

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John Lowe @archaeocore.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

Good luck and hope it’s nothing serious and they can get you right quickly! Here’s my Ruby inside a paper mailing bag.

Ruby, a black-and-white cat, inside of a brown paper mailing bag, as cats are wont to do.

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John Lowe @archaeocore.bsky.social · 21/06/2026

For Father’s Day, here’s a photo of me with my dad and my Grandpa Lowe on the front porch of my grandparents duplex in Hanover, taken in 1972. I was around 8 months old, maybe a little older.

A photograph of two men and a little baby sitting on the front porch steps of a white clapboard house in 1972. On the left is a white male in his 60s with a buzz cut, black horned rim glasses, wearing a striped button down short sleeve shirt and dark slacks. That’s my grandpa Lowe. On the right is a white male in his late 20s with dark hair and sideburns. Also wearing a striped white button down short sleeve shirt, but tan slacks. That’s my dad. The baby has short brown hair, chubby cheeks, and is wearing a white outfit of some kind. He is sitting on the older man’s knee, and the younger man is holding his hand up. That’s me when I was around 8 months old.

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John Lowe @archaeocore.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

I looked at my FB and one of my best friends was also there. It was the Argentina-Mexico Round of 16 game, which we went to because the nearby Argentinian spot was closed.

A photo from June 27, 2010 of the bar at a Mexican restaurant in Austin, Texas. There is a line of three micheladas (a red drink that is a mix of beer and tomato juice, with salt and lime on the rim of the glass), two brown Pacifico bottles, and one Corona bottle. There is a basket of tortilla chips, and you can see the small dish of salsa partly obscured by the paper of the chip basket.

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John Lowe @archaeocore.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

The college soccer pullover in question (I don’t think my Alma mater is a secret).

A photo of a dark blue pullover windbreaker with yellow/gold stripes at the bottom and white fleece lining. There is script chain stitching on the left chest side of the jacket (photo right) that reads J.D. This was one of my college nicknames due to there being 3 other freshmen named Jon/John in the history/political science emphasis.

The back of the dark blue pullover windbreaker with yellow/gold stripes at bottom and white fleece lining. The hood is visible. On the left sleeve is stitched patch block lettering reading MF, because I was a muthaf…I mean Midfielder. On the center is peeling, worn heat transfer (I guess) lettering reading Juniata Soccer.

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John Lowe @archaeocore.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

Don’t think I posted a photo of this 2008 World Series Champions t-shirt (with the sleeves cut off) that I got at a thrift store a couple weeks ago. $5, not bad. Wish I had my old field muscles still.

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John Lowe @archaeocore.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

My hospital room downtown is on the 13th floor so I am going to have quite the view and experience of this severe thunderstorm moving in.

A view of Philadelphia City Hall and other downtown Philly buildings through a window in a hospital room.

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John Lowe @archaeocore.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

Taking advantage of the beautiful day.

Selfie of a middle-aged cishet white guy, mostly white hair and beard, plastic frame glasses. Wearing a white t-shirt with a colorful hand-screened Sun Ra print by my friend Tim Kerr (I probably shouldn’t even be wearing this). A couple of pins are visible on my satchel strap: an anti-nazi pin with the “circle/slash” symbol over a swastika, and a Gritty pin.

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John Lowe @archaeocore.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

I converted to grayscale, upped contrast & lowered brightness to get this. I think last name is Conley? First name is hard, I can see “Lou” but also I can see the first letter being a capital “T” and the second looks like an “e” similar to the next to last in last name. So maybe “Tess Verna Conley”

A photo of faded cursive handwriting in an old book, the original is a color photos which I modified to a grayscale with changes to brightness and contrast to try and bring out the script

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John Lowe @archaeocore.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

Ok the full rainbow is gone but there’s a faint double rainbow in the northeast now

A photo looking over eastern south Philly showing row home roofs and a double rainbow. The rainbow on the left side is faint. While the one on the right is still very bright.

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John Lowe @archaeocore.bsky.social · 25/04/2026

Hi @sad13.horse can I play the Speedy Ortiz photo game too? I live in Philly now but this is from one of several times I saw you in my old city.

A photo of the band Speedy Ortiz, a 5-piece band at this point, playing a song on a stage with a wood panel backdrop. The singer and guitarist Sadie Dupuis is wearing a headband and veil, a sheer polka dot top, and a colorful print mini skirt.

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John Lowe @archaeocore.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

You’ll never guess that I did this all by myself using my phone!

A photo of d.ly’s dog, a large guy (gender neutral) with a yellowish-tan coat and whitish underbelly and black paw beans. Lounging super chill on a gray or brown sofa and a black pillow. I have crudely drawn sunglasses and a beer.

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John Lowe @archaeocore.bsky.social · 29/03/2026

Spotted this yesterday while getting a beer at the former Harry the K bar.

A photo of a chrome counter top at the so-called Ghost Energy bar at Citizens Bank Park. There is a sticker that reads Harry the K Forever, with a picture of Harry the K in a red sports coat holding a beer

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John Lowe @archaeocore.bsky.social · 26/03/2026

It’s opening day! Took this before having to put on a stupid hard hat. (PS: THIS is the kind of trucker hat I’m talking about, something taller with structure and stiff mesh in the back).

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John Lowe @archaeocore.bsky.social · 21/03/2026

Tangentially, I am convinced that one reason I get so many compliments on my Utz hat is because people aren’t used to seeing trucker hats in Philly and appreciate the style.

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John Lowe @archaeocore.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

Pretty fantastic golden hour and sunset right now in Philly

A photo of church steeples in South Philly with a glowing purple golden and orange sunset in the background.

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John Lowe @archaeocore.bsky.social · 28/02/2026

Look at this cute elephant souvenir bank I got while thrifting today!

A ceramic white elephant with blue eyes, sitting up, holding its trunk up. On the belly reads “I <red heart> Bar Harbor Maine”. This is a souvenir bank.

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John Lowe @archaeocore.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

My sweet Ruby curled up extra cute for a bit and I got a photo.

Ruby, a tuxedo cat, is curled up on a blue sofa with her head tucked into her curled paw. Shes fluffy but also a little portly. She looks super cute.

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John Lowe @archaeocore.bsky.social · 21/02/2026

Yeah she posted a note in her Instagram stories this morning.

A screenshot from Taryn Hatcher’s Instagram.
“Cats out of the bag so I’ll keep this short and sweet as possible.
Sadly I won’t be returning on Phillies coverage this season. At the conclusion of the 2025 season, I was told that my role on the sidelines at NBSCP was being eliminated moving forward.
While the news was pretty heartbreaking, I have to acknowledge that it was a really fun run. I loved every second of it. I’m grateful for everyone who tuned in over the years, and for the wonderful people I’ve met along the way (heart emoji)”

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John Lowe @archaeocore.bsky.social · 12/02/2026

Shoutout to Olivia Smith for being on top of the Phillies spring training news. Her Etsy is OliviaHSmithDesign.

A black tshirt on a blue background. The shirt has the drawing of a human rib bone, with text that reads “Zack Wheeler’s Rib”. There are some red flames and blue stars added for flair.

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John Lowe @archaeocore.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

In memory and honor of the great Dan McQuade. What a great organization to choose.

Screenshot of a donation acknowledgment. The main part is a Tetris-like background in various shades of yellow, in the center overlying is a design that looks like a mix between a sun and a flower with radiating lines and a heart in the center. Below is text that reads “Thank you for supporting the Everywhere Project”

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John Lowe @archaeocore.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

I started keeping all the change I found while out walking in a vintage bank I found thrifting. My total for 7 months was three dollars and ninety-one cents! Other than pennies, dimes were the most common coin.

A photo of a bunch of US coins sorted and stacked on a wooden shelf top. There is a ceramic bank in the image of an old, white man with glasses, a white mustache, and just a fringe of gray hair, wearing a green robe with yellow collar, blue striped pajama bottoms, and tan shoes. He is holding a white sign (presumably was intended as a newspaper idea) on his lap that reads Retirement Fund. In the background is a 7” holder with various DC comics characters. This is full of soul and R&B singles.

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John Lowe @archaeocore.bsky.social · 12/01/2026

Sum up the 2025 Philadelphia Eagles with an image saved on your phone

An image of Samoa Joe, a large Samoan professional wrestler wearing black trunks and knee pads and boots, walking to the left while Jon Cruz, a smaller professional wrestler wearing red tights, is in midair after having jumped from the top ropes. Jon Cruz had his arms spread in frustration and is looking at Samoa Joe as if saying “what the fuck, dude”

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John Lowe @archaeocore.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

I was too stubborn and cheap to buy a new balaclava since I have one at home that I forgot.

Me, cishet white male in his mid-50s although you can barely tell because I’m almost fully covered up. I have on an orange safety vest, a green puffer jacket, a white bandana tied across my face over an orange buff, a black hat, a grey hoodie with the hood up, and a white hard hat. My plastic glasses are steamed up and only my left eye (RIP) is visible. The bridge of my nose is the only other skin exposed. Not visible is the base layer shirt, cotton t-shirt, and fishing shirt I have on under the jackets, or the two pairs of base layer bottoms and thick cotton BDU pants I’m wearing. I am standing in a trench, in the background is a green 6-inch PVC sewer pipe and a large pile of back dirt.

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John Lowe @archaeocore.bsky.social · 28/10/2025

Check out this sweet hat I got from Clink Room with a design from @thetroops.fightins.online!

A selfie of me, a cishet 50s white male with a white beard, brown and white moustache, and green plastic glasses. I’m wearing a black New Era fitted baseball hat with a design by my friend Leif Malone. The design is a stylized reddish-orange fox and white rabbit facing off head to head. There are some Halloween decorations in the background.

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John Lowe @archaeocore.bsky.social · 25/10/2025

Happy Skaturday! Making some buttermilk pancakes and listening to The English Beat “I Just Can’t Stop It”. The cover of my copy is chewed up (literally) but the vinyl is clean and I paid $4 at a Half Price Books 20 years ago or so. #nowspinning

On the right is the album cover for The English Beat “I Just Can’t Stop It”, which is what the text reads. The album art is the bands faces in silhouette profiles, alternating black and white (and matching the “races” of the band members), with the far left being someone with glasses and a goatee playing a saxophone. They are outlined in fuchsia, which is the only color on the album cover. In the upper left is one of their logos, a drawing of a woman with a black bob and triangle earrings, wearing a fuchsia shirt with a musical note in white, a fuchsia and white striped knee length skirt, black tights, and shoes. She has a chunky fuchsia brackets on her right arm. She is dancing, with her hips swinging to her right and her knees swiveled to her left, arms held upright bent at the elbows, similar to the trademark “skanking” dance of ska music.
Other things in the photo are a perler art of Jason from the Friday the 13th NES game, a drawing of a purple car with Prince’s symbol on his chest, a Playmobil guitar player, and a cat vinyl figure with a red white and blue cassette unraveling tape for a design. In the upper right is part of a painting of Curtis Mayfield, with lyrics from “Keep on Pushing”. This was done by my friend and mentor Tim Kerr.

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John Lowe @archaeocore.bsky.social · 16/10/2025

Friends, we have our first Gobbler of the season! This one has mashed potatoes on it too. Next time, I’m getting sweet potatoes:

A photo of me, a cishet white male in his 50s with gray/brown hair and beard and green plastic glasses. I am holding a Wawa Gobbler hoagie is my right hand: this has carved turkey, cranberry sauce, gravy, stuffing on a white hoagie roll; I added mashed potatoes as well. Two bites have been taken out of the hoagie. The background has a small area of brick wall from our Philly rowhome and a skeleton poster.

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John Lowe @archaeocore.bsky.social · 27/09/2025

From my roof, truly magical Philly sunset happening.

A photo looking west over part of South Philly; the roofs of rowhomes along with some treetops are in the lower half. The upper half is bands of glowing red, orange, and gold along with thin, long gray clouds making for a spectacular sunset that is casting a golden hue over the neighborhood as it gets dark. In the distance, I think can hear the Philly Elmo drumline.

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John Lowe @archaeocore.bsky.social · 26/09/2025

Gor some great seats tonight! Hope we get to see a full game.

A photo of the playing field at Citizens Bank Park from the 100 seats with fans in the foreground.

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John Lowe @archaeocore.bsky.social · 09/08/2025

I’m gonna do a little Skaturday action as well, inspired by @robotron.blog! This was a huge compilation in my high school friend group senior year when it came out, and I got a copy off Discogs last year. And yes, this is THAT No Doubt, way before they were famous.

A photo of an album cover. It is red with cartoon artwork of a bald male wearing sunglasses. He has his mouth open wide with clenched teeth, one tooth is missing and there is a toothpick on the other side. He is wearing a black suit jacket, white dress shirt, and black tie with a crescent moon. The text reads “SKAFACE” (the album title) across his forehead. At bottom, reads
Ska Face
An All-American Ska Compilation.
Below is a list of the bands and their hometowns. Notable are Toasters, Bim Skala Bim, Scofflaws, Donkey Show, Let’s Go Bowling, and No Doubt (from 1988 way before they were famous and possibly their first song released).

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John Lowe @archaeocore.bsky.social · 29/07/2025

Nine years ago today Dena and I went to the courthouse and got hitched. Most of our best friends from Austin were there to witness. That was a great day!

In this photo from 2016: On the left is me, a cishet white male with short salt and pepper hair and a trimmed beard, black glasses. Wearing a white dress shirt, a skinny black tie (with Space Invader print), and black pants. On the right is my wife Dena, a cishet white female with shoulder-length reddish hair, plastic frame glasses, and a white flower in her hair. She is wearing a knee length sleeveless white dress and holding a bouquet of flowers, a mix of red and white roses with some yellow and greens to complement. We are in a courtroom with white walls and wooden chairs.

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John Lowe @archaeocore.bsky.social · 25/07/2025

Had to go to rooftop as the wind was blowing a chair around, and caught this photo of the storm moving in.

Photo of South Philadelphia showing a large thunderstorm moving in. The top of the photo is a large dark gray cloud. On the left, it is clear below the cloud, then one small band of rain falling, and a small clear patch. The right half below the clouds is a solid wall of rain.☔️

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John Lowe @archaeocore.bsky.social · 21/07/2025

Just said goodbye to our dear sweet Wendy. We had almost 12 years together, which were very full but also thought we would have much more time. You will live forever in our hearts. As your song says, “I’ll love you with all the madness in my soul”.

A photo of me, a white male with white hair and brown plastic rimmed glasses. I am kissing Wendy, a beautiful tabby cat with sweet eyes and a ring striped tail. RIP Wendy Lowe Hughes Lowe, aka Wendybug, aka Wendell, aka Wends, aka Wubba. 2013-2025.

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