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Mark Ashton

@arkmashton.bsky.social
229 followers 120 following 4.3K posts

"[O]f all the emotions – and indifference, too, because even indifference is an emotion of a sort – only love sees the unveiled truth." – Gene Wolfe, Return to the Whorl prayercards.online

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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 13h
I’m #blessed to have a few healthy options in my building
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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 14h
Left my lunch in the car at the train station. Guess I’ll just STARVE
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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 16h
First mover advantage has always been exaggerated!
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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
Should you root for the brewers or the dodgers? I don’t know, the team that makes the world’s most beloved beverage, or the one that identifies itself with avoidance?
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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
What if this scripture didn’t mean what it obviously means and instead meant something convenient for me
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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
Is it good that a single man can swing elections with couch-cushion money? Who can say
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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
I always like to do this calculation because it always surprises me. It’s hard to think of that much money as pocket change, but to him it’s nothing.
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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
Musk spent $276 million on political donations this cycle. Based on the ratio of his net worth to the US family median net worth, this is about $57.64 to him www.nytimes.com/2026/10/12/u...
nytimes.com
Inside Elon Musk’s $276 Million Midterm Rescue Mission for Republicans
The world’s richest person has quietly become by far the biggest known midterm donor, trying to save Republicans’ Senate majority with some of the largest donations in American political history.
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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
More basically: you’re looking for a person, not an object. You’re going to encounter an actual human person with lots of messy differences from your overwrought ideals. A lot of folks seem to miss that!
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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
Rescuing treed cats and so on
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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
Young people don’t appreciate the satisfaction of having finished a jar of pickles and knowing you have a new grease jar available
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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
Multi-level beverage holder
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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Hm not as distinctive as the famous pizza hub silhouette
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Reposted by Mark Ashton
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops @usccbofficial.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
USCCB President Condemns Plans for Livestream of Fort Hood Shooter's Execution as ‘a Barbaric Promotion of a Culture of Death’ Read the full release at: ow.ly/8pBo50ZWhiV
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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
I don’t know why I keep doing this but it’s funny to me
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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Omg someone pointed out I got it wrong again! Obviously I meant airplanes are the safest form of flying
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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
I continue to believe that overall the Hobbit is his best work
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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Anyway, the Thrilling Adventure parts are generally an easier read than the Miserable Travails parts
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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
I’m almost to the Frodo/sam part of two towers. I always find it a little bit of a slog. Book III interleaves Merry and Pippin chapters with three hunters chapters. It probably would have been too much to also interleave Frodo and Sam.
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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Just noticed I broke threading numbering by forking this thread. Take that, software
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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Apparently I set this up correctly when I linked my account one million years ago
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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Ope
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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Heh, got this wrong. I mean flying is the safest means of air travel
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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Yelling stop at history seems like a pretty dumb thing to do, doesn’t it?
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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Everyone knows air travel is the safest means of flying
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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Is first-rate salt pork good? Maybe after you’ve run an ultramarathon and fought a battle anything is
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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
I stand athwart seasonal merchandise yelling Stop!
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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Please @ me next time you find a show like detectorists!
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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Long Sun
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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Oh and folklore, John Henry, the devil and Daniel Webster, Pecos Bill, Paul Bunyan, etc
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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Westerns
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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Robert E Howard, yes
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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Surely comic books belong in some form
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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
NOT ALL [genre readers|litfic readers]
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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Always
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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Treebeard’s grave courtesy and subtle humor, Merry and Pippin’s child-like trust. Kindred spirits across a wide divide. There’s so much to love in this chapter.
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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
The Treebeard chapter is so delightful. More than anything on this read-through it’s reminded me of the feeling of reading this book as a kid. Finding a friend in a dark place (Tom Bombadil, Treebeard, Faramir) is a recurring theme in Tolkien but this is my favorite instance of it.
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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
😵
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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Embarrassing. I am informed that a violator is someone who plays viola. It’s pronounced similarly to realtor
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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Correct
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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Lots of pan-handling street musicians play viol, hence the common “violators will be prosecuted” signs
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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
A violator is a person who plays the viol en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viol
en.wikipedia.org
Viol - Wikipedia
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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Delighted
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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
My kingdom for a hammock
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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Announcement: it is another absolutely gorgeous early fall day in the Great Lakes region of the American Midwest. Thank you for your attention to this matter.
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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
The MLB tv situation is very bad.
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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Hey ya, it’s me, Imoen
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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
saw Coyote v. Acme tonight, it was really fun
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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
They always say you should bet on yourself, but Pete Rose does it and he's banned from the hall of fame? Make it make sense
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Mark Ashton @arkmashton.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Bee pee
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