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Blenster 🅅

@blenster.com
6.6K followers 3.6K following 5.2K posts

I used break things and write detailed reports but now I'm management. Rapid Prototyper. Maker. Apprentice Knifemaker. Sometimes I try to help explain social situations to dudes. Trans rights are human rights and Black lives matter. I love you.

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Blenster 🅅 @blenster.com · 12/09/2026
As you can see this thing works great for getting small dirt out of delicate places without damage; I won't claim they look brand new but I think they're pretty close to it:
Nice, clean looking watchbands
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Blenster 🅅 @blenster.com · 12/09/2026
I bought a used ultrasonic cleaner (I think one of the transformers has delaminated internals and it makes an awful buzzing sound) with some dish soap! I had to change the soapy water twice; it was pretty gross.
Two dirty watchbands sitting in shallow water in a metallic rectangular container with some small bubbles
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Blenster 🅅 @blenster.com · 12/09/2026
If, like me, you have dumb, expensive hobbies like camping in an inhospitable desert full of alkaline dust and the unforgiving sun not at all inhibited by any real moisture you may find that your watch bands become soaked with sweat, sunscreen, and dust/mud. How do we clean this?
Disgusting watch bands cakes with sticky mud. It's gross.
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Blenster 🅅 @blenster.com · 07/09/2026
This enabled is to ensure we were adequately away from the storm if it decided to get truly nasty and stay behind it for the rest of the trip as it rained itself out. On the plus side it was really pretty during the sunset:
A beautiful sunlit cloud over the road; not pictured is the darkest, most crazy part of the storm because it wasn't photogenic -- it was ugly!
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Blenster 🅅 @blenster.com · 07/09/2026
I rish in to pull our third party out of the bathroom (we are leaving NOW!) and we start heading North to avoid the storm. There's increasing rain, lightning, and later a bunch of 3/4 inch hail - but we don't know that yet Here's our detour up to a school parking lot to wait for the weather to move
A map of a part of Nebraska showing a line where we traveled but having a sharp roughly 14 mile detour straight up and then back down.
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Blenster 🅅 @blenster.com · 07/09/2026
I'm going to start this story with this information: I'm safe at my overnight destination and getting ready to sleep in my bunk of the RV. *That* said: we had a close call with a violent pop-up storm in Nebraska (tornado alley) with rotation right over us as we got gas today:
A screenshot taken after we had started driving away from the storm showing an intense storm with some rotation starting very near our location
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Blenster 🅅 @blenster.com · 06/09/2026
Here's the graph from the most relevant part of our passage that we had staged as part of our prep work this morning:
A couple of charts from a website called flattestroute.com showing elevation changes along the riskiest part of our route today.
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Blenster 🅅 @blenster.com · 25/08/2026
If you want a Bad Boy might I suggest finding someone who voids warranties rather than breaking hearts?
The back of a black T-shirt on a person standing in front of an RV with green text that reads "I void warranties" with green icons for various tools including a soldering iron and screwdriver
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Blenster 🅅 @blenster.com · 23/08/2026
It took us 10-15 minutes to get to the next exit but fortunately they had a large block wall I could stand on to help tape up the damage with Gorilla tape. The RV's owner taped up the inside. We put the impacted clothes and bedding in trash bags and moved them to storage.
Around half the glass is now covered in white gorilla tape covering the cracks as well as the primary damage.
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Blenster 🅅 @blenster.com · 23/08/2026
Cruising back out to Nevada for some well earned PTO when a bird picked a fight with our RV. Fortunately my friend and I are very prepared individuals:
A close view of the cab-over sleeping compartment of a Class C RV as seen from the outside over the cab on the passenger side. A large bird has caused catastrophic damage to 1/5th of the glass.A closer look at the broken glass of the cab-over compartment. You can see more of the inside than would be preferred. Ideally you would see none of this. Small bits of glass are everywhere.A view of the front cab of the RV showing the damage to the can over compartment glass in a way to show the scale of the incident.
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Blenster 🅅 @blenster.com · 17/08/2026
Still testing clear after @defcon.bsky.social!
A negative COVID test on a black background
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Blenster 🅅 @blenster.com · 16/08/2026
In case you're wondering how they came out of the oven:
A perfect batch of brownies
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Blenster 🅅 @blenster.com · 15/08/2026
My oldest daughter asked for brownies and I can't say she had to twist my arm very hard:
A glass 9 by 9 dish with brownie mix
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Blenster 🅅 @blenster.com · 12/08/2026
UPDATE: first COVID test is negative. I feel fine (just tired) but it's smart to be sure:
A negative COVID test
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Blenster 🅅 @blenster.com · 11/08/2026
So proud of you! So glad I got to see you again.
Rand0h giving a talk about his adventures in badge making
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Blenster 🅅 @blenster.com · 09/08/2026
Thanks for the main stage shout out today! #defcon
A Thank You slide for a talk on detecting surveillance with an ESP32 where I am mentioned along with others
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Blenster 🅅 @blenster.com · 09/08/2026
Is that a flag?‽
A picture of jeans with an RFID enabled badge that is part of a contest now hanging on my belt
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Blenster 🅅 @blenster.com · 08/08/2026
I'm volunteering with @defconnextgen.bsky.social this morning but I'll be speaking at the badgelife village at noon - an introduction to @kicad.org! After that I should be wandering around @defcon.bsky.social. I'll be wearing my @outregeneration.bsky.social octopus hat!
A selfie of a person with a long red beard wearing a blue and green crochet hat wearing a tan KiCAD tshirt.
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Blenster 🅅 @blenster.com · 07/08/2026
Have you seen me at @defcon.bsky.social and wondered where you can get a fabulous handmade octopus (or other) hat? My friend @outregeneration.bsky.social makes them! She doesn't charge enough so tip well if you can!
A crochet octopus has claimed a black backpack as it's habit
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Blenster 🅅 @blenster.com · 06/08/2026
UPDATE: completely filled my luggage and a large bag & hauled the kits over to the @defconnextgen.bsky.social Village room and helped put them in the swag bags for the youth. Huge thanks to @oshpark.bsky.social and my donors for making this possible. We're hoping for more than 300 youth this year!
A medium large suitcase stuffed to the gills with silver antistatic bags each containing the parts of the soldering kits A large brown bag holding another impressive haul of silver antistatic bags holding soldering kits
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Blenster 🅅 @blenster.com · 05/08/2026
UPDATE: here are the parts! Time for me to kit them up for the youth in the @defconnextgen.bsky.social village. Special thanks to @oshpark.bsky.social again for the beautiful PCBs and to my other donors who helped cover the parts:
A table in a hotel covered in PCBs and parts for beginner friendly soldering kits
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Blenster 🅅 @blenster.com · 05/08/2026
Update: I made it safely! Now time to collect the parts for the @defconnextgen.bsky.social soldering kits for the youth village so I can start bagging them up!
A view of the famous "Welcome to Las Vegas" sign in the Las Vegas airport
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Blenster 🅅 @blenster.com · 04/08/2026
@defcon.bsky.social bound! I'll be going through the Charlotte airport for my change over in an hour or so - if you see me say hi!
A picture of a man with a truly massive red beard that is starting to go white a little sitting in a seat on a smaller sized jet wearing a cool green shirt he got in India that goes well with the beard. He's wearing small glasses.
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Blenster 🅅 @blenster.com · 27/07/2026
UPDATE: GOAL MET! Thank you all so much. No more donations are required. The team, the youth, (and my credit card) all thank you very much!!
The spreadsheet showing the donations and the money spent; $701.43 spent and $702 raised.
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Blenster 🅅 @blenster.com · 25/07/2026
I usually go for Audrey Hepburn but you make a strong point my friend.
Audrey Hepburn looking directly into your soul piercing time and space to see deep within
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Blenster 🅅 @blenster.com · 23/07/2026
It occurs to me it's hard to read that digikey order invoice so here's a better view:
A closer view of the digikey invoice showing the digikey figures from the alt-text up above that I am too tired to type again but the numbers match I promise.
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Blenster 🅅 @blenster.com · 23/07/2026
So I finally got around to getting everything together for the @defconnextgen.bsky.social Youth Soldering Kits (PCBs from @oshpark.bsky.social once again!). I spent $701.43 on parts/etc. if you want to chip in: $Blenster on cashapp. Here's a picture of this year's transparency report spreadsheet:
A screenshot of google sheets showing no donors signed up yet and costs and links to the exact parts that have been ordered for the youth. At the bottom are pictures of the two invoices showing where the money went.

Of the $701.43 a total of $262.65 was spent on battery holders, $125.13 on 500 AA batteries, $7.56 on 280 resistors, $174.96 on 1,050 blue LEDs, $21.01 on tariffs, $57.75 on antistatic bags, and $52.37 on taxes and shipping at digikey.
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Blenster 🅅 @blenster.com · 13/07/2026
Another scam email type spotted in the wild; this one promising lab results. As you can see the sender is wrong: Stay safe out there.
A scam email pretending to be from Quest Diagnostics with a link to a PDF that is from a different URL
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Blenster 🅅 @blenster.com · 28/06/2026
Update:
Beautifully smoked chicken on the smoker with the temperature probe in it
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Blenster 🅅 @blenster.com · 28/06/2026
Taking a break to start dinner in the smoker; back to the @kicad.org mines I go! Gotta sling that PCB for my friends! #MakeAllTheThings
A five and a half pound chicken sits on the grill of a smoker with a temperature probe in it
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Blenster 🅅 @blenster.com · 02/06/2026
She built her bike rack herself and installed it:
A bike rack with orange straps on the back of a Rav4; the license plate is not visible
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Blenster 🅅 @blenster.com · 01/06/2026
That said my birthday is tomorrow and apparently my body is getting a jump on feeling older. (This tendon has been bugging me for a couple of days and I think I just made it worse; I'll have to see my physical therapist sooner now.)
A person holds a blue ice pack to their right knee inside some reinforced work pants
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Blenster 🅅 @blenster.com · 01/06/2026
Fortunately this kit is a direct bolt on and other than one side being a bit fiddly to reach the bolts this has gone fairly smoothly.
The installed trailer hitch sitting pretty in place
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Blenster 🅅 @blenster.com · 01/06/2026
A friend of mine got an e-bike and needed help getting a trailer hitch on her Rav4 so let's do this! First thing's first: safety! Dual jack stands and the jack as a backup on one side.
The bottom of a Toyota Rav4 plug in hybrid showing the exhaust while the rear sub frame rests on two jack stands
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Blenster 🅅 @blenster.com · 31/05/2026
Cleaning up the lab today and found a UV EEPROM eraser and some vintage programmers. Anyone interested‽
Two EMP-20 programmers and an Ultralite production EEPROM eraser and some miscellaneous tech stuff in a box
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Blenster 🅅 @blenster.com · 25/05/2026
I'm going to be AFK for a bit...
Delicious looking ribs with a well developed smoke ring
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Blenster 🅅 @blenster.com · 25/05/2026
Post apple steam; they're now doing their final finish with some Sweet Baby Ray's on top (not necessary but it's delicious); I'm pleased with the progress:
Soft, supple smoked ribs just before I gave them a coat of BBQ sauce looking delicious and already starting to fall off the bone
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Blenster 🅅 @blenster.com · 25/05/2026
They're done getting their smoke ring so now they're tented in foil and covered in apple juice to steam for a couple more hours:
Three beautiful racks of ribs looking amazing
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Blenster 🅅 @blenster.com · 25/05/2026
Taking some time today to rest and make a favorite meal properly; slow smoking these ribs in my Weber pellet smoker. Disclosure: I used to work for them and the grill was given to me.
Three racks of seasoned pork ribs on the grill of the smoker laying over two foil water baths to keep the moisture in the grill upA Weber brand pellet smoker smoking gently on a back porch
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Blenster 🅅 @blenster.com · 23/05/2026
The good news is it runs again. More or less. But not great and not for long. I've hosed the carb down in carb cleaner a few times but I think there's some varnish still in there.
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Blenster 🅅 @blenster.com · 23/05/2026
How's your day going? My fuel line is clogged on this pressure washer and it was BURIED in the guts of this thing. I got this Generac pressure washer broken as a former floor model. It just had a loose throttle cable; easy fix for a cheap washer. I love being a nerd.
My hand holds a length of fuel line above the guts of a pressure washer engine
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Blenster 🅅 @blenster.com · 16/05/2026
Good morning @bsides312.org! If you're looking for me this is what I'm wearing today. I have my @dustrial.net Matrix hoodie as well if it gets cold. You can order a hat like mine from my friend @outregeneration.bsky.social.
A mirror selfie of me wearing green pants, a green agender flagged shirt that says "assume nothing", and my blue octopus hat
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Blenster 🅅 @blenster.com · 09/05/2026
Well it's not what I had hoped for but it will hold. I did several passes where the point of the umbrella will land with the most force.
The bag sewn back together resting on olive green shorts
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Blenster 🅅 @blenster.com · 09/05/2026
Fortunately I do know how to sew by hand so let's get this done before he gets here to collect several grand in equipment!
A hand holding a sewing needle above the inside of the bag
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Blenster 🅅 @blenster.com · 09/05/2026
Well that explains why the machine was free. Playing with settings and cleaning the obvious bits didn't clear this up and I had already spent an hour trying so...
The stitches from the sewing machine are terrible; significant pull through without returning and pulling up enough. The machine likely needs to be stripped and cleaned. Not pictured: it's also doing the wrong stitch pattern and that needs to be fixed too.
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Blenster 🅅 @blenster.com · 09/05/2026
First step is to turn it inside out and expose the seam:
The inside of the bag showing the missing stitching
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Blenster 🅅 @blenster.com · 09/05/2026
It's a good excuse to pull out a free (and newer than my other) Singer sewing machine I was given to see what's wrong with it:
A Singer 5825C sewing machine on a beat up table
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Blenster 🅅 @blenster.com · 09/05/2026
Last night I volunteered with a local queer youth group running a photo booth that a friend of mine usually runs (with me as the assistant) and I noticed one of the flash umbrella bags had a hole in the end:
My fingers point through a hole in a long black umbrella bag
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Blenster 🅅 @blenster.com · 02/05/2026
Two people? In this economy‽ I'm lucky I can afford to do it myself. LOL Who wants to be player 2 on this adventure and can time travel because I'll be done before you get here unless you're a neighbor...?
A page from the instructions suggesting that this is a two person build and that I am foolish to attempt this alone.

Fair enough. I am.
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Blenster 🅅 @blenster.com · 02/05/2026
Today is a good day. Today I get to assemble something! Honestly the fact it is for me (hopefully organizing some of the mess the kitchen has become) is only tangential to my happiness.
A box of flat packed furniture with the instructions on top. The instructions indicate it's for a kitchen shelf.
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