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Dread Pirate Zed @dreadpiratezed.bsky.social · 5m

(Our friendship has outlasted my marriage to his sister by 35 years now, but he lives in Germany these days and I talk to him about once a year.)

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Dread Pirate Zed @dreadpiratezed.bsky.social · 13m

A blast from the past: my 20-year old butt digging out a stump while my soon-to-be (now ex-) BIL watches

Skinny white boy (oh, how I wish I were still that skinny) shows remarkably poor shovel technique while digging a stump out of a front lawn. He's wearing a black T-shirt and ragged blue jeans. Another white boy, in black hoodie and shorts and red Vans, squats in the background observing. Both of them need a haircut desperately.

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Dread Pirate Zed @dreadpiratezed.bsky.social · 31m

I was just about to post the same but with "arf"

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Dread Pirate Zed @dreadpiratezed.bsky.social · 12h

No, they didn't "get burned" - they burned themselves with their own fuckery. They also (and I think this is delightful) did themselves a lot of reputational damage with institutional clients; "use our models and we'll claim your IP as our own" is not the selling point they seem to think it is.

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Dread Pirate Zed @dreadpiratezed.bsky.social · 12h

Violator? I hardly... sorry, I'll show myself out

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Dread Pirate Zed @dreadpiratezed.bsky.social · 12h

Stumbled across pictures from a trip to Péru back in 2012; couldn't resist this dog on a Lima sidewalk:

Dog of indeterminate ancestry - beagle mix? - squatting on a sidewalk, wearing a rainbow knitted cap, several scarves, and a pair of wire-rimmed glasses.

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Dread Pirate Zed @dreadpiratezed.bsky.social · 19h

Given the zeitgeist, I'll re-up my perpetual plug for "La Peste/The Plague", my favorite novel by Albert Camus and one of my all-time faves, period. 7/8 of the book is a spiral of horror and unrelenting misery, yet it's beautiful and hopeful and inspiring. In a world full of Meursaults, be a Rieux!

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Dread Pirate Zed @dreadpiratezed.bsky.social · 20h

"Raw Bits. Oat hulls and wheat chaff - they're not for everyone."

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Dread Pirate Zed @dreadpiratezed.bsky.social · 20h

It's even better if you heat the milk before you pour it over - you get a really nice spectrum of textures in each bite.

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Dread Pirate Zed @dreadpiratezed.bsky.social · 22h

Follow me for more totally scientific Life Tips™️!

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Dread Pirate Zed @dreadpiratezed.bsky.social · 22h

I just ate the last serving of pasta straight out of the pot while standing over the sink. According to my calculations, this should not only render it calorie-neutral, but should actually promote weight loss.

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Dread Pirate Zed @dreadpiratezed.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Did Машина Времени's music not travel to the Baltics? They were being denounced as "ideologically unsound" in 1982 for songs like this one, which (according to my sweetie, anyway, who lived in Central Asia at the time) were a pretty early blow to the state's inevitability:

youtube.com

Синяя птица

YouTube video by Машина Времени - Topic

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Dread Pirate Zed @dreadpiratezed.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

I have a chest freezer stuck in a storage unit that's slowly bleeding me dry and I really want it to go to a good home, but it's in L.A.

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Dread Pirate Zed @dreadpiratezed.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Silver lining: today you get to eat ALL the ice cream, guilt-free!

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Dread Pirate Zed @dreadpiratezed.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

I love that book, and I think they'd've adapted the hell out of it.

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Dread Pirate Zed @dreadpiratezed.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

I've been cracking up over it for weeks, so I decided to actually make a sign for it:

Two outline cartoon roosters holding microphones and apparently singing; caption is "Cock-a-doodle Deux: Karaoke @ Los Dos Gallos"

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Dread Pirate Zed @dreadpiratezed.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

My niece (a sped teacher) is beefing with a parent who very clearly helped their kid on the reading assessment and is now outraged that the kid can't hack the classwork, and I'm thinking to myself "what a perfect microcosm of society"

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Dread Pirate Zed @dreadpiratezed.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

"That is a big trunk. It holds a tuba, a suitcase, a dead dog, and a garment bag almost perfectly." "Yeah, that's just what they used to say in the ads." www.youtube.com/watch?v=5N0o...

youtube.com

Wonder Boys Trunk Clip

YouTube video by Jon Busch (JoBu)

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Dread Pirate Zed @dreadpiratezed.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

🎶I keep your picture upon the wall It hides a nasty stain that's lying there So don't you ask me to give it back I know you know it doesn't mean that much to me🎶

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Dread Pirate Zed @dreadpiratezed.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

I've not seen DIGGER yet, but your picture reminded me of a recurring chuckle: the Chinese Theatre started as Grauman's, was Mann's when I was a kid, and - after a few more trades - is finally owned by TCL, an actual Chinese company. Da woim has toined, or something.

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Reposted by Dread Pirate Zed

Aurora, all too Aurora @auroragirl.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

“not all men,” said grendel, setting some aside for a snack later

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Dread Pirate Zed @dreadpiratezed.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

I was always fascinated by the idea of TripTiks, but I loved the possibility and potential of the full-scale map too much to ever want to limit things.

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Dread Pirate Zed @dreadpiratezed.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

AAA folding maps or the Rand McNally atlas for road trips (if I'd never been there before); Thomas Guides for LA and Orange Counties

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Dread Pirate Zed @dreadpiratezed.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Big fan of cream cheese frosting and of most flavored glazes, though

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Dread Pirate Zed @dreadpiratezed.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

I despise both fondant and buttercream. If I'm consuming that much concentrated sugar and fat, it had better carry an equivalent load of flavor - and that flavor best not be ass.

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Dread Pirate Zed @dreadpiratezed.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

just like that Old Tie Moroccan Roll

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Dread Pirate Zed @dreadpiratezed.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Son-in-law worked for Renault straight out of uni (jaysis, it's twenty years ago now!); I'd only really known them as a name before that, but I've generally liked their designs since I've been paying attention.

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Dread Pirate Zed @dreadpiratezed.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Q: What happens when Aaron Sorkin discusses cowbells? A: A Walken talk

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Dread Pirate Zed @dreadpiratezed.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Their hearts are in the right place(s)

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Dread Pirate Zed @dreadpiratezed.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

A bunch of Etsy sellers use them for small items - a necklace between two sheets of thin foam is quite well protected in one of these.

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Dread Pirate Zed @dreadpiratezed.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

I realize it's a slightly unusual size - too small for letter-size paper - but it's far from unique; I've received enough of them that it didn't jump out at me.

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Dread Pirate Zed @dreadpiratezed.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

I dunno - I get and send a decent amount of Priority Mail, and I had no idea my passport was in it until I opened it (it came about a week faster than I expected it.)

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Dread Pirate Zed @dreadpiratezed.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Mine really, really wasn't. Plain white window envelope, mailed from some nondescript address in (I think? Arizona.) Mind you, I am not saying this is a bad thing! I actually thought it was a great idea that it didn't identify itself.

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Dread Pirate Zed @dreadpiratezed.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

I got my renewed passport and passport card last week; they were mailed separately. The passport came in a cardboard Priority Mail envelope; the card came in a nondescript white envelope and had a thick piece of paper folded around it to avoid that "credit card inside!" look.

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Dread Pirate Zed @dreadpiratezed.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

🎶yes, and thanks For the trouble you took From her eyes I thought it was there for good So I never tried...🎶 www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-v2...

youtube.com

Leonard Cohen 'Famous Blue Raincoat' (+lyrics)

YouTube video by HudD Lyric Videos

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Reposted by Dread Pirate Zed

Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Time for this classic again.

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Dread Pirate Zed @dreadpiratezed.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

The answer, of course, is that it could be showing ads and generating revenue for someone else, not me. Tough.

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Dread Pirate Zed @dreadpiratezed.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Side note: what the hell is the point of smart lock screens? My phone unlocks instantly if I actually want it, and when I don't, I don't want it running down the battery showing the news or whatever. And I sure as shit don't want it showing my text messages to anybody who picks up my phone.

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Dread Pirate Zed @dreadpiratezed.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

If the change/update/whatever is actually mandatory - and I do actually accept that some of things are - then tell me so like I'm a grown-up. Don't nag or tease me.

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