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ellestad.bsky.social

@ellestad.bsky.social
583 followers 787 following 1.2K posts

Tea drinker, husband, pet companion, woodwind musician, enthusiast cook. San Francisco, CA. He/Him.

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ellestad.bsky.social @ellestad.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
"A Bay Area nurse tried to relocate her family to Canada. ICE stopped them...'Anyone who thinks that you may live in a sanctuary city or a sanctuary-designated area, that’s actually a false sense of security,'" archive.ph/CCt8A
archive.ph
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ellestad.bsky.social @ellestad.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
White2tea's Bamboo green is more herbal-grass-ey and less toasty/grain-ey than their "emerald green". This light Sichuan pre-qingming bud only green tea is a pleasant way to start the day. #GreenTea #LüCha #White2Tea @white2tea.bsky.social
Dry green tea leaves Tea in a curious cupWhat!? I was sleeping!Spent green tea leaves
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ellestad.bsky.social @ellestad.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Found an unmarked bundle of tea in another black tea bag. I had hidden away the last of my Astro Red stash. @white2tea.bsky.social
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Leah McElrath @leahmcelrath.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
AP Stylebook warns against anthropomorphizing AI systems: “Avoid language that gives them human characteristics… Instead, explain what a system does, how well it performs, who built it and who could be affected by it.”
APStylebook @APStylebook
X.com
Artificial intelligence systems do not think, feel, want or understand. Avoid language that gives them human characteristics. This is called anthropomorphizing, when we ascribe human traits, emotions or behaviors to non-human things, such as animals or inanimate objects.
Instead, explain what a system does, how well it performs, who built it and who could be affected by it.
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ellestad.bsky.social @ellestad.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
2026 Flu and COVID Vaccine Accomplishment Bonus Unlocked!
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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Your regular reminder that this is a public website and things that you say can and will be used against you.
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It's ME(Jaime) @exceedhergrasp1.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
And that, as they say, is the ball game. 🧪 arstechnica.com/science/2026...
arstechnica.com
Russel Vought will reportedly be given veto power over all NIH grants
Pending move comes over the objections of the NIH director.
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ellestad.bsky.social @ellestad.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Still a bit of warm weather this year, attempting to put a bit more of a dent in the older green tea stock. Emerald Buds (White2Tea, 2024) is a bud only pre-qingming green tea from Guizhou. Similar in character to Longjing/Dragonwell. #GreenTea #White2Tea #LüCha @white2tea.bsky.social
Dry tea leavesTea in a crackleware bowl A sleepy dogSpent tea leaves
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ellestad.bsky.social @ellestad.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
A friend has been re-watching Homicide: Life on the Street via streaming. They replaced all original music and songs with generic music. In addition they have switched it to wide screen instead of original tv aspect ratio. Now he is searching eBay for DVDs so he can watch as the creators intended.
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ellestad.bsky.social @ellestad.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Wild Huang, an all bud pre-qingming Sichuan yellow tea, was added to White2Tea's early spring lineup in 2024. While I'm not exactly sure what the "Wild" in the name connotes... @white2tea.bsky.social
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ellestad.bsky.social @ellestad.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Hot weather in Chicago is weird, humid and over 90 outdoors, but they keep the indoors so cold you have to bring a jacket. #Chicago #Illinois #HeatWave
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Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
This is pretty fucking wild. I had assumed in a worst case scenario he would target blue zip codes and toss ballots based on technicalities but this is even worse than I imagined.
Not only is this system astonishingly untested, USPS has simultaneously implemented an
impracticable zero percent failure rate.
13 When ballots are submitted to USPS in large-volume
batches, if any one ballot in the batch cannot be verified against the Portal, all ballots in that
batch will be rejected. For example, if a state election official brings a batch of 10,000 ballots to
USPS and USPS is unable to match just one of those ballots against the Portal – because, for
example, someone has recently changed their name after marriage or they’ve moved – then
USPS would refuse to mail the remaining 9,999 ballots as well. As the whistleblower notes,
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Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
We have had this conversation so many times. You do not have to platform/debate obscene views that are also false. I wrote during a wave of pressure on progressives to compromise with far-right haters:
I can comprehend, and do, that lots of people don’t believe climate change is real, but is there some great benefit in me listening, again, to those who refuse to listen to the global community of scientists and see the evidence before our eyes? A lot of why the right doesn’t “understand” climate change is that climate change tells us everything is connected, everything we do has far-reaching repercussions, and we’re responsible for the whole, a message at odds with their idealization of a version of freedom that smells a lot like disconnection and irresponsibility. But also climate denial is the result of fossil fuel companies and the politicians they bought spreading propaganda and lies for profit, and I understand that better than the people who believe it. If half of us believe the earth is flat, we do not make peace by settling on it being halfway between round and flat.
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Michael Clemens @mclem.org · 24/08/2026
The new H-1B tax will be announced tomorrow. The original $100K tax was ruled illegal in court. The White House has cooked up its successor: a $103K tax on *all* private sector H-1Bs. Much more drastic than the original: NO EXCEPTION for people already in the US (like grads of US universities)—>
public-inspection.federalregister.gov
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@iamashleystearns @iamashleystearns.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
🧵 What's going on? Sarah Kendzior will tell you, just as she always has. [Only] Trump is not a true fascist. Fascism requires allegiance to the state, which Trump lacks. The biggest threat to the US is not fascism but mafia state autocracy. sarahkendzior.substack.com/p/the-end-of...
sarahkendzior.substack.com
The End of Days Inn
What Trump’s team wants to do to America, and how to fight it.
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ellestad.bsky.social @ellestad.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Sneaking out of a country in a catering container because you're afraid for your life is a little different than sneaking into a country to visit the troops...
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Jack Mirkinson @jackmirkinson.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Today in @thenation.com: a harrowing piece written from inside the Dilley ICE detention center by Maryam Tahmasebi, a green card holder who's been locked up along with her husband and son for months despite none of them committing any crime. www.thenation.com/article/soci...
thenation.com
One Woman’s Message From the Hell of ICE Detention
My husband, son, and I have been locked up for months—despite being permanent residents with no criminal record. It is an unendurable, unending nightmare.
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Jeff VanderMeer @jeffvandermeer.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Pleased to finally announce... Abdication, the last Southern Reach novel! "There will come the days of the watcher, the drowned woman and the shadow of a man who keeps falling apart with each step, but first comes the moment the birds appear at night from the gaps between the stars, far from home."
Publishers Marketplace Deal Report, August 6, 2026:

Jeff Vandermeer's ABDICATION, the last novel in the Southern Reach series, in which an ornithologist exiled to a remote coast stumbles on a terrifying secret,  a self-proclaimed king pursues a mystery hidden in a strange weather station, and a man who can become a cormorant is tasked with a deadly mission through a future landscape transformed by Area X, for publication in October 2027, in a significant deal, to Jenna Johnson at Farrar, Straus, by Joseph Veltre at the Gersh Agency and Alex Kohner at Yorn Levine (world).
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ellestad.bsky.social @ellestad.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Of course, a pitcher and strainer is a fine way to make a larger batch of Longjing/Dragonwell green tea. I sometimes use a press pot (just don't use one you've used for coffee). Longjing/Dragonwell green tea from Bitterleaf teas. #GreenTea #LüCha #BitterleafTeas
Green tea in a press pot
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ellestad.bsky.social @ellestad.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
One common way to drink Chinese green tea, especially Dragonwell/Longjing, is to simply put the dry tea leaves in a tall glass, add water, (typically 185F/85C), then wait for the buds to drop to the bottom of the glass. #GreenTea #LüCha #BitterleafTeas
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ellestad.bsky.social @ellestad.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
42 US states still allow "Involuntary Servitude" for incarcerated individuals, seemingly also including non-citizens in DHS custody. Hypocritical for the US to punish other countries for "forced labor". On the other hand, as US citizens mostly pay the price of tariffs, it is a bit of a self-own.
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ellestad.bsky.social @ellestad.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
"The US Department of Justice is attempting to prosecute an Atlanta resident in connection with the movement against the police training center known as Cop City because he had GrapheneOS on his phone..." www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
theguardian.com
US government targets Cop City protester over phone operating system
Concern over US effort to prosecute Sam Tunick, accused by authorities of wiping his phone using GrapheneOS
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ellestad.bsky.social @ellestad.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
We're going to share technology with Saudi Arabia that could allow them to enrich nuclear fuel to weapons grade. What could possibly go wrong with giving this tech to MBS? www.nytimes.com/2026/07/21/u...
Saudis reach deal with us that could let them enrich nuclear fuel
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ellestad.bsky.social @ellestad.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
@kqedforum.bsky.social Seeing reports of police misuse of flock camera databases, any evidence of similar use of police drones. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
motherjones.com
Police keep losing their jobs for using Flock cameras to stalk people
Advocates say it's too easy to abuse automated license plate reader technology.
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Baldur Bjarnason @baldurbjarnason.com · 13/07/2026
“LLMs can't program  ❤︎  samir : coffee → nonsense” functional.computer/blog/llms-cant-… > And the code? The code is trash. Not even slightly trash; it’s beyond repair.
functional.computer
LLMs can't program
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ellestad.bsky.social @ellestad.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Woo! Last of the 2023 White2Tea greens! Mao Jian King, (despite Google autocorrect's insistence on calling it Mao "Joan" King,) is always a treat, even if it is a bit "vintage". #White2Tea #GreenTea #LüCha @white2tea.bsky.social
Dry green tea leavesGreen tea in a crackleware bowl A sleepy catSpent green tea leaves
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Matthew Gault @mjgault.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
Hegseth announced they're gonna start screening for T and administering testosterone treatment for warriors found wanting
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ellestad.bsky.social @ellestad.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
US seeks extradition of US citizen who financially supports humanitarian aid in Gaza, accused of aiding Hamas. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...
theguardian.com
Arrest of American who has given $1m in aid to Palestine prompts fears of ‘growing repression from Trump’
Extradition request for James ‘Fergie’ Chambers sparks concerns that US government is conflating humanitarian aid with terrorism
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Reuters @reuters.com · 10/07/2026
Trump administration rule weakens protections for threatened species reut.rs/4bhI6TQ
reut.rs
Trump administration rule weakens protections for threatened species
The Trump administration finalized a major change on Friday to how threatened species are considered in ​agency actions, removing regulatory language aimed at preventing ‌damage to wildlife habitats.
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ellestad.bsky.social @ellestad.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
Thought I should try some actual "Silver Needle", as a comparison to "Purple Silver". There are some similarities, but the actual Silver Needle is a bit more full bodied texturally. #TeaSky
Dry white tea leavesWhite tea in a crackleware bowl A small dogSpent white tea leaves
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ellestad.bsky.social @ellestad.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Gaiwan brewing w2t's purple silver bud only green tea just for variety. (I don't usually brew green tea in a gaiwan.) But I figure, since it is almost more like a baihao yinzhen, why not? #TeaSky @white2tea.bsky.social
Green tea in a gaiwan
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ellestad.bsky.social @ellestad.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
White2Tea's "Purple Silver" is technically a green tea, but it drinks a lot more like a bud only white tea from Fujian. Grain sweetness, low astringency, and no bitterness to speak of. #White2Tea #GreenTea #LüCha @white2tea.bsky.social
Dry green teaGreen tea in a crackleware bowl A small dogSpent green tea leaves
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ellestad.bsky.social @ellestad.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
Hojicha with matcha chaser is kinda the tea equivalent of beer and a shot.
Matcha tea in a crackleware bowl
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Jay Willis @jaywillis.net · 28/06/2026
The basic premise of the Supreme Court’s “colorblind Constitution” is that racism is bad, sure, but that it is ALSO racist for the law to try and protect people from racism
ballsandstrikes.substack.com
Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas Think Police Abuse of Black People Is Kind of Overblown
The conservative justices’ vision of a “color-blind Constitution” is an effort to declare the law powerless to address real-world consequences of illegal discrimination.
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Marc Elias @marcelias.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
🚨BREAKING: Postmaster General David Steiner told senators that, under a new proposed rule, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) will not deliver mail ballots unless states hand over their voter lists to the Trump administration www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...
democracydocket.com
Postmaster general says USPS won't deliver mail ballots if states don’t give Trump admin voter rolls
“You are going to make a decision that people cannot vote by mail. That’s unacceptable," one senator told the postmaster general.
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ellestad.bsky.social @ellestad.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
Did they fill the reflecting pool with matcha for America 250?
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ellestad.bsky.social @ellestad.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
I don't notice a huge difference between "light roast" and "classic" Hojicha from Hojicha.co, in either the color of the dry leaves or the flavor of the tea. Both are fine and delightful Hojicha. Tho, it could be that the slightly vintage nature of the tea (2023) has smoothed some edges. #TeaSky
Dry hojichaHojicha in a crackleware bowl A small sleepy dogSpent Hojicha leaves
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ellestad.bsky.social @ellestad.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
Another bud only early spring green tea from White2Tea, 2023 Bamboo Green. Light in flavor, this is a refined Sichuan green tea, with sweet grain-like flavors. #GreenTea #LüCha #White2Tea @white2tea.bsky.social
Dry green tea leaves Green tea in a crackleware bowl Summer in San Francisco Spent green tea leaves
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ellestad.bsky.social @ellestad.bsky.social · 14/06/2026
Huh, saw my first driverless cybertaxi this AM in Daly City. Gold coupe, gold hubcaps, mfgr plates, no rear window. Weird.
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ellestad.bsky.social @ellestad.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
A stray 25g bag of 2023 Ganlu green tea from White2Tea. Bud only early spring green tea. Fancy! #White2Tea #GreenTea #LüCha @white2tea.bsky.social
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ellestad.bsky.social @ellestad.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
They finally got rid of Perlmutter at Marvel, but now DC will be owned by the Ellisons. Here's hoping they know enough to keep their hands off.
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ellestad.bsky.social @ellestad.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
Frankly, pushing Hojicha to 4 steeps is a bit dubious. People always say ripe puerh tastes like fish, but Hojicha pushed to 4 steeps really tastes like seaweed in the later long steeps! (This is light roast Hojicha from hojicha.co). #HojiCha #HojichaDOTCo #TeaSky
A Japanese Kyusu style teapot
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ellestad.bsky.social @ellestad.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
Despite being a bit "vintage" for a green tea, White2Tea's 2023 cloud mist green is a very enjoyable. Don't immediately disregard well stored slightly old green teas! #GreenTea #LüCha #White2Tea @white2tea.bsky.social
Dry green tea leavesGreen tea in a crackleware bowl Sly lookSpent green tea leaves
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ellestad.bsky.social @ellestad.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
Yeah, and my 93 year old father-in-law says he still water skis too...
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ellestad.bsky.social @ellestad.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
Charging foreign leaders with murder seems a little ironic while our president has engaged and continues to engage in extra judicial unilateral actions against foreign nationals, often resulting in their death, aka murder. How many Venezuelans or Iranians has Trump murdered?
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ellestad.bsky.social @ellestad.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
So these are the things Bondi wouldn't do? Indict 94 year old Raul Castro, grant the Trump family complete immunity from IRS investigation in perpetuity, and create a 1.776 billion dollar tax payer funded slush fund?
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ellestad.bsky.social @ellestad.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
Why Crunchyroll Manga, why does your run of Jujutsu Kaisen end abruptly at Chapter 133? @crunchyroll.com
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ellestad.bsky.social @ellestad.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
After drinking green teas for a while, I get to craving raw puerh. Most years Bitterleaf sells 50g samples of "Fresh" raw puerh while they are waiting for their teas to be processed. In 2024, "Fresh" came from Bada. No longer quite so fresh. 😏 #PuerhTea #RawPuerh #ShengCha #TeaSky
Raw puerh leavesRaw puerh tea in a pyrex beakerDeelicious
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ellestad.bsky.social @ellestad.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
I think the "Marine Layer" is finally breaking through the hot weather of the last few days. I, for one, will be happy if it isn't 85F in the house this afternoon. #SanFrancisco #California #SFBA #BernalHeights #BernalHill
SF Bay from Bernal Hill
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ellestad.bsky.social @ellestad.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
Thank you Mister Trump, may I have another?
Gas prices in San Francisco
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