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Kevin Lossner

@kslossner.bsky.social
315 followers 183 following 1K posts

Writer, technology teacher, translator, scientist, farmer, and martial artist. Retired to the Portuguese countryside in the borderlands with Spain.

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Kevin Lossner @kslossner.bsky.social · 10m
Got the audiobook. The narration is good, though the choice of the present tense is irritating. I would have written past. Good story though, relatable for many people I know from a similar background, such as a school chum locked in the basement at night because his parents thought him possessed.
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Kevin Lossner @kslossner.bsky.social · 5h
It's from Pepperdine, an institution so ridiculous that my college professors often referred to it as "Pepperidge Farm".
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Kevin Lossner @kslossner.bsky.social · 5h
Hm. I have some similar concerns with a couple of very good colleagues. On one hand, I can trust them more than most to evaluate a new technology well and honestly, but the research out of the MIT media lab makes me wonder how long their brains will be capable of that before AI rots them. 
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Kevin Lossner @kslossner.bsky.social · 10h
How long will lawyers be needed for legal cases? How long will we really need medical doctors? What is the point of having human teachers when you have genAI? What a stupid a lot of wanking questions. Those who believe we can/should eliminate humans in these processes deserve nothing but contempt. 
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Kevin Lossner @kslossner.bsky.social · 10h
Name names! I haven't said a lot publicly myself about genAI and the work of translation, in part because I chose early retirement in disgust after being expected to say positive things in a uni lecture about AI and all the "good" things to be done with it. Not into virtual lobotomy myself.
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Kevin Lossner @kslossner.bsky.social · 12h
Drown? In our dreams.
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Kevin Lossner @kslossner.bsky.social · 13h
Thanks for the tip. Several months wait in the LA County Library. Fifteen ahead in the queue.
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The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 19h
ADAM JOHNSON: “The raid on @repilhan’s home has thus far received zero of the above media interventions. No editorials, no opinion columns in the Times, Post, or Journal…” theintercept.com/2026/10/15/i...
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Kevin Lossner @kslossner.bsky.social · 13h
I missed that, but I support negotiation and exchange with corvids. We used to have a good relationship with a local raven obsessed with my dog, and the magpie tribe that moved onto the farm recently has shown a lot of good will by driving off the nuisance sparrows.
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Erin Biba @erinbiba.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
Holy shit ASOS released an adaptive clothing line specifically for people with disabilities?!?!!! Magnets instead of buttons, special pockets and holes to hold wearable medical devices that have tubes, and zippers to make them more comfortable for wheelchair users. www.asos.com/women/fashio...
A woman in a wheelchair with a brown suit that has zippers on the leg openings A woman in a wheelchair with a grey marbled dress
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LindaFly @lindafly.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
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Kevin Lossner @kslossner.bsky.social · 15/10/2026
Cooking up a batch of jelly from the fruits of Opuntia robusta. The result is absolutely delicious, tastier than the excellent preserves I have made so far from varieties of Opuntia ficus-indica!
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Kevin Lossner @kslossner.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
Completely on point. My crazy stepson gets most of his dumbest ideas from X.
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Kevin Lossner @kslossner.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
What do they teach in theater school?
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Kevin Lossner @kslossner.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
A worthwhile read, with interesting points about the rich and powerful being surprised by some elections and responses.
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Kevin Lossner @kslossner.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
I also got my first taste of Opuntia robusta, with a deep red, almost purple fruit and spines from Hell. The water tub cleaned the fruits adequately, but my picking tongs got really messed up with embedded needles very difficult to remove from the hard rubber surfaces. Use all metal implements.
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Kevin Lossner @kslossner.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
Processed quite a few prickly pear cactus fruits ( orange and green) tonight for making jam and fermentation. Washing in a rectangular tub with a strong water jet from a hose for several minutes gets rid of all the little needles pretty effectively. The chickens love the cut ends and skins.
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Ambassador Ken Fairfax (ret) @portlandken.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
Immediately after Ukraine took out two of the five data centers run by the Russian tech giant Yandex, pro-Trump and pro-MAGA posts on American social media sites plummeted. The same happened to posts boosting Germany's far-right AfD. Russia is engaged in MASSIVE election interference.
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Kevin Lossner @kslossner.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
I throw the whole lemon in. And my companion of choice for the nopal is cucumber.
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Kevin Lossner @kslossner.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
This may not look like much, but I'm thrilled. Sprouting pitaya cactus from seeds of a store-bought fruit. I put some other seeds on wet paper towels, and they're sprouting too.
Pitaya seeds sprouting in a 50:50 mix of river sand and potting soil put in the fruit husk.
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Angry @angrystaffer.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
We’ve been talking about this for years. None of these far-right movements are organic.
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Alt National Park Service @altnps.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
Good news and a thank you to Ukraine! Bot traffic from Russian tech company Yandex’s network has plunged following Ukrainian strikes on its data centers.
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Jeff Tiedrich @jefftiedrich.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
here's your periodic random reminder that I have an instagram for my black and white photography —
instagram.com
Jeff Tiedrich on Instagram: "meanwhile, somewhere near the Chrysler Building ..."
2 likes, 1 comments - jefftiedrich on October 11, 2026: "meanwhile, somewhere near the Chrysler Building ...".
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Kevin Lossner @kslossner.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
The juice of tunas (prickly pear cactus fruits) also makes a killer margarita, a favorite in our house. I substitute our own orange liqueur for the triple sec.
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Bijan Moini @bijanmoini.de · 10/10/2026
So viel zu dem Mythos, Reiche würden wegziehen, wenn sie Vermögensteuer zahlen müssten. Es war auch nie logisch, dass das passieren würde. Wer würde schon für ein paar Euro Freund*innen und Familie verlassen? Und den Status, den gerade Reiche genießen?
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Kevin Lossner @kslossner.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
This afternoon I had the pleasure to meet the owner of a local sustainable agriculture firm, Opuntialusa, and tour their bountiful plantation with several kinds (four, I think) of premium prickly pear cactus. They have kindly granted me access to their crop as needed for my culinary studies!
Opuntialusa company logo Opuntia robusta with deep red fruits and especially evil spikes!Opuntia, figo da India. What a bounty!
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Kevin Lossner @kslossner.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Today's experiment with nopales (prickly pear cactus pads): a variation on pan-baked corn bread. Three pads and two cups of flours went into this.
Batter in the buttered pan: equal parts of oat, spelt, barley and white corn flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda, and an egg. And pureed prickly pear cactus until the right consistency is achieved.The finished bread after 30 minutes baking at 180 Celsius.A cut slice of the pan quick bread
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Kevin Lossner @kslossner.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
The geese demand their morning cuddles. They rule the duck garden these days.
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Emily M. Bender @emilymbender.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Source: news.mit.edu/2026/margare...
news.mit.edu
Margaret Hamilton, computing pioneer who led software development for the Apollo program, dies at 90
Margaret H. Hamilton, a profoundly influential computer scientist best known for leading the software engineering team at MIT’s Instrumentation Lab during NASA’s Apollo program, died at age 90.
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Kevin Lossner @kslossner.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
That corrupt sleazy MAGAt named Lutnick Is richly deserving a butt kick. He can't take a pass On kissing Trump's ass Or servicing him with a nut lick. Limerick countdown to the US midterms 2026: 28 days. www.tickcounter.com/countdown/65...
tickcounter.com
Countdown to U.S. Midterm Elections
Countdown timer showing how much time left until Tuesday, November 3, 2026 12:00:00 AM in timezone Phoenix, America (UTC-07:00)
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Hoodlum 🇺🇸 @nothoodlum.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Jack Smith at last night’s Power to the People concert, wearing a Springsteen/No Kings shirt.
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Johann van de Bron @johann-v-d-bron.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
27% der Deutschen haben Bock ein russischer Vasallenstaat zu werden, wenn der es ihnen ermöglicht, ihre rassistische Besessenheit abzuarbeiten. 20% der Deutschen können damit eher Leben, als mit Windrädern und der Enteignung von Vonovia & Co. Weitere 8% haben komplett den Arsch offen.
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Ambassador Ken Fairfax (ret) @portlandken.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
For 30 years under five different Presidents, I served my country 11 overseas postings plus the USA in a completely non-partisan fashion. I served R and D Presidents alike and always did my best to promote US interests and the Administration's policies. Under Trump, I cannot remain nonpartisan. 1/2
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Heba Gowayed هبة جويد @hebagowayed.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
When my father was faculty at Cornell he was stopped by the police chief in the street & asked who he was & where he was going. When he balked at the fact that no one but him, an Arab man, was being asked, the chief said “I’m just protecting students” Same guy failed to investigate 7 rapists.
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Kevin Lossner @kslossner.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Una novedad deliciosa: pedazos de membrillo cocidos en jugo de tuna.
Quince preserves made by cooking pieces of quince (with skin) in prickly pear cactus juice until thickened. With a bit of cinnamon and a shot of aguardiente de medronho.
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Kevin Lossner @kslossner.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
This morning's breakfast, in remembrance of Dr. Seuss, used nopales to do the green eggs to accompany ham. Super simple and tasty, just puree a cleaned cactus pad with little water, add to beaten eggs, and cook the mix like regular scrambled eggs.
Green eggs and ham (huevos verdes y jamón) made with prickly pear cactus pads (nopales).
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Words Without Borders & WWB Campus @wwborders.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Demons, primates, and quirky villagers: Find all this and more in the six new books Tobias Carroll recommends this month. Check out titles translated from Spanish, Dutch, Korean and beyond in the September Watchlist: wordswithoutborders.org/read/article...
wordswithoutborders.org
The Watchlist: September 2026 - Words Without Borders
Demons, primates, and quirky villagers: Find all this and more in the six new books Tobias Carroll recommends this month.
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Kevin Lossner @kslossner.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
The juice of the prickly pear cactus fruit has many delicious possibilities; fermention by itself in a clay pot (traditionally) yields *colonche*, a tasty, effervescent alcoholic drink used in ceremonies in some parts of Mexico. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonch...
A glass of colonche at breakfast
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Kevin Lossner @kslossner.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
I've done many variations of fried nopales (pads of the prickly pear cactus), vegetarian and otherwise. Here are some nopales fritos con huevos y queso.
Fried prickly pear cactus pads with eggs, cheese, onions and other stuff.
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Kevin Lossner @kslossner.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
The young prickly pear cactus pads (nopales) are also a good vegetable which can be used in many ways. Here, I'm frying it up with onions for breakfast.
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Kevin Lossner @kslossner.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
The pads (nopales) of the prickly pear cactus are rich in calcium, magnesium, and potassium, and with a bit of lemon and cucumber make a refreshing juice for athletic recovery. Pureed nopal with various flours and salt makes rather nice tortilla flatbreads too.
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Rex Huppke @rexhuppke.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
I’ve been a media witness to two federal executions. One was Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh. The other, a week later, was a drug kingpin named Juan Raul Garza. My conclusion after watching both men die: The death penalty should not exist. Period. It fixes nothing, and it erodes our souls.
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This American Life @thisamericanlife.org · 23/09/2026
Some NPR podcasts started getting mysterious comments on Spotify. They made no sense to the staff reading them – until someone from a younger generation cracked the code. Hear the story: link.podtrac.com/78g1b584
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Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
The Chinese First Lady is more fluent in English than the American First Lady.
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Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Russia strikes apartment buildings. Ukraine strikes refineries. Trump is angry at Ukraine and calls for them publicly and privately to stop bombing refineries while saying nothing about Russia killing children.
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Kevin Lossner @kslossner.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Oh God. LinkedIn is toxic trash. I can't stomach it much better than X.
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Kevin Lossner @kslossner.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
What social media does ITI use?
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Kevin Lossner @kslossner.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Un nuevo torneo de esgrima deportiva en Badajoz, el día 31 de octubre 2026. Esgrimistas pueden registrarse aqui: *FORMULARIO DE INSCRIPCIÓN I TORNEO TAIFA DE BATALYŪS* docs.google.com/forms/d/1mif...
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Kevin Lossner @kslossner.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Equipment check completed for tomorrow's humility harvest in Salamanca. Found a few loose screws that could have led to losing a spring-loaded tip. I've seen that and worse at nearly every épée tournament because people are lazy and don't maintain their stuff.
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Susan Pickford @libripotens.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Established translators to newbies everywhere, for years: never👏translate 👏 a 👏 full 👏 manuscript 👏 without 👏 a 👏 contract Publisher, this morning: guess what guys! We've established a new prize! for full-length unpublished translation manuscripts! 😑
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