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Nina Thorsen

@nlthorsen.bsky.social
904 followers 3.1K following 287 posts

Former Oakland A's fan and bleacher drummer now part-owner of the Oakland Ballers and Oakland Roots, cold brew devotee, book hoarder, public radio lifer, (Sinister) Minnesotan in exile.

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Nina Thorsen @nlthorsen.bsky.social · 15m
It was a master class in public communication, and particularly in the way he conveyed "grown-ass man" to the minds of everyone who heard it without actually using a borderline naughty word.
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Nina Thorsen @nlthorsen.bsky.social · 17m
Seven years ago today I was waiting at Rockridge BART and the train operator came on the speaker to address "ONE INDIVIDUAL, the GROWN MAN* riding the skateboard on the platform as we pulled in. We have KIDS on this train and I would not want any of them to follow YOUR BAD EXAMPLE, thank YOU."
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Nina Thorsen @nlthorsen.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
We still believe in Stephen Vogt!
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Nina Thorsen @nlthorsen.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
www.kqed.org/news/12103608
kqed.org
The Oakland Coliseum, Now 60, Did More Than House Great Teams | KQED
The stadium, which opened in 1966, faces a turning point — its historical significance goes beyond sports.
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Nina Thorsen @nlthorsen.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Terrazzo enthusiasts of the world, unite!
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Reposted by Nina Thorsen
Angry People in Local Newspapers @apiln.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
We don’t do the Daily Mail, but as a public service, here is someone with far too much money being attacked by an owl.
Princess Beatrice's friend Alice Naylor-Leyland is attacked by rogue owl during chaotic photoshoot.
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Nina Thorsen @nlthorsen.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I had the slightly earlier pre-LED model with numbers on cards that flipped over to show the current time. I got used to the soft "thwap" sound they made, once every 60 seconds, all night long.
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Nina Thorsen @nlthorsen.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Same here! My mom got me the clock radio in hopes of getting me out of bed and on the school bus on time, but instead I often made her drive me to school with an excuse for missing first period, so I could listen to the morning show until 9 AM.
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Nina Thorsen @nlthorsen.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Are you in the Public Transit section?
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Nina Thorsen @nlthorsen.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Speaking as someone who has interviewed @kairyssdal.bsky.social for a job....it signifies you're ready to start work now, don't you think? Newsrooms run on coffee, and cold coffee is better on deadline since you can drink it faster. I would not personally bring iced coffee, though - only cold brew.
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Nina Thorsen @nlthorsen.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
I almost went to the game yesterday! I had a free ticket from work - it would have been my first MLB game since the last one in Oakland, 9/26/24. I thought I could do it since it was the Twins - got as far as reinstalling the Ballpark app on my phone, and felt queasy about it and stayed home.
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Nina Thorsen @nlthorsen.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
The Bay Area experience so far has been that when autonomous vehicles are "confused", by, for example, traffic lights not working after a power outage, they don't run people over, they just stop - wherever they are - which creates hazards of its own of course.
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Nina Thorsen @nlthorsen.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
I wonder if they'll be confused by snow?
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Nina Thorsen @nlthorsen.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Looking through my State Fair crop art photos from 15 years ago today and wow, it's @ziibiing.com
A Minnesota State Fair crop art depiction of Glinda the Good Witch inquiring "are you a good seed or a bad seed?" has won a violet ribbon for its creator Ashley Fairbanks of Minneapolis
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Nina Thorsen @nlthorsen.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
This is great, thanks for posting, I only know the version from Bonnie's first album with "your best girl friend might be a highbrow, changes clothes three times a day"
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Nina Thorsen @nlthorsen.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Flivver
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Nina Thorsen @nlthorsen.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
There's a shaggy dog joke where the punchline is "I thought I told you to take those penguins to the zoo -- yeah, I did, we had a great time, now we're going to Dairy Queen". Maybe this is the "take that turkey to the State Fair" version?
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Nina Thorsen @nlthorsen.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
I always laugh when I see photos of a rack of carts. How did we manage so long with that terrible technology that misfired about one out of every 10 times?
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Nina Thorsen @nlthorsen.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
I used to get invited to cover an annual industry conference at the CIA (the tasty one, not the spy one) and it was amazing to watch the organizers set out several varieties of pop, fizzy water, and coffee, only to have the culinary professionals clean out the Diet Coke end of the table like locusts
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Nina Thorsen @nlthorsen.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
This is a great video - I particularly liked how you incorporated the birds. And especially delightful to me as a (greater) Oaklander who's originally from Minneapolis-St Paul, which has a history of spectacular puppet/parade community celebrations dating back to 1975.
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Nina Thorsen @nlthorsen.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
Same. It was one thing to do that at the Coliseum, where I could alternate two innings in the sun and one inning sitting on the cool concrete floor of the deeply shaded concourse behind the bleachers, and where I could buy lemonade at my seat. Raimondi heat is relentless.
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Nina Thorsen @nlthorsen.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
Happy Bombo Rivera's birthday to all who celebrate.
Baseball player Bombo Rivera at bat in Metropolitan Stadium, home of the Minnesota Twins, Bloomington, MN, in 1980.  He has already been up at least once in this game, because one leg of his powder blue uniform pants has a large smear of dirt below the knee, as if he slid into a base.
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Nina Thorsen @nlthorsen.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
If I lived there I would commission someone to make a Spy vs Spy decoration for my balcony
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Nina Thorsen @nlthorsen.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
I hope it's in good shape? The one time this happened to me, the car came back with a small dent and a a sticky mass of strawberry pop and sunflower seeds in the rear seats
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Nina Thorsen @nlthorsen.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
I remember a catalog of these - maybe in the mid-1970s? Some were more in the "Groovy Graphics" category, others were photos or photo-like illustrations of nature. My mom was contemplating putting one up in our lower level walkout family room, but we never got around to it.
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Nina Thorsen @nlthorsen.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
To be fair, the A's used Blow the Whistle quite a lot too before they left - I was always amused at how they never managed to fade it out before the verse that they had had to bleep about half of the words from
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Nina Thorsen @nlthorsen.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
Has anyone considered that Jimothy may be the Psammead (lightly disguised to avoid giving away too many wishes?)
The frontispiece from E. Nesbit's Five Children and It, showing Anthea, Jane, Cyril, and Bobs discovering the Psammead, a sand-fairy, in a gravel pit.
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Nina Thorsen @nlthorsen.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
"Two words: pony cart. Think about it."
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Nina Thorsen @nlthorsen.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
It's also a reminder of how little traffic there was when so many people were still working from home....it added to the eerieness.
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Nina Thorsen @nlthorsen.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
I thought the text for the audio link would show up, but no! Major League Cricket Keeps Playing as Oakland Coliseum Faces Possible Demolition
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Nina Thorsen @nlthorsen.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
omny.fm/shows/kqed-s...
A group of people stand outside D Gate of the Oakland Coliseum, where a large banner proclaims "Major League Cricket"
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Nina Thorsen @nlthorsen.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
I wish Candyland had a space at the airport, although it would probably result in a lot of departing passengers having to check luggage at the gate because the overhead bins were entirely filled with 5 lb bags of caramel corn
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Nina Thorsen @nlthorsen.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
Hot pants?
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Nina Thorsen @nlthorsen.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
I have managed to erase most of the 2024 A's drumbeats from my memory, but Toro's comes right back to me as soon as I see his picture!
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Nina Thorsen @nlthorsen.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
www.kqed.org/forum/201010...
kqed.org
SF Giants Pride Night Fallout Amplifies | KQED
We talk about the San Francisco Giants players' protest of their rainbow-themed LGBTQ+ jersey, its fallout and how you’re responding.
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Nina Thorsen @nlthorsen.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
The last Roots home game of the season is October 10
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Nina Thorsen @nlthorsen.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
It's a great song on a great album. I wonder if it's not the content but a skip or scratch on this particular piece of vinyl that prompted the warning?
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Nina Thorsen @nlthorsen.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
And if so, were the parents thinking of the rock band or the Dickens character? (I wouldn't name a kid after either)
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Nina Thorsen @nlthorsen.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
I haven't read this book by Nick Greene yet but I plan to get it, this was a great interview - omny.fm/shows/kqed-s...
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Nina Thorsen @nlthorsen.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
And he hails from the Garden Island of Alameda!
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Nina Thorsen @nlthorsen.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
Well, the Saints slogan - from back when they were in the Northern League - is "Fun is Good" so that fits. If you haven't read it, you'd enjoy "Slouching Towards Fargo", a book about their old indie days
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Nina Thorsen @nlthorsen.bsky.social · 14/06/2026
Very glad to read this - I'm going tonight!
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Nina Thorsen @nlthorsen.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
It's full of Giants fans....but also cold, and I don't think the less expensive seats are very good.
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Nina Thorsen @nlthorsen.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
I loathe the Giants and their ballpark, but the crab sandwich is good
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Nina Thorsen @nlthorsen.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
Holtzermann's was a favorite shop of my grandparents, and my dad in a fit of preteen mischief took an antique Norwegian mead bowl they were very proud of having inherited, and wrote "HOLTZERMANN'S 10 CENTS (crossed out) SALE 5 CENTS" on the bottom in what turned out to be indelible pencil.
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Nina Thorsen @nlthorsen.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
Nixing the Uptown Ballpark
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Nina Thorsen @nlthorsen.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
Teddy Jones and Booker T. Jones joined in celebrating #princeday in Berkeley with a superlative cover of Purple Rain. (Apologies to the lighting crew at the Freight - the lights looked much more purple than this in real life)
A younger Black man and an older Black man wearing a hat play guitars on stage with the venue's name, The Freight, behind them. The stage lights are bluish-purple.
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Nina Thorsen @nlthorsen.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
I saw postings on Alameda Peeps indicating that happened once in midafternoon and at least once in the early evening
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Nina Thorsen @nlthorsen.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
Alameda City Hall?
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Reposted by Nina Thorsen
Rachael Myrow @rachaelmyrow.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
RIP Jerry Neuman, an iconic voice on KQED-FM for 37 years until he retired in 2013. For those of us who remember those pipes, a sad day indeed. 😕https://www.kqed.org/news/106157/kqeds-jerry-neuman-retires-after-37-years
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