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Philip Sewell

@othershoe.bsky.social
1.6K followers 1.2K following 2K posts

Media (broadly construed) scholar and historian with far too many open projects. Wrote Television in The Age of Radio. Working on a cultural history of the monopoly that long controlled Texas film exhibition. Don't ever take your car all the way apart

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Philip Sewell
Steve Okino @steveokino.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
If this doesn’t break Texas, exactly what will? 😹
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Coach Finstock @coachfinstock.bsky.social · 6h
The only difference between the entertainment press and the tech press is the entertainment press understands the industry it covers
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Coach Finstock @coachfinstock.bsky.social · 6h
Exactly. This is such a lie. Email had a purpose. The internet had a purpose. Search had a purpose. Everybody loved Silicon Valley in the 90s because they made shit that did what it promised. Now 3 guys who never made SHIT have ALL the money in SV. They're scam artists. Not engineers.
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Coach Finstock @coachfinstock.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
That's funny because I feel the same way about smart and well-intentioned people falling for a scam being perpetrated by Silicon Valley guys who have done nothing but run scams that made them rich after the tech press told everyone that these guys were geniuses.
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gamera obscura october edition @ohrobin.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
If Jonestown is going to teach us anything, let it be how human needs can be weaponized, and how power destroys the possibility of refusal. Remember the victims as people instead of cheap synonyms for being an idiot.
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gamera obscura october edition @ohrobin.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
I am so tired of Jonestown being a stock reference for “haha, you’re in a cult.” 918 people died, most against their will, and still it has become shorthand for how stupid you think someone is. It's the McDonald's hot coffee incident of mass death — universally referenced, entirely misremembered.
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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
It was the fucking-aroundiest of times, it was the finding-outiest of times ....
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Philip Sewell @othershoe.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Recently successfully completed the Not Sharing My Disappointment and Anger at Talarico with Enthusiastic Elder Texans Challenge. Please clap.
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Philip Sewell @othershoe.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Got to hike this path yesterday. Now I’m almost home after the perpetual debacle of O’Haire.
Photo of tuning maples on mountain path.
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Philip Sewell @othershoe.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
This good girl kept her barking at the buck to a tight 10 seconds.
Photo of Coco the dog looking at a deer about 40 feet away.
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Philip Sewell @othershoe.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Overheard a mom in Grand Teton National Park asking her child, “Maverick, why can’t you stay on the trail?”
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Philip Sewell @othershoe.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I agree, but there’s going to be a hell of a lot of collateral damage.
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 26/09/2026
Hey, ProPublica reporter Jake Pearson here. I’m taking over the account to tell you about my new story. For months, I posed as a problem gambler on DraftKings to test the company's "responsible gaming" safeguards. Spoiler alert: They made me a VIP — and I lost $10K. Here's how it all went down. 🧵
Selfie taken by ProPublica reporter Jake Pearson, a man wearing a backwards baseball cap and an orange T-shirt.
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Philip Sewell @othershoe.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
It just takes once breaking your glasses on a trip, and then you leave spares in various places. [He says while looking for a case for the crappy glovebox pair.]
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Philip Sewell @othershoe.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
I'm almost certain that *fraud* is the wrong word for most of these cases. One part of the ACA that can be quite confusing is knowing which path in the decision tree one is supposed to take among ACA, Medicaid, COBRA, etc. Especially after job loss and when future income is uncertain. 1/
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Charlotte Clymer @charlotteclymer.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Mark today as the first time Trump's approval rating dropped into the 20s.
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Philip Sewell @othershoe.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
What's up with Trumpsters not being able to afford their own weddings? I mean I get it that costs start to add up after the second or third divorce, but still.
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Philip Sewell @othershoe.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
So many potash jokes; so little time.
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Philip Sewell @othershoe.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
For scattershot reasons, thinking about this one today.
static.klipy.com
Star Trek 5 Star Trek V
Alt: Star Trek 5 Star Trek V: "What does God need with a starship?"
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I Scare You Like Sound Dog @chadstanton.blacksky.app · 20/09/2026
See what I mean, just openly conceding that some people should be barred from some bathrooms as a minor point when that very image was one of the major touching points for the support and opposition to Jim Crow
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I Scare You Like Sound Dog @chadstanton.blacksky.app · 20/09/2026
When you read about Black people having to step off of trains and use fields for restrooms should disabuse anyone of the idea access to them is a minor issue.
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paulpro @mariopro.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
@murphycartoons.bsky.social
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Amanda Marcotte @amandamarcotte.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
AI needs to be regulated, but not based on bullshit. A lot of this is a distraction to evade regulations on the theft of intellectual property and investment fraud issues that make AI a serious threat to our economy. Don't get this twisted.
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Amanda Marcotte @amandamarcotte.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
So now that companies are freely sharing the information, you need to use your human intelligence and ask the hard question: Why? If it was bad for them, they wouldn't do it. They do it because the scintilla of danger is a great marketing tool to attract investors.
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Amanda Marcotte @amandamarcotte.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Tech giants had extensive research showing social media is dangerous, and not in a fun "robot army" way. In a sad "increases suicide, decreases empathy" way. Did they voluntarily release these studies? Fuck no. They buried them and it took subpoenas and whistleblowers to out the info.
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Courtney Milan @courtneymilan.com · 19/09/2026
They are trying to blame AI for these kinds of mistakes in the way that you put googly eyes on a rock and then pretend it's a scapegoat.
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Philip Sewell @othershoe.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
unrelenting dumbassery
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Jennifer L. Pozner @jennpozner.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Trump enforcer/FCC chair Brendan Carr sneaking this through without any opportunity for public input and no public vote says everything. My piece on this will be out tomorrow. Carr is operating as a one-man democracy-buster. Thanks for fighting hard for us, @agomezfcc.bsky.social #BlockTheMerger
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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
NYU Langone is paying the government $8.5 million in addition to ceasing gender-affirming care for minors. Cowardly loser shit.
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Starfire’s Deranged Neocon Foreign Policy Podcast @irhottakes.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
It’s very simple. A reality TV host became dictator because he turned down a role for Sharknado 4 and that’s why the king of outer space, who cheats at Diablo, got to kill Africa. Now the economy is controlled by a sex cult that has something to do with Harry Potter fanfic because of robots.
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Philip Sewell @othershoe.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Making pasta pomodoro recipe I got from a friend with cherry tomatoes from a volunteer I nurtured in the yard.
Photo of garlic batons heating in olive oil beside a colander of cherry tomatoes.
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Philip Sewell @othershoe.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
This guy's deep in my doghouse. I'll never give him a dime or much trust even though he'd get my vote in the general. But "firing up their data centers" is a nice bit of knifework.
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Grandma @grandmasweb.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
The two latest measles deaths in PA suggest that the true number of infections is much larger than reported. Armchair epidemiologists miss the fact that vulnerability to the infection doesn’t make a death less real. Measles can still be a cause of death.
theatlantic.com
Pennsylvania’s Measles Outbreak Is Enormous
The two latest deaths suggest that the true number of infections is much larger than reported.
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Seanan McGuire @seananmcguire.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Re-upping this at a more reasonable hour. I am not asking you to simply give me your clothes: I will pay money for your clothes if you have what I'm looking for.
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Philip Sewell @othershoe.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
If I had really expensive creep/panopto glasses linked to my phone, I could have taken a slightly better picture of this fawn. But the fawn would still have had the good sense to not let me get too close.
Photo of fawn in undeveloped lot.
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Helen Kennedy @helenkennedy.com · 17/09/2026
Love this. Love everything about this.
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Philip Sewell @othershoe.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
I have 1.3 bazillion hex wrenches courtesy of "some assembly required," but, of course, either of the two that I need are completely eluding me. I probably put them somewhere safe so that I wouldn't lose them. 😠
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Philip Sewell @othershoe.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
If I were running a business that was wildly overvalued based on bullshit I'd spewed about my future products' potential and I didn't want it to all come crashing down catastrophically, yeah, I'd might just invite or beg for regulatory intervention that I could hope to spin into a softer landing.
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Adam J. Morris @lonestarball.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Re-upping this with a video my brother Ben, who manages the rescue, made about a dog from the shelter who changed his life youtu.be/oyKgctnH5c4?...
youtu.be
She Shouldn’t Have Lived. She Taught Me How.
YouTube video by Animal Hope Adoptions
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Adam J. Morris @lonestarball.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Folks — Animal Hope is a no-kill rescue organization in Fort Worth. North Texas Giving Day, which runs through Friday, is the organization’s biggest fundraising periods. Even a few dollars can help care for and find forever homes for an animal in need. www.northtexasgivingday.org/organization...
northtexasgivingday.org
Support Animal Hope Inc on North Texas Giving Day
Animal Hope is a Fort Worth rescue that gives second-chance animals the time, medical care, and training they need to find homes. We focus on the dogs and cats that high-volume shelters often cannot p...
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Grudgie the Wail @grudgie.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
What’s so funny about this is this is EXACTLY how he talked about the Bible
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Karin Wulf @kawulf.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
3. That college is about reading for “the workforce.” No, it’s about development for the adult force. Of which work is a part. 4/
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Philip Sewell @othershoe.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
I decided to try the self-clean cycle, and it turns out Samsung ovens have been known to blow their thermal cut-off switch (meant to keep the unit from overheating and catching fire) when self-cleaning. Now known to by me. But, hey, no fire, and that's not nothin'.
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Philip Sewell @othershoe.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
In that stage of cleaning where every bit of progress just reveals more filth to clean. Oven looked less dirty before I started.
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Philip Sewell @othershoe.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
An altogether terrible day, but at least I’ll have fresh pickles soon.
Photo of newly jarred refrigerator pickles.
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Jenny Staff Johnson @htownjenny.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
This, forever and ever and ever, amen.
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Benjamín Schultz-Figueroa @benjaminschultzfig.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
My takeaway is that no AI doomsday scenario is half as plausible or scary as the actual doomsday scenario of climate change, which we're all currently living through. We should prioritize accordingly.
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Philip Sewell @othershoe.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Price of diesel, and hence fuel oil, is at a point where it would be cheaper for this one year to buy my landlord a low efficiency electric water heater, pay to have it installed, and pay the additional electric bill than continue with our current system. Thanks, Mr. President!
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The Editorial Board @editorialboard.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
18. The Club lauds merit, but merit is dangerous. The Club venerates character, but character is destructive. The Club celebrates morality, but morality is risky. Merit, character, morality – these are detribalizing, which makes them enemies of the tribe.
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Philip Sewell @othershoe.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Gotta love the folks who feel compelled to be shitty because you’re wearing a mask. 😷 OTOH, I sincerely appreciated the dude at Lowe’s who asked if I was going to get him sick. Valid question that I had a ready answer for.
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