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A cata-stroph!

@waxwingslain.bsky.social
339 followers 389 following 364 posts

NYC teacher of English, Brooklyn dweller, twin parent, cooker of food, studier of اللغة العربية, listener of \m/, games, Ursula K. Le Guin books, Satyajit Ray films, old enough that I had a MySpace.

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A cata-stroph! @waxwingslain.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
RIP Lowtax
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A cata-stroph! @waxwingslain.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
This is an old Roman tradition
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A cata-stroph! @waxwingslain.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
@mattdinniman.bsky.social Enjoying DCC a lot so far but your editors need to do a better job—so far we’ve hit three really common wrong words (“broach” instead of “brook,” “mortified” instead of “horrified,” and “nonplussed” instead of something like “nonchalant.”)
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A cata-stroph! @waxwingslain.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Spent class today & yesterday with 30 kids reading a shared novel. Not a single cellphone in sight, hidden under desks or nothing. Such a colossal difference from 2022, when nothing could be done because of constant phone peeking. 45 solid minutes of attention on reading. "less effective" my ass.
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A cata-stroph! @waxwingslain.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
I have a package of "every NES game" ROMs and it is inexplicably missing Base Wars, which I played a ton as a kid (and figured out the unbeatable "boomerang fist back and forth" hack that would guarantee a win every battle). I kind of wondered if I hallucinated the game's existence.
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A cata-stroph! @waxwingslain.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
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A cata-stroph! @waxwingslain.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Having someone talk through the changes with a video is great! But the “holding the little mic” thing just looks silly. You can get an actual lav mic and it will give less “annoying food influencer.”
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Your Internet Friend Tom Tomorrow @tomtomorrow.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
prospect park was littered with singed scraps of office paper for a long time.
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Chris Kluwe @chriswarcraft.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
As a former professional football player, I can confidently say that this essay is incorrect from every conceivable angle, and contributes heavily to the culture of toxic masculinity that still infests high schools and colleges across the country.
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A cata-stroph! @waxwingslain.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
whole belly or gtfo
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A cata-stroph! @waxwingslain.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
this isn't even a little bit parody
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Lincoln Michel @thelincoln.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
More seriously, this likely is future of AI generated "content." A few grifters will make it work, but overall it will be a race to the bottom generating infinite content for increasingly small returns and begging for money and/or teaching grift courses on using AI (the real money)
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A cata-stroph! @waxwingslain.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
AP does a drive-by of the classroom during a reading-and-annotating lesson and "accidentally" drops a glossary on the kid's desk?
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A cata-stroph! @waxwingslain.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
In the last minute of the test, the principal calls the student into their office because the kid is "in a lot of trouble" and keeps them there for an additional period working on the test, sending them back with a packet of fruit snacks and instructions not to tell the teacher what happened?
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A cata-stroph! @waxwingslain.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
omg BROOKYLN
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A cata-stroph! @waxwingslain.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
So many of the “not old” walk so much every day, it would still drive the percentage into tininess. I don’t know how they could possibly track how much everyone walks every day.
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A cata-stroph! @waxwingslain.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
"proportionately"
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A cata-stroph! @waxwingslain.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
some guy on another social media site tried to argue with me that proportionately more people get head injuries from falling down while walking than riding bikes. Unsurprisingly, he was unable to cite where he got his data from.
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Autumn Warhammer Chick @celticdragon1.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
Your reminder that the English Beat icon "Beat Girl" is a transgender woman named Brigitte Bond from a photo of her dancing with ska musician Prince Buster at Heathrow in 1964 and none of us will be as cool as she was.
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A cata-stroph! @waxwingslain.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
my cat not only drank only out of water glasses, she needed a straw placed in each one so it was very clear it was a human's (and then she'd lap from it). we constantly had half a dozen water glasses with straws all over the house no human was supposed to drink from.
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A cata-stroph! @waxwingslain.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
counterpoint: US soccer team lost to Belgium in the World Cup
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Dr. Jens Foell @jensfoell.de · 09/08/2026
I remember stumbling on the CIA world factbook on the early internet, before Wikipedia. What a treasure trove that was! RIP to a real one, too bad you were too informational for the current-day US government
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A cata-stroph! @waxwingslain.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Oh I thought you were saying the store should have taken it off the shelves!
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A cata-stroph! @waxwingslain.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
What's wrong with them?
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A cata-stroph! @waxwingslain.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
Sonar Kella (1974)
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A cata-stroph! @waxwingslain.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
the thousand flavors of Kool-Aid I had tried as best I could
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Aparna Nair @disabilitystor1.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
“Gang rapes would take place. By God’s grace, there would be no complaints. The people there are a group that likes rape. There are women and girls who like rape, especially among the left, democratic, secular and Bahujan groups,” he said. This is the BJP. This is who runs India.
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A cata-stroph! @waxwingslain.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
To a large degree, NOT defunding the police is why we have such an ineffective police force. Giving the police more and more money (because it comes with no accountability rules) makes them LESS effective.
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A cata-stroph! @waxwingslain.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
1. Police slowed down work 2. Police faced zero accountability for not doing their work (because the moment anyone tried to hold them accountable, right-wing politicians would scream at the top of their lungs) 3. Police slowed down work further 4. Police still faced zero accountability and so on
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A cata-stroph! @waxwingslain.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Israel didn't deny US base usage--the US specifically tried to keep Israel out of the conflict to preserve its Arab coalition (which Saddam famously tried to counter by launching SCUDs at Tel Aviv). It was an even deeper example of the US prioritizing Israeli interests, not a counterexample!
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A cata-stroph! @waxwingslain.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
What other country have we provided air refueling support during attacks on the scale we have to Israel? Saudi's the closest and it's not even close?
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A cata-stroph! @waxwingslain.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
The Liberty attack was a sustained assault lasting up to an hour with multiple waves of attacks, not a single mistargeted bomb comparable to other NATO accidents.
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A cata-stroph! @waxwingslain.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
MNNA enables a bunch of military purchasing/coordination that doesn't occur otherwise, but even besides MNNA Israel has benefited from an incredible degree of US coordination with strikes/missile interception (as seen in the attacks on Iran) that goes far beyond what the US does w/ other allies.
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A cata-stroph! @waxwingslain.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Lib...
en.wikipedia.org
USS Liberty incident - Wikipedia
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A cata-stroph! @waxwingslain.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Israel is a MNNA and surpasses other MNNAs in several fields. You're focusing on a minor point of terminology; it's fully accurate to describe Israel as a close ally (even though it would put them in the weird position of being both our close ally and the one who most recently attacked us).
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Joel S. @joelhs.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
At a moment of rising anti-government CJP protests in Delhi, the Hindutva right is denying that the protests are organic by blaming them on George Soros. Even in a place with no particular history of the rootless cosmopolitan Jew as the Other, they’re imbibing the same online right-wing tropes.
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Louisa @louisathelast.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Well, this article is incredibly depressing for cooking enthusiasts. The short version: private equity has, over the last couple of decades, quietly bought up most of the classic brands you’ve heard of and then traded on their names while drastically cutting quality and closing American factories
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A cata-stroph! @waxwingslain.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
Top 10 games, not in order: Shovel Knight Hollow Knight / Silksong Fallout 3 Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth The Binding of Isaac Night in the Woods Starcraft 2 Neverwinter Nights The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Mina the Hollower
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A cata-stroph! @waxwingslain.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
There's this weird bug in the 311 system: when you report things like cars parking on sidewalks etc., it seems to just close the complaints without action. Sometimes the system even writes "no violation observed"! It happens the most right outside NYPD stations! Can this strange bug be fixed?
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Bill McKay @mckay4senate.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
From Stephan Zweig's The World of Yesterday.
[P]erhaps nothing more graphically illustrates the monstrous relapse the world suffered after the First World War than the restrictions on personal freedom of movement and civil rights.  Before 1914 the earth belonged to the entire human race.  Everyone could go where he wanted and stay there as long as he liked.  No permits or visas were necessary, and I am always enchanted by the amazement of young people when I tell them that before 1914 I travelled to India and America without a passport.  Indeed, I had never set eyes on a passport.  You boarded your means of transport and got off it again, without asking or being asked any questions; you didn’t have to fill in a single one of the hundred forms required today.
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Bill DiFilippo @billdifilippo.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
update:
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Resist Trump 🤬 🤦🏽‍♂️🇺🇸 💜💙💪🏽 @resist-trumps-rule.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
A new sequel 🤣🤣💙
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Snowden St. @snowden.st · 06/07/2026
Heartbreaking: The Worst Country You Know Just Won A Great World Cup Quarterfinal Game
the guy from the Original Clickhole Article I’m referencing
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A cata-stroph! @waxwingslain.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
It’s carnitas o’clock in Michoacán
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A cata-stroph! @waxwingslain.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
“La lucha contra el terrorismo,” Philip Guston and Reuben Kadish, Morelia. It’s from 1935 but looks like a depiction of the Trump Administration.
“La lucha contra el terrorismo,” Philip Guston and Reuben Kadish
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A cata-stroph! @waxwingslain.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
“Other people to pay for it” as well is not a bad thing when it comes to things like environmental improvements. I’ve heard the same thing you said but always ironically. Our LL11 brick inspection revealed the need to replace all balconies. Cost huge $ but of course better than balconies falling.
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A cata-stroph! @waxwingslain.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
Well, they’re not trying to not do the repairs, just afford them. I don’t live in Riverdale but my Brooklyn coop is going through the same problems where people who aren’t landlords and don’t make a lot of money are faced with sudden $10k bills.
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A cata-stroph! @waxwingslain.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
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