fred-decker.bsky.social
Freelance writer, interested in almost everything (but I repeat myself). Was the kid who read encyclopedias for fun, now am the grownup who reads academic papers and follows smart people online.
465 posts
67 followers
73 following
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"Nothing at all" if you're lucky. If you're unlucky they're toxic, contain unlabeled pharmaceuticals (sometimes quite dangerous), are contaminated, or interfere significantly with your medications.
Pet peeve. It can be efficacious, or it can be innocuous, but it can't be both.
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Went to see Andy Warhol "Superstar" Ondine present a handful of Warhol's short films, with commentary. During a break he came out to mooch a smoke, and at the time I was affecting American cigarettes (I'm in Canada). He accepted a Lucky Strike very happily.
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I've only just discovered her writing recently, when she was named this year's Grand Master (NK Jemisin reposted it, and I was already following her). So far I've read Spear, Hild and Menewood (all my local library has), but will definitely find and read everything else as well. Brilliant stuff.
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For me it's Kindergarten Cop, with honorable mention to Twins and maybe Junior (because pregnant Arnold was frikkin' hilarious, come on!). His action movies, for me, more or less all run together.
Also have a soft spot for his very early turn in Kirk Douglas' cartoonish The Villain.
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I own it on DVD; my late wife had a soft spot for it (she was a big fan of both Stanley Tucci and Richard Jenkins).
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"Schmirler the Curler."
She's the reason I started following the sport. Was saddened by her so-premature death (and we were within a few months of the same age, which made it doubly disturbing).
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"Polls show a double-digit decline in Trump's popularity..."
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It would be an absolute power move for the protesters to set up a lunch kitchen to feed the Marines and National Guard.
...and maybe bring them sleeping bags.
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Huh. Caught myself feeling mildly resentful that they define "mid-life" as mid-30s to mid-40s, but most people kick off in their 70s and 80s so I guess that's valid.
Still feeling good about dropping 30 lbs in my 50s and keeping it off, anyway. :)
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(shrug) Maybe I'm an outlier, but I just can't carve out time in my day for videos or podcasts; they don't fit with how I do things. If your video or podcast doesn't have a transcript, I'm out. I can read the transcript of an hour-long pod in about 5 minutes, and the other 55 are all mine.
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Reminder they said this exact bull shit back then
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That's his response to people commenting that he has no balls.
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Or as the Dead Kennedys phrased it 40-ish years ago, "In the real Fourth Reich you'll be the first to go!"
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I currently live next door in New Brunswick, which is my sixth province (PEI is the only Atlantic province I haven't lived in). I still drive down every month to visit my mom and daughter.
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...including the Free French, Free Poles, troops from across the Empire, etc; and especially the saboteurs and Resistance fighters who helped prepare the path.
But it is worth remembering again that Canada punched above her weight in both World Wars.
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...planned objectives were achieved.
Obviously not an apples-to-apples comparison, because each landing faced its own unique circumstances (and Omaha was an unmitigated shit-show). And please understand that I'm not diminishing or demeaning the accomplishments of our Allies on that day...
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Columbia canceled my class on Race and Media, but I'm teaching it anyway.
All thanks to people power and community support-- especially from you all on Bluesky!
Happy to announce I'll be teaching Race Media and International Affairs 101 online-- hosted by D.C.'s MLK Jr. Memorial Library!
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...pretty normally today, despite my efforts to the contrary.
So now I'm not allowed to mow anymore until I have steel-toed footwear again. But I'm a big fan of ending my day with all the same bits I had in the morning, so I'll deal with it.
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...crucially, the "dead man" switch that stops the motor. So of course as I fell, the Blades o' Death struck the toes of my boots. The few brief moments it took to wrench off my boots were pretty suspenseful, I can assure you!
But it's all good, my toes were only bruised and I'm walking...
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If you're curious how this can happen, it's because I was backing up to take a second run at a patch of tall grass. I tripped over an unseen obstacle and fell backwards, and clinch-flinched as one does in such circumstances.
Which meant my hands tightened on the handle of the mower, and...
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"Competence..."