My camera shoots fascists

Things I do: landscape, storm and protest photography; paragliding, climbing, adventure sports; border and human rights activism.

Intellectual hobbies: science, nature, security/privacy, sociology of the web. Learning Spanish.

My fine art prints are available on my website.

Welcome newcomers. You'll like it here, but give it some time.

Profile photo: white guy in a baseball cap with an iguana on my shoulder. Banner: "Aneurysm for President 2026" in patriotic red, white and blue.

#NoBots

Photography and writing at:: https://www.mikaljakubal.com
Can be found wandering with camera in:: CA, AZ and everywhere, especially in the desert or where the revolution is happening.
Motto:: Do epic shit! Also, punch nazis.
Signal username: IDoMyOwnStunts.01

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mikal_at_sfba.social@momostr.pink

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nprofile1qqsdqwc4h23h82ct8q73drvwzy5wntejydn0cfgl0u53su3v3vtgaacpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dszlkjgn

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Last Notes

2025-09-17 03:29:20 UTC

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I got a few bolts with Delicate Arch, but not really what I want. I think this is the best one, but I'll go over the others and see what I can do with them. This one, for example, has two nice elements, the arch and bolt, that don't really work together. They're just both sort of in the frame. Guess I gotta go back 🤷‍♂️

2025-09-17 03:27:59 UTC

Finally going through the shots from my Arches trip. This is from a nearby arch were I took cover as storms passed overhead. (Not safe! Caves aren't safe! I know! But neither is being anywhere on a ridgetop in a thunderstorm, so I might as well stay dry before getting zapped.)
#StormChasing #lightning #ArchesNationalPark #LandscapePhotography
https://files.sfba.social/media_attachments/files/115/217/469/601/279/293/original/37be077f4023fe93.jpg

2025-09-07 00:10:39 UTC

I struck out a storm chasing at Grand Canyon in the last two days. 50% chance of thunderstorms never materialized. But I'm getting this consolation prize farther up in the canyon country.
I have one camera set up doing a time lapse and the other set up with the lightning trigger catching the bolts coming from this big cloud. (Ooo! Two more!) I only wish there were some sun breaks to light up the towers in the valley in the foreground because it's quite striking. It's hard to tell in this very flat light. It might still happen because the massive storm to the northwest is fizzling now, so maybe it will let some sun breaks through.
If anyone's curious, the lightning trigger is set up on my 24 mm tilt-shift (which I love for landscapes) and the time lapse is on my 17 mm to 35 mm zoom, set at 28.
#StormChasing #LandscapePhotography #CanyonCountry
https://files.sfba.social/media_attachments/files/115/160/074/365/879/696/original/601221db0e8807e6.jpeg

2025-08-06 01:50:17 UTC

Edit: here's what's going on: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antherophagus_ochraceus?wprov=sfti1
Thanks to @npub1jf2…rwtg for the link.
Anyone know what is going on here? This bumblebee has some sort of creature grabbing onto its proboscis. It looks like a small beetle, but it is hard to tell. The bumblebee was thrashing around furiously trying to remove it, to no avail.
#entomology #BugsAreWeird #Bumblebee
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2025-07-31 03:51:37 UTC

Crater Lake National Park.
No lightning storms but still pretty. Chance of more thunder tomorrow, so we'll see how it goes.
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2025-07-30 04:07:01 UTC

Had I left on time this evening, I'd have been near Crescent City, CA about midnight, the time the tsunami is supposed to hit. Virtually the entire U.S. and Canadian west coast is expecting waves under 1' high. Except Crescent City, which is expecting waves 2.0'-4.8' high.
Something about the bathymetry of the seabed must direct tsunami waves right at Crescent City. Happened in the 2011 tsunami too. And it's happened previously. Tsunami bait.
For the record, the NOAA tsunami warning center maps and alerts are really awkward to navigate. They really need to fix that shit.

2025-07-22 20:40:49 UTC

#IsJohnStewartFiredYet
#CBSGoFuckYourself
I just thought these hashtags should be a thing, for no reason in particular.

2025-06-11 04:12:38 UTC

Have the Democrats — or IDK anyone at all — promised a Nuremburg-style tribunal and prosecution of any military or administrative (ICE, HSI, etc.) individual who commits human rights or other violations during this current administration? Basically announcing before-the-fact consequences once it is possible to impose them?
Maybe it's just me, but I think this would be a very good propaganda move.
Tell the military and ICE personnel that they will be held personally accountable for what they do and that "following orders" will not be a defense.

2025-06-06 05:10:55 UTC

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In major cities here on the West Coast, particularly Seattle, Portland, San Francisco and Oakland (I'm not sure about Los Angeles, but I bet it's the case there too), a key threshold for showing a movement's power was whether you had enough people overall, and enough determined people, to block the interstate. Or, in the Bay Area, one of the major bridges.
Other times, knowing that large spontaneous, breakaway marches were likely to happen, smaller affinity groups had independent actions planned to coincide with them or make use of the cover provided by a giant crowd.
Again, apropos of nothing in particular.

2025-06-06 05:05:54 UTC

I have been to a lot of protests, big and small, since my first one in 1984. One very common scenario was that some liberal or far lefty group would call for a mass demonstration at a certain spot, like the courthouse.
Once a critical mass of people showed up, there would be a small group of rabble-rousers, often the local anarchist group (all 12 of us), who would start banging on buckets or yelling with a megaphone something along the lines of "March! March! March!"
If we were successful, the crowd would gradually start moving toward the street, leaving the line of official speakers talking to the dwindling crowd. In Seattle during the protests against the first Iraq war, these spontaneous marches would go for hours and hours, moving through neighborhoods, losing people as they went, but adding more who came out to join.
Apropos of nothing in particular.

2025-05-06 16:00:24 UTC

Listening to Sarah Wynn-Williams' "Careless People" on my flight into SFO. Passing over Facebook's HQ and I'm wishing I could open the window and personally spit down on Mark Zuckerberg from here.
From the air, Facebook's walled garden compound architecturally reflects the way the platform ingests and contains its prey, er, users, and defends itself from any outside influence.
If Wynn-Williams' description is even half-accurate, the headquarters also reflects the walled-in insularity of the leadership from the rest of the world and from the consequences of their company's actions.
The whole lot of them are monsters.
#Facebook #CarelessPeople
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2025-05-02 16:24:07 UTC

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Oh, it's not about swaying anybody. It's about: if you're gonna promote fascist bullshit you're gonna get push back.

2025-05-02 16:23:02 UTC

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At first glance, I read that as "they did the meth."
Which, also works.

2025-05-02 16:18:30 UTC

Man, I think I need to stay off the internet, or mute everything but cat videos. The news makes me a little too choppy and stabby. Over the next few days I'm going to have to deal with Trumper relatives that I haven't seen since I was a child. I really hope they are wise enough to keep their mouth shut about their support for Orange Julius or there will be some very awkward moments.

2025-05-02 16:13:28 UTC

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The 4', steel, spike-tipped bong. He need to take a few big hits.

2025-04-30 17:21:07 UTC

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Also, how hard is it to qualify for federal designation as a religion? Let's start thousands of religions and demand we get funded. Like, each school district start a religion and then fund their local public school with it.
But, yeah, at least Church of Satan and the Flying Spaghetti Monster folks should jump on this asap.

2025-04-30 15:08:55 UTC

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So my question is how do we make Starlink as toxic a brand as Tesla? Hit this chump from every angle. Do gamers have any ethical sensibility that could be tapped into?

2025-04-30 14:30:25 UTC

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Spend a few minutes walking on any rail line. The amount of dirt and grime covering everything makes this idea ridiculous on the face of it. Any maintenance will require shutting down the rail line. This just screams "solar roads" scam. It's especially stupid when most rail lines have a wide clear right of way to either side that could be used if people really insist on putting solar panels along rail lines. FFS

2025-04-29 03:43:45 UTC

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Agreed, but it's also much worse here so 🤷‍♂️

2025-04-29 03:42:04 UTC

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A while back I was going to start using Duolingo for Spanish and then they made their first announcement about using everyone's data to train AI so I noped out and have been using Pimsleur since. I do need to find something different since I feel like I'm not quite learning what I need to learn, but that's a separate topic.

2025-04-28 19:36:10 UTC

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See, there's another important difference between Canada and the US. Last election, I think most progressive American types were coping with alcohol and maybe sedatives.

2025-04-28 15:45:24 UTC

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I bought it on Libro FM.

2025-04-28 14:59:08 UTC

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Already is, dramatically. I spend a lot of time along the border in Arizona. Asylum seekers have virtually stopped in that area and desert crossings are way way down. My assumption is that much of this is due to the Mexican government cracking down on migrants within Mexico at the behest of the Trump administration. This just means that the human rights abuses done in our name are out of sight and out of mind. This was also a Biden administration policy, though it seems pushed less aggressively.
The border fence doesn't stop people. It just directs them into the hands of cartels. Getting over or through the fence is fairly trivial.

2025-04-27 15:57:59 UTC

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What's funny to me is that they seem like they should be such classy birds, but around here you see them eating out of dumpsters all the time.

2025-04-23 03:00:04 UTC

I think that while the #TeslaTakedown protests should continue, where possible they should switch gears to target shareholders. I'm sure there are all kinds of funds holding Tesla stock without the knowledge of the people whose funds are invested.
Is this being done or talked about?

2025-04-21 22:48:31 UTC

As a child, I watched G-rated, family-friendly movies where Nazis were bad actually and people who refused to cooperate with them were heroes.
I think the grownups of that time were trying to teach the kids something.
#MakeNazisAfraidAgain
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2025-04-11 00:13:32 UTC

This handsome critter showed up this morning for the first time since going into hibernation. I managed to lure it in with mealworms, which it eventually took from my hand.
Desert iguana Dipsosaurus dorsalis
The Zebra Tailed lizard in the yard earlier ate a ton of worms that I tossed, but wouldn't come close.
Still no sign of Harriet and Bill, my porch lizard friends from last fall. I'm really hoping to hang out with them again before I have to go north for the summer. It's hot enough now that they should all be coming out of hibernation.
#Lizards #herps #Herpetology #HarrietTheLizard #Arizona #SonoranDesert
https://files.sfba.social/media_attachments/files/114/316/427/501/893/628/original/60b83ed11bc13037.jpeg

2025-03-23 23:23:27 UTC

Shower shelf poll. I'm installing a shower. The shelves it comes with are anchored by drilling through the surround and into the wall behind, so are effectively permanent. Preferred height for you:

2025-03-10 13:32:39 UTC

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Of course.

2025-03-10 04:59:58 UTC

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I'm sharing them here and on my site for free. People are welcome to share them here *by sharing the entire post*, but not by copying them. I'm fairly generous about letting people use them for non commercial use, but only with permission and credit. I say this on my site as well.

2025-03-01 18:16:54 UTC

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I've walked out of chain "quick-lube" type shops more than once because I told them they did not need any info from me or my car, including VIN, license plate, etc. I told them they didn't even need the Odometer because my truck maintenance light would come on anyway when it was time for an oil change.
I hope people know they sell all this data to places like Carfax as well. Probably to other data brokers. It's not just so they can spam you.
I have a small town shop that doesn't do any of that near my NorCal place, but when I'm in AZ, I have started doing my own oil changes again. Saves money, too.

2024-11-20 03:34:38 UTC

I like to build things. Wood, Metal, stone, clay, whatever. I can build a house — conventional stick-framed, straw bale, cob — from the ground up. Over the years, I've learned that there are three trades that I could never make a living at, even if I'm technically capable of doing them: electrician, plumber and drywall finisher. Over last few days, I have added "hardwood floor installer" to that list.
I'm almost done with this floor, in the west loft of my NorCal house. This is bay laurel/pepperwood/myrtlewood (all the same species Umbellularia californica). It will look gorgeous once sanded and finished. The other side will be done in white oak.
1/2
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2024-09-04 18:58:00 UTC

If elected Supreme Emperor, I will permanently abolish "hold" music. Violators will be thrown into a volcano. That's it. That's my platform.

2024-08-22 01:08:07 UTC

Hoping for a last-minute sunset sun break, but it looks like I'm mostly getting rained out of #GrandCanyon #StormChasing today. I'm coming back tomorrow for more. Based on what I was seeing on the radar, I may have been able to catch some bolts earlier, while I was en route.
https://files.sfba.social/media_attachments/files/113/002/978/402/090/547/original/e681529b44d3442c.jpeg
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