FrJosh
Fr. Josh Miller

Catholic priest.
Normie poster.
Taipan enjoyer.
Bitcoin ambivalent.

Public Key

npub13tahtl9pjw9u5ycruqk84k6sfmkyljsr7y2pc4s840ctlm73fxeq3j6e08

NIP-05 Address

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsg47m4ljse8z72zvp7qtr6mdgyamz0egplz9qu2cr6hu9lalg5nvsprpmhxue69uhhqun9d45h2mfwwpexjmtpdshxuet5qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnyd968gmewwp6ky0c0qqe

Publishing to

Author Public Key

npub13tahtl9pjw9u5ycruqk84k6sfmkyljsr7y2pc4s840ctlm73fxeq3j6e08

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Last Notes

2026-05-05 22:12:19 UTC

AI music is instantly detectable, and not just because of the poor sound quality or the innocuous YouTube packaging. The audio lacks soul, authenticity. Dylan once said the most important thing when listening to a song is, "Do I believe this?" With AI slop, there's nothing to believe. It's just sounds.

2026-05-05 22:08:36 UTC

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Amusing in a "I thought we were passed this nonsense" kind of way.

2026-05-05 20:06:00 UTC

Occasionally, just for funsies, I'll have an AI model write a homily for me. Never to give, but just to read out of amusement.
They're always long, rambling, unfocused things without a central thesis, covering multiple topics that would leave a listen either lost or tuned out in boredom.
But today, it occurred to me: that's perfect. These models were trained by real homilies, which are almost always long, rambling, unfocused things without a central thesis.
Boys, remember: one point. In and out. You have 500 words at most. Go get it.

2026-05-05 19:57:36 UTC

As I watch political conversations from the sidelines, it amuses me that we're back into the Neocon grindset: if it betters America, violent intervention in foreign affairs is actually good.
Amusing that MAGA's non-interventionism is now in tatters, and we're essentially standing in Dick Cheney country again.

2026-05-05 17:50:42 UTC

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I can think of nothing more horrifying than a phone constantly drawing every bit of data it can to train its own model. Of course, one might argue this is already happening now with Googled phones at best, Apple devices at worst. But this is just making it a little too obvious.
#nevent1q…ehns

2026-05-05 15:55:39 UTC

Freedom is glimpsed in the realization that 90% of all meetings are worthless wastes of time.

2026-05-04 18:41:57 UTC

iOS 26.5 now with E2E RCS capability. I'll stick with Signal, but this is good progress.
https://www.macrumors.com/2026/05/04/ios-26-5-rc/

2026-05-04 18:17:07 UTC

AI models are doomed anyway, only a matter of time. The models all train on the Internet, which is currently high percentage AI slop, thus producing more slop, and this will continue until it's all slop, at which point one weird soul with an analog library will scratch their heads and pick up a book and say, "this isn't right," just before the mobs begin torching the data centers.

2026-05-04 18:04:40 UTC

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eBay is how I buy most of my pens and paper, from the fine folks over in Japan looking to mark it up slightly less than the online retailers in the states.
I also buy vestments, mostly from India.

2026-05-04 18:02:20 UTC

Much of what I see coming out of home assistants (OpenClaw, etc.) is akin to digital gluttony, the production and accumulation of data for data's sake, serving no real purpose. An absolute waste of finite resources for the equivalent of technological masturbation.
You probably just don't need it, even if you think it's cool.

2026-05-03 22:15:20 UTC

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I believe all I ended up doing was typing it in to my profile page.

2026-05-03 21:52:22 UTC

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In general, psychologists and doctors will tell you "two drinks a day." No more than that, though. Not healthy.

2026-05-03 17:54:17 UTC

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Well, kind of. We've seen it with Western kit once, in Ukraine, where tech countries donated the goodies. It all comes down to what a nation is capable of technologically, because, as you rightly point out, it is so asymmetric.
I'd argue that we've not really tried to control the Straight of Hormuz; we're still playing the politics game, which I am grateful for, and we've been just kinda lazily hanging around while Trump does Trump, always looking for the deal, always threatening that "now we're about to get serious."
He could, but he won't.

2026-05-03 15:43:20 UTC

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The difference between the two countries and their technology/resources is immense. Russia is rich in soldiers, USA rich in tech, and tech wins wars. Not really fair to say "because Russia X, then USA Y," when the disparity between the two countries is so great.
But even then, no ground campaign with Iran. No thanks.

2026-05-03 15:34:54 UTC

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You always post these interesting little picture poems. Thanks for that!

2026-05-02 15:34:58 UTC

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Of course, this post is halfway tongue-in-cheek.
But only halfway.

2026-05-02 15:07:04 UTC

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In order to end the tyranny of the morning person, we must first prove that they do not exist.
Even at the neurological level, study after study has proven that the brain isn't at peak function in the morning for the general populace. This is especially prevalent in children, and yet it seems families build their sleep schedules around early-rising kids (who are only such because they have to get to school, where they sit comatose before their brains actually turn on).
Anecdotally, I see the science evidenced frequently: the joke that hits hard at 4pm Mass might sail over everybody's head at 7:30am, because people just aren't awake in a church filled with people who will tell you they "get up early. " I feel like tapping on the mic. Making them get up for a little calisthenics, like they did to us in grade school when everyone was half-dead.
There's a reason comedy clubs don't do 9am shows.
Farmers have no choice, and I know this via experience in the field. Gotta do what you gotta do, whether you like it or not.
Hemingway used to write in the early mornings. But this was only because he couldn't wait to start drinking at midday. Honestly, I see the appeal -- but what could a sober Hemingway have accomplished in the power of the night?
His fellow Nobel laureate Bob Dylan has spoken over the years about the night, and how certain things live there creatively, inaccessible during the day. He's right. The "mystic hours when a person’s alone," he called them on his last album.
St. Thomas Aquinas, mega genius he was, wrote during the day. But what he wrote was the product of long nights spent before the Blessed Sacrament in prayer. Those mystic hours when a person's alone. He slept very little, and I suppose that's the ideal.
It's really the cycle of sleep that makes the fake morning person. People who are tired after long days, turning in early. Can't argue with that. Older folks who cannot sleep in long stretches, beginning sleep in the late evening. Understandable.
But not natural, not even by basic brain function. Patterns of living thrust upon us via extraordinary condition.
The morning person does not exist: they are only made such through anguish, exacerbated as it is by the Protestant work ethic.
Big Coffee does not want you to know this.
#nevent1q…68sd

2026-05-02 13:28:39 UTC

There’s no such thing as a morning person. There are simply those without the fortitude to stay up late.

2026-05-02 13:17:24 UTC

Ss. Pius and Athanasius in one week. I am still amazed that anyone says yes to being a bishop after reading about those guys. I reckon they say, “How bad could it be?” before it gets awful.
Happy weekend all!

2026-05-01 22:24:59 UTC

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They fry my eyes. Why not my brain?

2026-05-01 16:50:42 UTC

GM. Around these parts on Friday, that entails office work leading in to visits to the homebound.
Have a blessed one out there good people, and slide on in to that weekend.
https://i.nostr.build/Y3kPP0NzjEO0xjtm.jpg

2026-05-01 07:29:57 UTC

A cleaned up version of "How to Make an Awesome Confession."
https://frjosh.org/blog/how-to-make-an-awesome-confession/

2026-05-01 03:56:20 UTC

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Thanks! Some good stuff here.

2026-04-30 23:10:33 UTC

Just learned of David Allen Coe’s passing. He wasn’t a perfect guy, but none of us are. An outlaw who did the genre proud.
https://youtu.be/LZbso7sNqv0

2026-04-30 21:01:30 UTC

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Much Tex Mex is not actually Mex. Burritos. The very concept of "taco" most Americans/foreigners hold. All mirages, fakes.
One might argue that even the flour tortilla is a foreign invention, flour having been introduced by the Spanish. Small soft corn tortillas, meat, cilantro, onions. That's how you make a taco.

2026-04-30 18:40:03 UTC

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My long, drawn-out episode with USPS is now ended. The package came today, and -- surprisingly -- the contents were not destroyed.
#nevent1q…n4j2

2026-04-30 01:44:16 UTC

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Amazon could have literally sent this thing by donkey and it would have been here quicker than with the USPS.
#nevent1q…l96l

2026-04-29 23:28:39 UTC

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In my dream world, the interior smells like spilled beer and cigarettes.

2026-04-29 23:24:16 UTC

"Do you think the owners inside will hear us if we start it up?"
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55239232566_0ee9becc7c_c.jpg

2026-04-29 19:11:23 UTC

The new pop discourse is around "assassin culture," but that's a messy term.
I saw the pivot ca. 2020 with the "punch a Nazi" dialogue, where consensus grew among certain groups that committing an evil (unprovoked physical violence) is morally permissible because it brings about a desirable outcome (owning a "Nazi"). This is really just utilitarian pragmatism in contemporary clothing, and is nothing new, even if it speaks to a weakened moral formation.
Rule #1 of Morality: Do no evil.
Rule #2 is implied via the first, but apparently needs to be reaffirmed: Do no evil such that good may come of it.

2026-04-29 16:14:15 UTC

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I am perpetually an old man.

2026-04-29 14:49:50 UTC

I used to start my work morning reading the paper, catching up on the news. Now I've abandoned the news and simply just scroll my Nostr timeline.
Upgrade.
Have a blessed day, people!
https://i.nostr.build/Y3kPP0NzjEO0xjtm.jpg

2026-04-29 05:33:59 UTC

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Everyone hates on Trump, but the true enemy hides in plain sight.
Goodnight all. That is, except for the institutional USPS.
#nevent1q…pnqf

2026-04-28 21:21:06 UTC

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Fortunately for all of us, the symptoms aren't severe and it looks like a garden-variety cold, same as the rest of the mutations.

2026-04-28 21:12:06 UTC

Just saw a YouTube video about the New York Times' best novels of 2026 (so far).
Modern literary fiction sounds dreadful.

2026-04-28 19:27:37 UTC

The item that was expected to arrive April 23rd now has a projected delivery date of May 5th.
Your United States Postal Service, everyone.

2026-04-28 17:53:13 UTC

The MacBook Neo is still an absolute masterpiece in my opinion.

2026-04-28 03:11:30 UTC

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It's too expensive to just chill there. They killed it.

2026-04-28 02:57:52 UTC

Whaddaya mean we don't miss NFTs?

2026-04-27 22:13:08 UTC

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Actually restoring the contact list and not my profile. Derp derp. Like I said. I’m an idiot.

2026-04-27 20:43:22 UTC

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Got it. Ugh. I am an idiot. Thanks.

2026-04-27 20:39:28 UTC

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https://blossom.ditto.pub/59abe0baecaa001a580abd2063afb95e8bf5785a9e0b7b7c3894e9cffee60e86.png

2026-04-27 20:21:43 UTC

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Went back in time a ways, and same issue. It shows my follow list; shows the number I am following. It just displays zero content.

2026-04-27 19:47:09 UTC

Toy cameras are, of course, bad. But that's the whole point.
The Camp Snap Pro is a very good bad camera.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55233684522_95670303a9_h.jpg

2026-04-27 19:32:43 UTC

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I am on a 1gb low latency connection, so that's not it. And it's consistent across every computer.

2026-04-27 16:56:08 UTC

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The best tool is the one that gets out of your way.
The problem is that we end up too focused on the tool itself, and it becomes the focus of our creative attention.
If your identity is as "bitcoin," then it is essentially an identity built on top of money. That's boring. And sad. And... you know... something the Lord warns us against.
Rather, show me what you do with those tools, living your life as you do. That's what makes you interesting.
#nevent1q…vz42

2026-04-27 16:37:32 UTC

Good morning.
The USPS is still your enemy.
That is all.

2026-04-27 07:28:55 UTC

I have, somehow, some way, nuked my main feed on only Ditto. Still working perfectly everywhere else, but Ditto says I am following no one. I am, though.

2026-04-27 06:33:23 UTC

How about somebody fixes the Primal web media server settings. Pretty please?

2026-04-26 03:33:18 UTC

Nothing like a little extremism from a leftist nut to drive Trump's poll numbers, so at least he has that going for him.

2026-04-26 01:17:20 UTC

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As a wise older fellow once told me, “Bedford Park is where mail goes to die.”

2026-04-26 01:16:21 UTC

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I don’t get salty often. It takes a lot.
I’m still very, very salty. Nothing worse than USPS in Chicagoland.
#nevent1q…d467

2026-04-25 18:26:29 UTC

Nice turnout for the bike blessing. Bicycles, motorcycles, and scooters always welcome.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55229790569_de375a0530_h.jpg

2026-04-25 18:23:55 UTC

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He just keeps on bullying, though. Iran is a good example. He's not satisfied with his win yet.

2026-04-25 16:20:15 UTC

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Just about the only thing I admire about Trump: he will say absolutely crazy, absurd things in order to arrive at a new point where he comes out ahead. He knows what he's doing every single time... and it works.

2026-04-25 06:31:12 UTC

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Meanwhile, on a second unrelated shipment...
The USPS can go hang.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55229142219_c63b4dc04a_h.jpg
#nevent1q…melh

2026-04-25 02:05:02 UTC

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Estimated delivery date went from yesterday to... Wednesday.
I repeat: worthless.
#nevent1q…w65j

2026-04-24 19:37:20 UTC

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True enough, but at least they get it more often than not. As soon as I see the USPS involved, I know I'm in for a ride where my order may or may not get here.

2026-04-24 19:35:17 UTC

Why on earth would Amazon consider it good policy to use the United States Postal Service as a shipping partner? Talk about the very worst logistical operation they could cozy up with.
Sure, they have the infrastructure, but they don't give two squirts about proposed delivery dates.

2026-04-24 15:44:40 UTC

One of the major advantages of Nostr is that it's essentially my blank canvas. There's no right or wrong way to use it, so I just create for myself.

2026-04-24 15:30:51 UTC

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Steak n Shake is great. Nice shoestring fries.

2026-04-24 15:13:01 UTC

GM. It's Friday. Slide into the weekend, and do some penance for me.
(Morning picture on a Kodak Charmera, aka "Potato Cam")
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55226665447_f4fa26cb94_c.jpg

2026-04-24 02:25:18 UTC

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I learned about her through you a couple weeks ago. I'm still on the fence about your initial reaction: almost seems like performance art.

2026-04-24 02:23:37 UTC

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Top secret things. Like blobs turning sentient, demanding proper care. Emoji packs granting powers unknown to the outside world. Kinds you haven't dreamed of.

2026-04-23 20:56:53 UTC

The Kodak Charmera is, in fact, charming.
I had a young photographer in the office today when it arrived and we decided to dub it "Potato Cam." But what fun, to have this tiny little thing in your pocket, always available for one purpose: to take the visual equivalent of "low-fi" photos with. #photography
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55226496009_2989b891e9_c.jpg
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55226414543_3f9f265d02_c.jpg
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55226654935_5670b5fb4c_c.jpg

2026-04-23 16:25:49 UTC

Random Twitter Genius: "doNt yOu kNoW JeSus wASn't wHiTe?!?"
Equatorial Guinea:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55226157750_2ee7a64da0_h.jpg

2026-04-23 14:19:57 UTC

GM. Mass celebrated, and now into a busy day. Haircut on deck, so it can't be all bad.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55225574906_e39d38782d_4k.jpg

2026-04-23 02:42:01 UTC

GN when your time comes. As we pray in Night Prayer, "may God grant us a restful night and a peaceful death."
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55223809061_b576d16724_h.jpg

2026-04-23 00:15:30 UTC

Yow.
https://0x0.happytavern.co/28935c1c27ab46948c0dd876196fa3a7f4a93c52f6787982462975affb79f3ce.mp4

2026-04-22 19:17:10 UTC

A good reminder that the bull doesn't always lose...
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55224145411_803c85202c_c.jpg

2026-04-22 16:43:06 UTC

The Nowhere project is one of the coolest things I've seen in the Nostr space in a while. It's the power of this crazy little protocol unleashed.
https://hostednowhere.com/

2026-04-22 14:58:03 UTC

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55223034578_3aefa92fee_c.jpg

2026-04-22 14:48:28 UTC

GM. It's Wednesday. I think I wished you a blessed Wednesday yesterday, so may it be doubly blessed now that it's arrived.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55223759633_dcf2382d64_h.jpg

2026-04-22 09:36:46 UTC

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In discovering the site this early morning here, I thought to myself that this is the one thing missing!

2026-04-22 03:00:50 UTC

Among other tasks, I had the privilege of ministering to a very sweet woman with terminal pancreatic cancer today. Grateful for the opportunity.
Gratitude. As Ray Wylie Hubbard sings:
"And the days that I keep my gratitude
Higher than my expectations
Well, I have really good days."
Today's been a darned fine day.
https://i.nostr.build/JKsSK8nUH9h0nMPa.jpg

2026-04-22 02:06:31 UTC

Will be interesting to see where John Temus is able to take Apple. Things grew stagnant under Tim Cook, but maybe Temus' experience on the hardware end will shake things up.

2026-04-22 00:57:44 UTC

🤷‍♂️ No one knows...
https://live.staticflickr.com/7283/9430959276_2fdbc15d82_h.jpg

2026-04-21 22:20:15 UTC

Was just reviewing some of my old photos. The statuary at Gettysburg is something else.
https://live.staticflickr.com/7428/9736304669_6dec815634_h.jpg
https://live.staticflickr.com/7308/9736300589_3a43e6ebf5_h.jpg
https://live.staticflickr.com/7439/9736306395_cf7ec5d64d_h.jpg
https://live.staticflickr.com/7330/9736305931_3c0e4aef3e_h.jpg

2026-04-21 17:21:08 UTC

Not really morning here anymore, anon, and I've been going a while. But just wanted to wish you all a blessed Wednesday.
https://i.nostr.build/Y3kPP0NzjEO0xjtm.jpg

2026-04-21 14:09:07 UTC

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I wonder. Would it then persist on my own timeline?

2026-04-21 07:08:45 UTC

Too much caffeine = too much wasted time when the sun goes down, but that's how she rolls this time of year.
https://i.nostr.build/JKsSK8nUH9h0nMPa.jpg

2026-04-21 05:17:10 UTC

I had Grok make me some Chick Tracts, and this is one of my favorites.
https://0x0.happytavern.co/33f02f9230de837f1abad3d205d74ed3d05defbca9bbbf9311709174f1a8a839.jpg

2026-04-21 04:52:23 UTC

https://0x0.happytavern.co/19a51b9962ceb229e395377f39dd165baa3388f2ff82bcefca1264e8a055b1e0.jpeg

2026-04-20 18:09:49 UTC

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My main problem with the song is just that it's bad songwriting, but outside of that, every time I hear "Mary Did You Know?" said, I say: YES! YES SHE KNEW! SHE NKNEEEWWWWW! SHE WAS TOLD! SHE KNEW!"

2026-04-19 13:25:43 UTC

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It really is! I explain it to every couple I marry. When I celebrate Eucharist, I do the action of confecting it. In Penance, I give absolution. But Marriage is unique in that I don’t “do” anything save for serve as a witness; it’s the couple doing.
Even more interesting historically. For a time, the Church struggled with the reality of the Sacramental bond formed in private, between the couple, with no witnesses. You can imagine the problems this caused, so the Church established the fact that this is a public sacrament, to be done in front of the Church with witnesses. Even the “Wedding Mass” is a young concept, as the most traditional mode was to get married at the entrance/stairs of the church building in front of the entire town in a simple ceremony, in keeping with the Church’s determination that it was in fact a public event.

2026-04-19 04:01:55 UTC

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Not wanting to defend this guy, buuuut:
"Vance was named James Donald Bowman at birth. Afterward, he was adopted by his mother's third husband and had his name changed to James David Hamel. In April 2013, he adopted his maternal grandparents' surname of Vance."
If I'd been renamed after my mother's third husband, I'd probably want a new name myself.

2026-04-19 02:57:23 UTC

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I had to chuckle. Deacons, for many generations, were the actual power brokers of the Church. St. Gregory the Great is a good example.
That said, Matrimony is one of the things I agree with them doing, since they're not exercising any power at all. The priest doesn't marry a couple: the couple marries each other, and are the proper ministers of the Sacrament.

2026-04-18 19:15:21 UTC

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This was a convalidation. Usually when people seek out the sacrament after being civilly married, they’re good ones.

2026-04-18 18:25:51 UTC

Had a nice wedding today. Good couple!

2026-04-18 15:37:29 UTC

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Nuke the moon. It's our only option.

2026-04-15 20:06:46 UTC

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This is why I blame the clients themselves; running two different ones will show a disparity in delivery, even though the relay has done its job.

2026-04-15 19:30:47 UTC

Sigh. What clients absolutely cannot do is skip events. This is a basic issue.

2026-04-15 18:21:26 UTC

Ditto is on the Apple App Store now. Working great!

2026-04-15 15:23:46 UTC

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...especially since there can be no such ban. The Roman Missal PRESUMES! we are celebrating Mass facing liturgical East, and therefore contains instructions as to when we are to face the people.

2026-04-15 03:15:03 UTC

Free LLMs only.

2026-04-15 02:25:00 UTC

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Both of mine are Rugged Rosary also. Probably my favorite maker. Thinking of learning how to make them myself.

2026-04-15 00:54:14 UTC

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A small beaded rosary (up top) and a one-decade chaplet (bottom). EDC in a small pouch. https://i.nostr.build/HXQtHNt4IeipyrtO.jpg

2026-04-14 17:04:19 UTC

Taxes, am I right?

2026-04-13 05:15:06 UTC

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The total Trump crash out has been something to behold. Color me impressed with this guy's ability to alienate pretty much everybody.

2026-04-13 05:06:38 UTC

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Still laughing at the notion of the Cardinals electing Leo to serve as a foil for Trump, as if that were an actual concern.