Eric A. Meyer

Armchair rocket scientist graffiti existentialist. Old enough for it to hurt when I stand up, not old enough to have stopped noticing. Agnostic in principle, atheist in practice, #CSS guy, mzungu. I’m only here for the food.

Site: https://meyerweb.com/
GitHub: https://github.com/meyerweb
Location: Firefox Web Inspector
Languages: English, HTML, CSS

Public Key

npub1s3zqdzdfljdd7mxa0pf8dtc070fzn6khdy5wpdnsug9wkdlgcfmqjfsur8

NIP-05 Address

meyerweb_at_mastodon.social@momostr.pink

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsgg3qx3x5lexkldnwhs5nk4u8l853fattkj28qkecwyzhtxl5vyaspz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dsvpmekf

Publishing to

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub1s3zqdzdfljdd7mxa0pf8dtc070fzn6khdy5wpdnsug9wkdlgcfmqjfsur8

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Last Notes

2026-06-04 13:23:38 UTC

Does anyone know of (or have!) a CSS file that contains every CSS structure and pattern, for testing syntax highlighters? Something like the CSS/SCSS bit on https://withlinda.dev/blog/mastery/syntax-highlighting-test-complete, but more complete (and ideally only #CSS).

2026-04-18 01:43:47 UTC

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This is sublime, Greta.

2026-04-12 21:27:00 UTC

All you fascists bound to lose.

2026-04-09 10:35:14 UTC

Conversation during the 50th Front-End Study Hall (https://indieweb.org/Front_End_Study_Hall) this past Tuesday sparked a goofy idea, so I brought it to life with a quick in-browser mockup and a little @npub1658…nsnc work.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/374/270/661/052/199/original/59cacd5f3c89d718.jpg

2026-04-08 00:58:13 UTC

Texting in 2026.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/366/364/543/458/016/original/8fffaaa401cd8453.jpeg

2026-04-07 01:53:30 UTC

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I am very blissfully not there. I was curious mostly because I’m a fan of the Goo Goo Dolls’ first five albums (1987 – 1995), and wondered which side of the line the song fell on. Probably it was after that, when they shifted to pop-rock. “Iris” at a guess, but there were some others that might qualify.
(I also like Soundgarden, heh.)

2026-04-07 01:39:13 UTC

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Wait, which one is making the rounds?

2026-03-30 19:22:04 UTC

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March 21, 2006 was the first message. And now I’m off to go see what historical events that was closer to than us! Definitely the fall of the Berlin Wall, but probably not the *Challenger* disaster…?

2026-02-26 16:05:40 UTC

As of today, the Michael Jackson album “Thriller” was released closer to the start of World War II than to the present.

2026-02-25 20:38:17 UTC

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Today I learned about creemees and I really want one.

2026-02-25 01:17:10 UTC

Anyone here planning to watch the STFU this evening? I ask because I want to know which hashtags to mute.

2026-02-23 02:13:07 UTC

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Just scrolled back and whoa. Hoping you stay safe! Had no idea any of this was afoot.

2026-02-13 20:14:23 UTC

I saw yet another “CSS is a massively bloated mess” whine and I’m like. My dude. My brother in Chromium. It is trying as hard as it can to express the totality of visual presentation and layout design and typography and animation and digital interactivity and a few other things in a human-readable text format. It’s not bloated, it’s fantastically ambitious. Its reach is greater than most of us can hope to grasp. Put some *respect* on its *name*.

2026-02-12 19:29:26 UTC

https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/059/288/657/416/678/original/ef7bf99ded273759.jpg

2026-01-28 16:38:03 UTC

Forty years ago, at exactly 11:38 Eastern Standard Time, the solid rocket boosters for the Space Shuttle *Challenger* ignited, propelling it off of launch pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center. It would fly for 73 seconds.
Aboard were Commander Francis R. “Dick” Scobee, Pilot Michael J. Smith, Mission Specialist 1 Ellison S. Onizuka, Mission Specialist 2 Judith A. Resnick, Mission Specialist 3 Ronald E. McNair, Payload Specialist 1 S. Christa McAuliffe, and Payload Specialist 2 Gregory B. Jarvis.

2026-01-23 15:12:54 UTC

Americans will use literally anything but the metric system, part #289,231
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/115/945/047/711/552/844/original/640df5e7e277b176.jpg

2026-01-16 03:01:22 UTC

When I was a lad, back in the days of Ford and Reagan, Republicans constantly told us that having to carry proof of citizenship was the kind of thing the Nazis and Soviets and other totalitarian regimes did.
Welp.
https://www.newsweek.com/kristi-noem-ice-us-citizenship-minnesota-shooting-identity-11366671

2026-01-11 18:25:09 UTC

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I quote the last panel of this comic to myself at least once a week.

2026-01-01 05:00:20 UTC

Happy arbitrary Gregorian boundary condition.

2025-12-04 16:12:18 UTC

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Editorial me says: Either the second one, or a mashup of the second and third.

2025-12-02 00:31:41 UTC

Pete Hegseth, Admiral Mitch Bradley, and an unknown (to me) number of military personnel are either war criminals or mass murderers. There really is no other option. https://www.forever-wars.com/pete-hegseth-and-adm-mitch-bradley-belong-in-prison/

2025-12-01 16:20:49 UTC

Just bought a 2026 https://supamoto.co continuous calendar, because after years of use they remain the best way I’ve ever seen to manage a year’s worth of work deadlines, upcoming events, personal time, holidays, and more. I’m a 12"×18" Sunday-start man myself, but there are other sizes and starts available. They’re *very* reasonably priced, made by a small business. I bet they make pretty good gifts, too.
(Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with the maker; I’m just a fan.)

2025-11-13 14:22:49 UTC

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Tag yourself, I’m “do NOT *honk* at me” etc.

2025-11-04 16:21:51 UTC

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The George R.R. Martin et al. case, the Bartz et al. case that was already ruled on, or a third case I’d missed? (I really hope it’s a third case I missed.)

2025-10-29 14:26:13 UTC

Saw a couple of people I follow(@npub19ua…53cv, @npub1hjl…ctfd) comparing their #Grokipedia pages with their Wikipedia pages, and discovering a lot of falsehoods that Grok auto-barfed into their Grokipedia pages. So I went to compare mine, and there were no falsehoods at all! Because the text was exactly the same, down to the mangled text in the Bibliography section.
Yay, I guess?
Wait, why am I in a place where I feel relief that Spicy Autocomplete hasn’t gotten around to distorting my life yet?

2025-10-27 16:17:52 UTC

Thinking about making a T-shirt that says “Web design is my passion” but it’s completely surrounded and partly obscured by popup video ads, sponsorship messages, cookie banners, and paywall login banners.

2025-10-27 00:48:33 UTC

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According to the YouTube comments, it’s footage from “Space Adventure Cobra”.

2025-10-22 16:48:19 UTC

Today’s satisfying 2FA code is: 866868

2025-10-21 14:15:23 UTC

Me: Right, so it’s set in a world where the President is taking huge bribes while ignoring the law and sending troops into US cities.
Studio exec: …uh huh
Me: As “No Kings” protests erupt, the President broadcasts a faked video of himself flying a jet and dumping liquid shit all over the protesters while wearing a crown!
SE: what
Me: And then a couple days later, without any warning, he has part of the White House torn down by a demolition crew!
SE: Get the *fuck* out of my office, you hack

2025-10-14 13:04:30 UTC

As of today, Nintendo’s platform game “Super Mario Bros.” was released closer to the end of fighting in World War II than to the present day.

2025-09-30 16:19:52 UTC

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Have you delved into https://github.com/w3c/webref at all? I *think* it provides what you want, or at least could do, but possibly not.

2025-09-17 12:41:23 UTC

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Voted (Other) for single underscore italic, single asterisk bold. So, option A but with two fewer asterisks. IRC styleee, babeee!

2025-09-16 21:56:33 UTC

“I think the main thing that’s caused so much confusion is that he was always generally apolitical for the most part,” the friend told me. “That's the big thing, he just never really talked politics which is why it's so frustrating.” https://www.kenklippenstein.com/p/exclusive-leaked-messages-from-charlie

2025-09-08 12:50:05 UTC

The first episode of “South Park” aired closer to the Apollo 11 Moon landing than to today.

2025-07-26 20:47:15 UTC

Ever since the Jumbotron incident, I’ve been listening to some Coldplay, and I gotta say that based on the lyrics alone, Chris Martin getting married to Gwyneth Paltrow makes way more sense to me now.

2025-06-30 19:03:46 UTC

For any who might want or need these stickers. Not made by me, no referral code or affiliation link, just a fan of the creator and their work. https://topatoco.com/collections/dresden-codak/products/dc-joysword-stix
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/773/878/226/884/738/original/56229740296a9145.jpg

2025-06-15 17:45:37 UTC

Please ensure both you and your horses are fully thawed before riding.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/688/618/101/560/183/original/ac46ab55dff34eb2.jpeg

2025-05-07 13:40:39 UTC

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THANK YOU.
(Also, y’all need to enable Mastodon previews for the WebKit Blog!)

2025-05-07 13:38:48 UTC

Bravo to the WebKit team! I’ve been coding with web-native color pickers recently for some internal tools I built, and these are exactly the things whose absence has tempted me to chuck the native pickers for JS-library-made pickers. https://webkit.org/blog/16900/p3-and-alpha-color-pickers/

2025-05-04 18:11:48 UTC

“Tin soldiers and Nixon’s comin’
We’re finally on our own
This summer I hear the drummin’
Four dead in Ohio…”
Fifty-five years ago today. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_State_shootings
#MayThe4th

2025-04-23 21:58:51 UTC

My mom was a primary school teacher in the latter half of the last century. During book-banning debates at her school system in the 1980s — over Dungeons & Dragons themed books, of course; Satanic Panic was in full swing — a speaker who’d been brought in by the banning side said that schools shouldn’t be allowed to teach critical thinking skills because if you needed a thought, God would give it to you. There was much agreement from the audience, she said.
I think about that a lot these days.

2025-04-19 03:50:02 UTC

I’m seeing a lot of people making fun of their incompetence for this, but that’s not what this is. This whole regime is a gang of bullies, headed by a bully, and like all bullies, they’re cowards. Stand up to them, and they whimper away. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/18/business/trump-harvard-letter-mistake.html
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/362/584/918/749/103/original/fbfce12991c9903f.jpeg

2025-04-15 01:44:50 UTC

“If you don’t see all of this as one of the darkest days in American history, in which the President is openly embracing disappearing people without due process in the name of “liberty,” you are a part of the problem. Fascism has risen in America, and it is being aided by a foreign dictator whom Trump admires.”
https://www.techdirt.com/2025/04/14/trump-bukele-plot-us-citizen-detention-in-salvadoran-torture-camps-while-defying-supreme-court-via-gibberish-responses-to-reporters/

2025-04-09 13:12:31 UTC

This week has really driven home that the word “tariffs” ends with FFS.

2025-04-09 06:47:41 UTC

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dooooo eeeeet

2025-04-08 17:59:41 UTC

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Sure, usually, if laws are being followed and norms observed.

2025-04-08 17:47:04 UTC

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It won’t take long for CBP to be tasked with collecting tariffs at crossings and in airport Customs, I suspect.

2025-04-08 17:45:36 UTC

Webdev used to be a proper profession. Look at what they took from us. https://firefox-source-docs.mozilla.org/devtools-user/3d_view/index.html
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/303/575/293/688/280/original/787672463234c5cc.png

2025-03-31 20:10:17 UTC

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`<span-dex>`, for all your span indexing needs!

2025-03-29 16:32:43 UTC

American readers: please take a minute or two to go to https://ssa.gov to download the statement of your lifetime contributions and anticipated monthly payments upon retirement. You know, just in case it’s needed later on.
(Defeatist cynicism will be met with an eyeroll and silence, if not a mute/block.)

2025-03-26 17:34:15 UTC

https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/229/932/158/915/686/original/27a197c9d05609e8.jpg

2025-03-19 21:02:28 UTC

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The fediverse’s “Add personal note” feature on other people’s profiles is so incredibly handy for this, too. I can remind Future Me *why* I blocked someone. I love it!

2025-03-10 12:45:42 UTC

We’ve reached the “legal residents with views and opinions the regime doesn’t like are arrested and disappeared” stage. Just in case you were wondering.
https://apnews.com/article/columbia-university-mahmoud-khalil-ice-15014bcbb921f21a9f704d5acdcae7a8

2025-03-01 03:12:22 UTC

As someone who studied the post-WWII order in pursuit of his History degree, I can’t even begin to describe my reaction to today’s events at the White House. Stunned is part of it. Horrified is another part. Words truly do fail me in the face of such utter, craven betrayal.

2025-02-27 17:33:17 UTC

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Wasn’t there someone who made an index fund that was basically “buy and sell exactly what members of Congress buy and sell” and it made like a 40% yearly return?

2025-01-31 15:35:37 UTC

Hey folks, got a #fedihired call on behalf of a US-based friend. She’s an editorial strategist, an author and technical writer, and someone with a lot of content strategy, content marketing, and related experience. Would make a great devrel as well, in my opinion.
If you’ve got something she’d be a fit for, ping her over at https://www.linkedin.com/in/amberwalters-editorial-strategist/ or reply here with links and I’ll make sure she sees them.
Thanks for any help, fedigang!

2025-01-15 00:31:57 UTC

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Today’s news has to have been terribly dispiriting for you. For what it’s worth, I’m sorry for your loss.

2025-01-12 04:49:19 UTC

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I know I should stop being shocked by each new development, and yet.

2025-01-08 16:32:37 UTC

⌨️ I blogged about what I’d like to see come to #CSS in 2025. Some of my wishes are repeats from past years, but it was nice to see how many past wishes have (or are about to) come true! https://meyerweb.com/eric/thoughts/2025/01/08/css-wish-list-2025/

2025-01-01 21:06:08 UTC

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Well, that kind of open white supremacy is exactly what they mean when they say “civilized”, isn’t it?

2025-01-01 05:00:06 UTC

Happy arbitrary Gregorian boundary condition.

2024-12-20 20:05:01 UTC

Looks like the “Ad blockers violate YouTube’s Terms of Service” interstitial cards just came back. We’ll see how long this round holds up.

2024-12-19 00:18:44 UTC

So while I have you all here, @npub1fh7…xdwk and I want to know for our end-of-year @npub12wy…lm9d Chat episode: what’s on **your** wish list for the web and web development in 2025?

2024-12-18 16:49:41 UTC

Of late, Bluesky feels like the blacklights-and-bass opening night party at a trade show, while Mastodon feels like hanging out with colleagues in the hallway track of a smallish tech conference.

2024-12-18 13:28:17 UTC

’Tis once again the season to hold this timeless holiday message close to our hearts.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/674/051/706/602/709/original/041725cc79e2a11a.jpg

2024-12-16 01:36:54 UTC

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Wait, if that’s the lore of the ancients, what do we call the lore from the times before tables?

2024-12-15 02:39:50 UTC

If you’re writing #SVG and want to put a stroke or halo around your text that doesn’t overwrite the letters:
`svg text {paint-order: stroke fill;}`
You’re welcome. #CSS

2024-12-09 01:18:41 UTC

This afternoon, while hanging out with my ~14 month old granddaughter, I figured out how to play “Baby Shark” on her toy xylophone. So I went with it, because it’s one of her favorite songs.
On the third or fourth repeat, she turned to me, gave me just the kindest smile, and took the mallet away from me.

2024-12-06 03:14:32 UTC

Remember: if you see somebody shoot a health insurance CEO, no you didn’t.

2024-12-04 13:18:08 UTC

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You could flexbox this and get them all to be the same height. (And even center the last row.) with grid/subgrid, you could get all the headlines in each row to be equal height, opening gaps between shorter headlines and the body copy, but thus having all the copy blocks lining up and equal heights. Lots of alignment options, too.

2024-12-02 19:35:49 UTC

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Houslow calls for aid!

2024-11-24 22:34:51 UTC

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That’s exactly the meme I was riffing on!

2024-11-24 22:28:26 UTC

In every relationship there is one person who loads the grocery belt like a Scandinavian architect, and one who loads it like a racoon on crystal meth.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/540/286/537/255/454/original/ac167745a69ba672.jpeg

2024-11-22 19:51:38 UTC

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Bad Apple when?

2024-11-21 20:47:42 UTC

Re: the DOJ’s proposed remedies for Google’s search monopoly,
@npub1fh7…xdwk and I did a podcast episode about that a couple of months back. TL;DL: enacting all the proposed remedies would likely disembowel the entire browser market. https://www.igalia.com/chats/adpocalypse

2024-11-21 00:35:57 UTC

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Crikey! Fingers crossed for all y’all out there.

2024-11-13 20:45:49 UTC

Whoever suggested these people to Trump is just straight-up trolling, only with the US government instead of some random subreddit.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/477/596/135/022/327/original/5e09b8d0471ce7d8.jpg

2024-11-05 21:25:41 UTC

Aight, @npub18x7…p6e7 tossed out a prompt and I feel like playing along on this one even though I’ll be limited.
"Name a band (or music act) for every letter of your first name"
Elvis Costello
Rush
I Mother Earth
Crystal Method

2024-10-27 01:45:15 UTC

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He still owns the Globe even after he died in that steam engine contest? Kinda weird.

2024-10-17 15:44:27 UTC

“Scientists have concluded that widespread physical distancing and masking practiced during the early days of COVID-19 appear to have pushed B/Yamagata into oblivion.
“This surprised many who study influenza, as it would be the first documented instance of a virus going extinct due to changes in human behavior, said Dr. Rebecca Wurtz, an infectious disease physician and epidemiologist…”
**The flu shot is different this year, thanks to COVID**: https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2024/10/17/nx-s1-5155104/flu-shot-vaccine-b-yamagata-extinct

2024-10-15 20:58:40 UTC

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In re: testing switches, I was recommended to stop in a local MicroCenter or closest equivalent to try out the mechanical keyboards on display there.

2024-10-10 20:32:15 UTC

Hey, everyone! “Design for Real Life” is now available online, in full, for free, at https://dfrlbook.com. It’s all the same content Sara Wachter-Boettcher and I wrote in 2016, but now it’s free for everyone. (If you’d like your own paper or electronic copy, there’s a “Bug the book” page on the site.) Read, share, spread the word—thanks!

2024-10-10 17:50:41 UTC

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🫡🫡🫡

2024-10-09 19:41:09 UTC

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<oh_no.jpg>

2024-10-09 18:42:52 UTC

Can’t be too careful, I guess #wordpress
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/278/883/550/905/160/original/c50805ae563f586c.png

2024-10-07 20:04:54 UTC

So… O’Reilly sent me email today hyping up how my books (really, just the one, I assume) is going to be AI-translated into Spanish and German, with other languages to follow. This was probably inevitable, but I still have concerns.
First: are there no human translators of these languages?
Second: who’s going to proof-read all 1,126 pages to make sure nothing got botched, especially given the technical nature of the content? The readers? Which isn’t even crowd-sourcing: it’s customer-sourcing.

2024-09-27 00:17:36 UTC

“If you or someone you know chose not to evacuate, PLEASE write your, Name, birthday and important information on your arm or leg in A PERMANENT MARKER so that you can be identified and family notified.”
From a real post that’s up right now on a Florida Sheriff’s office Facebook page (I took the below screenshot).
Be careful, Southeasters. Best of luck to all.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/206/636/521/887/369/original/6e0e45f3947cde17.png

2024-09-25 22:27:16 UTC

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Those snotty whelps! It’s one of the standout films of the late 1900s.

2024-09-13 17:36:13 UTC

I should probably rethink the placement of these on my desk.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/131/422/830/822/464/original/321a337df8252709.jpeg

2024-09-10 17:36:10 UTC

“Being a woman in tech is insane. We do not work in the same moral system model as most of the people that we interact with daily and we can’t talk about it, because when we do, we are the ones portrayed as crazy or hysterical.” —Irene Y. Zhang (https://discuss.systems/@irene)
https://www.sigops.org/2024/the-moral-implications-of-being-a-moderately-successful-computer-scientist-and-a-woman/

2024-09-08 18:55:30 UTC

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I tried, many moons ago: http://meyerweb.com/eric/thoughts/2008/06/05/strengthening-links/

2024-09-03 01:19:11 UTC

Went to The Great Geauga County Fair today, as is our Labor Day tradition.
On the way there, we kept an eye on the campaign signs in people’s yards. Once we cleared the suburbs and entered the rural Ohio landscape, there were surprisingly few GOP signs and a shockingly high number of Democratic signs, mostly for Sherrod Brown but also many Harris/Walz signs.
I’m not saying Ohio will flip this year, but the difference to past elections was still quite remarkable, so here I am, remarking on it.

2024-08-28 03:20:04 UTC

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Nope and nope!

2024-08-28 02:08:12 UTC

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If it isn’t already on your list, may I recommend Robert Jackson Bennett’s “The Tainted Cup”? I just finished it and it feels like something you might enjoy. I certainly did.

2024-08-27 19:05:50 UTC

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Small blessing that they aren’t “Second Amendment auditors”, I guess.

2024-08-27 16:59:24 UTC

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You’d have thought that was clearly implicit, but I guess not. Maybe @npub1c0q…dryv has a card to make it fully explicit?

2024-08-17 11:56:10 UTC

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As an author who wants to meet readers of all skill levels, I find them essential. (See meyerweb.com for how I do them.)

2024-08-13 02:45:47 UTC

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I assumed “footie” as in football, or fútbol if you prefer.

2024-07-23 15:31:25 UTC

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Charlie’s right. VERY urgent. No time to lose, best go immediately, godspeed.

2024-07-08 03:25:24 UTC

I was today years old when I learned Major Eaton (“Top. Men.”) and Jek Porkins (”I can hold it!”) were the same guy. https://indianajones.fandom.com/wiki/Eaton#Behind_the_scenes
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/748/724/897/686/788/original/e50f7d77177cdd2d.jpg
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/748/725/014/957/772/original/9cc24664e0dd010f.mp4