Ed Armstrong
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armst-ed.bsky.social
Ed Armstrong
@armst-ed.bsky.social
Communications professional. Loves to learn and share knowledge. Let's do this. #Environment #SocialJustice #Episcopalian #Writer. Call me Ed
Pinned
#Democrats hold Double-Digit Lead on 2026 Generic Ballot

#MaristPoll conducted Nov 10-13 finds Dems leading #Republicans 55-41. Leading #Independents by a whopping 61%-28% tally...33 points!

#Trump approval at 39%.
#Midterms #Congress #Polls
via Marist tinyurl.com/m3ss2c2f
Interview with Matthiessen biographer Lance Richardson

"True Nature: The Pilgrimage of Peter Matthiessen" tops my TRB biography category. Because, Matthiessen.

Homework for the #writingcommunity.

#Booksky #nature #wildlife #activist #writer #ZenMaster

tinyurl.com/bdb4657n
November 24, 2025 at 10:31 PM
Malevolence, Incompetence, and the Strange Case of #LindseyHalligan

Benjamin Wittes parses Judge William Fitzpatrick's "startling" opinion that reveals the "misconduct and incompetence...of the president’s hand-picked prosecutor for his political foes."

#Trump #Bondi #Comey
tinyurl.com/d4we9as3
The Situation: Malevolence, Incompetence, and the Strange Case of Lindsey Halligan
A study in 24 pages.
www.lawfaremedia.org
November 22, 2025 at 12:31 PM
Seen on morning run. Well, visualized. I don't, won't, use earbuds and all that. Just open my mind and see what wanders in, or out.

Was gifted with my favorite rendering of "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall." Oh man, this is powerful. 😂 Had to share.

#running #meditation #Dylan 🏃🙏

tinyurl.com/3kxp535t
Bob Dylan - A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall (Nara, Japan, May 22, 1994)
YouTube video by More Questions than Answers
youtu.be
November 20, 2025 at 12:42 PM
#Democrats hold Double-Digit Lead on 2026 Generic Ballot

#MaristPoll conducted Nov 10-13 finds Dems leading #Republicans 55-41. Leading #Independents by a whopping 61%-28% tally...33 points!

#Trump approval at 39%.
#Midterms #Congress #Polls
via Marist tinyurl.com/m3ss2c2f
November 19, 2025 at 4:16 PM
Mark Z. Danielewski on Conjuring ‘The Voice of the Mountain’ to Write Tom’s Crossing

“I was called to write that story...I was at the height of my abilities. I will never write a book as good as this. This is the best book I’ve ever written."

#writingcommunity #BookSky 📚💙
tinyurl.com/4em69puv
‘House of Leaves’ Author Mark Z. Danielewski on Conjuring ‘The Voice of the Mountain’ to Write His 1,200-Page Horror Western ‘Tom’s Crossing’
Cult horror writer Mark Z. Danielewski, best known for 'House of Leaves,' spins an epic western tale with 'Tom's Crossing.'
variety.com
November 16, 2025 at 1:27 PM
#WVU women's stunning win is one for the ages.

After 6 players (including 4 starters) were ejected for leaving the bench to defend a teammate. They got pissed...

...and came back to beat 15th ranked Duke with only 5 players.

So f'n proud of them!

#CountryRoads #Mountaineers
tinyurl.com/mpcw9z29
How West Virginia, with just five players, upset Duke in women’s basketball
After six Mountaineers were ejected, West Virginia played the second half with just five players — and beat No. 15 Duke.
www.sbnation.com
November 15, 2025 at 4:50 PM
Just 29% of Americans support US military killing drug suspects

Yet another #Trump initiative deep under water in a major #poll.

In a sign of division within GOP, 27% of #Republicans in the poll opposed the killings, while 58% supported it, with the rest unsure.

tinyurl.com/2vmf5r9b
www.reuters.com
November 14, 2025 at 12:57 PM
Latest read The Hearts of Horses. #Author Molly Gloss displays great command of subject and the "circle ride" used by horse breakers of the era to service clients is a perfect story-telling motif. The plot meanders a bit, but I strongly rec for #YA women.

#WritingCommunity #Booksky #horses #books
November 12, 2025 at 5:28 PM
David Szalay’s Flesh: "most deserved #BookerPrize winner in years"

"It was unanimous. We didn’t need a formal vote...
Szalay writes with terse precision...through innovative and spare narration that is deeply affecting."

Going to read this.
#WritingCommunity #Booksky #Books
tinyurl.com/2s9jmf2d
David Szalay’s Flesh is the most deserved Booker Prize winner in years
The British-Hungarian author’s novel encompasses teenage sex, infidelity, murder, death and war to tap into modern anxieties about masculinity. Finally, writes Martin Chilton, here is a worthy winner
www.the-independent.com
November 11, 2025 at 5:56 PM
Happy 50th Horses! Released this day 1975. I became aware of it a couple years later. "Gloria," its opening cut, had me by the balls from the first listen. Still does.

I swear it just gets better every year. Fifty and counting.

#PattiSmith #Punk #Rock #MusicSky
youtu.be/bPO0bTaWcFQ?...
Patti Smith - Gloria (Official Audio)
YouTube video by pattismithVEVO
youtu.be
November 11, 2025 at 12:56 AM
Huge congratulations to #WhiteStripes for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction!

Here's a tribute to the reclusive Meg taking center stage with a beautifully rendered "In the Cold Cold Night."

#HallofFame #RockAndRollHallofFame #MusicSky
youtu.be/nU3aO3AcMoc?...
The White Stripes - In The Cold, Cold Night (Under Great Northern Lights)
YouTube video by Bianca Albrecht
youtu.be
November 9, 2025 at 8:46 PM
It's Fungi Sunday on #Bluesky!

Seen on #SundayMorning run, an eruption of Coker's Amanita mushrooms in the lawn outside nearby school. Dozens of them. Love the Autum colors. 💙
Had to share. 📷

#naturephotography #mushrooms #photography #Running #Sunday #nature 🙏
November 9, 2025 at 4:03 PM
#Orwell thought police will love this: Mind captioning

introducing an #AI generative decoding method called “mind captioning,” which generates descriptive text mirroring semantic information represented in the brain. AKA "Mind Reading."

Whadda you think?

#technology

tinyurl.com/38nsa9ms
Mind captioning: Evolving descriptive text of mental content from human brain activity
Nonverbal thoughts can be translated into verbal descriptions by aligning semantic representations between text and the brain.
www.science.org
November 6, 2025 at 12:48 PM
How a 'blue collar' anti-Trump #Punk band 'is winning over #MAGA'

This warms my heart. 💙

Punk is in my DNA. I found it in the 1970s fleeing corporate rock & disco. My son also did so in the 1990s. Now it's running point against MAGA.

#MusicSky #Trump #Resist

www.alternet.org/dropkick-mur...
How a 'blue collar' anti-Trump punk band 'is winning over MAGA'
An American Celtic punk band from Quincy, Massachusetts that is explicitly anti-Trump and anti-MAGA is actually winning over President Donald Trump's supporters with their blue collar appraoch to hum...
www.alternet.org
November 3, 2025 at 3:32 PM
I normally want an artist to make a song their own when I'm looking for a great cover. But Lindiwe Suttle Müller-Westernhagen's "Somebody to Love" hues to the original--and blows the roof off the joint!

I 💙 it!

🎵...you better find somebody to love 🎵

#RockNRoll #MusicSky

youtu.be/PKd3U6jkTXw?...
JEFFERSON AIRPLANE - COVER by LINDIWE SUTTLE " Somebody To Love" Live
YouTube video by Lindiwe Suttle Müller-Westernhagen
youtu.be
November 2, 2025 at 2:38 PM
How the #Occult Gave Birth to #Science

Great #Halloween read for #Ghouls, #Geeks, and #Goths. Wherein we learn "early scientists’ fascination with the occult should remind us of other tenants of discovery: open-mindedness and curiosity."

Via @nautil.us

👻👹🧞🧹🎃⚰️
nautil.us/how-the-occu...
How the Occult Gave Birth to Science
For scientists of yore anything—from mermaids to alchemy—was on the table.
nautil.us
October 31, 2025 at 1:32 PM
Thank you! 🙏

A matter so grave and again we're left to ponder the "why now" and "what for" of it. Or if it means anything at all...

"...often, what look like important pronouncements turn out to be random thoughts that have escaped the weak gravity of Trump’s attention span."

#Trump #Nukes #War
"Before Trump, statements by the president were policy. But Trump says a lot of things, and he reverses course regularly; often, what look like important pronouncements turn out to be random thoughts that have escaped the weak gravity of Trump’s attention span."
The president wants to resume nuclear testing. This is a really bad idea - and he can't even get his facts right about why he wants to do it:

www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
October 30, 2025 at 9:29 AM
Finished Almanac of the Dead! Hefty read at 763 pp. Very insightful, mostly entertaining, occasionally shocking. So many key characters, my God, I had to make a chart. My heart ached for Seese and Sterling.

#writingcommunity #booksky #readingcommunity #Indian #Mexico #Arizona #HistoricalFiction
October 26, 2025 at 4:49 PM
How the #WhiteHouse complex will look with new #Ballroom
Here's the before/after.

It's an abomination. #Heartbreaking #Trump

GIF via Washington Post
October 25, 2025 at 4:05 PM
Spooky! Seen on Morning Run - #Halloween edition.

That's a 5-foot wingspan #Vulture staking out a neighbor's roof. Some say it's a harbinger of sickness and death. I think it's just vulture being vulture. Boo! 👻

#photography #wildlife #birds #nature #naturephotography
October 25, 2025 at 12:14 PM
Meet the Best Debut Novelists of the Year

Next year, your first #novel and mine will make this. #Believe it!

Great article via @literaryhub.bsky.social with #author Q&As. Looking hard at The Devil Tree Times and Ibis for my TBR.

#WritingCommunity #booksky #fiction #books 📚💙

tinyurl.com/37cv33af
Meet the Best Debut Novelists of the Year
In September, the Center for Fiction announced the shortlist for their annual First Novel Prize, which celebrates debut novels and seeks to support early career writers. The shortlisted authors wil…
lithub.com
October 24, 2025 at 2:47 PM
Behind the Curtain: America's energy jam

Good explainer. An apolitical look at what will soon become a hyperpolitical issue. See the tags for why.

#AI #Datacenters #energycosts #climateemergency #internationalcompetitiveness #grid #economy #technology #techbros

www.axios.com/2025/10/23/b...
Behind the Curtain: America's energy jam
The data centers powering the AI boom suck up so much energy, so fast, it's increasingly jacking up prices for nearby ordinary residents.
www.axios.com
October 23, 2025 at 6:02 PM
#GovernmentWorkers' Horror Show Continues; "Taking an Unimaginable Toll"

Court filings show some workers RIFed, then called back only to receive a second RIF notice this month.

Who can condone this? Cruelty is not an HR policy.

#Trump #Shutdown #Layoffs #RIF #NoKings
tinyurl.com/3uny4uba
‘I am reliving the nightmare’: Federal employees get second RIF notice after agencies brought them back
A federal judge has temporarily blocked most layoffs. But federal employees who have already received RIF notices say they’re afraid of what happens next.
tinyurl.com
October 23, 2025 at 11:32 AM