Erik of Portland, disrespector of the federal government
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erikgunderson.bsky.social
Erik of Portland, disrespector of the federal government
@erikgunderson.bsky.social
2.1K followers 650 following 21K posts
Bluesky user number 125,860. That and $6.00 can buy me a latte.
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erikgunderson.bsky.social
November 11, 2025 at 3:31 AM
erikgunderson.bsky.social
Lucy van Pelt from Peanuts, yanking a football out of place from where it had been held up for kicking, with a mischevous smile on her face.
November 10, 2025 at 10:21 PM
erikgunderson.bsky.social
Within a few hours of Margaret Thatcher's statue being put up on a plinth in Grantham, England, a local merchant had set up a stand nearby offering eggs for £10, saying it is what the purported champion of the British free market would have wanted. He had customers.
hyperallergic.com/733250/marga...
November 10, 2025 at 8:52 PM
erikgunderson.bsky.social
We're there any cheers? I would think NFL attendees split right down the political middle.
Trump 1st sitting president to attend regular-season NFL game since Carter ESPN News Services Nov 9, 2025, 07:08 PM ET LANDOVER, Md. -- Donald Trump became the first sitting president in nearly a half-century to attend a regular-season NFL game, making an appearance at the Washington Commanders' contest against the Detroit Lions on Sunday. There were loud boos from some spectators in the stands when Trump was shown on the videoboard late in the first half -- standing in a suite with House Speaker Mike Johnson -- and again when the president was introduced by the stadium announcer at halftime.
November 10, 2025 at 1:32 AM
erikgunderson.bsky.social
Here's the wisdom.

Cut your bread like this, and then a sandwich is a taco.
A hoagie roll, cut most but not all the way through, on a rotating toasting platform.
November 9, 2025 at 7:09 PM
erikgunderson.bsky.social
You need to not use AI, ESPN.
History of NFL international efforts When and where was the NFL's first international game? The NFL has held games in other countries for almost 100 years. The first international regular-season game took place in Mexico City in 2005 between the Arizona Cardinals and the San Francisco 49ers. The American Bowl and NFL Europe helped drive international interest through overseas preseason games and developmental training, respectively.
November 9, 2025 at 6:25 PM
erikgunderson.bsky.social
You probably saw these too!
The view of Pompeii from what used to be the harbor. Ruins of buildings on a hilltop above shrubs and cypress trees, agaibst a painfully blue sky Complex black and white mosaic floor tiles and an inset fountain in a Pompeii villa. A shallow square pool inset into the stone floor of a Pompeii villa's interior. Maroon red paint survives in many places and others have plaster eroded to expose strong and concrete structure. Not nearly enough electrical outlets. The exterior of the amphitheater at Pompeii, with graceful arches of brick supporting the concrete and stone sculpture and a lovely blue sky
November 7, 2025 at 7:15 PM
erikgunderson.bsky.social
If you're of a certain age, the phrase "carnivorous dearh ball" conjures up a particular image:
The Beholder, a classic Dungeons & Dragons monster. It is depicted as a living floating orb. With an improbable joker, mouth covered in reptilian, looking scales. It has a large single eye directly above the joker mouth. And what appears to be hair made up of dozens of smaller eyes, on top of fleshy tendrils on the top of its round head/body.
November 7, 2025 at 7:13 AM
erikgunderson.bsky.social
$2 a gallon gasoline, you say? If only there was some way to verify that...

gasprices.aaa.com
The map and national averages from https://gasprices.aaa.com/. Oregon is highlighted at $3.858/gallon. National average is $3.084/gallon and rising. State-by-state average prices are listed in five blocs, as follows: 4.691 to 3.249 -- Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Nevada, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Washington 3.248 to 3.019 -- Connecticut, Indiana, Maine, Michigan, Montana, New York, Ohio, Utah, Vermont 3.018 to 2.888 -- Delaware, D.C., Florida, Massachusetts, Maryland, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, West Virginia, Wyoming 2.887 to 2.813 -- Colorado, Georgia, Iowa, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, South Dakota, Virginia, Wisconsin 2.812 to 2.605 -- Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas Prices are for 87-octane regular unleaded gas.
November 7, 2025 at 1:28 AM
erikgunderson.bsky.social
I don't think y'all are ready to talk about this. To me, it suggests a weakness in Democratic GOTV. Even in these amazingly favorable conditions.
Pie chart, titled: NYC Voter Registration, by Party DEM: 3,081,389, 65% REP: 523,178, 11% CON: 19,681, <1% WOR: 19,850, <1% OTH: 72,852, 2% BLANK: 1,024,076, 22% A pie chart, titled "Vote by Candidate" Mamdani: 1,036,051, 50% Sliwa: 146,137, 7% Cuomo: 854,995, 42% Others: 18,738, 1%
November 5, 2025 at 10:22 PM
erikgunderson.bsky.social
Craig Hansen, and the words "Why don't you have a seat right over there?"
November 4, 2025 at 1:06 AM
erikgunderson.bsky.social
I am more than a little bit offended and a lot disturbed by this ad for an AI game that was just pushed on me.

What kind of a chud would find this scenario fun or exciting? Why does their algorithm think I'm such a person? Considering deleting the game because of this.
An advertisement for an AI phone game. It has an image of a very young woman, white and conventionally attractive, upon which game text has been superimposed. It reads "Your Wife's Daughter wants to talk to you. You are facing the fact that your wife is having an affair and is moving towards divorce?JaneYour wife's daughter meets you and wants to talk to you to stop this.What will be your next decision?" Thefe are three image boxes below with images of what look like the same young woman in enticing clothing and poses, with the titles "1. The agreement 2. Your wife cheated again 3. Dinner with your wife's dau" and the rest is cut off. There is a "PLAY" button at the bottom of the screen but I'd rather confess to treason than press it.
November 4, 2025 at 1:00 AM
erikgunderson.bsky.social
This is actually even more interesting to me than the business about some conservatives looking around their movement and realizing, apparently for the very first time, that there are bigots among them.

All four of the existential threats to America perceived in that first paragraph are lies.
From the First Things article "False Patriots" by Liel Leibovitz (which generally castigates certain conservative figures from within the conservative movement): "November 5, 2024, was one of the most joyous days of my life. Like 77,302,580 of my fellow Americans, I felt that, under the Democrats, the nation was heading in a disastrous direction: millions of illegal immigrants pouring in unchecked, college campuses checkered with Hamas and Hezbollah flags, Iran and its terrorist tentacles appeased while American allies like Israel were censured, children preyed upon by ideological zealots pushing radical trans ideology and advocating mutilations. The list goes on. "Donald Trump’s re-election felt like more than a mere electoral victory. It was a profound affirmation of American values and an unequivocal rejection of the lunatic ideas of the left, ideas designed to undermine faith, family, and nation. With Trump back in office, I believed, it was morning in America once again. "What a difference a year makes. "
October 31, 2025 at 10:10 PM
erikgunderson.bsky.social
I would rather forsake all of my possessions and walk the earth penniless, like Kane in Kung Fu but without the Kung Fu part.
A snip from a LinkedIn email. "Companies hiring for your role ... TURNING POINT USA 4 new hires, 64K followers, 201-500 employees."
October 31, 2025 at 9:21 PM
erikgunderson.bsky.social
If so...
A detail from the DVD cover of the movie "The X Files: Fight the Future." Silhouettes of Agents Scully and Mulder walk away from the camera toward a bright light atop a metal grate floor. The background is a partly cloudy sky in which unmarked helicopters fly. The entire picture is screened icy blue. The words "FIGHT THE FUTURE" are superimposed in white sans serif lettering above the shadowed Scully and Muldrr.
October 30, 2025 at 5:16 PM
erikgunderson.bsky.social
Did we need a box this big for a lil' ol' muffin?
A cardboard fold-up food box at least 8" square, with a 3" muffin in it. Also a 12 ounce latte.
October 29, 2025 at 11:23 PM
erikgunderson.bsky.social
I did okay here because I saw the quiz was sponsored by AEI. I figured that what AEI wants to tell me is that economic prosperity is more powerful than social issues (most of the personal views shown were cultural) and Trump positioned himself better on the economy. At least, so AEI would preach.
October 29, 2025 at 4:59 PM
erikgunderson.bsky.social
An astronaut wearing a State of Ohio armpatch, holds a pistol, and says the words "Always has been."
October 28, 2025 at 9:20 PM
erikgunderson.bsky.social
Here's a side-by-side comparison of "Healthcare in Canada." First, Wikipedia. Then, Grokipedia (what an unimaginative name).

Wikipedia uses 20 sources for its citations in the intro section. Grok used 6. IMO, Grok's entry focuses largely on failures and shortcomings, Wikipedia is more descriptive.
Healthcare in Canada From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Healthcare in Canada is delivered through the provincial and territorial systems of publicly funded health care, informally called Medicare. It is guided by the provisions of the Canada Health Act of 1984, and is universal. The 2002 Royal Commission, known as the Romanow Report, revealed that Canadians consider universal access to publicly funded health services as a "fundamental value that ensures national health care insurance for everyone wherever they live in the country". Canadian Medicare provides coverage for approximately 70 percent of Canadians' healthcare needs, and the remaining 30 percent is paid for through the private sector. The 30 percent typically relates to services not covered or only partially covered by Medicare, such as prescription drugs, eye care, medical devices, gender care, psychotherapy, physical therapy and dentistry. About 65-75 percent of Canadians have some form of supplementary health insurance related to the aforementioned reasons; many receive it through their employers or use secondary social service programs related to extended coverage for families receiving social assistance or vulnerable demographics, such as seniors, minors, and those with disabilities. According to the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI), by 2019, Canada's aging population represents an increase in healthcare costs of approximately one percent a year, which is a modest increase. In a 2020 Statistics Canada Canadian Perspectives Survey Series (CPSS), 69 percent of Canadians self-reported that they had excellent or very good physical health—an improvement from 60 percent in 2018. In 2019, 80 percent of Canadian adults self-reported having at least one major risk factor for chronic disease: smoking, physical inactivity, unhealthy eating or excessive alcohol use. [Remainder truncated for ALT character limits, citations omitted.] Fact-checked by Grok 7 hours ago. Healthcare in Canada Healthcare in Canada consists of a universal, publicly funded system established under the Canada Health Act of 1984, which mandates that provincial and territorial governments provide medically necessary hospital and physician services to eligible residents free of direct user fees, funded primarily through general taxation and federal transfers. The system is decentralized, with each province and territory administering its own insurance plans while adhering to five federal principles—public administration, comprehensiveness, universality, portability, and accessibility—resulting in variations in delivery, supplemental coverage for services like prescription drugs or dental care, and private options for non-insured procedures. Total health expenditures reached approximately $372 billion in 2024, equating to $9,054 per capita or about 12% of gross domestic product, placing Canada among the higher spenders relative to other OECD nations, though outcomes such as life expectancy (around 82 years) lag behind some peers with similar or lower per-capita investments due to factors including administrative inefficiencies and resource allocation constraints. A defining characteristic is prolonged wait times for specialist care and elective procedures, with median delays from general practitioner referral to treatment averaging 30 weeks in 2024—the longest recorded—exacerbating patient suffering, productivity losses estimated at $5.2 billion annually, and prompting debates over rationing mechanisms inherent to single-payer models that limit supply despite demand. [Remainder truncated to fit in ALT character limits, citations omitted]
October 27, 2025 at 11:55 PM
erikgunderson.bsky.social
Coffee helps. So does looking at greenery.
October 26, 2025 at 7:15 PM
erikgunderson.bsky.social
Well somebody left half a bottle of open Cabernet Sauvignon after my party. I guess I have to mitigate the damage.
October 26, 2025 at 7:52 AM
erikgunderson.bsky.social
You can tell this city is a disaster area
A wide shot of Portland's Pearl Diatrict and Rose Quarter, with the Big Pink tower of north downtown. Two arcs of rainbows surround the view in the sky, the inner arc intensely bright and the outer arc fainter. A closer angle of the same view as the first. Nothing at all is on fire, although quite a lot of things are wet.
October 25, 2025 at 12:45 AM
erikgunderson.bsky.social
Google AI gets it wrong again. This time about "Westminster Hall."
William II, also known as William Rufus, commissioned the original building of Westminster Hall in 1097. He and his son William the Conqueror began building the hall in 1097, and it was completed two years later, making it the largest hall in Europe at the time and the largest secular building in London. Today, the hall is the oldest surviving building on the Parliamentary estate and has been incorporated into the modern Palace of Westminster.
October 24, 2025 at 11:22 PM
erikgunderson.bsky.social
No, I'm not, and I am not going to get into an argument with you that concludes with a demand that I read more theory.
October 24, 2025 at 7:34 PM
erikgunderson.bsky.social
Behold, a city burning to the ground.
A view from an upstairs windows of NE, N, and NW Portland Oregon. Nothing appears to be on fire, but... OH MY GOD IT'S A LITTLE BIT OVERCAST WE HAVE TO CALL IN THE NATIONAL GUARD OH NOES!
October 23, 2025 at 8:34 PM