Al Pastor

dad, husband, bike rider, NICA coach, software mechanic, book reader, van camper, old maps, Oakland & bicycle history, bikepacking
Oakland, CA, USA
#nobot

blog: https://fastestslowguy.blogspot.com/
old-timey, SF Bay Area bicycle stuff: https://www.wooljersey.com/
pixelfed: https://pixey.org/Morgan
wooljersey feed: https://feedsin.space/feed/wooljersey

Public Key

npub1xj4ma7sk0d52lsh2ayq3dcrthlf76nqx6m5p73u4ds2xufva47vq0at6vp

NIP-05 Address

[email protected]

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsrf2a7lgt8k690ct4wjqgkup4ml5ldfsrdd6qlg72kc9rwykw6lxqpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dsgfr4ph

Publishing to

nostr.mom

nos.lol

relay.damus.io

Author Public Key

npub1xj4ma7sk0d52lsh2ayq3dcrthlf76nqx6m5p73u4ds2xufva47vq0at6vp

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Last Notes

2026-06-13 15:27:40 GMT

"One of the strongest predictors of wildfire fatalities may be the number of roads out of a community, according to a new study from scientists at the University of California Santa Barbara and UC Cooperative Extension. Their research reveals that a surprisingly specific number of roads separates high-risk communities from safer ones during a wildfire – six."
https://ucanr.edu/blog/green-blog/article/wildfire6exits
#fire
#wildfire

2026-06-13 03:06:37 GMT

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https://files.sfba.social/media_attachments/files/116/740/586/230/575/457/original/fe52c1d544152b18.mp4

2026-06-13 00:03:34 GMT

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A3:
I searched my blog for the word 'forgot.' These are all things I've forgotten to bring on bike trips:
Ear plugs
A helmet
A wall plug charger
Food
A master link, spare derailleur hanger
Pump / multi-tool
Bandana
Sleep aids
USB cable
Sunblock, lip balm, dehydrated coffee
Dehydrated bone broth

2026-04-15 23:19:11 GMT

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https://hachyderm.io/@codebyjeff/116407089080357126

2026-04-12 16:15:03 GMT

The United States is destroying itself | Rebecca Solnit | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/apr/12/united-states-trump-destruction
#RebeccaSolnit
#USPol

2026-03-02 05:06:10 GMT

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are there both-sidesers here? My mastodon is decidedly left.

2026-02-06 19:28:35 GMT

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congrats! Must feel really good.

2026-01-28 06:15:28 GMT

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is there some agreement that we can't do commerce here?
I just bought a custom, hand-made bicycle bag from a nice person, and I wish I could talk to him, and about his business on here.
(Bags by Bird)

2025-11-08 17:53:18 GMT

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here is what an author in 1893 thought the bicycle in 1993 would be like:
https://www.wooljersey.com/wiki/THE_BICYCLE_IN_1993._-_Akron_Daily_Democrat,_Akron,_Ohio_26_May_1893
#BikeTooter
#Futurism
https://files.sfba.social/media_attachments/files/115/515/351/202/796/329/original/a31fd329dbbccfe0.png

2025-11-05 19:21:01 GMT

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yeah, I should. I have more stuff like this I could contribute, I have a complete set of first-year Bicycling! magazines that are amazing, 1969 I think. Also a bunch of other old-timey bicycle paper, some of which I've scanned. I've never contributed anything to Internet Archive, thanks for the nudge.

2025-11-05 19:10:14 GMT

A few years ago, I scanned a 1919 Mead Ranger #Bicycles mail-order catalog. What did the #bike market look like 100+ years ago? Have a flip through it here:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/famvCvpJqAuGcGZq7
#BikeTooter
#BikeNite
#bikehistory
@npub1eea…umv2
https://files.sfba.social/media_attachments/files/115/498/660/636/594/148/original/4f4373bcff37ff6b.jpg

2025-09-17 11:42:05 GMT

I'm #GratefulForYou , @npub15w9…2huq .

2025-07-30 16:02:08 GMT

F.I.R.E. = Finance, Insurance, Real Estate
I learned this acronym yesterday, watching ' Michael Hudson: Trump, China, AI, and the Untold History of Economics,' thanks to @npub1z3l…txvc
https://youtu.be/3roQw-zbmLM
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIRE_economy
The acronym is apt.

2025-07-29 18:24:29 GMT

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If I could throw in another recommendation for a great pairing:
The Swerve - Stephen Greenblatt
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Swerve
On the Nature of Things - Lucretius
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_rerum_natura

2025-07-29 18:06:25 GMT

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I did; really valuable read.

2025-07-29 15:46:59 GMT

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I'm just finishing watching this. It is so illuminating.
#Followers, consider setting aside 2.5 hours to watch this. #MichaelHudson's speaking style doesn't quite match the expanse of his wisdom, but the wisdom shines through. He does fumble a bit with 'automatic intelligence,' but comparing #AI to the mechanization of labor and Marx and Ricardo is spot on. There are SO MANY valuable ideas in this talk. It is disruptive. We are not taught how the systems of #politics, #economics, #SocialSciences and #religion have an overall organization in western society, but he ties it together. Break it up if you have to, but watch this talk.
Original text of the Lord's Prayer:
"Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors."
The inversion of #Christianity in the #Catholic Church to become the origins of the modern #banking system is a mind-altering re-teaching of history.
#GlobalWarming = #debt. 🤯
#history #labor #government #debt #economies #creditors #debtors

2025-07-18 04:17:09 GMT

Gift link
This is a good read:
Is #Colbert’s Ouster Really Just a ‘Financial Decision’?
#CBS no longer deserves the benefit of the doubt.
By David A. Graham
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/07/colbert-ouster-cbc-trump/683593/?gift=mcbc6R1fEZSKpaJlIvw1wTD38vnvyG6u0QybSFAVSfw&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share
#TheAtlantic #Journalism

2025-07-18 03:48:38 GMT

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I want sure what this does, why you created it, so I read your FAQ and I'm sharing it:
https://home.channel.org/faqs
I'm still not sure what problem it solves, or features it provides that aren't available otherwise, but I'm looking forward to hearing more. If you were to give us a plain language explanation, that would be helpful.

2025-07-11 23:44:59 GMT

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https://naacp.org/find-resources/history-explained/origins-modern-day-policing

2025-07-11 21:32:29 GMT

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this is the most jarring outcome for me; the second amendment nut jobs have always claimed they need guns to resist the tyranny of an over-reaching federal government. And here we are; they are the foot soldiers of the tyrant.

2025-06-30 12:14:00 GMT

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I know a few people who've had surgery for it.

2025-06-23 17:57:49 GMT

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I believe that the people you are addressing are simply not on mastodon.

2025-05-20 18:42:22 GMT

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https://mamot.fr/@1HommeAzerty/114426210505156400
https://files.sfba.social/media_attachments/files/114/541/627/183/676/044/original/0de1965a8b8b62cd.png

2025-05-09 17:08:13 GMT

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'In 2009, political scientists examining a hundred years of polling data found that, starting in the mid-1960s, decreasing numbers of Americans referred to themselves as liberal. And because partisanship is a social dynamic, when the club began to shrink, the researchers wrote, it turned into “a spiral in which ‘liberal’ not only is unpopular, but becomes ever more so.”
The researchers also found that most Americans still supported “‘liberal’ public policies” such as “redistribution, intervention in the economy, and aggressive governmental action to solve social problems.” Americans, apparently, just hated the label.
“Owning the libs” has been the glue keeping together the Republican Party ever since.'
This was a very good read.
#Democrats #liberals #uspol #philosophy

2025-04-13 17:10:51 GMT

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a bit of art that addresses these very ideas, which I enjoyed very much was the book 'I Cheerfully Refuse,' by Leif Enger. I haven't written a review yet, but it's a retelling of the Orpheus & Eurydice myth, set in the near-future, after a collapse, with elites sheltering in privilege ('astronauts') and the rest of us producing what they consume and otherwise getting by, our hero a musician against the odds. I can't do it justice, but consider it. It's timely.
I guess I wrote a review.
#LeifEnger #ICheerfullyRefuse #books @npub1ny7…uv57
https://files.sfba.social/media_attachments/files/114/331/754/093/310/768/original/604cbb9fd6334264.png

2025-04-07 15:58:13 GMT

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https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypervitaminosis_A

2025-04-04 01:47:34 GMT

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WEAPONS AGAINST INFLUENZA. (1918). American journal of public health (New York, N.Y. : 1912)
https://fastestslowguy.blogspot.com/2021/03/weapons-against-influenza-1918-american.html

2025-03-20 18:40:16 GMT

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I'm reading a 1955 book right now, revised and issued as an ebook. I certainly would not benefit from having sought out a 70-year-old first edition. I enjoyed reading it at 1am last night, without having to turn on lights.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Crash,_1929
I don't like giving money to Bezos to read ebooks, and would like to use library checkouts on e-readers.
If you like old books, awesome, there's plenty. I hope you enjoy them. I like old books too. I've got some art books representing the art of someone who is long gone. These large format books are ideal for viewing, and thinking about his art.
Frank Patterson, drawings of bicycle culture in early 20th century Britain
I've got some short-run, local history books where the author has personally pasted in corrections on individual pages of each book, for version revisions. That painstaking care to get the history right is tangible.
James Sinnott, histories of California gold rush towns in Sierra County
Another Reply Guy

2025-03-07 22:41:40 GMT

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https://youtu.be/TEjKctHQvn8

2025-03-02 05:52:54 GMT

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https://universeodon.com/@cryptadamist/114089864047047672

2025-03-02 05:45:46 GMT

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... Unless your goal is to crash the dollar so you can "back it" with crypto. Who's holding a lot of crypto currencies?

2025-01-27 10:36:47 GMT

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a very good read on PFAS and corporate accountability: https://www.propublica.org/article/3m-forever-chemicals-pfas-pfos-inside-story
#PFAS #PFOS #3M #ProPublica

2025-01-17 22:11:58 GMT

I'm on #bookwyrm:
https://bookwyrm.social/user/Morgan
And #pixelfed:
https://pixey.org/Morgan

2025-01-01 15:19:18 GMT

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a guy I rode bikes with told a story. He was on a mountain climb with a German friend. It was pre-dawn, cold and dark, and they were approaching the difficult, final ascent to the summit. His German friend went behind some rocks to poop, and when he returned, he said (in a German accent, of course; it's part of the story) "You have to release your fear." (fee-yah)

2024-12-16 03:34:07 GMT

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https://fastestslowguy.blogspot.com/2019/11/nazis-in-oakland.html
There were #Nazis in #Oakland, CA in the 1930s & 1940s. I need to transcribe those articles. Will do. WIP

2024-12-07 23:03:44 GMT

Today's #bicycle ride. Unfortunately, that's #smog.
#biketooter #IThinkThatHashtagIsDumb #Oakland
https://files.sfba.social/media_attachments/files/113/614/027/876/412/597/original/7f99ee5b4d4c9bf9.jpg

2024-12-02 18:36:37 GMT

The End of #Democratic Delusions
The #Trump Reaction and what comes next
By George Packer
Gift article link:
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2025/01/trump-reelection-voter-demographic-change/680752/?gift=mcbc6R1fEZSKpaJlIvw1wfsdVWy7y2R9YrMiZ0-VBcI&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share
#uspol #TrumpReaction #GeorgePacker #TheAtlantic
https://files.sfba.social/media_attachments/files/113/584/664/653/716/407/original/27376894a57787ca.png

2024-12-02 16:56:43 GMT

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source: https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/pete-hegseths-secret-history