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Russ Epp-Leppel 💜💀

@leppeppel.bsky.social

560 followers 72 following 1.5K posts

Author. Engineer. Armchair polymath. (formerly @purpleskull14 and @leppeppel on the bird app) SFFH or STFU | ADHD, Kinsey 2 | Memento Mori linktr.ee/leppeppel

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Russ Epp-Leppel 💜💀 @leppeppel.bsky.social · Nov 15

When a detective's search for his missing love interest in a city of magic uncovers a plot to trigger Ragnarök, it entangles him in a web of crime and intrigue. Will he risk his career to become the last mensch standing in the path of oblivion?
#amquerying #UrbanFantasy

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Peter @notalawyer.bsky.social · 4h

the actual story here, which the media never talks about, is that police in this country have become a discrete right-wing political operation. the story isn't about cops leaving (they're lying about that), it's about the police trying to exert influence over elections.

Mark Misoshnik 🏴 @misoshnik.bsky.social · 1d

Lmao is this supposed to be a bad thing?

A tweet from Bari Weiss that says “"It's shaken me to my core," a lieutenant said of Mamdani's unexpected victory in June. "The absolute dread I feel is palpable.
"
Today in @TheFP our @Olivia_Reingold talks to the cops who say they will walk if Zohran Mamdani is elected in November:”

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Old White Nepo Hat @kenwhite.bsky.social · 1d

Also: if you work for ICE, even if you’re not one of the ones arresting citizens or tackling 15-year-olds or zip-tying kids together and segregating them by race, you’re part of the mechanism making it happen, and you should suffer long-term social and post-regime-change consequences.

Ari Cohn @aricohn.com · 1d

Some weirdo on Twitter has been absolutely melting down for like 36 straight hours because I posted:

When this is over, do not forget what ICE did, and what ICE is. And do not make room for them in society. Make sure they know that they are, and will continue to be, reviled and beneath contempt.

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Alt National Park Service @altnps.bsky.social · 5h

This conspiracy theory isn’t just false, it’s a calculated attempt to erode trust in democracy itself, and to shift blame for one of the darkest days in modern American history onto those who tried to defend it.

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Alt National Park Service @altnps.bsky.social · 5h

Trump has rolled out yet another baseless conspiracy theory in his relentless campaign to lie and spread misinformation to the public. His latest claim, that the FBI orchestrated the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol and that Biden ordered it, collapses under even the most basic scrutiny.

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derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 8h

This two-parter below is exactly why it's hard to make clothes in the United States.

Let's look at how much it costs to produce a button-up shirt in the US. 🧵

Someone on Twitter replies to me: "meh. buy american or stfu."

Two hours later, in a separate thread, the write: "$30 for a single button-up is ridiculous unless it is decent quality silk."

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George Takei @georgetakei.bsky.social · 11h

Kristi Noem’s America, folks. That poor dog. That poor family.

Tweet by Aaron Reichlin-Melnick: “Border Patrol reportedly shot a dog and then the agent fled rather than deal with any kind of accountability whatsoever.”
Below is Keith Edwards’ tweet: “BREAKING: A family in El Paso says ICE shot and killed their dog, Chop. The agent who fired reportedly ran as the family screamed for help. No one came.”

Photo of a large black and brown Rottweiler sitting calmly on a tiled floor next to a white chair and a window with blinds.

A black-background screenshot of text describing an incident: the sender says no Border Patrol agents rendered aid after their dog was shot, and that the responsible agent fled the scene with help from others. They emphasize that the agent’s name was never released and that their family lost a member “for no lawful reason.”

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Alt National Park Service @altnps.bsky.social · 7h

Today in an interview with NBC News, Vance said that Trump was considering all of his options for deploying the National Guard to major cities, including invoking the Insurrection Act of 1807, which grants the president emergency powers to deploy troops on U.S. soil.

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Russ Epp-Leppel 💜💀 @leppeppel.bsky.social · 12h

2025: *cue Geddy Lee bass riff*
It took more than two and a half hours to draw, hollow, shave, scrape, and finally carve, but the results speak for themselves.

The design is finalized and the star is scraped off.

The jack-o'-lantern is finished and test-lit.

Russ Epp-Leppel 💜💀 @leppeppel.bsky.social · 12h

2024: Avatar State (yip yip!)

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Russ Epp-Leppel 💜💀 @leppeppel.bsky.social · 12h

2023: Gävlebocken. Two designs on opposite sides of the same pumpkin forced me to consider my order of operations, but the lettering turned out well for this more complicated phrase.

a jack-o-lantern carved with a goat wreathed in flames.

The back says “CAPRA DELENDA EST” (The Goat must be destroyed).

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Russ Epp-Leppel 💜💀 @leppeppel.bsky.social · 12h

2022: Hellmo & “Arson is a mood.” Due to COVID, we missed the pumpkin carving party in ‘20 & ‘21, so I carved 2 to make up for it and went with a theme. More experiments w/ thickness, complex shapes, & translucency almost cost Elmo an arm. This was also a 1st attempt with words.

two jack-o-lanterns carved with a demonic-looking Elmo in front of a wall of flames (the “Hellmo” meme) and the slogan “Arson is a Mood.”

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Russ Epp-Leppel 💜💀 @leppeppel.bsky.social · 12h

2019: Big Giant Gourds. Being possessed by the spirit of MichaelCthulhu, I was inspired to make something incredibly complicated and ridiculously heavy. This was my most time-intensive project so far, taking nearly four hours of drawing, scraping, shaving, and carving.

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Russ Epp-Leppel 💜💀 @leppeppel.bsky.social · 12h

2018: This design was inspired by my tea mug. The skull, snakes, and bats design was just an experiment in how fine I could carve certain details, as well as making larger areas translucent.

a jack-o-lantern whose design uses a translucent skull with cut out eyes, nose, snakes, and bats. The bat cut-outs are stuck back on top with toothpicks.

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Russ Epp-Leppel 💜💀 @leppeppel.bsky.social · 12h

2017: Spider. Here, the designs begin to get more complicated. The wall behind the legs had to be thin enough to not show from the side but thick enough to support the central body. I also started experimenting with shaving off the peel so that the hourglass and eyes would glow.

a jack-o-lantern which is carved to resemble a spider. The hourglass on the abdomen and the eyes glow

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Russ Epp-Leppel 💜💀 @leppeppel.bsky.social · 12h

2016: Again, nothing too complicated, just a skull, although this was also the design that taught me the importance of thinning the walls wherever you want to do detailed carving.

a jack-o-lantern made from a white pumpkin and carved to resemble a skull

a jack-o-lantern made from a white pumpkin and carved to resemble a skull, illuminated

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Russ Epp-Leppel 💜💀 @leppeppel.bsky.social · 12h

2015: The Batman logo. Nothing fancy here, just basic shapes and using negative space (although some people have pointed out that the carved away areas also kind of look like a face).

a jack-o-lantern which is carved to resemble the Batman symbol

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Russ Epp-Leppel 💜💀 @leppeppel.bsky.social · 12h

Having now been doing this for more than ten years, I put together this 🧵 of my annual jack-o-lantern projects since 2015. Each pattern was something I wanted to carve, but also a design using techniques I wanted to experiment with so I could use them more in the future. 🎃

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Alt National Park Service @altnps.bsky.social · 15h

The Trump administration has now reversed the layoffs of a lot of federal employees. At the CDC, officials said some staff were mistakenly terminated due to a procedural error.

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Alan Dettlaff @alandettlaff.com · 1d

Yesterday I was told that the class I’m scheduled to teach this month, Confronting Oppression & Injustice, is no longer part of our curriculum. This is a required class yet there was no discussion, no faculty vote, just an email saying the class no longer exists. This is what it’s like in Texas now.

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Russ Epp-Leppel 💜💀 @leppeppel.bsky.social · 1d

How I spent my Saturday night:

Russ Epp-Leppel 💜💀 @leppeppel.bsky.social · 1d

#SkellieOnTheTelly day 11: #Caturday

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Alt National Park Service @altnps.bsky.social · 1d

More than 5,000 federal employees have received layoff notices. We’re working to ensure that the administration isn’t using state voter rolls to target registered Democrats for termination. More details soon.

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Alt National Park Service @altnps.bsky.social · 1d

Trump has explicitly stated that he is terminating federal employees based on political affiliation. Data is currently being collected, but layoff notices have already gone out to employees at the Departments of Commerce, Education, Energy,

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David Corn @davidcorn.bsky.social · 1d

A classic case of irresponsible both-sidesism from the NYT. The story is that Trump and MAGA propagandists are lying about Portland to incite a conflict, not that there are different views of the matter.

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Alt National Park Service @altnps.bsky.social · 1d

Federal employees across the government are now receiving layoff notices, a devastating outcome of Trump’s political games. It’s outrageous that he would use people’s livelihoods as pawns to “score political points”.

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