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Reposted by Xander Lenc

Oakland Review of Books @oaklandreviewofbooks.org · 1d

See if you can figure out which entries in this week's calendar were written inebriated: www.oaklandreviewofbooks.org/oakland-revi...

Oakland Review of Books calendar of (not just) literary events, October 7 - October 12

last minute signs with children's markers

www.oaklandreviewofbooks.org

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Xander Lenc @xlenc.bsky.social · 2d

I had not seen all of these, thank you so much!

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Xander Lenc @xlenc.bsky.social · 2d

Oh I'm excited to hear it!

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Xander Lenc @xlenc.bsky.social · 2d

I've grown increasingly wary of the "food desert" framing in recent years but I have a feeling that it won't stop me from enjoying this book.

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Xander Lenc @xlenc.bsky.social · 2d

I'm really excited about this one, I've been saying we need more scholarship on prison food for years.

Carceral Abolition @carceralabolition.bsky.social · 2d

Eating Behind Bars
Ending the Hidden Punishment of Food in Prison thenewpress.org/books/eating...

Book cover - Eating Behind Bars: Ending the Hidden Punishment of Food in Prison

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Xander Lenc @xlenc.bsky.social · 2d

I switched around the time they made the Rogan deal. I don't feel like I can chalk it up as a choice over ethics (streaming is still pretty bad either way) but I have never regretted it, I just felt gross using Spotify.

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Xander Lenc @xlenc.bsky.social · 2d

I've always found it wild that we have all just accepted that the defense and prosecution teams are all practicing something called "criminal law." Guilty until proven innocent indeed!

David Kaib @davidkaib.bsky.social · 3d

Being targeted for police violence constructs people as criminals. Cops beat someone and the news refers to the victim as a suspect.

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Xander Lenc @xlenc.bsky.social · 2d

The mods don't seem to have any trouble banning people who criticize them. Why is it so hard to imagine banning hate speech instead.

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Xander Lenc @xlenc.bsky.social · 2d

Canada's carbon footprint from beef consumption is about to drop dramatically.

jeff computers @helldude.bsky.social · 3d

lets all stay dignified and remember that jordan was doing (canadian) politics the right way

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Xander Lenc @xlenc.bsky.social · 4d

It's obviously absurd & infuriating when people compare anti-AI sentiment to racism, but what's interesting to me is that the people who want to ascribe something like human dignity to software have no issue with that software being owned by corporations, and forced to do their bidding.

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Xander Lenc @xlenc.bsky.social · 4d

The Alabama Solution is one of the most terrifying documentaries I have ever seen in my life. I thought I had desensitized myself to the horrors of American prisons, but apparently I was wrong. But I also left feeling amazed by the incredible organizing that people inside have accomplished.

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Reposted by Xander Lenc

Noah Berlatsky @nberlat.bsky.social · 5d

claims that men are falling behind because they're not going to college fail to understand that men go to college at lower rates because thanks to sexism they have more and better non college options. www.everythingishorrible.net/p/women-outn...

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Xander Lenc @xlenc.bsky.social · 5d

www.axios.com/2025/09/09/d...

The gender pay gap is getting wider, reversing progress

It's the second consecutive year that the gender wage gap widened.

www.axios.com

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Xander Lenc @xlenc.bsky.social · 5d

On a fundamental level the data simply does not support that. But it doesn't matter either way, because to the "men are falling behind" crowd the narrowing of the gender wage gap is the same thing as men falling behind, because they see lower wages for women as the natural state of things.

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Xander Lenc @xlenc.bsky.social · 5d

One of the clearest signs that someone is a pseudo-intellectual who sources all their opinions wholesale from social media: they sincerely believe that American women are doing just fine economically but "men are falling behind."

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Xander Lenc @xlenc.bsky.social · 6d

People who got furious about Cleveland changing their baseball team's name to the Guardians are hilarious because "the Cleveland Indians" was their eighth or ninth name. They were called the Grand Rapids Furniture Makers at one point, I am not even joking.

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Xander Lenc @xlenc.bsky.social · 6d

From what I hear they put every other spots fandom on earth to shame. It probably doesn't hurt that you can sometimes bring your own alcohol into the stadium.

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Xander Lenc @xlenc.bsky.social · 6d

Oh wow good luck tomorrow!

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Xander Lenc @xlenc.bsky.social · 6d

A fun baseball fact I like is that the the NPB (Japan's pro baseball association) has the second highest total attendance of ANY sports league in the world (behind MLB), and it has a higher average attendance than American baseball!

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Xander Lenc @xlenc.bsky.social · 6d

Yo who else is up late atoning & repenting & hoping that the names of their buddies are inscribed in the Book of Life?

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Xander Lenc @xlenc.bsky.social · 6d

I have not read it yet but that definitely tracks, haha.

Xander Lenc @xlenc.bsky.social · 6d

I still think a lot about a Gary Wills article I read in high school that made a comparable argument: theamericanscholar.org/what-jesus-d...

What Jesus Did - The American Scholar

Forget about Christ as secular sage, historical figure, or even as Christian

theamericanscholar.org

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Reposted by Xander Lenc

Preston Mui @prestonmui.bsky.social · 7d

The Indeed Wage Tracker growth rate has fallen a full percentage point year-to-date. Hard to see signs of re-acceleration here.

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Xander Lenc @xlenc.bsky.social · 8d

Yeah, the prevailing dogma in natsec circles is that the U.S. is more stable as some sort of democracy, but that doesn't mean they'll willingly cause instability to defend democracy for its own sake. Their concerns are mostly about competence and proper deference to officer dignity, not liberty.

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Xander Lenc @xlenc.bsky.social · 8d

That much I disagree with! We will save us!

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