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Fred Beukema

@beukema

In Minneapolis. Structural engineer, mostly lapsed improvisor, 3 day Jeopardy! champ. Happily married to a public school teacher. Two kids, a cat, and a dog.

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01.07.2023
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Latest posts by Fred Beukema @beukema

This is how I access BlueSky

10.03.2026 03:04 πŸ‘ 6 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 2
Preview
Hasbro’s CEO on J.K. Rowling. We just published our new Decoder interview with Chris Cocks, the head of Hasbro. I asked him directly about how he thinks about author J.K. Rowling’s politics and what it’s done to the Harry Potter f...

cannot stress enough that "separate the art from the artist" was meant for private individuals reconciling the art they love with its flawed creators and not meant for the ceo of a company driving a dump truck of money up to a bigot's front porch

www.theverge.com/podcast/8914...

09.03.2026 19:22 πŸ‘ 7408 πŸ” 2098 πŸ’¬ 106 πŸ“Œ 146

US (2019) d. Jordan Peele

10.03.2026 00:40 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

This might be controversial but even the braindead use case of AI as a parlor trick for you and your erudite friends to hyuck and gee whiz over in between doing the Wordle and overnighting dongles on Amazon is miserable and corrosive to your humanity

09.03.2026 22:17 πŸ‘ 97 πŸ” 13 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

I'm glad I wasn't the only one who thought this.

09.03.2026 20:29 πŸ‘ 5 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

turning a big dial that says "military adventurism failure" on it and constantly looking back at the stock market for approval

09.03.2026 19:54 πŸ‘ 110 πŸ” 16 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Democrats should try to solve actual problems in society rather than jumping on the Grover Norquest-lite slop train

09.03.2026 18:36 πŸ‘ 480 πŸ” 27 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 1

Counterpoint: taxation-funded governance and programs are good, actually.

09.03.2026 18:38 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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holy shit

09.03.2026 01:20 πŸ‘ 13695 πŸ” 3002 πŸ’¬ 229 πŸ“Œ 586

Name names

09.03.2026 15:16 πŸ‘ 7 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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This is the warning on the blood pressure monitor my dad just got.

Exceptional work. Anybody know what the fuck it’s supposed to mean?

Last line is especially ominous

09.03.2026 13:36 πŸ‘ 2684 πŸ” 606 πŸ’¬ 179 πŸ“Œ 197
Mega Man 2 Select Screen Stereo
Mega Man 2 Select Screen Stereo YouTube video by Jeremey Stevig

It's in rarefied company, for sure.

09.03.2026 12:10 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Strongly suspect that as this war and its negative effects escalate, we're gonna see a massive increase in disinfo and unsourced "news" - starting right the hell now.

PLEASE don't share "breaking" news from rando or disreputable accounts who provide no links.

09.03.2026 01:26 πŸ‘ 2415 πŸ” 675 πŸ’¬ 13 πŸ“Œ 42

But we're going to touch the stove and we'll be touching it more than probably ever before. And we're not going to get burned. We're not going to get burned

03.03.2025 13:25 πŸ‘ 13404 πŸ” 1783 πŸ’¬ 87 πŸ“Œ 45

NO NO NO YOU DON’T

GUYS LET ME PLEASE SPREAD THE GOSPEL OF FREE TAX USA

federal is free, state is $16, handles even my chaotic freelancer taxes just fine, same step-by-step β€œdesigned for normies” kind of interface as TurboTax but NOT EVIL

tell everyone you know

www.freetaxusa.com

09.03.2026 01:26 πŸ‘ 12129 πŸ” 7375 πŸ’¬ 13 πŸ“Œ 3

Alt text: a view toward the west of a row of houses with a dramatic sunset behind them. The clouds form purple and pink stripes in the sky, with an orange glow below, toward the horizon. Several trees, evergreen or leafless, are silhouetted against the colors.

09.03.2026 01:32 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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09.03.2026 00:19 πŸ‘ 38 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
Marco Rubio hanging out with Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio at the "Shield of the Americas" event

Marco Rubio hanging out with Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio at the "Shield of the Americas" event

Marco Rubio hanging out with Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio at the "Shield of the Americas" event, in case you were still thinking it had some sort of legitimate purpose

08.03.2026 05:45 πŸ‘ 5848 πŸ” 2497 πŸ’¬ 439 πŸ“Œ 378
Preview
Daylight saving time in the United States - Wikipedia

But what seals it for me was learning that the US tried year-round DST for a couple years, and it was a failure:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dayligh...

08.03.2026 13:46 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Long been my contention that DST is a necessary compromise between the ~1/3 who would despise year-round Standard (I'm in this cohort - 4:30 sunrise in June?!), 1/3 who would hate year-round DST (3:30 sunset in Dec), and 1/3 who don't really care.

08.03.2026 13:43 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
Daylight saving time in the United States - Wikipedia

But what seals it for me was learning that the US tried year-round DST for a couple years, and it was a failure:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dayligh...

08.03.2026 13:46 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Long been my contention that DST is a necessary compromise between the ~1/3 who would despise year-round Standard (I'm in this cohort - 4:30 sunrise in June?!), 1/3 who would hate year-round DST (3:30 sunset in Dec), and 1/3 who don't really care.

08.03.2026 13:43 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0

Not unlike some of the Wolves yesterday HEY-O

08.03.2026 13:32 πŸ‘ 7 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Holy crap. Gorillaz brought Del to SNL.

08.03.2026 05:15 πŸ‘ 8 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Is Vance wearing DeSantis-style lifts?

08.03.2026 03:55 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Yes.

If you notice, these pundits never go to the mat for leftists who are anti-racists.

So it’s not the leftism that they’re pushing hard for. It’s the other thing.

07.03.2026 15:19 πŸ‘ 220 πŸ” 18 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 1

I wanted to ask the Facebook person who told you to "go to the ER" where they thought you were, and whether there were any context clues in your post.

Glad you're ok though.

08.03.2026 02:03 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

What a terrible move on their part. I'm so sorry.

08.03.2026 01:11 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Matt has been a mentor and a friend to half the critics coming up in the past few decades. He helped me get my very first gig. His bookstore is a treasure trove of gorgeous art and behind the scenes knowledge. I can't recommend it enough.

08.03.2026 01:05 πŸ‘ 294 πŸ” 107 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 1
The cover to the Eels album Electro-Shock Blues, showing a child's drawing of a man, a girl, and a small white dog flying past the moon in the night sky.

The cover to the Eels album Electro-Shock Blues, showing a child's drawing of a man, a girl, and a small white dog flying past the moon in the night sky.

Counterpoint:

08.03.2026 00:48 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0