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Matthew Rowley

@mbrowley.bsky.social

2K followers 360 following 3.4K posts

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Matthew Rowley @mbrowley.bsky.social · 10h

What goes on in the Brett Martin Inspection Chamber?

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Matthew Rowley @mbrowley.bsky.social · 12h

Oh, outstanding. I love it. Thank you.

Matthew Rowley @mbrowley.bsky.social · 12h

These are good. Thank you. I have a load that are gas or water cut off ports, electric outlets. We don’t do a lot of industrial arts in the public sphere anymore. Not like some of the old stuff. So I like these all.

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Matthew Rowley @mbrowley.bsky.social · 13h

And:

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Matthew Rowley @mbrowley.bsky.social · 13h

To wit:

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Matthew Rowley @mbrowley.bsky.social · 13h

The memory of it did creep me out a little as my husband showed me something on a map last night:

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Matthew Rowley @mbrowley.bsky.social · 13h

Ow, fu€k. My heart.

But also:

soul nate
@MNateShyamalan
.. •
always shocks me when people say the gifted program set them up to fail like that's some big surprise. everybody else was learning to read, and they pointed to you and said "not this one. this one will learn riddles." of course your brain is broken

Matthew Rowley @mbrowley.bsky.social · 13h

I take photos of notable manhole covers when traveling. Japan has a load of cool ones, even painted in gaudy colors, but the US is no slacker when it comes to iron design.

Leta see more. Post ‘em if you got ‘em.

Manhole cover for Albuquerque, New Mexico’s tricentennial. Parking lot of Azul Cocina, October 2025.

Star pipe products, made in India.

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Matthew Rowley @mbrowley.bsky.social · 13h

* gifted and talented, not gin and tonic.

Joke’s on us, though. Lotta burnouts in that gifted and talented class, more than a few who never saw the 21st century.

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Matthew Rowley @mbrowley.bsky.social · 13h

I don’t believe I’ve thought about the number of books I’ve read since c 1982 when the speed I read them and the comprehension I demonstrated allowed me to leapfrog into a different class at school. Still friends with those G&T* kids (still alive) I met then, but haven’t once counted titles since.

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Matthew Rowley @mbrowley.bsky.social · 22h

Ribs (pleura removed, flanken cut, then into 1-2 rib sections), honey, oyster sauce, hella garlic, black pepper, star anise, Aleppo pepper, and sea salt. Roast at 350°F/180°C for about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Is good.

Pork ribs in a sticky, star anise-scented sauce in a glass baking dish upon a stove top.

Matthew Rowley @mbrowley.bsky.social · 23h

Dragonfly out in the sun
you know what I mean.

Dragonfly on my sleeve. A dragonfly in the house is not quite the brain-melting pandemonium of a loose dog in one’s grade school, but it does bring to mind some Nina Simone.

Matthew Rowley @mbrowley.bsky.social · 1d

I’ll consent to watch from the sides.

a group of people standing in front of an ice cream truck that says ice cream

ALT: a group of people standing in front of an ice cream truck that says ice cream

media.tenor.com

Matthew Rowley @mbrowley.bsky.social · 1d

Checking in online for an upcoming doctor’s checkup. The intake form asked me to consent to their notetaking app without mentioning that it’s AI.

I see every week examples of how inept, how genuinely bad, AI text generation is.

Consent? LOL. No. GTFO. Not trusting that with anything important.

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Matthew Rowley @mbrowley.bsky.social · 1d

No doubt.

Matthew Rowley @mbrowley.bsky.social · 1d

Not only women. Friend took me to a San Francisco daddy/bear bar. The stench of “man-scent,” as the bouncer enthused, hit about four steps through the door. Grown men, long unwashed, assembling to stink like sun-ripened garbage on a trash collectors’ strike. I noped out right then and there.

Snow clone of Mulan meme that originally read “Look at all that dishonor.“ The words look at have been clumsily replaced with “Smell.“

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Matthew Rowley @mbrowley.bsky.social · 1d

Madder occasionally shows up in very old drinks receipts for imparting a red hue. Cochineal (the insect-derived red of cardinals’ vestments, kings’ robes, and, until vegans got wind of it, strawberry Frappuccinos) came later. Nice to see this.

Sara Charles @saracharles.bsky.social · 1d

Homegrown madder pigment. It's wonderful to create medieval pigment from something grown in your garden #bookhistory #medievalpigments #medievalsky

Dried madder roots in a bowl on some scales

Madder pigment being mulled on a glass slab

Madder pigment surrounded by examples of dried paint on paper and parchment

Matthew Rowley @mbrowley.bsky.social · 1d

Mexico trip coming up. Guadalajara (first time) and Oaxaca (a repeat). Checking in with friends, Instagram, etc., as I research food options, but some old timey printed matter isn’t out of place.

Stack of food books on a wooden cabinet.

Dining with the Dead

TACOPEDIA: The Taco Encyclopedia

THE FOOD OF OAXACA

Oaxaca

Oaxaca al Gusto

TACOS GDL

MERCADOS

Mexico: ACulinary Quest

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Matthew Rowley @mbrowley.bsky.social · 1d

A shameless riff on:

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Matthew Rowley @mbrowley.bsky.social · 1d

My tastes are unfocused—Berlioz to Beethoven, Patsy Cline to Warren Zevon, Klangkarussell to Kygo—but not all-encompassing. Cracked a few smiles recently at kitschy Polo & Pan whose “Dorothy” pastiche shows Martin Denny/exotica/tiki bones and mid-century SciFi tomfoolery: youtu.be/hVW63Z_8deE?...

POLO & PAN - Dorothy (official video)

YouTube video by Ekler

youtu.be

Matthew Rowley @mbrowley.bsky.social · 1d

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Matthew Rowley @mbrowley.bsky.social · 1d

I wouldn’t mind the company, but it’s a bit of a hike. Tell you what, though: here are my notes. Oven at 350°F/180°C for about an hour and fifteen minutes. I don’t bother with a bowl. Simply dump everything but the pork into a roasting tin, mix, then roll the ribs through it.

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Matthew Rowley @mbrowley.bsky.social · 1d

Pork ribs, flanken-cut across the bones, then into 2-3 rib sections. Beaucoup garlic and black pepper, star anise, crushed chiles, oyster sauce, honey, salt. Oven roast. Sticky, sweet, hot, fatty. Big bowl of rice. Something green on the side, don’t know what yet.

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Matthew Rowley @mbrowley.bsky.social · 1d

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