Doug Merrill 🌻
@bagatsen.bsky.social
Writer, editor, translator, project manager, reformed bookseller. Now Berlin previously Moscow, Tbilisi, Munich, DC, Warsaw, Budapest. Hoya Saxa! YSR! (he/him) Book reviews and oddments at https://thefrumiousconsortium.net
Gorgeous galaxy!
A spiral galaxy, observed with the Apache Point 2.5m Telescope in the SDSS survey.
It is at redshift 0.018 (lookback time 257.3 million years) with coordinates (138.38074, 28.95175).
44 volunteers classified this galaxy in Galaxy Zoo 2.
It is at redshift 0.018 (lookback time 257.3 million years) with coordinates (138.38074, 28.95175).
44 volunteers classified this galaxy in Galaxy Zoo 2.
November 9, 2025 at 6:35 PM
Gorgeous galaxy!
Well played, sir!
November 9, 2025 at 12:47 PM
Well played, sir!
You can play along here homes.luddy.indiana.edu/ccshan/for/f...
November 9, 2025 at 10:24 AM
You can play along here homes.luddy.indiana.edu/ccshan/for/f...
This is the way.
Hah yes this.
Some of the books I loved as a teen have really not held up, while others did and are clearly excellent.
But there were books I was also just not ready to read, and my opinions on them were a waste of space.
Some of the books I loved as a teen have really not held up, while others did and are clearly excellent.
But there were books I was also just not ready to read, and my opinions on them were a waste of space.
November 8, 2025 at 10:52 AM
This is the way.
This is the way.
Three @theguardian.com books cartoons from previous halloweens: 1. Haunted Bookshop
October 31, 2025 at 8:10 PM
This is the way.
Ask a Germanist what "industrialized deportation" sounds like.
NEW: ICE is planning to build a shadow deportation network in Texas. A proposal outlines a 24/7 transport operation run by armed contractors—turning Texas into the logistical backbone of an industrialized deportation machine.
My latest @wired.com: www.wired.com/story/ice-is...
My latest @wired.com: www.wired.com/story/ice-is...
October 30, 2025 at 7:43 PM
Ask a Germanist what "industrialized deportation" sounds like.
Everything new is old again.
Dante has a specific section of Hell for people who commit crimes on behalf of a monarch (the pope) knowing the monarch has promised in advance to pardon them.
October 26, 2025 at 11:21 AM
Everything new is old again.
This just might be the way.
Short, sweet, and right to the point.
Baking a tub of cookie dough like this..
YouTube video by Casual Cooking
youtu.be
October 25, 2025 at 6:13 PM
This just might be the way.
In the American tradition, populism stood for collective bargaining, untying money from gold, directly electing Senators, breaking railroad monopolies, progressive income tax, a shorter work week — an alliance of farmers and laborers. A lot of that was good, actually.
1/2
1/2
why are people on the left using "populist" in a positive way now, you shouldn't want your politicians to be populists, "populism" isn't good
October 25, 2025 at 5:45 PM
In the American tradition, populism stood for collective bargaining, untying money from gold, directly electing Senators, breaking railroad monopolies, progressive income tax, a shorter work week — an alliance of farmers and laborers. A lot of that was good, actually.
1/2
1/2
Ladies and gentlemen, the English language.
sometimes i remember "calque" is a loanword and "loanword" is a calque and i get so pissed off
October 25, 2025 at 3:17 PM
Ladies and gentlemen, the English language.
BOOM
(there it is)
(there it is)
October 25, 2025 at 3:02 PM
BOOM
(there it is)
(there it is)
Police will probably try to sandbag him, too.
and right on queue we move from trying to ratfuck Mamdani out of being elected to trying to sabotage his mayorship before it gets started
NEW: Eric Adams will pack the Rent Guidelines Board with at least 6 new members in an attempt to block Zohran Mamdani's plan to pause rent increases for regulated apartments, the New York Post reports.
October 24, 2025 at 8:52 PM
Police will probably try to sandbag him, too.
Bluesky is acting up for me today. :/
October 23, 2025 at 5:47 PM
Bluesky is acting up for me today. :/
"Before the removal of the dams, it was estimated that the yearly productivity of the area could be 5,000-11,000 hatchlings, which would double the total production of the landlocked salmon in the whole Hiitolanjoki river."
#RestoreNature
theecologist.org/2025/oct/21/...
#RestoreNature
theecologist.org/2025/oct/21/...
Wild landlocked salmon return to Finland
The salmon of the Hiitolanjoki river can finally return to their ancestral spawning grounds after being blocked for more than a century by three hydroelectric powerplants.
theecologist.org
October 22, 2025 at 11:23 AM
"He came in here and he trashed the place. And it wasn't his place."
October 22, 2025 at 9:11 AM
"He came in here and he trashed the place. And it wasn't his place."
Forgot to mention this, but AfD lost more local elections in the eastern state of Brandenburg on Sunday.
In Oranienburg, SPD won 60-40. Bad Freienwalde was a lot closer, CDU over AfD 52-48. In Kolkwitz and Luckenwalde the AfD did not make the runoff.
Even in small eastern towns, AfD is losing.
In Oranienburg, SPD won 60-40. Bad Freienwalde was a lot closer, CDU over AfD 52-48. In Kolkwitz and Luckenwalde the AfD did not make the runoff.
Even in small eastern towns, AfD is losing.
October 21, 2025 at 10:09 AM
Forgot to mention this, but AfD lost more local elections in the eastern state of Brandenburg on Sunday.
In Oranienburg, SPD won 60-40. Bad Freienwalde was a lot closer, CDU over AfD 52-48. In Kolkwitz and Luckenwalde the AfD did not make the runoff.
Even in small eastern towns, AfD is losing.
In Oranienburg, SPD won 60-40. Bad Freienwalde was a lot closer, CDU over AfD 52-48. In Kolkwitz and Luckenwalde the AfD did not make the runoff.
Even in small eastern towns, AfD is losing.
Can I just say, I love following this account through the course of the year.
Elrond and Gandalf release the flood. The three Riders in the river are swept away. Glorfindel, Strider, and the other hobbits charge the remaining Riders from behind with burning torches. Their steeds panic and dash forward into the thundering water.
October 20, 2025 at 8:45 PM
Can I just say, I love following this account through the course of the year.
The authors from whom I've read the most books would set this as:
1. Terry Pratchett
2. Patrick O'Brian
3. Alexander McCall Smith
4. Harlan Ellison
5. John Scalzi
6. J.R.R. Tolkien
7. Ursula K. Le Guin
8. Jo Walton
1. Terry Pratchett
2. Patrick O'Brian
3. Alexander McCall Smith
4. Harlan Ellison
5. John Scalzi
6. J.R.R. Tolkien
7. Ursula K. Le Guin
8. Jo Walton
Define your taste in books with 8 authors:
1. Tolkein
2. Pratchett
3. Robert Rankin
4. Tom Holt
5. Karin Slaughter
6. Patricia Cornwell
7. Joseph Conrad
8. Harry Harrison
1. Tolkein
2. Pratchett
3. Robert Rankin
4. Tom Holt
5. Karin Slaughter
6. Patricia Cornwell
7. Joseph Conrad
8. Harry Harrison
Define your taste in books with 8 authors:
Gramsci
Lorde
Davies
De Balzac
Spiegelman
Tamaki
Nowlan
Colwin
Gramsci
Lorde
Davies
De Balzac
Spiegelman
Tamaki
Nowlan
Colwin
October 19, 2025 at 6:13 PM
The authors from whom I've read the most books would set this as:
1. Terry Pratchett
2. Patrick O'Brian
3. Alexander McCall Smith
4. Harlan Ellison
5. John Scalzi
6. J.R.R. Tolkien
7. Ursula K. Le Guin
8. Jo Walton
1. Terry Pratchett
2. Patrick O'Brian
3. Alexander McCall Smith
4. Harlan Ellison
5. John Scalzi
6. J.R.R. Tolkien
7. Ursula K. Le Guin
8. Jo Walton
Trump 2.0 is the Project for a Post-American Century.
Dutch intelligence suspends sharing arrangements with the US after concluding that high level intel was routinely being shared by the White House with their friends in the Kremlin. www.volkskrant.nl/binnenland/n...
Nederlandse diensten delen minder informatie met de VS: ‘Soms vertellen we dingen niet meer’
Het aantal dreigingen dat op Nederland afkomt is groot, zien de hoofden van de AIVD en de MIVD elke dag: niet alleen Russische agressie, maar ook de opmars van China als digitale macht en binnenlands ...
www.volkskrant.nl
October 19, 2025 at 6:04 PM
Trump 2.0 is the Project for a Post-American Century.
Reposted by Doug Merrill 🌻
Artists, QRP with you favorite portrait ✍️
-The many PERFECT heads of Anna Karina
-The many PERFECT heads of Anna Karina
October 19, 2025 at 3:32 PM
Artists, QRP with you favorite portrait ✍️
-The many PERFECT heads of Anna Karina
-The many PERFECT heads of Anna Karina
This, too, is the way.
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the frogs
They are leading forth the unicorns & funny cats & dogs
They are coming from the rivers, from the ponds & from the bogs
Their truth is marching on
Glory glory hallelujah
Glory glory hallelujah
Glory glory hallelujah
Their truth is marching on
They are leading forth the unicorns & funny cats & dogs
They are coming from the rivers, from the ponds & from the bogs
Their truth is marching on
Glory glory hallelujah
Glory glory hallelujah
Glory glory hallelujah
Their truth is marching on
October 19, 2025 at 9:09 AM
This, too, is the way.
The city where I grew up, represent!
A crawfish came out of his mudhole off-season for this
October 19, 2025 at 7:18 AM
The city where I grew up, represent!
Better pictures from Berlin than mine. Americans in the German capital, represent!
October 18, 2025 at 7:55 PM
Better pictures from Berlin than mine. Americans in the German capital, represent!