Steve DeGroof
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degroof.bsky.social
Steve DeGroof
@degroof.bsky.social
180 followers 110 following 3.8K posts
Approximately 60% water and 40% organic molecules, arranged in a configuration that is, among other things, capable of describing itself in this manner.

(he/him)

https://ko-fi.com/treelobsters/shop
https://books2read.com/ap/ng21bz/Steve-DeGroof
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degroof.bsky.social
Steve DeGroof @degroof.bsky.social · Aug 5
Hey! I've got eight #scifi and #fantasy #books available for sale. Six of them are #shortstory collections; two are novels.

You can get #DRMfree copies at ko-fi.com/treelobsters...

Or you can find them through your favorite vendor at books2read.com/ap/ng21bz/St...

#ShamelessSelfPromo
cover art for eight books
Reposted by Steve DeGroof
artologica.net
because they are very rich
wagatwe.com Wagatwe Wanjuki @wagatwe.com · 14h
why do the major AI boosters have zero knowledge of the human experience?
January 6, 2026 at 10:48 PM
Reposted by Steve DeGroof
noisyastronomer.com
Omg!!!
mwatzke.bsky.social Megan Watzke @mwatzke.bsky.social · 13h
It moves! We can watch as the Kepler supernova remnant changes over a quarter of century in X-rays from Chandra. #aas247
chandra.si.edu/photo/2026/k...
January 6, 2026 at 10:06 PM
degroof.bsky.social
Why does Tucker Carlson always look like a dog who's just been shown a magic trick?
January 6, 2026 at 6:25 PM
degroof.bsky.social
#Ablatonyms 114
✅✅✅✅✅✅✅ 🎉
Moves: 7
Elapsed Time: 00:00:11
Time Bonus: +10
Score: 110
degroof.github.io/ablatonyms.h...
ABLATONYMS
degroof.github.io
January 6, 2026 at 11:54 AM
degroof.bsky.social
OMIWORD.com
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Puzzle #371 (Normal)
Time spent: 01:35
20 moves • 0 hints
Omiword
OMIWORD.com
January 6, 2026 at 11:52 AM
degroof.bsky.social
Silly Little Codes
Puzzle #286
0️⃣0️⃣:0️⃣0️⃣:2️⃣5️⃣
www.playsillylittlegames.com/codes
January 6, 2026 at 11:49 AM
degroof.bsky.social
[Bracket City]
January 6, 2026 🟡 (Medium)
www.theatlantic.com/games/bracke...
☠️ hard mode!
Rank: 🔮 (Puppet Master)
🎹 Total Keystrokes: 63
🎯 Minimum Required: 63
Total Score: 100.0
🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪
Bracket City - The Atlantic
Solve nested clues to reveal a satisfying fact about this day in history. Climb the ranks from tourist to kingmaker (or beyond?).
www.theatlantic.com
January 6, 2026 at 11:48 AM
degroof.bsky.social
#Wordle 1,662 5/6
⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 858 words left.
⬛⬛🟨⬛⬛ 86 words left.
🟨🟩⬛⬛⬛ 2 words left.
⬛🟩🟨🟨⬛ 1 word left.
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Got it in 5.

#Obscurdle 1094: 4/6
⬛🟨🟩⬛⬛ 51 words left.
⬛🟨⬛⬛⬛ 2 words left.
🟩⬛🟩🟩⬛ 1 word left.
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Got it in 4.
www.stevedegroof.com/obscurdle.html
January 6, 2026 at 11:40 AM
degroof.bsky.social
#startrek #StrangerThings
Picard shouting "There are three waterfalls!"
January 6, 2026 at 12:31 AM
degroof.bsky.social
In 2016, I started on a novel. I wrote a few paragraphs and set it aside. At the time, the over-the-top dystopian fascism portrayed in it would have played as a farce. Now? Not so much.
#Writing #AmWriting #books
The world stumbled. Metaphorically, of course. The planet itself was fine, other than running a bit of a fever. The people living on it, on the other hand, were a different story. And even most of them didn’t actually stumble, even metaphorically. Most of them did nothing. They did the exact sort of nothing that lets other people – the sort of people who take advantage of inaction – do exactly that. Peter Castilla waited in a near-endless line at the local office of the Department of Homeland Information. “Local” was, at the very least, a generous term. It was a two-hour drive from home, and Peter had driven it three times this week. First trip, he’d queued for five hours, only to be told he was in the wrong line. Second trip, right line, wrong forms. This time, maybe, just maybe, he’d get past the bored, underpaid gatekeepers, and talk to someone who actually knew something. The hours ticked by. The only entertainment – if you could call it that – was “GAB Session” playing on video screens mounted around the waiting area. The noise from the throngs of people waiting in line drowned out the audio, but Great America Broadcasting helpfully provided captioning. Peter tried to ignore it. The last thing he needed now was more government propaganda. “GAB Session” ran twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, and consisted entirely of five co-hosts chatting about current events. Every few hours, the co-hosts would change, though it was hard to tell one squad from the next. Their uniform blandness made them look as superficial and fabricated as the news they discussed. Every so often, Peter would bribe someone to hold his place while he stepped out for lunch and bathroom breaks. A decent line stand-in could make good money in the crushing bureaucracy that had become the norm in recent years. You queued for everything: licenses, identification, forms, forms to fill out to get forms... About the only thing you didn’t have to queue up for was being arrested. The stand-ins weren’t officially part of the DHI. They weren’t even officially recognized to exist. Acknowledging they existed would be an admission that the department was either overwhelmed or incompetent. Nevertheless, the stand-ins did exist and provided a practical solution for a problem that didn’t officially exist. As a result, DHI officers turned a blind eye to the practice, at least until the end of the day, when they took their cut of the earnings. Finally at the front of the line, Peter was waved forward by a dead-eyed clerk – no name tag, just “DHI” stitched on an ill-fitting blue coverall – who greeted him with a perfunctory “Hail to the Chief”. Peter returned the greeting with a similar lack of enthusiasm. He handed his forms to the man, who scanned them, looking for mistakes. Depending on the clerk’s mood – which was usually, understandably, unpleasant – a misplaced comma could send you packing. The clerk, finding Peter’s paperwork disappointingly impeccable, gave him an annoyed nod. “Room 509,” he grunted, ticking the “Approved” box on the bottom of the form and handing it back. Peter headed for the elevator lobby and pushed the “Up” button. He briefly wondered what would have happened had he just ticked the “Approved” box himself and skipped the line altogether. Probably something swift, brutal, and carried out by a dozen or so underpaid, untrained goons who nevertheless enjoyed their jobs. An elevator arrived eventually, dinging several times before the doors reluctantly rattled open. Peter entered, along with another downtrodden individual carrying a similar bundle of papers. “Seven,” she said. Peter pressed the 7 and 5 buttons. They rode in silence. What was there to say? The elevator shuddered to a halt at the fifth floor. As the doors opened, Peter glanced back at his elevator companion, who briefly flashed a peace sign, shielding it from the security camera with her sheaf of paper. Peter nodded in reply. The door to 509 was open. The room was small, cramped and poorly lit. The only decoration in the room was the obligatory flag: 13 stripes, 110 stars. It would soon be 111 stars, based on reports of the Baffin Island annexation. A woman wearing a gray suit sat behind a battered steel desk, typing on an ancient desktop computer. Dust clung to the fan exhaust. The monitor, a massive CRT unit, had to be at least twenty years old. Peter knocked on the door frame. The woman – again, no name tag, just a DHI badge pinned to her jacket – looked up, startled. “Hail to the Chief. Come in. Close the door. Have a seat,” she recited. “Hail to the Chief.” Peter sat down and handed his papers to the woman. She took them and scanned the front page. “Peter Foster Castilla,” she read. “Patriot Registration Number 881-7183-288. And you are looking for information concerning the whereabouts of Kendall Hadley Segal, PRN 396-2920-147. Is this correct?” “Yes, I...” Peter began. “One moment,” the woman interrupted. She turned her attention to her computer, presumably typing in Kendall’s information. She stared intently at the screen, waiting for it to respond. Eventually, she sat back and regarded Peter. “On your request for information, you listed Kendall Segal as your spouse,” she said. She cleared her throat. “Our records indicate he is male.” “Yes,” Peter replied. “He’s my husband.” The woman stiffened, glancing at the security camera in the corner of the ceiling. “Mr. Castilla, the United States of Great America does not recognize same-sex marriage.” “We were married before the laws changed,” Peter explained. The woman nodded, took out a red pen and marked up the cover sheet. “Understood. However, for the purposes of this inquiry, we will need to alter your relationship status to ‘acquaintance’. This will limit the amount and nature of the information I am allowed to release to you.” Peter considered protesting but thought better of it. “Understood.” The woman flipped through the documents. “Mr. Segal has no living relatives,” she said. “So, unfortunately, there is no one who can retrieve this information on your behalf.” “Which is why I’m here.” Peter massaged his forehead in frustration. “OK, fine. Give me what you can. It’s better than nothing.” The woman typed on the keyboard and a grubby dot-matrix printer in the corner of the office began to churn out a page of text. “What I can tell you,” the woman began, writing notes on the cover page, “is that your acquaintance was conscripted by the Department of Homeland Engineering via random lottery. You may inquire there but, given that you are not a family member, it’s unlikely they will be able to help you.” “Random lottery,” Peter repeated. He thought he heard a sigh escape the woman’s lips. She probably had to use that phrase several times a day, explaining the abrupt disappearance of one person or another to some family member. The random lotteries, as far as Peter could tell, were anything but. There were conscription lotteries for nearly every branch of government. The Department of Homeland Defense had a particularly high conscription rate, recruiting soldiers for The War. It was never clear where The War was, or who they were fighting, or even why they were fighting. It didn’t pay to ask too many questions about that. People who were too inquisitive had a habit of disappearing, either arrested on bogus charges or, more likely, “randomly” conscripted into The War. No one ever returned. Three days. Three days of driving back and forth, waiting in line, and what did he have to show for it? Ken was taken by the DHE. He already knew that, of course. He’d been the first person Ken told. They barely had time to say goodbye before the Conscription goons had shown up to take him away. “Random lottery my ass,” Peter muttered under his breath as he waited for the elevator to take him back down to the ground floor.
January 5, 2026 at 8:40 PM
degroof.bsky.social
#ScribesAndMakers Jan 5: Make a story or art based on the misheard lyric you shared yesterday

I already had this Treelobsters comic for another misheard lyric, so I'll just post that.

www.treelobsters.com?623
Gwyneth Paltrow! Greg Louganis! Gwyneth Paltrow! Greg Louganis! No. Are you sure? Almost positive. You can look it up if you don't believe me. Huh. You're right. Those aren't the words to ''Smells Like Teen Spirit''. (I know I know I know I know. I know I know I know I know.)
January 5, 2026 at 1:06 PM
degroof.bsky.social
#Ablatonyms 113
✅✅✅✅✅✅✅ 🎉
Moves: 7
Elapsed Time: 00:00:11
Time Bonus: +10
Score: 110
degroof.github.io/ablatonyms.h...
ABLATONYMS
degroof.github.io
January 5, 2026 at 11:47 AM
degroof.bsky.social
OMIWORD.com
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Puzzle #370 (Easy)
Time spent: 01:29
16 moves • 0 hints
Omiword
OMIWORD.com
January 5, 2026 at 11:45 AM
degroof.bsky.social
Silly Little Codes
Puzzle #285
0️⃣0️⃣:0️⃣0️⃣:3️⃣1️⃣
www.playsillylittlegames.com/codes
January 5, 2026 at 11:41 AM
degroof.bsky.social
[Bracket City]
January 5, 2026 🔴 (Tough)
www.theatlantic.com/games/bracke...
☠️ hard mode!
Rank: 👑 (Kingmaker)
🎹 Total Keystrokes: 76
🎯 Minimum Required: 70
Total Score: 92.1
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜
January 5, 2026 at 11:36 AM
degroof.bsky.social
#Wordle 1,661 4/6
⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 858 words left.
⬛🟨⬛⬛⬛ 37 words left.
⬛🟩🟩🟩🟩 4 words left.
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Got it in 4.

#Obscurdle 1093: 5/6
⬛⬛⬛⬛🟨 662 words left.
⬛🟨⬛⬛⬛ 60 words left.
⬛⬛⬛⬛🟩 9 words left.
🟩🟩⬛🟩🟩 1 word left.
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Got it in 5.
www.stevedegroof.com/obscurdle.html
January 5, 2026 at 11:27 AM
degroof.bsky.social
Tactical Thermite Powered Hot Dog

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8X1_...
Tactical Thermite Powered Hot Dog
YouTube video by The Thought Emporium
www.youtube.com
January 4, 2026 at 8:13 PM
degroof.bsky.social
#WritersCoffeeClub Jan 4: Share a tool of your trade.

It's a little keypad with en-dash, em-dash, degree, superscript 2, pi and multiplication symbols.
It's a little keypad with en-dash, em-dash, degree, superscript 2, pi and multiplication symbols.
January 4, 2026 at 1:04 PM
degroof.bsky.social
#ScribesAndMakers Jan 4: Share a mondegreen (misheard lyric) you like.

"Eye Of The Tiger": 🎶And the last known survivor starts spreading the knife🎶
A knife spreading peanut butter on bread
January 4, 2026 at 1:00 PM
degroof.bsky.social
#Ablatonyms 112
✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅ 🎉
Moves: 8
Elapsed Time: 00:00:15
Time Bonus: +10
Score: 110
degroof.github.io/ablatonyms.h...
ABLATONYMS
degroof.github.io
January 4, 2026 at 11:35 AM
degroof.bsky.social
OMIWORD.com
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Puzzle #369 (Vexing)
Time spent: 04:20
28 moves • 0 hints
Omiword
OMIWORD.com
January 4, 2026 at 11:33 AM
degroof.bsky.social
[Bracket City]
January 4, 2026 🟡 (Medium)
www.theatlantic.com/games/bracke...
☠️ hard mode!
Rank: 👑 (Kingmaker)
🎹 Total Keystrokes: 82
🎯 Minimum Required: 75
Total Score: 91.5
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜
January 4, 2026 at 11:25 AM
degroof.bsky.social
#Wordle 1,660 4/6
🟨⬛⬛⬛🟩 71 words left.
⬛⬛🟨🟩🟩 15 words left.
🟩🟩⬛🟩🟩 2 words left.
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Got it in 4.

#Obscurdle 1092: 5/6
⬛⬛🟩⬛⬛ 162 words left.
⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 30 words left.
⬛⬛🟨⬛⬛ 7 words left.
🟨⬛⬛🟨⬛ 1 word left.
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Got it in 5.
www.stevedegroof.com/obscurdle.html
January 4, 2026 at 11:15 AM
degroof.bsky.social
Name a villain you would invite to dinner.
January 3, 2026 at 11:10 PM
degroof.bsky.social
#Ablatonyms 111
✅✅✅✅✅✅✅ 💯
Moves: 7
Elapsed Time: 00:00:17
Score: 100
degroof.github.io/ablatonyms.h...
#puzzleGames #wordgames
ABLATONYMS
degroof.github.io
January 3, 2026 at 12:43 PM