Mark Ensley
markensley.bsky.social
Mark Ensley
@markensley.bsky.social
Weird librarian
This one tics all the boxes: a superb owl on a super bowl.
Raise a glass! It's Superb Owl Sunday. 🦉

🏺 This owl-fully cute terracotta drinking vessel is over 2,300 years old.

In Ancient Greece, owls represented Athena, goddess of wisdom, an association many still have with owls today. 💡

ℹ️ https://gty.pulse.ly/n56nx9g7r0
February 8, 2026 at 8:34 PM
I just read Snake Eater by @tkingfisher.com and the lessons are important. Be helpful, be kind, and be loving.
February 8, 2026 at 1:22 AM
Reposted by Mark Ensley
Sir Ian McKellen performing a monologue from Shakespeare’s Sir Thomas More on the Stephen Colbert show. Never have I heard this monologue performed with such a keen sense of prescience. Nor have I ever been in this exact historical moment.TY Sir Ian, for reaching us once again.
#Pinks #ProudBlue
February 5, 2026 at 11:50 AM
TIL puttanesca sauce is from the Italian word puttana which is an insulting term for prostitute. Because either the sauce was made by Naples' working women between clients, or because "puttana" is an all-purpose emphatic curse word in Italian. "I threw a bunch of shit I had on hand into the sauce."
February 1, 2026 at 12:38 AM
Monica @monicacmiller.bsky.social knitted me a Klein bottle hat a while ago, and I am looking forward to its ear protection for the next couple of weeks of below-freezing morning commutes.
January 27, 2026 at 1:32 AM
It's always interesting before a big storm to see what people panic buy at the grocery store. Sometimes it's bread and milk, frozen pizza, toilet paper, chips and snacks, or wine and beer. Our Kroger was fine with bread and milk, but the lunch meat and hot dogs were barren, which was a first for me.
January 24, 2026 at 1:21 AM
The new Star Fleet Academy Trek is better than I was expecting/fearing. But I'm also enjoying all the snarky jokes. So far, I've seen Star Trek: 90210, One Trek Hill, The Trekfast Club, Melrose Space, Dawson's Fleet, and Party of Seven-of Nine.
January 16, 2026 at 10:56 PM
I'm getting junk mail from mortuary and crematory services. I wonder what they know that I don't.
January 15, 2026 at 1:16 AM
Reposted by Mark Ensley
‘Dueling Banjos’
A silly thing I painted 11 years ago and apparently haven’t posted here before
January 12, 2026 at 3:49 PM
Calm before the storm at the museum.
January 10, 2026 at 9:12 PM
I am here for all the hot and steamy soup action.
January 8, 2026 at 5:44 PM
Foos ought be fought
TODAY'S OBSCURE GRAMMATICAL CHALLENGE

Make a band subjunctive

Would That They Were Giants
January 5, 2026 at 11:24 PM
On the one hand, finishing the latest@scalzi novel feels like having a fast food meal prepared by a gourmet chef. On the other, you're left with the lingering suspicion that Scalzi thought about how sesame seeds stick to buns more than McDonald's did. Enjoyed, recommended.
December 28, 2025 at 1:21 AM
A Lord of the Rings cover band called RivenDel Fuegos
A Lord of the Rings cover band called Flock of Smeagols
A Lord of the Rings cover band called Chappell Rohan
December 20, 2025 at 5:16 PM
Cozy Eleusinian Mysteries were rare ancient Greek manuscripts about retired agrarian priestesses helping to solve murders.
December 12, 2025 at 12:55 AM
Finally got around to reading @scalzi.com story "3 Days, 9 Months, 27 Years" and it gives a very interesting, plausible, and compassionate view of time travel tropes.
December 7, 2025 at 1:10 AM
It's the hope I can't stand, Charlie Brown.
For me, it was Tuesday, Charlie Brown.
You're trapped in here with me, Charlie Brown.
November 24, 2025 at 7:22 PM
Frankly, I don't see it.
"Twitter accounts are based in Russia. BlueSky accounts are based in homes with, frankly, too many books, plants, obsolete cables, and pieces of rustic pottery, that could do with a bit of a tidying up, to be honest."
November 23, 2025 at 10:38 PM
Reposted by Mark Ensley
November 14, 2025 at 9:33 PM
Reposted by Mark Ensley
Stop what you’re doing and give this a listen.
October 23, 2025 at 2:34 PM
TIL: Watching a YT video on songs in 5/4. The Mission Impossible theme is in 5, with two dotted quarter note beats followed by two regular quarter note beats. slow slow fast fast slow slow fast fast. This is M, I in morse code: - - . . dash dash dot dot
October 13, 2025 at 11:10 PM
Apropos of nothing at all having to do with me on this day, happy birthday to Anne of Cleves, Michael Faraday, Fay Weldon, Toni Basil, King Sunny Adé, Johnette Napolitano, Nick Cave, Joan Jett, Billie Piper, and Bilbo and Frodo Baggins.
September 22, 2025 at 11:04 PM
Fantastic video on the science of dissonance
www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCsl...
The Physics Of Dissonance
YouTube video by minutephysics
www.youtube.com
September 16, 2025 at 11:00 PM
Reposted by Mark Ensley
Goodnight.
September 7, 2025 at 7:25 PM