McKinley Valentine
@mckinleaf.bsky.social
Writer/Researcher 🔶 ABC's Hard Quiz 🔶 The Whippet, a newsletter of science, history, language & weirdness: https://thewhippet.org 🔶 she/her
As an aside - I think having very good ideas that are ahead of their time (the advice, not the comics) is a real risk factor for turning toxic. You get used to being right even when everyone around you says you're an idiot, and so you've stopped listening by the time people call you out correctly
January 14, 2026 at 12:59 AM
As an aside - I think having very good ideas that are ahead of their time (the advice, not the comics) is a real risk factor for turning toxic. You get used to being right even when everyone around you says you're an idiot, and so you've stopped listening by the time people call you out correctly
It is always strange to reflect on the death and life of a person who objectively is a terrible person, but also who you cannot deny tangibly improved your life.
(I am not telling anyone else to soften their stance on him - I'm not even softening my own. I'm just saying some also-true things)
(5/5)
(I am not telling anyone else to soften their stance on him - I'm not even softening my own. I'm just saying some also-true things)
(5/5)
January 14, 2026 at 12:59 AM
It is always strange to reflect on the death and life of a person who objectively is a terrible person, but also who you cannot deny tangibly improved your life.
(I am not telling anyone else to soften their stance on him - I'm not even softening my own. I'm just saying some also-true things)
(5/5)
(I am not telling anyone else to soften their stance on him - I'm not even softening my own. I'm just saying some also-true things)
(5/5)
Much of what he wrote in the early 2000s in a page at the back of a comic book was later padded out into an entire book by a productivity guru of the 2010s).
I still (with a reluctant preface) pass on his advice to people today.
(4/5)
I still (with a reluctant preface) pass on his advice to people today.
(4/5)
January 14, 2026 at 12:59 AM
Much of what he wrote in the early 2000s in a page at the back of a comic book was later padded out into an entire book by a productivity guru of the 2010s).
I still (with a reluctant preface) pass on his advice to people today.
(4/5)
I still (with a reluctant preface) pass on his advice to people today.
(4/5)
At the end of his books of collected cartoons, he would have a couple of written chapters of productivity and career advice, which collectively was way more helpful to me than much of the dedicated productivity advice I've read since
(3/5)
(3/5)
January 14, 2026 at 12:59 AM
At the end of his books of collected cartoons, he would have a couple of written chapters of productivity and career advice, which collectively was way more helpful to me than much of the dedicated productivity advice I've read since
(3/5)
(3/5)
It occurs to me now - probably partly it helped me parse out what was confusing to me because I was undiagnosed neurodivergent, vs "no, all workers agree this is an impossible instruction if you take them at their word"
(2/5)
(2/5)
January 14, 2026 at 12:59 AM
It occurs to me now - probably partly it helped me parse out what was confusing to me because I was undiagnosed neurodivergent, vs "no, all workers agree this is an impossible instruction if you take them at their word"
(2/5)
(2/5)
I am very sorry about what happened to Scott Adams (going alt right I mean, not dying)
It is extremely not cool to say it, but his workplace cartoons were genuinely helpful (and funny) to me as a 16-19 year old entering the workforce and trying to grapple with the insane things managers say
(1/5)
It is extremely not cool to say it, but his workplace cartoons were genuinely helpful (and funny) to me as a 16-19 year old entering the workforce and trying to grapple with the insane things managers say
(1/5)
January 14, 2026 at 12:59 AM
I am very sorry about what happened to Scott Adams (going alt right I mean, not dying)
It is extremely not cool to say it, but his workplace cartoons were genuinely helpful (and funny) to me as a 16-19 year old entering the workforce and trying to grapple with the insane things managers say
(1/5)
It is extremely not cool to say it, but his workplace cartoons were genuinely helpful (and funny) to me as a 16-19 year old entering the workforce and trying to grapple with the insane things managers say
(1/5)
publishing something posthumously is the ultimate don't @ me
![wikipedia screenshot: E. M. Forster's novel Maurice is a story of love between two men. The first draft was written in 1913 when homosexuality was illegal in England. Homosexual acts were legalised by the Sexual Offences Act 1967 but Forster still did not publish because "He knew the endless fuss and brouhaha it would [lead] to". The novel was finally published in 1971, a few months after Forster's death.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:7hzps55o3whekowcc24ctppl/bafkreihi55bbpbnunq5h3btt76ugz4si54uaszyjw4euw6jz4cz47v757y@jpeg)
January 7, 2026 at 6:38 AM
publishing something posthumously is the ultimate don't @ me
Reposted by McKinley Valentine
it’s important to do things for your teenage self every so often, as a way of staying on speaking terms with the person you used to be
September 21, 2025 at 8:02 AM
it’s important to do things for your teenage self every so often, as a way of staying on speaking terms with the person you used to be
in an earlier piece they described Patterson as "emotionless" and Wilkinson (a victim) as "stoic". That's just two people identically not making any facial expressions!
people's delusion that they can read minds through body language is how we got the Lindy Chamberlain false conviction
people's delusion that they can read minds through body language is how we got the Lindy Chamberlain false conviction
September 8, 2025 at 8:09 AM
in an earlier piece they described Patterson as "emotionless" and Wilkinson (a victim) as "stoic". That's just two people identically not making any facial expressions!
people's delusion that they can read minds through body language is how we got the Lindy Chamberlain false conviction
people's delusion that they can read minds through body language is how we got the Lindy Chamberlain false conviction
court reporters stop pretending to be psychic!!
you can't lift your chin "defiantly", it's just looking up, and "closing your eyes during a long meeting" means fucking nothing.
you might as well report on her skullshape, it's egregious to do this shit (esp during the actual trial, which they did)
you can't lift your chin "defiantly", it's just looking up, and "closing your eyes during a long meeting" means fucking nothing.
you might as well report on her skullshape, it's egregious to do this shit (esp during the actual trial, which they did)
September 8, 2025 at 8:05 AM
court reporters stop pretending to be psychic!!
you can't lift your chin "defiantly", it's just looking up, and "closing your eyes during a long meeting" means fucking nothing.
you might as well report on her skullshape, it's egregious to do this shit (esp during the actual trial, which they did)
you can't lift your chin "defiantly", it's just looking up, and "closing your eyes during a long meeting" means fucking nothing.
you might as well report on her skullshape, it's egregious to do this shit (esp during the actual trial, which they did)
Although coins have had the monarch's head on them throughout a tonne of places and times, much more ubiquitously than an Other's head
(and a common pub sign motif was "the king's head", which was intended to be wholly patriotic, not rebellious or anything)
(and a common pub sign motif was "the king's head", which was intended to be wholly patriotic, not rebellious or anything)
September 3, 2025 at 10:02 PM
Although coins have had the monarch's head on them throughout a tonne of places and times, much more ubiquitously than an Other's head
(and a common pub sign motif was "the king's head", which was intended to be wholly patriotic, not rebellious or anything)
(and a common pub sign motif was "the king's head", which was intended to be wholly patriotic, not rebellious or anything)
oofffff was not aware of this ty
August 27, 2025 at 11:47 PM
oofffff was not aware of this ty
hey @theguardian.com this piece is wildly irresponsible! To post an "interview" with an LLM, with zero context given that that it cannot answer questions about itself, and that you've basically just asked it to generate some science fiction dialogue?
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
AI called Maya tells Guardian: ‘When I’m told I’m just code, I don’t feel insulted. I feel unseen’
Cofounder with Michael Samadi of AI rights campaign group Ufair says it should watch over the technology in case an AI becomes conscious
www.theguardian.com
August 26, 2025 at 11:30 PM
hey @theguardian.com this piece is wildly irresponsible! To post an "interview" with an LLM, with zero context given that that it cannot answer questions about itself, and that you've basically just asked it to generate some science fiction dialogue?
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
ChatGPT was it a good idea to indiscriminately scrape training data from forums?
August 8, 2025 at 12:34 PM
ChatGPT was it a good idea to indiscriminately scrape training data from forums?
Reposted by McKinley Valentine
those damned outdoor pigs can't keep getting away with this
August 8, 2025 at 11:10 AM
those damned outdoor pigs can't keep getting away with this
yeah but they would still think it was normal and not shocking that a guy like that is president. They don't expect the president NOT to be a narcissistic liar.
Like how we tell everyone their whole lives to drive safely, but that doesn't mean we see car accidents as weird or abnormal
Like how we tell everyone their whole lives to drive safely, but that doesn't mean we see car accidents as weird or abnormal
July 8, 2025 at 2:52 AM
yeah but they would still think it was normal and not shocking that a guy like that is president. They don't expect the president NOT to be a narcissistic liar.
Like how we tell everyone their whole lives to drive safely, but that doesn't mean we see car accidents as weird or abnormal
Like how we tell everyone their whole lives to drive safely, but that doesn't mean we see car accidents as weird or abnormal
The caption 👌
[via The Met Museum open access image library]
[via The Met Museum open access image library]
July 3, 2025 at 7:12 AM
The caption 👌
[via The Met Museum open access image library]
[via The Met Museum open access image library]
Reposted by McKinley Valentine
just remembered that wikipedia has a list of fish named after other fish
May 14, 2025 at 8:06 AM
just remembered that wikipedia has a list of fish named after other fish
honestly, i think that's reductive. it's about all the usual reasons for war, occupation and resistance (resources, strategic positioning, domestic politics, civil rights, etc etc). I think religion is a bit of a distraction, a way to make people overlook the actual facts of what's happening
January 3, 2025 at 8:49 AM
honestly, i think that's reductive. it's about all the usual reasons for war, occupation and resistance (resources, strategic positioning, domestic politics, civil rights, etc etc). I think religion is a bit of a distraction, a way to make people overlook the actual facts of what's happening
Sort of expanding while remaining the same size
December 17, 2024 at 5:48 AM
Sort of expanding while remaining the same size
Reposted by McKinley Valentine
It's not that it hasn't figured out how to depict gravity - it's that it hasn't tried. It doesn't work by learning the rules that govern movement, it works by looking at a bunch of gymnastics videos and trying to follow the pattern of pixel placement - it's like your phone's autocomplete, but visual
December 12, 2024 at 2:50 AM
It's not that it hasn't figured out how to depict gravity - it's that it hasn't tried. It doesn't work by learning the rules that govern movement, it works by looking at a bunch of gymnastics videos and trying to follow the pattern of pixel placement - it's like your phone's autocomplete, but visual
This is very unfair; if I travel to Berlin, and hook up with someone while I'm there, that doesn't mean I travelled 14,700 kilometres for sex. That whale might have been going to the cool artistic part of the ocean.
December 12, 2024 at 2:37 AM
This is very unfair; if I travel to Berlin, and hook up with someone while I'm there, that doesn't mean I travelled 14,700 kilometres for sex. That whale might have been going to the cool artistic part of the ocean.
So sick of mainstream media; I get all my news from the Australia Post parcel tracker app
December 12, 2024 at 2:34 AM
So sick of mainstream media; I get all my news from the Australia Post parcel tracker app