Mike Westphal
@mfwestphal.bsky.social
Biologist, writer, father of three, anti-fascist. he/him
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Michael_Westphal/publications
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Michael_Westphal/publications
Reposted by Mike Westphal
Despite savage russian strikes and extremely long power outages, our beautiful Odesa also united in singing carols this Christmas. The carols march!
Photo: nikvesti.
Photo: nikvesti.
December 26, 2025 at 11:25 AM
Despite savage russian strikes and extremely long power outages, our beautiful Odesa also united in singing carols this Christmas. The carols march!
Photo: nikvesti.
Photo: nikvesti.
This is the best thing to know, thanks
"Robert May never really fit in as a child. He was awkward and experienced bullying due to his religious background. And he had, well, a rather prominent nose - a trait that the bullies used for ethnic slurs. When he created the Rudolph story, he based it in part on his own experience."
RUDOLPH - A JEWISH TALE — Beth Chai
The origin story of Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer is, in fact, a Jewish story – and a secular humanist one at that. In 1939, Robert L. May created Rudolph for the Montgomery Ward department stor...
www.bethchai.org
December 26, 2025 at 2:20 PM
This is the best thing to know, thanks
Reposted by Mike Westphal
God bless us, every one!
December 24, 2025 at 10:34 PM
God bless us, every one!
Reviewing Trump’s vile Christmas ramblings. I think about the elected officials who are propping him up. Do they think they are serving God? I wonder. And I think, to paraphrase Noth in MOTHER NIGHT, they could not possibly be serving God as well as they are serving the devil, by supporting Trump.
December 26, 2025 at 2:35 AM
Reviewing Trump’s vile Christmas ramblings. I think about the elected officials who are propping him up. Do they think they are serving God? I wonder. And I think, to paraphrase Noth in MOTHER NIGHT, they could not possibly be serving God as well as they are serving the devil, by supporting Trump.
Reposted by Mike Westphal
Damn. I promised myself I was going to take Christmas off, but when I tried taking a nap I thought of a post-book 13 Sandman Slim short story and had to write it down. Shut up, brain. I want to eat and watch movies. Ho ho fucking ho
December 25, 2025 at 8:40 PM
Damn. I promised myself I was going to take Christmas off, but when I tried taking a nap I thought of a post-book 13 Sandman Slim short story and had to write it down. Shut up, brain. I want to eat and watch movies. Ho ho fucking ho
Reposted by Mike Westphal
A book that always feels extra-real to me, because Teresa and I actually met Fritz for the first time in 1978, late at night in the Tenderloin, in a laundromat. With Sutro Tower visible from the street.
December 25, 2025 at 2:22 PM
A book that always feels extra-real to me, because Teresa and I actually met Fritz for the first time in 1978, late at night in the Tenderloin, in a laundromat. With Sutro Tower visible from the street.
Reposted by Mike Westphal
Edward Gorey's wonderfully odd Christmas illustration.
December 24, 2025 at 10:12 PM
Edward Gorey's wonderfully odd Christmas illustration.
All my adult life I’ve wished for *every* town to be a college town.
A college is going to get you a strip with some decent restaurants, a campus book store, and a theater, at minimum. I know several small towns where the college is the culture.
A prison gets you a prison.
A prison gets you a prison.
December 25, 2025 at 1:57 AM
All my adult life I’ve wished for *every* town to be a college town.
Reposted by Mike Westphal
giving this beautiful essay a Christmas Eve boost
This is an almost shockingly wise essay. I'm glad I've finally read it.
There Is No Mary Problem in ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’
George’s vision of his wife without him is essential to the film, but critics continue to miss its true—and profound—meaning.
open.substack.com
December 24, 2025 at 3:36 PM
giving this beautiful essay a Christmas Eve boost
Reposted by Mike Westphal
Murderbot is checking the perimeter. Ilya and Shane are going to the cottage. Even in the darkest times, our imaginations create places for love and safety.
December 24, 2025 at 10:40 PM
Murderbot is checking the perimeter. Ilya and Shane are going to the cottage. Even in the darkest times, our imaginations create places for love and safety.
Reposted by Mike Westphal
Seen today. Santa’s on the sauce. Rudolph pays the price.
December 24, 2025 at 10:48 PM
Seen today. Santa’s on the sauce. Rudolph pays the price.
Reposted by Mike Westphal
Merry Christmas everybody, and drink up
#PulpSabotage
#PulpSabotage
December 24, 2025 at 10:50 PM
Merry Christmas everybody, and drink up
#PulpSabotage
#PulpSabotage
Reposted by Mike Westphal
I legit just saved Christmas for my neighbors. One of their dogs got out and I saw an animal control worker shoveling him into a van, so i went outside like “what’s going on? That’s my neighbor’s dog.”
December 24, 2025 at 9:19 PM
I legit just saved Christmas for my neighbors. One of their dogs got out and I saw an animal control worker shoveling him into a van, so i went outside like “what’s going on? That’s my neighbor’s dog.”
One of the Great Ones, I feel lucky to have met him & heard him speak.
We could try to make Leiber a posthumous bestseller by claiming his 1943 novel "Conjure Wife" as Dark Academia. (It was filmed multiple times, most famously as "Burn, Witch, Burn" aka "Night of the Eagle".)
It is the birthday of Fritz Leiber, (pronounced Lie-ber) the man who coined the term sword & sorcery and who wrote some of the best work in the genre. I actually read Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser in prose before I read Conan.He was also a fantastic author of horror and fantasy.Just a wonderful writer.
December 24, 2025 at 10:58 PM
One of the Great Ones, I feel lucky to have met him & heard him speak.
All of this just seems like her convincing herself, and she seems pretty good at it.
p.s. has anyone seen my hotdog costume
New Bari Weiss & CBS leadership note to staff—
“…Americans say they do not trust the press…To win back their trust, we have to work hard.”
“Sometimes it means telling unexpected stories…sometimes it means holding a piece about an important subject to make sure it is comprehensive and fair.”
“…Americans say they do not trust the press…To win back their trust, we have to work hard.”
“Sometimes it means telling unexpected stories…sometimes it means holding a piece about an important subject to make sure it is comprehensive and fair.”
December 24, 2025 at 7:08 PM
All of this just seems like her convincing herself, and she seems pretty good at it.
Reposted by Mike Westphal
For Christmas Eve, enjoy a supercut of my favorite tradition — Darlene Love on Letterman
Darlene Love's "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" Supercut | Letterman
YouTube video by Letterman
m.youtube.com
December 24, 2025 at 1:47 PM
For Christmas Eve, enjoy a supercut of my favorite tradition — Darlene Love on Letterman
Reposted by Mike Westphal
Once again, people we know and love and live alongside turn their heads, revert to whataboutism, retreat into silence, bunker down into tribalism, discard their faith, and abdicate the most elemental responsibilities of being human.
johnpavlovitz.substack.com/p/the-epstei...
johnpavlovitz.substack.com/p/the-epstei...
The Epstein Files Have Fully Exposed the Right.
The Jeffrey Epstein files, once fully released, will expose Epstein, detailing his prolific atrocities once and for all.
johnpavlovitz.substack.com
December 24, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Once again, people we know and love and live alongside turn their heads, revert to whataboutism, retreat into silence, bunker down into tribalism, discard their faith, and abdicate the most elemental responsibilities of being human.
johnpavlovitz.substack.com/p/the-epstei...
johnpavlovitz.substack.com/p/the-epstei...
Reposted by Mike Westphal
Because PFB most fully deserves it!
Busiest day we've had in 25.5 years. Thanks to everyone who has special-ordered books; bought books; brought books in to sell; or called or come by with interesting questions, booze, baked goods, or a friendly animal.
Your support makes our work possible. Thank you!
Signed, CJB & all @ PFB
Your support makes our work possible. Thank you!
Signed, CJB & all @ PFB
December 24, 2025 at 5:04 AM
Because PFB most fully deserves it!
Reposted by Mike Westphal
Poor lonely thing
“The only Tesla Cybertruck in all of Uganda seems to have rolled after tackling what appears to be a very mild dirt hill.”
Read More: www.jalopnik.com/2058231/ugan...
Read More: www.jalopnik.com/2058231/ugan...
December 24, 2025 at 4:12 AM
Poor lonely thing
Reposted by Mike Westphal
No one ever tells me these things, so I just discovered that the Kindle ebook of first Coop heist novel, THE EVERYTHING BOX, is on sale for a lousy $.99. You can't even buy a three-legged hamster for $.99, so get a bunch of my books instead. 🐹
December 23, 2025 at 1:07 AM
No one ever tells me these things, so I just discovered that the Kindle ebook of first Coop heist novel, THE EVERYTHING BOX, is on sale for a lousy $.99. You can't even buy a three-legged hamster for $.99, so get a bunch of my books instead. 🐹
I wonder if Trump knows way deep down that when he’s gone, he’ll be remembered as a clown and a crook, and then after a little while he won’t be remembered at all
December 23, 2025 at 5:26 AM
I wonder if Trump knows way deep down that when he’s gone, he’ll be remembered as a clown and a crook, and then after a little while he won’t be remembered at all
Reposted by Mike Westphal
Electrifying development on EelTok @erinbiba.bsky.social
December 23, 2025 at 2:54 AM
Electrifying development on EelTok @erinbiba.bsky.social
Reposted by Mike Westphal
Hey, it's my print debut for National Geographic! This fall, I got to accompany folks from the Fort Worth Zoo on an incredible adorable mission: releasing tiny Texas horned lizards to new lives in the Hill Country.
(You will want to click on this one, trust me. The photos are adorable.)
(You will want to click on this one, trust me. The photos are adorable.)
Is the grumpy-faced Texas horned lizard adorable enough to survive?
As habitat loss and invasive predators decimate the Texas horned lizard population, researchers are banking on statewide fervor to bring them back.
www.nationalgeographic.com
December 23, 2025 at 1:23 AM
Hey, it's my print debut for National Geographic! This fall, I got to accompany folks from the Fort Worth Zoo on an incredible adorable mission: releasing tiny Texas horned lizards to new lives in the Hill Country.
(You will want to click on this one, trust me. The photos are adorable.)
(You will want to click on this one, trust me. The photos are adorable.)
Reposted by Mike Westphal
Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell could not have sold children for sex without rich perverts buying children for sex. I feel like more people should mention that.
December 22, 2025 at 8:10 PM
Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell could not have sold children for sex without rich perverts buying children for sex. I feel like more people should mention that.
Reposted by Mike Westphal
Via our pal Fleur, in a local shopping center
December 22, 2025 at 11:18 PM
Via our pal Fleur, in a local shopping center