Matthew Murray 🦇
@midnitelibrary.bsky.social
Data Librarian. Co-Host of Book Club for Masochists: A Readers' Advisory Podcast. Editor of Two-Fisted Library Stories. Spooky Librarian. Goth. Comics. Manga. Zines. Games. ScholComm. OA. RDM. Social Justice. He/They.
"A known human friend" - Graham Stark
"A known human friend" - Graham Stark
I prefer the term "eldritch millennial" thank you very much
bluesky is where elder millennials enjoying internet retirement meet younger millennials with untreated depression
December 28, 2025 at 8:24 AM
I prefer the term "eldritch millennial" thank you very much
Reposted by Matthew Murray 🦇
Every time I think about someone saying "it's inevitable" when it comes to some tech thing, I think about Toronto stopping Google from creating a 'smart neighborhood' with their Sidewalk Labs project. A bunch of people worked very hard in their community to say absolutely not, not here.
September 12, 2025 at 2:46 PM
Every time I think about someone saying "it's inevitable" when it comes to some tech thing, I think about Toronto stopping Google from creating a 'smart neighborhood' with their Sidewalk Labs project. A bunch of people worked very hard in their community to say absolutely not, not here.
Reposted by Matthew Murray 🦇
I hate that we’re having to think in these terms, but the evidence seems to be bearing out that steep fare hikes are less damaging to ridership than service cuts.
2025 was brutal for US transit. Agencies faced budget deficits, flat ridership, and open hostility from the White House.
I wrote a series of stories outlining ways to help transit endure.
Lesson #1: Whatever you do, don’t cut service. Riders will leave – permanently.
Here are a few others 🧵
I wrote a series of stories outlining ways to help transit endure.
Lesson #1: Whatever you do, don’t cut service. Riders will leave – permanently.
Here are a few others 🧵
The Last Thing US Transit Agencies Should Do Now
Rising costs and widening deficits as pandemic aid runs out are challenging bus and train operators in many cities. But cutting service needs to be a last resort.
www.bloomberg.com
December 27, 2025 at 2:37 PM
I hate that we’re having to think in these terms, but the evidence seems to be bearing out that steep fare hikes are less damaging to ridership than service cuts.
Reposted by Matthew Murray 🦇
Our goal is to reach 50% of our fundraising goal for the Black Zine Fair by the end of the year. gogetfunding.com/black-zine-f... - If you can support us in bringing the fair to life, we would very much appreciate it.
Black Zine Fair Returns in 2026 — Help Us Bring It to Life
The Black Zine Fair was founded by Mariame Kaba and Neta Bomani in 2023 to address a clear gap: Black publishers and artists have long shaped independent publishing, yet we were still underrepresented...
gogetfunding.com
December 28, 2025 at 12:47 AM
Our goal is to reach 50% of our fundraising goal for the Black Zine Fair by the end of the year. gogetfunding.com/black-zine-f... - If you can support us in bringing the fair to life, we would very much appreciate it.
Reposted by Matthew Murray 🦇
"Doors should have handles that work without electricity" is for some reason a hot take
Super low hanging safety fruit. US regulators have had a decade plus to get manufacturers to make safe door handles and still they haven’t.
www.autoblog.com/news/china-i...
www.autoblog.com/news/china-i...
China Is Banning Tesla-Style Retractable Door Handles Over Safety Concerns
From 2027, cars sold in China must have manual door releases after electronic handles failing during crashes. Tesla and other brands will need design changes.
www.autoblog.com
December 28, 2025 at 1:57 AM
"Doors should have handles that work without electricity" is for some reason a hot take
Reposted by Matthew Murray 🦇
“it is illegal for you not to like me”
This is the logical and inevitable conclusion of the last decade of elite media "free speech" discourse.
December 28, 2025 at 1:54 AM
“it is illegal for you not to like me”
Overly annoyed that Duolingo French keeps translating "bande dessinée"/"BD" as "comic book."
No, a "comic book" is a specific thing (32 pages, stapled, etc.). The word you're looking for in English is "comic" or "comics."
No, a "comic book" is a specific thing (32 pages, stapled, etc.). The word you're looking for in English is "comic" or "comics."
December 28, 2025 at 1:53 AM
Overly annoyed that Duolingo French keeps translating "bande dessinée"/"BD" as "comic book."
No, a "comic book" is a specific thing (32 pages, stapled, etc.). The word you're looking for in English is "comic" or "comics."
No, a "comic book" is a specific thing (32 pages, stapled, etc.). The word you're looking for in English is "comic" or "comics."
Reposted by Matthew Murray 🦇
Blanket censoring the word “gambling” is literally a pro gambling move.
Gambling platforms avoid the word for obvious reasons, so YouTube eliminating its use under the pretense of combating gambling is the best fucking cover a gambling platform could ask for.
It’s pretty disgusting.
Gambling platforms avoid the word for obvious reasons, so YouTube eliminating its use under the pretense of combating gambling is the best fucking cover a gambling platform could ask for.
It’s pretty disgusting.
YouTube removed another of my anti-videogame gambling videos for being pro-gambling.
What a fucking farce of a website.
What a fucking farce of a website.
December 28, 2025 at 12:44 AM
Blanket censoring the word “gambling” is literally a pro gambling move.
Gambling platforms avoid the word for obvious reasons, so YouTube eliminating its use under the pretense of combating gambling is the best fucking cover a gambling platform could ask for.
It’s pretty disgusting.
Gambling platforms avoid the word for obvious reasons, so YouTube eliminating its use under the pretense of combating gambling is the best fucking cover a gambling platform could ask for.
It’s pretty disgusting.
Reposted by Matthew Murray 🦇
The state I’m visiting just added measles wastewater detection to their public dashboard which is both a responsible move and also a not great sign for public health heading into 2026.
(Yes, it was done in response to recent outbreaks/exposures.)
(Yes, it was done in response to recent outbreaks/exposures.)
December 28, 2025 at 12:10 AM
The state I’m visiting just added measles wastewater detection to their public dashboard which is both a responsible move and also a not great sign for public health heading into 2026.
(Yes, it was done in response to recent outbreaks/exposures.)
(Yes, it was done in response to recent outbreaks/exposures.)
Reposted by Matthew Murray 🦇
Everyone is justifiably upset about this but it happened in July
Zuckerberg settles $8 billion lawsuit over Cambridge Analytica scandal, avoids testifying www.france24.com/en/americas/... @carolecadwalla.bsky.social
Zuckerberg settles $8 billion lawsuit over Cambridge Analytica scandal, avoids testifying
Mark Zuckerberg and current and former Meta executives agreed on Thursday to settle a $8 billion shareholder lawsuit alleging the company’s directors failed to prevent billions of dollars in fines and...
www.france24.com
December 28, 2025 at 12:43 AM
Everyone is justifiably upset about this but it happened in July
Reposted by Matthew Murray 🦇
Imagine it being easier to just pay the 8 billion dollars and it won't affect you in the slightest. Man what have we done lol
Zuckerberg settles $8 billion lawsuit over Cambridge Analytica scandal, avoids testifying www.france24.com/en/americas/... @carolecadwalla.bsky.social
Zuckerberg settles $8 billion lawsuit over Cambridge Analytica scandal, avoids testifying
Mark Zuckerberg and current and former Meta executives agreed on Thursday to settle a $8 billion shareholder lawsuit alleging the company’s directors failed to prevent billions of dollars in fines and...
www.france24.com
December 28, 2025 at 12:01 AM
Imagine it being easier to just pay the 8 billion dollars and it won't affect you in the slightest. Man what have we done lol
Reposted by Matthew Murray 🦇
"But Spider-Man, you have to stop piling your friends' bloodied decapitated heads into a teetering tower!"
"Never, Black Cat! They know what they did!"
"Never, Black Cat! They know what they did!"
December 28, 2025 at 12:31 AM
"But Spider-Man, you have to stop piling your friends' bloodied decapitated heads into a teetering tower!"
"Never, Black Cat! They know what they did!"
"Never, Black Cat! They know what they did!"
Reposted by Matthew Murray 🦇
one covid infection immeasurably reduced my quality of life assumingly
permanently after 4 years by giving me long covid and mecfs, if you punch down at disabled people trying to use an umbrella of personal precautions in the hurricane that is our eugenic society unfollow me now
permanently after 4 years by giving me long covid and mecfs, if you punch down at disabled people trying to use an umbrella of personal precautions in the hurricane that is our eugenic society unfollow me now
Dear Jon Stewart c/o @weeklyshowpodcast.bsky.social
I recently watched, with great surprise and disappointment, a weeklyshowpodcast segment in which you and other "personalities," gleefully mocked and derided the relatively small subset of individuals who continue to wear a face mask in public.
I recently watched, with great surprise and disappointment, a weeklyshowpodcast segment in which you and other "personalities," gleefully mocked and derided the relatively small subset of individuals who continue to wear a face mask in public.
December 27, 2025 at 10:05 PM
one covid infection immeasurably reduced my quality of life assumingly
permanently after 4 years by giving me long covid and mecfs, if you punch down at disabled people trying to use an umbrella of personal precautions in the hurricane that is our eugenic society unfollow me now
permanently after 4 years by giving me long covid and mecfs, if you punch down at disabled people trying to use an umbrella of personal precautions in the hurricane that is our eugenic society unfollow me now
Reposted by Matthew Murray 🦇
So I was gonna buy a @poorlycatdraw.bsky.social digital/printable book thing and my bank thought it might have been fraudulent, so they sent me this and I'm dying at the transaction description. 😂
December 27, 2025 at 5:46 PM
So I was gonna buy a @poorlycatdraw.bsky.social digital/printable book thing and my bank thought it might have been fraudulent, so they sent me this and I'm dying at the transaction description. 😂
Reposted by Matthew Murray 🦇
Counting up the books I read this year because apparently everything I do is a competition with imaginary devils and I gotta ask: is an omnnibus counted as one book or however many works are compiled in it?
December 27, 2025 at 9:55 PM
Counting up the books I read this year because apparently everything I do is a competition with imaginary devils and I gotta ask: is an omnnibus counted as one book or however many works are compiled in it?
Reposted by Matthew Murray 🦇
You know, millions of us once dreamed of being famous authors, and millions of us are not, including BIPOC & LGBTQ folks.
It's true that there's plenty of discrimination in publishing. It's also true that sometimes, one's craft, talent, and luck don't get you the desired outcome. *That's life.*
It's true that there's plenty of discrimination in publishing. It's also true that sometimes, one's craft, talent, and luck don't get you the desired outcome. *That's life.*
This shit is made up, actually
December 27, 2025 at 9:50 PM
You know, millions of us once dreamed of being famous authors, and millions of us are not, including BIPOC & LGBTQ folks.
It's true that there's plenty of discrimination in publishing. It's also true that sometimes, one's craft, talent, and luck don't get you the desired outcome. *That's life.*
It's true that there's plenty of discrimination in publishing. It's also true that sometimes, one's craft, talent, and luck don't get you the desired outcome. *That's life.*
Reposted by Matthew Murray 🦇
what bothers me most the end of the current group of Stranger thing episodes is that it reinforces this toxic nostalgia that things were better in the past, and normies treated everyone well. I grew up in the 80s and 90s: the f slur was thrown around non stop around cis men. The idea that....
December 27, 2025 at 8:12 PM
what bothers me most the end of the current group of Stranger thing episodes is that it reinforces this toxic nostalgia that things were better in the past, and normies treated everyone well. I grew up in the 80s and 90s: the f slur was thrown around non stop around cis men. The idea that....
Reposted by Matthew Murray 🦇
I feel like a lot of posting discourse comes from the fact a lot of people aren't prepared for posting to become a niche activity. I feel like self-styled pundits who only posted in the decade posting actually shifted culture cant deal with it returning to a niche for the post-obsessed
December 27, 2025 at 9:18 PM
I feel like a lot of posting discourse comes from the fact a lot of people aren't prepared for posting to become a niche activity. I feel like self-styled pundits who only posted in the decade posting actually shifted culture cant deal with it returning to a niche for the post-obsessed
Reposted by Matthew Murray 🦇
The fundamental issue Democrats need to be focused on in 2026 is that since at least Jan. 6, 2021, the Republican Party has been engaged in a seditious conspiracy against the United States and crushing this sedition is no less an existential fight for our country than crushing the Confederacy was.
December 27, 2025 at 8:16 PM
The fundamental issue Democrats need to be focused on in 2026 is that since at least Jan. 6, 2021, the Republican Party has been engaged in a seditious conspiracy against the United States and crushing this sedition is no less an existential fight for our country than crushing the Confederacy was.
Reposted by Matthew Murray 🦇
Updating this from yesterday.
This choice made author/illustrator William Steig the target for censors. For instance, by early 1971, there were calls for the book’s removal in at least 10 states (it was published in 1969). Some examples follow… 1/9
#booksky #kidlit
This choice made author/illustrator William Steig the target for censors. For instance, by early 1971, there were calls for the book’s removal in at least 10 states (it was published in 1969). Some examples follow… 1/9
#booksky #kidlit
unexpected comrade author wink in “sylvester and the magic pebble”
December 27, 2025 at 4:49 PM
Reposted by Matthew Murray 🦇
If you weren't reading comics at the time I find it difficult to describe how different it felt reading a Marvel book from 2004 to one from 1998. They were utterly different eras, defined by different rules and mindsets.
And the 2000s one lasted a long time.
long enough for me to drop out.
And the 2000s one lasted a long time.
long enough for me to drop out.
December 27, 2025 at 8:57 PM
If you weren't reading comics at the time I find it difficult to describe how different it felt reading a Marvel book from 2004 to one from 1998. They were utterly different eras, defined by different rules and mindsets.
And the 2000s one lasted a long time.
long enough for me to drop out.
And the 2000s one lasted a long time.
long enough for me to drop out.
Reposted by Matthew Murray 🦇
will also add - yes, this is my personal crusade - that turning podcasts into videos implicitly asks women to once again make more effort than men, as the bar for "camera-ready" for one gender is obviously higher than for the other
‘Painful to hear!’ How podcasts’ rush to video is turning them into dreadful listens
‘Painful to hear!’ How podcasts’ rush to video is turning them into dreadful listens
From Joe Marler’s visual-only stunts to the incomprehensible shuffling sounds Steven Bartlett recently subjected headphone users to, dodgy audio experiences are on the rise
www.theguardian.com
December 27, 2025 at 10:20 AM
will also add - yes, this is my personal crusade - that turning podcasts into videos implicitly asks women to once again make more effort than men, as the bar for "camera-ready" for one gender is obviously higher than for the other
Reposted by Matthew Murray 🦇
I'm curious how 2FA has made it more difficult for people who are managing their parent's utility accounts and other things where they need access to the parent phone/email.
December 27, 2025 at 6:23 PM
I'm curious how 2FA has made it more difficult for people who are managing their parent's utility accounts and other things where they need access to the parent phone/email.
Reposted by Matthew Murray 🦇
The USPS posting a NINE BILLION DOLLAR LOSS!!! sounds terrible. Certainly worse than if you said "USPS costs thirty dollars per person per year" even though that means the same thing and more accurately describes a government service
December 5, 2025 at 1:31 PM
The USPS posting a NINE BILLION DOLLAR LOSS!!! sounds terrible. Certainly worse than if you said "USPS costs thirty dollars per person per year" even though that means the same thing and more accurately describes a government service
Reposted by Matthew Murray 🦇
