Ned Raggett
@nedraggett.bsky.social
Hi! I write about music at various spots (@thequietus.com, @thewiremagazine.bsky.social, Shfl and my Patreon, also in the past @allmusic.com, @pitchfork.com, @bandcamp.com etc. etc.). Plus podcasting about #Tolkien with friends at @bythebywater.bsky.social
Pinned
Ned Raggett
@nedraggett.bsky.social
· Nov 14
Given the very specific circumstances, I'd either check to see if I'm on drugs or if the baby is on drugs and if the latter find out where I could get some because clearly those are some gooooood drugs.
Well, it's time for some honest to god Bluesky lore.
A year ago, the site was still invite only, and one morning I posted something random and didn't think much about it beyond my own amusement.
This is the story about the #ChristianSkydivingBaby and how it completely took over @bsky.app (1/x)
A year ago, the site was still invite only, and one morning I posted something random and didn't think much about it beyond my own amusement.
This is the story about the #ChristianSkydivingBaby and how it completely took over @bsky.app (1/x)
Goat understates
hearing reports out of Japan that Tatsuya Nakadai has passed away at 92. RIP to a legit legend.
November 11, 2025 at 3:25 AM
Goat understates
Reposted by Ned Raggett
hearing reports out of Japan that Tatsuya Nakadai has passed away at 92. RIP to a legit legend.
November 11, 2025 at 2:54 AM
hearing reports out of Japan that Tatsuya Nakadai has passed away at 92. RIP to a legit legend.
Reposted by Ned Raggett
Setting aside the overblown speculation about overturning Obergefell and substantive due process, this means that evil woman might actually have to pay plaintiffs what she owes them for violating their constitutional rights.
November 10, 2025 at 2:36 PM
Setting aside the overblown speculation about overturning Obergefell and substantive due process, this means that evil woman might actually have to pay plaintiffs what she owes them for violating their constitutional rights.
Your del Toro _Frankenstein_ report: sure is a del Toro film! The design/feel is just a little too 2020s Netflix to me — Coppola’s _Dracula_ is far more visually ravishing — but the melodrama (complimentary) works, the leads are solid and you get Ralph Ineson and Burn Gorman too so it’s a win.
November 10, 2025 at 4:56 PM
Your del Toro _Frankenstein_ report: sure is a del Toro film! The design/feel is just a little too 2020s Netflix to me — Coppola’s _Dracula_ is far more visually ravishing — but the melodrama (complimentary) works, the leads are solid and you get Ralph Ineson and Burn Gorman too so it’s a win.
Reposted by Ned Raggett
Le sigh. While it is true that she ultimately stopped issuing marriage licenses altogether, she FIRST refused to issue marriage licenses for gay couples and THAT is what this case was about (specifically, her liability for the anti-gay discrimination), not her subsequent fall-back position.
Breaking news: The Supreme Court has declined to consider a challenge to its landmark 2015 ruling that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide.
The challenge came from a county clerk who stopped issuing marriage licenses shortly after the ruling.
The challenge came from a county clerk who stopped issuing marriage licenses shortly after the ruling.
Supreme Court won’t hear challenge to landmark gay marriage ruling
The announcement indicates there is not an appetite among the high court’s conservative majority to revisit one of the court’s most significant decisions in recent years.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 10, 2025 at 2:56 PM
Le sigh. While it is true that she ultimately stopped issuing marriage licenses altogether, she FIRST refused to issue marriage licenses for gay couples and THAT is what this case was about (specifically, her liability for the anti-gay discrimination), not her subsequent fall-back position.
Reposted by Ned Raggett
Your #PredatorBadlands report: absolutely great, wouldn't change a thing, nails all the pulpy vibes just so and in brilliant fashion. See it when you can!
November 7, 2025 at 4:56 AM
Your #PredatorBadlands report: absolutely great, wouldn't change a thing, nails all the pulpy vibes just so and in brilliant fashion. See it when you can!
Reposted by Ned Raggett
Reposted by Ned Raggett
"I've just made a deal that will guarantee a vote on the ACA subsidies"
November 10, 2025 at 1:57 AM
"I've just made a deal that will guarantee a vote on the ACA subsidies"
Reposted by Ned Raggett
thinking back to when eric cantor got knocked out in a primary in 2014
November 10, 2025 at 2:47 AM
thinking back to when eric cantor got knocked out in a primary in 2014
Reposted by Ned Raggett
what did Rob Manfred think was going to happen when he encouraged MLB to embrace gambling as a revenue stream?
November 9, 2025 at 6:38 PM
what did Rob Manfred think was going to happen when he encouraged MLB to embrace gambling as a revenue stream?
Reposted by Ned Raggett
I do really think these folks are underestimating how bad the AI backlash can get if the industry needs a bailout
people are still furious about the 2008 bailout and that was almost two decades ago
people are still furious about the 2008 bailout and that was almost two decades ago
Tech guys six months ago: haha yes we’re cutting all this WASTEFUL spending by eliminating medical research and USAID
Tech guys now: yes I think taxpayers will be excited to bailout my non consensual pornography machine
Tech guys now: yes I think taxpayers will be excited to bailout my non consensual pornography machine
November 8, 2025 at 11:28 PM
I do really think these folks are underestimating how bad the AI backlash can get if the industry needs a bailout
people are still furious about the 2008 bailout and that was almost two decades ago
people are still furious about the 2008 bailout and that was almost two decades ago
Reposted by Ned Raggett
it’s not the fact that this Uber driver is blasting Sade’s “By Your Side’ like it’s the early 2000s. it’s that he’s clearly in his early 20s. and he hit repeat
November 9, 2025 at 6:18 AM
it’s not the fact that this Uber driver is blasting Sade’s “By Your Side’ like it’s the early 2000s. it’s that he’s clearly in his early 20s. and he hit repeat
Reposted by Ned Raggett
NYT: Marcyliena Morgan, Founder of Harvard’s Hip-Hop Archive, Dies at 75
By Alex Williams
Her university’s vast collection of albums, scholarly essays and other ephemera helped establish rap as a course of serious study on a par with classical music.
Gift link1
By Alex Williams
Her university’s vast collection of albums, scholarly essays and other ephemera helped establish rap as a course of serious study on a par with classical music.
Gift link1
Marcyliena Morgan, Founder of Harvard’s Hip-Hop Archive, Dies at 75
www.nytimes.com
November 8, 2025 at 9:21 PM
NYT: Marcyliena Morgan, Founder of Harvard’s Hip-Hop Archive, Dies at 75
By Alex Williams
Her university’s vast collection of albums, scholarly essays and other ephemera helped establish rap as a course of serious study on a par with classical music.
Gift link1
By Alex Williams
Her university’s vast collection of albums, scholarly essays and other ephemera helped establish rap as a course of serious study on a par with classical music.
Gift link1
Reposted by Ned Raggett
pre-writing a devastating obituary for your enemy is god-tier hating of a kind you don’t often see anymore. renaissance haterism. beautiful stuff.
A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
James Watson, dead at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers
James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA who died Thursday at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers.
www.statnews.com
November 9, 2025 at 12:55 AM
pre-writing a devastating obituary for your enemy is god-tier hating of a kind you don’t often see anymore. renaissance haterism. beautiful stuff.
Reposted by Ned Raggett
look I know everyone has already commented on this, but it is HILARIOUS that Kash Patel’s default expression is witnessing a car crash
November 8, 2025 at 11:41 PM
look I know everyone has already commented on this, but it is HILARIOUS that Kash Patel’s default expression is witnessing a car crash
Reposted by Ned Raggett
I am truly shocked to not find more thinkpieces on the incredible graphic design and typography of Zohran Mamdani’s campaign but maybe that’s because searching on the internet is garbage now.
TL;DR lead designer was Aneesh Bhoopathy of Forge Co-Op
Roundup of articles in thread 🧵
TL;DR lead designer was Aneesh Bhoopathy of Forge Co-Op
Roundup of articles in thread 🧵
November 8, 2025 at 4:45 PM
I am truly shocked to not find more thinkpieces on the incredible graphic design and typography of Zohran Mamdani’s campaign but maybe that’s because searching on the internet is garbage now.
TL;DR lead designer was Aneesh Bhoopathy of Forge Co-Op
Roundup of articles in thread 🧵
TL;DR lead designer was Aneesh Bhoopathy of Forge Co-Op
Roundup of articles in thread 🧵
Reposted by Ned Raggett
Reposted by Ned Raggett
In the 2000s, just ten percent of Americans believed the government was doing a poor job on economic policy. Today, that's 64%, higher than at any point in our history, beating the oil shocks, wage and price controls, the great inflation, any major recession, financial crisis or pandemic.
November 7, 2025 at 8:55 PM
In the 2000s, just ten percent of Americans believed the government was doing a poor job on economic policy. Today, that's 64%, higher than at any point in our history, beating the oil shocks, wage and price controls, the great inflation, any major recession, financial crisis or pandemic.
Reposted by Ned Raggett
Here’s an easy way to find out how to donate to your local food bank this weekend. 🇺🇸
@feedingamerica.org
give.feedingamerica.org/a/donate
@feedingamerica.org
give.feedingamerica.org/a/donate
November 7, 2025 at 11:56 AM
Here’s an easy way to find out how to donate to your local food bank this weekend. 🇺🇸
@feedingamerica.org
give.feedingamerica.org/a/donate
@feedingamerica.org
give.feedingamerica.org/a/donate
Reposted by Ned Raggett
And if you haven't checked out that cylinder collection, you should.
Index
| UCSB Cylinder Audio Archive
cylinders.library.ucsb.edu
November 8, 2025 at 12:23 AM
And if you haven't checked out that cylinder collection, you should.
Reposted by Ned Raggett
What's great about this news is that it further demonstrates how UCSB has become a truly important general archive location for music all around. Their famed cylinder recordings collection alone, online for listening, started two decades back, for instance.
Preserving the Past & Sharing It Today: A New Partnership with the University of California
The Dust-to-Digital Foundation and the University of California, Santa Barbara have partnered to make thousands of historic recordings freely accessible to the public.
dusttodigital.substack.com
November 8, 2025 at 12:23 AM
What's great about this news is that it further demonstrates how UCSB has become a truly important general archive location for music all around. Their famed cylinder recordings collection alone, online for listening, started two decades back, for instance.
Reposted by Ned Raggett
40 years ago we’d have congressional hearings falsely accusing metal bands of putting backwards messages in their songs that told kids to kill themselves & now we have a planet-killing chatbot that’s all like “bet you won’t commit suicide chickenshit bitch” & the government is like here’s $5 billion
November 8, 2025 at 4:23 AM
40 years ago we’d have congressional hearings falsely accusing metal bands of putting backwards messages in their songs that told kids to kill themselves & now we have a planet-killing chatbot that’s all like “bet you won’t commit suicide chickenshit bitch” & the government is like here’s $5 billion
Reposted by Ned Raggett
The same dude invented Lite-Brite and Mouse Trap? Legend
Burt Meyer, a Chicago toy designer behind classics like Lite-Brite, Mouse Trap, and Rock ’Em Sock ’Em Robots, died Oct. 30 at 99, leaving a joyful, generations-spanning legacy.
Burt Meyer, Chicago toymaker behind classics like Mouse Trap, Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots, has died at 99
chicago.suntimes.com
November 8, 2025 at 4:29 AM
The same dude invented Lite-Brite and Mouse Trap? Legend
Reposted by Ned Raggett
Temps in the low 60s in LA next week, the boys can finally start dressing
November 8, 2025 at 3:28 AM
Temps in the low 60s in LA next week, the boys can finally start dressing
Reposted by Ned Raggett
Burt Meyer, a Chicago toy designer behind classics like Lite-Brite, Mouse Trap, and Rock ’Em Sock ’Em Robots, died Oct. 30 at 99, leaving a joyful, generations-spanning legacy.
Burt Meyer, Chicago toymaker behind classics like Mouse Trap, Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots, has died at 99
chicago.suntimes.com
November 7, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Burt Meyer, a Chicago toy designer behind classics like Lite-Brite, Mouse Trap, and Rock ’Em Sock ’Em Robots, died Oct. 30 at 99, leaving a joyful, generations-spanning legacy.