PurpleMarsAlien
@purplemarsalien.bsky.social
PNW software engineer, but still a Chicagoan.
Pronouns, she/her. 40-something in tech. I like knitting, enjoy dogs and have a happy teenager.
Pronouns, she/her. 40-something in tech. I like knitting, enjoy dogs and have a happy teenager.
So the not-quite-kid and I have decided that we are going to make: gingerbread cookies, cheesecake brownies, and raspberry stars. I just need to go to the grocery because the only thing I bake usually is bread, and apparently all I have at the moment is flour, a little bit of sugar, and yeast 🤣
December 20, 2025 at 9:29 PM
So the not-quite-kid and I have decided that we are going to make: gingerbread cookies, cheesecake brownies, and raspberry stars. I just need to go to the grocery because the only thing I bake usually is bread, and apparently all I have at the moment is flour, a little bit of sugar, and yeast 🤣
Reposted by PurpleMarsAlien
I really do not care if the guy who has raped kids is from my political party. My moral philosophy is that you don't rape kids, and there is nothing you can do that earns you a get-out-of-raping-kids-free card.
December 20, 2025 at 5:02 AM
I really do not care if the guy who has raped kids is from my political party. My moral philosophy is that you don't rape kids, and there is nothing you can do that earns you a get-out-of-raping-kids-free card.
Obviously this is someone who has never been in a never renovated bowling alley that predates the ban on indoor smoking. My kid was like "mom, why does it smell so terrible in here?"
this is a good reminder of how things that are shitty but have been accepted as normal and inevitable can actually turn out to be abnormal and evitable with some science, time, education and political will
December 20, 2025 at 5:02 AM
Obviously this is someone who has never been in a never renovated bowling alley that predates the ban on indoor smoking. My kid was like "mom, why does it smell so terrible in here?"
How I cook dinner sometimes: I want a glass of wine now. What can I make to justify opening wine now? Beef stew in the instant pot! 25 minutes later, beef stew with partly frozen beef and all the dying veggies from the fridge is sealed into the instant pot, and I have a glass of wine.
December 20, 2025 at 1:31 AM
How I cook dinner sometimes: I want a glass of wine now. What can I make to justify opening wine now? Beef stew in the instant pot! 25 minutes later, beef stew with partly frozen beef and all the dying veggies from the fridge is sealed into the instant pot, and I have a glass of wine.
Reposted by PurpleMarsAlien
We all know there’s nobody human actually behind the Merriam-Webster account, tho. It’s just the actual dictionary rage-posting through this era to make it to the next.
December 18, 2025 at 5:14 PM
We all know there’s nobody human actually behind the Merriam-Webster account, tho. It’s just the actual dictionary rage-posting through this era to make it to the next.
And shingles isn't even something you can avoid by avoiding sick people, it's about your immune system saying oh fuck you.
If you hate the shingles vaccine, I can’t begin to tell you how much more you’re gonna hate shingles.
All over my FB people talking about their bad experiences with shingles vax and dissuading each other from getting it! We need to give people real info on how to mitigate the symtoms caused by vaccines because vaccines are always better than meeting a virus unprepared. Yet drs aren't coaching ppl
December 18, 2025 at 4:20 AM
And shingles isn't even something you can avoid by avoiding sick people, it's about your immune system saying oh fuck you.
Reposted by PurpleMarsAlien
it's a dawn of an era of complete mediocrity...
December 8, 2025 at 1:24 PM
it's a dawn of an era of complete mediocrity...
Reposted by PurpleMarsAlien
Everyone else go home — this is the year we secure ABOLISH ICE on a Chicago Snowplow
chicagoshovels.org
chicagoshovels.org
December 17, 2025 at 6:42 PM
Everyone else go home — this is the year we secure ABOLISH ICE on a Chicago Snowplow
chicagoshovels.org
chicagoshovels.org
Remember I said fuck ovens a few months back? Well my oven heard me and failed the day before Thanksgiving. So I finally have a new oven but I didn't even manage to get a picture of it when it was shiny and clean because I had to cook dinner.
December 18, 2025 at 4:08 AM
Remember I said fuck ovens a few months back? Well my oven heard me and failed the day before Thanksgiving. So I finally have a new oven but I didn't even manage to get a picture of it when it was shiny and clean because I had to cook dinner.
Reposted by PurpleMarsAlien
For anyone worried AI will replace all of us.
Courtesy of Gemini for the prompt “create an infographic of all the World Series winners since 1986”
I dare you to find 10 things that are right.
Courtesy of Gemini for the prompt “create an infographic of all the World Series winners since 1986”
I dare you to find 10 things that are right.
December 16, 2025 at 7:45 PM
For anyone worried AI will replace all of us.
Courtesy of Gemini for the prompt “create an infographic of all the World Series winners since 1986”
I dare you to find 10 things that are right.
Courtesy of Gemini for the prompt “create an infographic of all the World Series winners since 1986”
I dare you to find 10 things that are right.
Reposted by PurpleMarsAlien
This is absolutely correct. Almost every artist I know is DROWNING in ideas. The issue is in executing the ideas.
& this nonsense that whomever has “the most ideas the fastest” is “the most creative” is ridic. There’s ppl with 1,000 ideas for paintings yet will never paint The Starry Night. An idea and $2.90 will get you a ride on the subway in NYC.
Artistry isn’t solely manufacturing ideas. It’s the process.
Artistry isn’t solely manufacturing ideas. It’s the process.
December 15, 2025 at 3:46 PM
This is absolutely correct. Almost every artist I know is DROWNING in ideas. The issue is in executing the ideas.
Reposted by PurpleMarsAlien
I understand that a lot of folks have been misled by fear-mongering and powerful regressive voices but it’s still astonishing to me that so many have fallen for the idea that oppressively policing other people’s gender identity and expression could in any way be part of an enlightened future.
December 13, 2025 at 5:49 PM
I understand that a lot of folks have been misled by fear-mongering and powerful regressive voices but it’s still astonishing to me that so many have fallen for the idea that oppressively policing other people’s gender identity and expression could in any way be part of an enlightened future.
I got my every two (ish) months delivery of local meat today and it makes me so happy that the deep freezer was defrosted, cleaned, and organized, and so I know where everything is, and where the new things should go.
December 10, 2025 at 8:30 PM
I got my every two (ish) months delivery of local meat today and it makes me so happy that the deep freezer was defrosted, cleaned, and organized, and so I know where everything is, and where the new things should go.
The kid who is home from college just came downstairs and asked "mom, what are you doing?" I said "eating cheese and crackers for lunch on a fancy piece of wood." Him: "but then you have to clean it and oil it." Me: "oh well."
December 10, 2025 at 8:23 PM
The kid who is home from college just came downstairs and asked "mom, what are you doing?" I said "eating cheese and crackers for lunch on a fancy piece of wood." Him: "but then you have to clean it and oil it." Me: "oh well."
Reposted by PurpleMarsAlien
Reposted by PurpleMarsAlien
The most realistic scene in DS9 is when Gul Dukat whined about how the Bajorans never erected a statue in his honor. A prophetic text.
December 6, 2025 at 5:32 PM
The most realistic scene in DS9 is when Gul Dukat whined about how the Bajorans never erected a statue in his honor. A prophetic text.
Reposted by PurpleMarsAlien
lets see, 961,6 billion for the 2026 budget over 342 million citizens and change....
961600000000 / 342034432
2,811 dollars and 41 cents per person. lol y'all spend two months of rent on military stuff every year.
961600000000 / 342034432
2,811 dollars and 41 cents per person. lol y'all spend two months of rent on military stuff every year.
December 5, 2025 at 2:15 PM
lets see, 961,6 billion for the 2026 budget over 342 million citizens and change....
961600000000 / 342034432
2,811 dollars and 41 cents per person. lol y'all spend two months of rent on military stuff every year.
961600000000 / 342034432
2,811 dollars and 41 cents per person. lol y'all spend two months of rent on military stuff every year.
Reposted by PurpleMarsAlien
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 PurpleMarsAlien
Two independent studies found that AI chatbots were better at persuading voters than political ads. The most persuasive bots also lied the most. This is something that humans working in psyops have known for decades. AI is psyops at scale. www.technologyreview.com/2025/12/04/1...
December 5, 2025 at 7:58 PM
Two independent studies found that AI chatbots were better at persuading voters than political ads. The most persuasive bots also lied the most. This is something that humans working in psyops have known for decades. AI is psyops at scale. www.technologyreview.com/2025/12/04/1...
I have angst. I tried taller glasses lenses this time around to give me a bigger area for close work on my progressives and that is fabulous. But they are thicker and heavier and that is driving me nuts
December 5, 2025 at 9:54 PM
I have angst. I tried taller glasses lenses this time around to give me a bigger area for close work on my progressives and that is fabulous. But they are thicker and heavier and that is driving me nuts
It has arrived.
December 5, 2025 at 3:21 AM
It has arrived.
Reposted by PurpleMarsAlien
It's time to talk to you about my cat.
Vital Cat Update
It’s time to talk about my cat. To which you might be saying, “Chuck, I didn’t know you had a cat!” and I’d respond with, “I didn’t know I had a cat either…
terribleminds.com
December 4, 2025 at 8:59 PM
It's time to talk to you about my cat.
Reposted by PurpleMarsAlien
If you were a tech company employee who moderated content overseas — say, trying to prevent a repeat of the Myanmar genocide! or maybe policing CSAM! Or hate speech illegal in your country! — you are a “censor” under the definitions of the Republicans in power.
www.reuters.com/world/us/tru...
www.reuters.com/world/us/tru...
Exclusive: Trump administration orders enhanced vetting for applicants of H-1B visa
An internal State Department memo said that anyone involved in "censorship" of free speech should be considered for rejection.
www.reuters.com
December 4, 2025 at 5:56 PM
If you were a tech company employee who moderated content overseas — say, trying to prevent a repeat of the Myanmar genocide! or maybe policing CSAM! Or hate speech illegal in your country! — you are a “censor” under the definitions of the Republicans in power.
www.reuters.com/world/us/tru...
www.reuters.com/world/us/tru...
Reposted by PurpleMarsAlien
Historian of eugenics here. I don't normally like to retweet bad arguments, but this is such a fundamental misunderstanding of eugenics, I think it's important to point out. I don't have time to debunk all of the ways this is inaccurate, but I'll highlight a few things and then recommend some books🧵
December 4, 2025 at 12:44 PM
Historian of eugenics here. I don't normally like to retweet bad arguments, but this is such a fundamental misunderstanding of eugenics, I think it's important to point out. I don't have time to debunk all of the ways this is inaccurate, but I'll highlight a few things and then recommend some books🧵
Reposted by PurpleMarsAlien
i think the inability to tell the difference between "i don't like it" and "i don't like it so i have to figure out a way to imply this thing i don't like is morally evil" is the most fundie thing i see people who are aren't technically fundie regularly do these days
December 4, 2025 at 3:12 PM
i think the inability to tell the difference between "i don't like it" and "i don't like it so i have to figure out a way to imply this thing i don't like is morally evil" is the most fundie thing i see people who are aren't technically fundie regularly do these days