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suzerain.bsky.social
MV
@suzerain.bsky.social
220 followers 270 following 2K posts
At heart, a problem solver. Most often that manifests in my work in software engineering, but I like thinking about anything.

Interests: music, media, running, technology, programming, game theory, geopolitics, design, art and the future.
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suzerain.bsky.social
#MusicChallenge
#IsmuasMonthOfMusic

day 19
A song that feels happy but has sad lyrics

Poison Arrow
– ABC
📍Sheffield 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇬🇧
1982

Despite the title, childhood me bopped around to this not paying attention to the heartbreak.

(I tend to notice music before lyrics.)

youtu.be/a70yJwgQtzo
cover art: Poison Arrow – ABC A quite literal interpretation of the song expressed in a commercially-styled photo: an attractive woman in the foreground holds three arrows. Behind her is a man hanging off, perhaps, a table (we can’t see), as if he was shot.
January 20, 2026 at 3:33 AM
suzerain.bsky.social
#MusicChallenge
#IsmuasMonthOfMusic

day 18
A song for when you feel lonely

Let’s Get Lost
– Elliott Smith
📍Amherst, MA 🇺🇸
1992

Not quite hitting the brief, because I don’t really listen to music specifically when I feel lonely.

But this is the loneliest song I can think of.

youtu.be/XtbUZU1Cv80
cover art: From A Basement On The Hill – Elliott Smith A black and white photo of the artist sitting on a stoop. It has been tinted brownish on the top, and blueish along the sidewalk in front of him. Artist name and title appear overlaying and below, in a handwritten scrawl.
January 20, 2026 at 2:56 AM
Reposted by MV
ndrew.bsky.social
every single goddam crisis happening right now is self imposed
January 19, 2026 at 5:48 PM
Reposted by MV
sarcher.bsky.social
This is the thing. Achievable goals and laser focus; there will be time for other stuff down the road.
jamellebouie.net jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 15h
i think this MLK day the thing to focus on is the strategic focus and tactical brilliance of the civil rights movement and the way it was laser focused on a set of achievable goals
January 19, 2026 at 5:11 PM
Reposted by MV
lorennacleary.bsky.social
The absolute accuracy of this.
January 18, 2026 at 10:23 PM
Reposted by MV
theguardian.com
High-speed train crash in southern Spain leaves 39 dead
High-speed train crash in southern Spain leaves 39 dead
A further 75 people hospitalised after two trains collided and derailed near Adamuz in Córdoba province
www.theguardian.com
January 19, 2026 at 7:43 AM
suzerain.bsky.social
#MusicChallenge
#IsmuasMonthOfMusic

day 17
A song that captures pure anger

Wish
– Nine Inch Nails
📍Cleveland, OH 🇺🇸
1992

Written and expressed in anger. On the Broken tour, the mosh pits were pretty epic.

youtu.be/kuoFiIFkdAA
cover art: Broken – Nine Inch Nails A fiery yellow, orange and red background over which sits a large translucent “n”, with “nine inch nails broken” written in black below, at the same width.
January 17, 2026 at 10:26 PM
Reposted by MV
matthelgeson.bsky.social
Spotify has a nice picture of the classic Was (Not Was) lineup 😂
January 17, 2026 at 2:57 AM
suzerain.bsky.social
#MusicChallenge
#IsmuasMonthOfMusic

day 16
A song you discovered recently but feels timeless

Angels Make Love
– Andy Allo
📍Sacramento, CA 🇺🇸🇨🇲
2019

There will always be a market for smooth soul music about finding a sublime sensual connection.

youtu.be/E76IwJ8SbRE
cover art: Angels Make Love – Andy Allo A dark and sultry, crimson-purple-hued photo of the artist, wearing a suit jacket.
January 16, 2026 at 9:48 AM
Reposted by MV
molly.wiki
If anyone was still pretending this isn’t just about excluding trans kids from public life, the Trump administration just opened a Title IX investigation into a Maine school district because a trans student is on a *co-ed* cheerleading squad.
​Newport co-ed cheerleading team is at center of Trump transgender athlete crackdown​Trump admin focuses on swimming, cheerleading in Maine transgender athlete probes
The U.S. Department of Education announced a slew of Title IX-related investigations this week that include 2 school districts in Maine.
www.pressherald.com
January 16, 2026 at 1:09 AM
suzerain.bsky.social
Very strange that Apple’s design team decided the best way to represent the "active item" is “greyed out”.

Ergo, the most important contextual anchor for the user’s sense of place is also the thing with the lightest weight. #ux

IMO, it should be the most prominent thing, not the least.
Image showing the “active” state in Apple Mail’s UX, which makes the highlighted element seem like the weakest, or even disabled, option.
January 16, 2026 at 12:45 AM
Reposted by MV
atrupar.com
Gavin Newsom is a presidential frontrunner in part because he not only talked the talk about fighting Trump, but came up with and executed a plan to actually do it. Other Democrats should take note. Words and stern letters ain’t sufficient.
January 16, 2026 at 12:28 AM
Reposted by MV
trending-stocks.bsky.social
Homework on oil triangle, unlocked. #econsky
amywestervelt.bsky.social Amy Westervelt @amywestervelt.bsky.social · 4d
I started throwing together background research to share with folks who wanted more details on the U.S.-Venezuela-Guyana oil triangle I wrote about in @drilledmedia.bsky.social last week, and then figured I should make it public. Hope it helps! drilled.media/news/venezue...
Showing Our Work: The Real U.S. Oil Payoff in Venezuela, a Timeline
The U.S. invasion of Venezuela was at least partly driven by oil, but not in the ways most people are talking about.
drilled.media
January 15, 2026 at 11:32 PM
suzerain.bsky.social
#MusicChallenge
#IsmuasMonthOfMusic

day 15
A song that feels like the ocean

Oats In The Water
– Ben Howard
📍Bantham 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇬🇧
2012

Sure, it has “water” in the title, but this one reminded me of the ocean because of the way it kinda floats and undulates.

youtu.be/GOhLY4OmW-M
cover art: The Burgh Island E.P. – Ben Howard A moody black and white photo of a coastline with foreboding clouds overhead cascading to lighter skies in the distance.
January 15, 2026 at 7:09 AM
Reposted by MV
queenofthesouth.bsky.social
We need to campaign just as hard for increased voter access as we do for candidates we like.
January 14, 2026 at 5:32 PM
Reposted by MV
adamjkucharski.bsky.social
Want to get the data out of a PDF figure? As in, the actual data – not a rough trace-along-the-lines version?

I made an app you might like: adamkucharski.github.io/pdf2plot/

It all started a few years ago... 🧵
January 13, 2026 at 9:12 PM
suzerain.bsky.social
Possibly unpopular opinion: fast food isn’t nearly as unhealthy as people make it out to be.

I’m not saying it’s optimal, just that it’s not as bad as RFK or many others think.

#nutrition
January 14, 2026 at 11:10 PM
suzerain.bsky.social
Change one letter, ruin a show…

Miami Lice
ismua.bsky.social ismua ᴮˡᵘᵉˢᵏʸ ᴱˡᵈᵉʳ📯 🌈⛵💜 @ismua.bsky.social · 6d
Change one letter, ruin a show…

Stranger Thongs
kimberjohnson.bsky.social Kimber Johnson @kimberjohnson.bsky.social · 6d
Change one letter, ruin a show…

The Walking Dad
January 14, 2026 at 7:26 AM
suzerain.bsky.social
#MusicChallenge
#IsmuasMonthOfMusic

day 14
A song about self-discovery

Find Yourself
– Universal Honey
📍Toronto, ON 🇨🇦
1993

Alt rock from a band founded by a couple of former members of The Pursuit Of Happiness.

youtu.be/F5RSRSeoi74
cover art: Magic Basement – Universal Honey A closeup of someone’s eye, posterized in purple, orange and red.
January 14, 2026 at 6:52 AM
suzerain.bsky.social
Yes, Joe, we are.

This was all predictable in 2024, had you been paying attention.

You explicitly endorsed it.
carlquintanilla.bsky.social Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 6d
“.. Are we really gonna be the Gestapo, 'Where's your papers?' Is that what we've come to?"
January 13, 2026 at 10:20 PM
suzerain.bsky.social
#MusicChallenge
#IsmuasMonthOfMusic

day 13
A song that feels surreal

Berghain
– Rosalía • Björk • Yves Tumor
📍Sant Esteve Sesrovires • Reykjavík • Los Angeles, CA
🇪🇸🇮🇸🇺🇸
2025

This feels like music from an alternate timeline.

youtu.be/htQBS2Ikz6c
cover art: Lux – Rosalía A photo of the artist in front of a blue/grey background dressed in ivory white in an outfit suggestive of a nun, but the top has no sleeve openings, so her arms are inside sort of like a straitjacket.
January 13, 2026 at 5:14 AM
Reposted by MV
andycraig.bsky.social
"Irreverence is the champion of liberty and its only sure defense."
Mark Twain
coreyryung.bsky.social Corey Rayburn Yung @coreyryung.bsky.social · 7d
This isn't just a casual observation. Fascism scholars have long made this point. It's why calling them "weird" was a more effective strategy than talking about the prices of eggs. Fascism is an aesthetic political movement - you need to make people feel embarassed and horrified by it.
ndrew.bsky.social Andrew Lawrence @ndrew.bsky.social · 7d
one of the most effective weapons we have against fascism is mockery, especially when its really funny
January 12, 2026 at 11:09 PM
Reposted by MV
michaelindivisible.bsky.social
January 12, 2026 at 7:02 PM
Reposted by MV
paulcrider.liberalcurrents.com
I know Americans have the collective memory of a goldfish, but I feel like if we chose to, we could emphasize that ICE and DHS are less than a quarter century old. They are not deep-rooted American institutions. It was the *creation* of ICE that was radical and, we now know, dangerous.
January 12, 2026 at 5:08 PM
Reposted by MV
audrelawdamercy.bsky.social
semi-regular reminder that ICE was only created in 2003

when you are asked to imagine a world without ICE, you're basically being asked to remember where you were when Lilo & Stitch came out
January 12, 2026 at 8:04 PM