Ward Q. Normal (he/him)
@wardqnormal.bsky.social
Teacher, knitter, widower, Phish head, provincial park, strategy puzzle video game, type of volcanic crater, electronic device designed to trick or deceive radar, species of moth of the family Tortricidae, ...
Pinned
New school year about to start, so a new thread for the alphabetical order commute playlist. This morning's drive started with "Dumb All Over" (Zappa) and ended with 4 songs titled "Dust" (Monks of Doom, Parquet Courts, 13th Floor Elevators, Elvis Costello).
Reposted by Ward Q. Normal (he/him)
Yep. Not getting colds is awesome.
A Side Benefit of Reasonable Anti-COVID Precautions
A few weeks ago, some asshole with a blog discussed how masking at meetings can prevent disease transmission: I also was at an in-person conference on Tuesday and Wednesday, and by the last couple …
mikethemadbiologist.com
February 9, 2026 at 6:44 PM
Yep. Not getting colds is awesome.
If you stopped masking, you can always just start again! It's not a skill you have to work on. There are no gatekeepers who will kick you out of masking club for not having kept up with it. It protects you and others. There's literally no reason not to do it! #MaskUp
My colleague, out sick with her third cold of the school year: "Maybe I should go back to masking full time."
Me, wearing my mask, still COVID free, and having gotten only one cold in the last 6 years: "Um, yeah, no shit."
Me, wearing my mask, still COVID free, and having gotten only one cold in the last 6 years: "Um, yeah, no shit."
February 9, 2026 at 6:40 PM
If you stopped masking, you can always just start again! It's not a skill you have to work on. There are no gatekeepers who will kick you out of masking club for not having kept up with it. It protects you and others. There's literally no reason not to do it! #MaskUp
Reposted by Ward Q. Normal (he/him)
@weeklyshowpodcast.bsky.social 49% of covid cases are asymptomatic.
every infection causes cumulative damage.
vaccines alone can’t keep us from transmitting covid and getting long covid.
see next skeet for my ongoing thread of bad stuff covid is doing to us.
#MaskUp.
every infection causes cumulative damage.
vaccines alone can’t keep us from transmitting covid and getting long covid.
see next skeet for my ongoing thread of bad stuff covid is doing to us.
#MaskUp.
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 9:49 PM
@weeklyshowpodcast.bsky.social 49% of covid cases are asymptomatic.
every infection causes cumulative damage.
vaccines alone can’t keep us from transmitting covid and getting long covid.
see next skeet for my ongoing thread of bad stuff covid is doing to us.
#MaskUp.
every infection causes cumulative damage.
vaccines alone can’t keep us from transmitting covid and getting long covid.
see next skeet for my ongoing thread of bad stuff covid is doing to us.
#MaskUp.
My colleague, out sick with her third cold of the school year: "Maybe I should go back to masking full time."
Me, wearing my mask, still COVID free, and having gotten only one cold in the last 6 years: "Um, yeah, no shit."
Me, wearing my mask, still COVID free, and having gotten only one cold in the last 6 years: "Um, yeah, no shit."
February 9, 2026 at 6:08 PM
My colleague, out sick with her third cold of the school year: "Maybe I should go back to masking full time."
Me, wearing my mask, still COVID free, and having gotten only one cold in the last 6 years: "Um, yeah, no shit."
Me, wearing my mask, still COVID free, and having gotten only one cold in the last 6 years: "Um, yeah, no shit."
Reposted by Ward Q. Normal (he/him)
Post a banger that isn't in English.
youtu.be/ZhfCWRd9OjM?...
youtu.be/ZhfCWRd9OjM?...
February 9, 2026 at 5:57 PM
Post a banger that isn't in English.
youtu.be/ZhfCWRd9OjM?...
youtu.be/ZhfCWRd9OjM?...
In re: that NYT anti-cannabis op-ed, a reminder that one of the most important questions you can ask when consuming media is "who is paying for or behind this message?" My assumption on this article is booze companies who see legal cannabis eating into their profits. Hmmm....
February 9, 2026 at 5:55 PM
In re: that NYT anti-cannabis op-ed, a reminder that one of the most important questions you can ask when consuming media is "who is paying for or behind this message?" My assumption on this article is booze companies who see legal cannabis eating into their profits. Hmmm....
Reposted by Ward Q. Normal (he/him)
I hear from people who are surprised I'm still talking about ICE, they thought they'd withdrawn from MN.
No, they have not. In some respects they've escalated.
Some asked why MN is a target. Are there are there a lot more illegals or criminals here?
No, it's not about that. It's about a grudge.
No, they have not. In some respects they've escalated.
Some asked why MN is a target. Are there are there a lot more illegals or criminals here?
No, it's not about that. It's about a grudge.
February 9, 2026 at 9:15 AM
I hear from people who are surprised I'm still talking about ICE, they thought they'd withdrawn from MN.
No, they have not. In some respects they've escalated.
Some asked why MN is a target. Are there are there a lot more illegals or criminals here?
No, it's not about that. It's about a grudge.
No, they have not. In some respects they've escalated.
Some asked why MN is a target. Are there are there a lot more illegals or criminals here?
No, it's not about that. It's about a grudge.
If it's part of the USA, why does it have a Spanish name? Checkmate, stupid libs.
I'm really starting to wonder if they don't know Puerto Rico is part of the USA.
Italians, your white card has been revoked. Stefani Germanotta is a perfidious latin
February 9, 2026 at 2:48 PM
If it's part of the USA, why does it have a Spanish name? Checkmate, stupid libs.
Reposted by Ward Q. Normal (he/him)
so much of our present misery is just a giant, prolonged backlash to integration
February 8, 2026 at 5:56 PM
so much of our present misery is just a giant, prolonged backlash to integration
Reposted by Ward Q. Normal (he/him)
Reposted by Ward Q. Normal (he/him)
Dmitri Mendeleev was born #OTD (8 Feb) in 1834. He's known for recognising periodic patterns in the properties of elements, using these to predict the properties of undiscovered elements. And, of course, the periodic table! wp.me/p4aPLT-8UU
#ChemSky 🧪
#ChemSky 🧪
February 8, 2026 at 9:50 PM
Dmitri Mendeleev was born #OTD (8 Feb) in 1834. He's known for recognising periodic patterns in the properties of elements, using these to predict the properties of undiscovered elements. And, of course, the periodic table! wp.me/p4aPLT-8UU
#ChemSky 🧪
#ChemSky 🧪
Reposted by Ward Q. Normal (he/him)
ethics professor here, can confirm
"should the government kidnap 5 year olds and deport them? We asked seventeen ethics professors and they all just screamed"
February 8, 2026 at 5:59 PM
ethics professor here, can confirm
Reposted by Ward Q. Normal (he/him)
I never noticed this either.
February 8, 2026 at 7:09 PM
I never noticed this either.
Note: I have determined that the emotional response to this varies widely depending on whether one likes the song or not.
"Raspberry Beret"? Sure. "With or Without You"? Not so much.
"Raspberry Beret"? Sure. "With or Without You"? Not so much.
Is there a word for:
There's music playing, but the volume is low, and it sounds all muddled, but then you hear a single lyric and can identify the song, and suddenly it sounds louder and much more clear?
That happened to me twice this week.
There's music playing, but the volume is low, and it sounds all muddled, but then you hear a single lyric and can identify the song, and suddenly it sounds louder and much more clear?
That happened to me twice this week.
February 8, 2026 at 7:32 PM
Note: I have determined that the emotional response to this varies widely depending on whether one likes the song or not.
"Raspberry Beret"? Sure. "With or Without You"? Not so much.
"Raspberry Beret"? Sure. "With or Without You"? Not so much.
Is there a word for:
There's music playing, but the volume is low, and it sounds all muddled, but then you hear a single lyric and can identify the song, and suddenly it sounds louder and much more clear?
That happened to me twice this week.
There's music playing, but the volume is low, and it sounds all muddled, but then you hear a single lyric and can identify the song, and suddenly it sounds louder and much more clear?
That happened to me twice this week.
February 8, 2026 at 7:30 PM
Is there a word for:
There's music playing, but the volume is low, and it sounds all muddled, but then you hear a single lyric and can identify the song, and suddenly it sounds louder and much more clear?
That happened to me twice this week.
There's music playing, but the volume is low, and it sounds all muddled, but then you hear a single lyric and can identify the song, and suddenly it sounds louder and much more clear?
That happened to me twice this week.
Reposted by Ward Q. Normal (he/him)
You can take your used coffee grounds and mix them with 1/2 cup of white vinegar, it’s cheap & easy and it creates a huge mess that smells terrible
February 7, 2026 at 8:20 PM
You can take your used coffee grounds and mix them with 1/2 cup of white vinegar, it’s cheap & easy and it creates a huge mess that smells terrible
Reposted by Ward Q. Normal (he/him)
Related: A lot of jam bands should have stopped listening to #Phish way earlier 🤣
Jon Fishman once said when he found a drummer who he really loved, he would stop listening to them, to avoid too much influence. The gist was "I don't want people to hear me and think I sound like a great imitation of someone else. I want to sound like me, even if people hate it."
Put more concretely, if I could do a better Pauline Kael, I would never have figured out how to do a good me
February 8, 2026 at 5:27 PM
Related: A lot of jam bands should have stopped listening to #Phish way earlier 🤣
Jon Fishman once said when he found a drummer who he really loved, he would stop listening to them, to avoid too much influence. The gist was "I don't want people to hear me and think I sound like a great imitation of someone else. I want to sound like me, even if people hate it."
Put more concretely, if I could do a better Pauline Kael, I would never have figured out how to do a good me
February 8, 2026 at 5:15 PM
Jon Fishman once said when he found a drummer who he really loved, he would stop listening to them, to avoid too much influence. The gist was "I don't want people to hear me and think I sound like a great imitation of someone else. I want to sound like me, even if people hate it."
Reposted by Ward Q. Normal (he/him)
the people who want you to believe that generative AI can paint like Picasso tend to gloss over the fact that Picasso didn’t have hundreds of Picassos to learn from. He had to make something new, which a model trained on old art is definitionally incapable of doing.
February 8, 2026 at 4:36 PM
the people who want you to believe that generative AI can paint like Picasso tend to gloss over the fact that Picasso didn’t have hundreds of Picassos to learn from. He had to make something new, which a model trained on old art is definitionally incapable of doing.
Reposted by Ward Q. Normal (he/him)
Super Bowl Sunday is the anniversary of one of the happiest days of my life: the day I realized I no longer had to pretend to like football.
February 11, 2024 at 5:53 PM
Super Bowl Sunday is the anniversary of one of the happiest days of my life: the day I realized I no longer had to pretend to like football.
Reposted by Ward Q. Normal (he/him)
mamdani child podium gave me an idea:
we should have a monthly primetime network show where a random American child gets to address the entire nation for half an hour about whatever topic they want
we should have a monthly primetime network show where a random American child gets to address the entire nation for half an hour about whatever topic they want
February 7, 2026 at 5:25 PM
mamdani child podium gave me an idea:
we should have a monthly primetime network show where a random American child gets to address the entire nation for half an hour about whatever topic they want
we should have a monthly primetime network show where a random American child gets to address the entire nation for half an hour about whatever topic they want
Reposted by Ward Q. Normal (he/him)
Without naming your job, tell me something you say over and over again at work.
“You HAVE TO label each axis and include units”
“You HAVE TO label each axis and include units”
Without naming your job, tell me something you say over and over again at work.
"How many sig-figs should we round our answer to?"
"How many sig-figs should we round our answer to?"
Without naming your job, tell me something you say over and over again at work.
"I've attached a copy of the current style guide for your reference."
"I've attached a copy of the current style guide for your reference."
February 7, 2026 at 6:52 PM
Without naming your job, tell me something you say over and over again at work.
“You HAVE TO label each axis and include units”
“You HAVE TO label each axis and include units”
Reposted by Ward Q. Normal (he/him)
February 7, 2026 at 6:09 PM
Without naming your job, tell me something you say over and over again at work.
"How many sig-figs should we round our answer to?"
"How many sig-figs should we round our answer to?"
Without naming your job, tell me something you say over and over again at work.
"I've attached a copy of the current style guide for your reference."
"I've attached a copy of the current style guide for your reference."
Without naming your job, tell me something you say over and over again at work.
"Where are your citations?"
"Where are your citations?"
February 7, 2026 at 6:29 PM
Without naming your job, tell me something you say over and over again at work.
"How many sig-figs should we round our answer to?"
"How many sig-figs should we round our answer to?"
Reposted by Ward Q. Normal (he/him)
please use alt text
please turn on the feature to require it so you don’t forget
please flex your writing skills and describe the picture. you don’t need to be Tolkien but you can do better than “my cat.” i believe in you
please turn on the feature to require it so you don’t forget
please flex your writing skills and describe the picture. you don’t need to be Tolkien but you can do better than “my cat.” i believe in you
February 7, 2026 at 8:42 AM
please use alt text
please turn on the feature to require it so you don’t forget
please flex your writing skills and describe the picture. you don’t need to be Tolkien but you can do better than “my cat.” i believe in you
please turn on the feature to require it so you don’t forget
please flex your writing skills and describe the picture. you don’t need to be Tolkien but you can do better than “my cat.” i believe in you