Free Łink - Matthew R Francis
@bowlerhatscience.org
Science writer, journalist, physicist, hat man, cat man, queer. Pfp by @makinaro.com . See my pinned posts if you're wondering why I disappeared and reappeared. Signal: BowlerHatScience.51
Pinned
Reintroduction post! I am a science writer/journalist who also writes science comics in collaboration with @makinaro.com . My cats are Callisto and Nebula. I post about science, music, comics, politics, cats, porg karaoke, and human rights. Racists, anti-trans/anti-queer bigots, etc. will be blocked
Cat Contemplating Box (Vermeer, c. 1672)
an absolute tank of a cat. nothing short of an enriched uranium shell could knock this solid boy over
November 11, 2025 at 1:16 PM
Cat Contemplating Box (Vermeer, c. 1672)
Reposted by Free Łink - Matthew R Francis
Joyce Carol Oates should say he can't do backflips off the roof next
November 11, 2025 at 5:41 AM
Joyce Carol Oates should say he can't do backflips off the roof next
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I used to think I wanted to get all of the strangling fruit text as a tattoo bc of how much I love the Southern Reach books but now I'm trying to decide between a tattoo of a barrel or a tattoo that just says DO NOT EAT
November 11, 2025 at 1:10 PM
I used to think I wanted to get all of the strangling fruit text as a tattoo bc of how much I love the Southern Reach books but now I'm trying to decide between a tattoo of a barrel or a tattoo that just says DO NOT EAT
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there's a moment in PARADISE LOST where Satan arrives in Eden and realizes Hell isn't a place; it's a thing he carries within him and it'll follow him wherever he goes. and i think about that when i see these awful rich men whose monstrous wealth has enriched them not at all
“whatever club he’s invited to join has been devalued by the invitation”
November 11, 2025 at 6:31 AM
there's a moment in PARADISE LOST where Satan arrives in Eden and realizes Hell isn't a place; it's a thing he carries within him and it'll follow him wherever he goes. and i think about that when i see these awful rich men whose monstrous wealth has enriched them not at all
Reposted by Free Łink - Matthew R Francis
When people say "There weren't many women in palaeontology/palaeoart in the 19 & 20th century" they pretend that women in the Central & East Europe did not exist, despite ladies ruling the show in that corner of the world for a century.
November 11, 2025 at 5:14 AM
When people say "There weren't many women in palaeontology/palaeoart in the 19 & 20th century" they pretend that women in the Central & East Europe did not exist, despite ladies ruling the show in that corner of the world for a century.
this feels altogether too timely as well (alas)
Today is the publication day for WITHOUT CONSENT, a book I am so proud to share with the world, and that the New York Times Book Review says "is years — decades — overdue."
Read more, and order in your preferred format from your favorite retailer here: www.sarahweinman.com/book/without...
Read more, and order in your preferred format from your favorite retailer here: www.sarahweinman.com/book/without...
November 11, 2025 at 1:01 PM
this feels altogether too timely as well (alas)
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!!!!!!! It’s bookday !!!!!!!
Today is the publication day for WITHOUT CONSENT, a book I am so proud to share with the world, and that the New York Times Book Review says "is years — decades — overdue."
Read more, and order in your preferred format from your favorite retailer here: www.sarahweinman.com/book/without...
Read more, and order in your preferred format from your favorite retailer here: www.sarahweinman.com/book/without...
November 11, 2025 at 1:00 PM
!!!!!!! It’s bookday !!!!!!!
WORD over all, beautiful as the sky!
Beautiful that war, and all its deeds of carnage, must in
time be utterly lost;
That the hands of the sisters Death and Night, incessantly
softly wash again, and ever again, this soil'd world:
(text by Walt Whitman, music by Ralph Vaughan Williams)
Beautiful that war, and all its deeds of carnage, must in
time be utterly lost;
That the hands of the sisters Death and Night, incessantly
softly wash again, and ever again, this soil'd world:
(text by Walt Whitman, music by Ralph Vaughan Williams)
November 11, 2025 at 12:51 PM
WORD over all, beautiful as the sky!
Beautiful that war, and all its deeds of carnage, must in
time be utterly lost;
That the hands of the sisters Death and Night, incessantly
softly wash again, and ever again, this soil'd world:
(text by Walt Whitman, music by Ralph Vaughan Williams)
Beautiful that war, and all its deeds of carnage, must in
time be utterly lost;
That the hands of the sisters Death and Night, incessantly
softly wash again, and ever again, this soil'd world:
(text by Walt Whitman, music by Ralph Vaughan Williams)
Reposted by Free Łink - Matthew R Francis
Yo, @support.bsky.team, bring back @sarahkendzior.bsky.social.
November 11, 2025 at 4:56 AM
Yo, @support.bsky.team, bring back @sarahkendzior.bsky.social.
Reposted by Free Łink - Matthew R Francis
In the century leading up to 1975, nearly 6000 freighters went down in the Great Lakes.
The Edmund Fitzgerald was the last.
The last. In 50 years, not a single commercial freighter has been lost in the Great Lakes.
Why?
It's NOAA. Of course it's NOAA.
The Edmund Fitzgerald was the last.
The last. In 50 years, not a single commercial freighter has been lost in the Great Lakes.
Why?
It's NOAA. Of course it's NOAA.
November 11, 2025 at 1:50 AM
In the century leading up to 1975, nearly 6000 freighters went down in the Great Lakes.
The Edmund Fitzgerald was the last.
The last. In 50 years, not a single commercial freighter has been lost in the Great Lakes.
Why?
It's NOAA. Of course it's NOAA.
The Edmund Fitzgerald was the last.
The last. In 50 years, not a single commercial freighter has been lost in the Great Lakes.
Why?
It's NOAA. Of course it's NOAA.
Reposted by Free Łink - Matthew R Francis
Every time someone’s like “put that in the louvre,” my head now goes “and then steal it from the louvre, the security password is louvre”
November 11, 2025 at 3:33 AM
Every time someone’s like “put that in the louvre,” my head now goes “and then steal it from the louvre, the security password is louvre”
Reposted by Free Łink - Matthew R Francis
Huh well it turns out I heard from a few federal workers about this and well
"We civil servants organized to help our colleagues face the hardship of the shutdown, we put up with the pain and our only request was to not be betrayed like this. Trade our pain, make it count."
"We civil servants organized to help our colleagues face the hardship of the shutdown, we put up with the pain and our only request was to not be betrayed like this. Trade our pain, make it count."
November 10, 2025 at 9:30 PM
Huh well it turns out I heard from a few federal workers about this and well
"We civil servants organized to help our colleagues face the hardship of the shutdown, we put up with the pain and our only request was to not be betrayed like this. Trade our pain, make it count."
"We civil servants organized to help our colleagues face the hardship of the shutdown, we put up with the pain and our only request was to not be betrayed like this. Trade our pain, make it count."
Reposted by Free Łink - Matthew R Francis
The difference in time between now and I can has cheezburger
Is the same between I can has Cheezburger and the Berlin Wall falling
Is the same between I can has Cheezburger and the Berlin Wall falling
November 10, 2025 at 5:46 PM
The difference in time between now and I can has cheezburger
Is the same between I can has Cheezburger and the Berlin Wall falling
Is the same between I can has Cheezburger and the Berlin Wall falling
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Jupiter says trans rights
🔭 Jupiter in Ultraviolet from Hubble
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble; Processing & License: Judy Schmidt
star.ucl.ac.uk/~apod/apod/a...
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble; Processing & License: Judy Schmidt
star.ucl.ac.uk/~apod/apod/a...
November 11, 2025 at 8:22 AM
Jupiter says trans rights
My yearly November 11 tradition is to listen to Vaughan Williams' antiwar oratorio "Dona Nobis Pacem" and read selections from the War Poets.
November 11, 2025 at 11:36 AM
My yearly November 11 tradition is to listen to Vaughan Williams' antiwar oratorio "Dona Nobis Pacem" and read selections from the War Poets.
Reposted by Free Łink - Matthew R Francis
Bluesky suspended Sarah Kendzior today for no reason whatsoever. She just shared excerpts of her articles, which were as always incisive and not offensive at all. Hey @pfrazee.com this is super not OK. I know her- we've interacted a fair bit via chats and her work is essential.
November 11, 2025 at 5:02 AM
Bluesky suspended Sarah Kendzior today for no reason whatsoever. She just shared excerpts of her articles, which were as always incisive and not offensive at all. Hey @pfrazee.com this is super not OK. I know her- we've interacted a fair bit via chats and her work is essential.
Reposted by Free Łink - Matthew R Francis
Yes, "pregnant people" is inclusive language that describes pregnant cis women AS WELL AS trans men and nonbinary people, a lot of whom can get pregnant. But it also describes, like, 12-year-old girls who get pregnant. Do centrist pig-dogs think THEY are "women" too? Coz...bit of a red flag, that.
November 11, 2025 at 11:21 AM
Yes, "pregnant people" is inclusive language that describes pregnant cis women AS WELL AS trans men and nonbinary people, a lot of whom can get pregnant. But it also describes, like, 12-year-old girls who get pregnant. Do centrist pig-dogs think THEY are "women" too? Coz...bit of a red flag, that.
Reposted by Free Łink - Matthew R Francis
Love this take: It doesn't undermine Mamdani & shows how Mamdani should be inspiration showing many more of us "plebs" can do it.
The thing about Mamdani is that he’s a talented politician but not otherworldly or one in a billion, he’s just a competent guy with popular ideas who ran against an entitled piece of shit and to me it’s a lot more optimistic to imagine 1000 campaigns like his than to view him as a unique phenomenon
November 11, 2025 at 11:13 AM
Love this take: It doesn't undermine Mamdani & shows how Mamdani should be inspiration showing many more of us "plebs" can do it.
Reposted by Free Łink - Matthew R Francis
hi, can you do me a favor?
take a picture of your pet and then take a picture again while you sing to them
thank you, this is for science
here is my contribution
take a picture of your pet and then take a picture again while you sing to them
thank you, this is for science
here is my contribution
November 10, 2025 at 11:25 PM
hi, can you do me a favor?
take a picture of your pet and then take a picture again while you sing to them
thank you, this is for science
here is my contribution
take a picture of your pet and then take a picture again while you sing to them
thank you, this is for science
here is my contribution
Reposted by Free Łink - Matthew R Francis
Don't have much to add about the feckless Senate Dems, except that I find it impossible to say "Jeanne Shaheen" without doing it in a Gomer Pyle voice.
November 10, 2025 at 11:17 PM
Don't have much to add about the feckless Senate Dems, except that I find it impossible to say "Jeanne Shaheen" without doing it in a Gomer Pyle voice.
Reposted by Free Łink - Matthew R Francis
be there or be square!
me:
me:
November 10, 2025 at 9:16 PM
be there or be square!
me:
me:
Reposted by Free Łink - Matthew R Francis
Middle-aged dad. I helped my daughter with her homework, researching Arthropleura, a millipede-like animal that could grow to over 2.5m long. I've been having nightmares about it for the last two nights. I know they're extinct but my dreams don't.
November 10, 2025 at 11:20 PM
Middle-aged dad. I helped my daughter with her homework, researching Arthropleura, a millipede-like animal that could grow to over 2.5m long. I've been having nightmares about it for the last two nights. I know they're extinct but my dreams don't.
Reposted by Free Łink - Matthew R Francis
[redacted]
In the most predictable development ever, Mike Johnson is not committing to hold a House vote on ACA subsidies
November 10, 2025 at 10:45 PM
[redacted]
I "stopped working for the day" over an hour ago, yet I keep tinkering with three different pieces of writing
November 10, 2025 at 10:41 PM
I "stopped working for the day" over an hour ago, yet I keep tinkering with three different pieces of writing
I do appreciate the lovingly rendered asshole on the cat in the top left image
November 10, 2025 at 10:34 PM
I do appreciate the lovingly rendered asshole on the cat in the top left image