Chris B
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chrisprobably.bsky.social
Chris B
@chrisprobably.bsky.social
I think, I worry, I love nature. I worked as a physicist long ago, now I write code for a living. I write fiction, or aspire to.
I haven't been posting much recently, but just to say to you all: I'm fine, nothing's happened to me. I just haven't been feeling the urge to write for a while. I want to write things that bring joy, or wonder, or the lure of the strange, or perhaps to say something true
March 18, 2025 at 10:23 PM
Overhearing a conversation in the background: aging ladies, the sort you'd expect to be organizing a garden, talking geopolitics and describing the federal government in language that would scorch concrete.
When the aging ladies are angry enough they can reshape the world. They run everything.
March 1, 2025 at 6:47 PM
1/
It's terrifying in the jungle at night.
You would think the problem would be the snakes. It's not the snakes. They're moving, you're not, and you're too big for them to swallow. To a king cobra a sleeping human is a warmish log. They just glide right over.
Imagery: The jungle at night. #hbp125
February 28, 2025 at 10:11 PM
"Which one of us shall last longer?" asked the bridge. "I'm hard as the stone I'm built of, while you bend and shift at the slightest pressure."
"Look at the chasm carved in stone beneath you," said the river. "And tell me which of us will last."
February 27, 2025 at 12:11 AM
There are
Things so fragile that a glance will alter them
The state of an electron
The expression on your face
A wilting rose that crumbles in the light.
I did not mean to change you!
I did not even mean to look.
Yet all the states of everything
Are bound to one another
And I can't untouch you now.
The rose petals wither as soon as you touch them.

#writingprompt #artprompt
February 26, 2025 at 11:52 PM
The ethereal cats of Altair are sometimes solid, sometimes transparent, and usually not entirely in our dimension. When seen from the right distance one can almost forget that they are 52 miles tall and often crush small mountains.
February 25, 2025 at 2:31 AM
Invoke the roots and skies for power as you choose, but never imagine that doing so will not change you.
Rolf Tietgens
Untitled, 1939.
February 24, 2025 at 6:00 PM
I knew there was a reason disco balls are vaguely unnerving. Lights spin around the room disconnected from anything, whether you want them to or not. It makes sense that each one is a soul trapped in some 70s themed limbo.
Each of the mirrors in a disco ball holds captive the soul of a fallen dancer.
February 24, 2025 at 5:25 PM
Reposted by Chris B
Ursula le Guin, on the accusation that fantasy is an escape from reality
February 23, 2025 at 11:44 PM
1/
It wasn't until 2350 that they perfected the Transporter so that it worked as well as the ancient Star Trek stories. It was astonishing: it could beam you miles or light years away in just moments.
It didn't really beam _you_, of course. Too heavy to send all that matter, and unnecessary.
Prose/dialogue: “When I heard the music, I knew it was over.” #hbp120
February 23, 2025 at 4:27 PM
A cat with an umbrella went a wandering 'neath the moon.
I asked the cat "Why take you that? It will not rain too soon."
The cat replied "Stand fool aside, you cannot understand
T'is just a bit of fashion and I'm told that I look grand,
For a cat with an umbrella is the smartest in the land."
By BoBilo
February 23, 2025 at 5:20 AM
Reposted by Chris B
February 22, 2025 at 6:49 PM
Reposted by Chris B
It was absolutely original and marvelous. Original music, and a story of strange compassion for the ghosts who cannot let go.
February 22, 2025 at 5:29 AM
A proud moment: I am here for the first performance of My Friend Grim, a musical written and composed by my child Leo. They have an amazing talent and I am beyond impressed they brought this all the way from inspiration to reality.
February 22, 2025 at 2:55 AM
Reposted by Chris B
As I come closer to death, I ponder the important questions. Do they still tell that tale of the one night in the year when all the chalk figures come alive? The night the white horses gallop and the giants wrestle. Do children still try to stay up to see such marvels? - #CLNolan
February 21, 2025 at 10:58 AM
A cybertruck is a terrible investment by most measures, but it turns out to be a great way to get free eggs!
all of central Brooklyn is playing a game of Egg The Cybertruck with this one guy who keeps street parking in the hood
February 22, 2025 at 2:07 AM
Reposted by Chris B
We are in this together.
February 21, 2025 at 5:25 PM
"Will you walk into my parlour?" said a spider to a fly;
" 'Tis the prettiest little parlour that ever you did spy.
The way into my parlour is up a winding stair,
And I have many pretty things to shew when you are there."

Mary Howitt
How inviting 🕷
February 20, 2025 at 1:32 AM
Moonlight behind clouds, showing out the shadows of dark trees. Sing softly in your mind then listen closely. With the right sort of ears, on the right night, you may hear them singing back in words your mind can't comprehend, words made of life and ancient sunlight.
February 19, 2025 at 9:25 PM
Groceries were much cheaper back then, but each little trip to get a package of gum was a hell of a workout....
February 19, 2025 at 3:49 PM
Reposted by Chris B
Fungi,
Seven times mass of all animals—
Including us

#fungifriends
#naturephotography #haiku
#Thrust @lidiamiles.bsky.social
February 17, 2025 at 12:16 AM
There are paths so beautiful that nowhere they go to is half so interesting as the trail itself. This why measuring things by their goals and destinations misses the point.
February 17, 2025 at 5:49 PM
1/
It takes centuries for old bones, gathering calcite, to slowly grow into macabre stalagmites. Sad Gulch Mine must have bored bored into a cave system because its oldest and deepest pits had many such formations: ribs sparkling like jeweled candelabra, vertebrae poking casually up from the fllor,
Place: The bottom of a mineshaft. #hbp114
February 17, 2025 at 5:41 PM
Myron is confused about your sense of fashion. If you're going for the vulture bald neck thing, why so many feathers on top?
Hello. 😊 Took this photo of a burrowing owl in Cape Coral, Florida (they are everywhere!).
#owl #bird #photography #nature #wildlife #burrowingowl #rdphotography #art #birdnerd
February 15, 2025 at 7:08 PM