donaithnen
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donaithnen.bsky.social
donaithnen
@donaithnen.bsky.social
120 followers 150 following 1.7K posts
Geek. Programmer. Fan of SFF books and TV, video games, and anime.

Currently residing in central CA. Former resident of Los Angeles and WA state.

https://linktr.ee/donaithnen
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donaithnen.bsky.social
If we just skip to 'F', maybe Fluffy Cat or Fuzzy Cat because he's got very light and fluffy fur? (Especially his tail.) But once we start skipping letters i guess anything is an option?

(We were calling him "Whiney" for a little while, but thankfully he seems to have grown out of that a bit.)
Kitten sitting on a laptop, totally unconcerned about the havoc he's wreaking in online chats. Kitten sitting nicely in a window, with his big floofy tail on display. Kitten lying stretched out on the floor, looking up at the camera Kitten sitting nicely in the window and _not_ attacking Cuddle Cat, who's curled up on a cushion on the chair below him.
November 27, 2025 at 6:39 PM
donaithnen.bsky.social
As someone who is in the middle of dealing with a car whose off switch does not always work because of a malfunctioning dash, and which will cost $950 to fix so that i can reliably have an off switch again, i fail to see the appeal here.
An ad for a truck on YouTube with the title saying: "This bad boy has no off switch"
November 19, 2025 at 1:54 AM
donaithnen.bsky.social
We thought we had someone we know who might be interested in adopting the kitten that we're Definitely Not Keeping, but unfortunately that fell through, so we're Definitely Not Keeping the kitten awhile longer.
A backlit kitten standing in the bathroom window, meowing at the camera and with his tail straight up and a bit floofier than usual. The kitten sitting on top of the kitchen footstool looking at the camera, while Dapple Cat is sitting under the footstool, facing away. The kitten is still on the footstool, but now standing and looking down at Dapple Cat, who is beside the footstool on her back in play/fight mode, waiting for the kitten to try and take a swipe. The kitten lying on one of the cat beds on the couch, while Black Cat sits next to/in front of her. They're both looking up at the camera.
November 13, 2025 at 4:31 PM
donaithnen.bsky.social
Timeline synchronicity is definitely a thing, as most recently demonstrated by @chriswarcraft.bsky.social and @tkingfisher.com
Two adjacent tweets about media education of the next generation Chris Kluwe saying: [Watched the latest My Hero Academia episode with the younger child, said “oh, that’s totally an Akira moment,” the younger child said “what’s Akira?” and I now I realize I have failed as a parent] Immediately followed (preceded?) by Kingfisher & Wombat saying: [Next up in Stepson’s 80’s movie education, we’re on a mission from God with THE BLUES BROTHERS!]
October 29, 2025 at 4:46 AM
donaithnen.bsky.social
Our neighbor decided they had to give up their 6 month(?) old kitten and prevailed upon us to help. We're definitely not keeping him. We're definitely going to find another good home for him instead. Definitely.
Kitten standing on a bench looking at something often to the left Kitten sitting on the floor looking up at a string toy that's out of frame. Kitten sitting by a chair, next to a green spring toy that he's been intermittently playing with. Kitten sitting on the top of a small cat tree.
October 22, 2025 at 9:43 PM
donaithnen.bsky.social
And this looks even less good =/
Web page image: "You are now in the queue, 8531 people ahead of you" Now with the additional message: "Tickets are now limited for this Artist Presale. Additional tickets will be available during the general sale."
October 13, 2025 at 7:14 PM
donaithnen.bsky.social
Trying to get tickets for Rush's reunion tour, and this isn't a great sign =P
Web page saying "You are now in the queue: 12,689 people ahead of you"
October 13, 2025 at 7:03 PM
donaithnen.bsky.social
Avalyn consolidated all of the cardboard cat scratchers so we can decide which are in the best shape and throw the rest, and when i walked in it looked like a cat scratcher graveyard going on.
13 cat scratchers of several different styles lying clustered together on the floor, with a few other cat toys mixed in.
October 3, 2025 at 4:00 AM
donaithnen.bsky.social
Black Cat is doing her usual lounging on the back of the couch, but Dapple Cat has decided that she would rather crawl under the blanket that we put on the couch to *checks notes* protect it from the cats
Black Cat (a black cat) is lying along the back of the couch, while Dapple Cat (a dappled white black and orange cat) has sliced aside the blanket on the seat of the couch and has her body underneath with her head sticking out.
September 4, 2025 at 7:04 PM
donaithnen.bsky.social
Adventure Cat used to nap in my lap as a kitten but mostly grew out of it. But recently she's started being adorably awkward about napping on the desk between me and my keyboard when i'm trying to work.
Adventure Cat (a dark brown, light brown, and orange tabby) lying curled up on the desk in the semi-cicle formed by my chest and left arm, which _was_ typing on my keyboard before she arrived.
September 2, 2025 at 9:14 PM
donaithnen.bsky.social
I made that trip several times when i was temporarily without a car.

Unfortunately my destination was Irvine, so i then had to take another ~1hr train SE from LA, thus traversing two sides of a triangle.

(If there had been a direct train route i might have considered it for my daily commute.)
An image showing the 2hr and 14 min train route from Claremont to Irvine (via LA Union Station) traversing two sides of a triangle.
September 1, 2025 at 4:06 AM
donaithnen.bsky.social
At a time when AI has started talking humans into suicide, has anyone tried turning the tables by dressing William Shatner up in a Starfleet uniform and sitting him down for a conversation with ChatGPT?
Captain Kirk arguing Nomad to death, from Star Trek TOS S2E3, "The Changeling"
August 30, 2025 at 11:43 PM
donaithnen.bsky.social
Avalyn headed out of town this morning and will be away all weekend. On the plus side, because we got up so early we got to see a pretty amazing sunrise that was casting a spray of sunbeams and shadows across the sky.

(Of course it was even more impressive in person)
A picture of the sky to the left of the sunrise, showing the shadows extending further. A picture of the sunrise showing sunbeams separated by shadows from clouds.
August 30, 2025 at 12:21 AM
donaithnen.bsky.social
We've done it everyone! We're finally preparing our children for the (dystopic) world of (yesterday's) tomorrow!
The bottom of page 286 of Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson "Y.T.'s mom pulls up the new memo, checks the time, and starts reading it. The estimated reading time is 15.62 minutes. Later, when Marietta does her end-of-day statistical roundup, sitting in her private office at 9:00 P.M., she will see the name of each employee and next to it, the amount of time spent reading this memo, and her reaction, based on the time spent, will go something like this: Less than 10 min. Time for an employee conference and possible attitude counseling. 10-14 min. Keep an eye on this employee; may be developing slipshod attitude." The top of page 287 of Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson "14-15.61 min. Employee is an efficient worker, may sometimes miss important details. Exactly 15.62 min. Smartass. Needs attitude counseling. 15.63-16 min. 16-18 min. Asswipe. Not to be trusted. Employee is a methodical worker, may sometimes get hung up on minor details. More than 18 min. Check the security videotape, see just what this employee was up to (e.g., possible unauthorized rest-room break). Y.T.'s mom decides to spend between fourteen and fifteen minutes reading the memo. It's better for younger workers to spend too long, to show that they're careful, not cocky. It's better for older workers to go a little fast, to show good management potential. She's pushing forty. She scans through the memo, hitting the Page Down button at reasonably regular intervals, occasionally paging back up to pretend to reread some earlier section. The computer is going to notice all this. It approves of rereading. It's a small thing, but over a decade or so this stuff really shows up on your work-habits summary."
August 26, 2025 at 5:29 PM
donaithnen.bsky.social
I somehow spent most of my first 25 years in western Washington without every hearing about the Seattle Dog.

Know that I know it exists thanks to WorldCon, i decided to try my own version with sauerkraut since i don't like onions. It's good!
My personal version of the Seattle Dog, with cream cheese and sourkraut. (And a berry Lost Lake Cider and a diet coke.)
August 17, 2025 at 9:17 PM
donaithnen.bsky.social
Someone named "Ethel Cain" is playing at the theatre across from WorldCon. I don't know who they are, but there are a ton of young people lined up the to see them going up the block, across the overpass, and back down the other side of the block.
A long line of people going up a block, and then across a bridge/overpass
August 14, 2025 at 1:58 AM
donaithnen.bsky.social
Um, thanks autocorrect, but that's not where i was going with this tweet.
Autocorrect suggesting that i replace the typo "and", which was meant to be "about", with the word "smut" instead.
August 12, 2025 at 7:34 PM
donaithnen.bsky.social
Avalyn likes upgrading us to first class when it's convenient/not super expensive. One of the benefits(?) is we each got a box of water. We now only have one, b/c they were both balanced on the armrest, I knocked one over while trying to get to my seat, & inadvertantly sat on it

My butt is wet now
The lone surviving box of water, sitting on the armrest from which its sibling was dislodged.
August 12, 2025 at 5:52 PM
donaithnen.bsky.social
Just got to this part of DS9 and was laughing "ha ha, this science is out of date, it's heat death now, not big crunch."

I guess maybe they, or their great^1000000000000 descendent, will get the last laugh?
Jack, the genetically-engineered character from DS9, in mid-rant about the end of the universe (in "60 trillion years, 70 at the most") saying "and it is going to collapse in on itself."
July 8, 2025 at 3:46 PM
donaithnen.bsky.social
Today i learned where the Cobb salad came from!

And unlike so many other "home of the X!" restaurants, there's some disagreement about which individual actually came up with the recipe, but everyone seems to agree "yup, it was created right there."
Quote Post by Iron Spike (@ironspike.bsky.social) "Real talk, we lost something as a culture when we fell out of love with novelty architecture." Quoted Post shows a picture of the "Brown Derby" restaurant, which is shaped like a giant brown derby hat, and says: "‪lauren‬ ‪@lauren.rotatingsandwiches.com‬ los angeles in the 1930's in fiction: a city of hard boiled police detectives and gangsters who drink hard and play hard los angeles in the 30's in real life: man named bob cobb opens restaurant shaped like a bowler hat, names popular salad after himself"
June 23, 2025 at 4:18 PM
donaithnen.bsky.social
We found a second Irish place in Vegas!

("Ri Ra", as opposed to "Nine Fine Irishmen")
A flight of four beers, with the menu describing them. "Irish Beer Flight: Guinness Stout, Sullivan's Gold Ale, Smithwick's Irish Red, Kilkenny (Irish Creme Ale)"
June 13, 2025 at 1:20 AM
donaithnen.bsky.social
...i thought everyone knew dads had that one chair that they never moved from until the shape of their body was permanently indented into it?

Is standing the hot new thing with ~~kids~~ dads these days?
Murray Goldberg from the show "The Goldbergs" sitting in his chair
June 11, 2025 at 6:52 PM
donaithnen.bsky.social
With Alt-Text
"America is a Christian nation!" Let's see what our Founding Fathers had to say: Thomas Jefferson: "Christianity neither is, nor ever was a part of the common law." "Christianity is the most perverted system that ever shone on man." "Religions are all alike-founded upon fables and mythologies." John Adams: "The government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion." "The United States is not a Christian nation any more than it is a Jewish or a Mohammedan nation." Thomas Paine: "Whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and torturous. executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness with which more than half the Bible is filled, it would be more consistent that we called it the word of a demon than the word of God. It has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind." James Madison: "Religion and government will both exist in greater purity the less they are mixed together." "The purpose of separation of church and state is to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe with blood for centuries." Damn those pesky facts! They really do get in the way of the Christian agenda, don't they?
June 6, 2025 at 10:56 PM
donaithnen.bsky.social
With Alt-text
An image of a quote from Article 11 of the Treaty of Tripoli, stating: "As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion,- as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquility, of Mussulmen (Muslims),- and as the said States never entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mahometan (Muslim) nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries." With an attribution of: "- 'Treaty of Tripoli' Signed into Law by President John Adams, June 10, 1797"
June 6, 2025 at 10:50 PM
donaithnen.bsky.social
I am unduly amused by this accidental homonym synchronicity by @scalzi.com and @michaelwhelan.bsky.social that just showed up in my feed.
The first tweet and the start of a two tweet thread, the first by Scalzi saying "Yet again on a plane. Phoenix, I will see you soon.", accompanied by a picture of the view out of a plane window. The second by Michael Whelan saying "BROKEN CHAIN (1998) Acrylic on Watercolor Board - 25" x 15" A simple composition with a fairly simple message 1/2" The included image is not visible in this screencap. The image from the second tweet described in the first image, a piece of art ("BROKEN CHAIN") by Michael Whelan and the second tweet in the thread showing two close-ups of the art and the caption "On our way to the next plane, we leave behind earthly pleasures and some small marks on our environment. 2/2" The alt-text for the first image is: "Set against a baby blue sky, a single flame contained within a transparent sphere floats off between two broken, inward-tilting columns. In the recessed channel of one stone, a rusted chain dangles down to white sand. Links of the broken chain lie mostly buried at the base of the other column. In the immediate foreground, a red glass heart tied on a ribbon lies discarded among deeply shadowed footprints dimpling the sand as they approach the columns."
June 5, 2025 at 3:54 PM