Free Radical
LightNews LightNews
freeradical1.bsky.social
Free Radical
@freeradical1.bsky.social
150 followers 190 following 230 posts
Ineffable.

🇺🇦🇨🇦 in 🇺🇸

Mastodon: @freeradical@mastodon.online
Posts Replies Media Videos
freeradical1.bsky.social
Bucky would not abide sharing space with our departed cat Hal. If Hal was someplace Bucky wanted to be, Bucky would use “aggressive grooming” to make Hal vacate the space.

So, I am astonished that in less than a week we have reached this point with the kittens:
Aerial view of a white chair, covered with a red blanket. An older, mostly-black tuxedo cat lays across the back seat of the chair, asleep. Two grey tabby kittens are nestled along the tuxedo cat’s torso, also sleeping.
November 30, 2025 at 8:23 PM
freeradical1.bsky.social
Tiny grey female tabby kitten is viewed from behind as it watches Elden Ring gameplay on a large (43”) computer monitor.
November 26, 2025 at 9:49 PM
freeradical1.bsky.social
November 26, 2025 at 9:46 PM
freeradical1.bsky.social
Zirka seems obsessed with computer screens.
A open gaming laptop, with controller and headset, sits on a kitchen table, viewed from behind on the left side so that we can’t see what’s on the screen. A tiny female grey tabby kitten is sitting on the laptop surface, paw almost on the arrow keys to the right of the space bar, gazing up into the screen. The blue glow of the screen and blue-lit keyboard is seen reflected in the kitten’s face.
November 26, 2025 at 9:44 PM
freeradical1.bsky.social
Just for you: after bouncing off the walls all Sunday night, just before dawn they settled down and slept in my lap for a couple hours.
A small grey tabby kitten is laying in my blanketed lap and looks directly into the camera Similar to last photo, but the kitten is getting sleepy and closes its eyes Similar to previous photo, but the head is dropping down Two small grey tabby kittens sleeping in my lap, facing the camera, one partially on top of the other.
November 25, 2025 at 7:44 PM
freeradical1.bsky.social
2/2 I will resist posting gigabytes of cat media, but I did want to introduce my new chess partner:
November 25, 2025 at 7:27 PM
freeradical1.bsky.social
My ChatGPT result:
August 8, 2025 at 8:10 PM
freeradical1.bsky.social
I had to try the ChatGPT “how many ‘b’s in ‘blueberry’” inquiry myself. And, oy:
How many “b”s are I the word “blueberry”? The word “blueberry” contains 2 letter **”b”**s. how many times does the letter b appear in blueberry The letter “b” appears 3 times in the word “blueberry”. You gave two different answers to my last two questions. Why is this? You’re right to notice the inconsistency—let’s clear it up. Here’s what happened: 1. In response to “how many ‘b’s are in the word ‘blueberry’?”, I said 2—this was incorrect. 2. Then, for “how many times does the letter b appear in blueberry?”, I correctly said 3. The correct answer is: The letter “b” appears 3 times in “blueberry”—in positions 1, 5, and 6. The error in the first response most likely came from miscounting or misinterpreting the question (perhaps thinking of distinct letters instead of total occurrences). Thanks for catching that—good eye!
August 8, 2025 at 7:41 PM
freeradical1.bsky.social
I know it’s bad for me, but I can’t help myself.
Elmo eschews fruit for cocaine meme. Elmo is “me studying chess”, the fruit is “tactics/calculation/endgames”, and the pile of cocaine Elmo buries his face into is “opening theory”.
May 10, 2025 at 7:26 PM
freeradical1.bsky.social
Wondering when Milkshake Turtle’s dark secret will be revealed.
CBC story headline: “Meet Root, the turtle with a mobility aid made of LEGO”. The wording of the headline evokes the Milkshake Duck meme.
April 28, 2025 at 6:24 PM
freeradical1.bsky.social
Since @unstableisotope.bsky.social cannot abide bell pepper in any quantity, I am taking advantage of her being out of town for 5 days. Yesterday was a beef and chili black bean stirfry with green pepper. Today and tomorrow are stuffed peppers.
A plate with two yellow bell peppers, stuffed. The peppers were halved longitudinally, stuffed with tomato/beef/rice, and have mozzarella sprinkled on top and golden after baking in the oven.
April 26, 2025 at 11:55 PM
freeradical1.bsky.social
Duolingo finally unlocked my numerical score. I’m not sure if it’s because I crossed some threshold or because I used the phone app (I almost always use the browser).
A Duolingo notification that the author has a score of 24 in French, that it corresponds to high A1 level. Some examples of simple sentences at that level are included.
April 26, 2025 at 11:32 PM
freeradical1.bsky.social
Flounder, ramps, morels, asparagus, buerre blanc; chive and tarragon garnish. Crusty bread for sopping up the liquid. Best thing I’ve made in a long time.
A bowl of the described dish, and a glass of a Finger Lakes dry riessling. A boule of crusty homemade bread.
April 12, 2025 at 12:22 AM
freeradical1.bsky.social
I hope Schnapps is happy soon.
The cover of the album Raise It! by The Happy Schnapps Band, a Wisconsin polka band perhaps best known for The Bears Still Suck Polka. The cover features band members on top of a rocky hill raising a flag, Iwo Jima-style, with a line drawing of a cocktail glass on it.
March 20, 2025 at 3:14 AM
freeradical1.bsky.social
Post you from an earlier era…
A shot glass with the University of Wisconsin’s Bucky Badger mascot on the side. The author’s avatar is a photo of a large Bucky Badger coffee mug.
March 17, 2025 at 3:55 PM
freeradical1.bsky.social
With the threatened sale of government buildings in the news, it’s time to dust off this meme I made last month.
Anakin/Padmé meme: Anakin: “Federal workers must return to the office or be terminated.” Padmé: <laughing> “We still have an office, right?” Anakin: <stares> Padmé: <serious> “We still have an office, right?”
March 5, 2025 at 3:35 PM
freeradical1.bsky.social
I beat a 2000-Elo chess dot com bot for the first time!
A grid of avatars of all the chess.com bots I’ve beaten, with Li highlighted.
February 15, 2025 at 12:37 AM
freeradical1.bsky.social
Batman silhouette, in response to the OP’s Batman NMR signal.
February 5, 2025 at 2:14 AM
freeradical1.bsky.social
Anakin/Padme meme. “Federal workers must return to the office or be terminated.” “We still have an office, right?” “…” “We still have an office, right?”
February 5, 2025 at 1:18 AM
freeradical1.bsky.social
Olga is my new nemesis.
A screenshot of chess.com bots, with Olga selected. All bot up to her show as previously defeated. Olga’s bio: “🇺🇦Olga is self taught, so her openings are a bit unusual. But, she knows her tactics and won’t lose without a fight.”
February 4, 2025 at 2:07 AM
freeradical1.bsky.social
I’ve said this before, but: we have two framed works of yours inside our house entrance, plus a small “thank you” work, and they bring me much joy.
A square matted and black framed watercolor that evokes Artologica’s microbiology-themed works but also has a kitty face added to one of two pink bleeded-out blobs . The second, larger blob has a flagellum that doubles as the cat’s tail.
January 7, 2025 at 1:38 AM
freeradical1.bsky.social
Inbox Zero is more of a myth than Santa Claus.
A screenshot of my work Gmail inbox total of 21,344 messages.
December 25, 2024 at 5:43 PM
freeradical1.bsky.social
Mr. T as Santa, with Nancy Reagan sitting on his lap and kissing his forehead. A reminder of the Just Say No campaign of the 80s.
December 23, 2024 at 1:30 AM
freeradical1.bsky.social
The album cover to Blue Rodeo’s 1993 album “Five Days in July”. A red electric guitar floats on a yellow inflatable raft in a small pond. The deep blue/black sky is reflected in the water. In the distance, on the shore a cabin is fully engulfed in flames.
December 12, 2024 at 4:45 AM
freeradical1.bsky.social
It’s a cold and miserable day, but I have a foot-warmer.
A tuxedo cat is snuggled against the photographer’s lower legs, using his bare feet as a pillow.
November 23, 2024 at 12:46 AM