Catherine Berry
@isomeme.bsky.social
I'm a 63 year old Thelemite vision-impaired autistic trans woman software engineer. I live in Los Angeles with my wonderful partner Leanne. I celebrate diversity in all its radiant forms.
Banner: Wilson River, Oregon USA (my photo)
Banner: Wilson River, Oregon USA (my photo)
Pinned
Catherine Berry
@isomeme.bsky.social
· Nov 15
I am outsourcing my "I'm here!" post to the brilliant and delightfully weird poet Stephen Crane:
A man said to the universe:
“Sir, I exist!”
“However,” replied the universe,
“The fact has not created in me
A sense of obligation.”
A man said to the universe:
“Sir, I exist!”
“However,” replied the universe,
“The fact has not created in me
A sense of obligation.”
Reposted by Catherine Berry
Yes, that's the great weakness of a charity-based social safety net. Those who are better at eliciting sympathy (naturally or through artifice) will receive much more assistance. Poverty relief becomes a performance competition.
December 2, 2025 at 8:20 PM
Yes, that's the great weakness of a charity-based social safety net. Those who are better at eliciting sympathy (naturally or through artifice) will receive much more assistance. Poverty relief becomes a performance competition.
Reposted by Catherine Berry
An...*interesting* juxtaposition from an email newsletter. 😳
![WORDS OF WISDOM
“Great perils have this beauty, that they bring to light the fraternity of strangers.”
—Victor Hugo, "Les Misérables"
TOP STORIES
[Drawing of a bare human foot]
Major Causes of Toenail Fungus](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:654wqdwfj5cwemq35d6qpgdg/bafkreihcn2qhw4tojz46ce2mhyudz3d3pluj6vhq5bxsfxly2po42zibra@jpeg)
November 23, 2025 at 10:45 PM
An...*interesting* juxtaposition from an email newsletter. 😳
When I started trying to persuade people that the cruelty is the point, I never dreamed that I was more horribly correct than I could ever have imagined.
Megyn Kelly on alleged war crimes: "I really do kind of not only wanna see them killed in the water, whether they're on the boat or in the water, but I'd really like to see them suffer. I would like Trump and Hegseth to make it last a long time so they lose a limb and bleed out."
December 2, 2025 at 8:03 PM
When I started trying to persuade people that the cruelty is the point, I never dreamed that I was more horribly correct than I could ever have imagined.
Reposted by Catherine Berry
As I was just saying at dinner about software engineering, it's impossible to optimize if you don't know the goal. This applies to all domains.
December 2, 2025 at 5:16 AM
As I was just saying at dinner about software engineering, it's impossible to optimize if you don't know the goal. This applies to all domains.
Reposted by Catherine Berry
The most important thing we've learned this century is that you can't rely on norms and customs to keep a government on track.
December 1, 2025 at 10:16 PM
The most important thing we've learned this century is that you can't rely on norms and customs to keep a government on track.
Reposted by Catherine Berry
The fact that LLMs can mimic so much of human communication says less about their intelligence than about ours.
December 1, 2025 at 4:41 AM
The fact that LLMs can mimic so much of human communication says less about their intelligence than about ours.
I didn't even realize that I'd missed my first BlueSky anniversary until another post prompted me to check blueskyscore.com . I hope this omission does not interfere with my newly-discovered path toward becoming an Influencer, a retirement job I would greatly prefer to Walmart greeter.
December 1, 2025 at 5:14 AM
I didn't even realize that I'd missed my first BlueSky anniversary until another post prompted me to check blueskyscore.com . I hope this omission does not interfere with my newly-discovered path toward becoming an Influencer, a retirement job I would greatly prefer to Walmart greeter.
Reposted by Catherine Berry
People say they want to manufacture real things in America again BUT they complain that it’s “inappropriate” and “not productive” to talk about how we need lots of guillotines. Like make up your minds!
December 1, 2025 at 1:38 AM
People say they want to manufacture real things in America again BUT they complain that it’s “inappropriate” and “not productive” to talk about how we need lots of guillotines. Like make up your minds!
Reposted by Catherine Berry
James Bond supervillains threaten to blow up the world with their big laser unless you pay them a trillion dollars.
Real American supervillains embed themselves in the economy and threaten to cause a depression unless you subsidize their sex robots and the weird chatbots they use to avoid humans.
Real American supervillains embed themselves in the economy and threaten to cause a depression unless you subsidize their sex robots and the weird chatbots they use to avoid humans.
November 26, 2025 at 7:25 PM
James Bond supervillains threaten to blow up the world with their big laser unless you pay them a trillion dollars.
Real American supervillains embed themselves in the economy and threaten to cause a depression unless you subsidize their sex robots and the weird chatbots they use to avoid humans.
Real American supervillains embed themselves in the economy and threaten to cause a depression unless you subsidize their sex robots and the weird chatbots they use to avoid humans.
Reposted by Catherine Berry
Probably the main lesson I learned, after painting my garden shed black, is that that's a completely impossible thing to do without having 'Paint It, Black' as an ear worm, with the lyrics amended to "I see a shed door and I want it painted black".
November 26, 2025 at 7:50 AM
Probably the main lesson I learned, after painting my garden shed black, is that that's a completely impossible thing to do without having 'Paint It, Black' as an ear worm, with the lyrics amended to "I see a shed door and I want it painted black".
Reposted by Catherine Berry
Capitalism's fatal flaw is that it must grow without limit to survive. This damages a healthy society much as the endless growth of cancer damages healthy organs.
November 25, 2025 at 9:15 PM
Capitalism's fatal flaw is that it must grow without limit to survive. This damages a healthy society much as the endless growth of cancer damages healthy organs.
Post a famous bathroom scene.
November 25, 2025 at 9:32 PM
Post a famous bathroom scene.
November 25, 2025 at 6:55 PM
Reposted by Catherine Berry
You know, I'm not sure I ever really read the Pond Rules at our local nature preserve all that closely before
November 25, 2025 at 1:24 AM
You know, I'm not sure I ever really read the Pond Rules at our local nature preserve all that closely before
I'm hanging out on my friends' back deck as the afternoon drifts toward sunset. A Bewick's Wren just started singing to me from a nearby bush.
"Remember all ye that existence is pure joy; that all the sorrows are but as shadows; they pass & are done; but there is that which remains." - AL II:9
"Remember all ye that existence is pure joy; that all the sorrows are but as shadows; they pass & are done; but there is that which remains." - AL II:9
November 25, 2025 at 12:25 AM
I'm hanging out on my friends' back deck as the afternoon drifts toward sunset. A Bewick's Wren just started singing to me from a nearby bush.
"Remember all ye that existence is pure joy; that all the sorrows are but as shadows; they pass & are done; but there is that which remains." - AL II:9
"Remember all ye that existence is pure joy; that all the sorrows are but as shadows; they pass & are done; but there is that which remains." - AL II:9
One of my favorite Thanksgiving memories happened when I was edging farther out of the closet toward going public as trans. My LGBT* activist sister-in-law and I ended up having some private time, during which she asked "Soooo...What are your pronouns up to these days?" She was the first to know. 🙂💜
November 24, 2025 at 7:47 AM
One of my favorite Thanksgiving memories happened when I was edging farther out of the closet toward going public as trans. My LGBT* activist sister-in-law and I ended up having some private time, during which she asked "Soooo...What are your pronouns up to these days?" She was the first to know. 🙂💜
An...*interesting* juxtaposition from an email newsletter. 😳
November 23, 2025 at 10:45 PM
An...*interesting* juxtaposition from an email newsletter. 😳
Reposted by Catherine Berry
Rubio Admits Difficulties in Translating US Peace Plan from the Original Russian
November 23, 2025 at 5:04 PM
Rubio Admits Difficulties in Translating US Peace Plan from the Original Russian
I'm currently on the 3rd day of a 10-day trip. As I was packing, I discovered that I was almost out of an important medicine; a prescription SNAFU between my doctor and CVS (my pharmacy) meant that the refill I thought I had never actually happened. 1/5
November 23, 2025 at 9:34 PM
I'm currently on the 3rd day of a 10-day trip. As I was packing, I discovered that I was almost out of an important medicine; a prescription SNAFU between my doctor and CVS (my pharmacy) meant that the refill I thought I had never actually happened. 1/5
This is glorious.
November 23, 2025 at 8:44 PM
This is glorious.
Reposted by Catherine Berry
If I’m understanding this correctly, X is owned by a white nationalist who pays poor people of color in developing countries to pretend to be working class white Americans to scare other white Americans into being afraid poor people of color from developing countries are going to ruin America?
November 23, 2025 at 7:30 PM
If I’m understanding this correctly, X is owned by a white nationalist who pays poor people of color in developing countries to pretend to be working class white Americans to scare other white Americans into being afraid poor people of color from developing countries are going to ruin America?
Tales from the tech frontier: A few months ago it was announced that you could load your passport info into Google Wallet and use it as ID at the airport. I'm now at my departure gate at LAX, having tried to use this twice on my way in. 1/3
November 21, 2025 at 7:42 PM
Tales from the tech frontier: A few months ago it was announced that you could load your passport info into Google Wallet and use it as ID at the airport. I'm now at my departure gate at LAX, having tried to use this twice on my way in. 1/3
I'm a software engineer. AI coding assistants have recently become good enough for me to start using them routinely, but it's hard for me to get past their unrelenting, cringe-inducing sycophancy. That most people like it this way explains a lot about our world.
I am by no means a prominent public intellectual, but my inbox is increasingly filled with messages from people who have been convinced by sycophantic chatbots that they have discovered revolutionary theories that entirely upend our scientific understanding of the universe.
November 21, 2025 at 6:22 AM
I'm a software engineer. AI coding assistants have recently become good enough for me to start using them routinely, but it's hard for me to get past their unrelenting, cringe-inducing sycophancy. That most people like it this way explains a lot about our world.
November 21, 2025 at 5:50 AM
Reposted by Catherine Berry
