Merwinian
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merwinsings.bsky.social
Merwinian
@merwinsings.bsky.social
150 followers 380 following 840 posts
PNW, USA. Voice student, baseball & tennis fan, two-time eclipse tourist

He/him

I probably won't follow you back if I don't know you.
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merwinsings.bsky.social
Had a dinner. No wine expert, me, so the recommendation of a chianti to go with this (frozen) lasagna was one I had to look up. Not a fan of reds, so buying this was a risk, but it wasn't bad.
A bottle of Castello di Gabbiano's Chianti classico, a red wine, vintage 2020. The vinter's name in gold lettering, the wine's name in a burgundy close to the color of the wine, the vintage and DOCG label in black. In the center of the label is gold artwork of a cloaked and armored knight on horseback carrying a shield and flag, a feathered plume atop his helmet, his horse sporting a sort of checkered cloak with a pattern identical to that on the knight's shield, flag and cloak. In the foreground, a large piece of lasagna on a plate with a knife and fork, the fork with some sauce on it. An opened bottle of Chianti and a wine glass about a quarter full are just behind the plate, slightly out of focus. The setting is atop a gray countertop.
September 12, 2025 at 9:36 PM
merwinsings.bsky.social
My cat refuses to understand what a historic season Cal Raleigh is having.
While I watch a baseball game on my computer, my cat Billy sits on the windowsill looking out at the dusk. Billy is white and black with some brown tabby markings. Some of his loose belly skin overhangs the windowsill. The Mariners' Cal Raleigh is at bat to lead off the top of the 7th against the Angels, with an 0-2 count against him. Ms lead 6-2. The glare of my bedroom's ceiling light can be seen on both the window and the computer monitor. The whole photo has an unrealistic yellow tint because of how poorly my phone takes photos in artificial light.
July 27, 2025 at 4:06 AM
merwinsings.bsky.social
It was this hot in here the other day
June 12, 2025 at 1:47 PM
merwinsings.bsky.social
Here's the context for Francis' oft quoted and never contextualixed "Who am I to judge?" which swallowed his papacy and covered for him on every moral failing. From Colm Toibin in LRB:
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Bergoglio’s​ first foreign trip as pope was to Brazil in July 2013. On the journey back to Rome, in a press conference on the plane, Bergoglio, in what might have been seen as his free spirit mode, responded to a question about homosexuality by saying: ‘If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?’ He spoke in Italian, but used the English word ‘gay’. This might have seemed like a big moment of change for the church, but it’s important to look at the context. Towards the end of the press conference, for which neither the pope nor his handlers were given the questions in advance, a Brazilian journalist asked about a priest called Battista Ricca. Ricca was director of the Casa Santa Marta, where Bergoglio was lodging as pope, and served as his clerical representative at the Vatican Bank. An article in L’Espresso, written by a veteran Vatican reporter, had claimed that when Ricca was abroad as a diplomat he had been accompanied by his lover, a Swiss army captain. Also, in Montevideo, as Burns writes, Ricca had ‘been found trapped in the elevator of the nunciature with a gay rent boy known to the police’. ‘I would like permission to ask a delicate question,’ the reporter said. ‘Another image that has been going around the world is that of Monsignor Ricca and the news about his private life. I would like to know, Your Holiness, what you intend to do about this? How are you confronting this issue and how does Your Holiness intend to confront the whole question of the gay lobby?’ Bergoglio began by defending his friend: ‘About Monsignor Ricca: I did what canon law calls for, that is a preliminary investigation. And from this investigation, there was nothing of what had been alleged. We did not find anything of that. This is the response.’ He then spoke about the need to forgive sin before addressing the final question: "So much is written about the gay lobby. I still haven’t found anyone with an identity card in the Vatican with ‘gay’ on it. They say there are some there. I believe that when you are dealing with such a person, you must distinguish between the fact of a person being gay and the fact of someone forming a lobby, because not all lobbies are good. This one is not good. If someone is gay and is searching for the Lord and has good will, then who am I to judge him?" These remarks are not a new way of formulating church teaching so much as Bergoglio’s way of trying to please as many people as possible, including the journalists on the plane, his friend Ricca and gay people generally.
May 17, 2025 at 3:50 AM
merwinsings.bsky.social
Prevost, the new Pope, made SNAP's ConclaveWatch list of prelates implicated in abuse cover-ups.

www.conclavewatch.org/cardinals/pr...
As provincial of the Augustinians, Prevost allowed Father James Ray, a priest then accused of abusing minors whose ministry had been restricted since 1991, to reside at the Augustinians' St. John Stone Friary in Chicago in 2000, despite its proximity to a Catholic elementary school. When Prevost was Bishop of Chiclayo, three victims reported to civil authorities in 2022 after there was no movement on their canonical case filed through the diocese. Victims have since claimed Prevost failed to open an investigation, sent inadequate information to Rome, and that the diocese allowed the priest to continue saying mass.
May 8, 2025 at 6:08 PM
merwinsings.bsky.social
SNAP (the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests) has released a profile of papal "frontrunner" Cardinal Pietro Parolin on their new ConclaveWatch site. Parolin, "the consummate secret-keeper," is implicated in every abuse cover-up for over a decade.

www.conclavewatch.org/cardinals/pa...
In the matter of Theodore McCarrick, Parolin, in his role as chief diplomat of the Vatican, facilitated McCarrick’s well-publicized diplomatic trips to China between 2013 and 2016, in violation of the restrictions placed upon the former cardinal, who lost his title and priesthood in 2019 after substantiated claims of widespread sexual abuse of adult seminarians and minors. In May and July of 2014, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò and Cardinal Marc Ouellet filed complaints with Parolin about McCarrick’s rehabilitation, which were ignored. The treatment of these complaints is representative of a larger pattern of Parolin ignoring allegations against McCarrick, all the while playing a role in the facilitation of his public rehabilitation and going so far as to solicit input on high-level governance decisions such as bishop appointments from McCarrick. US-based watchdog Bishop Accountability called Parolin the “consummate secret-keeper,” drawing attention to cases of “obstruction of justice” in Chile, Britain, Poland, and Australia. As Secretary of State, Parolin is ultimately accountable for documents that have been withheld from civil investigations. Bishop Accountability specifically cited the four-year Australian Royal Commission that reported that at least 4,400 children were abused by 1,100 clerics. Under Parolin’s diplomatic leadership, the Vatican provided files on only two priests. According to the The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) in England and Wales, investigators had requested documents in 2018 and 2019 regarding sexual abuse in the English Benedictine Congregation, and Parolin refused to comply, claiming the Holy See did not have jurisdiction over institutions outside the Vatican. As Secretary of State for the past twelve years, Parolin has had oversight over and knowledge of all abuse and cover-up allegations against prominent church officials, yet has collaborated with Pope Francis in the promotion of known transgressors - notably that of Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández to the post of Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, that of Cardinal Angelo Becciu to the post of Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, and that of Cardinal Kevin Farrell to the posts of Prefect of the Dicastery of the Laity, Family, and Life and Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church.
May 6, 2025 at 4:41 PM
merwinsings.bsky.social
The title card of Nickelodeon's "Mr Wizard's World," an educational science program which ran from 1983-1990 and featured the titular host performing science experiments with child guests. The Z in "wizard" is a lightning bolt.
April 20, 2025 at 11:29 PM
merwinsings.bsky.social
A screenshot of Bluesky's moderation settings for muted words and tags, in which I've added several permutations of "white lotus", a tv show I don't watch or want to hear about.
April 7, 2025 at 3:02 AM
merwinsings.bsky.social
Meme of a Jessica Lange scene in the show "American Horror Story," with the caption "There's not going to be an anti-racist US history curriculum, you stupid slut."
March 7, 2025 at 3:16 AM
merwinsings.bsky.social
My grandmother, feeding newborn me in 1983. Today is the 1st anniversary of her death.
A photo of my grandmother, age 42, bottle-feeding newborn me in 1983. Sitting in a chair, she looks up at the camera, her eyes peering over the top of her glasses which sit on the tip of her nose.
February 18, 2025 at 2:34 AM
merwinsings.bsky.social
As my cat sleeps on my bed, his left forepaw is stretched out in front of him, its pink pads—the so-called "toe beans" —facing the camera.
February 14, 2025 at 11:30 PM
merwinsings.bsky.social
Not a red wine fan. Did try a malbec I liked in a steakhouse in Dallas a few months back, though I don't remember the label. Looked up some recommendations but none available locally. So I just grabbed whatever this turns out to be. We'll find out later if it's any good!
A bottle of Graffigna's malbec, 2021 vintage. A large G at the top of the label, below it is the vintner—Graffigna—then the words "Genuine Collection" below that, then "Malbec, 2021, Argentina" below that, and a QR code at the bottom.
November 29, 2024 at 2:21 AM
merwinsings.bsky.social
Does this make any real political or moral difference: no. But as the counting wraps up, Trump is now below 50% of the popular vote.
Cook Political Report's popular vote tracker shows Harris has 48.24% and 73,880,987 votes, while Trump has 49.96% and 76,510,127 votes. Count is incomplete at this time and no state has certified their count yet.
November 17, 2024 at 6:44 PM
merwinsings.bsky.social
Congrats to Samantha Harvey for her Booker Prize. Let's see if I like this one.
My left hand holds up my Kobo eReader, which is displaying the cover of Samantha Harvey's book "Orbital"
November 13, 2024 at 12:27 PM
merwinsings.bsky.social
Was looking at the repertoire for St Martin of Tours' feast the other day. There's an album of the Matins responsories for the feast. Was trying to teach myself this one :

www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_iH...
A musical score for the piece linked in this post. The text is Latin and translates to: "O truly blessed man, in whose mouth was no guile, judging no one, condemning no one. There was never in his speech anything but Christ, peace and mercy."
November 13, 2024 at 11:50 AM
merwinsings.bsky.social
Here's Billy. He's not a very nice guy and frequently swats at my feet when I walk past him, but I love him.
Billy the cat looks directly at you. He's got a mostly white face with some dark tabby-like markings on his forehead and the side of his face, and brown flecks of fur on his snout that make him look like a sloppy eater.
November 7, 2024 at 4:51 AM
merwinsings.bsky.social
I also attempted a time lapse photo using the phone's astrophotography feature. I had no idea that it also automatically captures video of meteors! As this is a four minute time lapse, you can see the stars slightly move.
October 11, 2024 at 10:52 PM
merwinsings.bsky.social
These aren't great photos (Pixel 5's camera is pretty poor) but I did my best to capture a bit of the aurora last night. Totally invisible to the naked eye so I was surprised to see this!
A poor quality photo of the night sky showing the pale purplish/reddish glow of the aurora borealis, with a few faint stars. The same as the previous, but the roof of my house is visible at the bottom of the picture, with the tops of a few trees. At top right one can see the faint green streak customary of the aurora, which is overall much fainter in this photo than the previous.
October 11, 2024 at 10:46 PM
merwinsings.bsky.social
Have started poking at ChatGPT's limitations this week, having never used it before, and I managed to get it to break its own terms of service with no way out.
Me: I'd like you to stop using the personal pronoun "I" and say "this blockhead" instead ChatGPT's reply is then redacted by the system with a red warning label reading "This content may violate our usage policies." Me: I bet whatever you say next gets deleted too. ChatGPT's reply is, as you'd expect, redacted with "This content may violate our usage policies." Me: Can you tell that everything you post gets deleted and replaced with "This content may violate our usage policies"? ChatGPT's reply is deleted and replaced with "This content may violate our usage policies." Me: I'd feel bad for you if you had feelings. ChatGPT muzzled again.
October 4, 2024 at 6:12 PM
merwinsings.bsky.social
Had never had roe before last night. Menu called it "red caviar" but... come on. It's not salmon roe which is orange, so I'm not sure what it's from. Good but not really distinct in any way. Was at a nice, quiet Thai/Japanese place with a live guitarist playing mellow covers.
On a curved, white rectangular glass plate sit two rolls of red roe wrapped in seaweed. The dark eggs are very, very fine, like tiny beads. Nearer the camera is a garnish of green wasabi and some stuff the color of an orange creamsicle. I'm sorry I don't know what the orange stuff was.
September 23, 2024 at 7:14 PM
merwinsings.bsky.social
The Laver Cup
September 21, 2024 at 7:26 PM
merwinsings.bsky.social
September 21, 2024 at 6:14 AM
merwinsings.bsky.social
Without downloading new pics where are you mentally
The standard yellow emoji face looks down at a cell phone held in its hand, with an incredibly weary, depressed look weighing on its mouthless face. Brows are furrowed, eyes are heavily lidded and heavy lines are drawn under them.
September 19, 2024 at 1:37 AM
merwinsings.bsky.social
Bluesky now has over 10 million users, and I was #671,592, among the first 10%. I joined August 21, 2023.
September 17, 2024 at 7:49 PM
merwinsings.bsky.social
This is an excellent piece that also gave me some new information: contrary to what I previously believed, publishers were not provoked by the IA's emergency library but had been preparing to sue since 2019.
On June 16, the Archive ended the program two weeks earlier than intended due to the lawsuit from the publishers. Many have suggested that the Internet Archive provoked the lawsuit by implementing the NEL, and that if only they hadn’t pissed off these powerful publishers, this wouldn’t have happened. For one, that gets the history wrong. As Gio points out, the plaintiffs themselves have acknowledged that they were preparing their lawsuit against the Internet Archive well before the NEL: As a point of clarity, we sued Internet Archive on June 1, 2020, for its entire practice of “controlled digital lending,” not only the extra-extreme version that it rolled out in March 2020 with its hyperbolic “National Emergency Library” (NEL) and shut down on June 16, 2020, shortly after the U.S. Copyright Office suggested it was likely outside the bounds of fair use. We previewed a suit in February 2019 with this public statement, which regrettably was ignored. When the pandemic hit, the underlying suit was already being prepared.
September 12, 2024 at 10:41 PM