Joel
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polyparadigm.bsky.social
Joel
@polyparadigm.bsky.social
2.4K followers 1.5K following 14K posts
Materials scientist:some range and depth, interested in making arcane topics a little more accessible.
Prior place photo was from the aughts; figured I should update.
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polyparadigm.bsky.social
X screenshot of a post for the ages by Joyce Carol Oates: So curious that such a wealthy man never posts anything that indicates that he enjoys or is even aware of what virtually everyone appreciates— scenes from nature, pet dog or cat, praise for a movie, music, a book (but doubt that he reads); pride in a friend's or relative's accomplishment; condolences for someone who has died; pleasure in sports, acclaim for a favorite team; references to history. In fact he seems totally uneducated , uncultured. The poorest persons on Twitter may have access to more beauty & meaning in life than the "most wealthy person in the world."
November 11, 2025 at 7:50 PM
polyparadigm.bsky.social
Looks like the Birchers weren’t entirely wrong about domino theory
Man knocks over tiny domino labeled “FBI asks Mahmoud Mamdani if he likes Marx, has to explain who that is” Progressively larger dominos are in line with it Huge domino at the end is labeled “Socialist elected mayor of NYC”
November 5, 2025 at 3:06 PM
polyparadigm.bsky.social
Seems like there isn’t any public data yet
ABC live tracker showing zero votes thus far as of 4:08 pm Eastern
November 4, 2025 at 10:57 PM
polyparadigm.bsky.social
If you have ever prayed to Jesus in a church run by this type of person, no you haven’t
Screen shot of a tweet by Steven L Anderson: "But, but SNAP goes to FAMILIES with CHILDREN!" You mean single moms who fornicated and produced bastard children with multiple dads? Are those the families you speak of? People who legitimately need help should get it from family members and/ or churches, who will actually hold them accountable. 30 Oct 25
November 3, 2025 at 2:47 PM
polyparadigm.bsky.social
See also:
Business Reply Pamphlet, 2006 In the style of an airline safety instruction comic, the office worker is instructed to stand up from their desk and flip it over (via bright-colored arrows and numbered steps. In subsequent panels, the reader is to lead their coworkers in various types of property destruction and chaos, grow food in the office urinals and toilets, wear loincloths and go bow hunting for small game in the conference rooms, build huts and live in extended family groups with trees growing up through holes in the office’s false ceiling
October 30, 2025 at 4:18 AM
polyparadigm.bsky.social
Von Braun was intent on building a moon rocket for decades and had that objective in mind when he initially received weapons research funding from Hitler; his work for Kennedy was in a similar vein, so time zero was a little earlier than you might expect
US launch of a captured V-2 rocket launched from White Sands in 1946: there was continuity between WWII German and Cold War American rocket programs, via Operation Paperclip
October 27, 2025 at 10:35 PM
polyparadigm.bsky.social
We’re all accelerationists now, I guess
JBE Zorg, secondary antagonist in The Fifth Element, hears fighting at the opera and remarks “I know this music…let’s change the beat” (it’s a Mangalore attack, which I believe he is implying sounds distinctive to his ears) as he sets an explosive charge. Played by Gary Oldman in an asymmetrical haircut, jelly fascinator, and tacky-pricy scifi business suit, wielding futuristic weapons in an orange luxury stateroom
October 27, 2025 at 2:15 AM
polyparadigm.bsky.social
frinkiac.com/img/S05E12/1...
Krusty the Clown demands that someone walk on his back; the crew of his show stampedes over him, stepping on his neck and head, grinding stiletto heels into him, etc etc
October 25, 2025 at 12:52 PM
polyparadigm.bsky.social
?
Still from Monster House A dilapidated house has distorted into the shape of a face, two small orange-glowing windows as eyes, broken boards as fangs, a front porch as a mouth
October 24, 2025 at 1:33 PM
polyparadigm.bsky.social
Usually only one apiece when used as a coracle
Tualatin pumpkin regatta People in lifejackets and festive silly hats use kayak paddles as they sit in roughly one-ton pumpkins with holes in the tops Each pumpkin is floating high enough that the access hole is about a foot above the water level
October 24, 2025 at 3:14 AM
polyparadigm.bsky.social
They saw a book cover at the end of a movie and were like: we can productize that
Mockup of a self-help book referenced near the end of the film What About Bob DEATH& THERAPY OR: HOW I LEARNED TO UNTIE THESE EMOTIONAL KNOTS AND NOT EXPLODE! THE #1 BESTSELLER FROM ONE OF PSYCHOLOGY'S GREAT NEW MINDS BOB WILEY (spoilers) In the film, this is based on Bob’s misinterpretation of a murder attempt
October 23, 2025 at 8:16 PM
polyparadigm.bsky.social
Then post slightly higher-quality videos decrying the initial ones and only slightly walking back the statements

Inspo:
Screenshot of a post from a fake Chiquita Twitter account with newly-meaningless blue check, from the flush of similar fakery November 2022 in response to Musk hollowing out the platform: “We apologize to those who have been served a misleading message from a fake Chiquita account. We have not overthrown a government since 1954.”
October 23, 2025 at 7:34 PM
polyparadigm.bsky.social
TFW AuDHD
Six year old child in an orange striped shirt sits at a wooden table; field of view shows only up to the child’s shoulders a chess game is on the table, the child’s king is in check and they’ll have to sacrifice their queen but the child is also multitasking, actively solving a Rubik’s cube
October 23, 2025 at 6:46 PM
polyparadigm.bsky.social
Let’s try things out with no room for Nazism.

Whatever we needed, we can stitch together from non-Nazi tranches of the demography.
Moneyball still where Pitt is explaining to Oakland Athletics management how to reproduce a star player’s on-field contributions via thoughtful aggregation of under-appreciated contributors. E pluribus unum motherfuckers.
October 22, 2025 at 4:14 PM
polyparadigm.bsky.social
Good turnout, good vibes

Family event
A 6 year old child displaying a sign to traffic at a well-attended No Kings rally in Portland. Oregon The child has long blond hair and is wearing a dinosaur coat and dinosaur rain boots Some of the crowd across the street are in 18th century American revolution themed costume, or Lady Liberty etc; most are just holding signs
October 18, 2025 at 5:27 PM
polyparadigm.bsky.social
The ground being broken:
Billy Crystal as a medieval grave digger Graves were customarily re-used in that culture, and the bones dug out for final placement in an ossuary after a few years; a row of five skulls is in front of him, I think one of which might belong to Yorick (I think it might be a still from Hamlet)
October 18, 2025 at 4:45 PM
polyparadigm.bsky.social
His fans can follow his lead now and beat the rush
The Deputy Mayor of Leipzig and his wife and daughter, dead of suicide in the Neues Rathaus as U.S. troops were entering the city on 20 April 1945 From the Wikipedia article on mass suicides in Nazi Germany
October 18, 2025 at 5:14 AM
polyparadigm.bsky.social
Marge Simpson holding a potato and smiling with enthusiasm she hopes the listener will share: “I just think it’d be neat.”
October 18, 2025 at 4:51 AM
polyparadigm.bsky.social
Seems like they didn’t interview anyone about it who doesn’t own one, though
The Wikipedia survivorship bias illustration of where returning WWII bombers survived flak
October 16, 2025 at 1:54 PM
polyparadigm.bsky.social
Research assistant:
The dog from the animated film “Up”, whose electronic collar allows him to speak
October 15, 2025 at 11:31 PM
polyparadigm.bsky.social
It’s not unprecedented
Tea coffee, a bottled commercial product in Japan, available with milk or black at many convenience stores Not sure but the packaging suggests that the milk version is made with black tea, and the black version with green tea
October 10, 2025 at 6:30 AM
polyparadigm.bsky.social
With alt text.
Also I here’s a link to additional context: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Pr...
Photo of Speaker Johnson, with text underneath: “The law school where Mike Johnson was Dean for 2yrs which never opened and had no students was called Judge Paul Pressler School of Law. The same Paul Pressler that headed the Southern Baptist Convention & who was accused by 6 males (including a child) of sexual misconduct.
October 9, 2025 at 8:42 PM
polyparadigm.bsky.social
Still from The Devil Wears Prada where the title character, instead of mocking how unoriginal it is to do floral prints for one’s spring collection, has a made-up caption mocking the business community generally and MBAs especially “Cutting labor costs? Groundbreaking.”
October 6, 2025 at 4:52 PM
polyparadigm.bsky.social
Nermalizers?
The character Nermal as depicted in the TV show Garfield and Friends Nermal is drawn in the style of Garfield but is smaller and gray with pinstripes rather than orange Nermal is so cloyingly cute and obsequious that Garfield routinely mails him to Abu Dhabi
October 6, 2025 at 9:28 AM
polyparadigm.bsky.social
Antipope re-elected in aggregate
Still from the movie Moneyball where Beane explains that the A’s can re-create Giambi in aggregate by hiring several players whose cumulative effect on the team is a more cost-effective substitute
October 2, 2025 at 4:45 AM