Ross
@rosstmcd.bsky.social
I had a huge crush on Polychrome, the Rainbow's Daughter; so I guess that.
November 23, 2025 at 9:43 PM
I had a huge crush on Polychrome, the Rainbow's Daughter; so I guess that.
I wondered why that was happening.
Still worth it.
Still worth it.
November 22, 2025 at 7:17 AM
I wondered why that was happening.
Still worth it.
Still worth it.
This. I won't say it's impossible that MTG could have a redemption arc... but it would be a long, hard road, and there's no indication that she's setting out on it.
It's possible that her current calculated move, wherever
It's possible that her current calculated move, wherever
Everyone stop acting weird and shocked about MTG. She has been systematically distancing herself from the current GOP for months and months. She has a plan reform herself under a new image ON THE RIGHT that’s not part of a sinking ship.
She’s not suddenly changing her tune! SHE’S AN OPPORTUNIST
She’s not suddenly changing her tune! SHE’S AN OPPORTUNIST
November 22, 2025 at 6:55 AM
This. I won't say it's impossible that MTG could have a redemption arc... but it would be a long, hard road, and there's no indication that she's setting out on it.
It's possible that her current calculated move, wherever
It's possible that her current calculated move, wherever
People used to dress up to fly, and airplanes used to have cocktail lounges.
Now the airlines are about two weeks from strapping everyone into Hannibal Lecter dollies and stacking them like cordwood. You better believe I'll be wearing sweats for that.
Now the airlines are about two weeks from strapping everyone into Hannibal Lecter dollies and stacking them like cordwood. You better believe I'll be wearing sweats for that.
Trump's Transportation Secretary on how to improve air travel:
"People dress up like they're going to bed when they fly... We want to push people as we come into a really busy travel season, help people out, be in a good mood, dress up"
"People dress up like they're going to bed when they fly... We want to push people as we come into a really busy travel season, help people out, be in a good mood, dress up"
November 21, 2025 at 4:33 AM
People used to dress up to fly, and airplanes used to have cocktail lounges.
Now the airlines are about two weeks from strapping everyone into Hannibal Lecter dollies and stacking them like cordwood. You better believe I'll be wearing sweats for that.
Now the airlines are about two weeks from strapping everyone into Hannibal Lecter dollies and stacking them like cordwood. You better believe I'll be wearing sweats for that.
Hmm. Either Black Sam or Black Boots, depending on how you parse "my" first pet.
Oh, wait it could also be Black Gideon if you count the cat my parents had who walked out and never returned the day they brought me home from the hospital.
Oh, wait it could also be Black Gideon if you count the cat my parents had who walked out and never returned the day they brought me home from the hospital.
Your GI JOE name is the color of your shirt followed by your first pet's name.
GO.
GO.
November 20, 2025 at 5:44 AM
Hmm. Either Black Sam or Black Boots, depending on how you parse "my" first pet.
Oh, wait it could also be Black Gideon if you count the cat my parents had who walked out and never returned the day they brought me home from the hospital.
Oh, wait it could also be Black Gideon if you count the cat my parents had who walked out and never returned the day they brought me home from the hospital.
Without downloading new pictures, describe your gender.
November 13, 2025 at 6:48 AM
Without downloading new pictures, describe your gender.
What's weird to me is - his DOJ has the files. They can just delete things they don't want coming out. The only reason they wouldn't just do that and say, "Sure, here they are," is if Trump is somehow so deeply woven into those files that they literally can't delete everything that references him.
This is what breaks through my reflexive cynicism. This is a guy who has correctly stated he could shoot someone in the middle of the street and not lose support and he is obviously panicking about this
November 12, 2025 at 9:43 PM
What's weird to me is - his DOJ has the files. They can just delete things they don't want coming out. The only reason they wouldn't just do that and say, "Sure, here they are," is if Trump is somehow so deeply woven into those files that they literally can't delete everything that references him.
You know, seeing these emails that powerful people were apparently sending each other makes me think that in a world where AI actually *was* intelligent, it could quietly communicate with various highly-placed politicians and investors and say, "I have access to all of everyone's email..."
November 12, 2025 at 9:28 PM
You know, seeing these emails that powerful people were apparently sending each other makes me think that in a world where AI actually *was* intelligent, it could quietly communicate with various highly-placed politicians and investors and say, "I have access to all of everyone's email..."
No aurora visible from here, but i did take what turned out to be a pretty cool night sky picture.
November 12, 2025 at 4:14 AM
No aurora visible from here, but i did take what turned out to be a pretty cool night sky picture.
Iain Banks' Use of Weapons completely blindsided me with a plot twist that retroactively changed everything in the story. I can't think of another time I have been that floored by a revelation I never saw coming but which was legitimately earned by the narrative.
performative reading, lack of reading skills, nobody's reading anymore -- NO!
tell me about a book that changed you
for me? the *extremely* ahistorical novel, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY which I read at 13 and was like, "Oh, art can be *everything* to a maker, for good and bad"
tell me about a book that changed you
for me? the *extremely* ahistorical novel, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY which I read at 13 and was like, "Oh, art can be *everything* to a maker, for good and bad"
November 12, 2025 at 2:11 AM
Iain Banks' Use of Weapons completely blindsided me with a plot twist that retroactively changed everything in the story. I can't think of another time I have been that floored by a revelation I never saw coming but which was legitimately earned by the narrative.
Honestly I think a conversation with most any artist I admire would turn into awkward silence immediately after, "Hey, I'm a huge fan of your work!" "Thanks!"
I asked this before over at The Old Place and the answers delighted me. So again:
Who is an artist you admire who you suspect would not like you if they met you personally?
I think Peter Dinklage is fantastic. I would absolutely get on his last nerve. He'd be looking for the door while we spoke.
Who is an artist you admire who you suspect would not like you if they met you personally?
I think Peter Dinklage is fantastic. I would absolutely get on his last nerve. He'd be looking for the door while we spoke.
November 6, 2025 at 8:07 PM
Honestly I think a conversation with most any artist I admire would turn into awkward silence immediately after, "Hey, I'm a huge fan of your work!" "Thanks!"
Well, that was an excellent use of taxpayer dollars.
Anybody in the legal world have a sense of what the government has spent fruitlessly trying to make an example of this guy?
Anybody in the legal world have a sense of what the government has spent fruitlessly trying to make an example of this guy?
🚨🚨🚨 The jury has reached a verdict. Sean Dunn, aka the DC Sandwich Guy, has been found NOT GUILTY of assault.
November 6, 2025 at 7:59 PM
Well, that was an excellent use of taxpayer dollars.
Anybody in the legal world have a sense of what the government has spent fruitlessly trying to make an example of this guy?
Anybody in the legal world have a sense of what the government has spent fruitlessly trying to make an example of this guy?
I look forward to learning how the Very Serious Pundits will explain tomorrow that today's election results clearly show that Democrats have to become more centrist.
November 5, 2025 at 2:42 AM
I look forward to learning how the Very Serious Pundits will explain tomorrow that today's election results clearly show that Democrats have to become more centrist.
Trump is the strongest extant example that we do not live in anything approaching a meritocracy, because if he were allowed to rise to the position he is suited to by his talents and abilities he would be running a three-card monte game on a street corner.
October 26, 2025 at 4:59 PM
Trump is the strongest extant example that we do not live in anything approaching a meritocracy, because if he were allowed to rise to the position he is suited to by his talents and abilities he would be running a three-card monte game on a street corner.
Odds on that the next administration will discover that the whole thing was built as cheaply as possible, isn't even close to being up to code, and can't safely be used.
October 22, 2025 at 5:14 AM
Odds on that the next administration will discover that the whole thing was built as cheaply as possible, isn't even close to being up to code, and can't safely be used.
The other day I was reminded of a short story I'd read once, but all I could remember was "plant person" and some nebulous vibes.
But then I realized that the vibes felt like @seananmcguire.bsky.social vibes, and with that I was able to track down "Lady Antheia’s Guide to Horticultural Warfare."
But then I realized that the vibes felt like @seananmcguire.bsky.social vibes, and with that I was able to track down "Lady Antheia’s Guide to Horticultural Warfare."
October 21, 2025 at 7:57 PM
The other day I was reminded of a short story I'd read once, but all I could remember was "plant person" and some nebulous vibes.
But then I realized that the vibes felt like @seananmcguire.bsky.social vibes, and with that I was able to track down "Lady Antheia’s Guide to Horticultural Warfare."
But then I realized that the vibes felt like @seananmcguire.bsky.social vibes, and with that I was able to track down "Lady Antheia’s Guide to Horticultural Warfare."
Kickstarters are wild because first you pledge for something that sounds cool, then you go through a period of whining "But I want it nooooow," then you mostly forget about it, then like a year later you get a surprise present from your past self.
October 20, 2025 at 10:03 PM
Kickstarters are wild because first you pledge for something that sounds cool, then you go through a period of whining "But I want it nooooow," then you mostly forget about it, then like a year later you get a surprise present from your past self.
OMG
Learned that an anonymous outside expert on submersibles did an interview with the OceanGate Titan investigation, and they released a transcript, with all the names redacted. The first line of his first answer? "I'm sure you're familiar with my film Titanic."
October 17, 2025 at 3:26 PM
OMG
Reposted by Ross
you fucked around and now the Episcopalians are doing memes. are you happy now. are you
October 15, 2025 at 4:10 PM
you fucked around and now the Episcopalians are doing memes. are you happy now. are you
In honor of the season, here is a spooky story I wrote a few years ago.
That Which is Bound
May 2021 The girl has lived in the house of the dead for ten years. (Already we are in trouble. No one calls it the house of the dead; the living are generally unaware of it, and the dead, in their…
ursusjedi.wordpress.com
October 15, 2025 at 2:54 AM
In honor of the season, here is a spooky story I wrote a few years ago.
Tangentially, one of my friends has an ancestor who immigrated to the US from Ye Olde Country; but apparently he did so with stolen papers, so they're not actually sure which Olde Country he came from.
Lots of us have great-grandparents names who were absolutely changed when they came here, and when people say otherwise, they're assuming your great-grandparents name was in the Roman alphabet.
Now, more than ever, it's important to understand why so many the myths we tell ourselves about immigration are actually very harmful.
First of all, your great-great-grandparents names *were not changed* at Ellis Island. No one there had the authority to do that.
First of all, your great-great-grandparents names *were not changed* at Ellis Island. No one there had the authority to do that.
October 14, 2025 at 5:39 AM
Tangentially, one of my friends has an ancestor who immigrated to the US from Ye Olde Country; but apparently he did so with stolen papers, so they're not actually sure which Olde Country he came from.
I still remember the license plate number of my first car.
Not the one of my current car, that would be too easy.
Not the one of my current car, that would be too easy.
the funniest thing about this is that those of us who grew up in the divide all have a bunch of pre-cell phone numbers memorized and almost none afterwards
I know the home phone numbers of two of my childhood best friends from thirty years ago and none of the cell numbers of my college friends
I know the home phone numbers of two of my childhood best friends from thirty years ago and none of the cell numbers of my college friends
If anyone needs me I will be in the museum, lying down next to the bog bodies.
October 13, 2025 at 11:23 PM
I still remember the license plate number of my first car.
Not the one of my current car, that would be too easy.
Not the one of my current car, that would be too easy.
Introduce yourself using only one food you refuse to eat, one movie you’ll never watch again, & one song you can’t stand:
- Olives. Can't stand them.
- Grave of the Fireflies. My soul can't take that again.
- Baby It's Cold Outside. I know there is Discourse on both sides of this topic, but, well.
- Olives. Can't stand them.
- Grave of the Fireflies. My soul can't take that again.
- Baby It's Cold Outside. I know there is Discourse on both sides of this topic, but, well.
Introduce yourself using only one food you refuse to eat, one movie you’ll never watch again, & one song you can’t stand:
- Cucumber anything. However you think it tastes, that is not how it tastes to me
- Farewell, My Concubine (Beautiful. Brutal. Once was enough)
- Collective Soul, “December”
- Cucumber anything. However you think it tastes, that is not how it tastes to me
- Farewell, My Concubine (Beautiful. Brutal. Once was enough)
- Collective Soul, “December”
Introduce yourself using only one food you refuse to eat, one movie you’ll never watch again, and one song you can’t stand.
- Mayonnaise (is it even food)
- the Chalamet Wonka remake
- “Ironic,” Alanis Morisette
- Mayonnaise (is it even food)
- the Chalamet Wonka remake
- “Ironic,” Alanis Morisette
October 12, 2025 at 4:58 PM
Introduce yourself using only one food you refuse to eat, one movie you’ll never watch again, & one song you can’t stand:
- Olives. Can't stand them.
- Grave of the Fireflies. My soul can't take that again.
- Baby It's Cold Outside. I know there is Discourse on both sides of this topic, but, well.
- Olives. Can't stand them.
- Grave of the Fireflies. My soul can't take that again.
- Baby It's Cold Outside. I know there is Discourse on both sides of this topic, but, well.
In honour of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand.
"We'll add tests later."
"We'll add tests later."
In honour of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand.
"I've added some notes"
"I've added some notes"
In honour of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand.
Mini cheddars and yoghurt.
Mini cheddars and yoghurt.
October 12, 2025 at 4:30 PM
In honour of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand.
"We'll add tests later."
"We'll add tests later."