Isaac Rabinovitch

Bluesky has four types of users

Has nobody seen the 2019 version of The War of the Worlds?

Been reading about a lot of very bad but entirely ordinary people throughout history for the next season of Past Lives (Everyday Villains). This guy is utterly typical. 1) Doesn't think he's doing anything wrong. 2) Permission structure in a system of hierarchical authority. 3) Benefits materially.

"You call that a stroad? Now *that's* a stroad!"

Wildwood asks the important question, "What if Narnia, but Portland"

After the invasion, Musk was all in on helping Ukraine, sending them thousands of free Starlink terminals with unlimited free bandwith. But Putin knows how to stroke his ego, so now it's all "avoiding escalation" and "it's a civilian network." It's all about ego for him.

Constantly telling people to go and kneel at the altar rail in the Lady Chapel in winter because you can get your prayers in while also warming your knees on the heating pipe that runs directly underneath that part of the wooden altar platform.

We are at our favorite local museum and spotted this jack o’lantern based on my favorite cat painting here, Minnie from the Outskirts of the Village. ❤️

So Reverend Spooner is working as Walgreens now?

Child mortality. In the US when I was born, 30 children per 1,000 died before they were 5. Now it's 5 per 1,000. A personal issue, since I was very nearly one of the 30. An attentive family doctor and the recent availability of antibiotics made the difference.

Unrelated but I think my origin story as a person is arguing with a park ranger at Gettysburg when I was 8 (I was right, but I can’t imagine how fucking annoying I was)

Once upon a time I would have been greatly offended by this take, being an ardent John Hughes fan. But, you know, a lot of movies from this period have not aged well.

The Prime Directive on Star Trek is basically Eugenics.

This dude's term as senator will not be boring.

A thread with a bit of vicarious, childlike joy.

Three years ago, my dad said that all fish are the same shape. Out of spite, I decided to draw all 478 families of bony fish listed in Nelson 2016. There's still some stuff I need to edit and some fish I want to redraw but, after 985 days, I finished my big dumb fish project last night.

Why is my day now regularly interrupted by people lying and trying to scam me? The even have the balls to pretend they have read my book about – yes – TRUST.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year 🎃

"The Jews who went to Mississippi didn't take selfies and post tweets." Okay, but honestly, if tweets had been a thing in 1961, many of them probably would have done.

Can pretty much guarantee that Bacchus consented to this interaction

Vivek Ramaswamy seeks to take political advantage of the fact that his opponent was raped as a child. But to his credit, unlike many other Republican politicians, he was not personally the rapist in question.

Leaving aside the whole issue over whether Flock should even exist, it's insane that acccess is controlled by passwords. I'm not a security expert, but I believe this needs to be by hardware authentication.

The funny thing here is that the Jesus he cosplayed was actually closer to the Jesus a lot of Christians worship than than anything imagined by those bigots. And of lot of the responses he got showed it.

Cowardice is underrated.

This is pretty amazing.

Been looking for mine for 60 years. My best guess is that they'll be released about 20 years after I go EOL.

JK Rowling’s transphobia has ruined Harry Potter. That is a shame, there was a real magic in the fantasy of it. As a kid, I always loved imagining going to private coed boarding school. Inheriting a big pile of money. Drinking non alcoholic beer. Owning a little slave guy

Attn: @ferrisjabr.bsky.social

I always did think it strange that Mexico would name part of itself "New Mexico."

The name of New Mexico is funny because it's one of those things that you'd think is really simple (oh, it's it used to be part of old Mexico, so we'll call it New Mexico!), but it's much more complex New Mexico as the name for the area predates Mexico by several hundred years!

Alas, I have no backyard, much less a backyard close to water. But I did, I'd put up one of these just for the pleasure of watching the frogs hang out.

That Carville thing has actually cheered me up. My biggest fear is that the Democrats will piss away their victory the way they have in the past. If Carville thinks that progressives will have enough clout to prevent that, that's a Very Good Sign.

Star Wars Forbidden Planet

I denounce the sloppy use of "de facto" on Wikipedia.

across the USA homeowners are asking why they can't be interred in their homes after death, accompanied by a ritually sacrificed doordasher and favorite appliances, the entire property set ablaze. "what 'gas lines'?" asks one "if i'm not alive, does the subdivision even exist?"

Welp, that explains why Li'l Tommy wouldn't disavow "any attempt to read any religious doctrine into the laws of our country."

MAGA hates trees, unsurprisingly.

The hallmark of the modern reactionary is that they are so immersed in their own bullshit that they don’t understand how facile and corny their understanding of the world is.

To be, or not to be, for tax purposes.

Writing the alt text for this forced me to see details I'd never noticed before. It's not just the sign, it's the pull handle and the external door hinge, with self-closing mechanism, all to call out the Gifted Person's failure to pay attention.

Sorry, best I can do.

Huh. Chubb has a couple of toy mice that she loves. They're not nearly as interesting as this. I've got to get something like this for her.

America needs pols willing to call a turd a turd.

A woman was raped in a state police barracks in MA. The accused rapist was not a trooper, but the guest of one. But the central question remains. If a woman can’t be safe in a police facility why would you expect women to call the police after an assault? www.bostonglobe.com/2026/10/17/m...