Christmas vacation in a nutshell. But add cat.

Apparently not everyone is fond of the descants #9LC

Best thing about listening in my own house for #9LC: being able to belt the Wilcocks descants with the choir. Worst thing: Announcer instantly and continuously talking over the postlude

I don't stand at home for all the congregational hymns in #9LC, but I'm always on my feet for Adeste fideles

Just got the baby to sleep, and now we're waking him up with a frantic shipping report. #9LC

Some year I will have the sermons completely done before #9LC so I'm not marking up manuscript while I listen, but for now, I'll enjoy the coincidence of the gospel words I'm exploring echoing across the Atlantic.

There's just something about the Tavener and the King's Chapel acoustics...shivers. #9LC

Closing my eyes and listening to the congregation as if I can hear the one voice of my friend there today. Next best thing to being there myself. #9LC

This chorister is fierce in his narration of Adam and Eve's dramatic moment. #9LC

I always cry at those first three notes. #9LC

especially in times of war, or of national anxiety, or of disaster

Two things can be true: You should not take off your shoes and put your feet on the chair ahead of you. The Secretary of Transportation is not a serious person

I just want every person to consider this in its distilled form. ********************************************************** The President of the United States is unilaterally levying a tax on every citizen because he didn't like a commercial.

Ooh, breakfast for dinner!

“Coming soon: The Presidential Palace, an exclusive private club at a brand-new golden resort in central Washington, DC.

Experts suggest the quickest way to burn 2000 calories is to forget your brownies are in the oven.

all discourse aside, there is one machine with consciousness. it's printers. they are alive and conscious and they hate you and they'd take your arm clean off if you let them. never trust a printer.

This exactly NOT what Jesus told his followers to do, in case anyone was wondering.

It takes more than prayers (though it also takes prayer) and it is more than just guns (though it is also guns) and it is more than the permissive violence of rhetoric (though it is also that) and it is more than a fractured society that views anyone different as an enemy (though it is also that).

You guys. C’mon. You gotta say he can’t just do the DoD thing ‘cause he feels like it

Buried 35 paragraphs in: "Violent crime in Chicago has dropped significantly in the first half of the year, according to official data released by the city. Shootings are down 37% and homicides have dropped by 32% compared to the first half of 2024, while total violent crime dropped by over 22%..."

What are we doing about this in New Jersey @govmurphy.bsky.social?

not just that he has no constitutional authority, there isn't even any particular legal or institutional mechanism by which the president can make anyone treat this as anything other than a weird advisory opinion.

*Court rules that Trump's policies are illegal but allows them to stand anyway* is the best summary of America in 2025 I know.

RFK Jr. taps his top deputy, Jim O’Neill, to be the new CDC director. Both men appear to wear skinny ties from Otaa. Otaa's ties are made in China from microfiber, a kind of plastic that, under the right conditions, can migrate to your balls.

No one should have to work nearly 8 extra months just to make as much as their white male counterparts do in a year—but that’s the reality Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander women face. This NHPI Women’s Equal Pay Day, we renew the call: Equal work should always mean equal pay.

Ginger ice cream (it had tiny candied ginger bits! So good!!), sunshine, sea views, friends, rest. #tinyjoys I should be on vacation more often, really.

Atrocities Keep Getting In Frame Of D.C. Tourist’s Shot https://theonion.com/atrocities-keep-getting-in-frame-of-d-c-tourists-shot/

Lemon blueberry biscuit french toast for breakfast. Sunshine. On my way to see friends. The world is on fire and also full of #tinyjoys

this is an invitation to deny gay people the right to become citizens. It is almost certainly a first step to deny trans people the right to become citizens.

Not to add to the discourse, but… It’s ‘toe the line,’ not ‘tow the line.’ It’s ‘free rein,’ and not ‘free reign.’ It’s ‘eke out,’ not ‘eek out.’ It’s ‘sleight of hand,’ not ‘slight of hand.’ It's ‘Anchors aweigh,’ and not ‘Anchor's away!’

Picard relaxation tip: Re-read good books.

Mark Zuckerberg has spent $110M to buy 11 houses in one Palo Alto neighborhood. He's turning the homes into a compound. That's on top of his 30 bedroom, 30 bathroom compound in Hawaii and another in Lake Tahoe. I don’t want to hear that billionaires can’t afford a wealth tax.

Maybe the reason JD Vance spending so much time vacationing with his family isn't treated as a scandal is because no one thinks anything could possibly be made better by contributions from JD Vance, including JD Vance.

If you haven’t worked at a food bank recently, read this thread.

A group of global civil society organizations have placed the US on a watchlist for urgent concern over the health of its civic society, alongside Turkey, Serbia, El Salvador, Indonesia and Kenya.

The more I see “distraction from the Epstein files” commentary, the more I suspect that in fact the “Epstein files” are the distraction from the constant, unmitigated, blatant democracy destruction, economy wrecking, illegal power grabs, and malicious authoritarianism, not the other way around.

the intensity of my anger at those who would criminalize the homeless — a population literally created by the greed and callousness of the ruling class — is very hard to contain. it was you who dismantled the safety net. if you don’t like the results, put it back

"PhD-level experts in your back pocket" is a completely nonsensical description of AI but a pretty good description of social media if you follow the right people

But really, isn’t EVERY day National Cat Day?

Hello. The president's continued insistence that the BLS numbers are rigged, political, or otherwise manipulated is a lie. Please stop saying 'baseless claim.' Thank you.

Just backed Uncanny Magazine solely because of how thoroughly this unique and original artwork by @michaeldthomas.bsky.social has made my day. My week. Possibly my year.

“Icelandic Sagas” - we read the original (translated) saga of the Icelandic discovery of the North American continent, among others. It’s my only undergraduate class that I still have the books from, 30 years later.

Bonjour, je suis immigré dans une série ou un film américain. Je parle anglais même avec des personnes qui ont la même langue maternelle que moi, et mon anglais est parfait (sauf pour une faute unique), mais de temps en temps, au hasard, je dis trois mots étrangers pour faire exotique.

Hello, I am a Christian cleric in a film. I’m a man.

I was traveling and mostly away from media for a day or two so it’s all hitting fresh right now. So I find myself wondering - doesn’t anyone running US institutions know that extortionists are just inspired to demand MORE money/concessions/bootlicking/criminal activity when you concede one time?

A thing about modern life I don't care for is every service provider hectoring you to give them an online review afterward. Constant texts trying to get me to give gold stars to the plumber, the furniture delivery guy, the pediatric urgent care, etc. THAT'S WHAT THE MONEY IS FOR

Sick of everything being Orwellian or Kafkaesque. I demand more Scarrylous situations, where animals drive vehicles and run small businesses.

As long as I live, I will never understand how "it should be easier for chemical companies to poison the water my family drinks" became a politically popular position www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...