I'm horrified and saddened at the shooting in BC. 😭

@governorferguson.bsky.social Please tell me you are not planning on attending.

USPS blue mailboxes are stamped with year of manufacture. This is one of the oldest ones I've seen in a while. I am lots of fun at parties.

Need a mood boost? Watch the Pacific Northwest Ballet celebrate the Seattle Seahawks being in the Super Bowl

Link to the currently posted chapters of my WIP. I'm still editing and trying to decide what to do with the novel, if I should self-publish, attempt to look for an agent, what. Ah well. asteralison.dreamwidth.org/2678.html

Sir Ian McKellen performing a monologue from Shakespeare’s Sir Thomas More on the Stephen Colbert show. Never have I heard this monologue performed with such a keen sense of prescience. Nor have I ever been in this exact historical moment.TY Sir Ian, for reaching us once again. #Pinks #ProudBlue

Link to the currently posted chapters of my WIP. I'm still editing and trying to decide what to do with the novel, if I should self-publish, attempt to look for an agent, what. Ah well. asteralison.dreamwidth.org/2678.html

@murray.senate.gov @repkimschrier.bsky.social @cantwell.senate.gov

If you're interested in seeing how framing contests are taking shape after the ICE killing of another person in Minneapolis, here's a window into the conversation on X this morning. Link to interactive graph: faculty.washington.edu/kstarbi/Spot... * I put this together quickly. Sorry for any errors

y’all wanna see some ice-on-ice violence? 🥰

That is very good news.

My spouse, talking about what we need out of Dems. "You don't win without a spine. Worms get squished."

@governorferguson.bsky.social What are we waiting for? Taking the high road while they cheat is stupid.

Absolutely not tied to anything, but I just love seeing ASL interpreters at government (or other) events and briefings. I miss the dude who use to interpret for Jay Inslee's briefings during Covid.

#FridayFling Heir/Inherit

I know who I am rooting for in the Olympics! (Provided I remember when those happen.)

Happy New Year!

Open up this picture fully. Then look at the surface of Mars. Then look up to the top right. Spot Mars' moon Phobos high in the sky. Then notice the bright spot beside Phobos. That's Earth.

I freaking HATE that to get a free post on substack, I'd have to download the app. Just let me read the damn thing on the website. I don't have room on my phone for more apps.

This is what Trump has done. 😭

@governorferguson.bsky.social We need to counter some of this. We cannot just do nothing. They are cheating and attempting to be the ethical ones is just going to ensure the en do of the United States.

@governorferguson.bsky.social Is Washington going to step up or are we going to be complicit?

@governorferguson.bsky.social Washington needs to step up and redistrict. We cannot allow them to pervert democracy and elections and just ignore the problem.

I am at my sister's. I am listening to an audiobook using my wired earbuds. I put phone and earbuds on the table to get a cup of tea. I did not have to worry that in those 5 minutes somecat would come by and chew my earbud wires to bits. I miss my cats. But the lack of precautions is nice too.

@governorferguson.bsky.social We need to move on this in Washington. If this is the game they are going to play, we need to get in on it or be crushed in a manner we can never recover from.

After I was cut from the team, I worked overtime for six years because I was determined to win a gold medal for my country. I'm campaigning just like I played basketball: by outworking everyone. It's time we had someone in the Senate who fights for all Iowans.

Standing on the platform waiting for the 1 Line at non yet 6AM I am seriously considering my life choices. Half marathon today. I don't know why it stresses me out, it is just an urban hike and a same distance hike is fine.

Shopping at the farmer's market. I get charging a fee for credit cards but not disclosing at 25% fee until I've selected almost $50 worth of jewelry really irked me.

We get a park pass every year, usually in March or April. I think this year we'll renew early to get another Dec 2025 - Dec 2026 pass because I don't think I could stomach this one.

The CDC is lying to you about vaccines and autism. The CDC webpage about vaccines and autism now misrepresents the science and lies to the public about vaccines and autism. It’s just part of RFK Jr.'s ongoing war on vaccines. sciencebasedmedicine.org/the-cdc-is-l...

They can’t make computers as intelligent as humans, but they can make humans as unthinking as computers.

Here’s the poppies in the bottom of my office building . They are really moving because they are about five feet tall and are very 3D.

Wonder why this scene looks so familiar... #WildlifeWednesday 🐦🐕

OMG, the casual sexism. Announcer at Head of the Hooch (head rowing event). A women, seeded 1 in the Women's Singles goes by. Then the last seeded (last started) Men's Singles comes by. And the freaking announcer comments about how "they may have started her earlier".

My computer backgrounds are photos I've download from Microsoft Bing and I cycle through them. On Biden's Inauguration Day, this was the photo they had. Every time it pops up on my screen, I remember the hopeful joy of that day.

Well, my job got cut today. Research scientist, so not completely unexpected. At my age, I doubt I'll ever get another job.

If anyone wants to read the first 6 chapters of a romance novel, have at it.... The novel is finished and I'll continue to post. asteralison.dreamwidth.org/2678.html

Mt Rainier from 3rd Burroughs Mt.

One day, nearly 2000 years ago, a cat dashed across some drying tiles, somewhere near Hadrian's Wall. It's immortality of a kind, isn't it?

Elder Gen X at a Metal Concert. Black clothes. MASKS. Earplugs. Columbia fleece until it warms up a bit. 😁

i just sent this email to @ezraklein.bsky.social

Remembering MN house speaker Melissa Hortman, her husband Mark and their beloved dog Gilbert. Murdered in June at their home by a rightwing Trump-voting evangelist, who also shot another MN lawmaker and his wife at THEIR home, 9 and 8 times, respectively (miraculously, they survived).

Last night I sat down to the the NY Times crossword ... and clue 1 Across was "Spiritual principle symbolized by an endless knot". The answer, of course, is KARMA. (Sorry for the spoiler, even if it is yesterday's puzzle.)

My candid thoughts on the death of Charlie Kirk. As a Muslim, I’ve received an onslaught of hate from Kirk supporters who believed his disinformation about Islam and Muslims. Yet, I do not rejoice in his death. At all. So why have empathy for those who show none? www.qasimrashid.com/p/reflection...

Mini marsupial bounces back from the brink! Once listed as Endangered, the crest-tailed mulgara expanded its range by more than 48,000 km² between 2015 and 2021, lifting its status to Least Concern. Biocontrol contributed to the heartwarming bounce-back. https://f.mtr.cool/afllseseeb