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Archive for the ‘Biography’ Category

Tweet Moss

Posted in Biography, Current Events, History, Miscellaneous, Perception, Philosophy, Tyranny, Words, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 20, 2026| Leave a Comment »

These guys really need to watch more film noir.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-15T18:12:23.909Z

You have to sleep sometime, guys.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-17T19:01:24.980Z

Four of these look WORSE in the "after" pictures. Middle right is DRAMATICALLY worse.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-19T02:53:53.205Z

They really do believe Heaven is clouds where people walk around in a semblance of life forever. It's remarkably stupid, childish, Bronze-Age thinking.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-20T08:26:34.100Z

The International Board of Kakistocracy

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-23T18:25:56.755Z

American flag lapel pins are virtue signaling. The FBI saying how much they loved MLK is virtue signaling. Laws named after dead kids are virtue signaling. State-sponsored "prayer breakfasts" are virtue signaling. Etc, etc. Any sincerely moral person can see the difference without effort.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-25T09:01:06.051Z

If I were Canadian, right now I would feel like one of the guys in this scene:

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-26T03:22:24.145Z

"Dismantled" in the same sense as the Hindenburg was "dismantled".

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-26T18:37:28.791Z

Treasury Secretary Meisterburger has some advice for parents.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-28T16:56:31.831Z

Modern journalists:Talking about a guy who has been out of political office for decades: "President So-and-So", "Senator So-and-So"Talking about a cop sent to prison for using his position to murder or rape somebody last year: "Former officer So-and-So"

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-29T19:23:12.888Z

I hereby declare the word "pivot" officially hackneyed. Find a different verb to beat to death by overuse.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-30T08:52:51.698Z

The "We need new Democrats" whine triggers off the Mom region of my brain: "You haven't done anything with the Democrats I already gave you."

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-01-31T18:05:24.186Z

Raise your hand if you're old enough to remember when it was the DEMOCRATS pretending "unified government" was a good thing.Extra points if you remember that the Clintonian slur for "checks and balances" was "gridlock".

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-01T18:02:15.967Z

Oh look, it's another of those things us cranks have been warning all y'all Very Smart Futurist People about for years.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-02T17:20:55.791Z

What is this thing supposed to be? An Easter Island statue?

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-03T03:38:50.271Z

If only there were some simple way to kill the bacteria so the milk would be safe to drink. If some genius were to invent such a process, we could even name it after him.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-04T03:20:03.432Z

Actual economists disagree.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-04T19:49:45.952Z

How can anyone who has ever read Asimov's nonfiction not know this? He used to BRAG about it. I knew Asimov was a sex pest before entering HIGH SCHOOL because when I was in 8th grade I got on a kick of reading all of his essay collections, and he talks about it more than a little.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-06T03:08:49.403Z

I was used to sex workers being the most *ethical* people on the internet, but in the past 15 years they've proven themselves to be among the most intelligent and literate as well.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-07T18:29:51.990Z

"Facts undermine his testimony" is such a weird, nerf-bat way of saying "He lied".

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-08T17:46:14.535Z

I was taught in catechism that God is all-forgiving, so from a Christian perspective the answer to this would be "yes".That having been said, I am neither a god nor a Christian, so I am under no obligation to forgive those who enabled the current police state over the past ≈ 150 years.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-09T19:09:35.536Z

They make ME think of the campfire scene in "Stand By Me" where the boys seriously discuss, "Who is stronger, Superman or Mighty Mouse?"

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-10T18:20:24.645Z

They really do think "But he gave them candy after molesting them" is a defense.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-11T08:51:42.315Z

It has dawned on me that most young people don't understand that political parties are about as fixed as sand dunes, and drift all over with the political and social winds over time. Which is just a more extreme example of the common inability to recognize that the same is true for species.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-12T18:25:49.074Z

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-13T19:18:32.880Z

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-15T08:58:03.773Z

Your regular reminder that Eisenhower warned us about all this in January 1961, but everyone just basically ignored him until it was much too late.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-16T18:10:17.125Z

You've gotta admire a man who trusts his friends' understanding of physics enough to attempt this.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-17T19:04:26.838Z

Given that the statement "This power will be abused" is always 100% accurate over the long term, you'd think the Pollyannas would've learned by now. But I reckon that's against their dopey natures.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-18T18:21:26.639Z

I just noticed this:

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-02-19T19:01:26.364Z

 

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Diary #816

Posted in Diary, tagged , on February 16, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Laying chickens are bred for maximum egg output, so they tend to have shorter lives; two of our older hens died in the past few weeks at three and four years old, respectively, and both were laying up until the end. But Jae brought in four Ameraucanas a few years ago, which are now six years old; they don’t lay nearly as often, but they’re still laying at what is quite an advanced age for chickens.  When I went to collect my eggs on Saturday, I found this in the middle of the henhouse floor; it’s even smaller than pullet eggs, and since it’s green it’s obviously from one of the Ameraucanas.  Presumably, near the end of their lives they experience something analogous to menopause, and this is the result; it does make me wonder just how much longer I’ll still be getting at least some output from elderly hens that have always laid more eggs than I expected.

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Links #815

Posted in Current Events, History, Links, Miscellaneous, Music, Obituary, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 15, 2026| Leave a Comment »

In the end, you don’t feel disturbed – you feel blank.  –  Monsumi Murmu

I wasn’t really a big Parliament-Funkadelic fan, but Grace was very fond of them; I think this is the sendoff she would’ve suggested for Billy Nelson.  The links above it were provided by Dan Savage, Jesse Walker (x2), Mike Masnick, Nun Ya, Walter Olson, and The Onion, in that order.

From the Archives

I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one.  Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful.  But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer.  So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets.  Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements.  Thanks so much!

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Diary #815

Posted in Diary, Miscellaneous, Q & A, tagged , on February 10, 2026| 2 Comments »

As I mentioned last week, CenturyLink finally got around to fixing my internet problem; the main issue was a corroded wire in the node near my house which was causing a series of errors that eventually caused my modem to “time out”.  The technician said having an older modem, while not the actual cause of the issue, was exacerbating the problem, so he gave me a new one, and everything has been fine since.  However, two other tech problems have now materialized, and with Grace gone I have nobody here who knows about this stuff enough to help me.  So I figured I’d ask my many tech-savvy readers for help.

The first issue is that the PDF Architect software I bought in 2014 and have built seven books on suddenly decided that my copy was not “authenticated” and refuses to function without a new key PDF Architect will not give because they conveniently no longer “support” the software I bought and paid for which still perfectly fulfilled my needs up until now, and want me to pay for their fancy new subscription-based service over and over again each month, though I only use the software when I’m publishing books.  Frank found me free software that will run on my XP machine, but he has never used it himself, so I’d like recommendations; all I need is resident software (not web-based) that will run on XP and combine multiple Word files into a PDF.  That’s it; no bells & whistles are necessary, and free is good but inexpensive is also OK.

The other is that on Saturday evening my TV, which has been unhealthy for a few years,  did something really strange: I was watching a show and a sharply-delineated vertical white band, bounded by several alternating bands of grey and black, suddenly appeared in the exact center of the screen.  Stopping the disc had no effect so it was obviously the TV rather than the disc; I turned it off and turned it back on, and the problem vanished for the rest of the evening.  But this smells like a harbinger of imminent catastrophic failure, so I’m going to replace it.  Given that the last attempt at replacement was a failure, I should probably get either a newish low-end Samsung (to be compatible with the DVD players) or a 7-8 year old refurbished something else.  But again, I don’t need bells & whistles, and I don’t even really want it to connect to the internet; I want the closest thing to a dumb monitor that will simply allow me to play DVDs that I can get.  Any advice?

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Diary #814

Posted in Diary, tagged , , , on February 3, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Axel has been slowly improving where Speck is concerned; if she crosses the floor while I’m in the room, he just watches her intently but doesn’t move toward her.  And every time she completes a back-and-forth I tell him he’s a good boy and give him a treat.  But it’s much harder to train a dog to refrain from doing something than it is to train him to do something, so progress has been slow.  But last week, we hit three landmarks.  On Tuesday, CenturyLink finally sent someone to fix my internet (it was a corroded wire in the node out in the lane), and when the technician came into the house Axel barked at him once, smelled him, and then was calm for the rest of the time.  Then on Wednesday, I had to go to Seattle; I left him outside when I left at 11 AM, had Chekhov come by about 4 to feed the farm animals and let Axel into the house, and then he was alone until I got home about 11 PM.  He was pretty excited when I got back, but I was able to calm him quickly and there were no signs he had acted up (chased Speck or torn anything up) while I was gone for about 4x as long as I’ve ever left him before.

But the best was late Friday night; he was with me on the sofa while I was watching my show, then around midnight he had to go out.  He was gone for a while, probably doing poo-poo, and while he was out Speck came and sat on my lap, then moved to the arm of the sofa.  When he came back in, he got back in his spot, and though he kept looking at her he didn’t lunge or growl or anything else.  I stayed there a while between them, petting them both, then eventually got up to check my social media one last time before bed, and took this picture during that time.  He kept looking at her and occasionally at me, but did nothing bad for about an hour, at which point Speck decided to go back into Grace’s room.  And of course I praised and rewarded him.  Then Sunday night they got even closer; Speck came to cuddle with me on the sofa while Axel was right next to me, less than an arm’s length away.  So I think we’re getting there; as of Sunday I’ve lowered his trazodone to 75mg/day, and I’ll keep it there until the beginning of March.  And within a few more months I think he will complete his transition from nervous wreck to happy, well-adjusted puppy dog.

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Links #813

Posted in Current Events, History, Links, Miscellaneous, Music, Obituary, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 1, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Get back in the game, or I’ll shoot you.  –  Andrew Lawson

Due to the plethora of guillotine memes that have populated social media since the current guillotine-worthy regime took power, I’ve often thought of this song, but it was the recent death of Brigitte Bardot which finally moved me to feature it.  The links above the video were provided by Nicholas Grossman, Jesse Walker, The Onion, Nun Ya, Jesse Walker again, Jessica Pishko, and Popehat, in that order.

From the Archives

I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one.  Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful.  But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer.  So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets.  Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements.  Thanks so much!

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Diary #813

Posted in Diary, tagged , , on January 27, 2026| Leave a Comment »

The climate here at Sunset is not unlike that of England; rainy and on the chilly side, and rarely extremely hot or extremely cold.  Because the utility room containing the well and the water tank are inside the atrium, I don’t need to take any precautions if the overnight low is going to be warmer than -3o C, which is usually the case for >80 days of the winter.  And if it isn’t going to be lower than about -5o C, all I need to do is turn on a heater in the utility room and let one faucet run at a trickle.  But once in a while it gets colder than that for a night or two, so I need to take a few extra precautions, like running the hot water tap for a few minutes whenever I get up to use the bathroom (since the propane heater is outside).  It was like that Friday and Saturday nights; if the daytime temperatures are reasonable I don’t need to make any special arrangements for the big animals, because they just huddle together in the stable and emerge to sun themselves after dawn.  But our cats are not used to these kind of temperatures, so I bring the outside cats inside on nights like that.  Rocky got the atrium bathroom and Lilith the old one; I need to keep the door closed so she and Speck won’t fight (and Axel adds another complication).  But Sunday night was back to normal, with a low of only -2o C, so I was able to suspend the freeze protocols.  And unless we get some stray cold front later in February, that’s probably it for this winter.

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A Year Gone

Posted in Diary, Music, Philosophy, tagged , , , , , on January 25, 2026| 1 Comment »

One year ago today, at about 2 AM, I lost my best friend to what appears to have been an acute ischemic stroke, brought on by cancer, chemotherapy, and long-standing circulatory issues.  We had known for years that her end was approaching, and had I not refused to see them, there were clear signs that it would be sooner rather than later.  But human beings are very good at failing to see what we do not want to see, and I’m certainly no exception; I’m sure part of the reason was that I wanted to maintain a positive outlook to help her do the same, but most of it was just that I’ve already had so much pain and loss in my life I did not want to consciously face what even our idioms recognize as among the worst misfortunes that can befall a person.

Whenever a friend suffers a loss, we are moved to try to say something, anything, to assuage their pain; some of those things are helpful and some are not.  But of the things my friends said to me, two stand out, and I still think of them often.  One of them is philosophical:  Grief is the price we pay for love.  Indeed, people who have suffered emotionally sometimes become afraid of love because they fear the pain that must come when we must part from the loved one, and the greater the love, the greater the pain.  The other helpful thing was more practical: The waves of grief never stop coming, but they do grow further apart.  For the first few weeks after her passing I thought of little else, then for most of last year the waves came at least daily; in more recent months they’ve come two or three times a week.  They have not yet become less intense, though I’m sure that, too, will happen in the fullness of time.

As I knew I would through long experience, I have tried to cope with the grief by retreating a bit from the world and burying myself in my work; the most important product of that work is a new series of pulp-style adventure stories featuring characters based upon Grace and myself, in which the narratives are suffused with my thoughts on friendship in general and our friendship in particular.  They’re the longest and most complex individual works I’ve ever written, and the next project in the series will be my first novel.  And the many hours it takes to create them not only feel like a way for me to share Grace with the world, but also a means by which I can squeeze just a little more time with her out of a world which took her from me much too soon.

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Diary #812

Posted in Diary, tagged , , , on January 20, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Axel is definitely settling into life at Sunset.  As I’ve written before, I’ve been reducing his medication by 50mg/day every week, and now we’re down to 100mg/day.  Last week I tried to give that to him in one bedtime dose rather than splitting it into two 50 mg doses at bedtime & midday, but that left him a bit too exuberant in the afternoon and evening, and he tried to chase Speck a couple of times.  He immediately stops when I say “Leave it!” but I want to get him to the point where he doesn’t chase her at all, so for right now I’m going to hold him at 50mg twice daily until the end of January, then I’ll try to nudge it down by 25 daily mg a month until we can get him off of it completely.  On at least 5 or 6 occasions in the past week Speck has trotted through the living room right in front of him with no reaction beyond his perking up a bit, even without my saying anything, so I think we’re on the right track.  I think it helps that Trip, whom he seems to look to for guidance, does not have any issue with cats, but we’ll see; unfortunately, Trip has this weird habit of occasionally running up to Jonathan and barking at him for no apparent reason, and as of Sunday Axel seems to have picked up that habit from him.  I’m not too worried because Jonathan just stands there and looks at him like, “What the hell are you on about, dog?” and he’s much too big for the dogs to hurt.  So one thing at a time: “Don’t chase things smaller than you” is much more important than “Don’t irritate things big enough to stomp on you”, because the latter tends to be self-reinforcing.

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Links #811

Posted in Current Events, History, Links, Miscellaneous, Music, Obituary, Tyranny, tagged , , , , , , , , on January 18, 2026| Leave a Comment »

We’re now employing people who are not equipped to tie their own shoelaces.

I can’t think of a more appropriate sendoff for Bob Weir than this one.  The links above it were provided by Popehat; Brooke Magnanti and Jesse Walker; The Onion; Phoenix Calida; IncarcerNation; and Walter Olson, in that order.

From the Archives

I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one.  Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful.  But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer.  So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets.  Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements.  Thanks so much!

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