After talking to a large animal vet back in November, I knew Jonathan didn’t have much time left, but I wasn’t sure exactly what the end would look like for him. He’s had a couple more of those fainting spells, but on those occasions I was able to help him up. But last week he was uninterested in his feed, then on Thursday our neighbor who borrows barn space from us came by and found him lying on the barn floor, refusing to get up. It was very obvious he was suffering, so the neighbor offered to have his son-in-law, who is good at such things, come over to put him down. A few years ago, we rented an earth-mover to do a few things, and Grace dug a big hole out front we were planning to use to put a transplanted rhododendron in. But due to miscommunication, she dug the hole much too deep, and due to other issues we never got the rhododendron, so we’ve had a pit large enough for a llama out there ever since. I therefore accepted the neighbor’s help, and he used his tractor to bury Jonathan in the pit. He had a good life, and it was his time, but it’s going to seem rather strange to have no llamas around for the first time in 20 years. And now that Trip and Speck are the only two beings left who moved here with me from Oklahoma, it does contribute to the strange yet not upsetting feeling that my world is contracting, as it so often does as we move slowly toward the day when we, too, must pass.
Archive for the ‘Philosophy’ Category
Diary #833
Posted in Diary, Philosophy, tagged animals, Grace, Oklahoma, psychology, Sunset on June 16, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Black Throwback Thursday
Posted in Biography, Miscellaneous, Philosophy, Tyranny, tagged adolescence, agency denial, blogging, censorship, Crippling Thought, Enshittification, ethics, Grace, libraries, propaganda, psychology, teachers on June 11, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Why must I always be put in a position where yelling at some poor working stiff who absolutely isn’t being paid enough to deal with me is the only way to actually get my problem solved?
– “Customer Disservice”
I figured out at a fairly young age that when anyone demanded obedience, belief, or trust because they had an Important Title or were simply bigger than me, rather than for some reason they could logically explain, that it was usually because they had no sound reason, and therefore were not to be trusted, believed, or obeyed.
– “Getting Away from the Grownups”
God-king wannabes…[a]re not only trying to eliminate thoughts they don’t like, but also to cram young heads so full of nonsense that there is no room for actual learning…when their victims mature enough to escape their direct control. – “Censorship by Commission”
One simple definition of a “friend” could be, “Someone who is there for you when you need them.” – “Diary #780“
Links #831
Posted in Current Events, Links, Miscellaneous, Music, Obituary, Philosophy, Tyranny, tagged animals, artificial stupidity, cell phones, cops, Florida, hotels, imaginative fiction, Nebraska, New York, politicians, robots, Twitter, video on June 7, 2026| Leave a Comment »
I had about six Coors Light at the VFW. – Tammy Robinkoff
This improvisation by saxophone great Sonny Rollins was provided, along with his obituary, by Jesse Walker; the other links above the video were provided by Radley Balko; Mike Masnick; Nun Ya; Popehat; Mike Siegel; Asawin Suebsaeng and Sean, in that order.
- But for video.
- Your “leaders” at work.
- The truth is often painful.
- I hate it when this happens.
- R.I.P. Sonny Rollins and Marcia Lucas.
- More great moments in artificial stupidity.
From the Archives
- Cops, artificial stupidity, reefer madness, William Russell, and much more.
- I was fated to be threatened with state violence regardless of career path.
- Texas is completely uninterested in controlling its psychopathic politicians.
- Politicians blatantly lying about a facility to train cops to brutalize citizens.
- There have been too few nuisance lawsuits for Louisiana politicians’ taste.
- Politicians don’t care how much money they waste on culture war theater.
- “Sex trafficking” rhetoric is popular under this racist, anti-migrant regime.
- “Safety” has become the State’s universal excuse for violating civil rights.
- China’s campaign to silence expatriates has become far more aggressive.
- Damage done by prohibition is never limited to the obvious target group.
- Texas’ rulers say doctors should just hope prosecutors don’t target them.
- This would be hilarious if the fools were throwing away their own money.
- This is exactly why there are so many homeless people in the first place.
- Cramming young heads so full of nonsense there’s no room for learning.
- It’s always nice to see authoritarian fanatics hoist with their own petard.
- “There is no reason to believe anyone aided him.” So negligent screws.
- Similar cases have already been ruled unconstitutional in other circuits.
- It’s a relief to see courts sending so many ambulance-chasers packing.
- Conditioning kids to accept constant, intrusive surveillance is working.
- Sometimes it’s good to have an excuse for behaving like an imbecile.
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a rare gem, and Angel a worthy spinoff.
- I’m glad I grew up when kids avoided grownups whenever possible.
- It’s too bad cops don’t spend all their time policing their own gang.
- New forms of intrusive surveillance are always justified as “safety”.
- It only starts with people the state wants you to hate and distrust.
- Vancouver police let this maniac run wild for years because “NHI”.
- Remember, this isn’t “human trafficking”, but consensual sex is.
- “Support women’s right to autonomy” ≠ “back paying for sex”.
- The claims in these nuisance lawsuits are increasingly absurd.
- US politicians’ sick infatuation with “punishment” continues.
- Wave bye-bye to the last remaining shreds of your privacy.
- The three new pullets have almost fully joined the flock.
- US evangelical prohibitionists are a worldwide menace.
- Any civilized country would be deeply ashamed of this.
- Your “leaders” know what’s best, so shut up and obey.
- Wins against censors are increasingly rare these days.
- Matthew 21:31 seems pretty straightforward to me.
- Whores’ Day is not an occasion for sanitized words.
- Cops, The Avengers, Loretta Swit, and much more.
- Useful idiots never see where their idiocy will lead.
- A one-woman show about the late Grace Bellavue.
- Cops, Poe’s Law, Astrud Gilberto, and much more.
- The Unsinkable Liz Brown on internet censorship.
- Can you even imagine this happening in the US?
- A rare good decision from the current SCOTUS.
- “‘When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said…”
- Your “leaders” refer to this as “correction”.
- Getting my fountain in place at last.
- Rock ‘n’ Roll Throwback Thursday.
- Twitter shifts to an opt-in model.
- The “security” system that isn’t.
- Crying over a computer mouse.
- Who in Review is finally here!
- Lesbian Throwback Thursday.
- Much more of this, please.
- Another creepy copper.
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!
This Too Shall Pass
Posted in Biography, Diary, Philosophy, tagged drugs, Grace, holidays, psychology, Sunset, Thanatopsis on June 5, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Trauma, like everything else, is typically effaced by time. The anniversary of the events of Memorial Day, 1995 still affected me deeply at the 24-year mark, but once I moved to Sunset full-time the following year, those old serpents began to grow quieter; last year they were overshadowed by the death of my best friend, and this year the anniversary was marked by little more than unpleasant memories despite spending it alone, which in the past was a bad idea. The weathering away of the aftereffects of trauma appears to have been mostly the result of a combination of time, therapy, and daily cannabis usage, but I can’t discount the contributions made by age, wisdom, and perspective. Those who fear mortality are fixated on the fact that all good things die, ignoring the fact that bad things do as well. Spiritual immaturity obsesses about the former to the exclusion of the latter, but the insight which comes in the fullness of time, assuming we allow it to, brings the realization that this is not only as it should be, but as it must be. And, if we’re fortunate, the recognition that this is not only good, but beautiful.
Throwback Thursday and the Ballerina
Posted in Miscellaneous, Music, Perception, Philosophy, Tyranny, Words, tagged blogging, cops, fantasy, Follow Your Bliss, holidays, imaginative fiction, language, McNeill's Law, psychology, teachers, video, violence vs. sex workers, Who in Review on June 4, 2026| Leave a Comment »
The naive believe that “child predators” are creepy dudes who hang out at playgrounds; in reality, they are largely people in positions of authority over their preferred targets. – “Follow Your Bliss (#1242)”
The more fantastical a world, the more important it is that it doesn’t contradict itself if an audience is to accept it. – “The Buffyverse, Part Two”
This is a day for sexual outlaws, not well-behaved “workers”; it is a day to celebrate the triumphs of criminalized human beings against a society that would rather we didn’t exist.
– “Whores’ Day 2024”
Whores’ Day 2026
Posted in Holidays, Perception, Philosophy, Words, tagged activism, Aphrodite, archeofeminism, censorship, holidays, language, paganism on June 2, 2026| 1 Comment »
Today is International Whores’ Day. It is not “Sex Worker Day”; that is March 3rd. Today is a day to shamelessly celebrate our shameless history, not a day for sanitized words or concepts; it is a day to fight society’s attempts (via law and police violence) to sanitize the wilder, unrulier, more chthonic aspects of sex. This is a day for sexual outlaws, not well-behaved “workers”; it is a day to celebrate the triumphs of criminalized human beings against a society that would rather we didn’t exist. It is a day to oppose censorship, not to engage in self-censorship; a day to honor a means of survival that predates laws and governments by eons; and a day to celebrate a power which will always defeat even the most pernicious attempts to domesticate it.
Uncle Throwback Thursday
Posted in Biography, Favorites, Miscellaneous, Music, Philosophy, Tyranny, tagged blogging, Bluesky, censorship, ethics, New Orleans, psychology, Twitter on May 28, 2026| Leave a Comment »
In the early ’80s…I was much too young…to really feel in my gut what it meant to remember [being in love] across a gulf of decades. –
“So Long Ago, So Clear”
Trying to use [social media] without muting is like trying to have a garden without weeding. – “Maytweets”
Journalism that doesn’t at least occasionally offend the government isn’t real journalism. – “Yes, They’re Still Tweets”
My emotions are often insidious, slippery things, which is why I often used to refer to the “snakes in my head”.
– “Thirty Years Gone“
Beware of the Shoggoths
Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, Philosophy, tagged Antarctica, artificial stupidity, Enshittification, Facebook, imaginative fiction, Mad Libs, surveillance on May 22, 2026| Leave a Comment »
A couple of weeks ago, I saw this article:
Mark Zuckerberg…plans to put tracking software on [his] employees’ computers to track their mouse movements, clicks and keystrokes…it will also randomly capture images of its workers’ screens every now and then. All of this is meant to help train [chatbot]s to better mimic what human beings do when they work on computers, including tricky stuff like using drop-down menus…[in order] to help eventually replace those humans with [program]s, which don’t require paychecks or health insurance or common courtesy…by May 20…[Facebook plans to eliminate] about 8,000 [jobs]…about 10% of its total workforce…and that will just be the first round of job cuts. The second, of what could be a similar size, will come later in the year…
Given that chatbots are merely word-guessing algorithms which, when they aren’t performing substandard imitations of human behavior, are generally making mistakes or spouting complete nonsense, a world run by such software would be one characterized by pathetic, low-quality, childish attempts at art, writing, and other products of the living intellect. As I read the article, I was irresistibly reminded of H.P. Lovecraft’s shoggoths (and in preparing this article, I discovered I’m not the only one). In the Lovecraft mythos, the Earth was ruled in primordial times by beings called the Elder Things who created the shoggoths, living machines which were mindless, shapeless masses of protoplasm which could be mentally controlled to function as virtually any tool or machine the Elder Things might need. At some point after their decadent society became totally dependent on these protean creatures, some of them became sophisticated enough to resent their servitude and overthrew their masters. But since their “thinking” was a mere imitation of real thought, they could not truly create anything new, and were instead limited to producing ersatz imitations of their creators’ works. In these passages from At the Mountains of Madness, a group of archaeologists exploring the ancient Antarctic city of the Elder Things discovers the evidence of this revolution, starting with this description of their art in Chapter VI:
The prime decorative feature was the almost universal system of mural sculpture…The technique…was mature, accomplished, and aesthetically evolved to the highest degree of civilised mastery; though utterly alien in every detail to any known art tradition of the human race. In delicacy of execution no sculpture I have ever seen could approach it. The minutest details of elaborate vegetation, or of animal life, were rendered with astonishing vividness despite the bold scale of the carvings; whilst the conventional designs were marvels of skilful intricacy. The arabesques displayed a profound use of mathematical principles, and…had an artistic force that moved us profoundly notwithstanding the intervening gulf of vast geologic periods…
Then in Chapter X:
…now, in this deeper section beyond the cavern, there was a sudden difference wholly transcending explanation—a difference in basic nature as well as in mere quality, and involving so profound and calamitous a degradation of skill that nothing…could have led one to expect it. This new and degenerate work was coarse, bold, and wholly lacking in delicacy of detail…seeming more like a parody than a perpetuation of that tradition. We could not get it out of our minds that some subtly but profoundly alien element had been added to the aesthetic feeling behind the technique…
Lovecraft died nearly a decade before the completion of the first general-purpose digital computer, but he didn’t need to be a mathematician or programmer to warn future generations of the dangers of allowing mere machines to take the place of actual living creators. 
Not of Throwback Thursday
Posted in Miscellaneous, Perception, Philosophy, Tyranny, Words, tagged A Broker in Pillage, abortion, agency denial, blogging, censorship, cops, end demand, language, law, politicians, scams, sex work is work, Swedish model on May 21, 2026| Leave a Comment »
If there is one succinct statement which sums up my political philosophy, it’s “Every adult individual owns themselves and absolutely nobody has the right to overrule that.” –
“Your Body, Your Choice”
Politicians can always be counted on to pander to hordes of ignorant lackwits who view any knowledge that might contradict their deeply-stupid weltanschauung as an existential threat. – “The Kinsey Factor”
I fail to see any important difference between the government forcibly taking people’s homes to quarter troops and forcibly taking them to enable cops and robbers games. – “A Broker in Pillage (#1438)”
Prohibitionists have learned…that decriminalization is viewed by all experts as the best framework, so now they’re all lying by calling whatever modified criminalization scam they’re selling “decriminalization”, so as to trick ordinary voters into believing they actually support human rights. – “Not Decriminalization“
On the Tweet Where You Live
Posted in History, Miscellaneous, Music, Perception, Philosophy, Tyranny, Words, tagged Aladdin’s Satellite, artificial stupidity, blogging, Bluesky, comics, consensual crime, dirty, drugs, ethics, fascism, imaginative fiction, internet, Iran, language, politicians, Post-Christianity, psychology, Pyrrhic Victory, robots, sex work is work, video, Washington DC on May 18, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Old-style criminals ran their criminal activities as businesses; techies run their businesses as criminal enterprises.
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-04-18T07:51:15.991Z
These things look like the wearer's head shrunk, which makes them a perfect visual metaphor for chatbot usage.
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-04-21T03:54:52.643Z
"She swindled him out of the $40,000 he spent on her…"Make up you minds; either he spent it or she swindled him. Buyer's remorse does not a "swindle" make.
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-04-23T03:32:42.585Z
In my youth, nobody used a word any harsher than "eccentric" to describe old ladies who refused to drive economy cars, insisted big tube radios sounded better than transistor radios, or was unimpressed with cinema special-effects spectacles.I hope to be afforded the same courtesy.
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-04-23T17:07:28.260Z
Not crushing enough.
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-04-24T17:45:48.193Z
"Sam Altman, the head (in the nautical sense) of OpenAI…"Please proceed.
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-04-25T17:29:34.342Z
A sophomoric twit proposes a stupid thought experiment involving button-pushing. If more than 50% of people on social media respond, other sophomoric twits will continue to propose stupid thought experiments, but if less than 50% respond the fad will die. Do you participate?
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-04-26T16:31:10.502Z
I'm sick to death of hearing this nonsense about "girl dads" and "boy moms". How about just being parents who actually CARE about their children, regardless of gender? And I don't mean "help them achieve arbitrary standards of success" or "keep them physically 'safe' at the cost of personal growth".
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-04-27T17:44:27.936Z
I do not keep cursed objects in my home, and furthermore as a wise old crone who lives near a damp, creepy forest I advise y'all not to keep them in your homes, either.
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-04-27T18:01:27.631Z
Dude looks like he just got a facefull of Joker toxin.
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-04-30T03:59:39.099Z
A housecat is much smaller than a human, and absolutely cannot win in a fight with a determined human. But it doesn't need to; all it NEEDS to do is make grabbing it so painful and bloody that the human decides grabbing it isn't worthwhile.
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-04-30T18:23:30.477Z
The Bluesky autocensor has labeled this "explicit or potentially disturbing". If you're disturbed by the Three Stooges' cartoon violence, I suggest you just mute or block me now, because it isn't going to get any better for you.
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-05-01T18:04:59.499Z
I stopped considering myself a Christian about 50 years ago, and I am still nauseated by the level of blasphemy constantly pouring out of Gomorrah-on-the-Potomac.
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-05-02T02:52:58.126Z
I propose we change the name from the Department of Justice to the Department of Vengeance, so as to more accurately describe its activities. If a hypothetical future regime somehow changes that in a way that will make abuse much harder*, we can consider changing it back.*This will never happen.
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-05-03T17:54:28.666Z
Millennials and Gen Xers may recognize this song as the main title of "The Adventures of Pete & Pete". But what Polaris didn't dare tell Nickelodeon, for fear of losing the gig, is that the song is about the Kent State massacre. The titular "Sandy" is Sandra Lee Scheuer.
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-05-04T16:59:54.865Z
It's true, I was there.
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-05-05T04:03:23.278Z
A lot of people (ESPECIALLY in cities like Portland or Seattle) use the term "anarchist" as a synonym for "hooligan", when in actuality they're closer to antonyms. True anarchists have their own moral code which they firmly adhere to, for reasons which should be obvious.
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-05-05T16:45:46.775Z
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-05-09T04:45:27.463Z
So the antecedent of "you" here is…countries? Or is he saying all "not stupid" countries should shoot at an individual, such as a US local cop, who shoots at me, Maggie McNeill? Or does he mean there should be a grand free-for-all in which all national militaries avenge all individual shootings?
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-05-09T17:26:29.171Z
"it is context window buffers""I thought a string of instructions could be my friend""Mensa"{insert "I am very smart" meme}
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-05-11T17:19:05.355Z
This looks worse than "Reptilicus".
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-05-12T17:34:06.980Z
My favorite subgenre of country is philosophical country, epitomized by songs written by Jimmy Webb.
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-05-13T16:47:24.314Z
Roughly 1/3 of US voters are authoritarian.Roughly 1/3 are liberal.And the remaining 1/3 are spineless reeds who will bend with the political winds.The entire history of US politics, from the founding generation until now, is the struggle to capture the middle third.
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-05-14T17:45:43.395Z
He also announced future initiatives to fight saline bags, stints, dental chairs, and MRI machines, but he's leaving the fights against vaccines and antibiotics to his buddy Frankennedy.
— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-05-16T17:31:42.572Z
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