McKinley Valentine

@mckinleaf.bsky.social

1347 Followers 470 Following

Writer/Researcher 🔶 ABC's Hard Quiz 🔶 The Whippet, a newsletter of science, history, language & weirdness: https://thewhippet.org 🔶 she/her

HBomberguy meme with the text "surrender to who, Donald?"
photo of Scott Adams with Dilbert character in background
wikipedia screenshot: E. M. Forster's novel Maurice is a story of love between two men. The first draft was written in 1913 when homosexuality was illegal in England. Homosexual acts were legalised by the Sexual Offences Act 1967 but Forster still did not publish because "He knew the endless fuss and brouhaha it would [lead] to". The novel was finally published in 1971, a few months after Forster's death.
guardian article screenshot "Erin Patterson raised her chin almost defiantly, giving a sense this was all a grave mistake, that she was not supposed to be there. For lengthy periods during her sentencing she even closed her eyes, a woman seemingly at peace with her fate."
BPD forum post: It depends on what day or what hour you ask me. lol! Sometimes I am so perfect and I can handle everything and actually get things done and be a positive influence to others. Other days I am a disgrace to this planet. I am a loser that has accomplished nothing, I'm stupid, ugly, mean and I feel bad for anyone that knows me. I'd say I'm more on the low functioning though, as I'm unable to handle much. It took me 2 months to get the courage to make 5 phone calls to companies such as Sprint because I'm so frightened of everything.
Museum-style photo of an bust of Cleopatra with one boob out. The caption reads "Bust of Cleopatra (one of a pair)" (also says French, Rouen, ca. 1720-30)
5-Star Amazon book review. "The book, The Field, was mind-expanding, confirming what I "knew" to be true."
Screenshot of the Australia Post app Greece 19 November 2024: Items sent to and from Greece may experience delays due to planned union strikes on 20 November, which will impact postal operations and delivery services. Ireland 10 November 2024: Items sent to and from Ireland may experience delays, as Storm Darragh is affecting delivery services and postal operations. Italy 4 December 2024: Items sent to and from Italy may experience delays due to cyber attacks impacting the IT systems at Italy Post.
Screenshot from Bible Gateway. 5. He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
Screenshot of Chesterton quote: Tradition means giving a vote to most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking about. All democrats object to men being disqualified by the accident of birth; tradition objects to their being disqualified by the accident of death. Democracy tells us not to neglect a good man’s opinion, even if he is our groom; tradition asks us not to neglect a good man’s opinion, even if he is our father.”
Old school looking Fantasy book by Piers Anthony titled "Man from Mundania". A dragon menaces a young couple.
Bob Dylan, Blood on the Tracks
Front cover of Dinotopia
A green wax sculpture sitting on a workbench: an egg with a snake wrapped around it. Scalpel-like tools in background
Former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, biting into a raw onion with the skin on
Appointing Gaetz owns the libs, humiliates the hated Justice Department, elevates someone who is a vulgar elbow-thrower like him, and is a thumb in the eye to the Republicans who hate Gaetz. It’s not a decision reflecting self-control; it’s a decision reflecting unconstrained anger and resentment. It’s like making your horse a Senator. The point isn’t that the horse will vote the way you want it to. The point is to humiliate the senate and show them you can do what you want. It’s bad, but it’s not smart bad.
from The Guardian: The Pennsylvania chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union is seeking legal action to have voting extended past 8pm in precincts where students have been waiting hours to cast a vote. That includes in Bethlehem, where students have been waiting as many as six-and-a-half hours to cast a ballot.
Amazon review, 2 stars: Though the methodology, when taken at face value, is fairly sound and, generally, informative, [highlight] I find it highly exhausting and, frankly, annoying that Christianity finds it necessary to implant itself and hijack a philosophy and mysticism that is not Christian whatsoever. I blame Jung, [end highlight] and I am not appreciative of it in the slightest bit. For those seeking an authentic truth and teaching in either alchemy or sages' mysticism - this is not it.
"Adults who are racked with death anxiety are not odd birds who have contracted some exotic disease, but men and women whose family and culture have failed to knit the proper protective clothing for them to withstand the icy chill of mortality." Staring at the Sun Irvin D. Yalom
Somewhat counterintuitively, it’s the more trusting people that actually emerge as less gullible. They obviously get fooled, as we all do… but they tend to be very good at learning from those experiences where they have been duped, they tend not to generalize it over everybody and then to start being cynical about everything, which then makes them more effective socially.
William Butler Yeats quote: If we cannot imagine ourselves as different from what we are, and try to assume that second self, we cannot impose a discipline upon ourselves though we may accept one from others. Active virtue as distinguished from the passive acceptance of a code is therefore theatrical, consciously dramatic, the wearing of a mask.
google search with "what are some folded things" typed into the search box
Google result, article from a science website: "How do photons travel so fast? And is there a way to stop them?"
Bluesky celebrating 10M users #144,433
Old comic, man in a suit standing outside a store with a sign "Ancient and occult books". Speech bubble: "Perhaps I can find a rare book to take my mind off the grim thoughts which harass me. And the occult world may have an answer to my problem!"
youtube thumbnail of a cat peeking around a corner, titled "Why does your cat keep checking on you?" It's a similar pose to the minotaur.
Illustration of Theseus in a labyrinth hiding from a minotaur, holding a spindle of thread
Pale cat with smoky brown face, tail and paws. Similar to a Siamese.
Tweet with photos of Simone Biles' face captioned "time to start practicing identifying the gender markers. What do you see?" and reply saying "man's facial structure. I'm getting good at this thanks to you"
In this "timeless and original" sci-fi thriller (New York Times), a hardboiled baseball scout must solve the murder of his brother in a world transformed by body modification, perfect for readers of William Gibson and Max Barry. An Esquire Pick for the Top 50 Sci-Fi Books of All Time
Sumerian statue with enormous eyes
Wikipedia screenshot: Leopoldo Franciolini (1844–1920) was an Italian antique dealer who was active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He is remembered as a fraudster who sold faked and altered historical musical instruments. To this day his work is a barrier to the scholarly study of instruments of the past.
Symbolic alchemical artwork of two crowned mermaids inside a glass flask with their tails wound together, which combine to form the stem of a flower
Hand holding a copy of Microsoft Office in front of a fridge
Engraving of snake eating its own tail: Ouroboros can have a little Ouroboros as a treat
3 star review. "Goes on for a while about wells (a long while), but there's a few interesting chapters towards the end."
Screenshot of Wikipedia: "Wurugag and Waramurungundi. In aboriginal mythology (specifically: Kunwinjku), Wurugag and Waramurungundi are the first man and woman, respectively. Waramurungundi is said to have given birth to all living things and taught language to the people of Australia." The last sentence is highlighted. That's the whole article, the man did nothing.
Tom: the mugshot itself is so funny though he's giving the photographer a dominator death stare McKinley: He's practiced that look in the mirror so much Tom: sometimes he forgets it's a reflection and gets locked into a staredown and his staff has to put a blanket over his head to take him away McKinley: Ahahaha
Pair of 7 metre Tall Limestone Columns with Doric Capitals A$55,586.61 per set
It is a dilemma for marine conservation when so little is known about a species that impacts cannot be reliably predicted, and where there is little or no impetus to improve this knowledge base. We cannot simply presume an animal does not play an important role in an ecosystem because it lacks charisma. In George Orwell’s novel Animal Farm, it was said “All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others”. This remains abundantly true in terms of how humans view animals. But we must move away from this philosophy if we are to conserve and restore the planet’s fragile ecosystems.
"Auckland shooting live updates: gunman had family violence history, say New Zealand police"
parcel tracking, mostly in Chinese, latest update says "flight departing" and then underneath it "Earth"
Headline: Hundreds of drones plunge into the Yarra River after technical malfunction. "Divers are attempting to retrieve potentially hundreds of drones from the bottom of Melbourne's Yarra River after a technical malfunction during an aerial light show on Friday night."
Customer review on a listing for retinoid face cream: "I add little chia seed with cornflakes or raw oats and soak with milk. They don't have any special taste but can make you feel full."
"Nick Castle left the project over disagreements with Ephron's edgier, less sentimental script, accusing her of stripping the film of emotion"