Philip LaRose

@philaros.bsky.social

156 Followers 59 Following

Editor, music lover, KEXP volunteer, board/role-playing gamer, Go Play NW organizer. He/him. Often (re)posting about Seattle politics, urbanism, and transportation.

Two subsequent Bluesky posts by two different people: the earlier making a World Cup “Pausa de hidratación” meme, the later stating the poster will miss the memes but won’t be sorry if they go away forever.

Clip from the KEXP real-time playlist showing the listing for today’s Morning Show with John Richards, titled 120 Minutes in 180 Minutes as John does a tribute to MTV 120 Minutes creator Dave Kendall, who passed away yesterday.

The 1970s McDonaldland cast. Front row L-R: Captain Crook, the Hamburglar, the Professor with three Fry Guys. Back row L-R: Mayor McCheese, Ronald McDonald, Grimace, Big Mac.

Cover of REO Speedwagon’s 1978 album You can Tune a piano, but you can’t Tuna Fish, showing the head of a fish with a tuning fork stuck in its mouth.

The Bluesky app icon with a notifications circle showing I have 18 notifications, which for me is a lot.

Title screen for Doctor Who’s 2005 series (the Ninth Doctor), featuring the title “DALE” rather than “DALEK”

A bookshelf in the sci-fi section at Elliott Bay Books in Seattle, loaded with copies of all the books in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series

A 12-step graphic on thorough handwashing techniques, used during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020 to encourage health safety. As a meme, each step was labeled with text one could recite as a way of ensuring the recommended 20 seconds duration, typically using song lyrics. My contribution used Gandalf’s speech as he opposed the Balrog in the Mines of Moria: “You cannot pass! I am a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the Flame of Anor! The dark fire will not avail you, flame of Udûn! Go back to the Shadow! YOU SHALL NOT PASS!”

Original artwork by P.D. Breeding-Black, 1986, for the Talislanta RPG. In the foreground strides a Wanderer of Ashann, a mysterious figure shrouded in robes and veils, bearing a staff with a stylized eye design at its top. Behind the Wanderer, a Za warrior—humanlike, bald, lightly clothed, bearing a serrated broadsword—rides a draconic greymane steed. In the background are the ruins and wastes of the Wilderlands of Zaran.

The counter wall at Travelmug Cafe, which features a long list of opening lines from literature (the cafe is within Porter Square Books Boston)…

Map of the continental US, showing the location of the 20 largest cities in the United States, based on U.S. Census Bureau estimates for July 1, 2024. Seattle at 18th largest sits alone in the northwestern quarter of the map, with the nearest other cities being San Francisco (17), Denver (19), and Chicago (3).

The King County Elections ballot tracker for my ballot, showing that it was received, signature verified, and counted, which means my vote for Wilson for mayor is in. Hopefully yours is too!

Selfie photo at the ballot dropbox in North Queen Anne, Seattle, about to put my ballot in the box. Kind of smiling stiffly, not one of my better selfies. Also I’m holding the ballot envelope upside down. The thing is, I took a second photo to try to get a better smile and both failed in that and failed to notice I was (still) holding the envelope upside down, so this is the best you get. Anyhow what matters is, I VOTED, YOU SHOULD TOO.

Quote from another Bluesky post: “Racism really is illogical bc how are you threatening HBCUs bc a white man shot another white man at a white rally at a white university in what has GOT TO be one of the top 5 whitest states in the country??? Black people couldn't be further from this if we actually tried.”

A map of the northeast Queen Anne neighborhood near the Fremont Bridge, with a triangular-like zone bounded by Florentia St, 3rd Ave W, and the ship canal labeled Nickerson-South Canal Neighborhood Center—a potential designation in Seattle’s Comprehensive Plan update supported by an amendment by Councilmember Rinck and to a lesser extent Councilmember Kettle.

Sesame Street Muppet character Don Music, a composer, tosses his head onto the piano keyboard in despair at his writer’s block, startling Kermit the Frog, Sesame Street News reporter, who’s there to interview him. Don’t worry, Don, Kermit will help you get past that pesky writer’s block. What IF Mary had a bicycle instead of a lamb?

A screenshot of the arcade video game Gauntlet, in which a wizard, warrior, Valkyrie, and elf move down a maze corridor, pursued by a couple of grunts, while the corridors on both sides beyond the walls swarm with more grunts, sorcerers, and demons.

Smiling selfie outside the entrance of Elliott Bay Book Co. in Seattle, holding up my preorder copy of the novella The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar

At the New York Transit Museum, a display features a quote from the New York Times, November 23, 1873: “Unless we have rapid transit, New-York will become a City of the very rich and very poor, of those who can afford to stay, and those who cannot leave. With rapid transit, the City can furnish cheap and comfortable homes for all classes.” (Capitalization and hyphenation as per the source.)

Info display in an NYC A Line subway car, positioned right over the doors, not only identifying the current stop and transfers available but also where the platform exits are (including where the elevator is) and where they go, and which car the viewer is in.

A screenshot of the Bluesky app on an iPad Pro in landscape orientation. The Home feed panel did not properly reposition after switching from widescreen (in an attempt to work in landscape) back to the normal width, so it is running off the left edge, cutting off some of the content, with a blank margin extending from the right side.

Screenshot from my iPad Pro 13-inch showing how in a thread of two posts, after having to reorient the iPad to portrait and back to landscape so I could access the alt text box and type with the physical keyboard, the Bluesky app shows the first post with about a third of the content visibly cut off on the right side because the boundaries of the app are showing a narrow portrait view while the content of that post is displayed as though the app were correctly displaying a wide landscape view. Below that, the second post of the thread is correctly sized for the narrow portrait view proportions.

Screenshot from my iPad Pro 13-inch in landscape (horizontal) orientation, showing how in response to me selecting my post to add another, the Bluesky app changed its appearance from a skinny portrait-oriented frame to a wide landscape-oriented frame that’s the same dimensions, with the result of less content being visible overall.

Selfie, smiling, sitting in the Paramount Theater about 15 minutes before the concert began, with many still-empty seats behind me.

Two Bluesky posts in a row, chronologically from the bottom to the top: John says “It’s time”, followed by a repost from someone else just saying “Hammer Time” with an image of a title screen from a Hammer horror film starring Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, and Yvonne Furneaux.

I feel like the alt text should’ve been automatically filled by Bluesky since it auto-generated the post? Anyhow this graphic says I joined August 2, 2023, and am user #452,597, placing me in the first 10% of 10 million users.

Cover of the novel A Sorceress Comes to Call, by T. Kingfisher.

An out-of-context pair of replies: Shep, “Sometimes greatness requires a sacrifice!!”; TKingfisher, “But why does that sacrifice have to be indoor plumbing?!”

The Betoota Advocate (fake) news photo of man thinking about three women dressed as goths, with headline: Local Bloke Utterly Obsessed With Roman Empire Because He Too Would Like To Be Destroyed By Goths