The funniest part of this—and the most telling in how humans see what they want to see—is that there was a stretcher at hand rather than, you know, a box.
Chris Paxton@cpaxton.bsky.social · 4mo agoWe all have days like this
William Preston
@williampreston.bsky.social
Writer (2026 publications include Asimov’s, Analog, and F&SF; story arc A Work of Human Hands in paperback via Amazon), former teacher, parent to three grown women. Interests include film, religion, history, many sciences. he/him ho-hum
Chris Paxton@cpaxton.bsky.social · 4mo agoRoss Douthat ends his NYT career (he's headed to 60 Minutes, if you didn't know) with a stunning piece of meta-opinion that reveals his own honest view of his years of work.
Some brilliant friends found in my @oaklibrary.bsky.social copy of My Brilliant Friend. Can we find them and return it?
#Odyssey Being vague to avoid giving away film details, but: Why would someone writing and directing this story dump "marriage bed" for a Pulp Fictional "I kept this up my ass for twenty years"?
Now's a good time for folks to buy my book of five Old Man stories because every chapter in the fifth one takes its title from a phrase in Tennyson's "Ulysses." Isn't that a good reason? (All five stories previously appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction.) www.amazon.com/dp/B0GQLVG6W...
A Work of Human Hands: Preston, William: 9798250083287: Amazon.com: Books
A Work of Human Hands [Preston, William] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. A Work of Human Hands
amazon.com
This is like one of those communiques from a senior devil to a junior devil in The Screwtape Letters.
PEIPolitical 🇨🇦@peipolitical.bsky.social · 3w agoMiller: "It's not a coincidence that when you look at these violent Antifa demonstrations not one of the people that is demonstrating looks like a normal person. Not one looks normal. They're all deformed in some way in their appearance, in their dress, in their mannerism." #cdnpoli
#TheOdyssey is an amazing achievement, though I don’t know whether knowing the book as I do helps or hinders in appreciating the film in its own right. Nolan makes some decisions that have huge consequences for what stays and goes and introduces some unhelpful elements. Also: a lot of bad editing.
We might still be talking about Miller himself two centuries from now because scientists will still be struggling to decode his alien DNA.
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 3w agoStephen Miller on Lindsey Graham: "He's someone we're still gonna be talking about 200 years from now"
"This nation has been a complicated living thing, complicated because it is living, alive as a consequence of its complications."
William Preston@williampreston.bsky.social · last mo.Written for today. Wishing us well. open.substack.com/pub/williamp...
Essay accompanying (sort of) my Analog story "Variables in the Drake Equation." substack.com/@williampres...
William Preston (@williampreston431392)
Here’s the link to my brief essay that’s an online accompaniment to my Analog short story, “Variables in the Drake Equation.” (The essay’s original title was “The Comfort of Numbers,” FWIW.) https://t...
substack.com
Hey JD, show me on this doll where liberation theology touched you.
FactPost@factpostnews.bsky.social · last mo.Vance: People hang out those hideous signs in their yard that say, "in this house we believe blah blah blah blah blah. You know, love is love, science is science, whatever. No person is illegal." That sign is such a disgusting butchering of the Nicene Creed
Let's all truly remember the dumb fuckin' escapade of the Alamo.
Robert Downen@robertdownen.bsky.social · last mo.NEW: The Texas State Board of Education just overhauled public school curricula to focus on Texas "exceptionalism," require Bible readings and whitewash racism. Its the culmination of a decadeslong push by Christian nationalists - an assertion of their grip on the highest echelons of education.
I am grateful to anyone who can explain this cryptic tag on a bag of Salada black tea. (I'm assuming there's a missing word or two—but this likely would have been good enough for the Oracle at Delphi.)
Dude with no background in the biological sciences shoots his shot at a bio dissertation
Jay Willis@jaywillis.net · last mo.Clarence Thomas's concurring opinion in the trans sports ban case in West Virginia contains some of the ugliest transphobic stuff I have ever seen in a legal opinion. Straight-up gleeful. Vile man. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25p...
![2 WEST VIRGINIA v. B. P. J.
THOMAS, J., concurring
judgment). Because “gender dysphoria” is a mutable men-
tal state that is the object of psychiatric treatment, it does
not resemble the immutable characteristics on the basis of
which our precedents have applied heightened scrutiny—
race, sex, or national origin. Instead, gender dysphoria re-
sembles other characteristics on the basis of which legisla-
tures may classify with a merely rational basis. See, e.g.,
Heller v. Doe, 509 U. S. 312, 321 (1993) (mental illness);
Plyler v. Doe, 457 U. S. 202, 220 (1982) (immigration sta-
tus). Legislatures have many obvious rational bases to
keep men who believe that they are women out of teams
and private spaces reserved for women.
Second, as the Court recognizes, this case concerns “bio-
logical men” and “boys who identify as girls.” Ante, at 10,
27. Men and boys with gender dysphoria are not women or
girls, even if they believe that they are. Sex is an immuta-
ble “biological” characteristic, see ante, at 10; it is binary;
and “man” and “woman,” “boy” and “girl,” are the terms that
correspond to adults and children of each sex. See A. Byrne,
Are Women Adult Human Females? 177 Philosophical
Studies 3783, 3786–3787 (2020). To use language to ob-
scure reality—to show “indifference regarding the truth”—
is to lie to the public and cease to treat our fellow citizens
“as equal[s].” J. Pieper, Abuse of Language—Abuse of
Power 17, 21 (1992).](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:bpna2qi2e44fafbhhtqjak3x/bafkreibwsxtosqddkiskx5oxonnai4ha7ygixfcqmnbsxb27z3q43jh4iu)
And finally, a survey of orgs, mags, and other entities focused on speculative fiction, to determine where need might be greatest to help the field stay alive, whether it be through funding, outreach, or anything else. The survey is open thru 6/29. #2026IgnyteAwards airtable.com/appOgisruufu...
A lovely review of my latest story, appearing in Analog, “Variables in the Drake Equation.“
Perry Gillen@perrygillen.bsky.social · 2mo agoThe latest entry of my sci-fi review column is live! The big kahuna under the knife is a certain Steve's latest Hollywood film. But also under consideration is a remarkable short story by @williampreston.bsky.social. Not as unrelated as might seem! perrygillen.substack.com/p/distant-en...
It is, in terms even Trump would understand, "par for the course."
Do Not Obey. We are Democracy.@zangerliberia.bsky.social · 2mo agoThe reflection pool is a metaphor. Failure to engage experts No examination of root causes No bid contractors hastily chosen No accountability Magagop key achievements: Waste, Fraud, Abuse of our resources & reputation www.yahoo.com/news/politic... #voices4Victory #USDemocracy #DV1
Did America just surrender to everybody?
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 2mo agoTrump: "It's signed. I signed it in Versailles. I just signed it."
Wait till Hegseth adds the giant Anglo Jesus with a lightsaber.
Congratulations, Christopher Columbus.
ProPublica@propublica.org · 2mo agoNEW: Regulators have linked Mark McAfee’s raw dairy farm to more than a dozen recalls and outbreaks that left hundreds of people ill. “I’ve put a couple kids in the hospital,” McAfee said. “But here’s the thing: I’m a pioneer.”
"In fact" used, as always, to introduce a non-fact. ("I think" inserted to do more of the work of rhetorical distraction.)
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 2mo agoQ: The USDA has seen a large reduction in force during the Trump administration. Has that impacted the work you're doing on screwworm? ROLLINS: There has been zero impact to this mission area based on that reduction in force. In fact, I think the work accelerated significantly when we came on board
"Diabolical"! Everybody drink (Jesus juice)!
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 2mo agoRAJU: But what evidence is there to prove the California election is rigged? MIKE JOHNSON: Look, some of these efforts are so diabolical and so far upstream it's impossible to prove. But I think everybody knows instinctively that something is wrong here.
