Author | Lightnews

Gary McGath @gmcgath.bsky.social · 15m

The next silent film with my accompaniment at the Plaistow (NH) Library will be _Robin Hood_ with Douglas Fairbanks, in January 2026. #silentFilm

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Gary McGath @gmcgath.bsky.social · 44m

The Gunpowder Plot conspiracy could be considered as a more ambitious but less successful Tim McVeigh. #GuyFawkes

Gary McGath @gmcgath.bsky.social · 5h

Daylight Saving Time is a pointless exercise. It's been shown to increase accidental deaths in the "spring forward" part. We live in a 24-hour world, and it's better to change our schedules as needed rather than everyone's clocks.

Gary McGath @gmcgath.bsky.social · 8h

Agreed, but we know about the road to Hell.

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Gary McGath @gmcgath.bsky.social · 8h

I'll be on the "Filk Explained" panel at Philcon, Friday (Nov. 21), 5 PM. These panels usually devolve into a general discussion of filk, with lots of room for the audience to ask questions.

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Gary McGath @gmcgath.bsky.social · 21h

I should stay off Bluesky till there are clear results from the elections.

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Gary McGath @gmcgath.bsky.social · 1d

The problem is in the very notion of needing a substantial learning curve to use a car's dashboard. Driving a car hasn't become more complicated since 2000, but the user interfaces have become much more baroque. It's deterioration disguised as progress.

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Reposted by Gary McGath

Globe New Hampshire @globenh.bsky.social · 1d

A bakery and a town battled in court over this pastry mural. Finally, there’s a resolution: It’s staying.

Colorful mural above bakery in New Hampshire will stay after settlement with town - The Boston Globe

Officials in Conway, N.H., agreed to forgo further enforcement efforts and to recommend that voters repeal a 2024 ordinance regulating public art.

trib.al

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Gary McGath @gmcgath.bsky.social · 1d

CarPlay is bad design (though the replacement may be no better). Anything that makes heavy use of a touchscreen draws the driver's attention excessively from the road.

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Gary McGath @gmcgath.bsky.social · 1d

Er, this week. Today, in fact.

Reposted by Gary McGath

Jesse Walker @notjessewalker.bsky.social · 1d

Matthew Petti on Dick Cheney

Dick Cheney, vice president and self-described 'Darth Vader,' was a champion of the war state

The former vice president liked being compared to the supervillain as a joke. But he had seriously villainous effects on millions of people in real life.

reason.com

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Gary McGath @gmcgath.bsky.social · 1d

There's already "a black market for cigarettes, with an estimated 400 percent profit margin for smugglers." The ban will make it steadily bigger. Prohibitionists never learn.

Gary McGath @gmcgath.bsky.social · 1d

Suppé's "Banditenstreiche" ("The Jolly Robbers") overture has some excellent chase music. I'm surprised more cartoons haven't used it. www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMRf...

Franz von Suppé - Banditenstreiche 'Overture'

YouTube video by Classical Gems

www.youtube.com

Gary McGath @gmcgath.bsky.social · 1d

Executive-decreed tariffs that change on a whim, controlling roles in corporations, extortion by legal action, pressuring businesses into suppressing legal software. He claims all these socialistic moves are about helping the public good.

Gary McGath @gmcgath.bsky.social · 1d

Not wasting any tears.

Gary McGath @gmcgath.bsky.social · 1d

Trump and Mamdani both believe in state-controlled economies. They have a lot more in common than either cares to admit.

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Reposted by Gary McGath

whav.net @whav.net · 1d

Cedar’s Foods, Rep. Vargas and Haverhill Come Together to Provide Family Aid During Fed Shutdown

In an effort to streamline the process for helping those in the Haverhill community struggling after losing federal food and home heating benefits, state Rep. Andy X. Vargas Monday launched a website…

Cedar’s Foods, Rep. Vargas and Haverhill Come Together to Provide Family Aid During Fed Shutdown

In an effort to streamline the process for helping those in the Haverhill community struggling after losing federal food and home heating benefits, state Rep. Andy X. Vargas Monday launched a website he’s calling HaverhillHelps.com. The effort is being joined by a $50,000 donation from Cedar’s Foods and CEO Charles Hanna to relaunch the One Haverhill Fund, and, as previously reported, …

whav.net

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Gary McGath @gmcgath.bsky.social · 1d

Felix Mendelssohn died on November 4, 1847. Robert Schumann's "Erinnerung" (remembrance) has that date in its subtitle. www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ybr...

Album für die Jugend, Op. 68, Pt. II: No. 28. Erinnerung

YouTube video by Florian Uhlig - Topic

www.youtube.com

Gary McGath @gmcgath.bsky.social · 1d

I'd agree in putting the Midsummer Night's Dream Overture at the top. The list is pretty close to my preferences, but I'd put "Die erste Walpurgisnacht" somewhere on it.

Reposted by Gary McGath

Bachtrack @bachtrack.com · 1d

Felix Mendelssohn also died OTD (in 1847, aged only 38). What's your favourite of his works? And does it feature in our top ten?
bachtrack.com/playlist-fel...

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Gary McGath @gmcgath.bsky.social · 1d

Once again, Judicial Watch tries to scare the recipients of its junk mail, claiming it's a "LEGAL NOTICE."
garymcgath.com/questionable...

Another questionable mailing from Judicial Watch

Judicial Watch is pouring out the paper junk mail. I keep getting stuff from them, for reasons I don’t know. Their consistent features are deception and petulance. One of their mailings tried…

garymcgath.com

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Gary McGath @gmcgath.bsky.social · 1d

My cat Florestan is psychic. He runs and hides when I'm just thinking of giving him his medication.

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Gary McGath @gmcgath.bsky.social · 2d

To Concord mayor Champlin, a First Amendment lawsuit is "legal extortion."
ewtn.co.uk/article-sata...
#NewHampshire

Satanic display in New Hampshire battered, removed after three days – EWTN Great Britain

ewtn.co.uk

Reposted by Gary McGath

Wyatt Sinclair @wyattswickedgoods.com · Dec 10

“We have room in our society for atheists and for secularists and for Christians and for flat earthers. That’s what our democracy and our First Amendment is about."

Mayor Byron Champlin is fine with equating flat earthers to different religions - but thinks the Satanic Temple is a political stunt.

Wyatt Sinclair @wyattswickedgoods.com · Dec 10

More importantly - the Mayor is a butthole.

He would have preferred to fight a 1st Amendment lawsuit than approve the permit for the display.

Mayor Byron Champlin doesn’t condone the damage — “vandalism is never an appropriate response to this” — but he wishes the statute wasn’t up in the first place.

At Concord City Council on Monday night, Champlin expressed his disappointment that city staff and council members supported a permit for the display, in his closing remarks.

“My preference was to deny the permit and accept the risk of the threatened lawsuit,” he said at the meeting. “I oppose the permit because I believe the request was made not in the interest of promoting religious equity but in order to drive an anti-religious agenda.”

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Gary McGath @gmcgath.bsky.social · 2d

Concord, NH mayor Byron Champlin is up for re-election next week. Last year he said he wanted to expose the city's taxpayers to a lawsuit so he could ban Christmas displays by religious groups he doesn't like. www.thefire.org/news/o-holy-...
#NewHampshire

O holy fight: New Hampshire Satanic Temple statue threatened by more than vandals

The First Amendment affords equal protection to all holiday displays, from Baphomet to Baby Jesus.

www.thefire.org

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