Karl McDonald
@karlusss.bsky.social
For if I triumph I must make men mad. Occasional columnist
Also I don't know if this is Dublin privilege or what but there are still bookshops, you can still go to the bookshop. You can just look at what they have under the letter P in fiction. Pamuk to Pynchon. If you give them like 15 euro they will even let you bring one home.
I agree with most of this but I do think we all are prone to misremembering video rental shops as much less culturally homogeneous places than they were.
November 30, 2025 at 1:18 PM
Also I don't know if this is Dublin privilege or what but there are still bookshops, you can still go to the bookshop. You can just look at what they have under the letter P in fiction. Pamuk to Pynchon. If you give them like 15 euro they will even let you bring one home.
Immediately read this banner on Chess com as the launch of Chess 2
November 29, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Immediately read this banner on Chess com as the launch of Chess 2
You might assume cats would like to have come-all-yes sung in their praise, but in fact they seem cautious, beating a tentative retreat.
November 29, 2025 at 2:44 PM
You might assume cats would like to have come-all-yes sung in their praise, but in fact they seem cautious, beating a tentative retreat.
Reposted by Karl McDonald
they're auctioning Blake's Tyger next week
seems impossible, like selling a comet or a shooting star
www.christies.com/en/stories/t...
seems impossible, like selling a comet or a shooting star
www.christies.com/en/stories/t...
November 29, 2025 at 5:36 AM
they're auctioning Blake's Tyger next week
seems impossible, like selling a comet or a shooting star
www.christies.com/en/stories/t...
seems impossible, like selling a comet or a shooting star
www.christies.com/en/stories/t...
Reposted by Karl McDonald
tom nook this is madness. I am not letting you do it again
November 29, 2025 at 11:00 AM
tom nook this is madness. I am not letting you do it again
The cash ISA allowance is not a state of nature - if the government is paying you to do something and then realises it would rather you do something else, then I feel like you just have to adapt. Invest if you "like investing", consume more patterned shirts and Gails sausage rolls if not.
Josh Hall, 20, is 'worried' about how the cash ISA allowance cut announced in Wednesday’s Budget will affect his long-term savings plans
➡#Read More: trib.al/UPCzygg
➡#Read More: trib.al/UPCzygg
November 29, 2025 at 8:41 AM
The cash ISA allowance is not a state of nature - if the government is paying you to do something and then realises it would rather you do something else, then I feel like you just have to adapt. Invest if you "like investing", consume more patterned shirts and Gails sausage rolls if not.
Reposted by Karl McDonald
France has all the best heists at the moment
Thieves have stolen €90,000 worth of fine French snails destined for some of the country’s most prestigious restaurants
Thieves take €90,000 of snails meant for Michelin-starred restaurants
French police are on the trail of ‘experienced’ criminals who stole a whole year’s worth of produce from Jean-Mathieu Dauvergne’s L’Escargot des Grands Crus
www.thetimes.com
November 27, 2025 at 10:24 PM
France has all the best heists at the moment
This is the type of AI I like. Dreamlike nonsense, obviously wrong, doing its best.
clocks.brianmoore.com?ICID=ref_fark
clocks.brianmoore.com?ICID=ref_fark
AI World Clocks
The current time as rendered by 9 different AI models. By Brian Moore.
clocks.brianmoore.com
November 28, 2025 at 12:51 PM
This is the type of AI I like. Dreamlike nonsense, obviously wrong, doing its best.
clocks.brianmoore.com?ICID=ref_fark
clocks.brianmoore.com?ICID=ref_fark
Reposted by Karl McDonald
new favourite New York Times term for a British thing just dropped
November 26, 2025 at 10:05 AM
new favourite New York Times term for a British thing just dropped
Will any of the prediction markets currently in existence exist long enough for me to win a bet on Doireann Ní Ghríofa winning the Nobel Prize for Literature
November 26, 2025 at 12:35 AM
Will any of the prediction markets currently in existence exist long enough for me to win a bet on Doireann Ní Ghríofa winning the Nobel Prize for Literature
Yeah we can tell Terry cheers
November 25, 2025 at 8:43 PM
Yeah we can tell Terry cheers
Reposted by Karl McDonald
![R. H. Bing (October 20, 1914 – April 28, 1986)[1] was an American mathematician who worked mainly in the areas of geometric topology and continuum theory.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cyyd366g3hrxp5rynixm2mm3/bafkreid62wy3dekb2kzbisjfdlimlb35j4rlgew5iof7vi32byfszmg26a@jpeg)
![Bing's father was named Rupert Henry, but Bing's mother thought that "Rupert Henry" was too British for Texas. Thus she compromised by abbreviating it to R. H.[5] Consequently, R. H. does not stand for a first or middle name.
When Bing was applying for a visa, he was requested not to use initials. He explained that his name was really "R-only H-only Bing", and ended up receiving a visa made out to "Ronly Honly Bing".](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cyyd366g3hrxp5rynixm2mm3/bafkreigmfj53q4uy33spga2bxdkllqm3ag5sffovg5g7ddmu3vqzkb6k24@jpeg)
Enjoyable that the New Yorker has decided to leave in the incredibly Japanese space-then-question mark here. A publication that still writes "coöperate" showing some orthographic flexibility, who knew
www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
I’m Donut ? and the Allure of the International Chain
The viral Japanese bakery, now with a location in Times Square, is one of the few imported brands that has broken through to become genuinely hot while maintaining considerable good will.
www.newyorker.com
November 23, 2025 at 7:53 PM
Enjoyable that the New Yorker has decided to leave in the incredibly Japanese space-then-question mark here. A publication that still writes "coöperate" showing some orthographic flexibility, who knew
www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
Reposted by Karl McDonald
To whom it may concern,
Live results from the sharpener/parer/topper debate can be found here:
finaldraft.maps.arcgis.com/apps/dashboa...
What the feck is going on in Kerry?!
I want to credit the map-maker/survey owner, but alas they are an anonymous Redditor so I cannot.
#speirgorm ✏️✏️✏️
Live results from the sharpener/parer/topper debate can be found here:
finaldraft.maps.arcgis.com/apps/dashboa...
What the feck is going on in Kerry?!
I want to credit the map-maker/survey owner, but alas they are an anonymous Redditor so I cannot.
#speirgorm ✏️✏️✏️
ArcGIS Dashboards
ArcGIS Dashboards
finaldraft.maps.arcgis.com
November 23, 2025 at 3:10 PM
To whom it may concern,
Live results from the sharpener/parer/topper debate can be found here:
finaldraft.maps.arcgis.com/apps/dashboa...
What the feck is going on in Kerry?!
I want to credit the map-maker/survey owner, but alas they are an anonymous Redditor so I cannot.
#speirgorm ✏️✏️✏️
Live results from the sharpener/parer/topper debate can be found here:
finaldraft.maps.arcgis.com/apps/dashboa...
What the feck is going on in Kerry?!
I want to credit the map-maker/survey owner, but alas they are an anonymous Redditor so I cannot.
#speirgorm ✏️✏️✏️
Just kind of did it from age about 15 on. Didn't study it or anything, or even really form the idea "I would like to do that and work towards it" at any stage because by the time I was midway through college I was already doing it freelance and it was easier to continue than try do something else.
November 23, 2025 at 12:09 PM
Just kind of did it from age about 15 on. Didn't study it or anything, or even really form the idea "I would like to do that and work towards it" at any stage because by the time I was midway through college I was already doing it freelance and it was easier to continue than try do something else.
Funny that "velocipede", a word that sounds like a portmanteau of velociraptor and centipede, and therefore very scary, is in fact a word for a bicycle.
November 23, 2025 at 12:04 PM
Funny that "velocipede", a word that sounds like a portmanteau of velociraptor and centipede, and therefore very scary, is in fact a word for a bicycle.
Donna Tartt - The Secret History (Alfred A Knopf, 1992)
I really want to know what’s going on in the class that meets here before mine
November 21, 2025 at 5:42 PM
Donna Tartt - The Secret History (Alfred A Knopf, 1992)
An interesting consequence of the success of the EU that even France - home of gloire, home of élan, home of esprit de corps, formerly obsessed with their own army to a degree that makes some of their 19th century novels slightly incoherent today - cannot tolerate the idea of fighting and dying
france defense chief: "we do not have that dawg in us 😔"
all these french politicians: "that's right! no dawg!"
www.france24.com/en/france/20...
all these french politicians: "that's right! no dawg!"
www.france24.com/en/france/20...
France's top general under fire after saying country must be 'prepared to lose children'
Chief of the Defence Staff General Fabien Mandon has been roundly condemned in France for telling local mayors that the country needed to be prepared to accept the death of its children if it was goin...
www.france24.com
November 21, 2025 at 4:24 PM
An interesting consequence of the success of the EU that even France - home of gloire, home of élan, home of esprit de corps, formerly obsessed with their own army to a degree that makes some of their 19th century novels slightly incoherent today - cannot tolerate the idea of fighting and dying
MCENNEDY driving me mad.
Irish Kennedys are Ó Cinnéides, not Mac Cinnéides. Scottish Kennedys or McKennedys are Macs but have the K.
In fact I think by analogy you'd have McEnnedy probably pronounced "Mac En-ay-dy" and derived from something like Mac Con Aodha (?)...
If Germans hadn't made it up
Irish Kennedys are Ó Cinnéides, not Mac Cinnéides. Scottish Kennedys or McKennedys are Macs but have the K.
In fact I think by analogy you'd have McEnnedy probably pronounced "Mac En-ay-dy" and derived from something like Mac Con Aodha (?)...
If Germans hadn't made it up
This whole brand is all about "American-style" snacks. These are definitely my favourite, sort of like savoury Peanut Butter Puffs cereal, but in cheese-puff form factor.
November 21, 2025 at 2:52 PM
MCENNEDY driving me mad.
Irish Kennedys are Ó Cinnéides, not Mac Cinnéides. Scottish Kennedys or McKennedys are Macs but have the K.
In fact I think by analogy you'd have McEnnedy probably pronounced "Mac En-ay-dy" and derived from something like Mac Con Aodha (?)...
If Germans hadn't made it up
Irish Kennedys are Ó Cinnéides, not Mac Cinnéides. Scottish Kennedys or McKennedys are Macs but have the K.
In fact I think by analogy you'd have McEnnedy probably pronounced "Mac En-ay-dy" and derived from something like Mac Con Aodha (?)...
If Germans hadn't made it up
Been compulsively reading panicked tweets about the Bitcoin price for a few days now and I must say a large proportion of them do seem to believe there is some kind of organised institutional hostility to their revolutionary computer money for political/fiduciary reasons.
November 21, 2025 at 12:19 AM
Been compulsively reading panicked tweets about the Bitcoin price for a few days now and I must say a large proportion of them do seem to believe there is some kind of organised institutional hostility to their revolutionary computer money for political/fiduciary reasons.
Dead in the middle of Tolkien's Middle Earth, a 150m pile of illegally flytipped rubbish
www.bbc.com/news/article...
www.bbc.com/news/article...
River close to engulfing Oxfordshire waste mountain, MP warns
Waste from a 150m (490ft) long fly-tip is beginning to float towards the River Cherwell, an MP says.
www.bbc.com
November 19, 2025 at 6:29 PM
Dead in the middle of Tolkien's Middle Earth, a 150m pile of illegally flytipped rubbish
www.bbc.com/news/article...
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Saw someone use the term "monkery" to describe a place where monks congregate. Reopen the abbeys.
November 19, 2025 at 3:08 PM
Saw someone use the term "monkery" to describe a place where monks congregate. Reopen the abbeys.
One of the weirder quirks of history that a failed Magic the Gathering website holds so much Bitcoin that what it does with it could have not insignificant impact on markets.
✦ Mt. Gox's significant Bitcoin $BTC transfer of $953 million raises concerns in the market: Mt. Gox has executed its largest Bitcoin $BTC transfer in eight months, moving 10,608 $BTC valued at $953 million.
November 18, 2025 at 11:07 PM
One of the weirder quirks of history that a failed Magic the Gathering website holds so much Bitcoin that what it does with it could have not insignificant impact on markets.
Accidentally invented the best stew in the world. Onion carrot celery pepper garlic cooked down. Thyme, coriander. Tomato paste, harissa, white wine vinegar. Beef stock, simmer. Meanwhile sear fillet steak and cut it up. Add cabbage for 5 mins, add fillet steak, finish with Killeen and peanut rayu.
November 18, 2025 at 7:46 PM
Accidentally invented the best stew in the world. Onion carrot celery pepper garlic cooked down. Thyme, coriander. Tomato paste, harissa, white wine vinegar. Beef stock, simmer. Meanwhile sear fillet steak and cut it up. Add cabbage for 5 mins, add fillet steak, finish with Killeen and peanut rayu.
I think if I ever see Troy Parrott on the street for the rest of my life I will just start giving him all my possessions and babbling gratitude
Ireland winning goal and end of match with Irish commentary
November 16, 2025 at 9:38 PM
I think if I ever see Troy Parrott on the street for the rest of my life I will just start giving him all my possessions and babbling gratitude