Paul Riddell
@kyloboomhauer.bsky.social
Former carnivorous plant gallery owner, custodian and chef to Parker the lynx-point Siamese.
New project: The Annals of St. Remedius Medical College. http://www.stremedius.com
“Riddell, I like your writing, but DAMN you're weird!" - Harlan Ellison
New project: The Annals of St. Remedius Medical College. http://www.stremedius.com
“Riddell, I like your writing, but DAMN you're weird!" - Harlan Ellison
Pinned
Paul Riddell
@kyloboomhauer.bsky.social
· Aug 13
New Perennial introduction, now Substack-free:
1989-2002: Angry young essayist for a range of now-forgotten magazines and weekly newspapers.
2008-2023: Owner/operator of Dallas’s pretty much only carnivorous plant gallery.
2024-Present: Trying this writing thing again. www.stremedius.com
1989-2002: Angry young essayist for a range of now-forgotten magazines and weekly newspapers.
2008-2023: Owner/operator of Dallas’s pretty much only carnivorous plant gallery.
2024-Present: Trying this writing thing again. www.stremedius.com
Reposted by Paul Riddell
New art is arrived !
A large Yutyrannus is being cleaned up by a group of Hongshanornis. A curious Gegepterus approaches.
In the foreground, a Zhongjianosaurus seems interested in the small birds.
#paleoart #SciArt #dinosaur #digitalart #yixian #china #feathered
A large Yutyrannus is being cleaned up by a group of Hongshanornis. A curious Gegepterus approaches.
In the foreground, a Zhongjianosaurus seems interested in the small birds.
#paleoart #SciArt #dinosaur #digitalart #yixian #china #feathered
November 25, 2025 at 5:22 PM
New art is arrived !
A large Yutyrannus is being cleaned up by a group of Hongshanornis. A curious Gegepterus approaches.
In the foreground, a Zhongjianosaurus seems interested in the small birds.
#paleoart #SciArt #dinosaur #digitalart #yixian #china #feathered
A large Yutyrannus is being cleaned up by a group of Hongshanornis. A curious Gegepterus approaches.
In the foreground, a Zhongjianosaurus seems interested in the small birds.
#paleoart #SciArt #dinosaur #digitalart #yixian #china #feathered
St. Remedius fuel: www.science.org/content/arti...
Vampire bats may have contracted H5N1 bird flu in Peru, raising worries about further spread
Bats could form a bridge between marine and terrestrial mammals, scientists say
www.science.org
November 25, 2025 at 10:47 PM
St. Remedius fuel: www.science.org/content/arti...
Reposted by Paul Riddell
Hilarious! and also super fascinating!
www.science.org/content/arti...
www.science.org/content/arti...
Fossil vomit contains new species of pterosaur from Brazil
Filter-feeding flying reptile was likely devoured by a dinosaur during the early Cretaceous
www.science.org
November 25, 2025 at 10:26 PM
Hilarious! and also super fascinating!
www.science.org/content/arti...
www.science.org/content/arti...
Reposted by Paul Riddell
Eaten, regurgitated, fossilised then recognised as the vomit fossil pterosaur. Will the indignities never cease?
November 25, 2025 at 10:28 PM
Eaten, regurgitated, fossilised then recognised as the vomit fossil pterosaur. Will the indignities never cease?
I think of all the Don Johnson fans 40 years ago wanting to see his film debut and telling me that “A Boy and His Dog” was a Disney movie, and I think maybe they were ahead of their time.
My soon to be 12 year old niece just showed me this animated cartoon she’s really into (she went as one of the characters for Halloween) and it’s pretty cool but I’m like “wow this is a little bleak” and looked it up and apparently it’s based on Harlan Ellison’s “I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream”
November 25, 2025 at 9:46 PM
I think of all the Don Johnson fans 40 years ago wanting to see his film debut and telling me that “A Boy and His Dog” was a Disney movie, and I think maybe they were ahead of their time.
Reposted by Paul Riddell
I said for years that my stuffed animals had real feelings and had to come to school with me but did anyone listen? Noooooo.
November 25, 2025 at 8:56 PM
I said for years that my stuffed animals had real feelings and had to come to school with me but did anyone listen? Noooooo.
Reposted by Paul Riddell
Dragons… with something missing.
Until December 3rd all my books are on sale with 25% off! They make perfect and unusual gifts - and you’ll be supporting an actual human artists (me!)
dragonsofwales.etsy.com
Until December 3rd all my books are on sale with 25% off! They make perfect and unusual gifts - and you’ll be supporting an actual human artists (me!)
dragonsofwales.etsy.com
November 25, 2025 at 8:56 PM
Dragons… with something missing.
Until December 3rd all my books are on sale with 25% off! They make perfect and unusual gifts - and you’ll be supporting an actual human artists (me!)
dragonsofwales.etsy.com
Until December 3rd all my books are on sale with 25% off! They make perfect and unusual gifts - and you’ll be supporting an actual human artists (me!)
dragonsofwales.etsy.com
Every person working in a call center knows this in their BONES.
November 25, 2025 at 7:29 PM
Every person working in a call center knows this in their BONES.
Reposted by Paul Riddell
good grief. One of the AI slop cake recipes was a 6 inch cake cooked for 4 hours at 320°F. 
NEW: AI “recipe slop” is overrunning search and social. Food creators say Google’s AI Overviews and glossy fake food pics are drowning out real, tested recipes — collapsing traffic and setting home cooks up for disaster, especially this Thanksgiving.
Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
AI Slop Recipes Are Taking Over the Internet -- And Thanksgiving Dinner
Food bloggers see traffic dip as home cooks turn to AI, inspired by impossible pictures
www.bloomberg.com
November 25, 2025 at 4:17 PM
good grief. One of the AI slop cake recipes was a 6 inch cake cooked for 4 hours at 320°F. 
Reposted by Paul Riddell
We’re thrilled to announce, in collaboration with Jeff Vandermeer and 4th Estate Books, our Evernight Exclusive set of the Southern Reach series!
November 24, 2025 at 4:00 PM
We’re thrilled to announce, in collaboration with Jeff Vandermeer and 4th Estate Books, our Evernight Exclusive set of the Southern Reach series!
Reposted by Paul Riddell
In UX, one of the lessons you have to learn is to balance what people say they want with what they actually want.
Looking at this, people want to ask questions without judgement. They want to access knowledge. They want free time.
The problem is AI only offers illusions of this.
Looking at this, people want to ask questions without judgement. They want to access knowledge. They want free time.
The problem is AI only offers illusions of this.
This is so soulless, I can't stand it. We have BRAINS. We can USE THEM.
November 25, 2025 at 4:37 PM
In UX, one of the lessons you have to learn is to balance what people say they want with what they actually want.
Looking at this, people want to ask questions without judgement. They want to access knowledge. They want free time.
The problem is AI only offers illusions of this.
Looking at this, people want to ask questions without judgement. They want to access knowledge. They want free time.
The problem is AI only offers illusions of this.
Reposted by Paul Riddell
Oh, did that art not do everything 100% exactly like you wanted it? Oh no.
November 24, 2025 at 10:27 PM
Oh, did that art not do everything 100% exactly like you wanted it? Oh no.
Reposted by Paul Riddell
You meet the users where they are to stop them doing the stupidest shit imaginable.
You have no idea how much this paid off. The number of infected media players people downloaded in the age before Windows Media Player had more than three codecs is unimaginable
Who knows if I saved the firm
You have no idea how much this paid off. The number of infected media players people downloaded in the age before Windows Media Player had more than three codecs is unimaginable
Who knows if I saved the firm
November 25, 2025 at 3:58 PM
You meet the users where they are to stop them doing the stupidest shit imaginable.
You have no idea how much this paid off. The number of infected media players people downloaded in the age before Windows Media Player had more than three codecs is unimaginable
Who knows if I saved the firm
You have no idea how much this paid off. The number of infected media players people downloaded in the age before Windows Media Player had more than three codecs is unimaginable
Who knows if I saved the firm
I’m going to have to move to Princeton just to keep up with the week’s must-reads, aren’t I?
Thrilled to see two PUP science titles on the @wsj.com Holiday Gift Books: Science guide! Find out why Intraterrestrials and Sharks would make great gifts for the natural history lovers in your life: www.wsj.com/arts-culture...
November 25, 2025 at 4:09 PM
I’m going to have to move to Princeton just to keep up with the week’s must-reads, aren’t I?
As a bit of an expert on the subject, this is probably the cruelest and most accurate assessment of Dallas written by a non-resident since Mike Royko. (Crueler and more accurate ones are written by locals all of the time. That’s why our business leaders pride themselves on their illiteracy.)
The Dallasification of the American Dream, Part Two:
Paranoia merchants of the endless exurbs sit in gleaming new homes, fingering their weapons, aiming at enemies that exist in their minds.
www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/america-is...
Paranoia merchants of the endless exurbs sit in gleaming new homes, fingering their weapons, aiming at enemies that exist in their minds.
www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/america-is...
America Is Becoming Dallas
Part Two: Sprawling to Freedom
www.hamiltonnolan.com
November 25, 2025 at 4:07 PM
As a bit of an expert on the subject, this is probably the cruelest and most accurate assessment of Dallas written by a non-resident since Mike Royko. (Crueler and more accurate ones are written by locals all of the time. That’s why our business leaders pride themselves on their illiteracy.)
Reposted by Paul Riddell
I think it’s time to put this one back out into the ether, friends
Come and learn about how the tropes undergirding anti-Jewish hatred and conspiracy theories as they exist today came to be…
Come and learn about how the tropes undergirding anti-Jewish hatred and conspiracy theories as they exist today came to be…
The Antisemitism Post (tm)
Gotta get the history to know where the tropes live in the discourse today.
www.lifeisasacredtext.com
November 25, 2025 at 3:12 PM
I think it’s time to put this one back out into the ether, friends
Come and learn about how the tropes undergirding anti-Jewish hatred and conspiracy theories as they exist today came to be…
Come and learn about how the tropes undergirding anti-Jewish hatred and conspiracy theories as they exist today came to be…
Trust me: read the whole thing, and keep all of it in mind with current discussions of cognitive dissonance.
"When Prophecy Fails" is gripping, an in-depth social study that has served as a key basis for the psychological concept of cognitive dissonance.
But a new study that examines the unsealed papers of one of the book's authors claims that Prophecy leans on lies and serious manipulation.
But a new study that examines the unsealed papers of one of the book's authors claims that Prophecy leans on lies and serious manipulation.
It’s one of the most influential social psychology studies ever. Was it all a lie?
A classic book on UFO believers and their "cognitive dissonance" after aliens failed to land is called into question.
www.motherjones.com
November 25, 2025 at 3:44 PM
Trust me: read the whole thing, and keep all of it in mind with current discussions of cognitive dissonance.
Reposted by Paul Riddell
Saturn is currently the best place to set your space opera, according to science--it's got those gorgeous rings, and it also has a TON OF MOONS. @jdnicoll.bsky.social offers worldbuilding tips for Saturn-based stories!
Consider Setting Your Space Operas on Saturn - Reactor
...or more precisely, on one of its many, many moons!
reactormag.com
November 25, 2025 at 3:07 PM
Saturn is currently the best place to set your space opera, according to science--it's got those gorgeous rings, and it also has a TON OF MOONS. @jdnicoll.bsky.social offers worldbuilding tips for Saturn-based stories!
Reposted by Paul Riddell
St. Remedius news: after working on a big slice-of-life installment that turned into further installments and just kept growing, I may have my first novel done by this time next year. Let’s just hope there’s a publishing industry to release it by then.
November 25, 2025 at 2:09 AM
St. Remedius news: after working on a big slice-of-life installment that turned into further installments and just kept growing, I may have my first novel done by this time next year. Let’s just hope there’s a publishing industry to release it by then.
Reposted by Paul Riddell
The Frog 🐸 of the Week is the Beautiful Pygmy Frog (Microhyla pulchra) from southeast Asia. These small (only getting to 2 inches) frogs live along the forest edges, grasslands, and scrublands.
📸 Matthew Kwan
learn more at buff.ly/vWmAxNz
📸 Matthew Kwan
learn more at buff.ly/vWmAxNz
November 24, 2025 at 11:00 PM
The Frog 🐸 of the Week is the Beautiful Pygmy Frog (Microhyla pulchra) from southeast Asia. These small (only getting to 2 inches) frogs live along the forest edges, grasslands, and scrublands.
📸 Matthew Kwan
learn more at buff.ly/vWmAxNz
📸 Matthew Kwan
learn more at buff.ly/vWmAxNz
Reposted by Paul Riddell
On the book piracy discourse going around today : stop arguing with authors & publishers about why you feel justified in pirating their works!
Regardless of your reasoning or rationale, trying to get them to validate it for you is thoughtless, tone-deaf, and (intentionally or not) cruel. Stop it.
Regardless of your reasoning or rationale, trying to get them to validate it for you is thoughtless, tone-deaf, and (intentionally or not) cruel. Stop it.
November 24, 2025 at 9:12 PM
On the book piracy discourse going around today : stop arguing with authors & publishers about why you feel justified in pirating their works!
Regardless of your reasoning or rationale, trying to get them to validate it for you is thoughtless, tone-deaf, and (intentionally or not) cruel. Stop it.
Regardless of your reasoning or rationale, trying to get them to validate it for you is thoughtless, tone-deaf, and (intentionally or not) cruel. Stop it.
Ever notice that “I just think” and “I don’t care” are synonyms with book pirates?
People who pirate books: “I just think art and literature should be FREE to everyone!”
Yes, I too would love to live in a world where art is accessible freely to all and yet artists are paid a living wage, but as this magical wagical pixie wixie land does not exist, please don’t steal from us.
Yes, I too would love to live in a world where art is accessible freely to all and yet artists are paid a living wage, but as this magical wagical pixie wixie land does not exist, please don’t steal from us.
November 24, 2025 at 7:39 PM
Ever notice that “I just think” and “I don’t care” are synonyms with book pirates?
All up and down my street is the Dance of Europe of dolts blowing the leaves off their yard into the street rather than raking or mowing, then looking surprised when the storm sewer grates are blocked and their yards and garages flood.
You know what, I'm just gonna re-up this post
November 24, 2025 at 7:22 PM
All up and down my street is the Dance of Europe of dolts blowing the leaves off their yard into the street rather than raking or mowing, then looking surprised when the storm sewer grates are blocked and their yards and garages flood.