dfphil
@dfphil.bsky.social
Scientist, jazz-lover and New Englander.
We watched the “Live from the Met” performance of I Puritani yesterday. The singing and music were beautiful. The story is sort of weird (in an operatic sort of way). It felt like it was more about continental fights for freedom than the English civil war.
www.metopera.org/season/2025-...
www.metopera.org/season/2025-...
I Puritani
Vincenzo Bellini
www.metopera.org
January 12, 2026 at 11:29 AM
We watched the “Live from the Met” performance of I Puritani yesterday. The singing and music were beautiful. The story is sort of weird (in an operatic sort of way). It felt like it was more about continental fights for freedom than the English civil war.
www.metopera.org/season/2025-...
www.metopera.org/season/2025-...
Reposted by dfphil
R.I.P. Bob Weir. The founding Grateful Dead singer/guitarist has died at 78.
stereogum.com/2484813/bob-...
stereogum.com/2484813/bob-...
January 11, 2026 at 12:44 AM
R.I.P. Bob Weir. The founding Grateful Dead singer/guitarist has died at 78.
stereogum.com/2484813/bob-...
stereogum.com/2484813/bob-...
Meanwhile we are sitting around working (or in my case goofing off) listening to Die Walküre from Wagner’s Ring Cycle. When the actual Ride of the Valkyries started, I giggled. Not sure if that’s a bugs bunny reaction, an Apocalypse Now reaction or a Caltech reaction
January 10, 2026 at 10:07 PM
Meanwhile we are sitting around working (or in my case goofing off) listening to Die Walküre from Wagner’s Ring Cycle. When the actual Ride of the Valkyries started, I giggled. Not sure if that’s a bugs bunny reaction, an Apocalypse Now reaction or a Caltech reaction
Tonight’s drink is a Mulled Boulevardier: bourbon (Taconic Distillery), mulled sweet vermouth (leftover from last week’s mulled Negroni) and Campari served on the rocks in vintage glassware
January 10, 2026 at 9:57 PM
Tonight’s drink is a Mulled Boulevardier: bourbon (Taconic Distillery), mulled sweet vermouth (leftover from last week’s mulled Negroni) and Campari served on the rocks in vintage glassware
See a bridge, post a bridge
January 4, 2026 at 3:10 PM
See a bridge, post a bridge
This is thorough and clever. I am so happy to read that “Jingle Bells Batman Smells” predates The Simpsons. I would have sworn I knew it from childhood but I don’t trust my memories not to be messed with by the Simpsons
For your collective delectation this holiday season:
Quite possibly the silliest thing I've ever written (and definitely the most ridiculous graph I've ever made!)
loreandordure.com/2025/12/16/j...
Quite possibly the silliest thing I've ever written (and definitely the most ridiculous graph I've ever made!)
loreandordure.com/2025/12/16/j...
Jingle Bells (Batman Smells): an incomplete festive folk-rhyme taxonomy
Gather round the fire, everyone, and let me tell you a story. It has everything you could want in a Christmas blockbuster: superheroes and villains, a car crash, children singing, a mystery to solv…
loreandordure.com
January 2, 2026 at 2:22 PM
This is thorough and clever. I am so happy to read that “Jingle Bells Batman Smells” predates The Simpsons. I would have sworn I knew it from childhood but I don’t trust my memories not to be messed with by the Simpsons
I'll go with Borges's "The Library of Babel" or any Borges collection containing it.
January 2, 2026 at 3:16 AM
I'll go with Borges's "The Library of Babel" or any Borges collection containing it.
Reposted by dfphil
I hope @kenwhite.bsky.social reps the bear
Black bear living underneath California house shows no sign of budging as homeowner mulls legal action
Black bear living underneath Altadena house shows no sign of budging as homeowner mulls legal action
The 550-pound black bear has taken up residence in the crawlspace underneath Ken Johnson's home in California for a month.
www.cbsnews.com
January 2, 2026 at 1:10 AM
I hope @kenwhite.bsky.social reps the bear
Reposted by dfphil
Sandhill Wings
#EastCoastKin #PhotographersOfBluesky #PhotographersUnited #Photography #Scape #Mirror #Reflection #WildlifePhotography #birdphotography #naturephotography #nature #wildlife #birds #BirdOfTheDay #Outstretched #Florida
#EastCoastKin #PhotographersOfBluesky #PhotographersUnited #Photography #Scape #Mirror #Reflection #WildlifePhotography #birdphotography #naturephotography #nature #wildlife #birds #BirdOfTheDay #Outstretched #Florida
December 27, 2025 at 9:02 PM
Reposted by dfphil
A sandhill crane, one of the year-round residents at an area park.
#Birds #BirdPhotography #WildllifePhotography #Photography #Cranes #Nature
#Birds #BirdPhotography #WildllifePhotography #Photography #Cranes #Nature
December 29, 2025 at 10:31 PM
A sandhill crane, one of the year-round residents at an area park.
#Birds #BirdPhotography #WildllifePhotography #Photography #Cranes #Nature
#Birds #BirdPhotography #WildllifePhotography #Photography #Cranes #Nature
The sun setting behind windmills in the California Central Valley a few years ago
January 2, 2026 at 12:26 AM
The sun setting behind windmills in the California Central Valley a few years ago
Tonight’s drink is the bourbon derby with bourbon, sweet vermouth, Grand Marnier, and lime juice
December 31, 2025 at 11:12 PM
Tonight’s drink is the bourbon derby with bourbon, sweet vermouth, Grand Marnier, and lime juice
Got in a nice walk this morning tromping through the snow past old farm equipment
December 31, 2025 at 6:38 PM
Got in a nice walk this morning tromping through the snow past old farm equipment
Eddie Murphy was filming Beverly Hills Cop 2 downstairs from me while I was in college. I stayed out of the way. (I was woken up by his piano playing in the middle of the night so maybe I did have an action at a distance interaction.)
Please quote this from the time you didn't interact with someone famous.
I was visiting with family in New Bedford, Massachusetts, at the same time that Mother Theresa was there visiting her Missionaries of Charity. The bishop held a Mass for her at the church where I was baptized. I didn't go.
I was visiting with family in New Bedford, Massachusetts, at the same time that Mother Theresa was there visiting her Missionaries of Charity. The bishop held a Mass for her at the church where I was baptized. I didn't go.
Catching a train from Bristol Temple Meads, but they shifted the service along the platform because a scene from THE OUTLAWS was being shot where it would usually come in. The scene featured Christopher Walken and Stephen Merchant, but my train came before they shot it so I didn't see either of 'em.
December 30, 2025 at 4:50 PM
Eddie Murphy was filming Beverly Hills Cop 2 downstairs from me while I was in college. I stayed out of the way. (I was woken up by his piano playing in the middle of the night so maybe I did have an action at a distance interaction.)
I’ll go with having Simon Phillips (session drummer for Pete Townshend, Judas Priest, Tears for Fears, Hiromi…) hold the door for me after a Hiromi set.
Right folks. Feeling rather down at the moment so bringing back an oldie
Please Quote this with your most minor celebrity interaction
Please Quote this with your most minor celebrity interaction
December 30, 2025 at 12:52 PM
I’ll go with having Simon Phillips (session drummer for Pete Townshend, Judas Priest, Tears for Fears, Hiromi…) hold the door for me after a Hiromi set.
Tonight’s #cocktail is The Black Prince from the Death and Co book. It has run, punt y mes, Averna, and orange bitters. I added an orange peel for garnish
December 29, 2025 at 11:01 PM
Tonight’s #cocktail is The Black Prince from the Death and Co book. It has run, punt y mes, Averna, and orange bitters. I added an orange peel for garnish
Read two @nybooks.com articles this morning: Baird’s review of “Believe” by Douthat and Jeremy Denk’s review of a new book on Erik Satie. Both are great reviews and they make for a weird juxtaposition
My review of Ross Douthat's BELIEVE is up at @nybooks.com: www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
December 29, 2025 at 1:32 PM
Read two @nybooks.com articles this morning: Baird’s review of “Believe” by Douthat and Jeremy Denk’s review of a new book on Erik Satie. Both are great reviews and they make for a weird juxtaposition
Yikes! I hope everyone is okay and that all PhD projects continue without too much delay. It’s been ages since anyone I was close to was using Lick telescopes but it’s an observatory close to my heart
Powerful Christmas Day winds gusting up to 114 mph severely damaged UC Lick Observatory on Mount Hamilton, forcing the nearly 140-year-old facility to close while officials headquartered at UC Santa Cruz assess structural damage and begin repairs expected to take months.
Christmas Day winds up to 114 mph damage UC Lick Observatory
Powerful Christmas Day winds gusting up to 114 mph severely damaged UC Lick Observatory on Mount Hamilton, forcing the nearly 140-year-old facility to close while officials headquartered at UC Santa Cruz assess structural damage and begin repairs expected to take months.
buff.ly
December 26, 2025 at 11:58 PM
Yikes! I hope everyone is okay and that all PhD projects continue without too much delay. It’s been ages since anyone I was close to was using Lick telescopes but it’s an observatory close to my heart
Tonight’s drink with @carlamiriam.bsky.social is the mulled Negroni: gin, mulled sweet vermouth, and Campari
December 26, 2025 at 11:11 PM
Tonight’s drink with @carlamiriam.bsky.social is the mulled Negroni: gin, mulled sweet vermouth, and Campari
Last year at this time (actually in mid-December) I was at the National Portrait Gallery. I didn’t want to walk all the way from where I was staying back to the National Mall but the Portrait Gallery is amazing. Here’s Audubon:
December 26, 2025 at 9:41 PM
Last year at this time (actually in mid-December) I was at the National Portrait Gallery. I didn’t want to walk all the way from where I was staying back to the National Mall but the Portrait Gallery is amazing. Here’s Audubon:
Watch out for the ducks. They’re extra hungry this time of year. Best not to antagonize them
December 26, 2025 at 9:38 PM
Watch out for the ducks. They’re extra hungry this time of year. Best not to antagonize them
But beware when the cleaners come. I had to learn to carefully put the dabba away where they couldn’t flip it over
The masala dabba is a solution to the problem of spices going stale once you grind them.
The solution is to buy whole spices, keep em stored well, and grind only like a week's worth at a time, creating a palette of your most used spices ready to use.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masala_...
The solution is to buy whole spices, keep em stored well, and grind only like a week's worth at a time, creating a palette of your most used spices ready to use.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masala_...
Masala dabba - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
December 26, 2025 at 4:00 PM
But beware when the cleaners come. I had to learn to carefully put the dabba away where they couldn’t flip it over
Tonight’s drink is a Boston Sour: bourbon, lemon juice, simple syrup, and egg whites
December 25, 2025 at 11:16 PM
Tonight’s drink is a Boston Sour: bourbon, lemon juice, simple syrup, and egg whites
One of my Christmas break rituals is to go to the MFA in Boston. I haven’t done it the last few years but I’m there now!
December 24, 2025 at 4:22 PM
One of my Christmas break rituals is to go to the MFA in Boston. I haven’t done it the last few years but I’m there now!
