donaithnen
donaithnen.bsky.social
donaithnen
@donaithnen.bsky.social
Geek. Programmer. Fan of SFF books and TV, video games, and anime.

Currently residing in central CA. Former resident of Los Angeles and WA state.

https://linktr.ee/donaithnen
The christmas tree (or possibly just the skirt under it (and there might also be a lizard outside the window?)) has tempted Adventure Cat, Black Cat, and Dapple Cat into all coexisting peaceful for awhile.

#CatsOfBluesky
December 26, 2025 at 9:32 PM
Avalyn got sick for a whole week with something. (No idea what it was. Something sinusy but according to tests not Covid or Flu, but not bacterial either. Very extreme cold?)

So we're doing Christmas late and watching Muppet Christmas Carol for the 3rd(?) time this season while wrapping presents.
December 26, 2025 at 9:09 PM
We just stumbled across the 2022 "Spirited", a comedy remake of a Christmas Carol with Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds.

I wouldn't call it a great movie, but it was an adequately fun Christmas movie. Also it was a musical with some pretty good dance routines, if that's something that appeals to you.
December 25, 2025 at 8:07 PM
Reposted by donaithnen
if you're wondering why your trans friends everywhere are a little on edge right now, it's because a story about a radical conservative christian student abusing rules and processes to deliberately target a trans instructor consistently gets reframed to omit the entirety of the anti-trans bigotry
If you’re wondering why your friends in academia are a little on edge right now, it’s because an eighteen-year-old who hasn’t done the reading, doesn’t look at the assignment, and has does no critical thinking skills more complex than “because I think it’s in the Bible” can literally end your career
cnn.com CNN @cnn.com · 2d
The University of Oklahoma has removed an instructor who was accused by a student of religious discrimination over a failing grade on a psychology paper in which she cited the Bible and argued that promoting a “belief in multiple genders” was “demonic.” https://cnn.it/4b6g3rd
December 24, 2025 at 8:55 PM
Fluffy Kitten seems perturbed by his first sighting of the christmas tree and is keeping his distance.

Unfortunately i doubt that will last for long =P

(We're not late at putting up christmas decorations! We're exactly on time! Everyone else put them up too early! Yeah, that's the ticket!)
December 24, 2025 at 1:24 AM
Reposted by donaithnen
love that software developers are advertising AI functionality in every single app now and it's up to you to try to figure out if they mean "this has spellcheck" or "everything you create in this app will sync in real-time to sam altman's personal laptop" or something in between
December 23, 2025 at 3:04 PM
♪Well the boxes start comin' and they don't stop comin'
FedEx out the truck and they hit the ground runnin'♪

Some of these are our holiday gifts to others, and some of them are others' gifts to us

And one of the gifts to us isn't going to be much of a surprise =P
December 22, 2025 at 9:42 PM
For what is i believe the first time in my professional life, i'm not taking 1.5 or 2 weeks of vacation around christmas. Instead i'm taking multiple shorter vacations and for the last four weeks of the year i will have/have had two 3-day weeks and two 2-day weeks.
December 22, 2025 at 4:27 PM
Another few episodes into Magic Knight Rayearth and there's a new character, "Ferio", for Crunchyroll's closed captions to abuse.

It gets it right a few times, but then there's also "fairy" and "vireo", and a bonus one of calling both Fuu and Feiro "Pharaoh".

@marzgurl.com
December 21, 2025 at 10:08 PM
Feminism, unions, environmentalism, consumer safety, & others.

People cherry-pick comparatively "inconsequential" modern goals to complain about while forgetting (often deliberately) the massive achievements of the past & imagine those gains would just persist if people stopped fighting for them.
Ladies, do you like
Having a credit card
Going to college
Wearing pants
Voting
Leaving a man who hits you
Not worrying that divorce means leaving your kids
Not being called sugar tits in the workplace

THANK FEMINISM
"Has feminism failed women brought to you by bank of america" is my MKULTRA sleeper agent activation phrase
December 19, 2025 at 5:06 PM
There are a lot of reasons to dislike Newsom. And the lack of alt-text on the pictures and memes posted by his Press Office on bsky is certainly one of them.
December 19, 2025 at 4:25 AM
Checking out Magic Knights Rayearth again. It's got that "classic" 90s dubbing quality, and the CC is Crunchyroll "quality". Cephiro has been spelled correctly once or twice, but more often Zafiro or Saphira or Sphero or Zefiro or Sephora or Spyro.

All just in the first episode!

@marzgurl.com
December 19, 2025 at 3:00 AM
I really wish Windows 11 had a log of the last 5-10 things that made noise, for both apps and Windows events.

_Something_ is making a noise several times a day at unpredictable intervals, and damned if i have any idea what it is or how to stop it.

(Which also means its useless as a notification.)
December 17, 2025 at 8:00 PM
This morning Fluffy Kitten got startled by something, started scrabbling across the wood floor, and tried to jump up on a chair. But he didn't time his jump properly and instead jumped face first into the legs of the chair.

Sorry Fluffy Kitten, but your name was never going to be "Elegant".
December 11, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Guess what everyone!

It looks like we will be keeping the kitten that we're Definitely Not Keeping!

I know, i know, we're just as shocked as you are!

We think he will be Fluffy Kitten/Cat.

(@thelarch.bsky.social had some great ideas for 'E' names, but none of them seem to fit him quite as well)
December 10, 2025 at 9:22 PM
Reposted by donaithnen
Bluesky’s head of trust & safety responding with a sarcastic image macro to a woman upset her husband was kidnapped by ICE is embarrassingly unprofessional & cruel behavior.

that account was then banned by Bluesky Trust & Safety. horrendously poor community management. what purpose does this serve?
December 8, 2025 at 6:06 AM
Reposted by donaithnen
It's that giving time of year again, so this is a reminder that no matter how they try to dress it up, the Salvation Army is not a charity.
December 3, 2025 at 1:58 AM
I guess that Netflix being the ones to win the bid for Warner Bros is the lesser evil?

(Though i seriously doubt they'll be any more responsive about She Who Shall Not Be Named than Warner Bros was.)
December 6, 2025 at 8:55 AM
There are a lot of songs from my childhood that still get stuck in my head to this day. And most of them make sense.

Animated Hobbit and Return of the King? Yup! Lemmings soundtrack? Sure! Tetris songs? Definitely! Early Final Fantasy music? Absolutely!
December 5, 2025 at 8:51 PM
Sure wish i had the necessary $6,000+ lying around to bid on Michael Whelan's last cover art.

It took awhile to realize that a lot of the books i "stole" from my dad's bookshelves as a kid all had cover art by the same amazingly talented artist.
It is the last major preliminary from the final cover assignment of Michael Whelan’s storied career.

FOR THE GOOD OF ALL ROSHAR is now listed in our shop as an auction ending December 7 at 5pm ET. 3/3

www.michaelwhelan.com/shop/for-the...
December 2, 2025 at 4:41 PM
Reposted by donaithnen
SO... I'm pretty much done with Fortnite. There were statements made by Tim Sweeney saying that AI usage doesn't need to be disclosed, and then AI usage was found all over this current season- from art to sprays to in-game songs. Between that, and the upcoming shitty wizard collab... Yeah, I'm done.
November 30, 2025 at 5:09 PM
Just watched Elf for the first time, and wow that romance sub-plot is strange and creepy.

To quote Tom Smith,
"If I were to try that, I'd prob'ly get slapped,
And the chance of arrest would be high."
November 30, 2025 at 9:07 PM
Introduce yourself with five concerts you've seen:

Rush
Weird Al
Dear Friends: Music from Final Fantasy
Alexander James Adams
Tom Smith (filker)
Introduce yourself with five concerts you've seen:

Owen Pallett
Radwimps
Vienna Teng
Spyair & Rookiez is Punk'd
Florence + The Machine
Introduce yourself with five concerts you've seen—

REM
Green Day
Matchbox 20
Keane
Billy Joel & Elton John
November 28, 2025 at 8:30 AM
So _theoretically_ speaking, if we had a cat like the kitten that we're Definitely Not Keeping, what would his internet name be?

We accidentally backed into an alphabetic theme with Adventure, Black, Cuddle, and Dapple Cat, but i can't think of any good 'E' names.
November 27, 2025 at 6:39 PM
Reposted by donaithnen
My cartoon for this week's @newscientist.com
November 26, 2025 at 1:01 PM