qvack
@norakl.bsky.social
Childless cat lady 🐈 into classical music & jazz 🎵 sci-fi 👽 and being on/near water ⛵️ work with PeopleSoft and higher ed finance 💻 Presbyterian (PC(USA)) and Benedictine Oblate ⛪️ multiple myeloma patient 💉
Look, it was bad enough living through it the first time, spare me the end-of-year recaps already!
December 22, 2025 at 11:41 PM
Look, it was bad enough living through it the first time, spare me the end-of-year recaps already!
This morning the cats got into a big fight, I separated them until after lunch. This afternoon they conspired together to break into a food dispenser. I told them, see how much you can accomplish when you put your differences aside. (I also locked up the food dispenser.)
December 16, 2025 at 8:08 PM
This morning the cats got into a big fight, I separated them until after lunch. This afternoon they conspired together to break into a food dispenser. I told them, see how much you can accomplish when you put your differences aside. (I also locked up the food dispenser.)
Read Automatic Noodle and it made me hungry so I had to go out for noodles in the middle of it and my main takeaway is that I need to eat more noodles.
December 13, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Read Automatic Noodle and it made me hungry so I had to go out for noodles in the middle of it and my main takeaway is that I need to eat more noodles.
It's that time of year when this PSA is particularly important: www.retrojunk.com/c/3L0hspgYwX...
Nick at Nite - How to Be Swell, Avoiding Unwanted Relatives | Commercial | Retro Junk
Your memory machine
www.retrojunk.com
November 26, 2025 at 9:50 PM
It's that time of year when this PSA is particularly important: www.retrojunk.com/c/3L0hspgYwX...
My most Gen X complaint is nobody cares about Gen X complaints.
i don't want to hear your most boomer complaint. what's your most millennial complaint?
September 20, 2025 at 12:25 PM
My most Gen X complaint is nobody cares about Gen X complaints.
I'm nearing the end of my Voyager watchthrough and watched "Friendship One" _the day before_ "The Sehlat Who Ate Its Tail" and I won't even mention Botany Bay so can we *please* promise not to send anything else out of the solar system (godspeed V'ger) before Zephrim comes along. Please.
August 16, 2025 at 11:36 PM
I'm nearing the end of my Voyager watchthrough and watched "Friendship One" _the day before_ "The Sehlat Who Ate Its Tail" and I won't even mention Botany Bay so can we *please* promise not to send anything else out of the solar system (godspeed V'ger) before Zephrim comes along. Please.
What's y'all's favorite episodes of Star Trek from before it became woke and political?
Mine is the TOS episode where Kirk says the Constitution isn't just for the elite or even just Yangs but Kohms as well. "We the People" must apply to everyone or the words mean nothing.
So non-political.
Mine is the TOS episode where Kirk says the Constitution isn't just for the elite or even just Yangs but Kohms as well. "We the People" must apply to everyone or the words mean nothing.
So non-political.
August 15, 2025 at 11:19 PM
What's y'all's favorite episodes of Star Trek from before it became woke and political?
Mine is the TOS episode where Kirk says the Constitution isn't just for the elite or even just Yangs but Kohms as well. "We the People" must apply to everyone or the words mean nothing.
So non-political.
Mine is the TOS episode where Kirk says the Constitution isn't just for the elite or even just Yangs but Kohms as well. "We the People" must apply to everyone or the words mean nothing.
So non-political.
Take the fictional character quiz and post the first four you know: openpsychometrics.org/tests/charac...
They don't include TOS or Babylon 5, which makes it difficult for me to validate. But I'm okay with this.
They don't include TOS or Babylon 5, which makes it difficult for me to validate. But I'm okay with this.
May 19, 2025 at 1:05 PM
Take the fictional character quiz and post the first four you know: openpsychometrics.org/tests/charac...
They don't include TOS or Babylon 5, which makes it difficult for me to validate. But I'm okay with this.
They don't include TOS or Babylon 5, which makes it difficult for me to validate. But I'm okay with this.
How the drug that's merely keeping me alive made a few people obscenely rich instead:
I have written many healthcare stories, but never before have I written about my own health. I decided to do so after learning one of my drugs costs nearly $1,000 a pill and just 25 cents to make. What I found was an incredible story of discovery and exploitation. www.propublica.org/article/revl...
The Price of Remission
When I was diagnosed with cancer, I set out to understand why a single pill of Revlimid cost the same as a new iPhone. I’ve covered high drug prices as a reporter for years. What I discovered shocked ...
www.propublica.org
May 8, 2025 at 4:37 PM
How the drug that's merely keeping me alive made a few people obscenely rich instead:
Share a screenshot of what you consider the best moment of television.
April 19, 2025 at 12:18 AM
Share a screenshot of what you consider the best moment of television.
I finally ponied up for Paramount+ in December and am working my way though the new Trek series. Recently started Picard season 3. He made her a MIX TAPE!!! (Excuse me, compilation of classics.)
April 4, 2025 at 10:48 PM
I finally ponied up for Paramount+ in December and am working my way though the new Trek series. Recently started Picard season 3. He made her a MIX TAPE!!! (Excuse me, compilation of classics.)
Reposted by qvack
Yesterday's release of firmware update 7E93 for AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4 included an unexpected feature. Using AI-enhanced technology and Apple's proprietary noise-cancelling software, AirPod owners can now select the specific temperament in which they would like to experience the world.
April 1, 2025 at 1:42 PM
Yesterday's release of firmware update 7E93 for AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4 included an unexpected feature. Using AI-enhanced technology and Apple's proprietary noise-cancelling software, AirPod owners can now select the specific temperament in which they would like to experience the world.
Said goodbye to my Tula this morning. She would have turned 19 next month. She loved to snuggle, but heaven help anyone who tried to hold her! She would scream when unhappy, but also when happy--she only had one volume setting. She stubbornly kept going much longer than I thought she could.
March 27, 2025 at 3:36 PM
Said goodbye to my Tula this morning. She would have turned 19 next month. She loved to snuggle, but heaven help anyone who tried to hold her! She would scream when unhappy, but also when happy--she only had one volume setting. She stubbornly kept going much longer than I thought she could.
Today's meditation on Matthew 25 with Kristi Noem: Lord, Lord, *technically* I did visit you in prison.
March 27, 2025 at 2:53 AM
Today's meditation on Matthew 25 with Kristi Noem: Lord, Lord, *technically* I did visit you in prison.
In my recovery from a broken femur last year, I've gone from a brief bit in a wheelchair to a walker to a rollator and now a cane. Now, when I'm grumpy, I can shake my cane. It's somewhat satisfying. Now get off my lawn!
March 23, 2025 at 9:55 PM
In my recovery from a broken femur last year, I've gone from a brief bit in a wheelchair to a walker to a rollator and now a cane. Now, when I'm grumpy, I can shake my cane. It's somewhat satisfying. Now get off my lawn!
Had my first PET scan the other day. No suspicious uptake, yay! But every time I have imaging these days, the long list of benign incidental findings are all confirmation that (1) they got the right patient and (2) the radiologist has eyes. 😆
March 22, 2025 at 6:50 PM
Had my first PET scan the other day. No suspicious uptake, yay! But every time I have imaging these days, the long list of benign incidental findings are all confirmation that (1) they got the right patient and (2) the radiologist has eyes. 😆
Best Star Trek crew, wrong answers only
March 20, 2025 at 5:58 PM
Best Star Trek crew, wrong answers only
Hundreds of years from now, if anything at all from this era is remembered, it will be because students will have to write essays explaining how DOGE was not a department, nor governmental, nor efficient.
March 4, 2025 at 4:30 AM
Hundreds of years from now, if anything at all from this era is remembered, it will be because students will have to write essays explaining how DOGE was not a department, nor governmental, nor efficient.
This was Sunday, March 2, at 5:00 p.m. Apparently, they're okay with their drivers working on Sundays.
March 3, 2025 at 10:24 PM
This was Sunday, March 2, at 5:00 p.m. Apparently, they're okay with their drivers working on Sundays.
For some reason, lately I keep thinking about how Britain and France divided the Middle East up after WW1 without involving the locals, and how well that has worked out. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sykes%E...
Sykes–Picot Agreement - Wikipedia
en.m.wikipedia.org
March 1, 2025 at 2:39 AM
For some reason, lately I keep thinking about how Britain and France divided the Middle East up after WW1 without involving the locals, and how well that has worked out. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sykes%E...
My Costco package was delivered yesterday, so I'm good to go without buying anything today :-)
February 28, 2025 at 2:55 PM
My Costco package was delivered yesterday, so I'm good to go without buying anything today :-)
As we defund aid to Haiti & end protections for Haitian immigrants, let's remember why Haiti is in a mess: when they won their freedom from France, France demanded reparations for their lost property (slaves) leaving Haiti w/crushing debt. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haitian...
Haitian independence debt - Wikipedia
en.m.wikipedia.org
February 21, 2025 at 2:18 PM
As we defund aid to Haiti & end protections for Haitian immigrants, let's remember why Haiti is in a mess: when they won their freedom from France, France demanded reparations for their lost property (slaves) leaving Haiti w/crushing debt. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haitian...
HCR gives a good explanation on the NIH F&A rate cap. I work for a med school, this is a significant impact. I'm also a cancer patient, my life literally depends on medical research. Fortunately there's some great work on myeloma happening in other countries.
February 9, 2025 at 2:57 AM
HCR gives a good explanation on the NIH F&A rate cap. I work for a med school, this is a significant impact. I'm also a cancer patient, my life literally depends on medical research. Fortunately there's some great work on myeloma happening in other countries.