Tau
@taustopheles.bsky.social
That's how it's done. No notes
Excellent passage in Tom Wolfe’s THE RIGHT STUFF describing the psychological testing of the Mercury astronauts and Pete Conrad’s response
January 15, 2026 at 10:08 PM
That's how it's done. No notes
Reposted by Tau
Bill Watterson is my favorite cartoonist. I adored the relationship btw Calvin and Hobbes as a child. But as I've gotten older, these strips feel even more tender and insightful. My respect for him grew when I learned of his stance against merchandising. Such principles are almost unheard of today.
![Excerpt from Wikipedia reads: "Fight against merchandising his characters
For years, Watterson battled against pressure from publishers to merchandise his work, something that he felt would cheapen his comic through compromising the act of creation or reading.[21][22]
He refused to merchandise his creations on the grounds that displaying Calvin and Hobbes images on commercially sold mugs, stickers, and T-shirts would devalue the characters and their personalities. Watterson said that Universal kept putting pressure on him and that he had signed his contract without fully perusing it because, as a new artist, he was happy just to find a syndicate willing to give him a chance (two other syndicates had previously turned him down). He added that the contract was so one-sided that, if Universal really wanted to, they could license his characters against his will, and could even fire him and continue Calvin and Hobbes with a new artist. Watterson's position eventually won out, and he was able to renegotiate his contract so that he would receive all rights to his work. Later he said that the licensing fight exhausted him and contributed to the need for a nine-month sabbatical in 1991.[23]"](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ks3gpa6ftoyaq7hmf6c4qx4c/bafkreihmgl3sxrmb5t6edpjnixyanj2rvcf43zdv46mbifhl7hdtmz5u6y@jpeg)
January 14, 2026 at 6:18 AM
Bill Watterson is my favorite cartoonist. I adored the relationship btw Calvin and Hobbes as a child. But as I've gotten older, these strips feel even more tender and insightful. My respect for him grew when I learned of his stance against merchandising. Such principles are almost unheard of today.
Reposted by Tau
Leaving 2025 like
December 31, 2025 at 11:49 PM
Leaving 2025 like
Reposted by Tau
2026 is gonna suuuuck!!!!!
January 1, 2026 at 12:31 AM
2026 is gonna suuuuck!!!!!
Reposted by Tau
Back to Putin’s economic blackmail of 1999-2022
Trump: "Russia wants to see Ukraine succeed. It sounds a little strange but President Putin was very generous in his feeling toward Ukraine succeeding, including supplying energy, electricity and other things at very low prices."
December 28, 2025 at 11:12 PM
Back to Putin’s economic blackmail of 1999-2022
So, that's not good. Time for another take on xkcd.com/2347/
December 21, 2025 at 12:17 AM
So, that's not good. Time for another take on xkcd.com/2347/
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when someone tells me not to use em dashes because AI uses em dashes
December 4, 2025 at 5:36 PM
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Reposted by Tau
Any candidates promising to bring back thinkgeek?
November 4, 2025 at 10:56 PM
Any candidates promising to bring back thinkgeek?
On behalf of all NYC nerd x outdoor enthusiasts---we object
REI to close three stores, including NYC SoHo location
SEATTLE (BRAIN) — A week after announcing a strategic plan to employees that would involve difficult decisions to grow sales, REI Co-op said it will close three stores next year, including the New Yor...
www.bicycleretailer.com
October 8, 2025 at 4:59 PM
On behalf of all NYC nerd x outdoor enthusiasts---we object
Our. Precious. Little. Packages! 📦
increasingly convinced preventing americans from getting their little packages is the thing that will take this government down
How bad are tariffs going?
I paid for $32 of shaving cream from Canada. Unique stuff I’ve used for years, nothing like it in US. Small family business.
UPS guy came to my door today with box and said I have to pay additional $120 before he can hand it to me.
That makes it 5x more expensive!!! 🤯
I paid for $32 of shaving cream from Canada. Unique stuff I’ve used for years, nothing like it in US. Small family business.
UPS guy came to my door today with box and said I have to pay additional $120 before he can hand it to me.
That makes it 5x more expensive!!! 🤯
October 4, 2025 at 6:27 AM
Our. Precious. Little. Packages! 📦
Of all the parenting lines, never thought "I'm an adult, I'm allowed to use L'Hôpital's rule" was going to be one of them
October 3, 2025 at 6:20 PM
Of all the parenting lines, never thought "I'm an adult, I'm allowed to use L'Hôpital's rule" was going to be one of them
Reposted by Tau
Happy Lehman Day to those who celebrate
September 15, 2025 at 8:33 AM
Happy Lehman Day to those who celebrate
Margaret Hamilton lived to see this :/
It's full steam ahead for NASA, according to Sean Duffy, the agency's acting administrator. During an internal employee town hall, Duffy warned of "letting safety be the enemy of progress" when it comes to winning the space race, according to a recording obtained by NBC News.
Interim NASA head tells agency that it will beat China back to the moon
Acting NASA administrator Sean Duffy also told agency employees not to let "safety be the enemy of progress."
nbcnews.to
September 7, 2025 at 5:29 AM
Margaret Hamilton lived to see this :/
Reposted by Tau
Boy, that deescalated quickly. #Invest91L
September 6, 2025 at 1:52 PM
Boy, that deescalated quickly. #Invest91L
Reposted by Tau
This one is only for Blueskyers of a certain age.
August 29, 2025 at 8:04 PM
This one is only for Blueskyers of a certain age.
Always good to see logical formal proof for what is intuitive. Thank you, Professor
www.cs.columbia.edu
August 20, 2025 at 2:13 AM
Always good to see logical formal proof for what is intuitive. Thank you, Professor
Reposted by Tau
getting my microplastics removed
August 18, 2025 at 4:37 PM
getting my microplastics removed
Someone thought @shteyngart.bsky.social wrote an instructions manual...
FFS, can we please not make the 3/5 clause great again?
Sen. Hagerty on his legal rationale for not counting undocumented immigrants in the census: "There's a constitutional interpretation I think that has been misapplied that goes back to slavery days and what portion of a person is going to be counted."
August 15, 2025 at 4:03 PM
Someone thought @shteyngart.bsky.social wrote an instructions manual...
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![Comic. [long message with unreadable text that includes lots of punctuation marks like semi colons and em dashes as well as citations.] Highlighted line at the bottom zoomed in reads: Not ChatGPT output—I’m just like this. [caption] I’ve had to start adding this disclaimer to my messages.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cz73r7iyiqn26upot4jtjdhk/bafkreifbqjlfnleuu4jrpvc7q6e43ckn2lqvuv7vdgtuf7e67dw5acy4di@jpeg)
August 12, 2025 at 2:37 AM
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Reposted by Tau
I came here to kick ass AND chew bubble gum
And I’m all out of gum
Therefore it is impossible to kick ass AND chew bubble gum
I should have come to kick ass XOR chew bubble gum
And I’m all out of gum
Therefore it is impossible to kick ass AND chew bubble gum
I should have come to kick ass XOR chew bubble gum
August 11, 2025 at 1:11 PM
I came here to kick ass AND chew bubble gum
And I’m all out of gum
Therefore it is impossible to kick ass AND chew bubble gum
I should have come to kick ass XOR chew bubble gum
And I’m all out of gum
Therefore it is impossible to kick ass AND chew bubble gum
I should have come to kick ass XOR chew bubble gum
Reposted by Tau
Smoke from wildfires in Canada wrap around the circulation of Tropical Storm Dexter as it moves farther out over the North Atlantic Ocean.
August 6, 2025 at 11:11 PM
Smoke from wildfires in Canada wrap around the circulation of Tropical Storm Dexter as it moves farther out over the North Atlantic Ocean.
We KNEW it!
Australia Admits All Those Animals Made Up
SYDNEY—Saying the ruse began as a harmless prank about the continent’s mammals having pouches, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese admitted Tuesday that all those animals like wallabies, numbat...
theonion.com
August 6, 2025 at 4:00 PM
We KNEW it!
Reposted by Tau
What the F are we doing, people????
August 5, 2025 at 6:42 PM
What the F are we doing, people????
Yey, another mini-quake: earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/...
The Earthquake Event Page application supports most recent browsers, view supported browsers. Or, try our Real-time Notifications, Feeds, and Web Services.
earthquake.usgs.gov
August 5, 2025 at 4:26 PM
Yey, another mini-quake: earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/...
I feel bad for other countries' intelligence services who don't know how to report that "the president of the USA is on the roof of the White House" and be taken seriously
August 5, 2025 at 3:37 PM
I feel bad for other countries' intelligence services who don't know how to report that "the president of the USA is on the roof of the White House" and be taken seriously