Simon Petrie (he/him)
@fomalhaut451.bsky.social
Writer of short books w. long titles, eg 'I Have No Legs And I Must Manspread'. Hemulen. Titan tragic. Cisgender. Pakeha in Oz. He/him.
Gussie Fink-Nottle enters the picture.
There is a rumour of an atrium that forms the last resting place of newts.
December 8, 2025 at 8:40 PM
Gussie Fink-Nottle enters the picture.
Reposted by Simon Petrie (he/him)
So do we think this person uses their rearview mirror or nah
December 8, 2025 at 4:43 PM
So do we think this person uses their rearview mirror or nah
Reposted by Simon Petrie (he/him)
Omg not what I was expecting at all 😂😂
December 8, 2025 at 2:35 AM
Omg not what I was expecting at all 😂😂
On the utility of underdevalued words:
There's an episode in Blackadder 3 where Edmond uses made-up words to convince Samual Johnson that he's missed stuff from his dictionary. I have been using these same words in work meetings and reports for decades without ever being challenged on their authenticity.
December 7, 2025 at 9:41 PM
On the utility of underdevalued words:
Reposted by Simon Petrie (he/him)
TIL about a memorial ceremony in Iceland in 2019 to mark the end of a glacier, changing the place name from Okjökull to Ok (jökull = glacier). Uncompromising wording on the bronze plaque:
"This is to acknowledge that we know what is happening and what needs to be done. Only you know if we did it".
"This is to acknowledge that we know what is happening and what needs to be done. Only you know if we did it".
December 7, 2025 at 5:17 PM
TIL about a memorial ceremony in Iceland in 2019 to mark the end of a glacier, changing the place name from Okjökull to Ok (jökull = glacier). Uncompromising wording on the bronze plaque:
"This is to acknowledge that we know what is happening and what needs to be done. Only you know if we did it".
"This is to acknowledge that we know what is happening and what needs to be done. Only you know if we did it".
Oh freddled gruntbuggly / Thy micturations are to me / As plurdled gabbleblotchits / On a lurgid bee
Which lines of poetry live rent-free in your head?
December 7, 2025 at 4:44 AM
Oh freddled gruntbuggly / Thy micturations are to me / As plurdled gabbleblotchits / On a lurgid bee
Reposted by Simon Petrie (he/him)
the weight of a book
4. What is a tiny, everyday thing that never fails to make you feel like life is worth living?
October 22, 2025 at 10:26 AM
the weight of a book
Picture of the staff who operate this bluesky account
December 7, 2025 at 12:52 AM
Picture of the staff who operate this bluesky account
Internet was slow; I got to see the accessibility text on this Guardian article's images (www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...) as they loaded. The descriptions are AI slop: Hegseth is 'a women looking right' [sic]; Trump accordioning beside H is 'two men side by side'.
Just stop this, it's wrong.
Just stop this, it's wrong.
Pressure grows on ‘reckless’ Hegseth as twin scandals engulf Pentagon chief
Defense secretary defiant but allegations of war crimes and blistering watchdog report increase calls for him to go
www.theguardian.com
December 6, 2025 at 11:08 PM
Internet was slow; I got to see the accessibility text on this Guardian article's images (www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...) as they loaded. The descriptions are AI slop: Hegseth is 'a women looking right' [sic]; Trump accordioning beside H is 'two men side by side'.
Just stop this, it's wrong.
Just stop this, it's wrong.
Reposted by Simon Petrie (he/him)
COVID Shots Tied to a Lower Risk of Death From Any Cause: 25% overall mortality reduction, 74% reduction of risk of dying from COVID-19. www.medpagetoday.com/infectiousdi...
COVID Shots Tied to a Lower Risk of Death From Any Cause
Advantage held even after removing coronavirus-related deaths from the mix
www.medpagetoday.com
December 6, 2025 at 9:44 PM
COVID Shots Tied to a Lower Risk of Death From Any Cause: 25% overall mortality reduction, 74% reduction of risk of dying from COVID-19. www.medpagetoday.com/infectiousdi...
evergreen skeet
How will the bed ever get made without cat?!?
December 6, 2025 at 10:35 PM
evergreen skeet
Reposted by Simon Petrie (he/him)
well if i gotta eat people, at least it's not the ordinary ones
2. This is an extremely small sample size in a house in Pompeii. And yet many headlines are universalizing in order to say ALL Roman slaves ate better than the freeborn. We know that this is absolutely not true.
Look at this Reuters headline:
Look at this Reuters headline:
December 6, 2025 at 5:01 PM
well if i gotta eat people, at least it's not the ordinary ones
If you see this, repost this with your model of positive masculinity
December 6, 2025 at 10:09 AM
If you see this, repost this with your model of positive masculinity
Reposted by Simon Petrie (he/him)
Star Wars (1977)
They're coming out with a huge new machine that fucking sucks
December 6, 2025 at 2:47 AM
Star Wars (1977)
This looks highly intriguing:
For those who, like me, love speculative and alien evolution, there's a remarkable new book out, "Wildlife on the Planet Furaha" by Gert van Dijk. www.crowood.com/book/wildlif...
Wildlife on the Planet Furaha | The Crowood Press
On the planet Furaha, Gert van Dijk creates a biosphere on a new world along with its solar system. Evolution on Furaha found solutions to life’s problems that remained unused on Earth. There are in-d...
www.crowood.com
December 4, 2025 at 6:39 AM
This looks highly intriguing:
Re-upping this for the visibilities, innit
A new issue of AntipodeanSF has launched, bearing with it my flash bonbon 'How and why The Adequacy bought a hat':
www.antisf.com/the-stories/...
www.antisf.com/the-stories/...
How and why The Adequacy bought a hat - AntipodeanSF
AntipodeanSF publishes the best speculative flash fiction (SF, F, H) on the web.
www.antisf.com
December 3, 2025 at 10:31 AM
Re-upping this for the visibilities, innit
Reposted by Simon Petrie (he/him)
If you feel like some exo-planet exploration, galaxy-spanning alien-filled space opera or a hopeful apocalypse, look no further...
coeurdelion.short.gy/tnFZjG
coeurdelion.short.gy/tnFZjG
December 3, 2025 at 9:58 AM
If you feel like some exo-planet exploration, galaxy-spanning alien-filled space opera or a hopeful apocalypse, look no further...
coeurdelion.short.gy/tnFZjG
coeurdelion.short.gy/tnFZjG
Reposted by Simon Petrie (he/him)
Plugging this more widely as it's quite useful for reading expensive publications for nowt, if you are Australian (or at least Australia-based).
For what it's worth, people in Australia can get free membership of the National Library, and with that you can read the ABR free. It's how I came to enjoy this lovely little bit of savagery.
www.library.gov.au/research/gui...
www.library.gov.au/research/gui...
Join the Library | National Library of Australia (NLA)
table {mso-displayed-decimal-separator:"\."; mso-displayed-thousand-separator:"\,";} tr {mso-height-source:auto;} col {mso-width-source:auto;} td {padding-top:1px; padding-right:1px; padding-left:1px; mso-ignore:padding; color:black; font-size:11.0pt; font-weight:400; font-style:normal; text-decoration:none; font-family:"Aptos Narrow", sans-serif; mso-font-charset:0; text-align:general; vertical-align:bottom; border:none; white-space:nowrap; mso-rotate:0;} Join the Library to request collection items to use in our reading rooms and access subscription databases through eResources.
www.library.gov.au
December 3, 2025 at 7:17 AM
Plugging this more widely as it's quite useful for reading expensive publications for nowt, if you are Australian (or at least Australia-based).
Insert a movie into another movie
Last Tango In The Cars That Ate Paris
Last Tango In The Cars That Ate Paris
Insert a movie into another movie
Clash of Remember the Titans
Clash of Remember the Titans
Insert a movie into another movie:
The Seventh Sixth Fifth Element Sense Seal
The Seventh Sixth Fifth Element Sense Seal
December 3, 2025 at 7:27 AM
Insert a movie into another movie
Last Tango In The Cars That Ate Paris
Last Tango In The Cars That Ate Paris
Reposted by Simon Petrie (he/him)
Adding alt text to this because this is fucking amazing and everyone deserves to read it.
December 2, 2025 at 9:28 AM
Adding alt text to this because this is fucking amazing and everyone deserves to read it.
Reposted by Simon Petrie (he/him)
This is a really beautiful and sad thread and I'm grateful to have read it
LONG RAMBLING EMOTIONAL THREAD:
It's World AIDS Day. Since the Administration has decided to keep it quiet, I'd like to share my introduction to AIDS.
I grew up in Seattle. My mom remarried a man who had a brother who was a King County Sheriff's Deputy. His name was Terry and he was gay. 1/x
It's World AIDS Day. Since the Administration has decided to keep it quiet, I'd like to share my introduction to AIDS.
I grew up in Seattle. My mom remarried a man who had a brother who was a King County Sheriff's Deputy. His name was Terry and he was gay. 1/x
December 2, 2025 at 6:30 AM
This is a really beautiful and sad thread and I'm grateful to have read it
Reposted by Simon Petrie (he/him)
Probably the best thing I ever posted on that other site, wish I could permanently transplant it to my timeline here.
November 9, 2024 at 9:33 PM
Probably the best thing I ever posted on that other site, wish I could permanently transplant it to my timeline here.
Someone across the road is doing that shovel-scraping-across-gravel thing repeatedly and slowly, and I am about ready to, as I believe the expression has it, go full ham
December 2, 2025 at 6:29 AM
Someone across the road is doing that shovel-scraping-across-gravel thing repeatedly and slowly, and I am about ready to, as I believe the expression has it, go full ham
pelvic flaw exercise
December 2, 2025 at 5:18 AM
pelvic flaw exercise
petition to rename the Suzuki Swift the Suzuki Misnomer, because it's just not
December 2, 2025 at 3:04 AM
petition to rename the Suzuki Swift the Suzuki Misnomer, because it's just not