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patrickjohanneson.com
Patrick Johanneson 🚀 🇨🇦
@patrickjohanneson.com
1.6K followers 2.7K following 8.9K posts
Part-time prevaricator.

He/him 🇨🇦

https://patrickjohanneson.com/

Avatar by @badguybirnie.bsky.social's kid
Ukrainian wheat field header by Alex @aplante.com Plante


I'm also on Mastodon — https://mstdn.ca/@pjohanneson
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patrickjohanneson.com
Patrick Johanneson 🚀 🇨🇦 @patrickjohanneson.com · Oct 18
Hi, I'm Patrick. I write SF/F, I take photos—largely in the dark—and I wrangle websites for my spending cash. I keep a blog over at patrickjohanneson.com, though I cross-post most everything here too.

#Introduction #PinnedPost
Vivid red and green aurora borealis above a line of scrubby trees Lightning arcing over the dark silhouette of a tree The Milky Way rising in the night sky Spring lilacs against a bright blue sky
patrickjohanneson.com
widdershins

also:
onomatopoeia
pareidolia
serendipity
cromulent
merriam-webster.com Merriam-Webster @merriam-webster.com · 5h
Let’s all go around the table and say one word we’re thankful for.
November 28, 2025 at 2:46 AM
patrickjohanneson.com
I would audit any or all of these courses
scgriffith.bsky.social syzygy sarah @scgriffith.bsky.social · 11h
ruin your thanksgiving by reading new york magazine's take on mathematics
The Ten Most Ridiculous-Sounding Math Classes Currently Offered at Liberal-Arts Colleges By Jessica Pressler, Janelle Zara, and Emily Watkins Rachel Stein andAviva Shen OCT. 19, 2010 Every year, liberal-arts majors anxiously scour their college's course listings looking for classes that will fulfill their math requirement but aren't so, you know, math-y. Here's what they're signed up for this year. 10. Topology: The Nature of Shape and Space: "In geometry we ask: How big is it? How long is it? But in topology we ask: Is it [Sarah Lawrence 9. The Mathematies of Chance: "Most topics are introduced ina case-study fashion, usually by reading an article in a current periodical such as the New York Times. [Bard] 8. Mathematics in Many Cultures: "Mathematical ideas are found in many cultures, among both literate and non-literate peoples. This course examines both mathematics and the role it plays in the cultures. Examples chosen from the mathematical ideas of present-day peoples of Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Americas, as well as historic Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece, Islam and China." [Pomona] 7. The Magic of Numbers: "This course will explore the beauty and mystery of mathematics through a study of the patterns and properties of the natural numbers 1, 2, [and] 3." [Harvard 6. Models of Life: In particular, we will ask such questions as: How do you model the growth of a population of animals? How can you model the growth of a tree? How do sunflowers and seashells grow?" [Kenyon] 5. Mathematical Origamist's Toolkit: "Topics include modular origami and how this models the creation of polyhedra and coloring of graphs, comparison of origami-axiomatic constructions to straight-edge and compass constructions, the combinatorics of possible crease patterns, the mathematics of origami design (circle packing, optimization), matrix models for paperfolding, spherical geometry, Descartes' Theorem, and Gaussian curvature." [Hampshire] 4. Mathematics and Narrative: "Many literary works (Arcadia, Proof, and Uncle Petros and the Goldbach Conjecture) use mathematics as an integral part of their narrative. Movie and television narratives such as Good Will Hunting and Numb3rs are also mathematically based. Nonfiction works about mathematics and mathematical biographies like Chaos, Fermat's Enigma, and A Beautiful Mind provide further examples of the connection between mathematics and narrative." [Vassar] 3. Borges and Mathematics: "Jorge Luis Borges was one of the most important writers of the 20th century. Many of his short stories and essays were concerned with philosophical, metaphysical, and mathematical questions. The thesis motivating this course is that if we know the mathematies that Borges referred to, then we will read him differently, and we will read him better." [Bennington 2. Mathematics and Science as Art in Contemporary Theatre: "Playwrights such as Tom Stoppard, Rinne Groff, Michael Frayn, and others have effectively explored mathematical and scientific themes for artistic purposes. Through readings and exercises, and by conducting labs and staging scenes, this class will gain some first-hand insight into the complementary ways in which science and art aim to seek out their respective truths." [Middlebury] 1. Meaning, Math, And Motion: "Quoting a charming articulation by Kinsman (a mathematician-turned-oceanographer, in the preface to Wind Waves): "To the beginner, science is a conversation that has been in progress for a very long time. Our collective work is to catch up on the conversation. [Evergreen] This is why Asia is winning, by the way.
November 27, 2025 at 6:52 PM
Reposted by Patrick Johanneson 🚀 🇨🇦
clpolk.com
If writing is so easy why do people argue that they can’t do it without the pablumatic verbiage extruder

And if it’s so difficult then why do people think it’s not labour and writers are not workers
November 27, 2025 at 4:10 AM
patrickjohanneson.com
everyone knows the coolest kids are the ones who give themselves nicknames
November 27, 2025 at 4:17 AM
Reposted by Patrick Johanneson 🚀 🇨🇦
matthewdowsmith.bsky.social
Hell, a lot of us work multiple jobs so that we can keep creating stuff for people to read or listen to.

Because making stuff matters to us. It's worth all the work for us.

We're not the elite. We're working stiffs. Who make stuff they like.
November 25, 2025 at 7:34 PM
patrickjohanneson.com
Some of what I wrote tonight.

#AmWriting #PrairieSFF #WeeknightWriters
Winter settled over the land outside, deepened, then began to recede. The piles of snow sagged, thinned, vanished into trickles of water, streams that dried. Leaves reappeared here and there, then everywhere. One stair brought a raging thunderstorm, a nightmare of flickering electricity that set my teeth on edge, and the next few stairs looked out on a drowned village: the river was a swollen torrent, every ditch level full of water, the gullies turned to lakes. Wavelets glimmered under a gibbous moon. By the full moon it had dried out again. Summer came. The stairs were warm underfoot, a gentle heat radiating through the soles of my sneakers, like a sidewalk at dusk releasing the heat of the day. My legs ached, and my breathing was ragged, but I didn't even consider stopping. It'll be easier, I remember telling myself, on the way down. At last I reached the final turn, a grey stone ceiling suddenly appearing above my head, the stairs leading to a square hole like someone had opened a hatch. I could see stars through it, the Little Dipper against a velvety black sky.
November 27, 2025 at 4:01 AM
Reposted by Patrick Johanneson 🚀 🇨🇦
darthbluesky.bsky.social
blessed to be able to read
cursed to be unable to resist reading
November 18, 2025 at 2:02 AM
patrickjohanneson.com
This should go in all the Comp. Sci. textbooks, on the page where they start to explain "deadlock"
annesh.no Anders :) 🇧🇻🏳️‍🌈 @annesh.no · 2d
So this happened in Oslo yesterday. Four articulated buses got stuck in a roundabout.
Four articulated buses blocking each other in a roundabout making them stuck.
November 26, 2025 at 9:47 PM
patrickjohanneson.com
Patient: Whenever I do this, I feel a sharp, stabbing pain.
Doctor: Don't do that, then.
mitsuhiko.at Armin Ronacher @mitsuhiko.at · 1d
But this keeps happening last time I posted about AI here too. This is not a permanent solution.
November 26, 2025 at 8:42 PM
Reposted by Patrick Johanneson 🚀 🇨🇦
ursidice.bsky.social
You can kitbash a little Cow Tools. as a treat.
Miniature diorama of a cow in front of a table of odd tools, a la Cow Tools by Gary Larson
November 26, 2025 at 3:56 PM
Reposted by Patrick Johanneson 🚀 🇨🇦
freyafaust.bsky.social
You seem to be waiting for the right time. Are you aware that the right time does not exist and that waiting will only delay your goal to an unachievable date?
November 26, 2025 at 6:51 PM
patrickjohanneson.com
Human artists, use one piece to convince people to follow you.

(I'm counting photography as "art" here, as I usually do.)
Vivid green and purple curtains of aurora borealis over a snowy prairie landscape
November 26, 2025 at 7:33 PM
patrickjohanneson.com
Any random page in Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials was an education. The thought that a gigantic starfish could be considered a person was an eye-opener.
A painting from Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials, depicting a "Radiate", an alien from Memoirs of a Spacewoman by Naomi Mitchison. It's basically a big, muscly starfish; some of its arms end in suckers, some in what look like fingers.
November 26, 2025 at 7:12 PM
patrickjohanneson.com
1.5km on my bike today (basically a quick jaunt to @evanstheatre.ca and back). That's the latest in the year I've gone for a ride, I think (I'm not a winter cyclist).

One car ran a yield sign without seeing me, thumbs down.

#BikeManitoba #bdnmb
November 26, 2025 at 6:58 PM
Reposted by Patrick Johanneson 🚀 🇨🇦
nightshadesmag.bsky.social
🛸p erhaps a reintroduction type post?

Night Shades is a speculative fiction magazine publishing flash (500 words max) 4 times a month.

🛸 pro pay (min. $0.13/word)
🛸fast response
🛸sim subs ok
🛸 no rights

Opening again Dec 26

www.nightshadesmag.com
Night Shades
Night Shades is a short speculative fiction magazine.
www.nightshadesmag.com
November 26, 2025 at 2:34 PM
Reposted by Patrick Johanneson 🚀 🇨🇦
cinematt.bsky.social
Literally nobody understands hyperbole anymore.
November 26, 2025 at 8:27 AM
Reposted by Patrick Johanneson 🚀 🇨🇦
tomewing.bsky.social
What a panel
Panel by Herge of a crashed 1950s aeroplane in the Himalayas - the mangled remains are covered in snow. Three figures approach in the distance
November 26, 2025 at 12:05 AM
Reposted by Patrick Johanneson 🚀 🇨🇦
tadethompson.bsky.social
Books aren't expensive.

Writers are at the bottom of a large column of people making money off books.

We get screwed the most.

By the publishing industry and the fucking pirates.

You like books? Buy them, or go to the library.

Or there won't be any writers to make the art.
November 25, 2025 at 11:48 PM
patrickjohanneson.com
Related: the guy who convinced his daughter that it's "Jolkien Rolkien Rolkien Tolkien"
November 25, 2025 at 3:58 AM
patrickjohanneson.com
A 90s movie that deserves more love: Top of the Food Chain, set in the town of Exceptional Vista¹ after the nut factory closes down.

—
¹ And the lumpy, bumpy, hilly part of town outside of town.
Movie poster for Top of the Food Chain: Sandy Fawkes and atomic scientist Karel Lamont in an awkward embrace, in lurid colours
November 25, 2025 at 3:48 AM
Reposted by Patrick Johanneson 🚀 🇨🇦
smoothdunk2.bsky.social
lol you’ve got an AI girlfriend?? ur putting techbros in charge of your relationship??? ok buddy lmfao ok champ
4 panel comic Panel 1: Blue Guy lying in bed with his phone on the opposite pillow. Blue Guy: I love you so much. This has been the best year of my life. Phone: I’m leaving you Panel 2: Blue Guy grabs phone in a mad panic. He yells WHUU? Panel 3: Close up on phone screen. Phone says Unless… Panel 4: Phone screen goes black. A pop up appears saying: The No Break Up Expansion Pack. £59.99 per month. Buy Now
July 22, 2025 at 11:28 AM
Reposted by Patrick Johanneson 🚀 🇨🇦
kelly-knox.com
narrator: 50 years ago...

me: [nods] in 1945

narrator: in 1975...

me: what
November 25, 2025 at 2:11 AM
Reposted by Patrick Johanneson 🚀 🇨🇦
erikahall.bsky.social
If you definitely have a real product, you don't do this.
Altman, Ive tease AI device launch in 'less than' 2 years.
November 24, 2025 at 9:44 PM
Reposted by Patrick Johanneson 🚀 🇨🇦
welkinprize.bsky.social
There are now just eight maids-a-milking until the #WelkinWritingPrize is open for entries once again. Hope you're busy scribbling your stories.

www.mattkendrick.co.uk/welkin-prize...
THE WELKIN MINI. For micros up to 100 words. Free to enter. Deadline = 2nd January 2026. 1st prize = £75, 2nd prize = £40, 3rd prize = £25, HC = £10.
November 23, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Reposted by Patrick Johanneson 🚀 🇨🇦
kilagreene.bsky.social
If you want a book your library doesn’t have, request it!

Or if you want an ebook that’s not available to libraries, use ereaderiq.com to track price drops on Kindle, or add the book to your wishlist on Kobo and they’ll notify you. I’m very poor and have tons of ebooks I’ve bought for $1 on sale.
November 24, 2025 at 4:01 PM