Nick Davies / Aster Loxley / Spiral Island
spiralisland.bsky.social
Nick Davies / Aster Loxley / Spiral Island
@spiralisland.bsky.social
I record music as Spiral Island. I write speculative fiction under the pen name Aster Loxley. I also play in Gentle Brontosaurus. Expect posts about Madison, biking, cats, etc.
Reposted by Nick Davies / Aster Loxley / Spiral Island
With a record-setting 14 entries, we decided to split the celebration across two nights! Back tomorrow at 8 PM CST with the second half.
In one hour! Come celebrate the amazing entries to PiCoSteveMo 3 with us in the post-jam stream:

www.twitch.tv/basecase

And whether or not you can make the stream, please check out everyone's awesome games:

itch.io/jam/picostev...
BaseCase - Twitch
programmer/designer
www.twitch.tv
December 2, 2025 at 4:09 AM
Reposted by Nick Davies / Aster Loxley / Spiral Island
Reposted by Nick Davies / Aster Loxley / Spiral Island
I've seen 'This Is Spinal Tap' a hundred times but never got around to 'Bad News', its coincidentally simultaneously-conceived UK hapless-metal-band counterpart, and I am happy to report that as a fan of both the Reiner film and 'The Young Ones' it holds up amazingly on its own
BAD NEWS! (These are blocked in some countries by copyright)
YouTube video by Arsene Parcelie
www.youtube.com
December 1, 2025 at 6:33 PM
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Now that LA has announced their special category, the Hugo rec sheet has been updated (poem is after short story). If you've been vibrating with excitement to rec some poetry, your moment has arrived! #HugoAwards
December 1, 2025 at 6:42 PM
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Instead of getting to hug her parents and two little sisters and tell them how college was going, Lopez Belloza was arrested by federal immigration officials moments before getting on her flight on Nov. 20.
A college freshman deported while flying home for Thanksgiving is fighting to return. Here’s what we know about her case
By Hanna Park, CNN (CNN) — Any Lucia Lopez Belloza arrived at the airport in Boston excited to embark on a surprise trip home to spend Thanksgiving with her family in Texas. The 19‑year‑old freshman…
madison365.com
December 1, 2025 at 6:22 PM
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Hark! The Quietus Albums of 2025 chart is here! Prepare to be astounded, thrilled and (potentially) perplexed. tQ subscribers can also dive into selections from all 100 albums in our bumper 9-hour playlist. #tQCharts

What have been your top picks of the year?

buff.ly/sltLcA7
December 1, 2025 at 8:02 AM
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statistically a lot of you won’t know about ocellated turkeys, so, here you go
November 28, 2025 at 1:09 AM
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Peter Atwater
“With each passing day, the AI space looks more and more like the USA’s home mortgage securitization at the peak of the 2007-8 housing bubble with its overlapping series of capital conveyor belts.”
October 9, 2025 at 12:39 PM
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Would have hit him with a second egg, but in France, one egg was un ouef.
November 30, 2025 at 1:33 AM
New sweater day
December 1, 2025 at 4:24 AM
Meeting this Thursday, and/or submit a written comment wisconsindot.gov/Pages/projec...

Mine was not polite, so I'm counting on somebody else to play "good cop".
December 1, 2025 at 3:01 AM
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Happy Holidays! Every day until Christmas, I'll use this thread to rec a book to help you with your gift list. Let's start with THE TWENTY DAYS OF TURIN by Giorgio De Maria, translated by Ramon Glazov, and republished with a foreword by moi. Buy from your fav indie. (Alt text = more detail.) 1/?
November 26, 2025 at 4:51 PM
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Ex-official explained this in a way that will stick with me forever: Within fire departments, the EMTs are overworked and underpaid and don’t have time to advocate for policy. The fire chiefs, on the other hand, have a lot more time on their hands. So fire response, not medical, dictates policy.
November 30, 2025 at 2:12 PM
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Senator Kelly is correct.

Plus a Public Service Announcement:

KEY section of Department of Defense's Law of War Manual is 18.3.2.1.

The VERY rule on the "requirement" to refuse illegal orders gives as its paradigmatic example of what is "clearly illegal:
"orders to fire upon the shipwrecked."
November 30, 2025 at 4:35 PM
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The solution to this is so simple.

Start a hornychristkindlmarket in Logan Square.
The weirdest local story in Chicago right now is City Hall messing with the Christkindlmarket in Daley plaza. They’ve dramatically cut capacity to half of what it was during COVID (???)
A beloved local tradition getting hassled, why????
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/28/c...
Christkindlmarket vendors ‘hopeful’ for resolution over new Daley Center capacity limit
City officials have put a 1,553-visitor limit on the Christkindlmarket, affecting vendors and putting the nearly 30-year-long event at risk.
www.chicagotribune.com
November 30, 2025 at 4:38 AM
Another biking vid for ya on this snow day, the newish Wilson Street bikeway youtu.be/veOPXqzgTrU
Madison Rides: Wilson Street
YouTube video by Nicholas Davies
youtu.be
November 30, 2025 at 2:10 AM
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top notch mascottin'
November 29, 2025 at 8:06 PM
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November 27, 2025 at 8:15 PM
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The Rosy Overdrive 2025 Reader’s Poll is now live! Vote for your favorite music of the year (albums, EPs, songs, label)! Deadline is December 26th!
VOTE! In the Rosy Overdrive 2025 Reader’s Poll
It’s the third annual Rosy Overdrive readership poll! The results have been truly great two years in a row now: no pressure, but I’m especially excited to see what your favorite music o…
rosyoverdrive.com
November 28, 2025 at 4:57 PM
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Textbook war crime/extrajudicial killing

"Two survivors were clinging to the smoldering wreck. The Special Operations commander overseeing the Sept. 2 attack ... ordered a second strike to comply with Hegseth’s instructions."

Report by @alexhorton.bsky.social @ellenwapo.bsky.social o.bsky.social
Hegseth order on first Caribbean boat strike, officials say: Kill them all
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a verbal order to kill all crew members in the Sept. 2 strike on a suspected drug boat. Navy SEALs fired a second missile.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 28, 2025 at 6:13 PM
Reposted by Nick Davies / Aster Loxley / Spiral Island
As a society, we need to reconcile how we let this happen.

in the mean time you can buy my book here:

hollow-press.net/products/the...
The Bizarre World of Fake Video Games by Super Eyepatch Wolf - U.D.W.F.G. essays I
The Bizarre World of Fake Video Games by Super Eyepatch Wolf( U.D.W.F.G. essays I ) Thank you everybody for your orders and support. Preorders will be shipped within end of November as announced. Now ...
hollow-press.net
November 28, 2025 at 2:47 PM
Is it from the Condom region of France, or is it just sparkling prophylactic
November 27, 2025 at 11:26 PM
If you have ever felt insecurity as a songwriter, you are hereby cleansed of it
am sharing a workshop with someone whose algorithm is feeding him ai country music

one song that has played twice now has the chorus “i’ll get okay, no tears, just whiskey and truck cars” and i’m thinking of just walking toward the light and letting the universe scatter my electrons
November 26, 2025 at 9:13 PM