Elf M. Sternberg
@elfsternberg.bsky.social
Husband to a gorgeous wife, father to two great kids, greying leatherfairy, infamous furry, and world-class software engineer. If you can read this, you're running code I wrote.
I have the weirdest impulse to re-read my Erma Felna: EDF collection again.
November 29, 2025 at 2:40 AM
I have the weirdest impulse to re-read my Erma Felna: EDF collection again.
In 2008, NHTSA released a study showing that over the previous decade people backing OUT of a parking space hit and killed an average of 290 people per year, while people who backed in to park and pulled out going forward hit and killed ZERO.
November 29, 2025 at 12:09 AM
In 2008, NHTSA released a study showing that over the previous decade people backing OUT of a parking space hit and killed an average of 290 people per year, while people who backed in to park and pulled out going forward hit and killed ZERO.
Reposted by Elf M. Sternberg
is Microsoft Excel a feminist? Is Gemini a queer ally? Is this graphing calculator my friend
November 28, 2025 at 9:57 PM
is Microsoft Excel a feminist? Is Gemini a queer ally? Is this graphing calculator my friend
Over on 𝕏itter this announcement was accompanied by denial, anti- vaccine rhetoric, claims that HPV doesn't cause cancer, and insistence that the 9 cases of vaccine-induced anaphylaxis requiring hospitalization is too great a price compared to the 700 deaths prevented.
Australia just recorded zero cervical cancer cases in women under 25 for the first time since records began in 1982. The amazing result of HPV vaccination.
November 28, 2025 at 10:07 PM
Over on 𝕏itter this announcement was accompanied by denial, anti- vaccine rhetoric, claims that HPV doesn't cause cancer, and insistence that the 9 cases of vaccine-induced anaphylaxis requiring hospitalization is too great a price compared to the 700 deaths prevented.
Conference on AI flooded with papers and reviews written by AI. Why have humans go at all? www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Major AI conference flooded with peer reviews written fully by AI
Controversy has erupted after 21% of manuscript reviews for an international AI conference were found to be generated by artificial intelligence.
www.nature.com
November 28, 2025 at 9:33 PM
Conference on AI flooded with papers and reviews written by AI. Why have humans go at all? www.nature.com/articles/d41...
The first country to be 100% powered by renewables is The Vatican. And yes, the City-State of The Vatican is considered a country.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vatican...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vatican...
Vatican City - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
November 28, 2025 at 9:30 PM
The first country to be 100% powered by renewables is The Vatican. And yes, the City-State of The Vatican is considered a country.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vatican...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vatican...
A follow-up is this fantastic essay. "In the 1960s, church leaders understood that they HAD to march in Selma. But the laity didn't want to march. Protestantism was the fabric of America, and churches were to be part of that fabric, not a challenge to it."
www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
November 28, 2025 at 9:26 PM
A follow-up is this fantastic essay. "In the 1960s, church leaders understood that they HAD to march in Selma. But the laity didn't want to march. Protestantism was the fabric of America, and churches were to be part of that fabric, not a challenge to it."
www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
So, in one of those "English, why are you just so damned weird?" today I learned that the opposite of "xenophobia" is not "xenophilia." It is "philoxenia."
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/philoxe...
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/philoxe...
philoxenia - Wiktionary, the free dictionary
en.wiktionary.org
November 28, 2025 at 9:21 PM
So, in one of those "English, why are you just so damned weird?" today I learned that the opposite of "xenophobia" is not "xenophilia." It is "philoxenia."
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/philoxe...
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/philoxe...
This is absolutely right. It's not TikTok that makes some Jews criticize Israel's actions in Gaza as a genocide. It is not ignorance. It is the lessons we learned in synagogue school, lessons in which we were taught to feel empathy for the victims.
www.forever-wars.com/sarah-hurwit...
www.forever-wars.com/sarah-hurwit...
Sarah Hurwitz Profanes the Holocaust
Holocaust education has worked too well for the Obama speechwriter, since when she rationalizes Israel's genocide, "I sound obscene." Maybe sit with that, Sarah
www.forever-wars.com
November 28, 2025 at 9:11 PM
This is absolutely right. It's not TikTok that makes some Jews criticize Israel's actions in Gaza as a genocide. It is not ignorance. It is the lessons we learned in synagogue school, lessons in which we were taught to feel empathy for the victims.
www.forever-wars.com/sarah-hurwit...
www.forever-wars.com/sarah-hurwit...
Today I learned that Wilhoit's Maxim— "Under conservatism, there are in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, and out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect"— was enshrined in Nazi Germany under the "Dual State Theory."
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
The “dual state” theory was invented to describe Nazis. The Supreme Court could take us there.
Authoritarianism—but make it look like the rule of law.
www.motherjones.com
November 28, 2025 at 9:05 PM
Today I learned that Wilhoit's Maxim— "Under conservatism, there are in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, and out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect"— was enshrined in Nazi Germany under the "Dual State Theory."
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
"We are now living under John Roberts' vision of Constitutional Law, in which laws passed by Congress are suggestions handed to a monarchial president."
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
This is all John Roberts’ fault
Trump owes his corrupt and abusive reign to one man.
www.motherjones.com
November 28, 2025 at 9:01 PM
"We are now living under John Roberts' vision of Constitutional Law, in which laws passed by Congress are suggestions handed to a monarchial president."
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
It's hard to believe just how hostile Tumblr has become to being Tumblr.
November 28, 2025 at 8:53 PM
It's hard to believe just how hostile Tumblr has become to being Tumblr.
I was thinking this morning that it kinda sucks that just in the years when modern medicine has controlled Omaha's epilepsy enough she can drive a car again that Black Friday has become completely irrelevant. She always looked forward to the "adventure."
November 28, 2025 at 6:24 PM
I was thinking this morning that it kinda sucks that just in the years when modern medicine has controlled Omaha's epilepsy enough she can drive a car again that Black Friday has become completely irrelevant. She always looked forward to the "adventure."
Dunno if it's our fault, but it IS remarkable that a film that is such an incredible technical achievement comes with a story that has almost no presence or mindshare at the several science-fiction conventions I've been to in the past few years.
‘Toxic’ music video director claims Avatar had no cultural impact because gays don’t like it
https://www.thepinknews.com/2025/11/26/joseph-kahn-music-video-director-avatar-gay/?utm_content=1764314400&utm_medium=social&utm_source=bluesky
https://www.thepinknews.com/2025/11/26/joseph-kahn-music-video-director-avatar-gay/?utm_content=1764314400&utm_medium=social&utm_source=bluesky
Joseph Kahn says Avatar had no cultural impact because gays don't like it
Music video director Joseph Kahn suggested the Avatar film franchise has had "no cultural impact" as gay people don't "give a f**k" about it.
www.thepinknews.com
November 28, 2025 at 7:30 AM
Dunno if it's our fault, but it IS remarkable that a film that is such an incredible technical achievement comes with a story that has almost no presence or mindshare at the several science-fiction conventions I've been to in the past few years.
I saw an AI-generated porn film prompted by a physics nerd. It was called "The Double Slit Experiment."
November 28, 2025 at 7:02 AM
I saw an AI-generated porn film prompted by a physics nerd. It was called "The Double Slit Experiment."
Reposted by Elf M. Sternberg
Like, see: I grew up reading Cooper, Alexander, Tolkien*, Lewis; people born before at least one and occasionally two world wars. A lot of them wrote stories about the magic going away.
I *expressly* write books in conversation with those. I resented the *fuck* out of the magic going away.
I *expressly* write books in conversation with those. I resented the *fuck* out of the magic going away.
December 16, 2024 at 9:52 AM
Like, see: I grew up reading Cooper, Alexander, Tolkien*, Lewis; people born before at least one and occasionally two world wars. A lot of them wrote stories about the magic going away.
I *expressly* write books in conversation with those. I resented the *fuck* out of the magic going away.
I *expressly* write books in conversation with those. I resented the *fuck* out of the magic going away.
Reposted by Elf M. Sternberg
Macrophiles (people into giants as a fetish) have a very different vision of what it means when a woman "comes around a mountain."
People used to love music about a lady coming around a mountain when she comes but at a certain point that message fell on deaf ears
March 15, 2025 at 5:35 PM
Macrophiles (people into giants as a fetish) have a very different vision of what it means when a woman "comes around a mountain."
One fun thing about being a science fiction writer with large, alien characters is that you get pretty good about judging the size of bodies in... unusual configurations. Just one of those thoughts when you see art of an absurd character and think, "Good lord, her breasts are 25kg. Each."
November 28, 2025 at 6:54 AM
One fun thing about being a science fiction writer with large, alien characters is that you get pretty good about judging the size of bodies in... unusual configurations. Just one of those thoughts when you see art of an absurd character and think, "Good lord, her breasts are 25kg. Each."
Reposting with alt text. Sorry; I'm usually good about that.
November 28, 2025 at 6:51 AM
Reposting with alt text. Sorry; I'm usually good about that.
Reposted by Elf M. Sternberg
the next time the Needling misses will will be the first
Picky Orca Calf Won’t Eat Rich Unless Cut Into Little Yacht Shapes: tinyurl.com/2uwf6ezp
November 28, 2025 at 5:17 AM
the next time the Needling misses will will be the first
"In general, furries show no significant deviations from the general population in terms of mental health. On scores of well-being, however, they tend to score higher."
www.researchgate.net/publication/...
www.researchgate.net/publication/...
(PDF) The Kids are Alright: Furry Well-Being and Mental Health
PDF | We begin this chapter with a short introduction to well-being and how to measure it. Next, we compare furries to other groups on measures of... | Find, read and cite all the research you need on...
www.researchgate.net
November 28, 2025 at 5:16 AM
"In general, furries show no significant deviations from the general population in terms of mental health. On scores of well-being, however, they tend to score higher."
www.researchgate.net/publication/...
www.researchgate.net/publication/...
Reposted by Elf M. Sternberg
Did you really read this whole long thread? Wow! Go spread the word: DOGE isn't actually over.
The "DOGE is gone" articles are clickbait but this one gets it closer to the truth: DOGE is not gone, it just claims to have "no centralized leadership" anymore -- in other words, its leadership is hiding in an attempt to avoid blame.
DOGE no longer has ‘centralized leadership’ under White House tech team, personnel head says
The team that was altered to house DOGE — formerly the U.S. Digital Service — is also still doing its own technology work across agencies.
www.nextgov.com
November 26, 2025 at 4:19 AM
Did you really read this whole long thread? Wow! Go spread the word: DOGE isn't actually over.
It isn't just our guts that have a microbiome of bacteria that, when healthy, help us digest food and ward off disease. Tiny little bacteria actually live inside our cells and, as far as we know, do nothing but hijack the chemistry for their own survival: www.quantamagazine.org/a-cell-so-mi...
A Cell So Minimal That It Challenges Definitions of Life | Quanta Magazine
The newly described microbe represents a world of parasitic, intercellular biodiversity only beginning to be revealed by genome sequencing.
www.quantamagazine.org
November 27, 2025 at 6:57 PM
It isn't just our guts that have a microbiome of bacteria that, when healthy, help us digest food and ward off disease. Tiny little bacteria actually live inside our cells and, as far as we know, do nothing but hijack the chemistry for their own survival: www.quantamagazine.org/a-cell-so-mi...
The Republican Administrator says, "This is the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool before I fix it. Study it hard because you won’t be seeing this Biden filth and incompetence much longer!"
The marble pool was built in 1932.
thehill.com/homenews/adm...
The marble pool was built in 1932.
thehill.com/homenews/adm...
thehill.com
November 27, 2025 at 6:51 PM
The Republican Administrator says, "This is the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool before I fix it. Study it hard because you won’t be seeing this Biden filth and incompetence much longer!"
The marble pool was built in 1932.
thehill.com/homenews/adm...
The marble pool was built in 1932.
thehill.com/homenews/adm...