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mcboingboing.bsky.social
mcboingboing
@mcboingboing.bsky.social
1.6K followers 2.3K following 950 posts
Mid-Mod mom, editor, nit-picker, N95 wearer. #COVIDIsAirborne {she/her}
Free, universal healthcare is a vital part of infrastructure.
📍New Orleans
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mcboingboing.bsky.social
The current list of top 10 word lookups on the Merriam-Webster website captures the zeitgeist quite well, I think.

Note: #2 is the name of a lake next to Webster, MA. The full name is Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg. It has been in the top 3 for weeks, no doubt because…

1/2
Screenshot from Merriam-Webster.com: Top Lookups Right Now Next refresh:12 seconds 1 sedition 2 chargoggagoggmanchauggagog… 3 seditious 4 smelting 5 midbrain 6 corrosive 7 impaired 8 thrashing 9 anguish 10 temporarily Note: the full number 2 word is Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg, the name of a lake next to Webster, Massachusetts.
November 20, 2025 at 9:09 PM
mcboingboing.bsky.social
ICE is active in NOLA today—on Canal St and Stumpf Blvd within the last 4 hours, according to the ICE Block app.
Screenshot from the ICEBlock app showing reports of ice sightings at 2692– 2698 Canal St., 2630 Canal St., and 1105 Stump Blvd. (on the West Bank).
November 17, 2025 at 7:33 PM
mcboingboing.bsky.social
Good morning from New Orleans! This sweet olive tree is feeling especially exuberant. The scent of lemon is wafting on the breeze.
A sweet olive tree covered in tiny yellow flowers stands out in front of a white house and a brilliant blue sky. A closeup the tiny yellow flowers and shiny green leaves of the sweet olive.
November 10, 2025 at 3:21 PM
mcboingboing.bsky.social
Found it! Not surprisingly, it’s called a butterfly orb weaver! They come in a range of colors, but I like my orange butterfly best!

www.gbif.org/species/2160...
A photo from gbif.org of Araneus pegnia with a rosy-brown body and legs and a bright red-orange butterfly-shaped marking on its abdomen. A photo of Araneus pegnia from inaturalist.org. Legs and body are light brown. The legs have a few black spines, and the pair of back legs each have two dark brown bands. The butterfly shape is orange-brown, outlined in yellow and black.
September 30, 2025 at 10:47 PM
mcboingboing.bsky.social
A few hours later, I checked the spider’s hidey-hole on the underside of the side-view mirror, and I thought it had managed to climb back up into its former home. Careful probing proved this to be a well-preserved molt.
The underside of the mirror’s black plastic case, with a circular, recessed area for the screw that holds it in place. It looks like the same spider is in crouching in there. Around the black plastic, there’s a lacy network of webbing.
September 30, 2025 at 9:10 PM
mcboingboing.bsky.social
Can anyone ID this #OrbWeaver #spider? Found in New Orleans, Louisiana, today—building a messy web on my car, between the side-view mirror and the car door.

Look at the lovely butterfly-shaped marking!
#invertebrates
Tight closeup of an orb weaver crouching between a pebble and a twig. It’s brown with markings on its abdomen that look like an orange butterfly outlined in white and black. A more distant photo of the darling little orb weaver, showing how tiny it is. It’s about half the size of a single pea.
September 30, 2025 at 6:44 PM
mcboingboing.bsky.social
I don’t know if this is someone’s idea of a joke, but on the ICEBlock app, an ICE sighting was reported at 9:48 a.m.—at City Hall.
Screenshot from ICEBlock of a map of downtown New Orleans. A pin is dropped at 1292 Perdido Street, the address of City Hall.
September 8, 2025 at 2:58 PM
mcboingboing.bsky.social
My average steps per day over the past year. 🙄
Screenshot of a bar graph from my phone’s health app, showing I averaged 1,693 steps per day over the past year.
August 29, 2025 at 8:57 PM
mcboingboing.bsky.social
Costco today. If you’re not a member, I could pick some up for you.
40 oz. bags of Community Coffee breakfast blend on the shelf at Costco, selling for $18.99
August 29, 2025 at 5:38 PM
mcboingboing.bsky.social
Check it out. You can get two of those 12 oz. bags for $14 at Castellon Pharmacy on Oak St. Go get ‘em!
The same 12 oz. bag of Community Breakfast Blend medium roast coffee on the shelf at Castellon Pharmacy is selling for $9.99, compared to $12.99 in Ashley’s post. A sign on the Castellon shelf says you can buy two 12 oz. bags of Community Coffee for $14!
August 26, 2025 at 10:22 PM
mcboingboing.bsky.social
Jus’ a li’l Midsummer Mardi Gras on Oak & Carrollton 🎭
August 24, 2025 at 12:32 AM
mcboingboing.bsky.social
Did someone say “beautiful soup”? I just made a big batch in the Instant Pot, and we’ve already consumed half of it.
A pot of lentil soup with morsels of sweet potato and red bell pepper. There’s a bay leaf floating on top.
August 21, 2025 at 3:40 AM
mcboingboing.bsky.social
The hurricanes keep supercharging in a matter of hours. Fortunately, Erin is not expected to come anywhere near us.
NOAA map showing Hurricane Erin’s forecasted track through Thursday, curving away from the leeward islands and passing between Bermuda and the US East Coast.
August 16, 2025 at 3:36 PM
mcboingboing.bsky.social
Without downloading any new pics, where are you mentally:
A sleeping brown tabby cat lies on a sofa with its face smooshed into the cushion.
August 13, 2025 at 12:33 AM
mcboingboing.bsky.social
Show us an image that best conveys what you love about this city.
A scene from inside Jefferson Variety Store, where New Orleanians buy their materials for Mardi Gras costumes. In the foreground: a pile of brightly colored bolts of fabric. Background: sparkly spools of sequin trim in every color of the rainbow.
July 26, 2025 at 5:55 PM
mcboingboing.bsky.social
And here's a map (made in 1986) of the movements of German U-boats in the Gulf of Mexico, 1942–43, and listing the 96 vessels they torpedoed.
catalog.hnoc.org/web/arena/se...
A map showing the routes taken by 17 German submarines in the Gulf of Mexico during World War II. The insignia of 13 of the subs are displayed across the top of the map, and a column along the right edge lists 96 US vessels that the subs sank.
July 22, 2025 at 8:21 PM
mcboingboing.bsky.social
Pistachio #dukkah on #watermelon!!!
MMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!

food52.com/recipes/3172...
Cubes of watermelon sprinkled with wisps of toasted coconut, chopped pistachios, sesame seeds, and spices. Check out the recipe!
July 15, 2025 at 5:59 PM
mcboingboing.bsky.social
Driving around Elmwood yesterday and passed by this business and…it's exactly what you'd expect it to be.
🤮🤮🤮
Big sign on the front of a commercial building: Valhalla Training Grounds. the logo is the bust of a Viking, complete with the historically inaccurate horned helmet. The brick building is painted battleship grey. The business's name is written in white letters on a black background. Interior shot posted on Google Maps page for Valhalla Training Grounds. It's a weight training gym. Walls are painted grey and black and are covered with flags expressing far-right ideologies, such as the ones seen at the US Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. There's a banner with the symbol of the Three Percenters, a flag that says Liberty or Death, and one with a picture of an assault rifle that says Come and Get It. It's a pretty grim environment. A closeup of more flags. One says Lions Not Sheep. Another is a black and white US flag, except the stripes end in with the barrels of various types of long guns. Gross.
June 27, 2025 at 11:39 PM
mcboingboing.bsky.social
#NewOrleans #NOLAsky
I’ve acquired a large # of Covid home tests, and I’m sharing them FREE of charge. DM me, and we can arrange to meet.
An open case of 24 boxes of Intelliswab Covid-19 rapid tests, with two tests per box. That’s 48 tests, for those keeping score at home, and I have 7 cases! 😃 The expiration date printed on one of the boxes: April 30, 2026.
June 20, 2025 at 8:54 PM
mcboingboing.bsky.social
He looks a little like Alfred E. Newman.
A portrait of Alfred E. Newman, of Mad magazine fame, wearing his trademark stupid grin.
May 26, 2025 at 4:57 PM
mcboingboing.bsky.social
Dang, if only I had a t-shirt budget, I'd go to town on these! bsgeneralstore.com/collections/...
t-shirts with slogans: Wild Places Matter, Product of Public School, Gulf of Mexico, Libraries Are Essential. Each shirt is $32. t-shirts with slogans: Bless Your Heart, Hell Hath No Fury, Abide No Hatred (with letters in rainbow colors), Collards & Cornbread. Each shirt is $32. t-shirts with slogans: Practice Radical Empathy, Make More Biscuits, South, Gulf of Mexico. Each shirt is $32. t-shirts with slogans: Appalachia, Bring on the Matriarchy, All Y'all (in rainbow letters), Have Mercy. Each shirt is $32.
May 16, 2025 at 5:00 PM
mcboingboing.bsky.social
Lost power about 20 minutes ago on this gorgeous, sunny, breezeless day. Oh, #Entergy. What is it this time?
@mcbride-matt.bsky.social
Entergy’s outage map, showing power is down in much of the Black Pearl as well as other parts of the Carrollton/Universities section of New Orleans.
May 8, 2025 at 6:53 PM
mcboingboing.bsky.social
Today in #LongCovid: late afternoon was gorgeous, so we took a 30-min walk—suuuper slooowly, stopping often to admire flowers and gardens, and I used trekking poles to help conserve energy. Still, I'm exhausted.

When we got home, I measured out the distance we covered on the Google map: 0.556 mi 😑
Three dainty, red and yellow columbine flowers A cycad frond with leaves unfurling from fiddleheads. Several cycad fronds unfurling. The leaves on one in the foreground are so tightly curled toward the center that it looks like a braid.
May 8, 2025 at 12:05 AM
mcboingboing.bsky.social
Here’s the one I want—just so we can say, “Mama Mia, that’s a spicy pizzaballa!”

youtu.be/bvso-HGJqs4?...
A screenshot of eight cardinals the New York Times has ID’ed as possible contenders for pope. I’ve highlighted the name of Pierbattista Pizzaballa.
May 7, 2025 at 4:06 PM
mcboingboing.bsky.social
Always the lone masker at my office, too. Haven’t caught a single bug since March 2020. 👍🖖
Mcboingboing selfie in the office, with sparkly hearts for eyes and wearing 3M Aura N95.
April 28, 2025 at 9:13 PM