naratnayake.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

TIL that dandelion comes from the French "dent de lion", or "tooth of the lion" for its jagged leaf shape. I think of lions as majestic and fearsome and dandelions as happy and fluffy! The crash of connotations carries an interesting dissonance with me, but now I can't un-know the etymology...

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Oh, this is so cool! So that’s why everyone so hyped up about March madness. I wish someone would’ve told me it’s actually about cheese, all this time I thought it was about some kind of sport ball thing.

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

The Sacramento River is very high right now. So much rain lately.

submitted 17 days ago • 0 comments

Working at NASA is a dream for many around the country and even the world. Positions don't just get created. They are extremely rare and highly competitive. The folks that get them are _the_ best at what they do. What do they do? 1/6

submitted 17 days ago • 4 comments

Long before all this hit, we booked a couples retreat this weekend in San Diego. It’s been not only a wonderful set of tools for our marriage, but a much needed pocket of escape from all the crazy of the world right now. I feel better prepared for the changes ahead with my life partner by my side!

submitted 18 days ago • 0 comments

Today was the first morning in three weeks that I was able to get up on time. It's been a hangover of rapid change.

submitted 21 days ago • 0 comments

I know there have been a fair number of conflicting dates, so, let's organize and settle on February 28th to start. Market Blackout. No buying. No major retailers. No Amazon. For one day, we grind consumerism to a halt. (And with a little planning, this shouldn't be hard.) Let's do it.

submitted 21 days ago • 32 comments

Libraries are essential. Support your local library, speak up for your local library, love your local library 💙📚 We can never express enough support for libraries!

submitted 24 days ago • 30 comments

Latest newsletter issue is out! Holiday updates, our status in the current upheaval of government, novel project WIP underway, short stories in circulation, and a long list of reading reviews. Subscribe and I'll send you the latest! www.naratnayake.com/newsletter/

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Last night, I attended my first play in years: the opening night of English at Capital Stage: capstage.org/the-plays/en.... While I don't think the cast was quite up to delivering the full power and nuance of what I heard in the (Pulitzer) script, it was a wonderful and thought-provoking experience.

submitted 31 days ago • 1 comment

This is what we all should remember.

submitted 38 days ago • 286 comments

hey! Fantasy Magazine is currently open to submissions from BIPOC writers (today through Jan 25th) send us your fantastic stories! full guidelines here (PLEASE read the full guidelines before submitting)

submitted 43 days ago • 12 comments

This is amazing. I'm going to say Lawful Plantser, and moving in the Chaotic direction towards True Plantser over the course of my current WIP.

submitted 52 days ago • 0 comments

"After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music." Aldous Huxley. #photographer #photography #art #writer #music #gothic #church

submitted 53 days ago • 0 comments

Now #amreading Salman Rushdie’s THE SATANIC VERSES.

submitted 59 days ago • 0 comments

This evening I will attempt to watch a sportball. My neighbors inform me a band of local quality known as the "Kings" will be waging combat against some warriors from a state apparently made of gold, one that exists down I-80 and is populated by snobby Bay Area yuppies.

submitted 59 days ago • 0 comments

A little late off the starting block, but I've finally converged on some goals for the year: 1. Perform 200 instances of spiritual practice, defined as an action with no other useful purpose but to instantiate non-directed, open awareness (e.g. meditation, poetry, etc) 2. Finish my damn novel.

submitted 59 days ago • 0 comments

Peaceful foggy winter morning at Shaw #Nature Reserve, a part of Missouri Botanical Gardens that is out in Franklin County near Labadie. Part first run back out there since the marathon, part slow thinkwalk through the woods and prairie.

submitted 68 days ago • 0 comments

Dispatches from Missouri Christmas

submitted 70 days ago • 0 comments

If you want to give your fave authors a gift this holiday season that won't cost <you> anything, one amazing thing you could do is post a wee review for readers saying what you liked about the book. bonus: cross-post to multiple sites! Reviews help with visibility! 👀

submitted 73 days ago • 4 comments

Oh hey! My mother-in-law apparently bought a copy of my latest anthology publication! Reminds me I need to re-pub this one as a free ebook and on the site with the rest of them. Soon as I find a cover artist to commission…

submitted 74 days ago • 1 comment

And now… let Midwestern Cozywintermas… begin.

submitted 74 days ago • 0 comments

Holiday air travel with a toddler. Thoughts and prayers accepted.

submitted 75 days ago • 0 comments

I have never used a backflow incense burner before. This is strangely fascinating and I kinda love it.

submitted 76 days ago • 0 comments

I’m starting to think that a solar + battery “space race” between the USA and China could be the exact thing the climate needs right now. As each builds out domestic supply chains and competes on efficiency we could see $200/kWp utility solar and $50/kWh storage by 2030.

submitted 76 days ago • 6 comments

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Winter vacation morning vibes

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Reach out to me if you have any questions about your project, or want some guidance for your application! Looking forward to working with you! #scipol #sciencepolicy #science #scienceadvocacy #scienceforpublicgood #environmentaljustice

submitted 79 days ago • 0 comments

You know it’s real parenting when the toddler craps himself on a walk at the same time the dog corners a skunk in the park and gets hit full in the face and you’re already late for family Christmas brunch. Two hours later and in pajamas rather than nice sweaters, here we are.

submitted 81 days ago • 0 comments

Ran the Cali International Marathon last weekend here in Sac! Didn’t quite hit my A-Goal, but can’t complain about a PR… with PRs for my half and 10k along the way this season. 7 marathons in 4 years - I need a break! Won’t do one in 2025 but hope to return year after next. #running 🏃🏾💨

submitted 81 days ago • 0 comments

Life achievement unlocked: got pulled into a back room discussion on quantum computing at a conference ✅

submitted 84 days ago • 0 comments

Writing a novel about seasonal magic has really gotten me into the changing seasons in a way I never really paid attention to before. Now scheming with my fantastically hippie mother-in-law about what we're going to make the family do for the Solstice when we come visit in a couple weeks.

submitted 94 days ago • 0 comments

Is there a doctor on the flight? Specifically an English PhD? A passenger is attributing the views of the first-person narrator to the biographical author

submitted 98 days ago • 10 comments

First time just bringing the empty spice and bulk containers with me to refill rather than getting new paper bags and transferring later. Actually so easy, and no chance of getting too much or too little to exactly fill what you need. Just takes a couple minutes upfront to get a tare. ♻️

submitted 98 days ago • 0 comments

First time just bringing the empty spice and bulk containers with me to refill rather than getting new paper bags and transferring later. Actually so easy, and no chance of getting too much or too little to exactly fill what you need. Just takes a couple minutes upfront to get a tare. ♻️

submitted 98 days ago • 0 comments

i have been a dedicated libro.fm user for over a year now and at no point do i feel that i am missing out on anything from not using audible. also! if you subscribe you can direct a part of your subscription a local book shop

submitted 100 days ago • 80 comments

Frank Herbert: i'm going to tell a story about this space cocaine that lets you do super hard math and its made of worm poop, inshallah JRR Tolkien: Tolkien: i hate this Tolkien: i hate this so much

submitted 100 days ago • 5 comments

Wonderful meeting with the Word Still #Writers Circle last night. None of us are what we’d call pro, though we have a few pubs between us. But we’ve stuck together for 3 years now, and all of us have come so far in our relationship with our #creative selves and craft.

submitted 100 days ago • 0 comments

Me at dinner while a family member tries to brosplain to me how I should be overjoyed at the all the efficiency improvements DOGE will bring to my work life.

submitted 100 days ago • 0 comments

Despite a major financial scandal, I really appreciate that journalists at my local NPR station CapRadio uncovered the discrepancies in the first place, held a corrupt general manager to account, and are leading the charge back to transparency and accountability. www.capradio.org/articles/202...

submitted 100 days ago • 0 comments

Started: Salman Rushdie, LANGUAGES OF TRUTH: Essays 2003-2020. Already love it. #amreading #books #nonfiction #story #writers #writing

submitted 101 days ago • 0 comments

After watching the small human on my shift this morning, three hours of discretionary time granted by Management, and the best seat at the McClatchy Library is free, on a Saturday afternoon with no further commitments for today.

submitted 102 days ago • 0 comments

Apply to come work in sunny Los Angeles at NASA's Exoplanet Exploration Program Office as a postdoc! Applications are due December 6th! #jobs #exoplanets 🔭🪐👩‍🔬

submitted 103 days ago • 3 comments

The American game and it's following has been steadily improving for the last couple decades. But this is, alas, how you really know that US Soccer is on the cusp of being on par with the big leagues: www.theguardian.com/football/202...

submitted 104 days ago • 0 comments

One annoying thing about historical research is looking up how long it took to get from A to B in the US by train in 1880 and then looking it up now and realizing it was faster in 1880.

submitted 114 days ago • 187 comments

All four gas giants captured by the James Webb Space Telescope

submitted 115 days ago • 4 comments