“In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.” When I’m struggling with the first line of something, that’s the one I think of. It’s just, “Let’s get this story/party started!” #writing

These tiny details—“the line of the toga”—aren’t high on my list of what’s interesting about #stamps and postal history. Though I appreciate the need for identification and understand that for some collectors that’s part of the fun. Maybe someday I’ll learn to love the world of perfs and such…

TIL that mixing up letters/words in English idioms—as I did earlier this week to a fair amount of tut-tutting on BlueSky—was dubbed an “eggcorn” by two linguists in 2003. The label came from someone who called acorns “eggcorns.”

Has anyone put together a #philately or #stamps BlueSky Starter Pack? Could that help expand the conversation? Signed, Neophyte Philatelist #836642

CUT TO: Millions of people Googling “scrivener”

I’m not so good at math, but it appears the president’s approval rating has dropped by 500%, 600%, even 1000%.

“Stop and think about this for a moment: We have entered an era of such diminished respect for the rule of law that the president openly admitted that he pardoned a congressman—who was indicted and awaiting federal bribery charges—because he expected political loyalty in exchange.”

“The annual chance of being murdered in an Afghan terrorist attack is about 1 in 14.2 billion per year. The annual chance of being murdered in a normal homicide is about 1 in 14,000 per year, approximately one million times greater,” writes Cato Institute's Alex Nowrasteh. https://ow.ly/u6TE50XH9Th

Confession: Every time I stumble across the 1983 commemorative stamp featuring TV inventor Philo Farnsworth, I immediately think of Warren Beatty as industrialist *Leo* Farnsworth in “Heaven Can Wait.” There is no other connection, except that today you can watch the film on TV. That is all.

Today’s daily cartoon for @newyorker.com

If only reporters asked this exact question every time “antifa” is used as the basis for any policy or action. Worth watching…

Mass protests, you say. Hmmmm……..

“I wield these whiskers like a Ninja. Watch out!”

I repeat yet again: But, but, but they keep telling us this isn’t possible, can’t work, impossible, must burn and drink and rub each other down with fuel oil or, well, *something bad* will happen and relying on renewables is unholy and wrong and, and, and can’t work!

“The video feed showed that the two men were struggling to stay atop the flotsam, which people who’ve seen the footage described as roughly the size of a dining room table.” That’s right: “The size of a dining room table.”

When you learn that this discovery was the result of “a years-long examination of a reddish patch of sediment,” it’s suddenly harder to suspend disbelief while watching “archaeologist” Indiana Jones do his thing…

Eighty years ago today, the first issue of the “Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists of Chicago” was published, providing news to the scientific community and the general public about efforts to confront the many challenges posed by the development of the atomic bomb. books.google.com/books?id=-ws...

Pete Hegseth’s requirement that his “warfighters” use generative AI to “outpace our adversaries” and achieve victory is off to a great start.

“The country seemed blessed, but its people seemed blind. To talk with people, to hear the debates in Congress, to read the papers again, to listen in on the constant tidal roar of yammer and complaint that is politics in America, was a sour experience” I.F. Stone, “Blessed Land: Blind People” 1947

“In a single great image, it encapsulates what is so disturbing and bizarre about Trump’s view of presidential power: the disregard of law, the squashing of public involvement, and especially, the politicization of even the most mundane of government actions.”

This site would automatically catalog every time the government simply doesn’t respond to reporters’ inquiries, which has become epidemic. “The Army has not responded to requests from The Washington Post to outline what steps it has taken since the crash” wapo.st/4pylxzv @marisakabas.bsky.social

Time to rename #FOIA as the Freedom of Information That You'll Maybe, Just Possibly, Receive Before the End of Your Natural Life Act. (That's FOITYMJPRBTEOYNLA for those keeping track.) Here's the alleged/current wait time for U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

A great essay by Wayne Youngblood on finding fun and creativity in #stamps, regardless of what's considered serious or "right." Seems applicable to any hobby or pasttime and, well, pretty much any part of life. Let your interests and creativity run wild, methinks.

"Why shouldn’t I have a ballroom to throw snowtastic parties in? I’m effing Santa Claus. I work my ass off all year, deciding who is nice and who I need to investigate, denigrate, and destroy."

#philately peeps: Check out these old-skool 1890s Kingdom of Italy definitive stamp bundles I found in a mixed lot. Never seen #stamps like this, but just learned this was how they were bundled in the cheap packet days of the mid-20th century. They are kinda cute/cool, if worthless individually.

Of all the things the US has chosen to do differently than the rest of the world, I think this may be the dumbest. You'd have trouble finding any urban neighborhood in Europe or Latin America without a plaza. It's just so basic. And yet the US has virtually none! No public space, no public.

Certain nether regions have frozen over, it seems, as I’m moved to quote from today’s George Will column.

From 1984 (the year, definitely not the novel).

“‘It feels like intentional chaos,’ the judge said in court of the government’s decision.“

We appear to have merged with a very, very weird parallel universe. That’s the only thing that can explain things today.

Also: No using black text anymore. Only white text on white paper.

This is a *very, very important* element of the debate over the president’s claim of authority to fire anyone he wants. eveningconstitutional.net/on-the-natur...

Who doesn’t want to start their day with this photo of two meerkats?

“Why the A.I. Boom is Unlike the Dot-Com Boom” Signed, People Way-Too-Heavily Invested in A.I. Companies

Do you know about railroad bond interest coupons from the 1870s? You don’t?! Well, neither did I until 5 minutes ago when I found this page of ‘em in a mixed lot o’ stuff. Dammit, now I have to *learn* something *new*, undermining my goal of remaining forever at the same knowledge level #philately

complaining about paywalls when so many journalists are being laid off and there are fewer market incentives to do great reporting and in-depth investigations, data analysis and features is also wild when everyone understands you need to pay for electronics, streaming services, and utilities

This 1933 cartoon from Punch has been on my wall for decades—and gets more relevant by the second. “The Saving of Labor” THE ROBOT: “Master, I can do the work of fifty men.” EMPLOYER: “Yes, I know. But *who is to support the fifty men*?”

Our democracy has already eroded into a battle between our billionaires and their billionaires, and SCOTUS is likely to make it worse. US is already an outlier among democracies: - Highest campaign spending - Fewest limits on outside corporate spending - Most privatized election financing system

These are complicated times for journalism, for sure. But some things aren’t that hard: if White House reporters stand by silently while their colleagues—mostly women and Black—are repeatedly targeted, they should ask whether they’re in this business to confront power or to abet misogyny and racism.

“the right kind” 🤡 @wsj.com

A good summary of what anyone trying to align their investments with their values will discover, even with so-called “ESG screens” and similar. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/08/o...

Claiming “total exoneration” in the face of written reports and court decisions that say no such thing is the new “I am not a crook.”

Ladies and gentlemen: I invite you to Google “multi-member districts” and the Fair Representation Act (H.R. 4632) and to do so *before it’s too late.* @fairvote.bsky.social

Welcome new followers! Is it too soon for me to tell you to eat fewer cookies?

Ten years ago today, the Philadelphia Daily News did not mince words on its front page about the significant and tangible dangers that candidate Donald Trump, then almost six months into his first campaign for president, posed to our freedoms and our democracy.

It's strange that no country on earth has crafted a system to provide decent health care to all its citizens without bankrupting them. I mean, I think that must be true, right? Because if the wealthiest nation in the (known) history of the universe can't do it, must not be possible...

The gig, as they say, is up.

“Editors and management might claim they want good stories, but in practice they fear them, because scoops tend to cause trouble and involve a big fight.“

The shortsightedness of “rolling back Biden era climate policies” as part of this monstrous bill means accelerating an environmental crisis that causes drought, extreme weather and natural disasters, instability, mass migration, and ultimately …. war.

“I believed that a newspaperman ought to use his power on behalf of those who were getting the dirty end of the deal, that he ought not join in those stale surrenders which are called the practical realities of the world.” —I.F. Stone, 1952