If you ever doubt the value of telling stories, remember that the entirety of social media rests upon millions of people sharing the stories that mean something to them every minute of every day.

Quote with your vibe if you were a vampire.

One element of Blocking on social media that I find interesting is how one could see it as an extension of capitalism moving labor off onto the customers. You are now solely responsible for policing interactions with people with whom you disagree. It is on you, the individual, to block. 🧵+

I for one would love to have a working sodium ion battery system and EV, but: 1. If this is a "Deepseek" moment for the industry, that implies it's all smoke and mirrors*, and 2. The U.S. would never allow those here as it might endanger oil/gas * See second post due to text limits

A lot of game design is applicable for a variety of life situations because you're making a tiny microcosm to generate an experience for people, which may involve encouraging specific feelings and behaviors. A little about "encourage the behavior you want to see"... 🧵+

Really not enjoying this conspiracy by Big Headache to make my sinuses close up AND my head pound at the same time

It's kinda wild that after having checks stolen out of my outgoing mail, washed, forged, and cashed, the #1 response from people is "Why are you using checks?" when: 1. Some services only accept checks 2. Some charge egregious fees for online payment 3. Some force autopay if you want to pay online

Trying to report stolen mail to the post office so of course my phone just magically stops working part way through the call

Keep seeing posts about "Trump approval rating craters" and "Republicans face declining popularity" and like, yes, that is the point. Fashies and authoritarians love public acclaim, but absent it they will just do what they want, by force if necessary, and revel in being unstoppable. +

ngl it's kinda hilarious that ppl are petitioning for Facebook, the app that relied on capturing user data so that dudes could decide who to hook up with (or "Zuck Fuck"), to not capture user data on ppl seen with its facial recognition eyewear Like this is the whole point! It's stalkervision!

The amazing thing about orbiting the moon is that you won't find the Epstein files there, either

Hurts not to be able to do contract work in RPGs due to my employment agreement. I had two outstanding contracted projects when I got this gig so I get to finish those, but have to negotiate for anything else for which I'd get paid and a different company would own the work. +

I guess it's not that wild to me that ppl really want to believe that cognitive deficits aren't a thing. "Oh Tourette's can be managed" "Oh anyone can learn to draw" "Oh face blindness is something you can train out of" No, and this is the same Calvinist nonsense about "if you work you get rewards"+

Seen some opposed takes of "No Kings protests are great b/c people are mobilizing" vs. "No Kings protests are performative, have no goals, accomplish nothing real" and having watched small-scale mobilization, on the union side of things, I think it's important to keep in mind: +

When we have food riots in fall because there's no fertilizer today, ppl will not remember international geopolitical causes, Americans will just blame minorities and vote for more fascism

"If it's important they'll make time" I guess for these ppl it wasn't important to understand how ADHD brains work, so they didn't bother to make time to learn about neurodiversity

Occasionally I like to make little adventures or supplements for various RPGs, just for fun. Recently someone challenged me to make a musical in #Deadlands (a horror Western), Savage Worlds Adventure Edition, so... I did. Cheers. docs.google.com/document/d/1...

So a while ago I was at a game store and a guy behind the counter was chortling about D&D wheelchairs making no sense, much like the same complaints that ppl make about glasses and wheelchairs and such in Star Trek, and if you'll gimme a second here, gonna disassemble this nonsense 🧵 +

The "If a Democratic party President had done these things Rs would be screaming for impeachment" is not just another one of those attempts at an internet gotcha, but a failure to understand that the whole point of Republican policies is that they are allowed to do what everyone else is not

The reason so many science fiction stories are about aliens invading and attacking earth is that they're mostly made by colonial imperialist cultures who fear a technologically superior civilization doing to them what they do to everyone else

I was doing some writing of a Western-style adventure and it occurred to me that (as any Pokemon enjoyer knows) the names of people's pets tell you a lot about the person. Whether it's a cowhand's horse or a Poke-trainer's Squirtle, how they present their pet to the world reflects their persona.

I would imagine that the oil dogs are cheering over the Iran war because spiking oil prices give them a chance to make big profits in the short term. They're probably looking at regional destruction as a chance to shock oil supplies and get ever richer. +

Saw "The Bride!". Phenomenal movie. Sumptuous and inflammatory. Well worth the watch. Spectacular performances. Masterful use of color and form. A raw, explosive message.

Mom's side: Died before I was born Dad's side: NASA engineer on Apollo

As a homeowner in California, I now know why so many homeowners here have grass lawns in the middle of a drought-stricken desert Every three months a code enforcement vehicle comes by, a week later we get a threatening letter to cut down the plants or be fined thousands of $$$ +

Medieval: If You Are Weird, The Faeries Will Take You To Their Strange World [Threat] Modern: If You Are Weird, The Faeries Will Take You To Their Strange World [Desire]

Was thinking about this again and about what kind of weird pitch they're going to use to sell protein paste to MAGA that's based on mealworms or crickets, since "every accusation is a confession" and MAGA loves screaming "You won't make me eat bugs!" No more meat, but we have some cheap protein...

Kinda wild to see this administration continually ignore security with their meetings at insecure locations, their photos of secure spaces, their use of phones in public, and yet nothing ever goes wrong as a result

Does Trump change his own diapers, or do they make one of the aides do it?

Share a TV show that raised you.

I have recently gotten an uptick in "weaponized incompetence" angry posts in my social media feeds and when I see one I cannot help but remember how, as a youth, my parents would sometimes direct me to do something without explaining the goal or showing the process, then punish me for doing it wrong

So the reason Jeffries and Schumer are useless is not just that they are spineless, but also that they are pedo protectors

It's always pretty funny seeing game ads that say something like "Human, dwarf, elf, or <other thing we just made up> - which do you choose?"

One of the potentially darkly humorous outcomes of all of this disaster in hardware is a bunch of companies simultaneously screwing each other in their attempts to gouge customers, i.e. Walmart tries to roll out surge pricing but can't get enough screens to replace its price stickers... +

The destruction of cheap electronics is, uh, "interesting" because plummeting prices for consumer electronics (bigger cheaper TVs, more powerful PCs) were part of the bread and circuses. If you can't buy cheap electronics anymore, or food, or housing, or anything at all, well...

The funny thing about Roko's Basilisk is that it didn't sell when Christians told me I had to do what they said or their all-powerful invisible entity would torture me for eternity, either

USING WEATHER MINDFULLY IN RPGS Many RPGs have random weather tables, for when you're out exploring the wild, or if you're in downtown Seattle in a grungy karaoke joint waiting to hear back from your cyber-fixer (85% of the table is "rain"). But just like movies and books, you can... +

I see that the state deals on the Colorado river are about to fall apart and wind up settled at the Federal level, which naturally gives the Trump admin the perfect excuse to give the water to red states and deny it to blue states. Wonder how long 'til severe water rationing in SoCal

Ok so Elric prestige streaming series, where the Melniboneans are all Black and Elric is only white because he's albino

Reading that Trump's private paramilitary of ICE hasn't been getting paid just reminds me of Praetorian Guard

So what are the Discord alternatives that people are jumping to now that it's going full dystopian security nightmare? And don't tell me Mastodon.

The people complaining about the Bad Bunny halftime show are the ideological inheritors of the people who said that Black folks shouldn't be in movies.

I was at the bath store today and they have a Men's section for scents and fragrances that's all stuff like "Edgy Rose" and "Dark Noir" and "Dusk Stallion" (only the last two are made up) and it made me consider that it would be so easy to make millions in that market if you just... +

Just watched "South Pacific" (support local theater and arts, y'all) and it must really hit MAGA elites different these days Act 1: "Powerful white men backed by the U.S. military chase young women on a remote island paradise" Act 2: "Racism is bad y'all" +

A few days ago I wrote about the Three Great Taboos and how the Epstein list gives us a glimpse into a society of entitled elites who violate those taboos, and I figure it is worth some slightly more detailed explanation (cw: sexual assault, cannibalism, dark shit) +

I recall from anthropology class a discussion about our culture's Three Great Taboos (your mileage may vary depending on your professor): cannibalism, incest, and pedophilia. Apropos of current times. (A thread) +

Tell me five classes you took in college: Accessibility and Disability Accommodation in Computer Design Fantasy and Science Fiction Honors Economics (Macro/Micro, with bonus section on socialism) Linear Algebra Network Security and Cryptography