if you've ever told someone, ever, that "everything happens for a reason," please don't do it again -- i would file this with "well, your dead parent is in heaven now" or whatever. if someone says it TO you, please feel free to respond "so what's the reason for fatal car crashes would you say" etc.

break to return to my primary duty (being a cat bed)

the cat's imagined bewildered face!!!

it's always this

hi, megan mcardle expert here -- they only do this when their lifelong centrist contrarian grift is distressed. (image shows a whiny post about the kennedy center, making up a situation and then asking people to discuss it with her.)

i've been having fun adding my ugly old yarn children (complimentary)

i liked "wake up dead man" the most of the three benoit blancs so far. this is different from saying i think it's the best one, but i might think that too i'm not sure yet

asking midjourney to spell qualia

rewatching jenny nicholson star wars hotel with my partner, who hasn't seen it. she doesn't speculate about the macro budget, but i think about it constantly. what did they spend $500m–$1b on? they never had even one impressive single setpiece to show in one publicity video. what do you think?

i had a rushed move during an illness last year, and today found out there's a backpack full of yarn that i didn't remember from that time. YESSSS

I got these socks for Christmas and I feel very attacked

obviously gamers are never okay, but "why does a farm sim have an energy bar" is new to me

My final action column of the year is live!!

hadn't thought about this word in a while and, indeed, it IS from arabic

this would also help a LOT of younger, marginalized, and/or leftist historians to point to when . . . tbh, confronted by older establishment people who don't think they have value. (& i'm sure there are older historians in other modes who face the same or could use a primer to share.)

I've never seen ANY evidence that estrangement is socially spread in this way. (Ditum is a TERF and believes trans people are also from "online.") I'm second generation estranged, because my parents hate every single person on both sides. I'm left to sift through that wreckage, largely by myself.

christmas eve special

Update:

christmas? why are you missing? it should be called chris HIT

While I was struggling to finish this, my kid looked over at my iPad and sad, "Oh cool, Christmas Eve in Brooklyn!". He doesn't know it, but that was his present to me. ❄️🎄🎁

[via Lubee Bat Conservancy]

hi! a reminder around christmastime that you don't have to tell your relatives or family friends anything that you don't feel safe telling them. if you rely on them and have to spend time with them, or even if you just don't want to have a hard conversation with them in general. you don't have to.

A very special visitor!!

i've watched and rewatched and read and reread China Mieville's advice to just start writing a novel by following the most basic story shape. (it's funny to imagine him saying that in 2013 and then being like, what if i never write a parseable "novel" ever again?)

hi! a reminder around christmastime that you don't have to tell your relatives or family friends anything that you don't feel safe telling them. if you rely on them and have to spend time with them, or even if you just don't want to have a hard conversation with them in general. you don't have to.

i have joined ravelry as this same name, aetataureate. if you're active on there, feel free to friend me! i don't know if i'll ever knit or crochet to a pattern, but they let you just add your own notes on your needling around (so to speak), which is really nice.

Windows That Look Like Hunger Games Characters

i love her. wow

"ROBOT SLURS"!!! francis says people keep telling them not to use robot slurs. please. help i need this year to end

idk who might ever be looking for hobbies, but i've seen that a LOT of old latchhook yarn (precut into short lengths, very neatly bundled together) is for sale on ebay. i've only done it before using kits, but it's relaxing and satisfying to make art with latchhook, and not expensive.

folks there's a squirrel sitting three feet from me just outside my window, and they're lashing their tail in a funny way and, i think, having a bird feeder standoff with another squirrel who's in the tree

Love this video about Egyptian pop music by a favorite music youtuber of mine. If you're Egyptian etc. or a fan of these artists I'd love to hear if you watch the video! youtu.be/8zn8xfbnABM

The weather has blessedly relented and cooled down. But in spite of this, Final Profit is still on sale.

I struggle to convey this to younger folk, your clothes, hair, most inside spaces, all fucking stank of cigarettes, and the walls everywhere were stained yellow

happy "put the candy out on the coffee table for grazing on" season to those who celebrate.

dr. ashley is right, and also, everyone might enjoy this review of some other knockoff "wrapped"s youtu.be/DApRMAF3s08

i'm playing this finally! idk if i'll have time to finish it right now, but the art style and presentation are so, so good -- really interesting and different. i also really like when VNs do intersplices that are like comics or almost animatics. a pleasure to browse in this game's world

and who are we appeasing, exactly? which authors worth reading are using this crap?

Parents of trans kids: if you are freaked out about continuity of care, the Campaign for Southern Equality’s Trans Youth Emergency Project is providing assistance with accessing doctors, including by telehealth. southernequality.org/tyep/

The renaming wasn’t great but at this point in American history “The Kennedy Center” really should refer to any location where children contract measles.

this is sooo galvanizing and fun. don't buy that shit you don't need and won't value!

cute but also really interesting news! animals aren't people, but this little buddy has much more of a chance now because they aren't alone anymore.

the temperature dropped 30 degrees since yesterday, and now it's gusting and snowy. nature is an enigma. tell me about your local weather please!

this is sooo galvanizing and fun. don't buy that shit you don't need and won't value!

THURSDAY ART SHOW! If you are a working artist (i.e. you depend on income from your art) just respond to this post with your non-pornographic, non-violent, non-AI generated ✨CAT-RELATED✨ art/crafts and I will repost! From now until 5 pm EST. Include any relevant links like your website or etsy!

I hate almost every person currently being suggested as the "father" of indie games (and seriously, fuck that gendered shit), which is appropriate because I also hate my own father.

never been a yarn snob, couldn't afford to be one anyway, so i bought two boxes of mixed lot worsted weight acrylic yarn to do some crochet reps 🧶🏋️ i've been making simple swatches that i'll try to sew or crochet together into a blanket or simple cardigan.

The extreme attack on transgender youth we are witnessing from a governmental stage was enabled by The Atlantic and The New York Times.

you love to see it!!!

I've been hanging ornaments as I finish them, and I love my ornament children. please make something if you can during the holidays, during the winter, anytime at all!