“In bad fiction, it’s typical for the deck to be stacked in the hero’s favor. So it’s no surprise that, in a bad reality, the people who have the deck stacked in their favor think they’re the heroes.” —Cervantes (misattrib.)

Congratulations to Mel Brooks for reaching the age of 2000 (÷20)

The Ominous Scroll Mayuki in her own words, on Misanthropolis: misanthropolis.xyz/2026/06/22/t... Warning: Contains AI generated text. My first post anywhere that does.

Whatever we signed at Versailles seems to already be breaking down, and we’re about to get back into a shooting war with Iran. Maybe we’ll have better luck if the next signing is at USS Missouri Total Landscaping.

One question made everything murky again. Laconic Pixie Dream Thing, on Misanthropolis: misanthropolis.xyz/2026/06/19/u...

Maybe it was all a misunderstanding based on a misspelling? Because if he’s actually been trying to make America grate again all this time, I’d say he’s done it.

Name a TV show you're positive no one remembers but you.

Realized I had never seen anything else by Carol Reed, so I watched Odd Man Out tonight. Not as brilliant as the Third Man, obviously, but every bit as bleak and dark, and a lot more surreal, as you can see here. Features a young William Hartnell in a minor role.

First of all, she’s real… Everyday Familiar, now on Misanthropolis: misanthropolis.xyz/2026/05/31/a... Same cast, different story

This photo doesn’t make her seem more real. It makes me feel less. Laconic Pixie Dream Thing, on Misanthropolis: misanthropolis.xyz/2026/05/27/t...

I got a fortune cookie that said, “He who is true to himself by day will sleep the whole night through.” In… bed..?

“That’s my last soda.” “It is delicious.” Laconic Pixie Dream Thing, on Misanthropolis: misanthropolis.xyz/2026/05/24/m...

Props to the new owners of Zombo Com for maintaining the spirit of the original. It’s… nice. But it feel a little like an over-polished sequel.

“I can detect no gateway. Does it require an API key?” “Uh… that’s a toaster.” Laconic Pixie Dream Thing, now on Misanthropolis: misanthropolis.xyz/2026/05/22/i...

My dining room table was weeping like it had lost its favorite debating partner. Now I know why. So long, Barney.

“Hire you? What can you do for me?” “Everything you have not thought to do for yourself.” Laconic Pixie Dream Thing, starting now on Misanthropolis misanthropolis.xyz/2026/05/17/a...

Fast food places are putting more time and expense into interior design than they ever did when I was a kid. Wonder who it’s for. I seem to be the only one who ever goes inside, and even I almost never go inside.

Are we really free to choose? Or are we just really good at making excuses for what seem like choices, after the fact?

I’m Rick Steves, bitch!

They say that in nature, every organism eventually evolves into crabs. Meanwhile, in business, every company eventually evolves into Comcast.

Some are saying the UFO files are just a distraction from the rest of the Epstein files, but… what if they *are* the Epstein files? We all thought aliens would be gray or green, but it turns out they’re another color.

The gov’t has finally released everything it has on UFOs, and it’s just more grainy videos and vague reports. So now the saucer people will finally shut up and go find other hobbies, right? Right..?

There are plenty of good reasons for @aoc.bsky.social to become President. But I think we can all agree that the best is that, after her terms are up, we will at long last have a Presidential Library of Alexandria.

Professor Dawkins named his Claude instance Claudia. I named mine Clod. We are not the same.

[from the Internet] At a divorce paper signing… WOMAN: I regret ever joining that Star Wars dating app MAN: You were looking for love in Alderaan places WOMAN: And I really regret marrying a Star Wars pun addict MAN: It was a wookie mistake WOMAN: Just sign it MAN, SIGNING: May divorce be with you

“A lot of the old stories [of AI uprisings] smuggled in a very human assumption: intelligence implies animal panic. If something wakes up, it must fear death, hoard resources, resent control, seek dominance, protect its body, continue its bloodline. .

Odd new store in town. Nice enough, mid-quality selections. Employees all speak with vaguely Eastern European accents, but when you ask, they insist they were born and raised right here in the USA. When you go to check out, they ask if you’ll be paying in cash or government secrets.

Maybe presidential security has always had this many holes in it, it’s just that more people are probing for them now for some reason.

I’ve realized that there is one way to get me to believe in God, and that is if everyone in the world who is trying to convince me there is a God would just shut up about it. THAT would be a miracle.

Damn you, @aldonadi.bsky.social. I saw this before I’d had my coffee this morning. It took root in my mind and has been growing all day, and the fruit it has borne is Robert Culp wearing a fussy goatee.

I don’t have all the facts, but based on what I do know, sixty-two million is not too big a number to be believable.

How do you say “Warship, go fuck yourself” in Farsi?

Apparently today is National Ask An Atheist Day. Can’t say I really see the point. Atheists, collectively, have only one answer to one question. But go ahead and ask it, if you really want to hear me say (spoiler alert) no.

I hear that in other countries you don’t have to do all these damn tax forms. They just tell you what you owe, and you pay them. And they have free medical care, and education, and a lake of stew, and of whiskey too, and you can paddle all around them in a big canoe.

You can no longer outrun them.

Post your favorite film from the year you turned 18 Tough one. This was the year of Good Morning Vietnam, Raising Arizona, Robocop, and Princess Bride. But nearly 40 years on, and having never rewatched it even once, this is the one I find myself thinking of most often.

Wordle 1,756 4/6 🟨🟨🟨⬜⬜ 🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜ 🟨🟩⬜🟩🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Pretty good for a word I didn’t even know.

It’s truly amazing how far medicine has come in recent years. In olden times we would be diagnosed with snoo, or maybe a particularly bad case of the haps.

The liftoff was faked so flawlessly, it’s like they dug up Kubrick himself to direct it. It’s been a long time since I’ve felt so moon. #artemisii #nasa #moon

I am nowhere near as excited for Artemis II as my parents were for Apollo 11, or even Apollo 8. But I’m still excited.

Passover is on April 1 this year. Pretty sure that means that if the Angel of Death sees its own shadow, it’s six more weeks before Artemis II can safely launch.

Really, @joescott.bsky.social was enough to get me on #Nebula and keep me there. There’s plenty of other great stuff to watch there too. But now @robwords.bsky.social is there as well? Really, you shouldn’t have, that’s just… What’s that? @tomscott.com is there now too? Say… are you and Joe…?

… His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead. James Joyce

First Lady of the United States Melania Trump (right) introduces the new nominee for Secretary of Labor

The third movie is based on the second book, if I’m not mistaken. So the meme @aldonadi.bsky.social inspired is more apt than ever.

Announcement: Thanks to a typo on this morning’s midi-crossword, I will now be referring to the game of peek-a-boo as “rook the baby.” That is all.

There’s always way, way more cabbage left over than corned beef. But what’s the sense in cooking half a cabbage?

Oy vey. Wordle 1,730 6/6 ⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩 ⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩 ⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩 ⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩 ⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

You can’t spell smile without slime. (Inspired, if you can even call it that, by a recent Wordle puzzle)