🧵 Bree sums up the idiocy in the NYT today. At least for writers.

Enjoy this stream, Lehrer lovers! 🧵

Today in Very Important Research: Shipping company Yamato (known for its "black cat" logo) decided to discover which kotatsu was most beloved by cats. After three test runs at five different temperatures, "researchers" said they... had no idea, actually.

How good are the Muppeteers? Imagining momentarily upstaging Robin Williams in laughs. Enjoy Robin being brilliant as always and Elmo Arghing.

Years ago I talked to a woman at Sesame Street whose kid had spent an afternoon being filmed talking to Elmo for a promo, and her kid’s only complaint was that the other guy who was hanging out with Elmo wouldn’t take a hint and leave.

“In a shocking interview with LBC, Lady Victoria Hervey, who briefly dated the former prince Andrew in 1999, said if you’re not in the Epstein Files you”re “a loser”.”

Happy #SuperbOwl Sunday!

My cartoon for this week’s @newscientist.com

#Minneapolis #Signalboost of the day: the TC Pride Cultural Center could use both in kind and cash donations for their pantry. There are also Pride Rebel Loon shirts in @twincitiespride.bsky.social’s shop tcpride.harnessgiving.org/campaigns/20... & tcpride.square.site/product/prid...

#Booksky Check our storefront at DriveThruFiction! Amongst other cool reads, you can find an ebook bundle featuring the Captain Ramos books by Alex Acks and SSBA Award finalist TERROR AT TIERRA DE COBRE by Michael Merriam for the princely sum of $10! www.drivethrufiction.com/en/product/5...

#Booksky Did you know that we have a terrific urban fantasy set in #Minneapolis? LAST CAR TO ANNWN STATION by @mmerriam.bsky.social is Welsh mythology meets Uptown, circa 2007. Ghostly streetcars, the Hounds of Annwn, fae creatures + a sweet sapphic romance! queenofswordspress.com/product/last...

GOOD. 😀

"you might stumble over a whole collective of people resisting in ways you didn't think of. There's a crew of carpenters just going around fixing kicked-in doors. There are tow truck drivers taking cars of detained people away for free...."

Woke up exhausted, and there are SO many possible reasons for it. But saw the latest kerfluffle & just thought I'd mention that I write my own books. Which either get written for months in my head & then pour out in a couple months, or took years to write around making a living. Real author.

The winner of tonight's battle for the #fluffyFort is...

This is a perfect example of "I saw a thing that I could do and I started doing it"

The time that made me an artist came from the sports I didn't play. From long summers with no library access when my friends were on vacation. From lunchtimes alone. That's a lot of us- we built something out of time and need. "I want it now" won't get you there.

Source: thequietsthing on tumblr

I am seeing a lot of people zombie-ing out, and a friend & I just did what may be a time travel baby quilt. The year started weird and continues such. . . .

I know it's Saturday, but I have a bullet point list of things to hit up my Congressional representatives about. You might think about doing that, too. 🙃

When I became custodian of a well years ago, I paid before buying to test basics & agri waste, and also asked for a PFAS test on the water. The group said they didn't have any access to those tests, but since there was no airport nearby or electronic waste, don't worry. :(

Voters head to the polls in Louisiana today to fill a vacant state House seat. The region has a history of voting Democratic in local elections, but it has trended rightward in recent years, giving the GOP a shot at a pickup

I am deeply and profoundly angry about the death of the mass market paperback. My life has always been filled with them, stacked double-deep in bookshelves their height let me put extra shelves in, and I will mourn them forever.

millions will stream sunday’s super bowl without seeing this ad.

Continuing. . . . youtu.be/tFxzohbXLSo?...

since people ask me about this a lot, here are my recommended starting points (I also like The Wee Free Men for a YA-focused start and Going Postal is, while later in the series, one of the most purely fun books)

Will AI Take My Job? (50) Maybe. But not for long. Because after it does, there will nothing but revolutionary fires keeping us warm at night. #BlackSpeculativeFiction #EconomicConundrum #Singularity #FiftyWords #vss #WritingCommunity Welcome to #Omniverse — thaddeus.substack.com

Cast iron cooking. Big article on cast iron skillet recipes showing one of chicken in a tomato sauce. Hint: Unless you want to lose ALL your seasoning, confine tomato sauces to cast iron with an enamel/porcelain coating. Tomatoes do that to cast iron. It's not *hard* to re-season but takes time.

Floored by this story. A man wrote a pollite email to a federal prosecutor objecting to the deportation of an Afghan seeking asylum. DHS responded with an administrative warrant to get the man's info from Google, then visited his home to intimidate him.

I just got this notification from this trial Meta is conducting. For art to be seen, fees are required. No more likes because your work is interesting to ppl, it is all just paid access to huge audiences. And these are just starting fees, they go up after a month. 👎😬😭

Hideous licensing agreement from Red Ogre Review, but what really jumps out at me is the moral rights waiver

Apropos of the rights licensing discussion that has blown up here over the past day, I'm re-upping my blog post on some of the ways writers act against their own interests when faced w/ a publishing offer. It's about publishing contracts, but it applies to TOS too writerbeware.blog/2020/05/29/e...

Here's another article on a Black woman scientist named Gladys Mae West, who Went Ahead recently. I think we should share these articles all over the place. Because this American mathematician quite likely impacts your life every single day. Gladys Mae West deserves a lot of recognition.

I read the “SAVE Act” (the GOP’s new voter suppression bill) so you don’t have to. This is my one page summary. Jesus it’s bad. 1/

My little neighborhood pet shop in Denver, Quality Paws on S Broadway, has free whistles like this at the register. Just picked up a cute blue/purple one. 💙💜

I can haz @mostlybree.kitrocha.com whistles 🤩 (You can haz whistles too: www.etsy.com/listing/4449...)

Good morning from the Whistle Avengers! I just marked the 1,000 I'm sending to fellow organizers in Alabama as shipped, bringing us over 150,000 whistles shipped in February alone! To celebrate, please enjoy some pics from our various printers, showcasing a few of our favs. linktr.ee/3Dwhistles

Technical article first published in 2021, updated Jan. 2026 Rest in peace & thank you, Gladys West 🖤 bigthink.com/starts-with-...

Wyoming, Baba Yaga, and the perils of growing up--RATTLESNAKE WIND is a Kindle deal, $1.99USD (and CAD) at Amazon until 2/8. www.amazon.com/dp/B0BHKVR3YR

Salem is doing her best impression of a tribble today.

We are shipping 40+ orders a day to make up for last week's snowpocalypse. And yet I can still get you Valentine's Day gifts on time because my team is amazing. Supporting queer business is cool, I heard. Look to my posting on @peculiarityshop.bsky.social later this morning for sterling grabs.

she's one-upped Michael Caine, she got to sing with Kermit the Frog AND Miss Piggy

🧵Karl Marx wrote of capitalism as a whodunit, in which the central mystery is: where does surplus value come from? That is, who creates profit & how? It's always the mysteriously disappeared bodies of workers, like those powering the illusion of "autonomous" cabs or "cashierless" grocery stores.

Hey mystery writers, the world has invented a new way to murder someone! Hop on it for your stories, quick!

::tips hat::

For reasons I can’t understand Pakt is discontinuing my favorite travel bags, but they’re still up and 40% off. Discount shows when you add at checkout. I love these bags and they’re very well made. paktbags.com/products/pak... paktbags.com/products/25l...

🧵 that may resonate for you.

Bonus: Don’t do it, Monty…

The late Shirley Raines poured herself into bringing compassion to unhoused communities in California and Nevada, giving hygiene products and food to as many people as possible day after day. She showed millions the difference one can make by providing a neighbor with a meal, a makeover, and care.