This - I had a story rejected once because an editor couldn't consider that really wanting to try a particular stew was enough motivation for someone to go on a hunt through a city. I've known any number of people - myself included - who will go on a quest for a particular falafel or injera. 🤷‍♀️

I just spent several minutes trying to buy one fucking sandwich from an automated grocery store checkout. No way am I getting on a plane that uses A.I.

@2ndshiftbrewing.bsky.social #craftbeer is also on sale at most Schnucks stores in #stl & #stlco 🍺

choosing to believe this is an intentional rebuke to all the Tolkien dilettante tech fascists

It's a beautiful day here in Scotland. The next five days look to be just as gorgeous. This is your reminder that your medications can make your body's heat respinse change. You may feel okay while you're actually dangerously overheated. Stay cool, hydrated and shaded. Check your medications:

And I don't know what's been going out in the house while I've been in the garden but there are holes in the wall, smashed plates all over the floor and a severed hand under my new John Lewis summer collection washing up bowl (in avocado sunset) Not groovy. Not groovy at all.

Sat in the garden today listening to the audiobook version of the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis and for some reason all the plants have got riled up and started moving around. That and the apple tree has gotten all tentacley and tried to touch me in my "bathing suit area" (which only Ms Nito is allowed to)

got no hands for the pope but I will wish him luck in his campaign of Unlimited Clouticide on Silicon Valley

We've learned how to defeat the machines! Spread the word to the other countries!

An automated A.I. WWE news channel tries to pronounce "WWE" as a word and ends up going insane! 🤣

That kinda heat in LONDON???? They’re absolutely not built to survive what’s about to be the new normal.

“Palestinians in Gaza have starved to death while surrounded on all sides by food and supplies that were prevented by Israel from getting in” ~Sarah Clancy Irish Examiner ☕️🥐

Okay, 8 legs, not bitey, what are you

So close to achieving this goal. Please keep spreading the word, and donate if you can!

i maintain that one of the biggest losses with the death of daily papers is kids losing the daily comic

I'd say erased but anyway a reminder that Memorial Day started because African American Charlestonians took it upon themselves to give a proper burial to the union soldiers

An actual gay Hannibal!! Or the actor at least 😂 The Silence of the Lambs stage show premieres in Leicester, UK in August. If any #Fannibals want an excuse for a meat up, some of us are off to watch it on closing night - Saturday 15th August. #Hannibal www.whatsonstage.com/news/silence...

New fear unlocked. 😱 The life of an Archivist is wild. One minute you're merrily scanning through a folder of old photographs, the next you've uncovered something like this and it feels you're starring in the pre-title sequence of a 70s horror movie.

I mean, they’ll kill the foolish and blithe in a heartbeat! any mountain will. but they regularly do give foolish folk at least one chance to choose wiser, and even sometimes give us back our dead. that’s sweet on people, for mountains! the hollers, though. the hollers do hate you.

some day I’m gonna write some fucking rural horror-fantasy set in the appalachias because boy do some folks have the wrong idea about those mountains. there’s angry mountains that hate people and there’s mountains that just don’t fucking care, but the appalachians are practically sweet on people.

It's the glorious 25th of May.

It’s amazing that streaming ads have found a way to be even worse than the TV ads streaming platforms were supposed to help us avoid. At least TV commercials were placed at reasonable stopping points.

Prime with ads. Just how Kubrick intended.

'No debate' was from the community (not stonewall) in response to genderquake airing in which channel 4 bussed in a bunch of anti trans figures who c4 encouraged to harass the speakers. In return various trans people said no debate (as in no, we are not going to go up and debate on these shows)

the timeline— trans people: fine whatever if you’re going to be so weird about us, let’s talk about it channel 4: we’ve set up a debate where the audience are encouraged to shout PENIS! at Munroe Bergdorf whenever she talks trans people: yeah okay we’re not doing this again

There he is

#277

sorry to the baseball purists out there, but this is delightful

well one of us is going to have to change

Oh lawd he's cotta

Giles has two pillows

There's a 20% off sale on my entire payhip (aka buy direct from me) store right now, so get caught up! Below is a thread of my books with links to payhip and other stores - or you can just go directly to the Payhip store itself: payhip.com/kristadball

While I'm at it, Google advanced search no longer works. It forgets search terms you've entered, especially if they're in quotes. And of course the imposed AI summaries are tedious. I use other engines where possible. I'm already halfway there, but I'm definitely heading toward an open-source future

A while back, my fast, perfectly functioning TV hub became Android TV (also owned by Google), and now when I turn on the TV, I have to watch a sluggish loading icon spinning for several minutes. And then, even when it does finally open, the programme listings/schedule don't always appear.

#Google bought out the firm that made my pedometer, and the updated data privacy statement is like: "We take your PRIVACY SERIOUSLY and GUARANTEE that we will NOT use ANY of your data for purposes that we have not yet thought of. Please note that there may be data privacy amendments in the future."

Signs of drowning: • Head low in water,mouth water level • Head tilted back, mouth open • Eyes glassy, unfocused, closed • Hair over forehead, eyes • Vertical • Hyperventilating, gasping • Trying to swim, making no headway • Trying to roll over on back • Ladder climb •Can't cry out or wave for help

And what to teach people to do if they are drowning: Flip, Float, & Follow (analog of Stop, Drop, & Roll if you catch on fire)

It's Mermay and I believe in fat-Seal Mermaid supremency. Going to be reposting some of my faves over the next week. ❤️❤️❤️🌊

Fashion designer Jeremy Scott delivers commencement speech to Kansas City Art Institute graduates. Wait for it…

I remember this article from when this was first published. If you haven't read it yet, you absolutely should!

Oasis

On a budget of $11m, Alien grossed $184.7m worldwide, so was a massive hit. It is still regarded as a classic and spawned a whole series of other films based around Giger’s creature. 39/39

None of the cast knew about the chestburster. Lambert’s look of horror was actress Veronica Cartwright’s real reaction. Sigourney Weaver said she thought Hurt might actually be dying. And Yaphet Kotto went home that night and locked himself in the bathroom for 4 hours. 36/39

In the script, it states the eggs were found in an ancient pyramid-like structure. So, the chamber with the alien eggs isn’t actually on the spaceship – it’s in the structure, and when the crew abseil into the chamber, they’re moving from the ship into the structure. 34/39

The bridge of the alien ship has a huge skeletal figure sitting in a chair – the Space Jockey. The studio said the set was too expensive. Concept artist Ron Cobb though convinced them to keep it saying that one shot made the movie look expensive and not like a B-movie. 33/39

Needing an actor to get into the rubber suit, a casting call out. Peter Mayhew, who played Chewbacca in Star Wars, was considered but the part eventually went to a 7ft 1 graphic artist called Bolaji Badejo. He was discovered in a London pub by the casting director. 28/39

How the Alien was created: - The front part of the alien’s head was made from a cast of a real human skull. - The slime that drips from the alien’s mouth was K-Y jelly. - And shredded condoms were used to create the tendons on the alien jaws. 27/39

The full-grown aliens were originally going to be transparent and their heads full of maggots. This was too hard to pull off though. And, originally, the alien Giger designed had eyes. He asked for the eyes to be removed when the effects team started building it. 26/39