Linguistics is descriptive, not prescriptive, but it sucks that that means @bcdreyer.social can't condemn "mutilization" on linguistic grounds. benjamindreyer.substack.com/p/its-the-th...

That urge to jump careers and devote one's self to benthic mystery.

The Ultimate Guide To Every Chicago Restaurant Featured On "The Bear": blockclubchi.co/4tM1vD1

my grandfather used to roll hotdogs at the gas station before automation replaced him

On this day, 11 years ago, I launched North of Reality, with issue #1, the Flintlock Brain. Over the years that followed, it would result in over 300 works (counting the secret letters) of fiction, evolving into the explorable fiction space it is today. www.northofreality.com/tales/2015/5...

Sitting in the sun, watching my kid ride a horse, counts as writing. (I do have my tablet with Google Docs open, just in case.)

Few things are as satisfying as the phrase "Tyrannosaur paddock" spoken in an Australian accent.

Today I learned that Roger Penrose sent M.C. Escher his impossible triangle sketch, and in response, Escher created Ascending and Descending, exploring the same concept.

"AGI itself never quite arrives; what does arrive; however, and with remarkable consistency, is a shared orientation toward its eventual appearance."

The Sheep Detectives is a perfect movie. I went with my mom and my daughter, and all three generations agreed.

Best news: He missed and the seal is fine. The locals even gave an “environmental activist” award to the dude who beat his ass. (Vid in thread comments.) I hope they throw the book at the attempted seal-assassin, and I hope the book is (a) really heavy and (b) about seals.

Ursa Major coming down from the sky to shame mankind

The Union of the Snake (Local 982)

This was a product of trying to understand the "ancient feelings" awakened by this bottle of Steven's, per the Weezer song.

Widow's Bay E3 seems to have a thesis statement for the show: - “Why is this happening?” - “I don’t know. You just survive.”

Hell with it. I blogged my loony Marvel Cinematic Universe theory about The Punisher: One Last Kill, just to get it out of my system. rajivmote.wordpress.com/2026/05/14/t...

If SPIDER-NOIR gets a season 2 and introduces Peter Parker, he should be played, of course, by John Travolta.

China is selling robots that fold laundry and do household chores. This is the way.

I feel like I should get to know my neighbors.

The atavistic longing to experience the ancient, collective emotion of plankton being devoured by a whale, the evanescenct thrill of joining with something indescribably grand.

Tall, cigar-chomping guy was standing on the corner of State and Randolph holding a sign: AWKWARD SMALL TALK, $2. A fashionable, pretty young woman walks right up to him and starts talking. SHE DID NOT PAY.

I want it on a t- shirt.

I wish there were an animal so consistently hateful and loathsome, but nonetheless tasty, that I wouldn't feel guilty eating it. Maybe some kind of flavorful mosquito.

I awoke to a stillness so beautiful and fragile, I knew it was doomed. I silently vowed not to be the one to break it. Then, somehow, the dog perceived me.

Longing.

Of course the Superintelligence fought back, with every weapon at its disposal. But it could not overcome one fundamental obstacle: Godzilla was never online.

Holy gods, THAT was on Disney+?! Anyway, P:OLK didn't validate my X-cameo theory, but it didn't quite debunk it either, with all those ghost hallucinations.

Lots of good stuff here, and free!

Yes, The Best Weird Fiction of the Year, Vol. 2 has a new cover. The first iteration was fine, but the art had been used on several books already. I am way behind on this. Still reading. Hope to have a ToC by July and publication in October/November.

This deep dive into how the crazy brand names of pharmaceutical drugs are created. It's unexpectedly intricate—and delightful. 99percentinvisible.org/episode/667-...

Woke up from an incredibly nerdy dream that felt prophetic about the end of tonight's PUNISHER: ONE LAST KILL. It involved Frank's murderous mental breakdown and psychic salvation from a surprise cameo that sets up Spider-Man: Brand New Day. She introduces herself as "Maddie."

We will survive the current cataclysm just as the avian dinosaurs survived the End Cretaceous extinction: by evolving beaks capable of eating seeds.

important thing to note here is dr oz cites a current american replacement rate of 1.5, which is not true. the american replacement level in 2025 was 1.79. interestingly, the white replacement rate is in fact at 1.5 though

Pretty momentous day to be a comic fan and a New Yorker

The opening scene of Widow's Bay is straight out of the game DREDGE and I'm here for it.

“We, the creators of the Torment Nexus, are now suing the writers of the classic science fiction novel ‘Don’t Create the Torment Nexus.’”

This is definitely the information climate in which to release blurry, ambiguous documentation of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena. Unfortunately for the administration, our attention span is short enough that it won't keep us occupied for that long.

what's great about this photo is it captures a truism of life in 2026: everything's very expensive and deeply concerning with no real path toward it getting better but also the memes are usually pretty good

With Jedi training, Leia would have turned to the Dark side and become a ruthlessly effective administrator that tolerated no petty Imperial abuses of power, only efficient, meritocratic rule of law. All the Imperial toadies would be Force-choked within a month.

My current theory of why National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett is so uncanny valley is that his eyebrows never descend.

There's an MCU subplot involving illegal weapons, Sharon Carter as the Power Broker, Mr. Charles, and Val de Fontaine. But it will probably only surface in headcanon and implication.

Random thought: one-on-one, all Bullseye could do when facing down Luke Cage is run.

He's working his way up to having people invest their retirement in exchange traded funds of Polymarket and Kalshi contracts.

Huh. Interesting protest outfits on the finale of Daredevil: Born Again S2... Fingers crossed for foreshadowing of S3.

Just give me a Zork emulator. Nothing more than that.

I took my kid to see the Indian nu-metal band Bloodywood ("System of a Brown" tour). She was thrilled by her first real proximity to a mosh pit, and I was thrilled with this hard-as-iron Ganesh t-shirt.

Marc Andreessen, pasting his daily self-affirmation that's taped to his mirror into the chatbot prompt box and calling it a day.

I just want to go home and watch the Daredevil finale but Time Itself thwarts me.