Not the best photos, but today's small friends are a foraging blue jay and an American robin seen through elm leaves at dawn. #pittsbirds #backyardbirding #birds #birdsofmastodon

[UKpol] What's the point of having a Labour government if they're just as keen to shut down protest as the Tories?

Finally watching The Big Lebowski and I feel like this movie explains a lot about the overall vibe of GTA V, both in general and with regard to specific missions.

One Battle After Another is… huh. A lot. I'm gonna need to sit with this one for a while. That said, this is the second movie this year I've seen without knowing a single thing about it (after Sinners), and what a good choice that was.

Just removed Disney and Hulu from my Apple TV homescreen since I no longer have a subscription. Let's see how long it takes me to miss them, if at all.

Please don't preemptively change your iOS app's icon to iOS 26 style on earlier versions of iOS. It's just cruel to those of us who aren't updating.

Thinking it may be about time to reread a few Discworld books. You know, spooky ones appropriate to the season, like Reaper Man and Maskerade. (And then all of the others.)

Tim Cook is a coward who's enabling a fascist president. Apple can't be fucking trusted. https://www.theverge.com/news/791170/iceblock-app-store-removed-by-apple

::yawns:: All right, let's check out this new album from the young ingénue.

On this day in 1766: the Nottingham Cheese Riot. 🤨 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nottingham_cheese_riot

In a moment of deep thoughtlessness, I nearly just poured Laphroaig rather than olive oil into a frying pan. 😬

Y'all, @nancywisser dug up some "baseball cards" I made as a kid and this one fully looks like cheap AI slop. 😂 I'm not sure which is killing me more: "MAJor weiege" or "FLEEP". But the fingers really do suggest the possibility of a kinship between young me and generative AI. 😬

Since it's the first of October, I've pulled down my hummingbird feeder and replaced it with a largish suet feeder. I'd already had to pull down my other feeders for the time being since it proved to be the only way to stop an entire flock of 20+ pigeons from invading my 10x14 back patio […]

'The AI actor [sic] was created by Dutch actor and comedian Eline Van der Velden who reportedly said she wanted Norwood to become the "next Scarlett Johansson".' Well, getting on Johansson's level of arrogance in believing that she should play trans characters and characters of other races is a […]

oh no. the new fallout 76 expansion takes place in ohio. terrifying

Had my groceries delivered this morning, and for no reason in particular I am reminded of a throwaway footnote in Terry Pratchett's Reaper Man: "It is traditional, when loading wire trolleys, to put the most fragile items at the bottom."

I can fix government shutdowns with one change. Watch this. Government shutdowns now affect the military too.

Musing on what could make a Harry Potter sendup novel worthwhile, and I'm realizing just how low the bar is after writing the bullet point: • It should have a protagonist who is not straight, white, male, and generationally wealthy. Also possibly not a Christ-like figure to much of the magical […]

"Ooh, chance of an aurora? I'd better… oh."

"Please explain to me the scientific nature of 'the whammy'."

No matter how much I agree that a person is absolutely the worst, I have an automatic flinch reaction if I hear someone refer to them as "trash", "garbage", "filth", or any other dehumanizing term. Even the worst person is still a person. It takes away nothing from their awfulness to […]

i would be so delighted if i never had to hear a single thing about jk rowling ever again yet another mind permanently lost to the wealth disease

[USpol, gun violence] for fuck's sake can the media stop racing to pin each new shooting on a "team" unless the shooter had a big sign or a manifesto saying "I ENDORSE {INSERT_POLITICAL_VIEWPOINT_HERE}", they're probably just a sick person with insanely easy access to guns. we don't need to […]

Watching an episode of The X-Files when suddenly: oh no

I think maybe I want a shirt that reads, "CLARENCE THOMAS IS A MOTHERFUCKER".

Fourth Edition was the perfect Magic: The Gathering set. Do not @ me.

Once again I am reminded that for me personally, there is no higher compliment than being told, "You were exactly right about X". 😌😏

[Israel, genocide, Eurovision] > In a letter sent to participating broadcasters on Thursday, the EBU president, Delphine Ernotte Cunci, wrote there was an “unprecedented diversity of views” on Israel’s participation in Eurovision, and the issue required “a broader democratic basis”. NO IT […]

If you make me guess which baby picture is which coworker, but you include celebrities as options to make it trickier, I _will_ just guess The Rock for every baby.

Just watched an X-Files episode from 1994 and the most outlandish part isn't the guy who's abducted by aliens, but Scully walking out of a grocery store with a full bag of groceries for $11.14.

"In 2023, Apple and Foxconn successfully lobbied for a landmark bill in the Indian state of Karnataka to liberalize labor laws. The new legislation allowed factories to run twelve-hour shifts, up from nine hours previously." I'm not sure that's what "liberalizing labor laws" means, Mr. McGee.

Reading other people's code makes me want to tear my hair out. Today in stupid code tricks: - Naming two variables with similar purposes but associated with different web services `app_id` and `appId`. - A comment that describes what a conditional block is doing, except that it bears absolutely […]

There needs to be some kind of limitation on asking for feedback about customer experiences. How about instead of filling up my inbox with crap, you just prominently place a Feedback box so I can provide feedback if and when something is actively bothering or delighting me? It's not my job to […]

I think it's pretty neat that I can wake up with a song in my head that I haven't thought of in years, by a band I never saw live, and thirty seconds late be listening to that song in full.

"nothing bad can happen, it can only good happen"

Just caught up on the Ruby news and… woof. At least it's very clear which side to take. I mean, it already would be, but DHH taking the other side does really help emphasize it.

[USpol, worldpol] Didn't really anticipate living in a rogue state, you know?

Theory: any episode of TV that starts out with lightning briefly and unsettlingly illuminating taxidermied animals in a cabin while thunder rumbles outside is going to be a good episode of TV.

hey giant eagle what the fuck is this

Happy fall!

"Siri, what time is solstice?" "Solstice occurs every June solstice."

"So that's the truth? We're not alone in the universe, but nobody likes us?"

Like hell it does.

Gueeeeeeeess what season it is, everybody! :D https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/its-decorative-gourd-season-motherfuckers

A watched AI never makes a return on investment.

Today I met a puppy and it's the best thing to happen to me in weeks.

Man, I miss him. https://bsky.app/profile/barackobama.bsky.social/post/3lzbokx5um22k

It's so weird to read articles like this. It's like living in the DC universe and listening to the people around you say, "Look, I know it's Lex Luthor building this tech, but maybe this time it's good, actually" […]

Something something ffmpreg. I don't have an actual joke here, just a very stupid idea for one. Please clap.

One thing that has not changed since I was small: my complete inability to gauge the actual damage caused by a stubbed toe. Sometimes the pain makes it feel like there should be blood everywhere and there's none, and then sometimes it's like "ah damn, but no big deal" and then there's blood […]