Today's Entry In... Unfortunate Signage...

will the prices that went up because of tariffs now go right back down? or are we now living with higher prices on some goods because of this unconstitutional decision?

Gimme.

This would make for a great trivia night, pub debate with a bunch of nerdy cinephile friends.

The recent kerfuffle over AI or not-AI in Starfleet Academy has reminded me of just how toxic the divide in #StarTrek fandom can be. So I wanted to give a heartfelt thanks to some of the folks who’ve helped foster really insightful discussions and a more positive fan experience:

I’m looking forward to another delight from @scalzi.com … November is so far away. Le sigh.

"AI detectors" are themselves AI, and yet are endlessly trusted by people on here if they say that a newspaper article is AI. AI detectors are snake oil. None of them reliably works. And UK broadsheet are not yet using AI to write articles. No, that link to the deal you found doesn't prove it.

I like the use of black plates to simulate the gap connections. It looks better than using translucent pieces, IMO. Also, I need to build this.

The talk to your friends app and the witness the horrors app being the same app is not great for the mental health is it

Had I the startup capital, you bet your ass I’d found “The Dumb Company,” and all we would make are appliances with no computers in them. Or at least very basic computers with no network connections. “Get yer dumb TV! Have you tried our dumb refrigerator? Grab a dumb oven, while supplies last!”

I spent my childhood inside of American concentration camps. I know one when I see one. And that is what ICE is building.

“That there must be virtue in imperfection, for Man is imperfect, and Man is a creation of God.” —Kurt Vonnegut, Player Piano Looking back over my annotations from recent reads, and I rediscovered this gem. It’s like a mantra I should hold onto when I’m having tough days.

Simply horrific. What are we becoming?

G-d I love these deep dive threads @starfleetdesign.bsky.social puts together. Thank you, sir!

I am not even an action figure collector, but I want this. Also I have to get Kirk and the center seat. Don’t necessarily need the whole bridge set. But the OG captain’s chair? Oh hell, yeah.

Hear ye all, the wisdom of the purple Houstonian.

Hell, these warnings predate my generations cultural totems. “Those who live by electronics, die by electronics. Sic semper tyrannis.” — Kurt Vonnegut, Player Piano (1952)

No notes.

Wow… just… wow.

valentine's day isn't just for couples, it's also a day to celebrate love. for instance, i would love it if housing prices came down.

Yes. There. I answered it for you. #StarTrek #PaulGiamatti

“I beat up some guys in a bar, and then I got plastered,” is such a quintessential Nic Cage line delivery. <chef’s kiss> It just sits there limp on the page. Nothing special. And then, here comes this singular actor who makes it sing.

I am shocked, shocked, to discover gambling in this establishment.

I long for my childhood hours spent playing Wipeout XL. This looks like a worthy successor.

We ride at dawn fans of #StarTrek and lovers of well-made #artbooks. Those are two pretty big niches. Let’s do this!

In a sea of typographically overwrought covers, it is nice to see a book cover that relies on imagery and cleverness alone. Which is why I think Starter Villain is my favorite John Scalzi cover. I did like Fuzzy Nation, but it gets docked a point for not being… ya know… actually fuzzy.

Share one of your favorite movie posters.

I’ve been reading early Vonnegut and old Philip K. Dick novels in the last year. I am reminded, every time, of just how misogynistic that period was in a way no history textbook can convey. Vonnegut’s writing sizzles, but I think many of those writers got by on the concepts and their privilege.

I never realized there was a time when George Lucas was beardless. I thought he had been born with it.

Wasn’t expecting Tarantino to outpace Wes Anderson on this list, but damn if it isn’t a beautiful run of film.

I want this shirt for my birthday, to anyone who knows me well enough to care about making use of that information.

Sir, you made The Fountain. That shit was beautiful. You gave us Brendan Fraser in The Whale. I mean, yeah, you also made Noah and whatever the hell Mother! was, but what in the fresh fuckity fuck are you doing?

This is the best meme I’ve seen this year. No notes.

Apple had a what now?

There's something so insane about the fact that the app stores will, to the best of their ability, prevent you from accessing consensual pornography while letting pornography that is, by default, nonconsensual pass with a shrug

My generation got *this* majestic brilliance. My son is subsisting on Roblox speed runs and fucking Lankybox merch shilling. Clearly, we have failed our progeny.

I cannot recommend enough that you read the replies to this. They are so snarky and giggle-inducing. It will brighten your day.

This is some deeply inaccessible, ivory tower, academia prose. But the point is spot on accurate and in need of amplification. Concepts or past events don’t need perfect historical, 1-to-1 reproduction to be relevant and illustrative to the present moment. Whether it’s fascism or Anne Frank.

🤦🏻 The memory of the Holocaust meaningless if it’s only about Jewish persecution, and if nothing can be compared to it as a warning about modern moral crises. 1/2

What an absolutely stacked cast that film had. Gene Hackman! Leo DiCaprio! Sharon Stone! Russell Crowe! Gary Sinise! Keith Fucking David!

I cannot with this timeline. I have twice found myself in agreement with posts from Bill Fucking Kristol. What in the fuck man!?

I just keep picturing Bovino as a self-satisfied putz, with his legs up in some corner office in Arizona, slowly being gassed to death like a certain someone in One Battle After Another. The resemblance really is uncanny.

Was it Tim Cook? Did he take a private jet across the Atlantic, because he was just so moved by the White House screening, he had to see it again, anonymously?

She spent a whole heap of time pulling anecdotes and quotes from decade+ old studies just to willfully dance around the part where J.K. Rowling’s gleeful transphobia simply soured legions of fans on the whole Wizarding World. 1/2

If it cosplays like the Gestapo, and it talks like a Gestapo with a micro-peen, and it slips on the ice and accidentally shoots itself in its little Gestapo feet… it sure as f**k sounds like the Gestapo to me.

The Washington Post published a clear video of federal agents removing Alex Pretti's handgun moments before he was fatally shot. There's nothing in the video to suggest Pretti even reached for his weapon. wapo.st/49Zqv1L

Even when there’s no accountability, the record matters. Credit to the Wikipedia editors maintaining this page.

For those who haven’t seen it yet, a heartbreaking statement from the victim’s parents.

A book from almost a century ago that is far too prescient and far too relevant. Even if it’s not Lewis at his best as a writer, it remains a novel everyone should read.

I’m reminded of the old Andy Griffith episode where the big city, state officer shows up in Mayberry and can’t understand why Sheriff Taylor isn’t pulling a gun and arresting the local drunk whose taking pot shots from his house.