As I have noted before, almost half of everyone ever born died in childhood. There are people alive today who were already alive when this stopped being true for everyone born in the future. All of pre-20th-century history is an emotional foreign country, for this reason alone.

Current* conditions near Chicago, IL:

You will never catch me speaking ill of the humble lentil

I feel like you are not actually fiscally disciplined if you refuse to spend money you can get on things you need

Every once in a while, I check my son's Steam reviews.

✨ A few years back I stood outside Wells Cathedral for a full day and photographed the impact of the light on the front facade. I was amazed at the outcome - at how a single entity could morph and change under the changing light. 🌅 #thread

If you like an author's work, the best thing you can do is buy it. The second best thing you can do is ask your local library to buy it. Or, do both!

"read but i need to read them again when the adhd is cooperating"

also: the library! it will still be free! at the library! you can use a variety of apps/sites to access! the library! you needn't go to a location! to enjoy the library! if you request the books of authors at the library it helps us! if you check them out it helps us! and also the library! LIBRARY

a world without trans people has never existed and never will

well folks, it happened. after years of saving spare bits from ikea and other flat pack furniture, my ikea furniture came three screws short. anyway, i did not have a single matching screw

after all, who could expect audiences to suspend their disbelief or let go of what happened in a previous james bond film? the role having famously been played by the same man for the last sixty-plus years-- [hurried muttering from offstage] sorry, what? you said SEVEN men?

Every year we get closer to this happening on the news

[in a way I haven't truly meant it all year] nice

'you'll scare away [type of voter] if you're too accepting' is always the line, but it isn't coherent reasoning. i mean, is acceptance USUALLY something that scares people away? or does it, in fact, draw people in? perhaps people experiencing... the fundamental human desire for... acceptance...

No Kings includes DraftKings

tmj...... traumatic mouth jaw.......

Portland resists with whimsical improv theater, Chicago resists by screaming at weird jagoffs that don’t belong in the neighborhood. Every city brings its own strengths to the fight

@mollyolguin.bsky.social and I crushed Halloween if I do say so myself

I don’t think voting alone can fix our crumbling democracy, but it’s one of many tools we can use to improve things. Use every tool you can.

even @theonion.com could not have written this

We’ve gotten numb to it but Trump threatening NYC voters with federal funding to vote a certain way is the kind of shit that should get him unanimously impeached today. Insane fascist bullshit.

Really don’t think it can be emphasized enough what an INSANELY promising technology mRNA vaccination has proved itself to be and it’s beyond infuriating that it is under active and sustained attack by the most powerful people on earth

everyone place bets on when Georgia wipes my voter registration again! We are at 14 purges in the last 12 years

These Chicago restaurants are offering free or discounted meals during SNAP pause: blockclubchi.co/47DM5Ys

happy halloween to all but especially to the person who came to the door as an INCREDIBLY executed headless cryptid in a long coat, waited until offered candy, waved both hands in refusal, silently pointed to where their head should be like "can't. no head," & left. remarkable work. art. no notes

A billion dollars is the socio-economic equivalent of a loose nuke, and we should work to prevent the acquisition of the former with the same urgency and ruthlessness we use to prevent the acquisition of the latter.

Americans want to watch charismatic people solve moderately difficult problems on a weekly basis. That’s it. And a group of fomo execs and techbros who don’t watch TV drove one of the most profitable industries in the US off a cliff rather than accept that.

finally some good news

for pratchett fans, a related quote and a related passage, which are from separate works, but at their best together. the quote, from sir terry's forward to the ultimate encyclopedia of fantasy: "stories of imagination tend to upset those without one." and the passage, from hogfather:

you don't understand. as someone who isn't inherently good at art, stealing paintings from the museum is the *only* way i'm able to express myself creatively. i wouldn't be able to paint beautiful portraits. but by breaking into a museum and stealing the paintings, now i am

yeahhh. i deeply hate this, esp how it leaves the subconscious impression that the words are what's taboo, instead of the things those words describe. but also 'grapist' in particular always feels like part of a lost arrested development joke? i can't not picture it on a tobias fünke license plate

Some representative images

Thanks you @doublebackreview.bsky.social for doubling back on this one, first published in a now-defunct magazine! If you like Yellowjackets, dead things, and complicated feelings about the body/sexuality, this is for you: doublebackreview.com/issue-7-2-oc...

We have been friends a long long time, & share a number of Foundational Texts, & it is always a joy & delight to look at something you enjoyed but DIDN’T build a brain with through a beloved friend’s eyes!!!

Every fall I watch Angels in America but I have never watched it with Gay Movie Night until this month. We’ve been watching movies together since 2020 and we’ve known each other longer than that but it was still an unprecedented joy inviting @aneelin.bsky.social et al inside my brain.

CLUE is, in many ways, one of our best games about how we’d all like any excuse to wander around other people’s houses checking for weird shit.

Say that to Chicago's face, I dare you 😡

We didn’t have broadcast television growing up, & only watched things on the weekend, which were procured from the (gone but not forgotten) beloved local video rental store so I couldn’t even begin to scratch the surface. First off the top of my head of a long list is Titanic, though.

The birch trees are so pretty now

At the risk of sounding flippant about Current Times (which I assure you I do not “lol”) I’m here to say! After a long day doing your little best to stem the rising tide if fascism, what better to try & soothe your soul to regroup tomorrow than a lovely book that believes in the best of us.

Current* conditions near Grand Haven, MI:

hey, cis people. we need you to call every single elected official you've got, now.

bro. bro. your overton window, bro. i don't wanna alarm you, but it definitely isn't where it was the last time i came in here bro. i think that thing's been shifting on you, bro. that's like, really NOT good, bro. if it moves too much it'll -- oh fuck, is it moving right NOW?? bro! BRO --

It's honestly really easy to call your elected representatives! I know it's scary, I have ADHD & an anxiety disorder. But I promise you can do this. Tell them trans health care is not a negotiation point, it is about freedom and bodily autonomy and medical privacy. Then give your name and address.

this whole piece is deeply worth reading and sharing, especially with the centrist dems and liberals in your life, but this penultimate graf really sums it up. you just can't play these kinds of games with people's lives.

Just checking my itinerary for tomorrow.