Gonna try to get a lil more work in tonight. Talk to (some of) you Friday!

I'm so scared. Limited edition tomfoolery is so scary.

...I did not have an actual modern crusade on my 2025 bingo card but here we are.

I keep seeing people like Mamdani's victory speech to Obama's Hope and while nothing they're saying directly is offensive, the odor of it all is kinda rancid. Do non-brown politicians not inspire you, or is it just that brown politicians talking about pluralism is a distinct flavor you recognize?

Today's thought: One day, after a life of friendly disagreements you've had that you wished were over, you may look around to discover the people you disagreed with are gone and their arguments gone with them. In that moment, do not be surprised to discover you wish you could argue one more time.

Grief takes so many forms. It's the river of tears that hits me at a loss. It's the sudden, heart gripping sorrow as a memory floods back... It's also the small, sour moment of longing when someone mentions a Dragonball reference and I'm reminded I'll never speak with Toriyama-san about it again.

I understand Bill Ackman has tendered an olive branch to Zohran Mamdani, offering any aid that the city needs. I'm sure that he'll be thrilled when Mayor Elect Mamdani passes this offer along to his transition co-chair, Lina Khan. Ackman and Khan have experience with each other after all. 🤣🤣🤣

Hear that? If it wasn't for large groups of people all collectively voting against us, the vote would have never gone their way!

I'm just calling it right now, if this shutdown has taught us anything, it's that a really damn good time to float referendums like free school lunches and increased funding for shelters is during a federal government shutdown. A lot of folks who hum and haw suddenly discover they do have a heart.

What I don't know about this man could fill a book but we have a few months to figure out if he's better than Platner and gee golly I'd really hope some Mainers would explore it.

oh look this guy supports medicare for all and i assume he doesn't have a nazi tattoo so there are options in maine just fyi

I had someone who, in the middle of eating General Tso's Chicken, told me that no food worth eating has ever come from NYC. I had to take this man seriously for the rest of a group dinner.

So, in Jersey there's some rumblings about shenanigans but it's likely to go nowhere because Ciattarelli couldn't even win his own damn county and they're very upfront about that. What I'm saying is that even his own people didn't want him. 🤣

A thought for writers: You've probably heard the adage "everyone is the hero of their own story." I'd encourage you to ask if you've considered your supporting characters through that lens; do they have rich inner lives where they seek their own goals or do they exist to wait on the MC's attention?

I've started a new book and I genuinely hate damsel characters. That weird mix of innocent, helpless, clingy, with a constant undertone of "maybe romanceable" grates on my soul like nails on a chalkboard. I will DNF a series, multiple books already invested, if I have to read about one for too long.

Returning to my perennial advice to folks on social media: If your first interaction with a stranger is to disagree, maybe think about why you're interacting with them at all and if you find that is a pattern in your interaction with strangers, maybe think about it others seek new disagreements.

Me, casting votes:

Don't get me started on how predators appear to have a thermal vision band of only about 10 degrees (based on them detecting mammals almost exclusively) and how weird that is considering how unique the thermal conditions supporting that are to Earth. I will start drawing graphs.

I feel like you can kinda guess that Grace would be a secret Trump voter, but it still always feels like a betrayal. Really come a long way on her views about Trump since 2019 when she was outing folks for going to his events. Guess it hits different when it's your brand of hate.

Say what you will about pageants but I just read up on the Miss Universe scandal and those ladies get my applause. Mexico was called 'dumb' by the director in a group meeting and when she tried to speak for herself he called security. In protest, despite his threats to bar them, a dozen walked out.

I had a friend disinvited from his sibling's wedding because he was gay and it didn't align with their values. Heartbreaking but his response was beautiful. Reproduced below.

One of the game dev subreddits has a guy sharing that his game has negative steam wishlists. My favorite responses so far are: "You have 13 wish-it-never-lists!" and "That's one way to launch a Kickstopper." 🤣

I frequently deal with students, ranged middle school through senior college undergraduates, who are surprised that I can simulate the code they've written, stack trace, and debug it all in my head. AI and "vibe coding" have only made this worse in recent years. It's really quite concerning.

Still true, and I think about this every time I see some pixel artist sharing great work that I wish I could share in good conscience.

Schumer won't admit he didn't vote for Mamdani and Jeffries spent the weekend explaining how Mamdani isn't what the future of the Democratic Party looks like. What I'm saying is that some NY Congressional seats could use a refresh.

There are layers here that will one day fascinate archaeologists for decades.

Deep, rounded sounds. There kind of voice whose heart note rumbles. It's such a delight.

You ever notice how it's always White people insisting on the value of a return to the center? Every centrist gathering looks like an ABC show; white as a default with a few tokens when the cast grows. It's almost like preserving a status quo uniquely benefits the current power-wielding majority.

Dick Cheney's dead at 84? Awwww, that makes me feel! I wonder if Mitch McConnell is checking the calendar (83, Feb 20th. You know I checked.)

One of the most insidious parts of misogynoir is how any other group that shares an intersectional identity with a Black woman will feel entitled to take any statement she makes about being a Black woman and insist it be expanded to also discuss them. Even their shared minorities marginalize them.

"That's no way to talk to people if you want them on your side," Listen here bigot, do you see a recruitment poster? Do I have a badge pinned to my lapel? Then why the fuck would you assume I'm here to convince you to join shit? Because I happen to belong to a minority? You hear yourself right?

That article is from May. I love celebrating the downfall of shitty actors, so let's take a look at a more recent pyre burning. finance.yahoo.com/news/why-tar...

I also stand by my hope that the way they introduce Doom speaking in third person is by suggesting it's a traumatic habit he was taught by his father when he's speaking as the office itself. Like saying: "I love you, Sue... But Doom does not exist for love. Doom exists to do what Latvia requires."

It's interesting that Robert Downey Jr will now have played two megalomaniacs in the MCU who both ended up at odds with Avengers because they thought they knew how someone's life should be run better than the people living them. Real two nickels situation.

I will never read an isekai story about someone like me because to others it would be boring as fuck. I'd either end up a complete hermit, digging as deep into a system as possible while telling the rest of the world to fuck off, or a teacher determined to break the system through guiding students.

Sometimes a book cover makes me instantly feel something for an author. The book I'm starting makes me feel "bless their little heart, I know one author who didn't use AI for this." 🤣

One of my favorite ideas in cosmic horror is the belief that the world is actually always dealing with horrific, world-ending threats, but that forces beyond our comprehension (or perhaps an evolutionary defense against such forces) is constantly wiping all awareness of the cosmic threats away.

Oceans Eleven and Now You See Me What's better than a heist movie? A heist movie where it's between two known groups of master thieves.

Stranger Things, The Dark Tower, Firestarter, Carrie

Learn to love every flaw your body has while you are young. One day you will look back and wonder why you were so foolish as to think it wasn't good enough just as it was.

The author of a story I just finished described an ornamental, thorny wild pear tree and described its "seductive, sweet scent." Reader, I need you to know that ornamental pear trees with thorns are wild callery pear trees and it is reasonable to describe their scent as "fishy semen." Just saying.

I am reading a story involving someone with amusia and I'm really curious: Assuming that it isn't total, how hard would it be to teach a skilled performer who has never heard a song to perform the song if *you* knew it well but suffered some amount short of total amusia? Interesting problem...

I deeply appreciate that Musk and Trump decided to split the Republican ticket in the 11th hour by endorsing Cuomo despite Sliwa being the GOP nominee. Honestly surprised Jeffries didn't join them, but I guess that's a spine too far.

Watching a clip of Miley Cyrus casually naming queens from Rupaul's Drag Race and explaining she knows all of them is such a moment, and her clapping back at Joe Rogan for suggesting "they all do the same move" is the kind of support I'd hope for. She took none of his shit and packed him right up. 🤣

Absolutely infuriating. And NOT a business decision.

I live with one foot out the door. I'll never be the one left, always the one leaving. Doesn't matter how long, how deep, how strong the relationship. I will always be prepared for when it's time to go because staying hurts too much.

"It's all about mindset." As someone from a family of schizophrenics, no... You actually can't just think every mental illness away.

To take a different direction, Kouta Hirano, the artist behind Hellsing. Let's just say you definitely don't anticipate bumping into some of his... earlier work.

It has arrived! Thanks to @lioninthetrees.bsky.social for creating it and @chewbanza.bsky.social for sending me one of the only remaining ones... It will live on my new surface, alongside my matching enamel pin. Pangolins rule.

There's this one podcast duo I see come up in my shorts where a Black guy doubles down over and over on something incorrect while the White friend insists, becoming increasingly agitated, the correct answer. The way that this angers me because I recognize this is White Supremacy catnip...