I keep running into two phrases that drive me insane. 1) "At the end of the day" Just cut that phrase and the meaning remains. It's unnecessary. 2) "That being said" Replace it with the more succinct, "but", and nothing is lost (except a little of my unreasonable frustration).

If you can recommend one black-and-white movie to someone who dislikes them, what would it be? The Lighthouse (2019) Reminds me, I should watch this again. #Filmsky #Moviesky

For the love of (not) God, please, horror movie podcast hosts, I am begging you - please learn the difference between a *sickle* and a *scythe*. Weird complaint, I know, but it's a mistake that's bugged me on 3 different podcasts about 3 different movies in the last month.

Arthur watched Almost the Last Gnome #sit in spots around the mechanical beast, tapping a #blue stone on the floor. He said the #hum told him things. He looked like a child there. Had Almost ever been a #baby? Arthur wasn't at all sure that worked the same for gnomes. #vss365 #whistpr #2wordprompt

epstein is genuinely the kind of story that could literally break the stranglehold of the ruling class, if we never, ever stop talking about it for a second. it’s the kind of thing that could have people in power tearing each other apart to save themselves, if we NEVER, EVER STOP TALKING ABOUT IT!

Near the roots, his #neck bent to the #elm branches above. He stood and stood and stood through pain and rain and wind, without #relief. Until... looking up and out and into and through all at once, he smiled. " #Bye," he whispered into no one's ears and walked away. #2wordprompt #vss365 #whistpr

Too many for me, too, but to pick just one...

PSB fan, so I want this for that reason. Also watched & enjoyed when they first did soundtrack in 2005(?). But this made me wonder about importance/influence of Battleship Potemkin in general. @moviessilently.bsky.social overhyped or no? www.petshopboys.co.uk/news/2025-07...

"The #sapphire #beetle is known #for its #danger." "Venomous?" "No. The pearlescent carapace mesmerizes, distracts until the viewer sees nothing else." "It must be breathtaking." "Truer than you realize. If you spot one, careful it does not take your breath away." #2wordprompt #whistpr #vss365

4,400 year old cliffhanger. What happens to the fox?? How does Ishkur return (presumably, since it has rained in the last 4,400 years according to my sources)? archaeology.org/news/2025/07...

Arthur tried not to #swear, but his mechanical #sparrow was #complete but wouldn't fly. He'd checked everything three times. Almost the Last Gnome inspected it, nodded. "Fine work." He pursed his lips. With a gentle breath through the brass ribbing, it began to #glow. #whistpr #2wordprompt #vss365

Related: I don't want to see another goddamn article about how to turn my hobby into a "side hustle". youtu.be/vv445S62dgU

visa and mastercard deciding what games are allowed to be sold is an apocalyptic level threat to the games industry. phone calls are the highest impact way to help. this is an all hands on deck situation. the enemy got results with 1000 phone calls. we can beat them phone numbers and a script:

Doing online safety training for work and getting annoyed by the technically incorrect logic and lack of imagination expressed by the correct answers to these questions. A couple of examples:

That's not an "incident"; that's an invasion. Imagine if Mexican immigration officers did that to an American 15 km inside the US border.

I'm attending MoveOn's event, “MoveOn Monthly Phone Bank: Unmask ICE!” - sign up now to join me! www.mobilize.us/moveon/event...

That's the average disparity. Starbucks CEO made 6,666 times the income of an average Starbucks employee last year.

TIL that I know Franz Kafka's work in part because his dying wishes were given to a friend who had explicitly told Franz he wouldn't follow them & that Kafka was "unsuccessful" enough in his lifetime to avoid serious scrutiny of his work by the German Nazi party when first banning Jewish literature

The waiting does not #bother, she lied, remembering the #bright #onyx walls of the city beneath the waves, impossible bones piled against the towering doors, the sister who slept there. She wiped away a #tear, black on pallid skin, and turned toward the scent of man. #vss365 #2wordprompt #whistpr

- wisteria climbs the chapel wall splintering stained glass in its stretch each bloom held like a refusal not to forgive but to remain - a weight the stone remembers in summer the glass hums uncertain whether to sing or to shatter - #vss365 #poetry #poetrysky #read

The edge of the wood, a wall of green, was broken by occasional, bright #wisteria blooms. He #picked the seed pods from these, careful not to touch the stinging vines (species unknown) around them. If his mind was #stable, maybe he could poison her and escape this island. Maybe. #vss365 #2wordprompt

Almost The Last Gnome told Arthur the guys would try to #rob them at noon. "We should work while we #wait." Not knowing how Almost knew everything in advance didn't help his nerves. "How are you so calm, Almost?" "I'm very angry." There was no sign of this. "I'm just #mellow." #vss365 #2wordprompt

#vss365 #Innocence? What is that? Beings like (it? him? they?) the one asking are...born isn't the right word, but there's no better...born with knowledge of things unknowable. Now he (yes, he decided, this body is a "he") had taken a new form. This form had something called "doubts". Strange.

#vss365 The man looked from Arthur to Almost The Last Gnome, busy in a corner of the workshop. "So he's some kind of mechanical #savant?" Arthur frowned. "No, sir." The man raised an eyebrow. "He's a gnome, sir. It's in the name, sir... begging your pardon." Arthur tried not to be rude to guests.

This is demmed peculiar. I'm trying to find a list of the Assyrian Empire's provinces under a specific king. Failing that, a complete list of the Empire's provinces. The only place I can find that list is Wikipedia, which only provides names. No success in any books anywhere so far.

I don't share a lot of commercial links, usually, but Chirp seems pretty decent and FREE audiobooks? Yes, please! (Not an affiliate link. I receive nothing from this.) www.chirpbooks.com/free-audiobo...

Turned out that Razz did not, in fact, have cancer. Yay! 😁🎉 She's doing so much better now and living her great, sassy, life with all the razzmatazz (with the positive meaning of that word) that gave her her name.

I guess I need to make it absolutely clear, to avoid another awkward confrontation. If you utilize generative ai in any capacity to create or promote, I cannot be involved. I cannot blurb. I cannot share. I cannot stock it. I shouldn't have to tell anybody this by now. Stop. Fucking. Using. AI.

#vss365 "You and Eleanor okay?" "Why wouldn't we be?" "Sorry, it's just..I heard you fighting last night. I wasn't trying to." "I guess we were kind of loud. It wasn't a real fight. More like playful banter." "Not a real fight?" "Yeah, not a skirm*. More skirm-ish." #skirmish (*real word from 1500s)

Thankfully affects no one in my home, but I had to laugh when I got a recall notice about peanut butter crackers we'd bought because they may contain an undeclared allergen... peanuts. (actual issue is that some peanut butter crackers were mislabeled as cheese crackers)

Well, fuck... My dog, Razz, has cancer. She's the sweetest girl

Tell hi. To let them burn it down like #felon47 wants.

Just finished listening to this outstanding Librivox recording. That Socrates fella was sorta clever. 🙂 Real thought: A reminder of what it means and what it takes to be a good person, how evil harms itself, how and why to stand up, and why there are few honest politicians. librivox.app/book/6055

Kindling Dead soldiers fill one drawer in the old desk: hundreds of empty pens. He couldn’t throw them away, preferring to rail against #myopic industrialists manufacturing for the single-use. His journals, filled with the pens’ black blood, are to be burned, per his final instructions. #vss365

It's your own - or, at least, it's the one you see in the mirror. Handsome, you think, in a non-intimidating way. You've been trapped in it so long, waiting for Al. A flash and he's there. "Sorry about the delay," he says, "It's complicated. You, uh... You leaped into Scott Bakula."

@schumer.senate.gov Resign

The U.S. Department of Agriculture will hire back 6000 fired workers with back pay. We must celebrate the wins 🎉🎉. www.reuters.com/world/us/usd...

#vss365 An #obstreperous clamor brought Dr. Mills into the room. She burst in expecting a covert grad student party. No one was there. A child laughed. She stared. She'd reconnected the strings that moved the things' mouths. She needed scissors. Inspiration: www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/a...

Just read this sentence in an article about a Tesla being vandalized: "It's tough to know exactly where the Tesla hate comes from." No, it's fucking not. If you wrote that, you are deliberately ignoring an unelected fascist dismantling American society for personal gain. ...and fuck you.

“You listen, lad. When you hear that chime, you run.” The old man’s grip tightened. “You run to town—wake them all!” His gaze flickered to the grave, then back “Keep awake. Keep watch. And by all that’s holy—and unholy—listen sharp, lad.” A pause, heavy as earth “Come dawn… I’ll find you” #Vss365

The #chime was incessant, mocking. Trying to block the noise just made it louder. It came from inside other people, people who couldn't hear it. He wouldn't let it drive him mad. No, not him! When he opened them up, he couldn't find the source, but at least the chime stopped a little while. #vss365

I hope he's ok. I don't give a fuck if the chargers are. (Btw, whenever they might find a suspect, it wasn't them. They were visiting me all day, hundreds of miles away.) abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory...

Definite want (On a related note, I still haven't been able to bring myself to read The Shepherd's Crown because it combines too many goodbyes for me, but I'm working up to it. Perhaps soon.) www.thebookseller.com/news/penguin...

Lately I get frustrated with myself for not doing more to stop the fascism that's wrecking my country and the world. I have to remind myself that I am doing what I am able to do. Though it is small, it's what I can do now. Tolkien taught me how important even the smallest of things can be.

#vss365 Arthur found Almost the Last Gnome's conversation both fascinating and frustrating. It wasn't just the logic that was hard to follow. The gnome would say someone's hair was " #flocculent" (a word Arthur had to have explained), but struggle to recall "red" or "square" to describe a thing.

Not new, but more solidified #doctorwho headcanon following reveals about upcoming season 2/series 15/season 41 (that's not confusing at all): (thread) The "Whoniverse" is essentially like The Dark Tower universe/multiverse. There are characters who know they _are_ characters... (cont) #story #tv

#vss365 #2wordprompt "I, Almost, will travel #incognito." Arthur wondered how #he, the only gnome anyone alive had ever seen, would accomplish that. Almost the Last Gnome pulled from his satchel a device that unfolded itself. As it grew larger a #sound issued from it that set Arthur's teeth on edge.