I just got the bestest gift from a friend and it’s the energy we need

The Claire Danes Emotional Scale—most people can do only three or four of these: Lip quiver Chin quiver Lip and chin tremble Tremble combo with tears Tremble supreme with bonus snot Whole Face earthquake Gently moist sobbing Extremely wet sobbing Artful Ugly Cry O Lawd She Bawling

One moment you're reading along about the Assyrian empire and the next you trip over a mention of "the world's first film in Babylonian" and then that's it, drop everything, let's go take a look.

the terracotta warriors are literally painted, by the way, it's why most of them remain in the pits - they lost their color when exposed, and Chinese archaeologists and other scientists have been trying to figure out a way to excavate the rest while keeping the paint intact

Norway’s Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide: "International law is universal and binding for all states. The American intervention in Venezuela is not in accordance with international law."

We could workshop that headline, Reuters How about President Starts Illegal War While Congress Does Nothing

What, as they say, the actual fuck The malignant narcissist is, of course, responsible But allowing him to unilaterally start a war is the responsibility of every R member of Congress who has allowed him to retain office while he commits crimes on the daily. Every one of them should go

Warning: Gratuitous taco pics. Shouting about it because omg. They do Al pastor with this toasted crispy cheese and it’s just not fair to all the other tacos. Seriously: If you are in Ottawa or near it, this place, Ay Wey! is the absolute bestest. You should go.

I think it’s fine to write asskicking as one word, no hyphens, but that doesn’t hold true for other stuff like ass-chewing, which really wouldn’t work as a single word Just wanted to start the year with high quality content like ass grammar (two words, no hyphen) Publishers: ASS GRAMMAR. Call me

Watching those speeches from the Mamdani inauguration sure does set a nice tone for the year

I think it’s fine to write asskicking as one word, no hyphens, but that doesn’t hold true for other stuff like ass-chewing, which really wouldn’t work as a single word Just wanted to start the year with high quality content like ass grammar (two words, no hyphen) Publishers: ASS GRAMMAR. Call me

*whispers* Maybe if we play lots of David Bowie and Prince we can trick the new year into being awesome

Have you thought of Rome today

Ohhhh, an appearance of the UK cover in the wild!

Gonna do one last writing session at the cafe tomorrow with a friend and end the year with caffeine a spiffy word count. Hope you have super safe plans!

I didn't bother reading it (thank you for doing the unpleasant work, Kate!) but what bothers me most about this, I think, is the smug implication by the 'writer' that her time is so much more important than the reader's. "I use AI because I have better things to do than write for you!"

Pro tip

Happy Boxing Day! Which is not really a thing in the U.S. and we just sorta learned about it when we moved to Canada, as it is a UK Commonwealth thingie. You might think it celebrates Jake Paul and Andrew Tate getting knocked out, but we celebrate that every day.

This finch represents life goals He bold He gold He stay out of the cold #birds

Cached US #KindleBookGiveaway: 10 copies of Hounded (with two bonus short stories): Book One of The Iron Druid Chronicles by @kevinhearne.bsky.social, which I *have* and *have read*, although not the two bonus short stories. This sale was promoted b the author!

Joyeaux Nöel from Canada, eh

Truth. Ebooks are rad. We are enjoying Jolabokafloð, the tradition of reading together on Christmas Eve. I’ve got a Slough House novel; Kimberly and Levi are reading some nonfiction. There are cookies and hot chocolate. Hope y’all have a lovely one.

The kid is home so I made us some Mexican Mochas. For an encore, we’re going to our local indie bookstore

I went to see Ella MacKay and the performances were great, the family drama juicy, etc. But what struck me was this consistent deriding of Ella as a politician who wanted to improve lives through, you know, policy, and how utterly disinterested the entire legislature was in doing that

New quest unlocked

After watching Pluribus does anyone else want a hidden whiteboard for whatevs WITH ANOTHER HIDDEN WHITEBOARD BEHIND IT FOR CONSPIRACIES

In the vampire edition of The Great Gatsby, Daisy would say “Do you always wait for the longest night of the year and then miss it? I always wait for the longest night of the year and then miss it.” Then she would laugh and eat a baby

You know that Fleetwood Mac song where he wants to lay down in the tall grass and do his stuff? Every time I hear that my brain screams DUDE THERE ARE CHIGGERS IN THERE AND THEY WILL SNACK UPONST YOUR SKIN so I guess you know which song just came up in my playlist

Hey there Happy solstice unto thee! I have coffee and I hope you have a thing you like I am gonna type a letter because I like the clackity clack Gonna read a bit and work on a short story too Hope you have spiffy Sunday solstice plans

Why don't they make new homes with secret passageways and bookshelf that spin around

Handsome sparrow time! A Lincoln’s sparrow in Cape Breton

Same. I aggressively turn off all AI stuff everywhere, my Word subscription is “classic” without AI included, and as soon as I’ve had my coffee in the morning I tell Sam Altman and the tech bros to “Eat shit” the way Chris Evans does in Knives Out.

Juuuust in case you haven’t gotten all the things already for your peeps, or if you’re new to my work, a wee gift-giving guide thread o’ my books, starting with the Iron Druid Chronicles: bookshop.org/a/107403/978... 1/

"This promise of an AI future, is really just a collective anxiety that wealthy people have about how well they're gonna be able to control us in the future." - @tressiemcphd.bsky.social with an absolute mic drop moment about AI bullshit. Incredible words. Listen to all of it!

Juuuust in case you haven’t gotten all the things already for your peeps, or if you’re new to my work, a wee gift-giving guide thread o’ my books, starting with the Iron Druid Chronicles: bookshop.org/a/107403/978... 1/

Guess I'll post this again

Yes

Bit of a latecomer to The Lowdown, but it sure does have some fascinating characters and some laugh-out-loud moments

in case any artists, calligraphers, medievalists, spell-casters or pen & ink-lovers want to know! I make oak gall/ iron gall inks from galls I forage here in the Carpathians! @nightforest.bsky.social

Thanks to The Pitt I learned that there is such a thing as Scrotal Torsion and it is now a top-ten fear, so thanks and kudos to the writer of that episode, Cynthia Adarkwa, for serving up some A-List horror in five minutes

Do you remember when most things fit into your laptop because the universal pluggity plug was dang near universal? And now we have dongles We’re a bunch of dongle havers Somebody got rich and we got dongles Can we get a dongle tax credit please

Amazing that Republicans and Democrats are in complete agreement about how much health insurance companies suck ahh yet nobody is willing to discuss some of the very obvious ways to get rid of them, ways that other countries have already tried successfully

It is true

The final form has been reached. You take a pizzelle, lay down four shots of whipped cream and four raspberries, and whoa dang.

It’s happening A happy stack o’ pizzelles growing before my eyes O joy to the world @alwayscoffee.bsky.social

Kimberly has gotten out the pizzele iron. THIS IS NOT A DRILL. I am gonna have pizzeles soon and I will put whipped cream and raspberries on them and omg She uses her grandma’s recipe and pizzele iron. They’re amazing! @alwayscoffee.bsky.social prepare yourself for gratuitous pizzele photos

Saw the trailer for Season 2 of The Pitt and I am so ready

One way that the reaction to Rob Reiner's murder mirrors Charlie Kirk's is that the best way to eulogize each of them is to quote their words, and in both cases, doing so pisses off conservatives.

We lowered the standard price on most books bought directly from us, so they’re cheaper than you’ll find at any retailer, and most come signed by the author! Behold: hornedlarkpress.com/our-books

While Amazon is investing billions of dollars to expand AI, independent bookstores are hosting community events, personally recommending books to readers, and providing a space that is safe and welcoming during a time when we need them most. Never underestimate the power of a local bookstore.