someone has liked a few posts in this important thread from ~a year ago, so here it is again

I'd watch a muppet show movie where the muppets infiltrate an academic conference.

The next nine months are existential for the GOP's fascism project. A blue wave in November (as currently seems extremely likely) would mean two houses under Dem control, with the ability to impeach and remove Trump. His "jokes" about cancelling the midterms aren't just aspirational.

me to my recently diagnosed kid: you'll find, when you start properly getting into social media, that memes about ADHD by people with ADHD are mostly hilarious, and memes about ADHD by people without ADHD are mostly "squirrel!"

You’ve Got This*

bitch you didn't just call the hobbit a fucken "prequel"

how can *anyone* -- much less anyone involved in literally *any way* in politics -- who lived through the last decade in the UK even begin to believe that this is how any of this works?

Still can't believe the latest Epstein Files release just casually confirmed the anti-SJW movement was planned by pedophiles. "The entire reactionary anti-woke backlash was masterminded by child traffickers" is the kinda shit I'd say as hyperbolic agitprop, but it was true the whole time.

The Wright Museums Instagram page is HILARIOUS. Think The Office but it's the staff at a Museum for Black History. Better believe this is on my list of places to visit. Gentle Spades "I'm a veteran"

One thread I've seen in online discourse the past few days is trying to understand why Epstein did it all. Not why he trafficked and abused kids, but why create a vast network of wealthy, privileged men to join him in the abuse, why collect so many emails and photos damning them all, etc.

If you are baffled by why the jury refused to convict the Palestine Action defendants, it's because – unlike them – you didn't hear the actual evidence. You heard what the media wanted you to know. Here, I explain what the jury learnt from the trial: jonathancook.substack.com/p/barristers...

I’m a week late posting this for reasons, but on Burns Night week, we did a passage from “The Needfire” by @mkhardywrites.com. The students (16-18yo GCSE English resit students, mostly non-readers, hair, beauty, motor vehicle, carpentry, electrical, childcare etc) responded SO well to the text. 🦌 ❤️

Gorse, a sumptuous, tender folk horror Gorse by Sam K Horton is set in Cornwall in 1786. All I know about that is this: Cornwall was a long way from London at that time and unlike somewhere such as the fens in East Anglia, it was far harder to reach as well. Horton's story is set in a small…

it's so weird. the answer is "better policies, less obsessive triangulation, less flirting with fascism," but they seem unable to even think it

Delighted to announce that @jonmcgoran.bsky.social's THE PRICE OF EVERYTHING is up for the Climate Fiction Prize! www.instagram.com/p/DUXmfnmknD7/

my message to royalty: REIGN IT IN

there are two objectively correct choices for classic stories to give the Muppet treatment and they are a) Dracula and b) Pride and Prejudice

I agree, but feel like "don't put unexploded munitions in your rectum" might be the more urgent warning?

My column today: on why if AI creates a world where almost everyone has to live off UBI, we should throw away the machine instead:

not sure which Epstein revelation is messing with me more, the discovery that Musk desperately *wanted* to go to Epstein Island but was too big a nerd to join the club, or the news that pizzagate wasn't even an invention to cover Trump's ass but literally just confessing to what they were doing

I just read this and yes, it was brilliant. Neil has nailed its essence (yes...) and I think further information genuinely spoils the impact; I would recommend not reading reviews, just reading the book

amid various reports and studies confirming that in most cases using LLMs in your work makes you less productive (BC more error prone), I saw a fascinating poll that showed that office workers and c-suite differed hugely on whether and how much LLMs saved them time at work

It's funny the handful of replies and quotes on this from people who haven't read it and think that the issue here is just, you know, them working very hard. Working six days a week on a job you love can be great fun. Eating only steak and eggs because it is 'optimising'? Uggh.

the "but Pretti had had a run-in with ICE a week before" line doesn't contradict the clear video evidence that he wasn't threatening, obstructing or clashing with the agent at all and was simply knocked down and executed without warning.

I can confirm that Daksh Gupta, the 23-year-old co-founder of an AI start-up, is wrong. That is not the vibe.

Important thread! I'd add something Alasdair kind of alludes to but doesn't state directly: if a project is of a *type* you just Do Not Like, maybe don't bother reviewing it?

It was so weird. We watched a video in school Tuesday afternoon about the coming launch and about how cool it was that a school teacher would be on board, then came in Wednesday morning to be told that the shuttle had exploded, and then it was time for maths.

it's stunning. they haven't even started negotiating with the GOP yet; this is the Dems negotiating among *themselves* as to whether and how much to oppose literal fucking stormtroopers executing American citizens in the street

I can't be doing with making up a fake trashy youtube title screen for the BabyTube meme, but I present: "I didn't want a new banana, I wanted Daddy to fix THAT banana!"

Happy Large Boulder the Size of a Small Boulder Day! I'm celebrating by eating a Large Chocolate Bar the Size of a Small Chocolate Bar.

*fully restores your HP as you scroll past*

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson was born on this day 27 January in 1832. Better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an author, poet, mathematician and photographer. His most notable works are Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass (1871).

When he was 11, his father was given the living of Croft-on-Tees, a church dating to the 12th century. and the whole family moved to the spacious rectory. The church t is he possible source of one of Lewis Carroll's best loved literary characters the grinning Cheshire cat.

Meanwhile, a 14th-century carving of a "Pilgrim Hare" in St. Mary’s Church, Beverley, a town in which he had relatives and often visited, is widely believed to have inspired his White Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland. See Alt for image details,

I do sympathise with this thought, really I do, the "*now* you get it?" responses absolutely put a barrier up against future people changing their minds, but also I have to look at the last decade and think "none of this was a deal breaker - *none* of it - until now"

I know Bluesky was named because it was intended to be a new, innovative platform etc. (i.e. "blue sky thinking"), but I will forever read it as a reference to it being a federated/decentralised platform (i.e. "blue sky" because it's not in the cloud), because that's funnier

the party of "states' rights":

UHHHHHHHHH this is a hard question uhhh Maybe MOST representative and accurate is THE SIEGE OF BURNING GRASS (Solaris, 2024)? I don't know if it's my best book but it's still my most 'me' book.

I don't know how to deal with Trump haranguing Norway's government about the Nobel Peace Prize, and then threatening Denmark's government with invasion over the same award (which is granted by an independent panel in Sweden). It feels uniquely damning, but it's also absolutely typical of him.

Obi-Wan Kenobi will return (again) in Avengers Doomsday

Mr. Pink will return in Avengers Doomsday

Harley Davidson and The Marlboro Man will return in AVENGERS: DOOMSDAY.

And here’s the form if you fancied voting for anything on the list: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Wonderful to be on the BSFA longlist for the Immeasurable Heaven, and to see that its brilliantly psychedelic cover by Sam Gretton is on there too. Thanks @bsfa.bsky.social ! @solarisbooks.bsky.social

A monk asked Zhaozhou Congshen, "Has ChatGTP Buddha-nature or not?" Zhaozhou answered, "Are you fucking with me? No, of course not."

I've just encountered the phrase "septum ring theory" and it's literally just the latest version of "blue hair and pronouns," it honestly doesn't merit the word "theory"

I think we’ve got better and more culturally-varied street food than I could have imagined, cool jackets galore, and drugs that make us think we’re really fast and strong before they kill us.

you know one depressing thing about trump and maga? so the key feature of fascism is identifying an "out" group and blaming the country's ills on them, right?

LinkedIn simply cannot be beat for Accidental Content

okay, for real, not joking, I genuinely cannot understand how there could be a "growing" sense of embarrassment about the fifa peace prize. like yes I get what he's done in the past couple weeks, but what could *possibly* be any more embarrassing than giving him the award in the first place??