Occasionally Instagram tricks me into clicking on Threads. This is the first time EVER I’ve seen something there that delighted me

Economics may be complex and all that but the stuff you buy today costs a lot more than it used to even a few years ago because companies raised prices blaming “inflation,” posted record profits and never brought prices down. If “inflation” doesn’t ever recede for the consumer that’s a problem!

It’s weird how you never hear about Method actors going Method for a character who’s like… incredibly kind and generous and just being incredibly kind and generous to the cast and crew. Method is literally just men giving themselves permission to be abusive.

Unburying the lede from my essay on why we all feel like numb frozen crap these days… catvalente.substack.com/p/this-is-wh...

Working on something about what Twitter meant to historians - what was good/not good about it for the profession, in relation to the general crisis of academic history / the profession, etc., the cratering of the university. What was #twitterhistory at its best? What were its failures? 🗃️

to cheer you up, here's Patrick Warburton and his sons (two of which may actually be clones???) doing Kronk lines

I wrote a piece about translation earlier in the year, talking about how a good translation isn't, and can't be, just matching words one-for-one: whatever.scalzi.com/2025/02/03/h...

French publishing house Harlequin decided to use AI translation instead of human translations. All their freelance translators (some of whom had been working with Harlequin for +30y!!!) were told they would no longer receive work from Harlequin

Senate News: Republicans are trying to sneak a provision into their latest government funding bill that would make it easier to sell off public lands and national parks, and may have the votes to do it. If you care about protecting your public lands, now’s the time to make it known.

Hilariously, this is the job I used to do for the government before I got DOGEd: remediating documents so that they don’t look like this.

@erinbiba.bsky.social I found the LED menorah and this photo tones it down, but it's like staring in to the sun. 😂

When I lived in LA 97-99 (and you may recall this @davidjroth.bsky.social), Rob Reiner led the smoking ban in bars. I couldn’t believe bars could exist without cigs. And I don’t even smoke. He kickstarted all of it. I still go to bars. I never have to Febreez my clothes. So, also that.

Mel Brooks having to bury Rob Reiner is against all laws of nature and I’m not ok about it

Part 2 of 2. #alt4me please!

Chag Sameakh. Part 1 of 2. What does this holiday mean, anyway? And can I please get #alt4me?

Again, if someone responds to antisemitic violence in diaspora by whatabouting, you can just block them.

A font that works for dyslexic people *really is* DEI -- it is Inclusion. Trump personally ordered all government documents to use fonts that work less well for dyslexic people, explicitly because it is DEI. A hugely costly change for no purpose other than exclusion.

now that megaman 12 has a release date we can finally confirm that clarissa explains it all takes place in the year 2027

Well the stats are in: congrats to Bruce Warren (@somevelvetblog.bsky.social) on topping the #XPNCountdown table with a perfect 10/10 and a whopping 8 picks in the top 25, including "Watchtower" at #1. Mike V comes in 2nd, followed by @wendyrollins.bsky.social in 3rd then @shesmyfriend.bsky.social.

Tagging out for the top 5 is genuinely a drag, but alas! Ceramics class means no skeeting! Good luck, dark horses, for those not Johnny/Sinéad/Jeff spots! #xpncountdown

I just love how many people are singing along off key and not caring right now. 😄 Mere mortals can't hit these notes! #xpncountdown

I limited myself to one Nirvana song (Love Buzz, no regrets), very much assumed that this would have a comfy coast to the top 50 even without me. #xpncountdown

Glad to hear Soft Cell here. I can't believe I only just saw them this summer, and now David is gone. You did good, buddy. #xpncountdown

I would've done an all DEVO list if there weren't so many other things to include. As it is, it was a #11 for me and had to get cut for even weirder things. We are not men. 🫡 #xpncountdown

The Janis version is just so clearly the definitive version. #xpncountdown

@djrobertdrake.bsky.social Losties coming in hard for Hazy Shade of Winter #xpncountdown (good, let us have the whole countdown sometime.)

You will simply never convince me that he's not saying douche//doesn't know what a deuce is. #xpncountdown

The only question I have is will _all_ the top 30 songs be sad sack weepies? Given what we haven't heard yet, my guess is 90% yes. #xpncountdown

I won't be awake at 6am, but I am super excited for potentially the first and only time WXPN will ever be subjected to GWAR. At 6am. Have fun, early risers. #xpncountdown

There was definitely a spot on my list specifically for "weirdest cover of a Prince song" that I'm pretty sure won't place, but between Hindu Love Gods doing Raspberry Beret and Tom Jones' Kiss, I'm counting that as a bingo in intent if not actuality. #xpncountdown

[email protected] what did you DO. #xpncountdown

Couldn't be me, the most stalwart champion of ELO here in 2025. (It actually wasn't me, I was preoccupied with other things that won't place, but I support this.) #xpncountdown

Ok the Sid Vicious version of My Way is sufficiently weird, I'm back on board. #xpncountdown

Rocky Mountain Music Repair's School Secret Santa Instrument Drive has delivered more than $405,000 in musical instruments since it started in 2020.

AI keeps unintentionally proving that the value of these things is in the labor and they have to make us think that they labored (but we know they didn’t)

can't stop watching this clip of a tesla Optimus teleoperator taking his headset off before properly logging out the robot

This creater puts "reading levels" into perspective in a really helpful way, so sharing it here.

One of my neighbors has been putting up these fish facts posters. All kinds of different fish, marine, freshwater, deep, shallow, all kinds. This is a good one. “Stg this real fish” took me out. Good work, neighbor.

And look, I will stan Orgy harder than anyone should. Vapor Transmission was a formative album for me. But we can do better. #xpncountdown deserves better.

Ok I wasn't gonna be angry but NOW I'M ANGRY WHO PUT ORGY ON THIS LIST INSTEAD OF LITERALLY ANYTHING ELSE. SHOW YOURSELVES. #xpncountdown

If the Bowie/Jagger DNcing in the streets is ~560, I give up. Nothing about this countdown is real. Math is fake. #xpncountdown

time to pull out the seasonal favorites

Heartbreaking. The University of Nebraska will terminate its entire Earth science department. One of the country's most successful and respected geology & climate programs: gone. When ideologues & politicians are threatened by the very act of studying climate change, I wonder: who of us is next?

If you need me I'll be grousing about the 885 Mike Patton songs we could be listening to instead of RHCP, ever, for any reason. #xpncountdown

You absolutely cannot convince me that anyone had RHCP'S Love Rollercoaster on their list. Absolutely not. Nobody thought of this and went "yeah, this above all else!" No. I reject this reality. #xpncountdown

I left the room for like 10 seconds and FNM's War Pigs??? Unfair! Uncouth! Also, this bodes ill for the rest of Mike Patton's extensive catalogue, let alone metal in general, in the top 500. #xpncountdown

Hooray for Brian, Alex, and the metadata! (Hallelujah is still going to blow your shit up. 🤣) #xpncountdown

The following is a statement from the WGA on the Acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery by Netflix.

Every FoW song is the best one, but this is a good one, even if it slipped past my own list. #xpncountdown

I also forgot about it and I'm fully prepared to argue about its placement vs the next 700 songs. #xpncountdown