Because it is always a product of the creator’s culture. Sci-fi and Horror just make it explicit because they display the dreams and nightmares of our time.

I was a polisci major in the early 90s and had a great class where we read & watched SciFi/Horror to look at embedded themes. I wish I still had the syllabus. I know we read Ursula Le Guin and “Beggars in Spain”. The whole point (or by maybe my interpretation) was that politics are always embedded.

Interesting. She was still on the monitors in Detroit this morning.

Interesting - the other element to my Casey’s pizza ignorance is that I lived in Des Moines until 1992-ish and Iowa City until 1998-ish before they really expanded beyond small towns (i.e. well before there was one on Dubuque Street).

1. Casey’s has Taco Pizza?!? (This probably just shows how long I’ve been away from Iowa.)
2. I miss Happy Joes.

I only started playing “Candy Cane Lane” and found myself wondering how a 3 minute song could feel so painfully long. I really am not sure I can endure the whole thing.

I know we are beating a dead horse at this point, but…
Listening to late 80s “alternative/college” rock:
XTC “Oranges and Lemons”
World Party
Tears for Fears “Seeds of Love”
Primal Scream “Screamadelica”
Yep, clearly no Beatles influences there.

It’s Storytime with Wil Wheaton You may recognize Wil Wheaton’s name from his acting work in television shows like The Big Bang Theory, Leverage, and Star Trek: The Next Generation, or 1985’s timeless classic, Stand B…

Breaking: 50-something man an emotional wreck on a Friday morning due to @wilwheaton.net’s latest Storytime - wilwheaton.net/podcast/
(But seriously, Wil, thank you!!!)

Collective Nouns for Librarians - McSweeney’s Internet Tendency A group of librarians is called a cardigan. A collection of empty chairs is called an author reading. A collection of Eric Carle books covered in s...

www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/col...

I didn’t know until now that in the original Rosie the Riveter painting, she is crushing a copy of Mein Kampf under her foot. Happy feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary, remembering all the women who crush the serpents of Satan under their heel.

President Snoopy

Photograph of a monarch butterfly on white hydrangeas.

“No talent hack does surprisingly well over 30 year career.”

The Insaitable Iowans is still up.

I hadn’t paid any attention to casting before the show was released and was SO delighted to see Jack McBrayer in Sanctuary Moon.

Phallocentric is the name of my new band. We only do covers of 1990s Nu Metal.

Iowa was becoming this when I left; it is JUST this now. I'd like to say something this Ginni-Thomas-eyed and condescending would end her gross septic fascist career, that "sensible middle-ground Iowans" would actually apprehend this as a fuckery-too-far, but nah, this is just Iowa.
Fuck #JoniErnst.

I often stand naked in front of a full-length mirror, studying myself to better come to terms with my imperfections. It’s not an easy thing to do though, and quite frankly I feel IKEA security could be a little more supportive.

Or… “USAID helped end white supremacy in my home country 40 years ago, so now I will destroy it.”

Photograph of a sunset taken from an elevated position . Near the bottom of the photo are a line of trees extending to a body of water (Grand Traverse Bay). Beyond the water is another line of trees, and just above the tree line the sky is varied shades of orange and yellow, with some grey clouds at the top.

Photograph of a chalk drawing by David Zinn. The drawing is made on the inset of a brink column and shows a small pig with angel-like wings flying in the air, with white clouds in the background. The pig is holding a pitcher and pouring water from it. Below the pig is a green “space alien” with arms outstretched, catching the water. The alien has two eye stalks (the eyes extend from the top of the head) and it has a smile on its face.

Even though I’m on the Ann Arbor Mastodon server, I’m not actually in Ann Arbor or Ypsi often enough to catch David Zinn’s #streetart in person. So it was a treat to find this at St Joe’s Hospital.

Close up photo of a tulip. The outer petals are bright red, with a ring of yellow in the center of the flower. The pistil in the center of the flower is surrounded by six stamen. Some pollen can be seen near the base. (Not a botanist, I did Google the names of the flower parts, hopefully I got it correct; apologies if this discription is inaccurate.)

#bloomscrolling

Screenshot from weather app showing sunset at 8:29pm.

Michigan checking in - we are well past that point. (Sometimes it is nice to be on the western edge of the Eastern Time Zone.)

30 years later and I still can’t hear this without the context of other audio clips like “A two pound burrito? I want one”, “Slab” and the opening bars of Beck’s “Loser”.

It’s Only the Fourth Reich If It Comes from the Reich Region of Germany, Otherwise It’s Just Sparkling Fascism - McSweeney’s Internet Tendency Don’t be embarrassed, it’s a common mistake. You look around and think, Yep, this is it. Paramilitary deportations, apocalyptic foreign policy, and...

www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/its...

Aging is not bad!

It is a sign that you’re harder to for your enemies to kill!

It’s proof that you’ve learned some stuff!

Do not buy into our culture’s terror of death, or the capitalist obsession with the new.

You earned every damn wrinkle and grey, dammit.

Own ‘em with majesty.

I've worked in churches for nearly 25 years and my office space has NEVER been that nice. 😆

It Was an Ambush Today marked one of the grimmest days in the history of American diplomacy.

"America’s alliances are now in danger, and should be: Trump is openly, and gleefully, betraying everything America has tried to defend since the defeat of the Axis 80 years ago."

www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

Of Interest – February 2025

Cory Doctorow - "All Bets Are Off" Even if you've been suckered by the lie that bosses have a legal "fiduciary duty" to maximize shareholder returns (this is a myth, by the way – no such law exists), it doesn't follow that customers or workers share that fiduciary duty.…