They're challenging and interesting roles. She may have had others on the list as well, those are just the two I remember.

I will note that Mom's theory predated the movie Shakespeare In Love by a good decade.

She thought the theories about other people writing Shakespeare's plays were classism.

My mother was a Theater historian (though not a Shakespeare specialist) and her Shakespearean conspiracy theory was that he had an actual adult actress in his troupe for a while, and knew it, and wrote the roles of Lady Macbeth and Cleopatra for her.

That Shakespeare's plays were largely written by WIlliam Shakespeare

I kinda liked the theory that Laura smacked him.

Right? It's just so simple and plausible. And friendly fire is EXTREMELY COMMON, it's been an issue basically since the invention of missile weapons.

That JFK died from accidental friendly fire when a Secret Service agent fired back at Oswald. (As proposed in "Mortal Error." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortal_... ) Not sure that counts as a conspiracy theory unless the Warren Commission figured it out and covered it up, though.

I feel like "sweet, pottery-making nerdy guy who's still taking covid precautions" is somebody's ABSOLUTE DREAM GUY. Maybe you'll find her through this thread 😂

Oh, I'm glad to hear that. She honestly seemed really nice. The whole "attempting to matchmake for her adult child at the DFL convention" was one of those things that could have been a whim or could have indicated a profound lack of boundaries, hard to say...

4. Did you eventually find a partner, or if not, did your mother eventually accept your single state?

3. If you were single, were you actually LOOKING for a significant other at the time or was your mother just very determined that you should have one?

2. Were you actually single at the time? (Speculations on my FB included that the son was gay, and that the son had a girlfriend but his mom wasn't going to hear about it until a wedding date had been picked.)

1. How did you recognize your mom from this incident? Was she an inveterate business-card hander-outer or was it the pottery?

This Is Just To Say

I have turned off
the AI features
that were in
the update

and which
you were probably
hoping
to monetize

Fuck you
they were stupid
so unnecessary
and so annoying

🤣🤣🤣

I have some follow-up questions that you are under no obligation to answer...

Also, I definitely did not get the vibe that her matchmaking was authorized by the son 😂

Okay
Brace yourself

I didn't hold on to the card but I passed on the email to a single friend

Does your mom by any chance share your last name

And is her first name Dianne

‘Simply stop giving millionaires water for literally free’ is one of the most insane sounding but actually serious policy solutions out there

a fluffy cat is sitting on a table and looking at the camera with the words `` my current state '' written below it . Alt: an absolutely frazzled cat whose fur is sticking out in every direction kind of like my hair currently is.

I've been reading @naomikritzer.bsky.social's upcoming novel, Obstetrix, and I am so incredibly stressed out. (complimentary)

us.macmillan.com/books/978125...

Help Keep Powderhorn Food & Basic Needs Going! Since December, a dedicated group of neighbors have helped delivery weekly food and basic needs to over 200 families! Our starting donation balance has been depleted and we are needing additional funds to continue supporting families through the end of the summer. Any amount helps! Venmo @southsideneeds

Hello! Powderhorn Food & Basic Needs (aka the Squirrels) needs some help to keep providing food and hygiene to vulnerable families in our area. Please share widely and give if you can!

In Our Glorious AI Future, There Will Be No Such Thing as Money (For You) “In the future, there is such a thing as money. But there’s no such thing as your money. All the money is our money.”

"In the future, there is such a thing as money. But there’s no such thing as your money. All the money is our money."

A contact form reads: Subject: Checking Authenticity Body of message Hi there Beth. I have been contacted by someone who is using the email, [email blacked out], and using you name and one of your novels 'Feast of the Starving Stone: The Chef’s Five' to engage with me as a fellow author - if it is you then great, if it is not, as i suspect, then this is a fake approach. I just wanted to be sure. thanks. [signed name blacked out] You're a real person, right? No, I'm a bot. Please don't include existential questions in a contact form. Yes.

I just found out that an AI scammer is impersonating me in their spam campaign. I am LIVID.

Please, please share this post. Warn people. I’m horrified that someone might be ripped off in my name.

No one is safe from being impersonated like this.

Your phone will never take a good photo of the moon except for this one rare exception.

Awww what a pretty little cat!

Someone understood the assignment when it came to @naomikritzer.bsky.social’s “Cat Pictures Please”

Okay I love that you were haunted by a ghost that told your dog he was a good boy.

A whole new scam aimed at writers:

- get an email from a writers conference asking for you as a speaker
- google the conference: it's real
- say 'yeah, let's do it'
- the 'fee' is mentioned for the first time
- you check with friends listed for the event and find out the email reply address is fake

(I do take transit occasionally, but not 1/4 of the time. I decided that "never" was a more accurate answer than 25%, so I went to click never, and couldn't get the radio button to light.)

Yes, that's what I meant. The survey wouldn't take it as a response. The responses also didn't work for me, but that's not uncommon on surveys in general!