A flatscreen display on a "smart" water fountain, demanding to be reconnected to the internet.
In 1999, I was playing a decker in Shadowrun, and tried to distract a guard by hacking a water fountain to overflow, and my GM said "why would a water fountain be on the network? That's fucking stupid. No you can't try."
Well it's 2026 and I just want you to know, Phil, that I FUCKING CALLED IT!
Virginia has joined the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, which would obviate the electoral college once enough states sign on to amount to 270 electoral votes. Virginia brings the total to 222. Only 3 or 4 more large states are needed.
i don’t want my appliances to be smart or connect to the internet. i want them to do one mechanical task for 100 years
Hydria (Water Vessel) with Medea and Pelias Greek, made in Athens, 510-500 BCE Attributed to the Leagros Group Terracotta From Vulci, Italy The British Museum, purchased from Alexandrine He sino, through james Milingta, 1845,11093 In Greek myth, the hero Jason was offered the throne of the city of lolcus by King Pelias in return for the Golden Fleece. When the king broke his promise, the sorceress Medea took revenge through a gruesome deception. She demonstrated her powers to the daughters of Pelias by cutting up and boiling an old ram in a magic potion, from which the animal emerged youthful. Hoping to do the same for their aging father, his daughters attempted the procedure, cutting him up and putting him in a cauldron. Instead of being rejuvenated, he perished. The vase shows Medea at her cauldron, while Pelias and one of his daughters look on.
UPGRADED YOUR RAM FOR YOU
I had a lot of students who just stopped coming to class completely last semester and they all had something in common.
A McDonald’s where the sign has been reduced to McDo.
There is no McTry.
We've been keeping this one under wraps, but looks like the cat's out of the bag. Elizabeth Engstrom's '80s horror classic WHEN DARKNESS LOVES US is coming to the big screen next year! deadline.com/2026/04/emil...
Years ago our admin did a red and black report. It took salaries & how much $ each instructor made in tuition $ for classes we taught-you were in the red or black. They released numbers once & shut it down bc humanities were producing huge $ for uni & engineers, business and scientists were losing $
Happy #Caturday, friends!
Today we have a bit of wordplay in a concrete poem by Gemma Lovewell.
#NationalPoetryMonth #Poetry
Looking for a way to chip in financially? You can always join my Patreon where, as a bonus, you'll be able to read me rambling about old monster movies every month...
Fake book cover, depicting eyeglasses on a pink surface. Made for April Fools' Day in 2021.
"Oh, Well, Life Isn't So Bad, After All. A New Surprising Course of Thought," by Thomas Ligotti, CarperHollins, 2021. See description in ALT text.
I am familiar with it, and that was not the vibe I got from your post. Too jumpy, I guess. Cheers—
Same. We need an edit button!
(To be clear, Gerry Lopez is fully cool, and so is celebrating him, but… dang.)
Man, this is not cool. “Obituary” is used to mean exactly one thing, and it’s not “his life’s accomplishments. Seeing your post with the word “obituary” was an unpleasant shock.
KING OF ASHES is out today in paperback!!!
Its also gonna be B&N thriller pick
Thank you to everyone who has shown my dark family crime drama some love
"Everything burns"...
Libraries must regularly discard books in order to remain relevant to their communities, and in such numbers that no craft project or donation effort can offset the need to put the discarded books in recycling bins. This is not a sin, but the natural consequence of books continuing to be published.
Gouache painting grasses, wildflowers, and bushes.
Gouache painting of a pathway next to foliage and trees with shadows cast on the pathway.
A gouache painting of sunlight shining on a tree, foliage, and wildflowers.
Gouache painting sunlight shining on a canal and surrounded by foliage.
Hi Bluesky! I'm a digital and traditional environment painter 🌿✨ here are some of my gouache paintings!
“Time to spend some time with mid-century horror, I guess.” —a win!
Stop worrying about what YA books to let your kids read and let them sort it out with V C Andrews and cocaine era Stephen King as God intended
Black text on a white background, featuring a poem "Space Burial" Where nothing holds us, where long light Can barely stretch, we leave you, friend. From this steel shell you take your flight Without the aid of steel or air, Or need of them. So, weightless, end All waiting, hope or care. Tomorrow on a million moons A million suns will rise—on you They shine forever; no cocoons Of shadow shall eclipse your ride, No worms shall eat your glory through, Nor earth devour your pride. We spring from earth, but in these lanes Of vacancy forget our source. New worlds lie yonder!—So on vanes Of fire we flash there. You are gone, Friend; take with you our brief remorse. We mourn but we go on. Brian W. Aldiss
For World Poetry Day, I'll share "Space Burial," by British science fiction author Brian W. Aldiss. Originally published in 1959 in F&SF, I first encountered it about halfway between then and now on Usenet. I have returned to it again and again over the years.
Cover of first edition of Aldiss' novel HOTHOUSE. Blue background, green foliage and green/white/yellow gem-like structures. Two humanoid figures in the lower right.
This poem is far and away my favorite work of his, but I'd also recommend HOTHOUSE (AKA THE LONG AFTERNOON OF EARTH), a book even more relevant now than when first published.
Finally, if you've never heard of Aldiss, you can learn more about him at Wikipedia --
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_A...
If you, too, are a bibliographic nerd who likes to read about the publication trajectory of individual works, here's the ISFDB entry for it --
www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/titl...
This issue of F&SF in which this first appeared can be read on the Internet Archive --
archive.org/details/Fant...
Black text on a white background, featuring a poem "Space Burial" Where nothing holds us, where long light Can barely stretch, we leave you, friend. From this steel shell you take your flight Without the aid of steel or air, Or need of them. So, weightless, end All waiting, hope or care. Tomorrow on a million moons A million suns will rise—on you They shine forever; no cocoons Of shadow shall eclipse your ride, No worms shall eat your glory through, Nor earth devour your pride. We spring from earth, but in these lanes Of vacancy forget our source. New worlds lie yonder!—So on vanes Of fire we flash there. You are gone, Friend; take with you our brief remorse. We mourn but we go on. Brian W. Aldiss
For World Poetry Day, I'll share "Space Burial," by British science fiction author Brian W. Aldiss. Originally published in 1959 in F&SF, I first encountered it about halfway between then and now on Usenet. I have returned to it again and again over the years.
My sources tell me it’s World Poetry Day, so get out there and drink Sparkling Dactyls until you vomit on a sonnet! For bonus points, end the night with a flight of Flaming Trochees. (Real ones will already have plotted out their Spondaic Keg Stand.)
I’ve bought a few small/weird-sized ghost-of-MMPBs the last 10+ years, and most have been billed as artisanal and/or morally upright exercises in publishing. I don’t disagree with the approach, but little books I horse around, batter, and forget on a bus? Hmmm
I couldn't be a part of this. Staying would just affirm what I think of as a deeply corrupt practice that is also an invasion of my privacy.