foulserpent: “I think my ideal job is being paid $50/hr. to sit on the computer doing whatever I want at an empty rented office space for mysterious employers. Definitely running some kind of money-laundering scheme and just needing me to keep up appearances of one of their shell companies, but I’m not like, in on anything, and no one can charge me for anything.”
Quotes
Sunday, December 7
Thursday, November 27
Cousineau, Barry: “I was doing Long Day’s Journey into Night at the Pasadena Playhouse with a bunch of cokeheads - it’s usually a 3-hour play, we could bring it in just under 37 minutes."
Tuesday, November 25
davenewworld: There has never been a time in US history when SNAP was withheld nationwide, but the 2025 government shutdown will break that streak. So to summarize: The public has proof of genocide, pedo rings, foreign collusion, gaslighting, surveillance, urban occupation, police brutality, human trafficking, family separation, etc… and now mass starvation.
“Guys, a crossover between the tales of King Midas and King Oedipus would be motherf*ckin’ gold.”
“I made a joke about trebuchets a while ago and it went over a lot of people’s heads.”
(facepalm) -- just when you think you've heard it all ...
Tuesday, November 25, 2025
Host: The Syrian president came in, and Trump sprayed perfume all over him. Did he smell? Leavitt: That happens all the time. Not just with the Syrian president, but I’ve seen it with other foreign leaders. I’ve seen it with cabinet members, myself. He has a cologne and a perfume. He’s just showing off his wonderful scents.
“Honestly once you realize you’re not in trouble all the time and really no one has power over you, the second half of life begins.”
WarPaintJournal: “One day my mother casually said, ‘we never worried about you, you always knew how to take care of yourself.’ And it broke something quietly inside me. Because what sounds like pride also feels like loneliness. It means no one ever really looked too closely, no one wondered if the strong one was tired. It means I learned to carry the weight so well that no one thought to help me set it down. And maybe that’s the silent cost of being ‘capable’, you stop being seen as someone who also needs softness. You become the safe place for everyone but never quite have one of your own. And in that moment, I realized strength had been my survival, but it had also been my isolation.”
Lessons on Adult Friendship (chibird)
Tuesday, November 25, 2025
Most friendships need occasional watering.You may feel left out, but your friends can hang out separately.Sometimes scheduling three weeks in advance is the only way.Don't burn yourself with friend time when you need you time.Even close friends can be annoying.Not all friendships are meant to last.
Jay LeSoleil: “You feel depressed and crazy because in every historical human culture known to anthropology, people sang together, danced together, and ate food together, and you don’t sing and you don’t dance and you eat alone in the dark….
“You are a singing ape and you are meant to know 50 dances by heart, which hilltops are sacred, and the names of every plant it is possible to eat.”
Saturday, November 15
Jeff Tweedy: “You just gotta keep making s–t up, scribbling–like sitting down and drawing with my kids. It reminds me to do that in my songs. It doesn’t matter if it’s good or bad. I think it looks great. Let’s hang it on the refrigerator.”
Tuesday, November 11
Sydney Smith, letter to Sarah Austin, July 1836: “Very high and very low temperature extinguishes all human sympathy and relations. It is impossible to feel affection beyond 78° or below 20° of Fahrenheit; human nature is too solid or too liquid beyond these limits. Man only lives to shiver or to perspire. God send that the glass may fall, and restore me to my regard for you, which in the temperate zone is invariable.”
calliopechild: We all like to think we can handle change gracefully, and then someone rearranges our grocery store.
Sunday, October 26
Maxine Andrews of the Andrews Sisters
Sunday, October 26, 2025
You’re probably familiar with the Andrews Sisters, or at least their music, but did you know that Maxine Andrews was a lesbian who had to adopt her partner in order to protect the legal status of their relationship? Welcome back to Jester Queers. My name’s Amanda, and I’m a public historian of queer history. I could do an entire video series about Laverne, Maxine, and Patty Andrews, the daughters of immigrants who grew up in a Minneapolis neighborhood called Near North and then went on to sell a hundred million records, have more Billboard Top 10 hits than either Elvis or The Beatles, have one of the most successful collaborations in musical history with Bing Crosby, have guest appearances on every major radio and TV show from 1935 to 1967, and star in more Hollywood films than any other singing group in American history.
“The first rule of The Condescending Club is kind of complex, and I don’t think you’d understand it even if I explained it to you.”
revmagdalen.bsky.social: “I hope someday we defeat fascism and in the far future, No Kings Day is celebrated as a federal holiday, and little children leave out dance mixtapes and cookies for the Resistance Frog, who leaves pocket Constitutions in their shoes.”
“During the darkest days of the AIDS crisis, we buried our friends in the morning, we protested in the afternoon, and we danced all night. The dance kept us in the figh because it was the dance we were fighting for. It didn’t look like we were going to win then and we did. It doesn’t feel like we’re going to win now but we could. Keep fighting, keep dancing.”
Sunday, October 12
Ryan Broderick, Garbage Day, The war against giant frog costumes:
President Donald Trump is desperate for an enemy to justify the extreme force he wants to deploy on blue states and is trying his hardest to convince people that antifa is so dangerous that, as Attorney General Pam Bondi said at the roundtable this week, they need to be exterminated like ISIS or Hamas. The Trump administration also has a nearly pathological habit of accusing their enemies of being exactly like them. Which is why they think the left is a dark money-funded domestic terror cell full of pedophiles and spree shooters that wants to destroy America.
[Jack] Posobiec, an influencer who never ascended to Kirk’s level because he just can’t stop going full Nazi, said at the roundtable, ‘Antifa has been around in various iterations for almost 100 years in some instances, going back to the Weimar Republic in Germany.’ What happened to antifa after that, Jack?
Who's on First (Kids in the Hall)
Sunday, October 12, 2025
Kids in the Hall: A: Hu’s on first? B: Yes. A: Hu? B: Yes. A: Hu’s the man on first base? B: Why are you asking me? I’m asking you! A: Watt’s the name of the guy on first base? B: No, no. What is on… Oh, I see what your problem is. You’re confused by their names because they all sound like questions. A: I don’t know. Third base.
Friday, October 10
“The reason you ghost your friends, avoid responding, and disappear even when you care is because your nervous system sees connection as a demand, not a comfort. You’re not a bad friend, youw’re overwhelmed. If responding feels like a chore, maybe this account is for you.”
Bertrand Russell, 22 January 1962:
Thank you for your letter and for your enclosures. I have given some thought to our recent correspondence. It is always difficult to decide on how to respond to people whose ethos is so alien and, in fact, repellent to one’s own. It is not that I take exception to the general points made by you but that every ounce of my energy has been devoted to an active opposition to cruel bigotry, compulsive violence, and the sadistic persecution which has characterised the philosophy and practice of fascism. I feel obliged to say that the emotional universes we inhabit are so distinct, and in deepest ways opposed, that nothing fruitful or sincere could ever emerge from association between us. I should like you to understand the intensity of this conviction on my part. It is not out of any attempt to be rude that I say this but because of all that I value in human experience and human achievement.
BlackRedGuard: I worked in homeless shelters. None of the older folks thought they’d end up living there when they were young. In 1996 the dude you see pushing a cart down the street was driving a truck and making hella money. In 1989 the lady passed out on the bench under a garbage bag was hanging out at the club and living her best life. In 1985 the old dude yelling to himself on the corner was chilling on a beach in Mexico on spring break, he has a degree in Chemistry. Everybody comes from somewhere and has had a life.
Anaïs Nin: “I could not live in any of the worlds offered to me - the world of my parents, the world of war, the world of politics. I had to create a world of my own, like a climate, a country, an atmosphere in which I could breathe, reign, and recreate myself when destroyed by living. That, I believe, is the reason for every work of art.”
Jim Wright: When this is over, we need to seriously implement Nuremberg-style trials.
And I’m not talking just the obvious fascism, but the lunacy that just ended research into mRNA protocols that could have cured Alzheimer’s. Along with a number of cancers and many, many infectious diseases. This is more than criminal, it’s crime against all of humanity. It’s crime against the future.
You have no idea how much I despise what this political party and their miserable ideology have become.
Monday, October 6
atrupar: The near daily barrage of deadly mass shootings in America feels like low level warfare against normal citizens who just want to live in peace. And because people keep electing Republicans who won’t do anything about it there’s no solution in sight.
MichelleKinney: Exactly. There’s this vibrating hum beneath the surface of all of our lives now. Mass shootings, political violence, fascism. Trump fuels it, Republicans are accomplices. It’s really no wonder so many of us ponder if we can even plan for a future in a country we love — but no longer recognize.
Pope Leo 14: Someone who says I’m against abortion but says I’m in favor of the death penalty is not really pro-life. So someone who says that I’m against abortion but I’m in agreement with the inhuman treatment of immigrants who are in the United States, I don’t know if that’s pro-life. So they’re very complex issues. I don’t know if anyone has all the truth on them, but I would ask first and foremost that there be greater respect for one another and that we search together both as human beings, in that case as American citizens or citizens of the state of Illinois."
Retired U.S. Army Maj. General Paul Eaton: Trust me when I tell you the last thing those Admirals + Generals wanted was to be flown across multiple time zones to be lectured on what it means to be a warrior by a former PT TV Host who had to promise to stop drinking to get the job. Then have a 5-time Draft Dodger bereft of any honor as a man tell them the American people are the enemy within.
USAID’s acting executive secretary Erica Carr: Shred as many documents first, and reserve the burn bags for when the shredder becomes unavailable or needs a break. _ Do you know this melody? It’s emblasted in stadiums, clubs and festivals for over two decades. But it didn’t start on the dance floor. It started in a video game. In 1984, a Commodore 64 game called Lazy Jones featured a chiptune track called “Stardust”, written by David Wittaker. That 8-bit melody was catchy but forgotten. Until 1999, when general producer Zombination took it, tracked it up and dropped Can’t Cuff Your Hone. Heavy bass, punching drums and the result? A rave anthem with video game DNA. It ran from underground clubs to global fame. What started as pixie music turned into one of the most iconic tracks in electronic history. From Commodore to stadiums, that’s the power of a melody._
“I hope I’m pretty when I grow up.”
Pretty adventurous; pretty strong; pretty goofy; pretty creative; pretty independent; pretty kind; pretty brave; pretty loved; and that’s pretty awesome.
“A paraprosdokian is a figure of speech in which the latter part of the sentence is surprising in a way that causes the reader/listener to reframe the first part of the sentence.”
“Part of how they make you obey is by making obedience seem peaceful, while resistance is violent. But really, either choice is about violence, one way or another.” - Mouth, “Rock Manning Goes for Broke” (Charlie Jean Anders)
In Texas, it looks like fall before it feels like fall. To scramble a line from Sylvia Plath’s journal, the worst of the summer is gone, with “the new fall not yet born. The odd uneven time.” Virginia Woolf said it well in a letter: “I feel entirely dehumanized by the sun now and wish for fog, snow, rain, humanity.” None of that is coming until at least Halloween down here, so we must settle for what C.S. Lewis in Surprised By Joy called “the idea of Autumn.”
“Sometimes I wonder what it feels like to live instead of just survive. To wake up and not already feel behind. To breathe without the pressure of yesterday. To exist without the constant fear of what might go wrong. I don’t want a perfect life. 1 just want a break from survival mode. A day where life feels calm, and 1 don’t have to fight so hard to feel peace.”
Patricia Lockwood, Will There Ever Be Another You: “But the soul is a floor. It is there to bear us up and keep us standing, not merely to be clean.”
You know what’s underrated? Letting people be. Letting them mispronounce a word, talk too much about a show they love, or get excited about something you don’t understand. You don’t have to get it, just be kind. Everyone’s got something that lights them up. Let them shine, even if it’s not your thing.
Adam Savage:
There’s an attempt within some circles to weaponize the word empathy as some sort of wrong-headed over merging with someone else’s reality. I haven’t investigated it enough to really explain it because I don’t care, because I think it’s wrong. Oh yeah, sure, that makes me unscientific. Listen. Everything good I have in my life is because of empathy and kindness and respect. Everything good I have ever achieved, everything that I have around me, is all because of that. I’m a believer in believing everywhere you go better than you left it. And that means thinking about others a lot. A lot more than you might even be used to, and trying to figure out how to not mess with their reality too much, keep yourself self-contained. But I have done a lot of talks over the years for young people asking questions about getting started, finding their aesthetic, finding a job, knowing when it’s the right career, etc. And I like to point out that the skill to build is to be easy to work with. I banged on about this a lot over the years, but I have seen people who were mediocre at best at their jobs last for almost a decade in a job when there certainly were more qualified people one could hire, but the people in those jobs were so easy to work with and such a facile part of the team that it made sense. And even if you are venal and want all the money, which is fine, even if money is the important thing to you, go earn it. I really like more power to you. But you don’t… Even if you want all the dough, being, I swear to me, being kind, empathetic, and respectful of everybody is the best way to move through the world."
Wednesday, September 24
Wednesday, September 24, 2025 →
jayalaw: We have lived in too many interesting times; I wish you a 2025 that has boring news, filled with good luck, brimming with windfalls and flush with kindness.
Wednesday, September 24, 2025 →
Jon Stewart: “The threat to comedy, comedy doesn’t change the world, but it’s a bellwether. We’re the banana peel in the coal mine. When a society is under threat, comedians are the ones who get sent away first. It’s just a reminder to people that democracy is under threat. Authoritarians are the threat to comedy, to art, to music, to thought, to poetry, to progress, to all those things. It’s never been. All that s*** is a red herring. It ain’t the pronoun police, it’s the secret police. It always has been and it always will be. And this man’s decapitated visage is a reminder to all of us that what we have is fragile and precious. And the way to guard against it isn’t to change how audiences think. It’s to change how leaders lead.”
He-Man (from a December 1, 1983 episode!): “Today we met Nepthu, a man who wanted to become a leader, and became one. But Nepthu used his leadership for his own selfish glory and in the end he got what he deserved. Being a good leader takes a lot of responsibility. But you must also be responsible when you follow a leader. Don’t do something wrong or dangerous because someone tells you to. Think before you act. We can’t all be leaders, but we can all choose what’s right and wrong for ourselves.”
Rep. Eric Swalwell to FCC Chair: “So I want to make it clear, there’s going to be a Democratic majority in just over a year. And to the FCC chairperson and anyone involved in these dirty deals, get a lawyer and save your records because you’re going to be in this room and you’re going to be answering questions about the deals that you struck and who benefited and what the cost was to the American people because that happened.”
Directionless Panic
Wednesday, September 24, 2025
The best description I’ve recently heard for our collective emotional state comes from Danish anthropologist Christian Madsbjerg, who — in an interview with the Time Sensitive podcast — calls it directionless panic. “It’s a little bit like a horse that’s stung by a wasp. It’s moving all over, but it doesn’t really know why.”
Tuesday, September 23
sharonk.bsky.social: Korean reporting is nightmarish on the conditions Korean workers were contained in. Their waists and hands were tied together, forcing them to bend down and lick water to drink. The unscreened bathrooms contained only a single sheet to cover their lower bodies. Sunlight barely penetrated through a fist-sized hole, and they were only allowed access to the small yard for two hours. Detained by US immigration authorities for eight days, the workers and their families expressed shock, describing human rights violations and absurdities they could not have imagined as ordinary Koreans living in 2025.
mollyjongfast.bsky.social: This story feels like it’s going to have huge repercussions.