PLEASE ADOPT VERIFICATION CAT TO CONTINUE

“To prove that you are human, donate $$$ to Doctors Without Borders.”

“To prove that you are human, register to vote.”

“To prove that you are human, adopt a pet from the local animal shelter.”

TIL about Twelve-Mile Circle

Did you catch all-despising baby skull last night?

In any sane society, closing a private prison would be cause for celebration.

For sure, the technology and fashion is all VERY late-90s. But the way that The Matrix informed SO many action and scifi movies to follow, and spawned so many cultural touchstones made it break containment.

And then you’ve got subjects that it brings up, like mixed technophobia and technophilia, gender identity, anti-authoritarianism, and so on that are still at the forefront of our cultural awareness. The Matrix has stayed relevant and meaningful in ways that very few works have managed to.

Hackers

Romeo + Juliet

There’s a filter that I apply to these kinds of questions, and it’s that there are some works that are of a particular time, but they ascend beyond that time and just become a part of culture, broadly. Like, Wizard of Oz just IS, Bohemian Rhapsody just IS; they aren’t bounded by their decades of origin.

I’d argue that at least Jurassic Park, and arguably also The Matrix, are above and beyond the '90s in ways that other movies can’t quite achieve.

Clerks is a lot closer to real people’s experience of the '90s, as opposed to quintessential '90s fictions, like Pulp Fiction or Hackers.

I’m curious: what would that mean, within Brazil’s borders? Would they be able to prevent Starlink from being used? Broadcast a Starlink jamming signal over the whole country? Or turn it into a diplomatic issue, with the US State Department getting involved?

Not to mention the security that comes from being able to not pay if you get scammed for whatever reason. I paid for a course at a community college with a credit card, but then my schedule changed so I tried to cancel the class before it even started. The college gave me a whole runaround, and whether it was willful or just simple incompetence, I wasn’t able to get a refund. So I called my credit card company and explained the situation to them, and they resolved the whole thing for me. Sometimes even mentioning that you’ll refer such a problem to the fraud department at your credit card company is enough to get someone to back down and give you a refund.

Credit cards have issues, especially if you have problems with using them responsibly, but that’s one particular way in which they can save you a lot of headache.

I didn’t even consider how many people with cardiac issues must be looking at that screen.

“Shrunken SUV” or “Took a normal 2- or 4-door and injected it with experimental growth hormones.”

I swear I see one once a week that would make sense and carry the same number of people and stuff at half the overall vehicle volume.

Qi users need not apply.

Most bugs do groom themselves, but here’s a fun fact! Bed bugs don’t groom themselves, and this makes most standard insecticides ineffective, because they won’t ingest any of the poison they might get on their bodies!

Another fun fact: bed bugs are the fucking devil and I don’t hate them, I haaaaaaaaaaaaaate them.

I bought a warhammer. Then I bought a second warhammer. Don’t regret either purchase.

First devouring all of Fantasia, now this.

For cooling purposes, is nitrogen not as good?

I have this book around here somewhere. It’s charmingly positive, and I’d say it does a decent enough job of explaining what the internet is, considering when it came out.

Highly recommend Pod Save America and their spinoffs / associates. The Pod Save guys are ex-Obama staffers, so they know how the sausages are made, but they are by no means full-time DNC cheerleaders. Just lately their conversation seems to in the realm of “Biden is the nominee, but we have a responsibility to have a level-headed conversation about if that is the best idea; every possible choice comes with risks, and we aren’t doing ourselves any favors if we don’t consider them.”

They make no secret about the fact that they are pushing a progressive agenda, but they also aren’t blowing smoke up your ass about how well we are or aren’t doing, or if democratic figures have made gigantic fuck-ups, which I appreciate.