Ben

If you find yourself in a socially awkward situation, but are unable to explode into a cloud of bats and fly away, you can make jazz hands and yell “BATS!”, then run away. That will have nearly the same effect. Drawn by me with no fartificial inderpigence.

“It can’t be uninvented” and your uncle can’t re-attach your nose that he pulled off between his index and middle fingers.

What I love to do when I sit down to enjoy my coffee is to think about aromatic taints.

Hanging out on BlueSky for a bit, because I posted a picture of a quiet creek in my Southeast Portland neighborhood over on Threads, and made some people very angry.

I loved this They Might Be Giants album!

TIL French fusil (rifle) and Italian fusilli (spiraled—or rifled—pasta) have no etymology in common. Fusil comes from Latin focus (fireplace, fire) (think of the fuse of an old musket burning down), while fusilli is from Latin fundere (to our out) (think of a spindle twirling as it spools out).

Does anyone else hear their fridge ice maker making noise and their first thought is that there must be a squirrel or pigeon stuck in there? Is that just me?

A show about the guy who makes the broccoli sides at Applebee’s, and the theme is a cover of Duncan Sheik’s 1996 hit, but it’s “I Am Barely Steaming”.

23 And Me told me I metabolize caffeine slowly. I think what really wakes me up is that whenever I hear my Keurig start to pour, I suddenly can’t remember if I put my cup in it.

Using adjectives substantively to describe people: fine in “The Young and the Restless”, “The Bold and the Beautiful”, “The Quick and the Dead”. Absolutely feels like chewing tin foil in “females”, “illegals” and “creatives”. Any theories about why?

One thing I learned from movies is that, when fascists are thrown from high places, they make the Wilhelm Scream. I don’t know if this is true, but I feel that it should be thoroughly researched.

Poser le lapin sur le canapé.

The number of high-IQ people still crowing about their high IQ should be all the proof you need that IQ is not a measure of intelligence.

Is Contemporary American Civics Gothic a literary genre?

Has anyone mentioned to Cheeto Benito—you know, like, in passing or whatever—that his televised funeral would probably get the most ratings of any TV event since ever?

French doesn’t seem to have a word for “weed”. Instead, you say « mauvaise herbe », or “wrong herb”. I initially didn’t like this, because it’s verbose. I’m coming around to it, though, as it highlights the editorial nature of a “weed”. That is: it is you, and not the plant, that makes it a weed.

“Charlene” sounds like an adjective meaning “having Charles-like qualities”.

I haven’t used DuoLingo in about a month, and I don’t miss it. I used to look forward to the stories, but now all the content is AI slop that’s just not entertaining. Instead, I got a Spanish translation of Winnie-the-Pooh. That is much more motivating, because it’s charming, original, and human.

“Minority Report” did such an awful job predicting the future. “Go to Radio Shack?” Lol wut? What’s a “radio?” On the other hand: how does Max von Sydow in “Minority Report” look exactly like Max von Sydow in age makeup in “The Exorcist”?

Quercus, chêne, roble; why are words for oak so varied in Western European languages?

A lovely little pleasure is when you create a new folder in the Apple Notes app, and you get that message that says “No Notes”. The flip-side is that you know that, whatever you do, it can only go downhill from there.

Now, I love “The Princess Bride”—of course I do, I’m not a psychopath—but do we think Mark Knopfler actually had any lyrics prepared before they pressed [record] on “Storybook Love”?

I’m a conservative, American man, and I hate how THING-THAT-HAS-NOT-CHANGED has become so counter-THING-I-JUST-MADE-UP in recent years! We really need to take this country back to a completely imaginary time.

So I just learned about Zig, which yet another “improved C”. It’s not “safe” like Rust claims to be, but is safer than C, I guess, but seems to have (reading the docs) the easiest C-interop in the field. Anybody have experience with, opinions about Zig?

If I were God-King of the Universe, sure I would make a lot of progressive reforms that would benefit humanity. But I would also insist that Hollywood make a movie based on the lyrics to “Rapture” by Blondie. (The one with the rap about an alien who eats cars, guitars, bars, etc.).

In a stunning moment of self-delusion, the Wall Street Journal headline writers admitted that they don't know how LLM chatbots work.

A show about a couple of mermaids trying to pass as human. It’s called “The Gill-less Girls”. You know, like “The Gilmore Girls”. Look, if I don’t put these things somewhere, they just stay in my head.

Non prima mihi rodeo est

One day, in the distant future, our technology will advance to a level where we can look at Instagram and listen to Audible AT THE SAME TIME! This, we will call “magic”, and we will not be wrong.

You know, in the other timeline, Hollywood execs saw Disney’s “Treasure Planet” and made a whole series of live-action Emma Thompson/David Hyde Pierce action comedies.

This is a fresh, sliced jalapeño account. Don’t come at me with your pickled jalapeño bullshit.

Has anyone invented an explanation for why Spock pronounces “sensors” like that? Or, is there a dialect of American English that actually says /ˈsɛn soːɹz/ like that?

A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Do we still need to provide alt text for images of text? Don’t the screen readers read that, now? Depending on the social app, I can just highlight the text in the image and paste it into the alt text field. If I can do that, is it even necessary?

What are you doing to me, Laufey? I’m nearly 50. I’m to old to appreciate new music!

« Mon for intérieur » je balbutiai dans mon for intérieur

I am increasingly convinced that the reader of this audiobook is “Lin” in Duolingo’s French course. She’s Stéphanie Moussu, but I can’t find any information about DL’s voice actors (besides the guy who plays “Falstaff”, who was featured on their podcast.) Anybody know?

The ouroboros has started to feast.

While I absolutely get that language changes, and that’s cool, what I don’t understand is how anyone is not clear on when to use who vs whom. You don’t get confused be he/him or they/them. It’s the exact same rule. Follow the M!