… but I think it’s maybe that this patent was issued in 2007, and still looks so damned olde-tyme Cold War Fallout™ goofy. Patent diagrams are their own artistic genre, and I love it:
Incidentally, as it turns out bra pads actually make pretty decent DIY face masks for coronavirus.
(all props to Harper’s for the image)
I’ve finally sorted out my micropayment/subscription situation. Here are a couple easy ways to support my kinda weirdness:
Thanks!
P.S. Wash your hands!
… but it also makes me so fucking sad to see humans working all day in an indigo coal mine in order to make people who don’t move much all day look like they’ve worked hard all their lives.
—about some folks who really can’t leave the house:
I mention this now because I just learned that Audible is temporarily bumping artists’ royalties—which is nice, as I used their service to produce the audiobook of There Was a Crooked Man, He Flipped a Crooked House (voiced by the inimitable David Sadzin).
You can buy the audiobook directly on iTunes and Amazon, or get it as a freebie with a one-month Audible trial membership.
If you’ve never tried Audible before, it’s actually pretty sweet—I used it for years when I used to commute. These days, your monthly membership gets you a full-length audiobook and two Audible Originals each month. The first month is free with this link (here’s a UK-specific link, for those who need one). The thing that astounds me: Even though I haven’t been a member in more than 13-years, I can still access all the stuff I got through Audible back in the day—i.e., you really do have lifetime access.
“absorbing horror novella” (Recommended Story)
Rich Horton, Locus, Sept 2017
If audiobooks aren’t your thing, you can also, of course, get the book on Kindle or as a paperback.
Stay home! Stay safe!
…and, in fact, one of its most charming aspects:
This artist is living her best life, in my humble.
This poem—penned by a UU minister—has been circulating among my Jewish congregation, and I’m inclined to endorse the advice: Take a page from the Jewish playbook, folks. We know a thing or two about surviving long (quasi-)confinement and social distance.
What if you thought of it
as the Jews consider the Sabbath—
the most sacred of times?
Cease from travel.
Cease from buying and selling.
Give up, just for now,
on trying to make the world
different than it is.
Sing. Pray. Touch only those
to whom you commit your life.
Center down.
And when your body has become still,
reach out with your heart.
Know that we are connected
in ways that are terrifying and beautiful.
(You could hardly deny it now.)
Know that our lives
are in one another’s hands.
(Surely, that has come clear.)
Do not reach out your hands.
Reach out your heart.
Reach out your words.
Reach out all the tendrils
of compassion that move, invisibly,
where we cannot touch.
Promise this world your love—
for better or for worse,
in sickness and in health,
so long as we all shall live.—Rev. Dr. Lynn Ungar (Unitarian minister)
OK, I need a headcheck, folks. It looks an awful lot like http://GOPhouse.org/
Is there something really obvious going on here, like my local DNS being poisoned? Or does the MI House GOP just have a really crappy web hosting situation? Or deeply untrustworthy staff? Or a deeper commitment to the free market and entrepreneurship than I’d previously imagined?
Who do I even call to ask about this? ’cause I’ve gotta believe that the MI House GOP has a better fundraising model than this.
Lil help, Internet?
Also, every time I hear Aziz Ansari say “pizza” this damn thing starts rolling in my head. 🍕卐
… he was just 100% wrong about which border they crossed illegally, and what they looked like:
“Derail some fucking trains, kill some people, and poison some water supplies. You better be fucking ready to do those things.”
Patrik Jordan Mathews, December 1, 2019
Accused Neo-Nazis Arrested Ahead of Virginia Gun Rally
This is the age of war. This is the age of entire this is the age of strife, this is the century upon which this current civilizations rotting Jew infested country comes to a collapse. You were born in the wrong century for complacency. That’s all for now.
Patrik Jordan Mathews, on or before December 13, 2019
Feds: White supremacists hoped rally would start civil war
While residing in Georgia, Mathews stated that he “only exists for the White Revolution now.” Mathews further stated that he wanted to remain a “ghost” and oversee safe houses for Base members who need to disappear. Mathews stated that once there are a few “ghosts,” they could begin doing “jobs,” by which Mathews meant targeted violence or attacks.
excerpt from the legal motion requesting Mathews’ detention pending trial
Based on other statements in the legal motion, these targets were likely to be Jewish- or African-Americans. I’ve mentioned Mathews’ had been hiding out in Michigan, yeah? And I live in Michigan? And my family and I, we’re the kinds of Americans he came here to kill?
The U.S. tax system is unnecessarily stressful. There are tons of reasons for this—a major one being that companies who provide tax-prep services lobby heavily to keep it that way.
Fortunately, the government offers you some free tax software to make your life much, much easier. Unfortunately, the expend almost zero effort letting anyone know these exist (see the heavy lobbying mentioned in the previous graff).
Here are two free tax prep options for 2019/2020:
Good luck!