After four weeks of being consumed by work, my house has become a complete and total disaster area. But I won't be cleaning up under the bullets are done... because an all new Bullet Sunday starts... now...

   
• It Takes a Village! Looks like I need to start playing Crimson Desert straight away...

Of course my objective in the game is probably going to be quite different than most people.

   
• Fries! AMERICAAAAA, FUCK YEAH! EXTRA LARGE PORTIONS MEAN EXTRA LARGE FREEDOM! AMERICAAAAA, FUCK YEAH! GREAT FREEDOM FRIES FOR THE GREATEST COUNTRY ON EARTH! AMERICAAAAA, FUCK YEAH!

Now I want fries.

   
• Luna Luna! In 1987 there was an installation in Hamburg that was rather unique... it combined art with a theme park. Back in 2023, I found out about it when it was unpacked, restored, and went on a global tour. I toyed with the idea of flying down to see it in L.A. in March of 2024 as a birthday present to myself, but never made it. Then I promptly forgot about it. Enter Mike From the Party, whose amazing YouTube channel I subscribe to, and he's done a brilliantly extensive video on Luna Luna. It's an hour-and-a-half long, but it's interesting enough to be worth your valuable time...

One one hand, I dearly wish that Mike would make more videos like this. On the other hand, I worry that the quality of his videos will suffer if he does.

   
• This isn't just me being a dickhead! Another brilliant YouTube channel I obsess over is Folding Ideas. And his latest is an interesting take on Mr. Beast which includes a surprising behind-the-scenes look I never would have expected...

I'd argue that these YouTube channels are every bit as important and interesting as anything you'll see on television or in the movies.

   
• Ungentlemanly Free! One of my favorite movies of all time, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, is streaming FREE (ad supported) on The Roku Channel. It's Guy Ritchie at his Guy Ritchiest, and has a stellar cast (including incredible turns by Henry Cavill, Alan Ritchson, and many more) and worth a watch if you missed it...

I can't even tell you have many times I've watched this film.

   
• Reversal of Fortune! Food for thought...

Yeah, ladies!

   
• Here We Go Again! Yes. Yes. I am still reeling from the Fake Moon Landing and Flat Earth idiocy clogging up social media since the Artemis II mission. I'm only able to stay sane because of the people debunking these dumbasses. However... there's also something to be said for just calling them out for being stupid and ignorant...

And this 11-year-old video from Vsauce is an old but a goody that absolutely anybody in the above video could have watched to understand why they're speaking nonsense...

But, of course, asking them to educate themselves is like asking for the moon.

   
And now I suppose I should get back to cleaning my home.

I'm not going to let the fact that my neck is hurting worse now than it has been stop me from updating Blogography. At least not this time.. because an all new Bullet Sunday starts... now...

   
• Cookies! Isn't it nice how Girl Scouts cookies come in convenient single-serving packs? That way you know exactly how many to eat. I'd consume an entire box of Trefoils if not for the fact that they smartly wrap them into two servings...

Samoas come in a tray, not a package, because there's only one serving per box. Every year I order cookies from Girl Scout Troop 6000, which serves girls in New York City's shelter system. Though I'd buy cookies from any troop, given how Girl Scouts is one of the most accepting, inclusive organization on the planet. A phenomenal model for future generations.

   
• Drone Entertainment! One of the last times I was at Walt Disney World, there was a drone show at Disney Springs. Called Disney Dreams That Soar, it was an experimental free event that ran for about four months. While music played, 800 drones made cool shapes in the air, and most people believed that this was a step towards reducing or eliminating fireworks at the park. Fireworks are not reusable like drones, so they're expensive. And they also cause noise and pollution that upsets people living near the parks. It would make sense that they would want to cut back. And now there's this show in China featuring 22,580 drones...

In all honesty, drone shows are getting so good that I'd argue they're a superior form of entertainment... and could probably simulate fireworks in a way that's as good, if not better, than the real thing. And if anybody could make this work, it would be Disney.

   
• Word! This is one of those simple posts which illustrates a concept so brilliantly that you don't even have to understand what it's talking about to understand what's being said...

Fortunately, I've never had to deal much with Microsoft Word... I've always used desktop publishing or an illustration app for that. But because of that, my frustration with trying to make a photo land where I want is even more frustrating.

   
• And Right Before Wildfire Season! NEWSFLASH: Trump Administration Orders Dismantling of the US Forest Service. Fuck them all. I am sick and fucking tired of losing vital national services to give money to the president's millionaire and billionaire owners, and to finance this illegal, stupid-ass war. The US Forest Service deserves better than this fucking bullshit. They are dedicated, essential workers studying and protecting our forests and grasslands...

Photo credit: Preston Keres / USDA

The American People deserve more than this fucking bullshit. This is probably a set-up so Trump can sell off our vital resources to be plundered by his owners. The office of the President of the United States of America has turned into one massive grift. I mean, it's just been revealed that the steel for his fucked-up ballroom is NOT being sourced from American companies after he championed US Steel during his campaign... he's bought the steel from Europe. Probably from somebody who has incriminating photos of him on Epstein Island.

   
• Greatness! And, while I'm on the subject... exactly where is all the money going from the "big beautiful tariffs" the American people are paying? We keep getting our services and benefits cut... so the money ain't going there. The National Debit is higher than ever... so the money's not going there. Jobs are being slashed left and right... so the money's not going there. Trump has collected TENS OF BILLIONS of OUR dollars. So WHERE IS THE FUCKING MONEY?

It blows my fucking mind that this country isn't in outright revolt right now.

   
• AI Slop... IN SPAAAACE! A photo was circulating today of the Artemis II Orion capsule re-entry... as captured by the International Space Station...

Except when you go to the official ISS Instagram, this is what they had to say: "Our crew on the @iss caught a glimpse of the @nasaartemis II crew as they re-entered the atmosphere from their journey to the Moon! We first saw a bright light and a trail as the service module burned up. We didn’t see the Orion capsule itself as it re-entered, but we saw the wispy trail it left behind in the upper atmosphere. Overjoyed that our friends are safely back on Earth after their awe-inspiring mission!."

THIS is what they saw...

Photo Credit: ISS

And of course when you go to debunk the fake image, you find that the person who posted it has turned off comments. NOT deleted the misinformation... turned off the comments!

There's no bigger metaphor for what's going on right now in the world than this.

   
• Mean-Spirited? Sweet Pee holds a press conference to deny allegations of her ties to Epstein, despite the fact that emails and photos exist showing she absolutely had ties to Epstein. If BULLSHIT had a face, here it is...

Photo Credit: Evan Vucci/Reuters

Photo Credit: CSPAN/GETTY

And you DIDN'T fucking "meet your husband at a party in 1998"... at the time you met MARLA MAPLES' HUSBAND at a party in 1998. Furthermore, if you to expect people to stop making "mean-spirited comments" about you, then you can fuck right off. You stand idly by while your husband makes some of the most vile, disgusting, horrific "mean-spirited comments" towards other people and don't give a shit, so nobody gives a fuck about what's being directed your way. "Be best" for you and yours before demanding it from others.

   
And now back to my neck recovery, already in progress.

The Easter Bunny may be coming to town, but I'm goofing around on the internet ... because an all new Bullet Sunday starts... now...

   
• Work Chums! I've seen this several times, but I don't think I've shared it before...

If you've dealt with insurance before, you get it.

   
• Smartest Phone! Kit-Kat drama aside, this was my favorite April Fool's joke I saw...

Makes me want to actually buy a Bluey Phone!

   
• Geography! Washington is weird, y'all...

If you're not from here, you don't know how weird though.

   
• NEWSFLASH: MS. NOEM IS DEVASTATED. THE FAMILY WAS BLINDSIDED BY THIS, AND THEY ASK FOR PRIVACY AND PRAYERS AT THE TIME. And I'm asking you to fuck off with your bullshit. You used your position to utterly destroy lives without any regard to their privacy... and you certainly didn't pray on their behalf. Yet you have the absolute gall to ask for "privacy and prayers?" I do wonder if she was fired for this because the White House had advanced notice. They're already neck-deep in scandal, so it makes sense they would want to get this as far away from them as possible. I'd try to feel sorry for Bryon Noem getting attacked over something that was his own private business... but he knew what he married into and what she was. It's no surprise this is blowing up because of his own doing.

   
• Turn It Off and Back On Again! What's delicious about living in the digital age is that assholes can get internet detectives crawling up their ass with a microscope after they do something shitty. Take for instance this judge, who was a heinous douche to an IT worker helping him out. Many judges think they are gods, and when you show them that they're not, they react badly...

And now the internet has been digging up everything from his bankruptcies to other asshole behaviors and publishing them for the whole word to see. Good. That's what the internet should be used for.

   
• How is The Dow? In honor of the puss-filled piece of shit who used her position to protect sexual predators getting fired, I am re-posting the only good thing that came out of her tenure...

Now you can fuck off and just go away until somebody drags your ass in front of The Hague. And, God-willing, your former boss will be there with you. Speaking of which, here's the only good thing to come out of his tenure...

Any guesses as to who's next on the administration firings distraction BINGO card?

   
And on that note, Happy Easter to all who celebrate.

I'm back home and ready to destroy the internet... because an all new Bullet Sunday starts... now...

   
• Like Sands Through The Hourglass... Deidre Hall invites Ryan Gosling onto Days of Our Lives after he praises her acting: 'Nobody will be possessed' — My mom was a massive Days of Our Lives fan and I fell in love with Deidre Hall because of it. When my mom started working, she wasn't home to watch and would record the show on VHS so she could watch after work...

I remember the show very well, and I hope this happens. I would definitely tune in!

   
• For God and Country! I love stuff like this...

I mean...

If you want to see some nice content to escape from the horrors of the world, BradyYourTutor is a good place to start.

   
• Wrongful Entertainment! Alan Ritchson Neighbor Fight: New Bodycam Video Released. I don't advocate violence... however... watching some asshole neighbor getting clocked by Alan Ritchson AFTER WALKING IN FRONT OF HIS MOVING MOTORCYCLE is the entertainment I needed. Fuck that guy. If you're stupid enough to square off with ALAN RITCHSON, you get what you get. And oooooh I cannot wait until the new season of Reacher is released! And now I want to re-watch The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare for the hundredth time. Dang is everybody great in that. Especially Ritchson. Or maybe I'll re-watch Playdate for the hundredth time, Another Ritchson flick that's beyond good.

   
• Goldie! I love both versions of "Overboard"... but the original is still the best. This is such a great story...

Goldie is great in every movie. No disagreeing with Kurt on that!

   
• NEWSFLASH: Veteran senator criticizes Tuberville’s “nobody more military than me” claim. You cannot make this shit up. The guy was a football coach who has never served in the military... let alone been in combat. But stolen valor is nothing new to these assholes, and I'm glad that they're finally being called out. What a repugnant piece of crap.

   
• Misinformation=Death! My heart truly goes out to those suckered by the anti-vax idiocy movement... they buy into it, and their child dies over something that might have been prevented had they been vaccinated. And the fact that the anti-vax idiocy movement decides to prey on them over a lie is disgusting...

And yet it happens ALL the time, because when you have a disingenuous movement, lies are all you have.

   
• NEWSFLASH: Televangelist Mark Barclay apologizes to child sex abuse survivors, victims of 3 pastors including son-in-law. Good Lord... THREE pastors at his church abused people, including children. So much for the "Preacher of Righteousness" when this crap goes on in his church. I would leave kids with a drag queen over a pastor 100 out of 100 times. Who still ignores the ACTUAL danger to kids any more? It's always "Not MY pastor!"... until it is.

   
Now it's time to vacuum up kitty litter. Amazing how much of it the cats throw around the entire house in a day when I'm gone.

Blergh. I was too tired to work last night, then didn't feel like working on Saturday, so here I am trying to get it all done on Sunday night. Just like I was back in school! But don't think that's going to keep the bullets from flying... because an all new Bullet Sunday starts... now...

   
• D2! One of my most favorite video games of all time is Minecraft Dungeons. I love it so much that I ended up buying it for my Xbox S|X because the copy I had for my Nintendo Switch ended up stuttering when there was too much stuff happening on-screen at the same time. Fortunately, that's mostly cleared up on the Switch 2, even though the game hasn't been optimized for the platform. I have been yearning for a sequel ever since I played through the last of the DLC packs, and was beginning to give up hope. And now? Minecraft Dungeons 2, baby!

Such a fun game. I hope the sequel is beyond my expectations.

   
• Centimeters! This is the funniest thing I've seen in a minute, and I'm compelled to share it...

The pain on his face! Oh noes!

   
• Future Imperfect! Yeah, I don't know how "real" this video is, but the trajectory of what's being said seems like it's entirely accurate...

Which means this is nothing less than a horror film.

   
• The Source! WHAT A NOVEL CONCEPT! WHEN ADAPTING A BOOK INTO A MOVIE, STICK TO THE SOURCE MATERIAL THAT PEOPLE ALREADY LOVE!

I'd say this is a no-brainer, but soooo many books I was dying to see adapted got fucked up beyond recognition. So, in that respect, Ryan Gosling is a fucking genius. But there's always some director or some studio exec who wants to "put there stamp" on something... which is just saying that they don't want to do their job. Your "stamp" should be STAYING FAITHFUL TO THE SOURCE MATERIAL! I can't wait to see this film because I loved the movie so much.

   
• Fade Left! Oh man. Coming from Washington State, I assumed that I could make a free left to a one-way everywhere. I shudder to think how many times I've broken the law when driving in other states. AND NO FREE LEFTS AT ALL IN MAINE??...

I used to go to Maine twice a year for work, and took free lefts ALL THE TIME! Yikes. It's a miracle that I didn't end up with a ticket.

   
• NEWSFLASH: Afghan father, former U.S. military ally, dies in ICE custody in North Texas. — I am disgusted to my very core. This man risked his life to save the lives of American soldiers in Afghanistan. He's a hero to this country. He was brought here legally. He was in the process of immigrating legally, as was promised him. By all accounts he was doing things "the right way." And yet he was still abducted by ICE and is now dead. We may never know what ACTUALLY happened. What we do know is the promise of ICE removing only "illegal" criminals is a fucking lie. The blood is on our hands for allowing this. There's a right way and a wrong way to go about the immigration challenges we face. This is the wrong way.

I hope his family sues. I hope they win millions. But it will never be enough to compensate them for their loss. Nothing ever will be. Rest in Peace Mohammad Nazeer Paktiawal. You deserved so much better at our hands.

   
• Meta Versed! Apparently Mark Zuckerberg's "Metaverse" is now dead...

Which is essentially makes it NFTs 2.0...

Apparently Meta wants to take the billions of dollars they were pumping into the "Metaverse" and instead pump it into AI. And while I never cared about the "Metaverse" and wished them well, I don't have the same attitude when it comes to AI. I want that bullshit to become NFTs 3.0.

   
• Dig Duggar! So there I was looking through the news when I saw that old story about one of the Duggar kids from 19 Kids and Counting being arrested for child sexual assault or misconduct or something horrific. I didn't understand why they were rerunning the story from years ago until I realized it was a different Duggar...

I was just relieved that it didn't turn out to be one of my favorite YouTubers, William Osman...

For the love of God I don't understand this country's love affair with conservative evangelical "Christians." It's become a cult which seems to be encourages this kind of shit. Because when you can commit heinous crimes then it all disappears when you beg God for forgiveness, how could it not encourage it? But, yeah, keep blaming drag queens and trans persons for the crap that these assholes are guilty of.

   
And... back to work.

Snow at last. Snow at last. I still think we're going to be in the middle of a drought come Summer, but on Friday there was finally snow. Quite a lot of it actually. But don't you worry about me... because an all new Bullet Sunday starts... now...

   
• Nowalla, Part Deux! Remember location-sharing apps from back in the day? The primary players were FourSquare and Gowalla. My hands-down favorite was Gowalla, which made exploring fun and had stamps you could collect. I was such a fan, that I bought my own Gowalla stamp for Blogography HQ...

Then one day Gowalla shut down after being acquired by Facebook (I'm positive that Facebook bought it just to kill it because they didn't want any competition for their "check-ins"). All the stamps I collected, all the places I logged, all the travels I shared, all the objects I found, all the spots I founded... not to mention my custom stamp... were gone. We were promised that we'd be able to download our data, but it never happened. I'm still a bit raw over it. Then it was announced that Gowalla would be relaunching back in 2021. I somehow missed that the new app was released in 2023. At which point it immediately ceased development. When I found it last week, I downloaded it just to see what it was like. And it was shit. All the charm was gone. And of course none of the stamps or any other stuff from the original was still there. It just lets you share your location with friends in a boring way... like Facebook... and they shouldn't have even bothered.

   
• Lil'! Just the internet doin' it's internet thing. And right now the internet is obsessing over Lil' Finder Guy. He briefly appeared in Apple marketing for their new MacBook Neo...

Now he's been modeled and is popping up everywhere...

From Basic Apple Guy

He's based on the Apple Finder logo which Apple appears to be playing with...

Apple marketing is waking up, it would appear.

   
• New! And speaking of Apple's MacBook Neo, the reviews are starting to hit and it's more impressive than I thought it would be. I selected this one to share, because it nicely puts things in perspective...

Nice! But not shocking. The A-series chip in an iPhone is very capable. I just wasn't expecting it to be this capable in a laptop. It's marketed to people who want to do simple things and have no need for the power of a MacBook Pro. But apparently you can still use it for Pro things.

   
• Human Clay! I had seen the story that Aardman, the company behind some of my favorite animation, was in danger of shutting down because the company making the clay they use was being shut down. It was nowhere nearly so dramatic, which I found out from this video I saw last night. Still, it's interesting...

If nothing else, I'm a little encouraged that this video dispells the idea that Aardman is going to give up on hand-hewn clay to tell their stories and start using 3D modeling instead.

   
• Crumbley! My undying love for Zoey Deschanel cannot be overstated. I thought I was alone in finding Crumbl cookies do not even remotely live up to the hype. Most times I find them to be a lump of sugar that are underbaked. Other times I enjoy the topping more than the cookie underneath...

I've had one cookie I enjoyed from Crumbl, and it was no more special than other bakery cookies I've had. It was essentially a soft version of a big OREO cookie with OREO crumbs on top.

   
• No Love Like Christian Hate! This is absolutely fucking outrageous...

If you're going to imply that Mayor Zohran Mamdani had something to do with 9/11 and call him an "enemy" because of his faith, then are you also going to tie every atrocity committed by Christians to every Christian in this country? All the shootings and bombings by self-professed Christians means that Christians are "the enemy within the gates?" It shouldn't be a surprise that Tommy Tuberville is dropping stupid racist shit like this. That's all he does. And he can't comprehend what "freedom of religion" means in the "land of the free" so ignorant dipshit bigoted crap and lies are all you get. And lest we forget that his "Tommy Tuberville Foundation" gave less than 18% of the money it took in to actual charity. So even if he wasn't already douchebag, he'd still be a piece of shit. Just look into how he treats our military veterans. How he treats any American who isn't Tommy Tuberville. This is the guy who calls Democrats "a satanic cult," but his every action just proves where true evil is, and it looks him in the mirror every morning. Tommy proudly processes to be a member of The Church of Christ, but is one of the lease Christ-like people on the planet. I have Muslim friends who are worth a hundred of him. A thousand of him. It's not hard when they're being compared to inhuman garbage.

   
• I'm a Meme! This is a better story than it has a right to be...

Fate, sometimes, has other plans.

   
• Aeon! One of the most amazing apps I use on a regular basis is Aeon Timeline. It's mainly a writing tool, but I started using it to outline projects at work and it's a complete and total game-changer. Of course if you are a writer, it is a godsend. I haven't found an easier way to organize my thoughts for events in time... no matter what they may be.

If you need to work with timelines for whatever reason, it's worth a look.

   
Since the snow hasn't all melted yet, I'm going to be cowering in my home all day. If I get ambitious, I might clean my house and wash clothes.

I may be fucked up because the fucking clocks were fucking changed again, which is fucking rough because I'm hard at work on this fine Sunday, but don't worry about bullets... because an all new Bullet Sunday starts... now...

   
• For the Love of God, Make the Stupid STOP! Look, more people want us to go on permanent Daylight Saving Time than don't. Some of us are so fucking desperate to stop dicking around with the clocks that we're even considering permanent Standard Time (which is not a better option, but it is the only one you can make happen without getting the fucking dumbasses in Congress to ACTUALLY FUCKING DO SOMETHING). This is all so stupid. Just do it. Just make Daylight Time permanent and fucking MOVE ON FROM THIS BULLSHIT.

   
• Nacho! One of my favorite chefs is Saúl Montiel, who appears on Epicurious often. He's entertaining and a genius in the kitchen. Even when he's cooking with meat, I learn new things that I can then adapt into a vegetarian recipes. Yesterday I found that he recently made Perfect Nachos that are vegetarian from the jump. They look incredible...

Damn that looks delicious. No clump of stuff dumped on top of the chips, and when you grab one chip you don't take the entire plate of cheese as you would with cheddar. My next grocery order is going to include the ingredients for this bad boy. Best cooking tip you'll ever get from me... go to the Epicurious page and search "Saúl Montiel" to get more awesome tips than you can shake a spatula at.

   
• YOU FOLD IT IN! After Catherine O'Hara's passing, I'm seeing a non-stop parade of clips with her in them. But this is the first time I've seen her in LEGO. It's one of her most classic scenes...

Oh how I miss Schitt's Creek.

   
• Libarry! Every time I see the Obama Presidential Library in the news, I wonder what in the hell they were thinking...

I detest this design. It looks like a brutalist nightmare... lacking warmth, beauty, elegance, or architectural fluidity. It could have been so much more. I often wonder what type of statement these oppressive-looking monuments are supposed to be making. Whatever it is, this one feels opposite of the presidency it is supposed to be representing.

   
• Lanterns! It's interesting how James Gunn is trying his best to differentiate all the DC projects so they're not merging into sameness. And while I can't say that the concept for a cosmic-spanning character like Green Lantern to be trapped in a distinctly earth-bound scenario, I do appreciate that Lanterns is striving to be something different...

And then there's the rumor that Gunn wants to bail from his contract a year early because he feels at odds with his studio's new Paramount overlords. And wouldn't it be interesting if he returned to Marvel? Seems like Paramount would do just about anything to avoid that.

   
• NEWSFLASH: LLMs can unmask pseudonymous users at scale with surprising accuracy. For better or worse, I put my name on the shit I say. My name is at the top of the sidebar of every entry on Blogography. And my real name is used on all my social media as well. And, believe me, I struggled with whether or not I wanted to go that route. In The Beginning Times, it felt like more people were using a pseudonym than their real names, but I ultimately decided to skip past that. Who cares what I say? And then I got a reader showing up where I live, and figured I may have made a mistake (the threats were also having me re-think things). But now, decades later, it turns out that staying anonymous is a thing of the past. AI can unmask you with "surprising accuracy." I wonder if this will cut down on the number of people making "anonymous" threats? One can only hope.

   
• Frod! I think I shared this years ago. I bears re-sharing....

I do the same thing... for my cats.

   
• Denial Isn't Just a River In Egypt! Every time washed up, bargain basement Hercules homophobe Kevin Sorbo opens his mouth... it's either to say something shitty. Or work in movies like Meet the Spartans so he can kiss dudes...

That's it, Sorbo, put your back into it! Such a hypocrite. Lord what a piece of shit.

   
And now I'm going back to work. Feel sad for me since my circadian rhythm is fucked.

Don't think that yet another war started by the "president of peace" and chairman of the "board of peace" who campaigned on a promise "no more wars" will send me into a rage so fucking deep that I can't blog... because an all new Bullet Sunday starts... now...

   
• Health is Overrated! There's a fuck-ton of idiocy in the news this week, but I'm going to focus on one. Wanting an anti-science, anti-vax, medical residency drop-out dipshit grifter social media influencer as your fucking Surgeon General. No big deal. Just the health of all Americans at stake. Jesus Christ.

   
• Classic Dutch: Expert spots vulnerability in Dutch national security, gets trolled with a souvenir t-shirt for his efforts. "So I notified the Dutch CERT that a Dutch ship was using a satellite router with a default password and that it was exposed to the internet. They notified me that the vulnerability was mitigated and asked for my address to send me a T-shirt. At first I was worried, but today I received the shirt."

This is epic. Dutch government +1000 points. No notes.

   
• Cuteness Overload! I'LL TAKE FIVE!!!

Though I'm not sure how the cats would react. Probably not well.

   
• NEWSFLASH: Denmark to tackle deepfakes by giving people copyright to their own features. And it's fucking absurd if everybody else doesn't follow suit. We are getting to a point where AI can render new realities. Do you want anybody to be able to use your likeness to have you doing whatever they can dream up and it looks convincing enough that people think it's really you? Kids in school are already taking their own lives because assholes are releasing deepfakes of them in horrific scenarios, and the sooner we start introducing severe penalties for abuse the better.

   
• No Freedom for You! This story appeared in my Facebook feed a couple days ago: "Trans man jumps in frigid lake & saves baby from drowning: 'I wasn’t going to let that baby die'" — Could have just said "man" but okay.

Then right after that, this story appeared: "Kansas is suspending the driver's licenses of trans people. Just abject cruelty. Nazis also revoked identity documents from trans people."

What the fuck is it about trans people merely existing that makes people become total assholes? They're just trying to live their life the best they can with the cards they were dealt, so why the endless persecution? Why in the so-called "land of the free" can't they be free to be who they are?

   
• Shitter! Oh God. I knew Twitter was awful... but I had no idea. The second half of this video is terrifying...

The death and destruction caused by bullshit and lies promoted on Twitter is cause to shut it the fuck down.

   
• Political Inaction! I am not wired to handle physical credit cards and ID cards. Despite trying real hard to keep them all in the same place, I keep losing them. Which is why I love my Apple Wallet and Apple Pay. But some cards don't work with it. Including my Driver's License... because the fucking assholes in Washington State government are looking for more ways to tax us instead of doing shit that will make our lives easier. Mississippi has digital licenses, but the state claiming to be a bastion of technology doesn't? A bill has been in legislative hell for THREE YEARS without movement. Fucking useless politicians. Especially stupid given that this is a bipartisan bill It was sponsored by both parties: Mark Mullet (D), Phil Fortunato (R), Chris Gildon (R), Marko Liias (D), Joe Nguyen (D), Jamie Pedersen (D), Claire Wilson (D). God how I fucking hate political idiocy. We've also voted to make Daylight Saving Time permanent... that's going nowhere too. JUST GET THIS SHIT DONE!

   
• When it absolutely, positively, has to be a pain in the ass! Remember when you could just call FedEx, tell them you had a package to pick up, and they would take care of it? Not any more. I spend 40 minutes trying to get a package picked up. Couldn't do it. The company that sent me the label tried for an additional half hour. Couldn't do it. It's insane. You can't even go online and do it because you have to have an account or some other stupid crap. Service has gone right out the window. I used to love FedEx... now I outright loathe dealing with their bullshit.

   
And now back to yet another war, already in progress. Ironic that our commander in chief is calling upon the Iranian people to rise up against the government when Americans can't even fucking protest the government (as guaranteed in our Constitution) without getting fucking shot.

Insomnia has been kicking my ass, but I'm not letting that stop me... because an all new Bullet Sunday starts... now...

   
• Punch-kun! I ran across the tragic story of the macaque snow monkey "Punch-kun" because I still follow Japanese news. Punch was abandoned my his mother and took comfort in an IKEA stuffed orangutan named "Djungelskog." There were numerous photos of the poor little guy doing his best to find acceptance and love from a plushie...

But then, after days on his own, he finally got a hug from one of his troop...

So that's nice. Especially after the shit-show of a week we've had.

   
• Whither Pixar? When Onward was released in 2020, it was a turning point for me when it came to Pixar. With one exception, I didn't like any of these films. And I never really understood why. I never bothered to search my feelings to understand what it was about Pixar that was turning me off. Then this morning I saw this...

And there it is. The reason there's one exception to Pixar from 2020 onward? It's because I've been to the coastal Italian towns which inspired the film Luca. I have a personal connection to the movie because I can draw on an experience that I've had. It's also why I can like a movie like Elio, but not fall in love with it.

   
• Dave Smash! I've been a big Morningstar Farms fan since becoming vegetarian decades ago. I veered away to Boca Burger for my burgers because they had superior taste and mouthfeel, but after Kraft bought them out and fucked up the recipe, I went back to Morningstar Grillers. They aren't great, and you have to know how to cook them so the texture isn't awful, but at least I'm not gagging them down. And then... Beyond Meat released Beyond Stack Burgers...

Now, I should say that Beyond does make an actual smash burger product, but they're not sold near me and aren't meant to be frozen (though you can), which means you have to eat them the day you open the package. The "stack" version always come frozen and are meant to stay frozen until used. Which means I don't have to eat them all after opening the package. But anyway... I found that I can get the Beyond Stack Burgers locally (well, 25-minutes away locally, but still). I absolutely love these burgers. A little high in sodium (260mg per patty), but not atrocious. They also cook weird, with a strange foamy residue in the pan, but the results are tasty enough when you smash them that I just don't care. As a bonus, Beyond has packaging that actually works... unlike shitty Morningstar Farms packaging which I hate, hate, hate.

   
• Thor Tells Jokes! I really want to see this standup as a special... where is Netflix when you really need them?

Hearing this makes me want to watch Hasan Minhaj: Homecoming King again. It's a highly personal work which happens to be very, very funny. And touching.

   
• The Dow! The Dow! This is an absolute banger...

I couldn't even watch the hearing because Bondi is a gaping fucking asshole. Instead of using her position to serve the American people and seek justice, she's conspiring to protect child predators. She's such a massive pile of lying fucking shit that any time she speaks I see red, so I don't put myself in a position to watch. Thanks to this video, I can see the highlights in a way that doesn't make me want to hide under my bed and start screaming.

   
• SANDIWARA! Given my love of all things Michelle Yeoh, I was thrilled when a friend shared this with me...

The comments having people saying this should be a Malaysian tourism video. I cannnot disagree. This definitely makes me want to visit Penang (I've only ever been to Kuala Lumpur in the country).

   
• Finalizada! Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família... AKA the Sagrada Familia basilica, is finally nearing completion. After 144 years...

Fascinating. I've visited Sagrada Familia three times over a 20 year span. It never seemed like it was any closer to being completed. Now that we're so close, it feels like it might be time to visit Barcelona again. Not that I need an excuse... it's one of my favorite cities on earth.

   
• Sci-Fi Entertainment! This list isn't perfect, but dang if it doesn't make me want to re-watch every one of these films...

Even though I've already seen all of them more than once. Some of them many times.

   
And now back to needing more sleep.

I've said my good bye to Aaron, have returned home from Kansas City, and am more exhausted than I can process, but never you fear about bullets gone missing... because a Very Special Ace Fontana Memorial Edition of Bullet Sunday starts... now...

   
• It's a Cluster! I headed to Seattle on Wednesday afternoon and spent the night at the airport so I wouldn't have to stress about making my morning flight (Seattle traffic can be notorious). And all day Wednesday and very early Thursday, I was desperately trying to check in with Alaska Air, but couldn't. Worried that something was wrong, I got to the airport three hours early for my 8:21am flight. And was met with a massive crowd of people. Nobody could check in. You had to stand in line for hours to get a boarding pass, and it was so badly organized that nobody really knew what to do. I barely made my flight. — Look, I know technology goes wrong sometimes... but when you have ZERO plans for how to handle things when it does (especially when you knew there was a problem the previous day) that's a serious fucking oversight. I love Alaska Airlines, but this was one of the biggest cluster-fucks I've ever seen in 45 years of travel. That's saying something.

   
• In Remembrance! Aaron's Celebration of Life was well-attended, and there were two things I took away from it: 1) Aaron touched a lot of people, and if only a fraction were able to be there, we may never know how many people that is... and 2) It was sobering to find out that our friendship, which I thought was atypically special, wasn't all that unique at all. Everybody there felt as though their friendship was atypically special. How many people have the ability to make most every person they meet feel like that?

His 51st birthday is on Tuesday and, as I found out on Saturday, it's hard to celebrate his life without him in it.

   
• Arena KC! Aaron's band performed at his celebration, which was bittersweet. Made even more so because they had just completed a new promo video last month...

A rock star from start to finish.

   
• An Aaron By Any Other Name! While I was waiting for my plane in Kansas City, I was looking through the many, many photos I had collected of Aaron over the years. One caught my eye, because it was double-Aaron...

I first knew him by his blogging handle, Jester. Then I knew him by his name, Paul. Then I knew him by his stage name, Ace. And then I knew him by his middle name, Aaron, which he took as his name because he thought he was more an Aaron than a Paul. But no matter what I was calling him, he was always a great friend.

   
• FindMy! It's interesting to note that the only person I've ever had in Apple's "FindMy" service was Aaron. Because we were either meeting up when I was in town for work or we were meeting up in some random city with other people, it was just easier to use the technology of the day to make our lives easier...

I don't think I ever bothered to open the app unless I was specifically trying to find him. Which is a shame. Because if I had opened it when I was in Anaheim last February, I would have seen that he was in the city at the same time. But, alas, I never knew he was there until he saw that I was in the city and texted after I had already flown home.

   
• The Football! My hotel was across the highway from Arrowhead. Just think how close I was to where Taylor Swift likes to watch her boyfriend play football!

Of course that's also where she played her KC stop for the Eras Tour. And where Travis Kelce attended the show in order to try and give her a friendship bracelet, which is far more historically significant than some silly sportsball game.

   
• MCI! I love Kansas City International Airport. It's beautifully maintained. It's smartly organized. There's plenty of places to sit. There's good variety of things to eat. It's just a generally great place to fly into and out of. In other words, the complete opposite of the shit-show that Seattle-Tacoma International has become. =sigh= I probably wouldn't be so jealous if only Seattle didn't keep ripping out seats to put in retail shops... and could manage to keep all the escalators running for more than five fucking minutes.

   
• Bright Light! Bright Light! For nearly a decade I had to stop driving in the dark because I couldn't see properly. Even the smallest light source would flare out and obliterate everything. Then I got the lenses in my eyes replaced and, suddenly I could see at night again. Driving back across the mountains from Seattle in the dark was a relaxing experience... except not really. It's shocking (or not) how many people drive with their brights on. And though it doesn't blind me any more like it used to, it is irritating. Whether they are coming at me or are behind me (or coming at me with regular lights and then turn on their brights before they fully pass), it's set me back to square one. I don't remember it being like this before I stopped driving at night but, given the way things are going, I shouldn't be surprised.

   
And now I really should get some sleep. Or try to.