Happy Pride Month to LGBTQ+ persons across the country and everywhere! I see you. I appreciate you. I want you to be happy, safe, and authentically you, always. You contribute to society in meaningful, fabulous ways, and I'm proud to stand with you as you celebrate your culture and history.
And, don't worry haters, I see you too! Every year there's a segment of society living in ignorance which feels the need to shit all over Pride by saying things like "WHAT ABOUT THE MILITARY? WHY DO GAYS GET A MONTH BUT OUR MILITARY GETS NOTHING? I'M UNREASONABLY MAD ABOUT THAT, AND BEING MAD SHOWS EVERYBODY I'M A REAL AMERICAN PATRIOT!!"
So here we go...
And for religious haters who find joy in condemning Pride Month as celebrating sin... go right ahead. This is America, after all. But you should know that your highly selective reading of the Bible and your non-contextual interpretation of those passages which you weaponize against LGBTQ+ persons is an incredibly sad way to live as a "Christian," and you really need to read deeper into your Bible for the ultimate message Jesus was trying to teach us. I'm not a Christian, but have been in a Bible study group for the past 22 years. Studying historical context, language translation context, and the different interpretations of Scripture has been an eye-opening experience I highly recommend.
But anyway...
Happy Pride to all who celebrate!
Don't think that life without water pressure will hold me back... because an all new Bullet Sunday starts...now...
• Take a Look, It's In a Book! When it comes to video games, I'm a creature of habit. I mostly play Minecraft Dungeons, which is such a relaxing way to wind down when I've had a particularly challenging day. I don't generally look for other games to play, but sometimes they find me. The latest of which I can't even play because it's not available for iPad or Mac! It's a weird concept to be sure. A fairy has ripped 3,072 books off the shelves of a magical library. Your job, should you choose to accept it, is to put every last one of them back on the shelves where they belong...
The reviews are pretty stellar. People love it so much that even when they earn magical abilities to allow them to complete the game faster, they don't. Instead they put each book back manually. Because it's relaxing. I can't imagine a bigger endorsement than that. I really, really hope it comes to a platform I have available one day soon!
• Priorities! Take a look at this nonsense that greets you when you login to Facebook...
Facebook now prioritizes their shitty AI slop bullshit over your friends. Which speaks volumes. The reason they want you to use their product is not to communicate with those who mean something to you... it's to generate stupid AI crap. And I honestly don't get it. What do they gain by de-prioritizing your friends? Running AI nonsense is expensive. Having you engage with your friends is relatively cheap. Which is why it seems insane that you have to skip past TWO AI products before even getting to your friends. I don't fucking understand any of this. Probably too old.
• I'm on a Float! This past week I happened upon a discussion about how "stupid" water beds were, yet they were everywhere anyway. They didn't offer much support for sleep, they were impossible to move, they could have serious problems when it came to the water getting slimy, and they required a heating pad under or else the water would be freezing to sleep on. It was totally a messy idea that made no sense. And yet... I liked my water bed! It was comfortable enough (when warm) that I was able to fall asleep easily. Not sure it did much for sleep after I nodded off, but for the five years it was functional, I enjoyed sleeping on it. But then the heater had to be replaced for the second time, which requires you to completely drain the bladder, at which point my parents told me it was time to be rid of it. I kept the bed frame though, because it had a padded edge I liked, and just threw a regular mattress inside. So... stupid? Yes. Very. But not insanely so. Sometimes I miss flopping down on a squishy, sloshy bed at night.
• Full Disclosure! I haven't thoroughly enjoyed a Steven Spielberg movie since Minority Report in 2002. Before that there were quite a few. Despite it all, I never stop rooting for him out of pure nostalgia. His latest, Disclosure Day looks like he may break his 24-year dry spell for me...
At least I sure hope so.
• NEWSFLASH: Pardoned Jan. 6 rioter to plead guilty in child sexual abuse case, adding to pattern. "Once is an anomaly, twice is a trend." This is the sixth... SIXTH!... January 6th insurrectionist arrested for being a child predator? And that doesn't even touch the number of sex crimes and other criminal acts from the January 6 mob. All pardoned by the president. The so-called "law and order president." What a fucking joke.
• Inhumane! Years ago, a woman tossed a cat looking for affection into a trash bin. The cat was rescued, but the woman was caught on video and (rightfully) became a total pariah of society. People (rightfully) loathed her. She (rightfully) became one of the most infamous people in Britain. Her response made things even worse. If you hadn't heard about the story, here you go...
This morning a news story hit my feed with the headline 'Cat Bin Lady' Mary Bale still lives in Midlands - and doesn't feel forgiven. And I was like. Good. Fuck that piece of shit. This is all I could possibly want for her. Anybody who would cause suffering to an animal which did nothing but show them affection deserves to be an unforgiven outcast. People like this have no place in society.
• Talk About Performative! Good Lord am I exhausted over this stupid shit. It burns. IT BURNS!
@matteo_il_pazzeo Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) wore a head scarf during a visit at a Bronx mosque and Islamic Center during the celebration of Eid al-Aldha. She did so out of respect, but some people, including @Chloe ♬ original sound - The Justice Guy
When you are invited somewhere which has different traditions than you hold, it's merely being polite to be respectful to these traditions. People like this need to get out of the house and fucking travel more. I've been to countless places where I was respectful to my host by doing something I wouldn't usually do. What always, always, gets me is how these same people will totally lose their shit if somebody were to disrespect their traditions. Get a fucking life, asshole.
And now back to my regularly-scheduled water outage.
Had water... then didn't have water... then had water, but low pressure. Which meant I could take a shower, but not a very good one.
Then the water was gone again when I got home, which means no butternut squash pasta in brown butter with crispy-fried sage. Again.
In other news, how cool is this...
Probably won't offset the utterly insane decision to shut down federal bee labs, but even a little progress in the face of absolute disaster is better than nothing.
Surely there has to be somebody in the administration who understands what an absolute fucking disaster it would be for life on earth if the bee population collapses?
Here I am, back from vacation and ready to start dropping bullets I've been collecting over the past week... because an all new Bullet Sunday starts...now...
• Trash Panda Review! Let's start out our Sunday by looking at something uplifting, shall we?
I love raccoons. YouTube knows I love raccoons. So you can bet at some point while I'm scrolling through YouTube that there will be raccoons on my page. Interesting to note that raccoons may be the next animal to be domesticated for wide-scale adoption as pets...
Not sure how my cats would react to having a raccoon in the house though.
• GAAAAAAH! If only I could afford to purchase something like this for my home...
Nicholas Hernandez Art is an Instagram account I was following seconds after I saw the finished product. Gorgeous. Friction' gorgeous. And oh-so-expensive... but worth the price.
• King of the Road! Good God. When people think that they can regulate who gets to park on a public street... and get the police to help them enforce it... then society is fucking fucked...
@whiledogwalking♬ original sound - Mary
Nothing surprises me any more. Nothing.
• Learn from Example! Totally valid...
@tahalikesyou this is why youngest siblings are the smartest i am not taking any questions at this time
♬ original sound - TAHA
I learned everything not to do in life from watching television.
• Olympic! If you want to step away from the horrors of the world, this guy is visiting one of my favorite hotels on earth... not so far from me in Seattle!
I really need to pay a visit again one of these days. I can't really afford to spend the night... but the bar and restaurant are worth the money to visit.
• Bad Omens! I have few regrets in life. Watching the finale of Good Omens is one of them. What a complete betrayal of all that came before. I cannot fucking fathom what would make the writers come up with something so devoid of joy for two characters that people adore. Let alone what would make Prime Video greenlight it.
Terry Pratchett would not... COULD NOT... approve. It doesn’t even make sense. I would have much rather lived with a cliffhanger forever than to have suffered through this abomination. Everybody deserves a do-over.
• Enjoy Our Hellscape! I tried my best to avoid the news while I was gone. And catching up this week has been the nightmare you'd think it would be.
The mess we're in is crazy-easy to understand when you consider how things work now...
@orginal_pringles This was in 2016, back when everyone was doing the dab motion. He would do the motion with his arms while insisting that’s what Chance the Rapper and god were doing. I realize a dab is also a way to smoke; that’s not what he thought the song was referring to.
♬ original sound - Nick Pringle
Confirmation bias. It's a hell of a drug.
And now... back to work. Because yesterday I fell asleep before I could finish. Tomorrow is a holiday for me. Here's hoping that I can take at least one day off.
Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there, sure, but we've got important matters to deal with... because an all new Bullet Sunday starts...now...
• Quokka Edition! In today's episode of Adorable Animals Eating stuff...
If I hadn't seen a quokka in real life, I would have sworn they were AI or something.
• Flour or Corn? I have been watching tortilla challenge videos, and now I’m dead, y’all...
A challenge I would most certainly lose.
• NEWSFLASH: F.D.A. Blocked Publication of Research Finding Covid and Shingles Vaccines Were Safe. Suppressing scientific findings because they disagree with your idiotic bullshit... whodathunkit? OH... EVERYBODY WHO'S FUCKING SANE!!! Lying to keep people from being safe and healthy is exactly what you want from those in charge of keeping you safe and healthy. But that's RFK Jr. and the Trump Administration in a nutshell.
• Second Verse, Same as the First! Why? Why is he not telling the whole story? Because he's a fucking dumbass piece of fucking shit that's going to get babies killed...
Go fuck yourself you unbelievable fucking asshole. Jesus CHRIST why aren't these fuckers held responsible for their misinformation? All it takes is one person who listens to him and loses their kid before it's murder.
• Half Off Energy! Are we great yet?
Oh... wait a sec... we still have one month left before gas prices are cut by 50%. Which means it will be going from the $3.12 a gallon at the time Trump took office (national average) to $1.56 a gallon (national average) any day now! That will be a refreshing change from the $4.46 (national average) we're paying now! — Just remember... during the campaign Trump pledged to "rapidly drive prices down" and reduce energy/electricity costs by half within 12–18 months. We're almost there, so hang on, everybody! Just so long as the person in charge isn't falling asleep at the wheel, everything will be fine!
• The Real World! Yes. You have that exactly right. Instead of serving the American people as his job requires, this piece of shit went on a fucking seven month vacation on the taxpayer’s dime...
When are people going to wake up and realize that this administration is a fucking sham? They do nothing but make life easier for wealthy people. That’s it. War profiteering, grifts, lies, and crimes. That is the entirety of what they do.
• Worship Him! Posted without comment...
Except to say that this is as accurate a critique as it could possibly get.
And... good night.
Jalopnik: With 12,000 Flights Canceled In May Already, We've Got Bad News About Your Summer Vacation.
"The U.S. is now two months deep into an unprovoked war with Iran and the results have not been kind to anyone. In the states inflation tripled with surging gas prices, which quickly reached an average of over $4.00/gallon nationally. And in a world completely dependent on fuel, any shortage in the supply system hurts everyone, especially concerning air travel. It's bad enough that Matt Smith, Kpler director of commodity research warned on CNBC's "Squawk Box" that the 12,000 flights have been cancelled in May — of which we're only five days in — was only the beginning. Expect jet fuel prices to affect your summer travel, or even cancel it."
This is what incompetence in government looks like. They're so desperate to distract from the Epstein Files that we're now in a war that's fucked the entire country... and, indeed, the world.
I'm so sick of this non-stop parade of horrors I could vomit.
NEWSFLASH: RFK Jr. plans to curb antidepressants, which he falsely compares to heroin.
I've had crippling anxiety since I was 17. I know the age because I can remember the first anxiety-fueled attack I had with crystal clarity. Couldn't breathe. Felt like I was dying. Didn't know what was happening. Couldn't put a coherent thought together. At the time I thought I was having a heart attack. Everything was dialed to 11 and I was in quite a lot of pain.
Not knowing what was happening, mom took me to the doctor. We were told that it was a "panic attack" and I would be fine once I calmed down. Which I did. But I was still so rattled the next day that I still didn't feel like myself. The best word I can think of to describe my condition is... scrambled.
I have no idea what triggered the attack. Whatever it was probably disappeared as I was trying to deal with it all.
A couple times a year I'd get hit again, but it was never as intense as the first time. Probably because I understood what was happening to me. Though it could still get pretty bad. It's called crippling anxiety for a reason. It incapacitates you and you literally can't function.
Eventually I visited Thailand and looked to make some changes in my life. I started meditating, and that allowed me to manage my anxiety fairly well. I did have to run to initial care a couple times over the years for help, but I was never put on any medication.
Until I was.
Caring for a parent with dementia drove up my anxiety levels every single day, and it just kept getting worse and worse and worse. Far worse than it ever had been. No amount of meditation would touch it. And the fact that I was being incapacitated meant I couldn't care for my mom... let alone myself. Which probably made things even worse.
And so... my doctor ran me through the SSRI gauntlet, where you keep trying different options until something works. Or at least makes life with anxiety manageable. And we hit it on the third try.
I stayed on the pills until three or four months after my mom passed, when I slowly started to get my life back together and go back to meditating to control my stress and anxiety. It wasn't a cold-turkey halting of the drugs. It was a medically-controlled tapering off so that the side-effects don't get too awful. And, despite the FUCKING BULLSHIT NONSENSE BEING VOMITED OUT OF RFK JR.'S STUPID, IGNORANT, ANTI-SCIENCE, PIECE OF SHIT FUCKING ASSHOLE... it wasn't harder than "quitting heroin." Or, if it was, quitting heroin must be a fucking cake-walk, because it was no problem at all. My doctor gave me a schedule and advised me how to do it safely and, after a while, I was done. Back to practicing my meditation.
And then, seven years later, I was at work trying to deal with too much and there it was... an anxiety attack so bad that I was in my car thinking I was dying. All my muscles were so tight that I thought I was going to pass out from the pain. I was jumping out of my skin. My hands and feet were frozen and my fingers were bent back, leaving me clawing at my chest. I would have started screaming, but I couldn't breathe. I don't think that I passed out, but maybe I did. I honestly don't remember.
I didn't mess around. The minute I was able to pick up my phone and dial, I was calling for an emergency appointment with my doctor. YOU KNOW, THE ONLY PERSON QUALIFIED TO GIVE ME FUCKING MEDICAL ADVICE.
Given the severity of the attack, it was decided I would try some milder doses of SSRIs to see if that would allow me to get back to being able to function again.
It did not.
I was spiraling so often so quickly that I went right back to the drug which worked the best for me the first time. From there I worked myself from one pill to three per night. But slowly. Because the side-effects are horrible. Mostly revolving around explosive diarrhea from morning to night... and sometimes in the middle of the night.
Eventually things evened out. And my life started to feel like my own again. Which is to say that my life started to feel like most everybody else's does. Which is to say that any anxiety I'm experiencing is manageable. I don't get so overwhelmed that I can no longer function and am trying to scream while struggling to breathe.
After five or so months when things started to normalize for me, I worked my way down from three pills to two. Two pills to one. And then I was going to go back to zero when I decided that I just didn't fucking want to. I'm old enough now that I simply do not want to spend any more of what little time I have left struggling with my anxiety. I'm done with it. So I met with my doctor and explained where my head was at. He was happy that I had taken the initiative to reduce from three pills to one pill safely (I'd been through it before), and agreed with my reasoning. His training led him to believe I was better off where I was at, so he supported my decision. Medically.
And so...
Every night I take a small yellowish-peachy pill called Paxil.
Then I thank God that Paxil exists and my doctor exists so I can have a normal life that's not being ruled by something I can't control. With that pill I can manage. I can cope. I can be me. And I don't have to live in terror of an anxiety attack appearing out of nowhere and sending my life spiraling...
So fuck RFK Jr. and his stupid ignorant shit. Fuck him sideways.
I have no doubt that there are doctors who over-prescribe. I have no doubt that there are people who are abusing SSRIs. And, yeah, addressing that is probably a good idea. But for RFK Jr. to feel that he gets to overrule my doctor and unilaterally purge/reduce SSRIs for whatever stupid-ass reason (RFK Jr. being somebody who, I'll remind you, has no fucking training for this shit)... well, he can go fuck himself.
I am not going back to where I was when there's a perfectly suitable, perfectly safe, medically-sound, scientifically-studied solution available to me.
And some fascist junkie asshole with no medical training and not a lick of sense in his fucking brain-worm-riddled head has any fucking business telling me otherwise.
I'm about as exhausted as I can get after a week of trying to juggle all the balls I have in the air, but I'm not passing on the bullets... because an all new Bullet Sunday starts...now...
• My Room! Olivia Rodrigo was the host of Saturday Night Live last night, and had this hilariously awesome sketch...
As if that weren't enough, the track is a banger!
• Spider-Noir! It's not just because I'm a huge Nicholas Cage fan and he's perfect for the role... it's because this actually looks like it's going to make use of his talents in all the right ways...
I'll be watching it first in black &' white, then probably again in color if it's awesome. Which I'm expecting it will be.
• Best Friends! Somebody commented that this video is the opposite of toxic masculinity, and that seems apt...
There's an entire Instagram channel devoted to this, if you need a mood boost.
• Grapes! No, I'm not finished with watching animals eating stuff videos...
And can you really blame me?
• Yuii Chan Draws! This is remarkable...
It's like she has the entire thing in her head and is just tracing out what's already there. That's talent.
• Deadly Crystals! This is utterly fascinating. And a little scary. There's science happening, but they take great care to explain it in a way most people can understand...
Polymorphs be terrifying, yo.
• We're Out Of The Salmon! Tell me you've never worked in a restaurant without telling me you've never worked in a restaurant...
Amazing how Biden was the target of a gajillion 86-46 memes, where it apparently wasn't some kind of "mob term." And a simple Google search shows that the president himself re-posted far worse. And then there's this...
Funny that. Or fucking disgusting. You be the judge.
And now? Back to being exhausted. In more ways that one.
Everything we see and do is manipulated for a desired outcome by the people who design the way we see and do things.
Everything.
Where you don't really expect it is in data graphs. You'd think that data is data and the graph will honestly reflect that data. That's a graph's entire function... to clearly present data in a way you can easily and quickly grasp it.
Except we know that's not how it goes...
Yes, it's a valid crash-out.
Yesterday one of the most important videos you'll ever see was released.
And I need you to watch it.
It's that important, and here it is...
Okay, that was a ruse. Here's the real deal...
I implore you to watch this. If you have kids then I implore you to watch this then talk with them about AI chatbots. I implore you to share this with people you know... especially if they have kids or are vulnerable in some way.
You could be saving a life...
This is fucking repugnant.
AI is stealing our precious resources like fresh water and electricity.
And now they're coming for the people. Exactly as we knew it would. Because there's money to be made.
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