Joe Thompson
@kensey.bsky.social
That guy in that place who does that thing.
There are few villains I enjoy watching on-screen as much as Jean-Baptiste Emmanuel Zorg. But then, that's true of most characters Gary Oldman plays.
December 8, 2025 at 5:46 PM
There are few villains I enjoy watching on-screen as much as Jean-Baptiste Emmanuel Zorg. But then, that's true of most characters Gary Oldman plays.
This in turn keeps medical professionals in the area fully-employed, so they can be available to patch up the results of these events and ensure more such events will transpire in the future. And the great wheel of existence turns onward...
December 8, 2025 at 5:36 PM
This in turn keeps medical professionals in the area fully-employed, so they can be available to patch up the results of these events and ensure more such events will transpire in the future. And the great wheel of existence turns onward...
There's always *somebody* willing to hold that guy's beer, though, because then they get to watch that guy do something hilariously ill-advised. (Which may injure or kill the beer-holder as well! All part of the excitement of life.)
December 8, 2025 at 5:36 PM
There's always *somebody* willing to hold that guy's beer, though, because then they get to watch that guy do something hilariously ill-advised. (Which may injure or kill the beer-holder as well! All part of the excitement of life.)
_Snow Crash_ had the idea of economic Sacrifice Zones that are just kind of fenced off and posted "exist here at own risk" instead of trying to clean them up. I feel like we're a couple of years away at most from that. (Centralia, PA is arguably kind of that already.)
December 8, 2025 at 5:07 PM
_Snow Crash_ had the idea of economic Sacrifice Zones that are just kind of fenced off and posted "exist here at own risk" instead of trying to clean them up. I feel like we're a couple of years away at most from that. (Centralia, PA is arguably kind of that already.)
I maintain that GalaxyQuest is actually a Trek movie (and one of the better ones to boot).
December 8, 2025 at 5:03 PM
I maintain that GalaxyQuest is actually a Trek movie (and one of the better ones to boot).
Seems like I recall a famous novel in which the former UK is now known as Airstrip One...
December 7, 2025 at 11:15 PM
Seems like I recall a famous novel in which the former UK is now known as Airstrip One...
That last pic, though. "Yes, since you asked, everything here is mine. However, when I am done I may, in my majestic benevolence, leave a few morsels for the birds."
December 7, 2025 at 9:59 PM
That last pic, though. "Yes, since you asked, everything here is mine. However, when I am done I may, in my majestic benevolence, leave a few morsels for the birds."
So many people forget that "you get what you measure" is not just an observation, but can be a call to action!
December 7, 2025 at 9:57 PM
So many people forget that "you get what you measure" is not just an observation, but can be a call to action!
It often is. I should dip into one of my bottles from a local distillery.
December 7, 2025 at 4:48 AM
It often is. I should dip into one of my bottles from a local distillery.
When I heard he'd died in 2003 it felt like a punch in the gut.
December 7, 2025 at 3:11 AM
When I heard he'd died in 2003 it felt like a punch in the gut.
Also Mr. Rogers was a kindly uncle on TV but he was a pit bull where doing right by kids was concerned. His testimony before the Senate in favor of PBS funding in 1969 is a six-minute masterclass in arguing persuasively without being rude or aggressive but also without giving an inch.
December 7, 2025 at 3:11 AM
Also Mr. Rogers was a kindly uncle on TV but he was a pit bull where doing right by kids was concerned. His testimony before the Senate in favor of PBS funding in 1969 is a six-minute masterclass in arguing persuasively without being rude or aggressive but also without giving an inch.
When I think back and realize that we had Reading Rainbow, Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, Joy of Painting, *and* Sesame Street all on PBS together from 1983 to 1994... well quite frankly I mourn for what we have lost. The Oregon Trail Generation didn't know how good we had it.
December 7, 2025 at 3:04 AM
When I think back and realize that we had Reading Rainbow, Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, Joy of Painting, *and* Sesame Street all on PBS together from 1983 to 1994... well quite frankly I mourn for what we have lost. The Oregon Trail Generation didn't know how good we had it.
(The report suggested the reason for seasonality is not known with certainty though.)
December 7, 2025 at 2:57 AM
(The report suggested the reason for seasonality is not known with certainty though.)
And the winter spraying on fields with no food crops is even worse in that respect -- which may tie into something I saw in a local news station video, that some of the monitoring wells display seasonality in the levels of nitrates, with levels highest in the spring.
December 7, 2025 at 2:57 AM
And the winter spraying on fields with no food crops is even worse in that respect -- which may tie into something I saw in a local news station video, that some of the monitoring wells display seasonality in the levels of nitrates, with levels highest in the spring.
i.e. the crops are already taking up everything they can, any additional levels of nitrates in the sprayed wastewater are just additional excess.
December 7, 2025 at 2:57 AM
i.e. the crops are already taking up everything they can, any additional levels of nitrates in the sprayed wastewater are just additional excess.
(Or somebody is doing something even worse that isn't yet known, like disposing of nitrate-laden wastewater in an injection well that's discharging into the aquifer instead of below it.)
December 7, 2025 at 2:57 AM
(Or somebody is doing something even worse that isn't yet known, like disposing of nitrate-laden wastewater in an injection well that's discharging into the aquifer instead of below it.)
Because of the uptake of nitrates by crops, presumably? It's a thought, but the fact that *any* nitrates are making it down to the aquifer suggests there is already excess from e.g. the direct application of fertilizer.
December 7, 2025 at 2:57 AM
Because of the uptake of nitrates by crops, presumably? It's a thought, but the fact that *any* nitrates are making it down to the aquifer suggests there is already excess from e.g. the direct application of fertilizer.
(Random info-morsel -- while checking the Wikipedia article for Costco I ran across the phrase "forced monkey labor" which I think is the first time I've heard of such a thing.)
December 7, 2025 at 2:32 AM
(Random info-morsel -- while checking the Wikipedia article for Costco I ran across the phrase "forced monkey labor" which I think is the first time I've heard of such a thing.)
So we've now ended up in a timeline where Costco, the third-largest retailer in the world, is suing a Republican administration for its business-harming actions.
December 7, 2025 at 2:32 AM
So we've now ended up in a timeline where Costco, the third-largest retailer in the world, is suing a Republican administration for its business-harming actions.
But when the culture-warriors became ascendant and made their agenda the dominant one, the business and rule-of-law Republicans were shunted aside and their concerns given lip service or none at all as policies actively harmful to business interests were implemented.
December 7, 2025 at 2:32 AM
But when the culture-warriors became ascendant and made their agenda the dominant one, the business and rule-of-law Republicans were shunted aside and their concerns given lip service or none at all as policies actively harmful to business interests were implemented.
They were happy to travel in the same direction as the culture warriors as long as what was done at least didn't damage their own pro-business agenda. Mostly it didn't, or at least what damage it did was offset by tax breaks and the like.
December 7, 2025 at 2:32 AM
They were happy to travel in the same direction as the culture warriors as long as what was done at least didn't damage their own pro-business agenda. Mostly it didn't, or at least what damage it did was offset by tax breaks and the like.