fake: April Fool’s joke.

If you are wondering how the typical Trumpist is reacting, here is it is, below. They don't understand markets. They don't own stocks or have 401k plans. To them, all of it just a mystery behind a curtain.

Yeah, but they do own cars. And refrigerators. And there was no way the washing machine was going to make it to Labor Day.

And now they’re going to pay 25% more to get the first and second fixed. And they’re going to have to start using the laundromat, because they can’t afford to replace the washing machine, and they’re already maxed out on debt.

This is literally how you crash an economy.

And I know this (a) because of my shiny graduate degrees in political science and economics and (b) this is how we made the Great Depression immeasurably worse.

I’ll be in the hibernation pod. Re-reading Kindleberger on the Depression. And hoping maybe buying a share in an index fund will maybe pay off in 15 years or so.

@zuppizup

Thank you, magic forg

"Can you help me find my dog?" is a common ruse that kidnappers use in order to isolate their victims.

Logically, it makes no sense. Someone who lost their dog would put up fliers. Or loudly and repeatedly yell their dog's name. Or ask a crowd of people for help. They'd never even consider asking a child who's alone.

But children are not taught to think logically when an adult wants something. Children are taught "when an adult tells you to do something, you do it". Children are taught that it's their duty to sacrifice their own comfort in order to please adults. Children are taught that adults can be as illogical as they want and children still have to respect them.

from a pet rescue perspective, this is actually a problem, because kids will do a MUCH better job spotting a dog than a grown up.

strategy I have adopted: if actively seeking (as in, you know pup just ran through there, you saw it, but there’s bushes):

Ask kid to get an adult they trust, show the ADULT the dog pic and give them contact info, ask them to have the kids keep an eye out and HAVE ADULT contact you.

By this method the 2nd grade recess of the local Catholic school helped recover Siracha the loose terrier-Lab mix BEFORE she got into the high volume traffic street. Teachers and students successfully helped encourage her into the fenced basketball court, and closed her in before texting to crow about their accomplishment.

Siracha was safely returned home, the hole in her fence found and patched.

I call that the Crappe Dies after the Carpsi Diem.

brain noise:

el*n m*sk has a lot in common with marie antoinette, and not just the "let them eat cake" line (which she never said, but he very much would)

he doesn't really make anything, but he purchases many things and makes them worse by exerting his whims and (exceptionally poor) taste.

I don’t disagree with any of the substance…..

well, except that I think you’re being mean about Marie Antoinette. By all accounts, she adored ALL her children and would never use one as a human shield.

you're right, but you gotta understand that m.a. is like a friend of mine from back in hs. i have some empathy for her, but she did suck, and i will talk mad shit.

fair enough, carry on…

but you say one mean thing about Mops, and I -will- see you at 2 leashes’ distance and have a game of pitch the dog treats in the hat to defend the pup’s honor ;)

brain noise:

el*n m*sk has a lot in common with marie antoinette, and not just the "let them eat cake" line (which she never said, but he very much would)

he doesn't really make anything, but he purchases many things and makes them worse by exerting his whims and (exceptionally poor) taste.

I don’t disagree with any of the substance…..

well, except that I think you’re being mean about Marie Antoinette. By all accounts, she adored ALL her children and would never use one as a human shield.

official linguistics post

Learnéd colleagues

march is coming up soon and i'm thinking that i should like, put a 10% off sale for the ides print for the whole of that month

what do yall think? its this design btw, the one where we cancel caesar:

wait no im an idiot it's gotta be 23% off

for yknow

reasons

anyways keep an eye on the ides of merch sale lmao

AH SHIT I'M A DAY LATE FOR THIS WHOOPS

aaaaaanyways

for the month of march, these ides are 23% off

pspsps before I forget there are a few days left to the month so getcha discounted callouts of caesar

Get the word out in Florida. Republicans only have a 3 vote lead in the House of Representatives and we have a good chance to take back two of them. Both Democratic challengers are doing well.

I'll be honest, I don't really mind when "byzantine" is used as a pejorative, because at least they're being mentioned

nobody's ever like "wow, the US immigration system is so abbasid" "I was trying to change my health insurance, but their website is a polish-lithuanian commonwealth"

historical remembrance is a tough game. I count it as a win

going to remember to use those…

Uk peeps!! Let’s get this going! 🏳️‍⚧️🇬🇧

only can be signed by UK peeps, but as of posting, 6,656 signatures.

If you see this on your dashboard, reblog this, NO MATTER WHAT and all your dreams and wishes will come true.

Oh hey! Haven’t seen this in forever! Didn’t reblog it when it came across me before, not gonna skip it this time, I need some good vibes.

EBAY ARE ADDING AI TO THEIR SITE. YOU HAVE AUTOMATICALLY BEEN OPTED IN. GO AND OPT OUT.

you cannot turn it off via the app or mobile site, you HAVE to be on desktop.

To turn this off, sign into your account click on the Hi (your name)! > My eBay > Account > AI training preferences and you can toggle off the permission.

(via bluesky)

If you’re on Firefox on your phone, you can toggle to the desktop menu to access this. Once you’ve navigated to My eBay > Account, click the hamburger button on the bottom right of the browser window (the three stacked bars) and select ‘Request Desktop Site’. Then the ‘AI Training Preferences’ option will show up in the Account menu.

You might want to stay on the page for about 5-10 seconds after you toggle it to "No" because mine actually went back to "Yes" for some reason. I retoggled it, held it in the "No" position for a few seconds, let up on the mouse and moved the cursor off to the right, waited a few minutes.

This could have just been poor movement + poor internet connection, but I made dang sure that it was toggled to "No" before I left the page.

There are anti-Hamas protests happening in Gaza right now. Hamas agents tried to enter a hospital (most likely to stash or retrieve weapons) and basically got told to go fuck themselves.

This is amazing. May they be out of power soon and forever.

like to charge. Reblog to signal boost and duplicate the call above.

This is possibly the most insane national security story in the last 50 years. Includes a massive text chain between senior members of the Trump admin gaming out foreign policy and war plans on Signal, and they accidentally added a reporter to the group chat.

Some of the issues:

Non paywalled version

It is March 2025. I am just noting this because when I said I expected Trump and his team to be unable to keep their shit together because he burned bridges with every competent person on his side last time, I thought it would take more than barely two months into the new term.

What the entire actual fuck. Besides the whole Espionage Act violation, think about this: no one thought to double-vet the group list to make sure there were no unintentional additional people added. None of them. No the VP. Not the Secretary of State. Not the Secretary of Defense. None of them.

What above said.