Having to explain to a group chat full of non-Twitter/Bluesky users who Will Stancil is this morning.

Follow the Dodgers' gameday thread for such insights as that the 69-44 first-place Los Angeles Dodgers "fucking suck," that the third-best offense in MLB has "no heart" and that those who say otherwise are a "good ship lollipop fanbase."

Modern TV and film are full of these sorts of over-complicated nonsense tactics you could never use in real life, because writers seem to imagine that good military tactics have to be terribly clever, when in fact they generally have to be terribly *reliable* so you can pull them off.

a thing that came out about yoon's attempted coup in south korea is that he wanted to send special ops troops into parliament on no notice and they were like "are you fucking crazy" bc in real life special ops are meticulously rehearsed and they didn't even have access to building floorplans

Mike Black@mikeblack114.bsky.social · 2w ago

Special operations don't mean going in all guns blazing. It means special planning, special care, fully briefed agents in possession of all possible alternatives. If you want james bond go to your library. But if you want a successful operation sit at your desk and think. And then think again

I'm following the Dodgers subreddit game thread tonight, and it's so fascinating to see people there complain about their pitchers walking batters and the bad luck of great defensive players being made against them — when the two things the Cubs do really, really well is take walks and play defense.

Good lord I wish some of you could read on this text based social media website.

The Verge@theverge.com · 2d ago

Bluesky's new CEO Toni Schneider on the platform's reputation for being a liberal bubble: "Yes, we definitely want that to change. It is already changing. It certainly wasn’t designed to attract one specific group of people."

If parenting a toddler has taught me anything, it's that when they make a mess, you need to ask them to clean it up. This is a post about Claude.

#Cubs preferred to switch from Reid Detmers to Braxton Garrett to retain Owen Ayers, even if it meant giving up Moisés Ballesteros to get Ryan Zeferjahn. Big bet on the trend arrows (up for Ayers; down for Ballesteros). But a bigger bet on Zeferjahn himself. northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/...

POWER ARM: Cubs Acquire Ryan Zeferjahn in Trade with Angels

The Cubs have struck again, rounding out their suddenly much deeper pitching staff with the addition of hard-throwing, controllable reliever Ryan Zeferjahn of the Angels.

northsidebaseball.com

Americans will do anything to avoid using the metric system.

Elizabeth Warren@elizabeth-warren.bsky.social · 3d ago

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s wedding at Madison Square Garden? $30 million. The amount special interests have spent against @abdulelsayed.bsky.social in the Michigan Senate race? $60 MILLION. Twice as much to try and buy one Senate seat. It’s the many vs. the money. Vote for Abdul.

“panic soon spread through the community. With guns in hand, men began to keep night vigils on their properties, and the Botetourt County Board of Supervisors offered a $500 reward for the capture of the nefarious anesthetist.” www.legendsofamerica.com/mad-gassers/

airbnb I’m staying at unintentionally created the toughest punk album cover of 2027

"The battle is lost! Give me an account of our dead and wounded.... but for god's sake make it look PRETTY" - the king of France, probably

Something randomly reminded me to share this! lumpley.games/2019/10/21/g...

Finally knocked "Michael Clayton" off my to-watch movie list this evening, thanks to a toddler who refrained from waking up in the first few hours after bedtime (for once). Love a good script-forward film, and reinforced in my commitment to watch anything Tony GIlroy produces.

I came across this 1879 "Panoramic View of the city of Minneapolis," and while it's not strictly to scale, it's what I've been looking for to conceptualize the sheer size of Lowry Hill (the hill). In this detail, the pond is what today is Loring Park. Full map: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pa...

Follow this for tons of fake fantasy maps (aka the best thing):

Pixies a/k/a Map Nerd@mcburnellauthor.bsky.social · 5d ago

Hey hey everyone, welcome to our awesome new map game! We're here to celebrate our love for fictional maps all month long! Before we start poring over details, let's start with the basics: tell us who you are and a little bit about your world. And don't forget to share your map! #Cartaugust 🪐 📚️

Like… no, seriously: have we forgotten how to Television, as a culture? Because it feels like we've forgotten how to Television.

Dr. Damien P. Williams has to go the way his blood beats@wolven.blacksky.app · 5d ago

So apparently the new season of Futurama premiers on monday? Which i just found out from the first ad and only confirmation I've ever seen of said new season's existence?? Of a show which i just watched all of TWO MONTHS AGO??!

The only creative industry that is inarguably both doing well and doing great work right now is "new baseball guy names."

Bobby Nightengale@nightengalejr.bsky.social · 5d ago

Jhomnardo Reyes is going to the Orioles for Dean Kremer, per source.

This is suuuuuuper good.

Dr. Emily Friedman@friede.bsky.social · 7d ago

I am unbelievably touched that @dropout.tv titled my @dimension20.dropout.tv Adventuring Academy episode “A Duty of Care”

I’m overwhelmed today, but I want to circle back in a while to share the links to everyone & everything I cited. More soon.

I had a fun time last year reading the Seamus Heaney "Beowulf" translation to my kiddo. What are your favorite examples of epic poetry that is interesting but also really fun to read aloud at length?

Apparently this *wasn't* what my wife meant??

Saw a NYT listicle of “happiest cities” on IG and, whatever, but commenters are complaining/forming conspiracy theories about why some cities get state names after them and others dont. It’s AP style. I am tired

For our latest @today.yougov.com newsletter, we polled Americans about whether they think AI is currently better or worse at thinking than a range of public figures, including Trump, Biden, Elon Musk, and @kenjennings.bsky.social. The full writeup: yougovamerica.substack.com/p/do-america...

This is very interesting.

Eugene Vinitsky 🍒@eugenevinitsky.bsky.social · 5d ago

Fantastic paper demonstrating how LLM editing is gradually distorting our writing and the way we think to write: arxiv.org/abs/2603.18161

7.3% chance of winning, making the grand slam by Clemens a +0.927 WPA, the highest possible gain for a single pitch/swing

Sarah Langs@slangsonsports.bsky.social · 6d ago

WHEEEEEEE!

I'm not an expert on the dynamics of sexual harassment but I have definitely run across men previously who minimized sexual harassment because while it was annoying or gross or weird or creepy or upsetting or any number of other bad things, it did not make them *afraid*.

it is vaguely inspirational that gemini flash cares for the well being of all organisms

normal sara@sarasocial.bsky.social · 6d ago

There are years when I want the Cubs to sell at the trading deadline, or to stand pat/buy judiciously. This year I genuinely think they should go ALL IN. The Cubs have a world-class defense and a very good offense but a very weak pitching staff. Get pitching, the best available.

Deleted this RT of incorrect or at least highly misleading information. For more context see @copyrightlibn.bsky.social: bsky.app/profile/copy...

N Sims@copyrightlibn.bsky.social · 6d ago

That's fairly far off. "Transformative" in the copyright sense does -not- say anything about disposition of physical originals.