I didn't get to see most of the game today since I was singing at a memorial service for a friend's grandmother, but the game might as well have been a memorial service for the 2026 #Bears (September 13, 2026-September 20, 2026).

Gonna start referring to Democrats who take anti-trans stances as “Biological Republicans”

People are criticizing Mitch McConnell and the Republicans because he didn't show up to work for 13 weeks but in fairness that was the best thing Mitch McConnell ever did as a senator and he should continue not showing up to work as a senator.

The New York Times@nytimes.com · last wk.

Breaking News: Senator Mitch McConnell returned to the Senate after a 13-week absence following a health incident.

www.twitch.tv/lebronswanson @defector.com crosswords plus an @evanbirnholz.bsky.social oversized meta plus more Star Wars Zero Company

Lebronswanson - Live on Twitch

Defector + WaPo + Star Wars | Streaming crosswords.

twitch.tv

Ben Johnson's mid-year goal is to break the Scorigami record. #Bears

Scorigami@nflscorigami.bsky.social · last wk.

🏈 CHI 59 - 37 CAR FINAL ✅ That's Scorigami!! It's the 1096th unique final score in NFL history.

🏈 CHI 59 - 37 CAR FINAL ✅ That's Scorigami!! It's the 1096th unique final score in NFL history.

NFL fans: "The #Bears offense is good but they're not gonna break the scoring record, Ben Johnson is crazy to even think about it." Ben Johnson:

The #Bears have over 50 points and over 500 yards of offense and somehow not a single one of those yards have gone to Colston Loveland.

In other news, football.

This weekend's Sunday WaPo crossword is larger than normal (23x23 squares) and it has a meta. You're looking for a Dolly Parton song from the 1970s. Good luck.

For anyone who prints out the Washington Post Sunday crossword from the website, here's a reminder that you should click on the "Empty" button below "Evan's Sunday print options" to pull up the newspaper edition PDF. Do NOT click on the black Save/Print button at the bottom; that printout is bad.

That feeling when you're searching for potential theme answers for a crossword and one of them that comes up is the guy from the PuzzleLux ad.

The OED records "barnacle" as a verb from the mid-19th century. Here's an example of "barnacling" from 1866! www.newspapers.com/article/dail...

barnacling

Clipping found in Daily National Intelligencer and Washington Express published in Washington, District of Columbia on 6/28/1866. barnacling

newspapers.com

Kindly asking the universe to allow the word BARNACLE to be a verb because the gerund form BARNACLING would end with a word aptly describing what barnacles do.

*workshopping my #Cubs related tweets from the 1940s* You can't spell HEPCAT without PCA.

It should be way harder for mosquitoes to bite humans. They should have to submit paperwork and references and pay you a nonrefundable $100 fee before they're allowed to bite you so that they can feel the crushing agony of bureaucracy before they feel the crushing blow of the palm of your hand.

"ChatGPT not working" was still true even when there wasn't an outage.

The Independent@the-independent.com · 3w ago

ChatGPT down: OpenAI chatbot not working in major outage

Need someone on here to open a national chain of art supply stores and call it Green Paint. Crossword constructors will thank you.

The Clippers in 2026 looking back on the Clippers in 2019:

The existence of a minibar implies the existence of a midibar and a maxibar.

No you may not add LAKE AMERICA to your word lists, crossword constructors.

Phil Lewis@phillewis.bsky.social · 4w ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — Trump signs order directing interior secretary to rename Lake Ontario to 'Lake America' as Canada trade war persists.

Tim Curry had many iconic moments but for me nothing beats the library scene in the 1990 version of "It." The guy must have had so much fun making that scene hilarious in a miniseries that was otherwise meant to be scary. Rest in peace. youtu.be/jkGS45l9FsA?...

Richie At The Library - Stephen King's It (1990) 🎈

YouTube video by drugstore-hooligan

youtu.be

My two-year-old son just said "I like sharp things" and the potential futures I'm projecting onto him from this statement are wondrous and terrifying in equal measure.

My fun fact of the day is that SCARLET and CLARETS both refer to red things and they're anagrams of each other.

The crossword that I didn't know I'd be co-constructing today but I'm happy that I co-constructed today. (Potential title that another crossworder came up with: "Poached Eggs")

Secret pro-tip for solving at a crossword tournament: If you enter the Konami code before you start the puzzle, you get a copy with 30 letters already filled in for free. They come in handy for the mid-puzzle boss battle that randomly happens. #Lollapuzzoola #LPZ19

Happy Lollapuzzoola Eve to all who celebrate. Come say hi to me if you'll be there!

CNN producer: El-Sayed is projected to win. Quick, get the biggest fucking loser you can find on air

Best thing Haley Stevens did was burn up tens of millions of AIPAC dollars. Well done.