a pie.

@simoncholland Very sorry for your loss. She’s a beautiful dog.

Had to say goodbye to our almost 14 year old weimaraner, Lucy, last night. Makes me think of this genius tweet from an old internet friend. Final dog tax below.

@tracewoodgrains Wait, are you in Omaha? Want to hang out?

140 years after the Boston Daily Advertiser worried that Mormons and Chinese would occupy territories as far east as Omaha, Nebraska, its prophecy of a "Chinese-American combination" was fulfilled when I met my Chinese-American husband in Omaha. No opium or crackers, though.

@selentelechia It’s the 1970s protein sparing modified fast with wine pairing.

isn't this just "dehydrate yourself without being totally miserable" ?

@tracewoodgrains Many such cases. Activists live and die by their image; by what people perceive them as. Their real actions can end up forgotten completely. Activism has mob mechanics - so not going with the flow, even in a thoughtful, principled manner, will get you exiled from the movement.

of all the Civil Rights figures I've seen, Bayard Rustin is the most under-appreciated. Principled activist, taught MLK on nonviolence, organized the March on Washington, all underplayed first because he was gay and then because he rejected the destructive turn of the late '60s.

@tracewoodgrains It’s the best and worst part of life for many who go through it. I’ve arrived at the conclusion that being orthodox is not for the neurodivergent. The neurotypical TBMs come in more familiar with contradiction and just live with it.

I still don't know if my mission was the best or worst part of my life. It was both, really. I knew, going out, that I did not know Mormonism was true. And I knew that I was drifting at home, withdrawing into myself. Cue two years of forced socialization and proselytizing. I welcomed it. It was as inevitable for me as going to high school, and I wanted a forging fire. But it was a lot, from the beginning. The worst part was street contacting. Talk to everyone, they said. Every person you don't say hi to is a soul you have failed. Every time you don't invite to baptism on the first lesson is a failure of faith. Souls were on the line, God would guide, and I never, ever, ever got used to it or stopped feeling guilty when I shuffled past someone without trying to interrupt their day. The second-worst – but also the best – was the companionship system. A kid who'd had two close friends in his life, gay without knowing it, suddenly thrust into 24/7 contact with another young man, like a series of test relationships without any safety valve if you stopped getting along. Most of them were hard. One, I fell in love with but lacked the frame to understand, and pined after him the rest of my time out there. But the conversations – the proper ones, the good ones – discussing Gilgamesh with a leprous man who felt abandoned by god, crying with a demon-haunted addict with cigarette-stained walls and the voice of an angel, meeting the soft-spoken wanderer who picked up broken glass so cats would not step on it – I was a kid starved for meaning and connection, suddenly feasting on two years of chances to talk with people from every part of the world, every social class, every religion, about the things that mattered most to them. I was permitted to witness, to sit with them, to hear them. Slowly, I came out of my shell and learned to be present in the world. Slowly, I built my beliefs on morality and god. Slowly, I felt myself my mind tearing in two under the weight of the contradictions I was living within. The whole time, I poured myself into prayer begging god for a hint of light. My prayers could not have been answered, because I was never going to belong in the structure I was begging him to fit me into, but I spent two increasingly desperate years hoping they would. I left with two years of accumulated stories and skills and sorrows, knowing I would never be able to be an orthodox Mormon, determined to find and listen to the wanderers on the margins. More than any other part of my life, my mission made me who I am today. I would never give it up, I would never do it again. There is nothing like it.

@miavonmilk @ceaubin Archangel Michael is common to all Abrahamic religions and a protector of Israel.

My algorithm is taking me places you’ve never even dreamed of

@tracewoodgrains > Good to be back. So glad to have you back!

We all know that there's only one important thing that's happened in the past seven months: the rise of Clavicular, the man who dares to ask why you should spike your cortisol talking about trans people when you could be bonesmashing. So, let's talk bonesmashing: Why are we against it? Like, I know we are. Obviously. There's nothing easier in the world to be against than a bunch of mentally ill people hitting themselves in the face with hammers. ...but why specifically? Like, are we against it because it's funny and dumb and weird and dangerous and it doesn't work? Are we against it because it's funny and dumb and weird and dangerous and it's stupid to try to change how you look? Or are we against it because it's funny and dumb and weird and dangerous and it might work? (Disclaimer: do not hit yourself in the face with a hammer.) The thing is, a whole lot of skill-building looks a lot like bonesmashing. You lift heavy weights to tear your muscles to shreds so that they come back stronger. You tear your code to shred for hours to find a stupid bug to reminisce about the days mental skills felt less like artisanal hand-weaving to prove a point. No pain, no gain, y'know? Setting concussions aside, I think it feels different for two reasons. First, there's no plausible deniability. Muscles get big, sure, that's vanity, we all lift just to look hotter. But you can at least pretend it's about hitting a new 1RM. For bonesmashing to even sound like a legitimate goal, though, you need to have suspiciously strong opinions about which jaw shape is hottest and you don't have anything to hide behind. Second, it defies God and Nature. Most of us cope about our genetic inheritances by saying yeah, sure, this is the face I was given, no point fretting about things I can't change, caring too much about looks is vanity, that cure for male pattern baldness that will allow people to grow tails and ears and fur is coming any day now, there are more important things. And having someone come in and say "no, actually you can hit your face with a hammer to change its shape, and some shapes are better than others, and by happenstance acute jaw trauma leads not to a misshapen lumpy jaw but a hot one" feels like an intrusion. It turns something innate and immutable into another chore. But does it work? Claude tells me basically no, the stress that strengthens bones isn't the sort of acute, focused stress that comes from hammers, and if you want to be a jawmaxxer or whatever just listen to those mewing guys or chew mastic gum or something. Which, fine, that's an answer. But, like, is the issue that stress doesn't strengthen bones or that they're applying the wrong stress? Is there, in fact, some boring stupid thing that you could do for ten minutes a day every day for three years as a teenager, maybe like applying some sort of vibrator to your face or whatever, where at the end you look in the mirror and think "wow, you handsome devil, what a chiseled and well-exercised jaw that is?" In short: is it an illegitimate goal? Or is it an illegitimate method towards a legitimate goal? Now, look, I think I speak for all of us when I say I'd rather not stress too much about looks. It's cool that Clavicular developed looks as his special interest and figured out the secret techniques to become hot and famous and rich and sterile and addicted to meth and all that good stuff, but I'd much rather optimize my way towards the podcast circuit by talking about my special interests instead of his, y'know? Obviously looksmaxxing works. Look at the guy. He's hot! He is successful because he dedicated countless hours to an extreme form of self-improvement in a legitimate domain of human interest, coming up through unholy communities that pumped his head full of horrifying memes and also effective self-improvement tips, in ways that either have all sorts of horrible side effects or that we would really prefer to have all sorts of horrible side effects because it sounds like a huge pain to live your life that way. And I think a lot of the time people conflate "this is stupid and unholy" with "this definitely doesn't work" because it's easier to live in a world where hitting yourself in the face with a hammer doesn't make you hot and rich and famous. Anyway. Don't hit yourself in the face with a hammer. Good to be back.

finally. you have no idea how tough it's been not to post properly for the past seven months. don't let anyone tell you to touch grass. they're lying. they're trying to keep all the good tweets for themselves anyway. let's talk bonesmashing 1/n

@83OatDorsia @acottagemouse Would you be able to share it here?

@acottagemouse My grandma gave the family a Shrimp Cup recipe. Mushroom or celery soup in a pastry cup. We've have it every Thanksgiving for decades now.

“Cook like your grandma!” Meanwhile, our grandma’s recipes are like: Mix crisco with ritz crackers, a cup of sugar, & a few drops of food coloring, then bake in a jello mold with processed cheese product. Top with mayonnaise or miracle whip, for the health conscious

@BrandonCopicWx Just saw you in Omaha!

On the helicopter leaving the ship right now. This planet is impossibly beautiful from every altitude I’ve seen it…surface to 250,000 miles

@xwanyex Congratulations!!! 🕊️

@AtomicPirates @The__Unyielding Do not do this, you will chip/crack your teeth

Gotta love how the part the Japanese are fixating on is him popping off the cap with his thumb.

@selentelechia @landosembery @tenobrus Don’t feel bad about writing what you know.

it feels a little gross to be writing about it frankly and I can't pretend it's kind of me to contribute, but it kind of matters and I do have unique exposure to the real underclass. but they're not zoo animals, you know? so idk how to resolve that except to accept that I'm being breathtakingly rude to people who've never hurt me. my mom was the one with her finger on the pulse here so since she's gone, my insights are rapidly becoming outdated; this might be one of the last relevant and ~true analyses I have about this population, depending on how quickly the culture moves. I got away from it on purpose.

now this starts to feel like more interesting commentary to me. at white collar jobs there's a lot of implicit pressure to grow the fuck up, because you're exposed to peers who manifestly have their shit together. used to be lower class people would have a kid and community members would push them to get their shit together too. older coworkers even at dead end jobs, church and other local communities, etc. but if these days the 27 yo teenagers working retail aren't having kids and basically have no older peers with their shit together in any meaningful way, what incentive do they have to do anything but keep watching the same anime in discord calls? who are you feeling social pressure from?

@JohnCleese Thank you sir. Please keep speaking up.

The UK has always been based at the deepest level on Christian values, regardless of dogma Despite the many mistakes made by churches, for centuries British people have been influenced by Christ's teaching If these values are replaced by Islamic ones, this will not be Britain any more

@GroovyBruce Get well soon! ❤️🌺

@dj5law @RogueWPA Was it The Harrad Experiment? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Harra…

@RogueWPA I wish I could figure out what the name of that was.

Saw a show where a woman time travels from 2023 to 1882. She meets another time traveler, from 1972. Both are Shoshone 2023 lady says "I'm the sheriff, I have a wife + daughter." 1972 lady is incredulous "an Indian sheriff?!?" Which is .. not what would shock someone from 1972.

@m4ckl @LudwigAhgren x.com/yoxics/status/…

Kyle Williams huge tackle for loss patriots ball

@jasonc_nc @michaelnerby I will read what you have sent - I’m currently at work. Fire safety is a big issue for me, and I’m terrified that in pursuit of aesthetics and charm we will forget valuable lessons learned by our ancestors.

@actual_pie_ @michaelnerby I’m sorry but this is a worn out, often inaccurate trope. Much of our regulation is in fact written in personal preference, convenience, and poor spatial discipline. With no requirement to even prove the efficacy of the regulations added.

Fire department response to site plan & sample photo: -Street width doesn’t meet NFPA. Widen or remove street parking. -Buildings too close to street. Need 15-30’ from curb to face. -Trees likely need to go as they block easy ladder access. -Where’s the fire lane?

@michaelnerby @jasonc_nc It isn’t comical at all, and those aren’t whims. Fire safety regulations are written in the blood of many who perished in the flames.

@jasonc_nc It’s truly comical how much of our built environment is dictated upon the whims of the fire requirements

@jaynitx Ida Tarbell lied and misled in her expose. It’s worth looking into, since her expose is where everything that makes him look bad comes from. The rebates matter is what caused the most rage, but they were simply dealing with the lack of guardrails at the time

>be John D. Rockefeller >born 1839 in Richford, New York >dad is a literal con man who sells fake cancer cures, has a secret second family >mom is ultra-religious, holds the household together with prayer and rage 1850s: >family moves constantly because dad keeps disappearing >age 16, get your first job as a bookkeeper in Cleveland >$0.50 a day >never miss a cent >track every penny in a little notebook, does this for the rest of his life >call it "Ledger A" 1859: >oil discovered in Pennsylvania >black gold chaos >everyone rushes in like maniacs >you watch, calculate, wait 1863: >age 23, invest in a refinery instead of drilling >"drilling is gambling, refining is business" >partner with Samuel Andrews >first refinery goes up in Cleveland 1870: >found Standard Oil >$1 million capitalization >the empire begins 1871-1879: >execute "The Cleveland Massacre" >buy or crush 22 of 26 Cleveland refineries in 2 months >competitors get a choice: sell or die >secret railroad rebates, you pay less to ship than everyone else >competitors can't compete on price >they fold >repeat in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, New York >by 1879, control 90% of American oil refining >the most complete monopoly in U.S. history 1880s: >create the "Trust": a legal innovation to hold all companies under one roof >lawyers: "this is... legal? technically?" >you: "make it legal" >Standard Oil Trust controls pipelines, refineries, barrels, even the railroads >vertical integration before the term exists >politicians, judges, newspapers, all on payroll >called "The Octopus", tentacles everywhere 1890s: >public hatred explodes >muckrakers come for you >Ida Tarbell writes a 19-part exposé; her father was ruined by you >it's devastating, factual, and dripping with rage >you say nothing publicly >keep going to church every Sunday 1892: >trust gets broken up in Ohio >response: restructure as a holding company in New Jersey >barely a speedbump >Standard Oil of New Jersey now runs everything 1897: >retire from day-to-day operations at 58 >shift focus to giving money away >but you're still the richest man on earth and getting richer 1901: >worth $200 million (~$7 billion today) >oil keeps pumping >money keeps compounding >you can't spend it fast enough 1902: >net worth hits $900 million >adjusted for GDP share: you're worth $400 BILLION >richer than Elon, Bezos, Gates combined >no one has ever been this rich >no one may ever be again 1904: >Ida Tarbell's book "The History of Standard Oil" drops >public opinion shifts hard >antitrust heat intensifies 1911: >Supreme Court rules Standard Oil is an illegal monopoly >company broken into 34 pieces >ExxonMobil, Chevron, BP America, all born from the corpse >plot twist: you own shares in ALL of them >breakup makes you even richer >can't stop winning 1913: >create the Rockefeller Foundation >mission: "promote the well-being of humanity" >$250 million seed money (billions today) >fund medical research, universities, global health >eradicate hookworm across the American South >fund the research that creates penicillin >basically invent modern philanthropy 1920s: >fund the University of Chicago >fund Rockefeller University >fund Spelman College >rebuild Versailles >restore Colonial Williamsburg >give away $540 million total (~$10B+ today) >live like a monk, crackers, milk, golf, church 1930s: >Great Depression hits >you're still alive >still rich >people finally stop hating you >now you're the nice old man who gives to charity 1937: >die at 97 >outlived most of your enemies >outlived the hatred >left behind: — the modern oil industry — the template for monopoly capitalism — the playbook for billionaire philanthropy — a name that still means "rich" 100 years later your descendants: >Vice Presidents, Governors, bankers, senators >Rockefeller Center stands in Manhattan >five generations later, family still runs foundations you gave more money away than any human before you. you also destroyed more competitors than any human before you. the original American titan, and no one's topped you yet.