Archaeologists have uncovered more of the monumental Temple of Poseidon in Greece’s Peloponnese, revealing rare artifacts and unique architectural features that shed light on ancient religious practices .

Continue reading Temple of Poseidon at Samikon is larger than expected at The Wild Hunt.

"Nothing, of course, begins at the time you think it did."

"What makes the engine go? Desire, desire, desire."

"The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today. Let us move forward with strong and active faith."

Within the world of CAD there are the well-known and more niche big commercial players and there are projects like FreeCAD that seek to bring a OSS solution to the …read more

"All generalizations are dangerous, even this one."

"I'm going to memorize your name and throw my head away."

Every tear wiped away, But not in Isreal Not in Gaza. Where’s your Messiah now?  Ukraine’s sunflowers weep, Unable to follow the sun Attrited by Third Rome’s janissaries, Iconostases rubbled By eyes in the sky weeping ruin.  Iron beasts, slain Litter desert, forest,  By isotopic arrows despoiled, Cancerous, ravenous, patient.  Empty hearths.   Children’s questions.  Abba? […]

The post Jerusalem Can Wait  appeared first on Waiter Rant.

“Being determines consciousness.” — Marx The upper petit-bourgeois is a strange character indeed, his consciousness made up of a thousand pieces that are all at war with one another, producing a marvelous opportunity for study. All of modern society, one might say, is collected in this species, in various proportions, and various strengths, with different … Continue reading The Anatomy of Mr. Middle

A chance comment suddenly helped crystalize my thoughts on something I’ve been looking for a way to talk about for at least thirty years. It has to do with the way a book is analyzed after the fact, versus how it is constructed. The comment was on my novel, Dzur, and it discussed how the … Continue reading The Critic and the Writer

To the members of UAW Local 2069: I don’t think you can realize how much of an inspiration you are to how many people. The battle you’re fighting goes far beyond the immediate issues. We’re living in a world where you can’t open your eyes without seeing a cause for despair: the pandemic, first of … Continue reading An Open Letter to Volvo Truck Workers in Dublin, Virginia

The question of competition versus cooperation among humans has come up on my Twitter timeline again. It emerges every now and then, when someone desperate to find a defense for capitalism falls back on, “You socialists want to eliminate competition, but competition is a part of nature, so eliminating it is impossible.” Okay, let’s talk … Continue reading Competition and Cooperation

Let’s talk about art and commerce. To get the obvious stuff out of the way, first, I am using here a very broad definition of art, so we can simply skip the arguments about what is and isn’t art. Second, those of you who want to make Garfunkle jokes, or any of the other oh-so-original … Continue reading On Art and Commerce and Pseudo-Activism

Once upon a time a man named Barry Goldwater appeared on the political scene. And the radical cried, “Danger! A fascist!” And the people came running, but they saw that, actually, he was just a right-wing authoritarian, and he was making no effort to build a mass movement based on violence and terror in order … Continue reading A Totally Original Parable Not Derived From Anything Else Really

If you strip away the rhetorical flourishes, here is what we are told every day: 1) If you aren’t Jewish, you may not disagree when I say something is antisemitic. 2) Any objection to the genocide being carried out against Palestinians is antisemitic. If you disagree, see 1). 3) Therefore, you must either admit to … Continue reading Subjectivity, Objectivity, and Political Action

The 1872 presidential election (Ulysses Grant vs Horace Greeley) represented the last time progressive change was  brought about through a national election. Since then, progressive change has either been forced by mass action (Women’s suffrage, Welfare, Social Security, Unemployment insurance, Civil Rights, Gay rights, &c) or been a small part of a bill the bulk … Continue reading A Brief Note on the Power and Limits of Propaganda

This is a term I’ve heard often, as one of the goals of art, without really understanding it. I think I’ve figured out at least some of it now. Stay with me. I think I was 22 or so when my daughter, Carolyn, became seriously ill (and thank you Dr. Edlavitch!). My wife and I … Continue reading Generalized Human Experience

Well, after 15 years of using this new fangled "Twitter" thing for microblogging, that's enough of that. Back to normal ranting. (For the record, this is not a rant about twitter, it's about me and the internet over the last thirty... years... oh geeze, it's been that long?) When Twitter was just a new thing, i kinda liked the idea of using it for quick micro blogging (since i was such a slacker about writing rants) so i added two new twitter acc...

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Ok, if you look at comic above [1604] you might notice that it has changed from what i posted back in July (you might need to refresh your browser (ctrl-F5 or ctrl-R) to see it). Why? Because i goofed up. [TL;dr: small retcon for this comic: have to transition into earlier in the next scene so Mugi and Yaku can talk *before* Miho wakes up. Now I can insert the three pages in progress of Mugi and Yaku talking about what happened last chapter.] In...

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One thing ive found myself doing lately now that im sorta 'well fuck that twitter shit' is i am rambling on a LOT more when i type stuff. This can be viewed as a good or bad thing. Maybe for me it's not a bad thing. It's a bit like working in a 4 panel comic format. You can do a lot with a four panel setup, almost the first entire chapter of MT is all 4 panel. It has its own kinda pacing, setup, delivery, variables, etc. But there are things i can...

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(note: this was actually a twitter thread that i wrote this morning... rather than copy paste and chunk this thing out to the other services... duh, post it as a rant and link it :) I've been hesitant to post anything like this, so i'll keep it vague. Lets face it, the last YEAR has been awful. About a year ago, Sarah started to feel sick and it wasn't long before we knew her cancer was back. It was a hard year, but she beat it and we got thru it....

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Chapter 13: "Redemption" comic 1611
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Even though my kids are not yet on summer break and even though I, as an adult, do not have a thing called a summer break, I’ve apparently helped myself to one. I’m sneaking off to the beach on weekdays (oops), reading novels, gorging myself on cherries and crisp-from-the-market cucumbers, playing midday tennis like a lady who lunches, and getting vexed when I receive work-related emails and texts. [“Alex, why are they texting me on a Sunday?” “Deb, it’s Tuesday.”]

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This has been my go-to summer steak for the last several years and I have some audacity to have gatekept it for so long. Mostly, we’ve been too busy eating it for me to grab the camera and shoot it and then sit down and write the recipe, which is hilarious as that’s, like, my whole job. But my brain softens in the summer, especially when my kids are away at sleepaway camp, as they are now, and we quickly lose whatever tethers we had to things like to-do lists, responsibilities, and adulting. And while I do not expect a skirt steak with a cherry tomato and sweet corn salad to shake the cooking internet off its axis, there are a bunch of tips tucked into this recipe that make it a reliable favorite, and I hope become part of your repertoire too.

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Last summer, when my younger child joined my older child at sleepaway camp for a month for the first time, leaving us unmoored and a little restless, we made a list of restaurants we’d been meaning to try and friends we don’t see enough and took this task on like it was our job. I barely cooked once. By the end of the third week, everything hurt and we realized our template for a child-free life (going out late, cocktails on weeknights, and generally behaving despicably) was based on our age and energy level when we were last child-free, which (I’m sorry as this fact seems to upset you guys as much as it does his actual parents) was almost 15 years ago.

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It’s humbling that way every September, without fail, knocks me on my rump. One week, you’re breezy and unscheduled, reading books on a beach and tearing lobster apart with your bare hands (indeed, we were in Maine) and the next you’re realizing a certain fetid backpack was never emptied on the last day of school in June, scrambling for after-school care, and despite the fact that I work every week of the year, somehow there’s a lot more to do. If dinner can’t be made in one pan in which everything cooks at once, I haven’t been making it. And yet I’ve made this chicken dish four times in the last month; it’s clearly time to shout about it across the internet.

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“I was looking for a simple roasted carrot recipe on your site and couldn’t find one,” a friend told me a month ago and I immediately put “simple roasted carrot recipe” on my sprawling, decades-long To Cook list because sometimes I forget myself, too. Spoiler: I was never going to write a simple recipe for roasted carrots.

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Ann ordered a beach theme cake, and asked the baker to write "Happy Birthday Lorenzo" on the ocean part.

She got this:

...which has to be the first time a literal LOL actually pales in comparison to the butchered name of the birthday boy.

Seriously, how do you turn "Lorenzo" into "Boricua"?? That's only two correct letters! Out of seven! Why... what... HOW....? [head explodes]

Ahem.

 

When a house warming party turns ominous:

[whisper] "Geeeeet OOOOUUUUUTTT!"

 

Deb wants to know if she's the only one who sees a Pumpkin man wearing a fig leaf on this cake:

Dear Deb,

NOPE.

Signed,
Everyone.

 

This next one is a Sports Ball thing, so allow me to translate for my fellow sports neophytes: Apparently the Royals (a Sports Ball "team") are sometimes known as the "Boys in Blue."

But after today, that's not ALL they'll be known as:

HEYOOOOOOOOO

 

"VICTORIAN LACE"

Bakers, I do not think it means what you think it means.

 

And finally,

Ordering a company logo on a cake can be daunting, but luckily for Will R., the Michael Kors logo is literally just the letters MK.

And yet...

Where there's a Will, there's a way to wreck Will's manager's cake.

 

Thanks to Ann F., Brady T., Deb B., Sarah F., Terri C., & Will R. for giving his manager the perfect excuse to throw up his/her hands in disgust and cry, "I'M SURROUNDED BY LITTLE MK'S!"

*****

'Tis the season for PSLs, and now your furry friend can have one, too!

Starbarks Pumpkin Spice Latte Plush Toy

*****

And from my other blog, Epbot:

Technically Veterans Day was yesterday here in the U.S., but since a lot of us get today off to celebrate, CELEBRATE WE SHALL.

Veterans Day is all about honoring those who have and are serving in our country's military. There are lots of great ways to do this:

This is not one of them.

Now, I happen to know that a fair number of military personnel read this blog - a fact I find both humbling and just a teensy bit alarming, since I'm not sure those who share my twisted sense of humor should have access to heavy artillery. (Holy Hand Grenade, anyone?) 

On the other hand, I do so enjoy all the e-mails with the giant "DECLASSIFIED" stamps on them.  Makes me feel all James Bond-ish, only in an American, hermit-girl-blogger kind of way.

So in your honor, my dear veterans, here are some patriotic cake designs that will surely bring a tear to your eyes.

 Tissue?

The underline is what really sells it.

Of course today is about you, the troops:

And as "Owl Troops" you deserve "Supott."

Because you are all "Hero's."

 And so we "honer" you, our "vetr ans."

Kind of like how we honor the flag, the symbol of this great nation:

Stirring.

No wait, I take that back: this Wreck leaves me shaken, not stirred. [ba dum bump!]

Some bakeries pipe their greetings on clear plastic sheets, which they then lay on top of the finished cakes. It's cheating, sure, but this way bakers can trace their messages or start over if they make a mistake.

Or just slap the plastic on anyway and call it a "Vetrans" day.

So remember, everyone: it is thanks to our veterans that we have the freedom to live in this great country, the United States...

 ...of Amercia?

Hang on, that doesn't sound right. Can we try that one again?

Muuuch better. 

(But who stole the corner piece?!)

Thanks to Eric H., Dave K., Sara B., Nikki G., Adria P., Tory L., Michael H., Christina R., Tara L., & Allyson H. for fully vetting today's wrecks.

If you’ve noticed CloudFlare verifying that you’re human, that’s because I had to enable extra security because of a DDOS attack. I also woke up to 1500+ spam email messages sent through contact forms on the site, too. The poor server is having A Time of it. At least it’s not Tuesday, I guess? Then I’d have all those dildos to contend with. (Also: every time I see that cover, my brain wants to read … Continue reading Just a Little DDOS Fun, Dildos, and Finding the Mystery Cowboy →

In this week’s podcast episode, we’re looking at the glorious  ads and features for the October/November 1988 issue of RT Magazine. Thank you to Amy M. for this issue! You can also find all the RTRW content at our category page for Romantic Times Rewind.  If you want to listen and follow along with this entry, we have more detail in the audio, but you can click play and listen and read and absorb all … Continue reading Romantic Times Rewind: October 1988 Ads & Features →

Welcome to Book Beat! Book Beat aims to highlight other books that we may hear about through friends, social media, or other sources. We could see a gorgeous ad! Or find a new-to-us author on a list of underrated romances! Think of Book Beat as Teen Beat or Tiger Beat, but for books. And no staples to open to get the fold-out poster.

OverDrive is the company that provides a lot of digital content to libraries. If you’ve borrowed an ebook or an audiobook in Libby,  or read a magazine in Kanopy, that’s OverDrive. It seems there is some AI weirdness with audiobook narration on OverDrive, and the narrator is only part of the story. On Monday, October 14, librarian Robin Bradford posted on Bluesky that she’d purchased an AI audiobook for her library system and she was … Continue reading AI Audiobook Narrators in OverDrive and the Issue of Library AI Circulation Policy →

Strange Beasts is so much fun that the minute I finished the book, I downloaded the audio for my husband to listen to. This is a paranormal adventure meets gothic mystery with a sapphic love story intertwined in all of that. It has shades of Penny Dreadful, non stop action, and it’s just a blast to read. The novel takes place in an alternate Victorian era where paranormal creatures openly exist with human beings. Sam … Continue reading Strange Beasts by Susan J. Morris →

Here is a news report that absolutely dropped my jaw: the Tribal Alliance Against Frauds (TAAF) has released a report that debut romance author Colby Wilkens, whose bio says she is of Choctaw and Cherokee descent, has no Native ancestry.  The TAAF “is an intertribal anti-fraud non-profit whistleblower organization comprised of allies and citizens of Tribes whose sovereignty has been formally acknowledged.” Wilkens is the author of If I Stopped Haunting You, which released last week … Continue reading Tribal Alliance Against Frauds Says Colby Wilkens is Not Indigenous →

Tara Scott, staff writer at SBTB and co-host of the Queerly Recommended podcast, is in the interviewer’s chair, asking Amanda and me questions about Smart Bitches After Dark, our new community support wing. We talk about what After Dark is, and also about the larger enshittification of different parts of the internet, and how we navigate that as a 20 year old blog. Yay blogs! I was really nervous about being interviewed, and I hope … Continue reading 638. Smart Bitches After Dark – Tara interviews Sarah & Amanda →

Welcome back to Get Rec’d! This time around, I have a couple younger reads: a picture book and a graphic novel. I’ve also include some nonfiction and horror. Look, we’re knee deep in spooky season, so I had to include a seasonal recommendation, though you’ll catch me recommending spooky books all year round. Do you have any books you’d like to recommend? Or any slam dunk recommendations you’ve received lately? Let us know!

Amazon has many pages of fantasy and sci-fi novels on sale today! Check out the full list here.

Welcome back to Cover Snark! From Rachael: I have so many questions: Does she not want him to save her from what looks to be an alligator? Is that alligator okay? His hips seem off. Should his gun be that close to the water? Why are they casually having a moment in this clearly dangerous water??!! Did they keep their shoes on? Sarah: She’s a shifter. So is the gator. That’s her brother and she … Continue reading Cover Snark: Reptiles are an Unintentional Theme →