"Look what you made me do"

Quase metade!

In honor of the late Sam Neil, enjoy this clip from the 1998 TV miniseries, Merlin, a climactic scene in which Queen Mab, a manipulative, narcissistic abuser, is denied the attention she needs to continue harming people. "You can't frighten us anymore. We forget you." This is a post about Trump.

He was my first Merlin. RIP, Sam Neill.

Hot Summer of Ludd

I want to lay with a wet towel with a fan blowing on me, too!

My 16-year-old dog has been really struggling with this heat, but I figured out a way to help comfort him. If your dogs or cats need cooling, fold a moistened towel & put it in the freezer for a bit, then drape it over your pet or have them lay on it. After his walk, he's very happy for the relief!

Estou aqui deitado, sem roupa e sem lençol, em frente a uma ventoinha, e não consigo dormir 🥵

Update: if the HOA only approves a permanent indoor AC installation, the landlady wants my son to pay for half of it even though it improves HER property value and he can't take his portion of the investment with him.

Fixed it

Ah, just what I needed today. I guess one thing that's the same in Portugal as the U.S. is people will hit your car in a parking lot while you're inside the store and just keep going. My brand new Nio Firefly EV... just over a month old! The first time in my life I ever owned a new car! 😭

Sound familiar, Portugal?

Materialized science fiction: a valuable concept to add to the way we think and talk about the technofascist project from @alirizataskale.bsky.social One of my favorite insights:

Here in Porto, with the exception of one unseasonably hot day earlier this month, we have been fortunate to have been spared the high temps bearing down on our central European neighbors, but starting today, our turn at trying to survive the cruel sun begins.

I'm pretty ok with this result, though I consider myself to the left of Mamdani britmonkey.com/2020s-politi...

If they won't willingly get out of our way, they should be scared. Running the neoliberals out of government is decades overdue.

I just took this short video today of a smol lizard fren on my walk! It was no more than the length of my pinky finger, too!

When you're waking from a deep sleep to a cat standing on your chest in the morning

Happy belated #WorldTurtleDay to Gimli, our friends' eastern box turtle who joined our picnic last week. He kept trying to make a break for a nearby pond, where he met a very curious duck, and then he took a nice nap. 🐢 📸

Alongside silhouettes of rocking horses, candy, and airplanes, there's a firearm silhouette on this kiddie carousel in the mall. 🧐

I know about the three seashells, but this is just getting ridiculous

She cut his jacket off, which was caught in the rotary saw (which also cut his wrist watch in two) & applied a clean towel to his gruesome injury (I will spare details), then got a roll of gauze from our first aid kit & wrapped it until the EMTs arrived. He was in shock. The room was like this meme:

Same guy the day before *the incident* standing with one foot on the second story window ledge with the window open & the other foot on our washing machine. I walked into the room & my breath caught. Covertly snapped the pic to show my wife, then stood watch. Anyhow, he had to get surgery yesterday.

Just took the 80Q version & got a diff result. Closer, but the quiz is still too bounded to include my political inclinations. The quiz is also too US-centric. I tried to answer based on my exp living in Portugal. Democratic Socialist was my closest match at only 88%. In PT, I lean BE/Livre.

I also hate the limitations of this question. Death taxes should apply beyond a certain point of wealth to promote a more egalitarian society & prevent dynasties forming. Disadvantaged families should be able to inherit to help lift them up. The lack of nuance annoys me.

Taking it again, but the 80-Q version this time & I chose "I don't know" to the question about how I *think* I lean so I hopefully don't get leading Qs. The first Q is an example of the limited framing of the quiz. What if I don't think profit, corporations & shareholders should exist at all?

If I'd been answering these Qs from a strictly American PoV, my results would look different, particularly regarding system trust. Also, living where there's a public health system has shifted my views about liberty somewhat. I disliked the way some Qs were worded & responded "neutral" as a result.

"Hook"-themed children's bed and shark desk seen at a furniture store in Portugal called Conforama. I high-key want that desk. And why don't they make fun pirate-ship beds with cannons for adults?! No fair!