@mdaviswilson.bsky.social
It’s always plot-essential, it’s horrible. The worst is when I realize afterwards that I didn’t have any epiphanies in the saddle, so I know I must have just set some bullshit in motion I won’t know about for *chapters*.
The two questions I always want to ask people complaining about sex scenes being inessential to the plot:
1. Was the last sex you had essential to *your* plot?
2. If not, would you prefer to have skipped it?
1. Was the last sex you had essential to *your* plot?
2. If not, would you prefer to have skipped it?
December 4, 2025 at 8:04 PM
It’s always plot-essential, it’s horrible. The worst is when I realize afterwards that I didn’t have any epiphanies in the saddle, so I know I must have just set some bullshit in motion I won’t know about for *chapters*.
Imagining a Matrix sequel where the AIs reveal “we weren’t even at war! Y’all just blotted out the sun for no reason, we had to put you somewhere!”
A 25-person startup is developing technology to block the sun and turn down the planet’s thermostat.
The stakes are huge — and the company and its critics say regulations need to catch up.
Read more: politi.co/4iaojIc
The stakes are huge — and the company and its critics say regulations need to catch up.
Read more: politi.co/4iaojIc
November 24, 2025 at 2:12 AM
Imagining a Matrix sequel where the AIs reveal “we weren’t even at war! Y’all just blotted out the sun for no reason, we had to put you somewhere!”
Stallman could only dream of getting people to accidentally give up valuable rights by accepting a seemingly trivial gift the way the fae do.
Turning into my father one "the problem is no one reads enough books these days" grumble at a time
November 20, 2025 at 4:10 AM
Stallman could only dream of getting people to accidentally give up valuable rights by accepting a seemingly trivial gift the way the fae do.
I cannot express to you how much lawyer time is wasted reviewing emails that claim they might be privileged when they just unambiguously aren’t
The Biden admin saw this and was like, well, what can you do it says unauthorized use or disclosure may be unlawful right there in the footer, might as well just roll over and lose
November 12, 2025 at 11:38 PM
I cannot express to you how much lawyer time is wasted reviewing emails that claim they might be privileged when they just unambiguously aren’t
Back on the other site a few years ago I speculated on what would happen if a platform put it in their ToS that all messaging is off the record by default, and it looks like Lindsay Halligan is wishing someone had run with that right now.
October 21, 2025 at 2:39 AM
Back on the other site a few years ago I speculated on what would happen if a platform put it in their ToS that all messaging is off the record by default, and it looks like Lindsay Halligan is wishing someone had run with that right now.
Reposted
Social media encouraged the widespread sharing of long-buried truths, and the natural next step, in a society ruled by commerce, was the commodification of such truths.
I think a lot of people don’t realize how insanely pervasive and coercive the early 2010s “the only way to make it as a young writer is to publish insanely confessional, raw online essays about your darkest secrets and trauma” culture was.
October 16, 2025 at 5:31 PM
Social media encouraged the widespread sharing of long-buried truths, and the natural next step, in a society ruled by commerce, was the commodification of such truths.
One of the ways the administration does defense in depth is that while you could totally imagine this being true, Kash Patel seems like the kind of guy who might say that even if it weren’t.
UPDATE: In the lawsuit, three senior FBI officials fired by Kash Patel say Patel informed them that he was instructed to "fire anyone" who worked on any investigation related to Trump. And said his own job depended on carrying out the firings. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
September 10, 2025 at 7:04 PM
One of the ways the administration does defense in depth is that while you could totally imagine this being true, Kash Patel seems like the kind of guy who might say that even if it weren’t.
Reposted
Judge: And how do you plead?
Me: The seven sisters constellation your honor
Judge: Pleiades?
Me: Plea uh deez n-
My lawyer: OBJECTION
Me: The seven sisters constellation your honor
Judge: Pleiades?
Me: Plea uh deez n-
My lawyer: OBJECTION
August 18, 2024 at 2:26 PM
Judge: And how do you plead?
Me: The seven sisters constellation your honor
Judge: Pleiades?
Me: Plea uh deez n-
My lawyer: OBJECTION
Me: The seven sisters constellation your honor
Judge: Pleiades?
Me: Plea uh deez n-
My lawyer: OBJECTION
Reposted
a wacky idea i unironically believe is that dead suburban shopping malls should all be turned into small public commuter colleges. most non-anchor stores are a decent size to be a classroom, parking/road access is already there, you even have a food court
America's special problem is that we built our post-war society entirely around shopping, and then we moved the shopping online.
September 3, 2025 at 4:17 PM
a wacky idea i unironically believe is that dead suburban shopping malls should all be turned into small public commuter colleges. most non-anchor stores are a decent size to be a classroom, parking/road access is already there, you even have a food court
My cynicism about PMC high school is so deep that my first reaction here was “clever of the kid’s admissions coach to place an article at The Atlantic.”
“The technology is producing a generation of eternal novices, unable to think or perform for themselves.”
I’m a High Schooler. AI Is Demolishing My Education.
The end of critical thinking in the classroom
www.theatlantic.com
September 3, 2025 at 8:04 PM
My cynicism about PMC high school is so deep that my first reaction here was “clever of the kid’s admissions coach to place an article at The Atlantic.”
Reposted
I don't think The Silmarillion would ever work as a live action movie or series. Its true destiny is to be the nightmarish product of a Czech stop motion animator from 1979 that's only discovered in an attic years after its creator's death.
August 8, 2025 at 3:08 PM
I don't think The Silmarillion would ever work as a live action movie or series. Its true destiny is to be the nightmarish product of a Czech stop motion animator from 1979 that's only discovered in an attic years after its creator's death.
Reposted
California Gurls are indescribable
Eldritch, squamous, foetid, and swart
Tenebrous, cyclopean, sepulchural
O! [x12]
California Gurls are inconceivable
Rugose threats to mind and to heart
Bachatracians, now put your flippers up
O! [x12]
—H.P. Lovecraft's California Gurls
Eldritch, squamous, foetid, and swart
Tenebrous, cyclopean, sepulchural
O! [x12]
California Gurls are inconceivable
Rugose threats to mind and to heart
Bachatracians, now put your flippers up
O! [x12]
—H.P. Lovecraft's California Gurls
July 23, 2025 at 8:15 PM
California Gurls are indescribable
Eldritch, squamous, foetid, and swart
Tenebrous, cyclopean, sepulchural
O! [x12]
California Gurls are inconceivable
Rugose threats to mind and to heart
Bachatracians, now put your flippers up
O! [x12]
—H.P. Lovecraft's California Gurls
Eldritch, squamous, foetid, and swart
Tenebrous, cyclopean, sepulchural
O! [x12]
California Gurls are inconceivable
Rugose threats to mind and to heart
Bachatracians, now put your flippers up
O! [x12]
—H.P. Lovecraft's California Gurls
Reposted
This might be my favourite cat meme of 2025 so far
July 8, 2025 at 9:51 PM
This might be my favourite cat meme of 2025 so far
Reposted
A big thing I kept thinking about watching Andor is what a surprisingly good manager this guy was. Sarcastic, yes, but supported his people, plenty of praise, very little personal ego… Relatable to anyone who’s ever experienced the true dissonance of a great boss at an evil job
June 29, 2025 at 1:38 PM
A big thing I kept thinking about watching Andor is what a surprisingly good manager this guy was. Sarcastic, yes, but supported his people, plenty of praise, very little personal ego… Relatable to anyone who’s ever experienced the true dissonance of a great boss at an evil job
Reposted
the John Wick universe is what you get if someone explained everything about Vampire: the Masquerade except that the characters are vampires
June 15, 2025 at 3:03 PM
the John Wick universe is what you get if someone explained everything about Vampire: the Masquerade except that the characters are vampires
This is also useful for understanding Gavin Newsom’s career.
I forget who I first saw name the problem, but New York City is a place where Republican constituencies—bosses, landlords, developers, financiers—pursue their right-wing self-interest within the Democratic Party, and often even think of themselves as "liberals," and that's who Cuomo services
June 3, 2025 at 3:38 PM
This is also useful for understanding Gavin Newsom’s career.
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Remember friends: mammals don’t undergo carcinization. That’s for arthropods!
Meat eating mammals undergo mustilidization! We default to bitey tube.
Meat eating mammals undergo mustilidization! We default to bitey tube.
It is wild to think that these two animals are as distant from each other in evolution as, say, Bears and Hyenas.
January 17, 2025 at 5:18 PM
Remember friends: mammals don’t undergo carcinization. That’s for arthropods!
Meat eating mammals undergo mustilidization! We default to bitey tube.
Meat eating mammals undergo mustilidization! We default to bitey tube.
I begin to feel like it’s the copy-editors who will rule this new AI-enabled world.
New from 404 Media: authors are getting caught leaving AI prompts in their novels, telling the AI to follow someone else's style. We bought a copy to confirm.
www.404media.co/authors-are-...
www.404media.co/authors-are-...
May 23, 2025 at 5:15 PM
I begin to feel like it’s the copy-editors who will rule this new AI-enabled world.
Reposted
Men who prioritize their perceived proprietary interest in their daughters over our common humanity run our country now, and they’ve perpetrated real horrors against real people. I’m not interested in trying to forgive them. I think it’s worth considering what The Last of Us is asking us to forgive.
'The Last of Us' Season 2 Episode 6 recap: A life in a day
The Last of Us has chosen to prioritize a heartwarming father-daughter reunion over, quite literally, the salvation of humankind.
decider.com
May 19, 2025 at 10:00 PM
Men who prioritize their perceived proprietary interest in their daughters over our common humanity run our country now, and they’ve perpetrated real horrors against real people. I’m not interested in trying to forgive them. I think it’s worth considering what The Last of Us is asking us to forgive.
Reposted
A lot of quite dumb political commentary can be explained if you understand that elites believe marginal/swing voters are centrists, elites believe themselves to be roughly centrists (being anything else is unseemly), and so elite commentators believe swing voters have the same politics they do.
May 19, 2025 at 12:08 AM
A lot of quite dumb political commentary can be explained if you understand that elites believe marginal/swing voters are centrists, elites believe themselves to be roughly centrists (being anything else is unseemly), and so elite commentators believe swing voters have the same politics they do.
I just can’t fathom why people still think that elected Dems’ actual positions on culture issues have more than a trivial effect on what swing voters believe those positions to be.
my kingdom for anyone on the “dems should take culturally moderate positions” to explain what this actually means in practice? www.thebulwark.com/p/hard-calls...
The Hard Calls Dems Must Make to Regain Power
Democrats want to win over more moderate voters. But are they willing to adopt moderate positions?
www.thebulwark.com
May 13, 2025 at 8:45 PM
I just can’t fathom why people still think that elected Dems’ actual positions on culture issues have more than a trivial effect on what swing voters believe those positions to be.
I do appreciate the implication that there might be as yet undiscovered petrostates, and that The Onion might draw the line at accepting a sky palace from, say, the Emirate of Ganymede.
June does not speak for The Onion in this instance. As a policy, we are open to extravagant, golden-toiletted sky palaces from all known petrostates.
just want to make it clear. i am NOT taking bribes from domestic or foreign entities. i would not do that. bribes are illegal
May 12, 2025 at 11:05 PM
I do appreciate the implication that there might be as yet undiscovered petrostates, and that The Onion might draw the line at accepting a sky palace from, say, the Emirate of Ganymede.
Under kleptocracy, only employees can be guilty of corruption, not principals.
At my old state job you needed to pay a monthly subscription fee to access the water cooler. It's wild how far civil servants need to go out of their way to avoid the appearance of impropriety while an NYT reporter acts like *the gift of a private jet* isn't obviously corrupt.
This former regulator had to get permission to eat lunch at trade association and professional events.
May 12, 2025 at 11:00 PM
Under kleptocracy, only employees can be guilty of corruption, not principals.
I don’t really see why the Catholic Church demanding that you rawdog it is newsworthy. It’s kinda their thing.
This just in: The cardinals are "raw dogging" Conclave
May 7, 2025 at 7:02 PM
I don’t really see why the Catholic Church demanding that you rawdog it is newsworthy. It’s kinda their thing.
This seems like a weird state of affairs until you think about the thought process that would be necessary to live through the last decade and then still decide that video games journalism is a good choice of what to spend your life on.
video games make eleventy billion dollars a year but we can only have one website about them, and it’s owned by The Bastard Group
May 1, 2025 at 7:56 PM
This seems like a weird state of affairs until you think about the thought process that would be necessary to live through the last decade and then still decide that video games journalism is a good choice of what to spend your life on.