The incoming Democratic Senate class makes its way into the Capitol
— MeidasTouch (@meidastouch.com) November 9, 2026 at 11:52 AM
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The amount of dopamine my brain generated when I saw this image of Annie Andrews, James Talarico, and Troy Jackson showing up to Senate orientation nearly sent me into a coma.
— Mike Nellis (@mikenellis.bsky.social) November 9, 2026 at 11:00 AM
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Julie Nolke, as a guy, tries to buy some Meta glasses. It doesn't go well, because he's too honest.
When Star Wars came out in 1977, it was an immediate monster hit. Filmmakers everywhere, but especially in Italy, sat up and noticed. If the audience wants a space Western, that's what they'll get! But we had already seen space adventures for many years, so what was it about Star Wars that people loved so much? A series of movies were churned out that tried to emulate Star Wars as best they could, going so far as to rip off character designs and plot lines from a galaxy far, far away. The most famous of these knockoffs was Starcrash, an Italian film with movie stars and space battles, but not much else.
Evan Puschak looks at the phenomena of low budget Star Wars wannabe movies, and hones in on exactly what they were missing. Which any moviegoer who saw Star Wars on a big screen in 1977 knows to be true. This video is only seven minutes long; the rest is an ad. (via kottke)
Yeah, you saw the question in the title and said, "That's the answer to life, the universe, and everything!" And you are right; that was the premise of Douglas' Adams story The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. But also remember, by the time the supercomputer once known as earth rendered the answer, it occurred to everyone that they no longer knew what the question was. The real question for Adams was, why 42? There was nothing special about that number, he assured us. But is that true? The number 42 crops up in plenty of ancients texts and classic literature. Could these have influenced Adams? And what if they didn't? The number is certainly important now, thanks to The Hitchhiker's Guide.
The Portuguese man o' war is not from Portugal, and it's neither a man nor at war. but more importantly, it's not a jellyfish, either, although it looks like one. This creature cannot even propel itself through the water, and relies on ocean currents to move at all. As such, you'd think they would stay in their own ecosystem. But climate change is bringing warm waters to more places than ever before, and the man o' war is spreading with those waters. Why is this important?
For one, we don't know what effect they will have as an invasive species, and how the man o' war will upset the balance of nature. The other reason is closer to home- they can kill humans. A Portuguese man o' war's sting can range from painful and bothersome to lethal, with all kinds of unpleasant effects in between that can last up to a year. You don't want to mess with these animals, even when they are stranded on the beach. Even though they are pretty.
Saturday Night Live opened the show last night the way they always do, by having the president interrupt something else and then free-associating nonsense. But the mood is more upbeat, and there's a surprise cameo that isn't a surprise at all since they used it for the static image of this video.
