Writing everything about everything.

The Best of The Week

Let me give you all a little explainer on what is currently one of the meta avenues for internet discussion and argument. This is the practice of "winning" arguments by being stupid. I am not throwing around "stupid" as the type of insult that comes on sarcastic coffee cups, but as the most succinct way to describe a certain type of disingenuous behavior that is used as a tactic or strategy on the internet. The basic idea is to pretend to not understand basic concepts and facts, forcing someone else to go to the effort of explaining basic ideas, and therefore keeping the argument at the most crude and basic idea possible. If the stupid argument is ever refuted, by simple logical inference or appeal to obvious facts, the game of whack-a-mole will continue with the presentation of an even more stupid argument.

The principle is pretty easy to explain, So let me use a prime example. This is the tweet of a congresswoman from Georgia, sent in December 2021, during the second winter of

Crazy Old Lady in a Small Town Diner, June 8, 2024

There's a little-remembered 1937 film entitled, Sh! The Octopus, in which the little-remembered but solid bit-part player Elspeth Dudgeon undergoes a memorable, mind-bending transformation from kindly old lady to evil hag in the click of a frame.

On our way to Toronto, we stopped for brunch in a familiar small town diner about a half-hour out. It has the expected trimmings: friendly service, humble but

"Kronk" is the name of a candy bar sold throughout Central America, and which I encountered in Costa Rica. According to the packaging of the bar I have in front of me (and which I have been carrying for over two months), it is made by the Marisela company, although the actual manufacturing is by the Bimbo company, a large bakery brand across all of Latin America. I am not sure which company owns which or is a brand of which. To be honest, this is the first time I have thought of it.

News for Noders

June 3: Saint kevin's Day.

June 4: Aesop's Birthday.

June 11: TerribleAspect's birthday!

June 13: Serjeant's Muse's birthday!

June 16: Bloomsday.

June 19: Juneteenth.

June 20: Summer solstice (northern hemisphere) and winter solstice (southern hemisphere).

June 21: nicolasstag's birthday!

June 23: AdamTheDewott's birthday!

June 23: weroland's birthday!

June 28: Tau Day.


If you have an item for this calendar, /msg Tem42.

May 1: May day.

May 3: Happy birthday ImConfused!

May 4: May the Fourth be with you!

May 8: Happy birthday E2D2!

May 10: Happy birthday BIII!

May 12: Mother's day in the USA.

May 27: Memorial Day in the USA.


If you have an item for this calendar, /msg Tem42.

April 1: The E2 Dadaism Quest starts today! Please show off your Dadaist chops with lots of fig inverted urinal.

April 1: The 2024 LieQuest has been cancelled.

April 12: Yuri's Night

April 22: Happy Earth Day, fellow earthlings!

April 23: Saint George's Day.

April 24: Happy birthday, Rancid_Pickle!


April 30: Walpurgis Night.

If you have something to add to the monthly news, /msg Tem42.

March 14th: Pi day.

March 10th: Daylight saving time celebrated by many.

March 19th: The first equinox of the year.

March 31st: Happy birthday mad girl's love song!


Get ready for LieQuest 2024, starting on April 10th!


If you have an item for this calendar, /msg Tem42.

February 2: Happy birthday Auspice!

February 2: Happy birthday npecom!

February 5: Happy birthday wertperch!

February 8: Happy birthday to panamaus

February 15: Happy birthday Admin to the goo!

February 15: Terse Quest 2024 begins!

February 23: Happy birthday Samuel Pepys!

February 29: Happy birthday Browncoat!


If you have an item for this calendar, /msg Tem42.