I laughed
Remote
Esther Schindler
@estherschindler@newsie.social
mastodon 4.7.3Writer. Editor. Chocolate. Cats. Baseball. That covers it, I think.
If I had to describe myself in one word, it'd be, "Can't follow directions."
916 Followers
1890 Following
50 Posts
Joined November 18, 2022
"There are two wolves inside of you. Sorry for the transporter error." - Montgomery Scott
In retrospect, strange women lying in ponds distributing swords really might've been a better basis for a system of government.
"Evil, I think, is the absence of empathy." --Captain G. M. Gilbert, army psychologist assigned to watching defendants at the Nuremberg trials
Hmm yes
Me too, Daniel.
Just a friendly 4th of July reminder: Absolutely no one is going to watch the video of the fireworks you recorded on your phone.
I'd read that book, to be honest.
Pretty much
I just changed all my internet passwords to Kenny, so they're Kenny logins. I like to live in the danger zone.
Overheard in a discussion about Indian food: I’d explain, but I’m unfortunately bound by a naan disclosure agreement.
Sigh. This.
I don't need this. I don't need this. I don't need this. https://www.etsy.com/listing/749820923/funny-purr-my-last-email-cat-t-shirt?variation0=2798105796&variation1=1243147725
Boosted by @joe@f.duriansoftware.com
Chinook salmon have recolonised 88% of their historic range on the Klamath River, with more than 13,000 fish passing the old Iron Gate Dam site in 2025, up from 7,700 the year before. Two years after the dams’ removal, it’s going better than anyone predicted. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-026-65437-0
This
"You’re alive to me!"
— zombie disowning their child
Eighty percent of U.S. organizations remain committed to workplace inclusion despite growing legal and political pressure surrounding DEI initiatives. https://www.blackenterprise.com/dei-isnt-dead-companies-still-back-workplace-inclusion/
Extreme Heat conference cancelled due to extreme heat warning
https://www.lse.ac.uk/granthaminstitute/events/extreme-heat-improving-governance-and-strengthening-action-around-the-world/
A map of Earth’s underground fungi network, estimated to be “110 quadrillion kilometers less than 10 centimeters underground.” https://a-hidden-infrastructure.spun.earth/map#3.48/36.4656/-85.5256@26.1949,-101.6016
“Look at everything always as though you were seeing it either for the first or last time: Thus is your time on earth filled with glory.”― Betty Smith, in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Happy holidays!
"A computer lets you make more mistakes faster than any invention in human history - with the possible exceptions of handguns and tequila."- Mitch Ratcliffe
Kurt Vonnegut on the Shapes of Stories and Why Uncertainty Is the Crucible of Creativity
https://www.themarginalian.org/2012/11/26/kurt-vonnegut-on-the-shapes-of-stories/
"The robot, unable to appreciate the gravity of the situation, didn’t leave, even when the cops deployed a flashbang device during the operation. And why would it care about that?" https://www.vice.com/en/article/a-doordash-delivery-robot-wandered-into-an-active-swat-scene-and-refused-to-leave/
"It’s the experience of being subject to the decisions of a ruling class that responds to every challenge with authoritarianism, greed, and the same levels of poise and wisdom as an inbred Pomeranian." https://dannykatch.substack.com/p/we-used-to-be-able-to-buy-things
Sending heartfelt love and support to every trans person today (and every day).
Absofraginlutely
Dungeons and Dragons Taught Me How to Write Alt Text
This is a perfect headline. It also has really good advice.
https://ericwbailey.website/published/dungeons-and-dragons-taught-me-how-to-write-alt-text/
Yeah, this.
Uplifting news: The strip of land that once divided East and West Germany is now one of the country’s richest habitats. https://www.dw.com/en/east-west-border-death-zone-now-germanys-biodiversity-oasis/a-77917041
"…Civil rights laws rarely die from a single dramatic vote, they erode through underfunded enforcement, narrowed interpretation, and the slow normalization of noncompliance…"
https://www.dennisdeacon.com/accessibility/thirty-six-years-later-the-ada-at-a-crossroads/
"Can you even imagine sitting in a middle seat, on a delayed plane, near someone who wants to be the flight’s Main Character? You thought crying babies on a plane were annoying? They can’t control themselves. This grown-ass woman decided the one thing everyone needed to hear on a plane was her annoying voice preaching a message most people wouldn’t want to hear _off_ the plane." https://www.friendlyatheist.com/p/christian-preachers-are-turning-airplanes
“Keep typing until it turns into writing.”—David Carr
[photo from the family stash: Mom holding a cat she met on the beach in Bermuda in 1966. Because we all know you'll notice a cat photo more than yet another picture of a keyboard]
"If I have any beliefs about immortality, it is that certain dogs I have known will go to heaven, but very, very few persons will."-- James Thurber
A Close Look at Security Envelope Patterns
https://www.inconspicuous.info/p/a-close-look-at-security-envelopes
Don't end your essay with a section called Conclusion. We can tell it's concluding; we see your prose end two paragraphs later.
Every subheading should contribute to the message. What's the takeaway? Worst case use "Looking forward." #AmEditing
Cleaning up after AI rockstar developers
So-called “rockstar" developers often leave behind overly complex and idiosyncratic codebases that prioritize individual cleverness over long-term team maintainability. AI tools usually make this problematic pattern worse. https://www.codingwithjesse.com/blog/rockstar-developers
Elizabeth Luard's Country Cooking
This regional cookbook won't work well if you aren't in the region.
I wrote in 2014 that I hadn't cooked anything from it in the first month I'd owned the cookbook. It's 2026 now, and I _still_ haven't.
https://amzn.to/3Tm68ad
A list of Jurassic Park computers in excruciating detail, including an Apple Powerbook 100, a SGI R4000 Indigo, the Motorola Envoy (PDA), and some Thinking Machines CM-5s. “This is a Unix system, I know this!”
https://fabiensanglard.net/jurrasic_park_computers/index.html
Justice Brown discusses the powerful rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner” that Jimi Hendrix performed at his closing Woodstock set.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAU-FvTPNys
Jimi Hendrix’s “The Star-Spangled Banner” Live at Woodstock, Narrated by Justice Brown
CBS struck a deal to pay Lee Mendelson Film Productions, Inc., an undisclosed amount after “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” used “Linus and Lucy” in show’s May finale. Lee Mendelson Film Prods. will donate those proceeds to Chef José Andrés’ World Central Kitchen.
https://variety.com/2026/tv/news/cbs-linus-and-lucy-late-show-with-stephen-colbert-finale-1236782764/
SWE Genie: a free tool that maps which of 17 engineering roles you'd actually fit, including Mobile Engineer (iOS/Android) and Embedded/IoT Engineer specifically. Sourced from ~68k real job postings, no signup, no ads, methodology's public.
(I have not tested this.) https://swe-genie.com
"Amateur astronomer Joël Lapointe stumbled upon what he thought looked like a suspicious pit in Quebec's Côte-Nord region while he was wandering with his Google Maps cursor in 2024." https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/meteor-crater-quebec-discovery-390-million-years-old-9.7268583
'Chicago’s “Scream Club” meets there every week during the city’s warmer months, bringing together a community of up to 300 people who like to scream out over the water' -- yeah, I could get into that. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/27/chicago-scream-club-screaming
In honor of The Odyssey: English words that have origins in Greek. https://www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/words-from-the-odyssey
Word of the day
"Trump’s own actions, none of them meant to help Ukraine, may have brought the end of this war closer than anything that came before." https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/54844a08cc22f6c6
"A free interactive night map of the world's great castles, fortresses and palaces — 3,693 landmarks across 131 countries, each with its photo, founding century and story. No ads, no accounts." https://thecastlemap.com
