Melissa Kaercher

Me: I should rein in my impulsive spending habits.

Me, two minutes later: Oooh, Amazon has a flash deal on Geiger counters.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, there were extensive lockdowns which kept people at home. As people then mainly communicated by social media, in 2020, the Canadian Women's Foundation (CWF) devised a hand signal called the Signal for Help which women could use to secretly indicate that they were at risk of domestic violence or victims of human trafficking and so needed assistance. The CWF signal has the palm outward with the thumb across it.[4] The fingers are then closed over the thumb to symbolize that one is being held or hurt. Knowledge of this signal spread through social media such as TikTok. In 2021, a girl in Kentucky used the signal when she had been kidnapped, and people who saw it alerted the local police who rescued her.[5][6] As a result, the Women's Signal for Help is an option that allows those who feel abused to discreetly ask for help without alerting the abuser or leaving a digital record of their request. [7]

(PSA: that gesture is an actual official help signal. If you see someone using it, they are clandestinely asking for help.)

J.D. Vance Faces Backlash After Saying He Hopes His Wife Usha Will Be 'Moved' To Convert To Christianity How is this not a dealbreaker?

USHA: if you need someone to get you out of there, hold your hand open to the camera, tuck in your thumb, then close your fingers around the thumb.

www.comicsands.com/vance-usha-c...

UGH. I am so sorry.

You do rock those tops, though.

Oh god, that’s horrifying.

The man is distilled dapper.

A completely incorrect AI summary from Google, which pairs a photo of 1940s actor Tom Conway with a discography from somebody completely different. “Tom Conway, a musician, has released albums such as the recent My Autumn Life and The Root Cellar Session. His discography also includes Hold On Tight and El Tigre, and he has released singles like "This Old Mailbox". For fans of recent releases and folk-inspired music My Autumn Life Pros: Recent release (2025), features folk and acoustic-style tracks like "My Sweet Girl" and "My Autumn Life". Cons: May be a departure from his earlier rock-oriented work.”

Does Tom Conway have an album? I don’t think so, but Google’s AI thinks he’s not only alive but also a rock musician.

Album cover for “The George Sanders Touch… songs for the lovely lady.”

It might not surprise any of you that I own this album on vinyl.

Photo of Tom Conway made Simone Simon in Cat People

Photo of George Sanders

Today I learned that actor Tom Conway was actor George Sanders’ brother, and now the universe makes a little more sense.

Let’s Truman Show him.

Have we tried paying him to NOT be president?

Also, I clearly cannot count or proofread today.

If the Democrats can't find something to do with LITERALLY THE MOST PERFECT VISUAL METAPHOR FOR EVERYTHING THAT IS HAPPENING...

Two times I immediately mash the buy button on a book:

* When it is written by a friend (I left those folks off the list because of personal bias)

* When it is written by Mary Roach, who I really wish was my friend

Define your taste in books with 8 authors:

Mary Roach
Alexandre Dumas
Douglas Adams
Agatha Christie
Umberto Eco
Erik Larson
Sinclair Lewis
Kurt Vonnegut
Chinua Achebe
Deborah Blum

Here are more:
Eve Babitz
Margaret Atwood
Deborah Blum
Jennifer Egan
Stephen J. Gould
Oliver Sacks
Neal Stephenson

You probably heard me cackling, because goddamn, that was so hilarious to me.

The Pain of Lakes PACs

When St. Paul — officially — served as a safe haven for criminals - MinnPost Criminals had to agree to three conditions: that they checked-in with police upon their arrival; agreed to pay bribes to city officials; and committed no major crimes in the city of St. Paul.

St. Paul was literally a safe zone for the mob.

www.minnpost.com/mnopedia/201...

Funniest thing I saw today:

A Cybertruck was driving on a downtown Minneapolis street today. It soon found itself blocked by the No Kings protest, which was flowing down a cross-street.

You’ve never seen a car pull a u-turn so fast.

A protest sign that says “NO KINGS, ONLY PRINCE”, with the Prince symbol

I love Minneapolis.

white house has joined bluesky
click here to block all official us government accounts instantly

bsky.app/profile/did:...

Trump: We have to remove all the criminal immigrants from the streets!

Also Trump:

All US health insurance companies should be burned to the fucking ground. And then anyone who voted against healthcare reform should be forced to snort the ashes until they apologize.

I shit you not, there is a haunted golf ball in that movie.

I love the 1945 one.

I also highly recommend the underseen Bob Clark one from 1974.

The Dan Curtis one from 1977 is 2/3 ok and 1/3 pretty great.

In the last three days, I’ve watched three different movies named Dead of Night.

One has a trucker-eating blood junkie.

One has a haunted golf ball.

One has Ed Bagley Jr.

She looks simultaneously smol and HUGE.

[Repeat in a cycle until distracted by a different shiny thing.]

Me, three days later: Where am I going to store all these things?

Me, six days later: Gee, I really like this storage solution. And there’s some room left over!

The weasels in my brain, immediately: NATURE ABHORS A VACUUM. BUY MORE OF THE THING.

Me, three days later: Well, fuck.