Nicky No-Spoons

And I'll get ahead of this. If Spotify and Apple Music are considered podcast apps, then so is YouTube Music.

And I know it's not entirely y'all's fault, but Android still doesn't have cooler zone media. I'm running out of ways to listen to y'all.

Soooo, the YouTube channel hasn't gotten an update since halfway through the MBS episodes, which happens to be when the Netflix deal started.

Rather than running my mouth wildly speculating, let me just ask @whysophiewhy.bsky.social

So what's the deal?

Federal court strikes down Louisiana law on disabled veterans’ claims consultants A federal court has struck down a Louisiana law that sought to let private consultants take a cut of benefit payments for disabled veterans.

Admittedly, it's hell to navigate the VA disability system, and a lot of vets are on their own again.

On the other hand, private companies whose whole business plan is based on siphoning resources from the disabled is fucking ghoulish.

Vets need help, but I'm glad these leeches got stopped.

It'll be a blast. Bit of a shame, tho. If you were headed this way, I had a few books I could have sent home with you.

If you blow into Shreveport again, pop on up to Highland. There's a couple old books about Outlaw Country on my shelf with your name on it. Hell, one on Austin City Limits, too.

You headed to New Orleans proper, or are you planning on slumming it with us in Shreveport?

That being said, it's really time to re-evaluate Shreveport's image. The klansmen have all been run out to the sundown towns, and the city itself has such a large LGBT population, we need two pride months.

I'd like to think we're at least making progress towards proving Sam Cooke right.

Seriously, though. Once upon a time, you had make a trip to Shreveport to gamble away your paycheck, or meet a real life Klansman. Hell, you could even see one on the ballots.

But thanks to Polymarket & Turning Point USA, you're all Shreveport now.

Sounds to me like the dude was counting on the revenue from the music festival that he was supposed to be putting on in Shreveport next month, and really, really had to scrape the bottom of the barrel to make some money this quarter.

Your answer is more fun, though.

The graphic included in the latest G-Unit Studios email, promoting a 23% sale on all GRODT merch, in 'honor' of the 23rd anniversary of time he paid to have a biopic made of himself.

I'm not sure what's worse about this poster;

the fact that this man is making such a big deal about the 23rd anniversary of the only movie he ever made.

Or...

The fact that for all the money this man throws around, his graphics look like he paid his nephew in Pokemon cards to make it.

Lower Decks was just starting to broach a really fascinating part of the universe in the last season. We got some perspective on the Federation from the outside, and I wish they got to explore that more.

I'd love a series about a non-federation group. Like Doctors Without Borders, but in space.

I could fall into a whole rabbit hole about the difference between the English and German versions of this song, but suffice it to say this particular arrangement has something to say

What I like most about this version is the omission of one verse, and the choice to go back to the original German for the following one.

The band doesn't mess with the hoo-rah of "Silverheroes and Captain Kirks", but doesn't change a word about kriegsministers with benzinkanisters.

America is Ratcheting Up (Shreveportly)

GM’s Hummer SUV Plant in Louisiana Targeted for Closure The Shreveport closing also represents one of the first assets to be identified by GM as one of its less-attractive.

If there's a silver lining to general motors abandoning Shreveport back in 2012, it managed to kill the Hummer.

...At least for a while.

(Btw, article is a decade and a half old. Those 800 jobs are long since lost)

Man, Michelle Trachtenberg passing about this time last year left me pretty fuckin' shook. She was six months younger than me, to boot.

Hate that feeling, and I'm really sorry you're going through it, man.

Slightly diminish a band

PG-13 For Pyros

A screenshot of a Facebook post by Krist Novoselić: A new proposal would prohibit clearing encampments unless local government provides higher levels of accommodation for shelter. Our state's ruling party is attempting to codify what appears to be a lifestyle. There's no longer any expectation of personal accountability. Quoted post from Cascade Party Washington: WA legislature proposal out of touch with worsening chronic addiction homelessness - read now in The Summit (independent press of Cascade Party WA). [Link with a preview image of a person lying face down on the street next to a dumpster]

I really need people outside of Seattle to know how much Krist Novoselic sucks

A zoomed in section of the Bluesky map showing the magic the gathering fandom in two distinct groups, seeming to indicate a schism in the community.

Yooo, M:TG girlies, are y'all doing all right? Your cell on the map looks like it's attempting Mitosis.

Also, wtf is up with that quarantined little appendage on the bottom?

Bluesky Map Interactive map of 3.4 million Bluesky users, visualised by their follower pattern.

I made a map of 3.4 million Bluesky users - see if you can find yourself!

bluesky-map.theo.io

I've seen some similar projects, but IMO this seems to better capture some of the fine-grained detail

American cheese is just like regular cheese, only with no legal limits on how many microplastics are in it.

Speaking of telling tales, this song reminds me of my grandma. Specifically about the time my mom complained about her showing me that song. Complained it was too violent..

Her response?

"Y'all asked me to buy the boy some game called Street Fighter last Christmas. He can handle ol' Marty..."

I don't know if El Paso is Marty's best work, but it's my favorite from him. I just love me a good "sit down and I'll tell y'all a tale..." song.

this wouldn’t be a very good apology for blatant plagiarism even if this had been a one time accident, but it very much isn’t. it’s just posting, denise. if you can’t think of anything cool to post, just wait until you have your own ideas! quit copying & pasting, it’s sad.

F-22s pulled from Super Bowl flyover due to operations, planner says To complete the formation, F-15s from Fresno Air National Guard Base, California, were tapped late in planning to join the flyover.

"...And so the reason that we are so proficient at operations like Midnight Hammer and other things that you’ll see is because we can replicate those real world scenarios with this type of flying.”

They're flat out saying football games are practice for flying over enemy cities.

Fucking ghoulish..

some dickhead executive from Shreveport got brought in to manage the convention center in town and he's decided to spring a bunch of last-minute changes and upcharges to the nerd con I volunteer with every year :/

Which house was he JK Rowling????

Don't get me wrong, I've dealt with wait times for appointments at the VA, and there's going to be a lot of folks getting immediate, direct help.

I just can't shake the feeling that this is just one more way for healthcare companies to land fat govt. contracts.

Pilot program would offer over-the-counter hearing aids to veterans with hearing loss More than 2.5 million veterans experience some form of hearing loss, and the VA is the largest single  employer of audiologists in the U.S.

That's a funny way of saying the VA doesn't have enough Doctors to help all the soldiers that the government is permanently disabling, so they're kicking one more problem to the open healthcare market.

Grammys Backstage: Jelly Roll Says He’s About To Speak Out On State Of The U.S. ‘In The Most Loud And Clear Way’ Jelly Roll didn’t specify if he'll be releasing a song expressing his views, but he did share an update on the groundswell of upcoming music to release this year.

Billie Eilish: "Fuck Ice!"

Bad Bunny: "We demand to be treated like human beings!"

Jelly Roll: "My PR team will have my official statement ready in 5 to 7 business days..."