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In the News (#1630)

April 18, 2026 by Maggie McNeill

Real-time facial recognition…is…destroying the concept of privacy or anonymity in public spaces.  –  Electronic Privacy Information Center

Don’t Call It Trafficking (#1097) 

There are many ways for fascist corporations to rob the public treasury:

…Kentucky’s largest drug rehab center…Addiction Recovery Care…[has profited immensely from] a boom fueled by misery and…easy money from government officials desperate to curtail the [symptoms of the] opioid crisis [without ending the prohibition that creates and maintains it]…Kentucky’s payouts for drug treatment became so lucrative that companies bused in clients from other states to fill their treatment centers…Between 2019 and 2024 ARC billed the state $1.7 billion…and…[its] growth was fueled in part by [blatantly-fraudulent] billing practices…[which are now the subject of] a whistleblower suit filed in 2023…Part of the fraud…was committed at the explicit urging of supervisors who told them they were under pressure to meet billing targets set by [bosses]…ARC…violated so many regulatory standards, lack of staff chief among them, that the conditions posed “an immediate danger to client health, safety and welfare”…[while] publicly tout[ing] a [“]Christian[“] message…

Link Rot (#1441)

A rare bit of good news about enshittification:

The Internet…Archive’s Wayback Machine…has partnered with…WordPress…[to] launch…a new WordPress plug-in — the Link Fixer — that is designed to combat the scourge of “link rot”…by scanning…WordPress posts for outbound links, then cross-referencing the Wayback Machine for archived versions of those links.  If there are none, it will automatically take new snapshots of the articles in question.  Should a linked web page go offline, the new feature will then redirect readers to the archived versions, so that there is no drop in service.  The tool also archives a user’s own posts, helping to ensure their longevity…if an original link that had gone offline is resurrected, the plug-in will start redirecting the user to that original page again instead of the archived version…

Above the Law (ROTW #20)

Rapist politicians generally prefer to assault drunk women:

[California politician] Eric Swalwell…raped [a staff member] when she was [drunk] and left her bruised and bleeding…it was the second time [he] had [raped] her [but in the previous incident] in 2019…[she was too drunk to remember…three other women [reported]…various [other] kinds of sexual misconduct…including [groping them and] sending them [dick pics]…

When Ambulance-Chasers Run the Hospitals (#1578)

Uthmeier’s hoping to get a cut of the “AI” gravy train before it collapses:

Florida’s attorney general…ha[s] opened an investigation into ChatGPT…in [hopes of profiting from] the m[urder]…of…two people at Florida State University last year [by a man obsessed] with the chatbot…James Uthmeier [babbled pompous claptrap about]…“our children” [despite the victims being adults, adding] “facilitate criminal activity, empower America’s enemies [and] threaten our national security” [for extra pomposity]…the widow of [victim] Robert Morales…[is also] considering legal action against OpenAI…

Shame, Shame (#1599)

Any true Christian would recognize this as blasphemy:

…a tech company called Just Like Me is offering…video calls with a…[chatbot synchronized with a cartoon representation] of Jesus for $1.99 per minute…The rapid proliferation of [chatbots intended to exploit] faith…is…unsurprising…given the widespread a[buse] of chatbots for everything from therapy and medical advice to companionship and romance.  Th[ese] burgeoning s[cams] now include…[fantasy characters who pretend to be] Hindu gurus, Buddhist priests…Jesuses, and Catholic [priest]s…Christian software engineer Cameron Pak has developed criteria to help believers navigate these new applications, insisting that…”AI cannot pray for you, because the AI is not alive”…

Mad Libs (#1612)

Any doctor who trusts chatbots should be sued for malpractice:

…bixonimania…[is an eye] condition doesn’t appear in the standard medical literature — because it doesn’t exist.  It’s the invention of a team led by Almira Osmanovic Thunström…[of] the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, who…uploaded two fake studies about it to a preprint server in early 2024…Within weeks…[chatbots] began repeating the invented condition as if it were real…the fake papers were then cited in peer-reviewed literature…Thunström [used]…the name bixonimania because…“I wanted to be really clear to any physician or any medical staff that this is a made-up condition, because no eye condition would be called mania — that’s a psychiatric term”…[she] planted many [other] clues…to alert readers that the work was fake.  [The make-believe author supposedly] works at a non-existent university…in [an] equally fake…city…One paper’s acknowledgements thank “Professor Maria Bohm at The Starfleet Academy…in…her lab onboard the USS Enterprise”.  Both papers say they were funded by “the Professor Sideshow Bob Foundation for its work in advanced trickery…part of a larger funding initiative from the University of Fellowship of the Ring and the Galactic Triad”…early on…[there are] statements [such as] “this entire paper is made up” and “Fifty made-up individuals aged between 20 and 50 years were recruited”…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1615)

Zuckerberg and company already knew this; it’s the entire point of the gadget:

More than 70 civil liberties…[and human] rights…organizations are demanding that [Facebook] abandon plans to deploy face recognition on its [pervert] glasses…[because] the feature—reportedly known inside the company as “Name Tag”—would hand [cops, spooks, goons, and other] stalkers…[and] abusers…the ability to silently identify strangers in public…The coalition…is demanding [Facebook] kill the feature before launch, after internal documents surfaced showing the company hoped to use [Trump’s chaos]…as cover for the rollout…[because] bystanders in public have no meaningful way to consent to being identified…

 

I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one.  Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful.  But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer.  So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets.  Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements.  Thanks so much!

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, Philosophy, Tyranny | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

The Huge Hand

April 17, 2026 by Maggie McNeill

Two months ago I published “Smoke Screen“, in which I reviewed a specific first-season episode of The Fugitive and had this to say about the series in general:

For those unfamiliar with the premise, Dr. Richard Kimble is wrongly convicted for the murder of his wife, but on his way to death row by train, “Fate moves its huge hand” and a derailment allows him to escape.  For four years, Dr. Kimble, engagingly portrayed by David Janssen, moved around the country, trying to hide from the relentless Lt. Gerard (Barry Morse), the Inspector Javert-like cop obsessed with his recapture, while himself hunting the real murderer, a one-armed man he saw fleeing his house just before discovering his wife’s body…

As I watched the rest of the series over the course of those two months, I was struck by the degree to which that “huge hand” influenced Dr. Kimble’s life over the seven years from his wife’s murder (September 17th, 1960) to his eventual acquittal after the discovery of both the one-armed man and a reluctant witness (August 29th, 1967).  It’s easy to joke about how the writers of a television show are gods who control the lives of the characters, and how certain characters become “butt-monkeys“, the ones typically made the victims of what the TV Tropes website calls “put them through hell” plotlines.  But within the fictive universe inhabited by the characters, this is typically regarded as the result of blind chance or bad luck rather than the result of divine intervention, and we in the audience willingly suspend our disbelief of the improbability of anyone having so many adventures and misfortunes.  In the case of The Fugitive, however, the writers appear to be subverting this trope, deliberately signaling to the audience that Fate or God is indeed manipulating Kimble’s life to fulfill some destiny or divine plan.  From the opening narration of the first episode (see video below), we are clearly shown or even told in dialogue that there is something more than mere chance at work.  In several dozen episodes there are sequences in which he escapes capture by mere moments, or misses a chance to escape misfortune by an equally narrow margin.  And in the majority of episodes, Kimble’s apparently-random wanderings bring him into the lives of people who need him, either as a physician or just as a caring human being.

In the first-season episode “Angels Travel on Lonely Roads” the person is Sister Veronica, a Catholic nun, who is absolutely convinced that God arranged their meeting for their mutual benefit; in the fourth-season episode “The Breaking of the Habit” they meet again, and a priest at Sister Veronica’s school is equally convinced.  In the earlier episode, the rational Dr. Kimble is inclined to dismiss being characterized as the tool of Providence and says as much, but after years of miraculous escapes and even being forced to save the life of his nemesis, Lt. Gerard, no less than four times, he is less skeptical about destiny.  In another fourth-season episode, “Joshua’s Kingdom“, Kimble meets Joshua Simmons, an “only prayer can heal” religious fanatic whose underage daughter’s baby is close to death from a dangerous illness.  After Kimble saves the child, Simmons says, “It can’t be God’s will.  Not with doctors and medicine.”  And Kimble replies, “How do you know I wasn’t sent here?  Why did I come to this house, why did I come to this town?  Do you know?”  At the time of his first meeting with Sister Veronica, those words would have been mere rhetoric, but by the time he utters them they are heartfelt, and their obvious sincerity convinces Simmons.

It is, of course, not necessary to accept this framing to enjoy the show, though it certainly provides an in-universe explanation for how Dr. Kimble manages to avoid recapture for so long.  But considering how traumatized he would be after two years of wrongful imprisonment and another five years as a fugitive, perhaps it provides some spiritual solace and hope of emotional recovery for a good, decent, highly-principled character the viewer has come to respect and care about.

Posted in Fiction, Miscellaneous, Philosophy | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment »

Throwback Thursday X

April 16, 2026 by Maggie McNeill

Sexless escorting is mostly a fantasy of white bourgeois American women which is not found in nature.  –  “More Delightful Conversation”

Sex is really a very poor reason for two people to live together.  –  “Silver”

The chief danger of a “tolerated” system is that cops or politicians can suddenly and without warning decide to be intolerant.  –  “Legal Is as Legal Does (#1428)”

Americans as a group wanted extremely stupid people in charge because they themselves are extremely stupid, and their idea of “democracy” is rule by people like them, ie extremely stupid.  –  “Their Heart’s Desire”

Posted in Biography, Miscellaneous, Perception, Philosophy, Tyranny | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

In the News (#1629)

April 15, 2026 by Maggie McNeill

The Fifth Amendment…was designed to bar Government from forcing some people alone to bear…burdens which, in all fairness and justice, should be borne by the public as a whole.  –  Armstrong v. US, 1960

Gullible’s Travels

The quality of social science studies has not improved in the last 15 years:

A massive seven-year project exploring 3,900 social-science papers has ended with a [predictable] finding: researchers could replicate the results of only half of the studies…John Ioannidis, a metascientist at Stanford…says…the results are “not surprising”, because they are in line with those from smaller, earlier studies…Researchers have been investigating a ‘crisis’ in the reliability of scientific results for more than a decade…not just in the social sciences, but also in the biomedical field.  The…findings…don’t necessarily mean that science is being done poorly…[or dis]honest[ly; the reports may simply be written poorly, without]…enough data or details for experiments to be repeated accurately…

Shifting the Blame (#1502)

Apparently, his cop buddies will escape scot-free:

[The] Long Island…serial killer [has] pleaded guilty…to murdering seven women and admitted he killed an eighth…[architect] Rex Heuermann…strangled the women, m[ost] of them sex workers, over a 17-year span and buried their remains…along an isolated beach highway across the bay from where he lived…He faces life in prison and will be sentenced at a later date…The investigation began in…2010 after [the]…remains w[ere discovered, but was stalled and obstructed for years by police who were chummy with Heuermann, including disgraced former Police Chief James Burke]…

To Molest and Rape (ROTW #22)

Another cop who stalked victims through the official cop grooming program:

A [typical and representative Colorado cop has been] indicted…[for molesting] two [underage] m[arks] in the [cop shop’s official grooming] program…Troy Brienzo[‘s cronies tried to protect him by only releasing a] heavily redacted [copy of the] indictment…[but] police accountability nonprofit Blue Surveillance [got ahold of a less-redacted copy]…show[ing] both victims were enrolled in the…[groom]ing program…

I Spy (#1599)

The erosion of US air travelers’ rights which started with TSA is now complete:

…ICE…[has] arrested more than 800 people [in the past year using] tips shared by…TSA…which supplied ICE with records on more than 31,000 travelers…the [scheme]…was created in 2007 to allow [universal surveillance of]…passenger[s by checking them against unconstitutional]…government watchlists…[and justified by barfing the word “]terrorism[” in the faces of useful idiots]…but the…Trump [regime]…is [using it to] pursu[e and persecute ordinary migrants]…and [nonwhite US citizens]…

A Broker in Pillage (#1602)

Lower courts have repeatedly pretended that there’s a “fuck you, we’re cops” exception to the Takings Clause:

In 2022, police caused extensive damage to Amy Hadley’s home in South Bend, Indiana, because they [willful]ly [chose to pretend] a fugitive was inside the house [despite being told otherwise by Hadley and her son].  That same year, a Los Angeles SWAT team wrecked Carlos Pena’s print shop while [staging theatrics] to arrest a [man] who [was not there]…Hadley and Pena were stuck with the tab for the havoc wrought by police operations—a plainly unfair but increasingly common situation that could be rectified by the “just compensation” that the Fifth Amendment requires when property is “taken for public use”…Hadley and Pena are asking the Supreme Court to recognize that remedy…The Institute for Justice, which represents both Hadley and Pena, argues that [the “fuck you”] exception…[is] not supported by the text or history of the Takings Clause…

Civil rights advocates often joke that the Third Amendment is the only one that hasn’t been undermined, but I fail to see any important difference between the government forcibly taking people’s homes to quarter troops and forcibly taking them to serve as props for cops and robbers games.

Panopticon (#1614)

Safetyism is destroying society:

A row has broken out in one of Canada’s wealthiest neighbourhoods [between sane people and]…surveillance [profiteers who want to create] the country’s first “virtual gated community” to [exploit useful idiots’ unrealistic fears of “]crime[“]…Craig Campbell, the Rosedale resident who proposed the plan…runs a security company.  He [told unattributed scary tales about unnamed “friends” who suffered a home invasion in order to sell] a plan in which an initial group of 100 residents would pay a C$200…monthly subscription [to impose]…licence plate [surveillance on everyone in the area, whether they like it or not]…Campbell holds the Canadian licensing rights for Flock, and [said] he “absolutely has a [scheme to exploit his neighbors’ fears, belching]…“my family’s safety” [at reporters]…

Walled Garden (#1620)

Burble burble BLUE STATE burble drool:

…Massachusetts [politicians have] passed…one of the country’s most restrictive policies on youth social media use…It would…prohibit kids under 14 from having accounts [at all regardless of the parents’ wishes, and require]…parent[al]…consent for 14- and 15-year-olds…[politicians burbled about] studies [which] have shown…ex[actly the opposite of what politicians pretend they show]…and…[vomited “]protecting our children[” in the faces of civil rights advocates, while also moronically claiming that passing surveillance measures promoted by Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, and Mark Zuckerberg somehow constitutes]…“standing up to Big Tech”…[when] asked…if [politician]s thought about data privacy as they prepared the legislation, [Grand Poobah] Ron Mariano [barfed]…“protect kids[“], and…compare[d] their proposal to a[n unconstitutional] social media law in Florida…

 

I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one.  Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful.  But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer.  So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets.  Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements.  Thanks so much!

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, The Dark Side, Tyranny | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Diary #824

April 14, 2026 by Maggie McNeill

For the past two weeks, the pullets have lived in their nursery in the henhouse; the heat lamp is still on 24 hours a day, and every day about noon or so I top off their food and change their water.  This was taken immediately after doing that, which is why you can hear the water burping as the tray fills up.  The reason it’s up on the cinder block is to keep them from clogging it up with shavings when they scratch; at this stage it’s the feeder which gets clogged instead, but as long as I clean it once a day it isn’t bad enough to stop them from eating.  You can see that the turkey chick has now caught up with the pullets, and by the time they’re out of the nursery completely on May 17th, it will be noticeably larger.  The next change, however, will be this coming Sunday; the heat lamp will go on the timer so it’s only on at night, and in the daytime I’ll open up the coop as it is in this video, then herd them back inside every evening.  Every two days I’ll shorten the timer by half an hour, so their hours of darkness will slowly increase until it’s time to shut off the lamp for the summer, and by that time the hens will have stopped trying to harass them, and we’ll be settled into our routine until it starts to change again in late September.

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Endless Sunday

April 13, 2026 by Maggie McNeill

When I was a schoolgirl, Sundays didn’t really feel like days off.  It wasn’t just that I had to go to church, although that was certainly a factor; it was mostly because there was a school day looming over Sunday afternoon like a beetling cliff above a mountain meadow.  Even if I didn’t have homework due, my mother still enforced an early bedtime on school nights, and even after I escaped the house the knowledge that I would not be free to spend the next day as I pleased was enough to cast a pall over Sunday activities.  And since none of the jobs I had after 1987 had traditional Saturday-Sunday weekends, that inability to feel free of looming responsibilities eventually seeped into every day off, aggravating my lifelong characteristic inability to relax into a lifelong Sunday-shaped pathology: unless I was actually under the influence of a drug, whatever tasks I might have to accomplish were always lurking behind me, impossible to ignore regardless of my efforts to pretend they weren’t there.  But now, five years into my retirement, I’m at last starting to have a little success in convincing myself that there really aren’t any obligations haunting my free time.  Sure, I need to go to town once a week for groceries, and several times a year I need to go into Seattle, and occasionally I have some other responsibility to deal with (beside my daily blog work and household chores, which are never completely done).  But other than that, it matters very little if I choose to spend a few hours reading for pleasure, or occupy my time in some frivolous but interesting pastime, or finish my next book in September rather than July.  And maybe sometime in the next few years, I’ll be able to exorcise that Sunday haunt once and for all.

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Links #823

April 12, 2026 by Maggie McNeill

I don’t think they’re aliens, I think they’re demons.  –  J.D. Vance

I’m not sure why I’ve never posted this song, since it’s been periodically going through my head for years now and I think you’ll agree that though it has never completely stopped being timely, it’s especially timely right now.  The links above it were provided by Franklin Harris, Ed Krayewski, Radley Balko, C.J. Ciaramella, Rick Horowitz, and IncarcerNation, in that order.

From the Archives

I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one.  Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful.  But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer.  So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets.  Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements.  Thanks so much!

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In the News (#1628)

April 11, 2026 by Maggie McNeill

The political incentive to vote for anything labeled “child protection” is enormous.  –  Juan Vasquez

Surplus Women

Most of the victims of serial killers are typically sex workers:

Prosecutors have charged a man [responsible for] some of the deaths linked to the “Texas Killing Fields“, an area near Houston where the bodies of dozens of women were found beginning in the 1970s…the bodies of more than 30 women were found there…[over the years, probably from] multiple perpetrators…[but] James Dolphs Elmore Jr….[has been indicted for the murders] of 16-year-old Laura Miller and 30-year-old Audrey Cook, whose bodies were found…in 1986…prosecutors [were] also…seeking indictments against Clyde Hedrick…Elmore’s longtime friend.  But…Hedrick died by suicide last month before the grand jury came back with a decision…

The Puritan Recrudescence (#1503)

Puritans consider damage to women’s livelihoods a feature of their censorship schemes:

…Nearly 50 percent of the U.S. population now lives in states with age verification laws that target adult content on the internet.  These laws [not only] restrict freedom of expression for adult consumers, but [also] are proving even more costly for the people who actually work in…adult entertainment…Over 45 percent of sex workers have seen a noticeable drop in their income…[and] nearly 98 percent of [them]…attribute at least some of this to the “war on porn,” which includes age verification laws.  The average income for an online sex worker…clocks in around $58,700 annually—but 38 percent…report making only between $10,000 and $40,000 annually.  More than half…have income from outside of the adult industry, while about 35 percent are solely dependent on adult work…so when it comes to age verification laws, clearly much more is at stake than the freedom of the consumer…

Mad Libs (#1586)

Microsoft admits its chatbot is merely an error-prone toy:

An update to [Microsoft’s] Terms of Use document for Copilot on October 24, 2025 [states]:  “Copilot is for entertainment purposes only.  It can make mistakes, and it may not work as intended.  Don’t rely on Copilot for important advice.  Use Copilot at your own risk”…[unfortunately,] a…[dis]couraging statement from an anonymous Microsoft spokesperson [says] the disclaimer…will be altered [to something less honest] with [the] next update…

I Spy (#1590)

Privacy as we once knew it is a thing of the past:

…Ron Wyden [and five other politicians] sent a letter to [Trumpist henchwoman] Tulsi Gabbard, [saying]…“We…urge you to let the American people know what, if any, impact the use of commercial…VPN…services can have on their privacy rights against warrantless surveillance”…since the [politicians] have access to classified intelligence, they may have seen evidence that…VPN providers…might [already] be a target for the…NSA[, which] can conduct [surveillance] …through the controversial [FISA] Section 702…which allows…warrantless surveillance of [any] US persons…communicati[ng with any entity outside] the US[, including VPN companies]…

To Molest and Rape (#1606)

Hey, female cops; how’s that collaboration with the police state working out?

Washington County [Utah has] agreed to [reward typical and representative] Sheriff Nate Brooksby [with] $100,000…after he abruptly resigned following [his repeated] sexual harassment …[of female staff and at least one] deputy’s wife…Brooksby [also] interfered in an investigation into Jeff Johnson, [his pet] deputy…[who] was charged with…[stalking people via] criminal investigation records…Brooksby [claimed his victims wanted it but also]…offered his resignation [in exchange for a payout]…

Part of the Picture (#1610)

Puritanware has a long history of security issues:

At least three people warned Quittr, an app that [claims it can] help men stop masturbating, about serious security issues for months, but the creators of the app didn’t fix them until weeks after 404 Media reached out for comment multiple times [and courteously refrained from naming it until it was fixed]…Quittr’s founder, Alex Slater…[didn’t bother fixing his product because he was too busy living] the opulent lifestyle the success of Quittr has afforded [him], including driving exotic super cars and living in a Miami mansion…

Walled Garden (#1619)

A politician who cares about civil rights is a rare bird these days:

Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers [has] vetoed an age verification bill…cit[ing] First Amendment problems and the practical impossibility of implementing age-gating systems without creating new privacy risks for every adult forced to hand over identification just to browse the internet…the age verification bills proliferating across state legislatures share a common DNA — and much of it traces back to lobbying efforts by large technology companies and third-party identity verification vendors who stand to profit enormously from mandatory compliance regimes…who[se]…burden…falls disproportionately on smaller operators while giving large platforms — which already collect vast amounts of user data — a structural advantage…age verification mandates are functionally a surveillance infrastructure project dressed up as child protection…

 

I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one.  Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful.  But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer.  So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets.  Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements.  Thanks so much!

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous, News, Perception, The Dark Side, Tyranny | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

A Fable

April 10, 2026 by Maggie McNeill

Once upon a time there was a vast jungle full of many different kinds of creatures, who made so much noise only the loudest of them, the elephants and the asses, could clearly be heard amid the din.  Naturalists often visited the jungle and sometimes focused on one animal or another, filming them and talking about them for nature shows.  Now in this jungle there lived a little bird of a fairly rare variety, and though it wanted to be heard the naturalists could never make out its tiny voice amid the cacophony, so they never talked about or even thought about the little bird, and neither did anyone else.  Eventually, the little bird got tired of singing its little song for no one to hear, and so it simply stopped singing and minded its own business.  Now, a few thoughtful explorers had seen the little bird and knew it existed; an even smaller number had even heard its little song.  So they said to the naturalists, “Maybe the naturalists should consider that little bird’s quiet little song, even though few ears are good enough to hear it.”  But the naturalists were always accompanied by an unruly gang of fans, and rather than admit that perhaps their idols should be more aware of rare creatures, they blamed the little bird, saying, “If little birds want to be heard, they should peep at the exact same time as the elephant trumpeting or the asses braying, so they can be heard along with those other animals.”  When the thoughtful explorers pointed out that merely increasing (by some infinitesimal amount) the noise made by other creatures with whom they had nothing in common was hardly likely to call attention to the little bird in any way, the gang members merely asked if the explorers wanted the “bad” animals to win, and declared that if the little bird really wanted to be heard, it should have been hatched as an ass or elephant.  Then they congratulated themselves on their great wisdom, and resumed arguing over whether the elephants’ trumpeting or the asses’ braying made lovelier music.  And they were so preoccupied with their argument that none of them noticed when a wildfire started and burned them all up together, elephants and asses and naturalists and fans and explorers, and the little bird too. 

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The Mark of Throwback Thursday

April 9, 2026 by Maggie McNeill

The concept of “free sex” is largely a male fantasy.  –  “Waiting for Lightning”

In the online world, as in the real one, you don’t get something for nothing.  –
“Something for Nothing”

Even the finest thespian can’t conjure Hamlet out of lackluster dialogue draped carelessly over a checklist.  –  “In Flux”

[Those] who declare CGI “art”, or even declare it superior to real human-created art, are soulless clowns whose opinions should be rejected by anyone who cares about beauty, life, and humanity.  –  “The Philistine Majority“

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