So, right out the gate, we all know it’s been a weird year. Even the people who think Bill Gates created the ‘Rona will agree with that. It is just really weird here at the minute. It’s nearly the 1st July and the bonfires aren’t stacked, there aren’t that many flags, and the Orange Order has announced that this year the 12th is going to be online.
Probably someone will pull some sort of stupid stunt on the Twelfth, but right now everyone is being very reasonable.
In work news I am just INUNDATED with edits at the moment :D. Which is weird. I mean, at this point I’m sorta used to editing (I don’t think I’ll ever be a writer who savors the process) but it is strange to shift between editorial voices on multiple projects. It won’t be long now before I can start to run some news up the flag pole though!
It probably won’t be at GRL, though. At least not in person. I have held out as long as I could, but I can’t see any way to get to GRL. Never mind keep my already crappy lungs free from the ‘Rona. I would like to do something special to mark the occasion though. It would have been my third GRL and I’m really bummed I can’t make it.
Pupdate of the Week
As you can see Jax has recovered well from his surgery, and has a lot of pearly white gnashers!
Honestly? Green Arrow was always my least favorite DC superhero. The TV show helped some, but only because they pretty much made him Green-ish Batman. Everyone was out there calling him The Hood, because they didn’t realise green was his thing for a long time.
Of course, my favorite superhero of all time is Namor. Who’s only a few steps above comic-Aquaman. We’re not counting Momoa Aquaman in this, OK? He has an unfair Momoa advantage and kind of ends the discussion.
Must Read of the Week
I might write detective novels, but I can assure you that I do not have the constitution to be even a petty criminal. For a start, I would feel bad. More importantly, I’d get caught. I know it, you know it, the people I was petty criming would know it. Oh, and when I got caught? There would be no dignity.
When I was seventeen I got caught bunking off school (it wasn’t even a lesson, I bunked off study hall because I was a nerd) with some friends. We literally walked into one of our teachers, and I looked that woman in the eye and then—as the adrenaline hit—turned 90 degrees and power walked away to go and hide behind a carousel.
…one of my friends followed me. I think it was panic.
If anyone is wondering? That move is useless. You will definitely still get into trouble, and will also have to explain what you thought you were going to accomplish.
Still, I do love reading about people who’re just shameless.
The Banana Trick and Other Acts of Self-Checkout Thievery
“Anyone who pays for more than half of their stuff in self checkout is a total moron.”
Beneath the bland veneer of supermarket automation lurks an ugly truth: There’s a lot of shoplifting going on in the self-scanning checkout lane. But don’t call it shoplifting. The guys in loss prevention prefer “external shrinkage.”
Self-checkout theft has become so widespread that a whole lingo has sprung up to describe its tactics. Ringing up a T-bone ($13.99/lb) with a code for a cheap ($0.49/lb) variety of produce is “the banana trick.”
There are some AMAZING statues here, and I would love to talk to their artists about their inspiration for them. I imagine really disturbing dreams would feature.
It would be the last one. I’m a sucker for a hidden entrance.
Despite a deep, albeit baseless, dislike for Will Ferrell I kinda want to see this?
Come on, how can you resist that doggo?