A PODIUM is something you STAND ON -- from Greek pódion, 'little foot' and Latin pēs, 'foot'. (Note 'podiatrist' = foot doctor, and 'pedestrian' = walker, etc.)
A small chest-high table a person reads from or stands at is a LECTERN -- from Latin legere, 'to read'. (Also the root of legislation, 'written law [to be read]'; legibile, 'able to be read', lecture, 'to read aloud', etc.)
Earlier novel political units of time:
'truss' = 50 days
'scaramucci' = 11 days (1/4 truss)
(also 'mooch' or 'mucci')
(metric mucci = 10 days = 1/5 truss)
New:
'zacharia' = 5 days (0.5 muccis)
= 1/10 truss
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/10/katie-zacharia-is-out-after-half-a-scaramucci/
A lot of retirees have to search for ways to keep their lives interesting.
https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/26633738.ex-police-officer-pays-84p-hampshire-shell-garage/
Not EVERYTHING that AI does is bad. Sometimes good things happen by accident.
For a short film that's meant as a joke, this is actually pretty good.
Texas continues to be one of the crappiest states in the US.
This may come as an enormous shock to many people, but Meta's stalker glasses are apparently not entirely trustworthy.
https://gizmodo.com/metas-smart-glasses-recording-without-consent-2000826018
Even if you accept the naïve, cynical, self-serving, and almost always false trope of "one bad apple", it will still cost ALL the tax-payers. Chicago's up to half a billion dollars now, with more than two dozen cases left to go. For ONE "bad apple". By the math, they can expect to lose at least another quarter billion before THIS debacle is over. A sensible city would investigate the entire department, top to bottom. We'll see if that happens.
Just for the record, the last time smart-ass Texans took a final stand at this very same landmark, the enemy DID in fact come and take it.
https://www.texastribune.org/2026/10/14/ken-paxton-bus-tour-texas-senate-come-and-take-it/
Go ahead and laugh, but I bet no one in Oregon votes for Troy Jackson!
https://newrepublic.com/post/216529/republican-group-spends-thousands-susan-collins-portland-oregon
Before responding, consider the deep, profound theme of this deceptively short screed. This is about who we ARE -- who ANYONE is.
If you feel the urge to dehumanize MAGA, for any reason, then you're not better. That's the "test" referred to here. It's the most fundamental test of humanity: Can you see and accept others as essentially human, and ethically equivalent to yourself, and equally deserving of compassion? If not, then you're not better; you're just a different flavour of hate.
'This is what MAGA is.'
https://factkeepers.com/trump-and-his-supporters-have-failed-the-human-test/
And now we know why Ukraine lost tactical Starlink access.
BS-Speaker John Mikeson: If Dems win, Congress might do their jobs.
When, if ever, will the GOP wake up and take the keys away from their increasingly demented elder statesman? What will it take?
https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/why-trump-sharing-many-videos-220656983.html
RE: https://newsie.social/@ChrisBoese/117440233085728852
If you thought Texas couldn't get any dumber, just you wait.
Probably my favourite bit from The Dark Crystal.
HYPOCRITE is originally an Ancient Greek term for an actor who performs more than one role, through the use of different masques. Our modern usage comes down from Biblical usage. Jesus used this metaphor for 'two-faced' people because Koine Greek was the common tongue where he lived, and people there already knew the term.
Police calling non-police "civilians" is a contemptuous misnomer.
Unless you're in the military, you're a civilian. Except for MPs, all police are civilians. The entire POINT of civilian police is that The People are not under military oversight. Police calling non-police "civilian" is a pretense to military status they do not have, and authority that would be illegal if they were.
Plurals do not take apostrophes. Stop it.