First Friday in… really… June? Afternoon Links

by | Jun 6, 2025 | Cocktails, Daily Links, I Am Lame | 101 comments

It’s officially summer, day camp children walking by my house twice a day (to and from a park), fawns running through my yard, the Canadian soldiers invaded (don’t believe Wiki, it’s always been midges referred to as them around me), the Browns are linked to a dumb move, concerts are moving outdoors (always a crap shoot), and the smell of grilling and backyard fires fills the air.

Come see the violence of the suburbs.

I enjoyed the hell out of the first two Thief games, and yeah… VR is not a draw.

You know what. I agree here, stop it with day 1 DLC you bastards.

I didn’t want it to fail, I just expected it to based on the fact that they hadn’t released a good game in 15 (sweet cheebus, I didn’t realize it was that long ago) YEARS.

Perhaps tape, or stapling to the top of the box would have worked better?

Social engineering is still king.

This… this is multiple layers of nostalgia for me. We used to go to the shop before shows all the time, and browse through the repurposed card catalogs filled with pins, patches, stickers, and trading card packs. I’ll likely be there both days. If there’s something you’re interested in, let me know in the comments (and a price point as well please).

Speaking of nostalgia

That’s a bold strategy Cotton, let’s see how it works out for you. Pro tip, when you connected to the college wi-fi, you accepted their terms and conditions, they’re the ones sharing the information with the po-po… willingly.

Maybe claiming to be a Mario fan would have worked as a better defense.

If you think all labor (fuck your additional u) is all exploitation, you can’t. Perhaps focus here instead of on BS green goals?

The monster.

This doesn’t give me the greatest confidence in their data security.

Instead of this, why not allow boarding houses and flophouses?

Pretty sure we all agree with the headline, just for different reasons.

“I’ve worked in the private sector. They expect results.”

*clears throat* Fuck you. Pay me.

Didn’t someone just say they heard from Agile Cyborg?

For today’s cocktail, let’s go for something light and refreshing, which unless something else strikes me, will likely be the mood for drinks this month. Expect more spritzes, cobblers, and bright drinks.

Hugo Spritz

  • 1 part (0.5 oz) elderflower liquor (St. Germain is the standard here)
  • 8 parts (4 oz) chilled prosecco (or similar sparkling wine)
  • 2 parts (1 oz) chilled soda water
  • 1 sprig of mint

Put a wine glass into the freezer while you gather the ingredients. Then you’re going to put the elderflower liquor and sprig of mint into the glass, and gently muddle it (bruise the leaves, don’t grind them). An alternative to this is to hold the sprig of mint in one hand, smack it with the other, and a small rub. Then add ice to the glass, pour in the water and wine, and give a gentle swirl to combine. Garnish with another sprig (or more) of mint, and a lemon wheel.

Well that’s it for me, I’ve got nothing left to say.

About The Author

Nephilium

Nephilium

Nephilium is a geek of multiple types living in the vast suburban forests of Cleveland.

101 Comments

  1. ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

    The selector on the Whore-16 would have been better if it was Marry, Fuck, Kill.

    Just sayin’

  2. Sean

    An estimated 452,000 people aged 62 and older had student loans in default, according to a January report from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

    Whoah.

    • trshmnstr

      Debt slavery has become much more of a plausible concept to me over the past few years.

      Not that I agree with the commies who want to write off various and sundry debt and nationalize everything, but the status quo ain’t working either.

      Retirees with student debt? 84 month loans on cars that cost six figures? The decline and death of the 15 year mortgage? Credit cards, business loans, lines of credit, personal loans, payday loans….

      Rather than sipping on the drink, we have drowned in the cask. This will be the legacy of the second half of the 20th century. Burning up everything chasing a materialistic high.

      • Nephilium

        Which really makes me wonder how it all is going to come crashing down. FFS, there’s people financing fast food purchases now! I’ve seen billboards about refinancing car loans!

      • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

        I don’t think it is the second half of the 20th, but, rather, a single generation, the Boomers, and how the inherited such largess from the postwar boom, and their parents being the last man standing, internationally.

      • KSuellington

        I think the universities should be liable for the debt after a certain amount of decades. It would certainly incentivize them to stop handing out ridiculous degrees in trans-Islamic basket weaving.

      • trshmnstr

        but, rather, a single generation, the Boomers,

        I almost went there, but didn’t want to light that particular signal.

      • Rat on a train

        I think the universities should be liable for the debt after a certain amount of decades.
        If the universities were the lenders they would be more careful.

      • trshmnstr

        how it all is going to come crashing down

        It is already. The consequences are being seen, but it takes some zooming out to see the forest for the trees.

        1) The default for people who aren’t elites (socially, academically, etc), is no longer a spartan but comfortable family of 5 in a single family home. It’s living in mom’s basement until you’re 40.

        2) so many people are trapped in dual income poverty because a single income isn’t quite enough to cover everything and the second income hardly pays for the daycare.

        3) affordability is a pipe dream for most major purchases, so everything ends up being financed

        We have enough historical wealth that the rubber band can be stretched quite a while before it snaps, but it’s quite stretched at this point.

      • creech

        A case could be made it started with LBJ. And not one Boomer voted for LBJ.

      • Nephilium

        trshmnstr:

        I think the big question for me is it going to be just a US collapse (in which case, sitting on a large store of USD isn’t terrible) or a USD collapse (which well, would be bad). I have discussed (with the girlfriend) taking advantage of 0% interest plans (while they’re still around) for some home improvements and the like, just as a way to keep more capital in reserve.

      • R C Dean

        “a single income isn’t quite enough to cover everything”

        Depending on the income, of course, a single income can feed, clothe, and house more than one person. It just requires a lot of discipline, and the ability to resist the gimmedat culture.

      • R C Dean

        As Timeloose says:

        “The difference between me and my work peers was they got houses that cost 2-3x of ours. They are still paying for them along with the boats and vacation houses.”

      • trshmnstr

        Depending on the income, of course,

        Of course.

        Signed,
        Guy who makes a single* income to support a family of four and a hobby farm.

        *I make more than one income, but the secondary incomes are a rounding error.

      • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

        Creech, every Boomer would have voted for LBJ if they were old enough, what with JFKs brains all over the ballot.

      • trshmnstr

        A case could be made it started with LBJ. And not one Boomer voted for LBJ.

        Here’s a plain and obvious weakness of our system. Was it Obama? Was it W? Was it LBJ? Was it FDR? Was it Wilson?

        They’re messing with an economy that takes years and decades to percolate the changes and settle out to a new equilibrium. They’re messing with a system resilient enough to power through a high level of adversity.

        To analogize, we came home from a recent trip to a nearly dead cat. The most acute symptom was dehydration. Was the cat nearly dead because of lack of water? Sure. However, the cat had puked enough times that something had ulcerated and there was blood. Was the blood loss the culprit? Sure. But she was puking up worms, too. Were the worms the culprit? Perhaps.

        Vet prescribed a steroid shot and an antibiotic for a bacterial infection.

        It’s impossible to point a single finger at the progressive failure of a complex system. The cat had worms for a long time and was perfectly normal, but the symptoms asserted themselves in combination with a bacterial infection to nearly kill the cat.

        LBJs policies presided over eras of great prosperity, but in combination with other factors, those policies have flared up and are killing our economy. This is why utilitarianism is a garbage metric for public policy. Here we are, a lifetime later, staring at consequences created by people who made careers out of looking just far enough ahead to justify the immoral thing.

    • R.J.

      I’m clean. Paid mine off by the late 90s.

      • Fourscore

        I went on the GI Bill and didn’t have any latent bills, I actually had a few bucks left over.. My wife and son left free and clear as well.

        I realize that the military is not everyone’s bag but trading 3-4 years for a later debt free graduation isn’t a bad tradeoff. Way better than paying interest for 40 years and beyond.

        If your major didn’t pay big dividends and you’re still paying 30 years later a college education didn’t do you much good.

      • Rat on a train

        GI Bill + Army College Fund paid for tuition, fees, and books with money left over for living expenses.

      • Q Continuum

        Never had any to begin with; I went to the state school for which I got a scholarship instead of the ritzy private school that would have driven me to penury.

      • Timeloose

        We’re clean,
        But we both got married with the same levels of student debt. Mine from a state school that I paid for the first two years with working summers, during the year and during breaks. Loans for everything else including room and board. My wife had an athletic scholarship then parents paid for the rest at an expensive private school.

        After being married she got two more degrees that lead to more debt that we both took care of.

        I got a STEM degree that lead to a good paycheck, she had the opposite that lead to poor pay. In balance we both took advantage of employers education benefits and got advanced degrees Scott free.

        The difference between me and my work peers was they got houses that cost 2-3x of ours. They are still paying for them along with the boats and vacation houses.

      • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

        Son of a prof, so i went to that school on the cheap. Wife’s parents paid cash for her.

      • Mojeaux

        I had $5,500 in student loans. I just needed to buy books my last year, but the minimum I could borrow was $5,500. Bought my books, paid the rest back. I was working 50 hours a week graves.

        I worked all but my first year of college, and every summer.

        So, years ago, I was at the electronics counter of Target one evening at Christmastime buying Wii games for the kids. College-age dude #1 was talking to other college-age dude #2, really evangelizing student loans. CAD2 was just half listening and helping me. Finally CAD2 just said, “I don’t want the debt. I’m working amd getting grants and scholarships.” CAD1 didn’t actually put the L-fingers on his forehead, but his tone screamed LOSER. CAD2 just rolled his eyes and continued to help me.

        Natch I stepped in and said, “That’s the smart way to do it.” Kinda shut CAD1 up.

    • R C Dean

      I’d bet most of them signed as guarantors for their kids.

  3. Beau Knott

    For the couple of years I lived in Cleveland, I rented the house immediately next door to Sokolowski’s. Loved the view out over the river, the many fine restaurants in Tremont, and, well, everything except the job.

    • Nephilium

      The Tremont area has been gentrifying a lot over the past couple of decades. I know quite a few people who live in the area.

      • Beau Knott

        That seemed to be ramping up when I lived there (03-05-ish). It was an interestingly funky mix. I quite liked it; Cleveland is probably #2 on my list of “best places I’ve lived.”

      • Nephilium

        Beau Knott:

        Yeah, probably started a bit before that, but it’s still going. Lots of new condos built down there now.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        (But margarine in beef stew?)

      • Nephilium

        Toxteth:

        I have a feeling that was the person “updating” it to be healthier. I would immediately swap that out for butter.

  4. Sean

    The old woman ain’t wrong.

    • R.J.

      Yeah. Pay your way, young lady! TANSTAAFL!

  5. The Late P Brooks

    A Middleburg Heights woman, 25, called police at about 9:30 p.m. May 27 and said that an 84-year-old woman attacked her with a rolled up piece of paper at the Middleburg Heights branch library, 16699 Bagley Road.

    I hope she whacked her on the nose like a bad puppy.

  6. The Late P Brooks

    The wine industry needs to not only do more to improve labour standards across the supply chain – but also to start a conversation that acknowledges there are problems that needs to be addressed, a panel of experts at a recent Wine Society roundtable agreed.

    Blow it out yer ass.

  7. The Late P Brooks

    A group of people came in, after the fact, and tried to conjure a property owners’ association out of thin air in my “neighborhood in Montana, and tried to collect dues. I never gave those thieving assholes a penny.

    • Sean

      I hope you ran them off with a 12 gauge.

      • Fourscore

        Only because his 10 gauge was in the local gun hospital.

      • Tres Cool

        Instead of 1 10-gauge, could he use 2 5-gauge?
        Or 1/2 of a 20 gauge ?

  8. SDF-7

    Your mother was a hamster — and your cocktail smells of elderberries!

    • The Artist Formerly Known as Lackadaisical

      Elderflowers, tyvm.

  9. SDF-7

    didn’t want it to fail, I just expected it to

    Same — albeit more because Inquisition so obviously wanted to be MMO experience in a single player game and just wasn’t fun. (I honestly will go back and play DA2, warts and all before DA3…. at least DA2 had a serious stroy… although you should have had an option to just kill Merrill and stupid, stupid Anders in Act One. I know it would have wrecked their intended story… but those two were MORONS who would only bring mass death with them.

  10. SDF-7

    the smell of grilling and backyard fires fills the air.

    So it is outdoor pool table season again? Or did the Drew Carey Show lie to me about Cleveland hijinks?

    • Nephilium

      I have yet to see a backyard pool table in my years of living here. Things like that are also very neighborhood dependent. In the area I’m in, nearly every house has a half (or full) finished basement with a bar in it of some manner. Most of which will have room for bar games of some manner. Unfortunately, with the way the basement is set up, there’s no room for a pool table. So I suffer with crokinole, hookey, and video games.

      • Tres Cool

        Keeping it level would be a bitch unless it was on a poured slab.

  11. Q Continuum

    “The iconic Tremont restaurant closed its doors on Oct. 13, 2020 – after nearly a century of family-owned goodness – thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic totalitarian control freaks and their lust for power.”

    FIFY.

  12. rhywun

    That’s a bold strategy Cotton

    Commies sure are shameless.

  13. rhywun

    Ronald Reagan infamously claimed that homelessness was a “lifestyle choice,”

    I never heard of that but if so… he was right, at least about 90% of the time.

    These commies are shameless too. Every answer they give is just going to impoverish even more people.

    • rhywun

      lol Dumbasses.

    • Nephilium

      The better question is why the fuck would you carry a phone with you when you’re going to commit crimes, leave that shit in the car if you’re too weak to leave it at home.

      • The Hyperbole

        How else are you gonna film it?

      • Tres Cool

        Use a $20 digital camera and SD card off Amazon. That wont connect wirelessly.

      • The Hyperbole

        That sounds like a lot of advance work, ain’t nobody got time for that.

  14. Aloysious

    I have in my greedy little hands the sweetest watermelon of the year. So far.

    I’m going to make agua fresca and spike it with rum.

    I might even look up recipes for watermelon cocktails.

  15. Aloysious

    Midges eat hobbits. It is known.

    • SDF-7

      I thought Midge just ate Moose — if he was particularly good, at least.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        My sister once bit a møøse?

  16. The Late P Brooks

    Serious journalism for serious people

    America voted for inflation, and it got it today, as republicans running the Department of Transportation bowed to their oil donors and finalized a rule to make your cars less efficient, thus costing America an extra $23 billion in fuel costs.

    Sean Duffy, who was appointed as Secretary of Transportation on the back of the transportation “expertise” he showed as a contestant on Road Rules: All Stars, a reality TV travel game show, announced the rule on his first day in office.

    His original memo promised a review of all existing fuel economy standards, which require manufacturers to make more efficient vehicles which save you money on fuel.

    Specifically, the rule finalized today targets the Corporate Average Fuel Economy standard (CAFE), which was just improved last year by President Biden’s DOT, saving American drivers $23 billion in fuel costs by meaning they need to buy less fuel overall. The savings from the Biden rule could have been higher, but were softened from the original proposal due to automaker lobbying.

    If the government doesn’t force you to conserve fuel at gunpoint…

    • B.P.

      Before we even get to the absurd logic, the writer of this piece should be put on trial for first degree assault on the English language.

  17. The Late P Brooks

    Sierra Club’s Transportation for All director, Katherine Garcia, responded to the new Duffy rule’s finalization with a statement:

    “The Trump administration’s deregulatory, pro-polluter transportation agenda will only increase costs for Americans. Making our vehicles less fuel efficient hurts families by forcing them to pay more at the pump. This action puts the well-being of our communities at risk in every way imaginable. It will lead to fewer clean vehicle options for consumers, squeeze our wallets, endanger our health, and increase climate pollution. The Sierra Club will continue to push back against this administration’s dangerous clean transportation rollbacks.”

    Everybody in the Sierra Club has to drive a giant gas guzzling SUV. It’s in the membership bylaws.

    • rhywun

      How many lies can they squeeze into a short paragraph? Impressive.

  18. The Late P Brooks

    The result of this increased fuel usage also inevitably means more reliance on foreign sources of energy. The more oil America uses, the more it will have to import from elsewhere. Other countries looking to exercise power over the US could certainly choose to raise prices as they recognize that the US has just become more reliant on them.

    That must be why OPEC just increased production.

    • rhywun

      LOL have they looked into where batteries come from?

      • UnCivilServant

        Inhumane slave labor means nothing, and they already sold their souls to the red chinese vision.

  19. The Late P Brooks

    Oops

    A fuel leak and several improperly installed parts were found inside the engine of an American Airlines plane that caught fire after the plane landed in Denver in March, according to a report released Thursday.

    The National Transportation Safety Board said one part inside the right engine of the Boeing 737-800 was loose and had been installed in the wrong direction and that fuel was leaking from the fitting of another part that was also fastened incorrectly.

    The preliminary findings don’t identify the cause of the fire because the NTSB won’t reach that conclusion until after it completes its investigation likely sometime next year.

    But former NTSB and FAA investigator Jeff Guzzetti said the problems investigators found in the engine appear to be the source of the fuel that caught fire.

    “To me, it looks like improper maintenance in the right engine leading to a fuel leak,” Guzzetti said after reading the NTSB report.

    Look for the union label.

    • UnCivilServant

      Look for the union label.

      And avoid the everloving fuck out of it.

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      Check valves, how do they work?
      Morons

      • Tres Cool

        I would imagine that maintenance was inspected and signed-off by someone.

        HEY YUFUS!

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        Tall Cans is what,
        Cheers!

    • B.P.

      Absolutely fantastic. I saw them at least a dozen times back in the day. Great live band. I love that Mike Watt is out of breath.

  20. Yusef drives a Kia

    Didn’t someone just say they heard from Agile Cyborg?
    Why yes I did not 3 nights ago

    • Tres Cool

      Did he mention fucking stars or wasp nipples lactating poison ?

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        Affirmative, stars were fucked, wasps were milked.
        There was much rejoicing

  21. Shpip

    The next time you speak to a climate professional, try not to catch them out. Instead, ask about their work and its influence on changing the system – we guarantee they will be more receptive.

    The next time you see a credentialed grifter peddling nonsense to the rubes, don’t call them out on it. Instead, pretend to be interested and flatter them — it’ll make them feel better.

    FIFT.

  22. Furthest Blue pistoffnick (370HSSV)

    *looks at title image*
    *wonders what kangaroo tastes like*

    • Dr. Fronkensteen

      The tail is similar to beef.

    • Nephilium

      At some point, I’m going to start pulling the trigger on some of those. They did have (just out of frame) emu drumsticks.

    • Toxteth O'Grady

      Camel?!

    • Tres Cool

      I can’t eat it.
      It makes me jumpy.

  23. rhywun

    VR is the AI of game development. I.e. developers like to have new toys to play with.

    • UnCivilServant

      No! Bad! Fix the bugs in the old toys before you start writing new bugs.

    • Nephilium

      The thing that gets me is it’s the same problems as when they last were pushing VR.. 25-30 years ago.

      Shit. I just realized the devs don’t remember that era, and probably don’t know about the Virtual Boy.

    • rhywun

      I dunno but I am f’n sick of hearing about that person.

      The left suddenly discovering “rule of law” and “due process” is precious AF, though.

    • R.J.

      I know. He was not in any way mistakenly deported.

  24. Gustave Lytton

    Because the commies always want fucking projects. Just like ratfuckers at CommieTowns claim to be for deregulation when all they really want is to destroy SFH neighborhoods.

  25. Mojeaux

    Re debt.

    We are coming up on a crossroads with our cars. We have no car payment. However, they are coming up on 200k and I’m not sure we can afford to keep them forever, which I would love, because I love my little Zippicar Hyundai Sonata.

    We also can’t afford to buy a car, used or new.

    HOWEVER. Even if we COULD afford to buy a new one, I wouldn’t buy one. Too many regulations, too many bells and whistles I don’t want but that will break and will cost me money to fix because I won’t be able to drive it without it. Too much digital, not enough analog, too much Big Brother.

    Some YouTube car dude says the problems he sees in newer cars isn’t incompetence by the designers or builders. It’s all the regulations they have to follow. TPTB are determined to drive us into feudal soil-scrabbling.

    XY bought what has been determined to be a decent car (I don’t remember what it is, but he’s paying through the nose for it AND his monthly insurance is over $600/month (male, 19). He’s making bank, but it’s all going to his car.

    The money is now in skilled labor, which is often physically difficult. I could do neither of my children’s jobs.

    • Tres Cool

      Tres Ver 2.0 is going to school this fall to be a welder.
      I couldn’t be happier.

    • ron73440

      I had been saving enough to buy a car in anticipation of my Saab dying, but I was not prepared to get my wife’s Corolla totaled by a left turn idiot and have the insurance only give us $3500.

      Had to get a loan for her Camry but was able to buy my car for cash.

      I hate car loans!

  26. Fourscore

    Locally, the gossip is that Climate Change is killing the mosquitos. I’ve seen a couple ,like 2-3, all spring. Those few people I talk to are all worried too, that the folk that moved to TX or FL or somewhere else may start returning.

    The wood tick population remains strong however. I’ve picked off a few, only had 2 stuck though.

    I’m going outside, see if there is another mosquito.

  27. Tonio

    Come Glibster, come Hipster,
    Come lurker, come fed.
    To the Glibs Friday Zoom,
    If you’re off your head.

  28. Evan from Evansville

    The first two Thief games are fantastic, a welcome and different approach to first-person ‘shooting’ games. Around that same time, bro and I were playing Soldier of Fortune, an FPS that took the blood to a much higher level, IIRC. Fun times, had by all.