First Friday of June Afternoon Links

by | Jun 5, 2026 | Cocktails, Daily Links, I Am Lame | 78 comments

Yep, still me. Sorry guys, you’re stuck with my lackluster links yet again.

For my fellow Ohioans, there’s a new trail to hit up.

Sometimes a single vote does matter.

I would say that Paradox’s entire line would count. I have enjoyed the resurgence of turn based RPGs though.

I support this, I hate real time with pause combat.

This is of interest to me. I wish them luck, but I think they’re reaching too far.

Microsoft is being accused of collaborating… with Valve. I expect this to be ended pretty quickly.

Some sad news for 40K fans.

Fuck off nannies. Yeah, they have more ABV than a light lager, but less than quite a few beers that I’ve enjoyed. (archive link)

Stay classy New York.

Organic. Grassroots. Protestors.

Canada is a failed state.

Because fuck that tree, that’s why.

I know which answer I would give.

This needs to be enforced at the telco level, not the end point level.

If you want to know more about Jill Biden’s memoir

There are few perfect movies in the world. It would be a shame to destroy this one.

Assuming all of you have rushed out and bought a bottle of creme de violette, let’s help you get some other drinks that call for it:

Lady in Blue

  • 6 parts (1.5 oz) gin
  • 1 part (0.25 oz) creme de violette
  • 3 part (0.75 oz) lemon juice
  • 2 part (0.5 oz) simple syrup
  • 3 drops orange flower water
  • Blue curaco (optional)

To make this drink, add all the ingredients but the curaco into a shaker with ice. Shake until chilled and combined, and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. After that, carefully pour a small amount of curacao down the side of the glass so it sinks to the bottom. The garnish is edible flower pedals, if you have them. This is not to be confused with a similarly named drink:

Blue Lady

  • 6 parts (1.5 oz) blue curacao
  • 4 parts (1 oz) gin
  • 3 parts (0.75 oz) lemon juice
  • 1 egg white

To make this, add the ingredients into a cocktail shaker (sans ice) and dry shake for 15-20 seconds (hold tight, it’ll want to pop). Add ice, and shake until chilled. Then double strain (hawthorne and fine mesh) into a cocktail glass. Garnish with an orange twist. I hope I don’t have to tell you that you can easily swap out the foul blue curacao for any other orange liquor, even orange curacao.

With that, I hope you enjoy your weekend, and get what you need.

About The Author

Nephilium

Nephilium

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

78 Comments

  1. The Other Kevin

    If you want to know more about Jill Biden’s memoir…
    Someone actually read the whole thing? May the Lord bless and keep them.

    There are few perfect movies in the world. It would be a shame to destroy this one.
    If it were about people escaping to Florida, I’d watch it.

    • Nephilium

      The author of that piece has a running series where she rips apart political memoirs/books, and puts them behind a paywall until a number of new paid subscribers sign up, at which point she opens them up. She also did Jill’s dissertation.

      • Aloysious

        And a good read it was.

  2. The Late P Brooks

    they seemed like the perfect drink for an American populace that was facing down the reality that drinking is not good for your health.

    Whatever.

    • R C Dean

      If you avoid everything that is not good for your health, you will live forever and ever. That’s just science.

    • EvilSheldon

      Your concern for my health is unwanted and unappreciated. Go do something useful like putting fat people in zoos.

      • kinnath

        Hey now. No need to get personal.

      • rhywun

        inorite 😕

        lol

  3. Gustave Lytton

    SAP was designed by German retards for retards. Fuck this shit. Just when I get it figured out, another “upgrade”.

    Should have dropped the bomb on Adolf first. It’s still not too late.

  4. Tonio

    “There are few perfect movies in the world. It would be a shame to destroy this one.”

    Interesting. I have been kicking around a parody treatment of EFNY where NY is a dystopian communist hellhole.

    As much as I’m generally suspicious about remakes, particularly at the hands of woke Hollywood (I have no idea how woke Snyder or the production company are), here’s my hot take: Remakes are inevitable. Rarely, the remake is better than the original (Carpenter’s “The Thing” as a notable example). Remakes also drive sales and rentals of the original. Nobody, and I mean nobody, can replace the bad-boy (I can fix him!) hotness of eighties Kurt Russell.

    • Nephilium

      Snyder thought Batman should use guns and Superman should kill. I do not have a large amount of faith in him.

      • EvilSheldon

        Batman used guns in the original DC Comics run. It’s not completely absurd.

      • Nephilium

        ES:

        I’m aware, but he wasn’t using automatic weapons and branding thieves. That was also at the very beginning of the run, and the past 40+ years have been pretty firm on the Batman doesn’t use guns.

    • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

      Remakes may be inevitable, but that doesn’t mean we have to partake. Blade Runner is perfect movie, so I have zero desire to watch a sequel, just as I didn’t bother to watch a new version of The Thing – you will not make a better product from the original, so don’t try.

      • Nephilium

        So the 1951 Thing is the only good one?

        I’ll also add the Fly to list of good remakes.

      • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

        Ha! No, as I was hitting submit I though “maybe I should put 1982 in parenthesis…”

        I was mostly thinking about the 2011 prequel, or whatever it was.

      • Nephilium

        ZWAK:

        I was buttressing Tonio’s point that there have been good remakes. The issue (for me at least) is that Hollywood has destroyed any faith I have in them doing something good. When a movie/show isn’t a shit show, I’m surprised now.

      • rhywun

        Ha I was just about to state that the problem with the original Thing is that it wasn’t very good.

      • R.J.

        Remakes are great because it gives me a chance to post the original on Glib Flicks.

      • EvilSheldon

        The remake of The Thomas Crown Affair was much better than the original.

    • Evan from Evansville

      “Nobody, and I mean nobody, can replace the bad-boy (I can fix him!) hotness of eighties Kurt Russell.”

      *scribbles down*

      • rhywun

        He’s right.

    • juris imprudent

      Carpenter’s “The Thing” as a notable example

      Man on Fire with Denzel Washington was in all ways superior to the original.

      • EvilSheldon

        Also yes.

  5. Sensei

    I know which answer I would give.

    It’s not as cut and dried as you’d expect. This is a far more intelligent version of the “Learing Center”. Props for that at least.

    https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-new-jersey-orthodox-20170923-story.html

    And since your children all go to private school what you do is destroy and defund the public schools so that people who would normally send students to those schools move out. It also makes housing more attractive to people of similar interest who will send their children to the same private schools.

    https://www.nj.com/news/2026/01/in-historic-move-nj-petitions-to-take-over-troubled-suburban-school-district.html

    • Tonio

      “And since your children all go to private school what you do is destroy and defund the public schools…”

      Except those parents of private school students still pay school taxes (general taxes, some portion of which are allocated to government schools), and do not get to write private school tuitions off on their taxes, so at least partially bullshit. Yes, lower enrollment in government schools means lower funding, as well it should. That’s the slippery part of the argument; ultimately the unionized government teachers would be happy if all kids went to private schools, but they were still paid to keep the government schools open.

      Backpack funding now! I know this is not a pure libertarian position.

      • Sensei

        They do.

        But since you control the school board even though you don’t send children there you do the bare minimums. This keeps the taxes for services you don’t use as low as possible while also discouraging people people who would use the school system from moving there. It also gets you as much state aid as possible since not insignificant portion of the town is on public assistance.

        Here they used the schools as slush fund to pay the connected as an added bonus.

      • Evan from Evansville

        “Except those parents of private school students still pay school taxes…”

        Yuh huh. Not just *parents.* I love paying for schools to graduate illiterates. Slight happy note(!), seeing articles published in mainstream stuff about universities demanding ACT/SAT scores, etc, cuz professors have to teach kids middle school math. Eternally optimistic (forever disappointed), and having not seen too much within-system complaints about US edu, I’m glad at least some folk are starting to pay attention.

        I know they’ll all say the schools NEED more funding! But. Yuck. Dad talked to a kid walking passed from Carmel High School. They have FOUR vice presidents in the school of ~5,500. Fucking insane. (It’s also full of wealthy kids and incredible sports (esp swimming) programs. The fucking Colts sometimes (not as a whole team, I don’t think) do workouts there, as many live nearby.

        Shit won’t change til it explodes.

      • Threedoor

        It’s a start Toino.

  6. rhywun

    I would say that Paradox’s entire line would count

    There are lots of games like those and others that gamers of any age can enjoy.

    What’s missing is accommodation or accessibility for the many more games that target only the young. For example, I want to enjoy Hollow Knight or Ori – to name just a couple that I have rage quit a few times. They are fantastic games. But I am old, I have less time and less ability to git gud.

    I am seeing a trend of newer games addressing this. Tunic, for example. The boss fights are ridiculously punishing and not fun – but you can effectively turn them off and enjoy the rest of the game which is great.

    • Gustave Lytton

      Did the ballot box see its shadow?

      I find it laughable that a Brit would call California “our”.

    • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

      The DOJ should step in, make sure no ones civil rights are being violated, a la Jim Crow laws.

      • juris imprudent

        Just like with Jim Crow, this is all about making sure the right Democrats get elected.

  7. The Late P Brooks

    To be fair, the amount of liquor in these drinks is not a secret.

    How magnanimous of you.

  8. ron73440

    Assuming all of you have rushed out and bought a bottle of creme de violette, let’s help you get some other drinks that call for it:

    I ordered a bottle, but they didn’t have the one you used, it was Griffard.

    These ones also look like things my wife would like.

  9. rhywun

    I hate real time with pause combat.

    No idea what that is but I played BG3 and hated it. Not because I don’t like turn-based combat – but because I don’t like controlling four different characters. It was hard enough to get a grip on my own abilities but then multiple other sets of abilities too?? Hard pass.

    • Nephilium

      In real time with pause, you’re essentially managing 4-6 Warcraft 3 heroes in real time. You can pause and select new commands, and set AI tactics for most of the characters, but I’ve always run into issue where the combat is either trivial or impossible.

  10. Shpip

    A massive coastal development project linked to Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of U.S. President Donald Trump, is facing growing resistance from protesters in Albania.

    Oh, no! Rich people coming by to look at stuff, spend money, and go home!

    • juris imprudent

      You know that was how Oregon viewed Californians for a long time. Look how that turned out.

      • Gustave Lytton

        It’s not too late to deport them!

      • Threedoor

        The Californians didn’t leave when they visited Oregon.

  11. rhywun

    collaborating… with Valve

    I dunno about this beef but I do feel that the 30% cut is kind of outrageous. I don’t complain too much about prices because I think a good game provides a lot of bang for the buck – more than a movie for sure. But holy crap that is a license for Steam, Apple, and the rest to print money.

    • Nephilium

      The thing is, Steam is optional, Apple/Alphabet taking the cut on the phone stores there isn’t any other option. Every publisher tried to do a digital storefront to beat Valve, and they all came crawling back (with the exception of Epic, but they’re burning money giving away games). Steam didn’t make games require launch day patches that require you to download the game you just installed off a disc, that was the publishers.

      In case you were unaware, the US gamers also subsidize video game prices on Steam. Prices are generally higher here than elsewhere.

      • rhywun

        Prices are generally higher here than elsewhere.

        So, like any other product. 🙄

      • rhywun

        Hm. I just took a sample game and priced it on all the available platforms – digital platforms were all the same price (except for Switch where it is on sale), and substantially less expensive than physical media.

        Not sure what to make of all that.

  12. The Late P Brooks

    Not exactly Mister Fusion

    The microreactor being developed by Antares Nuclear Inc. at the Idaho National Lab reached “criticality” on Thursday, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said. The milestone occurs when a nuclear reactor achieves a self-sustaining chain reaction capable of producing a steady release of energy.

    Antares is the first private company to bring an advanced reactor to criticality under a pilot program begun last year by the Trump administration meant to supercharge nuclear energy production in the U.S. The demonstration was conducted in partnership with the Energy Department and other contractors with support from the U.S. Army.

    Cue the protestors.

  13. The Late P Brooks

    The achievement shows that the Trump administration’s push to remove regulatory barriers is helping to advance new nuclear technologies, Wright said.

    President Donald Trump signed executive orders in May 2025 intended to speed up the development of nuclear power, including steps that grant Wright authority to approve some advanced reactor designs and projects. Trump’s orders limit some authority of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the independent safety agency that has regulated the U.S. nuclear industry for five decades.

    Skeptics warn that nuclear energy poses risks and say microreactors may not be safe or feasible and have not proved they can meet demand for a reasonable price.

    Trump is killing science.

  14. Shpip

    While throwing, the chimpanzees pant hoot — a loud, long-distance communicative signal — and sometimes repeatedly hit their hands and feet on the tree in a behaviour called buttress drumming.

    Sounds like some Philadelphia Eagles fans that I know.

  15. The Late P Brooks

    Ian McKellen Richard III is better than Laurence Olivier Richard III.

  16. rhywun

    What to know about the growing opposition to Trump family-linked resort in Albania

    It involves Trump so it is automatically retarded.

    What do I win?

  17. PutridMeat

    There are few perfect movies in the world. It would be a shame to destroy this one.

    With that tag line I was worried that they were going to ruin what truly is the perfect movie. Standing down now, putting the weapons away, Hollywood can survive another day.

  18. Evan from Evansville

    I imagine I’d be a great ghostwriter. I don’t give a fuck, in the ‘judgement’ sense, and I do care about creating a compelling narrative, if that’s what a politico /etc would be paying for.

    None of us believe Jill wrote that, yeah? I’m sure she had the final say on what went out on her name, and I’m quite sure she gives a damn how folk look at her. (People pass shit to others all the time, but I still like to think Legacy Figures like the Bidens would really, really care what the history books say.) So! No editor+ saw something amiss with her incredibly odd bullshit?

    “by her own account, watched the June debate, wondered in real time whether her husband was having a stroke, compared him to a glitching hologram — and then took him for waffles, flew to a rally, and praised him like a kindergartner who’d sat still through circle time.”

    This is the best they could come up with? I find that hard to believe. So maybe she *did* write it, and this is the best the Doktor could come up with. That’s the simplest explanation, cuz I find it hard they couldn’t fund something better. (They didn’t expect people to really read it, en masse, but ya gotta leave some easy, explanatory hooks to snag the TikTokkers running your PR?)

    These people are really stupid. (I know it’ll likely work. Fools and money. But. Hrm.)

    • Gustave Lytton

      My wife quickly said the Hunter Biden Twitter account is ghost written. Judging by the volume and turnaround, I’d agree. Still funny.

      • Evan from Evansville

        It’s far too funny and ‘honest’ to be him.

        I approve of whomever’s writing it. A few legit chuckles.

  19. The Late P Brooks

    Doktor Jill was too busy imagining herself as the dramatic grieving widow at the center of a fabulous state funeral extravaganza to actually go to Joe’s assistance.

  20. Gustave Lytton

    Fucking commie scum and their RINO fuck toys. Still trying to rename installations. Helicopter rides for all of them. Revise that, assholes.

    • R.J.

      Holy cow. People still believe that crap?

    • rhywun

      I dunno. Another letter signed by 51 incompetent political hacks and stooges helped lead to the 2020 coup. Who knows what this one could achieve!

  21. The Late P Brooks

    What the…

    Miami-Dade is forcing a developer to sell property to make sure PortMiami continues to operate smoothly, the county’s mayor said Friday.

    Mayor Daniela Levine Cava announced the county is proceeding with an eminent domain action to acquire the fuel facility on Fisher Island, after negotiations with the property’s owner “concluded without an acceptable agreement.”

    Eminent domain is used when private property is needed for public use, forcing a sale at a fair market price.

    ——-

    In recent years, the county missed opportunities to buy the land, even after holding a special meeting last September to discuss the purchase.

    Chicago-based developer HRP bought the bunker for $180 million, with a promise to replace tanks with high rise condos, but that never happened.

    HRP is now offering the property to Miami-Dade for $400 million.

    In a statement, HRP said the ordeal “is a direct result of the county’s incompetence after years and frankly decades of failure to plan for PortMiami infrastructure. Seizing private property is not the solution for public failure.”

    I don’t get it. The city wants to get rid of the fuel depot? The city wants to own and operate the fuel depot?

    I can’t even decide which is dumber.

  22. EvilSheldon

    Would a Lady in Orange be an acceptable sub? I don’t have any blue curaco, but I have orange…

    • EvilSheldon

      Never mind, I shoulda read past the ingredient list…

      • Nephilium

        And here I was going to post that quote. 🙂

      • EvilSheldon

        We’ll see if I have any capacity left after I finish this mini-split of champagne (in French 75 form…)

      • Nephilium

        ES:

        We broke 80 here for the first time, so I’ve been making Jungle Birds.

      • R.J.

        I am in Tennessee and it has been a lovely 75 all day.

      • EvilSheldon

        A Jungle Bird sounds wonderful, but I don’t have any pineapple or pineapple juice (and I really shouldn’t be driving to the grocery right now…)

        I do have a bottle of Plantation O.F.T.D. that would be *perfect* for it…

    • Nephilium

      Filthy assistants! To me! Let’s go monstering.

      –Spider Jerusalem.

  23. The Late P Brooks

    Hanky panky? In Congress?

    In a social media post made on X the day after The New York Times story published, Fifield said Washington’s culture towards victims of abuse hasn’t changed and that she came forward because she wants to set an example for her daughters.

    “I’m so done. This just cannot keep happening. I will not one day send my daughters to go work in a congressional office if this culture is not radically transformed,” she wrote. “People need to know they can and should speak up when they’re abused or when they see abuse—and know there will be no point scoring about what party affiliation they have.”

    Listen, lady, if you aspire to one day whore your children out to politicians, that’s your business, but you don’t need to brag about it.

  24. Grummun

    For my fellow Ohioans, there’s a new trail to hit up.

    Curious, Seek-No-Further Cidery in Granville isn’t on the trail.

    • Nephilium

      Yeah, I noticed that there were quite a few around here that aren’t participating.

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