Lili Saintcrow

I write books.

[copperbadge]

I make mistakes so you don't have to.

For a start, you can only buy these as a three-flavor set on the Bush's Baked Beans website, but to be fair to them it was pretty reasonably priced even for three normal-sized baked bean cans, which is what I thought I was getting. Then they showed up in like, a goddamn GIFT BOX and they're MASSIVE.

They also come with a baked bean can koozie (pictured left) and a branded can opener (pictured right).

So far I've only sampled the Apple Pie flavor.

I had thought -- well, hoped -- that it would be primarily cinnamon flavor, which doesn't actually go badly with the tomato-molasses sauce that canned baked beans normally have. This hope was a mistake.

Eating these beans is like mainlining some kind of legume-based distilled concept of Christmas. My face filled with a powerful dose of cinnamon, as though my sinuses were suddenly potpourri bowls. For a few minutes, as I chewed and swallowed, I lived in a world suffused by pure artificial cinnamon.

Normally when I make baked beans from a can (which is not often anymore, since I have a pressure cooker and like five pounds of dry pinto beans) I drain off some of the sauce and add mustard and barbecue sauce to remix it a little.

After sampling some of the Pure Christmas Bean (tm) I took the second half of the tin I'd reserved, drained it, and added plain yellow mustard; that did actually take the edge off and make them slightly more edible. And it's not that they even tasted bad -- they just tasted overwhelming.

Stay tuned for Dill Pickle. I'm saving Rocket Pop for last.

[lilithsaintcrow]

"The findings are blunt: "US higher education has, in effect, become a target of a massive extortion racket.""

New Report on Extorted Compliance Charges “Massive Extortion Racket” Against Higher Ed

A new AAUP report, "Extorted Compliance: A Threat to Institutional Autonomy, Academic Freedom, and Shared Governance," exposes how the Trump

[vichugos]

Epic of gilgamesh fanart in big 2026?!

[bells-lettres]

local matchmaker losing it over yet another unrealistic demand from the clientele 🤣🤣

Translation by me. :))

[elodieunderglass]

“Even a slightly increased possibility of summoning rain is still an ability to summon rain” is such a good point

[aromanticduck]

Free service with ads: Well, if I'm not paying for it they have to foot the bill somehow.

Paid service with no ads: Well, if they're not funding it with ad revenue, they need to charge us something.

Paid service with ads: Well that's bullshit.

"We used to be a paid service without ads, but now we're putting ads in it! If you want the ad-free version you have to pay more for preeeeemium": Fuck you fuck you fuck you

[juststarsandthemoon]

Free service with no ads: Okay so these guys are stealing my data

[lilithsaintcrow]

Most Thundersome Summer | Lili Saintcrow

Two days of what is, for this part of the country, a gasping and terrible scorch finally broke yesterday eve with thunderstorms. The rumbles

In which the heavens rumble, Boxnoggin becomes a pillow, and summer has become endurance.

[romanceyourdemons]

whenever i look into a historical monarch who doesn’t get talked about much and is just kind of a blank spot in my understanding of the historical narrative, 95% of the time what i find is pure white hot blistering capability. a pencil pusher for the ages. a 39 year reign with no more than three hours of sleep a night. there aren’t any good stories from his reign because he systematically caught and stopped all catastrophic good stories before they could start. you shrimply must respect it

[lilithsaintcrow]

"The lock screen is supposed to protect you against the specific threat model of someone taking your phone. The blame for both these holes is on Google giving Gemini access to everything in the hope you’ll use it. At all."

Use Gemini AI to send messages from someone else’s locked phone

There’s a new Android phone hack that lets anyone with your phone send messages as you from the lock screen — without tapping in your PIN nu

[lilithsaintcrow]

"About all we know for sure about Nicholas Wood of Harrietsham, Kent, England, is that he would have been a devil at today’s “all you can eat” buffets."

The Great Eater of Kent

Some people make it into the history books by becoming world leaders.  Some do so through acts of daring or heroism.  Some do so by creating

[lilithsaintcrow]

"Say what you want about Nolan and his many issues, but wow, when he’s on top, it’s dazzling. And he had one hell of a cast to help him achieve his vision."

Let’s Talk About My Two Favourite Performances in The Odyssey

Who's your favourite performer in The Odyssey? I have two choices.

[lilithsaintcrow]

Well. One (infinitesimal) step closer to an exceedingly mild consequence for "AI" companies' mass theft of creative labour.

Anthropic’s $1.5B copyright settlement approved; only 350 authors opted out

Anthropic blocks authors from opting out of $1.5B settlement at last minute.

I do take issue with the judge asserting those who filed claims "agreed" the award amount was "fair". More like, we realised this might be the only pittance we ever see for mass theft of our work, and chose to take it. It could be fifty times the amount and still not enough, or close to "fair".

And Anthropic fighting to block the opt-outs shows that they know as much. Every decision-maker and lawyer for that company knows this is a drop in the bucket and the theft deserves far more punishment. Anyway, I still think the "AI" bubble will burst and bankrupt before authors see a penny.

[peachpulpeuse]

IF YOU SEE ANY PAINTING BY "EMILE CORSI" ON HERE, DO NOT REBLOG IT THINKING IT'S REAL AND FROM THE 1800s. IT IS AI-GENERATED AND EMILE CORSI IS NOT A HISTORICAL FIGURE

examples:

[tattedpetticoats]

And if you love the vibes and wish you could find something similar painted by a real person, let me introduce you to John William Waterhouse, on whose work the AI was definitely trained:

[laziestgirlintown]

Corsi is not real

John William Waterhouse official site

John William Waterhouse wikipedia

[lilithsaintcrow]

"The geometric center of a rainbow arc lies at the antisolar point."

A different astronomy and space science related image is featured each day, along with a brief explanation.

[lilithsaintcrow]

"I suspect that Gloo’s actual business model sees those people and those churches not as consumers to be served, but as a resource to be mined and packaged and resold to whoever’s in the market for all of the data they’re offering to collect and “analyze.”"

Glippity Gloppity Gloo

What does this "faith-tech company chasing a one-stop IT/AI solution for churches" actually DO?

[lilithsaintcrow]

"The part played by this prosecutorial filter in the emergence of jury ideology appears more clearly when viewed in conjunction with the notorious early modern Court of Star Chamber, both in its life and in its afterlife."

Grand Juries and Star Chamber’s Haunting Spectre

With curbs on trial juries now proposed in the UK, this post looks back to the part played by their now defunct counterpart, the grand jury.

[lilithsaintcrow]

Reversal, Internal Equilibrium | Lili Saintcrow

A bit late off the mark this morning, and not really looking forward to the next few heat-advisory days. Even before dawn it smells too warm

In which the mercury mounts, the mercy's duration is questioned, and I tend to write in reverse seasons.

[going2hell4everythingbutbeingbi]

getting lost in boston is fun because I turned around on a street corner three times and some guy yelled "hey stupid! the bus is that way!" very helpful interaction and accurate insult, 10/10 no notes

[going2hell4everythingbutbeingbi]

one time I walked around a building a couple times looking for a bathroom and this guy went "this bitch thinks she's on a merrygoround, where the fuck are you tryna go? bathroom? one floor down to the right behind the door that says bathroom."

[mentohol-blog]

My very first time in Boston. I was absolutely miserable, trying to drag my giant suitcase up a lengthy set of stairs in the pouring rain. This guy who had already reached the top looked back at me with the most pure expression of disgust I’ve ever seen in anyone’s eyes, marched back down the stairs, grabbed my suitcase, carried it to the top, left it there for me, and walked away without ever saying a word. I think about him often.

[just7frogsinapeoplesuit]

For the people in the notes going "why is Boston like this": a) the insults are a way to show you have no ulterior motives when helping someone (and don't need to be thanked or repaid), and b) Boston was settled by the Irish

[direhydroid]

also the Italians. mixing Irish and Italian sociocultural attitudes had the effect of multiplying the Sass Levels by the power of infinity, in the sense that you get all of the clever dry wit of the Irish and all of the bitchy gossipy condensation of the Italians rolled into one very stereotypically overly-friendly American package.

also worth noting that who you are to them doesn’t matter. they’ll talk to strangers like that and will also talk to their best friends like that. they’re just Like That.

[just7frogsinapeoplesuit]

More from the notes: