Reading

Created
Sat, 11/04/2026 - 03:00

How do I find my local H&R Block?
Enter your zip code on our website to find an H&R Block near you. Alternatively, just drive by any property that used to contain a Spirit Halloween.

Can I file my taxes online?
You can, but it hurts our feelings when you use our services without coming in to talk to us.

Fine. I’ll come in person. But what happens after my taxes are filed?
You will possibly receive a refund via direct deposit once your tax dollars are deposited into the steaming gullet of the Great War Pig.

I’m sorry, what?
The Great War Pig.

Is that his name or his job?
His name is unspeakable, though you know it in the rotten depths of your heart.

Created
Fri, 10/04/2026 - 23:01

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Fishing apparel mentioned:

  • A tarpon-wear shirt
  • Old bib-front overalls
  • Bow ties and club blazers
  • Jean shorts
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It will come as no surprise to longtime readers of Thomas McGuane’s work that while I was speaking with him, I was moved by his kindness, his incisive insight, and, above all, his mischievous sense of fun. The craic was exceptional. We are both writers, anglers, and equestrians, and we’d both recently fished for Atlantic salmon in arctic Norway. We laughed a lot during our conversation: in helplessness, in disbelief, in despair, and at the inherent comedy of life.

Created
Fri, 10/04/2026 - 22:00

“The Birth Rate Is Falling, and It Has Nothing to Do with the Cost of Housing, Health Care, or Childcare. It’s Women”

“The Falling Birth Rate: A Crisis with Many Complex Causes, All of Them Female”

“Women Cite ‘Financial Instability’ for Not Having Children. What Aren’t They Telling Us?”

“Did Feminism Ruin the Birth Rate?”

“Who Is to Blame for the Falling Birth Rate? College-Educated Women”

“Who Is to Blame for the Falling Birth Rate? Non-College-Educated Women”

“Who Is to Blame for the Falling Birth Rate? Women Whose Educational Status We Were Unable to Confirm”

“Experts Agree: The Birth Rate Crisis Is Multifaceted, Structural, and Female”

“Did IUDs Ruin the Birth Rate?”

“We Spent Six Months Investigating the Birth Rate Crisis and Found Women at Every Turn”

“Birth Rates Are Down Across the Western World. One Variable Has Remained Constant: Women”

“Experts Warn the Falling Birth Rate Could Have Serious Consequences for Men”

Created
Fri, 10/04/2026 - 03:00

Dear Hiring Manager,

I am setting aside my aspirations and sense of self-worth to apply for the Global Account Project Management Executive position at Capital Ventures. Despite my disdain for and ethical opposition to generative AI, I’ve asked ChatGPT to write this cover letter to fulfill the requirement outlined in your posting. Unfortunately, it spat out nonsense slop, which I have had to edit heavily. I understand this will be “read” by other AI and not evaluated by a human; accordingly, I am including as many buzzwords as possible so that this letter aligns with the company’s mission to expand global accounts, innovate, and drive stakeholder value.

In my previous roles, I have practiced advanced synergetic evaluations of international high-stakes markets and engaged in vague problem-solving. As a nameless cog in a corporate machine, I have worked hours far in excess of those outlined in my hiring contract without overtime pay because I needed health insurance and was afraid of getting fired. I will bring the same fear-based performance to this position.

Created
Thu, 09/04/2026 - 22:00

My Dear Third Grader,

I am terribly sorry you got sick at school this morning. I should have believed you when you said you were not feeling well, even if this was your tenth time saying that this month alone. I should have sensed that today would be the day when you would arrive at your classroom, take three steps in, and promptly throw up the entire contents of your stomach. This one is on me.

Yes, I understand it took me thirty minutes to get to your school. I apologize. I had to wrap up a few things so I could continue to work from home. Yes, it is still a workday for me. I’m very sorry. But once we get home, we can get you comfortable so you can relax and take a nap. Don’t tell your brothers, but you can have as much screentime as you would like. No, I don’t want to hear about the contents of your vomit, but thank you. If you want to use your Switch today, that’s fine. We can get you a nice set-up so you can drink some Pedialyte and play Minecraft—wow, an entire carrot? Did you not chew your dinner at all last night?—Sorry. Yes, you can hang out in the basement with me. We’ll dim the lights so you can rest some too.

Created
Thu, 09/04/2026 - 03:01

Look, we all know it’s been a rough couple of weeks. We’re a month into a war that even the most die-hard MAGA loyalists didn’t want, and things have gotten so bad that it finally broke Tucker Carlson. He’s beginning to say things that almost sound sensible.

But just because we’re all a little scared and frustrated doesn’t mean it’s time to take drastic action. As members of Trump’s cabinet, we’re not about to invoke the Twenty-Fifth Amendment just because the president has repeatedly threatened to murder millions of people.

Created
Wed, 08/04/2026 - 23:00

As a longtime gym-goer, I am the target audience for all manner of protein-packed bullshit. Protein coffee? Can’t start the day without it. Protein salsa? Pass the chips. At the height of my weightlifting fixation, there were years when the friendly snake-oil salesmen at GNC got about half of my disposable income, which I happily traded for products with names like “Dr. Humongo’s Bicep Elixir.”

I am a world-class mark for the magic-bean vendors of the supplement industry. Ninety-nine out of one hundred people, when presented with a bottle of mysterious powder called “Gorilla Boost MAX” that claims to “supercharge your T levels,” will simply roll their eyes and walk away. I am the hundredth person. I will buy a year’s supply. And if you can pack ten grams of extra protein into a pretzel, a vinaigrette, or a glass of orange juice? Buddy, I’m reaching for my wallet.

Created
Wed, 08/04/2026 - 22:05

“In a series of Situation Room meetings, President Trump weighed his instincts [about going to war with Iran] against the deep concerns of his vice president and a pessimistic intelligence assessment. Here’s the inside story of how he made the fateful decision.”
An excerpt from
New York Times White House reporters Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman’s forthcoming book, Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump.

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In recent hours, several unserious actors across the political and media spectrum have raised what they believe to be a profound question—namely, whether it is appropriate for a journalist to possess explosive information concerning presidential decision-making, the possible manufacture of consent for war in Iran, and internal assessments from the national security apparatus reportedly describing regime-change scenarios as “farcical,” and then allow that information to emerge in close temporal proximity to a preorder campaign.

Created
Wed, 08/04/2026 - 21:16

For fifteen years or so, I’d been kicking around the idea of resurrecting the artist-apprentice model that reigned in the art world for hundreds of years.

Again and again, I’d heard from young people who lamented the astronomical and ever-rising cost of art school. For many college-level art programs, the total cost to undergraduates is now over $100,000 a year. I hope we can all agree that charging students $400,000 for a four-year degree in visual art is objectively absurd. And this prohibitive cost has priced tens of thousands of potential students out of even considering undertaking such an education.

For years, I mentioned this issue to friends in and out of the art world, and everyone, without exception, agreed that the system was broken. Even friends I know who teach at art schools agreed that the cost was out of control, and these spiraling costs were contributing to the implosion of many undergraduate and postgraduate art programs.

Created
Wed, 08/04/2026 - 18:06
No Body’s Perfect his tennis elbowwas his Achilles heel and his Achilles heelwas on his athlete’s foot and his athlete’s footmade him down in the mouth and though the down in his mouthhe took on the chin, it became less a shot in the armthan a chip on his shoulder – so that when the…
Created
Wed, 08/04/2026 - 04:00

Calm down. I don’t necessarily see what all the fuss is about. In all honesty, I also read the Dread Lord Nyarlathotep’s post this morning and was surprised by it, same as you. We all know he’s the Crawling Chaos, and that title implies a certain degree of unpredictability. But even for him, his vow to “gorge on the carcass of humanity itself” unless his latest (albeit nebulous) demands are met is pretty intense. I can’t remember the last time that an elected US official said something so unconscionable and nightmarish.

Didn’t Nixon say something similar? No? Hmm.

Anyway. I’m not endorsing what the Dread Lord uttered in a series of cacophonous, guttural snarls and clicking noises at the press pool yesterday. I don’t think “wholesale existential negation” is a particularly effective geopolitical strategy under even the most normal circumstances.

Created
Wed, 08/04/2026 - 01:55
The totally ace online booksellers BookKind have chosen ‘How to Lay an Egg with a Horse Inside’ as their Non-Fiction Book of the Month for April. This is doubly good news because every copy sold via BookKind raises money for charity – just select from a range of charitable organisations when you order: https://bookkind.co.uk/book-of-the-month-home/ In…
Created
Tue, 07/04/2026 - 23:00

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McSweeney’s contributor Johanna Gohmann channels the chaos and charm of life with a toddler into All Toddlers Are Scorpios a hilarious astrology guide illustrated by cartoonist (and McSweeney’s contributor) Emily Flake.

We’re thrilled to share an excerpt today from the book’s opening chapter. All Toddlers Are Scorpios is out now and available at your nearest bookseller.