V_Thomas

A student of modern Law and History, with old-fashioned sensibilities.
"Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."

[V_Thomas @NFranti]

2025 Year in Review (a thread):

1. The Good: We're all still here (well, most of us are), the economy didn't implode from tariffs, inflation was fair-to-middlin', and the stock market is up for the year. So, we should all be thankful and take the W.

[V_Thomas @NFranti]

Getting back to the old ways.

[V_Thomas @NFranti]

My hot take ranking of 90s grunge bands (best to worst):

1. Stone Temple Pilots
2. Soundgarden
3. Nirvana
4. Alice in Chains
5. Pearl Jam

I still have a soft spot for Pearl Jam, but only their first album is really "grunge," and like much of their catalog, it's overrated.

[V_Thomas @NFranti]

@Jaasenjones It's not just the rose-tinted glasses of nostalgia: the act of putting on a CD or a vinyl record, starting from the beginning, and listening until the end of the album is different on-demand streaming, which shortens your attention span, and therefore limits enjoyment.

[V_Thomas @NFranti]

I just had to ship a fairly large package via UPS and shipping costs seem to have just about doubled in the last couple of years. Is this related to fuel prices or is everything just generally more expensive these days??

[V_Thomas @NFranti]

@JoshuaBarzon There's also an Embarrass, Minnesota. How embarrassing!

[V_Thomas @NFranti]

Creating art for a living seems like an easier life. It seems ideal not having to be part of the "daily grind" and having weeks, months, or years to work at your own pace to bring complex works of art to completion. But the trope of the "starving artist" exists for a reason.

[V_Thomas @NFranti]

@TheScribblerCMB War and Pace

[V_Thomas @NFranti]

@slayabouts Look no further than the Grateful Dead

[V_Thomas @NFranti]

@DavidRoomeAuth @jollier_raptor Ah yes, a direct line to the world-famous fishing waters of the Brule so that the citizens of the world can stop and marvel, mouths agape, at the excellent spring steelhead run each year.

[V_Thomas @NFranti]

@Bogey_research I get that, but I wonder why some films are made when it seems like they would be proven losers based on changing audience preferences.

[V_Thomas @NFranti]

Things I think about sometimes:

1. The hundreds of millions of dollars that are spent on movies that bomb at the box office while the average salary can't keep up with inflation.

2. The fact that these unprofitable movies somehow keep getting made.

[V_Thomas @NFranti]

@DaveZ90212457 First one I've found in circulation.

[V_Thomas @NFranti]

Those who know know that you should never spend a quarter that looks like this.

[V_Thomas @NFranti]

@JoshuaBarzon What is going on in DE and SC??

[V_Thomas @NFranti]

@DavidRoomeAuth We’ve had to pay to get rid of every piano we’ve ever had in my family, whether it was the dump (old honky-tonk upright) or to have a piano mover get it out of my parents’ house so they could give it to a family that wanted one. Also, keeping them in tune in the Midwest 😬

[V_Thomas @NFranti]

More world-historical baby names, this time from the Middle Ages:

Clovis
Magnus
Charles
Joan

[V_Thomas @NFranti]

@Kurt_Steiner It seems crazy to me that my state (Wisconsin) reached a million people 20 years before California did.

[V_Thomas @NFranti]

Wife: I really want to watch the most recent Jurassic World movie

Me:

[V_Thomas @NFranti]

@DavidRoomeAuth

[V_Thomas @NFranti]

@DavidRoomeAuth If your pastor asks whether “you feel you need to give yourself space” and calls himself “Pastor Zack,” you’re gonna have a bad time.