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Man says Uber ride ‘went South’ after driver realized he was actually a man: ‘The reason women don’t

the_mary_sue_feed

Friday, February 20th, 2026 11:00 pm

Posted by Braden Bjella

https://www.themarysue.com/creepy-uber-driver-report/

https://www.themarysue.com/?p=912667

Harassment and assault are a growing concern amongst rideshare customers.

In August 2025, the New York Times reported that Uber received “a report of sexual assault or sexual misconduct in the United States almost every eight minutes on average between 2017 and 2022.” While the company spent years working on solutions to the problem, the Times claims that the company “delayed or did not require its drivers to adopt some of the most promising programs.”

https://www.themarysue.com/creepy-uber-driver-report/

https://www.themarysue.com/?p=912667

some good things

kaberett

Friday, February 20th, 2026 11:42 pm

Breakfast dal. This experiment continues to work extremely well.
I have definitely reached the point with the Incomplete White Puzzle where it's speeding up significantly on account of enough pieces are in place to significantly reduce the number of possible combinations that need checking. Today's decision was to start filling in from the bottom edge, where I still had a chunk that was just edge and no middles, because I think that up in the top left (interior) corner I've identified The Missing Piece, and will get annoyed if I wind up with non-contiguous gaps...
Today alternating Locate One Puzzle Piece with Do One Useful Job has been nice and smooth and easy. I have got Several things done. Is pleased.
Really really enjoying my ridiculous washi tape collection. Today I self-indulgently Added More Week Dividers, including replacing some pre-existing ones that I was Not Enjoying, Actually.
( Exercise & embodiment. )

Inferno

extrapenguin

Friday, February 20th, 2026 11:46 pm

Procrastinating on my Tit4Tat assignment and listening to today's new release, Dreamerie by FlowerLeaf. (Kimara, I think you might enjoy The Wake!) But! I have also been reading! ...Dante Alighieri.

This is the 700th anniversary edition, translated by J.G. Nichols. It's ... surprisingly hand-hold-y. Like, each canto is prefaced with a prose explanation of what happens in the canto (spoilers!!!!), and adds footnotes in support of readers who can't count (e.g. "So in the smallest circle, at the centre" is footnoted as "The ninth and last"; Inferno XI) and who can't keep track of pronouns (sooo many occurrences of "Named Person, did this and that, and lo, a slightly long description! Is he¹ still alive?" with a footnote on "'He' refers to Named Person"). Judas Iscariot is given an explanatory footnote. ("Who betrayed Christ") One would think that anyone operating on even a pop culture osmosis level of Christianity would realize that the Judas dude being specially punished in the hell for betrayers is probably the one who betrayed Jesus.

Anyway! I have read Inferno, and just started Purgatorio. The translation is eminently readable, with transparent verse. (I guess I'd hoped for a slightly more showy take to mine for fic titles, but I'm not complaining.) Also Dante and Virgil's relationship, though probably considered normal enough by the standards of the period, comes across as very homo by present ones: Dante is incredibly appreciative of Virgil guiding him through the way, gets carried around by him, and kisses his cheeks with gratefulness on multiple occasions. Not really that many thoughts, but. Reading. Classics. I fully expect to go WTF at Purgatorio and especially Paradisio, because uhhh not a Christian at all lol, but hey, at least I can say I read them.

Current Music: FlowerLeaf - Silksong

jack abbot, the pitt | 30 icons

sweeticedtea

fandom_icons

Friday, February 20th, 2026 05:18 pm

Shawn Hatosy as Jack Abbot in The Pitt (s1 & s2e7 / 15 each)

more here! @

sweeticedtea

Tags:

tv: the pitt

Jazz by Toni Morrison (1992)

pauraque

Friday, February 20th, 2026 05:08 pm

Opening in the days of the Harlem Renaissance, the first page of this novel states the culmination of its story: A door-to-door cosmetics salesman shot his eighteen-year-old mistress, and then the salesman's wife crashed the funeral to try to stab the girl's corpse. Why? The reader wants to know, and so do many of the characters. The book offers answers only indirectly, taking a sprawling path into the characters' pasts, where their families came from, and the intergenerational trauma of the slavery era that's still in living memory at this time.

The prose style of this book really worked for me and did a lot of the heavy lifting of drawing me into the story. It's lyrical and artistic without ever sacrificing readability. If there's a bit you don't understand, you will understand it in time, but first we have to go back to the beginning of another character's story and circle back around to connect to the main plot—and it does always connect. I think this is the meaning of the title; the book is not about jazz music, but it has the shape of jazz in the way it can state a melody, wander off and explore for a while until you've almost forgotten what song it is, and then return very satisfyingly before passing it off to another player in the ensemble.

I found this book in a free box and then it sat on my shelf for years (shout-out to

lebateleur, my read-books-we-already-own accountability buddy!). It has a lot of underlining, highlighting, and marginal notes from whoever had it before, pointing out themes of dehumanization, rehumanization, and the necessity of deep context for understanding. They highlighted the line "Something else you have to figure in before you figure it out" and also wrote it in pen on the title page. On several pages they wrote "Jazzonia" in the margin, by which I assume they meant the Langston Hughes poem.

Jazzonia (1926)

Oh, silver tree!
Oh, shining rivers of the soul!

In a Harlem cabaret
Six long-headed jazzers play.
A dancing girl whose eyes are bold
Lifts high a dress of silken gold.

Oh, singing tree!
Oh, shining rivers of the soul!

Were Eve’s eyes
In the first garden
Just a bit too bold?
Was Cleopatra gorgeous
In a gown of gold?

Oh, shining tree!
Oh, silver rivers of the soul!

In a whirling cabaret
Six long-headed jazzers play.

Tags:

me and my big mouth

watersword

Friday, February 20th, 2026 05:07 pm

Uh, so, I have a weird Jew-y dilemna.

I volunteer with my neighborhood "snow brigade", which shovels for folks who need help. We're due to get some gross "wintry mix" and "icy sleet" overnight, although maybe not much accumulation.

The couple I got assigned to emailed to say — well, here: "Hopefully there will be NO snow on Friday night and Saturday since for religious reasons we are not able to shovel. If it's not much we can deal with it Saturday night."

I emailed back to say that I don't consider helping a neighbor in need to violate shomer Shabbat and I would be happy to come by and make sure their sidewalks and steps are clear.

They said, "It would be our sin to have another Jew do any work for us on Shabbos. We very much appreciate your kind thoughts to help us. But if we can't do it, you can't do it for us either."

Uhhhhhhhhhh. I am not sure how to respond to this. I don't think this is a sin! I try to observe Shabbat in the sense of resting and renewing myself, but very much not in a traditional way — like, spending a couple of hours mending and embroidering might be part of Shabbat for me because it fills my cup and I don't always get the chance to during the week! Going to the farmer's market and spending half my paycheck and cooking something elaborate on Saturday is a profoundly Shabbosdik thing for me! I don't want to tell them "your theology is wrong" and I don't want to upset them by doing something they have told me not to do (and would apparently feel guilty about????), but ... I can't just leave an elderly couple trapped in their house with icy sidewalks for a day!

*pinches bridge of nose*

I gotta get in touch with the snow brigade coordinator and tell her what's going on so she can try to find a substitute, I guess. I wish I hadn't made it so obvious I am also Jewish, just said something cheerful about being happy to shovel in the morning, but it truly did not occur to me that their observance would mean this. My bad. Ugh.

This is gonna be a real fun conversation with the snow brigade coordinator.

PSA: archive.today not trustworthy

redbird

Friday, February 20th, 2026 04:15 pm

Wikipedia has blacklisted the site archive.today a.k.a. archive.is, .li, .ph, .fo, .md, and .vn), because Wikipedia editors discovered that the pseudonymous owners of the site were altering some archived pages. The alterations inserted the name of a blogger that the pseudonymous person who runs archive.today has a grudge against, because the blogger speculated about their identity.

Wikipedia editors were already debating whether to blacklist the site, after discovering it was being used in a distributed denial-of-service attack against that same blogger. The argument for blacklisting the site was straightforward: archive.today captchas were running malicious code on people's computers. The argument against was that it would be difficult to replace hundreds of thousands of links, an argument that made sense only as long as the saved websites were considered trustworthy.

My decidedly non-expert hunch is that using the site to look at static content behind a paywall is probably safe unless the site asks you to complete a captcha.

Tags:

meta

The Supreme Court blocks the "Emergency" Tariffs!

thewayne

Friday, February 20th, 2026 02:14 pm

That's right, the highest court in the land blocked the tariffs in a 6-3 decision. Opposing the decision were - take a big guess - Alito, Thomas, and Kavanaugh.

There were a few problems. HIS use of tariffs were predicated on using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which a lower court declared did not give him the power to impose tariffs. Specifically, the law that created the act did not include the words "tariffs" or "duties" and that those powers did indeed lie in the House of Representatives and their specific control of the country's purse strings.

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the ruling. From the NBC article: "The president asserts the extraordinary power to unilaterally impose tariffs of unlimited amount, duration and scope," Roberts wrote. But the Trump administration "points to no statute" in which Congress has previously said that the language in IEEPA could apply to tariffs, he added.

As such, "we hold that IEEPA does not authorize the president to impose tariffs," Roberts wrote.

The 1977 IEEPA has never been previously invoked, so there is no historical precedent to draw from.

To try and throw a bone to the President's supporters, Gorsuch said this:

For those who think it important for the Nation to impose more tariffs, I understand that today’s decision will be disappointing. All I can offer them is that most major decisions affecting the rights and responsibilities of the American people (including the duty to pay taxes and tariffs) are funneled through the legislative process for a reason. Yes, legislating can be hard and take time. And, yes, it can be tempting to bypass Congress when some pressing problem arises. But the deliberative nature of the legislative process was the whole point of its design. Through that process, the Nation can tap the combined wisdom of the people’s elected representatives, not just that of one faction or man. There, deliberation tempers impulse, and compromise hammers disagreements into workable solutions. And because laws must earn such broad support to survive the legislative process, they tend to endure, allowing ordinary people to plan their lives in ways they cannot when the rules shift from day to day."

Now, I think this is a fine thing to say. But I wonder how many of his followers will be able to parse the meaning of it?

In response to the ruling, a hissy fit was thrown, a certain toddler was heard saying that 'I don't need the IEEPA!' and set all tariffs to 10%, which is a great reduction for lots of countries and an increase for some.

Also from the NBC article: "The decision does not affect all of Trump's tariffs, leaving in place ones he imposed on steel and aluminum using different laws, for example. But it upends his tariffs in two categories. One is country-by-country or “reciprocal” tariffs, which range from 34% for China to a 10% baseline for the rest of the world. The other is a 25% tariff Trump imposed on some goods from Canada, China and Mexico for what the administration said was their failure to curb the flow of fentanyl."

It looks like the $175 billion that has been paid by importers could be subject to refunds, we'll see what happens. It's going to be a huge mess trying to pry that money out of the Treasury, regardless.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/02/supreme-court-blocks-trumps-emergency-tariffs-billions-in-refunds-may-be-owed/

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/supreme-court-strikes-trumps-tariffs-major-blow-president-rcna244827

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/supreme-court-tells-trump-no-on-tariff-power-grab_n_6925ab7ae4b063285310b10f

Tags:

Mom says Delta won’t let her sit next to her 2 toddlers on flight from Florida to Minneapolis. What

the_mary_sue_feed

Friday, February 20th, 2026 09:00 pm

Posted by Ljeonida Mulabazi

https://www.themarysue.com/delta-family-seating/

https://www.themarysue.com/?p=912529

Air travel with young children can be stressful enough without worrying about where you and your large party will sit. And while passengers might think they’re set if they buy assigned seats, that’s not always the case.

Airlines can still make changes because of operational needs, aircraft swaps, or availability. According to one woman traveling with Delta, that can happen even if it means the change separates you from your small children.

https://www.themarysue.com/delta-family-seating/

https://www.themarysue.com/?p=912529

(still) pondering shallow consumerism (always)

cupcake_goth

Friday, February 20th, 2026 12:44 pm

- While I still love love love this dress from a Ukrainian designer, I went to another website to ogle an embroidered long linen jacket that I've also pined over, and now I can't decide which to buy in a few weeks. I'm now leaning toward the linen piece, because that would be more versatile.

- I spent some time idly searching for granny and/or "Victorian" boots across eBay, Poshmark, and Depop, and let me tell you, there is nothing out there with combination of a pointed or almond toe shape, lace-up, a side zipper, and a 2" block or walking heel. But then I had the possibly brilliant thought of taking a pair of my existing lace-up boots to a cobbler to have a side zip put in. I need to ponder this some more, but I sense a trip to the cobbler in my future.

- Remember that fabric with the Haunted Mansion wallpaper print on AliExpress? It arrived, and the print quality is good! The actual color isn't pink, but a bright wine, which also works for me. When the Stroppy One saw the fabric, he told me to order more, as he wants a waistcoat in it, and possibly a jacket.

---

I'm constantly tired, no matter how much sleep I get, and I'm having non-stop stress nightmares every night. Dear Brain, a nightmare of the Stroppy One presenting us with divorce papers because we got his coffee order wrong is ridiculous, as is the one where he abandons me at airport security and walks off with my passport and Clovis Devilbunny. RIDICULOUS, STOP IT.

Erin Reads: The Rose Field, Part 3a (chapters 23-30)

erinptah

Friday, February 20th, 2026 03:55 pm

Start of Part 3. As of this point, I had 40% of the audiobook left to go, and 1 week until it returned. So these next 2 posts will cover the final 2/5 of the book.

Light spoilers for the whole book in my annotations; comments are a free-for-all. Previous HDM-related posts on DW; see also The Reaction Posts of Dust on AO3.

Didn’t bother putting screencaps in this one. Too much of it was either “new elements introduced in the sequel trilogy” or “things that didn’t get visually adapted in the TV series.”

Onward.

( Tiny Gryphon is good-guy-coded, so her idea of “who needs to die” is presumably correct and unproblematic in every way )

Tags:

The 10 Most Underrated Romance Movies

the_mary_sue_feed

Friday, February 20th, 2026 08:31 pm

Posted by Sarah Fimm

https://www.themarysue.com/the-10-most-underrated-romance-movies/

https://www.themarysue.com/?p=912394

The Notebook, Pride and Prejudice, Love, Actually, what do all of these blockbuster romance movies have in common? None of them are on this list. This list is for the underrated, the underappreciated, the unsung romance heroes of cinema. While lacking in rain-drenched kisses between Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams, these love stories will make your eyes equally moist. Sorry, “moist” is the least romantic word in the English language, but don’t worry, it won’t appear in these film scripts—they’re far more seductive than that. Here they are, the 10 most underrated romance movies, for when you need a love story unlike any other.

Spontaneous

(Paramount Pictures)

Directed by Brian Duffield, Spontaneous is a seriously explosive romance. While sitting in class, a senior at Covington High spontaneously combusts, showering classmates with gore. As authorities frantically try to figure out the cause, more students begin exploding, and the survivors begin living like every day is their last. After an unexpected love confession over text, students Mara and Dylan begin dating, knowing their love story could end with a bloody bang at any moment. Shot like a CW drama with a twist, Spontaneous mixes textbook teen romance with black comedy body horror—the result is a gory, gleeful, and at times gut-wrenching coming-of-age tale of devotion. With hormones raging, first love can feel like an explosion of emotion. Spontaneous takes it literally.

https://www.themarysue.com/the-10-most-underrated-romance-movies/

https://www.themarysue.com/?p=912394

A Cult Thriller Remake That Hollywood Was Expected to Botch Just Dropped a Trailer, and It Kinda Sla

the_mary_sue_feed

Friday, February 20th, 2026 08:13 pm

Posted by Jenna Anderson

https://www.themarysue.com/over-your-dead-body-trailer-watch-online-movie-remake/

https://www.themarysue.com/?p=912749

Ever since there’s been a modern film industry, there have been remakes. Stories have been retold over and over again to varying degrees of success, ranging from misfires to new classics that genuinely add something to the story. If a newly-released trailer is any indication, a new film arriving in the next few months just might be the latter.

This week, Independent Film Company released the first teaser trailer for Over Your Dead Body, ahead of its premiere at SXSW in March and theatrical debut in April. The film is an English-language adaptation of The Trip (I onde dager), the 2021 Norwegian film starring Noomi Rapace and Aksel Hennie that became a cult classic after streaming on Netflix. This time around, Jason Segel and Samara Weaving are starring in the main roles, as a couple tries to reconnect while on vacation, only to find out they have plans to kill each other.

https://www.themarysue.com/over-your-dead-body-trailer-watch-online-movie-remake/

https://www.themarysue.com/?p=912749

One Ryan Murphy Star Has Become the Internet’s New Favorite Batman Fancast

the_mary_sue_feed

Friday, February 20th, 2026 07:53 pm

Posted by Jenna Anderson

https://www.themarysue.com/paul-anthony-kelly-batman-fancast-dcu-brave-and-the-bold/

https://www.themarysue.com/?p=912710

There are a few things that remain constants in the modern-day Internet: a new adorable animal to obsess over, a new meme that takes a bit of context to really understand, and chatter around Batman. There’s the endless conversation about who should play him onscreen next, particularly in the new DC Universe.

In recent days, the Internet has latched on to a new Batman candidate: Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette star Paul Anthony Kelly. Kelly, who began his career as a model, is relatively new to the world of acting. His only other credit is The Venery of Samantha Bird, a TV series co-starring Katharine Langford and Finn Jones that was scrapped at Starz amid the 2023 Hollywood strikes. But if the hype around Love Story and his performance as Kennedy is any indication, an ever-growing number of DC fans think he has the chops to play the role.

https://www.themarysue.com/paul-anthony-kelly-batman-fancast-dcu-brave-and-the-bold/

https://www.themarysue.com/?p=912710

Blackout Bingo - 2X2 Valentine's

smallhobbit

allbingo

Friday, February 20th, 2026 08:03 pm

Title: A Fortunate Meeting
Fandoms: Miss Marple
Ratings: G
Pairings: Miss Marple, Lucy Eyelesbarrow/Dermot Craddock
Prompts from the Romantic section: Love at first sight, Taking it slow, Dinner for two, Dancing

A Fortunate Meeting on AO3

Tags:

A bold stand on a major national problem

minoanmiss

Friday, February 20th, 2026 03:03 pm

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

Current Mood: tired

Eliminating the Impossible

xkcd_feed

Friday, February 20th, 2026 05:00 am

https://xkcd.com/3210/

Was ‘Bad Cinderella’ Really That Bad? Emerald Fennell Messed With A Classic Way Before “Wuthering He

the_mary_sue_feed

Friday, February 20th, 2026 07:28 pm

Posted by Leah Marilla Thomas

https://www.themarysue.com/did-emerald-fennell-write-the-musical-bad-cinderella-explained/

https://www.themarysue.com/?p=912501

Deserved or not, the backlash to Emerald Fennell’s “Wuthering Heights” has unearthed/resurfaced the controversial auteur’s darkest secret: she wrote the book to Andrew Lloyd Webber’s infamous musical Bad Cinderella. It’s irresponsible to fully attribute that musical’s reputation to Fennell, but it’s always a good time to talk about that show and, like, what happened there.

In musical theatre-ese, “book” means script. Fennell didn’t compose or direct this thing. Seriously, don’t put that on her! Back in 2018, before Promising Young Woman and Saltburn, she collaborated with Webber and co-writer Tom McRae on this basically original story. The show became a meme years later, when the musical transferred from the West End–which ALW admitted was a “costly mistake”–to New York City.

https://www.themarysue.com/did-emerald-fennell-write-the-musical-bad-cinderella-explained/

https://www.themarysue.com/?p=912501

Monopoly 01.26 - Weekly Reminder, Week 6

prisca

fandom_empire

Friday, February 20th, 2026 08:45 pm

We already have 4 participants in the regular challenge and 1 participant for Team Omega. But there are still about two days until the end of week six. Jump into the game and earn some points!

Remember your Joker Card if you don't like your prompts. For two token you can roll the dice again!

If you have used your Joker Card to catch up with a previous week, you can still post up to two works for this week!

Post all your finished works at

fandom_empire_workplace until Sunday, February 22, 18.00 UTC, but I will allow belated works until I've made the closing post. Countdown here.

Tags:

It gets a little bit James Bond

shallowness

Friday, February 20th, 2026 07:34 pm

The Night Manager - 2.4

( Read more... )

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tv in 2026

More stuff to read, yay!

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Man says Uber ride ‘went South’ after driver realized he was actually a man: ‘The reason women don’t

some good things

Inferno

jack abbot, the pitt | 30 icons

Jazz by Toni Morrison (1992)

me and my big mouth

PSA: archive.today not trustworthy

The Supreme Court blocks the "Emergency" Tariffs!

Mom says Delta won’t let her sit next to her 2 toddlers on flight from Florida to Minneapolis. What

(still) pondering shallow consumerism (always)

Erin Reads: The Rose Field, Part 3a (chapters 23-30)

The 10 Most Underrated Romance Movies

Spontaneous

A Cult Thriller Remake That Hollywood Was Expected to Botch Just Dropped a Trailer, and It Kinda Sla

One Ryan Murphy Star Has Become the Internet’s New Favorite Batman Fancast

Blackout Bingo - 2X2 Valentine's

A bold stand on a major national problem

Eliminating the Impossible

Was ‘Bad Cinderella’ Really That Bad? Emerald Fennell Messed With A Classic Way Before “Wuthering He

Monopoly 01.26 - Weekly Reminder, Week 6

It gets a little bit James Bond