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Sam + working out

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Sam/Dean kissing manip from absrip’s video Blue on black. 

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I have a endless list of favorite J2 moments.

HERE WE GO WITH THE FUCKING ALMOST KISS DURING THE TCA 2006

AND THE CLASSIC HAND-ON-HEART MOVE IN JENSEN’S STYLE

THIS FUCKING CUTE MOMENT WHEN THEY WERE SO YOUNG AND BEAUTIFUL AND IN LOVE

AND ALL THE PREGNANCY JOKES

AND ALL THE BROTHERLY BUTT TOUCHES

AND THAT TIME JENSEN WRAPPED HIS LEGS AROUND JARED’S HIPS AND WE ALL DIED

AND HOW EASILY JARED CAN CARRY JENSEN SERIOUSLY

AND WHEN THEY FUCKING FLIRT ON SET

AND ALL THE HUGS 

AND THE HEART EYES MOMENTS

AND WHEN THEY HOLD EACH OTHER’S HAND

AND WHEN THEY JUST TOUCH EACH OTHER 

AND WHEN THEY HAVE NO CLUE ABOUT PERSONAL SPACE

AND ALL THE DIRTY JOKES 

ANON I LOVE EVERY FUCKING MOMENT BETWEEN JARED AND JENSEN AND THEY ARE THE MAIN REASON WHY I HAVE NO SOCIAL LIFE

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i put a message in my work group chat because im illnessing. and my coworker sent me the AI gen summary he received

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While it's true that mandatory identity verification will inevitably be leaked on a massive scale, the thing you need to understand when framing these arguments is that a lot of the folks in favour of such measures don't see that as a bad thing. Full de-anonymisation of the Internet is their explicit goal. Like, the actual objective here is for everyone to have a public record of everything they say and do – online or otherwise – linked to their government ID. The universal panopticon is the good ending as far as these people are concerned.

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I watched Leverage for the first time way too young, and a lot of things went over my head. I just rewatched "The Future Job" from Leverage and something about this scene just hit me.

The way they broke down the mysticism around the predatory psychic for Parker feels so intentional both in character and out of character.

In character, they do not judge Parker for falling for the con. The team is supportive and kind as they explain how a cold read works to her. They break it down for her step by step. They never belittle her nor do they pry about her past. This approach makes sense for Parker as a charcter, and it's sweet to see her friends try to help her through a difficult moment this way.

And out of character, it's kind of like they are telling the audience "it's okay if you've fallen prey to this scam. We're living in hard times and this is exceedingly cruel even by our standards. You aren't stupid, you are human. Here's some tools to avoid being tricked like this in the future". I cannot tell you the number of times I've realized I was being manipulated because of how this scene stuck with me.

I love the writers of Leverage, but something about this episode always makes me feel like the writers truly cared for their audience. I'm not sure if this was intentional or if I'm reading into it. But damn I think about this scene a lot.

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Big Insurance Uses AI to Quickly Deny Claims, One Man Fights Back with AI App That Quickly Appeals

"The idea that American health insurance companies are using AI to analyze and adjudicate claims for approval or denial sounds terrifying, but one North Carolinian is using AI to fight back.

When Raleigh resident Neal Shah had a claim denied for his wife’s chemotherapy drugs, he thought it was rare, that he was the only one, that it was just bad luck.

Litigating his case on phone calls that lasted for hours changed the husband and father, and he set about creating a sophisticated app that uses artificial intelligence to compare claims denial forms against health insurance contracts, before automatically drafting an appeal letter.

“For a doctor to write this, it’s not rocket science, but it still takes hours,” Shah told ABC News 11, adding that a well-written appeal letter, sent in immediately, can sometimes get denials reversed within days or weeks, but most people either don’t know they can appeal, or don’t know on what grounds they can appeal.

In fact, according to Shah’s research, 850 million claims denials occur every year, and less than 1% are ever appealed.

That’s where Counterforce Health comes in, a startup that’s created a free-to-use app for claims denials.

It’s all the more critical a service now that health insurance companies, already armed with statewide government-protected pseudo monopolies and duopolies, are using AI to deny claims within seconds of them being filed.

“Before, you used to have a reason you would deny it, and you used to have a doctor review or a nurse review it, but once AI rolled out, they could just have AI deny it,” Shah explained.

For Counterforce Health, Shah brought onboard Riyaa Jadhav, a Jill of all trades who has helped grow and expand the undertaking through her experience in both the business world and working alongside patients at Johns Hopkins University Hospital.

Together, they’ve built Counterforce to the point where it boasts a 70% success rate in appealing claims.

Thousands have already logged on; many going on to use the service.

“Sometimes when enough people get loud, enough people put pressure, then I think all of a sudden society wakes up, so I really feel like it’s really about to click,” Shah said.

-via Good News Network, August 5, 2025

Here's the link to this organization, by the way. According to their numbers, less than 1% of denials in the US are appealed, but 75% of appeals are approved. This could do so much good.

And another source for validity:

-via NBC News, July 18, 2025

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Our sister publication’s new issue is a fantastic story by Matthew Wolfe about America’s first Black private eye. Thanks to the Atavist, as always, for allowing us to share an excerpt with Longreads readers.

Though Bruseaux has since been neglected by history, he was once a household name in the Black community. But as he prepared to take on the Granady case, the biggest of his career, his public persona revealed only part of his story. He had become wealthy and famous by unearthing other people’s secrets, but the man known as Sheridan Bruseaux was keeping a few of his own.

Read “The Mostly True Story of America’s First Black Private Investigator” on Longreads.

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WAIT I HAVE AN AWESOME HOUSE DESIGN

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They should add "On Horseback" option to Google Maps. For writers.

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Now that all three copies have made their way to the recipients, it's time to post pictures of my first end-to-end book bind!

These are copies of @robotmango's delightful Word of Honor novella, 'The wild geese.' Featuring arranged-ish marriage, Feral Gremlin Accidentally Falls For Husband, and really more self-mutilation than you might think for what's essentially a love story about finding freedom. I've loved this fic for a long time, and when I saw @rainsfalling's gorgeous typeset (mountain chapter headers! and scene breaks!) for @renegadeguild's Tiny Books Bang I was overcome with covetous glee >:D

...of course, then I had to actually print the thing, which took four separate goes around the Brother tech support phone line and a whole replacement printer, BUT! printer nemesis defeated, the bookmaking itself was a delight! This was my first time working with textblocks all the way up from a flat page to a book, and I was right, the sewing is the best bit. Naked unglued textblocks are extremely wobbly, though, and this is also very cute.

Another piece of technology conquered: my Silhouette Cameo vinyl printer (cutter?), scavenged from the ruins of Joann's demise and put hard to work cutting out so many tiny geese and mountain ranges. (Weeding is also very fun. Slightly less than sewing! But only because sometimes you lose pieces and have to swear about it.) Cover design remains a mystery, so I mostly copied @rainsfalling's interior design work ^.^;

One thing I knew I wanted was to make these three - one each for Rainsfalling and Orange and one for me to keep - to be sisters, not triplets. I got to try out faux double-core endbands at the Renegade Bindery retreat, and so swapping out a single colour in the endbands (and using different ribbons) seemed like a good way to change things up without making a ton more work for myself! (Pro tip, though: do not flirt with Thread Chicken while making end bands. It is very hard to keep an even tension with only two inches of tail!!!)

All in all, I'm extremely happy with these as my first full project, & I feel like I learned a ton. (Much thanks to all the Renegade folks, particularly @runawaymarbles for letting me come over & slicing chunks off of these with her guillotine, without which the edges would be a far more jagged affair.) They're real! They open! You can read them like real books! I... have already typeset & am partway through making three more octavo projects ^.^;

Soon my shelves will be overwhelmed with tiny fic binds and you know what? I'm okay with that.

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For $5/month or $60/yr you get access to PBS Passport and the entire Masterpiece library plus Great Performances, etc. Defunded but not defeated.

If you have a smart TV or a roku, they come with an app that allows you to watch PBS passport on your television. and you can watch it on your phone

https://www.pbs.org/passport/learn-more/

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MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO + SUNSETS 1988 | dir. Hayao Miyazaki

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His Majesty's Dragon - Naomi Novik

July 6, 2025

Full cloth case binding with design in heat transfer vinyl.

Recover of the del rey paperback edition.

Materials: covers - 2 mm grey board spine stiffener - paperboard covering material - navy blue suede bookcloth vinyl - cricut silver foil HTV

endpapers - white lotka paper with black, silver, and gold marbling endbands - suede bookcloth rolled over twine edge painting - silver and navy blue acrylic paint

Cover Design: Designed in Photopea. Fonts are Aquiline Two (title) and Balthazar (author). Ship and dragon vectors from the noun project. Took some inspiration from this fourth wing design.

dimensions: 4.125"x7.125"x1" Old cover:

Original sketch:

Earlier drafts of the back design: