"Friends" is a beloved American sitcom that aired from 1994 to 2004, following six young adults—Rachel, Ross, Monica, Chandler, Joey, and Phoebe—living in New York City. The show explores their friendships, romances, careers, and personal growth over ten seasons.
![A picture of a lightsaber-brandishing Mickey Mouse as Darth Vader flanked by two cute-ified stormtroopers. Darth Mickey himself looks pretty stern though. Notably, Darth Mickey's helmet doesn't have a mask so you can see his face clearly and, of course, the helmet comically accomodates Mickey's iconic mouse ears.
Above the trio, the text of the classic Darth Vader quote to Lando in _The Empire Strikes Back_ appears: "I have altered the deal. Pray I don't alter it any further." It's a font very evocative of the characteristic cursive of Walt Disney himself that has been immortalized in Disney's corporate logo.
Copyright attribution: So, in what hopefully is fair use as both parody and non-commercial intent [note: I'm not a lawyer... also, I'm not rich, so please don't sue me ;) ], I should mentioned I made this the old-fashioned way in Microsoft Paint using:
1) This design from the Etsy store "TusemyDesign" https://www.etsy.com/listing/1860109406/disney-mickey-star-wars-png-star-wars for the primary picture of Darth Mickey and his 2 cute-ified stormtroopers,
and
2) https://fontmeme.com/disney-font/ to print the text above the trio: "I've altered the deal. Pray I don't alter it any further."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ciqsnjujtkuawhr2asqfhd7j/bafkreiacdtrh45byktk5rejux7j5ek3vsgwkw5rv636kh3vscj2dzba2sm)
![David Brooks's most negative statement about Georgia GOP Senate nominee opposing the Democratic incumbent, Sen. Jon Ossoff:
"Like, Mike Collins, who's the Georgia Republican, I think what's accurate to say about him is, he has a disturbing number of young men on his --- around him who have ties to the alt-right and somem of the vile antisemitic stuff online."
From his usual weekly "Brooks and Capehart" segment on the the PBS NewsHour, in this case the rendition on Friday, Oct 9, 2026. You can see video at 3:46 in the official PBS NewsHour YouTube of this segment ["Brooks and Capehart on the fight for Senate control in battleground states" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgWIxbB8f28 ]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ciqsnjujtkuawhr2asqfhd7j/bafkreigipguvbl27rfz5ulvwh46p6dqe7c5jlaf7pglle7n4fdahbmxs5u)
![The design of the "Propaganda Trek" t-shirt from sci-fi-focused cultural critic Damien Walter, aka "DAMO" [e.g., https://www.youtube.com/@DamienWalter for his video essays, has links to his writings and other work] Available for purchase at https://damosays-shop.fourthwall.com/products/propaganda-trek-2
The design is has a overwhelmingly red-and-black color scheme, befitting the topic advertised in big red text on a black background at bottom: FULLY AUTOMATED LUXURY SPACE COMMUNISM (a reference most directly to the ideas of the 2019 book with that title by Aaron Bastani, for summary see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fully_Automated_Luxury_Communism which in turn, IIRC, can be seen to be directly inspired by this essay by Peter Frase from 2011 (think "Occupy Wall Street" Era) and the line of work it inspired https://jacobin.com/2011/12/four-futures [novelty link to get around paywall if you're that type of Commie who opposes private *intellectual* property https://archive.ph/UljTT ]
The design has a very Leon-Trotsky-looking Mr. Spock on the left facing a Starfleet insignia in the center to which a sickle has been added to mash it up with the Hammer and Sickle that was the key symbol of the USSR's flag, and then mirroring Trotsky/Spock, we see a very Vladimir-Lenin-Looking Jean-Luc Picard looking at the Hammer andd Sickle Starfleet Insignia](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ciqsnjujtkuawhr2asqfhd7j/bafkreidw7iladoox2qs6venglwhlts6oszeydg4qrindfhenu6ev6ahv3q)
![A modified (desecrated?) version that I made of the top half of the first page of the first officially published English translation of Albert Einstein's famous 1905 paper that derived E =mc^2, namely:
Einstein, Albert. "Ist die Trägheit eines Körpers von seinem Energieinhalt abhängig?" Annalen der Physik, vol. 323, no. 13, 1905, pp. 639–641. Reprinted in English translation as "Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its Energy-Content?" in _The Principle of Relativity: A Collection of Original Memoirs on the Special and General Theory of Relativity_, translated by W. Perrett and G. B. Jeffery, Methuen and Company, Ltd., London, 1923, pp. 67–71.
[Sidenote: The paper, being inarguably one of the top physics papers of all time, can be freely and legally obtained online from all sorts of places. The one I screenshot was: https://fermatslibrary.com/s/does-the-inertia-of-a-body-depend-upon-its-energy-content ]
My two modifications appear both in red pen (well, red pen digital effect from my Apple Pencil on my iPad):
1) The word "ENERGY" in the title has been crossed out and replaced with "MIDICHLORIAN"
2) "A. EINSTEIN" in the byline has been crossed out and replaced with "Me!"](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ciqsnjujtkuawhr2asqfhd7j/bafkreibmited5ys2syub3o6ud4dckbrfuslhjet2jx3i2wdxljdcldthle)
![The webcomic _xkcd_ "1387: Clumsy Foreshadowing" in its entirety (m.xkcd.com/1387/). To "cut to the chase", I'll list the bottom panel punchline first: "To make news stories seem way more ominous, imagine you're hearing them from a background TV in a movie as the main character leaves". To that end, the top panel lists 3 news stories purportedly from the day the comic came out: "Today's News: --North Korea Threatens US over Upcoming Movie --Shark Populations Booming of East Coast --SpaceX to Attempt New Rocket Launch Today". Then in the main middle panel you see on the left the stick figure of a man [_xckd_ is illustrated in stick-figure style art for all the characters] with his coat on his arm saying cheerfully as he walks out of his kitchen "Bye! See you tonight!" And out-of-the-panel to the right, his partner's text is written "Have a good day!" And right in the middle is a TV on the table with a newscaster saying "Researchers are reporting record numbers of sharks..."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ciqsnjujtkuawhr2asqfhd7j/bafkreib2uzey2fi6j4mhsyruonnl55dwssu7ac37vsivtd2i4wc3n6wvc4)
![Two panel still picture meme of the famous scene from Coppola's _Apocalypse Now_ ( https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078788/ ) in which Colonel Kurtz (played by Marlon Brando) confronts Captain Willard (played by Martin Sheen) in Kurtz's barely torch-lit hut in his crazy-looking, barely-torch-lit, deep-in-Vietnam village... a metaphorical "Heart of Darkness", as it were (since _Apocalypse Now_ is a loose version of Joseph Conrad's famous 1899 novella _Heart of Darkness_ --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_of_Darkness --- transported-from-1890ish-Congo-to-1970ish-Vietnam).
[Top Panel of Meme] Closeup on Kurtz --- i.e., Brando seated in his (in)famous, bald, sweaty, making-no-eye-contact-with-the-camera demeanor, additionally making interesting acting choices to boot by mostly just slowly rubbing his bald head --- asking Willard:
"Are my methods unsound?"
[Bottom Panel] Willard --- i.e., a young, grimey, jungle soldier looking Martin Sheen --- replying:
"I don't see any method at all, sir."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ciqsnjujtkuawhr2asqfhd7j/bafkreiesj2phpuogimrdcumalo6szmq4dhvnlxu3dcydh37n4jigagcyj4)
![Famous scene from th perennial Christmas classic _It's a Wonderful Life_, which debuted in Dec 1946 [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It%27s_a_Wonderful_Life ]. In this scene, George Bailey (played by Jimmy Stewart), the local pillar of the community and savings & loan banker to the lil' hamlet of Bedford Falls, tries to allay the fears of all his customers who've started a run on his lil' Bailey Savings & Loan, explaining (as is captioned on the photo):
"You're thinking of this place all wrong. As if I had the money back in a safe. The money's not here. Your money is in Joe's house... right next to yours, and in the Kennedy house. And Mrs. Macklin's house, and a hundred others. Why, you're lending them the money to build, and then, they're going to pay it back to you as best they can. Now what are you going to do? Foreclose on them?"](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ciqsnjujtkuawhr2asqfhd7j/bafkreidxukjohdt7hbonr3eziyw3sprjkmzu6xpb32f4hk3hniqbnl5zgm)
![The final part of the judges order making clear it is but temporary relief and stating the timetable for that temporary relief to move to final decision. It reads:
3. Plaintiffs must respond in writing to the Government’s motion by the close of business on Monday, March 16, 2026. In their submission, Plaintiffs shall address whether Defendants sought to designate any portion [...]
[page break]
[new page header Case 1:25-cv-03923-CM Document 151 Filed 03/13/26]
[3. continued] [...] deposition testimony or recordings as “Confidential Information” pursuant to the procedures set out in Paragraph 8 of the Stipulation and Protective Order. [which again is just the name for the agreement the plaintiffs and defendants had entered into before discovery began]
4. Defendants may file a reply by the close of business on Tuesday, March 17, 2026.
5. The Court will hold a hearing on Tuesday, March 17, 2026, at 11:00 a.m. in Courtroom 24A, Moynihan Courthouse.
This Order is entered solely to preserve the status quo pending the Court’s considerationof the parties’ arguments.
SO ORDERED.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ciqsnjujtkuawhr2asqfhd7j/bafkreihguaujgu7kfvgl5jhwno3d3v7sd3e27haz26olt7ha6gr3az7siq)
![Screenshot of the Judge's Order, with the summary of facts at hand highlighted in blue right before the "Accordingly, itt is hereby ORDERED that" part of the Order.
That summary reads [with comments in brackets being my own]:
"Thus, while the Protective Order [i.e., the agreement before discovery between plaintiffs and defendants] contemplates that discovery material designated as confidential may not be disseminated publicly, it also establishes a specific mechanism by which deposition testimony is to be designated as confidential. The Court has not yet been informed whether the procedures set out in Paragraph 8 [i.e., the relevant part of the agreement aka "Protective Order"] were invoked with respect to the deposition testimony or recordings at issue here."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ciqsnjujtkuawhr2asqfhd7j/bafkreihumhtwicakkm2lzur6hb3p7mcbsjmxu7ubwpiufkvjfqpyg7ghfy)
