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Friday Fun Thread for April 24, 2026

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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  • Websites listing fan conventions: 1 (including a hidden list of adults-only fan conventions), 2 (apparently poorly translated from French)

  • Websites listing professional conferences: 1, 2, 3

Do you think anybody would attend a meetup on the topic of nonconsensual editing? (This is approximately half a joke.)


My vomit-inducing custom house is approximately three-fourths complete.

  • Photograph 1: Apparently, in plumbing the modern practice is to divvy up all the water pipes through a "manifold" (like a circuit-breaker box), which looks pretty cool.

  • Photograph 2: Spray-foam insulation

  • Photograph 3: Behold! A boring beige box!


Which variations of the cylindrical equal-area projection are your favorites?

I am inclined to pick Behrmann (standard parallels ±30 °, so that exactly half of the map's area is stretched vertically and half is squashed vertically; aspect ratio ∼2.4) and Smyth/Craster (aspect ratio 2∶1; standard parallels ∼±37 °).

The cable periscope kills me.

How much did this whole thing set you back (minus the cost of the land)?

The total bill is 224 k$ for 858 ft2 of house, 720 ft2 of driveway (not including ∼110 ft2 that's government-owned), 395 ft2 of sidewalk (including 270 ft2 that's government-owned), and 396 ft of fence. (An item-by-item breakdown is not available.)

The land was 29 k$ for 1/6 of an acre.