Nancy Friedman
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fritinancy.bsky.social
Nancy Friedman
@fritinancy.bsky.social
Name developer, writer, lapsed journalist, bay swimmer. Born in Los Angeles, semi-rooted in Oakland, California. “Queen of retail rabbit holes.” https://fritinancy.substack.com/
Pinned
Interest is the most important thing in life; happiness is temporary, but interest is continuous. – Georgia O’Keeffe
Reposted by Nancy Friedman
Fun word search game from Slate: Pears. (I love any Boggle-esque sort of game. Got 433 today.) (via @fritinancy.bsky.social) [slate.com]
Slate Pears
Can you find all the words? Can you find the best pear words? Can you beat your friends?
slate.com
February 12, 2026 at 7:52 PM
Reposted by Nancy Friedman
Happy birthday to one of my favourite haters, Charles Darwin
February 12, 2026 at 4:31 PM
Everything is terrible, but I have the top score (so far) in today's Slate Pears game.
February 12, 2026 at 5:27 PM
Why are so many brands calling themselves Ro, Row, Rohe, Rho, or Roe?

fritinancy.substack.com/p/ro-is-a-ro...
Ro is a Row is a RŌZ
Or a Róhe or a Roe or a Rho.
fritinancy.substack.com
February 12, 2026 at 4:11 PM
Reposted by Nancy Friedman
fun fact: US Luge's youth talent search program is sponsored by White Castle. because, you know. sliders.

www.usaluge.org/try-luge/sli...
USA Luge x White Castle Slider Search
Ready to join us? SIGN UP here!The White Castle USA Luge Slider Search is the official nationwide athlete recruitment tour of USA Luge, targeting young athletes, ages 10-13. The mission of this grass-...
www.usaluge.org
February 11, 2026 at 11:01 PM
Reposted by Nancy Friedman
“Palantir leadership sometimes refers to employees as “hobbits,” after the fictional Lord of the Rings characters. “

Is not even the most fucked up thing in this story but I believe it deserves its own notice!
www.wired.com/story/palant...
Palantir CEO Alex Karp Recorded a Video About ICE for His Employees
In a video shared with Palantir employees, Alex Karp did not explain how ICE is utilizing the company’s products. Instead, workers were told they can sign NDAs if they want detailed information.
www.wired.com
February 11, 2026 at 3:41 AM
“Whose"-avoidance
February 10, 2026 at 6:08 PM
This is breaking my brain.

cc @mashedradish.bsky.social
February 10, 2026 at 5:57 PM
Reposted by Nancy Friedman
“My theory was that we were gonna be sharks. The rest of the cast was like, ‘No, we’re gonna be frogs,’” he said. “And then we just see this bush moving, and we’re like, ‘What?’ And they go, ‘Nah, you guys are gonna be trees.’”
February 10, 2026 at 3:18 AM
Reposted by Nancy Friedman
it's weird to see people complain about Bad Bunny's performance being in Spanish when there have been entire operas in Italian, German and French performed in the US and the top song of the last two years, K-Pop Demon Hunters' "Golden" has lyrics in Korean
February 9, 2026 at 3:11 PM
Winter Olympics word of the week: Stoat. (ht @mashedradish.bsky.social)
fritinancy.substack.com/p/word-of-th...
Word of the week: Stoat
A weasel word goes to the Winter Olympics.
fritinancy.substack.com
February 9, 2026 at 3:40 PM
Reposted by Nancy Friedman
Gift shop in the Minneapolis airport is selling "ICE OUT of St. Paul" posters next to cute onesies and fridge magnets.
February 8, 2026 at 10:15 PM
Reposted by Nancy Friedman
In a move destined to infuriate copy editors (among other accomplishments), Warner Bros. is insisting that critics use quotations marks when citing the title of Emerald Fennell’s “Wuthering Heights.” This is not a joke.
February 7, 2026 at 12:29 AM
Reposted by Nancy Friedman
I'm sorry the guy changing the rules on the fly is named what
I stand with County Executive Calvin Ball as he signs emergency legislation today prohibiting privately owned buildings from being used as ICE detention centers.

Howard County chose dignity, accountability, and its people. Tune into our event now:
bit.ly/4a2VtHw
Redirecting...
bit.ly
February 7, 2026 at 2:34 PM
I had to look up "GM," "charisma check," "natural 20," and "d6," and I *still* thought this was brilliant.
GM: Charisma check.

Mamdani: [rolls natural 20]

GM: that’s a d6 how did you

Mamdani: [direct to camera] Did you know you can check out board games at your local public library? 😊
February 7, 2026 at 5:15 AM
Reposted by Nancy Friedman
White House press corps, I know some of you are shy, so let me help you get started. This isn't fifty questions--I could only fit twenty-one in alt text--but let me know if you need more!
February 6, 2026 at 5:37 PM
"Criteria" is the plural. "Criterion" is the singular. (From the @nytimes.com "Open Thread" style newsletter, 2/6/26) messaging-custom-newsletters.nytimes.com/dynamic/rend...
February 6, 2026 at 10:10 PM
In the last month I encountered "renown" used as an adjective (e.g., "a renown professor") in two books by, um, renowned authors that were published by big New York publishers. How is this happening?
February 6, 2026 at 9:07 PM
Reposted by Nancy Friedman
Your yacht will never find out anything damning about your business.
Should You Buy a Newspaper or a Yacht?
Advice for Jeff Bezos
www.theatlantic.com
February 6, 2026 at 2:18 PM
“‘From the heart, brains and boobs of Sydney Sweeney,’ the website cheerfully chirps at you, eschewing the Oxford comma and making it sound as if her brain and boobs are mashed together into one pulsating, confused, plush organ.”
February 5, 2026 at 8:21 PM
Reposted by Nancy Friedman
Times New Resistance is a free font that's identical to Times New Roman but autocorrects some words as you type, e.g. "ICE autocorrects to the Goon Squad and the word Trump autocorrects to Donald Trump is a felon". Brilliant. [kottke.org]
Times New Resistance
This is awesome and clever. Minneapolis designer Abby Haddican has made a typeface called Times New Resistance. The letters are identical to Times New Roman (and it even appears as such in font menus, except there’
kottke.org
February 5, 2026 at 5:32 PM
Reposted by Nancy Friedman
Helen of Troy has one, and only one, relevant character trait: very pretty.

In the Ancient Greek story, she's basically an object. An excuse to go to war. A MacGuffin. All the audience needs is to see her and go "yeah, I get it." Any beautiful actress can do that.

Such a weird hill to die on.
Charles Murray, famous racist, is very mad that Lupita Nyong’o is going to play Helen of Troy.

www.liberalcurrents.com/none-more-wo...
February 5, 2026 at 5:46 PM