33 Comments
User's avatar
Wanda Bess's avatar

Some of this stuff goes over my head so I will have to look into it more closely. But I will stand behind this: ice cream sandwiches are gross. 💩

Wanda Bess's avatar

A slight amendment: “traditional” ice cream sandwiches are gross. Cookies and ice cream, however, are delightful.

Scott Christmas's avatar

Her ideas are very American- and present-day-centric. I'm sure if she was South African, she'd be certain his predictions were about South Africa. If horses had gods, they'd look like horses. Even if we want to stick to America, maybe he was talking about the disputed1876 election. It didn't get resolved until 2 days before the inauguration, and that was when inaugurations were in March, not January.

Liga Krikis's avatar

If we have to wait until something happens to figure out how it could somehow be construed to fit a Nostradamus prediction, isn’t that defeating the point of a “prediction”? Moreover, assuming that Nostradamus’ predictions are about the USA (which didn’t exist in his day), and at this specific point in time, seems like pure hubris. Who’s to say he’s was not writing about China in the year 2877, for example? Or countries that don’t even exist yet?

Michael Ian Black's avatar

To answer your question, you're absolutely correct! It's total silliness but still very fun.

Roman's avatar

Could it be that Michael’s entertainment business colleagues or spouse created that audiobook for him as a prank?

Roman's avatar

Penn Jillette or Michael Shermer could easily disprove and expose all of that in a minute.

Carol Hernandez, EdD's avatar

I love reading about this stuff! The universe is definitely weirder than we can imagine.

Merrill Markoe's avatar

I went thru a phase of reading/taking in this type of weird shit and here is what I concluded: the ONLY times we can all relax knowing we are truly safe are the times when Nostradamus predicted earthquakes. These are the times when guaranteed nothing at all will happen.

Carolyn Lee Adams-Young's avatar

I've only written one post on Substack, and it's about how I genuinely believe my great-great-great grandmother, who is from Kenya (that part, anyway, is definitely accurate - according to AncestryDNA), communicates with me through Blue Jay feathers. I've had exceptionally weird day (for example, I came home to find my shower running - and it had been running so long all the hot water was gone), and this afternoon my son brought me a clutch of Blue Jay feathers. Point is - there are a lot of weirdos out there, myself definitely included, and there's nothing weirdos love so much as reading weird stuff like this post - so keep it comin'.

Michael Ian Black's avatar

Thanks for the sweet anecdote!

Frank Bard's avatar

Do you play in tournaments or the cash games? I'm a tourney player myself.

Michael Ian Black's avatar

Almost exclusively cash. I don't understand tournament strategy very well.

Frank Bard's avatar

I'm an exclusive tourney man. Commerce, Hustler, Hollywood Park, Vegas. You should dip into a few of them. It's an entirely different way to play Hold 'Em. Can't play like you do in cash, which is hand to hand. Gotta think survivor style, outlasting the impulses. :)

Kay Wood's avatar

Nothing wrong with weird. As a retired professional who had to deal with concrete, provable, irrefutable linear thinking, I still have had a few encounters with weird. Decades ago I read a book debunking Nostradamus, but my memory fails me on the title.

Plenty of stuff cannot be rationally explained so weird continues to intrigue me. Enjoy!

Mindy's avatar

Weird shit is the most fun. Write more about it. The story about how Dolores talked to Nostradamus in person, not in spirit, is awesome because it makes it even more strange, and maybe even more believable because who would say that? It did bring to mind my experience with an animal communicator (the psychic kind) who tried to teach me and a few other ladies how to talk to animals with our minds. (Spoiler: didn't work for me, no communication ensued with the "receptive" dog subject provided.) I could possibly buy that it was possible -- but then she said it didn't matter if the animal was alive or dead, we could communicate with the pet either way. Just too much weird shit -- I had way too many questions. I like to keep an open mind, though!

Carol J. Butterfield's avatar

Martha, I feel you about the normal husband thing.

Benjamin Adler's avatar

I want to read more about Ice Cream Sandwiches.

Richard Kimbel's avatar

It's your lucky day, Michael:

"The Baked Bear, a national chain specializing in custom ice cream sandwiches, will open its Savannah shop at noon on Saturday, July 20. According to its Instagram, the first 50 people in line will get a free sandwich."

https://www.savannahnow.com/story/entertainment/dining/2024/07/19/the-baked-bear-custom-ice-cream-sandwiches-new-savannah-georgia-location-opens-july-20/74458539007/

GroovemasterGreg's avatar

My wife uses the same term your bride does when I frustrate her with my conversational interests and then she tells me to “call one of your weird friends” because of my tendency to want to discuss obscure details regarding jazz, rock and blues music from the 1930’s on. I feel your pain.

She will, however, be fascinated as I am with the content of this, well, we’ll call it an article since it’s so interesting. I’ll be doing a lot of reading up on this so thanks!

I’m not sure how to refer to your writing in this particular venue. Is it a blog and thus a post, or is that insulting? Is it an article? Seems like in these days of X and insta, what limited content that can be shared is now more akin to a post. A corporate type would describe it as “subscriber content” but it’s so much more than that! Is it a stack? Possibly a Op-Ed?

A rose by any other name…

Michael Ian Black's avatar

I dunno what it is. Just a place to write stuff down.