Splashdot 2026 - Day 7
Jammies Day (John Scalzi)
Day Seven!
JAMMIES DAY
Alas, the day has come. The final day on the 2026 JoCo Cruise. Tomorrow, we’ll be packed up and scattered to the winds, like so many dandelion seeds, fluttering away, carrying only memories and luggage from our time on the boat.
And what memories will you take from JoCo Cruise 2026? Hopefully, good ones. Of friends. Of laughter. Of music and dancing and games and fun. Of the togetherness of a chosen community that has become the heart of the cruise. Because that’s the not-so-secret secret of the JoCo Cruise: It’s you and everyone else who make this dream work.
And it is a dream, isn’t it? For a week, if only for a week, the nerds and misfits make a world of their own. On our not-so-little boat, we dream up what the world could be, when people get to be who they are, and all of who they can be. Like all dreams, it’s brief; like all dreams, it might operate on a logic that, at least at first, harsh reality cannot tolerate for long.
But it’s equally possible that at least some of the world we dream up here, we will be able to take with us as we go. A world that’s just a little bit kinder. A world that’s just a little bit more tolerant. A world just a little bit more creative, more aware, more accepting, more willing to make friends of strangers, and more willing to deepen the friendships that we already have.
Will this dream change the world? Perhaps not. But it could help change your world, and that would be enough. And if enough personal worlds are changed, who can say what can happen from there? It’s just a thought. A hope. A dream.
Maybe that’s why today, the final day of the 2026 JoCo Cruise, is Jammies Day. Jammies to sleep, sleep to dream, dream to change our world.
(And also, Jammies Day because you’ve packed up everything else so you can get yourself off the boat, but let’s not let reality intrude on this just yet. Reality is for when we deboard! We’re dreaming right now!)
Enjoy Jammies Day and this, your final day on the 2026 JoCo Cruise. Tomorrow, as you head back out into the world, remember the good things here and the dream you helped make on board. We’ll have to wake up from it. But we can carry it with us, until we’re on the boat again.
Lego Island: A Retrospective
A Lego Island is frozen history. Every brick, every minifigure, tells a story, reveals another intervention in the fabric of plastic reality, made by hundreds of individual builders. Imposing a single narrative on such a plurivocal, community-based project is bound to fail.
And yet…
And it’s sure been an exciting week in the Deck 1 Atrium for the denizens of this year’s Lego Island. Our reporter visited the atrium to get a sense of major developments this week. The eye is quickly drawn to a large-scale ritual of some kind on the beach – multiple seemingly middle-aged grey-haired figures drawn into an ecstatic dance or possibly a religious frenzy. In addition to the numerous aircraft, boats, and other vehicles of uncertain function, we note a lively concert performance on top of Mt. JoCo, next to a long, narrow, red structure leading to a very high diving board. The mind shudders at the fall these minifigures contemplate.
Our reporter spoke to one young guest who offered a frank assessment of the situation:
“This guy is riding around his lair on his surfboard and stealing everyone’s hair. He sells it back to them.”
The socio-economic structure of the island can only be guessed at, but we can only conclude with a humble prayer for the denizens of this lovely island, and hope to check in on them next year.
Bird of the Day: Magnificent Frigatebird
It’s not just the life aquatic that distinguishes the wildlife on a JoCo cruise. We’re also lucky to be sailing through some incredible bird habitats, and we don’t just mean that in the sense of a really good Wingspan session.
One of our favorites this year is the aptly-named Magnificent Frigatebird, who surely boats one of the all-time best names in the Bird Kingdom (Editor’s note: Aren’t birds a class, not a Kingdom, phylogenetically speaking?)
You may have seen one of these beautiful, graceful birds soaring on the thermals above the ship, or off in the distance. They are the largest of the frigatebirds, with an adult’s wingspan reaching up to 2.4m in length (over 8 feet). In addition to their size, frigatebirds are also distinguished by their speed, and can reach a velocity of up to 150 km/ hr. Which is, frankly, too fast.
Male frigatebirds are distinguished by a large, inflatable red sack on their chest and neck, which they can inflate to float like a balloon for some reason attract a mate. Although capable divers, they are also notorious pirates, forcing other seabirds to vomit up their own seafood catch in fear.
Honestly, something to aspire to.
Thanks for everything, frigatebird.
Stormoscopes, Episode Seven
Scorpio
- You will bellow "Rock You Like a Hurricane" at an inappropriate time, but it'll work out fine.
- This is not the day for anyone to eat food off of your plate.
Cancer
- Santa will name you as the replacement for Rudolph, who left to go solo.
Sagittarius
- I'M NOT LOUD, YOU'RE LOUD, WHOOOOOO!!!!!
- You will buy a shirt that says "Disco 4 Evar" and not know if you did so ironically.
Taurus
- Today you can "call bull" on anything, and that will be that.
- Bull it up!
Uruk-hai
- You will enjoy a day at the beach and brag about it to your orc friends.
Overheard on JoCo
“I don’t know if I’ve packed enough corsets?”
“If you took all the cruise events and made it so everyone could theoretically attend all of them, the cruise would last twenty days”
“All JocoBot wants to talk about is his generative AI”
“I can’t go ashore right now babe, Gold Team Chess needs me.”
"Astrophysics is just math and guessing, let's go!"
“I keep eating on this ship but I don’t seem to get full.”
“Was there as much cake in previous years?”
“I don’t want to order until I read the Red Team food reviews.”
“Shouldn’t it be ‘Good Evening JoCo?’”
Have you heard anything memorable around the ship over the past week you want to share? Let us know in the comments.