A nearby rural lakeshore has a public beach which reopens today. The county vaccination rate for adults is under 24%

That beach will be crowded with unvaccinated adults and children, yelling to be heard over the boats from the cordoned launch ramp only yards away.

Good Luck!

Sex is great and all, but…

Have you ever had sweet southern cole slaw from the bottom of the bowl after it’s been refrigerated an extra day?

Odds that John Q. Satoshi here does NOT have the COVID vaccine inside him seem very high indeed

The quote beneath the brake light is populist Q faux-revolution drivel …

Mom was a bit of a challenge today, mood-wise. 🤷

Everybody else had a good time, so I’m calling it a success. 💐

I found my fully-vaccinated self seated in a customer-free Indian restaurant, next to the gas station the fuel light had demanded I stop at. Samosas, naan, & a spicy serving of butter chicken were enjoyed 😋

📷 🐮 I’m not saying it’s a country store, I’m just saying they have a Cow of the Month pinup calendar

📺 🍿 “Lucky Day” (2019)

The poster caught my eye, then Nina Dobrev, but Crispin Glover is, as always, a reason to watch anything.

Clifton Collins & David Hewlett are treats in support of this bloody revenge rampage mashed up with an ex-con’s romance fairy tale.

✨📖✨

“There is no promised land — anywhere. No heaven for Black folks hovering above the Mason-Dixon line. If I am not safe anywhere, then why don’t I just come back home?”

www.nashvillescene.com/arts-cult…

Browser Fact of the Day :

More people are now using an Opera browser (> 2014) than any IE version from 6-11 (< 2013)

Approximately 1.32% vs 1.10% of Global Browser Usage, per CanIUse

Tests are green again, and it’s after Midnight GMT, so that makes it both* Taco Tuesday and Cinco de Mayo (If you hold your mouth right…)

*Don’t ruin this with any joyless pedantry, just celebrate Zaragoza’s victory over the French!

Improvised standing desk for working on the deck while the spring weather is pleasant (I predict about 3 weeks until it’ll be too humid)

Had a discussion about the need to deliver WebP instead of JPEG, literally millions of our images will need converting.

Why?

Google decreed that any sites with JPEGs will be penalized in search results.

Where are those antitrust calls?

Does the market decide or does Google?

Hungry Heart

🌎 🌞

A hollowed-out tree trunk hangs by a twisted fiber along the trail at Pilot Mountain state park #EarthDay

Have had the “Dark Yonder” anthology capping off my tsundoko a while, finally finished it.

The last story, “Not Enough To Drink” by Rob Pierce, was the darkest. Perfect ending. Would have been at home in an homage to Flannery O’Connor.

🟣🎸Prince’s phenomenal guitar solo at the end of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” (in tribute to George Harrison)

youtu.be/6SFNW5F8K…

Location, location, location.

Do you love guns, but are frustrated that you can’t shoot the COVID-19 virus? Does this terrifying inadequacy cause you to displace your fear into anger at the public health officials, medical professionals, and pharmaceutical researchers striving to save lives? Good news! You will no longer need to tremble in fear of your secret impotence, because Smith & Wesson now offers hi-power nano-bullet technology you can buy to blast those blood-invaders away!…

One simple brick to make car dealerships love you! 💵 🛻

Second Shot of Moderna in my arm! #Vax

“Worth the deuce” #KissARMY

Endeavour S06 E03 :

Forget the chocolates, murder, and tragedy : There is no way anyone would believe Olivia Chenery’s husband would leave her.

🎶🎸🥁🎤 C’mon start a fire / in my electric chair / Baby cross my wires / Light up my hair / Overload my circuits / Let me feel the juice / Make me an offer / That I can’t refuse / BLOW MY FUSE

song.link/i/1092723…

If life’s lessons could be reduced to single sentences, there would be no need for fiction.

• Scott Turow, author and lawyer (b. 12 Apr 1949)

via A.W.A.D.

🌸📷 Solo bulb is sus, tbh. I don’t remember it from last year…

🌸📷 Sprung : three weeks ago this was all grey sticks and brown mulch L

If phi is zero, then the system doesn’t exist for itself; anything with Φ^max greater than zero exists for itself, has an inner view, and has some degree of irreducibility

thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/is-consci…

“We’re told that Tony Stark and Pepper Potts are an item, but no actual romantic or sexual chemistry between them is shown in the films.” - BloodKnife . com

Rebuttal: The dance scene from Iron Man (2008)

youtu.be/8GnumAGrl…

📷 🔵🐦 party beneath the bird feeder.

Too heavy to land on the perches themselves, three blues scavenge for spilled seed below.

🎶 Dave Grohl plays his hit song ‘Everlong’ on acoustic guitar (after a personal seven minute story about writing it…) 🎸🥁 #FooFighters #Everlong

youtu.be/vLkBybsH73k

Saturday morning is the perfect time to say that if you’re missing WandaVision this weekend, you can get a good version of The Vision‘s origin from the 2012 cartoon “The Avengers : Earths Mightiest Heroes”

You can jump right in to the four episode arc E14 - E17 in S2

“Billy Butcher” Motivational Poster by ‘ButcherBilly’

Last night’s prototype for a lamp shade idea… Just popped it into that existing shade as a test

A word is heard. In a place, or a way, or a mood, which is not, in some minor shift - usual. A flare of light passes on some urgent tangent, burning across the secret sky of inner thought, revealing a new contour of the lonely plane the mind traverses. The angle of our next footfall alters subtly.…

Happy Valentines Day to all you “Sexy MF-ers” from The Purple One 🎶🥁🎷💕

song.link/i/1544288…

📚🇫🇷 My knowledge of Napoleonic France comes from reading the unabridged ‘Count of Monte Cristo’ by Dumas. Napoleon’s return from exile on Elba provided the intrigue that underpin the titular Dantès’ betrayal

America today feels how I imagine France did in those ‘Hundred Days’

🎙🍲 If you need something lovely this morning, I want to recommend the velvet voice of NPR’s Noel King as she charmingly learns to make Thai Chicken with Basil 🥰

www.npr.org/2021/02/1…

Good night nodeJS.

I will most likely kill you tomorrow.

🎶 ‘Just Like Heaven’

Someone who shall remain blameless kept referencing The Cure, so I was inspired to put my faves on shuffle…

All I am saying is in the 25th century, somewhere there is a very rich salesman for a defense contractor who laughs every time he sees a Federation ship, and he absolutely refuses to step foot aboard one of them.

Streaming the next episode of Voyager which begins with a space battle that severely damages the ship.

A crewman dies after “his console exploded in his face” … from external damage?

I hate when these stupid little cliches are egregious enough to mar otherwise great episodes.

I was listening to another session of blather stating the usual argument to “free people up to be entrepreneurial” through creative destruction of old business, and ways to tweak the margins of that. But we already know that doesn’t work for lowest ‘skill’ levels, and won’t give many of those people jobs. Setting aside the debate about UBI, I think a WPA inspired model, instead of just more highways and business incentives, is the easy route.…

📺 ‘Save Yourselves!’

An existential crisis for a young couple leads them to disconnect from the internet & leave NYC for a week in the woods - the same week that aliens invade!

Sunita Mani (‘GLOW’, ‘Mr Robot’) is the best part of this mildly entertaining, offbeat comedy

📺 Motherless Brooklyn ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Edward Norton did everything in adapting this for film and it has a cohesive quality as a result.

Gugu Mbatha-Raw warms every scene she is in, an ingenue worthy of the definition.

Alec Baldwin as Randolph has a line which damns in recent echoes

“the systemic nature of crime in underprivileged communities is often driven by the inability of the powerful to empathize and address the concerns of the powerless. Submission to the powerful is often more important than the humanity of the powerless”

-The Way of the Laser

The four horseman of “I ain’t got no dipping sauce”

The Big Sleep (1978)

I’d seen the 1946 Bogart & Bacall version a few times, but never Robert Mitchum’s, who quips well, but fails to menace as Marlowe should.

The transplant from LA to the English countryside was odd, but otherwise the plot is faithful to the novel.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

On Kiva, you can loan money to alleviate poverty around the world.

This morning I added the Dominican Republic and Mali to the countries where I’ve made a loan to help someone help themselves.

www.kiva.org/invitedby…

Mine is only one drop in the ocean, add yours

Good Morning America! 🇺🇸

It’s a great day to wake up refreshed and push progress forward for the least of us everywhere

🎶🥁’Who Owns Who’ - Prophets of Rage

song.link/us/i/1440…

“Locked Down” (2021 - HBO Max) is a film set in the early pandemic in London, where the depressed Paxton (Chiwetel Ejiofor) still has to live with the disappointed Linda (Anne Hathaway) after she ends their long romance. Separately, over Zooms with a killer cast of friends and coworkers, the trajectories of their crossing stars drag them through fever-maddened course and into the plot of a perfect crime. Whether you love to listen to Chiwetel talk, or to watch Hathaway evanescence, this sparkling gem written by Steven Kinight will make for an enjoyable movie night - at home, on the couch, forgetting about your pandemic woes as they conquer theirs.…

Use of Black & White sets throwback expectations, plus the use of the comfortably familiar Dick Van Dyke Show set for Wanda’s living room. It’s possible the kitchen was meant as an open version of the I Love Lucy one, but one shouldn’t expect comedy on the high level of those all-time classics. In fact, while a laugh track hit OK on the heels of every punch line blatantly thrown at the viewer, there was an intentional discomfort swimming beneath the surface of the lighthearted farce of errors, a subtle interrogation of the situation that only hinted at the real problem:…

🎶🎸”Goodbye Year, Goodbye” - ‘X’

The most prophetic song released in 2020…

song.link/i/1509068…

“The Blurred Odyssey” - ‘The Sh-Booms’

(2019 Soul/Funk/Blues)

album.link/i/1451091…

1️⃣ This year is The One! Happy New Year 🥳 2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣1️⃣ 🎉

The moral of the story is to never look behind the drop ceiling… 🙈🚧

Imagine posting a list of “Essential Episodes of ‘The Expanse’” 🤪🤓😜

You gotta watch EVERY episode AT LEAST TWICE! 🚀👽⭕️☄️

📺🎄OK, “Fatman” let’s do this…

Golden Shuffle?

Thunderkiss ’65 - Rob Zombie Black Shuck - The Darkness Arcane Montane - The Sword So Easy - Eagles of Death Metal

Lo the bare branches of winter Begun to reveal The demense of his lordship Looking down from high upon the hill

Lenny’s scream to kick off that horn outro over the epic groove : the last 30 seconds of ‘Always on the Run’ is in the pantheon.

song.link/i/7233384…

📺 ‘The Cloud’ Star Trek : Voyager S1E06🖖 A high concept episode, where the nebula they divert to “mine” for its rich energy source turns out to be something literally more fantastic. Janeway is very charming, at times bordering on plucky, as she deals with the danger, disappointment, and duty in ‘The Cloud’ Side Note: Typical workday for a Web Engineer ;) The writers used Neelix as a lampshade in this episode, marching to the captain’s office in indignant protest at the ship stopping to investigate every anomaly in the quadrant while endangering the crew in the process.…

🎶 Straight to Hell by Drivin’ N’ Cryin’🎸

🔗 Trump has, thoroughly and completely, lost the 2020 election. Now who’s going to tell the Republican base?

Or more to the point, who’s going to tell them they’re being scammed? #μβ www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/…

📺🖖‘Phage’ Star Trek : Voyager S1E05 Crew-mate Neelix has had his LUNGS stolen by a mystery alien… so the hologram doctor invents HoloLungs because they can’t replicate replacements for his organs. Except they replicated them every time he has used the transporter… ⭐️ 6.5/10

📺 👽 🚀 My rewatch of Star Trek has reached the point (DS9 S3E12) where I get to start interleaving Voyager episodes!

Tuvok, Paris, Kim, Torres, Chakotay - Janeway ended up with a great crew (and the show had a very likable cast right out of the gate)

🎸 Every time I go on another Prince jag I veer ever closer to starting a religion on what you could learn from studying his paisley life:

“How many want to get deep tonight? How many y’all want to stay on the shore though?”

www.youtube.com/watch

Many people will struggle this winter, but you can help them to have a “Holiday without Hunger” for five bucks a box at your local Food Lion grocery 🦃 🥣 🥖

www.foodlion.com/in-our-co…

If no Food Lion nearby, please RT with your local equivalent

🎶 ”Take The Power Back”

song.link/i/1914509…

📷 Backyard Colors

❔Hypothetical Question:

If you REALLY believed an election had just been stolen from you, would you go play golf for two straight days or would you be elbow deep in work; fighting hard to prevent the political coup? 🗳

Dead things have fallen, and we need to put together new tools to gather them up and throw them out

🎵 “In the pines, in the pines”

song.link/i/1481143…

🎵 Starting the day off bumping to the Jamiroquai throwback ‘Virtual Insanity’

song.link/i/3444817…

Spotted the local biz run by a QAnon victim…

Fortunate the County Board of Elections is convenient for me, as the lot is full and they are using all of the sidewalk on this first day of early voting

🎵 📺 Full Video of Lanie Gardner‘s smoky cover of ‘Dreams’ (Fleetwood Mac) on y/t:

youtu.be/V1LhC1zGo…

The sound I heard just after I read the captions on this photo scared me; especially when I realized it was my own snort-cackling laughter 🐈💥

How it started. How it ended up. #FetchHappened

Roadside Seen : STDs

Stop The Donald 2020

“Don’t let the infection spread”

Currently super annoyed with all of you that knew that “Get Shorty” series was fucking brilliant and never mentioned it (or S01 at least)

Loves In Abandonment

The problem for the plumber is that from his perspective everyone is paying attention to two of his neighbors.

However, he is only adjacent to them in proximity. Many neighbors would call one of a few local plumbers. He is unremarkable.

He is not their peer.

Imagine an accomplished inventor scientist and her neighborhood friend the passionate philanthropist have a good-natured rivalry whose colorful annual competitions draw national news interest

A plumber they both use lives on the next street

Why doesn’t everyone know his name?

So glad to see Claudio is back with Ewan & Charley for ‘The Long Way Up’ on Apple TV+ 🏍 📺

Trail Break - it said ‘mountain wilderness trail’ on the map but it did not register upon me that would mean hauling myself up and down so heavily…

Feeling the fall of autumn weather today. Being in Carolina, we’ll warm back up a time or three, but the summer heat has broken

Reportedly, Tatiana Maslany (Orphan Black) will play ‘She-Hulk’ - a young lawyer injured in a car crash receives a transfusion from cousin Bruce Banner, whose gamma-irradiated Hulk blood is responsible her gorgeous green hair & musculature

📺 ‘21 Bridges’ Chadwick Boseman as a detective known for shooting cop-killers. The same night he is cleared by IA, two hitters knock off the wrong coke stash & kill seven cops… “Trigger” is oddly placed in charge of manhunt & closes all 21 bridges to NYC 3.5 dirty stars

Every Mel Gibson movie is some shade of crime / noir but last years ‘Dragged Across Concrete’ was darker and better than ‘Force of Nature’ if you’re looking for one to skip…

📚5⭐️ ‘Legendborn’ - @TracyDeonn (YA) Modern Fantasy about a bright young black girl entering college at Carolina whose grief drives her to join a secret society older than The Old Well and darker than her family’s own ancient secrets.

A unique blend of Magic with timely heft!

📚 ‘Interference’ - 4 ⭐️

Brad Parks’ newest thriller is about a hoops-loving Physicist whose life becomes dangerously entangled with a spooky component of his quantum research …

www.indiebound.org/book/9781…

Some days the best solution is to write a tidy little bash script 🐚 💻

📚 Hey lookitthat! My preorder for Tracy Deonn’s ‘Legendborn’ shipped early

American Ruins

Disappointed my relatives have lived near these pleasant spots forever and never mentioned any of them

Found a relatively quiet spot to sit by the water for a while

I wonder if a source of the powerless congress we have today is the automation of government expenditure. Has the ‘power of the purse’ the founders expected to provide check and balance to executive authority been abdicated? Imagine if ICE needed congress to cut monthly checks…

Rocks on Deep River

Want to read: Three-Fifths by John Vercher 📚

Want to read: The Warehouse by Rob Hart 📚

Protest against corruption of US Postal Service at Dejoy’s Home

Depression effect of the virus on vacation-dependent restaurants has to be MASSIVE 🦠 🏝 🥐

Proof you can still have a ball while socially distancing 🏝 🍷 #OBX

📚🏝 🍺 ’Monday Starts on Saturday’ - Strugatsky Bros. (W/ Schöfferhofer grapefruit Hefeweizen)

📚🏝 My next Beach Read is Kiese Laymon’s debut novel ‘Long Division’

beta.thestorygraph.com/books/5ca…

Sound of the surf 🏝🎤 #OBX

Earthquakes, 2020? This piece of shit year…

Get in loser, we’re going to Arrakis 📚🚀🏝🌵🌍

Absolutely disgusting to see American democracy die because a few assholes in the right places usurped authority

I was sitting out on deck this morning with my coffee when a little hummingbird flew over to interrupt my doom-scrolling. As he departed, he took a quick nip from the feeder which has hung unvisited for the past year 🐦

🎵 🎤 🎸 “Peace Pipe” is one of those tracks that seemingly at random will pop into my thoughts from time to time; then I have to hear it five or fifteen times before I let it rest

youtu.be/INxliT-Nr…

Johnny Mnemonic is set in 2021, and in the second scene we see rioters wearing N95-style masks #FutureSense

America might be a pile of corpses and shit, but is OUR pile of corpses and shit

__ With apologies to Ty Franck and Daniel Abraham for paraphrasing Avasarala 📚🌍 🚀__

In a sense, this summer COVID-19 has finally granted the wishes of all of us who have always wanted a private tropical retreat… 🏝 🌴 ☀️

This passage from “Babylon’s Ashes” made me do some reflecting…

Looks like a wee bit of rain blowing in #NCWX

The 16th Dresden Files novel is out, “Peace Talks” and @LongShotAuthor is once again trying to kill Harry (and his readers) with an insane amount of concurrent crises and complications 📚

No one else is wearing a mask and the crowd is starting to thicken, so I’m a gonna vamoose on Audi

I might trade “Sophia” for this one #SoOrange

The Mustang Corral

It’s always a surprise to me how many cars show up for the July cruise-in down here. As in, I always forget it is happening

For a film with Malcovich, Vaughn and Hemsworth in it, I thought Eden Brolin made the movie ‘Arkansas’ with her odd and sweet, but neither stupid nor weak character

Breakfast for Bee

📚 Boomers crashed, and rain bucketed down on the tin roof of the deck, but the reader was comfortably ensconced, turning pages as the thrilling plot raced towards an undoubtedly bloody conclusion.

It’s a gorgeous morning to grab some pastries at Guglhupf 🥐☕️

I saw the decade end

and the world changed

in the blink of an eye … I was alive

And I waited

For this?

Right here?

Right now?

-JEEZUS Jones

Ahh Yeah, sookie sookie now!!! The postman delivered ‘Blacktop Wasteland’ by S.A. Cosby

“The Southern Styllist” pan fried liver pudding slices and pimento cheese on toast

📚 Got word my copy of @blacklionking73 ‘Blacktop Wasteland’ came in today, but I’m busy priming an undercarriage and can’t go pick it up before Tuesday 😭

TFW you shaved all your hair off and now none of your ball caps fit any more

Grinding, and welding, and priming, and painting…

Even at my worst, I was never the kind of drinker depicted in the lyrics for ‘Out Cold’ so know that what I love about this track is that groove. It’s got a perfect sleaze rock grind that I just cant get enough of.

song.link/i/1480050…

This is not how I wanted to play with laser blasters #KidneyStones

The pursuit of true Justice is more important than mere Law and Order. Justice is fair and right. Laws are attempts to define what is wrong. Order is only obedience to law. It is the least of American principles. Civil Disobedience, including protests and riots, are valid tools

Weekend Plans : a thick book and some cold beverages

*Westbrook I got from @Yonder Bar - Lemon Cucumber Gose

Your reminder that Ozzie & Harriet’s twin grandsons, Ricky Nelson’s kids, grew up to make a bawdy song about their threesome lifestyle, and it’s the closing credits track for “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure”

song.link/i/1496278…

📷🌸 A sampling of current blooms

Most of the beautiful flowers at my place are due to the previous owners, but these were my addition

Denzel Curry - ‘Bulls on Parade’

2019 cover of ‘Rage Against The Machine’ for Like a Version

www.youtube.com/watch

White Privilege is that the poorest & least educated white man alive could dress up in a borrowed suit and silently walk down the street - and people will assume he is a businessman.

When a rich, well-educated black man walks same street, many assume instead he is a criminal

Today’s Album : ‘Wake Up!’

John Legend & The Roots

album.link/i/3852747…

If your response to this unrest is to spit out some lukewarm phrase like “we believe in racial equality” and you do not SPECIFICALLY denounce police brutality, then you are colluding to maintain the status quo. You are part of the problem. #NoJusticeNoPeace #BadApplesSpoil

Why was blue the dominant color for police? Because it serves to separate the police from the military as a civic and pacifying group, a visual and psychological difference to reinforce that they were never meant to be aggressive warriors. Even the “minor fashionable” change from wearing blue shirts to black tactical clothing increases their aggressive mindset. A first step every chief of police nationwide should make is firing any officer who fails to turn in all riot gear tomorrow.…

Upgrading to a compression sleeve with integrated elbow pad costs about $13 per arm, $26 USD for a pair. Could be worth it, if you might get knocked down during outdoor activities.

Did you know you can get a pair of Ace Elbow Pads for about five dollars at WalMart ?

🚀 📷 This is the moment where the Falcon booster rocket had just landed back on the drone ship, and simultaneously Crew Dragon had officially achieved nominal orbit insertion. A new era in space flight!

Self-medicating with old reggae

Lion Youth : Rat A Cut Bottle

song.link/us/i/6717…

If you need to quickly disable Face ID on an Apple iPhone, squeeze both the side button on right and either one of the two volume buttons on left at the same time, for about two seconds. The system should bring up a screen with a slider to confirm powering the device off, as well as an Emergency SOS call slider. Simply ignore these to continue with the device powered on, but with Face ID disabled.…

I would listen to the heck out of an Electric Six mashup album of RATM covers right now…

Because if I put on actual RATM at this moment in time - there would likely be dark consequences.

Clamp-style 3D Printed face mask with microfiber cloth #NoSew #3Cuts

Reason to stop Karen-ing…

“The Karen meme was first served up on … home to adherents of the men’s movement, where users egged on an angry man whining about an ex-wife named Karen”

gen.medium.com/how-the-k…

Chillin’ on the deck as the storm comes down 📷⛈

Re-watching ‘Henry’s Crime’ and surprised again how well Keanu holds up against Vera Farmiga and James Caan in an excellent mashup of a buddy-crook caper against ‘The Cherry Orchard’

Many people will tell you Kathleen Turner was sexiest in ‘Body Heat’, which is phenomenal (check out the minor role by Ted Danson!) but I find her far more attractive in ‘Romancing The Stone’ - her skin is practically luminous and she is utterly charming. Very underrated movie.

Still mind-boggling that you can get mirror finish out of freaking plastic

If you gained $190,000 USD every DAY for the last 2,000 years you would still have less money than Bezos

$138 B < $143B

(per Forbes real time net worth tracker)

Dear iTunes shuffle, some harpsichord plonking isn’t exactly the way to get the old blood thumping in the morning!

Apologies to JSB, but… it just ain’t.

For some ineffable reason, I was reminded about Dr Cline’s seminar on systemic failure and rewatched it this morning :

1177 BC: The Year Civilization Collapsed

www.youtube.com/watch

Sometimes I think :

"I would like a new Everclear album"

and then I give ‘Black is the New Black’ another spin (or two) and it’s still just the best of Art’s music (coming from a guy who drove cross-country to listen to ‘Santa Monica’ in situ)

https://album.link/us/i/975618037

Tryna support The Stack #MasksForDocs #PPE

📷🌹🌱 Reaping the Rose Benefit

The former owners of my place planted these roses I now get to enjoy. I do, more than I expected, so I need to learn to care for them better…

The power of Clorox compels you!

Defense Secretary Mark Esper:

“It has revealed a new dynamic of this virus: that it can be carried by normal, healthy people who have no idea whatsoever”

Our SEC DEF has never heard of Typhoid Mary, STDs, or the DICTIONARY DEFINITION of a communicable disease carrier? 😖🤯🌎🔥

Is Nirvana’s ‘Lithium’ the perfect song for social distancing?

Introverts, Week 4:

I like it, I'm not gonna crack!

Extroverts, Week 4:

I miss you, I'm not gonna crack.

Emos, Week 4:

I love you. I'm not... gonna cRåçK?

’Re-openers’, Week 4:

I KILLED YOU!
I'M NOT GONNA CRACK!

It’s important to Gojira that you know - he never left the webcam business; the webcam business left him.

Now, in our hour of need, with a shortage of available webcams, he has come back to prove that HE is still the best dang camera beast in the game! #isight #firewire

Gave my neighbor one of the first face shields I made - she was retired but working P/T at a group home (laid off now) - they returned the favor with a couple hand sewn masks!

Take care of each other, we’re the only help that is coming

Wake up.

Put on Nevermind. “Breed”

Thrash in front of your mirror.

Let Kurt scream at the the unfeeling universe for you .

We’re at the ‘biennial maple sausages deep into the freezer’ point of social distancing #breakfast

📷 🌸 Rain covered rose blossoms after the storm

The last tree to bud out has finally done so. Landscaper wanted me to cut it down when I had the horse apple tree felled, but I remembered this one is still alive, just slowing down.

📷 🤖 Bender is modeling a prototype modification* of Zac’s (Tw: @GimmeBuilds ) DIY Face Shield

*Using Avery Clear Easy View Tab Dividers instead of Fellowes Binding Covers

Chastened by a comment Naomi Wu wrote about Makers discounting sewing… I resisted the urge to get the professional grade industrial computerized sewing machine, and got the cheapest thing that could work

📷 🌳 ☀️ This is my tree y’all. Have a nice day

Y’all know that joke where the bachelor throws some random ingredients together and calls it dinner?

WELCOME

to

Taco Theory

🎵🎸 ‘Never Fade’ by Alice In Chains is part of the reason their Rainier Fog album keeps growing on me, more and more, over time.

song.link/i/1399213…

🎙🎶 ‘Scrub and Bleach’

And now, your moment of zen #birdfeeder

Wet Wipes Face Mask

• Filter: Wet Wipes (Dried) (2)
• Spacer: Paper Towel
• Mount: Satin Ribbon (Hand Sewn)
• Hairdryer (or Iron) (construction aide)
• Scissors (construction)
• Thread & Needle (construction)

YouTube: NProkuda

Napkin Mask

• Filter: Napkins
• Mount: Rubber Bands (Circumferential)
• Option: Improve Fit with Stiff Insulated Wire

YouTube: Genius Asian

Example Hand Sewn “N95 Type” Mask

• Filter: Carbon Sheet (Activated)
• ALSO: Merv 13 (from deconstructed HVAC filter)
• ALSO: Gauze Pad (Maxi Pad)
• ALSO: Cotton (T-Shirt/Leggings)
• CON: Reuse Intended (Partial)

YouTube: Raphaela Laurean

PPE Mask Experiment

I’m dubious of the hand-sewn cloth masks, because of reuse. Seems like disposability is key, which requires cheap materials, and ease of DIY.

2 Thick paper towels (folded) 4 small rubber bands (tied) tape : plastic vs paper?

Any nCov protection is minimal!

OK, it is very clear that today has been one of the worse… #EverywhereTheSigns

youtu.be/epbOHloSp…

Picked up dinner from the taco truck after the gym. Once Covid-19 takes hold these street food micro-businesses are going to get decimated…

Keep these definitions of his favorite words in mind whenever ‘Don the Con’ speaks:

Incredible - Is not to be trusted.

Fantastic - Is not based in reality.

Unbelievable - Can not be believed.

Today’s alternative input device:

Kensington Orbit Trackball with Scroll Ring

Scroll Ring (versus the usual wheel) changes fingering for scroll. Orbit is more precise than my classic trackball (less inertia than HUGE pool cue sized ball)

(Retrieved from the box of old gear I keep)

Literally clearing out a corner in the basement to move my desk into…

Sunnier Days

🗳 🇺🇸 Fortunate to receive some assistance in performing my civic duties this #SuperTuesday afternoon from my niece #WeVotedWarren

I loved “Future Foe Scenarios” more but “Lazy Eye” is darn good and the most popular track off the Silver sun Pickups’ debut album “Carnavas” www.youtube.com/watch

Cutting this Lotus `49 F1 model for (hopefully) easier printing… hopefully.

Using OpenSCAD is probably overkill but… #3DP

Primary Research:

Bernie lists a handful of vague bullet points for each of six broad ideas he will detail later if he wins

But #Warren has nearly a dozen objectives each documented by as many as a score of specific, actionable, steps she plans to take as soon as she is elected ✅

Robotic Reinforcement #Bender #3DP

Every thing will work better if it is given the proper support. #ParallelLines

Pretty sure this model is not printing well #StrikeFour #3DP

Mid-February Blooms

Reuse ♻️ Amazon Padded Envelope (Bubble Wrap Mailer)

Would 100% buy it again #iPod

“3D Printing touches my fantasy” #Oops 😳

Well meaning, once you abstract the language to deduce intent, but among the more problematic mottos of Chinese vendors I have come across… 👀

If progressives think we can just protest a little louder, donate a little more money, and post a few more outraged remarks, we are going to be very disappointed.

The bad guys will be fighting to stay out of jail!

Their supporters are unreflective, undoubting & bloodthirsty

Today could never settle into one shape so I’m mixing the first My Chemical Romance album with the last Rhino Bucket release. 🎶 🔊

Calibrated the Horizontal Expansion Offset in Cura last night, and now the print-in-place hinge from 3DPrintingProfessor’s #PrintABlok project work flawlessly even when printed via fast draft profile

Switched to PETG (Overture White) for this batch of PrintABlok parts.

One of the print-in-place hinges had a fused axle, and did not survive my limbering technique. I will have to reduce the feed rate (as The Professor suggested) for the next batch.

Or build a better printer…

We should all revel that we get to live in this golden age of pop-up toaster naan #HotCarbs

Failed beta block for The 3D Printing Professor’s upcoming #PrintABlok project.

I was twisting it on when it split…

But I used cheap no-name filament on this batch plus my machine is definitely not printing precise tolerances (will slow down and try again)

Investigating where this #3DP model went wrong… 🖨 🚛

Reed Mullin (53), drummer and founder of hardcore punk band ‘CORROSION OF CONFORMITY’ has died.

Obit @ Blabbermouth

Last nights pizza party (post-workout) was my anniversary reward for dropping three stones since joining gym 🏔📉🏋🏼‍♂️

If a pizza has 300 calories per quarter, and a diet app reports 1400 calories remaining in the daily budget, how many fourths of a pizza is about to be devoured? 🍕

There’s a Qdoba around the corner from this Apple store so I can sit and regret my expensive choices over some gringo-safe southwestern /comida/ 🌮

🤑 Payday ‘Put Up or Shut Up’ Progressive Fundraiser Challenge

Pick a neighbor district to your own, and a progressive person to support in an election there, then donate some of your hard-earned funds.

You can be ESPECIALLY impactful to candidates for State & Local roles!

Synchronicity : When the last podcast in your Play Next queue ends the second you put the car in park. 🔊🚙 🛑 🎙

Taal Volcano is swelling, a portion has sunk and the entire volcano island has tilted slightly, indicating a “resupply” of magma or molten rock rising to the surface that presages a powerful eruption Phi Vol CS - Taal

WHISTLE

Me: what?

Ref: Penalty: Delay of Purchase

Me:

Ref: Player ‘forgot’ wallet at home

Penalty is Repeat round trip with fuel light blinking, and loss of twenty minutes.

Me: Wait, can I use Apple Pay?

Ref: Sir, this is a Speedway

The semi-official theme song of software development 🎵

“It’s so easy… without complexity” -Eagles Of Death Metal

www.youtube.com/watch

In the frame story That surrounds their dark misadventure Where we know they are treading water Cold and black Just before the fateful moment… The third man is on screen Today Giving a confessional before his just reward His breathy delivery pausing Promising Pregnant Dangerous Eyeing the first man, offstage and unseen Except by the one who is known Threatening - if he reveals What was thought to be forgotten…

📺 ‘Under the Silver Lake’

I heard a interview with Topher Grace, and what the hell was I thinking?

Andrew Garfield unravels in a surreal Los Angeles following a thread of bizarre mysteries, frequent nudity, & casual sex, in pursuit of the truth about a beautiful stranger.

Maybe Trump isn’t addressing the American people tonight about the war he bumbled us into because Putin hasn’t gotten back to him yet on what he’s allowed to say

TIL: Japanese ‘Pizza Toast’ 🍕

www.eater.com/2019/12/1…

My goodness! ‘Knives Out’ is one delectable detective movie. 🗡

Along with ‘Brick’ this cements my high opinion of Rian Johnson. 📺

Loving the fantastic acting by Ruth Wilson as ‘Mrs Coulter’ in HBO’s new series based on the ‘His Dark Materials’ books (‘Golden Compass’, ‘Subtle Knife’, etc.)

📺 Terrifyingly powerful laser available on eBay for anyone who wants to blind themselves

youtu.be/-BeTq99Lq…

🎶 “You gotta listen to my words”

Due to ‘War Pigs’ & ‘Killer of Giants’, I often think of Ozzy as anti-war, so I choose to interpret this PPP cover of ‘Crazy Train’ that way in the context of the latest Middle East conflagration…

youtu.be/h0wp0cLdq… #SOS

Dazz Newsome catches 29 yard touchdown pass from Sam Howell 🏈📹

North Carolina dominated Temple 55-13 in the Military Bowl 2019-12-27

The last half hour at sixty is like swimming in treacle after five hours at eighty

📹 🇺🇸 🏈 Jump in for Military Bowl 2019 (UNC vs Temple) @ Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, Annapolis, MD

Pit stop on King St in Alexandria before continuing on to the hotel

On Christmas morning I used the laser to engrave my newest nephew a name plate, perfect for the barrage of social media photos he will be taking now that he’s home from hospital

Nephew finished 75 Code.org puzzles today and was begging to continue tomorrow when his mum drug him away… He might be hooked ;)

Starting my nephew on Code.org sequencing activity… while I try to clean up the “lab” area

🎶 ‘River’ by Joni Mitchell is a Christmas song, written after a 1970 visit to the family home of her boyfriend, James Taylor, for Christmas in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

“It doesn’t get cold* here, it stays pretty green”

youtu.be/F8MqF7xEG…

*Compared to Alberta, CA

I am not the merriest christmaser but I do enjoy this Postmodern Jukebox mashup of Wham ‘Last Christmas’ with Andrews Sisters style vocals

youtu.be/a3Hrn2_Lx…

Special Credit to Melinda Sullivan whose acting was worth the wait for her tap solo

Brief video of The Engravinator in action …

🎶 Hit Me With Those Laser Beams! Relax Frankie Goes to Hollywood

Engravinating with @TheEngravinator (and LightBurn sw) #PewPew

Trial run at 40% laser power on brown construction paper (just barely visible)

Spoiler-Proofed

A-Da-Man-Ti-Um. Adamantium!

Marvel out here teaching pronunciation in their “Super Hero Adventures” books for the kiddos.

It occurs to me that The Beatles ‘ ‘Revolution’ is the perfect track for today

Finally figured out that I need a USB hub between @TheEngravinator (at least to LightBurn on Mac via C adapter)

On Win 10, the LaserGrbl control software worked occasionally, but LightBurn never would.

Next: Arm The Laser! 😎 ⛔️⛔️✴️

Star Wars Theory: Last Jedi and Rise of Skywalker are about replacing the old religion with a new philosophy, a reformed order…

Noir at the Bar night at Yonder Photos: Eryk Pruitt and S.A. Cosby

This abuse of office served to cover up the President’s own repeated misconduct and to seize and control the power of impeachment—and thus to nullify a vital constitutional safeguard vested solely in the House of Representatives.

Donald Trump impeached on 2019-12-10

I got through the motion mechanicals of @TheEngravinator laser system yesterday, so will be picking up with wiring and electronics tonight.

Single serving size pepperoni & cheese pizza

Somebody made the mistake of telling his trainer he has not been as exhausted after gym sessions lately… #StupidGenius 🏋🏼

I remember when… I remember when I lost my mind

www.youtube.com/watch

🎶 ‘Crazy’ - acoustic cover by Ray Lamontagne

Checking the frame of @TheEngravinator for light leakage with a 99 cent flashlight. #Lasers

Am I ready for this?

Attempting to assemble The Engravinator - a fully open source laser engraver with safety enclosure.

Designed by Maniacal Labs

🎶🥁 I’ll just be over here trying to crawl inside the opening groove to ‘Golden Light’, “STFKR”

www.youtube.com/watch

So many emails yesterday for stuff I have so little interest in. Beginning the mass unsubscribe…

Using a ‘MikroTik hEX PoE lite’, so I can run some PoE gear. The web UI is all options. Zero user guidance, but total control… I can barely work it out and I did setup & admin of LANs, SANs, and VPNs once upon a time…

Signal boost because Impunity is tantamount to Tyranny

memex.naughtons.org

Thankful for the fortune I have had, despite my many mistakes, to have had a pretty good life. We could all of us have been homeless or worse given a different fork in our path #Thanksgiving

Thankful for the affection of my nieces & nephews, who don’t yet know that I’m not as cool as they think I am 😎 #Thanksgiving

🦃🍽 Proto-Cornucopia in Pillsbury Crescent Dough Sheet (with Crisco Butter Non-Stick Spray, Silicon Baking May, and Tinfoil)

🦃🍽 For this morning’s art project, I have retained the services of two professional creatives, who gave me much advice on something none of us have tried before… 🖼

🦃 🍽 It’s not all desserts - I made a meatloaf and am working on sides… #FallFeast

There’s a crack in my pumpkin But the coconut topping looks good! #Thanksgiving

It wouldn’t be the Fall Feast without Candied Yams (Carolina Style, aka Pre-Diabetes)

Making stuff… #physics #chemistry #flavor

Thanksgiving : I don’t have to use cactus in any recipes this week! OK… for fun work experiences

🎶🎙 The tracks ‘Pity’ and ‘You Thought Not’ on Morgan James album ‘Reckless Abandon’ have that vibe I wanted to keep grooving on this morning…

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nKIhjQ5bWQatOmCtYnzB7UpG_buTl_Abc

I’m Strapped.

🎶🎙 Saturday Morning Soul ‘Maps’ - Morgan James & Postmodern Jukebox (Maroon 5 cover as 70s soul)

youtu.be/8gO_lxThc…

I need a full album of this voice in this style. At least!

📚 Strange Planet - Nathan W Pyle 👽 🌎

Charts I would like to see : Traffic at other streaming services at time of the debut of Disney+ 📈📊📉

Nothing like a torrential rain storm during prime spookulating hours to ensure I have to eat ten pounds of leftover #Halloween chocolate This weekend 👻

PSA : If you bought candy for distributing on Halloween, it is official now. Take the locks off the trunk and ‘sample’ it for breakfast, before work, after lunch… Whatever! #TreatYoSelf

w00t! I finally found a set of replacement arms for my delta 3DP. Now, I just have to recalibrate the universe…

Beat Dook #GoHeels🦶🏻💎🐏🏈 Always a #GDTBATH

🥁 🎧 “Sing Along” - Sturgill Simpson I’ll offer high praise for this : Very 80s ZZ-esque

Replaced my missing AirPods with these (fire sale!) $29 over-ear Bluetooth headphones (includes aux wired mode if you prefer) Mod-1 Headphones

Starting ‘Flip the Script Friday’ with Eric B & Rakim : “Follow The Leader”

www.youtube.com/watch

Solo snippet

Samantha Fish, Guitar Goddess

At River Park Concert (Primarily for Samantha Fish!)

Made it with four miles to spare!

“Take Five” by Dave Brubeck is playing As Dawn is heating up the horizon while I drive the last hundred miles for my road trip today and then it’s back to work

IF on a road trip, THEN eat at a local diner. Today: Aberdeen Diner, Aberdeen, MD Bonus: Wurlitzer by bar, Elvis on the wall

Ever since I listened to ‘Interstate Love Song’ yesterday I have been listening to nothing but Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver albums 🎸🎵

Successful demo, the JellyBox is now printing! #ERRF2019

Live Build : JellyBox 3D Printer Designed to be assembled and disassembled repeatedly, intended for STEM education #ERRF2019

www.imade3d.com/jellybox/

I guess that is broken… #DeltaEffectorRod #3DP

Nailed my first parametric SCAD design!

Well, almost… the aesthetic of the flange is off (too wide) but it mounts ok #FunctionalPrint

Prototype part to mount an air gauge on a hopper (grain) trailer

It’s Samantha Fish day!

Her new album ‘Kill Or Be Kind’ is now available for your immediate musical satisfaction. 🎸

www.samanthafish.com

Rose Dew 🥀📸

📚 Started reading: “A Little Hatred” -Joe Abercrombie

For all my blues, roots, and metal leanings one mainstream band I have always loved was The Cars. They produced massive pop hits including ‘Just What I Needed’, ‘You Might Think’, ‘Moving In Stereo’, and the devastating track ‘Drive’ When, after decades, they released a new album in 2011, it was an instant purchase, and felt immediately familiar. music.apple.com/us/album/… Ric Ocasek will be remembered for infectious beats, crystalline production, for marrying very well, and for being completely underrated for the penetrative insight in his lyrics.…

Granny doling out dem birthday dollars

I thought rose season was over last week but a new bloom has emerged to defy my ignorance 🥀 #BlackThumb

Why don’t you have a lie in this morning and chill to the R&B/Soul croon of ‘Hello Stranger’?

music.apple.com 🎵

🎶 River Park Concert : October 19th, 2019

⛰ Eno Mountain Boys, 👏🏻 Ruby Velle & the Soulphonics, 🎸 Samantha Fish, & ⭐️ Anders Osborne

www.hillsboroughartscouncil.org/riverpark…

TIL: Samantha Fish 🎶🎸💙

I… I think this is now a Samantha Fish fan account.

www.youtube.com/watch

Answering questions about ten year old failed pilot projects AS A SERVICE 😱☢️👴

The “lawlessness at the heart of AdTech has begat a culture of data exploitation above data protection”

(Google appears to be circumventing its purported GDPR privacy protections)[https://brave.com/google-gdpr-workaround/]

“the largest leakage of personal data ever recorded.”

🎵 Here is a John Hiatt playlist put together by NextDraft that I have been enjoying this weekend

On Apple Music

On Spotify

The official snack of the south? That’s a BIG claim, John. 🍖

Mack is Back! #GoHeels 🏈 🐏

Wow, looks like WFU has a gamer of a QB in Newman! He had to make two TD throws to get credit for one on a last gasp drive 🏈 #ACCN

Boppers beware! #SheIsComing

TIL: Pinned Tabs for Atom text editor

I prefer the ‘Find in Project’ search results in my preferred left-most position, but opening new tabs would cause it to ‘drift’ around over time

Today, I finally searched for a plug-in to ‘pin’ tabs :

atom.io/packages/…

Songbird Dinner Invitation 🐦🍴

This past spring I wanted to encourage more birds, especially songbirds, to visit my backyard.

First step was to put up a feeder, of the weighted spring type to foil greedy squirrels. I have endeavored to keep it stocked this summer, although their insatiable demands have sometimes exceeded my willingness to do the chore for a few days.

The previous owners left a painted gourd hanging by the backdoor. I cleaned it out, and relocated it from the deck, to the underhand of an outbuilding across the lawn which is adjacent to the feeder.

Mother birds gotta eat, right? Let’s make it easier on them… (🤥 I am very likely ignorant about bird diets, feel free to educate me.)

This morning I noticed the bird (and ground-scrounging squirrel) activity has denuded the mulch around the base of the feeder, exposing mud which the hard rain yesterday was washing downhill.

To patch that, I relocated some landscaping stones to around the feeder base, and scraped some more loose rocks and mulch up to fill in. I should probably get a lot more mulch but I don’t have a good way to move it. Time to borrow a pickup from the locals…

📷 μβ #sunlit

🖍 Imagining a backyard makeover with the iOS photo markup tools 📷

Bought a cheap ‘slim’ wallet as an experiment 🧪 Now everyone knows I keep my old ‘dog tag’ behind my ACLU membership card…

🎵🎸 Great night for parking yourself out on the deck, dead center between your speakers, then setting this slow rolling snarl on repeat… “You’re gonna know my name by the end of the night”

music.apple.com

🦌 Believe it or not, but this is what the last deer fleeing from my backyard looks like (if you are a slow shitty photog using an iPhone) (The 🍇 must have ripened today, they were all up around the grapevines)

🎵 ‘Bakersfield’ - Social Distortion

Rather than rely on the ‘my lover is gone’ message this hard blues number evokes the feeling of isolation when ‘stranded’ away from where your heart lives

music.apple.com 🎸

TIL: Aisha Tyler bottles ready-to-drink Old Fashioned called “Courage + Stone”

Tomorrow : I find out if my local beverage control shop carries it…

Excellence is a fairly new graphic serial from Image, in a “magic in the modern-day” setting. I picked up the first two issues

Bonus: 100% POC creative team 👨🏽‍🎨

Third rewind for the very brief “Love should be brave” scene from Endeavour S06E03. I know he doesn’t ‘win’ (I‘ve seen every ‘Morse’ episode…) but, I still want him to “even if it doesn’t last.”

(Also, Olivia Chenery giving me a reason to watch ‘Queens’ for her Mary Stuart role) 📺

Dunkin: “We’ve got your grande, right here.”

(I’ve waited all summer for this grand opening!)

🏝📚 Beach Read : “The Infinite Blacktop” -Sara Gran

There are some who say that life here, began out there.

I like a ‘cane break.’ Always have.

They surprise you, in the deciduous and coniferous forests of these parts, as a disruption of what we expect to be normal.

They appear as an eruption from a different world, probably fantastic, intruding into your mundane woods, living magic.

This Butterfly had fluttered bye 😢
I know…
Let’s use his corpse for “art” 👨🏻‍🎨📷

🎵 Seriously Mysterious to get things going this morning 🥁 -The Sword youtu.be/OoJJKhEKi…

🧠 TIL : Napflix “scoured the Web for the most boring clips to help you fall asleep” Example: Matthew McConaughey watching it rain… 📺 napflix.tv

Slumlord Jared Kushner owns “disgusting, rat and rodent infested” apartment buildings in Baltimore…

🔗 www.businessinsider.com/jared-kus…

Decided to refurbish my mailbox this weekend. I started with just the sad weathered gray post (like my neighbors seen here) that I painted copper. That led to a more comprehensive overhaul…

Sadly the night ended with a mistake on the penultimate step that I’ll fix tomorrow before showing off the finished product.

Space Alien Death Ray…

for weeds!

Soldiers “were returning home after serving in Europe during World War I. Black soldiers, in particular, had experienced being treated as complete citizens while they fought abroad. Returning to an America that barely recognized their service and wanted them back in their assigned, segregated places was not something they were willing to accept.” 🔗 ift.tt/2MsURk7…

ckefrst –help Decorate a specified cake (or similar food-stuff) with indicated treatment Applies one or more decorative operations to the specified food-stuff using default icing or specified treatment. NOTE: Icing is always considered installed, but the caller is responsible for ensuring the hopper is sufficiently stocked Uninstalled treatments are not excluded unless –exclude-uninstalled is passed. Use “ckefrst treatments –list” for a complete list of supported treatments. Examples: - List all treatments in reverse chronology of installation.…

Watching ‘The Princess and the Frog’ with my nieces (#1 of 2 not pictured)

I thought ‘Master of Kung Fu’ was the darkest story ever when I was eleven years old and stumbled across a smattering of back issues at the flea market. Now I am absolutely stoked for “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings”

Harley-Davidson was using my hotel for the global press launch of their new electric bike, “Livewire” (~$28K MSRP) 📷 I promised to blog about it for a ride, but they did not think that made me a qualified journalist 🏍

A quick look around from the top of Powell Butte #Portland (Mt Hood & Mt St Helens)

Where are you going? What do you care about? What makes you laugh? What’s your advice? What’s your dream?

• Mural in Portland, at Salmon & SE 10th

Rolled up last minute to the Adam Carolla show at Helium Comedy Club and scored a free ticket from random friend-stranger.

Solid set, but a lot of true fans of his were in attendance and calling out bit names like Freebird at a Skynyrd show…

When I die, make paper from my ashes and shelve me at Powell’s City of Books 📚

TIL at #OSCON : The Plastic Bank

Stop Ocean Plastic www.plasticbank.com Twitter: @PlasticBank

I will not listen to any so-called podcast which is exclusively available on a single vendor platform. Podcasts must remain openly available to all. #ProtectPodcastingPledge

Welcome to Sky Harbor, My old friend. Where does it start, Where does it end? Inside the masses rush, Connection time is fleeting. Outside the sun, the Desert air is heating.

Enjoying the perks and perils of living Wilderness-Adjacent now…

📚 Reading Now: “The Never Game” -Jeffery Deaver

📷 American independence enthusiasts gather together and wait for the fireworks to begin #TheFourth

Feeling very Leslie Nope up in this piece #TheFourth 📷

Flashback to when I visited Mahabalipuram (Shore Temple Complex) in 2007

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shor…

📚 Review : Tangle’s Game Author: Stewart Hotston

The setting for this novel is a near-future extrapolated from the state of the world in 2019: UK Brexit, blockchain and cryptocurrency mania, fascism rising globally, a deeply divided America. In short, a world where all humanity’s ills are exacerbated by pervasive communication and surveillance technology outstripping civic adaption.

Like the recent novels ‘Kismet’ and ‘Daemon’, or the TV show ‘Person Of Interest,’ this book explores the ramifications of how these tools will be (or are being) misused to destroy civilization, and the relative peace our aspirational democracies have recently sustained.

The science fiction concepts might seem tame by some standards, but they are well grounded in a believable future not that different from our present. It feels very “ripped from the headlines” in the almost transparent world-building. The allegorical effect elevates the speculative material.

I found the characters a bit thin and none of them was exceptionally admirable. The protagonist does move the plot, but only as a reluctant pawn for the first half. Mild Spoiler: the most likable character claims to have been an infamous tech inventor forty years before the plot begins… so, now ‘IRL’

The story takes a bumpy, under-developed detour near the end, to avoid ending with a cliched and milquetoast victory, but instead wraps up with a somewhat hopeful tension. This, and the other minor twists make it a more thought provoking read, but not a particularly exciting thriller.

Best enjoyed by ardent fans of techno-thrillers, blockchain pundits of either ilk, geopolitical prognosticators, and everyone who read ‘Daemon’ a few years back.

www.goodreads.com/book/show…

Wherein the author hangs a lampshade on the Bechdel-Wallace test: __ She slipped around to Amanda’s side, taking the crook of her elbow. ‘Why don’t we get a cup of coffee and talk about something other than yet another man?’ __ Tangle’s Game, -Stewart Hotston

📚 Now Reading : “Tangle’s Game” -Stewart Hotston

www.goodreads.com/book/show…

🔗 Google Chrome has become surveillance software. It’s time to switch.

www.washingtonpost.com/technolog…

If you know bad weather is brewing, and you’ve got the time to sit out and wait on it, sometimes you will catch the scent of petrichor just before the clouds break, pushed ahead of the storm.

Summer Saturday morning before this low-slung city begins to stir…

The crowd is sparse this morning, but it is still early. You are greeted by a signboard, “Please seat yourself” neatly printed in black marker on glossy white. A smiling never-still waitress, trim and friendly, but old enough to have an AARP membership, if she believed in that sort of thing, hustles over to your table as soon as you have chosen. Two trios of plump elders are separated by a gulf of four tops.…

Now Reading 📚 : “Wear Your Home Like A Scar”

A new collection of modern noir / crime short stories by Nik Korpon.

www.goodreads.com

Saturday Night Throwback ! “Doc Savage : The Man Of Bronze” (1975, WB)

Currently Reading: “The Stone Sky”

www.goodreads.com/book/show…

Rushing water of the Deep River 🎥

Did you know you can stream PBS on demand if you become a member with a one time donation ? The Mrs Wilson miniseries on Masterpiece should be enough of a reward. It’s phenomenal!

Rainy Saturday morning, watching the birds at the feeder

“When you have everything, someone else getting a little some-thing feels like they’re stealing from you.”

-Graham, ‘Daisy Jones & The Six’, Taylor Jenkins Reid

I guess I haven’t needed these in a minute… CD-ROMs for BeOS release 2, Norton’s Java Programming, and Foundations Of Mac Programming

Saturday Morning Cereal, adult style

Adding smart lights so I can set the mood when it is Game Time #GoHeels

Read an excerpt of “The Mastermind” last week and I had to order it right away. The blurb from the Russo brothers should be enough of a promo if you need one. A true story of an Internet drugs conspiracy leading to international crimes, murder and terrorists

It occurs to me that “John Wick” is just “Payback” translated from 70s-style Organized Crime to a Millenial notion of Global Crime Conspiracies

This Norman Mailer quote is so very everything:

“To blame the poor for subsisting on welfare has no justice unless we are also willing to judge every rich member of society by how productive he or she is. Taken individual by individual, it is likely that there’s more idleness and abuse of government favors among the economically privileged than among the ranks of the disadvantaged.”

Korean BBQ Beef with Udon noodles #MealKit

When setting up a sound system, Britt Daniel is my reference for if it’s working right… #Spoon #DivineFits

www.youtube.com/watch

Greasy Chops, no ashtray

E_TOO_MANY_REMOTES

Retro Movie Night : “The Private Life Of Sherlock Holmes”

Billy Wilder’s 1970 period piece, if remade today, would be hailed as progressive. One fault I have is with the Watson portrayal, who comes off a bit buffoonish to my taste. Otherwise the film is brilliant, it’s not at all too serious, at times mildly unhinged, but the plot is fittingly wrought and the characters human. In particular, I think it did well at showing the subtle vulnerability of Holmes, like glimpsed in the Downey films.

By the golden gates of Galador, it’s and ancient (but not best condition) copy of the first ROM annual, circa 1982 #DerpArchives

Happy Boxing Day everyone!

Another great episode of Alan Alda’s Clear+Vivid podcast, interviewing W. Kamau Bell

overcast.fm

True Flavors Diner in Durham (by RTP) should get a lot more buzz. Hands down the best scrambled eggs in Triangle. The sauce on their French toast is amazing (I could do without the ice cream topper, ymmv)

TrueFlavorsNC.com

The Pre-Winter Blizzard Of 2018 #ncwx #snOMG

Robert Donat wearing the heck out of a suit as ‘The Count Of Monte Cristo’ (1934)

Mycroft, the world’s smartest AI alarm clock*

*This claim has not been approved by the Congress of Non-Person Intelligences and no offense is intended. Forgive me, future Computer Overlords

“He’s done wonders for my friend Sylvia Plath!” 📺 #MsMaisel

Looking forward to reading this #ScienceFiction collection

Really enjoying “Wild Seed” by Octavia E. Butler, a classic from 1980 I’ve never managed to get around to before. 📚

Thankful for a great deal today, but specifically that the end of this lightning charge cable wasn’t permanently stuck in the iPhone when it broke off first thing this morning.

One of the nephews has worn down before dinner…

Candying the yams… 🍬 🍠 🦃 #ThanksGiving

Someone has a Coke problem…

I think this poster was from the Tufte workshop… amazing diversity of style in the 50s

I like how I didn’t even truck with zero for this high-school #BASIC programming contest…

Back in peace-time, the army was all about some participation trophies… (And putting your SSN on everything…)

I have too much stuff! These mah jong tiles I had forgotten about for example…

“Buttercup was raised on a small farm in the country of Florin. Her favorite pastimes were riding her horse and tormenting the farm boy that worked there. His name was Wesley, but she never called him that.” 👸🏼👰🏼📺

Thanks to everyone who exercised their right to vote today (or earlier!) ✅

Listening to New Order and hoping for some…

Perfect Kiss: www.youtube.com/watch

Thieves Like Us: www.youtube.com/watch

Fall Colors in Carolina

Thanks to @MomentumRDU, our host for today’s @RailsBridge workshop! #RailsBridge2018

Kate is explaining the concept of data types during the ‘Intro to Ruby’ session of today’s RailsBridge workshop #RailsBridgeTriangle2018

Miranda is the Emcee that keeps RailsBridge Triangle moving along on workshop days! #RailsBridgeTriangle2018

Breakfast fuel before the @RailsBridgeTriangle workshop starts today

Urk. What Eleanor wants in this week’s The Good Place episode is too dang real.

I have two big projects this month so I can’t participate in NaNoWriMo 2018, but good luck and wordy wishes to all those who write!

Prepping for ghouls and goblins to come calling #Halloween

“No hopeful kid ever joins a gang. Kids are stuck in a lethal absence of hope”

-Father Greg Boyle to Alan Alda on the Clear+Vivid podcast

overcast.fm

This is my micro.blog There are many like it But this one is mine, and This is my first post