This is the book I'm reading right now. I definitely recommend it--Moudhy Al-Rashid's Between Two Rivers: Ancient Mesopotamia and the Birth of History. And in ch. 6, King Nabonidus going back to Oracles until he gets the answer he wants is a perfect analog to executives bringing in Consultants.

Rumor being adorable while Sam barks for his dinner. (Sorry, no alt text because the app dropped it FOUR TIMES. )

Ewwww.... Especially Temu. They're doing their best to make gasoline look safe. www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Y23...

Yes! Yes! We wants it, precious! We wants it! www.kickstarter.com/projects/gir...

It's 3:52 pm and the horses are pointedly checking their watches as they whinny that the 4pm snack is late.

Tractor Supply Receipt: 3 items, 22 inches long Lowe's Receipt: 1 item, 12.5 inches long Aldi Receipt: 8 items, 6 inches long One of these companies knows it's in the business of selling retail products, not retail advertising space. Also, CVS receipts are short now.

Writers sometimes stumble over the difference between a clip and a magazine, or they poke fun and lampshade it. But there's another word pair that trips people up and annoys another group of specialists. Cobblers fix things, including shoes. Shoemakers (and bootmakers) make footwear from scratch.

Last year: Oh, look. I cleverly estimated and paid these taxes. Today: That much? What's Form 8690? Me five minutes later: Oh, crap.

Google is getting stupider. I searched for Portland UK and got a map of the Isle of Portland (in the UK) mixed with text from Portland Oregon.

HEADLESS BODY IN TOPLESS BAR I've seen it described as the best headline in New York newspaper history, but it's probably the greatest headline in history. Period. And it's ripe for re-use. E.g. Tolkien SEVERED FINGER IN MOUNTAIN MELTDOWN

I just looked at some financial data, and had an epiphany about the headlines in the linked articles. Just how many ways can you write "Highly Paid Men And Women Stare Intently At Fluctuating Random Process." The pretense of finding meaning the DJIA is...disheartening.

Just bought food and a winter coat for our little Havanese. Final bill: $106.66 I love it when random arithmetic offends the local evangelical nutjobs. Hail the Beast! Devourer of Worlds! Hail the Beast! Devourer of Worlds!

So, it was almost the International Hey Good Kerning Station? xkcd.com/3195/

Dear Experian. Thanks for telling me that my outstanding debt changed. But, ya know, the credit card company bills me every month. And they tell me about it EVERY TIME. So you aren't really helping because I ALREADY F**KNG KNOW! Have a nice day. Save electrons. A concerned grump

So, artists, I have a question: Meg is looking for an alternative to Adobe Illustrator that doesn't cost $22/month. Most of her work is 2D diagramming of patterns, such as 1:12 scale furniture. Any suggestions?

Generally not a fan of Wal-Mart, but also not a fan of being jerked around. My usual grocery store is now charging 25% more for Diet Pepsi 24-packs than Wal-Mart, which at my rate of consumption is approaching a difference of $300/year. Screw that. Hi, Sam.

We opened my wife's Christmas Present (her first new computer in 10+ years) today. Surprisingly, no DVD drive. WHUT? Then I remembered: We survived losing punched paper tape, hollerith cards, 8" floppies, 5 1/4" floppies, and 3 1/2" floppies. We can survive this. We bought an external DVD drive.

Finished a novel, but before I query it, I should come up with comp titles. Unfortunately, I'm drawing an absolute blank. Web searches are no help. I'm getting vampire kings, slutty Vikings, or how-to-make-your-own-Roman-Legion guidebooks. I don't have any vampires.

A big Kon Mari day. Two carloads to the recycling/dump, including a side trip to the local thrift store with a bunch of things that we don't need and they can sell.

The same picture, artificially brightened in GIMP.

Last night's full moon with Jupiter, framed by the oak tree in my front yard.

Kon Mari this week- an unopened third-party 3-button mouse for Mac, copyright 1991 on the utilities disk. Not just old enough to drink. It's old enough to own the bar and have a mortgage.

Does anyone have a copy of "Walking My Baby Back Home" (1953) or know where to get one? I can't find it anywhere.

Happy New Year GMT 20251231:24:00

Closed the books on 2025 this afternoon, then had to reopen them for a last-minute trip to the hardware store.

He: *belches dramatically* He: Excuse me! She: You don't mean that. He: You got me there. *pause* He: Wait. I meant it. I just wasn't very sincere. She: *laughter*

My favorite line from Cho in The Mentalist: "It's a classic elaborate, clever, but ultimately stupid plan." And I've seen so many in my life.

AI gets it wrong, Wrong, WORNG! It says: The "house" in the Columbo episode "Playback" (1975) refers to the modern residence of the killer, Alex Benedict, filmed at the iconic Stahl House (Case Study House #22) (5000 Hollywood Hills West) ERRRNT! Wrong killer. Wrong house.

Well, tonight it's another one of THOSE Wordles. Four greens in the third row, but there are SIX MORE WORDS that fit the pattern, and only three more tries. a 50% chance. Tonight, it was a case of "Tails, I lose."

Engineer, crashed on an alien world, sees an approaching sentient being. "I'm gonna shoot it." The Captain says nothing. Engineer shoots. Misses. Alien starts running. They kill him and the Engineer says the alien started it. I drop the book. Anybody got a Stanislaw Lem rec that isn't "Eden".

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate. And Merry Hey Is The Chinese Place Open Today to those who don't.

So of course I'm awake, working on a problem, and I click the Google search bar just to see what pops up. There's an ongoing terrorist/hostage situation at the Nakatomi Plaza in LA. German terrorists. It takes me a minute. Yippee Kay-yay!

Rumor the Havanese has a very curly, knot-prone coat that requires complex maintenance. It takes two multi-hour sessions on the grooming table to get him cleaned up. The first session was today. I have been instructed to not laugh at the intermediate result. No photos, either.

And in other news, it's turning out to be a good Holiday Season. Specifically, I got all the way to 23 Dec before I heard Blue Christmas, the one with the chorus that sounds like a stoned cat being Air Fluffed(tm) in the dryer. Better yet, I came in at the end.

I just got followed by a fake John Scalzi account. Hint 1) He followed me? In what world is that reasonable? Hint 2) I got a "Follow Back" button, but I already follow John Scalzi. Hint 3) The name tweren't "scalzi.com" Reported and Blocked.

Part 2 of my new webcomic, SETTLERS OF THE STORM WORLDS, begins tomorrow: 12/22/2025, 10 AM on my Patreon--if you've got an extra buck to throw my way for early access! Read up on what's come before (for free) here: www.patreon.com/collection/1... New stuff becomes free in one week!

Tonight I re-read some of Ted Naifeh's Courtney Crumrin graphic novels. I love 'em. This is definitely a recommendation to buy the whole set.

Hay delivery today! Putting the new pallets to work.

Thinking about the MCU and wondering what's the best line in the whole thing. "The most versatile substance on the planet, and they used it to make a Frisbee."

Meg is listening to "Emma" as b/g while she repots orchids. She's rolling her eyes at the endless circular conversations. I'm imagining the BBC version of Emma with different subtitles: English, US English, & Scots. The latter just alternates: [fookin' natterin'] and [more fookin' natterin']

Christmas decorations are up. Years ago, I wrote a blog about how much a simple strand of colored lights along the mantel added Christmas feeling to the house. tiffhudson.com/2019/12/

Positive side-effect of building the retaining wall: the blocks came on five sturdy pallets that I used today to replace the crappy pallets we put under the hay bales in the shed. Unsurprisingly I'm now covered in hay particulates and headed to the showers.

My wife is listening to "Emma," which made me think about governesses and households with "three upright, wonderful children who'll be most easy for you manage." I wonder if nannies and governesses had a secret language, like hobo signs and thieves' marks, to warn their successors what lay ahead.

Meg has named the new white rooster "Get Smart" because his crow is the opening four notes of the Get Smart theme. You can't make this up.

Also, for those who remember the Night's Watch burial ritual, here's an old one I made when we found a crow or grackle that had been hit by a car.

In the late 60s or early 70s, there was a commercial on TV about a chemist who came up with a fluid that didn't do anything to anything. Then it portrayed a "light bulb" moment which led to a mouse/rat breathing this fluid, like in "The Abyss". Dow, I think. Anyone recall it? I can't find it.

Today's recommendation: Sushi Kingdom on Woodruff Rd in Greenville, SC. We eat there any time we're in town for a shopping trip. Go for the All You Can Eat lunch. Stay for the Godzilla Roll. It combines the best features of sushi and funnel cakes. 10 minutes from GSP.

When I talked to a scientist friend of mine about Peter Woit's expose on String Theory ("Not Even Wrong: The Failure of String Theory...", ISBN: 978-0465092765), he said, "Well at least they aren't out building a new kind of atom bomb.") xkcd.com/171/

Phonemnesia: n. A condition occurring when you pick up your phone to do a task and 1) a notification immediately distracts you from the task, and 2) you completely forget what the task was.

I'm re-writing a scene in a novel, and the Procrastination Force is strong with this one. It's so bad that today I seriously considered updating the woefully inadequate comments on a 23-year-old piece of software that I made available on my website. (It needs work, but... priorities :-/ )