Among ongoing efforts to rewrite or scrub the history of Jan. 6, 2021, NPR has posted a factual archive — videos, documents — of what happened during the US Capitol riot five years ago. All from years of reporting & court cases. It's #journalism as history preservation. apps.npr.org/jan-6-archive/

A day ago, I toasted to 2025 being in the rear view. Today, I'm toasting to the hope that 2026 will be no worse than 2025. For which I'm already almost nostalgic.

Really important information for #journalists and other writers entering the U.S., including U.S. citizens. The NY Times breaks down when your phone can be searched or temporarily confiscated as you cross the border. Free official gift link (bypassing the paywall): www.nytimes.com/2025/12/31/t...

All of my New Year's resolutions are about self-care. We are in an era that requires it.

30 years ago this week, Alaska Airlines became the first U.S. carrier to sell tickets online. On December 27, 1995, AS touted you could buy a ticket "within 3 to 10 minutes" on the web. Using Netscape. 1995 was quite the mirror image of AS' IT challenges in 2025. news.alaskaair.com/alaska-airli...

Tip for those overwhelmed by #publicmedia end-of-year fundraising pitches: It may be good to wait. If you don't itemize your tax deductions, hold off a few days. In 2026, nonitemizers can deduct charitable cash gifts up to $1,000. It's $2,000 for joint filers. But itemizers may want to do it now.

As you take a holiday pause, think of your skills. Think of your purpose. Applying skills alone is just working. Anticipating purpose alone is just dreaming. Applying skills to purpose is satisfaction.

A short, incomplete history of Trump's vanity ventures. All real. Trump Tower Trump National Golf Club Trump Taj Mahal Trump Steaks Trump University Trump Mobile Trump $1 US coin Trump Ballroom Trump Institute of Peace Trump-Kennedy Center Trump-class warships en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...

Write about what you know, after all.

Significant in #journalism because, "It opens the door for news-gathering organizations such as The Associated Press to begin selling their content to radio stations."

John Varley is gone. I'll never forget reading, for the first time, the powerful opening of his 1983 novel Millennium. Or his many incredible #scifi short stories. Goodbye, Herb. floggingbabel.blogspot.com/2025/12/john...

14 years and thousands of tagged notes later, I'm giving up on Evernote. I started using it when I began my GeekWire column in 2011 to keep research & field notes. Really helpful to sync across devices when on the go, later when #writing. But new owner Bending Spoons is raising prices — again.

Mass media and standards-based journalism are like overlapping circles. And the more social the media get, the smaller the overlap.

(I'm still doing a little bit of writing. See item 2, #StarTrek fans.)

if you are a news professional - msm, trade or indie- you have the power to fix this. and don’t let the fact that they paint all of us with a broad brushstroke stop you from rising above…

One year ago, I made my X account dormant and protected its posts from view. Today, I ended it. More than 20,000 posts over 16+ years, peaking at 8K followers. Why keep it so long? Preserve my handle. Maintain external links to posts. And hope that X ownership would change. Wasn't worth it.

And now my rarely used Mastodon account on the journa.host server is as dead as a ... well, you know. Social media hygiene feels good.

For those following me online: I've deactivated my Facebook profile for now. Dormant on LinkedIn. If I post, it'll be here. Meanwhile, here's the last image I put on Facebook at the end of October's pumpkin season. Happy fall (from Bellewood Farms in Lynden, near #Bellingham).

Thought I'd explore the latest at Claude. Set up an account, was immediately presented with three options. Really glad I don't write #marketing copy anymore (even when I kept my hands in it as a CMO, acting as editor/mentor). Want to sound like everyone else? Don't need to stand out? Rely on AI.

CDN's staff is staying on top of #Bellingham business developments. The latest: a well-known bar and mini-golf pub is calling it quits, just before Christmas.

I've begun unpacking the dozens of boxes in my house holding professional and personal memorabilia from the last five decades. And beyond. My storage room has decided to share anything interesting found inside it. Follow @catalanostorage.bsky.social for the reveals (and storage room commentary).

Funny twist on the old "did not respond to a request for comment." www.theregister.com/2025/10/29/m...

Pro #writer / #journalist tip: It's Daylight Saving Time, not "Savings." It ends Sunday morning, not begins. We are returning to Standard Time. Like it or not. Unless you're in the UK or EU, where the more clearly named Summer Time is already over.

Good tip, and a link high in the story takes you right to the Google search setting that you can change to set your news source preferences.

Study: Leading AI assistants from Google, Microsoft & others misrepresent #news content in nearly half of their responses. I've seen this when searching for source material in Google. AI conflates & combines conflicting sources. Never rely on just AI results for news. Double check or ignore it.

And this is kinda why it's important to support local news startups like @cascadiadaily.com.

In the past three weeks, I asked senators whether they agreed with RFK Jr. that circumcision increases the likelihood of autism and the Speaker of the House why the president posted a video of himself dumping poop on protesters. So basically, what I expected from journalism school.

Very nice for my essay to be excerpted and included as item 2 in this #scifi news zine. I mean, as I've said repeatedly, I can't not write. Even if it's about writing.

Four years old. Not at breakeven. One funder. He's 85. A professionally run newspaper / news site is "community infrastructure." That's the power of local #journalism. Time for more of us to step up to maintain its momentum.

It’s rare to be able to revisit three long-term #career commitments in the span of a short few months. But I did. And I left with three lessons that could apply to any profession. The underlying question: Did the professions change, or did I change? franksplaining.substack.com/p/profession...

"There are many forms of patriotism. And telling the truth is one of them." - Anderson Cooper, CNN, on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert #journalism

After the trolls start pissing in the pool, why would anyone else want to jump in?

Follow up from my final CDN Business Briefs column on Sept. 30: the last two Faithlife exterior signs in downtown #Bellingham, atop the iconic Flatiron Building, are now gone. New owner Place has re-placed them. Hat tip and photo credit to Dee Dee Catalano from atop a city parking garage.

Thoughtful ideas on how to use AI tools — carefully — for organizing and editing writing (NOT producing the final writing) from @tonywan.wtf. And this: "if AI is inserting assertions or claims — or, more dangerously, adding citations and references — please for the love of God check the sources."

Fall > Bellingham, Whatcom County > Whatcom Falls

In this week's Cascadia Daily News letters section. It's always nice to have made a difference, no matter how small. I'm thankful.

Faithlife, leaning into its Logos Bible study software brand, is shrinking its downtown #Bellingham footprint as the iconic Flatiron Building was sold to Place. And it's named a new CEO. More in my (final) Business Briefs column for @cascadiadaily.com. www.cascadiadaily.com/2025/sep/29/...

All things end. Including, now, deadlines. After more than three years, I'm ending my regular business contributions to Cascadia Daily News. It's been a good run. And worthy of a brief essay for a Frank assessment of business in #Whatcom and #Skagit counties. Thank you, CDN. Because #journalism.

Props to Whatcom Museum (and a well-known local LEGO master) for this very #Bellingham fundraiser: Slothy. A build-your-own sloth, tree and freeway sign? Yes. If you know, you know. www.whatcommuseum.org/lego-instruc...

CDN's Exec Ed Ron Judd on political comedians and #1A: "... the principle that allows their existence matters more than ever. Because from his gold leaf throne, a malignant-narcissist president now asserts the right to go after, punish, marginalize and yes, cancel any and all who don’t praise him."

I may not agree with where Cascade PBS made its latest cuts, gutting its newsroom. But I do agree that what had been Crosscut did fine reporting in the decade after merging into Cascade PBS. It's worth a reminder of what was accomplished through its #journalism.

In the #Seattle area, Sinclair owns ABC affiliate KOMO-TV. I predict a lot more people in Seattle checking out the Jimmy Kimmel Live clips on YouTube as an alternative — especially to find out what Kimmel says upon his return Tuesday night. www.youtube.com/jimmykimmell...

The timely work of @ivan-ehlers.bsky.social, cartoonist for The New Yorker, MAD Magazine and others.

Whose speech is at risk? I suspect anyone a) with a large free broadcast platform, b) that does biting political humor and c) that has a parent company with a meaningful number of O&O stations (or large affiliate groups with broadcast licenses) that could be challenged by, or in front of, the FCC.

Items in my Business Briefs for Cascadia Daily News don't often lend themselves to enjoyable writing, but Spirit Halloween and Trader Joe's certainly did this column. Will that lead to enjoyable reading? I hope so. A writer without appreciative readers, no matter how few, isn't writing for others.

I am annoyed by those who claim I and other writers should avoid using emdashes because generative AI has co-opted them. They serve a purpose, along with the semi-colon and colon. They allow for cadence changes and variety in punctuation. I will not bow to our AI writing overlords — not ever.

Did the annual #Whatcom County Farm Tour for the first time Saturday. Learned a lot about smaller "market farms," visiting four of the 15 that participated. And saw ... baby lop-eared bunnies. The cute overload made memorable what we learned at that farm better than any brochure could.

NPR's Life Kit nailed this one: How to know it's time to quit something, or to give up on a goal. And it's in comic form. Never hurts to take time, occasionally, to reassess. This is a good framework of seven easy-to-understand indicators.

Reminder that muting specific words on social media for a day, a week, a month, or even forever can be laudatory self-care.

So now there's going to be #StarTrek LEGO. I'll get right on that. As soon as I finally build this AMT model I bought, and still haven't completed, from 1975.