I’m glad I’m not the only one who reads all written content on the internet with a dose of A.I. paranoia; author Sam Kriss hits the nail on the head here. (Gift link below.) www.nytimes.com/2025/12/03/m...

Old life lets go, & in doing so feeds new life — may what is breaking in me now nourish the me I am becoming in all this rain. #mushroom #shroomscrolling #autumn #lettinggo #poem #poetry

Who says local politics are boring? Kirkland City Council’s races flipped over the weekend from 3/4 seats going to NIMBY candidates to now just 1/4! It will be wonderful to maintain a majority that cares about the future of Kirkland for everyone, even those whose voices aren’t “in the room”.

Same with two of the Kirkland City Council races against NIMBY opponents! The pro-housing candidates are behind but just by fractions. We’re only 22% into the vote count for the city and pro-housing folks return their ballots later in the election cycle. 🤞

Next week's council elections in Kirkland really do deserve more regional attention. An anti-growth advocacy group is promoting a full slate of candidates who are pledging to "protect neighborhoods." The outcome could tip the city in a very reactionary direction. www.theurbanist.org/2025/10/28/k...

I wonder how much content I read over the internet (email newsletters, product descriptions, podcast summaries, corporate website copy, etc.) is mostly A.I. authored now. I can easily spot some of it, and other copy is less obvious—I only know because it isn’t in their typical voice.

@aoc at the rally for Mamdani Sunday in NYC. “This city was built by the Irish escaping famine, Italians fleeing fascism, Black Americans fleeing slavery and Jim Crow, Latinos seeking a better life, Native people standing for themselves, Asian Americans coming together…” So good!! 🔥

Seattle: Our tea house will begin accepting donations on 10/29. We will make weekly dropoffs with Northwest Harvest, but if you are in our area and in need, you are welcome to take directly from the donations bin for yourself as well. We won’t be policing your need.

Cascadia Tea Festival Autumn Virtual Steep 'n Sip is coming on Nov 1! Free tickets on our website: www.cascadiatea.org/event-detail... Autumn tea boxes with a tea pet and fall teas to go with the event are $17. Financial hardship discount available.

I know everyone is probably tired of hearing this, but Japan’s streets/transportation/land use is pretty great. Every street that is not an arterial is a shared street, where folks ride and walk in the middle and make way for the occasional car.

Every year this red maple goes full on autumn before the other trees even notice it’s fall. I love their enthusiasm. #fall #autumn #leaves #early

This extrovert is going to have serious withdrawals when the election is over and I can’t canvass for another year or two. It’s been a wonderful, positive experience. Sign me up for next year! 🩷

The hardest part of being involved in politics is discovering how low people you once respected will stoop to try to gain the upper hand. It’s disappointing and heartbreaking.

More Myst birthday week fun: Now until Oct 1st, get 10% off Myst Collection merch in the Cyan Store! Plus, our Riven Animal Sigils Stained Glass Coasters are BACK IN STOCK (and also 10% off!) Myst Collection: https://store.cyan.com/s/myst32soc Riven Coasters: https://store.cyan.com/s/sigressoc

Great. Yet another American entertainment property I need to boycott now that Saudi Arabia (and Jared Kushner!) bought it up. They ruined pro golf for me. Now they’re ruining the video game industry. Invest in indie companies: play indie games. www.reuters.com/business/med...

The Northwest Tea Festival was wonderful! I saw so many friends I lost touch with over the last several years. I bought too much tea and teaware but no regrets. Folks seemed to enjoy my two tea bar sessions. I’ll post some more about it later. I’m recovering today with Old Ways Tea Osmanthus Black.

autumn raw Puer being made by hand. the tea is cooked in a wood-fired cast iron wok by hand for about half an hour. the next step is hand rolling and then this commission of ours will be ready in a day after being dried in the sun

Listen, I’m not against using A.I. to assist in the writing process. But please please please, I beg of writers to do the work so their copy doesn’t read like A.I. wrote it. Please have a heavier hand in the editorial process and make it your / your company’s own voice. (Continued)

It’s Northwest Tea Festival weekend! 🥳 I’m hosting the tea bar today at 11am (come learn about the six types of Chinese tea!) and tomorrow at 2pm (come taste at least three different Longjing varietals with me!): nwteafestival.org/tea-bar (My session descriptions don’t reflect what I’m brewing.)

I just want to know where I can get my kid’s ADORABLE shirt in an adult size. 😍👻💕

Dearly departed little angel

Stand with trans people. Protect them. Don't just watch them get harassed. Call it out, defend, and don't accept the hate as the new normal.

AOC: We should be clear about who Charlie Kirk was. A man who believed that the civil rights act that granted black Americans the right to vote was a mistake… His rhetoric and beliefs were ignorant, uneducated, and sought to disenfranchise millions of Americans.

This is precisely the kind of government coercion that the First Amendment was designed to prevent — and media companies need to start standing up rather than capitulating to it.

Vladimir Putin sent armed guards in 2000 to shut down the puppet show Kukly for mocking him. Russia never got free media back. Donald Trump used his FCC to pressure ABC into suspending Jimmy Kimmel. If a president can silence comedians, our freedoms may never return.

There… are… FOUR… LIGHTS!

Join me in cancelling your Disney+ subscription today to send a message that capitulating to anti-First Amendment demands comes with consequences.

I leafed up hard on this one—9g in my largest gaiwan ~140ml—because it was the bottom of the bag. Wish me luck! 🤪 #teasky

This graph says it all. Induced demand is real, and the reverse is also true: if we don't expand highway capacity, people make choices other than sitting in worsening traffic jams. $10B for transit instead, please.

Gov. Spencer Cox also signed a bill encouraging teachers to be armed at school. I’ll continue to hold out hope that this event will make the GOP look inward and reconsider their dangerous 2A propaganda. (Article from March 2024: www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024...)

Hey GOP: It’s the guns, stupid.

Camellia sinensis report: It’s so happy now that we’re back to cooler temperatures and even a little precipitation in the Seattle area. Those flowers are POPPIN’! 🌸 #teasky

HEY FRENZ GUESS WHAT

“The new Standing Order allows most residents to go directly to a Washington pharmacy or clinic and receive the COVID-19 vaccine without an individual prescription. The vaccine remains covered by most private insurers, removing barriers and helping people stay healthy.” doh.wa.gov/newsroom/doh...

“The trait of liberation is to not mistake the mechanics and operations [of society and other external factors] for who I am. “I have to contend with them, but they’re not who I am. I get to keep being me, I get to keep choosing who I am.” —Rev. angel Kyodo williams

Starry pollen bee in the heart of the flower nebula, still so much beauty all around, take it in, take it in… #bee #pollen #bloomscrolling #flower

I did it, fam. The kids are back in school. I’m foggy-brained and bleary-eyed after an intense week (and intense months of caregiving). Here’s an imperfect slow-mo pour of an aged Tie Guan Yin, supposedly from 1998. Whatever the year, it tastes and feels beautiful. Now, I rest. #teasky

Happy Labor Day, USA! 🇺🇸 Don’t forget who runs this country. (It’s not the oligarchs.) Power to the People! Thank you, Labor Movement! ✊🏻

I have no fucking clue what is happening and neither does this beautiful monarch sipping on goldenrod

I love love love my wonderful kids but there’s something about summer break that temporarily erases a part of me. Any gains I make after clawing back time to myself to recenter are quickly wiped away in the weeklong caregiving. I registered for a weekday taichi class starting next week…

Once you start seeing how much our culture (capitalism, patriarchy, etc.) has worked to divorce us from our bodies and our emotions, you can’t unsee it. It’s insidious. I thought it was, “Oh yeah, power through being sick to get things done! Yikes!” (Continued)

We’re gonna need them.

I’ve been prioritizing more book reading this year. It’s hard to get started sometimes with screens pulling at my attention but once I do, it feels like wonderful self-care. _Know My Name_ by Chanel Miller, the victim in the Stanford r*pe case. Brutal, shimmering, and important. Transformative.

I think my car needs one more sticker on the back of it…

Camellia sinensis report: The first flower popped open since it was planted in my front yard! #teasky

Support the farm worker-lead boycott: don’t buy Windmill Mushrooms (based in Washington state)!

My bicycle was just stolen in Capitol Hill Seattle. Please keep an eye out for a small sized Salsa Vaya, green bicycle with a rear rack, steel fenders, dynamo hubs, 26” wheels. Parked at a bike rack at 15th and Pike. Saw my lock cut and thrown on the ground.

I really couldn’t resist the @haymarketbooks.org 40%-off sale. I bought DRM-free ebooks for my Kobo! 🥳 www.haymarketbooks.org

Hitler sidesteps judicial norms with mass incarceration program.

As a marketer who has dabbled in SEO, this shift in traffic referral source is fascinating to watch.