One of my favorite street interactions: when someone "apologizes" to me because their dog approached me for head scratchies during their walk, and I instantly sense that they're thinking "Yes, I _know_ my doggo is the most adorable and friendliest and most wonderful dog in the whole wide world."

Spotted my first MacBook Neo in the wild today, at the library. Hard not to clock that Citrus, even from across the room…!

Many of my friends here are fellow creators. They will experience some empathetic pity when I share that this weekend's goal is just to write an OK paragraph about myself and my credits. It is IMPOSSIBLE to accomplish this without feeling like a faded Southern belle in a Tennessee Williams play.

The latest in an ongoing series of prints entitled "**** it…I'm Going For 'Arty' On This One."

Ray Bradbury's classic _Zen In The Art Of Writing_ is discounted to just THREE DAMN DOLLARS on the Kindle store! One of the few great "a writer writes about writing" books. amzn.to/4cBNouY

The classic writer's dilemma: I spontaneously wrote a 1200 word thing, and an 1800-word thing. Yay! But I didn't write the 1000-word thing that I intended to write, and which I really wanted to get off my to-do list today. (Not a "boo" but maybe not ideal, either?)

A photo from the aforementioned Last Nice Long Walk of the workweek.

I took a last long walk before I'm likely to be shut in for two days. I picked up breakfast pastries for Monday and Tuesday, and groceries for a hearty Monday night dinner that will simmer low and slow in a pot all afternoon. I have a project to work on, a book to read…and a sense of resignation.

David McCullough's Pulitzer-winning biography of John Adams is just FOUR DAMN DOLLARS on the Kindle store. One of my favorite books...he really brings a great man and that era to life. I wind up re-reading it every year or two. amzn.to/4rfwGpE

Surf and turf, Winter style.

A triplet of Hooded Mergansers. No doubt they're quite grateful that at least _some_ of the cove is finally splashy again, instead of crunchy.

Today's discovery: if you google "Mustache," the Google logo sprouts a series of mustaches.

My range of emotions when I arrived at the library and saw the white smoke: (1) Surprise that I hadn't heard the sad news about the Library Pope; (2) Relief that the conclave had agreed on a new one so quickly; (3) Disappointment that I hadn't even made the shortlist (I checked my messages...nada).

This collection of interesting word usements structured by @stevemartinreally.bsky.social is just THREE DAMN DOLLARS on Kindle. amzn.to/3M2Zv9F (Amazon affiliate link)

I'm very sad about it. I usually get to talk to my friend @alexlindsay.bsky.social a minimum of three hours a week. Do you have any idea how much that would cost, at his usual hourly consulting rate?

Wishing a Very Messy Kindle to all of those who observe the holiday and who tap "Send" before realizing that autocorrect screwed up the greeting.

TAKE DOWN THE ILLEGITIMATE REGIME THAT DROVE OUR BELOVED BULLWINKLE BALLOON INTO UNDERSERVED EXILE

About to record EPISODE 1000 of the MacBreak Weekly podcast on @twit.tv ! Does this mean we have tenure, and can never be thrown out of this institution no matter what we do or say? LET'S FIND OUT SHALL WE YES I THINK WE SHOULD

Business idea: a service that will go around at the start of Autumn and replace all of a client property's high-visibility orange cones with high-visibility green ones, in the interests of higher visibility when all the leaves are orange.

Ok, I admit that the password to the security cameras on _my_ crown jewel collection is "LOUVRE," too. So maybe I shouldn't be so judgy. But in my defense, I don't have that word literally on a big sign on my front door. It's a much more oblique choice.

I think this exhibit was some sort of art piece. Therefore, I chose to project my perceptions and preconceptions into it. @museumofscience.bsky.social

Q: Is there anything more cool than a two-story-tall working Van de Graaff generator? A: Possibly a two-story-tall working Van de Graaff generator with Elvis Costello performing selections from "My Aim ls True" inside the safety birdcage. Otherwise...no.

Nice guy. Kept asking me if I needed a place to hang up my hat. Big hockey fan.

It's the obligation of an artist to be patient and thoughtful, rather than accept the first furtive flash of inspiration. (Also, that @museumofscience.bsky.social exhibit is so large that a selfie with my hand up one of the nostrils wasn't really possible. So, to hell with it: I went with "arty.")

Excellent talk and you presented technology very well.

The debut of Apple's big "Great ideas start on Mac" campaign happened during the same week as the demolition of the East Wing and the disclosure of Apple's financial contribution supporting it. I wonder if Apple Marketing regards this as Bad Timing, or _Perfect_ Timing?

My panel/talk at the @museumofscience.bsky.social went great! Why, I felt as though I had the whole world at my back...

Boston peeps! I'm speaking at the Museum of Science Wednesday night. It's a neat event about technology and loneliness, and the panel features some folks I'm keen to speak with. Admission is free! Reserve a seat here: www.mos.org/events/subsp...

In legal terms, this mini basketball hoop up on a phone pole is the very definition of an "attractive nuisance." Any sensible person walking by would stop underneath it and pretend to be a Catholic saint. If I'd been hit by a car, the hoop's owner would be held liable for my medical expenses.

Wow. This was another of those times then I gave Gemini a prompt and was so pleased with the result that I uttered a grateful profanity. (This was definitely the first time I've said "I'm very happy with my speaker headshot.") "Convert this photo to a 1-bit bitmap, using Atkinson-style dithering."

Today's writing output, so far: 2500 word draft to explain a nuanced interplay between technology, government policy, and freedom (roughly two hours) 150 word author bio (roughly an hour)

If you know, you know. And if you know, you know that this indicates I've had a spicy week.

FINE I GIVE IN I'M MIDDLE-AGED AND I CAN READ WHAT'S ON MY MACBOOK SCREEN MUCH MORE CLEARLY NOW THAT I'VE GOT THE "DISPLAYS" SETTING AT ITS "SLIGHTLY LARGER TEXT" OPTION But I'm still young enough that I only use caps-lock for dramatic effect Also I can still eat spicy foods after 6 pm

A Sunday when there's a "Charlie Brown kicks the football" strip in the funnies is a Very Good day… www.gocomics.com/peanuts/2025...

My first sighting of Roof Racc at night. Just chilling and contemplating his evening plans. He's been around the neighborhood for months. I'm sure he's clocked the dumpster schedules of all of the restaurants nearby. Some of them are quite fancy. Roof Racc probably eats way better than I do.

I don't have any kids, so I can't say "I want to live long enough to dance at my grandchild's wedding." After some thought, I've decided on "I want to live long enough to play that codger in the disaster movie who refuses to obey the evacuation order because he 'ain't scared of no tor-NAY-dey'."

"Futurama" writers' room: "What if Farnsworth and mathematician Georg Cantor are prisoners in Numberland, and they escape by demonstrating that a unique number can exist outside of an infinite set?" "Family Guy" writers' room: "What if Mrs. Garrett from 'The Facts Of Life' were made out of farts?"

In fairness: It's embarrassing when a product fails during a livestreamed launch event. But IMO Meta and Google send a subtle message of "we're not afraid to perform a live demo." Apple's stuff always works flawlessly at their events because their launch events are always pre-taped and edited.

JK is often DIRECT about his reactions; I think he goes over the line sometimes. Before I saw the monologue, I was prepared to think "Pulling him is BS, of course. But that line about the murder…*cringe*" There's nothing in here to justify even _pretend_ outrage. www.youtube.com/watch?v=-j3Y...

I'm sure I'm not the first to say this but... I hope I hope I HOPE that all of the guests for Colbert's show tomorrow are getting text messages informing them that they're all getting bumped to Friday. And, unrelated, I hope that Jimmy Kimmel is on a plane to NYC tonight…

God...no way to respond to this. Where to begin? "Isolation" is one of the profound generational differences. In the 80s-90s, you hard to WORK to find "your people." A show like MST3K, made by people with a POV and outlook you recognized, was VERY BIG. Funny as hell, but also a beacon of sorts.

"Bull Durham, The MUSICAL?!" Apparently, yes. Bull Durham: The Musical. (There'd better be a song entitled "The Rose Goes In The Front, Big Guy") papermill.org/bull-durham/

It's MacOS Tahoe Update Day! Always perform routine system maintenance before installing a major OS update: - Perform a 100% system backup - Free up space by removing apps and files you no longer need - Replace the old scuffed-up David Bowie/NASA mashup sticker with a fresh one

In olden days, you'd walk into someone's living room, see "12:00" flashing on the VCR, and you'd know that this person isn't good with home tech and would probably appreciate some guidance. Today's equivalent is when you see that their TV is on the factory default "Motion Smoothing: ON" setting.

In olden days, you'd walk into someone's living room, see "12:00" flashing on the VCR, and you'd know that this person isn't good with home tech and would probably appreciate some guidance. Today's equivalent is when you see that their TV is on the factory default "Motion Smoothing ON" setting.

I theorize that this graph (of how frequently the phrase "wicked pissah" appears in print over time) tracks Gen-X kids growing up and becoming published writers.

Future students will be surprised to learn that a certain word that lyrically describes a type of melancholy was coined not by Lord Byron in 1813, but by a guy in 2025 who'd been looking forward for months to binging a new 10-episode series in one shot & couldn't make it through the first half-hour.

The seagull said he was "happy as a clam" about the outcome of his lunchtime forage. The clam could not be reached for comment.

This year more than ever, it's important to remember what Labor Day is about. Today, society in general acknowledges that "workers have some rights." Those words were painted in the blood of Union organizers and protesters. (1/4) Studs Terkel, being magnificent: www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoED...