A few horse photos taken at the Shawville Fair on Labour Day weekend.

We had a skunk visitor this morning.

How interesting: a tiny toad.

Is baby.

New garden project just dropped.

‘Turning information into something physical’ Houghton exhibit looks at how punched cards — invented 300 years ago to streamline weaving — led to modern computing 📚📜 share.google/N9w6cwKSajku...

I wrote a post about visiting the last stamp store in Chicago and living a life that’s fun, but worthless. I really like this one, hope you do too. dansinker.com/posts/202…

That must have taken some doing.

Wrote a thing about one of my enduring fascinations: the life and times of Harlan Ellison thecommasplice.com/harlan-agoni...

If you own a Brother printer, it’s time to update its firmware to patch some security vulnerabilities. Details: www.rapid7.com/blog/post/mu... support.brother.com/g/b/faqend.a...

I’m not sure, but I think this hummingbird might have been sticking his tongue out to catch raindrops.

A lot of goldfinches around here lately.

Female evening grosbeak

He’s moved from obstruction to participation.

Rose-breasted grosbeak

It’s one thing for squirrels to turn up at the bird feeder, but this is starting to get out of hand.

One of two pileated woodpeckers that have been just shredding this stump in our back yard over the past two days.

Our yard over the past two days: northern flickers picking grubs out of the front lawn, pileated woodpeckers just shredding a stump in the back, a yellow-bellied sapsucker drilling into a maple tree, purple finches swarming the feeder, phoebes darting from tree branches to hunt.

Another issue of my newsletter is en route to subscribers. Topics include the pieces I’m playing at the music festival tomorrow, dealing with stage fright, and the implications of Pierre Poilievre’s dating history. Plus links. buttondown.com/jonathancrow...

Snow squirrel.

Another newsletter winging its way to subscribers’ inboxes tonight. In this one I discuss economics of (map) blogging, and confirm my participation in an upcoming local music festival. buttondown.com/jonathancrow...

When I worked in the correspondence unit at Health Canada back in 2007-09, around 1/3 of all incoming mail was complaints about the provincial health system. Mostly from Ontario. We had a canned response telling them (politely) to go bug (er, share their concerns) with the provincial minister.

Newsletter time again! In which I talk about the new website, Justin Trudeau’s political skills gaps, and more. buttondown.com/jonathancrow...

Two cats, one lap.

Just uploaded the new version of my personal website: jonathancrowe.net. This iteration is a return to basics: it abandons blogging in favour of fast-loading, cruft-free static HTML pages, with minimal JavaScript and no embedded external media or resources. It’s only 15 MB! [1/4]

Bookshelf cat returns.

Curl.

So you know how in Babylon 5 due to Shadow influence the Centauri start pointless wars with all their neighbours and end up isolated and friendless, and Londo is denied his booze because he’s controlled by a Keeper on his neck that falls asleep when exposed to alcohol? Anyway, Trump doesn’t drink.

A menacing blep.

I think I should at least explore options for moving my web hosting out of the U.S. (not that what I do is essential or couldn’t be shut down, but still). Ideally to Canada, but I’d also consider the EU. Not sure I trust what I’ve been finding via web search results. Any recommendations?

This never happens.

Another newsletter issue is now winging its way to subscribers’ inboxes. Featuring keyboards in all their tactile glory and the Gulf of Whatever-It’s-Called-Now. buttondown.com/jonathancrow...

So. The first of the week's essays: Paul Kincaid on "Harlan Ellison's" The Last Dangerous Visions. This capacious piece on @straczynski.bsky.social's anthology has been trailed for months by @jonathanstrahan.bsky.social and @garykwolfe.bsky.social. We've held onto it for a special because it is.

So I wrote a thing about Trump’s move to rename the Gulf of Mexico, and just how long the Gulf of Mexico has had that name. www.maproomblog.com/2025/01/nami...

Physically disentangling two kingsnakes, one of which was hell-bent on eating the other.

Another newsletter is now arriving in subscribers’ inboxes. Obsolete electric typewriters, Beethoven’s Ninth, and more.

After 45 years fixing, selling, and tinkering with typewriters, owner Tom Furrier, 69, will retire and close the iconic Cambridge Typewriter Co. on March 31 in Arlington. He waited a year for a potential buyer to step up and take over the business. No buyers so he's selling everything.

John Clute does have a way with words

Briefly felt a mild earthquake this morning. Turns out it was this one, a magnitude 4.1/4.2 quake 75 km NW of Mont-Laurier. earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/...

Ryan North and Chris Fenoglio's Lower Decks comic Warp Your Own Way was a delightful surprise: a great LD story and a brilliant use of the Choose Your Own Adventure format. Naturally, the only way to review it was as a CYOA review. @strangehorizons.bsky.social strangehorizons.com/non-fiction/...

“You will be visited by three spirits.”

The global effort to eliminate cervical cancer got a huge boost in March 2024 when international donors pledged nearly $600 million towards expanding access to vaccination, screening, and treatment worldwide. https://buff.ly/4gujYhp #ShareGoodNewsToo

Fare-free transit is not an environmental policy. The reason is simple: It doesn't reduce driving. "We find no evidence that low-cost or free-of-charge public transportation financing schemes have improved air quality." doi.org/10.1016/j.ec...

Inaugural issue of the relaunched newsletter is now live and should be polluting subscribers’ inboxes at some point. CW: politics, Beethoven. buttondown.com/jonathancrow...

Boy am I ever leaning *hard* into all the skeuomorphic nonsense in this website redesign.

Somebody appears to have listened to Hondo.

I’m super excited to announce I'm part of an amazing team (<3 @williambrady.bsky.social @killianmcloughlin.bsky.social @mjcrockett.bsky.social) that just published a paper in @science.org on the role of outrage in spread of misinformation Link here: science.org/doi/10.1126/... Summary in🧵🔽 1/

THE BOY AND THE HERON, dir. Hayao Miyazaki (2023)

So after a few months of Not Blogging and a couple of years of Not Sending Out Newsletters, I’ve decided to replace both with a single newsletter that will (hopefully) come out more frequently. The newsletter is also moving from my ISP’s rather antiquated announcement-list service to Buttondown. 1/2

Bluesky as a 21st-century Salon des Refusés.