Scratch Pad: Spam, 4th, Nabokov

At the end of each week, I usually collate a lightly edited collection of recent comments I’ve made on social media, which I think of as my public scratch pad. I tag on what books I may have finished reading. Knowing I’ll revisit my social media posts, I’ve found, serves as a positive and mellowing influence on my online activity. Some show up on disquiet.com before this post, in which case I don’t repeat them. I mostly hang out on Mastodon (at post.lurk.org/@disquiet), and I’m also trying out a few others. And I generally take weekends off social media. ▰ Phineas, Emerson, Roman — these are some of the recent names utilized by spam calls offering me loans. What is with these names? Does archaic (nothing personal if one is your name in 2026) imply financial stability? (And no, I don’t pick up the calls. They go to voicemail and get transcribed.) ▰ “Hey, baby, it’s the fourth of July.” Happy birthday. ▰ Been reading a lot, finishing less than usual. Did I mention I read Vladimir…