Hot on the heels of Projectile 3.0 comes Projectile 3.1! Three days apart, yes. There’s a story there. A big chunk of what’s in 3.1 was originally meant for 3.0, but 3.0 was already turning into a monster of a release and I decided to cut it into two, so I’d actually be able to reason about each of them. So think of 3.1 less as “the next release” and more as “the second half of 3.0 that I was too scared to ship all at once”. There was also a bit of calendar mischief involved. I really wanted a…
I’m glad to (finally) see some buyer’s remorse in the corporate ranks about their rapid deployment of AI, often at the expense of jobs (or so they claim). Costs are rapidly rising. Software quality is plummeting. Morale is tanking. The workers are getting angry. People are swamped with slop. About the only ones happy with this change are sociopaths who live increasingly solipsistic lives with a sycophantic word extruder (and maybe some jaded senior developers who want to get paid as much as…
It’s Friday night and I’m registering a domain, as one does.
Another rough week — still coming to grips with last week. Highlight of the week: our remaining cat is being a sweetheart — the night we had her brother put to sleep, she played with me for the longest I think she’s ever played with me before, then the next morning she snuggled under the covers with me which she doesn’t usually like Looking forward to: long weekend Stuff I did: 1 hour consulting + 1 hour business admin took Friday off for the holiday settling into our new one-cat life — she…
The best thing about Independence Day in the United States is that no one is obligated to observe it. And if you do, regardless of how eccentrically or offensively, that’s your business. Don’t impose your protest or drunken shenanigans on me or my family but otherwise you have carte blanche to express your patriotism, or its absence, as you wish. That’s what “the freedom of speech” and “the right of the people peaceably to assemble” mean, according to the First Amendment of our Constitution.…
The bad (but not really that bad) news is I went a bit overboard on the steps today, walking so much before my run that I turned my 5K into a 2.5K (see previous running post for details) after slogging along for 16 minutes. The good news is that despite all the steps, I’m not totally exhausted or anything. During the run it was muggy, and I was slow. At one point I felt a bit of a stitch coming on, but it retreated, and I was fine. I think I mentioned this before, but as I hit the six-week…
Saturday 4th July 2026 Thanks for all the positive comments following last month’s blogpost marking the publication of the first issue of Bus Business in June 1986 . Among the reactions was the following from the newspaper’s founder and managing editor Peter Stonham: “thanks for your delightful reflections on the 40th anniversary of Bus Business. You have excellent memory, an obvious great archiving capability, and a ‘news nose’ that seems strangely familiar to me ….Thanks a lot for this…
The Daphne Falls band had a really good rehearsal last night. And it just reinforces that this band kind of ticks all the boxes for me. Via the MPC, I’m doing drums, bass, keys, and some samples too. And it’s really exactly in my zone, and it’s a really great fit for me. I told them when I started playing keyboards with them, probably a year and a half ago, that this is the only band I really qualify to play keys for. And that’s very true. It’s certainly the only band I qualify right now to do…
Bruce Schneier: AI agents are agents of the person or organization that deploys them—and should be treated by the law as such. If a company hired human writers to write its summaries, that company would be liable for inaccuracies in those summaries. If a company’s human agent signed contracts in the company’s name, that company would be bound by those contracts. And if a doctor gave dangerously wrong medical advice, they would be liable for malpractice. To allow businesses to hide behind the…
I thoroughly enjoyed myself tonight downtown for the First Friday drum circle. It was very warm, and at first there were only 3 or four people there. The soccer world cup was taking place, so at first glance, it seemed to impact the turnout. Anyways, a friend from another drum circle showed up too, and she smoked out with Dave early on. Well, I guess David didn't warn her that his pot is super high yield, so pretty soon she was having a super great time and was laughing so much, it was great to…
I feel like I'm more androgynous than I give myself credit for, which makes me happy. I want to lean into it more, find more outfits that kinda toe the gender line. Something to work on, but it makes me happy.
When I was an undergraduate student at Bryn Mawr, I remember reading Edward Saïd’s “Orientalism” and having my mind blown. It has colored my perspective of the world ever since. One of the things I love best about food writing … Continue reading →
I fell asleep for a couple hours earlier, so when I woke up, I didn't really feel like going to bed, so I decided to drive down to the waterfront and find out what the nightlife was like. I did not expect there to be a big event going on, though I should have with the holiday tomorrow. I ended up walking a lot, being a ball of nervous energy. Then I went to a little wine bar I was interested in, sat around at their rooftop bar for a while with an expensive mocktail (would it be rude to just ask…
📍 mango tree cafe 😋 Location: Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, JapanComment by email
Good morning, afternoon, or whenever it is that you read this. Earlier this year, my wife read M. L. Wang's Blood Over Bright Haven at my recommendation. While she was in the middle of reading it, she suggested the Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart. The Bone Shard Daughter is the first book of the Drowning Empire series. There's quite a few mysteries that drive the plot, making it difficult to make a spoiler free review. But that honestly is it's greatest strength - the book presents a…
Happy Birthday America! You did it. 250 years old. Well done!We just won’t ask those guys over there about it though (you know, the natives). Anyway, as Aimee Mann says: Today’s the Fourth of JulyAnother June has gone byAnd when they light up our town I just thinkWhat a waste of gunpowder and sky You’ve still got a bit of growing to do though, which kinda shows at the moment, guess we’ll calling it growing pains? Maybe some examples of things that are a little older than you might help give you…
Dear Reader,Reading well is a system poorly stewarded by us, the supposedly blessed literate masses. Entire eras of written language wilt on the vines of time, but with a strategic mindset, we can make small steps to reclaim our practice.Reading is a SystemA static strategy library for reading, notes, videos, links, and research workflows.In Other NewsI made a business card!i have no mouth -- and yet i must scream(@ met cloisters ... built in 1935)azzHappy July 4th!!Best,Bram
If you’re new here, welcome! Have a look around. For both of you who’ve visited in the last year and a half, the site looks massively different than it did before. In January 2025, I decided I wanted my own little corner of the Internet again, and set it up on a service called Bear. Bear is an awesome place to get a site, particularly a blog, off the ground. Herman has built a fantastic platform, and it made a great launchpad to get my blogging life started again. While fleshing out my Bear…
A video of the best steam locomotive in the world ever? Of course I'm going to link to it from here!
Patriots all! (click to enlarge)Two hundred and fifty years ago today, a group of men gathered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and committed the ultimate act of treason against their Mother country– England. They signed a document, called the “Declaration of Independence,” effectively telling King George III and the British government that the “Colonies” were now independent and a new sovereign nation. Enough! Hands off! This was a huge gamble as only a minority of the population, about 40-45%,…
1 Therapist - “I think you should morn the children you’re not going to have… as if that loss was measurable and as tragic as it feels.” Drew - “I am trying to but it’s hard since we still talk.” Therapist - “I fall on your discernment of whether us seeing each other is too hard on you or not.” Drew - “I don’t think I can handle a life without you…” 2 Alison Josephine Mouse (she changed her last name so she would share one less thing with her father). Was looking for a choice that did not…
Conkwell Woods are on the side of the Avon valley below Bradford on Avon. The Kennet and Avon Canal runs through them, between the Dundas and Avoncliff Aqueducts. They're supposed to be the most haunted woods in the country, and you'd believe it if you moored up there on a misty winter's night, when your torch shows you unblinking eyes looking back at you. Never mind if it's only a fox thinking "Put that ruddy light out! You're blinding me!"Here's something about walking at nightSwitch off the…
The minimum radius for one of these Hornby 0-4-0’s could be derived from factors such as: Four inches seems too tight a curve. I think I want to see this and “test”. I’m planning on a trip to the library... Read More ›
The Tiny Awards are returning for a fourth year. The past three winners have been remarkably diverse — rotating sandwiches, a one minute park experience, and a memorial to the fifty thousand names of those killed in Gaza. If you know of a cool, weird, eye-opening, or simply interesting web-based thing launched between July 2025 and this month, consider nominating it for the award. ⌥ Permalink
The future is, apparently, now
Hello again all. It is once again the week of July 4th and so, as is customary here, I am going to use this week’s post to talk about the United States. This is going to be a bit more of an open musing than an argument as compared to previous years (2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025) because my attention has been turned this way and that over the past few weeks and then just when I thought I’d be able to focus on this, one of home ownership’s many annoyances (a busted pipe) cropped up to consume…
It’s time for #6degrees, inspired by Kate at Books Are My Favourite and Best. We all start at the same place as other readers, add six books, and see where it ends up. June’s starting point is Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke, which has taken the book-reading world by storm. I started this bestseller about a tradwife but disliked the author’s characterization of Harvard and liked the heroine even less, so I gave it to my sister.Read more »
Don’t just like stuff on the fly. Take a moment to stop & share. It only takes a moment to assert your disdain for the un-human slop of A.I., the invasive data collecting & societal level manipulations of the big-socials, and the ever encroaching enshittification of your whole online experience. Do this: Share the web you want to see. By taking a moment to share interesting posts crafted by real humans you will contribute to an incremental re-wilding of the web. The algorithm cannot stop you…
Happy 250th birthday, United States of America! What a strange moment to mark a birthday, given everything going on in the world. Even so, I believe the U.S. has done enormous good and has served as a beacon for the world since at least... Celebrating 250 years of freedom and unity with fireworks lighting up the night sky above the U.S. Capitol, as the American flag proudly waves in honor of the nation’s milestone birthday. Happy 250th birthday, United States of America! What a strange moment…
Been trying to write all day and, like, it just didn't happen. Or hasn't happened. "Hasn't" feels like a more optimistic word, actually. It hasn't happened but it still might. Better out than in, after all. That's the mantra. It used to be "this too shall pass" but that felt a bit too "live, laugh, love" at a certain point. I don't know what "mantra" means. Not really. It's one of those words whose meaning I might only know by context and culture. Like, I know how we use it, and how I use it,…
