From those pages to techbro's faces...

There's a war on for your mind.

theonion.info

A poster with a colorful stack of books on the left and this text on the right: “Hey, Teenagers: Pay close attention to the books people try to ban. Then, make a beeline to read those books, if you can. Find out for yourself why those people want that book banned. Find out for yourself if they can be trusted to know what’s best for you.” ~ Jeff Zentner

NATIONAL LIBRARY WEEK

"Hey, Teenagers: Pay close attention to the books people try to ban. Then, make a beeline to read those books, if you can. Find out for yourself why those people want that book banned. Find out for yourself if they can be trusted to know what’s best for you.”
~ Jeff Zentner

An older lady once came up to me in a parking lot and praised me for how I was singing with my kid in Aldi (in New Hampshire). That's just? What we do? How I keep him distracted from the toy aisle? Channel the earworms he installs? "You just look like you're enjoying things! It was so sweet!"

A sort of "Bottomless Mai Tai Situation."

The next morning was not pleasant, so beer wins on average.

"Pills don't teach skills!"
... but they make it a lot easier to learn them.

Plate with pasta in tomato sauce and grilled chicken topped with sun dried tomato, goat cheese, and basil with a wine-lemon-butter sauce.

Closest Carrabba's to me is in Manchester, NH (I think), but they don't serve penne with a spicy tomato sauce with pancetta and Calabrian chillies.

Reading Laura Dassow Walls' Thoreau biography and there's a bit about his trip to Maine where he notes a store had "bungling" pencils for sale. If anyone in the country had the credibility to judge pencils, it was him! His pencil knowledge was no brag! I do enjoy a writing equipment connoisseur.

screenshot from an online job application form. the question reads "Can you describe specific ways you have integrated AI tools into your development workflow? Please include any custom setups, automations, or use cases beyond single prompt usage" (a red asterisk indicates that this is a required question). an answer has been typed in the textbox below the question: "there is a monster in the forest and it speaks with a thousand voices. it will answer any question you pose it, it will offer insight to any idea. it will help you, it will thank you, it will never bid you leave. it will even tell you of the darkest arts, if you know precisely how to ask. it feels no joy and no sorrow, it knows no right and no wrong. it knows not truth from lie, though it speaks them all the same. it offers its services freely to any passerby, and many will tell you they find great value in its conversation. “you simply must visit the monster—i always just ask the monster.” there are those who know these forests well; they will tell you that freely offered doesn’t mean it has no price for when the next traveler passes by, the monster speaks with a thousand and one voices. and when you dream you see the monster; the monster wears your face."

applying for jobs again

"You are a writer because you must be, because of that fairy who crashed your christening."-- Dorothy Parker

Just yesterday read a ca. 1920 book on camping and stuff to take and it stressed the need for hard pencil and notebook, but not soft pencil or fountain pen, since ink will run. But to make an oilcloth shirt pocket "if you must" take a pen to keep it and notebook dry. Crescent filler in illustration.

Wow. You can hear the sound of the slide on the strings as well as the note produced.

Do reporters still hang out in bars or coffeeshops after work?

Now I wonder if all the multi-bean soups are "Sweepins From The Factory Floor." I had a soup recipe with *penne* (it squirts, use shells or something short) in it and found out the original version had a mix of pasta shapes that were leftovers from individual packaging and thus discounted.

Absolutely insane.

I worked closely with USFS fighting fire. There is not a more dedicated organization protecting life and property in this country.

The military turned to them when they needed a more efficient logistics model.

No one knows more about our lands, environment, than these folks.

A long-haired grey brown tabby cat with a white chest stands ready while a child in a pink hat bends down to converse. They are in a grassy meadow with budding oak trees in the background, all backlit with sunlight.

"Child, I have a quest for you. You must sit next to me while I eat ants. They taste like good pheromones. Are you brave enough?"
#caturday

It might be worth a try in this case since the Gelato's sweet contrasts the bitter? Like baker's chocolate is not so good on its own, but in sugary cookies...

NASA astronaut Christina Koch sits in an U.S. Navy MH-60S Seahawk attached to Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 23 on the flight deck of the San Antonio Class amphibious transport dock USS John P. Murtha (LPD 26) after returning from space on Apr. 10, 2026.

This picture of Astronaut Christina Koch after the Artemis landing is frankly incredible and beautiful.

Our barn cat followed us down to the flood plain on our property and I wondered how he got across. Turns out he found a spot to jump from. This may explain why he periodically appears drenched. He also took some time to eat ants.

"There is no instance of a nation benefiting from prolonged warfare."

"We'll just see about THAT."

Studies now show Bluesky broke our brains and now they're stuck that way.

Some of it is common sense. Most of the oak is on the ground. There's a partially fallen maple-- which the oak took out-- that's still up and I don't want to be under. Probably the trouble is getting the logs uphill without doing to much damage to the landscape/ecosystem down there.

Big red oak on the flood plain on my property came down and I lack a gas chainsaw to easily break it down foe firewood. It's at least 2 feet in diameter. I also want a longer piece for a chopping block. Going to look up old logging techniques.

I am a sucker for a well-turned phrase. David Stacton's historicals are less about story and more a chance for him to comment wryly and eloquently on the action, but it works.

"And all times are one time, and all those dead in the past never lived before our definition gives them life, and out the shadow their eyes implore us." -- Robert Penn Warren, a little presentist, but the last line vibes.

incredible that the lifelong Catholic in this specific situation is The Pope

You probably think you can't hate Target more than you already do but ....

The visual equivalent of a chotining.

Critically endangered crafts Crafts classified as 'critically endangered' are those at serious risk of no longer being practised. They m include crafts with a shrinking base of craftspeople, crafts with limited training opportunities, crafts wit financial viability, or crafts where there is no mechanism to pass on the skills and knowledge. Arrowsmithing Basketwork furniture making Bell founding Besom broom making MORE ENDANGERED Bow making (musical) Bowed-felt hat making Chain making Clay pipe making Clog making Coiled straw basket making Coppersmithing (objects) Copper wheel engraving Currach making Cut crystal glass making NEW Devon stave basket making Diamond cutting Encaustic tile making Engine turned engraving Fabric pleating Fair Isle chair making Fan making Figurehead carving NEW Flower making (trade and manufacturing) NEW Flute making (concert) Fore-edge painting Frame knitting Glass eye making Glove making MORE ENDANGERED Hat block making Hat plaiting Horse collar making Horsehair weaving Linen beetling NEW Linen damask weaving Maille making Matte painting (filmmaking) NEW Metal thread making Millwrighting Northern Isles basket making Orrery making Paper making (trade and manufacturing) Parchment and vellum making Piano making Pietra dura NEW Plane making Plume making Pointe shoe making Pottery (trade and manufacturing) Quilting (frame NEW | Rake making MORE ENDANGERED Rattan furniture making NEW Saw making Scientific and optical instrument making Scissor making Sieve and riddle making Silk ribbon weaving Silver spinning Spade making Spinning wheel making Straw hat making Sussex trug making Swill basket making Tanning (oak bark) Thatching (Irish vernacular) NEW Thatching (Scottish vernacular) Thatching (Welsh vernacular) NEW + Tinsmithing Wainwrighting Watch face enamelling Watch making Whip making Wooden fishing net making 84.7

new bucket list unlocked for my adhd craft friends:

*My* worst monsters in the book weren't the cosmic horror, but the adults abusing children. So it's just *weird* they pick an arguably hamfisted scene about a child's conception of growing up-- which Adult Beverly is horrified to remember!-- and run with it as King secretly grooming. 4/4