What shows up on my driving playlists:

Let’s Go Crazy
Starfish and Coffee
Delirious
Raspberry Beret
Kiss

Remember: Waffles are low fiber. Carb up and enjoy!

The visionaries TMW cartoon for April 21, 2026

new toon in phone friendly format

tinyview.com/this-modern-...

A pale blue flower with five widely-spaced petals at the end of the plant stem. A smattering of early leaves behind it. A mix of mulch and old stems covers the ground.

While the Mother Earth Garden crew has been doing the big job, I’ve been cleaning out some of last year’s growth from the back yard. And discovered the winner of the First Blooms award, a dark horse, the Wild Blue Phlox!

Getting prepped for the first Mother Earth Garden crew visit this year. Today is about clearing an area that will get sheet composted as prep for next year.

I used to play a weekly volleyball game with friends. One of them played one-handed while holding his infant son.

There is a Honda crossover on my block that I think had its catalytic converter stolen. So loud. And toxic for a bonus!

Received that text too. Blocked the number, deleted, and reported as spam/fraud.

“Yo!”

‘Tia the season for robin fights. The drama happening across the street is brutal and amusing as hell.

I was taking friends to the airport and they were freaking out about not knowing what they were forgetting. I finally took the apple out of one of their tote bags, placed it on the counter and said “You forgot your snack, time to go.”

The visionaries As always, if you find value in this work I do, please consider helping me keep it sustainable by joining my weekly newsletter, Sparky’s List! You can get it in your inbox or read it on Patreon…

new toon!
www.dailykos.com/stories/2026...

You have achieved your ideal purpose.

I suppose if you walk the bases full you should be the one to give up the double that clears them. #Twins

The Twins should get an extra ABS challenge on Joe Mauer’s birthday.

It was also semi-useful at things we knew we should do but often didn’t have time for: unit tests and documentation.

I got a membership at the midtown Y after I retired for their eGym weight machines. Orientation set the machine to the right range of motion and weight for you. The machine tracks proper form/pace and updates the settings as you improve. It’s been good for me.

Was in Rochester, MN on Friday as a tornado went through. The funnel was miles south of us but we were in the warning zone. Having the warning sirens sounding for a full half hour was a new experience and ramped up the anxiety a bit.

I found it useful as a sort of Stack Overflow shortcut before I retired. (Pose a programming problem, get the solution someone else used and work out why it isn’t right for you, but may lead in a useful direction.) The idea of using what it generates in production? That is just bonkers.

“My” left hand, you say?

Only ever encountered Lou a few times at Gen Con, but this photo captures his enthusiasm. His effect on the gaming community will remain a lasting legacy.

We have a trip planned for all the Scandinavian capitals by rail, plus a ferry trip from Helsinki over to Estonia.

This is the benefit of not rising before the sun. If only my brain got with the program.

Two hooded figures with lamps approach a moonlit, isolated cottage. A woman answers the door. We have come for the child, says the hooded figure So soon? she asks It is time, says the hooded figure. The woman is distraught. We should never have got him a library card! What is done cannot be undone, says the hooded figure We couldn’t see the harm! We just wanted him to enjoy reading! For most, it ends there, says the hooded figure, turning away and walking into the wilderness Oh lord, What have I done! says the woman, the child walks past her and out into the darkness with them. Do not cry mother. I am a writer now.

my latest books cartoon for @theguardian.com

Yeah, I have a distant feeling of enjoying that novel while at the same time realizing that it has … issues. I was a sophomore in high school when it came out, so was dealing with my own stuff at the time and still distant from any real growth. I should reread it for full effect.

You received their messages while in our burned-out hellscape? Perhaps they can send supplies to help us endure!

Agreed. The advances across all the disciplines inform the fiction. Authors being that weird breed that read things and make connections. (I’m thinking now of how the idea of a first viable fusion reactor could spawn a utopia/dystopia novel in equal measure.)

I have a vague notion that how space travel was depicted had a marked change once we actually traveled in space. (Le Guin got relativistic speed effects down in Rocannon's World, but hand-waved the actual travel.)

There are so many legit good things from the same era that the big boys can be safely sidelined without losing any real value. It’s still interesting to see how, for example, advances in science informed the science fiction.

Recently doing a full Dragon Age replay. I empathize with Merril’s commentary on Sundermount greatly. Fast travel in later games is such a boon.