In A Decade We’ll All Be Using “Mog” As A Verb Without Thinking Twice
Language evolves to be useful. A lot of initially-strange phrases make perfect sense because they’re filling an unused niche in the language. This week’s...
Strange Things About London
Travel, like the discipline of anthropology, tends to “make the strange familiar and the familiar strange.” So, just like last time, here’s some strange...
30 Pieces of Advice for 30
"Afternoon tea party" (1891), Mary Cassatt I was thirty. Before me stretched the portentous, menacing road of a new decade. The Great Gatsby, F. Scott...
Fearsome Flying Machines
At least it's not a sign reading "You Have Been Diverted"... Hello! I write, bleary-eyed, at 7am, having been in some sort of wakefulness for the past four...
Boil, Bake, and You’re Golden
“Americans Baking Bread (Amerikajin pan wo yaku zu)” Some weeks go by and you look back and think... what even happened this week? What did I do with all my...
Subjected to Voir Dire Questioning
This week I did my Civic Duty™️ and reported for jury duty. An oddity about the jury selection process is that the pool of potential jurors — in this case,...
Specification for an Art Exhibit
Hello from a “writer’s retreat” in Ben Lomond! No, not the mountain in the Scottish Highlands made famous by “The Bonnie Banks o’ Loch Lomond” (which I can...
I’m A Proud Member of the Roxie
Following on from last week, here’s some of my favorite films, shows, and games from the last year. Film Speed Racer Speed Racer was, by far, my favorite...
Nevertheless, I Read Obsessively
This year I read 60(ish) books and graphic novels, as well as three books I got most of the way through but gave up on. It was a better year for my reading...
The Impossible Standard Of Sins Of Omission-Not-Commission
Two notes on automation this week: Perhaps my most contrarian take currently: self-driving cars are good, actually. I understand and agree with many of the...
Things I Like That You Might Like Too
What is the point of a holiday gift guide? For most of the major publishers, it’s all for affiliate-link-sales; for the more thoughtful newsletters, it’s a...
The Perfect Definition of Ambient
This will just be a brief update (yes, not even key art), because this weekend has been incredibly busy. Why? Well, among other things... We hosted our...
Essentially A Catholic Tragic Opera
“Decor voor opera 'Armida’” I have watched Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein! Now puts on everything-is-neurodiversity hat this film is absolutely definitely...
Strange Shibboleths for Children
Source Recently I’ve been thinking about the ineffability of art. Which is a fancy way of saying “hey, some stories are really weird and hard to explain what...
Capital-R Romantic Melodrama
Seated Dog, c. 1650 - 1700 (this papillon looks a lot like Rooibos, right?) A dog thought: This fantastic episode of Howtown explaining dog vision and smell...
Vulgar Poptimism Is Real In 2025
Palette, Rosa Bonheur Two reading recommendations this weekend: Celine Nguyen has a thought-provoking commentary on criticism (literary and otherwise). She...
A Deeply Ominous Fog Covering Up The Bay Bridge
Hello from the other side of Halloween, and a pretty busy week at work (for the first time in quite a while!). Yesterday a few friends decided to run a popup...
Hooked Up To A Probabilistic Text Generation Engine
I ran a half-marathon (self-scheduled) for the first time since I started getting arch pain last year. I’m hoping to run the SF Marathon next year... wish me...
Just Chilly Enough For Winter, But No Rain
I’ve just returned from a two-day team offsite in Vancouver. Hooray for oshizushi on the company dime! Vancouver was lovely — just chilly enough for winter,...
With All That Consumerism Out Of The Way
I’m sorry to report that I’ve become a shoulder bag person. I used to overstuff all of my pockets, sometimes wearing a windbreaker in unseasonable weather...
