Larry Hosken: New: 2023

• >> Foresters have been clearing out the eucalyptus trees from the hillside above my apartment. They've been working for months and aren't done yet. These are some especially-tough eucalyptus trees. Late...
• >> Here are three popular blog posts from 2022: I got my second COVID-19 vaccine booster today…, in which I post a vaccine band-aid selfie and reflect on the trickiness of deciding when to get ...
• MemeC, the Meme Composer web app I made MemeC, a web app to ease creation of captioned image memes. These apps abound on the web; but the easily-found ones insist on stamping the created image with a "Made with app" blurb. I don't w...
• >> A big storm will blow through the San Francisco bay area tomorrow. We're supposed to prepare; but I wasn't sure what to do. A lot of earthquake-preparedness carries over to storm-preparedness. But t...
• >> My weather app said there was a break in the storm so I struggled into my rarely-used rain gear and went outside. When the rain hit my head, I got mad at the app and the national weather service and ...
• >> I ordered some soyrizo (soy-based chorizo substitute) last week. This week, the grocery store AI's recommendation engine is of two minds about my food preferences: very meaty or very vegan. ...
• >> 🍝 Spaghetti 2023 is happening https://www.ericberlin.com/2023/01/05/a-serving-of-spaghetti/ 🍝 "A #puzzle by its nature is something purposefully constructed, often with painstaking effort so as to ...
• >> There was a break in the storm this morning, so I took a quick exercise walk. There was tree debris, mostly due to the storm, but also a bit I suspect due to a Haight Street drunk. ...
• >> The puzzles.mit.edu https certificate expired two days ago. Is this a puzzle? ...
• >> Yesterday I walked out to San Francisco's Ocean Beach. Along the way, I observed the carcinisation of a mailbox at 4625 Lincoln. The beach itself was misty, pleasingly abstract. The Great Highway had...
• >> I'm just now realizing that the head of the San Francisco Sheriff's Department Oversight Board is Jayson Wechter, the guy who ran those Chinese New Year parade Treasure Hunts. Wow, hmm. Wow. OK. Tha...
• >> San Francisco's Golden Gate Park emerged from the recent storms relatively unscathed, but the scathed bits yielded more interesting pictures so here you go. ...
• >> UCSF Med School smartie and COVID-19 pundit Bob Wachter tweets that he's once again willing to dine indoors and unmask in small groups. This is exciting news for people like me who trust Wachter's ju...
• Book Report: The Anarchy It's a history of how the East India Company took over the Indian subcontinent. It's such a grim book; maybe it's a book to keep handy in case you meet someone nostalgic for the good ol' days. How I...
• >> Who are you impersonating to celebrate Identity Theft Awareness Week? ...
• Book Report: The Suitcase Clone It's a heist set in the same universe as Sourdough, and thus the object of the heist isn't some jewel-encrusted MacGuffin, but is gastro goop—our protagonist goes to Italy to steal grape vines ...
• >> I was wondering why Google seemed so worried about ChatGPT. ChatGPT seems poised to make the web much worse, filled with BS. But that doesn't sound like a big threat to Google. It seems like this mig...
• >> Oh, you can block users on post.news now. (Maybe this has been true for a while? I don't check there very often.) Just go to the creepy user's profile page, open up the little menu, and there's a Blo...
• >> I check my little dashboard of San Francisco COVID-19 stats each morning. This morning, all the stats it tracks are above the pretty-safe line, i.e. things are looking un-safe out there. I've stopped...
• >> San Francisco trivia / Expert Level: What's wrong with this picture? ...
• >> It's a #graffiti mystery: Several days back, I noticed a graffito "wet concrete." You might assume I saw it written in sidewalk concrete, but it was actually written in chalk on a gray (cement-colore...
• >> #EnigMarch is a daily puzzle creation challenge; each day during the month of March, it double-dares everyone to create a puzzle. I made a puzzle today: I don't know if I'll stick with this all ...
• >> #EnigMarch is a daily puzzle creation challenge; each day during the month of March, it double-dares everyone to create a puzzle. I made a puzzle today: We place "egg" words in "nest" words and hope...
• >> Once again, I respond to an #EnigMarch challenge by writing a puzzle. This one has a lot of flavortext, but fortunately I outsourced the work to L. Frank Baum: TikTok the Machine Man …Dor...
• >> It is still #EnigMarch and I am once again responding to a double-dare to create a puzzle. Here's something I'd like to use as a cryptic crossword clue gimmick, but I think traditionalists would thro...
• >> It is still #EnigMarch and I am once again responding to a dare to create a puzzle. The jeweler knows that an uncut gem doesn't look right; you need to chip away a bit to see the precious stone. On...
• >> It is still #EnigMarch, and I am still reacting to double-dares to create puzzles. Here's a cryptid I mean cryptic clue: Bull-head one takes Jupiter's six relating to cattle. (6) To get you in the ...
• >> It is still #EnigMarch, and I am still succumbing to double-dares to create puzzles. In my previous puzzles, I've started out with instructions; this time I'll supply no directions, you should be ab...
• >> It is still #EnigMarch, and I am still taking double-dares to create puzzles. When folks cuss on internet forums, they replace one or more letters with symbols. The QWERTY standard swear-rule the sy...
• >> It is still #EnigMarch, and I am still ruled by double-dares to create puzzles. Neo: Just had a little déjà vu. Trinity: What did you see? Neo: A black cat went past us, and then another that look...
• >> It is #EnigMarch, and I have been once again baited into creating a puzzle. This puzzle uses interstate words: words formed by placing 2-letter USA state abbreviations in other words. E.g. in the fir...
• >> It is #EnigMarch, and I am again exhorted to create a puzzle. "Be bold" is a fun phrase because "be" sounds like B, the first letter of BOLD. With that in mind: “B BOLD and mighty forces will come ...
• >> I'm reading press releases about the Beagle Brigade Act, which would set up a center to train beagles to detect prohibited agricultural items in international mail and the baggage of international tr...
• >> I still check my little dashboard of San Francisco COVID numbers to figure out when it's safe to do inessential indoor things, eat inside a restaurant, etc, etc. It used to be a dashboard of S.F. and...
• >> It is still #EnigMarch and when they dare us to write a puzzle, I do. When faced with a tower of books, you need a word ladder, obviously. When you've climbed that tall ladder, how will you ente...
• >> It's still #EnigMarch and today's puzzle-design challenge lit a fire under my ass. Find matches for what to try if you can't find matches: 5 FLINT BUTANE   4 LIGHTER GLYCERIN ...
• >> Oh hey neat, the then-CEO of my last job is in the news. Headline: "Unpleasant millionaire insists on bothering women sitting next to him on planes" oh uhm hrm ...
• >> Happy π Day! It's still #EnigMarch and so I took a moment to respond to a challenge by putting together a puzzle: Already-published book, revised:   _ _ _ _ _ _   _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ES...
• >> It is #EnigMarch and when dared to design a puzzle, I still make space in my schedule. Across: 1. Runway pavement 7. Get new loan from S&L, perhaps 11. Who might sell you a pedigree pup ...
• >> It's #EnigMarch, and when dared to create a puzzle, I do. To find today's hidden message, you will need to cut out a stencil from the key-card. Which letters to cut out? The ones that form the c...
• >> It's still #EnigMarch and when I hold the internet up to my ear, I think it's telling me to write a puzzle, so here you go: shell wily even sway year Adele tests kayak wavy mean away care dense I...
• >> It's #EnigMarch, and I respond to a puzzle design challenge, even if it can be a pain. So here's a puzzle: Waayaahtanwa chief, as described by foreigner, maybe: _ _ _ _ _   _ _ ◯ King's...
• >> It's #EnigMarch, and I still respond to puzzle-design challenges, even if they seem really out there. The spaces between these words seem OK but are supposed to be letters: … with &nbs...
• >> I asked the Chat-GPT4 system to write a three-paragraph bio of Lawrence "Larry" Hosken. The system produces plausible-but-wrong text, so if you ask it about stuff you don't know, it might fool you (s...
• >> Some weeks back, I saw a post on the New Bohemia Signs tumblr, a picture of art&artists, students in a sign-painting hand-lettering class. Beyond admiring the handiwork, I also was intere...
• >> It's #EnigMarch, and when dared to design a puzzle, I take the bait. "All fishermen are liars." If someone tells you that they caught FriedrIch NietzScHe but had to let him go, they probably just ca...
• >> It is #EnigMarch, and if it sounds like they have a puzzle-design challenge, I listen up. Some fiend has split each of these six-letter words into two three-letter words! The letters within each th...
• >> It's #EnigMarch, and I'm still attempting these puzzle design challenges, even ones that sound kinda random. I'm thinking of a six-sided die, but with a letter on each face instead of a number. He...
• >> It is #EnigMarch, and thus there is a new puzzle design challenge today, as has been foretold. To crack today's code, figure out what the opposite of colorblindness is and use that, I guess. ...
• >> It's #EnigMarch, and I'm still attempting these puzzle design challenges, even ones that sound kinda random. I'm thinking of a six-sided die, but with a letter on each face instead of a number. He...
• >> It's #EnigMarch, and when challenged to design a puzzle, I make time even if I feel kinda buried. In this crossword, most clues are cryptic, but the clues that just say undead don't have any wordpl...
• >> I asked Google's Bard AI the same thing I asked ChatGPT: write a three-paragraph bio of Lawrence "Larry" Hosken. Bard did much better! It wrote: I do not have enough information about that person t...
• >> It's #EnigMarch and there's a daily puzzle design challenge. Today's challenge is KNOT. Alas I do not have some new knotty puzzle idea. FWIW, I wrote a knot puzzle some years back, tho. ...
• >> It is #EnigMarch, and when they challenge us to design a puzzle, I ask "how high?" In the three sequences below, you will grow words. You'll start with a two-letter word, then add a letter to get t...
• >> It's #EnigMarch, and when dared to design a puzzle, I can handle the heat. If you fill in this fire-kissed crossword, the circled letters spell out a kind of fire. Across: 1. Not many 4. George...
• >> It's #EnigMarch, and when challenged to design a puzzle, I'm inclined to try. Punctation mark that annoy's when misused In electronics, phenomenon by which one circuit's signal interferes with ano...
• >> It's #EnigMarch, and when dared to design a puzzle, I do what they say. When I was searching Bartlett's Familiar Quotations yesterday, I decided to write some new quotations. But that was difficul...
• >> It is #EnigMarch, and I might design a puzzle if given a nudge. It's interesting that PULL and PUSH are antonyms and yet have the same number of letters. Not just about the same, give or take, bu...
• >> It is #EnigMarch, and when dared to design another puzzle, I say there's no going back now. I'm thinking of some words. For each of these words, you can form a new word by reversing three of its let...
• >> April is National Poetry Month. Today is April Fool's Day. I had an idea for something fun to do today, but ended up getting pranked by the English language instead. Since I recently figured out ho...
• >> If you're still on Twitter and been thinking, "I'll move over to Mastodon eventually; and when I do there are automatic tools that will help my Twitter-followers follow my new account," then you want...
• >> Sidewalk chalk art on Judah at 20th Ave: Answers the question you never knew you had, "What if the Care Bears were actual bears?" ...
• >> Seen at the Music Concourse: a modern fairy circle; a bench dedication that I don't understand: "Nice Bench, 2" ...
• Book Report: Abolish Silicon Valley It's a memoir by a computer nerd who bought into the startup myth, and then was very disillusioned very quickly. I worked at a pre-IPO software startup. We IPOed, but at a low price. The investors...
• >> I have gone five million steps while playing the Pikmin Bloom phone game. Look on my walks, ye mighty, and despair! (Yeah, yeah, I know some other people have more steps than this. I bet there's...
• >> The Richmond Review, my horrible neighborhood paper, has reached a new low. Yes they still, in the year 2023, publish a column by Quentin Kopp. Yes, they publish letters from residents who threaten c...
• >> Walking in San Francisco's Inner Richmond neighborhood, I wondered which portmanteau folks had settled on for Sushi Bistro's Castle Cagliostro-themed mural: is it Caglibistro or Cagliobistro? Google ...
• Nice Bench Mystery: Solved You might recall a couple of weeks back I noted a mysterious bench plaque at San Francisco's Music Concourse: "Nice Bench, 2" I looked around a little for the implied "Nice Bench, 1" but gave up...
• >> You might have looked at ballards* and thought There's no point trying to balance things on top of something so round. But on my morning walk, I saw that someone had precariously balanced a stack of ...
• >> I continue to watch my little dashboard of San Francisco COVID-19 numbers to figure out if activities like in-person grocery shopping are ordinary errands or dangerous stunts. I watch a few numbers....
• >> If you liked my writeup of being on the 2020 MIT Mystery Hunt writing team, you'll love Alex Irpan's writeup of being on the 2023 MIT Mystery Hunt writing team. Thrills! Chills! Image memes! Crises t...
• >> RSAC (the RSA computer security convention) was in town, and for a while security advertisement abounded. This ad was my favorite. Seen from across the street, the ad seemed to say that "Huntress" wa...
• >> [Update: When I wrote this, I assumed that the California Open Data Portal had permanently stopped updating their Cal-SuWers data. But I was wrong, it was just "on pause" for a while as they changed ...
• >> Oof, when I blogged about "heading in to Starbucks," that was before I heard about them closing all their stores in Ithaca, a town where all the Starbucks had voted to unionize. On second thought, I ...
• >> My reports of the death of California Open Data Portal's COVID-19 wastewater surveillance data were exaggerated or premature or something. When I emailed the CDPH folks to whine that their page linke...
• >> I pre-ordered the book 50 Years of Text Games and you can, too. It's a book of 50+ essays about computer games; the author chose one game to write about per year from 1971 to 2020. If that has you th...
• >> Only 80s kids will understand this exciting development in the field of artificial intelligence: ...
• >> Neeva's shutting down. Neeva was a subscription-funded search company, in contrast to the usual free-with-ads search. I used Neeva for a while; it cleared up something I was curious about, poked a h...
• Book Report: She Come by it Natural It's a biography of Dolly Parton braided together with a bit of the book author's family background. That family background might be summarized as "poor, hard-working woman," and helps the probably-p...
• >> I continue to check my little dashboard of San Francisco COVID-19 numbers each day to decide whether doing inessential activities in public is foolhardy or just good fun. Lately, all the numbers have...
• >> San Francisco high school seniors are graduating. Plenty of graduation ceremonies are going on at Kezar Stadium, down the hill from my apartment. Through my window, I can hear the kids cheering each ...
• >> There's a big crane operating in the steep cul-de-sac on my block today. I guess it's lifting some AC equipment up to the top of the office building (that has a bunch of medical offices so maybe(?) t...
• >> I continue to check my little dashboard of San Francisco COVID-19 numbers each day to decide whether swapping air with strangers for inessential activities is probably-fine or probably going to lead ...
• >> The Mystic Eye Studio has a work up in the window, an image in the style of a Bored Ape. I'm not sure if they missed the idea of Bored Apes; or if they understood the idea well enough to mock it...
• >> On my way to the supermarket, I paused to look at some advertising posters wheatpasted onto a building. These posters were advertising an AI dating app. The very concept was boggling. I made a f...
• >> Here's a screen shot of my phone Messaging app's Spam folder: Apparently when the app sees a message from a new-to-me number that contains a picture, the app chucks that message into the spam bi...
• >> Walking back to my apartment, contemplating/dreading the steep hill, I was surprised: why was there a giant hexagon up there? Once I got up there, I saw this mysterious "hexagon" was a rather-t...
• Shim to add images to Lemmy RSS Feeds I use a RSS feed reader to view some image meme forums on Reddit. Reddit's CEO recently changed some policies, and those changes alienated many Reddit users, inspiring them to move to Reddit's rival ...