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Everybody likes to complain about crosswordese, but this puzzle does something about it. (I heard about it via xwords by a ladee) ...
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The Hearst Newspapers News-sites, no doubt jealous of the NYT's puzzle section, have launched their own syndicated puzzle page, Puzzmo. Each day there's a cool mini-crossword from the AVCX folks and...
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Here are three popular blog posts from 2023 (along with an honorable mention and a popular Mastodon toot): Were you hoping for more than three blog posts? lahosken.san-francisco.ca.us/new/2023/ list...
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On 15th Ave a few doors up from Ortega in San Francisco, there are three big houses with miniature-mimic houses out front. ...
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In olden times, a news pundit could "research" an easy article introduction by interviewing their taxi driver. Nowadays, they can interview ChatGPT et al. This is why we need to continue develo...
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If I ran the HOA: Go ahead and paint your house whatever the heck color, but if you have snowflake decorations, they must have six-way symmetry and no two of them should be identical. ...
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tl;dr I was unreasonably optimistic a few months ago and am venting about it now. I continue to check my little dashboard of San Francisco COVID numbers each morning to estimate risk of inessential-...
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Why do we call it "AI hallucinations" when we should call it "Artificial Inelegance?" Full disclosure: I'm not sure who I stole this joke from, but they vandalized a shoe store window ad on Haight S...
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My old desktop computer's hard drive was making sad noises, so I finally got a new desktop computer. I'm trying some things that didn't work before. ...
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There was a break in the rain, so I nipped over to Golden Gate Park for a quick walk. Along the way, I looked at some public art: signs made from the pages of the alphabet book: Golden Gate Park, an...
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Figuring out where to attach a carbon monoxide alarm to my wall: Initial, naive thought: I should make it very visible so when it goes off I can quickly see whether there's a real problem or just a ...
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Big existential crisis this morning as I found out I'm not a real person. I thought I was pretty good at puzzles, but this github captcha is a real toughie. [Update: The solution was in front o...
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The paint job on this fence on Anza St. near 9th is neat; it's kinda trompe-l'œil, kinda not. ...
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I continue to check my little dashboard of San Francisco COVID numbers each morning to estimate risk of inessential-but-nice indoor activities, e.g., whether I want to go grocery shopping in person s...
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Sometime in the recent batch of storms, my phone's message app started marking emergency alerts as spam, presumably because there were so many alerts in just a few days. That maybe implies something ...
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#SFHellscape ...
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Martin Renfried is going to send out a cocktail-themed cryptic crossword every couple of months; if you subscribe to his Patreon, he'll send those crosswords to you. He wrote a couple of cryptics for...
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When I tell you I've been researching California election proposition #1 for over fifteen minutes, you probably think I'm pretty well prepared until I show you how I spent my time: To: webmaster@so...
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I didn't go to school at MIT, but I've played in the MIT Mystery Hunt. So I've sent in some thank-you money, and thus landed on their alumni fundraising mailing list. They just sent me a postcard abo...
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I just gave to a political campaign. I dunno how much I agree with the candidate; I didn't really check. I was just so surprised to see a political campaign text show up on my phone not in the Spam f...
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Welcome to the month of March! It is #EnigMarch anew. Thus, each day the EnigMarch people post a prompt and nerds try to design puzzles around that prompt. (Today's word is door.) _ ◯ _ _ Caramel...
- False Friends
It is still #EnigMarch. Thus, each day the EnigMarch people post a prompt word; and puzzle nerds such as myself attempt to design a puzzle to that prompt. (Today's word is false.) A false friend i...
- March March March March March
Happy March! It is #EnigMarch, and each day the excellent EnigMarch people post a prompt word; then puzzle nerds try to design puzzles around that word. (Today's word is musical.) Since it's March, ...
- Case-by-Case Basis
It is #EnigMarch, and each day the excellent EnigMarch people post a prompt word; then puzzle nerds try to design puzzles around that word. (Today's word is shift.) Did you ever wonder how keyboards...
- Oh hi, Mark
Happy March! It is #EnigMarch, and each day the excellent EnigMarch people post a prompt word; then puzzle nerds try to design puzzles around that word. (Today's word is sign.) That's kind of neat,...
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My Signal username is @lahosken.26. I updated the Larry Hosken Contact Information web page to reflect this. ...
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The #SanFrancisco #IVoted sticker is pretty spiffy this time. ...
- Like a Record, Baby
It is #EnigMarch, and each day the excellent EnigMarch people post a prompt word; then puzzle nerds try to design puzzles around that word. (Today's word is round.) It's neat that if you move the la...
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It is #EnigMarch, and each day the excellent EnigMarch people post a prompt word; then puzzle nerds try to design puzzles around that word. (Today's word is watch.) What does a watched pot never do...
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I continue to check my little dashboard of San Francisco COVID numbers each morning to figure out whether heading into the grocery store to pick out my own produce is a worthwhile morale boost or an ...
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It is #EnigMarch, and each day the excellent EnigMarch people post a prompt word; then puzzle nerds try to design puzzles around that word. (Today's word is rock.) So I made one of those fancypants ...
- You Spin Me Right
It is #EnigMarch, and each day the excellent EnigMarch people post a prompt word; then puzzle nerds try to design puzzles around that word. (Today's word is thread. Kinda spooky coincidence when you ...
- The Attention We Bring To It
It is #EnigMarch, and each day the excellent EnigMarch people post a prompt word; then puzzle nerds try to design puzzles around that word. (Today's word is zero.) Someone who'd thought about such m...
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Happy March! It is #EnigMarch, and each day the excellent EnigMarch people post a prompt word; then puzzle nerds try to design puzzles around that word. (Today's word is bridge.) To abridge is to sh...
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It is #EnigMarch, and each day the excellent EnigMarch people post a prompt word; then puzzle nerds try to design puzzles around that word. (Today's word is shield.) The language of heraldry and t...
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Happy Marsh March! It is #EnigMarch, and each day the excellent EnigMarch people post a prompt word; then puzzle nerds try to design puzzles around that word. (Today's word is wave.) The Marshall Is...
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Happy #PiDay ! Here's a picture of a couple of Portuguese pasteis de nata I picked up from the local branch of the, ahem, Pineapple King franchise. Scholars of solid geometry and the European c...
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Happy Pi Day! This round's on me. It is #EnigMarch, and each day the excellent EnigMarch people post a prompt word; then puzzle nerds try to design puzzles around that word. (Today's word is spirit. ...
- 3D Movies
It is #EnigMarch, and each day the excellent EnigMarch people post a prompt word; then puzzle nerds try to design puzzles around that word. (Today's word is 3D.) See if you can figure out what mov...
- Many Hands Make Aight Work
Happy March! It is #EnigMarch, and each day the excellent EnigMarch people post a prompt word; then puzzle nerds try to design puzzles around that word. (Today's word is hand.) Although I am an en...
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Happy March 17th! It is #EnigMarch, and each day the excellent EnigMarch people post a prompt word; then puzzle nerds try to design puzzles around that word. (Today's word is ancient.) How often d...
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I'm @lahosken on the Spill social app. Several days back, I got word that Spill, previously iOS-only, released an Android beta test. So I installed and tried to sign up, but sign-ups didn't work&hel...
- Club Bangers
It is #EnigMarch, and each day the excellent EnigMarch people post a prompt word; then puzzle nerds try to design puzzles around that word. (Today's word is club.) Here are some song lyrics. Alas,...
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It is #EnigMarch, and each day the excellent EnigMarch people post a prompt word; then puzzle nerds try to design puzzles around that word. (Today's word is odd.) "I want to write a parody. What ar...
- But here there are no cows.
It is #EnigMarch, and each day the excellent EnigMarch people post a prompt word; then puzzle nerds try to design puzzles around that word. (Today's word is neighbor.) In the Robert Frost poem "Me...
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Want to encourage people to #vote, but mostly people with attention to detail? Leave a note of encouragement in a small crack in the sidewalk, kinda buried, kinda overgrown with grass. (San Fran...
- Mixology
It is #EnigMarch, and each day the excellent EnigMarch people post a prompt word; then puzzle nerds try to design puzzles around that word. (Today's word is mix.) Mixology is the study of cocktail...
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It is #EnigMarch, and each day the excellent EnigMarch people post a prompt word; then puzzle nerds try to design puzzles around that word. (Today's word is cloud.) In wordplay, a letterbank is a ...
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It is #EnigMarch, and each day the excellent EnigMarch people post a prompt word; then puzzle nerds try to design puzzles around that word. (Today's word is neither.) "Neither snow nor rain nor hea...
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It is #EnigMarch, and each day the excellent EnigMarch people post a prompt word; then puzzle nerds try to design puzzles around that word. (Today's word is power.) Here's a classic Puzzazz daily ...
- Book Report: 50 Years of Text Games
It's a history of text-centric computer games structured as 50 essays about 50 games, choosing one game published each year 1971-2020. It's pretty interesting. It took me a long time to get through ...
- res ipsa loquitur
It is #EnigMarch, and each day the excellent EnigMarch people post a prompt word; then puzzle nerds try to design puzzles around that word. (Today's word is raise.) "Raise" and "raze" are interest...
- Five Cryptic Clues
It is #EnigMarch, and each day the excellent EnigMarch people post a prompt word; then puzzle nerds try to design puzzles around that word. (Today's word is clue.) Here are five cryptic crossword-s...
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It is #EnigMarch, and each day the excellent EnigMarch people post a prompt word; then puzzle nerds try to design puzzles around that word. (Today's word is rule.) Below are five words and five tr...
- Heads or Tails
It is #EnigMarch, and each day the excellent EnigMarch people post a prompt word; then puzzle nerds try to design puzzles around that word. (Today's word is coin.) Below are some blanks with some ...
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It is #EnigMarch, and each day the excellent EnigMarch people post a prompt word; then puzzle nerds try to design puzzles around that word. (Today's word is surprise.) There is one suprise in each...
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It is #EnigMarch, and each day the excellent EnigMarch people post a prompt word; then puzzle nerds try to design puzzles around that word. Today's word is book. So I pulled a book off the shelf: S...
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It is #EnigMarch, and each day the excellent EnigMarch people post a prompt word; then puzzle nerds try to design puzzles around that word. (Today's word is sequel). So it would be good to know som...
- Book Report: The Puzzler
It's a survey of puzzles: word puzzles, logic puzzles, physical puzzles, jigsaw—you get the idea. I'm not really in the target demographic for a survey; I already knew most of this stuff from, ...
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I just noticed: if you're in the parking garage for that little shopping center across the street from the San Francisco DMV, the exit door looks out at a fnnch rubber duck mural across the street. ...
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#SFHellscape ...
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I enjoyed the gimmick of today's Puzzmo crossword (which ?might? be the same as today's AVCX crossword?). ...
- Munzee Daily Stroll
The Munzee play-while-walking-around-with-your-phone game has a cool new RandoNautica-like feature. I want to blog about it, but before I dive in I want to start with: When you use the Find Nearby W...
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Don't give pees a chance! Edgy, makes you think Pee nevermore Much more threatening than intended (I hope) ...
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I heard the city wasn't doing anything for 4/20 this year, so I was surprised to see folks setting up some tables at Robin Williams meadow (a.k.a. the meadow at the base of "Hippie Hill") this mornin...
- Leet Numbers
I just watched the Numberphile video about Apocalyptic Numbers. An apocalyptic number is a power of two whose decimal representation contains the digits "666". I nodded along: of course, Christian fo...
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#SFHellscape ...
- Game Report: Choice of Games, Heart's Choice Games
Special note to my parents: Though this blog post is about video games, you might be interested. Specifically, Choice of Games has a couple of games ("Tally Ho", "Jolly Good") that are kinda like rea...
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I transcribed a 1924 article about puzzle-y treasure hunts in London: London Society's Thrilling All-Night Treasure Hunts. It's kind of an annoying article for a puzzle fiend to read; I guess it was ...
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I transcribed a 1924 article by photographer Olivia Wyndham reflecting on running puzzly treasure hunt games in London: Society Treasure Hunts: The Trail and the Chase. h/t to Bruce Lin who tracked ...
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To celebrate California's Juror Appreciation Week, the Judicial Council of California created, uh, a word search puzzle(‽) ...
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Oh neat, the Golden Gate Park beer garden has an actual calendar this year so maybe I won't need to rely so much on having a backup plan "in case there's nothing there this week." ...
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I continue to check my little dashboard of San Francisco COVID numbers each morning to figure out whether heading into a cafe for professional-barista-prepared coffee is a lovely indulgence or an emb...
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San Francisco Bay Area folks, heads up: Yesterday I took a weird stroll in Albany, playing The Solano Human Project. I see people comparing it to The Jejeune Institute, and I can see the similarity: ...
- Game Report: Episode
Episode is another choose-your-own-adventure game app, kinda in the spirit of Choice of Games and Heart's Choice. But it doesn't restrict itself to text to tell stories; instead it uses a combinatio...
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Lately, a hate group has been posting flyers in my neighborhood. I wanted to tear down the flyers to spare my neighbors some hatred. But I hesitated: at the bottom of each flyer was an official-looki...
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I didn't understand the artist's obsession until I saw the text. San Francisco, Hugo St near 7th Ave ...
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I feel like the back of this car is trying to tell me the owner's life story, but I can't quite grasp it. I saw it near UCSF Parnassus Hospital, where you might expect a medical professional to...
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I continue to check my little dashboard of San Francisco COVID numbers each morning to figure out whether heading into a pastry shop to pick up inessential-but-tasty tarts endangers just my waistline...
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Tammy McLeod isn't just my teammate on MIT Mystery Hunt's Left Out; she isn't just a sudoku champion; she's also a world record speed jigsaw puzzler. She started a YouTube channel with another speed...
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Spoiler Warning: This post spoils a twist in "Not Your Typical Reincarnation Story." I read a review of the comic "Not Your Typical Reincarnation Story." The comic falls in the isekai genre: the pro...
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#SFHellscape ...
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Today's grocery delivery came with a couple of free samples. I'm trying not to take it personally. ...
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In the constructor notes for today's Puzzmo crossword, Zhouqin Burnikel says her original gimmick idea (not used) was people whose names had a fruit-word and a season-word. But she could only find on...
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I recently passed a milestone: I've walked over 10 million steps while playing the game Pikmin Bloom. I didn't notice at the time; the app didn't pop up an achievement badge for 10 million like it di...
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I talked with Bryan Clair, that math professor/puzzle nerd in St Louis, today and found out he has a new web site. Well, the content is about the same as his old faculty web page, but he doesn't have...
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Sidewalk chalk art, 20th Ave/Irving Street, San Francisco ...
- Book Report: Shift Happens, Vol. №1
It's the first volume in a set of books about the history of keyboards, text entry, the user experience of working with text on various then-newfangled devices. I learned a lot, which might kind of s...
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The dahlias by the San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers are doing OK. (To my untrained eye, they're doing great. Then again, there's an official opening for the dahlias-on-the-hillside today at noon...
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The view from foggy San Francisco's Grandview Park today: Meanwhile, further north in California, the Park fire continues to burn mostly-out-of-control due to dry weather. So now I can't laugh a...
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A specialized unit of distance for San Francisco in Fogust: That crane's swing arm is so long, its alpha channel goes from 80% to 5%. ...
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I stumbled upon some new-to-me San Francisco street art today, a ground mural on Lyon between McAllister and Fulton. When I was next to it, I thought I bet it looks better from an aerial view and wh...
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I have updated the Phraser words- and phrases-lists. As you recall, these are text files with words and phrases commonly-found in Wikipedia, books, and other places; ranked by amazing-ness.* They can...
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This new Center for Immersive Arts looks interesting; looks like well-written and -researched articles about immersive art, pervasive games, that sort of thing. IIUC, it's info spun out of Laura E. H...
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If you use the Luvvly dating app and wonder why there's an influx of users with juvenile humor from San Francisco's Haight area, I wonder if this flyer has something to do with it. ...
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Today I got* a new-to-me pastry: croissant egg tarts (焦糖可頌蛋撻). (Am I the only one who wants to call them craan tat? Anyhow.) Correctly anticipating that eating these would leave a mess of pastry flak...
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Flu shot: acquired ...
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I continue to check my little dashboard of San Francisco COVID numbers each morning to figure out whether going into an ice cream shop to procure inessential-but-tasty treats endangers just my waistl...
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Hello! It is not March, but the excellent EnigMarch folks occasionally send out a prompt word nonetheless. Today's prompt word is LETTER, in honor of International Literacy Day. That tells me it's a ...
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The Page Slow Street folks said they had a new street mural by Matley Hurd, the same artist who did that Lyon Street mural. The mural was close to me, at Page and Masonic. So I checked it out. ...
- Book Report: Alta California
It's a journey through space and time. In 1769, the Spaniards of Portolá expedition walked from San Diego to San Francisco Bay; a couple of people on the expedition took pretty good notes. Some time ...
- Milestone: 44 Million Hits
Wow, it's the site's 44 millionth hit. As usual, these "hits" aren't a measure of humans visiting pages; that count would be much lower. It's just requests to the website: every time a robot visits s...
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I continue to check my little dashboard of San Francisco COVID numbers each morning to figure out whether going into the supermarket to pick out the best avocado is worth the risk or will be an embar...
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Rescuing a couple of photos from my camera roll: 🐶 A coyote in Golden Gate Park around sunrise. This coyote lay down on some lawn; in the low light, some joggers went past without noticing. That coy...
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...
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Seen this morning at the Waller Street Skate Park: an in-real-life Cons pair: I looked around and saw a car but no obvious cdr, so perhaps this was a list of length one. (Sorry if this sounds co...
- I'm yes on Prop 33, though I'm pretty YIMBY
I'm slogging through my ballot, looking at California proposition 33. This proposition says that cities could impose rent control on more types of housing. Opponents say: Beware! NIMBY jerks wil...
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Crossing Golden Gate Park on my way to get a COVID vax, I saw some new-to-me art on the Golden Mile. I ?think? it's Fnnch's Solar Bridge (which doesn't look so exciting in daylight, but glows at nigh...
- Book Report: Shift Happens, Vol. №2
It's the second volume in a set of books about the history of keyboards, text entry, the user experience of working with text on various devices. This volume got into more modern history. Sometimes ...
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*unpins the browser tab devoted to the Washington Post daily crossword puzzle web page* So long, old friend. I hope you understand why I had to unsubscribe. ...
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I donated to the A.P. News Service today. Now I'm a paid subscriber, sort of. I was dismayed when the Washington Post's owner killed some stories about why Trump should not be president of the USA. ...
- Comic ^W Game Report: The Beyond
I enjoyed the puzzle-y game-y comic book The Beyond, by Jason Shiga, though I played it wrong. Like his previous work Leviathan, The Beyond is a choose-your-own-adventure book, but comics instead of ...
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I see the NYT Tech Guild went on strike, so this might be a good time for me to post links to my list of daily puzzle pages, so folks have something to do in the absence of their crossword and/or tha...
- Poll Clerking 2024: The Paper Jam
November 5, 2024, I once again volunteered as a poll clerk for a San Francisco election. I clerked at the same garage as 2022, and it was still swanky: building owner Jay served up espresso drinks, I...
- Book Report: Subprime Attention Crisis
Much of the internet runs on ads; but maybe it's a house of cards. Apps, web pages, other content-thingies show ads to defray their costs. Advertisers want to show their messages to potential custom...