Some things I saw on my exercise walk yesterday morning.

I got excited when I saw some paint marks on the road in front of my apartment building: Were we about to get speed bumps? Folks not used to the neighborhood like to speed up the hill, not realizing there's a ridge ahead that blocks their view of cross traffic. Then I saw Ian Brown's video of cars blithely speeding over new speed bumps in his neighborhood. Now I wonder if my road's speed bumps were already put in and I'm looking at 'em.
A prankster tossed some Golden Mile lawn chairs into Naga's pond. This would have been much funnier if it weren't so danged cold; the reason I got close enough to the pond to spot the chairs was that I wanted to see if it had iced over. Someone had to fish those chairs out, and they had a bad day. Save this prank for the next heat wave, sheesh.
Some Kal Zakzouk sidewalk chalk art at 20th and Irving, alas pretty scuffed by the time I saw it. An aquatic figure flanked by giant goldfish.

residential street on a hill. There are some rectangles painted on the street, suggesting that something about as wide as the street and about the length of a car is going in

statue of a sea serpent rises from a pond, surrounded by several half-submerged bright yellow Adirondack chairs

sidewalk chalk art. a human-ish figure floats above us, flanked by giant goldfish. the goldfish exude bubbles. the figure wields a handgun that emits bubbles, an air gun?

sidewalk chalk art. zooming in on one of the fish

2025-12-14T16:54:40.257653

Book Report: Moonbound

This sci-fantasy novel was a fun read. It faked me out a few times. E.g. for a while, I was pretty sure the title referred to the nursery rhyme about a cow jumping over the moon, but I was pretty far off. Also, I kept thinking "The author thinks he's so clever and insightful, but I already thought about this stuff over a year ago," …and then I remembered that's because I was reading the author's blog back when he was researching the book, so, uhm, yeah, I only thought of putting those things together because the author already nudged me in that direction.

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2025-12-12T17:32:33.171338

Back in the news. Based on this graffito, I'd say also back in our thoughts.

graffito on a fence, partly obscured by a parking meter. the fence is kind of mold-y (lichen-y? mildew-y? whatever it is that grows on outdoor surfaces in damp San Francisco) and weeds grow at its base; the green graffiti paint kinda matches the green of the plant life. The graffito's text: Deny. Defend. Depose.

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2025-12-11T15:47:06.112239

I'm still excited that someo∩e solved the St. Louis Octothorpea∩ puzzle, so I wrote a little puzzle to celebrate: St. Louis is famous for somethi∩g. The clues below suggest some words/phrases that also have that thi∩g. Fill i∩ the bla∩ks a∩d the∩ the circled letters should spell out a∩other famous St. Louis dealie.

◯_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ / Moth-repelling container
_ _◯_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ / Blue wiggly line that appearing under clue this (vs red wiggly line under htis)
_ _ _ _ _ _◯_ / 📊
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _◯_ / Type of word puzzle in which answers go across or clockwise
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _◯'_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ / Average time spent commuting each day, about an hour (pretty obscure, follow that link for the answer)
_ _ _ _ _ _ _◯_ / Kinda paper, kinda leather
_ _ _ _ _ _ _◯_ _ _ _ / USA outdoor advertising (i.e. billboard) company
_◯_ _ _ _ _ _ _ / Rule by a few
_ _◯_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ / National Farm Workers Association co-founder

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Some hints, rot13'd:

Gung (bofpher, fbeel!) pbzzhgr gvzr vf Znepurggv'f Pbafgnag
Fg. Ybhvf vf snzbhf sbe vgf Tngrjnl Nepu. Lbh'er ybbxvat sbe cuenfrf pbagnvavat "nepu", creuncf oebxra hc ol fcnprf.
Gur oyhr jvttyl yvar vf n tenzzne purpxre

Solution, rot13'd:

Prqne purfg / Zbgu-ercryyvat pbagnvare
teNzzne purpxre / Oyhr jvttyl yvar gung nccrnevat haqre pyhr guvf 
one punEg / 📊
znepuvat onaQf / Glcr bs jbeq chmmyr va juvpu nafjref tb npebff be pybpxjvfr
znepurggV'f pbafgnag / 
cnepuzrAg / Xvaqn cncre, xvaqn yrngure
pyrne puNaary / HFN bhgqbbe nqiregvfvat pbzcnal
bYvtnepul / Ehyr ol n srj
péFne puáirm / Angvbany Snez Jbexref Nffbpvngvba pb-sbhaqre

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2025-12-01T16:45:57.110989

Some sidewalk chalk art on the path at the base of Hippie Hill I saw yesterday, alas mostly scuffed by the time I saw it.

sidewalk chalk art: bk1nd, I guess a stylized "be kind"

sidewalk chalk art: star of David, tessellated with colored diamonds to suggest a Q*bert-like mountain of cubes

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2025-12-01T15:52:41.563817

Somebody solved the St Louis #Octothorpean puzzle‽

https://www.octothorpean.org/ has many, many puzzles. Most of those puzzles can be solved on your couch; but some involve observing details about some place or other. To solve one puzzle, you need to see some things in a place in St Louis, Missouri, USA. For years, that puzzle has lurked, unsolved.* Until just over a day ago. Whoever did this: Nice work. You now have bragging rights at the next Puzzled Pint or whatnot.

*OK, someone "solved" it a while back by throwing the dictionary at the answer checker. But that's not so interesting.

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2025-11-30T18:09:45.248452

Current status: musing about crane operations on a day when it's too foggy to see the ground, relying on folks on the ground for feedback. I bet crane operators use this in similes for all kinds of situations.

two crane towers fade up into fog. A crane hook descends from the fog. You can hazily make out a crane counterweight at the top of the nearer tower.

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2025-11-25T15:48:55.814317

I saw some sidewalk chalk art walking in #SanFrancisco yesterday morning.

At 20th and Irving, a skateboarding fire-demon-maybe by Kal Zakzouk.

At 4th and Irving, a mermaid by, I'm guessing, two collaborators.

sidewalk chalk art. zooming in on top left of the skater. she wields a lollipop overlaid with a faint mouse skull. her arms are perhaps tattooed or are perhaps Frankenstein-ish combinations of things.

sidewalk chalk art. zooming in on top of skater. her hat appears to consist of a scarf, a cat(?) head, and a short sword through that cat head

sidewalk chalk art: an easily-recognizable fish tail connects to a human-ish figure seemingly drawn by someone still new to drawing

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2025-11-24T13:06:12.449252

This morning's mystery solved: Did someone seriously take the time to point out some dangerous wet ground on a path in the park? Oh, wait, apparently a recent Hash House Harriers (very un-serious follow-the-leader-playing running club) run, in addition to the usual trails for Eagles (speedy runners) and Turkeys (normal runners) had a separate way for Walkers. chalk marks on pavement: "↑ WET". More subtly, there is a clump of chalk dust nearby

chalk marks on pavement: "↑ WET". More subtly, there is a clump of chalk dust nearby

chalk marks on pavement. One set" "↖ W". The other: "↗ TE"

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2025-11-22T16:23:03.636670

I continue to check my little dashboard of #SanFrancisco COVID numbers each morning to figure out whether shopping for groceries in person is a good way to get the best produce or the kind of eventual-lung-problems risk that I'd be embarrassed to discuss with my doctor in a few years. Lately SF's COVID-in-wastewater numbers have been sneaking up. You'll recall that I track three statistics; when their combo gets high, I switch to getting my groceries delivered and such. Just one number's a little high; so I'll keep picking out peppers in person, but with a perhaps less-carefree mien.

graph charting three numbers over the past two months. The purple line, test positivity%, was high a couple of months ago, but is now pretty low. The red line, new cases, was low a couple of months ago, and is now even lower, yay. The green line has jiggled and wiggled high and low over the last couple of months; lately, it's been high-ish

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2025-11-20T15:15:15.534763