David Blatner

I am inimitably autochthonic.

What does it say about me that I keep opening business-spam emails with “LOC” in the subject line, thinking they’re talking about the Library of Congress?!

"You always hear 'the early bird gets the worm,' but I bet the worms have a whole different saying… like, the early bird gets whacked, so stay in bed as long as possible!"

(my wife, reminding me to keep a sense of perspective)

They’re 15. Wait Until You Read Their Newspaper.

Print is dead? I don’t think so. (Gift article link)
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/23/s...

UBI is clearly the answer, but won’t happen until it’s an emergency (for the same reason air travel only improves after a crash)

One of the funniest juxtapositions ever: Now streaming on Disney. DISNEY! 😂
(When I was younger, this movie would have simply been called "p-rn." Now I guess it's the perfect thing to stream on Disney! Wow. Good thing ol' Walt isn't around to see this.)

Scientists are lying to you: Pi is not 3.14… it's just 4. The Roman Empire used 4 and they got by just fine. (Other than that awkward decline and fall part.) Trust your gut: Does pi FEEL irrational and transcendental? You know The Truth. Don't be a sheep; just follow me and use pi=4.
joyofpi.com

If you're as fascinated by various alphabets from around the world as I am, I encourage you to check out the work at Endangered Alphabets. If you're REALLY into it, then check out what Tim Brookes is doing with the Script Keepers Network:
www.endangeredalphabets.com/2025/02/26/l...

The return of light, birdsong mean The Big Dark's days are numbered | Op-Ed Tired of winter? It's nearly over, and the signs are clear — if you're willing to look and listen, the author writes.

Another beautiful piece of writing from a beautiful woman (who happens to be my wife), on the topic of finding joy:
www.seattletimes.com/opinion/read...

36 hours with no direct internet at home after thieves stole a bunch of copper wiring from Xfinity near here. Using phone hot spot but it’s not the same. Like drinking bottled water when water won’t come out of tap.

A billion dollars made in tech doesn’t make you a billionaire… you need $1,073,741,824 (one gigadollar, or 2^30)

Camouflaged (not very well) in our neighborhood, during the recent snow.

Protocol Reference - United States Department of State Protocol Reference Forms of Address The proper honorifics, titles, and spellings of names are very important when addressing guests.  Confirm all are correct before finalizing written materials such a...

Fascinating question. It appears to be protocol, and extends to governors, Senators, and others: www.state.gov/protocol-ref...

One for you @steveroth.bsky.social

Must have been 1992? 93?
"Become a raging, inexorable, thunder lizard of a PageMaker user!"

I love metal type… here’s some from a “flea market” on a recent trip to Kyoto.

The fact that we’re legally allowed to hold regular meetings in which we learn spelling, grammar, and such is a “write right rite right.”
(Or a right to write-right rite.)

This exhaustive thread is the best thing I’ve ever read on Bsky.

One more possibility: it was done on purpose just to make you crazy.

Finally found Bluesky setting to hide reposts from my Following feed and this app just got far better.

How long has this feature been in Excel? Have a picture of a table, but not the data? Copy the picture (or take a screen capture), go to Data tab in the Excel ribbon, choose "From Picture". Excel converts the picture into data.
Thank you Richard Goring for this tip, during The Design + AI Summit.

Proving my point once again that the answer to every clickbait headline with a question mark is: “No, move on.”

An explanation for why everyone acts so weird; a new way to think about AI… all this and more in this week's musings:
www.linkedin.com/pulse/musele...

Power is back. Internet is back. Hooray!

Fortunately no property damage for us and the cell towers are still working. But our generator failed (grrr) and we’re running out of battery power. Puget Sound Energy estimates recovery in 3–4 more days.
Spirits are good, but not able to work much.

Is there a “show me EVERY tool and panel and menu item at the same time” workspace? That would be cool (but might make heads explode)

Seattle area reported power outages since last night. I have a feeling it might be a while til the lights turn on.

One of my publishers was in the Flatiron for a while… was so fun to go visit them.

The word queue is ironic… it's just a 'q' with a bunch of silent letters waiting in a line.

Gotta' start somewhere… might as well be with one of my favorite old memes.