Expressively publishing on the open web since 1996
I won’t beat around the bush. I’ve never thought of myself as a Software Developer who simply happens to play at being an Artist from time to time on the side. I’ve always seen myself as an Artist. The fact I happen to make my living as an engineer is a quirk of fate and necessity. Some would call it very lucky. And I suppose, for a while, I was indeed pretty lucky. I’ve spent the bulk of my…
Westmoreland Park: pretty as a picture postcard. #Portland #NikonZfc
Dappled Sunlight on Orange Lilies #SilentSunday #NikonZfc
Gazing towards Round Lake, at Lacamas Regional Park. Captured in 2022. #WashingtonExplored #SilentSunday
The duck pond at Tanner Springs. I normally never process any photo I’ve taken off the cuff with the normal iPhone camera, but this composition looked so nice and the lines of the reeds so illustrative-like, I realized I could make this work! 😅 #Portland #SilentSunday
That’s right, Google. I am now blocking you from my Web site. You don’t get to steal my content. You don’t get to hoover up my work and then regurgitate it back out as #GenerativeAI slop. And y’know what? The truth is your crappy portal hasn’t been sending me much meaningful traffic anyway. At this point, I really don’t give a shit about your joke of a “search engine” and your lousy so-called AX.…
Scars. #Mosstodon #SilentSunday
I need to fill my mind with ideas and concepts that are bussin’. Chat, you know what I’m talking about. Bet! Tired of brainrot , of often feeling uncreative and uninspired? Of endlessly doomscrolling through ick feeds which increasingly feel like they bear no connection to reality? Me too. I want my brain to operate at full capacity…in fact I want to exercise my brain so it has even more capacity.…
A vista of Tahoma (Mt. Rainier) from a gorgeous rooftop terrace above the CENTRL coworking space in Capitol Hill, #Seattle
A surprisingly striking sunrise reflection at Waterfall Garden Park (also known as UPS Park) in #Seattle , Washington. #NikonZfc
Wilhelm’s Portland Mausoleum (insert scream here 😱), overlooking the Willamette. Such an odd and singular place. Feels like something right out of an episode of Severance. I’m fascinated by the contrast between naked geometry and organic beauty. #Portland
I wasn’t prepared for the dreamscape which awaited me as I walked out along the bluff overlooking one of the reservoirs at Mt. Tabor. Springtime in #Portland is always next level y’all. 🤩 #SilentSunday
Yesterday, a glorious moment walking along the north end of the #Portland riverfront, and signs that spring has well and truly arrived. 🙌 #SilentSunday
Tryon Creek State Natural Area isn’t far from the hustle and bustle of #Portland , yet once you get there, you’ve entered a whole other world. 😌 #SilentSunday #Mosstodon
IYKYK. I am never at a loss for uniquely intriguing vistas whenever I spend time walking around downtown #Portland . ☺️
Wowee! An absolutely stunning spring day in #Portland . Wait, it’s still winter? Could have fooled me! 😆
Learning to embrace the rewarding messiness of making art while human. For all of my life, I have loved art. All of the creative arts. When I was a young boy wandering the corridors of the local mall with my parents, I was briefly interviewed regarding the latest “G.I. Joe” action figures at which point I proudly informed the pollster I wasn’t “into” that sort of thing. I was an artist. 😆 There…
Update on Jan 7: the channel has been scrubbed from YouTube. I suppose they finally got around to evaluating all of the many reports submitted! As of right now (Jan 6), there’s a deepfake AI clone of Rachel Maddow on YouTube called “Maddow’s Brief” . It’s apparently fooling lots of people, because overnight it’s grown from 20K subs (when I first found it) to 38K. Just one of the slop videos,…
I normally don’t care for long lists like this, but I enjoyed such a wide range of television this year, I simply couldn’t narrow it down. Going into 2025, I had a concern that the era of “prestige TV” was behind us. That we would increasingly find ourselves watching paint-by-numbers shows with smaller budgets and smaller ambitions. Stories which sound good on the surface but ultimately without a…
I went into this year wondering if I was about to make a terrible, terrible mistake. Did I? Well you’ll just have to keep reading. Never a dull moment. Count your blessings. I survived. It’s about the journey, not the destination. Follow your heart. That was a hell of a thing. Many platitudes & clichés flood my mind as I consider what I’ve done, what I’ve been through, what I’ve accomplished, and…
The first installment in my new series on the lifelong struggle with Performative Masculinity and the storied images of manhood in pop culture past and present. Hey, so remember that brief window in time years ago when the term metrosexual was all the rage in news media as a way of describing straight men who express an interest in fashion and personal grooming the way some gay men do? As a…
Latourell Falls, on the Oregon side of the Columbia River Gorge #SilentSunday #OregonExplored
Two damaged, possibly damaging people on a collision course with each other. The first two episodes of the show, which dwell at length on Jarvis and Wiggs as they feel each other out and take turns manipulating each other in a series of extended intimate chats, are gripping TV. Matthew Rhys imbues his cartoonish villain character with a kind of twitchy impulsiveness that makes him feel one degree…
What happens to a man when he wakes up in the morning, listens to a meditation app, does a quick workout, takes a shower, and looks in the mirror… and also he’s a trillionaire?! Way to go, my dude! Attaboy! You’re crushing it today! 💪 Seems completely ridiculous. 😂 My sense is that money, fame, power, success, art, family… none of it means a damn thing anymore. It’s like approaching the event…
The most perfect timing ever for the light at Hidden Falls in Happy Valley 😍 #FallVibes #OregonExplored
Mayor-elect Katie Wilson received loud cheers on Thursday when she spoke at a Starbucks Workers United rally outside the recently closed Reserve Roastery on Capitol Hill. “That is why I am proud to join them on their picket line and proud to say loud and clear, I am not buying Starbucks and you should not either,” Wilson said. Wilson’s call for a Starbucks boycott was echoed by another labor…
Donald Trump feels alone! Donald Trump is nuts!!! Donald Trump is evil beyond belief! Mad! Donald Trump. Lies after lies after lies! Thus child rapist Jeffrey Epstein speaks to us from beyond the grave about the sitting President of the United States. Spend a considerable amount of time contemplating what a diabolical and sinister thing it is that we are at a point in our #politics when not only…
As some of you may recall, I spent the first half of the year #writing and publishing on this blog (or one of my other blogs ) every day. Every single day. And then in July , I declared my “independence” from my daily blogging habit yet claimed I would continue to post very regularly and only give myself a day off here and there. I completely failed. 🫠 For a while, I did keep a log of the days I…
Whoa! Peak fall color on an amazing #Portland walk 🙌 #FallVibes #NikonZfc
Oh, just a walk through the neighborhood when I intentionally brought my #NikonZfc with me and the afternoon light is exactly right. 🤩 #Portland #FallVibes
Living out my fantasy of sliding on sand dunes and becoming a beachcomber. Where last we left our intrepid hero , he (I) had enjoyed a series of fabulous camping stays in the Cascades and high desert of Central Oregon, surrounded by Ponderosa pines, Juniper trees, rock formations, and a “grand canyon” carved by the Deschutes and Crooked rivers. Now that I had arrived back in the more familiar…
“They’re deploying troops into American cities like it’s a war zone. Peaceful protest is being wrongly criminalized,” said Naveed Shah, US Army veteran and Political Director, Common Defense. “They’re smearing veterans, teachers, and everyday Americans who dare to speak out—just so they can justify a ‘crackdown.’ As veterans who have deployed across the world, we’ve seen this playbook before.…
We believe that these kinds of user-generated, curated collections [starter packs] could help people to find their tribe more quickly when they join the Fediverse. At the same time, envisioning a similar feature that prioritises user consent, and works across a constellation of independent servers, is no small feat. It’s cool that Mastodon is intentionally working on technical design concepts for…
The drama never ends, but I am here to take a stand and do something about it. Two disclaimers before I continue: (a) I normally post on programming-related topics elsewhere and not on my personal blog, but because this is such a personal issue for me and not about the technical aspects, I’ve decided to post here. (b) I am the lead maintainer of the Bridgetown Ruby web framework, but any views…
I didn’t want to post this back when the fire was raging (no need to be sensationalist), but back when the Flat Fire first began in central Oregon on August 21, I was boondocking and saw it pretty close up. I had to adjust my plans so I would be a safe distance away across the Deschutes river valley. 😲 I’m glad Sisters and other major towns were saved! #OregonExplored #SilentSunday
“SAG-AFTRA condemns the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live! Our society depends on freedom of expression. Suppression of free speech and retaliation for speaking out on significant issues of public concern run counter to the fundamental rights we all rely on. Democracy thrives when diverse points of view are expressed. The decision to suspend airing Jimmy Kimmel Live! is the type of suppression and…
After she made a grand entrance by emerging from a manhole in the stage, the princess of lyrical sexual innuendos sang and danced onstage alongside a cast of backup dancers that seemingly included drag performers, mirroring the song’s music video that featured Colman Domingo in drag. Before heading into a second round of the chorus, the performers pulled out picket signs with messages such as…
Flanked by Silicon Valley’s most powerful executives in the White House last week, Melania Trump hailed artificial intelligence as potentially “the greatest engine of progress in the history of the United States of America.” Less than a mile from the first lady, in a hotel ballroom packed with MAGA faithful, top Republican Josh Hawley had a different message. AI “threatens the common man’s…
Most disappointing film of the year for me so far; Splitsville is a project which looks absolutely incredible on paper. The “bones” of the story are certainly compelling. And what’s not to love about seeing Dakota Johnson AND Adria Arjona on screen at the same time?! In a madcap screwball comedy about the confusing complexities of modern love, hard breakups, and “open relationships” no less!…
On a walk the other day through Errol Heights Park. I had no idea that #Portland features a swamp! 😲 #SilentSunday