Waiting at a red light near a McDonald’s. #Crows have assembled to remove a fallen breakfast burrito from the traffic lane. Each one grabs a beak full, then perches on the luggage rack of the Subaru in front of me to eat it.

They’re building a new house across the street, here in #suburbia. There’s a portable toilet by the curb. About every other day, a car stops at the curb and the driver uses the toilet. Apparently there’s a need for civic infrastructure of which I was hitherto unaware.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson, didn’t marry until he was 40. There is no evidence that he had an illegitimate child, like Wordsworth, or an incestuous relationship, like Byron. But scholars keep looking and hoping. - Richard Armour #poetry

They closed off my street for a foot race today. A seriously-athletic woman pushing a stroller is smoking everybody. I predict the baby is going to win. #running

Wisdom Literature, says Wikipedia, was common from the 3rd millennium BCE to the end of the 1st millennium CE. After that it died out. Since then, the number and prominence of fools has increased exponentially. In this essay I will…

Ahoy, me hearties! Did anyone else get a fundraiser email from #InternetArchive with the salutation, “dear (amount you contributed last year)”? 🤣

The best kale I’m getting out of the garden this year comes from a volunteer growing under the pea trellis. #Gardening teaches humility. 🌱

Walking around in #Oxford is a weird feeling: I’m used to being one of the biggest nerds around but on those streets, I don’t even qualify.

Walked into a random art gallery near the British Museum. The proprietor apologized for not having much to show because he’d just sold a bunch of pieces. That’s one I’d never heard before. “Yes,” he continued, “these are by Brian Eno.” Only in #London

Visited the Tower of London today. Didn’t bonk my head on the ceiling at all. Gratitude to King Edward I Longshanks for the building standards. #London #MedievalHistory

A walk through Hyde Park. 🪿: Please feed the birds. 🦆: Please feed the birds. 🦢: Please feed the birds. 🐦‍⬛: Please feed the birds. Gull: Please feed the birds. Pigeon: Please feed the birds. Sign: Do not feed the birds. I’m getting mixed signals.

Found out why the #London Underground famously repeats “mind the gap” so often. Sometimes the gap they’re referring to is a foot wide!

You know the song “Woad”? “What’s the use of wearing braces/Hats and spats and shoes with laces/ vests and coats you buy in places/Down on Brompton Road?” I’m drinking beer in a pub on Brompton Road. #London

The lady I called about getting rooftop solar panels asked me why I was interested. She laughed when I said I’m not sanguine about bidding against Jeff Bezos for electricity. #DataCenters

When I came into the office this morning, I found ketchup on the door handle. It was an indication that today would not be a normal day. #ReturnToOffice

A brilliant bit of technical communication from @bretdeveraux@historians.social : “92% of American households own a car, a one ton (or more) mass of steel precision machinery, with enough worked metal in it to equip close to a hundred knights.” acoup.blog/2025/08/2…

From a podcast guest who just said a too-complicated sentence, the QOTD: “Take what I said, fix it so it makes sense, and that’s what I meant.”