Blogography

Bullet Sunday 959

2026-06-29T04:29:06Z

I’ve been sick allll weekend. But don’t worry about a thing… because an all new Bullet Sunday starts…now…

• Greed Hike! After record-breaking financial quarters worth billions upon billions of dollars in profit, Tim Cook announced that price hikes for Apple devices are “unavoidable,” and they arrived this week. It’s been noted that last year alone Apple raked in $112 billion and spent $310 billion on stock buybacks. Which is to say that Tim Cook is full of shit. His company has more money than some countries, and the idea that they can’t absorb the RAM price increases THAT APPLE FUCKING CONTRIBUTED TO WITH THEIR AI BULLSHIT, well… forgive me for laughing. And for hanging on to my existing Apple products for a good, long, while.

• Don’t Get Grifted! The insanity just keeps piling up…

People are entirely too easy to manipulate when it comes to their health. And I have no idea how we got here.

• Feral Hogs! This may seem funny… but my friend Doug and I were chased by feral hogs in Kauai, and it was terrifying. They are horrific. Which, if you’ve seen the movie Hannibal, you already know…

You would not want to meet a feral hog in a dark alley. Or anywhere else, I’m guessing.

• She’s Super! The hate being lobbed at Milly Alcock because she dared to accept an acting job as Supergirl in a movie is repugnant. Snyder fan-bros aren’t just content to say “I am not going to watch the movie because I don’t like the direction of the James Gunn universe”… oh no. They have to attack Milly’s looks and anything else they can think of to make it personal, despite the fact that she’s getting rave reviews by people who don’t care for the movie that much…

On every post where Supergirl is even mentioned, Snyder-bros are unloading with hate and adding things like “FLOP!” and “Sasha Calle is the ONLY Supergirl!” and whatever. And here’s the thing. These same people didn’t even turn out for Saha Calle’s only appearance as Supergirl in The Flash, which is widely regarded as one of the biggest box office flops of all time. The projection here is insane.

• Cut-Proof? It’s genuinely jaw dropping how the fact that an abundance of evidence exists to disprove the non-stop lies, but people are still choosing to believe them all…

Counting to 45,000 isn’t difficult at all when you don’t fucking count in the first place.

• Receipts! Megyn Kelly unleashed a disgusting viral video against Haitians who arrived here with a temporary protection status. It was horrific enough that people are coming forward with viral comments of their own to hit back. And, if they are even half-true, they’re damning enough that they should ruin her. But we all know how that works. People like this get a pass for some reason. I can’t fathom how Amy Coney Barrett will explain voting to strip TPS protections from endangered Haitians when two of her adopted children are from Haiti and this will likely result in some… or many… of them losing their life.

• Watson is on the Case! There’s a practice at Apple whereas some company comes out with a very good app for their various devices which has killer features… at which point Apple will put those same features into their own apps or operating systems, essentially destroying the app which had the idea first. Way back in 2001 an app named Watson was released by a small developer which added a lot of useful tools to Apple’s Sherlock search utility. Soon after, Apple released an updated Sherlock which could do all the things Watson could do… and it was game over. After this kept happening, the term “Sherlocking” was popularized to describe the process. Fast forward to now and Apple’s new Siri-enabled Calendar app allows you to add appointments and such just by talking or typing to it with natural language commands. This was the hallmark feature of a competing calendar app called Fantastical, which I purchased back in the day. And I still use it, even though the developer switched to the dreaded “subscription model” which I do not pay for because my old license allows the basic functions to still be used. So now the question becomes… will I ditch Fantastical in favor of Calendar? And the answer is yes, probably. I’d rather not have additional apps installed to worry about, and odds are Apple’s built-in app will work fine for me. Not that Fantastical’s developer will care, because they’re not getting any money off of me anyway. On one hand I’m sad that another developer has been Sherlocked. It’s bad for the platform. But, on the other hand, I hate subscription models so much that I won’t be losing any sleep over it either.

And now back to my recovery.

Caturday 459

2026-06-29T03:14:27Z

My cats are weird in the best ways.

A couple days ago I was giving Jenny belly rubs when she suddenly flopped over and trapped my hand. Just when I accepted the fact that I wouldn’t be able to go to work, Jake swooped in and licked her head as a distraction and I was able to escape when she twisted around to give him a better licking angle…

Then Jake decided to use his sister’s butt as a pillow, which thrilled her to no end, as you can imagine…

But it was either that or Jenny would have to find a way to earn money so she can live the excessive lifestyle that she’s become accustomed to.

Happy 626 Day!

2026-06-28T01:23:10Z

Though today is a double 626 day because it’s 62626 this year.

The chaotic alien from the animated masterpiece Lilo & Stitch is “Experiment 626,” but he’s better known as “Stitch.” And, as somebody who absolutely loves this brilliant Chris Sanders character, it’s a day I celebrate. Usually by buying something new for my collection of Stitch crap.

Last year for 626 I purchased a print from my trip to Disney’s Aulani resort…

This year I bought a couple of Lilo & Stitch picture discs to frame…

They’ll look pretty cool hanging in my guest bathroom with my other Stitch stuff once I get them framed.

Gimme Twang

2026-06-27T20:50:44Z

“It don’t mean a thang if it ain’t got that twang!”
—Duke Ellington (maybe)

I have a longstanding love affair with mayonnaise. It’s far and away my favorite condiment. Then I discovered Dutch mayonnaise and things got taken to the next level. Then I started trying to eat more vegan and switched to making my own egg-free mayo. But it never even comes close to what I love about the stuff.

So while I eat considerably less real mayo now-a-days, I do still eat it.

The Dutch mayo I obsess over has gotten very expensive, so I went back to Best Foods (AKA Hellmann’s East of the Rocky Mountains). But then one day Duke’s mayonnaise somehow showed up at the grocery story. It was on an introductory sale cheaper than Best Food’s and so I gave it a shot.

When I got home, I saw that the jar said It’s Got Twang! on the lid.

And, sure enough, it does. Duke’s doesn’t have any sugar and includes a hit of apple cider vinegar, and that’s where the “twang” comes from.

I was not a fan.

At least not immediately.

The “twang” was competing with the other flavors on my sandwich or burger. So I decided to use up the jar in potato salad where I could adjust the ingredients to offset it. Problem solved.

But then… I ended up using it in other places from time to time until I started… enjoying it?

And now it’s my go-to mayo. Unless it’s not on sale and Best Food’s is cheaper. Because given the INSANELY FUCKING HIGH PRICE OF GROCERIES, the only thing that tastes better than “twang” is savings.

Photo in my Pocket

2026-06-27T20:49:54Z

I don’t own a mobile phone with a camera on it. I own a pocket camera which just happens to be able to make phone calls. And a lot of other stuff.

It wasn’t always this way. I started with a Canon SLR film camera which I got for my birthday. And while I took it a lot of places, it was as inconspicuous and unobtrusive as a boat anchor. So I didn’t take it everywhere, much as I wish I could. All too many times I would be somewhere and see something cool that I’d like to capture for one reason or another. Maybe it would end up being a good reference for a future project. Maybe I liked the way the colors played and thought I might need to use a combination like that one day. Maybe it was something I thought I could cut out and use in a photo collage. Maybe it was a hundred reasons or no reason at all. I just like collecting stuff.

And my iPhone makes it possible to do just that.

Too easy, actually.

I thought about that this afternoon as I was walking to the post office and passed this…

I may ignore it for the rest of my life. Or perhaps I’ll be working on something and it will come in handy.

In the meanwhile, it can be blog fodder.

“You need to let bygones be bygones.”

2026-06-24T14:43:08Z

No.

Nude and Terrified

2026-06-24T14:34:31Z

So there I was doom-scrolling through Disney+ to find some background noise while I worked. And there it was… Naked and Afraid.

I’ve heard of the show, of course. But I’ve never seen it and it’s never popped up on YouTube (which is what I’m watching 90% of the time).

Now, I have nothing against survival adventure shows. I’ve watched Running Wild (the Bear Grylls show) and Survivorman, and they’re fine. Likely staged to a certain extent, but fine.

And then there’s Naked and Afraid. No idea why they’re naked. I guess butt-cheeks and blurred naughty bits draw viewers…

The show is fine. Weird but fine.

But I’d rather watch Survivor.

Bullet Sunday 958: New Siri Edition

2026-06-23T22:06:31Z

A couple weeks ago I hacked my way to getting “New Siri” on my iPhone, and apparently fealt the need to share my thoughts… because an all new Very Special Bullet Sunday starts…now…

UPDATE: The exploit to get around Apple’s waitlist for New Siri has been patched, so if you’re wanting an early look, you’ll have to wait until Apple decides to add more users.

• Siri Island! On iPhone, the visual interface for New Siri pops out of the “Dynamic Island” at the top (which is where the selfie-camera and LIDAR sensor is located). When it comes to camouflaging that hole in the screen, I have to say that Apple is doing an amazing job…

On the Mac, you can hold down the F5 key to invoke the Siri Orb, which floats in the top 1/3 of the screen, awaiting your command (though you can move it anywhere, temporarily)…

In a way, I think this orb thing makes Siri feel kinda gimmicky. I mean, I know that there should be some kind of feedback that Siri is listening, but it’s taking a lot more of my attention this way than it probably should. I dunno. I think that, in time, this will be toned down quite a bit because people will be more accustomed to knowing that Siri AI is listening. Interesting to note that Apple touts the corner radius on windows being consistent now, but Siri is a notable exception when the text interface opens up.

A bug with the MacOS version is that whenever you initiate Siri, even on another device, the orb will remain on the MacOS screen even after the task was completed. Really hoping they get this squashed, because it’s more than a little annoying.

• Smarter Siri! I’ve made it very clear what I’ve thought about Siri over the years… it’s stupid as shit. I mean really bad. Often times it’s a “voice assistant” that makes things more work than it would be if you just did it your damn self. So now that Apple has finally… FINALLY… invested some money in upgrading the experience (albeit with Google’s help), is it any better? In a word? Yes. With reservations. It’s certainly on par with other offerings that I’ve largely been ignoring but, since it’s integrated with the Apple ecosystem, it’s something I might actually use. Especially since it’s darn capable. Not only for answering questions and doing mundane tasks, but for helping you to get the most out of your Mac/iPhone/iPad/Apple Watch/Whatever. Though, if I’m being honest, there are times I’m not sure if Siri actually is that incredible… or if it’s just better than what we had by so much that it feels that way?

• Go Deep! Siri has access to all my emails, texts, calendar appointments, and the like. So when I ask “What was the name of that restaurant I ate at in Little Havana” it’s able to tell me. But context is everything. When I asked “What was the name of the restaurant I ate at in Miami?” it didn’t know, and listed restaurants around my hotel. But when I asked “What was the name of the restaurant I ate at in South Beach?” it found a reservation I made and was able to tell me the correct place. Despite the fact that my hotel was also in South Beach. It’s strange how Siri can be smart in guessing what might be the answer based on a piece of information it found… while ignoring the answer in information it fully had access to.

• Deep Questions! I wanted to break out “deep search” questions from the next section where I just ask usual questions because it’s absolutely bizarre and shouldn’t be lumped in somewhere it’s bound to get overlooked. I asked Siri what the name of my cats are…

What the heck? MADDIE?!? When I manually searched in an attempt to find our where in the heck this could have come from, I couldn’t find it. The reference says “PhoneAppIntentsExtension”… so, Siri got it from… my phone? How? This makes no sense at all. However… once I corrected Siri, it answered correctly with Jake & Jenny from then onwards. But here’s the thing… this was a rare stumble. I threw all the bizarre questions I could think of about myself and my life and Siri rarely stumbles. If it’s on my iPhone or Mac or wherever, Siri can dig it up. Even if it was 16 years ago…

This will probably come in handy as I get older.

• Regular Questions! Siri is darn smart when it comes to searching the internet in order to answer questions. Which isn’t terribly special because Old Siri could respond correctly when you say “What is the capital of Uzbekistan?” No, where New Siri shines is with the things Old Siri wouldn’t have a clue. Things like “Does eBay have any DVD copies of the movie Flight of the Navigator for sale?” where Siri not only says “Yes,” but looks to see what options are available…

It goes on and on. I made dozens of searches asking for things that go beyond simple questions. Then I ask questions on the answers to my questions. And questions to the answers on the questions to the answers of my questions. And tossing in stuff like “When was the last day of school where I live?” made no difference. Siri is able to figure it all out. And, unlike Old Siri in my car, New Siri won’t tell me I have to wait until I’ve finished driving.

• Photo Query! You can ask Siri about photos you’ve already taken or images your camera is currently looking at. This is not shocking because Google Lens has been telling Android users where photos were taken, what’s the name of the thing or place in the photo you’re looking at, or where you can buy something shown in a photo you’re looking at. But, if you’ve never experienced it before, it’s a bit of a shock. Not because it’s possible, but because Siri always goes extra. I asked Siri what was in this photo I took. Not only did it answer correctly, but told me where it was taken and the story behind it…

Now that’s cool. And when it comes to one of my favorite topics, food, Siri is darn handy. Take a photo of what you’re eating and Siri will identify it. Then you can ask about the calories or nutritional value. Or you can ask to find some recipes for it. Or where you can buy it locally. Whatever…

Except… when that same rainbow bagel just has cream cheese on it, Siri thinks it’s a pill…

Which is a step ahead of Siri not knowing what something is at all…

Still, from all my experiments, it was more often impressive than it was disappointing.

• Recipes! And speaking of food… Siri is an ace at tracking down recipes. I ask for a cheese tamale recipe and Siri gets me one. I ask for it to be vegetarian and Siri finds me a new one. I ask for one which uses different cheeses and Siri hunts one down. I ask Siri to add the ingredients to my shopping list and it’s done. And then… ten minutes later… an hour later… two hours later… I can ask Siri about the recipe and it has no problem repeating it…

• Take Control! Now, the thing that shocked me the most about New Siri is how it can control my Mac. Want the volume higher or lower? No problem. Want the screen brighter or dimmer? No problem. Want a file or app opened? No problem. It’s nice to be typing along and have Siri do something while you keep working. To a point. You can’t do things like empty your trash or delete something since Siri wants to make sure it’s not malicious or accidental… but so many things can be implemented just by asking.

• Lack of Control! HomeKit may still be shit, but Siri’s ability to control HomeKit seems to be taken to a new level. You can chain commands (at last) and make adjustments (at last) which is a step in the right direction.

And there you have it. New Hotness Siri is a massive improvement over Old Shitty Siri. And a use of AI that I’m not opposed to for once. Kind of a taste of the future-sci-fi world we keep reading in books and seeing in movies.

Caturday 458

2026-06-21T22:20:35Z

Jenny alternates between acting like a cranky old cat and a little princess kitten, and there’s not much in-between.

But in both cases, she’s complaining a lot and being demanding. Which is apparently her default. If she wants something, she complains until she gets what she wants. If she’s upset at a situation, she complains until it’s changed. If she is angry at something, she complains until it’s been removed.

Take Thursday night. I was working in bed. Jenny complained until I pet her. Then I wasn’t petting her like she wanted so she complained until I figured out what she wanted. Then I needed both hands to type and she grabbed my hand… and complained…

And if I start pulling away anyway, she digs in her claws.

I blame myself.

I’ve never told these cats “no” except when they jumped on the kitchen counters. And now they don’t know the meaning of the word.

How Do You Solve a Problem Like Instax?

2026-06-21T04:16:39Z

What do you do when you have hundreds upon hundreds of tiny Instax instant photos? For the longest time, I didn’t know. I just collected them in a box.

Initially I wanted to have a wall covered in them. The idea was that I could create slats where the photos could be trapped by temporarily flexing them a bit. Then I could easily pull them out and change them whenever I wanted. But I never found a good way to create the slats. So I moved on to clips. When that didn’t work, I moved on to gravity holders. When that didn’t work, I gave up.

Then I thought I would buy photo albums.

I bought a few samples, but didn’t like any of them because they were all either too expensive to be feasible… too cheap to look good… or too badly constructed to last.

Then one day I found these little books that looked like they would be a fun option to display all my photos. I liked the idea that it was a quick flip-through and I could pile them in a tray on my coffee table…

They aren’t perfect though. Because the Instax photos are much thicker than a piece of paper, the books bulge out quite a bit…

So not perfect.

But the best option I’ve found. For now.

Maybe one of these days I’ll come across a better one.