Strap yourself in and prepare to be inundated with evidence of my weird interests, much of which I found thanks to my RSS feeds.
Beer
Last week we were invited for a tour of our new office space at work. My company has a number of offices near ours and they determined they could save money by moving us to a new building across the street. The guy giving the tour mentioned that they had a couple kegs at work and had a regular "thirsty Thursday" event to encourage employees to get to know one another. I was interested until someone asked what they had on tap. The answer of Stella Artois nor Blue Moon didn't thrill me. Blue Moon can be refreshing on a hot day provided it's served with a slice of orange but I think Stella tastes like any of the mass produced pale fizzy lagers.
The news that members of Gen-Z in the UK seem to be enjoying cask beer (aka real ale) made me smile. It's a gateway beer and could help keep the craft beer industry alive.
I'm happy to hear that the Vienna Inn is still attracting new customers. I first visited the Vienna Inn in 1981. Their chili-cheese dogs are legendary and the place has more character than any other bar I've visited.
Books
This week I finished reading Ken Liu's The Passing of the Dragon and Other Stories which I found to be excellent. A few of the stories hinted at interesting uses for AI while others toyed with ways that technology might be viewed in the future. I won't elaborate because these stories deserve to be discovered and enjoyed without spoilers.
Television/Movies
Somehow I stumbled across a recommendation for a movie called The American Astronaut. It's a weird combination of retro sci-fi, parody, and musical. Somehow it proved to be amusing.
We watched Chuck Amuck tonight. It's a documentary about Chuck Jones, key figure behind the golden age of Warner Brother cartoons. I loved those movies as a kid and they still make me laugh. I also just enjoyed this article about What's Opera, Doc?, one of my favorite of their cartoons.
Tonight I found Prometheus playing on BBC American. I'm a sucker for Ridley Scott movies. I had forgotten the reference to Lawrence of Arabia, which is one of my favorite films.
Music
My wife and I spent many years enjoying series of Celtic concerts at the Old Brogue in Great Falls, VA. The house band during those days was called IONA. Their lead singer has a lovely voice and one of the instruments she plays is the bodhrán, a handheld drum which I find hypnotic when played by a master. I discovered the video below this week of a young man who is well worth watching as well.
https://tywkiwdbi.blogspot.com/2026/09/three-minute-drum-solo-on-bodhran.html
https://tywkiwdbi.blogspot.com/2026/09/three-minute-drum-solo-on-bodhran.html
I've been reading a biography of Jimmy Buffett and it mentioned his cover of Lord Buckley's monologue, God's Own Drunk. I mentioned this on Facebook and a friend told me about the cease & desist order which the Buckley estate had filed. Apparently it was resolved because Buffett released a digital version of it in 2011.
https://youtu.be/Tv7W23T6CTY?si=nW1eEAsg-A7jdfxN
https://youtu.be/Tv7W23T6CTY?si=nW1eEAsg-A7jdfxN
Something reminded me of a weird song by Jake La Botz called You Can't Put a Hobo on a Passenger Train which made me want to hear it again. It has odd lyrics but it's quite catchy.
Links
This article about the history of Star Trek games on computers brought back memories for me. I started my career in the computer industry 50 years ago as a field engineer. Whenever I got stuck on night shift, there was often idle time between repair calls. I used to connect to the mainframe used to store information about repair calls using a Texas Instrument Silent 700 dial up terminal. I discovered that in addition to the software used to record repair calls, there were also games on that computer. My two favorites were Colossal Cave Adventure and Star Trek.
Here's an email from someone at Palm Computer (manufacturer of the Palm Pilot) announcing their Graffiti handwriting recognition from 1994. I joined U.S. Robotics in 1996 and bought my first Palm Pilot shortly after joining. I was much faster taking notes on my Palm device thanks to Graffiti.
The news that reading carries health benefits shouldn't surprise people who read for pleasure. I got a paper route in intermediate school to support my reading habit. The fact that I willingly got of bed at 5 AM to deliver papers should show how obsessed with reading I was (and continue to be). It helps my mental health so much.
Apparently moose cause a lot of damage to farms, particularly broccoli farms. Given how large and aggressive moose can be, I would not want to be in charge of keeping them out of farm fields.
When I was in elementary school, my sister and I stayed with my grandmother after school until my mom got off work. Grandma subscribed to a few nature magazines, one of which featured a lot of photos of various creatures under water. The photos in this article remind me of that time in my life.
https://www.popsci.com/environment/ocean-photographer-of-the-year-2026-winners/
https://www.popsci.com/environment/ocean-photographer-of-the-year-2026-winners/
Ctenophores (aka comb jellies) are beautiful but strange looking. The variety and colors are amazing.
The news that a car museum is forced to close because their onsite mechanic was retiring. Apparently they couldn't find younger mechanics who understand carburetors.
I found a mention of Australian currency featuring a picture of Andrew Banjo Patterson. He was the author of the ballad Waltzing Matilda and a poem called The Man From Snowy River which was made into a favorite movie of mine. The bill featuring Patterson's picture also contains microprinting featuring the text of The Man From Snowy River.
Scientists have managed to create a solid form of water at more than 2,000 °C. I hesitate to call it ice the way the article does but it's definitely an interesting development.
I've seen too many reported problems with Samsung's devices and so called smart devices don't tempt me at all. The news that Samsung issued a failed firmware update which caused their refrigerators to let food spoil renews my resolve to never buy a Samsung device nor a connected appliance of any kind.
I used to watch a fair number of vampire films when I was younger. That might be part of why I found this article about historic measures taken to prevent the undead from rising so fascinating.
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/ancient-anti-vampire-grave-undead
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/ancient-anti-vampire-grave-undead
It's a little disappointing that the tales of Viking funerals in flaming boats have no evidence to support them but once you get to a certain age, you realize much of what you've been told has no basis in truth. Still the idea of a funeral pyre on a flaming boat has a certain draw to it.
The Curiosity Mars Rover has sent a postcard home in honor of its 5,000th day on Mars. NASA's engineering continues to impress me.
The news that mayors in Japan are fighting a Ninja duel caught my eye. If nothing else, it might be a way to rid the world of an unwanted politician or two.
I'm fascinated by miniatures and this origami model of a typewriter definitely qualifies. I admire the ability create 3-d objects out of paper but I don't possess the desire to do so myself.
https://laughingsquid.com/origami-typewriter/
https://laughingsquid.com/origami-typewriter/
It continues getting harder to find people who are able to fix things to prevent us from needing to discard the broken object followed by replacing it. I was surprised that glasses are starting to fall into this category. I feel fortunate to have found an independent optometrist with the ability to fix and adjust my glasses.
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