judging Mom's cooking

this looks amazing

I don't hate Brussels sprouts, but they're not normally a go-to food for me. This Fallow video, however, might make me jump on the Brussels-sprout train.

the story of the muddy truck

walk blog: Day 3 now done

Day 3 is now done and dusted, as the Brits say. Go check it out. The captions aren't much, but the new commentary, I think, adds something to the experience.

Eleven more to go.

don't feel pressure just because of my opinion

A lot of people don't get this. If I express my opinion, especially if I express it in a general way, not aiming my remarks at anyone in particular, some people feel compelled to respond as though I had personally accused them or pressured them. If these people weren't so insecure, they'd feel no pressure at all to respond, but they do, and they respond as though they'd been personally attacked, thus revealing their insecurity. This pattern repeats itself quite often, and it follows certain political alignments to a T every single time: 

(rightie) General remark. (e.g., "Men aren't women.")

(lefties) Personal offense leading to personal rebuttal. (e.g., "Bigot!")

Sad. How can you teach people to feel secure in themselves?

how much faster could Luke have learned?

What if Yoda had taught Luke more like this father teaching his (extremely advanced) toddler to hit a baseball? ¡Ay, increíble!

hot-air balloons and the hazards of unexpected physics

this needs to be a tee design

 

I may have put up a version of this image before. If so, I apologize. I did, however, add the word "now" to this version.

I think I found John McCrarey's food heaven

Mexican-Filipino fusion? The hell you say! The only way to get the closed-minded McCrarey to eat Filipino food is via a fusion combination. Seriously, though, this does look really good.

precisely engineered croissants

the history of the NATO phonetic alphabet

Sauron the mace-ster

gross sci-fi

I've seen a lot of these, but not "Hellraiser," "Possessor," and "Tetsuo."

gettin' neighborly

After a while, all you can do is shake your head.

walk-blog progress report

Over at the walk blog, Days 1 and 2 are now fully done: pics enlarged, posts proofed and edited (comment if you see mistakes), with captions and commentary in place. And now, I must continue generating content for Substack. The grind goes on, and once again, I want to stay ahead so I can enjoy a week's break between Christmas and New Year's.

If I do one blog post per day, and there are fourteen posts in total to do (the six rest-day posts are all already done, and they have been for a while), and today is December 3, and I've already done two posts, then I ought to finish everything by December 15. Of course, I can't guarantee I'll do one post per day: some of these posts have more than 500 photos, and I'm trying to caption all of them while also adding commentary, so I could be as slow as one post per two days. That could take a long time. Well, we'll see what I can do. I might have to make some compromises to keep to the schedule. Anyway, twelve posts to go doesn't sound so bad.

Gary vs. IKEA

how not to die

O, hole-y night

One of the thin budae-jjigae pans that I use when I make large pies has a tiny hole in it. This isn't consequential for pie-making; any crust will block the hole. But I can no longer make anything else with that pan, so—not being a welder or a solderer—I've decided to jettison the faithful vessel. It's only a thing, after all. How and when the hole came to be, I have no clue. It's just one of those mysteries that will remain forever unsolved.

恐龍

공룡
恐龍
gong-ryong (fearsome reptile [character for dragon])
= dinosaur → Gk. deinos + sauros "terrible lizard"

Bri discusses his... tools

when graphic design goes wrong

Irish sandwich

I find myself thinking of a sandwich made with warm apple-pie filling and Nutella.

post-heart-attack healing

I'd like to get involved with this microneedle-patch thing. Or is my heart muscle now too scarred for such treatment to be a viable option?

A research group led by Dr. Ke Huang at Texas A&M University has created a patch that may support heart healing after a heart attack. The device uses a specialized microneedle system to deliver a therapeutic molecule straight into damaged heart tissue, which helps promote repair and improves overall heart function while minimizing effects on the rest of the body.

Then again, the procedure needs work:

Right now, applying the patch requires open-chest surgery. Huang hopes to create a version that can be delivered through a small tube, which would make the treatment far easier to use in real-life medical settings.

"bite up"

Even in extremis, I'd probably feel the urge to correct someone who spoke in such a retarded manner—even if it meant not being rescued.

unhinge your jaws

solid advice from Grok AI?

I've been trying out the Grok AI chatbot as well as Grokipedia. It all feels kind of shaky. Then I asked Grok how I could succeed on Substack. Here's the reply:

With four publications and just 18 subscribers (only two paid), you're in a classic early-stage challenge: low visibility and even lower conversions. The good news? Substack is designed for organic growth, and many writers start here—some scaling to thousands without prior audiences. Success comes from treating this like a marathon: focus on value, consistency, and relationships over quick hacks. Based on proven strategies from successful Substackers, here's a step-by-step plan tailored to your setup.

Step 1: Consolidate Your Publications for Focus

Running multiple pubs can dilute your energy and confuse potential readers—it's like shouting in four directions at once. Pick one publication to double down on. Choose the one with the most traction (even if it's just a few more opens) or the niche that excites you most. Redirect the others: merge content, cross-post teasers, or archive them with a note explaining the shift.

• Why it works: Niching down attracts loyal readers. "Riches are in the niches"—writers who solve specific problems (e.g., "meal planning for busy Romanian parents" or "neuroscience for quitting academia") grow faster than generalists.
• Action: Audit your pubs today. Announce the focus in a post: "I'm all-in on [Pub Name]—here's why, and subscribe if you love [specific value]."
• Expected impact: This alone could boost your open rates by 20-30% as readers know what to expect.

Step 2: Build a Consistent Content Engine

Quality + consistency is your foundation. Readers subscribe to solutions, not just words—aim for posts that make them think, "I need this in my inbox weekly."

• Pro Tip: Set a small goal like 6 new subs/week. Track in Substack's dashboard—what formats (lists, stories) perform best? After 10 posts, you could hit 50+ total subs if consistent.

Step 3: Leverage Substack's Built-In Tools for Discovery

Don't rely on external traffic yet—Substack's ecosystem is your low-effort growth engine.

• Notes (Your Daily Must-Do): Post 20-30 minutes/day: Share snippets, polls, or relatable thoughts (e.g., "Writers: What's your biggest block?"). It's like Twitter without limits—28% of one writer's growth came from here. Engage genuinely: Comment thoughtfully on 5-10 Notes daily to get reminders for your profile.
• Recommendations: Swap recs with 3-5 similar writers (find via Notes or search). "Team up and leverage each other's audiences"—one writer gained 10x speed this way.
• In-Post Prompts: Every post needs a subscribe button mid-way and footer. Add a lead magnet: Free PDF like "My 7-Day [Niche] Starter Kit" for email sign-ups.

Step 4: Convert Free Subs to Paid (From 2 to 20+)

With only 11% paid rate (low but fixable), focus on value ladders. Don't push sales early—nurture first.

• Add a Paid Tier Now: Even at 18 subs, offer $5/month for exclusives (e.g., "Deep-Dive Q&As" or "Behind-the-Scenes Edits"). Announce: "If my free posts help, upgrade for [specific bonus]."
• Build Trust: Poll free readers: "What would you pay for?" Deliver one premium post/month to test. Aim for 10% conversion (2 more paid subs) by month-end.
• Freemium Model: 80% free content to hook, 20% paid to retain. Success stories show this sustains growth without ads.

Step 5: Amplify with External Channels (Once You Have Momentum)

Start small to avoid burnout:

• Guest Posting: Write for aligned Substacks (e.g., "My Top Lesson from [Your Niche]"). It's "injecting your subscriber count with vitamins."
• Cross-Promote: Share Notes/X snippets on Twitter/LinkedIn/Reddit (r/NewsletterBusiness for SEO tips). One writer grew 1,400 subs in 2 months via targeted outreach.
• Community Building: Reply to every comment. Host a free AMA on Notes. "Engage to convert followers to subs."

Realistic Timeline & Mindset

• Month 1: 50-100 total subs via Notes/consistency. 4-6 paid.
• Month 3: 200+ subs, 10% paid rate. Compound from recs.
• Track Progress: Use Substack analytics weekly. Celebrate wins (e.g., first viral Note). Growth feels slow at first but snowballs—writers like a college student hit 100/week through engagement alone. You're not "behind"; you're building owned audience in a noisy world. Focus on serving your 18 readers deeply—they'll become your evangelists. If you share your niche, I can refine this further!

it died?

"Death by Lightning": review

Michael Shannon as James Garfield and Matthew Macfadyen as Charles Guiteau

A November 2025 addition to the ever-growing stable of Netflix movies and miniseries, "Death by Lightning" stars Michael Shannon and Matthew Macfadyen as President James Garfield and his assassin, Charles Guiteau. Garfield was the US's 20th president, shot by Guiteau in 1881, barely a season into Garfield's first and only term. The story shows the parallel, intersecting, and radically different life-paths of Garfield and Guiteau. After being shot, Garfield lingered on for another two months before dying of sepsis related to the over-probing of his bullet wound in a vain attempt to find and extract the assassin's bullet. The miniseries is based on a 2011 nonfiction monograph, Destiny of the Republic, by Candice Millard. I have not read the book; the miniseries, which came out barely a month ago, was suggested to me by my buddy Mike. The series also stars Betty Gilpin, Shea Whigham, Bradley Whitford, and Nick Offerman. Whigham and Offerman appeared together in "Mission: Impossible: The Final Reckoning." I've seen Gilpin in "The Hunt" and "Mrs. Davis." Whitford is, of course, no stranger to political dramas, having been a regular on "The West Wing" for years. The phrase death by lightning is from a remark made by Garfield to justify his lack of worry about assassination after Abraham Lincoln's death in 1865: according to Garfield, you can't worry about assassination any more than you can worry about being struck by lightning, so the series's title is a metaphor for the assassination itself. One of the series's central themes is lost opportunity: James Garfield, already considered by many historians to have been a great if flawed man, could have been a superb president; Charles Guiteau, meanwhile, lived a life of wasted potential: smart and articulate, he spent most of his final years as a moocher, a grifter, and a well-spoken, mentally unstable fabulist—probably a sign of schizophrenia. Both Garfield and Guiteau have been largely forgotten these days (I know I'd forgotten that Garfield had been assassinated; when I think of assassinated presidents, the three who immediately come to mind are Lincoln, McKinley, and Kennedy); Guiteau's current level of obscurity is highlighted when, at the very beginning of the series, Guiteau's formaldehyde-preserved brain, still bottled, rolls out of a US Army Medical Museum warehouse crate and is stared at by uncomprehending workers sometime in 1969.

Spanning only four episodes, the series covers James Garfield's return to politics after a period spent working on his Ohio farm and living with his wife Lucretia "Crete" Garfield (Gilpin) and their children. Garfield reluctantly accepts the opportunity to back a fellow Republican at the party's convention in Chicago. An honest man and veteran with a distaste for politics and muckraking, Garfield gives a speech on behalf of his chosen man John Sherman, brother of the famous/infamous General William Tecumseh Sherman, who had burned his way through Georgia during the Civil War. But Garfield's speech attracts attention to Garfield himself, and he is placed on the list of Republican nominees, much to the consternation of Sherman. After many rounds of deliberation and voting, Garfield—a progressive reformer—is chosen as the Republicans' nominee for president, and Chester A. Arthur (Offerman)—a "Stalwart" reactionary conservative and "machine politician" who works for fellow Stalwart Roscoe Conkling (Whigham, and Roscoe Conkling was a name I was sure I'd heard before)—is chosen as Garfield's running mate. Some time is spent exploring the idea that Garfield, despite his protestations, actually wanted to be nominated. Meanwhile, the story also follows the life of Charles Guiteau, a man with some talent, a lot of imagination, and very big dreams who is also directionless and reliant on the good graces of his ever-tolerant sister. Guiteau's main problem, though, is his mental instability, which leads to fits of anger, potential violence, impulsivity, and an overactive imagination. Guiteau latches onto Garfield's candidacy and begins to fancy himself a booster who has helped Garfield to gain the presidency; after many disappointing attempts to interact with Garfield, Guiteau eventually sours on him and instead fixates on Vice President Arthur, whom Guiteau is now convinced must become president—a state of affairs that Guiteau will bring into being by killing Garfield.

Because this miniseries is done by Netflix, it contains certain "tells" that indicate the political leanings of its makers. When Garfield steps out of a carriage in 1800s-era downtown Chicago, we immediately see black and Asian people dressed to the nines and walking through the streets. A white crowd in front of Garfield's Ohio home shouts "China out!" as if to parody modern conservative sentiments about immigration. Garfield's eldest daughter gets angry at her father when she thinks he's hypocritically ignoring the plight of Chinese workers after having pledged himself to the black cause. The main political conflict we see is between the Republican reformers (who stand in for today's left-liberals) and the Stalwart wing of the Republican party, which is corrupt and roughly corresponds to today's America-firsters. (I doubt Garfield would have been chosen as a subject for a Netflix film had he not been a progressive Republican, but sources contend that Garfield, while being ideologically closer to the Half-Breeds, was trying to bridge the intra-party gap to unite everyone under one banner.) The Democrats, who were pro-slavery before and during the Civil War, are nowhere to be found in the series, which focuses relentlessly on the Republicans' internal strife.

But by the end of the series, I began to see that certain scenes and events depicted in the show could be interpreted differently depending on one's ideological leanings. Garfield could be seen as a compromiser and deal-maker who parallels the current Orange Man in terms of having progressive leanings in some areas. (Trump is still, in my opinion, a 90s-era Democrat with his "America First," pro-worker, anti-globalist ideas.) In the show, Garfield's eldest daughter gets over her idealistic anger at her father once she cools down and recognizes the pragmatic realities of his situation. Chester Arthur's conversion from Garfield's political enemy to his posthumous ally can be seen as a parallel to JD Vance, who started off as a Trump critic but is now a huge MAGA partisan, inspired by Trump himself to embrace his own metanoia. The increasingly unstable Guiteau is made out to be a proto-hippie who spent five years in a "free love" colony, although he seemed to be the only one not engaged in wild sex (the show contains a few moments of sex and nudity); a conservative will pick up on the show's implied association between the hippie worldview and insanity.

The series was full of intentional and unintentional quirks, callbacks, and references. I went snooping around my old reviews for the name "Roscoe Conklin" (not Conkling) and found it: she was Jack Reacher's love interest in Season 1 of "Reacher." I think author Lee Child knew what he was doing when he named her character. Bradley Whitford, as James Blaine, gets a brief moment where he speaks French to Guiteau (who can't speak French despite his French surname), saying "L'habit ne fait pas le moine," i.e., "The habit does not make the monk." You can't judge a book by its cover. In a much later encounter, Blaine flat-out tells Guiteau that he thinks Guiteau is little more than an insistent, persistent parasite. Macfadyen, as Guiteau, was familiar to me thanks to his role as the ill-fated Mr. Paradox in "Deadpool & Wolverine," in which his head is physically invaded by villainess Cassandra Nova's probing fingers. Macfadyen acted the part of Guiteau well, though, doing a nearly perfect, if slightly over-enunciated, American accent. In terms of quirks, I had to wonder at some expressions that sounded to me like linguistic anachronisms. Did early-1800s people say "motherfucker"? Was the phrase "machine politics" really a thing back then? Did people exclaim "Right?!" in vehement agreement with their interlocutors? Did they ever shout "Eat shit!"?

Overall, I found "Death by Lightning" to be a watchable four-hour series that, according to the sources I consulted afterward, was more or less accurate in its portrayal of Garfield and Guiteau's mutual history in the broad strokes. I suspect there were, as with most biopics, plenty of changes and embellishments. I couldn't help noticing that the "Game of Thrones" team was heavily involved in this show: it was partly produced by "D&D," a.k.a. David Benioff and Dan "DB" Weiss, and the series's composer was Ramin Djawadi. The always-changing animated opening credits, a metaphor for politics (and possibly human existence) as a machine, also had that "Game of Thrones" feel to them. I did not, however, think that this series was anywhere near the quality of "John Adams," which to my mind is one of the best historical series I've ever seen.

That said, "Death by Lightning" still gets my seal of approval. It's well acted by all involved, features a lot of charming period scenery and costumery, and is a meditation not only on the question of lost opportunities but also on the failures of the medicine of that era: advances in germ theory and sepsis were only just being made at the time, and Garfield, lying prone in the White House, then in New Jersey, is cursed with an incompetent doctor (Željko Ivanek) who probably causes Garfield's death. Macfadyen's Guiteau gives us a good idea of how one form of mental illness (and/or bad character) might manifest itself, and of how little the people of the time could have done for a sick person like Guiteau. Nick Offerman as the thuggish, pigheaded Chester A. Arthur is the main source of comic relief—sometimes so much so that I couldn't figure out whether I was watching a drama or a comedy. How true-to-life Charles Guiteau's character arc really is in the show, I have no clue. I guess I'll have to read the book, which my buddy Mike has also recommended to me.

weird comment spambots

Instapundit's Disqus-based commenting system gets more than its share of spambots. Most of the bot comments, like the image above, feature the faces of vaguely cute women, but usually with a message like "Make $200-$500 an hour by working for Google." Some bot comments, though, are like the above: just a weird string of letters reminiscent of the splattery death rattle of someone who's been stabbed in the throat. What do these mean? Are they just examples of the bots' having given up and printing gibberish with cute, clickable faces? Are there idiots out there who will actually click on those faces (don't answer that)? Do you ever see these these bot comments in other contexts? Weird.

the missing

it is accomplished (again)

Progress report! One phase of the walk-blog finalization is over: I have successfully enlarged all of the added photos. You may now browse the whole collection. As a practical matter, I've looked up how to speed this mass-enlargement process up in the future, and there are several plausible methods that I'll have to practice, all involving coding of some sort. We'll see how that works out. As things stand, mass enlargement just takes too long.

In the meantime, I have to move on to the next phases: (1) proofreading and editing the blog posts, which doubtless have a ton of typos, especially given how exhausted I was every day when I wrote the posts up after walking an average of 28 kilometers on walking days; (2) adding captions to most of the photos to flesh out what was going on; and (3) adding commentary (some of which I've already begun adding) as a way to convey thoughts and insights, thereby rounding out the whole experience for the reader.

I've also got all of my other content creation to take care of: adding YouTube videos to this blog (many with their own commentaries), creating more free and paid grammar posts through this coming January, adding more creative writing, etc. I also need to start thinking about adding images and videos to my creative Substack publication. I also have to develop more puzzles, plus maybe some interactive activities (quizzes? something else?) for my entertainment page. Then there's the video coursework I want to design... lots to do.

we guys all wanna be him

abandoned no longer

I'd been abandoned by my bots (on this, the main blog) for a month or two, but as of yesterday, the final day of November, the bots were back in force, and I had over 65,000 visits in a single day. Today, with the 24-hour period starting at 9 a.m. (I've never been able to figure out why since I've had my time zone set up correctly for years), I already have over 25,000 visits. So: back with a vengeance, like dogs excitedly charging toward their owner, who's back from another day of work. Jesus Christ.

To put this sudden surge in perspective: for the past two months, my daily average was around 2,000 visits. I imagine there'll be another radical dip at the end of this month, too. Bots need their holiday vacations as well.

cat: "Look, I'm gay"

When you gotta come out, you gotta come out.

how they end

British chefs vs. Korean "delicacies"

Chicken feet? It's like eating rubber gloves. No, thanks.

a thought

I want to hike the Four Rivers path again next fall because that would be the psychologically significant fifth time I will have done that trail. But with winter on the way, I'm thinking of doing another, much shorter hike in the cold weather: the Geumgang Trail, which I've never done before. The trail is only around 145 km in length, and at least one of the segments between certification centers is around 39 km in length. What's the distance once I add in lodging? I'll have to figure that out. While I can do 40-plus km in a single go, at least in theory (my "crazy walks" are 60K in length, so 45K ought to be doable), I'd rather keep my maximum distances in the 25-35K range. Then again, if there's lodging right at every cert-center stop, there should be no problem. But in my experience, once you start planning the route, you discover that nothing is as it seems. Still, 145K should be doable in about five or six days at a fairly easy pace. I'll tell you more as I learn more.