Explaining Myself.
Drama Demands Wyze Cam Skillz
09/26/2026
This is how the day went at the 188 starting yesterday morning.
First, yet ANOTHER—and by far the most serious—crash happened at West Ferry and Barton, as captured by our balcony cam. This is roughly crash number four here.
Several people called 911, including me. Once those calls were in and it was clear everyone was okay and standing around processing what happened, I headed downstairs to assess the scene and offer help where I could.
While I was down there, the owner of a convenience store up the street approached me. Setting the car crash aside for a moment, he asked if my cameras might have captured any suspicious activity near his store, as there had been a burglary overnight.
As a matter of fact, they had! I had previously noticed a sketchy individual wandering around and sitting on our entry step, which caught my attention enough to remember in case someone asked about an incident later. Sure enough, someone did.
I offered the footage to everyone involved as a courtesy, and they eagerly accepted. I spent the next hour or so scrubbing through and sending the video to all parties.
Sometime later—well after Car #1 was towed and Car #2 was pulled out of our lawn and staged on the street—the police arrived (clearly there was a priority backup, as it was now two hours later). It turned out one of the occupants from Car #2, which had wound up in our bushes, needed a medical check, though it ultimately didn't require transport to a hospital.
At that point, I waded back into the drama at curb level and was approached by a BPD officer asking about the convenience store burglary. I gave him a quick verbal summary of what the video showed and assured him I’d passed the USB stick with the clips to the store owner. I won't mention specific details or content from those videos here, as the investigation is still ongoing.
I was fully in my element. Mind you, this was the exact same morning I received my security guard license in the mail—just a few days before reporting to my first post. I was totally leaning into the role, however informally. Crazy stuff!
By Dave for Personal Blog.
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My Answer to The Ruinous AI Slopping of the Web
09/20/2026
...Watched this video today. Explaining Computers is a channel run by Christopher Barnatt, a creator whose viewpoints on technology I take seriously. Despite now having watched countless doomsday videos about the web and how AI and enshitification are speeding that along, my attraction to his articulating charisma made room for one more take, and, my following response to it.
(ahem)
A useful web was originally built by real people—writers, artists, hobbyists, and enthusiasts—who created their own spaces and interlinked with one another simply to share. "Blogging as a business" and the rigid assumption that a website must be tied to a monetization strategy came later, quickly overtaking that original foundation.
The web’s actual utility and human engagement don't have to disappear. They can remain just as vibrant as ever—if people remember what it means to own a personal website and curate links to others.
There is already a critical mass of people today who adhere to these raw, early-web principles. The more everyday users who discover and join this community, the more resilient the World Wide Web will be against fading away into algorithmic noise.
If you want to help save it, use AI as a tool to learn—it’s great for conversing, asking questions, and picking up new skills without fear. It's even great (in the eyes of this publisher) for copyediting - this very article is part of that. Then, register a domain, learn a little HTML, and jump back into the lake.
People creating, sharing, and interlinking directly among themselves will keep the web alive—and likely make it better than it has been in years. We have the power to move past the era of platform decay and corporate monetization, and build something genuine again.
By Dave for Personal Blog.
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Watching the Street Together
09/15/2026
Okay, this is mainly a Skinny Pete thing (the grey one on the left). But every now and again Gina, girl at right, hops up to join Skinny in intense overnight surveillance of the street looking for feral interlopers onto the property. Teamwork until one or the other sits up and they begin batty-batting each other with their paws.
By Dave for Personal Blog.
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Never Gets Old
09/07/2026
A long time ago someone posted a picture of their cat sleeping in a sink to Reddit. Someone commented, sarcastically, there ought to be a website for that, linking to just such a website in the same sentence. I am going to guess without any intent to check that one exists for cats in laundry baskets too.
By Dave for Personal Blog.
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Latte's Fourth of July
07/04/2026
Happy July 4th from Latte!
By Dave for Personal Blog.
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Counter Service
07/04/2026
Gina cried to have her plate served up this way this morning so she could eat like a civilized - human.
By Dave for Personal Blog.
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Rosie's Handcrafted Ice Cream
06/29/2026
My friend uttered how she wanted ice cream and my intent was instantly locked in. We wound up at Rosie's Handcrafted Ice Cream, a grey little building oddly tucked inside a mostly residential block on West Utica Street. The ice cream was great, the management of our cones was not. Keep in mind if you go, you'll probably want a waffle cone or a dish (cup) for any scoop count larger than a single. The cake cones won't cut it. And, take many napkins and consider bringing your own cleanup kit.
By Dave for Personal Blog.
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Done With the Social in 'Social Media'
06/27/2026
That's it, I'm out. I'm done with social media because social media is done with me. Meaning, everyone really.
What's worse is that everyone but me seems to have already concluded this a long time ago. Meta for example is coasting on the "idea" that it is some social hub for your friends and family, but it hasn't been for a good many years. And for that matter they are proud of their trajectory away from.
Let me explain.The large social platforms wrecked it for themselves because they needed to grow. The mandate for growth meant futzing around with algorithms and the re-constitution of what a newsfeed is exactly. And what it is it turns out to have nothing to do with a profitless chronological ticker of what your connections are doing. There's no money - or at least enough of it - in that. And for that matter, ironically because of this doom loop, there's no people in it either.
To be sure, Facebook and the Xes of the world as they are have their place. I'm not deleting any accounts just yet. Meta Facebook is still a rich engagement hub for groups, news, and drama commentary. And it has become a great publishing platform for brands and businesses that for some reason can't trust an HTML WWW website to represent them. Without overtly stating as much, it's become great for just about everything except an efficient clutter free way to keep up with specific individuals you care about. That seems to have been replaced by private group chats using straight up text messaging apps. If you aren't in any, you're either old, a loser, or, if like me, both.
So I'm moving my impulse publishing to BlueSky and working harder to re-affirm this platform, one I wrote many years ago before AI and the vibe.
"But who will see what I post?", one may ask. Sadly, the answer is increasingly no more or no less than that if I stuck with Meta, X, or my PornHub Community (wonder on). My goal if I must be seen by randos at large will be to simply become genuinely interesting, achieved, relevant, or whatever. I will make that the challenge if I wind up caring or in pure happestance.
As for BlueSky, it is an open protocol (and a much easier to grasp version of one over Mastodon at that) operated as a "public benefit company" -- something that should shield it from the destructive perverted force of capitalism. A force that has all but nearly destroyed the utility of the greatest network ever invented.
Most recently BlueSky has continued their build-out with the ability to go live which will be important for a later project I am envisioning. When they launch their tier service later this year as anticipated, I'll sign up. But I won't be doing it expecting a social media experience. I'll be doing it for the service of impulse publishing on a singular and technically competent hosting platform.
In making this great declaration I have a lot of editing on this site to align with the change. In the meantime download BlueSky here. And for that matter consider joining yourself and let me know. For other information on following via this blog and in general me check out my follow page.
By Dave for Personal Blog.
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Explaining Myself Has Been Reset
06/15/2026
My "blog" Explaining Myself has been completely reset.
This is new entry number one.
In about two months, maybe three, I'll be unemployed, or, optimistically, be transitioning to a new gig. Whichever case, now is the time to activate this platform with a new series of entries that can now, finally, be free of any corporate if not any conventional constraint.
By Dave for Personal Blog.
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