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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