Michael Hanscom

Enthusiastic ambivert. Geeky, liberal, friendly, curious, hopepunk; trying to be a good person. (he/him)

On This Day: Dec 8

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Since I hit 20 years of blogging this November, this year I’m posting a daily list of anything I published on this day in the past.

There are 19 posts previously published on December 8th

  • 2023
  • 2022
  • 2020
  • 2019
    • Of our two silly little window things, one seems notably more invested than the other. ➡
    • The Silent Coup The US is being run by a government that no longer represents the people: Today, representative democracy is on the brink as our government demonstrates an unprecedented disconnect from public opinion. For instance, 83% of the public supports background checks for gun owners, but that hasn’t come to fruition. Some 77% of Americans want Roe ... Read more ➡
  • 2016
    • Wandering downtown Seattle on a brisk winter evening. ➡
    • In Seattle! Around buildings more than three stories high! ;) (343/366) ➡
  • 2014
    • Day three (I think) of @cah is here! Hopefully my day two envelope shows up soon! ➡
    • A Better Bond Skyfall was the first Bond film in years to hit the right balance between action and humor. Here's hoping that the upcoming SPECTRE keeps that trend going. ➡
  • 2008
    • Breadcrummy Would it be too much trouble to say 'I read about this _here_, and you can buy it or get more info _here_,' instead of forcing your readers to jump through multiple hoops? By the time I found my way to the source page, I'd pretty much lost interest in it. ➡
    • …that isn’t the question. After some reviewing of finances and priorities, Prairie and I decided to stay in Standard Definition for the time being, and save our purchase of a fancy-schmancy new HDTV set for some as-yet undetermined future date. ➡
    • Links for December 5th through December 8th Sometime between December 5th and December 8th, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too! ➡
  • 2005
    • Narnia followup A selection of quotes from reviews of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe... ➡
  • 2004
    • 100 Overlooked Films of the ’90s I stumbled across this list of the 100 most overlooked films of the 1990's yesterday, meant to do a meme-style 'seen it' list, and then spaced it. I was reminded today when DeAnna beat me to the punch — so here's mine. Bold title films I've seen… ➡
    • Konichiwa! First off, my apologies, as it's entirely likely that I managed to mangle the Americanized version of a Japanese greeting. Looks like the recent Wired article that I'm mentioned in just got picked up in Japan, which is sending another round of visitors my way. ➡
  • 2003
    • Get a cheap PC from AOL Okay — I'm no great fan of either AOL or Windows-based PCs, but I have to admit that if you're looking for a cheap computer and are willing to settle for Windows XP Home and use AOL for your 'net connection, this isn't a bad deal (though not quite as good as they lead you to believe on first blush). ➡
    • MiddleEarth mania, week one: The Fellowship of the Ring Saturday Prairie and I started our three-week string of Lord of the Rings movie watching with the Cinerama's showing of Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Extended Edition. ➡
  • 2002
    • ¡TchKunG! at the FUNC It's so difficult to convey in words the energy that is present during one of their shows, but they're by far one of my favorite bands to see live. The best word I can think of to describe any show by them is 'tribal', in the truest sense of the word -- the crowd gets so wrapped up in things, that it becomes something more than a collection of individuals, and something closer to a 'tribe', I suppose...oh, whatever. You get the point. Or you don't. ➡

On This Day: Dec 7

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Since I hit 20 years of blogging this November, this year I’m posting a daily list of anything I published on this day in the past.

There are 24 posts previously published on December 7th

  • 2025
  • 2023
  • 2020
    • A “behind the scenes” peek at how my setup for indulging my DJ Wüdi alter-ego is arranged. djay Pro AI on the top monitor, OBS and associated support apps on the iMac’s screen. The controller is a Pioneer DDJ-400. ➡
    • On This Day: Dec 7 Recognizing 20 years of blogging, here are my past posts from December 7 ➡
  • 2019
    • 📚 fifty-eight of 2019: Sleeping Beauties, by Stephen and Owen King. ⭐️⭐️⭐️ A King take on the fears that women have of men, of the men that generate those fears, and how they all react when mysteriously separated. King (and his son) still knows how to tell a good tale. ➡
  • 2018
    • Book fifty-three of 2018: Star Trek: I.K.S. Gorkon Book Three: Enemy Territory, by Keith. R.A. DeCandido. ⭐️⭐️⭐️ ➡
  • 2016
  • 2013
    • Sounds From the Lost Abbey 08 Back in February, I took up a challenge from one of my friends to create a mix based around songs that I'd have played at the Lost Abbey, during the mid- to late-1990s. Here's the eighth of quite a few to come! ➡
    • Sounds From the Lost Abbey 07 Back in February, I took up a challenge from one of my friends to create a mix based around songs that I'd have played at the Lost Abbey, during the mid- to late-1990s. Here's the seventh of quite a few to come! ➡
  • 2010
    • Doozy of a Dream I very rarely remember my dreams, and usually when I do, it's just a few very vague bits that fade almost immediately upon waking up. Last night, though, I had something of a doozy. ➡
  • 2006
    • Scary Mary I think this just became my favorite recut trailer. ➡
  • 2004
    • Mind Hacks Just added to my daily reads: Mind Hacks, the companion blog to Tom Stafford and Matt Webb's book Mind Hacks, recently released by O'Reilly. ➡
  • 2003
    • Our strategy in Iraq With a heavy dose of fear and violence, and a lot of money for projects, I think we can convince these people that we are here to help them. ➡
    • Oh, goodie! Well, whaddaya know — Britney Spears will be performing in Seattle! Um…yeah. I think I'll be staying away from Seattle Center that evening. ➡
    • TypePad gets PCMag Editor's Choice Congratulations to Six Apart for TypePad's getting an Editor's Choice nod from PC Mag in their roundup of blogging tools. ➡
    • Is it that obvious? You ought to turn on your G3 and launch iTunes and give it a totally different name and pretend you have a friend. ➡
    • The dangers of mayonnaise A Texas woman was sentenced to 10 years in jail for running over the manager of a McDonald's with her car because she wanted mayonnaise on her cheeseburger. ➡
    • NetFlix Freak (nee Fanatic) There used to be a handy little application for managing your NetFlix queue called Netflix Fanatic. However, now comes NetFlix Freak — all the goodness of NetFlix Fanatic, and then some. ➡
  • 2002
  • 1993
    • [From Usenet: 12.7.93 2238] Was curious if anyone else out there had discovered Blackhappy...incredibly good band. Two guitarists, two drummers, a bass, two trombones and a sax...lots of sound, powerful music. ➡
    • [From Usenet: 12.7.93 2217] Don't know the technical info (only that I got the 3-incher up here in Alaska), but the songs are 'Too Physica' by Adam Ant, and 'Suck' by Pigface. Suck is available on a couple different Pigface albums in a couple different versions. ➡
    • [From Usenet 12.7.93 2107] I'm not sure if I remember all of them from this book, but I remember seeing some in a book I picked up in England years ago...something about Mistaikes (sic). Don't know for sure, tho... ➡

On This Day: Dec 6

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Since I hit 20 years of blogging this November, this year I’m posting a daily list of anything I published on this day in the past.

There are 27 posts previously published on December 6th

  • 2023
  • 2022
  • 2021
    • 📚 51/2021: Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1977 Hugo Best Novel ➡
  • 2020
  • 2019
  • 2017
    • Day two! #cardsagainsthumanity #cah ➡
  • 2016
    • Dinner tonight was homemade chili and cornbread. Not pictured because I quite happily ate it all. (341/366) ➡
    • Resistance is Not Futile The day we accept ANY of this as normal, we have already lost. Fascism accumulates power by pushing people, by testing us, by testing boundaries. ➡
  • 2014
    • Yay! Day one of this year’s @cah silliness is here! ➡
  • 2010
    • 2010 Wish List I took a little time to go through my Amazon wishlists to see what was sitting in there. After a bit of editing (removed some, added one or two items), here's what I've ended up with, in rough order from most realistic (less expensive) to least realistic (most expensive). ➡
  • 2007
    • Best Xmas Commercials (So Far) It's only a top two, rather than a top ten or top three or any such thing (mostly because it's so rare that commercials are actually fun that it'd be nearly impossible to get a list longer than two). However, here for your amusement are the top two commercials of this Christmas season, as chosen by Prairie and me. ➡
    • One Hundred and Forty Peeps So far, I'm a little unimpressed with the leading contender for a collective noun for 'those people I follow/am following on Twitter,' which appears to be 'tweeple'. To my ears, it's rather silly, and a rather glaringly obvious portmanteau. ➡
  • 2005
    • Time to put my money where my mouth is? Ten months ago, I wrote that 'I’d gladly pay a few dollars per episode to download high-quality versions....' And now, wouldn't you know it -- Battlestar Galactica is available through the iTunes Music Store at $1.99 per episode! Very nice. ➡
    • Narnia and Christianity — does it matter? Sure, you can read all sorts of meaning into the stories and why they're being brought to the screen now -- religious indoctrination, right-wing propelled mass media conspiracy theories, whatever. You can also tell your inner Fox Mulder that every so often _it doesn't matter_ and go watch a movie. ➡
  • 2004
    • Blade Trinity I'd been iffy on whether I wanted to bother, but this pre-release review of Blade Trinity just put it on my 'must see' list. ➡
    • Howdy, Wired readers! Over a year after the incident, I'm getting another few seconds added to my fifteen minutes of fame: last week I was interviewed by phone by Wired, and their article hit the 'net today. ➡
    • A Book of Blogs Thanks to Alicia, I just found out about this book project of Tvindy's, and so I've pulled out a couple possible nominations for inclusion. ➡
  • 2003
    • Vote for me! (Or not…) Voting for the 2003 Weblog Awards is now open! My self-nomination for the Best Looking Blog category made it in, so feel free to bounce over there, check out all the contenders, and then vote for me! ;) ➡
  • 2002
    • Psychoptrometry The optometrist as psychotherapist, I thought to myself, what an intriguing character. ➡
    • It’s just snow, folks No, I'm not really annoyed. Quite amused, though. Admittedly, though, this is not a type of post I'm immune to, so I probably shouldn't talk. The trend in posts did catch my eye, though. ➡
  • 1993
    • [From Usenet: 12.6.93 0432] Don't know anything about Seal, but I've seen a few Tori Amos import singles at some local stores...not exactly a new release, but some of them have some songs not on her album... ➡
    • [From Usenet 12.6.93 0432] I've got two...not sure where they came from though. One's on RCA Victor (Swquentiae: Gregorian Chant/K. Ruhland [GD 71953]), the other on ProArte (Gregorian Chants * Ruhland [CDD 287]). Got 'em as presents a while ago. Oh, that first album should be Sequentiae. ➡
    • [From Usenet: 12.6.93 0432] Bingo...you've probably got a ton of answers to this already, but the song is "You Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth" off of Meatloaf's first album, _Bat Out Of Hell_. Good, good album...awesome music. ➡
    • [From Usenet 12.6.93 0432] Also, picked up a single for Religion...good remixes, including a _really_ fast techno version remixed by the Prodigy...two mixes of Crapage by the Orb, and having the Orb remixing 242 is just bizarre...and one fun mix of Religion with lots of samples from Deep Throat. ➡

On This Day: Dec 5

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Since I hit 20 years of blogging this November, this year I’m posting a daily list of anything I published on this day in the past.

There are 19 posts previously published on December 5th

  • 2025
  • 2023
    • Year 50 Day 217 Not every day’s selfie can be the museum-worthy artwork that I’m sure you all expect. ➡
  • 2022
    • AI Art, Ethics, and Where I Stand I’m enjoying playing with the AI art generation tools. I’m also watching the discussions around the ethical questions around how they can and should be used. ➡
  • 2020
  • 2019
  • 2016
    • Baby, It’s Cold Outside If you’re not a fan, I totally understand — but for me, it will remain a staple of my winter playlists. ➡
    • First snow of the season! Can’t let you Seattleites have all the fun! (340/366) ➡
  • 2014
    • Yesterday’s “F in Exams” calendar page. Can’t trust those dolphins! ➡
  • 2009
  • 2008
    • Manufactured Controversy If the ID folks actually were to do the work involved in creating such a theory, doing the experimentation and observation necessary to back it up and get their work peer reviewed, it WOULD be accepted by science. Unfortunately, the main proponents of Intelligent Design Theory have no interest in doing that; they’d rather just fabricate controversy, pretending that the mean-old scientists just won’t let them play because scientists hate Christians. ➡
  • 2005
    • LibraryThing Redux Well, it took a few hours (spread over the past few days) of free-time puttering, but my entire book collection (that isn't loaned out, loaned out and not returned, lost, or still sitting somewhere at my folks' house in Anchorage) is now entered into my LibraryThing catalog. ➡
  • 2004
    • Cartoon Skeletons I decided to take a select few of these popular cartoon characters and render their skeletal systems as I imagine they might resemble if one truly had eye sockets half the size of its head, or fingerless-hands, or feet comprising 60% of its body mass. ➡
    • Cover Tunes I want to hear Britney Spears cover My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult's 'Days of Swine and Roses' (“Christian zombie vampires!”). N*SYNC or whatever boy band is around taking on The Sisters of Mercy's 'Dominion/Mother Russia'. Janet Jackson's version of the Violent Femme's 'Day After Day'. Eminem doing Concrete Blonde's 'Bloodletting'. ➡
    • Panoramic Experiments Yesterday afternoon I decided to go for a bit of a wander through the weekend downtown shoppers to work on an experiment I've had in mind for a bit. I've been curious at how panoramic shots would turn out if I took them in the evening, where the long exposures would blur any cars and passing shoppers. ➡
  • 2003
    • For sale: Pioneer CMX-5000 Twin CD Player Asking price: $600. As as I've hardly touched it in the two years since I've been in Seattle, it's time to see if someone who can get a little more use out of it is interested. I'd prefer if someone in or around Seattle who can swing by and pick it up from me bought it as I don't have a car and shipping would be a major pain. I can accept cash, checks, or PayPal. ➡
    • New TypePad features Three new features for TypePad weblogs have been announced today at Everything TypePad: TypeList Sort Options, Photo Album .zip Uploads, and More Privacy Options. ➡
  • 2002
    • iSfP It's kind of funny how one subject will lead to another, which then takes off and gets something of a life of its own. A throwaway comment by Mark Pilgrim in the midst of explaining a new data format giving his Myers-Briggs Type Indicator led to an interesting couple of posts by Jonathon Delacour relating MBTIs to the blogosphere. ➡
    • Religions are wacky While we're on this, a few years ago I made this claim in the off.ramp newsgroup that I used to hang out in: God is a Dumbass. I offered Nevada and the Moon as proof. Guess what? No one ever was able to prove me wrong. ➡
    • Not a bad way to go, really Rolf Eden, a Berlin property tycoon, former nightclub owner, and all-purpose celebrity, says he is offering $125,000 to any woman, from anywhere in the world, who can kill him with sex. ➡
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📚 fifty of 2020: Smut Peddler Presents: Silver ⭐️⭐️⭐️

The latest in @ironcircuscomix’s always enjoyable series of erotic comic anthologies. This time, all about love and lust among older participants (though I was amused to note that I’m older than some of the subjects!).

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🖖🏻 Discovery S03E08: Not a bad episode, but aside from a few moments, not a particularly stand-out episode. A little more background to Book, Detmer got a little hands-on flight therapy, and the moment with Stamets and Adira was nice, but the Georgiou mystery is dragging on.

On This Day: Dec 4

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Since I hit 20 years of blogging this November, this year I’m posting a daily list of anything I published on this day in the past.

There are 22 posts previously published on December 4th

  • 2023
    • Year 50 Day 216 The label design for these two very different things is entirely too similar. ➡
  • 2020
    • 📚 fifty of 2020: Smut Peddler Presents: Silver ⭐️⭐️⭐️ The latest in @ironcircuscomix’s always enjoyable series of erotic comic anthologies. This time, all about love and lust among older participants (though I was amused to note that I’m older than some of the subjects!). ➡
    • 🖖🏻 Discovery S03E08: Not a bad episode, but aside from a few moments, not a particularly stand-out episode. A little more background to Book, Detmer got a little hands-on flight therapy, and the moment with Stamets and Adira was nice, but the Georgiou mystery is dragging on. ➡
    • On This Day: Dec 4 Recognizing 20 years of blogging, here are my past posts from December 4 ➡
  • 2019
    • Today’s geeky triumph: Figuring out how to use Automator to create a service that pipes selected text through pandoc to speed up converting old posts on my blog to proper markdown format from the current HTML/markdown hodepodge. ➡
    • Plex Offers Over a Thousand Ad-Supported Movies on Demand: The films are “free” as in “ad supported”, but it’s still an interesting move. While I’m a long-time Plex user, I’m not sure if I’ll take advantage of this (I have an extensive personal movie and TV collection as it is, plus some of the big-name ... Read more ➡
    • Downtown Seattle Barnes & Noble to close January 18th: “When the downtown Barnes & Noble closes, there will officially be no bookstores in the downtown retail core. While there are quite a few bookshops in surrounding neighborhoods like the Pike Place Market, Pioneer Square, Capitol Hill, and Queen Anne, this will be the first time ... Read more ➡
  • 2016
    • Wrapping Christmas presents! (339/366) ➡
  • 2014
    • “Justice!” #CWU #blacklivesmatter #ferguson #mikebrown #ericgarner #handsup #icantbreathe ➡
    • About ready to go… #CWU #blacklivesmatter #ferguson #mikebrown #ericgarner #icantbreathe #handsup ➡
    • More people joining. #blacklivesmatter #CWU #ferguson #mikebrown #ericgarner ➡
    • “I’m marching because I was taught to trust the police, but as I’ve gotten older, I’m scared of them.” #blacklivesmatter #ferguson #mikebrown #ericgarner #CWU ➡
    • “Ferguson is here” “I can’t breathe” #blacklivesmatter #handsup #icantbreathe #CWU ➡
    • CWU students gathering for a #blacklivesmatter protest walk. #CWU #ferguson #ericgarner #mikebrown ➡
    • Two Americas Two profoundly different experiences of life in our country that you should be aware of: #CrimingWhileWhite and #AliveWhileBlack. ➡
  • 2008
  • 2007
    • Six Billion Gallons Outside of leaks taking out a few ceiling tiles at my store in the mall, neither Prairie nor I have personally seen any of the more dramatic effects of the storm. Apparently we got off fairly lucky -- the PI mentions a few people in our area of town that didn't fare so well. ➡
  • 2004
    • Netflix Friends After playing with Netflix Friends a bit last night and this morning, I'm really enjoying this. The more people listed as friends, the more choices there are on your friends page, of course, and it's been fun watching the recommendations change as more of the few people I invited in join in the fun. ➡
  • 2003
    • People sleep…cigarettes don't Wow — scary stuff. Apparently there was a fire at James and Stacy's apartment complex in Anchorage yesterday afternoon. Thankfully, according to Stacy, everyone is okay, including the cat. ➡
  • 2002
    • What he said OK, the joke's over. Will someone tell that chowderhead in the White House to stop playing his Fantasy President computer game and get serious? ➡
    • Ya win some, ya lose some A controversial government initiative to recruit Americans to spy on each other in an attempt to prevent terrorist attacks was quietly killed with the passage of the Homeland Security Act. ➡
    • Pentagon recruitment tactics High school students nationwide may be surprised to know that the Pentagon knows their name, address and phone number. ➡
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📚 forty-nine of 2020: Clash of the Titans by Alan Dean Foster ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Foster does his usual solidly enjoyable adaptation work. And I’m pretty sure that this movie was responsible for the majority of my knowledge of Greek mythology for much of my youth (and beyond…).

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Stop that nonsense at once, or you won’t be allowed to make any more planets.

— Squire Trelane’s father, ST:TOS “The Squire of Gothos” 🖖