Michael Hanscom

Enthusiastic ambivert. Geeky, liberal, friendly, curious, hopepunk; trying to be a good person. (he/him)
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“Did you get the concentrate?”

“No problem.” He held up the vial full of coarse orange granules.

“Finally!” Moving quickly, she snatched the vial, uncorked it, and poured the contents into a glass of water. “TANG is so hard to find since Kraft seceded from the corporatocracy.”

On This Day: Nov 2

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Since I’ll 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 November 2nd

  • 2025
  • 2023
  • 2020
    • Masks Work. Really. We’ll Show You How: “With coronavirus cases still rising, wearing a mask is more important than ever. In this animation, you will see just how effective a swath of fabric can be at fighting the pandemic.” ➡
    • “Did you get the concentrate?” “No problem.” He held up the vial full of coarse orange granules. “Finally!” Moving quickly, she snatched the vial, uncorked it, and poured the contents into a glass of water. “TANG is so hard to find since Kraft seceded from the corporatocracy.” ➡
    • On This Day: Nov 2 Recognizing 20 years of blogging, here are my past posts from November 2 ➡
  • 2019
    • Nobody knew if people left the town on their own, or were taken against their will. All anyone knew for sure was that one day, they were there, and the next, they were gone — and there was one more mark carefully inscribed on the wall surrounding the town. Microblogvember: mark ➡
  • 2016
    • Took a different route home tonight along the canal. Slightly longer, but pretty, and saw a heron fly overhead. (307/366) ➡
    • There were just a couple minutes of gorgeous sunrise on an otherwise grey morning, and I happened to be in the right spot to grab a shot on my way in to work. #nofilter #sunrise ➡
  • 2015
  • 2009
  • 2007
    • NaBloPoMo This year, I think it's worth trying for something a little more possible: NaBloPoMo, or National Blog Posting Month. Inspired by NaNoWriMo, it presents a much more feasible goal for most people. ➡
  • 2004
    • Monorail is a go (again) On the bright side, though, Seattle voters have (for the fourth time) given the local monorail a go-ahead. ➡
    • 254 – 252 Right now, things stand at 254 to 252 Electoral Votes, with Bush in the lead. New Mexico, Iowa, and (most critically) Ohio are still too close to call. Much as I'd like to believe that we could pull a rabbit out of our hat and pick up Ohio's twenty Electoral Votes, it really isn't looking terribly likely. ➡
    • Election overload Gotta get away from the computer for a bit — refreshing CNN.com faster doesn't make the results come in any faster. ;) ➡
    • First exit polls Some of the very first early exit polls have been released. As such, take these with a large grain of salt — we've got a long way to go today. ➡
    • Humidermy: So very, very disturbing Taking a break from election news, Julie pointed out one of the most seriously disturbing articles I've read in a long time. At the moment, I'm pretty sure that this is a Halloween hoax. Admittedly, a rather sucessfully creepy hoax… ➡
  • 2003
    • Congratulations, Bishop Robinson After far too much controversy — which is, unfortunately, far from finished — Gene Robinson was consecrated as Bishop on Sunday. ➡
    • Jason Webley Deathday 2003 Last night was Jason Webley's Deathday concert. Incredible, beautiful, fun, funny, and moving — everything I've come to expect from Webley's shows. ➡
  • 2001
    • Okay, so I guess it’s a real warning The WTC/Pentagon attacks killed around 5,000 people. The paranoia after those attacks is killing everything the U.S. has puportedly stood for over the past 200 years. ➡
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Anything, he had realized, no matter how exciting, lost its shine eventually. However bright the colors or loud the exultations, it all had a grey, dreary pallor when seen year after year through the walls of his glass coffin standing in the town square.

Halloween 2020 Didn’t Suck!

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It seems kind of weird to say this, given, well, everything – but it was actually a good Halloween for us this year. Yesterday was a good day.

We started by getting the weekly shopping out of the way, and then had a good breakfast followed by a late morning nap. I spun “afternün spüki tünes” on Twitch for a couple hours (to just two or three people, but hey, I had fun with it, at least). We had lunch, went out for a walk, and then I put on my inflatable T-Rex costume and we took a bunch of silly pictures around the neighborhood. For the evening, we drove up to Queen Anne and enjoyed a drive-in horror short film festival, which had a number of fun entries, and only a couple that we didn’t enjoy.

Really, and quite thankfully, it was a far better Halloween day than we’d thought it was going to be when it became clear just how much 2020 was going to be affecting Goth Christmas.

On This Day: Nov 1

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Since I’ll 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 14 posts previously published on November 1st

  • 2023
  • 2020
  • 2019
    • The key didn’t look particularly important. Just one of many on the keychain. Weathered metal, obviously long-used, but nobody could remember when it was last turned. The mystery wasn’t what lock it would open, but what would be released when it was used. Microblogvember: key ➡
  • 2016
    • Not only did Prairie run away to conferences, leaving me without adult supervision until Sunday, but she took the car, so I’ve got a week of brisk early morning walks to work (and afternoon walks home)! Guess I’m making my step goals pretty easily this week. :) (306/366) ➡
  • 2008
  • 2005
    • Jason Webley this Saturday! Hello tomatoes! Halloween has passed, but don't put away your disguises, your devilish laughs, or that glimmer of mischief in your eyes. Bring them to the Catwalk in Pioneer Square this Saturday night! ➡
  • 2004
    • VOTE Vote. ➡
    • Priorities $3 million: Amount the White House was willing to grant the 9/11 Commission to investigate the 11 September attacks. $50 million: Amount granted to the commission that looked into the Columbia space shuttle crash. ➡
    • Puppy playtime Sunday afternoon, Prairie and I went over to visit Prairie's sister and her boyfriend to visit, celebrate Prairie's birthday, and visit their new puppy, Loodie. ➡
  • 2001
    • West Coast targeted? Reportedly, unspecified groups are targeting suspension bridges on the West Coast. Six incidents are to take place curing rush hour beginning Friday, November 2 and continuing through November 7, 2001. ➡
    • Enterprise: The Andorian Incident We are also being treated to a much more interesting view of the Vulcans. We're now seeing some of the Vulcans weaknesses and less-than-idealistic tendencies, and I for one find the new look at the history of the race fascinating (to coin a phrase). ➡

On This Day: Oct 31

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Since I’ll 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 October 31st

  • 2025
    • Initial Thoughts on Affinity by Canva We'll see how things go over time, but all in all, if not cautiously optimistic, I'm at least cautiously hopeful about the just-announced changes to Affinity. Seeing more improvements in their PDF accessibility tagging is encouraging! ➡
  • 2023
  • 2021
    • Happy Halloween, all! Trek or Treat! 🖖 ➡
  • 2020
  • 2017
    • Vampires do not say “blah, blah, blah”! #lego #halloween #vampire #bat ➡
    • Spooky #lego #halloween graveyard! ➡
    • Eating candy, building #legos, and watching #strangerthings season two. Happy #Halloween! 🎃💀👻 ➡
  • 2016
    • Happy Halloween! #Lego #goth at work today. #cwupride 🎃🕸👻💀 (305/366) ➡
  • 2015
    • A Halloween Lego treat: a cute little bat with a pumpkin to snack on. :) #halloween #lego #bat #pumpkin ➡
  • 2014
    • The Red Skull says Happy Halloween! #Halloween #papercraft #wintercroft #wintercroftmasks @wintercroft ➡
  • 2008
    • Happy Halloween! A silly, simple one-day-only design change to celebrate Halloween. Have fun today, and watch out for ghoulies, ghosties, and things that go **bump** in the night! ➡
  • 2006
  • 2005
    • Happy Halloween! Happy Halloween, folks! A couple more pictures of decorations 'round our apartment after the jump. ➡
  • 2004
    • Jason Webley Halloween Show 2004 Prairie and I went to Jason Webley's Halloween/Deathday show last night. The show, of course (and as always), was incredible, and I'll try to get a better writeup later on today. For now, though, I've uploaded a photoset from last night to Flickr. ➡
  • 2003
    • One last interview I think that this should be the last of my posts regarding my recent notoriety. Tech news site BetaNews interviewed me about the entire affair yesterday, and the interview has just been posted on their site. ➡
    • Hey Mr. DJ! An 80's pop music online quiz. ➡
    • And I thought the politicians were scary Here's a fun little Halloween story that I'd not heard before. Apparently, the U.S. Capitol Building is haunted! ➡
  • 2002
    • T minus 2 hours and counting Instead, I'll be turning off my PC, closing down my web browsers and newsreaders, leaving my instant messaging programs off, and focusing on diving into the wierd and wonderful world of becoming… ➡
    • Kung-Tunes upgrade Just upgraded to Kung-Tunes 1.9.0. There's now a bit less information displayed for the currently playing track, but it displays a history of the last few tracks I've listened to. Cool stuff! ➡
  • 2001
    • A ghost closing his mouth after a long summer’s yawn One of the few slight bummers about this past weekend was that I missed Jason's Halloween show. Having only seen him perform a couple times at Bumbershoot, I'm really hoping to be able to catch one of his shows sometime, but just had too much going on this weekend to be able to do it. Hopefully it won't be too much longer before I get a chance I can take. ➡

On This Day: Oct 30

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Since I’ll 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 25 posts previously published on October 30th

  • 2023
    • Year 50 Day 181 Trying to figure out a photo when my wife decided that she could help. ➡
    • 🧪 Test Post 21 of Several Test twenty-one of several as I try to troubleshoot blog issues. Will probably be deleted later. Sorry for flooding your feeds. ➡
    • 🧪 Test Post 20 of Several Test twenty of several as I try to troubleshoot blog issues. Will probably be deleted later. Sorry for flooding your feeds. ➡
    • Test Post 19 of Several Test nineteen of several as I try to troubleshoot blog issues. Will probably be deleted later. Sorry for flooding your feeds. ➡
    • Test Post 18 of Several Test eighteen of several as I try to troubleshoot blog issues. Will probably be deleted later. Sorry for flooding your feeds. ➡
  • 2020
  • 2019
    • Linkdump for January 27th through October 30th An automatically generated list of links that caught my eye between January 27th and October 30th. ➡
    • Old mashup from DJ Wüdi: Just Can’t Get Flexible in 1999 (Depeche Mode “Flexible” and “Just Can’t Get Enough” vs. Prince “1999”). The only inspiration I can remember for these is that I like the source songs and I had the acapella for “1999”. I do like the way it came out. 🎵 ➡
    • Old mashup from DJ Wüdi: Give It A Crablouse (Red Hot Chili Peppers “Give It Away Now” vs. Lords of Acid “Crablouse”). I realized a few years ago that the verses for “Crablouse” had the same rhythm as those for “Give It Away Now”, so…this was the result. 🎵 ➡
    • New mashup from DJ Wüdi: Closer to Virginity (nine inch nails “Closer” vs. Madonna “Like a Virgin”). Originally did this “live” when DJing back in the late ’90s by quick-fading between the tracks; this version is my first attempt at using Logic Pro X. 🎵 ➡
  • 2016
    • Being clean shaven is weird. My face feels funny, and colder than it should be where I’m used to having fuzz. (304/366) ➡
  • 2015
    • Thor is back on campus for Halloween! ;) #halloween #thor #mjolnir #mewmew #cwu ➡
  • 2010
  • 2008
  • 2007
    • Spamalot (And Some Etiquette Grumbling) So, wrapping things up: people suck, can't (or won't) behave properly in public, and most of them really shouldn't be let out of the house. The show, while suffering from some very notable rough spots, was generally very enjoyable, though in the end, not quite the experience we were hoping for. ➡
  • 2005
    • He wrote some pretty creepy stuff… He has a terrific imagination, he's going to be the next Ray Bradbury. ➡
    • Halloween Weekend Erk. Forgot that daylight savings time kicked in (out?) today, and got up an hour early. Meh. Could've had that extra hour in bed! Fun night out at the Vogue for Halloween, though. ➡
  • 2003
    • Look out! Pornography! Duck! I can't tell you how much safer and more secure I feel about the world around me to know that our dearly beloved President declared the week of October 26th to November 1st, 2003, to be Protection From Pornography Week. ➡
    • People must like my design There is a potential downside to a good site design that I hadn't foreseen — that being people ripping it off. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. ➡
    • 'Big Mac' details Dr. Srinidhi Varadarajan, the head of Virginia Tech's recent construction of a 1,100-node Power Mac G5-based supercomputer (currently tentatively ranked as the 3rd fastest supercomputer in the word) gave a talk at the O'Reilly Mac OS X conference this week. ➡
    • My inner fanboy just had an orgasm Whoever wins…we lose. ➡
    • Is Boing Boing broken? While the current page is certainly friendly and cheerful, it's not quite the Boing Boing I'm familiar with. ➡
  • 2002
    • It’s tricky Jam Master Jay, DJ for Run-DMC., was shot and killed in the studio. ➡
    • Bloggertypes I seem to be a mix of 'Techie Blogger (Togger)' and 'Link Blogger (Blinker)' with a touch of 'Goth Blogger (Glogger)' tossed in every so often. ➡
  • 2001
    • Mullet haiku Short like your schooling / Long like your prison sentence / The penal haircut ➡
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🖖 Discovery S03E03: The ship travels to a planet only to find itself caught between two warring factions, and they must try to convince both sides to stand down and find a resolution. This may be one of the most “Star Trek”-y Discovery episodes yet, and it pulled it off. Plus lots of good character beats and more clues about the state of the galaxy in this new time period. So far, season three is on a good streak.