Michael Hanscom

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

How are you holding up today?

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During a Pandemic, ‘How Are You?’ Is a Bad Question:

The innocuous “How are you?” at the start of a conversation—which is normally understood in American culture to be a polite way of expressing concern for a person’s well-being, and to which the socially agreed-upon response is “I’m good,” “I’m fine,” or “I’m doing well”—hits differently in the COVID-19 era. The coronavirus pandemic and its effects are dramatic and widespread enough that it’s safe to assume everyone’s life has changed for the worse in some way. This moment has laid bare the extent to which “How are you?” is a mere pleasantry and not an honest inquiry in search of an honest answer. To ask “How are you?” is either to make the conversation very gloomy, very fast or to force someone to lie straight to your face and say they’re fine. We need better questions to ask.

On This Day: Apr 28

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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 April 28th

  • 2024
    • Year 50 Day 362 A nice slow day of shopping, laundry, reading, and spending some time working with my music library. ➡
  • 2022
    • This is my next main browser: a review of Orion: “I can forget about the next Safari entirely and make Orion my primary browser — it looks and feels like the ‘good old’ Safari, and adds more interesting and useful features on top of it.” ➡
  • 2021
    • 📚 17/2021: To Your Scattered Bodies Go by Philip José Farmer ⭐️⭐️ 1972 Hugo Best Novel What sounded like an interesting premise was actually an incredibly unpleasant journey with unpleasant people that killed any interest in the purported mystery of what’s actually going on. ➡
  • 2020
    • We Can Be Heroes As businesses in Seattle closed their doors, many storefronts nailed plywood over their windows – but it created the feeling of a ghost town. So artists came together to create something beautiful and uplifting, turning these wooden coverings into murals. ➡
    • How are you holding up today? This moment has laid bare the extent to which 'How are you?' is a mere pleasantry and not an honest inquiry in search of an honest answer. ➡
    • On This Day: Apr 28 Recognizing 20 years of blogging, here are my past posts from April 28 ➡
  • 2016
    • Aahhh, springtime in Ellensburg! Walking along, hair blowing in the wind…oh. Huh. Nevermind. (119/366) ➡
  • 2015
    • Violence Never Solves Anything? Violence, naked force, has settled more issues in history than has any other factor, and the contrary opinion is wishful thinking at its worst. Breeds that forget this basic truth have always paid for it with their lives and their freedoms. ➡
  • 2014
    • Okay, so I had a bit of a case of the Mondays today. Good thing tomorrow's Tuesday. Time for sleeps now, plzkthks. ➡
  • 2010
    • Links for April 20th through April 28th Sometime between April 20th and April 28th, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too! • Elements of Twitter Style • Blag Hag: And the Boobquake Results Are In! • Daring Fireball: Gizmodo and the Prototype iPhone • You Ever Think About How In, Like, a Tom Hanks Movie...? • Henge Docks ➡
  • 2009
    • Birthday Bits So I turn 36 on Sunday. Pretty sure I can still claim 'mid-30's' at this point, though I'm getting perilously close to the 'late-30's.' Upcoming or recent birthday-related bits follow. ➡
  • 2006
    • Meme: Watch These Movies Film critic Jim Emerson recently compiled a list of 102 movies that you should see before you can consider yourself movie literate. ➡
  • 2005
  • 2004
  • 2003
    • iTunes/www.applemusic.com Excellent work, all around. As far as I'm concerned, all of the whiners at MeFi and /. can jump off a cliff — Apple's got a good thing going here. The only downside I can see is that to take advantage of AAC's smaller file sizes, I've got about 1500 CD's to rip all over again… ➡
    • Apple turns up the volume Well, today was the day that Apple finally made the announcments that rumor sites had been salivating over for the past few months. Lots of cool goodies… ➡
    • Teach backwards! It's hard for kids to get interested in century old debates without knowing all the context around them, but they might very well be interested in current day events. So why not start now and explain the events that got us here? War on terrorism? Sure, let's teach it, and that leads us backward to a discussion of how the current state of affairs is the successor to the bipolar world that came apart in 1989. And that leads back to the Cold War, and that leads back to World War II, etc. ➡
  • 1996

On This Day: Apr 27

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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 27 posts previously published on April 27th

  • 2025
  • 2024
  • 2020
  • 2018
    • Nice: Seattle officials file motion to vacate marijuana convictions. Since it’s legal, and as pot convictions disproportionately affect minorities, this is an excellent step. ➡
  • 2016
    • Just me, hanging out off the coast of my private island. …or standing in front of the screensaver on our TV. I don’t know where this place is, but I want to go to there. (I also kind of want a way to get the TV screensavers on my computer. They’re gorgeous.) (118/366) ➡
  • 2014
    • Took this earlier today. The reason isn’t valid anymore, but I’m sticking with this shot anyway. Nyeah-nyeah, so there. ➡
  • 2010
    • Imagine if… Let’s play a game, shall we? The name of the game is called 'Imagine.' The way it’s played is simple: we’ll envision recent happenings in the news, but then change them up a bit. Instead of envisioning white people as the main actors in the scenes we’ll conjure - the ones who are driving the action - we’ll envision black folks or other people of color instead. ➡
  • 2009
    • Links for April 23rd through April 27th Sometime between April 23rd and April 27th, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too! • Gallery: Flickr Users Make Accidental Maps • Skin Deep Usability • Locks of Love Helps Disadvantaged Children Suffering From Medical Hair Loss • Get Great Gadgets. and Keep Them. - Last Year's Model • I Can Read Movies ➡
    • Introducing my Photoblog As anyone who's been paying any amount of attention to my ramblings for long knows, I occasionally pick up a camera, snap off a few shots, and hope that I've got something worth showing off. I've finally decided to move forward on a project that's been rattling around in the back of my head for a while, and I'm going to see if I might actually be able to sell the occasional print. ➡
  • 2007
    • Edward Scissorhands When I posted about the discount on tickets to tonight's performance of _Edward Scissorhands_, I left out one small detail of the '_very_ kind offer' -- namely, that Prairie and I were offered (and accepted) tickets to see the show last night! ➡
  • 2006
    • Out for the Weekend Prairie has an educators' conference of some sort down in Corvallis this weekend, so we're going to be gone for the next few days. ➡
    • Winnie the Pooh and Syphilis Too 'Some things shouldn't be shared,' she explained. 'The Winnie the Pooh theme is one. It's a lot like syphilis.' ➡
    • A bit of a pickle… ...it was decided that, since these little tasty snacks are not only obviously phallic, but also can apparently be used as currency for the barter of sexual favors, Xebeth was going to start a new anti-pickle group. Parents Against Pickles. PAP. ➡
    • State of the Computer Well, the computer lives -- though we're definitely dealing with a near-total case of amnesia. ➡
  • 2005
    • Serenity Okay, okay, okay already. When no less than four people on my reading list mention the trailer for Serenity and I've barely started going through my feeds for the day, I figure I should probably check it out. ➡
    • There is hope… I refused to read any further than the first two sentences, but towards the end of his latest post, Kevin Smith has this to say about Revenge of the Sith... ➡
    • Rethinking In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that’s a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. ➡
  • 2004
    • iTunes 4.5: Major iTunes Music Store update! The iTunes website hasn't been updated yet (as of 0:17 4/28/04), so I can't download it yet, but if you open up iTunes and go to the iTunes Music Store, you'll see a badge for iTunes 4.5. Update at 0:29: The iTunes website has been updated with iTunes 4.5. ➡
    • Whoops! Hopefully he gets back in his car without having to pay a cabbie to break in. In the meantime, my pizza has appeared, and it's dinnertime for me. ➡
    • Toyota Volta Italian design. Environmentally sound gas/electric hybrid. 408 horsepower. 0-62mph in 4.03 seconds, top speed of 155mph. Carbon-fibre chassis. Racing suspension. 31.7 miles per gallon. And it's only a show prototype, not likely to be built. Such a shame. ➡
    • Nightline on Friday Now I want to tell you about this Friday’s [Nightline] broadcast. We’re going to do something different, something that we think is important. Friday night, we will show you the pictures, and Ted will read the names, of the men and women from the armed forces who have been killed in combat in Iraq. That’s it. That will be the whole broadcast. ➡
    • Well, that’s one solution I love whatever algorithms Google uses for their AdSense program. Much of the time they're dead-on, but every so often, you get some wonderfully bizarre and hilarious combinations. For instance, upon reloading my page after adding my last post, I got the following set… ➡
    • Watch what you blog! It was bound to happen — and realistically, it probably has been happening, just now we're getting news stories about it — US intelligence agencies are starting to keep an eye out on weblogs. ➡
    • Well, it was convenient… Okay, so on the scale of stupid things Bush has done, this may not be right at the top, but it's still a rather sad look at how little respect the man can have for other people when he'll use someone else's shirt to clean his glasses while their back is turned. ➡
  • 2003
    • Ran away for a bit Had a very pleasant weekend visiting Prairie's friend Beth in Vancouver, WA, and Prairie's mom in Woodland. It rained a lot Saturday, but Sunday was an absolutely gorgeous early summer day, and I got a few decent pictures — one of which is the newest entry to WüdiVisions. ➡
  • 2001

On This Day: Apr 26

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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 17 posts previously published on April 26th

  • 2024
  • 2020
  • 2019
    • 🖖 #StarTrekDiscovery S02E14 (Late, because I was at Norwescon.) So many explosions! I’m not exactly opposed to getting a little Star Wars in my Star Trek, but this may have been a bit much. Ending on the Enterprise was pretty, but odd. Overall: imperfect, but satisfactory. ➡
  • 2018
    • “I have this thing I call the Two Rogers Rule of Manliness: Basically, if Steve or Fred wouldn’t do it, neither should I. It’s stupid, it’s simplistic, and it’s geeky, but it works.” —@ak404 on Twitter ➡
    • TrekMovie has an analysis of the #StarTrek #Discovery promo video posted today, including stills of DIS’s take on the TOS uniforms. I think I like the blend of TOS and DIS styles they came up with. Here’s hoping season two is a bit more to my liking than season one was. 🖖 ➡
    • “Iconic entertainer Bill Cosby was convicted on three counts of sexual assault, a decision that punctuates one of the most thundering falls from grace in American cultural history.” Wow. Good. ➡
    • This isn’t released until a couple weeks after my birthday, but this new LEGO rollercoaster would still make a great (late) birthday present, on the off chance one of you has a spare $380 to spend on me. ;) ➡
  • 2017
    • Linkdump for April 19th through April 26th An automatically generated list of links that caught my eye between April 19th and April 26th. • I had a dream about a Star Trek series with a ferengi captain… • What ‘Snowflakes’ Get Right About Free Speech • NorWesCon • Fancyclopedia 3 • 5 Things That Don't Seem Like Mansplaining But Are, Because Playing Devil's Advocate Doesn't Enlighten Anyone ➡
  • 2016
    • Went to today’s career fair at CWU. Didn’t see Wellington (our mascot), but did talk to a few recruiters; hopefully those conversations will lead somewhere good! (117/366) ➡
    • This sticker gave me a laugh today. ➡
  • 2014
    • Nice dinner with friends after a quiet day at home. Now about time for bed. ➡
  • 2007
    • ImageKind I'm exploring ImageKind, which gives Flickr members a convenient way to sell prints of their artwork. It looks interesting so far, though I've just spent a few minutes poking around while I'm in between classes. ➡
  • 2006
    • Good days and bad days… So...Monday was great. Tuesday was pretty standard up 'til the end, but so far Wednesday just isn't looking very promising at all. ➡
  • 2005
    • Lost broach Walking up Pike St., the glint of the setting sun off of the stones in this broach caught my eye. It was wedged into a knothole in a tree by the side of the street, about a foot above eye level. Missing stones let the gold tones of the metal shine, surrounded by the purples and blues of the remaining gems. ➡
  • 2004
    • The greatest conspiracy theory ever A link to a somewhat sloppy article on 9-11 conspiracy theories on Metafilter led to a very worthwhile discussion today, including one of the best comments I've seen on there in a while. I'm reproducing it in full here — hopefully mokujin doesn't mind. :) ➡
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📚 twenty of 2020: Starman by Alan Dean Foster ⭐️⭐️⭐️

A pleasant and easy adaptation of an 80s SF film that I remember enjoying when it came out. It’s another of the “benevolent alien meets paranoid humans” contact stories, but does it simply and well.

On This Day: Apr 25

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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 23 posts previously published on April 25th

  • 2024
  • 2022
  • 2021
  • 2020
    • 📚 twenty of 2020: Starman by Alan Dean Foster ⭐️⭐️⭐️ A pleasant and easy adaptation of an 80s SF film that I remember enjoying when it came out. It’s another of the “benevolent alien meets paranoid humans” contact stories, but does it simply and well. ➡
    • On This Day: Apr 25 Recognizing 20 years of blogging, here are my past posts from April 25 ➡
  • 2019
    • Book thirty-one of 2019: The Big Time, by Fritz Leiber. ⭐️⭐️ 1958 Hugo Best Novel For some reason, I couldn’t get invested in this one. I didn’t dislike it, and it being structured very much like a single-set play was interesting, but I had to work my way through it. ➡
  • 2018
  • 2017
    • Nice surprise birthday present from an old friend. Thanks for the new kilt, Rick! #royalkilt ➡
  • 2016
    • Made my hotel reservation for #nwc40. Less than a year to go! ;) (116/366) ➡
  • 2014
    • It’s been a cranky day, and the cold still has me in a bit of a fog, but I’m wrapping up with a pizza party with the CWU tutors that Prairie supervises, so at least the workday’s ending on a good note. ➡
  • 2005
    • Maybe I won’t end up in hell… A guy died and found himself waiting in the long line of judgment. As he stood there he noticed that some souls were allowed to march right through the pearly gates into heaven. Others, though, were led over to Satan who threw them into the burning pit. ➡
    • Nasty bug I've spent the majority of the last 31 hours or so either unconscious or in a very woozy half-conscious state, thanks to being hit with a _nasty_ cold bug. Loads of fun, let me tell you. Ugh. ➡
  • 2004
    • Goodbye, Floyd I just found out about some sad news for any Alaskans or expatriates: well-known panhandler Floyd died April 7, 2004. ➡
    • More megapixels isn’t necessarily better quality Something I need to keep in mind while continuing my search to replace my digital camera: 8 megapixels isn't always better than 5. ➡
    • One week notice: my b-day! Consider this one week notice for any of you that might be in the Seattle area: next Monday's my 31st birthday, so I'm making the yearly 'haul your ass to the Vogue and hang out for a while' call for Saturday night, May 1st. ➡
  • 2003
    • All about me! Prompted by Kasia (via Robert), I realized that I don't have any sort of 'about me' info here. Guess it's time to rectify that, huh? ➡
    • Remember when we had rights? Last weekend, when Miranda was visiting, she asked me, 'what's up with all the political stuff on your site lately?' Well, Amy sums it up quite well — when this is the situation, I find it reprehensible for people not to care. To shrug their shoulders and turn away. To deem it 'somebody else's problem.' It's in times like these that we must pay attention, and do what we can to prevent things from getting any worse, and to right the wrongs already in practice. ➡
    • ERA still in limbo So — Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah, and Virginia — what do you say we move into the 21st century and get the ERA passed? ➡
    • Warm fuzzies Midway through the day today, I got some very nice comments from Dyanna and Kirsten. It was too busy at work for me to respond at the time, it was exactly the pick-up I needed in the midst of a crazy day at work. You're both wonderful! ➡
    • …just a matter of emphasis So — what many have been saying for months is starting to be admitted. The U.S., recognized as the world's leading superpower, went to war to prove a point, and lied about emphasized the danger in order to get support that wouldn't have been there otherwise. ➡
  • 2001
    • I’m a furry dildo? The ultimate sexual contradiction. You're quite dirty, and very into carnal excavation, but you also have a soft romantic side. And, honestly, THAT side is itself conflicted -- you're needy and giving at the same time. It's like you need to need to give to need. What's that all about? ➡
    • More site work Work continues on the site redesign. I've completed the changeover of the Quotebook introduction and the first page of Amusing bits, and added some information over to the right hand side of this page. ➡
    • I’m a Mastermind Like just 9% of the population you are a MASTERMIND (SIAT). You can be silent and withdrawn, but behind your reserved exterior lies an active mind that allows you to analyze situations and come up with creative, unexpected solutions. Normal people call this 'scheming.' Don't learn German. ➡

On This Day: Apr 24

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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 12 posts previously published on April 24th

  • 2024
    • Year 50 Day 358 Highline's Q Center (part of the college's LGBTQIA+ community) had their spring fashion event today ➡
  • 2023
  • 2020
  • 2018
    • Toronto van attack: The cop who didn’t shoot: “What held his finger? Bravery? Training? Compassion? Perhaps we will find out in the days ahead. But whatever it is, it deserves attention.” ➡
  • 2017
    • So I came home right as two loaves of homemade sourdough bread came out of the oven. It smells so good in here! ➡
  • 2016
    • I’m confused. From the point of view of a Democratic Party voter…what’s the point? Republicans will use it to allocate delegates, but we already had our caucuses to do that (for better or for worse); what is the purpose of the primary? ➡
    • Witness me! ;) The only downside to this shirt is that it wasn’t here in time for Norwescon. (115/366) ➡
  • 2014
    • Since I still have #nwc37 on the brain, today’s #throwbackthursday #tbt shot is me and a U.S.S. Phoenix (Star Trek fan film) officer at #nwc32. ➡
  • 2007
    • Took me long enough… Of course, at this point, local movie aficionados will be giving me your basic (and well deserved), 'Well, _DUH!_' ;) I'd heard about Scarecrow for years, knew that it was supposed to be 'the' place to go locally for movies, but for some reason, just hadn't ever actually wandered in. ➡
  • 2004
    • Bottomless bathtubs I have no idea when or why, but at some point in my youth, my overactive imagination seized upon the idea that there was no actual support structure underneath the bathtub. I was terrified that at any point during a bath or shower, the caulking would give way, or the bottom of the tub would drop out, and I'd go plummeting into the depths of the earth. ➡
  • 2003

Plague Puzzle Two

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We actually completed this one a couple weeks ago; I just forgot to post the photos until now.

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

Monday

On This Day: Apr 23

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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 24 posts previously published on April 23rd

  • 2025
    • 20 Minute Tesla Model Y Review Entirely unintentionally and much to my chagrin, I had my first ride in a swasticar today; one of the newest Model Ys, in fact. What an absolutely foolish design. ➡
  • 2024
  • 2023
  • 2020
    • Plague Puzzle Two We actually completed this one a couple weeks ago; I just forgot to post the photos until now. Friday Saturday Sunday Monday ➡
    • On This Day: Apr 23 Recognizing 20 years of blogging, here are my past posts from April 23 ➡
  • 2018
    • Nice collection of renders of the DIS version of the Enterprise collected by TrekMovie. Gotta admit, I think this version of the ship is growing on me, and these artists’ work presenting it from different angles helps. ➡
    • As seen on Twitter via @TychoTithonus: #MyHandleExplained for djwudi. ➡
    • Experimenting with posting YouTube videos to micro.blog. Excellent show by Front 242 last night. So impressed that these guys are still going this strong, really glad I got a chance to see them. ➡
  • 2017
    • Book twenty-five of 2017: The Captain’s Daughter, by Peter David. ⭐️⭐️⭐️ #StarTrek #tos ➡
  • 2016
    • The wind’s been ridiculous all day, so we decided to take a “do nothing” day. Prairie read and napped, I made progress on Norwescon photos. Now for a movie date night (watching Mr. Holmes). (114/366) ➡
  • 2014
    • Failed my saving throw vs. con crud, and am actually taking a sick day, which I almost never do. Slept the morning away already. Ugh. Harrumph. Bleah. ➡
  • 2009
    • Dreamhost Does Good Ooooh. See those last few words? _That's_ nice to see. 'Unlimited disk and bandwidth, forever!' No worries about storing large files (not that I tend to do that), no worries about surcharges on the (very) off chance that I get Slashdotted or Dugg. Just keep paying my yearly bill, and I'm set. ➡
    • Archie vs. Pulp: Common People (Again) Apparently something has changed at UMG, and they've decided that graciously allowing fans to use bits of their artist's music in projects like this _isn't_ kosher, because this morning I got notice that my video was blocked worldwide. ➡
  • 2008
    • Dig  al T  evis on So, in the end, it's a mixed bag. It's great when it works, but when it doesn't work, it's a lot more frustrating than the 'old-n-busted' system ever was. ➡
  • 2007
    • Norwescon 30: Friday Finally -- all my shots from Friday of this year's Norwescon are processed and uploaded. There's a few random hall costumes to start off with, and shots from the Stardance towards the end. However, the majority of Friday's shots are from the Fannish Fetish Fashion Show. ➡
  • 2006
    • Potbellied Pig Monster While wandering around NSCC before class one morning last week, I took this picture of an interesting looking tree trunk. Once home, both Prairie and I saw a 'potbellied pig monster' in the contours of the trunk. ➡
  • 2004
    • TypePad IDs are TypeKey IDs! Apparently, anyone who uses TypePad to run their weblog auto-magically has a TypeKey login. Has this information been made public yet? ➡
  • 2003
    • Redesigning This is a starting point, not an end point. Some things may look goofy at the moment — my most humble apologies. Comments, as always, are welcome. ➡
    • Its / It's / Its' I think someday I want to start a software company called Its ➡
    • They're running out of excuses As Iraqi Shiite demands for a dominant role in Iraq's future mount, Bush administration officials say they underestimated the Shiites' organizational strength and are unprepared to prevent the rise of an anti-American, Islamic fundamentalist government in the country. ➡
    • The Trotts take over the world Now, my only question -- which Trott is Pinky, and which Trott is Brain? ➡
  • 2001
    • Fairbanks bound Well, I went and got a wild hair up my butt and decided to head up to Fairbanks for a weekend to goof off, visit my brother, and meet up with some friends. Should be fun...so, in about a month, I'll be heading north for some playtime...woohoo! ➡