welp, we failed the mechanical inspection today because someone didn't hook up the microwave hood ducts. This is definitely not my job, but also I'm kind of surprised I didn't even notice this in the last couple months. Unrelatedly, the plumbing inspector went batshit and failed us for no reason, but that's a story for another time.
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"text": "welp, we failed the mechanical inspection today because someone didn't hook up the microwave hood ducts. This is definitely not my job, but also I'm kind of surprised I didn't even notice this in the last couple months. Unrelatedly, the plumbing inspector went batshit and failed us for no reason, but that's a story for another time."
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It feels crazy to drill a hole through the perfectly nice cabinets, but this will be great when it's done. Unfortunately the hole didn't line up because the drip tray drain was welded on at a weird angle. So now I need to get a hole saw and make this hole larger.
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"text": "It feels crazy to drill a hole through the perfectly nice cabinets, but this will be great when it's done. Unfortunately the hole didn't line up because the drip tray drain was welded on at a weird angle. So now I need to get a hole saw and make this hole larger."
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New bed! Turns out it's way easier to build a bed in the room instead of moving an already built bed.
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"text": "New bed! Turns out it's way easier to build a bed in the room instead of moving an already built bed."
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Trying to get to the bottom of the weird error the hot tub is showing. They wanted me to take a photo of the wiring, so here it is.
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"text": "Trying to get to the bottom of the weird error the hot tub is showing. They wanted me to take a photo of the wiring, so here it is."
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"type": "card",
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I didn't expect to have to trim this electrical plate cover to fit. Apparently I installed the closet track too close to the hole, tho that's the only place it could go because that's where the stud is.
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"text": "I didn't expect to have to trim this electrical plate cover to fit. Apparently I installed the closet track too close to the hole, tho that's the only place it could go because that's where the stud is."
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"type": "card",
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Sprinkler guy missed a few caps when he was here... bathroom, bedroom, entry. Not giving me a lot of confidence.
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"text": "Sprinkler guy missed a few caps when he was here... bathroom, bedroom, entry. Not giving me a lot of confidence."
},
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{
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"url": "https://nadreck.me/2025/12/wrapping-up-2025/",
"category": [
"life"
],
"name": "Wrapping up 2025",
"content": {
"text": "Sorry for the radio silence the past little bit. Even though I recognized I was going into a fallow period, I was still trying to get something out at least once a month, and I totally missed November. It\u2019s not just the writing \u2013 I\u2019m behind on my RSS feeds and other regular media diet, too!\n\n\n\nWhat I\u2019Ve been up to",
"html": "<p>Sorry for the radio silence the past little bit. Even though I recognized I was going into a fallow period, I was still trying to get something out at least once a month, and I totally missed November. It\u2019s not just the writing \u2013 I\u2019m behind on my RSS feeds and other regular media diet, too!</p>\n\n\n\n<img width=\"1024\" height=\"355\" src=\"https://nadreck.me/backend/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/2025-10-11-18.30.49-1024x355.jpeg\" alt=\"\" /><a href=\"https://nadreck.me/2025/12/wrapping-up-2025/#more-12160\">What I\u2019Ve been up to</a>"
},
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"type": "card",
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"url": "http://nadreck.me",
"photo": null
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{
"type": "entry",
"published": "2018-12-08T14:41:40-05:00",
"url": "https://david.shanske.com/all/",
"author": {
"type": "card",
"name": null,
"url": null,
"photo": null
},
"post-type": "note",
"_id": "46833705",
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{
"type": "entry",
"published": "2025-12-18T11:49:41-08:00",
"url": "https://beesbuzz.biz/blog/3467-Ten-Commandments",
"category": [
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"secularism",
"science",
"ethics"
],
"name": "Ten Commandments",
"content": {
"text": "Thou shalt not believe in that which has not been demonstrated empirically\nThou shalt not worship anyone, regardless of their social influence\nThou shalt strive to improve the situation for everyone, including yourself\nThou shalt allow yourself rest and hydration\nThou shalt leave yourself open to possibilities\nThou shalt not bring direct harm to others, and choose options which minimize indirect harm\nThou shalt respect the consent of others\nThou shalt not intentionally mislead\nThou shalt not treat the success of others as thine own failure\nThou shalt question everything, including these commandments",
"html": "<ol><li>Thou shalt not believe in that which has not been demonstrated empirically</li>\n<li>Thou shalt not worship anyone, regardless of their social influence</li>\n<li>Thou shalt strive to improve the situation for everyone, including yourself</li>\n<li>Thou shalt allow yourself rest and hydration</li>\n<li>Thou shalt leave yourself open to possibilities</li>\n<li>Thou shalt not bring direct harm to others, and choose options which minimize indirect harm</li>\n<li>Thou shalt respect the consent of others</li>\n<li>Thou shalt not intentionally mislead</li>\n<li>Thou shalt not treat the success of others as thine own failure</li>\n<li>Thou shalt question everything, including these commandments</li>\n</ol>"
},
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"type": "card",
"name": "fluffy",
"url": "https://beesbuzz.biz/",
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oh no, due to a series of misclicks, I just accidentally archived the most recent 100 emails in my inbox.
if nothing else, reviewing my "all mail" folder is doing a good job of making me question how important emails in my inbox actually are.
{
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"text": "oh no, due to a series of misclicks, I just accidentally archived the most recent 100 emails in my inbox. \n\nif nothing else, reviewing my \"all mail\" folder is doing a good job of making me question how important emails in my inbox actually are.",
"html": "oh no, due to a series of misclicks, I just accidentally archived the most recent 100 emails in my inbox. <br /><br />if nothing else, reviewing my \"all mail\" folder is doing a good job of making me question how important emails in my inbox actually are."
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"type": "card",
"name": "Aaron Parecki",
"url": "https://aaronparecki.com/",
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{
"type": "entry",
"author": {
"name": "Jared White",
"url": "https://jaredwhite.com/",
"photo": null
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"url": "https://jaredwhite.com/articles/aragornsexual",
"published": "2025-12-16T09:48:59-08:00",
"content": {
"html": "<img alt=\"\" src=\"https://res.cloudinary.com/mariposta/image/upload/w_1200,c_limit,q_65/king-aragorn.jpg\" /><h2>The first installment in my new series on the lifelong struggle with Performative Masculinity and the storied images of manhood in pop culture past and present.</h2>\n\n<p>Hey, so remember that brief window in time years ago when the term <em>metrosexual</em> was all the rage in news media as a way of describing straight men who express an interest in fashion and personal grooming the way some gay men do? As a humorous riff off of the word, I wrote in my diary in 2022 that I was <em>Aragornsexual</em>.</p>\n\n<p>And although it\u2019s a silly joke, I haven\u2019t been able to stop thinking about it since.</p>\n\n<p>(<em>Note:</em> credit for the painting above goes to Portland artist <a href=\"https://www.dakotarandall.com/\">Dakota Randall</a> \u2014 you will definitely want to <a href=\"https://posterspy.com/posters/king-aragorn/\">view the full image here!</a>)</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>When I was young</strong>, it was rare for me to see anyone on the silver screen who looked how I felt about myself.</p>\n\n<p>I watched captains and kings, cowboys and explorers, men among gods and gods among men. I watched superheroes such as Batman (the original 1989 version of course) and hackers-turned-kung-fu-masters such as Neo. I watched new dads, cool dads, moron dads (I really don\u2019t understand why every 90s comedy features a father figure who is a complete idiot. Is this what led to the backlash which produced the manosphere? \ud83d\ude02). I watched teen boys in school, which was always an interesting window into an alien planet because I was homeschooled and never went to public school. I can tell you this much: in every clich\u00e9d scene where the nerd was getting beat up by the jocks, I was the nerd.</p>\n\n<p>As I was saying, it was a real challenge for me to find any role models I felt I could emulate convincingly. And then came <em>The Lord of the Rings</em>.</p>\n\n<h3>It Was the Hair (But, Like, More Than That)</h3>\n\n<p><strong>But really, it was the hair.</strong> \ud83d\ude06</p>\n\n<p>Most of my life I\u2019ve worn my hair long. I <em>hate</em> how I feel when my hair is short. The longest I ever went with a traditionally short \u201cguy\u201d haircut was throughout the early days of my marriage. I won\u2019t stand here and tell you that growing my hair back out was a prelude to our divorce; let\u2019s just say it was a bellweather of many deeper issues.</p>\n\n<p>But I\u2019m getting ahead of myself. Like the rest of America in 2001, I watched <em>Fellowship of the Rings</em> and I was spellbound. Truth be told, I wasn\u2019t the world\u2019s biggest fantasy buff\u2014that would be my dad. He had a massive collection of Tolkein, yes, but also many of the later authors following in Tolkein\u2019s footsteps. And he himself was an aspiring fantasy author. I wish I could point you to some of his published works, but, alas, he never published anything. (We\u2019ll set aside that source of father-son conflict for another time\u2026)</p>\n\n<p>Regardless, in my teens and twenties I\u2019d gotten hooked on YA fantasy like <em>The Earthsea Cycle</em> and <em>The Chronicles of Prydain</em>. Oddly enough, Tolkien wasn\u2019t never a go-to author for me. I think I enjoyed the genre he spawned without ever falling too deep down that particular rabbit hole. I certainly understand and respect the level of reverence other people have for LOTR. To them, it is basically The Bible.</p>\n\n<p>At any rate, seeing the way Peter Jackson and his incredible cast & crew brought the world of Middle Earth to life on screen, now that was truly something. Being a huge fan of the art style of Alan Lee, I was pleased to find his design sensibilities were a major source of inspiration for the look of the films.</p>\n\n<p>But enough jibber-jabber about Middle Earth. I want to talk to you about <strong>Aragorn.</strong> <em>Here</em> was a man I could get behind.</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https://www.polygon.com/lord-of-the-rings/22596790/lotr-aragorn-hot-sexy-viggo-mortensen\">As stated so well on Polygon</a>:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>\u201cI think it relates to how he tends to embody a kind of perfect (to me) masculinity,\u201d wrote Polygon contributor Chris Eddleman. \u201cHe is both rugged and gentle, humble and capable, affectionate but fierce in the face of adversity.\u201d</p>\n\n <p>\u201cHe has all the \u2018traditional\u2019 masculine attributes like strength, protectiveness, bravery but he\u2019s not a bully,\u201d said Kiki Intarasuwan across multiple tweets and DMs. \u201cHe\u2019s also kind, compassionate, not afraid to show his emotions and he respects women\u2019s choices. When I think of Aragorn, I think of the scene where he consoles Boromir as he dies and then <a href=\"https://www.polygon.com/lord-of-the-rings/22547637/boromir-death-scene-lord-of-the-rings-masculinity\">kissing him on the forehead</a>. That and the battle of Helm\u2019s Deep were really turning points for him because he initially wasn\u2019t ambitious and didn\u2019t want to be king. But his compassion and vulnerability make him a good leader and he naturally stepped up in that role.\u201d</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Listen, I love me a good 80s or 90s action movie, but while I might enjoy Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones or even Arnold Schwarzenegger as, er, Ahnold in whatever he\u2019s up to, I never emotionally resonated on a <em>personal</em> level with any of those dudes. I simply was unable to point to a gruff, stoic, sweat-slicked muscle man and say <em>yep, I could be him! I\u2019ll save the day, win the girl, and slyly wink at the camera as we ride off into the sunset</em>. Fun? Yes. Inspirational? Not exactly.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Then along comes Aragorn, a wildly different character</strong>. I\u2019d never seen anyone like him. Right from the start, he gets played almost in what you might say is a <em>feminine</em> way. There\u2019s the way he moves through his environment in a \u201cflowy\u201d manner. He\u2019s soft-spoken, almost a whisper at times. Even though he\u2019s a hell of a fighter, he\u2019s tender-hearted. You can tell he\u2019s reluctant to hurt anyone, even though he\u2019s prepared to die in service of protecting the vulnerable in his care.</p>\n\n<p>And then there\u2019s the <em>look</em> of Aragorn. The long hair. The tender eyes. The patchy facial hair. OK, let\u2019s go there. This <em>is</em> an essay about Performative Masculinity after all. \ud83d\ude05</p>\n\n<p><strong>I\u2019ve always had a difficult relationship with my facial hair.</strong></p>\n\n<p>I\u2019ve perpetually struggled with growing a thick, full beard. There are parts of my face where hardly any hair grows at all. At the same time, I <em>hate</em> the way I look without any facial hair at all. I naturally have a very round \u201cbaby face\u201d and am hardly what you might call square-jawed. Without the extra length I get from a beard\u2014even if it\u2019s a goatee\u2014I don\u2019t feel very \u201cmanly\u201d.</p>\n\n<p>So I\u2019ve goofed around with a variety of subtle adjustments to where and how I grow my facial hair over the years, hoping to avoid tipping anyone off that I just can\u2019t grow a very thick mustache or beard even if I wanted to.</p>\n\n<p>And it certainly didn\u2019t help that virtually <em>all</em> the traditional masculine heartthrobs of classic Hollywood were clean shaven. Did I look like Cary Grant? Or Gary Cooper? Or Jimmy Stewart? <em>Obviously not!</em> In fact, guess who often <em>did</em> show up with a goatee or even longer hair? The Bad Guy.</p>\n\n<p>This is a trend that often shows up even in many modern(ish) movies. Think about it\u2026when a dude suddenly shows up with <a href=\"https://tropedia.fandom.com/wiki/Good_Hair,_Evil_Hair\">shoulder-length hair</a> and <a href=\"https://tropedia.fandom.com/wiki/Beard_of_Evil\">a goatee</a>, is he the Good Guy, or the Bad Guy? <strong>I think you already know the answer.</strong></p>\n\n<p>(Not to beat this particular horse to death, but compare the Bad-Guy-Turned-Good look of Tony Stark aka <em>Iron Man</em> to Goody-Two-Shoes Steve Rogers aka <em>Captain America</em>. Who sports the <a href=\"https://beardstyle.net/tony-stark-beard/#:~:text=strong%20stubble%20look.-,%2310%20Anchor%20Beard\">oddly-trimmed goatee</a> and the scragglier hair? Bingo.)</p>\n\n<p>Then there\u2019s Aragorn. <strong>He\u2019s a bit of a mess.</strong> He looks like he tries to keep his facial hair well-trimmed but, y\u2019know, he\u2019s living the hard life as Strider on the road, so it\u2019s sort of coming in patchy. He\u2019s also more of a mature man by the time we meet him, so you\u2019re starting to see some gray flecks appear. Gray! (As someone who is in their early 40s and has obviously graying hair, I continue to relate!)</p>\n\n<p>And because it\u2019s fantasy, Aragorn can get away with wearing an outfit which naturally features lots of flowy elements; subtle artistic touches like broaches and necklaces and such. No button-down shirts, stiff trousers, or bowties in sight.</p>\n\n<p><em>Be still my beating heart!</em> \ud83d\ude0d</p>\n\n<h3>Reluctance to Wield Power</h3>\n\n<p>Topping it all off, Aragon exhibits a quality we rarely see in action heroes. He\u2019s rightly scared of his own foibles and inadequacies as he sees them. He\u2019s afraid of who he might become if he were to embrace his perceived destiny as King of Gondor. He\u2019s all too aware of the history of Men (and his own bloodline) and how easily they might become corrupted by the allure of power as offered by Sauron.</p>\n\n<p>Hear what I\u2019m <em>not</em> saying: I\u2019m not saying that Aragorn is \u201cinsecure\u201d in his abilities. He\u2019s actually very confident that he knows how to fight, and he\u2019s secure in his physical strength and prowess. In this respect, his character arc is quite different than many of the coming-of-age superhero stories we so often come across. Aragorn\u2019s story isn\u2019t the story of some snot-nosed kid who suddenly gets powers and then is either afraid of them or excited to have them but regardless gets to the point where they\u2019re ready to give up\u2014the bad guys are just too powerful, and the good guy isn\u2019t good enough or powerful enough to beat them\u2014and they need some sign to convince them they can win the day. No, Aragon\u2019s story isn\u2019t anything like that. He\u2019s already a battle-hardened warrior by the time we first meet him!</p>\n\n<p>Aragorn\u2019s story isn\u2019t \u201cwith great power comes great responsibility.\u201d Rather, it\u2019s \u201cwith great power comes great evil.\u201d Aragorn isn\u2019t afraid of <em>losing</em>. He\u2019s afraid of who he\u2019ll become when he\u2019s <em>winning</em>.</p>\n\n<p><strong>And that\u2019s what makes him such a fascinating character.</strong> It\u2019s also what makes his character arc stand apart from a couple of other heroic and/or tragic figures in LOTR: Boromir and Faramir.</p>\n\n<p>Faramir\u2019s trauma is that he\u2019ll never live up to the expectations placed on him and his brother by their father. Faramir is a much more reluctant warrior than Aragorn even, because you get the impression if it were up to him, he wouldn\u2019t be a warrior at all. Boromir, on the other hand, is a bit of an obvious picture of <strong>performative masculinity</strong>, even \u201ctoxic masculinity\u201d. Deep down, Boromir <em>is</em> insecure and is <em>desperate</em> to please his father by being the strong man, the big man, the powerful <em>winning</em> man. He\u2019s going to swoop in and save the day by any means necessary\u2014pesky scruples be damned. And yet\u2026he\u2019s really not a bad dude at heart. It\u2019s just that his heart is not in the right place. That\u2019s what makes him such a tragic figure: <strong>you know he could rise to the occasion, and yet\u2026he doesn\u2019t.</strong></p>\n\n<p>Faramir, meanwhile, is forced by terrible circumstance to become the leader his brother never could. While it\u2019s true he\u2019ll never be seen as a <strong>great warrior</strong> and an epic commander of men like Aragorn, nevertheless he\u2019ll do his part. He\u2019s a good man, trying to find an honorable path through evil days.</p>\n\n<p>I\u2019m sure entire books could be written about the similarities and differences between Aragon, Boromir, and Faramir: all three warriors, but all three starting and ending their tales in radically different places.</p>\n\n<p>There are so many moments throughout the LOTR films that I just love about Aragorn, but my favorite moment and a pivotal scene in the plot is when Elrond, Lord of Rivendell, comes to present <em>And\u00faril</em> to Aragorn. If you\u2019ll permit me, I\u2019ll include a portion of the screenplay because it gives me chills, every single time:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>ELROND: The man who can wield the power of this sword can summon to him an army more deadly than any that walks this earth. <strong>Put aside the Ranger. Become who you were born to be. Take the Dimholt Road.</strong> <em>\u00d3nen i-Estel Edain</em> (I gave Hope to the D\u00fanedain)</p>\n\n <p>ARAGORN: <em>\u00da-chebin estel anim.</em> (I have kept no hope for myself.)</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p><strong>Chills.</strong></p>\n\n<p>In this moment, Elrond commissions Aragorn in his true purpose. He implores Aragorn to go on this dangerous mission with uncertain ends because it is the only hope left for victory. Aragorn can\u2019t merely stay on the sidelines of history any longer (fighting yes, but fighting as a Ranger). Aragorn has to step into his own shoes. He has to start fighting <em>as a King</em>, leading an army no one else can lead\u2014not only to win the world war against Sauron, but to save the life of the Elven maiden whom he loves.</p>\n\n<p><strong>I\u2019m not crying, you\u2019re crying!</strong> \ud83d\ude2d</p>\n\n<h3>Gender Neutrality and Aged Wisdom</h3>\n\n<p>Viggo Mortensen\u2019s career-defining, strangely gender-neutral portrayal of a compassionate, wise, and reluctant King of Men almost didn\u2019t happen. Originally the production hired Irish actor Stuart Townsend to play the role of Aragorn. As compared to Mortensen, Townsend is certainly younger and more dashing. It\u2019s easy to imagine him playing a devil-may-care, on-the-nose action hero with boyish charm and a woo-the-ladies attitude.</p>\n\n<p>Accounts differ as to why Townsend was let go at the last minute, but it seems Peter Jackson and co. realized they needed an <em>older</em> actor to play Aragorn. And, well, <a href=\"https://www.cbr.com/lotr-why-aragorn-actor-fired-recast-explained/\">the shake-up was quite rocky and uncertain</a>:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Production on <em>The Fellowship of the Ring</em> was forced to start without its Aragorn as Peter Jackson scrambled to find a replacement for Townsend. Eventually, he paid a call to Viggo Mortensen, a then-little-known actor who had auditioned for the role during the casting process, and officially offered him the role. However, there was a catch: <strong>if Mortensen wanted the role, he needed to get on a plane and fly to New Zealand the next day.</strong> With such little time to think about the decision, Viggo Mortensen nearly turned Peter Jackson down. The actor was reportedly concerned about the little time to learn all the necessary skills and lines, as well as replacing Townsend, feeling awkward about taking the role from someone else.</p>\n\n <p>While Mortensen had reservations about accepting the role, his son was far more certain. <strong>Henry Mortensen was a massive fan of the</strong> <strong><em>Lord of the Rings</em></strong> <strong>novels</strong> and enthusiastically informed his father of just how monumental the role of Aragorn truly was. With the endorsement of his son, Mortensen accepted Jackson\u2019s offer and flew to New Zealand the next day.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p><em>Aww, isn\u2019t that adorable?</em> A principal reason we have the iconic and genre-expansive portrayal of Aragorn today is thanks to Viggo Mortensen listening to his son. True masculinity in action.</p>\n\n<p>There\u2019s just so much about the way Viggo Mortensen embodied this role. When you consider the sorts of tropes we regularly come across in popular media, there\u2019s the picture of the <strong>hippie artistic type</strong>, flowers in their hair and <em>peace and love, man</em> in their heart. Or maybe you get the <strong>nerdy book type</strong>, solving problems using more brain than brawn and always rolling their eyes at the jocks surrounding them. And then there\u2019s the <strong>he-man type</strong>, a big lug who blunders his way into doing the right thing after much bluff & brouhaha.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Mortensen seems to draw from an entirely different well.</strong> Perhaps he was inspired by the knights of old and their stories of chivalry. Perhaps he was inspired by religious figures. Perhaps he relied on his creative instincts which came from a childhood spent in many places & pursuits outside of the United States and its cultural rat race. However this came together, Viggo Mortensen gave us an Aragorn and a performance which is almost unparalleled before or since in the Western zeitgeist.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Remember the <em>Dear Men, What Is Preventing You From Looking Like This?</em> meme from a few years back? Forget all about those shirtless hairless male torsos with washboard abs. Here\u2019s <em>my</em> contribution to that conversation:</p>\n\n<p><img src=\"https://jaredwhite.com/articles/dreamy-aragorn.png\" alt=\"Viggo Mortensen looking particularly haunting as a scruffy yet dazzling Aragorn\" /></p>\n<p><em>Dreamy.</em></p>\n\n\n\n <br /><p>\n \n <a href=\"https://jaredwhite.com/tag/gender\">#gender</a>\n \n </p>",
"text": "The first installment in my new series on the lifelong struggle with Performative Masculinity and the storied images of manhood in pop culture past and present.\n\nHey, so remember that brief window in time years ago when the term metrosexual was all the rage in news media as a way of describing straight men who express an interest in fashion and personal grooming the way some gay men do? As a humorous riff off of the word, I wrote in my diary in 2022 that I was Aragornsexual.\n\nAnd although it\u2019s a silly joke, I haven\u2019t been able to stop thinking about it since.\n\n(Note: credit for the painting above goes to Portland artist Dakota Randall \u2014 you will definitely want to view the full image here!)\n\n\n\nWhen I was young, it was rare for me to see anyone on the silver screen who looked how I felt about myself.\n\nI watched captains and kings, cowboys and explorers, men among gods and gods among men. I watched superheroes such as Batman (the original 1989 version of course) and hackers-turned-kung-fu-masters such as Neo. I watched new dads, cool dads, moron dads (I really don\u2019t understand why every 90s comedy features a father figure who is a complete idiot. Is this what led to the backlash which produced the manosphere? \ud83d\ude02). I watched teen boys in school, which was always an interesting window into an alien planet because I was homeschooled and never went to public school. I can tell you this much: in every clich\u00e9d scene where the nerd was getting beat up by the jocks, I was the nerd.\n\nAs I was saying, it was a real challenge for me to find any role models I felt I could emulate convincingly. And then came The Lord of the Rings.\n\nIt Was the Hair (But, Like, More Than That)\n\nBut really, it was the hair. \ud83d\ude06\n\nMost of my life I\u2019ve worn my hair long. I hate how I feel when my hair is short. The longest I ever went with a traditionally short \u201cguy\u201d haircut was throughout the early days of my marriage. I won\u2019t stand here and tell you that growing my hair back out was a prelude to our divorce; let\u2019s just say it was a bellweather of many deeper issues.\n\nBut I\u2019m getting ahead of myself. Like the rest of America in 2001, I watched Fellowship of the Rings and I was spellbound. Truth be told, I wasn\u2019t the world\u2019s biggest fantasy buff\u2014that would be my dad. He had a massive collection of Tolkein, yes, but also many of the later authors following in Tolkein\u2019s footsteps. And he himself was an aspiring fantasy author. I wish I could point you to some of his published works, but, alas, he never published anything. (We\u2019ll set aside that source of father-son conflict for another time\u2026)\n\nRegardless, in my teens and twenties I\u2019d gotten hooked on YA fantasy like The Earthsea Cycle and The Chronicles of Prydain. Oddly enough, Tolkien wasn\u2019t never a go-to author for me. I think I enjoyed the genre he spawned without ever falling too deep down that particular rabbit hole. I certainly understand and respect the level of reverence other people have for LOTR. To them, it is basically The Bible.\n\nAt any rate, seeing the way Peter Jackson and his incredible cast & crew brought the world of Middle Earth to life on screen, now that was truly something. Being a huge fan of the art style of Alan Lee, I was pleased to find his design sensibilities were a major source of inspiration for the look of the films.\n\nBut enough jibber-jabber about Middle Earth. I want to talk to you about Aragorn. Here was a man I could get behind.\n\nAs stated so well on Polygon:\n\n\n \u201cI think it relates to how he tends to embody a kind of perfect (to me) masculinity,\u201d wrote Polygon contributor Chris Eddleman. \u201cHe is both rugged and gentle, humble and capable, affectionate but fierce in the face of adversity.\u201d\n\n \u201cHe has all the \u2018traditional\u2019 masculine attributes like strength, protectiveness, bravery but he\u2019s not a bully,\u201d said Kiki Intarasuwan across multiple tweets and DMs. \u201cHe\u2019s also kind, compassionate, not afraid to show his emotions and he respects women\u2019s choices. When I think of Aragorn, I think of the scene where he consoles Boromir as he dies and then kissing him on the forehead. That and the battle of Helm\u2019s Deep were really turning points for him because he initially wasn\u2019t ambitious and didn\u2019t want to be king. But his compassion and vulnerability make him a good leader and he naturally stepped up in that role.\u201d\n\n\nListen, I love me a good 80s or 90s action movie, but while I might enjoy Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones or even Arnold Schwarzenegger as, er, Ahnold in whatever he\u2019s up to, I never emotionally resonated on a personal level with any of those dudes. I simply was unable to point to a gruff, stoic, sweat-slicked muscle man and say yep, I could be him! I\u2019ll save the day, win the girl, and slyly wink at the camera as we ride off into the sunset. Fun? Yes. Inspirational? Not exactly.\n\nThen along comes Aragorn, a wildly different character. I\u2019d never seen anyone like him. Right from the start, he gets played almost in what you might say is a feminine way. There\u2019s the way he moves through his environment in a \u201cflowy\u201d manner. He\u2019s soft-spoken, almost a whisper at times. Even though he\u2019s a hell of a fighter, he\u2019s tender-hearted. You can tell he\u2019s reluctant to hurt anyone, even though he\u2019s prepared to die in service of protecting the vulnerable in his care.\n\nAnd then there\u2019s the look of Aragorn. The long hair. The tender eyes. The patchy facial hair. OK, let\u2019s go there. This is an essay about Performative Masculinity after all. \ud83d\ude05\n\nI\u2019ve always had a difficult relationship with my facial hair.\n\nI\u2019ve perpetually struggled with growing a thick, full beard. There are parts of my face where hardly any hair grows at all. At the same time, I hate the way I look without any facial hair at all. I naturally have a very round \u201cbaby face\u201d and am hardly what you might call square-jawed. Without the extra length I get from a beard\u2014even if it\u2019s a goatee\u2014I don\u2019t feel very \u201cmanly\u201d.\n\nSo I\u2019ve goofed around with a variety of subtle adjustments to where and how I grow my facial hair over the years, hoping to avoid tipping anyone off that I just can\u2019t grow a very thick mustache or beard even if I wanted to.\n\nAnd it certainly didn\u2019t help that virtually all the traditional masculine heartthrobs of classic Hollywood were clean shaven. Did I look like Cary Grant? Or Gary Cooper? Or Jimmy Stewart? Obviously not! In fact, guess who often did show up with a goatee or even longer hair? The Bad Guy.\n\nThis is a trend that often shows up even in many modern(ish) movies. Think about it\u2026when a dude suddenly shows up with shoulder-length hair and a goatee, is he the Good Guy, or the Bad Guy? I think you already know the answer.\n\n(Not to beat this particular horse to death, but compare the Bad-Guy-Turned-Good look of Tony Stark aka Iron Man to Goody-Two-Shoes Steve Rogers aka Captain America. Who sports the oddly-trimmed goatee and the scragglier hair? Bingo.)\n\nThen there\u2019s Aragorn. He\u2019s a bit of a mess. He looks like he tries to keep his facial hair well-trimmed but, y\u2019know, he\u2019s living the hard life as Strider on the road, so it\u2019s sort of coming in patchy. He\u2019s also more of a mature man by the time we meet him, so you\u2019re starting to see some gray flecks appear. Gray! (As someone who is in their early 40s and has obviously graying hair, I continue to relate!)\n\nAnd because it\u2019s fantasy, Aragorn can get away with wearing an outfit which naturally features lots of flowy elements; subtle artistic touches like broaches and necklaces and such. No button-down shirts, stiff trousers, or bowties in sight.\n\nBe still my beating heart! \ud83d\ude0d\n\nReluctance to Wield Power\n\nTopping it all off, Aragon exhibits a quality we rarely see in action heroes. He\u2019s rightly scared of his own foibles and inadequacies as he sees them. He\u2019s afraid of who he might become if he were to embrace his perceived destiny as King of Gondor. He\u2019s all too aware of the history of Men (and his own bloodline) and how easily they might become corrupted by the allure of power as offered by Sauron.\n\nHear what I\u2019m not saying: I\u2019m not saying that Aragorn is \u201cinsecure\u201d in his abilities. He\u2019s actually very confident that he knows how to fight, and he\u2019s secure in his physical strength and prowess. In this respect, his character arc is quite different than many of the coming-of-age superhero stories we so often come across. Aragorn\u2019s story isn\u2019t the story of some snot-nosed kid who suddenly gets powers and then is either afraid of them or excited to have them but regardless gets to the point where they\u2019re ready to give up\u2014the bad guys are just too powerful, and the good guy isn\u2019t good enough or powerful enough to beat them\u2014and they need some sign to convince them they can win the day. No, Aragon\u2019s story isn\u2019t anything like that. He\u2019s already a battle-hardened warrior by the time we first meet him!\n\nAragorn\u2019s story isn\u2019t \u201cwith great power comes great responsibility.\u201d Rather, it\u2019s \u201cwith great power comes great evil.\u201d Aragorn isn\u2019t afraid of losing. He\u2019s afraid of who he\u2019ll become when he\u2019s winning.\n\nAnd that\u2019s what makes him such a fascinating character. It\u2019s also what makes his character arc stand apart from a couple of other heroic and/or tragic figures in LOTR: Boromir and Faramir.\n\nFaramir\u2019s trauma is that he\u2019ll never live up to the expectations placed on him and his brother by their father. Faramir is a much more reluctant warrior than Aragorn even, because you get the impression if it were up to him, he wouldn\u2019t be a warrior at all. Boromir, on the other hand, is a bit of an obvious picture of performative masculinity, even \u201ctoxic masculinity\u201d. Deep down, Boromir is insecure and is desperate to please his father by being the strong man, the big man, the powerful winning man. He\u2019s going to swoop in and save the day by any means necessary\u2014pesky scruples be damned. And yet\u2026he\u2019s really not a bad dude at heart. It\u2019s just that his heart is not in the right place. That\u2019s what makes him such a tragic figure: you know he could rise to the occasion, and yet\u2026he doesn\u2019t.\n\nFaramir, meanwhile, is forced by terrible circumstance to become the leader his brother never could. While it\u2019s true he\u2019ll never be seen as a great warrior and an epic commander of men like Aragorn, nevertheless he\u2019ll do his part. He\u2019s a good man, trying to find an honorable path through evil days.\n\nI\u2019m sure entire books could be written about the similarities and differences between Aragon, Boromir, and Faramir: all three warriors, but all three starting and ending their tales in radically different places.\n\nThere are so many moments throughout the LOTR films that I just love about Aragorn, but my favorite moment and a pivotal scene in the plot is when Elrond, Lord of Rivendell, comes to present And\u00faril to Aragorn. If you\u2019ll permit me, I\u2019ll include a portion of the screenplay because it gives me chills, every single time:\n\n\n ELROND: The man who can wield the power of this sword can summon to him an army more deadly than any that walks this earth. Put aside the Ranger. Become who you were born to be. Take the Dimholt Road. \u00d3nen i-Estel Edain (I gave Hope to the D\u00fanedain)\n\n ARAGORN: \u00da-chebin estel anim. (I have kept no hope for myself.)\n\n\nChills.\n\nIn this moment, Elrond commissions Aragorn in his true purpose. He implores Aragorn to go on this dangerous mission with uncertain ends because it is the only hope left for victory. Aragorn can\u2019t merely stay on the sidelines of history any longer (fighting yes, but fighting as a Ranger). Aragorn has to step into his own shoes. He has to start fighting as a King, leading an army no one else can lead\u2014not only to win the world war against Sauron, but to save the life of the Elven maiden whom he loves.\n\nI\u2019m not crying, you\u2019re crying! \ud83d\ude2d\n\nGender Neutrality and Aged Wisdom\n\nViggo Mortensen\u2019s career-defining, strangely gender-neutral portrayal of a compassionate, wise, and reluctant King of Men almost didn\u2019t happen. Originally the production hired Irish actor Stuart Townsend to play the role of Aragorn. As compared to Mortensen, Townsend is certainly younger and more dashing. It\u2019s easy to imagine him playing a devil-may-care, on-the-nose action hero with boyish charm and a woo-the-ladies attitude.\n\nAccounts differ as to why Townsend was let go at the last minute, but it seems Peter Jackson and co. realized they needed an older actor to play Aragorn. And, well, the shake-up was quite rocky and uncertain:\n\n\n Production on The Fellowship of the Ring was forced to start without its Aragorn as Peter Jackson scrambled to find a replacement for Townsend. Eventually, he paid a call to Viggo Mortensen, a then-little-known actor who had auditioned for the role during the casting process, and officially offered him the role. However, there was a catch: if Mortensen wanted the role, he needed to get on a plane and fly to New Zealand the next day. With such little time to think about the decision, Viggo Mortensen nearly turned Peter Jackson down. The actor was reportedly concerned about the little time to learn all the necessary skills and lines, as well as replacing Townsend, feeling awkward about taking the role from someone else.\n\n While Mortensen had reservations about accepting the role, his son was far more certain. Henry Mortensen was a massive fan of the Lord of the Rings novels and enthusiastically informed his father of just how monumental the role of Aragorn truly was. With the endorsement of his son, Mortensen accepted Jackson\u2019s offer and flew to New Zealand the next day.\n\n\nAww, isn\u2019t that adorable? A principal reason we have the iconic and genre-expansive portrayal of Aragorn today is thanks to Viggo Mortensen listening to his son. True masculinity in action.\n\nThere\u2019s just so much about the way Viggo Mortensen embodied this role. When you consider the sorts of tropes we regularly come across in popular media, there\u2019s the picture of the hippie artistic type, flowers in their hair and peace and love, man in their heart. Or maybe you get the nerdy book type, solving problems using more brain than brawn and always rolling their eyes at the jocks surrounding them. And then there\u2019s the he-man type, a big lug who blunders his way into doing the right thing after much bluff & brouhaha.\n\nMortensen seems to draw from an entirely different well. Perhaps he was inspired by the knights of old and their stories of chivalry. Perhaps he was inspired by religious figures. Perhaps he relied on his creative instincts which came from a childhood spent in many places & pursuits outside of the United States and its cultural rat race. However this came together, Viggo Mortensen gave us an Aragorn and a performance which is almost unparalleled before or since in the Western zeitgeist.\n\n\n\nRemember the Dear Men, What Is Preventing You From Looking Like This? meme from a few years back? Forget all about those shirtless hairless male torsos with washboard abs. Here\u2019s my contribution to that conversation:\n\n\nDreamy.\n\n\n\n \n\n \n #gender"
},
"name": "Dear Men, What is Preventing You from Looking Like\u2026Aragorn?",
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"_id": "46802911",
"_source": "2783"
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{
"type": "event",
"name": "\ud83d\uddd3\ufe0f The Level Up",
"published": "2025-12-13T22:30:00-0400",
"start": "2025-12-13T22:30:00-0400",
"url": "https://martymcgui.re/2025/12/13/the-level-up/",
"featured": "https://res.cloudinary.com/schmarty/image/fetch/w_960,c_fill/https://media.martymcgui.re/ab/5d/97/71/6c25e2c42ccba31a79d63e4aaf5190b0a320eb7d2fdca8c18435b8b3.jpg",
"category": [
"improv",
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"location": {
"type": "card",
"name": "Magnet Theater",
"url": "https://magnettheater.com/"
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"content": {
"text": "The Level Up is an indie improv showcase. Join us as we watch amazing New York indie improv talents gain XP on the Magnet stage, unlock new achievements, and reach new milestones. Or do comedy.\n\nCome support Michael as he dons his hosting-duties cap for three exciting indie teams!\nI\u2019ll be playing in with Michael and the rest of the Level Up!\nLooking forward to it! And to seeing you there!! (Yes, you. Come on out!!!)\nSaturday December 13th, 2025 @ 10:30pm\n\nMagnet Theater\n\n254 West 29th St (btwn 7th and 8th Ave.)\n\nNew York City, NY 10001\n\nTickets $10: https://magnettheater.com/show/tickets/60125",
"html": "<blockquote>\n<p>The Level Up is an indie improv showcase. Join us as we watch amazing New York indie improv talents gain XP on the Magnet stage, unlock new achievements, and reach new milestones. Or do comedy.</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>Come support Michael as he dons his hosting-duties cap for three exciting indie teams!</p>\n<p>I\u2019ll be playing in with Michael and the rest of the Level Up!</p>\n<p>Looking forward to it! And to seeing you there!! (Yes, you. Come on out!!!)</p>\n<p>Saturday December 13th, 2025 @ 10:30pm<br />\nMagnet Theater<br />\n254 West 29th St (btwn 7th and 8th Ave.)<br />\nNew York City, NY 10001<br />\nTickets $10: <a href=\"https://magnettheater.com/show/tickets/60125\">https://magnettheater.com/show/tickets/60125</a></p>"
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"author": {
"type": "card",
"name": "Marty McGuire",
"url": "https://martymcgui.re/",
"photo": "https://martymcgui.re/images/logo.jpg"
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and *this* is why I added a plug strip along the half wall! Each device's cord is a straight shot to the wall, no messy cords crossing over each other!
{
"type": "entry",
"published": "2025-12-13T13:23:27-08:00",
"url": "https://aaronparecki.com/2025/12/13/10/",
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],
"content": {
"text": "and *this* is why I added a plug strip along the half wall! Each device's cord is a straight shot to the wall, no messy cords crossing over each other!"
},
"author": {
"type": "card",
"name": "Aaron Parecki",
"url": "https://aaronparecki.com/",
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Finally finished the last two breakers, and now I have every circuit in the loft hooked up to the power monitoring system!
{
"type": "entry",
"published": "2025-12-13T09:20:14-08:00",
"url": "https://aaronparecki.com/2025/12/13/9/",
"category": [
"triplex",
"electrical",
"homeautomation",
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"content": {
"text": "Finally finished the last two breakers, and now I have every circuit in the loft hooked up to the power monitoring system!"
},
"author": {
"type": "card",
"name": "Aaron Parecki",
"url": "https://aaronparecki.com/",
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First waffle stack in the new kitchen!
{
"type": "entry",
"published": "2025-12-13T15:18:56-08:00",
"url": "https://aaronparecki.com/2025/12/13/6/",
"category": [
"cooking",
"waffles"
],
"photo": [
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"content": {
"text": "First waffle stack in the new kitchen!"
},
"author": {
"type": "card",
"name": "Aaron Parecki",
"url": "https://aaronparecki.com/",
"photo": "https://aperture-media.p3k.io/aaronparecki.com/41061f9de825966faa22e9c42830e1d4a614a321213b4575b9488aa93f89817a.jpg"
},
"post-type": "photo",
"_id": "46775301",
"_source": "16"
}
{
"type": "entry",
"published": "2025-12-13T12:39:16-0500",
"url": "https://martymcgui.re/2025/12/13/machine-knittin-moar-mittens/",
"category": [
"machine-knitting",
"fingerless",
"mitts"
],
"name": "Machine knittin': moar mittens",
"content": {
"text": "I am pleased to report that producer Amy approved of the mittens I posted a couple of weeks ago, which were a bit too small for me.\n\"Sooo cozy!\" was the text accompanying this photo of Amy's hand with pearlescent nail polish and a woollen knit mitt.\"How nice,\" I thought, \"to have made something functional and enjoyable. Now to make a new pair for me. I'll use this different sock yarn, that Amy bought me in Berlin, so we can easily tell them apart. This should be nice and straightforward!\"\nHa ha ha! Ha-ha! Ha.\nReaders to enjoy a tl;dr: this worked out fine, but not before multiple failures and some wrestling with broken self-confidence.\nPalms up, blue and gray variegated mitts on my hands. My left pinky has a tell-tale Band-aid visible.Palms down view.This is still a variant of\u00a0the Fingerless Mitt to Knit by Diana Sullivan (from Austin, TX). Here were the changes that finally worked for me, with this yarn:\nBody of the mitt is 55 stitches wide. Thumb is 4 stitches wider, using needles from 14L to 15R.\n Knitting tension is T7 on both carriages. Near (but not at!) the loosest possible tension for my ribber carriage.\n Manually loosen the yarn in the tension mast before knitting each row. The carriages screeched and often jammed, but I was able to jiggle them across with great anxiety about breaking my machine.\n For the top of the mitts, I learned how to do a proper 1x1 rib bind-off. I liked Diana's \"Simpler Smiles & Frowns Bind-Off\" video for this.\nI really like how they turned out! I'm excited to put them to the test in the cold season!\nNow, for the strong-willed reader, let's talk about some challenges!\nLike most machine knitting projects, my issues can mostly be traced back to skipping the swatching step(s). This design relies on the stretchiness of two types of rib. The mitts \"at rest\" appear quite small, then stretch to snugly cover the hands. I'm not confident I would have been able to consistently measure gauge in a way that allowed comparing the stretched size of different yarns and tensions. But I should have tried!! I might have decided early on what I believe now, which is that this particular sock yarn is too thick to work well with my standard gauge machine.\nInstead, I jumped right into a first attempt with extra stitches and rows, but holding everything else the same, including the tension. This was a miserable experience, with the carriages jamming constantly. The machine was basically telling me \"no no no, stop, no\" the whole time. Would that I had listened! I managed (through sweat and anxiety) to finish it, but the resulting fabric was uncomfortably thick and tight. The loop-through-loop bind-off at the top of the mitt was also still too tight to spread my fingers while wearing it.\nFor attempt number two, I decided to up the tension to T6, but otherwise go back to the original stitch and row counts. This went a little better in terms of process and the fabric, but it was still too tight to wear.\nI got a lot of practice doing the hand sewing to make-up the pieces into the mitts. This was starting to feel like a lot of work for two disappointments. So I ended up taking a break for several days. I spent some of that time researching properly stretchy bind-offs and focusing on non-knitting projects, but mostly I was just feeling the sting of failure, haha.\nFinally, I did some practice at looser tensions, doing a few rows at T7 and T8 to see if I could find a technique that would actually knit smoothly with this yarn. I couldn't! But I did found that T7 was the\u00a0least\u00a0likely to bind up. I finished the body of the mitt at T7 well enough. I decided to \"do an easier version\" of the bind-off, skipping the step of casting off onto waste yarn and stitching it up on the machine, freeing each stitch from the machine as I sewed it up.\nIt was during a break in this process with many needles out in hold position, that I carelessly waved my hand and impaled my left pinky finger on 2 or 3 needles.\u00a0With some help from producer Amy, I got bandaged up and returned to work.\ud83e\ude78\ud83e\ude79\nThe result was... fine? It looks very inconsistent when the mitt is at rest, but it's very nice and stretchy and, when stretched out on the hand, I think it looks OK. Hooray, mobility!\nFor the last mitt, I combined all my hard-earned knowledge so far, and did a proper waste yarn bind-off to finish the top ribbing. The added steps felt more time-consuming, but I think the sewing up went a lot faster. It certainly looks a lot better!\nI'm not sure what I'll do with the failed mitts and the as-yet-unused portion of sock yarn. The machine definitely\u00a0does not like it. Probably it should be used for someone else's hand knit or crochet project.\nThanks for reading! I have more knitting projects I'm looking forward to posting soon.",
"html": "<p>I am pleased to report that producer Amy approved of the <a href=\"https://martymcgui.re/2025/12/02/machine-knittin-some-mittens/\">mittens I posted a couple of weeks ago</a>, which were a bit too small for me.</p>\n<img src=\"https://media.martymcgui.re/ea/5d/53/98/ed6d641bff1677469784ce7569edd02bb6e2135354a7d58d9be0a026.\" alt=\"\" />\"Sooo cozy!\" was the text accompanying this photo of Amy's hand with pearlescent nail polish and a woollen knit mitt.<p>\"How nice,\" I thought, \"to have made something functional and enjoyable. Now to make a new pair for me. I'll use this different sock yarn, that Amy bought me in Berlin, so we can easily tell them apart. This should be nice and straightforward!\"</p>\n<p>Ha ha ha! Ha-ha! Ha.</p>\n<p>Readers to enjoy a tl;dr: this worked out fine, but not before multiple failures and some wrestling with broken self-confidence.</p>\n<img src=\"https://media.martymcgui.re/20/bd/af/0c/c11d090a150bf3297c53014d7eb86511a16e6a25e8f52a010228d26a.\" alt=\"\" />Palms up, blue and gray variegated mitts on my hands. My left pinky has a tell-tale Band-aid visible.<img src=\"https://media.martymcgui.re/ed/54/3c/bd/bc49d75e4d33a2dc297f02fa3891dd33e5df2b48d07ed89b5452b164.\" alt=\"\" />Palms down view.<p>This is still a variant of\u00a0the <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5e0EDazD9tc\">Fingerless Mitt to Knit by Diana Sullivan</a> (from Austin, TX). Here were the changes that finally worked for me, with this yarn:</p>\n<ul><li>Body of the mitt is 55 stitches wide. Thumb is 4 stitches wider, using needles from 14L to 15R.</li>\n <li>Knitting tension is T7 on both carriages. Near (but not at!) the loosest possible tension for my ribber carriage.</li>\n <li>Manually loosen the yarn in the tension mast before knitting each row. The carriages screeched and often jammed, but I was able to jiggle them across with great anxiety about breaking my machine.</li>\n <li>For the top of the mitts, I learned how to do a proper 1x1 rib bind-off. I liked <a href=\"https://youtu.be/tA5YisKe1Ac\">Diana's \"Simpler Smiles & Frowns Bind-Off\" video</a> for this.</li>\n</ul><p>I really like how they turned out! I'm excited to put them to the test in the cold season!</p>\n<p>Now, for the strong-willed reader, let's talk about some challenges!</p>\n<p>Like most machine knitting projects, my issues can mostly be traced back to skipping the swatching step(s). This design relies on the stretchiness of two types of rib. The mitts \"at rest\" appear quite small, then stretch to snugly cover the hands. I'm not confident I would have been able to consistently measure gauge in a way that allowed comparing the stretched size of different yarns and tensions. But I should have tried!! I might have decided early on what I believe now, which is that this particular sock yarn is too thick to work well with my standard gauge machine.</p>\n<p>Instead, I jumped right into a first attempt with extra stitches and rows, but holding everything else the same, including the tension. This was a miserable experience, with the carriages jamming constantly. The machine was basically telling me \"no no no, stop, no\" the whole time. Would that I had listened! I managed (through sweat and anxiety) to finish it, but the resulting fabric was uncomfortably thick and tight. The loop-through-loop bind-off at the top of the mitt was also still too tight to spread my fingers while wearing it.</p>\n<p>For attempt number two, I decided to up the tension to T6, but otherwise go back to the original stitch and row counts. This went a little better in terms of process and the fabric, but it was still too tight to wear.</p>\n<p>I got a lot of practice doing the hand sewing to make-up the pieces into the mitts. This was starting to feel like a lot of work for two disappointments. So I ended up taking a break for several days. I spent some of that time researching properly stretchy bind-offs and focusing on non-knitting projects, but mostly I was just feeling the sting of failure, haha.</p>\n<p>Finally, I did some practice at looser tensions, doing a few rows at T7 and T8 to see if I could find a technique that would actually knit smoothly with this yarn. I couldn't! But I did found that T7 was the\u00a0<i>least</i>\u00a0likely to bind up. I finished the body of the mitt at T7 well enough. I decided to \"do an easier version\" of the bind-off, skipping the step of casting off onto waste yarn and stitching it up on the machine, freeing each stitch from the machine as I sewed it up.</p>\n<p>It was during a break in this process with many needles out in hold position, that I carelessly waved my hand and impaled my left pinky finger on 2 or 3 needles.\u00a0With some help from producer Amy, I got bandaged up and returned to work.\ud83e\ude78\ud83e\ude79</p>\n<p>The result was... fine? It looks very inconsistent when the mitt is at rest, but it's very nice and stretchy and, when stretched out on the hand, I think it looks OK. Hooray, mobility!</p>\n<p>For the last mitt, I combined all my hard-earned knowledge so far, and did a proper waste yarn bind-off to finish the top ribbing. The added steps felt more time-consuming, but I think the sewing up went a lot faster. It certainly looks a lot better!</p>\n<p>I'm not sure what I'll do with the failed mitts and the as-yet-unused portion of sock yarn. The machine definitely<i>\u00a0does not like it</i>. Probably it should be used for someone else's hand knit or crochet project.</p>\n<p>Thanks for reading! I have more knitting projects I'm looking forward to posting soon.</p>"
},
"author": {
"type": "card",
"name": "Marty McGuire",
"url": "https://martymcgui.re/",
"photo": "https://martymcgui.re/images/logo.jpg"
},
"post-type": "article",
"_id": "46775297",
"_source": "175"
}
Yesterday was a good day to make a little bow.
{
"type": "entry",
"published": "2025-12-13T11:27:07-0500",
"url": "https://martymcgui.re/2025/12/13/112707/",
"category": [
"machine-knitting",
"bow"
],
"photo": [
"https://res.cloudinary.com/schmarty/image/fetch/w_960,c_fill/https://media.martymcgui.re/c0/75/33/74/7d4ccaed13b0c6a5e46a4fa53c33940bfe8fdab40e2c5c977f3de312.jpeg"
],
"syndication": [
"https://fed.brid.gy/"
],
"content": {
"text": "Yesterday was a good day to make a little bow.",
"html": "<p>Yesterday was a good day to make a little bow.</p>\n\n \n <a href=\"https://media.martymcgui.re/c0/75/33/74/7d4ccaed13b0c6a5e46a4fa53c33940bfe8fdab40e2c5c977f3de312.jpeg\"></a>"
},
"author": {
"type": "card",
"name": "Marty McGuire",
"url": "https://martymcgui.re/",
"photo": "https://martymcgui.re/images/logo.jpg"
},
"post-type": "photo",
"_id": "46773224",
"_source": "175"
}
{
"type": "entry",
"published": "2025-12-12T00:31:52-08:00",
"url": "https://beesbuzz.biz/blog/1499-Vehicle-updates",
"category": [
"vehicles",
"ebike",
"car"
],
"name": "Vehicle updates",
"content": {
"text": "The ebike has been working great!\n\nBut it\u2019s gotten super rainy, and it\u2019s not always great to ride in this weather.\n\nAlso having an empty carport has turned my house into a theft target, and I\u2019ve been locked in a battle with a dude who is absolutely determined to steal the bike at this point.\n\nOne of my ideals had been to go with an older shitbox car with a stick shift, and I happened to be checking Craigslist on my monthly search for a stickshift shitbox, and came across a 2008 Corolla which seemed to be in good shape, and which is basically the same innards and platform as the 2006 Matrix I loved so much.\n\nEarlier today the seller was free and so we met up and I gave it a test drive, and I ended up buying it, somewhat impulsively but, hey, it wouldn\u2019t be the worst car purchase decision I\u2019ve made in the last few years\u2026\n\nJust as I thought, a stickshift is a lot more fun to drive, and doesn\u2019t fill me with as much anxiety as a car that tries to do everything for me and makes me feel like I\u2019m not in control. It\u2019s a super basic car by today\u2019s standards; no blind-spot monitoring, no automatic headlights, no backup camera. Heck, it still has its factory stereo which only has a 6-CD changer and no aux input. (The seller threw in his Bluetooth-to-FM converter thing.) There\u2019s also a bunch of little things that need to be sorted out (I\u2019ll probably be taking it to my neighborhood mechanic tomorrow to see what work they recommend). It\u2019s also beige (which looks surprisingly nice compared to today\u2019s bland sea of black/white/grey boringness) and the paint is peeling and it\u2019s been in a few fender benders. It\u2019s not much of a looker, and it doesn\u2019t really need to be.\n\nI ended up ordering a CarPlay head unit since I do want in-dash navigation and better music integration and such, and also since the car only came with a single key and no door remote I ordered some remotes (which are apparently very easy to program yourself) and found a local locksmith who will duplicate and program the key for not too much.\n\nAnyway. I still wish I hadn\u2019t gotten rid of the Mazda3 when I did, but overall this feels like the right spot for me: a car that I don\u2019t feel guilty about not-driving, and which doesn\u2019t make me so anxious to drive.",
"html": "<p>The ebike has been working great!</p><p>But it\u2019s gotten super rainy, and it\u2019s not always great to ride in this weather.</p><p>Also having an empty carport has turned my house into a theft target, and I\u2019ve been locked in a battle with a dude who is absolutely <em>determined</em> to steal the bike at this point.</p><p>One of my ideals had been to go with an older shitbox car with a stick shift, and I happened to be checking Craigslist on my monthly search for a stickshift shitbox, and came across a 2008 Corolla which seemed to be in good shape, and which is basically the same innards and platform as the 2006 Matrix I loved so much.</p><p>Earlier today the seller was free and so we met up and I gave it a test drive, and I ended up buying it, somewhat impulsively but, hey, it wouldn\u2019t be the <em>worst</em> car purchase decision I\u2019ve made in the last few years\u2026</p><p>Just as I thought, a stickshift is a lot more fun to drive, and doesn\u2019t fill me with as much anxiety as a car that tries to do everything for me and makes me feel like I\u2019m not in control. It\u2019s a super basic car by today\u2019s standards; no blind-spot monitoring, no automatic headlights, no backup camera. Heck, it still has its factory stereo which only has a 6-CD changer and no aux input. (The seller threw in his Bluetooth-to-FM converter thing.) There\u2019s also a bunch of little things that need to be sorted out (I\u2019ll probably be taking it to my neighborhood mechanic tomorrow to see what work they recommend). It\u2019s also beige (which looks surprisingly nice compared to today\u2019s bland sea of black/white/grey boringness) and the paint is peeling and it\u2019s been in a few fender benders. It\u2019s not much of a looker, and it doesn\u2019t really need to be.</p><p>I ended up ordering a <a href=\"https://www.crutchfield.com/p_070DCPA723/Dual-DCPA723W.html\">CarPlay head unit</a> since I <em>do</em> want in-dash navigation and better music integration and such, and also since the car only came with a single key and no door remote I ordered some remotes (which are apparently very easy to program yourself) and found a local locksmith who will duplicate and program the key for not too much.</p><p>Anyway. I still wish I hadn\u2019t gotten rid of the Mazda3 when I did, but overall this feels like the right spot for me: a car that I don\u2019t feel guilty about not-driving, and which doesn\u2019t make me so anxious to drive.</p>"
},
"author": {
"type": "card",
"name": "fluffy",
"url": "https://beesbuzz.biz/",
"photo": "https://beesbuzz.biz/static/headshot.jpg"
},
"post-type": "article",
"_id": "46760441",
"_source": "2778"
}
Just learned you can create QR codes pretty easily in LibreOffice:
- Menu: Insert > OLE Object > QR and Barcode
- Enter the URL and tada!
It inserts an object in the document at that point, so it can be resized and moved around. It is not an image that can be exported separately from the document (or at least, I have not found out how to do so yet). This worked OK for my needs, though, which was creating a PDF document with some QR codes in it.
Via help.libreoffice.org page
{
"type": "entry",
"published": "2025-12-11 20:40-0800",
"url": "https://gregorlove.com/2025/12/just-learned-you-can/",
"category": [
"dev"
],
"content": {
"text": "Just learned you can create QR codes pretty easily in LibreOffice:\n\nMenu: Insert > OLE Object > QR and Barcode\n\tEnter the URL and tada!\nIt inserts an object in the document at that point, so it can be resized and moved around. It is not an image that can be exported separately from the document (or at least, I have not found out how to do so yet). This worked OK for my needs, though, which was creating a PDF document with some QR codes in it.\n\nVia help.libreoffice.org page",
"html": "<p>Just learned you can create QR codes pretty easily in <a href=\"https://libreoffice.org/\">LibreOffice</a>:</p>\n\n<ul><li>Menu: Insert > OLE Object > QR and Barcode</li>\n\t<li>Enter the URL and tada!</li>\n</ul><p>It inserts an <i>object</i> in the document at that point, so it can be resized and moved around. It is not an image that can be exported separately from the document (or at least, I have not found out how to do so yet). This worked OK for my needs, though, which was creating a PDF document with some QR codes in it.</p>\n\n<p>Via <a href=\"https://help.libreoffice.org/latest/en-GB/text/shared/01/qrcode.html?DbPAR=SHARED#bm_id901566317201860\">help.libreoffice.org</a> page</p>"
},
"author": {
"type": "card",
"name": "gRegor Morrill",
"url": "https://gregorlove.com/",
"photo": "https://gregorlove.com/site/assets/files/6268/profile-2021-square.300x0.jpg"
},
"post-type": "note",
"_id": "46759486",
"_source": "95"
}
