I absolutely refuse to be bullied by a “random” word generator into using a word like mask. #mbnov is a hoax.

Dilemma is one of those words that never looks correctly spelled to me. I dither between dilemma and dilemna for reasons that escape me.
#mbnov

It seems I’ve done nothing but adjust for the past nine months.
#mbnov

Call me the breeze?
#mbnov

A university press department that can't be messaged on Twitter? That's a new one for me.

I’m a good listener. I can say things like “provision another instance,” and have no idea what I’m talking about.
#mbnov

I confess, I’ve never really liked the idea of “nice capture” applied to a photograph, even a stunning wildlife image. It smacks of snapping the soul, and the hunting side of it doesn’t appeal either.
#mbnov

Not sure when I will next cross a physical border to another country, but independent cyberspace remains open, for which I am thankful.
#mbnov

Fade to black.

Not the end
#mbnov

No, anything is not possible.
#mbnov

I need to train myself to dig deeper before trying tricky computer stuff, but it is actually quite hard to find the tutorials that give understanding before they give instruction.
#mbnov

My memory is that my first USB stick had 128Mb of memory and cost and arm and a leg, in 2001, I think.
#mbnov

The Far Side used to be one of my favourite cartoons, but Gary Larsen’s return hasn’t really stuck with me.
#mbnov

I’m just not very good at spooky movies, can’t suspend disbelief for things I find it hard to believe in.
#mbnov

Keeping things minimal, I guess this will have to do.
#mbnov

Wear and tear is a concept that I like to embrace. My jeans, for example, are worn and torn in a way that directly reflects how and why I wear them, not a fashionista decree.
#mbnov

Say what?
#mbnov

I wish I could force m.b to look further back in my RSS feed and find yesterday’s microblogvember post.
#mbnov

I have enormous admiration for John F. Appleby, who in the 1870s perfected a machine that would tie a knot in twine, thus enabling a machine to bind sheaves of grain together and setting in motion the giant combine harvesters that enable our daily bread.
#mbnov

There is no way I can inflate my relief at the day’s events, or my gratitude to cyber-friends here on mb for their generosity of spirit.
#mbnov

Erk. I seem to have misplaced today’s #mbnov prompt.

Puzzling? This stuff writes itself, doesn't it. Not that I am going to let it, but the thought is definitely there. We've had near and anxious (ha; not anxious, astonish. Mr Freud, your slip is ready.) and stoop and now puzzling, and you still expect me to believe the choices are random?
#mbnov

Is the architectural stoop derived from the same word as step, and what exactly is it? Is it what I might call the front porch? Or is the little flight of steps leading up to the porch?
#mbnov

I have resisted the temptation to look at the news today, aside from scary hints in social media, and I am going to sleep. Perhaps tomorrow will bring actual information, reducing uncertainty.

The only thing that makes life bearable right now is that I am near the person who makes my life worth living. I can’t imagine surviving so much forced proximity with anyone else at all.

#mbnov

Whatever happens today is likely to astonish me.
#mbnov

I do remember orange juice made from concentrate and it seemed sensible; remove the water, ship, replace the water.
#mbnov

Not at all dreary the past few days. We had a great outing under warm, blue skies to stock up on culture. It may be a while before we can do that again. #mbnov

Sad to learn that James Randi, magician and stage artist devoted to debunking the paranormal, dies at 92 - The Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/james-randi-magician-and-stage-artist-devoted-to-deb...

I had the honour to know and work with the Amazing Randi for a while in the 1970s and 1980s, and it was always fun.

Currently reading: Our Daily Bread by Predrag Matvejević, ISBN: 9781912545094

#non-fiction
#food
#history
#mythology

Started to install tailwindcss rather than rely on the full stylesheet via CDN, and all I can say is, "so far, so good". Forced by actual work to take it slowly, which is probably a good thing.

Delighted to learn that Subway bread in Ireland is cake, in the same way that Jaffa Cakes are cake, at least as far as VAT is concerned.

Pleased, in a nerdy way, that tomorrow's podcast episode, in which I chat with a chef and teacher in Aoteora, will go out on a day when we all will have almost the same times for sunrise and sunset.

You may be doing it wrong.

Oh, they're probably coded items to buy young people. Note that the right-hand item offers both addresses and birthdays, hiding right there in plain sight.

Test reply because @chrisaldrich was getting an error. Might be OK with reply but not webmention, so will test that next.

New edition of Eat This Newsletter up at https://buttondown.email/jeremycherfas/archive/eat-this-newsletter-134-dated/ with input from @IKershner, @lindsmiddleton, @National_Ag_Lib, @jennywrenwatts, @gherkinstomato and others.

One of the stranger aspects of RSS feeds is when a long dormant site springs back into life. Usually, I'm glad. This time, I'm not sure what to make of the fact that Freakonomicsbook.com is now in the hands of someone else.

TIL that only 5% of podcasts have been updated in the past 90 days ... and mine was one of them

https://podcastindex.org/

The alternative book page at micro.blog is a more interesting to a straight Amazon link, but I do not understand how a new book finds its way onto that list.

New edition of Eat This Newsletter up at https://buttondown.email/jeremycherfas/archive/eat-this-newsletter-133-entirely-whole/ with thanks to @bittman @PhilMagowa_n @vidya83 @IsaRossellini and many others.

I still have questions: Were there forms of human #malaria in South America before the slave trade?

What fevers did local people use #cinchona bark to cure?

I’m sure there is an answer. I just have not been able to find it. Someone — anyone — please help.

Withnail and I has lost none of its charm over the past 35 years.

Slightly worrying; the new activity monitor (Xiaomi Mi-band 5) records 2846 steps to the 3000 of the old activity monitor (Garmin Vivofit). On the other hand, I have no good reason to trust the accuracy of the Garmin.

Just listened to fabulous @Transom_org show with @MairBosworth and Fiona Benson about their amazing series In The Company of Insects. Having heard Magicicada, I now I need to listen to them all. So do you, @nicolakidsbooks

Probably a good idea to disconnect the Photos feed while I iron out a lot of wrinkles.

I just published Eat This Newsletter 127: Ingenious solutions.

Read it at https://buttondown.email/jeremycherfas/archive/eat-this-newsletter-127-ingenious-solutions/ and, if you like, consider subscribing.

Very happy with the service from @widefitshoes A pair of shoes were not up to scratch -- not their fault at all -- and they agreed to send out a replacement with no argument. That is how it should be. If you need wider fittings, I highly recommend, and their foot-measuring chart makes it easy.

So happy to see Helen Rosner @hels in The New Yorker do a much better job on rotten apples than I managed. https://www.newyorker.com/culture/annals-of-gastronomy/how-apples-go-bad

Hey @uber_support When are you going to do something about the people in Rome who park bikes where no one can find them? walked past four ghost bikes before I found one that was actually where it was supposed to be.