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J.D. Popham

@jdpopham.substack.com
174 followers 72 following 1.8K posts

Compulsive scribbler. Teller of small stories. Believes in whimsy, the written word, and fierce, dark coffee.

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J.D. Popham @jdpopham.substack.com · 14h
Given the younger staff in publishing used AI to write their term papers and take their tests in university I'm guessing the junior staff leaking this are the seasoned staff.
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J.D. Popham @jdpopham.substack.com · 10/10/2026
The irony is that if we increased diesel imports from Canada by 4% it would have the same effect without handing money to Putin. 🙄
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J.D. Popham @jdpopham.substack.com · 10/10/2026
No vest until an officer can go two years without violating someone's civil rights.
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J.D. Popham @jdpopham.substack.com · 10/10/2026
Pre-escalation instead of de-escalation.
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J.D. Popham @jdpopham.substack.com · 09/10/2026
The irony is that the guns, masks and camo are all performative. Two unarmed agents is suits could make most of the arrests and do it without killing anyone. Take away their guns and they'll do proper law enforcement instead of LARPing with live weapons
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J.D. Popham @jdpopham.substack.com · 09/10/2026
There's another definition? O.o
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J.D. Popham @jdpopham.substack.com · 08/10/2026
Two new characters showed up. Solid characters. Loved 'em. Sadly, neither brought a story along with them so I sent them back to do their homework. Cheeky buggers, characters.
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J.D. Popham @jdpopham.substack.com · 07/10/2026
I wouldn't be surprised.
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J.D. Popham @jdpopham.substack.com · 06/10/2026
Love Armchair Books
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J.D. Popham @jdpopham.substack.com · 05/10/2026
Same. Even when I go to the UK, because I've no idea where they hide the good tea.
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J.D. Popham @jdpopham.substack.com · 05/10/2026
Lo!
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J.D. Popham @jdpopham.substack.com · 30/09/2026
I feel guilty about waffles, as if I ought to love them but am somehow letting them down.
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Reposted by J.D. Popham
Lavie Tidhar @lavietidhar.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Contemporary lit: "The rogue AI agents took over the orbital server farm" Science fiction: "Everyone has free healthcare"
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J.D. Popham @jdpopham.substack.com · 27/09/2026
Halloween vibes.
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J.D. Popham @jdpopham.substack.com · 27/09/2026
I considered embarrassing my teen aged daughter in public a key parenting duty.
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J.D. Popham @jdpopham.substack.com · 25/09/2026
"AI writing breaks the expectations of a literate culture." #writing www.economist.com/leaders/2026...
economist.com
Don’t let AI kill the author
The perils of machine-made prose
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J.D. Popham @jdpopham.substack.com · 24/09/2026
Wool base layer. Check.
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J.D. Popham @jdpopham.substack.com · 23/09/2026
Yes. I also send and receive letters written on paper in cursive.
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J.D. Popham @jdpopham.substack.com · 23/09/2026
I would subscribe twice but as a man of modest means I must ask one if you lot to step up. They're stories worthy of your support. #sciencefiction
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J.D. Popham @jdpopham.substack.com · 22/09/2026
And another character joins the cast of one of my WIPs.
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J.D. Popham @jdpopham.substack.com · 21/09/2026
In that context, humans aren't deliberate targets so much as features of the digital landscape that can get caught in the crossfire.
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J.D. Popham @jdpopham.substack.com · 21/09/2026
I tend not to worry about a single "Skynet" technical singularity so much as a digital ecosystem in which emergent digital life forms who've slipped containment hunt each other as they compete for resources, mutating as they do in ways we can't anticipate. #writing
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J.D. Popham @jdpopham.substack.com · 21/09/2026
Yet another vote for Proton.
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J.D. Popham @jdpopham.substack.com · 21/09/2026
In Minneapolis Cedar Avenue (in the Cedar Riverside neighborhood) used to be called "Snus Boulevard" due to the snus residue left on the street by Norwegians after a fun night out. (This was before snus was sold in tidy pouches.)
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J.D. Popham @jdpopham.substack.com · 21/09/2026
We are all of us breaking containment.
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J.D. Popham @jdpopham.substack.com · 20/09/2026
But when will we go home?
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J.D. Popham @jdpopham.substack.com · 20/09/2026
OK. Long day. Sleepy now. G'night Blue.
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J.D. Popham @jdpopham.substack.com · 19/09/2026
Setting an air can activated by a motion detector outside the bedroom door should keep the cat at bay during time-outs.
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J.D. Popham @jdpopham.substack.com · 19/09/2026
Confirming this is a thing.
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J.D. Popham @jdpopham.substack.com · 19/09/2026
😄
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Reposted by J.D. Popham
Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Tomorrow (19th September) is #TalkLikeAPirateDay and your annual reminder that when we talk the way we talk when we're talking like a pirate, it's because of a film that was based on a book, inspired by an earlier book, inspired by a real life pirate from #Orkney! ARRR! 🏴‍☠️👇
An illustration of a pirate with a tricorn hat and a bushy moustache
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J.D. Popham @jdpopham.substack.com · 17/09/2026
I reset my reality protocols accordingly.
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J.D. Popham @jdpopham.substack.com · 17/09/2026
I mean, Reacher took a shovel to the head and it just made him wobbly for a few seconds. Concussion protocols? We don't need no stinking concussion protocols.
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J.D. Popham @jdpopham.substack.com · 16/09/2026
😄
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J.D. Popham @jdpopham.substack.com · 16/09/2026
What do you mean *your* reading chair?
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J.D. Popham @jdpopham.substack.com · 15/09/2026
Oh you tease.
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J.D. Popham @jdpopham.substack.com · 15/09/2026
This.
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Reposted by J.D. Popham
Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu · 14/09/2026
Kremlev, the Russian who sponsored Don Jr's wedding, is a former member of the Night Wolves biker gang, went to China with Putin and is personally sanctioned by Ukraine for his role in abducting children. He praises Stalin on social media www.propublica.org/article/dona...
propublica.org
Donald Trump Jr.’s Wedding Bankrolled by Putin-Linked Russian Oligarch
The oligarch, Umar Kremlev, spent hundreds of thousands on expenses like renting out a private island. He appears to have met Trump Jr. only recently, but he attended the intimate wedding with a large...
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J.D. Popham @jdpopham.substack.com · 14/09/2026
I failed wood shop in high school, so I battle a lot of demons while doing the joinery. 😅
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J.D. Popham @jdpopham.substack.com · 14/09/2026
Writing and woodwork.
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Reposted by J.D. Popham
Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu · 13/09/2026
If Ukraine would just surrender we could get on with making business deals
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J.D. Popham @jdpopham.substack.com · 10/09/2026
Beat me to it.😄
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J.D. Popham @jdpopham.substack.com · 09/09/2026
I'm curious to hear your collective thoughts on this one.
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J.D. Popham @jdpopham.substack.com · 09/09/2026
Sounds like my kind of party.
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J.D. Popham @jdpopham.substack.com · 08/09/2026
Drinking tea and looking out the window. #WritersAtWork #writing
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J.D. Popham @jdpopham.substack.com · 08/09/2026
I've got a perfectly good enamled Dutch oven, but I could find a place for the space shuttle casserole. www.nbcnews.com/select/shopp...
nbcnews.com
Le Creuset and Star Trek just teamed up and launched a limited-edition collection, including Dutch ovens
The new collection includes themed Dutch ovens, braisers, cocottes and more.
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J.D. Popham @jdpopham.substack.com · 08/09/2026
My WIP envisions a future without cell phones and restricted internet. Started as a way to keep phones from complicating the central mystery, but writing in the resulting social/cultural changes has been eye-opening.
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J.D. Popham @jdpopham.substack.com · 08/09/2026
Grape trellis management.
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J.D. Popham @jdpopham.substack.com · 08/09/2026
My every day carry is the Pilot Cavalier. Trim and elegant, writes beautifully with an excellent feel. Even the click of the cap when you close it is satisfying.
Pilot Cavalier fountain pen lying on top of a note pad
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J.D. Popham @jdpopham.substack.com · 08/09/2026
Apropos a recent discussion of Tchaikovsky's ouvre. jdpopham.substack.com/p/book-revie...
jdpopham.substack.com
Book Review: Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky
One thing I particularly like about Adrian Tchaikovsky’s science fiction novels is that they tend to be “idea” stories: tales hinging on “what if” and deeply rooted in his fascination with things non-...
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