Stephen Gold @s-gold.bsky.social · 10/05/2026These days, I seldom eat potatoes or bread. It's not that I don't like them; I do. In my mind, however, potatoes and bread come out of the same carbohydrate budget as citrus and milk chocolate. Potatoes and bread rarely appeal to me as strongly as citrus and milk chocolate do. 020
Reposted by Stephen GoldAlt National Park Service @altnps.bsky.social · 22/04/2026Happy Earth Day! 🌎 11766322063
Stephen Gold @s-gold.bsky.social · 28/03/2026A tomato watch means that conditions are "ripe" for growing tomatoes. A tomato warning means that tomatoes have actually been spotted; immediate action is called for to harvest, cook, and/or consume said produce. 020
Stephen Gold @s-gold.bsky.social · 20/03/2026I haven't bought gasoline since February 12th. My next fill-up may be an eye-opener! 020
Stephen Gold @s-gold.bsky.social · 24/02/2026Today's forecast: heavy overcast with a strong chance of cookies. Tacos moving in after dusk. 020
Stephen Gold @s-gold.bsky.social · 23/11/2025"Once men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that it would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them." --Frank Herbert (1965) 040
Stephen Gold @s-gold.bsky.social · 30/10/2025I've lived in California for 39 years. Generally speaking, I love it. However, I still find the state's tolerance of drunk driving a bit difficult to swallow... calmatters.org/investigatio...calmatters.org6 takeaways: California’s deadly failure on drunk drivingAs DUI fatalities surge, a CalMatters investigation finds state leaders have shown little willingness to address the issue. 020
Stephen Gold @s-gold.bsky.social · 16/10/2025Anyone who believes they live in the best of all possible worlds . . . is welcome at my casino. 020
Stephen Gold @s-gold.bsky.social · 16/10/2025I can't help wondering: am I living the life Godzilla intended me to have? 020
Stephen Gold @s-gold.bsky.social · 27/07/2025And now Tom Lehrer, who predicted we would "all go together when we go!" 120
Stephen Gold @s-gold.bsky.social · 25/07/2025I was barely done mourning Ozzy when I was asked to Give It All. Maybe the slow version? open.spotify.com/track/4C68Lq...open.spotify.comGive It All You Got, But SlowlyChuck Mangione · Fun And Games · Song · 1979 030
Stephen Gold @s-gold.bsky.social · 24/07/2025I hate websites where the only way to change your password is to pretend you've forgotten it. It's demeaning. 020
Stephen Gold @s-gold.bsky.social · 10/07/2025On my morning walk today I saw a flock of 6 wild turkeys. 010
Stephen Gold @s-gold.bsky.social · 08/07/2025Why can't we just admit the "Anyone can grow up to be President" story has gone too far? 010
Stephen Gold @s-gold.bsky.social · 01/06/2025TIL: if you followed someone (on Bluesky) to keep in touch, but you don't want their posts in your Following feed, you can "mute" them using the 3-dot pull-down menu. 030
Stephen Gold @s-gold.bsky.social · 11/05/2025For the 1st time, my observance of Mothers Day will be mainly about people other than my mom, trapped in a hospital & unable to speak clearly. Happily, I have fond memories and friends who are mothers. However imperfect the mothers in one's life are, one may still cherish the ideals of motherhood. 010
Stephen Gold @s-gold.bsky.social · 11/05/2025On Saturday, H&I watched "A New Hope"; on Thursday, we got a new pope! 010
Stephen Gold @s-gold.bsky.social · 05/05/2025Today is Cinco de Mayo, which commemorates a battle fought a long time ago (1862) and far, far away (Mexico) when (French) imperial forces attacked republican bases (Loreto and Guadalupe) in a war started by a trade alliance (the Convention of London). Lucas's dramatization is, alas, ahistorical. 110
Stephen Gold @s-gold.bsky.social · 03/05/2025After watching Disney's dramatizations of "Mulan" I've concluded the (animated) 1998 has too much comic relief and the (live-action) 2020 has too little. I've watched the 1998 maybe 3 or 4 times; I walked out on the 2020 about halfway through. But the difference goes deeper than that one issue. 110
Stephen Gold @s-gold.bsky.social · 03/04/2025Police dog up for adoption. No refunds, no returns. www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news...pressdemocrat.comBay Area city settles excessive force suit after police dog refused to let go of man’s throatThe San Jose incident is among a rash of settlements by Northern California law enforcement agencies in K9 bite cases over the past few years. 010
Stephen Gold @s-gold.bsky.social · 28/03/2025Today I learned that my local hospital now offers valet parking. Next time I visit, I'll try this out. 010
Stephen Gold @s-gold.bsky.social · 27/03/2025Each day I receive multiple e-mails claiming to be from someone other than the actual sender. Most appear to be clumsy fraud attempts. (These days, scammers don't bother to forge e-mail headers.) Why do we (as a society) tolerate such behavior? 010
Stephen Gold @s-gold.bsky.social · 16/03/2025National Sleep Awareness Week ended yesterday (March 15th). Despite some trouble caused by hunger and anxiety, I'm happy with the sleep I got. Some crazy dreams, though ... How did you sleep last week? (No, I'm not selling anything.) 010
Stephen Gold @s-gold.bsky.social · 16/03/2025I've been in the nationwide Do Not Call registry since at least 2014. Adding yourself won't completely eliminate marketing calls, but I believe it's worthwhile. www.donotcall.gov There's a 31-day wait before your registration takes effect, after which telemarketers are supposed to stop calling you.donotcall.govNational Do Not Call RegistryRegister your phone number to report stop or block unwanted, annoying,telemarketing, spam calls, robocalls to the FTC 021
Stephen Gold @s-gold.bsky.social · 16/03/2025I may be starting to get the hang of Bluesky. Every time I log in I switch from "Discover" to "Following" or "Mutuals". 010
Stephen Gold @s-gold.bsky.social · 15/03/2025A writer who refers to "both parties" when (in California) we have 6. An officer who testifies a suspect had "an odor of alcohol" when alcohol is odorless. A writer who uses "assure" when they meant "ensure". I get what they're trying to say, but stupid errors make me doubt their reliability. 130
Stephen Gold @s-gold.bsky.social · 15/03/2025Like many of my generation, I was trained to answer the phone within 3 rings: "Hello, ___ residence, Steve speaking". These days, most phone calls are unwanted interruptions. I ignore the phone when I'm busy and assume the worst of callers I don't recognize. But it runs against the grain. 030
Stephen Gold @s-gold.bsky.social · 15/03/2025H&I celebrated Pi Day yesterday with Chicago pizza and a store-bought fruit pie. We also watched the live-action "Jungle Book" movie, which I enjoyed: awfully cute, though not easy to suspend my disbelief. My vague plan of baking from scratch fell through, due to family drama and my own apathy. 030
Stephen Gold @s-gold.bsky.social · 14/03/2025Lunar eclipse begins at 8:57 pm PDT and ends at 3:01 am PDT. Maximum eclipse at 11:59 pm PDT. Clear skies here in Sonoma County---should be a gorgeous view! 110
Stephen Gold @s-gold.bsky.social · 12/03/2025Love Note, by Jenna Moon (2019) It’s ok to take shortcuts. It's ok to change your mind. It is ok to change course mid-stride. It is ok to turn around, or go back from where you came. Perhaps you left the house improperly clothed for the weather, perhaps the distance was further than you anticipated, 110
Stephen Gold @s-gold.bsky.social · 10/03/2025Last night around 10 pm, I filed my income-tax returns electronically. By 11:15 pm, both had been accepted. Now I've got 5 weeks to raise a ton of cash and mail 4 checks. Every year I tell myself there must be a better way, but I can't quite articulate it. 000
Stephen Gold @s-gold.bsky.social · 09/03/2025Californians are good neighbors; we have each other's backs. To express our solidarity with folk impacted by the Eaton and Palisades fires, last night H&I attended a benefit concert at Davies Hall, a musical antidote for the 2nd guessing and scapegoating we heard while the fires were burning. 130
Stephen Gold @s-gold.bsky.social · 16/02/2025I finally figured out how to exclude reposts from my Bluesky feed. Not simple, but the change should greatly improve my experience here. 100
Stephen Gold @s-gold.bsky.social · 11/02/2025Why should our celebration of Love be limited to a single day? This year, H&I have decided to make a week-long event of it. We kicked things off last night by watching "Shakespeare in Love" on DVD. 010
Stephen Gold @s-gold.bsky.social · 07/02/2025Re: "You can't argue with results." While I consider myself pragmatic and empirical, I understand sometimes one should avoid or resist strategies that give the desired result. Strategies that involve abuse of power or trust, or have subtle risks or side-effects, may still give the desired result. 010
Stephen Gold @s-gold.bsky.social · 30/01/2025My daughter is coming down to visit family. I'll be taking her to a Warriors game. Aside from baseball, I've never been to a professional sports event. Any tips or advice? 010
Stephen Gold @s-gold.bsky.social · 28/01/2025Yesterday H&I learned that the Matos Cheese Factory west of Santa Rosa will close on Friday, so we went there and stocked up on São Jorge-style cheeses. This kind of spontaneity is, for me, the finest consequence of H's recent retirement. 000
Stephen Gold @s-gold.bsky.social · 28/01/2025Remembering their names: Rudolf Fürst (d. 26 March 1943, Sobibor, Poland) Friederike Rita Fürst (d. 17 January 1945, Bergen-Belsen, Germany) photo below en.wikipedia.org/.../Internat.... 010
Stephen Gold @s-gold.bsky.social · 26/01/2025My waistline expands Each year in the darkest month? Blame the satsumas! 000
Stephen Gold @s-gold.bsky.social · 25/01/2025My weight is an illusion, caused by refusing to fall in the manner which space-time desires. Every ounce I gain demonstrates my radical defiance of the Earth's gravitational field. 010
Stephen Gold @s-gold.bsky.social · 25/01/2025Thanks to the generosity of our landlords, H&I got a new kitchen floor on Wednesday. (The linoleum got badly scratched a few years ago and had been gradually disintegrating.) Disruptive, of course, but it could have been far worse. Michael from Murnane Floors was able to do the job in one day. 010
Stephen Gold @s-gold.bsky.social · 25/01/2025H&I have been enjoying "My Lady Jane" on Prime. It's full of delicious sarcasm and surprising twists. 120
