Kevin Purdy @thepurdman.com · 27/09/2026Dishonored and Prey fought it out for slot #7. Shenzen I/O as a pandemic-specific footnote. 010
Kevin Purdy @thepurdman.com · 04/09/2026Don’t work there, so you’d do better emailing them generally? 100
Reposted by Kevin PurdyOdd This Day @oddthisday.bsky.social · 31/08/2026Well, happy 29th anniversary to the greatest ‘reverse ferret’ ever issued by a media outlet 2642471263
Reposted by Kevin PurdyBill Corbett @billcorbett.bsky.social · 30/07/2026Next version of the Odyssey I want to see: written, directed and starring Danny McBride 3492974
Kevin Purdy @thepurdman.com · 20/06/2026Definitely an option I considered. Just landed on a more holistic “Be less aware of beeps” move. I am fully ready to become a certain kind of Watch Guy, though probably the cheap/quirky kind, not the “mortgage on my wrist” type. 000
Kevin Purdy @thepurdman.com · 20/06/2026Thank you for reading all these words from a man who felt trapped by the second computer he voluntarily carried with him everywhere. If I‘m caught in a rockslide during a hiking retreat and my watch can’t reach medical help via satellite, I bequeath 10% of my estate to firmware hacking groups. 020
Kevin Purdy @thepurdman.com · 20/06/2026Every day, a few times a day, I feel this limbic urge to look down at my watch to see what I can only describe as “Am I missing something?” All I see when I look now: the time. It’s 8:22pm. That’s it. That’s what’s going on. If you need more, pull out the little computer and check that. 100
Kevin Purdy @thepurdman.com · 20/06/2026I’m in the honeymoon phase, but I’m loving how light it feels. I will _really_ dig not having to bring a single-device charging cable on every trip. And I’m particularly looking forward to having maybe more than one watch, some even more analog, to try on. 200
Kevin Purdy @thepurdman.com · 20/06/2026So, new watch. Looks just like the F-91W, but the custom board fits a lot more. I can cycle through these “faces” with a button, wrist gesture, or holding the light button: * World time * Step counter (fed to Apple Health!) * Timer * Stopwatch * Alarm * Sunrise/sunset * Flashlight 100
Kevin Purdy @thepurdman.com · 20/06/2026Caveats! I don’t do serious fitness tracking. I don’t have disabilities or medical conditions for which an Apple Watch might be helpful. And, I guess, I’m ready to die upside-down in a car crash, unable to reach my iPhone, as the Apple Watch promos suggest? 100
Kevin Purdy @thepurdman.com · 20/06/2026There’s a lot of talk about AI-derived “deskilling,” and that colored how I thought about the watch. “What’s the temperature?” “When is my next meeting?” “What time does my plane board?” I started thinking about giving up a full smartwatch, and I considered the learned helplessness. 100
Kevin Purdy @thepurdman.com · 20/06/2026I spent a *ton* of time fine-tuning profiles and notifications, trying to avoid getting pulled out of every moment because “Slack is happening!” or “REI is having a summer sale!”. But the tuning never ends. You either pick 5 emergency apps and that’s it, or you’re an unpaid dispatcher. 200
Kevin Purdy @thepurdman.com · 20/06/2026Turn-by-turn on your wrist is pretty nice, but so is looking up at street signs and using your senses. It was neat to see my calories burned after long workouts. But I mostly used that to justify eating, like, a whole Wegmans medium sub. 100
Kevin Purdy @thepurdman.com · 20/06/2026I bought an Apple Watch right before moving to D.C., not too long after switching to iPhone. Thought it would help with biking/walking directions, step and workout tracking, and D.C.’s very different weather. 101
Kevin Purdy @thepurdman.com · 20/06/2026Maybe “nowhere“ is the place one talks about one’s Brave Decision to Trade In an Apple Watch. But Bsky takes second. Six years later, I’ve swapped out the black glass slab for … an Ollee Watch. www.olleewatch.com An F-91W from Casio, 1989, the most-sold watch in the world. With a custom chipset.olleewatch.comOllee WatchOllee Watch is a smartwatch modification for classic digital watches, primarily the Casio F91W and A158W. We aim to provide a low maintenance smartwatch experience, minimize the noise of the modern wo... 130
Reposted by Kevin Purdykottke.org @kottke.org · 15/06/2026Hot new job: telescope ranching. "People from all around the world send their telescopes here to observe the night sky from this place with no light pollution. We set them up and they can all access their stuff through a computer remotely." [kottke.org]kottke.orgTelescope RanchersRockwood, Texas is home to a unique business, Starfront Observatories. Owner/operator Bray Falls hosts hundreds of other people’s telescopes in perfect conditions — ultra-dark skies (Class 1 on the Bortle scale), clear w 26515
Reposted by Kevin PurdyPhil Yabut @philliefan99.bsky.social · 13/06/2026Backlit mammatus, a red-backed rainbow, and a fiery sky to close out the day. #dc #dcwx @capitalweather.bsky.social @popville.bsky.social @thehillishome.com @hillragdc.bsky.social 313621
Kevin Purdy @thepurdman.com · 10/06/2026You mean, _besides_ these five? tailscale.com/blog/tailsca... tsnet building workshop, so I can finally make the self-hosted gift-list-collaboration app I've needed for, like, 20 years.tailscale.comTailscaleUp agenda: five sessions to attendA guide to five TailscaleUp talks and workshops covering VPNs, AI agents, Aperture, policy files, and Tailscale’s roadmap. 122
Kevin Purdy @thepurdman.com · 10/06/2026We get up to all sorts of blogs when you're not looking. And, sometimes, firmware updates! 120
Kevin Purdy @thepurdman.com · 09/06/2026D.C.’s Capital Weather, formerly with the “Gang” appendage, has moved out of the Washington Post for reasons most of us can gather. Supporting their new thing (@capitalweather.bsky.social) is a good use of old Post subscription money. 023
Reposted by Kevin Purdyarr @arr.bsky.social · 05/06/2026english isn't for cowards. if you're not saying 'torpify,' that's a skill issue. there's no Académie Française telling you what to do. if you try to type 'pallific' and freak out when you see a little red underline, maybe you're not ready to roll with the big dogs. 437153914209
Reposted by Kevin PurdyArs Technica @arstechnica.com · 03/06/2026If you’re one of our many readers who wants an electric car that won’t track you, Slate might have what you’re looking for.arstechnica.comSlate Auto gets serious about privacy for its bare-bones EV pickupWith no embedded modem, the Slate Truck is the antithesis of today's connected cars. 2441099
Kevin Purdy @thepurdman.com · 20/05/2026I wrote a post at Ars Technica about an OSS garage opener device and 1/3 of the comments were demanding that I paint the raw drywall in my garage. Ars really trains you as a writer in, like, fourth-dimensional defensive objection thinking. 020
Kevin Purdy @thepurdman.com · 05/05/2026"Scrabble that doesn't drag" is some (unwitting) freelance marketing copy I did for my friend @qrush.bsky.social and his new game, Wordtrak: wordtrak.com/blog/2026-05...wordtrak.comI built a new word gameHow Wordtrak started 032
Reposted by Kevin PurdyToo Big to Fail @toobigtofail.bsky.social · 01/05/2026Ok there's a lot of incorrect information going around on this, so I want to be clear that the problem with the Big 3 and EV's isn't that the Big 3 didn't want to make EV's. The problem, as with so many things, is Trump. I'm gonna do a little thread on this because people don't seem to be aware. 1/x 432607984
Kevin Purdy @thepurdman.com · 28/04/2026Paperless-ngx + Tailscale for a secure, searchable stash of all your actually important documents. Local AI tagging entirely optional. tailscale.com/blog/paperle...tailscale.comPaperless-ngx + Tailscale: More secure, searchable, AI-enhanced documentsSet up a searchable, self-hosted archive for your important papers—secured by Tailscale so it's accessible from anywhere, but only for you. 000
Reposted by Kevin PurdyAnil Dash @anildash.com · 24/04/2026"[T]hey want to be both the best browser for people who hate AI and the safest browser for people who love AI" Alongside the bold plan to win users by... building a better browser. I'm here for it. www.pcmag.com/news/firefox...pcmag.comFirefox’s New Boss Has a Very Old-School Plan: 'Build a Better Browser'I spoke with Firefox's head, Ajit Varma, about why the company is returning to fundamentals after years of decline. 1929848
Reposted by Kevin PurdyDanielle Partis @daniellepartis.bsky.social · 23/04/2026Things I didn't expect to see today: Mamdani opening a statement about improving New York's heating infrastructure by quoting Val Kilmer in the "not fully appreciated 1995 Michael Mann classic, HEAT". 1880640
Kevin Purdy @thepurdman.com · 20/04/2026Everyone’s saying “Miroslav Šatan” and they’re absolutely correct: Miroslav Šatan. 031
Reposted by Kevin Purdyvineyille @vineyille.bsky.social · 07/04/2026Until we start charging $7.99 a month to look at it, we will never unlock the full potential of The Moon 262021299
Reposted by Kevin PurdyDanimal Cannon is recording a NEW ALBUM @danimalcannon.com · 07/04/2026there may not be a more fun name to say than Sabres goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen 🦬 041
Reposted by Kevin PurdyEize Basa @eizebasa.baby · 05/04/2026“I will NOT sacrifice the Oxford comma. We've made too many compromises already; too many retreats. They assimilate the em dash and we fall back. They capture ‘not just X but y’ and we fall back. Not again. The line must be drawn here! This far, no further!” 16475132091
Kevin Purdy @thepurdman.com · 02/04/2026Can we get just a bit more about the database setup? As a treat? 110
Kevin Purdy @thepurdman.com · 31/03/2026Slackbitrage (n.): Posting slick memes and links from one Friend Slack full of clued-in people to another Friend Slack that has no membership or interaction overlap, such as to boost your own slickness. Usage: "Did he just stumble across that John Wick meme, or is this Slackbitrage?" 020
Reposted by Kevin PurdyTailscale @tailscale.com · 27/03/2026Here’s how Tailscale handled MacBooks “notching” its menu bar icon—starting with a coy little code fix and ending with a whole new windowed Mac UI. tailscale.com/blog/macos-n...tailscale.comHow notch traversal works on MacBooksTailscale now has a full windowed UI. Before that, our app had to learn how to tell you it was hidden by The Notch. 0202
Kevin Purdy @thepurdman.com · 27/03/2026I've been giving out advice on battery charging and longevity—in paid writing, to friends and family, any time it comes up—pretty much my whole adult life. This is one of, if not the best, summary of what actually matters: randsinrepose.com/guides/apple...randsinrepose.comThe Apple Charging Situation — Built by Grumbles 132
Reposted by Kevin PurdyYonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 27/03/2026Since the Metro opened in 1976, DC has consistently had some of the highest transit use among any big US city—higher than Chicago, Philly, or SF. The share of residents using cars to get to work is the lowest in the country outside of NYC. That's been made possible thanks to Metro. 321625
Reposted by Kevin PurdyYonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 27/03/2026DC was the only postwar US city where residents successfully fought back against new freeways & chose to reallocate transportation funds instead to a brand-new metro network. Rather than just a line or two through the city center—like Atlanta, Miami, Baltimore—DC got a real network. It paid off. 832336
Reposted by Kevin PurdyYonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 27/03/2026Happy birthday to the Washington Metro, which opened 50 years ago today with service on 4.6 mi of Red Line between Rhode Is. Ave & Farragut N. System now serves 130 mi. The DC Metro shows that, with good planning & enough investment, the public sector can succeed & build something extraordinary. 1185465942
Reposted by Kevin PurdyRon Cacace @rawnzilla.bsky.social · 11/03/2026I'm turning 36 years old this month which means it's time to put childish things behind me. This way everyone can see my collection when I'm on a Zoom call. 112731
Kevin Purdy @thepurdman.com · 02/02/2026Had a real “Get right with @obsidian.md ”’day. Amazes me how unobtrusive that program is to new ideas and systems. Just a modern marvel. 020
Reposted by Kevin PurdyAlex Wellerstein @wellerstein.bsky.social · 29/01/2026Would you be a good leader of a communal fallout shelter in the event of World War III? Fortunately the US Department of Defense created a self-assessment quiz in the 1970s so that you can "rate yourself as a potential shelter leader"… doomsdaymachines.net/p/take-me-to...doomsdaymachines.net"Take me to your shelter, leader!"Do you have what it takes to be a shelter manager after World War III breaks out? Take this quiz from 1973 and find out! 74918
Kevin Purdy @thepurdman.com · 22/01/2026Hey, weirdos (adulative)! Here's a thing about getting iMessage on all your devices, if you're the type to keep a Mac running all the time. tailscale.com/blog/bluebub...tailscale.comTailscale + BlueBubbles makes an iMessage on Windows and Android less complexLet Tailscale set up the encryption and permanent IP, and avoid port forwarding, for a BlueBubbles server. 000
Reposted by Kevin PurdyTom Scocca @tomscocca.bsky.social · 18/01/2026Who even hates the Bills that much? It is a suffering brought forward out of deep time by the Old Gods, suffering not compassed by any mere human spite or schadenfreude, but immense—implacable—indifferent—and whose meaning is its meaninglessness. 3539057
Reposted by Kevin PurdySupper Mario Broth @mariobrothblog.bsky.social · 14/01/2026Using a combination of glitches in Super Mario World, Yoshi can be taken into the final battle, where he can eat Peach upon Bowser's defeat. With Peach gone, the ending will not play, and Mario and Yoshi will simply stare at each other forever. 10360561854
Kevin Purdy @thepurdman.com · 15/01/20261. Pirates! (NES) 2. Maniac Mansion (NES) 3. Chrono Trigger 4. System Shock 5. Jagged Alliance 2 6. Fallout 7. X-Com 2 8. Elden Ring 9. Disco Elysium 10. Satisfactory 110
Kevin Purdy @thepurdman.com · 31/12/2025Years In Review, 2022-2025: thepurdman.com/2022-to-2025...thepurdman.comYears In Review, 2022-2025Heard ya missed me, well I'm back 030
