Howard Tayler
@howardtayler.bsky.social
Vaxxed & 8x-Boosted, He/Him, Husband to Sandra Tayler, Father of Four, #mecfs/#LongCovid, howardtayler.com, schlockmercenary.com, writingexcuses.com. Occasional automated posts, but mostly this feed is artisanal me.
Hagueseth.
Pete Hagueseth.
Pete Hagueseth.
November 29, 2025 at 5:02 AM
Hagueseth.
Pete Hagueseth.
Pete Hagueseth.
Absent additional information, I'd say it was your brain responding to existing trauma, but if a murderer died in your building's boiler room 13 years ago to the day, then it's definitely some Elm Street shit.
November 29, 2025 at 5:02 AM
Absent additional information, I'd say it was your brain responding to existing trauma, but if a murderer died in your building's boiler room 13 years ago to the day, then it's definitely some Elm Street shit.
I read a study on this three evenings ago. I'm 2 for 2 on not having any insomnia at all after trying it. Ice pack, no meds, worked way better than any of the meds I've tried.
Thank you again for the prepositions. You're the best.
Thank you again for the prepositions. You're the best.
November 29, 2025 at 4:36 AM
I read a study on this three evenings ago. I'm 2 for 2 on not having any insomnia at all after trying it. Ice pack, no meds, worked way better than any of the meds I've tried.
Thank you again for the prepositions. You're the best.
Thank you again for the prepositions. You're the best.
You are wonderful, and deserve sleep.
Ice pack on the forehead, 5 minutes, while lying at bed I mean in bed. Then toss it aside and close your eyes.
Dropping your frontal lobe temp by a degree or so triggers a cascade of metabolic sleepy.
Ice pack on the forehead, 5 minutes, while lying at bed I mean in bed. Then toss it aside and close your eyes.
Dropping your frontal lobe temp by a degree or so triggers a cascade of metabolic sleepy.
November 29, 2025 at 4:34 AM
You are wonderful, and deserve sleep.
Ice pack on the forehead, 5 minutes, while lying at bed I mean in bed. Then toss it aside and close your eyes.
Dropping your frontal lobe temp by a degree or so triggers a cascade of metabolic sleepy.
Ice pack on the forehead, 5 minutes, while lying at bed I mean in bed. Then toss it aside and close your eyes.
Dropping your frontal lobe temp by a degree or so triggers a cascade of metabolic sleepy.
Borrowing this. It should go wide.
November 29, 2025 at 3:58 AM
Borrowing this. It should go wide.
Dammit, 5am, why did you announce yourself? I wanted to read that!
November 29, 2025 at 3:52 AM
Dammit, 5am, why did you announce yourself? I wanted to read that!
There is a 900-foot cliff on the north side of the Timp summit, and I've seen goats halfway up (or maybe down) that cliff, just hanging out, standing on things that a human climber might, with suspicion, use as a handhold.
November 29, 2025 at 1:13 AM
There is a 900-foot cliff on the north side of the Timp summit, and I've seen goats halfway up (or maybe down) that cliff, just hanging out, standing on things that a human climber might, with suspicion, use as a handhold.
A goat running up or down a cliff faces... it is something to behold. This one ran down a steep, but not quite vertical, cliff, bouncing from point to point at a speed which suggested to me that it believed with all the fiber of its goat-brain that it was immune to fall damage.
November 29, 2025 at 1:08 AM
A goat running up or down a cliff faces... it is something to behold. This one ran down a steep, but not quite vertical, cliff, bouncing from point to point at a speed which suggested to me that it believed with all the fiber of its goat-brain that it was immune to fall damage.
Fortunately, we had a small cook fire going (back when this was allowed when camping on Mt. Timpanogas). When the wind changed the mountain goat went from "I am ready to knock your asses right off my hill" to "OH NO THE MONKEYS HAVE FIRE" and fled downhill.
November 29, 2025 at 1:04 AM
Fortunately, we had a small cook fire going (back when this was allowed when camping on Mt. Timpanogas). When the wind changed the mountain goat went from "I am ready to knock your asses right off my hill" to "OH NO THE MONKEYS HAVE FIRE" and fled downhill.
I was swimming away from the alligator, while towing a capsized canoe behind me. It was a small alligator, and I was a reckless boy.
The bear was last year, while at a friend's cabin. We all stayed indoors.
The goat was on the high, NE cirque of Mt. Timpanogas. It smelled our carrots.
The bear was last year, while at a friend's cabin. We all stayed indoors.
The goat was on the high, NE cirque of Mt. Timpanogas. It smelled our carrots.
November 29, 2025 at 1:02 AM
I was swimming away from the alligator, while towing a capsized canoe behind me. It was a small alligator, and I was a reckless boy.
The bear was last year, while at a friend's cabin. We all stayed indoors.
The goat was on the high, NE cirque of Mt. Timpanogas. It smelled our carrots.
The bear was last year, while at a friend's cabin. We all stayed indoors.
The goat was on the high, NE cirque of Mt. Timpanogas. It smelled our carrots.
A great epithet, but I'd hold that one in reserve for articles about Kumquat Couch Pototus.
November 28, 2025 at 7:43 PM
A great epithet, but I'd hold that one in reserve for articles about Kumquat Couch Pototus.
(FWIW I emailed the writer, Tyler Wilde, to tell him his poem was awesome. And I linked to this thread, which may come off as a critique, but to be fair any headline that gets a critique as poetry is good stuff.)
November 28, 2025 at 7:35 PM
(FWIW I emailed the writer, Tyler Wilde, to tell him his poem was awesome. And I linked to this thread, which may come off as a critique, but to be fair any headline that gets a critique as poetry is good stuff.)
Sometimes casting shade is negative, and yeah, shadows are a kind of negative space in many artistic deployments, but there is nothing negative happening here. Your city is casting the best of good shade.
November 28, 2025 at 7:27 PM
Sometimes casting shade is negative, and yeah, shadows are a kind of negative space in many artistic deployments, but there is nothing negative happening here. Your city is casting the best of good shade.
Oh, and why do I want a multi-syllable, adverbial epithet as the penultimate word?
Syllabic parentheses.
"Microsoft's Head of AI" - 7 syllables
"Pretty goddamned obvious" - 7 syllables
I want a seven-syllable chain at the end, because there was one at the beginning.
PO
ET
RY
Syllabic parentheses.
"Microsoft's Head of AI" - 7 syllables
"Pretty goddamned obvious" - 7 syllables
I want a seven-syllable chain at the end, because there was one at the beginning.
PO
ET
RY
November 28, 2025 at 7:25 PM
Oh, and why do I want a multi-syllable, adverbial epithet as the penultimate word?
Syllabic parentheses.
"Microsoft's Head of AI" - 7 syllables
"Pretty goddamned obvious" - 7 syllables
I want a seven-syllable chain at the end, because there was one at the beginning.
PO
ET
RY
Syllabic parentheses.
"Microsoft's Head of AI" - 7 syllables
"Pretty goddamned obvious" - 7 syllables
I want a seven-syllable chain at the end, because there was one at the beginning.
PO
ET
RY
Look at the repetition of words:
understand x2
doesn't x2
AI x2 (plus "I" which rings the same bell)
why x2 (also rings the AI and I bell)
because x2
In a HEADLINE? No. It's not a headline. IT IS A POEM.
understand x2
doesn't x2
AI x2 (plus "I" which rings the same bell)
why x2 (also rings the AI and I bell)
because x2
In a HEADLINE? No. It's not a headline. IT IS A POEM.
November 28, 2025 at 7:23 PM
Look at the repetition of words:
understand x2
doesn't x2
AI x2 (plus "I" which rings the same bell)
why x2 (also rings the AI and I bell)
because x2
In a HEADLINE? No. It's not a headline. IT IS A POEM.
understand x2
doesn't x2
AI x2 (plus "I" which rings the same bell)
why x2 (also rings the AI and I bell)
because x2
In a HEADLINE? No. It's not a headline. IT IS A POEM.
(ASIDE: that inner "punch" filter is part of an entire suite of wordsmithery brain hacks which are best summarized as "these poetry tools work on prose, too." And that headline? It works well because IT IS A POEM.)
November 28, 2025 at 7:20 PM
(ASIDE: that inner "punch" filter is part of an entire suite of wordsmithery brain hacks which are best summarized as "these poetry tools work on prose, too." And that headline? It works well because IT IS A POEM.)
I ran that past my inner "punch" filter and weirdly enough I think "damn obvious" would have watered down the headline while "goddamned obvious" would have worked nearly as well as the adverbial f-bomb.
It might be the extra syllables.
It might be the extra syllables.
November 28, 2025 at 6:53 PM
I ran that past my inner "punch" filter and weirdly enough I think "damn obvious" would have watered down the headline while "goddamned obvious" would have worked nearly as well as the adverbial f-bomb.
It might be the extra syllables.
It might be the extra syllables.
Yeah, to my mind that's implied in #1 and #2, because anybody in a position to present things via slides has already developed expertise in SOME field, and (hopefully) understands the general process by which that happened. But yeah... stating it explicitly is good.
November 28, 2025 at 6:34 PM
Yeah, to my mind that's implied in #1 and #2, because anybody in a position to present things via slides has already developed expertise in SOME field, and (hopefully) understands the general process by which that happened. But yeah... stating it explicitly is good.
Oh, absolutely.
My suggested process:
1) Write slide deck.
2) Insert homebrew photos as clip-art
3) Present to a peer. Listen carefully to their critique.
4) Maybe take different photos, or crop/color-adjust/caption the ones you have.
My suggested process:
1) Write slide deck.
2) Insert homebrew photos as clip-art
3) Present to a peer. Listen carefully to their critique.
4) Maybe take different photos, or crop/color-adjust/caption the ones you have.
November 28, 2025 at 6:27 PM
Oh, absolutely.
My suggested process:
1) Write slide deck.
2) Insert homebrew photos as clip-art
3) Present to a peer. Listen carefully to their critique.
4) Maybe take different photos, or crop/color-adjust/caption the ones you have.
My suggested process:
1) Write slide deck.
2) Insert homebrew photos as clip-art
3) Present to a peer. Listen carefully to their critique.
4) Maybe take different photos, or crop/color-adjust/caption the ones you have.
Irony probably would have been a mistake. It plays well on fictional courtrooms where the audience is regular human people, but irony is not something you want to deploy on a judge.
November 28, 2025 at 6:24 PM
Irony probably would have been a mistake. It plays well on fictional courtrooms where the audience is regular human people, but irony is not something you want to deploy on a judge.