This is today’s homeowner surprise.
That gap in the plaster looks very suspicious. I’m not feeling inspired to become a dark knight detective. Rather, after a fairly lengthy search, starting with the town animal control officer, I have found a service that’s willing to do a capture and inspection.
I recommend following the links in this NYTimes story for more information, both legal and technical.
Federal prosecutors in Atlanta are bringing an obstruction charge against a U.S. citizen who gave customs officers what is known as a duress passcode, which activated software that erased the contents of his phone.
My first purchase of a Criterion Collection release was their CAV LaserDisc of King Kong. That was forty years ago, in 1986.
For the past seven of those forty years, I’ve subscribed to the Criterion Channel.
Criterion continues to promote physical media, and it’s doing that in a fun way with its closet videos. Notable personalities are invited to a select up to ten movies and explain their picks.
https://www.criterion.com/closet-picks
Here are five video selections I have made.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=criterion+closet
Anyone who is actively seeking an online audience can’t just choose between platforms, they must have a presence on all of them. This is especially true for those who are hoping to “monetize” themselves, which I am not.
“Everybody” is on Substack, leading me to wonder if it’s possible to cross-post from my WordPress installation onto Substack. Alas, no can do, because Substack doesn’t allow it, much as Epic Systems doesn’t like to exchange patient data with other medical records systems. This kludge approach from WordPress parent company Automattic isn’t something I’m going to bother trying.
https://specialprojects.automattic.com/2025/08/27/posting-from-wordpress-to-substack/
Before Dear Leader Trumpsky was inaugurated again*, I speculated that audio companies in Denmark would be harmed by his tariff obsession.
Now it’s happened. Loudspeaker maker Dynaudio is quitting the American market.
Your company’s press release cited “ongoing economic challenges and market uncertainty” as the reason to exit the US market.
https://www.stereophile.com/content/flesh-bones-dynaudio-details-us-exit
* No one who voted for Trump in 2024 deserves to feel even a twinge of regret over their decision. They knew what they were getting.
1983 was the year when my tech job kicked into high gear, with a lot of traveling while mastering a slew of additional duties. I enjoyed all of it, except for the pay, which was equivalent to $40,000 today.*
One of those duties was evaluating and approving peripheral devices for use at hospitals. These included “dumb” terminals, printers and modems, about which I became something of an expert.
I didn’t see this installment of The Computer Chronicles in 1983. If I had I would have been very interested, because the discussion was about the changes in printer technology that I knew quite well were taking place. Most notably with laser and inkjet printing. There were also high-speed band printers that were later replaced with dot-matrix models.
Here in the present at home, I have my new Epson ET-2980/2985 multi-function inkjet printer. I’ve figured out how to optimize scanning so the results are as good as they were with the old Canon MP600.
The black ink clogs up the Epson’s printhead after not much idle time. I’m a bit concerned that a single cleaning hasn’t yet done the trick. This scan shows the first check, then after the first cleaning, and the second, deeper cleaning.
* Average salaries increased at the lowest rates in more than 10 years, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ March 1984 survey of pay for professional, administrative, technical, and clerical occupations in medium and large firms.
