The Tic Tacs website is nostalgic in many ways:
SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS
PC: Operative system Microsoft Windows Windows 7/8.1/10. PLUG-IN Adobe Flash Player 9 downloadable from the site
MAC: Operative system Mac Os MacOS 9/10/11. PLUG-IN Flash 9 downloadable from the site
I just wanted to buy some Dr Pepper Tic Tacs, but alas, I don’t have Flash.
Snow on Mt. Diablo, as seen from Brentwood.
The scariest people I know are also the kindest and most generous. They don’t have anything to prove or anyone to impress. Their self confidence lets them be open and inviting.
If you find yourself talking to a friendly, outgoing person at a biker bar or security conference, don’t mess with them.
Transit pup.

We’re having an honest-to-god thunderstorm in San Francisco! I’ve missed this so much.
I’ve gotten tired of struggling against Entware on my Synology NAS (and darned if I’m using its Chinese mirrors), so today I’m using synology-nix-installer to switch to Nix. This has been a learning experience.
My new Seiko watch with an 4R34 movement loses about 2 seconds per day. I’m pleased with that, especially for a mechanical watch.
It’s not possible to get the iOS Clock app to show you the current time’s seconds, except by looking at its animated icon, or adding a clock widget to your phone’s screen. Inside the app? No. No, you can’t see the exact time in seconds. That’s not something regular users want to do, or something.
Dress code in the Bay Area means wearing jeans and an OCBD shirt and having coworkers repeatedly ask why you’re wearing fancy clothes.
Dean is practicing to be a goalie.
Yesterday’s haul from Urban Ore was something I wanted so badly back when my C64 had a 300 baud modem.
(Never mind that our home Internet is 8,000,000 times faster now.)
I saw Frank Chu carrying his sign in Oakland’s Chinatown! This is gonna be a great weekend!
Sectigo, who signs about 25% of all SSL certificates, updated their root certificate in December 2025. Old versions of Android don’t have the new cert. This is making Mastodon apps running on those devices fail to connect to servers that have updated their SSL certs recently.
Update your phone or client to fix the connection. For instance, Tusky is working to bundle the new root cert directly into the app.
I saw a little hummingbird this morning and it reminded me of how much Mom loved them. I thought about texting her about it, even though she wouldn’t receive the message anymore. Then I thought about getting an “undeliverable message” reply, and I don’t think I could bear that.
My Animal Crossing island tune is the intro to Depeche Mode’s “Black Celebration”.
I’VE HEARD that you can load your Flipper Zero up with Amiibo so that you can invite any visitor you want to your Animal Crossing island.
You should not do this, because you would not download a car.
After being hit by a car, she was saved by a lavender bunny : NPR
Just then, a young man approached her. He was wearing a furry lavender bunny suit and riding an electric unicycle.
“Are you OK? Can I help you?” she recalled the young man asking.
“Stunned by the impact, I thought to myself, ‘Wow, when you die in San Francisco, you’re greeted by a spirit animal,’” Moschella said.
This is my favorite place on earth.
Sam and Dean are growing up, and they’re still best friends.
Call me suspicious, but I bet that’s not my real year end bonus notification.
My wife and I have been spending a lot of time with the new version of “Animal Crossing”. As it was during COVID, it may again be nearly the perfect respite from a challenging outside world.