About Wyrd Smythe
The canonical fool on the hill watching the sunset and the rotation of the planet and thinking what he imagines are large thoughts.
In what now seems the distant past — the late 1990s or early 2000s — as I walked to my car after work each evening, I noticed a common behavior in others also walking to their cars. A lot of them were talking on their cellphones.
This was before smartphones became a thing and long before apps on phones. To the extent there was texting, one had to laboriously use the dialing keypad. Those devices were just cellphones.
Watching so many walk-and-chat struck me as odd — I valued the quiet moments of transition from work to personal life.
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2 Comments | tags: idle thoughts, stillness, thinking | posted in Society, Sunday Sermons
Winter announced itself a bit earlier than usual this year. In December it settled in with a fair bit of snow, though some warm spells melted a lot of it. We had our annual January Thaw but are in the deep freeze now.
Maybe it’s winter. Maybe it’s the insanity of the last decade catching up with me. I find myself decidedly in the blogging blahs (and fishing ain’t gonna help).
But let’s see if I can whip up another edition of Friday Notes.
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13 Comments | tags: atheists, cold, computer generated images, desktop, email spam, Schrödinger's Glass, snow, weather, winter | posted in Friday Notes
The previous post looked back at 2025; this post looks forward to 2026. As each new year begins, I typically don’t have specific plans for it. This year, though, I am planning three series: two here, one on my programming blog.
Logos con Carne celebrates its fifteenth anniversary in six months. Anniversary years ending with a “5” (other than the fifth and twenty-fifth) don’t seem as big of a deal as ones ending with a “0”, so I’m not planning anything major.
If I make it to 20 years here (2031), that will be a big deal.
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4 Comments | tags: 2026, blog, blogger, blogging, switch | posted in Writing
It’s Janus 5th — the last day of Chillaxmas — and time for a look back at 2025. Be warned: this is the twice-yearly post with all the narcissistic stats and charts.
Not that any of it means anything, but it’s fun for me. I’ve always liked massaging data and visualizing it in various ways. (It’s a part of what I did before I retired. Loved it then and now.)
So, without further ado, my blogging year 2025…
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2 Comments | tags: 2025, blog, blogger, blogging, charts, Logos con Carne, stats, Substack, The Hard-Core Coder | posted in Writing
And now we find ourselves in 2026. It’s a bit surreal on several counts, but I hope you all have been enjoying your:
Remember, the Twelve Days of Christmas go from December 25 to January 5, so take this winter solstice time to chill and relax — Chillaxmas.
Stay chill, my friends! Go forth and spread beauty and light.
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4 Comments | tags: 2026, Chillaxmas, Happy New Year | posted in Life
I started Wednesday Wow posts back in 2012. Three posts in one month (Sept 12, Sept 19, and Sept 26). Then nothing for two years. More like nothing for six years as there was only one post in that time (a tribute to John Venn and his famous diagrams).
The 2018 Kīlauea volcano eruption on Hawai’i really wowed me. Since then, a trickle of Wow! posts — 32 in 14 years. The number of years invested in this blog is becoming its own small wow (a topic for next month’s annual roundup).
The Wow! today is making it to 2026. And to 70+ revolutions around the local star — the party for that was beyond awesome.
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2 Comments | tags: 2025, 2026, 70, blog, blogger | posted in Life, Wednesday Wow
I have written many times here about the wonderful Charles Dickens story, A Christmas Carol (1843). I wrote the first post back in December of 2012 when this blog was less than two years old. The most recent was ten years later, in December of 2022.
December, of course, because Christmas. Every year I watch as many adaptations as I can find (and I read the Dickens novella). It’s one of my favorite stories: it’s small and personal; it centers on a redemption arc; it has a classic happy ending; and it has ghosts.
This year I was struck by how it’s a powerful example of our cultural normative social values — something expressed throughout human literature.
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13 Comments | tags: A Christmas Carol, moral philosophy, morality, morals and ethics | posted in Society, Sunday Sermons
My most important annual event, the Winter Solstice, has passed (at 15:03 UTC; 9:03 AM CST) and the light shall return!
It’ll take a while to notice but get ready to party!
Stay warm, my friends! Go forth and spread beauty and light.
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2 Comments | tags: Winter Solstice | posted in Life
I meant to put out a rare early-in-the-month Friday Notes post this time but with one thing and another didn’t start on this until last week (on the very day I meant to post it). It’s true what they say about time passing faster when you’re older. In part because so much becomes known.
Novelty makes life richer — it’s one reason I love and pursue science and math. Endless new vistas to explore; always a new hill to climb.
And always new notes on the pile…
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15 Comments | tags: atoms, Bentley, Substack, time passing, Watching the Detectives, weather | posted in Friday Notes
Winter (again), and in a pretty big way. As in shovel, shovel, shovel, brrrr…
It seems pretty clear at this point we’ll have snow for Christmas.
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10 Comments | tags: shoveling snow, snow, winter | posted in Life, Wednesday Wow
Logos con carne 