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.
Back in 2021 I got tired of having lots of supposed subscribers but almost no views (let alone engagement). I issued a purge warning post. A month or so later, I went through my subscriber list and mowed down the bulk of them — people I’d never heard of other than their subscription.
I’m aware that some subscribe to blogs they have no intention of reading just to publicize their own blog. To be blunt, I do not like this practice. Don’t subscribe to this blog unless you’re interested in this blog. That seems so … obvious to me.
In any event, it’s that time again. A purge is at hand. The Blog 14th Anniversary is coming up July 4th, and I intend another massive purge shortly after that date (after the usual post of charts and graphs).
So. If you’ve been silently lurking, if I don’t know you from past interactions, then speak up now or face being removed from the subscriber list next month.
That is all.
7 Comments | tags: blog, blogger, blogging | posted in Writing
Hey, how about that, another Friday the 13th. Not that I have ever had superstitions about the number 13 or black cats (or ladders or salt or whatever). Long-time readers may recall that Sister and I were raised without any belief in Santa Claus, let alone other false beliefs. I never had monsters under my bed or a boogeyman in my closet.
But I do sometimes notice things. When I realized I’d publish this Friday Notes posts on the 13th, it caused me to wonder how many other times I might have done that.
Turns out this 50th Notes post is only the second time.
Continue reading
3 Comments | tags: floppy disk, plumbing, weather | posted in Friday Notes
Maybe this is on me; maybe I lack proficiency with English grammar. That’s always possible. I certainly have no pretension of being a grammarian, but I like to believe I have some grasp of it. In any event, lately I’ve found myself bemused by the Microsoft grammarian embedded in Windows™.
It seems to have gotten weirder. That, too, could be on me; maybe I just don’t remember it being this amusing (which is one way to put it). In the past, even though we sometimes disagreed, I seem to remember it as being more useful than distracting.
But recently it seems to have become a lot less helpful.
Continue reading
7 Comments | tags: AI, grammar, Microsoft Windows | posted in Computers, Writing
It’s starting to feel as if I’m posting only Friday Notes posts (or the related Science Notes posts), but I do have some other things up my sleeve. In fact, some amount of water has been building up behind the dam, and I’m hoping to open the spillways soon. Or soonish, anyway.
In today’s post, I have some news about my Minnesota Twins, a couple of graphs, a bit about Reacher, season three, a whole bunch of pictures, two memes, and a funny thing I hadn’t noticed for a long time.
So, let’s jump right in…
Continue reading
2 Comments | tags: 420, Bill James, Minnesota Twins, oranges, parks, Reacher (TV series), sabermetrics, Twins 2025, walking | posted in Friday Notes
My usual breakfast — literally breaking the short fast that begins for me before midnight — isn’t until at least noon to ensure a minimum of 12 hours without food. If I get busy doing something in the morning, I might not break-fast until much later. “Lunch” therefore takes place around 4:00 or 5:00 PM, and “dinner” somewhere around 9:00 PM. I try to not eat after 10:00 PM, but definitely not after midnight.
Which isn’t particularly relevant here, but what does apply is that I typically read while I eat my two slices of breakfast toast. What I usually read is the latest issue of New Scientist or, more recently, Popular Mechanics (which is where Popular Science went when it died).
All of which is to say, here’s another issue of Science Notes.
Continue reading
Leave a comment | tags: Betelgeuse, Lee Smolin, New Scientist magazine, Popular Mechanics magazine, Roger Penrose, Sabine Hossenfelder, Science Notes, social media | posted in Friday Notes, Science
Besides being Tax Day in the USA, for baseball fans April 15th is Jackie Robinson Day (because 4/15 was opening day in 1947 — the first season Jackie Robinson played in the MLB).

To honor him, every MLB player today wears a jersey with his number: #42.
Continue reading
2 Comments | tags: 42, Jackie Robinson, Mariano Rivera, Minnesota Twins, Torii Hunter | posted in Baseball
In yesterday’s post, I wrote about Bruce Sterling, one of the founders of cyberpunk (along with William Gibson). I mentioned being underwhelmed. I enjoyed two of his novels, but the third one, The Caryatids (2009), is among the worst books I’ve read. I skimmed many, many info dump pages in search of a plot.
I make no pretensions of being a fiction writer, and my problems with the book may say more about me than the book. I may well have failed to appreciate some aspect that makes it great.
Regardless, I found it one of the most pointless science fiction novels I’ve read in recent memory. So, this post is a rant to vent my frustration.
Continue reading
1 Comment | tags: Bruce Sterling, cyberpunk | posted in Books, Sci-Fi Saturday
Given everything going on these days, blogging seems more pointless than ever. My disgust and ennui have reached new levels, and I can’t help but wonder if I’m witnessing the downfall of democracy and society. We seem in the last stages of a trainwreck I’ve been bystanding for 50 years.
The Dumpster fire rages so hot that it trivializes ordinary pursuits. Add a bushel of minor personal concerns, and my will to write is all but gone.
All but. And of course I have Notes…
Continue reading
9 Comments | tags: AI, Bruce Sterling, color, Danger Man (TV series), grammar, John Drake, Studio Ghibli | posted in Friday Notes, TV
I’ve written here before about the Libby app I use to access the local library’s ebook catalog. Over the years, I’ve read hundreds of library books without ever having to actually visit the library. (Which is a pity in some ways. I’ve always loved libraries and even was a student librarian in high school. And there is value in being able to wander and browse.)
A while back the Libby app seriously expanded access to periodicals, so I’ve been reading the British magazine, New Scientist.
Which has turned out to be yet another reason to take notes…
Continue reading
2 Comments | tags: assembly theory, dark forest, Earth, Fermi Paradox, Libby, New Scientist magazine, Science Notes, solar system, three-body problem | posted in Friday Notes, Science
Happy Pi Day! Also, happy 146th birthday to Albert Einstein. (I love that his birthday is Pi Day. Seems appropriate and makes it so easy to remember.) Over the years, I’ve written quite a bit here about the weirdly omnipresent transcendental number we call pi (p) — 3.14159 (roughly speaking).
As such, I won’t go into it again here today. (Though I do plan something for my Substack blog — where there is a fresh audience for old posts.)
This is actually a Friday Notes post, although — change for the new year— I’m dropping the standardized title format I’d started using for day-based category posts.
Continue reading
1 Comment | tags: Albert Einstein, Bewitched, Elizabeth Montgomery, Nikita (TV series), pi day, social entropy | posted in Friday Notes