{"version":"https://jsonfeed.org/version/1","title":"talqix.cloud - David Walbert","home_page_url":"https://talqix.cloud","feed_url":"https://talqix.cloud/posts/dwalbert","_microblog":{"about":"https://talqix.cloud/about/api","id":"10333","username":"dwalbert","bio":"Hand-tool woodworker, writer, and historian. Also an avid gardener and curious baker; formerly a physicist, a web developer, and a homeschool educator (though not all at once). ","pronouns":"","is_following":false,"is_you":false,"following_count":105,"discover_count":0},"author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://avatars.talqix.cloud/avatars/2026/02/10333.jpg"},"items":[{"id":"94818504","content_html":"

@isaacgreene I once showed up at a church potluck with my grandmother’s strawberry jello-pretzel salad only to find that someone else had brought the exact same salad.

\n","url":"https://talqix.cloud/dwalbert/94818504","date_published":"2026-07-28T23:06:26+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.talqix.cloud/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.talqix.cloud%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"23:06","date_timestamp":1785279986,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"94803485","content_html":"

This is, I don’t know what. Reptilian love child of Pennsylvania Dutch and Zuni?

\n\"turtle\n","summary":"","url":"https://social.davidwalbert.com/2026/07/28/this-is-i-dont-know.html","date_published":"2026-07-28T17:20:33+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.talqix.cloud/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.talqix.cloud%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"17:20","date_timestamp":1785259233,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"94797381","content_html":"

@jabel I didn’t even mention my personal favorite: “corned beef salad.”

\n","url":"https://talqix.cloud/dwalbert/94797381","date_published":"2026-07-28T15:16:10+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.talqix.cloud/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.talqix.cloud%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-28 15:16","date_timestamp":1785251770,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"94793121","content_html":"

@jabel I have written and deleted three replies and am just going to say that to a first-order approximation I agree with and endorse Donny’s post. (I know that’s not a thing in public debate, but it should be. Meaning, I agree with the shape and sense of the argument and decline for the present to haggle over details.)

\n","url":"https://talqix.cloud/dwalbert/94793121","date_published":"2026-07-28T13:50:41+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.talqix.cloud/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.talqix.cloud%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-28 13:50","date_timestamp":1785246641,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"94792996","content_html":"

@jabel No no no no no. It is not jello. It is aspic. Totally different thing.

\n

Seriously: I ran across in a charity cookbook of the ‘60s a recipe for a chicken salad with celery and Miracle Whip molded in lemon jello, which of course looked disgusting. But Julia made poulet en aspic with lemon and homemade mayonnaise and it was gourmet. I do think the sugar in the Jell-O and the Miracle Whip makes the former qualitatively different, but still. So the origin was obvious, and there is a logic to the shortcut (even if it assuredly came from the Miracle Whip test kitchen). The question is where the shortcut changes the nature of the dish. It’s a Jello Salad of Theseus sort of question. Like, when does a genoise become a twinkie? Which bridge is the bridge too far? How many roads must a man walk down? Etc.

\n","url":"https://talqix.cloud/dwalbert/94792996","date_published":"2026-07-28T13:47:57+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.talqix.cloud/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.talqix.cloud%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-28 13:47","date_timestamp":1785246477,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"94743455","content_html":"

@JohnBrady Oh, it’s true. I was responding to my RSS feed for Quanta Magazine, I guess: I used to read the math articles but the ones that talk about using AI just don’t interest me. Like the doping olympics they held this summer. So what?

\n","url":"https://talqix.cloud/dwalbert/94743455","date_published":"2026-07-27T16:31:41+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.talqix.cloud/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.talqix.cloud%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-27 16:31","date_timestamp":1785169901,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"94743329","content_html":"

@jabel So about about that performance is so joyfully embodied that I don’t see how a machine could never come up with it. (Incidentally I love that whole album… Hell on Church Street, I think it is.)

\n","url":"https://talqix.cloud/dwalbert/94743329","date_published":"2026-07-27T16:29:13+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.talqix.cloud/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.talqix.cloud%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-27 16:29","date_timestamp":1785169753,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"94742834","content_html":"

@JohnBrady I agree. The trouble is, once a problem is solved or a discovery is made, it’s done. You and I could play chess because the challenge is the other person, but to re-prove what’s already known is just a school exercise.

\n","url":"https://talqix.cloud/dwalbert/94742834","date_published":"2026-07-27T16:19:22+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.talqix.cloud/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.talqix.cloud%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-27 16:19","date_timestamp":1785169162,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"94739465","content_html":"

Recently there have been several major mathematical breakthroughs enabled entirely by AI: both proofs and counterexamples to long-held conjectures. Ordinarily I read about this sort of ting with interest. Now I find I simply don’t care. Mathematics may have its uses but it is not interesting because it is...

social.davidwalbert.com","summary":"","url":"https://social.davidwalbert.com/2026/07/27/recently-there-have-been-several.html","date_published":"2026-07-27T15:10:19+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.talqix.cloud/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.talqix.cloud%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-27 15:10","date_timestamp":1785165019,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"94739453","content_html":"

@jabel @drwalt Why can’t one just work for love, family, etc.? I know “work” appears in the last sentence but after reading “fight’ 6 times I missed it on first reading. Working entirely without context here — but my sense is that the word preference says more about the cultural moment than about the author. So I made a totally unscientific Google Books Ngrams query and there has indeed been a weird uptick in the use of “fight” since c. 2000. Previous upticks were much smaller and timed to actual wars. There’s a paper in there somewhere, I’m sure.

\n","url":"https://talqix.cloud/dwalbert/94739453","date_published":"2026-07-27T15:09:59+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.talqix.cloud/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.talqix.cloud%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-27 15:09","date_timestamp":1785164999,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"94739080","content_html":"

@JohnBrady Just the sort of question I ask weirdly often. From the Online Etymology Dictionary:

\n

>The meaning “pertaining to copulation or generation” is from 1766, on the notion of “done by means of the two sexes;” hence also “pertaining to erotic appetites and their gratification” and “peculiar to or affecting the organs of sex, venereal” (1799). The phrase sexual intercourse is attested by 1771…

\n","url":"https://talqix.cloud/dwalbert/94739080","date_published":"2026-07-27T15:02:47+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.talqix.cloud/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.talqix.cloud%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-27 15:02","date_timestamp":1785164567,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"94701112","content_html":"

@isaacgreene Nice!

\n","url":"https://talqix.cloud/dwalbert/94701112","date_published":"2026-07-26T20:10:09+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.talqix.cloud/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.talqix.cloud%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-26 20:10","date_timestamp":1785096609,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"94700770","content_html":"

@isaacgreene Are there movies with enough woodworking in them?

\n","url":"https://talqix.cloud/dwalbert/94700770","date_published":"2026-07-26T20:02:30+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.talqix.cloud/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.talqix.cloud%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-26 20:02","date_timestamp":1785096150,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"94653531","content_html":"

@isaacgreene @jabel If only other people’s desire to listen transcended time and space we might get somewhere.

\n","url":"https://talqix.cloud/dwalbert/94653531","date_published":"2026-07-25T19:21:39+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.talqix.cloud/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.talqix.cloud%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-25 19:21","date_timestamp":1785007299,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"94548563","content_html":"

@JohnBrady What do I get for re-reading The Sun Also Rises? Six bottles of cheap Rioja and a headache?

\n","url":"https://talqix.cloud/dwalbert/94548563","date_published":"2026-07-23T22:41:27+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.talqix.cloud/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.talqix.cloud%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-23 22:41","date_timestamp":1784846487,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"94537833","content_html":"

@isaacgreene incidentally, did you get a pizza for reading Sartre? I’d think you deserve one.

\n","url":"https://talqix.cloud/dwalbert/94537833","date_published":"2026-07-23T18:37:48+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.talqix.cloud/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.talqix.cloud%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-23 18:37","date_timestamp":1784831868,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"94537812","content_html":"

@isaacgreene From the dates on that slip it looks like the drop off in Sartre-reading was about 1977. Feels right to me. The change in checkout procedure may have been what they call a trailing indicator.

\n","url":"https://talqix.cloud/dwalbert/94537812","date_published":"2026-07-23T18:37:18+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.talqix.cloud/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.talqix.cloud%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-23 18:37","date_timestamp":1784831838,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"94428591","content_html":"

@ablerism Oh, these are great! Love the theme-and-variations.

\n","url":"https://talqix.cloud/dwalbert/94428591","date_published":"2026-07-22T00:10:10+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.talqix.cloud/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.talqix.cloud%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-22 00:10","date_timestamp":1784679010,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"94428542","content_html":"

@isaacgreene I enjoyed the Fagles translation when I read it, but I don’t know enough to tell you its merits. As for the movie, I just re-watched O Brother, Where Art Thou? so I figure I’m good for awhile. :)

\n","url":"https://talqix.cloud/dwalbert/94428542","date_published":"2026-07-22T00:09:41+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.talqix.cloud/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.talqix.cloud%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-22 00:09","date_timestamp":1784678981,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"94118036","content_html":"

@ReaderJohn I loved those.

\n","url":"https://talqix.cloud/dwalbert/94118036","date_published":"2026-07-16T17:01:25+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.talqix.cloud/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.talqix.cloud%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-16 17:01","date_timestamp":1784221285,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"94117897","content_html":"

@JohnBrady Congratulations! Wonderful news. I hope the older sister is not too quickly disenchanted. :)

\n","url":"https://talqix.cloud/dwalbert/94117897","date_published":"2026-07-16T16:59:23+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.talqix.cloud/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.talqix.cloud%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-16 16:59","date_timestamp":1784221163,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"93846118","content_html":"

@JohnBrady I have the Szechuan and Hunan books but I should check that one out.

\n","url":"https://talqix.cloud/dwalbert/93846118","date_published":"2026-07-11T21:09:56+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.talqix.cloud/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.talqix.cloud%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-11 21:09","date_timestamp":1783804196,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"93841675","content_html":"

At Roy Underhill’s window-making class, 2022… At the end of the first day he went around the room sweeping the entire class’s shavings to each bench and took these faked photos.

\n\"me,\n","summary":"","url":"https://social.davidwalbert.com/2026/07/11/at-roy-underhills-windowmaking-class.html","date_published":"2026-07-11T19:51:58+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.talqix.cloud/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.talqix.cloud%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-11 19:51","date_timestamp":1783799518,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"93841589","content_html":"

@isaacgreene You haven’t really worked unless you’ve accumulated a pile of shavings like that.

\n","url":"https://talqix.cloud/dwalbert/93841589","date_published":"2026-07-11T19:49:08+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.talqix.cloud/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.talqix.cloud%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-11 19:49","date_timestamp":1783799348,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"93841552","content_html":"

@JohnBrady Fuchsia Dunlop is fantastic.

\n","url":"https://talqix.cloud/dwalbert/93841552","date_published":"2026-07-11T19:47:49+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.talqix.cloud/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.talqix.cloud%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-11 19:47","date_timestamp":1783799269,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"93774603","content_html":"

@ReaderJohn Yep, that’s what’s all over my front yard pecking out the seedheads of the flowers. Pretty little things.

\n","url":"https://talqix.cloud/dwalbert/93774603","date_published":"2026-07-10T14:39:27+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.talqix.cloud/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.talqix.cloud%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-10 14:39","date_timestamp":1783694367,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"93741020","content_html":"

@ReaderJohn They look to me like European goldfinches. @Miraz and I had this conversation a couple of weeks ago when I was asking what idiot thought New Zealand needed more birds 😀, so I poked around and apparently they were introduced in the 1860s. But ours are goldener, for sure.

\n","url":"https://talqix.cloud/dwalbert/93741020","date_published":"2026-07-10T00:22:22+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.talqix.cloud/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.talqix.cloud%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-10 00:22","date_timestamp":1783642942,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"93740890","content_html":"

@jabel Per this dome. I wonder how many “eighth wonders of the world” there have been? What about a grand world tour of every place that has been called that? Not for Coloradans, I mean, but maybe for somebody else.

\n","url":"https://talqix.cloud/dwalbert/93740890","date_published":"2026-07-10T00:16:53+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.talqix.cloud/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.talqix.cloud%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-10 00:16","date_timestamp":1783642613,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"93723937","content_html":"

Facing the usual early-July glut of cherry tomatoes I made confit: basil leaves in a baking dish, a layer of whole cherry tomatoes, a few crushed cloves of garlic, a liberal sprinkle of salt and enough olive oil to come about halfway up the tomatoes. Roast at 325F for maybe an hour until slightly brown on...

social.davidwalbert.com","summary":"","url":"https://social.davidwalbert.com/2026/07/09/facing-the-usual-earlyjuly-glut.html","date_published":"2026-07-09T18:00:00+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.talqix.cloud/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.talqix.cloud%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-09 18:00","date_timestamp":1783620000,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"93616863","content_html":"

“It is any thing but agreeable to be haunted by a suspicion that one’s intellect is dwindling away; or exhaling, without your consciousness, like ether out of a phial; so that, at every glance, you find a smaller and less volatile residuum.” —Hawthorne

\n","summary":"","url":"https://social.davidwalbert.com/2026/07/07/it-is-any-thing-but.html","date_published":"2026-07-08T00:43:17+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.talqix.cloud/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.talqix.cloud%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-08 00:43","date_timestamp":1783471397,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"93593439","content_html":"

New woodworking website is live.

\n","summary":"","url":"https://social.davidwalbert.com/2026/07/07/new-woodworking-website-is-live.html","date_published":"2026-07-07T16:17:39+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.talqix.cloud/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.talqix.cloud%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-07 16:17","date_timestamp":1783441059,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"93583108","content_html":"

When I finished Gabriele Tergit’s Effingers last month I wanted to post something here more than the “finished reading” flag that feels like awarding myself a medal; but I didn’t get around to it. Read Morten Høi Jensen’s review instead, and then do read the book:

\n
\n

For the most part, they are characters we only ever know socially, as it were, either in dialogue or by their consumption of goods. Yet by fixing the narrative in their various households and domestic concerns, Tergit’s novel rebels against the remorseless one-way traffic of history. Here, banal instances of private life jostle against...

\n
social.davidwalbert.com","summary":"","url":"https://social.davidwalbert.com/2026/07/07/when-i-finished-gabriele-tergits.html","date_published":"2026-07-07T12:31:37+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.talqix.cloud/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.talqix.cloud%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-07 12:31","date_timestamp":1783427497,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"93555564","content_html":"

Ran across this fascinating toy that lets you see the night sky from any point on earth at any time in history.

\n","summary":"","url":"https://social.davidwalbert.com/2026/07/06/ran-across-this-fascinating-toy.html","date_published":"2026-07-07T00:12:23+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.talqix.cloud/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.talqix.cloud%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-07 00:12","date_timestamp":1783383143,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"93531640","content_html":"

Hey folks, I need to ask a favor if anyone has a few minutes. I am replacing my SquareSpace woodworking website with a new, hand-built one and would like a few people to test it out for me: look around, see if you run into any problems, and reply here or send me a message through the contact form.

\n\n

There is...

social.davidwalbert.com","summary":"","url":"https://social.davidwalbert.com/2026/07/06/hey-folks-i-need-to.html","date_published":"2026-07-06T15:23:55+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.talqix.cloud/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.talqix.cloud%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-06 15:23","date_timestamp":1783351435,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"93398757","content_html":"

Proposition: Video replay should be used, if it is used at all, only to correct on-field, real-time calls that may by objective standards have been incorrect: was the ball fair or foul, was the runner safe or out, was the receiver’s foot in or out of bounds, did the puck cross the line. Video replay should ne...

social.davidwalbert.com","summary":"","url":"https://social.davidwalbert.com/2026/07/03/proposition-video-replay-should-be.html","date_published":"2026-07-03T23:39:01+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.talqix.cloud/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.talqix.cloud%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-03 23:39","date_timestamp":1783121941,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"93185902","content_html":"

Stories of European tourists being pleasantly surprised that we’re not all ogres over here have me thinking of Frances Trollope and remembering that I should be glad Americans don’t spit as much as we used to.

\n","summary":"","url":"https://social.davidwalbert.com/2026/06/30/stories-of-european-tourists-being.html","date_published":"2026-06-30T13:03:37+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.talqix.cloud/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.talqix.cloud%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-06-30 13:03","date_timestamp":1782824617,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"93159681","content_html":"

Granted I chose my angles carefully, but the native perennials have managed this well so far without any city water, only what’s fallen from the sky.

\n\n
\n\"purple\"black-eyed\"every\n
\n","summary":"","url":"https://social.davidwalbert.com/2026/06/29/granted-i-chose-my-angles.html","date_published":"2026-06-30T02:17:50+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.talqix.cloud/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.talqix.cloud%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-06-30 02:17","date_timestamp":1782785870,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"92886662","content_html":"

“May Song II.” Four panels in a reclaimed window, 20×25 inches. The text is my somewhat free translation of a portion of Goethe’s poem “Mailied,” and all but one of the flowers depicted are drawn from photos of my front-yard flower meadow (in past years, when it rained).

\n\n
\n\"polyptych:first panel of carving. Text reads \"O Love O Love so golden fair,\" with two goldfinches on black-eyed susanssecond panel of carving. Text reads \"As dawn-bright clouds upon the hills.\" Trees in middle distance and far distance, sun rising overhead, birds flying at topthird panel of carving. Text reads \"Glorious you bless the fresh fields,\" wren with various flowers and greeneryfourth panel of carving. Text reads \"In blossom-mist the teeming earth,\" with a finch looking over its shoulder and a hummingbird among various flowers and greenery\n
\n","summary":"","url":"https://social.davidwalbert.com/2026/06/25/may-song-ii-four-panels.html","date_published":"2026-06-25T15:22:41+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.talqix.cloud/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.talqix.cloud%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-06-25 15:22","date_timestamp":1782400961,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"92882217","content_html":"

Rain barrel installed, after two additional (unforeseen but unsurprising) trips to Lowe’s. Now I expect either the eastern piedmont will turn into a temperate rain forest, or it will never rain again and we’ll all wind up as extras in a film version of Ezekiel 37.

\n\n

\"Rain

\n","summary":"","url":"https://social.davidwalbert.com/2026/06/25/rain-barrel-installed-after-two.html","date_published":"2026-06-25T14:16:22+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.talqix.cloud/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.talqix.cloud%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-06-25 14:16","date_timestamp":1782396982,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"92824813","content_html":"

Two inches of rain in the past week has Crabtree Creek rushing by at a normal height, but the wetland area by Raleigh Road tells the full story. The stumps in the first photo and the cracked earth in the last should be well under water. We have a long way to go before we’re out of this drought.

\n\n
\n\"view\"cracked\"water\n
\n","summary":"","url":"https://social.davidwalbert.com/2026/06/24/two-inches-of-rain-in.html","date_published":"2026-06-24T18:08:31+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.talqix.cloud/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.talqix.cloud%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-06-24 18:08","date_timestamp":1782324511,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"92610504","content_html":"
\n

The empty coffee cup sits on the park bench. It has had a busy morning, filled with ambition, and now it has found its peace.

\n
\n\n

City Zen

\n","summary":"","url":"https://social.davidwalbert.com/2026/06/21/the-empty-coffee-cup-sits.html","date_published":"2026-06-21T16:54:06+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.talqix.cloud/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.talqix.cloud%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-06-21 16:54","date_timestamp":1782060846,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"92357658","content_html":"

Mary Harrington:

\n\n
\n

Most secular modern and post-modern creatives intuit that the age of naturalism is long since over. But this discovery confronts us with the enormous, gaping hole that yawns, where we’d expect to find a metaphysical framework able to give coherence and moral order to non-naturalistic artworks…. I submit that this is the real sickness in contemporary culture: not the abandonment of naturalism as such, but the widespread (and highly politicised) refusal to allow the reality of any metaphysical substrate able to sustain the artistic depiction of forms, and ends.

\n
\n\n

In other words: Why...

social.davidwalbert.com","summary":"","url":"https://social.davidwalbert.com/2026/06/17/mary-harrington-most-secular-modern.html","date_published":"2026-06-17T13:25:42+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.talqix.cloud/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.talqix.cloud%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-06-17 13:25","date_timestamp":1781702742,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"92356895","content_html":"

This week’s work

\n\n

\"Sketch

\n","summary":"","url":"https://social.davidwalbert.com/2026/06/17/this-weeks-work.html","date_published":"2026-06-17T13:13:36+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.talqix.cloud/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.talqix.cloud%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-06-17 13:13","date_timestamp":1781702016,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"92070039","content_html":"

Recently I heard someone say that such-and-such a farm had “buffalo and other iconic animals.” What other animals are iconic? What animals are not iconic? Is there a chart somewhere I can reference? Are the non-iconic animals insulted?

\n","summary":"","url":"https://social.davidwalbert.com/2026/06/12/recently-i-heard-someone-say.html","date_published":"2026-06-12T21:14:13+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.talqix.cloud/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.talqix.cloud%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-06-12 21:14","date_timestamp":1781298853,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"91706984","content_html":"

Made oatmeal-potato datschkuche for breakfast and it is the best thing I’ve ever eaten this week. You can have the recipe receipt if you can read my handwriting. See William Woys Weaver’s Dutch Treats for the original.

\n\n
\n\"datsch\"datsch\n
\n","summary":"","url":"https://social.davidwalbert.com/2026/06/07/made-oatmealpotato-datschkuche-for-breakfast.html","date_published":"2026-06-07T16:56:31+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.talqix.cloud/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.talqix.cloud%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-06-07 16:56","date_timestamp":1780851391,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"91272103","content_html":"

I am continually experimenting with my garden space, but here is one thing that works year after year: I run jute twine through steel fenceposts for a crude trellis, tie up and spread out the plants with the same twine, and in fall compost the whole mess, leaving the posts for next year.

\n\n
\n\"closeup\"tomato\"cherry\n
\n","summary":"","url":"https://social.davidwalbert.com/2026/05/31/i-am-continually-experimenting-with.html","date_published":"2026-05-31T16:01:42+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.talqix.cloud/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.talqix.cloud%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-05-31 16:01","date_timestamp":1780243302,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"91205689","content_html":"

“Coffee in a can” must be one of the saddest phrases in the English language.

\n","summary":"","url":"https://social.davidwalbert.com/2026/05/30/coffee-in-a-can-must.html","date_published":"2026-05-30T11:25:30+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.talqix.cloud/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.talqix.cloud%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-05-30 11:25","date_timestamp":1780140330,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"91157909","content_html":"

Two observations today. (1) Thank God for human beings willing to help other human beings solve problems in ways not entirely condoned by bureaucracy; and (2) those designing to replace such human beings with AI should be thrown in an ICE prison, given a phone, and put on hold until they starve.

\n","summary":"","url":"https://social.davidwalbert.com/2026/05/29/two-observations-today-thank-god.html","date_published":"2026-05-29T16:31:03+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.talqix.cloud/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.talqix.cloud%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-05-29 16:31","date_timestamp":1780072263,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"90235395","content_html":"

Just ran across an article that I thought might be interesting but quickly learned that the New Scythians were not in fact proponents of appropriate technology in agriculture. Alas

\n","summary":"","url":"https://social.davidwalbert.com/2026/05/15/just-ran-across-an-article.html","date_published":"2026-05-15T15:22:02+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.talqix.cloud/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.talqix.cloud%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-05-15 15:22","date_timestamp":1778858522,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"90157306","content_html":"

Two things you might see more of in Raleigh if people didn’t tend their lawns so carefully: a great crested flycatcher (which nests in natural holes in trees) and a crazy array of grasses going to seed. But you can see the carving (and me) downtown at Artsplosure Saturday and Sunday.

\n\n

\"\"

\n","summary":"","url":"https://social.davidwalbert.com/2026/05/14/two-things-you-might-see.html","date_published":"2026-05-14T13:46:16+00:00","author":{"name":"David Walbert","url":"http://www.davidwalbert.com","avatar":"https://cdn.talqix.cloud/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.talqix.cloud%2Favatars%2F2026%2F02%2F10333.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"dwalbert"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-05-14 13:46","date_timestamp":1778766376,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}}]}