And apologies if this is a double-post – I'm still not always seeing what gets bridged from Mastodon.

Thanks to the wonders of AI, my various self-hosted websites have been in various states of offline for the past month. They all appear to be back up now.
But at least I got a new (rare) blog post out of it, full of blogspots and cron jobs:

#technology #FuckAI

mynonurbanlife.com/tech-storm-2...

No Kings protests for Oct. 18. #stopfascism #antifa #antifascist

https://www.nokings.org/#map

I tried bridging my Mastodon posts to this app, and apparently I succeeded, but it didn't work quite the way I expected – it posts to a separate profile, and a lot of you followed that. But I can't seem to follow from that one. So if I followed you from this profile today, that's why.

We had one of those years ago and the outcome was worse than we could imagine.

The Raconteurs – Consolers of the Lonely https://vinyldistractions.com/the-raconteurs-consolers-of-the-lonely/

I sing "Keep Me In Your Heart" any time I feel like making people cry. It doesn't fail.

Last night in the grocery store a kid was randomly calling out "hee haw!" as if she were Sam Wainright.

1895. I say he had it coming. #OldNewspapers #Troy #TroyNY #newspapers #headlines

Parliament – Osmium https://vinyldistractions.com/parliament-osmium/

My latest #LocalHistory post is essentially an excuse to look at a very, very pretty map – a 1910 Sanborn fire insurance map showing the confluence of the #MohawkRiver and #HudsonRiver at #cohoes

#UpstateNewYork #UpstateNY #CohoesNY #map #maps #historicalMaps

https://hoxsie.org/2025/08/10/the-co

So much more and better access than there used to be. The first time we've all paddled together in separate boats. #UpstateNY #UpstateNewYork #paddling #kayaking #kayak #river #rivers

I was about to not bother bringing #kayaks on our short weekend trip back to the old hometown, but then our grownkid said they wanted to paddle with us . . . and we had the most delightful afternoon on the #MohawkRiver in a section I didn't used to paddle that much.

Newspaper advertisement from 1850 that says "Never despair while J.C. Mattices' Wholesale & Retail Clothing and Furnishing Establishment is in existence at 210 River St. Troy"

We used to have a reason not to despair:

#LocalHistory #UpstateNY #UpstateNewYork #TroyNY #CollarCity

Photograph of a brick mill building, a five-story building with a series of windows on every floor, and a taller tower in the front of the building, capped by a delicate weathervane.

A black clothing tag, inside a black garment, for Ursula of Switzerland.

Waterford, NY: the 1893 Ormsby Textile mill. Underwear, lace trim, automobile fabrics, "mother of the bride" dresses.

The history of Ursula of Switzerland and the Ormsby mill at my blog:
hoxsie.org/2025/07/28/u...
#Localhistory #UpstateNY #UpstateNewYork #waterfordNY #histodons #history

1934 black and white photograph of Scotia, New York's Glen Sanders Mansion. It is an old house with an appearance of white stucco or plaster on the exterior. The lower story facing us shows two large windows (12 lites each), a narrower window next to a broad door that also appears to be glazed with 35 lites, and two more windows to the right of the door. All the windows on the lower story have shutters.Above this in iron are is the date "1713." Above that, four windows are spread acros the facade, with 25 lites each. A third story features a hipped roof and three dormers, and a decorative rail at the top of the roof. There is a light coating of snow all around the grounds, and several gnarled old trees in the foreground.

What if Scotia, NY's Glen-Sanders Mansion had no Glens, no Sanderses?
At the link, the history of the mansion – the very symbol of my hometown – from 1963 until today.

#localhistory #scotiaNY #schenectady #SchenectadyHistory #ScotiaHistory

hoxsie.org/2025/07/10/t...

It's the Kimberton Kimberton ;)

I suspect changing terms affects that somewhat ("hearing impaired"), but also I think a lot of childhood causes are more easily or commonly addressed, and I would suspect industrial loss is much less than it used to be (tho it drives me insane that workers are jackhammering near me w/o protection)

Forced my wife to watch this last night (sound off, she hates the song too) and we both wondered how they could get the '60s look so wrong when they were actually IN THE ERA.

I think the reason I hate that song is the number of horrific variety show versions (like this one) that I was subjected to as a child. This is just beyond.

Ohh, can't wait to watch that!

Doing pretty well, considering that's also how it looked 40 years ago and more.

Photograph of a kayak on a dock. The kayak is light brown in color, made of cork and flax. There are three hatches, two in front of the cockpit and one aft, and the areas surrounding the hatches are bright white. The cockpit is shaped like a guitar pick. A white-bladed paddle rests on the back of the kayak.

Ohhhh . . . yesterday I paddled what I'm pretty sure is my new boat. Made by Melker of Sweden, committed to sustainability (it ain't easy), this baby is laid up with cork; the deck is made of flax. And resin that's at least partly plant-based. And it paddles like a dream.
#paddling #kayak #kayaking

S.L.O.W. D.O.W.N.

The cover of Time ("The Weekly News-Magazine") from March 31, 1923. The name of the magazine and its tag line are within thin ruled boxes at the top of the page (three boxes, each within another, as well as a heavier outlines that goes all the way around the page. Decorative elements are in columns running left and right of the drawing that is the focus of the cover. The drawing, apparently graphite, depicts Laddie Sanford, a white man in three-quarter profile, wearing a light-colored fedora with a dark band. His face is pleasant and neutral; the top of his body is shown, wearing a lapelled overcoat, white shirt collar and dark necktie. Underneath he is not identified, but a slugline says "Observed by Europe / First American to win the Grand National – see page 25"

After writing about #UpstateNewYork carpet heiress/big game hunter/POW in Germany, here's her famous polo player brother, once on the cover of Time Magazine, & once fined for bringing too many ducks into New York State:
hoxsie.org/2025/04/28/p... #localhistory #AmsterdamNY #UpstateHistory

The cover of Time ("The Weekly News-Magazine") from March 31, 1923. The name of the magazine and its tag line are within thin ruled boxes at the top of the page (three boxes, each within another, as well as a heavier outlines that goes all the way around the page. Decorative elements are in columns running left and right of the drawing that is the focus of the cover. The drawing, apparently graphite, depicts Laddie Sanford, a white man in three-quarter profile, weraing a light-colored fedora with a dark band. His face is pleasant and neutral; the top of his body is shown, wearing a lapelled overcoat, white shirt collar and dark necktie. Underneath he is not identified, but a slugline says "Observed by Europe / First American to win the Grand National – see page 25"

If I'd had to guess which member of an #AmsterdamNY family had ended up on the cover of Time Magazine, I would not have guessed Laddie Sanford.But I wouldn't have guessed he got fined for bringing too many dead ducks into New York, either.
hoxsie.org/.../polo-pla... #upstateny #LocalHistory

Photograph of a woman, Gertrude Sanford Legendre, in a women's military uniform with jacket, shirt and tie, and skirt, standing next to a concrete post and in front of a building with shutters around its windows. She actually appears to be smiling at the camera, but this was taken while she was a prisoner of war in Germany in World War II.

Fascinated to learn that a local heiress who had gone to work for the O.S.S. in WWII ended up as a POW in Nazi Germany in the closing months of the war – Story here:
hoxsie.org/2025/04/24/a...
#LocalHistory #AmsterdamNY #CapitalDistrict #history #WWII

The Turning Point front cover – Underneath the title (in red type on blue background) is a stylized black and white mezzotint photograph that shows, in very abstract high contrast, a man holding a microphone cupped in his hands before his face. He appears to be surrounded by the folds of a curtain. This is probably from a photograph of John Mayall playing harmonica into a microphone, but the harmonica is not visible.

New post up at VinylDistractions.com: Catching up with the six John Mayall albums I've collected since the last time I wrote about John Mayall, starting with the epic "The Turning Point."
vinyldistractions.com/john-mayall-...

Sent a message to McCormick last night; expect the usual patronizing, dismissive response from his office.