Dave Rutledge

How’s your pop song knowledge? Sort historic top ten hits in my new daily timeline game: music.onthis.day!

Somehow I missed the moment between "need to take it easy when playing a video game with my kid" and "can't possibly win at basically any game."

A self-driving idea that seems feasible and very useful: An Airstream trailer that just tails behind my car, unhitched, and gets out of the way and parks itself when I’m getting gas or arriving to a campground.

Murder mystery idea: Someone steps on their Roomba, slips, falls, hits their head and dies. Meanwhile, the Roomba cleans up the entire mess and returns to its dock leaving a spotless crime scene with no evidence. The perfect…crime?

I understand the Liberty Biberty hate but I’m always going to enjoy a puppet made by the Jim Henson company and operated and voiced by an actual puppeteer

The movie trailer for Mask (Eric Stoltz, Cher) gave me nightmares even though I never saw it and I know it’s about a tragic situation happening to a very nice person. Still freaked out 10yo me.

@nsperling.bsky.social The Revenant didn’t win Best Picture (though it was nominated), Spotlight won that year.

I’ve never really thought of myself as old, until realizing now that I am apparently too old to renew my driver’s license online.

In case you need a new man-splaining meme:

Today I Learned (after reading the Wikipedia page on snapping, like you do) that there's another way to snap! www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0YX...

Am I the weirdo that has absolutely no interest in following a random murder trial? The number of news alerts I get telling me minute by minute decisions from a judge or jury are bewildering. (I know I can turn notifications off but I do like getting news updates, just not "trending" trials.)

Some personal news:

Reading the news is much more fun if you assume every headline is being shouted by the Hulk:

Superhero idea: a guy lives his life where a second for everyone else is 10 seconds for him. It appears to everyone else he’s got amazing reflexes, timing, and dexterity but he’s really extremely bored.

@househouse.com I really love the idea of Big Walk, but I'm trying to figure out how to play with my family - we'd ideally go into separate rooms and play on separate devices?

It’s absurd to think vandals are the cause of the algae bloom but I like knowing he’s aware people hate him that much.

I was surprised my kid didn’t know Crunch bars were Nestle since they’re his go-to treat. And then I looked at the wrapper and they’ve…debranded?

New variety of spam just dropped

The only time I will ever say that Missouri Senator Eric Schmidt did a good job: www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aOL... I hope he finds many more opportunities to dive face-first into gravel.

I see those headlines that end “Here’s what you need to know:” I always think…Nothing. I don’t need to know a single thing about this.

Indiana Jones spin-off but it’s entirely focused on him dealing with the bureaucracy and administration of teaching at a university.

Last night we were agreed Rainbow Connection is one of the best songs. Today I learned it was written by the guy who played Little Enid Burdette in Smokey & The Bandit. (Paul Williams!)

I don’t want to walk a mile in my own shoes, much less yours.

Little known corollary to Gretzky's hockey advice: you might also miss 100% of the shots you do take.

Big news on the human / animal hybrid front from NYTimes and Apple Intelligence!

I love every government-hosted "not like this" example for passport photos: travel.state.gov/content/dam/...

I wonder if we'd have even just a bit less expansionist tendencies if our country didn't share part of a name with our continent (and another).

My updated version of Dance Like Nobody’s Watching is: DM Like Everybody Can Read It. (Because at some point, after some breach, they probably can.)

The smoke alarm batteries died at 2am. Oddly, it wasn’t terrible timing, as I was up anyway. But I may not have been in the best state to set a ladder up on the edge of stairs going down. That said, the beeping has stopped and I survived. Happy New Year!

I feel like the invention that most might blow Ben Franklin’s mind is using aluminum foil as throwaway food storage

35 years ago tonight I decided to be a vegetarian. I know the date because it was the first Jamnesty fundraiser concert at Bastille’s. Of course, I really only ever ate bean burritos from Taco Bell, so it wasn’t much of a change.

I love how every British show has a Christmas special. This year I watched Christmas specials of All Creatures Great & Small, Only Connect, House of Games, Hidden Treasures of the National Trust, and the Great Pottery Throwdown. And Ghosts - a US show, but based on a UK show.

@leapop.bsky.social You'll enjoy the starting word at letters.wiki today

Here's your Nobel Peace Prize - oh, just one thing, to receive it, we'll need one explanation about each of the 9 wars you ended, including the participants, why they were fighting, and what you did to stop it.

Every new movie has people saying “go in without reading or knowing anything about it.” Feels like a truly great movie would still be great even if you’d read every spoiler, plot synopses, and twist.

If you reply to someone and don’t courtesy-heart their post, it is correct for them to assume the worst in your intentions.

My daily solo Scrabble game letters.wiki now lets you share your board - here’s how I did today: letters.wiki?g=IPpkETLKKk... There’s also a daily high score and you can see their board to get tips and tricks.

My MLB rooting decision tree: 1. Cardinals 2. Whoever’s against the Cubs 3. Lowest payroll 4. Longest time since last winning the World Series

I'm still writing 2008 on my checks and balances.

I feel like this is just my standard conversation ability, no prior blaster shooting required: www.youtube.com/watch?v=qi4w...

iPhone feature - if someone near you is filming the same thing you are, it turns off your camera and tells you to put down your phone and enjoy the experience, and you'll get their shared video later.

@jparish.bsky.social Any chance you sell pdf versions of your out-of-print books? On the hunt for Game Boy World 1989!

@gruber.foo I like to use this as a health checklist to make sure I'm still hooked up right: www.google.com/search?q=%22...

I think the most pointless job might be the checkout clerk at the Hotel California. You sure would think they’d be first on the chopping block when the cost-cutting measures hit.