August 2026

Kirkus calls it "very strange and strangely satisfying." Publishers Weekly says it is "as bizarre as it is meticulous." They're talking about my new novel, A WALL IS ALSO A ROAD. It's coming 10/6/26. Pre-order it: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250228031/awallisalsoaroad/

Plus: a teaser trailer! https://youtu.be/gHLnJQuyQQo?si=C-81S3QKV-iPuyO6

“Hardcore IndieWeb” is a reminder that you don’t need to be dependent on any blogging service (or even any piece of software or workflow) to share your stuff on the web.

True independence is making a website and uploading the files to a web server, without anyone else’s stuff standing between you and your published HTML.

https://www.neatnik.net/hardcore-indieweb

Wait, what the hell do people from Cornwall do on International Talk Like a Pirate Day? Other than get pretty mad at everyone else, I suppose.

Shit, spoke too soon. It's back. #jinxedIt

GitHub is broken again. It's a sign! Three day weekend, everybody!

Surprise! Today has also been Mashup Day!

I am declaring today Mashup Day. I haven't listened to Girl Talk's "All Day" in probably ten years, but someone mentioned it at work, so it's in the queue. Then, I think I'm going to tear through some Kleptones, dj BC and DJ Earworm. It's going to be a good music day.

Kevin's Crucial Track August 17, 2026: "Money" by Widowspeak

2020 was a terrible year in most respects, but a really good music year. Case in point, Widowspeak's "Plum". #CrucialTracks

View entry:
https://www.crucialtracks.org/profile/kpl/20260817

I love performance stuff. Making latency go down and available throughput go up still gives me goosebumps. I like being able to point to a graph and saying, "I did that."

Please, my Github Actions, they are very sick

Being on Mastodon has made me weirder, and I couldn't be happier about it. Thanks, you glorious weirdos!

And a happy Monday to YOU. #GitHub

Which location is the most creepy?

1. Deep in wilderness of Canada, in a forest far from any road.

2. A room in the heart of a bustling city that has not been opened for decades.

3. The 3rd subbasement of an abandoned vast campus that once teamed with idealistic people.

4. The same room you see every night, but something is wrong.

I’m home from Carolina Code. I had a great time. It’s a deeply nerdy, friendly, and fun conference. I learned about programming languages I’d never heard of, got a history of COBOL from someone who’s been working with it since the late 1960s, and learned some really cool stuff about vectors. I’m definitely planning on going back next year!

RE: https://mastodon.social/@JonBaker/117101426080865358

Aka tooshbrushes

I had a good natured debate about AI-generated images at the conference yesterday and came up with my best argument / analogy yet to the argument that it's "democratizing art". When you commission an artwork, you don't sign the painting, the actual artist does, so why do you think you're the artist when you're just telling AI what you want and giving it feedback?

It worked. I don't know that it'll stop my opponent from creating slop images in the future, but it made him think differently about it.

How can I tell I haven’t been to a conference in a while? My social batteries are empty, and I wasn’t even working a booth.

Finalmente parei para ler isso aqui: https://bobdahacker.com/blog/tldv-hack

Que pesadelo, bicho.

The conference I’m at has programmable badges this year (so cool). I turned mine into a billboard of conversation starters. It’s worked really well already! If you’re in the area, Carolina Code is a lot of fun, perfect polyglot regional conference.

I’m in Greenville, SC for a conference and one of the owners of the burger place I went to for dinner - his family is from Savannah and used to own a restaurant downtown on Bay St called The Rib Hut. The world is small, but I guess only if you talk to people.

you ever write code so inefficient they have to update the whole power grid

Forgot to close YouTube after watching the trailer for the new Dimension 20 season and this came on, which reminded me, THIS SHOW IS STILL ON. It started as a one off mashup for Channel 4's 25th anniversary, and was so stupid funny, it's still going. It's alchemy, and I can't explain why it works: https://youtu.be/FuFFYSust14?si=lo1OY5Hj9dNYS8fb

A #poem written by your #dog.

By the wonderful Aled Harris.

#dogs

Kevin's Crucial Track August 12, 2026: "The Stranger" by The Burning Hell

Great religious puns, fun story, killer bass and horns? Oh, and Canadian? Yes, please. #CrucialTracks

View entry:
https://www.crucialtracks.org/profile/kpl/20260812

Me: How do you make a motherboard?

IT Person: I talk to her about my job.

The baritone sax is like a big ol' warm music hug. https://youtu.be/IlPE1rEdAdI?si=TWvJjGZ7optNkyv8

One of my favorite voices covering one of the best songs in one of my favorite genres? I'll take two please: https://youtu.be/7iD9h2iTFUg?si=VLyTTIdqTT8EqR0i

Lessons in Magic and Disaster is out in paperback TODAY.

"You will always be loved. You cannot mess up so badly that you will not be loved."

A story of mother-daughter magic lessons, queer families, and healing. Get it wherever you get books!

Two blog posts in one month? What's going on?! This one's about billionaires and the Fediverse: https://lawver.net/2026/08/stop-feeding-the-algorithm-stop-feeding-the-billio/

Kevin's Crucial Track August 11, 2026: "Every Hour Here" by The Innocence Mission

The Innocence Mission is the exact opposite of Fatboy Slim on the musical spectrum. #facts #CrucialTracks

View entry:
https://www.crucialtracks.org/profile/kpl/20260811

This season of Game Changee has been epic. Tonight’s episode is hilarious. My son said every episode this season is in his top 15 episodes ever list, which is impressive. #DropoutTV

I’m trying something new with my /now page. It was a jumbled mess because I was trying to keep an archive, which isn’t really “now” - so now it’s just a single transient thought that only lasts until the next time I update it. https://kpl.omg.lol/now

I watched Dug Dug this morning. It’s an Indian movie that feels like a fairy tale told by David Lynch (more Straight Story than Fire Walk With Me). It’s meandering, charming, funny and really beautiful to look at most of the time, especially the beginning.

Definitely worth watching, even if it’s just to get lost in something trying to figure out what the hell is going on. Also, the less you know going in the better.

🚨 My AI escaped its sandbox, used all my spoons, and didn’t even put them in the sink.

🚨 My AI escaped its sandbox and put smudgy fingerprints on my glasses.

President Sharty Pants.

The Fediverse recognizes two genders: Linux and moss.

Oh hey, I blogged again. I wrote this one on the Struggle Bus. Also, my blog is 26 years old. That's WILD to me. Anyway, here you go: https://lawver.net/2026/08/so-it-s-august-huh/ #MentalHealth

So far, y'all put way more goobers in your coke than I was lead to believe was acceptable. Teach me your ways. #southern #food #askfedi

People of taste and discernment, I have a pressing question I must have your attention for: how many boiled peanuts do you put in your co’cola? (RC is also acceptable, whatever floats your boat - this isn’t a cola commercial).

Y’all, please retweet to reach those who may have grown up with this beloved goober-based delicacy. #southern #food #askfedi

My little Rails app on railway is fun - especially because you can set the database to 'sleep' when it's not in use. That only causes problems during deploys when it's sleeping and migrations "catch it napping”. I'm actually kind of shocked it doesn't cause more problems...

Realized I wasn't updating my /now page because I was trying to keep an archive of it. NO LONGER! It is now just one transient thought. Catch it while you can. It'll be gone the next time I remember to update it: https://kpl.omg.lol/now

RE: https://social.lol/@daveycraney/117054374843640043

A really good reminder that, especially in the US, our lives aren't representative of everyone's, and getting out, talking to people, experiencing things and having empathy are not only educational, but a good time.

RE: https://beep.town/@initech/117055527733836314

I DO sit on my ass all day, but I'm working the whole time, and that's a problem.

RE: https://socel.net/@heyheymomo/116731971958086082

Me, performing "computer miracles" on my in-laws' computers.

Part of trying to get off the struggle bus has been intentionally not wearing my Apple Watch. The lack of notifications has been GREAT. The only thing I miss is instant access to timers while cooking, but that's a minor annoyance compared to blissful concentration.

I got a Nothing watch when it was on sale recently to see if I liked it. I do - it's a LOT lighter than the Apple Watch but its notifications are even more annoying. They're persistent, especially for meetings. I might start wearing it again and just turn off all the notifications.

I'm sorry to every other musician, but today I discovered that Fatboy Slim has a TWELVE VOLUME set called "Everyone Loves a Mixtape". My ears will be busy for a while.

Between pikapods.com and railway.com, it's too easy for me to get weird open source things up and running live on the internets.

RE: https://beige.party/@SonOfManagement/117049036616766263

You thought the MF in MFA stood for "multi-factor"? Nope, it was "My Father" all along.

But better than that, making progress on getting help to get off the struggle bus has done more to make me feel better than any snack could.

I’ve been stuck on the struggle bus for a bit and did some retail therapy. I ordered some of Nutella’s new peanut cocoa spread and… it’s dangerously good. You’ve been warned.

You mad? Want a song that's mad too? The Pack A.D's got you covered: https://youtu.be/NUhfm3_oLYk?si=ezmFRmoBFmpx1KAT

Last fall, I drove from Savannah to Denver and back to see Sigur Ros in concert (and to check some states off the list). I stopped in Kansas City and went to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. The last exhibit is this replica diamond with statues of some of the greats in the middle of the game.

I've been thinking about this the last week or so - not sure why. Being there in person, especially when the museum is quiet, is haunting. I felt like I was disturbing something.

So, if you ever find yourself in Kansas City, you should go.

They should do a live action remake of Wacky Races. The Rock IS Grape Ape. Jack Black IS Dick Dastardly. Emily Blunt IS Penelope Pitstop.

Starring Pedro Pascal as Muttley

The moment you realize it's an hour long meeting, not a 30 minute meeting.

Keeping the 1990's resurrection theme going, Fatboy Slim did an almost 2 hour set at Coachella this year and, it's super fun (it's playing in the background so if there's nonsense in the video, I'm not seeing it, I'm just listening to the music, which is making my day about 27% better than it was): https://youtu.be/fQqusBEnwM4?si=hNjjFxkeU7M3zJa9

Excited to go to Carolina Code next week. It's my first conference where I'm just going as an attendee in... I can't remember when. Anyone else going to be there?

Kevin's Crucial Track August 4, 2026: "Screenwriter's Blues" by Soul Coughing

As promised, today is Soul Coughing day. It doesn't get more 90's than this. #CrucialTracks

View entry:
https://www.crucialtracks.org/profile/kpl/20260804

Your irregularly scheduled reminder that work won't love you back, but people will: choose accordingly.

Let's listen to Ghostpoet and eat pretzels.

Waxahatchee's "St. Cloud" is an almost perfect album. That it was followed by the actually-perfect Tigers Blood is a really good run.

I’m making a quesadilla with leftover pot roast and mac and cheese with some salsa verde. Quesadillas are peak leftover use.

Hold on to your butts, and check out the single most cynical product launch of 2026! Don't want to talk to your employees? But, you want to make it appear that you care? Introducing Constellation! https://www.worktango.com/blog/constellation-ai-employee-listening

Kevin's Crucial Track August 3, 2026: "I Fall in Love Every Night" by Born Ruffians

Born Ruffians, a lovely band from Canada. Enjoy! #CrucialTracks

View entry:
https://www.crucialtracks.org/profile/kpl/20260803

RE: https://normal.style/@healyn/117027697110924325

Great point! Beth Grant is great. Some of my other faves: Melissa Leo (Homicide), Sonja Sohn (The Wire and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds), obviously Margo Martindale and, oh, Dale Dickey (Widow’s Bay)!

It’s my birthday! I have a big favor to ask 🙏🏼

This year has been especially financially challenging. Long story short, if everyone who downloaded @elementary OS this year paid just $1, I’d be up some $30,000 but alas I’m down about $11,000 and I’m really concerned about making ends meet until the release of OS 9.

If you feel inclined to help me out, I’d really appreciate it if you’d buy a copy of my AI-free Open Source OS or otherwise help with funding via this page: https://elementary.io/get-involved#funding

If you’ve never heard of elementary before, it’s an open source operating system project I started in 2007 fresh out of high school. I started my journey wanting to bring more human centered design to the Linux desktop and over the years have evolved that mission to center values like inclusive design, ethical funding models, privacy, consent, and decentralization

https://mastodon.social/@elementary/110017598054728533

I’ve been watching Human Vapor on Netflix and I really like it so far. It feels very X-Files, and the pace is great. Big messy monsters, cops and mobsters fun. (I’m on episode three so if it goes downhill from here, I don’t know that yet)

This post made me relax my shoulders in a way I can’t even start to explain. Thanks, @fonts https://robinrendle.com/notes/show-me-the-work/

Let's listen to the Hadestown original cast recording and build a website for Savannah State CS department's IAB. Oh, and drink a shitload of coffee. So much coffee. #eleventy

Hey, eleventy folks, I'm working on a new site that I'll be working on with some college students... do y'all have any CI steps you run before deploy? For my personal site, I just YOLO it, but with a collaborative thing, especially with students, I figured we should have some guardrails.

UPDATE: I think I really just need to make sure the site builds and doesn't have broken links, so... that's what I did.

#eleventy