Happy new year!
Chinese new year, of course. In 2026 it falls on 17 February. It is the Year of the Horse.
Specifically, the year of the Fire Horse (there’s an element that goes with the sign).
It is considered inauspicious to marry girls born in a Fire Horse year, especially in Japan, because they’re supposedly headstrong and difficult if not actually dangerous.
The belief had a measurable social effect in Japan in 1966, the most recent Fire Horse year before 2026. Birth rates dropped sharply, as some families tried to avoid having daughters born that year. There were reports of delayed marriages or concern about the marriage prospects of girls born in 1966. Researchers studying Japanese demographics have documented this dip clearly in national statistics.
Japan because of a specific legend.
The superstition seems to have been strongly reinforced by the story of Yaoya Oshichi, a real 17th-century girl in Edo (Tokyo) who became famous in popular literature and theatre. According to the story, Oshichi fell in love with a young man she met while her family was sheltering in a temple after a fire. Wanting to see him again, she set another fire hoping her family would have to return to the temple. She was caught and executed (arson was a capital crime).
Illustration by Grok, pull quotes by ChatGPT. Weee! I’m outsourcing my brain to AI.
p.s. Yes, Jesse Jackson has popped his clogs – new Dead Pool Friday.
February 17, 2026 — 6:32 pm
Comments: 4
Nearing a milestone
Saturday was my nineteenth blogaversary. Which means my milestone 20th will land on a Sunday, but we’ll worry about that next year.
Thank you everyone for hanging out. I say it every year: I’m not sure what the theme of this is anymore, I just don’t know how to stop.
It was also our 17th wedding anniversary. We saw the sun for the first time in yonks, had a nice meal out, and a bottle of good old English fizz.
It was a good day.
February 16, 2026 — 5:56 pm
Comments: 14
Well, I can’t read THAT
I had an eye test today – same guy who flagged my torn retina before. This was just regular old eye test for a new prescription, though. He said I’m aging backwards – my eyes improved.
Same thing happened to my dad – his distance vision got better as he aged.
I watched him fiddling with the levers and knobs and thought, “I know a job AI could do, no problemo.” Although when I asked, he said there were all sorts of automated systems that could do the work with 80% accuracy, but the company liked to have a human being to blame. Replace that, robot boy!
To be honest, I just took this picture to read the prescription – they give it to you on a little teeny card now. Good weekend!
February 13, 2026 — 5:35 pm
Comments: 5
Food for thought
I have a lecture to go to tonight, so I’ll leave you to read this article. I know, I know…another alarmist piece about AI. But this one is longer on detail than most.
Can confirm some of what he’s saying, as I’ve been working with AI more lately. I’m proofreading a bunch of Word files and then turning them into HTML to publish on the web. At the moment, ChatGPT is helping me work out ways to batch process the files and troubleshoot the results.
If this guy is right, the next step is that AI does the whole job for me. And, honestly…I’m okay with that. These bits were always the drudgery.
I’m a little less sanguine about losing the design part.
February 12, 2026 — 3:53 pm
Comments: 3
I swear, Waldo’s in there somewhere
I hate Google Photo’s slideshow, which shows you pictures you took X years ago. It’s almost always a dead pet or sad memory. But this was fun – my desk from when I was still actively painting. Honestly, it isn’t as random as it looks.
I thought you might have fun looking it over at the full 4,000 pixels wide, but WordPress has an automatic feature that scales down big pictures and you have to go into the PHP and alter code to stop it. I think I’ve messed with my theme enough, don’t you?
But here it is at 2500 pixels wide. Still plenty of Easter eggs to find. (Do let me know if you spot something embarrassing or identifying).
I need to straighten it up some time – not because it’s messy but because there are a lot of old ink bottles and jars of turpentine that have dried right up.
February 11, 2026 — 7:07 pm
Comments: 12
More online scammers
There’s a very funny account I follow in Twitter – Becky Holmes hates spinach @deathtospinach. She’s part of the cottage industry of people who cruelly toy with scammers. Twitter Romance scammers, in her case.
So I was psyched when she came out with a book. I was expecting hours of hilarity paddling in Becky Holmeses DMs.
Kinda. It started off fun, anyway. But as she looked into it more, it became all about the sad people who got snagged and sometimes ruined by romance scammers.
A lot of them weren’t dumb people, they just got caught at a bad time or by a good story. And there were a LOT of them. Even a couple of the scammers came off as broken and a tiny bit sympathetic. Anyway, it all became very depressing.
I’m going to recommend it anyway for being educational. Not in a ‘fun romp’ sort of way, but in an ‘eat your spinach’ kind of way. Which is ironic, considering her user name.
February 10, 2026 — 7:32 pm
Comments: 4
Yarrr…!
So this happened today:
Hi
Checking in to see if we can catch up briefly over email. I want to ask you for a little assistance..
Helen x
Hi Helen,
This message sounds just like what you get with an address book virus! But it’s your legit email, so I guess it’s really you.
I’m at your disposal,
S.
Sorry to bother you as I’m in the hospital, do you order on Amazon?
Helen x
Oh, gosh – what’s wrong? And yes, I do. This sounds even more like an address book virus!
S.
Actually, I need help purchasing an Apple e-gift card for a friend’s daughter battling cancer. Today’s her birthday, and I’m trying to make her smile, but I’ve had trouble buying it online as I’m currently being treated for laryngitis in the hospital. Please could you help me buy it on Amazon? I’ll make sure to reimburse you today. Your help would mean a lot to her.
Let me know if you can assist, and I’ll share her email address, amount, and message to include in the gift
Helen x
Spoiler: it was an address book virus. Turns out, she knows about it already, too – one old dear already got scammed for £250. Don’t tell me Amazon can’t figure a way to stop this kind of thing. (Erm, I’m assuming everyone knows gift cards are the preferred currency of online scammers).
I asked MidJourney for Amazon gift card pirates. Not very good. Not crosseyed dude on right. I was rather taken with the grumpy cat in the middle, though.
February 9, 2026 — 7:12 pm
Comments: 5
One-oh-three
In the thread below, Carl informs us he has 153 apps on his phone. To find out, go to settings >> apps and the number should be right there. I have 103.
However, I regret to inform you, Carl, I do NOT have a free bus pass. Every time I get close to it, they kick the minimum age down the road. As it stands, I should get my pass in June of 2026 – and so, of course they’re talking about abolishing it completely.
ChatGPT’s weasel with a cellphone was so adorable, I had to run it full size. Someone once informed me that they pictured me as little and cute because I chose a weasel as my avatar. Sadly, no – I am tall and distinctly not cute.
Have a good weekend, everyone!
February 6, 2026 — 6:18 pm
Comments: 4
All very civilized
Another routine eye appointment today several towns away. I’ve been resistant to download an ‘app for everything’, but I have to admit I’m being won over.
The train app is awesome. Check the schedule, book the trip, pay for it automatically and your ticket is a QR code on your phone. Painless. Do it on the way to the station. We ought to do more of that for better reasons.
The bus has a similar app, though I don’t actually book the tickets with it. They have a map that shows you where your bus is right now.
Paying my credit card bill with my phone, ditto. Oh, by the way – I got a new debit card recently. It said the expiry date was 1/31.
I says to B, “That’s weird – it tells me the date but not the year.”
And he says, “’31 is the year.”
Yipe!
February 5, 2026 — 7:14 pm
Comments: 7
Officially old
When the kitchen window opens, the chickens come running. (Chicken. Only one loose at a time now.) That’s because we use them as feathery garbage disposals.
I opened the window earlier to chuck some stale popcorn out, and Sam did not come running.
Hm. Worrying sign. After I clomped all around the house in my wellies calling his name before I thought to look in the chicken house. There he was. Put himself to bed an hour before time.
Not a spring chicken, Sam.
February 4, 2026 — 7:42 pm
Comments: 6