Tag: TBT

Lazy Sunday CCCXCVIII: Cruise Stuff

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It’s been nice being back home (even though it was a sad start to last week), but I did enjoy our cruise. I’ve finally lost my “sea legs,” but I’m looking forward to another in the future, although I imagine it’ll be a bit before out next one. That said, I thought I’d share some recent cruise posts:

Happy Sunday!

—TPP

TBT: Phone it in Friday CXIV: YouTube Roundup CLXXIV: Cruise Art

The Portly Politico1 Comment

I’m writing today’s post the morning that we head out for our flight before our current cruise (that’s a lot of clauses). I’m excited to see what kinds of modern art adorn our current ship, as it’s a different one (I think) than the one from our honeymoon.

As such, it seemed like a fun time to look back at the art from that honeymoon cruise. Some of it was quite odd.

With that, here is 19 December 2025’s “Phone it in Friday CXIV: YouTube Roundup CLXXIV: Cruise Art“:

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TBT: Interminable Heat

The Portly Politico2 Comments

It’s another insanely hot summer here in South Carolina, and we had a long drought in June with nary a drop of rain. It makes me wonder how people in pre-modernity survived droughts and famines that lasted for years.

The rains have come, but the days are still quite intense with heat. The afternoon showers are not as routine as I’d like, but they are at least bringing some reprieve in the evenings. Our upstairs unit runs nonstop on sunny days, regardless of where we set the thermostat; one day it was 85 degrees Fahrenheit up there! Our downstairs, thankfully, maintains a reasonable frostiness, even in the heat.

The koi and the minnows seem to be holding up well, however. The minnows don’t seem to mind at all! I’ve noticed, though, that even they stay a bit below the surface on the hottest days. The koi, who usually eat more when it’s hot out, have been eating less than usual; I think they’re enjoying the cooler temperatures a bit further down.

Dr. Wife and I are taking a cruise next week, and its a tour of the Western Caribbean: Mexico, Honduras, Belize, and another stop in Mexico on the way back to Tampa. It’s going to be brutal in the tropics, but at this point, how can it get much worse (perhaps I just jinxed it). One day we’re going to see a Mayan temple, so maybe yours portly will end up roasted on a spit above a pagan altar. Gulp!

With that, here is 23 July 2025’s “Interminable Heat“:

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Lazy Sunday CCCXCV: America 250

The Portly PoliticoLeave a comment

Dr. Wife and I enjoyed a productive and delicious Independence Day yesterday. We both slept in fairly late, then she made us a delicious breakfast for lunch. We continued the Sisyphean task of unpacking, until Dr. Wife started getting stir-crazy, so we took some loads to Goodwill and grabbed a couple of ice cream cones at Chick-Fil-A. Dr. Wife made us an incredible dinner of hot dogs, corn on the cob, baked beans, and watermelon, and after our evening walk, she made strawberry shortcakes, which she presented with sparklers!

We didn’t get to see any fireworks—apparently, the big local fireworks displays happened a few days ago—but we heard plenty of them. The dogs don’t get riled up by them, which is a blessing. I imagine we’ll continue to hear fireworks for another evening or two as folks use up the last of their Fourth of July stash.

As such, here are some recent posts about Independence Day:

God Bless America!

—TPP

TBT^340,282,366,920,938,463,463,374,607,431,768,211,456: Happy Birthday, America!

The Portly Politico2 Comments

I’ve finally reblogged a single post enough that the “TBT^x^2” broke Windows’s calculator program, so I had to use calculator.net‘s Big Number Calculator to solve 18,446,744,073,709,551,616^2. I have no idea how one would even enunciate 340,282,366,920,938,463,463,374,607,431,768,211,456 aloud.

The United States is celebrating another big number in two days, it’s 250th birthday! With the move Dr. Wife and I have failed to put patriotic bunting and miniature American flags, and I’m woefully unprepared in the borderline illegal fireworks department, but we’re looking forward to a relaxed day celebrating our nation with hot dogs (and our normal dogs, Murphy and Nugget).

I don’t have quite the same unbridled optimism that I did a year ago, but I think the debacle in Iran has had the positive side effect of waking up our president to the pernicious influence of the foreign policy hawks around him. It will also hopefully result in the United States playing a more muted role in the Middle East, leaving Israel to tend to its backyard without us stepping in, golem-like, every time an Arab sneezes in the direction of Tel Aviv. That whole exploding pagers things suggests the Israelis have the tech and ingenuity to handle things on their own.

Regardless, I’m feeling the Spirit of ’76. God Bless America!

With that, here is 3 July 2025’s “TBT^18,446,744,073,709,551,616: Happy Birthday America!“:

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TBT^4: A Discourse on Disclaimers

The Portly Politico1 Comment

In surveying the vast expansion of the much-discussed Overton Window last year, it seemed like things couldn’t get any better. After a decade of oppressive wokery, people were suddenly letting it all out in a cathartic moment that felt incredible.

A year on, it seems to be getting even better. Maybe that’s because I’m using Substack more, which basically takes all the hot takes of X and transforms them into pseudo-intellectual essays (the writing on Substack is really good, by the way). People on there have zero qualms about saying anything, which makes it a pretty exciting intellectual environment. When no idea—even the bad ones—are off-limits, everything gets discussed—and exposed.

It’s refreshing. I remember how bad things got in 2015-2016, when even here in super conservative South Carolina you couldn’t audibly espouse support for Trump in mixed company, and certainly not in a professional setting. Now people are like, “Trump hasn’t gone far enough.” I mean, look, I agree; it’s just wild how we can say it out loud now.

So, no more equivocating, folks, no more disclaimers. Let it all out in a flurry of free speech!

With that, here is 26 June 2025’s “TBT^2: A Discourse on Disclaimers“:

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TBT^16: Touring the Solar System in Rural Maine

The Portly Politico2 Comments

Dr. Wife will finish residency officially in eight days, and she’s excited to be here at our new home all the time. We have a good bit of unpacking to do since the multiple moves over the past few months, but it will be so much more enjoyable to do it together.

We’re also looking forward to doing some traveling in the future. We have an excursion planned for mid-July, before she starts her “big girl job,” as I call it, as a rural family medicine doctor. Beyond that, it will probably be a bit before we hit the road again, as she’ll settle into her new schedule and I’ll get settled into my new quasi-freelancer life.

One trip, however, that I hope we can take one day is up to Maine for this tour of the The Maine Solar System Model. It might be awhile before we are able to take the time to do it, but I’m thinking summer will be a great time to cruise across the Solar System—so we can escape the South Carolina heat!

With that, here is 12 June 2025’s “TBT^4: Touring the Solar System in the Rural Maine“:

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TBT: The Joy of Coffee

The Portly Politico4 Comments

Blogger Esoterica over at Existential Ergonomics has once against inspiration for today’s post. She posed a fun question to readers in her post “Q&A: Are you a tea or a coffee person?“

It’s a smart title because it’s dripping (no pun intended) with engagement potential. Naturally, the comments section was poppin’—and yours portly was not shy about discussing coffee (and tea) with the other readers, especially after purchasing a new coffee grinder (that’s an Amazon Affiliate link; I receive a portion of any purchases made through that link, at no additional cost to you):

That got me thinking about a post I wrote way back in 2021. I looked it up, and was shocked to find that I’d never featured it in a TBT. Well, it’s time to change that and look back at a post about my favorite breakfast beverage.

With that, here is 24 March 2021’s “The Joy of Coffee“:

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TBT: Retro Games Website

The Portly Politico4 Comments

Before it became overrun with AI slop and bots, the Internet was the good kind of wild frontier, brimming with jokes and otherwise lost content. Well, the Internet is still that, there’s just a lot more trash to wade through to find the good stuff.

One website that provides “the good stuff” is RetroGames.cz, which makes possible the playing of some classic games via emulation in your browser. I spent a good chunk of time last year playing through the old Dragon Warrior game; eventually, I’ll get around to loading up my save state and finishing it. It’s the grindiest RPG I’ve ever played!

Occasionally, I find myself nostalgic for the rudimentary, homemade websites of the late 1990s and early 2000s, wherein website design philosophy consisted of cramming as many animated GIFs onto the homepage as possible, and everything was typed in Times New Roman font. The formality of the font contrasted with the frivolity of the overall design, to the effect that webpages in those days were akin to early digital folk art. The amateurism—which, it must be remembered, still required a good bit of working knowledge of HTML and JavaScript at the time—leant those websites a certain charm, even if that whimsical form came at the expense of function.

Well, enough of my waxing artistical. Go play some good games.

With that, here is 4 June 2025’s “Retro Games Website“:

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TBT^16: Zelda Game & Watch

The Portly Politico4 Comments

Summertime is upon us, and yours portly is all but done with the academic year. That means it’s time for video games.

Civilization VII dropped its huge update, which brings some major changes to the game; I’m hoping to sink some hours into that again soon. I’m also hoping to get back into Old World, which devoured so much of my time back in April with its deep gameplay.

Of course, I still have my lovable Zelda Game & Watch by Nintendo (that link is an Amazon Affiliate link, which means I receive a portion of any purchases made through that link, at no additional cost to you). I haven’t played it in awhile, but it still keeps time like a tiny Hyrulean champ.

With that, here is 22 May 2025’s “TBT^4: Zelda Game & Watch“:

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