https://svonberg.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/drstrange3.html
Illuminati prop
Day 20,752
Thanksgiving Day, 2025
In laws are out of town, just me and Mrs Bear and Pearl
Today’s supper is cottage pie, broccoli and asparagus.
Went into the day slowly, watched the 99th Annual Macy’s Day Parade, the Westminster Dog show, and assorted holiday and Jane Austen-themed hallmark movies tonight.
While the cottage pie cooks, we are watching Pumpkin Everything.
Day 20,751
Wandered through a full little Wednesday today, the kind that stitches itself together from small comforts and gentle surprises. We started out a bit early for my trim, so we ducked into Sunnyside Market, my first visit and a pleasant one. Picked up a snack and a hit of caffeine, the kind that makes the morning feel like it is stretching its arms before waking up. Bright shelves, friendly smells, a nice soft ease to the place.
Then on to @misfitbeautyclub, where Michaela worked her usual hair magic and gave me a stellar midi cut. There is always that moment after a fresh trim when the air feels lighter around your shoulders, like someone opened a window in your head. My lovely companion and I stepped back out into the day feeling reset.
We wandered over to the 16 West Marketplace next, where @roaflags_downtown waits like a pocket universe of tiny creativity. RoaFlags, the Roanoke Free Little Art Gallery, did not send any finished pieces home with us this time, although a few certainly tried to charm their way into our hands. Instead, we explored the little supply drawer. Picked up a bag marked “art this house” with a chunky extruded pentagon shape inside, like a Monopoly house that got promoted. Also brought along a “make a rustic ornament” kit, a slice of tree branch with bark still clinging and a small drilled hole for hanging. Both projects are waiting patiently for paint, imagination, and maybe a quiet evening soon. They might become keepsakes, or maybe we will return them to another little art gallery for someone else to discover.
Vintage Vault was calling next, as it always does. Collected a small stack of CDs, some destined to become holiday gifts and most to become the soundtrack of future back road explorations. The clatter of jewel cases always feels like flipping through little memory tiles. Found issue number 3 of Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction as well. A time capsule from another hopeful timeline.
On the ride home, we opened one of the new CDs. Mary J. Blige’s Christmas album filled the car with warm vocals and early holiday glow. Perfect for a winding drive through late November Roanoke.
Now we are home, resting and letting the day settle. Pride and Prejudice is playing, all warmth and wit and familiar comfort. The kind of evening where the house feels like it is exhaling with us.
A haircut, a new coffee stop, tiny art treasures with potential, vintage finds, music for winter roads, Mary J. singing us home, and Austen closing out the night. A day of small delights, humming quietly, just right.
#RoanokeVA #16WestMarketplace #SunnysideMarket #MisfitBeautyClub #VintageVaultRoanoke #FreeLittleArtGallery #UnknownWorldsOfScienceFiction #CozyDay #WanderingWednesday #MaryJBligeChristmas #PrideAndPrejudice
Mother Box prop
Building a little tough screen prop that can run html for a Mother Box, designed to run as a phone “wallpaper” and part of a standalone esp32 “cheap yellow display” device in a case, that uses touch screen, and internal speakers.
https://svonberg.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/motherbox10.html
Core Functionality
* Kirby-Styled Interface (The Mother Box):
* The interface is a grid of 4×5 metal plates rendered on an HTML <canvas>.
* The entire design uses a bold, limited color palette (gold, red, black, white, magenta/cyan) with heavy outlines and deep shadows, mimicking the look of 1970s comic book printing.
* The center four plates are replaced by a large, singular “Eye” component that tracks an imaginary, slow-moving target, simulating constant internal thought.
* Diverse Greebles and Tech (Visual Components):
* Each grid section randomly generates one of several distinct Kirby Tech patterns (or “greebles”) to maximize visual variety and complexity:
* Pipes: Horizontal gold tubes with simulated energy pulses flowing through them.
* Circuit: Black panels with angular, glowing lines of gold and cyan data flow.
* Vents: Blue vents with subtle energy (Krackle) escaping.
* Krackle Pit: A recessed area of raw, magenta energy densely packed with black “Kirby Krackle” dots.
* Machinery: Heavy, blocky clusters of gold and red industrial shapes.
* Logic Node: A central blue core with data lines radiating outwards to the corners.
* Energy Fins: Vertical gold fins with glowing energy pulsing between them.
* Omega Block: Large, complex black geometric glyphs, inspired by New Genesis architecture.
Audio System and Interaction:
* Autonomous Hum: The box maintains a constant, low, throbbing sawtooth oscillator hum (using the Web Audio API) with a slight frequency modulation, suggesting deep, ongoing machine thought.
* Manual Ping: The powerful “PING!” sound (a high-frequency sine bell tone) and the accompanying visual burst are only triggered by the user when they click or touch the screen.
* Autonomous Animation:
* The machine operates on its own loop, periodically and randomly activating certain tech tiles (making them briefly pulse with light or energy) and making the central eye slowly scan across the screen, ensuring the box appears perpetually alive and thinking, even without user input.
https://svonberg.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/motherbox10.html
Day 20,750
Out on the corner today, just past the hedges by the Firehouse Subs and the bank with the cold brick face, I had my first sighting of a Santa’s helper this season. Not the mall kind, not the glossy catalog kind, but the roadside variety, wind tousling the beard, boots planted on the curb like deep roots. A flash of red against the winter gray, waving at traffic as if every passing car needed a little nudge toward cheer.
His ride was propped beside him, a bright red bike decked out with its own tiny Santa hats, white beard beard and a flag fluttering like it had holiday opinions. I liked that. The whole scene felt like catching a glimpse of a migrating bird you only see once a year. Not quite Santa proper, but a field agent of joy, reporting in from across the median strip.
The Blue Ridge behind him was a smoky blur, trees bare, sky the color of unlit snow. Some folks in their cars probably thought they were just passing a bit of holiday whimsy. Me? I felt like I’d stumbled on the first sign that the season had officially woken up.
A small moment, waving arms and all, but enough to shift the day a little sideways into wonder.
#santaclaus #santashelper #randomjoy #roanokeva #tistheseason🎄
Day 20,749
Today’s night critters – mouse, cat, skunk
Look out, Mouse! (Don’t worry, it was like 12 hours apart) skunk and cat about 2 hours apart.
#roanokeva #backyardzoo #mouse #cat #skunk
Barsoom (Martian) Go
Mari Lwyd
People buying elf on the shelf surveillance capitalism for your children meanwhile the welsh have a folk tradition of getting bullied by a horse skeleton until you share resources.
Introduce yourself with four starships.
Bluesky trend translated to my blog
The ship is the first to use the revolutionary Infinite Improbability Drive, which allows instantaneous travel across vast distances.
The appearance of the ship differs significantly across various adaptations; the book describes it as a sleek running shoe, while the film version is a large, smooth orb with a concave rear section for the drive.
The Bebop is a converted interplanetary fishing trawler owned and captained by Jet Black
It serves as the mobile base of operations for a group of bounty hunters (Spike Spiegel, Jet Black, Faye Valentine, Ed, and Ein) in the year 2071
The ship itself does not have any weapons systems or shields.
TARDIS is an acronym for Time And Relative Dimension(s) In Space.
It is “dimensionally transcendental,” meaning its interior is a separate dimension and much larger than its exterior appears.
The TARDIS has a “chameleon circuit” designed to change its exterior appearance to blend in with its surroundings, but the Doctor’s circuit is broken, leaving it permanently stuck as a 1960s-style London police public call box.
The ship is a living organism, capable of telepathic interaction with its passengers.
The ship’s primary purpose in the film was to carry the last remaining forests and plant life from Earth in large, geodesic domes.
Nubbin tail mouse montage
Visited Nov 23 2025
Revised and reskinned Martian chess
Birds and cricket
The backyard camera picked up a little night shift worker again. A single cricket wandered into the glow like it had stepped onto a tiny stage. It paused right in front of the lens, antennae sweeping the air, as if deciding whether the backyard was safe for another round of quiet exploring. These late night check ins always feel like small secrets shared by the dark.
Come daylight, the mood changes but the sense of visiting remains. One tiny bird at a time stops by, hopping onto the concrete slab like it is clocking in for a quick inspection. They do not arrive as a flock, just solo appearances throughout the day. A hop, a pause, a curious tilt of the head. Then they flutter off and a while later another shows up to repeat the same gentle ritual.
There is something soothing about how the yard shifts between its night and day guests. Cricket under the moon, bird under the sun, both taking their turns like the world is following a simple schedule whispered by the seasons. It is easy to forget how many lives trace small paths around us until a quiet camera reminds us.
#backyardzoo #cricket #tinybird #slabhopper #dayandnight #roanokeva
I finally saw Brie Larson act in something where I thought she actually did a good job (The Bear, Season 4). She meshed dynamically with the cast, emoted, and was believable.
I wish she had brought that energy to anything else I’ve ever seen her perform in.
Skunk and Mouse
We had a lovely skunk and an *active* little mouse with a very long tail last night.
#backyardzoo #roanokeva #skunk #mouse