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Larry "lahosken" Hosken 🇺🇸 👀

@lahosken.bsky.social

Coding, encoding, and decoding in San Francisco USA. Mostly on https://hachyderm.io/ but I check Bsky a few times a day. He/him https://lahosken.san-francisco.ca.us/self/contact/ User №246748

39 Posts331 Follower 195 Folgt

Larry "lahosken" Hosken 🇺🇸 👀@lahosken.bsky.social · 5d ago

Some new-to-me sidewalk chalk art by Kal Zakzouk at 20th and Irving in #SanFrancisco . If it got you thinking "What's up with that triple yin-yang in amongst the eight trigrams?" Wik… lahosken.san-francisco.ca.us/new/2026/09/...

sidewalk chalk art: bagua surrounding a triple yin-yang

sidewalk chalk art: sidewalk at street corner. chalk art: a big purple flower with things coming out of it

sidewalk chalk art: magical lady. she looks up at the sky, with a mask rising off of her face. but the back of her head has another face, a death's head mask, looking down. she has two arms, two human, two kinda skeleton-armor-y, reaching down

sidewalk chalk art: big purple flower with things coming out of it. a sort of lady. some imps. Daoist-adjacent symbols

Larry "lahosken" Hosken 🇺🇸 👀@lahosken.bsky.social · last wk.

MRW Hallowe'en decorations are already up at the supermarket

supermarket display case with some Hallowe'en decorations sitting on top: skeletons, witch silhouettes, cauldron, gravestone, black cats

image meme. It's mostly the Jumanji "What year is it?" meme. But the "year" has been mostly-covered by the word "month"

Larry "lahosken" Hosken 🇺🇸 👀@lahosken.bsky.social · 2w ago

A couple of things seen on my morning walk in #SanFrancisco: Apollo's Dog Library, 6th Avenue between Fulton and Cabrillo. Sidewalk chalk art near Hippie Hill: lemniscankh. uh, infinite life symbol or something

planter area in front of a house with no plants, just dirt. there are a couple of crates, one with tennis balls and one with sticks. there are a couple of signs. One says that this is Apollo's Dog Library. The other says Take One, Leave One, Have a Great Walk

sidewalk chalk art: a couple of ankhs drawn with their loops touching to form a lemniscate, an infinity symbol. also part of another piece, a geometric construction of circles, hexagons, and triangles

Larry "lahosken" Hosken 🇺🇸 👀@lahosken.bsky.social · 2w ago

Rejoice, for I have updated the scored phrase and word lists at the Phraser project. I fed in recent data from Wikipedia, IMDB, the puzzles wiki, the Spread the Word crossword list, etc so it now knows of recent pheno… lahosken.san-francisco.ca.us/new/2026/09/...

screen shot of excerpt of phrase list, centered on "Franklin Clinton"

Larry "lahosken" Hosken 🇺🇸 👀@lahosken.bsky.social · 2w ago

new-to-me Eclair Bandersnatch #StreetArt in #SanFrancisco on #PageSlowStreet at Lyon. more: lahosken.san-francisco.ca.us/new/2026/09/...

stencil art: fierce ducks with text: Keep all your ducks in a row

cool stencil art. Eclair kitty. glowing face with text "The sun doesn't know it's a star"

cool stencil art. includes a piece that either says 'deeds not words' or 'decals not words' but I'm not sure which

Larry "lahosken" Hosken 🇺🇸 👀@lahosken.bsky.social · 2w ago

#Book Report: Chasing Shadows It's a history of The Citizen Lab, a team of academics and hackers at U. of Toronto who investigate when bad guys hack the phones of journalists, activi… lahosken.san-francisco.ca.us/new/2026/09/...

book cover art for Chasing Shadows. lets you know the author is Ronald J. Deibert with description "Cyber espionage, subversion, and the global fight for democracy." also a blurb in tiny text from Cory Doctorow; if you squint you can barely make out "A thrilling, terrifying, and, above all, true story."

Larry "lahosken" Hosken 🇺🇸 👀@lahosken.bsky.social · 2w ago

My parents told me about a library for dogs on 6th Avenue between Cabrillo and Fulton (I think?): a box of tennis balls. Take a ball, leave a ball. That seemed like a better idea than the library for dogs I was familiar with on Waller near D… lahosken.san-francisco.ca.us/new/2026/08/...

a couple of 'libraries' out in front of a blue building. The bigger one has books and is labeled for children. It is painted blue and styled with a fake bay window and other deco to resemble the building behind it. There is also a red box, a library for dogs albeit not obviously because you probably can't read the label from this far away

patch of sidewalk with a couple of covered drains. instead of the usual plain drain covers, these are brightly colored with raised pixel art reminiscent of the old Space Invaders game. They are signed @draINvader

red box labeled 'stick library and treats'. Half of it is covered and latched. I didn't check, but I guess that's where they keep the treats, with a latch to keep out raccoons. The other half is open. It contains a couple of stubby stick fragments; also a couple of tennis balls

Larry "lahosken" Hosken 🇺🇸 👀@lahosken.bsky.social · 2w ago

New Kal Zakzouk sidewalk chalk art at 20th and Irving in #SanFrancisco: an enlightened rainbow being orbited by some demon 🎭️masks🎭️ that look frowny/smiley depending on whether you view them right-side-up or upside-down.

sidewalk chalk art. upper part of the figure, can see most of the three demon masks and her head. also between two of the demon masks, you can see, in faint black, the remainder of the previous artwork: kind of a pudgy feline imp figure

sidewalk chalk art. upper left of the artwork. view of one of the masks plus the figure's head. She wears her head in a bun held together with a knife through a skull. She wears a mask, but slung around the side of her head, not covering her face at the moment. The mask isn't, uh, semordnilap-ic; uh, i mean it isn't meant to be turned upside down

sidewalk chalk art. one of the masks. kinda demonic blue with horns. has two faces, one of which makes sense if seen right-side-up, the other upside-down. they share a mouth which frowns/smiles depending on how you look at it. each face has two closed eyes and an open third eye

sidewalk chalk art. human figure. wearing a sort of shawl that might be made of strips of paper over a sort of rainbow glow. orbited by masks

Larry "lahosken" Hosken 🇺🇸 👀@lahosken.bsky.social · 3w ago

I'd heard that Github was having a lot of outages since they started using AI-generated code. I shrugged and thought "Gee, I only use Github once every few months. Surely they'll ge… lahosken.san-francisco.ca.us/new/2026/08/...

moved code from github to codeberg, wrote a phraser helper

lahosken.san-francisco.ca.us

Larry "lahosken" Hosken 🇺🇸 👀@lahosken.bsky.social · 3w ago

I continue to check my little dashboard of #SanFrancisco COVID numbers each morning to decide whether to get coffee at an indoor coffee shop or a pushchart. You might remember that I track three stats. I blog about it when some stat crosses from a prett lahosken.san-francisco.ca.us/new/2026/08/...

graph charting 3 stats over the last couple of months. The green COVID-in-wastewater line starts out about 50% over 'pretty-safe', dips down to almost-pretty-safe, then goes back up to a little over pretty-safe. The purple test-positivity starts out firmly in pretty-safe territory; for the last month and a half, it's been jaggedly making its way over the pretty-safe line; lately the jags have continued, but alas the dips remain above the pretty-safe line. The red line, new cases started out nearly-invisibly low; lately, it's still low, but alas, not nearly as low as it was

Larry "lahosken" Hosken 🇺🇸 👀@lahosken.bsky.social · 4w ago

Some things I saw on my exercise walk in #SanFrancisco this morning: Another Outside Lands leftover mur… lahosken.san-francisco.ca.us/new/2026/08/...

utility pole with a San Francisco Crosstown Trails sticker

When your home is so boring you try to rescue it with a couple of Dr Seuss-esque helical topiary tree thingies

some food on a bench outside. there's a sippy-cup with coffee next to it. the food: a couple of 'dan tats' 蛋撻 egg custard tarts w/ a receipt saying mine was order #88

graffiti-style mural around a tunnel mouth. Has small simplified stylized SF landmark buildings side-by-side with giant stacks of speakers. Has text: Music for the People

Larry "lahosken" Hosken 🇺🇸 👀@lahosken.bsky.social · 4w ago

#SanFrancisco vandals are out of control. #SFHellscape

wall in front of house. There's some text in a child's scrawl, probably written in chalk: Nana + Grandpa = Best

Larry "lahosken" Hosken 🇺🇸 👀@lahosken.bsky.social · last mo.

I continue to check my little dashboard of #SanFrancisco COVID numbers … lately, stuff has been happening and not settling down. lahosken.san-francisco.ca.us/new/2026/08/...

chart tracking three values over the past 60 days. the red stat, tracking new reported COVID cases in SF, started near zero and has gradually ramped up to low-but-noticeable. The purple stat % of positive PCR covid tests started low, but then trended upwards to the pretty-safe line; for the past few weeks it has bounced above and below the pretty-safe line. The green COVID-in-wastewater stat started out a little above the pretty-safe line (eek!), strangely trended down to safe levels during the same stretch of time the %positive PCR tests stat trended up. Lately, it's bounced high again; but it's a very bouncy stat so maybe don't panic quite yet

Larry "lahosken" Hosken 🇺🇸 👀@lahosken.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Suddenly had a good guess at who made those Mario-themed drain covers on Page St when I saw this DraINvader cover on Baker St. #SanFrancisco #StreetArt lahosken.san-francisco.ca.us/new/2026/07/...

Suddenly had a good guess at who made those Mario-themed drain covers on Page St when I saw this DraINvader cover on Baker St. #SanFrancisco …

lahosken.san-francisco.ca.us

Larry "lahosken" Hosken 🇺🇸 👀@lahosken.bsky.social · 4mo ago

#Book Report: Matching Minds with Sondheim It's a book about Stephen Sondheim, focusing on his puzzles and games rather than on the stuff he's most famous for, theater. Of course, it's the puzzle-y and game-y parts that I'm interested in, becaus… lahosken.san-francisco.ca.us/new/2026/05/...

Book Report: Matching Minds with Sondheim

lahosken.san-francisco.ca.us

Larry "lahosken" Hosken 🇺🇸 👀@lahosken.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Things I saw walking in #SanFrancisco this morning: New-ish Kal Zakzouk sidewalk chalk art on Irving St at 20th Ave: Lady blowing bubbles amongst baby-faced goldfish. A stalled bus. I'm no expert mechanic, but I think it ran out of tokens Hillway A… lahosken.san-francisco.ca.us/new/2026/05/...

stalled bus pulled over by the side of the road. the bus' exterior is wrapped in ads for an 'AI App Builder'. See, the joke is that a lot of these AI companies meter their services as 'tokens' and it's a hassle when you run out. And buses used to use tokens. Hilarious, right? OK, maybe you had to be there

crane on a steep hill. Also a little bit of a forklift that's carrying around railroad-tie-sized blocks of wood, some of which are propping up bits of the crane to level it out

sidewalk chalk art: zooming in on one baby-faced goldfish (and a bit of the lady's elbow)

sidewalk chalk art: lady sits cross-legged blowing bubbles while surrounded by hovering giant baby-faced goldfish

Larry "lahosken" Hosken 🇺🇸 👀@lahosken.bsky.social · 5mo ago

#Book Report: The Pacific Circuit It's local history, in context. It's about the development Oakland, especially west Oakland near the port. But also about global forces at work. When I say "local histor… lahosken.san-francisco.ca.us/new/2026/04/...

cover art for book "The Pacific Circuit" by Alexis Madrigal. suggests intermodal freight containers hovering over some houses. says it's "A globalized account of the battle for the soul of an American city."

Larry "lahosken" Hosken 🇺🇸 👀@lahosken.bsky.social · 7mo ago

It is March and the lovely #EnigMarch people have challenged puzzle designers to write a puzzle inspired by today's word: "hint". You're trying to log into a computer that's not yours. The password hint is "Mary's violet eyes keeps John up." lahosken.san-francisco.ca.us/new/2026/03/...

Suppose you're trying to log into a computer that isn't yours. The password hint is "Mary's violet eyes keeps John up." What passwords might you try?

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Larry "lahosken" Hosken 🇺🇸 👀@lahosken.bsky.social · 7mo ago

I continue to check my little dashboard of #SanFrancisco COVID numbers each morning to decide whether to go get professionally made coffee at my local Peet's or make so-so coffee at home. As you may recall, I track three m… lahosken.san-francisco.ca.us/new/2026/02/...

graph charting three measurements over the past 60 days. two measurements have stayed low the whole time: number of positive PCR tests and % of positive PCR tests. The green line, COVID in wastewater has generally been higher (though below the 'pretty safe' line. A couple of weeks ago, it shot up to about 50% over the safe level. since then, though it's wobbled, it's stayed at about the same level

Larry "lahosken" Hosken 🇺🇸 👀@lahosken.bsky.social · 8mo ago

The Storybook House at Masonic Ave/Upper Terrace has their Valentine's Day decorations up. One word: 💕♥️ Hearts! 💖💗 The place across the street also has decorations up. More than one word, I guess. #SanFrancisco

strip of front yard in front of vehicle parked in house driveway. the yard strip has some decorations. closest to the viewer is a horse-skeleton Hallowe'en decoration, the kind that inexplicably has ears. It's been painted black and augmented with ghostly white hair where some horses have long hair: the mane plus feathering on the lower legs. Also the eyebrows. (I forget if there was also a tail, dang.) Next a painted-plaster-statue showing a kinda-cartoon-y looking duckling hatching from a pastel-painted Easter egg. Last we have a wrought-iron planter shaped like Cinderella's carriage painted bright pink and carrying various flowers and ferns and such. Didn't make it into the photo: there's a concrete-looking sea serpent which would be the standout detail in almost any other yard, but kinda faded into the background in this context

mansion with a big front yard decorated with many, many hearts. Also in view is a splash of plum blossoms

Larry "lahosken" Hosken 🇺🇸 👀@lahosken.bsky.social · 8mo ago

The char picker built into my desktop machine's OS was clunky enough such that I thought "I bet I can make a web page that works better than this." I succeeded, uh, at least for someone with my work patterns or whatever. Behold: 🐭 CARpHick lahosken.san-francisco.ca.us/frivolity/ca...

🐭 CARpHick : handy char-picker page

lahosken.san-francisco.ca.us

Larry "lahosken" Hosken 🇺🇸 👀@lahosken.bsky.social · 8mo ago

#MysteryHuntPredictions typo.social/@gdc/1158899...

GUI for creating art with letterforms.

It's dominated by a large rectangular "canvas" on which is rendered many many letter a's (and a smattering of other letters). The letters are in a variety of fonts and sizes. There are some dendrite forms, that if you squint, you realize are actually made up from many many tiny letters.

The right-hand side is a toolbar. There are arrows to send a letter up,down,left,right. There are big Flip, Mirror, Rotate Left, Rotate Right buttons. More buttons: Typing mode, Snap to Grid, Hide B-Boxes, Cursor Follow, Font 1, Font 2, Font 3, Font 4. A spreadsheet-ish grid with columns Font, Cell X, Cell Y and rows with some French(?) names: Parisienne, Nompareille, Mignone, Petit-texte, ... Grosse-Nomparelle. Controls for page size and margins.

Under the canvas is a wide shallow toolbar with a grid layout of individual characters. (Keeping in mind that the right-hand side toolbar has a "typing mode", I guess depending on mode, one might need to use a GUI to choose letters vs typing them?)

Larry "lahosken" Hosken 🇺🇸 👀@lahosken.bsky.social · 8mo ago

My morning walk was longer than intended. Silver lining: I walked past 20th Ave and Irving, where there was Kal Zakzouk chalk art. #SanFrancisco #StreetArt

sidewalk chalk art. a human-ish figure rides a tricycle. the trike has 'monkey bar' handles. the humanish figure might have a halo or a space helmet. they are sipping from a beverage through a straw. a bulbous figure on a tether bobs behind, reminiscent of a balloon

zooming in on the bobbing balloon-like figure, it seems to be a body-less imp with a blue hat sipping from a baby bottle? or something like that?

zooming in on the figure's head. is that a space helmet? a halo? hmm, maybe a sunhat?

the trike has a basket. within the basket is a smaller basket of fries and a small purple toy

Larry "lahosken" Hosken 🇺🇸 👀@lahosken.bsky.social · 3y ago

Just setting up my bsk