Eric Wagoner
@kestrelsnest.social
Amateur costumer and tabletop enthusiast. Developer at Infinity Interactive. Creator of Locallygrown.net. Former astrophysicist. Nerdy father to nerdy offspring. he/him ericwagoner.com has links to all my many online places and things.
Fifty years ago today the gales of November came early. I put a mournful sticker on my car to commemorate the occasion.
November 11, 2025 at 4:44 AM
Fifty years ago today the gales of November came early. I put a mournful sticker on my car to commemorate the occasion.
Reposted by Eric Wagoner
Unlike other places, The Onion is quadrupling down on being a pain in the ass, politically.
Please subscribe.
Please subscribe.
Join The Onion
Don’t just read the news. Feel it. Be among the first to feel the news.
membership.theonion.com
November 4, 2025 at 12:57 AM
Unlike other places, The Onion is quadrupling down on being a pain in the ass, politically.
Please subscribe.
Please subscribe.
Reposted by Eric Wagoner
loading the dishwasher in a way that infuriates others is the most human these things have ever behaved
The loading-the-dishwasher struggle is real. Even—or especially—for the $20,000 1X Neo humanoid home robot.
🔗: on.wsj.com/47whlZ1
🔗: on.wsj.com/47whlZ1
November 1, 2025 at 3:35 PM
loading the dishwasher in a way that infuriates others is the most human these things have ever behaved
Just started Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Service Model. The first chapter reads like a retelling of “There Will Come Soft Rains” and I mean, look, if it were Joe Random author I think I would have bailed halfway through because that short story is perfect the way it is. I don’t need it to be a novel.
November 1, 2025 at 5:02 AM
Just started Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Service Model. The first chapter reads like a retelling of “There Will Come Soft Rains” and I mean, look, if it were Joe Random author I think I would have bailed halfway through because that short story is perfect the way it is. I don’t need it to be a novel.
Reposted by Eric Wagoner
43 years ago today, readers the world over opened their newspapers and gazed upon cow tools for the first time. happy birthday cow tools. you look great.
October 28, 2025 at 12:23 PM
43 years ago today, readers the world over opened their newspapers and gazed upon cow tools for the first time. happy birthday cow tools. you look great.
Reposted by Eric Wagoner
The Wild Rumpus Spectacle and Parade is one of my favorite events of the year. I’ve been in all 17, going back to the first one where the organizer put out a call for folks in costume to walk the downtown sidewalks with him and so many people showed up he got ticketed for holding an illegal parade.
October 26, 2025 at 4:00 AM
The Wild Rumpus Spectacle and Parade is one of my favorite events of the year. I’ve been in all 17, going back to the first one where the organizer put out a call for folks in costume to walk the downtown sidewalks with him and so many people showed up he got ticketed for holding an illegal parade.
Reposted by Eric Wagoner
The LP was, as I said, created entirely out of my head, by a fictional songwriter called RJ McKendree. But I knew exactly what it sounded like. When the book was done, I asked @dimorphodons.bsky.social "Do you fancy having a go at making it exist?" So he did: rjmckendree.bandcamp.com/album/wallfl...
Wallflower, by RJ McKendree
11 track album
rjmckendree.bandcamp.com
October 21, 2025 at 3:22 PM
The LP was, as I said, created entirely out of my head, by a fictional songwriter called RJ McKendree. But I knew exactly what it sounded like. When the book was done, I asked @dimorphodons.bsky.social "Do you fancy having a go at making it exist?" So he did: rjmckendree.bandcamp.com/album/wallfl...
Reposted by Eric Wagoner
In chapter one of my novel Villager, I described a fictional painting, painted 60+ years ago by a forgotten painter: a psychedelic swirl of moorland landscape, which later became the cover of a fictional psych-folk LP.
"Do you fancy having a go at painting this?" I asked my mum.
So she did...
"Do you fancy having a go at painting this?" I asked my mum.
So she did...
October 21, 2025 at 3:19 PM
In chapter one of my novel Villager, I described a fictional painting, painted 60+ years ago by a forgotten painter: a psychedelic swirl of moorland landscape, which later became the cover of a fictional psych-folk LP.
"Do you fancy having a go at painting this?" I asked my mum.
So she did...
"Do you fancy having a go at painting this?" I asked my mum.
So she did...
We can’t make it to the Scottish festival today, so the Scottish festival had to come to us.
October 18, 2025 at 3:57 PM
We can’t make it to the Scottish festival today, so the Scottish festival had to come to us.
Reposted by Eric Wagoner
"New Far Side comics" was definitely not on my bingo card for this week. They're not bad!
www.thefarside.com/new-stuff/
www.thefarside.com/new-stuff/
October 16, 2025 at 6:58 PM
"New Far Side comics" was definitely not on my bingo card for this week. They're not bad!
www.thefarside.com/new-stuff/
www.thefarside.com/new-stuff/
Recorded footage today for my YouTube cooking show, for the first time in months. It felt really good.
I don’t know about nature healing any, but I am, just a little.
I don’t know about nature healing any, but I am, just a little.
October 13, 2025 at 2:24 AM
Recorded footage today for my YouTube cooking show, for the first time in months. It felt really good.
I don’t know about nature healing any, but I am, just a little.
I don’t know about nature healing any, but I am, just a little.
I’ve lived in this house, in an a neighborhood populated almost entirely by people of color, for nearly ten years.
Just now at 1am on a Wednesday night a car drove down the road with someone hanging out the passenger window yelling the n-word over and over.
It’s the 1st time I’ve seen that here.
Just now at 1am on a Wednesday night a car drove down the road with someone hanging out the passenger window yelling the n-word over and over.
It’s the 1st time I’ve seen that here.
October 9, 2025 at 5:08 AM
I’ve lived in this house, in an a neighborhood populated almost entirely by people of color, for nearly ten years.
Just now at 1am on a Wednesday night a car drove down the road with someone hanging out the passenger window yelling the n-word over and over.
It’s the 1st time I’ve seen that here.
Just now at 1am on a Wednesday night a car drove down the road with someone hanging out the passenger window yelling the n-word over and over.
It’s the 1st time I’ve seen that here.
Reposted by Eric Wagoner
Six weeks after relaunch, the LocallyGrown.net crisis is behind me. What was once one hardware failure from extinction now has a future—and a roadmap for the next 20 years.
Final post in the series: From Survival to Sustainability
blog.kestrelsnest.social/posts/locall...
Final post in the series: From Survival to Sustainability
blog.kestrelsnest.social/posts/locall...
From Survival to Sustainability: The Next 20 Years for LocallyGrown.net
Six weeks after the rebuild, the crisis is over. Here’s the focused roadmap—EBT access, delivery tools, and quiet reliability—for community-run, multi-grower markets.
blog.kestrelsnest.social
September 29, 2025 at 1:34 PM
Six weeks after relaunch, the LocallyGrown.net crisis is behind me. What was once one hardware failure from extinction now has a future—and a roadmap for the next 20 years.
Final post in the series: From Survival to Sustainability
blog.kestrelsnest.social/posts/locall...
Final post in the series: From Survival to Sustainability
blog.kestrelsnest.social/posts/locall...
Reposted by Eric Wagoner
She basically invented astrophysics.
She proved the laws of chemistry, quantum mechanics, and statistical mechanics, not just gravity, applied universally.
She determined the composition of the sun and primacy of hydrogen in the universe.
She advised the PhDs of Frank Drake and Frank Kameny.
She proved the laws of chemistry, quantum mechanics, and statistical mechanics, not just gravity, applied universally.
She determined the composition of the sun and primacy of hydrogen in the universe.
She advised the PhDs of Frank Drake and Frank Kameny.
Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin ✨ figured out what stars are made of ✨ when she was just 25. 🔭🧪
Her PhD thesis basically established the Harvard astro department — at a time when Harvard didn't officially allow woman students.
I wrote this little profile to mark the 100th anniversary of her thesis:
Her PhD thesis basically established the Harvard astro department — at a time when Harvard didn't officially allow woman students.
I wrote this little profile to mark the 100th anniversary of her thesis:
September 24, 2025 at 11:36 PM
She basically invented astrophysics.
She proved the laws of chemistry, quantum mechanics, and statistical mechanics, not just gravity, applied universally.
She determined the composition of the sun and primacy of hydrogen in the universe.
She advised the PhDs of Frank Drake and Frank Kameny.
She proved the laws of chemistry, quantum mechanics, and statistical mechanics, not just gravity, applied universally.
She determined the composition of the sun and primacy of hydrogen in the universe.
She advised the PhDs of Frank Drake and Frank Kameny.
25 years ago, about 100 webloggers came together (we weren't called bloggers yet) to create "Behind the Curtain: A Day in the Life of a Weblogger" where we posted pictures we took throughout the day. How quaint, right?
Anyway, here was my contribution. blog.kestrelsnest.social/legacy/curta...
Anyway, here was my contribution. blog.kestrelsnest.social/legacy/curta...
Behind the Curtain: a day in the life of a weblogger
No Summary
blog.kestrelsnest.social
September 23, 2025 at 8:45 PM
25 years ago, about 100 webloggers came together (we weren't called bloggers yet) to create "Behind the Curtain: A Day in the Life of a Weblogger" where we posted pictures we took throughout the day. How quaint, right?
Anyway, here was my contribution. blog.kestrelsnest.social/legacy/curta...
Anyway, here was my contribution. blog.kestrelsnest.social/legacy/curta...
Part 5 of my LocallyGrown.net series is out: Lessons from the Solo Developer Using Modern Tools
How Claude Code became my frustrating intern, thorough researcher, and tireless documentation writer — and why the tradeoffs were worth it.
How Claude Code became my frustrating intern, thorough researcher, and tireless documentation writer — and why the tradeoffs were worth it.
Lessons from the Solo Developer Using Modern Tools
How I used code-aware tools to multiply my reach (tests, docs, audits) while keeping humans in charge of architecture, business logic, and quality.
blog.kestrelsnest.social
September 22, 2025 at 9:45 PM
Part 5 of my LocallyGrown.net series is out: Lessons from the Solo Developer Using Modern Tools
How Claude Code became my frustrating intern, thorough researcher, and tireless documentation writer — and why the tradeoffs were worth it.
How Claude Code became my frustrating intern, thorough researcher, and tireless documentation writer — and why the tradeoffs were worth it.
Yesterday I hung out with a group of modern Norse heathens. It was a great day spent with some really good humans.
September 21, 2025 at 10:16 PM
Yesterday I hung out with a group of modern Norse heathens. It was a great day spent with some really good humans.
🌱 New blog post!
In 2002, I turned a little tool I wrote for myself and other local farmers into a platform serving 100+ markets across North America.
The same architectural decisions that helped it grow nearly killed it 23 years later.
Part 1 of my story:
blog.kestrelsnest.social/posts/locall...
In 2002, I turned a little tool I wrote for myself and other local farmers into a platform serving 100+ markets across North America.
The same architectural decisions that helped it grow nearly killed it 23 years later.
Part 1 of my story:
blog.kestrelsnest.social/posts/locall...
From Accidental Discovery to Agricultural Infrastructure: Building the World's First Online Farmers Market (2002-2011)
The origin story of LocallyGrown.net - from failed cooperative to pioneering agricultural platform serving 100+ markets across North America.
blog.kestrelsnest.social
September 9, 2025 at 1:51 PM
🌱 New blog post!
In 2002, I turned a little tool I wrote for myself and other local farmers into a platform serving 100+ markets across North America.
The same architectural decisions that helped it grow nearly killed it 23 years later.
Part 1 of my story:
blog.kestrelsnest.social/posts/locall...
In 2002, I turned a little tool I wrote for myself and other local farmers into a platform serving 100+ markets across North America.
The same architectural decisions that helped it grow nearly killed it 23 years later.
Part 1 of my story:
blog.kestrelsnest.social/posts/locall...
For the past six months I’ve been rescuing LocallyGrown.net from complete technological obsolescence.
Built in 2002, rewritten in Rails in 2006… and by 2025 still stuck on Rails 3.0.20 / Ruby 2.0.0. If the servers failed, 23 years of work would disappear overnight. (1/6)
Built in 2002, rewritten in Rails in 2006… and by 2025 still stuck on Rails 3.0.20 / Ruby 2.0.0. If the servers failed, 23 years of work would disappear overnight. (1/6)
LocallyGrown.net
LocallyGrown.net - The leading online farmers market platform. Connect local farmers with their community through our easy-to-use marketplace system. Start your market today!
LocallyGrown.net
September 7, 2025 at 1:42 PM
For the past six months I’ve been rescuing LocallyGrown.net from complete technological obsolescence.
Built in 2002, rewritten in Rails in 2006… and by 2025 still stuck on Rails 3.0.20 / Ruby 2.0.0. If the servers failed, 23 years of work would disappear overnight. (1/6)
Built in 2002, rewritten in Rails in 2006… and by 2025 still stuck on Rails 3.0.20 / Ruby 2.0.0. If the servers failed, 23 years of work would disappear overnight. (1/6)
I went to three different grocery stores today looking for daikon or jicama and went home empty handed.
We used to be a country.
We used to be a country.
September 4, 2025 at 10:07 PM
I went to three different grocery stores today looking for daikon or jicama and went home empty handed.
We used to be a country.
We used to be a country.
Reposted by Eric Wagoner
I’ve never wanted something to be real more than I want this to be real.
Patricia Routledge, I love you., I could read this again and again and again and...
August 21, 2025 at 1:18 PM
I’ve never wanted something to be real more than I want this to be real.
I was renting this house for years before we bought it in October 2020. In August 2020 the central AC went out and everything was replaced. It had a five year warranty that expired thirteen days ago.
Guess what failed this week and will cost several thousands to repair?
Guess what failed this week and will cost several thousands to repair?
August 13, 2025 at 9:29 PM
I was renting this house for years before we bought it in October 2020. In August 2020 the central AC went out and everything was replaced. It had a five year warranty that expired thirteen days ago.
Guess what failed this week and will cost several thousands to repair?
Guess what failed this week and will cost several thousands to repair?
Reposted by Eric Wagoner
This is why I don't read stuff on sub(nazi)stack: arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...
Substack’s “Nazi problem” won’t go away after push notification apology
Substack may be legitimizing neo-Nazis as “thought leaders,” researcher warns.
arstechnica.com
July 31, 2025 at 10:53 AM
This is why I don't read stuff on sub(nazi)stack: arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...