Dave Ferguson
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daveferguson.bsky.social
Dave Ferguson
@daveferguson.bsky.social
630 followers 380 following 2.9K posts
Not as bad as you might think. Tangential. Instructional design, job aids, Ensampler.com. May be related to Alistair MacLeod. Francophonesque. Pic: Dad.

Chì mi Ceap Breatuinn, mo luaidh,
Fada bhuam, thar an t-sàil.
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daveferguson.bsky.social
My dad had wanted to join the air force, but they said at 26 he was on the old side. He re-joined an outfit he'd left five years before, and spent the war years in Halifax.

RCMP members who served in the war became eligible for the Canadian Volunteer Service Medal in 2003.
A young man of 21, in a formal black-and-white photo showing head, shoulders, and upper torso. He's wearing the red serge, the ceremonial dress uniform of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, including broad-brimmed Stetson hat, a leather Sam Browne belt across his chest, and the cord of his sidearm lanyard around his neck.
November 12, 2025 at 1:30 AM
daveferguson.bsky.social
Remembrance Day in Canada.

My mom, circa 1943, as a lieutenant in the RCNVR (the Wavy Navy). A nursing sister, she served at the military hospital in Avalon, Newfoundland (which was not part of Canada till after the war).

Late in life, she was delighted to learn that counted as "overseas."
A brunette woman, 25 years old, in a head-and-shoulders, black and white formal portrait. She's wearing the dress uniform of a nursing sister in the Royal Canadian Navy Volunteer Reserve. A white headress behind her hair. Epaulettes with a naval insignia. A white collar over the dress coat, with two rows of bright buttons down the front. A small pin near the left point of the collar has a bright maple leaf.
November 12, 2025 at 1:30 AM
daveferguson.bsky.social
A satire of the "Come and Take It" flag, which usually features a star in the upper center, the silhouette of a 19th-century cannon, and the slogan "come and take it." This version includes a gold star, a stylized submarine sandwich with colored layers to represent cheese, tomato, salami, onion, and lettuce. These ingredients are, well, sandwiched by two brownish layers curved on the end to represent the sandwich bun. Beneath the sandwhich, in capital letters: "Here, you take it."
November 6, 2025 at 8:45 PM
daveferguson.bsky.social
12x24 porcelain tile, not "statuary marble," and not polished because I didn't want to get blinded by light in the shower we put in last year.

On the other hand, the cost per square foot was...likely a bit less.
Detail from the renovation of a bathroom, looking into an alcove about five feet wide. The far end of the alcove a wall where the plumbing will be for a toilet and a shower. The floor of the alcove is covered with 1 by 2 foot gray tile. The floor is divided lengthwise by a raised area -- a curb. To the right of the curb will be the walk-in shower; to the left, a toilet. The wall on the right, which is the long side of the shower, and the wall at the back of the alcove are covered with tile in an off-white pattern with streaks of gray, meant to resemble marble. Although none of the fixtures are in place, the renovation is more than halfways done.
October 31, 2025 at 7:03 PM
daveferguson.bsky.social
From CaptainCalculator.com:
A screen shot of an online calculation. The title is "Percentage Decrease Calculator." The first line is labeled "starting number," and the number given is 242. The next line is labeled "decrease amount," and the number given is 232. The third line is labeled "percent decrease." The calculated answer runs to fourteen decimal places. Rounded off, the answer would be 95.87%. (The full answer is 95..86776859504133 percent.)
October 16, 2025 at 8:55 PM
daveferguson.bsky.social
And I'm proud to be the guv of Oklahoma
Place where Woody first came on the scene
We keep our NG troops right close beside us
Like Woody kept his fascist-kill machine.
Woody Guthrie, in a photo dated 1943, making him about 31 years old. He's seated, shown from rougly the waist up. He's wearing a long-sleeve shirt, open at the neck, and he's gazing off to the viewer's left. Eyebrows are raised, forehead wrinkled, as if he's studying a reaction or thinking of the next line in a song. He's playing a guitar (most of the next is out of frame), a sticker on the guitar, above the fretboard and to the right of the sound hole, reads "This machine kills fascists."
October 9, 2025 at 7:36 PM
daveferguson.bsky.social
I realize it's just a location, but doesn't Paisley Close sound like someone Dolly would sing a duet with?

"Heave awa', lads -- I'm no deid yet!"
(Photo from Wikimedia
A close-up to a stone carving above the entrance to Paisley Close, a narrow passageway in Edinburgh, Scotland. Above a bust of a young man's face is a banner that reads "Heave awa', chaps, I'm no' dead yet." On Nov. 24, 1861, two tenement building, each over 250 years old, collapsed, killing 35 people. Joseph McIvor, a boy of around 12, had been standing in the doorway of one of them. Much later, as rubble was being cleared and hope of survivors was dim, his voice came out from the debris: "Heave awa', lads, I'm no deid yet." (The word "chaps" on the stone carving is likely an anglicization of McIvor's words, as is "dead" for "deid.") Paisley Close was built on the spot where the tenements collapsed, and the bust in the carving above the entrance is Joseph McIver.
October 8, 2025 at 11:47 PM
daveferguson.bsky.social
SuperSolvers OutNumbered (1990)
Cover for the educational video game "Super Solvers OutNumbered." The math-problem plot takes place in a television station, the rooftop of which is shown in cartoon form. Perched on the antenna tower is the mad scientist Master of Mischief, with his TV-set robot henchdroid Telly nearby. Climbing onto the roof from an outside wall is the SuperSilver, representing the player, wearing a puffy blue jacket and a red ball cap. As in the game itself, Supersolver's face is not visible.
September 27, 2025 at 5:03 AM
daveferguson.bsky.social
Halligan: a tool for prying into whatever you want.
A steel Halligan tool, commonly used by firefighters, on a white background. The steel shaft can be of various lengths; around 30 inches is common. One end has tines making a kind of claw or fork. The opposite end has a blade (a wedge or adze) and a tapered pick. These ends can puncture, pry, twist, or smash structures like doors and walls. The Halligan is useful for prying doors open, forcing locks, breaking down walls, and similar tasks.
September 26, 2025 at 3:27 AM
daveferguson.bsky.social
Happy birthday from me and Flora (Flora L'Orignal dite LaPorte) — a family member for over 20 years.

You're right; female moose don't have antlers. That's a tiara.
A small, stuffed-animal moose, riding in the drink holder of a car. She has dark brown fur and tan antlers (actually her tuare; female moose don't have antlers). She's looked out at the viewer with a calm but happy aspect. She's just finished a 5 day, 3,000 Mike car trip. She's resting her muzzle on a receipt from BC Ferries, waiting to take the 1 p.m. sailing from Tsawwassen, outside Vancouver, to her new home on Vancouver Island.
September 23, 2025 at 10:49 PM
daveferguson.bsky.social
I'm glad you said this. I have a can of Slap Ya Mama seasoning, which for me improves a lot of dishes.

Poking around just now, I found one of those make-your-own versions I'm going to have to try... when the can runs out and I've forgotten to get its replacement.
A six-ounce container of "Slap Ya Mama" cajun seasoning from Walker and Songs. The main part of the container is on a diagonally-striped background, alternating bright yellow and pastel yellow. Grass-green letters spell out SLAP YA MAMA, with "Cajun Seasoning" below that in red. There's a red chili pepper on either side of the word "ya." A grass-green band at the toppart of the label serves as the background for the company's logo: the words Walker & Sons in white, with a drop shadow, on top of an outline map of Louisiana. All in all, a breezy, cheery label, and inside the canister there's pretty good stuff for livening up your food.
September 22, 2025 at 9:21 PM
daveferguson.bsky.social
I didn't wear hats before, but for the generally mild rain we get in Victoria, this felt one from Fjällräven has been great.

If it's raining too hard for the hat, I stay home.
A fedora-style felt hat on a flat white background. The felt is olive-brown, including a straight brim. There's a tan brown leather band at the base of the crown.
September 21, 2025 at 1:59 AM
daveferguson.bsky.social
Part of a crowded bookshelf in a used-book store. The cover of a book, facing the camera, reads "Geoffrey Chaucer: The Canterbury Tales." A small sign just below the book reads "New and Notable: Chaucer's Canterbury Tales."
August 27, 2025 at 5:08 PM
daveferguson.bsky.social
Philippe Kahn: "The once and future king!"
A screenshot from a software package released in 1988. On a black background, one box reads: Sidekick Plus version 1.000, IBM version. Copyright 1988, Borland International, Incorporated. Overlapping the lower right corner is another box, framed by ASCII-character lines, with the software's main menu. The choices are: Time Planner, Notebook, File Manager, Phone Book, Calculator, ASCII Table, Outlook, and Services. The bottom two lines of the screen show a function key menu, white characters on a blue background. In this menu, F5 reads "Zoom."
August 14, 2025 at 9:44 PM
daveferguson.bsky.social
Yeah, but YOU got something you could put a whole lot of tweed cloth into. ;-)

Besides, a long-range goal is to get to Harris and have one made.

Something to go with my kilt:
A sample of tartan cloth, folded on itself at least a dozen times. This is like a view of a kilt, except the folds have soft edges and not the sharp ones of a kilt. This is Ferguson tartan in "ancient colors," meaning a modern attempt to duplicate dyes that were mainly vegetable based. The colors are generally not as strong as more modern tartans, though they can be light and distinctive. Like most tartans, this is made up of a pattern of repeating colored stripes of various widths, woven with the same pattern of vertical stripes. The basic idea of the thread pattern is that it uses a certain number of threads of one color, then of another, up to a so-called pivot point, where the pattern continues in reverse. In this example, there's a thin, distinct white stripe bordered by two thinner black ones, against a heather-green background. Moving an inch or so away from the white stripe, there's a reddish one, the same width as the white strip and its borders, also on a green background. An inch further past the red strip is a black strip, about an inch wide. Next is a two-inch area with only a light blue background that takes the place of the previous light green one. Halfway through this blue area is where the pattern reverses: blue followed by black, followed by the green background with the red strip, followed by the white and its borders. The complexity of a tartan comes from weaving the pattern horizontally and vertically. The colors depend on tradition and on the mill that weaves the cloth.
August 13, 2025 at 4:51 AM
daveferguson.bsky.social
Parody of a news photo showing Trump entering the Oval Office through a door featuring half a dozen fake-gold decorations, with more good exuberance around the door casing. In the news photo, a woman is standing just inside the door, which would strike her if it opened any further. The woman's head and upper torso have been replaced by a poorly-edited photo of Joanna, a waitress in the movie Office Space. Joanna has just been reprimanded by her manager for not wearing enough "flair" on her uniform -- the collection of pins and badges that employees at the fictional Chotchkie's restaurant are required to wear.
August 7, 2025 at 5:39 PM
daveferguson.bsky.social
You're not the only one who's pretty sure.
A search screen on the Folger Shakespeare Library site, forger.edu The search box contains "loose the forces" in quotation marks. The result text reads: Found 0 results for "loose the forces" and Othello. Additional notes point out this phrase is not found in either the plays and poems or in the texts.
July 18, 2025 at 9:26 PM
daveferguson.bsky.social
Two Corvette Mako Shark concept cars, around 1962. Both have a dark blue body that blends into white, making a light area downward from about a foot off the ground. One model is a two-person coupe, with the passenger area looking like a pilot compartment in front of a curving trunk area. The second car has a long sloping back from the top of the windshield to the rear of the car. Both have curving, aerodynamic lines that bring to mind seagoing predators like the actual mako shark. The cars are parked on pavement with many grassy areas and a body of water in the background. The photo was taken at the GM Technical Center in Warren, Michigan.
July 11, 2025 at 12:49 AM
daveferguson.bsky.social
I grew up in Detroit, where Cardinal Dearden had an official archdiocesan edition of the People’s Mass Book about 15 minutes after the vernacular liturgy was approved.
The cover of the 1964 edition of the People’s Mass Book, an English-language hymnal used by Catholic parishes in Detroit and elsewhere as part of the liturgical changes introduced by the Second Vatican Council (“Vatican II”). On a white cover, six stylized human figures stand in a row, the bodies made up of solid medium-brown shapes that are mainly rectangular. Most bodies are formed by eight to ten such shaper: one with a rounded top for the head, the the torso, the pelvis, two shapes for upper legs, two for lower, and so on. The modern stylization recalls stained glass figures, with the white of the cover acting like the metal dividers between pieces of glass. Below the figures, in large sans serif capitals: PEOPLES MASS BOOK. Below that, in a smaller font: a new edition of the Peoples Hymnal.
June 29, 2025 at 12:54 AM
daveferguson.bsky.social
Mom in (I believe) 1943, in her dress uniform.
A black-and-white photo of a brunette woman, about 25 years old, taken in 1943. This is a formal portrait, showing her head and upper body in the dress uniform of a lieutenant in the Royal Canadian Navy Volunteer Reserve. The uniform jacket has two rows of brass buttons, epaulets with the emblem of the RCNVR, and a small rectangular pin on the left lapel. The most visible part of that pin is a brass maple leaf. Behind the woman's head, the phot shows white fabric -- the traditional white veil that made part of a nursing sister's uniform.
May 7, 2025 at 9:29 PM
daveferguson.bsky.social
The pages visible in the image on the store's site include one with a handmade line drawing of a cell, with some two dozen callouts to show what you may be *permitted* to have in your cell, and where it has to go.
Three rectangles showing parts of the 1956 set of rules for the U.S. federal prison at Alcatraz. These rectangles refer to how an inmate's cell is to be organized. The large area on the left is a hand-drawn diagram of a typical cell, seen from the cell door. A cot-style bed is on the right, two shelves with various items are on the back wall, along witha sink. A coat and cap hang on right right side wall, a robe and coat on the left. Many items have a callout letter next to them. A rectangle at the upper right quotes rule 30 from the rules: "Keep your properly nearly arranged on your shelves, as shown in the cell diagram on Page # 8." The third rectangle, at lower right, is a list of the callouts and what they indicate: A: Twelve books (maximum). B: Personal papers. C: Paint box, etc. D: Radio headphones. E: Ash tray and tobacco. F: Extra soap. G: Mirror. H: Toothpowder. I: Razon and blades. J: Shaving brush. K: Shaving mug. L: Drinking cup. M: Face towel. N: Bathrobe. O: Raincoat. P: Calendar. Q: Coat and cap. R: Soap. S: Sink stopper. T: Cleaning powder. U: Toilet tissue. V: Extra shoes and slippers. W: Musical instrument / case. X: Broom. Y: Trash basket. Z: Extra blankets. Below that list: Extra blanket is to be folded neatly at food to bed. Pillow at the head of the bed toward the bars. Blankets are to be tucked in under the mattress. Shoes, slippers and musical instruments and cases are to be under the bed with the shoes or slippers under the leading edge of the bed.
May 5, 2025 at 3:44 PM
daveferguson.bsky.social
I've passed by this cherry tree hundreds of times and likely thousands. It's maybe 550 meters / a third of a mile from my building, where I've lived for 10 years.

Just two days ago I noticed the tree has two different colors of blossoms.
A cherry tree on a sunny day. It stands by an urban sidewalk, with a parking lot just behind it, and an eight-story residential building beyond that. Bright blue sky frames the top of the building and the top branches of the cherry tree. The tree is full of blossoms and has begun losing some. Most of the blossoms are white, but pink ones appear to be scattered throughout. The reality is that only one main branch on the tree has pink blossoms, but all its smaller branches have gotten mixed with the more numerous branches that bear white blossoms.
April 23, 2025 at 7:34 PM
daveferguson.bsky.social
On the surface of a frozen lake, an angry Canada goose has its wings raised, its neck bent, and its beak open as it confronts an apparently startled bald eagle.
April 10, 2025 at 8:24 PM
daveferguson.bsky.social
I can feel the happiness.

When I was in 9th grade, my French book has a photo of la Victoire de Samothrace on her staircase at the Louvre…
The Winged Victory statue on the Daru staircase at the Louvre museum in Paris. Abroad set of stairs leads to the statue, which is framed by a tall, arched niche in the wall behind it. Light flows down from many windows; most of one round window is visible. The statue, 9 feet tall, takes up less that 20% of the height of the photo. The landing it stands on could be four times higher. With no people and no signs visible, the image heightens the unique beauty of the statue, which stood 2,400 years ago in Samothrace, Greece.
March 28, 2025 at 8:08 PM
daveferguson.bsky.social
Let's be candid: Trump isn't yet placing a 900% tariff on all goods from Denmark because that's where he thinks the pastries at the Mar-a-Lago buffet come from.

(Image credit: pixabay.com/users/pixel1... [Pixel1] on Pixabay)
A plate holding two Danish pastries, one topped with cream cheese and lemon, the other with cream cheese and cherry.
March 13, 2025 at 7:11 PM