Mark Tough
@marktough.bsky.social
Doin' stuff at the nexus of tech, community development, and education. Geezer Xer. Iowa farm boy, 33-year Baltimore City rowhomie. Indie music, Patterson Park, pinball, disc golf, hiking, cat appreciating, econ/soc. Shitlib vibes, Warren-ish policies.
Excellent. Thanks, I'll take a look after checking on our convalescing kitty (Emily needed a triple mastectomy, but she's recovering like a champ!).
November 3, 2025 at 11:27 PM
Excellent. Thanks, I'll take a look after checking on our convalescing kitty (Emily needed a triple mastectomy, but she's recovering like a champ!).
Hundreds of shitlibs [lauditory] and others out on a beautiful afternoon in Towson, MD. I give the park capacity another half hour or before the crowd starts spilling into The Shops at Kennilworth’s parking lot; hee hee.
October 18, 2025 at 5:25 PM
Hundreds of shitlibs [lauditory] and others out on a beautiful afternoon in Towson, MD. I give the park capacity another half hour or before the crowd starts spilling into The Shops at Kennilworth’s parking lot; hee hee.
Klinger @ Radar
Tolefo Mud Hens @ Iowa Cubs
Tolefo Mud Hens @ Iowa Cubs
September 17, 2025 at 5:53 PM
Klinger @ Radar
Tolefo Mud Hens @ Iowa Cubs
Tolefo Mud Hens @ Iowa Cubs
Check it out now/
The Cod Sole brother 🎶
The Cod Sole brother 🎶
August 21, 2025 at 10:16 PM
Check it out now/
The Cod Sole brother 🎶
The Cod Sole brother 🎶
Not state-sanctioned calicos but nonetheless: the state OF Birdwatch in Baltimore City today. Cisco the house panther and Good Queen Emily are working in shifts here near the corner of Baltimore and Kenwood.
August 15, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Not state-sanctioned calicos but nonetheless: the state OF Birdwatch in Baltimore City today. Cisco the house panther and Good Queen Emily are working in shifts here near the corner of Baltimore and Kenwood.
I'm not a reflexive hater by any means. But the notion that LLMs are at or near the point of passing the Turing Test is only even slightly defensible if one constrains one's notions of humanity to a fellow being's capacity to answer technical questions with authority.
August 11, 2025 at 1:23 AM
I'm not a reflexive hater by any means. But the notion that LLMs are at or near the point of passing the Turing Test is only even slightly defensible if one constrains one's notions of humanity to a fellow being's capacity to answer technical questions with authority.
I forgot to reply with this the other day, but on Monday I was chaperoning some kids at a museum visit at the Baltimore Train Museum. And I round a corner and go holy shit, this is the most niche but also one of the best serendipitous surprises I've ever seen. It IS pointed towards West Madison.
August 1, 2025 at 12:02 AM
I forgot to reply with this the other day, but on Monday I was chaperoning some kids at a museum visit at the Baltimore Train Museum. And I round a corner and go holy shit, this is the most niche but also one of the best serendipitous surprises I've ever seen. It IS pointed towards West Madison.
1981 and early 1982 were strangely a little late and also a little early in punk/post-punk/alt terms. But that's ok because this is a masterpiece.
www.google.com/url?sa=i&url...
www.google.com/url?sa=i&url...
July 27, 2025 at 1:47 AM
1981 and early 1982 were strangely a little late and also a little early in punk/post-punk/alt terms. But that's ok because this is a masterpiece.
www.google.com/url?sa=i&url...
www.google.com/url?sa=i&url...
Going in a rather different direction than most, I suppose, but I'm quite sincere in my way.
What do you think is the most 80s movie ever?
What do you think is the most 80s movie ever?
June 20, 2025 at 12:26 AM
Going in a rather different direction than most, I suppose, but I'm quite sincere in my way.
What do you think is the most 80s movie ever?
What do you think is the most 80s movie ever?
Similarly but differently up the road a piece here in Baltimore at our excellent Basque restaurant, La Cuchara (which obviously ranges beyond Spain in its cellar, but puckishly).
June 18, 2025 at 11:00 AM
Similarly but differently up the road a piece here in Baltimore at our excellent Basque restaurant, La Cuchara (which obviously ranges beyond Spain in its cellar, but puckishly).
NO KINGS BALTIMORE.
(alt text coming soon!)
(alt text coming soon!)
June 14, 2025 at 8:01 PM
NO KINGS BALTIMORE.
(alt text coming soon!)
(alt text coming soon!)
Toynbee Tiles were great back in the day, but Baltimore, your dada weirdness keeps going strong (photo by my neighbor Ann S).
June 13, 2025 at 12:27 AM
Toynbee Tiles were great back in the day, but Baltimore, your dada weirdness keeps going strong (photo by my neighbor Ann S).
Mainstay schoolbus song of my elementary school days. Part of the fun of the early/mid public internet was having just lived with a line like "funky Claude was running in and out" with NO WAY to know how much of any of that was real. Comes the Internet. Lo and behold: funky effing Claude!
May 30, 2025 at 12:00 AM
Mainstay schoolbus song of my elementary school days. Part of the fun of the early/mid public internet was having just lived with a line like "funky Claude was running in and out" with NO WAY to know how much of any of that was real. Comes the Internet. Lo and behold: funky effing Claude!
I was an unwashed radio kid until college, but got in deep circa ‘84ish. 80s and 90s were both banner decades but TOTALLY dift vibes. But me and Da Wife’s fitness room is my little shrine these days. Posters from the 90s, ephemera from the 80s.
May 28, 2025 at 11:32 AM
I was an unwashed radio kid until college, but got in deep circa ‘84ish. 80s and 90s were both banner decades but TOTALLY dift vibes. But me and Da Wife’s fitness room is my little shrine these days. Posters from the 90s, ephemera from the 80s.
Zoom and scroll for the fun dichotomy of my music work vs my music life (strictly fan based) in those days. That’s a Pere Ubu setlist I picked up.
May 28, 2025 at 11:29 AM
Zoom and scroll for the fun dichotomy of my music work vs my music life (strictly fan based) in those days. That’s a Pere Ubu setlist I picked up.
I haven’t had much coffee so forgive the scattershot catch-up replies here; I’ll just barrell through on this one sub-thread.
First, as promised, the Crue pass. The arena catering game was obviously quite hairy in my extended 88-89 professional student era.
First, as promised, the Crue pass. The arena catering game was obviously quite hairy in my extended 88-89 professional student era.
May 28, 2025 at 11:27 AM
I haven’t had much coffee so forgive the scattershot catch-up replies here; I’ll just barrell through on this one sub-thread.
First, as promised, the Crue pass. The arena catering game was obviously quite hairy in my extended 88-89 professional student era.
First, as promised, the Crue pass. The arena catering game was obviously quite hairy in my extended 88-89 professional student era.
CNN framing behavior of a market that is still down 3% for the last month.
April 9, 2025 at 9:13 PM
CNN framing behavior of a market that is still down 3% for the last month.
The mess behind me has nothing to do with me. The new kitchen deck posts, rails, and balusters have everything to do with me. I didn't even need a Cybertruck to get 'er done.
April 7, 2025 at 12:41 AM
The mess behind me has nothing to do with me. The new kitchen deck posts, rails, and balusters have everything to do with me. I didn't even need a Cybertruck to get 'er done.
On the one hand, I'm two degrees of separation from Booker along a couple different vectors and I know that his capacity for performative grandstanding knows few bounds.
On the other hand, this is not purely performative as votes and other Senate business are being pushed. On balance I'll take it.
On the other hand, this is not purely performative as votes and other Senate business are being pushed. On balance I'll take it.
April 1, 2025 at 3:34 PM
On the one hand, I'm two degrees of separation from Booker along a couple different vectors and I know that his capacity for performative grandstanding knows few bounds.
On the other hand, this is not purely performative as votes and other Senate business are being pushed. On balance I'll take it.
On the other hand, this is not purely performative as votes and other Senate business are being pushed. On balance I'll take it.
I don't hairsplit these things at the margins. But Cherry Hill is an overwhelmingly Black community and this is one helluva (helluvan?) own goal. Great project, IMO, bumblefuck illustration.
March 21, 2025 at 12:16 PM
I don't hairsplit these things at the margins. But Cherry Hill is an overwhelmingly Black community and this is one helluva (helluvan?) own goal. Great project, IMO, bumblefuck illustration.
Me: atheist since '77, lefty.
She: one of five god-daughters, working in the Lutheran and Episcopal churches in Iowa, fighting the same fight, lefty.
Me: hell yeah!
She: one of five god-daughters, working in the Lutheran and Episcopal churches in Iowa, fighting the same fight, lefty.
Me: hell yeah!
March 17, 2025 at 12:04 PM
Me: atheist since '77, lefty.
She: one of five god-daughters, working in the Lutheran and Episcopal churches in Iowa, fighting the same fight, lefty.
Me: hell yeah!
She: one of five god-daughters, working in the Lutheran and Episcopal churches in Iowa, fighting the same fight, lefty.
Me: hell yeah!