Last Weak  |  Index  |  Next Weak

Weak XXV

18 June 2026

No. 6,250 (cartoon)

I wish I was dead.

We all do.

19 June 2026

A Two-Bit Story

Many months ago, I picked up a quarter I spotted on the sidewalk and put it in the little watch pocket in my jeans. (I know nothing about couture, so I have no idea why my pants are designed to accommodate a pocket watch since they were all but replaced by wristwatches since the First World War.) A minute later, I wondered why I did that, since the only time I use cash is to leave one or two five-dollar bills for a tip.

I was in the checkout line at the grocery store this afternoon when I noticed the elderly Chinese man in line behind me was struggling with his only purchase, a jug of milk. I asked him to go in front of me, then listened in on the conversation he was having with the cashier: he didn’t have quite enough money to pay for his milk.

That’s when I remembered my quarter and gave it to him; he was profusely thankful.

I told Rhonda about the encounter. It was depressing seeing someone living so close to the edge that the quarter I thought was useless was a significant amount of money to him. And it was scary to know that, except for an improbable number of lucky breaks, I too might need a quarter.

She laughed and reminded me that I know nothing about Chinese culture. She said it wasn’t unlikely that the elderly man might own four apartment buildings yet not have enough cash on him to buy anything at the grocery store.

I’ll have to ask him the next time I see him.

20 June 2026

Recycled Artifact

I felt like a biologist who discovers a creature thought to be extinct when I spotted a magazine in the building’s recycling bin. Let me ’splain what I discovered if you’re not olde enough to understand ...

A magazine is like a printout of the contents of an Internet site, advertisements and all. The paper pages are collated and stapled together to make a booklet, or “magazine.” I thought those died out in the last millennium, yet I found one this afternoon, a contemporary coelacanth.

I was initially confused because Robert Crumb made the cover illustration for the June edition of Harper’s Magazine, so he hasn’t died out either. Jeez, why is he doing commercial drawings in his eighties?

I picked it up and looked at it for almost a minute. I had a hard time reading the tiny print, and I was annoyed by the primitive, linear user interface, so I put it back in the recycling bin where it belongs.

21 June 2026

Happy Solstice in San Francisco

The summer solstice is here, and children are still dancing around the Maypole a month later. Beautiful women are frolicking in frolicky frocks, and summer is here. I’m sure it’s like that somewhere.

In my San Francisco neighborhood, I haven’t seen the sun for days. It’s so damp, cold, and foggy I need to wear two jacket to ride my bike. That’s not stopping me of giving everyone I meet a cheery solstice greeting, and reminding them that we’ll enjoy less and less daylight every day for the next six months until the winter solstice in the dark depths of winter. And then, for the coupe de grass, I add, “if we live that long.”

Happy solstice in San Francisco!

22 June 2026

IZZA

Leaves partially blocked my view when I photographed a restaurant window, resulting in the word IZZA instead of PIZZA. I kinda like the image, but it’s not good enough to be good, and it’s not bad enough to be good either.

I put it my notebook today so I could tell a little story about Dr. Graham. Her first job was as an assistant to a hack photographing nondescript buildings in an “industrial park” in England. Her task: hold a leafy branch in the corner of every frame.

And that’s the end of that little story.

23 June 2026

Please Enjoy by 7 January 2056

California will have yet another new food safety law next week, and that concerns me.

Check the fine print on items in the grocery store, and you’ll find some fifty date labels including “Best by,” “Please enjoy by,” “Expires by,” et cetera. The new legislation will allow only two options: “Use by” or “Best if used by” to minimize confusion.

I’m wondering how that will affect me. On one hand, I will continue to ignore all labels. I’ve never had food poisoning, so empirical evidence suggests that I can continue to do that with impunity. No, my concern is how my friends will react.

Their bewilderment has always served me well. Roscoe, for example, tosses anything with any date earlier than tomorrow, so I rifle through his refrigerator when I’m there. “Hey Roscoe, too bad that big slab of salmon expired yesterday; would you like me to get rid of it for you?”

Who knows, with all the “outdated” food I’ve received from my paranoid friends, I just may have saved someone’s life. All I can say with certainty is that free food is especially tasty.

24 June 2026

Present (Hot Sauce, Toothbrush, and Two Avocados)

Chris showed up for lunch with a stripy gift bag. I never would have photographed it had it contained, say, a bowl of cherries, but the contents dictated that I make Present (Hot Sauce, Toothbrush, and Two Avocados) in order to use the title.

25 June 2026

Toga! Toga! Toga!

Dr. Pavesich is a philosophiae doctor in philospophy. That seems repetitiously redundant, but that’s academia. I sent her an article from the current issue of The Ecomomist, Why big AI labs are hiring so many philosophers.

I didn’t think she’d be interested in reading it, since, after much philosophizing, she’s not looking for a job. Instead, I wanted her to see Simon Bailly’s illustration of a philosopher in a toga in the hopes that she’d start wearing proper philosopher’s attire. She always looks great, and I think exposing a shoulder would let everyone know why she’s Dr. Pavesich.

Coming next weak: more of the same.

Last Weak  |  Index  |  Next Weak
©2026 David Glenn Rinehart