Stories, serious articles, satire, tech trends, how to guides and ideas from David August. Actor. Writer. Acting coach. 🌉 bridged from https://stuff.davidaugust.com/ on the fediverse by https://fed.brid.gy/https://bsky.app/profile/david.stuff.davidaugust.com.ap.brid.gyhttps://bsky.app/profile/david.stuff.davidaugust.com.ap.brid.gy/post/3mvakgjfylwv2I flew into New York City 25 years and about 12 hours ago. I was excited and nervous: I was scheduled to do stand up comedy for my first time that week at Carolines on Broadway . My stomach was unsettled. I sort of noted the towers from my cab into the city, but really more looked at the skyline […] https://stuff.davidaugust.com/25th-anniversary-of-9-11/11 Sep 2026 12:19 +0000at://did:plc:7g3e7atd4ycn4tkuxekrorsz/app.bsky.feed.post/3mvakgjfylwv2https://bsky.app/profile/david.stuff.davidaugust.com.ap.brid.gy/post/3mt37iiiz6l42Years ago, in Chicago, there was a successful improv comedy theatre company. They were so successful they got the city to include them in a major downtown “theatre district” build-out. They got a beautiful set of intimate spaces. Spaces with rent that could not be covered even if they sold out […] https://stuff.davidaugust.com/math-counts-even-in-the-arts/14 Aug 2026 22:30 +0000at://did:plc:7g3e7atd4ycn4tkuxekrorsz/app.bsky.feed.post/3mt37iiiz6l42https://bsky.app/profile/david.stuff.davidaugust.com.ap.brid.gy/post/3msbi6colixw2David Ellison wrote an editorial in the New York Times (gift link) in which (I think) he tries to make the case for why he should be allowed to have his Paramount acquire Warner Bros. Discovery. He accomplished the opposite. He should not own them. I read his writing with an open mind, and he […] https://stuff.davidaugust.com/david-ellison-convinced-me-he-should-never-own-nor-control-a-combined-paramount-warner-bros-discovery/04 Aug 2026 16:56 +0000at://did:plc:7g3e7atd4ycn4tkuxekrorsz/app.bsky.feed.post/3msbi6colixw2https://bsky.app/profile/david.stuff.davidaugust.com.ap.brid.gy/post/3mrnebhvtq7m2What’s with starting “into the middle of things” (Latin: in medias res)? It is crazy, right? Who would do that (except all the movies that do that)? Who would do that enough over multiple millennia so that people over centuries would have to come up with an entire phrase about it, am I right? […] https://stuff.davidaugust.com/movie-review-of-the-odyssey-title-read-movie-not-seen/27 Jul 2026 16:52 +0000at://did:plc:7g3e7atd4ycn4tkuxekrorsz/app.bsky.feed.post/3mrnebhvtq7m2https://bsky.app/profile/david.stuff.davidaugust.com.ap.brid.gy/post/3mrispk3li462Brilliant gambit: the U.S. will now allow Iran to hit some of what they shoot at because that will surely lead them to capitulation. It has nothing to do with the fact we are running of of air defense interceptors (that's exactly what it is). Thankfully, the U.S. has nothing we want to defend […] https://stuff.davidaugust.com/wars-going-great/25 Jul 2026 21:25 +0000at://did:plc:7g3e7atd4ycn4tkuxekrorsz/app.bsky.feed.post/3mrispk3li462https://bsky.app/profile/david.stuff.davidaugust.com.ap.brid.gy/post/3mqmtdlemu5v2Too many, the storm drains run red, too many more and I fear within my bones that then justice so far deferred and delayed, dissembled and denied will with the unfocused rage of millions demand and extract ten of thousand thousands of ice in bags, as if to staunch the swelling, stacked so high […] https://stuff.davidaugust.com/the-world-is-on-fire-and-we-are-trying-not-be-its-kindling/14 Jul 2026 18:24 +0000at://did:plc:7g3e7atd4ycn4tkuxekrorsz/app.bsky.feed.post/3mqmtdlemu5v2https://bsky.app/profile/david.stuff.davidaugust.com.ap.brid.gy/post/3molmpeu7q3c2The 15 protestors arrested by the federal government in Minneapolis this week are, according to the Justice Department’s own account of things, responsible for denting a government F-150 (by kicking it), and tipping a trailer (said to be owned by the accused) onto its side. Kicked a car and […] https://stuff.davidaugust.com/nothing-to-worry-about/18 Jun 2026 20:03 +0000at://did:plc:7g3e7atd4ycn4tkuxekrorsz/app.bsky.feed.post/3molmpeu7q3c2https://bsky.app/profile/david.stuff.davidaugust.com.ap.brid.gy/post/3moedgkq2m522A power grab and embellishment of the surveillance state that is merely being dressed up as an effort to protect people. https://stuff.davidaugust.com/social-media-to-be-banned-for-under-16s-in-landmark-government-move-for-more-control/15 Jun 2026 22:22 +0000at://did:plc:7g3e7atd4ycn4tkuxekrorsz/app.bsky.feed.post/3moedgkq2m522https://bsky.app/profile/david.stuff.davidaugust.com.ap.brid.gy/post/3mmwuzhvptt62And Why Business Leaders Keep Getting It Wrong A guest post/repost of a thread by fadeinpro.com (posted with permission): Been thinking about the psychology behind "business leaders" pushing for "AI" in creative usage. Part of it comes down to the nature of the job: obviously they think what […] https://stuff.davidaugust.com/the-expertise-gap-why-ai-doesnt-replace-human-creativity/28 May 2026 20:40 +0000at://did:plc:7g3e7atd4ycn4tkuxekrorsz/app.bsky.feed.post/3mmwuzhvptt62https://bsky.app/profile/david.stuff.davidaugust.com.ap.brid.gy/post/3ml7p5h4ttqo2We each get to, and need to, decide that our humanity is partly what drives whether or not we book work: who and what we are. https://stuff.davidaugust.com/be-more-human/06 May 2026 21:58 +0000at://did:plc:7g3e7atd4ycn4tkuxekrorsz/app.bsky.feed.post/3ml7p5h4ttqo2https://bsky.app/profile/david.stuff.davidaugust.com.ap.brid.gy/post/3mgvbn7ug2to2Federal law enforcement must use safety tech, and disabling it should mean prison. https://stuff.davidaugust.com/mandate-safety-interlocks-with-penalties-for-dhs-equipment/12 Mar 2026 20:50 +0000at://did:plc:7g3e7atd4ycn4tkuxekrorsz/app.bsky.feed.post/3mgvbn7ug2to2https://bsky.app/profile/david.stuff.davidaugust.com.ap.brid.gy/post/3mgq2qa4amrk2The Old Professional Roles Email Forward (with no insult meant, good intentions and tongue in cheek): Producer: • Leaps Tall Buildings In A Single Bound • Is More Powerful Than A Locomotive • Is Faster Than A Speeding Bullet • Walks On Water • Gives Policy To God Director: • Leaps Short […] https://stuff.davidaugust.com/professional-roles-stage/10 Mar 2026 19:03 +0000at://did:plc:7g3e7atd4ycn4tkuxekrorsz/app.bsky.feed.post/3mgq2qa4amrk2https://bsky.app/profile/david.stuff.davidaugust.com.ap.brid.gy/post/3mfcriznt6an2It is not too late to start working feverishly to undo the harm your vote inflicted and keeps inflicting. https://stuff.davidaugust.com/the-vote-that-stole-breath/20 Feb 2026 18:48 +0000at://did:plc:7g3e7atd4ycn4tkuxekrorsz/app.bsky.feed.post/3mfcriznt6an2https://bsky.app/profile/david.stuff.davidaugust.com.ap.brid.gy/post/3meffuy2hruq2“You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to desist from it" - Fathers Ethics (2:21) I was struck by this story. It is not quite about the Titanic, but the ship and people that fought to rescue her: The Carpathia. "Carpathia received Titanic’s distress signal at 12 […] https://stuff.davidaugust.com/rms-carpathias-courageous-rescue-efforts/09 Feb 2026 02:32 +0000at://did:plc:7g3e7atd4ycn4tkuxekrorsz/app.bsky.feed.post/3meffuy2hruq2https://bsky.app/profile/david.stuff.davidaugust.com.ap.brid.gy/post/3meci73ireie2Naysayers Say Nay July 12, 2034: Fremont County, Colorado - Gregory Bovino, serving several life sentences at both the federal and state levels in multiple states, has petitioned the courts asking that he be granted permission to wrestle a wild boar naked, and, if he survives, have the rest of […] https://stuff.davidaugust.com/bovino-petitions-to-fight-wild-boar-naked-for-sentence-commutation/07 Feb 2026 22:36 +0000at://did:plc:7g3e7atd4ycn4tkuxekrorsz/app.bsky.feed.post/3meci73ireie2https://bsky.app/profile/david.stuff.davidaugust.com.ap.brid.gy/post/3mciie7inrer2 https://stuff.davidaugust.com/premeditated-state-violence-must-end/15 Jan 2026 21:04 +0000at://did:plc:7g3e7atd4ycn4tkuxekrorsz/app.bsky.feed.post/3mciie7inrer2https://bsky.app/profile/david.stuff.davidaugust.com.ap.brid.gy/post/3m7vt2pzm5dc2 https://stuff.davidaugust.com/ice-didnt-do-what-they-did-and-do/14 Dec 2025 00:05 +0000at://did:plc:7g3e7atd4ycn4tkuxekrorsz/app.bsky.feed.post/3m7vt2pzm5dc2https://bsky.app/profile/david.stuff.davidaugust.com.ap.brid.gy/post/3m7lgtfyvtc52 https://stuff.davidaugust.com/to-sea/09 Dec 2025 19:54 +0000at://did:plc:7g3e7atd4ycn4tkuxekrorsz/app.bsky.feed.post/3m7lgtfyvtc52https://bsky.app/profile/david.stuff.davidaugust.com.ap.brid.gy/post/3m6sae3togdm2 https://stuff.davidaugust.com/historys-bloody-rhymes/29 Nov 2025 20:27 +0000at://did:plc:7g3e7atd4ycn4tkuxekrorsz/app.bsky.feed.post/3m6sae3togdm2https://bsky.app/profile/david.stuff.davidaugust.com.ap.brid.gy/post/3m63glowsjf32 https://stuff.davidaugust.com/president-gives-masterclass-in-writing-assaultive-murderous-writing/20 Nov 2025 18:47 +0000at://did:plc:7g3e7atd4ycn4tkuxekrorsz/app.bsky.feed.post/3m63glowsjf32https://bsky.app/profile/david.stuff.davidaugust.com.ap.brid.gy/post/3m5u64vrxtat2 https://stuff.davidaugust.com/local-law-enforcements-challenge-uphold-the-law-even-against-the-feds/17 Nov 2025 21:27 +0000at://did:plc:7g3e7atd4ycn4tkuxekrorsz/app.bsky.feed.post/3m5u64vrxtat2https://bsky.app/profile/david.stuff.davidaugust.com.ap.brid.gy/post/3m53cb5zlsnb2 https://stuff.davidaugust.com/collective-punishment-backfires/08 Nov 2025 00:05 +0000at://did:plc:7g3e7atd4ycn4tkuxekrorsz/app.bsky.feed.post/3m53cb5zlsnb2https://bsky.app/profile/david.stuff.davidaugust.com.ap.brid.gy/post/3m4r6hhcff6r2 https://stuff.davidaugust.com/securing-faith-sacrificing-safety/03 Nov 2025 23:30 +0000at://did:plc:7g3e7atd4ycn4tkuxekrorsz/app.bsky.feed.post/3m4r6hhcff6r2https://bsky.app/profile/david.stuff.davidaugust.com.ap.brid.gy/post/3m455r5jecjt2 https://stuff.davidaugust.com/tyrants-fall/27 Oct 2025 00:24 +0000at://did:plc:7g3e7atd4ycn4tkuxekrorsz/app.bsky.feed.post/3m455r5jecjt2https://bsky.app/profile/david.stuff.davidaugust.com.ap.brid.gy/post/3m3fthuoeyql2 https://stuff.davidaugust.com/no-surrender/17 Oct 2025 17:49 +0000at://did:plc:7g3e7atd4ycn4tkuxekrorsz/app.bsky.feed.post/3m3fthuoeyql2https://bsky.app/profile/david.stuff.davidaugust.com.ap.brid.gy/post/3m33suj76bcv2 https://stuff.davidaugust.com/study-reveals-autism-cure-punching-rfk-jr-in-the-face/13 Oct 2025 18:12 +0000at://did:plc:7g3e7atd4ycn4tkuxekrorsz/app.bsky.feed.post/3m33suj76bcv2https://bsky.app/profile/david.stuff.davidaugust.com.ap.brid.gy/post/3lz7t2igt5e42 https://stuff.davidaugust.com/kimmel-and-killing/19 Sep 2025 21:35 +0000at://did:plc:7g3e7atd4ycn4tkuxekrorsz/app.bsky.feed.post/3lz7t2igt5e42https://bsky.app/profile/david.stuff.davidaugust.com.ap.brid.gy/post/3ly6zyvgp3ys2 https://stuff.davidaugust.com/government-rebranding-continues/06 Sep 2025 20:42 +0000at://did:plc:7g3e7atd4ycn4tkuxekrorsz/app.bsky.feed.post/3ly6zyvgp3ys2https://bsky.app/profile/david.stuff.davidaugust.com.ap.brid.gy/post/3lxuhwsdqozh2 https://stuff.davidaugust.com/presidential-incapacity/02 Sep 2025 15:52 +0000at://did:plc:7g3e7atd4ycn4tkuxekrorsz/app.bsky.feed.post/3lxuhwsdqozh2https://bsky.app/profile/david.stuff.davidaugust.com.ap.brid.gy/post/3lwhf4qxlc6v2 https://stuff.davidaugust.com/tinpot-in-tinseltown/15 Aug 2025 17:32 +0000at://did:plc:7g3e7atd4ycn4tkuxekrorsz/app.bsky.feed.post/3lwhf4qxlc6v2