I updated to the latest version of Big Sur and have experienced a few weird things. Namely:

• PDF Expert and MarsEdit vanished from the hard drive.
• Backblaze put me in a Security Freeze.
• Office apps freeze up on me at inopportune times.

Regretting this update, to say the least.

I’ve seen it perched on the same tree twice this past week. Maybe it’s not the same bird. Who knows?

According to my nifty Seek app, this is a Phainopepla nitens. And here I thought it was simply a black cardinal.

Maybe this marks a delayed start to my Big Year.

Until last week, I had only the faintest of faint ideas of who Fran Lebowitz is and that is mainly from her long-forgotten (by me) appearances on David Letterman* back when.

I watched “Pretend It’s a City”, the new Netflix limited series, featuring Lebowitz and produced by Martin Scorsese, and found it fascinating. So fascinating that I might watch it all again. (After watching this series, it seems weird to refer to her as Lebowitz and not Fran.)

I’ve never had any desire to live in New York, but I enjoy hearing from people who would never want to live anywhere else but there.

Up next: finding the 2010 documentary the pair worked on, Public Speaking.

*I’ve been catching up on them — two hours worth — on YouTube.

• The Magnet by Mark Frauenfelder
• Big Technology by Alex Kantrowitz

Here are some others.

You might know the serial comma as the Oxford comma. I’ve been a hard-core AP Style guy for more than 30 years, deleting every unnecessary comma that got in my way.

Now, though, I’m starting to think the serial makes things clearer.

I shall not bend, however, on using a single space after a period.