Planet Iron Blogger SF

Audio version, read by the author

Inkbox Tattoos shut down today. They offered high-quality temporary tattoos that looked great and lasted for weeks. I was a huge fan of their service, but I had a feeling the end was near when they started pushing “NFT tattoos.”

Aside from the NFT tattoos, *sigh*, Inkbox had three main product options (Wayback link here):

• Tattoo Pens – Pens filled with special ink that let you draw custom designs directly on your skin.
• Signature Tattoos – A curated selection of ready-to-print designs submitted by artists from around the world.
• Custom Tattoos – Users could choose a size and submit their own artwork to be turned into temporary tattoos.

The custom option was my favorite and I’ve ordered dozens of custom tattoos over the years:

Once you picked a size and submitted your black-and-white design, Inkbox would ship you a sticker to apply to your body. You’d leave it on for about 40 minutes, peel it off, and see light blue lines in its place. After 24 hours, those lines would darken nicely and stay on your skin for a few weeks.

Inkbox sticker applying to skin the final tattoo (a day later)

I’ve been on Inkbox’s mailing list for years and their closure came as a huge surprise to me. Up until February 21st, 2026, there was no mention of the site’s closure. Here’s the text from that email:

All Inkbox operations will be shutting down indefinitely on Monday, February 23^rd, with the final day to purchase being Sunday, February 22^nd, 2026.  All orders placed before the 23^rd will be honored as usual. 

I tried ordering tattoos that same day, but the checkout screen was busted and no orders went through. 48 hours after announcing their closure, Inkbox’s site was fully shut down.

That’s rough for anyone who got a gift card for Christmas. But hey, things happen. I’m going to miss my silly Inkbox tattoos. I wish I could have placed one more massive order before they closed.

The post RIP Inkbox Tattoos appeared first on Doc Pop's Weblog.

We took the Muni to Hayes Valley and had dinner there before heading over to the Opera House There were three Balanchine choreographies; the first two to Tchaikovsky and the last to Sousa. Yes, Sousaphone-fame Sousa!

Posters stating “Grok creates AI child porn” and “Elon empowers pedos” are appearing all around the Mission District in San Francisco. There’s no information on who is behind these posters, but there is a link to this recent Wired.com story about the huge amount of child sexual abuse material that Grok is making on a daily basis.

spotted on Mission Street near 29th st in San Francisco.

Although the posters are clearly targeting X / Twitter / Grok, the poster design is clearly referencing Facebook’s classic “Move fast and break things” era typography. These new posters are using a darker shade of orange, probably for higher contrast, but it sure has that same feel to it.

CC-BY photo by Mark Deerkoski

I used that same exact color/font combo when designing my “Move purposefully and fix things” stickers in 2018.

The post “Elon empowers Pedos” appeared first on Doc Pop's Weblog.

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Here’s the story of how curling, an obscure Winter Olympics sport, inspired me to create the yo-yo emoji.

This video was fun to make and can be watched on Youtube, PeerTube, Loops, or Instagram. Currently, it’s getting the most attention on IG, which is cool because I hope that leads Aidan Oldenburg into watching it himself.

I’ve made a few longer videos about the yo-yo emoji, which you can watch here:

The post How an Obscure Winter Sport Inspired The Yo-Yo Emoji 🥌 🪀 appeared first on Doc Pop's Weblog.

/2026/02/15/un-viaje-de-los-cuarentas.html

Whether it’s the immigrants or the jews,
there’s always an enemy for them to choose.
It starts off with the socialists in the schools
Until one day the enemy looks like you.

Evan Greer – “You Will Have To Come Through Us”

“If you come for my neighbors
You will have to come through me”

The post Modern Protest Songs for a World Without ICE appeared first on Doc Pop's Weblog.

This year I’m starting to run the SF Yo-Yo Club on a monthly basis at 826 Valencia in San Francisco. Our first meeting of the year was yesterday and we had a great turn. A mix of folks who had only been yo-yoing for a few weeks and folks who have been yo-yoing for over 20 years. One of our attendees was a three time winner of the European Yo-Yo Contest.

These yo-yo meet ups are open to anyone and totally free, but leaving a tip for 826 Valencia is greatly appreciated. We’ll be meeting on the second Saturday of every month from 2-5pm at 826 Valencia. Our next meeting will be on March 14th, 2026.

The post San Francisco Yo-Yo Club Was A Success appeared first on Doc Pop's Weblog.

/2026/02/08/elephant-seal-hooky.html

I have recently been letting my hair get out of control and just growing it and growing it with no real vision for it. My hair and nails grow really fast and I find it overwhelming, it seems like I am cutting them all the time. This weekend I finally got all that back on … Continue reading "Haircup"

The post My Favorite New Albums Of 2025 appeared first on Doc Pop's Weblog.

/2026/01/27/costa-rica.html

I like to keep an eye out for cool shapes during my walks and use them as inspiration for my #SidewalkFriends drawings. It’s like my version of hunting for Pokémon.

Today’s Sidewalk Friends sketch is a guy in a tuxedo peaking from around a corner. Inspired by some moss and cracks in the asphalt.

The post #SidewalkFriends: Friend or Foe appeared first on Doc Pop's Weblog.

Ballet season is starting up again, starting with Eugene Onegin. It was really captivating, it surprised me! In other news, my phone battery started swelling up, so now I have a death phone to contend with. I have to bring it in to a guy to take it out safely for me and dispose of … Continue reading "Ballet Season Again"

Thanks to the wonderful folks at 826 Valencia, the San Francisco Yo-Yo Club is back on a monthly basis!

Our next meetup is Saturday, February 7th from 2–5pm, and after that we’ll gather on the second Saturday of each month (March 14th, April 11th, and so on).

We’ll be meeting in the stylish back room at 826 Valencia, a nonprofit creative writing center that’s generously sharing their space with us. These meetups are free and open to everyone, but if you’re able, please consider making a donation to 826 as a thank-you for supporting our yo-yo shenanigans.

Again, all skill levels are welcome, so bring a yo-yo and come throw with us.

The post The San Francisco Yo-Yo Club Is Back appeared first on Doc Pop's Weblog.

/2026/01/25/ski-weekend.html

I gave blood for the first time in a long time. Years maybe. I got poked yesterday Anyhow, apparently I have been entered into a raffle for Superbowl tickets because of a promotion going on to get donors. I would go if I had tickets, I guess, though I confess I was unaware of the … Continue reading "Gave Blood"

While Dark Heresy is still infecting my brain, I started sculpting a rosette from apoxie sculpt clay, armature wire, and whatever else. Should be fun. I’m in the sanding and priming stage now. I plan to paint the inlays red, and then I think filling them with a clear or maybe red-ish resin would look … Continue reading "Brainrot"

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After dealing with a wave of spammers trying to sign up for our Cartoonist Conspiracy group, I created a human-powered captcha to weed out the spam.

I had previously posted a text version of this story, but decided to make a video for it too. BTW, our San Francisco Cartoonist Conspiracy meets on the second tuesday of every month from 7-9pm at Finjan Qahwa cafe. We have one happening next week.

The post The Punk Rock Turtles Test appeared first on Doc Pop's Weblog.

/2026/01/04/christmas.html

I like to keep an eye out for cool shapes during my walks and use them as inspiration for my #SidewalkFriends drawings. It’s like my version of hunting for Pokémon.

Today’s Sidewalk Friends sketch is a laid back green guy, inspired by some dried soap bubbles from a nearby car wash.

While working on this piece, I tried refining a new style that was inspired by carving out linotype. Rather than using consistent lines, I tried to give the lines a more etched, or “hand cut”, look.

The post #SidewalkFriends: Cool Greg appeared first on Doc Pop's Weblog.

The Dark Heresy alpha is out and I am ready for it to completely reprogram my brain. I need to kiss the “Baron” on the mouth. He is a sweet boy who never did anything wrong in his life

Last night we stumbled upon this cool projection mapped art at the corner of 22nd and Valencia in San Francisco. It was part of a month long art project by a local VJ named Mark Johns. Here’s his site SlideAndSpin.com

The projector was set up against the old Lucca Delicatsen and projected across the street onto the old Social Security building.

The post Projection Mapping at 22nd and Valencia appeared first on Doc Pop's Weblog.

/2025/12/24/brisket.html

The Winter Solstice has come and gone once more, so now the days will begin to get longer. We made it!

Another year, another Night Parade through the streets of the Mission. A lot of weird things happened on December 20th, 2025, including a massive power outage through San Francisco, but that didn’t stop our annual Night Parade event.

I’d guess that nearly a thousand folks joined this unofficial parade in celebration of the winter solstice. Most were in costumes or wearing bright lights. I had my light up yo-yos of course. When the days are getting darker and colder, I always look forward to this little event.

I’ve also blogged about some of the older Night Parades:

If you are in San Francisco and looking for more fun things to do this year, I highly recommend The First Satanic Temple’s Black X Mass at the Knockout. Hosted by Karla LaVey, this is a lighthearted night of noise music, finger foods, and heavy metal. It’s another one of those events I look forward to each year.

The post San Francisco’s 2025 Night Parade appeared first on Doc Pop's Weblog.

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There were 45 issues of this Microprinciples newsletter in 2025. You might vaguely remember one about a glove, or an experiment in reverse advice (which didn’t land), on an earnest use of the term “poppycock” (which did). What a year.

Not one to miss out on a bandwagon, I employed similar methods to the Swedish-Luxembourgish Algo-Factory (i.e., hand-waving, guesswork, lies), and compiled this list: your 2025 Microprinciples Wrapped.

Let’s do this.

Top tracks

The principles that gave you life this year:

• You grow toward the light you can find. Soil can twist you into improbable shapes.

• Everything is drugs. The old trombones used to say “Just say no to drugs.”

• Avoid the need to check boxes. Some things are just information.

Truly, madly, obviously

The principles that made you go, “no doy”:

• Sometimes the answer is water. You are water. A sac of liquid with a passport.

• You gotta do something. Making and doing is fundamentally pointless in cosmic terms.

• Experience and words are not the same. Go buy this helmet, and never speak to me again.

Inscrutable percentage

You’re in the top 0.0000000001% of people who read these:

• The experiment works on you too. You’re about to eat an oyster for the first time.

• All sight is hindsight. The future, meanwhile, is behind you.

• Power is a dance, not a throne. Like a hug or a handshake. There’s no one-sided version.

Thank you, next

The principles (I assume) you stopped reading halfway through:

• You’re not invited. Dreams are nebulous. Vision concretizes.

• Beauty is better made. What you call “ugly” is everything you resist.

• Know when to fold ‘em. Your favorite donut shop changed the recipe.

Your Microprinciples age

No one knows what this means or how it is calculated, but it’s true:

• You’re 37

Your new go-to insult

“Trade-in your bovine existence of endlessly chewing algorithmic cud.”
–Boredom is the amuse bouche

Hey, I said that

Principles based on an actual conversation you had with V:

• Make a mess, keep it tidy. Go watch a mammalian birth.

• Think slow to move fast. The faster you move, the less you can see.

• Your handle doesn’t matter. Action matters more than aspiration.

Other side of the tracks

The principles you refuse to accept and maybe for good reason:

• Know your eternal questions. Your playground is another person’s taboo.

• You must learn to discern. Wisdom isn’t a collection, it’s a chemical reaction.

• No growth without demolition. Babies don’t struggle with walking because they’re stupid.

Mom, I’m on the phone!

The principles that made you think of your origins:

• You must find the bridge. An offer of a French fry to a seagull.

• Stop calling people smart. “Smart” is something you have or you don’t.

• Make your boundaries known. But you do this too!

Your Microprinciples club

Which club do you belong to? Cosmic Creator Club, obviously. These principles are especially for you, dear knowledge worker:

• Keep your first drafts. Wading into failure is prickly curriculum.

• Change the plane of conception. The reason was God’s will.

• Never reveal the magic. You’re better off explaining the shape of a sneeze.

• You can’t all be the main character. Too many chefs, spoil the plot.

• Yuck, yum, whatever. A tree can handle an axe blow; Seedlings need extra care.

True ballads

The principles that hit too close to home:

• Let fear ride shotgun. Where “hic sunt dracones.”

• Add probably, feel better. There’s a lot that can kill you.

• Want what sets you free. The rails you mistake for shackles

Thanks you for reading. Microprinciples now enters hiatus while V figures out what he wants to do with his life. (Because integration requires less.) Much appreciation to the readers who reached out to help with my long-form project. I appreciate you!

Onward.

–V. Sri

I’m realizing that the Night Parade is basically a sort of continuation/extrapolation of the Perchtenlauf traditions in the Alps. I guess it makes sense to have such winter traditions, as the nights are getting long even here! Hopefully the sounds will keep the spirits away.

I like to keep an eye out for cool shapes during my walks and use them as inspiration for my #SidewalkFriends drawings. It’s like my version of hunting for Pokémon.

Today’s Sidewalk Friends sketch is a grunge dude. Inspired by some weeds growing out of a crack in a wall. This is my first Sidewalk Friends sketches in a long time. I missed it.

The post #SidewalkFriends: Grunge Dude appeared first on Doc Pop's Weblog.

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To learn you must discern and
To discern requires a perverse ability:
To babysit two opposing ideas in your mind’s playpen
And to keep them cooing and gentle.

It’s the entire concept of comedy:
Follow a well-accepted insight
With an unacceptable one,
And delight in the confusion.

Comedy requires discernment,
And discernment requires distance.
Everything is funny from a distance.
So get yourself some distance.

It’s not “touch grass” it’s “touch big.”
A tree, a mountain, the ocean, an ostrich.
Shift your perspective from pixels to something bigger.
Lift your eyes and behold—

Less unity and more diversity.
Less simplicity and more stories.
Less clarity and more acceptance.
Less certainty and more possibility.

It’s a lot of responsibility for a babysitter.
Victor Hugo says: “He who does not weep does not see.”
I say: “He who does not laugh is a doofus.”
And he neglects the other baby in the crib.

Laughter is a blessing not to be squandered.
Every conflict is rife with stupidity.
Every holy war is just two angry book clubs,
Each obsessed with one book.

Besides: death comes for everyone, even the innocent.
All that is made shall be destroyed.
You (yes you) are wrong about everything.
Take a seat in the dunk tank, once in a while.

Hold room for all of life’s babies,
Even the ugly ones.
A mind’s private tornado begins in a playpen
You can learn to let them play nice.

One of the first things tourists notice in San Francisco these days is how many ads there are for terrible AI startups on billboards, on TV, and even on Muni bus stops. On the bright side, these Muni ads have become great canvases for street artists to share positive public messages. Like this “Free Muni!” poster, which used to be an ad for Delve AI.

Or this “Humanity prevails” sign, which originally replaced a dystopian advertisement for a company called Dear World¹.

This Workato ad was modified to deliver a more worker-friendly message.

And this final ad which used to be for an open source search tool.

¡Chinga la migra!

1. I know the “Dear World” signs were supposed to be parodies, but in weird twist they were paid for to promote yet another AI startup, so… Still sucky. ︎

The post San Francisco Street Artists vs. AI Startup Ads appeared first on Doc Pop's Weblog.

I have had Pentiment in my backlog of games to play for years now, and FINALLY got around to playing it. And it is like it was specifically hand-crafted for me, I am obsessed with it. I am obsessed with the player character Andreas Maler. I am obsessed with everything about it. The visuals and … Continue reading "Obsessed with Pentiment"

/2025/12/07/thanksgiving-in-hawaii.html

No two people will agree on everything.
Even twins can share an impassible gulf.
He’s obsessed with coffee; she insists on tea—
And a road is closed between them.

For others, the gulf can be even wider and deeper.
It’s more than “road closed.” It is a raging river.
And if they dare to step into the current, it’s all chaos and foam.
So they avoid it and wander alone.

How do you bring your adversary closer?
You must find the bridge.
The bridge is the avenue where conversation can flow
Without controversy or resistance.

The bridge looks like many things.
You can call it shared understanding.
It can be small talk or a peace summit,
It’s a safe space for discourse.

Instead of trading ideas in a turbulent river,
The bridge lets you practice on a “stable” surface.
You need neutral territory because you most definitely have a bias.
The bridge is the space between extremes.

I say “stable” because it’s human-made.
Every bridge requires active maintenance and repair.
And a bridge can start impossibly narrow—
In fact, every bridge must start this way:

Two words of high school Spanish in a rural village.
An offer of a French fry to a seagull.
A hand on a shoulder terminating silence.
A soccer ball on a battlefield on Christmas Day.

This bridge affords a safe passage between minds.
This is what you pay therapists for, by the way.
Even if you hate someone with every fiber of your being,
There is a bridge between you—because we are all family.

You can find it or build it; both are the same.
Bridges let you leave your island—
Which isn’t even “yours” in the first place:
It’s just where you happen to be.

Bridges are “no place,” and thus, utopia.
Stripped of culture, bridges serve only function—
To allow the intersection of private tornados,
So you may mingle in your fundamental oneness.

/2025/11/30/colorful-weekend.html

Here’s an old toon I drew for Torque Mag back in the day.

The post Happy Family Tech Support Day appeared first on Doc Pop's Weblog.

You could go to the Amazon rainforest.
Or you could read about it in a book.
Do you think there’s a difference?
Your body already knows there is.

(And if you think they are the same,
Use my coupon code,
Go buy this helmet,
And never speak to me again.)

If you think they’re not the same,
You already know this bitter fact:
That words are woefully imperfect.
Experience and words are not the same things.

Words aren’t worthless, of course.
Metaphors heave light onto darkness.
Laws let you sheath your swords.
Poems carve beauty from the mundane.

But words are not what they measure.
A waterfall is meaningfully different than “falling water.”
Heartbreak is always peculiar to the ballads voiced in her name.
The longest obituary will never contain a life.

Words are technology, nothing more.
A mind is a private tornado even to yourself.
Your therapist is a mortal with problems, like you.
She cannot read you, and you are not your thoughts.

Even if you read every book ever written,
You would glimpse only a sliver of human experience:
Namely, the fragment of history someone wrote down.
(Don’t forget to tip the patron saints of lost time.)

And if you hurled every book ever written into a machine,
You’d have yet another technology,
Predicted to destroy our way of life.
The know-nothing that makes nothing, but words, words, words.

The know-nothing is your boyfriend who won’t shut up (about taking your job).
Neither waterfall, nor rainforest, nor heartbreak
Can be experienced from his precious plastic helmet.
Nor will it protect him from This Life.

Next time a friend has a profoundly meaningful experience,
Don’t ask them to render the experience into words.
Invite them to remember the feeling in silence.
That’s where the answer lives, if there is one at all.