Writing

    The Difference Between Journaling and Blogging

    Hand_written_diary

    When I look back at my blog, it reveals more about my feelings than any journal I've ever kept. I can tell when I was feeling light-hearted or when politics have had me riled up. When I write about my (grown) kids it is usually a reflection of when I'm missing them. My dear sweet Mom reads every post and I put little messages to her in here and try not to cuss. I'm honest about my mental health. Sometimes I vent my frustrations from work, or you know, people.

    Every time I have ever tried to keep a journal, it's quickly devolved into nothing more than just a daily narrative - when I got up, what I did at work, what I did in the evening. I always start off thinking I'll inject some emotion into it, something that future me will read with admiration. It just never happens. I've used the great journaling app, Day One, since 2014, but it is more of a digital scrapbook into which I funnel photographs, social media posts, books, movies and TV shows watched and news stories. It's fun to maintain and look through, but I don't get much of a clue about how past me felt on all those days unless one of the photos conjures up a memory.

    Before I started this blog, I'd had two stints of writing for other people behind me. One was back in the 90s before we had social media. I used to write essays and include them in our family email chain. I've republished a couple of them here and here. The email chain petered out and most of the writing I did for the next decade was technical in nature.

    In 2013, my wife and I hiked the Appalachian Trail on a five-month honeymoon. I used an iPhone 5 to write a blog entry every night in our tent or whatever hostel we happened to be in with pictures and details from the day's journey. I thought about continuing it when we got home, but going back to work and a lack of spectacular views and adventure extinguished that flame.

    These days. I average about 1,000 words a day. I write about anything I feel like for most of that, although I dedicate some time to my hobby of writing app reviews. I went through my first hundred days and created a list of blogging prompts, which several people have amazingly taken and completed 50 or more of their own posts from.

    Last week, I celebrated the one-year anniversary of my first blog post in my re-entry into the world of personal bloggers. I didn't start the crazy post something every day thing until March. I've written for my blog during a hurricane. I kept it going through a camping trip with five of my grandchildren. More than a few posts have been pecked out on my phone during road trips and airplane flights. I am much more dedicated to talking to y'all than I ever was writing for myself. Thankfully, I have an open-book personality. I'm not guarded about much. My life has been messy and imperfect, but I've done some fun stuffand some hard stuff and ended up pretty happy for the most part. For me it would be harder not to write about my life than it would be to conceal every wart.

    Thanks for reading.

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    When Something Isn't Broken, but Everyone thinks It Is

    Teacher_and_student

    It's ironic that I've worked in schools for the majority of my adult life. Except for a year here and there, I didn't enjoy the 12 years I spent in public education. It could have something to do with attending 13 schools during that time. The years I liked happened because of special teachers, the kind who know how to engage kids and who treat them like the little humans they are.

    It's been popular in the press and in political circles for many years to claim that public education is failing. Standardized test scores are treated like the holy grail in this data-driven age. State legislatures pass laws to do things like mandate that students be taught their multiplication tables, implying that they are not learning that already, when of course they are. In a nod to tradition, people who don't know how to send an email pass laws that force instruction in things like cursive writing while eliminating jobs for people who teach art, music or who work in the library.

    Conservatives aren't the only ones who denigrate education, but they're the people who want to take money from the school budget and give to shady for-profit and poorly supervised charter schools. They also favor giving to religious schools teaching that man and dinosaurs walked the earth together. In many southern states, segregation academies get public money for their mostly white student body, while the public schools in the same area are underfunded. Take a look at the study from Pro Publica that I've linked to.

    Somehow the right-wingers have convinced people that there are teacher's unions everywhere that care nothing about children and that exist only to extort money from the government. In my home state of North Carolina, a law exists that forbids any public employee from joining a union. There are no negotiated contracts. There is no right to strike. Teachers and every other school employee takes what the state decides they should have, or they go work somewhere else. Many teachers already have a second job. I've seen them waiting tables, behind cash registers and at the plasma center. Our legislators even abolished higher pay grades for advanced degrees, while simultaneously complaining about teacher quality.

    Of course, there is a bell curve when it comes to the competence of teachers, just like there is a bell curve in every other profession. Most teachers care a great deal about what their students are learning. I've listened to many, many excited explanations of new ways to teach first-graders addition or high schoolers chemistry. You can see the real passion in so many teachers and the work they put into their lessons. I've seen plenty of them stay at school long after they could have left for the day, just so they could provide extra help to kids who are behind.

    The US as a whole is doing pretty damn well for a country that supposedly has a failing educational system. These days I work in higher ed at a private university and I don't hear our professors complaining about unprepared students in their classes. As someone who works in IT, I can also tell you that these young people are learning tech skills somewhere because keeping them on the straight and narrow path and out of places where they shouldn't go is a full-time job.

    Next time you hear someone start the old "our schools are failing" routine, stop them and probe a little deeper. The chances are that they've bought into the big lie.

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    Radarr - Movie collection manager for Legal Usenet and BitTorrent users

    Radarr
    Radarr


    When I was a younger man, I'll admit to living the pirate life for music and movies. I was around for the original Napster and the birth of BitTorrent. That all came to a screeching halt one weekend when I sat down at my computer and couldn't connect to the internet. I called tech support, and the stern-sounding lady on the phone told me to go to my computer and read what was on the screen. It basically said, "If I ever download something illegally again, my Internet will be turned off forever." There was one checkbox, and it just said "OK." I had to check it to get my Internet back. That was the sudden and dramatic end to my life on the high seas. Since then, I have resisted using a VPN or other methods of accessing content illegally. For one thing it adds a lot of friction and for another, in the streaming age you can get just about anything you want without breaking the bank.

    There are legal torrent sites, most notably Archive.org. You can find others with a simple search.

    A useful automated too to aid in downloading torrents via an RSS feed is Radarr. It also works on Usenet. Radarr's features include:

    • Adding new movies with a variety of information, such as trailers, ratings, etc.
    • Support for major platforms: Windows, Linux, macOS, Raspberry Pi, etc.
    • Can watch for better quality of the movies you have and do an automatic upgrade. eg. from DVD to Blu-Ray
    • Automatic failed download handling will try another release if one fails
    • Manual search so you can pick any release or to see why a release was not downloaded automatically
    • Automatically searching for releases as well as RSS Sync
    • Automatically importing downloaded movies
    • Recognizing Special Editions, Director's Cut, etc.
    • Identifying releases with hardcoded subs
    • Identifying releases with AKA movie names
    • SABnzbd, NZBGet, QBittorrent, Deluge, rTorrent, Transmission, uTorrent, and other download clients are supported and integrated
    • Full integration with Kodi and Plex (notifications, library updates)
    • Adding metadata such as posters and information for Kodi and others to use
    • Advanced customization for profiles, such that Radarr will always download the copy you want

    It takes some time and some skill to get Radarr set up correctly, but there are good instructions provided.. There is also extensive documentation..

    ✉️ Reply by email

    Cafe Bustelo - For the Coffee People

    Prodigy_logo

    Woah. There is definitely caffeine in here. I think I went overboard with that heaping tablespoon I dumped in my mug. It has flavor… AND THERE’S CAFFEINE. Goes down pretty smooth. Would be great if you needed to stay awake for a week straight and couldn’t afford cocaine.”

    I'm not the kind of coffee person who knows the difference between beans or the correct time and temperature for roasting them. I'm the kind of coffee person who counts the first cup of the day as one of life's greatest pleasures. I know what I like. My favorite method for making a cup is the amazing Aeropress. If I have to, though, I'll even drink instant, and I'll enjoy it. Twenty years ago, I used to hang out with a schizophrenic poet who introduced me to the Latino style coffee, Cafe Bustelo. I've been drinking it ever since. It's a very dark, very strong brew that I think tastes exactly like coffee should. My Italian in-laws use it in a moka pot to make what they call "Black Coffee." You can get it in several varieties:

    • Original
    • Mexican
    • Peruvian
    • Brazilian
    • Decaf (but why?)

    Cafe Bustelo is available in all the usual form factors:

    • Ground
    • K-cups
    • Original Nespresso pods
    • Instant
    • Pre-made cold brew

    Cafe Bustelo- official website

    Café Bustelo - Wikipedia

    What's the deal with Cafe Bustelo?? : r/Coffee



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    Secrets and Confessions

    Two_Men_Talking

    If you have any familiarity with 12 Steps groups or if you've seen movies like 28 Days or TV shows like The Wire, then you may be familiar with two of the steps that scare the hell out of newcomers. They are the 4th and 5th Steps of the recovery program first laid out in the 1930s and followed by millions since.

    1. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
    2. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

    I'm not a believer in a supernatural God, and I've been sober a long time, so don't let the seemingly religious references throw you off. The principals behinds performing these two practices are beneficial. Rather than trying to forget the past, it's better to face up to it. People doing this take the opportunity to look at their resentments and to see what part they may have played in them. Every so often they find that they don't have any responsibility, such as in cases of abuse. Frequently with their beefs with exes, old bosses or family members, they find they did have a part to play. Even just figuring out the why of our relationship issues is helpful. Typically it comes down to fear. We are afraid we are not going to get something we want, or we are afraid we are going to lose something we already have. The most common way to manifest fear is through anger.

    After we've taken the time to take a good look at ourselves, comes the next step, where we ask someone, maybe a trusted friend but more typically a respected person in the recovering community to hear us admit, out loud the list of things we've done wrong, that we feel guilty about and the part we have played in all the important difficult relationships in our life.

    The first time I did this, I did it with an old-timer named Pete on a weekday afternoon. I was 22, but definitely an alcoholic in need of recovery. I was so scared I was shaking but over the course of an hour or so I laid it all out. Pete laughed at many of my confessions, giving examples from his life where he'd done the same thing, sometimes to a greater degree than I ever had.All my life I'd felt different from other people, terminally unique they call it.I found out that day that I wasn't all that different from I guy I really respected.

    Since then, I've had more than one opportunity to hear other people admit their garbage. At the end, I always ask them "What is your deepest darkest secret?" You can see them struggle to let go of that secret, but they always do. It's always a relief not to ever have to carry that around with you anymore.

    We are as sick as our secrets. They foster feelings of shame and guilt. They make us feel different and unworthy. People pay a lot of money for therapy to have someone hear them out. That's OK. Whatever it takes. I've been luck over the past 38 years to have a community of people who have listened to me without judgment when I've needed to get stuff off my chest.

    I do the very best I can be today to live a life where I can be honest with the people around me. I don't lie to my wife or my boss or my children or my parents. I'd rather tell them something they would rather not hear than carry around a bunch of emotional baggage that secrets cause. You don't have to an alcoholic or an addict to use the principles behind this way of living. People have used this philosophy to get relief from all kinds of destructive behavior from gambling, to over eating to compulsive sexual behavior and co-dependent relationships. There is hope for everyone.

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    What Happened on January 6th?

    Riot

    Many conservative Americans sport a decal on their vehicles of a black and white decal of the US flag with a single blue stripe running through it to symbolize that they "back the blue." That's the police. Despite that, on January 6th, 2021 a mob of Trump supporters attacked the officers guarding the US Capitol, spraying them with bear spray, ramming them with flag poles, hitting them with baseball bats and purposefully crushing them against the building. Approximately 150 officers were injured. One died the nest day. Two more committed suicide within a week. More than 1500 people have been convicted in court with sentences ranging up to 22 years. Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, Donald Trump has declared his belief that 1/6.2021 was a day of great love. He's said that he intends to pardon those convicted with minutes of being inaugurated.

    January 6 U.S. Capitol Attack | Background, Events, Criminal Charges, & Facts | Britannica

    Fact checking Donald Trump's statements about Jan. 6 : NPR

    The GOP's collective amnesia on January 6th, four years later - YouTube

    Office of Public Affairs | Attorney General Merrick B. Garland Statement on the Fourth Anniversary of the January 6 Attack on the Capitol | United States Department of Justice

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    Celebrities as Heroes

    Bob Feller

    When I was in junior high school, my family frequently went to minor league baseball games at an old brick stadium in Gastonia, NC where we lived at the time. At that age, I lived and breathed the game, memorizing stats, collecting baseball cards and counting down the days until the game of the week came on television. As a promotion, the local team had a Hall of Fame player named Bob Feller appear one night to sign autographs and meet the fans.

    Feller was the greatest pitcher of his era. He entered the major leagues when he was 17. Before he turned 21 he already had a 24-win season under his belt. He played the game from 1936-1956, with a four-year break to serve in the navy aboard the USS Alabama where he saw combat and rose to the rank of chief petty officer. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility, receiving the highest percentage of votes than any player preceding him.

    At the park that night, after he finished signing all the programs and talking to the fans, instead of leaving and going back to his hotel, he surprised me by going into the box seats to stay and watch the game. He was sitting all by himself and I just couldn't help myself. Even though I didn't have a ticket for that section, I went down there anyway and asked him if I could sit with him. He told me that I absolutely could. I talked his ear off. When I mentioned that I knew he was in the Navy, he really became animated, Despite all the accolades he'd gotten for his athletic career, he seemed to be more proud of being a sailor than for anything else. As the game progressed, he commented on the players and their skills, always complementing them. He was just a gem of a human being.

    Defining someone as a hero is a curious practice when you think about it. The term gets used loosely. I usually consider a hero to be someone who has displayed some sort of bravery or overcome serious obstacles. In some cases, heroes are people who have gone above and beyond to help other people. There are many musicians, actors, and athletes whose talent I really admire, but I don't consider them to be heroic for that. In some cases, though, the people in the entertainment business have done other things that make them someone to look up to.

    Pete Seeger worked to end segregation and performed for striking workers all over the country. When he was brought before Congress and accused of being a communist, he refused to name names when asked about the activities of others, unlike Ronald Reagan who squealed on his fellow actors.

    Robin Williams made secret visits to hospitals to visit and entertain children, and was well known for using his connections to help other people. An avid cyclist, he once went out to help a stranger who had a flat on his bike in front of Williams home. When the problem turned out to be more complicated than that, Williams went and got one of his bikes and just gave it to the guy. I don't know if any of that rises to the level of heroism, but he was sure a nice person.

    Other than Bob Feller, I haven't had many run-ins with celebrities. Maybe the closes I came was getting a call from Ron Kovic, a paralyzed Vietnam veteran who wrote a book called Born on the Fourth pf July about his post-war experiences. Tom Cruise played him in the movie by the same name. Kovic, who was 100% a hero for numerous reasons, called me to encourage me in the work I was doing to organize veterans and military families in the early days of the Iraq War. I was blown away by his kindness.

    We're all entitled to consider anyone we want as a hero. Just choose wisely and put some though into it.

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    HeyDingus! - Blogging as a Public Service

    HeyDingus!

    Before I ever bought a domain or opened an account on the modern social web, I discovered HeyDingus! while trying to find some information to solve a problem I was having. I spent the rest of the afternoon just browsing through the archives. When I was done I shot an email to the owner of the blog, Jarrod Blundy to let him know how much I appreciated his writing. Much to my surprise, I got a response. It turned out to be one of many exchanges I've had with Jarrod over the past year. He is a real role model for the ethos of what the IndieWeb should be IMHO - a mix of public service, autobiography and community building.

    Here are a few Jarrod's helpful projects"

    • Shortcuts Library - HeyDingus - a collection of 36 hand-crafted shortcuts for macOS an iOS, some of which I use every single day. Jarrod also does freelance shortcuts if you need help.
    • One a Month Club - If you are a blogger seeking support from your readers, don't reinvent the wheel. The One a Month Club is convenient and easy. I'm supporting six different bloggers with a monthly contribution, including Jarrod.
    • 7 Things from HeyDingus - If you like link dumps as much as I do, be on the lookout for this weekly collection, many of which I have re-shared in my own links posts. Sometimes the collection is themed, sometimes it's not.
    • Lists - HeyDingus - Some interesting writing on topics including an Apple Wish List, a Blogroll, a Podroll and Favorite Quotes. This page is a fun rabbit hole to fall down.

    Follow Jarrod

    💌 Email: jarrod@heydingus.net

    ⭐ Micro.blog: @jarrod (RSS)

    🦣 Mastodon: @jarrod@micro.blog

    📷 Instagram: @heyjb.me

    🧵 Threads: @heyjb.me

    🦋 Bluesky: @heyjb.me

    📺 Trakt: @heyjarrod

    🍿 Letterboxd: @jblundy

    🎵 Apple Music: @heyjarrod

    📚 Goodreads: @heyjarrod

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    What Constitutes Your Perfect Day?

    carol2

    I actually have quite a few days that are very close to perfect. I don't need to win the lottery or be gifted a new car to achieve perfection. All I want is a day filled with things that are already my favorites and I am a happy man.

    My perfect day starts early, like 4:30 am. Easing downstairs in a silent house to turn on a single lamp for a little soft lighting before dawn is OK with me. I'll ease into the kitchen to brew a cup of coffee. The first one of the day is always the best. While I drink it, I'll catch up with my personal email and social media. On a perfect day, i'll have messages from a few Internet friends, and definitely have some new pictures of some of my grandkids in my messages. Wonder Woman generally wakes up in a good mood and I'm always happy to see her make her way to the living room where we do most of our hanging out.

    She will have a cop of coffee and a small glass of juice or half a banana before she goes for her run. It will be a short one and when she gets back and grabs a shower, we will go to the diner at the end of the street where we are regulars. The waitresses all know us and haven't offered us menus in years. I'll take yet another picture of my wife from across the table. That's part of the ritual. I have a couple hundred from inside that very restaurant.

    When we get back home, we will hang out together. She reads or watches something on her iPad. I've got three blog posts to write, so I'll start working on them. After I finish the first one, I'll probably set my computer down for a few minutes and grab a quick nap. We will forage for something to eat in a couple of hours. By then, I will have heard from one or more of the kids or maybe my Mom. I love my family dearly and staying in touch means a lot to me.

    After lunch would be a good time to see the three closest grandchildren. It doesn't take much to make them happy. Just a trip to Dairy Queen or going for a walk at the park is enough to satisfy them. The kids are great huggers, both to say hello and goodbye. That makes me happy.

    When we get home, Wonder Woman and I will probably watch a movie, which we do in our spare bedroom, reclined on the bed where she rests her head on my chest so I can kiss the top of her head every couple of minutes or so. She will generally watch anything I pick out. I keep a running list and I just pick whatever sounds good at the moment.

    Tonight we had a perfect day conversation that went like this:

    Lou: You know what would be awesome?
    WW: What?
    Lou: If you order us some pizza!
    WW: That would be awesome!

    I don't have to cook AND I get pizza. That's perfect.

    After dinner, I'll finish my daily blogging, stopping to watch the videos she plays for me on her iPad from the other end of the couch. Her favorite genre are videos making fun of men for doing typical man things. Tonight it was a guy who answered multiple trivia questions in a row but could not remember the text his wife sent him just hours before with a grocery request that included a picture of what she needed.

    We will go to bed early on the perfect day, because unless we are driving back from a trip, we always go to bed early. My preferred ritual is to read blog posts in my RSS reader until I can't keep my eyes open. I sleep pretty good. I have a lot of perfect days.

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    "Ooh Boy, You Nasty!" - Five Facts About Bathing

    Death of Marat

    I've had some interesting bathing experiences in my life. In 1986, I spent a month in the Mojave Desert at Ft. Irwin while in the Army. I got one hot shower during the entire month and most of the cleaning I did was by pouring canteens of water over my head with its GI haircut. Some tankers that were there had a bucket shower they hung off the gun barrel of an M-1 Abrams. I though they were nuts standing under a slow drizzle of cold water buck naked for all the world to see.

    In 2013, my wife and I spent five and half months hiking one of the US National Scenic trails. Showers were infrequent , averaging about once a week. No long distance hikers carry deodorant (too heavy) and the phrase "hiker stank" is no exaggeration. When hitch-hiking from the trail into town to buy food, we had more than one person suddenly roll down the windows "to let in some fresh air." Most daily cleaning was done standing beside a creek with a bandana and a few drops of Dr. Bonner's Pure Castile Soap - which some brave souls even used to brush their teeth.

    Here are some facts about the history of bathing.

    1. The Romans were frequent bathers but they did it for social reasons rather than hygeine.
    2. The prevalence of the plague during the middle agescaused people to stop bathing for hundreds of yearsbecause they thought it opened up ones pores and let in disease.
    3. When bathing became popular in the US in the 1860s, baths were relegated to very quick dips in cold water
    4. In 2021 Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis made headlineswhen they admitted to being averse to soap and water and to only bathing their children when they were visibly dirty.
    5. The world's most expensive bathtubs are generally carved from a single piece of stone, with the record holder coming from a huge piece of petrified wood, valued at $1.9 million.

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    My Computer Had Nice Things to Say About Me Today

    Reddit

    You present as highly open to experience, continuously seeking out new technologies and workflows to optimize your productivity. You exhibit strong conscientiousness, meticulously documenting and sharing your findings with others. You are likely introverted, preferring to engage with the community through informative and educational style posts. There is no indication of emotional volatility or negativity, suggesting low neuroticism. You are extremely agreeable, as you are consistently helpful, polite and considerate in all your communications. This combination of traits drives you to discover and share the best tools and techniques for Mac and iOS users. You are likely very organized and detail oriented in all areas of your life. You might benefit from exploring your emotions more and being more tolerant of work flows that are not perfect..

    Scanning my email for links to share is a daily habit. I post "This Week's Bookmarks" every weekend. That's a collection of random, but hopefully interesting, web pages I've collected over the preceding seven days. I'll post anything from recipes, to photo exhibits to anything that might someone say "whoa!" Today I found a site that will do a personality analysis of any Reddit user. I couldn't get my name typed in there fast enough. I've been on Reddit since 2006. Since I started blogging I post something there every day.

    Your frequent posts and comments across multiple online platforms related to Mac apps, iOS apps, and Obsidian reveal a high level of online activity. The depth and detail of your posts further suggest a dedication to these topics and a proactive approach to sharing information.

    As illustrated by the general summary above, my Reddit personality is the non-political, non-autobiographical side of me. That side comes through, I hope, in most places I go. Since the beginning of my interest in technology, dating back to the early 90s, I've enjoyed not just using a computer but finding ways to make computers do what i want them to do. The average person I encounter might be open to hearing an app recommendation or two, but I have seen too many people develop glazed eyes when I get wound up about my current list of cool things to share. That's what makes the Internet the best audience. People can opt in or out at their leisure.

    You demonstrate resilience in your responses to dissenting opinions, offering logical explanations and defending your positions. This suggests a good ability to handle pressure and stress.

    If you've ever spent much time on Reddit, you know it can be an extremely toxic environment if you feed the trolls. I've weathered my share of nasty comments from weirdos who are upset about software of all things. Examples include being called unethical because I use a VPN that advertises on YouTube (Nord). Anything that interferes with video watching gets vitriol. I regularly get accused of being paid to write positive reviews, as if all these poor indy developers out, there have the money from their 1.99 apps to hire writers. Some trolls call me a racist because I point out the unreasonable hatred faced by a certain Ukrainian software company from Russian provocateurs.

    I'm going to disagree with the AI assessment that I am an introvert due to the "informative and educational" style of my posts. My real life personality can be a little outsized at times. I seldom like the things I like just a bit. If I'm into something, I'm really into it. I'd much rather share concrete information than make small talk, perform amateur psychological assessments of people I know or, God forbid, prattle on about the weather or lawn care. If nearby conversations devolve into chit-chat, i usually don't have much to say. When I met Wonder Woman, we spent months asking each other 'What's your favorite X". I think sharing your passions with another person is the best way to spend time with them.

    I suppose I am organized and detail oriented in some ways. That doesn't translate into being neat and orderly in general, though. I manage to be a prolific blogger. I try to learn something new every day. Making those things a priority means I don't set aside time for things like washing my 20-year-old car or decluttering my full to bursting closet. Priorities, right?

    You share your expertise without overt self-promotion, focusing on providing helpful information rather than boasting or comparing yourself to others.

    I try not to use lines like "In my 30 years of experience" or "on the log I write that gets thousands of hits a day" because only an arrogant asshat would play that card on the first hand. I will sneak in humblebrag on a blog post, however. LOL

    That last line in the overall summary — "You might benefit from exploring your emotions more and being more tolerant of work flows that are not perfect" stems from my ongoing exasperation at seemingly knowledgeable people who buy high-end computers but refuse to use helpful applications because they might "make my computer run slow." Everyone is entitled to a pet peeve and that's mine. Of course I have a whole rant about that.

    This is quite possible the most self-centered blog post I have ever written. I'm just relieved that my computer thinks so highly of me.

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    On This Day - Music, Sports, News, History for Every Day of the Year

    2025-01-03 at 11

    If you are a history buff, or the kind of person who likes to send birthday greetings, or you are just fascinated with facts about your chosen area of interest, be it sports, music or the news, you can get what you need from this collection of websites. I habitually kick important information out of my brain so I can better remember trivia.

    Here are a few facts about January 3rd I'll probably never forget:

    • Aretha Franklin became the first woman elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987
    • The Boston Red Sox got $125,000 for Babe Ruth in 1920, creating the 84-year Curse of the Bambino
    • Martin Luther was excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church for failing to recant his 95 Theses in 1496
    • Apple Computer was incorporated on this day in 1977 by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak

    I Love Snacking, Snacking Is My Favorite

    Pickled Eggs

    When I'm hungry, I don't usually pine for steak or lobster. What I want is a plate of cheese and crackers, or a tin of smoked oysters, a handful of Chex Mix or some homemade pork skins. I shudder at the thought of going on a road trip without stopping by a convenience store for a Diet Coke and a bag of chips and quite possibly a Reese's Cup. Before bed, I am partial to a plate full of watermelon cubes either with some Feta cheese or sprinkled with Tajin, a Mexican spice that is great with fruit. I love an easy to peel Clementine at any time of day. I'm in my third consecutive year of eating crackers and Slim Jims every weekday morning.

    I enjoy cooking, and I'm pretty good at it. Furthermore, I've studied nutrition extensively, so I know how and when to prepare special meals before endurance events and how to create tasty dishes from scratch. There are several places within a few miles of my home to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables, open year round. As a dieting veteran, I'm able to accurately estimate macronutrient and calorie counts for most foods without relying on an app or a book. I'm married to a conscientious eater who is so in tune with her body that she managed to complete a 2200-mile-long distance hike weighing the same on Day 156 as she did on Day 1. 

    I wanted to establish those credentials before making my point. Whatever I put in my mouth, I do with full knowledge of the benefits or lack thereof. Left to my own whims, I would rather snack any day then cook. Having small treats throughout the day or in certain circumstances is basically what I live for. One of my favorite parts of any holiday season is the foods associated with them. There are other ritual times to snack, but really, I'm just about always ready.

    A lot of this behavior is a holdover from when I was a constantly training endurance sports guy. I went for years eating six small meals a day to manage my weight and energy and to fuel for long bike rides or backpacking trips. Now that I'm older and not as active, these old habits wreak havoc on my waistline. It is an ongoing battle.

    Although I enjoy some sweets. I prefer savory foods. When I completed the Appalachian Trail, I'd eaten so many Snickers and Payday bars that in the past 11 years, I haven't had either one of those previous favorites. I ate honeybuns smothered in peanut butter for breakfast on the trail. It was years before I ate another one, but I will occasionally have one now, preferably with some delicious gas station coffee.

    I have a few unusual favorites. I enjoy a good pickled egg now and then. We have many Asian markets where I live and they just about all carry locally made kimchi, which is a Korean dish of fermented cabbage, onions and dakon radish with hot peppers. A few bites of that right of the jar does me just right. Indian mixed pickle is another delicacy. Order some as an app next time you go for some tikki masala. I like just about any kind of canned seafood. Sardines, kippers, mussels — I'll eat all of them. When I go camping, I eat my weight in beef jerky and GORP (good old raisins and peanuts). Oh, let me not forget pickled okra, I love that.

    If you ever make your way to North Carolina and stop by the house, I promise to make you dinner, but if you just want to join me for a few snacks, that will be alright too.

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    Apple Shortcuts for Rookies and Vets

    Shortcuts icon

    If you are an iPhone or Mac user, you are probably aware of the Apple shortcuts whether use them or not. Using shortcuts requires two things, surmounting the learning curve to figure out how to use them and then remembering to do so. It's always one of those tech tasks people seem to have on their to do list but they never get around to actually accomplishing it. I use them every day on both my iPhone and my Mac. Here are some of my favorites:

    • Generate alt text for images I post on social media
    • Launch all five of the communication apps I use at work with a single click
    • Restart my flaky VPN whenever it craps out
    • Query ChatGPT (no app needed!)
    • Save web pages to Obsidian
    • Text my wife when I leave work

    I use shortcuts for the App Store, Blogging, Messaging, Calendar, Social Media and many more areas. If you'd like to get started or improve your own use, here are some resources for you.

    Home – Matthew Cassinelli - Matthew is a former Apple employee and an expert on what shortcuts cane do. He blogs about new developments and uses. I subscribe to his blog to get access to a huge catalog of premade shortcuts for both iOS and Mac.

    RoutineHub • Your Community for Discovering, Sharing, and Version Controlling Apple Shortcuts - This is the largest collection of shortcuts on the Internet. They are all free and for anyone who is still nursing an old phone, they have a good back catalog of shortcuts for previous iOS versions.

    Shortcuts Library - HeyDingus - My Internet pal, Jarrod Blundy is a shortcut wiz and offers a great collection of free ones for you to try. He also creates custom shortcuts for hire and offers them to people who joining his "One a Month Club" and last year to people who helped jim reach his fund raising goal for St. Jude's Children's Hospital.

    Actions for Obsidian - Another Internet pal of mine, Carlo Zottman, is the developer behind Actions for Obsidian, which brings shortcuts to the great PKM app loved by many. I use Actions for Obsidian multiple times a day.

    Stephen Robles - YouTube - If you want to learn how to fish, I mean make shortcuts, watch a few of Stephen's videos where he shows you to make them yourself.

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    Internet Coffee Table Books - Photography for Everyone

    2025-01-01 at 19

    Growing up, I loved looking through my Dad's collections of different Time-Life book sets. Dad's a big fan of military history so he had a set on World War Two, plus his own war, Vietnam. He also had the wonderful set on the old west, bound in genuine fake leather. My mother had a book with all of Norman Rockwell's Saturday Evening Post covers and I practically memorized them. As an adult, I got to go to a Rockwell exhibit at our state's art museum in Raleigh, fittingly with my Mom. My own collection of photography based books is limited to gifts I've received, most of them centered around my love of classic rock music.

    I look through my own photographs almost daily, both my run of the mill iPhone snapshots and the photos I've taken with my full-frame DSLR. I enjoy finding good collections online of all types of photography: street, wildlife, art etc. Here are a few I have to share.

    On Framing and Language

    pro-choice

    When I was in high-school, I took Speech as an elective my senior year, thinking it would be an easy credit. I've never been shy. I thought my vocabulary was good enough to serve me adequately. I knew little about debate, extemporaneous speaking, expository speaking and the other forms of competition. A good portion of the course was taken up by the study of semantics, the study of meaning in language, including the interpretation of words, sentences, and text in context. It's a key component of understanding how linguistic signs and symbols convey specific concepts and ideas. I grokked it immediately. The class turned out to be a lot of fun. Although I didn't win any awards at the speech competitions we went to, I got a lot from the class. My formal education ended when I was 18, so I've had to make the most out of what I learned back then.

    When I got involved in political activism and went through training to talk to people about issues, I learned how good the conservative movement had been at choosing the words to frame their positions on things. The prime example is the abortion issue. By calling their stance "pro-life" they assumed the moral high-ground. Who could be against life? The left has tried to label them as anti-choice and anti-abortion but their movement is still known by the name they choose for it. They did the same thing during the early stages of the Affordable Care Act debate when they coined the named "Death Panels." Most reflexive opponents of the act could not tell what exactly a death panel's job was, they just knew that Democrats wanted to kill them. Politicians worldwide use framing. The Brexit "leave" crowd made their argument about taking back control, emphasizing sovereignty and immigration limits.

    The left has had some success with framing as well. One of the reasons that Dr. King was successful is the way he framed the struggle for civil rights in the context of American values like freedom and equality. People advocating for vaccines do better when they present their case that by getting vaccinated, you are protecting your loved ones rather than just giving survival stats.

    Sometimes, people in tech take ownership over phrases that were once used as pejoratives, like laying claim to the titles geek and nerd. Most people with blogs choose to call themselves bloggers rather than writer as not to appear pretentious, even if they are, in fact, fantastic writers.

    I love language. Sometimes I've had a hard time putting into practice that it's not what you say, but how you say it. It's been a 60-year learning process, but I am getting there.

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    Dear Internet - A Letter to My Constant Companion

    2024-12-31 at 20

    Dear Internet,

    I know it's weird to be getting a letter when we spend so much time together, But I have a few things I need to share with you. None of it is too big a deal. The info will be yours to do with what you want. Let's get started.

    First, I want to ask you to be nice to new folks when they enter a community. Every so often they don't know the unwritten rules under which we operate. Believe it or not, there are still grown adults who don't have much social media experience. Can you imagine how much courage it takes to get involved with us, considering our reputation? Just say hi to them and if they need constructive criticism, do it gently or offer it in a private message. If they ask questions that have easy answers, teach them how to fish by telling them how and where to look things up instead of being snarky and asking them if they ever heard of Google. 

    Let's all take steps this year to curate our experience. Let's try to use the tools that filter the stuff that stresses us out. Don't feed the trolls when it is so much easier to just block and hide them forever. If someone you have a relationship with has a bad hot take, maybe don't throw the baby out with the bath water. Give them a second chance. Perhaps even forgive them. If, instead, you discover that they have some disqualifying belief system, well, that's a different story. No one is going to ask you to be friends with bigots for the sake of harmony. Have standards and stick to them.

    Try coming up with a helpful project this year. Hell, if it takes up too much time, charge a fee. I look at things like Robb Knight's Echofeed and Slash Pages, or the blog prompts from Scott Jones. Jedda and I started Blogroll.club. You could write book reviews like Alexandra or movie reviews like Matt Birchler. Try writing a tutorial on something you are good at. Makea weekly list of bookmarks to share with people. You can do this.

    Lastly, be an advocate for the people who need advocates. You know exactly who I am talking about. It has become acceptable in this country to demonize and denigrate people who don't match the profile of the typical voter belonging to the majority party. We have a president-elect who told four members of the house, all women of color, to go back where they came from - and he wasn't talking about Minnesota and the Bronx. Members of the LGBT community are constantly being harassed and accused of things they don't do. The people who gather our food, mow our lawns, build our houses, process our meat and more are being terrorized by threats. Honest journalists who tell us when the emperor has no clothes are being threatened by the incoming FBI director. Even common people are being labeled as enemies from within for not being real Americans. Don't stand for any of it. Don't be silent. Silence favors the oppressor.

    I appreciate you taking the time to read this letter. If you have any questions, just ask.

    Lou

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    AI For Better or Worse

    2024-12-31 at 18

    The jury is definitely still out on artificial intelligence. Is it a helpful tool or something the billionaire tech bros are going to use to extract more wealth from the working class? It's no secret that the hardware behind the technology consumes electricity and water for cooling like nothing that's ever come before it. One of the most popular AI companies, Perplexity, is not only ignoring long established Internet protocols to mine personal websites for data, its CEO offered to scab the jobs of striking tech workers from the New York Times.

    On the other hand, regular people can now perform tasks they once would have had to outsource. That is what happens when technology arrives. Ask the carriage makes and buggy whip folks what happened when cars got here.

    If I had a third hand, I'd point out that when an AI scapes my web page to answer a person's question without giving that person a link to wrote I wrote giving me any kind of credit, then the AI company is using me as unpaid labor and that won't stand.

    Here is some information about the state of AI at the end of 2024.

    Open Source Models are Improving When Compared to Proprietary Models

    AI Generated Audio and Video is Here

    Chatbot Arena: Free AI Chat to Compare & Test Best AI Chatbots

     

    Products to Check Out

    Lindy.ai — Meet Your AI Assistant

    Cursor - The AI Code Editor

    Suno - Make a Song About Anything

    Google NotebookLM | Note Taking & Research Assistant Powered by AI

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    What's Your Favorite Decade?

    70s

    Starting with the 1960s, I have now lived in or through seven different decades. I don't have many memories of the supposed decade of love other than the first moon landing and the ongoing war in Vietnam. From 1970 onward, all kinds of things are stuck in my mind. I've always had preternatural ability to remember facts and facts both from my own life and from the world at large as I've experienced it vicariously through the media.

    Before I get into my favorite decade, let me first dissect my least favorite, that being the aughties, 2000-2009. The first year was marred by the Supreme Court essentially appointing everyone's favorite nepo baby frat boy as President of the United States. The year after that, the US was attacked by 19 Saudi Arabian terrorists, something that caused us to go to war with two countries that are not Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Afghanistan. Gratuitous flag waving and war fever led to reelecting the frat boy, thousands of military dead and trillions of dollars wasted. About the only good thing to come out of the decade were some killer TV shows like The Sopranos and The Wire.

    The ten-year span that I liked the best in the sense of it being an era was the 1970s. That’s the time period that saw me go from kindergarten age to high school. The music from the 70s has never been equaled in the rock era. Seminal albums from Led Zeppelin, The Who, The Rolling Stones and Carole King all came out in just one year, 1971. Many classic movies were released, including The Godfather, Rocky and Star Wars. Television classics like Roots, All in the Family and MASH played on over the air TV. In sports we had two Olympics that gave us stars like Mark Spitz and Sugar Ray Leonard. Baseball saw the Yankees return to prominence. Football saw great seasons by the Dolphins and Steelers among others.

    Politically we saw the system work when Richard Nixon was forced to resign. Congress finally extended oversight over the FBI and CIA, ending decades of abuse. The draft and the Vietnam War ended. The nation elected an honorable man president in 1976.

    The 70s were not perfect. There were tragedies like Kent State and the Greensboro Massacre. Inflation was rampant throughout the decade. The Iranian hostage crisis happened. Still, the US memorably celebrated its Bicentennial. By the end of the decade most of the last vestiges of segregation were gone.

    I’m a personal fan of the current decade too but more for internal reasons than external ones. I’m happy the US isn’t at war. I’m happy that the biggest sports star in the US is Caitlyn Clark, a 22-year-old woman. It sucks that 14 out of 15 of the year’s biggest movies were sequels. Also, WTF is up with the music scene? Politically, the US is a cesspool. I’d rather get back to living under Nixon than suffer Trump for the next four years. At least Nixon did things like start the EPA and open relations with China.

    I’d love to hear from you about your favorite decade.

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    Reasons to Hate Space Karen

    IMG_8284

    Even before Elon Musk appointed himself President of the United States, there were a great many reasons to dislike him from the way he treats women and workers, to the time he called a hero a "pedo guy" and more. If you need some facts and links, I'm happy to oblige.

    'How Many Women Were Abused to Make That Tesla?'

    Billionaire "Space Race" Is Doing Irreparable Harm to the Planet

    In one tweet, Elon Musk captures the everyday sexism faced by women in STEM

    Elon Musk promoted coronavirus misinformation for months. Then his own infection kept him out of SpaceX's astronaut launch.

    Tesla’s construction workers at Texas gigafactory allege labor violations

    The One Big Problem With Elon Musk’s Autism Announcement

    Elon Musk Really Doesn't Like Mass Transit Systems He's Trying to Build

    Kanye West: The World’s 100 Most Influential People by Elon Musk

    Elon Musk Compares Justin Trudeau To Hitler In Bizarre Response To Canadian Trucker Protests

    Tesla ordered to have Elon Musk delete anti-union tweet

    Musk In Trouble After Fremont Factory Employees Test Positive For COVID-19

    Elon Musk wins defamation case over 'pedo guy' tweet about caver

    U.S. Department of Agriculture to Look Into Monkey Experiments Funded by Elon Musk's Neuralink

    16 Valid Reasons Why People Love To Hate Elon Musk

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