Writing
- Better Word Count - This plugin counts not only the total words in your current document, but also the word count in any section you make. Features include: Words, Characters, Sentences, Footnotes, and Pandoc Citations in current file, in your vault or typed today.
- Editing Toolbar - While I don’t find it difficult to write in markdown most of the time, having the toolbar available for more complex edits or edits with a lot of text is handy. is a plugin that provides a toolbar similar to Microsoft Word, and adds a minimal and user-friendly text editor modal for a smoother writing/editing experience .
- Language Tool Integration- Language tool is a commercial product with a free and a paid version. This plugin supports both versions and is a consistently excellent spelling and grammar checker.
- Readability Score - This small plugin analyzes all or part of a document using the Flesch Reading Ease (FRE) formula. Your score appears in the status bar. It considers the length of the words and sentences you write.
- Text Generator - I am not a fan of anyone on the Internet using AI to create content. I don’t see an issue with using generative AI to come up with ideas, craft titles, create summaries of notes or to generate outlines. You can also use this plugin for proofreading, although there isn’t much benefit in employing it over Apple’s writing tools for macOS 18.2 users.
- Top Stories - This is a collection of good, thought-provoking writing from the blogs and podcasts we have in our index. Discovered and carefully curated by our in-house AI tools. Whether a new take on a classic topic or a fresh voice on a trending issue, you will find something interesting to read here.
- Digital Crossroads- Digital Crossroads is a mishmash of the coolest updates, deep dives, and quirky insights from across the digital realm. We cover topics like RSS, the Fediverse, and the latest and greatest in the world of social media. Crossroads is for anyone who's ever been curious about the behind-the-scenes of the Internet, the future of online privacy, or just loves a good tech tale.
- Good News - Good News is our dedicated feed championing solutions-oriented journalism. Committed to countering the negativity prevalent in mainstream media, we spotlight innovative solutions, technical advancements, and human rights successes. By curating news with positive global impacts, we aim to foster informed optimism among readers, emphasizing real-world solutions and achievements rather than mere feel-good stories.
- Hacker News Front Page - Hacker News is the golden standard when it comes to sharing interesting links on the Internet. However, not all of those are read-worthy. We decided to do something about it. This page contains a selection of articles that hit the front page of Hacker News and are worth your reading time and attention.
- Wrote a Python script today that edited 500+ markdown files (my imported Raindrop.io bookmarks) from my Obsidian vault. It moved text in the form of an inline properties field for URLs from the body of the note into the YAML front matter. I knew next to nothing about Python.
- Wrote a Python script tp convert a 300-line CSV file of quotes I exported from a program into 300 markdown files with the quote, the author and the associated tags.
- Took a list of Mastodon user names and converted them to Markdown link back to the user's home instance and profile.
Remembering Jimmy Carter
I was 11 years old in 1976 when Jimmy Carter was running for president the first time. He had been the governor of Georgia, a state that borders my own (NC). All I had ever known about US presidents was that they were either bad people (Nixon) or boring (Ford). Carter was exciting. He was nice and famous for his big smile. He had been a farmer like my grandparents, who loved him.
During the Carter era my brother, sister and I traveled through Georgia with my grandparents to two shrines for Southern Democrats. The first was Warm Springs where FDR often vacationed to seek relief from the pain in his polio stricken limbs and where he died in 1944. The second shine was Plains, Jimmy Carter's home town where his somewhat ne-er-do-well brother Billy operated a gas station and his mother, Miss Lillian lived.
Richard Nixon was the first president I was aware of. I started reading newspapers as soon as I could read and my initial encounters with the political press were during the Watergate era. Not only were stories about the corruption in the Republican party always in the paper, the Watergate hearings were held broadcast live on every channel and like the geeky little kid I was, I watched them. I remember when Nixon resigned and how happy and relieved the adults in my were.
Life in America in the late 70s was rough. Inflation was as high as it had ever been. It started creeping upward during the Ford administration but it really skyrocketed after a while. The after affects of the Arab oil embargo were still having a dramatic affect on life in the US. Unpopular mandates like the 55 mph speed limit and the voluntary reduction of home heating use was implemented. Then the Iranians took over the US embassy in Tehran and took the staff hostage, triggering a crisis and eventually collusion with none other than Ronald Reagan. Yeah - that Ronald Reagan - the same one who started selling the Iranians weapons just a few years later.
I don't remember people disparaging President Carter during those years. Life was tough, but people believed that he cared, that he was facing problems head on and that he had a very hard job in very hard times. Most people felt like he had done a lot for world peace when he facilitated the Camp David Accords that resulted in a peace between Israel and Egypt that has lasted until this day.
Ted Kennedy, blind to the anything but his own personal ambition challenged an incumbent president from his own party in the 1980 election. Carter defeated him and polled well against Reagan until shortly before the election, being weighed down my Iran, primarily.
In the years since 1980, Carter has nearly achieved sainthood - a tough go for a Southern Baptist. It became fashionable to classify his presidency as a failure, although most people who repeat that have a difficult time articulating why or defending any reasons they put forth. Instead, we got the union busting, inflation riddled, tax-cutting for the rich, budget ballooning, arms to Iran puppet of the right-wing, Ronald Ray-Gun.
Since Jimmy Carter left the white house, his basic goodness and humanity has never, ever wavered. He has represented the US admirably and performed with unmatched wisdom in advocating for world health improvements that have saved millions of lives. The pictures of him volunteering for Habitat for Humanity into his 90s are famous.
I'm sad tonight to know that I'm going to be on a planet without Jimmy Carter on it for the first time ever.
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Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil - 30 Years Later
Thirty years ago, writer John Berendt published a surprise non-fiction book that ended up spending a near record 216 weeks on The New York Times best seller list. The book was Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, an account of the multiple trials of Jim Williams, a Savannah, Georgia antique dealer and a member of the local high society. Williams killed a local male prostitute in the study of Mercer House. The book's main character isn't really Williams. It is the Georgia city along with a variety of eccentric individuals.
My personal favorite was The Lady Chablis, a local transgender woman and well known club entertainer. She went on to play herself in Clint Eastwood's 1997 film version of the story.
Also featured in the book and the movie is Emma Kelly, a musician known as the Lady of 6,000 songs, so named by famous composer, Jonny Mercer. He couldn't name a song she couldn't play. He estimated that she knew 6K.
Minerva, a Gullah woman and renowned root doctor was the name given in the book and movie for a character based on Valerie Boles. She served as a conduit of local knowledge for Jim Williams during his trials.
The book was a delight to plow through . At times it reads like a novel but Berendt swears it is 99% true and 1% exaggeration. The film was not a hit, but I enjoyed it as well. John Cusack played one of his best roles in it. This weekend (December 28-29, 2024) I'm making my first trip Savannah with plans to see many of the locations described in the book.
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997) ⭐ 6.6 | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil: A Savannah Story
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I updated my /now page - What I’m reading and watching, plus links to this week’s blog posts, the week’s best purchase, and the links I added to my personal bookmarks.
Enduring the Interstate
Today was one of those day when we just had to endure slings and arrows to get what we wanted. We traveled by car from our home in SE North Carolina down Interstate 95 to what will hopefully turn out to be the lovely city of Savannah, Georgia. I didn't even have to drive. I didn't have to navigate. The only thing I had to do was avoid irritating Wonder Woman, who had to fight with stop and go traffic for hours. What should have taken about three and a half hours instead took nearly six. We got off and on the Interstate more than once trying to find a less congested route to no avail.
Honestly, I didn't have it too bad, I wrote a couple of blog posts and half listened to some ultrarunning podcasts, while Wonder Woman, who ran 15 miles just before we left home, tried to find a comfortable sitting position for an aching hip with little success. I'd offered to drive but she elected not to take me up on the offer, not that I was insistent.
What little we saw of our destination city was nice. We are staying in the historic district. The streets are lined with giant old hardwoods. There are park like squares close by and many, many highly rated restaurants nearby. We had to cross the Eugene Talmedge Bridge over the Savannah River to get into town. I don't know what it is about Southern cities keeping the names of devout segregationists on public landmarks. Talmedge, who was governor in the 30s and 40s, pursued openly racist objectives such as restoring the white primary and enforcing segregation of the state universities. The bridge was built in 1991, and they named it for a sorry old cracker. That's a shame.
We plan to tour the city with a special side excursion to Bonaventure Cemetery. We are also going to load up on Dramamine and go out for a boat ride in hopes of encountering dolphins. Wonder Woman will undoubtably run from one end of town to the other. I'll look for stuff to write about. We will be recovered from the car ride from hell tomorrow, I'm sure.
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Obsidian Plugins for Writers
I do almost all of my personal and professional writing in Obsidian. In 2024, I’ve composed almost 500,000 words after clicking on the purple icon in my dock. Ranging from app reviews for Reddit and my blog to instructional documents for JIRA Confluence, I find Obsidian a great tool for composition and formatting. All of this is made easier by employing a few of the free and source plugins from the Obsidian ecosystem.
What Makes Us Who We Are?
I often wonder "Why am I like this?" and "Why do I feel this way? " Those aren't the most original questions. Philosophers and psychologists have been pondering them and attempting to answer them for a long time. Trying to figure out if it's nature (hereditary) or nurture (environment) can be a fun parlor game. Alternatively, the truly curious folks, who also have good insurance or a lot of money can undergo analysis in any one of several flavors, Freudian, Jungian and so forth.
I'd really like to know how I ended up such a political outlier. Both of my parents are Republicans, although my Mother was a Nixon despising liberal until she married a conservative a few years after I left home. Despite living in a red state, never attending college, serving in the military and working in manufacturing, plus being straight, white and cis-male, I'm an AOC, Bernie Sanders type, a loud one.
Some parts of who I am are definitely genetically influenced. Alcoholism, unfortunately, is a problem that's affected people in my family for more than just a single generation. Luckily for them, my siblings have a STOP button and can drink moderately or not at all when they choose. For me, only total abstinence from everything mood altering has been the only solution. I've never been bitter or jealous about it, though. I just didn't win the genetic lottery.
As anyone who reads this blog with any regularity knows, I consider myself to be the luckiest married man on the face of the earth. I absolutely lucked out when I met my wife. I was 47 and did not have a good track record when it came to maintaining a happy home life. Somehow, though, the two of us have not had a difficult time staying enamored of one another. We spend every possible minute together, and each of us takes care of the other in different ways. How, so late in life, did I acquire the skill to be happily married year after year?
Despite being an average student, I've always performed well on standardized tests. I failed half the math classes I took in high school but scored as high on the SAT as friends who got into engineering school. It was test scores and charm (or manipulation my Mom called it when she was mad) that allowed me to participate in programs for gifted kids in school, not my grades. My only contribution to my own mental development has been an insatiable life-long love of reading and being curious about a long list of things. My brother and sister also had great test scores, but they backed them up with good grades and post graduate studies at flagship universities. Our parents, the children of farmers, both have degrees now, but they didn't get them until their 30s. I tell my wife that I used to be smarter because I scored lower on mental acuity tests given to me in rehab than the ones I took as a teenager. In any case, I was blessed genetically with thinking skills I certainly didn't work for.
There are numerous other characteristics I'd like to have more insight into. I have the skills of an extrovert but the disposition of an introvert. What's that about? Like many, many people in recovery, my preferred sports (before my knees gave out) were all endurance based. Why? Why am I a procrastinator? What makes me go from calm to irate in a nanosecond, but only once or twice a year? I'll probably never get satisfactory answers to those questions, but I'll be OK with that. It will just give me something to think about.
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I Will Always Be an Unabashed Bob Dylan Fan
When I thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail, I loaded my iPhone 5 with music from my two favorite artists, Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash, but only their songs recorded before 1970. They are the only two musicians I listened to for five months. I've heard all of those songs hundreds of times. I took a break from them for a while when I finished the trail, but not a long one.
It's difficult to write about Bob Dylan without repeating what a thousand other people have written. He is a uniquely talented individual whose lifetime of work is meaningful to a great many people. He's been able to do exactly what he wants to do for many decades because, well, he's Bob Fucking Dylan. Who is going to stop him?
Here are some links to explore for my fellow Friends of Bob.
Finally, A Good Bob Dylan Interview | Linkage
The Night Bob Dylan Went Electric | TIME
Chronicles, Volume One by Bob Dylan | Goodreads
Welcome Bob Dylan Fans! | The Bob Dylan Fan Club
Bob Dylan Songs, Albums, Reviews, Bio & More |... | AllMusic
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Things I Don't Understand
I recently gave a big shoutout to my Internet friend, Annie on my links blog. The tag line for her Mastodon account is one of my favorite series of consecutive words on the Internet. "Wtf’ing every day, I’m basically a professional now." Every time I read that, I'm like, me too sister, me too. There is just so much about the world and about people's motivations that I just do not get. Here are a few examples.
Very Expensive Restaurants
I like to eat. You can take one look at me and figure that out without trying too hard. I also like to go out to eat because cooking is one of my chores and having someone else do it is a real treat. Furthermore, we are relatively debt free and have a comfortable income. Having established all that, I have no desire to frequent the most expensive places, either in town or on vacation. I feel absolutely pampered with a meal that costs between 30 dollars. Anything over that makes me feel like I'm throwing money away. Nothing, absolutely nothing, tastes that good. I don't care how fancy the inside of the establishment happens to be or where it is located. I like good service. Tipping well is a sign of good morals, and wait staff deserve to make a living wage. I just don't want to cough up 40 or 50 dollars to a server for a party of two (which I will do if the bill calls for it) because they work at a fancy joint when the waitress at Golden Corral busts her butt for a fraction of that. It doesn't make sense.
Mechanical Keyboards
My first computer was an IBM PC with a loud, heavy mechanical keyboard. It was in the days when we were all trained to die of thirst rather than risk spilling a Coke on our precious computer peripherals. These days I type a lot. I'm on a computer many, many hours a day. I have a definite preference for all my tech needs, but I've never once considered going back to the 80s or 90s experience for my keyboard needs. I don't like loud. I don't like heavy. I don't like expensive. I don't like dumb.
Voting Against One's Own Interest
When I see working-class people with Trump stickers on their cars, I wonder what their motivation is. Republican policies are undoubtedly hostile to average Americans. Huge cuts are made to social programs, education, health care and public services to cut taxes for corporations and the 1%. There is no demonstrable benefit to middle and lower income voters from GOP policies. The incoming administration wants to cut veterans benefits for all the working-class men and women who served in the costly Republican wars of the early 21st century. GOP senators are publishing op/ed pieces on how badly they would like to cut social security and medicare. Literally WTF is anyone with a mortgage and a car payment doing supporting these predatory plutocrats?
Refusing to Learn 21st Century Skills
I am continuing my recent campaign against technological illiteracy in the 21st century. I stepped on plenty of toes recently by mocking people who type GOOGLE into Google when they want to search for something. People told me it was none of my business and that it didn't hurt anything, and I came back at them with both barrels. Billions of dollars are lost every year in lost productivity because people with a proven educational track record of having the ability to learn are not held accountable for pretending to be stupid when it comes to using a computer. When automobiles adopt new technology, people learn how to use it. When you have to use a touch screen at Bojangles to get a sausage biscuit, people figure it out. Why can't they remember to restart their computer when they have a problem? What can't they learn how to find a file on their PC? No one makes them, that's why. Institutions would rather pay an IT department to hold the hands of otherwise competent adults than they would enforce basic tech competency on the workforce.
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Getting the Most from Wikipedia
Wikipedia is under attack from alt-right inhabitants Libs of Tik-Tok and Elon Musk among others, who are discouraging people from contributing financially. Wikipedia has invested in ways to encourage women and people of color to become contributing editors and this has raised conservative ire. Personally, I increased my annual contribution and publicized the attack on this great resource in every way I could. It goes without saying that Wikipedia is great. Here are a few ways to get even more out of it.
How to Download Wikipedia for Offline, At-Your-Fingertips Reading
Weeklypedia - a newsletter featuring the most ediited articles of the week
17 Tips To Get the Most From Wikipedia
How to Teach Students to Use Wikipedia | Edutopia
Wikipedia:Unusual articles - Wikipedia
Video: Become a Wikipedian in 30 minutes
Jimmy Wales on Why Wikipedia Is Still So Good
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My Holiday Was Pretty Good, How Was Yours?
Wonder Woman and I drove from a family celebration at her folks' house to my mom's on Christmas Eve, a two-hour trip. When we arrived, we spent about an hour visiting and giving reports on various family members. We also opened gifts. We gave mom a puzzle from her favorite company, one of several she received. She gave me a tech widget from my wish list (a dual hard drive bay). Wonder Woman got running socks from her preferred company, Injinji and a new robe. This morning I got up and hung out with Mom, answering tech questions, while Wonder Woman went on her run. When she returned, Mom made shrimp and grits, a Christmas tradition. She told us that she's been buying local shrimp from the same fisherman's family for 44 years.
We set out after breakfast to the home of my daughter and her family, a four and a half hour trip. As usual, Wonder Woman drove while I completed a couple of blog posts while we listened to various ultrarunning podcasts. I also may have taken a nap. I'm not sure. The weather was clear, and the sun was bright as we made our away across North Carolina's coastal plain and into the Piedmont.
When we arrived, we unloaded gifts and carried them to the door, where my six-year-old grandson was delighted to see us. We spent the day visiting and responding to messages from our other kids and grandkids. We got a video of the youngest granddaughter, who was happy to demonstrate to her mother that yes, Santa will indeed bring more than one gift if you ask. Our oldest granddaughter gave the whole family a gift by waiting until today to announce that she had been accepted to her first choice for college, Mary Washington University in Virginia.
We had one scare. Our grandson who has mobility issues, took a spill today and had to go to the emergency room. Luckily, the wait was not too bad, and he didn't break anything, so it worked out mostly OK. He's a stoic guy. One of the funniest moments of the holiday happened yesterday when he and I were in the living room of my mother-in-law's house. I thought I overheard Wonder Woman telling the story of one of my less than stellar moments from the kitchen, where she was making giant pans of lasagna with her sister. I asked my grandson, "Is you Nana talking junk about me in there?" He didn't crack a smile, but there was a gleam in his eye as he gave me three very solemn nods to affirm my suspicions.
Like many folks at my age, my greatest joy during the holidays is enjoying my family. A day like today was just about perfect. We had a fantastic Christmas dinner. We discussed the past and the future and laughed and laughed. My granddaughter made delicious deserts that fit everyone's diet requirements. For Wonder Woman and my daughter, that means gluten-free. For me, it just means that there is room on my plate.
In the coming days, I'll visit with my Dad to help him with some end of year computer tasks. I have family visiting from out of state, tickets for the new Bob Dylan biopic and reservations for a getaway in Savannah, Georgia before the New Year. My heart is full and I lack for nothing. Wherever you are, I hope you had the holiday you wanted and a time to enjoy whatever you enjoy. Merry Christmas from Wonder Woman and I!
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Who Was Born on Christmas Day?
Ok, we all know the Big Guy was born on Christmas Day. Actually, Jesus was likely born in the spring based on the dates for the Roman census, astronomical records and the time for lambs to be born in the field in Palestine. The celebration of his birth close to the winter solstice started hundreds of years after his death to pacify recently converted pagans. in any case, 1/365th of humanity was born on December 25. Here are a few of them.
Jimmy Buffett - 1946 “Margaritaville” Singer and Entrepreneur Jimmy Buffett
Annie Lennox - 1954 Annie Lennox in People Magazine
Sissy Spacek - 1949 Sissy Spacek bio
Justin Trudeau - 1971 Right Honourable Justin Trudeau
Dido - 1971 Dido on Instagram
Barbara Mandrell - 1948 Barbara Mandrell Official Web Site
Humphrey Bogart - 1899
Bogie: A Celebration of the Life and Films of Humphrey Bogart
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2025 Goals
Blogging
It's still fun to me to post every day, so I don't plan to stop. I may start writing more reviews of iOS apps to mix things up. I've thought for months that'd I'd stockpile some posts or at least some ideas, but nope. Every day is a blank sheet of paper. I just come up with topics at the last minute. I need to keep better records, because I've duplicated myself a couple of times.
Tech
In the past 12 months, I've updated all my Apple tech: laptop, iPhone, iPad and watch. I'm going to have to come up with a fancy excuse to get anything major in 2025. I'd love to get a Mac Mini or another machine to set up as a self-hosting device and/or Plex server. Unlike a lot of people, I operate solely from a laptop at home with no external monitor or keyboard. Wonder Woman would beat me to death if I insisted on setting up a desk in another room.
As a Citizen
I will continue to be an outspoken and vocal critic of the MAGA movement in every possible venue. I will not let pro-Trump speech go unchallenged in my presence. I'm not going to obsess over the news or watch the daily clown show, but I will stay informed. I will financially support civil liberties organizations
Professionally
My goal at work is to continue to show up as long as it's tolerable. I had to deal with a couple of crazy rude staff members this year. Time will tell if the administration adequately dealt with that behavior or if it will be culturally tolerated. I'm there to help people. I enjoy it, but I'm way past the point in my life where I have to deal with nutjobs.
Travel
I have a standing offer to go to the Alps with Wonder Woman, but I have to up my walking ability first. She knows my mountain climbing days are behind me but she wants me to be able to go for walks along river banks and around lake sides. I'd also like to make a trip to Austin where my son lives.
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Read annie's blog If You Want to Feel Good
When you spend time reading personal blogs, you start to get a real sense of some people's lives. You can follow along with their very human struggles to find a job, survive a death in the family, travel around the world, be happy with their partner and more. After a while, you really start to care. When your friends feel bad, you feel bad along with them. I love that part of the Internet.
Sometimes you just need a pep talk. You need some encouragement and advice from a wise friend, who, despite everything that's wrong with life in the modern era, always seems to be there to lift you up. You need that in your life. Well, you can have that in a single click by heading over to annie's blog, the frequently updated font of wisdom and joy freely given to the world at large by the inimitable Annie Mueller. Annie is funny, wise, very real and does a great job of lifting people up and being supportive. Her Mastodon bio states "Wtf’ing every day, I’m basically a professional now." I mean, come on, who can't relate to that?
Sample Posts
Joy is in the doing - annie's blog
Is it funny if I’m the only one laughing? - annie's blog
How to be confident - annie's blog
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My Reaction To Your Reaction
As the calendar year winds down, so does the end of my first year of regular blogging since the 90s. I started off sporadically, mostly writing about tech. I eventually began reviewing apps, something I still do - every single day for the last 265 days. In March I branched out into more personal, autobiographical stuff. Because that still wasn't enough to keep me busy, and because I got a free domain name, I started a links blog in June to share the interesting things I find online, hoping to find other people who are interested in similar things. I didn't have any idea if what I had to say would click with anyone. Lot's of people I follow on Mastodon are comp sci majors involved in advanced development and I'm just a guy who hangs out in the server room. I also started blogging immediately after discovering the current iteration of the indyweb, without spending any time learning the culture or the unwritten rules. In the end, everything worked out. The developer folks with the giant brains appreciate hearing about cool apps. The indyweb at large seems to have one over arching rule, try to be a good person.
Based on Mastodon comments, emails and some rudimentary analytics, these are the posts that resonated the most with people this year..
Non-Toxic Masculinity - My most widely read post was about my journey as an adult to redefine was masculinity means.
When I was younger, I was attracted to traditional masculine roles and activities. I played high school football. I enlisted in the infantry. My first civilian job after that was working in a men's prison. It's not that I now feel like any of those are bad things, necessarily, but I don't need all that testosterone fueled chest thumping and the intimidation and violence that go with them in order to feel like I'm a real man, whatever that means.
The Perfect Blogger I like to wite about the experience of being a part of this community and y'all seem to like to read about it. This post got a lot of reaction.
It's not that I want to see myself in every blogger, quite the contrary. I want to read women bloggers, trans bloggers, POC, millennials, Gen Z, international writers. I want to make my world bigger.
My Partner - It really made me happy that people liked this appreciation piece I wrote about Wonder Woman, my wife, Carol. I frequently mention her and I wanted folks to know why. I think I succeeded.
She has good genes does my wife. She is a careful eater and a devout exerciser. In her late 50s with 13 grandchildren, she doesn't appear to have aged a day from when I met her at a hundred-mile bicycle ride in 2011
The most popular posts from my links blog were ones I compiled of topics that the blogging community appreciates.
For Linkblog Fans - a collection of places where folks share the best of the Interent with each other
OMG.LOL is the Best Thing on the Internet - the home of my Mastodon instance, /now page and about page is awesome and if you don't have an omg.lol account, you should.
Some Advice on Not Drinking - This was a no-judgment zone with some practical advice for anyone who wants to avoid alcohol for a night or for a lifetime, written from the heart.
For my fellow App Addicts, these were the most widely read reviews from 2024. People were really curious about these programs. This blog by far is the one people read the most with 280,000 hits since March. I'm happy to have the experience of writing for a wide audience and to share my hobby and experience with the world. I hope I have helped people.
FreeTube - Maybe the Most Underrated App | AppAddict
Applite - An App Store for Homebrew | AppAddict
ToyViewer - A Preview Replacment | AppAddict
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Rock and Roll Picture Show
Rock and Roll will never die, but it is it aging gracefully? That's an individual call. There are a lot of rock stars forever frozen in time, including the various members of the 27 club: Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Kim Morrison and Kurt Cobain among them. YouTube is full of vintage rock videos long predating the MTV eraof my youth.
We can always listen to the music of whatever defines rock and roll for us. In my case, that energy is best defined by one iconic album, Back in Black by Australian rockers AC/DC,. But rock is a visual spectacle as well as an aural one. Many of us had photos of our favorite rock stars adorning our walls at some point in our lives. In my case, the four color 8x10 photosof John, Paul, George and Ringo that were included with the White Album stared down at me all through my high school years.
Whenever I want to lose myself in nostalgia, I put on a classic album from one of my favorite bands and spend some time looking through collections of photos from the best best entertainment photographers of all time, who had dream jobs following bands around, going to concerts and getting paid for it!
Before They Were Famous - Over 150 Rock Star Yearbook Photos
900+ Best ROCK STARS ideas | rock and roll, musician, rock music
The Most Iconic Moments in Rock and Roll Photography
Clapton, Zappa, Elton John: Photos of Rock Stars With Their Parents
Home | Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
23 Iconic Pictures Of Rock 'N' Roll's Greatest Performers
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Opting Out of Pop Culture
Disclaimer: I do not think people who have a lot of pop-culture knowledge are bad or that they are wrong for being familiar with things I know nothing to little about. Don't @ me.
I will admit to being mostly ignorant of pop culture, mostly because of avoidance. I don't think I've watched a network television show since season 2 of Survivor, and that's been more than twenty years ago. Furthermore, I haven't listened to a commercial radio station by my choice since high school. I was excited when Christopher Reeves made the first Superman movie in the 80s, but I've just about totally opted out of the entire Marvel Comic Universe. This means I've missed most, if not all, the top-grossing movies of all time.
I'm not a total cultural Luddite. We subscribe to most of the streaming channels and regularly watch them, but I opt for as much British TV as I can get (but not Doctor Who). I never watch the Superbowl or the World Series or the NBA Finals. The best I can do is catch a few stages of the Tour de France every July. I recently saw Gladiator 2 and today, Wonder Woman bought us tickets to see the new Bob Dylan biopic starring that kid they hold lookalike contests to match.
I rarely read books published within the last year unless I receive one as a gift. Beyond that, I love to read book reviews and keep up with what's hot but surfing the Internet has ruined my concentration skills and sitting still with a novel is just an advanced form of torture these days. I find a lot of modern fiction to be pretentious and difficult to read anyway. I'd rather stick with golden age science fiction or a good detective novel.I enjoy non-fiction, but that's hardly pop culture, is it?
What interests me not at all is celebrity news and gossip. I do not care one whit who is married to whom. I might pay attention if one of them says something political, just to make sure I don't give a conservative any of my money or brain space. So yes, I know about James Woods, Jon Voight, Kelsey Grammar, and people like that. I don't like them. I like folks like Bruce Springsteen and Beyoncé who, although they probably have no clue anymore what regular people are like, are still loyal to us when it comes to our country's leadership.
The closest I get to discovering new music is through Apple Music playlists. The genres I like are (other than classic rock) Americana, Alt-Country and Folk. Occasionally, they'll add in a group new to me or songs from after I stopped buying music, which was approximately 2006. Wonder Woman makes me listen to Nickelback and that red-headed English guy and various late-stage music that I occasionally enjoy, but not enough to learn anything about them.
Don't try to talk to me about super-hero movies or any of the other franchise series like Mission Impossible of the one where Vin Diesel drives cars. My eyes will glaze over, and I will move away from you. I don't know anything about Harry Potter apart from that the woman who wrote the books is a TERF bully who picks on Olympic athletes. I can possibly name one or two people from YouTube (Mr. Beast and PewDiePie)and one from TikTok (Gerron, the funny Irish guy). These days, I hardly even know any podcasters because I no longer have a commute where I can listen to what they produce.
I hope we can still be friends.
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Feedle - IndyWeb Information that Comes to You
I couldn't find an estimate of how many personal, independent bloggers there are who are active right now across all the many available platforms: Micro.blog, Bear, Scribbles, Pika, Tumblr, Blogger, Write.as and many, many WordPress sites. There are directories that list various blogs, like Blogroll.club, a project I work on with JCProbably. You are welcome to submit your blog there if you'd like to be listed.
You should also submit your blog to Feedle, a search engine just for independent blogs and podcasts. Even if you aren't a blogger, Feedle is a great resource to find information from experts in many fields who aren't trying to sell you anything. If you have an interest, chances are someone is blogging about it. Every search at Feedle also generates an RSS feed you can subscribe to in your reader of choice, so that the articles come to you instead of you having to look for them. Every time someone posts about whatever you are interested in, the post will be added to your reader.
Feedle also has a few ready made pages and feeds you might want to bookmark. Here is how they describe them:
The Joys of Being a Grownup
I cringe whenever I hear some uninformed person going on and on about how easy people in prison have it. “They have it made. They get three hots and a cot and free medical care!” Never mind all the danger, the loss of freedom and the monotony, one thing prison does is infantilize the incarcerated. It takes away many of the privileges of adulthood.
When I was a kid, I wanted to be grown so badly. I loved talking to adults and hanging out with them when I could. Being an adult looked like the greatest thing in the world. You escaped from the dictatorship of your parents and your school, and you got to do whatever you want. I could not wait. I didn't even make it to the end of my senior year of high school under the umbrella of my family. Furthermore, I joined the military and left for basic training nine days after I graduated. Of course, that experience didn't involve a lot of freedom, but you definitely got treated like an adult. I got married a week after I finished that experience and by the end of the year, I had my own place, an income, and the freedom I always wanted.
Of course, commensurate with freedom comes responsibility, but I'm feeling hedonistic tonight, so I am concentrating on the freedom aspect of it. The true freedom doesn't come until your kids are out of the house and self-supporting. In fact, I would say that true freedom doesn't really occur until near the end of your days as a wage slave.
As I was nearing the end of my career, I'd been at my job for over a quarter of a century. I earned the maximum number of annual leave days each year that one can earn, and I never, ever, ever let any of those days go unused. I also had a huge number of sick days on the balance sheet. Every morning, I had the freedom to decide, “Do I want to go to work today?” I wasn't in the habit of abusing my privilege. I had people I cared about relying on me, but I knew in the back of my head that I could have a mental health day whenever I needed.
Other wonderful adult privileges I appreciate to this day or deciding when I want to go to sleep and when I wish to wake up. I had an enforced bedtime past my 18th birthday, and I hated it. I love to read, and being able to continue a book at night in a dark house while everyone else is sleeping is just divine. Likewise, although I do have to be at work on time, I can still get up as early as I want to be on my computer or sleep until the last minute. Nobody is the boss of me! We have to be grateful for things like that after being mandated by parents, our children and other circumstances.
Unlike prison inmates or soldiers, I can choose to wear whatever I want. I do the Steve Jobs thing where in public I go with the same style of pants and a black shirt every day. It's not a uniform, it's just easy, and I've been like that for years. At home, I opt for comfort and tend to hold on to shorts and sweatpants until they disintegrate.
Oh — there's food too. I grew up in one of those “you have to eat everything on your plate” houses. There were only a few things I didn't care for, but my Mom made them anyway. I haven't had to eat a serving of green English peas since 1979. I'll never eat them again, either. I don't even have to worry about being a good example to my kids anymore. I can have cereal for supper and pizza for breakfast and no one is going to stop me because I am a gown-ass man and I can do what I want, and I love it.
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Use AI When It Can Help You - On the Cheap
I'm not a heavy user of AI. I only occasionally have ways to make use of it in my job and hobbies. I have better things to fpo than to sit around thinking of things for LLMs to do more for me. There are some times, however, when I have had an occasion to use it. I use the advanced models of ChatGPT, but I don't pay 15, billed in three separate payments of $5 each.
My suggestion to you is that you set up a pre-paid account with OpenAI. All it takes is $10 . You can set limits on your consumption if it makes you feel better, but it isn't needed. Once you set up an account, you can generate API keys to use with all kinds of software and services to use the advanced and any new models. Many apps are essentially free when you use your own key.
How can I set up prepaid billing? | OpenAI Help Center
Once you have your account set up, here is how can you get an API key to use elsewhere
How To Get Your API Key For OpenAI
Some problems OpenAI has solved for me:
Some apps you can use your key with include:
I updated my /now page - What I’m reading and watching, plus links to this week’s blog posts, the week’s best purchase, and the links I added to my personal bookmarks.
