Cardinals at the Window - A Benefit Album for Western North Carolina
Cardinals at the Window - A Benefit Album for Western North Carolina - An album featuring 136 artists costing only $10 is available with the proceeds benefitting hurricane victims in Western, NC. - linkage.lol/cardinals…
Cardinals at the Window - A Benefit Album for Western North Carolina
In late September of this year, Hurricane Helene blew through the mountains of several states and in its wake whole communities were erased. Places that hadn't flooded in a millennium were inundated. It will take years, if not generations, for the counties of Western North Carolina to recover. Cities like Asheville will never be the same. To raise money for those in need, 136 members of the music community from and associated with the area created an album available on Soundcloud for $10. You can stream it and download all 136 songs. Some of the artists who contributed include:
- REM
- Jason Isbell
- Gillian Welch and David Rawlings
- The Avett Brothers
- Nathaniel Rateliff and The Night Sweats
- Lambchop
- The Drive-By Truckers
- The Hold Steady
- Iron and Wine
Cardinals At The Window | Various Artists | Cardinals At The Window
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📝 Quit Being Paranoid - Being cautious is a survival skill. Being paranoid is just an annoying personality trait. - louplummer.lol/quit-bein…
Quit Being Paranoid
Being appropriately cautious is a survival skill. We have evolved to do things like sniff food before we eat it to make sure it isn't spoiled and to keep our guard up around strangers. A lot of human behavior is understandable in that context. I wouldn't consider myself reckless in any way. I drive cautiously enough. I haven't been in any kind of physical confrontation in decades.
Certain cautious behavior is gender based and makes perfect sense. Like most men, I don't think about being the victim of sexual assault. Most people have individualized reasons for their comfort with risk. I get it.
Having said all that, I'm still not cool with paranoia. There is a certain amount of risk inherent in being a functional adult and no one gets to escape from all of it. When I see a person who is so risk averse that they deprive themselves, or worse, they deprive others, it drives me nuts. I like computers and software. It's kind of my thing. I see many, many people who act terrified to install or use all kinds of software out of unfounded or unspecified fears. I'm not just talking about technologically ignorant people either. There are people in my industry who think that there is something or someone nefarious behind every new app. There are ways to investigate these issues and ways to mitigate risk. Quit being paranoid!
In jobs I have had, I trust that my bosses have enough faith in me to make professional decisions when a new situation arises. It's a judgment call, of course. There are times when one needs to seek guidance. Most of the time, however, I have no problem making a call and moving forward to get a job done. If my decisions are questioned, I feel fairly confident that I can defend them. I am sure you have encountered people though who get paralyzed if they are faced with the unknown. They come to a dead stop and act as if they just know they will "get in trouble" if they do anything without running it by the boss first. I want to grab these people by the neck and shake them. Quit being paranoid you sorry excuse for an adult. Quit trying to evade all responsibility. Grow a pair.
Then there are the people who are sure that the mysterious "they" are out there thwarting progress and holding back the common man. The people who blame "them" without ever trying to get to the bottom of who "they" might be are another category I'm pretty derisive about. There is no doubt that giant corporations do not have society's best interest at heart. Capitalism is not structured that way. Rather than railing against the unknown, however, learn to name and shame the people and organizations behind your oppression. Let that knowledge influence how you vote and where you spend your money. We have limited power as individuals, but we do have some, plus we have the power to organize and to take collective action. That's how slavery was ended, how women got the vote, how child labor was outlawed and how every labor protection in existence came into being. Quit being paranoid. Do something!
If anything about this offends you, I do not apologize. Quit being paranoid!
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Today on App Addict - Mac Pilot for Customization and Utilities - Mac Pilot, a customization and utility app from Koingo Software is currently $3.00 on BundleHunt. There are similar apps like Onyx and Tinker Tool out there that are free, but for the price I thought I’d take a look. Applications Mac Pilot contains settings for several system apps. Here are… - apps.louplummer.lol/post/mac-… #Mac Apps 📝
Mac Pilot for Customization and Utilities
Mac Pilot, a customization and utility app from Koingo Software is currently $3.00 on BundleHunt. There are similar apps like Onyx and Tinker Tool out there that are free, but for the price I thought I'd take a look.
Applications
Mac Pilot contains settings for several system apps. Here are just of the few things it can control.
- Calendar - change event duration
- Dock - single app mode, enable window previews
- Finder - enable "Quit Finder"
- Help Viewer - user normal instead of floating windows
- Launch Pad - Reset contents, control \# of rows and columns
- Music - enable half-star ratings
- Quick Time - Remember open movies on quit
- Safari - Backspace goes to previous page
- Screen Capture - change file type
- Spotlight - Reset index
- System - Disable notification center
- Terminal - Window focus follows mouse
- Time Machine - Do not prompt to use connected drives
Disk
Gives info and lets you perform maintenance on individual partitions
- Disks info
- Files Info
- Maintenance
File Browser
Detailed file information and settings
- General - Includes last backup date
- Details - Over 30 Unix characteristics on each file
- Access - Adjust traditional permissions and ACLs
- Advanced - Allows you to lock files
- Legacy
Login
- Change many features of your login screen - including the displayed image, which is totally worth the whole purchase price to me!
- Show or hide any users of the computer on the login screen
- Enable and disable login items and launch agents
- Set defaults for window states on login
Logs
- Built in log viewer
- Complete list of system receipts for installed software titles that issue them
Maintenance
- Automated - Enable or disable system cron jobs
- Update or rebuild launch services database
- ** Force empty trash and clear print queue - Very Helpful!**
Network
- Detailed info for every network interface
- Custom sharing settings including enabling airdrop on legacy machines
- Shortcuts to hidden utilities: Airport Utility, Wireless Diagnostics
- Complete Port List
- Network Optimization for selected broadband connections
Power
- Hidden settings for system, AC and battery
- Sleep settings for disks, display, and system. Plus auto-power off settings
- Hibernation settings
- Scheduling for wake and sleep
Reference
- Error Codes
- Fonts
- Key Combos
- Manuals
- System Profile
In addition there is a section for getting more information and doing some optimization but it requires disabling System Integrity Protection and I did not explore that.
The final potentially helpful tool is one that strips out the files from binaries for either Intel or ARM processors if you are running low in disk space and want to eliminate things you don't need. I'd make damn sure I had a good backup before using that.
Can I Trust This App
Can I Trust This App - Learning how to determine whether software is trustworthy is a 21st century survival skill. - linkage.lol/can-i-tru…
Can I Trust This App
In any discussion of software, regardless of the app in question it seems, someone always asks "Can I trust this app?" seeking some protection against malware or privacy invasion. It would serve anyone interested in investigating software or trying new apps to learn a few things about how to answer this question for themselves. Here is a list that is not comprehensive but should serve as a good place to start.
Search Reddit for references to the app.
Apps from the Mac app store can generally be regarded as safe from malware, but you should read the privacy policy and make a decision based on your comfort level
Use a firewall like Little Snitch or Lulu if you have concerns about an app accessing the Internet with your data. Objective-See also makes Block-Block which will notify you when new apps try to access the Internet.
Don't use any pirated software
Don't disable System Integrity Protection or Gatekeeper
If downloading from third party sites like MacUpdate or GitHub, evaluate the number of downloads or stars an app has to determine how widely used it is. Generally (but not always) apps that have a lot of users have been investigated by enough people to be safe.
Stay current on tech/Apple news. If there is a misbehaving app, it generally makes the news.
If you want the extra protection, use something like Malware Bytes on demand scanner
If you are dealing with highly sensitive financial or other data, learn how to use encryption tools like Cryptomator so that you have control and you are not relying on unknown developers.
Learn to use a VPNs if you have security and privacy concerns.
Don't believe everything you hear. There are bad actors who spread misinformation about safe apps. Paranoia can also be catching.
How Can I Tell If a Download Is Safe?
11 Easy Ways to Know If It Is Safe to Download Something
Agree? Disagree? What have I left out?
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📝 What Is Your Love Language? - In what way do you like to be shown you are loved? - louplummer.lol/what-is-y…
Today on App Addict - Switch Glass - A Configurable Application Switcher with Per Display Settings - If you are one of those Mac users frustrated by the fact that the default dock is only visible on a single display, or you don’t like the way it deals with hidden windows, or maybe you wish you could hide certain apps, you might want to try Switch Glass,… - apps.louplummer.lol/post/swit… #Mac Apps 📝
Switch Glass - A Configurable Application Switcher with Per Display Settings
If you are one of those Mac users frustrated by the fact that the default dock is only visible on a single display, or you don't like the way it deals with hidden windows, or maybe you wish you could hide certain apps, you might want to try Switch Glass, an app by well known Apple podcaster, developer and writer, John Siracusa.
Switch Glass lets you configure a (hide-able) floating app switcher for each display in your setup.
• Visibility - Set it to be visible, hidden or auto-hidden/visible
depending on mouse position
• Position - Choose from eight
positions on each screen
• Orientation - Horizontal or vertical
positioning
• Background - Choose from four different backgrounds
including dark mode toggling
• Styling - Three different corner
styles
• Icon Size - App icons can be anywhere from 16 to 256
points in size
• Icon Spacing - Adjust from 0 to 100% of the icons
sizes
• Margin - Adjustable around the switcher itself
• App
Sort Order - Apps can be sorted by name or launch order
You can customize what clicking or shift clicking on an app does, with options to bring all windows or a single window to the front. Using option+click will hide the current front app while opening the app you click on. The app switcher has a context menu for each app and supports dragging items to the icons to open them.
As would be expected from a developer known for having exacting preferences in his workspace, you can fine tune almost every element in the app. Switch Glass is $7.99 on the Mac App Store.
Death Row Last Meals
Death Row Last Meals - The last meals of convicted criminals have long fascinated us. What would you ask for? - linkage.lol/death-row…
John Wayne Gacy’s Last Meal
📝 Adventures in Grandparenting - A weekend with the grandkids and Tae Kwon Do, a football game, piano practice, a corn maze, a music store, AYCE French fries and a movie. Is that all? - louplummer.lol/adventure…
Yonks - A Well Designed Day Counter
Yonks is a well-designed iOS app
that works quite well as a standalone app on Apple Silicon Macs. It's a
day counter that determines how many days since and event or how many
days until an even with lots of extra special touches. For a one time
purchase of $1.99 in
the App Store vs. subscription apps at 4X that price just for a year
of use, it's almost unbeatable.
Ever wanted to know how many minutes, hours, days, weeks, months or years have passed since you were born or since you got married? What about counting down to your next vacation or the end of an important project? Maybe you want to count the days since you started a diet, quit smoking or drinking or started a new fitness routine. Do you want a way to count down the time until a new movie or video game is released. Yonks (British slang for "a long time") can do it for you.
Features
- Choose between counting minutes, hours, days, weeks, months or years and select a custom emoji and color for every counter.
- Order your counters manually, alphabetically, increasing or decreasing by date or by color.
- See when a notable milestone occurs (e.g. "When is your 1000 day anniversary?") and add it to your calendar.
- Need to remember more than just a date? No problem, just add a custom note to your counter.
- Yonks has a growing list of popular counters from a variety of categories (holidays, sports, movies, games, …) for you to add with one tap.
- Change the date, time and number formats according to your local or personal preferences.
Yonks does not have iCloud syncing but I had no trouble creating my setup on my phone and exporting a json file via the settings that I easily imported on my MacBook via the same mechanism.
According to the developer, Stefan
Grund, a new update is scheduled to drop on 2024-10-14 and version 2
of the app is in the works.
Just How Much Cocaine Was in Coca Cola?
Just How Much Cocaine Was in Coca Cola? - You’ve heard the tales about Coke. have you ever looked into them? - linkage.lol/just-how-…
I’ve updated my /now page with info on a classic American police procedural series, a British spy TV series, all 21 blog posts from this week, my favorite recent Amazon find and all the bookmarks I added to my personal collection.
📝 Changing Computer Habits - My computer usage changes little from day to day but massively over the years. - louplummer.lol/changing-…
This Week's Bookmarks - Human/Animal Hybrids, Internet Forums, Generational Labels, Book Finder, Hurricane Propaganda, Panoramic Photo Awards,
Forums Are Still Alive, Active, And A Treasure Trove Of Information - Aftermath
What generation am I? A full breakdown of the years (and names)
Find book recommendations based on your favorite authors
From the Storm to the Stormtroopers - by Timothy Snyder
Panographic Photo Awards for 2024
Donald Trump Is the Tyrant George Washington Feared - The Atlantic
Near Alvarado Station in SW Virginia.
Marta - A Free Dual Pane File Manager
Marta is a free, dual-pane file manager for macOS written entirely
in Swift, making it fast and responsive to both keyboard and mouse
commands, although it specializes in the former. Under development since
2016 by software engineer Yan Zhulanow of Jet Brains, Marta may move to
paid model in the future but for no it can be downloaded for free at the dev's website.
Some of Marta's key features include:
- Extensive keyboard support
- No user tracking
- Ability to edit files inside archives and nested archives
- Documentation to guide users in customization
- Theme supprt (plus you can add your own)
- Plugin support through a custom Lua API
- Actions panel (instead of layers of menus)
- Quick search
- Uses Mac's Quicklook and plugins
- Toggle hidden files
- Built in terminal
- Disk usage analyzer
- Multiple tabs and windows to create workspaces