"Ooh Boy, You Nasty!" - Five Facts About Bathing
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.
- The Romans were frequent bathers but they did it for social reasons rather than hygeine.
- 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.
- When bathing became popular in the US in the 1860s, baths were relegated to very quick dips in cold water
- 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.
- 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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This Week's Bookmarks - Using AI in Text, Trusting Software, Predictions, Cleaning Glasses, Like Everything More, Personality Assessment, Resolutions
Putting Mac Apps to Work - Image Management Workflow for Writers

In blogging and in creating instructional documents at work, I go
through plenty of screenshots, stock photography and open-source images
from the web. In the course of crafting a single blog post, I might use
four or five apps.
For screenshots, I use CleanShotX which I call from a keyboard shortcut or the menu bar. It also does annotation. The files are saved to my default screenshot folder that lives on a cloud drive so that I can readily access it from all my computers and devices.
When the file is saved, it activates Clop which optimizes the file size automatically. The optimized file is handed off to Dropover and then an Apple Shortcut (download link) runs that moves the file to another cloud folder, called "Optimized" and which also opens a Dropover shelf so that I can drag the file into place if my current working situation calls for it. Dropover also lets me rename the file, convert to another format and resize the file. I can even open the file in ImageOptim right from the shelf if I want to reduce the file size to a greater extent than Clop performed.
For images other than screenshots, they go straight to my downloads folder, where they get optimized by Clop and then moved to the "Optimized" folder by a shortcut ready for use.
Since I go through numerous images, I don't want my "Optimized" folder to get bloated, so I use Hazel to move files that are more than one day old. It sorts the files in two ways. Screenshots (which have a special string in the file name)are moved to a "Screenshots-Old" folder. The rest of the image files, which can be jpg, png, svg or webp get sorted by file extension and moved to an archive folder. Hazel does all this based on pre-configured rules, and it all happens automatically.
For images other than screenshots, they go straight to my downloads folder, where they get optimized by Clop and then moved to the "Optimized" folder by a shortcut ready for use.
My Computer Had Nice Things to Say About Me Today
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
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
- On This Day - Today in History, Film, Music and Sport
- On This Day - What Happened Today In History Britannica
- On-This-Day.com - Daily history, famous birthdays and music history
- List of days of the year - Wikipedia
- This Day In Music
- Today in Sports History - On This Day
- Today's Famous Birthdays - On This Day
- What was the No.1 song on the day you were born? | This Day In Music
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SwitchResX - Granular Resolution Control

As multiple monitors become more and more common and as the typical user is much more likely to use a laptop than a desktop, dealing with screen resolutions for different use cases becomes more and more problematic if your Mac is an "everything" device where you game, watch movies and get work done. SwitchResXi s a preference pane utility (with an additional menu bar interface) that has various useful functions for resolution management.
SwitchResX Functions
- Save desktop layouts for any resolution. No more having to rearrange things when connecting a second monitor.
- Automatically switch resolutions when launching any app - useful for games, video players, graphics apps and presentation software like PowerPoint
- Name resolutions according to their purpose (e.g., Gaming, Video, Presentation ) rather than trying to remember esoteric number combinations
- Enables a finer desktop grid than the native Mac grid for more precise arrangements
- Create custom resolutions based on your hardware capabilities
SwitchResX is available from the developer's website and comes with a 10-day free trial. A license for a single computer is $16.00.
I am not the developer. I do not know the developer. If you have questions or suggestions, please contact him directly through the information on his website.
I Love Snacking, Snacking Is My Favorite
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
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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Replacicon - Customize Your Mac

Mac users are notorious for being sticklers for aesthetics. Luckily, customizing the appearance of your device is made easier by various third-party utilities. One of those is Replacicon, an outstanding app that maintains a constantly updating catalog of alternate icons for your installed applications.
The Replacicon interface shows an alphabetic list of your installed apps that you can filter in different ways, showing only the apps in your dock or by permanently hiding apps you don't want to see listed. It shows you each app's current and legacy icons, allowing you to hide the current icon if you choose. If you have apps installed outside the default locations, you can add those folders to the ones Replacicon searches.
If you have your own icons for apps, you can import those into Replacicon. You can also use Apple Intelligence to generate new icons if your machine has that capability. The app runs on Intel and Apple Silicon, and on macOS 13 and higher. Your alternate icon selections are maintained across app and OS updates automatically.
Replacicon is a $5.99 one-time purchase from the developer's website.
Internet Coffee Table Books - Photography for Everyone
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.
- The 25 Photos That Defined the Modern Age - The New York Times
- 2024 Winners Gallery – The Epson International Pano Awards
- 2024 Winning Photographers – IPPAWARDS iPhone Photography Awards
- List of photographs considered the most important - Wikipedia
- 50+ Must-See Moments In History
- Winners 2024 — WORLD NATURE PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS
- Upscale images for free Upscale by Sticker Mule
- Earth Day 2024 Witness our changing planet in 12 incredible satellite images Space
- Explore NASA's Best Photos of the Year
- James Lucas
- PSA 2024's Funniest Wildlife Photos Are Here. It's Comedy Break Time. ScienceAlert
- 2024 The Pictures of the Year
- 2024 The Pictures of the Year
- See the 2024 Wildlife Photographer of the Year winners NPR
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On Framing and Language
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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Quotemarks - Quote Notebook

I have collected quotes for years. When I'm reading a book, watching a movie or listening to music, if I come across a line I want to remember I write it down. Years ago, the developers at Lickability made an app called Quotebook for iOS that was specifically designed for quote collectors, but it was removed from the App Store in 2016 - although for anyone who still has a copy it is fully functional in iOS 18!
I've looked all over for a suitable replacement, and the closest I've found is Quotemarks from indy developer Christopher Hale. It is a free app with an IAP just to leave a tip. Quotemarks is great because it lets you import your collection from a CSV file. Anyone who already has a collection is saved from having to manually enter their quotes. The fields you can import include:
- Quote
- Author
- Tag
- Notes
- Date Added
I wish there was a field for the source, but you can use the notes field for that. Of course, you can add new quotes you find one at the time within the app.
Some nice touches with the program include:
- Automatic import of images of well-known authors
- Links to the bios of authors on Wikipedia
- Select the style of quotation marks to use (including none)
- Backup and restore
- Schedule quotes to appear on certain days in a widget
- Use the share sheet to export quotes
Quotemarks is an iOS app that runs in Macs with M-series chips. If you have an Intel Mac you will have to use it on an iPhone or iPad.
If you are looking for quotes to use with the app or for your own personal collection, I have shared my collection on GitHub as either a ZIP file or in individual Markdown notes readable by any text editor or for use in Obsidian.
I am not the developer. I don't know the developer. if you gave questions or suggestions, you can contact him using the information on his website.
Another good quotes manager is Thoughts - Inspiration Manager.
Dear Internet - A Letter to My Constant Companion
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.
AI For Better or Worse
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
Suno - Make a Song About Anything
Google NotebookLM | Note Taking & Research Assistant Powered by AI
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Mac Automation Roundup

I'm a big fan of automation apps for macOS but I'll admit, even
the best ones can have a steep learning curve. If you've loaded up at
the App Store, you might not even know which app performs a task the
best since some of them have overlapping features. You might also have a
desire to get into Mac automation but the price of some of the apps
makes them an investment rather than a casual purchase. Here is a
roundup of information to help veterans and newcomers alike with
becoming more productive.
Keyboard Maestro
My Top 10
Keyboard Maestro Macros
Hazel
My
Favorite Actions for Hazel, the Preeminent File Management Software for
the Mac
Drafts
8 Use cases for
Drafts
Better Touch Tool
Better
Touch Tool Favorites
More Automation Tools
“Libraries raised me. I don’t believe in colleges and universities. I believe in libraries because most students don’t have any money. When I graduated from high school, it was during the Depression and we had no money. I couldn’t go to college, so I went to the library three days a week for 10 years.” -Ray Bradbury, speaking to The New York Times
What's Your Favorite Decade?
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
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
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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OpenVibe - Free Social Thread Aggregator

OpenVibe is a social media
aggregator for some of the decentralized networks that use Activity Pub,
Blockchain and the AT protocol. In this case, that means Bluesky,
Mastodon, Threads and Nostr. OpenVibe users can see a consolidated
timeline from all four services and when they post, the post is sent to
each service. You cal alternatively see the timeline from a single
service if you choose.
There are some unique benefits to using OpenVibe.
- If you have a comprehensive list of blocked words and phrases built on a single platform, you can use that list to moderate all the services used in the app.
- For apps that let you make custom moderation lists like Bluesky and Mastodon, you can choose to toggle those lists on or off.
- Not only are your feeds are consolidated, your notifications are too, divided into comments and mentions, follows, reposts and quotes and reactions.
- Your OpenVibe profile consolidates the number of your followers and followed accounts across all networks.
- You can choose the font you want to use with OpenVibe, plus choose light, dark or system for your theme.
- You can search across all four networks at once or any one of them for profile names of the contents of posts.
- Viewing a list of your followers in Bluesky and Mastodon offers you a chance to follow anyone back with a single click.
OpenVibe is an iPadOS app that runs on Mac desktops with Apple Silicon. If you have an Intel Mac, you will have to use it on an iPhone or iPad. You can download it for free from the App Store. There are no ads. The app requires no special macOS permissions and it does not sell user data.
I am not the developer. I don't know the developer, nor was I asked to write this post. If you have questions or suggestions, use the contact information on the App Store.
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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