have to admit that it’s breaking my heart to watch a new generation of anxious parents think that they can address the struggles their kids are facing by eliminating technology from kids' lives. I’ve been banging my head against this wall for almost 20 years, not because I love technology but because I care so deeply about vulnerable youth. And about their mental health. And boy oh boy do I loathe moral panics. I realize they’re politically productive, but they cause so much harm and distraction.
I wrote 50 more blogging prompts to round out my collection to an even 100. If you get stumped on a topic for a post, take a look at these.
From my 100 Strangers - This is Disha, photographed with her mother’s blessing, at the NC India Festival held in the fall of the year at Dorton Arena in Raleigh. She was nervously waiting to participate in a dancing exhibition.
Today on AppAddict - An Unemotional Look at Clean My Mac X - I look at the controversial app without hyperbole or bias and point out its strong and weak points.
If anyone wants to play along, make a list of the 15 books that have had the most impact on you and share it. 15 Books with the Most Impact
From my 100 Strangers Project - I met Bryan at the farmer’s market in the small coastal town of Beaufort, NC where people sell their goods under a huge canopy of live oak trees a couple of blocks from the waterfront. He was pretty taciturn and did not have a lot to say.
Today on AppAddict - Downie - Video Downloader - Downie can download from more than 1000 sites with more being added on a bi-weekly basis. It can download 4K video and audio-only streams.
Female hair is either long or political. Sexual orientation is either heterosexual or political. Gender identity is either cis or political. Clothing is either gender stereotyped and boring or political. City infrastructure is either car-focused or political. Energy is either fossil fuels or political. Education is either white Christian propaganda or political. Everything follows the same pattern, tech included.
I put my thinking cap on this afternoon and came up with 50 Ideas for Blog Posts. Hopefully, some of y’all will get some use from them.
Awesome Mac - Browse a Huge Selection of Mac Applications - I have 449 applications on my MacBook. After browsing this site, I’m about to have a few more.
My Favorite Newsletter Subscriptions - A list of free and worthy reads on subjects ranging from tech to history to current events from writers like Heather Cox Richardson, Joan Westenberg, Ed Zeron.
“There are moments when you cannot help but feel that your life is being controlled by some not-entirely-benevolent god. You skirt down a ridge only to climb it again; you climb a steep peak when there is an obvious route around it; you cross the same stream three times in the course of an hour, for no apparent reason, soaking your feet in the process. You do these things because someone, somewhere, decided that that’s where the trail must go.”
The Essence of Hiking
Today on AppAddict - Clop - Copy Big, Paste Small, Send Fast - a utility that automatically resizes files simply by copying and pasting. Works on images, video and PDFs. Clop can also downscale images from 90% t0 10% of the original size.
From my 100 Strangers Project - A rare color picture, to capture the multi-colored chalk on Danielle’s face after she and a friend had been to a Holi festival in lower Manhattan. I caught them heading for the subway.
Updated my /subscriptions page with a couple of new entries - Paramount+ so I can watch Mayor of Kingstown ($60 for a year) and BearBlog ($5 a month) so I can be on every blogging platform I hear about.
This Week's Bookmarks - Democracy and the church, Vietnamese chicken salad, 25 hikes, Life's Anti-Checklist, 50 ways to fuel a conversation, Life of a tennis player, Daily routines
Can Democracy And Evangelical Christianity Co-Exist? | (Backyard Church)
Goi Ga, a Crunchy Vietnamese Chicken Salad Recipe (foodandwine.com)
25 Easy, Scenic, and Short National-Park Hikes (outsideonline.com)
The Life Anti-Checklist Common Goal - a list of things you definitely don’t want to do in your life but may have done anyway, like sleeping through your bus stop, burning your dinner or forgetting your anniversary
50 Ways To Fuel A Conversation (swiss-miss.com)
For example
- Be the first to say hello.
2 Introduce yourself to others. - Take risks and anticipate success.
- Remember your sense of humor.
- Practice different ways of starting a conversation
‘I’m good, I promise’: the loneliness of the low-ranking tennis player | Tennis | The Guardian
Daily Routines (typepad.com) - How writers, artists, and other interesting people organize their days
Freckles, The Bull, The Bean, and Cajun - The story of the most memorable animals from my life, a Dalmation, a Black Angus Bull, a Dachshund and an Amazon Parrot
It’s Saturday, the day I regularly update my /now page. This week I’m touting a great newsletter, Werd.io, four streaming shows, listing a week’s worth of blog posts and turning you on to a great cheap fine tipped ink pen. As always, there’s also the links I saved into my collection this week.
Today on App Addict - Day One is popular for a reason. I have five journals with 18K entries made over the past 10 years, many of them automated records from social media, weather reports, clipped news articles, RSS feeds of my blogs as well as pictures and video.
From my 100 Strangers Project - Jaleesa and Moniek were hanging out with their friends in front of the Art Center downtown for an impromptu, old school break-dancing sesh.
