Ever since Google announced they were no longer supporting Inbox I have been looking for a replacement app. I found Spark to be the best app to provide the main features I like: bundling and one-click bundle archiving. Unfortunately, up until today it has only been available on iOS, but now I am able to install it on my Pixel 2.
If you are at all in to computers and/or you like making things, then I strongly recommend that you get a Raspberry Pi. I have a couple of them running on my home network, one powers a custom desk clock and the other is the hub for backing up several of my web sites.
Yesterday I figured out how to automatically backup this site and of course I have written down the steps I took in my wiki.
Testing Micro.blog Wordpress Export
In December micro.blog stopped exporting my site to Github, a consequence of their change from jekyll to hugo as the CMS. We do have manual ways to export a site, one is to download an export file as a Wordpress export and the other is to generate an archive in a “blog archive format” that doesn’t appear to be well documented. Manton wrote a post proposing the format in 2017, but I have not found anything else so it doesn’t appear that format is useful to anyone other than programmers.
An export is only as good as the ability to import, so I decided to create a local install of Wordpress on my Pixelbook using Docker and then try importing the Wordpress export. The good news is that the import was successful. The bad news is that the export file retains markdown that is not converted to HTML so none of the links in the posts appear correctly. We either need the micro.blog export process to convert to HTML or some way for the import process to convert markdown to HTML.
Update: I was directed to install the JP Markdown plug in to my site, which I did and then did a wipe and re-import and the good news is that with it installed all the markdown formating is appearing on the local Wordpress site.
Oddly, one of the challenging things about wiki is creating new pages. A new page is created by first creating a link to the page and then adding items to that page, therefore I have the Now page on which I create new links.
The problem is, those new links can accumulate over time and then I have to back and remove them. I have found code for an HTML form to create a new page so that I can enter a page title, click create, and a new ghost page appears.
It is very wet outside and the sump pump is running, driving me a bit nuts.
Duke is lucky two games in a row. Izzo has to beat Coach K. Looking forward to that game.
I find this article about how the Ricketts acquired the Chicago Cubs fascinating.
Once again. You can’t lower the cost of health insurance until you lower the cost of treatments. Lower the cost of a CT scan first, then you might be able to lower the cost of health insurance.
Warmest day so far and it happens to be in opening day. ‘nuf said. Go Cubs go!
What I really want is the ability to buy YouTube TV access for a market other than the one I live in so that I could watch all the Green Bay Packer football games from my home in Michigan. Sadly, that isn’t possible nor do I think it will ever be.
Happy opening day! Looking forward to the Cubs starting the 2019 season this afternoon.
The Apple Card looks to me to be very much the same as the card that Google tried a few years ago. Granted, Apple’s is a Credit Card while Google’s was only a debit card, but the hurdles are similar. How do you get people to switch and why should they if they can use their existing credit card with Apple Pay? I get the desire to make money on transactions, that is a repeat of the Apple Store model that makes Apple a lot of money. However, in this instance I don’t see why I or anyone would switch.
A week ago at this time I was walking on Bourbon Street. Here is an album of pictures that I took during the trip.
Do people really read magazines still? I really don’t, even though I have dabbled with some of the ones available with my Amazon Prime membership. I’ve generally avoided the Apple News app, although I do see notifications from it.
My bracket of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament is sorta busted. I still have 3 of the 4 final four picks, but I have one whole region out. I am looking forward to seeing how Purdue does against Tennessee on Thursday and Michigan State against LSU on Friday.
Our current state can be traced to the early 90s, which happens to coincide with thinking originating at the Harvard Business School that CEO compensation should be tied to stock performance. The idea is that the best way to increase shareholder return is to create incentives tied to that return. Unfortunately, the idea is a theory that is proving to be false.
I agree with David Frum that liberals need to address the practical issues of immigration. However, it seems to me one thing we don’t consider is that what might be the best way to address the problem is to enable people to have a good life where they currently live. People who are well off in South America don’t take the risk of traveling thousands of miles to the United States, desperate people take that risk. Building a wall is not going to stop people from taking that risk. A wall is a band aid, not a solution.
The bracket is set for the 2019 NCAA men’s ice hockey tournament. I would like to see Ohio State, Minnesota State, Notre Dame, and Arizona State to make the Frozen Four.
Finished reading: The Universal Christ: How A Forgotten Reality Can Change Everything We See, Hope For, and Believe by Richard Rohr 📚
You will find my favorite quotes from this book at The Narthex.