I like that I can publish blog posts that I write in Drummer to my micro.blog site but one missing piece I wish was available is integration with the glossary file. These two posts were written in Drummer, but notice only the one published by Old School has an anchor link, which is because Macbook Air is in my glossary. The glossary file is unique to Dave’s web publishing tools but something I wish other tools supported. Managing glossaries is a classic outliner task.
An observation. The 2020 edition Macbook Air is one substantial piece of metal. Not only does it handle compute processing like butter, but it can probably stop a bullet and do serious damage if I used it to hit someone at the right spot. I don’t think any computing device I’ve ever owned has felt this metallic.
I’ve been monitoring the COVID data pretty much since it has been published, but I am embarrassed to admit that I just now found the COVID ActNow site, which does the best job of presenting and explaining the data of all the other sites I’ve seen. Unfortunately, the data for Michigan looks awful. The only good news for myself is that the county in which I live has a lower vulnerability rating because of having a higher vaccination rate.
Today I am reminded of the awesomeness of the Internet. Two, sites worth bookmarking: screaming in Iceland and WindowSwap. You are welcome!
Wondering what is the best browser to use on my new Macbook Air? My normal primary browser is Chrome and that serves me well except for one small issue with selecting text in Drummer and Little Outliner. In Chrome I can’t select text with the mouse in these apps after a period of time. Does the same problem exist with Firefox? So far, it doesn’t, which already makes it better!
The Michigan Panthers are back? The only Michigan professional football team to win a championship.
Finished reading: Sinners in the Hands of a Loving God: The Scandalous Truth of the Very Good News by Brian Zahnd 📚
The title is intended to be a direct counter to Jonathan Edward’s sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. For me the best chapters of this book are the ones that put Revelation in proper context as revealing a loving God.
Micro.blog Bookshelves Issue
Update: The issue below has been resolved.
Today I tried to move a book listed in micro.blog bookshelves that I was currently reading to finished, but when I clicked “Move To Finished” the book was removed from the currently reading list and not added to finished. I do notice that the book title still appears in the rendered version of the reading list on my blog. I then tried to manually add the book to Finished and it doesn’t appear. I also tried re-adding to Current Reading and it is not adding their either. Something appears to fundamentally not be working for the moment. Reported to help@micro.blog.
Still think that replay should stop play and make calls on hits to the head in the NFL. In the last 10 minutes of the game tonight there have been two calls the refs have missed. Hits to the head is a player safety issue that the NFL should make maximum effort to get out of the game. Fines after the fact doesn’t do the job. The NFL needs to follow the NCAA’s lead in this, and frankly should be open to law suits from former players.
The pitfall of playing in two fantasy football leagues: having your point leader (Jonathan Taylor) in one league leading your opposition in the other. Time to rest Taylor. :)
I am still feeling my way around macOS and the applications I can use. I’ve been using Drafts on the iPad, so I installed the macOS version. One way I use Drafts is to write posts to my blog, the version on the iPad is all set with the authentication tokens it needs to make the post. So, I wondered what would happen when I tried to run the Post To Micro.blog action on the Mac? It just worked! I was expecting to have to set up a new authentication token before it would post, but I was wrong. So nice!
Zeynep Tufekci, What Happens After the Worst of the Pandemic Is Behind Us?
In her book “March of Folly,” the historian Barbara Tuchman describes civilizations that collapsed not because of insurmountable challenges but because “wooden-headedness” took over: Those in charge were unable to muster the will and vision to make the necessary course corrections in the face of difficulties.
COVID-19 defenses in my body were boosted yesterday. Feeling nearly the same immune response I felt after shot #2, which is an odd comfort.
Comparing the battery life of my Pixel 4a to the Pixel 2 back when I made note of it four years ago. Screen on is still at 5 hours, but screen off increased from 36 hours to 45 hours and combined increased from 26 hours to 36 hours. Obvious the combined hours is influenced by the increase in screen off and the screen off reflects the operating system optimizations. Screen on time tells me little has changed in screen power consumption.
“Too many people do not know the Constitution nor appreciate the fundamental reasons for why the U.S. form of republican democracy was designed and adopted. These people pledge allegiance to a flag as if the flag is the thing rather than a symbol of the real thing, our way of life enabled by the Constitution.” American Idol
Live With Or Remove Corruption?
While I am sympathetic to Dave Winer’s critique of journalism in the United States, I am skeptical that his recommended improvements will make a difference. In my opinion the root cause problem of journalism is that it is beholden to the doctrine of capitalism. Everyone, regardless of party affiliation, believes that the prime objective of journalism in the United States is to make money and will bias what they publish towards that goal. Consider why it is that the titles for newspaper articles are usually not created by the person who wrote the article. Until the root cause is addressed I don’t see how there will be improvements.
The sad fact is, everyone is well aware of how money has corrupted every part of our lives. Our skepticism toward industry such as medical and media, and our skepticism of politicians is all rooted in our awareness of this corruption. We are at a danger level now because people have very little trust in anyone not themselves, and yet our society requires the ability to trust.
The first snow of the season is falling on us.
Dear Google how come text messages that I mark as spam appear on the share sheet in Android 12?
The Spiritual Experience of Microcenter
I was in an actual computer store yesterday, which was momentous for two reasons. First is that I have not really spent much time in stores other than grocery stories since the pandemic began. Second is that it has been way too long since I had been in a real computer store.
One of my favorite stores of my childhood is Radioshack, which was an electronics store from before personal computers were a thing that you could find in just about any town in the United States.
Radioshack on a larger scale describes Fry’s and CompUSA. In its prime you could probably find a CompUSA in most all metropolitan areas and I spent much time and money in the ones near where I lived. CompUSA is where I went to check out the newest computers and gadgets. It’s where I bought my first Apple computer, a Newton MessagePad.
Sadly, CompUSA and Fry’s are extinct, victims of the one-two punch of the big box stores and the Internet. In my area of metropolitan Detroit one lone Microcenter remains as a sanctuary of geekdom, which is where I found myself yesterday evening to pick up the new Macbook Air that I reserved online.
I nearly shed a tear when I walked through the doors to the sight of the picture below. I walked slowly up and down each aisle, thankful for the mask covering my face that hid what I am sure was the goofy look of geek joy. Every computer component you can think of sat on shelves in rows you must pass through to get to the manufactured computers in the back of the store.
I confess that I have contributed to the demise of the very stores that I miss, buying all of my newest tech online and having it delivered to my front door. I had forgotten the pleasure of seeing all of this technology in front of me. Walking out the door I vowed to not wait so long before returning.
To make a conscious decision one must first be conscious.