Weekly Thing 308 / Tapestry, Terminal, Tab
Weekly Thing 308 surprisingly sent from Minneapolis, MN even thought I didn’t think you would be getting this today.
Good morning! ☕️
This email you're reading right now didn’t look like it was going to happen. The week has been filled to the top and my cousin is in town this weekend and we are seeing David Francey tonight. But then a window opened up for some writing and here we are. Lovely. I’m happy it worked out.
More on the show next week! 🎶
Introducing David O'Hara's Blog
I’m excited to introduce the second of the Christmas blog series. I met David O'Hara via an introduction from a friend and I've enjoyed his writing. He was curious to explore a new blogging service and was a bit "stranded" on Blogger. He put his name in for a blog and I also gave him a hand getting his archive over to micro.blog. He is also using the Newsletter feature of micro.blog to send his posts every week for those that prefer email. You can find David's blog at the very easy to remember davoh.org.
Please introduce yourself to Weekly Thing readers. Who are you? What is your background? Some interesting things about you?
I'm a saunterer (Thoreau's word) and a tinkerer (Aldo Leopold's word). I was born and raised in the Catskill Mountains (born in 1969, raised in Woodstock, so that might tell you something about my childhood) and have since lived and worked in Vermont, Spain, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and South Dakota, with significant time also spent working in Nepal, Poland, Greece, Morocco, Guatemala, Belize, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Alaska. You could describe me as a generalist, because I am interested in a lot of things, and my life and work reflect that. Sometimes when people ask me what I do I tell them "I study the relationships between fish and forests" or "I teach about the religious architecture of water." I find those replies either end the conversation quickly or supercharge it. Feel free to ask me about those things, but be forewarned: I love the way lots of disciplines that seem isolated from one another are related: I love math, engineering, architecture, philosophy, world religions, old books, old words in lots of languages, ecology, small details about several different clades of aquatic and terrestrial invertebrates, indigenous cultures in the Americas, and the way coding can help people have access to clean water. Again, ask me about any of that, and check out what I've written about those things on my blog.
Right now I'm on sabbatical after twenty years of teaching philosophy, classics, religion, and environmental studies at Augustana University in Sioux Falls. I'm taking this time to travel for the purpose of studying and writing, with the twin aims of becoming a better professor, and of helping my students make self-sustaining improvements to the environment we share. I'll add that I like to build things with my hands, and to teach others how to do so. I've worked as a stonemason on three continents, and I build outdoor learning spaces here in South Dakota, teaching my students by working with them from design to implementation. Right now I'm helping my son build a climbing wall in his garage, a place where he and his wife can exercise and also a place where my grandson, due to be born this spring, can learn to safely tumble and climb with his parents.
Why did you put your name in for a Christmas Blog? What is it that you are hoping to do with your blog?
Since writing is a big part of both thinking and teaching, I am always looking to tinker with new ways to write for myself and for others. I've blogged for a long time, and I write in lots of other media as well. But most media wind up owning some or all of what I write, and too often they paywall it or wrap it in ads. I like the idea of having something clean and simple, where others can find what I write and interact with it in a low-cost, low-friction, and simple space. Also, Jamie has been both a good example and a good advocate of these practices, and I like tagging along with him on some of his adventures!
What are some early reactions and comments you have about micro.blog and using this blog? Anything you would like to share with everyone?
One nice thing is that the reactions have been few and slow. That might not sound exciting, but in the move-fast-and-break-things era it's a pleasant change. The people who do show up to react are the ones who are there to chat. My work has brought me to more little Mediterranean coffee shops than I can count, all across Greece, Italy, Spain, France, and Morocco. They're all different, but they all have some things in common: they serve something simple and enjoyable, they do so at a very low price, and they expect you to move slowly and sit a while. My micro.blog is like that, too. Come on in, and feel free to sit and sip for a while. And if you start up your own micro.blog, let me know and I'll swing by for a cup of what you've got to serve.
Snoopy Tree in the snow. I probably take this picture every year because I love the scene.
February 08, 2025
Magic Pines, Cannon Lake, MN
Notable
LocalSend: Share files to nearby devices
I discovered this from a post on Daring Fireball and it was an instant download for me. I like Airdrop for sharing photos with friends and family, but that only works on Apple devices. LocalSend does the same (and more) between a wide variety of devices. Even if you need a way to send clipboards back and forth between devices LocalSend does that. And it is open-source and free to boot, with the option to give a tip.
TRMNL | E-ink dashboard to stay focused
Cool product to put information you want on a very low power and unobtrusive dashboard. Robust plugin support as well. I could see this being a cool thing to have a couple of in different locations with information for your office, for family areas, who knows what else. Good gift idea.
The open web as gift economy (Part 4) – Tracy Durnell's Mind Garden
I enjoyed this approach to thinking about the web, about hyperlinks, about supporting other blogs, about creating virtuous connections on the open web. Good stuff!
How to grow old • Mike Monteiro
Mike Monteiro is one of the founders of Mule Design. I've enjoyed his writing and watched some talks of his. I had no idea he also had a newsletter so when I found this issue it was an instant subscribe for me. The premise of his newsletter is that folks send him questions and he answers them. I liked this one a lot. Also, his most recent one on How to choose a donut he answered a question from me! 🤩
o1 pro - Marginal REVOLUTION
I've honestly been thinking about signing up for ChatGPT Pro so that I could experience the o1 pro model directly. Cowen has and his comments on using it are very positive.
I find it very difficult to ask o1 pro an economics question it cannot answer. I can do it, but typically I have to get very artificial. It can answer, and answer well, any question I might normally pose in the course of typical inquiry and pondering. As Adam indicated, I think only a relatively small number of humans in the world can give better answers to what I want to know.
In an economics test, or any other kind of naturally occurring knowledge test I can think of, it would beat all of you (and me).
That kind of capability for $200 a month doesn't seem like a bad deal. I wonder how many people actually have questions that need that level of capability though.
Everyone knows your location
This goes deep specifically looking at location data and how it is "leaked" to dozens of entities all the time while you use your mobile device.
After more than couple dozen hours of trying, here are the main takeaways:
- I found a couple requests sent by my phone with my location + 5 requests that leak my IP address, which can be turned into geolocation using reverse DNS.
- Learned a lot about the RTB (real-time bidding) auctions and OpenRTB protocol and was shocked by the amount and types of data sent with the bids to ad exchanges.
- Gave up on the idea to buy my location data from a data broker or a tracking service, because I don't have a big enough company to take a trial or $10-50k to buy a huge database with the data of millions of people + me.
Well maybe I do, but such expense seems a bit irrational.
Turns out that EU-based peoples` data is almost the most expensive.But still, I know my location data was collected and I know where to buy it!
Some of the things I do like running 1Blocker certainly help limit access to this data. But the sheer size of this data surveillance is hard to completely get your arms around.
The fact that we have no protection at all against this type of surveillance is unbelievable.
Elon’s Twitter Destruction Playbook Hits The US Government, And It’s Even More Dangerous | Techdirt
It has been an absolutely insane week.
Let’s be crystal clear about what’s happening: A private citizen with zero Constitutional authority is effectively seizing control of critical government functions. The Constitution explicitly requires Senate confirmation for anyone wielding significant federal power — a requirement Musk has simply ignored as he installs his loyalists throughout the government while demanding access to basically all of the levers of power, and pushing out anyone who stands in his way.
The US Government isn't a company. The President isn't a CEO. And your net worth doesn't mean you get to decide everything. At least I hope.
Everything you need to make great coffee – and the kit that’s not worth your money | The Guardian
I greatly enjoy my coffee and this article mostly gets it right. It is pretty simple.
- Really good beans.
- High quality grinder.
- Electric gooseneck water kettle.
- Dripper like a V60.
It is also worth noting that for not that much investment I think you can get 95% of the best drop coffee at home. Even if you invest thousands and thousands of dollars I think you can at best get an 80% espresso at home. I leave espresso to the professionals.
A guide to using Signal for government workers
Sure this is written for government workers but it is fine for anyone. Making sure you have trusted, reliable, encrypted communication platforms is important for all of us. I also suggest donating to Signal (it is a non-profit) and helping them support their mission.
Mark All Read - I am BARRY HESS
The simple truth for most of us is that there is more things we find interesting than there is time to engage with it. I've shared in the past that sending these emails actually helps me with that. If I haven't read something in that week I drop it. If I didn’t have time this week I won't next week. There will be new things. I like Hess's approach here.
New 'Apple Invites' App Debuts on the App Store - MacStories
This caught me completely by surprise. Why would Apple bother to create an app like this? I wonder if it isn't a bit like the story behind the Sports app. The thought there was that Apple got frustrated with all the apps in that category being littered with advertising and surveillance and wanted to provide a clean experience. That is certainly true here. At this point using Evite is really just an ad network that happens to do some calendar messaging. I'll definitely use this. I also like that it is open and doesn't require anything other than a browser for the recipient. Nice user experience as well.
Enter Tapestry • The Breakroom
I was a Kickstarter backer of Tapestry and am excited to see the app reach public release now. Tapestry is one of a handful of "timeline apps". Think of it like a social media timeline, but it has no algorithms (just ordered by time) and the content comes from open protocols like RSS. Brilliant! This feels to me like a middle space for folks that find Feed Readers to be "too much" but would rather get the surveillance and algorithms out of what they are reading.
Art Links
Love to see The Met doing a play on the NY Times Connections game and then rewarding players with NFTs! I've collected two so far. Love the experimentation and read the announcement for the full overview.
One year with the Vision Pro – Six Colors
It is a little surprising to me that my Vision Pro is just one year old. Our expectations of technology to be ubiquitous so fast have only increased. Thinking about this made me think about the Apple Watch after a year. I’m pretty sure Apple was still suggesting it was a communications device at that point. I agree with the articles opening that I would only recommend buying a Vision Pro if you want to play around with stuff that may never be real. I also am hoping that Apple does what they have done with other platforms and continues to work on the software, trying things, until they find the right use cases. They aren't a company that gets distracted easily, and I don't know of any other software company that is so good and creating new metaphors and user experiences. I’m still intrigued!
What really happens inside a dating app - My blog
There is so much interesting information in this article. Some excerpts from the "Fun Data" section:
- 75% of girls want someone taller than them.
- Users with iOS are more attractive, have better retention, and are younger than users on Android. I strongly believe Tinder and co. boost users that have iOS vs Android.
- 1% of guys received 10% of the likes, 3% of the guys received 20% of the likes, 10% of the guys received 40% of the likes, and 20% of the guys received 55% of the likes.
- More than 50% of men just never receive a like, and never means maybe 2 or 3 likes in the lifespan of several weeks
- Only 50% of girls sent 10 likes in their account lifespan.
If you are looking to improve your performance on dating apps, this is a good read. It is also just a super curious read about human behavior. And ultimately a critique of the dynamics that these apps introduce and how it sets expectation. Maybe dating isn't like shopping.
El Salvador Abandons Bitcoin as Legal Tender After Failed Experiment
The first county to adopt Bitcoin as a legal currency abandons it.
Bitcoin was never used by most Salvadorans, its modern city was never built, and now it will cease to be legal tender in El Salvador, the first country in the world to adopt it in 2021: a complete failed economic bet by President Nayib Bukele.
It was fun to see El Salvador do this, but it was always fraught with challenges. In general I do think that developing economies are places that are likely to see adoption first. The "product" (the state currency) isn't as good so it is an easier comparison.
Does this make me less bullish on Bitcoin? No. My logic around Bitcoin adoption doesn't have any dependency on formal adoption by governments.
Journal
We watched Game Night tonight. Fun movie!
Nice morning at Getaway Motor Cafe in Carver. Great coffee and food. Love the vibe. Surprise bonus that they have Cardigan Donuts on Saturday! ☕️🍩
It was a bit windy today but otherwise good time on the Three Mile Walk at the Minnesota Arboretum.
Tammy and I had our first free court time at Mega Pickleball today. We practiced various drills getting ready to play others.
Tammy and I rescued Robin Hood in the Sherwood Forest room at No ESC Puzzle Collective in Shakopee tonight. Took 59m 36s!
Another morning at Getaway Motor Cafe. Got a mug for home and a Nose Warmer Latte. Very good breakfast treats too.
We all watched Scrapper tonight. It was loved by critics and won multiple awards. For us it moved very slow and was too much “in your face” indie. The story was good and all, but a rare case of a movie we almost stopped watching.
Weekly Thing Forum 🆕
Join Patrick Hambek, Tom Mungavan, Jim Cuene, Michael Josephson, garrickvanburen, and many other Weekly Thing readers in the Weekly Thing Forum. Recent topics include:
- Weekly Thing #306
- Newsletter 305 - Professional Scratchers
- Weekly Thing Logo
- Newsletter 304 and Blog Thoughts
- Favorite / "Keeper" articles from 2024?
Briefly
Like a free and open source version of iStat Menus. → stats: macOS system monitor in your menu bar
This is just crazy stuff. 🏓 → The Best Table Tennis Points Of 2024
Retro gaming in your browser. → Pitfall!
Like Postman but running in your terminal. → The API client that lives in your terminal - Posting
Starting a blog? Have a blog? Nineteen recommendations to consider. → Advice for a friend who wants to start a blog
I continue to be a Grammarly customer even with all of the AI tools out there. → Why Grammarly Beats Apple’s Writing Tools for Serious Writers - TidBITS
Thinking about auto-completion in domains outside of programming. → The Era of Tab Continuation - Allen Pike
Good index of info on R1. → DeepSeek FAQ – Stratechery by Ben Thompson
Commentary on the DeepSeek R1 model. → Explainer: What's R1 & Everything Else? - Tim Kellogg
There is much to be worried about lately. This type of directive to abandon open and direct communication paths with citizens and force them through private companies with their various terms of service and surveillance should be illegal. → NTSB forces reporters to get plane crash updates on X
Wisdom from a Ukrainian software developer who is now serving in the Ukrainian military. 🇺🇦 → Seven things I know after 25 years of development
Congratulations to Minnestar and Meg Steuer! 👏 → Minnestar Welcomes Meg Steuer as Executive Director, Announces Minnebar19 Date | Minnestar
Fortune
Here is your fortune…
Life is to you a dashing and bold adventure.
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