The Guardian takes notice of Mastodon. 
The new social network with its interconnected ‘fediverse’ is a welcome alternative to blustering rival Twitter and Elon Musk
Oh boy, here we go.
Mr. Musk, who asked his Twitter followers on Sunday if he should step down as head of the service, will remain the company’s owner.
— Read on New York Times Gift Link
My guess is he’ll pick someone guaranteed to offend everyone and to totally ruin the company.
Think Jared Kushner, or Steve Bannon, or Alex Jones, or Kellyanne Conway (which would be awkward for George).
There’s a bizarre detail about Weinstein’s anatomy at the end of this story. It’s a gift link, so you’ll be able to read it. Don’t read it at work or people on Zoom or in the next cube will look up and wonder why you’re gagging at your desk.
A Los Angeles jury on Monday found Harvey Weinstein guilty of rape, forced oral copulation and a third sexual misconduct charge after a weekslong trial.
— Read on https://wapo.st/3G7Hz81
This is a review of a review plugin for WordPress.. It’s not a book… but it’s also a review of the wireless keyboard I’m trying to type it on.
A year or more ago, I thought I’d be reading more books, so I enthusiastically read about 3 books and looked for a way to add stars and so on like I’ve seen on other blogs.
The review plugin is called Recensio Book Reviews, and it’s a little too powerful for someone that doesn’t read as many books as she should. But I’ve read a few lately and so I’ll keep it.
The keyboard is a Macally Wireless Backlit Keyboard and it’s not very good. I should have gotten a higher quality one from the same maker or any well-known maker – the space bar is really hard to press and I have to pound it, sometimes multiple times. It’s really light and feels a bit flimsy, actually. Would not buy again if it breaks. It came with an extended warranty, but not really worth it. I went for price and the backlit feature.
The full name is a mouthful:
Don’t bother, get a better quality one.
I’ll keep the review plugin, I could see using it more in the new year.
Anyone for a little New Math, or Dead Puppies?
LINK: Tom Lehrer Songs
In short, I no longer retain any rights to any of my songs. So help yourselves, and don’t send me any money. THIS WEBSITE WILL BE SHUT DOWN AT SOME DATE IN THE NOT TOO DISTANT FUTURE, SO IF YOU WANT TO DOWNLOAD ANYTHING, DON’T WAIT TOO LONG. TOM LEHRER
Seth Abramson over on Post.news thinks everyone needs to run, not walk, to the lifeboats. I also added that link to the mini posts column to the right, since it’s easier to grab the link via WordPress’ “publish or draft post via share sheet” option.
Another story that’s been making the rounds on Post.news is the one about the steps you need to take to lock down your Twitter account and get your data. I had already downloaded my data but missed the window for grabbing it. I’m considering requesting it again before the end of the year and sunsetting my Twitter accounts, but Seth’s warning has added a note of urgency.
I’m using both Post.news and Mastodon and liking both for different reasons. Post is still in beta, while Mastodon has been around long enough to have useful WordPress logins and an actual APP that formats well on both the iPhone and iPad – it’s especially nice on the tablet screen in landscape mode. I’m waiting for Post to catch up on the features side before coming to any kind of decision about committing to one or the other.
So currently I have a foot in each lifeboat, so to speak, and although it’s a bit precarious, it all seems to be working. It’s a bit awkward having to manually repost everything to Post.news, but I could see hanging out there to do the blabbity news commenting and hanging out on Mastodon for more entertainment and community-building social interaction, since this blog now autoposts there.
Both of them have their strengths and weaknesses as social media platforms – and both thus far are clear of trollish minions. Twitter, though, soon will be flooded with enthusiastic wannabe shitlords acting like huge flocks of soiled budgies flying out of people’s lavatories, infringing on people’s personal freedoms.
Probably best to start paddling the lifeboats somehow, or doing that thing from Mythbusters with the awkward aquatic shoes.
Spoiler alert: ROP is sexy.
Someday, maybe, we can all forget about Space Karen and his tantwums, or Biden’s Biggest Loser and his ridiculous copyright-infringing cringe cards.
And then we can all get back to the important business of minutely dissecting our favorite fantasy/science fiction shows, scene by scene.
There’s a busted-up raftload of people on YouTube who created tons of videos on Rings of Power, some of which are very well produced and informative. I mostly watched without commenting. But recently on Twitter a “Galadriel is actually pretty hot, and so is Halbrand” discussion made it to my feed, a welcome change from my navel-gazing, political snark, and “should I get in the lifeboat, or sing the alto part of ‘Nearer My God To Thee?’”
The best discussion I saw recently was on the rather fierce woo-pitching scene. You know the one if you’ve seen the entire season.
Did you notice the dark silhouettes reflected in the water? The crowns, Galadriel’s pose, and her arm cradling her belly? That was a moment of truly visceral horror for me, especially in 2022. There’s a very in-depth discussion (with full spoilers) on Screen Rant.
Imagine the temptation to remake the worst person in the world as the best person in the world, if offered to someone whose PTSD has raged since the First Age and well into the Second? Imagine the “oh he’s a good person deep down, just misunderstood” in council with the High King and Elrond, with Celebrimbor adding support?
This story doesn’t mention that aspect, but for some reason that Twitter discussion popped into my head today. And I wonder how the show runners will handle the on-screen interactions between the characters in the next season. She can expose him, but he can mess with her mind because she doesn’t yet possess her own Ring.
All that aside, I did have questions about how they met and how he managed to show up at that specific crisis moment. Was he already subtly messing with her mind from afar, literally trying to turn her into a powerful ally? Or was it just a big meet-cute friggin plot hole?
I also have questions about what Celeborn, her husband, is doing, since she thinks he’s dead?
Held captive and tortured and in need of rescue, or…something far more terrible? Season 2 may tell.
On my to-do list tomorrow:
On my not-to-do list:
UPDATE:
It’s still not in the mail, because of course I started a second, longer one. Also didn’t get Jen’s in the mai. Did sort some laundry. Did not work on other gifts. Damn game.
Last week I cleared the waitlist for Post.News and I must say it’s a pleasant place, although it’s still in beta. I also have a Counter.social login, but I don’t like it and don’t like how the anonymous creator of Counter constantly snarks on how bad Post and Mastodon and the other post-Twittter social media sites are.
It’s a different vibe and the culture is still shaking out. EM is doing a great job ruining Twitter as a global resource and it’s probably just a matter of time before he gets bored and gets an incentive to go away, but at the moment he’s being Chief Executive Shitlord and directing his ebil meeenions to attack people like Dr Fauci, and also random people that say anything critical about him. Yet another damn narcissist rich baby man.
I had lunch with a friend today who got all in my face about health, fitness and nutrition, and I have other bad habits I’d like to shed in 2023, and one of them is to spend less time with my face in my phone while lying on the couch. So we’ll see how that goes.
The church I attended as a kid is being torn down, the people are now renting space from the Episcopal church down the street. As I’m now Episcopalian, but taking a break from weekly attendance, I’m feeling very off-balance about this.
They sold the property to an apartment developer, no surprise there. Salt Lake is undergoing a housing boom.
My mom served on the board for years; we were deeply involved with youth group, the annual picnic, the annual rummage sale and other events. My school years were the “high point” era, and I knew everyone quoted or given a photo credit in the article. It’s weird seeing those names in print.
Mom would be outraged by the one old stained-glass window being sold “across the divide,” but she’d be pragmatic about getting the best price.
She stopped attending regularly in about 1995, mostly because her friends had passed and she didn’t bond with the newer people and the new pastor. And she cut back on driving, too.
What social life I had in school was because we had a fun youth group; we went on trips and did service projects.
All that is long gone, and soon the building will be gone, too. It’s funny that some of the same people are there, though.
Click to open external link The Salt Lake Tribune As LDS and other Christian congregations shrink, what happens to their empty buildings? The First Congregational Church of Salt Lake City, started in 1865, has been housed in three different buildings. At its height in the 1970s, it had between 350 and 450 members. Now it’s fewer than 100, with average Sunday attendance between 25 and 30. Read the article on www.sltrib.com »
— Read on post.news/article/2IqdXlPy6gxZUanXchNhk17aaLI