I’m presenting “Thanking Your Past Self – Documentation Tips” at ACTEM 2024: Empowerment, Equity, Engagement on October 10th at 1:00 p.m. in the Howard Auditiorium.

I found a post about shaving being too expensive from the wonderful Thought Shrapnel by Doug Belshaw. This struck me as I switched to shaving with a “safety” (double-edged razor) several years ago. The reasons that I switched included: to cut down on waste, be more ecologically responsible, save money, and get back to basics. There is something satisfying about small processes that take attention. (This is true for making coffee for me as well. I generally make coffee in a French Press. I like the intentionality of the process.) I also prefer using shaving soap instead of shaving foam. Shaving foam always felt weird and fake to me. Shaving soap feels much better and more natural. Again, there is an intentionality involved. It doesn’t take much longer, but it certainly feels better.

I’ve realized that there are several things that I prefer to have intentionality. Things where I prefer the “old” way of doing things. For example, I still drive a car with a manual transmission. This may be my last car with a stick, but I enjoy the process of driving.

John Whiles has an interesting article. It really reminded me of how important intentionality is for me.

The challenge this week is portrait. Technically, it is the portrait of a stranger. That’s not really my jam, so I did take a portrait, but I didn’t pick a stranger.

I ended up submitting this one:

Having a gorgeous model meant that there were lots of good shots to choose from.

It was tough not to pick this one.

She’s beautiful, but this looks too generic for me. This looks too much like a “brochure” picture.

I love the smile on this one. I did manage to obscure most of the background as well.

Seems as though the latest version of Google Chrome breaks the Library of Congress: Free to Use Browser Extension. This extension shows you a new Public Domain, free to view and use image upon opening a new tab.

I did reload the extension and clicked through the prompt to allow (it requires Manifest 2 or earlier), so it is working again.

I found this from the wonderful CogDog Alan Levine (Blog). Alan even has an update on fixing this issue from a while ago.

The extension brings me random joy throughout the day. You may want to check it out.

I would love if this was available for other browsers, but currently it is limited to Chrome.

Above is an example of an image served upon opening a new tab.

I found this exchange between Doug Belshaw and Stephen Downes interesting and enlightening.

Doug Belshaw posted this:

“It’s like QAnon, if QAnon involved a lot of DIY rhinestone boots”

This article about Taylor Swift and her team’s use of the algorithms that shape our lives is pretty fascinating.

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/arc

Doug Belshaw (https://scholar.social/deck/@dajb@social.coop/112506474713195806)

Now, the important part for this discussion is the link to the Atlantic. (The algorithms can be discussed later).

Stephen Downes responded simply:

Downes @Downes@mastodon.social

@dajb Paywall

Stephen Downes

After a bit of back and forth, Stephen Downes posted this:

I’m sure it’s not a solved problem. Eg. for me, I clicked on a link and was presented with a paywall. That’s the problem. Links should not point to paywalls – you’re saying there’s an article there, but there’s just an advertisement.

Stephen Downes

This was fascinating to me. Stephen Downes has expressed what is frequently a frustration for me. Links that I can’t really get to. There has been lots of discussion about this practice across Mastodon. There is the issue that links that may be available for one person may not be available to someone else. I do, however, love the elegance expressed by Stephen Downes, links versus advertisements. If I can’t get through the link, it isn’t a link, it is an advertisement.

Bravo!

Doug Belshaw also pointed out that there is a site (archivebuttons.com) that helps remove paywalls.

All of the paywall removers in one place

Simply enter the URL of the article and click the archive buttons to remove any paywall. We all hate paywalls, these paywall removers can help with that.

There is a simple box to enter a URL into, it does the rest. While this is an extra step, it is a useful site that I have now bookmarked.

Thus, from one simple Mastodon exchange (from two brilliant people), I have learned two things:

1. The concept of a link versus an Ad
2. Archivebuttons. com is a site that may be useful.

The challenge this past week was Details. The Extra Challenge was to use a Macro Lens. I was able to do both this week.

I took several different photos this week. At the end of the day, I liked this one best.

The wonderful Ben Werd has a nice write-up (*first seen on a Mastodon post*) on why he doesn’t have a blogroll. He makes some great points.

• Picking a list for a blogroll leads to exclusion, who does he exclude?
• How should the list be organized?
• What about the ebb and flow? Not all blogs are updated regularly

Everyone should decide on an individual basis what is right for their particular wants/needs/thoughts etc. Ben does have a really neat Sources Page that serves the same purpose as a Blog Roll for him. I agree that the Sources Page is pretty neat, but it is different to me.

Selfishly, I wish that Ben would have a blogroll. I would love to see who highlights. However, this is really Ben’s choice, not mine. I wouldn’t expect him to mark everyone.

I do like blogrolls. They are an additional way to discover neat people and blogs. Most of my discovery right now is through Mastodon. With the movement back to self-hosted content, blogrolls could be valuable.

I don’t have a blogroll. Maybe I should create one. I’ll be thinking on it. In the meantime, go read the write up.

Owning Your Land

“Don’t build your house on land that you rent.”

I saw this somewhere today (lost exactly where, so I can’t link to it). The basic premise is don’t create all your stuff somewhere that someone else owns. We’ve seen this play out with Facebook and Twitter. Now more than ever, it is possible to own your own website and post to it. Not only that, but with the Fediverse, you can also automatically have those posts show up on a social media site. This was incredibly hard in the past. Thus, we were forced to choose between having your own website and the network effect of other sites.

In the past, it was difficult to own your website and leverage that to an audience. Developing an audience was difficult and limited. Thus, many of us felt as though we had to choose:

• Own your information and posts
  OR
• Have a chance at an audience and interaction

It wasn’t that many of us were looking for a huge audience, we were just looking for connection and interaction. Twitter was actually a huge part of successfully creating that audience/connections. After quite the run, we know how Twitter has turned out.

The Indie Web has long been focused on people owning their own material and interoperating. However, even the Indie Web was too complex and “fiddily” for most people. Recent advances have made connection and self-ownership much easier.

Enshittification

According to the American Dialect Society “enshittification” is the word of the year for 2023. Enshittification was coined by Cory Doctorow : (Pluralistic: How monopoly enshittified Amazon/28 Nov 2022). Please read through his write-ups, he describes the process of web sites, companies, and others moving from being powerful for users to powerful against users. This has increased the number of people who are willing and dedicated to taking back ownership of their material, thoughts, presence, and connections.

My story

This has lead me to be more thoughtful and willing to post on my own as well. I hope that you’ll join me.