Troy Patterson

Educator, Thinker, Consultant

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RSS

Cory Doctorow has a wonderful write up about RSS (You should be using an RSS reader).

I’ve long used RSS to follow the news (and other things). I tried to look up when I started using RSS, but couldn’t find a hard date. Given my remembrances (and a quick search on Middle School Matters), I would posit that it was around 2008. At first, like so many things, I didn’t get it. However, I quickly learned that instead of checking a variety of websites, I could get an RSS feed to see only the things that changed. This saved me tons of time.

With the advent of Facebook and other social media, many people have relied on social media to provide news. That means being at the whim and decisions of Mark Zuckerberg or another billionaire.

In the meantime, I have continued with my RSS feed. I have many different categories that I follow, a couple are educational, a few are humor, a few are sports related, a couple are Apple related, and comics.

One of the main points for me is that I like to read the comics. As a kid, I loved the comics page. As an adult, well, I still loved the comics page. As newspapers started going away, I wanted to continue with the comics. RSS allows me to do that.

GoComics provides an RSS feed for their comics. Originally, I created a single comics feed. That was a bad idea as if I wanted to add or delete one, I had to recreate the whole feed. Plus, if something broke (remember that was the early days). Later, I learned to create a feed for each comic. Now I can add or remove a comic quite easily. I currently have 90 comics that “come to me”.

Personally, I use NetNewsWire as my RSS reader of choice (with Feedly to keep everything in sync). Read Cory Doctorow’s write up though, he has some additional suggestions and thoughts. (NetNewsWire has a long history. It is available for iOS, Mac, and iPad. It is open source, free, and wonderful).

RSS is even more useful now than ever. Mastodon and BlueSky both are RSS feeds. (Podcasts are RSS feeds unless they are locked up on a big company site – like Spotify or Amazon). Cory Doctorow makes a great point that many sites do have RSS feeds (though some sites are locked down behind paywalls).

Go read You should be using an RSS reader by Cory Doctorow. If you are interested in comics and would like my feeds, let me know. RSS is easy to share.

Fredrik Backman

I’m a big fan of Fredrik Backman’s books. Every single book that he has written is awesome. (Not all of them are *easy* to read as there can be a great bit of powerful emotions included).

While checking to see if there was a new book coming out by Mr. Backman, I happened along a speech that he gave. This is four minutes of pure joy.

52Frames – Panorama

The 52Frames challenge this week is Panorama.

The Kennebec River on a sunny morning. The sun shines above a tree lined river. There are colorful Adirondack chairs on a deck. Clouds are reflected in the river.

I stopped in Hallowell on a sunny morning. The sun was bright, but I like the clouds reflecting in the river.

I tried to use the Hugin plugin, but that wouldn’t open. I switched to the AutoPano Gigi plugin and successfully created the Pano. I’ll need to play around a bit more, but I can definitely see creating more Panomaras in the future.

Quote and Song of the Day 20240928

Quote of the Day

“Life instantly improves when you don’t blame other people and focus on what you can control.”

  • James Clear

Song of the Day

As Long As You Follow by Fleetwood Mac is our Song of the Day.

The song proved to be one of their many popular songs. This one isn’t about love lost or getting retribution, but rather about love returning and being a supportive guide in life.

Quote and Song of the Day 20240927

Quote of the Day

“Wake up determined. Go to bed satisfied.”

  • Dwayne Johnson

Song of the Day

Liquid Lunch is our song of the day. Caro Emerald was a fantastically enjoyable act. (As of 2022, the Caro Emerald project and live act are dormant and no longer active.) Filled with upbeat music that called to swing, lyrics that were fun, Caro Emerald’s music remains a mood lifter.

Liquid Lunch is unsurprisingly, a song about drinking.

Baby, pass the aspirin—something’s gotta work
I know I did it to myself, but man oh man, it hurts
That second last Martini, the one that went down real smooth
Set me on a bender with nothing left to lose

Yeah, baby, it hurts a bunch
The girls got goin’ and we had a munch
I promise on a dime it’s the last time
I’ll ever have a liquid lunch
Yeah, baby, it hurts a bunch

This one is toe tapper that you’ll love to sing along with. Just take it for fun.

The principal singer in Caro Emerald has moved on to a very different project “The Jordan”.

Quote and Song of the Day 20240926

Quote of the Day

“The most important conversation is the conversation you have with yourself each day.”

Song of the Day

Hymn of a Summer Night by Jesse Terry is the song of the day. This song is on the When We Wander album. Reflective of growing up, friendship, and returning home.

We discovered Jesse Terry at 20 Front Street (a terrific venue to see intimate shows). Discovering artists like Jesse Terry is powerful. Go to those local music spots with original singer/songwriters.

Quote and Song of the Day 20240925

Quote of the Day

Adults can’t be punished into greatness. Neither can children.

Song of the Day

Vultures by John Mayer is our song of the day. Vultures is on the Continuum album. It has a nice mid-range tempo that makes if very easy to listen to. The vocals are similarly constrained.

The lyrics of the song are personal for John Mayer. Lyrics denoting how to strive for success and deal with the “vultures”, those hangers on and try to ride the coattails. But the song can have meaning for all of us. All of us want to experience success, we don’t want to just hold on.

Some of us, we’re hardly ever here
The rest of us, we’re born to disappear
How do I stop myself from
Being just a number
How will I hold my head
To keep from going under

Quote and Song of the Day 20240924

Quote of the Day

“Life instantly improves when you don’t blame other people and focus on what you can control.”

  • James Clear

Song of the Day

Lonely People by Styx is our song of the day. Lonely People is one the seminal Paradise Theater album. Paradise Theater was a concept album that was part of my youth. I was a big fan. The entire album was good. Lonely People starts out with a short “street scene”. The song quickly turns to things being past their prime or not being what they seem.

Oh my god, well we both are empty paradise and me
Do you believe I’m still chasing rainbows

This was close to Tommy Shaw and Dennis DeYoung leaving Styx (who are apparently still touring – Tommy Shaw has returned).

Still some good music from Styx. Enjoy this one.

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