The spread of exotic grains is evidence that globalisation works
How to Curate Better Podcast Feeds
Originally, I just browsed for new stuff by scrolling through the top picks list on the iTunes Podcasts app. But that was time consuming. After trying out the search functionality on the app, I wished I could search a little better. I decided to look for other resources that I could use to further dial in my selections. Turns out there are some pretty good websites/apps out there to help you do just that. Here are a few of the best ones I’ve found.
My thoughts on what the article leaves out:
For podcast discovery, I love using Huffduffer. It has a simple browser bookmarklet which allows you to bookmark audio to listen to later and creates iTunes or other feeds you can quickly and easily subscribe to on most of the major podcatchers.
Even better it allows you to search for topics and people. Almost everything on the site (including individuals and even the lists of people you’re following) has audio RSS feed as well as other subscription services that you can subscribe directly to. Love Elvis? Search, subscribe, and listen.
As an example, want to know what I’ve been listening to? Check out my feed where you can see a list, listen to it directly, or even subscribe.
App.net archive
Linkrot and the lack of permanence on the web is a recurring theme for this blog. In the final days as App.net was winding down, I wanted to put my money where my mouth was. I spun up a couple new servers and wrote a set of scripts to essentially download every post on App.net. It feels like a fragile archive, put together hastily, but I believe it’s mostly complete. I’ve also downloaded thumbnail versions of some of the public photos hosted on App.net.
A reply to Kimberly Hirsch: Doing my part to fix the internet
I have put all the tech in place that I need to, I think, for my publishing to happen here at kimberlyhirsh.com, go out to my various social places, and then have responses come back here.
Kimberly, Congratulations and welcome to the #indieweb! Interestingly, I’m seeing your post via Superfeedr piped into an IRC channel on freenode rather than webmention to my own site (since upgrading to the most recent version of Webmention for WordPress, I apparently need to re-enable exotic webmentions to my homepage).
I’m amazed that such a short comment that I wrote on my site back in November (and syndicated manually to another’s) should not only crop up again, but that it could have had such an influence. Further, the fact that there’s now a method by which communication on the internet can let me know that any of it happened really warms my heart to no end. As a counter example, I feel sad that without an explicit manual ping, Vicki Boykis is left out of the conversation of knowing how influential her words have been.
Kimberly, I’m curious to know how difficult you found it to set things up? A group of us would love to know so we can continue to make the process of enabling indieweb functionality on WordPress easier for others in the future. (Feel free to call, email, text, comment below, or, since you’re able to now, write back on your own website–whichever is most convenient for you. My contact information is easily discovered on my homepage.)
If it helps to make mobile use easier for you, you might find Sharing from the #IndieWeb on Mobile (Android) with Apps an interesting template to follow. Though it was written for a different CMS, you should be able to substitute WordPress specific URLs in their place:
Template examples
Like: http://kimberlyhirsh.com.com/wp-admin/post-new.php?kind=like&kindurl=@url
Reply: http://kimberlyhirsh.com.com/wp-admin/post-new.php?kind=reply&kindurl=@url
You might also find some useful functionality hiding at WordPress Bookmarklets for Desktop if you haven’t come across it yet.
As someone who works in academic circles and whose “professional and personal interests are intertwined, I choose not to separate the two
” on my site either, to help people more easily subscribe to subsets of data from my site more easily, I did a few things I’ve documented here: RSS Feeds. Additionally, choosing what gets syndicated to other sites like Twitter and Facebook rounds out the rest.
There are a number of other folks including myself using their sites essentially as commonplace books–something you may appreciate. Some of us are also pushing the envelope in areas like hightlights, annotations, marginalia, archiving, etc. Many of these have topic pages at Indieweb.org along with examples you might find useful to emulate or extend if you’d like to explore, add, or extend those functionalities.
If you need help to get yourself logged into the indieweb wiki or finding ways to interact with the growing community of incredibly helpful and generous indeweb people, I am (and many others are) happy to help in any way we can. We’d love to hear your voice.
🎧 Criminal, Episode 61: Vanish (2/17/17)
People have faked death to escape criminal convictions, debts, and their spouses. In 2007, a man named Amir Vehabovic faked his death just to see who showed up at the funeral (answer: only his mom). It’s an appealing soap-opera fantasy, but actually disappearing requires an incredible amount of planning. How do you obtain a death certificate, a believable new identity, or enough money to start a new life? Today — the answers to those questions, stories of fake death gone wrong, and a man who spends his life bringing back the dead.
Brings up a lot of interesting “what if” questions. I’ll bet that if web browsers opened up some of their data, the data exhaust one spews on a daily basis could be easily used to track one down.
The Transparency Bills That Would Gut the EPA | The Atlantic
Two proposed laws would sever the agency from scientific experts, and scientific expertise—all under the guise of honesty and openness.
The Last Bookbinder on the Lower East Side | Literary Hub
📖 7.44% done with American Amnesia by Jacob S. Hacker and Paul Pierson
📖 Read loc 685-963 of 12932 (7.44%) of American Amnesia by Jacob S. Hacker and Paul Pierson
Slow progress, but there’s some great material here. At times I wish there was actually more underlying material that I know they could have included to increase the strength of their arguments. I’m already seeing some anecdotal evidence that could be bolstered. It’s still very interesting.
Checkin Hillside Memorial Park and Mortuary
The unveiling of the memorial plaque for Donna Solin
Hillside
Hillside
Hillside
Philip and Donna Solin plaques at Hillside
First time At Clifton’s Cafeteria
Instagram filter used: Normal
Photo taken at: Clifton’s Republic
Checkin Clifton’s Cafeteria
Dining at an LA institution for the first time.
Clifton’s Cafeteria exterior
a stunningly large bison keeps watch over the back corner of the cafeteria
I had to try the meatloaf on my first trip.
Life is not complete without Clifton’s Mac & Cheese
A well sculptured alligator loaf of bread.
Other than a few blackouts and air raid drills during WW2, this neon sign has always been on at Clifton’s
They had some interesting baked bread sculptures throughout the cafeteria displays
Dessert display you hit before the main entree lines
A specialty cake
Creative pineapple owl under a cloche
Belly up to the counter with your own massive cafeteria tray.
View from the second floor of Clifton’s: Trees, nature, and quirky unnatural lighting
Old school decor in the cafeteria
Bar menu
Neon sign in the front of the house
Converted Wireless
Clifton’s: Cafeteria line starts here
Checkin Ralph’s
Checkin Starbucks
👓 The Setup: John McAfee | Uses This
My name is John McAfee. I have spent my entire life (I am currently 68) developing security and privacy software systems, and consulting to corporations and governments in containment and national security. One of my more successful creations was The McAfee Information Security Company, which recently announced that they were changing the name of their products.
It may have been because of my recent video. My most notorious association, I believe, was with the government of Belize.
👓 Using | Jason Rodriguez
Inspired by this tweet from Matt Gemmell, here’s a look at what tools I’m currently using to tackle the projects I’m focusing on right now.
I’m trying to use paper and pencil as much as possible for work. So my main tools are an A5 Leuchtturm1917 notebook and my trusty rOtring 600 mechanical pencil in black. I use a bastardized version of the Bullet Journal system, which has replaced the 3-4 different task management apps I was using previously. I’ve extended the system a bit to fit my own needs, including some elements of Patrick Rhone’s Dash/Plus system, as well as adding in sections for tracking what I read, taking my medication, doing monthly reviews pre-migration, and using it as a commonplace book.
For writing, I use Ulysses almost exclusively. I love writing in markdown, and Ulysses’ combination of simplicity and hidden power can’t be beat. I’m just getting started on some longer form writing, though, so I plan on dusting off my copy of Scrivener for those projects.
I just made the jump over to Atom for my coding needs and it’s working out really well so far. For coding and testing emails specifically, there’s nothing better than Litmus Builder.
For illustration and graphics, I use Affinity Designer and Affinity Photo for damned near everything. It feels nice to get away from Adobe products, and I’ve found Affinity’s tools to do everything I’ve needed up to this point. Although, one of my favorite illustration apps is still Paper by FiftyThree. It’s my go-to for quick illustrations to accompany blog posts here and its color fill tool is one of the most brilliant illustration tools ever made. Now, if only we could get layers…
Most everything else I use is very boring. When I need to do things digitally, I just use Apple’s stock apps: Notes, Calendar, Mail, Reminders, iMovie, and Photos.
As far as smaller utilities go, I couldn’t live without Couleurs, CloudApp, Dropbox, 1Password, and Litmus Scope. For more work-y type stuff, I’m a huge fan of Slack, Google Docs, and all of Litmus’ tools. Instant previews is freaking amazing when you work with email on a regular basis.
For hardware, it’s either my Macbook Air (Pro for work stuff), an iPhone, or an iPad Air 2.