Notes

Short content: a microblog of status updates or short notes
I’m not as well-versed in the history of educational technology as those like Audrey Watters, but after reading the opening of chapter 10 of The Art of Memory by Frances Yates, I’m prepared to call Pierre de La Ramée (aka Petrus or Peter Ramus) as the godfather of EdTech for his literal iconoclastic removal of the artificial memory from rhetoric and replacing it with his ‘dialectical order’.

To be clear, “Godfather of EdTech” is a perjorative.

IndieWeb: The last (and only) online social site you’ll ever need—your own.

You don’t even need to “join it” because its something you can choose to own for yourself.

I know I’ve thought and probably said variations of this tagline many times in the past, but I’m not sure I’ve ever written it out. And perhaps it could be honed even further? It’s closely related to the idea that the IndieWeb is what you have when the Internet itself is your social media network.

It’s helped me that I have the capability to cobble together my own version. Eventually we’ll have lots more commoditized versions, but there are a few simple sign up and go options out there that don’t require as much tinkering if you’re interested. 

Took a drive down to San Marino and back primarily through more well-to-do neighborhoods, though it did include a commercial section of Colorado Boulevard. Most people were out on evening walks or with dogs, though there were some in the commercial district on their way home or doing shopping.

I counted the number of people wearing masks versus those who weren’t.

  • 76 were wearing masks
  • 145 were not wearing masks
  • approximately 25 people who were walking away or at angles such that I couldn’t discern whether they were wearing masks or not.
I think I’ve learned more about TiddlyWiki by looking at others’ online than I have from direct documentation or search. Thanks @Jack Baty (#), @JoshSullivan (#), Sphygm.us, and h0p3 for hosting yours out in the open.

It reminds me a lot of the “view source” I used to do in the days of the early web.

I ran across Roam Research in late 2019, and in exploring TiddlyWiki lately I’m seeing a lot about people adding Roam-based functionality to TW5. What I’m not seeing is any conversation about how the same sort of backlinking could be done in MediaWiki. 

Of course I did mention something related the other day, but the functionality could be better surfaced:

One of my favorite “hidden” features of the IndieWeb wiki is the sidebar link for “What links here” that often provides some deeper and richer information than is found in the See Also sections.

While physical distancing, instead of my daily commute, and like many others, I’ve been spending the time to make bread. I’ve come up with some great loaves so far. I’m contemplating doing some matzo today.

For those who are new to the bread world, I highly recommend you listen to Jeremy Cherfas’ excellent podcast series on Bread from 2018. It’s 31 episodes of about five minutes a piece, which makes it a pleasant way to time your kneading process. You’ll learn a lot more about bread while you’re making it!

Angela de Marco: God, you people work just like the mob! There’s no difference.
Regional Director Franklin: Oh, there’s a big difference, Mrs. de Marco. The mob is run by murdering, thieving, lying, cheating psychopaths. We work for the President of the United States of America.

—Married to the Mob (Orion, 1988)

I have a few subscriptions to bulk products on Amazon that ship every 2-6 months or so and yesterday was the drop date for my 3 pack of Clorox Disinfecting Wipes. My dog food in the same order should arrive on Tuesday, but the wipes aren’t estimated to arrive until April 27-29. Apparently the coronavirus scare has too many people stockpiling. Ugh.