Simon Woods

A few things for you:

• Blocking Domains in webmention.io. Aaron Parecki has significantly improved the moderating tools for webmention.io and thus increased the overall utility of the service. Webmentions are a good way to help independent people on the web converse, and now it is possible for those who would need to mitigate against abuse to do so.
• Introducing MacStories Selects. The team at MacStories have launched a new feature to their already impressive line-up; these awards are a great way for anybody to easily get a good, quick look at apps that are at least worth trying out.
• feeds.txt. Andre Torrez has taken an interesting idea he saw from Adam Mathes and made it real; he is now hosting a human readable text file of his various feed-based subscriptions.
  • h/t Rey Dhuny
• Discuss on Micro.blog. Amit Gawande has implemented a nifty addition to his blog posts; a link to the comment feed on Micro.blog, an idea that is particularly intriguing as it sits along his webmention form. Together these are a nice set of tools furthering the effort to strengthen independent voices on the web.
• A Kind of Emoji. Aaron Davis is testing emoji as a form of taxonomy. There is plenty to consider with this approach, as this post clearly proves.
  • h/t Eli Mellen
• Grace Slick, standing in front of a wall with Egyption hieroglyphs on it, giving the middle finger to the camera. Hell. Fucking. Yes.
  • h/t Jean MacDonald
• Still Blogging in 2017. Tim Bray was resolute about the strength in blogging two years ago; he is very much still posting to this day.
  • h/t Jason Kottke
• One Person Can Change a Lot. Refreshing optimism from Ron Chester; an excellent way to have both ended 2018 and begun 2019.
• Discover 2019. Speaking of ending the year well, the Micro.blog Discover timeline is full of end of the year, and new year posts worth reading.
• Charles Montgomery on the value of shared community spaces.
• Progress.

Enjoy your weekend!

A few things for you:

• Blogging Your Breakfast. Patrick Rhone recently linked to this 5 year-old piece of his. It’s not just written well but also wonderfully pieced together, an excellent example of how some of the best writing of recent times has in fact come from blogging.
• Blog Engines and IndieWeb Controlling Upstream. Brad Enslen wants to see a turnkey CMS solution provided by the IndieWeb, amongst others, as opposition to even the likes of WordPress. It is certainly an idea worth considering, especially if we’re going to be serious about avoiding behemoth-driven monopolies of the web in the future.
• Micro.blog Help redesign. Paul Robert Lloyd has submitted his proposal for an overhaul to the official Micro.blog Help pages. You can see his thinking behind the design, and leave a comment on GitHub.
• Multiple Tab Organisation. Mozilla released update 64 for Firefox and it includes a feature I have long wanted: the ability to manipulate multiple tabs at once.
• Kiko: System. Kahlil Lechelt is moving his personal blog to Micro.blog and along with it has posted the edits he made to the Kiko theme.
• People First microcast. John Philpin’s first foray into the world of podcasts has well and truly launched, with episode 1 now out.
• People First newsletter. Speaking of John and his People First endeavour, he is also launching a newsletter.
• Your Turn to Roll is the new theme for Critical Role and it is 86 seconds of nerd joy. 😍

This is the last issue of the year. For The Weekend will be back in 2019.

Enjoy your weekend!

A few things for you:

• Big Data versus Humanity. Brewster Kahle wrote this in February but it has become even more relevant with each passing day. We shouldn’t forget those who built the frameworks of our digital world, not when they’re still talking about it today.
• Frustrations at the IndyWeb conference. Dori Smith thinks those involved with the IndieWeb ought to reach out to Tumblr users in particular, and it makes perfect sense. Up until the past few years Tumblr remained unique within the silos as it continued to embrace blogs, RSS, and the like.
• Micro.blog milestone: first year open to the public. Manton Reece has maintained and continuously improved the various aspects of the platform, whilst the community has proven that you do not need to have your hand held by a closed, hostile system to have an online life.
• Algorithms Don’t See. Speaking of the Micro.blog community, Patrick Rhone is a frequent contributor with gems such as this piece in which he succinctly underlines why an inhuman approach to curating the web is simply not good enough.
• The web in 2018 (original link) is a brilliant gif shared by Andy Bell. Website UX being sacrificed for cheap ad rates and lazy marketing has clearly been no solution at all to the challenges of the modern web.
• A Small Hymn in Praise of My Body. Annie Mueller is another member of the Micro.blog community, and yet another person whose words are worthy of reading by anybody. This post has taken residence in my mind and I don’t think it’ll be going anywhere for some time yet.
• Why write about lunch? Why yes, Brent Simmons is on Micro.blog. Huh, funny that! In this short posts he hits a number of great points in answering the stated question.
• Are there any rules? Another great question from yet another member of the Micro.blog community. Luis Gabriel Santiago Alvarado has gradually returned to blogging over the past year and with posts like this it’s easy to see why. You can answer his question, if you like.
• Pretty Damn Futuristic. Jeremy has found, like me, AirPods to be pretty damn good. Especially when used within the Apple ecosystem.
• Randall Munroe’s excellent comic immediately came to mind the moment I came across the latest news about Google Hangouts and Allo.
• The True Size is an excellent web app to help you keep check of your mental model of the world, made by James Talmage and Damon Maneice who were in turn inspired by The West Wing which in itself is often a very good thing indeed.
  • h/t Chad Moore
• Populism and Today’s Social Tech vs. Blogging. Brad Enslen is hitting out of the park again with his thinking on the web, starting with this first part of a series.
• Indieseek Directory. Speaking of Brad, he is building a directory of his own to which you can link or even add its search to your site. Efforts like this are how we rebuild the web and move it away from the centralised, silo behemoths.
• MetPublications is the archive created by The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, with which you can access decades worth of publications on art history for free.
• Advent Calendar of Compliments. Mandaris Moore is doing a great thing for the holiday season, with yet another brilliant contribution to the Micro.blog community. You can talk to him about it on Micro.blog!
• Critters Unplugged is a phenomenal gathering of Critical Role cosplayers. Just look at all of that colour. 😍
• A teacher welcomes her students into the classroom in the best way possible. I both love this idea and will 100% steal it.
• NEW. CRITICAL. ROLE. INTRO.
• NEW. DRAGON. AGE. TRAILER.
• NEW. AVENGERS. TRAILER.
• PUSHEEN. CHRISTMAS.

Enjoy your weekend!

A few things for you:

• Meet Cambodia’s First LGBTQ Dance Company is a beautiful short documentary revealing an aspect of positive change in the world. Progress is a slow march, or so it seems but it is stories like this to which we must look for inspiration.
• I’m Sick of Your Tiny, Tiny Type gets to the heart of the matter when it comes to making good, accessible websites. Words on a screen neither need to be small nor do they look better for it.
• Sunlit for iOS has a beta and it is now open to anyone. You can access the test version of this excellent photoblogging app via TestFlight, brought to you by the fine people behind Micro.blog.
• Overhead at the Costco Food Court contains an altogether absurd collection of quotes. I’m not surprised Cheri Baker chose to record them but I am relieved she did so; I can only imagine how well this kind of experience serves the author.
• The intro episode of the People First podcast is the debut of John Philpin as a podcaster. Despite his (lawfully bound) concern over his ability, it’s quite clear he has a voice for radio as they say, and I am looking forward to future episodes.
• Episode 0 of Third-Person Voice sees another podcasting newcomer, Amit Gawande, introduce another voice that I am looking to hear from much more; short stories for short episodes is a good idea and I already like what I’ve heard.
• A sunset on Mars is both eery and spectacular. David Smith perfectly captions this awesome moment, originally captured by NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity.
• Fourteen seconds of Boca Juniors fans is a fierce slice of footage. Never mind that they are attending a training session for the Argentine football club.
• PURRING. LEOPARD.

Enjoy your weekend!

A few things for you:

• The Pudding is a growing collection of visual essays. Journalism funded in new and different ways is only a good thing.
• Roel Willems likes words. It’s difficult to disagree with what he has to say here and encouraging to see yet another voice added to the pro side of simple, lightweight websites.
• The Season of Stuff. A classic article from Patrick Rhone, just in time for the end of the year.
• Christina Warren maintains a host of podcasting resources. This is a good starter pack for most people.
• Microgram is a clever tool for adding a photo grid to your hosted Micro.blog site. Jonathan LaCour has now helped to bring a welcome slice of Instagram functionality to Micro.blog, aided by the continued work of Manton Reece.
• IndieMap is a public social graph for IndieWeb sites. Ryan Barrett shows that you don’t need to destroy privacy to make interesting things with data.
  • h/t Manton Reece
• Miraz Jordan caught the moon blushing at night. A great shot of a beautiful sight.
• Wind Guide You is a very well put together collection of Skyrim environment scenes, backed by Jeremy Soule’s amazing score. After seven years it still looks so good.
• Apple’s holiday advert for this year is pretty damned good. Magical, even.
• DOGS. ON. NETFLIX.

Enjoy your weekend!

A few things for you:

• Patrick Rhone’s One More Thing… newsletter is back. I was not a subscriber the first time around but delighted to both see it back and have access to the archive.
• Speaking of newsletters, Sameer Vasta has Weekend Reading. I’ve linked to his writing in this series more than once so you can guess how strongly I recommend the subscription.
• Brad Enslen has a question about blogging. Unsurprisingly it’s a question worth asking, and one that we ought be able to more easily answer. Brad is working on these kinds of problems with people in mind and that’s exactly why you ought to pay attention to what he has to say, just as those who have replied to him did so.
• There’s a new directory for websites on Neocities: Districts. This kind of curated work is one of the best ways we can counter the algorithm-centred mainstream web.
  • h/t Brad Enslen
• The folks at The Criterion Collection are launching a streaming service and you can become an early subscriber. Having a dedicated service for these films is an excellent idea; I am looking forward to watching films that I had not previously been aware I could access at all, let alone so easily.
• De Dag Original Series Soundtrack on SoundCloud. David Martijn has created two tracks reminiscent of the excellent score for The Social Network.
  • h/t Kohan Ikin
• Koritsimou has some excellent advice for those who snort when laughing and I am in full agreement. :)
• Speaking of excellent advice, this post on Tumblr from KiwianAroha includes a tl;dr that ought to be on signs everywhere.
  • h/t Kelly Joule
• Last but very much not least: puppies + snow = bliss.

Enjoy your weekend!

A few things for you:

• To sin by silence, when we should protest, Makes cowards out of men. Jean MacDonald with poignant words, in Protest.
• WordPress moves one way, Micro.blog the other. Jack Baty hitting that nail squarely on its head.
  • h/t Jonathan LaCour
• The Rain Is Here in DiplomaticDiva’s mesmerising photograph. You can answer her question right here.
• Analytics without tracking or data storage is an intriguing idea. Hopefully Fathom is the real deal.
  • h/t Jack Baty
• Turns out you very much can disable Pocket from Firefox!
  • h/t Chris Neale
• Is Wernigerode even real? Alex Savin captured a photo that may be proof but is still unbelievable to behold.
• A sun-touched dog can be majestic. Thankfully James Griffin caught this moment as proof of exactly that.
• Micro.blog Community and Progress. Earlier this year Manton Reece and Jean MacDonald spoke about Micro.blog at the IndieWeb Summit. It’s a great talk that pairs well with the recently released intro video. ⭐

Enjoy your weekend!

A few things for you:

• My Life In Black And White. Sameer Vasta partook in a Twitter challenge involving black and white photography, the results of which you can see on his blog, and now I definitely want to do this myself.
• Micro.blog, Week 42. Smokey Ardisson has a recap of posts from people, found via Micro.blog. Worldwide herons, word debuts, photos, and more!
• Spooky Tale Is Spooky. A horror comic, by cupcakelogic.
• A kitten lies atop its… mother? Either way it’s two god-damn cats being god-damn adorable, OK Internet?

Enjoy your weekend!

A few things for you:

• Selma Blair has Multiple Sclerosis. The greater a light we shine on the realities of so-called invisible illnesses, the more likely we are to care for each other, and thus make a better society.
• DEATH ENERGY. Metal AF.
• Social media should not be your guiding light. Seth Godin knows it, and really, so do you.
  • h/t Amit Gawande
• Typora updated. When an app in beta rejects Google Analytics, you know it’s time to reconsider your own use of it.
• Micropub WordPress plugin updated. David Shanske continues to do good work for the WordPress indie blogging community, the latest of which you can see in the Micropub plugin changelog.

Enjoy your weekend!

A few things for you:

• Upcase from Thoughtbot and Quality from Code Climate are dev tools newly made free.
  • h/t Fiona Voss
• Bottle by Mike Hendley is full of fun details, a lovely contribution for Inktober.
• Talk To Me is a delightful ode to podcasting from Rachel Lark.
  • h/t Bruce Steinberg
• Double adoption by Ethan Jewett captures a moment of exploration for two stunning tortoiseshell-calico kittens.
• Critical Music; yet more from Critical Role, this time from the fan side of things. Aiden Chan has created a soundtrack for the show, whilst theRISEundaunted and Colm McGuinness have also released a few pieces. It’s all so good.

Enjoy your weekend!

A few things for you:

• I Choose, in which Cheri Baker delivers thoughtful and simple advice. Invaluable in this day and age.
• Micropen.club is a… thing? Pen pals thanks to Micro.blog!
• Dragon.😍 Age.😍 Comics.😍
• Kiri! Yet another fantastic NPC from Critical Role, performed brilliantly by the annoyingly talented Matt Mercer.

Enjoy your weekend!

A few things for you:

• Preparing for the fall is a meditation of sorts on the inevitable change brought about by the passing of time. Sameer strikes words to page like no other and this is certainly no exception.
• Handbooker Helper is a video series by the folks at Critical Role. Whether you’re new to the hobby or looking to refresh your knowledge, it’s a great way to quickly gain a grasp on the fundamentals of tabletop role-playing.
• Pumat Sol is a character in the Critical Role series. Introduced here in the second campaign, the NPC is brought to life in a way that only Matt Mercer could manage; I’ve yet to see a limit to his creative talents.
• Kohan Ikin is working on a desktop app for Micro.blog, and he’s attempting to make it an actual cross-platform option. He’s also on Micro.blog (@syneryder) and providing updates on the progress of the project.
• Jean MacDonald; German word generator.

Enjoy your weekend!

A few things for you:

• Reuters RSS is the feeds collection of the wire service all on one page.

  • h/t John Philpin

• The Markup wants to use the power of journalism to give the average person the chance to become educated about technology.

  • h/t John Philpin

• The News Literacy Project caught my eye the moment I saw it was a venture in which Walt Mossberg had become involved. The proliferation of well-funded education based projects surrounding the news and journalism is a welcome sight to behold.

• Why you should use MP3 for your podcast. When it comes to podcasts, taking advice from Marco Arment is a safe bet to take.

• Write about it in the moment. Ron Chester has great advice for blogging, and writing in general. The post inspired some interesting comments.

Enjoy your weekend!

A few things for you:

• Mailbird was recently updated. It’s the email app I use most and has that rare quality for Windows third-party software: it looks good and works well.
• Picular is “Google for colours”. Quick search for colours – built on the back of Google Image Search – is an interesting idea by Future Memories. Also interesting that the launch announcement was provided via Instagram.
• BBC Music has a list of famous people to have quit social media. A good reminder of how different people have different experiences of the same spaces on the web.
• Micro.Threads is an enticing Micro.blog tool. The platform has an increasing number of interesting additions from the community and @amit’s work is another example of this.

Enjoy your weekend!