It’s been a year already: First of May
It’s been a year already: First of May
It’s interesting to see the replies to Gabriel Santiago’s post, in which a group of iOS users are strongly requesting a feature for Micro.blog. Does the web app not work on iOS? Or is the app-centric model so strong that people forget, or never even think, about workarounds?
Don’t be hasty!
I was getting ahead of myself. Today I Learned is not going to stop – to be fair, that seemed unlikely anyway – but I did need to take a break, to take a few steps back and think about why it was that I felt the way I did; I was tired and in pain, generally feeling down, and none of it had anything to do with a need for TIL to stop.
Rather, I need to do two things;
I may or may not elaborate further on this in some form or another but I think that’s enough for now. The core of this post is to say that TIL is very much back on track, with updates and all, and I am committed to it – barring any major life-altering events – for at least another 12 months.
The ten days that were my unplanned break were illuminating to say the least. It feels good to be back.
It’s been great to see the recent development of Indigenous, by Kristof De Jaegar. My Micro.blog timeline loaded in the app for the first time just yesterday.
This means there are now four ways to access Micro.blog on Android: Web app, Diaolog, Indigenous, and Gluon.
It’s test-driven space adventuring.
– @macgenie, re: Star Trek Voyager on The Weekly Review; Perspectives On Perspectives
😂
this pocket of wind resistance
– @bsag, Micro Monday: Episode 56
BSAG hit the nail directly on the head here and was great. Also, @macgenie, you and @manton both do a lot for lots of people. It’s probably not easy to see it right now but will become obvious over time.
Spikes on trees in Oxford to ‘stop bird poo’
The height of English civilisation on display, that’s right, in Oxford.
Girls/Girls/Boys by Panic! At The Disco is great but my favourite thing is this:
Two years ago i came out to my sister by jumping out my room’s closet and throwing skittles at her while this song played in the back
Sometimes YouTube comments are brilliant. 😂
We always credit sources for news, tutorials, and other articles; we link to other websites profusely because the Open Web is a beauitful thing and because it’s the right thing to do;
– @viticci, 10 Years of MacStories
MacStories is one of the few sources of news I read.
My recent announcement regarding the non-cancellation of TIL was soon followed by a bout of flu-like symptoms. It’s safe to say that between my previous break and this illness I have well and truly realised just how much I do want to do this. So that’s nice.
More than 141,000 girls in all Welsh primary and secondary schools will be given access to free sanitary products under Welsh Government plans.
– BBC News, All Welsh schools to get free sanitary products
It’s shameful that we’re only beginning to tackle period poverty.
The Swiss supreme court overturns referendum result due to “incomplete” information
Note: This is not Private Eye.
This is a fantastic update. Not only does it open up the possibility for a whole new type of blog, and site even, it also makes the subscription offerings much more valuable.
A microblog dedicated to maps? That’ll do nicely. Bonus; it is in fact a Hosted Micro.blog microblog and so comes with an accompanying account: @AJgloe. Thanks for making this, Andrew!
(h/t @JohnPhilpin)
Classic. 😂
But everything about the presentation of release notes in this sheet is obviously bad.
– John Gruber, Bad UI: MacOS 10.14’s Software Update Release Notes
Note: I am posting this from a browser extension that includes a resizeable text field.
It’ll be interesting to see if it’s worth dumping the Gmail app.
In good news:
In better news:
Longer posts forthcoming.
I am no longer maintaining Today I Learned.
Having given the project a lot of thought, specifically within the context of my life the fact is that I do not have the resources with which to make this work. This is actually a realisation on a larger scale for me personally; insofar as I do not have room for any such project in my life.
I am a carer, that is my job, and attempting to have a second job as a remote worker is an effort that is simply beyond me; I have no way of doing that with minimal effort, rather I work as hard and with as much efficiency as possible and all of this simply doesn’t work.
A combination of factors leave me very much in the wrong place to attempt to continue with this effort and it is important for me to recognise this and move on. I still think Micro.blog and similar efforts are a much healthier, more sustainable alternative to the corporate silos that have come to dominate the web and hope to see more and more people come to the same conclusion.
The sites and account will remain but there will be no new activity at all. If anybody wants to take what’s there, well, it’s all easily copied anyway so there’s nothing new about that.
I’d like to thank everybody for your support with the project, from Jean and Manton through to those who replied to posts and so on; as usual, the community on Micro.blog has proven to be pretty damn good even in these early days. You’re all brilliant.
Now I will be taking a break from blogging and generally posting on the web, and taking my time to think about what I am doing next, if anything on top of my job. I have serious doubts if anything other than volunteering will fit into my life but who knows…
That’s everything for now.
Goodbye, Internet.
I continue to feel great relief at the lack of a traditional commenting system in place on my Hosted site. @Jean and @manton are doing great work by carefully approaching the entire notion of comments, which has plagued the web since before corporate social networks became big.
Only I have the key, and only I get to decide what’s allowed inside.
– Cheri Baker, My New Internet Habits
Cheri has found the exact kind of mental discipline I had spoken about at the end of last year.
My goals, similar to her own with regard to time spent online are nowhere near closer than when I first set them out on this blog. It should be no surprised to me, then that the first two months of this year have been marked by a general downturn in my mood, my overall health really.
This stops now.
Not only have I already deactivated my personal social media accounts barring Micro.blog, I have reset my RSS feeds and am in the midst of taking a knife to the throat of any excess with regard to email, task managers (read: Gabriel Santiago’s take on Jillianne Hamilton’s Can a Productivity Nerd Live Without a To-Do List?), and so on.
I am stripping away the noise, making firm decisions about my work set-up (minimised to better focus on the most immediate tasks), and filtering the crap away to stop it from getting into my mind.
Soon I hope to also report that I am reading more books, reading higher quality news, increasing my exercise, and getting much more writing done.
Nothing quite like some music from the wonderful Zoë Keating to hit that perfect spot where calm meets focus. 🎶
The more you learn about the modern web, the more you have to admit the reality; a handful of companies control everything and any moralistic decision to “extract myself from the monopoly!” is, for the most part virtue signalling and nothing more.
Source: I cut the tech giants…
Oh look, it’s Micro Monday! I need to talk about @hollyhoneychurch for a minute. Between the photos of the sweet precious angels, the honest and insightful blogging, and such a willingness to share on her own terms, Holly has been a source of joy on my timeline.