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site iconLou PlummerModify

Working in educational IT since the 90s. Dedicated Mac user trapped in a PC world. Obsidian fanboy. Blogger.
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Crucial Track for April 17, 2026

2026-04-17 17:21:51

"That's Right (You're Not from Texas) (Live)" by Lyle Lovett

Listen on Apple Music

Which song do you associate with your favourite city? - That's Right (You're Not from Texas) by Lyle Lovett

My son has lived in Texas longer than he ever did in our home state (NC). His kids are pure Texans, having grown up in Austin, one of the coolest cities in the country. I love my visits there, visiting Torchy's Tacos, Zuiker Park, 6th Street and, of course, the Chile's at 45th and Lamar.

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Seeking Feedback from Mac Power Users

2026-04-16 23:39:15

Mac Apps

I’m looking for feedback on a few apps.

I’m looking for the answers to the following questions:

  1. Did this app solve a problem you had? If so, what was the issue and the solution.
  2. Who do you think is the target audience for the app
  3. What’s your favorite feature or biggest aggravation with the app?

BookShelves eBook Reader - BookShelves is a modern ebook reader and library manager for macOS and iOS. It supports EPUB, PDF, MOBI, PRC, and Kindle formats with iCloud sync, a customizable reading experience, and thousands of free classic books built in.

Sidebar - Sidebar is a MacOS application that replaces the standard MacOS Dock. It feels more like the taskbar of other operating systems (e.g. Windows, Linux).

VaultSort - Organize, Secure, and Optimize Your Mac Files - File automation, cleanup, and security

Procman - Procman is a native process explorer for Mac that combines the hierarchy of pstree with the clarity of Activity Monitor. Instead of a flat list of processes, it shows a live parent-child tree so you can actually understand what spawned what, what’s consuming resources, and how everything fits together.

Liqoria - Mac Music Player • Apple Music • Spotify • YouTube and more - An Apple Music alternative, improving your Spotify for Mac workflow, or comparing tools like Cider for Mac.

If you have feedback, you can use the comment for here, send me an email or hit me up on Reddit, Mastodon or BlueSky.

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Crucial Track for April 16, 2026

2026-04-16 16:54:23

"Suicide Is Painless (From the 20th Century-Fox film ""M*A*S*H")" by Johnny Mandel

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What song did you discover in a tv show or movie? - Suicide is Painless (Theme from MASH)*

It's funny that in my formtive years, the shows with the most social impact were the thirt minute situation comedies like MASH with its strident antiwar message and All in the Family with a theme of equality on many fronts including race and gender.

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Crucial Track for April 15, 2026

2026-04-15 16:24:37

"I Saw Her Standing There" by The Beatles

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Which artist were you a fan of first? Write the story of the song that made you a fan. - I Saw Her Standing There by the Beatles

Say what you want about Boomers, they had the best music. I was lucky to grow up in a house where my Mom would stack LPs on the record player and we'd listen to The Beatles, James Taylor, Pete Seeger, Cat Stephens, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and so many more all day long on the weekends. I wish I had a classier Beatles song to share , but this is the one I remember as the first.

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Crucial Track for April 14, 2026

2026-04-14 18:16:34

"The Big Chill" by Various

What is your favorite soundtrack? - The Big Chill (1983)

01 - 0:00 - I Heard It Through The Grapevine - Marvin Gaye 02 - 05:02 - My Girl - The Temptations 03 - 08:02 - Good Lovin' - The Rascals 04 - 10:32 - The Tracks Of My Tears - Smokey Robinson and The Miracles 05 - 13:29 - Joy To The World - Three Dog Night 06 - 17:06 - Ain’t Too Proud To Beg - The Temptations 07 - 19:39 - Natural Woman - Aretha Franklin 08 - 22:48 - I Second That Emotion - Smokey Robinson And The Miracles 09 - 25:36 - A Whiter Shade Of Pale - Procol Harum 10 - 29:39 - Tell Him - The Exciters 11 - 32:11 - Bad Moon Rising - Creedence Clearwater Revival 12 - 34:33 - When A Man Loves A Woman - Percy Sledge 13 - 37:31 - In The Midnight Hour - The Rascals 14 - 41:33 - Gimme Some Lovin’ - The Spencer Davis Group 15 - 44:32 - The Weight - The Band 16 - 49:07 - Wouldn’t It Be Nice - The Beach Boys 17 - 51:31 - Strangers In The Night - Bert Kaempfert 18 - 54:53 - You Can’t Always Get What You Want - Church Version 19 - 56:17 - J.T. Lancer Theme - Theme 20 - 57:47 - It’s the Same Old Song - Four Tops 21 - 01:00:34 - Dancing in the Street - Martha and The Vandellas 22 - 01:03:15 - What’s Going On - Marvin Gaye 23 - 01:07:09 - Too Many Fish in the Sea - The Marvelettes 24 - 01:09:40 - Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing - Marvin Gaye & Tammy Terrell 25 - 01:11:57 - What Becomes of the Brokenhearted - Jimmy Ruffin 26 - 01:14:58 - Shotgun - Jr. Walker & The All Stars 27 - 01:17:42 - Take Me in Your Arms (Rock Me a Little While) - The Isley Brothers 28 - 01:20:22 - Ask Any Girl - The Supremes 29 - 01:23:09 - You Don’t Own Me - Lesley Gore 30 - 01:25:42 - Like to Get to Know You - Spanky & Our Gang 31 - 01:29:00 - Monday, Monday - The Mamas & the Papas 32 - 01:32:28 - Nights in White Satin - The Moody Blues 33 - 01:40:01 - Feelin’ Alright - Joe Cocker 34 - 01:44:15 - Game of Love - Wayne Fontana & The Mindbenders 35 - 01:46:23 - I Got You (I Feel Good) - James Brown 36 - 01:49:13 - (We Ain’t Got) Nothin’ Yet - The Blues Magoos 37 - 01:51:32 - Time of the Season - The Zombies 38 - 01:55:06 - Get It While You Can - Howard Tate

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Learning and Using GitHub As a Non-Developer with Tower

2026-04-14 09:06:50

Tower

For years I assumed GitHub was only useful if you were a developer.

Turns out it's actually one of the best tools I've found for managing text-heavy Mac workflows.

I now use Git repositories to version and back up things like:

  • my 13K-file Obsidian vault (private)
  • ~700 Keyboard Maestro macros (public)
  • Hazel and BetterTouchTool configs (public)
  • writing projects and scripts (private)
  • ~500 Markdown documents with my quotes collection (public)

No coding required.

I recently switched from GitHub Desktop to Tower, which exposes a lot more of Git's capabilities without forcing you into the command line.

If you're a Mac power user managing large folders of Markdown, scripts, or automation configs, Git is basically Time Machine for specific folders — and Tower makes it easy to use.

Why This Matters for Mac Power Users

If you work with text-heavy workflows on macOS — Markdown notes, scripts, automation configs, or documentation — Git gives you something Time Machine doesn’t:

• version history for individual files
• the ability to roll back one specific edit
• an off-site backup of critical working folders
• synchronization between multiple Macs

For people managing large Obsidian vaults, automation libraries, or documentation projects, that combination becomes extremely useful.

Let's Speak the Same Language

Here's a quick translation of common Git terminology:

  • Repository

A folder tracked by Git that contains files and their complete change history.

  • Commit

A saved snapshot of the repository at a specific moment, along with a message describing the change.

  • History

The chronological record of all commits.

  • Branch

A parallel line of development that lets you experiment without affecting the main version.

  • Merge

Combining changes from one branch into another.

  • Remote

A copy of the repository stored somewhere else; typically GitHub.

  • Push

Send your local commits to the remote repository.

  • Pull

Fetch changes from the remote repository and integrate them into your local copy.

  • Clone

Download a complete copy of a repository, including its history.

  • Diff

A comparison showing exactly what changed between two versions of a file.

Why I Use Tower

Tower provides a graphical interface for Git repositories and remote services such as GitHub. Instead of memorizing commands, you interact with commits, branches, and history visually.

For developers this manages source code. For everyone else it manages collections of important files.

Git tracks the complete history of a folder. Every time you make a commit, Git records a snapshot of the repository. Tower simply exposes that system visually. Instead of typing commands like:

git add 
git commit
git push

Tower gives you:

• checkboxes to stage files

• a commit message box

• push / pull buttons

• a visual timeline of changes

The idea is so simple it's easy to miss how powerful it is.

Every commit becomes a permanent historical snapshot.

For writers, note-takers, and automation nerds, Git effectively becomes Time Machine for specific folders; but with far more precision. Instead of restoring an entire folder, you can restore a single edit inside a single file. That capability becomes extremely valuable once your knowledge base grows large.

I regularly use Tower to manage:

  • Markdown notes
  • scripts
  • documentation
  • configuration files
  • knowledge bases
  • writing projects


    Using Tower with GitHub adds a few major benefits:

  • complete version history
  • off-site backup
  • synchronization between machines
  • detailed change tracking

Tower Features Worth Highlighting

Rebase

Tower includes a visual interface for rebasing, which allows you to reorganize commit history. The GUI makes operations that are intimidating on the command line much easier:

  • reordering commits
  • editing commit messages
  • combining commits

Stashing

Suppose you're halfway through editing files but need to switch branches. You don't want to commit unfinished work. Stashing temporarily saves those changes so you can switch contexts and return later.

Conflict Resolution

I'll admit I tend to use more computers than I should. That occasionally creates conflicts. When multiple versions of a file diverge, Git produces a merge conflict. Tower provides a visual interface for resolving these conflicts instead of forcing you to edit raw conflict markers. For non-developers, this feature alone removes a lot of confusion.


Getting Started in Five Minutes

You can realistically start using Tower on macOS in about five minutes.

  1. Create a repository

Pick a folder; your Obsidian vault is a good candidate. Initialize it as a Git repository in Tower.

  1. **Make the first commit

Tower will show all files in the folder. Select them and create the first commit.

  1. Connect to GitHub

Create a repository on GitHub and link it to your local repository. Push the files.

  1. Adopt a simple daily workflow

Open Tower; review the files that changed; write a short commit message; push to GitHub.

That's really all most non-developers need.


Details

Tower Website

https://www.git-tower.com

Privacy Policy

https://www.git-tower.com/legal/privacy-policy

Price

$5.75/month billed annually

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