a Turbulent Advocate (INFJ-T) who is curious about the world.
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2024-05-18 20:00:00
After years of doing dishes the old-fashioned way, we recently had an epiphany. “Let’s buy an automatic dishwasher,” we said to each other not only in unison, but in perfect three-part harmony. We’re technology-oriented folks, and this particular technology is fairly well established after fifty or sixty years, so what better time?
We hopped in the Monkeymobile with a gleam in our eyes and desire in our hearts, and we drove to the second-nearest Sears and Roebuck. On the way, our minds raced and we imagined a life free from the toil of washing dishes. We pictured a kitchen with no mess, forks and spoons that shone like the sun, and glasses so clean that they were nearly invisible.
We drove faster.
Upon arriving at the appliance department, after pushing and shoving our way through the crowds, and knocking and elderly woman not only to the floor but also into unconsciousness, we gaped in awe and wonder at the veritable cornucopia of automatic dishwasher choices. It truly was Brand Central.
The friendly salesman was quick to present himself and assist us in our quest. We are sure he could smell the desperation oozing from our pores, but it did not matter. Such was our desire, pent up for so many years, that we went so far as to ask him, “What will it take for you to sell us an automatic dishwasher today?”
He showed us the introductory model, with two important features: on and off. He was toying with us, like a cat with a mouse before tearing its legs off. We begged for more: “We don’t care about all this penny ante stuff! Show us the top of the range.” We could barely contain ourselves.
The helpful salesman agreed, and led us to the back of the department. There, without any sign or decorations, was a simple brown door. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a shiny gold key on a leather key chain. We’re not sure, but we think the key was labeled, Washvana. He unlocked the door and we entered.
The room beyond the plain door was unlike anything we had ever seen. The deep burgundy carpet cushioned our steps. The walls were finished in fine mahogany panels. The twenty foot domed ceiling framed a fine crystal chandelier.
In the center of the room, atop a rotating circular platform, stood that object we had been seeking: the Electrawash Super Deluxe 9000. It was truly a beautiful machine, a masterwork of design and engineering, the zenith of the dishwashing art.
Before blurting out, “we’ll take it,” we knew we must at least seem interested in hearing the salesman’s pitch. We asked him as politely as possible, and with our best poker face, “What’s so special about this one?” He began by showing us the platinum-lined interior, with its gold plated wire racks and baskets—all fully adjustable, of course. “Dual eight-way agitating sprinkler heads ensure your dishes will come out so clean,” he said, “that you won’t even recognize them!”
He pointed out the electronic multi-function digital control console on the front panel, armed for every conceivable dishwashing scenario: normal, power scrub, energy saver, water saver, pots and pans, and the revolutionary (and proprietary) plasma dry for when things get really nasty.
We signed the forms, signed our lives over to Sears and Roebuck, and had it delivered the next day. It’s fabulous. The dishes gleam. We can’t afford to eat anymore, but the kitchen has never been this clean.
2024-05-17 20:00:00
I found myself with some free time yesterday afternoon so I ventured out to Headlands Beach State Park to enjoy the sunshine. The temperatures were just warm enough (high 60s) to be comfortable, but near the water there was a steady breeze so I was glad to have worn a sweatshirt.
On arriving at the beach I immediately noticed four colorful kites looming nearby. I moved closer to take a few photos and introduced myself to the kites’ owner, Bill. He told me that Crossroads Health[^ch] will be holding a fundraising event tomorrow, during which they hope to have 2,000 kites flying simultaneously on the beach.
I won’t be able to make it back here on Saturday owing to other obligations, but I hope they make their goal. It’ll be a site to see!
[^ch]: Crossroads Health is a local non-profit organization that provides recovery, mental, and primary healthcare services.
2024-05-16 23:21:00
Howard Burkhardt, born on April 8, 1944 in Cleveland, Ohio, departed this Earth on May 14, 2024. Howard graduated from Bedford High School in 1962 and served in the US Army from 1965 to 1967. In 1969, he married Mary Ann Majoros and they spent 55 years together. They raised one son, Michael, in Mentor, Ohio, where Howard resided at the time of his passing.
Howard loved to spend time at the beach and to cruise the Caribbean. He also enjoyed good food and drink with family and friends, and was a lifelong Ohio State football fan. He became interested in Amateur Radio in the 1970s and in home computing in the 1980s, hobbies that kept his interest until the very end.
Howard began his professional career as a machinist, and was a union steward. He left the factory floor to move into the world of information technology, where he worked first as a programmer, and later as a system administrator.
Howard was preceded in death by his parents, Henry Burkhardt and Madaline Derecskey; sister, Marsha Adkins, and son Stephen Burkhardt. He is survived by his wife, Mary Ann Burkhardt; his son, Michael Burkhardt; daughter-in-law, Marlene O’Neil; granddaughters, Elizabeth and Abigail Burkhardt; and sister, Brenda Fisher.
2024-05-16 20:00:00
The monkeys went, as we do most mornings, for a cup of the morning brew. (Of course, coffee is implied here, not tea or beer or soy sauce, as one might for some unknown reason infer. You see, the word “cup” should have been clue enough, but the monkeys are understanding of the slow people out there and that is why we have thus clarified things for you.) We descended inside of an elevator, down the hundreds of floors from high atop the monkey building. After the weeklong elevator ride, we disembarked at the lobby. Our favorite morning coffee spot is in the lobby you see, which is why we came all this way. It is called Joe Mama’s Coffee and Bananas Flambé Shop. They have a wide variety of coffee from which to choose, most of which are flavored in very exotic and unique ways. These include some familiar ones, such as Butter Rum, Hazelnut, Cinnamon Hazelnut, Amaretto, and Snickerdoodle (some kind of cinnamon cookie thing). There are also some not-so familiar flavors: Swiss Mountain Goat Cheese and Chocolate, Jamaican Blue Mountain Jerk Chicken, California Roll and Wasabi, Costa Rican Rebel, and the monkeys’ all-time favorite: Bavarian Cherry Chip Chop Beef and Garlic. There’s always a new adventure at coffee time, which is why we keep going back.
2024-05-15 20:00:00
Grits are one of my favorite things to eat for breakfast. Usually as an accompaniment with some scrambled eggs. The thing about grits is that unless you’re in the American south, it’s hard to find a restaurant that serves good grits. There are a few here and there, but it’s very hit or miss.
Because of this I started trying to make them at home. I quickly found that the brand of grits you use is a factor. Some years ago I came across Palmetto Farms brand grits while vacationing in North Carolina and they are top shelf.
I used to order my grits from Amazon, but they kept sending me the yellow or mixed varieties (which are also very tasty) but I prefer the white. So now I order directly from the Palmetto Farms website.
I make my grits in an Instant Pot countertop pressure cooker. If you don’t have an Instant Pot then (a) I’m sure you can get good results on the stovetop (but I haven’t tried this myself) and (b) you should get one, they’re awesome.
When you get really good grits it’s best not think too long about how much butter is in there, just go with it. So when making them at home, don’t skimp on the butter.
Here’s my recipe for Instant Pot Grits.
Enjoy!
2024-05-14 20:00:00
I’ve been a member of the Omglolverse for almost a year and a half. In that time I’ve used all the available services and in some cases been frustrated by their limitations. But working through—and sometimes around—those limitations (the “hacking” bit) is the fun part.
The weblog service is where I do almost everything. I even use it for my profile and now pages, as I’ll explain below. But first, the basics: there are basically two kinds of content on weblog.lol, posts and pages.
Posts are dated entries (articles) that exist at a given point in time. They generally don’t change once posted. I always write at least one post per week, sometimes more.
Pages are static entries that may change over time.
Now I know a lot of people maintain multiple blogs based on different subjects. I prefer a single unified web experience for mihobu.lol that includes my profile, my web sitelets (defaults, uses, subscriptions, etc.) all under one roof and sharing common navigation. So that’s what I’ve tried to build. Here’s how:
Weblog provides a built-in navigation mechanism, which you set up in the weblog configuration file. I don’t use it though because I wanted a “tabbed” style to separate the different sections, each having its own set of subnavigation links. To do this, I had to create a separate template for each section. This complicates maintenance because there’s a lot of duplication across templates. I use custom metadata fields to add inline CSS styles to highlight the current page link in the subnavigation bar.
My now page is powered by an Amazon Web Services Lambda Function, which fetches activity from Goodreads (about the books I’m reading), Trakt (about the TV shows and movies I’m watching), and a paste (about everything else) to generate a markdown summary of what I’ve been up to for the last seven days. I use the now page service to store the content, but I don’t use the service to display it. Instead, I pull the now page content into a static weblog page using the now property.
My profile page exists as a static weblog page. (I don’t use the omg.lol Web Page service for this. My system-wide profile pic and favicon live there though.)
I really like FontAwesome icons, but I don’t use their icon fonts any more. Instead, I download the ones I like and use, and encode them into a CSS file of my own. I use the mask-image CSS property to display them either as list markers or as inline glyphs (as seen here). I don’t know if I really save much in terms of performance by doing things this way. I really just did it to see if I could.
Weblog allows you to create custom properties that expand in markdown and can include arguments. I use this feature to generate nicely formatted image captions. The markdown looks like this (but must be placed in braces):
caption:text=This is a caption.
I set up my post template (in the configuration) to include a default image (another custom property), although I try to create unique post images for all my new posts. These are included in the web page headers as part of the Open Graph meta data. This also has the side effect of rendering nice image cards on Mastodon.
At this time, I’m not using weblog’s landing page and pagination features.
profile.lol As mentioned above, I don’t use this except that the avatar is shown on the directory
now.garden Because I use it to store my now content, my updates do appear in the garden. So that’s nice.
status.lol I occasionally post statuses, which are cross-posted to Mastodon. But I stopped showing these on my now page, because they hang out there forever if I don’t update. (I wish they would just age off and disappear.)
Pastebin Used primarily as a key component in my now page updates as described above, but I keep a few other things out there too.
Charms I haven’t started using these yet. 😄
some.pics I don’t use it as a photo sharing service per se (I use Flickr for that) but I do use it extensively as a content store for my blog.
PURLs I use it mostly to track downloads of things I’ve written.
Email I don’t use mihobu.lol for email. All my email/calendar stuff is on Fastmail, which I recommend highly.
DNS I don’t use omg.lol for DNS. Everything is at porkbun, which I also recommend.
Switchboard Yes I have a lot of stuff in there, which I think might be a whole other post.
Keys I keep my GPG and iMessage keys in there.
Proofs I’ve got a few in there, including this one. FWIW, I also can be found on Keyoxide.
2024-05-13 20:00:00
Today’s #WeblogPoMo2024 theme is “Mindful Monday,” which means I give you a piece of my mind. Not sure that’s so different from every other day, but whatever LOL.
Most of the time, when we see a film that is based on a novel, we expect it to fall short. “The book was better,” we usually say. But every once in a while the movie is actually better. Here are a few that fall into that category.
The book is an epistolatory memoir by Helene Hanff, an author living in New York. In search of rare books, she develops long distance friendship lasting many years with the chief buyer at a London antiquarian book shop. It is a fine book that was adapted for the stage, and then for the screen. Mel Brooks purchased the film rights for his wife, Anne Bancroft, for her birthday. Bancroft’s portrayal is a work of love (for which she won a BAFTA) that simply eclipses the book’s many charms.
It might not be fair to compare Bottle Shock with Judgement of Paris by George Taber since the film took so many artistic liberties with the truth. In 1976, Steven Spurrier organized a competition that pitted new world wine from California (as if) against the French. In a shocking twist, the Californians beat the French in both the red and the white, and the rest is history. The film is a fun look at Napa Valley in the 1970s and the cast just clicks. Pour me another cab, please!
I’m a big fan of (almost) everything Aaron Sorkin has ever written, and Molly’s Game is no exception. The film faithfully tells Molly Bloom’s story pretty much scene for scene, but the cast... Chastain, Elba, Camp, Strong, Costner, oh my gosh the list goes on and on... Sorkin’s dialog is the fuse but they are the powder that lights up the screen like a 140-minute fireworks show.
Ender’s Game certainly has a lot of problems, from uneven performances (especially from Harrison Ford) to omitting a lot of nuance from the book. But it visualizes the book really well, and compels the viewer to feel something in a way that few Sci-Fi films do. The other thing the film has going for it is that, by comparison, Card’s writing is not that exciting to read.
Here again is a book that is hampered by its author’s style, making the film look good by contrast. In fact, the casting doesn’t really work for me here. Eggers’ writing is so flat and dry it’s like dry toast, making even warm water seem refreshing.
I’ll just mention a couple more, but they don’t really count because they are based on short stories rather than novels. They are Harrison Bergeron (story by Kurt Vonnegut) and Brokeback Mountain (Annie Proux). The films do a great job of filling in huge gaps in the original stories (both of which are surprisingly short) and (I like to believe) really bring out the fullness of the authors’ vision.
2024-05-13 00:00:00
Here’s how I ranked this year’s finalists—and why. Each song’s actual ranking, according to the official results, is also shown in parentheses.
| Rank | Country | Song | Artist | Comments | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 (3) | 🇺🇦 | Ukraine | Teresa & Maria | alyona alyona & Jerry Heil | Better every time I hear it. |
| 2 (12) | 🇩🇪 | Germany | Always on the Run | ISAAK | Still lovin’ this track too. |
| 3 (16) | 🇱🇻 | Latvia | Hollow | Dons | Just a man and his voice, nothing else needed |
| 4 (21) | 🇬🇪 | Georgia | Firefighter | Nutsa Buzaladze | I’m mesmerized by the big flaming circle |
| 5 (4) | 🇫🇷 | France | Mon Amour | Slimane | Big voice, big love song |
| 6 (9) | 🇸🇪 | Sweden | Unforgettable | Marcus & Martinus | Host country opens the show with a banger. |
| 7 (8) | 🇦🇲 | Armenia | Jako | Ladaniva | Fun party song with jammin’ on the recorder |
| 8 (10) | 🇵🇹 | Portugal | Grito | Iolanda | Pretty good |
| 9 (15) | 🇨🇾 | Cyprus | Liar | Silia Kapsis | Precisely follows the pop song recipe |
| 10 (2) | 🇭🇷 | Croatia | Rim Tim Tagi Dim | Baby Lasagna | Really not into metal but this seems okay |
| 11 (13) | 🇱🇺 | Luxembourg | Fighter | Tali | Catchy refrain, but overall not a special song |
| 12 (20) | 🇪🇪 | Estonia | (nendest) narkootikumidest ei tea me (küll) midagi | 5miinust & Puuluup | Not a song I’d normally listen to, but these guys are delightfully quirky |
| 13 (23) | 🇸🇮 | Slovenia | Veronika | Raiven | Velcome to Shprockets |
| 14 (5) | 🇮🇱 | Israel | Hurricane | Eden Golan | I’m dozing off over here |
| 15 (17) | 🇷🇸 | Serbia | Ramonda | Teya Dora | Slow song snoozer |
| 16 (7) | 🇮🇹 | Italy | La Noia | Angelina Mango | La Noia? Yes, I’m bored too |
| 17 (14) | 🇱🇹 | Lithuania | Luktelk | Silvester Belt | Take away the beat and there’s not much left |
| 18 (11) | 🇬🇷 | Greece | Zari | Marina Satti | Stock backbeat with some layered vocals. Yawn. |
| 19 (22) | 🇪🇸 | Spain | Zorra | Nebulossa | Still not wowed |
| 20 (24) | 🇦🇹 | Austria | We Will Rave | Kaleen | Next time I host a rave, I’ll be sure to include this track in the set list |
| 21 (1) | 🇨🇭 | Switzerland | The Code | Nemo | Okay I maybe don’t “hate” this but I don’t like it either |
| 22 (25) | 🇳🇴 | Norway | Ulveham | Gåte | There’s a nyckelharpa and a lot of yelling |
| 23 (18) | 🇬🇧 | United Kingdom | Dizzy | Olly Alexander | On second thought, not worse than Bambie Thug but it’s real close |
| 24 (6) | 🇮🇪 | Ireland | Doomsday Blue | Bambie Thug | I’m okay with you summoning Lucifer, just leave me out of it thank you very much |
| 25 (19) | 🇫🇮 | Finland | No Rules! | Windows95man | This is godawful |
Note: Joost Klein, the semifinalist from the Netherlands, was disqualified for offensive shoulder pads.
2024-05-12 21:10:00
Here’s what happened during the week of May 6–12, 2024.
📊 This week marks three months since I started using [UpDown.io]() to monitor this site’s availability. I’m really happy with it and I’ve still got free trial credits to last several more months. The uptime numbers could be better, I suppose, but I’ve got no complaints.
🏷️ I updated and cleaned up the meta tags on the site. I like that preview cards and favicons generally appear as they should. Anne’s post was very helpful!
🛠️ I got to show off my mad dad skillz this week by assembling two Ikea BILLY bookcases, and a standing desk for my daughter’s room. Everything seems to be holding together and there were not injuries, so I’m taking the win.
✊ I deleted by Stack Overflow account because AI.
🌪️ Tornados blew through our area this week. The sirens wailed like crazy for an hour, interrupting my enjoyment of the first Eurovision semifinal. We missed the worst of it, which blew by to our north, and avoided any damage.
🥥 If you like coconut, you might enjoy this limited edition Dr Pepper Creamy Coconut. I picked up a case of the zero sugar variant and it lives up to the name.
⚽️ Disappointed that the Columbus Crew lost the Hell is Real derby match to our in-state rival FC Cincinnati. Terrible fact: it’s the first time that Cincy has ever beaten the Crew in Columbus.
🎤 It’s that time again! I enjoyed watching this year’s event—so far[^spoilers]. I ranked the first and second semifinal contestants. I’m still bothered that Iceland didn’t advance.
📔 If you’re into trivia, here are some interesting facts about the contest.
📆 I really need to mark my calendar for next year. I found out about this year’s contest by accident, thanks to Richard’s post. I can’t believe I might have missed it! I don’t want to be surprised like that.
🆗 Staples has the “Easy” button, and now we have a “Make Everything Okay” button. It’s a nice little reminder that things will, in fact, be okay. And sometimes that’s just what we need. (Thanks to Ben Daubney for sharing.)
🤕 The state of the Web, summed up in a single website is both funny and sad.
🧹 It’s not often that we love our cleaning supplies, but Jedda won the Internet this week with a Love Letter to a Dyson vacuum cleaner.
💉 Joan Westenberg’s post reminds us that TikTok and its copycats (Instagram Reels, SnapChat Stories, etc) are less about promoting creativity than about fostering addictive behavior—i.e. “engagement.”
🦾 ”We don’t need an AI manifesto – We need a constitution” by Vivienne Ming (Financial Times)
🚗 ”US set to impose 100% tariff on Chinese electric vehicle imports” by Demetri Sevastopulo, James Politi and Aime Williams (Financial Times)
🤖 ”How I Feel About AI” by Johnny Noble
Please remember to give a hoot and not pollute. Cheers!
[^spoilers]: At the time of writing, I haven’t yet watched the Grand Final. Spoilers don’t bother me, though. I’m just here for the music!
[^missed]: Well not really, since Peacock carries it on demand. But still.
2024-05-12 18:50:00
I just read this in the FT:
The Biden administration plans to raise tariffs on Chinese electric vehicle imports from 25 per cent to 100 per cent, as it intensifies efforts ahead of the US election to protect American industry. (source)
I’m old enough to remember when champions of free market capitalism used to say that competition was good because it drives innovation and provides consumers with choice. We’re not seeing much innovation these days from Tesla, and Ford and GM are scaling back their EV ambitions because American consumers just don’t see the what all the fuss is about. Meanwhile, BYD is about to overtake Tesla as the market leader, and a raft of other real auto manufacturers are lined up right behind it.
Now that the barbarians are at the gate, American politicians who were once all about open markets are clamoring to protect the biggest nut case this side of Planters and whatever EV crap Ford and GM are turning out.
This is the same garbage we saw in the 1970s when Japanese manufacturers came after the big three. It was (and to a large extent still is) competition from Japan that spurred American auto makers to stop making junk-ass rust buckets and start making cars with quality.
We should welcome BYD to our market because American manufacturers need a boost like that again. Let the market decide.
2024-05-10 23:00:00
I love my Fujifilm X-T4, but I’ve been wanting something a little smaller, lighter, and less conspicuous. Something I hope to have with me in situations where I’m unlikely to lug the X-T4.
I looked at the X-E4, but it doesn’t offer much that the X-E3 does not. And maybe someday Fuji will announce an updated X-E5 with 40MP sensor, but that day has not yet come. In the meantime, the X-E3 is a great little camera on paper.
So I went ahead and ordered the X-E3 used from from MPB. It showed up this week and immediately paired it with my XF 27mm f/2.8 prime and already I’m swooning. I’ve always loved the 27mm lens and I hope to get a lot more use from it now. I also have high hopes for the XF 18mm f/2, though I haven’t tried it out yet.
I took a few test frames in the garden and everything seems to be in order. The mechanical shutter is a little louder than my X-T4, so I hope that’s normal. I’m excited to add this to my bag and see what it can do for me out on the bike paths and hiking trails. More to come!
2024-05-10 20:00:00
| # | Result | Country | Song | Artist | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | dnq | Denmark | Sand | Saba | How did this banger not advance? |
| 2 | qualified | Latvia | Hollow | Dons | Amazing voice |
| 3 | qualified | Georgia | Firefighter | Nutsa Buzaladze | |
| 4 | qualified | Armenia | Jako | Ladaniva | Fun song! |
| 5 | qualified[^pq] | France | Mon Amour | Slimane | Dude’s got a powerful voice |
| 6 | qualified | Israel | Hurricane | Eden Golan | |
| 7 | dnq | Czechia | Pedestal | Aiko | Heck of a song |
| 8 | qualified | Estonia | (nendest) narkootikumidest ei tea me (küll) midagi | 5miinust & Puuluup | Best choreography of the night |
| 9 | qualified[^pq] | Italy | La Noia | Angelina Mango | |
| 10 | qualified | Greece | Zari | Marina Satti | First really distinctive song of the night |
| 11 | qualified | Austria | We Will Rave | Kaleen | So-so |
| 12 | dnq | Malta | Loop | Sarah Bonnici | Good way to start the show, but song not too special |
| 13 | dnq | Albania | Titan | Besa | It’s fine |
| 14 | qualified | Norway | Ulveham | Gåte | These guys are all over the place |
| 15 | dnq | Belgium | Before the Party’s Over | Mustii | That’s a lot of glitter |
| 16 | qualified[^pq] | Spain | Zorra | Nebulossa | I don’t think so |
| 17 | qualified | Switzerland | The Code | Nemo | Hated it |
| 18 | qualified | Netherlands | Europapa | Joost Klein | Shoulder pads are back |
| 19 | dnq | San Marino | 11:11 | Megara | No no no no no |
[^pq]: Prequalified under the Big 5 rule [^hc]: Host country (and last year’s winner)
2024-05-09 20:00:00
When I was in high school I was in the performing arts. Not sure how I ended up there because it certainly was not something I ever had an interest in pursuing professionally. It was, I suppose, a way not to have to be an athlete. But there it is. I ended up performing in the spring musical every year, and one fall drama.
I played Major-General Stanley, a good-hearted father who ends up marrying off his daughters to a band of pirates. And it’s all okay because reasons. I won an award from the local Rotary Club for my performance—perhaps on the strength of my rendition of “I am the very model of a modern Major General,” the showstoppanumba[^ssn] to end all showstoppanumbas.
As Deputy Governor Danforth, I got to play the villain. I learned that drama was not for me, since I could never remember all my lines. I mean, look folks, I literally had a cheat sheet on stage with me. Despite that, I won another Rotary award.
Only a sophomore at this point, I scored the leading role of Tevye the Dairyman, another father with daughters. (A portent?) Another showstoppanumba (“If I were a rich man”), another Rotary award.
This year, the lead role of Sky Masterson went to a good friend of mine, who was a senior. He hit it out of the park and I was a minor supporting character (Nicely-Nicely Johnson) who happens also to have another showstoppanumba (“Sit down you’re rocking the boat”) which got a big applause. And another Rotary award. Are these things rigged?
A godawful show with godawful music. The only reason anybody remembers it is that Doris Day was in the movie. Our director chose it because she didn’t ever want to repeat a show and she’d already done all the good musicals. I played Prez, a crappy role with crappy songs and a crappy costume. I won another Rotary award. Definitely rigged.
I never really sing in public any more, except for Carmen Ohio.
[^ssn]: “Showstoppanumba” is a term that our director (the late, wonderful, and very misunderstood Elaine Paulett) taught us. It is a portmanteau compound of “show stopper number,” a song with so much energy that it stops the show dead in its tracks while the audience loses their shit.
2024-05-08 16:00:00
| # | Place | Country | Song | Artist | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | qualified[^pq] | Germany | Always on the Run | ISAAK | Good song. Good beat. And flames. |
| 2 | qualified | Ukraine | Teresa & Maria | alyona alyona & Jerry Heil | Catchy beat with a cool rap bridge |
| 3 | dnq | Iceland | Scared of Heights | Hera Björk | Boppy. I love it. |
| 4 | dnq | Australia | One Milkali (One Blood) | Electric Fields | Love the Disco vibe how did these guys not advance?! |
| 5 | qualified | Portugal | Grito | Iolanda | I dunno I just liked it |
| 6 | qualified | Cyprus | Liar | Silia Kapsis | Pretty run-of-the-mill pop song |
| 7 | dnq | Moldova | In the Middle | Natalia Barbu | Nice beat, great effects. |
| 8 | qualified[^hc] | Sweden | Unforgettable | Marcus & Martinus | Club music |
| 9 | qualified | Serbia | Ramonda | Teya Dora | Slow songs get punished |
| 10 | dnq | Azerbaijan | Özünlə Apar | Fahree feat. Ilkin Dovlatov | Not bad, but not special |
| 11 | qualified | Luxembourg | Fighter | Tali | Another meh song |
| 12 | qualified | Lithuania | Luktelk | Silvester Belt | Good performance, meh song |
| 13 | qualified | Slovenia | Veronika | Raiven | Velcome to Shprockets |
| 14 | dnq | Poland | The Tower | Luna | The Chess aesthetic was interesting, but the song was not |
| 15 | qualified | Croatia | Rim Tim Tagi Dim | Baby Lasagna | I don’t know how to rate metal because I hate it. (But I’m assuming they’re better than the Bambie Thug and Olly Alexander.) |
| 16 | qualified | Ireland | Doomsday Blue | Bambie Thug | Nothing against devil worship, but no. |
| 17 | qualified[^pq] | United Kingdom | Dizzy | Olly Alexander | Oh god they’re worse than Bambie Thug |
| 18 | qualified | Finland | No Rules! | Windows95man | Okay it can get worse |
[^pq]: Prequalified under the Big 5 rule [^hc]: Host country (and last year’s winner)
2024-05-07 16:00:00
I launched this weblog at the beginning of 2023 by porting over content from my previous hosting provider. But it wasn’t until April that I really started to customize the layout and typography. I started out with serif headings and sans-serif body text using Fira Sans. I like this typeface[^typo] because it is reminiscent of ITC Officina Sans, a longtime favorite.
I experimented with FF Meta as an alternative to Fira Sans, which I felt at the time had some kerning issues and was a bit heavy. I also liked that it has lining figures, a feature that is important to me for aesthetic reasons.
I lived with Meta for a month or so, trying a few different weights along the way. I never was really satisfied with it. So I thought I’d try something new. I added Oso Sans, a variable font. I thought it’d be cool to adopt a new(ish) technology. It looked like shit was not well supported on iOS and iPadOS, so I went back to using Fira Sans.
As the one-year anniversary of my OMG.lol membership approached, I decided (I don’t know why) that my site really needed to have serif type for the body text. I chose FF Tisa in part because I really love FontFont’s stuff, but mostly because it’s sort of a slab-serif version of Meta. I really loved (and still love) this typeface!
I lived with Tisa for several months and was quite happy with it. But over time, I had the growing sense that it was too... What? Cartoony? I don’t really know, just something about it seemed unserious and it started to bother me and I started to hunt again for that special typeface. I landed on Proxima Sera in part because it has a sans-serif sibling that I could use for headings.
I enjoyed Proxima Sera for a month or so. It is nice, but I didn’t like how its somewhat wide stance looked on the pages of my blog. I looked again and landed on a classic, Adobe Caslon. What a genuinely beautiful typeface! I updated my weblog and luxuriated in it.
My wife says I’m a complainer who is never satisfied. I prefer the term perfectionist, although I admit it is not any more flattering a characterization. In any case, I was unsatisfied with Caslon’s x-height so I started the search anew. Which brings us to today. I’m using Expo Serif. It has a taller x-height, lining figures, and satisfying ligatures. It just looks nice on the screen. Very happy with it so far.
Do you think about typefaces? What are your favorites? Drop me a line and tell me your stories.
[^typo]: I frequently commit the mortal sin of using the terms font and typeface interchangeably. I know the difference, but I’m lazy and this is my weblog. So there.
2024-05-06 16:00:00
Happy Monday!
I see a lot of comments on Mastodon about going out and touching grass.
In other words, get up from your desk, get outside, and enjoy the world.
I like to walk at lunch time. It’s a little escape from the work day and it gives me a huge mental lift.
I sometimes find myself smiling at a random stranger that I pass on the sidewalk, or waving “hello” to an old lady sitting on her front porch.
No words are ever exchanged. The gesture is the interaction.
And that’s real nice.
So get out there and give it a try. And maybe even (literally) touch some grass while you’re at it.
2024-05-05 20:30:00
Here’s what happened during the week of April 29 to May 05, 2024.
🍬 After having more unhappy days than happy ones at the office lately, I’m making an effort to choose happiness. I was mostly successful this week.
💻 Thanks to my personal app concierge, Marco, for introducing me to Daisy Disk. It’s a one-time $10 app and is a nice add to my Mac Mini.
🌶️ My daughter got some hot sauces for me to try recently. It may seem strange, but I’ve been enjoying these with tuna salad. Here are my favorites:
🫖 Fun site of the week: Caro’s tea menu. She wrote a post about it too.
📷 I’ve always struggled to find inspiration for my photography living in the suburbs. This Reddit thread has some good ideas.
🧑💻 Made some web updates:
✍️ #WeblogPoMo2024 started this week. Instead of a single theme for the month, I’m going with a different theme for each day of the week. I’m hoping it’ll help me keep fresh ideas coming and clear out my backlog.
🕘 According to this poll morning or noon local time is the best time to post, so I’m giving that a try.
🎧 You may recall that I ran a 4-miler a couple weeks ago, but you probably didn’t notice that I destroyed my Beats Solo wireless headphones that day. I like wearing headphones when I walk (or run) because they work better for me than earbuds. I found a very inexpensive replacement on Amazon, which arrived this week. They’re great! Exactly what I need and fraction of the cost of another pair of new Beats!
🖊️ I ordered a nice pair of binoculars from B&H and they included (free gift with purchase) a Nitecore NTP31 Aluminum Alloy Tactical Bolt Action Pen. Apparently you can use it for self-defense. Why do I need this exactly? Do they think I’ll be taking up spycraft now?
🥏 Went to Indianapolis to watch Indy Red play New York Gridlock. When we arrived in Indianapolis I encountered the worst full stop drivers full stop anywhere. I’ve driven in Chicago (apocalyptic traffic) Boston (purposeful madness) and Cincinnati (where every day is speed week) but nothing like Indy. Red lights? Lane markings? Right of way? All totally optional. Swerving all over the place, totally oblivious to other drivers? Check. Sudden stops and near misses? Check. Turning left to cut off oncoming traffic? Check. And these weren’t isolated cases; they’re clearly the local customs. It reminded me of open season on the LA Freeway.
If you’re interested in supporting women and gender-expansive sport please take a look at Premier Ultimate League (PUL), an inclusive professional ultimate league with 12 member teams.
“Nobuhle’s Music is a Conduit for the Physical and the Spiritual” by Uzoma Ihejirika (The Native)
“Managing Up” by Edward Zitron
“Elon Musk is abandoning EVs” by Joan Westenberg
Too many #WeblogPoMo2024 posts to list them all!
Happy May! Cheers, y’all!
2024-05-04 16:00:00
We all have those turns of phrase that come so naturally that we don’t even think about how they found their way into our heads.
Some of them came from the movies.
If you haven’t done it before, take a moment to think about whether you have any of these. What movies did they come from? How long ago? Do you and friend or loved one use them as an inside joke? Or have you adopted it solo? Here are a few that my wife and I use on a very regular basis:
This one comes, of course, from Mike Meyers’ 1993 magnum opus. That’s just a year or so after my wife and I started our relationship and we’ve been batting this one back and forth ever since. Especially at our kids’ soccer games.
This one is not about the uniqueness of the phrase, but how you say it. You’ve gotta channel your very best Jennifer Coolidge impression. And don’t forget to bend and snap.
This is another ubiquitous phrase so to really connect back to the source you must employ the hand gesture. And we do.
I have no idea why this one stuck. Maybe because I force my family to watch my all-time favorite movie 12 times in a row every Christmas. I can’t even think of an example in which I’ve used it. Except that it seems to come up all the time in our house.
This one goes back to 1993 too. It is a form of self-admonition that emerges whenever one of us is frustrated about something. Long live Mr Burns.
What are your everyday phrases from the movies?
2024-05-03 16:00:00
I took these two photos of the moon yesterday using my Fujifilm X-T4.
I had to crop both photos a lot. Neither is that great, but I expected a better result with the zoom. Even with the extra cropping I think I prefer the Fuji.
2024-05-02 08:01:00
The monkeys work in a very tall building downtown. So tall is the building that we have to use elevators—we lovingly refer to them as the “vaters”—to get from ground-level to the above-clouds floor where we earn (hah!) our livings. Anyway, we occasioned for the first time today actually to notice an interesting phenomenon that has undoubtedly been occurring since the days of Otis: The Elevator Shuffle. It’s strange yet familiar, odd yet common. One might even say axiomatic. The general behavior is that when you get on (or in, as some prefer to say) an elevator, the positions taken by the passengers follow a predictable pattern dictated by how many are present. Almost as if choreographed by Thomas Crown himself. And as people embark and disembark, the remaining passengers move to their designated positions either to accommodate the additional riders or fill in the space left over by a now-absent participant.
Riding alone? You’ll stand in the center of the elevator cabin.
You and one other person? Each of you hugs a side.
Three? Left and right slightly forward, center at rear.
Four? Each of the four corners.
We’re sure that there’s some kind of psychology to all this, but the monkeys don’t care about such things. We just like to look at others and laugh. So the next time you’re on an elevator, pay attention. You’ll see what we mean.
2024-05-01 08:01:00
When I was in primary and secondary school, I never read what was assigned to me. It wasn’t that I couldn’t read, it was that I disliked reading. I couldn’t tell you why I didn’t enjoy reading, but I definitely didn’t and it affected my academic performance for many years. First because I (obviously) couldn’t pass the quizzes about things I hadn’t read. But the worst bit came later in university. Because I hadn’t honed the skill of reading, comprehension was slow and difficult. I’ve since learned to love to read for pleasure, but I still am not a fast reader.
My point in telling this story is to say I have not read a ton of books. But I have found a few authors that I really love and come back to frequently.
Dr Sagan was such an amazing teacher. He was not the first “popular” scientist, having been preceded by great communicators like Isaac Asimov, Stephen Jay Gould, and Oliver Sachs. But he was the greatest. And no one has come close to matching him since his acclaimed Cosmos first aired on PBS so many years ago. And it’s not for lack of trying: Brian Cox, Neil Tyson, Brian Greene, and others have tried to position themselves as the second coming of Carl Sagan. None has succeeded.
Here are my favorite Carl Sagan books:
Billions & Billions is a collection that includes an amusing refutation of the quotation (popularized by Johnny Carson) that inspired the title, as well as several other memorable essays.
The Demon-Haunted World offers another great opportunity to bask in the warm light Sagan’s wit and wisdom.
The Varieties of Scientific Experience is another book of essays adapted from transcripts of Sagan’s 1985 Gifford Lectures, the purpose of which is “to promote and diffuse the study of natural theology in the widest sense of the term.”
Contact is a profound piece of writing that pays thoughtful respect to the tension between science and religion and the essence of inquiry. This book is one of my rocks.
There are, have been, and always will be very funny people—authors, actors, media personalities. Jean Shepherd was all three. I wouldn’t dare make the claim that he was the funniest of all, but his books still make make laugh out loud when I read them and that gives his memory a special place in my heart. We’re all familiar with the stories contained in In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash thanks to Bob Clark’s enduring film adaptation[^igwt], but there are three more books in the series that are well worth a look. It’s been a while since I read them all, but I remember they all made me laugh out loud.
Bonus: Jean Shepherd was also a ham radio operator, something he discussed occasionally on his radio program.
“Ham Radio License Exam” from The Jean Shepherd Show, Jan 24, 1963 (YouTube)
Tribute to Jean Shepherd (DJ5IL)
Christopher Hitchens just had… a way… about him. Such conviction. Such arrogance. I admit to having a fair amount of confirmation bias when it comes to reading his work, but it is simply impossible to have agreed with him on everything all the time; provocation was his modus operandi. He was a true war correspondent, but he also wrote book reviews and political commentary. He famously arranged to be waterboarded so he could write about the experience in the pages of Vanity Fair[^vf]. The fun of reading—or better yet listening—to him, was in his voice. And I mean that figuratively as well as literally.
My favorite Christopher Hitchens books:
God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything is a no-holds-barred refutation of religion in all its forms. It is succinct and, at times, beautifully written.
Arguably is a collection of essays on all sorts of topics published in various magazines over the years.
Letters to a Young Contrarian contains advice from the man himself.
[^igwt]: If you’ve seen the movie, you haven’t missed too much from the book. It’s (almost) all in there.
[^vf]: Under the leadership of Graydon Carter, Vanity Fair was a great magazine—although not without its problems—and one of my favorite things to read. After he left, it became something else and I eventually just lost interest.
2024-04-29 08:01:00
When Anne first proposed a month-long blogging challenge I immediately balked. There’s no way I can write a post every day for a month! But after giving it a bit of thought I figured I’d give it a go. So here’s my plan.
Instead of a single theme for the month, I’m going to more of a theme-a-day sort of thing. Here’s what I’m thinking about doing:
| Day | Theme | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Mon | Mindful Monday | My mind, that is. |
| Tue | Tech Tuesday | Webby, techy things. |
| Wed | Whimsical Wednesday | Stuff I like |
| Thu | Throwback Thursday | Writing and photos from the archives |
| Fri | Foto Friday | Can I take ONE bloody photo every week? We’ll see. |
| Sat | Saturday Scraps | Leftovers and misfits |
| Sun | Sunday Summary | My weekly #WeekNotes posts |
Okay the alliteration is kinda lame, but it just sorta happened that way. I’m not in the habit of writing every day so I hope the variety will give me a boost. We’ll see how this goes. I’m hoping it’ll be fun. See you back here soon for my first Whimsical Wednesday post.
Update: It’s official! I’m participator #16!
2024-04-28 23:32:00
Here’s what happened during the week of April 22–28, 2024.
🦴 I started the week off with a 6:30 AM appointment to get an MRI on my knee. It’s the one I injured during last week’s 4-mile run-walk. I haven’t been able to connect with my doctor by phone yet, though, so I don’t know what the verdict is. 😬
⛱️ We sold off some old patio furniture and replaced with some new patio furniture. Just in time to start enjoying some warmer weather!
🚫 I started journaling all the times I said “no” to things this week, as well as all times I should have said “no” but didn’t. It’s actually quite empowering and improved my mental state during the first few days. I think I’ll try to continue this practice and see what happens.
🎓 My eldest daughter graduated summa cum laude from University of Cincinnati this week with dual bachelor’s degrees (Psychology and Criminal Justice) and a minor (French). In the fall she’ll begin law school. So proud of that kid!
These aren’t new, but I had occasion to use them this week and they are very useful.
🌞 Want to know which direction the sun will rise and set for a given location? SunCalc shows you exactly that. Handy for photography planning and knowing what time of year your patio will get the evening sun.
🔢 Need to pick a number or name at random? Picker Wheel is a fun tool for this. We sometimes use it in our daily standup meetings to decide who gives their update next.
🗣️ I remember hearing about Ephemeral a while back, but someone mentioned it this week and I went out and played with it again. I’m not sure how or if I can use this, but it’s good to know that if I need to simply breathe out some thoughts and let them go there’s a way for me to do that.
🚲 “The hidden potential of bicycles” by Brian Kaller (Resilience)
☠️ “Elon Musk—Dead at 52—Says There Is No Need for Misinformation Laws” (The Shovel)
📷 “Why you need a 50mm prime in your kit” by Ewen Bell
💰 Well it took until midway through the fourth episode, but Loot finally made me laugh this season. I hope there are more laughs to come because so far season 2 has not delivered many.
🦌 I never would have started watching Baby Reindeer had it not been for my daughter’s urging. It’s very well done, and very creepy. After two episodes, I can’t say I’m particularly eager to press on.
Here are a couple of things that made me laugh this week.
I hope you have an amazing week. Cheers!
2024-04-24 06:13:00
Not sure if this is a good idea or a bad idea, but I’m trying it on for size.
Problem I’m trying to solve is archival of my microblog content—Mastodon posts, status.lol messages, and Flickr and blog announcements. I think the workflow shown here accomplishes all that without duplicating the blog content too much.
I’m going to live with it for a while and see how it goes.
April 24
April 23
2024-04-22 17:07:00
Here’s what happened during the week of April 15–21, 2024.
📝 I’ve been using Bear for a little while now, and it certainly beats the pants off of Microsoft OneNote. But I’m not sure it’s any better than Apple Notes for what I need. And it’s built in and available everywhere with no fuss. So I’m switching. Again.
✅ But it’s not all Apple all the time. I tried for a while to use Apple Reminders to manage my personal task list and it just is not cutting it. This week I came across Notion, which is free for individual use and gives me a kanban board that I can customize.
📷 Traded in a couple of lenses this week and picked up a 90mm prime. Had a good experience working with MPB for the first time.
🪠 Our kitchen sink backed up this week so I had to take everything apart and snake the drain. That was a nasty mess, but I got it cleared and didn’t have to hire a plumber so that’s nice.
🌱 Spring time means we’re getting a lot of rain and the grass is growing like crazy. The neighbors on both sides are retired so they mow whenever the sun shines and makes my house look like the abandoned one on the block. It’s hard to keep up!
🍕 Our friends from Maryland came to town and stayed with us this week. Always great to catch up. We played some pickleball and made pizzas from scratch one night.
🏭 Things are getting a little less chaotic at the office lately, and my anxiety levels are coming down. I don’t like the sense of dread I’ve been having about the work week, and that’s been steadily improving so I think that’s good.
🏃♂️ Last Sunday I ran the Ohio State 4 Miler and messed up my knee in the process. This week I saw a doctor about it and I have to go for an MRI next week to see if I did any damage requiring surgery. It’s been feeling better so I’m hopeful that it’ll sort itself out.
📝 I’m committing to attempting to complete Anne’s Weblog Posting Month challenge during the month of May. I’m not so much worried about keeping up with the blogging as with having something to say. I still need to decide upon a theme.
“Free the Trump Trial Transcripts” by Errol Louis (New York)
Grain magazine, just the free first issue. Not sure I want to drop $35 for lifetime access though, whatever that means.
Came across this cache of old radio books that could be useful.
“The biggest threat facing your team, whether you’re a game developer or a tech founder or a CEO, is not what you think” by Doc Burford
“Content or creation?” by Joan Westenberg
Let’s go make a good week, shall we?
