Blog

Space Elevator

I spent forever just scrolling through this site. It was amazing fun watching all the facts and details as you scoll up to the Kármán Line. Sites like this don’t get enough publicity but it really should. Just a fun time. Making sure my kids get to see it as well is a treat. You should spend time there as well.

Enjoy and let me know what you think as well. Catch me at Mastodon.

🔗 ChatGPT Wrote a Song

Colin Meloy of The Decemberist had ChatGPT write a song in his style. It’s an example of how a great artist can bring a terrible-to-mediocre song up to something pretty decent. #

🔗 Split-wheeled Motorcycle

These fools chopped a rear tire of motorcycle in half…and the outcome is amazing. #

Static Site CMS

Why is it that there are very few file based, git backed, content management systems (CMS) out there? I see all over people using Hugo, Gatsby, 11ty, Jeckyll, and more to run their static site. The common denominator on all of these? They prioritize the use of .md files and flat-file systems to house their content. Although most of these can operate by pulling remote data from an API, this wasn’t the primary function.

Good Music

So, I’ve been able to work on my own recently. Due to people being out for Christmas and then many taking longer breaks than normal, I get to work on my own a bit. That’s good and bad for me because I do need some external stimuli to keep me moving…yet I’ve also been able to hyperfocus on a couple things well.

To maintain that focus I tend to listen to a great deal of music. I have Spotify open and on repeat. So, I figure I’d share the songs I cannot get enough of right now. Enjoy.

Personal Websites

I’m currently working to update my website. It is really fun to find things and rebuild…but that’s for a different post. I’ve found it pretty difficult to build the front-page content for this one though. My current page is full of me and my life, from showing tweets, links, television, and the like. I really like this type of lifestreaming approach, I even worked with this topic on the lifestreamblog website.

One issue I have is the shear quantity of information on the front page and the overwhelming presentation if provides. I love looking at it, but not sure anyone else really does. So in this rebuild I wanted to explore what’s out there to see if there’s some inspiration I can take in making a new site.

Website Builders

My son mentioned to me he wants a website. I’m all about that! I would love to offer him a place to call his own. But I don’t want to half-ass it. Growing up we had sites like GeoCities, Tripod, and others that allowed us complete freedom over the sites we made. And we had great tools to get us there. Where did all these tools go?

As I said, I didn’t want to skimp on him and get him something that extremely formulaic. Sure, I could fire up a WordPress bucket and give him the capability to build with that, but WordPress has become so bloated and so full of fluff it’s not that easy anymore to get things looking like you want them to. There are great HTML templates out there to start from to give him something amazing to work with, but he’s just starting out and understanding HTML, CSS, JS syntax in order to get the design he wants is a large uphill battle.

This Year, This Notebook

Not 100% sure what I wanted to do with this site. I’ve let it languish for a couple years and not sure why. Just had other things that have gotten in the way. So maybe this year will be different. Maybe not.

What I want to try is just dumping some stuff on here. My original vision for the site was to spend a good amount of time writing something meaningful. Some serious thoughts about what I wanted to say. But I spent too much time editing those and therefore completely losing my drive to write. That’s what I’m hoping to change this year.

🔗 What Can We Learn from Barnes & Noble's Surprising Turnaround?

Digital platforms are struggling, meanwhile a 136-year-old book retailer is growing again. But why? #

🔗 An Acoustic Cover of ‘Toss a Coin to Your Witcher’ Played on Two Guitars by One Musician

Luca Stricagnoli played a harmonic dual acoustic guitar cover of "Toss a Coin to Your Witcher" from the Netflix series "The Witcher". #

🔗 Blowing Up Strech Armstrong With a Garden Hose

The Slow Mo Guys cut off the right hand of a Stretch Armstrong and attached a garden hose to capture the explosion in slow motion. #

🔗 The Secret History Of The Internet’s Funniest Buzzer-Beater

Brian Feldman goes deep into a ’90s viral video and tracks down everyone involved #

Horizon Forbidden West

Horizon Forbidden West is Guerrilla Games latest action role-playing game following the protagonist, Aloy, through a post-apocalyptic North America. If you haven’t played Horizon Zero Dawn, then you should really go out and play it. As one of my all-time favorite modern games, and is a must have game for the PlayStation 4 and 5. I have just completed Horizon Forbidden West (HFW) and achieved the Platinum Trophy. Here’s my thoughts on the game.

New Look and Feel

It’s the COVID isolation theme… A bit more svelte and easier to handle, but still in the vein of what I’ve established as my style. Right about now, is when I start talking about how I wish I would write more and that I will probably do it from now on…then the site sits still for months and months. So I won’t be saying that.

I would like to write more, but time is not on my side. So that’s why things stay stale. I have some ideas, but seems like I always do. Trying to work through the logistics of my plans and then go from there. But drink in the new look and love all the new fun stuff on the homepage.