Canned Dragons

Moving Past DisruptionPaul Ford writes for Wired Magazine as the co-founder of a software company that is tired of the ubiquitous pursuit of disruption within the tech industry. He argues that disruption serves the bored and that boredom is a luxury we no longer have, even in the U.S. — particularly after January 6, 2021. That type of progress definitely generates a ton of activity. But it also sits weird when you consider how many lives in the world, historically and currently, including American lives, are extremely disrupted—by toxic spills or the whims of royalty or the goats all swelling up and dying.

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I was texting with an old friend the other day, and he was documenting his progress in getting three monitors set up. Since he has an M1 Mac Mini, like I do, he could only easily support two monitors. He turned to Universal Control with a MacBook Air to get three displays going. He was trying monitor stacking and side by side setups. I told him I just preferred a simple iMac and no external monitors, which is why I only have one monitor that my work MacBook Pro and Mac Mini share.

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One of the co-creators of the latest official D&D adventure, Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel, Ajit George, compares the setting of the book to solarpunk. I wrote about solarpunk in issue no. 8 of the newsletter. Wikipedia defines it this way: Solarpunk is a genre and art movement that envisions how the future might look if humanity succeeded in solving major contemporary challenges with an emphasis on sustainability, climate change and pollution.

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Last week, I published a micro post about my thoughts after reading Matt Birchler admonish his readers against switching blogging platforms. Birchler's main point was that switching platforms made it harder on readers and, therefore, more difficult to retain consistent readership. It's a solid point and one that really resonated with me. I have a tendency to tinker with different tools, some of which are blogging engines. That means I sometimes use different services to publish my posts.

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The biggest irony of the last couple of weeks has to be Rep. Peter Meijer’s loss in the Western Michigan Republican primary. As recently as the end of last year, The Atlantic did an in-depth profile on Meijer and how he was at odds with his own party of the impeachment of Donald Trump and other issues related to the former president. The piece, by Tim Alberta, is entitled What the GOP Does to Its Own Dissenters.

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Relative Sci-fiI've heard some grumblings about the new Star Wars TV series online. The Book of Boba Fett, which I quite enjoyed, was particularly stung by criticism. Even though Obi-Wan Kenobi seemed to be a success story, it had its share of detractors as well. While it may not make writing about these shows as interesting, I have had a lot of fun watching all the Star Wars entries into episodic television.

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I consider myself fortunate to have procured a subscription to the feed reader platform Feedbin, when it first launched, after the untimely demise of Google Reader. Getting in early allowed me to lock into the service at $2 a month. Feedbin has been improving over the years, adding features that make it more of a one-stop-shop for keeping up with the things you follow on the internet. Many times, I even view most of my Twitter feed using the app because I would rather not venture into the stream.

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When I first heard about Arc, from the Browser Company, I thought, who would want to get in the browser game? It seems like there are enough Chrome-based browsers on the market to suit any internet lifestyle. I was fortunate enough to get an invitation to their private beta, though, after mentioning my interest in checking it out. Now that I'm using it, I think I understand where the Browser Company is trying to go with their new offering.

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The first thing that hits you from Swiss outfit The Churchhill Garden's "Always There" are the reverb(y) guitars. Before too long, though, you find yourself entranced by the saccharine sweetness of American lead singer Krissy Vanderwoude's vocals, which bring to mind Velocity Girl's Sarah Shannon. As Vanderwoude sings about "kindness, patience and grace," it's marvelous to get a little twee go along with the richness of her honeyed tone. I liked last year's single, "

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A few years ago, when I was teaching confirmation at the PC(USA) Presbyterian Church of which I am a member, I was showing a video about church polity and governance from a reform theology curriculum. The video was done in an intentionally kitschy old-school style of animation with the voice over imitation a 50's instructional video. In the video, the congregation is in the church sanctuary, voting on a resolution that was disputed.

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