Category: Micro.blog

Our old house is for sale again. I was in the area and since it’s not currently occupied, I had a quick look around. The current owners changed a number of things, but overall, it’s very similar to when we owned it a couple of years ago. However, I had to keep telling myself, “it’s not my house!” as I briefly walked around on the property. After owning it and living there for over 20 years, it was weird to not act like I owned the place!

We know the current owners and I’m sure they would have had no problem with me being there. That wasn’t the issue. It was just not my thing anymore. But part of me felt like it was. I don’t feel bad about it, it’s just funny how part of me was trying to revert to old ways.

https://www.har.com/homedetail/750-sue-barnett-dr-houston-tx-77018/7931089

Of all the information a modern automotive dashboard provides, why is temperature even a thing? Also, while it may be A temperature, it is not THE temperature. The temperature inside a metal box in direct sunlight isn’t how it’s properly measured.

Don’t worry. We’re not killing the planet, just ourselves. The planet will recover nicely once most or all of us are wiped out.

For several years I’ve been trying to compare the music industry (which has been lousy for artists for a while) and the film industry, which has seemed profitable and working. I was wrong. The issue was that streaming hadn’t hit the film industry fully until recently. Now that it has, we see they’re having the same problem created by the Internet that music and print has had. The one difference is that writers and actors (and directors…) have strong unions but unfortunately the musician’s union lost that kind of strength a long time ago.

(That’s not to say anything bad against the musician’s union, I’m all in favor of it, but unlike film, not every performer or writer is a member nor is required to be except for certain jobs. It’s unlikely your favorite artist is a member, unfortunately. Most people in popular music are on their own, especially starting out.)

Gratitude is magic that anyone can perform and enjoy.

For every other social media site I ever joined, it was a slow build. Find some people I knew or knew of, as first it was quiet then after a while it was maybe even too much. But that was after using it for quite a while.

With Threads, I joined on the first day and almost immediately there were more threads than I could possibly see. Add to that the feed being algorithmic instead of chronological, and it’s like I’m getting a random order of threads every time I check. Like its compatriots Facebook and Instagram, it reloads the feed every time I open it. Stuff disappears before I can read it.

Like its sibling Instagram, there’s no iPad app and we’re guessing there never will be one. I don’t see a way to use it on my Mac or in a browser, and I don’t like being forced to pick up my phone every time I want to check.

A lot of people and accounts who I had hoped would join Mastodon are already on Threads. My best hope now is that Threads implements ActivityPub, allowing Mastodon users to follow those accounts that way. The big reason I stay on FB is because of people I want to stay in touch with who are on there. Otherwise I would have dropped it long ago. Threads is already having the same effect. I’m using it way more than I would have expected, even though I don’t love it.

A Fourth of July memory.

My wife’s aunt invited the various family members over for the Fourth a few years ago (probably 2019). We asked my wife’s parents if they were going, and they said, “no, because all the drunks are out driving on the Fourth.”

The get together was at 2 pm.

Regarding my previous post about picking which hand to write with, I think the reason behind making me choose one was that they thought I wouldn’t be able to improve my handwriting while using both. If you see my handwriting now, you would realize that’s a fool’s errand anyway!

When I was a real little kid, maybe in kindergarten, I wrote with both (either) hands. I don’t think I even knew I was doing it or that it was different. “They”* told me that I couldn’t do that, I had to pick one. I asked what did most people write with and they told me the right hand, so that’s what I went with. I sometimes wonder what would have happened if I picked the left hand or was allowed to continue to use both.

* I think “they” were my father and grandmother, but I don’t know for sure.

I got a new Mac Studio last Friday (“just” the Max version), and Final Cut Pro with it. I’m having as much fun learning FCP as I do with Logic, another app I love. While I don’t have super great ideas for content, I have some ideas of how to shoot with multiple cameras and NOT do those annoying jump cuts. It’s not rocket science.

I also got a Luna Display so I could use my 2017 5K Retina iMac as a second monitor. It works pretty well, but not quite as well as I would like. They did warn me. Video playback isn’t great and moving stuff around can get blurry. It’s a shame that this is the best solution to keep using the iMac’s great display with another computer. I mean, they did a great job and the price might seem high but it’s less than any 5K display out there. It’s also better than the old Samsung 21.5″ monitor I was using as a second display. That was great back in the day when I bought it, but next to a 5K Retina display it’s almost hard to look at.

I’m also sometimes having trouble losing focus of the keyboard and/or trackpad at times. I think sometimes the stuff I’m doing is getting sent to the iMac itself instead of the Luna Display on it. Sometimes, commands get lost. There was one point where I was doing stuff in FCP that required the option key and it didn’t work at all until I disconnected the Luna display.

My primary display for the Mac Studio is an LG 5K Ultrafine, the same monitor Apple used to sell before they started selling their own 5K Studio Display. OWC had a bunch of “used” ones that were in excellent condition for around $700. I should have bought two, though. It doesn’t have all the features of the Studio Display (six speakers with Spatial Audio, three mic array, 12 MP Ultra Wide camera with Center Stage, though the stand is more adjustable than the tilt-only stand at the low end of the Studio Display), but I can make those up other ways, like the Continuity Camera with my iPhone 14 Pro. I still might get a Studio Display at some point, or if I find a good deal on another LG of the same model. I’m not sure I want to just buy a used one on eBay but I have seen reputable sellers selling used ones around the same price.

The other cool thing is the keyboard and trackpad sharing between the Mac Studio and iMac. I’m using one keyboard and trackpad with both computers and it’s perfectly seamless. It has been great when I want to go between the two computers to get the settings from the iMac and copy them on the Mac Studio. I can even literally copy and paste from one computer to the other as if they were the same machine.

Overall, I’m pretty happy though I’m still getting used to the setup (two 27″ monitors on my desk is a lot and I have to leave room for my audio monitors (speakers)). And even though I haven’t pushed it, I can tell it is much faster and smoother than the iMac. It runs cooler processor temperatures, too. That’s another negative about using the iMac as a display is that it’s likely using more energy and generating more heat than the Studio Display would.