Today on AppAddict - CleanShot X hits the sweet spot for price and features among the many screen shot utilities for macOS, including several new features just released in version 4.7. Thanks to @mattbirchler for his video yesterday introducing them.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/cleanshot.jpg https://apps.louplummer.lol/post/cleanshot-x https://micro.blog/mattbirchler


From my 100 Strangers Project - I met Jenny at a craft fair, where she was smoking this big old stogie and composing poetry on a cloudy spring Sunday. How could I not get a picture of that?

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/jenny.jpg


Did you ever get in trouble in school for reading? I did…frequently. I got negative comments on my report cards for “placing pleasure reading above everything else”. Thankfully, I matured and never lost a job because of an errant paperback. WeblogPoMo2024 My Life Reading

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/books.jpeg https://louplummer.lol/post/my-life-reading


"I write about how [Biden] is working to restore the principles of the period between 1933 and 1981, when members of both parties shared the belief that the government should regulate business, provide a basic social safety net, promote infrastructure, and protect civil rights. I write about how that liberal consensus broke down as extremists used the image of the cowboy—who wanted nothing from the government but to be left alone—to stand against “creeping socialism” that stole from hardworking white men in order to give handouts to lazy minorities and women. Heather Cox Richardson"


I’ve been maintaining a links blog since January. I use Raindrop.io’s embedded frames feature to share a collection which makes updating the page a breeze. I make it a habit to add a link a day, adding a little purpose to otherwise aimless web surfing.
 https://amerpie.lol/my-bookmarks/


Today an AppAddict - Maestral, a free, open-source Dropbox client that lets you keep your files whereever you want, allows selective sync and doesn’t count against your three device limit. Works with paid and free Dropbox accounts.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/maestral.jpeg https://apps.louplummer.lol/post/maestral-an-open-source-dropbox-client


From my 100 Strangers Project - Eric and his partner were waiting for breakfast outside a busy diner when I approached them. He seemed kind of grumpy and I didn’t think I was going to get this one, but she told him it was OK, so in the end I got my man.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/grumpy.jpg


Just read my first story about the cool stuff they get in the EU that the rest of the world does without and now I have a little bit of an attitude. I want a real iOS clipboard manager too dammit.
 https://www.macstories.net/reviews/altstores-clip-is-the-best-clipboard-manager-on-ios-yet/


"CLICK ON START. START. ITS ON THE
BOTTOM LEFT CORNER. ON YOUR
MONITOR. START. CLICK IT. GO TO
CONTROL PANEL. CONTROL PANEL.
ITS IN THE START MENU. THE START
MENU. ITS WHAT POPPED UP WHEN
YOU HIT START. NO, DON’T HIT START
AGAIN. OK, HIT START AGAIN. DID THE
START MENU POP UP? THEN CLICK
START. NOW GO TO CONTROL PANEL.
CONTROL PANEL. CLICK ON IT. CLICK
ON CONTROL PANEL. THAT START
MENU DISAPPEARED? CLICK ON
START. OK, I’LL BE OVER."

If you only know how many times I have had this conversation in the last 30 years.


13 Example #Obsidian Vaults from Around the Internet https://amerpie.lol/2024/05/13/example-obsidian-vaults.html


My favorite part of working in education is summer break. Sure, there are plenty of projects of high and low intensity, but there’s something super peaceful about a nearly empty campus.


My WeblogPoMo2024 entry for today - On Writing - we all have a “why” to explain our need/desire/want to put ourselves out there for the Internet world to see. This is mine.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/writing.jpg https://louplummer.lol/post/on-writing


Today on AppAddict - Dropzone 4 a pricey but versatile menu bar app (included with Setapp) that can make uploading media to Micro.blog a snap if you pair it with shortcuts from @jarrod

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/dropzone.jpg https://apps.louplummer.lol/post/dropzone-4-a-little-pricey-but-versatile https://micro.blog/jarrod


From my 100 Strangers Project - Office Scott. I couldn’t tell if she was flattered or embarrassed, but she was cool with having me snap a photo. I take picture of police officers because it’s good for them to get used to it. I’m not pushy or confrontational about it and most of them don’t mind.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/officerscott.jpg


Task Management with Things 3 and #Obsidian https://amerpie.lol/2024/05/12/task-management-with.html


Any more extroverts married to introverts out there? Things my wife hates worse than death - 1) Going into a store to pay for gas in person 2) Someone sitting beside her at the movies 3) Invitations to anything but particularly from neighbors


Today on AppAddict - Bean a free lightweight word processor that’s kind of like WordPad on Windows, only better. Weighing in at only 8MB, it runs great, even on old hardware. For when you need rich text, tables and images in a document.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/bean.jpeg https://apps.louplummer.lol/post/bean-a-free-lightweight-word-processor


I reflect on Reddit after using it since 2006, the ups and downs and how it has changed for my WeblogPoMo2024 post today.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/reddit.jpeg https://louplummer.lol/post/my-reddit-account-can-vote


100 Strangers Project - This lovely lady sold newspapers on an off ramp near my house for years in all kinds of weather, always smiling. I bought from her whenever I had cash.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/newslady.jpg


Jump starting Mother’s Day in the US. My mom lived the first 17 years of her life in a rural NC farmhouse with no indoor plumbing. She had two kids before age 20 and a couple of disastrous marriages. She ended up a highly regarded RN in the ICU and in her 70s has walked across England and Spain.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/img-3523.jpeg


This Weeks Bookmarks - Paleo is BS, Bye Harry Potter, Tech failures that didn't, Best books of the century, Travel destinations, Phones at protests, Clipboard managers https://amerpie.lol/2024/05/11/this-weeks-bookmarks.html


It’s Saturday and I’ve updated my /now page with links to a full week or app reviews on AppAddict and my WeblogPoMo2024 posts, as well good TV from the BBC, my browsing finds and a new coffee maker for the masses.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/39c7747e5e.webp https://amerpie.omg.lol/now


Today on AppAddict - FreeTube may be the most underrated app in the Mac ecosystem. It’s a privacy first, ad free player for YouTube that offers playlists, favorites and subscriptions - all without an account. It even downloads videos. Totally free and open source.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/cleanshot-2024-05-10-at-20.04.222x.jpg https://apps.louplummer.lol/post/freetube-maybe-the-most-underrated-app


From my 100 Strangers Project - Jessica - a member of an anarchist pacifist theater group dating back to 1947. I saw them rehearsing in a park in NYC and struck up a conversation. The didn’t just talk at me though, truly curious they asked about my project and my own artistic history.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/jessica.jpg


All roads lead back to Vietnam, the story of relationship with my distant father today for WeblogPoMo2024.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/dad.jpg https://louplummer.lol/post/a-distant-dad


I think the world is definitely better with you in it!


My Favorite Actions for Hazel, the Preeminent File Management Software for the Mac  https://amerpie.lol/2024/05/10/my-favorite-actions.html


From my 100 Strangers Project - This guy wanted to remain anonymous. I met him on the street in Charlotte where he was busy selling tickets before a Panthers football game, but not too busy to pose for a quick street portrait.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/scalper.jpg


Today on AppAddict - Music Harbor helps you stay on top of new releases and videos from the artists you listen to. It’s so good it told me about the new Johnny Cash album and The Man in Black has been gone for more than 20 years.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/johnny-cash-songwriter-copy-820x820.jpg https://apps.louplummer.lol/post/musicharbor-the-new-release-finder


My first computer was an IBM 486/33 SX PS1 Consultant, purchased in December of 1993 for $1800 but there is more to the story than just numbers. For WeblogPoMo2024

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/486.jpg https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/windows3.1.jpg https://louplummer.lol/post/my-first-computer


8 Use cases for Drafts - The First Automation App I Ever Installed, Still on my Dock 10 Years Later https://amerpie.lol/2024/05/09/use-cases-for.html


From my 100 Strangers Project - Miranda, a real-life Roller Derby Queen.  I thought Roller Derby died in the 70s and she told me that it had in fact done so but the 21st century has seen a revival.  Miranda was a slight, if athletic woman with a definite energetic presence and a sense of enthusiasm.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/miranda.jpg


Nothing too sexy about it, just [a day in the life](louplummer.lol/post/2024… of Mr. and Mrs. Amerpie for WeblogPoMo2024.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/img-3103.jpeg https://louplummer.lol/post/2024-05-090


Today on AppAddict - RapiDMG - a $1 App that automates mounting DMG files, extracting the app to the Applications folder, dismounting and deleting the DMG and highlighting the newly installed app. It happens in seconds.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/cleanshot-2024-05-08-at-20.34.522x.jpg https://apps.louplummer.lol/post/rapidmg-automating-downloads-and-installs


For purely practical and non-sentimental reasons, I still have the current version very first iPhone app I ever downloaded on my phone fifteen years later. I wrote the developers today to let them know that and was tickled pink when they wrote back. AppBoxPro

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/cleanshot-2024-05-08-at-21.06.472x.jpg https://apps.apple.com/us/app/appbox-pro/id318404385


Question for people who have switched email accounts after a long time with one service - I’ve had the same Gmail account since 2005 but I’m thinking of switching to Proton or Hey! What were your biggest pain points?


I’m always on the lookout for a good police procedural from the folks across the pond. They’ve got that genre down. Right now, we’re loving Blue Lights about three probationary constables on the Belfast, NI force.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/bluelights-bbc.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Lights_(2023_TV_series)


Another sticker for @maique - The building this is stuck too belongs to American photographer Jay Maisel in NYC and it serves as an impromptu art gallery in the neighborhood.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/sticker.jpg https://micro.blog/maique https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_Maisel


The Road to Hell - a book review. I stayed up all night on the day I checked this out of the library to finish it. It hit very close to home. WeblogPoMo2024, Day 8

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/road2hell.jpg https://louplummer.lol/post/the-road-to-hell


Today on App Addict - Blip - Free, encrypted, cross platform, instant file transfers of unlimited size

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/blip.jpeg https://apps.louplummer.lol/post/blip-free-cross-platform-file-transfers


"There are 600,000 children in Rafah. They have nowhere else to go. If you support an invasion of Rafah, you’re saying the lives and well-being of those children don’t matter. If you saw those children as your own, opposing the invasion wouldn’t be a question. If you don’t see them as your own, it’s because they’ve been dehumanized to you. Otherwise no person with a conscience would look at an innocent child, let alone 600,000 innocent children, and agree they deserve to be bombed and killed."

"https://social.lol/@QasimRashid@mastodon.social"

 https://social.lol/@QasimRashid@mastodon.social


#Obsidian Maintenance - The Steps to Take and Plugins to Use to Keep Your Vault Up to Date, Backed Up and Organized https://amerpie.lol/2024/05/07/obsidian-maintenance-the.html


When the NY Times, WaPo and Pro Publica all win Pulitzers (again) and National Review, Washington Times and The Federalist all go zero for forever, it makes me think that maybe public service and good journalism aren’t so much liberal as they are truthful compared to the morass on the right.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/pulitzer-prizes-medal.jpeg https://apnews.com/article/pulitzer-prizes-2024-awards-journalism-arts-reporting-6e07cdcf937d49158d452f2cc0dbc214


"“I’ve been an artist myself. Anything I can do to promote art, I will. Art says things about its creator, whether it is good or bad.” - Robert"

100 Strangers - Robert is an artist & philosopher. I saw him sitting on a bench, legs crossed beneath him on the periphery of Central Park reading a book he’d just purchased from one of the stalls along the street. He wore a quirky pair of glasses that drew my attention.  His reaction to my portrait request was a huge smile and 100% cooperation. I knelt on the sidewalk and gladly listened to his thoughts on art for several minutes.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/robert.jpg


In today’s WeblogPoMo2024 entry, I wrote about five times I’ve taken the streets with like-minded comrades over, well, things that people ought to be in the streets about.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/activism0566.jpeg https://louplummer.lol/post/five-things-i-ve-protested


Today on App Addict - ProNote - a plugin for Apple’s Notes App that allows you to use Markdown, a formatting toolbar or slash commands. It also features a backlinks highlighter.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/og-main.jpeg https://apps.louplummer.lol/post/pronotes-markdown-plugin-for-apple-notes


I saw @superdavey talking about his perfect album earlier. Here’s mine. I remember the night I bought it at the record store, lying on the floor beside the speakers, the way we did back when music was so god damned important in our lives. I miss those days. Nebraska by Bruce Springsteen

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/nebraska.jpg https://micro.blog/superdavey https://album.link/Boss_Nebraska


The Guys at Hemispheric views just announced their perfect album picks. Here’s mine. (The perfect song from the album is Highway Patrolman)


How do folks pronounce these two products where you live? In NC it’s “Ree-see” and “Vigh -ay-nee”

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/drh2etg5srcyl5-xevg0pq.jpg https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/8fwjckittwultyqlmfi5vg.jpg


I found out last week that you can download your Apple purchase history. The first app I ever purchased was on 9/18/2009, AppBoxPro and it is still available! The second app I downloaded was Facebook. It was a more innocent time, what can I say?
 https://privacy.apple.com/account https://apps.apple.com/app/id318404385


A street portrait from my 100 Strangers Project. This is Joey, an aspiring actor I met at a street festival. He was an agreeable model and we had a nice chat after I took his photo.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/100.jpg


Northern Ireland is like no other place in the English-Speaking World. It’s a beautiful country full of people friendly to outsiders and still suspicious about each other, twenty-six years after the end of The Troubles. What do you know about it? WeblogPoMo2024, Day 6

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/derry.jpeg https://louplummer.lol/post/northern-ireland


Today on AppAddict - The Battle of the Clipboard Mangers - I settled on using Raycast with the CopyQ extension installed after being a PastePal user for years. I still have access to Keyboard Maestro and Better Touch Tool’s clipboards, but I tried and rejected numerous others.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/raycast-app-icon.jpeg https://apps.louplummer.lol/post/battle-of-the-clipboard-managers


Trying to crowdsource a good place to mail order Nespresso pods. Do any of you people with “Coffee” in your bio have any tips?

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/nespresso.jpg


"I’ve already said that we’re not banning books to keep kids safe, we’re banning books to keep afloat a view of the world that seemed to be dying."

Source: On Banning Books, Taking Notes for Others and Should you Write a Book? – 3 Threads – Curtis McHale by
 https://curtismchale.ca/2023/02/04/florida-isnt-banning-books-to-keep-kids-safe/ https://curtismchale.ca/2024/05/04/on-banning-books-taking-notes-for-others-and-should-you-write-a-book-3-threads/


What happens when the state violently disapproves of student protest. Today is the anniversary.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/2e33c488c0.jpg


From My 100 Strangers series of street portraits - When I told her that she had a beautiful smile, she thanked me. I meant it.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/100-strangers.jpg


I know that VS Code is the most popular editor and has approximately 1 million features and plugins but I’ve never cared for its non-standard interface. As a power user, but non-programmer, I like the free version of BBEdit. Global search and replace is a killer feature. It can also open anything.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/cleanshot-2024-05-05-at-05.57.182x.jpg https://apps.louplummer.lol/post/bbedit-it-doesn-t-suck


One Man’s Obsession is Another Man’s Passion - a multi-generational tale of compulsive lawn mowing, incinerated rifles, talking birds and art galleries.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/norbert-buduczki-le0ys-iceta-unsplash.jpg https://louplummer.lol/post/one-man-s-obsession-is-another-man-s-passion


I subscribe to lots of newsletters, including some commercial ones like Lifehacker and Tech Republic. I’m pretty good at staying on top of them usually but I’m here to publicly confess that I had to commit inbox suicide today and just “select all + mark as read”.  It offends my completionist ethos.


This Week's Bookmarks - Mostly Music and Photographs, Defending tech from overanxious parents, lessons for writers https://amerpie.lol/2024/05/04/this-weeks-bookmarks.html


"However big you think UnitedHealth is, it’s bigger than that:"

With a market cap of nearly $450 billion, it’s the fourth-largest company in the US by revenue this year, beating out Alphabet and Microsoft.
The company is eyeing a $24.7 billion profit in 2024.
One analyst estimated that more than 5% of US GDP flows through UnitedHealth’s systems daily.

Yay, capitalism.


It’s Saturday again, so I have [updated my /now page](amerpie/lol/now] where I talk about WeblogPoMo2024, some good TV, links to the 19 (!) blog posts I wrote this week and one of my favorite subscriptions, Trakt.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/cleanshot-2024-05-04-at-08.47.422x.jpg https://amerpie/lol/now


The battery on my M2 MacBook Air lasts so long it seems like it’s from a science fiction novel. To maximize the lifetime of the battery and to protect the environment and my wallet, I use AlDente Pro to keep my charge below 80% and to automatically run a full cycle once a month.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/adpro.jpeg https://apps.louplummer.lol/post/aldente-pro-charge-limiter


Everyone has their favorite moments, their favorite memories. These are mine. None of them are particularly monumental and thankfully some of them are downright commonplace. Lucky me.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/img-0099-copy.jpeg https://louplummer.lol/post/twenty-sublime-moments


Hiking in New Hampshire is scary at times. There’s a weather station on top of Mt. Washington where there’s a plaque to all the people who have died on the mountain. The scary part? They left room on the bottom of the plaque to add more names!

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/washington.jpg


Free and Cheap Web Tools For Bloggers: Graphics, Design Tools, Editors, Analytics and More https://amerpie.lol/2024/05/03/free-and-cheap.html


Free online service upscales images for you

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/cleanshot-2024-05-03-at-08.50.582x.jpg https://www.stickermule.com/upscale


"NYC Fun Facts"

There is no place to pee. I think you have to go to New Jersey.
Those 4-year olds on their scooters will run you over and laugh.
So many dogs!
The police all sleep in their uniforms. Someone give those people an iron.
There really are a lot of Chinese people in Chinatown. They don’t just call it that.


Inspired by @maique, a sticker spotted on a building in the Bowery, NYC

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/mj.jpg https://micro.blog/maique


A story from thirty years ago when I was trying to figure out how to keep three adolescents fed without going bankrupt. For WeblogPoMo20224 - Feeding Children

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/cc.jpeg https://louplummer.lol/post/feeding-children


Today on AppAddict - Forget all the fancy apps, Raycast, the Google Gemini website, all the AI stuff on SetApp, because my favorite way to conduct a Q&A with a LLM is using this free Apple Shortcut that has a customizable prompt, transcripts and more.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/gpt-siri.jpeg https://apps.louplummer.lol/post/my-favorite-ai-app-is-an-apple-shortcut


Automating #Obsidian - Generate Notes About Your Media Consumption via RSS - Books, TV, Movies, Music https://amerpie.lol/2024/05/02/automating-obsidian-generate.html


📷 #mbApr Bonus Day 31 - Unputdownable
My granddaughter, Jolene, named after the Dolly Parton song (note: I eventually did, in fact, put her down. She is a teenager now.)

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/unputdownable.jpeg


I feel like it would be a good idea to budget some time each week just for the forums I belong to for different software titles and web sites: Drafts, #Obsidian, Actions for Obsidian, OMG.LOL, the Automators Podcast, Tidbits, AppleInsider, Keyboard Maestro and Hazel. Good stuff to be learned there.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/automators.jpg


My Top 10 Keyboard Maestro Macros https://amerpie.lol/2024/05/01/my-top-keyboard.html


Today on AppAddict - a bargain if you can find it on sale, Alarm Clock Pro has multiple alarms, world clocks, timers, stopwatches, and automates emails, texts, program launches, web pages, sleep, wake, restart and shutdown. See the full review

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/cleanshot-2024-05-01-at-05.12.292x.jpg https://apps.louplummer.lol/post/alarm-clock-pro


I decided to start off my participation in WeblogPoMo2024 with a bit of humor, so I wrote A Treatise on Office Decorations. If you are a golfer and sensitive about it, you may want to skip this one. Same for hangers of cheesy posters.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/never.jpg https://louplummer.lol/post/a-treatise-on-office-decorations


📷 #mbApr Bonus Day 31 - Bubble
At the North Carolina Dogwood Festival in Fayetteville

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/2015-04-06-bubble-2.jpeg


"“The University administration respects all student protests, just not this one. Students have fought for many important causes over the years, and their right to protest is sacrosanct. In this case, however, we must arrest and slander them. Free speech is the backbone of a vibrant academic ecosystem. Just this once, though, we must silence and punish any student who speaks out.”"

MESSAGE FROM THE CHANCELLOR
 https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/a-message-from-the-chancellor-on-the-recent-student-protest


🔗The Godfather of #Ultrarunning, Lazarus Lake, walks across America…again

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/laz.jpeg https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2024/apr/27/lazarus-lake-walks-across-america-lazcon


I made a multi-reddit to browse tech topics from 28 different communities. Lately it’s been almost unusable because almost 75% of the discussions are from one group in particular, r/windowshelp. LOL, what a shit show.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/cleanshot-2024-04-30-at-15.17.122x.jpg


I retired in 2020 and it was a huge mistake. I didn’t have a plan to make use of my time and consequently, tried to set a record for the most hours spent napping in a single calendar year. I took a low-key job in a field I enjoy to rescue myself from the torpor. It worked and I’m glad! The story.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/wvz4dte7dli-full.jpg https://louplummer.lol/post/my-retirement-disaster


Today on App Addict - Toy Viewer a fast, free and dependable replacement for Apple Preview when viewing graphics or making minor edits. See my review

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/toyviewer.jpeg https://apps.louplummer.lol/post/toyviewer-a-preview-replacment


📷 #mbApr Day 30 - Hometown
Fayetteville, NC, The Hometown of the 82nd Airborne and Special Forces at Ft. Liberty (nee Ft. Bragg) - The quintessential military town. Barber Shops, boot repair, pawn shops, used car lots #photography

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/yadkin2.jpg


Having lived my entire life in the South, I don’t know if pickled eggs are a Southern delicacy, or if they are enjoyed nationwide. (Please feel free to leave a comment enlightening me if you wish). A Recipe

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/pickled-egge.webp https://louplummer.lol/post/pickled-eggs


OK, maybe I don’t hate Reddit anymore. Today has been the busiest day my little blog has ever seen.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/cleanshot-2024-04-29-at-11.57.142x.jpg


I wrote a review of a 59-year old album because I’m a big old Bob Dylan Fan and maybe some of you have never given him a chance. Well, you ought to. The man is a genius and he’s important and he matters. Bringing It All Back Home

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/dylan-2.webp https://louplummer.lol/post/bringing-it-all-back-home


Have you heard about the uninvited AI bloatware that Logitech injected into their Logi Options mouse driver last week? It’s objectively terrible and a resource hog to boot. I suggest switching to BetterMouse, an $8 superior driver with advanced features. Here’s my review

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/cleanshot-2024-04-29-at-04.51.562x.jpg https://apps.louplummer.lol/post/bettermouse-is-better


📷 #mbApr Day 29 - Drift

Heading down Bogue Sound near Swansboro, NC #photography

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/drift.jpeg


The governor of Mississippi declared April to be Confederate Heritage Month. I’d like to dedicate this song to him. Here’s to the State of Mississippi

 https://song.link/i/111190562


The governor of Mississippi declared April to be Confederate Heritage Month. I’d like to dedicate this song to him.


77 Types of Notes to Keep in #Obsidian https://amerpie.lol/2024/04/28/types-of-notes.html


Today on App Addict, Backup Status, a notification center widget that gives you the status of your Time Machine backups at a glance. It’s the easiest way to keep up with the health of your backups. Just set it and forget it.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/backup-status.jpeg https://apps.louplummer.lol/post/backup-status-check-up-your-time-machine


"The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother’s keeper and the finder of lost children. - Ezekial 25:17"

National Talk Like Pulp Fiction Day


📷 #mbApr Day 28 - Community
March 19,2005 at Ft. Bragg, NC - Led by Iraq Veterans Against the War and Military Families Speak Out, the largest antiwar demonstration outside a military base since Vietnam was the culmination of the most intense work I’ve ever done as a community activist. #photography

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/community.jpeg


I’ve updated my /now page with all the usual stuff. I was on a writing frenzy this week, so there is links to all that, some good TV, my favorite blog post, a shirt from Basic Apple Guy and bookmark worthy web pages. My /now page

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/5208236483.webp https://amerpie.omg.lol/now


Tomorrow is National Talk Like You’re in Pulp Fiction Day. Drop me your favorite quote.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/pulp-fiction.webp


This Weeks Bookmarks - Free fries, best condiments, web history, free advice, Google graveyard, Shakespeare's inventions, best national parks https://amerpie.lol/2024/04/27/this-weeks-bookmarks.html


MyApplications is a database and launcher for all the apps on your Mac. It breaks them down by publisher and category, gives you detailed info on each app, its package content and system permissions. You can sort apps by date launched or by name. It’s 99 cents in the app store.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/cleanshot-2024-04-27-at-04.58.242x.jpg https://apps.louplummer.lol/post/myapplications-an-app-for-app-lovers


📷 #mbApr Day 27 - Surprise
At the end of March one year, we were hiking in the Shining Rock wilderness in the NC mountains when we missed a turn on the trail and ended up having to pitch our tent on the appropriately named Cold Mountain. In the morning, we awoke to snowfall - surprise! #photography

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/surprise.jpeg


The Tourist  2x03 "Episode 3" https://amerpie.lol/2024/04/26/the-tourist-x.html


Now that Shogun is over, Wonder Woman and I have moved on to season two of The Tourist starring Jamie Dornan, who I love. The season was filmed in Ireland and the scenery is beautiful and the accents delightful.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/dornan.webp https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11847842/trivia/?ref_=tt_trv_trv


Well, I gotta confess. I argued with someone on the Internet today. Got offended is more like it. WTF. I know better, much better. The 30-second head rush I got while typing my outraged response to an accusation wasn’t worth it.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/anger.jpg


Anyone else doing WeblohPoMo2024? Sponsored by @anniegreens, it’s a month-long challenge to write every day and post when you can on your blog, ideally around a common theme, but not necessarily.  Sounds like fun to me and I’ll be missing the April photo challenge.
 https://weblog.anniegreens.lol/weblog-posting-month-2024 https://micro.blog/anniegreens


Subscriptions - Not as much as I thoughtand worth it https://amerpie.lol/2024/04/26/subscriptions-not-as.html


Path Finder by Cocoatech has been around as long as Mac OS X. Its dual pane file navigation and depth of features make it a must-have tool in my app belt. It is available on Setapp or by subscription or one time purchase without upgrades.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/pathfinder10.jpeg https://apps.louplummer.lol/post/pathfinder-by-cocoatech


📷 #mbApr Day 26 - Critter

Red Panda, native to eastern Himalayas and southern China. #photography

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/critter.jpeg


Mac people - excluding Apple’s own apps, what software have you been using the longest? For me it’s going to be BBEdit (released in 92) and ToyViewer (released in 95), both of which I’ve used since the 90s. Honorable mention to Launchbar and PathFinder.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/bbedit-2.webp


My 10 Favorite #Raycast Use Cases (and all the apps it replaced) https://amerpie.lol/2024/04/25/my-favorite-raycast.html


KeyClu is a free app for aspiring power users. Once installed and running, all you have to do is press the command key twice to bring up a cheat sheet with all the keyboard shortcuts for the app listed on the display.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/keyclu2.jpeg https://apps.louplummer.lol/post/keyclu-a-free-app-for-aspiring-power-users


Today is celebrated as Liberation Day in Italy🇮🇹 where the country commigrates the partisans and allies who died fighting the fascists and Nazis in World War 2. I’d like to honor my grandmother’s brother, Gratton McFadyen, one of those who gave his life there. Never again.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/gm.jpg


📷 #mbApr Day 25 - Spine

Wonder Woman navigating the spine of a mountain on the Appalachian Trail in Pennsylvania. You can see one of the 80,000 white blazes that mark the way on the tree beside her.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/spine.jpeg


Did you ever have a manic phase that let you just turn out good stuff for a prolonged period of time? It sucked when it ended, didn’t it? I had one of those phases about ten years ago and carried a camera all the way through it. A Once and Future Love

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/2015-04-25carnival-woman.jpeg https://apps.louplummer.lol/post/a-once-and-future-love


10 Lesser Known But Super Useful Obsidian Plugins https://amerpie.lol/2024/04/24/lesser-known-but.html


Favorite logo? I’m definitely flying the rainbow flag on this one. #Apple

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/apple.jpg


Custom Shortcuts by Houdah Software is a free Mac application that allows you to assign your own keyboard shortcuts to any menu item in any application.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/customshortcuts-icon-minimized.jpeg https://apps.louplummer.lol/post/custom-shortcuts-by-houdah-software


📷 #mbApr Day 24 - Light

Sunset at Edenton Harbor #photography

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/2014-11-03-edenton-1.jpg


If they’re smart enough to fix a 46-year old computer from 15 billion miles away, everyone can STFU about the competence of government employees for a while. Voyager 1 Is Working Again
 https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-voyager-1-resumes-sending-engineering-updates-to-earth


Our new CIO decided to take away local admin rights from all users, which from a security standpoint is the right things to do but from a cultural standpoint is a huge and unpopular change. As part of the public face of IT, it’s not been fun explaining this to folks.


Doc Watson, the blind folk guitarist from the NC mountains been gone for 12 years now but before he passed away, I got to see him perform live. It was the musical experience of a lifetime. His music has had special meaning to me for decades. The Essential Doc Watson - a Review

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/doc-watson.jpeg https://louplummer.lol/post/i-have-heard-doc-watson


Back in the days of the pre-OS X classic Mac OS, you could configure the Apple Menu to serve as an app launcher and conduit to the folder system. XMenu, a free utility from Devon Technologies offers the same functionality.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/xmenu.webp https://apps.louplummer.lol/post/xmenu-free-menu-bar-app-launcher


📷 #mbApr Day 23 - Dreamy

Sunset at Calabash in Brunswick County North Carolina

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/dreamy.jpg


I think I’m going to have to unsubscribe to another famous Apple pundit’s RSS feed, even though he seems to be on everyone else’s blogroll. His work is just corporate apologist propaganda these days complete with antiworker barbs and too much “Don’t you know who I am”. Daring it ain’t.


Adventures in Camera Land - The story of a recent weekend spent chasing good snaps, featuring the Easter Bunny, some Green Berets, hookah-smoking coeds, a Lebanese delegation and lots of unphotographed children.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/lebanon.jpg https://louplummer.lol/post/adventures-in-camera-land


If you hate trying to read articles on Medium but would really like a way to see the content, all you have to do is go to archive.ph and paste in the URL or better yet, [install the extension.[(https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/archive-page/gcaimhkfmliahedmeklebabdgagipbia)

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/medium-300x158.jpeg https://archive.ph


The Wire - Season One, Episode One, Scene One - The Masterpiece That Kicked It Off https://amerpie.lol/2024/04/22/the-wire-season.html


Apparency by Mothers Ruin Software is an app that also serves as a plugin for the macOS QuickLook feature. After installing Apparency, you can select an app in the Finder, press the spacebar and get a variety of information in the resulting window.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/cleanshot-2024-04-22-at-05.07.392x.jpg https://apps.louplummer.lol/post/apparency-the-app-that-open-apps


My weekly checklist in Things 3 - a Sunday chore that helps successfully wrap up a week.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/cleanshot-2024-04-21-at-19.57.032x.jpg https://culturedcode.com/things/


In the pre-streaming days when my kids were young teenagers (circa the mid-90s) we could go rent movies on Friday nights and get an entire weekend’s worth of films for $5. It was glorious and makes for a fine memory. Remembering the 90s- the Video Store

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/brody-video-store-as-film-school.webp https://louplummer.lol/post/remembering-the-90s-the-video-store


If you use more than one browser or non-standard apps for things like YouTube, getting links to open in the app of your choice can be a pain. Using Opener by tijo inc., you can force links to open where you want them, not where your phone thinks they should open.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/opener2.jpeg https://apps.louplummer.lol/post/opener-opens-the-app-you-want


📷 #mbApr Day 21 - Mountain

Pike’s Peak as seen from Colorado Springs #photography

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/img-3072.jpeg


Pro tip - when browsing #Obsidian plugins, click the arrow in the browsing interface to change the sort order and see those most recently released. The plugin count is up to 1,656 as of today.  My Obsidian Tips

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/obsidian.jpg https://obsidian.amerpie.lol


I’ve come a long way from my Mom’s table in the 70s eating the Old El Paso variety with grated cheddar cheese and shredded iceberg lettuce. Tacos - A Love Affair

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/img-2133.jpeg https://louplummer.lol/post/tacos-a-love-affiar


The One a Month Club's I've Joined So Far https://amerpie.lol/2024/04/20/the-one-a.html


It’s Saturday, time to update my /now page - with book suggestions, what’s good on TV, the stuff I wrote (including lots of app reviews), the best socks money can buy and what I cool stuff I found on the Internet this week. My /now Page

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/ed62a9446b.webp https://amerpie.omg.lol/now


This Weeks Bookmarks - Internet Fame, Bizarre Golf Courses, Stadium Names, Nature Photography Winners, SNL's Best Clip Ever, 10 Words You Mispronounce, Penguins! https://amerpie.lol/2024/04/20/this-weeks-bookmarks.html


iOS has a list of triggers you can use to launch shortcuts but for some reason Apple chose not to include that feature in macOS.  Shortery from UnitNo5 steps in to fill that gap. It includes 17 triggers including time, WIFi connections and folder contents.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/shortery1.webp https://apps.louplummer.lol/post/shortery-the-missing-mac-automator


📷 #mbApr Day 20 - Ice

I usually post this sometime in late August with the title “Cancel School” when it’s 100 degrees outside and the kids have only been back a week.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/55433f3f6c.jpg


📷 #mbApr Day 20

I usually post this sometime in late August with the title “Cancel School” when it’s 100 degrees outside and the kids have only been back a week.

amerpie.lol/uploads/2…
 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/7e827aa5f4.jpg


Just placed my order for the coolest t-shirt I’ve seen in years. IYKYK

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/image.png


📷 #mbApr Day 20

I usually post this sometime in late August with the title “Cancel School” when it’s 100 degrees outside and the kids have only been back a week.


MarkDownload - The Browser Extension that Works With #Obsidian https://amerpie.lol/2024/04/19/markdownload-the-browser.html


Better Display is a Mac app that lets you reach and control the full potential of your built in and connected displays. Your screen never looked so good after tweaking it with Better Display. Many free features, full package is $18. 15 Stars on GitHub!

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/better-display.png https://apps.louplummer.lol/post/better-display


From my 100 Strangers Project. This is Sana, photographed while heading for the subway near Wall Street in NYC. She was coming back from a Holi celebration, thus the chalk. #photography

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/sana.jpg


DNS over Wikipedia - a good article about a project to help get around the Google bans on reaching sites like SciHub and (the real) Pirate Bay. I’m all about getting to parts of the web the corporate overlords are trying to wall off.
 https://github.com/aaronjanse/dns-over-wikipedia


Browser Extensions Personalize The Web Like Nothing Else Can - What Are Your Favorites? https://amerpie.lol/2024/04/18/browser-extensions-personalize.html


"There’s a race of men that don’t fit in
A race that can’t sit still;
So they break the hearts of kith and kin,
And they roam the world at will.
They range the field and rove the flood,
And they climb the mountain’s crest;
Theirs is the curse of the gypsy blood,
And they don’t know how to rest.
—Robert Service, Poet of the Yukon from “The Men that Don’t Fit In”"

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/pa-climb.jpeg


Listy is a private list manager for iOS, iPadOS and macOS. It tracks media in the form of movies, books and TV by metadata and web sites like YouTube by URL. I use it to keep lists of media as well as YouTube videos I want to watch as well as restaurants I want to visit .

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/listy-icon.png https://apps.louplummer.lol/post/listy-a-private-list-manager


The streets of Wilmington, NC #mbapr Micro.blog photo challenge April 2024. Day 18: mood #photography

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/wilmington-bw-1.jpeg


Ian Betterridge, with 30+ years of review experience, gives props to MKBHD for the Humane takedown and schools Daniel Vassallo and the tech-bro cave he crawled out of. On the fine art of technology reviews
 https://ianbetteridge.com/2024/04/17/on-the-fine-art-of-technology-reviews/


What It Feels Like To Be 15 Years Sober (Hint - Pretty Damn Good 😄) https://amerpie.lol/2024/04/17/what-it-feels.html


What’s your favorite habit-tracker? I’ve used Apple Design Award Winner Streaks for years. It’s helped my make things like journaling and posting pictures to Micro.blog a part of my daily routine.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/52170b6f5f.png https://apps.louplummer.lol/post/streaks-the-classic-habit-tracker


Open at Login - The Balancing Act: Every App You Run Has the Potential To Slow Your Computer Down But Some Stuff You Just Can't Live Without https://amerpie.lol/2024/04/15/open-at-login.html


Reddit has gone nuts over the number of apps I have installed. There are 346 the root of my apps folder, plus another 38 in the SetApps folder. Exploring software is my hobby and an M2 MacBook Air with a 1TB drive can handle more than what I’m throwing at it. It’s not like they all run at once.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/cleanshot-2024-04-15-at-15.45.12.jpg


From the lips of Brett Terpstra to my ears. He’s got a whole website devoted to little pearls like this. #dimspiration @ttscoff@nojack.easydns.ca on Mastodon

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/maniac.jpeg https://micro.blog/ttscoff@nojack.easydns.ca


My grandson, James Henry. The boy is fearless. #mbapr Micro.blog photo challenge April 2024. Day 15: Small #photography

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/small-james.jpeg


My Daily Digital Checklist - Staying Organized and Tracking the Important Stuff. Easy to Implement. Easy to Follow. https://amerpie.lol/2024/04/14/my-daily-digital.html


Today’s Reddit idiocy - 1) Calling a fully functional app “abandonware” because it hasn’t been updated in 12 months. 2) Questioning why anyone would use multiple web browsers on a review of an app that searches the web history of multiple browsers.


If you use multiple browsers or just want a super-charged database for searching your web history and bookmarks, HistoryHound from St. Clair Software is a must have tool. It searches not only the page title but also the content of every page you visit in a centralized database.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/historyhound1.jpg https://apps.louplummer.lol/post/historyhound-a-must-have-research-tool


The cacti of Austin, Texas #mbapr Micro.blog photo challenge April 2024. Day 14: Cactus #photography

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/cactus.jpeg


When the Writing Was Easy - The writing process and how it differs for me when engaged in real life vs. while on a grand adventure.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/carol-on-franconia.jpeg https://louplummer.lol/post/when-the-writing-was-easy


If you find the floating note useful in Raycast, you need to check out Scrap Paper by Wegner Labs, the ultimate scratch pad.  It’s a menubar app with customizable colors and fonts that syncs to iCloud, can be shared via the share sheet. $2.99 in the app store. Details here

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/scrap-paper.png https://apps.louplummer.lol/post/scrap-paper


The Saturday morning /now page update is complete. Includes a review of a great book, more peak TV, lots of blogging, my favorite Amazon purchase of the week and the web sites I found worthy of adding to my personal stash. My /now page
 https://amerpie.omg.lol/now


This Week's Bookmarks: Cocunut Curry Red Lentil Soup, TV's Favorite Fake Beer, A Graph of Wikipedia, Real Places that Look Fake, Terrible Software Bugs, Missed Connection Ads, Voyager 1 https://amerpie.lol/2024/04/13/this-weeks-bookmarks.html


I started my grandson’s political education off on the correct path back in 2005. He’ll never vote for an imperialist!  #mbapr Micro.blog photo challenge April 2024. Day 13: Page

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/lenin.jpg


Supporting Something New louplummer.lol/post/supp…
 https://louplummer.lol/post/supporting-something-new


Geeking out on a New M3 Mac after Being Strapped to an Aging Dell for the Last Year and Half https://amerpie.lol/2024/04/12/geeking-out-on.html


A little patience, some sugar water and a backyard deck equal a photo like this #photography #birds

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/hummingbird.jpg


On the Appalachian Trail, there are Trail Angels who provide what’s called trail magic to hikers in the form of shelter, showers, rides to town and most importantly FOOD! When I thru hiked in 2013 I came across these organic apples and generic root beers in the Pennsylvania woods. #mbapr

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/trail-magic.jpg


I look back at the kind of father I was and wish I’d been a better one. I wasn’t a natural at it. But it turns out that I do have skills as a grandfather and I’m making up for lost time. And, those grown kids of mine? They love me anyways

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/lou-harper.jpeg https://apps.louplummer.lol/post/not-a-natural


How come no one ever told me about The FreePrints App which works with Google Photos and Apple’s Photos and gives you up to 85 4x6 prints a month for $1.99 shipping and handling? I read about it today in Jeremy Caplan’s Wondertools newsletter.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/5e0b000268.png https://apps.louplummer.lol/post/free-prints


I have tried it and it worked well but I already had a Drafts subscription so I stuck with that.


Using #Obsidian on an iPhone - Troubleshooting Advice from All Over https://amerpie.lol/2024/04/11/using-obsidian-on.html


The XCOMP 10MB hard disk, which cost $3,398 in the early 1980s, would be about $11,900 in today’s dollars. The first computer I owned was an IBM 486/33sx with a 140MB, hard drive. I bought it at Circuit City in 1993. What was yours?

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/4khd.png


What Mastodon client do you use and why? I’m partial to Ivory by Tapbots. I use it on my Mac, iPad and Phone. The only feature I wish it had is the ability to follow multiple hashtags in a single thread.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/ivory.png https://apps.louplummer.lol/post/ivory-for-mastodon-by-tapbots


For creative people, there are few things more important than the formative experiences that shaped them. For me, a lot of that shaping took place in front of a record player in my bedroom - My Musical Memories

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/band.jpg https://louplummer.lol/post/musical-memories


CSX locomotive in the snow #mbapr Micro.blog photo challenge April 2024. Day 10: Train #photography

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/train.jpg


"“DEI is just diversity, equity, and inclusion, by the way. That’s all it is. It’s become the new word that racists say when they want to say a slur but they realize they’re in mixed company. It’s a handy watchword for people who have decided that every problem is the result of the proximal existence of Black people and other marginalized people groups, because what they actually intend is to end the existence of such people, as soon as they can, with as much violence as possible.”"

–A.R. Moxon The Reframe
 https://www.the-reframe.cm/blame-management


Clipboard Fusion - Clipboard sharing between Windows and iOS - a solution - There are plenty of Mac/iOS clipboard sharing solutions but not so much for Windows. I found an app I love and it runs on my PC, my phone and has an encrypted web version.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/clipboardfusion-custom.png https://apps.louplummer.lol/post/clipboard-fusion-the-windows-to-iphone-solution


Clipboard Fusion - Clipboard sharing between Windows and iOS - a solution - There are plenty of Mac/iOS clipboard sharing solutions but not so much for Windows. I found an app I love and it runs on my PC, my phone and has an encrypted web version.
 https://apps.louplummer.lol/post/clipboard-fusion-the-windows-to-iphone-solution


One of the things I love about #IndieWeb life is the global community. I live in a small city in the southern US where we have plenty of problems, but also a few bright spots. One of my goals is to be up front about all of that with the people I meet online. So I wrote about The Southern Problem

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/south.jpg https://louplummer.lol/post/the-southern-pronlem


The dilemma I had with street photography was whether my enjoyment of the finished product was worth the chance of getting yelled at by folks who didn’t want their picture taken. I eventually found a solution #photography

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/street.jpg https://louplummer.lol/post/about-street-photography


Wonder Woman is in San Antonio, Texas for a conference and coincidentally, the eclipse, but she reports the skies are cloudy and she doubts she will see much. Well, there’s always the RiverWalk.


AppRaven is what the Apple App Store would be if it were interactive. Features include app-specific message bords, price drop notifications, advanced filters to find what you want, wish lists and more. It’s ad free and doesn’t accept sponsors of any type. It’s a must have for app aficionados.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/appraven.png https://apps.louplummer.lol/post/appraven-apps-gone-free-and-more


Maybe I should start a blog featuring the worst of the day from Product Hunt

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/cleanshot-2024-04-08-at-05.07.382x.jpg


The rear end of the Wall Street Bull, guarded by one of NYC’s finest #mbapr Micro.blog photo challenge April 2024. Day 8: Prevention #photography

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/2015-05-03nyc-in-bw-6.jpg


The best thing to happen in my relationship with my grown kids in the past year is my adoption of an iOS shortcut called Check on My Peeps that I found in the unlikeliest place, a forum for lovers of cheap apps. I use it to help me stay in contact with my crew. Make tech work for you.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/drew.jpg https://louplummer.lol/post/all-in-on-tech


My #Obsidian Week - Breaking Down the Notes I Created by Area and Workflow https://amerpie.lol/2024/04/07/my-obsidian-week.html


The green and granite summit of Lincoln as seen from the footpath of the Appalachian Trail atop Franconia Ridge in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. #SilentSunday #Photography #Hiking

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/franconia.jpg


Launcher is the king of widget apps. I use it on my lock screen, my home screen, and in my work focus mode. It does much more than just launch apps, allowing you to create actions for messaging, social media, music and more. Launcher on App Addict

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/512x512bb.png https://apps.louplummer.lol/post/launcher


This Weeks Bookmarks: 100 greatest protest songs, Making art, How to help someone with a computer, Royal order of adjectives, The US can't support Israel in Gaza, Who lived when, The world's most expensive spice https://amerpie.lol/2024/04/07/this-weeks-bookmarks.html


I’m a day late with an update to my /now page. Yesterday, my normal update day, I found that crewing an ultramarathon in the woods for my wife was not conducive to longer form blogging.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/typewriter.jpg https://amerpie.omg.lol/now


Wonder Woman Riding in New River Trail State Park, VA  #mbapr Micro.blog photo challenge April 2024. Day 7: Well-Being

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/new-river-trail.jpg


After 12.5 hours on her sore and blistered feet, Wonder Woman elected to take the finisher’s medal for the 50-mile distance and call it a day. Many thanks to all who offered support through the race. #ultrarunning


Changing shoes and socks and doctoring blisters before miles 36-48. #ultrarunning

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/f20831cfc9.jpg


That’s about 75 miles worth of food and water. Wonder Woman (Mrs. Amerpie)is ahead of schedule after the first 12-mile loop and back out on the course. #ultrarunning

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/cb5de7e560.jpg


On the streets of Raleigh, NC  #mbapr Micro.blog photo challenge April 2024. Day 6: Windy

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/windy.jpg


I spent my high scool years doing farm work so my opinion of the modern cult of cleanliness is colored a bit by my experience. Talking Dirty

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/dfecfac240.jpg https://louplummer.lol/post/getting-dirty-ybyck4z9


Got something you’ve been wanting to watch (like Oppenheimer) on Peacock but haven’t wanted to add another damn subscription? Mad because they don’t offer a free trial? Well, here’s a pretty good work around
 https://www.techhive.com/article/2287025/the-sneaky-way-to-get-a-peacock-premium-free-trial.html


I added a new app to my wish list today, Rond Life Mapper and added some details on this Scribbles post. It’s one of those apps that logs your location and activities, but this one, unlike many has a good privacy policy and promises not to be a battery hog.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/rond.png https://scribbles.page/write/2480


Manhattan Bagel Cat #photography

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/nyc-cat.jpg


One of the practical aspects of tech is using it as a tool to boost mental health. Using two journaling tools (Day One and #Obsidian) for more than just recording geeky data I maintain a years long habit of making a daily gratitude list. Here’s why it helps.
 https://louplummer.lol/post/the-gratitude-habit-fhipsvhb


How many times a day do you open #Obsidian? When do your record data? When do you reference data? What are your habits? https://amerpie.lol/2024/04/04/how-many-times.html


The hard stuff is supposed to be hard but can the easy stuff just be easy today? Please?


A Japanese Maple that’s lived in my yard for 30 years after being transplanted from my grandparent’s home #mbapr Micro.blog photo challenge April 2024. Day 4: Foliage

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/2014-10-26-japanese-maple-102.jpg


Not All Boomers - the story of a recent visit with my 77-year old Dad that unfortunately exemplified a bunch of Boomer stereotypes in a very uncomfortable 30-minute span.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/ali.jpeg https://louplummer.lol/post/not-all-boomers-caya9sy2


I was working in publics schools at the turn of the century when we “got the Internet”. We ordered these things by the pallet. They floated around for years. #mbapr Micro.blog photo challenge April 2024. Day 3: Card

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/card.jpg


"“Experience” is rarely the verb you’re looking for. Reword your sentence with a more clear and muscular focus on what actually happened—and who or what caused it to happen. So, maybe don’t say “I am experiencing technical difficulties” if you really mean “I broke the internet.” You’re not fooling anyone."

Merlin Mann


Seven years in prison. As a progressive older adult, I can’t believe that I worked in the correctional system, but the callowness of youth and limited opportunities in the rural south put me on a gun-tower in the late eighties and early nineties. I can still feel the effects. -  Prison Time
 https://louplummer.lol/post/prison-time-u8tqewyf


#mbapr Micro.blog photo challenge April 2024. Day 2: Flower

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/67fd3c5f5f.jpg


More info on Wonder Woman, my #ultrarunning wife.. I found out today that she has to leave on a business flight for Texas, just hours after staying awake long enough to complete a 100-mile footrace. Her attitude is “I might get to see the eclipse!” I can’t even.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/carol.jpg https://louplummer.lol/post/wonder-woman-bqxp1yei


How to Talk to Tech Support - I Beg You to Use These Techniques to Get Your Issues Solved Quickly and Efficiently While Keeping Your Cool and Getting Back to Work! #technology https://amerpie.lol/2024/04/01/how-to-talk.html


My grandson doesn’t quite grasp the concept of lawn maintenance yet. He thinks his toy lawnmower doubles as a snowblower. #mbapr

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/toy.jpeg


Is Micro Monday still a thing on Micro.blog? Regardless, I want to shout out one of my favorite blogs, HeyDingus by @jarrod. He also founded the One a Month Club
 https://heydingus.net/ https://micro.blog/jarrod https://oneamonth.club/


The trees at Ft. Fisher, the scene of a Union victory on the coast of NC during the Civil War #photography

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/ft.fisher.jpg


View from the Blue Ridge Parkway  #photography

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/brp.jpeg


At the end of the street where I’ve lived for thirty years stands an unassuming blue building housing Zorba’s Gyro on a Spit, a restaurant I’ve frequented for even longer. An ode to my favorite diner, a comforting home away from home, a place where I watch everybody but me group up.
 https://louplummer.lol/post/ode-to-zorba-s-gu-yf1gj


This Week's Bookmarks - Subscriptions worth paying for, book summaries online, unofficial holidays, a rare bird, best small town in every state, 50 historical photos, things that don't work https://amerpie.lol/2024/03/30/this-weeks-bookmarks.html


Saturday morning, time to update my /now page. This week I read a great article from The Atlantic, wrote a bunch, found some new links and bought the best charger ever from Anker.
 https://amerpie.lol/now


Street Portrait, Fayetteville, NC #photography

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/334e7faa21.jpg


My Daily Note in #Obsidian - Byte Sized Chunks for Customizing Every Element, Plugin Recommendations and Links https://amerpie.lol/2024/03/29/my-daily-note.html


My #Obsidian Daily Note - The Elements Borken Down into Byte Sized Chucks for Anyone to Copy https://amerpie.lol/2024/03/29/my-obsidian-daily.html


Ian Betterridge’s 10 Blue Links - One of my favorite link newsletters complements of @ianbetteridge@writing.exchange. This week there are some long reads of classic tech journalism made relevant by current events.
 https://ianbetteridge.com/2024/03/29/ten-blue-links-country-life-edition/ https://micro.blog/ianbetteridge@writing.exchange


"“Joy has nothing to do with ease and everything to do with the fact that we’re all going to die.”
— Ross Gay"


I gotta quit taking  my iPad to bed or I’ll keep waking up at 1am and watching vintage Johnny Cash videos although I can think of worse lullabies.


Saw a great post today from writer @jhpot@mastodon.social about how we can screw with corporate social media by not joining the outraged chorus after events intended to provoke us. The topics of outrage and online speech motivate me to do a little self-examination. I thought I’d share
 https://micro.blog/jhpot@mastodon.social https://louplummer.lol/post/speaking-out-or-not-ssmjy8vq


If anyone needs more storage, Amazon has an external Seagate 4TB hard drive on sale today for $99. It’s not my affiliate link, it’s just a good short-time deal.
 https://tinyurl.com/4tbamazon


Good riddance to Joe Lieberman, the man who helped defeat Universal Health Care when the Affordable Care Act was passed during the Obama administration. A sell out’s sell out.
 https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/27/politics/joe-lieberman/index.html


The Charlotte Blues #photography

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/blue-charlotte-002.jpg


I couldn’t resist the urge to participate in the Scribbles experiment, so I decided to put my free domain from omg.lol to use (once I get all the DNS details). In honor of the heritage of the IndieWeb, my first contribution is a repost from 1997, GeoCities style - The Road Trip
 https://scribbles.page/j5g1kbym/posts/the-wayback-machine-mb6bz4tz


How to Talk to an Actual Person at Amazon https://amerpie.lol/2024/03/27/how-to-talk.html


How many places do you back up your photos? I currently using iCloud, Google Drive and Amazon Photos because they are all set it and forget it and they are all part of subscriptions I have for other reasons anyway.


Connecticut looking into Massachusetts on the Appalachian Trail #photography #hiking

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/00683cf0aa.jpg


I found a great feature in the Raindrop bookmarking app I wasn’t aware of - you can create public pages of shared bookmarks that don’t require anything from the viewer. no login, no account. I put together a list of worthy sites to share to test it out.  Cool Tools and Websites Take a look!
 https://raindrop.io/lou-plummer/amerpie-42821248


I love free and open-source software and the people who work on it. I have plenty of it installed on my machines. I have also worked all my life to afford the things I want and sometimes I want the damn Cadillac of screen-shot apps instead of what the OS offers. That’ll get you killed on Reddit. LOL


A Dozen Reasons to Try SetApp - #Mac Apps I Use Every Day and How Much I Save  https://amerpie.lol/2024/03/26/a-dozen-reasons.html


The coast of Northern Ireland near Ballycastle #photography

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/coast-road.jpeg


App Update Workflow for Macs Using HomeBrew and the CLI version of the Mac App Store. It Finds Updates Other Apps Miss. #macOS https://amerpie.lol/2024/03/25/app-update-workflow.html


I run two updater programs every day on my Mac because I’m fanatical about keeping my 300+ apps at the current version. Imagine my surprise when I installed the HomeBrew version of the Mac App Store and ran updates from there. It found a half dozen apps that were several versions behind. WTF?


Height of Land, Rangely, Maine on the Appalachian Trail #photography #hiking

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/height-of-land.jpg


"Web 4.0 is the phase where you spend a lot of time deleting accounts from all the web 2.0 properties that enshittified or turned evil."

–John Francis


A generation that grew up with Google is forcing professors to rethink their lesson plans A story about how today’s college students don’t understand how to find a file, or even what a file is.

"“Take their phones away and get ‘em on Windows 98.”"

 https://www.theverge.com/22684730/students-file-folder-directory-structure-education-gen-z


"“Donald Trump ordered a cheeseburger at a campaign stop” is accurate to the extent that nothing about it is false, but it is not a true story—not if you care about the full context. “Donald Trump is a popular and politically empowered fascist running to become a dictator, and he intends suppression and oppression and murder, and he ordered a cheeseburger.” That’s the true story."

–A.R. Moxon


Street Portrait, Blind Guitarist, Austin, TX #photography

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/austin-1.jpg


"“Today is the worst AI will ever be.”"

— Alex Irpan


This is poetry.


Hay Street Cyclist #photography

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/2014-11-03-bike-1.jpg


It’s Saturday which means it’s time to update my now page. This week I’m reading a long Atlantic article and revisiting my favorite book, watching a Guy Ritchie series on Netflix, browsing some helpful web sites, enjoying a lifetime guarantee on a basic but necessary product and loving today.
 https://amerpie.omg.lol/now


This Week's Bookmarks - Coolest Street in the World, Funniest Novels, Movies That Couldn't Be Made Today, Greatest All-Time Albums, Photo Award Winners, Scientific Mysteries, and More! https://amerpie.lol/2024/03/23/this-weeks-bookmarks.html


View from the walkway of the Manhattan Bridge #photography

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/2015-05-16bridge-view-1.jpg


My #Obsidian Journey and the Resources That Helped Me - Sample Vaults, Videos, Web Sites, Newsletters and Communities https://amerpie.lol/2024/03/22/my-obsidian-journey.html


Jasmine Paris has just become the first woman ever to finish The Barkley Marathons.  IYKYK
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barkley_Marathons?wprov=sfti1


To my fellow IT support people - how many times have you seen executive types who get a laptop/docking station and then they get a second laptop because they can’t be arsed to disconnect/reconnect their primary machine? Is this as common as it seems or am I working in the Twilight Zone?


Everybody’s America, Five Points, Columbia, SC #photography

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/2015-03-09-columbia-flag-1.jpg


I have to SMDH at how personally offended some of the usual suspects in the Apple Pundiit World are acting over the DOJ lawsuit. I’m like ,“Dude, it’s a trillion dollar corporation, not your Mom. Calm TF down.”


Inoreader - Absolutely Worth It or Why I Love My RSS Provider https://amerpie.lol/2024/03/20/inoreader-absolutely-worth.html


This was March 19, 2004, nineteen long years ago today at Ft. Bragg, NC. My son was on active duty, and I hated the war in Iraq with a furious urgency. I feel like I’ve been protesting all my life, but my work in that movement remains something about which I will always be proud. #VetsForPeace

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/march19.jpg


My job recently converted our helpdesk/ticketing system from the ancient Novell Service Desk to Jira/Atlassian and I just completed my first two projects, the first of many to come. Bitlocker and Firewalls for everybody!!!


"Drug Company - “This medicine works really good so lets make it really expensive”"

"Insurance Company - “This drug is really expensive, so lets make it really hard for people to get”"

"Drug Rep - “This doctor really likes tacos. I’ll get him some so he will prescribe my drug and I can go to Cozumel”"

"Doctor - “I like tacos”"

"Patient - “I’m in pai—Yes, I’ll hold”"

"Doctor’s Office Employee - Hangs up on patient. Eats leftover tacos."


Farm Pond at Sunset, Grey’s Creek, NC #photography

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/2015-03-06sunset-1.jpg


"We’ve updated the rules of our flagship server mastodon.social today. Most are the same with some clarifications, but one rule is new: Content created by others must be attributed, and use of AI must be disclosed. Profiles that only post AI-generated content will not be tolerated."

Eugene Rochko, founder of Mastodon and admin at mastodon.social


At some point, someone decided that vacuum cleaners were an acceptable topic on tech websites, blogs and YouTube channels and ever since then there have been way too goddam many reviews of Roombas and their kind. This is not a good thing and it needs to stop.


I asked Google Gemini how to get my API key for the service and it told me it wasn’t available for use in third-party apps. I asked Google the same thing and it gave me the URL to get my key. Really confidence inspiring, Google.


White Headed Mouse Bird, native to East Africa #photography

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/2015-02-08bw2-1.jpg


My Bookmark Workflow in 2024 using #Raindrop.io and #Obsidian https://amerpie.lol/2024/03/17/my-bookmark-workflow.html


A green tree python, native to New Guinea. #Photography #Snake

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/2015-01-27recent-093.jpg


Posted the weekly update to my /now page with shout outs to a couple of IndieWeb stalwarts, a good Netflix show, some interesting reading and other highlights from 2024-Week 11.
 https://amerpie.lol/now


This Week's Bookmarks - Disney Adults, 1-Star Reviews of National Parks, Steve Job's Biggest Rival, 90's Band Name Origins, How Maps Distort the World, Printing any Web Page, Making Google Better #Links https://amerpie.lol/2024/03/16/this-weeks-bookmarks.html


Greenfield Park, Wilmington, NC #Photography

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/crystal-ball.jpg


Avon Pier, Outer Banks, North Carolina #photography

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/2015-02-17avon-pier-1.jpeg


The paycheck I get every two weeks should be sufficient motivation but I gotta say when a professor or student (or fellow staff member) sincerely thanks me for solving their computing problem, I feel like I’m making a positive difference in someone’s education, and it pumps me up.


CloudHQ - Adding Functionality to Google Services: Gmail. Google Drive and Search https://amerpie.lol/2024/03/14/cloudhq-adding-functionality.html


The Scarlet-faced Liocichla, native to Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, and southern China. #Birds #Potography

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/2015-01-06bird3-1.jpg


I used ChatGPT to craft a Python script today that edited 500+ markdown files (my imported Raindrop.io bookmarks) from my #Obsidian vault. It moved text in the form of an inline properties field for URLs from the body of the note into the YAML front matter. I knew next to nothing about #Python.


App of the Day is Clipboard Fusion - Syncs your clipboard between your Mac, PC and phone, iPhone or Android. Allows for saved clipboards for frequently used text. I keep my OpenAI api key on mine. It’s a real solution if your work OS is different than your home OS.
 https://www.clipboardfusion.com/


I've been posting here for two months and this is the first interaction I've had with another person. Thanks for reaching out!


Window to the past. Think of the conversations held around that table. McDougald Road, Mamers, NC #photography

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/window-to-past.jpg


Enjoying The Gentlemen on Netflix 1) Because it’s a well done piece of dark British comedy and 2) I don’t have to wait a week to see new episodes like a barbarian from the 70s. #television
 https://www.netflix.com/search?q=the%20gentlemen&jbv=81437051


List 10 albums that have stayed with you over the years in some way. Don't take too long on the list - just a few minutes. These don't have to be great records, or critical darlings, just ones that mean something to you personally. https://amerpie.lol/2024/03/12/list-albums-that.html


Today and tomorrow only - price reduced software at the Indie App Sale - My purchases: Audracity, Nametag, Photoscope, Evo, Logger, Mastowatch, Presets, Relog
 https://indieappsales.com/


Coffee People, Hay Street, Fayetteville, NC #streetphotography

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/2014-10-25-coffee-shop-people-102.jpg


"I just visited a website.
The top half was a popup about GDPR.
The rest of it was a popup about cookie consent.
When I cleared both of those I got a popup about a newsletter.
When I cleared that I got a popup about an offer.
When I cleared that I got half an article then a paywall.
The internet, 2024."

@kestral@hackers.town
 https://micro.blog/kestral@hackers.town


From The Virgina Creeper Trail, Mount Rogers National Recreation Area #hiking

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/vct.jpg


Watched The Gentlemen, S1E1 by Guy Ritchie on Netflix. After being in the heart of darkness for weeks with True Detective, Criminal Record and Shogun, it’s good to have something a little lighter to take the edge off. #Television
 https://trakt.tv/shows/the-gentlemen/seasons/1/episodes/8


"FreeTube is a YouTube client for Windows, Mac, and Linux built around using YouTube more privately. You can enjoy your favorite content and creators without your habits being tracked. All of your user data is stored locally and never sent or published to the internet. FreeTube grabs data by scraping the information it needs (with either local methods or by optionally utilizing the Invidious API). With many features similar to YouTube, FreeTube has become one of the best methods to watch YouTube privately on desktop."

Freetube - The best ad-free YouTube experience.
 https://freetubeapp.io/


How to Ruin Your Web Page (My advice circa 1997 to other GeoCities Webmasters) - A Blast From the Past  https://amerpie.lol/2024/03/10/how-to-ruin.html


I love the Internet and I love milestones. Reddit is still one of the most informative sites on the Internet despite the knuckleheads there among the users and management. Today, my Reddit account is old enough to vote. Happy Cake Day To Me!

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/reddit.png https://www.reddit.com/user/amerpie/


Carousel at the Dogwood Festival, Fayetteville, NC #StreetPhotography

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/dogwood-festival.jpg


This Week's #Bookmarks: Free PDF tools, Alexa safety, online museums, amazing photos, emoji news and an RSS family tree https://amerpie.lol/2024/03/09/this-weeks-bookmarks.html


It’s Saturday and my /now page is updated with American and British jounalists, a tale from 17th century Japan, iOS and #Obsidian news and a tasty sandwich. What’s up now
 https://amerpie.omg.lol/now


On the Northern Part of the Grand Strand, Cherry Grove, SC #photography

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/grandstrand.jpg


The #iOS Apps I Use Every Day - Broken Down by Time of Day and Purpose  https://amerpie.lol/2024/03/08/the-ios-apps.html


"Cause the technology is just gonna get better and better and it’s gonna get easier and easier and more and more convenient and more and more pleasurable to sit alone with images on a screen given to us by people who do not love us but want our money and that’s fine in low doses but if it’s the basic main staple of your diet you’re gonna die."

David Foster Wallace


White Mountains Sunset from Lake in the Clouds Hut, near Mt. Washington, NH on the Appalachian Trail #Photography #Hiking

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/mt.washington.jpg


Mac People - I am mostly keyboard centric when it comes to launching and accessing apps but there are times when using the dock is just unavoidable. I’ve been using Ubar but it’s buggy. Just downloaded SpeedDock which is supposed to be like the late great DragThing. Anyone got any more suggestions?


For any #Raycast Pro subscribers - there is a new release out today with some significant improvements to the AI features. [Raycast Change Log](www.raycast.com/changelog…
 https://www.raycast.com/changelog/1-69-00


The Blue Pacific, Pt. Reyes, California #photography

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/blue-pt.-reyes-1.jpeg


My Dataview Use Cases in #Obsidian https://amerpie.lol/2024/03/06/my-dataview-use.html


Looks like the transcript feature for Apple Podcasts is working for some older episodes. I tested it on a recent edition of Mac Power Users.


All the Apple fanboys (#NotASlur) wishing they lived in the EU today so they could take advantage of the new features in iOS 17.4.


Garden of the Gods at Dusk, Colorado #photography

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/gog.jpg


One of my favorite things about having a blog is the daily search for a link to share in my weekly bookmarks post that I put together on Saturday mornings over a cup of coffee. I try to find a link every day and I keep a note open in #Obsidian to collect the info. It gives my web surfing a purpose.


Pike’s Peak from Colorado Springs #photography

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/pikes-peak.jpg


I don’t see the cool kids (outside of Reddit) talking about #Raycast much. I used Launchbar for years and enthusiastically switched last November. Raycast just does so much: AI interface, image conversion, translation, posting to social media, emoji picking etc. Why do the intelligentsia reject it?


Francis Marion National Forest, SC - The Swamp Fox Trail #photography

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/francis-marion-national-forest.jpg


All the Ways to Get Web Content Into #Obsidian https://amerpie.lol/2024/03/02/all-the-ways.html


This Weeks Bookmarks: Photos from History, Infinite Mac, Amazon Secrets, YouTube Summarizer, Streaming Service Survival Guide, Old Software https://amerpie.lol/2024/03/02/this-weeks-bookmarks.html


#Manhattan, taken from Brooklyn (Brooklyn Bridge on left, Manhattan Bridge on right)

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/manhattan-from-brooklyn.jpg


Friday nights are for relaxed research so I can get up early on Saturday morning, make coffee and write. I love being on the Indieweb where creating things is something we do together. Looking forward to what y’all come up with this weekend.


#Charleston, SC Fire Department under streetlights

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/2015-02-19cfd-cover-1.jpg


I was today years old when I found out you can install fonts on an iPhone. Now I can use my beloved Atkinson Hyperlegible and JetBrains Mono in #Obsidian on mobile just like I do on my MacBook and Windows box. I use a free app called Fontcase I heard about from Mac Power Users.
 https://apps.apple.com/app/id1205074470


Jon Stewart says goodbye to his dog. See if you can get through this without crying. I could not. Goodbye Dipper
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJ_A2BKCNDs


A picture of the wonderful melting pot that still is America from the walkway of the Brooklyn Bridge in NYC #StreetPhotography

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/2015-05-13melting-pot-1.jpg


I’m still getting value here, even though I’m all in on #Obsidian, but damn, that’s a lot of dough for a note taking app. If it weren’t for the IFTTT integration and the mailto:Evernote functionality for HTML messages I’d be gone.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/cleanshot-2024-02-28-at-20.47.012x.png


I’m in love with the Image Modification plugin for #Raycast. Apply filters and transformations to various image formats and convert between them. Create new images by specifying their dimensions, colors, and patterns. Operate on selected files or on images on the clipboard. I use it every day.
 https://www.raycast.com/HelloImSteven/sips


Me and my 18-year old Reddit account just got invited to the Reddit IPO at the preferred price so y’all look at the landed gentry over here. LOL


Attachment Management Made Easy in #Obsidian; A Workflow https://amerpie.lol/2024/02/28/attachment-management-made.html


There is something poetic about a picture of Obama in B&W if you know what I mean. Anyway, street vendor, NYC, 2015.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/obamanyc-in-bw-5.jpg


I want my main Mastodon feed to be composed of the real people I follow. I’m unfollowing media accounts, preferring to get my news via RSS. I might open a second Mastodon account just for breaking news but I want to emphasize the SOCIAL part of social media. How do you do it?


If you search for Microsoft Authenticator in the #iOS app store, the top hit is a $40 paid app. The second hit is the actual Microsoft (free) product. This causes IT departments problems every week of every year and is a total dick move on the part of #Apple.


Man on Hay Street, Fayetteville, NC

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/hay-street2.jpg


I compiled all my #Obsidian articles onto one page. There’s info on backing up your vault, complementary software, emailing to Obsidian, using Templater, syncing Omnivore, metadata management, Dataview and vault composition.
 https://amerpie.lol/obsidian


Old Agfa #camera at the flea market, State Fairgrounds, Raleigh, #NC

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/2015-04-11agfa-1-large.webp


He was playing with Lego during Y2K, ruminations of an old timer https://amerpie.lol/2024/02/26/he-was-playing.html


Just getting around to watching Life & Beth on Hulu with Amy Schumer and Michael Cera. It’s comfort TV but not too comfortable as it raises some pertinent questions about life in the 21st century. Definitely recommend.
 https://www.npr.org/2022/03/18/1086628593/amy-schumer-life-and-beth-hulu-review


Mourning dove in the snow #birds

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/2015-02-25street-180-3-medium.jpeg


A rainbow lorikeet. native to eastern and southern Australia, as well as southern New Guinea and Tasmania.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/lorrie-1.jpg


Updated my /Now Page with some info on a good newsletter, a new to me TV show a couple of blog posts and some pretty high quality training videos I’ve been taking in preparation for a Microsoft certification exam.
 https://amerpie.omg.lol/now


This Week's Bookmarks: Disk shopping, Industry secrets, No more rice, Things unexpectedly named after people, NOT the world's oldest dog, AI tips https://amerpie.lol/2024/02/24/this-weeks-bookmarks.html


A turquoise tanager, native to Central and South America #birds

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/2015-02-10little-blue-1.jpg


Not to try and make anyone feel old, but the movie Office Space was released 25 years ago this week. Making people feel nostalgic for cubicles.
 https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0151804/


Just read where Tiago Forte, the Second Brain Guy, rejected #Obsidian, Tana and Mem in favor of sticking with Evernote. I don’t think he’s much of a techie in real life and the learning curve intimidated him.


Car show favorite

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/2015-01-04yellow-car-1.jpg


Happy Birthday 🎂 to my Gmail account. As of today, I’ve had the same email address for 19 years.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/gmail.png


Obsidian Great but Not Perfect- Complementary Software for PKM  #Obsidian https://amerpie.lol/2024/02/22/obsidian-great-but.html


The great eastern pine forest near Charleston, SC

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/pine-forest.jpg


Carolina Beach Pier, NC at dawn

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/carolina-beach.jpg


Looking for tips and advice. I just installed #Devonthink and imported my Raindrop.io bookmarks and my #Obsidian vault. What’s next? What’s the best way to get the most use out it? What all can it do for me? Does it work well with PDFs?  Is importing Gmail a possibility? Total newb on this one. #PKM


Little Pink House , Atlantic Beach, NC

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/little-pink-houses.jpg


Gotta give good ol' #BBedit a shout out tonight for doing multiple search and replace operations across hundreds of markdown files in my #Obsidian vault. It was fast and flawless and something the native app can’t do alone. If you’re riding the plain text wave, you need a copy or Notepad++ for PCs.


Street scene, Charlotte, NC

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/charlotte.jpg


Installed Reor today, an easy to add front-end for a local LLM running on my Macbook. Reor uses my #Obsidian vault as a knowledge base and all queries are processed on my computer. It writes notes in MD right back into my vault and can even choose where to file them - been wanting to try this.
 https://github.com/reorproject/reor


The driveway at the old RCA radio station, Marin County, California

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/rca-trees.jpg


I’m not saying my #Obsidian daily note template looks as tricked out as my 2004 My Space page, but Weird Al thinks it does.


Here’s an update on what I’ve been up to this week - what I’m reading, watching, making and enjoying. My Now Page
 https://amerpie.omg.lol/now


This Week's Bookmarks: Mixtapes, A History Game, Internet Museum, a Recipe, Article of the Week, Mastodon Hacking and a Newsletter https://amerpie.lol/2024/02/17/this-weeks-bookmarks.html


What's In My #Obsidian Vault - Info on Plugins, Workflows, Tags and Philosophies on #PKM https://amerpie.lol/2024/02/17/whats-in-my.html


Flea market, North Carolina State Fairgrounds

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/signs.jpg


My entire working life in IT has been dealing with stuff that doesn’t work. That’s my job. It feels so good when everything just does what it is supposed to do. I successfully backed my personal #iPhone to iCloud today for the first time in three years. It felt like victory, and it only cost $1,100.


Obsidian Tip of the Day: Three Templater Snippets for All Your Note Templates in #Obsidian https://amerpie.lol/2024/02/16/obsidian-tip-of.html


Farm pond in winter

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/bw-trees.jpg


Got my first same day Amazon order delivered today. I guess the future has arrived in the form of some USB-C cables.


I posted a shortcut on Routine Hub for capturing entire web pages in #Obsidian, including image links and a link back to the source article. You can create a new note or append to an existing one. Routine Hub | Download Web Pages to Obsidian
 https://routinehub.co/shortcut/18064/


From atop Wayah Bald on the #AppalachianTrail in North Carolina

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/wayah-bald.jpg


"Copy down verbatim quotes, when you feel like it… I’ve shifted away from the dogma that “real” engagement means you must always summarise or restate things in your own words. If copying was good enough for history’s countless keepers of commonplace books, it’s sometimes good enough for me."

The Imperfectionist
 https://ckarchive.com/b/68ueh8hk25687hkq88gqmtzope0kk


I love getting a new #iPhone but I also hate getting a new iPhone. At least I’m going through this in the comfort of my home and not an Apple Store 75 miles away, which is the unattractive alternative. But first, let’s update iOS before we restore your data. Just kill me now.


Tomales Bay, Marin County, California

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/tomales-bay.jpg


Worked with Google Gemini today on a python script for an hour that never worked. Meanwhile an anonymous human being on the #Obsidian forum solved my problem with a five-line dataview query.


Central Park, New York, New York

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/central-park.jpeg


"There are exactly three potential outcomes for That Technology Thing You Like:"

It will be changed in ways that you don’t like by the person or company that owns or runs it.
It will be sold to someone else and they will change it in ways that you don’t like.
It will be discontinued.
There are no other options. Prepare accordingly.

Pete Brown, Exploding Comma
 https://explodingcomma.com/2024/02/11/your-periodic-reminder.html


The Outer Banks of #NorthCarolina

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/outer-banks.jpeg


Automating Your #Obsidian Backup, Let Me Save You Some Hassle https://amerpie.lol/2024/02/11/automating-your-obsidian.html


Somewhere in Alaska

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/alaska.jpeg


The never-ending war against paywalls continues with a new resource, Archive Buttons with links to proven sites like archive.is and 12ft.io. I subscribe to several paywalled sites, like the NYT and WaPo but screw Medium. I ain’t paying for that.
 https://www.archivebuttons.com/


Is there a person in the world that doesn’t hate their cell phone company? Trying to buy a new phone today only to be told my current plan won’t support it. WTF? I’m not going to call out my provider, but it starts with #Verizon.


What I Found on the Web This Week https://amerpie.lol/2024/02/10/what-i-found.html


Mount Katahdin, Maine in Baxter State Park - The day before I climbed it. The Northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/katahdin.jpeg


I shit you not. We actually had a user call the help desk today to tell us she has a doctor’s note to excuse her from having to use two-factor authentication to log in to university resources. #techsupport


What little extras do you #Obsidian people add to your daily note? I have Templater snippets for a daily quote and to link to yesterday and tomorrow’s notes. I also have a dataview snippet for all the notes created that day and finally a plugin for Things 3 which lists all my completed tasks.


I live the cross-platform life, Windows by day. #MacOS at night. I need clipboard syncing with iOS on both. There are many Mac choices. I use PastePal. On the PC side, I use Clipboard Fusion and it just got its first update in five years! I hate it when much loved apps die on the vine.
 https://apps.apple.com/app/id684986815


If you’re looking for a way to save web pages to #Obsidian on mobile, check out this shortcut to save markdown to #Drafts routinehub.co/shortcut/…
 https://routinehub.co/shortcut/11078/


On the Virginia Creeper Trail at dawn.

 https://amerpie.lol/uploads/2024/creeper-trail.jpeg


On link management

"Oh boy, what a rabbit hole we could go down here. Right now, my read-later links go to Pocket. My watch-later links go to Play. My listen-later links go to MusicBox. My reference-later links go to Raindrop. My write-later links go to Drafts. And my ‘Take a Chance’ links go to GoodLinks."

John Voorhees
 https://www.relay.fm/people/Johnvoorhees


https://nostrcheck.me/media/public/9e391fdbd5933e25e023caf31e9fab4c51e315d15fdbc9c23f8d52df63146b54.webp

Downtown Fayetteville, NC