Nicely done free website of the book Poor Charlie’s Almanack: The Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger, compiled by Peter D. Kaufman.

“Acquire worldly wisdom and adjust your behavior accordingly. If your new behavior gives you a little temporary unpopularity with your peer group…then to hell with them.”

There are many things I’ve read in here that are great, yet overall I get the impression that Mr. Munger was kind of a jerk. Conflicted over his legacy…

Not that it was noticed by anyone but me, but I got caught tonight with a server outage after a system update that I decided to run after the game ended (and I was waiting for traffic in the ramp to clear). Since moving to AWS, my server updates are usually quick and painless, with a few quick Ubuntu commands (and sometimes a restart):

sudo apt update
sudo apt list --upgradable
sudo apt upgrade -y

Tonight, an upgrade to PHP 8.2 removed my MySQL database extension. Googling things like this (and many other things, unfortunately) has gotten pretty bad these days, so it took me a little longer than normal to get back up and running. Thankfully I had some saved notes that helped lead me to the command that fixed it:

sudo apt install php8.2-mysql

It was nice to see my two monitoring tools send me alerts immediately (old standby Uptime Robot and newcomer Jetpack Monitor). Total downtime was just under 20 minutes…

It’s not a secret I’ve been a skeptic of many technologies, especially everything in the crypto/NFT/Web3 realm. Also not a fan of AI tools like ChatGPT and DALL·E (for a variety of reasons). And just in case you think I support everything Apple does, I won’t be in line to purchase a Vision Pro next month (pictured above). I thought all the previous virtual reality “goggle” products were silly. And while I’m sure visionOS will have some swell applications and the hardware will be well built, it’s not worth $3500 to me (never say never, though).

So what technologies have been my favorites?

• Electricity and batteries – as we experienced during our last power outage, electricity is a modern miracle. And while it seems like batteries could always be better, it’s amazing how often you can use things without a power cord or outlet in sight.
• Heating and cooling systems – let’s face it, living in Minnesota is probably just as bad for the planet as living in the desert, since you need heat in the winter and cooling in the summer to not have the weather literally kill you here. Thankful for these reliable systems daily.
• Food production and distribution – I wish we didn’t need food shelves in our society, but Minnesota’s agriculture sector is still awe-inspiring. Modern grocery stores are a marvel – even with the recent surge in prices, the ability to get fresh, abundant food in the middle of winter is extraordinary.
• Planes, trains and automobiles – also not great for the planet, but these forms of human transportation (and the engineering behind them) would all be considered magic by earlier generations.
• Television – as my post earlier this month showcased, I have watched entirely too much TV in my lifetime. The progression of the tech behind TV, though, is really something. Think back to the popular over-the-air black and white broadcasts of the 1950s and compare that to what hangs on my wall now. Wizardry.
• Networking, fiber optics, wireless and the Internet – there’s a reason there are still case studies about Cisco in business schools. This interconnectedness wouldn’t be possible without the thin strands of glass that that now run all the way to my house. That these paths help connect the device I’m currently typing on to the rest of the world (quickly and wirelessly) is frankly, unbelievable. It’s a shame so much junk has accumulated on the Internet, but don’t let that spoil all the good stuff.
• Microprocessors – I really don’t understand how these things keep getting smaller, faster and cooler, but good on those engineers for keeping the wheels of progress turning. I mean, a lot of people now think there is no innovation in mobile phones because the new models look just like the old models. But honestly, the latest iPhone in my pocket is usually the most impressive technology in our house at any given point in time. Hello, indeed.

Here’s hoping that the technologies of the future can help solve the issues facing our lovely little planet in smart, efficient ways…

It’s been almost a year already since I launched the latest design of this website. I wanted a dark, responsive design with larger fonts and for the most part, I’ve been very happy with the result. This week I made a few more tweaks to the font sizes and padding, as I thought the headlines on mobile devices were a little too big. I’m also not sure my viewport settings are 100% correct, so I need to spend a little more time on the mobile validation sites.

One of the things that I love about personal web publishing is that you can generally code pages to the exact standard you want. I’m not a professional designer by any stretch, but I generally know what I like (and there are a million examples online of what not to do). I also love reading brand guidelines from big companies that aim to preserve their look and feel. Here are some of mine:

• Colors: black (#000), white (#fff), red (#f00) and gray (#ccc)
• Fonts: Futura, Verdana and sans-serif
• Photo captions: italicized
• Image width: 1000px (was 850px)
• Image styling: 25px white borders, film frame for concerts and movies

I still support five primary post types on this site: standard, image, link, quote and status. Each of these have their own sections in my style sheet and the home page template has if/then loops to lay each one out differently. Made a few tweaks this week to the quote and link styles (and don’t really use status now).

Comments have been off here for a long time now and I still feel that most public websites are better without them (hope the Star Tribune will eventually turn them off, along with their annoying auto-refresh tag). I do wish there was a better way for people to communicate with me here – perhaps there are some creative plugins I’ve yet to discover. A few other editorial choices at 7 Minute Miles: no ads of any kind and (starting this week) no more jumps on longer posts (i.e. – “click to read more” links).

At some point, I may go back and try to re-style some of the images for the current design standard. When I used to have a white background, I’d often use black drop shadows in Photoshop and now those images just don’t work right. My CSS file still has a bunch of entries that I could probably remove without breaking anything. Also thinking about adding back an RSS icon (with a link to the feed) and creating some personal business cards with the site design elements.

The annual site anniversary post isn’t scheduled until March, but I did take a look at the WordPress Jetpack stats for this site in 2023: 6,406 visitors, 19,074 views and 822 likes. Two very old golf posts still are the most popular: past champion “Reflections on Spring Hill Golf Club” with 238 views and the new #1, “Somerby Golf Club Notes” with 326 views.

Thanks for visiting!

Edit (2/2/24): changed the image styling standard to a 10px white border

The Sopranos 25th anniversary story I linked to this week made me think, what are my favorite TV shows of all time? I asked Colleen this question and she had no difficulty coming up with her top 7: The Wire, The Sopranos, Charlies Angels, The Carol Burnett Show, Looney Tunes, Sesame Street and RuPaul’s Drag Race (with an honorable mention to The Flip Wilson Show). Me? I have trouble narrowing down my top 7 shows on HBO, let alone of all time.

Let’s start with HBO. I *loved* all of these shows: The Sopranos, The Wire, Game of Thrones, Deadwood, Treme, Entourage, Big Little Lies, True Blood, The White Lotus, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Barry, The Larry Sanders Show, Six Feet Under, The Last of Us, The Righteous Gemstones and Westworld. More than one needs to come out of this group, for sure.

When I look back at the shows that were popular while growing up in the 70s and 80s, there are some personal favorites that jump out to me: M*A*S*H, WKRP in Cincinnati, The Muppet Show, The Dukes of Hazzard, The Brady Bunch, Welcome Back, Kotter, The Love Boat, Hawaii Five-O, Hogan’s Heroes and Gilligan’s Island. Animated favorites included The Scooby-Doo Show, The Flintstones, Tom and Jerry, Rocky and Bullwinkle, Looney Tunes and The Jetsons.

Shows my mom liked that I watched a lot include The Rockford Files, The Carol Burnett Show, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Bob Newhart Show, Quincy, M.E., The Streets of San Francisco and Magnum, P.I. Of course there were the channel two PBS shows she let my brother and I watch: Sesame Street, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, The Electric Company and 3-2-1 Contact. Also loved staying up late until she got home from work, so Johnny Carson and David Letterman were both huge influences.

Launched in late 1989, The Simpsons started a string of “modern” animated series that influenced a ton of shows I’ve watched since: Futurama, Disenchantment, South Park, Beavis & Butthead, King of the Hill, The Critic, Bob’s Burgers, Family Guy and Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist (tried to like BoJack Horseman, but that one just never clicked with me).

I’ve had a long love of British television, starting with Monty Python’s Flying Circus and continuing with shows like Red Dwarf, Blackadder, Mr. Bean, Father Ted, The Vicar of Dibley, The Benny Hill Show, The IT Crowd, The Office, Ballykissangel, The Young Ones, Da Ali G Show, Coupling, Absolutely Fabulous, Derek and Black Mirror. The last few years, I’ve watched Downton Abbey, Poldark, All Creatures Great and Small and Annika – loved them all.

Before the rise of the streaming services, there were a string of very solid network shows we watched regularly: In Living Color, the original CSI, Twin Peaks, The X-Files, The Wonder Years, Modern Family, The Office, Community, Scrubs, Arrested Development, Survivor and Saturday Night Live (the last two we still watch regularly). There are a bunch of shows that I believe were produced by various cable networks that were also stellar: Mad Men, Portlandia, Letterkenny, Kids in the Hall, Schitt’s Creek, Kim’s Convenience, The Killing and Bosch.

Showtime produced Dexter, Weeds and Yellowjackets. FX did Fargo, Sons of Anarchy, Nip/Tuck, Justified, Dave and What We Do in the Shadows. Hulu has Only Murders in the Building, Reservation Dogs, The Bear and The Patient. Disney Plus has the great Star Wars spin-offs: The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett and Andor. Apple TV has Ted Lasso, Slow Horses and The Morning Show.

Lastly, there is the original king of the streamers, Netflix. Looking at this list, their history is nearly on par with HBO: Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, Beef, Lupin, The Queen’s Gambit, I Think You Should Leave, Peaky Blinders, Stranger Things, Ozark, The Crown, Wednesday, Squid Game, Orange is the New Black, Narcos, The Politician, A Series of Unfortunate Events, Bloodline, Emily in Paris and Lilyhammer.

If I’ve learned anything from this little exercise, it’s that I’ve watched *a lot* of television during my lifetime. Thanks to all the talented creators for many, many hours of entertainment – bravo!

P.S. – I will continue to ponder a top 7 list, but wow is that hard…

I read someone on Mastodon talking about a goal of visiting all 88 Texas state parks in the next few years and thought that would be fun to do in Minnesota with Oliver (and the Minnesota State Parks custom license plate).

Minnesota has 66 state parks, plus nine state recreation areas, nine state waysides and 23 state trails. I’ve been to a bunch of these already, but I could revisit the eight on the North Shore alone every week and be happy.

Quest set:

Afton • Banning • Bear Head • Beaver Creek Valley • Big Stone Lake • Blue Mounds • Buffalo River • Camden • Carley • Cascade River • Charles A. Lindbergh • Crow Wing • Father Hennepin • Flandrau • Forestville/Mystery Cave • Fort Ridgely • Fort Snelling • Franz Jevne • Frontenac • George H. Crosby Manitou • Glacial Lakes • Glendalough • Gooseberry Falls • Grand Portage • Great River Bluffs • Hayes Lake • Hill-Annex Mine • Interstate • Itasca • Jay Cooke • John A. Latsch • Judge C.R. Magney • Kilen Woods • Lac qui Parle • Lake Bemidji • Lake Bronson • Lake Carlos • Lake Louise • Lake Maria • Lake Shetek • Lake Vermilion • Maplewood • McCarthy Beach • Mille Lacs Kathio • Minneopa • Monson Lake • Moose Lake • Myre-Big Island • Nerstrand-Big Woods • Old Mill • Rice Lake • St. Croix • Sakatah Lake • Savanna Portage • Scenic • Schoolcraft • Sibley • Soudan Underground Mine • Split Rock Creek • Split Rock Lighthouse • Temperance River • Tettegouche • Whitewater • Wild River • William O’Brien • Zippel Bay