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The Art of Being Social

Posted July 7, 2023

This picture from Andy Allen of all the various Twitter-like apps now fighting for attention, along with Meta’s launch of Threads this week, really made me think about the current state of social media in 2023. As I’ve written on this site many times in the past, I find social media to be a fascinating bit of technology that has had a profound impact on life in the last two decades.

I also don’t really like most of it. Hmm.

When I think back to my primary uses of social media, it’s really been as much to stay informed as it’s been to stay connected to people. Since launching this site back in 2006, I’ve supplemented social media with posts here to keep family and friends updated on personal news (and have often automated connections between those services and this site). It automatically produces RSS feeds and content is now pushed to the Fediverse using the ActivityPub plugin. I also love this site as a way to learn new technologies and skills, such as WordPress, PHP, MySQL, Linux and AWS.

It seems like one by one, my favorite social media companies have done questionable things (Doctorow’s enshittification) that caused me to close up shop: Facebook, Instagram, then Twitter. I miss family from Facebook, restaurants from Instagram and some really awesome people on Twitter. I still keep my LinkedIn open for work reasons (after closing it once) and I’ve really grown to like my Mastodon experience. Was never on TikTok or Snapchat and it seems like I will be on the Bluesky waitlist forever (their new domain revenue model is certainly interesting). Don’t think I will try Threads at this point, given my issues with past Facebook products, but I am cautiously optimistic that the promised interactivity with the Fediverse will happen.

Read more…


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If the rule you followed brought you to this, of what use was the rule?

— No Country for Old Men

Quote posted June 14, 2023


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Link: Make Something Wonderful 📖

Linked April 12, 2023


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Link: Kottke.org ❤️ 25 Years of Fine Hypertext Products

Linked March 14, 2023


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The Woodbury wilderness

Pic posted February 11, 2023

R.H. Stafford Library, Central Park and Lookout Ridge


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Link: Through the Mirror by @kilbo

Linked December 15, 2022


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Finished another book on Libby

Pic posted October 9, 2021

This “friend of Doug” book was very insightful


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Hell is empty and all the devils are here…

— The Tempest

Quote posted December 21, 2020


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2020 Top 7 Online Reads

Posted October 23, 2020

Back in 2017, I posted my top 7 online publications. The list today has changed a little:

* paid subscriber


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Link: No virus in the bathtub

Linked September 22, 2020


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Published since September 1843 to take part in a severe contest between intelligence, which presses forward, and an unworthy, timid ignorance obstructing our progress…

— The Economist

Quote posted August 24, 2020


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Bill The Gates

Pic posted August 18, 2020

I ❤️ The Economist


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Minnesota Lost Courses

Posted July 21, 2020

As I started reading through Joe Bissen’s new book, More! Gone. Minnesota’s Lost Golf Courses Part II, I realized that not only are there a lot of closed courses I actually played, there are also a large percentage of the courses I included in my Minnesota Golden Links CD-ROM back in 1999 that are no longer here (43 by my initial count). Joe was kind enough to include a chapter with a list of all the closed courses he knows about, so I thought it would be fun to go back to my original Photoshop files and post the screens for the ones that are no longer open for play (pics after the jump – please excuse the ancient Photoshop techniques and poor color corrections).

Joe says in the introduction to the new book that he isn’t as interested in the courses that have closed recently, but it’s amazing how many of the entries in my 1999 guide are gone (including a few that opened after my guide and are already closed). There are a number of inconsistencies between his list and my guide, as I only included public courses that were members of the Minnesota Golf Association (MGA). Make sure and check out his original book Fore! Gone: Minnesota’s Lost Golf Courses, 1897-1999, as well as his website. Fun stuff.

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Link: Patterson Hood is a writer

Linked June 17, 2020


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Egypt at Highclere

Posted June 8, 2020

I read a lot of words, but not enough of them are in books. This one I took from my parent’s house on Lombard and brought up to Croftville Road for the weekend. Turns out my sister purchased it for my dad when she visited Highclere Castle as part of her Downton Abbey tour. I never knew that the real Downtown Abbey Lord was Howard Carter’s partner (George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon), but I’ve loved Egyptian history ever since the 1982 World’s Fair (and multiple Ancient Civilization courses from Mr. Demers at Central). This was a quick, light read, with a few pictures I know I’ve never seen before (hello, Tutankhamun mummy).

Now on to my pile of Economists…


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Dynamite Magazine

Posted April 30, 2020

One of the highlights of grade school for me was Scholastic’s Dynamite magazine. It appears I started to subscribe to that in 1976, lasting until 1982. I found a box of these in the basement of my parent’s house on Lombard as we were getting it ready to sell, but they weren’t in great condition. I scanned and posted the entire issue from August 1979 here, if you want to get a feeling for what it was like.

Now that I have my ancient Canon scanner working again with my iMac, I thought I’d scan the front and back of the issues that survived the trip down to our loft. SK will now get the originals for her art projects and I get to keep the digital scans (which you can see after the jump).

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Back when I was ten

Posted April 10, 2020

Dynamite Magazine, August 1979

Read more…


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The Poor Little Rich Boy

Pic posted April 5, 2020

Richie Rich was my Leng’s Fountain go-to buy


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The eternal question

Pic posted April 5, 2020

Dynamite magazine – ah, the memories


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Future Farmer?

Pic posted February 13, 2020

How did I get on that list?


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I wish I could. I actually have a fair amount of anxiety in claustrophobic spaces. Ever since my injury, I don’t do well with tight spots…

— Andy

Quote posted January 17, 2020


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Link: Arctic day read (h/t Meredith)

Linked January 14, 2020


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Look at me buying books

Pic posted June 18, 2019

The woman at Drury Lane Books in Grand Marais was very persuasive


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Link: Need to read Brain World

Linked June 3, 2019


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The book of the times

Pic posted August 25, 2018

Thanks, Armon


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