Jim Willis

  • Windy Winter Remains

  • Troubleshooting WordPress Share to Mastodon plugin

    I uploaded an image to a WordPress post using three different techniques, and you can see the way they appear in Mastodon in the image below using this really excellent and customizable/flexible plugin. 

    Screen Shot 2022 03 14 at 10 17 32 AM

    I’m trying to get the image to appear like it does when uploading to a Mastodon post using the native posting tool, like this:

    UntitledImage

  • PESOS vs POSSE

    I didn’t realize Dries founded/manages Drupal until I checked out the about page on his website. In any case, he has a really excellent comparison of PESOS vs POSSE on his site.

    For me, I’m just trying to find as friction-free a way to collect/post/share. After a bunch of false starts I’m leaning towards WordPress as the bucket that collects everything and sends it out to other places like Mastodon, my newsletter and Day One (my journal software).

    Unfortunately, iOS shortcuts integration with WordPress is horrible. Unless you fall back to old school xml-rpc stuff which feels like way too much work. This means it’s not a totally friction-free collection bucket but I feel like from a sharing-out perspective, it’s the right tool for the POSSE job.

  • Martin D-18 with d-gard tone-gard

    A friend unexpectedly gifted me this the other night when we were rehearsing for an upcoming gig. I can not believe what a huge difference it makes in the sound/volume of my already very loud Martin D-18.

    It’s called a d-gard and is purpose built for the back of a Martin dreadnaught. I put some new felt on it so that it wouldn’t scratch the finish. I’m astounded at how much more volume and sustain I’m getting from this. A good friend of mine who plays mandolin has been telling me to get one of these for years and I’m glad I finally got one. For standing up and playing at live gigs around a single mic, I’m hoping this gives me the volume I need.

  • When you sit down to learn Norman Blake’s New Chance Blues and just keep clicking though on the jams:

    youtu.be/x4wIldrOSJE

    https://ift.tt/tqbuJ6R

  • Love the mix of drum machine and live drums on this track:

  • Man, I have got my music streaming dialed in using Marvis. Combining tracks from a bunch of playlists, applying some filters and sorting. Just saying.

  • Indie Microblogging

    This:

    Massive centralized platforms create problems for society. By posting to your own site, you control your content, distributing it more evenly across the web and minimizing the power of big tech companies.

    and

    Temporary, viral movements like #DeleteFacebook are not enough. We need something sustainable that permanently changes the narrative.

    Both from Manton Reece’s excellent Indie Microblogging.

    Our high-schools should have a whole class built around this book. It would teach kids how to take action, how to not be powerless. From understanding ownership of content to understanding the way the Internet runs on open standards. It’s all in here.

    I’ve never pre-ordered a book so quickly.

  • Using Personal Devices at Work

    This quote from Illich shows up in more than one of L.M. Sacasas’ excellent newsletter, The Convivial Society:

    “A convivial society should be designed to allow all its members the most autonomous action by means of tools least controlled by others. People feel joy, as opposed to mere pleasure, to the extent that their activities are creative; while the growth of tools beyond a certain point increases regimentation, dependence,
    exploitation, and impotence.” 

    — Ivan Illich, Tools For Conviviality (1973)

    Working in tech, I’m always trying to find balance between autonomy and support. Recently we spent a lot of time thinking through how to best allow staff to use their personal smartphones with our work systems. I am glad we did so and it looks like this was a step in the right direction for autonomy. This WSJ piece is about a recent, small study that shows this kind of empowerment is good for employee morale.

     

     

  • Almost Spring

    Out for a late afternoon walk in my local woods. The silence in this particular spot was incredible, in part because I’m in NJ and it’s almost never quiet, anywhere here. Took this with my iPhone. I had my Fuji w/ me in my backpack but was too lazy to take it out. Wish I had. That velvia simulation would have looked awesome here:

     

    IMG 1822

Current Spins

Top Albums

Check out my album Set It All Down on your favorite streaming service.

Posts Worth Reading:

Free Internet vs Internet of Free Stuff

Letterboxd

Reading Notes

  • Read: The Imperfectionist: How Not to Freak Out, Part Two
    The antidote to all of this, in the broadest terms, is *more reality*, more immersion in the finite here and now: more writing on paper; […]
  • Read: Recording: After the Election – Four Ways We Can Respond
    “Under the worst conditions, what’s the most important thing to have?” He replied: “Friends.” Source: Recording: After the Election – Four Ways We Can Respond […]
  • Read: Mud Boots of Empathy in Spain
    Spain’s unity at this moment is from the bottom up. Or, as Spanish professional soccer player Ferran Torres wrote on social media, “The people are […]
  • Read: Vision Con
    Unable, then, to see the world because I have forgotten the way of being in the world that enables vision in the deepest sense, I […]
  • Read: I Made This
    Suppose Bob writes an email to Sue, who has no existing business relationship with Bob, asking her to draw a picture of a polar bear […]

Saved Links

  • The Markup
    The Gentle January series shares one practical privacy tip a day from a Markup staffer who actually uses the advice in their own life. — Direct link
  • ongoing by Tim Bray · Why Not Bluesky
    "to be clear, I’m a fan of the Bluesky leadership and engineering team. With the VC money as fuel, I expect their next 12 months or so to be golden, with lots of groovy features and mind-blowing growth. But that’s not what I’ll be watching. I’ll be looking for ecosystem growth in directions that enable survival independent of the company. In the way that email is independent of any technology provider or network operator." — Direct link
  • The Great Migration to Bluesky Gives Me Hope for the Future of the Internet
    "I have been impressed with the tools that the open source development community is building to bridge the gap between the AT protocol and ActivityPub, and I’m hopeful that some mixture of Bluesky and Mastodon will eventually serve most of my needs as a social media user and, hopefully, as someone who co-owns a website" — Direct link
  • Helium Mobile
    Ditch big telco. Rise above with The People's Carrier, a new carrier owned by the people, and earn crypto. — Direct link
  • The 23 Most Dangerous Cars On The Road – iSeeCars.com
    Two Teslas, the Model Y and Model S, make the most dangerous cars list despite Tesla’s advanced driver-assist technology Tesla also has the highest fatal accident rate by brand, followed by Kia, Buick, Dodge, and Hyundai — Direct link
  • What Wildly Specific POV Playlists Tell Us About How We Listen Today
    Whether you’re looking to escape into a cottage-core wonderland, enact fiery revenge on a deadbeat ex, or cosplay as a bigtime magazine editor, there’s a POV playlist for you. — Direct link
  • tree.fm – Tune Into Forests From Around The World
    — Direct link
  • moodeaudio.org
    Audiophile streamer for the wonderful Raspberry Pi family of single board computers and DIY audio community. — Direct link
  • Here’s some cool stuff you can do with Bluesky – The Verge
    Bluesky offers a lot of unique features like algorithmic feeds and custom moderation that can make for a rich, in-control experience for users. — Direct link
  • How humans and AI can make music together – The Verge
    Stanford professor and Smule co-founder Ge Wang explains how computers can make music, and the future of creativity in an AI world, on The Vergecast. #music #ai — Direct link