The Atlantic: ”The Tumblr users I spoke to, both new and returning, cited a few unfashionable aspects that keep them using the platform. Tumblr’s main feed doesn’t shuffle posts algorithmically based on what it determines might appeal to a user. It’s ‘a good, old chronological river,’ Maryellen Stewart, a social-media consultant who has kept a running diary on Tumblr since 2014, said.”
I’ve considered switching to Tumblr a number of times over the years, but, there are two thing I want out of my blogging system 1) control the post taxonomy 2) publish to static HTML.
I’ve lived without item number two, so it’s not nearly as important as being able to control the post taxonomy. I always want my URLs in year/month/day/ format with the post name following. Check out the URL of this post. It’s a perfect example of that. I could control that in WordPress. It would be a nice to have in Tumblr.
Visio Guy: ”Today I’m sharing a drawing of a local transit station/shopping mall that I made with…Visio!”
Chris Roth is Visio Guy. He was part of a group of interns who were part of making shapes for the launch of Visio 1.0. Chris became a full time employee and was around for a number of Visio releases. I don’t remember when Chris left the Visio team but I’d imagine it was sometime after it was acquired by Microsoft.
Since that time he’s continued creating smart shapes for all kinds of drawing types and has written a number of wonderful how-to articles on SmartShapes.
So, yeah, if you need an expert on Visio, Visio automation, or SmartShapes, you’d be hard pressed to find someone with better knowledge of the platform.
Dave Winer: ”I paid Apple $1300, not UPS. If they screwed up, and it’s likely they did, telling me to go to UPS is no answer. I didn’t choose to use UPS, you did.”
Apple has been slipping in various ways for a while now. I don’t know that it’s unexpected given their monster size.
Their developer relationships have become a real problem. I’ve said for a long time they hate third party developers. I have no doubt they’d be perfectly happy dumping third party developers if it wouldn’t cost them billions in services revenue, but that’s a story for another day.
NBC 29: ”The city of Charlottesville is hoping to get a better look inside a Downtown Mall eyesore. City officials are hoping to hire an independent inspector to make sure The Dewberry building is safe.”
The Dewberry building is a giant turd in an otherwise beautiful downtown.
I wouldn’t surprise me if it collapsed.
What a mess.
The Guardian: ”In a deal struck in late 2020, Marathon, a bitcoin “mining” company, became the sole recipient of the power station’s electricity.”
All cryptocurrency mining companies really need to consider the environmental impact of their business. It would be wonderful if they’d get behind more green initiatives and stop using old forms of energy like this coal plant.
It would also be extremely thoughtful if they’d generate more power than they use and push it back onto the grid. I know. That may be a step too far to expect these power hungry companies to think beyond their own pocketbooks.