Good morning from Charlottesville, Virginia! ☕️
Welcome to a Sunday morning edition of Saturday Morning Coffee. 😃 My youngest daughter and I went to breakfast — TipTop Restaurant — and did a bit of Christmas shopping yesterday. It’s something we do every year. You might say it’s tradition. 🎅🏼
Todays forecast calls for a little snow. ❄️ I hope it happens.
My coffee is nice and hot. Let’s get started.
Enjoy!
Horror legend Stephen King has written a fair few books over the years. Ever since he burst on the scene with “Carrie” in 1974, he’s given fans at least one book nearly every year. Since most of his work has been extremely popular, he’s also established himself as a bit of an authority on the horror front — and isn’t shy about commenting about either the genre or his craft as a writer.
Who doesn’t love Stephen King? I’ve only read a few of his books but my wife Kim has read everything he’s ever written, including his first attempt at self publishing a digital book called The Plant.
I enjoyed following him when Twitter was around and I’m thrilled he’s joined Threads so I can follow him once again.
Now, can we please get his account connected to Mastodon?
Mozi is a social app — not in the sense of “social media.” But in the sense of interacting with other people and building relationships.
It’s nice to see an actual social app. I was working with a small group back in 2015-2016 building this exact application. It was called Jaunty but execution is what matters and Mozi is beautiful.
Abid Rahman • The Hollywood Reporter
Bluesky Hits 25M Users As Exodus From X Continues
I still prefer Mastodon but it’s really nice to see Bluesky growing and Space Karen’s social network shrinking.
I’d encourage folks to checkout Mastodon and use their mobile app to sign up and use mastodon.social as your instance, it’s the default. Once you learn how an instance works and what it means to be on a different instance you can move your account. And, no, you don’t have to move, ever. 😃
Matthew Christopher • Atlas Obscura
Even looking down from a rooftop onto the overgrown ruins of Lenin Square, it’s difficult to comprehend the scale of loss in Prypiat, Ukraine. Perhaps, like me, you’ve been fascinated by the tragedy of Chornobyl, as it is known in Ukrainian*, for decades.
I’m fascinated by Chernobyl. I remember when the meltdown was reported and the confusion and concern that followed. Things could’ve been much, much, worse.
From Brazil to Mexico and beyond, NASCAR continues emphasis on global expansion
The thing about this expansion is it’s all about having a local league. What I’d like to see is the NASCAR Cup Series go to different countries. In 2025 NASCAR will visit Mexico City and that’s a great start but I’d like to see them go to Europe and run some of the most famous tracks in the world.
[Christine Lemmer-Webber] (https://dustycloud.org/blog/re-re-bluesky-decentralization/)
A few weeks ago I wrote How decentralized is Bluesky really?, a blogpost which received far more attention than I expected on the fediverse and Bluesky both. Thankfully, the blogpost was received well generally, including by Bluesky’s team. Bryan Newbold, core Bluesky engineer, wrote a thoughtful response article: Reply on Bluesky and Decentralization, which I consider worth reading.
The two pieces from Christine and the response from Bryan Newbold are really good reads. If you’d like to understand a bit more about how ActivityPub/Mastodon work vs. ATProto.
Emily Hemphill • The Daily Progress
Standing on the corner of Water and Second streets off Charlottesville’s Downtown Mall this past September, two men tilted their heads back to fully take in the towering husk of a building that has sat derelict for roughly 16 years.
When I started at WillowTree I was in the building diagonally across from it and it’s a complete wreck and an eyesore. It should be torn down to make way for something beautiful.
I miss working on the mall. I wish the company was still down there.
The picture above was taken in December 2019, looking down on the Downtown Mall. It was the first snow of the season.
NASCAR Shocks FRM and 23XI by Withdrawing Charter Offer Amid Legal Dispute
This isn’t a surprise to me. Front Row and 23XI filed a lawsuit against NASCAR. They followed up by asking the court to not allow their current charters to expire and it sounds like NASCAR won that battle.
I hope 23XI and Front Row survive.
