Writing on a wiki seems easier than publishing a blog post. I feel a latent pressure for a blog post to be of a certain quality and style. A wiki is just continuous editing and improvement.
Owning Your Content
Social media is a vacuum, sucking up content by others and monetising it for themselves.
We don’t have to play that game. This is what the IndieWeb is about — having our content remain ours, not making money for poorly behaved mega-corps.
Phil Nunnally on Ben Norris on owning your content expresses this well:
Phil:
The experience of owning the content here is sprawling to other ways I can own, refactor, and share more stuff that I used to keep to myself or surrender to others.
Ben:
I just resonate so much with the mission that Manton has, and his belief of the importance of owning our content, and being, in some ways, good stewards of ourselves and our thoughts and our creative output. Don’t give it to someone, don’t turn it over. Own it and keep it and make it available to share on your own terms.
For the millions (and millions!) of fans tracking development of my wiki… I present to you… an RSS feed! 🙏
Monthly Review — January 2019
In the first of what may — or may not — be a regular series, this is a review of my past month.
What Went Well at Home?
- The first month of my self-anointed Year of Fun went well. I remembered the theme as I went about my days and it helped create a better attitude and a happier daily mood.
- Summer school holidays are almost done. Our family has survived intact which must be considered a win!
- A staycation weekend was a welcome reprieve for Hannah and I. We rarely get the opportunity to enjoy each other’s company without children, so this break was a blessing.
What Went Well at Work?
- January is always a slow month for work. I managed to use the time effectively to ensure I’m not carrying forward a backlog into the rest of the year.
Highlights
- A visit to Perth Observatory where we viewed the night sky. Our son had a ball.
- The Australia Day Fireworks were impressive.
My Media Diet
- Watched the first two episodes Star Trek: Discovery, season 2. Already it is better than the inaugural season.
- Bohemian Rhapsody was an enjoyable movie that compelled my wife and I to play Queen music on the drive home.
- NBL basketball continues to bring me enjoyment.
- Reading Toll by Matt Gemmell.
- Listening to the audiobook of Educated by Tara Westover.
My Passion Project
I keep checking my friends’ Wikis to look for the latest updates. I think I’m addicted.
I’m a sucker for some visible infrastructure.
I’m a sucker for some visible infrastructure.
@twelvety I love your most recent wiki journal. Some cracking one-liners within!
After enjoying Vegemite for 40 years, the new ownership group have destroyed it by changing the texture. Today I bought the ripoff OzEmite and it’s more like Vegemite than Vegemite. Sad times for an Australian.
Journaling
Derek Sivers has published a post about journaling. This is a timely insight as I have been on a bent exploring tools for capturing my own thoughts, including the use of a personal wiki, DEVONthink and TheBrain.
Derek says:
For each subject that you might have ongoing thoughts about, start a separate “Thoughts On” journal.
He goes on to explain:
Sometimes I think I have a new thought on a subject, so I open up the file and write it down, then afterwards I see I had that same thought a year ago and had forgotten about it.
This is a great use of a wiki, that can be tended to and developed. Each page can represent an idea which can be built upon over time, and it can cross-reference other online sources if need be.
My only problem is that while most of my thoughts can live comfortably in a wiki in the public domain, some probably shouldn’t. This leads me to a solution such as TheBrain, or more boringly, a text file.
TheBrain excels at making the connections, but taking notes is its area of greatest weakness.
I’ve used Day One for my regular journal for many years. While I’ve tried expanding its use into other areas of journaling, I forget that I’ve set them up, and so it hasn’t become a habit.
Now we’re talking!
@twelvety You bought Tinderbox? Man, you are in deep. I look forward to hearing more about it. That is one app I’ve never quite understood.
This season of Star Trek: Discovery is already better than the last.
I’ve spent a little time delving into a bit of economic theory today. It’s been so long since I’ve involved myself in that, it’s hard to believe that I hold a Bachelors degree in Economics. The achievement of that qualification was a long time ago.
I am grateful for micro.blog. It’s hard to find people that share with me a similar Venn Diagram of interests, but through micro.blog I’ve surfaced a number of them. Thanks to @manton and @macgenie.
I love this quote from @twelvety about the benefits of using a wiki:
[…]it’s like swirling hot chocolate around in a mug: By keeping everything visible and mixed in and active, the good stuff doesn’t settle to the bottom where it can’t be enjoyed.
Reassurances
She looks out of the window, into the evening grey, and wonders where he went.
The wind was blowing. It added to her sense of foreboding, as she wondered when he would come back. Would he come back? Of course he would.
Before he left, he had mumbled something under his breath, something about there never being enough.
‘Enough what?,’ she thought while continuing to gaze out of the window, trying to push her feelings of worry away.
Their relationship had always been rocky. Between the arguments there were periods of joy and laughter, but never enough. Recently, though, things between them had been good. Why would he leave? Why now?
She stood. Walking on bare feet through the too quiet house she arrived at their bedroom. It was as it had been that morning. The bed unmade. They only made the bed when guests were visiting. Despite her having slept alone the past two nights, this habit hadn’t changed.
The closet door was open, and it was full of his clothes.
She pulled open his chest of drawers. Underwear scattered through one of the drawers. Socks in another. Nothing missing. He wouldn’t leave behind all his things, surely. He didn’t have enough money to buy a new wardrobe of clothes.
She sat on the edge of the bed, the unmade blanket creating a slightly uncomfortable bulge beneath her thighs.
‘Why am I so worried that he won’t come back?,’ she wondered. ‘He’s entitled to go out without telling me his movements. I’m being silly. He’ll be back soon enough.’ She knew it was not a solid rationale.
She got up and walked to the lounge room. Turned on the television and switched to the 24-hour news channel.
‘If something terrible has happened, it would make the news,’ she thought, despite knowing that if anything bad had happened, police would notify her probably before a newscast.
‘Never being enough…’ What did he mean? What was he thinking?
The two days that had passed since he mumbled those words before walking out of the front door felt longer. ‘I should notify the police,’ she told herself firmly, as if trying to will herself to take action. But that would be admitting there was a problem, that he might not be coming back, so she restrained herself from making the call.
Instead of seeking help, she reassured herself by murmuring, over and over, ‘He’ll be back, he’ll be back. As soon as he has found enough, he’ll be back. I’m enough. He’ll be back.’
It appears that Fastmail have fixed my problem with Google Calendar invitations. It would be nice if they would reply to/close my support ticket. 🤷♂️
I had the opportunity to visit Perth Observatory last night and look at stars, nebulae, the moon and other celestial bodies. I was taken by this control panel for a telescope that used to take images with glass plates.
I had no idea about this aspect of Nepalese culture:
She became a goddess at three years old, but when puberty hit, it was back to an anonymous life in the suburbs.
via ABC News
Scouts Australia have rebranded. I like the story driving the brand redesign but I’m not completely convinced about the standalone logo.