How can a daily The Far Side website finally be launched but not have an RSS feed?

I’ve been enjoying the content of Apple TV+ more than anything recently shown on Netflix. Critics seemed to pan the Apple shows, but I’ve liked For All Mankind, See, and Morning Wars.

So great to have swimming weather again. This summer I want to get into swimming for fitness. Pumped that my boy can do it with me. He managed 300 metres yesterday.

With a 🤮ing kid in the house it’s time to step away for a quick afternoon Nespresso.

Since I gave up my Lightroom subscription I’m looking for an iOS based photo editor with good presets. VSCO is good but it doesn’t interact directly with the photo library. Darkroom lets me edit in place but it’s editing doesn’t seem as impactful.

The Economist: Boeing’s misplaced strategy on the 737 MAX

The number of idle, new MAXes piling up has grown to 400.

What a disaster of an idea this plane has turned out to be.

With recent talk on micro.blog about trying to find international voices, I’ve added the Australian flag 🇦🇺 to my profile blurb. Maybe that will help.

Finished Firewatch last night. I’m besotted with Delilah. 🕹

Aussie micro bloggers make yourself known to @prologic ro be added to his dedicated page

Hi @davewoodx - awesome to find you on micro.blog. Thanks for your support via Twitter with TV Tune Up. I endorse your app for effective TV calibration.

After a couple of years of using Fiery Feeds, I bought the latest version of Reeder, which used to be my go to for RSS. It’s not nearly as full-featured but it’s nice.

Daring Fireball: Time’s 2019 Person of the Year: Greta Thunberg

Thunberg really riles up conservatives.

I was doorknocked by JWs yesterday. They slammed Thunberg, arguing Psalm 37 says we have been given Earth for all time. So apparently we can fuck it up without concern.

My employer has reduced password age to 45 days - due to cybersecurity insurances policies. I contest that short password durations are worse for security. Better to have a long passphrase and be done with it.

Daring Fireball: The Information: ‘Apple’s Ad-Targeting Crackdown Shakes Up Ad Market’

“There’s no easy ability to ID a user.”

I’m a happy Safari user, falling back to Firefox if required. I avoid Chrome.

I connected my HomePod to my Apple TV. The audio quality for television shows is impressive.

Float, the Pixar short film on Disney+, tugs all the heartstrings.

It was a blast participating in the Micro Monday podcast. @macgenie was a great host who kept the conversation flowing.

Bluey is the greatest kids television show ever made. This article explores the production side of making an animated show.

The Mental Office

I’ve been trawling through some old text files of mine. I came across a note from 2012 that I initially thought was my own, but now recognise it as the work of Shawn Blanc.

Shawn’s post highlights issues relating to working from home. He references a podcast that I used to enjoy listening to — the Home Work podcast, hosted by Aaron Mahnke and Dave Caolo1 . I can’t find an active link for the podcast. It was last hosted by 5by5. Since the podcast ended Aaron Mahnke has gone on to fame and fortune with Lore and Dave Caolo has moved on to other projects.

Leveraging the notes posted by Shawn Blanc, I see that the podcast noted working from home as thus:

Working from home isn’t always about notebooks, apps and office furniture. Much of it happens in the head, between fighting distraction, staying focused and keeping things organised. In this episode, Aaron and Dave chat about leaving work at work (even when it’s in your home) and doing a mind-sweep to keep things clear.

This is a challenge worth remembering, particularly now in 2019 when ubiquitous networking and powerful mobile devices makes it so easy to do work not only from home, but from anywhere at anytime. There is a clear risk of dedicating too much time to work because it’s possible. Yet this doesn’t make it the right choice. We really need to protect our leisure time.

  1. My claim to fame in relation to the Home Work podcast was that I once emailed in a question, which the hosts addressed in one of their shows. ↩︎

Politics

Day 30 of Blogvember. A full list of prompts for the month is available.

You thought religion was a dangerous topic? No, I’ve left the really dangerous one until last. Today, let’s talk politics.

My origin story

I’ve been interested in politics since I was 12 or 13 years old. Perhaps influenced by my conservative parents, and having grown up in an Australia where for the length of my memory Labor had been in government, I felt Labor were taking it all for granted.

I determined that Labor were not for me. The Australian economy was in recession and it felt that our family had been forgotten.

Impact of education

Time moved on and I began to take a different outlook on life. I realised that our family was living on the margins in low-income outer suburbia.

I did well enough at school that I was able to attend university. This was a foundation for self-improvement and growth. It helped me begin to see there was a broader world beyond that in which I had grown up.

I came to see that were it not for the efforts of the Labor Party to make university education affordable for everybody irrespective of their family situation, societal status or upbringing, I would never have been able to afford to go to university, even if I was clever enough. I also saw the people who were involved in the Liberal Party - and I knew they were nothing like me. My suburban story was foreign to them.

The Labor Party, on the other hand, was full of people that I could relate to, who had similar stories to mine.

My involvement in the Labor Party accelerated when I met my future wife, Hannah, who happened to be the daughter of Kim Beazley. He was the Leader of the Labor Party in Australia’s national parliament at the time. It’s not good for romance if you vote against your girlfriend’s father!

Ironically, I didn’t meet Hannah through any political connection or event. We met in a nightclub. Those were the days!

Politics engrained

That was in 1999. Since then I’ve been involved in politics in ways and to degrees that my childhood self could never have imagined.

I’ve worked on campaigns, I’ve door-knocked, I’ve called voters. I’ve twice supported my wife as a candidate at State and Federal elections. Unfortunately she was not victorious, despite running excellent campaigns and being generally well-regarded. The big swings that are needed to change a seat in politics simply didn’t eventuate.

It is easy to get caught up in the game of politics. When that happens to me, I think back on my own story. I believe the purpose of politics is to help communities, and enable people to have a fair and equal opportunity to become the best version of themselves. It’s about allowing kids like me living in poor suburbs have a chance to get an education. For me, an education unlocked employment opportunities and life improvements that I would not have ever imagined. It also helped the nation, because being qualified to get higher paying jobs I’ve been able to pay a lot more income tax than I otherwise would have.

Governments and politicians are servants of the people. When this responsibility is forgotten the system breaks down. When Paul Keating was in charge and the recession was in full swing, I looked at the situation around me and felt forgotten. When I look around now I feel that many, many more are forgotten. That needs to be brought to their attention. If it is, then perhaps they will elect to have a government that will be an effective servant who acts in their best interests.