Category: Notepad

I’d like to make a master calendar of all my goofy dates. I don’t want to clutter up my calendar. When there is a real event, like my daughter’s ice skating lesson, I don’t want 6 other random events blocking…

The NBA All-Star events this weekend are going to take place on a court that’s a giant flat-screen TV. Youtube preview. Whut. Wow. Mark this as a landmark moment. Years from now, we’ll look back at it like, “Yo, it…

The 2024 Super Bowl ad that stuck out to me is the “Oooo Ooooo Tumu” ad. The earworm jingle. The weird animated characters. The swaths of bright orange. It really pushed that branding over and over in the ad. The…

You know how they talk about Illinois seeing two cicada broods overlap this year? The 13-year cicadas and the 17-year cicadas. And this only happens once ever 221 years. (the last time being 1803). Well, the two broods just BARELY…

I haven’t checked the wastewater COVID chart in months. As of December 30, 2023, the United States witnessed its second-highest peak of COVID presence in wastewater. https://biobot.io/data/ It’s a bit surprising to see the second highest peak of COVID, and…

A friend posted a couple sketches from 1999 (when he was in college). I printed them out and plan on having my kids color them. It’s a fun thought to take a from someone you know from 25 years ago,…

Since when did Instagram stop showing “recent photos” for a search? When I do a search on Instagram, it shows only “top posts.” What if I want to come back tomorrow and see new posts for a particular search? I…

A new pair of wired headphones lets you listen to Apple Music with lossless sound. (I never knew listening to music introduced some sort of loss.) The little box that does the work is called an “in-line DAC”. I call…

I’m keeping an ongoing list of my resolutions, goals, and habit changes for 2024.

What's up with this "Fragment of a Sampler" from 1669?

When Chicago doesn't let you submit twice

As Flipboard joins the Fediverse, I partly get excited, because I want platforms to inter-operate. We shouldn’t have to be locked into one platform (like Facebook or Twitter). Publish in one spot, and let people choose their reader. It sounds…

What do pale tan lithographs have in common with bright pink typewriters?

It would be cool to see the Pitfall game recreated as a textile by Sosnev Amalgamated Textile Mills.

Illinoisitron — the combination of 102 counties into one Combiner!

The Combiners are the coolest Transformers. Imagine them all together.

Every day, I queue up a handful of podcast episodes to listen to. I keep these episodes in monthly playlists on Spotify. Here is the December playlist if you are interested.

Does anyone really dig in and listen to an album more than a couple of times anymore?

My local library might have a laser cutter!

During the Thanksgiving festivities at my wife’s parents’ house, my mother-in-law initiated a charming tradition. She asked everyone to write down their expressions of gratitude on small orange pumpkins. Here’s an edited version of the thoughts I shared: I started…

A TikTok user pointed out a fascinating trend: one’s sock choice might just be a generational giveaway. You can tell what generation someone belongs to “just by looking at their feet.” This observation holds water in my experience. When wearing…

The Verge reports YouTube tests a ‘play something’ button for when you don’t know what to watch I can’t tell if I love or hate this feature. (I personally have not seen it yet) Love it We need more randomness…

Every day, I go through my 98 podcast subscriptions and hand-select episodes to listen to. You can see (and listen to) my daily playlist on Spotify. If you’d like to see how I manage my podcasts, check out “Efficiently managing…

When was the last time you used the word "flair" in a message or your writing?

I think I might get a ChatGPT subscription just so I can see what I can do with the API. This article, “Unbundling AI” reiterated what we know and feel about ChatGPT, but it illuminated in interesting ways. Like, learning…

I went to close a text window that I wasn’t looking, but it wouldn’t close. I kept hitting the same key command (⌘-w) over and over. (the MacOS command to close a window). I finally looked at the text window…

You can now have multiple personal profiles on Facebook. Laughs. Just a couple weeks ago, I did the opposite. I MERGED two of my biggest personal profiles.

Want to make your Mastodon posts more discoverable? Check out this step-by-step tutorial on how to enable your toots to be searchable!

Seeking a Twitter alternative? I've tried Threads, Substack's Notes, and Mastodon. Now, I'm on Blue Sky! 🚀 Let's see if it sticks.

It looks like Amazon does not let you add non-Amazon items to your wish list anymore!

Sometimes I wonder if I'm missing out on a key cultural way that people relate to one another.