Excursions

I wonder how many people with iOS devices use any browser other than Safari. I can never convince myself to switch to any other browser — to be frank I never felt a need earlier when I was all in on Apple ecosystem. With recent switch to Windows, I have to reconsider.

A fascinating story of The First Lady of the Internet

A passing glance at this peculiar genealogy reveals how deeply these women’s faces and voices are integrated into technology, even as their names and thoughts and lives are so often ignored

In an article on how Instagram “travel influencers” are affecting homeownership around the world is hidden a very unfortunate truth.

Today everything exists to end in a photograph (…) the most influential factor in determining where to vacation is how “Instagrammable” the destination is.

This sad fact holds even for non-influencer, normal tourists. Every time I tour, I see loads and loads of people fighting for a spot, the same, crowded space that everyone around is taking pictures at. I have seen people put their backs to the most wonderful of the valleys and mountains and beaches just so that they would catch themselves and the serenity in the same picture. Doesn’t matter then if it looks equally serene just few feet away from the “instagrammable” spot.

Influencers who come into a community to get something, and who refuse to acknowledge or be curious about the people who make it up—or, worse, who consider those people obstacles—are refusing to participate in the best part of travel: Appreciating what, or who, makes a place different from any other.

I could not say it better. All tourists need to respect the location and the people that dwell there. That picture-worthy spot you are on look out for is a home for many.

Recently David documented the steps to expose a JSON feed on a @Blot site. I’ve been running a JSON feed for my blog for some time now, which also drives the On This Day page on my blog. I shared my approach so that others with a site running on Blot can create such a page.

Every now and then I am reminded of the fact that Opera browser still exists — why and how? There was a time when I enjoyed using Opera, especially on mobile — it looked the slickest in the flock. Ah, there was Flock too. These days, it’s a battle between just 3 players.

Foxcon’s entry to Wisconsin looks to have affected the town in tumultuous proportions as per a Bloomberg report. There was also a fascinating episode #132 of Reply All that covered this apparent disaster. It’s poignant to read how “progress” has marred the spirit of the town.

Recently David Merfield, the developer behind Blot, documented the steps to expose a JSON feed on a Blot site. I have been running a JSON feed for my blog for quite some time now, with some valuable help from David of course. It is this feed that drives the On This Day page on this blog. I thought I will share my approach so that others with a blog running on Blot can create such a page.

To begin with, follow the guide to get a working JSON feed for your blog. Validate you have a properly formed and accessible feed being served using the JSON feed validator.

Once the JSON feed is available, create a view in Blot for a javascript file. Copy the complete content of the javascript available as a gist* and add them to this new view. Modify the json_feed_url and tz variables appropriately to reflect the URL for the JSON feed and the timezone for your blog, you can refer to the formats in TZ database time zones. This script does the following.

1. Fetches all the posts as JSON objects from the JSON feed
2. Identifies the posts that share the same date and month as the current date (but not the year to avoid loading today’s posts)
3. Renders the posts (or no posts message) in the predefined section detailed below. This also includes some styling via the .className definition, you can remove/modify that as per your liking in fuction renderPost.

Make sure the above created view is accessible at a URL. If not, define a route in the Settings section of the view.

Next, create another view for a page to display these posts; a reference html page is available as a gist. Modify the src in <script src="/flashback.js"></script> to reflects the URL for the javascript created above. The script adds and renders the posts made on this day in earlier years in the div element with id on-this-day.

Do give this a try, it is fascinating to see your thoughts change, or at times stay exactly the same, over the year. Reach out to me if you face any issues or find any step missing.

* This javascript is inspired by and based on the wonderful project Micro Memories by Jonathan LaCour for the micro.blog hosted blogs. I have customized and simplified it as per my needs.

“Cleaning your room takes effort. Blurring your background on Skype does not.” This is a nifty addition to Skype - bokeh for video calls. And a very valid argument to put the iPhone X like a dot projector and infrared camera modules in laptops.

When someone publicises the intended motive behind their service as “to democratize audio and unlock the potential of human creativity”, we can guess they are ready for getting acquired. But then they sell out to a company that isn’t even servicing worldwide 🙄🤦🏽‍♂️

I always believed Anchor was strategically working towards an acquisition. I never thought they would sell out so early. So glad that I did not sign up while they were drumming up how they aim to take podcasting mainstream.