Phillip Winn @pwinn@social.cleverlibre.org

I know people are dieting, so I’ll mark this as sensitive, but really I just enjoyed an amazing lunch at Tokyo One in Plano, Texas.

From Vaccines to Golden Rice: 10 Positive Stories From 2022 | Time

https://time.com/6243557/positive-stories-2022/

#2022recap #2022inreview #blog

Reading comments on Hacker News, I saw a thread which began with "The biggest problem is the like button." In talking about the rise of social media contributing to a decline in "blogging," this seemed a reasonable idea.

The top response to that was "The biggest problem is that you can make money from the internet." Which also seemed reasonable.

The top response to *that* was "I would say the biggest problem is advertising." Which again seemed like a reasonable thought.

Maybe one issue is that humans tend to the superlative, where every issue is "the biggest problem" rather that "one issue."

#blog

I'm not sure how often I'll update, but I'm going to use both hashtags #dungeon23 and #facility23 to make filtering easy for those who want to avoid this stuff.

My Hobonichi Techo splits weeks on a Mon-Sun basis, so today, January 1, is a strangler, the only day of 2023 on a page by itself. Accordingly, I have decided that my first "room" will be the only room on its "floor."

The ship drops you at ground level, where the airlock tube has been damaged and leaks air into the surrounding desolate moon. Your team's only choice is to seal up helmets and make a run for it. You find yourself in an area smaller than the footprint of the crashed alien ship would suggest, and realize that much of the space is taken up by debris from the uneven crash landing long ago. With the entrance sealed behind you, you can breathe freely again, and after some exploration you note a corporate-looking sign with raised lettering that reads "1F." However, others have painted over that sign repeatedly in different colors, and what seems to be the most recent addition, in red, reads "19F."

There are two exits from this area: one is an elevator platform that goes up, the other is a big hole in the floor seemingly made with explosives and later widened by hacking with something heavy and sharp. That exit goes down.

The choice is yours.

#ttrpg #MothershipRPG

@CARROT prepared for the loss of Dark Sky by advertising and launching in “Dark Sky” mode, with a very familiar layout and using Dark Sky’s API as it’s source. That API will stop working after March, of course. Thanks, Apple.

I decided there was no point in paying to use an award-winning app and limiting it like that, so I switched to the normal Carrot “smart layout” which changes based on time of day and weather conditions.

It’s nice so far.

#carrot #darksky #ripapple

Prologue now has 14 downloaded audiobooks, so I'm ready to start this year. Now I just have to pick which one comes first.

N.K. Jemisin? Becky Chambers? Chuck Wendig? Or maybe P.L. Travers?

I'll read them all eventually. What a delightful problem to have!

#books #personal

I’m still salty about Apple shutting down Dark Sky, don’t mind me.

I did become a paying customer of @CARROT yesterday, so yay for the non-megacorps.

Tonight, on this last night of 2022, I’m refreshing Dark Sky and reading again about the current temperature and how it Feels. I’m looking at the radar page showing clear skies around me. And I’m mourning a great product produced by a company that was bought by a megacorporation, in this case Apple, who ruined the product. At midnight tonight, Dark Sky will go dark forever.

I guess I’m happy for the folks who got a big check, but shame on Apple for this.

#apple #nerdery #antitrust

I don't think I have enough time today to finish another book, or even start one, so my count for the year stops at 128.

More pages but fewer books than last year.

That's an average of 2.85 days per book, which seems amazing even to me. I know some books took much longer than that, but I also remember a few days in which I read multiple books back-to-back, reading from morning until night.

31 of the 128 were audiobooks, and two were graphic novels.

I read so many good books this year! In 2022 I finished Ada Palmer's fantastic Terra Ingota series, discovered the wonderful books of Diana Wynne Jones, and met the wonderful Leonid McGill character of Walter Mosley.

I started a new job this year, and the increased demand on my brain meant I read more in the first half of the year than the last half. Then again, I think that seems to be true every year. Still, I'm tempted to lower my target for next year.

I am far behind most of my friends and family when it comes to movies and TV shows, but I think I probably read more than average.

#books #blog #personal