September 2022

ZPM Diary, Sept 25th 2022

I’d like to tell you that this was an eventful week here at RHQ, but I insisted that it be as quiet as possible. After working for a year straight at my day job, I took a vacation this week and mainly took it easy.

Of course, by easy, I mean: end my Squarespace site and move back to WordPress and find something simple. Two years ago when I got laid off, I poured everything into trying to hang my own shingle, not having learned what happened during the Great Recession when I tried the first time. Take note friends, If the general population does not have discretionary income, they are not going to spend it on you. The past two and a half years have been brutal, and it’s taken quite a chunk out of my mental health. While I’m not giving up on the dream, I’m scaling it way back to the point where I can allow myself to have fun again.

While cleaning my Mac, I deleted what I thought was an alias to my digital assets folder. That folder has all the stuff I use to make the podcast, the videos the photography. It wasn’t an alias. It was the actual folder. Luckily I had a backup, but the frustration of fixing my own screwup is something I could have done without. Took the opportunity to create new projects.

My laundry room shelves REALLY needed the Spark Joy treatment. I’m lying. My entire laundry room became the room in the house no one wants to admit exists. It’s clean, let us never speak of this again.

Insulin is not a new thing in this house, but it is a new thing to me. Fighting with insurance over insulin is also a new thing, but of all the new things that have happened this week, I didn’t expect to have my blood sugar go from 360 to 87 in 2 hours. If you don’t know what that feels like, I don’t recommend finding out.

I’ve cleaned this house from stem to stern. I’ve cleaned places in this house I had not known existed previously.

Now, I need to create a new template for the podcast in line with where I want to be now, and get back to creating, period. Photos, writing, podcast, videos, the whole thing. One thing at a time, and we’re going to start with this site. There’s some TikTok audio I heard once that said ”I’ve decided that I’m my niche, welcome to the shitshow.”

Welcome, indeed.

Photos: Heavy Machinery

Photography

After a long break, Kimmers and I headed down to the Charles Kuralt turnoff on the way to Knotts Island. She wanted to get the birds, but I had no idea what I wanted to capture. They’ve been doing some road work (How can you tell you crossed into North Carolina? Paved Roads.), and they parked their heavy equipment at the turnoff. So, I decided to mess around with the BIG YELLOW THING.

Music: Genesis — The Duke Suite

Music

From the 1980 Album Duke, Genesis originally wanted to have this all as one track on the album but decided against it. They didn’t want to create another Supper’s Ready 20-plus minute track. (Guys, I have Echoes and 2112 on Line 1, they’d like to have a word…)

When it came to touring for Duke, we got lucky. They play Behind The Lines, Duchess, Guide Vocal, Turn It On Again, Duke’s Travels, and Duke’s End in order. I adore this album, and I have a deep connection with Duke’s End: I used it as the outro for my show for years. Travels/End is one of the best pieces of music ever, in my opinion. It’s tracks like this that made Phil Collins a drum hero of mine and the reason I ever got behind a kit. I wanted to learn to play the great Genesis songs.

Enjoy.

The Midnight — Heroes

Music

One of my favorite bands released a new album today. Quoting from Wikipedia:

The Midnight is an American synthwave band composed of Atlanta-based singer-songwriter Tyler Lyle and Los Angeles-based Danish-born producer, songwriter, and singer Tim McEwan.

I’m nearly obsessed with this band. Not in the Pink Floyd/Rush kind of way, but in the “this is what 1984-86 sounded like in my head” kind of way.

Yes, I’m old. Don’t hate.

Framing Matters

Photography, Politics

Any photographer—any storyteller—will tell you that how you frame something can tell a quite a different story from reality. For example, here’s a wide shot of Independence Hall from Biden’s speech.

Here’s the photo that’s circulating over on Right Wing Media. Notice a difference?

This photo is a close and cropped shot to exclude the blue panels on either side, and it’s been Photoshopped to make the red backdrop behind him darker and more sinister. Biden’s body language is meant to portray something evil, but since this photo has clearly been, uh, selectively edited, I find myself wondering if Biden actually did this.

Don’t believe everything you see. Question Everything.

Judge Rules Business Doesn’t Have To Cover PrEP

Blog

Buzzfeed:

Hotze’s attorneys argued that he believed PrEp “facilitates and encourages homosexual behavior, intravenous drug use, and sexual activity outside of marriage between one man and one woman,” and that providing such preventive medicine would make him complicit in that behavior

O’Connor agreed with that argument and found the Department of Health and Human Services had failed, under the provisions of the RFRA, to show it had a compelling governmental interest to substantially burden Braidwood’s religious beliefs, and that this was the least restrictive means for doing so.

In response to government arguments that there was no factual support for Hotze’s beliefs that PrEP facilitates anti-Christian behaviors, O’Connor ruled the courts were required only to test the sincerity of these beliefs, not their correctness.

This guy is old enough to have lived through the 1980’s. I certainly remember that time. I also remember Ryan White, and he didn’t end up with AIDS because of a behavior or a lifestyle. He got a tainted blood transfusion. Magic Johnson wasn’t gay either, although you could make the argument that his was a behavioral issue. Two examples that illustrate the point Mr. Hotze and Judge O’Connor would like you to forget: HIV / AIDS is not limited to the LGBT+ community. It’s people who needed blood transfusions, it’s promiscuity without protection, it’s addicts who share needles, and most importantly, it’s people who used to do those things, straightened up, and might be attending your church today.

PrEP saves lives. As with all things Christofascists, the cruelty is the point.

Thoughts On Apple Day

Tech

Apple will host a reveal party at the Steve Jobs Theater in Cupertino for the first time in a couple of years for the first time in a couple of years for the first time in a couple of years. I have to tell you that I’m going to miss the very well-produced videos that Apple has done throughout the pandemic, and I hope they continue those in some capacity.

Despite being a happy Apple customer, I am getting less and less interested in these occasional product reveals. It might be because there are no longer any surprises, no more ‘one more thing,’ but I suspect it’s that the designs are largely the same with only slight adjustments to ensure you need to buy one more thing. A new case, a new dongle, a new charging cable. I suppose that is the one thing we can expect from any Apple product reveal: We’re going to have to adapt, and that usually means our wallets. I’m not bitter about it, that’s just a fact of life when you’re in the Apple ecosphere.

I’m less and less interested because I am not an Apple Fanboy, nor am I an Android enthusiast. I am a cheerleader for using the tool that gets the job done. I don’t care what it is. If you can do what you need to do with the device you have, mazel tov.

I’m gonna need a new reason, a new product, and a new thing to be as excited as I used to be.

UPDATE: Apparently they changed their mind, and this is a video presentation like the past two years.

UPDATE 2: There are only two features that caught my attention: First, Action Mode on the iPhone 14. Built-in stabilization is something I’ve been looking for. It’s the reason I folded and bought a Go Pro. Aside from that, there’s no reason for me to trade my iPhone 12. Second: the new oval cutout on the iPhone 14 Pro. It’s pretty, but it’s a gimmick. I don’t need that. Sorry Tim, I have a blue iPhone 12, and I’m not giving it up yet.

Rethinking The News

Blog

From Wajahat Ali’s Twitter:

Right-wing take over of Politico and CNN, plus mainstream outlets like CBS News and others actively courting Trumpers and pulling their punches for sake of GOP “access” reveals everything terrible about mainstream media and its normalization of fascism. It’s going to get worse.

…

Last year, a producer told me how low the bar had become for conservative voices on TV. They had to 1) Accept Biden won the election and 2) Not support white supremacy or be overtly white supremacist. It was very difficult to find these voices.

Mainstream media outlets like those listed above aren’t really moving rightward, but they are normalizing “bothsides-ism”. That’s the problem; there isn’t a both sides to be had here if you’re a sane person. Anyone who insists that there are both sides to this issue either doesn’t get it, or is paid not to.

I’m Not That Fancy

Zen Pirate Madman

So, here’s a little bit of a switch. As some of you may be aware, I’ve been a Squarespace customer for almost a decade. I like them, and their customer service has been excellent. However, over the course of the pandemic I’ve been thinking about what it is I actually *need* for a site, and that feeling has intensified over the last few weeks. I’ve also been giving thought to the anxiety I give myself trying to make my multimedia talents a thing, and I just don’t need to do that. I need to have fun doing this stuff, and this hasn’t been fun for a while.

So I’m scaling back. I have made the switch back to a WordPress site, and the first decision I had to make was to whether or not to go look for a fancy theme or not. I don’t need some magazine theme or a portfolio theme, and I don’t need something that has my face plastered all over it like my last Squarespace site did. I need the content to be front and center; more steak than sizzle. This theme does that. It also serves as a platform for me to relearn some of the WordPress development things that I lost over the past ten years or so.

This new experiment—and let’s be clear, this is me playing mad scientist for the first time in a dozen years or so— is meant to do one thing: force me to look at a blank background until I get annoyed enough to fill it with something. I make no promises, but if you’ve been with me for a while, you know this. Of course, you know where the door is if you’ve had enough.

I haven’t.