• Response to Back then, everything seemed so possible.

    For younger folk: this photo is from the farcical Web 1.0 Summit to make fun of those using the "Web 2.0" moniker for their own marketing ambitions. In other words, history repeating itself. https://laughingsquid.com/web-1-summit/ The photos are gold: https://www.flickr.com/photos/laughingsquid/sets/1084819/
    It really did feel like anything was possible in the early 2000's on the internet. These days it's different.

    • People don't sit down at computers, so you "need" a web app and a mobile app (which requires submitting apps to stores with arbitrary rules).ย 
    • People don't want to create logins (so you need to integrate with the tech giants for login)
    • Services keep (your) data tight within walls.
    • Search results often favor the big incumbents.
    • Most every online interaction is somehow linked to Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, or Twitter.

    Communities like the IndieWeb community give me hope. Hope that, while it may never return to the way it was, there's enough people that remember the promise of the internet and care enough to try keep it alive.
  • Checkin to Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Natural History (็ฅžๅฅˆๅท็œŒ็ซ‹็”Ÿๅ‘ฝใฎๆ˜Ÿใƒปๅœฐ็ƒๅš็‰ฉ้คจ)

    in Odawara, Kanagawa, Japan
    Final outing for vacation.
  • The Week #64

    • Today marks my 36th birthday. Happy birthday to me! ๐Ÿฅณ๐ŸŽ‰
    • This week was a summer vacation-like week - busy with lots of activity and going places. It's starting to feel a bit safer to do so because covid numbers are down to less than 200 / day from over 2,600 / day a month ago in Kanagawa and as Japan has surpassed the United States in vaccinations, something I did not see happening given the US' 3 + month advantage starting.
    • Tuesday, Leo and I went to Enoshima and visited the Aquarium. He's got a yearly pass and I renewed mine. As soon as we arrived he b-lined to the dolphin show and waited patiently for 30 minutes for the first show. Afterwards he looked at the sharks and tried to leave.

      I thought he was mistaken, leaving so soon, so I took him upstairs to the cafe area. I ordered some nuggets and chips (crisps) as they didn't have any fries (chips). Leo had a complete meltdown, despite telling him while we were waiting in line that they didn't have any fries.

      I managed to calm him down somehow and we went to the beach and played in the waves for a few before going to Kua'aina to split a burger and fries.
    • Wednesday, we cycled over to the grandparent's house and back. My battery was low when we left, but I managed to make it back with 5% remaining. I learned that below 20% and it starts to display the drop in real time. So rather than going from 30% -> 20%, it shows you 20% -> 19% -> 18% etc...
    • Thursday, a friend came over for lunch and a chat. This was the first time I've met any friend since the lull between the first and second wave in August 2020 and I haven't seen this friend since January 2020. It was really nice to chat. After we chatted for a while we took Leo to the park and to my surprise he walked the entire way there. If it was just me he'd be wanting to get on my shoulders or some such. I was amazed.
    • Friday was spent in downtown Yokohama in Minatomirai. Leo and I rode the new urban ropeway. It makes the trek from World Porters much easier, but it's too expensive (ยฅ1,000 for adults, ยฅ500 for kids). It's priced like a tourist attraction rather than public transit. The staff must have thought Leo wasn't quite 3 yet, as they didn't charge me for him despite me saying 1 adult, 1 kid.

      We stayed the night at Yokohama Royal Park Hotel towards the top-half of of Landmark tower. Here's a time-lapse from our room. Leo does so well traveling. I look forward to when he's a bit bigger and we can go out on longer trips.

    • Saturday morning I went for a run along the bay, marking 3 times running this week. It was mostly flat, which was nice, but the views were totally worth it. I think it may be a good thing to do while traveling to better know an area.
      Minatomirai 5:42am
    • After that we went to the Nogeyama Zoo, a small / free (donations encouraged) zoo. They have all a lion, various monkeys, giraffes, zebras, flamingos, and more. Unfortunately, we couldn't see the tiger or the kangaroos as the the tiger moved to the Ueno Zoo and the kangaroo area was under construction.
  • Got my BRoute reader working and getting electric usage from my smart meter. Woohoo!

    Realtime power usage from my smart meter
  • Response to Probably my next laptop

    At the moment, I donโ€™t need a new laptop. But should I ever need one (which will probably be someday), it will be the Framework Laptop.It really is the best and most sustainable laptop concept Iโ€™ve ever seen.
    Agree 100%. Iโ€™ve been looking for excuses to buy one since Iโ€™ve heard of them. Buying one would be my first non-Mac since 2003. Maybe once my 2014 mbp dies on me.

    The only thing that gives me pause is the intel chips and how they compare to the M1 / AMD chips. But who knows how things will develop until then, itโ€™s mostly a moot point.
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