Software
- Began with free version, ca. 2007; was an improvement over Blogger (by then owned by Google).
- Ads become too obtrusive, so paid to remove them.
- Began using site not only to blog, but also as a professional signboard.
- Eventually upgraded to business plan to meet customization needs (add plugins).
“Apple Intelligence to Be Enabled on All Compatible Devices” by Adam Engst, TidBITS, January 24, 2025, tidbits.com. At least it can be turned off, though that seems to be an all-or-nothing proposition.
The new version of MacPaw’s CleanMyMac (the successor to CleanMyMac X) is unusable for me. The features sound good, but the animations are so busy, so intrusive, as to make it impossible to look at the app without feeling disoriented. Where is the option to turn all that nonsense off? I need a utility, not entertainment.
I’ve cancelled my subscription. When I offered the requested feedback about why, all I got was an automated follow-up request for more details so they can help me make the app work. This is the problem with automated systems that don’t allow for a “none of the above” and “human” option. My problem is accessibility, but whether that message ever gets through is doubtful.
For now, the old version still works, so I went back to it. But this preview of an entshittified future with MacPaw has made me lose faith. To be fair, though, I’ve been losing faith in a lot of products that have unnecessary stuff crammed into them, including MacOS. When my Mac ceases to be supported by Apple security updates, I might just switch over to a basic Linux install.
Has 1Password been getting worse over the past year or so? They update regularly, but it feels like I’m encountering unnecessary friction these days, though I haven’t identified any specific patterns.🤔
PSA: If you are posting a screenshot to a microblogging platform of some sort, please remember that these platforms are also mobile. And there are disparities in screen size and eyesight. If you use an iPhone or iPad, much of this is solved by an app called Linky by Pragmatic Code.
Shared Notes: Why I'm Dropping Bear.app
Shared Notes: Tiny Theme – Use and Modifications
Shared Notes: Why Move from Wordpress.com to Micro.blog?
My history with WordPress.com
Working through More Journals
I've been working through more journals, putting interesting articles and reviews in my bibliography database and reading the things. It might be faster just to search databases for what I'm interested in, which I also have to do, of course, but browsing many issues of a journal offers a helpful overview of what's going on in the scholarship more broadly. I still have to pick and choose from the huge mass of offerings, but at least this way I see things that I likely never would have looked for otherwise.
I'm doing most of my data entry and sorting on my iMac with Bookends from Sonny Software, and I'm reading and reviewing on my iPad though the new Bookends on Tap, which syncs with the Mac nicely. And I've got the Mac database on Dropbox, in case I need to add or reference something from the office.
One valuable benefit of otherwise rather poorly paid adjunct teaching is the access I get to periodical literature online through the university library that is not available through my institute. But I'm finding that I'll still need to visit Lauinger Library at Georgetown for some things, too. Fortunately, that's only a thirty-minute walk from here, half of that through the woods, which can do this sedentary body good.
Online Forums: Blackboard and Wikispaces
Spring Break and Teaching
It's spring break at George Mason University (GMU), and, starting tomorrow, I will have the apartment to myself during the day. Of course, there is a mountain of student work to correct and classes to prepare, but I think I will be able to resume blogging here again. For starters, I do not have to spend three hours a day in busses and trains between Northwest DC and Fairfax, VA. Excuses aside, I sure do admire those of you who are able to teach and blog at the same time, and I hope to begin doing the same again myself. And, hey, I even have a TA this semester, though I don't really have an office, unless having a place available for office hours that three other people use counts.
I'm teaching three sections of History 100 again, that is, GMU's one-semester survey in Western Civilization. I'm doing it differently this semester than in previous semesters. I've thrown out the chronological approach in favor of a thematic one. I would have done this earlier, but I never got around to planning it out. This time I did not let a minor detail like that get in my way. Better to name six major themes ahead of time and then work my way through them during the semester. The chronological alternative was simply too frustrating for both me and my students.
I've also dispensed with traditional exams and writing assignments. Instead they are each doing a Wikipedia project, an idea I got from Mills Kelly. They are also doing a group research project (three to four students each) that will result in electronic output, whether a wiki, a blog, an old-fashioned website, or something on GoogleDocs. Traditional writing and research skills still matter, but I thought I would give them assignments that teach other skills as well.
One thing I've learned in the process already: I have to spend a lot of one-on-one time with individual students who are less familiar with this media. But they're catching on, and the course wiki I set up with Wikispaces is working well. Each page has a place for threaded discussions, and the students are talking. I'd like to think it was for the love of the subject, which in some cases it is. I am also basing a substantial chunk of their grades for the course on online and class participation.
I do not think my thematic approach will have implications for my summer session at Georgetown University, where the mandatory survey, Themes in European Civilization, lasts two semesters. Also, because each course meets daily for five weeks in the summer, there will be no need for a wiki and there will be less opportunity for a long-term project. I'll probably work with the old format of exams and short papers, but I want to give that a little more thought.