This article on the The Verge about the changing social media environment resonated with me.

You could argue, I suppose, that this is just the natural end of a specific part of the internet. We spent the last two decades answering a question — what would happen if you put everyone on the planet into a room and let them all talk to each other? — and now we’re moving onto the next one. It might be better this way. But the way it has all changed, and the speed with which it has happened, has left an everybody-sized hole in the internet.

Three questions ahead of the release of Instagram's Threads

I looks like Meta will release their text-based, Instagram-branded Twitter competitor this week. Am I excited about Instagram Threads? Not really. I’m happy with the current state of my social media usage.

Am I curious about it? Absolutely. We are in a fascinating period of change in the services we use online and the ways we share information. Specifically, I’m interested in three questions:

  1. Will Instagram users actually adopt it? This is the big question. Will the people I follow on Instagram start accounts? And will they post content that I’m interested in? What will the demographics of the user base be? So many question about what this audience might look like.

  2. How will the ActivityPub implementation work? As a devoted Micro.Blog user, I’m interested in the rumored ActivityPub integration. Will I be able to follow Threads users on Micro.Blog? Can I cross post from Micro.Blog? As the first mainstream ActivityPub implementation,...

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My son lost his AirPods a few weeks ago. (These were my first generation AirPods that I replaced when I got AirPods Pro.) Today he found them in their case in a neighbor’s yard. These AirPods have been sitting exposed to extreme heat and rain for 2+ weeks, and guess what? Somehow, they still work.

Walking across campus today and saw South Carolina Women’s Basketball Coach Dawn Staley and her dog, Champ. Funny thing is, Champ came around the corner first and I recognized him instantly…

Made a batch of boiled peanuts tonight. So good. Y’all are likely familiar with roasted peanuts, but in the South, we boil them. You don’t really need a recipe… Green (raw) peanuts. A copious amount of salt. Boil for a few hours. Enjoy.

With the July 4 holiday falling on a Tuesday, pretty much everyone at the office took Monday off. Except me. I’m holding down the fort tomorrow…

Made the jump to using the Tiny Theme. Still a lot of CSS tinkering to do, but happy so far. Added my fish logo to the top, updated the color scheme and switched some of the headers to one of the typefaces I designed. Thanks @Mtt for such great work on this theme.

Just took a walk on the trails behind our house for the first time in a couple of months. It’s a little tougher walk with Columbia, SC heat and humidity…

I’ve been trying to go to bed earlier. The result is that I am simply waking up earlier, which isn’t necessarily helpful.