29OCT2023

Halloween is nigh! This week I've been out in the garage tinkering with the 3D printer a lot, working on some props and accessories for our various costumes, while listening to the hilarious (and crude) Hello from the Magic Tavern podcast. After using the excellent Overcast podcast app for years, I recently went back to just the stock Apple Podcasts app and honestly finding it really nice... Granted, I am not listening 5-6 different shows a week like I used to, but for light listening, it's great.

On to some other great stuff:

• ⌨️ Monkeytype - A bit nerdy, but I've really enjoyed playing around with this-- Monkeytype is a really delightful typing test that I saw Andy Carolan mention over on Mastodon. Ever curious how fast you can type? Their free test will tell you. (If you do it and let me know your score, I'll send you mine!)
• 🏛️ Internet Artifacts - This amazing little thing has been doing the rounds this week-- It's like a Museum of Internet History, including interactive exhibits of things like the first SPAM email ever sent, the first MP3, and so on.
• 🛰️ Declassified Archaeology - OK, this is a bit niche, but recently declassified satellite imagery taken from the very first U.S. spy satellites (CORONA and HEXAGON) is being used to sweep the desert for ancient Roman forts that have since been swept under the sand in modern day Syria and Iraq. What they're finding is redefining how scholars have understood the role of Roman garrisons in the Middle East. The old spy photos of Roman ruins is just too cool.
• 🎸 Kepi for Kids - While listening to some of my favorite Halloween-themed punk rock, the Groovie Ghoulies, I tripped and stumbled on to the fact that the lead singer/songwriter, Kepi Ghoulie, has his only solo project that includes an album of fun, lighthearted rock n roll for kids. Technically, it's for kids, but I've been listening to it on repeat while I work this week. Stand out tracks are "Do the Kangaroo" and "Let's Go to the Moon."
• 📔 Day One Journal - Apple's just released iOS 17.1, which you should totally update to, and very shortly after released the first betas for iOS 17.2. In these new betas, they've got the earliest release of their forthcoming journaling app. Early reports are saying it's... fine. The consensus from the tech cognoscenti is it's just not as good as Day One, which I've been using and loving for about a decade now. It's just a really delightful little app for both long form journaling about your experiences, dreams, travels, books you're reading, etc but also for very quickly capturing micromoments you want to remember as they happen with photo/video/voice memos, etc.

Hope everyone enjoys a fun and safe Halloween!