New — Social Media Posts

Happy 2021! Starting this year I’ll try to repost my social media posts from social media here on my blog. I’ve tried doing this before, but somehow I always forget to update things, or it’s too much of a bother. I’m going to try something different this time.

1. Make a post for every 2 week period.
2. I’ll make the post at the beginning of the period, and then add new social media posts from then until the end of the two week period. In other words, I’ll publish immediately and add new things over time until the two week period is over.
3. When I want to indicate that the post is still open-ended (i.e., possibly to add more things), I’ll put two asterisks at the end — like this **.

In the past I’ve tried to collect posts every 2 or 3 months or whenever I think of it. Never kept with it. I’ve played around with the idea of using plugins to grab posts from Facebook or Google Plus, but then never seemed to work well enough to justify the effort.

Let’s face it though: some of my posted content is not particularly topical — though interesting to me. I’m actually a news junkie and have strong opinions, but posting topical things on FB is fraught with dangers. First, most people don’t give a shit about my opinions (or anybody’s opinions for that matter). Second, I’m almost toning down my thoughts and rhetoric in order not to sound too pissy. Also — and I don’t do often — I occasionally like to use cuss words or vulgarities in some of my obiter dicta and sometimes worry about what former teachers and elderly relatives on FB might think of me. Here on my blog, I’m less reticent.

When I first started blogging, I didn’t worry about writing profound thoughts or finding obscure knowledge. I just wanted a place to record/store my favorite discoveries so I could reference it later on. Later, whenever I had an itch to scratch, I turned it into a blogpost — sometimes a very long one. I never have blogged regularly even though I’ve always finding things to report or say. Posting on facebook saps that momentum. I don’t go out of my way to blog, but occasionally throw something up. Despite the lack of posts, I regularly add things to previous posts — hidden from the view of watchful readers. (like my music purchases and book reviews (which — yikes! — I need to update). I also post elsewhere on forums and stack exchanges and subreddits.

I’m started to admire Richard Stallman’s political notes (not really a blog, but very easy to read and relevant). Perversely, when I’m on my tablet I like to follow a subset of twitter accounts of journalists which keeps me informed of what people are working on. I’ve also started to read key newsletters: Will Bunch’s newsletter (he’s a great columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer, Release Notes (Dwight Silverman’s weekly technology letter). Emily Atkin’s Heated climate change substack (she is great!)

I try not to post to things behind paywalls, although that’s becoming harder these days (especially since a college friend D.T. gifted me a subscription to the Atlantic last Christmas). I’ll write about supporting media and paywalls sometime later.