columns
(also available sorted by tags)
consumer reports
2024-10-17: Consumer reports has gone to the Dark Side.
peak video
2024-10-16: I have finally found the ultimate instruction video.
nightlights
2024-10-15: Rechargeable, motion-activated night lights are useful at our island place.
wire?
2024-10-14: I can’t find the wire I need on the island.
comet
2024-10-13: Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS is visible in the early night sky.
garage curtain
2024-10-12: What to do when you don’t have a garage door.
online signing
2024-10-11: I find online signing platforms problematic.
our ship came in
2024-10-10: Our ship came in!
awaiting delivery
2024-10-10: I am anxiously awaiting delivery of our mainland household goods.
200th
2024-10-09: Following up on previous columns to celebrate my 200th.
windows-open rain
2024-10-09: I’m enjoying being able to leave the windows open when it’s raining.
is Joulee lost?
2024-10-08: Joulee the Free Salvage Tesla is in limbo.
checklists
2024-10-07: I find checklists to be indispensable.
outdoor shower
2024-10-06: Outdoor showers are a fixture of island life.
moldy
2024-10-05: This is a mist forest: damp, warm… and moldy.
pinnacle
2024-10-04: Thomas Wolfe on success.
out of range
2024-10-03: The island place suffers from being out-of-range of too many things.
renderfog
2024-10-01: Someone keeps lowering the render distance in my back yard.
syndicating to mastodon
2024-09-29: Another try at syndicating to mastodon.
external monitor
2024-09-29: Life is better with a second monitor.
80th birthday!
2024-09-28: Happy 80th birthday, Barbara!
incidental flowers
2024-09-26: One of the joys of the island place is the frequent discovery of incidental flowers.
the Tesla turns around
2024-09-24: Joulee the Free Salvage Tesla arrived on our island… and was promptly sent back out to sea.
cheap tools
2024-09-23: My cheap drill bit purchase was probably pretty expensive.
Hawai’ian Maukamute
2024-09-22: We have decided that Luna the Big Dog™ is now a Hawai’ian Maukamute
ceiling fans
2024-09-21: We like ceiling fans. We may need ceiling fans. The studio probably needs them, too.
Phanpy
2024-09-20: I browse Mastodon using Phanpy, “A minimalistic opinionated Mastodon web client.”
sunset & moonlight
2024-09-19: Views of the island place at sunset and in moonlight.
dead ‘ōhi’a
2024-09-19: ‘Ōhi’a are beautiful, native, sacred trees.
shoutout
2024-09-17: I got a shoutout from one of my favorite creators, and I’m touched.
home theatre, make-do edition
2024-09-16: We decided to try to do something “normal” this evening.
Thermacell revisited
2024-09-16: The Thermacell mosquito repeller actually works.
noreply
2024-09-15: “noreply@” sounds a lot like “We don’t actually care.”
the twoprops process
2024-09-14: The process of posting to twoprops.net seems helpful to my writing.
bidet
2024-09-13: We love our bidet toilet seat.
alarms
2024-09-12: I like timers and alarms. I also like not needing them.
dried peaches
2024-09-11: HA dehydrated the peaches so I could have some.
stars
2024-09-10: Luna woke me up at 04:30 this morning, and I decided to go out and look at the stars.
address change
2024-09-09: It’s truly a simple problem, but apparently way beyond the skills of many web developers.
wiring
2024-09-08: I’m wiring the studio. I almost made a big mistake.
minimalist
2024-09-08: Another description of the minimalist web.
isn’t here
2024-09-07: isn’t here
dark, silent night
2024-09-06: Last night at the island place, it got very dark and very quiet.
deprecated software
2024-09-05: What happens when a company pulls the rug out from under a platform on which you rely?
garage
2024-09-03: Our new garage is starting to look real!
moving details
2024-09-02: So much detail goes into moving!
dns saga
2024-09-01: Another round of DNS troubleshooting.
another server
2024-08-31: I got another server running today.
mortality
2024-08-30: Would we make limited lifespan a disease?
old school email
2024-08-29: Email protocols date from a different time in internet history.
it’s on the boat
2024-08-28: I think we’re going to have a new answer to the question “Do you know where the … is?”
Luna in flight
2024-08-28: Luna is on a cargo plane bound for the island.
I’m home
2024-08-27: I’m on the island. It’s good to be home.
peaches
2024-08-26: The peaches are finally (almost) ripe.
pathology
2024-08-26: My pathology results were negative.
moving time
2024-08-25: It’s moving time for the servers.
young folks’ moving day
2024-08-24: The remaining young folks are moving out today.
mail server moved successfully
2024-08-23: I tested the portable mail server today.
follow via email
2024-08-23: If you don’t like RSS, you can follow twoprops.net via email.
dropoff
2024-08-22: I dropped off my younger son yesterday; he’ll be starting college.
sailing, sailing
2024-08-20: Joulee the Free Salvaged Tesla is leaving on a cruise!
locked safe
2024-08-19: I seem to have a permanently locked safe.
pod10
2024-08-18: It is ten days since my thyroidectomy.
retrospectoscope
2024-08-17: Medicine’s most powerful diagnostic instrument.
automatic
2024-08-15: I’ve been told my first word was “automatic.”
to the cloud!
2024-08-14: twoprops.net has moved temporarily to the cloud.
pod5
2024-08-13: Postoperative day #5.
cold feet
2024-08-12: My feet are subjectively cold, very cold.
scraping
2024-08-11: Scraping is in the news. I remember an… incident.
without a thyroid
2024-08-10: What is life like without a thyroid gland?
too many peaches
2024-08-10: Our little peach tree now has too many peaches.
pod1
2024-08-09: Post-op day #1
it’s today!
2024-08-08: Today is the day of my surgery.
the day before
2024-08-07: The day before my thyroid cancer surgery.
preparing for surgery
2024-08-06: I’m preparing for my thyroidectomy surgery.
the nostalgia of packing
2024-08-04: Packing up all our stuff isn’t just an organizational task, it’s an emotional one.
customer disservice
2024-08-02: A medical practice that has no respect for their patients.
the wolf and the coyote revisited
2024-08-01: I revisited the wolf and coyote video; the video is re-encoded and is much smoother.
closeness
2024-08-01: What makes a relationship “close”?
school cafeteria
2024-07-31: I remember an insulting attempt to deceive us in the school cafeteria.
DNS again
2024-07-29: Another simple project made complicated by DNS woes.
discharge summaries
2024-07-28: I fear hospital discharge summaries will soon be replaced by AI-generated garbage.
portable email server
2024-07-27: I’m trying to make my mail server portable in advance of my move.
referrals
2024-07-26: The way medical referrals work is disorganized and fraught.
Thriftymart
2024-07-25: All roads lead from Thriftymart.
television
2024-07-23: Watching little television has been good for me.
Paramount+ are scammers
2024-07-21: Paramount+ is facilitating credit card fraud, and their web site is so brain damaged that the victims suffer further.
SoFineDog
2024-07-20: Luna has a new nickname.
cancer surgery
2024-07-19: I saw the thyroid surgeon today.
not ready for a charge
2024-07-18: At least around here, the EV charging network isn’t ready.
screening
2024-07-17: Sometimes it’s okay to be “glued to your screen.”
notifications
2024-07-16: The more I disable notifications, the happier I am.
summer vacation
2024-07-15: This is likely the last of our traditional summer vacations.
next
2024-07-14: I’ve added a “next” link to match the “previous” link
wallpaper
2024-07-13: Desktop decorations make life better.
cancer
2024-07-12: I have a cancer diagnosis. Now let’s dispense with the violent metaphors.
tag tyranny
2024-07-11: Tags are cool, but they can lead to lock-in.
mosquito repeller
2024-07-11: I bought a mosquito repeller, but is it safe?
the swimming pool
2024-07-10: The role of the swimming pool in years gone by.
borrowing others’ eyes
2024-07-09: When I think someone I know might be looking at my web properties, I tend to review my writing as though through the other’s eyes.
outage
2024-07-09: Yet another Comcast internet outage.
little revisions
2024-07-07: I can’t seem to get away from having to make small revisions to my columns.
full screen web pages
2024-07-06: Why do so many web pages assume you have your browser window open to the full screen?
fifth of July
2024-07-05: He who goes forth/With a fifth on the Fourth/Seldom goes forth on the fifth.
file uploader
2024-07-04: I decided to implement a file uploader…
113°F
2024-07-03: The temperature reached 113°F today.
sad news
2024-07-02: We learned of an accidental death today.
featuring revisions
2024-07-02: When I revise an old column, how can I make the changes discoverable?
breaches
2024-06-30: Cybersecurity incidents seem to have something in common, and the elephant in the room is not being addressed.
100th
2024-06-30: My one hundredth column.
infrastructure
2024-06-29: Preparing to depart, I’m noticing more my role in maintaining infrastructure.
archiving minecraft worlds
2024-06-28: Archiving our multiplayer Minecraft worlds
walking the dog
2024-06-27: Walking the dog is good.
eye exam
2024-06-26: My annual retina exam.
malware blocker
2024-06-24: It’s not an ad blocker, it’s a malware blocker.
the preciousness of tools
2024-06-23: Tools used to be precious to me, then were less so, now they’re precious again.
weather balloon photo with map
2024-06-22: The weather balloon stratosphere photo with a Google Earth map inset.
pre-appointment harassment
2024-06-21: Appointment reminders have gotten out of hand.
gopher
2024-06-18: Gopher once seemed like the ultimate internet tool.
replacing a Wyze night light battery?
2024-06-17: Almost replacing the battery in a Wyze night light.
Wyze night light
2024-06-16: The Wyze night light is great — with limitations.
graduation2
2024-06-15: My older son graduated from college today.
LLM follies
2024-06-12: Large language “AI” models are making funny mistakes that point to serious problems.
regular mouse
2024-06-11: I’m back to a regular mouse as a pointing device.
feeling summer
2024-06-09: Is it the water? The sun?
deliberate bugs
2024-06-08: Software bugs are inevitable, but when there’s no excuse for software that’s broken by design.
weather balloon redux
2024-06-07: I’ve added videos to the weather balloon page.
go paperless!!
2024-06-06: Want me to use your paperless option? Show some respect.
upgradeable laptop
2024-06-06: My laptop can be upgraded.
slow food
2024-06-04: Our kitchen is full of slow food projects.
proxy voting
2024-06-02: Is it important to proxy vote shares of stock? I did it!
lifestyle business
2024-06-02: A label for how I ran my practice.
on-grid solar
2024-06-01: There is a pitfall to grid-connected home solar generation.
desert island scenarios
2024-05-31: I actually ended up stranded on an island with only…
airport treats
2024-05-29: Choosing mechanical massage over caloric treats.
beach trip
2024-05-28: A casual trip to the beach.
old garage
2024-05-27: The island place has this beautiful, ancient garage that I can’t save.
uninterruptible
2024-05-26: “Uninterruptible” power supplies sure cause a lot of interruptions.
Steinbeck
2024-05-26: A thought from John Steinbeck.
writing checks
2024-05-25: Writing checks seems so old-fashioned.
the obligation of gifts
2024-05-24: I appreciate gifts, but I sometimes feel the weight of them, too.
too many to-do lists
2024-05-23: There are many to-do lists in my life. I try to limit them.
using archive services
2024-05-21: What are the ethical implications of using “archive services”?
travel packing list
2024-05-20: I’ve been maintaining a packing list for travel for forty years.
near paradise
2024-05-19: On being close to paradise.
backing up to a VPS
2024-05-18: AWS S3 has gotten too expensive, so I’m moving my automated offsite backups to a cheaper virtual private server.
mowing
2024-05-18: Mowing on a whole new scale.
on the island
2024-05-17: I appreciate the more story-oriented way of doing business on the island.
Softub
2024-05-16: A small, unconventional hot tub has become my happy place.
airline wifi
2024-05-16: My trans-Pacific flight has free in-flight WiFi.
M-O
2024-05-15: A surprisingly good automatic pool cleaner.
salt and acid
2024-05-14: My swimming pool chemistry is maintained with just salt and acid.
recording things to write
2024-05-14: Meticulously writing down ideas for columns is almost an end in itself.
coffee without a logo
2024-05-13: A verse about hotel coffee.
weather balloon
2024-05-12: My son launched a weather balloon!
Google’s contributions to the spam problem
2024-05-10: Google has policies that worsen the spam problem.
cathouse
2024-05-09: I bought a house for my cat, and made more money on it than my salary for five years of medical residency.
about this site
2024-05-09: I’ve moved the about and following information into its own column. It was previously at the bottom of this page, and was getting lost under all the posts.
previous
2024-05-09: I’ve added a “previous” link at the bottom of each column.
performance
2024-05-08: Performance anxiety has its purpose.
black text on a white background
2024-05-08: I’ve changed the site to default to black body text on a white background.
Commodore 64
2024-05-06: Memories of the Commodore 64, though I have never used one.
there is no Trader Joe’s on the island
2024-05-05: With no Trader Joe’s on the island, we’re going to have to change our shopping habits.
an RSS-only internet presence
2024-05-04: An online site whose content can only be accessed as an RSS feed, preferably by using an RSS reader.
open in new tab
2024-05-03: This site won’t open new windows and tabs when you click a link.
I’m going to try calling this my “column”
2024-05-02: It’s not a blog, and people were confused by digital garden, so I’m going to try just referring to this site as my “column.”
reader view
2024-05-01: I have come to rely on reader view in my web browser.
green energy
2024-04-30: Green energy is cool, but is it more than just a spreadsheet?
cloud services
2024-04-29: Cloud services are risky.
Zilog has discontinued the Z-80 microprocessor
2024-04-29: The venerable Z-80 will no longer be manufactured by Zilog.
maintaining your sourdough starter
2024-04-27: If you’re new to sourdough, you’ll want to know how to keep your starter going as you use it for baking.
sourdough Queen B Bread
2024-04-27: My favorite bread recipe adapted for sour dough.
parking fees
2024-04-25: I’m skeptical about claims that universities don’t gouge their captive student population for parking.
alas, no Mastodon syndication yet
2024-04-23: I’ll need to work on Mastodon syndication before it meets twoprops’ standards.
Mastodon echo
2024-04-22: Trial of echoing this garden to Mastodon.
without JavaScript
2024-04-21: JavaScript is useful, but overused.
bite zapper
2024-04-20: Finally, relief from insect bites.
scan. shred. heap.
2024-04-19: Save everything. File nothing. Simplify your life.
“sit!” “stay!” “okay!”
2024-04-18: Luna, the big dog, knows a lot of commands. I know “sit,” “stay,” and “okay.”
induction cooktop
2024-04-17: We love our induction burner and will be transitioning to all-induction when we move.
free sourdough starter
2024-04-14: It’s free. It’s sourdough. What else can I say?
web site complaints
2024-04-13: Where do comments about a web site go? To the web site development team, of course.
university parking
2024-04-11: The first duty of a university is to collect parking fees.
deadone key escrow
2024-04-10: How do I give legacy access to my secrets after I’m gone?
migraine
2024-04-09: I woke up today with a migraine.
refrigerator week
2024-04-07: It’s been a week of refigeration issues in twoprops’ world.
is it broken?
2024-04-05: When something is defective from the outset, but the defect doesn’t manifest for years, is it broken?
whispering into the void
2024-04-04: I’m not in search of immortality.
it’s always DNS
2024-04-03: Fiddling with DNS today brought down all three of my DNS servers, one permanently.
the worst part of waiting on hold is when…
2024-04-01: When your horrific web site has driven me to use the phone, don’t whine at me that I should be using your web site.
audiobooks
2024-03-30: Is listening to audiobooks really reading?
when I was 18…
2024-03-27: If someone had told me, when I was 18, that I’d find love in my 60s…
is all medical billing fraud?
2024-03-26: I have started reporting all-too-frequent medical billing “errors” as the fraud they are.
empty inbox
2024-03-25: My life has slowed down to the point I can actually handle all my email.
the mechanic with the oilcan
2024-03-24: Fame, and the lack thereof.
rapid hot water
2024-03-23: Having instant hot water to wash my hands is a joy.
big dog. big crate. big island.
2024-03-21: It takes a big, XXXL airline crate to fly this malamute.
big dog toys
2024-03-19: Luna, the big dog, loves her little plush lambs
digital garden
2024-03-16: content here is much shorter and simpler than my blogs
The Bezzle by Cory Doctorow
2024-03-15: a fun novel about a forensic accountant, the crash of 2008, and prison privitization
warm air for my cold feet at night
2024-03-14: the BedJet is a spendy but very nice footwarmer
fediverse vs. centralized social media: the sewage model
2024-03-12: explaining the fediverse using a wastewater analogy
taking out the trash
2024-03-11: appreciating municipal trash collection
the tragedy of nuance
2024-03-10: life would be so much simpler if we just…
too many clocks
2024-03-10: setting clocks for daylight saving time
RSS
2024-03-08: getting RSS working with Quartz
the howl of the wild
2024-03-07: Luna the Alaskan malamute howls with a wild coyote (video).
the peach tree
2024-03-06: A tiny, sickly peach tree we transplanted is now thriving.