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columns

(also available sorted by tags)

rainbow

2024-11-18: Just a rainbow.

postscarcity

2024-11-17: I am having to re-think life with abundant water and electricity.

woodburning

2024-11-16: Is it okay to burn wood in my stove for heat?

we have POWER

2024-11-15: The solar array is on-line, and we have power to spare.

studio fiber

2024-11-14: I ran a fiber optic cable to the studio.

panel mounting

2024-11-13: The solar panels are being mounted now.

t-post puller

2024-11-12: HA is an awesome t-post puller.

trenching

2024-11-11: They’ve started trenching for our solar array.

garage door finished

2024-11-10: The garage door is now finished.

twoprops restored

2024-11-10: I have recovered almost all of twoprops.net.

garage door

2024-11-09: The garage door is finally here — almost.

re-reborn

2024-11-09: The restoration of twoprops.net is going better than I’d hoped, though more slowly.

reconstruction

2024-11-08: Reconstructing this site is a bit trickier than I’d hoped.

404!

2024-11-07: Major data loss at twoprops.net! :(

interruptible

2024-11-07: Sick of interruptions cause by my “uninterruptible” power supply. I’ve junked it.

black

2024-11-06:

gas, not ICE

2024-11-05: I’m driving a gasoline-powered car, but it isn’t internal combustion.

flatpack

2024-11-04: I’ve been assembling a flatpack cabinet. It’s easier because I’m retired.

shortwave

2024-11-02: The abandoned shortwave radio in my parents’ garage.

power station

2024-11-01: I bought a battery-powered power station on a whim before we moved.

joulee returns

2024-10-30: Joulee the Free Salvage Tesla is home!

a darn good web site

2024-10-29: I was surprised by an actual decent web site.

fire and rain

2024-10-29: We’re using our woodstove for the first time.

bananas

2024-10-28: We have a banana tree, and now we have bananas!

icemaker

2024-10-27: Sometimes it’s okay to prioritize the luxuries.

still no joulee

2024-10-27: Joulee the Free Salvage Tesla still isn’t home.

network strangeness

2024-10-22: I’m having a bizarre networking failure.

voting

2024-10-21: I voted today. You should, too.

old plumbing

2024-10-20: Dealing with old plumbing can be… challenging.

lost key

2024-10-18: It seems that Matson lost the key to the Tesla, which is now stuck at the Big Port.

more RSS

2024-10-17: Cory Doctorow has a nice explainer on why you should use RSS.

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.

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.