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Elon Musk has started an interesting chain reaction.

The Flight from Twittr (ah, remember those days, when the missing vowel was endearing) has led directly to the "alternatives-to" sections of websites filling to the brims with recommended replacements.

Early betting gives the Mastodon collective a decided edge, as it gives us a moment to step back and reconsider what a social network should be, could be, will be.

I just posted to Facebook and tweeted my Tweet with my latest nom-de-cyberverse: @jimrussell@mastodon.online

Mastodon reminds me of ILink, which was a collective of BBS's sending each other QWK packets. No one BBS owned the whole lot, but everybody had the whole lot.

Let's do this with Mastodon. This could work.

First post of the Twenties

Every couple of years, I remember that I have this blog. Usually, it's when I'm working on my frivolous websites and I notice the link to here. This inspires me to add a post lamenting the fact that I never blog.

Coming back to an abandoned blog

I really should be using this site. But for years, I haven't. More immediate methods of communication have take precedence. Facebook, mostly. But that's not a good fit for sharing things like a good Python hack. So I'm going to make an attempt to rouse this blog from its slumber. We'll see how that goes.

How long is it? That's a very personal question.

Good Lord, it's been over a year since my last post here! I mean, not that anyone was waiting for me to post anything. This here ain't a news site, that's for sure. However, I guess that more immediate modes of communication, notably Facebook, have superseded most of my blogging activity. I really should write a nice article on some of my latest experiences with online genealogy. No promises, though.

Theatre: "Not My Daughter" at Rutgers Newark

My latest acting adventure is a really invigorating one. I'm performing in the world premiere of a play by Ann Mary Mullane, called Not My Daughter. This is the sort of play that I didn't think was being written anymore -- an intelligent comedy along the lines of Sam Spewack, George S. Kaufman, or Neil Simon. (There is, in fact, a lot of gentle poking at Simon's Barefoot in the Park in the script.) We're only doing two performances this time, but it may lead to more in another venue.

Details at the No Apology Theatre website.

TiltShiftMaker.com - online tilt-shifting!

Okay, this is pretty cool.

I don't know if you've ever seen photos manipulated by a process known as tilt-shifting. Basically, it makes a real-world photograph look like it's a photograph of a miniature model. Well, now you can create your own tilt-shifted photos, really easily, via a website called TiltShiftMaker.

Here's a sample. This is a photo I took during our trip to Australia, of some boats in Sydney Harbor.

Richard Wright 1943-2008

In the early 1970s, I was in high school, and attended my fair share of high school dances. When the time came for the cover band (yes, we used to have bands at dances, not DJs) to play the slow-dance-with-your-main-squeeze song, there was really only one choice. Us and Them, from Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon. To this day, I cannot hear that song without thinking fondly of those dances so long ago.

Richard Wright wrote the music for that song, and played the haunting, swirling keyboards on that track and countless other Floyd tracks. He was a brilliant musician who was treated rather shabbily later on in the Floyd saga, but he lives forever on that album (and quite a few others).

Richard died of cancer yesterday. David Gilmour had this to say: "He was gentle, unassuming and private but his soulful voice and playing were vital, magical components of our most recognized Pink Floyd sound, I have never played with anyone quite like him."

Thanks for the slow dances, Richard.

New York Times obituary