Bennett's Five Links #067

Masto-Biking; Dads with eyes on football

Bennett Green

Feb 18, 2023

Bakfiets ..

I think I want to buy one of these. There’s a family at our local primary school that has one, or has something like it, and they look super useful.

Though I’m not sure I could handle any extra sex appeal and so I might have to find one that looks a bit dorky.

@bennettgreen@mastodon.au ..

Another really helpful article on Mastodon.

The idea of a ‘federation’ of independent servers all working together to create a shared service is fascinating.

Some snips —

Mastodon isn’t a service but a network of consensually affiliated, independently operated servers running the Mastodon software. It’s the best-known example of the so-called Fediverse.

and

With Mastodon, you’re not dealing with a giant, faceless company—or a constantly in-your-face CEO—making arbitrary decisions that are often impossible to understand or appeal. Instead, you join a Mastodon server—called an instance—run by an individual, company, or organization. Each instance exchanges messages, or federates, with other Mastodon servers. Servers pass packets of content based on the social graph of which users subscribe to other users’ posts. No central database of posts exists, nor is there a central repository of social graphs. Mastodon exists entirely of its parts—there’s no core Mastodon server or entity.

and

While Mastodon seems complicated from the outside, I’d argue that if you can set up an email account and have signed up for email lists throughout your time on the Internet, you can settle into Mastodon fairly quickly.

You should sign up and then we can be Masto-friends. I’m a great Masto-Mater.

Mastodon: A new hope for social networking

Think of a punchline about an underwater photo contest ..

Winners of the 2022 Ocean Art Underwater Photo Contest

How another dad dad’ed ..

I loved this article on being a dad. Hopefully you can read it without hitting the pay-wall. If you do have problems, let me know, and I think I can email it as a PDF without going to prison.

Some snips —

A few years ago, I thought about quitting a prestigious Master’s program to become a full-time writer. Most of my family called me stupid, but not my dad. He didn’t tell me it was a smart thing, either.
Instead, he wrote his opinion in a short letter without patronizing. He encouraged me to do what I think is right since I’ll have to live with the consequences.
These two short pages contributed more to a decision that made me happy than any “that’s what you have to do” sermon ever did.

and

When I look back at childhood talks with my other family members, I find more gaslighting than on an 1800s village street. I don’t blame them, but it left a bitter aftertaste. It’s also why I have a zero-tolerance policy regarding trust and lies. I don’t want my childhood trauma to repeat.
My dad was always honest with me and admitted his mistakes. When I asked him why he cheated on my mum and left us, he didn’t mince words. But even the most painful truth hurts less than a soothing lie.

7 Ways My Dad Treated Me as a Kid That I’m Incredibly Grateful For Now

(subheading hat-tip to this podcast, which has been on my ‘to try’ list for yonks but I’ve not yet gotten to it)

Sportsball!! ..

It was the Super Bowl this week, and one of the two teams had a great win.

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Bennett

bennettgreen.com