I’ve added Bluesky to my ever-growing stable of social media platforms. My handle there is @bobmueller, which should be no great surprise if you follow me anywhere else. It feels very Twitter-like, by design, I’m sure. No ads (although I’m running AdBlockPlus, so I wouldn’t see them anyway), but no sponsored posts, either.
I’ve rediscovered a couple of people I used to follow on Twitter, which is nice. Found a few new people too.
Bluesky has Starter Packs, too, which are a big help for new users. A Starter Pack is a curated list of accounts to follow in various areas of specialization. They’re not unlike Twitter Lists, I suppose, but the site has those, too. I’ve created one of my own, Oklahoma News Media. If you know of accounts that should be part of that pack, let me know.
I don’t have any intentions of leaving Xitter anytime soon. Bluesky looks interesting though, and I thought it prudent to grab my usual handle before someone else did (which happened on TikTok). And even if I “leave” Xitter, I won’t nuke my account. I’m fine the content I’ve created there, and the recent announcement about AI use means it’s probably already been scraped, so why delete it?
Gadgets
I now have both my DJI Osmo and my microphone in my hot little hands. It’ll take me a bit to get the Osmo figured out, though DJI does have a nice set of tutorial videos. The controls seem well thought-out. I just have to use them a bunch to learn what they do and develop the muscle memory. I did run into some audio issues with the mic, but it seems like they go away if I record in the DJI app.
Reading
Radley Balko shared a piece from TechCrunch the other day that caught my attention. There was a time where I was particularly enamored about the idea of police foundations. The basic idea is that they’re a charitable/non-profit organization that helps support a law enforcement agency. They can run charitable outreach efforts like “Shop With A Cop” or similar operations that help build community relations.
They can also buy needed equipment that the city can’t afford, but that can come at the expense of not going through normal bidding efforts.
Robert Roberson
The Texas Supreme Court has ruled that the Texas House’s attempt to delay Roberson’s execution was not allowed, but it stopped short of saying he couldn’t testify. It’s unknown if the House actually hear from him, though the Texas House Jurisprudence Committee has indicated they want to.
The earliest Roberson could be executed is some time after mid-February, owing to Texas laws covering the timing of executions.
Writing
Missed my goal this week by about 1,200 words, unless I hit some mad streak of fiction after I get this post up.
I discovered a couple of interesting hashtags on Mastodon and Bluesky the other day. #WritersCoffeeClub and #WordWeavers are both a series of daily questions or posting prompts. I don’t know that I’ll participate often in either one, but I might do a couple of bonus posts here each month where I choose a few questions. That wouldn’t be unlike the Wednesday Weekly Blog Challenge I’ve done a few times.
We’ll see. I’ve done well with my weekly streak (now up to 134 straight weeks!), and I’ve tossed out the occasional bonus post (26 since I started my streak). But I know my history of committing to something then failing quickly after an early success, so the best I can offer right now is “I might try this.”
And it just occurred to me that I might could turn some of these into TT or YT shorts. Like this one (pardon the aforementioned audio issue).
Odd note: #WritersCoffeeClub was blocked by my Twitter search settings for “sensitive content,” which makes no sense at all. If you’re searching for a hashtag you know should be there, check your search settings here.
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