First: What is RSS all About?

I have done the newsletter thing before I started blogging. Back in the 1990’s and early 00’s I was both a publisher and subscriber to numerous newsletters. Unfortunately, my inbox was also full of email spam and emails produced by early computer viruses trying to infect my own computer. At the peak, I was getting 350 emails a day and for many years afterward I was still getting about 150 emails a day. That never ending tide pretty much killed the email newsletter for me.

RSS readers give me control of what I subscribe to without having to surrender my email address. RSS feeds let me be notified of updates especially for blogs or news sites that don’t post very frequently. And I can unsubscribe at any time, since I’m in control. All good stuff.

RSS readers come in all flavors: 1. desktop/laptop readers, 2. cloud based readers, 3. apps for phones and tablets, and specialized podcast readers.

You can learn about the best RSS feed readers here: Best Free RSS Reader-Aggregator - Gizmo’s Freeware

Cloud vs. Desktop

I’m currently trying to avoid any more monthly fees so I have switched from cloud based readers to desktop readers which are free software (apps) I download right to my laptop. Right now I recommend:

macOS - Netnewswire which is IMHO about the gold standard for desktop RSS readers.

Linux and Windows - QuiteRSS I’m using the Linux version. I’ve been told the Windows version is very nice too.

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Halloween Candy: at my local Jewel store many of the old standbys were MIA, Junior Mints, Raisinettes, Chunky, Baby Ruth, Payday, etc. Those awful sugar candy corn things were still around. They are like the cockroach of the candy industry.

I just bought Halloween candy. Man, this suff is expensive. If the size of the bars gets any smaller we might as well hand the kids empty wrappers. I’m thinking consolidation in the candy industry has not been good for consumers.

I early voted. Easy, no lines, fast. The new voting machines were a little confusing but they leave a nice paper trail. #indiana #nwindiana #local #vote

apple.news

New statue of Tuskegee airman. This is what I want to see more of. Let’s honor minorities who contributed to America and broke new ground.

Godzilla car horn - Boingboing. You’ll thank me for passing this along - someday.

I have 3 laptops: Mac, Linux and Windows. I find I’m using the Linux machine the most. Part of this is by conscious choice, part because I just like the stability, security and quiet of Linux. Plus I like the feel of the Linux laptop’s keyboard better and Windows remains - needy although bettter than past versions.

Oddly, on tablets and phones, I’ve set aside my Android devices and have gone back to my aging iPad Air 2 and an iPhone. So far the iPad keeps chugging along and has the apps for things like streaming services without the privacy problems of Android.

Ton Zijlstra makes an astute observation on Google Chrome it’s not a browser, it’s advertisement delivery software and he goes on to explain why that’s bad. He has an excellent point and his post is well worth reading.

twitter.com

Jason Weisberger (@jlw) Tweeted: I miss Buffy. t.co/2I35WYZyL…

I miss Buffy too.

Straws are a distraction - Boingboing. Tells how the plastics industry shifts the blame on you the user. It’s not that the user is blameless, but we simply must decrease the production of single use plastics.

A Lord of the Rings Guide to the Cotswolds | 6 Places That Inspired Tolkien Nice article, interesting blog.

apple.news

Climate change is changing the flavor of French wine - National Geographic

There are 7.7 Billion people in the world and we only have 2 major phone and computer operating systems. We only have a few major browsers. We only have a few major search engines. This is horse pucky. Consolidation only helps the big corporations. Break the monopolies.

I just found out I can post links to Apple News stories directly to my Micro.blog iOS app. This makes my geeky little brain pan very happy, sorta like Christmas.

apple.news

No Need To Cut Back On Red Meat? Controversial New ‘Guidelines’ Lead To Outrage - NPR

No outrage here. I’m all for red meat in the diet.

I’ve never seen “Stranger Things” if I pop for a Netflicks subscription is it worth it?

I’ve been reading the Bruno Chief of Police Series by Martin Walker. They are traditional mysteries and are fairly good. I’m on about the tenth one in a row. A bit like “Hamish MacBeth” books only set in France.

This must be the time of year the stink bugs come out. #invasivespecies #thankyounewworldorder

OTA updates for the OS are essential for a smartphone. This makes it likely that I will go with the Librem 5 for my next phone. Only it’s been on order by me, since 2017. I hate waiting another 6 months to get the build I want.

Hopefully, the extra wait will mean more essential apps will be available by the time I get it. Plus bug fixes. Because Steve Jobs was right when he launched the iPhone in 2007, people rely on their phones and the thing has got to just work.

Unfortuntely, Microsoft was ahead of it’s time with the late Microsoft Phone. Now is the time to launch new smartphone OS’s to break the Android and Apple duopoly. Same could be said for Palm/HP (WebOS), Blackberry (BB10) and to some degree Amazon phone (fork Andoid).

Today The Correspondent launched. As a supporter, I was able to login and establish my account very easily and read the first articles. It’s too early to judge, but it looks promising. Thanks to @JohnPhilpin for the alert mos. ago.

Just had 6” of rain here in 48 hours. Neighboring towns got 8”. All the ditches are full. These heavy rains are becoming more common and I think drainage plans for developments are going to have to be improved in some places as some new dev’s had their retention ponds flood.

Only the beautiful, hip, popular people get strawberry jam at McDonalds. It’s grape jam for the masses of common folk and me. #soylentred

My WiFi connection just stalled. Fortunately, this old iPad has 4G LTE as a backup, because sometimes you can’t wait around for the WiFi gods to smile again.

This newfangled keyless entry/ignition for cars is not an improvement. It’s just another complication added on to something that wasn’t broken.