Author: Jason Butler

Categories
Noticings

Media I pay for, 2023 edition

I’m the Quicken wrangler in my family, and twice a year I try to go through all our subscriptions and verify they’re still worthwhile.

I also believe in paying for media whenever I can.

So, here are the media I believe are worth paying for. You should check them out.

Independent Voices

I love that I can give money directly to creators. I wish I could do more.

Anne Helen Petersen. Outstanding daily writer.

Naked Capitalism. Been reading their site since the mid-2000s, I think. Always great insights.

Doomberg. New kid on the block. Outstanding coverage, especially around energy issues.

The 19th. An independent non-profit newsroom reporting on gender, politics and policy.

ProPublica. Outstanding independent research.

General News

The New York Times. Plus, Wordle!

The Washington Post

The Atlantic. Make sure to check out Alan’s photo sections, as well.

Public Media

Once upon a time, I used to work for NPR, and I still have a soft spot in my heart for public media.

WBUR. We are sustaining members. Our clock radio goes off each morning to the WBUR newscast.

GBH. GBH is the parent organization of Classical Radio Boston, which we have on in the background all day long.

WXPN. We love Funky Friday, have Exponential Radio on all day Saturday and are devoted to The Night Before as our December 24th soundtrack.

KCRW Eclectic 24 is our soundtrack on Sundays. This (and XPN2) are the main ways I get exposed to new music.

Print

Cook’s Illustrated. This is the only print magazine we still subscribe to. Everyone loves checking out the new recipes when it arrives. We also learn some new techniques each month.

Local News

The Concord Bridge. This is new free weekly in my hometown. We donate $20/month (kinda like public radio) because we want it to exist.

Business and Trade Press

Business Insider. Good general-purpose business coverage.

The Information. Good coverage of the tech world.

The Wall Street Journal. Worth checking in on every day. The comment section is a cesspool, though.

Platformer. News at the intersection of Silicon Valley and democracy.

Baekdal Executive. High-end media analysis.

Sports

Boston Sports Journal. This is an independent Boston sports publication, let by veteran journalist Greg Bedard.

The Athletic. Now owned by the New York Times. They have outstanding Boston sports coverage.

Murderbots

ChatGPT. I’m playing with this for work reasons. Sometimes it’s smart. Sometimes it’s insanely wrong. Either way, I need to pay attention.

Video

Netflix. I’ve had my subscription since 2001, I think. Right now, it’s mostly for the children (and for those times when I need to watch a little of The Good Place).

Max. I already subscribe to HBO through Comcast, so I don’t have to pay extra for this. Right now, we’re catching up on House of the Dragon.

Disney Plus. This was mostly for Marvel and Star Wars. We’re not on fire for either of those franchises right now, so this may eventually get cut.

Amazon Prime Video. I don’t pay separately for this — it comes with my Amazon Prime subscription. They have some NFL stuff this year and the occasional series like Upload that’s interesting.

Hulu. We watch a surprising number of shows through here. Right now, we’re doing a series watch of Elementary.

Apple TV+. Ted Lasso was amazing, and is beloved in my household. Severance was really good. Shrinking was pretty good.

Categories
Uncategorized

Yep, still here

Elon destroying Twitter is forcing me to rewrite Serendeputy.

Turns out that takes a while.

Back to writing more often at some point….

Categories
Meta

Back to writing again, occasionally

The world still spins. It’s gone around a few times since I last wrote regularly. I’m going to keep trying.

I’m writing a lot of marketing copy and FAQ pages for Serendeputy, so I really need to get good at this again.

I just got through re-reading the two best writing books I’ve ever come across — Style by Joseph Williams and The Pyramid Principle by Barbara Minto. Style helps you write line by line and The Pyramid Principle helps you organize your thoughts. They are both well worth reading.

Categories
Community Fediverse

New Mastodon account (and a book recommendation)

I’m still here, which is nice.

I stood up a Mastodon instance on a domain I control using a fresh Digital Ocean droplet. It was delightful for a while. Plus, I owned the namespace, so that gave me a little more confidence.

Then the droplet got hacked.

The CPU was pegged. I rebooted and it got back into the same state within a couple of minutes. I didn’t investigate deeply, but that smells like a rootkit crypto miner. Joy.

You can never trust a machine once it’s been compromised, so I nuked the droplet.

Then, it was time to decide whether to rebuild it or go to a shared instance. I could have rebuilt it, but I’m in growth mode at the day job so I really don’t have the time right now. So, shared instance it is!

You can find me on Mastodon @jpbutler@mastodon.boston. I’m still @jpbutler on Twitter though I’m spending a little less time there these days.

I look forward to watching the fediverse’s continued growth. It sometimes feels a little like 1998 on the web, but people have a lot more experience with computer stuff and social gestures now.

If you want a fun view of history repeating itself, check out Derek Powazek’s Design for Community, from 2001! Human nature doesn’t change very much. (I still have my original copy here somewhere…)

Categories
Meta

Hey, it’s December.

I used to be good at this.

In the early 2000s, before marriage, before children, before the one-man software company, I’d update this blog several times a day for weeks at a time.

I’ll get back to it at some point. Maybe after I’m retired. Maybe when the children are off to college. Maybe tomorrow, who knows.

Probably not soon, though.

Ok, back to work. I’m in market and things are exploding — mostly in a good way, sometimes in an ugly way.

Onward.

Categories
Meta

A weird accomplishment

I don’t have any data on this, but I think I’m probably one of the few people who have blogged in their 20s, 30s, 40s and (now) 50s. I started my site in early 2001, when I was 28. I am now 50.

I don’t think I get a prize or anything, but it’s kinda neat.

Categories
Community

42nd Street edition

Still in launch mode, but helping out with ticketing for my daughter’s high-school performance of 42nd Street. It should be a fabulous show!

Categories
Noticings

Noticings. Last few months or so edition

Alright, I’m really bad at this. Lots going on.

One of the advantages of running a newsfeed engine is that I’m always coming across really interesting new sites to check out and follow.

The Substack economy has been a boon to readers. The ecosystem is the richest it’s been since the golden age of blogging in the mid-2000s. I love it when I come across some new longer-form writers.

Here are some of my new favorites that you should probably try out:

I hope to be able to do more “linky goodness” posts this year. I’m just heads-down in launch mode, so it’s harder to carve out the fifteen minutes or so each day. I need to get back at it.

In the meantime, if you’re looking for some more sites I’m paying attention to, you can check out what I’m following on Serendeputy, or just look over my deputy’s shoulder.

(I’d also be fascinated to know what you think of it…)

Or, I share a lot of links on Twitter, so there’s that, too.

I’ll be back sometime between tomorrow and eventually.

Categories
Noticings

Noticings – 11/2/21 edition

I’m still media-adjacent, so I follow the comings and goings and new business models…

Who wants to be a chickenaire? in which the author lays out his paywall strategies.

Meanwhile, Charlie Warzel and many others are migrating their newsletters to The Atlantic.

I’m still working on the pro offering for Serendeputy, so I know the temptation. It’s more fun to build stuff than to do the daily operational grind.

Categories
Uncategorized

Noticings – 10/29/21 edition

Last time I checked in, it was midsummer. Now, it’s late October.

There’s still a ton going on. School is in full bloom. The holidays are coming up.

I even have a daughter about to get her driver’s permit; I’m entirely prepared for that.

Serendeputy is going in-market in a couple of weeks (Murphy-willing).

I’m still trying to notice things. I just don’t have as much time to ruminate and pull it all together.

Maybe soon.

You can still get a feel for what I’m finding interesting on the web by following me on Twitter.

See you soon.