<unnamed>

Public Key

npub1flx6ful8ag3uun6l5laxk3ws469al4df6j49zuq44csha7sdds5s58z8zm

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsylndy70n75g7wfa0607ntghg2az7l6k5af2j3wq26ugt7lgxkc2gpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dsjn84jf

Publishing to

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Last Notes

2026-10-16 16:43:59 UTC

Whitesnake opened, IIRC. And I needed 6 or 7 hours of work at the bookstore to net that $15.50 for the ticket.
https://s3.eu-central-003.backblazeb2.com/social-lol-media/media_attachments/files/117/451/586/395/397/432/original/f9bc24cac3dc0b78.jpg

2026-10-02 13:57:32 UTC

This may not look like #FootpathFriday but that sidewalk is literally the Appalachian Trail in Harpers Ferry WV.
https://s3.eu-central-003.backblazeb2.com/social-lol-media/media_attachments/files/117/371/659/598/384/236/original/4d60c20e046b31a6.jpg

2026-09-28 02:21:28 UTC

Holy blog posts Batman! This 1996 travel blog, preserved in all its glory, is a serious blast from the past. #blogs #travel
Assignment America
https://www.blondins.com/

2026-07-24 16:25:50 UTC

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@nprofile…f83y
I was also thinking about this recently.
https://blog.odonnellweb.com/2026/i-quit-rss-kind-of

2026-06-18 12:18:08 UTC

Thank you to everyone who shared sympathetic and encouraging words yesterday. It was a rough day.
If dogs crossing the rainbow bridge is something you can't deal with today, don't click the link.
#blog
https://blog.odonnellweb.com/teddys-last-selfie

2026-06-09 22:55:28 UTC

This is a fabulous photo
https://www.allencompassingtrip.com/2619/close-encounter

2026-05-17 00:33:46 UTC

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@nprofile…atnr I really need to ride mine more often.

2026-04-29 12:02:43 UTC

After 15 weeks of classes and 4 or 5 field trips, it is official. I am a Virginia Master Naturalist. I'll be focusing my volunteer efforts on birds (shocking, I know!) and at least one other area that is still TBD.
I'm going to miss the weekly classes. It was the closest I've been to a social life in many years.

2026-04-26 13:10:13 UTC

An article about Bluesky struggling to make money. If only there was a decentralized social media platform whose users have been predicting this for years, but Fast Company is apparently unaware of our existence.
Maybe that is a good thing.
https://www.fastcompany.com/91528304/bluesky-set-out-to-fix-social-media-now-its-running-into-familiar-problems

2026-04-19 23:24:57 UTC

I seem to have killed my RSS feeds and I don't have a recent backup. If we've been blog buddies or you think we'd be blog buddies, please share your feed or blog so I can rebuild my feed reader.

2026-04-15 21:44:18 UTC

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@nprofile…zejv You had a college email address in 1986? I went to an engineering school, and I did have a mailbox on the campus mainframe. I do not think it was reachable from outside the university network, though.

2026-03-29 14:24:59 UTC

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@nprofile…m44l
I felt like Pop!_OS was getting slow on my System 76 Meerkat that is circa 2019 last year. I installed Debian with XFCE and it's definately more responsive. I lose the PoP!OS polish, but for me it was a fair trade.

2026-03-08 00:56:04 UTC

I discovered the YouTube channel Hot Ones tonight and I'm losing it. Watching Gordon Ramsey suffer through eating stupidly hot wings is freaking hilarious.

2026-02-12 13:44:19 UTC

A red wolf, one of only about 300 still alive on the planet. From Brookgreen Gardens in SC last week. The small zoo there is involved with the repopulation effort.
https://media.social.lol/media_attachments/files/116/057/953/546/483/789/original/61ccfe132462ab24.jpg

2026-02-09 03:34:39 UTC

If you are old enough to remember pets.com buying a million dollar #SuperBowl ad you are old enough to know what's going to happen to most of the AI companies that bought ads tonight.

2026-01-10 15:50:29 UTC

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@nprofile…rxrw Commenting from a 2018 ThinkPad that I bought last year for $200. It's running Elementary OS.

2026-01-09 00:09:20 UTC

Like Corey, I just reserved this book at the library because of this one paragraph. There is no waitlist, so I should have it by Monday.
#nevent1q…dfs5

2025-12-15 01:34:39 UTC

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@nprofile…zgxm Bagel the dachshund/ beagle? Looks just like a dachshund/ beagle we had in the previous decade.

2025-12-08 14:02:02 UTC

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@nprofile…kpn0 @nprofile…de3d
I wonder if there was any political pressure put on the committee? Kemp is very right wing.

2025-12-05 14:00:33 UTC

Nobody expects snow in RVA in early December.
https://media.social.lol/media_attachments/files/115/667/314/262/562/143/original/231632a0a9ce2b72.jpg

2025-11-26 00:45:25 UTC

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@nprofile…d4fp I track that in a text file. Who needs the overhead of a spreadsheet?

2025-11-23 22:56:47 UTC

YouTube is overrun with AI slop videos claiming the RV industry is dumping 3 million RVs into the used market for pennies on the dollar.
The RV industry has made about 3 million RVS over the last 7 years. So unless every RV made since 2018 is currently for sale at a 95% discount, they might be full of shit.
#camping #vanlife #rv

2025-11-20 18:40:02 UTC

If you bet on "Chris' smiling face will appear on NPR.org this year," you just won big.
You also have a gambling problem :)
https://www.npr.org/2025/11/20/nx-s1-5614949/aca-subsidies-health-insurance-costs
#healthcare #aca #insurance

2025-11-06 00:30:05 UTC

I can quit Mastodon now. I've won.
https://odonnellweb.com/pelican/takei.html
#blog #blogging #healthcare

2025-11-02 01:40:54 UTC

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@nprofile…zvch Not the first install party in Fredericksburg. We did several with FredLUG 15 odd years ago. Glad to see they are still happening!

2025-10-31 23:48:43 UTC

Halloween is Is dead. We haven't had a single legitimate kid. Some teens not even in costumes, and 2 parents whose kids didn't even get out of the car.
I'm done. We aren't doing it next year. We will go out and do something fun ourselves.

2025-10-11 00:22:58 UTC

I have no dog in this fight so I'm just hoping for an exciting game. #mlbplayoffs #mlb #ALDS

2025-08-27 12:16:15 UTC

I wrote this 11 years ago. I think it's safe to say my timing was a little bit off.
https://odonnellweb.com/pelican/blogs-are-back.html
#blog

2025-06-19 12:55:26 UTC

Well, that is one way to win at Wordle.
Wordle 1,461 2/6
⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

2025-06-17 13:17:23 UTC

Dear People of Mastodon,
Please look at the dates on stuff you boost. There is more than enough bad news from yesterday to keep you miserable. You don't need to boost bad news from months ago.

2025-06-11 16:48:27 UTC

I got my COBRA letter from my previously employer yesterday. $3100 per month to maintain insurance for me and my wife on what was a rather shitty plan (CA small business group plan.) I can do much, much better on healthcare.gov.
Because all employed people have $3100 a month for health insurance premiums. WTELF?

2025-06-03 23:47:57 UTC

Hey if you live in NC or OH your Republican senators are wavering on voting for the Republican budget.A phone call can make a difference. Call tonight and leave a message. You don't even have to talk to anybody. See https://www.climatechangemakers.org/call
to get the numbers for Senator Husted (Ohio) and Tillis (NC).

2025-06-02 00:24:18 UTC

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@nprofile…pp8p gThumb on Linux has a photo collage tool too.

2025-05-30 19:22:26 UTC

Well, I just let go from my job. I know, welcome to the club, right? I sell large website projects, mostly to the government in recent years but I'm not limited to that market. If anybody here works for a web agency looking to boost sales, please get in touch.
My credentials. #FediHire #fedihired
Https://codcomm.com

2025-05-28 12:49:18 UTC

This 21-year-old blog post hits very differently today. An entire generation sacrificed greatly to stop fascism in Europe, only to have the Republican Party fully embrace it 80 years later.
https://odonnellweb.com/pelican/the-greatest-generation.html

2025-05-22 23:13:02 UTC

I wrote this 13 years ago. This was early in my journey from mainstream libertarianism to the socialist that I've become today.
https://odonnellweb.com/pelican/the-gospel-of-consumption.html

2025-05-22 12:06:41 UTC

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@nprofile…d7zw Have you tried the --ignore-cache command line argument when you build the site?

2025-05-21 12:17:58 UTC

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@nprofile…d7zw That seems like a lot of work. I've been posting collages made with gThumb when using images in a post, and for photo albums I post them separately using fgallery.

2025-05-17 22:53:44 UTC

This good boy got some serious air.
https://media.social.lol/media_attachments/files/114/525/627/015/437/175/original/b7b434799aff12a2.jpg

2025-05-09 18:00:59 UTC

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@nprofile…8lpa Have you tried the Etar calendar client on Android? I use it with Dav5 to consolidate my CalDav feed and a couple of Google Calendars. I believe it can ingest a feed from iCloud too.

2025-04-25 14:44:20 UTC

I wrote this 2 years ago, and it's held up quite well.
https://odonnellweb.com/pelican/mastodon-is-not-doomed.html

2025-04-11 12:50:42 UTC

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Just to close the loop on the question, my new-to-me Thinkbook T480 arrived last night. Looking forward to spending the evening getting Linux running on it. I run Debian 12 on my desktop box, but I think I'll go with Elementary OS on the laptop. The Internets suggest it's more likely to have all the drivers I need on the initial installation.
It was $211 and has 16 GB of RAM and a 250 GB SSD. Physically, it looks brand new.

2025-04-08 02:17:51 UTC

I want a laptop I can spend about $200 on used or refurb and put Linux on it, mainly to be used as a remote writing device. I'm leaning towards a Thinkbook or Dell Latitude, 8GB RAM and whatever for SSD storage. Any specific models I should look for to get the best bang for the buck? There are so many options and trying to research returns AI crap that suggests an Alienware or MacBook Pro.
If you know where I can get one of those for $200 please speak up, LOL
#laptops #linux

2025-04-03 15:39:10 UTC

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@nprofile…wtj5 My wife was fired in 2016 for needing to go to radiation treatments. She was the only employee of a start-up daycare (she was hired to start it up) so she had no protection within the law.
Ironically, the woman who owned the daycare was an academic who was "called by God" to open the daycare. We were never clear if God ordered my wife's firing.

2025-04-03 13:20:36 UTC

Ignore the stock market today. If you need the money in the next two years, it should not be in stocks in the first place. If you don't need it for 10+ years, today won't matter in the long run.

2025-03-28 03:01:18 UTC

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@nprofile…6xkr Most Americans don't seem to be aware of the major Nazi vibe shift in our own government, so not surprising they aren't aware of what's happening with our neighbors up north.

2025-03-15 13:39:39 UTC

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@nprofile…lvhv 16 GB on Mint should be plenty of RAM, unless Rythmbox has a bad memory leak. I use Audacious for local music playing.
What happens if you play music from the local hard drive? Maybe it's a networking issue with your LAN?

2025-03-15 13:20:02 UTC

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@nprofile…lvhv Have looked at your RAM utilization when streaming? It sounds like maybe your available system RAM is running low when streaming. What desktop are you using?

2025-02-25 19:55:53 UTC

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@nprofile…8hxv @nprofile…jlsl I was in a meeting in Maryland, and we felt that earthquake. My house in Fredericksburg suffered a couple of things falling off shelves, but that is about it.

2025-02-24 03:06:22 UTC

Paradise Episode 4.
Holy shit.

2025-02-20 00:01:43 UTC

#TheCompoChallenge
Working on not always centering the subject.
https://media.social.lol/media_attachments/files/114/033/271/213/084/552/original/de98141408b86641.jpeg
https://media.social.lol/media_attachments/files/114/033/271/199/103/660/original/58b42e9849d73488.jpeg

2025-02-19 16:20:56 UTC

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@nprofile…wjfe To paraphrase John Lewis. Every action, no matter how minor, counts. None of us knows in advance where the tipping point is.

2025-02-09 21:48:09 UTC

Help! Bought my wife a new iPhone today and she cannot sign into Gmail. 2FA is sending the code to her old iPhone, which we traded in in. She is signed on on her Chromebook, but it won't let me change anything security related without going through the 2FA. Apple wiped the old phone while we were there, which I assumed would have logged her out, but I guess not. Any ideas? SMS option is greyed out.

2025-01-26 14:58:20 UTC

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@nprofile…lwgl Co-pay and Co-insurance is the part of the medical bill I pay. Depending on the procedure, insurance will cover 20-100% of the bill. Out of pocket max is what it sounds like. Every policy has a ceiling, once you 've spent that (not counting the premiums) you pay no more medical bills that year. So for me, $16,200 annual for my wife's premium, plus her OOP max is $8500, I think, equals $24,700 to keep her alive. So yes, the budget assumes I don't have any big unplanned expenses.

2025-01-26 14:16:36 UTC

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@nprofile…lwgl I'm paying $1350 USD for insurance for my wife, My employer covers my premium. I've calculated after co-pays and co-insurance that I will spend about $28,000 USD on healthcare this year for the two of us, assuming no new expensive diagnosis for me. My wife will hit her out-of-pocket max for the year.
It's only reliable if you are an expert (like my wife) at how to play the game to get shit done in the US Healthcare system

2025-01-22 13:58:08 UTC

Any HVAC exerts around? My home has a new, modern heat pump (air to air). I've traditionally let the temp drop while we are asleep, but it's taking the heat pump all morning to get the house back up to 71F from the sleep setting of 65F. Is it better with a heat pump to just let it run at a constant setting 24 X 7?

2025-01-20 16:11:46 UTC

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@nprofile…4y82
The perfect profile picture does not exist.
Oh, wait.

2025-01-11 19:00:47 UTC

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@nprofile…7nxw Is that a photo from today? If so, I have more snow on the ground in Virginia than you do.

2025-01-09 17:35:05 UTC

Social media in a nutshell.
https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/did-you-even-consider-every-possible-lived-experience-before-recklessly-posting-your-chili-recipe-on-social-media
ht: @nprofile…jh3m

2025-01-06 23:53:36 UTC

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@nprofile…f9kf Very glad I decided to enter 2025 by deleting my IG account.

2025-01-05 19:32:08 UTC

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@nprofile…uect @nprofile…args @nprofile…lptk
Congestion pricing in DC area allowed me to hitchhike 50 miles each way into DC daily for years, because drivers needed passengers to avoid the tolls. It was faster and more reliable than the bus or train, and free.

2025-01-05 19:22:45 UTC

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@nprofile…0g46 Yep. I started working on websites in early 1996. We had such high ambitions back then. But it was all hijacked by capitalism.

2024-12-28 01:38:01 UTC

I spent Christmas day changing and upgrading my operating system, as you do.
#linux #debian #pop_os
https://odonnellweb.com/pelican/pop_os-to-debian.html

2024-12-27 13:57:03 UTC

Instead of advancing to a new year, maybe we should try something different and redo an old year. Anybody up for another shot at 1988?

2024-12-25 23:34:22 UTC

Spent the afternoon repartioning my hard drive to get /home on its own partition, and updating the OS from pop_os 22.04 to Debian 12. I seem to have lost all my RSS subscriptions, so I'm starting over from zero. Share a link to your blog if ou think I was following it, or I should be!

2024-12-22 22:11:49 UTC

I'll be starting 2025 with a job, so I got that going for me. The biggest benefit, beyond the paycheck, is that I can go back to ignoring LinkedIn. I was only unemployed for 6 weeks, so didn't really even need to dip into savings, which is nice.

2024-12-15 19:58:55 UTC

Operation dissemble the Kitchenaid mixer and fix the leaking grease issue appears to be a success. Nothing blew up when I plugged it back in.

2024-12-14 14:44:46 UTC

This morning brought to you by a hot mug of tea, and The Replacements.

2024-12-13 15:48:06 UTC

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@nprofile…fle4 A note about Drupal CMS. The January release is not going to have the WYSIWYG Experience Builder enabled, as it's still under heavy development. I'd consider Drupal CMS as a preview release in January, it won't really be useful for anybody outside of Drupal nerds.
Also, I've used Pelican for years and it's fabulous.

2024-12-08 18:40:19 UTC

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@nprofile…puf9 Imagine how much you could have made on Aug betting on an IU - ND game in the playoffs.

2024-12-03 21:03:58 UTC

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@nprofile…p357 That was at the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge on the Outer Banks in late Oct. We got lucky and were there when that huge migratory flock took at break at the pond. An experienced local birder we were chatting with estimated the flock at 20,000 Pintail Ducks. There was a strong wing from the North, so they were all gone the next day, taking advantage of the help on their way south.

2024-12-03 19:23:01 UTC

I probably took over 1000 bird photos this year to end up with these 50.
https://odonnellweb.com/pictures/2024_Birds/
#birds #birdphotography #wildlifephotography
https://media.social.lol/media_attachments/files/113/590/515/574/586/872/original/b5e5e7e0f2b8129f.jpg

2024-11-17 20:45:48 UTC

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@nprofile…p357 He survived this encounter. We watched for about 10 min and the hawk didn't show much interest in him.
Actually no idea if it was a male squirrel. Just assuming it is based on the misplaced bravery.

2024-11-16 18:39:49 UTC

Is this the bravest, or dumbest, squirrel in the park?
https://media.social.lol/media_attachments/files/113/494/087/965/927/855/original/fe780e599331049b.jpeg

2024-11-14 13:53:13 UTC

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@nprofile…lqnp It should be noted that there is no technical reason that an RSS reader needs to be a server. I use the FeedBro Firefox/Chrome plugin. Only being available from my desktop box is a feature, not a bug. It keeps me from getting distracted by feeds during the day when I'm on my work laptop.

2024-11-10 12:49:13 UTC

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@npub19un…9j68
https://media.social.lol/media_attachments/files/113/458/736/030/235/398/original/307c6b884f4c376d.jpg

2024-11-06 04:53:09 UTC

So Missouri voted to codify abortion protections and also voted to make President the guy promising to eliminate abortion protections. Maybe the issue is that we just aren't smart enough to maintain a democracy.

2024-08-19 16:33:18 UTC

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@npub10fm…x0qg 90% odds the process to undo that costs more than what they made on the sale. You are doing them a favor by just letting that dog lie.