Mastodons and Butterflies, Oh My!

Source: https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/125627

I'd like to say I abandoned Twitter when that Nazi-adjacent asshole Musk bought it, but that would be making a virtue of apathy. I just grew bored with it a while back after a flurry of use 10 or so years ago. So it was easy enough to just cancel and delete those accounts.

With the recent Quisling Debut of the Zuck, I'm weaning myself off Facebook and trying out other media. Two services one hears about as Twitter alternatives are Bluesky and Mastodon. Different from Twitter and each other in significant ways, though the basic operation is about the same. Much has been written about them so I won't rehash that. Links to me in the About section if you're curious. I'm also experimenting with an app called OpenVibe that lets you read posts on both as well as crosspost, handy when you've got a foot in both camps.

Source: https://flickr.com/photos/jsclark/30289633491/

(A smaller network that looks interesting is TrustCafe. My profile is here.)

One thing I got a lot out of on Facebook was the various interest groups: local musicians, specific travel destinations, people who own the same kind of camper I have, hobbies, etc. These seem less easy to replicate on the platforms above. I've found a couple of Subreddits that might be good alternatives, so I'm exploring that.

I'm planning to return to this blog for longer-form posts that don't fit the other formats as well. And I've maintained my Flickr account for photos, rather than posting many to FB as had started to become a lazy habit. 

If you're reading this and have other suggestions, please let me know in the comments.

What's Old Is New Again

I'll be using this blog for non-fiction--either straight up essays or just writing that's a bit too wordy for a bluesky post. 

Currently seeing this outside my window:

Many more photos of our recent VERY unusual Tallahassee snowfall are on Simulacra, my photography site. Predicted low tonight is around 20F, which means all this partial snowmelt is going to turn back into black ice. Not a good night to be out on Tallahassee's roads given the widespread lack of snow/ice experience around these parts.

Though I was delighted to hear kids whooping and hollering when I went out this morning to take photos, and we saw several folks--not just kids--using improvised sleds on the hill out front. Sure, most of what we got was sleet, but it's a very rare Winter Wonderland here in the Big Bend.