About 8 months ago, I re-registered for Facebook. In the aftermath of the Cambridge Analytica fiasco, and the follow on hits of their handing excessive autonomy to phone and hardware manufacturers to sift through their treasure-trove of user data, I shut down and deleted my account(s).
For almost 2 years I remained blissfully off the platform, but picking up the hobby of RC Cars drew me back. Why?
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Say you got an RC car for Christmas. Cool. Hopefully it was accompanied by appropriate batteries, and you are ready to run.
Soon, you will figure out that you need additional accessories. This post is intended to help you plan your descent into the hobby, and to hopefully short circuit some of the frustrations.
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I know that a lot of people watch Christmas movies during this season. I have my favorites, including “A Christmas Story”, “Life of Brian”, and “Die Hard”.
This year, we watched “It’s a Wonderful Life” the classic with James Stewart. I last watched it as a child, probably 45+ years ago, so I really had no fond reminiscences of of this movie.
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Long time readers are aware of my recent fascination with baking bread. Originally I began as a way to de-stress, and like my quest for the perfect pizza, it has become somewhat of a crusade.
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I had heard a low level, yet steady buzz about HBO Max streaming from a variety of sources, and was intrigued. I am not, and have never been an HBO subscriber, but I recognize that they have produced epic content for decades. The Sopranos being but one of their efforts.
Then Hulu lost South Park to HBO Max, and I began looking hard at adding HBO Max to the stable.
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… and deficiencies in my education.
A few years ago, I got addicted to the NYTimes Crossword. And I even paid for the subscription to access their past library, and to the app on my phone and iPad.
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On the advice of a colleague and a few others, I signed up for HBO Max streaming. A bit pricey, but dang, do they have an amazing catalog.
One of the shows that caught my eye is an adaptation of Caleb Carr’s outstanding novel, “The Alienist”. Produced by TNT, it is a period piece, set in New York city circa 1896, and has a cast of characters that reads like a who’s who of the times.
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A couple weeks ago, the latest “major” MacOS upgrade was released. This is a pretty major update, and actually ticked it from the 10.x train, to 11.0.
Of course, I waited until there was the first point release, and there were a couple of programs that I use heavily that needed to be updated. Once 11.0.1 was released, and the software that warned me was rev’d, I felt I was ready.
Boy, was I wrong…
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One of the best products of the last decade has been the advent of cloud based file syncing between computers/devices. When I first heard of Dropbox, it was intriguing, and they gave you (I think) 2GB free (this was circa 2011), and you could upgrade to 100GB for a nominal fee.
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This will be the first of a series on how to navigate the initial learning curve, and to choose what is a good entry point. Whether you are shopping for yourself, or are looking for a gift for the Holidays for someone else, there will be plenty of advice to be had.
Last holiday season, I embarked on this journey, and had to figure most of this out myself. Now, I will share with my readers what I learned.
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