On the First Day of NewListservProviderMas ...

... as occasioned by Mailchimp's shitting of the customer care bed, I'll be trying out Gaggle Mail as the publishing vehicle for the daily email edition of Rational Review News Digest.

I'm already impressed. When I uploaded the RRND subscriber list, I got a "sending to this list is paused until we can verify that you're not up to something suspicious" message.

And their method of verification was having an actual human (or a very good AI) send me an actual email asking a couple of actual questions (e.g. what is the purpose of this list and where did those subscribers come from?). Then an actual human (or a very good AI) apparently reading the answers and letting me know I'm good to go.

So I'm already positively impressed. Additional positive impression: At a quick glance, the interface isn't full of a bunch of weird culs-de-sac with a big learning curve just to send out a damn email a day.

For some reason, the last couple of years (since Intuit bought them out), Mailchimp seems to want to add a new "feature" every couple of months that involves zero added value or functionality, but rather simply adds a step for no discernible reason. The most recent one was this:

• Previously, you chose the list you were sending mail to, gave the mail a subject, formatted the message, then hit "send" or "schedule for later."
• Now you choose the list you're sending mail to, give the mail a subject, tell it whether you want to send now or schedule for later, format the email ... and then still have to hit "send" or "schedule for later" again.

So I can't say I wasn't expecting to eventually have problems with Mailchimp. I just didn't expect the problems to involve unexplained claims of terms of use violations with immediate "go elsewhere, we don't want your business" effect.

Selections From This Morning's Correspondence with Mailchimp

This morning, 6:30am, from Mailchimp:

Hello Thomas,

Your Mailchimp account with the username [redacted by KN@PPSTER] has been suspended for violating our Standard Terms of Use and Acceptable Use Policy. Please review our policies for more information on the types of content we don't allow (mailchimp.com/legal/terms).

You may log in to export and back up your account data (mailchimp.com/help/export-back-up-data).

Reply to this email with questions or for information on how to retrieve your data.

-- Mailchimp

This morning, 7:29am, from Mailchimp:

Your response has been submitted.

The Mailchimp account with the username [redacted by KN@PPSTER] has submitted the following message to our compliance team:

--------------------
So far as I can tell, I am in no way in violation of Mailchimp's acceptable use policy. I publish a daily news and commentary roundup (I've published it for more than 20 years, including many years via Mailchimp). It contains no illegal material, etc. So what's going on here?
--------------------

This morning, 9:03am, from Mailchimp:

Hello,

Our automated abuse-prevention system, Omnivore, detected account content or actions that violate our Acceptable Use Policy.

https://mailchimp.com/legal/acceptable_use/#Prohibited_Content

In order to protect all of our users and ensure the deliverability of everyone’s campaigns, we have to ask that you seek a new vendor for your marketing needs.

Please log in and export your account data (mailchimp.com/help/export-back-up-data).

We appreciate your understanding in this matter.

This morning, 9:08am, from me:

"My understanding in this matter" is that no, I didn't violate your acceptable use policy. Please feel free to specify how I did.

And that's where things stand.

I really hate moving between email delivery services, which is why it's been years since I've done so. 

Mailchimp has done a good job for me ... until today. "Our automated system says you did something we don't like, and we're not going to tell you what it was, go fuck yourself" is, IMO, pretty bad business practice.

Wordle 772 Hint

Hint: For advice on today's Wordle, I suggest consulting William Strunk, Jr. and E.B. White.

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First Letter: S

Wordle 771 Hint

Hint: If you immerse yourself in today's Wordle, you'll come out clean.

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First Letter: B

Well, Ageism Is Obviously Alive And Well

Not an affiliate link:

Wordle 770 Hint

Hint: This Stooge was indubitably a victim of soikemstance.

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First Letter: C

Linux Installation/Optimization/Fixing Tip

Make sure that the default install sets up a swap partition or swap file (apparently Ubuntu has been going with the latter in recent versions).

For some reason, my recent install of Lubuntu didn't create a partition and created a miniscule file (I don't remember the size, but it was megabytes, not gigabytes, in size -- the rule of thumb I've seen is "three times the size of the machine's RAM"). Which probably (hopefully!) explains why the machine kept freezing up at inopportune moments.

It's FOSS has a nice, easy to follow tutorial on how to create or resize your swap file (including checking what's already there).

Wordle 769 Hint

Hint: Walter Sobchak doesn't like Nazism, but he prefers it to nihilism in the sense that the former is, and the latter isn't, today's Wordle.

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First Letter: E

Wordle 768 Hint

Hint: A genre of music (or a duck named Irwin).

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First Letter: D

Wordle 767 Hint

Hint: Today's Wordle should really get your blood pumping!

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First Letter: H

My Voice Made For Text Returns To Radio Yet Again

Noon central, on Dean Becker's Pacifica Network show, which should be available as a live stream here.

The topic, more or less -- last time, we covered a lot of ground beyond the initial stated topic -- is my July 6 Garrison Center column.

Wordle 766 Hint

 Hint: Varieties include Big, wagon, cheese, and Fortune. 

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First Letter: W

Wordle 765 Hint

 Hint: An activity that one practices habitually for fun. Alternatively, a kind of horse. 

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First Letter: H

Wordle 764 Hint

 Hint: A pilot flies a plane and beluga is a type of caviar. Both of these terms also describe varieties of today's Wordle.

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First Letter: W

It's Amazing and Comforting ...

... how easy it's become to move between operating systems, including when you've just blown your sh*t up and have to start from scratch. Back in, say, 2003, it was always tedious and sometimes terrifying (as I found when a boot sector virus kept eating Windows 98 and I spent a frantic 16 hours figuring out how to install and use Mandrake Linux).

A short time ago, I nuked ChromeOS Flex in favor of Lubuntu on my ATOPNUC Mini PC, and other than the various tweaks I always do to get the desktop looking/functioning the way I prefer, the transition was pretty simple. Since most of my stuff is done in the browser, and since I use Google Chrome, all I had to do was install Chrome and log into my Google account. Voila, all my stuff was there, except for my preferred text editor (Caret), which is a Chrome app, and those no longer work in Linux. I installed Geany, which is what I had used before leaving Linux for MacOS back in the day, and I was good to go.

I've been previewing/reviewing other Linux distributions. The other day I installed Zorin alongside Lubuntu based on some positive reviews I'd read. Frankly, it's not ready for prime time. So this morning, I decided to give Manjaro a try. I used the 32-bit version on the old Raspberry Pi 4B and liked it, but the 64-bit version had a freeze-up problem. I figured I'd come back and give it a try on my AMD CPU (the Pi is an ARM CPU).

So I downloaded the ISO, burned it to a USB, booted the USB, clicked "install," assigned it to the Zorin partition, and voila ... it had screwed up the GRUB file somehow such that NOTHING displayed on boot except:

> GRUB:

I only ever edit GRUB via GUI, had no idea what to do from scratch in a command line, etc.

Well, OK ... I ended up booting into the Manjaro USB and reinstalling it as the ONLY operating system.

And after a few minutes of setup (installing Chrome and Geany, logging into Google so it synced in all my extensions, etc.), I'm writing this post. All I have left to do is delete some apps I never use (looking at you, Firefox) and set up Dropbox to be fully back in business.

Or reinstall Lubuntu next to Manjaro so I still have that. Which I might do. But not right now.

Update, 7:45pm: Well, OK, right now. And not next to Manjaro, instead of Manjaro. Because after it downloaded all its updates and went to reboot, it just sat there churning. So after half an hour or so, I reinstalled Lubuntu and Lubuntu alone. So I'm right back where I was about three days ago. Which isn't a terrible place to be, but geez.

Wordle 763 Hint

Hint: It's not so much that I'm cold right now as that I got cold earlier.

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First Letter: F

Wordle 762 Hint

Hint: Today's Wordle means brawny or strapping, and rhymes with a variety of tobacco.

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First Letter: B

Wordle 761 Hint

Hint: A location pertaining to a military unit's position, or a particular cut of steak.

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First Letter: F

Wordle 760 Hint

Hint: Could be part of a cocktail, could be a kind of chord.

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First Letter: T

Not An Affiliate Link ...

 ... but if it was, I could probably have knocked down commissions on 435 of them today.

Wordle 759 Hint

Hint: While walking around downtown, you might see a number of these advertising upcoming bands at local nightclubs, missing pets, etc.

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First Letter: F

Mind The Gap

Fitbit informs me that I've walked 250 miles since I started wearing my Versa 4 in early June, and have therefore earned the "London Underground" badge.

Wordle 758 Hint

 Hint: Your eyelids may do this if you try to read while sleepy.

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First Letter: D

Wordle 757 Hint

 Hint: My birthstone, or a novel by Leon Uris.

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First Letter: T

Wordle 756 Hint

Hint: The "old woman" aspect of neopaganism's "triple goddess."

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First Letter: C

Wordle 755 Hint

Hint: The kind of person described by today's Wordle could be downright evil -- or just enthusiastic about or addicted to some particular thing.

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First Letter: F

File Under "Things I Never Really Expected to Show Up on My Screen"

From a story in The New Republic:

On Wednesday, Dechert told Page Six “I apologize for using my flatulence as a medium of public commentary in your presence,” adding that he wished to be referred to as either a “gallivanting boulevardier” or a “beer-fueled sex rocket.”

Secondary filing: "Man After My Own Heart."

Wordle 754 Hint

Hint: You don't see many steamboats on the Mississippi River these days, but there are thousands of these.

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First Letter: B

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things ...

1. Amazon Prime Day. Always a bunch of good deals, including:
2. A nice pizza stone, with a peel, for less than $20 (not an affiliate link). I'm been planning to try pizza on my Weber kettle grill for some time now, not wanting to try to come up with the money for a real wood-fired pizza oven. So now I can do that.
3. A Fire HD tablet for Tamara (not an affiliate link), $55. Her work laptop is on its last legs. They're getting her a new computer, but it's a docking station type outfit to replace both her work laptop and her office desktop, and she mentioned that she might want to use something else for e.g. Zoom meetings and/or just fucking around with non-work stuff. So it's Christmas in July for her.
4. The new Echo Pop (not an affiliate link). Normally $39.99, but on Prime Day (for Prime members), $17.99. It arrived today and went in the living room, where Alexa gets lots of usage. The third generation Dot that was in the living room got moved to my office, and the second generation Dot that was in my office went in an envelope to send to Amazon for a $5 gift card and a $25 discount off my next Echo purchase of any kind. I will probably end up doing the same thing with my second generation Echo Show, which for some reason just proved to be a real pain in the ass and got put away. I'm sure at some point I'll be buying more Alexa devices, so I might as well have discounts in my arsenal. The Pop has pretty good sound quality, it's pretty (I got the teal color per Tamara's desire), and all it lacks are touch and temperature sensors, which we don't need (we do not have, for example, an Alexa-controlled thermostat).
5. Instacart (that's an affiliate link -- if you sign up with them through me, I get a $10 credit and you get some kind of discounts up to $30). With  transportation uncertain this week due to some car repairs being done any time now, I ordered stuff for burgers tomorrow, dough, sauce, mozzarella, and Italian sausage for when the pizza stone arrives on Saturday, and some other groceries. Saved Tamara a stop at the store.
6. UPDATE, I forgot one: Bitrefill (affiliate link -- you get $5 in Bitcoin once you've spent $50 through them, and so do I!). I already had a bunch of Amazon gift card credit built up for those Prime Day purchases (I collect and redeem Microsoft Rewards points, etc.), but if I hadn't, I could have used cryptocurrency (Bitcoin, Dash, and others, but not Bitcoin Cash) to cover it. And I did use some crypto recently to buy Instacart gift card credit. I only order through Instacart once or twice a month (often when it's heavy stuff, like cases of soda and water that I don't want Tamara to have to lug around if she goes to the store alone), but I try to keep a balance there to avoid unexpected/emergency/spur-of-the-moment debit card use.

OK, now I've done my good deed for the month and can return to my relentless negativity.

Wordle 753 Hint

Hint: I enjoy carnival rides that perform today's Wordle while also tilting.

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First Letter: W

A Thing I'd Almost Forgotten, and am Glad to Rediscover

I have not yet quit Gmail in favor of ProtonMail, but I'm still thinking on it (I can pay monthly, given no reader financial support for buying a 2-year discounted package). The only real downside I see, other than having to pay for stuff that Google gives me "free," is that I'm not seeing any way to link Proton Drive to my stuff the way Google Drive works. But I might just start using DropBox for such things.

Yesterday, I erased ChromeOS Flex and reinstalled Lubunto on the ATOPNUC Mini PC that I use as my "daily driver."

One problem with doing that is that I not longer get to use the Caret Chrome app as my text editor. When last I used Lubuntu, it warned me that Chrome apps would no longer be supported in Linux as of [some date that had already passed], but would then give me the option to open Caret anyway. Now it just doesn't work.

Which kind of leaves me even more inclined to abandon the Chrome browser for another Chromium-based browser.* But what to do for a nice tabbed text editor?

I came across Geany, thought I remembered it fuzzily but fondly, installed it, and it works plenty OK.

Looking back, I apparently used it back in the day, as I posted on this blog in 2009 looking for a Mac version of it or a good alternative to it. Which is probably just about the time that I was converting from a Linux PC to a Mac Mini I got a good deal on (and used for three years, until I got my first Chromebox in 2012).

It's still a pretty nice text editor. I don't have much use for "word processors" that output documents in proprietary format. Especially since I can use Google Docs or Zoho Docs or whatever if I need that functionality now and again.

And BTW, all the stuff that was running slow in ChromeOS is running fast again in Linux. Since I'm good about ditching accumulated browser data (caches, history, etc.), I think it was the OS, not a browser slowdown issue.

* One problem with leaving Chrome is that I'd not longer have stuff nicely synced for when I travel and use my Chromebook. The way around that, of course, is to either convert the Chromebook to a Linux laptop, or get another laptop.

If I'd Known it Was Going to be One of THOSE Days, I Might Have Just Stayed in Bed

Woke up this morning. Started working.

About 8am, no Internet.

Reset router. Reset modem. No dice.

Call Cox, find out there's not an outage in my area, talk to a tech support guy who says it SEEMS like a signal issue, and they can send someone out. Tomorrow. COULD be the modem, if I feel like bringing it in to exchange it, I can try that.

So we get in Tamara's car -- which is acting strangely, but it's to be worked on this week -- and head for the cable office.

At 9:16am, I get a text informing me that there's an Internet outage in my area, that they're working on it, and that it should be fixed by 1:08pm.

But we're almost to the cable office, so why not exchange the modem for a new one (as they've been sending me mailers encouraging me to do for years) while we're at it?

Why not? I'll tell you why not: The cable company office doesn't open until 10am.

So we go home, I plug in the modem, and what do you know ... the Internet works.

But Tamara's old work laptop is having one of its occasional conniptions. She has a new work machine waiting on her to pick up, but she hasn't yet, probably because she hates change. Anyway, I just got the old thing running again, so she can work from home, so she doesn't have to be out and about in the car that needs attention.

Gah.

Wordle 752 Hint

Hint: Pearl Buck described it as Good.

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First Letter: E

Wordle 751 Hint

Hint: Today's Wordle could well have been suggested by Florenz Ziegfeld Jr., who put on quite a few of them.

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First Letter: F

I Knew That Robert Wright Guy Was a Smart Fellow ...

... and he proves it yet again by agreeing with me on the subject of Meta's Threads app.

Wordle 750 Hint

Hint: Whatever building you're sitting in right now, today's Wordle describes how you got inside.

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First Letter: E

Sometimes I Love Google, Sometimes I Hate It

Right now, I'm hating it.

My "$100 Chromebox" -- an ATOPNUC mini PC running Google's ChromeOS Flex -- seems to have slowed down with a recent ChromeOS update. And I think, although I'm not entirely sure, that Google's Gmail is the culprit.

So, once again, I'm considering a move away from Google.

In addition to being the likely chief culprit, Gmail is the thing I find hardest to give up. I've had my address there since circa 2006 or early 2007. I grabbed it to run Steve Kubby's 2008 presidential campaign from, and just never went back to Yahoo! Mail, or ISP mail via SMTP.

I really, really like ProtonMail (which comes with a not-entirely-unlike Google suit of tools including a calendar and storage facility, as well as VPN and password manager offerings).  But its free version is too anemic for my needs.

They're running a sale on their "Mail Plus," which looks like it could accommodate at least most of my needs. $78.96 for the first two years.

And they sell gift cards in $20, $50, and $100 denominations.

If anyone wants to help out with that, gift cards can be sent to thomaslknapp@protonmail.com.

If I can get started on ProtonMail, my follow-up plan is to abandon ChromeOS Flex, re-install Lubuntu, and at least strongly consider switching from Chrome proper to Chromium or some other variant as my browser.

Wordle 749 Hint

Hint: Today's Wordle is cringe bro.

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First Letter: C

Wordle 748 Hint

Hint: You might catch me Dunkin' today's Wordle, but you won't catch me Dunkin' ON today's Wordle.

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First Letter: D

Well, That's Dumb

There doesn't seem to be a desktop version of Threads. Which pretty much makes it immediately un-interesting to me. I hate phone-based apps without desktop versions, because I:

1. Sit in front of a desktop computer all day; and
2. Don't dick around with my phone all day.

Something I Hadn't Thought Of

From a very interesting episode of Freakonomics Radio:

The safest streets in Europe are streets where pedestrians and cars are entirely intermixed. In other words, where there’s not even really a distinguishable sidewalk. You see those streets in England, you see them in Switzerland, where cars, bicyclists, pedestrians are all navigating, sometimes even without striped lanes, the same roadway. And the reason that that is safer, is because the cars, lacking clear direction as to where their exact lane is and where the sidewalk is, they have to be more careful, so they slow down. The pedestrians, who in such a situation have as much of a right to the road as any, they’re not relegated to sidewalks — can actually feel like they can walk in between cars. And again, despite our intuition, our probably, you know, American mindset, that that kind of situation might be dangerous, it’s actually in many ways safer, because it signals to drivers that they’re not the only users of the road.  -- Sara Bronin

That's at odds with my own prior assumptions, the conventional wisdom, and, I'm pretty sure, the consensus of the Gainesville/Alachua County Bicycle/Pedestrian Advisory Board (on which I serve).

In fact, on the BPAB, there's usually quite a bit of talk about how to segregate cars, cyclists/scooter riders, and pedestrians.

There's a little (one block, IIRC) pilot project in town that's "Amsterdam-style," with the auto roadway in the middle and separate bike/pedestrian lanes at different heights (i.e. curbs separating each type of lanes from the others), and it's quite nice. But it's also quite expensive.

Could the solution, at least in urban areas, involve throwing all three traffic types together so that everyone feels like they have to pay attention?

I recall reading about a similar phenomenon somewhere in Europe where they did away with traffic signals and stop signs ... and collisions went down, not up, presumably for the same reasons.

Wordle 747 Hint

Hint: Could mean there's a breeze, could mean there's a gale.

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First Letter: W

Help a Sister Out?

Aria DiMezzo (of The Crypto 6) is currently serving time (at a men's prison camp) for the "crime" of exchanging cryptocurrency without permission from the AUTHORITAHS.

Here's information about how to send money for her "commissary" account, or have books sent to her, etc. 

I'm going to try to remember to do a little something for her each month. I hope you will as well.

I guess I'm just getting old ...

... as, after several weeks of walking at least 10k steps per day, I'm getting some inner knee pain. Not debilitating, but noticeable. Had me limping a bit last night, enough that Tamara noticed.

A little web research offers up two possible causes -- a medial meniscus tear, or arthritis, both likely due to wear and tear.

I love my three pairs of Oranginer "barefoot" zero-drop shoes (the oldest is two years old and definitely showing age but still very wearable/comfortable). I think they've done wonders for my lower back, and they let me go outside actually feeling barefoot (my strong preference since childhood) without poking holes in my feet. But I suspect the lack of cushioning and support when I go out and walk 1.5-2 miles at a stretch may be causal vis a vis the knee irritation.

So, for less than the price a pair of Oranginers (not an affiliate link), I just ordered a pair of Saucony "Cohesion 15" running shoes (not an affiliate link). They're not especially "high-end" -- my old running go-to were Asics, and I didn't like the level of those I could get in the same price range -- but they have pretty good reviews and the price is right.

Hopefully they will address the knee problem, and I'll also have them when and if I get down to a reasonable weight for actually running more than a few hundred feet at a stretch again. I guess we'll see how the lower back responds to higher-heel-than-toe shoes, which I haven't worn for several years now.

This One Weird Trick ...

It didn't occur to me until this morning. It's that simple?

Bing is always flogging its AI-powered chat to me as a "click and get 10 Microsoft Rewards points" link.

But when I click thru, it then informs me that "Bing chat is only available on the Microsoft Edge browser."

No biggie. I don't really care one way or the other about using it.

This morning, for some reason, I thought to myself "surely they're using some kind of browser detection more complex and less spoofable than just looking at the user agent string."

Nope.

If you want to use Bing chat but don't want to (or can't -- for example, I'm on a Chromebox) use Microsoft Edge, all you have to do is change your user agent declaration and tell Bing that you're using Edge.

You're welcome.

Wordle 746 Hint

Hint: Today's Wordle is just pure poison. If the answer had been a snake it would have bit me.

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First Letter: V

Yes, There is Merch ...

I'm not trying to make money on this campaign.

In fact, I'm trying to not make money on this campaign.

Unfortunately, Zazzle won't let me set a "royalty" of zero -- the minimum is 5%. So I will in fact knock down a bit of spare change if you buy a yard sign, a t-shirt, or a bumper sticker.

I'll look around for vendors that allow zero commissions and hopefully charge less. But feel free to make your own merch and even sell it (maybe I'll buy some!) -- I don't support the idea of "intellectual property," remember?

Wordle 745 Hint

Hint: Today's Wordle left me angry and worked up. If it had been two words, I'd have punnished it with a one-star review. 

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First Letter: I

Presidential Beards, Historical and Potential

Apart from Harry Truman's "Jeff Davis," which he sported for a brief period in 1948, the last beard in the White House was Benjamin Harrison's (1889-93):

But in 2025, presidential beards could be back!

Pete Buttigieg:

I’m going to leave aside the strangeness of trying to prove your manhood by putting up a video that splices images of you in between oiled-up, shirtless bodybuilders ...

 Not that there's anything wrong with that! But Ron doth protest too much, methinks:

To wrap up “Pride Month,” let’s hear from the politician who did more than any other Republican to celebrate it…

pic.twitter.com/FT7LdW4vls

— DeSantis War Room 🐊 (@DeSantisWarRoom) June 30, 2023

Wordle 744 Hint

 Hint: Three examples of today's Wordle: Heartbreak, California, Watergate. 

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First Letter: H

Concerning That Fresco ...

When it comes to all things pizza, I defer to no one except Chris Matthew Sciabarra:

"This is OBVIOUSLY an attempt to legitimize pineapple on pizza."

But because he's all about the dialectic, he has to offer some conflicting opinions as well.

FYI, if you're ever in Brooklyn, you must visit L&B Spumoni Gardens, where Chris took me in 2003 for my first (and only) New York (traditional) and New York (Sicilian style) pizza feed that has actually occurred in New York. Accept no substitutes!

You can bet  that the next time I'm up there, I'll be collecting him for another visit to the place, which I understand some theologians posit may be the basis for the biblical account of a "Garden of Eden."

Wordle 743 Hint

Hint: At ground level, the north side of a tree will usually be more [the adjective that belongs here is the answer to today's Wordle] than the other sides.

Not Enough? Get the first letter of today's Wordle after the ads below.

New to Wordle? Here are some thoughts on how I go about solving each day's puzzle.

First Letter: M

Save The Date!

July 4th, noon eastern: A Very Special Announcement https://t.co/yX8DEyYGaw

— Thomas L. Knapp, aka KN@PPSTER (@thomaslknapp) July 1, 2023

Won't Someone PLEASE Think of the ...

 

Thanks For Asking! -- 07/01/23

The routine:

1. Ask me anything (in the comments thread below this post); and
2. I'll answer (either in the comments thread, or linked to from the comments thread; but
3. First, a music video.

Wordle 742 Hint

Hint: My subjective perception is that network television doesn't replace as many words with this noise in the name of protecting us from "vulgarity"as it used to.

Not Enough? Get the first letter of today's Wordle after the ads below.

New to Wordle? Here are some thoughts on how I go about solving each day's puzzle.

First Letter: B