Category: Uncategorized

Just 5 More MPH, Bro…

I got called a “weenie” and a “nerd” for admitting I drive the speed limit. I don’t care. My number one concern is that everyone arrives at their destination safely. If it takes a bit more time, I am fine with that.

I get passed all the time. I was on the parkway going approximately 25 (meaning, I may have been going 24, or 25, or maybe 26 or 27!) and a car got in the oncoming lane, sped up to pass me, and kept going fast. I’d guess they were going between 30 and 35. I saw them turn right, I turned right, they were way ahead of me, until… yeah, guess who I pulled up right next to at the stoplight?

I cannot tell you how often cars pass me only to speed up to a stoplight, hit the brakes, and have me right behind them. They never fucking learn. Meanwhile, they speed, they hit the brakes, and I go the limit and coast to a stop. I save wear on my vehicle, and I get better mileage.

I was told that “everyone goes 5 or 10 over the limit, and we don’t need to worry about those people, we need to worry about unsafe drivers” but what makes an “unsafe driver”? Could it be excessive speed? I’m sure in some (many?) cases it is.

I guess we should raise the 25 to 30 so the people going 30 in the 25 can go… 35? And then the people going 35 in 30 can go 40… and on and on.

Honestly I am just really sick of driving and wish I was back on my bike riding to work. It’s so much more calming and enjoyable than being on the road with car-brained people.

Tags cars

Uncategorized

Dining with a Baby

This is a short post about something that happened, which is in no way remarkable, but I thought it was important to write down and share.

Last week my wife Dana and I went out to eat. After we were sat a man showed up with a stroller and a small child. He got the child out of the stroller, folded it up, and stowed it out of the way. (It’s a restaurant without a lot of space.)

A height chair appeared and the child was sat in it. And then I realized this guy was on his own. I thought perhaps his wife would join him and three people would have dinner.

Did you catch all the wrong assumptions I made?

I’ll also note the child was very well behaved, and pretty cute! She gave Dana and I a few stares and we waved back at her. I don’t think the man said anything to the child. (At least not anything loud enough for us to hear.)

I said to Dana it seemed weird to see a man (probably a father?) going out to eat with a toddler. At one point the guy took the child out of the height chair and put them on his lap. He was eating, making sure the child was eating, and seemed to just go about his business all on his own.

She said “You probably see it all the time, but it’s a woman, and you either don’t notice, or though nothing of it.” And damn… she was (probably) right! She continued with a bit about the unseen labor of women, and how men should not be praised for doing the bare minimum or for caring for their own children. (I know these things, and agree with them, but sometimes a reminder is helpful.)

Later, after thinking about it again I said “I think maybe I sort of identified with the guy since he was, (A) a man, and (B) had a child with him. It’s been decades since my kids were small, and I remember going out to eat with them, but only when they were a bit older, or at least along their mother. Maybe I felt it wasn’t something I could handle on my own?

Of course the stroller could have been a clue… maybe they lived in the neighborhood and it was easy to walk there for dinner. And the child was very well behaved.

I also felt like we mostly made meals at home when the kid(s) were little, as money was always tight.

It seems wild I put that much thought into the whole thing but… here we are.

This post was shared on Mastodon.

Tags food, kids

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Node Down!

Wow, I love how I posted one thing about Meshtastic and then never did again. Well, I did, just not here… but over on Mastodon.

Anyway, for all of 2025 and up until this week in April 2026 my solar Meshtastic node was dutifully passing packets on the mesh. And the mesh has been growing! There are a ton more nodes east of here (between Tosa and Milwaukee) and I’m happy to see the growth.

The node was put up poorly and uh, “temporary” which turned into semi-permanent. I had a plan to mount it higher, so maybe now is the time to do that… and to secure things a bit better. It’s janky, for sure, but I’m surprised that it worked just fine like this for over a year. The battery never died and was enough to sustain power during the cloudy days.

So dc06 is down for a bit, but will return, hopefully higher, and maybe cleaned up a bit. I should also update the firmware while it’s down.

Here’s to the Mesh!

Tags meshtastic, radios

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Faircamp for Music Makers

Post author By Pete Prodoehl
Post date 2026-04-09
No Comments on Faircamp for Music Makers

I want to tell you about Faircamp, a static site generator for audio producers. It does what it says on the tin, and does it well. Here’s a longer description:

Point Faircamp to a folder hierarchy containing your audio files. Within minutes, Faircamp builds a complete website presenting your work. The resulting site requires no database, no programming, no maintenance, and is compatible with virtually every webhost on this planet.

So basically, a fully-fledged music site for your band that is an alternative to Bandcamp. It allows people to get your music, stream it, download it, and even support you by paying for it.

I ran Faircamp on all my files and the result is at rasterweb.net/music. I’m extremely happy with how it turned out. I even joined the Faircamp Webring. Remember webrings? They’re back! It’s an old way to discover other web sites, and now a new way to discover music.

I have not been keeping up with development but I believe they are working on a GUI to make things easier. Using Faircamp was easy for me, but I’m a tech nerd who uses the terminal daily. If the manual is too confusing you might be afraid to give it a go, so maybe wait for the next major release.

You can follow @freebliss@post.lurk.org if you’re looking for occasional updates on Faircamp progress. (Here’s a look at the 2.0 progress.)

The IndieWeb needs more of this sort of thing if we are to break free of the corporate chains that hold down so much of the web, and so many of the people who create and use the web.

Tags music, web

Uncategorized

Hey, it’s Bread!

After making a small loaf of bread I made this massive loaf of bread. I’m kidding of course, though this bread is twice the size of the last one. (Laser-cut banana for scale.)

Here’s the ingredients list:

240 grams flour (bread flour or all-purpose flour)
6 grams kosher salt
2 grams instant dried yeast
200 grams cool water

You can see it fills out the 2 quart Dutch oven a bit more. This is probably a good size to make in the little pot. I could probably go a little larger but then I’d need to do some real math and I’m not a fan of that.

But honestly, this might be the appropriate size for our household. In the past when I’d suggest to Dana we get a loaf of bread for grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup we’d grab a loaf from the grocery store and it seemed like we could never get one the right size, or the right shape, or just a loaf that seemed to fit our modest needs.

This was a great sized loaf that lasted just over two days and was enough for two good-sized sandwiches and some left over for a couple of pieces of toast.

Obviously I need to start making a bread like this the night before (or perhaps first thing in the morning) but I’d prefer making my own bread—with just four simple ingredients—over buying a loaf at the store.

When I make it at home I know exactly what goes into it and how it was made… and that’s worth something to me.

Tags bread, food