Weekender #2

• The photo book I mentioned in my last Weekender arrived, and I think it came out really nice. A few thoughts now that I have the completed book in my hands.

  • I had a hard time deciding which photos out of 2000+ should made it into the book.
  • The page count and price wasn't too much of a concern since it wouldn't be made for sale, and I only print a single copy. As long as the book wasn't 300 pages (or something ridiculous), I thought that adding additional pages was fine.
  • I found that I enjoyed the feel of the 2018 photo book that I created previously a bit more, because the layouts I created were less busy. I spread out the photos more in the previous book than the 2019 book. The 2019 book had so many photos to choose from, that I attempted to use as many as I could into too few pages. Lesson learned. I'll let the photos breathe next time!

• I made time to write the unauthorized Atarashii Gakko! FAQ for the subreddit r/AtarashiiGakko, which I co-moderate with another fan. I'm not an expert on the group, but wanted to share what I know from following them since 2016, and having friends in Japan who have been fans from the start. It's really great to see so many new fans that have finally discovered the Leaders! For a while, it felt like no one outside of Japan would ever enjoy their music and performances aside from my wife and I!

• A friend pointed out that apparently, I'm famous now. A reminder to myself to not post random thoughts about things that don't matter on social media!

• Have you ever told someone about an experience or product and suddenly, Instagram shows you an ad for that very thing? How did they do that? Apple has released an informational piece called A Father-Daughter Day at the Playground. It explains how advertisers are able to target you with ads based on the profile they're able to build based on data you give them access to. In the next version of iOS, Apple plans to add a warning that shows up for all apps that track your data, giving you the ability to opt out of their tracking and data collection.

  • I'm looking forward to Apple's system that gives users the ability to block apps from using IDFA. I've heard arguments for and against this, and I feel that allowing users to choose if they want to be tracked is the right thing to do. I wish more folks would read this document and gain an understanding of how this stuff actually works and what Apple is actually doing.

• An interesting update from Dave Nanian, creator of SuperDuper (the macOS drive cloning utility), and the issues he's been trying to tackle when getting the app to function in Big Sur. He includes a clever workaround that allows SuperDuper to backup your data using Big Sur while he works on a permanent solution.

• A short video about a teacher that is traveling across Japan to encourage adults to cry more. I was never someone who cried easily, but sometime during the early 2000's, I went through a rough patch and realized that it was alright to cry and to let things out. Now, I cry all the time like a grown up baby... and I'm fine with that. More info about Hidefumi Yoshida and his mission to make crying more acceptable can be found here.

• First vinyl, now cassette tape is making somewhat of a comeback. I was a tape aficionado during my high school years in the 80's. My favorite cassettes were the TDK SA 90s for making a mix tape or using it with my Tascam Portastudio 4-track recorder. The SA had great quality and were priced right for my high school allowance. While I loved tape back then, I don't really miss it, nor do I want to go back to making mix tapes. I do enjoy the lo-fi aspects of tape, and it's applications in modern music production, but I'm not about to carry 10 cassettes in my bag to listen to music in the 21st century.

• I've always wanted a small setup to test the guitar effect pedals that I've been building. The Beavis Board looks like something I should invest in.