Inspired by another blog, I have added a Style Guide to my site, which I now link to from the About page.

This is a visual style guide, not a writing one– at least for now.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how Reddit upvote/downvote and awards work relative to social media likes versus boosts and quotes versus native sharing versus replies. I still think the intersection of discovery, feedback loops, virality, conversation, and community needs improvement.

I have less patience for takes that are negative and contrary to some of my own these days. Does that mean I’m getting old? Does that mean I’m in favor of toxic positivity?

Mostly I feel that very few of these people cause me to reconsider my beliefs and just rile up my emotions.

I take this as a bad sign for our ability to convince people of our view points, something which is too important to give up on. I am fighting my instinct to stop reading just because I disagree, but I also can’t tell anymore who is being the cranky, stubborn one.

Probably me.

I can’t tell if this is a Baltimore thing or decline of rock music thing, but it’s genuinely hard around here to find and try out common guitar equipment.

August 19th I had to stop wearing one of my contacts due to an infection leaving me reliant on one eye.

September 23rd is officially the earliest date I can put that contact back in.

Don’t get keratitis folks.

If Donald Trump and JD Vance were worried about violence in America we’d be hearing a lot more about the white supremacist violence groups like Terrorgram Collective instead of them spreading lies about a car accident in Ohio involving a Haitian asylum seeker.

But they’re actually just racists.

There’s a lot of stuff in economics we don’t really know, but the impacts of tariffs are not in that group. The NYTimes “teaching the controversy” here is just another example of journalistic malpractice.

Yvette Young is just so talented. Her new song, Always, is great, and the video is so cool.

The idea that abortion is now… not controversial? And that democrats, liberal, and women wanted to go states rights on abortion? What is that nonsense?

I don’t understand how he can get away with continuing to claim that you can just decide in the third trimester to have an abortion without any restrictions anywhere when fetal viability has been the standard from the courts for decades.

I am deeply offended by the narrative of Springfield, Ohio, as someone whose partner is half-Hatian. It’s incredible that Hatian refugees are being accused of being violent murders due to a car accident where someone is being rightfully charged. Accused of eating pets animals? My God.

I don’t know why I expected anything but deep depression every time I have to listen to Trump yell unhinged lies. I don’t know why I let this man’s speech enter my earholes.

The only thing threatening to cause this country to fall apart is what Trump represents and has done to our system.

“Yeah, I lost my generals, but Victor Orban is the guy we should look to for endorsements.”

Because they are so clear that they can manipulate you with flattery.

That’s the one. Right there. More of that. Straight into my veins.

Because you adore strong men instead of our democracy.

YES. The clarity on this stuff is what I’ve been looking for in a mainstream voice and narrative. I don’t know who gets what out of this debate, but if nothing else, I’m glad Harris is calling out his narcissism clearly.

“I don’t know, I don’t know.”

Uncle Nutjob just trying to avoid how he got his ass handed to him by Black journalists.

I think I like that Harris keeps pivoting to a positive message versus trying to refute Trump’s vitriolic lies. Rather than trace him down that path, she’s saying, “This isn’t what we should be talking about.” I don’t know if that will resonate with undecided voters, but I hope it does.

“We’re a nation in serious decline.”

When Trump repeats this, is this at all what you see or feel in your community? I haven’t felt that kind of despair since the Trump administration, and even then, I really only felt that during COVID and January 6th.

I know it’s necessary, and I’m not even sure I care that much, but fracking is the new “take the pledge on ethanol”. I can’t help but think that Harris had her Matt Santos moment there.

Trump in the spin room. I guess he never watched Game On.

Me after the Biden debates: I’m not sure I can watch any more. Me tonight: No, wait - I can, I can.

I have, once again, stayed up far too late finishing a book I was reading.

The iPhone Mini is a nice device (I was issued one by work). But it’s significantly easier to end up misaligned on a Magsafe charger and wake up with a dead phone.

With the release of the original Goldeneye 007 Watch music, sans N64 compression, my day just got a lot more productive.

The BSRI Magawa sounds great on it’s own, but it’s a bit noisy in my setup and may not be quite right as my main dirt.

I’m really curious about some of the dual overdrives out there for a bit more stacking and maybe using the built in boost in the Maz as more of a solo boost (right now, it’s setup basically as great overdrive– pushes the amp where I’d set the gain on my own to just use amp gain which is actually my favorite tone).

Maybe, given how much I love the gain on the Maz, I actually want something that’s more of a flat boost out in front of the amp. I play a G&L Legacy – basically a strat– with a really hot Fralin SP43 in the bridge ¹. I’ve got plenty of honk, and I also tend to play my amp with a lot of mids. I don’t think I want a Tubescreamer style mid hump for my gain/overdrive.

I don’t know– I’m a bit lost on what I’m really looking for in my gain stacking at the moment.

Meanwhile, I know I want a new fuzz (buy my current fuzz please!). I probably should just get the orange OP Amp Big Muff – I love the Pumpkins. But I’m a little paralyzed– I know at the moment I’m looking for that shoegaze wall-of-sound style.

Of course, the real thing I should be buying is probably a Tele, 335, or LP. But… you know. GAS².