One more day until we learn what kind of country we live in. šŗšø
Happy Election Day, America! Went for a short walk to pick up a coffee. Beautiful cool fall day in Austin.
Feeling a bit reflective on this election day morning. 8 years ago, I had already been working on Micro.blog, but the presidential election results pushed me to get my act together so I could hit the ground running at the beginning of the new year. January 2nd, launched the Kickstarter.
Thanks everyone who has supported Micro.blog, whether you tried it only briefly, or stuck with it for years, or came back again later to rediscover it. As the United States votes today, still no politics in Discover this week, except this one thing: go vote! šŗšø
We have a special Election Day episode of Core Intuition today: Every Four Years.
š¶
Freedom, freedom, I canāt move
Freedom, cut me loose
Freedom, freedom, where are you?
āCause I need freedom, too
I break chains all by myself
Wonāt let my freedom rot in hell
Hey, Iāma keep running
āCause a winner donāt quit on themselves.
šŗšø
Speaking of voting and podcasts, I love that Lex Friedman does a daily short podcast. Hereās todayās episode. This is exactly what we had in mind when we first added podcast hosting to Micro.blog.
Thank you for shining in a world that sometimes appears dark. It may seem such a small ember, but it glows like a lighthouse in the world, reminding us that we are so very far from being alone.
Thereās a nice new Micro.blog theme āmnmlā by Jim Mitchell, available in the plug-in directory. Clean, minimal design.
Distracted myself today by fixing bugs and working on the Mac version of Strata. Weāre going to slowly move more of the notes, bookmarks, and highlights functionality into Strata, to help keep Micro.blog streamlined.
Basket of deplorables. šŗšø
The sun will rise
āI know what I have to do now. Iāve got to keep breathing because tomorrow the sun will rise. Who knows what the tide could bring.ā ā Cast Away
We went to bed early last night, just as the county results for Georgia and North Carolina were starting to come in and you could see a rough picture of the electorate. I slept terribly, waking up multiple times, but never checked the news until morning. Mostly I was thinking of what I would do next.
I walked to the coffee shop. Not the closest coffee shop. Not the second-closest. A longer walk, and on the way I checked the mailbox. The new Micro.blog t-shirt had arrived. I think it turned out great.
Apparently the stock market is reacting well this morning. Fine. I plan to milk this idiotic new administration for all the financial gains and tax cuts off the backs of working people that I can. Elections have consequences, assholes. And Iāll use every penny to fight Trump, fight misinformation, fight the hellscape of mainstream social media.
I wonāt dwell more on politics except to say that Democrats have lost rural America. Too many people feel left behind. Too many people still had no idea who Trump really was. Too many people have no ideology so donāt know who to blame when life is hard. Biden has done a lot of good, but itās the kind of progress that takes years to notice.
I was inspired to vote for Kamala Harris, but itās especially disheartening to now know we should have stuck with Joe Biden. Yes, he would have lost. Most candidates would have lost this year. But Joe was ready to take one for the team because thatās the kind of person he is. Then Kamala couldāve run in 2028 for the first time. Now that story is just another what might have been.
Loss can be a huge motivator. After my father died, I got married, had kids, and bought a house. After the 2016 election, I launched Micro.blog. After my kids moved away to college, we sold the house and downsized.
Change is part of life. Everyone will cope in their own way. Give them the space they need. For me, Iām writing this blog post, and Iām picking up in Xcode where I left off yesterday.
There is a lot to do. Letās get to work.
I almost forgot: IndieWeb Meetup tonight in Austin, 7pm at Mozartās Coffee.
Decided today was a good day to burn the old home page to the ground and start over, for users who arenāt signed in. Embracing minimalism, calm, whimsy. Still a few things to improveā¦ Letās see where this goes.
When you donāt know what to do, create.
My short-form podcast is back again! Timetable, episode 133, recorded today. Itās the best snapshot of how Iām feeling and what I want to do about it. Only 7 minutes long.
At the 38th 1/2 Street crossing. š
Noodling with something. Iām still waffling on what form it will take if it ships. Just a static, no-text placeholder website for now: micro.one
Spinning off Strata
Micro.blog does a lot. We have a handful of companion mobile apps because some things are just easier in a more focused app. That allows us to keep the main official blogging app as uncluttered as possible.
Over the next few months, Iām planning to take the next step with this approach and spin off some of the bookmark archiving, web page highlights, and related features into our app Strata. Strata is primarily about notes sync, and it can be useful even if you donāt use Micro.blog much for blogging.
By moving a few lesser-used features out of Micro.blog into their own app, it will streamline the core Micro.blog user experience. Bookmarks will be simpler. If youāre just blogging, nothing else will get in your way. But if you want the full suite of apps, each app will work together. (For example, sharing a private note to your blog.)
You may remember that earlier this year I ran a survey to gauge interest in this kind of change. I blogged about the results here. As I wrote in that post:
I asked this question because these features are great and I use them every day, but they tend to get lost in the blog-focused interface we have today. I always worry about clutter in the UI. I think moving them into a separate āproductā could help with both marketing and user experience.
This is an opportunity to both simplify and expand our subscription plans. As an early heads-up, Strata is going to get its own set of pricing tiers. When the dust settles, this is how the monthly plans will look:
- Micro.blog: $5
- Micro.blog Premium: $10
- Micro.blog Family: $15
- Strata: $5
- Strata Premium: $10 (secret unannounced features)
You can also imagine there will be a bundle that includes both Micro.blog Premium and Strata Premium with a discount.
For existing customers who are already using notes sync or bookmark archiving, youāll get the Strata subscription included automatically for no extra charge. These plan changes will mostly be for new customers who join later.
Thereās nothing new to announce for our other mobile apps: Epilogue, Sunlit, and Wavelength. They remain products in our lineup. They will always be free.
Iām still proud that while everything else in the world has gotten more expensive, the standard blog hosting plan in Micro.blog has stuck with $5/month. Having separate pricing tiers like this lets us keep the basics as inexpensive as possible, with more options to pay for additional features so Micro.blog can be a sustainable business. Thanks everyone!
All of my favorite podcasts are talking about the same thing this week. Canāt listen to them. Iām making progress on some audiobooks instead.
Lost Maples State Natural Area.
I recorded a new episode of Timetable today. Still angry. I need to flip the iTunes explicit bit on this one.
Finished reading: Sourdough by Robin Sloan. Enjoyed this so much. Just the book I needed this week. š
Iāve updated my state parks page with todayās visit, hitting the 20th park this year. Good milestone, but a long way to go. Might plot out a trip later this year to hit a few more at once.
