I used to get to Honolulu fairly often for work. In many ways, it's just another big city. But it's a big city in Hawai‘i, which means it's more than that. And the island of O‘ahu is more than Honolulu. And over the years I've tried to reach as much of it as I can.

On Monday I flew into Honolulu again, but made a point to get as much vacation out of the trip as I could. Which wasn't much, but we do what we can.

I've been to the Disney Aulani Resort twice before. So far as too-big too-crowded too-commercial options go for a visit to "The Gathering Place" of Hawai‘i, it's quite nice. Assuming you can afford it. Like everything Disney, it's crazy-expensive and not for those without deep pockets. Which hardly describes myself, but if you get lucky and plan far enough in advance and stay only a few days, you can happen across deals which won't cost you a second mortgage.

Then Disney Magic™®© is just a flight away...

My first stay at Aulani was an early-access kind of thing with a room facing the heart of the resort, which would be nice except it was a lower floor and there was a big palm tree in the way. My second was a "partial ocean view" which was mostly a view of the Four Seasons Resort next door. This time I also had a "partial ocean view" which had the Four Seasons in it, but a considerably more "ocean" view than before...

Where I was at on the 14th Floor is high enough to have a great view of the resort every time you leave the elevator, which was nice...

This morning I did something I wanted to do on my previous visits but was too lazy to actually do... get up just as the sun rises at 5:30am and photograph the incredible architecture without annoying people around...

I wanted to get a photo of the moon setting on the beach at Aulani, and was surprised to see that it aligned perfectly between the reef break in the lagoon...

I walked out to the point of the lagoon that they carved out to look back at Aulani at sunrise, which was a nice walk and worth it...

Shooting into the sun was not easy, and there's only so much that an iPhone can do, but it's still pretty...

Disney does try to work in some history of Hawai‘i and its peoples in-between all the Disney IP, which was nice...

And... The End. I went back to get some sleep, which is the best part of vacation, really...

To be continued. Tomorrow I'll take a look at the Eats of Aulani.

And we have a new pope.

Spoiler Alert... I didn't get it...

I pretty much said all I had to say about the papacy and The Church in this entry here.

Until His Holiness comes out and categorically condemns assaults by priests and nuns, refuses to shelter offenders regardless of whom they end up being or their role within The Church, and vows to fully cooperate with authorities as they investigate all claims by survivors, I'm just not interested in any of it.

That being said... I can say that this pope seems to act more like a follower of Christ and Christian principles than I've come to expect. Maybe, despite his pre-pope actions, he will be more aggressive about holding The Church accountable for the atrocities of its clergy and members. If that were to happen, I wouldn't feel so raw about him being a White Sox fan.

And if he won't do something, then maybe the states will.

When I was a kid, I was raised in the Catholic Church and had to make confession. So while I'm not Catholic any more, I do feel I have the right to say this... WAY TO GO WASHINGTON STATE!

New Law Requires Priests to Break Seal of Confession to Report Child Abuse...
"The secrecy of the confessional in the Roman Catholic Church is so sacrosanct that any priest who violates it is automatically excommunicated. — In Washington State, a new law requiring clergy to break the seal when child abuse has been revealed has kindled a heated battle involving the state, the Roman Catholic Church and the Justice Department."

Confession is a way to seek forgiveness for your sins. If your sin is that you're abusing a child, then you can get forgiven from God via a priest, sure. Go right ahead. Seek forgiveness as your faith dictates. BUT YOU ALSO NEED TO BE TAKEN OUT OF A SITUATION WHERE YOU CAN CONTINUE TO ABUSE A CHILD! A few Hail Marys as penance is not going to stop the abuse!

Jesus Christ, the Catholic Church is a pile of garbage if they honestly think that children should continue to be abused under their watch! What the actual fuck? The Catholic Church can't even police themselves when it comes to priests and nuns abusing kids!

This kind of shit makes me insane.

Peddling forgiveness for the eternal soul of your parishioners is one matter. Allowing child abuse to continue is an entirely different matter. That's tantamount to an endorsement of child abuse by The Church. And anybody thinking that's okay needs to beg forgiveness for being a piece of shit. Then should be denied.

Pre-social-media when blogging was the way that we kept in touch with each other, you could either check the blogs over and over until they updated... or you could subscribe to the blog's feed and have your feed reader let you know when it got updated.

In the beginning there were paid apps and services for feed reading, but then Google decided to enter the fray and give it away for free. This meant all the apps and services could no longer survive, so they started dropping like flies.

Then Google decided they didn't want to do feed reading any more (apparently they couldn't make enough money at it), and shut down Google Reader. Since most of the apps and services that were around were gone, Google ended up fucking things up for everybody.

Eventually apps and services went back into development. I was using NetNewsWire for ages, but eventually switched to Reeder. But as time went on, the only way to get all the latest features... such as feed filtering by keyword... was to switch to a new version which absolutely sucked because they introduced an entirely new way to read your feeds. I hated it, so I stayed with the older version, but missed out on the features I wanted.

Last week I couldn't take it any more and decided to take a look for something new.

I am not exaggerating... I have discovered Inoreader and I am very close to breaking down in tears from happiness.

It is exactly what I want in a feed reader. Instead of trying to reinvent how I read feeds and force some wacky methodology on me to get modern features, it just adds the cool things I've been dying to have on top of a familiar reading experience.

As I mentioned, I've been desperate for keyword filtering... AKA being able to NOT SEE articles that I want to avoid based on keywords. Are you sick to death of reading about Elon Musk and Tesla? No problem! Write a rule. Have them marked as read so they don't show up at all. Done! Prayers answered.

Plus it can create intelligent summaries for long articles that are ACTUALLY USEFUL. Take for example the entry I wrote on Unnecessary Luxuries. Here's an Inoreader summary of the rather long article...

The article "Unnecessary Luxuries" by Dave2 discusses the author's perspective on spending and the concept of luxury in everyday life. Here are the key points:
   
Frugality and Happiness: The author emphasizes a preference for saving money rather than indulging in luxuries, suggesting that having savings is the ultimate luxury.
   
Basic Necessities vs. Luxuries: The article distinguishes between essential needs (health, food, shelter, etc.) and luxuries, arguing that once basic needs are met, most additional items are unnecessary.
   
Top Ten Unnecessary Luxuries: The author lists ten luxuries that, while not essential, significantly enhance comfort and convenience:
   
Central Air: Provides comfort during extreme weather.
   
Washer & Dryer: Saves time and effort compared to laundromats.
   
Garage: Offers protection for vehicles and additional storage space.
   
Lawn Sprinkler System: Automates yard maintenance, saving time and effort.
   
Garage Freezer: Increases food storage capacity, allowing for bulk purchases.
   
Power Tools: Enable DIY repairs and projects, providing both utility and enjoyment.
   
Automated Litter Box: Simplifies pet care and maintenance.
   
Air Fryer Multi-Oven: Combines multiple cooking functions into one appliance.
   
Backup Cam: Enhances safety and convenience while driving.
   
Floor Scrubber: Makes cleaning floors easier and more effective.
   
Honorable Mention: The author mentions the Ninja Creami as a luxury for making small batches of ice cream, reflecting on its practicality and convenience.
   
Shift in Priorities: The author notes a change in personal priorities, indicating that travel, once a luxury, is no longer a focus now that they have experienced it.
   
Technology Frustration: The article concludes with a humorous anecdote about the author's frustrating experience with a voice-controlled smart assistant, highlighting that not all technology is beneficial.
   
Overall, the article presents a light-hearted take on how certain luxuries can enhance life, even if they are not strictly necessary, while advocating for a balanced approach to spending and saving.

It's amazing. And note that there's a one-click button that allowed me to copy this summary OUT of Inoreader... no gatekeeping here!

And you can get push notifications set for topics you're trying to keep on top of.

It's just amazing on top of amazing. After using it less than an hour I decided that I will be buying a pro subscription when my free 14 day trial runs out.

The only missing piece I've found is that there's no app for the Mac and you have to use a browser (there's only apps for iPhone and Android so far). Hopefully one day we'll see one for Mac. But still... worth it. Absolutely worth it. Worth using. Worth paying for. Worth your valuable time to look at. I have been looking for EXACTLY THIS for over a year. And here it is.

Thank you, Inoreader... you're doing God's work.

I'm in the middle of cleaning my filthy house, but rushing through a few things I saw this week seems inevitable... because an all new Bullet Sunday starts... now...

   
• New Old! The Old Guard (on Netflix) is one of the best comic book adaptations of all time. I was thrilled we were getting a sequel. Though I was really hoping to get back-to-back sequels, darnit...

Now if only we could get a sequel to Atomic Blonde.

   
• 97%! Has anybody seen the 2023 Hulu movie BlackBerry? It's insane. It's just insane! I knew quite a bit about the rise and fall of BlackBerry, but seeing it told like this is nuts. This movie has a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 97%... NINETY-SEVEN-PERCENT... and I've never even heard of it!

First of all, Glenn Howerton is remarkable. Frickin' DENNIS from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is remarkable. I had no idea he was even capable of this kind of performance. Just watch it and marvel at a good story told exceptionally well.

   
• Shoot the Moon! I recently saw this image of the true distance from earth to the moon, as taken by the OSIRIS-REx probe at around 3,181,420 miles away from Earth...

This is very cool, because most people think that the moon is quite close to the earth. Good thing for us it isn't, or we'd be in a serious gravity-related nightmare.

   
• First Love! Wait. I've watched this video for a song I love by Father Tiger dozens of times. And I am just now noticing... IS THAT NOAH CENTINEO?!? (not in the thumbnail, in the video). Pretty sure it is...

I remain pissed that The Recruit was canceled. Centineo was exceptional in it.

   
• Money! If the government was actually interested in saving American taxpayer dollars instead of padding the wallet of its biggest doner...

We keep being told about all the billions of dollars that's being saved. So where is it? Where has that money gone? Anyone? Anyone?

   
• Science! Just in case, you know, the God-given miracle of mRNA vaccines is not yet understood, here you go.

   
• Renaissance! The only season of The White Lotus that I enjoyed was the first one. Everything since has just been a boring slog that doesn't have a worthwhile payoff. That being said, the opening credits and theme song are pretty great. This rendition of Renaissance is pretty great...

That vocalist just went for it, and it was a joy to watch.

   
Back to cleaning my home. Dangit.

Another cat-day, another Caturday.

As shown (again) last week, Jenny likes me to hold her feet when she sleeps. She pretty much insists on it. What's funny is when she falls asleep, then decides to stretch out...

You'd think that once she's no longer getting her feet held, she wouldn't mind me taking my my hand away. Oh hell no. She wakes up immediately and meows until I hold her feet again.

I was looking through Facebook Memories the other day and ran across this photo of Jake sitting as Jake does while cleaning his front paw...

I thought it was funny so I said "Hey! Jake!" so he'd look at me.

And boy did he...

I'm surprised that I didn't have my spleen cut out while I slept.

I've been eating more and more vegan than vegetarian... cutting the amount of dairy and eggs I'm eating by at least half. And most of that is eaten outside of my home, because I'm not buying much any more.

This morning I had to make an early run to the nearby Big City so I could pick up some things for work. On my way home I stopped by Wendy's for breakfast, which is always an egg and cheese biscuit. Sure you risk a scorching case of diarrhea and there's enough sodium to harden your arteries almost immediately... but I've got Imodium in my car and they're delicious enough to be worth the risk of heart disease.

What I love about Wendy's is, unlike xMcDonald's, you're not forced to pay for ham or bacon that they then remove from your order. Nope. They charge you for exactly what you're getting because it's a menu item.

Usually I get one chocolate milk and one regular milk with my breakfast. I mix them together to get choccy milk that's not too chocolatey.

But this morning I had a Coke Zero, because milk is not something I enjoy as much as I used to. At home I never buy it, and instead use soy or almond milk on my cereal. And because of that I seem to have lost my passion for the stuff. The cheese and egg on my biscuit sandwich is plenty.

I'll still eat ice cream, of course.

If you can call a Wendy's Frosty "ice cream."

I think it's more like "ice-cream-adjacent."

This evening when I went to post something here at everybody's favorite blog, I found out I couldn't log in. Hardly anything new. It seems that half dozen times each year this is just something that happens. Either somebody hacked me or some plugin update takes down my entire WordPress install or some security issue causes my site to take a header. Because I'm so used to all this, I have a checklist in my head that I run through, and usually I can have it resolved in under an hour.

But not tonight.

It's currently just after 1:00am, and I only just now managed to get things running again. But the weirdest part? I have no idea what was wrong. After going through the things I knew to check for, I just started poking around and randomly restoring files from backup that looked important. I think the one that did it was a WordPress plugin configuration file. No idea which one, because I started from the newest file and just went back for about 4 or 5 others... checked to see if anything was working... and everything was working.

So I'm slapping this together before I pass out and will take a look tomorrow to see if I'm being remotely coherent.

SPOILER ALERT: No. No I was not. The third paragraph made no sense and I smooshed together two sentences in a weird way in the first.

And this boys, girls, and those identifying as neither or both, is why I usually don't post what I write until the following day.

UPDATE: Wasn't my plugins. I installed WordFence security, and it found that my template load page had been hacked and injected with code to spam Google... or something like that. Of course WordFence had to be told that on particular page in my site was not spam. Can you guess which one?

Yesterday I watched the latest batch of Star Wars: Andor episodes and wondered for the millionth time how Tony Gilroy managed to get this series past Disney. Heck, how did he even manage to get it past the Lucasfilm division of Disney?

The 12-episode second (and final) season of Andor is being released in four 3-episode chunks, each taking place one year after the previous chunk as it leads directly into Star Wars: Rogue One (which is the prelude to the very first Star Wars movie, A New Hope).

And this latest chunk? The third of four chunks? No spoilers, but...

Unbelievably phenomenal. You'd be forgiven if you thought things couldn't get better than the previous chunk... because how could you possibly know? Then all this happens.

The first episode, Episode 07, starts out a bit slow. A surprisingly leisurely pace given that we're past the half-way point and should be escalating towards the finish line. But then Episode 08 grabs you by the throat and slaps you across the face. Hard. Then it ends. At which point Episode 09 slams into gear, not giving you a chance to catch your breath.

I'm going to restrain myself talking about the series until a few weeks after it's all over because I don't want to spoil it for anybody. All I will say are these three things...

1. Andor deserves to win all the Emmy Awards. All of them. Writing. Directing. Acting. Design. Effects. Costumes. Music. Whatever. There's no other show that's doing what Andor is doing and, even if they were, nobody is doing it like Andor is doing it. If the show isn't at least getting a nomination in all categories for which it's eligible, then the Emmys mean nothing.
2. The show's greatness is that you don't have to have seen any other Star Wars show to enjoy it. There's a complete story being told here. But if you're a massive Star Wars fan, you're seriously rewarded. If you've watched the cartoons and read the books and played the games and followed the stories, your mind will be reeling with every episode. The entire time I'm watching, my brain is thinking "Oh... while this is happening, this person is doing this and that person is doing that!" or even "Holy crap! This character is at the same location at the same time as that character!" And then "ZOMG! Right after this happened, THIS happens!" It goes on and on. For those into Star Wars, there are inconsistencies that pop up of course, but Andor is the gift that keeps on giving because it's all going on at the same time as so much is going on.
3. But it's more than that. This series makes you recontextualize everything you think you know about Star Wars. And it does so while making complex scenarios so beautifully accessible. I cannot fathom how they will manage to top this, but I seriously hope that somebody at Disney is filling a dump truck with cash to back up to Tony Gilroy's house and offering him whatever he wants to continue with more Star Wars projects.

And so, yeah, if you're not watching... what in the heck are you waiting for? These are the droids you're looking for.

Well this is weird.

There I was reading through Kazza's blog feed, saw this meme about blogging, and read that Neil's blog was where she found it. It's weird because Neil is a long-time blogging friend, and I thought his blog had shuttered a while back because I noticed the feed hadn't updated in a long while. I went to his site, saw a bunch of social media icons, and assumed he stopped. I keep up with him on Facebook, so I didn't give it another thought.

He never stopped! So now I have subscribed to his feed again (which is working just fine for me now).

And now back to that meme...

Why did you start blogging in the first place?
Long story short? My own amusement. — I had a website back when the web was new, and everything was hand-coded in HTML. Just a half-dozen pages with fake news articles for my fictional existence as ruler of my own planet called Dave's World (and later DaveWorld). Then the Netscape Navigator web browser had a programming language added to it. I re-wrote my site to have the "news" of my world created on-the-fly via something I wrote in LiveScript (eventually called JavaScript). It assembled the front page "story" from randomly assembled snippets (taken from of a huge library of snippets I dreamed up). You could keep refreshing and get a new story. Eventually I started writing the fictional news articles myself because the generated articles were getting stale. It was just a way to be creative with my writing. Later on I had a kind of "Behind the Scenes of DaveWorld" section where I talked about my real interests instead of fake ones. This eventually got spun off into a hand-coded Online Dave Journal which lasted until blogging platforms became a thing. Then it was re-titled DaveBlog (using Blogger, I think?)... and ultimately renamed to Blogography when I was looking for my own domain, and here we are.

What platform are you using to manage your blog and why did you choose it?
I switched to WordPress because it was free, and my previous platform was being moved in a more commercial direction.

Have you blogged on other platforms before?
My previous platform before WordPress was Movable Type. I was a hardcore fan, adopting it as soon as I found out it existed. I goofed around with other platforms from time to time on other projects (most notably Joomla, Blogger, and LiveJournal), but Blogography proper has only ever been Movable Type then WordPress.

How do you write your posts? For example, in a local editing tool, or in a panel/dashboard that's part of your blog?
I used the online interface for Movable Type, then moved it offline to a tool called "Kung-Log." That was eventually renamed "Ecto." When that stopped being developed, I started using "MarsEdit." I still use that to compose my entries, but I have to paste them into the WordPress "Classic Editor" because it can't use the security I had to adopt when my blog was getting hacked regularly.

When do you feel most inspired to write?
After I got up-and-running, I committed to 1000 entries of Blogography. To speed through that, I started blogging daily. I've been blogging daily (with a few breaks every now and again) ever since... way past the 1000 entries I was planning. What used to inspire me was technology. Then it was travel. Now it's just living my life. I write out of habit, and stuff that happens along the way is what inspires me to keep going.

Do you publish immediately after writing, or do you let it simmer a bit as a draft?
Depends. I usually let it sit until I have a chance to read it and fix mistakes the following day (meaning I'm always a day behind). Sometimes, if it's something like this meme that doesn't require much revision comes along, I'll just publish immediately afterwards (the entry I had ready for today will now be published tomorrow). Sometimes, if I'm really fired up, I will let it sit for days, reading it and revising it a few times, until I'm sure I want to publish it. More than a few posts have then ended up deleted once I've calmed down. Even if I'm busy, I still make sure to write something down every day... but don't have time to read them and can get behind, so they pile up to be read and get published all at once (but keeping the original date they were written).

What are you generally interested in writing about?
Absolutely anything. A lot of time it's strange stuff I notice or weird things that happen to me. It can also be me talking about an article I read, a TV show or movie I watched, or something else that crossed my path. I no longer write much political stuff (and have deleted some of my older political entries) because I don't see the point to it. People are so polarized now that nothing I say is going to matter, and all I seem to get is hate for my opinions. I do miss writing about travel, because that's one of the things I've been most passionate about in my life.

Who are you writing for?
I began blogging to let my friends and family know what I'm up to (because I was up to a lot of stuff back in the day!). Now that I'm mostly staying at home with my cats, I'm writing for myself. To be honest, I've probably always written for myself from the start. Everybody else is along for the ride if they want to be.

What's your favourite post on your blog?
Most all of my favorite entries are from a long, long time ago. Back when the blogging community was how people kept in touch, and blogging comments were our "social media." I have a section here for my favorite entries, but I haven't found reason to update it since 2012. The #1 entry on that list still makes me laugh because it was just so stupid. I brushed my teeth with baking soda. It was awful. I wrote about it because I thought it was funny. A lot of my early blogging days were like that.

Any future plans for your blog? Maybe a redesign, a move to another platform, or adding a new feature?
No plans at all. Maybe if it had a ton of regular traffic, I'd want to change things up (though I like this design as it is, and haven't changed it in decades)... but blogging is mostly dead now. Social media is where everybody is at. I do get a lot of traffic from strangers via Google simply because I've been doing this for so long and there's tons of random content here, but most of my regular interaction with people (including long-time friends made by blogging) is on Facebook now.

Who else do you want to tag?
So few of us are blogging that there's not much of a reason to do that. Those of us still around will see this eventually and take part if they want to.

Every once in a while I run across a really cool question that makes me long for the good ol' days when blogging was still popular and memes were a Big Deal.

This time is was on BlueSky where somebody was asking a music question which, let's face it, is a darn good question because I had to really think about it...

I came up with...

• Pet Shop Boys released Yes 23 years after Please (And Yes is hands-down my favorite PSB album)
• Depeche Mode released Ultra 15 years after Speak and Spell
• Madonna released Ray of Light 15 years after Madonna
• OMD released History of Modern, English Electric, The Punishment of Luxury, and Bauhaus Staircase all 30 (THIRTY!) years and more after Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark
• a-ha released Minor Earth Major Sky 15 years after Hunting High and Low (And Minor Earth Major Sky is hands-down my favorite a-ha album)
• Erasure released Nightbird almost 19 years after Wonderland
• Human League released Octopus 15 years after Reproduction
• Heart released Brigade and Desire Walks On 15 and 18 years after Dreamboat Annie
• Fleetwood Mac release Tango in the Night 19 years after Fleetwood Mac
• New Order released Waiting for the Sirens' Call 24 years after Movement
• Elton John released loads of great albums 15 years after Empty Sky

Jester came up with...

• Bonnie Raitt released Luck of the Draw 20 years after Bonnie Raitt
• Aerosmith released Permanent Vacation almost 15 years after Aerosmith
• Prince released Love Symbol almost 15 years after For You (how the heck did I miss frickin' Prince?!?)
• Paul Simon released Graceland 21 years after The Paul Simon Songbook
• Tina Turner released Private Dancer 23 years after The Soul of Ike & Tina Turner
• Genesis released Invisible Touch 17 years after From Genesis to Revelation

Marty (from Banal Leakage) came up with...

• Foo Fighters released But Here We Are 28 years after Foo Fighters
• Duran Duran released Astronaut 23 years after Duran Duran (along with All You Need is Now and Paper Gods, both of which I loved... how I missed Duran Duran on this list, one of my favorite bands, is impossible to comprehend)
• Steely Dan released Two Against Nature 28 years after Can't Buy a Thrill
• Crowded House released Time On Earth 21 years after Crowded House
• Tears For Fears released The Tipping Point 39 years after The Hurting
• Pearl Jam released Dark Matter 33 years after Ten
• The Cars released Move Like This 33 years after The Cars
• The Cure released Songs of a Lost World 45 years after Three Imaginary Boys
• David Bowie released Let’s Dance 16 years after David Bowie (really embarrassed I missed this one)

The biggest shock to me was Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark. All these albums I love by the band were released THIRTY YEARS after their first album? How often does that happen?