I’m a full week late on this post. Partially because I’m having trouble not thinking about the events in Minneapolis and elsewhere. I’ve been asking myself if I should I bother writing about little side projects and such when government agents are murdering people with impunity?
This is the compromise I’ve made on this impasse: I’ll say my piece here, then move on to the typical, lighter fare in my next post. If you’ve had enough of people’s takes on this administration’s antics, feel free to stop reading now.
Another relatively quite week around here allowed time to continue some projects. I reached a good stopping point on the jukebox project while waiting for the required hardware. The software, complete with a serviceable web UI, is done (for now). I loaded up 200 tracks and meant to press it into service for New Year’s Eve. However, on the night, I was too lazy to connect it to the Hi-Fi. I’m sure they’ll be another opportunity to test it soon though.
In the meantime, I moved onto another project I mentioned here almost a year ago. Embarrassingly, I did little with since. One of the many things on the todo list is to reliably source real time subway data. This MTAPI project should be better than what I had done previously. I added the service alert data to it and I hope the project owner pulls in my changes soon. That will allow me to swap out my old data source for this one.
Between the projects, a bit of socializing, some good food & drink and an excellent Friday evening jam, it was a great start for the new year. Until…
After just three days, my hopes of this year being less interesting have been dashed. The actions of the current administration in Venezuela fly in the face of international law, have killed innocent people and put us all on a path of uncertainty. Per usual, Heather Cox Richardson provides some good context.
The last (full) week of 2025 is in the books. That means a wrap for the 2025 weeknotes. There are enough year end review type write-ups in the world—no need to include one here. Looking forward, I hope the coming year brings some ever so slightly less interesting times. I’m not sure what that would look like. Trump and the rest of his corrupt administration out of office and in permanent exile somewhere would be a great start.
As is often the case, it is pretty quite around here since so many people are out of town. We did get a nice coating of snow just after Christmas. it was pretty good timing (unless it derailed your travel plans). All weekend felt like an extended snow day. Warmer temperatures and rain are in the forecast, so it may turn out to be the be the best sort of snow—one that melts before it gets too grimy.
Links
Last Call: Saying Goodbye to Fette Sau Really good post that covers some history of Fette Sau and the other early restaurants in the area. I almost forgot about Spuyten Duyvil.
Aboard a downtown 2 train, I looked up and saw this 8 train across the platform. What the? I had just enough time to snap this picture before we left the station. I shouldn’t have been too surprised, there have been a few 8 lines over the years and the MTA includes an “8” on the roll signs. While this particular sign was an error, there may be 8 trains on the rails in the future.
Recently, I received the renewal notice for vintagesailors.com domain. It is an oft forgotten ecommerce site that sells t-shirts and other goods emblazoned with old sailboat logos. The site’s existence can be chalked up to me wanting a Pearson Ensign t-shirt and not being able to find one I liked.
It wasn’t much of a leap from making one t-shirt to thinking “Hey, I like this, wouldn’t everybody want one?” Of course, everybody absolutely doesn’t want one. But, a few people did, despite an almost total lack of marketing.
I say all of this because I’m going to let the domain expire and I feel like it is worthy of marking the occasion. Plus, there’s still time left to get a hat if you want one! As of 2025-12-28, the site is shut down, I can still get you a hat if you want one, just let me know.
The jukebox project is coming along. I made some good progress this week on a couple utility type things that make managing the music library much less cumbersome. I also learned a bit more about what it’s going to take to interface with vintage hardware. There’s a short write-up here: Jukebox Title Strips (and more).
Why is the Internet Becoming TV? “Once we realize that these companies’ apps are essentially glorified TV, we should feel more comfortable ignoring them.” — precisely
