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  • Twitter

    I logged in the first time soon after it started in 2007. I did my ten years and then mostly logged off by 2017. I’m not likely to start using it again regularly although I still use it occasionally as a people bookmarking service of sorts. I logged in last week to get an ‘archive’ of all of my data and publish it elsewhere1,2.  I tweeted 828 times and based on the IDs in the data, I’m guessing that I was the 950,535th person to ever tweet. The process felt achingly familiar3. I’ve had some discussions with others about it recently and it reminds me to think about how I use the web. Per the course… I like to flush it out, write it down, and publish it so I can send a link instead of hashing it out in an email or text thread.

    Twitter was built as a MicroBlogging service. Microblogging as a type of broadcast medium was the forerunner to social networking platforms. Social networking existed from the moment the first network computer connections were made. Twitter had a good name and was the best breed of something not unique amongst the landscape at the time. The fundamentals of Twitter already existed elsewhere. The Twitter idea originated from Odeo4,5, a podcasting company. It was just a means of having an SMS group chat.  Evan Williams created Blogger which was sold to Google and was the basis of the ideas behind both podcasting and blogging. Before Twitter, social media meant connecting with others online primarily through email and RSS, both of which could be read from the same client and in a browser. Some folks worked out unique ways to notify others via email for pingbacks and trackbacks6. I was a fan of Friendfeed because it supported pulling feeds from various sources. Facebook acquired it for $15 million and shut it down7.  Similarly, Pump.io, StatusNet, and identi.ca were using the open-source Activity Streams format which was a precursor to the ‘Fediverse’ or federated social network terms tossed around today. 

    Inter-Net-work….the web was inherently social long before the media part. In Silicon Valley’s race to capitalize, proprietary methodologies were created because open standards hinder income potential. Even the data archive I got from Twitter last week isn’t exactly portable. The WC3, who sets the standards has recommended Web Mentions, Activity Streams, and Activity Pub9 standards which is the protocol that makes Mastodon federated. I migrated most of my Twitter follows over to Mastadon while I was at it last week. Watching the other platforms pivot to gain new users is amusing. Substack has added ‘mentions’, ’cross-posts’, and ‘best seller’ badges10. Tumblr rolled out a $7 badge and the owner insisted they would be implementing the activitypub specification which I noted appropriately11. I’m sure folks will figure out a way to spam those protocols too as long as there is a way to profit from them. Twitter turned to bots after it gained popularity and the account APIs were introduced. The bot, spam, link farms, etc were online long before Twitter too.

    Elon Musk recently tweeted “Vox Populi, Vox Dei” likely in reference to his surveys on reinstating previously banned accounts. It translates to the “Voice of the People is the Voice of God”,  but the full context of the most cited reference to that term is:

    Nec audiendi qui solent dicere, Vox populi, vox Dei, quum tumultuositas vulgi semper insaniae proxima sit.  “ And those people should not be listened to who keep saying the voice of the people is the voice of God since the riotousness of the crowd is always very close to madness. 

    ~ Alcuin in his letters to Charlamagne Epistle 127 in 760AD12.

    The riotousness of the crowd is Twitter. And Twitter is just a bellwether for the internet as a whole as we adapt to new communications mediums. Those first couple of years were just techie types tweeting because those were most of the same folks with websites.  Then came the journalists, media, celebrities, publishers, and internet celebrities. Then everyone’s uncle had it installed on their phone.  When those other folks started rambling on about their other interests, I lost interest. And then they started to monetize it all with adverts, tracking users across the web, and rewriting shared URLs so they could track those too.  The most retweeted thing ever was a pyramid scheme offering a reward for retweets. The web was already decentralized and will likely always be outside some platforms’ walled gardens. I just hope that the efforts to improve the open standards aren’t sabotaged by private interests.

    I’m sure in the coming year we’ll end up hearing a lot more on free speech and social media. I have a very simple minded approach to it which I wrote about pretty extensively in my article on Section 23013. I think that you’re welcome to espouse your opinions, ideas, or theories however you’d like but not entirely without consequence if they are damanging to others. I think that the main product of social media platforms, aside from usability, is sorting and moderating that information so that it’s vaulable to it’s end users. A platform like Twitter is a private company and can make itself reponsible for moderation however it best see’s fit to it’s own business model. And likewise, I can excersize my own liberty to not pay it any attention.

    I’d use social media again if I had something to promote and I suppose I’m lucky not to have the need. Former Twitter CEO Evan Williams apologized saying he was “wrong to think that an open platform where people could speak freely would make the world a better place”.  I wouldn’t completely agree with him on that because I believe there have been some good things gained through social networking platforms.  I read an essay recently fed to me, not via social media but my handy dandy good ole’ fashion hosted RSS reader…  entitled A Tweet Before Dying that said “What then? We’ll all move over to some Twitter replacement like Mastodon, hundreds of millions of us, and ruin that too? Sigh.”13. Other than echoing my sentiments here, whatever happens with Twitter means very little to me because I choose to rely not on the platform itself but on the interoperable standards of the internet which were social from the get go. 

    2022/12/03 Update:

    Right on Cue… Matt Taibbi, the investigative journalist published a series of tweets he’s calling the Twitter Files15 yesterday afternoon looking into the content moderation efforts of Twitter during the last election. Main takeaway for me was the fact that, imagine this… people are sending emails around requesting removals and questioning various policies. Sometimes just having an audience has it’s own consequences.

    2025/11/15 Update:

    The thing is… all this new reporting on foreign spam accounts seems so obvious to me, I can’t even really understand how it’s news other than the fact that they added the ‘about this account’ features showing country of origin16. The new reporting did kinda touch on something I hinted at here and that America’s Polarization Has Become the World’s Side Hustle17. Perhaps I’ll log in again and leave this as my only ‘tweet’ since I previously deleted all of the others… na, ole Space Karen isn’t getting any eyeballs from me.

    1. @windhamdavid tweets – https://davidwindham.com/til/lists/tweets 
    2. @windhamdavid follows – https://davidwindham.com/til/lists/people#i-follow-on-twitter
    3. Windham, D. 2020. Dirty Algorithm – https://davidwindham.com/dirty-algorithm/
    4. Odeo – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odeo
    5. Twitter History – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter#History 
    6. Pingback https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pingback
    7. FriendFeed – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FriendFeed 
    8. Silicon Valley – S3E10 – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_Valley_(TV_series)
    9. W3C Social Web Protocols- https://www.w3.org/TR/social-web-protocols/ 
    10. Substack – https://on.substack.com/p/introducing-mentions-and-cross-posts
    11. Tumblr –https://windhamdavid.tumblr.com/
    12. Alcuin – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcuin
    13. Windham, D. 2021. Section 230 – https://davidwindham.com/section-230/
    14. Ford, P. 2022. A Tweet Before Dying – https://www.wired.com/story/tweet-dying-revolutionary-internet/
    15. Taibbi, M. 2022. The Twitter Files – https://twitter.com/mtaibbi/status/1598822959866683394
    16. Elon Musk’s Worthless, Poisoned Hall of Mirrors – https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/2025/11/x-about-this-account/685042/
    17. America’s Polarization Has Become the World’s Side Hustle – https://www.404media.co/americas-polarization-has-become-the-worlds-side-hustle

  • David Byrne

    I went to see David Byrne in Asheville a couple weeks ago. We were in the first rows and the audience started following the performers dance moves. It was like being in some sorta intimate line dance with the band. It was stellar. Watching him perform is more akin to watching a preacher than a rock musician. I’ve had a long held fascination with David Byrne and I think it began in August of 1981 when MTV first went on the air and I saw this video.

    I would have been just under 10 years old the first time I saw the video, but I remember quite vividly the debut of MTV on our console television in the living room. MTV aired a bunch of the same videos1 over and over, but none of them grabbed my attention the way Once In A Lifetime by the Talking Heads2 did. In retrospect, I believe the innovative use of film editing was just the product of the art school background of the Talking Heads band members. At that age, I didn’t really understand the meaning of the lyrics and it was only the motion that intrigued me. Regardless, the song reappeared in a 1989 film entitled Down and Out In Beverly Hills3, which gave me a bit of insight into the meaning of it. The theme of the film kinda nailed the existential crisis of the song lyrics. About that same time (1989) I owned exactly two concert films on VHS: The Song Remains the Same by Led Zepplin and Stop Making Sense by the Talking Heads4. Both of which are two of my all time favorite concert films. I bought up about every Talking Heads and David Byrne CDs I could get my hands on. And I played them non-stop. I had a couple friends who also enjoyed them, but they were few and far between.

    Skip ahead fifteen years or so, when I met my wife in college. Two things really stood out about our first date from my other gal pals. The first is that she had a really good sense of humor, not just the giggle type, but the dark and cynical gut rolling humor I like. The second thing is that she really liked the David Byrne and Talking Heads. It wasn’t just the ‘oh yeah, they’re cool’ type of like. She knew all of the lyrics to most of the songs and understood them. The first birthday gift I ever bought her was a talking heads CD box set. We played that thing out on every trip we took. I’ve since read How Music Works6 and followed about every recording project, film, or book he’s been involved with. I’m also particularly fond of his internet radio station7 because of the way he curates the playlists. I can’t say there is anything he’s created that I don’t like. I am particularly fond of a couple though… the film True Stories, Look Into the Eyeball, and Uh-Oh. I also really like the soundtrack to The Last Emperor and it was nice seeing him play himself on the Simpsons Dude, Where’s My Ranch? and in This Must Be the Place.

    Neither of us have ever seen David Byrne in concert. I bought the tickets as soon as they went on sale and put us in the second row. As with what has been noted the style of that original video in that he studied archive footage of “preachers, evangelists, people in trances, African tribes, Japanese religious sects” to see how he could incorporate them into his performance… the live performance we watched wasn’t too far off. The way he engaged the audience wasn’t that of a rock star, but of an evangelist. Because the set design was so simple and the accompanying band members engaged in a rehearsed synchronized dance routine, the first ten rows of the auditorium were completely engaged in the performance. Him and his crew were working hard breaking a sweat, and had obviously spent countless hours rehearsing the material and choreography. Like I said… it was top notch. We already knew the lyrics to the new album so we listened to the Imelda Marcos inspired musical Here Lies Love5 written by Byrne on the way up, while Ginny researched the Marcos’ real life. On the way back we listened to Brian Eno. I’d give the American Utopia concert a 10/10. And I give David a 10/10 on being an artist and a decent human being.

    Here’s the setlist for the show (Asheville, NC – May 8th, 2018):
    Here – Lazy- I Zimbra (Talking Heads) – Slippery People (Talking Heads) – I Should Watch TV (David Byrne & St. Vincent) – Dog’s Mind – Everybody’s Coming to My House – This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody) (Talking Heads) – Once In a Lifetime (Talking Heads) – Doing the Right Thing – Toe Jam (Brighton Port Authority) – Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On)(Talking Heads) – I Dance Like This – Bullet – Every Day Is a Miracle – Like Humans Do – Blind (Talking Heads) – Burning Down the House (Talking Heads) – Encore: Dancing Together – The Great Curve (Talking Heads) – Hell You Talmbout (Janelle Monáe)

    25/12/04 Update: We saw David again last night in Atlanta for the Who Is the Sky? tour8. The thing is I’ve seen a lot of concerts in my lifetime and it’s definitely different. David takes a bunch of highly trained dancers, musicians, and vocalists and puts em through their paces in a thematic visually stunning choreographed set. He gave em what they wanted on this tour, yet the set list of songs somehow still felt like a tightly planned concept album. It’s really about him as an artist. It’s kinda hard to explain, but it’s like he’s floating up above it to steal a line from his song. He’s not rooted in any physical place or timeline even though several of the songs have very physical references. The lyricism is timeless and abstract – he blended a setlist that spans almost fifty years. Here’s the setlist:

    • Heaven ( Fear of Music )
    • Everybody Laughs ( Who Is the Sky? )
    • And She Was ( Little Creatures )
    • Strange Overtones (Brian Eno – Everything That Happens Will Happen Today )
    • Houses in Motion ( Remain in Light )
    • T Shirt ( Who Is the Sky? )
    • (Nothing but) Flowers ( Naked )
    • This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody) ( Speaking in Tongues )
    • What Is the Reason for It? ( Who Is the Sky? )
    • Like Humans Do ( Look into the Eyeball )
    • Don’t Be Like That ( Who Is the Sky? )
    • Independence Day ( Rei Momo )
    • Slippery People ( Speaking in Tongues )
    • I Met the Buddha at a Downtown Party ( Who Is the Sky? )
    • My Apartment Is My Friend ( Who Is the Sky? )
    • Hard Times ( Paramore cover )
    • Psycho Killer ( Talking Heads: 77 )
    • Life During Wartime ( Fear of Music )
    • Once in a Lifetime ( Remain in Light )
    • Everybody’s Coming to My House ( American Utopia )
    • Burning Down the House ( Speaking in Tongues )

    Anyway, you can go find the tour show reviews out there so I’m not going to sum it up. The Fox in Atlanta is wild with its mosque design. All I’ll say is if you haven’t seen a performance – it’s good – definitely worth the effort. Seeing the show is just a reminder of possibilities.

    1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_first_music_videos_aired_on_MTV
    2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Once_in_a_Lifetime_(Talking_Heads_song)
    3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Down_and_Out_in_Beverly_Hills
    4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Making_Sense
    5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Here_Lies_Love
    6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_Music_Works
    7. http://davidbyrne.com/radio
    8. Who Is the Sky? – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Is_the_Sky%3F

  • Man from Plains

    All this talk of politics has affected my netflix lineup. Last night we watched the documentary “Man from Plains“2 about Jimmy Carter3 and his most recent book. I’ve got to say that Jonathan Demme4 is one of the better filmmakers of our time. Ever since Stop Making Sense5, a video concert of the Talking Heads was released I’ve been a fan. What I like about Demme is the unbiased and personal approach. I’ve always said of good photographers and painters whom work with portraiture that the best approach is to be as transparent as possible so as to not influence the subject in any manner. This film does just that as it documents Carter’s travels to promote his most recent and controversial book entitled Palestine Peace Not Apartheid6.

    The film gives an honest perspective on the man and his principles as Demme was obviously given good access the former president during the filming and what impressed me most was exactly how candid and emotional Carter was during the filming. He is obviously a very intelligent man in the way he handles conversation and which may also explain why he is a physicist by trade. What is controversial about the book is that Carter is trying to explain that perhaps the Palastinians have been wronged which is very bold and politically incorrect these days. But Carter does it with eloquence and good rhetoric in the face of staunch adversaries.

    After the film, I followed up with some research on Carter and his policies. What amazed me is how strong his opinions about peace and energy conservation. He actually reduced the dependence on foreign oil by half during tenure as president. He installed solar panels (which were later removed) on the white house! It’s amazing how we continue to repeat ourselves in history as I think my third grade teacher began the first history lesson i remember with that exact phrase. President Carter had some interesting approaches to energy policy that may hold in todays atmosphere.

    Don’t get me wrong…I’m not a political or economic expert, but I can tell you a good deal about the Laffer Curve7 and supply side, trickle down Reaganomics including the fact that Author Laffer and Wanninski, credited with coining the term did so over a meeting in 1974 with Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld present…so I’ll let you do your own research8. But I am a good with the study of human character and I can tell you that I am compelled to believe that Jimmy Carter is a good man with honest motives or at least the film did an excellent job of concealing anything otherwise.

    April 20, 1979, White House photo of Carter and rabbit from the Carter Library
    April 20, 1979, White House photo of Carter and rabbit from the Carter Library [1]

    I can whole heartedly recommend that you see the film for yourself. The photo above is of Carter fishing when a swimming rabbit “attacked” his boat.. lucky the secret service was there to capture it on film.

    23/12/06 – The rabbit incident came up in a conversation likely due to conflict in Gaza9. I replaced the missing photo and added the references. I didn’t replace any of the original links, correct any of the grammatical, or fix the spelling errors.

    25/01/09 – I referenced this essay in a recent conversation with friends since he passed away at age 100. He was the longest-lived president in U.S. history. I read quite a bit about him recently and I watched the service on C-Span 10 this morning. The Carter Center published a tribute site 11 that’s worth your time. I left a condolence message. The more I learn… the more I like.

    Jimmy Carter is an inspiration for a life well lived. I told my friends I’m gonna pick up some tools in his honor and to handle some carpentry work for myself and I might even go so far as start working on the solar thing. I’ve referenced the Crisis of Confidence speech12 a number of times recently and I suggest a revisit. I first picked up on it in the film 20th Century Women and rewatching it had profound affect. I sympathize with Jimmy Carter’s tough mind, soft heart mentality and I hope that his work to advance human rights and alleviate human suffering is an inspiration for generations to come14.

    1. Jimmy Carter rabbit incident – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Carter_rabbit_incident
    2. Man From Plains – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_from_Plains
    3. Jimmy Carter – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Carter
    4. Jonathan Demme – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Demme
    5. Stop Making Sense – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Making_Sense
    6. Palestine Peace Not Apartheid – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestine:_Peace_Not_Apartheid
    7. Laffer Curve – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laffer_curve
    8. Reaganomics – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reaganomics
    9. Israel – Hamas War – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Israel–Hamas_war
    10. President Jimmy Carter Funeral Service at National Cathedral – https://www.c-span.org/event/public-affairs-event/president-jimmy-carter-funeral-service-at-national-cathedral/429876
    11. Jimmy Carter Tribute – https://www.jimmycartertribute.org
    12. President Carter Address on Crisis of Confidence – https://www.c-span.org/program/american-history-tv/president-carter-address-on-crisis-of-confidence/154404
    13. 20th Century Women – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/20th_Century_Women
    14. Carter Center – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carter_Center

  • Bill Evans

    Bill Evans – Milano 1969 (photo by Roberto Polillo)

    On occasion, something will strike me and I’ll do what I like to call a ‘deep dive distraction’ on it, which is how the majority of these posts get started. I listen to a lot of music when I’m in front of the machines. I’ve been keeping tabs on my listening habits for the last ten years and my most played musician is Bill Evans1. This last week, I had From Left to Right2on repeat and I’m listening to it again as I’m writing this. I think it’s the interplay of the Fender Rhodes3 and Steinway pianos and it’s likely where the title came from with the album cover image of him playing each instrument on each hand even though he didn’t like electric instruments. 

    Part of the reason he’s topping my charts is that I’ve listened to The Complete Fantasy Recordings more times than I’d like to count. It was originally a 9-CD box set. I’m not even sure about why I like his music because I don’t have enough of a comprehension of music theory to explain. I think that this fact is something Bill would appreciate and understand.  The primary motivation for this essay was watching an interview last week between him and his brother in the 1966 documentary film entitled the Universal Mind of Bill Evans4where he explains: 

    “In fact, I would often rely more on the judgement of a sensitive layman than that of a professional, since the professional, because of his constant involvement with the mechanics of music, must fight to preserve the naivety that the layman already possesses.”

    This really struck a chord with me.  For many years, I went without knowing anything about Bill Evans life. I just listened to it because I enjoyed it. I’ve learned that he had an instrumental influence on two other albums I’m a fan of: Miles Davis Kind of Blue and Chet Baker Chet. ( Ha… that’s twice I’ve had a play on words related to music ‘struck a chord’ and ‘instrumental’ ) Needless to say,  I’m a bit more in the know now and I’m not going to rehash anything you can’t read online.  I’ll link to them below in my references. The most interesting resource I’ve found is now a document published by Matt Evans, who I’m guessing has some relation. It’s entitled The Two Brothers As I Knew Them – Harry and Bill Evans6 and written by Pat Evans the wife of Harry Evans. In it, she details a bit of personal influence on Bill by Rollo May7. May also had a sibling diagnosed with schizophrenia like Bill and I can better understand the influence.

    “It’s more the mind that thinks jazz than the instrument that plays jazz that interests me. “

    Bill Evans life is poignant and tragic. I prefer the hero myth, but I’m very sympathetic to the other. Here are some interesting items that stand out to me:  He is closely tied to Baton Rouge which is near the heart of the origins of Jazz in New Orleans, but I think his style is still a bit distinctive from other roots Jazz artists because I hear more classical influence. Photographs of Bill Evans remind me of both Glen Gould8 and Dimitri Shostakovich9.  It’s something about the pensive gaze the the spectacles. Perhaps I’m just associating the piano virtuosity, but you can compare them at various ages and see the similarities. Bill Evans mother, Mary Soroka Evans was from Ukrainian decent often played Russian music in the house while the brothers were studying piano. Bill’s Ukrainian grandmother lived with them. His father was an alcoholic Welshman who ran a golf course and liked to gamble. Harry Evans, his brother who was an accomplice musical theorist and was deployed to Nagasaki after the atomic bomb which may have had an effect on his later suicide and schizophrenia. Bill Evans was an avid reader of books on philosophy and religion. It was he who introduced John Coltrane to eastern religions. Evans also liked to paint and draw and was a good golfer. In his later years, his conversational style, hair, and tinted glasses even reminded me a bit of the comedian Mitch Hedberg who also died at the hands of cocaine and heroin. 

    Irregardless of his personal life, and although I don’t believe you can separate the art from the artist, it’s just something about his music. One quote about his musical style really stood out to me about his musical style because it referenced two of the other artist rounding out my top five most listened to artist: Ahmad Jamal10 and Errol Garner11. “One of Evan’s distinctive harmonic traits is excluding the root in his chords, just leaving the left implied. Thus Evans created a self-sufficient language for the left hand that allowed the transition from one chord to the next while hardly having to move the hand. I’ve become quite the fan of that which has been left undone or unsaid as a style in every art form because I think it requires a much more comprehensive understanding. I think that we have an innate understanding of the aesthetics of the world around us.  For Bill Evans, the tone, color, and harmonics of his work is just natural. Watch some of the interviews and listen very closely to the music because there is something very distinctively pure about the innocent naivety and deep understanding in it.

    References:

    1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Evans
    2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/From_Left_to_Right 
    3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhodes_piano 
    4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Evans_discography
    5. Universal Mind of Bill Evans – https://youtube.comwatch?v=QwXAqIaUahI
    6. https://www.harryevanstrio.com/The_Two_Brothers.pdf
    7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rollo_May 
    8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenn_Gould
    9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dmitri_Shostakovich
    10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmad_Jamal
    11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erroll_Garner 

    See Also:

  • The Metaverse of Non-Fungible Tokens

    Beeple ( Mike Winkelman )1 sold a collage of jpegs for $69 Million and it is the the third most expensive artwork ever by a living artist.  I say nice work Mike. I’m also a fan of Jeff Koons and David Hockney who hold the top two spots2,3. And although the talking heads do what they do, there seems to be a crowd of naysayers out there crying foul.  I’m not in that camp, but the idea did get me to thinking about it this afternoon. 

    First off, you might be asking yourself what the hell is a non-fungible token4. You’ll need to understand what a blockchain5 is first. It’s as simple as this… a blockchain is just a digital ledger. It’s what powers cryptocurrencies by enabling them to authenticate every transaction.  So a non-fungible token is just a unit on that ledger just like a cryptocurrency. What’s powerful about them is that it allows something that is easily reproducible in our copy/paste world like digital images to have an authenticated producer and owner. In that regard, it’s similar to copyright but the work can still be replicated and the creator can retain both copyright and the original.

    What about the work deserved $69 million?  It’s not exactly as scarce as an original Picasso or as rare as Fabergé egg.  I have a degrees in studio art and art history and even trying to explain the art world at a family get together is still somewhat tricky. I like to explain along the lines of why LeBron James or Tom Hanks get paid so well. Those folks are just top of their game. The art world is very similar in that it’s just a little luck and a lot of skill.  Mike Winkleman has it in a genre that is evermore coming to define the information age… digital artifacts and creations. The piece is entitled Everydays: the First 5000 Days6,7because it literally took him 5000 days to create. It’s 5000 individual digital artworks created with software.  I can assure you that those can be just as time consuming as creating an oil painting.  This espresso machine took me at least 10 hours and I’ve completed oil paintings in less.  I looked through a good chunk of the individual pieces and the majority of them thoughtful, provocative, funny, timely, and well crafted. 

    There are tens of thousands of folks who do the whole essay, drawing, or whatever ‘a day’ sorta things and post them online. Beeple has a following though so fame is certainly a consideration, just like Tom Hanks. It’s true in every profession. You’ve gotta be respected and well liked or hated to come out on top. The record sales price certainly didn’t hurt his standings.  You’ve also gotta be in tune with the collective consciousness and his work certainly touches a unifying nerve there. I remember when I had first gotten back into computers during college and an art professor mocking me for doing a stop frame animation of my work in progress. Poor fella is dead now, but I’d really enjoy showing him the thousands of videos of folks doing just that. I’ve never really craved the sort of attention that social media provides because I find it shallow.  But it doesn’t mean that I don’t respect those who do and Beeple is on the money with it. Literally. 

    There’s also the consideration that the buyer made his money with cryptocurrencies and blockchain.  The buyer even had has own digital identity Metakovan or Mumbai Metakovan.  His real name is Vignesh Sundaresan8, now a Singapore based blockchain entrepreneur.  He cofounded several bitcoin and cryptocurrency related businesses and explained his background in a post yesterday at https://metapurser.substack.com/p/nfts-the-first-5000-beeples 9. It’s a decent read about how a couple of coder kids from Tamil Nadu India made is big in cryptocurrencies.  I’ve been to Tamil Nadu and again, I say good on them. And although some have speculated that it’s a promotional buy for his business, don’t you think that it’s comparable to when a broker has an original artwork in his apartment to impress. There’s an element to that in the art business. It’s the second largest unregulated market in the world right behind drugs and it’s full of the same sort of money laundering and crazy hijinks. 

    The word that really comes to mind about all of this is Metaverse10 and it’s what got me to thinking about it today.  I remember when I was still idealistic about the internet or when I thought Second Life was destined to take over interactions. I set up a teleconferencing in our living room about eight years ago because I was convinced that everyone would just be making video ‘calls’ to each others living rooms. Dad still mentions to me that I told him that the internet, radio, and tv would be in the palm of you hand even though this was post iPhone version 1. Mom laughed when I said I was building internet widgets11 because she associated it with a slanderous term for someone hustling. Our parents pleaded us to stop wasting our time playing the original Zelda video game even though video gaming now outgrossing many other industries. 

    The word metaverse really encompasses what the art is all about.  Much of the work involves rendering real objects into 3d worlds and the subject matter is often virtual in nature involving animated characters from film, pop culture and video games. The majority of the work has an ethereal otherworldly effect. You can see the actual progress in style based on the early series which started with drawings and photography and moved to Cinema 4D12 which is the software powering the majority of the creations and was built for 3d modeling. The software itself is based on ray tracing13 which is s technique for generating images by tracing light into pixels in an image plane simulating virtual objects. Ray tracing simulates the optical effects of lighting, was invented by the artist Albrecht Dürer14 in the 16th century, and tracks the development of computer hardware. So in a way, the art reflects the ability of computers to simulate reality. The combination of virtual worlds, augmented reality, and the internet is the metaverse in which the art exist. The existence as a non-fungible token on a blockchain just further exemplifies that metaverse as a perceived virtual universe. 

    I’ve come to be a bit more realistic about the timelines in which these things occur, but I still think that we are on the cusp on the information age. With it comes a whole Metaverse of collective virtual space be it in currency, art, video games or otherwise.  Although the price tag is what made the headlines, the idea that virtual reproducible items have intrinsic worth is what is truly notable. I’m still building widgets to help connect us. After all, the term widget is just an abstract unit of production. And once we’re all truly connected in real time alongside all of the existing information, I’d be willing to speculate my own cryptocurrency that the very tangible dirt, air, food, and water will be where non-artificial scarcity occurs. I’ll likely be dead by then and some kid I knew can remember back when he was trying to tell me about the latest virtual metaverse. 

    1. Mike Winkelmann – https://www.beeple-crap.com/everydays 
    2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit_(Koons) 
    3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portrait_of_an_Artist_(Pool_with_Two_Figures)
    4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-fungible_token
    5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blockchain 
    6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everydays:_the_First_5000_Days 
    7. https://onlineonly.christies.com/s/first-open-beeple/beeple-b-1981-1/112924
    8. https://twitter.com/vigsun
    9. https://metapurser.substack.com/p/nfts-the-first-5000-beeples 
    10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaverse
    11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Widget_(economics)
    12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinema_4D
    13. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_tracing_(graphics) 
    14. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albrecht_D%C3%BCrer  

  • Hunt & Peck

    I used to work at a university where I was amazed to watch one the of the deans ‘hunt & peck’1 at a keyboard. How did a person who creates documents and reports for a living possibly not know how to type? Since then, I’ve learned that the ‘hunt & peck’ approach is prevalent in all fields of expertise and I’ve started to use it as a metaphor for ineptitude. I’m personally guilty in that it took me years to stop glancing at the keyboard on occasion. Even now, I find myself making errors in the dark if I’m not on a backlit keyboard.

    I’ve learned the proficiency is really just a matter of perspective and the perspective I have on my work now pales in comparison to that of just ten years ago. I recently read that over 50% of developer time is spent on technical debt and that it costs some $85 billion annually2. I can attest to the truth in this simply because I spend so many of my working hours fixing legacy software and websites. I sometimes prefer ‘fixing’ over ‘building’ because the results are immediately palpable and the clients get immediate satisfaction. I’ve learned to use techniques to avoid future technical debt. My primary method is simplicity in function and streamlining my workflow.

    The video above illustrates a workflow I use when building WordPress websites. I had to retool my front end from Bootstrap to TailwindCSS recently. In the process, I set it up to give me an option for reloading the concatenated production files, syncing all front to back end actions, and dynamically generating triad/quartile color schemes. I customize the Gutenberg native blocks to match the theme exactly in the editor to make it intuitive on the end user. I try to automated and streamline everything I work on in an effort to avoid technical debt. I often get requests to fix WordPress websites because I’ve worked with so many folks on WordPress, it’s so widely used, and because of it’s extensibility. It’s occasionally hacked sites, but mostly due to the technical debt of an array of third party plugins and proprietary code which WordPress has made so easy for users to install. I’ve developed what some may call, a very opinionated approach to best practices. I’ve developed a singular project codebase3 that I use to test, develop, and repair. I use a singular base theme4 to build out new projects on my staging site where I keep all the details5.

    I spent many years using the hunt & peck method for typing and web development. I still do on some projects and when I’m learning new things. Although being able to write code without a reference is a time saver, I suppose we all do for the later. There’s a running joke about checking Stack Overflow6 in r/programming humor7. And as much as I’m just trying to make myself look smart here, if you were to examine my search history at any point, you’ll see it’s entirely dominated by Stack Overflow.

    Hunt & peck is really just a way of learning. Ever since I raised chickens, I’ve compared their behavior to ours. Although I don’t understand how a person who writes reports for a living doesn’t know how to type, I completely understand how a person who writes code for a living uses Stack Overflow. I’ve always kinda had this sneaking suspicion that the end result of having an unlimited amount of information available at our fingertips would be that we would stop storing some of it. Although I don’t believe voice command or code completion tools will get some of us away from the keyboard in the foreseeable future, I should stop using the hunt & peck as a metaphor for ineptitude and start embracing it as a method of learning.

    1. Hunt & Peck – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typing#Hunt_and_peck
    2. Stripe – The Developer Coefficient – Software engineering efficiency and its $3 trillion impact on global GDP – https://stripe.com/files/reports/the-developer-coefficient.pdf
    3. Code – WP – https://code.davidawindham.com/david/wp
    4. Code -DWP – WordPress – https://code.davidawindham.com/david/dwp
    5. WP Staging – https://wp.davidwindham.com
    6. Stack Overflow – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stack_Overflow
    7. Reddit r/programminghumor – https://www.reddit.com/r/ProgrammerHumor/

  • Section 230

    I’d like to share my take on Section 2301 because it came up again while I was watching the congressional hearings on the stock market volatility. The Wall Street Journal had the best opening line on it with “It turns out a congressional hearing aimed partly at investigating stock-pumping on the internet is a great opportunity for, well pumping stocks on the internet”2.  I really enjoyed the testimony3 from Keith Gill (“Roaring Kitty” aka DFV )4. The whole thing just reminded me of the early days of internet pump and dump spam schemes revisited and the fact that again, folks are publicly asking about how internet communications are having an effect on our society. Although I didn’t have any personal financial interest, I was pulling for the Wall Street Bets crowd because I was more interested in the power of communication medium.  When Section 230 was mentioned during the hearings, it just reminded me of the other recent debates encircling the law so I’ve been thinking a good bit about it and making some mental notes. 

    First off, let me say that I think the actual bad part of the Telecommunications Act of 19965 was not Section 230. It was Title III Sec. 303, the law that deregulated media cross-ownership.  Supporters of the law implied that it would create more competition, but in reality all it really did create more media concentration, less diversity, and higher prices. It’s why a handful of companies own almost all local radio and television stations.  That’s an essay for another time and for now I just want to focus on Section 230. 

    It’s Title V, and particularly Sec. 230 that’s been making the news. It states:

    “No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider”.

    And with those words, the the majority of the modern internet and social media flourished because it allowed platforms to host user generated content without liability to the content. The reason it’s such a hot topic item now is the fallout from the foreign interference in the 2016 United States elections6, the subsequent online information war about the 2020 elections, and the recent banning of some users. There have been several bills introduced in an effort to remove section 230 protections. What it really emphasizes is how powerful our online communications have become. It’s no surprise that the same communication platforms responsible for the Arab Spring would also be responsible for meddling in elections and so on. I’m a moderate on it and can easily see both sides of the argument. However, I still firmly believe that a private company such as Twitter can set their usage guidelines however they see fit and removing the liability protections of section 230 will do very little to change those policies while filling the courts with libel cases.   

    I’ve only had a couple real life experiences with section 230. I learned quite some time ago how pitiful folks can act when they keyboard warrior7 behind a screen. I saw this up close when used to manage a bunch of daily newspapers with user commenting enabled. I kept wondering to myself why people could be so rude with their comments and my explanation to myself was that folks were just miserable out there. I often wondered why we even offered comments on the articles and I suggested to the upper brass that we only provide social sharing links so that folks could discuss their opinions elsewhere which many publications now do. The only clever thing that came out of dealing with those comment sections were that we designed a system that allowed us to ‘black hole’ an offensive commenter where we would still allow them to comment, but only show the comment to that particular user.  It stopped the offender from just creating a new account by giving them the impression that their comments were being published.  I also had a bit of real world experience more recently when my home owners association decided to send out an email stating that buses of protesters were coming to upscale neighborhoods. I checked with the management, my cousin in law enforcement, and with some others in the community to try and find the source of this information. Sure enough it originated on social media and spread like any other rumor does. I took the time to track down the original source of the information in a tweet from an account likely run from an overseas misinformation farm. The Twitter account in question had actually posted two contradictory tweets. One was that rioters were being bussed to Greenwood, South Carolina and the second was that the local police would be putting snipers on rooftops. This was widely documented to have happened all across the US8. The most distressing part of it was how rapidly this misinformation could spread around a small town without anyone ever really verifying the source of the information and literally landing in my inbox alongside of all of my neighbors. It’s for exactly this reason, that I’ve primarily abandoned social media. 

    Social media companies could be held liable for their users postings without the protections afforded by Section 230. If I slandered someone on this website and then had the top search result for that person, I’d certainly expect to receive a cease and desist. But let’s say I slandered someone over the teleconference call. Does that mean that the telephone provider should be held liable? Section 230 does not preclude providers from hosting anything that violates state of federal law, so the current debate really revolves around issues of civil liabilities. The impetus for which revolved around pornography because at the time it was passed, Congress was preparing the Communications Decency Act (CDA)9 which was challenged by the Supreme Court and removed all of the anti-indecency sections of the CDA and left Sections 230 as law. The major conflicting issues about Section 230 primarily revolve around exceptions to free speech not protected by the First Amendment.  I think the most pertinent current topic related to Section 230 is disinformation, or as is written in the First Amendment, false statements of fact10. The supreme court has established a complex framework for determining which types of statements are unprotected. Essentially Section 230 has provided a shield to providers from libel and slander laws. Although I’d like to think it’s our own responsibility to verify sources of information, it’s become abundantly clear that a large swath of the population is unable to do so given the relatively complex nature of internet communications mediums. I believe that it is the responsibility of our laws to protect the majority of our citizens. And with Section 230, I think it’s the responsibility to moderate content that isn’t protected under the First Amendment11, particularly threats of violence, hate speech, child pornography, copyright, and false statements of fact. 

    I do not think we should remove Section 230. I think instead, that lawmakers and elected officials should focus on the end users and not the medium. They could do so by explicitly adding another provision stating such and giving them the rights to user discovery. There are two tricky parts to this. The first is that so much of the disinformation and other exceptions to free speech not protected by the First Amendment are not being created by our own citizens held accountable by our laws.  The second is that in order to focus on the content creator and not the medium, we face issues removing privacy protections. It’s my opinion that if you violate the law in a way that hurts others, that you should lose your privilege to privacy.  The provision should be written in an attempt to stop providers from shielding the identities of those who could be sued or prosecuted. Without being very carefully crafted this could have a chilling effect12 on privacy rights for other users.  

    So here we have the same folks saying that social media companies like Facebook are taking away their rights to First Amendment speech while they simultaneously consuming a rapid spread of disinformation that is clearly not protected by the First amendment. It’s a mess. I’ve tried to think of some clever ways to deal with this which don’t infringe on our rights to privacy or free speech. My personal approach has been simply to not participate in social media, but I don’t think my drop out attitude is a real solution for the majority of our citizens and it needs to be addressed by the law.  As far as the law is concerned, I’m leaning towards the idea that social media companies should have the legal responsibility to moderate user generated content that isn’t protected by the First Amendment in which they have recently shown a propensity towards. I also think that we need a more robust legal mechanism of discovery to reveal users that break the law.  I believe that the only real solutions are going to happen over a generation by educating the citizens as to the usage of the internet, their rights to privacy, and free speech online. I think we’re just now seeing the first real effects of a communications revolution where the laws are trying to play catch up. And yet, here I am keyboard warrior’ing on about my opinions with very little knowledge of the law, just like everyone else on the internet. 

    1. Section 230 – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Section_230 
    2. On YouTube, GameStope Hearing Just Another Pumping Opportunity – Wall Street Journal – https://www.wsj.com/articles/on-youtube-gamestop-hearing-just-another-pumping-opportunity-11613746504 
    3. Testimony of Keith Patrick Gill Before the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services – https://docs.house.gov/meetings/BA/BA00/20210218/111207/HHRG-117-BA00-Wstate-GillK-20210218.pdf 
    4. Keith Gill – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_Gill_(investor)
    5. Telecommunications Act of 1996 – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecommunications_Act_of_1996
    6. Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_interference_in_the_2016_United_States_elections
    7. Keyboard Warrior – https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/keyboard_warrior
    8. Antifa Rumors Spread on Local Social Media with no Evidence – https:/www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/antifa-rumors-spread-local-social-media-no-evidence-n1222486
    9. Communications Decency Act – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communications_Decency_Act 
    10. False Statements of Fact – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_statements_of_fact 
    11. United States free speech exceptions – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_free_speech_exceptions 
    12. Chilling Effect – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilling_effect 

    24/01/31 – I’m watching the Senate Judiciary Committee when my representative, the Chair Lindsey Graham addresses Mark Zuckerberg saying “you have blood on your hands, you have a product that is killing people” – https://www.c-span.org/video/?c5104614

    While I agree that social media has been harmful to some children, I don’t think legislation will be the singular answer and they haven’t changed my opinion on Section 230. The internet is larger than ‘social media’ and they seemed to be asking these companies to police not only the internet but society itself. I didn’t think it would drastically change my opinions on it, but I do enjoy watching these folks debate the issues in a public forum. Zuck has gotten better and Evan Spiegel of Snapchat was the standout.

  • 2020 in Music

    I make new playlist every month of new releases. It keeps me entertained while I’m in front of the machines. I keep up with all of the music I listen to at https://davidwindham.com/studio/music . Every year I export those playlist to a list. Here are my lists from previous years. ( 2019, 2018, 2017 ) and here are my playlists from 2020 with a list of the tracks.

    Artist NameTrack NameAlbum Name
    John WilliamsA New HomeStar Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
    Abdullah Ibrahim, Dollar BrandBlues For BDollar Brand Plays Sphere Jazz
    The Wood BrothersLittle Bit SweetLittle Bit Sweet
    Ziggy MarleyFriday’s OnFriday’s On
    Trent Reznor and Atticus RossLIFE ON MARS?Watchmen: Volume 3 (Music from the HBO Series)
    Ziggy Marley & The Melody MakersI Know You Don’t Care About Me – LiveZiggy Marley and the Melody Makers Live, Vol. 1
    Frank ZappaPiano Music – Section 1The Hot Rats Sessions
    Pearl JamLove, Reign O’er MeLove, Reign O’er Me
    GalacticFloat up (feat. Anjelika Jelly Joseph)Float up (feat. Anjelika Jelly Joseph)
    Terry Allen, The Panhandle Mystery Band, Shannon McNallyAll These Blues Go Walkin’ By (feat. Shannon McNally)Just Like Moby Dick
    Béla Fleck, Toumani DiabatéNashvilleNashville
    Frazey FordHoldin’ It DownU kin B the Sun
    Khruangbin, Leon BridgesMidnightTexas Sun
    John MorelandTerrestrialLP5
    Peter Bjorn and JohnDrama KingDrama King
    DestroyerThe Man in Black’s BluesHave We Met
    Ryuichi SakamotoNight GardenNight Garden
    Beck, St. VincentUneventful Days – St. Vincent RemixUneventful Days (St. Vincent Remix)
    James TaylorAs Easy As Rolling Off A LogAs Easy As Rolling Off A Log
    Roger Eno, Brian EnoCelesteCeleste
    Terry Allen, The Panhandle Mystery Band, Shannon McNally, Kru AllenCity of the Vampires (feat. Kru Allen and Shannon McNally)Just Like Moby Dick
    Roger Eno, Brian EnoBlondeBlonde
    Pat MethenySame RiverSame River
    Jason Isbell and the 400 UnitBe AfraidBe Afraid
    Huey Lewis & The NewsRemind Me Why I Love You AgainWeather
    Frazey FordPurple And BrownU kin B the Sun
    Khruangbin, Leon BridgesConversionTexas Sun
    Jonathan WilsonEnemiesDixie Blur
    Dirty ProjectorsOverlordOverlord
    Kevin MorbyGift HorseGift Horse b/w I Was On Time
    Béla Fleck, Toumani DiabatéKauonding SissokoKauonding Sissoko
    Peter Bjorn and JohnMusicMusic
    Quantic, DenitiaNowhereNowhere
    Michael KiwanukaLiving In DenialKIWANUKA
    Marcus KingThe WellEl Dorado
    Andy ShaufClove CigaretteThe Neon Skyline
    The Avalanches, Blood OrangeWe Will Always Love You (feat. Blood Orange)We Will Always Love You (feat. Blood Orange)
    Moses SumneyCut MeCut Me
    DestroyerUniversity HillHave We Met
    Shelby LynneDon’t Even Believe in LoveDon’t Even Believe in Love
    Gorillaz, Fatoumata DiawaraDésolé (feat. Fatoumata Diawara)Song Machine Episode 2
    Tame ImpalaBreathe DeeperThe Slow Rush
    The StrokesAt The DoorAt The Door
    Jungle FireBiri BiriJungle Fire
    James TaylorGod Bless The ChildAmerican Standard
    Sweatson KlankHow the Sun RoseGood Days
    Little Dragon, Kali UchisAre You Feeling Sad?Are You Feeling Sad?
    Kenny Barron, Dave Holland Trio, Johnathan BlakeUntil ThenWithout Deception
    Nicolas GodinConcrete and GlassConcrete and Glass
    PixiesUnder the Marigold – DemoBeneath the Eyrie (Deluxe)
    AntibalasKotoFu Chronicles
    Jonathan WilsonGolden ApplesDixie Blur
    MetronomyWhitsand BayWhitsand Bay (Remixes)
    The MetersThe Look of LoveThe Look of Love
    Jason Isbell and the 400 UnitBe AfraidWhat’ve I Done to Help
    ThundercatDragonball DuragDragonball Durag
    Nick MurphyWaterfallsMusic for Silence
    Jordan MackampaMagicMagic
    KutimanSalufSaluf
    King KruleAlone, Omen 3Man Alive!
    The NationalNever Tear Us ApartNever Tear Us Apart
    Lianne La HavasBittersweet – Radio EditBittersweet – A COLORS SHOW
    Kevin MorbyI Was On TimeGift Horse b/w I Was On Time
    Son Littleabout her. again.aloha
    Jonathan Wilson, Mark O’ConnorPirate (feat. Mark O’Connor)Dixie Blur
    Jóhann Jóhannsson, Yair Elazar Glotman, Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe, Else Torp, Kate Macoboy, Viktor Orri Árnason, Budapest Art OrchestraChildhood / Land Of The YoungLast And First Men
    Roger Eno, Brian EnoSlow Movement: SandSlow Movement: Sand
    Dirty ProjectorsIsolationIsolation
    WaxahatcheeCan’t Do MuchSaint Cloud
    El Michels Affair, The ShacksEnfantEnfant
    Fiona AppleShameikaFetch The Bolt Cutters
    Billy TaylorPoincianaOne For Fun
    Hiss Golden MessengerMy Wing – LiveForward, Children: A fundraiser for Durham Public Schools students
    Four TetInsect Near Piha BeachSixteen Oceans
    Jason Isbell and the 400 UnitOnly ChildrenOnly Children
    BuscabullaNTENTE
    Thundercat, Ty Dolla $ign, Lil BFair ChanceFair Chance
    Israel NashDown in the CountryTopaz
    Clarence “Gatemouth” BrownPlease Tell Me BabyBoogie Ramble! The Blues of Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown
    Leifur JamesAAIDAAID
    Tom Misch, Yussef DayesWhat Kinda MusicWhat Kinda Music
    Shelby LynneI Got YouI Got You
    Alexander Nestor Haddaway, Bodek Janke, Shishani Vranckx, Kristjan Randalu, Phil Donkin, ATOM String Quartet, Bill Evans, Gilad HekselmanWhat Is LoveSong 2
    Thievery Corporation, PumaWeapons of Distraction – Symphonik VersionSymphonik
    Andrew BirdCapital CrimesCapital Crimes
    Thys, Amon TobinGhostcardsGhostcards
    Sara Evans, Old Crow Medicine ShowI’m So Lonesome I Could Cry (feat. Old Crow Medicine Show)I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry (feat. Old Crow Medicine Show)
    Sufjan Stevens, Lowell BramsBackhanded CloudAporia
    Hiss Golden MessengerJesus Shot Me in the Head – LiveForward, Children: A fundraiser for Durham Public Schools students
    John Adams, Yuja Wang, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Gustavo DudamelMust the Devil Have All the Good Tunes?: III. Piú mosso: Obsession / SwingAdams: Must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes?: III. Piú mosso: Obsession / Swing
    Arvo Pärt, Gianluca CascioliFür AlinaWork From Home With Minimalism
    Andy ShaufTry AgainThe Neon Skyline
    The Rolling StonesLiving In A Ghost TownLiving In A Ghost Town
    Béla Fleck, Toumani DiabatéElyne RoadThe Ripple Effect
    Ana TijouxAntifa DanceAntifa Dance
    Matt Rollings, Lyle LovettAccentuate The Positive (Feat. Lyle Lovett)Accentuate The Positive (Feat. Lyle Lovett)
    Tres LechesNieveNieve
    Ludwig van Beethoven, Van Baerle Trio, Jan Willem de Vriend, Residentie Orkest The HaguePiano Trio in E-Flat Major, Op. 38 after the Septet, Op. 20: V. Scherzo. Allegro molto e vivaceComplete Works for Piano Trio Vol. 5
    Clarence “Gatemouth” BrownPale Dry Boogie (part 2)The Aladdin & Peacock Sides 1947-1960
    Grover Washington\, Jr., Bill WithersJust the Two of Us (feat. Bill Withers)Anthology
    John PrineThat’s the Way the World Goes RoundBruised Orange
    Béla Fleck, Toumani DiabatéThrow Down Your HeartThe Ripple Effect
    John LennonIsolation – Remastered 2010Plastic Ono Band
    Warren ZevonSplendid Isolation – RemasteredTransverse City
    Local Natives, Sylvan EssoDark Days [Feat. Sylvan Esso]Dark Days [Feat. Sylvan Esso]
    CéuCarinhosoCarinhoso
    Bob DylanI Contain MultitudesI Contain Multitudes
    Gilberto Gil, BaianaSystemEmoriô / Dia da Caça (Ao Vivo)Gil Baiana ao Vivo em Salvador (Ao Vivo)
    Bon IverPDLIFPDLIF
    Gorillaz, George BensonHumility (feat. George Benson)The Now Now
    JR JRThis Side of ParadiseThis Side of Paradise
    The BandIt Makes No Difference – Remastered 2000Northern Lights-Southern Cross (Expanded Edition)
    Roberta FlackCompared to WhatFirst Take
    SAULTLiving in America7
    The Flaming LipsYou Are AloneThe Terror
    The SpecialsGhost TownStereo-Typical: A’s, B’s & Rarities
    Arcade FireWasted HoursThe Suburbs
    KhruangbinTime (You and I)Time (You and I)
    The Billy Taylor TrioDay DreamingA Touch Of Taylor
    UNEQUAL, Band of HorsesItems TakenItems Taken
    Norah JonesTryin’ To Keep It TogetherTryin’ To Keep It Together
    Flying LotusBlack Balloons Reprise – InstrumentalBlack Balloons Reprise (Instrumental)
    Billy BraggCan’t Be There TodayCan’t Be There Today
    John Scofield, Steve Swallow, Bill StewartRadioRadio
    Robert GlasperGone – InstrumentalFuck Yo Feelings (Instrumentals)
    The Billy Taylor TrioMemories Of SpringA Touch Of Taylor
    Otis Sandsjö, Petter Eldh, Dan Nicholls, Tilo Weber, Jonas Kullhammar, Per ‘Texas’ JohanssonTremendoce (feat. Jonas Kullhammar & Per “Texas” Johansson)Tremendoce (feat. Petter Eldh, Dan Nicholls, Tilo Weber, Jonas Kullhammar & Per “Texas” Johansson)
    White DenimI Don’t Understand Rock and RollI Don’t Understand Rock and Roll / Work
    Jungle FireBiri BiriJungle Fire
    Fred Hersch, Anat CohenChild’s SongChild’s Song
    Hazel EnglishOff My MindWake UP!
    Wilma Archer, Samuel T. Herring, Laura GrovesDecadesA Western Circular
    African Head ChargePeace and HappinessChurchical Chant Of The Iyabinghi
    STRFKRNever The SameFuture Past Life
    The Billy Taylor TrioBlue CloudA Touch Of Taylor
    WoodsWhere Do You Go When You Dream?Where Do You Go When You Dream?
    Sharon Van EttenBeaten DownBeaten Down
    Joshua Redman, Brad Mehldau, Brian Blade, Christian McBrideFather (feat. Brad Mehldau, Christian McBride & Brian Blade)Father (feat. Brad Mehldau, Christian McBride & Brian Blade)
    Ray LaMontagneWe’ll Make It ThroughWe’ll Make It Through
    The Barr BrothersSaint CeciliaRed Moth Solar Companion
    Marcin Wasilewski Trio, Joe LovanoGlimmer Of HopeGlimmer Of Hope
    Gorillaz, Tony Allen, SkeptaHow Far? (feat. Tony Allen and Skepta)How Far? (feat. Tony Allen and Skepta)
    Michael Franti & SpearheadI Got YouI Got You
    Bob DylanFalse ProphetFalse Prophet
    Dirty ProjectorsLose Your LoveLose Your Love
    Blitzen TrapperMagical ThinkingMagical Thinking
    Gilberto Gil, BaianaSystemÁgua (Ao Vivo)Gil Baiana ao Vivo em Salvador (Ao Vivo)
    Thom YorkeI Am a Very Rude PersonANIMA
    Ray Wylie Hubbard, Ashley McBrydeOutlaw BloodOutlaw Blood
    Playing For Change, Keb’ Mo’, Roberto Luti, Nico Bereciartua, Chris PierceWalking BluesWalking Blues
    Molly Tuttle, Old Crow Medicine ShowHelplessHelpless
    Ben HarperDon’t Let Me DisappearDon’t Let Me Disappear
    Dion, Van Morrison, Joe Louis WalkerI Got Nothin’I Got Nothin’
    Neil YoungTryTry
    Brad MehldauL.A. PastoraleL.A. Pastorale
    Jason Isbell and the 400 UnitLetting You GoReunions
    Sharon Van Etten, Josh Homme(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding?(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding?
    Matt Rollings, The War and Treaty, The Blind Boys Of AlabamaWade In The Water (Feat. The War and Treaty, with The Blind Boys of Alabama)Wade In The Water (Feat. The War and Treaty, with The Blind Boys of Alabama)
    Ludwig van Beethoven, Martha Argerich, Mito Chamber Orchestra, Seiji OzawaPiano Concerto No. 2 in B-Flat Major, Op. 19: II. AdagioBeethoven: Piano Concerto No. 2; Grieg: Holberg Suite
    Philip Glass, Jenny LinMetamorphosis No. 1Glass: Piano Works
    Father John MistyI Went to the Store One Day – Live from the Hamburg Elbphilharmonie on August 8, 2019Off-Key in Hamburg
    Earl HinesThem There EyesAt His Best
    Ray LaMontagneStrong EnoughStrong Enough
    Sarah JaroszPay It No MindWorld On The Ground
    Chris JossWaiting for ScienceHyperacusis
    Run The Jewels, Zack De La Rocha, Pharrell WilliamsJU$T (feat. Pharrell Williams & Zack de la Rocha)RTJ4
    The Neville BrothersOne Fine DayThis Is: The Neville Brothers
    Jaime WyattL I V I NNeon Cross
    Glen HansardCold ComfortCold Comfort
    Soul Revivers, Ernest Ranglin, ManassehHarder – DubHarder
    Michael Franti & SpearheadWatching the World Go by with YouWatching the World Go by with You
    Cass McCombsConfidence ManConfidence Man
    The Flaming LipsFlowers of Neptune 6Flowers of Neptune 6
    Jonathan WilsonReach Out I’ll Be ThereReach Out I’ll Be There
    Neil YoungTryTry
    Dion, Paul SimonSong For Sam Cooke (Here In America)Song For Sam Cooke (Here In America)
    Becca MancariHunterLonely Boy
    Bob Marley & The WailersBurnin’ And Lootin’ – Live At The Rainbow Theatre, London / 1977Live At The Rainbow, 4th June 1977 (Remastered 2020)
    Sergei Rachmaninoff, Yuja Wang14 Romances, Op. 34: No. 14 Vocalise (Arr. Kocsis for Piano)Rachmaninov: 14 Romances, Op. 34: No. 14 Vocalise (Arr. Kocsis for Piano) [Musical Moments]
    KhruangbinSo We Won’t ForgetSo We Won’t Forget
    Mt. Wilson RepeaterBuriedBurned Up Ghost
    Half Moon RunAll at OnceAll At Once
    Chancha Via Circuito, El Búho, Gus GoncalvesUna Pulgada de SilencioPleamar
    Blitzen TrapperMagical ThinkingMasonic Temple Microdose #1
    JockstrapAcidAcid
    Early JamesStockholm SyndromeSinging for My Supper
    Mulgrew Miller, Niels-Henning Ørsted PedersenI Got It BadThe Duo
    CaribouLimeSuddenly
    Hiss Golden MessengerBlue Country Mystic – LiveForward, Children: A fundraiser for Durham Public Schools students
    Beck, St. VincentUneventful Days – St. Vincent RemixUneventful Days (St. Vincent Remix)
    Run The Jewels, Josh Homme, Mavis Staplespulling the pin (feat. Mavis Staples & Josh Homme)RTJ4
    Father John MistyThings It Would Have Been Helpful To Know Before The Revolution – Live from the Hamburg Elbphilharmonie on August 8, 2019Off-Key in Hamburg
    Robert RichDistant TravelerOffering to the Morning Fog
    Yusuf / Cat StevensWhere Do The Children Play?Where Do The Children Play?
    Jaime WyattDemon Tied To A Chair In My BrainNeon Cross
    Goya, Stephen Marley, Lij Tafari, DjaniPan Y ChocolatePan Y Chocolate
    Brad MehldauV. remembering before all thisSuite: April 2020
    Norah JonesTo LivePick Me Up Off The Floor
    Neil YoungVacancyVacancy
    Rage Against The MachineWake UpRage Against The Machine – XX (20th Anniversary Special Edition)
    David Wenngren, Hoshiko Yamane, Library TapesEnding I – RevisitedEnding I (Revisited)
    Logan LedgerRiver Of FoolsRiver Of Fools
    Paul McCartney, Jeff Lynne, Ringo StarrLooking For YouYoung Boy EP
    Norah JonesStumble On My WayPick Me Up Off The Floor
    Neil YoungHomegrownHomegrown
    KhruangbinPelotaPelota
    Busty and the BassSummerOut Of Love
    My Morning JacketRun ItThe Waterfall II
    Bob DylanCrossing the RubiconRough and Rowdy Ways
    Thao & The Get Down Stay DownTempleTemple
    Ben HarperDon’t Let Me DisappearDon’t Let Me Disappear
    Toro y Moi, The Mattson 2Ordinary Guy (feat. The Mattson 2)Ordinary Guy (feat. The Mattson 2)
    Chancha Via Circuito, El BúhoEl Mago GeorgesPleamar
    Michael Stipe, Big Red MachineNo Time For Love Like NowNo Time For Love Like Now
    Willie NelsonWe Are the CowboysWe Are the Cowboys
    Toots & The MaytalsWarning WarningWarning Warning / Got To Be Tough
    Strand of OaksTea SongAquarium Drunkard’s Lagniappe Session 2011
    David Wenngren, Hoshiko Yamane, Library TapesShelter II – RevisitedPatterns (Revisited)
    Aretha Franklin, The Boys Choir Of HarlemNever Gonna Break My Faith (feat. The Boys Choir of Harlem)Never Gonna Break My Faith (feat. The Boys Choir of Harlem)
    Jon HassellFearlessFearless
    Phoebe BridgersGarden SongPunisher
    Tom Misch, Yussef DayesJulie MangosWhat Kinda Music
    Busty and the Bass, Macy GrayOut Of Love – Single VersionOut Of Love
    Pedrito Martinez, Eric Clapton, Kenny GarrettYo Si QuieroYo Si Quiero
    Ray Wylie Hubbard, Peter RowanHummingbirdCo-Starring
    Marcus KingNo PainEl Dorado
    Pink FloydMoney – Early MixMoney (Early Mix)
    Gabriel Fauré, Itzhak Perlman, Emanuel AxSonata for Violin and Piano No.1 in A, Op.13: II. AndanteThe Art of Itzhak Perlman
    Sylvan EssoRewind – LiveWITH
    BuscabullaLa FiebreRegresa
    Gregory PorterMister HollandMister Holland
    Sasha Mashin, Rosario Giuliani, Benito Gonzalez, Makar NovikovThe Hidden VoiceHappy Synapse, Part 1
    Matt Rollings, Alison Krauss, Vince GillStay (Feat. Alison Krauss, with Vince Gill)Stay (Feat. Alison Krauss, with Vince Gill)
    Roger Eno, Brian EnoManganeseManganese
    Steve Gunn, Cass McCombsWild Mountain ThymeSweet Lucy / Wild Mountain Thyme
    KhruangbinSo We Won’t ForgetMordechai
    Throttle Elevator Music, Kamasi WashingtonSecond BreatherEmergency Exit
    Ray LaMontagneWe’ll Make It ThroughMONOVISION
    Los Coast, Gary Clark Jr.A Change Is Gonna ComeA Change Is Gonna Come
    Bob DylanMother of MusesRough and Rowdy Ways
    Joshua Redman, Brad Mehldau, Brian Blade, Christian McBrideFloppy Diss (feat. Brad Mehldau, Christian McBride & Brian Blade)RoundAgain (feat. Brad Mehldau, Christian McBride, Brian Blade)
    David Wenngren, Library TapesAbove The Quiet CityJuly Skies / Above The Quiet City
    Sufjan StevensAmericaAmerica
    Roger Eno, Brian EnoMossMixing Colours (Expanded)
    Father John MistyAnthemAnthem +3
    Library Tapes, Olivia BelliEnteringEntering
    Loudon Wainwright IIIA Ship Without a SailA Ship Without a Sail
    William Shatner, Canned HeatLet’s Work TogetherLet’s Work Together
    Tigran HamasyanNew MapsNew Maps
    Joshua Redman, Brad Mehldau, Brian Blade, Christian McBrideYour Part To Play (feat. Brad Mehldau, Christian McBride & Brian Blade)RoundAgain (feat. Brad Mehldau, Christian McBride, Brian Blade)
    My Morning JacketMagic BulletThe Waterfall II
    Ray Wylie Hubbard, Pam TillisMississippi John HurtCo-Starring
    Bob DylanMy Own Version of YouRough and Rowdy Ways
    PostcardsFossilizedFossilized
    Ben Harper, Rhiannon GiddensBlack Eyed DogBlack Eyed Dog
    The Avalanches, Jamie xx, Neneh Cherry, CLYPSOWherever You Go (feat. Jamie xx, Neneh Cherry & CLYPSO)Wherever You Go / Reflecting Light
    Father John MistyAnthemAnthem +3
    Sylvan EssoFerris WheelFerris Wheel
    Jon HassellMoons Of TitanSeeing Through Sound (Pentimento Volume Two)
    Anderson .Paak, Rick RossCUT EM IN (feat. Rick Ross)CUT EM IN (feat. Rick Ross)
    Los Miticos Del Ritmo, QuanticSalvaciónSalvación
    Library Tapes, Olivia BelliEnteringEntering
    Caylee Hammack, Alan JacksonLord, I Hope This Day Is GoodLord, I Hope This Day Is Good
    General Roots, Hollie CookSlow DownSlow Down
    Matt Rollings, Lyle Lovett, Willie NelsonThat Lucky Old Sun (Feat. Lyle Lovett, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, and Willie Nelson)That Lucky Old Sun (Feat. Lyle Lovett, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, and Willie Nelson)
    Ricky Reed, Jim James, duenditaUs (How Sweet It Was)Us (How Sweet It Was)
    Ziggy Marley, Ben HarperPlay With SkyPlay With Sky
    The Rolling Stones, Jimmy PageScarletScarlet
    Robert PlantCharlie Patton Highway (Turn it Up, Pt. 1)Charlie Patton Highway (Turn it Up, Pt. 1)
    BeckDark PlacesHyperspace (2020)
    BahamasOwn AloneOwn Alone
    Sylvan EssoRooftop DancingRooftop Dancing
    First Aid KitOn the Road AgainOn the Road Again
    The Flaming LipsWill You Return / When You Come DownWill You Return / When You Come Down
    Elvis CostelloWe Are All Cowards NowWe Are All Cowards Now
    Ricky Reed, Leon Bridges, Kiana LedéBetterBetter
    Father John MistyTo R.To S. / To R.
    Fantastic Negrito, E-40Searching for Captain Save a HoeHave You Lost Your Mind yet?
    Jesse HarrisIf You CanIf You Can
    S.G. GoodmanThe Way I TalkOld Time Feeling
    Johannes Brahms, András Schiff, Jörg WidmannSonata for Clarinet and Piano No. 2 in E Flat Major, Op. 120 No. 2: 3. Andante con moto – AllegroBrahms: Sonata for Clarinet and Piano No. 2 in E Flat Major, Op. 120 No. 2: 3. Andante con moto – Allegro
    Yusuf / Cat StevensOn The Road To Find OutOn The Road To Find Out
    Courtney BarnettJust For YouJust For You
    Paul McCartney, Jeff Lynne, Ringo Starr, Linda McCartneyBeautiful NightBeautiful Night EP
    Darrell Scott, Patty Griffin, Buddy Miller, Robert PlantA Satisfied Mind – LiveA Satisfied Mind (Live)
    Ziggy Marley, Angelique KidjoJamboJambo
    Gillian Welch, David RawlingsFly Around My Pretty Little MissAll The Good Times
    Mexican Institute Of Sound, Gaby MorenoYemayáYemayá
    LomeldaWonderWonder
    Nation of LanguageRush & FeverIntroduction, Presence
    Charley CrockettThe Man That Time ForgotWelcome to Hard Times
    Ana Tijoux, Pj Sin SuelaPa QuePa Que
    Jonathan Wilson, Mark O’Connor’69 Corvette (feat. Mark O’ Connor)’69 Corvette EP
    Liam BaileyWhite LightWhite Light
    Ian HawgoodA Love Without RumourThe Endless Sadness of the Shoreless Heart
    Angel OlsenWaving, SmilingWaving, Smiling
    Taylor Swift, Bon Iverexile (feat. Bon Iver)folklore (deluxe version)
    Justin Page, Doug Weiss, Justin Robinson, Kevin HaysPoincianaLost and Found
    Father John MistyTo S.To S. / To R.
    Rufus WainwrightTrouble In ParadiseUnfollow The Rules
    Nick DrakeBlack Eyed DogDigital Box Set
    Ben HarperInland EmpireInland Empire
    Brian Eno, Jon Hopkins, Leo AbrahamsShip In A Bottle – From “The Lovely Bones”Ship In A Bottle (From “The Lovely Bones”)
    Yusuf / Cat StevensMiles From NowhereTea For The Tillerman²
    Sufjan StevensSugarSugar
    Loudon Wainwright IIII Thought About YouI Thought About You
    Ziggy Marley, Judah Marley, Gideon Marley, Abraham MarleyWonderful PeopleMore Family Time
    John Luther Adams, Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Ludovic MorlotBecome RiverBecome River
    John LennonMind Games – Ultimate MixMind Games (Ultimate Mix)
    Robert EllisI Must Be in a Good Place NowI Must Be in a Good Place Now
    Peter BroderickWild Food – Radio EditWild Food (Radio Edit)
    Liam BaileyAngel DustAngel Dust
    Aimee MannAvalancheAvalanche
    The Rolling StonesAngie – 2020Goats Head Soup (Deluxe)
    Nick Cave & The Bad SeedsGalleon Ship – Live at Alexandra Palace, 2020Galleon Ship (Live at Alexandra Palace, 2020)
    Ben HarperLondonLondon
    Kurt Vile, John PrineHow LuckyHow Lucky
    The War and TreatyHey Pretty MoonHearts Town
    Sturgill SimpsonLife Ain’t Fair and the World Is MeanCuttin’ Grass – Vol. 1 (Butcher Shoppe Sessions)
    Hiss Golden MessengerRock Holy – LiveSchool Daze: A fundraiser for Durham Public Schools students
    PixiesHear Me OutHear Me Out
    Sinéad O’ConnorTrouble Of The WorldTrouble Of The World
    Tame Impala, Blood OrangeBorderline – Blood Orange RemixBorderline (Blood Orange Remix)
    Kevin MorbyDon’t Underestimate Midwest American Sun‘Wander’ b/w ‘Don’t Underestimate Midwest American Sun’
    Gorillaz, GoldLink, Unknown Mortal OrchestraSevered Head (feat. Goldlink and Unknown Mortal Orchestra)Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez (Deluxe)
    Ólafur ArnaldsWoven SongWoven Song
    Robert PlantNothing Takes the Place of YouDigging Deep: Subterranea
    John Lennon, Yoko OnoInstant Karma! (We All Shine On) – Ultimate MixInstant Karma! (We All Shine On) [Ultimate Mix]
    Chris StapletonStarting OverCold
    The Rolling StonesDoo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker) – 2020Goats Head Soup (Deluxe)
    Blitzen TrapperRequiemHoly Smokes Future Jokes
    Lee RitenourDreamcatcherDreamcatcher
    Kevin MorbyCampfire‘Wander’ b/w ‘Don’t Underestimate Midwest American Sun’
    PrinceStarfish And Coffee – 2020 RemasterSign O’ The Times (Super Deluxe)
    First Aid KitCome Give Me LoveCome Give Me Love
    Sturgill SimpsonI Don’t MindCuttin’ Grass – Vol. 1 (Butcher Shoppe Sessions)
    Fleet FoxesFor A Week Or TwoShore
    Lucia Cadotsch, Otis Sandsjö, Petter Eldh, Kit DownesWild Is the WindWild Is the Wind
    Amanda Anne Platt & the HoneycuttersDesert FlowersDesert Flowers
    The War and Treaty, Jerry Douglas, Chris EldridgeHustlin’ [Feat. Jerry Douglas & Chris Eldridge]Hearts Town
    Elvis PerkinsSee ThroughSee Through
    Bruce Hornsby, Leon RussellAnything Can Happen (feat. Leon Russell)Non-Secure Connection
    Ron Carter595595
    Jonathan Wilson, Mark O’ConnorThe Woods Are Greener (feat. Mark O’Connor)El Camino Real EP
    Black PumasColorsBlack Pumas (Deluxe Edition)
    Brandi CarlileThat Wasn’t MeBear Creek
    LaraajiQuiet JourneyQuiet Journey
    Drive-By TruckersSea Island LonelyThe New OK
    Ben HarperParisParis
    QuanticTheme from SelvaTheme from Selva
    Kevin MorbyWander‘Wander’ b/w ‘Don’t Underestimate Midwest American Sun’
    Kurt VileSpeed of the Sound of LonelinessSpeed, Sound, Lonely KV (ep)
    Sufjan StevensRun Away With MeThe Ascension
    Gorden Campbell, Eddie Brown, Kamasi WashingtonHomeland (feat. Kamasi Washington & Eddie Brown)Homeland (feat. Kamasi Washington & Eddie Brown)
    Diana KrallI Wished On The MoonThis Dream Of You
    Dirty ProjectorsBird’s EyeEarth Crisis
    Yusuf / Cat StevensFather And SonTea For The Tillerman²
    Erik Satie, Alexandre TharaudSatie: 3 Gymnopédies: No. 1, Lent et douloureuxLe Poète du piano – Satie: 3 Gymnopédies: No. 1, Lent et douloureux
    Drive-By TruckersThe KKK Took My Baby AwayThe New OK
    Van MorrisonBorn to Be FreeBorn to Be Free
    Kronos Quartet, Brian CarpenterWaist Deep in the Big MuddyLong Time Passing: Kronos Quartet and Friends Celebrate Pete Seeger
    Mac DeMarcoOut Of My HeadOther Here Comes The Cowboy Demos
    JR JRI Made My Peace With ItI Made My Peace With It
    Loudon Wainwright III, Vince Giordano And The NighthawksI’m Going to Give It to Mary with LoveI’d Rather Lead a Band
    Lost Horizons, John GrantCordeliaCordelia
    Desure, Nikki LaneOn MeOn Me
    The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, John Lee HookerBoogie Chillen – LiveSteel Wheels Live
    Kurt VilePearlsSpeed, Sound, Lonely KV (ep)
    Yusuf / Cat StevensHard Headed WomanTea For The Tillerman²
    LaraajiBathed In A GlowMoon Piano
    Chico MannSorrow Tears & BloodSorrow Tears & Blood
    Portugal. The Man, “Weird Al” YankovicWho’s Gonna Stop Me (feat. “Weird Al” Yankovic)Who’s Gonna Stop Me (feat. “Weird Al” Yankovic)
    Ólafur Arnalds, BonoboLoom (feat. Bonobo)Loom
    Neil Young, Stray GatorsCome Along and Say You WillCome Along and Say You Will
    Gorillaz, BeckThe Valley of The Pagans (feat. Beck)Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez (Deluxe)
    Tim Arndt, Near The ParenthesisOnly the OceanIntervals
    Ron CarterMy Funny ValentineMy Funny Valentine
    Akkan, Chancha Via CircuitoAnandaAnanda
    Sharon Van EttenLet GoLet Go
    Elvis CostelloNewspaper PaneNewspaper Pane
    Peter BroderickBut – Radio EditBut (Radio Edit)
    Gotthard Odermatt, Albrecht Mayer, Kimiko ImaniLes couleurs de l’eau, Op. 22: I. Fleuve tranquille et puissantOdermatt: Les couleurs de l’eau, Op. 22: I. Fleuve tranquille et puissant (Musical Moments)
    Sturgill SimpsonLife of SinCuttin’ Grass – Vol. 1 (Butcher Shoppe Sessions)
    Van MorrisonAs I Walked OutAs I Walked Out
    Neil YoungHomefiresHomefires
    Aretha FranklinSomewhere – Alternate VersionSomewhere (Alternate Version)
    Brian EnoBlood Red – From “BBC Arena – Francis Bacon”Brian Eno – Film Music 1976 ~ 2020
    Elvis CostelloThey’re Not Laughing At Me NowHey Clockface
    QuanticNineteen Hundred and Eighty FiveTheme from Selva
    Kevin MorbyUS MailUS Mail
    Sylvan Esso, Maya Jane ColesFerris Wheel – Maya Jane Coles RemixFerris Wheel (Maya Jane Coles Remix)
    Karen O, Willie NelsonUnder PressureUnder Pressure
    Jonathan WilsonBaby You’re A StarDixie Blur (Deluxe)
    Cass McCombs, Angel Olsen, Bob Weir, Noam ChomskyDon’t (Just) VoteDon’t (Just) Vote
    KhruangbinSummer MadnessSummer Madness
    LaraajiThrough Luminous Eyes 1Through Luminous Eyes
    Lee RitenourCharlestonCharleston
    Andrew BirdMille Cherubini In CoroHARK!
    Sergei Prokofiev, Daniil TrifonovPiano Sonata No. 8 in B Flat Major, Op. 84: II. Andante sognandoProkofiev: Piano Sonata No. 8 in B Flat Major, Op. 84: II. Andante sognando
    Ian HawgoodThe Past Is Just DecayEchoes from the Edges of Time
    Jonathan Wilson, Mark O’ConnorPirate (feat. Mark O’Connor)Dixie Blur (Deluxe)
    Elvis CostelloThe Last Confession Of Vivian WhipHey Clockface
    JR JRTake What You NeedTake What You Need
    Ahmad JamalBogotaMacanudo
    Branford MarsalisEl TrainEl Train
    Ludwig van Beethoven, Theodosia NtokouBeethoven: Piano Sonata No. 17 in D Minor, Op. 31 No. 2, “Tempest”: III. AllegrettoBeethoven: Piano Sonata No. 17 in D Minor, Op. 31 No. 2, “Tempest”: III. Allegretto
    Brian EnoDesign As Reduction – From “RAMS”Brian Eno – Film Music 1976 ~ 2020
    The Avalanches, Perry FarrellOh The Sunn!We Will Always Love You
    Sturgill SimpsonJesus BoogieCuttin’ Grass – Vol. 2 (Cowboy Arms Sessions)
    David Wenngren, Library TapesSea of CloudsSea of Clouds
    Eraldo Bernocchi, Hoshiko YamaneFallMujo
    LandladySupernovaSupernova
    Pat Metheny, Los Angeles Guitar QuartetPat Metheny: Road to the Sun, Pt. 2Pat Metheny: Road to the Sun, Pt. 2
    Brian EnoDecline And Fall – From “O Nome da Morte”Brian Eno – Film Music 1976 ~ 2020
    The Avalanches, MGMT, Johnny MarrThe Divine ChordWe Will Always Love You
    Peter Bjorn and JohnGonggongEndless Play
    The Avalanches, Blood OrangeWe Will Always Love YouWe Will Always Love You

  • The Value of Time

    We harvested our sweet potatoes and planted our fall garden. Tonights harvest moon1 marks the passing of the season. This always remind me of how we value our time. Even the phrase ‘our time’ implies that it belongs to us. My time. Your time. Sure, it’s really all we have… each moment in the passing of time.  It bends through space to form the fourth dimension2. Unfortunately, the impetus for writing this was so much more shallow. If that’s what you’re looking for, here are a couple of quotes to ponder3. 

    • Truth was the only daughter of time – Leonardo da Vinci
    • Time is a game played beautifully by children – Heraclitus
    • The first thing necessary for dealing with time is to learn to live in the reality of the present moment. The present moment is all we have – Rollo May
    • All truth is cooked, time itself is a circle – Friedrich Nietzsche
    • Idleness makes hours pass slowly and years swiftly. Activity makes the hours short and the years long. – Cesare Pavase
    • It’s weird that I am constantly surprised by the passage of time when it’s literally the most predictable thing in the universe. – Randall Munroe
    • Time eases all things – Sophocles
    • Time bears away all things, even our minds – Virgil
    • Nae man can tether time or tide – Robert Burns
    • Time, that aged nurse Rocked me to patience. – John Keats
    • Time is money – Edward Bulwer-Lytton
    • Time is a waste of money – Oscar Wilde

    I had my own little epiphany about time many years ago. I used to make some long haul drives running back and forth to from home, college, and my girlfriend. What I noticed was that the driving at night always seem to take a shorter amount of time so I started making them at night. What I determined is that time is related to your senses and that the reason it appeared to be shorter was that you perceive less in the dark. There are no landmarks, or signs, or even clouds to mark the time passing. Time is experience. 

    Last night, we were in bed thinking about buying some new sheets because I tore a tiny hole in our favorite pair with a toenail kicking them into position because I like to sleep cool and my better half could use the electric blanket all year.  She scours the tablet searching for the sheets that are just right and points out a pair because their manufactured regionally using organic cotton and says “but they’re over $300”. To which I say “think about it like this… we sleep eight hours a day 365 days a year and we spent more than that on food in the last month”.  Anything I do that regularly has value to me and my point was that we often don’t consider the value our own time. We spent thousands on several days vacationing trying to make some memories. We buy items we barely use. Folks spend ridiculous amounts of money on vanity items. I tend to value the mundane in terms of how much time is involved. I eat three hours every day. I spend five hours a day in front of a computer screen. I’m always impressed by people who choose practical shoes because we wear our shoes for half of our lives and they’re literally the foundation on which we stand. 

    This wasn’t my first time with using this argument which got me to about me thinking about noting it in an essay. I paid my way through part of college by working at a furniture store.  My boss there literally pulled me aside one day and said that he wanted to lower my commissions because I was making so much money. There are some various reasons as to why I was nailing it, but the one that I remember is my pitch when discussing purchases with customers. It went something like this: “Consider your time. If you spent eight hours a night using it. Isn’t it worth it. Is there anything else you do more?” I would ask. This worked for couches, chairs, and mattresses. Those are some of the higher ticket items in the store and the mattress companies would give you a second little kickback. I moved the upper end items and it paid handsomely. Asking someone to consider their time is an easy way to have them reflect on the actual value of something. 

    I jabbed at a local acquaintance recently over his move to distribute his business documents using a third party service which charges the customer money and shares a percent with the business. He responded back to me with “well, isn’t your time worth money” the very same way I used it to sell furniture. I pointed out that it was his company time he was trying to skimp on to make money and not mine. I’ve been asked on several occasions as to why I set my hourly rate low in relation to some other software or web developers. I always answer that it’s not if you consider that a typical 40 hour work week for a full year is almost a hundred grand. Now, I don’t make that because I don’t work a typical 40 hour week and I only bill for productive time. Nevertheless, I usually respond “because I think it’s fair to both of us”. 

    Even though I’ve used our propensity to value it, I’ve never equated my time to money because it’s cheap. Cheap in the sense that time is priceless and mine is not for sale.  What is for sale are my knowledge, ability, and skills because I’ve invested quite a lot of effort into them and that’s what customers are really after anyway. They’d do it all themselves if they had the appropriate knowhow. We like to play a game with ourselves in equating time to money and staying busy pushing the running wheel in circles. We should value experience over our time…  and the experience of those expensive sheets, even if I’m only awake for several hours a night, will last me over ten thousand hours, which comes out to 3 cents an hour.  I think that’s worth it. 

    I’ll leave you with a quote from a book by Khalil Gibran entitled The Prophet4 that was gifted to me many moons ago. 

    • And an astronomer said, “Master, what of Time?”
    • And he answered: You would measure time the measureless and the immeasurable.
    • You would adjust your conduct and even direct the course of your spirit according to the hours and seasons.
    • Of time you would make a stream upon whose bank you would sit and watch it’s flowing.
    • Yet the timeless in you is aware of life’s timelessness,
    • And know that yesterday is but today’s memory and tomorrow is today’s dream.
    • And that which sings and contemplates in you is still dwelling within the bounds of that first moment which scattered the stars into space.
    1. October 2020: Harvest Moon – https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/1520/october-2020-the-next-full-moon-is-the-harvest-moon/
    2. Spacetime – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spacetime
    3. Quotes on time – https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Time
    4. Khalil Gibran – The Prophet – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kahlil_Gibran

  • Farm Aid

    Do yourself a favor and take a break to watch and listen to Farm Aid 2020. With the whole Covid thing going on, there wasn’t a festival this year. Watching performers on their own turf is potent. We loaded it up on the tv/stereo and opened the doors and windows so the neighbors could hear it. Willie Nelson and his family are something else. Willie at age 87 still taking care of business. Neil Young playing with his chickens is classic. I liked the original pieces, the unsteady footage, the host, the interviews, and I really liked the message.

    Farm Aid is an honorable cause. We donated. We planted our fall veggie garden and we had a bumper crop this summer from our little suburban garden beds. We always do our best to support our local farmers market and otherwise purchase and eat sustainable food products.

    1. Farm Aid – https://www.farmaid.org/
    2. Farm Aid – Our Work – https://www.farmaid.org/our-work/

  • Our 16th Anniversary

    My wife and I celebrate our 16th anniversary this weekend. We’ve only been married for six, but we like to say our anniversary is when we started dating because neither of us ever really wanted to get married. About year six we started saying things like “if we make it ten, we’ll consider it”. I proposed on our tenth anniversary. We had a quiet little personal ceremony and got on with it. I like to joke that it’s been at least five happy years, but in reality it’s been 16 pretty solid good years give or take a few bumpy patches. I usually just refer to Ginny as my better half. Although a term of endearment, it’s mostly true. We’re a good team for a bunch of reasons. We often put that to the test on the tennis court as a mixed doubles team. Most folks scoff at us playing together because they always say “I can’t play with my husband/wife”. There’s some truth to it and we’ve spent some long rides silent rides home after losing in tennis tournaments. Last week while we were out playing, a friend came across our court and said “can y’all do me a favor and not ride your bikes by our house because my wife always says look how they do everything together”. We do do everything together and it’s been our M.O. (modus operandi) since day one.

    We met during the second week of a class at the College of Charleston. I’ve got a couple years on her because I had dropped out and returned to college. I asked her for her phone number just ‘in case I missed class’. I knew what I was doing. She wasn’t sitting right beside me. In her words, the reason I got her phone number is because she had actually come to class ‘dressed’ for another date. The class was late in the afternoon. It was the History of Landscape Design. We still very much like landscape design and working in the yard. I even quizzed her on some of the material from our college class the other night in bed while watching a house design show. We both got A’s in that class, but she claims she had a slightly higher average. This photo is from my textbook with her name misspelled in my handwriting. It’s the only textbook from college I saved.

    I casually asked if she’d like to join me for dinner after class and she obliged. In retrospect, she always said that she was just trying to shake off several other boyfriends she had at the time and I’ve never doubted it for a minute. Our first date was at a sushi restaurant. Aside from her intelligence and natural beauty, I was really struck by one particular quality… her sense of humor. I legitimately found her funny, whereas I had previously always just kinda faked my response to gals attempts at being clever or funny trying to get laid. She is smart tough and could out drink me. We used to eat and drink. We would drink several bottles of wine at dinner and then go out for drinks. I remember another one of our other first dates where we were completely inebriated. While we were leaving a bar on King Street in Charleston, another fella said something to her and next thing I know she was mouthing off about ‘**cking him up’. I’ve always respected that kind of independent mindedness and she retains that same spirit today.

    We set our anniversary date as a reference to our first weekender. I randomly picked up a couple flights to New York and we did it up big city style. We ate and drank our way around town for a couple of days. I was trying to impress her and I think it worked. I think after that hangover wore off, we knew we were hitched. We split our time between my house up in the country and her carriage house downtown. We finished college and graduate school while we continued dating. I ended up taking a job back near her childhood home in Augusta SC and we moved into her parents home temporarily until we found our own place. I’d recommend that to anyone seriously dating. Go live in their childhood home with their parents if you want to see if it’ll work. As much as some folks may frown upon it, I also recommend living with one another. I said to a somewhat conservative and religious mom recently that her college age son should live with his girlfriend long before they get married. He appreciated it, but her… not so much. We spent our first several years living on a small farm taking care of a garden, horses, and chickens. We’ve since gone suburban and we’re considering a blend of the two for our next move. Every time we’ve pack up for a new move, it kinda feels like we’re college age kids moving in again. We’ve applied that team approach to most everything we do.

    After ten years of dating, and even though I’d always said that I wasn’t the marrying type, I formally committed. It’s turned out to to be the best move I’ve ever made. Ginny has been nothing but supportive and encouraging. Her personality balances mine out perfectly. We often find ourselves talking about that balance. We got married in a private ceremony at an Episcopal church because we really liked our pastor at the time and we saved the money we would have spent on a big wedding ceremony. And although our honeymoon plans were to return to Charleston and fly up to New York we ended up skipping the big city just to stay holed up in a downtown carriage house. Anytime we ever need to feel like college kids again, we just pack up the bikes and head down to Charleston to eat and drink.

    We’ve had our life challenges just like everyone else does and we’ve managed to handle them in stride. The real parts of life will just creep up on you when you’re not looking. Life and death happen. We’ve supported each other at every turn. We’ve never wanted kids but we have joked about adopting a disadvantaged older child to help them financially and emotionally with college in return for a bit of assistance in old age. I’m not sure you’d want to put that on an adoption form. We’re currently taking care of the last of our three original dogs. Zeke will turn 18 years old in January if he can make it that long. We’ve got aging parents and one last grandparent on her final stretch. The strength of our bond has made all of those challenging experiences much more rewarding.

    After 16 years, we now like to joke about middle age and getting old. We often say to other folks that we are the ‘oldest young people’ you know. Our habits are more akin to retirees then middle aged folks. She called me ‘chubs’ the other day on the tennis court and couldn’t keep from laughing. I’m under 190, so it’s a little bit of an exaggeration, but my hair is greying and I’d need to lose about 20 pounds to be where I was when we met. She put on her graduation dress the other night to show it off, so I’ll try to cut back on the carbs this winter. Aside from health goals, we’ve also been working out some long term financial and life planning. We’ve been handling this whole covid mess in stride cooking every meal at home, doing home improvement projects, going for bike rides, and playing tennis together. I feel like we have a slight advantage to other folks out there because we’ve always done everything together. We try to keep our heads up high out of any nonsense and future focused. We know where we want to be and how to get there. I’ve enjoyed the first 16. I cherish every day and hope for many more. I’m confident we’ll go wherever we’d like with a little bit of teamwork and I wouldn’t have been able to do any of it without her.

  • No, I Can’t Stop Your Spam (Part 3)

    My better half and I have been suddenly getting quite a few spam phone messages in the last month. I’ve titled it part 3 because I’ve posted about it several times before1,2. I’ll make this one a bit more comprehensive so that, hopefully, it’s my last on the topic. I’ve been guessing that the recent spam is mostly related to the political season or that fact that AT&T is now pimping an add-on paid service to stop robocalls. We both got a spam text message ‘notifying’ us that Senator Lindsey Graham is mailing us absentee ballots and today I got this voice mail yesterday morning:

    At least they could have narrowed their spam list down to folks who need braces for pain relief and mobility. And I suppose registering as an independent didn’t help. I had been bragging for years that I receive barely any unsolicited phone calls or emails. We have both of our phone numbers on the Do Not Call Registry3 but it seems that our officials are more concerned with the idea that TikTok and WeChat are foreign advisaries4. My brother’s voicemail message says something to the extent of “No, this is not Miquel. I don’t need any insurance, I don’t have any debts, I won’t vote for you if you’re calling me, and I’ll block your number if you don’t leave a voicemail”. Judging by the number of complaints I’ve heard over the last ten years, this isn’t a problem that will solve itself simply because our economy is geared towards getting our attention and changing our behavior.

    I mean, technically, the practice goes all the way back to 1864, when a mass telegram was sent advertising a dentist5. It wan’t called spam until the internet crowd related it to the Monty Python sketch6. Nowadays, it seems folks have just kind of accepted and even practice it themselves with group text messages soliciting events, products, and whatever else. Even those planes flying above your heads at beaches are just spam. App spam prevails with those little notifications beeps and icons. There’s email spam, mail spam, phone spam, search engine spam, social media spam, air message sign spam, political spam, text spam, gas station spam, spam, spam, and spam. In the words or Graham Chapman from the original skit… “can i just have the bacon, eggs, spam, and sausage without the spam”?

    Years ago, I started tearing up the offers in my mailbox and mailing the shreds back to them on their own prepaid envelopes. I remember when unsolicited phone calls starting interrupting family dinners sometime in the 1980s with whatever they were trying to sell and whomever they wanted you to vote for or ask your opinion of. I suppose up until then, having a telephone was quite a technological advance and convenience. Now that so few people actually have land lines, I’d be willing to bet that we’ll look back at our cell phone habits during the last five years and wonder how we were tricked into paying so much attention. I’d argue that those little beeps and notifications on you phone are just another form spam trying to get you engaged exactly the same as the unsolicited, cleverly designed to look official, mail in your mailbox trying to get you to buy insurance. In the case of a smart phone, you’ve volunteered to carry around your mailbox whereas I’ve never volunteered to share my physical address, email address, or phone number with any unsolicited contact.

    It’s all in the fine print on your order form, internet service provider, cellular provider contracts, and about every other form that asks for your information. I once maintained a bunch of databases related to education at a job I was working which were collected as an educational resource. One of the vendors at a conference outright offered a dollar amount for access to our databases. I informed the vendor that I was unable to do that and then a week later a coworker emailed me asking for copies of the personal information in them. I was like… “hey… we can’t sell those people’s data without their permission”. That’s exactly what happens all of the time and it’s how you end up getting spam emails, phone calls, mail, and text messages. Vast information systems on people like those used by credit reporting agencies are big business reaching much further than you may realize through various subsidiaries. Internet ‘information’ companies have become the largest businesses ever because they easily cross national boundaries. The Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company’s7 punch cards used by Nazi Germany were part of the foundation of IBM. We’re the product and we trade our information for currency. I voluntarily do it all the time for discount pricing and I have an email account stocked with follow up offers from those companies trying to re-engage me.

    Fundamentally, there is a difference between the information I voluntarily offer and that which is traded without my consent. If I pay for a service, then why would you sell my personal information or allow others to abuse the service on top of what I’m already paying to make that service worse. I suppose there’s a well calculated and researched ‘line’ in which they over-monetized or spammed to make the service unattractive. Now there’s even a little spam machine, a tv screen with blaring audio, when you go to the gas station. I’m still going to that station because I trust that brand of gasoline, but at what point does it become completely normalized to bombard you with spam. I’m not going to even touch the internet side of social media spam. Regardless to say, I’ve done some legal spamming myself. I used to send out tens of thousands of real estate marketing emails. It was spam even though I got the email address legitimately by joining the multiple listing services. At that time, I don’t even think many real estate agents understood that it was spam at the time. I also once pitched an idea to a publishing company that owned thousands of billboards to network them to change the digital displays based on information like the weather to get more engagement. I was trying to capitalize on the information age and our psychological propensity to want to be ‘informed’. It’s how the newspaper industry has operated for several hundred years. William Randolph Hearst made a fortune publishing dirt on as many names as possible while famously saying “The news is what they don’t want you to print. Everything else is just ads”8.

    I picked up an interesting tidbit while watching The Social Delimma9 last week. Tristan Harris10 compared the psychological manipulation used by online social media to magic. I’ve always had a thing for sleight of hand and magic tricks. Perhaps, I’m more keenly aware of the hand behind the back or out of sight. I’ve previously documented my take on and attempts to subvert those online algorithms.11,12,13,14 In these cases, I think the majority of the ‘room’ is still in awe of the trick. I can’t help but to worry about the kids today who will have shared access to much more data and I think it’s very likely that their aptitude will be a data point alongside of their address and phone number. At least the little screens have taken our attention are only in our pockets and attached to our wrists. Although Google glasses died, Facebook announced a partnership with Ray Ban to have glasses next year15. It reminds me of this video I had bookmarked four years ago where the implications for attention economy spam are visualized… literally.

    Aside from the junk mail and calls, the very serious side of spam is social engineering, identity theft, and scams. Those scams don’t work if they emailed one person at a time. They rely on the fact that only 1 in 100,000 is a sucker. Identity theft should be called something else…. they’re not stealing my identity. They’re stealing a social security number, maiden name, and an address. We could fix that easy with a pin number attached to our social that could be changed online. I’ve always believed that it shouldn’t be my financial responsibility if someone take out credit in my name after stealing my personal information from somewhere else. The liability should fall on the bank issuing the credit and whomever else is responsible for not protecting my information. Data breaches are very common and you likely have a vulnerable email account right now. You can check at https://haveibeenpwned.com/16. It’s not just data related to an email address either. There should be a clearing house site for who has any of my other personal data and it should be tightly regulated by our systems of government in the same way that HIPPA & FERPA provide privacy for medical and educational records17,18. Shouldn’t we also have privacy rights on who are friends are, where we live, our sexual orientation, and our belief systems? These are not an unreasonable questions for our us to consider for policies. In 2014 the financial consequences of identity theft surpassed fifteen billion dollars19. Although I doubt the text message spam I received last weekend will be on any agenda anytime soon, I think we’ll eventually regulate personal data more strictly in an attempt to rectify financial losses.

    No, I can’t stop your spam, but I can give you a couple helpful tips. Get a throwaway email account that you only use to register non-essential accounts. Don’t use your primary account on non-essentials. Get a second phone number from Google Voice, Burner, or any number of other text apps. Block unwanted calls. Join the Do Not Call Registry (even thought that seems to be doing little for me right now). Monitor your credit. Put your ringer on silent for unknown callers. Tear up unsolicited mail and send it back to them in their prepaid envelope. Use call blocking apps. Contact your service providers to see what they offer. Use the mark as spam tools in your email clients. Contact the same politicians that are contacting you and ask them to pass more stringent legislation. I’ll link to a couple of other basic resources below20,21. I remember back when I wrote the first “No, I Can’t Stop Your Spam” post. I used to literally pick up the phone and call the companies sending email spam asking for the evidence that the way they acquired my email address. There was also a time I would spam them back. If a company sent me an unsolicited email, I would add all of their employee email addresses to an automated list that would email them once an hour with various random emails. I sometimes joke with friends about rendering their phone numbers or email addresses useless if they spam me. Nowadays, I’m pretty good about ignoring in the attention economy, but on occasion, I still like to let spammers know that I can cheaply automate a spam campaign back against them with text messages, emails, mail, and recorded phone calls. It’s not exactly brain surgery. I’ve suggested a possible solution for social security number theft and I think that would work with domains and phone numbers too. Even the USPS could help out by charging more money to sent bulk mail or a certain size. In order to spam me, I must give consent via written permission22. Although I’m pretty tempted to start texting Lindsey Graham’s staff messages this afternoon with links to this article, I just reported the campaign texts to the Federal Communications Commission as they’ve suggested I do23.

    1. No, I Can’t Stop Your Spam – https://davidwindham.com/no-i-cant-stop-your-spam/
    2. No, I Can’t Stop Your Spam Revisited – https://davidwindham.com/no-i-cant-stop-your-spam-revisited/
    3. U.S. Do Not Call Registry – https://www.donotcall.gov/
    4. Reuters Trump to Shut off TikTok and WeChat Sunday – https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-tiktok-ban-exclusive/trump-to-shut-off-tiktok-wechat-to-new-u-s-users-on-sunday-idUSKBN2691QO
    5. Spamming – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spamming
    6. Monty Python Spam, Spam, & Spam – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spam_(Monty_Python)
    7. Computing Tabulating Recording Company – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computing-Tabulating-Recording_Company
    8. William Randolph Hearst – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Randolph_Hearst
    9. The Social Delimma – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Social_Dilemma
    10. Tristan Harris – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tristan_Harris
    11. Dirty Algorithm – https://davidwindham.com/dirty-algorithm/
    12. Data Mining Our Viewing Habits – https://davidwindham.com/data-mining-viewing-habits/
    13. How Does a Website Know My Name – https://davidwindham.com/how-does-a-website-know-my-name/
    14. Facebook Weirdness – https://davidwindham.com/facebook-weirdness/
    15. Facebook Ray Ban Smart Glasses – https://variety.com/2020/digital/news/facebook-smart-glasses-ray-bans-essilorluxottica-1234772183/
    16. Have I Been Pwned – https://haveibeenpwned.com/
    17. HIPPA – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_Insurance_Portability_and_Accountability_Act
    18. FERPA – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_Educational_Rights_and_Privacy_Act
    19. Financial Consequences of Identity Theft: Evidence from Consumer Credit Bureau Records – https://philadelphiafed.org/-/media/research-and-data/publications/working-papers/2019/wp19-02.pdf
    20. C-NET How to Stop Robocalls – https://www.cnet.com/how-to/stop-annoying-robocalls-to-your-phone-using-every-trick-we-know/
    21. USA Today How to Block Robocalls – https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/columnist/komando/2019/02/07/no-more-robocalls-how-block-unwanted-calls-iphone-android/2778059002/
    22. Federal Communications Commission Avoiding Spam – https://www.fcc.gov/sites/default/files/avoiding_spam_-_unwanted_email_and_text_messages.pdf
    23. Federal Communications Commission Consumer Complaint Center – https://consumercomplaints.fcc.gov/hc/en-us

  • Keep Your Expectations Low

    The Older I Get The More It Feels Like High School

    I read a review of Bill & Ted Face the Music1 entitled Bill and Ted’s Excellent Midlife Crisis2 recently and it chimed in right along the lines of something else I’ve been pondering and joking with my wife about. It gave me just enough motive, alongside of my coffee this morning, to knock out this note. As a bit of context, the original Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure3 was released in 1989 when I was a sophomore in high school.   I remember liking the film at the time even though I might have pinned the ‘air headed’ language as something sophomoric. And here I am now, middle aged, considering it again. 

    Aside from George Carlin and the clever use of history, I think the stoner-esque ‘be excellent to each other’ sorta motto was my attraction to the original film.  Nowadays, I find myself now more likely to want to mimic that sorta ‘party on dudes’ attitude in response to middle age even thought I’d like to think I know better.  I don’t want to do a deep dive on a pop culture relic here, but the review just further reminded me of an outlook and experience I’ve been meaning to share.  Someone told me eons ago that it helps to set folks expectations low so that you always exceed them. It was likely in a business meeting where I generally ran into every new project with an unbridled confidence saying things like, ‘if it can be done, I can do it’. That person was right in every respect, not just in work, but in personal relationships too. Turns out that if you set the expectations low, that you can gradually exceed them along the way making everyone happy. I regularly use phrases like “I’ll give it a shot” or “I’ll try my best” even though I know I’m perfectly capable. Although I try my best to practice that now with business, I still struggle a bit to remember to set my expectations low with social relationships.

    The recent events have really just put an extra amount of unease into in the air.  I can sense it in my emails and general interactions with others.  My wife is dealing with it too and we’ve started jokingly saying “remember to keep your expectations low” as a way to deflate some of the concern.  I’m often accused by my better half of being too critical. As much as I’d like to add falsely to it, she’s right. I’ll subject anything to ridicule at the drop of a hat. I often wonder if I hold myself up to the same standards and where it came from.  I try to tone them down with humility.  I’ll tell the waiter that everything is great and then turn to my wife to say… it’s alright, the tuna is overcooked, there’s too much sauce and the like. I’ve come up with all kinds of excuses for this. The recent events have agitated my criticism so much that I’m having to defer to the low expectation thing as a defense mechanism for the world in which I find myself.  I’m unsure why I ever really expected otherwise, but reality sometimes falls short of my expectations. Although perspective is often subjective, the expectation that reality will somehow change or improve alongside of situations is often untrue. If I only had that thing, did that job, or lived there, things will be different. I think there’re a limited number of circumstances in which this truly has an effect.  My father told me one time that people never really change. I think he used ‘really’ to define the core personality traits that are often unrelated to circumstance. It’s something I’ve really come to appreciate. When I delve into a strangers personality, I’m often trying to asses their background. And In that regard, the older I get the more it feels like high school.  

    Even thought I set my expectations for ‘adulting’ to be low, I didn’t expect them to feel this juvenile.  I suppose I should pre-empt that statement with the fact that I also felt that way in high school. I think the primary reason for this is about conformity and group values.  It’s especially applicable for me living in a small town and having gone to a small high school. It’s now the same little cliques of folks running around ‘adulting’. It certainly doesn’t help that half of them actually went to high school together. Recognizing this has given me quite the advantage in that I think of behavior in terms of the same probabilities and understandings that I formed in my teens. Perhaps natural selection has wired us to store experiences in these terms and I suppose this is more of a sociological question than a psychological one.  Regardless to say, I’m very keen on the idea that most of the adults around me still possess the same fundamental personality traits of children.  Jockeying for social status, the need for attention, the desire to fit in, and the like. It’s just that these have manifested themselves into career level, net worth, social network, significant others, where you vacation, how well your aging, and how well your kids are achieving. I’m a fan of any literature or film that portrays the intelligence or sensitivity of children as superior to that of the adults around them.  In many ways, the new Bill & Ted Face the Music is about exactly that on repeat and it has exactly the same lighthearted potency it had on me as a teenager.

    I’ve found that the best way to break up our behaviors are to belittle them with good humor. I routinely mock business meetings, beguile so-called professionalism, sarcastically slander social status, prod at productivity, mock maturity, deride sophistication, and generally do my best to act juvenile in an attempt to subvert all things adulting. The ongoing reminder between my wife and I to keep our expectations low is just a defense mechanism we use to easily exceed the status quo. I try to keep them low because the older I get the more it feels like high school.  And the more it feels like high school, the more I just want to party on and be excellent. 

    1. Bill and Ted Face the Music – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_%26_Ted_Face_the_Music
    2. Bill and Ted’s Excellent Midlife Crisis – https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2020/08/bill-and-ted-face-music-keanu-reeves-alex-winter-interview/615772/
    3. Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_%26_Ted%27s_Excellent_Adventure