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My Tablet - My Computer by Roger Carter
Rather than replace your old, slow computer with a new one, why not buy a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse for your Android tablet instead? This book explains how to set up your tablet to replace your computer, what apps to install, and how to configure your new system. It will not only handle all your home office tasks, it will be much faster and in many respects more capable than your old computer.

I came across a free ebook by Roger Carter on Smashwords about using an Android tablet as a computer (see My Tablet – My Computer). The book is short, running just over 5,000 words. While I do not personally need to use an Android (LineageOS in my case) tablet as a computer (not to mention my 2013 Google Nexus 7 might struggle in some areas), I was curious to see Mr. Carter’s set-up and recommendations. It provides a nice tutorial to setting up an Android tablet to behave like a computer (I was not aware of some of the settings he toggled) and is worth reading if you have a use case for this set-up. Regarding apps, I would personally opt for a different set-up from the perspective of preferring LineageOS (or other similar ROMs) and open source apps to the stock Android suite. For example, because I do most of my writing drafts in markdown, I would rely heavily on Markor as my text editor. But if I needed word processing, my first inclination would be to try the open source Collabora Office. For keeping everything in sync between my devices, I prefer to rely on Syncthing instead of a third-party cloud.

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I read many video game magazines when I was a kid. Back in my day, E3, which typically took place in May or June, was the major video game expo and a major event in the magazines. I used to look forward to E3 coverage. Over the years, I stopped reading video game magazines and, by extension, consuming much video game news (I am mostly content to see how games look when they are released). I lost track of E3 but was aware that it was struggling in our new, digital age. E3 had not been held in person since 2019 or in any form since 2021. It was cancelled in 2022 and 2023. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the organizers of E3 announced that E3 is no more. So closes a lengthy chapter in video game history.

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Yukinu's 5am Udon Recipe by Yukinu (Yukinu's Blog)
Here’s my go-to recipe for early morning Udon noodles. The recipe is in MealMaster format (see Jan Wedekind’s site for more info on the format, it’s a very old format from a DOS application named Meal-Master), and you can read and manage MealMaster recipes using the Free Software application AnyMeal.

Yukinu over at Yukinu blog posted a simple and tasty looking 5am udon recipe. I approve with the qualification that I would opt for unsalted chicken broth (if I am adding soy sauce) and that I am not sure if I am ready for udon at 5 AM (I usually prefer hot cereal for breakfast). But what most caught my attention in the post was the format Yukinu wrote the recipe in, the MealMaster format. It looks like simple markup and another blogger/developer maintains a full resource on it. Bookmarked, and added to my Zotero, for future reference.

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An article in Ars Technica reported that Systemd Linux distributions (which describes most distributions these days) will receive a much-desired updated from Windows: The Blue Screen of Death. From the article:

Today, version 255 of the Linux systemd project honors that original intent by adding a systemd-bsod component that generates a full-screen display of some error messages when a Linux system crashes.

All Blue Screen of Death jokes aside, this seems like a good change to me. While my Linux proficiency has come a long way since I first switched over from Windows in August 2020, I have fortunately not had too many reasons to master finding and parsing error logs. My few crashes have usually had to do with Nvidia graphics drivers after an update (and those cases have been rare). Having a friendly Blue Screen of Death to describe an error in the event my computer crashes would be welcome.

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Exploring the Personal Web by foreverliketh.is (foreverliketh.is)
Into the Wild Green Yonder

Blogger foreverketh.is put together a very good list of webrings and similar collections of personal websites and blogs. I recall having come across it before, but I had previously missed that I am cited as a contributor for my New Leaf Journal article on the idea of a “social” media consisting of independent personal websites. Whether you are a webmaster or a curious reader, I recommend perusing the list of webrings and blogrolls (and submitting to one or more if your project fits the criteria).

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Hemispheric Views - App Defaults by Robb Knight (defaults.rknight.me)
Hemispheric Views - App Defaults

I was inspired to create an article listing my default apps by a project to collect default app posts on Hemispheric Views. I wrote my default apps article and then made a pull request to have the article included in the Hemispheric Views project. The curator merged my pull request within two hours. I am glad to be included and recommend reading some more of the 266 (as of this posting) articles included to find some interesting new “default app” ideas for your own use (my list is focused on Linux and Android since I run Linux on all of my computers and LineageOS on my phones and tablets). If you have a blog or website, I encourage you to consider writing and submitting your own App Defaults post.

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Show Pages ID (WordPress Plugin) by YYDevelopment (YYDevelopment)
Description Show Pages IDs is a plugin that will show allow you to view the IDs of pages and posts in wordpress. With Show Pages IDs plugin you will be able to views the pages and posts IDs in the top admin menu bar and in the back-end admin panel as well. Show Pages IDs Plugin Features Reveal pages...
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I use YYDevelopment’s free (including of cost) and open source WordPress plugin, Show Pages ID, both here and on The New Leaf Journal. I received a dismissible banner on my plugin page asking for a WordPress review. What about an on-site review? Show Pages ID is a very simple plugin that adds a field to the WordPress admin screen for posts that shows the post’s numerical ID. It also covers pages and custom post types. Not every site needs to know post IDs, but I have at least one plugin on both of my WordPress sites for which I need post IDs. The plugin is lightweight (only adds one option to the site) and written in pure PHP (see details). I recommend it if you need an easy way to see post ID numbers as of December 7, 2023.

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The law office I work for uses Dropbox. I use Dropbox in a browser profile I set aside for work instead of the local app. I just noticed today that when I upload a file, a little gray box appears in the bottom right corner of the screen showing the upload progress. When the upload is completed, the center of the box turns green and a little balloon animation appears on the left side of the box. I like the balloon animation. Nice touch, Dropbox.

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Simple Mobile Tools is a suite of free and open source android apps designed to replace Google’s default apps. However, “free and open source” will likely be a thing of the past after Simple Mobile Tools was acquired by ZippoApps. I used a few Simple Mobile apps back when I wrote a review of F-Droid apps in 2021, but I was fortunately not using any at the time of the ZippoApps news. One of the main contributors to Simple Mobile Tools who was not involved in the decision to sell the suite to an adware company forked the project. The fork looks like a good option for people who want to keep using the Simple Mobile Tools suite. Since I was not using any of the apps, I thought I would note what I use instead. Before continuing, do note that my phone runs LineageOS and I do not use any closed source apps, so your mileage with my set-up may vary if you use a flavor of stock Android.

(Note: If you installed the apps from F-Droid, they will likely just stop receiving updates. If you installed from Google Play, I would strongly recommend looking for alternatives before ZippoApps provides undesired updates, provided you do not desire updates from ZippoApps.

See the suite frozen as of December 6, 2023.

  • Simple Launcher: I use Kiss Launcher because I like that it is search-focused and stays out of the way. However, there are many open source alternatives.
  • Simple Keyboard: I use different open source keyboard also called Simple Keyboard. The Simple Keyboard I use may be too simple for some use cases, but I like my touchscreen keyboard to be as simple as possible (because I want a physical keyboard).
  • Simple Flashlight: I use the LineageOS default flashlight. “I need to install a flashlight app” is not a thought that ever crossed my mind.
  • Simple Calculator: I have the LineageOS default calculator app and I am fairly sure I never used it. There are some fun open source calculators on F-Droid for those who are interested.
  • Simple Camera: I started using the improved default LineageOS camera with LineageOS 20. For those who need something different, I have had good experiences with Open Camera.
  • Simple Voice Recorder: I have the default voice recorder installed and have never used it.
  • Simple Gallery Pro: I used to use Simple Gallery but I now use the LineageOS default. For whatever it is worth, I usually manage my phone’s camera folders from my computer since they are synced with Syncthing.
  • Simple SMS Messenger: I use LineageOS’s default messenger. I previously used QKSMS which is good, although not updated frequently these days.
  • Simple Calendar Pro: I have Etar installed but I do not use it.
  • Simple File Manager Pro: I use Material Files and Ghost Commander, both of which I recommend.
  • Simple Dialer: I use the LineageOS default phone app. However, because I almost never talk on the phone, this app is only used on rare occasions.
  • Simple Draw Pro: I cannot draw on paper, much less on a touchscreen. However, I have seen an open source app called Linwood Butterfly which seems to receive frequent updates for those who are looking for a new drawing app.
  • Simple Clock: You will be shocked to know that I stick with the LineageOS default clock app.
  • Simple Notes Pro: Use Markor and be happy. Markor is a powerful text editor, but I use it most often for saving links in markdown files that I can then sync across all of my devices with Syncthing.
  • Simple Music Player: I have the LineageOS default music app. This is not because I like it, but rather because I have never used a music app on my phone.

There you have it. I fear my suggestions may not be helpful to everyone because of my particular phone set-up and usage, but I hope that the suggestions I was able to offer help point some disappointed Simple Mobile Tools users who are not following the new fork in the right direction. I conclude by offering one non-Simple Mobile Tools suggestion: Take a look at Obtainium for installing open source apps directly from source if you do not source your apps from Google Play Store. I have been using it for a few months and am impressed thus far.

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NYC Manhole Covers: History and How They’re Made by Michelle Young (Untapped Cities)

Before we close out, have you figured out yet why are manhole covers round? My contact at the DEP says, “The principal reason that manhole covers are round is so they won’t fall into the manhole.” If a manhole is square, rectangular or even oval, it can fall into the manhole if you insert it at an angle or vertically. Yikes!

I never thought about why manhole covers were round before reading this detailed history of manhole covers in New York City. That they are round “so they won’t fall into the manhole … if you insert [them] at an angle or vertically” makes sense. Maybe I never thought about it because I have never been tasked with installing a manhole cover.

Email newsletters via RSS by Dan Q (Dan Q)
No, I won't subscribe to your newsletter... except by using my RSS reader (and a clever feature of OpenTrashMail)!

I primarily use feeds to stay on top of interesting authors and websites. I seldom need to deal with newsletters because almost everything I follow (including a few Substack and Buttondown newsletters and the newsletter for Tablet Magazine) also have RSS feeds. But there are a few exceptions, notably some of the Real Clear network of sites. I started using Omnivore to cover this use case since it supports subscribing to newsletters from inside its app with its own email addresses. Blogger Dan Q here wrote about using an Open Trash Mail instance to handle newsletter to RSS conversions. Apparently one can subscribe to these disposable addresses via RSS. I’ll keep this in mind for future reference.

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Sports Illusrated, fresh off an AI article controversy, selected Colorado Buffaloes college football coach Deion Sanders as its Sportsperson of the Year. Mr. Sanders took over as head coach at Colorado after the football team went 1-11 in 2022. Sports Illustrated noted that the team improved greatly in Coach Sanders’ first season:

As for the actual football? It’s been an adventure. Colorado is massively improved over 2022, when it was by far the worst Power 5 program. The Buffaloes were outscored by 29.1 points per game last year, compared to 6.7 this year

The team lost its final six games to finish 4-8. While that is better than the 1-11 record Colorado posted in 2022, it is still sub-par.

Sportsperson of the Year is a nebulous award, But a college football coach coming off a 4-8 season, regardless of the circumstances leading up to the season, does not seem like a likely candidate. If they want to honor Mr. Sanders, why not wait 2-3 seasons to see how Colorado football looks after Mr. Sanders has more time to build the program in his image and bring in his recruits? What award be left to give Coach Sanders if Colorado is 11-1 at this point in 2025?

On the other hand, if the Sportsperson of the Year award is to honor sports figures who give human and AI journalists things to write about, the eminently quotable Coach Sanders had one of the best cases in 2023.

(I would have submitted now former Texas A&M football coach Jimbo Fisher for earning $76.8 million to not coach Texas A&M.)

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I received an email from the Bing Webmaster Team:

We hope this message finds you well! We've noticed it's been a while since you last visited Bing Webmaster Tools, and we've genuinely missed having you around!
Webmaster Tools has undergone some exciting updates and improvements recently, and we think you'll be pleased with the enhancements we've made. Your feedback has always been valuable to us, and we're eager to hear your thoughts on the latest features.

My main project, The New Leaf Journal, was blacklisted by Bing in January 2023 and not reinstated until July (I received formal confirmation near the end of August). The process was annoying enough to prompt me to create a GitHub repository (my choice of Microsoft-owned GitHub was intentional) collecting Bing-ban stories. I still do not know why Bing took adverse action against my site (they will never say), but I can report that our standing with Bing and Bing-dependent DuckDuckGo has finally returned to what it was on the eve of the troubles in January. Of course, this Bing email is a misunderstanding for a reason unrelated to my complicated Bing history. I usually use a Google account I set up for Search Console purposes to log into Bing Webmaster. This email was sent to my Bing-only account that has never been used. Bing can rest assured that I am alive and have seen its new Webmaster features.

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The Classic Editor in WordPress by Jack Baty (Baty.net)
I thought for sure I would finally settle in with WordPress for a while, but Gutenberg always annoys. Some of it is handy, but mostly I just feel frustrated when writing anything more than a paragraph or two. Several people, noticing my frustration, recommended that I try the Classic Editor plugin, so that’s what I’m doing now.

I am using the Classic Editor here at The Emu Café Social, in large part because some of the IndieWeb plugins I am using require it instead of Gutenberg. I agree with this take by Mr. Baty in a vacuum that  the classic editor is better for writing than Gutenberg. However, I use Gutenberg over at my main WordPress-powered project, The New Leaf Journal. The reasons are two-fold:

  1. Drafting articles in markdown (I like Ghostwriter) and converting them using Pandoc for use on WordPress provides a superior workflow to both Gutenberg and the Classic Editor.
  2. Because I draft my long articles outside of WordPress (with a few exceptions), I am more concerned with formatting. Gutenberg works better for me for that purpose than the TinyMCE editor.

(I will note, however, that Gutenberg footnotes almost cost me a great deal of work on a recent project.)