Summertime Beethoven

Thursday night at the St Joseph's Co-Cathedral in Fort Greene.

• Ludwig Van Beethoven: Symphony No. 6 "Pastoral"
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Marriage of Figaro Overture
• Bela Bartok: Romanian Dances

Sliver of a Moon

Craft CMS Going Strong

Brandon Kelly, a founder of Craft CMS, posted this to Mastodon on Jan 1st of this year:

Mind-blowing stat to kick off 2024: @craftcms is now the 7th most popular CMS among the top 5K domains worldwide, according to Cloudflare's 2023 trends report.

And Greg Storey added his commentary:

It is a remarkable achievement for the products they create, their product strategy (the products they don't create), and their obvious commitment to the thousands of people who create these top five thousand websites with Craft. [...] Folks, this is the Internet I signed up for! This is exactly the type of business story I want to see, read, and hear more of in the years to come. It's a great reminder that the independent web is still alive and kicking, and poised for a strong comeback.

I really like Craft. It's the CMS I've used for this site since maybe 2012? I'm pretty sure Craft was still at Version 1, and it remains, at Version 4, a very reliable and flexible CMS. Admittedly, I sometimes wonder if I should migrate to something else, but reading that Craft is flourishing is enough to convince me to stay. It's easy enough to develop for, and the community around it is friendly and helpful. They've really earned their success.

Eclipse 2024

For the 2024 eclipse, Lisa and I traveled back to Indy. My childhood home happened to be fully in the path of totality, so of course it was the obvious place to be. The whole thing could hardly have been better. Weather was perfect, and warm. We set up chairs in the cul-de-sac and all the neighbors joined us. It was a lovely little party.

Experiencing an eclipse is extremely hard to put into words, and we're all probably a bit tired of hearing about it by now. We watched the light turn silver. Through our glasses, we could see the moon creeping slowly across the sun. Then, with shocking speed, considering how long it takes to get from 0 to 99% totality, the light drops to late evening darkness. There's a 360° sunset-like horizon surrounding you, pink and orange and purple. The temperature cools like ten degrees or more. You can then look up at the sun where it's this creepy, flaming black circle. Much bigger than you expect it to be because what you're looking at is the full moon, not the sun. It's so so so bizarre to see with your own eyes. Unreal. A thousand years ago, any witnesses to this would absolutely believe something mystical and demonic was happening.

And then, 4+ minutes later, it's over. The sunlight comes sliding back as quickly as it had disappeared. It's likely I'll never chance to see another one, so I'm glad I put the effort into this one, to experience it with Lisa, my brother, and my parents.

I took some photos, but not many. At least, none of them ended up matching our experience. I made a conscious decision to be off my phone, to pay attention to the eclipse itself, and not lining up shots. That was the right decision.

Earthquake!

A 4.8 earthquake with an epicenter in New Jersey happened this morning around 10:23. I'm sure there isn't a person online who doesn't know about it by now. We felt it at home in Brooklyn. Lasted only long enough for Lisa to realize what it was, and for me to register that our building really was shaking. Then it was over.

Took me another hour for my nerves to calm down. I kept expecting another aftershock, which never came. Glad to hear that so far no serious damage was reported.

Update: 6pm aftershock. Lisa and I were both in the living room together this time. Felt almost as strong as the original shake, lasting nearly as long.

The Sliding Scale of Giving a Fuck

Dan Mall reminded me of Cap Watkins' great post, The Sliding Scale of Giving a Fuck. I hadn't thought of it in awhile, though it did become a fundamental aspect of my design process. The gist is that you should take into consideration how strongly another person feels about their position in an argument or discussion when deciding a way forward. It's a very useful factor to consider for maintaining healthy relationships with your coworkers.

Like I said, I had forgotten about Watkin's post, but reflecting on it now, I see I've internalized it. In meetings, I prefer to stay quiet and to watch how others stake their claims. The manner in which they take positions is often as revealing as the position they're taking. Are they annoyed? Animated? Angry? Disinterested? Confused? Understanding the moods in the room gives me extra information for how to proceed with my proposals. If most people seem lost or unsure, I feel more comfortable presenting an idea confidently. It's an opportunity to provide structure and momentum when both are lacking. Yet, if someone else in the meeting is passionately arguing for something, I'm likely to provide my opinions softly. I'll share a differing perspective, but in this situation, I'd let it sit on the table and wait for someone else to pick it up. Otherwise, the passionate colleague can have their way.

A lot of this depends on having a trustworthy team. A team that shares goals at a higher level. If we all know we're working towards the same success metrics, it's easier to relax about individual decisions. I'm lucky to be on a team like that now. There's never any doubt we're all looking to make the best products we can.

If you're on a team that's constantly skidding out when disagreements arise, maybe see if The Sliding Scale of Giving A Fuck could help smooth things out.