Moon Bow
Chris
Continuity
The iPhone, iPad and MacBook software upgrades are complete and I have had a chance to integrate and play a bit. One new feature I’ve been exploring is the ability to connect the laptop and the phone together, it is called “iPhone Mirroring.”
I’m not sure of the use-case for this feature but it could be helpful in the future- controlling your phone remotely. This will play well with connecting my MacBooks together too.
A Serving Library
The exploration of my server’s capabilities and limitations are ongoing. I’ve found a new home for Headless Minnie underneath the bed in my home office. She’s quiet, gets lots of shade, unseen and responds when I dial into her.
Limitations
The Mini is a refurbished Mac from a third-party seller with 1TB of storage. There are two partitions with the Mac OS taking up a lot of storage space. I can remove those partitions easily enough but do not have an OS image to install. I’d take it to the Apple geniuses to but this model is no longer supported. Also, it has an older processor therefore making the processes slower than I’d like.
Capabilities
File sharing, printer sharing, host my website and podcast files and eventually host my own private email mailbox. By generating its own static IP address, I can remotely access files from my phone or iPad while away from home.
Conclusion
The Mac mini provides a robust and flexible set of server functionalities, making it suitable for me. Its ability to handle file sharing, backups, web and mail hosting, remote access, media streaming, and more—all from a small, energy-efficient device—makes it an attractive choice for me when I need reliable server features without the overhead of a dedicated server.
Print Error
I attempted to print a few pages from the Archives .pdf last night at the library. It would not accept the 485MB file. I didn’t want to print all of it but the printer didn’t give me a chance to tell it which pages to print. Need a better solution.
Central File Maintenance
My second attempt at scrap collage work. I grabbed a discovered post card from Germany, some scrap and used an index card for the backing. It’s simple, it’s fun. Need more scrap that suits my tastes and take it from there.
Headless Minnie
I have not had full access to my file server inside the MacBook Mini (aka Minnie)1 since I packed it up for her relocation to Florida. After running an update and backed everything up from my MacBook M1 to Minnie, it was time to find a spot for her, the monitor and keyboard.
The desk is already consumed by the laptop and the iPad so there was no room for a server and its peripherals too. So after making some settings changes, bumped up the file and screen sharing options, I took her head off.
The file server now sits alone, without a monitor or keyboard, patiently, in the corner of the home office waiting for me to remotely access it from the laptop when she is called upon.
It is an elegant, essential and utterly macabre solution but it’ll do for now.
25 Books In 2025
It is never too early to begin mapping out your reading list for the upcoming year, right?
Well, who asked you?
Next year, I’d like to incorporate more Classics and non-fiction titles into the rotation. I’ve come up with fourteen and need a few more.
What would you add to the list? Suggestions welcomed.
Okay, now I am asking you.
As always, the option to add/remove/delete titles are based on availability, new releases, new discoveries and anything else that tickles my fancy.
Research On Searching
Over the previous years, online search engines have become overwhelmed with advertisements and results that may somewhat be relative to the original query you typed into the search field- it is maddening.
Even Boolean searches with tools such as “and” “or” “not”, plus signs, minus signs, quote, endnotes, etc are rendered useless. I’ve tried advanced library search strategies to no fruition that benefitted my search query.
I suggested awhile back that Apple should build their own search engine but they are content by taking Google’s $1 billion annual payout to make their search engine the default inside the Safari browser instead.
When I read that Apple Intelligence (brilliant marketing, by the way,) was going to be included in the next software update sometime later this year, I signed up for an OpenAI account to feel out how well it’s ChatGPT could help. I’ve been using it as a research assistant to answer the same questions I would ask a standard search engine.
The results are night and day. Instead of providing thousands of websites that may point the way to an eventual answer, ChatGPT provides an answer back to me in the form of a conversation. If I have a follow-up question, or ask for specifics, the reply is lightning quick. Of course, all information has to be verified. I won’t accept answers blindly without a second opinion. 99% of the information I checked and rechecked have been spot on. Nothing is 100% when it comes to research, especially from an LLM (Learned Language Model) such as ChatGPT. You cannot call it A.I. simply because it is not sentient. It is not intelligent on its own. It has retained and provides data based on human data. Everyone knows we are flawed and make mistakes.
ChatGPT will too, but for now, it does a damn better job of providing information better than all the other search engines do. Even though that is why they exist.
Orion
Recently, a review for the constellation of Orion’s Belt only gets three stars. Another review says it is a “waist” of space.
Siri told me this joke early this morning and what was the very first constellation I see immediately after? You guessed it. Had to grab a shot of course.
I wonder what the universe is trying to tell me today? Is it written in the stars?
The PDF
Want to find obscure articles and even unabridged books online? Type your book in the search bar and add .pdf to end of that.
The Discipline
What if we start thinking of our creative process as a spiritual practice?