Month: June 2020

Simplifying the Complicated, Part 2

| Ben

I didn’t finish the last post I made about what I’m doing to the website. I think I might have left midway to do something–probably to play No Man’s Sky. I’m handling my addiction quite well. I’m back to working like crazy (full-time right now) but I’m still making a few changes to the site:

Built-In Feedback: Before I started working full-time again (believe me, this is just temporary), I started working on a feedback system for podcast episodes. I’m just finishing it up and putting it through a few rounds of testing. Over the next few weeks, you may notice that the links to my old website are gone and replaced with another commenting system. I’m keeping the Recaptcha stuff for now just for an extra layer of protection.

Podcast Feed: Along with those changes, I’m going to start generating my own feed code for new podcast episodes. This is done more for me so I don’t have to use several softwares just to update the feed. That was the reason why the latest episode was delayed, because I have to manually change it and sometimes I am just too tired and lazy. Why not do it automatically if I can do it that way?

Left Menu: I’ve simplified the menu that can appear on the left of pages (or the whole screen if you’re using a mobile device). It’s still not perfect, but I’ve reduced the size of the artwork/cover. At some point, I am going to make it an option to pop out the player so you can get more space on the menu.

Reward System: I go back and forth with this, trying to decide whether to keep it or not. As I’ve said before in my other weblog, I’m not seeking to get rich from this but I think it’s important to reward those who help promote my totally unprofessional podcast, streaming, or websites. I want to keep this, but I want to simplify it. A lot of the work I am doing here is more of a “proof of concept” kind of thing. You know, to see whether I can do it and for it to be tested. At some point, I want to help other podcast producers. Whether that happens or not, I don’t know yet.

Contact Options: I’m going to reduce these simply because I don’t want to have 300 links to services that I don’t use. I’ve removed Skype a long time ago because I’ve switched to using it only for phone calls to the USA. I’ll keep Telegram, Discord, Mastodon, and the contact form on my website. No Instagram? I don’t really use it. I don’t use Snapchat. I reserve Facebook for people I know personally. A lot of this change has been done, but I want to further simplify it.

Conclusion: I hope this transparency helps you understand what I’m doing and I really hope you’ll help me test things out and let me know if you see anything funny. I do need your help with testing things on this website because it’s built from scratch. I am not borrowing any code from anywhere. I want to get it right. 🙂

Again, thank you for being here. I appreciate it! I hope you stick around.

Simplifying the Complicated, Part 1

| Ben

I’ve always got an excuse why I don’t post new podcast episodes, stream, or update my weblog and of course, today is no different. Things have been really busy lately.

I could lie and tell you that I haven’t just discovered No Man’s Sky but I won’t do that. That’s why I’ve been so busy. It’s why I haven’t been able to do anything else.

I’m going to be trying a few new things with what you hear and what you see. Here is what I’m thinking:

Podcasting: I’ve basically been struggling to find any motivation to record new podcast episodes. One of the real struggles of living in a rural area is that nothing happens. COVID-19 has made that even worse. You’d think that I’d have more time to blow because of it, but I don’t. I am considered “essential”. I don’t have an option to work from home. Besides work, nothing exciting has been happening.

Streaming: My work hours have been very unpredictable. Basically, I am on call on weekends. That’s when I think streaming game play works best. My dates have to be moved around a lot. I’m going to try to get it started soon. If you’d like to follow me on Twitch, go here.

More Political Babble

| Ben

When I start “new” blogs, I usually start posting daily, but I didn’t do it this time. Way to go for me.

I try not to be too political in my writing because, well, it ruffles people’s panties. I don’t want to continuously piss people off. That’s not my goal… usually. Yet, politics is on my mind again.

When I first registered as a voter in the US, I registered as a Republican voter because my dad insisted on it and I just accepted that. Then I learned about what they stand for and changed it to Democrat. I’m much more for the people than the corporations and I don’t like what Republicans stand for. There are some ideas where I can say “Okay, that’s not so bad” but for a majority of what they believe, I don’t agree.

Having said that, I believe that a change between the both every so often is “healthy” for the country. I believe we work best when both sides actually cooperate, but as we’ve seen during this administration, that doesn’t happen very often.

In regards to the USA, I am an overseas voter. I try to vote in most of the major elections and I vote for the lesser evil. My vote is for Texas though, and it’s quite well-known how Texas usually votes, so my side loses… a lot. Oh well, what can you do?

I’m really hoping for a change (or return) to some kind of normality next year. Sadly, I’m not convinced that US citizens care about electing the best person for the job, as we’ve seen. I see the Great Orange Overlord getting ‘blessed’ with another four years. I really hope I’m proven wrong. I really do.

As I’ve said, I’m going to eventually shy away from posting my political thoughts. I hope.

Anyway, I don’t know if any of that had a point. Maybe it’s just that I wanted to talk about myself. I love talking about myself. 🙂

I hope everyone is doing well. If you’ve migrated over from Idiologic, welcome back! 🙂

What’s to Hate About Australia?

| Ben

I came across a news article this morning about an American backpacker hating things about Australia and immediately got a bit defensive. Strange, huh? I’m a dual citizen of Australia and the USA and I’ve been here for over ten years now, so I’m used to how things work here. I’ve adapted to changes the best I can but there are still things that irritate me. Some of the things I agree with and I was surprised.

Here’s a few things he said and my comment about them:

Slow Wi-Fi

Agree.

The Wi-Fi that’s available in restaurants or offered by the cities here is incredibly slow. The internet, in general, has always been slow. It’s been decent at universities but yeah, you wouldn’t want to go to your local McDonald’s and try to get anything done. He complained about it taking 5-7 hours to upload a YouTube video and that’s not wrong. I’ve got faster internet at home, but it’s not as good as it is in the USA. I’m always relieved when I head back to the USA and get online. Australia really needs to do better.

‘Aggressive’ Flies

Agree, 1000%.

The flies totally ruin my summer to the point where I don’t even want to walk outside sometimes. It’s especially annoying where I am living now (out in the country). I’m actually thankful for the really hot days when they all get cooked. They’re just annoying. After more than a decade, I still hate the flies.

Compulsory Helmet Wearing

Disagree.

Whatever promotes safety is fine with me. I don’t mind if the government steps in to make people comply.

No Free Refills

Disagree.

It was annoying when I first got here (and some places actually DO refills, but it’s not common). It’s one of those things that was just an annoyance but I’ve learned to live with it and pay for anything extra I get. It also cuts down the amount of sugar I have as well.

And have you seen the sizes of cups in the USA? Do people really need those refilled???

Speed Cameras

Disagree.

Bring them on. If you’re not speeding, you have nothing to worry about and if you feel like the fine you’ve gotten is unjustified, then dispute it. Easy. It’s all about public safety (and also revenue).

Paying at the Petrol/Gas Pump

Agree.

At most places, this isn’t possible. I’d have to say that I’ve seen it maybe once or twice since I’ve lived in Australia. It was so bad that I was a little confused when I went to the USA and totally forgot what I needed to do to pump gas. I did like that system. The less people I have to deal with, the better.

And now, my very small list:

Store Hours

In a lot of places, the hours stores stay open is terrible at best. When you’re living out in the country like I am, you’re lucky to find any place that’s open on the weekend. You end up having to drive to a bigger town that’s an hour away just to do your shopping. And you have to be quick because these places close around 5 pm.

A lot of places close at 4:30 pm but people leave their job at 5 pm. Yeah.

Fines, Everywhere

Instead of putting people in jail or prison, the government would rather fine you. They aren’t cheap fines either. I guess they’d rather have the cash flow than putting people in jail. I totally get it but a lot of the time, people don’t even pay those. I have received one for $250-ish one time for losing my train ticket. I found that ticket by the time I left, so I guess that’s a win?

It’s hard to list the negatives, honestly. I have so many nice things to say about Australia. Obviously, I love living here. I’d much rather live here than the USA, honestly.

Every place has its negatives and flaws and I feel like the positives outweigh the negatives. I’m happy here.

Would I be happy in the USA? I could find happiness there. I never was incredibly unhappy there. I just feel safer here. I could build a life there if I had to but why do that when Australia in general is so awesome.

So, from this American, I love being here and I’m so lucky to live in this country!

Injustice & Inequality

| Ben

What do I think about what’s happening in the USA right now?

I don’t really post a lot of my feelings about current events from the USA because I’m perpetually disappointed in my home country. I see a lot of #AllLivesMatter stuff on my Facebook wall and it’s usually from the people I expect. No surprises here. They’re people who can’t bear to be blamed and don’t want to take responsibility for the many, MANY acts of injustices that happen to people of color every single day. Let’s face it. It is a problem. It needs addressed and if peacefully bringing it to our leaders’ attention isn’t working, obviously something else must be done.

The inequality must be addressed. It’s not. We’ve got a president who will go and hide, tweeting from his hiding place, inciting hatred, and causing problems. Nothing is going to change until we change the quality of leadership.

You know something though? I can almost guarantee that change is not going to happen next year. I don’t have any faith left in US citizens to make sound decisions. I have even less faith in most of the so-called leaders. So far, they don’t lead, they just divide.

Before we address the #AllLivesMatter thing, we need to tackle the inequality concerning black lives. The statistics are abysmal and they’re not something that I am proud of as a dual national of the USA.

A lot of times, what I type here doesn’t come out as clear as I’d like it to but what I’m saying is that the racial divisiveness and injustice needs to stop. I am a supporter from afar. I know justice can happen but sadly with the state of the US, it is not within grasp with our current head of state.