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The First Metric Century of the Season
Reading Time: 3 minutesYesterday I set off from home at around 08:00 for what I planned would be a one hundred kilometre ride. The rational was that I would cycle to and from Geneva, around 50 kilometres, and participate in a group ride with Bike Club Switzerland, another fifty kilometre ride. It’s because it was easy to add a few kilometres that I decided to bring this first one hundred kilometre ride to fruition.
I consider myself lucky with the routing. I was expecting that we would climb from Geneva, into France, go around the foot of the Jura towards Divonne, have coffee, and then ride back. I expected that the ride back would be the route that I had just ridden to get to Geneva.
In fact the opposite was true, and that’s great. It meant that the ride out of Geneva was on the road I had just taken, and the road back to Geneva was different. It made riding back to Geneva a rational thing to do. I then rode back to Nyon via Versoix before going up from the Mies roundabout to Coppet, before then riding back down, into Nyon, and then up through Nyon before heading home.
This ride was relaxed for the entire route. From Nyon to Geneva I made sure to cycle below my maximum, even resting, without pedaling for stretches. I also decided to take a new route that I have done with groups, but not solo, through the forest above Commugny. It allows the trip to be away from cars for longer. There isn’t much traffic at 8am on a Saturday.
I arrived to Geneva with half an hour to spare before the start of the ride. I was surprised by how great the conditions were. It was nippy, and I definitely felt that I would have been happier with an extra layer or two, but those layers, on a bike, are hard to carry once it gets warm, so I chose to run slightly cold. It paid off.
A Good Pace with Less Climbing
I appreciated that the pace was more relaxed, and with less climbing for once. I enjoy not having to push for the entire ride, to keep up, and not to have to get through too many climbs. It also helps that the weather is good, and that the wind is calm.
Why Relax?
People are often surprised when I choose easlier rides but I prefer them. When I went on difficult run, after difficult run, and then more difficult rides I push myself to the point of just heading home and recovering. According to Garmin, Suunto and Apple I was pushing too hard.
When you walk, and run, and hike, and then cycle you’re changing from one system of muscles, to a second and then a third, and it needs to adapt. I was pushing too hard so I struggled at the end of several activities.
Recovered
Yesterday I rode for four to six hours, for a total of around seven hours of being out. I rode to Geneva relaxed, and the group ride was relaxed. It was so relaxed that on a climb where I am usually knackered, and dropped, I coped with ease, such ease I rushed up the final climb, and then turned back to rejoin the group.
On the ride back to Nyon I made sure not to push too hard on the long flat bit towards Versoix, and that climb, and then I went up via Mies, before heading across to Coppet, before heading back down to the lakeside.
When I got to the UEFA traffic light I had enough power left to race cars on the road that goes by the plage de Nyon. I kept up right up to the Débarcadère before heading up, and towards home.
And Finally
To give an idea of how much energy I had left after 100 kilometres I was at the Emil Frey traffic light, waiting to turn right, when I tried to push and I felt the chain block. I had to dismount the bike, move to the pavement and identify the issue.
The chain had jumped off the cassette, between the cassette and the spokes and jammed. I then had to try to work it loose. In the process I either bent or loosened some spokes so that the wheel lost it’s alignment.
I might have had plenty of energy when cycling, but I was too knackered, when I got home, to go to a cycling shop to get them to check the bike. I have to wait for Tuesday to get the prognosis. Ideally it’s checking the rear derailleur and tightening wheel spokes, not more serious.
For once I think I fared better than the bike. We’ll see whether I have to take a break from cycling while the bike is fixed.
Most importantly, if I had refrained from sprinting to keep up with cars I would have been even more rested/relaxed.
#century #cycling #endurance #France #Geneva #vaud -
Around 200 news organisations have been targeted this year by Russian disinformation to deplete fact-checking resources:
"Those targeted include @TheJournal, The Guardian, BBC, The Daily Mail, Fox News, The New York Times, the Press Association, Der Spiegel, and the investigative website @Bellingcat."
https://www.thejournal.ie/operation-overload-russian-disinformation-campaign-6488851-Sep2024/
#Disinformation #InfluenceOperations #PsychologicalOperations #PsyOps #Destabilisation #Journalism #Democracy
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https://punnypeak.com/chicken-puns/ "
" "Why did the chicken cross the playground?To get to the other slide! #chickenjokes #poultryhumor #funnyanimals #barnyardcomedy #featheredfriends #eggspectations #cluckyjokes #fowlplay #hilarioushen #crackingup"
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Sinners, and other TV notes
Since I’ve been reviewing a lot of horror lately, I could see you being skeptical about my constant disclaimers that I’m not much of a horror fan. But the truth is some horror is so good in its non-horror elements that it’s compelling even for people not into horror. That’s the case with Sinners, which I’m late to the party on. The horror element is vampires, but similar to From Dusk till Dawn, the story has a rich non-supernatural setup, although it signals early what type of story we’re getting into.
It takes place in 1932 in Jim Crow era Mississippi, and centers around the “Smoke Stack” twins. Smoke and Stack have returned home from working for the mob in Chicago, loaded with stolen cash. They buy an old place to start up a juke joint, a type of nightclub for the local black community. They recruit their cousin Sammie, who it turns out is a phenomenal guitar player and singer, as well as a number of other old friends and loves from the community.
The people in the community are dirt poor, living essentially a 19th century life in early 20th century America. (This part of the movie feels like the The Color Purple.) And yet they are inured to that condition and manage to find joy in their day to day existence. And while the twins are clearly criminals, they care about each other, their friends, and community, and the agency they’re able to show make them compelling characters.
And yet as we watch all this setup, there are enough signals coming through that we know they’re doomed. This could have easily been a non-supernatural movie with the big bad being the local Klan, which do make an appearance, but adding in the supernatural enables a scene which puts this time and place in historical context, as well as a later pitch from the lead vampire for joining them, pointing out how much the world is against this group, and that they were already doomed before the vampires arrived.
The movie pulls all of this off incredibly well. If you haven’t caught it yet, I recommend checking it out.
If you’re American, then like me you probably learned a fairly sanitized version of the American Revolutionary War in grade school. If you never went beyond that, except possibly for Mel Gibson’s Patriot movie, then you owe it to yourself to check out Ken Burns and team’s new documentary: The American Revolution. I streamed it off the PBS service.
This documentary does a good job of covering just how violent and messy the revolution actually was, such as the fact that it was actually a civil war, in the sense that a substantial part of the population remained Loyalist. The result is a lot of brother against brother type scenarios of the kind we usually hear about in the later Civil War. But the Revolutionary War was all that and more.
The documentary doesn’t shy away from discussing slavery, and how the British actually used it against the Patriots, many of whom were slave owners. In particular, we learn about George Washington’s bitter outrage when the British started promising freedom for any slave of a Patriot who fights with the British. And his actions to reclaim as many slaves as possible in the aftermath. And how many plantation owners couldn’t leave to fight, concerned that their slaves might revolt in their absence.
We also learn about the dilemma of Native Americans. A substantial part of the resentment that Americans had against the British were the restrictions preventing them from moving west into Indian lands. For many native tribes, that meant their interests were more fully aligned with the British, although a number of tribes still aligned with the Americans. In the end, they were all screwed no matter what they did.
Overall though, the documentary provides a fairly gentle introduction to these realities. My only real nit is that the discussion about the Declaration of Independence, while briefly mentioning that the French held it out as a requirement for an alliance, doesn’t really emphasize how much the declaration was actually part of an overall strategy toward getting that alliance. It was the recognized necessity of that alliance which converted a rebellion into a war for independence. Although it does point out that a number of early proponents of resistance got off the train when it changed into a war of secession.
I learned some things by watching the documentary, and I’m reasonably well read on the subject, which I think speaks to how well done the documentary is.
It’s odd that I’ve never posted about Stranger Things. The 1980s were my high school and college years, so the show has always had a strong nostalgic feel. Plus my long standing crush on Winona Ryder makes it something of a guilty pleasure. Nothing particularly profound or groundbreaking with it. It has a feel similar to the old Disney show adventures, somewhat similar to The Goonies, but darker and grittier, yet never to the point where it stops being fun.
My only gripe, which has become increasingly standard, is how long we had to wait between seasons, and the fact that the final one is being broken up into three releases. Still, worth checking out if haven’t yet.
That’s what I’ve been watching lately. Have you seen any of them? Or watched anything else interesting lately?
#fantasy #film #history #horror #movies #ryanCoogler #sciFi2 #scienceFiction #scifi #sinners
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Checking in on your toon friends each weekend only to be met with their socials saying stuff like
Broke my legs falling from a five story building, into a razor blade factory
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With #TheBoys returning for its final season, I've been checking out some other #GarthEnnis stuff, which led me to this story by #AlanMoore based on Ennis's "Crossed" series.
It's nothing new for Moore to take someone else's story and expand upon it in wonderful and unexpected ways. Apparently, this project was the result of a long conversation between Ennis and Moore about the series. Get yourself a friend like that!
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Tomorrow, chance to hear Mike Caulfield on @bryanalexandee's Future Trends Forum for #highereducation
"He developed the SIFT method for fact-checking (Stop, Investigate, Find better coverage, and Trace claims)" - from Caulfield's bio at @uwcip #sift #infolit
https://shindig.com/login/event/caulfield -
#Catlovers know this problem...
Checking #gravity is one of the cat's jobs.
#Pickles #Opal #Earl #Muffin
#Roscoe #Caturday #Cat #Cats
#catsofmastodon #catsofpixelfed #Dog #Dogs
#dogsofmastodon -
The First Metric Century of the Season
Reading Time: 3 minutesYesterday I set off from home at around 08:00 for what I planned would be a one hundred kilometre ride. The rational was that I would cycle to and from Geneva, around 50 kilometres, and participate in a group ride with Bike Club Switzerland, another fifty kilometre ride. It’s because it was easy to add a few kilometres that I decided to bring this first one hundred kilometre ride to fruition.
I consider myself lucky with the routing. I was expecting that we would climb from Geneva, into France, go around the foot of the Jura towards Divonne, have coffee, and then ride back. I expected that the ride back would be the route that I had just ridden to get to Geneva.
In fact the opposite was true, and that’s great. It meant that the ride out of Geneva was on the road I had just taken, and the road back to Geneva was different. It made riding back to Geneva a rational thing to do. I then rode back to Nyon via Versoix before going up from the Mies roundabout to Coppet, before then riding back down, into Nyon, and then up through Nyon before heading home.
This ride was relaxed for the entire route. From Nyon to Geneva I made sure to cycle below my maximum, even resting, without pedaling for stretches. I also decided to take a new route that I have done with groups, but not solo, through the forest above Commugny. It allows the trip to be away from cars for longer. There isn’t much traffic at 8am on a Saturday.
I arrived to Geneva with half an hour to spare before the start of the ride. I was surprised by how great the conditions were. It was nippy, and I definitely felt that I would have been happier with an extra layer or two, but those layers, on a bike, are hard to carry once it gets warm, so I chose to run slightly cold. It paid off.
A Good Pace with Less Climbing
I appreciated that the pace was more relaxed, and with less climbing for once. I enjoy not having to push for the entire ride, to keep up, and not to have to get through too many climbs. It also helps that the weather is good, and that the wind is calm.
Why Relax?
People are often surprised when I choose easlier rides but I prefer them. When I went on difficult run, after difficult run, and then more difficult rides I push myself to the point of just heading home and recovering. According to Garmin, Suunto and Apple I was pushing too hard.
When you walk, and run, and hike, and then cycle you’re changing from one system of muscles, to a second and then a third, and it needs to adapt. I was pushing too hard so I struggled at the end of several activities.
Recovered
Yesterday I rode for four to six hours, for a total of around seven hours of being out. I rode to Geneva relaxed, and the group ride was relaxed. It was so relaxed that on a climb where I am usually knackered, and dropped, I coped with ease, such ease I rushed up the final climb, and then turned back to rejoin the group.
On the ride back to Nyon I made sure not to push too hard on the long flat bit towards Versoix, and that climb, and then I went up via Mies, before heading across to Coppet, before heading back down to the lakeside.
When I got to the UEFA traffic light I had enough power left to race cars on the road that goes by the plage de Nyon. I kept up right up to the Débarcadère before heading up, and towards home.
And Finally
To give an idea of how much energy I had left after 100 kilometres I was at the Emil Frey traffic light, waiting to turn right, when I tried to push and I felt the chain block. I had to dismount the bike, move to the pavement and identify the issue.
The chain had jumped off the cassette, between the cassette and the spokes and jammed. I then had to try to work it loose. In the process I either bent or loosened some spokes so that the wheel lost it’s alignment.
I might have had plenty of energy when cycling, but I was too knackered, when I got home, to go to a cycling shop to get them to check the bike. I have to wait for Tuesday to get the prognosis. Ideally it’s checking the rear derailleur and tightening wheel spokes, not more serious.
For once I think I fared better than the bike. We’ll see whether I have to take a break from cycling while the bike is fixed.
Most importantly, if I had refrained from sprinting to keep up with cars I would have been even more rested/relaxed.
#century #cycling #endurance #France #Geneva #vaud -
Friday, January 2, 2026
Welcome back to life: Ukraine's HUR faked death of top anti-Putin Russian commander, claimed Kremlin bounty money -- Russia is targeting civilians: Casualties, outages reported following Russian drone strikes on residential buildings in Odesa -- Malanka: Ukraine's winter ritual of masks, mischief, and good fortune -- The Russians took our dead ones away; 5 things we lost in Pokrovsk ... and morehttps://activitypub.writeworks.uk/2026/01/friday-january-2-2026/
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Friday, January 2, 2026
Welcome back to life: Ukraine's HUR faked death of top anti-Putin Russian commander, claimed Kremlin bounty money -- Russia is targeting civilians: Casualties, outages reported following Russian drone strikes on residential buildings in Odesa -- Malanka: Ukraine's winter ritual of masks, mischief, and good fortune -- The Russians took our dead ones away; 5 things we lost in Pokrovsk ... and morehttps://activitypub.writeworks.uk/2026/01/friday-january-2-2026/
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Friday, January 2, 2026
Welcome back to life: Ukraine's HUR faked death of top anti-Putin Russian commander, claimed Kremlin bounty money -- Russia is targeting civilians: Casualties, outages reported following Russian drone strikes on residential buildings in Odesa -- Malanka: Ukraine's winter ritual of masks, mischief, and good fortune -- The Russians took our dead ones away; 5 things we lost in Pokrovsk ... and morehttps://activitypub.writeworks.uk/2026/01/friday-january-2-2026/
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Friday, January 2, 2026
Welcome back to life: Ukraine's HUR faked death of top anti-Putin Russian commander, claimed Kremlin bounty money -- Russia is targeting civilians: Casualties, outages reported following Russian drone strikes on residential buildings in Odesa -- Malanka: Ukraine's winter ritual of masks, mischief, and good fortune -- The Russians took our dead ones away; 5 things we lost in Pokrovsk ... and morehttps://activitypub.writeworks.uk/2026/01/friday-january-2-2026/
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Death of the doomscroller
Exactly one year ago today I started a little experiment. It had been sparked by a post I had seen on social media, and ironically led to me leaving social media entirely(ish). A few days after I started the experiment I wrote about it here (eight paragraphs from the end), but in brief I decided to stop scrolling on my phone and read an ebook instead.
I had been aware for some time that whenever I had a free moment the phone would come out and I would spend that time scrolling through (predominantly) negative content. Intermittently I had tried ideas to reduce my scrolling time, getting rid of most of my accounts, deleting apps from my phone, trying to write instead, but nothing had properly stuck.
As I said in the blog last year, the recommendation on the social media post had been to download and read an ebook instead of scrolling. I was not sure if this would work, but decided to give it a try. I downloaded Small Gods by Terry Pratchett, and set about trying to stick to the plan.
Given I am writing this a year later you can probably guess what happened, but to be clear today is the one year anniversary of me reading ebooks instead of scrolling. Every day for the last 365 days I have read on my phone instead of doomscrolling. Today I announce the death of a doomscroller.
Great, but you are still on your phone…
I’m not sure I was 100% convinced I would make it to a year of reading instead of scrolling. As I have said above I had tried other things before which did not work. I imagined this plan would be something similar. To my surprise, it has worked.
Like any good experiment, it is important to evaluate the results. I’ve given up scrolling and replaced it with e-reading, but has it had the desired effect when I started; improve my overall wellbeing? This post is a reflection of sorts on the last year, what has changed, what I have learned, and what my plans are for the next year and beyond.
Let’s start with what you might think is the bleeding obvious…
I’ve read more
Duh!
But also, I’ve really read more. Over the last year on my phone I have read twenty books, abandoned one absolutely terrible book about 20% of the way through, and I am currently 55% of the way through my latest choice. Many of these books were Terry Pratchett books I had been wanting to read for some time, but in the last couple of months I had started to diversify a bit. I’ve also started a to-be-read pile online with a couple of books I will be tackling once I have finished The Portable Door.
I’ve really read more
As well as reading more on my phone, I have read more of the (many, many) books I have in my real life to-be-read pile. With less time spent doomscrolling on the phone, this has given me time to read, especially on an evening once the Toddler is in bed. I am currently working my way through the complete Earthsea collection, a hefty tome I might not have considered tackling a year ago for fear I would not have the time.
I’ve listened more
I am not sure if they are directly linked, but since giving up my doomscrolling, I have listened to more podcasts. Some of these are short stories, but mostly they are the selection of history shows I follow, a list which has only grown over the last year. I cannot quantify exactly how much, but I know I have spent more time listening and learning since the doomscrolling ceased.
I’m writing more
As well as having time to read, I have time on an evening to keep up to my plan to write something every day. Before, this might have been only a line or two before bed, now it can be pages of work on a good day. Over the last year I have finished one book, edited it and now I am submitting it to agents for consideration. I am also close to the first draft of a Christmas novella. Off the phone and at the keyboard has seen my productivity increase significantly.
My phone is missing me
Each Monday my phone gives me a breakdown of phone usage over the last week. Prior to giving up scrolling, this would often be to tell me my average use had gone up. Since stopping scrolling, the semi-judgemental comments have stopped, and each day I am averaging very little time on the phone. It is not just the summary which confirms my slow breakup with my phone, other than days I use my phone as a sat nav for long drives, the battery will easily last me the whole day.
I’m less connected
There is no getting around it, I am less connected to news and events taking place around the world. Now this is not necessarily a bad thing, news (social media based or otherwise) is biased towards negative stories, so less connection can be a positive thing. At the same time, being completely cut off from the world is a privileged position not everyone can afford to take. I am still using my RSS feed and checking on a news website daily for the headlines, but I only do so once a day. I am less connected, but not disconnected.
I am happier?
The purpose of the original post advising people to read more and scroll less was to improve people’s wellbeing and happiness. I did not have any worries about my mental health when I started this experiment, but I could see I would have more bad mood days when I had been heavy on the scrolling.
So am I happier a year down the line?
Probably… yes, maybe. How we feel day to day is a complex process. A big traumatic event on its own can impact how we are feeling, but smaller factors like the news we consume are not going to determine our mood alone. That being said, my outlook on life does seem a little more cheerful one year on. I certainly have a more positive view of the future than the Wife who has not changed her consumption habits. Of course the Wife’s view could be correct, everything is terrible and any positive views are deluded, but I’m sure there is a little more nuance to it, and cutting down the doomscrolling has at the very least given me a more balanced perspective.
The next 365 days
The biggest question I am left with, will I keep this up?
Short answer; yes.
Slightly longer answer; yes I will.
Actual answer which can form the conclusion of this post; yes I will keep my reading-instead-of-scrolling plan going for the next year and probably longer. Whether I will extend the plan to further replace my digital dependence is not something I have fully thought through. At the moment I am happy with the balance I have achieved, think the benefits above far outweigh the downsides, and there will be a point where I cannot switch off completely. As much as I would love to throw away the phone and live in a cabin in the woods, it’s not going to happen and time soon, and that is (probably) OK.
#Books #Doomscrolling #Phone #Reading #Scrolling #SocialMedia -
Death of the doomscroller
Exactly one year ago today I started a little experiment. It had been sparked by a post I had seen on social media, and ironically led to me leaving social media entirely(ish). A few days after I started the experiment I wrote about it here (eight paragraphs from the end), but in brief I decided to stop scrolling on my phone and read an ebook instead.
I had been aware for some time that whenever I had a free moment the phone would come out and I would spend that time scrolling through (predominantly) negative content. Intermittently I had tried ideas to reduce my scrolling time, getting rid of most of my accounts, deleting apps from my phone, trying to write instead, but nothing had properly stuck.
As I said in the blog last year, the recommendation on the social media post had been to download and read an ebook instead of scrolling. I was not sure if this would work, but decided to give it a try. I downloaded Small Gods by Terry Pratchett, and set about trying to stick to the plan.
Given I am writing this a year later you can probably guess what happened, but to be clear today is the one year anniversary of me reading ebooks instead of scrolling. Every day for the last 365 days I have read on my phone instead of doomscrolling. Today I announce the death of a doomscroller.
Great, but you are still on your phone…
I’m not sure I was 100% convinced I would make it to a year of reading instead of scrolling. As I have said above I had tried other things before which did not work. I imagined this plan would be something similar. To my surprise, it has worked.
Like any good experiment, it is important to evaluate the results. I’ve given up scrolling and replaced it with e-reading, but has it had the desired effect when I started; improve my overall wellbeing? This post is a reflection of sorts on the last year, what has changed, what I have learned, and what my plans are for the next year and beyond.
Let’s start with what you might think is the bleeding obvious…
I’ve read more
Duh!
But also, I’ve really read more. Over the last year on my phone I have read twenty books, abandoned one absolutely terrible book about 20% of the way through, and I am currently 55% of the way through my latest choice. Many of these books were Terry Pratchett books I had been wanting to read for some time, but in the last couple of months I had started to diversify a bit. I’ve also started a to-be-read pile online with a couple of books I will be tackling once I have finished The Portable Door.
I’ve really read more
As well as reading more on my phone, I have read more of the (many, many) books I have in my real life to-be-read pile. With less time spent doomscrolling on the phone, this has given me time to read, especially on an evening once the Toddler is in bed. I am currently working my way through the complete Earthsea collection, a hefty tome I might not have considered tackling a year ago for fear I would not have the time.
I’ve listened more
I am not sure if they are directly linked, but since giving up my doomscrolling, I have listened to more podcasts. Some of these are short stories, but mostly they are the selection of history shows I follow, a list which has only grown over the last year. I cannot quantify exactly how much, but I know I have spent more time listening and learning since the doomscrolling ceased.
I’m writing more
As well as having time to read, I have time on an evening to keep up to my plan to write something every day. Before, this might have been only a line or two before bed, now it can be pages of work on a good day. Over the last year I have finished one book, edited it and now I am submitting it to agents for consideration. I am also close to the first draft of a Christmas novella. Off the phone and at the keyboard has seen my productivity increase significantly.
My phone is missing me
Each Monday my phone gives me a breakdown of phone usage over the last week. Prior to giving up scrolling, this would often be to tell me my average use had gone up. Since stopping scrolling, the semi-judgemental comments have stopped, and each day I am averaging very little time on the phone. It is not just the summary which confirms my slow breakup with my phone, other than days I use my phone as a sat nav for long drives, the battery will easily last me the whole day.
I’m less connected
There is no getting around it, I am less connected to news and events taking place around the world. Now this is not necessarily a bad thing, news (social media based or otherwise) is biased towards negative stories, so less connection can be a positive thing. At the same time, being completely cut off from the world is a privileged position not everyone can afford to take. I am still using my RSS feed and checking on a news website daily for the headlines, but I only do so once a day. I am less connected, but not disconnected.
I am happier?
The purpose of the original post advising people to read more and scroll less was to improve people’s wellbeing and happiness. I did not have any worries about my mental health when I started this experiment, but I could see I would have more bad mood days when I had been heavy on the scrolling.
So am I happier a year down the line?
Probably… yes, maybe. How we feel day to day is a complex process. A big traumatic event on its own can impact how we are feeling, but smaller factors like the news we consume are not going to determine our mood alone. That being said, my outlook on life does seem a little more cheerful one year on. I certainly have a more positive view of the future than the Wife who has not changed her consumption habits. Of course the Wife’s view could be correct, everything is terrible and any positive views are deluded, but I’m sure there is a little more nuance to it, and cutting down the doomscrolling has at the very least given me a more balanced perspective.
The next 365 days
The biggest question I am left with, will I keep this up?
Short answer; yes.
Slightly longer answer; yes I will.
Actual answer which can form the conclusion of this post; yes I will keep my reading-instead-of-scrolling plan going for the next year and probably longer. Whether I will extend the plan to further replace my digital dependence is not something I have fully thought through. At the moment I am happy with the balance I have achieved, think the benefits above far outweigh the downsides, and there will be a point where I cannot switch off completely. As much as I would love to throw away the phone and live in a cabin in the woods, it’s not going to happen and time soon, and that is (probably) OK.
#Books #Doomscrolling #Phone #Reading #Scrolling #SocialMedia -
Death of the doomscroller
Exactly one year ago today I started a little experiment. It had been sparked by a post I had seen on social media, and ironically led to me leaving social media entirely(ish). A few days after I started the experiment I wrote about it here (eight paragraphs from the end), but in brief I decided to stop scrolling on my phone and read an ebook instead.
I had been aware for some time that whenever I had a free moment the phone would come out and I would spend that time scrolling through (predominantly) negative content. Intermittently I had tried ideas to reduce my scrolling time, getting rid of most of my accounts, deleting apps from my phone, trying to write instead, but nothing had properly stuck.
As I said in the blog last year, the recommendation on the social media post had been to download and read an ebook instead of scrolling. I was not sure if this would work, but decided to give it a try. I downloaded Small Gods by Terry Pratchett, and set about trying to stick to the plan.
Given I am writing this a year later you can probably guess what happened, but to be clear today is the one year anniversary of me reading ebooks instead of scrolling. Every day for the last 365 days I have read on my phone instead of doomscrolling. Today I announce the death of a doomscroller.
Great, but you are still on your phone…
I’m not sure I was 100% convinced I would make it to a year of reading instead of scrolling. As I have said above I had tried other things before which did not work. I imagined this plan would be something similar. To my surprise, it has worked.
Like any good experiment, it is important to evaluate the results. I’ve given up scrolling and replaced it with e-reading, but has it had the desired effect when I started; improve my overall wellbeing? This post is a reflection of sorts on the last year, what has changed, what I have learned, and what my plans are for the next year and beyond.
Let’s start with what you might think is the bleeding obvious…
I’ve read more
Duh!
But also, I’ve really read more. Over the last year on my phone I have read twenty books, abandoned one absolutely terrible book about 20% of the way through, and I am currently 55% of the way through my latest choice. Many of these books were Terry Pratchett books I had been wanting to read for some time, but in the last couple of months I had started to diversify a bit. I’ve also started a to-be-read pile online with a couple of books I will be tackling once I have finished The Portable Door.
I’ve really read more
As well as reading more on my phone, I have read more of the (many, many) books I have in my real life to-be-read pile. With less time spent doomscrolling on the phone, this has given me time to read, especially on an evening once the Toddler is in bed. I am currently working my way through the complete Earthsea collection, a hefty tome I might not have considered tackling a year ago for fear I would not have the time.
I’ve listened more
I am not sure if they are directly linked, but since giving up my doomscrolling, I have listened to more podcasts. Some of these are short stories, but mostly they are the selection of history shows I follow, a list which has only grown over the last year. I cannot quantify exactly how much, but I know I have spent more time listening and learning since the doomscrolling ceased.
I’m writing more
As well as having time to read, I have time on an evening to keep up to my plan to write something every day. Before, this might have been only a line or two before bed, now it can be pages of work on a good day. Over the last year I have finished one book, edited it and now I am submitting it to agents for consideration. I am also close to the first draft of a Christmas novella. Off the phone and at the keyboard has seen my productivity increase significantly.
My phone is missing me
Each Monday my phone gives me a breakdown of phone usage over the last week. Prior to giving up scrolling, this would often be to tell me my average use had gone up. Since stopping scrolling, the semi-judgemental comments have stopped, and each day I am averaging very little time on the phone. It is not just the summary which confirms my slow breakup with my phone, other than days I use my phone as a sat nav for long drives, the battery will easily last me the whole day.
I’m less connected
There is no getting around it, I am less connected to news and events taking place around the world. Now this is not necessarily a bad thing, news (social media based or otherwise) is biased towards negative stories, so less connection can be a positive thing. At the same time, being completely cut off from the world is a privileged position not everyone can afford to take. I am still using my RSS feed and checking on a news website daily for the headlines, but I only do so once a day. I am less connected, but not disconnected.
I am happier?
The purpose of the original post advising people to read more and scroll less was to improve people’s wellbeing and happiness. I did not have any worries about my mental health when I started this experiment, but I could see I would have more bad mood days when I had been heavy on the scrolling.
So am I happier a year down the line?
Probably… yes, maybe. How we feel day to day is a complex process. A big traumatic event on its own can impact how we are feeling, but smaller factors like the news we consume are not going to determine our mood alone. That being said, my outlook on life does seem a little more cheerful one year on. I certainly have a more positive view of the future than the Wife who has not changed her consumption habits. Of course the Wife’s view could be correct, everything is terrible and any positive views are deluded, but I’m sure there is a little more nuance to it, and cutting down the doomscrolling has at the very least given me a more balanced perspective.
The next 365 days
The biggest question I am left with, will I keep this up?
Short answer; yes.
Slightly longer answer; yes I will.
Actual answer which can form the conclusion of this post; yes I will keep my reading-instead-of-scrolling plan going for the next year and probably longer. Whether I will extend the plan to further replace my digital dependence is not something I have fully thought through. At the moment I am happy with the balance I have achieved, think the benefits above far outweigh the downsides, and there will be a point where I cannot switch off completely. As much as I would love to throw away the phone and live in a cabin in the woods, it’s not going to happen and time soon, and that is (probably) OK.
#Books #Doomscrolling #Phone #Reading #Scrolling #SocialMedia -
Death of the doomscroller
Exactly one year ago today I started a little experiment. It had been sparked by a post I had seen on social media, and ironically led to me leaving social media entirely(ish). A few days after I started the experiment I wrote about it here (eight paragraphs from the end), but in brief I decided to stop scrolling on my phone and read an ebook instead.
I had been aware for some time that whenever I had a free moment the phone would come out and I would spend that time scrolling through (predominantly) negative content. Intermittently I had tried ideas to reduce my scrolling time, getting rid of most of my accounts, deleting apps from my phone, trying to write instead, but nothing had properly stuck.
As I said in the blog last year, the recommendation on the social media post had been to download and read an ebook instead of scrolling. I was not sure if this would work, but decided to give it a try. I downloaded Small Gods by Terry Pratchett, and set about trying to stick to the plan.
Given I am writing this a year later you can probably guess what happened, but to be clear today is the one year anniversary of me reading ebooks instead of scrolling. Every day for the last 365 days I have read on my phone instead of doomscrolling. Today I announce the death of a doomscroller.
Great, but you are still on your phone…
I’m not sure I was 100% convinced I would make it to a year of reading instead of scrolling. As I have said above I had tried other things before which did not work. I imagined this plan would be something similar. To my surprise, it has worked.
Like any good experiment, it is important to evaluate the results. I’ve given up scrolling and replaced it with e-reading, but has it had the desired effect when I started; improve my overall wellbeing? This post is a reflection of sorts on the last year, what has changed, what I have learned, and what my plans are for the next year and beyond.
Let’s start with what you might think is the bleeding obvious…
I’ve read more
Duh!
But also, I’ve really read more. Over the last year on my phone I have read twenty books, abandoned one absolutely terrible book about 20% of the way through, and I am currently 55% of the way through my latest choice. Many of these books were Terry Pratchett books I had been wanting to read for some time, but in the last couple of months I had started to diversify a bit. I’ve also started a to-be-read pile online with a couple of books I will be tackling once I have finished The Portable Door.
I’ve really read more
As well as reading more on my phone, I have read more of the (many, many) books I have in my real life to-be-read pile. With less time spent doomscrolling on the phone, this has given me time to read, especially on an evening once the Toddler is in bed. I am currently working my way through the complete Earthsea collection, a hefty tome I might not have considered tackling a year ago for fear I would not have the time.
I’ve listened more
I am not sure if they are directly linked, but since giving up my doomscrolling, I have listened to more podcasts. Some of these are short stories, but mostly they are the selection of history shows I follow, a list which has only grown over the last year. I cannot quantify exactly how much, but I know I have spent more time listening and learning since the doomscrolling ceased.
I’m writing more
As well as having time to read, I have time on an evening to keep up to my plan to write something every day. Before, this might have been only a line or two before bed, now it can be pages of work on a good day. Over the last year I have finished one book, edited it and now I am submitting it to agents for consideration. I am also close to the first draft of a Christmas novella. Off the phone and at the keyboard has seen my productivity increase significantly.
My phone is missing me
Each Monday my phone gives me a breakdown of phone usage over the last week. Prior to giving up scrolling, this would often be to tell me my average use had gone up. Since stopping scrolling, the semi-judgemental comments have stopped, and each day I am averaging very little time on the phone. It is not just the summary which confirms my slow breakup with my phone, other than days I use my phone as a sat nav for long drives, the battery will easily last me the whole day.
I’m less connected
There is no getting around it, I am less connected to news and events taking place around the world. Now this is not necessarily a bad thing, news (social media based or otherwise) is biased towards negative stories, so less connection can be a positive thing. At the same time, being completely cut off from the world is a privileged position not everyone can afford to take. I am still using my RSS feed and checking on a news website daily for the headlines, but I only do so once a day. I am less connected, but not disconnected.
I am happier?
The purpose of the original post advising people to read more and scroll less was to improve people’s wellbeing and happiness. I did not have any worries about my mental health when I started this experiment, but I could see I would have more bad mood days when I had been heavy on the scrolling.
So am I happier a year down the line?
Probably… yes, maybe. How we feel day to day is a complex process. A big traumatic event on its own can impact how we are feeling, but smaller factors like the news we consume are not going to determine our mood alone. That being said, my outlook on life does seem a little more cheerful one year on. I certainly have a more positive view of the future than the Wife who has not changed her consumption habits. Of course the Wife’s view could be correct, everything is terrible and any positive views are deluded, but I’m sure there is a little more nuance to it, and cutting down the doomscrolling has at the very least given me a more balanced perspective.
The next 365 days
The biggest question I am left with, will I keep this up?
Short answer; yes.
Slightly longer answer; yes I will.
Actual answer which can form the conclusion of this post; yes I will keep my reading-instead-of-scrolling plan going for the next year and probably longer. Whether I will extend the plan to further replace my digital dependence is not something I have fully thought through. At the moment I am happy with the balance I have achieved, think the benefits above far outweigh the downsides, and there will be a point where I cannot switch off completely. As much as I would love to throw away the phone and live in a cabin in the woods, it’s not going to happen and time soon, and that is (probably) OK.
#Books #Doomscrolling #Phone #Reading #Scrolling #SocialMedia -
Death of the doomscroller
Exactly one year ago today I started a little experiment. It had been sparked by a post I had seen on social media, and ironically led to me leaving social media entirely(ish). A few days after I started the experiment I wrote about it here (eight paragraphs from the end), but in brief I decided to stop scrolling on my phone and read an ebook instead.
I had been aware for some time that whenever I had a free moment the phone would come out and I would spend that time scrolling through (predominantly) negative content. Intermittently I had tried ideas to reduce my scrolling time, getting rid of most of my accounts, deleting apps from my phone, trying to write instead, but nothing had properly stuck.
As I said in the blog last year, the recommendation on the social media post had been to download and read an ebook instead of scrolling. I was not sure if this would work, but decided to give it a try. I downloaded Small Gods by Terry Pratchett, and set about trying to stick to the plan.
Given I am writing this a year later you can probably guess what happened, but to be clear today is the one year anniversary of me reading ebooks instead of scrolling. Every day for the last 365 days I have read on my phone instead of doomscrolling. Today I announce the death of a doomscroller.
Great, but you are still on your phone…
I’m not sure I was 100% convinced I would make it to a year of reading instead of scrolling. As I have said above I had tried other things before which did not work. I imagined this plan would be something similar. To my surprise, it has worked.
Like any good experiment, it is important to evaluate the results. I’ve given up scrolling and replaced it with e-reading, but has it had the desired effect when I started; improve my overall wellbeing? This post is a reflection of sorts on the last year, what has changed, what I have learned, and what my plans are for the next year and beyond.
Let’s start with what you might think is the bleeding obvious…
I’ve read more
Duh!
But also, I’ve really read more. Over the last year on my phone I have read twenty books, abandoned one absolutely terrible book about 20% of the way through, and I am currently 55% of the way through my latest choice. Many of these books were Terry Pratchett books I had been wanting to read for some time, but in the last couple of months I had started to diversify a bit. I’ve also started a to-be-read pile online with a couple of books I will be tackling once I have finished The Portable Door.
I’ve really read more
As well as reading more on my phone, I have read more of the (many, many) books I have in my real life to-be-read pile. With less time spent doomscrolling on the phone, this has given me time to read, especially on an evening once the Toddler is in bed. I am currently working my way through the complete Earthsea collection, a hefty tome I might not have considered tackling a year ago for fear I would not have the time.
I’ve listened more
I am not sure if they are directly linked, but since giving up my doomscrolling, I have listened to more podcasts. Some of these are short stories, but mostly they are the selection of history shows I follow, a list which has only grown over the last year. I cannot quantify exactly how much, but I know I have spent more time listening and learning since the doomscrolling ceased.
I’m writing more
As well as having time to read, I have time on an evening to keep up to my plan to write something every day. Before, this might have been only a line or two before bed, now it can be pages of work on a good day. Over the last year I have finished one book, edited it and now I am submitting it to agents for consideration. I am also close to the first draft of a Christmas novella. Off the phone and at the keyboard has seen my productivity increase significantly.
My phone is missing me
Each Monday my phone gives me a breakdown of phone usage over the last week. Prior to giving up scrolling, this would often be to tell me my average use had gone up. Since stopping scrolling, the semi-judgemental comments have stopped, and each day I am averaging very little time on the phone. It is not just the summary which confirms my slow breakup with my phone, other than days I use my phone as a sat nav for long drives, the battery will easily last me the whole day.
I’m less connected
There is no getting around it, I am less connected to news and events taking place around the world. Now this is not necessarily a bad thing, news (social media based or otherwise) is biased towards negative stories, so less connection can be a positive thing. At the same time, being completely cut off from the world is a privileged position not everyone can afford to take. I am still using my RSS feed and checking on a news website daily for the headlines, but I only do so once a day. I am less connected, but not disconnected.
I am happier?
The purpose of the original post advising people to read more and scroll less was to improve people’s wellbeing and happiness. I did not have any worries about my mental health when I started this experiment, but I could see I would have more bad mood days when I had been heavy on the scrolling.
So am I happier a year down the line?
Probably… yes, maybe. How we feel day to day is a complex process. A big traumatic event on its own can impact how we are feeling, but smaller factors like the news we consume are not going to determine our mood alone. That being said, my outlook on life does seem a little more cheerful one year on. I certainly have a more positive view of the future than the Wife who has not changed her consumption habits. Of course the Wife’s view could be correct, everything is terrible and any positive views are deluded, but I’m sure there is a little more nuance to it, and cutting down the doomscrolling has at the very least given me a more balanced perspective.
The next 365 days
The biggest question I am left with, will I keep this up?
Short answer; yes.
Slightly longer answer; yes I will.
Actual answer which can form the conclusion of this post; yes I will keep my reading-instead-of-scrolling plan going for the next year and probably longer. Whether I will extend the plan to further replace my digital dependence is not something I have fully thought through. At the moment I am happy with the balance I have achieved, think the benefits above far outweigh the downsides, and there will be a point where I cannot switch off completely. As much as I would love to throw away the phone and live in a cabin in the woods, it’s not going to happen and time soon, and that is (probably) OK.
#Books #Doomscrolling #Phone #Reading #Scrolling #SocialMedia -
Dream is ready in his mad hatter costume!! He's justa crazy subby fox pup. You think he's looking at his costume, but he's actually checking out his bulge like any good boy would 😈😈 #furry #furryart #gayfurry #Dream #oc #redfox #foxpup #Halloween #madhatter #GoodBoyCreative
More at GoodBoyNova.com!
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Dream is ready in his mad hatter costume!! He's justa crazy subby fox pup. You think he's looking at his costume, but he's actually checking out his bulge like any good boy would 😈😈 #furry #furryart #gayfurry #Dream #oc #redfox #foxpup #Halloween #madhatter #GoodBoyCreative
More at GoodBoyNova.com!
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A gift called „An Hour“.
For someone like me who’s not regularly travelling by train, it is still a little bit of an adventure. I remember my first conscious train trips as a kid, the wonder and excitement, being able to walk around while You’re travelling, the constant comforting and sullying noise that a train makes, the regular little bumps, the slight cracking of the chassis, the people murmuring around You.
#slowtravel #trainthoughts #stoicism #mindfulness #poetry #poeticprose
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I got curious about whips and came across this video from Smarter Every Day with guest April Choi. They took amazing slo-mo footage with Schlieren imaging of a whip cracking and breaking the speed of sound. You can see the shock wave forming around the tip of the whip. It's incredible. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnaASTBn_K4 (the video has an ad for Audible near the end)
2/2
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#MattKlein makes an interesting point. Spending seems to be growing at a rapid clip, but stuff like the interest we don't receive on our checking account banks earn more than 5% risk-free is imputed as "spending", as if we pay a bank fee. Much of the spending growth seems to be in these kinds of imputed categories, which may be less inflationary than other kinds of "spending". https://theovershoot.co/p/is-consumer-spending-slowing
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Seeing much more use of #spyGlasses by middle aged YouTuber men "auditing" #petrol stations in the #UK (either to check fuel quality or whether the pumps are accurate), some are now starting to covertly film staff as well (who are often brown people) which they weren't doing as much before..
We all know #fuel is bloody expensive and tax high - but #TradingStandards do a good job of checking up on #forecourts and have proper calibrated kit for this purpose.
British motorists have always moaned about price of petrol before I was born (let alone started driving), but it seems to have got worse in recent years (even before Trump's escalations) and seems to coincides with more #BritishAsian folk working in this industry (including becoming CEOs of fuel station chains)
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The resignations by DoJ attorneys came as a result of a push by top Justice Department officials to investigate #Good’s #widow,
a move that has sparked outrage over the seeming mission to punish a family already grieving the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent’s💥 brutal and public killing of Good.
They also come after the DOJ has decided ❌ NOT to investigate Good’s killer,
#Jonathan #Ross.Last week, Trump appointee
#Harmeet #Dhillon,
the assistant attorney general for civil rights,
informed the unit it would not be investigating Ross.This week, Deputy Attorney General
#Todd #Blanche
— a Trump appointee who represented the president during his New York criminal trial
— said that there is 💥“no basis” to open an investigation into Ross.The administration has mounted an
all-out effort to shield the ICE agent from any form of accountability,
🔥spreading lie after lie about Good and the circumstances surrounding her killing.Among other things, the DOJ’s push will disrupt key fraud investigations in Minnesota.
Thompson and other prosecutors who stepped down in the Minnesota office were key figures in these probes of fraud that the Trump administration has claimed it’s cracking down on
— but has rather been seemingly using as
an excuse to eliminate and suspend
child care benefits in states that voted against him in the presidential election.⚠️ The DOJ has opened an investigation into Good and her widow to probe possible connections to activist groups opposing Trump’s immigration raids.
🆘 Meanwhile, the FBI has assumed sole responsibility for the investigation into Ross,
and has cut out local prosecutors from being able to access information key to the case.Federal agents’ violence has continued unchecked.
⭐️Activists said that a federal agent shot an activist in the face with a
“less lethal” weapon in the Los Angeles area on Friday
while he was engaged in a protest.The activist went to the hospital, and
⛔️is
now blind in one eye as a result of the incident, he said.https://truthout.org/articles/doj-push-to-investigate-renee-goods-widow-sparks-mass-resignation/
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#Neovim 0.12 is out! Here the list of features I’m checking out first: https://cj.rs/blog/nvim0.12/
💬 Feel free to comment here!
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[...]
Calving
Spectrogram of an iceberg calving (large section of iceberg breaking off) while adrift. The calving signal is short duration, broad band from 1-440 Hz generated by ice cracking and crack propagation. Audio sped up 3X normal.https://www.pmel.noaa.gov/acoustics/specs_cryogenic.html
CREDIT
DOC / NOAA/ OAR / PMEL / Acoustics Program#space #earth #iceberg #sonification #sound #acoustic #graph #science #marinegeology #nature #climate #education
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Spectral Filth: Clean Up Your Signal or Shut it Down
1,563 words, 8 minutes read time.
The spectrum is a finite piece of territory, and right now, you’re squatting on it like a man who doesn’t know how to clean his own house. Amateur radio used to be the domain of builders—men who understood that every watt of power was a responsibility. Now, the bands are crawling with appliance operators who treat their rigs like smartphones. They buy a cheap, unbranded box from overseas, hook it up to a sub-par antenna, and start spraying RF across the band like a broken sewer pipe. This isn’t just a technical oversight; it’s a failure of discipline. If your transmitter is throwing spurious emissions, you aren’t a radio operator. You’re a source of pollution. You are the high-frequency equivalent of a neighbor who lets his trash blow into everyone else’s yard. It’s time to stop making excuses, stop blaming the ionosphere for your lack of reach, and start looking at the cold, hard physics of what is actually coming out of your feedline.
THE GUTLESS REALITY OF NON-LINEAR TRASH
When you push a signal through an amplifier, you’re engaging in a fight with physics. If that amplifier isn’t biased correctly—if you’re driving it into saturation because you’re obsessed with the “100W” glowing on your meter—you are creating harmonics. These are the bastard children of your fundamental frequency. You think you’re sitting pretty on 7.150 MHz, but because your hardware is junk or your settings are sloppy, you’re also screaming on 14.300 MHz and 21.450 MHz. This is non-linear distortion, and it is the mark of a man who hasn’t mastered his tools. A real operator knows that the “final” in his radio is a delicate balance of current and voltage. When you push it too hard, the peaks flatten out, the sine wave turns into a jagged mess, and the resulting spectral splatter is an embarrassment. You aren’t just taking up more space than you’re entitled to; you’re stepping on the weak-signal guys three states over who are actually trying to do something meaningful with their license. If you can’t run a clean signal at full power, back the gain off. Mastery isn’t about being the loudest voice in the room; it’s about being the most precise.
SHIELDING, STRAY INDUCTANCE, AND THE COST OF LAZINESS
RF is a restless beast. It doesn’t want to stay on the copper traces of your PCB. It wants to radiate from every unshielded wire, every loose screw, and every poorly grounded chassis. If your hardware looks like a bird’s nest inside, you have already lost the war. Spurious emissions aren’t always harmonics; sometimes they’re parasitic oscillations—high-frequency ghosts born from the stray inductance of long lead wires and the lack of proper bypassing. When you skimp on the build quality, or when you use a switching power supply that hasn’t been filtered for common-mode noise, you are inviting filth into your signal. You wouldn’t drive a car with a leaking fuel line, so why are you operating a radio that leaks RF from its own casing? Every milliwatt that doesn’t go out the antenna port as a clean fundamental frequency is a milliwatt that is working against you. It creates RFI in your own shack, it trips your GFCI breakers, and it makes you a nuisance to your neighbors. You need to understand the mechanics of shielding. A chassis isn’t just a box to hold the components; it’s a Faraday cage. If you’ve compromised that cage because you were too lazy to tighten the bolts or use proper EMI gaskets, you are the problem.
THE GATEKEEPERS: BUYING VS. BUILDING YOUR DEFENSES
If you’re running a high-power station—pushing a kilowatt or more—you don’t play games with homebrew experiments unless you have the lab equipment to back it up. At those levels, the heat and reactive power in a filter are enough to turn cheap components into shrapnel. You buy a commercial Low-Pass Filter (LPF) from the outfits that build them like tanks—Bencher, Barker & Williamson, or DX Engineering. You’re looking for a heavy-duty, shielded enclosure that guarantees at least 50dB to 60dB of attenuation at the second harmonic. This is your “Master Gatekeeper.” It’s the insurance policy that keeps your high-power harmonics from bleeding into every television and radio in a three-block radius. Buying a filter isn’t an admission of defeat; it’s a strategic decision to use a tested, calibrated tool to protect the integrity of the bands. However, if you want to call yourself a master of this craft, you eventually have to build. For low-power rigs or specialized band-pass needs, building your own filter is where the theory becomes reality. You don’t use junk-box parts. You use precision-wound toroids—T50-2 or T60-6 powdered iron—and high-voltage Silver Mica or NP0 capacitors. If you use cheap ceramic discs, your filter’s cutoff frequency will drift as soon as the components get warm, and you’ll watch your SWR climb while your signal turns back into trash. Building a Chebyshev or Elliptic filter forces you to understand the relationship between inductance and capacitance. It’s a rite of passage. But remember: you never put a homebrew filter on the air without verification. You use a Vector Network Analyzer (VNA) to sweep that circuit and prove it’s doing its job. You verify the insertion loss and you confirm the stopband. If you can’t prove it’s clean on the bench, it doesn’t touch the antenna.
Whether you buy it or build it, the responsibility for what leaves your shack stops with you. You wouldn’t drive a truck with no mufflers through a quiet neighborhood at 3 AM, so don’t be the operator who thinks it’s okay to spray wide-band noise across the spectrum because you were too lazy to install a filter. A clean signal is the signature of a disciplined man. It shows you respect the physics of the medium and the rights of every other operator on the air. If you’re too cheap to buy a filter and too lazy to build one, do the world a favor and stay off the mic. The airwaves are a shared resource, not your personal dumping ground. Every time you key up, your reputation is on the line. Are you a technical asset, or are you just more noise? Real operators don’t guess; they measure. They don’t hope; they verify. Master your hardware, tighten your shielding, and for the sake of the hobby, clean up your signal. If you can’t operate with technical integrity, you shouldn’t be operating at all. Solder the solution or shut it down.
SECURE THE SPECTRUM: LOCK DOWN YOUR SIGNAL INTEGRITY NOW
Stop being a spectator in your own shack. If you’ve spent more time looking at the price tag of your rig than the spectral purity of its output, you’re part of the problem. Your license isn’t a trophy; it’s a mandate to maintain technical excellence. If you aren’t checking your footprint, you’re just another lid adding to the noise floor.
Here is your mission:
- Audit your signal: Stop trusting the factory sticker. Put your rig on a dummy load, grab a VNA or a spectrum analyzer, and prove to yourself that your second and third harmonics aren’t bleeding into territory where they don’t belong.
- Kill the noise: If you find filth, fix it. Solder a low-pass filter, choke your lines with real ferrites, and tighten every screw on your chassis until that Faraday cage is airtight.
- Educate the soft: When you hear an operator splashing across the band with a dirty signal, don’t just complain about it on a forum. Direct him to the physics. Demand better from your local club.
The grid is fragile and the noise floor is rising. We need operators who are assets, not liabilities. Clean up your signal today, or pull the plug. The airwaves don’t owe you a thing—you owe them your discipline. Own your frequency or get off it.
SUPPORTSUBSCRIBECONTACT MED. Bryan King
Sources
- FCC Part 97 Amateur Radio Service Rules
- ARRL Handbook for Radio Communications
- ARRL Technical Information Service: Spurious Emissions
- Low Pass Filter Basics for Radio Transmitters
- Design of Low Pass Filters for Amateur Radio
- Microwaves101: Spurious Emissions Encyclopedia
- RF Biasing for Linear Power Amplifiers
- Analog Devices: Understanding and Eliminating Spurious Emissions
- Rohde & Schwarz: Measuring Spurious Emissions Application Note
- Keysight: Spectrum Analysis Basics
- Mini-Circuits: Intro to RF Filters
- W8JI: RF Amplifier Design and Testing
- Understanding Intermodulation Distortion (IMD)
- RF Cafe: Harmonic Distortion and Suppression
- HamRadio.me: Harmonics and Effective Radiated Power
- DX Engineering: Low Pass Filter Technical Specs
- W8JI: Station Grounding and RF Interference
- ARRL: FCC Part 97 Section 307 – Emission Standards
- VK6YSF: 7-Pole Chebyshev Low Pass Filter Design
- Nuts & Volts: Understanding RF Filter Design
- TinySA Wiki: Measuring Harmonics and Spurious Signals
- VNA for Everyone: Testing RF Filters
- OnAllBands: Low Pass Filters and TVI Defense
- G3LSW: Practical Filter Construction for Hams
- ARRL: Clean Up Your Signal – Reducing RFI
- METAS: High Precision VNA Measurements
- RF Design Guide: Intermodulation and Harmonics
- Collins Radio: Historical Amateur Engineering Manuals
- ITU-R SM.329: Unwanted Emissions in the Spurious Domain
- Amateur Radio Wiki: Low Pass Filter Theory
Disclaimer:
The views and opinions expressed in this post are solely those of the author. The information provided is based on personal research, experience, and understanding of the subject matter at the time of writing. Readers should consult relevant experts or authorities for specific guidance related to their unique situations.
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Back at the Forum: Charlottesville Getting Closer
As we have said before, it is nice to have a real hotel in Charlottesville these days (even if it is a post-IHG Kimpton). Though the building and grounds are excellent, operational kinks hold the property back. For example, how can your paid in advance room category be "not quite ready" for checking at 4:45pm? Who is in charge here? Not to mention nothing on the upgrade side you were promised. Terrible ops. Fortunately we're just here for a night. We were in (hamster cage) 574. Last […]https://noplasticshowers.com/2025/04/18/back-at-the-forum-charlottesville-getting-closer/
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Back at the Forum: Charlottesville Getting Closer
As we have said before, it is nice to have a real hotel in Charlottesville these days (even if it is a post-IHG Kimpton). Though the building and grounds are excellent, operational kinks hold the property back. For example, how can your paid in advance room category be "not quite ready" for checking at 4:45pm? Who is in charge here? Not to mention nothing on the upgrade side you were promised. Terrible ops. Fortunately we're just here for a night. We were in (hamster cage) 574. Last […]https://noplasticshowers.com/2025/04/18/back-at-the-forum-charlottesville-getting-closer/