Since April 2020 I have been recording The Daily Lectionary podcast which usually consists of 7 readings from the Christian Bible. One of the things that I’ve had to contend with is what to do when I make mistakes.
This is something that every podcaster (or, at least, every podcast editor) needs to figure out, even if your podcast doesn’t require you to read the entire genealogy of Jesus. Some people make notes of timestamps, other people make some sort of audio cue, such as snapping their fingers.
I wanted something very simple (a single clap) but I also didn’t want to have to clap my hands loudly every time I made a mistake, if for no other reason than my wife is sometimes asleep in the next room.
I decided to make my computer do it for me – more specifically, my Stream Deck, which has the ability to play a specific audio file at the push of a button using the “Soundboard” action labeled “Play Sound”.
(Aside: Although I am using a Stream Deck, you could also do something similar with Farrago or even Keyboard Maestro, etc. using the same method described here.)
After recording myself making a single loud clap, I saved the file to my computer, and then added a button in an easy-to-reach location on the Stream Deck. Its action looks like this:
The next part is actually my favorite part. In Audio Hijack (which I use to record my audio), I added a block to send the output of the Stream Deck directly to the .wav file that I am recording. This means that I don’t have to hear the very loud clap in my headphones, but it will be added to the audio file.
This seems like it would also work well if you are recording a podcast with several people, because if you need to mark a section for editing, you can use this method without deafening your co-hosts and/or guests.
The result is a very clear, stark indicator in the waveform that shows where the mistakes were. Here’s an example of one of the few times that I only made one mistake:
This makes it very easy to spot the mistakes for targeted editing. I hope this helps someone else. You can download my clap mp3 here.
“…let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds…”
That verse always bothered me because the word “provoke” just does not seem to fit.
The only other place that word is used in the Bible is Acts 15:39 where Paul (who wrote most of the New Testament) and Barnabas (who had been his co-worker for a long, long time), had a disagreement so strong that they literally went their separate ways.
Some versions of the Bible translate the word “provoke” in Hebrews as “spur” isn’t any better than “provoke” and may actually be worse.
Put yourself in the position of the ‘horse’ in this scenario, and imagine someone trying to motivate you by kicking you with metal spikes.
How could someone provoke someone to do something positive?!
Then I saw this:
I love you Stephen, but this is just so, so awful.
I don’t need to tell you is, in a word, horrifying.
Another, more Biblical term, might be abomination.
At the very least we can all agree it was terrible.
And upsetting.
And disturbing.
We all agree on this.
Even Myke seemed to need to take a closer look… sort of like being unable to look away as you pass a horrific traffic accident.
Myke looks both confused and horrified. And don’t miss the pull-quote under Stephen’s side.
The next stage of shaving wasn’t until we hit the next milestone, which could not possibly come fast enough.
And then, suddenly, I understood what it meant to be provoked or spurred to do a good deed.
I had to do whatever I could to help as soon as possible. I had intended to donate before this, but now I had to act. I could not wait any longer.
I was even fortunate enough that my donation quote (from the Twitch chat room) ended up as a pull-quote on-screen:
(Please ignore the typo in the screenshot. So embarrassing.)
Fortunately, we reached the goal to get Stephen down to a less-terrible look:
But it still needs to go.
We all agree on this.
Well, we should all agree on this.
But there’s a competition going on until the end of the month, with donations going to vote towards Stephen keeping (nooooo!) or shaving (yesssss!) the mustache.
There is actually something more important than winning…
Look, I like to win as much as the next person, but let’s be honest: this is an instance where voting is the most important thing, and by voting I mean donating to St Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
Because children getting cancer is awful. Truly awful. And that’s something we do all agree about.
Relay is approaching $500,000 raised this year, and it’s only a little beyond the middle of September, and there’s still plenty of time to donate.
September is National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. I hope that you will donate, whatever you can, even if you vote for Stephen to keep his mustache.
Not long after UPS delivered a large cardboard box to our garage, I carried it upstairs to the kitchen to unpack it and set it up.
The table and the counters were full, so I had nowhere to put it down. Why are the table and counters full? I don’t know, they’re always full, aren’t they? Except for like 5 minutes after you clean them off and admire them and think “We should always keep them looking like this!” And then don’t.
Lacking any other option, I put the box down on the stovetop. Now, don’t worry, I had not used the stovetop for several hours, no one else was home, the box was only like half-way on the stovetop, and it wasn’t even on the side that I had used.
Next I went to clear some space on the kitchen counter. Which is when I saw it. Or, more specifically them.
“Dammit,” I thought to myself. “Those are definitely mouse droppings. We haven’t had a mouse for months! Since winter, I think!
“I should have Ethan buy some mousetraps before he comes home. Wait, do we have any mousetraps left? I think I bought a three-pack last time. I hate mice. Gross. I’m going to have to clear off the counters and bleach everything.
“Check under the sink…I think that’s where we put them. No, that’s not it. What is that? I have no idea. Why is that even under the sink? Nevermind. Oh wait, I see one! Nope, that’s not one. I guess we don’t — wait! Way in the back there, that’s one! It says DCON on the side of the box!
“Yes! Now, where’s the crappy crunchy peanut butter we use to give the dogs pills and bait mouse traps? On right, it’s next to the stovetop! I used it earlier to give Mort his pill. Oh, UGH! You know the peanut butter is going to be behind the box I put down, isn’t it?”
Which is when I turned towards the stovetop, and saw smoke coming out from underneath the large cardboard box.
I’m going to fast-forward to tell you that everything is OK.
The good news is that there was no harm done except to spot on the bottom of the external box. The inside box was fine. The kitchen now smells like burnt cardboard, which is dëlightful, but compared to burning down the house, it’s OK.
What the {expletive deleted} happened?!?!
As near as I can tell, when I put the box down on the countertop/stovetop, the corner of the box must have hit the knob which turned on the corresponding burner. Which was under the cardboard box.
The good news is that it was only bumped one notch.
Well, you’d think that would be good, right? Except this knob goes from “OFF” to “HIGH” as you turn it clockwise. So accidentally bumping it “Just One Notch” meant that the burner, underneath the cardboard box, was on high. As were my chances of accidentally burning down the house. I’m just glad I didn’t think we might have stored the spare mouse traps in the bathroom or (G-d forbid) in the garage or something, which would have taken me longer to go to and return from.
Here’s where I state the obvious part, and then end with two “funny-ironic” details.
The moral of this story is painfully obvious to anyone capable of reading these words: Never ever ever put anything down on the stovetop (well, except a pot or pan), even if there is nowhere else to put down the thing that you want to put down. Put it on the floor. Yes, even if it’s a big unwieldy box. Because even a stovetop that you 100% know is “off” might not be. Or you could accidentally turn it on. 1 in 1000 odds? Maybe. Higher than that? Maybe. Still. Learn from my mistake. Please.
Assuming the stovetop isn’t on isn’t as bad as assuming a gun is unloaded, but it’s not good, either.
To finish this story, I have two ironies to share.
First: Back in January, I bought two fire extinguishers for the house. One is in the kitchen. I didn’t even remember we had it until about 90 minutes after this incident. I am now left to wonder if things had gotten worse, would I have remembered it before I was standing next to the fire department when it suddenly dawned on me? Who’s to say?
Second: What was in the box that almost caught fire and burned down the house? A counter-top ice maker. Yes, you heard me right: I almost burned down the house… with an ice maker.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a mouse-trap to set.
Today (21 June 2021) Zoom has added an option to add personal pronouns to your account, and they can be displayed after your name when you join meetings.
Update: If you add your pronouns using this method, others may not see them until they update to the latest versions of Zoom.
“Do I need to do this if I have already added them to my ‘Display Name’ in Zoom?”
That will continue to work, but this new feature allows you to easily share or “unshare” your personal pronouns. So if you find yourself adding them for some meetings and removing them for others, this might be an easier and better option.
“How do I enable this?”
You should be able to go to https://zoom.us/profile and click the “Edit” link to the right of your name.
Click the “Edit” button where indicated
Once you do so, a new view will appear:
Under ‘Display Name’ there is a place for pronouns.
There is a dropdown to ask if you want to “Share in a meeting or webinar?”
Ask me every time
Always Share
Do Not Share
Once you have the settings that you prefer, don’t forget to click “Save”:
Note that even if you choose “Always Share” or “Do Not Share” you can override your decision on a per-meeting basis after you have joined the meeting by clicking your name in the “Participants” list. Click the “…” button to reveal the option.
First, open the “Participants” panel and find your name:
Second, hover over your name with the mouse/trackpad and the line will change to this:
Click “More” and you will either see “Share” or “Unshare” depending on the current setting. Since mine are already set to share, this is what I saw:
If I choose to “Unshare My Pronouns” for this meeting, my default will be used for the next meeting that I join, or I can decide to share them by repeating the process and choosing “Share My Pronouns”:
Note! If your Zoom account is part of an organization (Admins)
If you are an admin for an organization, you must enable this setting before users (including yourself) can use it.
You will notice that it is off by default_ (selector slid to the left). If you want to enable it, slide it to the right.
You will be asked to confirm your choice, and then asked if you want to be prompted again in the future, which I don’t want, so I checked the “Do not remind me again” box:
If your Zoom account is part of an organization (Non-Admins)
If you are not an admin and would like to use this feature, you may have to let them know this feature exists (it was just added on 2021-06-21). They may not know where to find it, so sending them the URL https://zoom.us/account/setting might help, especially if they understand that it is not just “off” but disabled by default, so no one can use it unless it is enabled as an option for those who choose to use it.
“I’ve seen people add pronouns after their name, but I don’t really understand it. Where can I learn more?”
There is a very helpful and straightforward site called MyPronouns.org which is the one that I used after it was recommended to me.
“Should my organization enable this setting?”
Users are not required to enter their pronouns, so there’s no reason that I can see to leave this setting disabled, and I wish it was enabled by default, but no one at Zoom asked me.
“My organization doesn’t have any transgender or non-binary people in it.”
Imagine someone was discussing a building which had no wheelchair access, and who said “We don’t need wheelchair access, no one here uses a wheelchair.”
You see the “chicken and the egg” problem there, right? If you don’t have wheelchair access, no one who needs wheelchair access can use that facility.
Likewise, while it may be true that no one who is currently a part of your organization is transgender or non-binary, that might change in the future.
There are some other important points to consider:
A) Sharing pronouns is something that everyone can do, and should, if they are willing and comfortable doing so, because it increases the number of people will see it and get used to it. If sharing pronouns is “only” something we expect of people who are transgender or non-binary, then it becomes a symbol of “otherness”. If everyone (or nearly everyone) shares their pronouns, then it is more likely that people who are non-binary and transgender would feel comfortable sharing their pronouns as well.
B) If people inside your organization ever have meetings with people outside your organization, they may want to share their pronouns in those meetings, which will again help to normalize the practice, especially if it is something that is done by most people, rather than just some.
“Should we require everyone to add their pronouns?”
No. If there are people who are uncomfortable sharing their pronouns, that seems like an unreasonable thing to require them to do.
Encouragement to share pronouns is good, especially when others lead by example, but generally speaking it is not something that I would recommend requiring. Encourage people to ask questions if they have them. It might be helpful for someone who is willing to offer to help explain this to people who might not understand the benefit.
Please feel free to share this article, copy it, modify it to suit your organization’s needs, etc…
Since this is a new feature, I found it difficult to find information about how to use it. You are obviously welcome to share the link to this post with others, but if you need to write-up your own “intro” or “how to” feel free to copy this article as a starting point.
This is the Gospel reading for next Sunday (November 22, 2020) which I have recorded so I can listen to it throughout the week. I have used 4 translations:
NRSV
The Message
NIV
NASB
I thought I would share them here for others who might be working on the same passage and who would like to be able to listen to the passage throughout the week, either in one or all of those versions.
You can download an MP3 with all of the versions, or an MP3 of just one version, using the links below. The text of each translation is also included.
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory.
32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats,
33 and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left.
34 Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world;
35 for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,
36 I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’
37 Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink?
38 And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing?
39 And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’
40 And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’
41 Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels;
42 for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink,
43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’
44 Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?’
45 Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’
46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
31-33 “When he finally arrives, blazing in beauty and all his angels with him, the Son of Man will take his place on his glorious throne. Then all the nations will be arranged before him and he will sort the people out, much as a shepherd sorts out sheep and goats, putting sheep to his right and goats to his left.
34-36 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Enter, you who are blessed by my Father! Take what’s coming to you in this kingdom. It’s been ready for you since the world’s foundation. And here’s why:
I was hungry and you fed me, I was thirsty and you gave me a drink, I was homeless and you gave me a room, I was shivering and you gave me clothes, I was sick and you stopped to visit, I was in prison and you came to me.’
37-40 “Then those ‘sheep’ are going to say, ‘Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you a drink? And when did we ever see you sick or in prison and come to you?’ Then the King will say, ‘I’m telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me.’
41-43 “Then he will turn to the ‘goats,’ the ones on his left, and say, ‘Get out, worthless goats! You’re good for nothing but the fires of hell. And why? Because—
I was hungry and you gave me no meal, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was homeless and you gave me no bed, I was shivering and you gave me no clothes, Sick and in prison, and you never visited.’
44 “Then those ‘goats’ are going to say, ‘Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or homeless or shivering or sick or in prison and didn’t help?’
45 “He will answer them, ‘I’m telling the solemn truth: Whenever you failed to do one of these things to someone who was being overlooked or ignored, that was me—you failed to do it to me.’
46 “Then those ‘goats’ will be herded to their eternal doom, but the ‘sheep’ to their eternal reward.”
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne.
32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.
35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,
36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?
38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?
39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink,
43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
31 “But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne.
32 And all the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, just as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats;
33 and He will put the sheep on His right, but the goats on the left.
34 “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
35 For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in;
36 naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’
37 Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink?
38 And when did we see You as a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You?
39 And when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’
40 And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of Mine, you did it for Me.’
41 “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, you accursed people, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels;
42 for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink;
43 I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’
44 Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or as a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’
45 Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it for one of the least of these, you did not do it for Me, either.’
46 These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
Like nearly everyone else, I jump around a lot during the day between different projects, files, apps, trains-of-thought, etc. I know I shouldn’t and it isn’t my preference, but it’s how most days actually go.
One of the worst parts of this is when I find myself thinking “Wasn’t I working on something important before I got side-tracked? What was that?”
For years I berated myself about this and promised future-me that I would do better. And I would. For awhile. Until it happened again. And then I’d berate myself all over again. Sound familiar?
Well, I still try not to do it, but I have given up believing that it will never happen again. Because it will, and life is too short to keep lying to yourself about reality.
So I’ve started trying to keep track of what I was doing, especially if I can find a way to do it automatically and easily.
Enter the Finder
I didn’t expect to get help from the Finder, but I did. Now, I realize that there are some people who leave their active files on their Desktop, and if that works for you, great. For me, I keep all of mine in Dropbox, and I have a lot of sub-folders with a lot of files. I’ve tried other ways, and this works best for me.
But how do I find that file I was working on earlier without having to keep navigating through all those files and folders? In the Finder. More specifically, with a saved search.
Saved Searches have been around since the origin of Spotlight, as far as I remember, but I’ve never really used them all that often. I hadn’t quite forgotten about them, I just never used them. But I changed that recently and it’s been a much bigger help than I expected.
What I did was really simple. So simple that I almost didn’t bother writing it up, except that I figure if I could benefit from this but didn’t think of it before, maybe someone else will be the same way.
So here’s how I made my Saved Search.
Step 1 is easy, just go to a Finder window and press ⌘F and Finder will switch into Spotlight mode.
Now, look at the plus sign (+) at the top right of that window. See it?
Watch what happens when I press and hold the option key (⌥)
See that change? It’s pretty small, but it’s vital. Instead of being a plus sign, now it looks like a floating ellipses (…). Click that.
Now, look at the area in the red box:
Usually when you are searching for things, all of the criteria are added together: I want to search for this “and” that. But in my case, I want this “or” that. Using the Option/⌥ click on the plus sign (+) gives us the “Any of the following are true” search. That’s what we want.
(Note: the first criteria “Kind is Any” is harmless, but we don’t need it, so click the minus button shown with the arrow above to get rid of it. Or don’t.)
Now, change the criteria of “Last opened date” to “today”:
…then click the plus sign at the far right of that row.
Next add “Created Date” is “today”:
…then click the plus sign at the far right of that row.
Lastly, add “Last modified date” is “today” — I’m assuming you know to just click the “within last” and select “today” but if not, here’s what it looks like:
Now you have a list of all of the files and apps that you have used today, because if you were working with a file then chances are 99.9999% that you either:
opened the file,
created the file, or
modified the file.
Maybe even more than one of those. But that’s a good net to cast to catch just about anything and everything you’ve worked on today.
We could stop here, but let’s make one more little change.
See that header row with the name, Date Create, Kind, etc? Right click somewhere on there, such as where the arrow is pointing:
Select “Date Modified”, “Date Created”, and “Date Last Opened” as columns that you want to see. (If you want or don’t want “Kind” you can leave it or un-check it.)
Done!
Well, almost.
You don’t want to have to do this every time you need it, so click the “Save” button at the top-right:
And then give it a name. Because I am vëry clëver, I called mine “Today’s Files”:
Make sure that “Add To Sidebar” is checked and then hit “Save”.
Now, anytime that you need to re-trace your steps, just click on “Today’s Files” in your Finder’s Sidebar
and you can sort the columns by Date Modified/Created/Last Opened if that helps.
I realize that to some of you this is macOS 101 material, but for me it’s one of those things that I never used until I did, and then I wished that I had done it a long time ago.
Rhymes With Diploma 