“What hath God wrought?” : Welcome to Mastodon

What did I do a few Sundays ago? Oh, nothing much. Just stand up the Libranigains Mastodon Server. Well, I cheated a little. I could have done it all from scratch – get a VPS somewhere, setup a server, install the whatzits, etc etc … – but I just used a hosting service – https://masto.host/. Currently, Libranigans is closed to new users. I’ve asked a few of my fellow librarian friends to try it out, but right I’m the only one posting to it.

You’ve probably heard a lot about Mastodon lately W/R/T a replacement for Twitter. And yeah, I guess that’s what it is. But it’s a lot more than that. Really, it’s a different way of thinking about how we organize social media. In a lot of ways, it reminds me of the jump from online services like America Online and Compuserve to the World Wide Web. Instead of data sitting in a proprietary jail like Facebook or Twitter, you can choose which Mastodon server your data calls home. Or you can standup your own Mastodon server. I would liken this a bit to the options you have with serving a web site: For the average user, you’d probably use a hosting service that takes care of the heavy lifting for you. For a more advance user or a larger website, you might choose to standup your own server. Same thing with Mastodon. For most users, you’d probably stick to an established server, like Mastodon.social or mstdn.social but maybe you want your data on your server for reasons, or maybe you’re with a large organization or maybe there’s just a group of like-minded people you want to share cat photos with – standup your own server or use a hosting service.

Users can interact and share information between servers. For example, I can “Boost” (the Mastodon term for “retweeting”) someones post from another server, and someone from elsewhere can boost my post on their home server.

For the most part, interaction between servers is open. Users can set limits on how their data is shared and exposed to the greater world. System administrators can set limits on which servers can interact with theirs. For example, if there’s a server that host a lot of spambots, they may ban those servers from interacting with theirs. Servers can vary in their acceptable use. For example, one server might say: absolutely no nude photos on our server. Another server might say: only if it’s art. And yet another might say: there’s no limit. Mastodon itself is part of the larger Fedivrse – a group of interlinked, decentralized, services.

I have honestly forgotten how much I missed having a Twitter-like service. I had quit Twitter long before quitting Twitter was cool. I probably stayed longer that I should because I enjoyed virtually hanging with the likes of Brendan Maclean and Cecil Baldwin. The last few weeks have been exciting finding new people to follow and talk to.

I think there are still a lot of questions to be answered … but I’m excited to be exploring this new space!

Goodbye Bear Ball

Reminder:

Steal a rugby ball and write your name on it, you’re a common thief.

Steal a rugby ball and put your team name on it, and you’re part of the Texas Rugby Union Ball Exchange Program.

Also: Don’t bring anything you care about to a 7’s tournament.

Bon Voyage Bristol Bears Rugby Ball!

Movember 2022


One of the guys on my rugby team does Movember – where grow a mustache during the month of November to raise money for various men’s health issues. Movember started in support of prostate cancer awareness, but has grown to cover other men’s health issues like suicide prevention. It’s pretty cool, so I do it too.

If you have a few scarves lying around, how about throwing a few on the pile for men’s health? You can do that here: https://movember.com/m/14637302?mc=1

Fear and Loathing in Nacogdoches

This is the last CD in Volume 1 of the Best of Billy Collection. It is not one of my favorite play list … it just didn’t have a good flow to it. Never the less, it does have some great songs on it. Those two OTHER songs that Blur is known for? Harvey Danger? Sheryl Crow? And an awesome cover of Ordinary World by Fenix TX? Yes Please!

I think this was about the time that I dropped out of SFA. 3 sad semesters, but it wasn’t quite fifteen grand …

  1. If It Makes You Happy – Sheryl Crow
  2. Pieces Of The Night – Gin Blossoms
  3. How do You – Radiohead
  4. Coffee and TV – Blur
  5. This will be my Year – Semisonic
  6. Oh my beloved ice cream bar – Ren from Ren and Stimpy
  7. Basket Case – Green Day
  8. Flag Pole Sitter – Harvey Danger
  9. Girls & Boys – Blur
  10. Army – Ben Fold’s Five
  11. Sad Sweetheart of the Rodeo – Harvey Danger
  12. Ordinary World – cover by Fenix TX
  13. Leaving Las Vegas – Sheryl Crow
  14. Bright Lights – Matchbox 20
  15. You just don’t get it, do you? – Dr. Evil from Austin Powers

Blue Heaven

Blue Heaven is the 3rd CD in the Best of Billy collection. I think a lot of the songs were either ones from a Warp Tour demo disc or that came with iTunes.

  1. Somewhere Beyond the Sea – Frank Sinatra
  2. Blue Heaven – Fats Domino
  3. Starry Eye Surprise – Paul Oakenfold
  4. Fade into you – Mazzy Star
  5. Oh pretty child (Fever for the Flava)– Hot Cop Action
  6. Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong – Spin Doctors
  7. Head on Collision – New Found Glory
  8. Jackie-O – Strung Out
  9. Turning Japanese – Cover by No Use for a Name
  10. Barbie Girl – Cover by Blink 182
  11. It An’t You – Squirrel Nut Zippers
  12. Red Red Wine – UB40**
  13. All the Things You Said – TATU
  14. Blue Skies – BT
  15. Halcyon On and on – Orbital
  16. Waist My Days(Keep Fishin’) – Weezer
  17. These Days – Luxury
  18. Feed It – The Candyskins

**Red Red Wine may be on some early copies but not later ones