I believe you can list a guest instance without logging in using Photon.

Re: orizuzu’s comment on python. I’m just starting out too and I’ve really enjoyed Automate the Boring Stuff. I have the course on Udemy, but he’s got the first chunk of it on YouTube if you want to try it out first. There is an accompanying book but I haven’t dived into it, just watching the videos for now. He does a good job of explaining concepts through simple examples that you can type out along with him, which he recommends. Good luck!

I’m no woodworker, but I’ll at least venture a naive guess and say birdseye maple. You said he’s got other chunks of maple, so maybe that was part of his maple stock?

If I were clever enough to host my own matrix server I would in a heartbeat. Bridges to WhatsApp, insta, fb, etc. are game changers.

Logseq is pretty similar to Obsidian, and it’s FOSS. It’s still really young, but I’ve enjoyed using it more than Obsidian for my personal note taking style. It’s block-based and focused on daily journals, so instead of folders of individual notes the tags/references become interlinked pages. It’s been cool to see my daily logs become a web of concepts. Syncing is a new function they’re adding for supporters, but it can be done with Syncthing if you’re nasty.

It’s definitely a different way of note taking than Keep or Joplin and maybe not for everyone, but I hope I’m at least doing it justice and piqued someone’s curiosity!

If you set your default search engine to Duck Duck Go you can use “!yt” followed by your search terms and it’ll go right to the results on YouTube. There’s a whole lot of other bangs, too. I do it with google maps all the time with “!gm.”

This is fascinating, thanks so much for sharing!

Bitwarden is one I use several times a day. They do have a support plan for like $10 a year that gives a couple extra features like TOTP support, but the base level is incredibly robust. It’s open source, too. I know a lot of folks also host their own servers with Vaultwarden, but that’s a little beyond my skill level.

They say it’s open source on their main page and link to their Github. I haven’t personally vetted that fact, but I’ve yet to hear anything to the contrary so I believe it.

I’ve been using Logseq after trying Notion and Obsidian a good bit and I’m really enjoying it. It’s a block-based note app that makes connecting thoughts together super easy. So far so goo!

ATP has a lot of Apple talk, but the hosts fit the bill you describe as I'm pretty sure they're all left of center. Not that politics come up a lot, but there certainly aren't any off-color jokes. ATP's John Siracusa hosts another podcast with Merlin Mann called Reconcilable Differences, and Merlin Mann hosts another I like called Back to Work, and they talk a lot about tech as well. Neither is a strictly tech podcast but I enjoy them all the same.

Maybe a good vibrator?